We are going to just do an intro tonight just because for one, I need to get better prepared for, as we get into the verse by verse of the book, but really have looked forward to

this study.

I think it’s really good that we were able to go through the ageless conflict as our last study just because there’s a lot of, I know that things in that book, you guys had a good grasp of a good grasp of before most of you, but just having had gone through the book

and just understood the necessity of repentance, obedience, holiness, and that Christ’s purpose

of redemption is to bring us to those things and not to give us a license to not have those things. We were able to go through the different illustrations of that throughout the Bible. I think there’s a good foundation laid as we go through Matthew’s Gospel, so there won’t be the need to constantly reiterate those things. We will talk about them as they naturally come up in the text, but it’s really good just to be able to go verse by verse and see

just exactly how the Lord has revealed his salvation to us and exactly what he wanted to tell us in the order he told it to us. So tonight we’re just going to go through an Ephraim Matthew, and I want to start out in Luke chapter 24. Okay, so do I need to wait a little for anybody to get there? Okay, so I think you all know that all four of the Gospels

were written after Jesus’ death and resurrection and ascension to heaven. The exact time lengths

are something I definitely would need to research a little bit more, but I think it’s generally thought that Matthew, Mark, and Luke came a good deal earlier than John. But regardless, all four of the Gospels are written looking back at Christ’s death and resurrection. So

the main point is that the Gospel writers understood the things in the Old Testament that pointed to Christ. Christ himself, we see at the end of Matthew chapter 24 here, that explains that to the disciples when he had said in verse 44, “And he said unto them,

These are the words which I speak unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the

psalms concerning me, then open to either understanding that they might understand the Scriptures.” Now we’re not given that in detail, but what he did was what he had done earlier in the chapter. We read back in verse 27, he’s talking to the two men, Cleopas and another

man on the road to Emmaus, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto

them and all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. And so the apostles and the early Christians had got the understanding from the resurrected Christ how the different pictures

and prophecies in the Old Testament related to him. And now Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

wrote their Gospels with that understanding in mind. And if we had been Jews at the time of Christ’s birth, we would have had a lot of confusion about who exactly, what exactly

the Messiah’s role was going to be, what he was going to do, what he was going to appear on earth. We see in Luke 24 here, earlier in this chapter, after Christ is risen, it

says in verse 13, “And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three square four lines.” I think that’s about eight miles.

And they talked together of all these things which had happened after Christ said He would have died on the cross two days previously. And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned Jesus Himself through near and want with them, but their eyes were

holding that they should not know Him. And He said unto them, “What manner of communications

are these that ye have one to another as ye walk in our sight?” And one of them, whose name was Cleopas answering said unto Him, “Are thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hath not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?” And He said unto them, “What things?” And they said unto Him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty indeed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests

and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death and have crucified Him. But we trusted

that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today is the third

day since these things were done. Yes, a certain woman of our company made us astonished which

were early at the sepulchre. And when they found out His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels which said that He was alive. And certain of them

which were with us went to the sepulchre and found it even so as the woman had said, “With Him they saw an act.” So then He said unto them, “O fools and soul of hearts, believe

all that the prophets have spoken. At night Christ who has suffered these things and to enter into His glory.” Jesus rebuked them because if they had paid extremely careful attention to the Scriptures, they would have been able to see that. And now in verse 27, He explains that to them like we had seen. Then beginning at Moses and all the prophets,

He expounded unto them and all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. So what we see,

what we see in verse 21 here that Cleopas says, “What we trusted it had been He which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this today is the third day since these things were done.” The fact that the reason Cleopas and the other man on this road were sad was because Christ had been crucified. And they thought that Israel’s hope of redemption

was gone because of that. But we know now that that was the very means by which He redeemed

Israel, by the very means by which He provided redemption for us. And these men were Jesus’

disciples that had joined Him in His ministry and followed Him and been faithful up until

that point. So we see how it was even possible for a righteous man who had an obedient heart

towards Jesus to have not understood exactly what the Messiah’s role was going to be and

to have had confusion about that. And Jesus did rebuke them because they should have paid

more careful attention to the Scriptures. And we know that Jesus was condemned because Israel’s leaders and Israel in general didn’t heed their own Scriptures. Paul would say

that basically in Acts chapter 13 and the sermon he gave there. But even the righteous who were faithful disciples didn’t, many of them anyway, didn’t see it. They didn’t see that the Messiah had to suffer first and then enter into His glory. And so this was a major

thing among the early Christians was after Christ had been raised, they understood now the pictures and illustrations of Christ in the Old Testament. And as they were preaching

the Gospel, they preached the Gospel by the Old Testament Scriptures. We see that in Romans

chapter 16. Paul says at the very end of Romans verse 25, “Now to Him that is a power to establish

you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began.” And that’s, we could do

a study on that. That’s true as in Gentiles as one body in Christ. “But now it is made

manifest by the Scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the everlasting

God made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” So the Scriptures, the early Christians,

without having a New Testament could preach the Gospel simply from the Old Testament Scriptures.

So like we see here in Romans 16.26. And obviously we can preach, we now can preach the Gospel

from both the Old and the New Testament because we have a completed Bible. But even the Bible

that they had at the time as the New Testament was being written was happening. They could

preach, we are about to see Paul was preaching in Acts chapter 17 here. Acts chapter 17 verse 2. Well,

starting verse 1, “Now when they had passed through Amphiphilus and Epilona and Epilonia, they came to

Thessalonica where was the synagogue of the Jews.” The foundation for Christianity had been established

among by the Old Testament Scriptures. And even though the people of Israel were very often off

the mark and not fulfilling the calling that they had, there was still the closest, there was still

very much to work with as a foundation for the New Testament church. And that’s why when the

apostles preached the Gospel in the Roman world, they started out in the synagogues of the Jews,

even after God began accepting Gentiles into the church without them needing to be circumcised.

Even after Cornelius and the Acts 15 council, we still find that the apostles started in the

Jewish synagogues. So verse 2, “And Paul as his manner went in unto them, and three Sabbath days,

reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must need to have suffered,

and risen again from the dead.” So since the Jews were expecting an earthly Messiah who was going to

deliver them from the Romans, and they for the most part didn’t see that he had to suffer first,

and rise from the dead, and enter into his glory, and that his coming to deliver his people in a

material way, in an earthly way, was not going to happen until his second coming. Since that wasn’t a generally

known thing, you see here as Paul was preaching the Gospel, he had the preach that Christ must need

and suffered, and risen again from the dead. And not only that, and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you

was Christ, and we’re going to look into some of the Old Testament Scriptures, which show that if seeing

that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead, even had you not known the details about the

death and resurrection, we could see how just in what the Old Testament alone said about the Messiah,

that there were not many people who were even candidates, and we will get into that. But for now,

are there any comments and questions? William Daniel Hilton? Jimmy?

Is anyone still on the line? Still here brother? Yeah, we’re here brother. Okay. Does anybody hear? No, you’re doing great.

I’m sorry brother. I can hear you brother. Actually, my earphone is not working very good, but we can hear you very well.

Oh good, good. Okay, well then, so for now I want to look back into the Old Testament and show some examples of what we just read about, that Christ must need to suffer and to enter into His glory.

Because that is going to be something, because we’re going to go through Matthew, we’re going to be seeing all four Gospels obviously are true. And they often have some emphasized different things. A lot of the stories overlap in the Gospels, but some are written to different audiences, and some emphasize certain things more than others. And we’re going to see how Matthew quotes them.

And that’s the Old Testament more than the other Gospel writers do. Because Matthew has his primary audience, he has a Jewish audience, that he’s going to be showing to them that Christ is the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. And that He is their King.

He is the one that God has been preparing them as a nation for thousands of years. And ultimately, when Jesus said salvation is of the Jews, He meant that salvation is from… God took Israel as a people unto Himself, and made them…

And set them apart from Him, and worked through them, and gave them… gave them His life, gave them pictures of what He was ultimately going to do in Christ in redeeming us from our sins. And He gave us many lessons. He gave them many lessons which were necessary to establish for Christ’s sake.

And Christ’s role as our Redeemer, the one meteor between God and man, and what it means to really relate to God. God had in His wisdom, He sought it to separate Israel to Himself, to drive these lessons home, and to take Israel’s successes and failures, and to take Israel’s successes and failures.

And make them as part of… as an aspect of the Scriptures, as a lesson for us, like we read about in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. That these things were examples to us, the way Israel failed, the way God was faithful to those who kept His covenant in Israel. Those were all lessons that God drove home.

And any Jew who… any Israelite… and just by the way, Israel had been judged and scattered to the point where it was only the nation of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, and the tribe of remnant of the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe, and just a handful of others that were even around in Israel and Roman times.

And that’s the reason that Israelite and Jew are so closely related, because obviously Jew was talking about a descendant of the tribe of Judah. So there was… so Israel knew that there was a Messiah coming, but like we said, they didn’t understand for the most part… they had a wrong expectation about what He was going to do.

But if you guys want to go to Psalm 2, something that we would get in the Israelist conflict… I’m sorry, I’ve got greasy fingers myself skipping over the page. Okay, Psalm 2.

“Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and the guest is anointed.”

This word “anointed” is Messiah in Hebrew, I believe. It definitely is the equivalent of that. But the Hebrew word for the Lord’s anointed is Messiah. So that must be the Hebrew word here.

And Christ would be the Greek version of that. So Messiah, the Lord’s anointed Christ, all mean the same thing. Verse 3, “The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their bands of thunder and cast away their cords from us.

He that sits in the heaven shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in the region. Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath and vex them in His word of pleasure.

Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.'”

Now when Peter was preaching on the day of Pentecost, and rebuked the crowd at Jerusalem for crucifying Christ and saying that Christ was resurrected and that God has made the same Jesus whom He had crucified both Lord and Christ.

And it says how they were caught to the heart. They were convicted because they understood that they had crucified their Messiah and that Jesus had been raised and that they were His enemies, that they were heathen in how they had responded to Him.

They were lawless. And when Peter told them that they had taken Christ and by wicked hands and had crucified and slain Him, that word is a word that could also have been translated “gentile.” He then was lawless, rebellious towards God.

And that’s what bought that conviction because they had this, they had understood that they had rebelled against their Messiah who had rebuked them for their evil deeds.

And the fact that Christ had been risen proved He was the Messiah of Son too. And that they had been in the rind and therefore they were told to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ that you may receive remission of sins.

I’m sorry, let me quote that, Regex 2.38.

“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off as many as the Lord our God shall call.

And with many other words that He tests the findings, words that save yourselves from this untooled generation.”

So I’ll just finish Psalm 2 since I did the first half. So this is one of the scriptures that the Jews would have definitely referred to the Messiah.

Verse 7, “I will declare the decree that the Lord has set unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, ask of thee, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the othermost parts of the earth for thy possession.”

So even in Psalm 2 here, we see that the Messiah would be the Son of God. We see that He was going to be resurrected, the state of I begotten thee. We understand what that means now.

And I think a spiritual Jew who had really paid close attention could have been able to see that the Messiah was going to be crucified and rise again.

But it just didn’t say it out really. So even the righteous Jews for the most part didn’t understand it. But you see in verse 8 the incorporation of the Gentiles into the Messiah’s kingdom as we’re going to see the Gospel of Matthew at the very end is going to lead to.

And then in verse 9, “And then Christ tells them in the final verses of Matthew that all power is given to me in heaven and earth. Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”

So we see the Gentiles into the church in verse 8 and then we see Christ’s second coming in verse 9, “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a prior’s vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings, be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

And kiss the Son lest ye be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” And so just like we talked about in the Aegis conflict study, this is talking of trusting in Christ means welcoming his reign and submitting to his reign.

It doesn’t mean just asking for his forgiveness as your personal savior. There’s a need to submit to his lordship, his supreme reign over mankind.

So this is a sound too here as a scripture that the Jews would have understood referred to the Messiah. But what if we said they missed the need to suffer for the most part. How do we reconcile this ruler who’s going to dash all nations with a rod of iron and will break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a prior’s vessel?

How do we reconcile that with the suffering servants that we see in Christ and in his earthly ministry? We can see it now, but it wouldn’t have been so easy then.

But so it’s just important to understand that Matthew is going to be showing that as he writes his gospel, as the apostles preached. That’s what they were showing.

So if you go to Psalm 110, another Psalm we looked at in the Aegis conflict study.

So it’s interesting because we can even see a glimpse into the Trinity here. We see Israel’s king and Israel’s high priest brought together in one person in this psalm.

But there’s something interesting in verse 7 that I especially want to point out. So Psalm 110 verse 1, “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

The Lord shall send the right of thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power and the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning. Thou hast the dew of thy youth.

The Lord has sworn and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.”

That’s just what we read about in Psalm 2. “He shall judge among the heathen. He shall fill the places with the dead bodies. He shall wound the heads over many countries.”

By verse 6 we’re on verses 5 and 6 where we’re a second coming. We see in the meantime in verse 4, we see in verses 1 through 4, we see him taking out a people that he’s reigning over in the midst of his enemies and how he is the one meteor between man and God.

Having the high priest of a priest we ordered that’s not the priesthood of Levi, the Iranic priesthood.

And then we see a second coming in verses 5 and 6. But then in verse 7 it says, “He shall drink of the brook and the wake. Therefore shall he lift up the head.”

So this is one of those, it doesn’t say it directly, but it gives the impression that this man that’s a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, this ruler of all nations is first going to humble himself, is first going to suffer before he’s lifted up.

“He shall drink of the brook of the wake and the wake. Therefore shall he lift up the head.”

To a Jew who seriously paid attention to the scriptures, they had to make you think, what does this mean? And it’s really, obviously we know now it’s the same truth we read about in Philippians chapter 2, that Christ, he took upon, I’ll just go there so I get it right.

Philippians 2 verses 5 through 11, “Let this mind be a new which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue should confess to Jesus Christ his Lord, the glory of God the Father.”

So we see the truth in Philippians 2 there in Psalm 110 verse 7. So in another scripture though, and this is the one that, this is a scripture that Jews will often not read in their synagogues now.

The scripture that gets conveniently overlooked. It’s a scripture that the Jewish leaders believed was going to, it’s something that many Jews now would explain to say it’s referring to Israel and not to the Messiah.

But before the Messiah there were some that didn’t see that it was referring to the Messiah.

But how do we reconcile this, the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 with what we just read about in Psalm 2 and then in Psalm 110, in Psalm 110 like we said verse 7 there’s a little hint at how.

But the idea that Christ must need suffer and then enter into his glory, Isaiah 53 is probably the clearest scripture.

And we could preach the gospel if all we had was Isaiah 53. Knowing what we know about the other scriptures, if the only scripture we had to read directly to people from was Isaiah 53, that would be enough to preach the gospel.

So I’m starting in verse 1. Does anybody have anything to add or a question at this point? Okay, I’ll keep going then. Isaiah 53 verse 1.

I’m going to start it towards the end of chapter 52 in verse 13. Behold my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.

As many were astonished at thee, his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.

So shall he sprinkle many nations, the king shall shut their mouths at him, for that which had not been told them shall they see, and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

This is one of those passages, one of those scriptures where the apostles after Christ resurrected and was explaining to them the scriptures, this is one of those that they might have been taking themselves.

Oh wow, we didn’t see that his face was going to be marred more than any man’s, and his form more than the sons of men, and then he’s going to be exalted and extolled and be very high.

I think that most of us probably would have missed it too, even though it’s there so plainly, because we know now looking back, but that’s why we see how even Jesus was patient with his disciples who were obedient to him despite their lack of carefulness and their weakness,

and how they get the spirit when he got crucified.

So continuing with Isaiah 53, verse 1, “Whoeth believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plain, and as a root out of a dry ground.

He hath no form nor congliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He has despised and rejected a man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him.

He was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem and stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his troops we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth. He has brought his lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his hearers is dumb.

So he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment. And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living.”

This is clearly talking about this man of sorrows being killed. “For the transgression of my people was he stricken.” So note that. In verse 8 there, the last line.

“For the transgression of my people was he stricken.” Because Jewish rabbis now will say that Isaiah 53 is referring to Israel as a nation, and is not referring to a messianic figure.

They might point to something like the Holocaust and say that the sufferings of Isaiah 53 are talking about the nation suffering collectively.

But verse 8 rules out that is the principal direct interpretation of the passage, because it says, “For the transgression of my people was he stricken.”

And obviously it was understood when people read that that was referring to Israel.

“And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich and his death, because he had done no violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth.”

Yet we see the sinless servant suffering for the transgression of sinners.

So verse 10, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin.”

So even other versions put this in other ways that make it not as impressive, not as direct.

But in the King James it’s really clear, “When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days in the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”

So just like we saw he was cut off out of the land of the living before, now we see him alive seeing his seed prolonging his days in the pleasure of the Lord prospering in his hand.

So this is the death and resurrection of a man, not Israel as a nation, but of the Messiah seen in the Old Testament.

And so verse 11, “He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the shrine, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bear the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.”

So we’re going to see in Matthew genealogy next week. The Jews kept really strict genealogies and one of the key reasons was for the purpose of being able to recognize the Messiah.

Because we’re probably not going to look at it this week, but we’re going to look at it next week, Lord willing, that they understood the Messiah to be of the seed of David who was to reign on David’s throne.

And therefore, especially among the seed of David, the royal lineage, they were very careful to preserve that even after Israel had lost its national sovereignty and no longer had a king after they had been taken captive to Babylon.

They never have regained their sovereignty and had a king ever since. I guess you could say in a way they have their sovereignty now, but the throne of David hasn’t been restored.

So those are just some examples from the Old Testament of how there would be a Messiah and how he would die and rise again.

As an offering percent, as willingly, as a savior, as a redeemer, and also, and would be one who is inherently a king.

And so here’s something interesting. If you go to Matthew 21, again, just showing both among the righteous and unrighteous Jews of Jesus’ time,

they couldn’t reconcile the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 with the sovereign ruler of Psalm 2.

And that’s another reason why among the rabbis before Jesus’ time, there was speculation that there could be more than one Messiah.

There was not something that would have been considered strange among the Jews, because some really could see that the Messiah had to suffer and die and would be raised.

And some saw the passages about his second coming and couldn’t reconcile it. They didn’t, at least for the most part, consider that there could be two separate comings for the Messiah.

And that’s one way that God hid the Jews for the most part.

And obviously we know that those who had been really careful might have been able to see it.

But it’s one reason why it was really hard to see, because you read all these different things about your Messiah, and it’s just like, how do we fit this all together?

And how many actually thought that he was going to have two separate comings? One as a man, one as a suffering servant, and the second as an exalted king who was going to crush his enemies.

I wonder how many actually considered that.

So Matthew 21, verse 1, “And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come the Bethphage and unto the Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples.”

So this is obviously the week before his crucified, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass-tide and a colt with her.

Loose them and bring them unto me. And if any man say unto you, say, God unto you, ye shall say the Lord hath need of them, and straightway he will send them.

All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Zion, behold thy king cometh unto thee meek, and sitting upon an ass and a colt the fold an ass.

And the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them, and they bought the ass of the daki and the colt and put on them their coals, and they set them there on, and they set him there on.

And very, very multitudes spread their garments in the way. Others cut down branches from the trees and strung them in the way.

And the multitudes that went before and that followed Christ, saying, Hosanna to the son of David.

Blessed is he the cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

So they’re saying, they’re basically acknowledging Jesus to be the Messiah, the son of David.

And they’re saying blessed is he the cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Hosanna means, I believe, save now.

They’re, for the most part, maybe all of them expecting him to lead an army to deliver them from the Romans.

Because they have their mindset on earthly things, or at the very least they misunderstand, and they want to see their people delivered from the Romans.

And that’s necessarily right in and of itself. We all want to see America improve as a nation and be saved from oppressive leadership and calamities.

But obviously, if that desire causes us to follow ungodly people to the point of endorsing their ungodliness, or to the point of getting distracted from our calling as Christians and preaching the gospel, obviously that would be sinful.

So when they say blessed is he the cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. They’re quoting from Psalm 118.

So you’ll see something really interesting when you go to Psalm 118 here.

Okay, so they’re quoting from verse 25, verses 25 and 26. They’re referencing that in their quote.

Save now, I beseech thee. And I believe save now is in the Hebrew, Hosanna. Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord. O Lord, send now prosperity.

Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.

So that’s what they’re quoting from. But notice that that was and they knew those verses, but notice the verses before this.

Starting in verse 21.

I will praise thee for thou has turned me and I’ve become my salvation. The storm which the builders refuses become the head of the corner. And we know that Jesus was going to use this verse to describe himself.

We know Peter was going to use it. This is the Lord’s doing it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made.

We will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord. O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.

Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.

So there was there was a rejection that was verses 25 and 26.

This the end of Psalm 118, it’s obviously talking about the Messiah. The Jews understood that, but they didn’t.

But in the context, verse 22, the so much the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. There was a death and a resurrection.

There was a rejection and then God bearing witness to that. And then, you know, and then we get to verses.

Verse 24 is obviously talking about Grace Resurrection Day after after God has raised him and made him and made him the head of the church.

But then obviously verses 25 and 26. Yeah, they’re being fulfilled now in a spiritual way, but they’re not going to be fulfilled in a literal way till Christ Second Coming.

But the people in Jesus’s time saw verses 25 and 26 as being applied literally to the Messiah in his time.

And they didn’t consider the verses before that. And it would have been really hard because of the fact the two comings, which which which they just didn’t count on.

So before I’m going to close up here quick, but I just want to I want to show something that that’s really important.

And that is some people will say, you know, especially if you talk to a Jewish person, but even even Muslims and people who are just skeptics in general, they’ll say, you know, the Messiah could have been billions of billions of people, even if they limit it to only Israel.

It’s only Jews. They’ll say, well, there have been hundreds of millions of Jews. And, you know, how could we possibly know who the Messiah is going to be?

How can we how can we possibly determine that? Because of, you know, and often it’s said with a it’s often said insincerely.

But it’s good whether somebody sincere and asking better their instance here, it’s good to show them from the scripture or something, which is that that the Messiah, the Christ could actually it’s actually only a very limited number of people that those who those who know the scriptures.

Look, diligent, look closely at the scriptures and can see if you wrote them like a chapter five.

So considering everything we’ve read before, considering how even the necessity of the Messiah to suffer could be seen in the Passover land, the old, the Old Testament sacrificial system, the tabernacle, how just how it was arranged that there was that there was a wall around it with just one door.

And how the very first thing when you come through that doors is judgment upon sin, the bronze altar for burn offerings, the need for blood to be shed.

Those things are all pictures of Jesus being the only way to God and his shed blood being the only way there can be redemption from sin.

It’s all it’s all pictured in the Old Testament, the Israelites with the Passover, the scriptures and needing to needing to put the Passover blood on their door and eat the Passover with the unleavened bread and with the bitter herbs.

And that’s another key point that we could get into what I won’t decide, because it wasn’t enough for the Israelites just to have the blood on their doorposts.

They had to be ready to travel, they had to eat the Passover with the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs, obviously showing how to receive Christ we need to be ready to follow him and we need to remove sin from our midst.

We need to partake of his sufferings shown by the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, the fact that they were to have it with their ones girded and about and so that’s just a side note.

So just considering those things and everything we’ve seen before about the Messiah. If you go to Micah chapter 5 verse 2, Micah is between Obadiah and Nehem.

Micah 5.2, “Without Bethlehem afraid of, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been avowed, whose goings forth have been from avowed, from everlasting.”

So we see that we see a strength in here that the Messiah would be God himself and we see that he was going to be born in Bethlehem afraid of.

And we know from 2 Samuel 7, which we’re willing we’ll look at next week, that the Messiah was good to be of the seed of David.

So alone here we have the Christ had to be born in Bethlehem. He had to be of the seed of David.

And this is why a big reason why the genealogy we’re going to read about Lord willing next week in Matthew 1 is so important to prove that Jesus Christ is of the seed of David.

And is he that would rightfully inherit the throne of David and would have at the time had Israel’s sovereignty and Israel’s kingdom been intact?

So the Messiah, he has to be a male, has to be somebody who was born in Bethlehem afraid of, among the tribe of Judah, must be of the seed of David.

And I’ll show you something else here in the Guy Chapter 2, which narrows it down even more.

Okay, so we know that after the first temple was built, we know that it was destroyed by the Babylonians and Israel was taken captive in Babylon for 70 years.

And then they came back to build a temple and that was very slow in coming. And Haggai and Zechariah were two prophets that were calling the people to be striving to build the temple.

This is in the probably late 400s BC. I didn’t get the exact date. But they’re calling them to build a temple.

And this temple was destroyed in 8070 by the Romans. So there was only approximately 500 years which this temple stood.

And we see something here in Haggai 2 and in Malachi 3, which is important. The Messiah is going to come to this second temple.

So in Haggai Chapter 2, verse 1, 2nd to last book of the Old Testament, “In the seventh month, in the one and 20th day of the month came the word of the Lord by the prophet, Haggai, saying, ‘Speak now to the Son of Sheol, the son of Sheol, the son of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Joseph, the High Priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, ‘Who has left among you that saw this house in her first glory?'”

You saw the first temple. And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?

In the book of Ezra, some of the ancient men who had seen the first temple when the second temple is built start weeping because of the fact that it’s so small and so ugly compared to the first temple.

So that’s what verse 3 here is referring to. So verse 4, “Yet now be strong, O sayeth the Lord, and be strong, O Joshua, the son of Joseph, the High Priest, and be strong, O ye people, the land, saith the Lord, and work, for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts.

According to the word that I callen with you when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you, fear ye not. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, yet once it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land, and I will shake all nations.

And the desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.

The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts.

And in this place will I give peace to you, Lord of hosts.”

So the physical glory of the second temple never came close to the first temple that King Solomon had built.

So he’s saying that the desire of all nations, which I think even a Jew in Jesus’ time would have understood, between the Old and New Testaments would have understood was referring to the Messiah.

And God said he would fill this house with glory.

I believe it’s pretty clear that this is saying that the Messiah is going to come to the temple.

And we read in John 1.14 that, “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and fruit.”

He himself is the Prince of Peace.

So when God says in this place, “I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts,” remember Jesus weeping over Jerusalem and saying, “If thou it’s known even in this day that things which belong unto thy peace, but now are they hid from thine eyes, because their hearts were careless for the most part, and they didn’t know the day he visited them.”

But if anybody would dispute that that’s referring to the Messiah, we see that in Malachi 3 that the Messiah was going to come to the temple.

And we know from the guy 2 that it’s referring to the second temple.

And we even have John the Baptist talked about here in Malachi 3, last book of the Old Testament, verse 1, “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me.

And the Lord whom ye see shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come sayeth the Lord of hosts.”

And this is something I think we would get these verses in the Ageless Conflict because it’s important if we keep reading, we understand the Messiah’s mission and our response to Him,

“But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appearth? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller soap.”

So His mission is to purify unto Himself a peculiar people like Titus 2.14 says, “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.

And he shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of the old and its informer years.”

So the Messiah coming to the Second Temple, born in Bethlehem of the feet of David, that is not one out of billions, one out of hundreds of millions, even one out of hundreds of thousands.

That really puts the potential Messiah alone down to a very, very small amount of people.

I suppose you could say Joseph could have been eligible to be based upon genealogy alone, I mean, based upon natural characteristics alone.

But based upon even Christ’s ministry and His death and His resurrection being taken out of the picture, just based upon birth,

there were very, very few men who there was even the possibility of.

And that’s when Jesus said, He told the people, “You hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how do you not discern this time?”

And we could look at the 70 weeks of Daniel and show even the time for…let’s do that. We’re going to have to wrap up here in a few minutes, but let’s go to Daniel chapter 9.

It could even be discerned that the Messiah was going to come at about the time that He came from the Old Testament. Daniel chapter 9. Daniel 9 verse 24.

Daniel had been seeking out about what was going to happen to his people, and he was longing for God to redeem his people.

And you see how he’s praying and seeking out at the beginning of this chapter, repenting, and God sends him to the angel Gabriel.

So, for time’s sake, I’ll just say in verse 24. 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, Jerusalem, to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins,

and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.

Now, “Know therefore and understand from the going forth of the commandments to restore and rebuild Jerusalem unto the Messiah shall be seven weeks.” Until the Messiah of the Prince shall be seven weeks and three score and 62 weeks.

So, everybody who read this understood a week was referring to seven years.

The three shall be built again in the wall even in troubled times. And after three score and two weeks, so the first seven weeks come before the three score and two weeks.

So, it’s obviously talking about the time, from the time Daniel prayed this to when Jerusalem would be rebuilt, there’d be seven weeks, 49 years.

So, we’re talking late 400s BC, like we just read about. So, now after 62 weeks from there, 62 plus seven is 69.

So, alone in this verse can basically teach us that from the time Jerusalem is rebuilt, there’s going to be 62 weeks, 62 times seven is, let’s see, that’s just about 400 and approximately 440 years.

Which, after the 49 years from the time Daniel prayed this to the time Jerusalem was rebuilt. So, this is just proving that from the time Daniel wrote this, we know that there would be about a little less than about 483 years until the Messiah would appear.

And so, even a spiritual Jew could tell that he was going to come right around the time he came.

So, it says the three shall be built again in the wall even in troubled times. And after three score and two weeks, shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself, after the building of the city of Jerusalem.

And the people, the princes shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end thereof shall be with a foot, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.

So, the timing of the last week of Daniel, that’s something that we would have, that’s something that could be talked about endlessly.

But in terms of recognizing the Messiah and the first thing that’s first coming, it’s really clear it was going to be 69 weeks or 69 times 7, 483 years from around the time Daniel wrote this.

And he wrote this as an old man, so it’s really, and he wrote this in the probably late 5th century, 400-some BC. So, I’m sorry for, I shed pressure to give my commentary until the end.

And so in verse 27, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.

And the overspreading of abominations, he shall make a desolate even until the consummation. And that determine shall be poured out upon the desolate.”

So, whether that’s referring to the destruction of Jerusalem or in 87 year the Antichrist is unclear.

But the bottom line is it, from the time Daniel wrote that in 400-something BC till the Messiah there was going to be 69 times 7, 483 years till he would appear.

So, that combined with the fact he’d be of the seed of the Messiah would be of the seed of David, born in Bethlehem, come to the Second Temple, 483 years from about 483 years from the time Daniel gave that prophecy.

That made it, that alone would probably make it so Jesus is the only realistic candidate to be the Messiah.

Maybe you could say his brothers that were born after him.

And that’s not even accounting for the miracles he did and for the fact that he died his death for sin and God bearing witness to that by his resurrection.

Which alone was another thing that, and I’m sure many other factors.

So, this is a background of the Gospel writers who were showing that Jesus is the promised king and redeemer spoken of in the Old Testament.

And we see his mission in Romans 15, and so I will close with this.

Romans 15, 8 Paul says, “Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.”

And we’ll look more at those next week when we look at Abraham and David, “And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy, as it is written, ‘For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.’

And again rejoice ye Gentiles with his people, and again praise the Lord all ye Gentiles, and laud him all ye people.

And again Isaiah says, ‘If there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust.”

So, really look forward to this Matthew study.

I think that I’m going to learn a lot, Lord willing, in doing it.

And I think that just overall truth of God in the Gospel of salvation and the one who is salvation will be, I believe, will all come together to a better understanding of him throughout this study.

So I will close with this.

Brother Aaron, that was great. I’m sorry to jump in here guys real quick, but I was able to listen to all of that.

That was really well put together, brother.

And just as you did your book there, we went over the ageless conflict. I am personally so excited for you to continue this study.

I think Matthew is the most powerful, evangelistic, complete book in the New Testament. We are all called to be disciples. That’s what we are supposed to do. We are supposed to go make disciples of other people.

We are supposed to hold Bible studies online or over the phone here or support missionaries and continue to encourage them to go make disciples.

And that’s what the whole Gospel is all about.

So I just wanted to thank you because your wisdom here is helping to do just that on every level I just talked about.

Not only for all of us personally on here, but the missionaries too that are listening to this not only live.

The Jewish crew is definitely there, but all over Kenya and also in India. And it’s really helping edify thousands of disciples as they go down the line.

So I just wanted to thank you. I made it through here. So I’m starting to cough quite a bit again. They are going to be treating me.

So I’m going to let you guys go. Just continue to pray for my what I would call a miracle healing here.

Two days ago they said my liver was basically shut down and just in really, really bad shape. Acute liver failure I had just really bad. So it’s getting better.

So I’m just hoping that the cycle doesn’t continue and it hasn’t been over the last month.

But they have diagnosed me with hepatitis A. So I thank you all for your prayers and the outpouring of support that I’ve got.

It’s really humbling. I think Daniel Hugg said he was on. If you did Daniel, God bless you.

So nice to hear your voice. And William and Stephanie, thank you for coming to visit me today.

And everybody else that’s on, and everybody else that will be listening, I’m just praying for you.

And I love you all. And I’m going to conclude here. But if anybody else has any questions, I’m going to put on mute till you conclude. And thank you again, brother.

And definitely for those on the call, you don’t have to ask any questions or make any comments tonight.

But definitely as we go throughout this study, you know, tonight is different hopefully from following weeks.

Because I hope that we can just go through Matthew verse by verse. And I’ll do some research and have some things to say.

But I hope that you guys will make comments and interact as we go along.

And I hope next week to do chapters one and two. So if you want to read those before hand and have thoughts before hand, that’s good.

Great. Thank you, brother. And I’m not sure if we lost brother William there.

But as we depart tonight, keep each other in prayer, keep shopping each other’s sword. And we’ll continue to pray for our missionaries overseas.

One more special prayer request to brother Moses has fallen sick again.

He has malaria and brussella malaria for the second time since we left Kenya.

So our mission leader there is really getting attacked and keep him in prayer, everybody. Certainly God hears the righteous prayers for certain souls.

And he bore all our sicknesses on that cross. So we take that to bed tonight or to your day today, brother Hill, Daniel, and Shoann,

and whoever is there in Bangladesh. Thank you everybody for listening.

We’ll start on our official first chapter of Matthew next week for our study here with dear brother Aaron Carey.

And I wish you all a great day. Thank you.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapters 1 & 2- Week 2

Good evening everybody. I wanted to welcome you to our Tuesday night job study. I should

say Wednesday morning for a lot of our missionaries over there in Africa and Asia. So I’d just like

to welcome you. I’d like to welcome brother Aaron Carey. He’s a really anointed teacher. As you know, as we run our mission here all over the world, we’re very careful in choosing good teachers to teach us the Word of God. There are so few people out there that can

teach the Word of God correctly. In some ways, a lot of them compromise. But we met Aaron,

and he’s just done a fantastic job in relaying the gospel message, not only through his teachings

verbally, but also he’s written a few books. And I usually never, because I was in the apostate

church for a long time, I usually never recommend books. But we just went through a multi-week

study of one of his books called The Ageless Conflict. It was a fantastic book. If anybody

wants that book, you can email me. I have a few copies here, jmiller@globalmissionforchildren.org.

So last week we went through an introduction to Matthew. And this week we’re going to study

in Chapter 1. And we’ll just go week after week, and Aaron’s going to break it down for

us, verse by verse, word by word. So I thank you, Brother Aaron, so much for lending your time to us here. And you’re not only edifying people here at the United States, but you’re touching multiple churches and multiple people all over the world. With that, I’m happy to

note that we’re just in the process of putting up seven new churches and fellowships overseas,

just in Kenya alone. And we had two offices that we were just training from Bangladesh

that have actually come out of the Anglican church and have actually come out of the Baptist church. So we’ve been working with them for months, and they finally repent that it’s just such a wonderful thing to see this true gospel. So you’re a big part of this, Brother Aaron.

And we thank you, and please shed some wisdom to us. Thank you. Amen. Thank you, Aaron.

Thank you, Brother Jimin, for everybody on. It’s an honor to be here. If you cannot hear me, certainly feel free to interrupt me and let me know that, because sometimes everything can be really silent, and I’m not sure if people can hear me or not. So always feel free to let me know if you cannot hear me. Thank you.

Let me say hello, Brother Aaron and Jimmy. Chuck L. Bell. Just kind of got on a few minutes late here.

Please, Brother Chuck.

So nice to have you, Brother. Nice to hear your voice.

Okay. And I do agree with Brother Chuck. So we are going to, we’re willing to get through Matthew chapters 1 and 2 tonight. I’m going to have to spend some time on Matthew 1-1, and I think you’ll see as we go through the chapter why that is so necessary. But it should be downhill from there. At the end of chapter 1, I want to open it up for people to make additional comments or ask some questions before we go on to chapter 2. But we just, we don’t want to get sidetracked too much from the text and what the text actually says.

So just keep that in mind. So I also did need to make just a little clarification from last week. We started the book of, we looked at the book of Daniel and the 70 weeks of Daniel. And just to get the chronology straight there, that prophecy was given to the prophet Daniel in approximately 538 BC, I found out. But it started at the going forth, the commandment

to restore and to build Jerusalem, to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem, as you see in Daniel 9.24-27 there. So Christ would have been crucified 69 weeks from that point. And obviously, in a week in that context, everybody understands to mean 7 years. So 69 times 7, 483 years. So the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem was given by King of Persia in the

middle of the 5th century BC. And approximately, I saw two dates, 445 BC or 457 BC.

There’s

a little bit of dispute there. So it’s hard to get the timing down specifically to the

exact year, but approximately 483 years from, or 45 or 457 BC is what a studious scholar

of the Old Testament, even before Christ could have seen that the Messiah was going to arrive.

And did they understand everything? No, because we looked at last week how the different scriptures

are reconciling the suffering servant that the Messiah would be at his first coming in and the reigning King that he would be at his second coming. And the Old Testament, when it gives the prophecies of Christ, it often, we just looked at how, you know, an

honest Jew who studied the Bible before Christ came could have seen these different aspects

of what his mission would be. But to have seen the two comings would have, even that

could have tripped up the most honest faithful Jew. And just a scripture in the New Testament

that’s talking about that is 1 Peter 1, 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 10 through 12, “Of which

salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that

should come unto you, searching water what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did administer the things which are now reported unto you by them that appreciate gospel unto

you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into.”

So with that said, we will begin our text in Matthew chapter 1. Just turning there. So the gospel according to Matthew. Matthew 1 verse 1, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” This is very important, this first verse here. Matthew is writing to show that Jesus is the king of the Jews who was the

Messiah prophesied about in the Old Testament. A king, and this Messiah would be the son of David. And so he lists David even before the son of Abraham. So if you go to 2 Samuel chapter 7, you have God giving a promise to David about his kingdom enduring forever.

And it’s a very important promise. I’m just turning there myself. I should have had two Bibles, one I can keep in Matthew and one I can turn to as I reference things. So maybe I’ll do a future weeks and things will be a little smoother. So God tells David in 2 Samuel

7, 12, “And when thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy feet after thee, which shall proceed out of thy balls, and I will establish his

kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will

chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men. But my mercy shall not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine

house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee. Thy throne shall be established

forever according to all these words and according to all this vision.” So did Nathan speak on the David. So there’s a sense in which we know that Solomon was David’s son that built

the first temple literal physical structure that was called the temple in the Old Testament.

And obviously Solomon did commit iniquity and God did chasten him. And Solomon, we don’t

even know for sure that he repented. We have the book of Ecclesiastes at the end of his life, which could it be the words of a repented old man possibly? It could be the words of a hardened old man who is saying, who was talking about the wrong course he took but still has a hard start. I don’t know for sure, one way or the other. But I don’t want to

get sidetracked with that. The main point is that this prophecy in a sense extended to the Old Testament, but in a greater sense it extends to the ultimate son of David, the

Messiah whose throne is going to be established forever. And this is proven by, there’s multiple

scriptures in the Old Testament which show this, but I’m just going to look into for

a time sake here. Jeremiah chapter 23 verses 5 and 6. “Behold, the days come saith the Lord,” Jeremiah 23.5 I’m reading it, “that I will raise unto David a righteous branch,

and a king shall reign and prosper.” So this is long after Solomon. “And shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall

dwell safely. And this is his name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our righteousness.” So obviously talking about Christ said his second comment, but it’s still evident that there’s going to be a king that rises up as the son of David whose throne is going to

be established forever. And for more on that, anybody who didn’t listen to the intro last

week, that definitely would be good to do in your own time. So the other one is Ezekiel chapter 34. And there’s a bunch of others, but I just want to for time sake. So God is

talking about the new covenant here, and Ezekiel 34, 23, “And I will set up one shepherd over

them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David. He shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.” So obviously this is long after David was dead and buried. But he says that he’s going to set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David. He shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. “And I the Lord will be their

God, and my servant David, a prince among them.” Either Lord has spoken it. And obviously we know Christ when he talked about himself as being the good shepherd. This is one of the passages that we can just reference here with John 10. So in Luke’s Gospel, it’s good

to cross-reference the Gospels because they complement each other, and they add to each other so we can get the whole picture. When the angel Gabriel was sent to Mary, in Luke chapter 1, verse 30, he told her, he’s announcing, he’s telling her that she’s going to be the earthly mother of Christ. And in verse 30 he says, “Fear not, Mary, for that was found favorite with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shall bring forth

a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” So

we know that Messiah is going to be the son of David, and Mary is told about his every last year, the glory of his second coming, when she’s being told about his first coming,

and that she’s going to be the one who bears the king, the son of David. And so in Matthew’s genealogy, in Matthew 1 here, he’s going to go into the Jewish genealogical roles to show that Jesus is the legitimate descendant, not only because he’s God, but even in God’s wisdom and the time he appeared in the family he put him in the literal descendant of David after the flesh, who is to be the king over God’s people. And we’re going to get more

into that in chapter 2. So just to understand the concept of the son of David. David was

a shepherd who was prepared by God to reign in his humility, tending for the sheep. And

as I was reading Adam Carr’s commentary earlier, he said that even among the ancient Greeks,

the terms king and shepherd were one and the same word. And to rule and to feed were one and the same word, because it’s understood of a good king that he is going to protect

and defend and care for his faithful subjects. And he’s also going to put down and crush his enemies righteously. And so as we go on in this Gospel and we find people yelling “Jesus, the son of David, have mercy upon me,” it’s an acknowledgment of his goodness and of his power. And so that’s important. And we’re going to look at just the bottom

line. It was understood that only among the Jews, only a descendant of the son of David after the flesh could be the Messiah. They understood that the Messiah would be God,

but they understood that he was going to appear as a man and as the son of David. And so that’s

what Matthew is going to show here. But he also mentions the son of Abraham because God

took Abraham. Abraham was basically the beginning of the Jewish people in terms of God working

directly with the nation was God working with Abraham. So he says the son of David, the

son of Abraham, because God had given Abraham the promise in Genesis chapter 12. I’m only

going to look at two scriptures about this forsake of time. Genesis 12.1, “Now the

Lord had set unto Abram.” He was called Abram before God changed his name to Abraham shortly

after this. I believe Abram means father and Abraham means father of a multitude. “Now the Lord had set unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kingdom and from thy father’s house unto a land that I will truly and I will make of thee a great nation

and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing and I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee and in thee shall all families of the

earth be blessed.” So if you go to Galatians chapter 3, you have the apostle Paul expounding

upon this. Paul is going to say in Galatians chapter 3 verse 8. The scripture for seeing

that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying, “And be shall all nations be blessed.” So then they which be of faith are blessed

with faith for Abraham. So we go down to verse 13. It says, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone

that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men, though it be but a man’s covenant, yet confirm no man, this,

and all, that are added thereto. Now to Abraham and the seed where the promise is made, he

sayeth not in the seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ.”

So ultimately God is telling Abraham that he’s going to make him a father of many nations, the father of multitude. He’s going to reiterate that promise to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob throughout the Book of Genesis. But his main point is that he’s going to multiply Abraham’s natural seed exceedingly, and that he’s going to bring forth the Messiah through his line in which all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed, are going to have

an opportunity to be reconciled to God and to be born again by the Holy Spirit. And there’s going to be a spiritual seed of Abraham too, as we see in Galatians 3. If you go down to verse 26, Paul tells Galatians, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ

Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither

Jew nor Greek. There is neither God nor free. There is neither male nor female. For ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham’s seed.” Christ is the

ultimate seed, but those of the faith of Abraham are counted among Christ’s people and Abraham’s

spiritual seed, since he’s talked about as the example of faith for those he’s given as a model of faith for a man of like passions of us in the Bible. And if ye be Christ, then

are ye Abraham’s seed, and there is according to the promise.” So the promise of God sending

salvation to the entire world, it was understood among the Jews that this salvation was going to be of the seed of Abraham, the son of David. So that’s how Matthew starts out to establish this. So moving on in Matthew then, verse 2, I’ll just start with verse 1. “The book of

the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac

and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren. And Judas begat Pharaoh

and zero of Tamar, and fear is beget Esram, and Esram beget Eiram, and Eiram beget Aminidib, and Aminidib beget Massan, and Massan beget Selmon, and Selmon beget Boaz of Rahab, and Boaz beget Obed of Ruth, and Obed beget Jesse, and Jesse beget David the King, and David the King beget Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias, and Solomon beget Rabor,

and Rabor, and Beget Abiah, and Abiah beget Esa, these are kings of, were in the period of the Davidic dynasty, these were kings that we read about in the book of Kings, and Esa beget Jehooshaphat, and Jehooshaphat beget Joram, and Joram beget Ozias, and Ozias beget Jotam, and Jotam beget Ahias, and Ahias beget Hezekiah.

In the King James we have the Greek names of the Hebrew kings, so that’s the reason for the difference in Hezekiah, and Hezekiah is Hezekiah, and Hezekiah beget Manassas, and Hezekiah beget Manassas, and Manassas beget Ammon, and Ammon beget Josias, and Josias beget Jeckani and his brethren about the time they were carried away to Babylon.

After they were brought to Babylon, Jeckanius beget Salethiel, and Salethiel beget Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel beget Abiud, and Abiud beget Eliachim, and Eliachim beget Azor, and Azor beget Sadak, and Sadak beget Achaem, and Achaem beget Eliud, and Eliud beget Eliezer, and Eliezer beget Methon, and Methon beget Jacob, and Jacob beget Joseph,

the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who was called Christ. So, Joseph is Jesus’ legal father after the flesh, but Matthew is very careful to say that Joseph did not beget Christ himself, but that Jacob beget Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who was called Christ.

Christ means, look, we talked about the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah, the Lord’s anointed. God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power, we read about in the Scriptures, and Jesus pours out the anointing that he received of God on those who obey him.

And that’s why we read about in Acts 5.32 that God had in Acts 5.31 and 32, that God had raised up, let me just read that Scripture there.

“Hemeth got exalted with the God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom he slew and hanged on a tree.” I’m reading in Acts 5.30-32.

“Hemeth got exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior, for the difference of Israel and forgiveness of sins, and we are his witnesses of these things. And so also is the Holy Ghost from God have given to them that obey him.”

So those that obey the anointed one are, the Lord’s anointed one are given that same anointing. And that’s what happened on the day of Pentecost when Peter preached to replying to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and for the forgiveness of sins.

“And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promises unto you and to your children, and to all that are of our mouth, as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

So in verse 17 then, “So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David until the carrying away in the Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the carrying away in the Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.”

Matthew definitely left out some names among the kings and probably afterwards, too, from the time of the carrying away in the Babylon to Christ. He seems to want to have an end to divide these three periods of Israel’s history, the patriarchs, the kings, and the time after the captivity and the three groups of fourteen.

Why he does that, we don’t know exactly, but seven times six, forty-two generations, there’s possibly a picture of how Christ has got in man and that Christ, if he’s the forty-third, would be, you could say there’s seven groups of six, and Christ is the beginning of the seventh.

There’s a picture of man’s imperfection and Christ being the profession of, sorry to say, Christ being the savior of man, the beginning of the seventh line.

We don’t know exactly that sort of speculation, and it’s probably, but for some reason, Matthew sees it good to divide up this genealogy into the three groups of fourteen.

In verse eight here, it says that Jehozephat begat Drom and Drom begat Uzziah, which was Uzziah. There were definitely three kings left out there.

The three of the sons of the intermarriage with Ahab’s family.

So, what the bottom line is that it was well established in the Jewish genealogical records who the people were in between.

So, when he says that, and this is true of any other names that are left out here, when he says that the Drom begat Uzziah, if it was public knowledge of about the three names in between, which I believe were, which I would have to go back into the book of Kings and Look,

and I believe that they were, Uzziah and Joash were two of those names.

It was well established, the names in between anyways. So, there’s definitely not any inaccuracy, and Matthew is not being inaccurate to leave out certain names here.

One other thing, two other things to note about this genealogy. One of them is that there are four women mentioned here who are, who are not, we would take it as a surprise that they would be mentioned in the son of God’s genealogy.

And that is Rahab the harlot in verse five, Ruth the mole boy in verse five, and Tamar back in verse three, she’s the first one, and then the wife of Uriah in verse six.

That’s Bathsheba. So, those who know the Old Testament know that Judas begat Pharaoh of Tamar, Tamar was Judas’s daughter-in-law.

That’s talked about Genesis 38, how that happened. So, she was a scandalous woman for what she did.

In verse five, it talks about Selma and Selma begep on Rahab. Rahab had been a harlot who had converted to the God of Israel.

We read about that in Joshua chapter two. When she received the spice that the Israelites had sent to spy out the land, and she evidently became a worshiper of the true God, and they saved her life,

and she had a godly marriage and begat boys, and then boys himself begat Obed of Ruth.

And Ruth was, we know that from the Book of Ruth, she was a Moabite. And she was a virtuous woman herself.

We know nothing against her. But the Moabites were a people that were a scandalized people, because they were the, if you read Genesis chapter 19,

the Moabites and the Ammonites were the product of Lot’s incestuous relationship with his two daughters.

And then in verse six, David’s great father, how Solomon begotten through David’s adultery with Bathsheba.

So there’s four women that the Jews could rightfully in a way been ashamed were in the Son of God’s genealogy here.

But I believe that this is a picture of Isaiah 53 that we looked at last week, that Christ was numbered with the transgressors.

He identified himself with sinful man as far as he possibly could in purchasing our salvation. He identified with us in our sin as much as he possibly could without actually sinning himself. And so there’s a, I think there’s a wonderful picture there.

And there’s also a picture of at least three of these four women had been Gentiles. And this is, there’s also a foreshadow that God would open his salvation fully to the Gentiles,

even among this Jewish genealogy, there’s Gentiles mixed in just foreshadowing the open door that is going to come to them.

Because Gentiles before Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 had to get circumcised and converted Judaism to worship the true God.

But God waived that requirement and made them, and the Gentiles have become the primary element of Christ’s church.

So that’s something to note there from the genealogy. So continuing in verse 18.

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found the child of the Holy Ghost.”

So, I mean, we can just think how scary that would have been for her.

Now we know that the angel Gabriel had appeared to her from Luke chapter one and told her what was going to happen.

But it must have been very uncomfortable for her.

And especially for Joseph, who was her espoused husband, verse 19, and Joseph her husband being a just man,

and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately or silently.

So apparently God’s requirement that adulterers and adulterers be stoned in the Old Testament, that that was the reason, was to make them a public example.

And we learned from this that a merciful spouse could have the option of putting away their adulterer spouse secretly if the crime itself, if the adulterer itself had not been widely known publicly.

And obviously had Mary really had this child not been of the Holy Ghost, it would have been considered adultery.

It was the legal contract among the Jews to be truthful or the engagement was regarded by them as just as a legal marriage.

So even though they would not have come together until after the wedding, they were as good as married when they were betrothed to each other.

So Joseph was in a very uncomfortable spot.

I believe that there’s a lesson here about how in serving Christ there can be misunderstandings and uncomfortable things that can happen to us as a result, even when we’re taking all the precautions that we can reasonably take.

So in verse 20, “But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in the dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee, marry thy wife, for that which is conceived in her as of the Holy Ghost.

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.”

I’m going to read here a poem from Adam Clark on Matthew 1, 21. “Jesus, the same as Joshua, Yahoshua, from Yahshua in Hebrew, he saved, delivered, put in a state of safety, see on Exodus 39 and Numbers 13, 16.

He shall save his people from their sins. This shall be his great business in the world, the great urn on which he has come to make an atonement for and to destroy sin. Deliverance from all the power, guilt, and pollution of sin is the privilege of every believer in Christ Jesus.

Less than this is not spoken of in the Gospel, and less than this would be on becoming the Gospel.

The perfection of the Gospel system is not that it makes allowances for sin, but that it makes an atonement for it, not that it tolerates sin, but that it destroys it.

In Matthew 1, 1, he is called Jesus Christ, on which Dr. Lloyd put properly remarks that the name of Jesus, so often added to the name of Christ in the New Testament, is not only that

Christ might be pointed out as the Savior, but also that Jesus might be pointed out as the true Christ for Messiah,

against the unbelief of the Jews. This observation will be of great use in numberless places of the New Testament. He gives some references here.

So, obviously then, to believe in Christ we have to be in agreement with his mission. We read in Amos chapter 3 verse 3 that, “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” Obviously not.

We read in Romans 6, 1 and 2, “What shall we say, then shall we continue and sin that grace may abound?” God forbid.

How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer there? Paul wrote that to the Roman Christians, knowing that to truly believe in Jesus, we have to reckon ourselves dead to sin with him.

We can’t make the atonement to pay for our sins, but we have to identify with him and his death to sin, and his living to God.

We have to come to repentance so that we will walk in line with his purpose, which is to save us from our sins.

Obviously, that was the theme of our age-wise conflict study, and we will deal with that more as it arises naturally in our texts.

It’s definitely going to do that when next week we will look at John the Baptist preaching in Matthew chapter 3.

Moving on from verse 22, “Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying…”

Constantly here, Matthew is going to reference the Old Testament to prove that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the…

He is the Messiah, the fulfillment of the salvation prophecy about in the Old Testament.

“…Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, ‘Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth the Son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,’ which being interpreted as God with us.”

This is a prophecy from Isaiah chapter 7. We would be getting really psyched for it to go into it right now, but I will say that some people say that virgin here simply means young woman.

But if you go to Isaiah chapter 7, 13 and 14 in the original context, if there was simply a young woman being with child, that would not be a sign. There would be nothing miraculous about that.

There would be nothing. There would be no sign involved there.

Whether the word itself can mean young woman or not is immaterial because even if it could mean young woman instead of simply a virgin, the very fact that it is a sign that it is talked

about as something wonderful and something miraculous would prove that it couldn’t be just a young woman, but it would have to be a virgin as a young woman.

And the context of the original sign was that God was going to preserve Judea, the nation of Israel, the Jews, so that they could bring forth the Christ.

And as we are reading about here, and obviously about 40 years later in 1870, the temple would be destroyed and the Jews would be scattered throughout the earth.

And what we talked about last week, it was impossible for the Messiah to appear after He had to come during the time of the second temple, like we read about in the prophecies from Haggai chapter 2 and Melachi chapter 3.

So, and they shall call His name, I’m reading in the second half of verse 23, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted as God with us.

We read in Colossians 1.27 that Christ in you is the hope of glory, and we read in at the beginning of John’s Gospel that Christ is, so Christ literally in the New Covenant, Christ literally, we can be born again by His Spirit, and Christ can live in us by the Holy Spirit.

And inside of His people and literally be with us. And we read in John chapter 1 about His deity.

Matthew speaks of Jesus as the King of the Jews, a fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures, whereas John, they’re both speaking of the same thing, but with a different emphasis.

John is going back even to eternity best before time even began, and to begin His Gospel, verse 14.

“And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything that was made.

And in Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” In verse 14, we read in the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

So we have just like Matthew 1.23 says that God literally was manifest in the flesh and dwelt among us, as also 1 Timothy 3.16 says, “And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

So continuing then in Matthew, verse 24, “Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel to him his wife.”

This is a Joseph was a true man, like we read about in verse 19. He was a just man.

He was a godly man who had the faith of Abraham. He reminds me a lot about Abraham obeying God and teaching Isaac, going in and all the different, taking Isaac to offer him up as an offering to the Lord before the Lord stopped him.

And the many other times that Abraham did something costly to obey God, we see Joseph here obeying God in what was going to be a very, we’re going to go into chapter 2 and see how costly this was for him.

So, “Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had been in him and took unto him his wife, and knew her not till she had bought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus.”

So does this prove that, this certainly proves that Mary was a virgin until the time she bought forth Jesus?

The Roman Catholics believed that Mary was a perpetual virgin. We read later on in the Gospels about Jesus’ brothers and sisters.

And the people saying, “Are not his brothers James and Judas and his sisters, are they not with us?”

The Roman Catholic scholars will say that there was no word in the, that was, they could have denoted an actual, for cousin they would say.

So they say his brothers and sisters might have been his cousins. That’s possible by that text alone.

They may be right, I think they’re right about that. But the fact is that the Scriptures don’t teach that Mary was a perpetual virgin.

She needed to be a virgin to fulfill the Scriptures in bringing forth Christ. But there was no need that she stay a virgin afterward.

And I suspect by this prophecy about Christ in Psalm 69 that she was not a virgin. We know that Psalm 69 10 is about, we know that Psalm 69 9 is quoted in John chapter 2 about Jesus.

“For the zeal of thine health hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them that reproach the air fallen upon me.”

Look at the verse before that, Psalm 69 8, “I have become a stranger unto my brethren and an alien unto my mother’s children.”

So that really, the fact that verse 9 is so obviously a reference to Christ, I don’t see why verse 8 would not also be.

And that really, and obviously it’s a picture of Christ on the cross, Christ in his offerings, and it’s showing him to be a stranger unto his brethren and an alien unto his mother’s children.

I believe God put that in there as a hint that Mary did not remain a virgin perpetually.

So we will go on with chapter 2, but I want to open it up. I’m running a little bit later than I thought, but we still got about 35 minutes.

So I want to do chapter 2, but before that I want to open it up if anybody has any quick comments or questions on chapter 1 there.

Yeah, brother, I think we’ve got a lot of time if it’s going to take even half the time to do chapter 2.

So maybe we’ll just do questions after if we have time, if not, because I know you have to definitely go in less than 40 minutes.

So why don’t we just go on to chapter 2 and we can do, I’ll stay on later and give everybody my email out of that phone.

Sounds good.

Can I still choose here, Jim? Yeah, yeah, good.

Okay, so going on with chapter 2.

“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Gudea and the days of Herod the king, behold there came wise men from the east of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he that is born king of the Jews?

For we have seen a star in the east and are come to worship him.'”

Some commentators believe that we read in Genesis 25 how Abraham had children by concubines and sent them away to the east.

And we definitely read in the book of Job about Job was the greatest of the men in the east.

And we see that there were worshippers of God in the east, which we’re not totally exactly what that is here, but it was definitely to the east of the land of Israel.

And so whether these were, whether they remain a remnant of worshippers of God there from the days of Abraham, we don’t know for sure.

But it’s possible.

But God somehow, but somehow there were wise men in the east who were probably astronomers or some type of seekers after God and probably students of the universe and the stars who were,

God gave them a sign and it was communicated to them somehow by the star that the Messiah was born who they understood to be the king of the Jews.

And so they said, “We’ve seen a star in the east and are come to worship him.”

Jesus throughout the Gospels accepted worship. And sometimes it’s true that oftentimes kings, like we see people doing obeisance to David in the Old Testament.

And it’s true that different nations throughout different times, it’s been a common thing for people to bow down before their rulers.

But the thing about Jesus accepting worship is that he was not a civil ruler.

So for those who are missionaries and those who deal with Muslims, it’s a strong proof that Jesus was God because the worship he accepted was inherently religious worship.

It wasn’t civil worship.

So these wise men come to Jerusalem and they’ve seen a star in the east. This star might be a reference to Numbers 2417, which I won’t go through now, but it talked about,

it’s Balaam the false prophet who got a real message from God in that case for those who don’t know the story.

And he says that, I better just read Numbers 2417.

He says, “I shall see him, but not now I shall behold him, but not now.” Because this was given about 1,000 years before, 1,500 years before. “There shall come a star out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Sheth.”

And obviously that second part is talking about his second coming. But he definitely is talking about a star out of Jacob and a scepter rising out of Israel.

Possibly this star in the reference of the wise men is to this prophecy in Numbers 2417.

But somehow, regardless, they understood that there was a star and God communicated to them that the Christ was born in Jerusalem.

So in verse 3, “When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled in all Jerusalem with him.” Herod likely saw Christ as a rival to his throne.

And we know that Jesus did not come at his first coming to be an earthly king. This is the same conversation he had in private in John 18, that Jesus answered in verse 36, “My kingdom is not of this world.

My kingdom were of this world. Then with my servants’ flight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from hence.

Pilate therefore said unto him, I am a king. Then Jesus answered, thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.

Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” Now we read in Revelation 11.15 at his second coming that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.

So even though Herod was wronged to see Christ as a rival to his throne, immediately I think Herod perceived that Christ was still a rebuke to his wicked life and the unrighteousness whereby he had obtained his kingdom.

Herod is, we could say, is a picture of antichrist. So it’s interested that this is not the same Herod as later in the Gospels as we’re going to see just in this chapter that is going to be his son Herod Antipas.

This king is the one who is known as Herod the Great. He was not great by God’s standards. He was a very wicked man.

But him and all Jerusalem are troubled. And it’s interesting to compare this with what the angels tell the shepherds in Luke chapter 2 that when Christ was born they had turned their Luke 2.

“10 They say to the shepherds, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you was born to stay in the city of David the Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”

So again Jesus is Lord and Savior can’t be separated. “And this shall be a sign unto you, you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace good will toward men.”

So these people who are blinded then by their sin and by the status quo that they were so content with, the greatest peace and joy,

the greatest, they were in the place of the greatest event that had ever happened in human history and they were troubled.

