Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vols. 13–63

Verses 14, 15. And He was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spoke and the people wondered. But some of them said, He casts out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils. One would hardly have thought that they could have gone to such a length as that—but when men hate Christ, there is nothing they will not say against Him. It is no subject of surprise when great heresies arise, for they are the natural outcome of human enmity against Christ and His Truth. People in such a state of heart will say anything. They will give utterance to thoughts that you could not have imagined would have entered any human brain—it is the enmity of the heart to Christ that produces this blasphemy of the tongue!

16. And others, tempting Him, sought of Him a sign from Heaven. "You are working this work from beneath," they said, "now do something that is really from above." They must have known that the casting out of the devil was from Heaven, for Satan would never cast out Satan!

17, 18. But He, knowing their thought, said unto them, Every Kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? Because you say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. That was a very good and sufficient answer to these cavilers. It is a comfort to us to know that any error is very vulnerable—there is always a weak point about it. In this case, Christ permitted it to turn its sting upon itself.

19. AndifI, by Beelzebub, cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore shall they be your judges. For some of these men had sons who either did really cast out devils, being disciples of Christ, or else professed to do so, being exorcists, pretending to a power they did not possess. In either case, the argument was good as against the objectors.

20-22. But if I, with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the Kingdom of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keeps his palace, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he takes from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divides his spoils. This is how Christ drives out the devil by sheer force of arms—He overcomes him and drives him out. He does not cajole him, invite him, or persuade him to go, but He fights with him, puts forth His Omnipotent Power against him, overthrows him, takes away his armor and divides the spoil. Were you ever conscious of such a fight as that? If not, be afraid of your so-called reformation, for there is no true reformation and no true conversion in which there is no conflict between Christ and Satan!

23. 24. He that is not with Me is against Me: and he that gathers not with Me scatters. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man. This is the kind of "conversion" which is not genuine—"when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man"—"gone out" on his own accord—and he may do that. He may leave a man, for a while, with the evil purpose of getting him more completely into his power afterwards. "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man."

24. He walks through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, I will return unto my house from where I came out. It was his house all the while! He left it voluntarily—he was not driven out by force—he simply left it for a time in order that he might return to it and retain it the more completely. Now he goes back to it.

25. And when he comes, he finds it swept and garnished. There has been a reformation of a sort—the man has given up drunkenness, left off swearing and become, in certain respects, a better man. The house is swept and garnished, but there is no new tenant of Mansoul—there is no Christ come to take possession of Heart Castle.

26. Then he goes, and takes to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. It often happens that when men make a profession of reformation and then relapse into their former state, they become far worse than they were before. The so-called "reformation" is all of their own doing—or rather, the greater part of it is the devil's doing. The demon within the man voluntarily went away and now that he is back, he brings with him "seven other spirits more wicked than himself." And so the man is more than eight times worse than he was before the demon left him for a while!

27. 28. And it came to pass, as He spoke these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto Him, Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You. But He said, more than that, blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it The enthusiastic woman was so carried away with admiration for Christ that she thought His mother was a highly-favored woman and she called her, "blessed." "Yes," said Christ, "she is blessed, but still more blessed are they who have the Word of God in their hearts, who regard it as their own, and keep it as a great prize."

29. And when the people were gathered thick together, He began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign. Look back to the 16th verse—"Others, tempting Him, sought of Him a sign from Heaven." Christ had answered those who imputed His miraculous works to Satanic agency—now He answers these others.

29, 30. And there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonah the Prophet For as Jonah was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation. Jonah rose, as it were, from the dead, for he was buried in the deep, in the belly of the whale! And Christ was buried in Joseph's tomb, yet He came back from the grave on the third day.

31, 32. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost part of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here. The Resurrection would make Christ the most conspicuous sign of God's Presence among the people! It would be the testimony of God to His Son that He was, indeed, the Messiah.

33-35. No man, when he has lighted a candle, puts it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they that come in may see the light The light of the body is the eye: therefore when your eye is good, your whole body also is full oflight, but when your eye is bad, your body is full ofdarkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in you is not darkness. If your religion is irreligion, if your hope is a false one, if your highest aspirations are untrue, what is your position in the sight of God? Where are you?

