Jesus vs. Religion Pt 2

And for our responsive reading this morning we are going to be in Psalm 110. 110. We'll be looking at the New American Standard. If you need a copy of the New American Standard that should be one in a row. So that we can all sound like we're saying the same thing. As you're turning to Psalm 110 if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's word. I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses.

Psalm 110. A Psalm of David. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Lord will stretch forth your strong scepter from Zion. Saying. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will volunteer freely in the day of your power. And holy array from the womb of the dawn. Your youth are to you as the dew.

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings in the day of his wrath. He will judge among the nations. He will fill them with corpses. He will shatter the chief men over a broad country. And read verse 7 with me. He will drink from the brook by the wayside.

Therefore he will lift up his head. Father I come before you and just thank you that you are both king and priest. Lord a high priest forever. But also the one who will rule and reign righteously in the way that you see fit. Father we look forward to that day. And so Lord prepare our hearts for that as we spend time in your word. Lord do the work that needs to be done in our hearts.

Where there needs to be conviction. I pray that you would bring conviction. Where there needs to be comfort. I pray that you would bring comfort. Lord most of all that we would just see you more clearly. In Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would. Open up in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. Last week we started into the Gospel of Matthew chapter 12.

We went to a new series in chapter 12. And the series that we started into. I entitled Jesus versus religion. So last week when we looked at that. We looked at a handful of things. We looked at mainly things that surrounded the Sabbath day. Jesus had done some things to challenge their Sabbath day. First of all with his disciples. And their eating of picking the grain.

And rubbing it in their hands. And eating the grain. And the religious leaders were like oh my gosh you violated the Sabbath day. Which they did not. They violated what man had established as rules for the Sabbath day. But they did not violate neither the heart of the law. Nor God's law as far as the Sabbath day was concerned. So Jesus told them hey you have to understand.

That I the son of man am Lord of the Sabbath also. Well Jesus pushed the envelope again with the Sabbath day. When he showed up in the synagogue. And there was a man there with a withered hand. And they said is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? Because they were trying to challenge Jesus. To come up with a really good accusation against them. And they asked him a question.

He said well if one of you lost a sheep in a hole. Would you not go down and rescue that sheep? As a matter of fact you would. And a man is worth a whole lot more than a sheep. Therefore it's lawful to do good on the Sabbath. And then he proceeded to heal the man with the withered hand. And of course at that point in time we wrapped up with verse 14. Where it said this.

But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him. As to how they might destroy him. And so as Jesus has faced these religious leaders. We're seeing the rejection of the religious community. That they have towards Jesus. And so last week was part one. Well today we look at Jesus versus religion part two. And it's going to surround an event. That is the healing of the man who was possessed by a demon.

But of course we have a little bit of a segue to get into that. So we pick up in verse 15 of chapter 12. And it says this. But Jesus aware of this withdrew from there. Many followed him and he healed them all. And he warned them not to tell anyone who he was. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet. 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 proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel nor cry out. Nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A battered reed he will not break off. And a smoldering wick he will not put out. Until he leads justice. To victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope.

Now as we see this there's sort of a segue. That I've entitled Jesus withdraws and heals. He knows what's going on with the religious leaders. That they are seeking a way to destroy him. And of course the way that they would like to destroy him. Is to put him to death. But it's not his time yet. His time has not yet come. Jesus knew that God had a specific time for him to be crucified.

And that time was not yet. And so Jesus withdrew to not only take the pressure off of himself. But also not to speed up what God had already set in motion. And so when he withdraws. I would like you to take note of who follows him. It says in verse 15. But Jesus is aware of this. Withdrew from there. And it says many followed him. The word multitudes could also be used there.

Multitudes followed him. And I want you to take note of what Jesus does. When they followed them. It says and he healed them all. This is one of the few places in the gospel accounts. Where it says that everybody that showed up that needed healing. Jesus healed them all. Matter of fact. All of the people that showed up realized that religion offered them nothing.

And Jesus offered them everything. That man's rules brought them no peace. Man's rules brought them no joy. And a matter of fact it only put them under bondage. Jesus brought them true healing. And Jesus brought them true freedom. And so they followed Jesus. And as they followed Jesus. They presented their needs to him. And he began to heal all of them. Jesus did something interesting.

When he began to heal them. He told them. Matter of fact it says he warned them in verse 16. That they were to tell no one who he was. Now this is an interesting thing for a leader to do. Is it not? It's an interesting thing for a leader to stand back and say. I'm going to do something amazing. But I don't want you to tell anybody that I'm here. Jesus needed a better PR campaign.

Amen. Because he was constantly telling people. Don't tell anyone who I am or what I've done for you. And so you should ask the same question that I asked. Why? Why does he not want to tell anybody? Why does he not want to tell anyone who he is or what he's doing? Shouldn't a leader. Shouldn't a king be broadcasting his popularity. Broadcasting his ability to the entire world.

And the answer for this first time around is no. See he didn't want anyone to know what he was doing. Because he knew what was really in the heart of the Jewish people at that point in time. That what the Jewish people were seeking at that point in time. Is they were seeking a political leader. That would set them free from a tyrannical government. They were seeking a political leader who would set them free temporarily from the Roman occupation.

