Matthew 2024

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. All the people were astonished and said, could this be the son of David? But when the pharisees heard this, they said, It is only by Bayalsible, the prince of demons that this fellow drives out demons. 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.

If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by available, by whom do your people drive them out. So then, they will be your judges. But if it is by the spirit of god that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of god has come upon you.

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. Whoever is not with me is against me and whoever does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the spirit will not be forgiven. 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 stage or in the age to come.

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. You brood of vipers. How can you who are evil say anything good?

For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of? 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. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words, you will be acquitted, and by your words, you will be condemned. Thanks, Sarah.

My name is Pete Woodcock. I'm 1 of the pastors at the church here. If you're new or watching online for the first time, then that's who I am. We're going through this book of Matthew. And, we're seeing amazing things about the lord Jesus Christ, and that's the whole point of this book is to to to reveal to us who he is.

And and for us to respond to. Let me pray. For the help us we pray to hear this word, some really serious things that the lord Jesus Christ says help us not to dismiss them. But lord, we pray by your spirit to apply them to our hearts that we may be true followers of you. In Jesus' name, we pray, our, ma'am.

I I watched an interview. In fact, I've unfortunately watched a couple of interviews with a woman who claimed to claims to go to heaven, on a on a sort of daily basis, I think, but certainly very, very regularly, She goes to heaven, and when she gets to heaven, she always meets Jesus. Jesus is waiting for her. And he takes her on sorry. I'm trying not to lie.

He takes her on adventures around the new creation. And the last 1 she was saying in this interview was that Jesus turned up on a giraffe, and she sat on the back of the giraffe with Jesus on the front, and they went around exploring the new creation. On another occasion, she was sitting on a swing between god, the father. Between god, the father, and god, the son, and there was a great big gorilla pushing all 3 of them on on the swing. That's what she says.

Now the strange thing was that the interviewer seem to be totally convinced in her story and saying, this isn't marvellous. You know, it was absolutely marvelous. And she's written books about it and everything, and people have published this stuff. What do you think about her? I mean, I'm trying not to give away what I think.

It's very hard. But what do you think about her? Well, I didn't believe her for 1 single second. I didn't believe her at all. In fact, I laughed, and I thought this is extraordinary that people can believe this sort of nonsense.

But then I gave it a little more thought and thought, no, she's a blasphemer. She's actually a blasphemer. Now is it wrong to call her a blasphemer? Is that is that a wrong thing, you think? If you go back to chapter 9, and I'm gonna just do it right the way through back to chapter 9, all the way through to chapter 12 in a minute.

But if you go back to chapter 9, Jesus says to a paralyzed man, you may remember the story. He's his friend's, you know, cut hole in the roof and let him down. Jesus says to a paranoid man, son, your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. Now that is an incredible statement if you think about it.

And if you were brought up in the whole Jewish tradition and old testament and, you were living in the first century as as a follower of yahweh to hear that statement is blasphemy, isn't it? Is it wrong for them to say that? Because, you know, this is outrageous, what he's saying. The religious leaders said, this fellow is blaspheming. Are they right?

Because only god can forgive sins. Now there is a difference, I think, between the woman I've just told you about and Jesus. With the woman's story, it doesn't really fit anything that you know about the scriptures doesn't fit at all. It's completely out of kilter. There's no prophecies about her that sort of back her up.

There's nothing no substance or even prophecy that backs her up in any way. And actually, there's really no point to the stories anyway. It's only just her having adventures with Jesus. It doesn't really help me. It just means that she seems to have more experience of Jesus than I do.

And perhaps I should follow her and give her money. And if you look at her website, that's what it seems to be about. It doesn't really help anyone. And what's her backstory? And, you know, what what what's she about?

What information have I got about her? Well, when you look, it doesn't really fit with what she's saying. But the statement Jesus makes doesn't come out of the blue when he says, son, your sins have a given. And it doesn't come out of the blue for those that are there seeing it. In Matthew chapter 1, you have the whole family line of Jesus going right back to Abraham, actually, but proving that Jesus is a son of David.

