Shall we turn to the 12th chapter of
the Gospel of Matthew?
Jesus was not one to follow traditions.
He has already pointed out in the Sermon
on the Mount that through their interpretation of
the law, they have thoroughly disallowed the law
for the purposes that God intended it.
For they were interpreting the law after a
physical sense, thou shalt not kill, interpreting that
as clubbing your enemy to death.
But Jesus said, no, really, if you have
hatred in your heart for your brother, you're
guilty.
It isn't just the outward action that the
law was intended to speak to, but the
inner emotions that so often provoked the outward
action.
Sin begins in the mind, the attitudes, and
from the attitudes come the actions.
God is not interested in our just curbing
the wrong actions.
God is interested in our heart and the
inner attitudes from which actions spring.
Now, the result of their misinterpreting of the
law was that they had developed a very
great sense of self-righteousness, and with it
a spiritual pride, where they set themselves in
sort of a spiritual elitist little category, and
everybody else is on the common sinner level,
and they looked down from their perches at
the common sinners with disdain.
When they walked down the streets, they held
their robes tightly against them because they didn't
want their robe accidentally to swish out and
brush against you, lest they be defiled with
your filth.
Very self-righteous.
The attitude itself was disdained by Jesus, and
when we move along in Matthew, some of
the heaviest words of condemnation and all I
have ever heard, here we go, you ask
my little granddaughter, what does grandpa do?
And she'll go, and now I'm very self
-conscious of it.
So, they had sought to interpret the law,
and in their endeavor to interpret the law,
they had a field day with the Sabbath
law, because the Sabbath law declared that they
were not to bear any burdens on the
Sabbath day, and so it was necessary for
them to constitute what was bearing a burden,
and it was decided that if you had
lost your leg and had a wooden leg,
that you could not use that on the
Sabbath day, because that would indeed be bearing
a burden.
Well, they went further than that.
If you had false teeth, you could not
wear them on the Sabbath day, because that
also would be bearing a burden.
As far as I know, false eyelashes weren't
in vogue in those times, but I would
imagine they would have had to have ruled
on that too.
Now, in trying to fine-tune this law
down, they lost the meaning of it entirely,
and Jesus cared not for their fanciful interpretations.
He did not follow their traditions.
In fact, he opposed their traditional interpretations, and
thus he created a lot
of rancor.
Now, that's all right.
She didn't do that.
And they were constantly getting after Jesus because
of his violation of the Sabbath law.
Now, Christ is the fulfillment of the law,
we are told, and one of the problems,
one of the first problems that arose in
the early church, when there were many Gentiles
who began to be converted and to become
a part of the early church, the question
arose, does a Gentile have to become a
Jew in order to be saved?
In other words, if you are to be
saved as a Gentile, must you be circumcised
and keep the law of Moses?
And there were many of the Jews in
the church that took that position, and some
of them came down to the Gentile church
in Antioch that had been established by Paul,
the apostle.
And they began to create a division in
the church in Antioch, saying that unless you
are circumcised and keep the law of Moses,
you can't be saved.
And this was one of the first problems
that arose in the church.
Paul and Barnabas came back with certain brethren
to Jerusalem with these agitators, in order that
the church might make a ruling on this
issue.
And in the Acts of the Apostles, we
read how that it became the conclusion of
the ruling body of the early church that
the law was not really intended for the
Gentile believers, nor was it essential to their
salvation.
That it was possible for God's spirit to
work in the heart of a man apart
from the law.
And so they were told to just keep
themselves from idols and things strangled, and if
you do this, you do well.
God bless you.
In determining what relationship the Gentile church should
have to the law, there was no declaration,
well, you've got to keep the Sabbath, and
no laying on them all of the aspects
of the Sabbath law.
But we are told rather in Hebrews that
Christ is our rest.
The Sabbath was for rest.
Now really, God intended you stay in bed
all day, that you just flake out for
one day a week.
Don't do anything, just kick back and rest.
And surely our body needs a day of
complete rest, but it was made for man
because man needs rest.
So here in chapter 12, the beginning, we
find Jesus in one of his controversies with
the religious rulers.
Once again, the issue is over the Sabbath
day.
And at that time, Jesus went on the
Sabbath day through the corn, that is the
corn of wheat.
