Matthew 12. At that time Jesus went on the
Sabbath day through the corn and his disciples were hungered
and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. But when the
Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do
that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. But he
said unto them, Have you not read that what David did when
he was hungered and they that were with him, how they entered
into the house of God and did eat the showbread, which was
not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him,
but only for the priests. Or have you not read in the law
how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane
the Sabbath and are blameless? But I say unto you that in this
place is one greater than the temple. But if you had known
this, what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice.
If you know what this means, I will have mercy and not sacrifice,
you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of
Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day. And when he was departed,
thence he went into their synagogue, and behold, there was a man which
had a hand which his hand had withered. And they asked him,
saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days, that they
might accuse him? And he said unto them, What man
shall there be among you that shall have one sheep? And if
it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on
it and lift it out? How much then is a man better
than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do
well on the sabbath days. Then saith he to the man, Stretch
out thine hand. And he stretched it forth, and
it was restored whole, like as the other. Then the Pharisees
went out and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew
himself from them, and great multitudes followed him, and
he healed them all, and charged them that they should make not
not make him known, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
by Isaiah, the prophet, saying, 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 show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry,
neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised
reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench.
until he sent forth judgment unto victory, and in his name
shall the Gentiles trust." Then was brought unto him one possessed
with a devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him insomuch that
the blind and dumb both spoke and saw. And all the people were
amazed and said, Is not this the son of David? But when the
Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out
devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. And Jesus
knew their thoughts and said unto them, Every kingdom divided
against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or
house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan
cast out Satan, he is divided against himself. How shall then
his kingdom stand? And if bees above cast out devils,
by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall
be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the
Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else
how can one enter into a strongman's house and spoil his goods, except
he first bind the strongman, and then he will spoil his house?
He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not
with me scattereth abroad. Wherefore I say unto you, all
manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the
blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. Whosoever speaketh a word against
the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him, but whosoever speaketh against
the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this
world, neither in the world to come. Either make the tree good
and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit
corrupt. For the tree is known by his
fruit. O generation of vipers, how can
you being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the
heart of the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure
of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of
the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you
that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give
an account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words
thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Then certain of the scribes and
of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from
thee. But he answered and said unto
them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign,
and there shall be no sign given to it but the sign of the prophet
Jonas. For as Jonas was three days and
three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of
Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall
condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and
behold, a greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the south
shall rise up in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn
it, for she came from the outermost parts of the earth to hear the
wisdom of Solomon, and behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, he walketh through
dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith,
I will return unto my house from whence I came out. And when he
is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth
he and taketh with himself seven other spirits, more wicked than
himself. And they enter in and dwell there, and the last state
of that man is worse than the first. Even so it shall be unto
this wicked generation. While he yet talked to the people,
behold, his mother and brethren stood without, desiring to speak
with him. Then one said unto him, Behold,
thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with
thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is
my mother, and who are my brethren? And then he stretched forth his
hand toward his disciples and said, Behold, my mother and my
brethren, for whosoever shall do the will of my Father which
is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother. The verses I want to concentrate
this evening are 43 through to 45. When the unclean spirit is gone
out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and
findeth none. Then he sayeth, I will return
unto my house from whence I came out. And when he is come, he
findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goeth and
taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself,
and they enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man
is worse than the first. Even so it shall be also under
this wicked generation." Now I want to do it a little bit
differently. I want to start with the last words there. I just want
to explain the wicked generation our Lord is referring to here
are all those in this Gospel age, that is from His incarnation
to His return, who reject the truth of the Gospel. All those
who rather than realise the need of a Saviour, and rather than
rest on the righteousness which can only be found in him, they
turn to their own wisdom and strength as the basis by which
they approach the Holy God. The Pharisees serve us well here
as an example of every religion that would set itself against
