Many, many men. Now.
This is Jesus, and this is the one that we've come
to celebrate this morning.
Usually at our church,
we celebrate communion every Sunday morning
as the reminder of the life, the death, and the resurrection
of Jesus and the promise of his coming again.
He said, I won't do this again until I come in my to my kingdom with you.
Communion is the tool that is given to us, the symbol,
the ordinance that reminds us of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
And we celebrate that every Sunday at our church.
This Sunday, I'm going to do it differently.
If you've been a part of our church for any length of time,
you've heard us do this every week.
So as you exit, there'll be little communion cups, the same ones we use
with the little bread in them as you see, the same ones we use on Sunday.
If you're the leader of your home,
the leader of your family, pick those up for your family
and you leave communion with your family at home.
Today. Make it personal.
Make it intimate.
Especially you men.
Lead.
And so that's how we're going to do communion today.
We're not going to bypass it, but we're going to change the way we administer it.
And I want you to minister to yourselves and your families.
If you have a relationship with Jesus Christ,
some of you are going to enter into that relationship this morning.
The resurrection of Jesus was a hinge point
of all of history.
And what we're going to look at today is a little different passage.
It's not the typical Easter passage.
If you've been with us at our church, we've been going
through the book of Matthew, and I'm just staying in the book of Matthew.
In the book of Matthew, chapter 12 is the hinge point of Jesus's life.
It's the hinge point of Jesus's ministry.
It's the hinge point.
Everything changed at Matthew 12.
In Matthew 12, we learn that it's the first time
that the religious elite decided to kill Jesus.
Matthew 12 is what will lead to the
the crucifixion that will eventually lead to the resurrection.
It's the hinge point.
His own ministry changed at Matthew 12,
the first time Jesus mentions
the idea of his own death, burial and resurrection is Matthew 12.
So the resurrection is seen the death,
burial, and resurrection of Jesus as seen in Matthew 12.
And because we value the study of God's Word,
I'm not going to diverge from our study of Matthew 12 this morning
just because it's Easter.
Because Matthew 12 tells the story.
It sets the stage. It's the hinge point,
not just of his life, of his ministry, but the hinge point of all of history.
Every time we write the date, we refer back to the hinge point
of the resurrection of his birth that led to his death and his resurrection.
So the hinge point of all things
in Matthew 12,
his death was set in motion by the religious elite
because he was audacious to make claims, and the claims he made is that
he was greater than all of the things he's greater than.
Anybody who's come before him is greater than anyone that will come after him.
He's greater than all their religious beliefs, all their superstitions.
He's greater than at all.
And when he was making these claims, it was greater
than everything that they trusted in.
They decided he was too dangerous to stay alive.
And so they conspired because of his claims
to be greater than to kill him.
And in Matthew 12, what he will introduce to us.
And some of you may have heard this idea that there's an unforgivable sin.
Jesus is going to talk about it today.
And I want to be very clear with what that is.
So you're not misunderstanding.
And he will
point to his own death and resurrection.
I want to suggest this.
I don't want to suggest I'm going to tell you here it is.
Go to that new year.
Easter is not a holiday.
Easter is God's verdict about Jesus.
This day that we celebrate, he is not a holiday.
The resurrection day was God's verdict about Jesus
that confirmed and affirmed everything Jesus claimed.
And all my dear friends I so desperately want you to understand this.
I want you to get this.
If you don't get this.
It's a hinge point of not just your life.
It's the hinge point of your very eternity
and the resurrection of Jesus. What's God's
verdict about him that confirmed he was all that he said he was?
In Matthew chapter 12 I'm not going to read the whole thing this passage.
I'm going to highlight some verses, though
Matthew chapter 12, starting in verse
22 and 23.
There's man was brought to him.
And the Bible says in Matthew 1222 and 23
that he was possessed and blind and mute.
And the way it's written,
it gives indication that the reason he was blind
and mute is because he was possessed.
Here's what I know.
A lot of the things that we go through
physically in this world have a spiritual component to it.
This man was possessed and it worked itself out in his physical world.
Here's the thing that I know and that you know to, if you'll admit it,
when there is spiritual difficulty, when there's spiritual issue,
when when we're not right with God spiritually, it creates all kinds
of other issues that work themselves out in the physical world.
