The One Year Bible Club with Teaching
Commentary by Nick Boork
January 18
Matthew 12:22-45
Commentary by Nick Boork
January 18
Matthew 12:22-45
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Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 23 And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” 25 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. 28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. 30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.
31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 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. 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 4 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 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. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” 39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 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. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up in the 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
43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes 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 also be with this wicked generation.”
OKAY, HERE’S MY TEACHING COMMENTARY
This portion of Christ’s ministry begins with Him casting out a demon from a man and bringing healing to him from being blind and mute. So the whole context of todays reading is teaching about the realm of the Spirit, either the Holy Spirit or demonic spirits. There is great mis-understanding about the spiritual realm. Jesus brings us clarity through His teachings.
First, Satan is not divided.
His goal is the destruction of men’s souls. Jesus applied the principle of unity to the spiritual realm. Satan does not cast out Satan. No, Jesus casts out Satan from men by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is one way the Kingdom of God manifests on the earth. Every time a devil is cast out of a person in the name of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit the Kingdom of God manifests. After defeating the accusation of the Pharisee’s that Jesus was only casting out demons by the prince of demons he takes the opportunity to show that there is actually no neutral ground when it comes to Jesus Christ. Verse 30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.
This is a polarizing statement and Jesus meant it to be so. Either people for or against Jesus. Not proactively influencing others to Christ is looked upon by Jesus as scattering people abroad. Making a stand for Jesus means your on His side and following His mission to seek and save the lost. From the beginning, Jesus promised Peter, John and the rest of his disciples that if they followed Him, He would make them to become fishers of men.
In other words, when we truly follow Jesus Christ, we become one with Him and others in His purpose and ministry. So, you’re either for Jesus and everything that Jesus represents or you’re against him. There’s just no neutral ground. Jesus calls us to make a decision to either produce good or bad fruit. Wow, now this puts the responsibility upon every individual to a personal choice to either produce good or bad fruit. So again, there is really no neutral ground when comes to having faith in Jesus Christ. The Lord doesn’t want us to kind of believe and kind of not believe. You can’t be a divided Christian with one foot in the Kingdom of God and another foot in the Kingdom of Evil. No, they must make a decision to put both feet in the Kingdom of God and produce good fruit by remaining or abiding in Jesus Christ every day.
But what kind of fruit are we to produce? Two kinds of fruit.
Character fruit or the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 Ministry fruit or influencing others through your life, testimony and efforts to lead them to faith receive Jesus as Lord. This is kind of fruit is what Jesus was talking about in His teaching about Him being the vine and we being the branches. We know that Jesus was talking about the fruit of souls because of what He said in John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
Only through Christ can we truly influence other to be saved. When demon is cast out it will try to return to the person from which it used to live. The man from whom a demon was cast out needs to replace the evil spirit with the Holy things of God! The Bible teaches that our bodies are made to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Notice that Jesus says the demon that returns to the man, finds his former house EMPTY, swept and put in order. Then the evil spirit takes seven others more wicked than himself and they enter and live there and the last state of the man is worse than the first! This is a solemn warning that once a person has been set free from demon oppression or possession, they absolutely must FILL there lives with:
PRAYER TO APPLY THE WORD OF GOD TO OUR LIVES
31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 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. 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 4 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 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. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” 39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 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. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up in the 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
43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes 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 also be with this wicked generation.”
OKAY, HERE’S MY TEACHING COMMENTARY
This portion of Christ’s ministry begins with Him casting out a demon from a man and bringing healing to him from being blind and mute. So the whole context of todays reading is teaching about the realm of the Spirit, either the Holy Spirit or demonic spirits. There is great mis-understanding about the spiritual realm. Jesus brings us clarity through His teachings.
First, Satan is not divided.
His goal is the destruction of men’s souls. Jesus applied the principle of unity to the spiritual realm. Satan does not cast out Satan. No, Jesus casts out Satan from men by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is one way the Kingdom of God manifests on the earth. Every time a devil is cast out of a person in the name of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit the Kingdom of God manifests. After defeating the accusation of the Pharisee’s that Jesus was only casting out demons by the prince of demons he takes the opportunity to show that there is actually no neutral ground when it comes to Jesus Christ. Verse 30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.
This is a polarizing statement and Jesus meant it to be so. Either people for or against Jesus. Not proactively influencing others to Christ is looked upon by Jesus as scattering people abroad. Making a stand for Jesus means your on His side and following His mission to seek and save the lost. From the beginning, Jesus promised Peter, John and the rest of his disciples that if they followed Him, He would make them to become fishers of men.
In other words, when we truly follow Jesus Christ, we become one with Him and others in His purpose and ministry. So, you’re either for Jesus and everything that Jesus represents or you’re against him. There’s just no neutral ground. Jesus calls us to make a decision to either produce good or bad fruit. Wow, now this puts the responsibility upon every individual to a personal choice to either produce good or bad fruit. So again, there is really no neutral ground when comes to having faith in Jesus Christ. The Lord doesn’t want us to kind of believe and kind of not believe. You can’t be a divided Christian with one foot in the Kingdom of God and another foot in the Kingdom of Evil. No, they must make a decision to put both feet in the Kingdom of God and produce good fruit by remaining or abiding in Jesus Christ every day.
But what kind of fruit are we to produce? Two kinds of fruit.
Character fruit or the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 Ministry fruit or influencing others through your life, testimony and efforts to lead them to faith receive Jesus as Lord. This is kind of fruit is what Jesus was talking about in His teaching about Him being the vine and we being the branches. We know that Jesus was talking about the fruit of souls because of what He said in John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
Only through Christ can we truly influence other to be saved. When demon is cast out it will try to return to the person from which it used to live. The man from whom a demon was cast out needs to replace the evil spirit with the Holy things of God! The Bible teaches that our bodies are made to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Notice that Jesus says the demon that returns to the man, finds his former house EMPTY, swept and put in order. Then the evil spirit takes seven others more wicked than himself and they enter and live there and the last state of the man is worse than the first! This is a solemn warning that once a person has been set free from demon oppression or possession, they absolutely must FILL there lives with:
- Jesus Christ as Lord living in the heart – Romans 10:9-10, Ephesians 3:16-17
- The Holy Spirit – Luke 11:13, Acts 1:8
- The Word of God – John 8:31-32, Colossians 3:16
PRAYER TO APPLY THE WORD OF GOD TO OUR LIVES
ORDINATION
We provide Ministry Credentials and Ordination through Diamond Ministerial Association. Click to learn more and apply! http://www.diamondinstitute.org/ordination
ONLINE COURSES
For Bible courses and ministry resources see our online school Diamond Institute. Enroll free today and get access to our free and pay as you go courses. http://www.diamondinstitute.org/enroll
We provide Ministry Credentials and Ordination through Diamond Ministerial Association. Click to learn more and apply! http://www.diamondinstitute.org/ordination
ONLINE COURSES
For Bible courses and ministry resources see our online school Diamond Institute. Enroll free today and get access to our free and pay as you go courses. http://www.diamondinstitute.org/enroll
