Podcast #61 | Kingdom Questions #8 | Whose Side Are You On?

Please join us as Pastor John Baldwin preaches on Matthew 12:22-37!

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SPEAKER_00 0:18

Alright, we're in Matthew 12, starting off with 22. By the way, if you don't have a Bible, you can grab one right in front of your pew. It's one of these blue ones. If you don't have one at home, please feel free to take that home. Alright, Matthew 12, starting with 22. 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 the people were amazed and said, Can this be the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, It is only Bezil. Excuse me, sorry. Beelzebuble. Alright, I'm a little nervous up here, right? It happens. It is only Beelzebuble, the Prince of Demons. That this man cast 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 cast out Satan, he is divided against himself, how then will this kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, 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. Please be seated. Generally, Father, we come to you again in worship and praise. You're the King of King and Lord of Lords. Father, we thank you for the grace and mercy you provide us that we did not deserve. Father, please accept this offering back to you. In your name. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Let's pray together. Father, we just come to you and we thank you for this day. We thank you for your goodness and grace. We thank you for your love and mercy. We thank you for all that you've done. Father, we come now, embracing this opportunity to continue lifting your name high as you continue to build your church. Lord, help us to set aside those things that might distract us, those things that might overwhelm us or frustrate us and just simply surrender to you. Lord Jesus, we love you. We thank you. Bless this time, forgive us of our sinfulness. Let your hand of favor rest on us, and may all that we do be pleasing to you. For it's in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we pray. Amen. You may be seated. But we serve an awesome God, amen. We serve a God working in ways I don't think we can truly begin to grasp or understand. I'm excited because we get to continue our series here, our study in the Gospel of Matthew, and we've been focusing on these kingdom questions over the last several weeks. We've been looking at Matthew chapter 12, that's where we're continuing. And to be honest with you, we're stepping into one of the most meaty and intense sections of scripture that we're gonna be studying. And for me, as I was preparing for this, as I was thinking about it this week, I was like, Lord, I don't know how I'm gonna cram this all together into an hour and a half. But we're gonna do it. We're gonna get there. An hour and a half, we're gonna get there. Just joking. We could do it though. I'm excited because when you look at this, there's so much depth. And what you see Jesus really requiring of his people, requiring of anybody who follows him, is allegiance. You know, I grew up in a small town in central Virginia, a place called Farmville, and many of you guys, when you think of Farmville, you think of the Facebook game. But it that's not it. Farmville is a small little town. You have two major things that keep Farmville going. One, you have green front furniture, some of you know about that. Others are Longwood University, some of you know about that. If those two things did not exist, Farmville would probably not exist. I remember growing up there and being fascinated about all the things that my dad would teach me. My dad was a locksmith, he worked for Longwood for 42 years. My mom, babies, had kids. So while I have one older brother, it always felt like I had 15 or 20 because the house was always filled with children everywhere. Now, just outside of Farmville is a small school, it's a Division III school called Hamden Sydney College. It's actually about six months older than the entire country. It was established six months before the Declaration of Independence was signed and our country was established. It was established as a Presbyterian seminary. And up until 1899, Union Theological Seminary, the Presbyterian Seminary, was a major part of that campus until it moved to Richmond. Now you're asking, why am I bringing all of that up? Because for me, going to college there was fascinating because you have the historical aspects of every part of it. You have the spiritual aspects of it because when you start looking at the foundation of it, and if you don't know this about the history of our country, you're looking at the majority of the secondary institutions, the colleges and universities, they were started as seminaries. They were started to proclaim the gospel, to teach the gospel, to make sure that people knew who Jesus was. In fact, when you start looking at the government, you start looking at state institutions and constitutions that were established by states when they became states, many of them required that people had to be believers in Jesus. And so I'm always fascinated with the historical aspects. I'm also fascinated by the spiritual aspects. But I played sports. When I was there, I had a chance to play baseball and football. I was a center fielder. I started in center field for all four years that I was there. I was a defensive back on the football team. And it's wild when I start thinking about that because I'm like, that was 25 years ago. And as we learned last year with me playing softball, my body's not quite what it used to be. You can't lay out for a ball in the third inning and expect your arm not to break. Like that's just gonna happen when you're 46 years old. But I remember what was so fascinating about the time that I had there were the rivalries that existed between some of the other small schools that we would play sports against. One in particular, the major rivalry that we had was against a place called Randolph Macon College. Anybody ever heard of Ashland, Virginia? Not that far away. You're talking an hour and 45 minutes. Randolph Macon College makes Ashland, Virginia. If Randolph Macon is not there, Ashland doesn't exist. And it was a massive rivalry. You're talking about, you're talking about the intensity that would exist. It was almost like stepping into an unbelievable battle. Every time you would step onto the gridiron of the football field, you're talking about the basketball court or even in baseball. I didn't realize there could be such intensity when you talk about rivalries on a baseball field. Now, our colors were maroon and gray. To this day, they're maroon and gray. Randolph Macon's colors were black and gold. You know, for me it was fascinating to watch that. And what was great was I grew up playing against a lot of the guys who were on Randolph Macon's team. And the intensity during these events, these things was always wild for me. And you know what's interesting is you never encounter, whenever you have a rivalry game. Now, for me, it's the smallest, when you start looking at it from