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Matthew 12 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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0:00Matthew 12:1
0:04At that time Jesus went through [music]
0:06the grain fields on the Sabbath and his
0:08disciples became hungry and begin to
0:11pick the heads of grain and eat. But
0:14when the Pharisees saw this, they said
0:16to him, "Look, your disciples do what is
0:20not lawful to do on the Sabbath."
0:24But he said to them, "Have you not read
0:27that David when he became hungry, he and
0:30his [music] companions, how he entered
0:32the house of God, and they ate the
0:35consecrated [music]
0:35bread, which was not lawful for him to
0:38eat, nor for those with him, but for the
0:41priests alone?" Or have you not read in
0:44the law that on the Sabbath the priests
0:47in the temple break the Sabbath and are
0:49[music] innocent? But I say to you that
0:53something greater than the temple is
0:56here.
0:57But if you had known what this means, I
1:01desire compassion and not sacrifice, you
1:05would not have condemned the innocent.
1:09Jesus gets more criticism for breaking
1:13the Sabbath than almost any other single
1:17issue with the Pharisees. They took a
1:20lot of pride in how they observed the
1:23Sabbath. [music] And they took a lot of
1:25issue and judgment toward anyone who
1:27didn't observe it in their
1:29interpretation.
1:32And they're saying that by plucking the
1:34grains of wheat, the disciples are
1:36working on the Sabbath.
1:39And Jesus is trying to force them out of
1:43this narrow interpretation.
1:46And he's saying,
1:48if you want to base your doctrine on
1:50scripture, then be consistent. Why was
1:53it okay for David to break a rule here
1:56or for this one to break a rule there?
1:58Why is it okay for the priests to seem
2:01to break a rule? And his whole argument
2:04pivots on the statement when he says
2:08something greater than the temple is
2:10here. And in that argument, he is
2:13alluding to the fact that all of your
2:16customs, all of the Levitical rules were
2:20given by God to create a place, a
2:24tabernacle or temple where we could
2:26interact with the presence of the living
2:29God. But he's saying if that's what
2:31these rules were for, then a better
2:35house and something better than the
2:37temple is here. God has taken up
2:40residence in a human being and we don't
2:43need to use the early peripheral rules
2:48that guided that household interaction
2:51with God's presence to block our
2:54acceptance of God's presence now that
2:56the temple is a man walking and talking
3:00and living among us. And that's what
3:02they were doing. For the Son of Man is
3:06Lord of the Sabbath.
3:09Departing from there, he went into their
3:11synagogue.
3:13And a man was there whose hand was
3:16withered.
3:18And they questioned Jesus, asking, "Is
3:22it lawful to heal on the Sabbath so that
3:26they might accuse him?"
3:29And he said to them, "What man is there
3:31among you who has a sheep, and if he
3:34falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will
3:37not take hold of it and lift it out?
3:40How much more valuable then is a man
3:43than a sheep? So then, it is lawful to
3:47do good on the Sabbath."
3:50Then he said to the man, "Stretch out
3:53your hand." He stretched out his hand
3:56and it was restored to normal like the
3:59other. But the Pharisees went out and
4:02conspired against him as to how they
4:06might destroy him. But Jesus aware of
4:10this withdrew from there. Many followed
4:14him and he healed them and warned them
4:16not to tell who he was.
4:19This was to fulfill what was spoken
4:21through Isaiah the prophet. Behold my
4:24servant whom I have chosen, my beloved,
4:26in whom my soul is well pleased. I will
4:29put my spirit upon him. And he shall
4:32proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He
4:35will not quarrel, nor cry out, nor will
4:39anyone hear his voice in the streets. A
4:42battered reed he will not break off, and
4:45a smoldering wick he will not put out
4:48until he leads justice to victory. and
4:52in his name the Gentiles will hope.
4:55Matthew is constantly anchoring
4:58everything Jesus does against the plum
5:02line and foundation of the scripture,
5:04what the prophets have already spoken.
5:07He is not saying he's here as a lawb
5:09breakaker. He's here full of pride. He's
5:12here rejecting the ancient way. He's
5:15here saying he's faithful to the
5:17prophets. He's faithful to the old way.
5:20He's just interpreting it according to a
5:23new and living pattern, not the dead
5:25pattern that has become a barrier
5:28against God himself.