And that’s what we get often when we go out to preach the gospel. If our message is true, we are telling people the best news that they could ever possibly want to hear.

But nobody’s ever going to embrace it who loves their sin and who is content with the status quo around them.

I’m not necessarily talking politically but just content with their life as it is and the way things are.

And nobody who is like that is going to be willing to forsake all, to replant and to forsake all and to subject themselves to Jesus’s kingly authority and find salvation from their sins.

There has to be a weariness and a heavy laden with sin and a fed up with a life wrapped around earthly things, being fed up with that.

And so because here the king in Jerusalem in general for the most part was because they considered their portion in this life.

They opposed what should have been the greatest peace and comfort to them and what was a great peace and comfort to the shepherds and to some others in Jerusalem that we read about in the opening chapters of Luke.

So in verse 4, “And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

And they said unto him, And Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou, Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not the least among the princes of Judah.

For out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel.” So they gave a right answer that’s significant.

It’s not that these men had the Bible and they gave them the right answer.

And what it’s very interesting that they were not going out to Bethlehem. They have these wise men come from the east.

They’re talking about the style that they believe signifies his birth. They’re really troubled.

But why don’t they go out to Bethlehem themselves to seek him?

Because we know that the shepherds, if we kept reading in the passage in Luke 2,

we know that they said, let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing which the Lord has made known to us.

So we get a real good picture then here about the corruption of the Jewish leaders of this time.

Some people very often will get called Pharisees for quoting the Bible a lot and for saying, well, the Bible says this and the Bible says it.

And we want to obey the Bible and Satan has deceived so many people to believe that this is being a Pharisee.

This is being a scribe.

This is being a hypocrite to insist on what the Bible says.

But we see that these men’s problem wasn’t that they had the scriptures and their answers from the scriptures.

They had the scriptures. Their answer was right. But they didn’t act on it.

And so and that and that’s what it means to be a scribe in a Pharisee in a bad sense of the word.

That’s what it means to be a hypocrite.

And that’s what we see Jesus actually actually rebuking the Pharisees for later on in Matthew’s gospel in Matthew 23.

Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples saying the scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seats.

All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do. But do you not after their works for they say and do not.

So we just we got we got that picture in Matthew two there.

And then we have in John chapter five another another very literal.

Another illustration here in chapter John five verse forty three.

Jesus says to the Jewish leaders I’m coming my father’s name and you receive me not. If another shall come in his own name him will he will he will he will receive.

How can you believe which receive honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from God only.

Do not think that I will accuse you to the father.

There is one that accuses you accuse you even Moses and whom he trusts. For had you believe Moses you would have believed me for he wrote of me.

But if you believe not his ratings how should you how should you believe my words. He had said I am sold.

There is no contradiction between Christ and Moses. Christ is the fulfillment of what Moses wrote about.

He’s going to say in chapter five thing not that I’m going to destroy the law of the prophets. I’m not going to destroy but to fulfill the Old Testament isn’t the problem.

The Old Testament is the Old Testament is God’s word as much as the New Testament is. The New Testament couldn’t be without the Old Testament.

The New Testament couldn’t be without the Old Testament.

The New Testament is the completion of what God had begun in the Old Testament.

There’s no contradiction but many now speak as if Moses and the Old Testament are somehow an opponent to Jesus.

And that’s that’s just not true.

Earlier in this chapter I should have started at verse 39 Jesus said search the Scriptures for them you think you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me.

And I’m the only scriptures they had at this time with the Old Testament and you will not come to me that you might have life.

And so here we have in Matthew chapter two literally on these Jewish leaders who know the scriptures and have the right answer from the scriptures.

But yet won’t come to they won’t come to Christ like that they might have life.

Jesus talked about how long the men of Nineveh are going to rise up with this generation and condemn it because they came from because they repented at the preaching of Jonas.

But greater than Jonas is here and he talks about how the queen of Sheba shall rise up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it for she came from the other most parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold it greater than Solomon is here.

So here we have these wise men coming from the east making this probably months long journey that they might see Christ.

And we have this we have these scribes in Jerusalem who are literally probably they might have been able to watch the Bethlehem in a day but at least no more than two days.

And yet they didn’t come. It’s amazing.

And we can apply that now that there’s people and there’s people in other countries who maybe they only have a little bit of scripture.

But they they treasure that little bit of scripture they have and they obey it and they seek God and and they and they suffer for the little truth they have.

And yet we have we have full Bibles that are Bibles in abundance here and and we’re expected to we’re expected to.

We have a greater accountability with the greater light and those who don’t make use of the light they have are going to are going to be condemned and especially proven to be especially proven to be without excuse by the people who had so much less light and improved upon it so much more.

So verse seven then here when he had perfectly called the wise men and quarter of them diligently what time the star appeared on and he sent them to Bethlehem and said go and search diligently for the young child.

And when you found him bring me word and that I may come and worship him also. So here we have a false seeker after Christ.

Here it appeared to be to the wise my diligent seeker but he is the essence of what a hypocrite is somebody who says he’s a worshipper intense to worship but he had an ulterior motive.

And it’s interesting to hear it did not send anybody else else to Bethlehem with them to find out more information but he probably didn’t because of the fact that he wanted to appear like he wanted it to appear like he really wants to know when he wants to use these wise men simplicity.

So verse nine so when they had heard the king they departed and all the star which they saw the east one before them so it came and stood over where the young child was when they saw the star they rejoice with exceeding great joy.

So I believe there’s a picture here about how if people respond if anybody is responding to the to the light that they have and we read in John one that Jesus is the light that lights every man that cometh into the world.

There’s we read about Cornelius in X Chapter 10 how God he was seeking God according to the light that he had and God gave him more light and these wise men were and these wise

men were following the light they had and in the star they literally had a light they followed and those who follow the light will be brought to Christ because God will God takes notice of those who are.

Responding faithfully to the light they have and honestly and if they keep responding the they will be that they will they will eventually come to Christ if they if they keep on if they keep diligently seeking with Hebrews 11 six talks about and as we see the wise men were led to him.

So verse 11 and when they were coming to the house they saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down and worshiped him so this is a big rebuke to Roman Catholics who kneeled down before Mary they might say they don’t worship her but they they still bow down before her and they consider her to be a co redeemer with Jesus and a co-mediatrix with Jesus and it’s just so it’s it’s still idolatrous whether they say it’s worship or not.

But so Mary and Mary is right there but they are they’re worshiping their only they’re only worshiping Jesus and they and in the next chapter one we see Mary praying with the rest of the apostles and the other disciples in Jerusalem and she’s praying with them and they’re not praying to her.

So that’s a great review of Roman Catholic views of Mary and when they had opened their treasures they presented under him gifts gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Some some people would spiritualize these gifts to say that they are of significance in terms of in terms of what they represented others would say they were just they were the best they had to give and and they and that these gifts would have been in great use.

And since Mary and Joseph and Jesus were about to plan to Egypt and these gifts likely did were used to sustain them on their trip to Egypt and in the time they were in Egypt.

So that’s definitely so those things are definitely true. But I don’t rule out that there could be a spiritual significance to these gifts on the.

So I will just briefly give what those are speculated to be and just let everybody seek the Lord about that and consider if there is a great significance to the spiritual significance to the gift.

The gold could represent Christ being on Christ being the king who is who is who all the riches of the universe belong to who is worthy of all of our riches worthy of worthy of our worship and obedience and sacrifice and service.

And and frankincense frankincense is I believe that is basically the same as what the holy anointing oil that was used in the Old Testament tabernacle.

There was there was only the God had said that any man who made anything like it to put upon man’s flesh was to be put to death. It was something that was it was a special. It was a special oil that God did not power it to be to be used among the Israelites except in except in his worship.

So so this would be this could be another proof that Christ is God. Of course, we have many better proofs throughout Matthew and the Gospels and the rest of the Bible.

But certainly there’s there’s definitely the thought of incense and praise and Christ being Christ being the great high priest who was whoever lives to make intercession of those that come to God by him and more more was a substance that was poured on dead bodies.

So there’s possibly a foreshadow of Jesus’s suffering and how he was how he was born to suffer and to die for us.

And and we’re definitely we’re definitely was was used to anoint that by. So there was it made me think of Hebrews chapter two.

It’s good to look at even if even if it’s good to it’s good to be cautious about overly spiritualizing scripture.

But even if you don’t want to see the anything beyond a natural significance to these gifts, it still is worth reading in Hebrews to the Christ was Christ was born to testify of God to bear witness to the Lord.

God to bear witness to the truth like we read about in John. But ultimately that bearing witness to the truth was to the end.

That was ultimately going to Christ must need suffer as we read about in the Old Testament.

That’s the only way we could possibly have our sins atone for and he was going to testify of the truth of God’s God’s love for mankind and hatred of sin.

And the essence and initial sin for what it ultimately is.

And to complete his mission to save us from our sins, his mission on earth anyways, he was going to have to die.

So in Hebrews chapter two we read in verse Hebrews two five front to the angels safety not in the not putting subjection the world to come.

We speak one in a certain place testified saying what is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou visit us in thou made us a little lower than the angels.

How crown us with glory and honor and it set him over the works of the hands that was put up things in subjection under his feet for that he put on subjection under him.

He left nothing that is not put under him.

But now we see not yet all things put under him.

So so obviously there’s a reigning that over overall that’s going to happen in a second coming.

But what do we see?

What have we seen?

Verse nine. But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should take death for every man.

That was that was ultimately what his wife was intended to come to from the beginning for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things and bring many sons on to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect their sufferings.

So continuing on then you know first folks got to get my place.

So and then Joseph and Mary and being one of God in a dream that they should not return to here.

They departed into their own country another way. It’s oh I’m sorry.

That’s not Joseph and Mary. That’s the wise men.

So they might have made a promise to hear that they would that they would come back and tell him about their finding the young child that they saw.

But when God himself if keeping a promise would go against God’s word or God himself were to somehow communicate to us that I mean we ought to be careful about that.

But they were really warned of God in a dream that they should not return to here.

So obviously any promise that they had kept in God warning them and knowing that their promise if they were to keep it was to be for wicked ends.

They were not God did not hold them to do that.

So verse 13 and when they were departed behold the angel the Lord of Paris Joseph in a dream saying arise and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt and be thou there until I bring the word for here.

We’ll see if the young child to destroy him.

It’s interesting that God couldn’t God have made them invisible couldn’t God have protected them from what here it was about to do while they stayed in on in the land of in the land of Judea.

But God just doesn’t usually work that way and he gave them means to get out of the shortly the distress it was really going to happen and the danger they were shortly going to be in.

And they were expected to do that rather than say well we just trust God that he’s going to protect this child is the Christ and God’s going to protect him that they didn’t do that.

And we see in X chapter twenty seven how long how when God promised Paul that he was going to save his life and those that were with him.

Paul still was diligent and Paul was still faithful to use the natural means and to use his own intelligence and his own efforts to make sure that that ship was not going to sink.

You can just read about that in X chapter twenty seven. So there’s a lot of false faith.

Like the idea that well God said that he’d protect me so I don’t need to take medicine or I don’t need to flee away even though there’s even though Christ said that when they persecute you in one city flee into another.

So verse fourteen when he arose he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt and was there until the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying out of Egypt have I called my son.

That’s a reference from the Book of Hosea. God allowed Christ to be sent into Egypt that he might identify poorly with his people and their sufferings and they were once in bondage in Egypt.

So that prophecy in Hosea was obviously talking about Christ the son in the future and it was obviously also talking about Israel in the past and there’s some prophecies.

There’s some prophecies that have a double meaning and when there’s no contradiction there is nothing wrong to say that this can mean this and it can also mean this.

So verse sixteen then Herod when he saw that he was mocked with the wise men he’s such a hypocrite because he was the one mocking the wise men by what he had asked them to do but in his eyes they were mocking him in his self-centeredness and his pride, his exceeding self-centeredness and pride.

So then Herod when he saw that he was mocked with the wise men was exceeding wrath and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and all the coast from two years old and under according to the time which she diligently inquired of the wise men.

So this was obviously a very tragic horrible scene.

This also gives us evidence that the star that the wise men had seen and their trip to the land of Judea was it would have taken a long time for that to happen.

It wasn’t something that just happened right away.

It seems that God had had Mary and Joseph circumcise Jesus and present him to the Lord in the temple and then returned to Nazareth and that they had come back to Bethlehem for another purpose.

Different commentators have trouble reconciling that.

But perhaps they were back in Bethlehem to visit family and God had sent the wise men there at that time that they might see his birthplace and see him in the place he had been born.

And plus they were also closer to Egypt here.

So then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the Prophet saying in Ramah was there a voice heard lamentation and weeping and great mourning, racial weeping for our children and would not be comforted because they are not.

This prophecy was literally spoken about the Israelite children when the Babylonians invaded the land and were slaughtering the Israelites and taking them captive.

Rachel is a picture of a faithful mother since Rachel was a mother that Jacob’s wife who had said to him give me children lest I die.

So loving, faithful, passionate mothers are summed up by this term, racial weeping for our children and would not be comforted because they are not.

But when Herod was dead beholden, verse 19, but when Herod was dead beholden, the anger of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.

“Sanger rise and take the young child and his mother who went to the land of Israel. For they are dead which sought the young child’s life.” So again the Lord using natural means.

Even though it seems like he could have protected Jesus in Israel before without him having to flee into Egypt, he sent them into Egypt while Herod, the older Herod was still reigning.

And when he died and the threat from him was gone, God sent to Joseph in a dream through an angel and told him in verse 20.

So verse 21, “He arose and took the young child and his mother and came into the land of Israel.”

But when he had heard that Archalaeus did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there.

Archalaeus was a very vicious man who later in his reign he would kill 3,000 people. I believe during a time one of the three feasts in Jerusalem.

And so Joseph understood that notwithstanding being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee.

God accounted for that. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophets.

Notice that by the prophets, not just one prophet, but by the prophets he shall be called a Nazarene.

So Jesus was never, the Messiah was never directly called a Nazarene in the Old Testament.

But what we do have is Isaiah 11.1, which is, I don’t believe that some people say that this is talking about Jesus being a Nazarite.

And like Samson was, but I don’t believe so. Isaiah 11.1, “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.”

That word for branch here is “nasar” or something along those lines.

It’s talking about, “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom, and understanding the Spirit of counsel, and light the Spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord.”

And shall make him a quick understanding and the fear of the Lord.

There’s, so the essence of Isaiah 11.1 is that the king of Israel that’s going to a rise in who is going to, and who is ultimately going to rule the world is going to have a humble beginning.

And that’s what we see later on in Isaiah 53, which we looked at last week.

In Isaiah 53.2, “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor a calmliness.

And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.”

So the essence of him being called a Nazarene is that it comes from the word “branch.” It has to do with something that men don’t value highly, something poor and despised. And so the essence of Matthew 23, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

The prophets in general had prophesied that the Messiah was going to be poor and despised in his humanity.

And going to a city like Nazareth, which was a very poor and despised city, fulfilled the prophets in that way.

And we read about Nathaniel when he’s told about Jesus in chapter 1.

He says, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” It was considered a low place, economically, socially.

Like, “No, you’re from Nazareth.” And so that’s what’s met there in Matthew 2.23. So I just will be a minute or two more here.

In Luke chapter 2, just something that’s added. Some people speculate that Jesus was going to India and was involved in all types of crazy stuff from the time he was a child to the time he began his ministry when he was 30.

But the bottom line is that we have no evidence from the Bible that he ever really would have left the land of Israel.

It says in Luke 2.52, “When he was 12 years old and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them as parents.

But his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.”

And that’s the last thing we read about his childhood, is that he came down to Nazareth and was subject unto them.

It’s probable that Joseph died probably when Jesus was a teenager because later on in the Gospels we have people talking about…

…the mother and the brother and the sister.

No, there’s no mention of Joseph. So it’s very likely that Joseph died and Jesus would have been the oldest male in the family.

He would have been responsible for…he would have been responsible to be the economic provider of his family at a very young age.

I want to close with this quote from E.B. Simpson.

“And so we can think of 20 years perhaps of his life oppressed with the burden of curing toil until he became familiar with every experience in our common life of toil and sorrow.

We re-enold in legends of many a foolish romantic story connected with his childhood. But the gospel story gives no place for these idle childhood stories.

It is a plain unvarnished picture of a commonplace life.

No relieving pictures except the light that shone from heaven in the secret chambers of his holy heart.

Such then is a picture of our Savior’s childhood.” So with that, we will close up on…

Next week, Lord willing, we will do Matthew’s chapters 3 and 4. Great. Thank you, brother Aaron. Everybody stay on.

I’m going to conclude this recording. We’re not going to have time to take questions on chapter 1 and 2 tonight.

You can send any questions you have so Aaron can answer them in detail at info@globalmissionsforchildren.org.

That’s info@globalmissionsfor children.org.

We thank everybody for listening. We’ll do fellowship after this. Thank you, brother Aaron. This was a great start to our study through the book of Matthew.

Everybody have a blessed night.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapters 3 & 4(through verse 11)- Week 3

Good evening and welcome to the Global Mission Tuesday night Bible study. We’re so very happy to be continuing our series here. We’re going through the book of Matthew two weeks ago. Brother Aaron Carey started with the introduction to Matthew and he really did a great job putting together the Old Testament scriptures that coincide with the New Testament scriptures to put together the book of Matthew. So last week we went through chapters one and two.

We just ask everybody if they would be so kind as to mute their phones unless they’re speaking. And then after this we’re going to of course do fellowship. So we’re recording live and I thank you for that. So this week we’re going to be going through verses three and four.

And then for most of the rest of the book of Matthew it’s going to be a one chapter per week ordeal but sometimes we’ll have to split a chapter into two. I believe that’s what brother Aaron said on our previous conversation. So any questions were reserved till later and I’ll turn it over to you Aaron. Thank you so much.

Thanks brother Jimmy. I want to greet all the brothers and sisters who joined us. I’m just going to start reading in Matthew three here. I only actually now plan to get through four eleven tonight just because I’m just because I think that there’s just so much in between three one and four eleven here.

So just before I start reading here in verse one where it’s going to say in those days this is just another strong evidence to me combined with the end of chapter two verse twenty three. You see Joseph and Mary and Jesus coming and dwelling in Nazareth.

And then it says in those days and three one just to make so that’s just another we talked last week on the call about some evidence is that Jesus had stayed in Nazareth basically between the time he was on.

They came out of Egypt till the time that the time he started preaching. So starting in chapter three verse one in those days came down the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying repent you for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

For this is he that was spoken up by the prophet Isaiah saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness for either way of the Lord make his past straight and the same John is at his raiment or clothing of candles here and a weathering girdle about his loins and his meat was locust and wild honey for his food was locust and wild honey.

Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around about Jordan and were baptized with him and Jordan confessing their sins.

So John the Baptist is we know from Luke chapter one that he is on his Jesus’s cousin. But they they obviously never knew each other growing up.

It seems like they would have met each other at the at the feast in Jerusalem on but since John was raised in Judea and Jesus was raised in Nazareth.

They probably not have which was in Galilee much further from Jerusalem.

They probably wouldn’t have come in the same caravan to and from Jerusalem and and we see that we weren’t through the four gospels that John really couldn’t have pointed out Jesus had the Spirit of God not descended.

Like a double pattern on told that’s interesting.

So he received the substance of John’s preaching and in verse two just the summary repent you for the kingdom of heaven for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

He’s basically telling them that the kingdom the kingdom that was on we’re talking previous calls about how it probably wasn’t understood by most of the Jews even though many were expecting Christ.

They probably didn’t see the two comings and that there was going to be a spiritual kingdom that involves suffering for righteousness to say it was going to proceed the Christ second coming and setting up an actual kingdom and setting the world in order and conquering God’s enemies and his people ruling and reigning with him.

So when people heard the kingdom of heaven is at hand they probably thought of the latter.

But that doesn’t that doesn’t make what John said any less true and it’s also true that if the Jews who were in a backslidden condition for the most part if they did not repent they would miss their Messiah.

They would miss his spiritual kingdom set up they would miss his new covenant and the nation of Israel would be destroyed and we’re going to talk more about that and we know that that happened about 40 years later.

And we will get more into repentance and what that means as we go on.

So in verse three this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare you the way of the Lord make his past straight.

It was a common practice in ancient days when kings queens were traveling.

They would they would send their servants ahead of them to like pick up stones to to make sure that the way was safe that the way was clear that they were going to have a safe passage with no interference.

And there there’s even some examples from ancient history where that was taken through extremes where mountains were literally large crews would come and plant in areas and hills and mountains and and build on.

And and put in earth and valley so that royalty could could walk straight and we’re seeing Luke three how I got a second Bible this week to turn will I have the other Bible and Matthew.

So in Luke chapter three it says about John in verse three and he came into all the country about joy and preaching baptism of repentance for the remission of sins as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare you the way of the Lord make his past straight.

And I will quote something here that Matthew didn’t quote on every valley shall be filled in every mountain and hill shall be bought low and the cricket shall be made straight and the rough way shall be made smooth and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

So obviously repentance is a prerequisite to believing upon Jesus Christ and that’s why God sent John the Baptist first repentance is Calvinist would teach that you need to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit by God’s what they would call irresistible grace.

And and then you would read and then you reply after you’re regenerated but we see clearly in the Old Testament even though men couldn’t be their help from the Holy Spirit was not the same as ours is in the New Covenant.

They couldn’t be they couldn’t partake of the divine nature in their spirits.

They had help from without but they didn’t have Old Testament since that help from without by the Holy Spirit but they didn’t have help from within that we can have which is the Holy Spirit is being able to be born again is is one of the chief differences of the and superior orders of the New Covenant to the Old Covenant.

But we see in the Old Testament people had to repent and and God expected men by the influence of his spirit already in the world to repent and they and they couldn’t be born again at all let alone be born again before they repented and on.

And just we see with the nation of Israel God called them to repentance and and nobody was able even the repentant were able to be born again until the day of Pentecost which is the true which is the true beginning of the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah when his Holy Spirit would be poured out after his death in his resurrection.

So verse one the same John hit his raiment of camels here and a leathering girl about his loins and his meat was locust and wild honey.

Some might try to spiritualize this and I’m not going to rule out that there could be some spiritual significance here.

But the main point is that John lived a very simple lifestyle. He wasn’t like the corrupt priest in Jerusalem and the corrupt prophets in Jerusalem who who lived rich but he was a he was a simple man.

So then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan and were baptized with him and Jordan confessing their sins.

So this is a man who at God’s call starts to preach out in the wilderness of Judea far away from Jerusalem far away from the big cities.

And we see that he didn’t need to advertise. He didn’t need to come up with some way to draw a crowd. He didn’t need to scheme to get people to come to listen to him.

He was a man that was on fire with God’s power. His message was piercing and convicting.

And the scant population that was out near the Jordan River must have told people this is sort of similar to what happened on the day of Pentecost even though it was on a smaller scale within the city of Jerusalem.

It was noise abroad. This is this man is a prophet and people came out of your day and all this at the big cities of your day and probably other regions like we see people from other regions following Jesus and they and they came to listen to him and listen to him.

Listen to him preach repentance. Listen to him show the nation of Israel their sins and really and reprove the wickedness of the nation and telling them about the Messiah’s soon appearance and preaching without compromising.

Yet he’s drawing big crowds. But he wasn’t seeking to draw a big crowd. He was seeking to be faithful to God and to stand for God’s truth.

So that is a major rebuke to the seeker sensitive and purpose driven church movements who in their efforts to draw crowds they think about what does the sinner want and what can we do for the sinner to bring in the church.

And here’s a man preaching the opposite. This is what God wants and expects and demands from the sinner and yet he’s still drawing a crowd.

There’s a quote from John Wesley that says something like if a man gets on if a man gets set on fire for God people will come just to watch him burn.

And you know maybe America is so hard and dull right now that maybe that wouldn’t even happen in a lot of places now in the West.

But nevertheless he didn’t have to he didn’t have to play in the draw crowd.

And so in verse six and so and they were baptized with him and Jordan confessing their sins.

I have a quote here from Adam Clark about this earnestly acknowledging that their sins were their own and thus taking the whole blame upon themselves and laying nothing to the charge of God or man.

This is essential to true repentance until men take the whole blame on himself.

He cannot feel the absolute need as of casting his soul on the mercy of God that he may be saved.

And we know that from the rest of this chapter and from progress 28 13 and many other Bible passages the true confession of sin implies turning from the progress 28 13 says on he that covers his sins shall not prosper.

But who so confess it who who so confess it and forsake it then she’ll have she’ll have mercy.

So verse seven but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism he said unto them or generation of vapors who have warned you to flee from the wrath to come.

So he didn’t a lot of a lot of preachers today you see these religious big shots coming to your preaching and it’s like oh wow look it look it.

Billy Graham’s here. Rick Warren is here and the Pope is here.

And that’s sort of that’s sort of who these men were in terms of their respect among the nation of Israel of religious nation.

But John didn’t didn’t didn’t respect persons he wasn’t looking to exalt himself but he he told the truth you just like Jesus would call the Pharisees white sepulchers.

He he didn’t make him he didn’t make him repenting and getting baptized a small matter going through emotions.

It’s this is this is not this is not a casual thing.

There’s no such thing as true repentance that is not that is not playing to to playing from sin to earnestly obey God and do as well.

And so there was a very there was a great sobriety there was on there was a greater concern for truth and a greater concern for righteousness than there was about getting soul saved.

And that’s a really important point because oftentimes soul winning now and throughout history but especially in American evangelism the last couple decades and even last couple centuries.

It emphasizes soul saved and it’s like it’s like robbing from God that and Jesus is made.

He’s made an instrument. He’s made a he’s made a means whereby the sinner can get having without without submitting to the to the righteousness of heaven and the righteous terms upon which.

God will not truly be reconciled to man and have a relationship with man. Christ has done everything possible to secure reconciliation with God.

But we still find Paul saying second Corinthians five and throughout the Bible be there for reconciled.

We pray you and Christ said be reconciled to God for he has made him to be sin for us a sin offering who knows that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

So there there is just the fact that God wants to save us.

But our salvation is not more important than the truth being upheld in our life.

And just that’s why the need of repentance has to is an essential foundation to the gospel message.

And we see in John chapter one talking about John the Baptist that God sent John that all men through him like believe it’s the it’s the message of it’s the message of turning to God and bringing forth food meat for repentance.

Well at least with the heart to do that it is necessary to to pave the way for Jesus Christ and his salvation to come to us. So just as in verse eight, especially to the we know the precious to everybody but especially here to the Pharisees and Sadducees bring forth therefore fruits meat for repentance or fit for repentance proper for repentance and think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our Father.

For I sent you that God is able to be a stones to raise up children on the Abraham.

And now also the exes lead unto the root of the trees therefore every tree will spring if not for its good fruit is wound down or chopped down and cast into the fire.

So we we learn here that repentance is not just simply antinomians like to preach repentance it doesn’t involve turning from sin.

And they say that that’s a work and they say well the Bible says we’re not saved we’re saved by grace and not by works but they don’t they don’t properly represent what type of work is being talked about there.

We’re we’re we cannot be saved by presenting a perfect record of obedience to God. We cannot be saved by working to a tone for our own sins, which is what the Bible talks about when it can then when it speaks of salvation by works in a sense.

It condemns what the Bible does say we need to be justified by works is evidence of of our faith and true faith involves repentance.

It’s a it’s deeper than it’s deeper than doing works to try to earn God’s favor. It’s it’s turning to God in the heart from the heart and and submitting to submitting to God’s government submitting to submitting to the truth.

Faith is faith is deeper than the law but but faith establishes a lot like we read about in Romans three thirty one.

We can’t be justified by the standard but because we deviated from it and we’re far from what we’re crooked.

But in order to but in order to be justified by faith in order to believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior there has to be there has to be a sincere renouncing of everything we did to turn away from God’s standards and to and a sincere and a sincere.

Whatever whatever it takes to to make it right whatever we can and and submitting to God’s program of discipleship and rehabilitation and rehabilitation to to bring us fully in line and to restore us to Christ’s image.

And if and if that’s not our heart if there’s resistance to that there’s no justification. There’s no salvation.

And that’s what we talked about in our in our eight was conflict study on God never changed the definition of repentance from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

And we don’t have a right to do that either. We read in his equally team Jesus said not that I’m come to destroy the lawn where the prophets and we’re reading as equally as equally the prophet eighteen kept routine verse thirty.

Therefore I will judge the whole house of Israel every one according to his way say the Lord God repented turn yourself from all your transgressions so when equity shall not be your room cast away from you all your transgressions whereby you have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will you die a house of Israel.

For I have no pleasure in the death of him that I say it the Lord God where for turn yourselves and live.

So I heard somebody say recently that we’re supposed to repent of self and not sin.

Well that’s we do need to we need to repent of sin to the point of replying himself and renouncing renouncing putting ourselves and our own will and desires ahead of doing the will of God.

But in doing that that has to involve turn it from sin to say otherwise it’s just an asticism the idea that you can be right at heart but not what you don’t need to change your conduct or can’t change your conduct God God expects us to show to demonstrate our repentance by changing our conduct and by and by bringing it into line as much as we.

As much as we are reasonably able with how we’ve departed in Luke chapter three Luke goes into more detail about John’s preaching than the Matthew does.

But in verse 10 after after Luke quotes the verses we just read from Matthew and the people ask him saying what shall we do then.

So what did what did John say. They’re asking what is what is proper food for repentance. How are we to how are we to prove that we’re repentant.

And John’s and so in John’s answer we see the types of sins that were prevalent among the Israelites at this time.

He answers and say it under them. He that has two quotes let him impart to him to have none and he that had meat he that had food let him do likewise.

Thank him also public and to be baptized and sat under him master what shall we do. And he said unto them exactly no more than that which is appointed you and the soldiers likewise demanded of him saying and what shall we do and he said unto them do violence to no man neither accuse any falsely and be content with your wages.

He wasn’t saying don’t perform your duties as a soldier to keep peace but he’s he’s he’s saying don’t don’t oppress any man and don’t that was a common practice of Roman soldiers was to seek bribes from people and to and basically to beat up anybody who wouldn’t give them the the bride money that they ask for.

And if that didn’t work they would accuse him falsely and so John’s counsel to the soldiers was very appropriate and he said and be content with your with your wages.

We see what we’ll see in the sermon on the mountain Matthew five to seven how the law of God the law of God had been watered down to the point where all types of wicked things were being allowed in Israel.

Just because the letter of the lot did not explicitly condemn it and and Jesus is going to open up their understanding.

He’s not going to bring a new righteousness something different than was in the moral law in the Old Testament but he’s going to show them he’s going to show them their dishonesty and their hypocrisy in how.

In how they they’ve twisted it and ignored it and justified it and twisted it to justify their sin.

And so we can imagine the John’s preaching was very much was very similar to what Jesus said in the sermon on the mountain except.

Jesus is going to be more thorough and his his teaching is going to be more more developed than John’s but but definitely the.

It’s it’s fair to say that they would they would certainly be in agreement and and the John’s preaching would have been of a similar nature.

And just and just for the record I won’t quote it here but Jesus did also say that the men of Nineveh shall rise up at the judgment with this generation and show condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonas and behold the greater than Jonas is here.

Well how did the Nina voice show Jesus said he defined repentance by the native lights and how did they repent.

Well they we see in Jonah 3 that they repented of their evil way and they turned from the violence that was in their hands.

They corrected them which they knew to correct when they when they were awakened to the threat of God’s judgment and they and and they and they and they mourned over their sin and put it away.

And we also see interest and just for the record some people say that repentance was not preached to the the Gentiles after Pentecost and that’s and that’s just the lie.

The gospel is the same to Jews and Gentiles and it and it always and it always includes repentance which includes earnestly turning from sin to turn to God and to genuine worship to submit to his will and learn of Jesus how to better walk and to please God.

And in Acts chapter 20 verse 21 Paul described his gospel testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

So same gospel to Jews and Greeks in this context being Gentiles and the Greeks are the Gentiles are summarized by Greece and Paul’s gospel repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

And in Acts chapter 26 verses 19 and 20 after Christ had appeared to Paul and commissioned him to preach he’s testifying before King Agrippa where upon King Agrippa I

was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision but true first unto them of Damascus and Jerusalem and throughout all the coastal Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God and do works before repentance for these causes.

The Jews caught me in the temple and went about to kill me. Acts 26 19 to 21. We read in 2 Corinthians chapter 7.

I will tell you this is a great verse to use an evangelism to show that when people are justifying sin and they have sin on their hands and they’re speaking.

You know the mouthpiece are the abundance of the heart they’re speaking unclean they’re speaking filthy.

Second Corinthians 9 chapter 7 verses 9 through 11. Now I rejoice not that you were made sorry but that you sorrow to repentance for you were made sorry after a godly manner that you might receive damage by us and nothing.

For Godly sorrow work with repentance to salvation not to be repented but the sorrow of the world work at that. I believe the sorrow of the world is self-pity. It has a lot to do with self-pity.

Verse 11 for behold the self-same thing that you sorrowed after a godly sword. What carefulness it wrought in you. Guess what clearing of yourselves. Yes what indignation. Yes what fear.

Guess what behemoth desire. Yes what zeal. Yes what revenge. And he tells the Corinthians in all things you have improved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

So moving on in Matthew then. In verse 9 John tells them think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our Father for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

There is a quote that I saw recently I’m not going to be able to give the person who said it in the exact quote together but it basically said the true gospel ministry.

One obligation of that is to drive people from their vain confidences so that they would not have any hope but to truly but to truly repent and to give God glory.

Here it is. It’s from Matthew Poole. It is a great work of ministers to drive hypocrites from their vain confidence. This John’s out here. And we did like I said in there at the time there was this attitude among the Jews where Abraham sees we are God’s chosen people by reason of our heredity and by the fact that they were offering sacrifices in the temple

and the fact that he were the nation that God had set apart for himself among all other nations of the world.

And they thought because that they were natural Jews they were safe. So in Israel at this time there was these people actually have a careless attitude towards God’s moral law. Yes. A million times yes. In Romans 9 to 11.

It’s not it’s not just a fine Calvinism those chapters Romans chapters 9 through 11 like many say but what Paul is basically saying is you’ve got it. You’ve got to do it God’s way God’s program.

God’s recipe and no matter how hard you strive in another way God won’t accept it. And he specifically did talking about what is the case with Israel.

Now he’s specifically dealing with what he goes through the gospel in the first eight chapters and chapters 9 through 11 he’s talking about what about Israel.

You can see that shift as you read the book. And he says in verses in Romans 10.

Romans 9. What shall we say then that the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained to the righteous and see even the righteousness which is a faith because they will be the gospel when it came to them.

But Israel which followed after the law of righteousness if not attained to the law of righteousness where for because they thought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the law for they stumbled at that stumbling stone as it is written behold I lay in Zion a stumbling stone in rock of offense and who slover believe thine and shall not be shamed.

Brother my heart says I refer to God for Israel is the thing like be saved by bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge for they being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.

They have not submitted themselves to their Messiah and the they’ve hardened themselves they took account they took a vain confidence in the ceremonial law and that their ideas that sacrificing bowls and goats in the temple is going to justify them when in reality it was those things could not atone for sin.

They were a foreshadow of the atonement that their Messiah would make whom they are rejecting and they are and they are hardening themselves against the truth and this is and taking confidence that because they’re the natural seed of Abraham that they’re okay and Jai is trying to drive them from this main confidence.

We can say this about Christians in the Christian church today people take vain confidence is well I’m from a Christian home I I pray so many times a day they might even say I believe in Jesus or maybe even I’ve been born again but they’re not bringing forth room made for repentance.

They are not diligently following God’s program of Scripture they’re not they’re not in God’s word daily responding by faith and and seeking the fellowship with other Christians and seeking to to make Christ known to truly preach the gospel to the world.

They’re not they’re they’re living they’re living in sin after the lust of the world and and there’s no and there’s not a single there’s not a single true confidence anybody who is not diligently diligently hearing and obeying the word of God and and delivering their sin up to Christ to save them from it.

Look we talked about last week who are not in it he came to see us from our sins and if we’re not in agreement with his purpose in demonstrating that agreement by our deeds that whatever confidence we would that we would have an interest in Jesus or any other confidence that God would accept us otherwise is a vain confidence.

So John says in verse 10 and now also the exes lead unto the root of the trees therefore every true which bringeth not forth good fruit is wound down in case into the foyer.

He’s dealing verse 10 his just like just like verse 7 talking about fleeing from the red to come to there’s a double meaning here because God was going to God had said at the end of Melachi and I will just go there it’s very.

He had promised a judgment upon the Jewish people if they did not.

If they did not basically respond to John the Baptist and receive the Messiah because Jesus would say in Matthew 11 that John the Baptist was Elijah for to come and Luke one we see that he came in this giant came in the spirit and power of Elijah he wasn’t literally Elijah but it the last two verses of the Old Testament.

Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers.

West I come and smite the earth with a curse. He’s not talking about natural fathers he’s talking about the faith of their fathers the faith of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the godly Israelites whom they were supposed to be after the spirit and not just after the flesh.

And so there was going to there was going to come a judgment upon Israel.

Israel was going to be smitten with a curse if they rejected their Messiah and we know from history that when the Romans took over Israel and eighty seventy that that and destroyed Jerusalem and so the Jews killed multiple hundreds of thousands I believe of Jews and so most of the rest to be tempted to be slaves.

In other nations that this that smiting of the earth with the curse happened and we know that God Jesus had warned that when you see your day accomplished about with armies let them which are in Jerusalem flee to the mountains and we know that when Jerusalem was accomplished about with armies from the Romans that the Christians heeded Jesus’s warning and they were able to escape inside believe for the most part the land of Syria.

And and for the most part they maybe totally they escape God’s judgment by the Romans. So verses seven and ten the wrath to come and the acts being laid on to the root of the trees.

There is a sense in which it foreshadowed the soon coming judgment upon Israel worthy to where they did not come receive their Messiah which for the most even though many thousands of Jews believed in Christ for the most part of the millions in that nation for the most part they did reject their Messiah.

And God gave them 40 years of time of very we’ve talked about how we don’t want to use numbers outside of significant numbers in the Bible outside of the Bible but 40 in the Bible is often given as a number that is a time of judgment.

And so obviously this is in no way negating the fact that these verses are ultimately about hell because if God was certain enough to bring the wrath of the Romans upon the

disobedient upon disobedient Israel how much more can we be certain that he’s going to Christ is going to come back and condemn and cast into how disobedient mankind.

How much more is on those who are not bringing forth and good fruit and keeping with the grace offered by the gospel going to be going to be cast into the eternal failure of hell.

And just like Christ first coming all the prophecies being fulfilled make this the sureness of his second coming even more so even I mean the scriptures are alone are enough but the fact that we’ve seen it first coming fulfilled so perfectly how much more than will second coming be fulfilled perfectly.

If God was faithful to bring judgment upon the disobedient Jews and deliver them to the Romans who I believe represent the exhalation to the root of the tree how much more is he going to be faith and faithful to save the Christians who were obeying him and heeding his mornings.

How much more will he certainly cast into hell those who those who are not under the Messiah’s authority and partakers of his Atonement and how much more will he save those that are from the final judgment.

So, verse 11 on John says I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance but he that cometh after me is is moiter than I who shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire on bearing shoes was in the ancient world.

A job that was assigned to the violets of slaves. And so, so john is basically saying, the one who comes after me is so much more you’re in greater than I that I’m not fit to serve him in, in the way the most, the most wild slave would.

And remember Jesus said of john the Baptist that he was the greatest prophet that had ever risen among men in Matthew chapter 11 so how great is Jesus and we’re going to see, we’re going to see at the end of this chapter, a picture of the Trinity.

Just getting my notes here. So, um, so obviously price sending the Holy Spirit like we talked about was the beginning of the spiritual kingdom and being able to partake of the divine nature and God writing his laws upon the in the in most in the inner most being of those who

will be the gospel the spirit is given, we look at last week and x 532 the spirit is given to those that to them that obey him and, and coming and the perfect atonement of Christ, the atonement for sin, the fact that we can come to God directly through him as a high priest,

and that he can live in us and changes in our innermost being by partaking of the divine nature through a spirit are the glories of the new covenant, and, and God would, and starting on the day of Pentecost God was no longer working through the literal physical

foundation of Israel on to carry out his work but he was working through the church which would be made up of the faithful Jews who received their Messiah with the unbelieving who’s cut off of the covenant, and the believing Gentiles crafted in to Israel like we read

about in Romans chapter 11. So, verse 12, “Whose van is at his hand and he will through and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unachievable fire.”

So again, that’s another, that there’s a double, a double meaning there, like we talked about in short term referring to the destruction of Israel and the salvation of the Christians from that, and ultimately talking about the day of judgment and God’s eternal kingdom for the righteous and the eternal fire of hell for the wicked.

Verse 13, notice in verse 12, “It’s Jesus himself who will burn up the chaff with unachievable fire.” It’s not going to, Satan isn’t the one who casts into hell. Satan is going to be burning in hell himself.

Jesus himself is the one who is the judge who is going to burn up the chaff with unachievable fire. He is the righteous king who is, who is lovely and pleasant to his faithful subjects and is dreadful to his adversaries.

So verse 13, “Then come with Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him saying, ‘I need to be baptized of thee and come without of me.’ And Jesus answering said unto him, ‘Suffer to be so now, for thus it be come with us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he suffered him.”

We talked last week about how in Matthew chapter 1, the woman, either the sinful woman in Jesus’ genealogy or the woman from Gentile nations that were known to be sinful nations, how Christ identified himself with sinners righteously without ever actually condoning sin or sinning himself.

And this is another example of how he did that. People were coming to be baptized of John and Jordan because they had sinned to confess and forsake sin they needed to be saved from.

And they needed to demonstrate their repentance by submitting to the act of baptism through God. But now Jesus comes and he is baptized of John and Jordan. And he is not coming for the same reason as them. He is coming to commence his ministry and to remove from being Jesus the carpenter from Nazareth

to Jesus the preacher. Jesus the itinerant preacher who is now not going to live under the authority of his mother. His father was probably dead, but he is not going to live under the authority of his mother.

He is not going to live under the authority of his father. He is not going to live under the authority of his father. He is going to step out independently and be subject to his father and receive a special anointing, a special qualification for ministry.

He is going to start this by baptism. And God is going to bear witness to John that Jesus is the Messiah that he has been preaching of. And inaugurate him as bear witness that he is Israel’s king here right at the outside of his ministry.

So verse 16, “And Jesus when he was baptized went up straight way out of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and loiting upon him. And lo, a voice from heaven saying, ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.'”

So we see the Trinity here. We see Jesus coming up out of the water, the Spirit of God descending like a dove and loiting upon him. And then we have the voice from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

And there’s just a lot of times in the Bible where even though the word Trinity isn’t mentioned, we see the picture really clearly as we do here.

It’s interesting that in verse 11, John said that Jesus was going to baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. And we see on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers, he came in the form of fire.

But the Spirit comes upon Jesus as a dove. And I think the reason for that here is seen in Malachi 3, a prophecy about Christ we’ve looked at before.

But we’ll read it again because it’s talking about John the Baptist and Christ at the same time. Malachi chapter 3 verse 1, “Behold, I send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me.

And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, say it, the Lord of hosts.

But who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appearth? For he is like a refiner’s sinner and like fuller soap.

And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. And he shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

And then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.”

And in the following weeks we will continue on with that prophecy because there’s more said. But for our purposes now we’ll stop at verse 4.

So we have a rehabilitation program from sin to enter into and there’s impurity in our character that even when we have repented and put away sin,

as far as our regard for it, as far as our holding onto sin, and as far as regarding it in our hearts,

even after we’ve repented and we cast it away and we submit ourselves to God, there still is, we still have to continue on in obedience and walk by faith.

And that walk by faith will expose the impurity and the damage that sin has already caused in us. And as we walk by faith and as we abide in Christ as our Lord and Savior,

He purges us of that impurity by His Spirit. And that’s why we read in 1 John chapter 3 verses 2 to 4 that we know that when, “Now are we the sons of God, and we know not what we shall be.”

But we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is, and every man that hath this hope in himself purifies himself even as he is pure.

And then put in contrast to that in verse 4, “Whoso committed sin transgresseth also the law.” For sin is the transgression of the law.

So we have to, but it’s a circumstances that as we obey God and walk by faith that bring us to the need for a deeper obedience, the need for often a more costly obedience,

expose sin that we weren’t conscious of before, but as we walk in the light we become conscious of it. And as we submit to God’s dealings and turn to Christ in these things that He saves us by His life,

and His life and His Holy Spirit are one and the same. And that life as it purges us has to be a failure.

And in Jesus’ case, the Spirit of God descended upon Him like a dove and loitering upon Him because there was no sin to be purged out.

The Spirit of God could find total peace in Jesus. Whereas there’s a war with fleshly lust in us that as we walk by faith we have to let Christ prevail upon.

And then when He returns and we are made and we are fully like Him, those who have been purifying Himself even as He is pure on earth, then there won’t be any need for that purifying lawyer anymore.

But the Catholic Church and anybody who believes in purgatory, who thinks that there’s going to be a fire that’s going to burn up impurity,

that’s going to cleanse people who are not diligent to obey God and to be cleansed on earth. That’s obviously a vain hope.

So I think I’m just going to go right into chapter four here. I don’t want to be much more than an hour. And then when we, I just want to do through verse 11, the temptation of the wilderness.

And then hopefully we will have time for questions if there are any in fellowship afterwards.

So chapter four, “Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” So the spirit that has just came upon Him to bear witness that He’s God’s beloved Son now puts Him into the wilderness in suffering and trial.

That’s a lesson about how much more can that happen to us who need to be rehabilitated, who need to be, who really, who need to prove that our faith is genuine.

Even Jesus on earth had to…I’m going to read the verse later, “Lord willing,” in Hebrews 5, that even He had to learn obedience by the…He didn’t have to necessarily prove that He was obedient because He had never disobeyed.

And He was always totally in line with the will of God. But even He had to learn obedience as a man by the things He suffered, we read about in Hebrews 5.

So verse 2, “And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward and hungered.

And when the temp…and when the tempter came to Him, He said, ‘If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.’ But He answered and said, ‘It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.'”

It’s interesting to consider that Jesus is called in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 to 2nd Adam. And we know that He reversed the effects of the fall. At least reverses the effects of the fall for those who believe in Him.

He regained paradise for those who will submit to Him and follow Him and make them partakers of His atonement and reverse the curse of sin in them.

But in order to do that, He had to succeed where Adam failed, in order to be the perfect Lamb of God that could truly make an atonement for our sins and to truly be our salvation.

And He had to overcome as a man. And it’s interesting how Adam failed in a perfect environment where he had everything, he lawfully had everything he could want.

At least anything he could need. He had a wife, he had food, he had a beautiful garden to live in. And now Christ, in reversing the fall in overcoming where Adam failed, it’s like He had to…

I guess I just sort of see it like one person who is in a clean environment makes a mess, the next person, if somebody is to clean it up and to make that…

and to atone for what they did, if it causes a huge, huge mess, there’s going to be a lot of work that needs to be done.

And it’s like Jesus had to do what Adam did times a billion, it seems like. Adam was in a garden, Jesus is in the wilderness. Adam had food, Jesus doesn’t have food.

Adam was in a right state of mind, Jesus is obviously in a disordered state of mind after having fasted for 40 days. When we’re not angry, we shouldn’t be angry in a sinful way ever.

But when we’re lonely, when we’re tired, when we don’t have adequate food, when we’re without even the things that we can usually, lawfully have, that makes our temptations much, much harder.

So now Satan comes to Christ and says, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” And he answers it as written, “Manchal not lived by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

The devil was basically telling, he was basically tempting Jesus to distrust God and to seek to use his authority as the Son of God to provide himself food by an illicit means.

It seems like it would have been almost like an occult sorcery type thing. And so he’s making Jesus, he’s trying, he’s tempting him to make Jesus, he’s tempting Jesus to make him feel insecure about his position.

And he’s tempting him to use the position, if that doesn’t work, to use the position he has to do something unlawful. And Jesus answers him with a quote from the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 4.4.

Basically saying that it’s safer for me to live by the direction of God and by the truth of his word, rather than the seek to do something which would seem to help me, it’s safer to live by the direction of God’s word and his leading of the Holy Spirit,

which will always be in line with God’s word. It’s safer to do that, even if it seems for the moment like it’s not safe.

Now notice how the devil is going to, in the next temptation, he’s going to take what Jesus said, what Jesus’ attitude was, and he’s going to try to take it to an extreme to get him to sin in another way.

Verse 5, “Then the devil take, hit him up into the holy city, and set at him on a pinnacle of the temple, and sayeth unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee; and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou daresht thy foot against the stone.

Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” So Jesus, in the previous temptation, had affirmed his confidence as the Son of God and the God who was with him, and that he could trust God to provide for him.

And now, and now Satan tries to take that trust in God to provide for him to the point of, to the point of foolishness, to the point of tempting God, to the point of, to the point of presumption and overconfidence.

And that’s a method, that’s one of the methods Satan uses. This temptation seems really, really strange.

And I think that, I think that, and it’s hard to understand why Jesus would have wanted to, would have been tempted to do this. I remember talking with somebody once, and they said, “Well, this isn’t a temptation.”

I said, “Well, it says it was a temptation, and the Bible wouldn’t say it’s a temptation if it wasn’t really a temptation.” And I believe it has to do with who was in Jerusalem.

It was the very people that Jesus knew were going to oppose him, the religious leaders of the Jews who had power over the entire nation. And there’s this idea that if you can impress them, and you can be seen to be saved by God by this act, then they’re going to respect you, or at the least they’re going to leave you alone.

And obviously, obviously they wouldn’t have, because we know that Jesus did miracles among the religious credit Jerusalem, and they saw them, and they still crucified him.

But, see it as a liar, and at the time this temptation probably seemed, there probably was something about it that really seemed like a good idea. But again, Jesus resists him by the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

And he tells him, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Again, a quote from the book of Deuteronomy. And this is really important, because many teach that Jesus came to correct that which was in the Old Testament, especially that which was in the law of Genesis through Deuteronomy.

But again and again, we have Jesus in this chapter. I believe all three of these, I believe all three of the times you resist Satan are from the book of Deuteronomy. I’m not sure about verse 10, but definitely two of the three are.

And I think we can learn a lesson here too, that when we’re among the church, when we’re among at least church gatherings, and there’s people that we respect, that we’re tempted to want to impress, there’s people that we know are probably going to oppose us that are well respected.

And we might think that there can just be some way for God to show that I belong to him, that I’m his, they’re going to leave me alone.

And the very fact that it’s hard for us to understand this temptation, I think that in itself is a great lesson, because church type gatherings can be very spiritually dangerous gatherings, where we can be tempted to let our guard down.

And we can be tempted to do things to prove our faith and to prove our zeal that would be sinful in a subtle way that nobody else would understand.

Because if you weren’t faced with the same pressure, the same trial in such an environment, you wouldn’t understand it. So the very fact that it’s the average unbeliever wouldn’t understand this and why it’s even hard for us to understand, just shows how long, just shows that it’s a lesson about those subtle temptations that it’s really hard for others to understand that aren’t in our position.

And it are especially hard for somebody who’s not genuinely seeking to serve the Lord, but who also struggles with what so and so are going to think of me.

And you have subtle temptations to want people’s respect or to get certain people to not oppose you. And that’s what this was dealing with.

So in the last one, verses 8 through 11, again, the devil say, “Get them up into an exceeding high mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.

And saith unto him, all these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me, then saith Jesus unto him, get thee hence seed, and for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”

And I will say for now that that is from the book of Deuteronomy 2. If I found out otherwise, I will correct myself, Lord willing, next week.

Then the devil leave with him and the old angels came and ministered unto him.

It’s really interesting that whether this was an actual mountain that Satan took Jesus to or whether it was a vision that Satan presented before him by the powers that Satan has, which are limited but obviously can be very powerful.

This is a temptation we can probably understand a lot better because he probably showed him people falling down to him, maybe beautiful woman, maybe great riches, great respect.

And Satan basically tells him he can have these things if he’ll fall down and worship him.

I think there’s a lesson here that the greater threat Satan sees, the greater Satan sees someone as a threat to him, the more he’s likely to offer them more.

But we know that Satan is a liar. We know he cannot, even if he intended to keep this promise, he could not have guaranteed it to happen.

I think he probably had Jesus done it in theory. We know Jesus won’t enough. But in theory, he had Jesus done that. Satan probably would have arranged for him to lead an army against the Romans and to be the type of Messiah that most of the Jews had wanted.

He couldn’t have guaranteed that he was going to stay alive nor conquer the Romans.

But Satan also basically tempts Jesus to get what he already had before he was incarnate.

The sinful things about the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them, Christ, never partookles and never will have. God can not lie. He loves righteousness and hates iniquity.

But in terms of ruling the world and in terms of having power over all nations and in terms of men bowing down to him, Jesus already had that as God.

And when he comes back to rule the world, all nations even here are going to bow down before him and serve him.

We read about that in Psalm 72 and the other promises in the Bible about the millennium. But basically, had Jesus done this, he would have been seeking to get the kings of this world and the glory of them without the cross.

So Satan in a way was tempting Jesus to get what he already had and would have had without having to suffer for it.

And without being able, Satan probably didn’t understand the atonement that Christ was going to accomplish. But we know that in order to save us, he had to continue to the end, doing his Father’s will and never giving in to sin even once.

And we know that had he not done that and finally submitted to give his life on the cross and to have his soul made it an offering for sin, there would be no salvation for anybody.

So I want to go to Revelation 21 and show something really interesting, which I believe the early Christians would have thought of this passage in Matthew 4 when they heard the book of Revelation.

This is after it’s done and everybody who is with the Lord in his kingdom eternally is here and everybody who’s going to hell is here.

God’s purposes have been fulfilled. Christ has taken his great power to him in his reign in verse 9 of Revelation 21.

And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues and talked with me saying, “Come here there, I will show you the bride, the lamb’s wife.” And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain. So the lamb’s wife is there which he purchased by his death and which subjected themselves to his reign and proved it on earth and joined him in his offerings like Romans 8.17 says.

And if children then ears, ears of God and joiners with Christ, if so be, we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together. So now here is that glory.

And he carried me away in the spirit for a cent to a great and high mountain just like he was on in Matthew 4 and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God.

Having the glory of God in her light was like unto a stone most precious even like a jasper stone clear as crystal. And at the wall great and high had twelve gates and at the twelve gates twelve angels and names written thereon which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.

And the wall of the city of twelve foundations and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the lamb. So Jesus refused that the glory Satan offered him to save us and now in the end he has a better glory.

So that’s a wonderful picture and that’s something that everybody who truly believes on him and is in agreement with his purpose and is his disciple to the end can look forward to.

So we learn here that no one is exempt from temptation and that even the worst temptations as long as we are resistant to them, even Christ was tempted to worship the devil and he never gave into it.

So just because we’re tempted and just because of temptation like you’re really vile temptation, if we resist it and we turn to the Lord and we don’t give into it, there’s no sin in that.

We learn here a lesson about how we need to know how to wield the sword of the spirit which is the word of God and that’s why we want to know the Bible.

We want to meditate on it and see how to apply it to life. We want to see how Satan works in scripture. We want to see how the trials of righteous had to face.

We want to get as familiar as possible with the word of God so we’re not deceived because we see the different temptations Satan used and how each one was…

He tempts him to distrust God, distrust his own position as the Son of God and the next one he tempts him to be presumptuous about it. The next one he tempts him to get worldly glory and to avoid suffering, the suffering that the will of God called him to.

So those are lessons here. There is grace available for us to overcome every temptation. We read in 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

We read in verse 12, “Wherefore let him to think that if he stand take ye less default, there is no temptation teaching you but such is his common command, but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able. But will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it.

Wherefore my daily beloved flee from my dollop, when God has a way to escape, we have to not trust that we stand. We have to turn to him and find that way to escape and take that way of escape.”

Christ’s victory in his sufferings as a man that culminated in the cross is the basis for the victory that we can have in obeying him. We read in Hebrews chapter 5 verses 7 through 9.

“For in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared though he were a son, yet learned the obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect he became the author of eternal salvation unto all that obeyed, called of God, and I preached after the order of Melchizedek.”

And now after, we also learn here that after the great suffering and the great victory that Christ has here in verse 11, that the devil left him and behold, angels came and ministered unto him. They probably ministered food.

But certainly he got the relief that he needed after he had fought the fight that God had called him to fight. And now he is ready for ministry. God had to take even Jesus through a wilderness to prepare him for his public ministry.

And so how much more, like I said before, how much more us were to be used of God. And as we go on in Matthew, we are going to find now that Jesus is going to commence his public ministry.

And there is going to be great power attended with that. And so what the basis, what none of this would have been possible had he not stayed faithful during his sufferings in the wilderness, and had not stayed faithful for the first 30 years of his life

in we read in John 21 that Jesus did many more things than what is written in the Gospels. And John said that if these things should be written to everyone, I suppose even the world itself should not contain them.

So we will start next week in Matthew 4.12, and we are willing we will get to maybe Matthew

5.20. So we are finished for this week.

Very good, Aaron. I will let you guys just let me say this real quick. All things are possible through God. I just wanted to get three verses of the record here while we are still recording.

Then we will go to questions real quick because we have Aaron for about seven or eight more minutes. Matthew 19.26, Mark 9.23, and Mark 10.27.

It is impossible, what was God, all things are possible. I just wanted to add that in there. We will open up the floor to any questions. That was a great teaching, brother, again.

No need to raise your hands, guys. Just speak up. Questions, comments?

You teach so well, brother. There is never any good questions, I guess.

There was a powerful teaching. Aaron, thank you. This is Daniel. I enjoyed the exposition. One thing that stuck out to me was where Jesus used the word so much, sort of the spirit.

It struck me that he is king. That was one of the things that was said to kings in Deuteronomy and in the Old Testament in general for kings to write themselves down a copy of the law and meditate on it day and night.

That is something that Jesus seems he was diligent to do. How much more then shall we prepare ourselves with the word to guard ourselves from sin and equip us for ministry?

Thanks, brother Daniel.

I want to thank you too, brother Aaron, for your sacrifice of time. It has been a blessing to me.

Thanks, sister.

Amen. We still have brother Hayden on. Any questions from down under, brother?

It just finds it really amazing how I try and apply this to have. Jesus said, “You know, shall not live by bread alone, but every word that precedes from God’s mouth.” That just really blows me away.

Can you hear me, sir? Yeah. I was just going to say, I find it amazing how Jesus says, “You should not live by bread alone, but every word that precedes from God’s mouth.” That really blows me away.

Yeah, it’s very powerful. And the way brother Aaron puts this together too, I mean, we’re really blessed to have this special time together. I truly believe that. I’ve never seen the book of Matthew taught like this before.

Brother Chuck, are you still there? Do you have anything before we go into fellowship for you? Are you good?

Brother Chuck is on mute or he left? Brother Chuck, he left. Okay. Thank you. I’m sorry, Jimmy.

That’s all right. Do you have any questions or we can go into fellowship? Go ahead.

No, that was awesome. One of the things that always sticks out to me through the trial and temptation that Jesus went through is that we’ve been given that same power by His Spirit to overcome all temptation and sin in the world and in the lust of the flesh.

I think some people don’t realize that. You hear people saying things like, “We’ll be sinners until the day we die,” which is kind of a paradoxical because you will be a sinner unless you do die.

We do have to die to sin. I think Jesus suffered in being tempted just as we are, as He was tempted in all things as we are yet without sin.

We need to draw our power and strength from that to realize that we can walk as He walked upon this earth through the power of His Spirit. That’s the only thing I would like to add to it.

Beautiful. I’ll just conclude, guys, with John 14, 12. It says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he go also in the works of the birds.

Then these shall he do, because I go, because my father is a temple.” Thank you, everybody. I really thank everybody for joining us tonight.

Everybody that’s listening, go through this a few times. We’re going to post every teaching from the beginning to the end up there.

We also want you to encourage other people to obviously listen to this and use this as a discipleship tool. Bring those disciples into your house, listen to this, get them out a pen and a pad of paper, and go through each verse, even before recording, and really go over verse by verse again and again with them.

Because if they get the book of Matthew, they’re going to get the whole Bible. I think this is a great place to start for new believers.

Thank you, everybody, for listening. You have a great day.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapters 4-12 throught 5-16 – Week 4

Good evening or good morning everybody depending where you are in the world. We have missionaries

usually listening to us live here so good morning to you missionaries and good evening to everybody

here in the United States. This is 1030 Eastern Time. We’re continuing our wonderful series

going through the Book of Matthew and we welcome you to the Global Mission for Children Bible

Study. We thank everybody that’s on the phone now. We pray for you constantly and we just thank you for your prayers overseas and for our missionaries and of course for us too.

So thank you so much. Brother Aaron Carey is such a great teacher and he doesn’t like me saying that but the Bible tells me to tell the truth. So he’s just one of the best teachers that I’ve run across and he’s really helping not only us and edifying us here as we go

through the Bible but also many people overseas and they’re sharing this with their fellowships.

So they’re literally hundreds and maybe even thousands of people that are getting edified by this teaching. So we thank God for you Brother Aaron. So with no further ado we are

starting in Matthew chapter 4 verse 12 today and I’ll turn it over to you Aaron. Thank you so much.

Thanks brother. Okay so we were willing to get through Matthew 5.16 today. I had said 5.20 last week but verse

16 seems like a good place to stop and I hope we can get there without hurrying unnecessarily.

