Matthew (Session 8) Chapter 12

well we are in session eight that's about a third of the way through our exploration of the gospel of matthew we're in chapter 12 which is almost halfway in terms of chapters but as they go on you'll see we'll be spending getting a little more in a little more depth in some of them as we get especially as we get close to the what we call the final week the passion week of christ but we're in chapter 12 which is the close of the second major section of the book matthew mark luke and john are obviously four gospels but they each present a particular aspect they emphasize a particular role of jesus christ matthew represents him as the mashiach the messiah the king mark the suffering servant luke being a doctor was interested in his humanity as the son of man and john focuses uniquely on his being the son of god and in in support of those themes matthews has a very jewish genealogy of jesus from abraham down through david to the legal father luke takes it from adam and through mary the bloodline and so forth and john has a genealogy most people don't recognize the first few verses of his gospel are really the genealogy of the pre-existent one the one with whom we're going to talk quite a bit about tonight and matthew emphasized what jesus said how it fulfills prophecy that was written mark is a shooting script action items he highlights things that the others just don't happen to mention when when they're sitting on grass mark points out it was green grass and so forth it's really it's a very uh action-oriented gospel most people assume it's peter's that mark transcribed for him now luke wrote two volumes volume one we'll call the gospel but being a doctor he's interested in what jesus felt his humanity the emotional in volume two of course is the book of acts john of course focuses on the identity of who he who he is mel gibson did a remarkable job doing the movie the passion of christ but the one thing that you couldn't easily bring forth is who he was it wasn't just a tragedy it was an achievement and the person that was conducting this was not other than the creator himself and of course the dire addresses of these matthew speaks to the jew mark to the roman luke to the greek and john to the church and the first miracle in each one each every subtlety of each uh gospel supports its major theme and and the end with their ending is appropriate matthew ends as any jew would with the resurrection big deal that's the mark the ascension luke the promise of the spirit and john the promise of christ's return each of those setting up their sequel luke setting up the book of acts which really should be the acts of the holy spirit and john of course sets up the book of revelation in a sense and there's more to that in terms of the the representations that surround the throne of god the lion the ox the man and the eagle also echo the same themes but we're of course focusing on the gospel of matthew and with that we went through section one that which had the genealogy of jesus christ and all its unique treasures that were reductions at all a number of the unique treasures that are tucked away there the second chapter was on the birth of christ familiar stories to most of us and then the baptism of christ then the temptation of christ and then what you could call the manifesto of christ the sermon on the mount and that those seven chapters constitute what most uh scholars would call the section one of the book of matthew now in eight nine and ten we have healings uh that we also went through the leper century the centurion servant peter's mother-in-law the next we see a lot of healings we want to see some more tonight in fact the ones tonight are gonna be very distinctive we'll talk how they're different but we went through all of these as we went through chapters 8 9 and through chapter 12. and so when we get to section 2 we had the coming of the storm which sets up the the at gudera it was interesting when we were in israel uh we were on the uh sea of galilee obviously and um there was enough of us that there were two boats that we went and tied them together but i've always been puzzled by how you how can you have a storm on lake well they showed us they arranged a nice little storm forest it wasn't life-threatening but it sort of got the point across so on the one hand we had an experience of some turbulent water for a little while but it was interesting while we were there that day it was very raining it was raining it was one of those rainy days but there's a little blue patch of sky that followed us around remember that across the lake and around that i mean wherever we went there was this little blue so and we joked about that of course we called ahead you know head of the ring but uh in any case then we have the call of matthew what makes him distinctive and then we had a couple of interesting episodes jairus daughter the woman issue of blood two events that are linked by the fact they both involved a 12-year linkage and so and then of course the 12 were sent out and then we had some talk about john the baptist and so now we're entering into chapter 12. this wasn't intended just as a review it's rather superficial review what we talked about but i want to get across the idea that chapter 12 is going to end this section and it also is a turning point in the gospel in some surprising ways but the two of the main issues we'll be dealing with in chapter 12 is the issue of the sabbath and also what on earth is this business of the unpardonable sin and there's sort of a third issue what makes chapter 12 what what partitions the gospel because from chapter 12 from chapter 13 on jesus changes his whole style of presentation and we'll take a look at that chapter 12 ends the presentation of the kingdom to israel in the minds of many scholars they see that they see the presentation of the kingdom as having been made and rejected at this point the rejection of jesus christ doesn't start at the cross of that day he was crucified it starts in chapter 12. and you'll notice as we go into the next chapter jesus will shift his gears if i can use that expression rather dramatically after chapter 12. and we're going