5:30With the Sabbath,
5:32God ordained the Sabbath as a rhythm to
5:37help people cease from their works
5:41and devote a day to remember God and
5:45allow him to work in their lives. But
5:48Hebrews tells us that the Sabbath is a
5:51cessation, a ceasing from our works.
5:56The number of man is six. That's the day
5:58he was created in the creation story.
6:01And six days he labors. And the whole
6:04world is filled with what man can do
6:07apart from God. Six, six, six. Man, man,
6:11man. And so the Sabbath was this one day
6:16when man needed to be still and remember
6:20who was God and remember that his works
6:22were not the greatest, the holiest, the
6:25most special that gods were. And yet
6:28here we have a man
6:31Jesus in whom the almighty God is
6:34living. God is manifesting himself in
6:39the humanity of Christ.
6:41And yet he says that he does nothing of
6:45his own initiative. He doesn't act as a
6:48man doing what man men want to do. He
6:52only acts as a conduit of God. So every
6:56time he acts by the power of the spirit,
6:59that is a Sabbath action. That is him
7:02ceasing from his fleshly works and God
7:06working through him. And every time he
7:08does that, they think he's breaking the
7:10Sabbath because he told the man to
7:12stretch out his hand. So they're saying
7:15that's works and he's saying that's
7:18grace. They're saying you're working on
7:20the Sabbath. He's saying no, I'm not.
7:23I'm doing nothing. The father that is in
7:25me, it is he who does the works. So
7:29Jesus is the early example of the grace
7:32versus works debate. The Pharisees are
7:35telling him, "You're a worker because
7:37you're doing these things on the
7:38Sabbath." And he's saying, "No, I'm not.
7:41I'm Lord of the Sabbath. I'm in living,
7:43breathing expression of ceasing from the
7:47carnal human way of doing things and
7:50letting God work through me." And so, he
7:54wasn't observing the Sabbath, he was
7:57living Sabbath. And what he wanted to
7:59invite us into is a whole life of
8:02Sabbath where the Lord works through us
8:04and we cease from everything we can do
8:07without him. I want to observe that in
8:10Matthew's account, this is the first
8:13anger, hostility, and murder that comes
8:16against Jesus. It's over the Sabbath.
8:20They are accusing him of being a worker
8:22when he shouldn't be working, but he's
8:25not. He's actually ceasing from his
8:28works and he's entering into God's. But
8:30this is when they first want to destroy
8:33him.
8:35Then a demon-possessed man who was blind
8:37and mute was brought to Jesus and he
8:39healed him. So that the mute man spoke
8:42and saw. All the crowds were amazed and
8:45were saying, "This man cannot be the son
8:48of David, can he?"
8:50But when the Pharisees heard this, they
8:52said, "This man casts out demons only by
8:55Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."
9:00Now they've already said this once, and
9:02Jesus ignored it. But now they say it a
9:04second time, and he [clears throat]
9:05addresses it. And knowing their
9:08thoughts, Jesus said to them, "Any
9:11kingdom divided against itself is laid
9:13waste, and any city or house divided
9:17against itself will not stand. If Satan
9:21casts out Satan, he is divided against
9:26himself, how then will his kingdom
9:28stand? If I by Beelzebub cast out
9:32demons, by whom do your sons cast them
9:35out?
9:37For this reason, they will be your
9:39judges. But if I cast out demons by the
9:43spirit of God, then the kingdom of God
9:47has come upon you. Or how can anyone
9:51enter the strong man's house and carry
9:53off his property unless he first binds
9:57the strong man and then he will plunder
9:59his house?
10:01This is a hugely important scripture.
10:06This scripture tells us all kinds of
10:08things. First of all, Jesus's comment
10:12tells us that Satan is not interested in
10:17binding himself.
10:20Satan is not going to be casting himself
10:22out because that's going to divide his
10:23kingdom and it's going to fall. Satan
10:25wants his kingdom to stand. So, he's not
10:27going to cast himself out of people. So,
10:31anytime you see spiritual activity that
10:33is delivering people from evil, don't
10:37you dare call it Satan. Satan would
10:39never do something so stupid. Okay.
10:43Next, he tells us,
10:47this is Matthew has been telling us from
10:49the beginning of Jesus's ministry that
10:51the kingdom is coming. It's at hand.