They were seeking temporary freedom. And that's not what Jesus came to offer them. Jesus came to offer them something very different. Because while Jesus was the Messiah. The first time he came he didn't come as the conquering leader. The first time he came he came as the suffering servant. And he was going to offer them freedom. But not the kind of freedom that only gives you the temporary momentary freedom of this world.

He was going to offer them freedom that would last into eternity. Because the freedom that he would offer them was the freedom that came with forgiven sins. The freedom that came with the righteousness that only Jesus Christ can give. And he knew what they wanted to do. They wanted to make him a king. Now as I was thinking about this I thought isn't that kind of what we're a little bit like in the church in the 21st century right now?

That perhaps some of you are not pleased with the particular government that we have right now. Or maybe some of the leaders that we have right now. And we're all seeking something. Many of us in the church are seeking a political leader that will set us free from a government that we disagree with. And I'm here to tell you right now we as the church need to stop seeking a political leader that will set us free from a temporary government.

We should instead be seeking the king that is going to come and establish a kingdom that will reign forever. And we need to get our focus in the right place. We need to get our focus off of a political leader. And get our focus on the one who can truly offer freedom. Because it would be a wonderful thing to have freedom, wealth, and prosperity in our nation over the next 25, 30, 40, 50 years.

However much longer we're here. But how much better to have eternal freedom that will last forever in brand new bodies on a brand new earth. With a brand new heaven where we don't ever have to worry about all the things ever again. Friends, seek the right kingdom. And seek the right leader. Because that's what Jesus was warning these people against when he said don't tell anyone who I am.

Because I didn't come to give you freedom temporarily. I came to set you free forever. And so, he goes on from there. Matthew does. Let me explain why Jesus did this. He says it was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet. He says,

Now, as Matthew quotes this prophecy from the book of Isaiah. It's interesting to pay attention to a handful of things that Matthew tells us about this Jesus that he was fulfilling. Jesus, first of all, fulfilled his role. Notice what it says. He says, Now, again, that's not what I think of when I think of a king. When I think of a king, I think of somebody who should have servants.

Somebody who should employ servants in his household. Somebody who should be able to tell anyone to do something. And that person would not just ask, or that person would say, well, how high do you want me to jump? Right? But that's not who Jesus was when he came. Because when he came the first time, he didn't come as the conquering king. He came as the suffering servant.

Remember what Jesus told us in the book of Mark? I believe it's chapter 10. When he gave his mission for coming, he says, The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And when we look at this role of the Messiah, his job the first time he came was to be a servant. And if the Messiah was willing to lay aside his glory and become a servant,

how much more should you and I not follow that example and be the servants to the people that are around us in any way that we can? He says, The second thing I take note of is that he does his work in quiet. Notice what it says in verse 19. He will not quarrel, nor cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. You see, this Messiah would do his work in a very quiet way because he didn't do his work in order to build a following.

He did his work in order to serve the simplest of men. He did his work in order to serve the common, everyday person. And if that extended into the elites, then wonderful. But he was willing to be quiet in the way that he did his work. And it's a beautiful picture of this Messiah that's given to us because his goal was not popularity. His goal was not a brand.

His goal was to serve. The third thing I take note of about this prophecy that's given to us in Isaiah is how gentle he is with the broken. Notice what it says in verse 20.

A reed was really good for nothing. It simply grew up in the swamps or amongst the rivers. And it wasn't good for firewood. It wasn't good for building anything. Sometimes they could make paper out of it. But even if it was bruised, it wasn't even good for that. And yet this good-for-nothing thing that grew up in the rivers that was of little or no value, even when bruised, it says that Jesus was still gentle with it.

Jesus was gentle with the smoking wick, something that was used only to burn at the end of a candle. But if it couldn't even light a flame, then of what good was it? It was of no good to anyone. And yet Jesus took that which the world said, it's no good to anyone, and he was still gentle with it. I don't know about you, but I know that if my life apart from Christ was revealed, it would be very clear that it's good for nothing.

And it's of no value to anyone. It's of no value to anyone on this earth or in eternity. And yet Jesus took me, someone who was useless and of no value to anyone. And he said, I love you so much that I'm going to give my life for you. And I'm going to be gentle with you. And I'm going to take my time with you. And I'm not going to cast you out. Instead, you, in all of your brokenness, I'm going to be gentle with you.

Perhaps you're here this morning and you feel a little bit broken in your life. Maybe you feel like you're of no good to anyone. Maybe you feel like your life is of no value. I want you to know something. Your life is of great value. As a matter of fact, your life is of such great value that Jesus looked at you and said, I'm willing to give my life for you.

And I will continue to be gentle with you as long as I need to in order to bring you to a place of repentance. In order to fashion you into who I want you to be. Because a bruised reed, a smoking wick, he won't put out. He's just very gentle with the broken. As a matter of fact, I'm reminded of the fact that when religion rejects Jesus, the broken are who become his followers.

You see, when all of the people that are learned, wise, begin to reject the truth of who Jesus is, you'll still find a following for Jesus. And that following for Jesus is all of those who are broken. All of those who are destitute. You know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of a verse out of the book of 1 Samuel. If you remember anything about 1 Samuel,

David had been anointed king, but he'd been rejected by the people. And had been threatened, his life had been threatened by Saul. And so he was on the run. And so he went out to dwell in the wilderness. But it says that there was a particular group of people that found themselves attached to King David. It says all of the poor, all of those who were in debt,

all of the destitute, all of the off-scouring of the nation of Israel gathered themselves to David, and he became their leader. Well, you know what all of those men ended up becoming? They ended up becoming a group of men called David's mighty men. And if you want to know anything about David's mighty men, you should read in the book of 1 Kings because it tells of all of the exploits of David's mighty men.