to exp in the next chapter we'll be exploring the seven kingdom parables which jesus tells us are revealing something that was not in the old testament these aren't little lessons for that make nice little sermon uh topics uh for applying to our lives they do do that but but there's something far deeper going on here and we'll look at that when we get there so let's jump in chapter 12 verse 1. at that time jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn and his disciples were unhungered and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat and when the pharisees saw it they said unto him behold thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day now you need to understand something first of all that they were not stealing there were laws in effect that people who were hungry or also the destitute were free to take what they could eat not to hoard a bunch of stuff take home but that was not that was the it wasn't they were not stealing that was not the complaint that's not the problem the pharisees saw it they said and behold thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day the issue here is not they're taking some corn as they walk through the field that was that was an okay that's analogous to walking through an orchard and picking an apple to eat on your way that was not considered stealing and but what they were what the pharisees were upset about they were violating the rules of the sabbath day and jesus said he said unto them have you not read what david did when he was a hungered and they that were with him how he entered into the house of god and he'd eat the show bread which was not lawful for him to eat neither for them which were with him but only for the priests now this is an area that many people get confused about because they don't have the full background what goes on we're going to take a look at this now this the context that david that uh jesus is drawing on is when david was fleeing from saul in those days the ark itself rested at kiryat durham until after the capture of the ark in 110 1104 bc and it presently is an at a place called knob and uh which is the city of priests it was halfway between jerusalem and gibeah and this is where david fled as he made his final break with saul so he got the picture and uh now you understand that the tabernacle we don't have a temple yet in these days the tabernacle was a secure area for the priests only and they the priest came from the tribe of levi david was from the tribe of what judah and throughout the scripture a lot is made of the fact they were never to get crossed the levites were the priests not all levites were priests if they're descendants of aaron but the levites had their role and the judah was separate and that's a very important thing to understand for many many reasons but in any case david had no normal access to the tabernacle he was not from the tribe of levi even though he was anointed king he was anointed as king here he was still he was of the tribe of judah if you get the first samuel 21 you get the little background here for those who want to dig into it and flashing back then to take a look at this then came david tanab to a himalaya the priest and a himelec was afraid at the meeting of david and said to him why art thou alone and no man with thee and so david's got to give him a cover story here a little bit he's david sent it to him elected the priest the king hath commanded me a business and he said then we let no man know anything of the business whereabout i send thee and what i have commanded thee and i have appointed my servants to such and such a place so actually uh uh you know he's on in flight here and the priest answered david and said there is no common bread under my hand but there is hallowed bread if the young men have kept themselves at least from women now you probably at this point you're probably wondering wait a minute they can't eat it in the first place what does being defiled with women have to do with anything what moves on david answered the priest and said unto him of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days since i came out and the vessels of the young men are holy and the bread is in a war in a manner common yea though it were sanctified this day in the vessel i should explain in the tabernacle there's the showbread and they have 12 loaves one for each of 12 tribes every shabbat they change it when they change it the bread that comes off the table is no longer there it's replaced by the the the fresh bread that's on the table the bread that's comes off the table is uh still hallowed but it's intended for the priests okay and so or those who are undefiled so the issues and they're not taking the showbread that's sanctified they're taking the bread that's coming that's been taken off the showbread but it still requires someone who has not been defiled and that's why they get another thing so hungry from his plight david asked the priest for bread there's no ordinary bread but only the holy show bread which had been desacralized by being replaced by fresh bread that's what we're talking about and this is all in leviticus 24 if you want to get into it this could be eaten but ordinarily only by priests and certainly only by those who are ceremonially pure so that's why you have that other comment there that confuses many people if you're just reading it through without background so anyway getting back to first samuel 21 so the priest gave him hallowed bread for there was no bread there but the show bread that was taken from before the lord to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away that sentence doesn't make any sense to you unless you get the picture see in other words the bread they've got is that which is taken away when the new fresh bread was put on the show bread that's the bread we're talking about if you have just that sentence with a background it sounds like double talk are you with me okay good and but david's eating of this illustrate a concession that the law permitted there's a subtle point here but it's important life is more holy than bread david is in need this isn't a luxury he needs some bread for his men it's a matter of sustenance and