a football standpoint, it's the smallest, it's the largest, longest small school rivalry in the South. They have a rivalry that's been going on over 130 years, and the intensity of that battle was crazy. And you never saw one person, whenever there was a football game, whether it was at Hanbon City or it was in Ashland, you never had a person who didn't have a color on. They were gonna have their burgundy and their gray, or they were gonna have their black and gold, and you never ever saw somebody who had both colors on. Because you're you have to pick a side. You're gonna pick a side when it comes to when it comes to the intensity of that game. And when we look at our culture today, I want you to think about this from a spiritual standpoint. We somewhere along the way have decided as a church, we're not gonna pick a side, we're gonna try to choose both. And realize in the midst of that, we've accomplished nothing. What you end up having when you don't pick a side is a weak faith, a weak church that, as we said a few weeks ago, stands for nothing and accomplishes even less than nothing. So today, as we dig into this passage, the Lord is asking us a very important question. Whose side are you on? This isn't about neutrality. You see, here's the thing you have to understand you don't get that option. You don't get an option when it comes to spiritual your spiritual walk with the Lord. You are either for him or you're against him. Not choosing is still choosing. And so today we're challenged to pick a side. Today we're commanded to pick a side. The line has been drawn in the sand, it's very clear. His word is very clear. The question is, what are you gonna do? Because many of us like to straddle the fence. And what have we said over and over again? You can't straddle the fence. Why? Because this the fence belongs to the devil, too. Pick a side and make sure we're clear, make sure everybody's clear. What I love about I think it's so applicable for a day like today is what did we just see here? How did we just begin the worship service? We had an opportunity to watch three people get baptized. Do you know what they just did? They made a public profession of which side they've chosen. And they want the whole world to know about it. Not because baptism saves them, baptism doesn't save you. Jesus saves you, but they want the whole world to know. They put the uniform on, they stood out there and they said, You know what? This is the side we're on, this is where we're gonna plant our flag, this is how we're gonna live our lives rooted in the word of God, and we're not gonna compromise, we're not gonna apologize, we're not gonna shy away from it, and when hard things come, we're gonna lean into Jesus. When difficulties arise and the devil attacks, we're not going to compromise. There's too much compromising going on. Too many soft preachers and teachers, too many soft churches. And the thing, the thing that we have to understand is this isn't a new phenomenon. Jesus had to address it. The early church fathers had to address it. It's been going on since the very beginning. Why? Because the devil just wants to eke his way in. And if he can create distractions, if he can create frustration, if he can create anything that will pull us away from him, we begin to compromise. Today, as we look at Matthew chapter 12, we're gonna wrestle with this question because there is a tremendous amount of depth in all of this. So again, let me ask you whose side are you on? Now we have four points. Some of these are questions, some of these are very clear points. But the first point I want you to pay attention to is this, because it's another question that we have to ask. We're gonna be thinking about today. Here's point number one: why do hardened hearts reject the obvious? Why do hardened hearts reject the obvious? Picking up in verse number 22. 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 of the people were amazed and said, Can this be the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, It is only Beelzebub, it's only Satan, it's only the devil, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons. Now, context matters. What's happening? Jesus has been teaching, Jesus has been healing, Jesus has been doing wonderful miracles. And the Pharisees, the religious elite of the day, have been trying to figure out a way to destroy him. They've been wanting to get rid of him. We talked about that over the last couple of weeks. Jesus knew what they were thinking about him. He knew what they were saying, he knew the way that they were scheming against him, and he he withdrew away from them. And what happens? The crowds follow him, and the Bible tells us, as we talked about it last week, he healed everybody who was coming to him. It wasn't just a few people, it wasn't just a few people he liked, he healed everybody. And we get to this point right here because he's continuing in that healing, and a demon-oppressed man shows up. Now think about this. Think about the structure of this scene. There's one miracle. We have one beautiful miracle. This man right here, demon-possessed, who's blind and mute. He's brought to him, and what happens? Jesus heals him. We have one scene, but we have two entirely different responses to the scene. The crowds were amazed. The Greek word used right here is existento. It literally means ecstatic. They were hot beside themselves with excitement by looking at all of this because, again, they're amazed by the miraculous power of the Messiah. They're amazed by the miraculous, the miraculous strength and all that Jesus is doing right here. And so they they asked the honest question, is this the son of David? That's a natural question. When you see them, when you see this person performing miracles that the Bible says only the Messiah can perform, you ask that honest question, is this the Messiah? So the first group is looking in amazement. They can't believe what they're saying and they're being honest and real. Is this the son of David? And then the Pharisees who are literally watching the same miracles. They're literally looking at Jesus doing all that Jesus has been doing. And you'll remember they've been following him around. Do you remember a couple of weeks ago we talked about the fact Jesus and his disciples on the Sabbath day they're walking through the field and they're pulling kernels off of the crops? The Pharisees were right there with him, they're following him around. Why? To criticize, to critique him, to try to disprove who he is. They see the same exact miracles that this crowd saw. The crowd's excited, and the Pharisees are like, no, no, no, that's not him. He's not the Messiah. In fact, this guy right here, do you want to know how he's operating? Do you want to know how he's working? He's working by the power of Satan. Can I tell you the honesty, the honest truth that we learn from this passage right here? Unbelief is never ultimately an evidence problem. Unbelief is a choice. Look at what's happening. They have all of the evidence in the world and they choose