Matthew 53
Jesus Vs Religion (Part 6)
Evil Breeds Evil
A Message to the “Church Goer”!
Matthew 12:38–45 (NLT)
38One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.”
39But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.
40For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.
41“The people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent.
42The queen of Sheba will also stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than Solomon is here—but you refuse to listen.
43“When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none.
44Then it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order.
45Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation.”
Evil breeds evil period! And unless we all repent, turn around and take some hard looks in the mirror we will all end up just like the Pharisees! This is a call to the ones who think that they have it all figured out, Jesus is not talking to the lost world here, He is talking to the ones that think “I got this”, but are missing the mark!
Matthew 7:21–23 (NLT)
21“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.
22On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’
23But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
· He is here again talking to the folks that “followed all the rules”
· The ones that looked right, talked right, acted right (in public)
· But never got to the heart of it!
From the outside looking in!
38One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.”
· They called Him “teacher”, “Master”
· They were kind, and cordial in their tone
· They were dressed well and spoke well
· But the intentions, the heart of it, Evil!!
· EVIL to the CORE!
Jesus sees right through it
39But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.
· So, Jesus calls them out for what they are
· Evil, pure evil
· No matter how you dress it
· No matter how fancy you make it Evil, is still evil!
· They address Him as MASTER and then DEMAND things
o I see a lot of this in American Christianity today
· I call it the Pez dispenser effect
o I will follow God as long as He gives me what I want
o When I want it
o And I can act and do whatever I want
o We use God like He is a Pez dispenser at our disposal!
An early prediction of His death
40For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.
· This is the first time that Jesus points to His death as the ultimate sign of who He is and what He was on this earth for
· And sadly Jesus knows that even His rising from death won’t help them!
Luke 16:31 (ESV)
31He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”
· Jesus uses the old testament to try and turn them around
· And they just dig their heels in deeper
· And we see the same thing today
o The bible preaches love, yet we spit hate in the name of Jesus!!!!
We miss the forest for the trees!
41“The people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent.
Let’s set this up
· Jonah spoke a short sermon
· To a people he really didn’t know
· That had never heard of God before
· About how God saved him from the whale
· And they all repented!
Jesus (God with us)
· Stands before God's people
· Doing tons of miracles
· And yet His own people
· The people that God has protected
· A people that God has taught, loved on, walked with
· Don’t see Him standing right in front of them!!!!!
Today!
· We see God all around us
· We have the living word of God in our homes and on our phones
· And yet we act like we have never read it
· We say things that we know goes against everything that Jesus taught us
· We spew hate
· We use politics as a weapon
· And yet we still want God's favor!! Sound familiar ???? PHARISEE!!
People travel far and wide to find God, but when He is standing right in front of us, we miss Him!
42The queen of Sheba will also stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than Solomon is here—but you refuse to listen.
The queen heard of Solomon and traveled a great distance to see him
· She was not invited, she traveled only on a hope that he was what she had heard
· She travels a great distance and was not of the best of health, and she left her country to find him
· She had no clue what she was going to find when she arrived if she arrived
· She went seeking wisdom, that she could only hear
· From a man she had never met!
The Pharisees had Jesus among them
· The invitation to follow was always extended, they could take it at anytime
· Jesus left his throne in heaven, to come to them
· They could see the wisdom, see the miracles He could perform and see the outcome of following Him
· And they didn’t accept it, she did
We have the same opportunity today!
· For those that show up
· That just check a box, the “fans” of Jesus
· The ones sitting in this room that have not drunk the cool aid!
o You show up and never fully accept Jesus
o You never buy in
o You never get in the word
o You are always asking God for a “Favor”
· You have the opportunity and never take either!
· Why because you are comfortable in your misery!
o In the self-loathing, self-pity, and self-righteousness that keeps you from truly following!
Sin breeds sin, Evil breeds evil!
43“When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none.
44Then it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order.
45Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation.”
The article points to it all, that the more we sin, the more we allow evil into our lives the easier it gets to accept it as normal. And the more it progresses and worsens!
· Divorce rates
o 1 = 50%
o 2 = 67%
o 3 = 80%
o The more we do it the easier it gets
· We leave a church for a reason other than Jesus and a calling
o The easier it gets
o We start to make it about us
· We get accustomed to walking away
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