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Matthew 12:22-49 Jesus, Son of David

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"Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw.  And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”  But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”  Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.  And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?  And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.  But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.  Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.  Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.  Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.  And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, 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 speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.  I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

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Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”  But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.  The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

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“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.  Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order.  Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

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While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

 

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What did we learn in chapter 12, verses 1-21?

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  1. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.It is okay for people to feed themselves on the Sabbath.It is okay to heal people on the Sabbath.

  2. The Pharisees were evil.Not only does Jesus prove them wrong, but right after they witness Jesus performing a miracle, they go out and plot how they can destroy him.

  3. Jesus is the light of the nations.He brought harm to no one, did not boast about himself, and did not force people to submit to him.His message has the ring of truth because he provides the proof and does not force belief upon anyone.

 

So, the last section ends with Jesus withdrawing from the area where the evil Pharisees were plotting to destroy him, healing many people along the way.  Jesus heals a man who was blind and mute.  This man speaks and sees, and the people wonder if Jesus could be the Son of David. 

 

What is the significance of the people wondering if Jesus is the Son of David? 

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  1. This is Matthew’s thesis in Matthew 1:1,

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

  1. If Jesus is the Son of David, he is the Messiah.

 

What is going to happen when the Pharisees find out about this?

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Verses 24-32,

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“But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”  Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.  And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?  And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.  But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.  Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.  Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.  Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.  And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”

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What is the accusation of the Pharisees?

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  1. That Jesus is casting out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.

    • Beelzebul is another name for Satan.It is of Chaldean origin, literally meaning “dung god.”

 

What is Jesus’ response to this?

  1. Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, destroyed, or brought to destruction.

    • No city or house divided against itself will stand.

    • If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself.How will his kingdom stand?

    • In other words, their argument isn’t logical.

  2. If Jesus casts out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do the sons of the Pharisees cast them out?

    • In other words, the same accusations could be made about the Pharisees since they were casting out demons, or at least trying to.

    • Therefore, the Pharisees sons will judge them for saying that.

  3. How can a strong man’s house be plundered unless the strong man was first bound.What is the logic that Jesus is conveying here?

    • Jesus was plundering the house of Satan.He was casting out demons all over the place.The strong man, Satan in this case would have to be bound.If Satan is bound, then he is no longer in charge.He cannot give command to his forces to do anything.If Satan cannot command his forces to do anything, then how can Satan cast out his demons?

  4. “Whoever is not with me is against me,” said Jesus.What is Jesus pointing out here?

    • The Pharisees were not with Jesus, so they were against Jesus and against all the good works he was doing.

  5. Jesus said that you can speak a word against the Son of Man, him, and be forgiven, but you cannot speak against the Holy Spirit and be forgiven.Why did Jesus say this?

    • You can deny who Jesus is and later repent of that and see the light.

    • You cannot deny the good works that Jesus did and later see the light.At this point, you would be denying reality.Here were all these good works that Jesus was doing, and the Pharisees had to make something up – a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that was doing these good works in order to deny Jesus.

 

What was the net result of Jesus’ arguments?

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Verse 28 – It is by the Spirit of God that Jesus cast out demons and the Kingdom of God has come upon them.

 

Now, one thing that we can observe here is that Jesus is a real talker.  If you are making choices for your debate team, the first person you should pick is Jesus.  He gives several reasons why he is right, and he is very forceful in his approach.  What do you think Jesus is going to do now, leave it right there, or drive the point home some more?

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Verses 33-37,

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“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 speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.  I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

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Jesus really lays it on them here.  You don’t get good fruit from a bad tree.  Either you have a good tree with good fruit or a bad tree with bad fruit.  Then he really lays it on them.  What does he call them? 

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A brood of vipers.  A brood is a birthing.  Now, Satan was often depicted as a snake.  By calling them a brood of vipers, Jesus is calling them the offspring of Satan.  Using this term gives us a picture of a den of vipers that has hundreds of hatchlings hatching and squirming all over each other.  It might look something like this:

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Snakes can lay from 25 to 100 eggs at a time and they all will hatch at about the same time.  Snakes can multiply really fast and become a big problem.  And how would you get rid of a brood of vipers?

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  1. Use a firearm?

  2. Use a garden tool?

  3. Use a flame thrower?Now that would work really good when burning snakes started slithering all over the place and getting into things.

 

What does he say next? Does he say, “How can you speak evil if you are good?”

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No, he says, “How can you speak good, when you are evil?”  Jesus outright identifies them as being evil and explains that is why they cannot speak good.  They are the bad tree with the bad fruit.

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Jesus goes on to explain why it works this way.

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“For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

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“The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good (that would be Jesus), and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil (that would be the Pharisees).”

 

Now are people going to be judged by what they do only, or by what they say?

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“I tell you, on the Day of Judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

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So it makes a big difference what you say.  Words matter. 