Because all of those broken, all of those destitute, all of those in debt, all of the off-scouring of the nation of Israel became some of the most elite warriors in the world. Why? Because they finally found the right king. Brothers and sisters, Jesus wants to be your king. If you come to him broken, he'll be so gentle with you that he will turn you into the world's most elite warrior

in a spiritual sense, right? He could make something beautiful out of you. It goes on from there to give one last thing. It says, until he leads justice to victory, and in his name the Gentiles will hope. What does that mean? It means he becomes the savior of the Gentiles. That's why you and I are all here right now. Because this Jesus is the savior of the Gentiles.

Because all of us who were far from the promises, who were far from the covenants, Jesus has brought us in to be his own. So we go on from there to see this next story as Jesus heals the demon-possessed man. We pick up in verse 22 and this is what it says. 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.

And 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 Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons. Now, the first thing that we take note of is this healing that takes place. There's a healing and then there's a reaction to the healing. And as this healing takes place, we first of all see the individual

that is in desperate need of healing. It's kind of interesting. In all of this next about 15 or so verses, only one is given to the healing. Why? Well, because the response to the healing and what Jesus says to the Pharisees is of utmost importance. But I want to make sure we spend just a few moments talking about the beauty of this healing that takes place in this man's life.

Because notice the position that this guy is in. He has three issues. Number one, he's demon-possessed. In other words, he is spiritually broken. He's as spiritually broken as you get because his life is so broken that a demon has come in and taken over his life and it's no longer his own. He is, if you will, in bondage to the devil. He is in bondage to the enemy.

So he's spiritually broken. But not only is he spiritually broken, it says that he's blind. He can't see where he's going. Even if he wanted to find Jesus, he couldn't because he can't see where he's going to find Jesus. So he's spiritually broken. And he finds himself in a place where he can't find Jesus. But not only is he blind and can't find Jesus, but what's the third issue that he has?

He's mute. Therefore, even if he wanted to cry out, he would feel like he can't cry out because the words can't come out of his mouth. He is spiritually broken and he is in a desperate, impossible situation. And so what happens? Well, what happens is this man was brought to Jesus. Now, who brought him to Jesus? We're not told. This time, we're not told who it was that brought him to Jesus.

Perhaps some really wonderful friends who knew that this guy had a major problem and Jesus was the only one that could heal the problem in his life. No matter who it was, this man was brought to Jesus. And in a very simple way, we're told exactly what took place. It says, And he healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. Again, Matthew. A little more detail would have been amazing here.

How did he heal him? We're not told because that part doesn't exist. That part's not important. But I think what is important is that the result is given to us because this was a complete healing that took place in this man's life. First of all, this man was restored spiritually. We know that because there was a complete healing that took place. No longer was he in bondage to the evil one.

No longer was he spiritually broken. Now he was spiritually healed. Not only was he spiritually healed and set free from the bondage of this demonic possession that had taken place in his life, he can now see. His eyes are open to see everything that he had not ever seen before because he'd been blinded by this situation. Not only was he spiritually set free,

his eyes were opened, but he begins to speak. He has a mouth to speak with. Can you imagine the first words that came out of his mouth? This is a cool thought, isn't it? The first words potentially that came out of his mouth are, Jesus. Oh, what a great moment, right? You know the disciples had to have been like, that's right. There was a lot of excitement right then.

And so there's this guy and he's completely healed. And I started thinking, isn't that exactly what Jesus does for all of us? Is that Jesus comes in and he heals us spiritually because you and I, before we came to Christ, who were we? We were completely, totally spiritually broken. Maybe not to the point of being demon-possessed, but definitely in bondage to the evil one.

In bondage to the sins of the world. And Jesus came in and he set us free. What's the next thing he did? He opened up our eyes. And all of a sudden when he opened up our spiritual eyes, we started going, whoa, how did I not know? How did I not know what was taking place? How had I not seen Jesus all this time? How had I not seen him at work? And for those of us now that love Jesus,

and our eyes have been opened, when we look at the things of the world, every now and then there's fear. There's at least open eyes where we can say, the world is nuts, but man, can't you see God at work? And our spiritual eyes have been opened to see, but not only that, brothers and sisters, but his mouth was open so that he could speak. I'll never forget when my mouth was open so that I could start to speak.

And you're probably like me either. You haven't stopped since. Right? Because that's who we are now. You see, you now have a voice. Because the voice that you have is your story to tell. And the greatest witness that you have is the story that you have to tell about what Jesus did in your life. You may not be able to say, I was possessed by a demon and Jesus set me free,

and now I'm living in peace because of it. But you have a story. You can say, I was dead and now I'm alive. And now you have a voice to speak with because he has set you free spiritually. He has opened up your spiritual eyes. And now he wants to open up your mouth so that you can tell the world around you exactly what Jesus has done in your life. And if you're here this morning and you've never had that happen,

then today is the day for Jesus to do that in your life. Because he not only wants to set you free, he wants to open your eyes and he wants to give you a voice to speak with. You may say, Ryan, my story is not awesome. I don't have a sweet story like I got set free from drug addiction or I was an alcoholic or all those kinds of things. Right? You don't need a story like that.