that's more important that overrules the ceremonial niceties follow me and uh so okay getting back to jesus remark as he's he's alluding to this event to the pharisees and he said to them have ye not read what david did when he was hungered and they gave they that were with him how he entered the house of god and did eat the show bread which was not lawful for him to eat neither for them which were with him but only for the priests or have you not read in the law how that on sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath and are blameless see they couldn't work on sabbath days the priest did the priest in the temple worked that's his point you see and uh he's throwing a distinction between ceremonial law and necessity here he says but i say unto you that in this place is one greater than the temple who's he talking about himself himself and see they don't get it in fact many people that are christians that read the gospels don't fully understand the impact of most of what's going on unless you realize who it is we're dealing with not some great teacher some great prophet some special man anointed of god no this is the creator himself incarnate big difference big different deal here but if he had known what this meaneth i will have mercy and not sacrifice ye would not have condemned the guiltless but here's the key point of the whole thing that must have really upset the pharisees for the son of man who's the son of man who's that alluding to jesus christ for the son of man is lord even of the sabbath day he's in charge he's in charge this is the first of a series of sabbatical conflicts here we're talking about the plucking of the grain on the sabbath recorded here of course but also in mark 2 and luke 6 this is recorded it's interesting even here he mentions another issue really he reminds us critics that the priests in the temple worked on the sabbath he also referred elsewhere to circumcising a male on the sabbath day that's in john 7. and of course you alludes to from leviticus 12. on the eighth day the child was circumcised even if it was shabbat and for some very good reasons incidentally because they now understand the vitamin k and the prothrombin they optimize on the eighth day if you're going to circumcise your child you don't want to do it in the seventh or the ninth do i do it on the eighth day it's the most hygienically appropriate time to do it and i thought whenever we get into that i'm always amused how did moses know that by trial and error i don't think so i don't think so and of course he jesus asserts his lordship over the sabbath both here in matthew 12 mark 2 and luke 6. and then we're going to encounter before this chapter is over another healing of a withered hand on the sabbath day and again it's the same issue that it wasn't they ignore the fact here's a miracle of being done they're all upset because it was done on shabbat and there's also in luke he records a similar situation the healing of a woman that had an infirmity for 18 years that is healed on a sabbath day so we have seven healings on the sabbath in the scriptures we saw the demoniac at capernaum we saw peter's mother-in-law that was also at capernaum the impotent man in jerusalem the man with the withered hand a man a woman bowed together a man with dropsy man born blind so these are seven healings that occurred on the sabbath day and some people say well see that that shows you that he he that he uh well that he always did on the sabbath day that's not quite true not all the healings were on a sabbath day there was one on sunday on in mark chapter one as an incidental observation but this leads to another issue that we'll pause to take a look at as we go through chapter 12 of matthew and that's the issue of the seventh day the issue of shabbat and anyone that thinks that this is a simple issue hasn't studied it there's more confusion about this than probably any other common topic among christians there are those that are oblivious to the reality of what shabbat is and there are others that get so enthusiastic about it they get right under the law and they throw out the window the book of galatians the book of romans in the book of colossians book of hebrews in effect so it's an interesting it's not a simple issue let's just recognize that going in anyone that thinks they've got all the answers i suspect uh uh probably hasn't really probed it there's some basic questions here so let's back up for a minute how many of each animal did noah take into the ark and say what on earth that got to do with it i love starting with in this topic i love to start here how many of each animal did noah take into the ark anyone two that's almost right good a two of what kind and what seven of the seven of the unclean how did noah know what was clean and unclean those are ceremonial definitions those don't get codified in the law until in the books of moses long after noah how did he know how did he know the inference that you can't really escape is that they were taught that in eden we understand that's really the background that caused you to really understand the canaan abel issue abel was offering an offering the way god had instructed cain offered his work the fruits of his own labors rather than following the rules and that led to the rivalry and so on changing the subject on what days did they gather manna remember they got manna in exodus 16. what day did they not collect it on sabbath the point i'm making is they were observing the sabbath in exodus 16. well what's that why is that so important when was the law given exodus 20. see the point is if you're reading your bible you'll discover that these things that we associate with the law at least some of them were ordained in the garden of eden or certainly a lot earlier there's another issue for whom was the sabbath made for man yes mark says that in chapter 27 sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath boy let's understand that but let's ask ourselves a question what kind of man was that was he a jew or a gentile and some people well he he just made the sabbath with the jews i don't think so indeed the observation of sabbath becomes an identity item with israel no