LOJ #55: Strong ManAndover Baptist Church-February 21st, 2010

OpeningA. Text for today is Matthew 12:22-32 and our sermon is titled Strong Man B. Children’s Sermon (SLIDE)

1. (NEED A CHAIR)2. Call the kids and Ian forward3. Tell Ian to sit in the chair, tell the kids to try and keep

him in the chair 4. After Ian gets up, have him sit back down5. Ask the kids how come they couldn’t keep Ian down6. Call Matt, Josh and Richard forward7. Repeat the above8. They were stronger than Ian. But do you know who is

the strongest of all? Jesus9. Could anyone keep Him down? No!

 C. Introduction

1. Mr. Restivo and Doc

2. Two of my teachers in high school and two totally different people

3. Mr. Restivo was my weightlifting coach my freshman year of high school

a. Us freshman firmly believed he ate a freshman a day for a protein shake

b. He wasn’t very tall, but his chest was very near the width of his height

c. When he would weightlifting people would stop and count the plates on the end of his bar in awe

d. He had even been featured on the covers of powerlifting magazines

e. One the things Mr. Restivo was known for was randomly picking up students over his head

f. You could take his pulse simply by the veins sticking out of his forehead

g. Simply put nobody messed with Mr. Restivo because in the classic sense of the word Mr.

4. Than there was Doc, as we called him

a. He was our literature teacher

b. Doc liked to read, but I’m pretty sure powerlifting magazines never peaked his literary interest

c. If he made it on a magazine it would have been Librarian Monthly

d. As far as being imposing he was on the opposite side $of the spectrum than Mr. Restivo

e. The only thing truly scary was his toupee

f. Students would often push his buttons, the running joke was to hide his grade book in the room usually in the ceiling tiles, to which I plead the fifth

g. He was not in the classic sense of the word a strong man 

5. One day the school was all a buzz about a teacher who the night before went through a home invasion

a. Thankfully nobody was hurt, but they had tied and duct tapped this teacher to a chair

b. I’ll give you a hint of who it was: it was either Mr. Restivo or Doc

c. We all felt sorry for the teacher, had it been Mr. Restivo we would have felt sorry for the poor dupe that picked his house, or would have been laughing at the headlines: Home Invader turned into a Human Pretzel

d. You see a Freshman I could have subdued and tied up Doc, but imagine the entire freshman class would have struggled with Restivo

e. Poor Doc was simply over powered by a stronger man, and truthfully out there in the world was likely someone strong enough to even subdue Mr. Restivo

6. In this world it’s ruled by one who the Bible calls a strong man, since his orchestration of the fall in the garden of Eden he has ruled with an iron fist 

a. No one from earth could stop him

b. So out of heaven stepped a stronger Man, a Man unmatched in power and glory

c. Just like Doc, Satan suffered a home invasionSermon

READ: Matthew 12:22-24 (Scripture slide)"22 Then they brought to Him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. Jesus healed him so that he could speak and see. 23 All the crowds were amazed and said, “Could this one be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard this they said, “He does not cast out demons except by the power of Beelzebub, the ruler of demons!”

A. 'demon possessed man'1. As we progress in Jesus’ ministry we will notice an

increase in demonic activity as the devil fights back

2. In this case the man that is possessed by a demon is mute and blind, making him able to hear but unable to interact visually or verbally  

3. This man powerless and bound by the devil was virtually cutoff from society 

4. Jesus gave the devil an eviction noticed and freed this man 

“ He was wounded because of our rebellious deeds, crushed because of our sins; he endured punishment that made us well; because of his wounds we have been healed.” (Isaiah 53:5, NET)  B. This ‘amazed’ the crowds

1. Notice again the large crowds following Jesus

2. ‘amazed’: literally means 'to drive out of one's senses' blow ones mind…if you honestly contemplate Jesus this is what He will do to you C. Their amazement had them asking questions about Jesus   1. Is He the Son of David i.e. the Messiah, the Chosen One of God to come and save us 

2. Jesus was a surprise and the common people were open minded to the fact that this may indeed be God's Chosen One

Matthew 9:27, NET: “ As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, shouting, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” ”  John 4:29, NET: “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Surely he can’t be the Messiah, can he?”