You don't need a story like that. Sometimes we just call those bragamonies. Right? Because Jesus never gets brought up. Now you have the strongest testimony ever. You were dead and now you're alive. You were broken and now you're whole. And he gives you that voice to speak with. This beautiful healing takes place in the life of this man and his life is never the same again.

But notice the reaction that takes place. There's two different reactions. Verse 23, take note. It says, all the crowds were amazed. And we're saying, this man can't be the son of David, can he? Notice what the crowds do. The crowds are utterly amazed by what they've seen. You know how we could also translate the word crowds in the Greek? The word crowds could also be translated the common people.

That's a definition there of the word crowds if you were to look that word up in the Greek dictionary. The common people. Well, who are you and I? Well, let me put it this way. Who am I? I'm one of the common people. I'm one of the normal people of life. And all the normal people of life kind of find themselves, when they see the work of Jesus Christ, they go,

that's just amazing. Why? Because they've not been clouded by their own learning. We've not been clouded by our own ability. Remember what Jesus said in the last chapter? Remember when he said, thank you, Father, that you've hidden these things from the wise and the learned. We would maybe substitute those that are wise in their own eyes, and you have revealed them to babes.

And remember what he said next. He said, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Isn't it a beautiful thing that even though all of the elite may say, and all of us common people sit back and go, that's just amazing. I'll never forget listening to different people say, I don't like this whole Jesus thing because it's not true.

I don't like this whole Jesus thing because it's more of a crutch. And I'm like, that's exactly what it is. It is definitely a crutch. Matter of fact, it's more than a crutch. It's the only reason I can walk. It's the only reason I have anything. And quite frankly, you need one too, but you can't tell that you don't have any legs. You can't tell that you need a crutch.

And that's the problem that you have in life. All of the common people were amazed. Can this be? Can this be the Messiah? But unfortunately, there's more than just the common people standing there. But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, this man casts out demons only by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons. Now, if I was alive with the disciples at this point in time,

I would always have an organ with me, or a piano, so that I could, in the background, go, Right? Because that feels like what needs to happen right there. That, or I wish I had the drum. One of those instruments I'd always have with me. But it feels like that's where the ominous music begins to play. Right? The girls were watching a movie on the way up to Kansas City the other day,

and it was Soul Surfer, and I was like, oh, this is the part where she doesn't do well in the surfing competition, huh? They're like, yeah, how can you tell? I'm like, the music got suspenseful. The music got sad. I knew exactly what was coming. Well, suspenseful music is playing right now, because things are getting bad. Right? We all know what's happening here.

The Pharisees are rejecting Jesus. They say he casts out demons by the ruler of the demons. Well, now it's time for Jesus to confront these religious leaders, because they've laid down a pretty heavy accusation. And as they've laid down this heavy accusation, Jesus has to respond. And as Jesus responds, there's going to be two things that he's going to do. Number one, he's going to give a defense.

Number two, he's going to give some warnings. The first thing we'll do is we'll look at his defense. Notice what it says in verse 25. 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's divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

But if by Beelzebul I cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason, they will be your judge. 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 himself? And then he will plunder his house. So it says Jesus kind of knew what was going on with these guys.

He knew their thoughts. The Holy Spirit had revealed that to him. And he gives three defenses for what he's doing. The first thing he says is a house divided against itself can't stand, right? This is what I would call the logical argument. A house divided against itself cannot stand. He goes, this is ridiculous. If Satan is divided against Satan, then that's not going to go very well for him, is it?

If Satan decides I'm going to cast out my own workers, that doesn't go very well. He says a house divided can't stand. We're kind of seeing this right now in culture, right? A house that's divided is going to have a hard time standing. And Jesus says it's just not logical. And then he goes on to give a second defense. The second defense that he gives is the defense of how their own people do it.

Notice what he says, verse 27. If by Beelzebul I cast out demons, by who do your sons cast them out? By this they will be your judges. Now there were those amongst the Pharisees, those amongst the religious leaders who claimed to be able to cast out demons. He said, if those among your own ranks claim to be able to cast out demons, then how do they do it? Well, surely the religious leaders wouldn't say, well, they do it by the power of Satan,

because not only is it illogical, but it makes them look really bad. He said, how do they do it? He said, why don't you let them be your judges? Well, then he gives a third argument, a third defense. And the third defense has to do with his own authority, the authority of God. Notice what he says. But if I cast out demons, verse 28, by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

He says, it doesn't make sense what you're saying. Your own people would say it doesn't make sense what you're saying. Therefore, it must be by the Spirit of God. And if it's by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is among you. Then the very authority of God through me is among you. In other words, you have to understand what's really going on. And then he gives an illustration.

He says, essentially, look at it like this. Verse 29, 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 says, how can somebody rob someone's house if there's a strong man able to defend it in there? How can he do that unless he has the authority to go in and bind the strong man, and then he can plunder his house?