Now if a Messiah has to come, he has to be a son of David in the line of David. Chapter 1 deals with that. In chapters 1 and 2, you have the whole Christmas stuff, you know, the whole birth of Jesus and all of the sort of supernatural things that are going around at the birth of Jesus. You would have heard about that. You know stuff about him that is different to other people.

In chapter 3, you have this prophet John the Baptist that everybody's saying a prophet, and he's declaring in the wilderness that Jesus fits the old testament that he is the Messiah. In chapter 4, you have Jesus overcoming the temptations of the devil. He seems to be a new Adam that actually where Adam fell, he didn't. In chapters 5 to 7, you have the most magnificent speech called the sermon on the Mount that, you know, people today are still pouring over and saying, you know, this is just extraordinary stuff. A great understanding of the old testament and a fulfillment of the old testament, but but also just a remarkable understanding of humanity of us of people.

In chapter 8, look what happens in chapter 8. He physically heals a man with leprosy and doesn't get it himself when he touches him. He, he heals a centurion servant at a distance, which blew the centurion away. He heals Peter's mother-in-law. He has power over wind and the waves.

He has power over evil spirits, and he heals many more people we're told. And throughout all of those events, in chapter 8. People are seeing that he fulfills the scriptures. Oh, that fits. It's not just out of the blue now.

Oh, that that fits with what the son of David would be like. That seems to fit. The centurion and others actually call Jesus lord. He's the lord of life, and they experienced that life and changing for good. You know, ill were made were made good.

Yeah. People didn't go to him and then get ill. It was the exact opposite. So it was an extraordinary thing. And people saw the fulfillment of Isaiah particularly a, you know, great old testament prophet.

It it, you know, really weighty prophet, and they were saying, yeah, yeah, he fulfills what what that prophet said. He seems to fit, and they recognized him as a terrific teacher of the Bible and of the Old Testament and understanding of who god was. In fact, more than a teacher, what kind of man is this, even the wind and waves obey him? Now all of that, all of what I just said happens before you come to the story that I told you about in chapter 9, where Jesus hears this paralyzed man and says, son, your sins are forgiven. And the religious leaders say, this fellow is blaspheming.

Do they have a right to say that as I have a right, perhaps, to say that to that woman? Do they have a right? Well, if that was the first event they ever saw of Jesus, it's a pretty good question. I don't think they're necessarily wrong in asking that question or if if they were asking it rather than just declaring. Well, what's going on here?

It feels like he's blaspheming. But it isn't the first time. All of the stuff I've just said they've heard. Yeah. And Jesus doesn't think that they're sort of in the clear.

He thinks they've give he's given them enough evidence. Look at verse 4 of chapter 9. Jesus said, why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? So they're culpable there of entertaining evil thoughts because there's a massive evidence to say he's not a blasphemer, massive evidence. But even at that point, in this part of Matthew, Jesus is prepared to give them a sign.

He's prepared even in their unbelief and they're feeding their they fed their unbelief. He's still prepared to say, okay. At this moment, I'll still give you a sign, and it goes on in Matthew 9. He says, which is easier to say, son, your sins are forgiven or to say get up and walk. But I want you to know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

So he sent to the paralyzed man, get up, take your mat and go home. Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe, and they praised god. So at that point, in chapter 9, of the story of Jesus. He was prepared to say, okay.

I'll take your unbelief. Even though actually you're wrong, there's enough evidence. I'll give you more. I'll give you another sign. I'll give you another sign of who I am.

And he he was the man. Now, then we go through the rest of chapter 9, with more healings, the raising of a dead girl. There are questions that are coming in that they're asking these religious leaders He's answering the question on the basis of the Bible. They're very clear answers, and they're very good answers. And they're seeing that he handles the word of god extremely well.