to stand in opposition to Jesus. Why? Because this was a heart issue. This was how they were going to live their life issue. What did we just say? Jesus has been addressing the Sabbath day. That is the foundation for their power, for their manipulation, for their influence. This is why when Jesus said he's the Lord of the Sabbath, they wanted to get rid of him. And they're looking at all of the miracles. They have the evidence in front of them right there, and their heart will not allow them to get on their bended knee before the true and rightful king. Now let me ask you a question. How many of us do the same thing? Why is it, when you look at this point right here, why is it that hardened hearts reject the obvious? The problem here, the problem here was with their hearts. They're unwilling to vacate the throne of their heart and allow Jesus to reign. They see everything, they see the evidence right here. There was a 19th-century Presbyterian scholar by the name of J. Gresham Macon. He once observed this. This is wild because it hits exactly what we're talking about. He said, unbelief is not a conclusion arrived at by careful examination or careful reasoning. It is a posture assumed before the reasoning begins. The Pharisees didn't examine the evidence and reluctantly conclude that Jesus must be operating by demonic power. They decided in advance that they would not accept him and they used their theological expertise to construct an alternative explanation for the undeniable facts before them. What is he saying right there? They had already decided in their minds that Jesus couldn't be the Messiah, because if Jesus is the Messiah, then everything that they're doing is wrong and they must repent and surrender. Too many of us go to Jesus and we want him to say something specific, and we're unwilling to listen when the answer he gives is not what we want. And what we're commanded to do is to come completely and totally surrendering to him with humility, trusting that his ways are perfect, trusting that his ways are right. You see, this is this is one of the most searching truths in the entire passage because it applies to every single person in this room right now. If you've heard the gospel repeatedly, if you've listened to the messages over and over again, if you've if you've been paying attention to any of the gospel, any of the miracles that we've talked about right here, and you haven't surrendered to Jesus, I need to share this with you. I just need to share this with you as honestly and as gently and as directly as I possibly can. The barrier here is not intellectual. This is not because Jesus isn't giving you the evidence. It's not because Jesus is not providing you with what you need to surrender to him, it's because you've made a decision to reject him. And that's a hard one for us to grab a hold of because you're like, Pastor, you don't know what I've gone through. You're exactly right. I have no idea what you've gone through, I have no idea what hurt you've encountered, I have no idea the pain that you went through as a child, the pain that you endure as an adult. You have I have no idea the hostility that exists in your world right now, but I do know that we serve a God who fully understands that. And that nothing is hidden from him, and he's calling you to himself. He just wants you to surrender. Because that's where you're gonna find peace, that's where you're gonna find clarity, that's where you're gonna find purpose. Evidence is everywhere. I come back to this. I shared a picture of this earlier uh earlier this week. I was sharing some information because to me I'm always fascinating. I like evidence, I like being able to put evidence out there. If you have questions, I'm not just gonna say, oh no, we'll figure it out. Let's go find the answer because there's always an answer. I've shared this with you before, but do you know that there have been 23,000 archaeological digs in reference to the Bible? 23,000. That's a lot. Just in case you're wondering, that's a lot. Do you want to know how many of them have ever disproven the Bible? None of them. And yet many of us will be like, I'm just not sure yet. I'm not, I'm not sure I can buy into it. 23,000 archaeological digs, and we're still wondering, is this honest? Is this right? Can I trust the Bible at all? Let me just give you a few more things right here. We possess more than 5,600 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament and over 24,000 total ancient manuscripts in Latin, Coptic, and Syriac, and other early translations included in all of that. Now compare that. That's a lot, in case you're wondering. That is a lot. We have 5,600 Greek translations of the New Testament, 24,000 pieces of manuscript or full manuscripts out there. And people are wondering, is the Bible valid? Can I trust what the Bible says? Because when you start paying attention to the accuracy of all of them, they're literally accurate up to 99.8%. When you translate it, 99.8% accuracy. Now let me compare that to some of the other ancient Greeks, the other ancient maybe writers of the day. Think of Plato. Do you want to know how many manuscripts of Plato still survive? Seven. And we have no problem with what Plato said at all. Think about this. What about Tacitus? Tacitus, he was one of Rome's greatest historians. Do you know how many manuscripts, known manuscripts that we have of Tacitus? Twenty. And they all date within about a thousand years of when Tacitus actually lived. Here's another one, Julius Caesar. Anybody ever heard of him? Anybody ever heard of the Gaelic Wars? How many manuscripts of that have survived? Ten of them have survived. And they were the ones that they do have were 900 years after Julius Caesar lived. We have 5,600 pieces of the New Testament, 24,000 pieces of the entire Bible itself, altogether, some of them dating within decades. I'm talking within decades of when the events actually took place, and we look at it and think, nah, this couldn't be real. This is wild to me. If we're going to be actually be accurate, if we're going to be, if we're going to be intellectually honest with this situation, you have to look at the evidence and realize that all of the evidence points to Jesus. All of the evidence points to the divinity of Jesus, points to the truth of the gospel of Jesus. My goodness, think of the disciples, think of how they died, and not one of them, not one of them recanted, not one of them pulled back and said, No, he's not real. He didn't actually raise from the dead. They all went to their grave. They died horrible deaths. Being tossed, being tossed off of a temple mount, being stoned to death, being beaten, being impaled, being crucified upside down, watching your wife being crucified with you. All of them encountered horrific deaths. And not one. Not one even suggested or hinted that Jesus wasn't real. Or that Jesus wasn't who he said he was. We gotta be honest. So why is it that hardened hearts, why is it that hardened hearts reject the truth? It's because they make a choice here. They decided I'm sitting on the throne of my life, and Jesus doesn't get my space. And that approach to life is gonna lead you straight to hell. The second thing I want you to see right here is this. Here's another question for you. You ask and you're looking at it, whose kingdom are you serving? Look at the verses here. We pick up in verse number 25. Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, Alright, this is, he's literally just told him, Alright, this is the devil operating, this is how Jesus is operating. Verse 25, knowing their thoughts. Thoughts he said to them. Now that's an important point. I promise you, I'm gonna keep going here in just a second. I said I repeated that twice. We'll get there. Look at what he says right here. Knowing their what? Knowing their what? Thoughts. That's a key statement right there. It wasn't about them having a conversation. It wasn't like they were sitting here chatting about this whole thing. Jesus knows their thoughts. That's an important thing for you to understand. Jesus understands what's happening in your life. There's nothing we hide from him. Knowing their thoughts, look at what 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's divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, 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. Verse 30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. This is a fascinating statement right here, because I love the way that Jesus responds to them. They've just said he's doing the work of Satan, and Jesus does not panic. He doesn't lose his temper, he doesn't shout louder than everybody else that's that's in distance of him. He simply destroys their argument. And how does he destroy their argument? With the truth. Think about it. Look at this. In other words, gentlemen, think about what you're saying. If Satan is casting out Satan, then Satan is destroying his own kingdom. Why would the devil fight the devil? Why would darkness attack darkness? Why would a king burn down his own palace? Jesus is telling them, gentlemen, it makes no sense. What you're pointing out, what you're trying to say, has no logic to it. Church, church, I need you to understand this. Truth doesn't have to scream, truth just simply has to stand. You see, too often we just feel like we need to argue and argue and argue and argue. I tell people all the time, I'm not gonna argue with you about what the Bible says, I'm just gonna tell you what the Bible says. And then you know what's amazing? You now have a choice about what you're gonna do with it. Are you gonna surrender to that truth or are you gonna argue with the Lord about it? And in case you haven't figured it out already, arguing with the Lord never works out in your favor. If you haven't realized that, I promise you, at some point very soon you will. Arguing with the Lord never works out in your favor at all. And again, I look at what Jesus is doing right here. He's just giving them the truth. Again, knowing their thoughts. He knows what they're thinking. Let's just be honest, knowing what they're thinking, that's that's both terrifying and comforting. Jesus knows what you're thinking. That is terrifying and comforting. Why is it terrifying? Because the reality is this you can't hide anything. It's terrifying because you can't hide anything from Jesus. Can I tell you why it's comforting? Because you don't have to. He knows everything about you, and you want to know what he still did? He still chose to come and die for you and me. I don't know about you. That causes me to just pause and say, thank you. Thank you for being willing to do that. Thank you for knowing the worst about me. Thank you for knowing my thoughts. Thank you for knowing the darkness that exists in me, the wretchedness that exists in me. And Paul is always addressing that, the wretchedness that exists in him. Thank you, Lord, that you know all of that, and you still chose to die for me. You still chose to come and give me new life to transform me. Thank you for that love. Then Jesus says something that that changes everything here. But if it's by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. He's like, guys, your argument's weak. Not just weak, your your argument's actually just terrible. It doesn't even make sense. You guys pride yourself on being intellectual here and being highly uh just smart, and and that's where you tend to live, and you try to you try to be egotistical and arrogant about that whole thing, but your argument is terrible. There's no basis, there's no foundation for your argument. But here's the thing: if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. You can't read past that. That is the announcement, that's the headline, that's the declaration. The kingdom has what? It's arrived. It's not coming someday, it's not coming eventually, it doesn't need another prophet, it doesn't need another king. The king, the king, king Jesus is standing in front of you. He is right here. Do you realize that every demon that is cast out is simply proof that the kingdom has come? Do you realize that every sickness that's been healed is proof that the kingdom has arrived? Every sinner that's been forgiven? Do you understand that that's proof that the kingdom is here? You see, Jesus isn't just performing miracles. Do you want to know what Jesus is doing? He's launching an invasion. He's stepping into the realm of the devil because, see, the devil has been in charge of this thing since Genesis 3 when sin enters the world. And what is he doing? He's using fear, he's using shame, he's using death, he's using bondage as a way to control and manipulate and terrify people into obeying him, into disregarding God. And Jesus is invading that. He's saying right here, no, no, no, no longer Satan does he have control. Because I am here. That's what Jesus is proclaiming here by pointing out if it's by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, look at this. The kingdom of God has come. That would cause us all, or should cause us all to pause. You know, I think back to Christmas. Christmas wasn't just simply the birth of a baby, it was the landing of the king to reign and to rule. And then Jesus gives this picture. He says, You don't rob a strong man's house unless you first tie up the stronger to the strong man. All right, let's talk about this. Who's the strong man? The strong man is Satan. A.W. Tozer used to say this, and I was always fascinated by it. He's like, I don't fear Satan because he has moves that I haven't even thought up yet. And it doesn't matter how good I am, he is gonna stomp me in my own strength. But here's the thing Satan is terrified of the one who lives on the inside of me. You talk about a strong man, the strong man right here is Satan. What's the house? It's his kingdom, the lies, the sin, the death, the addiction, the fear, the deception. That's it. But who's the stronger man? Jesus. The stronger man is Jesus. Think about this. Every time Jesus casts out a demon from somebody, the demon is off to the side, is moved away, and he's grabbing a hold of that