What is he saying? Unless I'm stronger than the guy living in the house, then how can I go in and rob his house? Thus showing that he has more authority than Satan. And so he gives this defense. And as he gives this defense, he then moves into some warnings that he has to give to them. And he's going to give them four warnings, because as he has defended everything that he has to say,

he now begins to talk about how dangerous the position that they are in has become. Because their rejection of Jesus is more than just passive, and it's more than just opposition. It's almost to a point of no return. And so he's going to give them four warnings. Notice what it says in verse 30. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me,

scatters. 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. 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. Four warnings. Number one comes to us out of verse 33. He who is not with me is against me. He who is not with me is against me. There are a lot of people who feel like you can just be neutral on the aspect of Jesus.

Well, he's a good guy, but I'm not going to follow him. So they kind of remain neutral because they don't want to make a decision. They don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. They just say, I just am not going to make a decision. I'm not going to make a decision about that right now. But here's the thing about Jesus. Jesus will always require us to make a decision.

And as a matter of fact, with Jesus, not making a decision is a decision. You see, if I stand here and say, well, I'm just going to wait and decide on that later, then unfortunately you're beginning the process of making a decision. Because every time that the Holy Spirit comes in and begins to convict your heart, every time you push that conviction down, your heart gets a little bit harder. And as your heart gets a little bit harder, one of two things is going to happen.

Either your heart will continue to get hard to the point where it will eventually break. And for those of us whose hearts have been broken in a very hard place, you know that the harder your heart gets, the worse it hurts when it breaks. Don't get me wrong. It's the best thing that can ever happen to you. And that pain becomes the most beautiful story that you can tell.

But it still hurts. The other thing that can happen is your heart will get so hard that eventually it will become like granite and it will be unbreakable. And you will find yourself in a very dangerous position that we'll get to in just a moment. But you see, Jesus requires a decision. You're either for Him or you're against Him. You see, there's really only two forces that are at work in this world right now.

There are the forces of Jesus and there are the forces of evil. And if you're not pursuing the forces of Jesus, then you are pursuing the forces of evil. You say, no, I'm a pretty good person. Yeah, it's called self-righteousness. And self-righteousness in its very nature is evil. Because it's a righteousness that you think you have in you that's apart from Jesus Christ.

And that's exactly what the religious leaders are doing. They are establishing a righteousness apart from God and therefore are found guilty before God. So, Jesus requires that this decision be made in our lives. And I don't know who you are here this morning. I don't know where everybody stands in their walk with Jesus Christ this morning. But if the Lord has been calling you, if Jesus has been working on your heart,

and you've thought, man, I need to make that decision, but I'm not going to make it today, I would encourage you, don't put it off. Don't keep putting off the decision of salvation. Don't keep putting off what you're going to do with Jesus. Because if you keep putting off what you're going to do with Jesus, there could become a day where all of a sudden you don't feel that conviction anymore.

And you're like, whew. Glad I don't feel that conviction anymore. Well, that's a dangerous spot to be. Brothers and sisters, as those of us who know Jesus, we should care about the people in our lives that are not making those decisions. We should care about the people in our lives that are not for Him. And yeah, you're probably going to tick them off sometimes.

You're probably going to irritate them with the fact that you keep telling them, but you have to do something with Jesus. But eventually, they'll have to come to that point. I'm always reminded of a study I heard by David Jeremiah. He said, I was on an airplane with somebody who was very famous, and they were very opposed to the things of faith. He said, I promised them I would never use their name in a sermon.

He said, but if I said their name, you'd know it. He said, they wanted to debate me on Christianity. And so we talked for a long time, and we went back and forth. He said, but eventually I realized I wasn't getting anywhere. He said, and I felt like the Lord just told me to ask one question and one question only. But what are you going to do with Jesus? He said, they'd bring up their next argument, and I would say,

but what are you going to do with Jesus? And they'd argue some more, and I'd say, but what are you going to do with Jesus? Brothers and sisters, those of us here that know Jesus Christ, we have to be willing to ask those kinds of questions of the people that we love so much. You see, our goal here at Calvary Chapel of Arc City is not just to reach in, although that's a really big part of it.

One of our vision statements is we're going to reach in and build up the body of Jesus Christ. We do that through Bible studies, through fellowship, through events like what we talked about this morning where we get together and we build each other up. But you see, as the body, our job is also to reach out. It's to reach out with the gospel message to the people that are around us, and there's only so many people I can get to, and there's only so many things that a church event can get to, but there's a lot of people that you can get to.

Those are the people that you're the closest to, whose ear you already have because they know who you are. And it's time we started getting serious with some questions like, but what are you going to do with Jesus? Because if I've learned anything in the last year, it's that none of us is guaranteed tomorrow. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow. He says, he who's not with me is against me.

That's the first warning he gives. The second warning that he gives is a little bit tougher to take on. That's the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Every now and then there are some sections of Scripture that I'm like, do I have to teach that? Can I just pretend those verses aren't there? Because that's hard to explain. And you know what every commentator that I read said?

These verses are hard to explain. So here we go. We're going to do the best we can, right? Verse 31, it says, Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people. I'm happy so far. I like that. But blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven. Do what? Verse 32, whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him.

Great. Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him. Bummer. Either in this age or in the age to come. So Jesus is pretty clear about this. If you blaspheme against him, it'll be forgiven you if you ask for forgiveness. If you blaspheme anything else, it'll be forgiven you. Any sin will be forgiven you except for one sin. Matter of fact, some of your Bibles may label this the unpardonable sin.