And eventually, we come to chapter 12. And then he starts making these claims, and we saw them in the last 2 weeks. He claims that he's the lord of the Sabbath. Well, that's a massive claim. He's the lord of the Sabbath.

Well, who's the lord of the sabbath? Well, the god who made the sabbath, the god of the Bible. Yeah? And, and then to prove that, another bit of evidence, he heals the man with a shriveled hand on the sabbath. And then as we saw last week, Matthew, when he sees all of this stuff is reminded of the prophecy in Isaiah.

We saw that great sermon last week that here's this prophet Isaiah. It fits it fits with with who who Jesus is. It's all fitting. You know, it's just it's just like this was a photo kit. You know, like the things they do, I don't know if they still do it now, but probably don't.

You know, where you've got an artist to you know, when someone saw a crime happen, you know, what was your eyebrows like? Whose, thick, big thick eyebrows? What was his nose like, massive conch. Get a big, massive conch. Did he have a mustache?

Yes. He had a huge mustache. You know, did he have a, you know, what what what was it? What was his, mouth like? Tiny, weeny little mouth.

Yeah. And then someone draws it, and there's the photo fit, the photo kit thing. And then you suddenly see this bloke walking down the street. Oh, yeah. Oh, yes.

That's him. That's what everything's happening. Everything's fitting into place. This is Jesus. And then in chapter 12, bear with me.

He gives more evidence to the religious leaders, but their attitudes are hardening. With every sign he gives, with every piece of evidence he gives, With every fit of the photo fit, they seem to go in the opposite direction. The sign points that Jesus is the Messiah and they walk the other way. This is madness, isn't it? There's the Messiah.

Okay. We're gonna go that way. And the ordinary people are recognizing that he fulfills scripture, but these religious leaders are exposed as hypocrites. Let me just go through how their heart hardens. Now they ask questions, but you gotta remember they're asking questions out of trick to trick.

They're asking questions out of their prejudice. They're asking questions because they're an echo chamber of to trying to, you know, they're trying to cause someone, you know, to be distant from them. So just listen. This is chapter 9. I'll just read with read through them.

Chapter 9 verse 3, this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, this fellow is blaspheming. Chapter 9 verse 12, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? Good question, but they're not gonna listen to the answer. Chapter 9 verse 14. How it how is it that we and the pharisees feast often, fast often, but your disciples do not fast.

See, they're trying to show a distance. There's you, there's them and us sort of stuff. Going on. Verse chapter 9 verse 34. But the Farris, he said, this is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.

We've already got that in chapter 9. And then chapter 12 verse 2, when the Farices saw this, They said to him, look, your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the sabbath. See, trying to see a distance between them chapter 12 verse 14, but the pharises went out and prodded how they might kill him. Kill Jesus. My goodness.

Chapter 12 verse 24. But when the pharisees heard this, they said it is only by beelzebul, the prince of demons that this fellow drives out drives out demons. They're hardening up. They're placing questions not to hear answers, but so they're in their echo chamber. And then you come to chapter 28, which someone's doing next week.

At first 28 of chapter 12. Something's happened between 24 and 28. Yeah? Up until then, he was prepared to give signs for who he was, evidence for who he was. Now chapter 12 38, then some of the pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, teacher, we want to see a sign from you.

And then he says no sign will be given, and that's whoever's preaching that can take that up. Some things happened. The line's been drawn. Even though I've given you evidence right back in chapter 9, and you're still calling me a blasphemer, I I'll give you more evidence. I'll give you more evidence.

I'll give you now. No. No. That's it. No more sign.

Only the sign of Jonah. So something's happened. What's happened? Well, let's get into the story. That was all my introduction.

0.1, the demonized man, You see him in verses 22 to 23 of chapter 12. Then they brought him, that's Jesus, a demon possessed man, who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him so that he could, Jesus healed him so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, could this be the son of David? This poor bloke, His whole world is closed in on himself. That's what the demon does.

