Matthew chapter 12. We are going
to look this morning at the vital importance of faith, vital, critical
importance of faith, believing, confessing, trusting, bowing
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Critical importance. The main
portion of our text is going to be verses 31 and 32, which
say, Matthew 12, verse 31, our Lord said, 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. And 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. He said
the blasphemy against the Holy ghost. That is the one thing
that will never be forgiven. All manner of sin. What, what
relief and joy we ought to hear that he said all manner of sin
and blasphemy committed against me shall be forgiven. Thank God. Thank God. But he said, the blasphemy
against the Holy Ghost, that is the one thing that will never
be forgiven. This is an important portion
of scripture. Very, very important. And there
are times when I feel that we need to look at a large portion
of scripture to understand the context of what is being said. And this is one of those times.
I wanna see everything that our Lord said before that statement
and after that statement. everything that he has to say
here so we can really understand what he means by this. To get
right to it, let's ask this question. What is the work of God's Holy
Spirit? What is the work of the Spirit,
the Holy Ghost, as the Lord said it right here? The work of the
father to just backtrack and, and recap just a little bit.
The work of the father was he chose every person that would
be saved. If we want to cut to the heart
of it, that's it. That's what the father did. The
work of the son was he redeemed. That means he bought back. God's people were sold into sin
and sold into ruin. And he bought back, he purchased
with his own blood, every soul that would be saved.
Every one of them. And the work of the spirit is
he calls to come. The spirit is the one that through
the word says, come. Calls to come, he gives quickening
life in the ability to come to every center that will be saved.
Every one of them. And he does this by testifying
of that means speaking of teaching of showing, revealing, glorifying
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how he does it. The evidence of who God has done
this for. The father chose some people.
The son redeemed some people. The spirit will call those people. The evidence is those people
come to the Lord Jesus Christ. They come to Christ. They come
in the heart. They come in the mind. They come
in the soul. They come humbly. They come bowing. They believe the Lord Jesus Christ. They are called and they come,
they respond to the spirit. Every one of them will do this.
Every single one of them will do this. Look with me at John
14. John 14. This is where the Lord is saying,
I will send the comforter to you, who is the spirit, and he
will teach my words to you. John 14 in verse 23, Jesus answered
and said unto him, If a man loved me, now I want
to point out that if we love him, it's because he first loved
us. All right. So this is the result. All right. That's not the cause.
If we love him, it's because he first loved us. And verse
23, Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man loves me, he will
keep my words. The words of mine that the spirit
brings to him. That word keep means hold to. It means love. It means believe. He will hold to my words. He will love my words. He'll
believe my words. And my father will love him and
we will come to him and make our abode with him. Look at John 16, two chapters
over John 16, verse seven. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. It is expedient for you that
I go away. For if I go not away, the comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. And when he is calm, he will
convince that's what the word reprove means. He will convince
the world. Every person he comes to in the
world of sin. And of righteousness and of judgment
of sin, because they believe not on me. You see that right
there of sin, because they believe not on me of righteousness, because
I go to my father and you see me no more. Of judgment, because
the Prince of this world is judged. And what that saying is when
God's spirit comes and testifies and reveals and does this work,
he convinces the people he comes to of their own sin. Their own sin. They are convinced
of their own sin. And they're convinced of the
righteous, the opposite of sin is righteousness. Sin is wickedness,
it's evil. Righteousness is rightness. That's
goodness, good doing. He will convince them of the
righteousness of Jesus Christ because he went to the father
and you don't see him anymore. The father accepted him. He said,
welcome in. And he will convince of judgment
because the Prince of this world has been judged. The judgment
that God's people endured on the cross of Calvary in Christ. No more judgment's done for God's
people. No more condemnation in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, that's the evidence
of life and salvation, being convinced of that. He said, the
spirit will bring these words to you and you'll love them and
you'll believe them and you'll cling to them. And I want to
make this really, really clear at this moment. A man or a woman won't cling
to his own words. As you go out there and you talk
to people, you're going to hear everybody say all kinds of stuff.
The biggest problem that men and women have is they have no
idea what's in this book. And they think that everybody's
quoting stuff out of this book, and they're not. They're not. And so you're gonna hear all
this stuff, and you're gonna hear people who are just convinced
of things that you can't find in this book. And what our Lord
is saying is, when my spirit comes to a person, he will not
cling to and love and believe his own words. And he will not
cling to and love and believe the words of another man. He
will cling to and love and believe the inspired words of the Holy
ghost. The Holy ghost is the one who
inspired all of these words right here. And it'll be this alone. It'll be this alone. The man
or the woman who the Spirit comes to and convinces of this, that
man or woman will say, let God be true and every man a liar. And he will be talking about
and she will be talking about himself or herself. I don't care
what I think. It's this alone. It's this alone. I cling to this alone. I cling
to his truth alone. I believe him alone, that's it.