And that's the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. So here's the real question. What is that? What is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? Well, I'm glad you asked because I've thought about this and I've read a lot about this. So I'm going to do the best I can to explain it. Now, contextually, in other words, based on what it says here, I can give you a little bit of an answer.

Because this is what the Pharisees were doing at this point in time. What they had done is they had attributed the works of Jesus Christ to the power of Satan. They, if you will, attributed the power of the Holy Spirit to the power of Satan. Now, many will say, and I don't fully disagree, but I do a little bit. Many will say that that's exactly what took place.

It was attributing the power of God to Satan. Therefore, it was the unpardonable sin because they refused to believe that it was Jesus that did this. Instead, they said it was the power of Satan. Now, those people will also then go on and say, you cannot commit this sin today because Jesus is not walking amongst us today in a physical way like he was then. Therefore, we can't attribute the work of Jesus

to the works of Satan. You can't commit the unpardonable sin. Now, I don't necessarily agree with that. Because otherwise, why would he spend some time talking about this? Why would Matthew decide to include this in his gospel? This is my take on it. And it starts with understanding what the role of the Holy Spirit is. Well, what does the Gospel of John tell us that the job of the Holy Spirit is?

We're told that the job of the Holy Spirit is to testify of Jesus Christ. That's what he tells us. He says, when he comes, speaking of the Holy Spirit, he will testify of me. So everything that the Holy Spirit does, his entire job, is to point people to Jesus. Well, what was happening right here with what Jesus was doing? Well, Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit,

was performing the works that the Messiah would do. Therefore, his works, in the power of the Holy Spirit, were testifying of who he is as the Messiah, as Jesus, the Son of God. Therefore, what they were doing is rejecting the revealed work of the Holy Spirit and attributing it to Satan. What I believe the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is, is a settled, willful rejection of Jesus Christ in spite of knowledge.

A settled, willful rejection of Jesus Christ in spite of knowledge. You see, there are some who will reject Jesus because they just don't know any better. There are some who will reject Jesus because, well, I just don't want to follow him. And then there are some who have had so much evidence placed in front of them. They have had so much evidence, not only through the word,

but also through the work of the Holy Spirit placed in front of them, and they still say, I know it's the truth, but I reject it, and I'm not going to follow it. Because all of these Pharisees knew these were the things that the Messiah was supposed to do. The Holy Spirit was making it clear in powerful evidences, and yet they are choosing at this point in time to reject the work of Jesus and instead call it the work of Satan. I believe that this is a settled, willful rejection.

It's kind of interesting, there's not been very many people I've come across like this, but every now and then there's someone who will tell you that at one point in time, I used to really study a lot about who Jesus is. I used to really pay attention to what the Bible said, but you know, I came to a point where I just don't believe all that anymore. Well, why? Why don't you believe that anymore?

Because I just don't want to. And you know what's usually at the heart of that every single time? It means there's something that they want to do that the Bible says that they can't do, and therefore they have rejected Jesus. I haven't come across very many people like this, but when I do, there's a hardness about them that I can't explain in words. There's a hardness about them that is just different,

because they have come to a place of settled rejection of Jesus Christ. It's a dangerous place for us to get to, and it's one that we should guard our hearts against, but it's what he warns us about here. Now, usually at this point in time, if you're anything like me, I'm pretty introspective, and I usually think the worst of myself. So this is what I start doing.

Have I committed the unpardonable sin? Right? I know there's a handful of you out there going, have I blasphemed the Holy Spirit? Listen, I want you to know right now, if you even care about whether or not you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, you have not. Okay? Because there is a settled hardness about that that is unchangeable. There's a settledness about it to where you no longer care

if you have offended the Holy Spirit. You no longer care if you've blasphemed the Holy Spirit, because that's how hard your heart is. You have gone beyond the point of no return. So if you're out there right now and you're going, have I done that? You haven't. Because you care, and the Holy Spirit is still at work in your heart. You know, it's kind of amazing that even some of these Pharisees that Jesus is warning right now,

some of them probably came to faith. You know, we're told in the book of Acts about some of the religious leaders, some of the members of the Sanhedrin that came to faith in Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, there was a really, really famous one that wrote most of the New Testament. He was called Saul. You know him as Paul, the apostle who had rejected Jesus,

hated Jesus. And yet, found himself in that place. But Jesus gives these guys a warning because they're in a very dangerous place. All right. Move on. Third warning. He says, a tree is known by its fruit. Notice what he says. Either make the tree, this is verse 33, 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.

Now I think that this speaks of two things. I think Jesus is speaking of himself and the religious leaders. He's saying, listen, either make the tree good and the fruit good, or make it bad and the fruit bad. You can't have it both ways. He says, I have shown you nothing but good fruit. In my life has been nothing but good that's come from the things that I've done.

Therefore, if everything that I have produced in my life is good, then I truly am good. Because all of the fruit that's come forth has been a good thing. But when it came to the religious leaders, what had come forth from their life? Nothing but evil. Evil had been coming from their lives because of their rejection of Jesus. Therefore, the tree is evil, because the tree is known by its fruit.

Brothers and sisters, we can come to church all we want to, and you can own a Bible, and every now and then learn to say the right things, but eventually the fruit of your life is going to prove who you really are. The fruit of our lives is eventually going to prove who we really are, and whether or not conversion has really taken place in our lives. When I was a little kid, my family used to own an orchard just out there. They just built the steakhouse there, just across the river on the southeast side of the river down here.

