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Matthew chapter 12 verse 39 the Bible says, but he answered and said unto them an evil and adulterous generation Seeketh after a sign the title of sermon tonight is an evil and adulterous generation Alright, let's pick it up from verse number one then Matthew 12 verse 1 the Bible reads at that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn and I'll just quickly tell you that the corn here is like wheat Okay, it's not like corn like we think of corn okay, it's it's a corner of the wheat and his disciples were and hungered and began to pluck the ears of the corn and To eat so of course if you know how wheat works you can take the ear of a corn You can rub it in your hands and and the chaff will blow away and you'll be left with the kernel and you can eat That so of course they were hungered they'll pass it through somebody's field they and they ate of that wheat And then it says there in verse number two, but when the Pharisees saw it They said unto him behold thy disciples that do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day Now, of course you guys are familiar with the day of Sabbath the Sabbath day where God commands his rights not to work on that day And so the Pharisees are here accusing Jesus and his disciples of working on the Sabbath day now Let's just quickly keep your finger there. Let's go to the book of Deuteronomy, please Deuteronomy chapter 23 Deuteronomy chapter 23 Because I remember when I used to read this as a child I used to read that go Jesus who are you to go through someone's field and just start eating? What is this? So yeah, you are you like is this wrong? You know the Pharisees seem to have a problem with it, but we do see that what Jesus did was lawful Okay, look at Deuteronomy chapter 23 verse 24 Deuteronomy chapter 23 verse 24 It says this is the command given when thou comest into thy neighbor's vineyard Then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure But thou shall not put any in any sorry, let me read again, but thou shall not put any in thy vessel So here God is telling the Israelites Look, if you just happen to part be passing through your neighbor's vineyard and you're hungry you're permitted It's lawful for you to take a couple of grapes and eat of that Okay to satisfy your hunger as long as you're not putting it in a vessel, you know You're not getting some big bucket and just filling that bucket full of grapes, you know stealing the livelihood of your neighbor No, but just as you need you can do that. Let's keep looking at that in verse number 25 It says when thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbor That's what we just Jesus read did then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand But thou shall not move a sickle unto thy neighbor's standing corn So you see even when you're passing through fields of wheat, you're allowed to take a little to satisfy your hungry hunger But you're not allowed to take a sickle that's that's to harvest a great amount of wheat You know not being a farmer not taking you know Being you know gluttonous and and taking to fill up your whole week and stealing from your neighbor No, you weren't allowed to do that. You were allowed to satisfy your immediate hunger Okay, and of course, you know the principle there would be let's say we have homeless people, you know In our nation people that are going without people that are going through a hard time, you know that they were hungry You know, they wouldn't need to beg on the street corner They could pass through the neighbor's house and pluck Let's say the neighbor has a few oranges grab a few oranges grab a few figs You know feel yourself and and you know, that was a way for God to sustain those that were struggling You know until they get back on their feet. So what we see with Jesus No, we know in full will that you know, they're not working a full-time ministry. We know full well They're traveling from town to town, you know preaching the gospel They got to a point where they ran out of food They you know, and they follow the command that we saw there in the book of Deuteronomy Let's go back to Matthew chapter 12 now Matthew chapter 12 How does Jesus respond to the Pharisees chapter number 12 verse 3 and he said unto them unto who the Pharisees, right? Have you not read what David did when he was unhungred and they that were with him? so this is a time when when David is being persecuted by King Saul and King David had his soldiers had his little men with him. They were on the run and they were without food So what did he do? What did King David do when he was hungered it said in verse number four how he entered into the house of God Of course the Old Testament house of God is the Old Testament temple how he entered into the temple and did shut eat the show Bread which was not lawful for him to eat neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests Says look, you know that the show bread the sacrifices these things were permitted by the brother by the Levites by the priests to eat of but the average Israelite was not allowed to eat of those things and yet King David when he was hungered he ate from the food That was in the temple, you know, so what's Jesus saying? He's trying to show the Pharisees Hey, you haven't got a problem with King David going to the temple. You don't say that he was being unlawful You don't criticize King David for going in and eating something that was not lawful him to eat and you know Of course the ex, you know The understanding there is that Jesus saying well neither am I if you're not going to accuse David for breaking the law Then why do you accuse me of breaking the law? Let's keep reading there in verse number five You know if Kings David's actions were acceptable to the Pharisees, so should be Jesus Christ It says universe number five or have you not read in the law how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple Profane the Sabbath and a blameless. So of course wasn't me to profane to kind of break the Sabbath Okay, of course the Israelites at large were not allowed to work on the Sabbath But the priests because they had to do the service of the temple They were permitted to do works on the Sabbath, but were as far as God was