HG060-62 Luke 8:1-3, Mark 3:19-30, Matthew 12:22-45

22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” 25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house. 30 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31 And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. 33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. 35 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” 38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” 39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here. 43 “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

22-23

We are immediately introduced to a man who can neither speak nor hear. What a life he must have had. Communication is so hard when it is like this but He was brought to Jesus, the only One who had the power to overcome this disability. Today, with modern medicine and science they can make one who is dumb speak through a computer and the deaf hear through hearing-aids but Jesus performs a miracle so that with his own mouth and with his own ears he speaks and hears. What had caused this ailment in the first place? He was possessed by a demon. Let’s be clear that this does mean anyone who is deaf and dumb is demon-possessed but it is one possibility. Today, we brush under the carpet any notion that anyone’s health issue could have anything at all to do with a spiritual entity but that does not mean that it is not so and does not happen today. There is a growing tide of exorcisms being done in our time so much so that people are being trained here in the West to deal with this things. However, if one does not know Christ then this is a dangerous game as we can read in Acts to the seven sons of Sciva.

Now, no-one present for this miracle of Jesus denied what happened and the people were beginning to think that perhaps He is the Messiah though they could not fully understand why Jesus had not vanquished their mortal enemies, the Romans. However, He was fulfilling other prophecy concerning the One who had been promised throughout the Old Testament ever since Genesis 3.

Yes, a miracle happened but it was not by the power of God but by sorcery, which He was now being accused of. Which, by the way, was a death sentence in Israel. He’s taking His orders from Beelzebub, the prince of demons, they said.

25-26

Why would Satan cast himself out? Satan would never voluntarily quit someone who belongs to him. He would not give up for a moment part of his kingdom. To cast himself out would be acting against his own interests. If Satan cast out his own kind he would be destroying himself.

The Gospel of Matthew 3. The Accusation of Using Demonic Power (12:22–37)

it is absurd to imagine that the demon king would attack and defeat his own demonic forces

And Jesus points out the fallacy of this. He says that if there is disunity that thing cannot stand. Even disunity in ‘self’ is a problem as a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways says James. Unity is what we need to keep in the body of Christ, not at the expense of doctrine, especially the most essential doctrines such as how to be saved; this need to be jealously guarded.

We all know people who are not of the same persuasion as us but are still God’s people. Not one of us are perfect in understanding or lifestyle but disunity can bring us down. If there is disunity we shall cease to exist as a body of believers. That, on its own, should cause us to strive for each other’s betterment and encouragement. And what does the world see? Do they see that we love each other? Do they know we are His disciples, or is there really nothing to commend us?

The Scribes were expecting people to believe that Satan would give up his possessions so easily – no – he wages war against souls to steal, kill and destroy. What is ironic is that they are saying Jesus is under the influence of the devil but it was these very scribes who were being influenced by the devil to throw themselves and anyone who would come with them into the fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.

They didn’t want to believe and therefore they don’t want others to either. It is the same today – most scientists recognise that the theory of evolution does not stand up to scrutiny but will continue to say that it is fact because they make a conscious decision not to believe even though the Heavens declare the glory of God. and so cause others to believe a lie too. Jesus didn’t dismiss them out of hand but gave a rational argument to show that their argument cannot stand up.

Jesus makes it very clear that it is by the Spirit of God He is casting out demons.

“This means that God’s Kingdom is coming which causes joy in those who embrace it, is a threat to those who oppose his will such as the Pharisees breaking uncomfortably into their cosily controlled world of tradition and turning everything upside down.” (RT France, edited by me)

Satan, is the strongman in this case and he has power but Jesus has now entered the house to plunder the goods of Satan. What are the goods of Satan but the very lives of people. Satan is powerless before Him who defeated him at the cross. As Reinhard Bonnke says: Let us plunder hell and populate heaven! As a result even we have the authority of Jesus to work against Satan.

Doing God’s will in His power, in His way, making known what he has done, we will see Satan overcome and cast down but not through our own strength, not by might, nor by power but by His Spirit.

1 John 4:4 NKJV

4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

We may be few but more are on our side . We have been given authority to make disciples and to baptise therefore let us do this and cast Satan out - and what better way than to see people translated from the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God?

If one compares the life of the present world with Christ’s teaching and life, one discovers immediately that the most of the world is completely opposed to Christ. What is the life now other than covetousness, concern over food, search for wealth, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, that is, the getting of the most and best of what is in the world, of fame, a great name, of disobedience, wrath, enmity, war, disunity, contention, a desire for revenge in words and deeds, secret envy, an unforgiving spirit, unrighteousness, impurity, deception, falsity, slander? The lives of the people of this world is spent completely on worldly love, self-love, self-honour and self-gain.