I just wanted to mention before I start reading here that it’s interesting in Matthew 4.6 when Satan was tempted Jesus and said that if thou be the son of God cast thyself down from the pinnacle of the temple, fruit is real and he shall give his angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against

the stone. Not only was Satan inappropriately quoting that verse from Psalm 91 but he also left out four words. He left out in all thy ways which is if you read Psalm 91 was included

in the full quotation there. And you remember in Genesis chapter 3 how when Satan first approached

Eve he said, “Has God forbidden you?” Let me just get that verse here. He did not quote

God’s words accurately to Eve on either occasion. He first said in Genesis 2.17, “Of every tree

of the garden thou mayest freely put of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it from the day that thou wettest there of thou shalt surely die.” And when Satan came to Eve in 3.1 he said, “Yea, if God said he shall not eat of every tree of

the garden that’s not what he said and Eve saw that and the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the tree so the garden but of the fruit of the tree which

is in the midst of the garden. God has said ye shall not eat of it neither shall you touch

it lest you die.” Eve had not got in the message fully either there and I think that might have to do with the fact that only Adam had heard the original command in 2.17 and Adam may not have told her faithfully. And it’s possible that the serpent was touching the fruit when

he said in verse 4, “Ye shall not truly die” when God had said, it only said not to eat

of it. So she may have seen the serpent touching the fruit and thinking that she was okay because

of that. And so it’s just interesting to see how Satan not only will misuse the Bible but he’ll often not quote the Bible. So that’s just, he’ll not quote the Bible accurately.

And so that’s just a reminder to know exactly what God has said and to be careful to the exact wording of Scripture because Satan will use, will add in little words and leave out things and twist the words of Scripture just to make an opening for some false doctrine or the license for some sin. And I also just wanted to clarify from last week that I had said that God will never, Jesus had to go through a wilderness before he was put in public ministry and that we shouldn’t expect anything else if God puts us in ministry.

And I just wanted to clarify that we should never put ourselves in a wilderness situation, unnecessarily just thinking that that’s going to cause God to use us. It’s up to the Lord where we are and if we’re led by His Spirit we’ll likely find ourselves in wilderness situations.

And we should never just, we should never just put ourselves in thinking that because we brought trouble upon ourselves by our own foolishness that that’s going to cause God

to use us. That would be tempting God which Satan had tried to get Jesus to do when he put Him on the pinnacle of the temple. So I’m going to read Matthew 4, 12 to 25 and

I’m going to read it fast without any comment, not only because we want to get to the Sermon

on the Mount in chapter 5 and spend a lot of time there, but also because I really believe

these next 14 verses should be read fast because it shows Jesus has overcome Satan in the wilderness,

He’s overcome his temptations, He has psyched God, He has been prepared for ministry, now

He comes on the scene in the power of the Lord and He has a powerful impact. So Matthew

4, 12, now when Jesus says, “Herid the God was cast into prison, He departed in the Galilee,

and leaving Nazareth, He came and taught in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, and the borders of Zebulon and Nephthalim, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by

Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The land of Zebulon and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which said in darkness saw great light, and to them which said in the region and shadow of death, light has sprung up.”

That’s from Isaiah chapter 9. From that time Jesus began to preach Him to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. We know that that’s what John the Baptist was preaching in Matthew 3.2. We talked about repentance last week. Every true man of God in the Bible

preaches repentance. For that to be elaborated on anybody who is just listening to this recording,

I would recommend going back and listening to last week’s message on 3.1-4.11. So verse 18, “And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon, called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea. For they were fishers, and he saith unto them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ And they straightway left their nets

and followed him. And going on from them, he saw two other brethren, James the son of Zebedee,

and John his brother. And a ship was Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.” It’s interesting, he called them mending their nets. They might have been frustrated with fishing, but in Peter and Andrew’s case, they were casting a net into the sea. Both

were expected to heed the call, whether they were doing well or whether they were having problems in their profession, which in both cases was fishing. So he saw, going on from them, he saw two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother. And a ship was Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father and followed him. And Jesus went about all Galilee teaching

in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness

and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought onto him all sick people that were taken with diverse or various diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy. The palsy, it’s like a paralysis. I think would probably be

the closest word in modern English for that. And he healed them. Notice it, notice it, not

every single sick person, not every single person who had some affliction was demon possessed.

There’s some people that teach that there’s like a demon directly behind every sickness and every single physical problem people can have. And then we’ll see that throughout the

gospels. Sometimes Jesus was, when he healed people, he had to cast out a devil along with

that, but other times he didn’t. So it’s not a one size fits all issue. Verse 25, and they’re followed in great multitudes of people from Galilee and the capitalist. The capitalist

is the region north of the Jordan River. It’s basically what we would call now probably

southeastern Syria, and Jerusalem, and Judea, and beyond Jordan. So chapter five, and seeing

the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set his disciples came under him. So now we’re going to have what is then known as the Sermon on the Mount. This is Jesus, the Messiah, the King, talking about the character required of the subjects of

his kingdom. These are not some just beautiful sounding, high unattainable ideals that are meant to sound nice, and to inspire people to try to be better people. That would be

a misunderstanding. This is a character that we have to repent and conform to, and that we have to seek Christ the Great Physician for, and the righteousness which we need to

be saved. This is talking about those who are going to be blessed. The word blessed and the word happy are very similar. When Jesus says blessed is the poor and spirit,

we could also say happy are the poor and spirit. This is talking about those who are happy, not from the world’s perspective, but from heaven’s perspective, those who will be happy on judgment day. This is a character Jesus expects of those who would be subject to his kingdom, and in his kingdom when he comes back to reign. I got some other notes here.

There are plenty of counterfeits of these things. As we read these, these aren’t just these separate things that people would try to work to and try to improve themselves to.

It’s an entire package that describes a heart that is right with God or a heart that’s getting

right with God anyways. These are different aspects of righteousness. People can try to

improve themselves in certain ways. Human character, human religious sentiment and devotion

can seem to have some of these things, but we have to look at what is a heart that’s right with God. There’s a completion to it. We’re going to see seven aspects, in verses three through nine. We want to be careful about interpreting numbers. Put seven in the Bible. I say in the Bible. We don’t want to look at seven outside of the Bible. That would be superstition, but seven within the Bible is often a number of completeness. I believe there’s something about a completeness of godly character that Jesus is going to speak

upon in verses three through nine here. These aren’t things that people who want to continue

in sin of some kind and want to try to improve themselves but still live in the flesh, still

be on the wrong side of the English conflict, refuse to die to themselves and take up their cross and follow Jesus unconditionally as their king. You just can’t have all of these

things understood rightly unless you’re willing to do that. As we go on in the Sermon on the Mount, we’re going to see how you can’t have unrepentant sin in your life and try to just add these positive aspects of character to your life and think that God’s going to accept

it. You’ve got to thoroughly repent and purge out the leaven and Jesus later on in the Sermon

on the Mount is going to show how the scribes and phyrisees had corrupted the law of God so as to justify their sin and to encourage the people in their sin. I’m going to reverse

this one through twelve here and then I’m going to come back and go into more detail verse by verse. So five-one, “And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain and

when he was set his disciples came unto him. Just as Moses gave the law of the old covenant

from a mountain, Jesus does likewise with the law of the new covenant.” He is going to make

clear later on that he has not come to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfill that

the righteousness he is preaching is in agreement with the law of Moses. We’ll get into that more at Lord willing next week. “And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are

the which drew hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful

for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against

you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” So in verse 3 here when Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We’re going to see Jesus use that phrase in verse 10 when he says blessed are they which are persecuted

for righteousness’ sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And there’s a reason I

believe he does it. But basically it’s important to understand that the kingdom is something which is to be possessed now to some extent and fully later. And we talked about this

in previous studies that those who are subject to the kingdom follow him in his offerings. And he comes back the second time he came the first time as the Messiah came the first

time as a sufferer and servant to redeem mankind and save us from our sins. So purify to himself

a people that will be clean and holy for him when he comes back at his second coming. And

those who are found ready at his second coming or are ready at that then who will be resurrected

at his second coming are going to inherit the kingdom. So when he talks about theirs

is the kingdom of heaven there’s the possessing the blessings of the new covenant now.

And

for those who are in the kingdom who have the Holy Spirit who are following him in truth

as their king now there’s going to be a fullness of the kingdom that when Christ comes back they’re going to appear with him in glory and reign with him. So it’s important there’s

a lot of there’s a lot of theological and doctrinal ears that happen because of not discerning the present and future aspect of the kingdom. There’s dispensationalists that teach that Jesus wanted to be the literal earthly king of the Jews and that the Jews rejected Jesus as their king and they teach that all his sayings about the kingdom and the gospels have been postponed until the millennial kingdom after Christ comes back to reign. And so they say that things in the gospels aren’t even for Christians. That is just a plain satanic deception that is just saying yeah have God said but there’s this

whole dispensational theology which explains the way everything in the gospels like that.

There’s another there’s another ear which we can we’re willing to talk about next week

more bit on it. It’s some it’s among oftentimes groups like Mennonites Amish groups like that

which they have they have the opposite ear. They say the kingdom has come now in its fullness

and they and they basically set up the the governments of this present world as being

inherently at enmity with Christ’s kingdom. Now we know from Psalm 2 and from common sense

that earthly kings and earthly rulers are often godless men who do oppose Christ’s kingdom. But their office of government authority is not inherently is not inherently on that.

And we read about that in Romans 13 that God has sent government he sent government for

the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them to do well. And so to say that and

so like Mennonites Amish groups will not baptize people who are officers of the state because

they because of their ear about the kingdom because they say that they’re basically that

they’re serving another master by upholding law and order in this world and they wouldn’t baptize soldiers and and jailers and correction officers police officers unless they were

to step down from their government office. And we know that that’s just unbiblical. We see that the apostles baptize Cornelius a soldier they baptize the Philippian jailer and just

the pacifism of the Mennonites and Amish which again we will see next week is as an error.

Their pacifism comes their idea that use of force is never ever becoming for a Christian

in any circumstance comes from an erroneous view of the kingdom being fully here among Christ’s people when it’s not as of yet. So that’s just important to clarify. So onto

the meat of what we want to talk about in verse 3 the first thing Jesus says blessed

are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We must enter the kingdom of God through the door of repentance and there can be no worldly there can be no worldly glory

no self justification. We must come empty before God as a beggar in need of grace as a as an

enemy who is of a righteous king who is who is confessing our treason against him and laying no claim to having any any right to be in his grace. We must come to him laying down our arms and pleading for mercy. There cannot be anything of holding onto like first John 2 talks about the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life and

the context of that is John saying not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man loves the world the love of the father is not in it. We have to come before

God is as beggars in need of mercy and grace and I want to read in first Corinthians chapter one just a passage which I believe is really getting at what it means to be poor in spirit.

Think of how and as I turn to think of how Jesus said how hardly shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of God it is harder for a rich man it is harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God and those who study their passage know that he is talking about trust and riches. We read in Proverbs 1810 that the name of the Lord is a strike tower the righteous run into it and it is

safe but then the next verse Proverbs 1811 says the rich man’s wealth is his strike city and as in high wall in his own conceit the rich man tends to believe that his own wealth can save him and that he is secure in that. Now that is not always true and there is often

poor people who trust materially poor people who trust in foolish things but just as a general rule those who are rich tend to trust in their riches and to feel they have pride

and false security in their riches and whereas people who are poor are less prone to such

a trap it can happen among them too and the same could be said of people who are naturally

good looking naturally strong and athletic it doesn’t necessarily God is not against people who are like that just because they are like that but to really humble yourself

before God and to come through the neurogate of repentance with holding on to nothing of self and truly surrendered to the king without any glory in his presence is a difficult thing and I want to read here from 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 21 for after they in the wisdom

of God the world by wisdom do not God it please God by the foolishness of preaching to save

them that believe for the Jews require a sign in the Greek seek after wisdom but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews of stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men for you see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh

not many ways not many no more not many no more called but guys chosen the foolish things

of the world to confound the wise and got it frozen the weak things of the world to

confound the things which are mighty and these things of the world and things which are the spice of God chosen and things which are not to bring to not to bring to nothing the things that are and this is the key in verse 29 the first Corinthians one that no flesh or glory

in his presence but of him are you in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption that according as it is written he the glory of let him glory in the Lord so obviously when he said not many not many wise men after

the flesh not many mighty not many noble he’s obviously obviously anybody can can can see

on can can fear God and to understand that they need to get right with him and to understand

that nothing in this world matters except being right with him and and and have and

have God’s favor and God’s um God’s protection and God’s um God’s righteousness is there is their highest priority and obviously people and obviously like I said people who are less who are not um who are not um mighty and and noble and wise can still be can can still

be foolish so it’s and and and not um and even with and even with the false securities that um that those who are rich and certain ways tend to have can still can can still miss the narrow way can still um can still miss um can still miss Christ and still um

still not enter in being the kingdom um but for certain we we need to um nobody ever comes to a doctor saying that they’re well when you go to a doctor you’re you’re there because you’re not well which is a set day that I’m only not a physician but they that are sick

and whatever whatever trials whatever weaknesses we naturally have that can make us aware of

our spiritual brokenness and can cause us to seek that which is which is eternal that

what really matters we should use it no matter whether that’s little or much everybody everybody

has something that they should be able to get that message from and um there’s a sign that one of the one of the lines part of the line is we are the broken and you are the

healer and that’s and and and it’s that understanding that um this should cause us to be poor in

spirit um the late of scenes in revelation chapter three are the opposite of this they

were they said that they were rich and increased with goods and had need of nothing and Christ

said in reality your poor wretched naked and blind um just because we just because we were broken at one time and saw our need for grace we need to continue to do that day after day Jesus told his disciples that he is divine and we are the branches and and as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself except to abide in the vine no more can you accept you abide

in me um there’s um at any branch if it gets disconnected from the vine no matter how fruitful it’s been it can wither and Jesus said that those who if a man abide not in me he is cast

forth as a branch and is withered in and they gather them into the fire and they are burnt

um even Jesus as a man who didn’t even need mercy who was never broken by sin still lived

in daily dependence upon his father to to keep him from sin and to um and to um and to give him grace to fulfill the ministry that he was called to do so how much more

to win Hebrews 5 7 um we read of Jesus who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was certain that he feared though he were a son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered and being made perfect he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him it’s Hebrews 5 7 the 9th um so there’s definitely definitely if Jesus saw his his need to be poor in spirit how much how much more should

we and and obviously Jesus himself is the perfection of all these things for even even though he had no sin even in even in the things where we might have to be poor in spirit part of the reason might be because of the fact that we’ve sinned there still is an aspect

to it that um just because of our position as as humans and and the the violent the passage in Philippians chapter 3 that talks about how when Christ comes back he shall change

our vile bodies that they may be fashioned like on those glorious image um just uh just our human condition and our human suffering and our um and the fact that we’re subject to the miseries and trials of life like anybody else and the fact that we need God’s grace to keep us from sin and to and to and for strength to serve him as as we ought to and that we need to depend on him for the necessities of life and um and and just the fact that we are not we are not finally going to be saved until we finish our race and probably

a thousand other reasons are are all um are all reasons why we need to we need we ought to be poor in spirit um and just one more thing along with that is we’re reading Galatians

3 how the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith it’s easy to see how when the law of God is not faithfully preached people are

going to think highly of themselves and their own morality and their own righteousness and are going to um are going to not see God for grace not are going to be more easily just

the testimony of scripture and of nature and of our conscience should be enough to persuade

us to repent but when the law of God is not faithfully proclaimed and not faithfully expounded

people tend to have high thoughts about themselves that keep them from being poor in spirit and

keep them from the kingdom of heaven um we read in Hosea 4-6 I think I can quote it exactly

but I want to I don’t want it I don’t want to risk it so I’m turning here Hosea 4-6 my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge so a lot of times people quote that lack of

knowledge but what is what is there the lack of knowledge of because thou is rejected knowledge

I will also reject thee that thou shalt be no priest to me because he’s especially rebuking

Israel’s priests who are supposed to be teaching them the law so seeing that thou has forgotten

the law of thy God I will also forget thy children in Proverbs 4-9-18 we read that where there is no vision the people perish but who so hearkeneth unto the law happy is he vision in there is talking about understanding of the word of God prophetic vision and people who are without insight into the law of God are going to tend to are going to tend to

have a false security and are going to perish because of that so moving on Matthew 5 for blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted comforted here could also mean I’m called near to God on with a lot of with a with all of these on all these characteristics of righteousness there’s many different angles for them and there’s many different there’s room to grow and there’s room for maturity in them but there’s also there’s also a war where there’s violations of the law of God which we can know and understand related to them that we need to repent of and forsake to even be a disciple in the kingdom at all and to ever really come to a fuller maturity and and and a fuller understanding of a fuller

knowledge of the king in his ways so a lot of these things are things that you can meditate on and and and you can if you do that you’ll see different aspects of these things that aren’t that I know I’m not going to be able to cover them all but certainly I think foremost

is would they that mourn is that either mourn over David mourn over sin those who we read at last we talking about true repentance but it’s good to read again in the sense of having

a great estimation of sin of your own sin especially on 2nd Corinthians 7 verses 10 and 11 for Godly

sorrow work its repentance to salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world work at that for behold the self same thing that you sorrowed after a godly sword what carefulness and rotting yes what clearing of yourselves yes what indignation yes what

fear yes what reheament desire yes what zeal yes what revenge in all things you have approved

yourselves to be clear in in this manner because it is so talking about the repentant Corinthian

on there has there’s no true repentance if there’s not some if there’s not a deep grief

about sin and the right estimation on undertaking the heart that God has been offended truth has truth has been violated that that I had I had no right to do I had no right to transgress

like I did and that the effects of it have been deadly have been offensive to God and have been

they have been deadly to man there’s um there’s no true repentance when there’s not

when there’s not genuine mourning over sin and as a zealous desire to revenge it but there’s also

there’s also an aspect along with that there’s a despising or worldly comforts to ease the misery of our falling condition a lot a lot of times people will get convicted of sin

and we know ourselves it’s very easy to God is working on you by spirit he’s convicting you this is true of the sinner but it can also be true of this the saint who’s starting the backslide you know he’s he’s convicting you of something he is um he’s dealing with you and it’s not comfortable and you really you don’t want to face it so you go and you turn on a tv

or you you go to a you go to a movie then maybe it’s not something simple it’s all the worse if

that’s the case but you you’re trying to medicate your distress by by maybe going a lot of people

maybe would go and eat it doesn’t really matter what it is because even if it’s something innocent

if if you try to comfort yourself over your sin by on by indulging in in something by distracting yourself somehow rather than thoroughly confessing and forsaking it and

and grieving over it and making restitution and doing what you have to do to get right with God

and anything that anything that would get in the way of that is a false comfort so in mourning in blessed are they that mourn there’s a there’s a despising of of other comforts that could

there could be substitutes for the comfort of God when there’s true repentance there’s a there has

to be a rejecting of false prophets who will cry peace peace when there’s no peace like we read

about in Jeremiah 23 and people who try to tell you you know you’re just human it’s not that bad

everybody does it um and just all the different ways that people try to comfort sinners and and

the main reason people try to comfort sinners is because they’ve comforted themselves and lied to

themselves about the nature of their sin and um and they also oftentimes want to get praise from

people or rewards from people um with blessed are they that mourn I think of men like Daniel and

Ezra and Nehemiah in the Old Testament who wept not really for their own sins but for the sins

of their nation who were grieved for um who were grieved for the despising of God’s name and the

calamity that there’s reason it’s and and this is how Jesus is an example to us even in this he was

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief he he saw what people sin was doing to them and was um

how it was offending God’s holiness above all and was hurting them and and corrupting the world and

there’s a how can you how can you be um at ease and how can you um how can you just be going with

the flow and you know just partying and and going to you know going to the going to the stadium and

and taking just a careless ease and the and the pleasure in in worldly things that other people

take when when God’s truth is truly what you are um is truly what you assume and truly what what

you have regard for and truly what you um what you value um we read in Isaiah chapter 66 talking

about blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted an aspect of comfort that goes along

with that um Isaiah 66 10 rejoice you with Jerusalem and be glad with her all ye that love her Jerusalem obviously the city where it represents the city where God dwells and obviously

the church now is the the Jerusalem from above worldly Jerusalem is is an enmity with God for

the most part except for the handful of real Christians within but um Jerusalem and when

Christ calls back Jerusalem is going to be a city he’s going to reign from Jerusalem and Jerusalem

is going to be a city of righteousness again and Jerusalem uh from a biblical understanding has to

do with the place where God dwells the place where the God identifies with his name and says in Isaiah

66 10 rejoice you with Jerusalem and be glad with her all ye that love her rejoice with joy for her

all ye that mourn for her um that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her constellations

that ye may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory so when God when God

comforts his people and when God um especially when Christ comes back but when there’s revival

now when there’s awakening now it’s those who were mourning um that are gonna that are going to bring

about such revivals and awakenings and who are going to be the ones who who are especially joyful

um in the midst of them um I also consider Hebrews 11 how Moses

tells to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season

and so that’s another aspect of um of godly mourning um Romans 8 17 which I’ve quoted before

in these studies and I know that we’ll quote again that um if children then ears um and if children

then ears um not cool hundred right so let me turn there and if children then ears ears of God

and join ears with Christ if so be that we suffer with them that we may also that we may be that we

may be also glorified together so there’s there’s just an aspect that that those who mourn for um

in as part of Christ’s offerings when when his glory is revealed in a measure here and especially

at his second coming I’m gonna rejoice with exceeding joy Peter said something along those

lines in first Peter four so moving on to five five um blessed are the meek for they shall inherit

the earth um a lot of times when we think of meek we think of somebody who’s like a doormat somebody

who people step on and people who who acts really gentle and lets people take advantage of him now

and and meekness does not does not mean that there is an aspect of gentleness that comes along with

meekness meekness and gentleness are are um closely related but we gotta look to God’s words to find

like meekness everything else we gotta look to God’s word to define it and not and not at worldly

definitions and definitions that we were raised with and because if we look at those we’re gonna

we’re gonna go wrong um and that’s another reason the course is study the Bible and why um

just one of the millions of reasons to study the Bible is the fact that we have the the world has

definitions we got definitions of things from our upbringing well we want to see God’s definition of

things I I think Mark Boland in his teaching on the Sermon on the Mount I think he hit the nail

rightly when he said that the meek are those who respect and honor Godly boundaries um I think of

Abraham with Lot in Genesis chapter 13 how Abraham refused to strive with Lot for land for the sake

not for this not because he was scared of Lot but for the sake of God’s testimony among the Canaanites

and Abraham told Lot if you go to the left I’ll go to the right you go to the right I’ll go to the

left something like that and um and and so Lot lifted up his eyes he he chose Sodom based he

chose to live in Sodom based upon sight and and Abraham you know he he stayed he stayed more in

the mountainous regions of um of Canaan and God told him that um to lift up his eyes and he told

him that right after that that he was going to give him all of that land so it notice that how blessed are the meek for the issue on here at the earth those who those who respect Godly

boundaries those who refuse to take what isn’t theirs or who let who allow themselves to suffer

rhyme for the testimony of Christ are going to inherit all things that’s it’s the perfect um that’s the perfect um recompense for the meek is that they shall inherit the earth um

just more examples of meekness um Adam and Eve were not meek when they took the fruit in the

garden that they were forbidden to take the meek are willing those who are are meek are willing

to be told no are willing to say to God if you honestly if you do not want me to go there if you do not want me to do this I I will not do it I will not take that which is not rightfully mine

we could say in a way that the opposite of meek is I need it now um for the caters are not meek

no matter how how meek they might act by worldly definitions anybody who would touch somebody

like you know how first Corinthians chapter seven says it um

it is good for a man not to touch a woman but to avoid fornication let every let every man have his own life and every woman her own husband um

those who those who aren’t willing to to touch somebody else in that in that way that is not their spouse are are crossing godly boundaries that is that is not meek and those

and and those who um

and those who don’t honor god’s god’s boundaries are are under his judgment under his wrath um

and again this is another example of um how there’s a how there’s there’s a floor to to being in god’s kingdom there’s different stages of maturity within the kingdom but there’s definite

there’s definite lines there’s there’s a definite line between light and darkness that um anybody

who anybody who is in darkness needs to repent of that darkness and um in order to in order to

embrace christ and to being his kingdom of light and um somebody who’s

just just another aspect of me think of somebody who’s quick to speak would not be meek and and and that’s something that could be a level of of maturity of growth of um

of being growing and understanding and discipline as as as a as a disciple a disciple is one under

discipline and and obviously there’s different levels of that understanding what when it’s appropriate to talk and when is and when is not appropriate and being disciplined in that that’s something that even the righteous can have there can be different levels of maturity on because that’s something that can that can take a long time to understand um

understand when is appropriate to speak and what do i say and how do i handle the situation

but those who are those who are just out for self and and who um and who aren’t even seeking

god and seeking to understand his word and aren’t under discipline need to repent simply to be to

enter the kingdom and to have an interest in christ i also see meek is having to do with not

being high-minded um we read in romance 12 how um it says to mind not high things but condescend to

men of low estate um to be somebody who is a willing friend of those who are despised and who

are low paul said to the weak i became as weak that i’m like in the week he didn’t unnecessarily

show his strengths before those who were who were weak and jesus says of himself in matthew 11 that

um come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and i will give you rest take my yoke upon

you that yoke has to do with being in subjection to him as as king take my yoke upon you and learn

of me for i am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest to your souls he’s not he’s not

overbearing on on his subjects so just just another example how jesus is the prime on the prime example

of meekness um matthew 5 6 blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they

shall be filled um there’s never we we have we’re told in first period 211 to um turn there if states are to have seen from flesh we lost with war against the soul there’s a there’s

a reclaiming of the land that that sin has marred in us and we can never be content until um until the land is fully taken for christ it in in first john chapter two in first john chapter

three we read that when he shall appear we shall be like him for for he shall we shall see him as

he is and every man that hath this hope in himself purify it himself as he is pure and we could you

we could quote that for verse eight two and many of these other things because they’re all interrelated

um there’s

there’s jesus is communicating here that um

that we got a hunger and thirst after righteousness that we got a we got a hunger and thirst to being

conformed to his character and and um and cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and

spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of godly second corinthian seven seven one says that there’s

um there’s always a greater height and a greater depth of understanding and way to walk in and a

and and the greater um a greater deliverance um like we’re told in second peter 318 in contrast

to being led away with the year of the wicked but growing grace and in the knowledge the experiential

knowledge of ethnosis of our lord and savior jesus christ um there’s there’s always um

there’s always ways that we can learn to walk and please him better and be more faithful ambassadors

of the kingdom and reflect his image better um this also has to do with hungering and thirsting

after understanding of the word of god um in jobe 21 jobe talks about he esteemed god’s word

is more necessary than his daily food we read in last chapter in matthew 404 that jesus said man

shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of god in sam 1 19

142 um we read that god’s righteousness is and thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness

and thy laws of truth and and and there’s a pleasure that those who hunger and thirst after after understanding god’s will can find sam 19 is um is a perfect example of this um

sam 19 verse 7 the law of the lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the lord

is sure making wise is simple the statutes of the lord are right rejoicing the heart the

commandment of the lord is pure and lightening the eyes the fear of the lord is clean enduring

forever the judgments of the lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired are they

than gold yes and with fine gold sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb moreover by them as

i serve and warn them in keeping them there is great reward who can understand his ears cleanse on me

from secret faults this is a man hungering and thirsting after righteousness not just knowledge

of what the word says and to be satisfied with understanding that but actually

getting the understanding and conforming to it and and and fearing to transgress god and seeking

and seeking a deeper a deeper cleansing this is real hungering and thirsting after righteousness

and a right understanding of god’s law rather than how the jews had made verse 13 of sam 19 keep back

i serve and also from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me then shall i be upright

and i shall be innocent from the great transgression let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my

heart be acceptable and in thy sight o lord my strength and my redeemer um hungering and thirsting

after righteousness also has to do with hating injustice um just earlier today i was hearing a

story about a man who was who’s on his wife and his daughter are just in rebellion against him

and the pastor of his church is actually supporting supporting them and it’s it’s a really grievous

situation and and the subjects of praise kingdom have to have to have to hunger and thirst that um

righteousness and justice are often used interchangeably in in script for hit there’s

a hungering and the thirsting in those who have the mind of christ situations like that be remedied

and god be glorified but with that i think it’s appropriate that meatness was blessed are the meat

for they shall inherit the earth is said right before that because in in hating injustice

in seeking to right wrongs we we have to we have to go about it within our god god or dade boundaries

and the abilities god gives us um Adam Clark defined this as hunger for all the blessings of

the new covenant and all the graces and all the graces of messiah’s kingdom being fully restored

to the image of god and there’s also what second peter chapter three talks about um looking for

a new heavens and a new earth and peter said where for my beloved seeing that you look for such

things be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless um so back to

matthew five blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy um obviously god is clear that

if we do not forgive those who who wrong us we cannot be forgiven and jesus even gave a parable in matthew 18 about a man who lost his forgiveness from his master from

equated to to the heavenly father because he would not forgive his fellow servants who of a much much

much lesser debt than his his master had had forgiven him from if this also has to do with

heating the cry of the cry of the poor the good like the good samaritan and then lou chapter 10 who was um

who helped a man who was genuinely in need a man who was robbed and wounded and naked

and did what was in his power to to heed his cry and uh and and to help him um

to to um to meet his need in that situation um i think of james 127 which i know is jimmy’s um

sort of like the theme verse of global mission for children that pure religion and undefiled before

god and the father is to visit the fatherless and widows and their affliction and to keep himself

unspotted from the world and and what were and and and all these things they have to do with that

um what is not mercy is being a false accuser being harder on people than the law of god is which is which is what when jesus talked about judge not let he be judged the work the verse at the world most misquotes that’s what he was just taught jesus isn’t talking about it the way sinners use it he’s talking about he’s talking about see that you’re not harder on people than

the law of god is because as much as you’re harder on people then god’s law itself is so god will

likewise be hard on you um inappropriate mercy is is not godly mercy showing mercy on criminals

and just letting them go is and torment society is unmerciful to the innocent victims and to the

rest of society pacifism and um just a lot of these you know the the socialists and their political

agendas that make criminals the good guys and police the bad guys for simply enforcing the law

and doing what they need to do to restrain criminals and keep them from menacing society they are not being merciful they are well they’re being they’re being merciful in a wicked way mercy is when jesus talks about merciful he’s talking about merciful from god’s definition and they’re not being merciful from god’s definition we’re told in micro 6 8 that um

what does the lord he showed the old man what is good and what does the lord require of the what to

do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy god i i heard mark bowland talk about that verse

about loving mercy we should love when people put themselves in a place where it’s appropriate that

they find mercy god shows mercy to no one except except they repent and and truly i um have a heart

to restore that which they took away and to and to write what they’ve made wrong and and and when

somebody shows demonstrates true repentance having um having goodwill towards people

means that we should we should love love them to be in such a place that they can righteously

find mercy and and and i also see with mercy there’s something about giving others the

benefit of the doubt and when something’s not not clear you’re not sure whether somebody was right

or right and there’s not evidence to there’s not evidence to say for sure that they were wrong to

give them give them the benefit of the doubt like we would want others to do to us if you know we

were innocent in a situation but maybe there was something about it that that caused there to be a

little doubt there um matthew 5a blessed are the pure and hard for they shall see god this obviously

is not talking about um judgment day because everybody’s going to see god on judgment day

um this is talking about knowing god um being in god’s favor um

being um experiencing experiencing his his grace and being in real communion with him um this has

to do with seeking to the Pharisees were very the scribes and the Pharisees were very caught up in

outward washings and outward ceremony and outward um and and impressive doing righteousness to impress

men as we’re going to read about later in the sermon on the mount and and jesus is is emphasizing

we need to be deeper go deeper than that and deal with um have no guile in our hearts

and seek from the heart to do the will of god and uh and so um to deal with sin in our thought life

to confess and forsake it to to not be double-minded to be to be pure in our motives to not um to not

pretend that we’re something we’re not wait the scribes and Pharisees often did to to not make uh

to not try to show ourselves at church as something that we’re not in our in our private lives um

it has to do with trying seeking to keep a good conscience before god and men

what paul talked about in x chapter um 24 um he said but this i can he’s testifying before felix the governor but this i confess him to be that after the way which they call heres he’s so worshiped by the god of my father’s believing all things which are written in the lawn in the

prophets and have hope for god which pay themselves also allow that there shall be a resurrection of

the dead both of the just and the and unjust and herein do i exercise myself to have always

a conscience void of offense toward god and men so there’s a so private has to do with the sincerity

um seeking to not seeking to be at peace with all men as much as possible as it lies

in us as roman swole talks about but but also to um to have a clean heart before god some in sum 24

um we read that um

verse three who shall send into the hill the lord or who shall stand in his holy place

he that hath cleaned hands in a pure heart who have not lifted up his soul unto vanity and vanity

in the bible is often um related to idolatry nor sworn deceitfully he shall receive blessing from

the lord and righteousness from the god of his salvation this is the generation of them that seek

that face oh jake over oh god of jake so um so the the so this is very much having to do with um

even when no one’s watching we

fearing god into and to not allow like roman stu talks about seeking our praise so ultimately

the true circumcision our praise seeking that our praise would ultimately come from god and not for

men but also but also being sincere in our in our dealings with men um matthew 5 9 blessed are the

peacemakers for they shall be called the children of god um this has to do with this has to do with um having a having a a true a true zeal for the gospel a true um

a true heart that god um that god’s name would be glorified on the earth and that men would be

and that men would be reconciled to him praying for um for people’s salvation like first timothy

true talks about without wrath and doubting um seeking to be a faithful witness for christ and not being ashamed of his testimonies um taking our part in in god’s church to um

to advance the gospel according to the ability god has given us if somebody who doesn’t care about

the lost and who isn’t um who’s not willing to evangelize they’re not even willing to to support

and pray for those who who do and who are are being faithful are are not peacemakers in the

sense jesus talked about here in second corinthians chapter five um we read that um in verse 19 to wait to know that god was in christ reconciling the world unto himself not

himself unto the world but the world unto himself not impuring their trespasses unto them he he died

to save to redeem us from our sins and to give us space to repent that we can be reconciled to god

and have committed us and have committed unto us the word of reconciliation now then we are

ambassadors for christ is all god’s beseech you by us we pray you in christ that be reconciled to god

for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of god

in him so being a peacemaker has to do also with being a faithful ambassador for christ seeking

not only to as we’re going to get into in verse 13 to 16 not only to um to preach him before men

but also to be a faithful representative of him before men and to um

and to not give anybody an unnecessary offense like paul talks about in second corinthians eight

providing things honest not not only in the sight of god but also in the sight of men it also has to

do with what james three talks about having a having an attitude having a demeanor speaking in

a way that um it doesn’t so strafe that if there would be any strafe if people would have anything

against us that it would that the fault would would be upon them james 318 and the fruit of it’s difficult navigating with the different bibles um

i have two bibles in front of me and sometimes it’s hard to know whether i should try to just do

turn one or to try to manage true but um james 317 to 18 but but the wisdom that is from above

is first pure it’s pure before anything else and then peaceable gentle easy to be intrigued full

immersing good fruits without without partiality and without hypocrisy and the fruit of righteousness

is sown in peace of them that make peace um i’ve only got about 10 more minutes here i’m sorry that

this is taking longer than i thought there’s there’s just you can see that there’s a lot to meditate on

here and i want to so i don’t want to just rush through these seven verses but i i really have a

lot less to say about them so i think we can can get through them so do this will continue in verses

10 through 12 blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness to say produce is the kingdom of

heaven the same thing that he the same blessing he talked about back in verse three blessed are you

when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all men are evil against you falsely

for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for greatest reward in heaven for so persecuted they

are the prophets which were before you i believe that you this is main point in these verses is that we need to continue in in well-doing before god continue in the kingdom continue in consistently in the righteous aspects of the kingdom of god the kingdom of heaven

even when it causes us to suffer and persecution from men it’s and persecution from men that comes

as a result of um being faithful to the kingdom is you could say it’s probably in most cases it’s

probably the hardest suffering to endure but it certainly would include all the lesser or other

forms of suffering even if they’re harder they come as a result of being faithful and you know um

being you’re not able to partake in the in the fun that the world partakes of um

that is so closely related to sin and and even after you’ve continued in the kingdom five or ten years and there’s a suffering that’s involved in in staying faithful and in um

and in being subject to the king and waiting for him to return and i believe jesus’s main point

is that you we need to endure to the end like we read about in matthew 24 9 to 13 and not be turned

aside by the persecution of men the the love of inequity that our love waxing cold because

inequity is abounding not being turned aside by that not being deceived by false prophets who

who tickle man’s ears and who um somehow seek to turn us out of the righteousness of the kingdom

but what he’s saying blessed are you that continue in

in the righteousness of the kingdom though your suffering and he’s and he’s seeking to change our viewpoint about it to show us that um

even when even when we’re persecuted for righteousness of sake even when people

revile us in person and notice in verse 11 that reviling is a form and being falsely accused is a form of persecution even when we seem to be miserable as a result of being faithful to the

king from heaven’s point of view since faith is the substance of things hold for the evidence of

things not seen and that he that cometh to god must believe that he is and that he is a well

without faith it’s impossible to please him for either cometh to god must believe that he is and

that he is rewarder of them that diligently seek him from heaven’s perspective he’s saying even

though you’re miserable before men and you might feel miserable for with the eyes of faith you’re

blessed take on that take on that viewpoint because that’s that’s how things really it really are and and like proverbs 23 17 18 says let not thine heart and be sinners but be thou in the fear of the word all the day line for surely there is an end um and thine expectation shall

not be cut off so versus 13 to 16 ye are the salt of the earth but if the salt of lust is savor where

we shall it be salted it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden

under foot of men there’s a there’s a rebuke to sin and uh and uh stopping a slowing down of the

course of iniquity of this world of preserving of this world a godly savor a godly influence that those who are described in verses three through twelve ye are the salt of the earth and the

weight of the world it’s talking about those described in verses three through twelve obviously

to just take it and apply it to anybody is inappropriate but to but to these what are

those people there’s a godly savor and a godly influence that they bring and if that godly savor

that godly influence isn’t there if our if our christianity doesn’t bring us to that then it’s

not good for anything but to cause what to cause men to blaspheme god’s name and to and to my cause

verse 14 here the weight of the world the city that is set on an ill cannot be hit neither do

men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candle ticket and it giveth weight unto all

that are in the house let your light so shine before men they may see your good works and glorify

your father which is in heaven um this is just something i have here i’m back to 13 to 16 true christianity presents price before the world these verses show the reason for the persecution spoken of in verses 10 through 12 any professed christianity that does not oppose resist the

rottenness and corruption of the world assault those elements to corrupt food is utterly useless

any professed christianity which does not so only serves to aid wicked people to blaspheme christ

and his gospel typically societies where living gospel witnesses in great and powerful corrupt especially fast the corruption now in america is a reflection of the corruption of the american

church um we also learn in verses 14 to 16 that we cannot really be laid for christ before men if we

are holy and thus a rebuke to the resistance and thus a rebuke and resistance to the corruption

of the world nor can we be solved without being late that is we can’t really be holy if our christianity is just about being pure ourselves well we don’t strive to reflect christ and make

him known to others that they might be saved this is this is a rebuke to monasticism the idea that

that we should just flee society and live off by ourselves and that certainly doesn’t mean that

there’s not wisdom to living out in the country to to avoid you know to avoid a place like saddam but

we can’t go out of the world altogether which um paul’s basically said in first Corinthians chapter

five um so when those who profess christ openly don’t live in accordance with their profession

it does it dishonors him before all and brings confusion and a potential stumbling block to others

um we are to Jesus would later on say not to do our righteousness to be seen of men and and that

is true but we’re but we’re also to live before God and and do righteousness consistently so as to

well we’re not seeking to impress men we also we want to be consistent and when and we shouldn’t

be ashamed of him before men and in that consistency it’s going to cause it’s going to

cause good works which will influence men to glorify God to glorify our Father which is in heaven and

and that is ultimately such a pure offering of worship to make a holy nation

a peculiar people’s ellis of good works that who are like Titus 2 says denying and godliness and

worldly lust that they might live soberly righteously and godly in this present world

is what the true grace of God is meant to bring us unto and is uh and is the desired end that God is seeking now among the sub in this world among the subjects of of his kingdom

among Christ people the true church we read in Philippians 2 12 to 16 where for my beloved

day he have always obeyed not as in my presence only but not much more in my absence work out your

own your own salvation with fear and from like for it is God which worked within you both to will and

and the do of his good pleasure do all things without rumors and disputing that ye may be

blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse

nation among whom you shine as lights in the world holding forth the word of life that I may rejoice

in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain neither labored in vain Philippians 2 12 to 16

thank you um thank you for your patience as um we go through these um very key verses in Matthew’s

Gospel I’m I’m all done here okay yeah brother Aaron thank you so much everybody thank you for

joining us we’ll turn off the recording here we have uh for questions this week but brother Aaron

will certainly get a bag of milk for children of all I think uh next week God bless you.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapters 5-17 throught 6-18- Week 5

Good evening everybody here in the United States and good morning to Brother and Hilton,

Daniel and Sho on there in Bangladesh and good morning to anybody that joins us overseas.

We didn’t have our normal Australia brother joining us today. He’s actually in school to learn how to

grow although he’s done a great job himself. He’s going for farming and stuff so we’ll miss him

tonight. But anyway I just want to welcome everybody. We’re going through the book of Matthew

with our dear brother Aaron Carey here who is a great Bible teacher. We went through the book,

one of the books that he wrote called the Ageless Conflict since March and now we’re continuing on

through the book of Matthew which I believe is the most evangelistic book that there is and the most

complete book of the New Testament where we could really use this to disciple others this teaching.

So it’s always listed up on our website globalvisionmachilv.org. So no further ado brother

Aaron I’m going to give you the floor and put it on mute and I ask everybody to put it on mute if

they could until we ask the question I’ll stop talking. God bless. Thank you brother. I do want to apologize to everybody for last week. In a way I was overprepared and another way I was underprepared but the bottom line is I wasn’t sufficiently prepared so I apologize for that.

There would definitely were some tangents there and that’s why I asked Jimmy not to post a recording

because I think that I think a brief summary of verses 17 to 37 will will be better than last week’s

teaching anyway to think it posted and then Lord willing we will move on from there. So last week

as we were going through verses 17 to 37 just just reiterated that Jesus did not come to I’m not

going to read I’m not going to read the verses for the sake of those who were on the call last week

but those who are listening to the recording can do so. Just to emphasize that Jesus made it Jesus

emphasized in verses 17 and 18 that he did not come to destroy the law of the prophets but to

fulfill them. He is not contradicting or teaching contrary to anything in the Old Testament and

that has to be borne in mind with the different things that Jesus says because many many go into

here but because of the fact that they don’t they don’t consider in Jesus’s statements here in the

Sermon on the Mount they don’t consider what the law of Moses said. For example when we get to where

Jesus says we’re not at all there’s a qualification to that and that is and that is the swearing that

was that was on commanded in the Old Testament and as we get to those verses we’ll see that the Jews

had made loopholes that they would um so they could swear and not invoke God’s name and thereby not

fulfill their oath and that was and Jesus is going to rebuke them for that but there still is a solemn

binding swearing that would be necessary in matters of great importance like before a judge and so

people who refuse to take an oath in a courtroom or something like that they’re not considering what

the Old Testament had already said regarding swearing. So in verse 18 Jesus said till heaven and

earth pass that one jot or one tittle shall and no wise pass from the lot shall all be fulfilled and

we see that in Romans 8 3 and 4 that and in Hebrews 10 that the new covenant is the spirit of a key

aspect of the new covenant is the spirit of God being written on the hearts of believers so that

they would partake of the divine nature there’s a deeper there’s a depth of righteousness that we

can have now that couldn’t be had in the old under the old covenant there’s a there’s knowledge of God

there’s a um there’s a perfect atonement for sin that was foreshadowed in the ceremonial law and and

there is um and and because of that we can be partakers of the divine nature and it says in

Romans 8 4 that um it’s it’s with the end that the righteousness of the lamb might be fulfilled in

us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit when it says the righteousness of the

law that’s talking about the morality of that was defined in in the Old Testament and Jesus is here

clarifying that and defending that and um and showing it’s a lot giver explaining what the what

the law really means against the abuses of the scribes and Pharisees um and so in verse 19 we

when it talks about that whosoever shall shall break one of the least of these commandments and

shall teach them and so he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven we talked about how least

there means disregarded somebody who knowingly willfully transgresses anything God says and

considers it unimportant unimportant is going to be take is going to be considered unimportant and

disregarded from God’s kingdom and we see that in revelation 22 14 blessed are they that do his

commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and they enter in by the through the gates

into the city um so in inverse 20 Jesus said for I send you the acceptor righteousness shall exceed

the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees he shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven

and so that that so Jesus is saying that um he’s going to go on in the rest of the sermon on the

mountain contrast the true intention of the law versus the abuses that the scribes and Pharisees

had um had abused God’s law to justify their sin to to seduce Israel into sin um and and that’s what

we have in the rest of the sermon on the mount um in verses 21 to 26 um Jesus is talking about

the true intention the true spirit of the sixth commandment thou shalt not kill it goes much

deeper than not just physically murdering anybody it’s talking to the we cannot even have malice

in our hearts or have any injury done to anybody that would um any wrongful injury towards another

person or even so much as a malicious thought in our hearts against them um in verses 27 to 3 to um

the seventh commandment that it goes much deeper than simply not committing adultery that within

with um you know in in the literal sense of that people would have been stoned for under the law

of Moses that there’s a that there’s a spirit there’s an intention there to the point where

if you so much as lust after a woman he says in verse 28 you’ve committed adultery with her already in your heart but there’s a there’s a deeper principle there and I could see a modern

Pharisee um who could a modern Pharisee could take Jesus’s words and they could say well it says

whosoever lusts um look upon a woman’s lust after it’s committed adultery with her already in his

heart and they could say well it doesn’t say anything about looking with lust at a man that’s

that’s the that’s the attitude of a Pharisee the somebody who seeks to use the letter to just the

letter of scripture to justify their sin oh the bible doesn’t say you can’t lust after a picture

of a woman you know and obviously that’s just as much of being just as much of a hypocritical

Pharisee as um as the Pharisees here who um had justified lusting after woman so it’s important

we see the deeper principles and a lot of times now now the person who’s called a Pharisee is a

person who will um who is sincerely striving to obey God and be holy whereas the the Pharisees

that Jesus had controversy with were people who pretended to be righteous when they they knew

they weren’t they pretended to be holy and and they also they also used the letter of scripture

and they stopped right there and they didn’t meditate upon the true intention the true um principle behind the commandments and and thereby they justified their sin um and so we see not only related to this we’re getting you muffled a little often so i think you’re

maybe putting your hand over that just once in a while it happens if you can just see your words

yeah thank you thanks brother is that better yeah much better okay sorry about that um so not

unrelated to that is um the Jews had a casual attitude towards marriage covenant and and they

would um as we get into verses 31 and 32 they would um they would basically justify they would

they had an attitude of whosoever shall put away his wife let him give her a rating of

divorcement like verse 31 says they subtracted from God’s word because if you go into Deuteronomy

chapter 24 you see that um God only permitted divorce for matters of war along cleanness um

as as Jesus equated to fornication in in verse 32 and um so so the bottom line is that

they took the narrow the very narrow um permission God gave for divorce in the law of Moses and they

just brought in that if you want to put away your wife if you see a more beautiful woman if you’re

tired of her if you’re you’re bothered by her manners if she’s not so attractive anymore they

could just they thought you could just put her away and marry someone else and that was and that

and Jesus was just was saying that is that is really adultery just because you have the paperwork

and it’s important to understand the true um the context in which Jesus says what he says in verses

31 and 32 because some take that to extremes where not considering the context where they would force

people who were divorced and remarried before their conversion to leave their current spouses

and try to go back to the original spouse even if the original spouse has um remarried and there’s

no chance of that would ever happen they try to you know they they might not even permit somebody to

divorce and remarry if their spouse leaves them because of um because they apostasy the the one

leaves apostasy and turns from the faith um and so we will get more into that in chapter 19 where Jesus talks with this describes and Pharisees deal with Jesus more about that

but a lot of times the people who teach the no divorce and remarriage ever doctrine though quote

scriptures like first Corinthians 739 where it says the wife is bound by the law to her husband

as long as he he liveth but if she be but if he be dead she can be married to whom she will only

in the Lord they they take that to say no divorce and remarriage ever but even if some churches even

if the spouse does commit adultery they don’t even they they they don’t even consider saving

for the causal fornication in verse 32 but the bottom line is that law that’s talked about in

first Corinthians 39 that binds the woman to the husband and the husband to the wife is the law of

Moses so that’s said with that’s said with the consideration for the neuro the the neuro exception

that God does give that when there’s a an unfaithful um spouse it there’s a time to put them away

there’s a time like in first Corinthians chapter seven where um it talks about how that if uh

if the unbeliever leaves a believer that a brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases and

then it says and then it says later on in the in the chapter art thou bound unto a wife um seek not to be loose art thou loose from a wife seek not a wife but and if thou marry thou is not sin so there’s um so a lot of people go into very very bad um

um they put people rhyme fully in bondage not considering the context of Jesus’s words to the

to the era of the Pharisees here and that um and and that has to be considered so in verses 33 to 37

um when Jesus says swear not at all in verse 34 God had said God had said in Deuteronomy 6 13 that

thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and it’s the same passage Jesus quoted to Satan in Matthew 4

thou shalt worship or fear the word could have been translated either way the words I got him

shalt thou serve and thou shalt swear by his name um that was Jesus spoke that with um

since he didn’t come to destroy the law of Moses he spoke that with that already considered um but

you see how you see how as you go through the passage that there was a there was a custom among

the Jews at the time that if you swore by heaven you were not bound to your oath because they said

well we’re not swearing by God’s name and but Jesus is is um is rebooting that he says swear

swear not at all neither by heaven for it is God’s throne nor by the earth for it is this footstool

they were invoking God’s name he’s saying you are invoking God’s name by swearing by these things

even though you say you’re not you even though you even though you say you’re not bound to your

oath because you’re not swearing by God’s name the only swearing permitted in the law of Moses

was swearing by God’s name and anybody who um and anybody who didn’t swear by God’s name and anybody

who who’s anybody who swore by God’s name and didn’t keep their oath profane God’s name and anybody who

and anybody who swore any by God’s name besides that was um swore by God’s name otherwise was

guilty of a perjury and so so he said neither by Jerusalem for this the city of the great king and

in Leviticus 19 12 it says um it says you shall not um just make sure I quote there right memorize it beforehand and I think I got it memorized and then you get into teaching and

so I can’t get better turn there um Leviticus 19 12 and you shall not swear by night by my name

falsely neither shall tell profane the name of thy God I am the Lord um so so Jesus is dealing with

different loopholes that the Jews had had so that they would not be bound to their oaths in verses 33 to 37 and and he’s just and he’s just reviewing them and saying that

these are not you are to you are to say yes yes and no no and whatsoever is more than his cometh of evil and that was the we’re not uh we’re not to be creative and say well

give our word about something but but then find an excuse that afterwards well I didn’t really mean

that I or I wasn’t I didn’t swear in God’s name so therefore I’m not obligated to perform that

and that’s exactly what was going on among the Jews and that’s what Jesus is reviewing and

the swearing in when it comes to great important matters where like when you’re testifying in a

courtroom that really require um affirming that what you’re saying is true under calling God to witness that what I’m saying is true and that I am I am rightfully subject to punishment if I um if I don’t perform this that’s that type of swearing is proper we are to be totally honest

and that and putting somebody under oath in such a case does have consequences when when Michael

Brown the man in Missouri who attacked the cop got um when he was first killed by the officer

after he had attacked him one of his friends started to tell the newspaper reporters that um

he started to talk about how you know the hands up don’t shoot narrative and say that he was really

that the officer wasn’t in any danger but then when that very same guy was put under

oath in the courtroom he told the jury that I don’t know what I saw because he knew that he was

he knew he was going to be subject to punishment if he um if he testified falsely there and so we

are to say yes yes and no no as if um always before God we are um

we shouldn’t ever need to be under oath because we should be honest all the time

but that doesn’t negate the fact that when it comes to marriage vows when it comes to court

remotes that there is a time to assure men that um what we’re saying is is true and Hebrew 616

there is witness today so now we’re moving on in Matthew 3rd 538 you have heard the death and said

an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I say unto you that you resist not evil

but whose lover shall smite the anti-rage cheek turn to him the other also now this is these are

verses that are used to justify pacifism the idea that Christians should never serve in government

or be involved in the use of force whatsoever now but really that’s um

we have to understand the context and what the law had already said so go back to Deuteronomy chapter 19.