10:53It's it's for you. Repent so that you
10:56can enter it. Now he tells us that the
10:59kingdom has come wherever Jesus is
11:04casting out the the spirit of the devil
11:07by the spirit of God. And this doesn't
11:10just tell us when the kingdom appears.
11:13It tells us what kind of kingdom it is.
11:16He does not say if I cast out Pilate by
11:20a successful attack on his palace, then
11:24the kingdom of God has come. because his
11:27enemy is not politics. His enemy is not
11:30Rome. His enemy is the spirit of
11:33darkness and fear and evil that works in
11:37human hearts. And his battleground is
11:40not Judea. It's the human mind and the
11:44human soul. So he says, "If I cast out
11:46demons by the spirit of God, then the
11:49kingdom of God has come."
11:53It's not something in the future. It's
11:55not something after Christ returns. It's
11:57here. It's come. So that tells us that
12:01the kingdom of God is a spiritual
12:03phenomenon that is going to reign inside
12:06of people and coexist with external
12:10troubles and external politics that are
12:12really nasty, but it's still going to be
12:15real right here on the inside.
12:19And then he says you you cannot enter a
12:23strong man's house and take away his
12:26goods until you first bind the strong
12:29man. Now in this equation,
12:32the strong man is Satan
12:35and his house is God's people. He's
12:39taken over the house of God and he's
12:41oppressing people with fear. He's
12:44oppressing people with pride. He's
12:46leading people astray by temptation. And
12:48Jesus is saying, I can't get these
12:51people to a place of freedom unless I
12:53have a power that is stronger than the
12:55devil. So he's saying, I my kingdom has
12:59come if I'm setting people free. Because
13:01the only way I could set them free is if
13:03I had the spirit of God that bound the
13:06devil from being effective. And that is
13:11a definition of the kingdom. That is one
13:13of the most defining scriptures in all
13:15the Bible of what God's kingdom is. It
13:19is the binding of Satan. It is the
13:21freeing of people. It is the casting out
13:23of dark spirits with the spirit of God.
13:26If those things have happened, then the
13:28kingdom of God has come. And it is the
13:31devil who is pretending
13:34that this isn't the work of God. That
13:36this is somehow be elyub at work. He who
13:40is not with me is against me,
13:43and he who does not gather with me
13:46scatters.
13:48He's telling them, if you're not part of
13:50this effort to fight the devil, then
13:52you're on the devil's side, and you're
13:54part of who I'm fighting.
13:56Therefore, I say to you, any sin and
13:59blasphemy shall be forgiven, people, but
14:03blasphemy against the spirit shall not
14:06be forgiven.
14:08Whoever speaks a word against the son of
14:10man, it shall be forgiven him. But
14:13whoever speaks against the holy spirit,
14:16it shall not be forgiven him either in
14:18this age or in the age to come.
14:22Jesus is saying that the most dangerous
14:25destructive thing that a human being can
14:29do is to call the work of the spirit the
14:34devil.
14:36When God is freeing people, when scary
14:40things are happening like demons are
14:42being bound and people are being healed,
14:44you shut your mouth.
14:46Don't you dare call it the work of the
14:48devil or you could find yourself to be
14:51blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
14:54And what that reveals is not an accident
14:57or a mistake. It reveals a brazenness
15:00and a pride that is so confident that it
15:05has taken the place of God
15:07and a miracle of deliverance cannot
15:11dethrone or unsettle the certainty of
15:14the religious pride.
15:17And it's unforgivable because it's a
15:19degree of rebellion that you can't walk
15:22back from. You are snared by the words
15:26of your mouth. you have declared as the
15:30work of Satan what is actually the work
15:33of God and he's saying there's no hope
15:34for such a person and what that says to
15:38us is that we want to walk in tenderness
15:42we want to walk in humility we want to
15:44walk in in openness whenever God is at
15:48work we don't want to be so sure of
15:51oursel that we would start to make
15:54people afraid of God afraid afraid of
15:57deliverance
15:59because that could reveal a level of
16:01pride that is unforgivable.
16:06Either make the tree good and its fruit
16:09good or make the tree bad and its fruit
16:11bad for the tree is known by its fruit.
16:14Now Jesus is still talking about his
16:17deliverance of people. He's saying you
16:19either acknowledge
16:21that what I did for this person was good
16:23and therefore my ministry is of God or
16:27you acknowledge that you wanted that
16:29person to stay demonpossessed.