That's what Satan does. Separate closes in on himself. He's blind. He's mute. He's unable to see.

He's trapped in darkness. Do you see that? He's unable to express thanks. He's even unable to ask for help, isn't he? He's just trapped in on himself.

That's that's Satan. And these are physical signs of what Satan does spiritually all the time. That's his tactics. We can't see we can't see anything bigger. We can't praise god.

We've got a tongue, but it doesn't praise god. And our world is closed in. His world is closed in on himself. That's what the devil wants. Always separate.

He loves he loves to separate people. And so that they're into themselves. Paul, a writer in the new testament, in 2 Corinthians, says this. The god of this world, and he's talking about the devil, It's interesting, isn't it? It calls him the god of this world.

The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers. To keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of god. Extraordinary sentence, isn't it? That's what the devil is about. His number 1 goal is to keep people away from Christ.

And the way he does that is to blind them. So they won't see the glory of the grace of god in Christ. That's what Satan does. Now I don't think he possesses people in the way that forces them to do something they don't want to do. I think it's much more that they choose to listen to his lies.

And as you choose to listen to his lies, you get blinded. It's like you're stabbing your own eyes out. You become his pawn. He uses you to deceive you and to deceive others around you. It's extraordinary things safer.

And you see it, don't you? Sad, lonely people into themselves. It's all it's about. It's all about them. This is aim and ambition is to separate people from god.

So they They don't bring glory to him. And he he'll do all in his power to stop you, seeing the glory of god, and worshiping god is what we're meant to do. That's our freedom. It's to worship something bigger than ourselves to be taken up with something glorious and bigger in ourselves. And it's not only some god in the sort of vague meaning of the word god, the light of the gospel.

That means good news of the glory of Christ in the image of god. He's stopping us seeing the wonder of Christ. That's what he's about, and he's called the god of this age. And we breathe in his lies, and then take up his prejudices. And think that we're free.

Notice it says, then they brought this demon possessed man who was blind and mute. Who are they there? I think it's the religious leaders. I guess so. And if it is, what are they doing?

What are they doing? If they're doing what they always do? They're setting up a trap. They're setting a trap up. They're putting this man with a, you know, they want this demon around Jesus.

They're setting up to see to see where the real fall. They're they're pushing him if if it is them. If they think Jesus is the chief of demons, what did they expect to happen here, by the way? It's quite interesting, isn't it? I guess they want you to confirm their opinion of Jesus.

I guess the d wouldn't come out and say, hey, mate, hey, there's my mate Jesus or something like that, and then they could I don't know. But you see that what they're doing, whatever they're doing, they're feeding their unbelief if it is them that brought that brought, the demon possessed man to Jesus. But anyway, look at verse 22. They They brought whoever they are, this demon possessed man to Jesus. I mean, again, what's gonna happen here?

When I was at school, my school was all boy an all boy school, and, there was always fights. And all all you had to do in the playground or due, you know, during break or anything was to shout out fight and every boy. There were 300 boys in our school. It's a small school. Every boy from wherever they were, even if they were having detention, were there.

Right? Fight. Where? Where? Where?

And just came around, fight. And you sort of got this. You've got Jesus and a demon fight. Whoa. And then it's over before it even starts.

Really boring. Jesus healed the man. Get the camera crew out and get your photos. It's gonna be a good fight here. You might get a fist coming out here.

Get your photo. Get your camera out. Instantly over before the bell for round 1 goes, done. Jesus healed him. There's no fight at all so that he could both talk and see.

No long battle, no religious ceremony like you do when you have to cast out a demon in Hollywood, and you have to have special water and crosses and all kinds of weird things and heads are spinning around, and people are vomiting everywhere. There's no there's nothing like that if you've seen the exorcist. Which I have, unfortunately. But, you know, there's nothing like that. No long bath.

It's done. His eyes, his mouth are working. He can praise god. He can see light has come into him. He's alive.