They call the little ripened wheat the corn.
And the disciples were hungry, and they began
to pluck the ears of corn and to
eat them.
And when the Pharisees saw it, they said
unto him, behold, your disciples do that which
is not lawful to do on the Sabbath
day.
And he said unto them, have you not
read what David did when he was hungry
and those that were with him?
How he entered into the house of God
and did eat the showbread, which was not
lawful for him to eat, neither for them
which were with him, but only for the
priest.
Now when David was fleeing from Saul, he
came to the tabernacle of God.
He went into the priest and he took
the showbread, which only the priest were to
eat, but David and his men were hungry.
And so David took it and he fed
his men.
Now that was not lawful for David to
do.
However, God has established the law true that
only the priest were to eat the showbread.
But here is a man who is in
physical need.
And there is a higher law of God
that ministers to men's physical needs.
If a man is starving, if a man
is hungry, then there are those higher laws
that deal with the preservation of life.
Have you not read in the law on
how that on the Sabbath days, the priest
and the temple profane the Sabbath and are
blameless?
I probably work harder on Sunday than any
other day of the week, yet blameless.
In other words, you know, a person wants
to be technical on those things.
The priest worked on the Sabbath days, but
yet they were blameless.
So they bore burdens, they bore the sacrifices
and all.
But I say unto you that in this
place, there is one who is greater than
the temple, referring to himself.
And if the priest could labor in the
temple and not be guilty of violating the
Sabbath, surely his disciples could labor with him
on the Sabbath day.
But if you had known what this means,
I will have mercy and not sacrifice, you
would not have condemned the guiltless.
Now, this is the second time Jesus has
quoted this scripture.
I will have mercy and not sacrifice.
God would much rather we show mercy and
be merciful than to offer sacrifices unto him.
You remember when Saul came back, having disobeyed
the commandment of God to utterly wipe out
the Amalekites.
And he greeted Samuel and said, you know,
I've done all that the Lord has commanded.
Samuel said, if you've done all the Lord's
commanded, how come I hear the cattle and
the sheep?
And he said, oh, well, they were so
nice.
I decided to bring them back to sacrifice
to the and he said to obey is
better than to sacrifice and to hearken than
the fat of lambs.
God came to the place where he was
sick of their sacrifices because they had begun
to really do their evil with sort of
the concept.
Well, we can always go off for a
sacrifice and be forgiven.
God says to obey is better than to
sacrifice.
God said, I would rather that you have
mercy than offer sacrifices.
God finally said, look, I'm sick of your
sacrifices.
I don't want to smell them anymore.
I'm tired of them.
You don't show mercy.
You don't show the traits that I would
have you to show.
And yet you're coming and sacrificing.
I care not for your sacrifices.
God says they're unto me.
So I will have mercy and not sacrifice.
God would rather your heart be right before
him.
Then you'd be constantly making sacrifices.
And if you had understood this, Jesus said,
then you wouldn't be here condemning the guiltless.
He doesn't say they're guilty at all of
violating the law of God for the son
of man is Lord, even of the Sabbath
day.
So he puts himself above the Sabbath, but
he is indeed the rest for us.
He is our Sabbath.
We've entered into Christ.
We've entered into our rest where he is
the Sabbath really to the believer.
Now he left the fields and they went
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.
There was a man there which had a
withered hand and they asked him saying, is
it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days
in order that they might accuse him?
Because according to their law, you could not,
and they're interpreting of the law, you could
not heal on the Sabbath day.
Now, if a person had been injured and
was bleeding to death, you could apply a
tourniquet and you could take what measures were
necessary to save his life, but you could
take no measures at all towards the healing
of the injuries.
You had to wait till the Sabbath day
was over till you applied the gauze and
the bandages and so forth for the healing
aspects.
But you could take preventative measures to keep
him from dying, but that's all nothing towards
healing.
And that was specified in their law.
So here it was the Sabbath day and
here's a man in need.
And isn't it interesting how that they instinctively
seem to know that Jesus would want to
help this man, even though it was the
Sabbath day, that Jesus could never face human
blight without wanting to do something about it.
Jesus couldn't be satisfied just observing human blight,
but he would have, and they knew that
he would have this desire to help this
man.