And so this man is brought to Jesus
and and the Bible says Jesus.
He cast the demon out and heals him of his blindness and his muteness.
And at that work, at that miracle,
the people are amazed and they're astounded.
And the Bible says that people start to believe in him
because of the miracle that was done.
And in that miracle, Jesus proves that he has authority
over everything seen and everything unseen.
In that miracle
possessed blind in huge spiritual, physical, physical.
Jesus steps into that broken life and says,
let me take care of the spiritual issue, which will then address the physical.
And he proves that he has authority over all things spiritual
and all things physical.
Man. Be.
And as a crowd start to believe, they asked this question,
they said, can this be the Son of David?
That was a messianic term.
They said, can this be the Jesus, the Christ?
It's an honest question.
And there's a question that every one of us has wrestled with.
And some of you are still wrestling.
And here, here, here's the thing.
So same question.
Go to that next slide.
This is what they ask is this true.
Is Jesus really the answer.
Is Jesus really the authority.
And it's the same question that you and I ask.
Here's the question we ask,
what do I do with Jesus?
What do I do with him?
Do I actually submit
and give the allegiance of my life to this one who claims to be God?
Or do I treat this as just another story,
another folklore, and try to be a good person and appease him?
It's the same
question you and I ask why it here?
What are you going to do with Jesus?
Jesus going to press this with them.
He's going to press it with us.
But it's going to come down to your answer of that question.
What do you do with Jesus?
He's two significant to ignore.
Amen, Amen.
What are you going to do with Jesus?
The religious leaders,
they refused to surrender to who Jesus is.
And so rather than saying, we see what you've done, you have to be him.
They say, we think you've done what you've done by a demon.
We think we think you're possessed.
I mean, they just get crazy.
So rather than admit who Jesus is and submit
their lives to him, they make an excuse for why they don't have to submit.
And Jesus response to them is this.
Listen.
You can't take something away from a strong man
unless you first subdue the strong man.
Does that make sense?
I can't take nothing away from you if you're bigger and stronger than me.
David. Come here. I didn't ask you.
I didn't tell I was going to do this. I just had to stop right now. Come over.
Come here.
Hey, give him a hand for not tripping up the stairs.
That was pretty creative right there.
Now, listen, there's a little difference between me and him right?
And then.
So if David, if you pretend like you're holding, like, $100
and I want $100, I can't get it away from the strong man.
Right. Until I subdue the strong man.
Do you understand?
But once,
if I had the ability, once I subdue him.
Get down on your knees.
Be harder to get up.
Once I subdue him, I can take anything he has.
Do you understand?
So what Jesus is saying is. Listen.
That man that I just healed, he was the devil's.
And I've subdued the devil
so I can take back what used to be his.
Do you understand?
Answer with your mouth is open.
You understand? Yes.
This is Jesus's claim.
I have authority over all things.
I even have authority over Satan himself.
So I have the authority to take back everything that he's stolen.
Because this is the thing.
That's the hinge point of your eternity.
He's been subdued.
Jesus has the authority to get you back.
Give David Hamm thank you, sir.
I appreciate that.
Never come to church without $100 bill.
I might ask for it next time.
And when Jesus says in verse
28 of this, he says, listen,
I have authority,
and the proof of the kingdom is me in your midst.
I'm the proof that the kingdom of God has already come among you.
Quit denying me.
Yeah, yeah.
Quit denying me.
Quit denying my authority
over all things he including your life.
There's too much at stake.
Not just spiritually, but physically as well.
He has the authority over all things.
Oh, dear.
Oh, and Jesus warns them.
In verses 31 and 32.
It is interesting the way he responds.
He says, listen, you want to deny me? I
that can be forgiven.
Some of you remind me your whole life that can be forgiven.
But there's one thing that cannot be forgiven.
And in verses 31 and 32 he says this blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
He says, blasphemy.
Guess the Holy Spirit is unforgivable.
Let me tell you what that means.
I'm going to set the record straight right now.
The role of the Holy Spirit in the world
is to point people to Jesus as the only way to salvation.
That's what the Holy Spirit does.
The Holy Spirit illumines hearts and illumines minds to understand
that the only way to be right with the father is through the son.