the Gospel of the free grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now there seems to be many religions in the world. but other than
Christianity they all rest their eternal existence upon the fallen
ability of the creature and in doing so they reject God and
they blaspheme him. So before we get to our text
I just want to look at some of the characteristics of the Pharisees
out of this chapter and relate them to people in our day I guess. In verse 2 of Matthew 12, these
are those who judge the Lord's disciples according to their
own misunderstanding of the law. And in verse 7, they're ignorant
to the fact that the whole purpose of the law was to expose our
inability to offer God any worthy or acceptable sacrifice for our
sin. They're ignorant to the fact
that the law reveals our desperate need of mercy from God. And it's
because of this ignorance that they condemn many who are actually
guiltless in their great substitute and saviour. Now isn't that our experience
today as we rejoice in the liberty of the Gospel? All those who
seek to put people back under the law for righteousness the
righteousness necessary to commune with God to any degree, to any degree, they're actually
guilty of accusing the saints somehow of being responsible
for their sins, of being fallen and unacceptable to God. In verse 10, These are those
who accuse God Himself of being a lawbreaker by healing His people
on the Sabbath. When we meet together and we
worship God for His free grace and the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is our Sabbath? Anyone who suggests to us that
a man must do anything towards his salvation, whether it be
faith or service, whether it's to initiate, sustain or enhance
his position before God. At that point, they're actually
accusing God of lying in his Gospel and of unjustly pardoning
sinners. Look at verse 14. These are those
who would destroy the Lord Jesus if they could, Again, anyone who rejects the
Gospel, that is, anyone that denies that the Lord Jesus Christ
has done everything necessary to bring sinners from their fallen
state into the Kingdom and presence of God, are actually denying
the Lord Himself. And it's in this rejection and
denial that they're actually seeking to destroy the Lord as
He's represented in the Scriptures. See, they undo his character. In verse 24, these are those
who suggest that the Lord saves and restores his people by the
earthy power of Satan. In verse 31 we're told that they
blaspheme the Holy Spirit, or in verse 32 they speak against
him. Again, today, The false gospel
and those who promote it actually deny the power of the Holy Spirit
to sanctify a sinner by the blood of Jesus Christ alone. And in
this they blaspheme his holy name and they suggest that somehow
the earthy strength of man is required to achieve what only
God can achieve. Now look at verse 39. These are
those who seek after a sign. And because grace hasn't been
given to them to see Christ and Him crucified as the absolute
fulfilment of the salvation of God's people. How often do we meet people who
claim to be a Christian and yet at some point or another they
deny that the gospel is sufficient. They suggest that men are responsible
for some part of their salvation and in this they're blind to
the true meaning of the crucifixion. They've actually missed the sign
altogether. So you see the Pharisees in the
Lord's Day, this wicked generation that he's referring to here,
they're just representations of so many that we encounter
today and in their rebellion In verse 41 they fail to repent
at the preaching of the Gospel, and in verse 42 they reject the
wisdom of the Lord. So as we come to this passage
today, we can actually apply these words of our Saviour directly
to everyone who thinks that they can by their own wisdom and strength,
under the guidance of the law, gain any sort of righteousness
before God. So let's look at our text. It
begins in verse 43 with, when the unclean spirit has gone out
of a man. We don't hear much these days
about demon possession except what we see in horror movies
really, but we do know that it exists. because the scriptures
tell us that. In fact, I actually think that
demon possession is far more common than what we realise.
In Ephesians 2, the Holy Spirit, speaking of the converted saints
of God, tells us that we were all at one time under the influence
of Satan, and that that is the natural state of all humanity.
I'll read it for you, Ephesians 2, 1-3. And you, that's us, and you,
Hathy Quicken, who are dead in trespasses and sin, where in
time past you walked according to the course of this world.
Now listen to this. According to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of our flesh and our mind, and we are by nature children of
wrath, even as the others." Now that's demon possession, isn't
it? And yet, as we see here from
our text, there are times of relief from this influence which
leaves men to some degree in their right mind, perhaps even
able in a carnal sense to consider the eternal consequences of their
sin. And it's in these times that
they decide to live better, to get some religion perhaps, to
address and even restrain their sin, and to try to establish
a kind of righteousness which gives them some sort of comfort
at the thought of meeting God. But we just have no idea how
great the enemies are that set themselves against God's children.
We do get some idea in Ephesians 6 where it says, We wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers,
and against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. After the fall the natural man
believes that he has the power and ability to resist these wicked
spirits and the sin which comes from their influence. And that's
what I think our Lord's referring to in verse 27 of our text, when
he talks about the children of the Pharisees casting out demons. Unless the Holy Spirit has formed
Christ in a man, all men in their flesh are helpless, and dangerously
vulnerable to both Satan and his demons. This means that these
demons, if they have permission from our Sovereign God, they
are able to leave and enter a man as they please. Now have a look at the last part
of verse 43. He walketh through dry places,
seeking rest, and findeth none. These spirits for a time have
been allowed to exist in their rebellion against God. While
they have no power to attack God directly, which is their
ultimate desire in this world, they attack him by attacking
the men he created in his own image. So their goal, like that
of a parasite, is to indwell a host and fulfil their wicked
desires within them. Here the Lord describes their
time away from their host as a dry place of no rest, as if
to say that there is some sort of sustenance and shelter for
these unclean spirits within an unregenerate man. When the
Lord first approached the demon-possessed Galdoran in Mark 5, the unclean
spirit legion was afraid in verse 7 of torment from the Lord, and
in verse 12 He begged the Lord to send them into a herd of swine
rather than send them away out of the country. It seems from this verse, verse
43 of our text, that there is a very real need for an unclean