child, that person, that man, that woman right there, and he's like, This one right here is mine. Every time he heals, every time he he performs a miracle, every time he proclaims truth, what is he doing? He's like, That's mine, that's mine, that area is mine, that area is mine. It's no longer the devil's. That life is mine, that family is mine, that child is mine. That's the invasion that's taking place, and Jesus is proclaiming that, he's pointing that out. The kingdom of God is right here, it's in front of you. Every miracle is just simply another piece of evidence that Satan is losing ground. Why do you think he's attacking so hard right now? You know, I talk with couples about this often, and I talk with leaders in churches and people in churches. Can I tell you when a church is growing, when God is working in a church, can I tell you the first place that the devil is going to attack is the family? When you start growing closer to the Lord, you and your wife decide, hey, we're gonna spend time together, drawing closer to the Lord. Have you ever noticed all of a sudden everything about your spouse tends to irritate you the next week? My wife's not in here right now, so we're like, we're no, but she'll be honest, she'll say the same thing. We sit here, when we're drawing closer, when we're in the word, when we're spending time together, when we're when we're wanting to commit to that relationship with the Lord, because here's the thing if I'm drawing closer to the Lord, guess what happens? I'm gonna draw closer to her. But what happens? The devil wants to come in and wreak havoc. So what does he do? He he creates division, and if there's a spirit of division in your house, that's not of God. That's of the devil trying to wreak havoc. Because if he can destroy your family, he can destroy you serving at church, he can destroy your your your your message, the truth that you have everywhere that you go. And too often we don't see that. Too often we bypass that, too often we ignore that. You see, Jesus didn't come to negotiate with darkness. You know what he did? He came to overthrow it. He didn't come to make bad people better, he came to rescue dead people and to make them alive. He didn't come to coexist with hell, he came to crush it. That's why Hebrews says this: He came to destroy the one who held the power of death. The cross wasn't a defeat, the cross was a victory, the empty tomb was not recovery, the empty tomb was a conquest. Jesus is the stronger man. We need to start living like that. We need to start recognizing that. And then Jesus says this this is something that should shake every single one of us. Whoever is not with me is against me. Can I tell you right here? This is a verse that our culture hates. That our culture cannot stand. You see, our culture loves neutrality. From the spiritual realm, the spirituality of our culture, they love the idea of neutrality. Well, what does that sound like? You ever heard somebody say, I'm spiritual, I'm just not religious? Maybe you've said that I'm spiritual, I'm just not religious. I was one of those guys who was like, Jesus, I love you, I just don't like your church. That's spiritual neutrality. That was my excuse for staying out of the church. That's spiritual neutrality. I didn't pick a side. I was just trying to straddle the fence right there, and the devil was keeping me ineffective. Why? Because I was making a choice to ignore the fact that the Lord God has told me to be actively engaged in the church, his church, as he builds his church, and that I'm to love my neighbors, I'm to serve those around me, I'm to I'm to pray for those who persecute me. That's what I'm commanded to do. But when I choose not to do that, I'm now elevating myself. When you talk about this, you hit you have people, again, spiritual neutrality. I'm spiritual, I'm just not religious. I like Jesus, I just I don't know if I want to follow him. Or here's another, here's here's a great one. I just want to keep all my options open. You have people who are gonna try everything out. That's spiritual neutrality, that's spiritual confusion. The devil wants you to hang out there. Jesus is saying, no, you can't do that. Here's the option you're either for me or you're against me. There are two kingdoms the kingdom of light, that's his kingdom, the kingdom of life that's his kingdom, or the kingdom of darkness that belongs to the devil. Whose kingdom are you serving? Because here's the thing: if you're not building, if you're not serving, if you're not a part of the kingdom of God, if you're not willing to trust him and serve in that kingdom, then you are strengthening the kingdom of the devil. And you can do that by simply doing nothing at all. Because every single one of us in here, every single one of us in here knows somebody who doesn't know Jesus. You're working with them. Maybe it's a family member, maybe they're in the same household with you. My question to you is this what are you doing to share the love of Jesus with them? Are you even praying for them? Because that's the that's the very first thing you should do, and it's the greatest thing you can do. But too often it's the one area we just ignore. Let me introduce you to this person, let me bring you to this song, let me show you this conference. Get on your knees before a holy God and contend for that person, pray for that person, beg God to open their eyes that they would see the truth and that they would repent. But get on your knees, and how many of us do that? Instead, we lay it at the feet of somebody else. And say, Whoa, that's their job, that's their giftedness. We gotta stop making excuses. What would happen if the Lord said, Hey, I want you to go do this, and instead of coming up with an excuse, we just simply said, Yes, sir. I'm gonna go do exactly what you said. I I don't feel like I'm ready for this, Lord. That's an honest conversation. You can have that conversation, Lord. I don't feel like I know what I'm doing. I don't feel like I'm prepared for this. I don't feel that's an honest conversation, but you know what you do? You do it anyway. You keep trusting anyway, you keep surrendering anyway. Whoever is not with me is against me. So let me ask you this. You've been coming to church. You know the songs, you know when to stand, you know when to sit down, you know when to say amen, you know the language. But let me ask you something a little bit deeper. Who's really sitting on the throne of your life? Is there a room in your life where Jesus keeps knocking, but you just keep putting up a deadbolt? Keep putting up resistance, keep shutting him out of it, keep pretending that nobody's home. Is there a relationship, a habit, a website, a paycheck, an addiction, a grudge, a dream, an ambition that you haven't surrendered to him. You've told Jesus you can have everything else, but just not this. I need you to understand something. When you start looking at this, whatever Jesus, whatever Jesus doesn't rule, is ruling you. Whatever Jesus doesn't have control of has control of you. So ask