My family owned an orchard down there, not my immediate family, my extended family. And I used to go and help my grandfather, when I was a real little guy, pick apples. And every single one of those trees, it was an apple tree. You know what they always produced? That's right, they always produced apples. I remember being a little kid and being like, what kind of tree is that,

grandpa? That's an apple tree, son. That's an apple tree, son. You know, it was always the same thing. It always produced the same thing. Why? Because a tree is known by its fruit. We're told that there's two types of fruit that are supposed to be produced in our lives. Love for God, and love for people. That's how we know what kind of tree we are. Jesus says,

a tree is known by its fruit, therefore, pay attention to the fruit that your life is producing. Well, he gives a fourth warning. The fourth and last warning that he gives is this, words reveal character. Words reveal character. He says, you brood of vipers, how can you being evil speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. I love the way he starts this off.

He says, you brood of vipers, right? Like, sometimes I just want to be filled with enough righteous indignation that I call somebody a brood of vipers. It'll probably never happen. I'll be like, not nice person, or whatever kind of thing I'd come up with at that point in time. But Jesus calls him out. When's the last time we heard that phrase used, right? John B.,

right? Old J.B. pulled that thing out when the religious leaders came down. Remember? And he's baptizing people in the Jordan River, and all of a sudden the religious leader shows up, and instead of saying, hey, great, more numbers to add to my belt, he says, you brood of vipers, who warned you to come from the coming, who warned you to flee from the coming judgment?

And so, Jesus says the same thing. I love this because Jesus, gentle, meek Jesus, is completely willing to call somebody a brood of vipers if they're not those who are coming to him for salvation, if they're those who are opposed to him. And so Jesus says, listen up, you brood of vipers. How can you, being evil, speak of what is good? Why? Because the mouth speaks out that which fills the heart.

Boy, that one kind of nails a bunch of us to the wall, doesn't it? The mouth. The mouth speaks out that which comes from the heart. I would venture to say that most of you, when you show up here to church on a Sunday morning, you don't let too many bad things come out of your mouth. You know what I love about brand new believers? They don't know that yet. And so,

their mouth hasn't been redeemed yet, and every now and then they let one out. And they're like, I'm so sorry. I'm like, it's okay, man. You're just, you're learning. You're growing. It's okay. God will take care of your mouth all in good time. It will flow the truth of God's word, and no longer those, those bad words. But for those of us that have walked with Jesus for a long time,

it's time for the mouth to get redeemed. Right? Time, time to start filling it up with the good stuff, and not the bad stuff anymore. You show up here on a Sunday morning, you make sure you say all the right things. Bless you, brother. Well, praise the Lord. How are you all? I'm hashtag blessed. Right? Everything's awesome, but then you get amongst the guys,

and what do you do? Well, time to tell a dirty joke or two. Time to, after all, I'm just around the guys. Right? You, you ladies, you get around each other, and, and, oh, did you hear about so and so? Did you, did you see what they were wearing today? Right? Like, when you're with them, you're like, you're like, oh, praise the Lord, so good to see you. Did you hear what she was doing?

Right? Like, that's what we do. Why? Because, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. He said, words reveal your character. Our characters need to be redeemed a little bit. Our characters need to be redeemed. You see, these guys knew the right things to say around each other, but then Jesus shows up, rocks their boat, and all of a sudden, all the words coming out of their mouth

are words Jesus doesn't like. Right? Because their words are revealing their character. Notice what he goes on to say in verse 35. He says, 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. Well, you know as well as I do that when we get saved, it takes a little while to redeem the mouth.

So, how do we redeem the mouth? Well, we have to fill up the heart with good treasure. Having a discussion with our daughters about music the other day, we were driving to Kansas City, and listen, I grew up in a house where you did not listen to secular music, and for the most part, I'm really glad about that, but I rebelled a little bit in high school, and I listened to the sweet, sweet alternative rock of the 90s. Right?

And so, every now and then, I take my daughters on a little journey through the alternative rock of the 90s, and then I go, never mind, that's a bad idea. But my daughter's like, hey, I want to listen to some of my own music. Okay, great, make yourself a playlist. So, she makes a playlist, and we're listening along, and I figure if I'm listening with her, I can explain why, you know, bringing sexy back is a bad song.

Right? And so, we're listening to some of these songs, and eventually, I just say, man, we've got to switch over to some worship music. And they go, why? We like these songs. I'm like, listen, these songs are catchy, they're fun, but eventually, what you put in is what you're going to get out. Right? Like, you know as well as I do that songs get stuck in your head

all the time, right? Because it is a small world after all. Right? You're welcome. Now you're not going to know if you're bringing sexy back or if it's a small world, right? You won't know all day long what to think. Anyway, well, let me throw a few of some good stuff. So, what we've got to do is fill our hearts with the good things. What's going to come out

of my mouth? All the garbage of the world. If these religious leaders are constantly filling their hearts with hate for Jesus, what's going to come out of their mouths? Hate for Jesus. It's no different in our own lives. You have to begin to fill up the good treasure of your heart with the good treasure of the word of God. That's why it tells us in the book of Philippians

that whatever is pure, whatever is good, whatever is noble, whatever is holy, whatever is righteous and of good report, if there's anything praiseworthy, think on these things. Why? Because if I want to bring forth from the treasure of my heart the things that are good, then I have to have a good treasure in there. So, he says, these words reveal your character.

