THE SERMON - Son Of David, Have Mercy On Me
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Summary
In this episode, we continue our series on the Gospel According to Matthew through the miracles performed by Jesus in Matthew 9:27-34. In this series, we will see how the miracles of Jesus are not merely acts of compassion, but divine revelations that demand faith.
Transcript
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We need this content for the glory of God to reach more people's ears.
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Please join me in standing for the reading of God's word.
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We're continuing our series through the gospel according to Matthew.
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Our text for today is Matthew chapter 9, verse 27 through 34.
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Again, our text is Matthew chapter 9, verse 27 through 34.
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When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say this is the word of the Lord,
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at which point I would appreciate very much if you'd respond by saying thanks be to God.
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One final time, our text for today is the gospel according to Matthew chapter 9, verses 27 through 34.
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And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud,
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When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them,
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Then he touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it done to you.
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And their eyes were opened, and Jesus sternly warned them,
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But they went away and spread his fame through all that district.
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As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him.
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And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke.
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All right, please be seated. By way of introduction, I've written the following.
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Christ's divine authority elicits saving faith in some and hardened unbelief in others.
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It's vital that we keep in mind that the miracles of Jesus are not merely acts of compassion.
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Notice the word merely. They are acts of compassion.
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There are instances where the crowds come to him and he had compassion.
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it actually says that not empathy but compassion which is rooted sympathy um it's in the latin
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it's it's rooted more to sympathy feeling for someone else not empathy and just absorbing their
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pain and so that you're walking around feeling the exact same thing that everybody else does no it's
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compassion for others it's rooted in love it's rooted in love and so jesus does have compassion
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on people and there are instances in the gospel narratives where the crowds were there they were
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present and many were sick among them. And the scripture explicitly tells us that he had
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compassion on them and he healed them. And so we're not saying that Jesus had something less
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than compassion, but all we're saying and what we're noticing and witnessing in this text
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specifically is that the purpose of Jesus' miracles was never less than compassion for
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those who were hurting, but it certainly included more. So it's not merely acts of compassion,
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But rather, these miracles serve as divine revelations that demand faith.
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And where faith is absent, they therefore expose unbelief.
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That the miracles serve the purpose higher and deeper and longer, more eternal and ultimate than merely the temporal, physical healing out of compassion.
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That there's a message being conveyed by the miracles of Christ.
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The miracles ultimately validate the messenger and therefore the message.
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So what Christ is preaching, Christ came to preach.
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He came to die ultimately as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
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But he also came to preach the kingdom of the gospel, the gospel of the kingdom.
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And so the miracles serve as a testimony, a witness to validate Christ as the messenger
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But the miracles also work as a winnowing fork that separate the wheat from the chaff.
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The words of Christ do that on their own right, in their own right.
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The message, the sermons that Christ preached also winnowed the crowds down to who really believed in Him, trusted Him, and who ultimately hated Him.
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But His preaching does this, but so do the miracles.
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And this miracle in particular, we see in this text that there's an immediate dividing line
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between those who trust in Jesus and those who ultimately hate Jesus.
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So that's our introduction, recognizing that every time Christ preached
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it served as a winnowing fork separating the wheat from the chaff.
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it immediately would elicit saving faith in some and hardened unbelief in others.
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Okay, so three points from the text as I see it today.
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Number one, we find a cry for mercy and attached with that cry for mercy,
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So it's not merely pleading for mercy from someone somewhere in regards to something.
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These two blind men are pleading with Christ for mercy,
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but the reason why they make their pleas to Him
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So a cry for mercy and a recognition of Christ's true identity.
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That's the first point that we'll find in the first verse of our text, verse 27.
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Secondly, we'll see that Jesus immediately responds to this cry for mercy
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from these two blind men by providing for them a test of faith.
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And then lastly, the third and final point, deliverance and division.
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We then see a second miracle arise in the text.
