This message of Jesus is centered on satan, the devil. He is the unclean spirit. Satan lost his proper place in heaven. He was formerly among the angels in heaven, created with holy nature, beauty, and dignity, but lost his position due to pride and became unclean nature, an enemy of God.
Ezekiel 28 verses 14 to 15 mentions,
”You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.”
Our God is supreme. His sovereignty is everlasting. No one can challenge His authority. Satan challenged God but did not get away with it. He was thrown out of heaven.
“By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within,
And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you.” (Ezekiel 28 verses 16 to 17)
“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.” (Isaiah 14 verses 12 to 14)
The two scriptures above clearly indicate the reason for the fall of satan. After his fall, he became a vagabond, going from place to place looking for who he will devour. He was not doing this alone but with all his co-angels.
The scenario was written in the book of Revelations 12 verses 7 to 10,
“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.”
He was referred to as the unclean spirit by Jesus in Matthew 12 verses 52 to 54.
“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”
The original demon leaves his victim for a while, and returns to them fortified, more deadly than ever he was. The last state of that person is a worse condition. We have the responsibility to guide and guard our hearts from every defilement and device of satan.
He is a restless being with a mission to destroy the children of God. Resist him in all areas, and he will flee.
John 10 verse 10 mentions,
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
Who wrote Matthew 12:43-45 and when was it written?
Matthew 12:43-45 was attributed to St Matthew, the Evangelist, one of the disciples of Christ known to be a Tax Collector. It was written around 50 AD.
What is the context of Matthew 12?
The context of Matthew 12 is about Jesus taking authority over the Scribes and Pharisees.
It started on a Sabbath day. Jesus did all to prove to them that He is the Lord of the Sabbath. They came to him on several occasions as they were looking for good reasons to hold against Jesus.
The disciples of Jesus were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and eat on a Sabbath day. When the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.
Jesus knew they talk about sabbath law. He defended them and gave them the instance of David when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests.
He also reminded them how the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless. If you have nothing to say to these acts; how then do you dare the Lord of the harvest?
The gospel according to St Matthew 12 verses 6 to 8 says,
“Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
They did not stop there, still went to meet Jesus in the synagogue the second time. They were ready for him, looking for how to accuse him.
Another controversial question! “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?
Wise Jesus answered their question with a question.
Who among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? therefore it is lawful to do good works on the Sabbath.
Compassionate Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. This is where his problem began. The Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.
The Pharisees came for the third time on the issue of demon possession, accusing Jesus of casting out demons with Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons. They heard the news of how Jesus healed the demon-possessed man, blind, and mute, and became furious and confused. Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.
How can I use Beelzebub the king of demons to cast out demons? But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. They became dumbfounded and Jesus said to them every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
When the Pharisees and the Sadducees do not know what else to do, they ask for a sign. Jesus told them no other sign than the sign of Jonah.
“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12 verse 40)
The chapter ended with a parable of the return of the unclean spirit by Jesus. The unclean spirit which is the evil spirit is the devil, the house is the hearts of the sinners. The evil generation has this unclean spirit dwelling in them. They are also referred to as the adulterous generation.
What is the message of Matthew 12:43-45?
The message of Matthew 12:43-45 talks about the continuous preaching of the gospel of Jesus to win souls for Christ.
As believers are preaching the gospel of Christ to win unbelievers to Christ, satan is also going about preaching his message of deceit. There is a serious contention with the devil when it comes to the word of God. He knows he has lost his place in heaven, he will do as much as he can to win more good people and common people to his kingdom of darkness.
Satan is a restless preacher, he takes advantage of unbelievers and also weary Christians. Continuous preaching of the word of God to our gospel contact is what produces results.
Apostle Paul mentioned in Galatians 4 verse 19,
“My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,”
The work continues until the contacts are established in the kingdom of God.
Preaching the gospel is every believer’s responsibility. Apostle Paul is a good example. He is a passionate soul winner.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith”.”
( Romans 1 verses 16 to 17)
The great commission of Jesus to the disciples is preaching.
Matthew 28 verses 16 to 20 mentions,
“Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Devil is not a gentleman. He tempted our lord Jesus too even after forty days of fasting and prayer. Jesus put him where he belongs by the word of God and the scripture recorded the devil left Jesus alone for a short time.
“Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.” ( Luke 4 verse 13)
Continuous feeding and study of the word of God is the quickest way to chase satan.
How do I maximize the benefits of the Word of God?
In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. ( John 1 verses 1 to 5)
The word of God is the key to growth and development as a believer and also what put us in a higher level of spiritual authority. A wordless Christian is a powerless Christian. The entrance of the word of God gives light and gives understanding to the simple.
Thank God you are born again, but you are not different from an unbeliever if you don’t have a proper understanding of the scriptures.
Hosea 4 verse 6 admonishes,
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”
The word of God is packaged to provide solutions to every issue of life. What a manual is to any device is what the word of God should be to every believer.
“Search from the book of the Lord, and read: Not one of these shall fail;
Not one shall lack her mate. For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them.” ( Isaiah 34 verse 16 )
Get a full Bible bible and study material
Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding. ( Proverbs 23 verse 23)
The first thing is to get a good full bible. Invest in a good hard copy bible and a good electronic bible on your device. The holy bible is a good treasure and contains the legal right of believers.
David said, the law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold. The word of God is the wisdom of God in letters.
Proverbs 4 verses 5-7 mentions,
“Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her, and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.”
You must also have a good writing material. Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4 verse 13,
“Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas when you come—and the books, especially the parchments.”