concerned. They were blameless They were just carrying out the work that God had established them to do and then he says there in verse number six But I say unto you that in this place is one greater than the temple Wow, I mean what a call by Jesus to say to the Pharisees that he knows they want to kill him They know he knows that they hate him. He says look at me. Hey, it's it's me. I'm greater than the temple There's one here. That is greater. Who do you think? That's what what is Jesus saying there? If you're saying I'm greater than temple he's saying he's God, you know, he's saying that he's God Almighty You know, and then he says this in verse number seven But if he had known what this meaneth, did they know what he meant by that? No, all right, if you knew what this means if you knew that I'm God I'm the Son of God says I will have mercy and not sacrifice that you would not have Condemned the guiltless for the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day See Jesus Christ says I am the Lord of the Sabbath day You know Son of Man is the Lord and here you are condemning the guiltless Here I condemn in my disciples for being hungry and eating what they needed to sustain themselves You know, he says he's greater than all of these things You know, what's more important than sacrifice is for God to be merciful Hey when you realize that you're a sinner lost in the sight of God does God want you to sacrifice? No, he wants you to appeal to his mercy Okay to appeal to the mercy of his forgiveness through the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, that's how we get say That's how we made right with God. And once we made right with God, that's when we come in We can come and bring our sacrifice Yeah, that's when we can come and bring our service to God the Pharisees had it the other way around let's keep reading there in verse number nine and when he was departed thence He went into the synagogue and behold there was a man which had his hand withered and They asked him saying is it lawful to heal in the Sabbath days that they might accuse him now I want you to think about this story Jesus now goes into the synagogue Okay, and there's a man that that's had that has his hand withered. Okay, he his hand doesn't function There's some sort of defect there with his hand. Okay. Now Jesus does not just go up to this man and heal him Okay Because if Jesus just went up to the man and healed him on the Sabbath day, you could almost conclude Jesus are you trying to like rile up these Pharisees? Are you really are you trying to get these guys upset? It's not happening like that The it's the Pharisees that asked Jesus about this man they say to him is it lawful to heal in the Sabbath days? That they might accuse him Hey that they brought this this man with the withered hand before Jesus Are you gonna heal him Jesus because if you do we will have something to accuse you of we'll have you know This is you working on the Sabbath, which is ungodly as far as what the Pharisees were concerned It's like they didn't learn their lesson. It's like the Sabbath is fine. If if you're hungry you need to eat. It's fine You know God would rather his people be filled, you know, then then keeping some type of sacrament Oh God wants to look after the needs of his people and yet here we have a man with a withered hand Do you think God would want him healed? Of course you'd say that but what about in the Sabbath? Maybe God doesn't want him healed Of course, you know if he can be healed on the Sabbath day Of course, Jesus Christ will heal this man and and the Pharisees know this but they do it to accuse him Let's keep reading verse number 11 and he said unto them. How does Jesus respond? Does he just heal the guy? No He says what man shall there be among you that shall have one sheep and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day Will he not lay hold on it and lift it out? He says look you Pharisees you and your animals you and your pets look if your own animal Was in distress if your own animal fell into a pit even on a Sabbath day You would go and pull that animal out of the pit. Come on, that's common sense It's common sense. You would help an animal Look, I think if I was just walking along and I saw even a stray dog that was Stark was in pain. I think I might even try to help that dog if I could it's not even my pets You know, it's just just the you know, just the caring for living creatures, you know, you know You'd have that of course you will do that for your animals. You will do that for your pets Let's keep reading verse number 12. How much then is a man better than a sheep? Hey this man with a withered hand is better than your sheep is better than your oxen is better than your pets So if you guys are willing to help your animal, you know, then why wouldn't you help your fellow man? Now Jesus basically tell them look you love your animals more than you love the human beings, you know You love animals more than humans Of course humans are much more valuable in the eyes of God if you would help the animals Of course, you would help your fellow man, even if it's on a Sabbath day and look at the question Jesus asked them Wherefore it is lawful. Sorry how much I'll just read verse 10 again the 12 But how much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath day it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day Okay verse 13 then say if he to the man Stretch forth thine hand and he stretched it forth and it was restored whole like as the other Okay, so Jesus heals this man on the Sabbath now You know, this reminds me a lot of Seventh-day Adventists. Have you guys come across Seventh-day Adventists much? Just Just in the last fortnight, you know I came across the Seventh-day Adventists knocked on the door trying to give him the gospel and he kept going back to this Saturday kept going back to the Sabbath day, but do you guys keep the Sabbath and I said to him? Yes, I do, but it's not the way you think I do Okay, and we started talking started to tell me things I'm agreeing with him the references he's turned to I'm agreeing with him that the Sabbath was holy You know that was set aside, you know, what was not to be worked on I agreed with him all these things and then I said to him, but what is