So they beat him to the trigger using
their interpretation of all.
They said, is it lawful to heal on
the Sabbath day?
And they were hoping to trap him.
Yes, it's lawful.
That's not what Rabbi Gamaliel says, you know,
and so they were planning to trap him
on this one.
And he said unto them, rather than answering
directly, if one of you have one of
your sheep and if it would fall into
a pit on the Sabbath day, wouldn't you
lift it out?
Of course.
Well, in reality, if you would lift your
sheep out of the pit on the Sabbath
day, you are violating the Sabbath.
You're bearing a burden, but yet they made
those kind of allowances.
And Jesus said, isn't a man better than
a sheep to help someone in need is
more important than helping an animal in need.
Wherefore, he said, is it lawful to do
good on the Sabbath days?
Well, of course it would be.
You couldn't say that it was not lawful
to do good on the Sabbath days.
So he said to the man, stretch forth
your hand.
And he stretched it forth and it was
restored whole just like the other.
And the Pharisees went out and they held
counsel against him, how they might destroy him.
This was too much.
He's violating our traditions.
He's putting us down at this rate.
All of our righteous acts are going to
be wiped out.
And so their counsel is to destroy him.
But when Jesus knew it, rather than a
confrontation at this time, he withdrew himself.
Jesus deliberately avoided confrontation until the time came
when he was to be crucified.
And so he withdrew and great multitudes followed
him and he healed them all.
And he commanded that they should not make
him known.
In order that it might be fulfilled, which
was spoken by Isaiah, the prophet who said,
behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my
beloved in whom my soul is well pleased.
I will put my spirit upon him and
he will show judgment to the Gentiles.
He shall not strive nor cry, neither shall
any man hear his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed shall he not break and
smoking flax shall he not quench till he
sends forth judgment unto victory.
And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.
So here was the prophecy of Isaiah, who
was proclaiming actually that the gospel was going
to be declared ultimately to the Gentiles and
the Israel, the bruised reed, the smoking flax.
The Lord is not going to face them
with a direct confrontation just to withdraw himself.
He's not there to destroy the bruised reed,
but he is there to minister to those
who will hearken.
Then there was brought unto him one who
was possessed with the devil.
He was blind, he was dumb, and Jesus
healed him, insomuch that the blind and the
dumb both spake and saw.
And all the people were amazed and they
said, is not this the son of David?
That is prophetically where God promised unto David
that of his seed should the Messiah come.
Is not this the Messiah, the son of
David, the title used for the Messiah?
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said,
this fellow doth not cast out devils, but
by the Lord of the flies, Beelzebub, the
prince of the devils.
And Jesus knew their thoughts, and he said
unto them, every kingdom divided against itself is
brought to desolation, and every city or house
that is divided against itself shall not stand.
And if Satan is casting out Satan, he's
divided against himself.
And how then shall his kingdom stand?
So their whole philosophy was shot down by
just a few words of logic.
Satan couldn't be casting out Satan, otherwise he's
divided his kingdom and he's going to fall.
And if I, Beelzebub, cast out devils, by
whom do your children cast them out?
Therefore, they shall be your judges.
But if I cast out devils by the
spirit of God, then the kingdom of God
is coming to you.
Or else how can one enter into a
strongman's house and spoil his goods, except he
first bind the strongman, and then he will
spoil his house?
Now he that is not with me is
against me, and he that gathereth not with
me is scattering abroad.
So Jesus, in the answer, in response to
the accusation of the Pharisees that he by
the power of Satan is casting out Satan,
declares to them that this is inconsistent, that
he is binding the strongman of the house
in order that he might spoil it.
But then he declares, look, there is no
neutral ground.
And I think this is important that we
note.
He that is not with me is against
me.
You see, he doesn't leave any neutral ground
for you to stand on.
What think ye of Christ?
Whose son is he?
That's basically the question.
He doesn't leave you some little neutral corner
here in which to stand.
Well, I really don't know that I have
made a firm decision, you know.
Well, no decision is a decision.
No decision is a no decision.
He that is not for me, he said,
is against me.
You can't be neutral concerning Christ.
He is too radical.
He doesn't allow you any neutrality.
You are for him or you are against
him.
If you are not for him, you are
against him.