36, 37. May your whole body therefore be full oflight, having no part dark, the whole shall be full oflight, as when the bright shining of a candle does give you light And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee besought Him to dine with him: and He went in, and sat down to meat. It was often a matter of marvel to the onlookers that Christ went among publicans and sinners—but is it not a greater wonder that He went among Pharisees? If they asked Him to their houses, it was usually because they hoped to entangle Him in His talk, yet the condescension of our Master is so great that again and again, "He went in, and sat down to meat."

38. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that He had not just washed before dinner. Not because Christ's hands needed washing, but because it was the custom of the Pharisees to wash before eating, and our Lord broke through the customs as He was known to do, for He cared nothing for their inventions!

39, 40. And the Lord said unto Him, Now do you Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. You fool, did not He who made the outside make the inside, also? "One needs washing as much as the other. You are so careful of your hands—will you not be more careful of your hearts?"

41. But rather give alms of such things as you have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you. "When you are full of love to your fellow men, and make a practice of helping them, you have cleansed your heart from selfishness and have really washed yourself."

42. But woe unto you, Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God; these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone. How many, in these days, are very particular about very little things, but very careless about great things? They would not violate the law of their sect or party for the world, but the Law of God is of small account to them.

43. Woe unto you, Pharisees! For you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. They loved to be called Rabbi, Learned Doctors of the Law. Any title that made them appear great was very sweet to them.

44. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them. Nobody but Christ knew how base they were. They were fair to look upon, but He knew that they were villainously hypocritical and He, therefore, denounced them. Ah, dear Friends, the great matter is to have Grace in the heart—to have the Divine Light within in the soul—but if we have not this, vain is a fair profession, vain is everything that comes from man! If we are to be saved, we must have the Grace that comes from God alone.

45. Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto Him, Master, thus saying you reproach us also. There was no great difference between the scribes and Pharisees and the lawyers, as this man evidently perceived, and as our Lord also soon confirmed by pronouncing upon them the same kind of, "Woe," that He had pronounced upon the other false teachers!

46. And He said, Woe unto you also, you lawyers! For you load men with burdens grievous to be borne, and you yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Their regulations as to moral and ceremonial observances were like huge bundles of firewood or crushing burdens bound together and made into a weight intolerable for any man to carry! Many of these rules, by themselves, were grievous enough—but all together they formed a yoke that neither the people nor their fathers could bear. The scribes, Pharisees and lawyers piled the great load upon them—but none helped them to sustain it, nor offered to relieve them of any portion of it. "You load men with burdens grievous to be borne, and you yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers."

47. 48. Woe unto you! For you build the sepulchers of the Prophets and your fathers killed them. Truly you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and you build their sepulchers. They pretended to have such regard for the holy men of the past that, being unable to honor them in person, they would set up monuments to their memory and adorn their resting places with tokens of respect.

Out of their own mouths our Lord condemned these hypocrites—"Truly you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers." In effect, Jesus said to them, "You confess that you are the sons of the murderers of the Prophets. That admission carries with it far more than you imagine. You are their sons, not only by birth, but also by resemblance—you are veritable children of those who killed the Prophets. If you had lived in their day, you would have committed the crimes you pretend to condemn."

49-51. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them Prophets and Apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute, that the blood of all the Prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation. From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zachariah, which perished between the altar and the Temple: verily I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation. The destruction of Jerusalem was more terrible than anything that the world has ever witnessed, either before or since. Even Titus seemed to see in his cruel work the hand of an avenging God. Truly, the blood of the martyrs was amply avenged when the whole city became a veritable Aceldama, or field of blood. It was before that generation had passed away that Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed. There was a sufficient interval for the full proclamation of the Gospel by the Apostles and evangelists of the early Christian Church— and for the gathering out of those who recognized the Crucified Christ as their true Messiah. Then came the awful ending which the Savior foresaw and foretold.

51. Woe unto you, lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge: you did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in, you hindered. This "Woe" is similar to that pronounced upon the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, and it was a terrible charge to be brought against them by Him who could read their hearts and who could truthfully say to them, "You have taken away the key of knowledge: you did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in, you hindered." They ought to have helped men into the Kingdom. Instead of doing so, they hindered those who were entering. Are there not false teachers, nowadays, who put stumbling stones instead of steppingstones in the way of those who are entering the Kingdom of Heaven?

53, 54. And as He said these things unto them, the scribes and Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to provoke Him to speak of many things: laying wait for Him and seeking to catch something out of His mouth that they might accuse Him. Thus they proved the truth of the accusations that He had brought against them! But all their plots and traps were in vain until the hour appointed for His great Sacrifice to be offered on Calvary.