the Sabbath representative of? That he didn't understand what I was asking. What is what did it represent and I Didn't take him to Hebrews 4 because you know, but I explained to him that Hebrews 4 explains that the Sabbath day rest Represented the rest in our salvation when we rest in Christ that hey salvation is not by works Okay, that's why Sabbath was not by works. You were not to work on the Sabbath. That was Representation of Jesus Christ and and the free gift of salvation that he would offer us by faith without works You know and he kind of agreed with me But he's still stuck on the Sabbath and he and I said to him look the Sabbath was symbolic of what Jesus will do What you're saying to me and this is what he said to me. He said these exact words these guys know Jesus was symbolic of the Sabbath It's like to him the Sabbath day was more valuable was more important than Jesus Christ himself now I don't know if all seventh-day Adventists are like this, but this guy definitely was and I just said to him look I'm trusting in Jesus to go to heaven. You're trusting in a day of the week to go to heaven, you know And we left it at that Yeah, I mean the seventh-day Adventists remind me a lot of the Pharisees how they speak and then look at verse number 14 It says then the Pharisees went out and held our counsel against him how they might destroy him Hey, they wanted to kill him Luke chapter 6 puts it this way. It says they were filled with madness Hey, you know what? It means to be mad. It means to be insane. Okay, they went crazy They went insane what Jesus had done before their eyes. They could not accept they could not take it in they went crazy Okay, verse number 15 and when Jesus knew it he knew that these Pharisees now were determined to kill him It says he withdrew himself from thence and great multitudes followed him and he healed them all Do you notice that Jesus? Picks the battles to which battles to fight. Okay, these guys wanted to kill him Now could Jesus have stood up against them with his multitudes and fight against them Absolutely, okay And when we see the Bible many times with Jesus interacts with the Pharisees calls them out and criticizes them but here Jesus realized it's more important that he withdraws himself and Has the most which is followed him follow him and it says and he healed them Okay verse 16 and charged them that they should not make him known that he might be fulfilled Which was spoken by si is the prophet that's Isaiah the prophet Saying and then verse 18 prior explains what Isaiah wrote about that's found in Isaiah 42 verse 1 You don't need to turn there. I just want you to know that Jesus Christ here is is quoting a scripture But I want you to understand guys is that in the life of as a Christian you're going to come across different battles You're going to come across different heresies There are going to be different things that will come your way and you need to make sure that the battles you fight The reason you fight that battle is to further the gospel Okay, because sometimes and I see this a lot I see Christians getting involved in doctrinal fights doctrinal debates But there's no value in them. There's no value. They're wasting their time Okay, it's better. Hey, is this something we're fighting these Pharisees want to kill me I think it's better if I just move on with these multitudes and continue teaching these multitudes Okay, it's not about running away from the fights, you know, God has given us victory There's there's always victory to be found in Jesus Christ It's just you got to make sure you choose the battles that will further the kingdom of God not fight every person that crosses your path You know not fight every false doctrine that crosses your path You know, it's like so when you go so winning the person at your door may have many questions They have may have be stuck on many false doctrines. They might be asking you about evolution They might be asking you, you know who created God all these things, you know What sometimes yeah, it's okay as long as you're making headway, but sometimes it's best. Well, let me just stick to the gospel here Let me just finish what we're teaching here Then we can go back and look at those questions, you know Make sure you choose which battles to fight in this case Jesus did decide not to fight the Pharisees but to go and teach the multitudes All right. Now what did the prophet Isaiah write about Jesus? What was prophesied and It's a little tricky verse especially verse number 20, but I'll do my best to explain it. Let's have a look at this verse 18 It says behold my servants whom I have chosen my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased Hey, what did God the Father say of Jesus when he when he was baptized? He said this is my beloved son That's what it says there in verse 18 my beloved in whom I am well pleased. Okay, so we see here in verse 18 This is God the Father speaking of the Son and then it says I will put my spirit upon him and he will show Judgment to the Gentiles now notice this in verse 19. He shall not strive. Okay, so it's not um Disputing, okay, and we saw that that's the prophecy We saw that Jesus instead of fighting the Pharisees moved on moved on to further the work He will not strive nor cry Neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets You know what if you were walking down the street you would and you were lived in this time You would not see Jesus Christ debating fighting arguing about doctrines No, you'd see Jesus Christ teaching the gospel to the multitudes. You'd see him having mercy on the brokenhearted You'd see you'd see that in Jesus Christ. Okay, Jesus Christ was not a debater Let's keep reading verse 20 a Bruised read now. This is the tricky bit a rude a bruised read shall he not break and Smoking flax shall he not quench till he send forth judgment unto victory and in his name shall the Gentiles Trust now verse 20. I've never really heard anyone expound on this, but let's just let's just read it as it is Okay, let's have a look at this a bruised read now. What is a read? You guys might be familiar with plants plants known as reads, you know quite often in swamp areas, you know lakes You have you know plants plant life and and then known as as reads Okay, so