Contrast this with Jesus and His life: pure, simple, love for God and people, kindness, meekness, humility, patience, obedience unto death, mercy, righteousness, truth, purity, holiness, rejection of the world and all worldly honour, wealth, and pleasure, denial of oneself, a continual cross, suffering, tribulation, a continual desire and groaning for the kingdom of God and a ready desire to do the will of God.

Why have I contrasted these two kinds of lives? Jesus said: “He who is not with me is against me”. The life of this world is not with Christ. It does not agree in any way with him. There is almost no one of one heart, thought, mind, and spirit with Christ in the way one ought to be. The people of this world are against Christ. (Johann Arndt - edited by me)

Where is one to find true Christians? There are not many.

2 Timothy 2:19 NKJV

Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”

Will we deny ourselves and follow Christ?

31-32

If we rise to this challenge then these next verses cannot produce fear for the Christian. But let us put them in context:

We learn that the scribes were crediting Satan with that which the Holy Spirit, through Christ, was doing. They were doing this deliberately and wilfully, in spite of all the evidences to the contrary; they still affirmed that Jesus was expelling demons by the power of Demons. They knew only God could do the things that Jesus was doing but they were set in their own sinfulness. And this is the key to understanding the Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. It cannot be done by accident but by deliberately refusing His work in their lives even when there are overwhelming evidences and proof. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals God's truth to people.

If someone continually refuses the guidance of the Spirit they will become incapable of recognising the truth when they sees it. Evil to them becomes good and good evil. White is black and black is white. They looks on the goodness of God and call it the evil of Satan.

This answers the question about why many people refuse Christ even when presented with evidence. Whilst our faith makes intellectual sense it is still a faith of the heart. The rich young ruler who came to Jesus knew He was the Messiah but he would not give up his possessions to follow Him.

The Teacher’s Commentary 86: Matt. 12:1–15:20—Hardening Opposition

two well-known radio personalities were talking about visits each had made to the South American land of the Aucas. These were the jungle peoples who in the late ’50s speared five missionaries—some of whose wives and children later went to live among them and won them to Christ. One of the radio personalities told how impressed he had been with the translated testimony of a converted chief, who had earlier taken 35 human heads, and by the fact that the actual killers of the five missionaries had not only become Christians but were now themselves missionaries to other jungle tribes.

Both men were tremendously impressed by their trips and these jungle peoples. Their interest and curiosity had been challenged—but not their commitment. Faced with the necessity of making a personal choice, neither had responded. And one was clearly hostile.

These Pharisees enjoyed the power they had and were not willing to give this up to follow Jesus. And their hearts are hardened as a result.

Here Jesus was accused of being Satanic. When one has grown so corrupt as to perceive the Spirit’s work as Satanic--white as black, good as evil, right as wrong--what can be done for him? Nothing. For such a one even if forgiveness were possible he would not want it.

So, then, the only unforgivable sin is the continual rejection of Jesus that is not repented of before death. As John says;

John 3:19 NKJV

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

This is why Jesus calls them a brood of snakes for their words betrayed them. And every word spoken will bring them into judgement. The Pharisees were using the words to prevent others from trusting in Jesus and for that they will pay. We, on the other hand, should be using our words to point to Jesus.

Jesus was crucified and buried and Satan thought he had won but just as Jonah was regurgitated onto land by the fish and so, in a way, was resurrected so was Jesus, after being in the tomb, death rejected Him and He was brought back to life. Sin defeated. Death defeated. Satan defeated.

When we come to Jesus and accept Him as Lord all our sins are taken from us into the deepest sea, as far west as one can go from the east. There was nothing that we could do to attain salvation and there still is nothing we can do to attain it. It is not by works we gain favour with God but by faith by which He has called us - and what He gives and calls He does not take away.

What do we need to give up to follow Jesus? Let us then go on with our lives rejecting the way of the world and taking up mind of Christ and follow Him.

Benediction

Ephesians 3:20–21 NKJV

20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Bibliography

Arndt, J. (1979). Johann Arndt: True Christianity. (R. J. Payne, Ed., P. Erb, Trans.). New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.

France, R. T. (1985). Matthew: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 1). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

France, R. T. (2007). The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publication Co.

Pentz, C. M. (1977). Expository Outlines on the Life of Christ. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

Richards, L., & Richards, L. O. (1987). The teacher’s commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.