“The Power of Jesus”

(Matthew 12:22-32)

Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

July 21, 2019

The Passage

If you haven’t already, turn in your Bibles to Matthew 12:22-32. 

I’ll read the entire passage and then we’ll pray. 

Matthew 12:22-32

22 Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and unable to speak was brought to him. He healed him, so that the man could both speak and see. 23 All the crowds were astounded and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

24 When the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man drives out demons only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”

25 Knowing their thoughts, he told them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? For this reason they will be your judges. 28 If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 How can someone enter a strong man’s house and steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house. 30 Anyone who is not with me is against me, and anyone who does not gather with me scatters. 31 Therefore, I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the one to come.

Let’s pray together.

(prayer)

Introductory Comments:

This morning we will be speaking about the power of Jesus. The power of Jesus is on full display throughout His ministry, yet some, such as the Pharisees, doubt and critique His power. 

In this passage, Jesus has a strong response to those who doubt His power. He not only logically defends His power, but He also issues a dire warning about where this doubt and lack of repentance may lead. 

As we journey through this together, we will look at four situations involving the power of Jesus. 

First, . . .

I. The Power of Jesus recognized (vv. 22-23) [on screen]

Let’s refer to verses 23 and 24 again. 

We see that Jesus is once again faced with a demon-possessed man. This is nothing new to Him. Jesus has shown His dominance over demonic activity, He has shown His desire to help those in need, and He has shown His divine power to heal. 

This man is both unable to see and unable to speak. He is blind and mute. We learn that his physical issues may very well have been the result of demonic possession. 

Nevertheless, Jesus can heal the man and, in fact, He does heal the man completely from his physical issues.

The healing of the man is so powerful and so obvious that the crowds who were around were astounded to the point that they said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

The people of Jesus’ day knew that the Messiah, the Christ, would come from the line of David. 

There were rumblings that Jesus may very well be the Messiah. He may not be the kind of Messiah that they expected, but He was doing Messiah-like things. Folks were wondering about Jesus. Now, they see this great miracle and they ask again, “Could He be the one? Could it really be true? Is this the Messiah? Could this be the Son of David?”

Jesus was proving time again that He really was sent by God, that He really was ushering in the kingdom of God, and that He really was doing the work of God. 

Now, the people are saying, “He must be the one!”

They recognized the power of Jesus. 

Next, we see . . .

II. The Power of Jesus questioned (vv. 24-27) [on screen]

The Pharisees could no longer deny the work of Jesus. Everyone was witnessing it and hearing about it themselves. 

Remember, the Pharisees hated the work of Jesus. We learned in verse 14 of this chapter that they were so infuriated w