question about that but is that where it ends that's a good question you get to the book of genesis now back in chapter 2 it opens up lord bless the seventh day and that's the seventh day is not sunday there are calendars now being printed to make you know sunday the seventh day but that's not never never was ain't so i'll explain why the lord blessed the seventh day what is the seventh day what do we call the seventh day saturday or shabbat you bet and sanctified it god sanctified it can you find a place in the bible where he desanctifies it i don't think so because that in it he had rested from all his work which god created and made it's interesting that when you start arguing when you get into genesis everyone just you know talk about the days were they literal days where they a thousand years all that stuff the problem is in genesis the problem is exodus chapter 20 verse 11 because their god with his own finger writing in stone makes it clear he wanted wants us to understand it was six days because he does that to set up the the hallowedness of the seventh day you with me so okay when you get to the ten commandments it's not instituted there you're reminded of it there remember the sabbath day to keep it holy it was already in being it was something they understood they had been taught even the babylonians observed a seven day week the seventh day week is goes deeper than just you know israel's calendar well there are two extremes that you'll run into over this issue of the sabbath two potential footba i'm going to suggest both extremes are pitfalls one pitfall is to ignore the sabbath most christians do that's what they've been taught the tragedy is only this if they forfeit a special opportunity for a blessing god calls his days in the scripture by a hebrew term which actually means appointment hamoidim an appointed time god has an appointment he has an appointment on saturday you're going to keep it maybe optional but if your boss has an optional meeting on saturday i'm going to show up at least in some way okay so the first point is i'm going to encourage us as christians as new testament christians not to ignore not to overlook not to dismiss shabbat the other problem though is that the other end is another hazard and that's to get in under the law there's some that get so enamored with this that they feel that you've got to keep the 613 rules of the torah etc etc etc they totally ignore the epistle of romans the epistle to the galatians bishop colossians which as a minimum say let no man judge you in the keeping of any holy day colossians 2 16. and the book of hebrews has a whole chapter chapter four that jesus fulfilled the shabba the sabbath on our behalf so don't look at shabbat as a legalistic obligation if you do you miss the whole point of shabbat in the first place what does it celebrate the creation and if you are a beneficiary of god's creation that's your opportunity to get a blessing we as christians so focus on jesus act of redemption that we probably take for granted his role as creator and you'll just startled me to realize when we did when i was refreshing things for the genesis commentary throughout the bible how before redemption all things god's existence as a creator is that with which for which he holds us all accountable and that's what shabbat is really intended to celebrate and uh now many of us as christians have been taught well that we celebrate the first day of the week instead the jews celebrated on the seventh we celebrate on the first and here are the justifications the resurrection took place on sunday on the first day of the week no question about it and that doesn't that that certainly gives it gives us a valid justification to celebrate that on sunday indeed that's our that is our tradition jesus appeared as disciples on four different sundays and only four occasions it was on sunday that he appeared pentecost would where the church was born was by definition on a sunday and um they did meet on a sunday night in acts 20 verse 7. some suggest that the ascension occurred on sunday those that occurred that have a little bit of an arithmetic problem because you can't have him you can't have resurrection on a sunday and have 40 days later become a sunday you've got something askew there you follow me all right so but that's not not critical anyway many argue that that was the apostolic practice that they the apostles worshipped on sunday that's not clear by the way they were most of them as i recall were jewish and being jewish they were accustomed to celebrating having devotions whatever on shabbat see the argument is made that they the sunday was their practice but it's less than clear it's hard to prove this they often quote first corinthians 16 where paul says on the first day of week let every one of you lay by them in store they don't read the next verse why that there be no gatherings when i come so he doesn't want the disruption of the gatherings to interfere with his teaching that's why he said do it on the first day of the week not the seventh so what it really means is a little unclear but it's hard to make a case that that argues for a sunday worship you follow me but anyway now there's also the assertion that never see christ meeting with disciples on any other day other than sunday that's contradicted by john 20 verse 26 because he appears to them and then eight days later appears again so it's hard to build a case that well he always did it on sunday it's not that that's not clear and uh so but we can go through we can also there's you can go on and on about this people who get into this there's a great deal of history in the early church for reasons that'll become clear in the next session i wouldn't build any doctrine on the practices of the early church i would study the early church for many many valuable lessons but i wouldn't emulate it necessarily for the simple reason jesus wrote seven report cards to the all the representative churches and each church was surprised by that letter they all were wrong those that thought they were doing well were not those who thought they weren't doing well were so some huge lessons out of that but i i think it's interesting to study