That's what the Holy Spirit does.
And the blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit is to say, I think you're a liar.
I think there are other ways to God that's calling the Holy Spirit a liar.
That's a blasphemy.
The role of
the Holy Spirit is to illumine your hearts and illumine your minds.
Open your ears.
Open your eyes so that you see that Jesus and Jesus alone
has authority over all things spiritual and all things physical,
and is the only way to be right with God.
And when you live in constant rejection
of that testimony, the Holy Spirit,
that's blasphemy, because you're calling him a liar.
You're saying you think there's another way,
you think there are other ways
that if you die in that state.
And none of us know when that day is.
If you die in that state.
Of confusion.
If your heart saying, Holy Spirit, you're a liar.
I think there's other ways to get to God.
At the point of your death that is unforgivable.
There's no other hope.
To understand your.
And Jesus warns them.
And he says, if you continue
to live in resistance to the testimony
of the Holy Spirit.
There's no forgiveness in that.
And it's so interesting what the religious people do.
It's so interesting.
Verses 31 and 32.
It says,
you got to deal with what the Holy Spirit showing you.
And so what they did,
they they didn't deny that Jesus did a miracle.
They just reframed it
so they didn't have to respond to him.
See, the religious people, they didn't deny the miracle.
They just reframed it.
Instead of saying, we realize that you do have
authority over all things, and now I'm giving you authority over my life.
They didn't say that. They reframed it
so that they wouldn't have to submit to him.
Here's what you and I do.
Of all the proof that God has given us
of his presence, of his love, of his mercy and his grace, the resurrection of son
instead of many people, and I would say the vast majority of people, rather
than submitting to him as the authority and the leader of their life,
they reframe it
so they don't have to submit.
And it's just and it sounds religious.
We make up all kinds of religious ways to get around it.
But Jesus says, listen, at the end of the day,
if you're not for me, you're against me.
And Jesus removes the neutrality issue.
He says, listen, you, you can't ride the fence anymore.
You can't be neutral about me anymore.
I'm going to take away the neutrality.
You put that next slide up.
The neutrality is a myth that people use to deny that, to deny obedience
and deny submission to Jesus.
You can't be neutral.
Jesus said.
You're for me. You're against me.
There's no middle ground.
A lot of people try to ride the fence and try to play both sides.
And Jesus says, I'm done with that.
I have complete authority
and I demand it.
He says, you're for me or against me.
I don't care how you dress it up.
I don't care what it looks like for you.
There's two options.
And so he removes the.
Then he removes this get new neutral game, this neutral religious game we play.
He removes the excuse of being a good person, removes it,
removes the excuse of the good things we do to make us right with.
He takes all of that off the table.
He says it's about me and me alone.
And then Jesus says he's weird.
Words in Matthew 30, 1234 and 36 he says, listen
out of your heart.
Your mouth speaks, and so your own words are going to condemn you.
That's what he says.
And on the last day, you're going to give an account of every word you say.
Here's what he's talking about.
What he's saying is your hearts are living in rejection
of me and denial of me,
and that's going to come out in the way you talk and what you say,
and you'll say things like this I'm a religious person.
Oh, great. You're still in denial of Jesus.
I believe in God. Just not that way.
Well, great.
You're still in denial of Jesus.
He's saying your words are going to condemn you
because they're going to reveal what's in your heart.
And when we
talk about Jesus as a good teacher, a good person,
a good rabbi, a religious figure, but we don't talk about him
as the only way to the father when we don't talk about him
as the one who has complete authority over all things spiritual and physical,
when he is not the Supreme one in our lives.
When we talk about him in any other way,
it reveals what's in our hearts
and even the best religious verbiage that is devoid of Jesus
as the only way to salvation reveals a heart that is far from God.
And he says, in that way your words will condemn you.
On that day,
because you'll be judged by the words you use that denied.
I was the way
to your salvation.
It's not about cleaning up your language.
Matter of fact, to put that slide.
Yeah, it's not clean about your language.
It's about our need for a transformed heart.
That's what it's about.
Our words matter so much that every careless word
that we've said about Jesus will be used to judge us on that last day.
It doesn't mean silly words.
It doesn't mean curse words.