16:32But you cannot say good fruit is coming
16:34from this ministry but the ministry is
16:36bad. You're a liar. You're of your
16:39father the devil if you're doing that.
16:41Either make the tree good and the fruit
16:43good also, or make the tree bad and its
16:46fruit bad, for the tree is known by its
16:49fruit.
16:51You brood of vipers,
16:54how can you being evil speak what is
16:57good?
16:59For the mouth speaks out of that which
17:02fills the heart.
17:05The good man brings out of his good
17:07treasure what is good. And the evil man
17:11brings out of his evil treasure what is
17:14evil. But I tell you that every careless
17:16word that people speak, they shall give
17:19an accounting for it in the day of
17:21judgment.
17:22For by your words you will be justified
17:25and by your words you will be condemned.
17:29He's telling them, you're a bunch of
17:32deceitful frauds. You're a bunch of
17:35snakes slithering in the grass because
17:38you want to act like, "Sure, a man was
17:41delivered by a demon, but the person who
17:44did it is evil." That's not possible.
17:47That would be good fruit on a bad tree.
17:50And he says, "You are full of evil in
17:54your heart. You have envy.
17:58You have resentment. You have fear. You
18:00have pride. and you don't like that I'm
18:02doing something that you can't do and so
18:05you're trying to slander it into
18:07silence. You're trying to lie about it
18:10and make people afraid of it. God will
18:12never forgive you if that's how you act.
18:15And he says to them that for such
18:19careless words, for slander, for making
18:22people fear the work of God, for making
18:25for blaspheming the work of the Holy
18:27Spirit that delivers people from
18:29bondage, you're going to be condemned.
18:33This is one of the only two times in all
18:35the Bible where Jesus uses the word
18:37justified.
18:39And he says, "For every careless word
18:41you will give an accounting, for by your
18:43words you will be justified and by your
18:45words you will be condemned." This is an
18:47ultimate thing. You don't blasphe, you
18:51don't speak evil of what God is doing.
18:54If you blasphe Jesus in his humanity,
18:57you're going to be forgiven. You blasphe
18:59the son of man, you're going to be
19:00forgiven. But if you see the work of the
19:02spirit, it doesn't matter through whom,
19:04and you blasphe the work of the Holy
19:06Spirit and call it the work of the
19:07devil, you're in a very precarious
19:10place.
19:12Then some of the scribes and Pharisees
19:14said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a
19:16sign from you." Now, this is an a
19:19hilarious contradiction.
19:21They've just been slandering him for
19:23doing signs on the Sabbath and they've
19:27decided that it's the work of the devil
19:29and he's just rebuked them for
19:31challenging the miracles he's doing. And
19:34now they come up and say, "We want to
19:36see a sign from you." What? They're
19:39blind to the miracles he's performing
19:42because they don't fit in their
19:44categories and traditions. And so in
19:46their blindness, they're demanding more
19:48of the very thing he's doing.
19:52But he answered and said to them, "An
19:55evil and adulterous generation craves
19:58for a sign. And yet no sign will be
20:01given to it, but the sign of Jonah the
20:04prophet. For just as Jonah was three
20:06days and three nights in the belly of
20:08the sea monster, so will the Son of Man
20:11be three days and three nights in the
20:12heart of the earth.
20:15The men of Nineveh will stand up with
20:17this generation at the judgment and will
20:20condemn it because they repented at the
20:22preaching of Jonah. And behold,
20:24something greater than Jonah is here.
20:26The queen of the south will rise up with
20:28this generation at the judgment and will
20:30condemn it because she came from the
20:32ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of
20:34Solomon. And behold, something greater
20:36than Solomon is here.
20:39Now when the unclean spirit goes out of
20:41a man, it passes through waterless
20:44places seeking rest and does not find
20:47it. Then it says, "I will return to my
20:49house from which I came." And when it
20:51comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept,
20:54and put in order. Then it goes and takes
20:56along with it seven other spirits more
20:59wicked than itself, and they go in and
21:01live there. And the last state of that
21:03man becomes worse than the first. That
21:06is the way it will also be with this
21:09evil generation.
21:12He's been performing miracles. They're
21:14calling it the work of the devil. And
21:16then they come and say, "Give us a
21:17sign."