the early church for many reasons but you'll quickly discover if you do it carefully that the early church was wrong about a lot of things that later come home to roost there are of course most christians ignore shabbat and there are others as typified not the only the seventh-day adventists aren't the only ones but those that get into the shabbat thing also often not necessarily but often take on themselves the whole burden of the law that paul spends the whole epistle of galatians trying to free us from the liberty we have in christ and people who do that need us need a study the short course is galatians the longer course is romans but they need both we could go on let's talk about it prophetically people that many people figure well sunday has replaced sabbath no no no worship on sunday praise god that's great but don't assume that the sabbath is sunday that's a a euphemism that emerged in the 5th century that is inappropriate the sabbaths are going to continue as a basis for worship in the millennium isaiah 66 all the nations are going to come up to jerusalem on the feast of tabernacles and also they're going to they're going to celebrate on on shabbat as ezekiel's temple that most of us presume is the millennial temple in ezekiel from 40 through 48 describes in detail as temple very strange thing that opens up for chapter 46 of ezekiel we discover that the temple is only going to be open on shabbat and the new moon you're going to go there on sunday you're going to find the gates closed so don't get the idea that somehow sunday with all with all due respect to sunday and all due respect to using it as a day of devotion to the lord of the risen lord praise god but don't assume just because of that veneration of him that it replaces shabbat who was the one that with his finger wrote in stone remember the sabbath day to keep it holy jesus christ exactly right many people don't connect that well that was god the father well uh you got to read john 8 more carefully so there's this would seem to refute anyway a permanent substitution of sunday for saturday shabbat the fact that prophetically you'll find that the shabbat has a worldwide role when jesus is is king so here are some issues we need to realize in any case that we're not saved by the days we keep we're saved by the lord we keep shabbat is an opportunity not a not not to be burdensome the shabbat is a time of devotion not a subjection to rules it's simply a benefit to be taken advantage of and that's exactly what paul implies in rome in romans 14 verse 5 in colossians 2 16 and so forth in any case jesus christ is the fulfillment of the sabbath day for you and me so this is not bird any any burdensome aspect of it he's taken care of that's what hebrews 4 hammers through the whole chapter there is a rest that god would have you enter in and it's not as simple as just shabbat it's something far deeper it's what shabbat really typifies one of the things that my white now you see many people say g-check are you are you are you a sabbath keeper in a sense yes in a sense no we're not a sabbath key those that are legalistic about it would we would uh uh not accept the way we observe shabbat nan and i on the other hand we do we have some resolves we our primary gathering is on friday night an intimate private uh potluck dinner and a teaching by a jewish sage that we respect highly and uh that that loves the lord and understands uh the gospel of christ it was it's a wonderful time and uh when something interferes with that we feel very disenfranchised we don't make a legalistic thing sometimes we can't make it for whatever reason but that's but what we decide to do from sundown friday night to sundown saturday we have three rules what we decide to do we do deliberately we sit down decide what we're going to do from sundown to sundown the second thing whatever we decide to do we do together and the third is there are no other rules we've we've set aside 613 of those for our our pharisaical friends uh we uh that's all we do and we looked at it that's a day that we just try clumsy though we are to set aside for him and uh and it's it's a blessing and it's uh with all with all the other pressures on us in our crazy lifestyle that we still try as best we can to to honor shabbat and it's not a legalistic thing it's a it's it's if we fail to do it isn't that we've failed it's that we've lost an opportunity and uh that's our attitude anyway let's get back to matthew chapter 12. he thought we'd never get back there did you and when he was departed thence he went into their synagogue and behold there was a man which had his hand withered now this is a malady that's very conspicuous this isn't like cancer or something that takes a specialist he's got a withered hand anybody didn't doubt it go look at his hand okay but he had his hand with it and they asked him saying is it lawful to heal on sabbath days that they might accuse him this is what's called a set up this is what's called in some circles entrapment this whole thing has been set up to have him confronted by this guy on a sabbath day he said to them what man shall there be among you that you'll have one sheep and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day will he not lay hold on it and lift it out see he's not gonna if that happened if you have a sheep and he's falling in the ravine or something you're not gonna wait till tomorrow to get it because he could die by then or someone could steal him by then or a wild animal could eat him by that right so if that's your if you're the shepherd you've got a sheep and you find out if sabbath day doesn't deter you from rescuing that sheep that's his point how much then is man better than a sheep wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days then he said to the man stretch forth thine hand and he stretched it forth and it was restored whole like as the other now you would think that these guys would be impressed you think they'd say well i guess he set us up right no then the pharisees went out and held a council against him how they might destroy him can you imagine these people here a miracle a compassionate miracle has taken place and they're quarreling about