Greeneville Seventh-day Adventist Church: How many here have ever had anything stolen from them? Wow, you live in bad neighborhoods. I think that was almost everybody. How did you feel? It's not a good feeling, is it? I've been through that experience a number of times. I've had a couple of homes broken into and ransacked. I've had a few cars broken into. And with every robbery that I've experienced, I know the thief had great disappointment. Not much there. The last time that I remember being robbed, not counting the raccoons that steal our cat food, and they tried to make off with a water dish, I don't get it. But the last time I really remember being robbed was in Stone Mountain, Georgia. We were having a graveside service for my wife's grandmother. As we were walking back to our cars, which were parked on the other side of a mausoleum, We were met by the cemetery administrator who told us that all of our cars had been broken into. Pretty low to rob a funeral, come on. The only thing they got out of value out of my car through the broken window was my daughter's pocket knife. Boy was she hot. I carried that all the way through Africa and they stole it. She's still mad to this day, I don't know. Pray for her. Have you ever, let's see, when was the first time I was wrong? Have you ever wished though when you were robbed that you and you could go. first time I was robbed, I was in first grade, sitting in a two-room schoolhouse. And I brought something special to me to school that day. It was a blue Hot Wheels car, kind of like this one. Wasn't this one though, I must have lost it in the sandbox. But it was blue with a stripe on it. And I remember what the car looked like. I remember everything about that car. It was back in the times of drag racing competitions. Some of the most famous were Mongoose and Snake. You remember those? Yeah, there's a few people remember Mongoose and Snake. Well, I had a blue representation of Mongoose. It was a funny car, which means the whole thing popped open. You could see where the driver would sit. You could see the engine. I liked that car. And I brought it to school and I set it up on the top of my desk right where that pencil slot is. You remember desk had pencil slots and but some still do but back then they had also a hole on the side. What was that for? Yeah, all the old people, ink. That's where your ink bottle is supposed to sit. We never had any ink. That was wise. But it was sitting there in that slot. And I got up and I went to the drinking fountain and when I came back that car was gone. I was not happy. I'm looking quickly around the room and I see a little boy on this side of me named Paul and he's sticking it in his pocket. And I did what every good first-grader boy does. I went straight up to the teacher and told on him. Paul, come up here. Give me what's in your pocket. But it's mine. And he pulls it out. And to my horror, in the time he had taken it from my desk and put it in his pocket, he had scratched his initial in the hood of my car. All the way down to the bare metal, there was a P right there standing for Paul. And see, it has my initial on it. Well, she didn't know what to do. She was busy, as all good teachers are. She's, here, give it to me, and she put it on her desk. We'll figure this out later. So we went back to our seats, but I kept looking at my car on the teacher's desk with a pea scratched in the hood, and I'm just mad. How dare it be there instead of on my desk? And when the teacher was distracted in another part of the room, I slipped up to her desk like I was up to something good, reached over there and put that car in my pocket and walked back to my desk. I stole it back. Is that robbery? If you steal back your stuff? Well, I didn't know what was going to happen. But the teacher never said another word about it. Paul never said another word about it. He knew he'd been caught. But I took that car home and I remember for long time later, I remember seeing that pee on that hood. It made me mad every time. How dare you try to deface my stuff? There's a robbery that's taking place today. We're gonna learn about it. Last week we ended up in our series on Matthew with Jesus quoting from the prophet Isaiah after being hounded and willfully just tortured almost by the Pharisees, unbelievably. They could, they willfully did not believe in Him. This was their choice. There was so much proof of who He was. And they're hounding Him about His Sabbath keeping, the disciples eating grain and the man with the withered hand being healed in the synagogue. Sabbath keeping was a big issue then. It's becoming a big deal again today. Then it was all about how the day was kept. Now it's about what day you keep. If you wanna know a lot more about that, I advise you to come tonight to our program and hear the amazing things that are happening today. Blow your mind. In Matthew 12, we will look at the quote again a little closer that Jesus was quoting from Isaiah. Matthew 12, we're starting in verse 15. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew from there and great multitudes followed him and he healed them all. Yet he warned them not to make him known. That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased. Have you heard that before? Beloved son in whom I'm well pleased I will put my spirit on him remember the spirit descending like a dove and he will declare justice to the Gentiles The Greek word for Gentiles Used here is ethnicity Which is the same Greek word used in the gospel commission to go all to all the nations plural all ethnicities not only to the Jews Verse 19, he will not quarrel or cry out. No one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out till he leads justice to victory. In his name, the nations, there's that word again, ethne, will put their what? Their hope. Is there hope today? Scripture reading said Psalm 117, praise the Lord all you Gentiles, laud him all you peoples for his merciful kindness is great towards us and