a bruised read shall he not break So here we have a read and it says that Jesus will not break that read Even if it's already bruised, even if it's already damaged Jesus was not the type to go along and just be like that's a damaged read. I'll just break that now Let's keep reading. This is obviously symbolic or figurative teach You know lessons about Christ and then it says and smoking flax. What's flax? It's another type of plants Okay a smoking flax This is a flax that's kind of burning up and a smoke coming out of it says shall he not quench So if there's a there's a there's a flax flax Plant on fire. He's not going to quench that fire. It says till He will till okay, so he's not done it, but he will he will do it till he sent forth judgment unto victory and in his name shall the Gentiles Trust so here we see the difference between Jesus first coming and Jesus's second coming hey in the second coming of Christ He will send forth judgment unto victory. Hey in his second coming. He will break that bruised read He will put out that smoking flax. Okay, so we see the difference here We know that when Jesus Christ came he came as the Lamb of God, you know, he came in peace He did not come to seek and to destroy he came into safe sinners He came to further the work of the ministry the work of the gospel. That's how Jesus came the first time But when he comes the second time he's going to come as that line of Judah He's gonna come with that rod of iron. He's gonna bring judgment upon the earth Okay So both of these elements is something that Jesus does But his focus on his first coming was to be mild to be meek lowly Mild and and not to be debating amongst the streets Hey, he had a mission at hand to to show judgment and salvation amongst the Gentiles as well as the Jews I hope that makes sense. If you have any questions, please ask me let's keep reading verse number 22 verse number 22 Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil blind and dumb and by the way I had two people possessed with devils today like on the plane from the Sunshine Coast to here There was this woman just screeching just screaming out on the plane and and her I think I don't know if it's her parents I'm two guys like trying to hold her back and she's just kicking and screaming yelling and then on the train I'm on the train like a few got off that yelling, you know It's really annoying and then there's this guy like just having a full conversation to himself, you know Just speaking to someone. No one's there, you know at first I thought he was talking on the phone, but he's talking nonsense What's he doing about and realize he's just talking to himself So there's definitely two devil possessed people on the way to Sydney today, but here we have a man possessed with a devil that was blind and dumb and then he says here that Jesus and he Healed him in so much that the blind and dumb both spake and saw and the people were amazed and said Is not this the son of David now? I've already covered this I don't go over this all over again by referring this is this is the son of David. What are they saying? Hey, this is the Messiah. This is the anointed one We can see by his works that this is the promised one that God said will come and deliver He's the you know, the Israelites and the Gentiles that he would be a light to the nations verse 24 Do you think the Pharisees will like it when people are saying this is the Messiah? This is the son of David. Of course not verse 24 and when the Pharisees heard it They said this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils So it says look he the way he cast The reason he's casting out devils is by Beelzebub by Satan by the prince of the devils He's using the power of the devil to cast out devils They're basically saying verse 25 and Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against itself Shall not stand and if Satan cast out Satan he is divided against himself. How shall then his kingdom stand? So here we have Jesus teaching about the kingdom of the devil The kingdom of Beelzebub the kingdom of Satan you see Satan has a kingdom Satan is organized. He has an authority structure within his you know The demons and the fallen angels that that do his bidding, you know, Satan has a kingdom has a power has authority on this earth But even here even Satan even Jesus say look even Satan's not stupid enough to cast out Satan Otherwise, how will his kingdom stand? I mean if his kingdoms fighting against each other. How's it going to stand? No, what he's saying is the king of Satan stands strong. It's united. They're against the Lord Okay, then in other words, there's no way he could possibly be casting out Satan or a devil by the power of Satan It doesn't fit the kingdom. Okay. Now, let's think about it. Let's just apply this to the kingdom of God All right. Now if you've been born again, if you're a child of God you have entered into that kingdom Okay, Jesus says the kingdom is within you and we know there's yes There's future kingdoms to come the millennium the new heavens and new earth. We know that okay But if if the kingdom of Satan is organized and standing united How much more than brethren should we be, you know have a love for one another? How much more should we be organized how much more should we be doing the works that the kingdom of God, you know You know bringing people into the kingdom of God how much more should we be doing this work look Satan's organized He knows what he's doing. We need to make sure that we know what we're doing. Okay, whether whether representation of that kingdom You know right now So, you know, it's not you know, we are truly fighting against Principalities and powers and and the and the forces of darkness and Satan and all these things We need to be aware that there is a true kingdom of Satan on this earth. Let's keep reading verse number 27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils by whom do your children cast them out therefore they shall be your judges Now this is another challenging verse took me a little while to think about what this means Okay, but again, I'm just gonna take this at face value. Okay, if you guys have your thoughts, let me know Okay, so Jesus says look if I cast out Beelzebub devils by Beelzebub by whom