yourself, what's controlling me? What's what's guiding me? What leads me in every area of my life? Does Jesus have complete and total control? Or am I just simply, are you just simply listening here today? Trying to appease him? Disagreeing with everything his word says, everything we're talking about, and just saying, man, I can't wait until he finishes up. We got another hour and ten minutes. But how many of us? How many of us acknowledge that? How many of us recognize that? How many of us even see that? Whose kingdom are you really serving? Here's a third point I want you to see. This is this is a statement right here, because this is this is a crucial passage. Let's pay attention to the sin that should cause us to pause. The sin that should absolutely make us pause. Look at this, verse number 31. Therefore, I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, people, but the blasphemy against the spirit will not be forgiven. Verse 32, 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. Now, this is a verse that everybody wants to talk about. This is a verse that has terrified people for generations. I've had people sitting across from me with tears running down their face, asking, Pastor, have I gone too far? Pastor, did I commit the unforgivable sin? Pastor, can God still forgive me? So before we rush into the warning, I want us to slow down for just a second and I want us to look at the grace because before Jesus tells us what He what He won't forgive, what won't be forgiven, He tells us what will be forgiven. Look at this passage right here. Did you catch it? Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven. Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven. Not some, not most, every single one. That right there should give us a pause to breathe. It should cause us to say, amen. Every sin will be forgiven. Every sin can be forgiven. That means the addict can be forgiven. That means the adulterer can be forgiven, the liar, the hypocrite, the thief, the man who abandoned his family, the religious person hiding behind a mask, the atheist, the skeptic, the rebel. Every sin can be washed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Every sin. And then he says, every blasphemy. Well, what is blasphemy? Let me give you a definition for blasphemy. Blasphemy is the deliberate rejection, slander, or defamation of the character, person, and work of God. It's speaking about God in a way that dishonors him, misrepresents him, or attributes his holy work to evil. Blasphemy is not merely a slip of the tongue, it's the expression of a heart that stands in conscious opposition to God. It's more than a careless word, it's the expression of a heart that intentionally opposes God. We see it when people mock Christ, when they ridicule the gospel, when they twist God's word, when they call God's holiness evil or reject the truth, even when it's clearly presented. That's outside the church. But we also see it in the church when we cry out to God, that's not fair. I can't believe you do that to me, God. Because what are we doing in that moment? Elevating ourselves above Him. It doesn't mean we can't ask questions. Should we ask the Lord questions? Absolutely. But when I come with an attitude that my way is better than your way, that's blasphemy and sin against the Lord. That cannot be. And we don't take that seriously in our culture today. We just kind of bypass that. Look, let me tell you something. There is no darkness that is too deep, that the mercy of the Lord God Almighty can't reach into it. That there's no stain stronger than his blood. That's the gospel. And then Jesus says something even more shocking. He says, Whoever speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven. Think about that. Whoever speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven. Do we have examples of that? Absolutely. Peter did what? He denied him three times, and the Lord forgave him and restored him and used him tremendously. What about Paul? Paul persecuted Christians. Do you know that Paul was a blasphemer? Paul was a, do you want to know how I know Paul was a blasphemer? Because Paul said it himself. Look at what he says here. 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 13. Though formerly I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent opponent, but I received mercy. All of that can be forgiven. What happened? Paul becomes an apostle. Paul writes the majority of the New Testament. Unbelievable. Think about the crowds that were crying out, crucify Jesus. When you get into the book of Acts later on, do you know what happens to those crowds? Those crowds are surrendering, they're repenting, they're coming back. Why? Because the Savior's forgiven them. All of these sins can be forgiven. So what in the world is Jesus talking about? Because if speaking against him can be forgiven, what is this blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? I tell people all the time, context matters. Context always matters. Do not base your theology or create your doctrine on one verse. Use the whole thing. Look at what's happening right here. Read the paragraph. The Pharisees, what did they do? They just watched a demon leave a man. They watched blind eyes open. They watched a mute tongue begin to speak. They weren't confused about these signs. They weren't uninformed. They weren't asking honest questions. They knew exactly what they were seeing. They knew that these were the signs of the Messiah. How do we know that? Think back to John the Baptist. Do you remember what John the Baptist, when he's in prison, he asks, Jesus, are you the one, or should we be looking for somebody else? Do you remember what Jesus sent back through his disciples? He gave them all of the signs that he was doing, all of the miracles that he was doing. Why? Because when you look back to the book of Isaiah, those were the signs of the Messiah. That was the evidence. So what's happening right here? The religious elite, they see all of these signs, and what are they doing? They're not saying, Oh, this is the Messiah. Let me rethink this. They're literally looking at Jesus and looking at everybody else and saying, That's the work of the devil. Their heart is so hardened. It's not by accident. Jesus has literally just been addressing that. Don't harden your hearts, don't harden your hearts, don't harden your hearts, don't say no to the Lord, surrender to the Lord. Why? Because the natural progression of a hardened heart is you're gonna get to the point where you don't think you need Jesus anymore. The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is rejection of the movement of the Holy Spirit in the life and in the lives of people. You look and say, you know what? I don't need this. I don't need this. I don't need your grace. I'm good. They thought they were good. They thought they had it all together. It was a works-based religion that they just kept weighing down people with. I've got all my stuff together. We are absolutely good. There's nothing for me to stress