the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord. Hope is what the nations need today. Hope will not be found in any other place. Hope will not be found in presidential candidates. Hope will not be found in midterm elections. Hope will not be found in any political party, Democrat, Republican, Independent, or whatever they come up with next. Hope will not be found with any social movement. All of these things on all sides are so corrupt, they almost make the devil look good. Jesus is the only place where we can find hope. He is the one who sets up and takes down governments for his purpose, for his will to be accomplished in his time. The Pharisees did not want a Messiah for the nations to put their hope in. They wanted a Messiah for the Jews to put their hope in. One that would bring them back into prominence and would take vengeance on the nations. Now many Jews are beginning to wonder if this is the bringer of hope. as he heals them, as he teaches them. But this is taking away the prominence of the Pharisees, and they don't take that so well. Verse 22, then one was brought to him who was demon possessed, blind and mute. Okay, just think of that. Demon possessed, blind and mute. What an existence. And he healed him. so that the blind and the mute man both spoke and saw. The demon possession is gone. The devil has been thrown out. And all the multitudes were amazed and said, could this be the son of David? Now when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons. The frustrated Pharisees cannot deny the reality of the miracle. but they can deny that it came from God. Their solution is that Jesus is in league with the devil. Verse 25, but Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought into desolation and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he's divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter the strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds a strong man and then he'll plunder his house? Jesus immediately takes the offensive by telling them that if he was healing people through the power of the devil, then Satan's kingdom would be divided against itself and would be in ruins. To the contrary, argues Jesus, he is the devil's greatest enemy. He compares himself to a thief who binds a strong man so that he can plunder his house. In other words, Jesus, the Christ, God with us, has invaded the territory of the devil to rescue God's children, to steal back what he has stolen. This is not just a robbery from a sneaky thief. This is a full-scale home invasion. Jesus barges in, ties up the devil, and rescues all who want to after being a summer camp counselor at Cahuta Springs for two years, they asked me to be the boys' director. This meant that I was in charge of all the boys' and the discipline of all the kids, all the boys that came to camp, and many, many other things. We were coming close to the end of teen camp. Teen camp had its own special challenges. Boys were starting to notice girls. and girls were starting to ignore boys and all that goes with that. And one of my counselors was expressing concern that some of his boys might try to escape on Saturday night at the end of camp and meet up with some of the girls. Now that was something the kids like to talk about, but most the time it never happened. Mostly talk. I assured this counselor, you can sleep on Saturday night. It's okay. The boys director and the girls director will be wandering around the camp. We're going to keep our eyes on things. You don't need to worry. But he was adamant that something was going to happen and he would be ready. He was going to put his mattress inside the front door and stay awake all night. Prepared. No one is coming in or going out without me catching them. Basically saying he didn't trust me to do my job. He was beginning to get on my nerves telling me about all of his preparations for worst case scenarios that I knew were never gonna happen. Well, Saturday night, Fainley came. Everyone went to their cabins for worship after the campfire program, and then it was time for lights out. And after a while, I snuck up to this counselor's porch and looked in the window. Sure enough, his mattress was in front of the door. He had flashlights, several of them, lined up by his pillow. I don't know. He had more flashlights than he had hands. And on that pillow was a A head that was sound asleep. so much for staying up all night. And a grin came across my face. Not a happy grin, a grin of a plan hatching. I had once been the counselor of this same cabin, and I knew that the bathroom window had a latch that was broken. And that window was at ground level. And I went around and quietly opened the window and slipped in. I don't remember all I did, but I ransacked that guy's cabin. I paid special attention to his bedroom. Back then the counselors had their own room. And I tore that place apart while he slept by the front door. Sound asleep! I even went up to him. He had a teddy bear under one arm. I removed it and hung it from the ceiling. The next morning, he was. Since I'm his supervisor, he comes up to me complaining, somebody broke into my cabin and tore it up. I said, no, they didn't. What do you mean? I said, I was out walking all night and you were awake all night. How could that happen? There's no way, it's impossible. then the realization struck his face. You did it. I said, yes, sir, and your teen boys were sound asleep just like you were. When Jesus comes to rob the devil's house, are we going to be as awake as we think we are? Or are we going to sleep straight through it and not follow him back to his house, the eternal kingdom? Those who trust Jesus to do what he says he will do will be at peace and ready. Those that think that they must help him do his job of redemption, that would be the Pharisees, the legalists. They will be found asleep and left behind, not as prepared as they thought they were. But like the Ten Virgins, everybody was asleep, but only half of