do your children cast them out again? Who is Jesus speaking to to the Pharisees now are the children of the Pharisees casting out Devils? Sounds like they may very well be it Sounds like if I just take this at face value just that just literally as it is Okay, it sounds like there were children of the Pharisees that believed on Christ It sounds like there were children of the Pharisees that potentially made up those 70 that Jesus sent out You know casting out devils and preaching the gospel It sounds to me that some of these just children of the Pharisees actually believed on Christ When their own parents did not if I just take it at the literal reading that like that Okay, and then it says there therefore they shall be your judges Hey, if you're fine your children casting out devils Then I'm doing it by the same power as your children and your children will be your judge I'm not gonna judge you of this your children. Okay, your children who are saved you have been given this power by by me They're going to judge you they're going to be the ones that raise up against you The other way I've heard this in separate city. I don't think it's correct But I'll just let you guys know that they say that Jesus has been sarcastic here. Jesus has been sarcastic in the sense that That the children of the Pharisees were unable to cast out devils they were unable to cast out devils Therefore the judges here. Therefore they shall be your judges. They say the judges here are the devil's Meaning and I don't think this is right because I don't think the devil's are gonna judge man But that's that's kind of the idea that I've heard I've heard preached a couple times is that the devil's will judge was I cast out by Jesus or was I cast out by your children? That that's that's the other way but I don't think that's correct I think the first one that I mentioned there is the correct interpretation I appreciate your thoughts if you guys have some thoughts about verse 27, let me know but let's keep reading that's 28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God notice the next words guys Then the kingdom of God is come unto you now the Jesus cast out devils by the Spirit of God Absolutely. Amen. He says that if I did that he says then the kingdom of God is come unto you What does this mean? The kingdom of God is here. It's come it's right here. Okay. Here's the king Is the king these people that I say these people that are believing on him they are entering into the kingdom Okay, so the king of God was actually there in place again in the spiritual sense. Okay when you're born again That's when you can enter and see the kingdom of God You know The new man in you has already entered that kingdom the flesh will not the flesh will never enter that kingdom until we have our New resurrected bodies, but the new man that's inside you That's why God's Jesus says the king of God is within you that new man is part of that kingdom already It's already here verse 29 Or else how can one enter into strong man's house and spoil his goods? Except he first bind the strong man, and then he will spoil his house Now this is a picture of salvation. Okay, so let's just get the let's get the picture here So if I go into a man's house and the man's a strong man, okay How am I going to spoil his goods in other words? How am I going to attain those goods for myself? Okay, you know when when nations go to war against nations they take the spoil Okay, the victor takes the spoil of the of the defeated nation All right, so if I'm going to go into someone's house and it's a strong man What do I need to do to what to take his possessions it says here what I would need to do It says except he first bind the strong man. I've got a time up. Okay. I've got to make him If you know, you know prevent him from stopping me and then it says and then he will spoil his house Okay, first you've got to defeat that strong man, then you can take that's the spoils of that house Okay. Now the picture of salvation is this You know that a man that's been possessed by Devils Okay, a man that's been possessed by Devils is like a man that has a strong man in his house. Okay, he's possessed There is a strong Evil spirit in that person But the only way that God can can get the spoil of that man's soul if you want to put it that way the only way God can win that man, you know and and set him free is that he first bind the strong man and Then he will spoil his house and then he can attain that man's soul as it as he were Okay So Jesus saying look I got a first cast out the devil which just did in the example and then I can spoil his house Then I can take over, you know and and deliver this man's soul from Satan All right. Now, let me just say this very quickly if you're saved you cannot be possessed by them Okay, you cannot I'll just reach you very quickly first John 4 4 It says ye are of God little children and have overcome them Because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world Hey when you're saved when you're born again, the Holy Spirit comes and indwells the believer and that your whole spirit is God Okay, it says here great is he that is in you God then he that is in the world. Who's that? Satan you see there's no way like God can come and bind the strong man Of course, God is more powerful than the devil But the devil cannot come into your house and bind the Holy Spirit the devil cannot come in and bind, you know, God Okay, so, you know if you're saved you're safe you're not going to be possessed by devils That doesn't mean that you cannot be tempted by devils Okay, that doesn't mean that the devil cannot put you know thoughts into your mind But at the end of the of the dates you you know If you commit sin if you pursue those thoughts of the devil and you commit sin, that's on you You can't blame the devil. Okay, but you can't be possessed by the devil. Let's keep reading verse number 30 and He that is not with me is Against me and he that gathers not with me scattered abroad Okay, so if you're not with Christ, he says you're against me and he that gathers not with me scattered abroad Now this is a hard saying okay, and I just want to put this down. I mean what gathering do you think? We're talking about here. What did Jesus come to do? He came to seek and