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth was was a command given to Israel’s judges that

they were to perform when it comes to meeting out justice um so it says in Deuteronomy 19 16

if a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong then

both the men between whom the controversy shall stand before the Lord before the priests and the

judges which shall be in those days and the judges shall make diligent inquisition and behold if the

witness be a false witness and have testified falsely against his brother then shall ye do unto

him as he had thought to have done unto his brother so shall thou put the evil away from among you

and those which remain shall hear and fear and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among

you and I shall not pity but life shall go for only five for eye tooth for truth hand for hand foot for foot Jesus is in no way negating what he had already said because everything that

was spoken in the Old Testament was was Jesus speaking through Moses or whoever he was speaking

through um that command was it is right that if a false witness rises up to testify against a man

and that man would have um and and the man he was falsely testing testifying against would have

gotten punished for um he had the false witness not been caught it’s right when the false witness

has got to give him the same punishment the problem is that among the among the Jews and

Jesus’s day they were taking they were taking that passage that was to the judges as a license

for private vengeance for retaliation and so so rather than um rather than bringing things before

the judge did they were the judge would have jurisdiction they were taking private vengeance

and obviously there’s a lot of ways people wrong us that we can’t appeal to the civil authorities for

and and they were taking on and they were taking the passage in Deuteronomy 19 as a license to

to give their own vengeance to when when they felt wrong and obviously obviously that is your password or if you’ve entered the wrong mailbox number press star

I don’t know what that was brother continue sorry you’re having trouble please try again

goodbye everybody please be with me go ahead brother okay thank you so if you if you go to

Romans chapter 12 you see verses 38 and 39 applied perfectly and it really just

it’s it’s just so beautiful and it’s God’s ways are so perfect and so um in in Romans 12 17 recompense to know man evil for evil provide things honest in the sight of all men if it

be possible as much as lieth and you live peaceably with all men dearly beloved avenge not yourselves

but rather give place under wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will replace it the word therefore if thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink for in so doing thou

shalt keep calls of fire on his head and that’s a reference to the conviction of sin be not overcome

of evil but overcome evil with good and right in this very next chapter we’re gonna it’s gonna talk

about governing powers let every soul be subject unto the higher powers for there is no power but

of God the power is to be our ordained of God whosoever therefore resists the power resist the

ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation for rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil will tell them be afraid of the power do that which is

good and thou shalt have praise of the same for he is the minister of God to be for good but if thou

do that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain for he is the minister of God a

revenger of wrath to execute wrath upon him to do with evil so we’re told in chapter we’re told in

1217 to avenge not ourselves but then we’re told in 13 for that um the government power is the

minister of God a revenger to wrath upon him to do with evil so in committing vengeance to God

there still is a place to appeal to civil authorities and to um take matters where they

have jurisdiction unto them we don’t have a right to to determine well he did this to me so i’m going

to do this back to him that’s just lowering ourselves to the level of transgressors and that’s what jesus is is dealing with here um considered considered david and goliath um

goliath was an enemy of god’s people and david in fighting for god’s army god’s people god’s country

he um goliath who was standing up as a as a threat and as and who was blessed from

blessed from god and challenging the true god david was right to have challenged goliath and slain him

but when it came to Saul the war’s anointed um the king of israel even though Saul was seeking

to kill david david did not dare stretch forth his hand to kill him even though he had the opportunity

to do so multiple times um obviously there is a place to resist evil that is talking about fulfillment that’s regarding fulfillment of duty and not regarding personal vengeance if you go back to the book of Deuteronomy just a few chapters after we were um in chapter 22

in verse 23 um if a damsel it is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband and a man finder in

the city and lie with her then shall he bring them both out unto the gate of the city and you shall

stone them with stones that they die the damsel because you cry not in the city and the man because

he hath humbled his neighbor’s wife so so thou shalt put away evil from among you but if a man

finds a betrothed damsel in the field and the man forests her and lie with her then the man only that

lay with her shall she’ll die but unto the damsel thou shall do nothing um there’s in the damsel no

sin worthy of death for as when a man rises against his neighbor and sayeth him even so is this matter

for he found her in the field and the damsel and the betrothed damsel cried and there was none to

save her so if if a woman is is being endangered in that way and there’s a man trying to force her

um she’s expected to cry and it’s implied that anybody who who hears her cry is expected is expected to save her and in that case use of force is fulfillment of duty there’s somebody

in need there’s somebody who um there’s somebody who’s being attacked there’s somebody

who’s a victim and there’s a criminal attempting a criminal act and and and you’re in a place where

if you don’t stop it it’s going to happen you don’t have time to call the police in that case it would actually be right it’s it’s it’s just it’s obvious we

what jesus is saying in verses 38 and 39 is in no way contradicting that fact and this is where pacifism is a deadly doctrine the idea that christian should never use force whatsoever

they they don’t distinguish between private vengeance between prideful fighting with ufc

fighting um between um between having a a white attitude towards use of force towards violence

they don’t distinguish between those things and fulfillment of duty it says in proverbs 24 that 11 and 12 it says that it basically says that if if you um prepare to deliver those that are

um i better just read it coverage 24 11 and 12

if thou forbeard to deliver them that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be slain

if thou sayest behold we knew it not doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it and he that

keepeth thy soul doth not he know it and shall he not render to every man according to his works

so somebody who has a pacifist attitude who sees a woman about to be victimized and just stands by

there and does it and i mean and doesn’t do anything um he is going that person who just

stands by thinking that he’s obeying jesus because he’s not resisting evil and he’s if he just if he’s

complicit with a criminal like that and doesn’t stop such a terrible act from being committed when

he when he could have done so that that’s um that that is a damnable thing that is a that is a very horrible thing and and so there’s um

that god will judge people who take um who have an opportunity to

in in their in their true jurisdiction who have it who have opportunities to

to help those who are victimized and don’t do it um that’s not just that’s not just uh an errant doctrine that could um yeah they’re just a little off if you take pacifism to its logical end it could actually result in a in in a in a damnable sin like that so it’s a serious matter to not

consider what had already been said in the old testament in reading the sermon on the mount um

we can also see how jesus resisted evil in the temple that was his father’s house it was a place

where as the son of god he had jurisdiction and therefore he he dealt so harshly with people who

were um who were using the temple as a means of personal gain um in the old testament when god um

when god hid the israelites killed the Canaanites and the Amalekites that was not that was not

private vengeance on the part of the israelites that was um that was a judicial act of god which

he deputized israel for and um and and so that that wasn’t murder there’s and there’s just there’s a vast difference between righteous judicial acts versus private vengeance and you

see how how god even removed solace king because he did not execute that god’s own vengeance on the

Amalekites when he was commanded to um and so so moving on then verse 540 and if any man will

sue the epilogue take away that coat let him have that coke also this is talking about a time where

we really might be guilty of something maybe you’re um an example i heard was maybe you’re

driving in your car and you um you run into somebody by accident maybe some time where maybe

maybe it wasn’t even a sin on your part but you accidentally harm someone that the point here is

that um if we rhymed anybody we should do everything in our power to to make it right

hebrews 12 14 says follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the lord

and we saw in Romans 12 how as much as it um if it be possible as much as it light and you live

peaceably with all men so um so we should make sure that if if we um rather than rather than

defend ourselves and make sure that we don’t have to pay a cent more than than we’re obligated to

we should make sure if we really rank somebody that we make sure that they were a good witness

and that they um and that they’re not offended at they’re all by us and that um we’ve done what

we could to settle the matter so that if they’re still upset afterwards um we’ve done all we can

so verse 41 who’s and who’s sliver shall come proudly to go a mile go with him cleaner or two

um this is referring to when a roman soldier would have commandeered in israel like to um

to carry his his baggage his luggage for a mile which was allowed for the roman soldiers to do

under roman law so the point here is that um rather than if we have a duty that that we um we feel like we’re being taken advantage of but it really is a duty that we would have um we should we should not only do it but we should we should do more than that to prove the

the sincere intention of our heart to to help and to um and to and to do um to show that um i i saw i saw this bible commentary that um i think it was the liberty bible commentary that

talked about how if you were an israelite and a roman soldier had compelled you to go a mile with

him um if you just simply went that first mile and went no more that would not be and then you

tried to share the gospel with him that would not be a good witness but if you if you go on the second

mile with the guy and you shared the gospel with him along the way that would that would really

prove that you um it would show it would show that the self-seeking self-preserving way of the

world was not in you this passage could be abused just like people abuse verses 38 and 39 so um

to say that all use of force is wrong somebody could abuse verse 41 to say all military action

was right so we’ve got a judgment about these things obviously obviously with certain militaries

who are operating a common everyday roman soldier was just keeping the peace at least that’s what he

was supposed to be doing but obviously other militaries other governments it would be wrong to

go even the first mile because they might be carrying um they might be carrying dead bodies of people that they had just unrighteously slain they there’s a lot of ways that there’s a lot of

ways that verse 41 could be abused um verse 42 give to him that ask it be and of him that would

borrow the turn not thou away um almost every single beggar on the street knows his verse and they

they don’t know it so for themselves to obey but they they know to quote it to the christians who

are coming out of church and i’ve i’ve seen beggars ask people are you a christian and and if they say

yes they’ll they’ll try to quote verses like this to them to get them to um to get them to give to

them and i and i found in my experiments in america that almost every single beggar on the street

is a drug addict or just a liar of of somebody who’s unwilling to work something a lot something

along those lines that there’s some that there’s some deceit going on um that’s not to say every

single one is but we got to understand the principle here that in in psalm 1125 since

jesus didn’t come to destroy the law or the prophets he’s not in any way contradicting what we see in psalm 1125 that um

a good man show show show a good man show with favor and london he will guide his affairs with

discretion so there still is a need for discretion there still is a need to consider the amount that’s

being asked and to consider is it a legitimate need the the point is that jesus is really um he’s he’s rebuking the self-preserving um

attitude that would that would try to justify not really helping somebody that’s in real need in proverbs chapter three verses 27 and 28 um

we’re told withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thine hand to do

it say not unto thy neighbor go and come to get into more i will give when thou hast a piety so

obviously there’s um this is talking about somebody that we have reason to believe really would need help that we could really help and when that’s the case we shouldn’t um

it we should love our neighbors ourselves jesus is going to see in 7 12 that the all the law and

the prophets is um is summed up when it comes today at least when it comes with to dealings with

with other human beings um so there’s

there’s there’s definitely the need then to consider you know if there’s a guy who gives

you a who asks for a quarter at the bus station to try to investigate to find out if he’s a liar and

to find out if this is a this is a worthy way to give your money that that’s probably that’s

that’s a foolish thing because i think most of us we can picture how a person could legitimately

be at the bus station of meeting their boss or a dollar short or up your muck up again brother

sorry but when it when it comes to bigger amounts of money that um when it comes to bigger amounts

of money that it’s definitely right still to investigate and consider if we’re being scammed

to consider is there not a better way to to use this money for god’s kingdom so we got to consider

passages like psalm 112 5 and proverbs 327 and 28 here um so moving on verse 30 verse 43

the children of your father which is in heaven for he makes his son to rise on the evil and on the

good and send it rain on the just and on the unjust for if you love them which love you what reward if

you do not even the public and so and if he used to lose your brethren only what do you more than

others do not even the the public and so um so when it says when it says in verse 43 you have heard

that has had been said thou shalt love thy neighbor hate that enemy that was not that was not a quote

that’s from the old testament what is in the old testament that um they should have been well before i go there i’ll i’ll mention the parable the good samuritan in loop 10 25 to 37

jesus had asked the jesus had asked the the lawyer who had asked him what he needed to do to have

eternal life jesus had asked the man how do you read and he gave the right answer thou shall love

the lord thy god with all thy heart soul strength and mind and love and love thy neighbor as thyself

and jesus said on thou hast answered right this do and live i’m paraphrasing there but that’s that’s the gist of it and then the man it says willing to justify himself said and who was my

neighbor and he had the right answer from from god’s law but he he had put a condition upon that

that um i need to love my neighbor as myself but who’s my neighbor and jesus gave him the parable

the good samuritan to show that um your neighbor is your neighbor is anybody did were not to have

respect to persons and he gave that to show talked about the samuritan helping the jewish man to to

rebuke the jews to show them if if you since since you would want the samuritan man to help you

if you were you know beaten and robbed and lying on the ground you should also help the samuritan

man the the person the very man that they would say isn’t really my neighbor in leviticus 1918 it says um

thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people

but thou shalt love thy neighbors as though i am the lord so actually that that’s a good that’s a

good passage related to um verses 38 and 39 but i meant to reverse 15 i’m sorry

okay well this is still this is still appropriate to read here you shall do no unrighteousness and judgment thou shalt not respect the person of the poor nor honor the person of the mighty but in righteousness shall tell judge thy neighbor um

there’s another passage here that i’m i’m sorry i gotta get my notes better

what passage did you just read oh i read leviticus 1915 i think 15 okay there there was something

from leviticus 9 but the bottom line is that the old testament did not did not teach that um we have

the right to to help somebody that to distinguish who we are going to to love and who we’re not going

to love now the way in which that love is manifested related to that person’s attitude towards us

is it might be different obviously obviously um love has to have priorities um

we can’t have we’re told in effigence chapter five to have no fellowship with the unproofful

works of darkness but rather approve them we’re told similarly in second corinthians chapter six

to come out from among to not be unequally hooked with unbelievers that’s uh that’s a true saying

but when it comes to um but god finds ways to to do good even to evil and ungrateful men even though

they hate him and he finds ways to do good to them that are in keeping with um his righteous

his righteous standards and his righteous principles in titus chapter three verses three to five um

i’m just going to get a second bible here that way i can see my place in matthew five

titus three verses three to five um i’m sorry versus one to five put them in mind to be subject

to principalities and powers to obey magistrates to be ready to every good work to speak evil of

no man to be no brawlers but gentle showing out meatiness unto all men for we ourselves also were

sometimes foolish disobedient to see serving diverse lust employers living in malice and

envy hateful and hating one another but after that the kindness and love of god our savior toward man

appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us

by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the holy ghost which he shed on us abundantly

through jesus christ our savior um so so the bottom line is that um what jesus is dealing with here is

it’s um we’re to seek the good of everybody even if even if they don’t um even if they don’t return

the favor to us um i’ve seen the quote before never expect justice but never cease to give it jesus is dealing with the attitude of well this person they wouldn’t help me if i was um if i was

um you know lying in a ditch beat and so i’m not going to help them or you know and obviously that

could apply to lesser things the old testament itself taught love of enemies um and here’s a

real practical way that we can love our enemies that um we saw in romans 12 how did if thine enemy

hunger feed him and if he thirst give him drink and so doing thou shall keep clothes of oil on

his head and then in durian chapter 22 um if anybody has any suggestions about how to manage

multiple bibles during the study definitely get my email from jimmy and let me know so i can make

this more efficient um in durian 22 verse one thou shall not see thy brothers ask for his ash on

there’s another passage where it says his axers ask for his doctor but here it says thou shall

not see thy brother’s axers sheep go astray and hide thyself from them thou shalt in any case bring

them again unto thy brother and if thy brother be not an ion to the earth thou know i’m not

then thou shall bring it into thine own house and it shall be with thee until thy brothers seek after

it and thou shall restore to him again and lake manner shalt thou do with his ass and so shall

thou do with his raiment and with all last things of thy brothers which he had lost and thou has found

shall thou do likewise thou mayest not hide thyself thou shall not see thy brothers answer his acts fall down by the way and hide thyself from them thou shall truly help him to lift them up

again so those are all ways where we should help people who people can be in need and we

should help them regardless of what they would do to us in that situation regard and we don’t

have the right to distinguish who is um who is our neighbor and who is and who is our neighbor

worthy of help and who isn’t so that’s what jesus is dealing with here so he calls us a chapter and

says be therefore perfect even as your father which is which is in heaven is perfect some scriptures

we can reference there are first chronicles 29 and genesis 17 one i won’t i won’t go into them but

obviously perfect here is talking about no compromise with sin no um no excuses about um

no excusing way obedience and genuinely loving your neighbor as yourself um and it’s interesting

that the passage that this most resembles is deuteronomy 18 13 where it says it um

something’s got some background uh reverb there so a bangla bash that can everybody mute please

thank um and during around me 18 13 it says thou shalt be perfect with the word they got which i it seemed like jesus was referencing here um so now we’ll move into chapter six um

and i think we can cover verses one to 18 pretty quickly and um before we get to time of fellowship

um so in in chapter six here jesus is going to talk about um a plague that was common in israel at

the time of plague that is common in the church now and that is trying to mixing the service of god

with seeking the praises of men and and jesus is going to make it clear that these two things are

seeking glory of men and sincerely worshiping and serving god are mutually exclusive

and again there’s we need to consider the context and and make sure that we don’t um go to extreme

make sure we don’t go to other two extremes so as to abuse what Jesus is saying here so in

in six in chapter six verse one he says take heed that you do not your arms before men to be seen of

them otherwise you have no reward of your father which is in heaven we could when he talks about

arms he’s talking about um work security we could also think it would not be inappropriate to take

this principle and apply this to evangelism to apply this to any ways that um we can serve god

so verse two therefore when they’ll do is sign arms do not sound trumpet before the as the hypocrites

doing the synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory of land barely i stand to you they

have their reward but when they’ll do is sign arms let not by right hand let not by left hand know

what they right hand do it another extreme statement that has to be it has to be taken as that there’s a lesson here and obviously this camp our right hand and it has to you know it’s

self-explanatory that that’s impossible but we got to take the lesson the principle verse four that

then arms may be in secret and thy father would see it in secret himself shall reward the openly

and when thou prayest thou shall not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in

the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen amends barely i say unto you

they have their reward but thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet and when thou has shut that

door pray to thy father which is in secret and thy father which see it in secret shall reward the

openly um so so the lesson here isn’t that um this is not saying to avoid public prayer there’s a time that we need to pray with other believers and it’s it’s right that

god’s people gather together and pray but um he’s saying we shouldn’t deliberately seek out

to be seen and to seek to be seen amenity and and so that’s a principle that we should be careful

about telling other people about how much we pray or different things that we could do in secret

because we want to because serving god and serving god and truth and seeking glory are

mutually exclusive things um but it would certainly be right to um to take this and say well i’m not

going to pray at all with other believers the right way to take it is be the same

make sure that your private prayer life matches or exceeds any any public prayer life you have

um we certainly don’t want to we certainly don’t want to neglect praying together as god’s people

don’t want to neglect praying with people in your church or anything like that um

so continuing on in verse seven but when you pray use not vain repetitions as he didn’t do for they

think they shall be heard for their much speaking be not you therefore liken to that for your father

knoweth what things you have healed before you ask him um think brother aran brother aran can you

can everybody please um mute their phones actually brother aran i’m gonna ask you to meet your phone

just for one second sir is just one second aran

okay you can come back on it’s somebody else i really wish somebody everybody would meet their

phones please i’m trying to log in to get to whoever that is but okay brother aran you can continue sorry

no problem um so i think we verses seven and eight here of the the prophets of bail on mount

on mount carmel how they um when they were praying the bail to send down the fire on their sacrifice

said they started to cut themselves and the and the cry like maniacs for hours um a heathen

a heathen way of praying is to think that by much speaking and by doing things like cutting

yourself or abusing yourself somehow or you know some other physical act that you’re going to be

able to manipulate god that you’re going to be able to twist god’s arm to to do what you’re asking

him for and and jesus is jesus is rebuking that mentality we see in man through 26 how in the

garden of gessemane jesus did pray the same thing at least three times um but he prayed that out of

earnest anguish out of um out of the grief of of his soul and out of just the earnestness of his heart

it wasn’t a superstition and it wasn’t a formula so it’s not that it’s it’s ever right to repeat ourselves in prayer but the idea that you see like in islam in catholicism and probably even

in the evangelical community in some form or another the idea that if you pray say this prayer

so many times say 25 hell marries 50 our fathers um you know 100 whatever you you pray so many

times a day and that’s going to make god indebted to you that’s that’s the idea that jesus is um

is is rebuking here and his saying is a heathen way of praying that

his disciples those in his kingdom those who are um following the true god cannot pray like are not

to pray like that so now in verse nine he’s going to get into what’s commonly called the lord’s prayer the our father but it’s jesus’s instructions to us we’re expected to pray and

and this is again something that you could take to um you could take this to as a it’s just a

meaningless repetition but it’s not right to pray this prayer as jesus gave it but the the thing we

have to see is the the principles the attitude that we’re to have when we pray and that’s the that’s the main thing we need to consider here and the the principle how our heart should be

about what our priority should be so verse 90 says after this manner therefore pray our father

which art in heaven um our father implies that um we have to come to god as among his people as

part of his program that we’re not we shouldn’t just think of ourselves as individuals who

are just doing our own thing and expecting god to to bless our own life as if our own life is our

own and it’s it’s the idea that um we can take the idea home we pray that um this is about my

goals and this is about what i want and what i need and and and how jesus starts out here the

priorities here is rebuking that mentality our father which art in heaven hell will be thy name so it’s it’s a reminder that god is in heaven he’s all powerful but he’s and he’s also holy

and he has no fellowship with sin so to pray this prayer to seek to really pray at all well we have

well we’re unholy well we have um we have um filthiness in our flesh and in our spirit to

pray this prayer where when we have that would be hypocritical it’s a reminder we need to we need to

be clean before the lord and if we if we have sin in our life we got to deal with that first because

god it says in sims 66 18 that if i regard inequity in my heart the lord will not hear me thank you verse 10 thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven

um so so the attitude is what is what does god want me to do what um what does he expect of me

this this this would include i’m going to come to the bible and and get instructions from god i’m

gonna i’m gonna sincerely ask him more than what it’s not what i can get out of him but he he’s he’s got and i have to attend to him first and my own even my own needs

let alone wants come come secondary to that so verse 11 give us to stay our daily bread um it’s

a lesson that we should be content with um it says in first simothy six that um we brought nothing

into this world and in certain we can carry nothing out um and therefore having food and clothing let us therefore be content um so it’s praying for our needs but it’s also um it’s a

reminder that we shouldn’t um we shouldn’t be covered like hebrews 13 says um verse 11 give us

this is our daily bread verse 12 and forgive us our debts we forgive our debtors and obviously

this is talking about a willingness to forgive and we’ll get into that more in chapter 18 but the

bottom line is that um even the righteous even those who are being obedient um there’s unconscious

sin there’s still are there’s still are ways in which um yeah we we can’t normally have sin in

our lives but and and and we certainly have to deal with that if we do but even but it’s a reminder

that um we still need the board of christ to cleanse us from the things that we’re honestly

not even aware of the unconscious sin and we have to be there has to be the willingness to forgive

those who run those are obviously that it would be hypocritical to ask god for forgiveness and

we’ll get into that more in chapter 18 um so verse 13 and lead us not into temptation but deliver us

from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen so um this lead us not

into temptation obviously we are going to face temptation we can’t um we can’t avoid that um obviously um obviously i i think that this is a good place to cross references with is roman 13

14 but put yonder lord jesus christ and make that provision for the flesh to fulfill the loss thereof

um there’s a way in which um there’s ways in which we can lead ourselves into temptation and we should

pray god to keep us um to aid us in not leading ourselves into an unnecessary temptation and i

believe that’s what jesus is referring to here so but deliver us from evil so it’s a it’s a reminder

that um we need we need god to protect us from sin we need his protection in many many different

ways for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever so it’s so it’s um this is bottom

line this is giving the he’s showing what the the right basis the right center the the the right

viewpoint that we ought to have one with grace um so verse 14 for if you forgive men their trespasses

your heavenly father will also forgive you but if you forgive not men their trespasses their

trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses and we’ll get more into that in chapter

18 but the bottom line is that there has to be a willingness to forgive we can’t actually tell

someone we forgive them until until they repent but there should be an attitude of goodwill like

was talked about that we should have even towards those who um would rightfully those who are

persecuting us even there should be the hope that they will repent and that they we should love that

like a six eight says we should love mercy we should love that um the idea that they would

repent and could righteously find mercy um so so verse 16 moreover when you fast be not as the

hypocrites of a sad conanance for they just figure their faces that they may appear on the bend the

fast verily i send to you they have their reward but thou when thou fastest anoint thy head and

wash thy face that thou appear not unto men the fast but unto thy father would see it which is in

secret and thy father would see it in secret shall reward thee openly um so again we got to look at

the principle here those who are married it’s impossible for you to fast without your spouse

knowing that you’re fasting and it would be very um it would be very wrong to pretend you’re not

fasting and then you know your wife goes to fix you food and you you know maybe take i’m just

going to go outside and then you throw the food in the garbage can and you you come back in yeah

and and i mean that would obviously be a rhyme application to these verses the bottom line is that

we shouldn’t seek men’s praise we shouldn’t seek that people would feel sorry for us if you know

you’re fasting it’s a it’s a state of there’s a state of mourning to that there’s but it’s not

an end in and of itself there should be there should be a reason that um Isaiah 58 i’m not going to read it now but it’s a good um it’s a good craft reference with this about the right

reason to fast Isaiah chapter 58 the right um the right motives of somebody who fast it’s it’s not

it’s not simply so you can accomplish some religious goal and and feel spiritual there

should be some real need that you’re seeking to that god would um you’re seeking god for some real

burden that you’re speaking would be um would be lifted you’re seeking to draw near to god and and

removing yourself from from pleasures and even necessities of this way for a short time but it’s

obviously not it’s obviously not an end in and of itself um in verse 17 when Jesus talks about

says anoint thy head and wash their face um from the Adam Clark commentary he he talks about how

the tradition of the Jewish elders was that people were not too that they were forbidden

from anointing their head and washing their face on on fast days and that was one way in which the

tradition of the elders um contradicted the law of god that um the tradition of the elders said that you basically had to appear to fast and that you were supposed to look mournful

where Jesus says says no don’t um do what you reasonably tend to to hide that from people

because um because seeking honor from god and and serving god and seeking honor of men are

are indeed mutually exclusive um and there’s many passages about that in Romans 2 it says for he is

not a Jew who is one inwardly but who is one outwardly but he is a Jew who’s who’s one inwardly

whose circumcision is in the of the heart and the spirit whose praise is not of men but of god um in

in John 544 Jesus said that um how can you believe seek honor one of another but seek not be honored

cometh from god only in Galatians 1 10 Paul said um for do I for now do I persuade god and men for

for if I yet please men I should not be the servant of Christ so um so Jesus is not coming

against any of these activities but he’s saying that um he’s saying that we should we should get

our hearts rate that when we do these things we would do them to god with the right motives

and that um and that we would not unnecessarily um bring the service any service we do to god

to the attention of men now at the end of x chapter 14 the church in Antioch had sent Paul

and Barnabas on their mission to the Gentiles and it talks about how when they came back from their

mission that they um that they assembled the whole church together and they cleared onto them all

that God had done with them um the church had been praying for them in their mission and they had been

likely supporting them financially also so it was right that when they came back they told them what

what God had done with them because their mission Paul Barnabas’s mission was the entire church’s

mission but um so it’s not it’s not like it’s trying to ever tell anybody about um

what God has done with us especially when especially when they um have been praying for

us and have been um somehow partaking in that mission but the bottom line is that we should

we should not seek we should get our hearts for it so that we do not um seek the praise of men and

we do not unnecessarily put um make our service to God known to men and and obviously like Jesus

said in chapter five that um let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works

and glorify your father which is in heaven if we’re consistent in living to God we shouldn’t um

we shouldn’t be ashamed that when living to God would would necessarily make our good works public

if you see somebody who’s in who’s in real need in public and you have to help them right then and

there then it’s it’s right it’s right to do that but not but to renounce in doing that renounce

any and all pleasure in men seeing you so one thing i just want to deal with here before we close up

um hebrews 11 6 says that um without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to

God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them to diligently seek him it is

it is right to seek a reward from God that is an aspect of true faith but the problem is that when

we we don’t have the right uh for one Jesus is saying like we said before that um seeking a reward

of God and seeking glory of men are mutually exclusive if we’re seeking the glory of men that

we have our reward and that’s how he’s obviously saying that that’s a pathetic reward

but there’s but there’s also ways in which we can um we can try to impose and say God if put

conditions upon it if i obey you in this you need to do this from for me but true faith doesn’t true faith doesn’t do that true faith trusts God that if you obey him and you do what’s right in

his eyes and you continue in that that he’s going to reward you in his own time in his in his own way

and that has to and and we can’t see that ahead of time when Joseph was in prison for all those

years and an enslavement he didn’t know that God was going to raise him up and make him the ruler

of Egypt he just committed himself to the Lord and let the Lord lifting let the Lord take care of

rewarding him and and and God was faithful to do that many many years later in a way Joseph could

have never expected and we we read in first Peter four verses 17 to 19 for the time has come

well i’ll start in i’ll start in verse 12 beloved think it not strange concerning the

flowy trial which is to try you as though some some strange thing happened up to you but rejoice

in as much as your partakers of Christ’s offerings that when his glory shall be revealed you may be

led also with exceeding joy if you be reproach for the name of Christ happier you for the spirit of

glory of God rested upon you on their part he’s evil spoken of but on your part he is glorified but let none of you suffer as a murderer as a thief or as an evildoer as a busy body and other

men’s matters yet if any man suffers a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God

on this behalf your suffering is a Christian God has a reward coming to you but you have to keep

permitting yourself to him and well doing not knowing how and when that reward is going to come

and obviously it’s ultimately the ultimate reward will be on the day of judgment so verse 17 for

the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God and and if it first begin at us what

shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God and if the righteous scarcely be saved where

shall the ungodly where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear wherefore let them that suffer

according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him and well doing as unto a faithful

creator so i will um send it back to you all right thank you very much um sorry about that

interruption but that was our dear brother uh who is joining us let me unmute him because i want to

say hello i very rarely get to talk to him so uh give me a second here brother william wario from

moyali kenya are you there yes brother god bless you brother i have so many people i have so many

people on the line tonight we thank you for joining us you know one of you um i’m gonna take

this off of our recording i thank everybody for joining us tonight we’re just going to talk to our missionary god bless you we’ll see you next week

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapters 6-19 throught Chapter 7- Week 6

Good evening everybody and welcome to the Global Mission Bible Study. We’re happy to continue on our series here in Matthew. We’re just so honored to have our missionaries from Bangladesh on and also our two soon to be full-time missionaries Justin and Rachel who are heading over to Kenya in exactly a week. They’re playing leaves on the 12th of this month. I want everybody to continue to pray for them. We know that when great blessings happen like this, certainly we try to get attacked. But always know this, that if you’re

a true Christian, the angels encamp around your house and camp around your being. So we never use the excuse, so we never let the devil in. How would we do that? We read the word every day. We stand strong on his word because the devil is out to steal, kill and destroy. So we must withstand, not just stand against, we must withstand the enemy. That is how we do it, is we get in the word, we obey him of course, there’s any stimuli, you’re doomed. And that’s something we went through again and again on our last meeting. I just

wanted to say one more thing too. On the website, GlobalMissionForChildren.org, there’s a tab

called “Resources” and there’s also a drop down there and there’s a section called “The

Ageless Conflict.” That’s the book that Brother Aaron Carey wrote who is on with us now.

And

he wrote an incredible book that talks about, well, the ageless conflict. And the ageless conflict is simply, do we live righteously for the Lord or do we not? Do we have to live

holy as he commands or do we not? Are we covered by this magic covering that so many people

in the apostate church today says we’re covered magically by Jesus? It’s not true. We have to do our part too. It’s a free gift, but we have to work to keep it and we have to endure

to the end to be saved. So I just want to give a quick testimony. I sent that book to

a dear sister up in Butte, Montana, probably staying that long. But anyway, up in Montana and she just wanted me to send three more. She was going to give it to a couple of people, a family member she knows, and she’s also going to use it as a home study, homeschool

course for her children. So I just want to let you know that I ordered 25 of those books at a very good rate. Thank you to Brother Aaron for getting me those at wholesale rates.

So if anybody on the call does not have that book, I cannot tell you. I’ll just give it

to you. No need to give a donation or anything, but I’ll just give you the book. And I cannot tell you. I even gave it to the person who came to see my house today, you know, but

I told him if he doesn’t pay what I want to the house and we don’t close, he’s got to

give it back. I’m just kidding. But so I can’t tell you how good that book is. And I’ve never talked about another book other than the Bible in my life, but it’s really a stepping stone

for the new Christian as well as the Christian that has been walking with the Lord for a while.

So okay, enough about Aaron. I’m going to turn it over to him and we’re going to continue

on our series here going through the book. Thank you, Brother Aaron. Thanks, Brother Jimmy.

I’m hoping to get through the sermon on the Mount today. I’m not totally sure we’re going to, I don’t want to go past midnight, but we will see. We left off at the end of 618,

so we’re going to start with 619. But before I do that, I just wanted to point out one thing, just to show how God expects us to meditate on the scripture and understand the principles. And just because the Bible doesn’t say something directly, it doesn’t mean the Bible doesn’t teach that. And that was a big part of the era of the Pharisees, that Jesus is correcting

here in the sermon on the Mount, because they weren’t discerning that malice and wrongdoing

towards other people is murder. The seed of murder is still sin, even though it’s not actually taking somebody’s life. They weren’t discerning that lust towards somebody who’s not your spouse is adultery, even if it’s not taking the physical act. The one thing

that was pointed out to me in the past week here, if you go to 1 Timothy 6, and we’re

going to be back there very quickly anyways. It says in 1 Timothy 6.1, “Let as many servants as are under the old count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God

in his doctrine be not blasphemed; and they that have believing masters let them not despise them because they are grateful and ready to do them service, because they are faithful

and beloved partakers of the benefit these things teach and exhort. If any man teach

otherwise and consider not to hold some words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and

to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is prone knowing nothing but doting about

questions and straits of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, realings, evil surmising, perverse

disputing of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness from such withdrawal thyself.” Now, did Jesus specifically say in the Gospels,

“Let as many servants as are under the old count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God in his doctrine be not blasphemed?” He didn’t use those exact words, but if you go to Matthew 5.41 that we looked at last week, that principle is taught in Matthew 5.41, “And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain, go with

him too.” The Romans were the masters of the Israelites, and they were the God who ordained

authority over Israel. And Jesus was teaching that when he said, “Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him too,” he was teaching that when a Roman soldier compels an Israelite to carry his burden a mile, go with him too, to show your submission to a

God who ordained authority, and to show that you’re cooperating and that you are serving God even, and that you’re in agreement with his order, and with those whom God has put over you. So that principle applies to bosses, it would apply to anybody that is under any type of authority. And he gives a reason, in 6.1, that the name of God in his doctrine

be not blasphemed. So somebody who is a Pharisee, a true Pharisee, who is seeking to excuse

us in, not somebody striving to actually be holy and to live right before God, would say, “Well, Jesus never taught that servants have to count their own masters worthy of all honor,”

because they’re not being honest with Scripture, and if they were, they would meditate on the

principle in 5.41 and see that Jesus did indeed teach that. So now we are continuing on Matthew

chapter 6, and Jesus has just shown the incompatibility of serving God and seeking the praises of

men and God-servers, praying and fasting and giving to be seen of men, which was a major

error of the Scratch and Pharisees that he’s rebuking. And now in verses 19-34, he is going to show the incompatibility of serving God and living for material wealth, for serving

man and money and possessions, for living for earthly things and living for heavenly things. He’s going to show that these also are not compatible. And this also has to do with living for man and also has to do with living for the praises of men, the things

that people value highly, the things that the world esteem highly. So he’s going to continue in verse 19-34. “We had up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust

have corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but we have for yourselves treasures

in heaven where neither moth nor rust have corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, where will your heart be also?” Many want to say

that they can be on seeking earthly treasure, but their heart can be in heaven. And Jesus is saying that’s where your treasure is, where will your heart be also? “The light of the body is the eye. If therefore, then I be single. Thy whole body shall be full of light. But

if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore, the light

that is indeed be darkness, how great is that darkness?” We read in Proverbs 20-22 that “he that hates us to be rich, he that is in a hurry, he that values getting rich hath

an evil eye, and considerth not that poverty shall come upon him.” The eye has to do with what you send your affection on, where your treasure is, what you esteem most highly.

And so Jesus is saying in verses 22 and 23 that if your eye is towards pleasing God, towards seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, verse 33 says that your whole body will be full of light, your service towards God, and even you yourself will be pure. But if your eye is evil, if you are seeking to lay up treasure on earth, if you’re colorless, if you’re greedy of earthly gain, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.

If therefore, the light that is indeed be darkness, how great is that darkness? And

we’re going to see what that means by verse 24, that even your attempts to serve God, while you highly veil your earthly gain, are going to be, even the good things, the things that you do that are good in themselves, are going to be dark and going to be corrupt. And how great is that darkness then? And so that’s going to be his point here in verse 24. No

man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. He cannot serve God and man. So we learn a lesson in verse 24 about what it really means to love in the biblical sense. There’s different words in Greek that have different kinds of love, and I’m not going to get into those

now. But when it comes to loving God, when it comes to loving God with all your heart, soul, strength, mind, and your neighbor as yourself, it has to do with an act of the

will. And that’s what that word agape that people talk of as being the love of God means.

The word itself does not necessarily mean the love of God. It has to do with an act

of the will, a commitment of the will. We read in John 12 that some of the compromising disciples that they weren’t confessing Jesus openly because they loved the praises of men more than the praises of God. That word is agape there. They put a higher value on the praises of men than the praises of God. We’re told in 2 Peter 2 that Balaam loved agape,

the wages of unrighteousness. He committed that the wages of unrighteousness, he committed

to that as an act of his will, as his highest priority. So loving the biblical sense has

to do more with what we choose, what we value most highly, rather than how we feel. So if

we value God and his kingdom and his righteousness so that we shun sin and keep his commandments

and we seek first his kingdom, that’s the true love of God. And if we don’t have that

type of love then we really don’t love God. And that’s what Jesus is saying here in verse

24. You notice that the equation of hate the one and love the other, or hold to the one

and despise the other. Hating is equated with despising and loving is equated with holding.

So just some things to say about this. 1 Timothy 6, we’ll just continue with where we left off at the beginning there. After verse 5 Paul rebukes those who see Christianity as

a means of gain. He tells Timothy to withdraw himself from them. Then in verse 6 he says, “But godliness with contentment is a great gain, for we but nothing into this world and

it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be there with content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare a trap. And many foolish

and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition, perditioned into eternal damnation,

for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some covet it after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O men,

have not flee these things and foul after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness,

fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereon thou art also called,

and has professed a good profession before many witnesses.” So the issue here is if pursuing

riches, if pursuing earthly things would interfere with seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, what Jesus is going to make is His ultimate conclusion that we need to do in 633. Verses 11 and 12 of 1 Timothy 6 basically say the same thing, “Follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereon thou art also called.” The issue is we shouldn’t let the pursuit of earthly things interfere with that, especially if we have food and clothing. We

should be content if we can’t have any more than that while pursuing the kingdom of God.

And like 1 Timothy 6, 11 and 12 of the things listed there as they talk about, being poor in itself is not meaningful. I had a friend who was influenced by the teaching that being poor is better in and of itself. And this friend of mine was a computer programmer.

He had a degree. He had a very good job. And as far as I know, the job itself did not interfere

with him seeking the kingdom of God. It was a 40-hour-a-week job. He had to stay late sometimes, but it was a little bit clear somewhere. But it’s not like it was… I don’t think the job in itself was really holding him back. And he became convinced that he needed to seek God’s kingdom first. But he had a wrong idea of what that meant. So he quit the job as a computer programmer. And he got a job that probably was like 1/6 to pay. And it

was probably 80-90% the hours. It was less hours, but not that much less. It was probably more labor on his body. And he ended up being more stressed out at that job and more tired at that job. And it probably prevented him from seeking the kingdom of God more than

the higher-paying job. And he finally came to a census and said, “What am I doing doing this? I can work a much better job. I can have more money to… I hope he gave more money away when he got more money. I can get a better job. I can be less tired. And I’m

not even going to spend too many more hours.” So the issue isn’t… It’s not that being poor is in itself good. And being rich is inherently bad. It’s when pursuing riches

would prevent us from seeking God’s kingdom. Later on in 1 Timothy 6, in verse 17, Paul says to Timothy, “Charge them that are rich in this world.” So there were rich people

in the early church. But look at how they were instructed that they be not high-minded. It’s easy for rich people to think of themselves as in a higher class than others, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.

And how are they to manifest that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may hold on eternal life? It also needs to be said

about socialists and communists who don’t… They’re not working. They don’t want to work for their money. But they want other people to give them the money that they earn. And that in itself is wicked. They’re actually worse off than the people who are working with

it because they’ve set their heart on riches and they’re not even willing to work for it.

And they can’t be seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness when they have such an unrighteous

attitude towards money. And it also needs to be said that those who are lazy and are worldly and other ways of misappoint. I’ve heard of people who just say, “Forget money altogether,” and they just live extremely poor lifestyles, but they do it so they have

just more time to goof around and to just live for themselves. So anything that would prevent us from seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness has misappoint

when it comes to this passage. Okay, so continuing on in Matthew chapter 6. So in verse 25 Jesus

says, “Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink. Nor yet for your body what ye shall put on is not the life more than food

and the body than clothing.” Jesus uses extreme language, like “take no thought for your life”

in verse 25. Obviously He does this often in the Sermon on the Mount, but it has to

be understood that the context is not serving two masters, seeking first the kingdom of God. If the Roman soldier compels you, if you’re an Israelite and the Roman soldier compels

you to go a mile, go with him too. And if you have to lose out financially in order

to be a good witness for the Lord, take no thought for your life in that context. If somebody is truly needy and you’re the one in the best position to help them and you’re not going

to be able to save up money for that month in order to help them and you’re able to do good to this person and be a faithful brother, a faithful witness for the Lord, in that context, take no thought for your life. There’s times we do have to take thought for our life that

if our house is on fire, we’ve got to flee and call the fire department. But that’s not preventing us from seeking God’s kingdom first. So verse 26, “Behold the falls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather in the barns. Yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto a stature?” A very small thing. We can’t even cause ourselves to grow one inch. So that just shows the foolishness of anxiety about other things which are much harder than that. Verse 28, “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies

of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not a raid like one of these. Wherefore, if God so called the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more quote, “You owe ye of little faith.” Therefore take no thought saying,

What shall we eat, or what shall we drink? Or where will shall we be quote? For after

all these things do the Gentiles seek.” Obviously, he means all these things do the Gentiles

seek ahead of the kingdom of God and his righteousness, as we’re going to see in verse 33.

That’s

actually what makes them, that’s what makes them Gentiles, that’s what makes them heathen,

is the fact that they value earthly things more than they value the true God of his kingdom and his righteousness. “For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye of need of all these things,” continue in verse 32, “but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” If you go back to the prayer Jesus taught us to pray in chapter 6 in verse 10, after we consider that he’s our Father in heaven,

and his name is holy as verse 9 says, he says, “Thy kingdom comes, I will be done in earth

as it is in heaven.” What we’re to consider when we pray ahead of our own needs is how God expects us to obey him, how we’re to do God’s will, and to understand what we ought to do, make that our highest priority, and seek him for the strength and the ability

to do it. And we’re to pray that before give us this day our daily bread. It’s a matter

of priorities in your heart, and that’s what Jesus means when he says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” because if we seek God’s kingdom, if we yield

to him, then we have to seek his righteousness, how to do what pleases him, how to keep his

commandments, and Jesus promises that those who have this attitude, that everything else will be added to them. It doesn’t mean that they don’t need to work. It doesn’t mean that they don’t have to go to the grocery store, but it’s like we said, it’s a matter of priorities,

and those things Jesus is saying God will fit into your life if you seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. So verse 34, “Take therefore no thought for the moral, for the moral shall take thought for the things of itself.” So obviously, again, “take therefore no thought for the moral” is contrasted with seeking the kingdom of God. It’s, I’m sorry,

not contrasted, but it’s given in that context. If you want to seek up and seek and save a big retirement, and you’re obsessed with making sure that you’re taken care of when you’re retired, that’s going to interfere with doing what pleases God with the money you have.

That’s going to interfere with you seeking his kingdom. The two are inevitably going

to come into conflict, serving God and serving mammon and serving the things that mammon

can buy. A nice car, a good retirement, a big house and a better neighborhood. So it’s

in that context of seeking the kingdom of God, valuing that ahead of these things, and therefore

despising those things in terms of seeking the Lord that Jesus gives his statement, “take therefore no thought for the moral, for the moral shall take thought for the things of itself.” And he gave the reason back in verse 32, “for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things, sufficient unto the day of the evil thereof.” So the

ultimate lesson is don’t let obeying God today and doing what pleases him today. Don’t get distracted from that by tomorrow’s care. Don’t let tomorrow’s care get in the way of you

obeying God and doing what pleases him today. And here’s one more passage. It has to do with that. Go to James chapter 13. “Go to now ye that say to today or tomorrow we will

go into such a city and continue their year and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas ye know not what shall be on the moral. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appareth

for a little time and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say if the Lord will,

we shall live and do this or that. But now ye rejoice in your postings, all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

The man who knows to do good and does it not is that heart that boasts about tomorrow and is set upon getting gain tomorrow is going to be distracted from doing good today. And

the person who neglects the good that he can do today is guilty of the same thing, at least, as the person in verses 13 to 16. And if you were to continue in James chapter 5, there’s

a lot there to study that is related to Matthew chapter 6. But we will go on with chapter

7. Does anybody on the call have any questions or comments before we go on with chapter 7?

That is Jimmy, am I still connected? Okay, we are going to continue on with chapter 7. Most commonly abused verse is in the Bible. So Jesus continues, “Judge not that ye be not judged.” If I said most commonly used verses, I meant most commonly misused verses

in the Bible. The verse is that all the sinners love to quote to the Christians who are rebuking them and telling them they need to repent and get right with the Lord. “Judge not that

ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure

ye judges shall be measured to you again. And why behold the style of the mouth that is in thy brother’s eye, but consider it not the beam that is in thine own eye? For how wilt

thou see to thy brother? Let me pull out the mode out of thine eye, and behold the beam is in thine own eye. Thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the mode out of thy brother’s eye.” So what does this passage really mean? Jesus obviously isn’t telling us to not discern between right and right because we’re told in Ephesians 5.11 to have no fellowship with the unfruitful

works of darkness, but rather reprove them. We’re later in this chapter, in the very next

verse, we’re going to be called to discern who was a dog and who was a swine, that we’re not to give that which is holy to and not cast our pearls before. We’re later on in

the chapter commanded to judge to beware of false prophets. That requires judgment. We’re told in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 to judge those within the church and to cast out unrepentant sinners out of the communion of the saints. So Jesus obviously isn’t talking about any

of those things. So what is he talking about? I believe that there is one thing he’s talking about is hypocritical judgment. Go to Romans chapter 2. He’s giving these perfect sermons, these perfect principles, and he understands the tendency in mankind is to look at other

people and apply the things that he is saying his perfect wisdom and say, “Yeah, that’s right,”

and start pointing at others. So and so doesn’t live like this, and so and so he doesn’t live like this, and she doesn’t live like this. But the question is, is that the right attitude

in taking his words and is if we don’t judge ourselves thoroughly, if we do the same things

that we would point out in others, we’re only making our own judgment worse. Romans chapter

2, “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whose lover thou art the judges. For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself.” Why is it? “For thou that judgest doest the same things.” Put that in verse 2, we’re told, “But we are sure that the judgment of God

is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God.” So Paul is also in Romans 1 just laid out the wicked condition of mankind in general, and God’s righteous wrath against those who suppress the light of truth that

he has made available to them. So Jesus is definitely dealing with hypocritical judgment, not judging yourself thoroughly. And it’s obviously possible, we’re told in verse 5,

to cast the beam out of our own eye, and then we’ll see clearly the cast a mode out of thy brother’s eye. So it is possible, it is possible to be upright, and it is possible to first

deal with our own sin. And then we are in a place where we can see, if we’ve really

done that, we’re in a place where we can really discern when it’s appropriate to rebuke another,

and how we’re to rebuke another. Jesus is also dealing, I believe, and this is very

much connected with being harder than the law of God itself is. If you go back to James

chapter 4, just the verses before we were just read, in verses 11 and 12, James says, “Speak

not evil, one of another brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother and judgest his brother speaketh evil of the law, and judgest the law. But if thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou the judgest another?” So the issue here, it certainly is not, we want to judge according to the law of God, and be in agreement with the law of God, be in agreement thereby with the lawgiver. But there’s a type of judgment that is a false accusation, that is being harder on people than the law of God is, or possibly stepping outside of our own boundaries in criticizing another, stepping outside the boundaries of

the law of God ourselves and criticizing another. Just because somebody is living in sin doesn’t

give us the right to be harder on them than the law of God is, and to just start to call them names or to start to tear into them in a fleshly, angry way. So Jesus is definitely dealing with things like that when he’s talking about this. In Revelation chapter 12, we’re

told that Satan is the accuser of the brethren. Some people use that passage to defend their sin, but the issue there is Satan as a false accuser of the brethren. Because we read in Revelation 12, 17 that his wars with those that keep the commandments of God and the faith

of Jesus Christ, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

So Satan doesn’t need to accuse people who really are already condemned, who are already

violating the light God’s made available, who are already rebelling against the truth.

He falsely accuses God’s people for doing right and for not serving himself, not serving Satan. Here’s a few more examples of that in 1 Peter chapter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 3, “For the time passed of our life makes a place to erode the will of the Gentiles,

when we walked in lasciviousness, lost excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable

idolatries. Wherein they think it’s strange that you run out with them to the same excess

of right, speaking evil of you, who shall give account to him that is ready to judge

the quick and the dead.” These are people who are speaking evil of Christians for not joining in sin with them. That certainly has to do with judge, not less you be judged. Later on in the book of Matthew in chapter 11, we see a real practical example of sinners being harder on God’s servants than the law of God is itself. In order, they’re being harder

on God’s servants than the law of God is in order to justify themselves and in order to justify their disobedience to the message of God’s servants. In Matthew 11 verse 16, he says, “But whereunto shall I like in this generation? It is like unto children sitting

in the markets and calling unto their fellows, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye

have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John came, neither

eating nor drinking; and they say, He hath a devil.” Was that a true accusation? No. There was a false accusation because they wanted to justify their not receiving God

and His message and not repenting at His message. And then they say the opposite of Jesus in

verse 19, “The son of Man came eating and drinking; and they say, Behold, a man Godliness

and a wine river, a friend of publican’s and sinners; wisdom is justified of her children.” So I hope that that gives a better idea of verses 1 through 5, these commonly abused verses actually mean. So going on to verse 6, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before a swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” So I believe Jesus’ point here is that even after we have judged ourselves, cast a beam out of our own eye. Cast aside being harder on others than we are on ourselves. Cast aside a critical spirit that is harder than the law of God. And we

are really in a position that we can rightfully help others come to repentance. We still have to be careful about who we talk to and how we say what we say. And I talked to Brother Jimmy about this last night and I was really considering what it might mean. And I can say this much. If you go to Acts chapter 18, I believe we have an example of that in the Apostle Paul. He was preaching the Gospel at the synagogue in Corinth and he had been really thorough in his persuading them to Jesus as a Christ and really setting forth

the entire truth before the Corinthians for many weeks. But at a certain point it was obvious that some people were just going to harden themselves more and more. And at a certain point when we deal with people, if they are just proving that they are not listening, they don’t really care or they are opposed to the truth, at a certain point our preaching

is only serving to harden them even more and to put ourselves in danger unnecessarily and to distract from those who really might listen. So here we go in Acts 18 verse 1, “After these

things called departed from Athens and came to Corinth and found a certain Jew named Akilah,

born in Pontius, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Aquarius had commanded

all Jews to depart from Rome and came unto them. And because he was of the same Christ, he abode with them in rot or words for by their occupation they were tent makers. And

he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews unto Greece. And when

Silas and Samaltius were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the Spirit and testified

to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. He had probably in the previous weeks been testifying to them

about the Messiah’s need to suffer and to rise from the dead. And now in verse 5 he is pressed

in the Spirit to tell them that Jesus of Nazareth is the one who fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah as we looked at in the opening of our Matthew study in the introduction. So in verse 6, “And when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, he shook

his raiment and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads, I am clean. From henceforth

I will go unto the Gentiles.” Paul was not compromising by doing this. He was simply, there was just simply no place here for his testimony anymore. And we are going to see

as we go on, this opened the door for others to hear and even other people in the synagogue

who came to hear him would come to the Lord. And this did not absolve Paul from persecution

either as we are going to see. So in verse 7, “And he departed from there and entered into a certain man’s house named Justice, one that worshiped God, whose house joined

hard to the synagogue. And Christmas the chief who over the synagogue believed unto the Lord

with all his house.” So there were people from the synagogue who continued to listen

to Paul even though he was not in the synagogue anymore preaching. “And many of the Corinthians

hearing believed and were baptized. Then speak the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace. For I am with thee and no man shall

set on thee to hurt thee for I have much people in the city.” And he continued there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them. He still got persecuted. He is leaving the synagogue. He is refusing to give that which is holy to the dies and refusal to cast

pearls before us. It did not mean he did not get persecuted there. We see this in verse

12, “And when Galio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat, saying, ‘This fellow persuaded men to worship God contrary to the law.'” Notice that Paul’s gospel preaching was persuading

men to worship God. “And when Paul was now about to open, his mouth, Galio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of rhyme or wicked, loom to sow your Jews, reason would that I should bear with you. What if it be a question of words and names and of your

law, look ye to it, for I will be no judge of such matters.’ And he draped them from

the judgment seat.” So I think that that’s a good example of somebody who refused to give them which is holy unto the dies and refused to cast pearls before us. I think that this

is a danger on Facebook in discussion forms. There are some people that love to debate,

that love to argue with Christians about things, but they’re not really interested in understanding.

They don’t have a spiritual hunger. They’re just looking for reasons to rip into Christians and to criticize. And it’s better in those cases to just move on once that’s become clear that they’re not really listening, at least not seriously regarding their own salvation.

So moving on then, in Matthew 7, verse 7, “Ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and you shall find it, not and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receive

it and he that seeketh find it, and to him that not get it shall be opened. For what

man is there of you whom if his son ask bread will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish

will he give him a serpent? If he then be in you will know how to give good gifts unto

your children. How much more shall your father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” This is obviously in the context of again 633 seeking first the kingdom of

God and his righteousness. Jesus had said multiple times in the Bible in Psalm 66, 18, if I regard iniquity, if I regard lawlessness in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. There’s,

we have to, and the Lord’s prayer in chapter 6 had shown that too, that we have to come when we pray with the right priorities, with an aim to please God and with a repentant, humble, broken heart, which we’re going to get into the contrast between the narrow way and the broad way, which is the essence of what it means to have, to enter in at the

straight gate and be on the narrow way. That’s the attitude we have to have. That’s the attitude

that we looked at in verses 3 through 9, what’s often called the Beatitudes, where Jesus talks

about the character of his kingdom and the character that those who would be his subjects need to have in 5, 3 to 9. There’s a similar passage in Luke 11 where Jesus says that how

much more so he talks about a man who is asking his neighbor for bread and he says, “And how

much more shall your father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask?” And I’m paraphrasing that,

but it’s just a similar passage in Luke 11 where he, the good thing that we’re to seek above all is the Holy Spirit. We read in Acts 5, 32 that the Holy Spirit is given to all

of them that obey him. So there’s a lot of things here in the Sermon on the Mount and

the Word of God as a whole where we can read it and it might seem overwhelming. It might seem hard. So Jesus is making it clear here that if we’re really surrendered to the Lord

and we’re seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness, there’s grace by the Holy Spirit to fulfill the things he’s saying that we’re not left to do this on our own and that there’s

also the other things in life will be added to those who seek first the kingdom and his

righteousness. So that’s the essence of, that’s the encouragement in verses 7 through 11 here.

That’s the promise in verses 7 through 11 that we want to claim and we want to be in

the right place to claim. So then he goes on and says in verse 12 here, “Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do, do even so to them. For this is the law and the prophets.” I get the sense here that there’s something, I think there’s a case,

in order for Jesus to come to the case is how the case needed to repent and when the case was really repentant he said, ” Would behold the half of my goods I gave to the poor, even if I have the pride of any man, of anything I restore and forefold.” There’s something

being stated here that if we want God to hear us and to act on our behalf we can’t be harboring

injustice or an uncharitable attitude or withholding real help that we could give to our fellow man that we would be able to give. And so he gives what’s often called the golden rule, “Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do even so to them. For this is the law and the prophets.” This does not replace the law and the prophets.

He’s saying that the law and the prophets rightly understood that this principle is running

throughout everything in the Word of God when it comes to God’s commandments about how we

are to relate to other people. Now when we get to chapter 22 we’re going to see that

Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. And the second it’s like unto it is love your neighbor as yourself. So this

has to be taken with loving God as our highest priority because that’s what the law and the prophets teach. The Word of God as the whole teaches. But in loving God with our all, value in God above all else, there’s a need to love our neighbor as ourself and do all things

to our neighbor that our neighbor should do to us in the context of the law of God and

the context of God’s commandments. If somebody wants us to sin with them we should not agree

to that because from heaven’s perspective, from the perspective of the truth, that still is hating somebody. That still is corrupting them even if they don’t know or care that they’re being corrupted. And we also learn here that Jesus is just confirming what he

said back in 517 and 18, that he has not come to destroy the law and the prophets, the Old Testament, but to fulfill it. He is clarifying and defending the law of God against the abuses of the scribes and phuruses, not teaching something new or something contrary to that.

Now he has given us his perfect example and his perfect insight in the Sermon on the Mount

for the things that he himself had said through Moses and the prophets in the Old Testament.

And just one other thing we can learn here from verses 7 through 12. God knows what’s good for us. We see in Psalm 84-11 that he will withhold no good thing from them that

walk uprightly. We might think we need something, but from his perspective it might not be good

for us. Just like children with their parents, a child might cry to his father for candy,

but the father sees that that’s not good for my child right now. It’s only going to be good after something more nutritious has been had, so as not to be there to satisfy them, to keep them away from the things that matter most. So there’s a lesson there about prayer and God’s answers. And I also think with this passage of the issue of fellowship, there’s so many people who just don’t know what to do for fellowship. And we know that that’s

an essential part of God’s program. And we should take the promises here that if we want

to do God’s will and be part of a godly church and experience the dynamics of a New Testament

church, we should especially see God regarding that and be confident that he’s going to lead us and he’s going to give us wisdom like James 1 talks about if we ask with a single mind

to his glory, rather than double minded. A reference to that would be James 1.5.3. But

I will continue here in verse 13. So Jesus continues. Verse 13, “Enter ye in at the straight gate. For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. And many

there be which go in there at. Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth

to life, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Straight in this sense means constricted. Hard to enter in. Think of like you’re really being squeezed. You’re

really having to get low and really drop everything to get through this gate. You don’t have, you’ve

got to get down on your hands and your knees, maybe on your stomach, on your face. And you’ve

got to come with nothing. You have to be as a little child who puts aside his own thoughts and opinions and is willing to be taught of the Lord. You can’t hold on to any sin, any

disobedience, or count anything of your possessions as your own. Going through the straight gate,

it speaks of really humbling yourself and really surrendering and really coming to God

just empty and presenting yourself before Him without any worldly pride, any high thoughts about yourself, any glory you would take in your accomplishments in the flesh. Anything that you’ve done, not resting in that, but simply coming to Him empty, forsaking all

like Jesus talked about in Luke 14, 25 to 33. And again, this goes back to seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. It has to do with casting aside like Hebrews

12.1 talks about every weight and the sin that thus so easily beset us that we might

run with patience the race that set before us. Looking on the Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame. There’s has to be a laying aside every weight in the sin which thus so easily beset us to take

up our cross and to follow Him as He calls us to. And so this is a straight gate in the

narrow way that leads to life. So now Jesus continues in verse 15, “Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are raven and wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather breeds of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good

tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Every tree that bringeth not good forth good fruit is thrown down or chopped down and cast into the fire.” This is what John the Baptist said in Matthew 3.10, “Wherefore by their

fruits ye shall know them.” So here’s some things about false prophets. It’s good for

us to know. If somebody seems zealous to preach and to be involved in ministry, it doesn’t

mean that they are being obedient to God because the privilege and honor and spotlight involved

in preaching can mean that somebody can be zealous for themselves even in preaching the truth of God. No preacher or leader is entitled to luxuries or privileges that other believers aren’t. Notice in verse 15, “They come to you in sheep’s clothing.” They look good. They might even say a lot of right things. Their doctrine might even be right, but they’re

definitely going to look good. I heard Mark Boland say that a wolf can appear in sheep’s

clothing, but you will never find a sheep in wolf’s clothing. Satan in a sense says,

God doesn’t deceive us, Satan will, and that truth can make things tricky for believers

in discernment. So they come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they’re ravening wolves.

They’re seeking to gratify their own appetites. We read in Philippians 3.18 and 19. Paul makes

a very similar precaution. He says in Philippians 3.17, “Brethren, be followers together of

me and mark them which walks will as ye have us for an example. For many who walk with whom

I have told you often now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame,

whom I end earthly things.” And then he says about him and the apostles, “For our conversation,

our true life is in heaven. From what’s also we look for the Savior of the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the word whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” They look good and they might be saying the right things, but they’re seeking what they can get. So how

are they going to show themselves to be a wolf? In verse 16 Jesus says, “You shall know them by their fruits.” The wolf will show his wolf nature when the honor, the privilege,

the spotlight, the monetary compensation he is seeking either gets to deny him, gets endangered,

gets somehow what he, the earthly thing that he set his mind on is threatened or is lost. And that’s when a wolf is going to show himself as a wolf. But oftentimes false prophets will make up excuses to try to hide this. They’ll try to say that they’re entitled to loiters

and privileges that other believers aren’t entitled to because they’re special servants of God. But no believer, even a preacher, even an apostle, he has a right to demand.

Now Paul did talk about in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 that he did have a right to eat and to drink and to partake of the believers’ material things. But he also said that he had used

none of these things, lest he should hinder the gospel of Christ. It’s right to, there’s

a time where financial compensation and even honor is right for a servant of God to take

if it comes to him, if it’s offered to him from other believers. Because true believers

are, we should appreciate those who minister to us and who lay down their lives for the gospel’s sake. But the preacher, the minister or whatever, doesn’t have, does not have the right to be carnal and demanding benefits. And that’s often where wolves will show their wolf nature. The wolves’ inward ravening and the law of God will surely come to conflict.

One story I know of is that there was this preacher at this church in my area. This happened a long time ago. But this guy seemed to be really holy. He seemed to be very zealous

for God’s commandments and for upholding apostolic purity. But he was being financially supported

well by this church and by different churches he visited. And this friend of mine, he’s in

his 50s now, but he was in his 20s then. One day he questioned this man about his doctrine.

Something that, he wasn’t rude, it wasn’t that big a deal. He just speculated that this

guy might have been wrong in something he taught. And this guy just absolutely, this guy just

absolutely flipped out. “Who are you to question me, little man? What right do you have?”

And

just very, he got very angry, very condescending. That’s what Jesus is talking about. “Ye shall

know them by their fruits.” Just like in Galatians 5, Paul talks about how those who are bringing

forth the deeds of the flesh are not going to inherit the kingdom of God. And then he contrasts that with the fruit of the spirit. You can’t be manifesting the wicked, wallace, carnal deeds of the flesh while at the same time being led by the spirit. There’s such

thing as slipping. But this man wasn’t broken afterwards. He didn’t apologize for the way he

talked to this guy. He had to preserve himself. He had to get his way. And Jesus is saying that

the world’s inward revenue and the law of God are going to come into conflict. And when a person

shows unrepentant carnality, they are a corrupt tree no matter how good they look and how good

their doctrine is. And that’s why that’s his conclusion in verse 20. “Wherefore by their

fruits ye shall know them.” And fruit cannot refer to ministry. It has to refer to character. And

we’re going to see that in the coming verses. So continuing on in verse 21, “Not everyone that

saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will of

my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in

thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works.” They

had ministry credentials. They had works that sounded impressive. And Christ doesn’t even deny

that. That some of these things might have been even real. “And then I will profess unto them,

I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity and anomia, lawlessness.” Jesus said back

in verse 19 that he that shall, we just read it in 5.19, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of

these least commandments and shall teach men, so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.”

And we looked in on previous studies how we spent disregarded, how somebody who disregards

any of God’s commandments, somebody who willfully knowingly disregards any of God’s commandments

disregards God himself and will be and will be forbidden entrance to his kingdom, will be disregarded from his kingdom. And this is what this is talking about in verse 23. “And then I

will profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” This is where,

this word anomia, this word iniquity is anomia in the Greek where we get the term antinomianism.

Antinomianism is the life from the devil that you can be saved by faith in Christ while

transgressing the law of God. And this antinomian influence that permits sin as being mixed with

saving faith in Christ is the plague of the evangelical world today. It is the book,

our ageless conflict study specifically focused in on this deception. And this is the idea,

so we see in verses 21 to 23, the Broadway is the idea that you can just profess Jesus, confess Jesus,

accept Jesus in a, just accept Jesus in a shallow way so that you do not obey everything that

he says, that you do not submit to his authority and keep his commandments. The idea that you can

just accept him, just confess him, and I believe in Jesus, the idea that that’s good enough, that’s the Broadway, and that’s the deception all around us, and that’s from the influence of the false prophets that we see in verses 15 through 20. In verse 23, when Jesus says, “I never knew you,” is this teaching that, like, is this teaching eternal security,

is this teaching that everybody who is going to be cast out of, who is going to be denied entrance

into the kingdom was never in the faith to begin with? I don’t believe so. In an equivalent passage,

in equivalent passages in Luke chapter 6 and 13, Jesus said, I will just read it in Luke 6, 46 to 49.

And why verse 46, “And why call you me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say, if we truly

believe he is Lord, we will obey him.” And that explains Romans 9 to 13. I’m not going to get into

it for time’s sake, but those who would think of Romans 10 verses 9 to 13 here, that’s the explanation,

that if we truly believe in our heart that he is Lord and that God has raised him from the dead,

it means we will be obedient to him in our heart and we will confess him with our mouth, not just

say he’s Lord, but that our entire life will show that obedience from the heart. “And why call you me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say,

whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like.

He is like a man which built in house and dig deep and laid the foundation on a rack,

and when the photo rules, the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it.

For it was founded upon a rock, but he that heareth and doeth not as like a man that without a foundation built in house upon the earth, against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” This isn’t just talking about

a one-time thing. We need to continually hear his word and with an obedient heart and

do it. In Hebrews 3, 12, and 15 we’re told, I know we’ve looked at this passage a lot, but it’s worth going to again in this context, take heed, brother, and lest there be in verse

Hebrews 3, 12, take heed, brother, and lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief,

in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily, while it is called today, lest any

of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end, while it is said today,

if you will hear his voice hardened, not your heart says in the provocation.” So back to Matthew 7,

we can understand then what it means to build upon the rock in verse 24.

We have to truly submit to him as Lord. We can’t just call him Lord. And the proof that we have

submitted to him as Lord is that we will do his words without self-imposed conditions, without

excuses. “Therefore whosoever here,” verse 24 of Matthew 7, “Therefore whosoever here at these

sayings of nine and do with them, I will liken him unto a wise man which builds his house upon a rock.

And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell

not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that hearth these sayings of mine and do with them

not shall be liken unto a foolish man which builds his house upon the sand. And the rain descended and

the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and greed was the fall of it.”

So the people who built upon the rock and those who built upon the sand, their reception of the

authority of the Messiah, the King, their reception of the King in his kingdom was seen in whether they

obeyed him and did his words or did not. In 1 John chapter 2 verses 3 through 6 we read,

and hereby, 1 John chapter 2 verse 3, “And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his

commandments. He that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is

not in him. But who so keepeth his word in him verily is a love of God perfected. Hereby know we

that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him, not himself also so to walk even as he walked.”

Meaning, means walk in the way, walk in the path. He calls us to walk on, go through the

straight gate and walk on the narrow way that leads to life. And before I go to verses 20 to 29,

I think the point with “I never knew you” in verse 23 is talking about how one can have all the things

talked about in verse 22 and not necessarily ever really known him at all. We also read in

Ezekiel chapter 18 that when a righteous man turneth from his righteousness and commits inequity,

all his righteousness shall not be mentioned to him anymore. So that practically the word might

as well have never known him. So I think that that has to do with the explanation for the “I

never knew you” in verse 23. I don’t think it’s an all-encompassing statement about everybody.

It’s because from other scriptures we know that it’s possible to be on the right way and to know

him and then to turn from the truth as we see from passages like 2 Peter 2, 19 to 22 and

what we had just read in Hebrews 3, 12 to 15. So the last two verses here are really, really important

because they show the real issue of the straight and narrow way versus the broad way.

Verse 20, “And it came to pass when Jesus had finished his saying, so people were astonished

at his doctrine. For he taught them as one having authority and not as described.”

So the issue of receiving Jesus as he really is, as not your Savior, but as Lord, as an authority

figure, is a difference between being on the street and the narrow way versus being on the

broad way. I know a man that he professed Jesus but he lived in sin and then he was in the army and

one day he was riding on a four-wheeler on a vacation and he got in an accident and he flipped

off it and he thought he was going to die and he was laying there as he thought he was about to die.

And I heard him give his testimony and he said for the first time in my life I saw Jesus as an authority figure and he repented right there at the moment he thought he was going to die. He ended up waking up in a hospital room. He had fell unconscious instead.

We often think of Jesus, our society likes to think of Jesus as this

sissy man with line here who just accepts everybody and who’s not an authority figure

at all. But the real Jesus of the Bible was nothing like that. He would not have been fierce skinned.

He would not have had line here. He would have been more like Moses and we think of Moses as this

powerful man, this powerful authority figure and yet we read in Numbers chapter 12 that Moses was

the meekest man on the face of the earth at the time. So if Moses could be so powerful and have

such authority and yet be the meekest man on the face of the earth, how much more Jesus was the

meekest man ever? How much more did he have power and authority in his words? And that’s what

astonish the people we see in verses 28 and 29 there. We read in John 1 14 that the word became

flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. This is why I believe it’s wrong to portray Jesus in a movie

for an actor to portray him because nobody can replicate the glory and the authority and just

the godly character that he must have shown when he was walking among us. So that just shows

that’s just one way that our society has completely twisted the Jesus of the Bible. We read in 2nd

Corinthians 11 how there’s people who preach false Jesus, false gospels and have other spirits than

the Holy Spirit and we need to be aware of that. When Christ comes back in this great authority

to receive his kingdom, it is going to be a glorious day for those who have submitted to his authority and kept his word with an obedient heart and it is going to be a terrifying day

for those who rejected his authority and who obeyed not his gospel. So we’re going to close here reading 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 7 through 12.

