We're looking today at Matthew
chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12, a portion
of it. And I'm taking the title for
the message from what is said in verse 30. He that's not with me is against
me. You see that? He that's not with
the Lord Jesus Christ. He that's not with Him is against
Him. He that gathereth not with Him
does nothing but scatters, scatters abroad. So that's the title for
the message found in that verse. He that's not with me, our Lord
said, you're either with me or you're against me. You're either
with the Lord Jesus Christ, you're either all in or all out. There's no middle ground. No middle ground. This is the
most important and vital issue of our soul before Almighty God. There is no neutral ground in
this holy war against the kingdom of darkness and in the fight
of faith for the kingdom of light for the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That is, you cannot straddle
the fence. You cannot straddle the fence. on gospel issues,
on the issues of the gospel, because there is no gray area.
The gospel and His Word is absolutely true, or it's not. Salvation
is altogether and totally in the Lord Jesus Christ, or it's
not. You cannot have it both ways.
You cannot have it both ways. For example, how God saves sinners. There is a divining, Deciding line, how God saves
sinners, either works or grace. Either the way of Abel and the
grace of God through the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
or the way of Cain, the work to the flesh. The Lord has taught his people
that salvation is of him, by him, and in him. being justified
freely by His grace through the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now again, we see the Lord Jesus
Christ about His Father's business, preaching the gospel of the kingdom
and healing those in need of healing. You remember verse 15? Let's read verse 15, John chapter
12, verse 15. when the Pharisees went out and
held a council, how they might destroy him when the Lord showed
mercy. All he did is showed mercy to
this miserable, crippled man. And when he knew it, he withdrew
himself and great multitudes followed him and he healed them.
He healed all those who came to him in need of healing. He
never ever one time, not one time, ever turned a mercy beggar
away. When that leper came to him and
cried for mercy, what happened? Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. I will, be thou clean. Now in
verse, go back to verse 22 and verse 23. And there was brought
unto him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb. Now what's going
to happen here? Is there a possibility that this
man is not going to be healed? No, they brought him to the healer.
They brought him to the great physician, the Lord Jesus. They
brought him unto him, one possessed with the devil. He was blind
and he was dumb, and the Lord healed him. And so much that
this blind man, now he says, I see. With a word, the Lord
healed him. With his power, the Lord healed
him. And the Lord loosed his tongue.
The devil had stopped his tongue and stopped his vision, and now
he's speaking. He's speaking. What did he say? Well, I'm glad I healed myself.
Now, you know he's saying, thank be unto God who has given me
life and salvation. And all the people, verse 23,
they were amazed. And they said, this is the Messiah. This is the promised son of David,
the Messiah. But when the Pharisees heard
it, you remember the self-righteous, self-seeking Pharisees, when
they heard it, they said, this man, this wine-bibber, this gluttonous
man, he's only casting out devils by the devil himself. They accused
him of all evil and wicked things, didn't they? This man was brought
to the Lord Jesus Christ by those who knew the Lord had absolute
power, sovereign power, over all sickness, over all diseases,
over all demon spirits, and the devil himself, and the Lord Jesus
Christ healed him. Christ came to destroy the works
of the devil. He came to destroy those works.
You remember the prophecy given in Genesis chapter 3 after the
fall, after Adam sinned against God. The promise of the gospel,
the Lord said, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between
thy seed and her seed, and the seed of woman the Lord Jesus
Christ shall bruise his head, his dominion, his power, and
thou shalt bruise his heel. And the Lord's humanity was bruised,
wasn't it? We read over here in the book
of 1 John, "...he that committeth sin is of the devil. For the
devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God
was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil."
Now, did he get it done? No, he didn't. He was manifested
to take away our sin, and in Him is no sin. The Lord Jesus
Christ came to set those who were held captive and bruised
and mangled by the fall, those bruised reeds, He came to set
them free. In the liberty where Christ has
set us free, our Lord said, you shall know the truth, and the
truth will set you free. We are redeemed. by the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're redeemed by His blood.
He redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse
for us. Verse 23, all the people were amazed, they were amazed
and said, This must be the Messiah. The Lord powerfully demonstrated
that He is the Lord of the Sabbath, that He is the Messiah, that
He is the Son of David, that He is the Savior of sinners,
the One who accomplished the salvation of His covenant people. He said the Good Shepherd came
to lay down His life for the sheep. Our Lord said that He
bought the church with His own blood. Remember how we started
in Matthew chapter 1, where the angel from heaven said to Joseph
and Mary, Thou shalt call His name Savior Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sin. The Lord Jesus Christ powerfully
demonstrated in the healing of this man and many thousands of
others that He is who He said He was, the Son of God, the Son
of Man. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. He came to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. Did he do it? Did he just make
an effort? Did he just try to put away sin?
No, my friend. When he had by himself purged
our sin, he sat down. He sat down on the right hand
of the throne of God. And it says there the people
were amazed. Aren't you amazed? No wonder
Newton said, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved, saved
a wretch like me. Believers are still amazed at
God's sovereign grace and mercy. Now I may, I may see why God
would show mercy to others, but I cannot see why God would show
mercy to me. I think every believer has the
same attitude as the Apostle Paul about himself. Oh, wretched
man that I am. I am the chief offender. I'm
the chief of sinners. Don't you feel that way? You
are good folks. I'm a wretched, sinful, wicked
man. I have this treasure of the gospel
in this earthen vessel. And this earthen vessel is nothing
but sin. Nothing but sin. But I'm still
amazed at his sovereign mercy, his sovereign love, that God
would love us in Christ forever, forever, forever. Could we with
ink the oceans filled and were the skies of parchment made,
were every stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe? by trade
to write the love of God would drain the ocean dry, nor could
the scroll contain the whole, nor stretch from sky to sky.
Here it is love, not that we love God, but he loved us and
he sent his son as a sacrifice for sin. All these physical healings
we read about in scripture, those who were blind, those who were
deaf, those who were dumb, those who were crippled, those who
were dead, who were raised to life, all that pictures our sad
state in which we are by nature dead in trespass and in sin. having no spiritual life, no
spiritual ear, no spiritual sight to see His beauty and His glory,
no spiritual life to believe on Him, no will to seek Him. He must command the light to
shine out of darkness, and He must shine in our heart that
we might see the beauty and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. But
we thank God for His Sovereign saving mercy to us while we were
yet dead in our sin, He quickened us together with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's read about it one more
time. Find Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2 verse
1. And you hath He quickened, Ephesians
2 verse 1, who were dead in trespasses and sin, where in time past ye
walked according to the course of this world, According to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
children of disobedience among whom also we all had our conversation
in time packed in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and the mind and were by nature children of wrath
even as others. Verse four, but God, that's the
difference right there, but God who is rich in mercy for his
Great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in
sin, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you
saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together
in the heavenlies in Christ, as in the ages to come he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ. It's by grace that we are saved. Now, back to the text. So believers
are amazed, I'm still amazed. I'm still amazed. Look at verse
24, Matthew 12, verse 24. But, but, when the Pharisees
heard it, they said, this man is a devil. This man is casting
out devils by the prince of devils, Beelzebub. Beelzebub. Some were amazed, and others
were enraged against him. You remember when he healed the
man in the synagogue that had the withered hand. He told that
man to stretch forth his hand, verse 13, Matthew 12, and it
was restored whole like the others. The Pharisees went out and held
a council against him, how they might destroy him, to put an
end to him. The people were amazed. The Pharisees,
they just got angry, didn't they? When you study through the Book
of Acts, and we've been through the Book of Acts several times,
and you see the response of the gospel being preached, you see
two things happen. Usually a riot broke out. That's
why they stoned Paul. That's why they beat Paul. That's
why they chased him out of city after city. A riot broke out,
and then also a revival broke out. Those who heard the gospel
were given life to believe the gospel. The Lord saved His elect
in that city. You remember Paul when he was
getting ready to leave the city of Corinth? You remember what
the Lord told him? Don't leave. I've got a lot of people in there.
They're going to believe. They need to hear the gospel.
The Lord saves His elect while the reprobate, they just continue
in rebellion against the true and living God. when Paul went
to Antioch to preach. He preached to the Jews first.
And he said, seeing that you put it from yourselves, lo, we
turn unto the Gentiles. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life, they believed the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it's no different today.