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After the two blind men are thoroughly healed by Jesus,
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a complete, total, and instant miraculous healing,
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then immediately what follows is the casting out, exercising of a demon that caused a man to be mute, unable to speak.
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And this miracle in particular, the deliverance of this man who was demon oppressed,
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it immediately elicits, not in all, but in some, namely the religious Jewish leaders of that time,
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the Pharisees in particular, it elicits for them division, division.
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Okay, so beginning with the first point, I've written the following.
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The passage intentionally contains a theological irony.
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So different books of the Bible have different genres.
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But not every book of the Bible, they're all equally inerrant and infallible.
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The Psalms and the Proverbs are poetic and they need to be read as poetic literature, right?
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There's other passages of the scripture that are just historical accounts like 1st and 2nd Kings, right?
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Whereas 1st and 2nd Samuel, my wife just recently went through those four books of the Bible.
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And she was like, you know, telling me I like 1st and 2nd Samuel more than 1st and 2nd Kings.
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and I agree with her because that's just, it's not that one is more profitable or one is more
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inspired, but 1st and 2nd Samuel are more narrative, story, whereas 1st and 2nd Kings
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are just history. Here's another king, this is what he did, and you know, and you can read more
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about it in the Annals of the Kings. Here's another king, this is what he did, and you can read more,
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you know, and that's just, that's the nature of 1st and 2nd Kings, whereas 1st and 2nd Samuel
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is it's a story you know it's it's this is David from very beginning it's not just his exploits
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but it gets into his emotions and his thought process and all these different things it's it's
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a narrative it's a story and so in our text this is narrative the gospel accounts are uh narrative
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they give us exploits of Christ but but also contained in a story format so it's not just
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like 1st and 2nd Kings, but it's kind of more like 1st and 2nd Samuel. There are exploits,
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there are events and particulars that are included, but it's in the genre of story.
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And so we're reading this story, and because we're reading this story, we should pick up on
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some of the major themes, because they're not random. They're not accidental. They are intentional
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by the Holy Spirit, inspiring the human author, in this case, Matthew.
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And one of those themes that we should pick up on is a theological irony.
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The physically blind, these two men who are physically blind,
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while the religious leaders in Israel remain spiritually blind.
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while those who are physically able to see who are physically not blind are spiritually blind
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and that's an irony again and again what what Matthew all the gospel writers but especially
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Matthew especially Matthew what he is doing again in every single text is he's sticking it to
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the Jewish religious rulers that's just what he's doing it is in the text some of you it's not in
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the text. I love Israel. I understand, but it is in the text. And you're wrong. You're simply wrong.
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And Matthew draws it out again and again and again. Here's two guys who can't see their hand
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in front of their face. And they're spiritually have 20-20 sight. And they're great. And here's
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some other guys who are trained in religious rulers in Israel, and they suck. That's what
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Matthew's saying. That is what he's saying. More than that, that's what God is saying. That's what
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the Holy Spirit is speaking through Matthew. So that is a massive theological irony that we're
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missing part of the point of the text if we don't pick up on that irony. It's there by design
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intentionally. The physically blind, they can see spiritually. They can see Jesus, while the
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religious leaders who are physically not blind, they are spiritually blind as a bat. In other
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words, these blind men see more than the sighted. Specifically, they see Jesus as the promised king
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from David's line. So in this first verse, namely Matthew 9, 27, the first thing that these blind
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men see in terms of Jesus' true identity is they recognize that Jesus is messianic. They recognize
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that he is messianic and kingly that he comes from the lineage of David and not just like every
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single one of David's descendants come from the lineage of David but that he is the promised one
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that Isaiah and the prophets spoke of that he is the true king of Israel of the increase of his
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government there shall be no end that he is kingly and messianic and they use that title which
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conveys those points messianic and kingly what do they refer to jesus as son of david son of david
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have mercy on me they see jesus as the promised king from david's line second samuel 7 speaks of
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this and isaiah chapter 11 they speak to jesus and cry out saying son of david son of david