21:19And this is a little bit like him saying
21:22that John the Baptist was Elijah if you
21:24are willing to believe it. And he's
21:27saying the kind of sign that you need,
21:30you're already getting and you can't see
21:32it because it argues with your
21:34preconceptions.
21:36But the kind of sign you seek, the signs
21:39that fit in the boxes of your lordship,
21:42of your authority and your control, that
21:45sign is coming from a wicked and
21:49adulterous generation. Adulterous
21:51meaning you're in love with your own
21:53traditions. You're in love with your own
21:55pride. You're in love with your own
21:56knowledge, but you also want something
21:58from God to confirm it. You have two
22:01masters. You're adulterous and you're
22:03wicked. And then he says that the sign
22:06that this generation is going to get is
22:08the sign of Jesus like Jonah being in
22:11the earth for three days. The sign is
22:14that this spirit and this attitude that
22:17he's encountering from the religious,
22:18it's going to kill him. It's going to
22:21result in them rising up and putting him
22:23to death. And he's going to be in the
22:26belly of the earth for three days and
22:28three nights. And he's going to rise
22:30from the dead. He's going to overcome
22:32this evil spirit that is trying to
22:36oppose him. And that's going to be the
22:37ultimate sign, his resurrection.
22:40And then he says that what is happening
22:43to this generation
22:45is that
22:48John took away some of the power of the
22:52enemy. John brought a message that cast
22:55out the spirit of the enemy on a certain
22:58level, but they didn't receive Jesus.
23:02They didn't welcome in the next grace
23:05that God was bringing to fill that
23:07emptiness where sin had been uprooted.
23:11And so that he's saying that the devil
23:14is going to come in with seven times
23:16worse power of evil into their life and
23:18take up residency. And it's that seven
23:21times worse evil, that apostasy evil
23:24that is ultimately going to cause them
23:26to crucify him, to shriek, "Crucify him!
23:29Crucify him!" at the portico of Pilate.
23:32That's the sin of this generation.
23:36It's not just the sin of this
23:37individual, this man. It's the sin of
23:39the generation. So the people of his day
23:42had gone through a partial deliverance
23:44with John, but they had not received the
23:48new way, the new grace, the new Sabbath,
23:51the new healing, the new power of the
23:53spirit that was coming in Jesus. And so
23:56it was going to be worse for them than
23:58before John ever came on the scene.
24:00While he was still speaking to the
24:02crowds, behold, his mother and brothers
24:05were standing outside seeking to speak
24:08to him. Someone said to him, "Behold,
24:12your mother and your brothers are
24:13standing outside seeking to speak to
24:16you."
24:18But Jesus answered the one who was
24:21telling him and said, "Who is my mother
24:25and who are my brothers?"
24:27And stretching out his hand toward his
24:29disciples, he said, "Behold my mother
24:33and my brothers. For whoever does the
24:36will of my father who is in heaven, he
24:39is my brother and sister and mother.
24:43So here's the culmination of the whole
24:45chapter.
24:47Whoever does the will of my father, he
24:50is acting out what Sabbath was pointing
24:53toward. The idea that we could move in
24:56the spirit. The idea that the power and
25:00kingdom of Satan could be destroyed as
25:03through the finger of God, the spirit
25:05moved through human beings. And in
25:08another gospel, it says that his mother
25:11and brothers and sisters came because
25:13they thought he had gone crazy [music]
25:15and they came to arrest him. So at the
25:19height of his miracles, at the moment
25:22when more people are getting healed and
25:25the wisdom of God is coming from his
25:27preaching, and in the moment when the
25:30Pharisees are slandering him and
25:32blaspheming the Holy Spirit, his family
25:35does not come to his defense. His family
25:38fulfills exactly what he said was going
25:40to happen in Matthew 10 when he said, "A
25:43man's enemies will be those of his own
25:45household." His family joins with the
25:48enemy and they say this man is insane.
25:52And they come to arrest him, to take him
25:54by force and hide him away somewhere.
25:58And he says, "The only family I have are
26:02those who have died to the peer
26:05pressure, died to what's accepted, died
26:09to all of this, and have no life or
26:11purpose except to do the will of my
26:14father." That is the Sabbath. That is
26:17the kingdom. That is the overthrow of
26:19Satan. And that is my only purpose.
26:23[music]
26:34[music]

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