402: The Danger of an Unoccupied House | Dave Sloop

Introduction

Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Are you loving this fall weather? Yes. Last night, I sat on the porch in the evening, and I just thought, this is my favorite. It was so just delightful outside, wasn't oppressive heat. And then I woke up this morning to come to church, and I come to the early service, obviously, and I opened my door and I thought, Ugh, bring back the summer. It is freezing out here. Maybe you had a similar experience, but we're delighted that you're here today.

We're gonna be looking at the Gospel of Matthew chapter 12, and as you turn there, I'll tell you a little bit about what we're gonna be doing for the next two months. As you know, we just finished our series on the book of Ecclesiastes, which we looked at all summer long. And for the next two months, we're going to be looking at selected passages from the Gospel of Matthew. And we're starting in chapter 12 because last year, we did the first 11 chapters. Just grabbing, not verse by verse, but just grabbing a snapshot, one from each chapter, and looking at the life of Jesus Christ. And so we're gonna pick it up in chapter 12, and I'm excited about it.

The Context of the Passage

Chapter 12 of Matthew's gospel is a significant chapter for a couple of reasons. Number one, it contains within it some of the most controversial, confusing, and difficult words that Jesus ever uttered. Have you ever heard of the unforgivable sin? Have you ever wondered what that meant? Now I feel certain that there might even be some of you in this room that wondered, have I committed the unforgivable sin? Is it possible Jesus says that the blaspheming of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is a sin which has no forgiveness. Is that something we can do? And therefore, can you lose your salvation? Because if there is a sin that I could commit that the blood of Jesus on his cross does not cover, could I lose my salvation? Maybe some of you have wondered that over the years.

And it is a tough passage. It is a confusing passage. And so when I had the opportunity to teach something from Matthew chapter 12, I was delighted to skip right over that passage to the one after it, which starts in verse 38. I'm only partially teasing. We are gonna look at a different passage today, but the passage we're gonna look at from 38 to 45 is going to describe what happens based on what Jesus says in the passage right before it about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. We're gonna answer it. If you stick with me, I will tell you what I think it means.

Let me tell you a second reason I think Matthew chapter 12 is important. It is a pivotal point in the overall gospel narrative that Matthew writes. Matthew specifically writes to a specific audience. Do you know who he writes to? He writes to the Jewish people, and that is who Jesus came for.

In John's gospel, when it says, He came to that which was His own, he means not in a general sense that He came for all humans, though He did. What John meant was He came to His people, Israel. They're God's chosen nation from the very beginning. And he came to those people. But what does it say right after that? But his own people did not receive him. And not only did they not receive him, they rejected him. They completely, utterly rejected him. And in Matthew chapter 12, we're going to see just how much they rejected him.

If you look in Matthew chapter 12 at verse 14, it says this. It says, but the Pharisees went out and conspired against him how to destroy him. That word destroy, it means perish. They didn't just want Jesus out of the picture. They wanted him dead. They meant to kill him. That's what that meant. Jesus claimed to be the Lord of the Sabbath, which essentially was a claim to be the God of all creation, and they said, enough is enough. We gotta put this man to death.

And the very next verse says this. In verse 15, it says, I'm gonna have to start wearing glasses up here at some point, the ones that Kevin Kuhlbaugh prescribed for me that I never wear. Okay. Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there, and many followed him, and he healed them all. And he ordered them not to make him known. It says Jesus withdrew. They conspired to kill him. Knowing their thoughts, he withdrew. He pulled away. And many people came and followed him, and he healed all of them. And then it says he ordered them. That word ordered is rebuked.

All throughout Luke's gospel, you see him. He rebuked the fever, and it came out. He rebuked the demon, and it came out. He rebuked the wind and the waves, and it was still. It was strong language. And whenever you see Jesus using it, on the other side is obedience. He said, do not tell them who I am. Isn't that strange? Why would he say that? He tells you why he says it. In verse 18 well, in verse 17, this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased, I will put my spirit upon him and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

So referring to Jesus. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the street. Isaiah is saying, there will come a time when Messiah, who came for the Jews, is going to pull back from the Jews. You're not gonna hear him preaching anymore in the streets. You're not gonna see any more public miracles. He will not show up to Jerusalem, not publicly anyway, until the very end. He's going to go dark. He's going to go into hiding.