them were ready. We can be awake, but so entangled in this world that we're not free to leave it when the time comes. We could be entangled in wealth. It could be family situations. It could be politics. could be like, well, it could be like something I saw a little while back. I walked out to my pickup truck, and there I saw a spider had built a web between the tire and the wheel well. That's not really caught my attention. What caught my attention was what was in the web, something far greater than the spider had in mind. A lizard was caught in the spider's web. The spider could not eat that lizard. But the lizard had rolled around and around as it thrashed, and the web was stuck all over it, and all four of its legs were tied to itself like a straitjacket, and its tail was up against one of his legs, all wrapped up. But he was wiggling a little bit. I said, ⁓ there's hope. And so trying hard not to harm this creature, I took it away from the truck and I laid it on a table and I started methodically with tweezers, removing the spider's web. And he remained remarkably still. He was probably exhausted, but he was very patient with me. As I removed the webs, one leg after another became free, but there was no way I could remove the tail from one of the back legs. It was just impossible to remove anything without hurting the leg or the tail. So I went and I got some scissors and I cut the lizard's tail off. and then I was able to remove it. And the lizard took off, so happy to be free, even though wounded. And I felt bad for the pain I had probably caused this lizard, but I also knew this lizard could grow its tail back. He was doomed to die without help from the outside. And so are we. We cannot unwrap ourselves from this sinful world. It has us so tangled up. But the thief that's coming to remove us, he can take us out. He can free us. Verse 30, he who is not with me is against me. And he who does not gather with me scatters abroad. Therefore I say to you every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. ⁓ that's brutal. What does it mean? In this passage, Jesus warns his hearers that there is no neutrality in the great struggle between good and evil. While it is technically true that people can speak against the Son and still be forgiven, they cannot do so and be forgiven if they are under the conviction of the Holy Spirit that Jesus is the Messiah. To do so would be to reject the prompting of the Holy Spirit in their heart and mind. The result is a hardened conscience that can no longer respond to the Spirit's work of leading, leading people to repent and confess their sins. Such rejecters are beyond the reach of God's Spirit, for they have tuned out the only channel through which God can reach them. When that is done, they are beyond hope. They have committed the unforgivable sin. Occasionally, someone will approach me and say, pastor. I'm I've committed the unpardonable sin. My response? You have not committed the unpardonable sin. ⁓ how do you know? You don't even know what I've done, how bad I've been. I know because you're worried about it. A person who has committed the unpardonable sin couldn't care less. His heart has become too hard to care. Because you are concerned, that means the Holy Spirit is still able to get through. Jesus goes on to claim that the true state of people can be told by their words that come out of their mouths, verse 33. Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? evil. He says it to their face. I did that one time. I didn't lie. But I looked at a person in the face with a witness. I said, you are evil. He just stared at me and licked his lip. We later found that ⁓ there was demon possession going. Jesus sees that they are in danger of being possessed by the same demons he just cast out. It says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. for by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned. Whoa, that's not looking too good, especially for the Pharisees. They have just used their mouths to say that Jesus' actions were inspired by the devil instead of God. If they continue on this path, they will eventually commit the unpardonable sin. But unfortunately, they already seem to have closed their minds. The evidence is right in front of them. They have seen with their eyes the miracles of restoration of literally life and limb. They have heard the gospel preached in a way that lives are changed right before their eyes. They have even felt that the Holy Spirit was tugging at their hearts and have turned away from him. Not unlike many even today. They see but refuse to see. They hear but refuse to hear. They feel but they refuse to feel. This is what eventually leads to the sin that can't be forgiven. It can't be forgiven for forgiveness is no longer desire. Verse 38. Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, teacher, we want to see a sign from you. What? We want to see a miracle that proves you are who you say you are. If only we could see a miracle then we would believe. How ridiculous. How many miracles does it take? Have you ever said that? Well, they've already seen so many miracles they don't believe. Can you remember the miracles God has done in your life? they remain in your mind. It's great for building faith for what's going on. Remember what Jesus said to Thomas after the resurrection? Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. We don't need miracles to believe. It makes me wonder if the Pharisees had come to the point of just wanting to be entertained when they should have been worshiping. Verse 39. But he answered and said to them, an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign and no sign will be given it except for the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it because they repent at the preaching of Jonah. And indeed, a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the south will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. Jesus is warning them that people with a lot less knowledge and information made better choices than what they are making. They are actually outsmarting themselves. Ed was a smart man. high IQ, a member of my church long ago. And he was constantly questioning everything to do with God. ⁓ where the scripture came from, what this verse means, it doesn't actually mean what it says. And he'd bring out all these kinds of proofs. He had a very high IQ. He had actually been a theology major at one time. And boy, he tried to go around with conspiracy theories and all kinds of stuff. And I remember in the parking lot one Sabbath afternoon, he's talking to me from the seat of his car and I'm leaned in the window listening to some theory I have no clue of understanding because my IQ only goes about here, not here. And I'm leaning in and it's just boggles my simple mind. And it was all these proofs about something where the book of John, I don't know, something to do with the book of John. And it's illegitimacy, it's something like that. And I stopped him, I said, Ed, as I leaned further into his car and I looked him eye to eye, you're a smart man. You're about to outsmart yourself right out of the kingdom. ⁓ no, no, no, no, that's never gonna happen. Last I heard of him. He was gone. Pray he comes back, maybe he already has. We can outsmart ourselves. That's what the Pharisees are actually doing here. Look at verse 43. Then an unclean spirit goes out of a man. He goes through dry places seeking rest and finds none. Then he says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when he comes, he will find it empty, swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes him. with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter and dwell there and the last state of that man is worse than the first so shall it be with this wicked generation this is an amazing warning not just to the Pharisees this is for us we're being warned about negative religion You know the kind of religion where we purge ourselves of evil without filling ourselves with mercy. Avoiding evil is not religion. Being filled with God is. When God moves in, evil is pushed out. There's no room for it to move back in. The Pharisees had been so busy pushing out evil that they were not filling themselves with God. So even more evil was able to move back in without them even noticing it. Thus they didn't even recognize God when they saw him face to face in Jesus. This is what gives religion a bad name. Jesus is telling them that they have been doing a diligent job of doing his job. Jesus is the one who is supposed to sweep out the house as he moves in. We're not even bright enough to know what needs sweeping out. When we do it ourselves with our own willpower, We are not allowing God to do only what God can do. You know, some of us have a lot of willpower. We can say, I'm not going to drink that anymore, I'm not going to smoke that anymore. And their willpower, they cannot do that anymore. I've seen that happen. But other evil things came back in to replace what was out, because they didn't allow God to do it. We can only fill the empty space with more problems than we had before, and are not bright enough to see what we have done. We become proud and lonely. We may even convince ourselves that our loneliness is due to us being better than everyone else. They must be uncomfortable around me because I toe the line. When actually they may be afraid of you for your lack of love and mercy. But there actually is a type of loneliness that comes with doing God's will, His way. Jesus recognized ⁓ this part of the story as well in verse 46. While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside seeking to speak with Him. Then one said to Him, look, your mother and brothers are standing outside seeking to speak with you. But He answered, well, this sounds cruel, doesn't it? He answered and said to the one who told him, who's my mother? Who are my brothers? And he stretched out his hand towards his disciples and said, here are my mother and brothers. For whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and Desire of Aegis tells us that his family had come to see him for the purpose of pulling him back into alignment with the conventional teaching of the Pharisees. Jesus was embarrassing the family. They were being looked down upon in the community because of his ways. We need to go straighten Jesus out. Show him the straightener. If you remember from previous sermons in this series, Jesus has already told others that joining his kingdom was even more important than family. I know people right now that are wrestling with even coming to this church because, well, I believe but my husband doesn't. shared with him the story. It's hard though, recognize that. But now Jesus, he is showing that he is willing to take that step as well. He is telling us that those who do the will of God are our family. That is what church is. This is why we so often sing about being glad that we're part of the family of God. This is the family that he sent Jesus to steal away from the devil. right out from under his nose because Jesus is stronger than the strong man of this world. Jesus has called us out of the house of bondage. He is taking back what the enemy stole. The enemy tried to write his name on us. He tried to claim us as his own. See, they've been following me. Look at the damage I've been able to do to them. Jesus said, I will take those scars and make them my and they will live scar free in my kingdom. Where only Jesus will bear that scar for eternity, for he redeemed us, he took us back, he stole us out of the devil's house, tied him up, said, you have no power here. And then he took our place. Father, thank you for sending a thief to steal us out of the devil's house. Thank you for redeeming us, for covering us in the scars that he has made. And we are long, longing for those mansions, not because they're mansions, but because it's your house. Take us home soon, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.