It means those careless words are how we talked about Christ.
That he is not the only way, that there's another way.
That's carelessness.
By those careless words, you and
I will be judged.
To understand.
My friends, I have wept.
Over this day, in this time in your lives.
I'm so burdened
for you and for this community and riverstone into sorrow.
Because I know
that there are people who are living
in rejection of the testimony of the Holy Spirit.
You know better.
And I know that there are so many.
We're playing this neutrality game.
That,
my friends, if you would understand this.
If you would allow your blind eyes to be open, your deaf ears
to be opened, your dull mind to be enlightened,
your close and hard heart to be open.
A transformed life
and a secure eternity.
This is the hinge point.
And when Jesus says
that this sin is the only unforgivable sin, here's what we have to understand.
Put that slide up.
It's not about God refusing to forgive.
It's about our refusal to repent.
Yes, yes, yes.
It's not because God is mean and unjust.
It's because we refuse to repent.
Every time
you hear the truth of God, every time you hear the call of God,
every time you hear the truth about who Jesus is and you push it down,
your heart gets harder.
Every time you know
he's calling you to respond, he's calling you back to him.
He's calling you off the mediocre fence.
He's calling you out of the shadows of mediocrity and frivolity.
Every time you hear that and you push it down and you continue
in that way, your heart gets harder and harder and harder.
None of us wakes up one day completely rejecting Jesus.
It doesn't happen like that. It doesn't happen in the innocent.
It happens moment by moment, slowly and slowly.
We push down what we know.
We push down with his revelations
until we eventually become the people who no longer want him.
And so the religious leaders, they say, look, Jesus,
we understand what you're saying, but here,
would you just give us one more sign to convince us?
And Jesus says this.
He said, no more signs, but that's light up.
There.
He's saying, no more signs.
And so he's only saying, I'm going to show you another sign.
You've had everything.
In other words, he said, you've seen enough.
I'm not going to show you any other sign.
He says, the only thing I'm going to show you,
the only sign you're going to get, is a sign of Jonah.
Verses 39 and 40 of Matthew 12.
The only sign you'll get is a sign to Jonah.
How many of you know the story of Jonah in the Big Fish?
Any of you? Few of you. Okay.
Yeah. What happened in Jordan? Big fish. What was the story?
He didn't want to go so big on fish.
He had to jump in the Indian Ocean.
They go.
Fish swallowed him, and three days later, throw him up on a
on the shores of Nineveh. Right. That's the story.
So Jesus says the only signs are going to get us a sign of Jonah.
What's he talking about? The sign of Jonah.
There no big ocean around.
What? He's talking about.
This, he will say,
as Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
So the Son of Man will be in the belly.
That's the only sign you're going to get
the Son of Man be in the belly in three days and three nights.
Here's the thing.
I don't think Jonah's lived in the belly of the fish for three days.
So many people try to convince unbeliever people who don't believe
that Jonah's lived in a fish. He was alive in a fish for three days.
That's not the story,
Jesus says as Jonah's in the belly of the fish for three days and three days.
So the Son of Man will be in the belly.
After three days and three nights, Jesus died.
And if Jesus died, I believe Jonah died.
The miracle was not that he lived in and then then jumped out
the miracles he was once dead and was resurrected.
And it is resurrection gave the message of salvation.
The people believed and were changed.
That's the that's the miracle.
And Jesus says, listen, the only sign you're going to get from
this point forward is the sign of Jonah, the Son of Man, dead,
buried, three days resurrected alive to bring the message of salvation.
That's the only sign you're going to get from here on out.
You've seen enough.
And I know that some of us sit here.
God, if he would just do this one thing,
if you would just show me one more, if you would just reveal yourself
to my children one more time, he says, I've shown you enough.
One. Introduce a friend of mine to you.
This friend we've known each other for
shoot over ten years.
And weren't real great friends at first.
And God did a work in this man's life.
A becoming real.
And him submitting himself to Jesus
and this slow, gradual work as he does in all our bodies of transforming us
from who we are in history to who he made us to be, our destiny.
Would you welcome my friend Phil Brandt?
I think we're going to use this one.
Phil's just went on.
Try that, try that one.
Sure. They asked me today. That's going on.
Asked me today.
Is is it.
Thank you David.
They asked me today to tell you a little bit about my life.
And it is exactly what he's talking about.
I came from the perfect Catholic family.
I went to church every Sunday.
I went off to college to play football.
I got introduced to steroids
from that point on,
I was on such a hard I was fighting, get in trouble,
went to alcohol, then went to cocaine,
met my wife, got her pregnant,
got somebody else pregnant,
crushed my family, embarrassed my family.
And I always went to church
every Sunday, so I had one foot in all the time.
But I never submitted.
So the story goes like this.
Then I got sentenced to jail for a year.
I was looking at three years.
I got out six months. I'm
still doing this and went right back to my life.
My wife was unbelievable to put up with me.
I was hurting everybody around me. I made a lot of money.
And then I got cancer
at 42.
Still got out, prayed
that I was going to change, going to work, do God's work.
I went right back to my life again.
And then the big one hit me.
I had a surgery.
They had to put me into a coma.
I had a blood clot, I got double pneumonia,
and my wife never left my bedside.
After I did all those terrible things to her.
And I'm sorry.
Rachel.
Oh. My heart.
And then I had to learn how to walk.
I had to learn how to do everything again.
But at that time, I submitted to God, and she take me.
I'm done. I'm tired. Forgive me for my sins.
And I heard the dingle beating and I went off into a coma.
And when I woke, everything was better.
Everything slowed down.
My life slowed down, I understood things, I wasn't in trouble anymore.
I could see it.
And I thank Carl and this church for explaining things.
And part of my problem was I always thought I was going to get another chance.
And if I would have died
I don't think I would have gone to hell.
So listen and guys and kids and gentlemen
and young girls you will get caught.
Your sin doesn't go away.
You may not get caught that day but it will catch you
and you will hurt your family, your parents, the people that love you.
I crushed my mother and father.
I had the best parents you could have.
And I don't know why I went left or how it started,
but I do believe that the steroids gave me a false hope of somebody I wasn't.
And I knew to be a good man.
So I thank Carl for giving me the chance to share this.
If I helped any of your young guys.
Thank you
for how I feel.
Feel. Let me ask you, let me let me ask you this question.
Hold on a minute. So,
what did you chase before it all came crashing down?
What?
What kept you going back to back to the old life?
What were you chasing?
I come out with Carl, ask me these questions.
He goes back to being selfish.
And I think I was so afraid of being hurt.
Excuses,
excuses and hiding.
And you knew. You knew the answer.
And he knew where you could find it, even in church.
But you kept running.
I don't know how to give you that answer,
other than I think I formed a pattern, you know, habit.
And you then experience the grace of God.
More than once.
That's what's scary, that I knew I had a calling as a young man,
and I kept running from running from it.
And I had a gift, and he got tired of it.
And then he put me down.
And I know now what my work is.
Yeah.
Phil, you're a model of God's grace and his patience
that while we run away, he continues to pursue.
Absolutely.
And he'll let us get to the bottom if we choose to be there.
But he never leaves us there.
If we if we if we put our hand out right.
Every single time, I pray I, I was looking at three years, I got six months.
Went to a drug rehab, came out.
I was good. God's grace.
Not only that, I went broke twice.
I got back in business, I made it, I was Grace, yes.
Yeah. And my wife didn't leave me.
God's grace.
Yeah.
Phil, thank you for being a picture for us.
Of God's grace.
He shines his grace through people like you,
through people like me who are completely unworthy.
But because of what Jesus Christ makes us worthy, right?
Absolutely. Yeah.
And before I leave, I'd like to say what he talks about.
You don't know when you're going to go.
And if you haven't got close to God and ask for forgiveness,
I feel sorry for you.
Today's their day feel.
I love you, my man. I'm proud of you.
Very proud.
Tell Phil thank you.
I hope in his story you find and hear.
Hope.
Let me tell you this as I wrap this up.
If you are still undecided about Jesus,
hear me today.
There's no more evidence that's coming.
You've seen enough.
You've heard enough.
You know.
The resurrection is enough.
If any of you want to understand how to under understand
that a little more logically, I put together this infographic for you.
You can pick them up as you exit
it just might help me give you some other better understanding.