This man. He could express now himself. He really can express himself, which is praise to god. That's how free he is. So that's the first point.

Second point then, who is Jesus then? Now the reactions of who Jesus are in the light of this healing is amazing, and Matthew particularly is interested in, in people's response to Jesus. So I think I've shown that to you already in the quotes I've given you beforehand. He's interested in what the crowd think, and he's interested in what the religious leaders, the pharisees think. But look at it, all the people were astonished when he healed this man and said, could this be the son of David?

What a good question? Could it be him? The word astonished isn't like, this is pretty cool. It's knockout. 1 commentator says it is like being knocked out.

Fight. Where's the fight? And then you the you, the crowd are knocked down. At this amazing event that Jesus has won the battle immediately. Yeah.

So they're literally knocked out. That's what it's saying. They're knocked down. Could this be the son of David? Now what's that saying?

Why don't you go back to 2 Samuel in chapter 7 and you see who the son of David is, and you see that god promised King David that there will be a a son that he will have a king, and he will bring in god's everlasting kingdom. God's kingdom, god's rule, god's kingdom is gonna come in and everlasting kingdom and this Messiah, this son of David is the Messiah, the Christ, the king of god that's going to come, and he'll do battle with the evil 1 and bring in this new everlasting kingdom. That's what's going on here. Could it be him? Well, it fits.

Everything we know about him fits. It works. It fits with the whole universe. CS Lewis says this. I love this.

Miracles, where's the miracle girl wants to know about what a miracle is. Here's Lewis. So don miracles. You ready? You wanna write this 1 down?

Miracles. Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story, which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some people to see. I love that. Let me read it again because so good, isn't it? Should I put it up there.

Miracles are a retelling in small letters. I love it that he puts it that way around. Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story, which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some people to see. In other words, this miracle of bringing light into darkness and bringing sound from silence is seen in the whole world. And Jesus is the ruler of that.

And this is a little retelling of the story of that. Yeah. The miracle says there's something bigger, and it fits. So that's what the people were saying. And they were wise to say that, and they could go on and say, well, let's find out whether this is really him.

Let's everything's pointing in that direction. So they let's walk down that road. But first 24, here we go. But when the Faraces heard this, they said it is only by beelzebul or some version that happened to beelzebub. I always say beelzebub.

So if I say that, because I call Anne Anzee Bob, but there we go. And so I get muddled up with BLC Bull or BLC Bub, and I, you know, I I know the queen song and it's BLC Bub, isn't it? Not BLC Bull. But, anyway, it's the same thing. BLC Bub, BLC Bull, sorry, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives, is with the power of that he drives out demons.

So the religious leaders take the absolute opposite view of the people. Yeah. They're saying, no, our conclusion is that, this miracle fits in with the devil. It fits in with the devil. It just fits beelzebel, beelzebub means lord of the flies, lord of filth.

Yeah. It's a way of avoiding the word devil, actually. It's a bit like, you know, in Harry Potter when you've you can't say Voldemort. You gotta say, what is it? He who must not be named?

That's it. That's the lord of the flies. He who must not be named, Voldemort, bedevil, satan, satanic powers, lord of the flies. Now if you go through the bible, you will see that the devil's, is described with names and characteristics. He's a destroyer, a dragon, a roaring lion, a serpent, a proud 1, the accuser.

The god of this world, the prince of darkness, the father of lies, a murderer from the beginning. He will disguise himself as an angel of light. That's who Jesus is? That's their considered opinion from serious minded people. He's the lord of the flies.

Where do you get flies? You get flies around filth and death. And putrid stuff, don't you? That's where flies live. Oh, when I see Jesus, he reminds me of the lord of the flies, putrid stinking, filth.

It's extraordinary, isn't it? Notice that he's that they say in verse 24, this fellow. They've used that word before. That word fellow re really sort of is a put down, you know? It's like you're a nobody.