Believers still rejoice in the Lord's sovereign mercy to us,
don't we? We say with Paul, we are the
true Israel of God, which worship God in the Spirit, that rejoice
in Christ Jesus, and we have No confidence in the flesh. We
still rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. Believers
still rejoice, while the rebels, they rebel against God. When they hear of the sovereignty
of God in all things, the absolute holy character of God, he will
by no means clear the guilty. They say things like, well, that's
not fair. That's not what I've always heard.
Well, my friend, you've never heard the truth. Those who hear
the truth bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember that Psalm
53, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. The preaching
of the gospel to those who are perishing is foolishness. But
unto us which are saved, it's a power and wisdom and glory
of God. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Or
the fool has said in his heart, no God. He said, they're corrupt,
they've done abominable, iniquity, there is none that doeth good,
no, not one. This fella does what he does,
they said, by the power of devils, they accused the Lord Jesus Christ
of the very thing that was true of them. It was true of them. Turn over here to John chapter
8. They accused him of the very thing they were guilty of. Look
at John chapter 8. This is one of those amazing
scriptures. John chapter 8, and the Lord
talking to these same Pharisees. In John chapter 8, those Pharisees
said, Abraham is our father. And our Lord said in verse 39,
if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.
Abraham believed God. But now you seek to kill me,
a man that told you the truth. John chapter 8, verse 40. What
you've heard of God, Abraham didn't act like that. You do
the deeds of your father. They said in him, we be not fornicators. We're not born of fornication.
We have one father, even God. Well, that sounds pretty good,
doesn't it? The Lord blows it all apart, doesn't he? And the
Lord said to them, if God were your father, you would love me.
For I proceeded forth and came from God, neither came I of myself,
but he sent me. Why do you not understand my
speech, even because you cannot hear my word? Look at verse 44
carefully. You are of your father the devil,
and the lust of your father will you do. He was a murderer from
the beginning, a bow not in the truth, because there's no truth
in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he
is the liar and the father of it. And because I tell you the
truth, you don't believe me, you believe me not. Which of
you convinced me of sin? And if I say the truth, why don't
you believe it? Now look at verse 47. He that
is of God, heareth God's word. You hear them not, therefore,
because you are not of God. Those who are of God, they hear
his word, they believe his truth, they bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in verse 25 down to verse
30, The Lord Jesus Christ deals with
these Pharisees who accused him of being in league with Satan. And verse 25 says, he knew their
thoughts. He knew their thoughts. He knew
their motives. He said, every kingdom divided
against itself was brought to desolation. Every city or house
that is divided, it shall not stand. And if Satan cast out
Satan, he divided against himself, how shall then his kingdom stand? Powerful argument, isn't it?
The Lord Jesus Christ knew their wicked hearts. He knew their
wicked motives. All things are naked and open
before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Turn back again
to Matthew chapter 9. Turn over there. Remember when
they brought that paralyzed man? Four friends brought this man
who was sick of the palsy, lying on the bed, Matthew 9. Verse
2, and the Lord said, Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven.
Behold, a certain scribe said within himself, This man blasphemeth.
Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Wherefore think evil in
your heart. Whether it is easier to say,
Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise and walk, but that
you may know the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. Then he said to the sick of the
palsy, take up your bed and walk and go into your house. And he
arose and departed. And when the multitude saw it,
they marveled and they glorified God, which had given such power
unto this man. Some got mad, some got glad. God's people glorified the Lord
Jesus Christ. He knew their wicked thoughts,
didn't he? All things are naked and open before the eyes of him
with whom we have to do. You remember Psalm 139, our Lord
says, O Lord, David declaring, O Lord, thou hast searched me
and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting,
my uprising. Thou understandest my thought
to far off. Thou compassest my path and my
lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is
not a word in my tongue. But O Lord, thou knowest it all
together. God is not only sovereign, omnipotent
over all things, he's not only omnipresent, he's everywhere
present, but he's omniscient. He knows all things. He knows us better than we know
ourselves. Verse 25. And the Lord said, knowing, knowing
all things, every kingdom divided against itself is brought, every
kingdom divided is brought to desolation. Every city, every
house divided shall not stand. Here's what the Lord is saying. Every kingdom, every nation,
every household, shall not stand, but will be brought to desolation."
And you can take it down even further. He goes from the kingdom,
to a city, to a house, to a person. Those who are standing against
the Lord Jesus Christ will be brought to desolation. He that loveth the Lord Jesus
Christ believes the Lord Jesus Christ. He that believeth on
the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. You cannot
stand in opposition against the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll be
brought to desolation. Desolation. Every kingdom Every city, every house, every
person that stands against him will be brought to desolation.