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have mercy on me son of David this particular phrase was an explicit messianic title now lastly
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their cry is clearly rooted in faith not entitlement it's rooted in faith in the identity
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the person the object of Jesus Christ who he is their faith is rooted in him attached to the true
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and only saving object of faith, which is Christ. And it's based in faith, rooted in faith and not
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in entitlement. They're not saying, Jesus, son of David, we too are Israelites. We too are the
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lineage of David. And therefore you owe us our physical sight. That's not their plea. That's not
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their claim it's not a claim of entitlement you are of a kingly lineage and we also by lineage
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are of this kingdom and therefore you owe us this miracle that's not the request the request is
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well it has less to do with entitlement and it has everything to do with worship
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so when they when they recognize and acknowledge Jesus as son of David they're not they're not
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boosting themselves son of david and so are we and therefore you owe this to us no it's son of
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david it's exalting him above themselves and above all others it's it's a it is a claim it's a
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statement of worship they're paying homage to jesus they're worshiping him they're recognizing
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him as a one true messianic figure and the true king of israel from the lineage of david
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and ultimately this is uh in a nutshell doesn't have to be they're not magic words it's not an
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incantation ultimately must come from the heart and it must come from a new heart which we only
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receive by the regenerative miraculous work of the spirit but but these this phrasing these words
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the the the spirit of it the heart of it is ultimately the words that must be expressed
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This is kind of the heart of what the Christian cries out
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and then pleads on the basis of mercy and not merit.
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That's what it is to belong to Christ, to be saved.
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there will be those two things there will be no one in heaven no christians who don't recognize
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jesus as the son of david and there will also be no christians no one in heaven no one who's truly
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born again and saved from the the wrath of god who recognize jesus as king but do not recognize
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their need for his kingly mercy both of those are equally important you must acknowledge that jesus
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is the son of david he is the messiah he is the king but you also you can't just say he's king
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and i'm kind of kingly too he's king and i'm of his kingly lineage and you know he's like he's
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a notch above me but you know just a little because i'm i'm really special too no you're
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going to hell if you do not repent of that attitude you are going to hell there are two
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things here a recognition of his identity king and a recognition of their identity
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the plea to mercy is a subtle indirect acknowledgement not just of christ identity
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but their own identity you're son of david and i'm a son of hell
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You're the son of David, the Messiah, the King,
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And so I'll appeal not to the basis of my merit, but I'll appeal to your character, which is filled with mercy.
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Son of David, have mercy on me. Son of David, have mercy on me.
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So that's first spiritual sight belonging to those who were physically blind as a further indictment and irony against the religious rulers of that day who claimed to see.
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but Jesus himself said elsewhere they are the blind leading the blind and then Christ's first
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piece of his identity as king and messiah we're going to get a little bit deeper here in the next
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few verses but first as son of David which is a messianic title and kingly because David was king
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and then lastly the appeal to his mercy and not their own merit spiritual sight Jesus as messiah
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and king and the need for his mercy. Those are three sub points in that first point, verse 27.
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Now let's look at verses 28 through 30. The second big idea from our text today, the test
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of faith. I've written the following. Christ confronts these men with a personal and
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propositional question of faith. He presents to them a personal proposition. He does not merely
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asked, do you want to be healed? And that's not to say that that question would be wrong because he
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literally asked that exact question. I believe in John chapter 5, the pool of Bethesda. Remember the
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man who's standing by the pool waiting for an angel to come down and stir the water. But every
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time something like that happens, someone else beats him and is able to get into the pool first
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because he's lame and there's no one to help him. And Jesus actually asked that guy explicitly, do
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you want to be healed? Which I think there's a lot of implications from that. One of them, I think, is
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do you want to be healed and therefore be responsible for what whole people are required
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to do? Do you want to get a job? Right? Because you won't be able to be here begging any longer. So
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there are some theological rich implications, you know, that come from Jesus asking that question.