to save that which was lost He came to win souls Okay, and when we when we go out we preach the gospel we're gathering people into his kingdom Are we not that's what we're doing. We're gathering people you might say, okay, but that's not for me. That's not for me Hey, there's there's no middle ground You know, you're either gathering or you're scattering abroad, you know, you're doing one or the other It's black and white as far as Jesus Christ is concerned You're either with him or you're against him and if you're not gathering people to his kingdom then Jesus says you're against me Let's say you're not saying it's just that you're against the work that God has left us to do Okay, so, you know if you've not gone soul winning for a while you think that's just not for me I'm not necessarily talking about the weekly soul win if you can't make that that's fine But you know what efforts are you making to preach the gospel to your family and friends the people that you cross paths with? Pathways in your daily life. Okay, you know I don't think of so in as this hour or two hours a week now think about sewing in that's that's my life You know if I'm with Christ That's just what I have to do when I get the opportunity when I to be with somebody I'm gonna give them the gospel You know, please be with Christ not against him Let's keep reading verse 31 verse 31 Wherefore I say unto you all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men another Another hard saying, you know, there's a sin you can commit that you will not be forgiven by God I mean most people do not want to believe this Okay Most people think surely everybody has till the day they die the last breath that they breathe to be saved surely That's not true. Okay, let's keep reading here It says that it's so it said in verse 31 shall not be forgiven unto men you say but maybe maybe they can repent and then God will forgive them. Let's keep reading verse number 32 And Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him So you can't speak against Jesus and that will be forgiven of you Okay, but then it says this but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him But if he repents now look neither in this world neither in the world to come Wow, I mean there is a sin you can commit where God will just not forgive you You're it's done. You know, you're not going to believe you're not going to receive Christ as your Savior God is done with you He would not forgive you in this world Neither in the world to come and this is not confusing people people try to come up with ways to explain this away There's no need to explain away. What's the sin? It's blaspheming or speaking against the Holy Ghost What do these Pharisees do they said Jesus was casting out Jesus the works of Jesus was of the devil They were saying that Jesus cast out devils by the power of Satan Hey, if you're making those bold statements in life, then you will be someone that will not be forgiven unto men Okay, this is a hard saying, you know, this is where the idea of a reprobate comes from you know the teaching of a reprobate where where there are literally people that can be walking this earth and I'm not saying they can never be saved. It's not that Jesus did not die for them It's not that Jesus not pay for the sins. Of course, we believe that Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world It's just that these people have gone to a point where they rejected God they rejected Christ They rejected the gospel and God comes to a point where says well, I'm just rejecting you you will not be forgiven Okay, you will not believe And quite often when you preach these things there's always someone that's wondering could that be me, you know Could it cry be a reprobate cry be someone look here's the thing the people that will not be forgiven The reason they're not going to be forgiven is because God will take away their ability to believe They will not be able to believe the gospel. Okay, so if you're concerned I wonder if I you're one of these people look if you are able if you have believed the gospel, you're fine You're safe. Okay. Otherwise God would have taken that ability away from you Okay, I haven't got time to go through this doctrine in full But I just want to show you there are people walking this earth that unfortunately cannot be saved unfortunately for them Okay, of course we know in the Bible There are other people people that make to take the mark of the beast once they've taken the mark of the beast It's too late for them. They can still be walking the earth, but they will have their part the name They're part of the name removed out of the book of life. Okay, remove that of the book of life There are many people like this, you know people that that remove take away things from the Bible add things to the Bible These people will also will not be able to be forgiven Let's keep reading now in verse number 33 Either make the tree good and his fruit good or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt for the tree is known By his fruits hey here the fruit is what someone says or teachers these Pharisees were saying Jesus of the devil Do you think this these teachers were a good tree or a bad tree a corrupt tree? Definitely a corrupt tree these Pharisees that was speaking against Christ speaking against his power These were a corrupt tree be careful of the trees that you listen to the brethren be careful You know the the preachers you listen to the books you read make sure that the tree is good Okay Now let's keep reading there in verse number number. That's number 34 old generation of vipers How can you be an evil speak good things for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaker? Now I remember being given I've been given books by by different passes, you know Can you read this book and and I look at the book? I look at the offer and I read it This guy's not a this guy doesn't believe the King James Bible this guy Uses the IV and I look and I keep reading this guy's not even saved and I go to my pastor Why do you want me to read this because but there's still good things in there. No, what did it say? Okay, but it says it says um, how can you be an evil speak good things? I'm not gonna get anything good out of an evil tree And that's why