The wicked will be turned into hell, and all nations that forget
God will be turned to desolation. Now verse 26, if Satan cast out
Satan, he divided against himself, and his kingdom shall not stand.
Now we know Satan is defeated, but he didn't defeat himself,
did he? Satan is a defeated foe, but he did not defeat himself.
The Lord Jesus Christ conquered him. Conquered him. That was
a prominent message through all the book of Revelation, wasn't
it? The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lion
of the tribe of Judah, he wins. That's the message of the book
of Revelation. All these enemies and foes that all come against
the Lord Jesus Christ, we've read the last chapter. We know
who wins. Christ is the winner. And we
are winners in Him, thanks being to God, who has given us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. You remember Revelation
20? The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire
and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and
shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. And then that
scripture where it says, "...the Lion of the tribe of Judah hath
prevailed." I love that word. He has prevailed. "...he went
forth conquering and to conquer. Having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them himself." He's won the victory for us. Now, we're no match for
Satan. But Christ defeated him. He was
manifested. He was manifested to destroy
the works of the devil. Now verse 27, if I, by Beelzebub,
cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore
they shall be your judges. They'll stand in judgment against
you. The Lord turns the argument of
the Pharisees against them. If I operate under the influence
of Beelzebub, as you say, and cast out demon spirits, under
whose authority do you cast them out? If I cast them out that
way, then by what authority do you cast them out? Remember,
they said that. You remember our Lord said to
them in Matthew 7, when they bragged about, we've done many
wonderful works in your name, we cast out demon spirits, remember? You remember what the Lord said
to them? He said, you are those who work iniquity. Depart from
me. I never knew you. They didn't
really cast out demon spirit. That's what they said. But the
Lord Jesus Christ really did cast out demon spirits. He really
did heal all that needed healing. Verse 28. But if I, the Son of
Man, the Son of God, I do cast out demons by the Spirit of God,
by the power of God. Then know this, the kingdom of
God The kingdom of God is come unto you. The king of the kingdom
stands before you, and you must answer to him. You must bow unto
him. The Lord Jesus Christ plainly
said that he totally operated by the power and purpose, the
word of God, the will of God, God the Holy Spirit. Now it's
evident that the kingdom of God, or the king of God, the Messiah,
is come unto you, and this is one with whom we have to do. Verse 29, or else how can one
enter in? How can one enter into a strong
man's house? Satan is no match. We're no match
for Satan. And he's a strong man that controls
the unbeliever. Or else how can one enter into
a strong man's house and take his goods and spoil his goods
and rob him of what he has, except he first bind that strong man,
and then, then he can do what he will. The Lord Jesus Christ
bound Satan. He bound him. Our Lord Jesus
Christ is the almighty God and Savior who has power over all
flesh to give eternal life to as many as the Lord has given
to him. We read in Isaiah 63, who is
this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Basra? This
that is glorious in his apparel traveling In the greatness of
His strength, I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. The Lord Jesus Christ has power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as the Father hath given to Him. Satan is like a strong man possessing
our house of clay, influencing our lives and our thoughts. That's why I read over here,
don't turn, let me just read it to you. If our gospel be hid,
it's hid to them that are lost. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4, And
whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which
believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them. What's the remedy
for that? We preach, not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves, your servant for Christ's sake.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has
shined in our heart to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the
remedy to cast out the strong man, to bind the strong man,
and that is Satan himself, by the stronger one, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Christ alone. He has translated
us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear
Son. The Lord Jesus Christ has fully,
completely conquered our foe. He's called the accuser of the
brethren. The Lord Jesus Christ has fully and completely conquered
him, broken his dominion, and in salvation and regeneration,
the Lord enters into our house our soul, our spirit, and expel
Satan out of our lives. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ
says, you must be born from above. You must be born again. Christ
in you is the hope of glory. Christ in you, if any man be
in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. The Apostle Paul says this, in
Acts 26, and this is referring to what the gospel does. The
gospel preach, as we said, we preach not ourselves but Christ,
the gospel preach opens blind eyes, it turns them from darkness
to light, from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive
the forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what the preaching
of the gospel does. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing what? Hearing
the truth of God, the word of God. Now, that gets us down to
verse 30. And I'll close with what we see
here in verse 30. And then he says this statement. He that's not with me is against
me. Now, it's clear those Pharisees, they weren't with him, were they?
