OF WORDS AND KINGDOMS
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Words are powerful things. That is because they represent concepts. And kingdoms are often built on concepts. Our nation began with a concept of “no taxation without representation.” That concept led to the writing of the Declaration of Independence in which these words were immortalized:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Just as words can be used to promote a positive concept or positive actions, so words can also be used to harm and even destroy. James, our Lord’s half-brother wrote of this:
So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.
For lack of a better title I am calling today’s message OF WORDS AND KINGDOMS. Please take your Bible and turn with me to . This morning we continue on with our sermon series that is titled THE RISING TIDE OF TENSION. During the period of ministry in which these events took place in the life of Christ we have noted that He was questioned by the disciples of John the Baptist as to His true identity. This led Jesus to speak about John and his place in redemptive history. Then our Lord denounced the places in Galilee in which most of His works of miracles and His teaching had taken place. Though they had seen and heard Jesus, ultimately most had rejected Him. After this rebuke from Christ, tensions began to increase exponentially. Over the last couple of weeks we have looked at the allegations that Jesus and His disciples were breaking the Sabbath regulations. They were indeed breaking the man-made regulations regarding the Sabbath, but they were not breaking God’s regulations.
Please take your Bible and turn with me to . This morning we continue on with our sermon series that is titled THE RISING TIDE OF TENSION. During the period of ministry in which these events took place in the life of Christ we have noted that He was questioned by the disciples of John the Baptist as to His true identity. This led Jesus to speak about John and his place in redemptive history. Then our Lord denounced the places in Galilee in which most of His works of miracles and His teaching had taken place. Though they had seen and heard Jesus, ultimately most had rejected Him. After this rebuke from Christ, tensions began to increase exponentially. Over the last couple of weeks we have looked at the allegations that Jesus and His disciples were breaking the Sabbath regulations. They were indeed breaking the man-made regulations regarding the Sabbath, but they were not breaking God’s regulations.
As we continue on with our study today we will look at the climax of the series of confrontations that are found in . As we do so we will look at the setting, the two kingdoms, the unpardonable sin, and careless words.
THE SETTING —
THE SETTING —
Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?” But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”
Let’s look briefly at the setting.
At some point after the last confrontation ( we are not told how close in time these events were) someone brought a friend to Jesus.
May I stop for a moment and bask in the idea of someone bringing another to Christ? Oh, that we would care so much for those who are spiritually sick that we would bring them to Christ for healing.
This particular man was demon possessed. While the text doesn’t state this specifically, it is almost certain that it was the demon who possessed this man that caused him to become blind and mute. Jesus healed the man, presumably by driving out the demon. This caused the onlookers to become amazed. In their amazement they asked, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?” Some see in this statement a lack of faith in Jesus as their Messiah. But I see it as more of a growing intrigue that Jesus may in fact be their long awaited Messiah.
Regardless how the crowds perceived Jesus, the Pharisees made a shocking, careless statement: “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of demons.”
Beelzebul is a nickname, if you will, for Satan. In a sense these men were claiming that Jesus practiced some form of sorcery or black magic. That certainly was not unheard of at that time. We know from that there was a man named Simon Magnus who practiced some form of sorcery which amazed the people. He even tried to convince the Samaritans that he was the Messiah. Though Simon was perhaps empowered by a demon, Jesus was the real deal.
In answer to this accusation Jesus launched into a diatribe against these Pharisees in which He refuted the Pharisees notion that He was empowered by the devil. Let’s look at the first part of this diatribe as we consider the two kingdoms.
TWO KINGDOMS —
TWO KINGDOMS —
And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. “If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? “If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. “Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
The first thing that I want you to see here is that Jesus’ deity comes shining through in as Matthew informs us that knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them … Being God in the flesh Jesus knew what these Pharisees were thinking. So how did Jesus respond? He responded by quoting Abraham Lincoln! Actually Abraham Lincoln quoted Jesus’ remarks in this passage.
In 1858 in a speech that Abraham Lincoln gave while he was running against Stephen Douglas for the Senate seat from Illinois he quoted Jesus’ remarks, found in regarding a city or a house divided against itself is laid waste. Of course he was referring to the division in our country between States which allowed for slave ownership and those States that had outlawed slavery.
Truly any kingdom that is divided against itself cannot endure. With the division that exists in our government today I truly do fear that our house will fall. But Jesus was not talking about politics. He was referring to spiritual kingdoms.
In the spiritual realm there are truly only two kingdoms. There is the kingdom that is of this world. This kingdom is presently ruled by Satan, who is described as the ruler of this world, or the prince of the power of the air. All who do not belong to Jesus are citizens of this evil kingdom.
The second kingdom is that which belongs to Christ. I love the reference to this kingdom which is found in:
Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”
Presently this kingdom is found in the hearts of those who are believers in Jesus Christ — that is the true, universal church. But there is coming a day when Jesus will return to establish His earthly kingdom — the one in which He will rule with a rod of iron. What a day that will be!
The Pharisees had made an absurd charge that Satan was casting out Satan. It is an illogical and fallible argument. It just doesn’t make sense. It was a statement that was carelessly made without thinking about the ramifications of what was being said. Notice the arguments that Jesus made in .
If Satan’s house it divided then it will not stand!
Your own exorcists will be your judge!