spirit to shelter within its host, which is why it's only
a matter of time before they return. Look at verse 44. Then he saith, I will return
unto my house from whence I came out, and when he is come he finds
it empty, swept, and garnished." Now the first thing I want you
to notice is that this unclean spirit says, my house. These spirits represent the strong
man in verse 29 of our chapter, that the Lord must first bind
before any real transformation can take place. Unless the Lord
begins a good work in a man by making the tree good, even if
he finds religion, even if he restrains much of his sin, even
if there appears to be a significant moral transformation. The man
still remains, and this is scary, the man still remains the property
and the dwelling place of Satan. Now so often we really do see
a significant change, don't we? It's often embarrassing for us
to compare our morality to their morality. These people are now
reformed and appear empty of their sin. It seems as if they
have swept out their wicked behaviour and in the true nature of the
word Garnished they present themselves as those who have a good righteous
standing before God. However, remember what our Lord
says of them in Matthew 23.28. Even so, ye also outwardly appear
righteous unto men, but within are ye full, not half full, but
full of hypocrisy and iniquity. They may appear to be righteous,
but unless it's been a work of the Lord, all their righteousness
are just filthy rags, and these people in their own self-righteousness
have become more vulnerable than ever. Have a look at the start
of verse 45. Then goeth he, and taketh with
himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself. It's hard to imagine one spirit
being more wicked than another, but there are some clues to what
the Holy Spirit means here. The use of the number seven often
in scripture is a number representing perfection or the completion
of a thing. It's almost as if there's a greater
and more wicked purpose to be fulfilled in self-righteous people
by these other spirits. One of the greatest dangers of
these spirits is their subtlety, their ability to appear as if
from God. The outward moral reform of a
man only makes him a more effective vessel for the false gospel. We need to remember that it's
not just the state of these individuals that we should be concerned about,
but also all those they would lead into their error with them. When the Lord speaks of making
the tree good in verse 33, His concern is in regard to the fruit
of the tree, which in verse 34 and on, he directly relates to
what a man speaks rather than what he does. Now this is what happened in
Galatia, isn't it? Men who appeared to be righteous, men who appeared
to be from the apostles. influential men who came and
witnessed of a way under the guidance of God's holy law to
gain a bit of righteousness before God. It was these men who led
the Galatians into a very serious error. Brothers and sisters, we can't
be deceived by these outward appearances. We must examine
people by their witness. what they say about the Gospel.
It's in this witness that we'll see where their strength lies
and it's by this witness, not by their outward morality no
matter how religious they appear, but by their witness that we'll
know the danger of following them. And it is dangerous. Look at how 45 continues. and
they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man
is worse than the first." Initially the effects of an unclean
spirit on a man might be open and obvious wickedness. However,
the effects of these more wicked spirits are subtle, and for that
reason far more dangerous. These sins, rather than being
outward and now inward, lying behind the facade of their morality,
motivating them in error all the more and promoting this dangerous
error toward others. We're talking now about sins
like hypocrisy and pride and self-righteousness, of vanity,
idolatry, spiritual adultery. These people according to the
Lord in Matthew 23.15. And we all know people like this.
We all know upstanding, morally, religious, righteous people that
don't agree with us about the Gospel. This is what the Lord
says about them. They are now two-fold more the
children of hell. They are deceived into thinking
that their religion and righteousness are sufficient and acceptable
to God. This is the strong delusion that
the Lord talked about in 2 Thessalonians 2, which the Lord sends to those
who believe not the truth of the Gospel and God's purpose
in this strong delusion, that they all may be damned. It is a fearful thing that we
have here. And what a dangerous place to
be. So blindly confident in your religious righteousness and yet
in that state, in that state, rejecting the Gospel, blaspheming
the Holy Spirit and destined to be condemned. So many truly believe that they
have escaped the condemnation of hell, thinking that by their
good works they have made up for their sinful days, by their
morality they have pleased God, and by their religious or religion
they have satisfied the requirements of God's holy law. And they continue
in this delusion, completely unaware of the fate that awaits
them. But do you know what the most
fearful thing is? It's so common today, especially in the name
of Christianity. Even so, says the Lord, even
so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. We have here before us this evening
a clear warning from scripture regarding a very, very common
error made in the name of religion. The Pharisees of the Lord's day
are a fearful representation of many we both know and love. They all to one degree or another
have a confidence in their own wisdom and strength, which if
the Lord doesn't intervene will ultimately condemn them for all
eternity. The only way of approaching our
Holy God is by being as righteous as what He is. However, the only
way to be as righteous as God is to be washed in the cleansing
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and raved in His righteousness. And the only way to be clean
and robed in Christ is to be in union with Him, to be joint
heirs with Him, to be one with Him through faith. Look at verse 50 at what he says
at the end of this chapter. For whosoever shall do the will
of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister
and mother. What's the will of the Father?
It's to believe on His Son. Brothers and sisters, the only
way to approach our Holy God is by faith in His beloved Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what the Holy Spirit
means in 2 Corinthians 5.7 when He encourages us to walk by faith
and not by sight. Rather than having confidence
in the flesh, rather than looking to the law as if there was some
ability in man to perform it to God's perfectly holy standard,
rather than trusting in the wisdom and ability of man, let's just
trust in the only true way of salvation, the perfect work of
our Lord Jesus Christ. May our gracious God shield and
protect us from such serious and dangerous and detrimental
errors. May He lead us in our lives to
place all our confidence in the finished work of His Son on our
behalf. And may He continue to make us glory in the Gospel of
His free and finished grace. Amen.