Parchments are a stiff, flat, thin material made from the prepared skin of an animal, usually a sheep or goat, and used as a durable writing surface in ancient and medieval times.
You can imagine what he has written inside the parchment for him to send for it. Engage in the search for the wisdom of God through his word with all seriousness. The result is awesome.
Organized Style of Study
You can read books by books, study guides, or by bible characters.
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” ( 2 Timothy 2 verse 15 ).
Start with any method that suits you most. The most important thing is you are building yourself in the word. Seek His intimacy every day and every moment you have and begin to grow in the knowledge of Him.
Meditate on the word
It is not enough to study the word. We must get to the point of meditation. It is the word that we meditate that dwells in our hearts.
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” ( Joshua 1 verse 8)
Obey the word
Obedience to the word of God is proof that we believe him. The word may not make sense to you at times. God intentionally makes His words foolish to humble the world.
Remember the word of God in 1 Corinthians 1 verses 27 to 28,
“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.”
The word sometimes is also too simple and we will be wondering how this will be.
“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” ( 2 Corinthians 11 verse 3)
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”
(James 1 verses 22-25)
Whatever the word asks you to do, do it.
Speak the word
What you don’t confess, you cannot experience. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. Whatever is too big for your mouth is too big for your hand. God will only confirm what we have declared.
“You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways.” ( Job 22 verse 28).
Anything that cannot stop God cannot stop His word. Whatever that cannot confront Him cannot dare His word.
In Mark 11 verses 23 and 24, the bible mentions,
“For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”
Who is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is neither a feeling nor an ideology, He is a person, the third person of the trinity but the least understood by believers. The Spirit speaks through us prompting us to speak in tongues (the language we don’t understand).
We saw His manifestation in Act 2 verses 2 to 4,
“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
The Power of God is demonstrated by the Holy Spirit. You cannot separate Holy Spirit and power. The Holy Spirit is the carrier of God’s Power.
Just as a brand-new car is useless without gas, the same way Christians are helpless without the Holy Spirit.
Act 1 verse 8,
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
As believers, the power of God is our heritage.
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:” ( John 1 verse 12)
The day we give our life to Christ is the day that we become a spirit being. This is the day the Holy Spirit begins to dwell inside of us and we must be very conscious of this fact. The Holy Spirit is a promise to the children of God.
We are connected to God the Father, God the Son who is Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit baptism is the public announcement of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. For you to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, there must be a genuine longing and thirst for the infilling.
In John 7 verses 37 to 39 Jesus said,
“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
The Holy Spirit Dispensation
In the old testaments, God speaks to the people through his Prophets. When Jesus came in the new testament, Jesus became the mediator between the believers and God.
“For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”
( John 12 verses 49 to 50)
The present time is the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. Jesus left but send us the Holy Spirit. He said in John 16 verse 7,
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”
Every child of God now has direct access to God through the Holy Spirit that dwells inside of us. His basic ministry is helping the believers.
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
( John 14 verse 26)
Let’s discuss a few of the channels of His Help ministry Prayer. The Holy Spirit helps our prayer weaknesses and intercedes for us. Our strength on the prayer altar is limited without the help of the Holy Spirit.
Most of the time, we get exhausted from the prayer points we have prepared and we find ourselves making repetitions until we run out of words. This is simply prayer infirmities.
When we pray in the Spirit, we have surrendered our prayer requests to God through His Spirit. He begins to make intercession for us, helping us to pray the mind and the will of God for our lives. Man is limited on the prayer altar without the help of the Holy Spirit.
“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
( Romans 8 verses 26 to 27)
Conviction
The Holy Spirit is the Lord of the harvest. He is the Convicter, the Converter, and the Drafter of souls to Christ. Jesus said to his disciples, the harvest is plenty but the labourers are few, therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.
In John 16 verses 8 to 11, Jesus said,
“And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgement, because the ruler of this world is judged.”
He pricks the heart of the sinner, making them repent and confess.
Source of Revelation
We cannot comprehend the knowledge of God with our intellect. The ways of the Lord are unsearchable. Only the Spirit of God knows what is in the mind of God. God reveals the hidden secrets of His word to his children through His Spirit. The word of God are Spirits.
But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.”
(1 Corinthians 2 verses 9 and 11)
Relationship with God
God is a Spirit. Like begets like. Our relationship with God can only be cordial if we communicate with our spirit. God Himself is a Spirit and those that worship Him must do so in spirit and in truth. ( John 4 verse 24)
Guidance
The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. He is the Spirit of truth. Jesus told his disciples, I still have many good things to say to you, but you cannot understand them now.
“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” ( John 16 verses 13 to 14)
What is Matthew 12:43-45 prayer?
Almighty Father, thank you for the massive spread of your gospel and revival all around the world. Let every veil covering the heart of our gospel contacts be torn off today. Cause your word to convict and convert them and at the end let every stony hearts surrender to you to have eternal life, this I pray in Jesus’ name. AMEN
Conclusion
When a strong man, fully armed, guards his palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than him comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armour in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.
The strong man is the devil.
The evil forces in their spiritual realm release their wicked spirits and demonic spirit into the spiritual world.
To engage them, we need the word of God.
Guard your heart. Every visitation of the devil is through our hearts. He comes quietly with those evil thoughts, knocking on the door of your heart. He cannot have access to those that have filled their hearts with the word of God.
“My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.” ( Proverbs 4 verses 20 to 22)
The word of God is light. Darkness has no association with light.
The dominion of light over darkness is instant and unquestionable.