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But my point is, in our text today, he does not ask that question, but it's not to say that that
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question wouldn't be wise or profound or necessary in other instances because he literally quite
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literally asked that question elsewhere namely John chapter 5 with the man at the pool of Bethesda
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but in our text today that's not the question that Jesus presents instead of asking do you
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want to be healed he's ultimately asking them do you trust my authority do you trust my power that's
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what's most explicit he says do you believe I'm able to do this he knows that they want their
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physical healing physical sight to be restored and the first question he asks is do you believe
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that i am able to perform this miracle so it's a question a proposition um in regards to his power
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but that power is ultimately rooted in his authority so it's a personal proposition asking
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them do you believe that me as the son of david which you've already claimed do you believe that
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as the son of David, I have authority over sickness and disability, that I have the authority to
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restore your sight. The blind men answer by saying, yes, Lord. Now this is significant because now
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we've gone even a step further. At first, there's already a recognition of Jesus' true identity by
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using the messianic kingly title son of David. They don't just say Jesus of Nazareth, give us
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our sight, but they say, son of David, have mercy on me. But now it's even deeper. It's no longer
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just messianic and kingly. It's now recognizing divinity. They're now using a title, namely Lord,
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and in their reference towards Jesus with this title, they're recognizing that he's not only
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son of David, nothing less, but also more that he's son of David, messianic, kingly, and divine.
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Faith, now let's talk about faith for a moment.
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the power for healing and the power for anything else for creation ex nihilo out of nothing the
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power for salvation and forgiveness of sin is not rooted in faith faith is the instrument it's
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as the reformers would say luther it's the empty hand that lays claim that that grasps grace so so
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God's salvation and forgiveness of sins, this is a gift of grace on the basis of mercy and not on
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the basis of merit. And that grace, right, we're not saved by faith. We're saved by grace through
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faith. So we're saved by grace on the basis of mercy, not merit. And we lay hold of that grace,
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that mercy, with the empty hand of faith. Faith is not ultimately what saves. Jesus saves. And the
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salvation that Jesus provides on the basis of grace, not merit, it is ultimately picked up,
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received through faith. Okay, so faith is not, it's an instrument, but it's not the cause.
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It is not faith as a source, the power source that makes these men see and performs the miracle.
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He is the one ultimately who has power over life and death,
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those who are deaf, those who are lame, those who are mute.
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Faith is the empty hand that receives this power
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So faith is the instrument, but not the cause of their healing.
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The power lies in Christ himself, not in the strength of these men's belief.
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Now, if we're not careful, it would be easy for us to conclude from our text otherwise.
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Christ says specifically, this phrase, if we're not careful, could confuse us or throw us off.
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Then he touched their eyes saying, according to your faith, be it done to you.
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According to your faith, let the miracle happen.
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But Christ does not mean that the miracle should occur in proportion to the quantity of these men's faith,
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but rather in accordance with the presence of true faith.
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it's not may this miracle namely your sight physical sight being restored may this miracle
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happen in accordance with however much quantity size of faith you possess
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and because their their sight is fully restored then we're meant to assume that they had
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you know large faith a a full measure of faith that's that's not what's going on
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um because and you might say well how do you know that well we could look elsewhere real quick let's
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let's cross reference this is mark the gospel according to mark chapter 9 verse 24 and 25
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there's another instance of jesus healing and in this instance the person does not he even
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acknowledges and confesses he doesn't have perfect faith he kind of has some and then kind of doesn't
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Right. So this is verse 24, Mark chapter nine. Immediately, the father of the child cried out and said, I believe, help my unbelief.
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And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit.
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So this is a father beseeching Christ to exercise a demon from his child.
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He rebuked the unclean spirit saying to it, you mute and deaf spirit, I command you come out of
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him and never enter him again. And spoiler alert, that's what happens. That's exactly what happens.