And then it says this, a bruised reed, he will not break. A smoldering wick, he will not quench. It is the poor. It is the hurting. It is the broken. It is the needy who will come to him until he brings justice to victory. And in his name, listen to this, the Gentiles will hope. This is Old Testament. This is six hundred plus years before Jesus would even come into existence. And Isaiah was saying, there's coming a day when your Messiah is going to be the hope of the Gentile world.

Now that might not fall on your ears as shocking because you and I don't really understand what a Gentile is. It's because we are Gentiles. It's anyone who's a non Jew. It's anyone who does not have blood right to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was going to turn from the Jew because they rejected him, and he was going to a Gentile world. This was shocking. It was unexpected. It is the mystery. It is the beginning of the church of God as he is establishing it through Gentiles.

With this context, we're going to now turn to verse 38, and we're gonna look at our passage for today. It says, then some of the scribes and the Pharisees answered him saying, teacher, we wish to see a sign from you. But he answered them, an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given.

Does this seem like a harsh response? They're asking for a sign to validate he was who he said he was, and he says, an evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign. Do you know another time that God said something similar to a group of people?

Deuteronomy 32.
He says, it is a warped and crooked generation. He's speaking to the nation of Israel. Do you know what he says at the very end of that chapter in verse 20?
He said, you have made me jealous by gods that are not gods, and I'm going to make you jealous by a nation that is no nation. God is promising, I am going to go to the Gentile. I'm opening up salvation to the Gentile world. It was a shame to the nation of Israel. He says, you're a warped and crooked generation.

Now why is it that Jesus reacts so harshly? There are times in the Bible where people express doubt or skepticism, and he honors it. In just a couple of chapters, he's going to have a father that brings a demon-possessed boy and lays him at Jesus' feet. And he said, if there's anything you can do, do you remember what this guy says or how Jesus responds? He says, if he said, anything is possible to him who believes. And the man says, I believe. Help me with my unbelief.

And Jesus shows compassion, and he heals his son. In Matthew chapter 11, the chapter right before the one we are looking at, John the Baptist sends word for Jesus, and he says, Are you the one who was to come, or should we wait for someone else? Translation, I'm not quite sure this is working out like I thought it was.

John the Baptist was doubting here. He wasn't sure. And listen to what Jesus says in response to his doubt. He's not offended by it. He says, go and tell John what you hear and see.

The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk.
Leapers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them, and blessed is the one who is not offended by me.

Every single one of those was a messianic fulfillment hidden in the Old Testament from the old prophets. See, everything pointed to Christ, and Jesus was a fulfillment of all of those things. And he said, I am. It's okay that you asked. It's okay that you doubted, but but here's the sign. I am fulfilling everything that the Bible said that I would do.

But here, he's offended. He's offended by their doubting. Why is that? They were the teachers. That wasn't necessarily rhetorical, but that's that's a great answer. It's true. They were the teachers and the Pharisees. They were the ones that should have known more than anyone. And Jesus comes as the fulfillment, the son of David, Messiah, the Christ, and they just completely miss it.

The verses leading up to this passage, Jesus is going to cast out a demon. And that demonic presence in that person's life makes him deaf, and it makes him blind. He cannot see, and he cannot speak. And Jesus touches him, the demon comes out, and he can see, and he can speak. And the crowd sees this, and do you know what they say? Could this be the son of David? In other words, it must be because he's doing exactly what Messiah was promised to do.

Do you know what the Pharisees say? Hearing the crowd, they immediately piped up, and they said, he casts out demons by the power of Satan. What they could not deny was the power of Jesus to heal. What they refused to believe was what was plain to everyone else that he was operating in the power and the spirit of God.