about. The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is looking at the Holy Spirit and saying, I don't need you. I don't need you. And that's what happens. That's what the rejection looks like. You know, Paul Washer said this is a couple years ago in a sermon. We were talking a little bit about it this morning. You know, there's always the conversation about people who have who are in hell. You know, if they were given a second chance, everybody assumes if they were given a second chance to get out, like, hey, can I? Get out. Can I get to heaven? Then everybody be like, oh, they would jump at it. Paul Washer made the statement. He's like, no, they wouldn't. They would walk up to the door and slam it shut. Why? Because they're gonna they did their life their way. You know, and let's just be honest, we celebrate that in our culture today. Think of the songs they're out there. I did it my way. We think about the song, and we're like, man, that's a catchy song. It's real catchy until you end up in hell. And I did it my way, I did it my way, but this is where my way led me. Total separation from a holy God. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is rejection of Him. Everything else can be forgiven. Every sin can be forgiven. You are not too far gone. I don't care what you're saying or what you're thinking right now, you are not too far gone. Don't reject Him. You have hope until there's no longer breath in your body. You have hope. But the moment you no longer have breath in your body and you are dead, there is no longer any hope for you. This is why I tell you, this is why I remind you, you are one breath, you are one moment, you are one heartbeat, one second away from eternity. So are you ready? Because it comes upon you quick. At a time you didn't think was possible. And Jesus says, right here, here's the rejection. So if you're sitting here today and you're wondering, Pastor, did I commit this sin? The fact that it's bothering you, the fact that you're actually having that question right now, you know what that tells me? The Holy Spirit is working in you. There's conviction in you. There's a movement. Don't reject that. Don't pull away from that. Lean into that. Keep asking, keep seeking. The Bible is very clear. The Lord tells us, You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with what? All of your heart. So keep seeking, keep seeking, keep seeking, keep begging, keep asking. Even if you're struggling with it, even if you're frustrated with it, that's okay. That's the Spirit of God working in you. My fear is for the person who looks me square in the face and says, I don't need any of this. Who's so callous that they have no emotion to what Jesus has done, to what Jesus is offering right here. Today there's always hope. But don't reject him. The last thing I want you to see right here is this. Because we could spend, my goodness. I tell people all the time, y'all have no idea the notes that I skip over during a sermon on Sunday morning. Like, man, we legit could be going an hour and a half on here. Because there's so much we we could we could talk about, we could talk about out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Jesus addresses that right there. He just literally, that was part of my notes. I guess I'm in it now. I guess I can't skip that. Clearly, the Lord's like, we need to talk about that. Do you know that what's on the inside of you is going to come out of your mouth when things get difficult? You see, pressure doesn't, this is what this is what's so fascinating. It's not that pressure makes these things. Pressure just simply reveals what's there. When you're getting squeezed, what comes out? When you're getting, when the when when everything is weighing in on you, is it anger? Is it bitterness? Is it frustration? Is it malice? Is it slander? What is it that's going on inside of you? Because that's what's gonna come out from the overflow. That's what's gonna come out when the pressure's on, when the battle's raging. Think about that. So if there's a spiritual war raging in your house and frustration and anger and unkind words tends to emerge, guess what's there? And you know what? That's what we've got to address. That's what we have to repent of. That's why every single one of us needs to be on our knees before holy God, asking for transformation. Because, see, we can fake good, we can fake kindness for a season. We can fake it for a little bit. Let's just be honest, we can fake it for a little while, but all of a sudden, when you're exhausted, when you're hungry, when things are difficult, that's when it really comes out. Have somebody pull out in front of you in traffic. You'll learn real close real quickly how close you are to Jesus. Because some of us, you just fly off. You're like, what in the world? You have no idea what that person's going through. Maybe they're bawling their eyes out because there's some devastating event that took place in their life and they didn't even see you when they pulled out there. But we don't care about that. We're just like, Are you kidding me? I'm gonna get caught at that light up here in California again, man. We've all been there. Or when something like that happens, do you thank the Lord? Hey, we didn't get into an accident. Thank you, Lord. And clearly you're slowing me down for something. So let me just enjoy my time with you, Lord. You know, this is this is one of those things I think is always fascinating to me. And this is how the Lord's been working with me on it. I am one of those guys, I like to go, go, go. If you if you haven't learned that about me, I am constantly on the move. My wife is like, Can you sit down, please? I'm like, I don't know how. But one of the things that's always fascinating is because I like to go, go, go, I like to do, do, do, I like to make sure I'm constantly doing stuff, but Jesus is longing for time with me. Like just to be in his presence, just to be there with him. I come back to this point. You ever remember when you're dating your spouse? I come back to this. I remember when I first started dating my wife. To this day, it's still this way. When I get to hang out with my wife, I just love hanging out with my wife. We don't have to do anything. We can just sit down, we don't have to talk. We're just right there together. And that's it. I'm not in a rush to go anywhere. I don't, I love all of y'all, but if I got a choice between hanging out with y'all and hanging out with my wife, who I see every day, I'm gonna hang out with my wife. I'm just throwing that out there. And here's the thing: why do we not pay attention to that when it comes to our relationship with Jesus? We have an opportunity to sit in the presence of a holy God who literally spoke everything into existence, and we're in a hurry, like we have something better to do. What do you think is better than that? And he's like, just talk to me, just hang out, just sit with me. You don't have to say anything, you just sit with him. It's fascinating how we can get in such a hurry. But Jesus is pointing them right here. He's like, pay attention to what you're saying, pay attention to the things coming out of your mouth. Paul says this in Ephesians chapter 4 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Look at this, verse 32. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Can you imagine how peaceful your home would be, how peaceful your job would be, how peaceful the church would be if we just spoke kindness to one another all the time. That's a command. And if he's living on the throne of our hearts ruling, then that's exactly what we should be doing. Alright, here's the fourth point. I really had more notes, but that's about all we're gonna hit right there. Because to be totally honest with you, I'm looking at the time and I'm thinking back to the fact that we have some wonderful people working with our children in the back right there, and I'm like, man, they've been in there for a while, so we're gonna we're gonna finish this up. Verse point four right here. Although, by the way, some of y'all I know you're looking for a place to serve. Opportunity right there, just putting that out there. Opportunity right there, great opportunity. Point four. The question is this we come back to it once again. Who sits on the throne? Every sermon has a destination, every text is driving us somewhere. Jesus didn't perform this miracle so people could admire him. He didn't silence demons so people could debate theology. He didn't expose the Pharisees just so we'd know that they were wrong. No, he's forcing every person in this room to answer one question: Whose side are you on? You know, what's fascinating is he's not asking you to do something that he hasn't already done. When he's saying, I want you to surrender to the will of the Father, he's not asking you to do something he didn't do. When he's walking the earth, what did Jesus say over and over again? I am here to do the will of the Father. I am here to do the will of the Father. He was at, he was, he was seeking him out, seeking his clarity, seeking his direction all the time. That was part of what Jesus did when he stepped off his throne and came into humanity. He lowered himself so that now he needs to know what the will of the Father is to do the will of the Father, and he needs the empowering of the Spirit. It's not because Jesus wasn't fully divine and fully human, it's because he intentionally limited himself so that we could see it, so that we could understand this. And too many of us just ignore it. Jesus isn't, when you look at this, he isn't looking for perfection. You know what he's looking for? Submission. You're not gonna get it all right. That's okay. You surrender, you keep moving forward back to him. A surrendered heart still struggles, a surrendered heart still falls, a surrendered heart still fights temptation. But when the Holy Spirit points to an area that doesn't belong to Christ, you don't build another lock. You open the door and let him in. Now, what does it look like to live under just one king? The rightful king, it changes everything. When Jesus is king, your words begin to sound different because your heart is different. When Jesus is king, your marriage changes. Why? Because winning arguments is no longer the goal. Can I just tell you something right now? You have, I know, I know you know this, but I want to I want to remind you of this. Nobody ever wins an argument in your home. Nobody ever wins an argument. Nobody ever wins an argument. Everybody loses. Somebody, everybody just walks away with their feelings hurt and frustrated, and you're gonna have to apologize for things you knew you shouldn't have said, but you said them anyway because you're trying to make a dig and trying to win. Just go into the into the fact nobody ever wins an argument. And we're on the same team. Here's another part of this: when Jesus is king, your parenting changes. You wanna know why? You're no longer raising successful children. That's not the goal. You know what you're raising? You're raising disciples who need to know Jesus. When Jesus is king, your finances change. Why? Because giving stops feeling like a loss because you've already decided that nothing belongs to you anyway. When Jesus is king, your workplace changes because your boss isn't your highest authority. Your king is. When Jesus is king, church stops being a performance. It becomes a family of redeemed people helping one another become more and more like Jesus. That's what happens when Jesus rules. Everything changes. So let me ask you the question one more time. Who sits on the throne? Who sits on the throne of your heart? Because that determines whose side you're on. You have a choice to make today. We've talked about it all the time. We began with the evidence. The evidence has been given to you. What are you gonna do with it? Are you gonna walk away? Are you gonna reject what the Lord has shown us in his word? Or are you gonna surrender to him and watch him change everything? My friends, right now, you know this. You are as close to Jesus as you want to be. You have the exact relationship with Jesus that you want to have. You want to go deeper, you will. You don't want to go deeper, you're gonna come up with excuses. But you are making a choice. Today is the day, now is the time, this is the moment. Surrender to Him and watch Him change everything. Why? Again, you're as close to Jesus as you want to be. How close do you want to be? That's entirely up to you. Let's pray together. Father, we just come to you and thank you for this day. We thank you for your goodness and grace. We thank you for your love and mercy. We thank you for the truths in your word. God often, Lord, I'm just in awe of you, of your magnificent power and your grace, Lord, that you would save a sinner like me. God, I pray right now, if there's somebody here today who doesn't know you, I pray that they would not leave this place until they surrender completely to you. Lord, if there's somebody here today who needs to follow you in baptism, and I pray that they would stop making excuses and that today would be the day where they say, yes, we want to follow. Be obedient, not again because baptism saves, baptism doesn't save. You save, Jesus, but because this is what you've called us to do. So let the whole world know two side wrong. Father, too many of us are sitting on the sidelines, not stepping into what you've called us to. And I pray that today is a day where, Lord, the people feel that call to join in. You brought them here for a reason. And I pray that they would embrace the opportunity to serve you in this place. Guide us today, Lord Jesus, to direct our paths, give us the courage to be obedient to you. Give us hearts that are compassionate for one another. That we would ask for forgiveness, that we would all for forgiveness, that together we would keep our eyes on you, Lord Jesus. As we become more and more like that, Father, we love you. Forgive us of our sinfulness. Cleanse us of our unrighteousness. May all that we do bring glory to God as you build your church. For it's in Jesus' name we pray.