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Now, if Jesus healing someone in accordance with their faith meant in proportion to the quantity
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of faith they possessed, then we would expect that in Mark chapter 9, verse 24 and 25, that this
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demon would maybe halfway come out of this individual because the father jesus asked him
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just a verse earlier jesus asked do you believe that i can do this that i can cast out the unclean
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spirit that is tormenting your child and the guy is honest you got to give him that i think it's
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it's admirable and honorable he answers truthfully and says yes i absolutely believe and i also
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absolutely doubt at the same time. Part of me believes and part of me doesn't. And so because
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he has half belief and half unbelief, he gets half a miracle, right? Wrong. No, he gets the
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whole enchilada. In fact, I love the language in verse 25 at the end. Jesus commands the unclean
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spirit, says, come out of him, not halfway out, and never enter him again. So Jesus, in some sense,
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And we know from what Jesus says in other places
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the house is then swept clean and put in order.
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regeneration and the spirit coming to dwell within the person,
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then the house is now swept clean and put in order,
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And that demon will go through waterless places,
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find the house empty and bring back seven other unclean spirits worse than itself and re-embody,
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refill and dwell within that same man. So the concept, my point is the concept of a demon coming
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back. It's not a foreign concept. Jesus explicitly talks about it elsewhere in the gospel narratives.
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But in this case, Jesus doesn't just cast out the demon, but he casts out the demon and uses his
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divine authority to command that the demon never return. So not only does this guy get, not only
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does he not get half of a miracle, but he gets a full exorcism, the demon fully cast out, and he
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gets like an insurance plan, lifelong insurance plan for the rest of his life, that the demon's
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never going to come back. I'm going to exorcise the demon completely, not partway, completely,
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And I'm going to ensure that there's no more demonic oppression for your child ever again.
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He gets this perfect miracle with lifelong insurance because he had perfect faith.
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He literally says, I believe, help my unbelief.
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So when Jesus says back to these two blind men in our text today,
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when he says, let it be done in accordance with your faith.
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is in accordance with the presence of true faith,
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Because if it's true faith, even if it's faith, the size, quantity, so quality, true, quantity, small.
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Even if it's in terms of quantity, the size of a mustard seed, it can move mountains.
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Jesus doesn't tell us if you have faith the size of a mountain, you can maybe move a mustard seed.
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If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move a mountain.
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If that faith is small in terms of quantity, but pure, true, genuine in terms of quality.
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So that's what ultimately raises the real question that we should ask.
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What determines the quality, not quantity, but quality of our faith?
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so that means the quality of my faith must be lacking.
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No, that just means the quantity of your faith is lacking.
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The presence of doubt, the presence of unbelief
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help my unbelief, does not necessarily invalidate the quality of your faith. What makes faith
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of saving quality is not its size, but rather its object. What is the object of your faith? Not the
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size, but what is the object of your faith? What is your faith attached to? And the only proper answer
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And what determines the quality being genuine is the object.
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And the object, the only proper object of our faith is Christ.
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That's what it means in accordance with your faith.
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Not may the miracle happen in proportion to the size or quantity of your faith.
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The first is a restoration of the physical side of these two blind men.
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And now we're going to see Jesus exercising a demon that had caused a man to be mute.
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deliverance and what immediately follows is a claim, an accusation really, of division. I've
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written in your notes this, now a mute demon oppressed man is brought to Jesus, symbolizing
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another picture of spiritual helplessness. So the two blind men, son of David, have mercy on us.
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They're stumbling around, chasing after Jesus. All right, this spiritual helplessness is the
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picture. And those who are helpless are appealing to Christ and his mercy. And they can rightly see,
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spiritually speaking, that he's the only object of salvation. He's the only one who has that power,
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who is the source of their healing, their salvation, their hope. Whereas those who claim
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not to be helpless, but rather those who claim to be sufficient and whole, they're the ones who are
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spiritually blind, that Jesus is standing right in front of them, and not only do they reject him
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as Messiah, Son of David, King, and Lord, but they're now going to go, at the end of our text
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here, with this second miracle, the exercising of this demon that caused a man to be mute.
