Matthew 12:22-30
Text: Verse 25
Meeting opposition,being scorned,being diabolically attacked, blasphemed and accused of things was not anything strange to Jesus.
After all since He had begun His ministry the religious order of that day were always in one way or another continuously being antagonistic (conflicting) or in conflict with Jesus.
Even though He was Gods chosen servant.
Even though He was Gods Beloved Son in whom God was well pleased.
Even though Gods Spirit was upon Him fully.( For He had the Spirit without measure)..John 3:34
The religious order of that day rejected and plotted against Jesus. They like many in the church today represent those who rebel against the Lordship of Jesus Christ because they don’t want Jesus to have any control over their lives. They had rejected Jesus so much that their hearts became encrusted and hardened beyond reach. So Jesus was forced to withdraw Himself from them.
Jesus withdrew Himself because he wanted to avoid confrontation with those who sought His life after all His hour had not yet come and He did not wish to provoke the religious order of that day to a deliberate conflict putting His self in premature danger.
He also withdrew His self because He didn’t want to be thrust into public acclaim to assume kingship of a nation that rejected Him. For He understood His purpose, He understood His assignment. After all he had come to be the suffering servant. He knew the people were incendiary ( flammable), aching for deliverance from their Roman conquerors. He didn’t come to overthrow the Romans and establish Israel as one of the greatest nations of the world.He had come to establish a Spiritual Kingdom.
This opposition to Jesus had reached its height in this event listed here in chapter 12 of St. Matthews gospel. Jesus was being scorned and diabolically attacked .He was not only blasphemed, but accused and charged with being of the devil. Again He kept His calm and he remained level - headed and went about proving that He was of God. As we look at our text here we read the story of a demon possessed man who was blind and dumb but he was healed. This man was brought to Jesus yet the bible says Jesus had compassion on him. i.e. Jesus had the power to both â€deliver and heal†him. Jesus had come to conquer satan and break his power over man.
Acts 10:38 says, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
The people were amazed.they wondered in hope, Is this the Son of David They thought He might be the one. yet they were not quite sure. He wasn’t doing the things they had been taught the Messiah was going to do. To them he seemed to have no concern for political and national affairs. He had neither mobalized an army nor led an uprising against the Romans as the Son of david. Contrarwise, He was demonstrating compassion and love for needy people who were destitute in their spirit and hurting in their body. He was proclaiming a message of personal salvation instead of a message of national deliverance. His behavior was so different from what they had always believed and been taught. He claimed to be the Son of God. They wanted to believe; they even hoped, but they just were not sure. The reason being was that the Pharisees (the religious order of the day) had denied Jesus. When they saw the people turning to Jesus, they set out to do two things.
1. To shatter the peoples hope and belief lest they lose their own position and hold on the people.
2. They charged Jesus with being from the devil and possessing power of the devil.
It was alright with him that they were in opposition against Him but things changed when they compared His works to that of Beelzebub -Satan.
Beelzebub was known as the Prince of Demons heis name was derived from the Canaanite god whose name means lord he was known as the lord of the flies. The dung god.
This charge against Jesus was absurd.
The idea was that if they could get them to believe that Jesus was sent by the devil to deliberately deceive people and lead them away from the true traditional religion and beliefs they would accomplish what they were setting out to do.
But the evidence of His supernatural power dictated otherwise. It was clearly seen and even admitted by the enemies of Jesus that some force or power other than that of human was healing people and performing miracles. How many know here tonight that its not by mans power neither by mans might but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts. Hosea 4:6
So Jesus enemies were forced to look for answers from somewhere else.
They didn’t believe in Jesus as a matter of fact thry had what scholars call obstinate unbelief which was a rooted malignity that was full of malice and attempts to cause harm or injury to Jesus. The evidence was clear yet despite the claims of Jesus they didnt want to surrender to His Lordship. Despite the fact that lives were changed , despite the fact miracles were happening they still refused to believe, and they hardened themselves in that unbelief. They searched out other answers for the miraculous power of Christ. They sought to attribute His power to anything that would keep them from having to confess Christ and surrender their own lives and possessions to Him.
So Jesus makes His first argument that a divided allegiance destroys.
Division - (di - vided vision) lead to separation and ruin. A divided Kingdom, city, or house cannot stand because it will fight and destroy itself.
Satan is not going to empower anyone to deliver people from evil.
The enemy is not in opposition to Himself!
He is in opposition to the Godhead and the saints.
Jesus said if he was doing what I was doing he would destroy his kingdom and his rule over peoples lives.
Jesus further argued that it was an absolute impossibility that He had come from anywhere other than from God Himself.
2 Corinthians 6:14,15 asks the questions?
What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? i.e. Jesus was saying that His works and power had to be of God. They couldn’t possibly be of satan. Jesus didn’t come to build up the kingdom of darkness.He came to destroy the power of the enemy. 1 John 3:8 says For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.