Who do you think you are? You know, it's like you're sitting in our office and you come in here unthankful. Who do you think you are? You know, you're a nobody. You're a nondescript.

You have no power. You have no cards to play. That's that's that's actually what the what what's going on here. And that's what people do, isn't it? When when when they can't argue, that's that's what they do.

They put you in a beelzebub, beelzy ball. Yeah? I mean, the word today is you've only got to sort of argue with someone. Nazi. You know, where did that come from?

I'm only just trying to reason with Nazi. Nazi. That's that's what's going on. And and they because they want people not to listen. So they're shoving up this you're a Nazi, be eligible.

You know? That's the sort of stuff that's going on. Now here's the danger, because we're not playing here. Here's the danger. Doesn't it seem to you that the devil that's been cast out here, who made a bloke blind, and unable to speak the praises of god?

May well have come into some of these leaders. They're so flipping blind. They're blind. And they just cannot speak out anything but their prejudices. So that leads me on to my third point, the unreasonable unbelief.

These pharisees, these religions are totally illogical and they're inconsistent. And it's as clear as a bell, and that's why they wanna shout out Nazi be eligible. And Jesus takes their thinking apart. Look at verse 25 to 26. 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.

If Satan drives out Satan, he would he would divide he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? It's just it's sort of very easy, isn't it? The idea of of Satan undoing the work of Satan is just ridiculous. That's what he's saying.

But if I'm trying to build a house, if I'm about house building, but as soon as I build a house, I go and buy a wrecking ball and smash the thing down. What? If I'm working, is it I mean, is it still Macaupine? Who builds houses these days? I can't remember now.

If I'm a is it mac it used to be Macau Pine, didn't they? Were they builders? They're they're the builders. If I'm working for Macaupine and I'm building And every week at the end of the week on the Friday, done this lovely wall, and I get a wrecking ball and smash it down. Who am I working for?

That's his that's his point. It's very, very simple. And Jesus has destroyed far too much of Satan's kingdom, for him to be working for him. It just doesn't work. Then verse 27, and if I drive out demons by be eligible, by whom do you do do your people drive them out?

So then they will be your judges. So they obviously have exorcists that drive out demons, or they probably don't drive out demons by by looking at the astonishment of the crowd. They sort of pretend to. So they're actually even worse. They could be in line with Satan because it obviously doesn't work because this is the first time most people have seen it because they're astonished.

If their workers are driving them out all the time, why would they be so astonished? Because it doesn't work. So if anything, you're you're in line because you're not driving out demons. You'd see his argument. First 28, but if it is by the spirit of god that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of god has come upon you.

I am. David's greater son. There's a power at work. You're admitting that. Do you see?

You've admitted there's a supernatural power in what's just happened to this man. You're admitting that. You know something's changed in the man. But what is that power? Is it producing fruit of life to the glory of god.

Isn't it like the spirit of god breathing life into people? Or is it like Satan breathing death and bringing flies and putrid? Stink. But it's the spirit of god. And if it's the spirit of god, then I'm the king of the kingdom.

That's what he's saying. Which leads me to my fourth point, Jesus then is the stronger man. He's the stronger man verse 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. So Jesus is saying, I am able to expel demons because first, I've bound be eligible.

I've bound Voldemort. I've bound Satan. Satan is the strong man, but I'm stronger than the strong man. I knocked him out with 1 blow. The fight didn't even happen.

Jesus has come to tie up Satan to plunder his house. Who what's his house? Well, it's his property? Who's his property? Well, people like the man.

Like the demon possessed man. We've just seen an illustration of it. Have **** ** Satan, and with 1 word, I've sorted this bloke out. So the 1 is stronger than Satan. And beginning with Jesus victory over Satan during the temp his temptation and working through the demonstration that I've showed you, all the way up to this point, he's able to proclaim good news and demonstrate the reality of the power of Jesus as he drives out Satan.