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The opponents and detractors of Christ are now going to go a step further, not just rejecting
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Jesus, but indicting him. Not just rejecting Christ, but accusing him. Accusing him of actually
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casting out demons by the prince of demons and the power of demons. A very, a very stupid
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accusation. Jesus says elsewhere, we'll get to it eventually, but that a house divided against
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itself cannot stand. That Satan doesn't cast out Satan. Satan does a lot of tricky things,
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but that's not one of them. You guys are dumb, ultimately, is kind of how Jesus is responding.
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And here's the thing. The Pharisees aren't dumb. They're wicked. They're evil. They know that this
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is like they're scraping the bottom of the barrel on this one. Right. But there's so much here
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because the fact that they make this accusation about Christ, there's a reason for it. It's not
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random. And it's not just mere stupidity. The reason why they make this accusation is because
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I think it's not explicit in the text, but implicitly what we can derive from the text here
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is if they had any other excuse, they would have used it. Right? So if this was a man who did not
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have like a history and two or three witnesses, his parents and neighbors and extended family
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members all being able to say yeah he's actually mute and yes this is a long-term affliction and
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yes like this is a truly demonic and blah blah blah if there weren't if there weren't several
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parties able to validate the legitimacy of this man's plight then I don't think the Pharisees
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would have jumped to by the prince of demons he cast out demons because again that's that's
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I think they would have said, it's a ploy.
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The reason why they're scraping the bottom of the barrel here
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Because the power of Jesus that validates ultimately His identity,
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His person as the Messiah, as the King, as the Son of God,
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is so on display, so clear, so unavoidable, so undeniable, that they now have to get into weird,
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twisted pretzel theology in order to discount him. Well, okay, we know that this guy's really
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demon-possessed, so we can't deny that. And we know that the demon really was just cast out.
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We can see that. And we know it's not smoke and mirrors. It's not a sleight of hand. It really is
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a spiritual power so what do we have left uh well he did it by demonic spiritual power that's that's
00:36:44.200
okay yeah we'll go with that they're going with that because it's all they've got and so ultimately
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here's the here's the point going all the way back to the introduction of the sermon christ
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divine authority is licits saving faith in some and heart and unbelief in others it's vital that
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we keep in mind that the miracles of jesus are not merely acts of compassion this man oppressed by
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demons. He's mute, right? He's in a difficult situation. Jesus is leaving that torment out
00:37:12.140
of compassion. Yes, all that's there. It's nothing less than that, but it's more than that, namely
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this. The miracles of Christ serve as divine revelations that demand faith and expose unbelief.
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And in the exposing of unbelief, it's not just, oh, this person just doesn't believe in Jesus.
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Where you find unbelief, you will also always find hostility to Christ.
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So it's not just, it's not unbelief that's somehow amoral.
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The person just doesn't believe, you know, they just don't believe in God.
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But they're actually, you know, a really good person.
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And, you know, and they want to believe in God, but they just, you know, they just don't.
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Enough sufficient evidence just hasn't ever been presented for them.
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this poor person but but they're really a great person and they're really kind and they're really
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compassionate no no wherever you find true unbelief and only unbelief right because remember what we
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looked at earlier mark chapter 9 24 and 25 i believe help my unbelief even the christian will
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wrestle with degrees in various times and in various arenas degrees of unbelief but what the
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Christian always has, not by, by their own strength, not, not solo bootstrapia. It's not
00:38:35.460
that they pull themselves up, you know, but it's not, it's not their doing, but because faith is
00:38:39.980
a gift. It's not a work of man that is conjured up by our own ability and strength, but rather
00:38:45.720
faith is a gift that is granted by God. So for any Christian that has been given the gift of faith,
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no matter how small, if that faith came from God, then it's quality, not quantity, but quality,
00:38:58.080
as we've already established, will be genuine because it will have as its object, its sole
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object, the person and work of Jesus Christ. And that faith in quantity may be small, but in quality
00:39:09.940
is genuine. But there may still be surrounding genuine faith that trust and grasp Jesus.