the fact that it didn't fit their rules see they had by then embroidered the torah with all kinds of additional rules and details and the so-called oral law and all through the gospels of course christ deals with against the pharisees not against the torah itself against their the way they have made it so burdensome and that will get codified into writing in a thing called the talmud several centuries later in the third through the sixth centuries and that in turn gets even further embroidered in in other ways in the kabbalah in the 12th century and that will reflect itself in the hassadim in the 18th century but each of each step judaism lengthens its tether from the word of god adding its own embellishments and each as it goes further and further away from pharisaical talmudic to the kabbalah when you get to the kabbalah the taurus turned totally upside down where the torah prohibits uncovering the father's nakedness and what they've done is applied try to apply that to god himself on car that ten separate all of that anyway let's move on so here the pharisees went out and they held the council against them how they might destroy him and something very interesting we're going to encounter as this plot unfolds you'll discover their plot aimed at not taking him on a feast day for fear of the romans when was he taken on the highest feast day of the year why because jesus arranged it that way he was in charge we'll see that as we go but here we go when jesus knew it he withdrew himself from thence and the great multitudes followed him and he healed them all i love that his response was that response anybody else next i love that and he charged them that they should not make him known that it might be fulfilled which is spoken by isaiah the prophet saying behold my servant whom i have chosen my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased i will put my spirit upon him and he shall show judgment to the what gentiles do you notice a shift going on here up till now he's presenting the kingdom to israel as john summarized it in john chapter one he came unto his own but his own received him not but his majesty to them gave you the power to become the sons of god to be born again and so forth he shall join judgment and gentiles he shall not strive nor cry neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets a bruised reach shall not shall he not break and a smoking flag shall not quench till he send forth judgment unto victory and in his name shall the gentiles trust what's not obvious here until you stand back and get the whole picture the jews the leadership of the jews plotted his death but his destiny is to be received by the gentiles the very fact that he's going to present it to the gentiles is what's going to show up in the next chapter this is the quote from isaiah so you can compare it for the way it was presented in matthew the way it is in isaiah behold my servant whom i uphold my elect in whom my soul delighteth i put my spirit upon him he shall bring forth judgment to the gentiles he shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the street a bruised reach shall not break and the spoken flag shall not quench he shall bring forth judgment unto truth he shall not fail or be discouraged till he has set judgment in the earth and the isles shall wait for his law that's exciting well let's move on here he then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil blind and dumb and he healed him in so much that the blind and the dumb both spake and saw and all the people were amazed and said is th is not this the son of david now you have to understand something a little background item as i understand it is that they did have exorcisms in judaism before jesus came but the procedures they used required the demon to identify himself the typical procedure was to get him that you remember jesus did that at gudera who are they where my name is legion remember that was part of the normal procedure was for the demon to identify himself which meant that in judaism someone that was demon-possessed that was blind and dumb there was no way for him to um uh identify so that was to to the rabbi that would be a blind alley so to speak in so much of the blind dumb both spake and saw all the people were amazed that's why because they understood this was this was absolutely unique and said is not this the son of david and when the pharisees heard it they said this fellow doth not cast out devils but by bells above the prince of devils they are ascribing this miracle to satan that's a big mistake that's a big mistake 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 shall not stand and if satan cast out satan he is divided against himself how shall then his kingdom stand and if i by belgium cast out devils by whom do your children cast them out therefore they shall be your judges who but if i cast out devils by the spirit of god then the kingdom of god has come unto you or else how can one enter a strongman's house and spoil his goods except he first bind the strong man and then he will spoil his house get the what is the house in this idiom he's just speaking metaphorically here what is the house that we're talking about the planet earth or the kingdom of satan say it either way like who's the strong man here how how can one enter a strong man's house and spoil his goods except he first bind the straw man he's not doing it by the power of the strong man he's bound the straw man then he will spoil his house you understand the model here it's confusing in some of the other quotes too because they use the term good man but it's not good man these are good guys he's the the homo the house uh the guy's in charge of the house who's in charge of the house the who who's who's the god of this world satan it's one of his titles exactly he that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad so this is what's often called the unpardonable sin the m and everybody gets upset about the unpardonable sin the ministry of the holy spirit is to convict you of sin and then your need for a savior that's his ministry satan tries to condemn you for your sins do you understand there's two different words here convict or condemn