Look with me at 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul is
warning here of not being deceived away from the truth. Second Thessalonians two verse
one, he said, now we beseech you brethren by the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him,
that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by
spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of
Christ is at hand. Verse three, he said, let no
man deceive you by any means. He goes on down to say in verse
10, speaking of deceivers and those who are deceived verse
10 with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish. Those who are deceived, he said,
they're going to perish. And here's the reason why this
is the fine line dividing line. Okay. This is the reason he wanted
to say it's because they received not the love of the truth that
they might be saved. They receive that's an important
word. If we receive a love for the
truth, if we believe it, if we bow to it, That's God's gift
to us. That is God's gift to us. That's
God's work in us. He gets the credit for it. He
gets the glory for it. Ephesians 2.8 says, faith is
not of ourselves. That's the gift of God. Hebrews
12.2 says he's the author of it, the finisher of it. And receiving
that gift of faith from him, that is the critical evidence
of salvation. Look at verse 11, right here
for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they
should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believe
not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit, the Spirit setting
apart, calling apart, and belief of the truth, whereunto he called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It's all gonna come down to this.
He that believeth on the Son hath. And that means that's the
evidence. That's the evidence of God's
gift and God's work. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Do you see why the disciples
cried, please increase our faith? Please increase our faith. God's people will hear this and
will cry, please increase my faith. I believe you. I believe that. I'm at your mercy. Those who are
not God's people and don't receive His Spirit, it'll go in one ear
and out the other. They'll think in their, I'm good,
I'm good. God's people cry, please don't
leave me here. Please don't damn me. Please
don't condemn me. Please have mercy on me. Please
have mercy on me. Go to one more place with me.
Go to 1 John 5. 1 John 5. Verse 9, it says, if we receive
the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is
the witness of God, which he hath testified of his son. He
that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself,
has that witness. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his son. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God." He said, that's the issue. That's the
dividing line, believing the record that God has given to
his son. Now go with me back to Matthew
chapter 12. This faith is not of ourselves.
It's the gift of God. It's not something we can conjure
up. It's not something that we can
decide to produce or decide to have. It must come from him.
When it comes from him, it's irresistible. It's not that he
sends it, but I rejected it. It's irresistible faith. It's
irresistible grace. It's an irresistible gift, but God's Holy spirit calls his
people through the word and he reveals to them their condition
through the word. And we are about to witness.
people and conditions and states that if God does not move, they're
gonna die in their sins. And if we're in this position,
we're gonna die in our sins. But it's through this declaration
that God opens eyes. It's through this declaration
that men and women see, that's me. And my prayer is that he
will cause us to see this. My prayer is that he will cause
us to come. My prayer is that through this,
we might turn from all of our idolatry to the true and living
God and say, I believe that, I'm proud of that. All right,
so let's look at this together. Our Lord here is giving us examples
of what we read a moment ago. He's clarifying what He means. Look with me at verse 22, Matthew
12, verse 22. It says, then was brought unto
him one possessed with the devil, blind and dumb, and he healed
him in so much that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed
and said, is not this the son of David? But when the Pharisees
heard it, the Pharisees. The religious leaders, when they
heard it, they said, this fellow does not cast out devils, but
by Beelzebub, the Prince of 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 I by Beelzebub 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 strong man's house "'and spoil
his goods, except he first bind the strong man, "'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.'"
Those Pharisees did not believe him. They did not believe on
him. They did not believe him. The
Pharisees trusted in the law. That was it to them. And here
this man comes along providing free grace and free healing and
free mercy. And they didn't like it. And
they did not believe it. They looked to the law and not
him. And they did not believe on him.
And they told men and women, don't believe on him. By preaching
their law, they were telling men and women, don't believe
on him, don't look to him. He's not of God, he's of the
devil. That's of the devil. They pointed men to the law and
not to Christ. They said, don't believe him.
Now that's blasphemy. That's obviously blasphemy. Look
at verse 31. 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.
And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall
be forgiven him." Now, I want to point this out. I just described
a bunch of Pharisees and what they were doing. Saul of Tarsus
did that. Is there hope for somebody in
that condition? Saul of Tarsus did that. All
of those people at the cross, thousands of people hated him,
mocked him, cursed him, spit on him. But this is what the
apostle Paul said. I did it ignorantly and unbelief. God's spirit hadn't come to me
yet. The Lord told Peter. The Spirit
hasn't come yet. I must go so I can send him to
you. And he's coming on Pentecost.
And the Spirit came and Peter said, I understand the scriptures.