No body of people can survive division. A divided people cannot stand. Too many people within the body of Christ have ignored the lesson that ,If you bite and devour one another, take heeed that you be not consumed one of another. Galatians 5:15
The message bible puts it this way¦. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?
Bishop Wright I have learned that when youre the new kid on the block that a lot of people wont accept you.they wont accept the fact that you have been anointed and appointed by God they would rather deny you they would rather try to find some inconsistencies, and illogical things about you.today we would call them haters.
When someone else does something good they are acknowledged but when you do something its always wrong .and heaven cant get the news quick enough.
But one cannot deny the Anointing that’s on your life.
Jesus had some haters His claims and His works were denied while the claims and works of others were accepted. There were those who cast out devils in Jesus day; exorcists who exercised or practiced the casting out of demons.
Yet they did not follow Him. In Acts 19 Some itinerant Jewish exorcists who happened to be in town at the time tried their hand at what they assumed to be Paul’s "game." They pronounced the name of the Jesus over victims of evil spirits, saying, "I command you by the Jesus preached by Paul!" The seven sons of a certain Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were trying to do this on a man when the evil spirit talked back: "I know Jesus and I’ve heard of Paul, but who are you?" Then the possessed man went berserk jumped the exorcists, beat them up, and tore off their clothes. Naked and bloody, they got away as best they could.
Jesus was saying that to deny Him was inconsistent and illogical. The good works of other men were acknowledged, yet His good works were denied and attributed to evil. His works were the greatest works ever performed for men, and they far out numbered the works of any other man. John 21:25 tells us that there were so many things that Jesus did that if they had been written down, each one of them, one by one, that the books would not be able to contain them.
How could His power and His works be of evil and the works of others be good? His works were bound to be of God. If His works were the good works of God, then His claim to be the Messiah was bound to be true, for God would not give His power to a liar and a deceiver.
His works were by the Spirit of God. Didnt they hear him in the temple a few weeks ago when He told them that the Spirit of the Lord is upon me for He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them who are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord and then the bible says he closed the book , gave it to the minister and sat down then He told them This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. The bible goes on to say that those present bear him witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said..Is not this Josephs Son?
They couldnt equate the words He spoke with deity all they could do was equate it with the carpenter they had known for 30 years. Sometimes its hard to get folks to believe you when all they see is something else and not who you really are.
In verse 29 Jesus tell us that satan is the strong man; He Christ is the invader who enters satans house to free those imprisoned by satan. Jesus is arguing that He is not in alliance with satan; actually he is in opposition to him. By entering the strong mans house and taking His goods. He is turning men and women from darkness to light from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sin. When Jesus was in His wilderness temptation He bound satan..for the first time in history, satan confronted someone in whom he could not lead away from God. After the wilderness experience, satan was set back, His power was shaken. Jesus had withstood satan on his own ground.
I know that there are wars within and wars without. However when it comes to the Kingdom all of this internal and external fighting has got to go!
Internally we are struggling with mixed feelings and emotions about our fears, about our worries, about our struggles, about our addictions I.e. its me fighting against me.
I can deal with me internally.. because the bible says in 2 Corinthians 10:4 and 5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal; but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. I have the ability to cast down every
Its the external thats a different story because when then there are External Struggles this is where the fight really really is because its between a person and an outside force.
The Bibles tells us how to guard against outside forces in Ephesians 6: 10- 18
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
We know that the bible encourages us to stand.. the reason for that is because when we stand we have the appearance of being strong.
In Psalms 133:1 and 2 it says
1Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
2It is like (UNITY) the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;
When the High Priest was anointed at His consecration the pouring of the oil†upon the top of the head was a type and symbol of unity. On His breastplate He bore the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. As the oil was poured copious upon the head and dripped down the beard and onto his long vesture the oil when it was poured upon him, flowed down on all the tribes, diffusing everywhere an odor of fragrance. Which typified “the grace of God.
Watch this now because its important.The number 12 is a number signifying perfection of government, or a government perfection. It is found in the multiple of all that has to do with rule.
When you rule you are walking in dominion , dominance, power, authority.
The Anointing flows from the head to the body. You cant rule or walk in dominion if the head is not walking in dominion.
You cant rule or walk in authority if your head is not walking in authority.
You cant rule or walk in power if your head is not walking in power.
Its the anointing that destroys the yokes!
Amos 3:3 asks the question?
Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
The New American Standard Bible says
Do two men walk together unless they have made an appointment?
There is a spirit in the church today that is very dominating it is the Absalom spirit.
Now keep in mind Amos 3:3
The Absalom Spirit - look at sheet
Walls - speak of division
THE BREAKER ANOINTING
Micah 2:12-13 "I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together like sheep of the fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture; they shall make a loud noise because of so many people. The one who breaks open will come up before them; they will break out, pass through the gate, and go out by it; their king will pass before them, with the LORD at their head."
Help me Holy Ghost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! --