He's saying to them, I am the king of god's kingdom. Yes. You're right. That I am the king of god's kingdom. And the other alternative is absurd.

It's absurdly prejudiced and absurdly evil. Hasn't he demonstrated the power of the kingdom of god? Hasn't he healed the sick? Hasn't he cleansed the leper? Hasn't he freed the demonized?

Hasn't he raised the dead? Pardon the sinner? Hasn't he preached the truth? Has the unmasked hypocrisy. Bible versing colossians letter in the Bible, for he, Jesus, has rescued us from the the dominion of darkness and brought us out into the kingdom of the son he loves in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

That's what he's about. He's the stronger man. He's stronger than Satan. So if that's correct, here we go. If all of that stuff is true, so who side are you on?

Who side are you on? Yeah? Who side are you on? First 30. Whoever's not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

It can't be neutral now. There's enough evidence that you've got that you cannot be neutral, no neutrality here. If you're not with me, you're actually scattering against me. You're working against me, who's stronger than Satan. Here's Lewis again.

There is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second is claimed by god or counter counter claimed by Satan. There is no neutral neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch is is where you're sitting. That's you.

Every split second right now is claimed by god or counterclaimed by satan. If you're on Jesus side, you're gonna be gathering foot with him. If you're not, you're gonna be scattering. You're gonna be doing harm. So no neutrality there.

And in the light of that, Jesus comes out with 1 of his most serious warnings. Be careful now. Be careful now. Be careful that you don't commit the unforgivable sin. Now we've run out of time, so we'll leave that.

Or shall we go on? Verse 31, and so I tell you Listen to this, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy. Against the spirit will not be forgiven. 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. They are frightening words, aren't they?

Don't you think? Will not be forgiven, either in this age or the age to come. There's startling words, startling words about unforgiveness and an unforgivable sin from the lips of the savior. That makes them even more startling, isn't it? The very reason the stronger man came into the world was to tie up the strong man and rescue you.

The very reason Jesus came into the world was to bring forgiveness and bring you into the kingdom of god. That's his whole reason. That's where he came. And yet here he's saying, there's an unforgivable 1. There's 1 that even I can't forgive.

Wow. So what is that unforgivable sin? What is it? Well, before we get to it, notice amazing grace here. It's very easy to miss this.

Look at verse 31. I tell you every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven. Well, there's a positive in here. Look at verse 32. Anyone who speaks a word against the son of man will be forgiven.

That should blow you away, shouldn't it? That is absolutely amazing. And the grace in that is extraordinary. You can mock Jesus. You can call him all kinds of things and you can be forgiven.

This is the son of David. This is the king of the universe. Yeah. The I mean, that is extraordinary, isn't it? You can call me anything and I I I I can forgive you.

Just just the thought of that is amazing. And, really, that should be a sermon on on its on its own. I mean, it's just extraordinary. Peter denied Jesus forgiven. Paul calls himself a blasphemer against Christ forgiven.

That's that's our god. Isn't that amazing? That's our savior. That's the Bruce Read bloke that we were hearing about last week, isn't it? You know, you've broken Read, not because you just had a little bit of wind blow you over, or you had bad circumstances in your life because you were blaspheming Jesus.

Yeah? But oh, I can mend the broken read. Your life has gone out because you were blasphemed, but I can relight you. You're blind, and you can't speak the praises of god, but I can heal you. It's just extraordinary.

It's absolutely extraordinary. Any sin can be forgiven, you know, ruined sinners to reclaim with old. Aren't we? Hallelujah. What a savior?

That's a hallelujah. What a savior verse, isn't it? But you wanna know this? But blasphemy against the spirit will not be forgiven. But anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or the age to come.

Bless for me against the spirit. What is that? It's a settled rejection of Jesus after the Holy Spirit has given you enough evidence, enough enlightenment to convict you of your sin to show you need a savior, to show you who he is. And in the full light of day, you blind yourself and say he's a demon. Rejection of Jesus, even though the Holy Spirit has shown you who Jesus is, is choosing to be blind.