They were absolutely opposed to everything he did and everything
he said. He that's not with me is against
me. He that gathers not with me,
all they do is scatter. Remember the thief? He came to
steal, to destroy, and to scatter the sheep. by which we're drawn
unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, repeat what I said earlier.
You're either with Christ or against him. There's no neutral
ground. There's no middle ground. When we're confronted with the
gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, you're either
all in or out. You cannot have it both ways.
You either bow to the sovereign Lordship of Christ, confessing
Him as everything in salvation, He's my wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. We either bow or submit to His
Lordship, or we buck. It's either bow or buck. Those
who continue to buck will be condemned. Condemned. We confess
believers do submit to the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember in
Matthew chapter 6, He said, no man can serve two masters, for
he'll either hate the one and love the other, or else he holds
to the one and despises the other. You cannot serve God and mammon,
or mammon is referenced to self. You cannot serve God in yourself.
People say, well, he's the most important thing in my life. That's
not a good statement. He is my life. He is my life. Christ in you, the hope of glory. If we don't worship Jesus Christ
as God, we oppose him as God. Remember what Thomas said to
the Lord? My Lord and my God, if we don't
own Jesus Christ as all of our salvation, all of our righteousness,
we disown him before God as any of our salvation. Our Lord said,
if you believe not that I am, You'll die in your sin. I'll
give you three examples, three examples. In Exodus 32, Moses
stood at the gate of the camp and said, who is on the Lord's
side, let him come to me. He's saying there's no middle
ground, either with me or you're against me. When Joshua, when
Joshua led the children of Israel into the promised land, He said
this to the people, if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord,
choose you this day whom you will serve. Now that scripture
is really twisted. Listen to the rest of it. Choose
you this day whom you're going to serve, whether the gods which
your father served on the other side of the flood, or the gods
of the Amorites. You make a choice among those
pagan idols in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house,
we're going to serve the Lord. You see what he's saying? You're
either with him or you're against him. There's no middle ground. You cannot straddle the fence
and have it both ways. And then you remember the story
of Elijah on Mount Carmel. One prophet faced down 750 false
prophets of Baal. And the challenge was, the God
who answers by fire, let him be God. Well, we know the rest
of the story. God answered by fire. And Elijah
said to the people, how long halt you between two opinions?
If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him.
And the people answered not a word. You know what they're saying?
They didn't answer a word. We're just going to remain neutral.
We're not going to really bow to the sovereign will. We're
just going to say, OK. We're just going to stay neutral.
There's no gray areas in the gospel. Salvation is all of grace
or all of work. There's no in-between. Christ
is either all in salvation or he's nothing at all. There's
no in-between. Man is either completely sinful,
unable to save himself, or he's his own savior. There's no gray
area. The Bible is either infallible,
the Word of God, or the production of fallen men. It's either one
or the other. There's no middle ground. How
we thank God that there are no gray areas with regard to the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. Those who are in league or in
alliance with the Lord Jesus Christ, those who are not in
league or in alliance with the Lord Jesus Christ are not gathering. but rather scattering the sheep.
Those who are not promoters of the gospel, advocates of the
gospel, are nothing but detractors and enemies who serve their own
belly. Is that too hard? Our Lord said,
if you're not with me, you're against me. I'm sure of this,
if salvation is not all of grace, I will not be saved. If any aspect
of salvation is dependent upon me doing or not doing, I will
not be saved. If Christ died alone, if what
Christ did alone is enough to make me just before God, if it's
not enough, I will perish. But we know it is. If I'm not
preserved by his irresistible, invincible grace, I'll fall away. If God does not look to Christ
for everything he requires of me, then I have no hope. But thank God, salvation is really
all of grace. Salvation is totally dependent,
accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not my doing, it's
done by Christ. There's an old track line I was
talking about earlier. I mentioned it in the Bible study
this morning about do or done. The Gospel of works says D.O.
The gospel of grace says, D-O-N-E, done. Who done it? Christ. I know that's not good
English, but a good theology. Christ accomplished all salvation
for us. May God bless His word.