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There may be surrounding it some measure of doubt and unbelief. But for the person who only has
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unbelief. There is no presence of genuine saving faith whatsoever. For that person who only has
00:39:29.840
unbelief, it's not merely an intellectual lack of belief in Jesus, but it is also a moral posture
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of hostility towards Jesus. And you have to see those as two peas in a pod, always coming as a
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pair. All right, so I'm going to give an example because I like to be practical. I'm going to give
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an example i'm not trying to be rude we the church should have never partnered with james lindsey
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an atheist who hates god because it's not just that he just doesn't have the evidence and just
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intellectually doesn't believe but morally he is hostile towards the church and we have seen that
00:40:14.260
in real time because what he wanted to preserve was he wanted to fight off you know in woke wars
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one he wanted to to fight off you know radical leftism so that he could continue as a white man
00:40:29.720
to have a job but the moment that it went further right that the christian church went further and
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said actually we don't want to just fight off radical leftism but i think kind of liberalism
00:40:43.280
in general that it's all bad we don't like any of it we want to get rid of all of it and we want to
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go back to historic christianity and and politically and culturally speaking a paleo
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the minute that that conversation started happening james lindsey was out and all of
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his weaponry and all of his attacks went on the church so he partnered with the church for 15
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minutes because he had a practical surface level, not because of love for God, but there was just
00:41:15.540
a surface level temporal incentive that for a brief window, a brief moment he shared with
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Christians. But then the moment that Christians said, no, but we want to be even more obedient
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to God. Like we don't want to just stop transing kids, but we want to stop the L and the G and the
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b and the whole all of it the whole alphabet we're done with all of that and the moment that
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christians start having those kinds of conversations then all of a sudden james lindsey i mean 90 of
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his tweets now are focused on fascism and no longer really teaming up with the church against
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communism why because true unbelief every christian wrestles with doubts right we've already
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established that it's the quality of faith not the quantity but for the non-christian it's only
00:42:12.440
unbelief there is no mustard seed of faith that's there present no belief no faith whatsoever and
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in that case the case of the non-christian who has no belief no faith in jesus only unbelief
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that unbelief is not just intellectual hindrances where i just can't quite get over the hurdles
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Not just intellectual, I can't come to believe,
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so for the person who is embodied solely by unbelief and there is no saving faith whatsoever
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that person will not just be indifferent towards god that person will be hostile towards god
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and by virtue being hostile towards god that person will be hostile to anyone who is for god
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by God's grace, and nothing to boast into myself, but by God's grace and his grace alone,
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I have passed that test sufficiently. I am thoroughly hated by James Lindsay. All right,
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that's enough. Okay, continuing. So I've written this in your notes. A mute demon-oppressed man
00:44:13.040
is brought to Jesus, symbolizing another picture of spiritual helplessness and bondage. Jesus cast
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out the demon without need of any spiritual ritual or struggle. Notice it's not just that
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Jesus exercises the demon, but he does it. The manner in which he does it is with a word. It
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demonstrates absolute authority. Now the crowds, not just the individual who has now
00:44:39.060
experienced relief from his prior demonic oppression, but all the surrounding crowds
00:44:44.780
are marveling, acknowledging not only the degree
00:44:53.280
that he's able to cast out a demon by merely a word,
00:45:02.760
not just the high degree of Jesus' authority and power,
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Now, when you look at the Old Testament, you look at Elijah and Elisha, right?
00:45:22.900
But that's actually something that had been done.
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One of the most, in terms of Jesus' miracles, right?
00:45:34.100
So I'm explicitly just speaking of his miracles for a moment.
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You find them scraping the bottom of the barrel
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specifically that are exorcisms of demonic powers, right?
00:46:10.280
You don't see them scraping the bottom of the barrel with healing
00:46:29.100
But what's really unique are these demonic exorcisms.