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In politics, there have been many accusations made in the last 2 years that turned out to be false.  Many of these statements were also made repeatedly by certain media outlets.  History has shown us what happens when people maintain falsehoods.  Some of these media outlets have diminished their viewership by as much as 26% in just one month.  Just this last week, members of the House demanded of the Attorney General an action that would be against the law for him to commit.  When he refused to do it, the committee in question voted to censure him.  What do you think will come of this?  Do you think these people will have to account for what they did on the Day of Judgment? 

 

So, how are the Pharisees going to respond to this latest stinging condemnation from Jesus?

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Verses 38-45,

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“Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”

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“But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.  The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.”

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.  Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order.  Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

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Jesus just made a man that was blind and mute able to see and speak, and the Pharisees ask him for a sign???  Jesus had been going around healing many people everywhere he went and they ask him for a sign??? 

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They do this because they know their guilt and are just trying to change the subject so they can think of making another false accusation.  Jesus says, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign.”  Does this mean that anyone that expects a miracle is evil and adulterous?  One time, when debating some people from a different religion, I pointed out that there were no accounts of God doing any miracles in their holy book.  They responded by saying, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign.”  Was I evil by expecting this new claim of a revelation from God to be authenticated with a miracle?  All throughout the Old and New Testaments, new revelations from God come with authentications from God, by either miracles or the fulfillment of prophecy.  It is no evil to expect that.  Jesus is talking directly to the Pharisees here that he has already identified as evil.  He is not giving us a simple ongoing principle.  He is characterizing the Pharisees and making a sarcastic statement.  The Pharisees are the evil and adulterous generation that seeks for a sign.  Jesus will go on and identify the Pharisees as “this generation” two more times.  The thing that makes them so evil is they just received a sign. 

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Does Jesus give them a sign anyway?

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He does!  “No sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

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Do you think that the Pharisees ever got this sign?

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What is Jesus saying here? 

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Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for 3 days and 3 nights.  Certainly Jonah would have been dissolved by the fish’s stomach acids.  When the fish spit Jonah up on the shore, what we had there was a physical resurrection.  Jesus is saying that just like Jonah was in the belly of the fish for 3 days, then resurrected that so too will he be in the heart of the earth, or dead, for 3 days, and then resurrected.

 

Now, some people will say that this prophecy is wrong because Jesus was actually in the heart of the earth for 3 days and 2 nights.  So, was Jesus wrong?

 

Let’s see what we have in Matthew 27:45-46, 50,

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“Now from the sixth hour (that would be noon) there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour (that would be 3 P.M.).  And about the ninth hour (that is, 3 P.M.) Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?... And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.”

 

So there was darkness all over the land when Jesus died.  Could that be considered as another night? 

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In the mind of the people of that day, a night was a night because it was dark.  A period of darkness could be considered a night.  Also, The angel at his resurrection confirmed that Jesus prediction was correct in Matthew 28:6,

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“He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.”

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So, Jesus arose AS HE SAID.

 

Now, Jesus identifies the Pharisees as this generation 2 more times to condemn it.  Who can point out the next condemnation?

Verse 42: “The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”

 

And the condemnation after that?

 

Verse 42: “The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.”

 

So, both the men of Nineveh and the queen of the South are better than these Pharisees.  Not only did they have the Scriptures, but they had the incarnation of God, and they refused to believe it.

 

Let’s see if Jesus has anymore condemnations for the Pharisees.

 

Verses 43-45,

 

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.  Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order.  Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

 

How does this connect with what else Jesus just said?

 

Notice that he connects this with “this evil generation.”  That’s the Pharisees.  Jesus is saying that the Pharisees are like a person that has an unclean spirit in him that leaves and comes back with 7 more spirits that are more evil than the first.  In other words, they just keep getting worse, not better. 

 

Now, what is next?  Do the Pharisees have anything else to say?  (I hope not).

 

Let’s move on with verses 46-50,

 

“While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him.  Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak to you.”  But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”  And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

 

What is the significance of this?

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  1. Jesus was fully engulfed in his ministry.What mattered to him were his disciples.They were his family.I can remember when I was a youth pastor, working full time on 3rd shifts and going to Seminary full time.I got 4-5 hours of sleep a day.Now, Jesus was lucky if he got 2 hours of sleep a day.During this time, I longed for a weekend off.My relatives were all just an hour away, but I could never spend any time with them.As a result, the church became my relatives.It is much like this for anyone that goes into the ministry.Your life will become consumed with activity.So, if you are in the ministry for Jesus expect this: your life will be tied down to the Christian brothers and sisters that you minister to, and to the disciples you teach.

  2. When you become a Christian, Jesus becomes the center of your life.You may have been in a family that had a different religion.They will try to pull you away from Jesus Christ.Society may try to pull you away from Jesus.The one thing that will help keep you on track the most is fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Jesus.

 

Song: "Son of David" Lyric Video - Ghost Ship

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