You cannot take a place of neutrality in
regards to Jesus Christ.
If you're not gathering, then you're scattering.
Now, because they had accused him of doing
his works by the power of Satan, he
warns them against the blasphemy of the Holy
Spirit.
Because by this accusation they are showing evidences
that they are approaching that horrible sin for
which there is no forgiveness.
Wherefore, I say unto you, all manner of
sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but
the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not
be forgiven men.
If you speak a word against the Son
of Man, it shall be forgiven.
But whosoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it
will not be forgiven him, neither in this
world, neither in the world to come.
Two weeks ago on Sunday morning, we took
the Sunday morning with this lesson on the
sin against the Holy Spirit and what it
is.
And if you weren't here, I would recommend
that you get that tape, because we went
into a full exposition of what constitutes the
sin against the Holy Spirit.
Basically, it is the refusal to hearken to
the work of the Spirit within your life.
For Jesus said, when the Spirit comes, he's
not going to testify of himself, he's going
to testify of me.
And he is going to reprove the world
of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.
And then he said, of sin, because they
do not believe on me.
The work of the Holy Spirit is to
convict men of sin by revealing to man
the answer for his sin, even Jesus Christ.
God has made only one provision for your
forgiveness, only one provision for the putting away
of your sin and your guilt.
And that provision is in and through his
only begotten Son.
And the Spirit of God comes to bear
witness to us of this fact, that there
is only one way you can have forgiveness
of your sin, and that is by the
receiving of the Son of God, Jesus Christ,
as your Savior and Lord.
Now, if you continually refuse that work of
the Holy Spirit in your heart, revealing Jesus
Christ to you, reproving you of your sin
because you do not believe in him, if
you continue in that mode, there is no
forgiveness, because God has provided no other way
for man to be saved.
As Peter said, neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is no other name
given among men whereby we must be saved.
So, for you to reject God's provision for
your sins through the death of his Son
leaves God no alternative.
There's no forgiveness for you, not in this
world or in the world to come, because
God has made only one provision for man's
sin.
The Holy Spirit bears witness to your heart
of that truth.
To refuse to believe, to refuse to accept
the witness of the Spirit is ultimately to
blaspheme against the Spirit.
Now, as you are progressing in this position
against Jesus Christ, ultimately, as you are faced
with indisputable evidence that Jesus is indeed
all that he said he is by the
power of his name and of his life,
and you're faced with evidence that you cannot
deny, because you have continued this rejection mode
so long, you've got to somehow now rationalize
or explain this obvious evidence for the
fact that he is indeed the Son of
David, the Messiah.
And the Pharisees, having adopted this mode of
rejection of Jesus, were coming close to the
place of no return, when they said he
is doing those works by the power of
the devil.
Now they're beginning to deny obvious evidence.
And when a person comes to that place
in his rejection of Jesus Christ, where he
begins to deny this obvious evidence that God
puts in his path, and begins to try
to explain away the evidence that God is
placing before him, that person is coming close
to that place, testified in John 12, 38,
where the Pharisees finally came.
Therefore, they could not believe.
He comes to that place where it's impossible
for him to change, to believe, to turn
around the mode.
He's established the path, and he's gone too
far down the road, and there's no turning
back.
And the denial of obvious evidence, which, when
they began to attribute the works of Jesus
Christ to Satan, because, how are you going
to explain the fact that this demon-possessed
man is now talking, he's now seen, whereas
before he was dumb and he was blind,
evidence that they cannot deny.
He's standing there before him, talking.
And so, they have to give some explanation,
denying the evidence before them.
You're getting close.
Now, Jesus said, either make the tree good,
or his fruit good, or else make the
tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt.
For the tree is known by his fruit.
Oh, generation of vipers, how can you, being
evil, speak good things?
For out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaks.
A good man, out of the good treasure
of his heart, brings forth good things.
And an evil man, out of the evil
treasure, bringeth forth evil things.
But I say unto you, that every idle
word that men shall speak, they shall give
an account thereof in the day of judgment.
So, by thy words thou shalt be justified,
and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Then certainly the scribes and Pharisees answered, and
they said, Master, we would like you to
show us a sign.
Now, here they had just denied the sign
that they had just seen.
