Thru the Bible

Host: Have you ever heard the phrase the unpardonable sin and then maybe felt a little uneasy? What is it exactly? And can someone really commit a sin that God won't forgive?

Well, that's where we're headed on Through the Bible. Dr. J. Vernon McGee is going to take us into Matthew chapter 12 and walk us carefully through what the sin means and just as importantly what it does not mean. So open your Bible and turn there.

And if you're new here, we're certainly glad you're with us. Welcome aboard the Bible bus. We're traveling through the entire Word of God in five years, and there's never a bad time to jump in. But if you want to catch up on Genesis or maybe the earlier chapters in Matthew, you can do that just by downloading our app or visiting TTB.org and starting to listen. You'll find everything you need right there.

And then here's something that will really help you stay on track. Download your free digital copy of Briefing the Bible. It contains Dr. McGee's notes and outlines for the whole five-year study. An outstanding guide to keep beside your Bible by the way. You can find it in our app or at TTB.org or call 1-800-65-Bible if you'd like an abridged paperback copy sent to you by mail.

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Host: Father, thank You for giving us Your Word so that we can truly know You. And as we study it, Lord, fill us with Your Spirit and then teach us about Jesus Christ, our Savior, and then press Your truth deep into our hearts so that it influences the way we live. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Host: Now here's Dr. J. Vernon McGee with our study of Matthew 12 on Through the Bible.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now today, friends, we return back to chapter 12. The important thing is there's a movement in the Gospel of Matthew, and if you miss it, I think you missed the message that's here. Matthew's not attempting to give us a biography or even a chronological order, but he has a tremendous movement here. He presents Christ as King, born a King.

Went to the top of the mountain and gave what we call the sermon on the mount, the ethic of the kingdom, the manifesto of the King. He came down and demonstrated that he has the dynamic in the miracles he performed with power. Then he sent out his disciples. What was the reception and reaction? Rejection. And then he pronounced judgment on the cities.

Now, there breaks out into the open a conflict between the Lord Jesus and the religious rulers of that day, the Pharisees in particular. They were apparently very friendly to him at first, but now they break with him, and they break on the question of the Sabbath Day. And he went through the fields as we saw last time, his apostles with him. And I tell you, these 12 men pulling first on the right hand, left hand, it was really getting the grain. It was real harvest time for them. And they were hungry, that's the reason they did it.

Now the Pharisees, they rebuke him. And they rebuke the disciples. And they tell the Lord Jesus, why do you permit it? His answer was verse 3 now of chapter 12 of Matthew, "But he said unto them, have ye not read what David did when he was a hungered and they that were with him?" If you'd go back to 1 Samuel, the 21st chapter and the first six verses, you'd have the record of this there.

It was during the days of the rejection of David as King, and Saul was ruling. Actually, the Lord Jesus was being rejected at this time as King. His Messianic claims had not been acknowledged. Now he takes care of his own on the Sabbath day. David did that. Let me tell you, he broke the Mosaic law. That's exactly what the Lord Jesus is doing for their interpretation. But the law even granted this to take place under certain circumstances.

And notice what he says. How he entered into the house of God and did eat the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests. "Or have ye not read in the law how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless?" They work on the Sabbath day. "But I say unto you that in this place is one greater than the temple." He claimed here superiority over the most holy center of their religious life, and that was the temple. As far as they are concerned, he's blasphemed. Not only broken the Sabbath but blasphemed.

Now, in verse 7, "But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice." And by the way, that's in the law. "Ye would not have condemned the guiltless." Now he defends these men and says, "they did not break the Sabbath day." Why? "Well, the son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." And believe me, he put his hand on the most sacred thing that they had and he said he was the Lord of the Sabbath day. He could make no greater claim in the eyes of the Pharisees. That certainly engendered their bitterness and their hatred.

Now, I move down to verse 9. We leave the field where this incident took place relative to the Sabbath day and go into the synagogue inside, and we still have the same question. Verse 9. "When he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue." He didn't say ours, but their synagogue. And you'll notice in the Gospel of John, it was the Lord's temple at first, but he finally said, "Your house is left unto you desolate."

Now, will you notice? "When he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue. And behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they ask him saying, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days that they might accuse him?" And he said unto them, "What man shall there be among you that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it and lift it out?"

You see, they planted this man there. And when they planted that man there, the enemy actually paid him the finest compliment that was possible, because they made two important admissions. They admitted that he had power to heal the sick. Or you wouldn't have put that man there. You see, they never raised the question about him whether he performed miracles or not. You got to get 2,000 years this side of it. You have to be working in the library today on a doctor's degree or a master's degree before you can come to that conclusion.

But if you'd been living then, you'd never been able to deny he performed miracles. So they admit that he had power to heal the sick. But something else, and this is to me the most wonderful thing at all. They acknowledge that when a helpless man was placed in his pathway that he was moved by compassion to heal him even on the Sabbath day. And my friend, that's quite an admission.