And to you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven

with his mighty angels, in flaming clear taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that

obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction

from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified

in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe. He tells us that so and because our

testimony among you was believed in that day. Wherefore also we pray always for you that our God

would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work

of his faith and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you really Aaron. Yeah that was really good. I’m gonna leave out for the first question

for you if I may. You know we talked yesterday or the day before about you know when, as a Christian

we’re always supposed to be out there thinking about the Lord and caring about people. You know

I had a guy come in my house today for example and I preached to him. I gave him one of your books

and I gave him about a hundred tracts. I don’t think he’s ever seen the gospel tract in his life.

Professors to know Christ and I’ll be talking to him more and I had about a half an hour conversation

with him just about what we do in general witnessing to him. A little bit of my testimony.

Same thing

with the landscapers. I just had to hire a couple weeks ago because my lawnmower broke and I’m going

to move so I’m not going to get it fixed. You know these guys are rough and tough country boys you know.

Children out of wedlock and all those other stuff in both the bible witness to them every time they

come over and they and you know they’ll sit with me for 15-20 minutes before. We talk about different

stuff that it all leads to the Lord of course in my conversation. So it goes back just on one thing

in particular is you know we have a lot of people out here that are obeying the word of God and that

are going out there and that are witnessing and that are divided from their family or friends of

course to walk together unless they agree do not yoke together with unbelievers. So when we become

a saint of God we are not to tolerate sin. In other words we’re not just should go over a family

member’s house and not call them to righteousness because we should love them enough to know that

they you know we’ve got them by their fruits right we’ve already taken the beam out of our eye.

So when do I stop getting into great discussions with my mother and every time she you know I’m

going to use this example. I used to talk to her quite often I barely can talk to her anymore

and she’s a nice you know nice person but when do I when do I ever stop preaching the gospel

to my mother when I talk to her because sometimes it gets heated so I backed off

of talking to her often because I’m so passionate about Jesus so I don’t want to get into heated

arguments with her but you know last time I don’t want to ever hear you talk about that Jesus again

yet she professed this prize never read a bible really coming up came out of Catholicism. Is there

a time brother I think this would edify a lot of us do I ever stop preaching to my own mother and

that shouldn’t I guess be any different to anybody else but is there a time that I should just say

you know she’s hard to heart past a certain point and that might be something you need to answer next

week I don’t know but I wish I could give more insight brother I think that I do believe though

that there’s a point where somebody somebody knows where we stand and you know just because some

people abuse lifestyle evangelism and they um you know they they use it as an excuse to never open

their mouth and and basically to compromise when it comes to um you know being a a verbal witness

for the Lord and to and to really reach people with the gospel just because some people do that

I dare say that it’s different after people know where you stand especially when it comes to family

members that you know you’re still gonna probably interact with some and they’re gonna you know

you’re gonna like see them at weddings at different family get-togethers and you know you can go to

without without compromising and and I just believe at a certain point yeah it’s probably better to

um to see to show that um

that you are different by by your deeds because at a certain point maybe that’s the only thing

that could really help them anyways so I I don’t believe that would be compromised after you’ve um

preached to a family member to to come to that point but still be sensitive that maybe maybe

there’s going to be an opportunity to see something else you just never know okay yeah great answer

um okay guys anybody else have any questions for brother Aaron

okay um I’m gonna ask another one I I am full of questions tonight um we have uh a dear brother

and sister that’s on tonight going to Kenya and the difference of preaching in Kenya and this actually isn’t a question that’s going to help them because preaching over there is uh

dare I say easy compared to the United States but it is you know we talked about that in the first

sentence of the uh sermon of the mount you know blessed are the foreign spirit um that is certainly

true over in Kenya and a lot of poor countries that have poor people because uh you know for

years as a kid and ever we know that wealthier people and everybody even people on welfare

over in America are the other most wealthy people in the world so um but this pertains to more people

in uh America is there is there a time brother Aaron I know this is a tough one too and I’m not

even discussing certain people or anything but um I I guess my it’s more of a comment than maybe

give your comment on it but I believe there are certain events and certain things that that that

we can do although there are lost everywhere where our time might be more wisely used you know um

and I just want to try to get your thoughts on uh you know should I concentrate on going to um

let me give an example like gay pride parades or should I concentrate on going to jails and uh

maybe nursing homes I’m making probably a silly example there but you know what I’m saying

that would be my question is there a time where uh we would we would want to try to be wise to do

one or the other or I mean Christ being preached anywhere is good but I’d like to get your thoughts

on that too you know I don’t um I don’t doubt the cadweeds on people in places like gay pride parades

to be salt against the the corruption that brings and to um and and to stop the darkness in its

tricks I don’t doubt that at the same time though you definitely don’t want to see that just because

you’re going to get persecuted more at such and such a place that therefore

that therefore that’s the best place to go and and I do believe that if you see that there’s more

spiritual hunger in a place like a jail or a nursing home then unless you really are convinced

that the Lord has told you to go to the gay pride parade or whatever I think it’s probably more

profitable to go to the to the jail or the nursing home but yeah maybe somebody else has another angle

on that sure sure yeah I mean there’s not I don’t think there’s a bad place to preach you know we

we preached a few times I give an example for everybody listening and those are going to listen

to the recording you know we preached a lot of florida when we lived down there and uh there’s

a town called Sarasota I guess you would say it would be like Palm Beach or West Palm Beach whatever

one of them’s poor one of them’s rich but anyway it’s it’s a very wealthy place you know and a lot

of Jews live there and we used we preached a lot of places in florida and I’ll tell you

worse than the pride parades worse than any place that I’ve been to is Sarasota, Florida because

they’re all uber wealthy so we made a and they wouldn’t even listen and and they just walked by

I mean it’s it’s like you can see the heart of stone as they would walk by the boulder was sticking out of their chest all dolled up in their 500-dollar shoes and two three two three thousand dollar suits and it was like we were talking to ourselves you know so I guess that

would be an example of us saying you know what we’re going to go to downtown Bradenton and we’re

going to go to uh you know downtown my accuracy or whatever the case might have been so I guess

that’s what I’m trying to say too but that’s no we need we need creatures everywhere you know you’re

looking at dude 121 to 23 it says keep yourself in love with god like the person of our lord Jesus

Christ unto eternal life some have compassion making a difference and others save with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted by their flesh so that speaks to

um different ways to breathe you know but we have to always be careful everybody on this call that

we have to go out and make disciples if you’re not yearning somehow make disciples it could be

quietly it could be just with your family and and the people that are in your circles or it could be

going out on the street corner or going over to Kenya but if if you don’t have a hunger to edify

people and make disciples I really would resort you to check your heart because that is a symptom

of being saved or being in current salvation with Jesus Christ so um I exhort you to to to really

ask the lord about that but um so any more questions otherwise I’m going to turn off the um recording we can all chat okay

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 8- Week 7

>> Good evening everybody here in the United States and good morning to most everybody overseas and welcome to the Global Mission for Children Tuesday night Bible study. We’re continuing on in our series with Brother Aaron Carey. We thank him for taking his time for doing this and we’re going through the book of Matthew. It’s probably the most complete book of the New Testament that covers, just talking about Brother Aaron not too long ago, that covers just about every subject that let’s say a new believer would need to know

about Jesus and the way to follow him. This is a great chapter we’re going to be going through tonight. It has one of my favorite verses in it. You know God sent his one and only son, we know that, but we have to know why he sent them and what’s required of us because he sent them. A lot of people look at the cross but they don’t look at the empty tomb and I think that’s very important. You know what did Jesus, you know Jesus gave up everything to give us an opportunity to go to him as a sin offering and to get our sins,

forgiven our past sins and to be able to walk within him holy. So I just encourage everybody to continue on the series with us and all those that are going to be listening on the recording we pray for you and we pray that you not only listen to this but you take notes and you go back and reference them but you also just go to the Bible and continue to read it day after day and share this with others. I think this is a great introductory teaching

for all new believers so everything is posted on our website. So I would start with this

chapter with a new believer and go through these recordings. You know you can have a Bible

studies at home or even do them online. You could play it to them or they could listen

to them and then I would go into the next step which would be reading the book, The Ageless

Conflict that we just went through which was believe it or not written by Brother Aaron. So I believe that’s a great book. I don’t promote reading anything usually about the Bible but there are a few select books out there that are really good. So with no further

ado Brother Aaron you can start with chapter 8. Thank you. Okay thanks Brother Jimmy. Greetings

Brother and sisters it’s a pleasure and I think that this is we’re going to get a little more fast paced as we get to chapter 8 and I think you’ll find it very interesting. Even if we were to just read the chapter itself and I would not say anything. There’s just

a lot of we’re going to get into the works of the kingdom after Christ has been collaborating on the law of the kingdom. We’re going to see the kingdom demonstrated in power and Christ identity as the Messiah, as the Son of God confirmed by his miracles and just

his overall perfect character demonstrated in some real life situations. Not that his teaching on the Sermon on the Mount isn’t a real life situation but just in more day-to-day circumstances. So that’s what we’re going to get into as we start chapter 8. I just

want to say something about the Nero way and the verses of Broadway. Just real quick it’s seen in two proverbs here just to give an understanding that we won’t go back into chapter 7 and into the Sermon on the Mount and read but something that you’ll see if you read Matthew 7 verses 13 to 29 something that the context here confirms. If you go to Proverbs chapter 22 verse 7 we read the rich rule is over the poor and the poor are serving to

the lender. God himself is the one who possesses all things. We’re the ones who are poor and

in need of his grace. He’s the possessor of all things and anything we would ever have

that is good has to be from him and that makes us obligated to be his servants and to recognize

his right to rule over us. Now he does rule over everybody but the essence of being wicked is to not properly recognize that right. If you read Romans chapter 1 verses 18 to 32

the Apostle Paul describes how mankind has not properly recognized that right. So considering

that if you go back to Proverbs chapter 10 verse 17 there we read he is in the way of

life that keepeth instruction but he that refuses to reprove here. So here we can understand what it means the narrow way that leads to life is when you recognize God’s right to

rule over you and yourself as obligated to be a servant that means receiving the obligation to keep his instruction not to pick and choose as to make a bargain with him or to flatter

yourself that you’ve got some things right and therefore you’re good but really to submit to it all and to end it when you slip you turn aside you receive his reproof and you

get back in line and receiving that obligation to keep his instruction means that your way is narrow you can’t just say what you feel like saying you can’t just go where you feel like going you can’t just seek to be good by the standards of society you are you are

bound by the duties and the and the ways that God commands in Scripture and you don’t have

the right to negotiate or bargain those away you can’t just go talk to that girl just because she seems nice and attractive you can’t just turn on the television and watch what you feel like watching you have to order your life around the duties that his word prescribes

and filter the things you do through the instruction of his word so that’s just considering those verses really helped me understand on the time what it means to the narrow way versus

it broadly and just to say something about false prophets how right after Jesus talked about false prophets and after he talked about entering in at the straight gate and walking on the narrow way in Matthew 7 verses 13 and 14 he talked about false prophets in verses 15 to 20 and I found this note that I had about Billy Graham and why Billy Graham is

a false prophet I’ve listened I watch maybe five or six of his YouTube videos about him

with him preaching in his crusades and Jesus talked about the false prophets who you shall know them by their fruits just their words alone could be misleading when I watched those five or six videos of Billy Graham preaching there was not much that I could find fault

with based upon what he said I could even see could even understand how some people could really get good listening to some of Billy Graham’s messages but but here’s here’s a problem with the false prophets will have a broad gate influence even if they’re even

if their words are good so the note I had about Billy Graham is what Billy Graham said wasn’t so much the problem his problems were what he didn’t say he didn’t he didn’t tell people they need to leave on biblical churches nor their need to continue in the faith in order to ultimately inherit salvation his associations now I’m not saying he never ever

ever said those things but that was the general the general message that somebody who was

watching him would not have would not have got those things they would have thought they

were saved by responding to the L that altar call one time no matter what happened no matter

how they lived afterwards on his association to associate with the Roman Catholic Church and other modernist other liberals who denied the inspiration of the Bible and would even have them on his crusade staff his methods the sinners prayer smooth talk to get an altar call response on on biblical methods to puff up his crusade statistics and to deceive which

deceive people that they were in the right way when they went when they weren’t and people

would never even had gone up to the altar and said the sinners prayer were not for were not for this on biblical method and the smooth talk that he would use to get people to the altar and his example overall he would appear on secular talk shows as a good old board but just somebody who was um who was just perfectly fine with the show itself the influence

of the show he was he was smooth he would associate with ungodly politicians and celebrities

not as not as a rebuke but as a as a um just as one of them as a friend of the world so that’s an example of you shall know them by their fruits and and often and just something else some other things about false prophets is um typically false prophet will exaggerate the distinction between a gospel minister and a um and and a Christian overall because every Christian is every true Christian is a servant of God and every um and every act that a Christian does is to be service to God and an act of worship and that’s and whether that’s preaching a message in a church on Sunday or whether that’s um or whether that’s carrying dirt to the village or constructing a home or just um how somebody interacts with their family and makes a living to support their family and to support the gospel and everything a Christian does is to be service to the Lord so yeah there are people who are called the minister to preach and to minister the gospel and some people even do it full

time and there’s nothing wrong with that but like as we talked about last week when people

demand um when people demand honor and benefits to do that and they and they resort to unlawful

means to ungodly um tactics when those things are endangered or threatened or threatened

or denied them and they and they act as if they’re uh a greater servant of God than the

average Christian even just that phrase average Christian there’s no such thing as an average

Christian that average true Christian is it’s it’s not an average calling it’s a high calling

no matter what so false prophets tend to tend to exaggerate the difference between a gospel minister and and any other Christian and also false prophets typically won’t but they won’t get their hands dirty with the problems of those that they preach to and those that are

in their churches even though yeah though when the camera’s on when the when the public spotlight is there they’ll be friendly and shaking hands and and acting as if um you

know they’re they’re just um they’re humble and they’re um they’re concerned about the common man but but typically out of the spotlight they want to keep their distance from from everybody else and um I I even heard one I even heard one of the modern emerging church people tell his congregation that um he said don’t call me at home unless unless somebody is dying and there’s often there’s often that attitude when somebody is um when somebody’s a wolf in ministry for their own gain is just wanting to um wanting to not really involve themselves in in the affairs of the people on their church the people they they preach

to unless unless there’s some public notice on it so I just thought those were some necessary

um things to to clarify from last week okay so we’re starting now in Matthew chapter 8

so Jesus has just finished his sermon on the mount the people were astonished when he ended

his saying so people were astonished at his doctrine for he taught them his one having

authority and not as describes so Matthew 8 verse 1 when he was come down from the mountain

great multitude followed and behold there came a leper and worshipped him saying lord

if thou wilt thou canst make me clean and Jesus put forth his hand and touched him saying

I will be thou clean and immediately his leprosy was cleansed just a beautiful picture of gospel

grace that Christ has declared what true righteousness is before God um he’s at least given a a very

um a very thorough um what’s the word a a very thorough sample anyway of what that is

and it’s and it’s right it’s right when we hear that to to be conscious we need to we

need his blood to um to atone for our sin and we need and we need his grace to to make us clean and we see a right response here in this leper that he he falls before him

he acknowledges his authority he bows to him in true humility and says if you will you can make me clean and and Jesus and Jesus does leprosy in the Bible is is very much um an analogy to sin it’s um it’s you could say in the physical realm it represents in

the physical realm what sin is in the spiritual realm and and leprosy was something that was basically incurable by by man’s own abilities it was not something that at least in this

time that you could go to the doctor for and the doctor could prescribe antibiotics or

something it was a very um in the old testament name in the Syrian was cleansed leprosy and

it’s possible that I’ve even heard it speculated that maybe no Jew had ever been cured of leprosy

up until this point so um so after his leprosy was cleansed verse four and Jesus sayeth unto him see thou tell no man but go thy way show thyself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them so here we see Jesus again confirming the loud Moses confirming that um he was he was born under the law he was subject to the law both the moral and ceremonial because the ceremonial head was still imposed upon Israel under under the old covenant the new covenant had not been established and even after the

new covenant had been established God was very careful as you read the book of Acts and in

how he lifted the obligations of the ceremonial law so Chris confirmed the ceremonial law this

was a way in which his um this great miracle that had taken place could be confirmed in the public records without um without it being um without Jesus receiving a lot of immediate

attention for it because had that happened um Jesus did not want to Jesus did not want to um

provoke the attention of the Romans nor of the the Jewish leaders because um he wanted to go

about teaching and doing miracles and um doing good and teaching Israel without um without the thought that just based upon the common wrong notion that people had of the

Messiah that the Messiah was going to be a ruler that was going to deliver Israel from the Romans

now that’s obviously we’ve talked about how Jesus did not um come to do that um to be a do of

a delivery in the flesh upon his first coming but that’s what the people were prone to thinking that’s and he didn’t want to arouse attention there so verse five and when Jesus was entered

in the capernaum there came unto him a centurion was teaching him and saying lord my servant life

at home sick of the palsy paralysis previously tormented and Jesus saith unto him I will come

and heal him the centurion answered and said lord I’m not worthy that thou shouldest come under my

under my roof but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed so notice what he says

in verse time for I am a man under authority having soldiers under me and I say that this man go and

egoeth into another comment he comment and to my servant do this and he do with it when so so this

man basically um he recognized as a centurion in the Roman army that his his authority over his

servants um over those under him in his unit and towards any other servants that the Romans would

have would have put related to his command that authority came in him being subject to the higher

authority within the military and and he and and this man we don’t know if he had officially

converted to Judaism or not here probably not based upon what Jesus says a few verses later

um he he recognizes that Christ is subject to to the father now whether he saw Jesus as

the son of God really saw his full identity it’s possible he did based somehow based upon um how

Jesus commends him afterwards um but at the very least he he knew that Christ was a a righteous

man who was who was fully obedient to God and even if he didn’t see that he was the son of God himself

and he and he and he recognized that that was the source of his power so he had a true recognition

of Christ authority as as Lord and made even to the point of seeing him as the son of God and

that’s what Jesus is going to marvel at so in verse 10 when Jesus heard heard it he marveled

and said to them that fouled really I really I say unto you I have not found so grave fate no not in

Israel and I see him so he’s gonna so he’s gonna use this as an example to say basically what

John the Baptist said in Matthew chapter three that being a physical being of the physical seat of

Abraham is not um is not enough to save a Jewish person you have to have the faith of Abraham

and do and do the works of Abraham that stem you know billions from from that faith there has to

be a true confidence in God a true abandon a true abandonment to God which is which is the essence of

of true faith it is the faith of Abraham and and and he’s basically going to tell them that the Jews who have not this faith and bring not poor fruit that is fit for repentance are going to be are going to be cast into hell well well there’s going to be Gentiles who exercise faith like this

man is exercised it who are going to be in heaven with the um with the original with the founders of

the faith of of the of the Jews um what a Jew was supposed to be Abraham Isaac and Jacob

so verse 11 and and I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down with

Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the king of heaven and as we and as we preach the gospel and and call

men to christ that is we are seeking to add to that number who who come from the east and west

and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and the kingdom of heaven but the children of the kingdom

shall be cast in the outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth the children of

the kingdom here the kingdom was taken from Israel at this point but um but they were descendants of

of David which we talked about in in um the introduction and in the first um in chapters

one and two study um the kingdom was gonna this came Israel had been a kingdom and Israel will

be a kingdom again when christ returns but and and those who are the natural um seed of that kingdom

who have not uh who have not the faith in in the messiah a true recognition of the messiah the

their their king are going to as the centurion head are going to nevertheless be cast into hell

so he says there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth and we won’t get into that later on the

outer darkness does indeed mean how there’s some that teach that it means something else but we’ll

probably get into that in chapters 13 and maybe um maybe chapter 25 also so verse 13 and jesus

said unto the centurion go thy way and as i was believed so be it done unto thee and his servant

was healed in the self same hour it’s interesting that he said so be it done unto thee and it was

and it was actually for his servants now we we know from the parallel in luke that this all happened

through the people whom the servants that um the centurion sent to jesus but in in effect what jes

what the servant said was on the behalf of the centurion and what jesus said to the servants was for the centurion to hear so still the the dialogue was basically between jesus and the

centurion all the same and that’s and you can read the parallel account in um in luke chapter 7

so moving on verse is verse 14 and when jesus was coming to peter’s house he saw his voice mother

lead and sick of a fever and he touched her hand and the fever left her and she arose and ministered

unto them um so we we learn we learn here that peter himself was married um we’ve seen first

corinthians chapter 9 that the other apostles at least most of the other apostles were married

themselves so when the catholic church teaches that peter was the first pope and they teach that um

they say that priests should not be allowed to marry they’re being utterly inconsistent because

peter we know peter wasn’t the first pope but they claimed to they claimed that they’re um preserving the faith of the apostles still and the man that they say is the first first pope

was married and they don’t allow the pope to marry the apostles whom they claim to be the the

successors of were married and um and they do not allow their priests who are basically their

spiritual leaders to marry we read in hebrews chapter 13 that marriage is honorable in all

god doesn’t um god doesn’t deny any believer the the permission to to marry another believer that

is obviously god in the beginning created them male and female and he intends that marriage

be between man and woman and and the and and the pattern he gave was in the garden of Eden where

they had him in eve but um to see that um we read in first simothy chapter four that one of the

doctrines of devils that would come in the last aces is forbidding to marry it’s a false it’s a false spirituality it’s a false piety it’s a false holiness and it’s um and it’s also um

it also could create um many unnecessary temptations as we see by the terrible abuses

and errors that have come in the roman catholic priesthood and in other groups that would forbid

on their leaders to marry um and so we see in verse 15 that peter’s um the peter’s wife’s mother

after jesus had he had healed her she arose administered unto them a very um a very proper

response to um to christ mercies so verse 16 when the even when the evening was come they bought

unto him many that were possessed with devils and he cast out the spirits with his word

and healed all that were sick that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by isaiah the prophet

saying himself took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses now some people read more into this and

i believe is intended here jesus is jesus is doing good he is he’s he is um we read in x chapter 10

just turn here

peter peter is preaching the cornelius of centurion in the next chapter 10 and he is going to say um

he’s going to say in verse um

in verse 36 the word which god sent unto the children of israel preached in peace by jesus

christ he is lord of all the word i say you know which was published throughout all due day and

began from daily after the baptism which john preached how god anointed jesus of nazareth with

the holy spirit and with power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed

of the devil for god was with him um and we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the

land of the jews and in jerusalem whom they saw and hanged on a tree and god raised up the third

day and showed him openly i won’t read any more for our purposes here so it’s this passage teaching

that um the christian should never be sick because that’s what that’s what some people use this verse

to teach and and they just they they separated from the real purpose that these miracles were

done which we just read about in x chapter 10 if you go back to israel chapter 53 um this verse in its original context it says in it says in verse four of isaiah 53

surely he had i mean i mean we know that we’ve read it before isaiah 53 is just such a such a clear

prophecy about the messiah beginning to end as well as the closing verses of chapter 52

but it says in isaiah 53 four surely he had borne our greas and cured our sorrows yet we did esteem

him strict and smitten of god and smitten god and afflicted so verse four is probably simply saying

that the messiah was going to was going to do good to israel to to the point of even

the many miracles which she did which relieved the afflicted and and healed those that were

oppressed of the devil and yet and yet israel as a whole yet we did esteem him strict and smitten

of god and afflicted and then verse five talks about what he did on the cross and i don’t believe

that verse four is even verse four is talking about just like how matthew applied it is talking

about his actual his actual healing and doing good and all that were oppressed of the devil and then

verse five is talking about what he did on the cross to to deliver and heal our souls from sin

but he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of

our peace was upon him and with his strength we are healed all we like sheep have gone astray we

have turned everyone to his own way and the lord had laid on him the iniquity of us all so isaiah

really uses this verse about surely he had born our greas and carried away our sorrows he doesn’t

use it to talk about what jesus did on the cross he he uses it to show israel’s um insanity that they still crucified him and then the following verses in isaiah 53 deal with um the crucifixion

and what and how god use it and how god use it to purchase redemption for those who would believe

on christ and if any of that’s not clear um feel free to ask at the end just it’s it’s just a very

it’s very common in pentecostal churches it they’ll basically teach that anybody who’s sick doesn’t

have faith and it really can create false expectations and really um really overthrow the faith of of genuine believers who don’t know the scriptures and and don’t see um

it’s it sounds great both divine healings and the atonement and and anybody with faith jesus has

took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses you can be healed today if you have faith and then

people seek to get healed and they and they don’t get healed and they they can go is it my unbelief

and it can just be a terrible stumbling block to new believers and just and and just rightly seeing

these things in their context in scripture can really um can really um save us from those

stumbling blocks and those who those who hear us so verse 18 now when jesus saw great multitudes

about him he gave he gave commandments to depart onto the other side remember that um when the

storm comes later in the chapter he had specifically said they were going to the other side

and a Syrian scribe came and said unto him master i will follow the withers deliver thou goest

and jesus sayeth unto him the foxes have holden the birds of the area of nest

but the son of man if not where to lay his head um i was reading elbert barnes’s commentary and he

he said that likely this scribe had seen jesus has just been performing miracles

and this scribe likely wanted to follow jesus out of either curiosity he wanted to see more miracles

he wanted to be entertained possibly and possibly he also saw was seeking a financial benefit from

it he was thinking that um that jesus was going to was going to be exalted on earth and become rich

and that those who followed him were going to be exalted with him on earth and were going to

reign with him as kings on earth and in at his first coming and was and he thought that he was

going to get um he likely thought he was going to get rich by this so it’s and and that is and and

the parallel is still true today that people can have right expectations about what it means to come

to jesus and we know that there’s those who preach a prosperity gospel that basically give people the

same attitude that um that describe it and and so jesus’s answer in verse 20 jesus is just basically

saying no that his his miracles and his and the things that he will do to um to um advance his

kingdom are not for are not meant for man’s selfish gain are not to be poured out upon man’s flesh um

some of you who are familiar with the book of exodus you you remember how the holy anointing

oil that was for the tarrin echo it was to be it was a wonderful it was a wonderful perfume it was

like an ointment and it was it must have smelled wonderful but it was only to be used in the service

of god in the tarrin echo it was not to be poured out upon man’s flesh and god actually said that

anybody who who makes the counterfeit of it and for their own purpose or pours it out upon man’s

flesh he actually said that they should be put to that i don’t have a reference for that right now

but anybody who wants one i i know that it’s it’s in the book of exodus um so basically the scribe

had a very had a prosperity gospel attitude um let me just make sure don’t have any other notes here

so so that’s basically so so jesus is making it clear that um

that his works are are not for man’s prosperity and that following him is going to involve suffering

and possibly even suffering possibly even to the point of not having um shelter as as the foxes

have holes and the birds of the ear have nests christ not all the time but sometimes did not

even have somewhere to lay his head he had no during his public ministry anyway he had no fixed um

dwelling place on earth so verse 21 and another of his disciples said unto him lord suffer me first

to go and bury my father but jesus said unto him follow me and let the dead bury their dead um

some some say well perhaps this man had his father was very old and he thought he needed

to care for his father and well he was yet alive and he needed to um maybe he was seeking to collect

an inheritance and that’s the reason why why he said this i i don’t think that’s likely the case i and it also seems as a the few commentaries i i look at it it seems like this man’s father had had really recently died and and he’s this and this man’s basically telling jesus um give me a

couple days and and then i will um and and then i’ll follow you and perhaps preach precious kingdom

and so it’s um so what we can learn from this i i there’s a quote from matthew it’s very good

waffle and decent offenses become sinful when they hinder greater duties um it’s very much like the

rich young ruler jesus specifically jesus is not by this forbidding christians from ever participating

in the funerals of their parents or if in the other interpretation nor for caring for their

parents when they become old it says in first simothy 5 8 that if a man provide not for his own

especially for those of his own house he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel worse than

an unbeliever um the thing though is here um just like jesus told the rich young ruler to go and

sell all that he had and give to the poor and he’d have treasure in heaven and come and follow him

jesus signed this in the case of the rich young ruler that he needed to part his heart from his

possessions because they were anoidal to him and an hindrance an hindrance to him from seeking first

the king of god and truly following jesus and jesus obviously signed this man’s case that going

back to this funeral and being part of bearing his father was going to be an obstacle for his

affections um in terms of his loyalty to the king of god and and therefore um and and therefore he

told him that um let the dead bear their dead jesus obviously also knew that there was there were

there were other people who were um who were going to be able to to bury his father and conduct a

funeral that in this scripture he’s talking about um and let the dead those who are those who are

not living to god those who are um those who are in sometimes if this were dead especially like in

romans chapter six in scripture it’s used to talk about indifference or um or not properly recognizing

somebody so he’s basically saying let those who are not obedient to god and who have not um

you have not a true living faith toward god let them take care of the physically dead and

and in the parallel in luke nine there’s a either it’s a parallel to this or um at least a very

similar situation he he says but go down he has but go down preach the king of god so um verse 23

and when he was entered into a ship his disciples followed him and behold there was a great tempest

in the sea and so much that the ship was covered with the waves but he was asleep so we learn here

that jesus was um he was made he was made like us in all things except he was without sin we read

in hebrews 2 that um he he barely took not on him the nature of angels but he took on him the seat

of abraham wherefore in all things it behooves him it was made fitting for him to be made like onto

onto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest and things pertaining to god

to make reconciliation for the sins of the people for in that he himself suffered being tempted he

is able to secure them that are also them that are tempted he had to he had to deal with the pains and problems and um and obstacles that can come with a physical body this is also a

rebuke to gnosticism um the idea that um nostics taught that man’s flesh was inherently evil and

they used that as a license to sin because they said what you’re doing your body doesn’t matter

because they said they said body is is evil anyways and spirit is good so they said we’re

right in our hearts but we’re even though we’re wicked in our bodies and but in order to feature

that they had they had to deny that jesus had a physical body and we see here as well as many

other passages that wasn’t the case the flesh of the physical body is not inherently evil and christ had a physical body just like us and yet he he never yielded to sin

um so verse 25 and his disciples came to him and awoken saying lord save us we perish and he saith unto them why are you fearful oh ye of little faith then he arose and rebuked the

winds and the sea and there was great calm but the men marveled saying what manner of man is this

that even the winds and the sea obey him and it’s likely that this was a reference to psalm 65

because of because the bible had already attributed calming the waves and the sea as something that

god does so so here we have um another proof that christ is god we obviously have better ones

but this is one nevertheless if you want to sum chapter 65 verses five through seven

by terrible things in righteousness will thou answer us will god of our salvation who are at

the confidence of all the ends of the earth and of them that are of our alpha upon the sea which by

his strength set it set it pass set it past the mountains being girded with power which still with

the noise of the sea the noise of their ways and the tumult of the people and if you go to psalm 94

i won’t go to it now but the calming the sea is also um persecution of god’s people is often

compared to um a stormy sea and you see that if you read like psalm 93 and i think also it’s in

psalm 94 so there’s a there’s a lesson here too about um about persecution and handling that um

common from matthew all about this passage um the prevalence of fears in us upon imminent

dangers will not argue or prove no faith but proves a weak faith which yet he that will not break a

bruise a bruise reed nor quench of smoking flakes will not discourage he will therefore give them

a proof of his divinity so moving on then in um verse 28 and when he was come to the other side into

the and and and there’s one more point about verses 23 to 27 um jesus rebuked them for being

of little faith in verse 26 because he had said specifically in verse 18 that he had given

commandment to depart onto the other side so they had a word of they had a word from the lord

that they could have have trusted in and not have been so stirred up when this storm had come

nevertheless they were still right they were still right to come to jesus when when the storm

had had come they they they went to the right person they did the right thing even though there

was um they were more stirred up and troubled than they needed to be and that’s what that that on

passage or quote we just read from matthew paul was dealing with so verse 28 and when he was come to

the other side into the country of the gregis scenes there men and two possessed with devils coming

out of the tombs exceeding fierce so that no man may pass by that way um and behold they cried out

saying what have we to do with the jesus oh son of god they’ll come here to torment us before the time

and there was a good way off from them okay i’ll stop there in verses 28 and 29 there’s a

parallel of this in um in mark chapter five and luke chapter eight which um which we won’t go into

but um in those two passages this um the country is said to be the country of the gatherings here

we read about the gregis scenes the now the reason for this is um this was when they had come to the

other side of the sea they were now in the region of the capillas which was basically what we would

call now southeastern syria one of maybe one of only two times jesus ever left the land of israel

um and the other one we will get to in matthew chapter 15 um the capillas was not within the

borders of callee or judea but it was but it was right you know right on the when you get to the

borders of a of a nation the two cultures are very much um there gets to be a blur in the culture i

live in buffalo new york and buffalo new york is much more of a hockey city than most other um

u.s cities because hockey is such a canadian sport and so you find that in like boston buffalo other cities in the northeast that are really close to canada you find that they can be just

as big in the hockey as the canadians but most of the rest of the united states that’s not the case

so so this was a people that even though it wasn’t in the land of israel there were likely

still many jews here and and even the people that weren’t jews still knew about jewish customs and

that’s going to be important so um the capillas literally means 10 cities um one of the cities

was called yedira and the others and and one of the others is called gurgessa so it’s it’s reasonable

to conclude that um since this is said to be the country of the gurgisines and the other gospels

say the yatterings it’s likely to conclude that this was that this happened it happened in the

country we know it likely happened somewhere between gurgessa and gedira um and then the other

gospel accounts there’s only one um there’s only one to monique talked about and here and here there’s

two so that’s interesting in in verse 29 we see that um we see that the devils themselves acknowledged

jesus to be the son of god now many people now many churches will call somebody a christian just

because they acknowledge jesus is the son of god like the devils did so by their definition these

these demons would be christians and and we and james deals with that in james chapter 2 thou believe us there’s one god um thou do as well wilt thou know um the devils also believe

and tremble what wilt thou know may obey man that faith without works is dead and he it’s it’s not

enough simply to acknowledge jesus is the son of god because even the devils do that if you don’t um

if you don’t have um an obedient um heart and a true confidence in him then that’s a that’s a

dead faith like james 2 talks about and so they feed jesus and they they’ll come hither to torment us

before the time and so verse 30 there was a good way off from them and heard of many swine feet um

so if if these were owned by jews it was unlawful for jews under the old covenant to to be um to

have swine even if these weren’t jews they were still people who knew about the jewish custom

who were living very close to jews um like we said that the jewish culture would have been very much

influential here since this was so close to the land of galley but you know what we would consider

galley and judea are basically the land of israel um so these people were either jews who were um

provoking god and singing against the covenant that they um that they had confidence in or they

were people who were provoking other jews um to sin by the fact that they had swine so likely people

who who knew better so verse 31 so the devil’s beside him saying if thou cast us out suffer us

to go away into the herd of swine um it says in proverbs 4 16 about um wicked men that that they

sleep not except they do mischief i’m not quoting that exactly but there’s a there’s something about

um there’s satan and and demons are always seeking to do mischief and they see they see that they’re

going to get cast out and they um and they what they want to do mischief and so they they beseech

jesus to send them into the swine and and he in verse 32 when he set up to them go and when they

were come out they went into the herd of swine and behold the whole herd of swine ran violently down a

steep place into the sea and perished in the waters this very this is a great review to the

humanistic idea of jesus um he um people people who say man’s happiness is the highest good

and they fashion of jesus an idol that they call jesus um that basically it’s in with their humanism

it common eats their humanism um this passage is a queerly is a queer rebuke to that um jesus um

jesus was suffered these these devils to go into these swine as a judgment for their um squirting to the law of god and there was obviously a lot of economic loss to this

but the fact is um we see in verse 28 that these men were possessed with devils that were coming

out of the tombs that they were exceeding first so that no man might pass by that way jesus had

still done them a great service by um by casting out these devils out of these demons of this man

he made their country a much safer place by that and did them did them true good

but these people are going to respond very very wrong and they’re going to um and they’re going

to value um they’re going to value their economy over christ and they’re going to even value their

own safety and their own peace over christ they because we’re gonna we’re gonna see in verses 33

and 34 that they were more they were more offended by the loss of the swine than they were about the

blessing that came to them by this wonderful miracle christ did and the safety that they had

gained there by the um the peace that they had gained there by so verse 33 and they that kept

them fled that went their ways into the city and told everything and what was and what was

befall to the possess of the devil so that so they knew the whole story they it’s not like they had

only heard about the swine and not the demon possessed men they and their being on yield they

they knew about both so verse 34 and behold the whole city came out to meet jesus and when they

saw him they beside him that he would depart out of their coast and we have no record that he ever

came back to the reading of the capitalist but we know from the other gospels that um

at least one of the men out of whom jesus had cast his demon said he had prayed jesus that he

might be with him and jesus suffered him not and rather told him to go home to his friends and family and tell them what great things jesus had done for him so even though um even though jesus would never return to the to the capitalist he still left not himself without

witness by the witness of at least one of these demons possessed men whom he had cast out so 9 1

and he entered into a ship and passed over and came into his own city so i’m going to read a

comment from albert about albert barnes about this passage um matthew 8 34 the people the city

probably came with a view of arresting him for the injury done to the property but seeing him and

being odd by his presence they only besought him to leave them out of their coast equals out of

their country this shows that the design of satan is to prejudice people against the savior and even

to make what christ does an occasion of why they should desire him to leave them the power of

avarice or greed these people preferred their property to the savior they loved it so much that

they were blind to the evidence of the miracle and to the and to the good he had done to the

miserable people who immediately healed it is no uncommon thing for people to love the world so

much to love property even like that owned by the people of gedira so much as to see no beauty in

religion or no beauty in true religion and no excellence in the savior and rather than part with it to beseech jesus to withdraw from them interesting the most grappling employment

the most abandoned sins i i i think he means the most um when he says the most abandoned sins

i think he means the most um inconvenient um sins that even hurt it hurt people even in this world

so directly the most low the most loathsome voices are often loved more than the presence of jesus

and more than all the blessings of his salvation um i i think of what jesus would say to the inhabitants of jerusalem um in luke chapter in luke chapter 19 and i will close with this

he he told them um this was near this was the week before his crucifixion in luke 1941 and when he

was come there he beheld the city and wept over it saying if thou is known even thou at least in

this at least in this day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thy nights for the day shall come upon thee the dynamity shall cast a trench about the

encompassing around and keep thee in on every site and shall lay thee even with the ground and thy

children within thee and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another because thou knewest

not the time of thy visitation um what a what a sobering truth and we um and we want to tell people

in preaching the gospel that this is a day this is a day where you can find mercy and we want to

preach true repentance and true holiness we want to keep the terms of the gospel exactly like the

lord made them we want to preach the way is narrow and we want to we want to show people

jesus’s excellence and we want to show them that he is better than the things of the world and in

light of in light of the common judgments of god and sin being seen for what it is and judged for

what it is that whatever was whatever we would have to suffer to um to receive jesus and um receive his and seek his kingdom and be his disciples is well well worth it and

the things that belong to our peace now that um that we can only um that we can only lay hold of

in this life this is this is truly good news good news against the backdrop of the wrath of god

revealed it from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men and christ is a door

that by me if any men enter in he shall be saved that’s in god chapter 10 9 i believe um so i will

i will leave it there right i just wanted to conclude with um you know from the preaching

side of this uh in mark in the parallel in mark uh 519 you know we have a lot of people that believe

they’re they’re saved and are in the state of salvation and obeying a holy god yet they never

want to compromise anything and what i mean by that is they never want to compromise friendships

or compromise their family in a way that they are afraid to express jesus to their friends and their family and and they’re afraid to fall in to luke 12 51 to 53 for example you know uh

where it says you will be divided jesus did not come to this earth to bring peace but to divide and

i think to be strong in faith even some of them they will excuse family members completely for

and not preach to them and not tell them the whole truth about god sure they know they’re christians

sure they know that they don’t like abortion and all this stuff but um and then some people have

excuses while i’m young in faith or you know i didn’t go to four-year bible college well most

people we see in bible college uh are are so messed up with doctrine it’s not even funny we do not

encourage anybody to go to bible college these days because they’re all um meshed in with false

doctrine so mark 19 the parallel uh says now this is after um the demons get cast out and

into the swine this guy of course wanted to stay with jesus and and hang out with him you know and

preach with him but it says in mark 5 19 how be it jesus suffered him not but said unto him go to

thy friends and tell them how great things the lord has done for thee and have had compassion on thee

and um i think that’s very important when we disciple people you know they don’t have to know

300 bible verses by heart they don’t have to go through quote bible college and quote and all

that stuff they just have to have uh you know a mustard seed of faith they have to truly repent

it in godly sorrow to corinthian 710 and then and then they just have to be let go and then of

course we disciple them and they become more wise and stronger in faith but um i see so many times

where people will spend and this includes myself for eight years in false belief that i sat on the

couch shame on me for eight years uh of my quote christian walk so i thought and nobody had

encouraged me including the pastor that was quote my overseer and he was no pastor at all but um i

just encourage people to uh reread what we read today and also go to um you know go go into the

other um uh books of the bible to uh mark mark mark also has this you know in mark five uh five uh

it’s not the mark five eleven and it goes to 19 so um it’s just absolutely amazing where people

make the excuses and and that we need to encourage these people to get out there and you know we need

to make true disciples so um i see that mr jeremy rice came on the phone i hear his little earbud

buzzing there a little bit so i know it’s here good evening brother

is he on mute i i thought i heard him all right maybe i didn’t um anybody have any questions before i take it off um uh before i take it off um record

all right again brother arin you did a great job teaching so i’m going to take it off a recording

here and then we can go i wanted to do my uh ending here thank you everybody for joining us

we’re going to conclude tonight we’re going to go into fellowship

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 9 -10 1-4 Week 8

Good evening everybody and welcome to the Global Mission for Children Bible Study. We do this every Tuesday night at 10.30 pm Eastern Time and of course various times all over the world.

We do this to edify the body of Christ of course and we also have a special thing we do this far too is for our overseas missionaries.

We have missionaries in Kenya, Bangladesh and India so we welcome those people whether

they are going to be joining us live or they are listening on the recording.

We really love you guys and we are just so humbled to be able to support you not only

with physical means and monetary means but also with spiritual means with these teachings.

I think of course this is the most important.

They can give a dollar or two but very few people have a Bible down to where we believe Brother Aaron has it and a few other dear brothers that join us here on this call.

So with no further ado we are going to start here. We are going through the book of Matthew.

We have completed chapters 1 through 8.

We are going to be starting on chapter 9 today so I am going to turn it over to you Brother Aaron and thank you.

Thanks for the opportunity. Thanks Brother Jimmy.

So we are on Matthew 9.1 and I will get started right away here.

So it says, “He entered into a ship and passed over and came into his own city.”

So at the end of the last chapter the people of the Gergesenes and the Gadarenes, it mentions

the Gergesenes and Matthew and it mentions the Gadarenes and the other Gospels and we talked about how the place that Jesus had just healed the demon possessed man at the

end of the last chapter must have been somewhere between the city of Gadara and Gergesa.

So to call these people the Gergesenes and the Gadarenes would both be true.

They had told him after the events at the end of chapter 8 to leave and so Jesus listens

to them and he does what they ask and we talked about how there is no record that he ever came back there.

And it is interesting if you go back to chapter 8 verses 31 and 32 that the devil is beside him saying, “If thou castest out, suffer us to go into the herd of swine.”

And Jesus suffered them.

He permitted that in verse 32. He tells them to go.

And we see in 9-1 how he listens, 8-34, 9-1, that he listens to the people who beseech him that he would depart out of their coast.

Now if we go to the other Gospels in Mark chapter 5 and Luke chapter 8, we see that the man who had gotten right with him, who had the demon cast out, wanted to be with him and go into the ship with him and Jesus didn’t suffer, he suffered him not to do that.

So the man who was right with him was the only person that he didn’t do what they asked him to do here.

He told that man to go back to his own city and tell him what the Lord has done for him and how he’s had compassion on him.

So it’s interesting because we know in 1 Peter chapter 3 that it says that the ears of the Lord are open to the right.

The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to the prayers but the face of the Lord is against them to do evil.

So when it comes to things that you really need and forgot to be your helper, it profits to be righteous.

But when it comes to just getting whatever you want, there’s often times where the Lord will permit wicked people to have their way and the righteous, he’ll not grant their request. But that in itself is a mercy because he does not withhold anything good from them to walk

appropriately and often times it’s the very things that wicked people want and their persistence

in getting them and the Lord letting them have them, that’s the very thing that might be the very sign that he’s done dealing with them and is just giving them over to their

own lust and isn’t going to bother them anymore until they face them and are condemned on the day of judgment.

So in verse 1 we see that Jesus says he’s coming to his own city and we know from our chapter 2 that this is Cape or Nail. When I talked about him leaving Nazareth in Matthew 4.13, that probably meant that he left Nazareth as his base and he was probably staying in Peter’s house as we see in 14 and 15.

We see Jesus in Peter’s house and we see that verses 16 and 17 people coming to him there.

So this what we’re about to read about in verses 2 through 8 likely happened at Peter’s house.

So verse 2, “And behold, they bought unto him a man sick of the palsy,” which was a form of paralysis, “lying on a bed, and Jesus seeing their face set unto the sick of the palsy, son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven, and behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves this man blasphemeth, and Jesus knowing their thoughts said, wherefore think he will in their hearts, for whether it is easier to say thy sins be forgiven, be it

or to say arise and walk, but that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, than saith he to the sick of the palsy, arise, take up thy bed, and go

unto thine house.” And he arose and departed to his house, but when the multitude sought, they marbled and glorified God which had given such power unto men.

So this is a great story to use for those of you who do evangelism. This is a great evangelistic story about Christ. He’s powerful to save us from our sins. He can give us his healing touch that purifies our souls and reconciles us to God. And we have these, we know from the other accounts in the Gospels that there were four men that were carrying this man that was sick of the palsy, and that they actually had to let him down through

the roof into the house in order to get him before Jesus. Now that can be read about in

Mark chapter 2. And that was possible with the ruse in Israel in the Middle East at the

time, maybe even now, maybe even some of the missionaries’ ruse are like this. They were flat roofs that they could be uncovered quite easily. And these four men, they had carried their friend or their relative or whoever he was to them. They couldn’t get to Jesus

in the house because of the great crowd. So they bought him, they went up on the roof, and they cleared the roof, and they let him down through the roof right before Jesus.

And that’s the scene we have in verse 2. So it’s a great evangelistic message about how we should clear everything in our hearts that opposes Christ’s reign, that opposes His kingdom, all the distractions of the world that would keep us from falling humbly at

His feet in hopes of obtaining His healing touch. And so it’s a great illustration and there’s a lot that can be done with it for creatures. A comment that Albert Burns made on verse 2 is, “The perseverance they had manifested was the evidence of their faith or confidence in His power to heal a sick man.” And when Jesus tells this sick man of

the palsy when he gets to be formed in verse 2, “Some be of good cheer thy sins be forgiven,”

there’s a couple different reasons he might have said that. The man may have been more anguished about the state of his soul than of his body, and that would have been right.

And Jesus may have seen true repentance in the man. And He certainly did see true repentance

in the man. And the man may have had anguish about whether his sins could actually be forgiven.

Perhaps he had gotten into this condition through some sin that had affected his body and had taken its soul on his body. And this man was evidently just as concerned or more concerned about the state of his soul than of his body. And it’s also possible that maybe there was no, the Bible doesn’t say for sure. Maybe he thought that his sickness or his physical problem was the result of his sin, but it really wasn’t. We see that with the

blind man in John chapter 9 that Jesus’ disciples had asked Jesus who did sin, this man or his

parents, that he was born blind. And Jesus told them neither did this man sin nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest. But regardless, Jesus saw

that this man had a truly repentant heart. And it was more important that his sins be forgiven than did his body be healed. So described in verse 3, they said, “Within themselves this man blasphemeth.” And we know from the other gospels that their fault thought was who they said this man blasphemeth, who can forgive sins with God only. Now they were right in that reasoning, but they were evil in that they didn’t recognize Jesus for who

he was. And so Jesus in verse 4, knowing that if that’s it, “Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts for whether it is easier to say thy sins be forgiven, therefore it is to say arise and walk.” Jesus is going to, now what is harder to say that your sins be forgiven,

you are to say arise and walk? Well, they’re both extremely difficult. They’re both powers

that no one but God can give. Now we know from Revelation chapter 13 that the beast and the

tribulation is going to, is going to be wounded by his sword and his wound is going to be

healed and he’s going to live. Demons do have power to heal physically because of when they

rebelled against God. God had made them very powerful and God did not take away all their power and their rebellion. And so it’s really harder to say thy sins be forgiven than to

say arise and walk. Albert Barnes is coming on this passage is that the one involves divine power, the other divine authority and neither can be done both like God, at least in terms of the healing, in terms of the origin of the power. And one is as easy as the other

and to be able to do the one involves the right and the power to do the other. So Jesus is going to prove to them basically by the healing of this paralyzed man that he himself

is God. So in verse 6 he says, “But then you may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, then saith he to the sick of the palsy of rice, taken by bed, and

go unto thine house.” So in the Old Testament in Isaiah 43.25 we see the proof that Christ is God because no man in the Old Testament had ever had power to forgive sins. We read in Isaiah 43.25, “I even am he that blodeth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins.” He tells Israel encouraging them that he will forgive them upon their repentance. In 44.22 of Isaiah, “I have blotted out his thick, quelled thy transgressions, and as a quelled thy sins return unto me for I have redeemed thee.”

In Mark’s Gospel it’s also added, Jesus says that, “You may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins.” Oh, he even says that here in verse 6, and that’s important to note that he says on earth, “This destroys the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory,

the idea that we can get hurt from our sins and be forgiven after we die. We have to repent and get right with the Lord on earth and find Christ’s forgiveness and his deliverance from sin in this life.” It says in Hebrews 9.27, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but

after this the judgment.” And it’s also a verse in the Bible that refutes the doctrine

of reincarnation that is taught among Hindus and Buddhists and other Eastern religions. But Hebrews 9.27, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”

So this man then arises, takes up his bed and goes to his house. It’s likely that his

bed was a blanket with a pillow. That’s often what sick people were carried around on. So this would not have been a man lifting up a heavy bed. It would have been something much later than that. So in verse 8, “When the multitude sought, they marveled and glorified

God which had given such power unto men.” When it says glorified God, it doesn’t necessarily

mean they repented. It means they prayed and similar acknowledged his power. Perhaps some

in the crowd did repent. But we see in verse 8 that the glorified God which had given such power unto men, they didn’t understand fully who Jesus is. And we see we’re going to get

to that in Matthew 16, how the people themselves were wondering whether Jesus was Elijah or

as one of the prophets or whether he was John the Baptist risen from the dead or whether he was the Christ. That was something that many did not recognize and many in Israel never did recognize. So verse 9, “And as Jesus passed forth from thence from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom, and he saith unto him, Follow me.

And he arose and followed him. And it came to pass as Jesus said at meat in the house,

or said for a meal in Matthew’s house, Behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down

with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees sat, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth

your master with publicans and sinners?” Now we know from a lot of people will use these verses to say that it’s okay for Christians to just go into a bar and mingle around with

people and just go into the most immoral places and they’ll say, Oh, well, Jesus ate with sinners.

So we shouldn’t fear the associated sinners and they take this passage out of context.

Obviously we can’t go out of the world altogether. But we certainly do need to be careful where

we go. We’re told in Romans 13, 14 to not make provision, to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and not make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. We see here that the issue with the Pharisees is that they had considered some people beyond hope of ever repenting, because we learned from Mark 2.15 that these people who were sitting in Matthew’s house were following Jesus. So these were kind of people that had formerly been, had previously been sinners. And just for the record, we know also from Luke chapter 3 that being a

public and being a tax collector in itself was not, was not a sin. John gave instructions to tax collectors in Luke chapter 3 about what they needed to do to repent. And he told

them, take no more than that, which was appointed you. They weren’t, that’s what they were notorious

sinners because they were known for taking more than was appointed them by the Romans.

But they could still be disciples of Jesus and be tax collectors if they, if they broke

off from the common practice of tax collectors and actually were honest in their, in their tax collecting. So it’s interesting if you go to Luke chapter 5 in the parallel account

here, we see a lesson about, we see a lesson about, about humility and about a practical instruction about how Jesus talked about in Matthew chapter 6, take heed that you do not your righteousness to be seen amends. And we see obviously this Matthew in Matthew 9-11 is Matthew, Matthew the Apostle who wrote the gospel according to Matthew. So when Luke gives this account in his gospel, he mentions two things about Matthew that Matthew did

not mention about himself. So if you go to, if you go to Matthew, I mean, I’m sorry, Luke 5.28, it says about, it says about Matthew that when he was called, now the King James calls him Levi here, but this is, but this is Matthew obviously, it’s the same account.

At times Hebrews had two different names and so Matthew and Levi are obviously the same

person. It says that, it says that he left all and rose up and followed him. It doesn’t

mention that he left Matthew himself and Matthew 9 does not mention that he left all. And then,

and then Luke says in verse 29 and Levi made him a great feast in his own house, which was

something that Matthew didn’t mention himself. So he didn’t mention, so Matthew’s wholehearted

repentance and devotion to Christ and the sacrifice he made for him, he minimized. But the other, what Luke in giving this account told the whole story. So you see a lesson about the Apostles, how it’s apostolic, it’s Christian to not praise ourselves and how

when we don’t do that, God very well may, very well may still honor us through somebody else, but we should commit that to him. And Albert Burns comment on this verse is, no

men were ever further from praising themselves than they were, than the Apostles were. So that’s just an interesting thing there. So going back to Matthew 9. Let me just make

sure I didn’t miss anything in verses 9 through 11 there. Okay, so verse 11, “And when the

Pharisees sought, they sought unto his disciples, why did your master with publicans and sinners?”

It’s interesting they ask his disciples this, but Jesus didn’t hesitate to answer for them. “But when Jesus heard it,” verse 12, “he said unto them, They that behold me not a physician, but they that are sick, but go ye and learn with them, meaneth I will have

mercy in that sacrifice, for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Well we learn here that Jesus compared himself to a physician, to a doctor, and it’s important

to think of the gospel that way, and to think of him that way. Nobody ever goes to a doctor and says, “Doctor, the doctor asked how you’re doing,” and you say, “Oh, I’m doing great.” Now maybe after you’ve taken his treatment some and you’ve been getting better, you might

say that, but people come to a doctor because they’re sick. There has to be a true acknowledgement

that we have lacked, that sin has murdered us, sin has affected us, that there has to

be an acknowledgement about our true condition when we come to him. And obviously when you

come to him as a sinner, you have to acknowledge that yourself is guilty and unclean and in need of atonement and in need of washing. And even as Christians, it’s important we discern the areas in which we are not yet fully whole, we are not yet fully like Christ. And if we

are to continue in the faith and be built up and restored to Christ’s image and walk according to his purpose, there has to be an honest confession of those things. And

here by we can understand 1 John chapter 1 verses 6 through 10. Very controversial verses, which I think we probably talked about in this study. I know we did in the Ageless Conflict study. Verse 5 of 1 John, “This sentence is a message which we have heard of him in

the clear and to you that God is late and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that

we have fellowship with him in walking darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood

of Jesus Christ the Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just

to forgive us our sins and that cleanses us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.” So this is obviously, we go to 1, “My little children, these things write I unto you the east and not. And if any

man sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous.” In walking in the light, there can’t be any sin harbored in us and there has to be a sincere, wholehearted desire for Christ’s great position to deliver us from it. There can’t be any consenting

to it. But even as we walk in the light, there’s going to be sins as we understand God more

and come to a deeper knowledge of him. There’s going to be sin that we were unconscious of,

that we didn’t even honestly know about before it comes to our awareness. So in that sense,

we have to always see ourselves as in coming to that greater awareness as we know God more.

There’s always going to be, has to be an acknowledgement that I have sinned that I need to be saved

from. And even sin that we’ve been truly delivered from and have overcome, there has to be, we

have to take the doctor’s prescription and do his exercises in order to, that sin doesn’t

come back and reign in us. We can see what, we can understand what true faith in Christ is here in that if you truly believe a doctor, you will come to him, you will be totally

honest with him, you will take his prescription and do the exercises that he does. So that’s a very good analogy to use in helping people understand salvation and in preaching the gospel. Christ is a great physician and if we truly believe in him, we will do what he

says and we will take his prescription. So in verse 13, when Jesus says, “But go you and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not the sacrifice.” The Pharisees were

very, the sacrifice here represents everything about the external worship of God, the sacrifices,

the rituals, the ceremonies that God had imposed upon Israel. And we know from the Gospels

as a whole that the Pharisees were very zealous for the external rituals that God gave in the Old Testament and also other external rituals that they had made up. But their heart was lawless and they were disobedient to God in terms of moral issues of the heart, in terms of proper attitudes towards other people, in terms of weightier matters of the lot.

In Matthew chapter 23, he would rebuke them for being weighted sepulchres who looked beautiful

on the outside but inside they were full of dead men’s bones and all in cleanness. In Matthew 23, 23, we read that Jesus told them, “Well, once you scribes and Pharisees, you separate for you, pay tithe of men and anise and common.” Even herbs that were of little monetary value they paid their tithes in. But he tells them that they have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith. And these are not you to have done and not to leave the other undone. So Jesus didn’t say don’t sacrifice and don’t do the external things that the law says. But he did say that those things are of lesser value

than the weightier matters of the law. And one of those that he gives here is mercy. We’ll deal more with this verse when we get to Matthew 23. They didn’t even have good intentions in seeking the salvation of other people. We read in Proverbs 21-3 that to do

judgment and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. We also see in Hosea 6-7 which is where Jesus quotes from in verse 12 here. It’s interesting to go back to the

Old Testament. Matthew really emphasizes the Old Testament a lot as we talked about Hosea’s after Daniel.

So, I’ll start in Hosea 6.4. “O Ephraim was a name for Israel. What shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? For your goodness is as a morning cloud and as the early dew he goeth away. Therefore have I whoed them by the prophets. I have seen them by the words of my mouth. And thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. For I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

But they, like men, have transgressed the covenant. They have dealt treacherously against me.” Over and over in the Old Testament, God rebukes Israel, not for keeping the external ceremonies that he told them to, but for using the external ceremonies that he commanded as a substitute for a right heart towards him, and true dealing with other people.

Basically using the ceremonial aspect of the law as a license to be carnal and to be far from God in their heart. Isaiah chapter 1 verse 10. “Hear the word of the Lord ye rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto the love of our God ye people of Gomorrah.”

“To what purposes a multitude of your sacrifices unto me saith the Lord. I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fad of thy beasts. And I delay not in the blood of bollocks or of lambs or of eagles. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this sacred hand to tread my corpse?”

Well, God himself had required these things, but he didn’t want them from people whose hearts were far from him. That’s what he’s going to say in the following verses. Verse 13. “Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons and savages the calling of assemblies I cannot away with. It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul, hate it. They are a trouble unto me. I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you.”

That’s when he made many prayers. “I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.” Verse 18. “Wash you clean. Wash you, make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the will. Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord.

Though your sins be a scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as well. If you be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the ground.”

That’s when you go to the land, but if you refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. So the Pharisees themselves, they were proven by their very attitude towards these repentant people who had previously been sinners. That they themselves were sinners.

And Jesus is basically telling them in verses 12 and 13 that if they are going to claim that they’re right and that they’re okay when they’re not, himself the great position is not going to be able to help them.

And that’s, so this is a, it’s also important to note that many modern versions of the Bible leave out two repentance in verse 13. And that’s obviously a very big deal because, had Jesus said, “For I’m not come to call the righteous but sinners,” and had left out two

repentance, that would, that would really destroy the very essence of the Gospel and the very purpose of the Bible.

And that’s the very purpose of this passage. So some people might say, “Well, it’s just two words and the truth can be seen at other places.” Well true, but that will work subtly. And so these two words, two repentance are a big deal.

Verse 14, “Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast off, but thy disciples fast not?'”

It’s important to note that the Pharisees were known for their ritualistic fasting. And that was normally two days a week, not the entire day, but from the time of the sunrise to the time of the sunset.

John himself had been cast into prison at this time. So it was right that the disciples had gone fast because the one that they had been following was in affliction and was suffering.

But that wasn’t the case with the disciples of Jesus. And we know that it was God’s intention that everybody who had been following John go to Jesus. And we’re going to see that later on in Chapter 14, that the disciples of John did at least many of them.

At least had they been true disciples of God, that they did come to Jesus eventually. So Jesus is basically going to, in the next three verses, is going to give them…

show the truth that there’s a time that it’s appropriate to fast and there’s a time that it’s not appropriate. And that’s depending upon the current circumstances of your life.

In the book of Esther, the Jews weep and wail. They fasted three days and they didn’t eat or drink at all when they were threatened to be destroyed by Haman. But at the end of the book, after they had prevailed against Haman and the plot to destroy them, they kept days of feasting and days of birth, days of happiness.

We see in Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 that there’s a time to weep and there’s a time to rejoice. And Jesus is going to illustrate that by these next three verses. So verse 15.