When the man was brought to Jesus, possessed
with the devil, blind and dumb, they had
seen that.
They had seen the withered man, the man
with the withered hand, they'd watched him stretch
it forth.
And now they have the audacity to say
to Jesus, why don't you show us a
sign?
Prove that you're the Messiah.
And he answered and said unto them, An
evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign,
but there shall no sign be given to
it but the sign of the prophet Jonah.
For as Jonah was three days and three
nights in the whale's belly, so shall the
Son of Man be three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth.
And the men of Nineveh shall rise in
judgment with this generation, and will condemn it,
because they repented at the preaching of Jonah.
And behold, a greater than Jonah is here.
Now, in this short little answer of Jesus
to the Pharisees, he affirms three biblical facts
that are often denied by those who refer
to themselves as higher critics.
Those who have presumed to have the authority
to tell you what parts of the Bible
you can believe and what parts you cannot
believe.
What parts are genuine, which parts are spurious,
which parts are inspired, which parts are uninspired,
which are truths and which is myth.
And one of the stories in the Bible
that has received some of the greatest criticism
by these higher critics is the story of
Jonah.
But as I've said, the only problem that
a person has with Jonah is not the
fact that Jonah was swallowed by a great
fish, but their problem is deeper than that.
Their problem is their concept of God.
If you have a right concept of God,
you'll have no problem with the story of
Jonah, even if it said God prepared a
minnow to swallow him rather than a great
fish.
For God can do anything.
And so it is your concept of God
that is your problem, not the story of
Jonah.
And one of the basic problems of man
is his concept of God.
And that problem exists because man has a
tendency of creating his own God.
And when a man creates his own God,
he creates his God as a projection of
himself to immensity.
And there is always that.
If I were God, this is how I
would have done it.
This is how I would have managed it.
This is how I would have worked it
out.
If I were God.
And there are many people who have difficulty
with the revelation that God has given of
himself.
Because there are aspects of that revelation that
differ with their own ideas and concepts of
how they would judge or how they would
govern the universe or how they would create
man, how they would deal with free moral
agency, how they would deal with choice, how
they would deal with all of these aspects
that God has had to deal with when
he created us.
And so there are many who reject God's
revelation of himself, preferring their own concepts, preferring
really to worship themselves.
As we told you a couple of weeks
ago, there are only two burdens that men
have.
And one is to do the will of
God and the other is to do the
will of himself.
Jesus said, my yoke is easy, my burden
is light.
What was his burden?
To do the will of the Father.
What's your burden?
To do your own will.
Heavy, isn't it?
He said, come unto me all ye that
labor and are heavy laden.
I'll give you rest.
Now, David observed how that the men had
made their own gods.
He said, they've taken little pieces of wood
and they've carved them out.
And of course, you've all seen pictures of
the gods that have been created by the
pagans, grotesque little creatures that they carve out
of wood or they sometimes will mold using
gold or other metals.
And they make their little god and they
set it up and they put the candles
around it and they burn their incense to
it and they bow before it and offer
their prayers and so forth.
And that's their god.
But as David observed the gods that they
made, he said, eyes they have, but they
cannot see.
Ears they have, but they cannot hear.
Feet they have, but they cannot walk.
Mouths they have, but they cannot speak.
You see, David observes that man has made
a god like himself.
Why do you put eyes in your god?
Because you've got eyes.
Why do you put ears in your gods?
Because you've got ears.
You make your god like yourself, but less
than yourself.
Because the little wooden image here that you've
made and you're worshipping, though you've put ears
on it, those ears can't hear.
Though you put a mouth on it, it
can't talk.
So you've made it less than yourself.
But then David made one further observation.
They that have made them have become like
the gods that they made.
If you make a dumb little god, you
become dumb.
If your god is insensate, you become like
your god.
You soon become insensate to the voice of
God.
You no longer hear the voice of God.
You no longer see the work of God.
You no longer sense the presence of God.
You become insensate because you've been worshipping an
insensate god.
Some person says, well, I've never seen God.
You're insensate.
I've never felt the presence of God because
your god is insensate and you've become insensate.
It's a horrible curse that a man becomes
like his god if his god is false.
It's a tremendous blessing that a man becomes
like his god if his god is true.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God.