condemnation comes from satan conviction is of the holy spirit you say what's the difference see remember romans 8 1 therefore there is now no condemnation to them who are in christ jesus key word how do you tell if if it's conviction from the holy spirit or condemnation from satan how do you tell the difference anyone the holy s that conviction will draw you closer to him condemnation will push you away so what is happening if whatever is happening is it drawing you closer to or away from god if you're convicted by your sin you realize the need for a savior you with great passion draw closer to this to to jesus condemnation you know uh satan's a a real deceiver his first step is not to commit to you your sins aren't so bad it's not a problem but once you begin to realize what sin really is boy then he lays it on you boy yeah you're right you're really too deep to ever get fixed i love what hal lindsey loves to point out when you really get into one of these guilt trips when you really get burdened because man you've really you've really messed up badly how many of your sins were yet future when jesus hung on the cross all of them exactly right we have a mentality that he died for all our sins up until the time we're saved and from here on it's our job to keep it clean no no no no no no the sins that when you stumble next week and do something unconscionable he died for that one too so when that happens you become conscious of it you say you go you confess it and thank him that it's already paid for see if you're feeling remorse for your sin is drawing you into god's word then that's the holy spirit it's that simple and if your attitudes or thoughts whatever doubts cause you to shun the word of god that's satan trying to get you on what's called a guilt trip so jesus goes on says wherefore i say to you all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men that's quite a statement but the blasphemy against the holy ghost shall not be forgiven unto men and whoever speaks of the word against the son of man it shall be forgiven him but whosoever speaketh against the holy ghost it shall not be forgiven him neither in this world neither in the world to come if you are worried about having committed the unpardonable sin the very fact that you're worried about it tells me that you haven't committed it because the only way you can be concerned about it is through the holy spirit so he's still working with you when you shrug it off and consider nothing not worried about it then then you may have a problem either make the tree good or is fruit good or you'll else make the tree corrupted as fruit corrupt for the tree is known by his fruit there were fruit inspectors oh generation of vipers now by the way to really get he's talking to the pharisees here right this is an allusion to genesis chapter 3 when god declares war on satan he says i'll put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and mercy who is he talking to a snake a viper jesus is calling these guys oh you generation of vipers he's calling them children of satan how can ye being evil this this i want you to notice his tact and diplomacy what you understand his seeker-friendly sermon here how can you be evil speak good things for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh a good man out of good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringing forth evil things but i say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment and boy does that verse bother me because i have had a full career of idle words and i thought i'd hear nan say amen brother but i think but she's getting me trained for by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned then certainly the scribes and of the pharisees answered saying master we would see a sign from the get the picture these guys he has just shredded them they're probably in the back row moaning and groaning and he's just shredded them he also has just done a miracle visibly in front of the crowd with his withered hand healed right and while they're they say master we would like to see a sign yeah you know come on get serious but jesus answered and said to them an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of the prophet jonah and this is a dandy verse for as jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth matthew 12 40. very key verse i remember i was on the co-chairman on tbn many years ago and we had as our one of our guests uh jay jay warwick montgomery the famous apologist and the first time i had met him face to face i knew a lot about him because he's very close friend of walter martens and walter and i were very close but anywhere my co-host got a discussion with him about the the crucifixion was it on friday or wednesday you know those that debate and dr montgomery presented the usual attempt to defend friday and they went through their little thing but after they through i turned to my co-host with 35 million households watching saying you have to understand that dr montgomery is an attorney and that's the way they bill in the sense that you know partial days count is the idea thing and so uh and montgomery almost fell off the couch laughing because uh a little just good natured banter at his expense but but uh the three days or three nights is a very key verse because this verse among other things it's one of three verses that pretty well makes the case that jesus could not have been crucified on a friday despite the church tradition of that effect jesus is referring of course to the grave or hades the grave is the physical place a person can own a grave hades or sheol is is the abode of the departed dead and it's apparently in the center of the earth hades was a temporary place uh shelby is the hebrew term hades the greek term for the same concept pretty much haiti's a temporary place gehenna is a permanent place gehenna is the outer darkness and it's permanent i want you to notice that topologically they're opposites shale or hades is spoken of at least idiomatically as being in the center of the earth gehenna is in the outer darkness it's the opposite it's as far in opposition as you can imagine if you're even just limiting yourself to three dimensions so there is