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And when Jesus does this, it shows he doesn't just have authority over nature to calm winds
00:46:41.460
and waves, to expel disease and disability, or even authority over nature as it pertains
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to life and death, revivification, bringing someone back to life, as we saw last week
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But here we see that Jesus has authority over even cosmic powers, not just nature, but he
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has authority over principalities and princes and demonic powers over Satan himself. And perhaps
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these types of miracles, Jesus casting out demons, speak to his divinity the clearest
00:47:18.840
in a way that is most difficult for his opponents to argue with. And so that's why we see them
00:47:26.800
coping and seething right their response is uh there's a lot of there's a lot of cope on this
00:47:35.140
one right well he casts out demons by the prince of demons i mean this is pure copium i mean they
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just they don't know what to say they've got no excuse left and so they're really really scratching
00:47:46.540
the bottom of the barrel because this particular type of miracle puts on display in such an
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inarguable undeniable way that Jesus is not just a prophet like Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekiel or
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Elijah or Elisha but that he is the God man never was anything like this seen in Israel the crowd
00:48:09.640
even the crowd is acknowledging imagine you're one of the Pharisees standing by and the crowd's like
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this is incredible no one's ever done anything like this especially you guys over there Pharisees
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You've never done anything like this, you know, and so the Pharisees are enraged.
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I mean, Jesus is just humiliating them publicly in real time.
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So the Pharisees once again reject Christ by saying, oh, yeah, well, OK, this is unique.
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We've never seen anything like this in Israel either.
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But he cast out demons by the prince of demons.
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And we'll explore further in our next text, but we're going to leave it there today.
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But we should recognize that the Pharisees are now desperate.
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And this is true for anyone, for anyone who's not in Christ, I should say.
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That rejecting Jesus is, in most cases, systematic, progressive.
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And what I mean by that is the rejection of Christ,
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is it requires a progressive compounding rejection.
00:49:42.900
Like at first, it might just be, well, I don't know if there's really enough evidence.
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And so, you know, and it's just a little suppression.
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But over the course of a lifetime, sin is progressive.
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What I mean by that is you're not able to just quarantine sin and say,
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I'm only going to sin in this area and to this degree, and I'm just going to maintain that.
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so too, sin compounds and so does the root sin of unbelief.
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And we see that in real time with the Pharisees.
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It is a frightening and dangerous, perilous thing
00:51:28.560
Where God gives grace and a revelation of His deity,
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a revelation of His mercy, His kindness, His compassion.
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wherever God is is dispilling grace revelations that grace needs to be quickly and humbly
00:51:49.040
received because the more grace you resist the more condemnation and damnation you are storing up
00:51:57.460
this is why Jesus says elsewhere in the gospel narratives when he's speaking of of towns in
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Israel, Tyre and Sidon. He says, woe to you. Bethsaida, these kinds of towns where he walked
00:52:14.700
among them, ministered in them. Woe to you, for I tell you the truth, it will be more tolerable
00:52:21.360
for Sodom and Gomorrah on that day of judgment than it will be for you. Why? Because with great
00:52:28.620
grace, comes great responsibility to respond to that grace. Jesus is saying it'll be worse. Your
00:52:38.340
judgment will be worse to these Jewish towns. Your judgment will be worse on that final day
00:52:45.280
because I was here. You had a greater outpouring of grace. To you were the prophets.
00:53:11.700
Your fathers witnessed the ten plagues in Egypt
00:53:38.540
And that will invoke a greater degree of judgment.
00:53:52.820
let your response to the pharisees i'll end with this let your response to the pharisees be
00:53:59.760
fear and trembling not arrogance or boasting like the two blind men their response is son of david
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have mercy on me and so too our response should be the pharisees are terrible and we don't need
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sugar-coated they're terrible god let it never be said of me please continually not just once upon
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a time not just a one-time thing but but again and again soften my heart daily bring me low
00:54:32.020
keep me humble let me always let my plea always be have mercy on me not entitlement not merit
00:54:43.140
but mercy son of David have mercy on me let's pray father thank you for your word bless it
00:54:49.780
to your people and bring about great glory to yourself we pray this in Jesus name amen