Now, the question of the legality of healing on the Sabbath day was, of course, designed here to trap him. But Jesus actually trapped the enemies. They would concede that a sheep should be rescued on the Sabbath day. The Mosaic law made allowance for that. But now notice verse 12 here, "How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days?" And this is the crux of the whole matter. Should he do good on the Sabbath day?

Well, regardless of your answer, "Then saith he to the man, stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth, and it was restored whole, like as the other." Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath day. Did he break the law? What's your answer? My answer is that he didn't.

Now will you notice verse 14? "Then the Pharisees went out and held a council against him, how they might destroy him." This is the break that he made with the religious rulers. Up to this point, they've been watching him, of course. At first, friendly. Then when he would not cooperate with them, they very frankly wanted to attach their wagon to his little star. And they wanted to move that way, but he refused.

And then they began to watch him, then finally they became his enemy. And here the break is made. This is open conflict, and from here on, these bloodhounds of hate got on his trail, and they never let up till they folded their arms beneath his cross. They began now because of this to plot his death. They would have taken him at this time, but they were afraid of the crowd.

Verse 15, "But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence. And great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all." He just didn't have a few that were healed. All of them were healed. There were multitudes of people, friends, in that day that he had healed. You and I can't even conceive of the impression that he made in that day. It was something that was absolutely astounding. They had to accept or reject him.

And he's still controversial today. Enmity today is still after him. These new dirty plays, new dirty books are blaspheming him. You have to make a decision about him. You have to decide about him. You will either be his friend or his enemy. You'll be your Savior, or you'll be your Judge. You can't get rid of Jesus Christ.

Now notice here, he healed a multitude, "and he charged them that they should not make him known." He didn't come to this earth as a thaumaturgist, that is a wonder-worker. He came to present his claims as Messiah. When that was rejected, he then continues his march to the cross because he came also as the Savior of the world. And therefore, this caused crowds to come around and he couldn't carry on his ministry as he wanted to.

And he did this that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, "Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased. I'll put my spirit upon him. He shall show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break." No, he will bind up that reed that will let him.

"And smoking flax shall he not quench." No, if that one goes on and rejects him, he's like smoking flax. It'll break into the fire of judgment. He won't stop that because man has a free will. "Till he send forth judgment unto victory, and in his name shall the Gentiles trust." Now there's this definite moving out today, not only for the fulfillment of prophecy but fulfillment of prophecy that concerns the Gentiles. They are to be saved.

"Then was brought unto him one," this is verse 22, "one that was possessed with a demon, blind and dumb. And he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed and said, is not this the son of David?" This is our Messiah. He has the credentials. And this was a tremendous miracle here.

Now I've suggested this before that the casting out of demons was the greatest miracle he performed. Frankly, friends, I think it's just as great as raising the dead if not greater. Now, I'm going to reserve till we get to the Gospel of Luke before I go into detail about this matter of demon possession. Dr. Luke was a medical doctor of that day. And he presents this, and we want to look at the way that he presents it.

Now will you notice, the people say he's the Messiah. But what do the Pharisees say? Verse 24, "But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow doth not cast out demons but by Beelzebub, the prince of the demons." Now, this is the matter of the unpardonable sin. Will you follow this very carefully? "And Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. Every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out Satan, he's divided against himself. How shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges."

Now they would never say that their own children, if they cast out demons, were doing it by Beelzebub. Now he says, "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you." You see, the kingdom of God is among you, in the presence of the Messiah. I'm here, and if I can do this, this is my credential that the kingdom of God is here.

"Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, spoil his goods, except he bind the strong man, and then he will spoil his house. He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." "Wherefore," listen to him now, "I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. But the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."

Now, the important thing is to see here is that there's no sin that you committed yesterday that he would not forgive you for today. He died for all. But you see, the Holy Spirit is come into the world to make real the salvation of Christ. If you resist that working of the Spirit of God when he speaks to your heart, then friends, there's no forgiveness, of course, because you have rejected the forgiveness that he offers that can only be made real to you by the Spirit of God, for it's the Spirit of God that regenerates you. It's the Spirit of God, you see.

Therefore, this is the thing that he's talking about here, and this is the thing that would be unpardonable. Now he'll go on in another gospel to amplify this to say that the unpardonable sin was to attribute to him that he had done these things by Beelzebub when he was doing them by the Spirit of God. You see, they were rejecting the witness of himself and of the Holy Spirit.

Now today, that particular sin cannot be committed because it could only be committed when he was here upon the earth. Therefore there's no act of sin today that you could commit that there's not forgiveness for. But to resist the Holy Spirit, of course, there's no forgiveness for that because he's bringing forgiveness. It's just like a man who's dying of a certain disease and the doctor says, "Here's the remedy for it." Now, the man refuses to take the remedy. The man actually dies not from the disease, but because he refused the remedy. There was a remedy for the disease, you see. Now there's a remedy for sin. The Holy Spirit applies it today, but to resist that, then there's no remedy, you see.

That's the only way it can be unpardonable today. But to say that there's an act that you commit, of course not. We'll see that again, of course, when we get to Mark and to Luke. Now, verse 34, he says, "O generation of vipers." John had called them that also, by the way. "How can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

Now, he goes on to say, "A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things, an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things." What's in the well of the heart will come out through the bucket of the mouth, someone has said. But he says, "I say unto you, every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment." An idle word actually means blasphemy. "For by thy words thou shalt be justified, by thy words thou shalt be condemned." Because you're speaking the thing that's in your heart.

Verse 38, "Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee." Now these men are not sincere. They're trying to trap him. Listen to him, "But he answered and said unto them, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. There shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah." Now, what was the sign of Jonah? Well, listen to him, "For as Jonah was three days, three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days, three nights in the heart of the earth."

Now Jonah was apparently raised from the dead when he was in the fish. God brought him out of it into life. Now, just as Jonah was, and that was a sign to the Ninevites. Listen, "The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonas." Actually the whole city turned to God. "And behold a greater than Jonas is here." And they were rejecting him.

Then he gives the Queen of the South, "shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, they shall condemn it. She came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold a greater than Solomon is here." Puts himself greater than Jonas, greater than Solomon, you see. Now the Queen of Sheba was saved. She came all the way from the ends of the earth and he's come to them, and yet they will not turn to him.

And now he gives this parable, "when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and finding none." Now a man has an unclean spirit, the unclean spirit goes without the man. And the man thinks he's all cleaned up. He's all swept, cleaned and varnished. And what happens? "He saith, I'll return into my house from whence I came out. And when he's come, he findeth it empty, swept and garnished."

Reformation is no good. You can quit doing a whole lot of things, friends, and that won't make you a Christian. Let me put it like this, if everybody right now would quit sinning in the world, there wouldn't be any more Christians the next minute or the next day, because quitting sin doesn't make Christians. Reformation is not what we need. All we'd be is just a bunch of empty vessels, that's all.

But what happened? "Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself and enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be unto this wicked generation." You see, the hardest people in the world today are unsaved church members because they think they're all right. They are swept, cleaned and garnished, but may I say to you, they're a vacant house. And all the evil spirits have to do, they can move in. The devil owns them and they don't recognize it at all.

Now, verse 46, "While he yet talked to the people, behold his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee." He answered and said unto him that told him, "Who is my mother? Who are my brethren?" "And he stretched forth his hand to his disciples and said, behold my mother and my brethren." What's he really saying? He is saying that the strongest relationship today is the relationship between Christ and a believer.

And friends, if you're a child of God today and you have an unsaved father or mother, or an unsaved brother, you are closer to Jesus Christ today than you are to those that are blood kin to you, to the very mother that bore you. This is something that is tremendous today. And you're closer kin to other believers than you'd be with anyone that is blood related to you. This is tremendous. He's talking now about a new relationship.

Verse 50, "For whosoever shall do the will of my Father, which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother." What is the will of the Father? Well, that you accept the Lord Jesus Christ. You hear him, trust him, turn to him. Now that brings us to chapter 13, and now we've come to one of the great chapters of the Bible. Again. I think I've said that about every chapter, but this one is. This is the second major discourse that we have, and here is a chapter that is greatly misunderstood.

You have here the parables of the kingdom of heaven, and they show the direction of the kingdom that had been offered to Israel after it had been rejected by them. And it reveals what's going to take place between the time of his rejection until he comes again, until the King returns unto the earth. This is very important to see. You see, the sermon on the mount looks back to the past. That's the law for the land.

And this chapter presents the mystery parables for the present, and the Olivet Discourse looks on to the future. Now you will notice, very active, Jesus is interesting. "The same day when Jesus out of the house," the house of Israel, "sat by the sea side." The sea with all of its waves speak of the nations. He as it were leaving the nation and now turning to the world, and now he's speaking of what's going to take place in the world until he comes again.

"And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship and sat and the whole multitude stood on the shore." What a dramatic scene this is. Now listen, "He spake many things unto them in parables saying." Now these are the mystery parables, and the first one, and it's the key to all of them, "Behold, a sower went forth to sow." Now these parables are remarkable. In fact, they are great. And we'll probably spend more than one time in these parables, but we'll see that next time. Until then, may God richly bless you.

Host: Do you love a good mystery? Then don't miss the next stop on the Bible bus as we begin unraveling the mystery parables of Matthew 13. Now, if you want to get the most out of the study, why not take a few minutes to read the entire chapter ahead of time? Ask God to give you insight and an eagerness to receive what He has for you.

And to sweeten your personal time in God's Word, visit TTB.org where you'll find several terrific resources, including our Bible companion for Matthew. You can download your free copy and bring it along on the Bible bus. You can use it as a guide for personal study or gather with friends and let the reflection questions spark thoughtful and meaningful discussion.

However you use it, our prayer is that your heart is stirred and your understanding grows. Again, the Bible companion for Matthew is available in our app or at TTB.org or call 1-800-65-Bible to purchase a paperback copy for yourself or a 10-pack for your small group. We'll pick up in Matthew 13 when the Bible bus rolls back through your neighborhood. I'm Steve, thanking God for your company on the Bible bus and for His grace in all of our lives.

Host: We're grateful for our committed listening family who faithfully pray and invest in Through the Bible as we together take the whole Word to the whole world.