And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride-chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them and then shall they fast. No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put into fill it up, take it from the garment, and the rennet is made worse, or the tare is made worse.

Neither of you men put new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish, but they put new wine into new bottles and both are preserved.

So basically, God’s true intention of fasting is inconsistent with the ritualism of the Pharisees, which basically treated every week alike.

And it was inconsistent for Jesus’ disciples now having him with them to fast and mourn as if he were taken away from them.

So we learned a lesson about fasting here that seeking the presence of God should be a primary motive to fast, as well as times where there’s trouble, there’s danger, there’s a request that greatly has to be answered.

And it’s not appropriate to rejoice and to be rejoicing and acting happy in such critical moments.

And there’s a time to set everything aside to seek the Lord and fast, but the ritualism of the Pharisees, which just standard twice in the week, no matter what was going on, it’s just not compatible with God’s true intention of fasting.

And fasting can be involved in Christ. And that’s not to say that God wouldn’t put it on somebody’s heart to fast for a certain time each week or to have a schedule about that.

But in terms of the attitude about it and in terms of enforcing that upon everybody that the Pharisees did, that’s what Jesus is coming against. So verse 18, “Well, he speak these things unto them. Behold, there came a certain ruler and worshipped him, saying, ‘My daughter is even now dead.

But commonly thy hand upon her, and she shall live.’ And Jesus arose and followed him, and so did his disciples.” It’s interesting that this interior earlier in this book, he told Jesus that I’m now worthy that you should come under my roof, just speak the word, and my servant shall be healed.

He believed Jesus to heal his servant without coming to his house. But this man didn’t quite have that confidence, but he still came to Jesus humbly. He still came to him with the right attitude, recognizing him, worshipping him, and believing that he could heal his daughter.

He didn’t have the confidence to say you can do it from where you are, but Jesus was patient with him. So that’s encouraging.

So it’s interesting, as Jesus is going to heal this girl who has just died, or at least was, there’s a little discrepancy in what was said in the different Gospels, but altogether it seems that the girl maybe wasn’t dead when the father came to Jesus, but that she was on the verge of death, and he knew that she would be dead by the time Jesus got there.

But as he’s doing that, there’s a, I’ll just read verse 20, “Behold, a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years came behind him and touched the hem of his garment.

For she said within herself, ‘If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.’ But Jesus turned him about when he saw her, and when he saw her he said, ‘Thought it be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole.’ And the woman was made whole from that hour.”

The hem of his garment, if you go to Numbers chapter 15, the hem of the garment was meant to represent, I don’t understand all the symbolism of this passage, but the basic idea is that in Numbers 1537, the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, “Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make fringes,

and the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribbon of blue, and it shall be unto you for a fringe or a hem, a hem and a fringe, I believe are the same thing.

That ye may look upon and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye used to go abhorrent, that ye may remember and do all my commandments and be holy unto your God.”

I am the Lord your God which brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.

So obviously Jesus was, he feared God’s commandments, and he was fully obedient to God.

And even though he was God from all eternity, his authority as a man was dependent upon his faithful obedience, in his case his perfect obedience.

So the symbolism has to do with the fact that this woman who was unclean, and if you go to Leviticus 15, 19, 27, I’m not going to go there now.

But it talks about what was to be the case with somebody in this condition of this woman that she was supposed to have been put apart and that nobody was supposed to touch her.

She was basically to be an outcast because of her uncleanness.

And that’s why in the other gospels it talks about, the other gospels give some more detail, it talks about how she was fearing and trembling when Jesus asked who had touched her, who had touched him.

And she was fearful for him to know that it was her because had he been just any man, had he not been divine, he would have become unclean and she would have been sinned by touching him.

So I think the symbolism of the story has to do with the fact that the Ham of Christ government represents his total perfection, his faithfulness, and therefore him being not just any man.

And therefore he is able to, and therefore he can be the savior of mankind and help and save mankind from his uncleanness.

And that’s symbolized in this woman who has a physical uncleanness that would have made anybody she touched unclean head with not been Jesus.

So basically she was recognizing that Christ was the Messiah, the Son of God, by touching him. But she had a little bit of, she still wasn’t totally certain whether she was going to be reproved, whether she was going to get in trouble for her boldness in reaching out to him.

So I think the story is a lesson about how Christ doesn’t despise men in their sins who come to him boldly to be saved from them. He’s a willing savior.

So I wish I could explain it better, but that’s the gist of this passage. So Jesus continues then to the ruler’s house, verse 23.

Did I read verse 22? Anyone?

Okay, well, I’ll go back to verse some. We’re all on mute probably, brother. Yeah, go back to 22.

Okay. Okay, so, “But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, ‘Dieter, be of good comfort thy faith hath made thee whole.’ And the woman was made whole from that hour.

And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, he said unto them, ‘Give place, for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth.’ And they laughed in the scorn.”

Now, obviously, she was dead physically. But this is the same case as with Lazarus in John 11.

That I’ll just turn there. There’s truly me trying to remember and get it all.

Jesus might have said this knowing that he was going to heal the girl and raise her from the dead, but even if he wasn’t going to do that, there was still a sense in which it was true.

Because, okay, so in John 11, verse 11, Jesus says, “Our friend Lazarus was sleeping, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.

Then said his disciples, ‘Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. How be it Jesus, fake you is death.’ But they thought that he had spoken of rest and sleep.

Then said Jesus unto them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sake that I was not there to the intent you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go unto him.”

And so later in the chapter, in verse 21, “Then Martha said unto Jesus, ‘Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother, and I died. For I know that even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will giveth thee. Jesus saith unto her, ‘Thy brother shall rise again.'”

So he says Lazarus is sleeping, and he says he’s dead, but then he says, “Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, ‘I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’ Jesus said unto her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.

And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die, believeth thou this.'” So Jesus is speaking in the sense that I believe this is a lesson about children, that the children who die before the age where God would hold them accountable, which is different with everybody.

But it’s probably typical, it probably usually comes sometime in the teenage years. Children who die before that can go to heaven.

Jesus said, what he’s going to say later in this book, “Suffer the little children that come to me and forbid them not, for of such is the King of God.” Those in Deuteronomy chapter 140, I think it is.

Okay, Deuteronomy 139. God is telling Israel that almost all the people who had been above 20 years old when they came out of Egypt were going to die in the wilderness.

But he said, more over in verse 39, “more over your little ones, which he said should be a prey on your children, which in that they had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.”

So obviously children do have some knowledge of good and evil, especially even a two-year-old does to some extent. But there’s apparently an age that’s usually in the teenage years where God holds a person accountable in a way he didn’t before.

So we know that this girl was 12 years old, at least from the other Gospels. So when Jesus says in verse 24 that the maid is not dead but sleepeth, there’s a sense in which this was going to be true about she was going to rise again on the day of resurrection and she was not ultimately going to be dead.

So they left him to scorn when he said this. I imagine it was quite a scene. They obviously regarded him as a fool for saying that.

Verse 25, “But when the people were put forth, he went and then took her by the hand and the maid arose, and the famed hero went abroad into all that land.”

Adam Clark has an observation on 925. He says, I’m paraphrasing this, “Either bring the lost man to hear the Gospel, or bring Christ to him by fervent, faithful, and persevering prayer.”

He sees in this an illustration about praying of evangelism. His comment on 926, “Jesus himself scarcely appears, but the work affected by his sovereign power is fully manifested to teach us that it is a business of a successful preacher of the Gospel to conceal ourselves as much as possible.

That God alone may have the glory of his own grace.” This is a proper miracle and a full exemplification of the unlimited power of Christ.

So moving on to verse 27, “And when Jesus departed, the answer from there, two blind men followed him, crying and saying, ‘Son of David, have mercy on us.'”

They understood to be the Messiah. Obviously David had much other seed, but they equated the one who was to be the Messiah that they knew he was going to be of the seed of David.

And there was a saying among the Jews about the Messiah, that he would be the Son of David. We see that in 1223, that when the people are beholding Jesus’s miracles, all the people were amazed and said, “It’s not just the Son of David.”

We also learned here that it was not contested among the Jews that Jesus was of the seed of David. Had his genealogy been questionable, it would have been made an issue.

So verse 28, “And when he was come into the house of blind men came to him, and Jesus saith unto them, ‘Believe ye that I am able to do this.’ Then said they unto him, ‘Yes, Lord.’

And that touched ye their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith be it unto you.’ And their eyes were opened, and Jesus straightly charged them, saying, ‘See that no man knoweth.’ But they, when they were departed, spread the brightest fame in all that country.”

Let’s see here. This also likely happened at Peter’s house in Capernaum. And Adam Clark’s comment here is, “Without faith, Jesus does nothing to men, to men’s souls now, no more than he did to their bodies in the days of his flesh.”

So we see, and I would also just point out here that something we’re going to see in the next chapter and in chapter 11, that the miracles Christ did were, some people teach that Christ just did miracles for people and that there were no strings attached to them.

And in a sense that was true, that he wanted both doing good and healing those that were oppressed so the devil for God was with him. He didn’t require a price for man. It was totally freely of his grace, everything he did.

But we know that repentance and we know that he expected men to repent upon his miracles. And we know that repentance is not earning your salvation. We talked about that in previous chapters and in the usual conflict study, and we will as we go on.

Jesus did expect repentance. He’s going to, in chapter 11, is going to rebuke the cities. He had done most of his mighty works and because they repented that, and one of those cities of Capernaum, the city that he had his base in.

So there was a spiritual significance to all these miracles and there’s a response that God expected from man as a response to God’s grace that he expected from man, from all of these things.

So verse 32, “And as they went out behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. And when the devil was cast out the dumb man’s fake and the multitude’s marbled sand, it was never so seen in Israel.

But the Pharisee said he casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.” If you go to Isaiah 35, verses 5 and 6, this is another proof that Christ is God.

We see the people marveling here that these types of miracles, this quality and quantity had never been so seen in Israel before.

Jesus is showing power in a way that exceeded all the Old Testament prophets. In Isaiah 35, verses 5 and 6, it says about God, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

Then shall the lame men leap as in heart or as a deer, and the tongue of the dumb seen.” Jesus has just sealed the dumb man, the man who couldn’t talk.

“For in the wilderness shall waters break out in streams in the desert.”

Now there’s a sense in which this is talking about the millennium when Christ comes back to reign, but we have a preview of that in the Gospels here.

We also learned from verses 32 and 33 that sometimes physical ailments problems such as not being able to talk can be the result of demon possession.

But we see throughout the Gospels and in Christ’s miracles, sometimes he was casting out demons of people and sometimes he was merely healing people.

So we’ve got to take the full counsel here before assuming that anybody who has any physical affliction must be demon possessed.

So the Pharisees were envious at Christ for his miracles. People were praising him. People were seeing that this was no ordinary man and they were jealous.

They were envious at Christ. We know that Pilate himself was going to see on the day of Jesus’ trial when Jesus was being accused of the leaders of Israel and Jesus was holding his peace and not saying anything.

It’s as if Pilate could tell if it was out of envy that they delivered him up. True servants of God who are really doing his work and who God is doing mighty things through can expect envy from established religious leaders.

This is an Adam Clark comment on 934. Those whose hearts are possessed by this voice, envy, speak the very language of the devil.

Though all persons may not have as much envy as the Pharisees, yet they should fear having some degree of it, as all degrees of this have the principle from whence it proceeds, which is in Adam Clark on Matthew 934.

Continuing on, verse 35, “Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.”

It’s important to know Jesus was preaching the gospel even before the cross.

We see in Revelation 14, 6, and 7 that the everlasting gospel is for God and give glory to him for his judgment is coming. I’m paraphrasing that.

But God was able to forgive men’s sins even before the cross knowing that Christ was going to eventually make an atonement for sin.

In 1 Peter 1, 20, he is called the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world that was manifest in these last times.

What did Jesus preach as he was going about throughout all the cities and villages teaching?

The exact same things that at least we get a very strong sample of that from his words in the gospels. As we go through the gospels, this is what Jesus was preaching in the cities and villages that he went about teaching.

We see that a lot of the things that he says in Matthew 5-7, we see a lot of the same things often presented in a little different way, in a little different context.

But still very similar things presented in other preaching in the rest of the gospels. Much of the stuff we find in the Sermon on the Mount, we can see good portions of in Luke 6 and Luke 12.

So that’s worth noting. So he went about all the cities and villages teaching and their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every manner and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd.

Obviously these people did have religious leaders. It’s the equivalent of people today. They might go to church, they might have pastors, but not pastors who actually care for their souls.

Not pastors who are actually spending themselves for their salvation, but pastors who are getting, who are fleecing the flock and using the people for their own gain.

Ezekiel chapter 34 is a good chapter about that.

Ezekiel chapter 4 is God’s rebuke to unfaithful shepherds. It’s a rebuke that has always, certainly always been applicable.

There have always been men who have sought to use the true worship of God for their own gain.

It talks about as they were sheep not having a shepherd. Think of the 23rd Psalm, how David said, “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.”

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.

Obviously there’s a spiritual application to that language, which is what David’s intention in writing the 23rd Psalm.

That’s exactly what the people under Israel’s corrupt leadership were not getting.

They would respond to say, “He restoreth my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” The people were being taught an external ritualistic religion that was heavy on details of the ceremonial law,

often unnecessary details that were added by men. Yet there was a very light attitude towards the moral law of God.

Truly knowing God and walking in a way that pleases him was not something the people were being taught well.

Those who were repentant were really struggling because of the lack of their teaching. There were other people who were making some efforts, but they were deceived.

They were burdened. They weren’t being guided to true repentance.

This caused grace to be moved with compassion on them. We can just imagine the compassion he must have upon mankind today,

especially struggling Christians who are in churches who aren’t being taught well and who are just in a very confused and very weak and just continuing in the faith.

Another day just as a weak, struggling believer is all they can do.

Even among the wicked who are not truly seeking God and who are not walking in the way of righteousness at all, they are just being deceived on every side. They are being strengthened in their sin by preachers who are saying peace when there is no peace and not guiding them to repentance.

They are being influenced badly by the big examples of those who profess the name of Christ.

There is just a general ignorance of God that people who are born in America, most every nation now are thrust into. We see how when there are not true shepherds to guide the people and the pairs of righteousness, this breaks Christ’s heart.

He is the same yesterday, today and forever. That is what is so significant about these next verses.

Then say at the end to his disciples, the harvest truly is plenty, but the laborers are few people who are true laborers who are actually going to have wisdom and who are actually going to labor and spend themselves to advance the gospel and prepare men to actually prepare people to meet God and to be healthy and strong in the Lord.

There are many laborers who are using Christ and religion for their own gain, but there are few laborers who are really laboring for the Lord.

So verse 38, “Preacher for the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.” I am just going to continue on verses 10.1-4, not go past verse 4 just because of the significant connection.

“And when he called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” So he tells the larger group of his disciples that the harvest truly is plenty, but the laborers are few, but “preacher for the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.”

And then he chooses twelve of his disciples to go out and preach and to hear the emphasis on power against unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

But we see in Mark chapter 6 a little more elaboration about Jesus’ purpose of choosing these twelve.

“And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two, and gave them power over unclean spirits, and commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey save a staff only.” No script, no bread, no money in their purse, but be shy with sandals and not put on two coats.

And he said unto them, so in verse 12, we’re going to get into the same things in verses 10 and 11, and when we get to Matthew 10 next week, but in verse 12, “And they went out and preached that men should repent, and they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them.”

In Luke chapter 6, we’re told that it’s interesting, the only time in the Gospels that we’re told that Jesus spent all night in prayer was the actual choosing of the twelve.

In 6, 12 it says, “And it came to pass, and those days that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day he called unto him his disciples, and of them he chose twelve, whom he also named the apostles, and he gives a list which we’re about to give.”

And I don’t have the verse now, I was in one of these, but it says somewhere that he chose them that they might be with him and that he might send them forth to preach.

So we know that he sent them forth to preach and to heal people of sickness and to cast out devils.

And we know that these twelve were with him more intimately, that they were around him and had closer access to him than even the larger crowd of his disciples.

And the reason I wanted to bring this up now is I know that many of the missionaries are in a situation that is very similar in that you have a great harvest around you and there’s laborers needed so badly.

And there’s a lesson about Christ here, that he saw the great need of laborers, and among the disciples who were faithful to him, those who were already being thought of him, he chose, and already seeking, that there would be laborers thrust into the harvest.

He chose out twelve of them to prepare them to minister and ultimately to lead his church after he had died and risen and ascended to heaven.

And there’s just a great need for, and I just think of the missionaries, what an appropriate situation it is with you, that you’re in a spot where you’re expanding, you’re planting new churches, you have all these people that you have a chance to preach to and minister to,

and there’s so much work that needs to be done. It’s really important to find faithful young men that you can have around you and teach, not just teach, but when it comes to preaching and teaching the Bible, but teach by example and letting them see how you do it,

and how you handle different situations when people get angry at you, when people get confused easy, when you maybe run out of food or something like that.

Those are things that are necessary to be a faithful evangelist, a faithful pastor, just as much as Bible knowledge.

So I just wanted to show a few verses in 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy that show this principle that Jesus was implementing that just verses to keep in mind as you’re seeking for new workers to be raised up and to be trained.

1 Timothy 1, the thing I just want to emphasize is that there’s a heavy emphasis on gifts and being able to speak well and being charismatic and outgoing in Bible colleges when churches pick pastors,

and that’s just a totally misguided way of selecting people to minister the gospel.

In 1 Timothy 1, Paul says, “And I thank Jesus, and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me. For that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.”

Notice that counting and faithful came before he was enabled because he was counted faithful and put into the ministry.

And then you see the same thing in 2 Timothy 2. Paul tells Timothy, “Thou therefore my son be strung in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things that thou assert of me among many witnesses.”

The same commited out of faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. He didn’t say to men with golden tongues, men with business experience, men with organizational experience, men with men who are good at drawing a crowd in, who are good at getting people to like them, men who are attractive.

He didn’t say anything like that. He said commit thou to faithful men. And Paul had the confidence that who shall be able to teach others also.

The idea is if they’re faithful, God’s going to give them the ability they need to teach others truths of the gospel that the faith might be preserved and spread.

We see in Acts chapters 12 and 13 that Paul had fulfilled a really important ministry in delivering money to the poor saints in Jerusalem in Acts chapter 12.

And then in Acts 13 he was called to be an apostle.

So it’s just so important to not just preach the gospel, but to evangelize the last, but to attend to the spiritual health of the believers already around you and to prepare young men that are going to be able to be used to be evangelists and believers.

And to be evangelists and pastors and whatever other work that needs to be done in the great harvest you have around you.

And just to emphasize that the Lord looked for faithfulness. He looked for a heart to walk and to please God and people who were already being attentive and learning of Him.

One comment that Adam Clark said on this is men must first be taught of God before they be sent of God.

And that’s just the essential thing to look for. So I’ll just read verses 2 to 4.

“Now the names of the twelve apostles are these, the first Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the public, and James the son of Elphaius and

Loebaius, whose surname was Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanite and Judas the Scariest, who also betrayed him.

And one of the gospels that said he became a traitor. He wasn’t a traitor at the beginning. These twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them.”

And that is where we will pick up next time.

Thank you very much, Brother Aaron. That was a great study tonight.

After Brother Aaron goes through each chapter, a number of chapters every Tuesday night here in the US, we go to a question and answer.

So I’m going to stop this off and see if anybody else has any.

Brother Aaron, just for the sake of being on the recording here, and this is a question a lot of people certainly come to me with a lot.

What does Jesus really want us to do? You had mentioned a prescription.

I just have a couple of people coming out of Calvinism. How do we know we are saved? If we are not predestined, if we are not elected in the way I used to think that that false Calvin is God, how do we really know we are elected and how do we stay that way?

It says endure till the end to be saved. So salvation isn’t something we put in our pocket. I know this is kind of a loaded question and it probably warrants a much longer answer. What is an outline to the prescription? Can you just put that in words?

Well, yeah, that’s a big question. I think of Romans chapter 8, though. The thing God looks for is a living faith that comes from an obedient heart.

So in Romans 8, verses 14-17, “For as many as are led…” We know that the Spirit of God is given to all of them that obey Him.

We see that in Acts 5.32, and we see that Christ became the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey Him in Hebrews 5.9.

So “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Verse 14.

That’s as many as are being obedient to God. And the dictates of His Spirit, they are the sons of God.

And there’s no significant distinction between sons and children, though some teach otherwise.

That’s another study, but I could prove that. “For He have not received,” He’s writing to the Roman Christians, “the Spirit of bondage against the fear, but He have received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry out, O Father.

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.” That’s not referring to a one-time event.

The bearing witness of the Spirit is something that God gives to His children over and over as they walk in the light.

And if children then ears, ears of God and join ears with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.

Then we see in 1 John chapter 3 verse 19. “And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before Him.

For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things.

But what if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God? And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing and a sight.

And this is His commandment that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another as He gave us commandment.

And He that keepeth His commandments, loath in Him and He in Him. And hereby we know that He abided in us by the Spirit which He had given us.”

And then He said, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Hereby know you the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh as of God.”

Confessive here means same word literally in the Greek.

I forget the exact Greek word, but it means same word. It has to do with the same heart and being agreed in doctrine also, because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

“And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh as not of God.”

And this is that Spirit of Antichrist, where have you heard that it should come? And even now, already is it in the world?

So that’s my brief answer, but another thing that should be said along with these things, which I know the book of Romans and 1st John would bear out in their whole context is comparing our life with the Word of God.

And being in agreement, is there, do we see in God’s Word, do we see it as a perfect law of liberty, where we are in agreement with God that what He says we want whatever that is.

The person who has that hard walk through gospel liberty, where is the person who comes to the Word and has a controversy with it, that the Spirit of God would shine light upon them and say you need to repent when you come to the Word.

That person needs to repent. They need to deal with the disobeying and attitude that is at the root of their controversy.

And somebody who won’t come to the Word of God and examine their self in what is called the mirror in James chapter 1, the person who won’t really intently look into the mirror,

is obviously they have something that God has a controversy with, and they’re running from the light by the very fact that they’re not looking into it with an earnest heart.

Anybody else have any questions while we have the recording still going to edify other members of the body?

I wanted to thank you for bringing up that false teacher review to Ezekiel 4. I just want everybody to note that that’s certainly a great chapter to put out there for false teachers.

We’ll just conclude this evening’s study going through chapter 9 and just the first few chapters of chapter 10 in Matthew.

We will continue on our study all the way through all 28 chapters of Matthew. This is one of the most complete books of the New Testament.

We’ll continue to do that and we thank everybody listening. We’ll go into a little fellowship right after this.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 10-5 through 11-19 Week 9

Good evening, everybody, and welcome to the Global Mission for Children Bible Study. We thank you for joining us live, those of you that are live, and we also thank those that are going to be listening on the recording.

Just make sure you get out a pen and a piece of paper or whatever you use to take notes, because Brother Aaron, who is our teacher here, goes through each verse, Matthew verse five verse. We are going to be starting in chapter 10 verse five today, and we go through, you know, line by line, and Aaron does a great job of putting the Bible together, both tying together the Old and the New Testament. You know, the whole Bible is profitable for us.

Every word is God-breathed. So we’re very fortunate to have Brother Aaron. If anybody

has any questions, they can email me at J, the letter J, last name Miller at GlobalMissionForChildren.org.

Without further ado, we will start the teaching tonight. Welcome, Brother Aaron.

Thanks, Brother Jimmy. Greetings to everybody on the call, and also who will listen on the recording. It’s a pleasure to be here. I hope to get through chapter 11, all the way through chapter 11. I don’t know if that’s going to be possible, and I don’t want to rush it, but

I think it might be possible. I just wanted to begin by, last week we ended where Jesus

said he had sent his twelve disciples out to preach the kingdom of God, and he had separated

them two by two. And based upon what we see in Mark and Luke, he had likely chose the twelve disciples that were to be with him and to be specially trained by him earlier

on before he sent them out. But Matthew kind of puts the choosing of them and sending them

out together. And we talked about, we showed some scriptures from 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy,

talking about how faithfulness is what to look for in terms of, Jesus had a very high priority in terms of choosing training men that could continue to work, not only after

he had died and rose again and ascended to heaven, but even joining him in his work while

he was still on earth, and what a high priority that was to him. And that should be a high priority to us, especially to those who are ahead of a work leading a church, especially

I believe the missionaries, just how your part of works are growing, they are expanding,

and you need more faithful workers to be praised up, to be able to shepherd and evangelize all

the people you are influencing, and that’s a wonderful thing. And we see in the Gospels

just what a great emphasis Jesus put on that as well as upon his preaching to the multitudes.

And I just want to read here from Luke 16.10, Jesus said, “He did his faithful in that which is least as faithful also and much, and he did his unjust, and the least is unjust also

and much.” And we see in the context from verse 11, “Therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous man, and who will commit to your trusted church for riches.” So we’re talking about the importance of identifying faithful men, and in order to be faithful

ourselves to be, to really be disciples who are trained up that the Lord can use to expand and build his kingdom. It’s especially important to be faithful in little things and to look

for those who are faithful in little things, because as important as preaching and teaching God’s Word is, and public ministry is especially for those who are called to be involved in it on a more regular basis, to be more occupied therein. There’s as important as that is, and though I’m not discouraging that in any way, it’s something that some people who are not faithful might still be drawn to because of the spotlight, because of the satisfaction

for self, because of the honor of men that can be involved in that. But when it comes to faithfulness in little things, and out of the way things, faithfulness with money,

and really seeking to please God in private, and just in the dirty work that isn’t popular to do, that’s really what Jesus is saying in Luke 16, 10, that if you’re faithful in

that, which is least you’re faithful also in much. So that’s definitely something to

keep in mind. I remember reading a testimony of D.L. Moody, 19th century evangelist, and he was talking about preaching the Gospel, winning people, the Christ and being used

of God in that. And he was talking about how a lot of us, we want to do big things for Christ, but how many of us are willing to do little things. He said if I were to give

away this pulpit right now and have another person come up here and preach, I think that half the church would come up and preach, but who’s willing to give a Gospel tract to

that lowly person in a corner. I’m not quoting him exactly, but that out of the way person, that no one’s going to see you but God. That’s really something important to consider. So we are continuing now in Matthew 10. Jesus is instructing his disciples as he sends them out in response to probably their own prayer. In 938 he had said, “Pray therefore the Lord

of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.” Talking about how the harvest truly is funniest, but the laborers are few. So we read through the list of the 12 disciples.

We read just another description of their calling. We see in Mark 3.13-15 it says that it talked about how Christ went up into a mountain in Mark 3.13 and called unto him

whom he would. They came unto him and he were doing 12 that they should be with him and

that he might send them forth to preach and to have power to heal sicknesses in the cast out devils. I just especially note that they should be with him and that he might send them forth to preach. Obviously the apostles, through Christ’s example and through them

seeing him in moment by moment situations, that was a training that would be irreplaceable. And that’s the importance of faithful Christian examples. And my example is the most, I’ve heard it said it’s the most influential, it’s the greatest influence. Our example in and

of itself and that doesn’t obviously eliminate the need to have correct doctrine and to be

wise in our speech and when we speak and how we speak and what we say. But that should be part of a faithful example otherwise. And the disciples had seen Jesus and that was just

a large part of their training was to be with him. And so we read in Mark 6.12 and they went out and preached that men should repent and they cast out many devils and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them. So that’s a summary of what they had done

in response to what Jesus is about to command them now in Matthew 10.5. So reading in 10.5,

these 12 Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans, entry ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of

the house of Israel.” We had read in 9.36 that Jesus had had compassion on the multitudes

because they were sheep having no shepherd. God prepared the Jewish people for the Messiah

and through the Jews he should bless all nations. And that’s what Jesus said in John 4 that salvation is of the Jews. And we read in Romans 1 that the gospel is the power of God under salvation to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. So it was God’s intention to bring

Christ to Israel and through the remnant that would receive the Messiah to bless other nations.

So the time to evangelize Gentiles, at least Gentiles who had not already converted to Judaism had not yet come. So in verse 7 he says, “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'” And we know that that includes the command to reply as we just saw in Mark 6.12 and as we see Jesus’ silent preaching in 4.17. So he tells them, “Heal the sick, quensel the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely receive,

freely give.” So this is a commandment not to charge for preaching. And that’s not the same as charging for preaching is not the same as other faithful people providing for

you as a gift in supporting God’s work. We’re going to see that in verse 9. He says, “Provide neither gold nor silver nor verse in your purses nor script for your journey, neither

two coats neither shoes nor yet staves for the workman is worthy of his meat.” So that’s the balance to what we saw in verse 8. So Jesus here is basically telling them not to carry anything extra for their journey. He is training them to learn to trust God and

to not, even though you don’t have an extra store of things. Jesus does modify this in Luke chapter 22 and Luke 22 verse 35. Let’s turn it here. We read that, “This is the night before Jesus was crucified and he said unto them, ‘When I sent you without person, script, and shoes, lack ye anything.’ And they said nothing.” So that’s a reference to Matthew

10 here. “Then said he unto them, ‘But now he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise script. And he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. For I say unto you that this is written must yet be accomplished in me.’ And he was reckoned

among the transgressors for the things concerning me have an end. And they said, ‘Lord, behold,

there are two swords.’ And he said unto them, ‘It is enough.'” So this modification in Luke 22 was not in any way, Jesus isn’t in any way contradicting his word in Matthew 10.

He was just, the disciples were under a special protection and a special provision that when Christ was with them on earth and that he’s going to tell them that, he’s going to tell

them in Luke chapter 22 that they are, he gives them a permission to be more resourceful.

Not in any way contradicting his word, just simply saying that there was a little change that in their circumstances and thus the little change in how they were to prepare for their preaching journeys. So verse 11, ‘And into what sliver city or town ye shall enter, inquire who when it is worthy and thereby till ye go thence. And when ye come into an house

to loot it, and if the house be worthy let your peace come upon it, but if it be not

worthy let your peace return to you.’ So this is basically a commandment not to use the help of unbelievers in terms of expecting help, expecting resources in preaching. Now

we know in Acts chapter 28 when Paul got shipwrecked and was really in need that there were unbelievers

on the island that he got stranded on, that did help him. But that was different because that’s when Paul and those that were with him were in a real necessity and people came to their aid. That’s different than working with an apostate church or asking money from unbelievers or asking unbelievers to stay with them to help in gospel work. So verse 14, ‘And whose sliver shall not receive you nor hear your words? When ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.’ We see that the apostles did that in

Acts 13 and Antioch when they were expelled from the city, when they were persecuted. And so Jesus says in verse 15, ‘Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah and the day of judgment than for that city.’ So we learn

here that there’s going to be different degrees of punishment in hell and that those who can

appear to be worse in their behavior may receive a lighter condemnation than those who maybe

were more respectable but nevertheless still wouldn’t repent and turn to God. And those who had the greater privileges are going to be, are going to be judged harder for not,

for not using those so as to, so as to not, so as to not worship God. Those who had greater light are going to be condemned more if they do not make proper use of that light. Just

like we saw in Romans 1 that the Gospel is to the Jew first and then to the Gentiles,

we see in Romans chapter 2, we see in Romans 2, Romans 2.9, it’s talking about judgment, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil of the Jew first and also

the Gentile. So there’s a greater expectation with greater light. The evangelist Leonard

Ravenhill wrote a book called Sodom Edna Bible and he’s lamenting the wickedness of America

and how America is so ripe for judgment because of the fact that almost every house in America

has a Bible and yet so few really worship God and live godly lives. So that’s something

to keep in mind. But that’s, we read in Jude 7 about the condemnation of Sodom and Gomorrah.

It’s also one of the greatest, it’s also a key verse to show that God did indeed judge

Sodom for the sin of homosexuality. In Jude 7 we read, “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them and like manner giving themselves over to fornication and going after

strange flesh are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” So Sodom and Gomorrah is going to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire and those who reject the clearest

light of the gospel are going to suffer worse than them and that’s a scary thing. But at the same time we also have to remember that a lot of people have in America and in other

other countries have seen a lot of false Christianity that has confused them greatly. So we want to be true lights that can point people to Christ that are really going to be, just like Jesus talked about in Matthew chapter 5, “Let your light so shine before

and bend that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

We want to be true lights and we want to not assume when we need people that they may have

already rejected a lot of light but they may have rejected much less light than we would know.

And Jimmy and I were sort of having a conversation about that earlier talking about when Jesus

was on the cross and said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” And we were talking about whether that can be said of Americans now.

And the fact is people know what they’re doing both in Jesus’ time and now people know what

they’re doing to different degrees.

And it’s better to let people prove themselves to be dogs or swine rather than to assume that right away.

Because sometimes the people who seem like they might be hopeless and maybe who look worse might be quick to repent when we shine the light of Christ before them and maybe others who seem to be a lot more hopeful might be some of the biggest opponents.

So it’s better to let people show, demonstrate their response to light before we make assumptions

about them.

So continuing in verse 16, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

So notice he says, “Wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” We can’t really separate those things.

But be weaver men for they will deliver you up to councils and they will scourge you in their synagogues.

You just have to study the book of Nehemiah. I’m not going to go into it now.

In the book of Nehemiah we see how all the different ways Satan sought to distract Nehemiah,

to put him in fear, to feign friendliness, to feel like they were helping him when they were really seeking to set him up to falsely accuse him or destroy him.

There’s many, many different tactics the enemy has. And Nehemiah is a good book.

As we’re on Nehemiah, the two books where the Jews are having a sort of a revival when

they come back from Babylon are two key books to study in learning the tactics of the enemy.

So verse 18, “And ye shall be brought before governors and kings from Isaac, for a testimony

against them and the Gentiles.

But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak.

For it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.”

This is not Jesus saying that we should not prepare Bible studies and messages beforehand.

He’s not even saying that we shouldn’t think about it at all what we’re going to say. This is very much like 6/25 when Jesus talks about… let me just turn back there.

And he says, “Therefore I stand you, take no thought for your life.

What ye shall eat or what ye shall drink nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on, is not to live more than meat and the body than raiment.”

He’s obviously not seeing… look, we talked about back when we looked at that passage.

He’s not seeing that we shouldn’t consider these things at all, but he’s seeing not to the point of anxiety, not to the point where it would cause us to fear, not to the point where it would cause us to not seek God’s kingdom first, not as if it all depended upon ourselves.

Acts 26 is a time when Paul actually is brought before a governor and a king for Christ’s sake,

and you see the thoughtfulness of Paul’s answer.

But it wasn’t something that he had to stay up all night wrestling about.

And I believe Jesus is promising a special grace to his servants who… I mean, if any

of us were to be brought before some high-ranking politician, we knew we were going to be brought

before them a week ahead of time.

We might feel a need to get stressed out and to really make sure that we nailed it right and got everything perfect.

And it’s that type of anxiety that Jesus is saying not to have here.

So verse 21, “And the brother shall deliver of the brother to death, and the father to the child.

And the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.

But he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”

What does it mean to endure to the end?

Revelation chapter 2, 2 and 3, Jimmy was talking about how Brother Daniel in Bangladesh was

studying the seven churches there.

And in Jesus’ words to the seven churches, he tells the church in Thyatira, he tells the faithful ones in 2.25, “But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.” And in Revelation 2.26, “And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end.

To him will I give a power over the nations.

And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a powder shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received them, my father.

And I will give him the morning star.

He that hath near let him hear what the spirits sayeth unto the churches.”

And then in chapter 3, verses 4 and 5, he’s talking to the back-slidden, for the most part back-slidden church and stardust.

And he says, “Thou hast a few names even in stardust which have not defiled their garments.

And they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcometh the same shall be called in agreement. And I will not plot his name out of the Book of Life.

But I will confess his name before my father and before his angels.

He that hath near let him hear what the spirits sayeth unto the churches.”

So enduring to the end has to do with continuing the works of obedient faith, continuing in holiness and purity, continuing in faithfully adhering to the Word of God.

But it’s interesting how different verses of the Bible can define the same thing from different angles so we can get a full picture.

And when we get to chapter 24, we’re going to see the three obstacles that Christ said would describe the peril of the last days.

And one of them is persecution.

If I read persecution like he’s dealing with here, another is false prophets.

And another is, “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax gold.” Just a general abounding of iniquity and apathy towards righteousness.

So continuing in verse 23, “But when they persecute you and this city flee into another, for verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son

of Man become.”

This is sort of a hard verse.

It’s possible that they were to meet Christ.

We know that as He sent them out, He Himself went around the villages and cities of Israel preaching.

And it’s possible that they had a meeting point and Jesus is telling them that if you’re a persecuted in one city, go to another because you’re not going to have time to cover it all anyway.

And there’s always going to be another mission for you that it’s not like you’re going to run out of missions if you flee from a city out of necessity.

And that would certainly, whether Jesus meant that of a temporary meeting point, whether

He meant that until Jerusalem would be destroyed in 8070, or whether He meant that of just generally

the fact that there’s always going to be another mission field in the world until He comes. I think those would all apply there.

So I’ll just leave it at that.

And it’s interesting that if you study the book of Acts, you’ll see how the disciples were men who, the apostles were men who did not regard their lives.

They were willing to die for Christ. They were willing to suffer persecution.

They were willing to suffer whatever they had to be faithful.

But if you go through their missions like Acts 13 and 14, Acts 17, 18, 19, as Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Silas are on their missionary journeys, you can just see how they would come to a certain point where they knew they had to flee a city.

Things would be hard.

Things would be dangerous.

But then there would just be a certain point where they knew they had to go because they knew that they were going to be killed.

And by that point, fleeing would no longer be cowardly. It would be the prudent thing to do.

So continuing on, verse 24, “The disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his Lord.

It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord.

If they have called the master of the house Beaslebub, how much more of them of his household?”

We’re going to read in 1118 that they called John the Baptist.

They said he had a devil and they called Christ a mangaudiness and a wine river. So Jesus is basically saying that Beaslebub was, I believe it was the name of the fly god of the Philistines that were on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

And we read about Israel’s cast in bales for the Philistines in the Old Testament.

And it seems to have been like a name that eventually seemed to apply to Satan or some type of demon.

And Christ is just basically saying that if they’ve called me vile, terrible names, then those of my household can expect the same.

And I might, there’s probably some I’m missing there, but that certainly is the surface context.

“So verse 26, “Fear them not therefore, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hidden shall not be known.”

So it’s interesting in verse 26, his fear not is talking more about in terms of our reputation.

And then we’re going to see how he uses it two verses later.

“What I tell you in darkness, speak ye in the light and what ye hear in the air, preach ye upon the house, saps.”

This is a key difference between true godly religion and false religion, religion that’s

of the devil, because the devil is secretive and he keeps things hidden in most every false religion.

There are things that the followers themselves believe, but they do not want to be made known

to the world.

In Mormonism, in Jehovah’s Witnesses, there’s things about their founders, there’s things about their doctrines, there’s things about how their holy books came into place that

they do not want outsiders to know.

But Christ himself taught openly, he tells his disciples to speak his word openly.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be prudent and careful what we say, but there’s nothing about Christianity, about true biblical godly Christianity that we would have to hide.

Christ himself was crucified in Jerusalem, he was buried there, and the very men who saw him risen from the dead preached that he was risen from the dead right in Jerusalem.

They didn’t go to another city where if Christ’s resurrection was a hoax, they would have waited

several years or have gone to another country, gone to a faraway city to preach that he was risen, but they preached that he was risen right in the city that he had been crucified

and buried in.

The word occult itself, we know that the occult has to do with satanic powers, with dark powers,

supernatural power that’s not of God. The word occult itself means secret.

And religion that saw the devil is by nature secretive, whereas Christ’s pure and undefiled

religion is something that is pure and something that an honest person upon examining it can

see all the facts and see that this is good, that this is true and this is right, and there’s nothing about Christianity that we need to be ashamed of.

In the passages in the Old Testament where God destroyed Simon Gomorrah, that was a righteous

act of judgment, nothing tied there when God commanded Israel to kill the Canaanites.

That was a judicial act of God that he deputized Israel for, which we talked about back in chapter 5.

They were very wicked people that had been given a very long space to repent, and God was not in any way unrighteous in what he did there.

So that’s just a very, very great contrast between true and false religion. So verse 28 Jesus talks about fear not in a different context.

Verse 26 he was talking about our reputation, and now he’s going to talk about in terms of our actual life and our body, and fear not them which kill the body but are not able

to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body and hell.

So here we see Jesus talking about the need to fear God and talking about the reality of both that God himself destroys soul and body and hell.

It’s not the devil who people think of hell and they think of the devil with a pitchfork tormenting people.

But we know that God himself is going to throw the devil in hell and torment the devil in hell.

But God himself is the one who will condemn the wicked. Hell is, as the Bible testifies, and Jesus affirms here.

So he tells his disciples in verse 29, “Are not two spirits sold for a furthering.” A furthering hymn was probably like a penny.

It’s a King James term, but I didn’t get the exact Greek word that Jesus is using here.

But it’s basically the equivalent in the word that King James translators use, the word

that was in the original Greek and the word that we would have for a penny are all basically talking about the lowest common denominator of money, about a penny.

“And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father, even the spirals that are of the least value.

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered, for you are not there for a year of more value

than many spirals.”

So Jesus is reassuring his disciples that in spite of the criticism, the false accusation, the danger that they’ll face that God regards even the spiral, which is the most common least valuable bird.

And even regards the hairs of our head, which are the, you know, maybe the least valuable part of our body, because we can lose, we can have our hairs caught and they can come right back.

So he’s reassuring them about God’s, just the words intimate concern for us.

And how he watches over and cares for his people, for mankind in general, and especially, especially

those who are sincere disciples of Christ, who are on the narrow way and who are responding

faithfully to his truth.

So Jesus continues in verse 32, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him who I also confess before my father, which is in heaven.

But whosoever shall deny me before men, him who I also deny before my father, which is in heaven.”

I had a comment there.

So another comment on these verses, “We must be ashamed neither of the person, the character,

the doctrines, nor the requirements of Christ.”

So when Christ talks about confessing him, he’s not just saying, he has said back in chapter 7, “That not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

So he’s not just saying Jesus is Lord, it’s going to mean that he confesses you before your father, which is in heaven, but he means not just Christ’s name, but everything about him.

Like Albert Barnes said, his person, his character, his doctrines, his requirements, anything related

to him and to his righteous authority and his character.

So he says in verse 34, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth, I am not come

to send peace but a sword.

For I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother,

and the daughter in law against her mother in law, and a man’s full shall be they of his own household.”

This isn’t saying that Christ, that this was like the reason he came was because he had the goal of dividing families, but he’s saying that this is a natural byproduct of how people respond to his gospel, that some are going to repent and are going to receive him in truth as a messiah and be subject to his word and others are going to be disobedient.

And that contrast is, that’s going to produce a separation.

This was especially true in Judea where they were awaiting the messiah for the most part, but many had a wrong expectation of the messiah.

We’ve talked more about worldly interests and worldly prosperity and power and pleasure than it was about righteousness.

And in the New Covenant, God had always worked through Israel and the Old Covenant and he

had dealt with them as an entire nation.

And everybody who was born into the nation was not that every single one was righteous and right with God, but every single one was partaking of, was at least outwardly a partaker of the divine worship that had been instituted.

But there was going to be a separation that the messiah would bring and we see how that happened in the Book of Acts and throughout the Epistles.

We see how the faithful Jews who were the first Christians were persecuted by the Jewish leaders and how eventually God started to graft into the Gentiles and the church became a separate entity from the natural nation of Israel.

The church, the spiritual Israel got separated from the natural Israel.

So Jesus continues in verse 37, “He that loath father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loath son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”

Many find their greatest pleasure in impressing their family members and their friends.

Many people put pleasure in impressing the Pharisees and those who were religious leaders towards the nation of Israel.

And that obviously is incompatible.

Loving the praise of men and loving and receiving Christ are incompatible with each other. As we have looked at Paul said, “Do I now seek to please men or God?

For if I get pleased with men, I should not be the servant of Christ in Galatians chapter 1.”

But more than that, just because somebody’s supreme idol is in family, there’s other ways in which we can deny him.

In verse 38 he says, “And he that taketh not his cross and fouleth after me is not worthy of me.

He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loeth his life for my sake shall find it.”

Albert Barnes says about verses 38 and 39, “When persons were condemned to be crucified,

a part of the sentence was that they should carry the cross on which they were to die to the place of execution.

Thus Christ carried his until he fainted from fatigue and exhaustion.

The cross was usually composed of two rough beams of wood, united in the form of this figure of a cross.

It was an instrument of death.

To carry it was burdensome, was disgraceful, was trying to the feelings, was in addition to the punishment.

So to carry the cross is a figurative expression, denoting that we must endure whatever is burdensome,

or as trying or as considered disgraceful and following Christ.

It consists simply in doing our duty, what the people of the world think of it or speak of it as they may.

It does not consist in making trouble for ourselves or doing things merely to be opposed.”

Which Jimmy and I were talking, which I would just add to the comment, doing things merely

to be opposed is maybe a near that some street preachers have gotten into now that we certainly

want to avoid.

So Albert Barnes continues, “It is doing just what is required of us in the Scriptures. Let it produce whatever shame, disgrace, or pain it may.

This every follower views us as required to do.”

He says on verse 39, “The word ‘life’ in this passage is used evidently in two senses. The meaning may be expressed thus.

He that is anxious to save his temporal life or his temporary life, or his comfort and security here, shall lose eternal life, or shall fail of heaven.

He that is willing to risk or lose his comfort and life here for my sake shall find life everlasting or shall be saved.

The manner of speaking is similar to that where he said, ‘Let the dead bear their dead.'” See Matthew 8, 22.

So Jesus continues in verse 40, “He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me

receiveth him that sent me.”

In Mark 9, I better just go there.

I’ll finish the chapter and then I’ll go to Mark 9.

“He that receiveth the prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward.

And he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous

man’s reward.

And whose lover shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water, only in the name of a disciple.

Only I say unto you, He shall in no wise lose his reward.” In Mark 9, this is clarified even more.

Okay, so in Mark 9, 41, Jesus said, “Whosoever shall give you talking to his disciples a cup of water to drink in my name, because he belonged to Christ, verily I say unto you,

he shall not lose his reward.”

So the idea is because a man sides with Christ in truth, he will love his people.

He will love his servants that he comes across and those who for Christ’s sake give heed to his servants and receive his servants will be rewarded.

The person who receives the person who is sent out by Christ to preach the gospel in

his name, because they are basically on the same team as them, they are going to receive the same reward as the preacher, the servant, the traveling servant that they receive.

We read in 2 John, John is writing, oh, I’m sorry, 3 John. What’s the letter to the beloved Gaius?

Probably a Christian, definitely a Christian person that the Apostle John was acquainted with.

He tells Gaius in verse 5, “Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren

and to strangers, which have borne witness of thy charity before the church, whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shall do well, because if for his name’s sake they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles, we therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth.”

So that’s what Jesus is talking about in verses 40 to 42.

So I find it very, very interesting that at the end of chapter 10, Jesus is going to get

done sending out preachers to preach the kingdom of God and to do miraculous things in his name.

And now in chapter 11, he’s going to deal with a preacher who could no longer preach publicly and could no longer serve him, even though he had been doing that before.

And that is John the Baptist, so 11-1.

When it came to pass when Jesus had made an end of commanding his 12 disciples, he departed

thenceforth to teach and to preach in their cities.

Now when John had heard in the prison the worst of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said unto him, art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?

It’s interesting that John would say this, and it seems crazy that he would say this, considering the revelation he had had of him before.

Is it possible that he wasn’t even sure that Jesus, whom he had heard about, was the same man he had baptized and proclaimed to be the son of God?

I’m not certain, but we’re going to see by what Jesus says with him later on, that he had not backslit or fallen away.

So he does seem to give him a mild warning in verse 6.

So verse 4, Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again those things which

ye do hear, and see the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

It’s interesting that most false religions and most false prophets really don’t care to preach the gospel to the poor and to help the poor.

Now there are a few exceptions to that, but for the most part, those who are in religion for themselves are going to seek to go to the people that can benefit them.

And this is a direct reference to Isaiah 61, a prophecy about the Messiah that says the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath invited me to preach the gospel to the poor. I won’t go there for time’s sake.

So Jesus finishes, and blessed is he whose lover shall not be offended in me.

So this is very interesting because I think considering the people that would be on this call, it’s possible that the hardest temptation of our life could come like it came for John here, which was his opportunity to minister and to preach and to expand the kingdom of God by his preaching had been taken away.

I think that the Apostle Paul was such a godly man that when he was in prison, his greatest suffering wasn’t the bad food in prison and being unable to move around and get fresh

air and things like that, but it was the pain that he wasn’t able to preach Christ publicly and to minister to the churches.

But God had a ministry for him in prison, which was among other things to write the Epistles, which make up about half the books in our New Testament.

The British preacher John Blundion wrote one of the classic books, one of the best Christian books ever, and when he wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress, which he wrote from prison.

We can trust it if God puts us in prison or if he puts us in a place where we cannot preach anymore, where we cannot do the ministry, the mission that we were part of before, that God still has something in it for us, even if we can’t write like the Apostle Paul did,

even like John Blundion did.

There’s certainly something he wants to do in our life, and to many people who are listening to this, I think like John, this could be the hardest trial of your life is to be brought

to a point where you can’t preach, you can’t minister in public like you used to.

I can say that there were a couple years of my life where there was just absolutely no

opportunity to do anything in terms of, besides maybe talk with my housemates, the guys who

were living with me about the Lord, there was really no chance to do any type of service for the Lord, but those were some of my best years of scripture study, and I absolutely needed those years.

So even though a lot of people, Jesus’ warning blessed is, “He whose server shall not be

offended in me,” even though that can definitely apply to anything that would cause us to complain

about God’s dealings, to cause us to get discouraged and want to give up, to cause us to become

afraid and run away and forsake the Lord, to cause us to compromise on the Word of God. With some people, it could really be maybe that the things you wanted to do for the Lord just seemed to, the good and right things, they seemed to have, it seems the opportunity is gone.

So it’s interesting that even that could be a temptation.

But the bottom line is that John was exactly in God’s will there, and he could in truth worship God there just like he could when he was preaching to multitudes of people.

There’s a Christian saying that every moment is a moment made for worshiping or something

like that, and it’s just talking about how just getting up and going to work and doing

the little things of life, if they’re done to the Lord, it’s a chance to worship him, just like singing in church on Sunday or preaching the gospel in public.

Now obviously there’s people who could use that to compromise and to say, “Well, I’m just by being a faithful employee and being an honest person in general, this is my way to worship God,” and they could compromise and not really stand for the Lord, not really surrender to him and let him use them to be a public testimony, not really suffer what they need to to be faithful to Christ.

They could use it as a means of compromise.

I’m saying when the compromise is truly repetitive, it’s true that there’s a chance to worship God in everything that we should not despise.

So verse 7, “And as they departed, the disciples of John who had come to inquire of Christ,

whether he was a Messiah or not, and as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes

concerning God, What want ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind.”

A reed shaken with the wind is talking about an unstable man, which certainly was probably a false accusation that was made about John, but what want ye out for to see?

A man cold in soft raiment, the old day that we’re soft clothing are in king’s houses. John was not a man who was getting rich by his preaching.

He was not a man who was preaching for selfish advantage and comfort. That was the exact opposite of him.

But what want ye out for to see? A prophet.

Yes, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.

So it’s interesting that, it’s interesting what Jesus is about to say of God, because I know that Muslims, at least the ones I’ve talked to believe that, they say that all the prophets are the same.

They try to put Jesus and Moses and John the Baptist and everybody in the same category. But they acknowledge Jesus was a prophet, but look at what Jesus himself said about

John the Baptist.

Verse 10, “For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.”

That’s a quote from Malachi 3.1, “Verily I send you among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.

Notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

This is talking about nearness to Christ and talking about, talking about, probably about

how those at the time who were following Jesus and seeing his works, were nearer to him and

had clearer insight into his character than John had himself, even though John had been his forerunner.

I don’t believe this is saying that even the weakest Christian, who was just barely in God’s kingdom and who was on the verge of backsliding out of God’s kingdom, I don’t believe he’s saying that such a man or woman is greater than John the Baptist in terms of spirituality.

I think he’s talking about nearness to Christ, especially at that time, and talking about, he certainly is talking about the superiority of the new covenant to the old covenant. So I’ll just leave that there.

So verse 12, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven’s self-worth violence, and the violent taken by force.”

I think this has to do with fleeing from the wrath to come, and the need to be diligent in seeking God and renouncing sin in order to truly respond faithfully to the gospel of the kingdom.

“For all the law and the prophets prophesied until God.”

So John is the, there had been no prophetic voice between the end of the Old Testament,

between the time Melachi and Haggai and Zechariah and those prophets at the end of the Old Testament.

There had been no prophet in between.

So John is the bridge between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, between the Old Testament

and the New Testament, same Old Testament covenant and the same thing. So he says, “And if you will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.” He that had ears to hear, let him hear.

At the end of Melachi chapter 4, Melachi 4 to 6, well, before 5 and 6, God had said on the very last verses of the Old Testament, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

So the Jews had expected the prophet Elijah to literally come back, and some Jews still do to this day expect the prophet Elijah to reappear.

And Jesus is emphatically saying here that John the Baptist is Elijah who was prophesied in the Old Testament to come.

This is not teaching reincarnation.

This is not teaching that Elijah had on, that John the Baptist was literally Elijah reincarnated.

And he’s saying, I didn’t get the verse ahead of time, but I hope I can find it quickly here.

In Luke chapter 1, the angel tells Zachariah John’s father that John was to come in the spirit and power of Elijah.

And okay, Luke 1.17, “And he shall go before him, before the Christ and the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedience of the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

So Jesus is going to make it very clear that John the Baptist is Elijah who was prophesied in the Old Testament.

And then we saw Luke 1 there that John came in the spirit and power of Elijah, and that’s what was really meant back in Malachi chapter 4.

So verse 15, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear a comment by Albert Burns on this, he that hath ears.”

This expression is frequently used by Christ as a proverbial expression implying that the

highest attention should be given to what was spoken.

The doctrine about John he regarded as of the greatest importance.

Him who says he that has the faculty of understanding this, for that will believe that this is Elijah,

that this is Elijah spoken of, let him attend to it and remember it.

So we will just continue through verse 19 here and then I will close.

So Jesus goes on to use this as a springboard to rebuke the disobedient Israelites who had neither repented at the preaching of John and had not received him.

He says, “But we’re untuseled like in this generation.

It is like on the children sitting in the markets and calling unto their fellows and saying, ‘We have piped unto you and ye have not danced.

We have mourned unto you and ye have not lamented.'” So basically they’re saying they’re not consistent.

They’re saying we were happy and you weren’t happy. But then we mourned and you haven’t lamented.

They’re basically nitpicking and they’re fault finding and there’s absolutely no way that they could ever be satisfied.

They’re going to criticize no matter what happens.

And if they think it should be one way, they’re going to criticize if it’s not that way. And if it should happen to be the way they wanted it, they’re still going to criticize anyways.

They’re going to change afterwards.

And so this uses the surprises to John the Baptist and himself.

For John came neither eating nor drinking and they say he had the devil.

John came, he was very much separated from society and very secluded you could say. And he didn’t partake in terms of the, what’s the word?

He wouldn’t have been found at feast like Jesus was and found mixing among the people and partaking of the different social gatherings that the Jews were often part of.

So they, he could even say he had come neither eating nor drinking.

The son of man came eating and drinking and they say behold a man, go out and listen to the wine river.

A friend of publicans and sinners.

But wisdom is justified of her children.

Wisdom is justified by look at those who did receive John’s message.

Look at those who are, who have in truth recognized Christ as a Messiah and are, are eating his

words.

Look at what has happened to them.

That’s the power of example, the power of a changed life, the good fruit that comes out of heating biblical doctrine is an irrefutable proof of the truth of Christianity and the Bible being the word of God.

We know that verse 19 was not, yes Jesus came, he, he, he was eating and drinking with repentance

sinners.

We know that when people would invite him to his house, to their houses for feasts that he would come.

But was he actually a glutton and a drunkard? No.

Was he, was he lately socializing and partaking of people in their, with people in their sin and in their light conversation and their, and their foolishness?

Absolutely not.

And the modern image of Jesus that people have is that Jesus was indeed the idea that they have that Jesus would walk in the, would walk into a bar and just sit down as one of the

boys and socialize with sinners in their sin without, you know, just, and just like unconditionally

accept people and just, and just fellowship with people and their drunkenness and not rebuke

them and just go about the crowd as a good old boy who has, who, you know, just doesn’t have a controversy and who, and who just fellowships with the worst of darkness.

That idea of Christ is a false concept that would actually, they would actually justify this false accusation of the Jews.

We read about Jesus in Hebrew seven that Hebrew seven, 27 and 28, 26 to 28, “Perception high

priest became us who was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than

the heavens.”

So even though, even though he received repentance sinners and even though he came with a ministry

of reconciliation, not imputing the world’s trespasses unto them, even though he, even though he suffered the, he put up with the manners of sinners and what Hebrews 12 talks about, he endured such contradiction of sinners against himself.

Even though he never gave any just offense to sinners, there’s still the sense in which

he is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners and made higher than the heavens.

And when Jesus called John the Baptist, the greatest prophet that had ever lived at that time.

We lost you there, brother Aaron. Is everybody else still on the clock? Everybody else hear me?

You back, brother Aaron? Hello, hello?

Hello, hello?

Hello?

Brother Aaron, you there? Hello?

Yeah.

What happened, everybody?

Hey, brother Aaron. Hey, can you hear me? Yeah, who’s this?

Yes, sir William.

Okay, you’re there.

Where did, uh, brother Aaron, you there? Brother Aaron, you there?

Did we lose brother Aaron there? Unmuted.

Yes.

Brother Aaron, yeah, we must have lost brother Aaron. Here he comes.

Here we go.

Oh, hey Jimmy, I got my service got disconnected. Oh, no problem.

Just continue, you’re good.

Oh, brother Jimmy, where did I leave off before I got disconnected?

We were approaching Burrus, actually I was going back and looking at a thing, but I think we’re in Burrus.

Do you remember brother William? Not precisely, Aaron.

I believe 19 we were at, brother. 11/19.

Did you get that brother Aaron? Oh, brother Aaron got lost again. Losing again, man.

Yeah, well while we’re waiting here on the recording, you know, something that’s going on now that’s really starting to pick up pace in a big way, we have a great factions and great

division now in the preaching community here in America and it’s getting worse by the day, sadly.

But Matthew 10/16 says, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep and the mister wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpent and harmless and dove.”

And I’ll just read a little bit of a commentary from Albert Barnes and then we’ll go back to Aaron Carey.

Aaron, please hold one second.

I’m just reviewing Matthew 10/16 real quick, which I’ll read again, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep and the mister wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpent and harmless and dove.”

Just be wise as serpent. I’m going to read just real quick Albert Barnes’ thing here and then we’ll finish off with you, brother Aaron.

“Serpents have always been an emblem of wisdom and cunning.” Genesis 3.1, for example.

“The Egyptians used a serpent in the heliographics as a symbol of wisdom, a problem in the thing in which Christ directed his followers to imitate.

The serpent was in his caution in avoiding danger. No animal equals him in their rapidity and skill that is each day, which day, even in escaping danger.”

Sorry about that, guys. “Saul said Christ to his disciples, ‘You need caution and wisdom in the midst of a world that will seek your lives.’

He directs them also to be harmless, to not provoke danger, not to provoke injury, and thus make their fellow men justly engaged against them.

Doves are and always have been a striking emblem of innocence. Most people would foolishly destroy a serpent, be it ever so harmless, yet few are so hard-hearted.”

I think that’s just the perfect verse for what’s going on now in many people that are preaching here in America.

So go back to you there, brother Aaron. I just wanted to fill in some time there for the recording.

My phone just isn’t… I’m having issues.

You’re having issues with your phone, you said?

Okay, yep. He’s having issues with his phone. All right. Well, we made it through at least verse 11. I think we ended here. And I’ll go back on the recording, but I believe we ended in verse…

It was the one with wine river. So I’ll find that, and we’ll just mark that. So everybody, just stay on the line here. We’ll do some fellowshipping. We thank everybody for joining us.

We will continue on next Tuesday evening. Keep on praying for each other and stay strong in the faith. And we love you all, and we’ll talk to you soon. And we’ll go.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 11-16 – 12-21 Week 10

Good evening everybody and welcome to the global mission for children Tuesday night in the US and Wednesday morning overseas Bible study. We’re so happy to have you on here live those of you who are on live you’re very dear to us and most everybody here is part of the mission that we have all over the world.