But but let me close with this.
Phil, myself,
many of us have experienced the grace of God
that is greater than any of our past.
And because of his grace and our experience of his grace,
we have pledged our allegiance to Christ
and to the work of his kingdom in this world.
If you have not yet given your allegiance of your life
to Jesus in repentance
and forgiveness and commitment
to holy living.
You don't need another sign.
You need to respond to the sign God's already provided.
The resurrection is not a suggestion, it's a declaration.
And the resurrection is not an invitation.
It's an invasion.
The invasion of the life of Jesus and the Spirit
of God invading your life.
Easter is God's verdict about Christ,
and there's no other.
There's nothing greater coming.
Please,
please hear me with the love that I intend.
When I see these words.
The resurrection is not on trial this morning.
You are.
You think you want more clarity?
You don't.
You need to decide what to do
with what you already know.
See, the resurrection
is not a thing to believe in.
But that's light up.
The resurrection of someone to bow to.
Jesus says in John 1125 and 26,
look at this verse.
I am the resurrection.
I am the life.
The one who believes in me will live though he die,
and the one who dies will never really die.
Do you believe this?
In him is life,
forgiveness, renewal, restoration in heaven.
It's the resurrection.
The question you and I are left with.
Do you believe this? And if so,
there's no neutral ground anymore.
There's no neutral ground.
I want you to pray with me right now.
Please.
If you've never
given the allegiance of your life
to the God who loves you and the Christ
who died for you.
In this moment,
I want you just simply to repeat this in your own words, your own heart.
God, I admit I'm a sinner
and I've lived life on my own terms.
Jesus,
I believe that you died for my sin, that you were raised to life.
Save me.
I commit to turning from my sin.
And I dedicate my life
and my allegiance to you.
Help me now,
by the power of the Holy Spirit, to love you with my whole heart,
my whole mind, my whole strength, my whole soul,
without delay
and without hesitation.
Make that your prayer.
In this moment of prayer,
I'm going to ask you to stay in this moment of prayer.
If you prayed that prayer or one like it
for the first time, or finally, you're just saying,
I'm not going to be neutral about this anymore,
would you just slip your hand up?
I want to pray just for you.
Just slip your hand up.
Thank you. Good. Thank you. Good.
Thank you. Good I see okay, good.
Right there. Good. Don't let this pass by.
You get no other evidence. Good.
Thank you.
All right. In the back.
Thank you.
Who else? Right there.
Thank you. Good, good.
I see that one too.
Good, good.
All right.
There in the back.
Fantastic.
Praise God, don't let this pass you by.
Let me pray over you, father, in the name of Jesus.
Thank you for these who will stretched out their hand in confession
and admitted that you are now
the leader of their life, the ruler of their souls,
that they have given their allegiance to you.
Thank you for the forgiveness that you've given them.
Thank you for the receiving it.
And I pray in the name of the risen Jesus, that you would fill them
with the power of your spirit to walk in holiness,
to walk as men and women
who are righteous because of what you've done,
God, that you would make all things new in their life.
You've already destroyed the power of the enemy.
I pray that physically now in them, in the physical world,
you would go before them confirming your grace on them,
your undeserved and unmerited favor and blessing.
They trust you.
Show yourself faithful.
We love you, Jesus.
Thank you that you're alive.
God, thank you that you loved us so much that you sent your son,
that those who believe in you will not perish but have eternal life.
You so loved the world that Jesus.
Amen. Friends are you.
Just give a hand.
Clap to those who made decision and for Christ himself.
Listen,
we're going to wrap up one more song God who Loved the World.
Parents will be dismissed.
So go get your kids and get them off to the egg thing.
But listen, if you've made some decision, you want to follow up with us.
You want to join Jesus in baptism. You want to make some decision.
You want to have an appointment with honor.
Let us know those little square car.
That QR code will take you everywhere.
You need to be stopped by the the welcome table.
They love to talk with you and get. You can connector some people.
You connect with David White right here I love you, I'm proud of you.
God bless you.
And you're all invited back next Sunday, eight,
nine, 30 and 11 at the Maywood Center to wrap up chapter 12.
It's really, really exciting.
We got one more song. Ali. Yes.
Bless you. Let's go.