It doesn't yet appear what we're going to
be, but we know when he appears we're
going to be like him.
Why?
Because man becomes like his god.
They that have made them have become like
the gods that they have made.
A man becomes like his god.
And we with open face beholding the glory
of the Lord are changed from glory to
glory into the same image as we are
being conformed by the spirit into the image
of Jesus Christ becoming like our god.
And we should be coming more like him
every day.
And if we are truly worshipping him and
serving him that will be the case in
our lives.
Jesus here affirms the authenticity of the story
of Jonah as a historic fact.
If you have the right concept of God
you have no problems.
If you don't have the right concept of
God your problems are just starting.
The second thing Jesus affirms is his resurrection
after three days and three nights.
This is another thing that has been the
target of the higher critics of the Bible,
the denial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And yet he affirms it.
The third thing he affirms is the final
resurrection of everyone, small and great, to stand
before the judgment bar of God.
All men of all ages will one day
stand before God.
No escaping.
The men of Nineveh will rise with this
generation.
There will be that general resurrection from the
dead that Daniel tells us about in the
twelfth chapter of the book of Daniel, where
he there declares, and many of them that
sleep in the dust of the earth shall
awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame
and everlasting contempt.
And of course in Revelation John gives us
a very graphic description of this resurrection.
And I saw a great white throne, Revelation
2011, and him that sat on it from
whose face the earth and the heaven fled
away, for there was found no place for
them.
And I saw the dead, small and great,
stand before God, and the books were opened,
and another book was opened, which is the
book of life.
And the dead were judged out of those
things which were written in the books according
to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which
were in it, death and hell delivered up
the dead which were in them, and they
were judged every man according to their works.
So the day of judgment, the resurrection, and
Jesus again affirms that, declaring that the men
of Nineveh will arise or will rise with
this generation and condemn it.
For they repented at the preaching of Jonah.
Jonah was a bitter prophet.
Jonah was filled with hatred.
He had no love for the people that
he was ministering to, but he had a
deep resentment and hatred for them and resented
deeply his being there ministering to them.
He had done his best to escape this
job.
He was coerced.
Now someone said, God will not force you
to go against your will, but he's able
to make you willing to go.
And such was the case of Jonah.
I mean, after three days and three nights
in that hot, humid well, he had it.
Seaweed wrapped around his head, the waves, he
said, sloshing over him.
In a mammal, it would be 98.6
degrees.
Humidity is tremendous.
He said, I've had it.
I'll go.
Well, the Lord really didn't force him to
go against his will, but he sure had
a way of making him willing to go.
But much like the little kid whose dad
said, sit down.
And the little kid just stood there.
And he said, I told you, sit down.
And the little kid still stood there.
And he finally started toward him as he's
pulling off his belt.
And he said, I said, sit down.
The little kid sat down.
He said, I may be sitting down on
the outside, but I'm still standing on the
inside.
He was still reluctant.
He still didn't want to go.
And he preached one monotonous message 40 days
and comes destruction.
And the king called for a general fast.
He put on sackcloth and ashes.
They prayed.
They said, who can tell the Lord may
be merciful.
And they repented at the preaching of Jonah,
a miracle.
And here are these people with Jesus coming
with love and compassion, rejecting him.
Oh yes.
You bet the men of Nineveh will point
a finger of accusation because they repented at
the preaching of Jonah.
And that generation was refusing the message of
Jesus.
The queen of the South, the queen of
Sheba shall rise up in the judgment with
this generation, general resurrection from the dead.
And she will condemn it.
For she came from the uttermost parts of
the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon
and behold a greater than Solomon is here.
There is absolutely no excuse for the rejecting
of Jesus Christ.
No excuse.
He is God's provision for your sin.
And if you reject him, men from every
generation will rise to condemn you in that
day of judgment.
Now Jesus talks about exorcism.
When the unclean spirit has gone out of
a man, he walks through dry places, seeking
rest and finding none.
He says, I will return to the house
from where I came out.
And when he has come, he finds it
empty, swept and garnished.
Then he goes and takes with himself seven
other spirits that are more wicked than himself.
And they enter in and dwell there.
And the last state of that man is
worse than the first.
Even so, shall it be also unto this
wicked generation.
So Jesus is talking about the casting forth
of evil spirits.