We just pray for all of you that are supporting us not only monetarily but

also in prayer. It’s so humbling that we have so few people but the ones we do have it always seems at the end of the month there is enough money to do at least the basic things we need to do is a ministry. Of course we need billions of dollars more right 21, 22,000 children are still dying every day under the age

of five from poverty man-made poverty right but what God gives us I know for a fact that like our brother Wilson in the air and brother William up in Muyali and brother Moses and Haran over there in Bungalma and brother Hilton and brother Daniel in Bangladesh and brother Andrew there in Nairobi Kenya and the Kabirah slums. I know that that money is getting used in a godly way to spread the gospel and I just thank all of you who are on this call. So with no further ado we’re

gonna let brother Aaron teach us here tonight he’s a very wonderful teacher very anointed in teaching. We all work together you know we all have different callings from the Lord and brother Aaron certainly has a calling to teach so we’re gonna be starting tonight in Matthew of chapter 11 verse 16 we did

kind of stop at 19 last week but for those of you who saw the listen to the recording we kind of lost Aaron there right at the tail end it was kind of

funny we all stunned oh no Aaron’s gone so anyway with no further ado I’m gonna turn it over to you brother Aaron and God bless. Oh thanks brother Jimmy. Yeah getting cut off last week that was probably the first time I’d ever lost

cell phone reception in my own apartment if it happens again I’m probably okay. It

was um you know was we got cut off at a pretty good time though and I don’t think there was really any harm done and probably if anything if there was any message at all that it was probably a message to me that you can you can end sooner than you often think you need to end it so um I just want to show a couple things from verses 16 to 19 we ended on the parable the children in the marketplace last week but I’m just gonna I’m just gonna read it again and just

give a few more thoughts before we move on in Matthew here um so Jesus says in verse 16 but where unto shall I like in this generation it is like an on the

children sitting in the marketplace and calling onto their fellows and saying we have piped unto you and you have not danced we have more none to you and you have not lamented for giant him neither eating nor drinking and they say he had the devil the son of man came eating and drinking and they say behold a man called in this in a wine river a friend and public instant sinners but wisdom is justified of her children um so I was able to share a few thoughts on this

passage last week but just to continue on this is a good reason why it’s important to really take the criticism of unbelievers with a grain of salt um there are times when unbelievers can see things about us that we do not see

ourselves and there are times where they might just give us a rebuke that maybe even fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord would not see or not dare to give

us so it’s not like we should totally disregard criticism from unbelievers but there also is the truth that there’s often oftentimes there’s people who are looking to find faults and there would be absolutely no way that we could

possibly ever ever please them no matter even if and it’s probably not on the ball Paul sought to please all men for the Lord’s sake it um under the terms of the gospel under being under the law of Christ he sat in not on unnecessarily

given offense to anybody on what there’s definitely times where people are going to be offended by true holiness and in their seeking to shake off conviction of

sin they’re gonna make accusations like we see they made even of John the Baptist

and Jesus here and um I heard a story it was this preacher who um he was he was I think he was giving a message about this topic and he was talking about how when he first got converted to Christ in his prior life he had been drinking he

had he was somebody who would go out to the bars and drink and get drunk and you know have fun with the boys and they would um he came back and found one of

his old drinking friends and he was giving his testimony about how he had

come to Jesus and he was a new creature and he was he was gonna live for the Lord now and he was and he wasn’t gonna partake with the sin he had partook him before and the other guy told him why don’t you just come and have one drink

with me and he said no no I’m done with that I’m done with I’m done with um riotous living I’m done with alcohol and the guy said come on you can be a Christian and you can just have one beer and so he went and he said to sit down at the bar and they ordered a drink he he took one sip as soon as he took it the kids friends his supposed friend said to him I knew it wasn’t real meaning it’s

his conversion to grace so that’s that’s just a lesson to to be cautious I had an

I knew of another guy who won and he was just under terrible conviction he he knew some people that I was associated with that song he was looking to find fault

with them and and he he told me about this Christian man we both knew and he said he talked about this time that this man had offered to sell him something and and he said well what’s up with that Christian shouldn’t be concerned about money and and now I look back at it and I think that’s that’s pretty amazing that my friend there um that was the very worst thing that he could in all of his attempts to find an accusation of him the very worst thing he could find was

that he had offered to sell him something legitimate once very lame accusation but um it’s just it’s just often true that on if Christians live if we should backslide and live wrong people will find fault with us justly for

that but then if if we’re living as we ought to be they’ll say you know you’re taking this too seriously you’re you know you’re a fanatic you’re going too

far and in in those cases when you know it’s it’s just clear some ways seeking to shake off conviction is just searching to justify themselves we gotta we gotta just ignore them and and live how God’s called us to live so so continuing on

in Matthew and verse 20 um then began he to upgrade the cities where most of his money works were done because they repented not um so this is one instance

in the Gospels some people say well Jesus only rebuked the religious leaders

of Israel but here we find him here we find him um reproving the common people he he expected on you we read in Romans 2 for that do you despise the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the

goodness of God lead it be to repentance and Christ had displayed the goodness of God to in in in a special way to three cities cores in um Bethsaida and Capernaum and and he expected he expected them to the glorify God and to and to repent and the great it appears that the great majority of people in these cities that

had seen most of his body works did not repent then if you go to Revelation

chapter 9 verses 20 and 21 you see how we know from Romans 2 that the goodness of God is is um the goodness of God towards mankind in general is meant to

lead men to repentance that’s what God expects from that’s what God respects expects as a response to his goodness but he also can bring judgment that he expects men to repent from do so he expects men men can’t repent of God’s judgment but he brings judgment as a message to men that they might repent um so Revelation 9 it’s talking about um it’s talking about the plagues that God

is bringing in the tribulation period and so Revelation 9 verse 20 and the

rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship devils and oils of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood which neither can see nor hear nor lack neither repented they have their murders nor their sorceries nor their fornication nor their deaths and we also learn here that true repentance does indeed forsake sin and the chief you know with verse 20 deals with idolatry

which in a way is um all sin has has its roots in idolatry and then it gets specifically their murders their sorceries their fornication or their

tests um so we also see in Revelation 9 21 there just as an aside the sins that are are likely to be most prevalent as we near the end of time there so

continuing Matthew 11 verses verse 21 Jesus says woe unto the Ecorus and woe

unto the best sayeth for if the mighty works which were done and you had been done in Tyre and Sedan Tyre and Sedan were two Gentile cities some on the sea coast a

little to the north of Israel then they would have repented long ago and say cloth and ashes but I say unto you it shall be more terrible for Tyre and Sedan at the day of judgment than for you and I’ll keep her name which art

exalted unto heaven shall be bought down to hell or the mighty works which have been done indeed had been done inside of them it would have remained unto this day and we remember Abraham bargaining with God that God agreeing that he would spare Sodom if he could find ten righteous people there and so it’s this

is a really deep theological issue but it seems like Jesus knew that had he come to Sodom and done the mighty works that he did that at least ten people would have repented there I cannot explain that anymore but just taking the

Bible at face value it appears it I mean we talked about this God know the future this was this wasn’t even the future this was um this was something that never even happened but it seems like Jesus knew the ten people would have repented had he come to Sodom and I can’t say anything more about it but it definitely

um it definitely places the whole issue about God’s knowledge of the future it puts it an entirely different on spin on it which I just find fascinating but on

I don’t want to get sidetracked with it too much here so so verse 24 but I say into you that it shall be more terrible for the land of Sodom and the day of judgment than for thee and so he said something similar to this in the last chapter about those who wouldn’t receive his apostles and the message he had called them the preaching and so we definitely see again here that there’s

going to be different degrees of punishment and how that those who have more late are expected all the more to make use of that late and to repented to serve God on from that late um just a comment here from I’m not sure if this is it is on Adam Parker Albert Barnes um but I I don’t think I don’t think you

the one who’s gonna is gonna mind if I don’t that would be um so when when Jesus says in verse on 23 dalki from the image are exalted unto heaven um this is an expression used to denote great privilege to denote great privileges he meant they were especially favored with instruction the city the city was prosperous it was

over it was significantly favored by 12 most of all it was significantly favored by the presence the preaching and the miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ he spent here he spent a large portion of his time in the early part of his ministry and in keep her name and its neighborhood he performed his chief miracles so when it says that they shall be brought down to hell this is this does not mean that all the people would go to hell but that the city which had

for so prosper prosperous we would lose its prosperity and occupy the lowest place among cities the word hell is used here not to denote a place of punishment in the future world but a state of desolation and disruptions it stands in contrast with the word heaven as hell refers to the desolation of the city um oh is is there being exalted as they’re being exalted to heaven did not

mean that the people would all be saved as well in heaven so they’re being bought to hell refers to the desolation of the city their privileges honors wealth

etc would be taken away and they would sink as low as and they would sink as low among cities as they had been before exalted this has been strictly fulfilled

in the wars between the Jews and the Romans Gores and Bessay and Cape and Aem were so completely desolated that it is difficult to determine their former situation or where they were formally located on it is not to be denied also

that he threatened future punishment on those who rejected him the truth we can learn from this is that those who are especially favored will be will be

punished accordingly if they abuse their privileges so I’m not sure if there was it um was it I’m not sure if that was Adam Clark or overpounds but it was one

of those two on so so continuing then in verse 25 at that time Jesus answered and said I think your father Lord of heaven and earth because I was said these things from the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes even so father

for so it seemed good in thy sight all things are delivered unto me and my father and no man knoweth the son but the father neither knoweth any man the father saved the son and and he to whomsoever the son will reveal them so this reminds us of a similar passage in on in Luke 18 I will just go ahead to

Matthew on just go ahead to Matthew 19 because Jesus says about the same thing in Matthew 19 and Luke 18 no no he doesn’t say it in Matthew 19 I’m sorry so

we will go to Luke 18 okay so we 18 verses on 15 to 17 and they brought on him also infants that he would touch them but when his disciples saw it they rebuke them but what Jesus called them unto him and said so for little children to come onto me and forbid them that for us such as the kingdom of God girlie I say unto you whose lover shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little

child on showing no wise enter therein so obviously in in Matthew 11 back here Jesus isn’t talking about literally you know little children or infants he’s he’s talking about his disciples who have on who have humbled themselves as little children and that’s essentially why they are his disciples and so what he says movie teen is a is a warning to them that they need to keep on willing themselves as little children little children are teachable little children

um 10 can be molded for good or for bad and and and the what so the wise and prudent and in the context of Matthew 11 here would be those who have um those who’ve chosen their own way and are confident in their own way or at least

um are unwilling to submit to God’s instruction and so those who would truly

um those who would enter God’s kingdom need to be Christ’s disciples and to be Christ’s disciples we need to um we need to forsake all and we need to um we need

to submit ourselves to the teaching of the Word of God and and to um and to be willing to be taught and molded according to the to the teaching of Christ

and the Word of God um and and to have that attitude as a little child that is um that is willing to be taught and is and has no confidence in in self and

your own your own thinking and your own way of doing things that some that’s the basis of receiving revelation from God so closely related to that is um Isaiah

66 verse 2 here very good verse to memorize okay Isaiah 66 verse I’ll start in verse 1 thus saith the Lord the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool where is the house that you build unto me and where is the place of

my rest for all those things have mine had made and all those things have been saved Lord but to this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a

contrite spirit and tremble with that my word um we also we also learn from Luke 27 when Jesus says all things are delivered unto me and my father and no

man knoweth the son but the father neither knoweth any man the father saved the son and to whom slow and to whom slower the song will reveal him here we see um a major proof of the Trinity Christ claiming on equality with God

Christ claiming to know God to know the father in the same way the father knows him and he said that directly in John chapter 10 um just can turn there I’m

sorry I can’t reverse ahead of time but um sorry about this

okay I’m sorry about that John 10 15 John 10 14 and 15 I am the good

shepherd and know my sheep and I’m known of mine as the father knoweth me even so know I the father and I laid down my life for the sheep so that’s a very I mean and

we see later in the chapter that Jews the Jews were going to stone Jesus for making himself on equal with God and that was up and that’s a very powerful statement if you’re evangelizing the Muslims evangelizing the people of the religions it taught where Christ’s true identity isn’t yet established to show

them that from John 10 15 there that he claimed he claimed to know the father as

the father knows him that would be a very very bold and blasphemous statement unless it were actually true um earlier in Matthew 11 it’s interesting that um

in in 11 11 John Jesus calls John the Baptist the greatest prophet to have lived up until that time and then in John chapter 1 I’m not going to go there

now but if you read like verses 19 to 34 you see the John the Baptist calls Jesus the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world she calls him the Son of God he says that there cometh one after me who’s true actually I’m not worthy to unloose so um so that’s a very powerful testimony that contradicts a Muslim

belief that all prophets are are equal that you may believe all prophets are

equal they believe that I mean they might say the Muhammad’s the greatest but a young what they believe Jesus was just another prophet and so you have Jesus calling John the Baptist the greatest prophet that ever had ever lived and

then you have John the Baptist calling Jesus the Son of God the Lamb of God which take it away the sin of the world and says he’s not worthy to untie a

shoelace on we also we also see in verse 27 that they were dependent upon God for for revelation of himself and there is all the more motivation that we should

not be wise and prudent in our own eyes and we should that we we need to find wisdom and understanding from God that we can’t um we can’t figure it out on our own and gives us a statement in verse 27 is a is a powerfully implies it on so continuing that in verse 28 Jesus says come on to me all ye that labor not

have you waiting and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly and heart and you shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is late um this is a this is a very commonly

misunderstood passage um some people use it to make it seem like um coming to Christ is a is a late matter that being a Christian is an easy an easy thing and there’s the sense in which it is and I’m going to read a comment from a friend of mine he sent in an email to show that I really think reconciles um the

Christianity is a war it’s a straight and narrow way it’s a race that we have to

take up our cross and and have to have to play with all our might have to pay close attention have to endure and keep the faith but there’s a sense in which to the person who is truly the person who’s truly like a the little child that Jesus described in verses 25 and 26 the person who’s really um who’s really broken and who is um in agreement with God’s ways and and doesn’t and has chosen not to not to want anything else there’s a sense in which being a

Christian is easy to them to the one who is in agreement with God and who has taken Christ yoke so this is a friend of mine’s comment on Matthew 11 28 there is no limitation to how far God can take us if we will step out of the way and allow him to have his way in us I can remember some time in the past when the cross seemed so heavy on me because I wanted to have my own way to get rid of this and that but on the night I woke up from the bed hearing a song sung in a dream

have your way in me Lord and it dawned on me that the reason why the cross seemed to be heavy was I was not surrendering or allowing God to have his way in me the cross is always late when we yield and surrender to the Lord and that frees us

from despair and pride the man of the cross has nothing to boast of because his efficiency is the Lord Jesus Christ so I thought that was a good comment to

really young to really young show what Jesus is saying here on another passage it’s really interesting and later met you 1128 if you go to Exodus 32 26 it’s interesting how long as you read the Bible you find different phrases that

are exactly the same in two different books it maybe on you know maybe they’re they’re set in different contexts but it’s good if you can find a phrase it in

the Old Testament and you see it repeated in the New Testament to compare

the two and to see what what lessons you can find in comparing the two so I don’t know if this is the first time that the phrase comes to me is said in the Bible

I didn’t check that but it might be the first time it’s definitely one of the

earliest times Exodus 32 26 um it’s when Moses had just has just come down from the mountain um as he was as he was up receiving the rest of the law from God

after he had on after God had spoken the Ten Commandments to the people and um and the people had made the golden calf and Moses is coming down from the mountain

so in verse 29 and Moses saw that the people were naked for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies because Aaron had made the golden calf at their request then Moses stood in the place in the gate of the

camp and said who is on the Lord’s side let him come unto me and all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him so and Jesus in the very next chapter in 1230 is going to say he that is not with me is against me and he together if

not with me scatter at the bride so and we will Lord willing get into that Matthew 12 30th here in our in our next study so it’s really interesting how in

just comparing verse 28 there were 32 26 um there’s also another passage that I think is is relevant here Proverbs 25 17 it says withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor’s house lest he be aware of the and so hate thee um we see there’s a connection between the we hate what we’re weary of so verse 28 when Jesus says come on to me all ye that we’re their labor and are heavily laden and I

will give you rest this is this is an invitation to the person who’s fed up

with their sin the person who’s who was fed up with doing it their own way the person who who is who has learned that who at least is learning that watching after the flesh doing my own thing is is actually bondage because sin is actually there’s so many passages I don’t need to go over them now to show how sin is a bondage sin is a sin is a weakness sin is a is a curse even if it even if it

yields momentary pleasure um so this isn’t so when Jesus says come on the algae that we’re in our heavy laden that’s it there’s a condition to coming

on to him we have to we have to be fed up with sin we have to be fed up with our own weight to the point that in order to find his rest verse 29 that we would take our yoke of his yoke upon us yoke implies subjection to his love restraints of bad passions and inclinations take my yoke upon you and

learn of me it’s it’s a call to be a true subject of his kingdom um to be um

to be a disciple where he’s a master and we we sit at his feet to really learn of him how to live putting putting our own thoughts and our own desires aside to do that he says for I am meek and lowly and hard and you shall find rest under your

souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is late the Pharisees burden we’re gonna as we go into chapter 12 here the Pharisees burden was not easy and late

but it didn’t get to the real problem if you go to back in 936 it says that um

when Jesus saw the multitude he was moved with compassion on them because because they feared and worse and were scared of right of sheep having no shepherd the Pharisees we’ve talked about they were very they were very zealous for the ceremonial aspect of God’s light often to the neglect of the

moral aspect so they were still while I said heart they were still rebels against God’s government they had still chosen their own way but they thought that they were gonna gain salvation by the ceremonial law which was really just a

shadow of Christ and obedience to the ceremonial law was simply was simply should have simply been a matter of faith towards God as a spiritual jewel the

spiritual Jews at the time understood so um so the what the Pharisees thought that their scrupulousness regarding um regarding the external aspects of the law was going to win them salvation while they will they still were rebels

to God at heart will they still um will they still in truth were not subject to to his law especially the weightier matters of the law one of those being

mercy which we’re about to read about um they were truly the blind leading the blind which Jesus talked about a MOOC 6 and and as a result of that they weren’t truly diagnosing the sins of the people and calling them to repentance and find

so that they might find real rest in that and we see that from the

limitations 214 since the Pharisees hadn’t diagnosed themselves and their own um and their own evil they they couldn’t lead the they couldn’t help the

people on lamentations 214 the prophets by prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee and they have not discovered that iniquity to turn away

that captivity but have seen for thee false burdens and cause and causes of banishment the Pharisees the Pharisees yoke was um was false and it was um and it was heavy but it didn’t get to the real problem there’s um there’s religions that

have um I know the Roman Catholic Church in many ways Islam probably in in some ways probably probably most religions have have stricter aspects of them which

are actually harder in those particular points and then being a Christian but they don’t um they don’t get to the root of man’s sin they don’t get to the they don’t get to the real problem and the true preaching of the law of God

accurately does get to the real problem um we see in Romans 7 7 through 10 the right purpose of the law when it’s um when it’s preached accurately without um without partiality without um without bias um Romans chapter 7 verses 7 to 10 what shall we see then is the last sin God forbid nay I had not known I had not known sin but by the law for I had not known lost except the law had said thou shall not call it but sin taking occasion by the commandment riding me

all manner of incubation through evil desire for without the last sin was dead

for I was alive without the law once but when the commandment came sin revived and I died and the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death for sin taking occasion by the commandment to see me and by its whom me wherefore the laws holy and the commandment holy and just and good was in

that which is a good made death unto me God forbid but sin that it might a

person working death in me by that which is good that sin by the commandment might be become exceeding sinful and Paul’s talk about how the law is spiritual but

he and his in his former life was carnal and sold understanding um the law of God accurately preached will make people weary and heavy laden and will cause people to to yearn for um for rest it’s very much it’s basically the same thing

as back in five in chapter five we talked about first principle the kingdom of God first characteristic of its citizens is blessed are the poor in spirit um for

theirs is a kingdom of evidence it’s the same principle because um being weary and

heavy laden and being poor in spirit are very are almost the same thing and and and the lesson we can take from both of them is that when the law of God is not faithfully accurately um taught upon um dissected um the insights of it are not

um are not accurately given to a people then that people is gonna is gonna become proud is gonna become is gonna find rest not in Christ but rest in their sin as

if um there’s gonna be a spirit of license that I can do what I want and

and it’s okay um and and that’s and and that’s the false rest of many people now mistake for rest in grace um so it’s really important to um and that’s why

it’s important to preach the whole council of God it’s important to um it’s important to um it’s important for church leaders to keep the fire hot in

the sense that their God’s word should be preached in a way that really gets to the heart so that those who are on the those who are getting the tree of knowledge of good and evil those who are our rebels against Christ Kingdom are going to be made to understand that and know their misery that they might really die to themselves and repent which is what happens at the end of Roman 7 when Paul says old wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this that I think God through Jesus Christ our Lord that’s the um that’s the true function of the law of God and Jesus is calling those who are whom that function

has worked into to repent and to come to him and and promising the rest when they do so as we go into chapter 12 here um we’re gonna see an example of how the Pharisees were unnecessarily burdensome in in one of the small aspects of the

law and actually and actually were using their scrupulousness to um to justify themselves in their you know in their hard-hearted rebellion so 12 and then we’re gonna see how um a sense in which Jesus’s rest is Jesus’s yoke is light as we go in the chapter 12 so at that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corner and his disciples weren’t hungry and began to pluck the ears of

corn and to eat but when the Pharisees sat they said unto him by behold thy disciples doing that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day so when it says

corn in verse 1 it’s it’s talking about um riley or barley or some type of green because the corn that we know at least that we know in America wasn’t known in among the Israelites but um but corn was a term that to my understanding even to this day is still um is still used in England definitely at the time the King

James Bible was translated was used in England and it um it would denote um you know other types of grain and so this was likely not this wasn’t corn the way we think of it but like I said barley or oats or something like that or rye or wheat so verse 3 Jesus so the Pharisees they said on him behold thy disciples do that

which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day now did they really break

the law here now Jesus is going to show Jesus is not going to show them he’s not going to tell them that the law is void now by his coming he’s going to show

them how they have wrongly condemned his disciples and that they were in fact not really breaking the law but he said unto them have you not read what David did when he was a hundred and David were with him how he entered into the house

of God and did eat the shoe red which was not lawful for him to eat neither

for them which were which were with him but only for the priest where he were heavy not read in the law how that on the Sabbath days of priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless but I seen to you that in this place is

is one greater than the temple but if you had known what this meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice you you would not have condemned the guiltless for the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day so um just gotta worry as my notes here

sorry about this okay they fell on the ground so one thing that we see one thing that we see in verse 5 here is that um so Jesus is going to give the example about David and those that were with him they were when they were fleeing from Saul and and Saul was seeking to kill them um I don’t have the reference now but it’s in the book of first Samuel um they the high priest at

the time gave them gave them the bread that was only lawful for the priest each

in order to sustain them so that they could run for them from Saul because they were running for their lives that was an instance that every drew knew about where um it was right that it was right that they were to would have broke the ceremonial in order to keep a higher moral principle and this is

this is one of the key reasons why Jesus and the Pharisees would come in conflict um Jesus who gave the lot understood that the moral supersedes the ceremonial should the two ever coming conflict and the Pharisees confidence was in the ceremonies and they were um and they neglected the higher moral higher moral principles um and so Jesus is showing how the Old Testament itself proves that the moral law supersedes the ceremonial law and he and the instance he talks about in verse 5 here is talking about how the priest in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless now did they really profane the Sabbath well according to the Pharisees definition they did profane the Sabbath but also a really did was do the daily service in the temple they would offer sacrifices

they would on they would like the oil in the holy place they would put the show bread out they would do that the work that every day would require in the

temple on the Sabbath day and and they were not they were not guilty of violating the Sabbath for that um so he would then he says in verse 6 by saying to you that in this place is one greater than the temple the Jews understood that they had such a high view of the temple that they regard God himself as the only being that was greater than the temple so again we have Jesus claiming claiming to be God um if the if the temple if serving the temple on the Sabbath day is lawful then

how much more is it lawful for the very one that dwelt in the temple the very

one who whom the temple was made for when he was incarnate as a man how much more is it acceptable that his disciples would um would put the ears of green

that were in the fields um in order to eat that um that they might serve him that’s that’s the point here um and just isn’t a side point um for those who

might not be so shark a meliticus um God permitted the Jews to God commanded the

Jews to leave parts of their harvest when they when they were to harvest their fields they weren’t allowed to go back and gather the the parts that they would have maybe dropped or left out among the original harvest and that was meant to um it was meant to feed the poor people and the widows who and and people who were traveling who were you know strangers traveling through the land or

people who um people who were on line from one place to another that was God’s own means of providing for the needy was the Jews not cleaning their fields a second time where they’re he commanded the same with their vineyards also so when he says in verse 7 but if you had known what this meaneth I will immerse

in that sacrifice you would not have condemned the guiltless for the Son of man is Lord even though the Sabbath day again a clear reference that Jesus is God on a principle we can see from this is that just a modern analogy here has

God commanded the church to to meet every weekend to take the Lord’s Supper and to be taught in the Word and to is there not an ordinance that that we not forsake the fellowship together ourselves together in the fellowship of

the saints and um you know the church of the living God and they have and they have meaningful yes that certainly is commanded but imagine if somebody at the beginning of a church meeting was to fall down of a heart attack and require medical attention would it be would it be right to go on with the church service

as normal well you have this some member of your congregation who was just um you know it’s his head heart attack would it not be right to postpone the service and

to call an ambulance and they you know hit him rush to the hospital and have people in the church go go behind the ambulance and show up there and pray for them and say you know we’re gonna we’re just gonna have the meeting tomorrow or we’re gonna have it tonight or you know we’re gonna cancel it for this week

because there’s a there’s a more important matter going on here that’s that’s the same principle that God will have um God will have mercy and not sacrifice that there can be good principles from God’s Word that sometimes

the higher moral principles from God’s Word need to supersede so those lower principles were in no way broken by by the higher principles being followed so that’s the essence of I love mercy and not sacrifice and it’s the fact that the Pharisees did not recognize that in their hard-heartedness that they condemn the guiltless and that reminds me of Proverbs 1715 see that um let me go there just so I don’t get it wrong he that justify it the wicked and he that

condemn it the just even they both are abomination to the Lord very I’ll read that again he that justify it the wicked and he that condemn it the just even they both are abomination to the Lord so it’s a serious matter so continuing we see the same principle in action on verse 9 and when he was departed then he went into their synagogue and behold there was a man which had on his hand

with her and they asked him saying is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days that

they would accuse him remember remember back in 11 in 1119 the son of man came eating and drinking and they say behold the man go to this in a wine river a

friend of publicans and sinners um they’re just looking for an accusation against him and that’s um and it’s interesting how how envy and how just

the fact that they were wise and prudent in their own eyes and wouldn’t receive correction about the things that they were teaching and the things that they

were believing and how they had on were mishandling the Bible how it led them to such grievous false accusations so verse 11 and he said unto them what man shall there be among you that shall have one sheep and if it fall into a pit on

the Sabbath day will he not lay hold on it and lift it out how much then is a man better than a sheep where for it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days how much better than is a man than a sheep that’s something that the Peter people need to know the people for the ethical treatment of animals they’re more they’re therefore more than just the ethical treatment of animals they they basically put animals on par with humans um I’ve heard that about Adolf Hitler that Adolf Hitler was very he cared more about animals and people and

he could he could watch people be murdered um and he could you could watch people be murdered with joy but if when he was um there was a time that he was shown on footage of animals being slaughtered and it got him really really

upset so that’s a it’s interesting so verse 13 after Christ has on after

Christ is used the the sheep falling into the pit and how much better than is a man than a sheep to to show that it’s it’s lawful to do well in the Sabbath days just by that very fact that everybody should know by by just common sense that it’s since people are more important than animals that if it’s okay to if it’s okay if it’s lawful to help an animal in distress on the Sabbath day

how much more a man so in verse 13 then say if either the man stretch forth that hand and he stretched it forth and it was restored whole like as the other it

it would have been very um it would have been very disobedient and very very wicked had the man told Jesus that he was unable to stretch forth his hand

Christ commanded him to do it and and you know being the command there was the power to do it and there was and there was Christ healing touch so that’s a

that’s a great lesson about um about how sinners are to respond to God and how much more how much more the righteous after they’ve been reconciled to God and they’ve been um and they’ve been raised from the dead out of their sins it’s a

it’s a great answer to the problems that are in Calvinism and Calvinists will um that they will so overemphasize the darkness and helplessness of sinners that that they’ll basically defend them as if there’s nothing they can do about their last condition so that’s a that’s a concept that is is obviously wicked God

in the Bible commands that the sinner repent when God gives when God gives a command in in harkening to that command there’s he gives his he gives his grace to do as he as he commanded and we’ve looked at to it as to 11 that the grace

of God that brings salvation has a has a prayer to all men so there’s there’s

even a common grace that God gives even to even the sinners to to respond to the light and and be saved so in verse 14 then the Pharisees went out and held a

counsel against him how they might destroy him they were definitely more

in violation of the Sabbath by holding this counsel then then Jesus was and it’s interesting that Jesus never even Jesus healed this man by his word so it’s not like he even did a work of his hands and in healing him but then the Pharisees go out and they hold the council against him how they might destroy him and they and it seems like they did it right on the Sabbath day so we’re gonna go through verse 21 here and then I’m gonna end so verse 21 but when Jesus knew what he

withdrew himself from thence and great multitudes held him and he healed them all and charged them that they should not make him known on Adam Clark on

Matthew 12 15 Jesus withdrew himself from thence it is a part of it is a part of prudence and Christian sure be not to provoke if possible the blind and the hardened and the take from them the occasion of sin a man of God is not

afraid of persecution but as his name is only to do good by proclaiming ever were the grace of the Lord Jesus he departs from any place when he finds the obstacles to the accomplishment of his and our humanly speaking invincible invincible means of that they’re out of reach at the moment I suppose on and if

he cannot do any good without being the means of more people yield to the stream when you when you cannot send it so it’s not what Jesus was compromising in other words when he withdrew himself here and and we’re gonna get a little into that

in in verses 17 to 21 so when it says in verse 16 degree multitude followed him and he healed them all Adam Clark says the rejection of the gospel in one place is often been the means of sending it to when establishing it in another Jesus healed all that follows him I y’all who had need of healing and who desired to be healed for thus the passage must be understood and is he not still the same

no no social ever import his healing power and vain but let it be remembered that only those who follow Christ and apply to him are healed of their spiritual melodies so this Adam Clark common is dealing with with spiritual healing um and and if you and if he meant to deal with any more um we’re gonna talk more about is it God’s will did is it God’s will to heal people

today I think Lord willing will do that next week um but certainly we can say that the the bodily healings that Christ does in the Gospels give spiritual lessons about the truth the truth healing in the inner man that is of the most value that he has certainly promised to everybody who comes to him

and um and then porous him with um with that that wholehearted faith in him that um that those like those who were coming to him for physical healing were exercising

to in order to obtain their physical healing it’s interesting that um I I guess

it’s no surprise that the people for the most part were more concerned about the healing of body and the healing of the soul and Jesus um Jesus suffered as he put up with it for a time in order to demonstrate his demonstrate who he was demonstrate God’s goodness but like we read about in verses 20 to 24 of Matthew 11 he’s still he’s still ultimately um he rebuked those who didn’t repatch who

had been partakers of his mighty works and had seen his mighty works and yet didn’t transfer um their confidence in him to him being their Lord and Master

that they were seeking to save them from their sins so so continuing in verses 17 to 21 um that it might be so in verse 16 and charged them and charged them that they should not make him known that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the Prophet saying behold my servant whom I have chosen my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased I will put my spirit upon him and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles um this is a reference to Isaiah chapter 42 for people

to write down to look up later um you shall not strive nor cry neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets a bruise free shall he not break and

smoking play and smoking play shall he not quench so he sent forth judgment to victory um verse 19 Adam Clark and he shall not strive nor cry the spirit of Christ is not a spirit of contention murmur and clamor or litigiousness which litigiousness I believe has to do with filing lawsuits he who loves these does not belong to him Christ therefore fulfill the prophecy by withdrawing from

this place on account of the rage of the Pharisees um verse 19 is in no way saying

that some it’s in no way for being street preaching but what it is for bidding I have somebody quote that to me once they said they said all the

hypocrites preaching the streets and I wasn’t even preaching in the street at that time she just for some reason the topic came up and she said well anybody who preaches in the street is a hypocrite and she quoted me this verse

and that’s that’s not what it means obviously um if that were the case and

um Jesus himself and the Apostles would have um would have been hypocrites but obviously we know that that’s not a not what this verse means um in x19 we see about the Apostle Paul who no doubt who said to follow him as he followed Christ in first Corinthians 11 1 there’s a there’s a stern emphasis and the

Apostles were being were being persecuted um the worshippers of Diana and the people who made the idols of Diana are are causing an up an uproar seeking to you know they’re seeking they have a malicious end against the Christians and it says in verse 35 that the pound clerk when he had a piece of

people said he men of Ephesus what man is there that knoweth not how the city of the affusions is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana and of the image which fell from Jupiter seeing them that these things cannot be spoken against you ought to be quiet and to do nothing rashly this heathen man in x19 36 understood understood we know he was wrong we know that Diana is a false god but he was saying that in believing that he had the truth he was saying we ought to be quiet and to do nothing rashly and he was saying this to rebuke the people who were riding in the in the theater that he was trying to calm down so we

have a lesson about so this has a lot to do with the fact that what it means that

no man would hear Christ’s voice in the street he wasn’t he wasn’t somebody who was riding he wasn’t somebody who was um who was causing trouble whom the authorities would have had just reason to um to condemn and this was this was definitely not the view that the Jews had of the Messiah many of the Jews did

believe that the Messiah was going to be um somebody who was going to be gathering

the people for war against the Romans somebody who was gonna somebody who was going to be you could say a rabble-rouser a a warlike person and a

warlike person according to the flesh and that was not that was not Christ at least not at his first coming we know he’s gonna we know he’s going to come back in power and great glory and that’s that’s gonna be different and we talked

about the end of the intro but then in acts 1937 here the town clerk says about the Apostles for you have bought hither these men which are neither robbers of churches nor get blasphemers of your goddess um so we see about the Apostles now we know that they were preaching that they are that they be no gods which are made with ends but they weren’t um they didn’t rail unnecessarily or in a prolonged way against um against Diana the false god of the affusions they they didn’t um they didn’t cause riots or provoke people and that’s that’s all it

has a lot to do with the context sit on we find what said about Christ here in verses on 17 to 21 um it also says in the book reacts about Paul later on that

um that he was not he was the Jews were accusing him of being a seditious man in a and a riotous man and he and he said that they and Paul said that when he was arrested he was in temple neither with two molt nor nor multitude and he was

not raising up the people I think that’s an x24 but I’ll get a reference if somebody wants it um so I will just read about the bruise read then in verse 20

Adam Clark’s comment on is a readers in scripture the emblem of weakness um as you feel 29 6 and a bruise read must signify this state of weakness

supporters on dissolution and death um Adam Clark and smoking flake shall he not quench um smoking flake means the it’s referring to the wake of a lamp and it’s intended to point out its expiring state when when the oil has been all burned

away from it and nothing is left but a mere snuff emitting smoke some suppose the Jewish the Jewish state is to ecclesia ecclesiastical matters is here intended the prophecy to claim that Christ would not destroy it but leave it

to explore of itself as is it already contained the principles of its own

destruction others have considered it as implying that great tenderness with which the blessed Jesus should treat the weak and ignorant whose good desires must not be whose good desires must not be stifled but encouraged the bruise read

may recover itself if permitted to vegetate under under the good influences of heaven and life in light of the exploring lamp may be supported by the addition of fresh oil Jesus therefore quenches not faint desires after

salvation even at the worst and most undeserving of men for even such desires may lead to the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of peace so I think it’s a pretty good explanation of that passage so um so verse 21 and in his name I’m sorry I just want to deal with so a bruise read shall he not break and smoke

and clear shall he not quench so he sent forth judgment under victory and in his name shall the Gentiles shall the Gentiles trust judgment unto victory um

and of course is by judgment understand the gospel and by victory its complete triumph over Jewish opposition and Gentile impiety he will continue by

these mild and gentle means to work till the whole world is Christianized and the universe filled with his glory now obviously obviously we know that the

whole world’s not going to be Christianized but the the character of Jesus that is talked about here is it is a character that is is going that he’s

going to bring the gospel to all nations through and is going to um is going to expand his kingdom through um judgment in this case is referring to is referring to the righteousness of God the law of God you could say the work the word of God and every duty and every responsibility for humans contained there

in it in the last verse of this chapter Jesus is gonna say for whosoever shall do the will of my father which is in heaven the same as my brother and sister

and mother imagine asking somebody why Jesus came and them actually answering the 10th with judgment under victory that would be somebody who really understands the gospel message he but that’s the precise that’s the precise

purpose of his reign is to is to destroy sin in us and bring us to to fulfill the

whole counsel of God the obedience to the faith among all nations like Romans puts it so I’m just gonna close here in Romans 15 um we see the principle that Christ came to the Jewish people to to ultimately from there bring the gospel

to the Gentiles to make an obedient people to God of all nations and you can

just see this is on his Paul talks about some of summary of his ministry in Romans 15 8 through 21 and so I will close with that now I see that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises

made unto the fathers and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy as it is written for this cause I will confess to the among the Gentiles

and sing unto thy name and again you say it rejoices Gentiles with his people and again praise the Lord all you Gentiles and lies among you people and again Isaiah say if there shall be a root of Jesse and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles in him shall the Gentiles trust that some reference to Isaiah 42 just

like Matthew was referring to in chapter 12 now they got a peaceful you without

joy and and peace and believing that he may abound and hope through the power of the Holy Ghost and I myself also am persuaded of you my brethren that ye also

are full of goodness filled with all knowledge able also to admonish one another nevertheless brethren I’ve written the more boldly unto you in some sword as putting you in mine because of the grace that it’s given to me of God that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles ministering the gospel of God that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable being

sanctified by the Holy Ghost also that therefore where have I make glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God for I will not dare to

speak of any of those things which Christ if not wrapped by me to make the Gentiles obedient by word indeed best judgment being sent forth to victory through

mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God so that from Jerusalem and round about unto a lyric come I have fully preached the gospel of Christ yes so have I strived to preach the gospel not where Christ was named lest I should

build upon another man’s foundation but as it is written to whom he was not spoken of they shall see and they they have not heard shall understand wonderful brother wonderful just a couple things I want to bring up before we go to questions I did like the analogy you gave to Peter you know in my past life

before Christ and even in my false to believe is in there for many years I I

also had put my dogs on the same level as humans you know and which is very ridiculous I’m really glad you added that in there you know you don’t have to

go on too many mission trips overseas to see the dogs are you know half the size in terms of meat on them then over here you know they’re there they’re famished they’re dead on the side of the road now of course that’s kind of sad also you

know from a human perspective you know you don’t want to see any any animal just laying there dead but that was a great analogy used brother and and I hope

people that are listening to this take heed to that you know a lot of people

don’t understand us Americans you know we say all the dog is like our family and now I do love my dog dearly but he’s a dog and if I had to give up tomorrow for the gospel sake I would do that in a second so that was very good another

thing brother Aaron if I could ask you is there is this I don’t want to get off much in attention here on the recording but I think and I’ll be doing a complete teaching on this on a webinar starting next week which I’ll announce or maybe the week after I’m not sure but there’s a lot of incredible amount of division and strife that is going on in the preaching community here in America we’ll call it the street preaching community and I started some discussions on it and boy it just gets nasty and so I’m gonna stay out of it for a bit but one verse

that you brought up that we went through today which is very interesting and while you were reading it I was kind of glancing at Barnes and Clark just this

specific one not to get off on a tangent but Matthew 11 21 says well onto the

Corazon wall onto the Bethesda for if thy mighty works which are done and you had been done in

Tyrean city and they would have repented along long ago in sackcloth and acid

ashes but I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyrean city on at the day of judgment than for you so a lot of people are trying to justify their use

of very very very what I would say is unbiblical words to sinners queers faggots dykes lesbos did they do the many many many many many sad things with their with their words you know so anyway I I just wanted to you to expound on that a

little bit I I just read the the clock Adam clock and Albert bonds are commentaries on this but I just wanted to get your idea and that my brother they

they were saying that when he said wall on to thee and you should have repented it was more out of self not self pity excuse me more out of pity for those

cities then what we see sometimes with these preachers they almost get joy or they are there sometimes they almost go into singing you know you’re going to hell and you’re going you know and and they make the cross of Christ of manifest as far as I’m concerned so could you just touch on that a little bit

if if you’re even prepared to do so well yeah I mean Jesus was definitely lamenting affected most people in those cities here to replenish there’s also

there’s also the truth that all the people in Jesus this time who had actually seen him and the people who heard the Apostles preaching those people had greater light than people in America and probably the people you know especially the people in India people in Bangladesh I mean most places in the world probably everywhere in the world actually is not seen as great gospel way to

get some people in Israel head in Jesus this time and you know the people that the Apostles visited did so if they didn’t use that type of language and act like

that around them then what justification would we ever have to do that amen amen yeah and I think that that of course is another another study for another day so why don’t we open it up to brother Daniel or anybody else that might have a question that’s live on here tonight so brother Danny you can come off speaker there this is brother Daniel Bishwas from the car Bangladesh he’s a wonderful brother and if you have any questions here brother Daniel just come off of

your mute button there you can certainly do that now and ask any questions you may have and while waiting for Daniel that was a great teaching brother Aaron as as

usual maybe we don’t have a question from brother Daniel and that’s okay so let me just stop the stop the recording and we’ll go off on to to just a little

general discussion here thank you everybody for listening tonight that’s live from Bangladesh India and the United States we really appreciate you

we’re praying for you all the time we’re so happy to support you and we really just love you all in Christ and we will see you next week for all those that are listening thank you for listening if you have not listened to our previous recordings they’re listed under resources at www.globalmissionforchildren.org. globalmissionforchildren.org under resources and you’ll see the Matthew study so if you have any past study that you haven’t listened to otherwise we’ll

see everybody next Tuesday evening at 10 30 p.m. Eastern time and God bless you all God bless you bye bye you did what bliss you all thank you thank you

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 12-22 – 12-50 (end) Week 11

Good evening everybody and welcome to week 11 of the Global Missions for Children Bible Study.

We do this to edify the mission field and sometimes when we do stuff in the mission field we seem to get as edified or if not more.

So something similar happened to that on the trip when we went over there.

We both, you know, both groups, the Kenyan group and the group that went, got so much out of that trip.

It’s so nice that we can get together here on Tuesday evening here in the US and most overseas people it’s Wednesday morning very early so we thank our Bangladesh crew for coming on and hopefully the Indian group will join us too, Brother Wilson.

And all those people, Brother Moses and Brother William and Dr. Brother Andrew and everybody

else that listens to this on the recording, we really love you and pray for you and you are a great example to us of what it means to really pick up your cross daily, you know, give your entire life to the Lord Jesus.

So we thank you for listening on the recording for those that can’t do this because it’s early in the morning for you.

And so we’re going to start.

So Brother Aaron, I’m going to turn this over to you. We’re starting in Matthew chapter 12 verse 22.

Thank you Brother Aaron as always for giving us your time. Thanks Brother Jimmy.

I will just say before I begin here that I know that many if not all the missionaries

are listening either on the call or on the recording and I know of a few that are listening to the recording that aren’t necessarily overseas missionaries.

But if there’s anybody who is listening to the recordings on a regular basis, I certainly

would appreciate if you were to email Jimmy and get my email address because it would just be great to hear from you and just know a little bit about you and know a little bit about where you’re at because it’s good to consider everybody who’s listening because I’m preparing here.

And it’s certainly an honor to be able to overseas missionaries and non-overseas missionaries

alike.

It’s an honor to be going through the scriptures with you.

Before we start in 1222, I just want to make a note from 1124 in the last chapter. Jesus spoke of the land of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Gospels.

He spoke of them as actual historical places and the destruction of Sodom as an actual historical event and he did that regarding Noah and the flood, regarding Adam and even the creation.

He spoke of everything in the Old Testament as an actual literal event, the history as

being a valid history and especially he spoke of the Old Testament scriptures as being God’s word.

So it’s important to keep that in mind with the challenges people make to the Bible because one of the key methods of saving is to separate Jesus from the scriptures because if he can get us to worship Jesus, it is not the Jesus of the scriptures and that is another Jesus

and not the real Jesus it can save.

So I thought it was good to point that out.

So we are continuing here in Matthew 1222, “Then was brought unto him one possessed with

the devil blind and dumb, and he healed him inasmuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.

And all the people were amazed and said, “Is not this the son of David?”

We talked about in previous studies that the Jews understood the Messiah to be of the seat of David and that was one of the common toils they had for the Messiah.

Back in Chapter 1, Matthew proved from the Jewish genealogies that Jesus was of the seat

of David and that was an essential aspect of proving that he is the Messiah spoken of in the Old Testament scriptures.

It is interesting that the common people perceive that Jesus was the Messiah or at least they suspected it here.

Whereas the proud Pharisees who were biased because of envy, because of their own learning,

not their learning that was someone that they had learned many good things from the Old Testament, but they had also picked up many concepts that were not from the Bible, that they were too proud to reconsider.

And this is something that is often true today is that common average people can perceive spiritual truth in ways that people who have been well educated but not fully educated from the scriptures, even though they have been to Bible colleges or seminaries, the common people can see things that Bible scholars are not able to see.

And the problem is in Bible study or Bible scholarship, the problem is study in scholarship that explains the way the scriptures and concepts that are given that are not scriptural, which

people who are wise in their own eyes, they think well it sounds good to me and they embrace

it as true and then they are not willing to reconsider when presented with new evidence. Because after all if it sounded good to me and I believed it, then how could it possibly be wrong and that is a key way in which the problem gets stumbled.

And we talked in 11, 25 and 26 that God has hid Jesus, thank the Father for hiding these

things, the things about himself and the gospel from the wise and prudent and revealing them

unto the apes.

And so a key aspect of being wise and prudent in your own eyes is being unwilling to be rebuked

and corrected by the scriptures and we will talk more about that in another study but it was good to point that out.

So verse 23, “But when the Pharisees heard it, they heard the people say, ‘Is not this the son of David?’

But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, ‘This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beaslebo the prince of the devils.’

And Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.

And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself, so shall then his kingdom stand.

And if I by Beaslebo cast out devils,” notice that Jesus equates, basically equates Satan with Beaslebo because that was a name that the Jews had, like an alternative name for Satan that the Jews had adopted.

So he says, “If I by Beaslebo cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.”

It’s important to remember here that Jesus actually opposed Satan also by his example of doctrine.

And he was actually casting out the devils.

False religions, sometimes demon possessed people and false religions can appear to cast devils out of people only to give people other devils that are more powerful and to confirm people in a lie.

If the Roman Catholic, it happens in Roman Catholic countries, and the Roman Catholic priest will come to a demon possessed person and will speak like a Catholic spell, maybe get a wooden cross or something and put it in front of the person and cast a devil out

in the name of the Pope or the Catholic Church or some of that saint, and they’ll basically deceive the people who see it into thinking that the Catholic Church is Christ Church

and that it has power over Satan, but they don’t tell the people that it was just a greater deception, that the person who had the devil apparently cast out is just going to even get a more powerful devil or is going to be the same afterwards.

Satan does play tricks like this, but the thing about Christ was that his doctrine was pure and his example was pure.

Everything about him confirmed and upheld the scriptures and the people whom he was

casting devils out of would be fully in their right minds.

We saw that back in Chapter 8 with the man in the country, the Gadarenes, in the capitalist.

We saw how this man who was absolutely crazy and dangerous was cold in his right mind afterwards.

So it’s important to understand that these people saw who Jesus was and they saw that

an any honest person could have seen that he was indeed a threat to Satan’s kingdom and was destroying the works of the devil.

And so this was a very, very great sin for the people who accused Christ of casting out demons by Satan.

And we’re going to get to that.

And that is one thing that the scripture talks about is being the unpardonable sin. And we’re going to get to that in a few verses.

I’ll just, with verse 27 here, “When Jesus said, ‘And abide by be able to cast out devils, by whom be your children cast them out, therefore they shall be your judges.'”

The Pharisees did have people that they educated who, you know, would apparently cast out demons.

We see the seven sons of Sceva in Acts chapter 19 how they even took it upon themselves to

call upon the name of the Lord Jesus to cast out devils.

They were traveling Jews who basically tried to earn a living by casting out demons and by getting donations from people who would try to support them thinking that they were doing good.

So Jesus is basically saying that the people who were associated with the Pharisees, that the Pharisees considered to be righteous men and considered to be genuine, they didn’t accuse them of casting out devils by Satan, but yet they accused him of that.

But yet Jesus’ life and doctrine was purer than theirs, and they should have been able to see that.

Jesus’ works were greater than theirs.

Jesus’ miracles were more evidently from God than theirs.

They might have used trickery and might have used, what if we see the seven sons of Sceva

doing an Acts chapter 19?

And we are going to get to that passage later for another reason.

So it’s just one quote that Adam Clark gives about that is, “And because this person is often to condemn in one what they approve in another.”

So it’s important to understand that when dealing with things like exorcisms, you’ve got to look at the whole picture.

And there was certainly nothing, if somebody is casting out, appearing to cast out devils, and yet their speaking doesn’t line up with the Word of God, or if their life is evidently sinful, then there’s reason to suspect that they’re not genuine, that maybe they’re just hypnotists or that maybe they really are of the devil.

And so we’re going to get more to that in a few verses.

So verse 28, Jesus says, “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.

For else how can one enter into a strong man’s house and spoil his goods, except he first behind the strong man, and then he will spoil his house?”

Notice the context of verse 30, “He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me, scared eartheth a bride.”

It’s interesting that Jesus used his principle about this, demons, and then he applied them to salvation and to being right with him.

Notice too the principle in verse 29 that shows that we should especially pray for those who are in authority, fathers, church leaders, even political leaders, because of Satan is going to do damage to a nation, to a church, to a household.

He’s going to go after the strongest man, the person who’s either wisest or the person who makes the decisions.

Because if he can get that person to see, or get that person’s influence, if it’s good

out of the way, then he can have his way with everybody else, or at least he’s going to have a lot more power with everybody else.

But go to Hebrews, verses 28-30.

Go to Hebrews chapter 2.

So we see in verse 14, “For as much thin as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that he had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to bondage.”

So that applies directly with what Jesus was talking about in verses 28-30.

Not only did he invade Satan’s kingdom by his miracles, but he would ultimately defeat Satan on the cross, and it’s by his defeat of Satan that we can be made right with God. But his defeat of Satan doesn’t automatically make us right with God.

It gives us an opportunity to.

And that’s why he says, “For else how can one enter into a strong man’s house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man?

And then he will spoil his house.”

But if we’re the strong man’s goods and we’re in Satan’s kingdom, Jesus finding the strong man doesn’t automatically mean that we’re free because we have to leave the works of darkness and get on his side.

And that’s why he says in verse 30, “He that is not with me is against me, and he that is not with me is scared of the bread.”

Colossians 1, 13, talking about the Father in Christ, who had delivered us from the power of darkness and had translated us into the kingdom of his dear son, and whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.

The firstborn means chief or ruler, for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him.

And he is before all things and by him all things consist, and he is the head of the

body of the church who was beginning the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence for a police of the Father that in him should all fall in the slow.

And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him I say whether things in earth or things in heaven, and he’s writing

to the Quashian Christians and you that were sometimes alienated in enemies and mine by wicked works yet now had to be reconciled, they had to turn from their enmity and their wicked works just as we had to, and just as anybody who would have an interest in Christ has to, in the body of his flesh they would have to present you holy and unblameable and unrecruitable and a sight, if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled and not

moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard, which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, where have I called me the minister? We see a same thing in John chapter 8. Hey brother Alan? Yes sir. We can hear your breathing when you go like, when you don’t talk so just be aware of that. Thanks brother. No problem. I’ve tried two Bibles before and it just made things more confusing. I’ve still got to get it worked

out the whole turning Bible here. John 8.31-36, then said Jesus to those Jews which believed

on him, “If ye continue in my word, then argue my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” They answered him, “We be Abraham’s seed and

were never in bondage to any man; how sayest thou ye shall be made free?” Jesus answered

them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever commit his sin is the servant of sin, and

the servant of bideth not in the house forever, but the son of bideth ever. If the son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” So that’s a very good gospel truth related

to salvation and evangelism there. So obviously inciting with Christ, we have to turn from idols, we have to turn from false gods, we have to turn from ungodly causes, and ungodly, somebody who still wants to have a part in the realm of darkness can’t be part of Christ and his kingdom of light, and his atonement cannot help the unrepentant and help those

who are not willing to turn away from anti-Christ type causes. That’s why you can know that if

somebody is supporting abortion, is supporting the Communist Party, those are really obvious

things, but it still is good to point out if somebody is trying to combine different

religions and be like a Christian and a Muslim at the same time, because I know that there’s increasing efforts to do things like that. I’m not going to turn there now for the sake

of time, but in Acts chapter 19, we see that when there was a great revival in Ephesus, we find that the people who had been using occult books, and the Bible uses the term curious arts, they had been using magic and things like that, that when they turned to

the Lord Jesus, they gathered their books together and burned them, and they found that the price of all those books was 50,000 pieces of silver. So certainly things like witchcraft, new age things, occult things, magic, anything that is any supernatural power that is not of the God of the Bible has to be of the devil, and in turning to Christ, we see that those people totally forsook their magic and their new age things, and they didn’t sell the books, they burned them, and it is good when you know that the kingdom of God is prevailing

in the city, when there are people who are genuinely forsaking idols, and genuinely confessing

their worst of darkness, and turning away from them to the point that they’re burning,

people burning idols, people burning ungodly CDs, people burning movies, almost every movie

has sensuality or violence, something satanic about it, people burning jerseys of ungodly sports stars that they had regarded as idols, it is when there’s that type of hatred of

sin and that type of living faith in Christ so that people are having bonfires to burn things that would represent Satan and his kingdom, and people are confessing the truth about that and not justifying it, really turning their hearts to the Lord, that is a wonderful thing to see. So moving on, verses 31 and 32, Jesus says, “Wherefore I say unto you,

all men of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy

Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.” It’s in italics, against the Holy Ghost is not in

the manuscript here, but in Mark 3 verses 29 and 30 against the Holy Ghost is in the text, so it’s appropriate that it was put in italics by the King James translators. And just so everybody knows, in the King James Bible, I like what the translators did, in that words that were not in the original text that they put in themselves to make the text more clear, they put them in italics. So people can see that they think it’s appropriate that what’s

in italics would complete the text, but you also can know that it’s not in the original

text so you can make that judgment for yourself. And that’s one of the many reasons I appreciate

the King James version. So verse 32, “And whosoever speaketh the word against the Son, man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall

not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” A man said

to me very recently, he said I’d curse you, he was asking if he had committed the unpartable sin when he had done that. And I told him no, and I referred to this passage. People

can speak against Christ as a man and not fully understand what they’re doing. And we

see the Apostle Paul, there was no doubt he said that he thought he ought to do many things

contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. But he had not gone to the point where he was seeing Christ himself do miraculous works and saying that they were of the devil. So

somebody thinks that they committed the unpartable sin, it’s good to just ask them, have you

seen miracles, have you seen Christ do miracles, and said that they were of the devil, and chances

are they haven’t. And that’s what Jesus is speaking about here. Albert Barnes said about the sin of the Pharisees in calling Christ miracles of the devil. He said it was alleging

that the highest displays of God’s mercy and power were of the devil, and it argued the deepest depravity of mind. Think of in verse 32 when Jesus says it shall not be forgiven in neither in this world to come. This is not teaching that people can be forgiven

after death. We saw back in chapter 9 that Jesus said the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. Hebrews 9.27, it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this judgment, there is no, nobody can repent and be forgiven after death. The very principle of forgiveness

is that we worship God and we prove that worship on earth by aligning with His Kingdom, and

suffering and suffering lost to prove that the lost we need to in order to prove that

we are, that we’re submitted to God, and that we’ve renounced the devil and his works. And such a thing cannot be done after death when there’s nothing left to lose anyways. So when Jesus says neither in this world, neither in the world to come, He’s talking, when He

says in this world, think of 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Those who are evidently sinning against God need to be cut off from the church. Just like those who were evidently sinning against God in the Old Testament should have been cut off from the temple. Now the Jews weren’t faithful to do that obviously in many ways, but that’s how it ought to have been.

So that’s what Jesus is referring to, that He that blessed Him with the Holy Ghost shall, they shall neither be part of, be counted among God’s people here, neither forgiven

in the world to come. So I just want to deal then with Pentecostal churches, Charismatic churches will, they obviously have a lot of phony displays of the Holy Spirit. They have people speaking in tongues in a way that is totally, I’m not saying tongues are never

of God, but in the Bible tongues are always a language that was to communicate some truth of God to people who spoke that language. It was never something, it was never just

gibberish that people would speak. So Pentecostals might accuse those who say that the gibberish

they’re speaking in their churches and just all the madness that will go on in their churches, trying to, you know, people getting slain in the Spirit, I mean being slain in the Spirit

is something we never find in Scripture. People doing holy laughter, which is again something

we never find in Scripture. People rolling around on the floor jerking and in hysteria. They’ll call people who oppose that, they’ll say that you’re in danger of blaspheming the Holy Spirit and they’ll say, and they’ll use this passage to say, well you shouldn’t speak against God’s Word. But the bottom line is that if there is a word that is supernatural

or is apparently supernatural and it’s not supported by God’s Word and there’s unscriptural things happening, it’s right to say that this couldn’t be of the Lord. And even miracles themselves need to be examined. In Revelation chapter 13 we find the beast doing miracles without the false prophet in promoting the beast. Revelation 13.11, “And I beheld another

beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

And he exercised all the power of the first beast before him, and caught it the earth,

and them which dwelled there in the worship of the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh lawyer come down from heaven on

the earth in the sight of men. Notice it, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth

by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image for the beast, which

had the wound by a sword and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause it as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. Then we see in chapter 16, verse

16, verses 13 and 14. I mean, I’m sorry, chapter 16, verses 13 and 14. “And I saw three unclean

spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to

the battle of their great day of God Almighty.” So, when there is, we see in Isaiah 8.20, that if they speak not according to the law and to the testimony, it is because there

is no light in them. In Matthew 24, we’re going to obviously get there eventually. Jesus said in verses 24 and 25, “For there shall arise false Christ and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, in so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.” So, it’s important to remember

2 John, verses 6 to 9 here, because this is ultimately a discernment we need to exercise, because as we get to the end of time, there’s going to be miracles from false prophets that are going to call people to another Jesus and cause people to turn away from the real Jesus of the Bible and His Word. 2 John, verse 6, “And this is love that we walk after His

commandments.” This is a commandment that as you have heard from the beginning, you should

walk in it. The beginning is the Old Testament, and the Gospels themselves which confirm and

uphold the Old Testament. “For many deceivers,” verse 7, “for many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” This is a deceiver and an antichrist. “Look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, he hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the

Father and the Son.” So, doctrine in here just simply means teaching. That’s all it means.

“If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive not unto your house, neither

bid in Godspeed. For he that bideth in Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds.” So, any miracle

that doesn’t by somebody who is contradicting the Word of God for bringing practices that are foreign to the Word of God, especially if they go against the order of the Word of

God, that person is a false prophet no matter what they do. And the things that Jesus says here about blaspheming the Holy Spirit is not blaspheming the Holy Spirit to say, “This

is not in line with God’s Word, and therefore this isn’t of God.” And if they threaten you

and say, “Well, you’re blaspheming the Holy Spirit,” don’t be afraid of them because they’re the ones who are sinning by their putting experience ahead of the Word of God and very

well may even be operating by a cold power, by demonic power. So, in verse 33, “Either make the

tree good and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt, for

the tree is known by his fruit.” If Christ’s doctrine and works are bad, then the charges of the Pharisees against him would be true. But if Christ’s doctrine and works are right, and they’re in line with the Word of God, then the ones falsely accusing him are the

ones in legal with the devil, as was the case. “O generation of lipers,” verse 34, “how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.

A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things,

and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you that every oil word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”

So, when Jesus says, “O generation of lipers,” in verse 34, he was speaking of their true character,

which they were proving by their false accusations of him, since they were opposing what was pure and

right and good. To speak these against people without due evidence is to become a wiper yourself.

And carnal people can want to imitate the words of Jesus and try to feel spiritual

and feel authoritative by saying such things. But the very fact that somebody would say such things

without due evidence, that’s not a sign of godly authority or godly spirituality.

And this is definitely related to the street preaching on topic that we’ve talked about some. Those preachers who just rail on people and call them names without just indiscriminately

based upon very little or no evidence. They might think they’re imitating Jesus because they’re

using his language, but they’re not being Christlike at all. They’re being very opposite.

The fact is that the people Jesus spoke is to where they were blaspheming the word of God. And they were opposing him so directly, and they were worthy of such a condemnation.

If you go to James chapter 3,

so James chapter 3 is a chapter that is about the tongue. And I’m not going to read the whole

chapter, but I’m going to start in verse 8. “But the tongue can no man tame, that is by his own

natural strength. Obviously with the grace of God we can tame our tongues. It is an unruly evil full

of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we men which are made

after the simple tool of God, the image of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and

cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Death of Wellington sent forth at the same

time sweet water and bitter. Can the fig treat my brethren beer alabaries, or either of vine figs?

So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.” The point here is that even somebody’s

blessings of God, if there’s unjust accusation against one’s fellow man and other impure words,

would make even our blessings of God bitter when our tongues are speaking such things.

So he says in verse 13, “Who is a wise man and in dude with knowledge among you? Let him show out

of a good conversation.” Conversation in the Bible usually means lifestyle or manner of living.

His works with means of wisdom. “But if you have bitter endings and strife in your heart’s glory,

not in line out against the truth, this wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly central

or devilish. For wherein being in strife is there is confusion in every evil work. But the wisdom

that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and

good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.” And partiality and hypocrisy were

what the Pharisees were showing here in Matthew 12. “And the fruit of righteousness is sown in

peace of them that make peace.” So obviously Jesus isn’t saying in Matthew 12 verses 33 to 37 here,

he’s not saying that it’s only our words that we’re going to be judged for. But he is saying that a person’s words reflect their heart and reflect the condition of their soul. There’s obviously

room for repentance. And a person with a repentant heart is going to apologize and cease from lying

words, from unjust accusations, from filthy talk. There’s going to be a whole heart it’s striving

to even if there were bad habits that are hard to break even when there’s been true repentance.