And then he gives us this last portion of it in verse 36. Notice what he says. 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 saved. And by your words you will be saved and by your words you will be saved and by your words

you will be saved and by your words you will be saved. And by your words you will be condemned. The word careless there in verse 36 means useless or idle. At this point in time, my list of words that I have to give an account for is very, very long. Right? Because there's a lot of oftentimes careless or idle words that come out of my mouth. Particularly when it comes

to the things of faith. Man, it's a struggle that I have. Every now and then I'm like, you know what, maybe I should just be quiet. And you know, I think God's like, that's a good idea. Right? Because, like I've always told people, like Twitter needs the are you sure button. Right? Like I need that in my life. Like I always think there should be the button in any social media post,

are you sure you want to hit send. Like there should be that. Like there should be a three step process. You type it out, you hit post or send and then it says, are you sure? Perhaps our text should have the exact same thing. Right? I feel like my mouth needs that button on it. Like when I get ready to speak, I feel like there should be like a 30 second buffer

like there is on the TV or there is on the radio when they're doing live interviews. You know there's a 30 second buffer, right? Which is why they can bleep out the bad words when they interview people. It's because they've got that 30 second buffer. Like I need that. Like the, oh I thought it. Yeah, that's good. I can go with that. Right? I need that in my life

because I'm going to be given an account for every careless word that I say. Then he goes on to kind of finish out this thought when he says, by your words you're justified or by your words you're condemned. What does he mean by that? You know a verse comes to my mind is what it tells us that if you believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and you confess with your mouth that Jesus is born again or that Jesus rose from the dead, you will be saved.

That's the idea. By your words you are justified. By your confession of who Jesus is in your life you're justified. By your denial you're condemned. Let's give a couple of final thoughts. Let's wrap this up. Two final thoughts I want to leave you with. Two final thoughts that I think are really, really important. Number one, Jesus came for the broken. Jesus came for the broken.

It's written all over this chapter. He came for the broken guy that was there in the synagogue that he healed on the Sabbath day. He came for the demon possessed man that was so broken spiritually. He was so broken physically. Jesus came for him. Not only that but a bruised reed and a smoking wick he's not going to cast off or put out. Jesus came for the broken.

And if you're here this morning and you feel pretty broken I want to tell you you're in good company because I actually believe that as believers in Jesus Christ we should never stop being broken. There's an aspect of healing that comes in our lives but I believe that according to what we're told in the book of Isaiah when he says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity whose name is holy I dwell on a high and holy hill. Who with? Those who have a broken spirit and a broken and a contrite heart.

See that's who God dwells with because that's who he came for. And so if that's you this morning you're in very good company and it's time to come to Jesus. The second thought I'll leave you with is this while Jesus came for the broken Jesus requires a decision. Jesus requires a decision. And may I say if you're here this morning and you've never made that decision

for Jesus you've never decided that what you're going to do is come to him with all of your brokenness come to him with all of your sin and come to him with all of your failure accept the sacrifice that he made for you to save you from your sins then you're making a decision to not follow him. And I don't know how many chances you've got with that. That's why he says today while it's called today is the day of salvation. Because Jesus requires that decision and so if that's you this morning I want to encourage you to not put that off any longer.

It's as simple as saying Lord I'm a sinner please be my savior. He'll come into your heart make you brand new he will heal you spiritually he will open up your eyes and he will give you a mouth to speak with because that's what he does. The longer you put off that decision the harder the breaking will be or maybe just the harder your heart will be. Let's all stand.

Let's all bow our heads together. As we're here this morning I just want to ask the question of you with everybody who's got their heads bowed I just have a question. Have you come to Jesus? Have you made that decision? If you haven't made that decision then I'm going to offer you an opportunity. And as I offer you this opportunity I want to ask you something very simple.

It's just a little a little public proclamation I'm the only one that'll know about it until you start using that mouth that God gives you to tell other people. If you've never come to Jesus to make that decision to follow him then I want to give you that opportunity this morning. I just want you to do something really simple. I want you to put your hand up.

I want you to say I've never followed Jesus but today is the day that I want to. Today is the day that I want to make that decision. If that's you this morning then I just want you to repeat after me. Father I know that I'm a sinner and I know that I need a savior. Come into my heart and forgive me in Jesus name. Father I want you to lift up everyone that's here this morning.

All the hearts that are here. All the ones that are broken. All the ones that are making decisions that want to follow you with all of their hearts and I just pray God that you would work by the power of your Holy Spirit. Lord that you would do the work that you need to in our hearts and as we go out from this place that you would continue to use your word in a powerful way.

Father we thank you for who you are and the work that you do. In Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.

Come in us as this church and fill us with your Holy Spirit. Happy Sunday come now You have done it Holy Spirit Heaven break out Come now いう Your Holy Spirit this morning God and just move in a mighty way God in our heart bill us afresh and bill us anew this morning go through Holy Spirit New Felipe Our Holy Spirit Lord send revival Lord send it now Church Our Holy Spirit cover You have done it You have done Lord send it now spirit go with us god move in us in mighty ways god move through us in mighty ways when we just ask these things in your precious and holy name all of god's people said amen amen be blessed