Instead, they attributed it to Satan. And here's why. Because their hearts had already decided what to believe. They refused to believe. Some of us might believe this. Seeing is believing. If I get more evidence, I might believe. But what Jesus knew is that once you have already decided in your heart not to believe, you will reframe everything.

It's actually the other way around. Believing is seeing. When you have faith, you have eyes to see. And these Pharisees and teachers of the law, they were willfully blinded. They refused to believe. Jesus knew.

Do you remember the parable that Jesus tells of the rich man and Lazarus? They both go to different places when they die. And the rich man sees where Lazarus, who was a poor beggar, ended up, and he begs Abraham. He says, send Lazarus back to warn my brothers. Do you remember what Abraham says? He says, if they did not believe Moses and the prophets, then even if a dead man rises from the dead, they will not be convinced. There was no convincing these Pharisees and teachers of the law.

And so Jesus says, no sign will be given except for the sign of Jonah. And he explains what he means by that. No sign will be given except for the sign of the prophet Jonah. And I will read to you what that is as soon as I find it. Here we go. The evil adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given except for the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

He says, I am going to die a death like Jonah, and I will rise like Jonah. Do you know the story of Jonah? It's interesting that Jesus chooses to compare himself to the worst prophet on record, period. He was the disobedient prophet. God said, go to Nineveh and preach to them that great city, and Jonah goes to Tarshish, which if you look at a map, it is the geographic opposite direction.

He hides himself on a boat, a bunch of pagan sailors, and he sails off, and he falls asleep in the bottom of the ship. And these pagan sailors, they come and wake him up because there was a storm sent after Jonah. The wrath of God stirred up this storm on the sea, and these sailors wake Jonah up and they say, wake up. Call on your God that he might save us. And I'm abbreviating some of the story here, but Jonah essentially tells them the only way to satisfy God's wrath. There's only one way you gotta throw me into the sea. They didn't want to do it. They rode. They expended their own effort to try to overcome God's wrath, and eventually, they just gave up. What did they do? They threw Jonah into the sea, and the sea was calm. God's wrath was satisfied because of the death of one.

Does that sound familiar? Would Jesus die a death like Jonah? He would. But just like Jonah didn't stay in that fish, he eventually was spit out onto dry land. Jesus, the grave couldn't hold him. He would be spit out onto dry land, and he would raise back to life. Now when Jonah raised back to life, what happened next? He went to Nineveh, and he preached the most uninspired message you've ever heard. Go, go to Jonah if you wanna laugh at it. He just walked around and basically said, God's gonna destroy everybody. God's gonna destroy everybody. And the people repented. They fell down on their face in sackcloth and ashes, and they repented, and the nation was converted.

And listen to what Jesus says here. He says, the men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. He's saying, you have much greater revelation than the Ninevites had, and they repented immediately. You don't just have a message, an uninspired message from God. You have the very word of God in the flesh. God clothed in skin standing before you, fulfilling every messianic promise that was made about me, confirmed by signs and miracles and wonders. You have the greater light of revelation, and therefore, have greater responsibility, and yet you refused.

He continues, he said the queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. Not only am I the greater and final prophet, he says, I am the greater and the final who was Solomon? He was the son of David. I am the greater and the final son of David, the final king. The queen of Sheba, the queen of the South, that's who it's referring to. She came from the uttermost parts of the earth because she had heard of this God-given wisdom that Solomon had. She traveled from the ends of the earth to find this wisdom, and she found that it was true when she came. Jesus says, you have a better Solomon. I didn't wait for you to come to me from the uttermost parts of the earth. I left heaven, and I came to the uttermost parts to you. And here I am in the flesh, and you refused to believe me. Here is the sign of Jonah. It is the death. It is the resurrection of Jesus. And not just that, it is the conversion of a Gentile world. It is the embracing of a Jewish Messiah by a wicked Gentile people. That is what Jesus is saying here. That is the sign of Jonah.

Application

And in verses 43 to 45, Jesus is going to now tell us how the Jews are going to respond to this sign. And it's a little confusing. It almost sounds like Jesus is completely changing gears here and talking about demonic possession, but his primary purpose is not to teach us about the nature of demonic possession. This is a parable, and he is describing how the nation of Israel is going to respond.