you got to be careful about who you listen to. Okay verse 35 Look every evil person every false prophet has some truth. That's how they get a following. Okay, there must be some truth I mean if they were just outright obviously lying and telling but no one will follow him Yeah, the false prophets get followers because there's still some truth mixed in with their lies Let's keep reading verse 35 a good man out of the good treasure over the heart Bring forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure bring forth evil things But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak They shall give account thereof in the day of judgment for by thy words thou shalt be judged for by thy words Thou shalt be condemned Hey, how would you like God to judge you on Judgment Day because he can be judged by your words. Say what words? Well Romans 10 13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved Hey, if you've called upon the name of the Lord, then I'll be like, yeah God just judge me by those words Okay I would rather God judge me by those words that I've called upon his son that I've called upon him for salvation Then then my words of hey man, look look at my reformed life. Look how much better life I'm living Of course, I'm saved not only be judged by that because God's you know, next to God's perfection Definitely come short even as a saved man. This flesh will always come short. This flesh will never be saved Let's keep reading verse 38 Verse 38 then certain of the scribes and all the Pharisees answered saying master mass master. These guys don't even like Christ There's a master we would see a sign from thee What in the world is wrong these people? Jesus has just cast out a devil and they criticized him and say now we want to see a sign Didn't you just see a sign then you just say a great work of God and you're still looking for a sign What do you want? this 39 and he answered and but he answered and said unto them an Evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign But there shall no sign be given it but the sign of the Prophet Jonas so you see when you go and you preach the gospel and people say to you but you can't prove God to me if God just appeared before me if Jesus stood just in front of me. I will believe him. No, they won't Okay, if they saw Jesus casting out a devil, they still won't believe Okay, why because they're an adulterous generation they're an Evil and adulterous generation. Okay. Now they will get a sign Okay, it says there shall no sign be given to it But so there is a but the sign of the Prophet Jonas This 44 as Jonas 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 What is the sign people say show me a sign? What's the sign we give them? Three night three days and three nights. What are we teaching them the death burial and resurrection of Christ? What was the science of the Ninevites that Jonas came out of a whale's belly three days later? Okay, what's the sign that we give to the lost that Jesus Christ rose from the dead three days later? That's the sign the resurrection the death burial and resurrection of Christ That's the only sign that this evil and wicked and adulterous generation will get hey, but we've been commissioned That's that sign, you know, we've been given that task to go and give that sign to this lost and dying world verse 41 The men of Nineveh these are the men that that heard the preaching of Jonas of Jonah the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonas and Behold a greater than Jonas is here. Jesus is hey, I'm a I'm even a greater prophet than Jonas We know he already had admitted to being God God Almighty greater than temple It's a look even the Ninevites as wicked as they were but they repented they got saved Hey, they're gonna be raised in judgment against this wicked generation verse number 42 the Queen of the South Shall rise up in the judgment with this generation If you don't know who the Queen of the South is that's um, you find that in first Kings chapter 10 the Queen of Sheba Okay, the Queen of Sheba came Seeking the wisdom of Solomon, you know hearing the great news about the kingdom of Israel Now Solomon did all those things he bestowed much wisdom to her showed her the temple showed her the riches She was very impressed But what we get here in verse 42 is that's not all Solomon spoke to her about let's read the Queen of the South shall rise up in judgment with this generation and Shall 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. So we have Jesus. He's a greater prophet than Jonas now It says hey, he's a greater king than Solomon. Of course. We know that Jesus Christ is the king of kings and but notice here that um The reason she will rise up in judgment is that she got saved. She got saved at the preaching of Solomon She went there to check out the city She went there to see how powerful and mighty Israel was to hear some wisdom, but Solomon preached her the gospel Solomon got the Queen of Sheba saved. That's why she will rise up in judgment against the wicked generation Now it's interesting that both these examples Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba the Queen of the South both of these are Gentiles You know Nineveh was a gentle nation. The Queen of Sheba was not a Jew It's you know, what Jesus saying here is look the Gentiles are going to rise up and judge against the unbelieving Israelites Okay. Now let's keep reading verse number 43 Oh Good. We're near the end now verse 43 It says when the unclean spirit now, let me just before I read this a lot of people make the mistake to think this is about Jesus casting out devils All right. Now, let's read it carefully Because this is a new teaching now. This is something new It's not a continuation of what's come before. It's just something new It says here when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man. He walketh through dry places Seek in rest and findeth none So we have a man that's possessed by an unclean spirit Okay, and then it says when the unclean spirit of it is gone out of the man. So some people have missed miss miss You know That's what I'm looking for Understood that this is about Jesus casting out a devil now, of course Well, if Jesus cast out a devil, of course a devil will leave a man Okay, but that's not what this is about You see when people were possessed by unclean spirits, it's not like they were possessed 24-7 Okay, it's not like this. It was always the case These unclean spirits have the ability to enter and exit man as they will okay This is an example of an unclean spirit That was just in a man but has just gone gone out of the man for whatever reason we don't know the reason why he Just did that. Okay Now it says in verse 44 and then he saith this is the devil. I Will return into my house from whence I came out now Let me explain this to you If if somebody has been saved Especially in some of these examples in the Bible where an unclean spirit was cast out of them, then they believed on Christ Then of course, they have the Holy Ghost, of course great is he that is in you than he that is in the world So, of course an unclean spirit will not be able to return Okay, but in this story the unclean spirit does return look at this verse 44 Then he saith I will return into my house from whence I came out and when he is come he find that empty Swept and garnished so when he goes back to the man that he possessed he finds that this man's life Has been fixed has been improved. Okay Now what does he do that's 45 then go here he and take it with himself seven other spirits 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 unto this wicked generation notice that the wicked generation I like this man the wicked generation that does not believe on Jesus Christ They're like these people that this state and later in life by rejecting Jesus Christ will be worse than it was before Okay. Now let me explain this a little bit to you. This is an example someone that has an unclean spirit then That spirit leaves him for whatever reason not said Then he sweeps and garnishes his house Meaning this person tries to get right with God By living a righteous life, you know, he tries to be right with God by living a good life This is someone that thinks he will be saved. He will be made right with God if he keeps the commandments He goes for self-reformation, you know, there's a man I was a drunken man and I need to now get rid of that alcohol and you know I've been living these things. I need to clean up my life And this is this this person without Christ thinks he's gonna make his life right before God by cleaning up his life But he never received Christ. Okay. This is why the unclean spirit will bring seven other spirits eight spirits all together That will come and make the state of that man worse than before Okay You see people that are trying to live righteously for salvation People that are trying to keep the commandments of God to be saved people that are trying to do good works to be saved They may very well end up worse later in the life than they were when they started. Okay, because They've made their house nice and clean for evil spirits to come in and and ruin that person from within Let's keep reading verse number 46 verse number 46 While he yet talked to the people behold his mother and his brethren stood without Desiring to speak with him then one said unto him behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without Desiring to speak with thee So, of course as a false doctrine, especially by the Roman Catholics that say that Mary was a you know, perpetual virgin You know, she she she never knew a man. She never had other kids, you know besides Jesus And she gave birth to Jesus as a virgin. She remained a virgin. But of course we read here in the Bible It says that his mother and his brethren Okay, obviously Mary and Joseph knew one another obviously Mary and Joseph had a normal marital relationship and had other children okay, Jesus had half brothers and half sisters and Then it says here in verse 50 Sorry verse 48 verse 48 and he answered and said unto him that told him who is my mother and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples Remember, what are the disciples those that were following after Christ? Okay, and said behold my mother and my brethren For whosoever shall do the will of my father which is in heaven the same is my brother and sister and mother You see we're just concluding now, but we can see immediately in the eyes of Jesus. He wasn't having a go at his family He wasn't attacking his mother and his brother and sisters. No, he was just showing his disciples He was showing the multitudes who the most important people to God are who are the most important people? Okay. Now the most important people to Jesus Were his disciples the most important people were the children of God Hey his spiritual brothers and sisters his spiritual mother as it were Okay, it wasn't so much the the physical mother brothers and sisters you see brethren You know, you may not feel this way and I know it's maybe it's a little bit awkward You know, you grow up in your house. You grew up with your family your parents. Nothing wrong with loving your family I think that's the right thing to do. Okay, but you know, you ought to have at least that same love If not more for the brethren in this church, okay, because we're also related by blood Except that relation by blood is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ Okay, we're brothers and sisters in the Lord and it's hard up because we didn't grow up with one another You know, we all you know, I'm sure you know when you spend time in church There are certain things that people do that you don't like and you know You might not necessarily get along with everybody in the church Hey, but we should strive to be people that have a love for the brethren, you know That's that's what we're commanded to do. I love the example that Jesus lives us there You know that he has a greater love, you know, he refers to at least you know His disciples as his spiritual brothers and sisters and mother. Let's leave it there guys I hope that's been beneficial to you. You know, we live in a wicked and adulterous generation right now Okay, you say how do we fix it? You know, do we need to get into Parliament and change the laws and no, you know We need to give them the sign of Jonas three days and three nights Jesus Christ came back rose again paid for your sins It's all been done down for just believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray