The Devil Wears: Teamwork (Matt. 12:22-37)

June 22, 2025 in Uncategorized

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The Devil Wears: Teamwork
Matthew 12:22-24

INTRODUCTION:
Satan wins the battle for our souls if he ever gets us focused on our own strength instead of relying on God’s strength. In the first temptation in the Garden of Eden, Satan told Eve, “If you’ll eat of this fruit, you will be like God!” In essence, Satan was telling Eve, “You can be like God without having to obey God!”

So Satan throws many things at us to get us distracted from obeying God and get us focused on trying to live our lives by our own strength:

Sins for which we find it hard to forgive ourselves
Drug addictions
Alcohol addictions
Adultery
Outbursts of anger
Bitterness
Disobedience to the Word of God
Abusive behaviors
Envy & jealousy
Fear
Anxiety
Homosexual urges
Wasting money
Perfectionism, from ourselves or from others
Pornography
Prejudice
Premarital sex
Workaholism
Worry

These are just a few of the behaviors and mental attitudes that we struggle with in our fight against Satan.

But Jesus came to give us the answers, the solutions, to this battle. Jesus came to give to us the tools we need to overcome Satan in our own lives. Our focus for 2025 is Satan and his influences over us. Today, we meditate on Matthew 12:22-37. Because Satan has his “team” which serves him in his attacks against us.

THE MIRACLE - 12:22-24:
This is the only man healed by Jesus who was both blind and deaf. This condition was caused by demon possession. Generally, while demon-possession is listed with physical illnesses, it is distinguished from them. Here, the demon was causing the blindness and deafness. Jesus healed him and the impediments were removed as he “spoke and saw.” The crowds expressed their doubts by asking if Jesus was, in fact, the Messiah, the “Son of David.” The Messiah was expected to heal illnesses (Isa. 35:5-6).

Yet the Pharisees, hardhearted as they were, could not draw that same conclusion as evident as it was. Rather, they accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of the ruler of the demons, Beelzebul. They had first made this accusation in 9:34 but Jesus mentions it again in Matthew 10:25.

LESSON #1 - SATAN DOES NOT WORK AGAINST HIMSELF - 12:25-27:
Again, Jesus shows His omniscience and challenges their logic. A kingdom, city, or house divided against itself, fighting within, cannot be successful. Neither will stand. All will come to an end. By that reasoning, it is clear that Jesus and the demons are not on the same side. Secondly, Jesus reasons, if He cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do their fellow Jews, their “sons,” cast out demons? We do not know if God allowed Jews, whether faithful to God or not, to cast out demons. Jesus used this practice to show His Messiahship. However, non-biblical sources such as Josephus does talk about Jews casting out evil spirits through the use of magical incantations, talismans, etc. Jesus could exorcise by the power of His word.

LESSON #2 - THE KINGDOM IS ON THE VERGE OF ESTABLISHMENT - 12:28-29:
In verse 28, Jesus challenges the Pharisees to consider the opposite possibility. If He, by the Spirit of God, cast out demons, then they need to understand that the Kingdom of God is on its way to establishment. Normally Matthew uses the expression “kingdom of heaven.” Here and in 19:24; 21:31, 43, he uses “kingdom of God.” They are synonymous terms. The connection between the exorcism and the Kingdom is made in verse 29. Before one can plunder a strong man’s house, he must first bind the strong man and then he will have access to the man’s belongings. Since Jesus has shown that He is more powerful than demons, the servants of Satan, by casting demons out of men, then clearly He has more power than Satan and nothing will stop Him from establishing His kingdom (cf. 16:18-19).

LESSON #3 - THE PHARISEES POTENTIALLY WERE SINNING WITHOUT FORGIVENESS - 12:30-32:
In verse 30, Jesus clearly points out that there is no ambiguity allowed in serving Him. Using imagery from sheep and sheepfolds, Jesus states that if one is not with Him, he is necessarily against Him. The one who does not “gather” the sheep with Him, is one who scatters the sheep like the false prophets did in the OT. Finally, Jesus warns the Pharisees that they are on the verge of committing a sin for which there is no forgiveness. Sin and blasphemy (“speaking against”) men can be forgiven. But blaspheming the Spirit of God cannot be forgiven. This is a permanent sin; there is no forgiveness in “this age or in the one coming.” At first sight, it might be understood that “this age” refers to the Jewish age while “the one coming” refers to the Christian age. Yet, when Mark records Jesus referring to blasphemy against the Holy Spirit as an “eternal” sin (3:29), Jesus clearly refers to this “earthly” age and the coming “eternal” age.

There has been considerable confusion and debate over this specific sin. Mark tells us (3:30) that Jesus warned about this sin because the Pharisees “kept saying (the force of the verb in the imperfect tense), ‘He has an unclean spirit.’” We have seen the Pharisees say this first in 9:34 and Jesus alludes to it in 10:25. Jesus performed His miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14). The Spirit, then, authenticated His message. If the Pharisees were so closed-minded that they could not see that the Spirit was the source of Jesus’ power, thus the One vindicating His message, there could be no hope for salvation for them. We do not know of anyone today who claims that Jesus’ miraculous powers have their origin in Satan.

LESSON #4 - MAN NEEDS TO CONTROL HIS TONGUE - 12:33-37:
In this paragraph, Jesus challenges the Pharisees to think more logically. In 7:16-20, in the sermon on the mount, Jesus taught that one’s behavior reflects what is in the heart. In this paragraph, He shows that one’s words also reflect what is in the heart. A good tree will produce good fruit. If you have good fruit, you have a healthy tree. A bad tree will produce rotten fruit. If you have rotten fruit, it is because you have a diseased tree.

Echoing the words of John the baptist (3:7), Jesus calls the Pharisees a generation of venomous, dangerous snakes, vipers. If they are speaking evil, in saying Jesus performed miracles by the “ruler of the demons,” it must mean the tree is evil. The mouth speaks what is in the heart. A good man speaks good; an evil man speaks evil. Thus, in verses 36-37, Jesus warns the Pharisees to be very careful what they say because their words will either save them or condemn them.

THOUGHTS ON DEMON POSSESSION:
First, we need to commit to “not go beyond what is written” (1 Cor. 4:6). There is a LOT of speculation about demons and demon possession that goes FAR BEYOND what the New Testament would allow us to believe. We need to get our theology from the NT!

Second, there are about 80 references to demons in the NT and they are, by far, concentrated in the Gospels.

Third, after the life of Jesus, there are three references to demon possession or evil spirits in the book of Acts: 5:16; 8:7; 16:16, 18; 19:12-13, 15-16.

Fourth, the Greek word for “demon” is used 63 times in the NT: once in the book of Acts (17:18) and 9 times in the New Testament letters: 1 Cor. 10:20-21 (where Paul states that sacrificing to false gods is, in essence, sacrificing to demons); 1 Tim. 4:1 (where Paul suggests that false doctrine has its origins in demons); James 2:19 (where James states that demons believe); Revelation 9:20; 16:14; 18:2. That is all the references we have to demons in the NT!

Fifth, the word for “spirit” is used 277 times in the NT letters (from Acts to Revelation) but in the vast majority of the cases, it refers to either man’s spirit or the Holy Spirit. Paul refers to the “spirit working in the sons of disobedience” in Ephesians 2:2. He refers to a spirit that disturbs the Christians in Thessalonica in 2 Thess. 2:2. In 1 Timothy 4:1, where Paul references the doctrines of demons, he also refers to the “deceitful spirits.” John writes that we should “test the spirits” (1 John 4:1-2) in the context where he uses the expression as a synonym for “false prophets.” He calls it a “spirit of error” (1 John 4:6).

John mentions “unclean spirits” like frogs in Revelation 16:13 and 18:2 and the “spirits of demons” in Rev. 16:14.

Sixth, consequently, a review of God’s word gives us this insight (referring to the NT letters):

There is no reference to demon possession after the book of Acts.
There is no warning that demon possession might occur.
There are no instructions given to exorcise a demon in one’s self or in anyone else.

Seventh, Satan is active in this world and his “angels / demons” are also active on his behalf. But, as we studied last month, the one tool we have to fight against his / their influence on us is the Word of God.

CONCLUSION:
Satan throws many things at us to get us distracted from obeying God and get us focused on trying to live our lives by our own strength. Which of these sins or attitudes do you struggle with?

Jesus has proven that He has the power to break Satan’s stranglehold over us (Matt. 4). Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). You and I need to access that power, on a daily, even hourly basis, in order to control the power of Satan’s temptations in our lives.

Take home message: We can be victorious over Satan in his temptations, if we’ll go to the One who has power over Satan: Jesus Christ.

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