Listen to what he says.

When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest but finds none. Then it says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. And then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits, more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse off than the first, so also will it be with this evil generation.

That last sentence, how it is with the man in this story, the demon-possessed man, that is how it is going to be with this evil generation. So how was it with that demon-possessed man? Let me summarize. You had a man that was possessed. He was in captivity. He was under captivity by a demon. He was possessed by a demon, and then the demon left him. You see three things. He was swept, he was put in order, and he was what? Empty.

That word swept, it just means brushed off. Any realtors in the room? No? Okay. When you sell a house, the person selling the house is required to just have it broom cleaned. You know what that means? It means just a surface-level cleaning. You don't have to do a deep clean. This is just a surface-level cleaning. It says that he was put in order. That word literally means garnish. It's just it's just kind of a meaningless sort of beautification, external. It's the little thing you put on the plate to make it look a little bit prettier. That's what those two words mean. But the third one, so swept, put in order, and then vacant. The word is the same as vacation. Nobody's home on the inside. It is the appearance of godliness, but inside, in the heart, nobody's home.

And then because of this emptiness, seven demons come back. This this person in this parable is susceptible, susceptible rather, to greater demonic influence. And this original demon comes back with seven friends. Seven, by the way, is the number of completion. This person is completely possessed. In context, the demon possession that we just saw in Matthew 12, what was the product of it? You had a blind man and a mute person. He was blind and mute. Here you see this demon coming back with seven more. He was completely completely blinded and completely deaf. I'm sorry, completely mute. He couldn't speak. This is a picture of the nation of Israel.

The history of Israel is a, you could mark their history and follow their history by their captivity. They were post exile, and they were pre exile. Pre exile and post exile. You had Assyria take the Northern Kingdom into captivity, and you had Babylon take the southern tribes into captivity. And they went into captivity. Why? Because they were swept, they were garnished, but they were vacant. Jesus would put it this way. In Matthew chapter nine, he would look at the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, he'd say, go and learn what this means.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice.

And that is a pre-exilic prophet named Hosea, chapter six, verse six. He said, I desire knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. What he's saying here is, I want real love. I'm not interested in just your surface level cleanliness. I want real love from the heart. That's what it was always about. That's always what a true and authentic Jew was. They were a Jew inwardly. They were drew from the heart. There was a real sincere and authentic love for God.

But here, because there is vacancy, they get sent into captivity. And they come out of captivity. And what happens? If you go to the last book of the new Old Testament, Malachi, you see the same thing happening. They were swept, and they were garnished, but there was nothing in the heart. And that is who these Pharisees and teachers of the law were. There was nothing on the inside. They refused to see the truth. There was no love. It was all performance.

And Jesus says a couple of things. He says, number one, this man will be worse; his final state will be worse than the first. And do know what I think he means by that? I think there's historical significance to this, but I also think there is spiritual significance. First of all, do you know what captivity would come after the Assyrian and the Babylonian captivity? It would be the Roman captivity, and they would utterly decimate. It would be the worst of all. I think Jesus was prophesying. This is going to happen. By the way, that is what he says at the end. This is not a warning to the Jews. It is a prophecy of what was coming. He says, so shall it be with this nation.

And that is what happened. Spiritually, here's what I think Jesus is saying. The seven demons, like, completely possessed, which meant completely blind, completely mute. You know what I think Jesus might be saying here? That the worst kind of blindness is self-righteousness. It's even worse than immorality and idolatry. Because in the days when you just used to bow down to the Baals, when you went into captivity, at least at that point, there was repentance, and you came out of it.

But here, in your self-righteousness, what would Jesus say about that? He goes, I didn't come for the righteous. I came for the sick. See, if you're self-righteous, you don't see that you are sick, and that is a dangerous kind of blindness. And that is where Israel was.

When Jesus is talking about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, and this is my final point on this, He uses this phrase four times. This generation. This generation. So shall it be with this generation. Nineveh will stand up with this generation. The queen of Sheba, this generation. He is talking to a specific people at a specific time in history, specifically the nation of Israel and their leaders.