The kingdom of God has come upon you — that kingdom which opposes Satan!
I (Jesus) have been restraining Satan!
You are either with Me or against Me — there is no in between!
There is no middle ground when it comes to Jesus Christ. Either we cling to Him in faith, or else we are His enemies. The good news is that even when were His enemies, we were reconciled to God through Christ.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Before we came to Christ (or if you have not yet come to Christ) we were all His hostile enemies.
For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
I love the way Paul referred to the two kingdoms during his opening comments in his letter to the
For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Let’s turn our attention now to what is often called the unpardonable sin.
THE UNPARDONABLE SIN —
THE UNPARDONABLE SIN —
“Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
D.A. Carson defines blasphemy as extreme slander — to speak out against some one with strong intentions.
In the early years of our nation a man named Aaron Burr ran for president against John Adams. He lost the election in part because Alexander Hamilton campaigned against him. Blaming Hamilton for his losing the election, Burr charged the statesmen with slander, and challenged him to a duel. Burr won the duel and Hamilton got his picture on the $10 bill!
There are many theories as to what the unpardonable sin really is. Some teach that this sin could only have been committed during the time that Jesus was on earth. Others teach that it is the sin of unbelief (that is what I was taught). However that does not seem to hold water since at one time even believers were guilty of the sin of unbelief. Some teach that the unpardonable sin is something that can only be committed by true believers, and therefore it is a reference to a rare instance in which genuine believers can lose their salvation. Wayne Grudem, in his book title Systematic Theology (Zondervan, 1994, Grand Rapids, MI, pg. 508-509)gives this helpful statement:
Jesus is speaking about a sin that is not simply unbelief or rejection of Christ, but one that includes (1) a clear knowledge of who Christ is and of the power of the Holy Spirit working through Him, (2) a willful rejection of the facts about Christ that His opponents knew to be true, and (3) slanderously attributing the work of the Holy Spirit in Christ to the power of Satan.
Luis Berkhof in his Systematic Theology text wrote:
This sin consists in the conscious, malicious, and wilful rejection and slander, against evidence and conviction of the testimony of the Holy Spirit respecting the grace of God in Christ, attributing it out of hatred and enmity to the Prince of Darkness … in committing that sin man wilfully, maliciously, and intentionally attributes what is clearly recognized as the work of God to the influence and operation of Satan. (Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 253, cited in Grudem, pg. 508-509).
Some equate the blasphemy of the Spirit with what the writer of Hebrews referred to in
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,
and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
So then we could say that the unpardonable sin and apostacy are synonomous — they are the same basic thing.
The question I wrestle with is this: did these Pharisees commit the unpardonable sin? Or was Jesus warning them that they were coming close to doing so? The reason for that question is that commentators do not agree on this point. R.C. Sproul contends that the Pharisees blasphemed Jesus rather than the Holy Spirit. And Jesus specifically states that to blaspheme Him is forgivable, but blaspheming the Spirit is not forgivable.
In regards to the distinction between blaspheming the Son of Man as opposed to blaspheming the Spirit, D.A. Carson wrote:
The first sin (blaspheming the Son of Man) is rejection of the truth of the gospel (but there may be repentance and forgiveness for that), whereas the second sin (blaspheming the Holy Spirit) is rejection of the same truth in full awareness that that is exactly what one is doing—thoughtfully, willfully, and self-consciously rejecting the work of the Spirit even though there can be no other explanation of Jesus’ exorcisms than that.
Carson, D. A. (1984). Matthew. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (Vol. 8, pp. 291–292). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
Notice:
For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.
Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”
It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
I am inclined to side with those who believe that this specific group of Galilean Pharisees who brought this charge against Jesus, did in fact commit the unpardonable sin. The reason I believe this is that is a turning point in this Gospel account. Beginning in Jesus began addressing the crowds in parables rather than in the straight forward manner that He used up to this point.
Let’s turn our attention now to careless words.
CARELESS WORDS —
CARELESS WORDS —
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. “The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Just a few notes on these verses. I am trying to deal with them as part of the above passage because that is where they fit into the context. As Jesus closed His diatribe against the Pharisees He made these statements — perhaps it would be helpful to think of them in terms of practical application.
What a person has to say is the fruit of their lips. If the fruit of our lips is destructive then we will be known as destructive people. Our mouths betray who we really are.
Careless words get us in trouble and can cause others a great deal of grief and pain.
We will have to give an account for the careless things we say. The things that we say will be the evidence that is used against us — “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”
Where is the Gospel in all of this? Jesus Christ has presented Himself as the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Him. He willingly offered Himself as our substitute. He took our place as God poured out His judgment on our sin.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
He died the death that we should have died so that we might become righteous — not with a righteousness of our own making, but with the righteousness that comes by faith in Christ.
and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
Because He was God it was impossible for Him to remain dead, and so He rose triumphantly from the grave. And now He is seated in heaven at the right hand of God the Father, where He intercedes on behalf of His own.
You have seen and heard the evidence. Will you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior?
Believer, how is your resolve? Are you resolved to follow the Savior? What do you treasure most in this life? What you treasure most will be evident in the things that you have to say. Is your speech such that lifts up others in their walk with Christ? Or does your speech cause others to stumble?
Let’s pray.
Closing Song: No. 597 — TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE