This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The Holy Spirit” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, September 3, 1995.

Tonight we are in Matthew chapter 12, and we are beginning our reading at verse 14. Let’s give our attention to the reading of God’s holy word. But the Pharisees went out and counseled together against him as to how they might destroy him. But Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from them, and many followed him, and he healed them all, and warned them not to make him known, in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased.

I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not fall nor cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A battered wreath he will not break off, and a smoldering wick he will not put out, until he leads justice to victory, and in his name the Gentiles will hope. Then there was brought to him a demon-possessed man who was blind and dumb, and he healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw.

And all the multitudes were amazed and began to say, This man cannot be the son of David, can he? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This man casts out demons only by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons. And knowing their thoughts, he said to them, Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself.

How then shall his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Consequently, they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God must come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strongman’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strongman, and then he will plunder his house?

He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, The blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree rotten, and its fruit rotten. For the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth that which is evil. And I say to you that every careless word that men shall speak they shall render account for it in the day of judgment. For by your word you shall be justified, and by your word you shall be condemned.”

Our Father, we rejoice in the scope of your ministry to us and for us. We thank you for the ministry of the Word and those who have been called to the ministry to proclaim that Word to us. But we also rejoice, O God, in those who have been called to rule by your Word. So, bless those of this congregation and of your church throughout the world who rule by your word well. And Father, we thank you for those who serve by your word in the service of the diaconate. And Lord, not only here, but throughout your church, may the diaconate be honored. even as there are those who are raised up to serve you diligently, sacrificially, even, Lord, being a model for us. Lord, we thank you for how you have constituted your church. Indeed, you lay your word as foundation for your church, and by your word your church is built.

And we ask, Lord, that we may honor your word by honoring that structure which you have ordained and also by honoring those whom you have raised up for Christ’s sake to be in positions of service, rule, and proclamation to the good of your children. We pray these things through Christ who is himself the living word. Amen.

It is very difficult for us to imagine the crushing force with which Jesus and his ministry fell upon the scribes and Pharisees. Already the multitude had been astounded by Jesus’ teaching, because As Matthew 7 verse 29 tells us, Jesus taught not as their scribe, but as one having authority. That statement from Matthew 7, 29 may well astound you, since your impression is that The scribes were nothing if they weren’t authoritarian. Obviously, there is authority, and then there is authority. The scribal authority, a little later, is set in direct contrast to Jesus’ authority, when they charged him with blasphemy, because he had declared the paralytic man, in Matthew 9, verse 2, forgiven. This man blasphemed, the scribes said.

Who can forgive sins but God? Who can forgive sins but God, indeed? Later, the segregationist Pharisees objected when Jesus integrated himself with nefarious sinners at a feast given by Matthew, the tax collector. Later still, the Pharisees accused Jesus of being in league with Satan, the prince of so that he might then, by the Prince of Demons, cast out demons.” That’s chapter 9, verse 34, that accusation two times leveled at Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew.

This charge from the Pharisees proved to be more than hyperbolic theological banter. more than just a bit of rabbinical brick-throwing. The Pharisees, together with the scribes, were dead earnest. The whole matter for them was a life and death struggle. We may have difficulties. imagining the crushing force with which Jesus and his ministry came upon the Pharisees and the scribes. The Pharisees and the scribes may not have been within earshot when Jesus erupted at the end of Matthew 11. in his magnificent prayer, the prayer in which he thanks his father that he has revealed the things of the kingdom to the humble and those who are childlike, and hid those things from the wise and the intelligent.

The Pharisees and the scribes may not have been within earshot, to hear what Jesus said when he invited people at the conclusion of that eleventh chapter to his easy and to his white yoke in deference to the Pharisees’ brutal yoke of the law. that while they may not have been present on that occasion, they were present to do battle over the issue of the Sabbath and over the question, to whose realm did the Sabbath rightly belong?

Chapter 12, verses 1 through 13. And having faced, then, Jesus in that battle, in that confrontation, the Pharisees and the scribes knew that nothing less than Jesus’ destruction was necessary. Chapter 12, verse 14. Their hatred. You must not minimize this, my friend. their hatred for Jesus contrasts directly Jesus’ love as he ministers to those who are so oppressed and in dire need.

Jesus heals a man blind and dumb, a man demon-possessed, as we have read this evening. But again, the Pharisees, upon hearing of this miracle, attack Jesus. They resurrect their former charge. By Satan, he exorcises Satan. they said to those who are asking if Jesus might not be the Son of David, the Messiah. Chapter 12, verses 23 and 24.

Although the Pharisees had not made their charge directly at Jesus, Jesus know, so the text tells us, Jesus knows their thoughts. There is a world of suggestion in that. Jesus knows their thoughts and now engages them with comments that may seem strange to us.

If we are unaware of the full extent to which the Pharisee’s hostility reaches. You must not minimize this. I might say, parenthetically, that in the professional, academic, theological world of our time, it has become even more difficult to perceive the magnitude of the Pharisee’s hostility. The habit of mind presently in these so-called Christian, professional, academic, and theological circles is to chalk up the New Testament on the side of stereotypical excess.

The Pharisees, in other words, were nothing like they appear in the Gospels. In actual fact, so say these academics. In actual fact, the Pharisees were more Christian, and Jesus was more Jewish, thus making him one of them, or much closer to them, than the latter bigoted Christians like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were willing to admit. If this is the case, one can hardly begin to imagine how Jesus managed to get himself executed. Since he and the Pharisees were so much alike, why it must have been those nasty, bloodthirsty Romans. Now I wonder what the Etruscan Anti-Defamation League has to say about that.

But ironically, Jesus and the Pharisees were very much alike. Yet at the same time, an infinity removed from each other. Look at our text this evening. the possible similarities in thought, in vocabulary. The Pharisees have expectations about the Messiah. Their reaction in verse 24 assumes that.

Jesus also has convictions about Israel’s messianic hope. he is intimately acquainted with its truth. The Pharisees, furthermore, believe that Satan exists. Jesus will not argue with them this point, since he has done battle with Satan directly at the beginning of his ministry in the wilderness. The Pharisees, it seems, are also involved in exorcisms through their disciples, through their followers, as is Jesus. This made plain by Jesus’ remark in verse 27. The Pharisees acknowledge the reality of God’s Spirit, as does Jesus in verse 28. Both the Pharisees and Jesus speak about the kingdom of God,” verse 28 again, and each is conversant about blasphemy and unforgivable sin, about which Jesus has something to say in verses 31 through 33.

Why, Jesus and the Pharisees are on the same page. While Jesus and these, his enemies, have common ground in their Old Testament roots and in their Jewishness, while they have a common vocabulary, they are actually living in two completely different worlds. That’s the collision. thus the confrontation, thus the intensity of it. We gain insight into the severity of the collision between Jesus and the Pharisees from this text, as it concerns the relationship between Jesus, the Kingdom of God, and the Spirit of God.

For the Pharisees, who believe in the Messiah, Jesus cannot be the Messiah. For them, it is impossible that the kingdom of God had come in any sense in Jesus’ ministry. For them, there can be no justification for Jesus’ exalted opinion of himself, or of his opinion about the Spirit in relationship to himself. As the Pharisees prove in the sequel to the text we’ve read this evening, particularly verse 38, they demand of him an apocalyptic sign, that is, a sign of cataclysm, to Israel’s enemies and of the attitudes to and for Israel. And as the prelude to our passage this evening proves, chapter 12, verses 1 through 14, the Pharisees will not accept any trespassing on the sacred domain of the law, for they alone know the law’s meaning, and Jesus, to be validated at all, must agree with them.

Jesus, by his words and actions, or by the lack of them, conclusively shows himself not to be the Messiah. That is the Pharisee’s judgment. Jesus, however, declares that God has acted, that the kingdom of God has come upon the Pharisee and upon Israel.

That’s 28th verse, once more. The kingdom longed for has arrived. is here. Its blessings are now made available. God’s kingdom is here because, as Matthew makes clear in his quotation of Isaiah 42 in verses 16 through 21 of this twelfth chapter, God’s unique servant has now appeared. This unique servant is none other than Jesus. who in verse 28 claims to be the one from whom the kingdom emanates, and in verse 32 claims to be the supernatural figure of the Son of Man.

And as if these claims weren’t enough, Jesus’ words now will compound things even more radically, so radically that the Pharisees will be challenged in their most basic conviction their conviction about the person of God. The Spirit is the key at this juncture. The Pharisees, as we have already noted, believe in the Spirit. They have a conviction about the Spirit, but their view of the Spirit falls far short of what Jesus assumes and even presents. For the Pharisees see the Spirit as the enervating force of God. They see the Spirit as God’s breath by which he gives his word, endows his servants, even the great servant promised by God. They see the Spirit as that innervating force, that breath of God by which God gives life to his people.

That sounds all very good, but let yourself now be gripped by what Jesus says in this text. Let it register upon you and understand. Let it sink in. Why then the Pharisees and the scribes? are moved to such hostility against Jesus. Jesus doesn’t see the Spirit merely as an innervating force from God, or as God’s breath.

He sees the Spirit as a person. Such disclosure is revolutionary. It is literally shattering. It has the effect of driving these who are his enemies into greater hostility still. Jesus presents the Spirit as a person, as a distinct divine personage. This he implies in verse 28. when he speaks about the Spirit of God specifically there.

And these Pharisees, who are trained in theological and doctrinal debate, cannot miss the point. You see, the Pharisees had charged Jesus with casting out Satan, all Satan. Notice the parallel now as you move to the twenty-eighth verse. The Pharisees have charged Jesus with casting out Satan by Satan. Jesus now declares that he casts out Satan by the Spirit of God.

The implication is, since Satan is recognized in the test as a spiritual being, then the Spirit of God must also be so recognized. Jesus is hitting these men where they feel it most, their self-assured theology. their self-assured conceptions of God. They know who God is. Who is this itinerant preacher to tell them who God is? Jesus’ words here, then, are suggestive and compelling.

The implication of his words is that the Spirit of God is a spiritual being and must be so recognized now in the day of the kingdom, in the visitation of the servant of the Lord, in the coming of the King and the Messiah. Jesus is stating then that the person of the Spirit of God and his own person, yes, his very own person, are in concert for the present manifestation of the kingdom. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Here, then, is the kingdom that is not divided internally.

But what kind of spiritual being is the Spirit of God, you might well ask. Well, that’s why we move on to verses 31 and 32, because these verses will make it plain what kind of spiritual being the Spirit of God is. He is such a spiritual being against whom blasphemy may be directed. It is possible to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, but since blasphemy is a verbal attack against God, the Spirit of God is not only a distinct divine person, but God himself.

The revelation of the Trinity is forcing itself upon Israel, and the confrontation between Jesus and his enemies will be engaged at this specific point of doctrine of God. But we might further ask now, Jesus joining himself to the Spirit of God in concert activity for the manifestation of the Kingdom of God. What sort of figure is this One who speaks? We have already noted that He presents Himself in verse 32 as the supernatural figure of the Son of Man.

Well, you will note in these verses 31 and 32 that he also may be blasphemed, spoken against, making it obvious that he, too, is God. Now, we certainly haven’t answered all the questions about this passage this evening. language as we make our way through it is quite difficult. And we ask ourselves the question, how can blasphemies against the Son of Man be forgiven, but blasphemies against the Holy Spirit not?

And we’ll move to the conspiration of that issue as we make progress in this series. Tonight we have laid some groundwork order to bring out the dimensions of the battle and the struggle between Jesus and these religious authorities. For the present, for the moment, be aware of the crushing force with which Jesus and his ministry fell upon the tribes and the Pharisees. And you personally, Be aware of the leaven of the Pharisees. That is their doctrine. Since their doctrine continues to be a severe trial to the church, even in our time. The Pharisaic spirit is not a special property of Jewish leaders. Tragically, it has become the spirit of even so-called Christian leaders.

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and don’t be deceived by the similarity of language and vocabulary. Don’t be deceived because there are many who speak about the Messiah, who talk about the Spirit, who tell you about their convictions concerning the kingdom of God. For you see, as infinitely removed as were those Pharisees from Jesus, so infinitely removed are these who also now use the vocabulary of the faith. May none of you be deceived by religious talk, but insist instead that the full revelation of our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be honored, and that the glorious truth of the gospel of the kingdom be honored as well.

God help us. God have mercy on us. God strengthen us. May we stand with Jesus in understanding our God, understanding the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, in understanding the kingdom. Lord. There can be no mistake about it. That Matthew your servant blessed by the Spirit. Is intent upon putting before the church. The full statement of that revelation of yourself. By which your church shall live. The blessed prove. of the One God in three persons. Yes, the One God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

May the fullness of this revelation be our confession, and may we hold it with integrity. May we also realize, O God, that as the day of the full disclosure of our God has come, the kingdom has come, and the blessed, gracious provisions of that kingdom have been made ours. Even, Lord, that we might stand strong against every assault, and that we might be perceptive, yes, even being as wise as servants, that we might discern unholy leaven brought into your church such leaven as will destroy your people. We ask, Lord, that with all humility we might be kept faithful to the end. And, Lord, we ask that we might be mindful of the struggles of those about us who even at a doctrinal level may be going through intense pain and difficulty. May our compassion extend to them as we offer them help, and may they be delivered from the company of the Pharisees and scribes, and brought fully and wonderfully into the company of Jesus. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. you

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.