3. I mean with the things that Jesus was doing it should be obvious

4. Any of you ever seen the movie Ghostbusters? You know the scene where the big Stay Puff Marshmallow man appears? No one wondered who he was

5. It seemed as if they believed it so, but likely were scared of the repercussions of the Pharisees and religious rulers in the crowd to voice how they truly felt

6. Same thing happens today, a relatively small group keeps a vast amount of people scared to talk about Jesus  C. Pharisees  1. Mark 3:22 tells us where these guys came from

“ The experts in the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the ruler of demons he casts out demons.”  

2. And while the crowds were amazed the Pharisees sought Jesus for another reason

Matthew 12:14   “ But the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, as to how they could assassinate Him.”  

3. Like the people they realized that the demons had indeed been driven out, they could not deny the exorcism  

a. The Pharisees had to contend that Jesus in fact did miracles, the only way to do this was to say that He was doing it with evil 

b. So they say that He is powered by Beelzebub (remember the god Baal in the OT, this is who they are referring to, by this time it is a direct reference to the devil)

  c. What a perversity it is to call the miracle of God the works of the devil 

4. Jesus warns us that if people say He was evil they will do the same to us

Matthew 10:25: “ It is enough for the disciple to become like his Teacher, and the slave like his Master. If they have called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,’ how much more will they defame the members of his household!”

READ: Matthew 12:25-28 (Scripture slide)"25 Now when Jesus realized what they were thinking, He said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed, and no town or house divided against itself will stand. 26 So if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. 28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has already overtaken you."

A. 'thinking': Again Jesus reads their minds.

B. That which is divided is destroyed1. Jesus references self-governing town or a home

 2. Nothing that remains un-united can stand. Church.

Country. Town. Nation.  

3. 'destroyed': lit. become a desert or wilderness

4. American Civil War / Rejection of transplanted organs / disease of immune system attacking own body 

5. It does not matter how big or small your group is….division will cause it to fall! 

6. Have something divided (cut an old chair in 1/2 or something else for an example)

C. The Pharisees are implying that Satan is fighting Satan

1. Shows that they don’t know much about battle tactics a. No one has everyone a war due to their own

friendly fire 

b. What boxer ever won a bout by punching himself in the face? (‘And the crowd goes wild as Rocky Balboa has once again knocked himself out’)

c. Right now we are fighting a war in Afghanistan, how successful would our military be if they were not only fighting the insurgents but also each other? I'm no General McChrystal….but I don't think that would work! 

d. I don't think either that the Taliban or Al-Qaida are going to go up to our troops and say, 'Here is a detailed map of all of our ied’s' 

e. Why would Ford advertise for Toyota? (unless it's like buy a Toyota….if you don't like brakes) 

2. I think you can see the point: If the devil attacks himself that is a foolish move.

a. For the devil to cast out his own demons would be for him to undermine his own operation 

b. The devil stood in opposition to the ministry of Jesus…for him to cast out his own demons would be him setting people up to be delivered to Jesus 

c. The last thing the devil wants is for his minions to be driven out. 

3. What the Pharisees are implying is organizational suicide. These actions were destructive to the devils plans. Jesus calls this absurd.

 D. In fact Jesus flips this absurd argument back upon them1. (vs. 27) ‘Let’s suppose that you are right, by who then

do your people cast out demons by?  

2. 'sons' could be a reference to the pupils of the Pharisees

3. If exorcism is a good thing for their people to do, why then would they not see Jesus doing it as a good thing?

4. Why don't you say the same thing about your own exorcists?

5. If Jesus' exorcisms are of the devil than Jesus says that their own disciples must also be casting out demons by the devil   6. Then He goes on to say that their own pupils would stand up and defend their own actions, thus validating Jesus’ and proving their own teachers wrong

7. We need to be very careful how we criticize, for in our criticism of others we may in fact be incriminating ourselves 

E. Then Jesus does what I call His slam-dunk moment: 'But….'  1. Having just proved that His actions are not evil Jesus forces them to the only other conclusion: God is working in Him

2. The Kingdom of God was right before their eyes!  “Here is my servant whom I support, my chosen one in whom I take pleasure. I have placed my spirit on him; he will make just decrees for the nations. He will not cry out or shout; he will not publicize himself in the streets. A crushed reed he will not break, a dim wick he will not extinguish; he will faithfully make just decrees. He will not grow dim or be crushed before establishing justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait in anticipation for his decrees.” (Isaiah 42:1–4, NET)

D. My friends just like the Pharisees you too have to deal with Jesus and Who He is!

READ: Matthew 12:29 (Scripture slide)

"How else can someone enter a strong man’s house and steal his property, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can thoroughly plunder the house."