And they preached the gospel and all those people at the cross
who hated him, boom, they bowed the knee. And they cried, I believe
you. And Saul of Tarsus said, it was
like scales fell from my eyes. And I saw what I was, a self-righteous
Pharisee who told people, don't listen to him. But God had mercy
on me. He sent his spirit to me. And
then he said, we're not of them who draw back. We believe. That was then, but I believe
now. I believe him now. 32, 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 its fruit good, and the tree is a man. And if a tree's gonna
be good, God is the one who has to make him good by putting Christ
in him. 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. The fruit of the man is what
comes out of his heart. Verse 34. Oh, generation of vipers,
how can you being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance
of the heart, 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
account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou
shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."
I'm sure you've heard something along these lines before. I am
absolutely shocked by how often I hear this. I'm shocked concerning
preachers or concerning hearers who hear these particular preachers.
It'll be said they believe this. They just won't preach it. Oh, they believe, yeah, they
believe this. They just won't stand up and preach it. They
believe the truth of God's sovereignty and the truth of His absolute
finished work of salvation, but they just won't stand up and
preach it. Not so. That's not so. That is not so. If a man truly believed the promise
of God, of eternal judgment and condemnation on the man who stands
up and tells lies on God's sovereignty and God's finished work, if a
man truly believed that, he would fear God and not men. If a man truly believed in the
righteousness of Jesus Christ alone, He would stop standing
up, telling men and women that they needed to earn their own.
He would stop. Our Lord said, out of the heart,
the mouth speaks. And claiming to be a secret believer,
that is blasphemy. That is blasphemy. Not being
willing to confess Jesus Christ from the rooftops. That is blasphemy. And God said, it's not going
to be forgiven. Be warned. I hope that if, if that's me,
God will expose that to me. And I will say, I believe you.
I confess you. I'll tell everybody they may
kick me out of every church in town. So what? I confess you. Verse 38. Then certain of the scribes and
of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from
thee. They openly said, We will believe
you if you'll prove it to us. That's blasphemy. By his grace, I'm telling you,
it's all by his grace. We don't take credit. We're not
lifted up in pride. We're not, it's by his grace,
but by his grace and by God's work in his people, they believe
him, whether he ever proves it to them or not. Hebrews 11 said,
these all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and
embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims
on the earth. Job said, though he slay me, yet will I trust
him. Job, are you gonna make him prove
all this to you before you'll believe on him and bow to him?
Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. He told Thomas, your eyes
have seen me, blessed are they that have not seen me and yet
have believed. It is a God-blessed person who
is given the ability to just believe Christ, believe his word,
cast his all on Christ. Verse 38, 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 no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet
Jonah. For as Jonah 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. He said,
Christ crucified is the only sign my people need. Christ crucified
is all my people need to believe, to believe on me. That's it. Verse 41, the men of Nineveh
shall rise in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn
it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold
a greater than Jonah is here. It is my desire to not just leave
chapter 12. I want to come back and look
at different places and I want to look at the story of Jonah.
But what he's saying right here is the people of Nineveh heard
the preaching of Jonah and they repented. That means they had
a changed mind. They believed it. And he's saying
that will be to the condemnation of all those who don't believe
it. Verse 42, the queen of the south shall rise up in judgment
with this generation and shall condemn it. For she came from
the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon
and behold a greater than Solomon is here. I most definitely want
to look at the story of the queen of Sheba. But what he's saying
is she heard the call and she came running. Oh Lord, create
that in me. Create that in me. Verse 43.
When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he walketh through
dry places. It's talking about the unclean
spirit. Walks through dry places, seeking rest and finding none.
Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came
out. Talking about the person he came
out of. And when he has 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 shall it be also unto this wicked generation." What he's
saying is, if God's spirit does not dwell in a man or a woman,
an evil wicked spirit does. It's one of the two. Come Holy Spirit, heavenly dove,
with all thy quickening power, kindle a flame of sacred love
in these cold hearts of ours. Please, please. Verse 46, while
he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his 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 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. What is the will of the father
concerning his people? He said, whoever does the will
of my father, that's my brethren. What is the will of the father
concerning his people? Here it is. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, hear him. bow the knee to Him. God the
Father raised Him up that everything might bow the knee to Him and
every tongue might confess He's Lord. He is Lord. He said the soul that does that,
the soul that has been caused to do that, the soul, the sinful
wicked soul that has graciously been overpowered and caused to
do that. He said that's the evidence that
that's a member of my family. Chosen of the Father, redeemed
of the Son, called of the Spirit. That's the evidence. To that,
all of God's people say, if that's the evidence, this is what we
say. If faith in Christ is the evidence,
Lord, increase our faith. Please increase our faith. We
believe, help our unbelief. Send your Spirit, create faith,
draw us nearer, save us. Lord, save me, like Peter cried. Have mercy on me, be gracious
to me, cause me to cast my all on you. May he cause us to cast
our all on him. May God give us faith in Christ. If he does, everything else will
be fine. All right, you're dismissed.