Calling Jesus, be Elzebub, when he's the son of David is is extraordinary. Being neutral to Jesus when you know who he is is as bad. As calling him lord of the flies. The religious leaders are just a massive illustration of this. And that's why I try to show you all of those quotes and see how they were hardening their hearts and see how gracious Jesus was to them every time, but then there's a line.

There's a line. And have they crossed the line? Maybe. They're about to. They were completely opposed to him.

They were saying Christ's work was not through the power of the spirit. But was through Satan. And if they think that, they can never be saved. Can they? If the savior, they see as Satan, then they're not going to run to Satan to be saved.

Does that make sense? If there's a fire in this building and there's 1 exit here, And I'm pointing to you, say, that's the exit. Get out. That's the way to safety, but you actually say he's a liar. The fire is fiercer in there.

It's hotter in there. You're better off to stay here. You're not gonna run to there. If Jesus is Satan, then he's not the savior. So you how can you be saved?

Because he's the only savior. Does that make sense? Does it make sense, even in your tiredness? Yes. For listening, they substituted prejudice.

For repentance, they substituted turning away. For humility, they substituted pride. By their actions and thoughts, they damned themselves to a callous unbelieving heart. Their sin is unforgivable because they're unwilling to come. To the 1 the Holy Spirit points to as the Savior.

And in the end, no 1 can be saved, if they're pridefully and permanently reject the spirit of god who points to Jesus. Simple as that. They're cursing Jesus. 1 writer, again, in the New Testament part of the Bible, when 1 Corinthians says, therefore, I want you to know that no 1 who is speaking by the spirit of god says Jesus be cursed. And no 1 can say Jesus is lord, except by the Holy Spirit.

They're cursing Jesus. They're cursing Jesus. They've lost all sensibility of goodness. They're deaf, and they're promoting their blindness and deafness loudly. And so he ends with this, and I'll end with it.

First 33, make a a good tree, and its fruit will be good, or make a bad tree, and its fruit will be bad. For a tree is recognized by its fruit, You brood of vipers. How can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Good man brings forth things out of the good stored up in him.

An evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. Their wicked words revealed their evil hearts and their bad trees verse 36, but I tell you that anyone that everyone will have to give an account on the last day, on the day of judgment for every empty word that they've spoken, and what's the empty word that he's be eligible. For by your words, you will be acquitted, and by your words, you will be condemned. It's all about how you speak of Jesus. Is he son of David?

What's your word? Is he son of David? Or is he be eligible? There's no neutrality here. If he's not son of David and he's not savior, or you're on the side of be eligible, and you'll be judged by your words and how you deal with Jesus.

Every careless word about Jesus, eternal judgment awaits. Now we could apply this in loads of ways, and I'm not going to. Except to say that there have been people in this building that have actually stood up here, even, that have actually used this pulpit and even spoken truths from the Bible. That curse Jesus now. People that were friends.

People you put your arm around. People you said, come on, let him preach. We've had it here who stood just like me now. And they're cursing Jesus by their life and by their lips. Now it's not up to me to say whether they've blasphemed the Holy Spirit or not.

That's not my job. I can't do that. It's not up to you to say someone's blasphemed the Holy Spirit. You may call them a blasphemer, but whether they've done this unforgivable sin, it's not up for me to say that. But, oh, it is up to me to warn them.

Sometimes those people I know because I know. They listen in sometimes so they can write some nasty things to us. I'll tell you, I hope you're listening in now, and you know who you are. And I hope you repent. I hope you come to see Jesus.

That's the son of David. But what about you? What a glorious savior? All the sins against the lord Jesus Christ can be forgiven. I come to him.

Trusting him, love him, sing his praises. Well, I was gonna have a question time, but, everybody else went on too long. So that's not my fault. Father god help us. We pray to hear these things and to respond to them in Jesus' name, amen.