It is certainly important that we not go
around just seeking to expel evil spirits, because
you can actually be harming a person rather
than helping a person by just casting forth
evil spirits.
If something doesn't move into that vacuum, if
something doesn't come in its place, the spirit
will return finding the house all swept, clean.
He'll go out and get seven other spirits
more wicked.
And really, you've done a great disservice to
the person.
I believe in the expelling force of the
higher power.
I believe the best way to drive out
darkness is to turn on the light, not
to go around and flail at the darkness,
scream at it and yell it and try
and drive it out.
Just turn on the light and the darkness
automatically flees.
Light and darkness cannot coexist.
And when Jesus Christ comes into a person's
life, when his heart and life is open
to receive, then whatever force of darkness may
be there is expelled by the power of
the stronger force.
The expelling force of the stronger power.
And the man is safe.
He doesn't have to worry about a reoccurrence
of the problem even in a worse degree.
Better that you bring the light to men.
Better that you bring them Jesus Christ, that
their hearts and lives might be filled with
him and with his love.
And through his power, the forces of darkness
will automatically be dispelled.
Now, while he yet talked to the people,
behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside
and they desired to talk with him.
Then someone said to him, behold, your mother
and your brothers are outside and they want
to talk with you.
And he answered and said unto the one
that told him that who is my mother
and who are my brothers?
And he stretched forth his hand toward his
disciples and he said, behold, my mother and
my brothers.
For whosoever shall do the will of my
father, which is in heaven, the same as
my brother, my sister and my mother.
Now, for those who are putting so much
dependency upon the intercession of Mary, this scripture
would give me a lot of problems.
For when they said, hey, your mother's outside,
she wants to talk to you.
He said, who is my mother?
I mean, he didn't drop everything and run
and say, oh, Mary.
Mother of God, blessed art thou among women,
blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
He said, who is my mother?
Nowhere in the scripture are we encouraged to
seek Mary to seek favors for us from
her son.
There is not one indication or inkling in
the scriptures that Mary can do you any
good.
Jesus said, whatsoever you ask the father in
my name, I will do.
He didn't say, whatever you ask Mary, I'll
give special consideration to because every son gives
special consideration to his mother.
Nor did he say, you really shouldn't bother
me or talk to me about these things.
Talk to my mother and she'll filter them
out and she'll tell me what I need
to know.
I would hate to be depending upon Mary.
When Jesus took this attitude towards her while
he was here on earth, who is my
mother?
Who is my brother?
And then looking around at his disciples, he
said, hey, whoever does the will of God,
they are my brothers.
They are my sister.
They are my mother.
Now Jesus, as we get to the end
of chapter 13, we discover had earthly
brothers and sisters in as much as they
were sons of Mary and Joseph.
Jesus, of course, was the son of God.
Mary being a virgin when the Holy Spirit
came upon her and she conceived and bore
Jesus Christ.
But the teaching of the perpetual virginity of
Mary is not a scripturally based.
In fact, it's contrary to the scripture from
verse 55.
They said, is not this the carpenter's son
and his mother is called Mary and his
brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas
and his sisters.
Are they not with us now?
There is indication that those natural half brothers
of Jesus did not really believe on him.
You remember he said a prophet is not
without honor, except in his own country and
among his own family.
He knew what it was to have the
personal rejection of his family and his brothers
at one time were going to rescue him.
They said he's gone crazy.
He's beside himself.
And that's talking about a person who has
sort of a schizophrenia that he begins to
talk to himself.
And so you're beside yourself.
You're holding a conversation with yourself.
Now, it is true that those who have
a bond in Christ, those who are related
by Jesus Christ, have a closer relationship than
actual brothers and sisters who are not bound
in Christ.
In other words, you will have a closer
relationship to those in the family of God
than to those of your own family.
If your own family is not also a
part of the family of God.
And many of you have no doubt experienced
this.
Your accepting of Jesus Christ has created an
alienation between some of the members of your
own family, blood family.
But you've come into a new family of
which ties are deeper and greater and the
bond is tighter.
And so with Jesus, his brothers and all
not believing in him at that point, said,
who is my brother?
Look, these fellows here, whoever does the will
of God, the same as my mother, my
sister, my brother.