A. The one place a man will guard the most is his home, it represents his family and most treasured possessions 

1. The only way a strongman's house can be robbed is if someone stronger than him comes in and ties him up.  

2. And the only way you can tie someone up you must first conquer them Isaiah 49:24 “ Can spoils be taken from a warrior, or captives be rescued from a conqueror?”  B. Same goes with Kingdoms: The greater Kingdom trumps the weaker ones (U.S.A. going to war against Leon KS) 

1. Blitzkrieg, lightning war, of Poland by Germany, the Poles tried to use cavalry against tanks got obliterated 

2. Pictures of Sadaams defeat, statue coming down C. ‘steal’ and ‘plunder’   1. ‘steal’: word often indicate force, this is no cat burglary: means to kick the door down

2. ‘plunder’: means to ransack, to burgle

3. This is a home invasion: kick down your door, Cops moment 'bad boys bad boys whatcha gonna do when they come for you', cops (show opening of cops)

D. This is the devil’s world and Jesus has broken in and is plundering it unopposed  

1. Satan's days are numbered  2. The one who plunders must be stronger than the one who is plundered….Jesus is saying Who He is!

READ: Matthew 12:30 (Scripture slide)"30 Whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me scatters. 31 For this reason I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 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."

A. 'against Me'1. There is a war, a struggle going on

 2. These are harsh words: one is either for Christ or against

Christ, you either work for the cause of Christ or you try and impede it 

3. If you do not side with Jesus, your are against Jesus 

4. There are no fence riders in this war, no such thing as neutrality (there is no silent objectors) 

5. ‘I'm not a Christian’…than you’re an enemy of God and there is no greater enemy to be had than Jesus Christ! B. When Jesus speaks of gathering He is in essence speaking of recruitment Matthew 9:36–38: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.””

 C. Jesus tells us that all forms of 'blasphemy' can be forgiven save one 

1. ‘blasphemy’: slander against God 

2. Just because it is forgiven does not mean that God does not look seriously upon sin D. 'blasphemy against the Spirit' a.k.a ‘The Unpardonable Sin’ 

1. Once you become a believer in Jesus Christ you can never commit the unpardonable sin 

2. If you’re a believer in Christ and your worried you committed the unpardonable sin, than relax because you would neither care nor be a believer if you did 

3. What is ‘blasphemy of the Holy Spirit’

a. We see glimpses of it in the Old Testament

Numbers 15:30–31: “But the person who acts defiantly, whether native-born or a resident foreigner, insults the LORD. That person must be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken his commandment, that person must be completely cut off. His iniquity will be on him.”  1 Samuel 3:12, 13 “On that day I will carry out against Eli everything that I spoke about his house – from start to finish! You should tell him that I am about to judge his house forever because of the sin that he knew about. For his sons were cursing God, and he did not rebuke them.”

b. In Mark 3:30 we learn more about what the Pharisees said: they claimed Jesus had an unclean spirit

c. These Pharisees did not want the truth they wanted to destroy Jesus and His ministry

4. It is not necessarily words, but a choice of how one lives their life 

5. It’s denial of the Gospel message which is powered by the Holy Spirit 

a. Un-repentance in the face of the witness of the Holy Spirit is unforgivable 

b. You can never be forgiven if you reject Jesus 

c. Good news in the life of Paul (his repentance) 

Application (slide)

A. Any sin spoken, or otherwise, that is confessed can be forgiven B. To reject the Gospel message, to say it is not of God is to put yourself in a position that is unforgivable and subject to eternal damnation C. Two types of people: those who have repented of the unforgivable sin and those who are living it

Invitation

Let us sing our last song # ,

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