Matthew 12:22-50

Sunday message · The Book of Matthew series

Todd Lohstreter  ·  Matthew 12:22-50

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Message Summary

Continuing through the Book of Matthew, Todd Lohstreter takes Matthew 12:22–50 in five movements: Jesus is accused of working by demonic power, he warns the Pharisees, they demand a sign, he tells of unclean spirits returning, and his family interrupts. Along the way, Todd highlights both the danger of resisting the Holy Spirit and what he calls the astounding patience of Jesus.

When Jesus heals a blind, mute, demon-oppressed man, the amazed crowd wonders whether he could be the Son of David. The Pharisees cannot deny the miracle, but they credit it to Beelzebul. Jesus dismantles the claim: a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, and their own people cast out demons too. If he acts by the Spirit of God, the kingdom has come. Todd pictures breaking into a house only to find a six-foot-eight WWE wrestler at home. Satan is that strong man, and Jesus has bound him and come to plunder his house.

Jesus draws hard lines: with him or against him, good fruit or bad. Todd knows “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” from a cheerful memory song for kids, but Jesus uses it to rebuke the Pharisees. The aroma of Christ is life to some and death to others (2 Corinthians 2:16), as different, Todd says, as the scent of North Dakota lilacs and the stench of death.

As for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, Todd says with confidence that anyone worried they have committed it has not. It is not murder or adultery, both of which David committed, nor addictions, lies or a careless word. The Pharisees went beyond denying Jesus to crediting his work to Satan, a willful, mocking refusal. Jesus does not say they have crossed the line, only that they are dancing on it, and Todd admits he is wildly incapable of judging who has crossed it. But the Pharisees did not start there. Each time we say no to the Spirit’s prompting, it gets easier, and that spiritual muscle atrophies. He asks where the Spirit may be calling us to yield, and urges anyone deciding whether Jesus is for them not to harden their heart today.

When the Pharisees demand a sign, Jesus offers only the sign of Jonah: three days in the heart of the earth. Nineveh, which repented at Jonah’s reluctant preaching, and the Queen of the South, who traveled far to hear Solomon, will condemn a generation that ignores someone greater. Still, Jesus keeps calling them, like the father inviting the older brother in from outside. The unclean spirit that returns with seven others warns that an emptied house will not stay empty. Todd shares a pastor’s story of learning at a recovery meeting that quitting a habit is not enough; life must be filled with something new. When Jesus’ family waits outside, he declares that whoever does his Father’s will is his brother, sister and mother. Todd closes by urging listeners not to assume they are nothing like the Pharisees, but to listen when the Lord calls and follow where he leads.