What Matthew 12 is telling us, this is the beginning of the fulfillment of what we read about in Zechariah chapter 11. There is a good shepherd who comes. God said, I will go and be their shepherd. And so, the good shepherd says back to them, I will no longer be your shepherd. That is what is happening here.

Is There an Unforgivable Sin?

Is there an unforgivable sin? Not in the sense that you might think. There is no sin that you and I could ever commit for which the blood of Jesus is not sufficient. If you hear nothing else today, would you leave with that assurance and confidence? What Jesus is talking about here is a very specific thing that happened, and it happened to fulfill a prophecy. This was always his plan.

And even for the Jews, there is a day that the blood of Christ will also cover their sins. They will come back. Paul would say it like this. He would call it a partial hardening in the hearts of Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. Do you know this? Joseph was rejected by his brothers. He was left for dead in a pit. He raised up out of that pit, didn't he? Where did he go? He went to a Gentile nation, and he blessed the world. Bread for the world from Joseph's hand. And one day, Joseph's brothers, they would come back, and they would see him for who he was. And they would be cut to the heart, and they would weep, and they would be brought into the fold under Joseph's leadership. This will happen.

But what Jesus is talking about here is prophetic to the nation of Israel. He was telling them what would and what eventually did happen.

Now, does this mean that it doesn't apply to us? We cannot make that leap because in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, Paul would say, these things happened for our benefit as a warning to us.

Application

And I want to tell you three quick ways that this might apply. First of all, if you are here today and you are someone who has never trusted in Christ, can I tell you? Can I appeal to you that Jesus was thrown into the sea of God's wrath? Not for his own sin like Jonah, but for your sin and for mine. He didn't stay dead. He rose back to life, and you can have a relationship with him.

Can I tell what he'd do for you also? Not just forgive you, but fill you. He wants to come and live in you. He does not want your house to be unoccupied. He moves in and he fills you up.

There are some of you here. Secondly, well, let me say it this way. It is possible to come into a building like this every single week of your life, from the time you're a little kid, and to have an exterior that is swept and put in order, and to be empty on the inside. Coming to this church is not what saves you. It is being filled by Jesus Christ. And our legalism and righteousness is a dangerous kind of blindness because it keeps us from realizing that we actually need to be saved.

Jesus would say this, go and find out what this means.

I desire steadfast love, not sacrifice.

Do you sense an authentic love from within in your heart? And then third, perhaps you have been filled with Christ. You have His Spirit and you know it. Here's my encouragement to us: be filled. As Paul would say in Ephesians 5:18, be filled with the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? Does that mean that the Spirit can come and go and that it's more available to some than to others? If you have the Spirit, you have all of the Spirit. But you and I have an opportunity to cooperate with His Spirit that lives inside of us.

This is why Paul would also say it like this: he would say, work out your salvation with fear and trembling because it is He who works in you, but to willing to act according to His purpose. Do you have His Spirit in you? Does it look like it on the outside? You and I can live as if we are empty even though we have His Spirit living within us. And you and I need to know something. We have an enemy, and he prowls about like a lion, looking for who he might devour.

Now the good news is, if you are in Christ, he cannot devour you. He is the thief who came to steal and to kill and to destroy, and he cannot destroy you because Christ who is in you will bring the good work on to completion. However, you know what he can do? He can steal from you. He can rob your joy. He can cause you to live this life just kind of in a mundane, empty way. You are filled. Be filled.

The call to you and to me is to be what we already are, to cooperate with the Spirit that lives inside you. It is what you were made for. Let's pray.

Conclusion

Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for your kindness. Lord, thank you that you extend grace to those who don't deserve it. And that even for Israel who turned their back on you, who rejected the shepherd, the good shepherd, that there is a day that you will welcome them into the fold as well.

Lord, I pray that today some of us would come home and receive you as Lord and Savior for the first time. And that many of us would fan into flame that which has been there all along, that we would live as filled believers. In Christ's name, amen.