Thursday: Jesus Warns About the Consequences of Rejecting Him

James Welcome to Daily Recap of Sunday's Sermon. It's Thursday, and we're continuing through Something Greater Is Here, Aaron Anderson's sermon from Matthew 12. Today's part is the third and final point: Jesus warns about the consequences of rejecting him.

Simon Yesterday we heard Jesus say that he's greater than Jonah and greater than Solomon. And today, the weight of this passage really doesn't let up, does it?

James No, it doesn't. We're in Matthew 12, verses 43 through 45. Would you read those for us?

Simon Sure. When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.

James That's a sobering few verses.

Simon It really is. I have to say, though, it feels a little sudden. Jesus has been talking about Jonah and Solomon, and now we're talking about an unclean spirit. Is this a new subject?

James Aaron said it might seem that way at first, but it isn't. Jesus has been confronting the religious leaders about their unbelief, and these verses are connected to that. The key is the end of verse 45, the part you just read: so also will it be with this evil generation.

Simon So he's still speaking to the same people. This story is about them.

James Exactly. Here's how Aaron put it: "He's trying to help them understand sort of the gravity of the situation of their continued disbelief in him and the effects that it will have upon them."

Simon Okay, so walk us through the illustration. What's actually happening here?

James An unclean spirit leaves a person and wanders through this waterless place, looking for rest. It doesn't find any, so it decides to go back to the house it came from.

Simon And verse 44 tells us what it finds when it gets there. The house is empty, swept, and put in order.

James Aaron said it's a clean house. He described it like a house that's been flipped, and flipped the right way. Everything's in order. But there's nobody in it.

Simon So the house looks great. The problem is that it's empty.

James That's it. And the spirit doesn't come back alone. It brings seven other spirits, more evil than itself. They move in and live there, and Jesus says the last state of that person is worse than the first.

Simon So the person doesn't just end up back where they started. They end up worse off. What's Jesus saying to the religious leaders through all of this?

James Aaron spelled it out this way: "they've witnessed the power of God through Jesus Christ they've seen him cast out demons they've heard him proclaim the kingdom of God but they're just continuing to reject him".

Simon And these are men who claimed to know God, as we heard on Tuesday. They'd seen all of that up close, and they still wouldn't believe.

James Right, and that's where the house comes in. They look the part. They look put together, but they're really not. Their hearts are hard and empty. Aaron called them chameleons. They kind of fit in, and they have this feel of doing the right thing.

Simon And Jesus is telling them that's a dangerous place to be.

James Yes. Aaron said it's not the place you want to be, and it's not the place any of us want to be.

Simon He didn't preach this from a distance, either. He told us what happened when he sat down with this text himself.

James He did. He said you can feel the weightiness of it. And when he was going through it privately, here's what he said he was doing: "I'm just praying, Lord, let me not be this house."

Simon That's so honest. And he said he was praying for the church, too, asking the Lord to help him understand what he actually means here.

James Then he gave us his first reaction to reading it, and I think a lot of us would say the same thing. "I don't want to be an empty house that looks all put together without the right person living inside of it".

Simon Without the right person living inside. That phrase stays with you. So this warning doesn't stop with the Pharisees?

James No. Aaron said it's a serious warning, and we need to recognize that the same danger exists for us today. He said it's possible to clean up our lives without ever truly being saved.

Simon That's a hard sentence to hear.

James It is. But remember what Aaron has been saying about that weight. If you feel it, it's in the text. So don't rush past this one.

Simon That's a good word. A house can be swept and put in order and still be empty. Today might be a good day to sit with that picture and bring it to the Lord.

James Amen. And if you'd like to hear this in Aaron's own words, the full sermon is at S G C Atlanta dot org slash sermons.

Simon Tomorrow we will cover Look to Him, where Aaron gets personal about how drawn we are to the how-tos and leaves us with one last question to answer.