a gulf between the good part and the bad part of hades that's what luke 16 lays out for you and if that area is confusing i encourage you to get our briefing package on heaven and hell where we try to unsort these terms both in the hebrew and the greek but there's also illusion made to the abuso the the bottomless pit and uh the only place you could have a bottomless pit at least idiomatically is uh in the center of the uh earth because that's one place that all directions are up there is no bottom right so that's and that may or may not be the gulf that's between the two the good and bad part those are just you know people like little diagrams and stuff and that's the way it's often shown but who knows we'll see i'd rather not i'd rather get it by hearsay i don't want to go see friday crucifixion we've just seen one verse the sign of jodha implies that you cannot get three days and three nights between the crucifixion and sunday if it's on a friday matthew 28 1 is also a misunderstood verse because it's mistranslated in most english bibles this has to do when the sabbath was passed the women are going to the tomb but if you look at the greek term it's shabbaton which is a plural it's when the sabbaths were passed that sunday morning more than one sabbath had occurred between the crucifixion and that morning what sabbath would that be there are 52 shabbats that is saturdays in a year there are also seven high sabbaths one of which is the feast of unleavened bread which is the day after passover so you've got passover the feast of unleavened bread which is a high sabbath and shabbat and when the sabbath plural was passed that implies the feast of unleavened bread had occurred uh as well of course the shabbat the sabbath had intervened so that's another indication that it couldn't have been on friday but there's another thing in john chapter 12 jesus is in jericho and he makes a journey to jerusalem six days before passover well if passover is on a friday that would make that journey on a shabbat would he would not undertake more than a sabbath day's journey on sabbath which means that the passover that year could not have been on a friday okay those are just three examples or other things that that's caused most serious scholars to assume a non-friday i won't insist whether it's wednesday or thursday there's some subtleties involved and all that but clearly not friday one of your going in assumptions whenever you encounter a tradition always go at the presumption it's probably wrong traditions seem to emerge unless you can anchor it in the word of god treat it at least suspect you don't have to be cynical about it or kind of classic about it but at least be treated with suspect but jesus goes on here then he says the men of nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of jonah and behold it greater than jonah's ear and by the way they're they're repenting at preaching of jonah was on spec jonah didn't call for the repentance he just told him that 40 days and comes to destruction the most astonishing passage in the scripture is the king on down repented on spec maybe if we repent god might change his mind they did and he did the queen of the south shall rise up in judgment with his generation and shall condemn it for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of solomon and the only greater than solomon is here when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man and walketh through the dry places seeking to rest and findeth none then he saith i'll return to my house from once i came out and when he has come he findeth empty swept and garnished and then go with him find it taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that man is worse than the first even so shall i be with this wicked generation you know that's a heavy heavy lesson on demonology if you have an exorcism and as demons cast out you don't stop there you make sure that there is an acceptance and a commitment to jesus christ and a renunciation of satan always works in all his ways the early church always did that in modern evangelism we tend to have an altar call and accept christ isn't that great then we wonder why in subsequent years people who've had a previous occultic background end up having all kinds of hassles this this is part of the lesson you want to make sure that you not that you don't just sweep out the house and clean it you replace it with the holy spirit while you're talking to the people behold his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to speak with him then one said and behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee well wait a minute what kind of a family did jesus have at least seven siblings seven siblings he had at least four brothers they're named james joseph simon and judas and he had at least two sisters because sisters is plural in matthew 13 verse 55 and 56 and in mark six verse three so they're actually listed the names of his four brothers you could technically say well they're half brothers okay i won't won't fight that battle with you but uh and at least we know the sisters was plural so at least two of them so there's at least apparently a family of seven that we know of and uh many of us you know don't don't get their church traditions to the contrary that's what the scripture says i rest my case but he answered them that told him who is my mother who are my brethren he stretched forth his hands towards disciples said behold my mother and my brethren whosoever shall do the will of my father which is in heaven the same as my brother my sister and mother so that's his summary of that so we're at a turning point major turning point in matthew's gospel from this point on jesus is only going to speak to the public in parables his explanations will be in private the reason he does that may surprise you so for your next session once you read matthew 13 i'd like you to review your notes if you have them on the seven letter seven churches that is revelation two and three in advance of next time so let's let's stand for closing word of prayer

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Length: 56min 47sec (3407 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 18 2020