When he says in verse 36, “At every idle word that men shall speak they shall give a counter

of in the day of judgment.” “Idle” means idle here. It doesn’t mean just useless. It certainly does

mean that, but the word itself means it means more than that. It means false and injurious.

As Adam Clark or Oliver Burns said, it means it’s very, the Pharisees had just spoke against Jesus

where they were idle in the sense that they were false and injurious. And obviously you can detect

an unrepentant heart when somebody has spoken, I mean we should forgive those who falsely accuse us.

But if somebody falsely accuses you and maligns you and speaks evil of you unjustly, don’t think

they’ve repented until they apologize about that. And until they say, “I’m sorry and I was wrong.”

At least because somebody who does that, and the same goes to anybody who does such a thing to

another person, it’s right when somebody professes faith in Christ and professes to have repented.

If you know the false things they’ve said, ungodly things they’ve said, it’s right to bring those

things up and say, “How do you feel about that now? What are you going to do about that right now?”

Because, and if they’ve wronged us, we should forgive them. We should be ready to as soon as

they apologize. But if somebody is still harboring words like that, it shows a wicked heart that isn’t repented. And it’s not wrong to reprieve somebody for that. It’s actually appropriate

right to do so. And also think about a man like Jimmy Swagert, the preacher in the late 80s

who got caught, big name preacher, got caught in adultery. He got publicly exposed. As soon as

it happened, he professed to have repented. There’s a famous tape about him crying on national television, saying, “Oh, I’ve seen…” And he’s giving this holy sounding talk. But

the denomination he was part of, they gave him a discipline process whereby he was going to be

removed from ministry. And it was actually way too late considering what he had done. But it was

something. And he refused to submit to that. And he said, “Well, the ministry is too important and

I need to go on.” A few years later, he got caught in adultery. Again, he got caught with a prostitute.

And he eventually, if not before, he got expelled from his denomination. And to this day,

he is preaching. And a lot of the things he says can sound really good. But he has never repented

of not submitting to the discipline process of his denomination at the time. He’s never really

demonstrated sorrow about that to the point where he said, “I really should have been removed from

ministry. I had no right to forsake discipline and accountability.” And that’s a key proof that he’s unrepented to this day. And there’s a good article about that. If you Google why Jimmy Slagert still needs to repent, that’s the name of an article that was written about him. And I

know about that because there’s a church in my area that follows him. And I can just tell that they’re on a bad course because they consider him to be their spiritual leader.

And when he’s never really even booked any real discipline and accountability for such great

sins. So if he were to repent, he would have to repent of the words he spoke of to defend himself

before. And in that sense, verse 37, “For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words

thou shalt be condemned.” Because words do show whether our heart is really turned to God and is

repentant and is in agreement with him and his righteousness or whether it isn’t. So continuing

on then in verse 38, “Then certain of the scribes and other Pharisees answered, saying, ‘Master,

we would see a sign from thee.’ He had just been doing miracles. Perhaps they wanted to see a sign

from heaven. Perhaps these certain scribes and Pharisees had just arrived on the scene.

We don’t

know that for sure. But they were certainly tempting him by saying such a thing. They knew

enough to know that he had done miracles and he had showed them signs before. So in this case,

he refuses to do another sign. Verse 39, “But he answered and said unto them, ‘An evil and

adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it. But the sign

of the prophet Jonas.'” Spiritual adultery is taking God’s name while sinning against him by

reading James 4.4, “The adulterers and adulteresses know ye not their friendship with the world as

enmity against God or as enmity with God.” And it’s also true that I read in Adam Barnes’ or Albert

Barnes’ or Adam Clark’s commentary that the Jews were also very adulterous people, literally,

that the sin of adultery in terms of breaking the marriage covenant was very common among them.

And we see that back in Jesus’ teaching in Matthew chapter 5, how he rebuked the lustfulness that

was common. And with that, a casual attitude towards one’s marriage covenant and the unjust

divorce, the white attitude towards the horse, was among the Jews. So he says, “There shall no,

they seek a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it. But the sign of the prophet Jonas.”

“For his Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly. So shall the son of man be

three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” If you go to Esther 4.16-51, you’ll see

how among the Jews, part of a day was counted for the whole day. And I’m not going to go there now

for time’s sake, but if you read 4.16, 4.17, and 5.1, you’ll see how Esther said that she told Mordecai

that he should go to the Jews and they should fast three days and three nights for her. And then she

came and she’d go into the king, and then she came into the king on the third day. And there’s several

examples of that in Scripture, which if somebody would email Jimmy and he could pass it along to

me and I could give you some more examples of that if anybody wanted it. So Jesus says in verse 41,

“The men of Nineveh, and we know that Nineveh was the city the Jonah was sent to, the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it.”

Because he repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold it greater than Jonah’s is here. The queen of the south, that’s the queen of Phoeba who came to Solomon in the book of first kings, “shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it.

For she came from the othermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold it greater than Solomon is here.”

In verse 40, just by the way, when it says that Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, it’s likely that what he was actually in was probably a shark. Because there

are documented instances of sharks swallowing people whole and the person being found whole

in the shark’s stomach. And I know that at least one instance where the man was still found alive,

the word in the Greek can denote any great sea creature or large fish. So if anybody, you know,

somebody thinks they’re smart and say, “Oh, a whale can’t swallow a man.” Well, the Bible doesn’t,

the King James translators translated it that way, but it could be any sea creature or large fish. And we know that there are documented instances of sharks swallowing people whole.

So we talked about how the Jews were a part of the day for the whole. And

here’s a quote from Adam Clark on verse 41. “The voice of God threatening temporal punishments

caused the whole people to repent, the Ninevites, who had neither Moses nor Christ, neither the law

nor the prophets, and who perhaps never had but this one preacher among them. What judgment may not

we expect if we continue impenitent after all that God has bestowed upon us.” That’s from Adam Clark.

We learned from verse 41 an example of what repentance is because when Jesus talked about

repentance, he referred to the Ninevites in Jonah chapter 3. So I will turn there then.

Jonah is a hard book to find because it’s one of those small books near the end of the Old Testament.

It’s among a bunch of other small books, but it is between Obadiah and Micah.

And that might not help, but towards the end of the Old Testament. So I’m in Jonah chapter 3.

So I’ll just read the whole chapter. Verse 1, “The word of the Lord came on the drone of the

second time saying, ‘After he has been vomited out of the fish’s mouth, arise go unto Nineveh,

that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.’ So Jonah arose and went unto

Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days

journey, and Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried and said, ‘Get forty

days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.’ So the people of Nineveh believed God.” That’s important.

Their repentance came because they believed that the message of judgment was coming

and proclaimed the fast and pronounced it from the greatest of them, even to the least of them.

They believed God that judgment was coming, but they also believed that though Jonah might not have even said it, they believed that if they turned from

the reason that the judgment was coming upon them, if they turned from those things and they

dealt with them in a way that God would be pleased with, they believed that he was going to spear

them from the judgment also. So verse 6, “For the word of the Lord came unto the king of Nineveh,

and he arose from his throne.” That’s a wonderful picture of repentance. “And he laid his robe from

him and covered him with sackcloth and satin ashes. Well, remember, blessed are they that mourn for

they shall be comforted.” And this is a perfect example. “And he caused it to be proclaimed and

published through Nineveh by the decree of the king in his noble saying, ‘Let neither men nor beast

hurt nor flock taste anything. Let them not feed nor drink water, but let men and beasts be covered

with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God.'” So there was a genuine warning for sin, and there was a

genuine crying to God to spear them, to have mercy upon them. “Yes, let every…” And notice, “Yes, let

them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if

God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not?” They didn’t even,

they weren’t even given a certain promise of that like we are. “And God saw their works that they

turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them,

and he did not.” And Jesus used this as an example of true repentance. So remember that. So how would

the men of Nineveh condemn the Jews? How will they condemn this generation? Because the Jews had greater

light with Christ among them, even before Christ was among them than the Ninevehites had when Jonah

came to them. We have greater light now than the Ninevehites had when Jonah came to them. But the

Jews especially had more light. For one day he had Christ among them who was infinitely greater than

Jonah was. Jonah’s time preaching compared to Christ’s preaching was, Jonah was preaching only

a day before they repented. Maybe he was preaching the whole 40 days because we find him in Nineveh

in Jonah chapter 4. And Jonah actually wanted God to judge Nineveh. That’s the crazy thing.

It’s a

lesson about soul winning. Just the man who wins the most souls by his preaching is not necessarily

the godliest man because Jonah didn’t even want them to be saved. If you read, you know what,

I’m not going to do it now, but if you read Jonah chapter 4 briefly, you’ll see God

Jonah complaining to God about him sparing Nineveh. And then you have godly men like Jeremiah

and Ezekiel who maybe never had a single convert from their preaching. And yet Jeremiah and Ezekiel

were men that there was hardly a fault with. And Jonah was this guy that I heard one guy give a

sermon about Jonah and he said, I cannot say for sure whether Jonah’s in heaven. And then I can’t

either. It’s interesting how the book ends. So it’s a lesson about soul winning. That the godly, the godliest men and the most faithful preachers are not necessarily the people

that have the best results from their preaching, their evangelism.

Jonah wrought no miracle among the Ninevites and Christ wrought many, many miracles and he had

just wrought miracles among Israel at the time he had spoke this and he would do many more. He would

ultimately rise from the dead. We read in Hebrews 11.7 that we read about Noah that we see what it

means to condemn the world. It doesn’t mean to be the Asian of judgment yourself.

It doesn’t mean necessarily even to preach judgment upon the world. There’s a time where

to warn of God’s judgment like Jonah did, like Noah himself did. But the context of what it means

to condemn the world we see in Hebrews 11.7 by faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen

as yet moved with fear prepared an art to the saving of his house by the by the which he condemned

the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. I heard Mark Bolen define it as

if Noah proved that if he could live righteous since he lived righteously it was proof everybody

else could have also since the Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah it is proof that the

Jews could have repented and that they had no excuse for their hardness of earth and their rejection of Christ. If the queen of the south came from the other most parts of the earth in

verse 42 to hear the wisdom of Solomon how much more will are the Jews without excuse for not

listening to Christ who was right among them? How much more are people in this generation without

excuse when we have a bible right before us to read and we have God’s whole will and not just

one little message like Jonah had we have the whole counsel of God and the queen of Sheba came

from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon she traveled hundreds if not thousands of

miles and yet to hear everything that Solomon had to say who was the wisest man on earth at the time

and yet we have the bible which is the counsel of the whole counsel of God the counsel of

the acts of Jesus himself and of Moses and the prophets and the apostles and the words God spoke

through them so how much more are those who have a bible and don’t read it and don’t eat it without

excuse so continuing then and just one more thing there we also learned from verses 41 and 42

about the power example and how and what a great what a great influence that is when people people should be able to see our lives and see that if it’s possible for us it’s this person is proving that you can live godly that that you can live righteous and all

of our verbal preaching is is in vain if there’s not if there’s not the testimony of a godly life

if Christ isn’t really isn’t really living through us and we’re not we’re not living by his standard

and and showing and condemning the world in the sense of showing the world that they could that

they could have what we have in Christ and that they could and that they can actually overcome sin

and it’s that testimony especially the testimony when there’s a when there’s a church when there’s

a whole group of people who are living that way that’s a powerful testimony and that’s what we

see in the book of x and we see how so many were brought to repentance because of the powerful

testimony not just of the preaching but also the example of God’s people so Jesus continues in verse

43 when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man he walked it through dry places seeking rest and

find it none um we remember in chapter eight how the the devils wanted Christ to send them into

this wine if they were to if he were to cast them out of the out of the man that they were in so

verse 44 then he said i will return into my house from whence i came out and when he has come he

find it that empty swept and garnished um notice that the arrogance of the devils this is how how

Satan is they’ve been cast out but they say i will return into my into my house from once i came out

they’re so arrogant that they will never admit defeat they act like they act like they could have

stayed if they wanted and that they have a right to go back but the thing is God will let them come

back if if the person is not indwelt by the Spirit of God and following the Spirit of God and so when

he has come he find it that empty swept and garnished i understand this to mean empty of the

fruit of God’s Spirit empty of true godliness true godliness and swept and garnished um

i take this to mean garnished with um swept from the fruit of the Spirit and garnished with the

vanity of the world and um worldly attitudes um vain um vain imaginations i’m not certain about

that either Albert Barnes or Adam Clark understood it that way and that seems to be the best

interpretation to me so verse 45 then go with he and take it with himself 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 even social be also unto this wicked generation and i i believe that Jesus is saying here that

despite all his miracles despite all the signs that they’ve seen um

if they if they don’t repent if they don’t um if we don’t embrace the word of God and

our steadfast in righteousness um if we’re not in like verse 50 says steadfast in doing the will

of his father which is in heaven um all the all the mercies and all the promises and all the grace

offered in the gospel the fact that we’ve rejected so great so great a light is only is only going

to serve to condemn us more and and beforehand make us make us worse off spiritually by the fact that

we’ve abused such great privileges so do this is ultimately um it reminds me of what he says in

john chapter 12 that um i’m not going to turn there now for time’s sake but he says that um he says well you have the light believe in the light that you might be the children of light

um and and and it’s a very much a parallel to a person who has a demon cast out but who yet

doesn’t repent or isn’t steadfast in their repentance they’re ultimately opening themselves up to a greater demonic deception and jesus compares that to um to the generation to the

people who reject the gospel message and reject himself and um that’s either used of excellent

and believers and a reference for that is two peter two verses 19 to 22 which i won’t turn to now for time’s sake so verse 46 well yet talk to the to the people behold his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to speak with him then once sat under him behold thy mother

and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee but he answered and sat under him that

told him who is my mother and who are my brethren and he stretched forth his hand toward his

disciples and said behold my mother and my brethren for whose lover shall do the will of my father

which is in heaven the same as my brother and sister and mother um what a what a privilege and

what an honor it is to to be called um such a cold relation to christ um in luke 8 21 in i believe a parallel to this passage will puts it a little different he says um

he says in luke 8 21 he he answered and said unto them my mother and my brethren are these

which share the word of god and do it so what’s important um the reason i turn there is just notice that jesus equates the will of the father with doing the will of the father with hearing

the word of god and doing it so word of god equals will of god doing the word of god implies hearing

the word of god also um and ultimately our response to the word of god is what um is what determines

whether we are in this category that is put in such a it is so blessed and it’s put in in such a category to be christ brother and sister and mother in john 8 42 to 47 just another thing to notice here jesus rebukes the Pharisees in verse 42 of john 8

jesus said unto them if god were your father you would love me for i proceeded forth and came from

god neither came i of myself but he sent me why do you not understand my speech even because you

cannot hear my word so if we keep reading calvinus might use this to say that they they couldn’t

hear his word because um god had him predestinated them to salvation but that’s not what he meant if

we continue in verse 44 jesus says you are your father the devil you are your father the devil

and the lust of your father you will do that’s why they couldn’t hear his word is because

they um they were set on doing the lust of the devil he was a murderer from the beginning and a

bow not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own

for he is a liar and the father of it and because i tell you the truth he believe me not which of

you convinced convinced me of sin and if i say the truth why do you not believe me this was why they

it was it was so wicked for the jews to say that um his miracles were the devil so he says in verse

47 he is of god here at god’s words you therefore hear them not because you are not of god ultimately um ultimately that’s the true test of who is a child of god and who is not

and we also see a lesson in verses 46 to 50 of how we should um we should honor and value the others

who do the will of god who hear the word of god and do it because if everybody who does the father’s

will is christ brother and sister and mother then it’s impossible to love god without also having a heart to serve his people and to love his people as christ himself um so i will i will

close i’ll just reference matthew 25 30 one to 46 there we will get to that and that is the ultimate

issue there with the sheep and the goats is the one the sheep um the sheep embrace christ and they truly received him so that they they served his people with their whole heart as they had opportunity and the ghosts did not do so um we read in one john four

oh i’m sorry one john 316 we know we all know john 316 and it’s important to know one john 316

also hereby perceive will be the love of god because he laid down his way for us and we ought

to lay down our lives for the brethren um but who so had this world’s good and see if his brother

have need and shut it up his balls of compassion from him how dwelt the love of god in him my

little children let us not love in word neither in tongue but indeed and in truth amen thank you

brother that was really good you know as we mature in christ um a couple things one who are the

brethren who are the true brother and number two we have to love um those brethren enough uh if

they have fallen away or if they’re doing something wrong and and um i’m seeing lately that uh there’s

too many brethren or former brethren um i’m still discerning some of them but um that that i believe

have absolutely fell away and have to love them enough to bring their what we believe um doing

wrong you know that’s that’s that’s the true love of god that’s really laying down our lives livelihood

who we perceive to be our brother and our former brethren and to try to win them back so i just

encourage everybody to do that a couple other things i would just like to bring up too especially

for the missionaries that are listening to this but this uh pertains to all of us uh people that

have come out of other religions and stuff like that you know brother arab mentioned here today

very um very interesting which i wrote down and um when people come out of even the professing

christian world you know the churches are most of the street waters where they just preach grace

they don’t preach repentance or holiness you know we have to preach it all the whole council of god

and you know we’ve got to be careful that they don’t continue to mix uh those other beliefs

christian beliefs it quotes or especially you guys over on the mission field uh we see it all the time

and and it takes time to reprove these people but they’ll mix like into the christian um fellowships

so they’ll have all these uh or muslim practices that they’re meshing in you know ecumenical type

services or fellowships that they have over there and that’s something that um you know we’re so

fortunate to have the mission partners we have now i know all you guys are are very strong and

it’s it’s hard to break old habits for some of these people that that come

over to us and start to labor with us telling them that um they cannot mix hindu and christian shintoism and christian they can’t mix to hold the witness and christian or

and fix the hyper grace gospel that they’re so used to here in america for example and true

christianity so that was um really good i just want to give a mini testimony too and i hope every

for anybody else has one but you know brother erin you were talking about um burning stuff you know

and uh there’s certainly a lot of videos around where people are burning uh cds and tapes and

that’s certainly what we should do you know we shouldn’t go sell uh let zeppelin and acdc and

u2 uh cds and dvds and all this other stuff hollywood movies at a free market we shouldn’t be selling uh as a christian um uh you know hollywood movies with uh kirk douglas and

everything else or whomever uh jolie and brad pit and all this we shouldn’t be watching those and

we shouldn’t be selling those i you know could we use the money for the kingdom of god yes but

that’s blood money that’s that’s certainly not so i want to give a little example i was so excited

one day about three years ago as i was just really coming into the truth and and believing that we

had to be holy and live perfect for the lord uh in him as we abided him and i i used to collect in my heaving days uh nutcrackers now don’t you all laugh they were kind of cool looking

uh there’s a fireman and i you know just really interesting uh you know an airplane guy and and

there were real you know nutcrackers like for christmas time right and uh i even had some signed

by one of the designers um steinbeck i said they were steinbeck nutcrackers and i had about

12 or

13 of them and i probably could have got five thousand dollars for them uh you know in in total

and i wasn’t even thinking i’m like huh christmas is coming up even though i believe christmas is

is not something we should celebrate of course um i i’m gonna sell these and get that five thousand

dollars for the mission field they’re signed and i still have the original boxes and all this stuff

and they’re in perfect condition i really have never uh displayed them much at all so um i prayed

about it and i was talking to it’s great how god sends people into your life i was talking to somebody

on on on facebook and um i told them that i said have you looked up the original uh meaning of the

nutcracker and stuff i said no i mean i was ignorant now of course i wasn’t in sin i wouldn’t

have been in sin for selling them because i didn’t uh i didn’t know about this but they are actually

and i’m not going to bring it up down for a lack of time but uh they actually are based on different

spirits or their or or or the um what is it called you know as the saying goes or as the um for lack i

i i can’t recognize the word that i want to say but anyway um you know there’s a mystery about these

nutcrackers and each one of them or uh whatever the whole lot of them have certain spirits although

it’s set on the website as the legend goes they carry spirits with them or good spirits or something

like that and so she brought this up to me because she was uh in a medium before and she got saved you

know and that’s a good old patty ruined my day because i was all excited that i was going to have

you know uh an extra thousand dollars for each mission field uh just three years ago and i was

really excited because that would have been a lot of money back then for our mission and um i prayed

about it uh just real quickly about one or two minutes and uh i i got those nutcrackers and uh

i turned their mouths inside out so to speak and i cracked them with a hammer so and i put them all

in a a big garbage bag and that you know it was funny because my wife wanted to bring them down

to work she says don’t do that my friend will want them i said these are going right in the

trash compactor i cannot even give these away never mind sell them so i appreciated that brother

arin that you brought that up and everybody listening on this recording i know that in kenya

and bangla desert india everywhere there are a lot of a lot of witchcraft and we must make sure that

even the altars of their home you know they can’t have a hindu statue in their home press price you

must preach against it so thank you arin for bringing that up that’s a very that’s a rich chapter yeah amen anybody else have uh any uh either testimonies or questions for brother arin

more common any questions down there uh hilton i know brother hilton is on how about you say hi

brother hilton yeah praise the lord brother i am here with us hey there he is how are you brother

yeah i’m fine brother i’m just tired but very fine yeah you sound tired uh can you just tell uh

everybody i’ll just preface it real quick we’re so happy to have you on uh brother hilton now they um

they have been building this uh first christian school which is such an incredible thing that they’re doing for the lord it’s it’s just i don’t have any words for it that i can really explain so

i just talked about the way you’re at i know that um i just updated there a couple yesterday i believe

that you uh you literally had to pick up the trees the big logs you had to lift these trees a whole

bunch of you put them on a push car get them to the uh sawmill then you had to get them from the

sawmill which is kind of on the river so you didn’t have to put them too far and then after they cut

them you had about a thousand pieces of wood you put them on this little tiny boat a thousand

pieces of wood and you and about three or four brethren were on the boat for uh 25 kilometers

which would have been what like 15 miles is that correct no uh it’s 13 kilometers 13 13 okay i’m

sorry well still uh about seven or eight miles then um with a thousand pieces of wood that’s

pretty good brother and so they went seven or eight miles down the river and then uh about a

quarter of a mile a little bit less than a quarter of a mile they had to push with the push top all

these things so just update us a little bit brother i think that would be very good yeah i’m really

very encouraged for today’s bible study because i’m very sorry last couple weeks i cannot attend

here because of our high school work but today actually last three days we were we we are we was

very hard work for our school we cut some trees for our school constructions that’s why

we was very tired so yesterday and today i am just taking some rest to home and that’s why i can

attend class and i am very thankful to lord and my update is uh brother jimi already uh he already

explained all of our work uh but uh our new i have a prayer request and i have a good work today

today i am going to buy tin for our school state and there we have made total about

250 pieces of tin for our um uh and some extra uh today and that’s why i am every day i am praying

you also praying that is we need to buy some sense for our school foundation we are we are thinking that we will buy the

where is the problem that we were said maybe we cannot get it very soon um it will take time so maybe we have to buy the same from the park so it will be very expensive for us

so i request to all you just play for our uh because we need the diversity and it is

from low price and it will be good for us uh for our school and uh we are also paying for our

teachers because we are going to admit here more four teachers and they will be uh for from my uh

from two or three communities for our school so that’s why we are paying to buy a um buy a easy

bike uh we gave them to all from kuna to our school project uh so we are paying for that also

and also we are praying for our brother santro he is some uh sick um before we started uh he’s

mailed already broken so that’s why we are praying because he is already now uh in rest

but we have to get soon uh well we have to get well very soon because we have to finish our work

very fast so that is all and i equal to you all for our school project because this school project is going to change the bahamadhi children and we are very very um excited

for this school and our local people they are also very excited for the day so i am requesting

you all please pay for our school and pay for our construction one thank you thank you brother

hilton that was a great update uh for those of you that might not have been able to hear that too

good since it was a little bit scratchy there he’s uh he’s just continuing the uh the project there

and we’re we’re trying to buy sand right out of the river because it’s much cheaper to dredge the

sand out of the river and buy it from the people that do that versus buying it from um somebody

that already has a sand and piles that would put it in a dump truck for example so it’s quite a bit

less expensive and we’re praying that we can get that from the river still but we’re running out

of time so we’re going to have to make a judgment call here within the next week max uh maybe even

less and so time’s kind of running out to get that at like 35 to 40 percent off so not the end of the

world uh in terms of dollars but um certainly um it adds up you know 300 extra here 400 extra there

is not something that we even have budgeted necessarily so uh just keep that in prayer

anybody else have any updates they want to tell us or uh any praise requests prayer requests or

all right well thank you everybody for joining us tonight on the global mission bible study we just

want to say hello to everybody that will be listening to this uh as they awake on the recording uh

overseas we pray that you uh edified by this we thank brother arin and all our brethren that are

out there listening uh you mean a lot to us just to be here with us so we thank you for that um and

i also wanted to reiterate what uh brother arin said early on before he started the teaching that

if you have any questions at all uh email me and then i’ll i’ll email arin and copy your email in

there any questions at all it doesn’t even have to be on necessarily uh the particular chapter and

verse that uh brother arin was uh speaking to today um i certainly uh converse back with brother

arin um often on on a different subject um and uh it doesn’t have to be on this so but he would

like some feedback too um not for his uh glorification or anything but just to help you guys out and to edify each other so we thank you everybody for joining us tonight may god bless

you keep your hands to the plow and just remember there’s 160 000 people dying every single day

on this earth and we need to get to them before they take their last breath

to tell them how glorious the lord jesus is have a good night everybody talk soon bye bye

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 13-1- 13-23 Week 12

Good evening everybody. I want to welcome all our US people online here, our US brethren.

A happy Tuesday evening at 10.41 here on the East Coast. I also want to welcome our mission

partners that are listening overseas. For most of you, of course, it is now Wednesday morning and we thank those who get up early to listen to us live. And we also thank those people that listen to us, of course, on the recording. I know there’s so many people listening.

And every week we thank God for Brother Aaron Carey who edifies us with his dividing correctly

of Scripture and being on the right side of the Ageless Conflict. We’re not going through that book tonight though. We are continuing on our study in the book of Matthew. We are now on chapter 13. It’s a very heavy chapter of the Bible of Stray. So this is a kind of neat one here. So we’re going to turn this over to Aaron. We’re going to get edified

and get out the offensive papers to take some help. God bless you, Brother Aaron. The floor

is yours. Thanks Brother Jimmy. As we’re getting into Matthew 13 here, I’m just impressed as

we’re going through Matthew overall. Just how there is literally a lesson in the Bible in every single part of Scripture. Every single passage is really important to really

hold of. And we’re hurting ourselves by not laying hold of it. And I think it’s appropriate to see as we get into this parable of the seed and the sword and to comprehend that truth and just to value everything in Scripture in a deeper way. That’s an important depth that we want to have. And if this study is doing that for anybody, then even if it’s

just simply you going through this verse by verse and just seeing it for yourself as we’re going through it, it is a valuable lesson. So I’m going to start right now in Matthew

13. And I’m just going to read verses 1 through 9 since Jesus is going to give the parable to seed and the sword. And then he’s going to explain it later in the chapter. So Matthew 13 verse 1, “The same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the seaside. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him so that he went into a ship and sat. And the

whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them in parable, saying,

Behold, the sower went forth to sow.” Sow is another word for plants. And that’s the

word that most people in the West would now be more familiar with. “And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the falls came and devoured them up. Some fell upon stony places where they had not much earth. And forthwith they sprung up because they

had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up, they were scorched. And because they

had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns. And the thorns sprang up

and choked them. But others fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some in hundredfold,

some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear? Let him hear.” So Albert Barnes

pointed out that most farmers will put most of their seed into good ground. But the proportions

in this parable, they’re meant to teach us a general lesson. They’re not to be taken as an exact representation of the results of all farming and all planting. We shouldn’t be too strict about that. And that’s true of a lot of parables. There are many parables

and the present is lessons about doctrine. But we have to look at the literal interpretation that Jesus gives of the parables and look at the more plain statements in the Word of God in developing doctrine. So verse 10, “And the disciples came and said unto him,

Why speakest thou unto them in parables? And he answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; but to them it is not

given. For whosoever hath to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath.” So we see something in verse 10 which we’re going to see later on in this chapter if we get to it tonight,

if not next week, that public preaching of God’s Word is not all ministry. And we see

that with Jesus here. We see He would speak truths to the multitudes, but then to people who came to Him afterward and asked for more understanding, He was ready to teach them more. And it’s important not to see church and not to see preaching as just preaching message and just leave it at that. People are going to have questions. People are going

to not understand everything. People are going to want to know more and get more insight.

And it’s important that those who preach God’s Word be available to talk to people afterwards.

And that is one key distinction between true men of God and false prophets. There are false prophets that are very friendly, that are willing to speak all day and are willing to

be bothered at any time. But I’m just saying as a general rule, those who are really sent by God will not limit their time of instruction, their time of conversation to the time that’s devoted to church, whereas people who are preaching for themselves will tend to guard

their time in that regard. So we see by Jesus’ words in verse 12 that those who are receiving the truth and light they have, they’ve already been given, are going to get more. And those who aren’t doing so are going to have light taking from them and become more blind. So this is being illustrated right here by the disciples, receiving light at the multitudes

as a whole. We’re not kidding. One obedience and victory paves the way for more obedience

and victory. And likewise, disobedience paves the way for more disobedience and defeat. So continuing verse 13, “Therefore speak out in the variables, because they see and see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled

the prophecy of Isaiah, which sayeth by hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and

their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed. Thus, at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their

heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” Some people teach that Jesus was deliberately trying to hide truth from the multitudes by speaking to them in parables.

But that’s not really true. Because if Jesus wanted to hide these parables from the multitude,

he wouldn’t have spoken them at all to them. He wasn’t insincere in giving them these parables.

What he’s doing is he was seeking to implant some truth to them without casting pearls before his line, which is what he had taught earlier in this book in Matthew 7. He was seeking to instill in the multitude a hunger to get right with God and come to the knowledge

of the truth. And those who would act on that and inquire more and get a better understanding

of the meaning of this parable were going to have a better chance to do that. It’s important to remember that many were following Jesus around and hearing him because of earthly

motives. They wanted literal bread. We see that from John 6. They wanted earthly deliverance

from the Romans because of a false concept of the Messiah. They wanted to get healed, which wasn’t in itself bad, but some of them, that’s all they wanted. Or they just had a curiosity to see his miracles. So I think that this is a little bit different than…

There’s certainly a truth that we need to learn, but it’s just important to note that

Christ had to deal with these things in his crowds in ways that maybe some don’t have to deal with as much. So God doesn’t force those within different dole hearts to receive the salvation Christ offers. I believe that’s the real lesson here. But the fault here, verses

14 and 15, the Calvinists would make it seem like they might imply that God is the one hiding truth from people. But the fault here is in the people and not God. Adam Clark said about these verses, “His state is freely deplorable who is sick unto death and yet is afraid of

being cured.” We see that in the natural realm. Sometimes people don’t want to go to the doctor.

They suspect they’re sick, but they want to deny that they’re sick. They don’t want to go to the doctor and they don’t want to get a cure. So they close their eyes to their

own illness. They deceive themselves that they’re okay because they don’t want the inconvenience

of going to the doctor and being given instruction that they need the follow, they would actually

heal them. That’s all the more unseen when it comes to sin in our eternal salvation.

Jesus continues to verse 16, “But blessed are your eyes for they see and yours for they hear.” Remember back in 1125, he thanked his father for hiding these things from the wise and prudent and revealing them unto babes. We have an example of that here. He said in John 9 that he came into the world that they would not see and that they would seem like

they were blind. So this is just being exemplified. “For verily I say unto you that many prophets

and righteous men have delirious to see those things which you see and have not seen them,

and to hear those things which you hear and have not heard them.” Just think about people

like Abraham and King David and Elijah and Moses. These were all righteous men who delirious

to see the fulfillment of God’s promises. They would ultimately be in the Messiah and

they had never seen them. Those who would have been right with God in the Old Testament would have been ready to receive Christ as we talked about in the intro in the first

two chapters. We see that with Simeon, with Anna, with the fact that in the opening chapters in Luke, we see how Simeon was looking for the Lord’s Christ and the Lord had promised him that he would not see death until he had seen him. I’ll just read 1 Peter chapter 1

and say it’s relevant here. Not all of the chapters. I’ll stop in Hebrews 11. In Hebrews

11 it says of the Old Testament scenes. In 11, 39 and 40, “And these all having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise of the Messiah, the promise of being

enveloped by the Holy Spirit, the blessing of the new God.” Verse 40, “God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect.” 1 Peter chapter

1 verse 10, “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who

prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching water with manner of time, the

Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings

of Christ and the glory that should follow unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves,

but unto us they did administer the things which are now reported unto you by them that

have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things

the angels desired to look into.” Albert Burns’ quote with verse 17, “The object always dearest

to the hearts of all righteous peoples to witness the coming and advancement of the kingdom

of Christ.” And he started Revelation 22, 20, second to last verse of the Bible where Jesus says, “Behold, I come quickly,” and John says, “Amen, even so come Lord Jesus.”

So continuing then. So now Jesus is going to give, he’s going to give the disciples and then he who came with them to inquire more about the meaning of the parable. He’s going

to explain it to them in verses 18 to 23. So verse 18 he says, “Hear ye therefore the

parable of the sower. When anyone hearth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not,

then come up the wicked one and catcheth the way that which was sown in his heart.” This is he which received seed by the wayside. And Adam Clark’s opinion, “Reganite it that

not” might have been a better interpretation there. And I sort of, I could definitely see

how that would be a valid opinion. There’s a way to hear the Gospel with inadequate attentiveness

and carefulness. And somebody who would do that. Now we’re talking about the true gospel here. We’re talking about the Word of God being preached rightly and accurately. We’re

not talking about false gospels. Now a false gospel receiving that would make a person a tear, which we’re going to get to later in the chapter, that the seed does matter because the seed which is the Word of God is going to produce a harvest. It’s going

to produce a crop of righteousness which God accepts. And a false gospel would produce tears, a weed that can appear to be like a good crop as it’s springing up, but in reality

it’s something corrupt and useless. So that’s important to point out, but we’ll talk about that word willingly as we get into the parable of the weed and the tears either later to

know it or next week. So somebody who hears the gospel with inadequate attentiveness and carefulness, they very possibly didn’t have a real concern about their salvation at all.

Or if they did, maybe they assumed they were a believer already when they weren’t. And so they kind of were like, “Yeah, I know this. I’ve heard this before.” Maybe they

had their own ideas of how to be right with God. Maybe there’s somebody of another religion.

And they were biased in their own mind. And so they didn’t really lay the heart, the gospel message when they listened to it. Maybe they just were wrapped up with distractions of other sorts. This person on the wayside, they weren’t in the field. It’s plowed. There was

hardness to their heart. There was an irreceptive attitude to the seed of the gospel. And that’s

certainly something we deal with much in the West. Jimmy, as noted, was much less the case

when he went to Kenya. So this person on the wayside never really became a believer. Now, it’s important to note that this is not a one-time event. We know that it’s possible for somebody to hear the gospel at one point in their life and not pay attention to it.

And later on, at another time in their life, their heart is ready to receive the word.

This is not what I think that these things I’ve spoken in the present tense for one because we shouldn’t provoke God. It’s our attitude right now that matters towards the word. And we shouldn’t deceive ourselves that things are going to be better in the future while

we disregard the word right now. The person who does that is obviously just asking for destruction. Now, I believe if you go to one of the parallels of this passage in Luke 8, 12, and 13, we’re going to see here that the person who has the word right now is going to be the person on the wayside never really was a believer. Whereas the person in the stony places, I believe, did become a believer and there was real life, but life that was

not able to be sustained in the long term. And as we get to the thorny ground here, same same thing. So if you go to the parallel in Luke 8, 11, Jesus says, “Now the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are they that hear. Then come to the devil and take it away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and

be saved.” So the person on the wayside didn’t experience life, didn’t experience salvation. They on the rock are they which when they have heard received the word with joy. And these have no root which for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away. Now if

the person wasn’t really the person on the rocky places wasn’t really a believer, then

them falling away from a false profession wouldn’t really even be a tragedy. And so as we continue

in Matthew 13 here, Jesus says in verse 20, “But he that received the seed in the stony places, the same as he that heareth the word and anon with joy receiveth it.” Now receiving the word with joy is we see that in Acts 2 41 that the people who came to Christ genuinely did receive God’s word with gladness. They were people who were truly repentant and they were mourning over their rejection of the Messiah. But such repentance is necessary

to really receive the word. So in verse 21, Jesus says, “That hath he not rooted in himself, but dewereth for a while for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word.”

By and by means immediately he is offended. So I believe that if this rocky ground here was never really in the faith then falling away and being withered wouldn’t even be a tragedy. It would actually be a blessing. And so I would say that the wayside here is a person who if the wayside here paid attention at all, if he didn’t really receive God’s word and yet he made a professional faith in Christ, that would be a misunderstanding. And he would be the one who hasn’t really received the gospel but claimed he did. So that would be the false, the wayside here could be a false convert who thinks he was really a believer but wasn’t. But the rocky ground here had life. And when Jesus said

he had not rooted in himself, I believe that he did have some root because he would have never, he did receive the seed and the seed did spring up quickly. And it’s not because, when it would have sprung up, had there not been some life underneath. But it wasn’t deep life. There wasn’t a lot of depth to this person. And because of that lack of depth,

it’s not that he grew up quicker than the others, but the plant was, the sprout was seen quicker because there was less depth of earth. And I believe, so I think we could say that those without depth have life but they’re fragile. Their right for destruction

should unfavorable conditions occur as we see from verse 21. And certainly anybody who wants to dispute that or challenge me on that afterwards, I certainly welcome that because it’s something that is, I used to believe the other way about. But after I stopped believing in unconditional eternal security and after I saw it was possible to fall away and saw

the warnings in the Bible about the danger of that and was faced with the fact that this person, the one on the rocky ground and the one on the stony ground, I’m sorry, the rocky ground and the stony ground are the same, but the one on the stony ground and the one that was choked by the torrents that there was really life there. But certainly I welcome questions and challenges about that. We see the problem with the rocky ground was that the ground itself on top had been plowed and there was a reception of the word. But there was rocky ground that was beneath the soil, not too far away from it, that needed to be broken up or else the life would be unsustainable and it would not, or else it was not going to be able to endure. So I believe there’s a lesson then that we’ve got to keep letting

God’s word melt our hearts and not let them get hardness and that there’s a deeper depth that we need to go to in Christ and responding to the word, that there’s a strength that

we need to endure in the midst of the race in order to ultimately have the strength to

finish the race. And I’m going to show that from a few scriptures here. If you go to Colossians

chapter 2. In Colossians 2 Paul instructs, he instructs the Colossians in verse 6, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in and rooted and built up in him.” I believe that this is instruction to believers to go deeper and to be, and in going deeper, go higher and continue to grow in him, “and establishing the faith as ye

have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any men spoil you through philosophy

and being deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, or the elements of the world, and not after Christ.” This spoiling will interfere with being rooted

and built up in him. So verse 9, “For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality and power.” So then if

you go to Hebrews chapter 3, verses 12 to 15, something that verses we’ve looked at before related to how it’s possible for a believer to fall away by being hardened and sinned and by not faithfully responding to the word of God. This has to be to ultimately bear fruit, to actually continue growing in the Lord and actually be harvested as a crop of righteousness that he accepts. There’s a need to continually receive the word to be the Hearer on the good ground. And hardness deeper in the heart that doesn’t get dealt with could deal with it. So Hebrews chapter 3, verses 12 to 15, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God,

but exhort one another daily of what it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning

of our confidence steadfast unto the end. While it is said today if he will hear his

voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation,” referring to the time that the Israelites provoke

God in the wilderness and wouldn’t enter the promised land when numbers were in when God

called them to go in. So let me just organize my notes here.

And I think an example of this would be, what if the great tribulation were to start today? How many Christians have the depth in the Lord? How many Christians are rooted enough in the Lord to continue to faithfully call on him and keep his commandments and keep

his works to the end? If such a great tribulation were to start today where we had to literally in order to keep buying and selling, we would have to take the mark of the beast and commit idolatry. Do we have enough depth in the Lord to handle that situation with the faith and patience that we would need to not take the mark of the beast? I can speak for myself.

I don’t believe I would. I believe the Lord has brought me closer to that point, but I don’t dare say I’m there yet. There’s God’s people just to, for anybody to even have a chance to endure during that time when the sun will be out and it’s very ultimate heat.

That’s going to take a very great depth, and we should consider that. So the need for more depth in Christ is why we need to have spiritual breakthroughs even after our conversion. I thought of some examples of going deeper in the Lord that just practical things I’ve heard people talk about that I think are good to consider. Things that may be for a brand new believer who’s not in the seat of persecution or is faced with a terrible trial at the moment.

Things you might be able to get away with for a while, but to ultimately endure in the

world to keep following Christ, having a established habit of obeying His commands, even when affliction

and keeping His Word are inevitably combined. These are some examples I thought of.

Earthly

security blankets. I heard a man talk once about how when He, in Thanksgiving in America,

we used to only be two football games on every single Thanksgiving. Now there’s probably three

or four and there’s a whole other bunch of things on. So this guy was talking about on Thanksgiving the holiday that nobody’s working, everybody’s eating turkey. It’s one of the holidays we have here that’s not sinful in and of itself to keep because it’s a good

to give thanks and even though the world celebrates it irreverently, it’s possible for a Christian

to celebrate it for the right reason. But this man was talking about how he needs to

have the TV on with the football on during Thanksgiving, even when he doesn’t care about the football game because he needs that TV on as a security blanket. He needs to feel

safe and secure to have the TV on. And I can understand what he means. There can be something,

there can be like a false security associated with that. But if God’s going to keep dealing with us and we’re going to keep responding to His Word and keep being the good ground, is there some subtle idolatry, some subtle something that you might not be conscious of when you’re first a believer, but something that is really hindering you from going on

with the Word? Definitely there is. So a person who just is slothful spiritually and doesn’t deal with that is insubmissive to God’s dealings about that as they go on. They’re being set up to fall away because what about when the time comes when having a security like that is combined with sinning somehow? There’s just a lot of ways in which persecution and

the world being further corrupt could make something that before was maybe just immature and not sinful, could make something sinful and could just develop a mindset in somebody that could keep them from going on in the Lord. I thought of another man that, this is

a Christian man who was sick and he was counseled that God might really want to be speaking

to you about something in your life right now in your sickness. He just laughed and said, “I just want to get better. I don’t feel like praying right now. I just want to get better.” What was that sinful in and of itself? Well, maybe, but it’s hard to say. You’re getting real affliction. That can be really tough to deal with and we all could understand why

such a man would want to just sleep. But at the same time, the Bible does talk about times

where God seeks to speak to people and chasing them and correcting them in sickness. I believe

Job 34, Job 33, 34, I’m not going to go into it now. So about a time when affliction comes, you have to face affliction to be faithful to Christ. There’s absolutely no way that

you would have to pray. You would have to seek God in affliction just to stay faithful, just to not commit idolatry, just to go on. That man may not have fallen away because of that attitude there, but there definitely may have been a setting himself up to fall

away by just not wanting to, not being willing to deal with maybe some things deeper in my

heart that the Lord wants to purify and that just I want to get better. That could be preventing him from having the depth that he’ll need to continue on when greater affliction comes

to him. I also thought of the election results. I’m not going to talk about politics or the election during this Bible study except to see that having excessive joy or sorrow about any political election, that’s really not a good thing because does the election matter

to some extent in terms of the conditions of our country or any country that has an election? It sure does. But at the same time, there’s a work that needs to go on. There’s

things that we have to trust only in God for no matter who’s in power. So to have an attachment

deep in your heart, political conditions being a certain way, to have a trust in men deep in your heart about that, that would cause you to get really, really excited about one political candidate winning or really, really depressed about another political candidate losing. That could very well be not dealing with that type of thing. It could very well

be a lack of depth. It could cause you to fall away in unfavorable conditions when the sun is out. And there could be a thousand different examples of these things. One bit

of advice that Mark Boling gave about having more depth in the Lord is that when we read the Bible to put ourselves right in the midst of the Bible story and to really put yourself

and pretend you were there and to consider what it would have been like, that there’s

an experience and a depth in Christ that can be gained from that. And just one more thing about that. Even before I really connected this passage to a believer, I had heard the counsel given or seen it given in writing that if we want to endure in the faith when

persecution comes or when some type of affliction comes from being faithful to Christ, we need

to be faithful in little things and to handle smaller trials without letting them shake

us. And we need to seek, we need to respond faithfully and seek God to find a security in Him to prepare us for the bigger trials. I thought of Luke 16, where Jesus said, “Heed it’s faithful and a small thing is faithful also at much.” And I thought of Jeremiah 12,

5, where it says God tells Jeremiah, and He tells him in this very context too. This is a very thing He’s talking about. In Jeremiah 12, 5, God tells Jeremiah, “If thou is run

with the footmen and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses?

And

if in the land of peace where in thou trustest they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?” So I think that there’s an important lesson there in applying the stony ground here to a believer who lacks maturity, who lacks, that lacks a sufficient root in Christ. But as I said, I’m definitely open to being corrected there. So continuing on with Matthew 13. I’m dealing with each of these grounds. I think it’s important to really explain them because I believe that there’s just a really important lesson about them that I think I’d gotten a long part of my Christian life without really seeing. So

verse 22, “He also that receives seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches stroke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.” I think it’s good to read the parallel in Mark. Notice he says, “And he

becometh unfruitful.” He had begun being fruitful, but he became unfruitful. I think that the way Mark puts it is especially necessary to look at Mark 4. Okay, Mark, Mark, Mark, Mark, Mark 4. 18 and 19. Jesus says, “And these are they which are sown among thorns, such as hear the word and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.” So here he says, not just the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches, but the lusts of other things

entering in. So with the thorny ground here, the land was plowed, the seed had taken place and rooted was growing up, but the land did not remain properly cleared of weeds or thorns.

Anything that distracts us from dealing with God and faithfully responding to his word as

a thorn. The person on the rocky ground was more directly disobedient, became more directly

disobedient and fell away. The person among the thorns was also disobedient and fell away, but they were distracted by other things. So anything that distracts us from dealing with

God and faithfully responding to his word is a thorn. I think of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians

17, 7, 29 to 31. “But this I say, brethren, that the time is short; it remaineth that

both they that have wives be as though they had none. Preoccupation with marriage can be a major thorn that controls God’s word in somebody who had been fruitful, and they that

weep as though they wept not, and they that rejoice as though they rejoice not, and they that buy as though they possess not, and they that use this world as not abusing it for

the mission of this world path of the way.” When somebody casually introduces new activities

to their life and new pursuits to their life without really praying about it, without really being careful that it doesn’t distract their time with God, doesn’t distract them from doing what God’s called them to do, they’re setting themselves up to be choked and to become unfruitful. Think of what coming to dwell inside him. He just lifted up his eyes. He saw that the plane was well watered. He saw it was a good land to dwell in. But he didn’t see God. And the scripture in Genesis 13 gives a comment at that point, “But the

men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners before the Lord.” He just followed the sight

of his eyes because he saw opportunity. And that opportunity, it didn’t make him not a righteous man at first because we read in 2 Peter chapter 2 that while dwelling inside Sodom, it says that righteous man in seeing and hearing the wicked deeds of the doors of Sodom was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. I paraphrase that, but it’s in 2 Peter 2. The bottom line is that he put earthly opportunity above the will of God

and he’s still in seeking that earthly opportunity for a time. He stayed faithful to God’s commandments

in a compromised way, but we know what happened with Lot eventually. That there’s reason to

believe after what happened with his daughters here in Genesis 19 that he did become an unrighteous

man even after God spared him from the destruction of Sodom.

This matter of thorns, this is a more gradual falling away. And it’s important that both

those from America and those not from America understand that this is why America is such a dangerous place spiritually to live because the opportunities of pursuits, the distractions

to God’s Word are just very, very much and very, very strong. And this is why people

from other countries, if they, you know, you get a chance to come to America, you need to really pray and see God

and be really, really careful to make 100% sure it’s his will that you come here. And

then when you do get here, treat this place no matter how peaceful and nice it seems, treat it as a battle zone the way an American would treat or should treat going to a Muslim country where 99% of the population is Muslim. In that case, that would be very hard for

us Americans to handle. But we would see the danger outwardly, whereas you come to America,

you don’t, the thorns are subtle, but they’re strong and they’re powerful. And that is why

many people who were flourishing Christians, I’ve read of people from Russia that were flourishing

Christians under persecution, under great, just great, great struggles to be faithful

to the Lord. And then they get a chance to come to America and they just subtly become, they subtly become worldly and they fall away gradually. There’s a church right next to my house. It’s literally next door to me. It’s the Russian Evangelical Church of Buffalo.

And I can just see the people as they’re walking in. I’ve heard that many of them used to be faithful Christians and maybe some still are. I’m not saying that not any are. But you can tell that America’s had a bad impact on them, just the way you see them dressed and you see the way their children act. So I’m going to stop with verse 23 tonight, just because

it’s so important that we have went through this parable carefully. So verse 23, “But

he that receives heat into the good ground is he that hearth the word and understand it, which also beareth fruit and bringeth forth, some in hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” So we see here the recipe for our lives bearing a crop that God will accept, the need to hear God’s word carefully, to understand it and to bring forth fruit, to be obedient and find

God’s grace to be doers of the word and not hearers only. Something that’s not said directly that Jesus doesn’t mention, but it’s definitely was implied to those who understand farming the slightest bit and I only understand it the slightest bit. It’s implied here that there’s sunlight and water also being ministered. And I think that that’s a big factor in why

even the righteous people bought, they didn’t bring forth fruit in the same quantity, somewhere

in hundredfold, somewhere sixtyfold and somewhere thirtyfold. Some were receiving more better

instruction and had better opportunities of hearing faithful Bible teaching. Some were

watered by fellowship. Some were given better examples and they had better guidance.

Some

were able to know more exactly what was pleasing the God. Some we want to be part of the best

church we possibly can, but maybe some of the best churches they were able to be part of was much better than what others were able to be part of. There are certain qualities that we can’t fully control, but we have a responsibility to be faithful with what we

can control. And you remember later on in Matthew 25, God was equally pleased with the one who had ten talents, who gained ten more talents as he was with the one who had two talents that gained two more talents. The person who bought forth thirtyfold, if they

had only thirty percent of the light and thirty percent of the examples, godly examples and opportunities that the one who bought forth a hundredfold had, then they would be just

as pleasing the God. But the bottom line is that we’re expected to hear God’s word and seek to understand it the best we can and to obey it and bring forth truth the best

we possibly can. As we get to the parable of the wheat and the ters next week, we’re going to see an important lesson that I’m just going to close with now. I want to reiterate

it next week because it’s just such a vastly important lesson that I really think understanding it is going to just change the way everybody looks at ministry and the Christian life and

just to get a long-term plan about considering what the long-term effects of everything we do is. The seed of the Gospel is sold throughout the world. Multitrust is sold throughout the world. Multitudes here, some multitudes do not pay adequate attention to receive the

message truly. And of those who have received the message, only those who keep responding

to the Word so as to grow, so as to mature, so as to be fit, to be harvested and bought into the Word’s barn. After all that sowing, all of that planting, all that watering of

the sunlight ministered, all the factors, it’s only going to be we’re going to see at the end of the wheat and the ters which is going to be very related that in verse 41 of the Bible. Yeah, I’m mixing this up with, oh yes, I’m sorry, Jesus wasn’t stated at

the very end of the parable but as he, in verse 30 when he’s giving the parable itself without the interpretation, he talks about, “Gather ye first the tears and bind them in

bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” Only that which received the seed and continued to yield the crop, it was actually able to be harvested after all that

work and was actually going to be saved and bought into the barn. So just with the importance

of all of this, I’m going to leave it up there for this week. Thank you, Brother Aaron. I will start off real quick if I may. We talked about this I believe last week and something we concentrate on is the overseas mission field which has incredible fertile soil to

sow the seeds of Jesus Christ. It really does. It tells us, Brother Aaron, that you see in

scripture where we shouldn’t preach somewhere. We have some questions now that are going around

where, and I know you touched on this a couple weeks ago I believe too, but is there any place

we should not go to preach the gospel or are there places we should go more often to preach

the gospel to make it more fruitful? I mean I know the gospel needs to be heard everywhere, that’s not the question. The question is, just so that everybody on here goes out of

the house and preaches the gospel. I can say that I’m speaking for everybody that I

know on here personally goes out and preaches the gospel when they can. So is there anything

biblically you can allude to that would tell us where and how to do that? Probably a real general question but I’m not going to say. We do support missionaries overseas and we do go over there once in a great while. Brett, is there anything you can tell us about that?

Well, the one thing I would say is that anytime somebody does evangelism anywhere, and I believe

in the case with all the missionaries this is already taken care of, but with some of

us here in the United States it might not be. I know that many street preachers here don’t

do this, is that when we evangelize somewhere we should have plans that if somebody does come to Christ they need to be more deeply rooted and built up in Him and it just would

be careless to preach somewhere if you’re not starting a church or don’t have a church

in that area where you’re preaching or you don’t know somebody nearby who you can send them to. I’m not saying that God never sends anybody anywhere where that’s not the case,

but I’m just saying there has to be consideration. If there’s not a church in place or a church we can refer people to then we should be all the more expertly, “What is this really where you’re sending me?” I also believe that if God sends us an opportunity, even if there’s

not a church in place or a church we can refer someone to, if God sends the opportunity to us. I’m not saying don’t preach if the opportunity is right before you, but I’m talking about people who maybe who just go to a city one weekend not knowing any faithful Christians there and leave. That’s what I’m referring to. That is an excellent answer. I never even thought of that. Well, I didn’t think of it that way because I’ve been talking to a lot

of brethren. It’s weird to know all the big disciples. There’s a gentleman that I know

that he has kind of a similar background as myself, entrepreneur and all that good stuff. He was very wealthy at one time and gave it all up for the Lord. He’s a full-time minister now in Africa. His name is Glenn Roseberry. He’s written some incredible blog articles with so much truth. He really hits hard to the professing Christians that don’t walk

to walk. He’s had a younger guy. He’s getting up there in age. He’s had a younger guy disciple

him. He wasn’t walking true before he found this young guy. God put him in his life, I’m

sure. Anyway, he says we cannot be a disciple of Christ. Excuse me. We can’t make disciples

unless we are a disciple. It’s a great, great fact. I’ll send that out to everybody that’s on the call tonight. It’s actually a two-part thing that you should read if you haven’t done it already. It even convicted me. I deal with this every day. It was so convicting.

It’s so true. The way we can really judge on how we are doing is how much of our day

has spent discipling others. How much of our week has spent discipling others? Do we have any fruit from … I know a lot of people go back to the verse which says, “Apollo’s

water planted the seed. I watered and God gave the increase.” Well, we are all disciple makers. That’s what we should be concentrating on. That was very good, brother. I’m going to do a video teaching on this because a lot of people have asked for it. That’s such a

good point that when we go preaching, if we are called to go to Hawaii, we need to find strong brethren in Hawaii first, I believe. That’s a great point that you just brought

up, brother Aaron. Thank you for bringing that up. We need to go find a place because, yeah,

what happens if … and God’s to be the glory, right? When somebody comes to Christ, we have

to disciple them, get them into a good local body, whether it’s a church or whatever it might be, but a true church. Thank you for bringing that up, brother Aaron. Anybody else

have any questions? Any questions from Bangladesh? Brother Daniel or Brother Hilton, don’t forget

to take off your mute if you have any questions. Hey, brother Hilton. Yeah, praise the Lord.

Amen. Nice to hear your voice. How are you? How are you all there? Very good. Any questions

before we stop the recall? Go ahead. I have a question. Actually, yesterday we were in Santo’s home. There we just done a little prayer meeting at his home. Then there I had

a … I hear a question about Jesus Christ’s second coming. One man, he wants to know that is Jesus Christ will come very soon, but this come is second coming or he will come another

time or again, upper second coming. You understand, brother? Yes, brother Hilton. That’s a good

question. People who believe in a pre-tribulational rapture have to believe that Jesus is going

to have two second coming. They believe he’s going to have a secret coming to rapture his people and then he’s going to have another second coming openly three and a half to seven years later to judge the world. I believe that the coming to get his people and the coming

to judge the world is one coming so that there is only one second coming. Just logic itself would say that. I’ll just go to Revelation 16. There are many, many, many scriptures

that could be given about this. In Revelation 16, we have the anti-crisis of the anti-crisis of the devil, the false prophet. They are preparing the world for the battle of Armageddon. In verse 13, “And I saw three spirits like first come out of the mouth of the dragon,

and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they

are the spirits of devils working miracles.” We looked at this verse last week in a different context which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to battle, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. We have the

world as a whole coming against Israel. Ultimately, they’re rebelling against God. I believe they’re

seeking to take over the land and to destroy all the remnants of God’s worship out of Israel. Then in verse 15, Jesus says, “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and

keepeth his garments. Blessed he walk naked, and they see ashamed.” We know from earlier

in the book in chapter 3, 5 and 6, only those who would even… It would only be those who

would even have to keep their garments because the unbelievers would already be naked.

They

would already be not in white robes. Back in 3, 5 and 6, Jesus tells the church in Sardis

in 3 verse 4, “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment or white clothing, and I will not blot his name out

of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels.

He that hath in there let him hear what the Spirit saith under the churches.” Then in

verse 15, we have Jesus exhorting, “Plessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments. Blessed he walk naked, and they see ashamed.” There’s going to be true Christians on earth right before a second coming. In verse 16, we see the Antichrist gather them together

into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. In verse 17, “And the seven angels poured

out his violence of the year, and there came a Greek voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, ‘It is done.'” That’s when Christ has come back. We see believers on the earth right before Christ comes back. If you go to Luke chapter 17, there’s just

so many scriptures that could be given to prove this. So in 1726, Jesus says, “And as it was in the days of Noah, social it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married waves, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered

into the ark, and the foot came and destroyed them all. Likewise also it was in the days of what? They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it reigned fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.”

So we just see that truth in scripture. It’s the day that those that are saved get taken

out. It’s the day that wrath comes upon the wicked. So those who try to say that the righteous

are going to be taken in a pre-trib rapture years before Christ comes back to Joseph’s wicked and they divide Christ’s coming. They divide a second coming, the two coming, we see by those scriptures that they are in there on that. Is that clear brother?

Yeah, that was very, very, very good brother. You got that brother Hilton? I just knew it.

I think it’s a little longer of an answer or quite a bit longer so you can, yeah he’s

an Amen brother Aaron. We just can’t hear him right now. I used to believe a lot of, most of the Pentecostal churches, a lot of the, most of the churches and most of the

people, at least in America, and also overseas too, they believe in the pre-tribulation rapture, which is brother Aaron just said it’s not true. Now, I don’t know if you knew this brother,

but there was even steps taken many years ago, at least this was the rumor, where they wouldn’t have two Christian airline pilots, you know. They wouldn’t have certain people working in certain jobs. I don’t know if that was a rumor or not, but you know, that would make sense because they believe that right. So anyway, you can go off of any tangents there, but that was a good question brother Hilton. Anybody have any questions before I stop the recording?

Yeah, I have a quick question. I was talking to a friend of mine today over lunch and he’s

a guy, he has two young children at home and we got on the subject about God’s judgment of sinners and you know, the lake of fire at the end of times and things like that and

where sinners end up. And his kind of viewpoint is that it was really hard for him to see, you know, he’s a believer, but I don’t know yet to what extent, you know, he kind of goes along with the things that I say about the Bible and we talk about it, you know, fairly often lately. But his big point of, I guess, struggle with that, the thought of eternal

hell is like, well, he’s like, I’m a father, I have two young kids, you know, and even at this point in their life, his oldest is two only. And he said, if he doesn’t get enough sleep, you know, he can be very contrary, very, you know, rebellious against him even

now. But he said, never would I, my son could go out and murder people in the world when

he grows up and I still wouldn’t want to, you know, he’s still my son, I still wouldn’t want to cast him into a lake of fire. And I think as a culture now, we try to, we tend

to downplay sin and make God almost out to be the bad guy, like, oh, God’s so awful because

he’ll throw a sinner into the lake of fire to eternal torment. But we miss how terrible sin is. I mean, that just magnifies how awful sin really is. But do you, do you brother

have any kind of guidance or any scriptures that I could, that would help out with such

a subject or such a, you know, obstacle for that guy so he can kind of help to understand it a little better? Well, I think that for the most part, you answered your question.

Well, is it, he needs to, he needs to be taught just the nature of sin and the better understanding

of what sin is and who God is in his holiness. And yet he’s not, he’s not like a man and his, and his wrath is pure, unlike man’s wrath. So I would just, I think you’re just, I think

you’re really just on the right track in terms of what he, what he needs to, what he needs to be told. I would just say that people who say, well, that I would never want to see my worst enemy tormented in hell and things like that. It’s important they know that it wouldn’t be their place to torment their worst enemy in hell because like James 1 says, the wrath

of man works not the righteousness of God. Romans 12, vengeance belongeth to me, saith the Lord. So it’s, it’s right. God’s wrath and God’s vengeance is always, is always right.

Whereas man’s wrath and man’s vengeance, if it’s not, if it’s not in line with yet Jesus

in the temple, since his, since he was under God’s authority and he was dealing with where he had jurisdiction, that was right. But man’s wrath is never right except in the, in the jurisdiction and to the extent that God’s own authority, which he’s delegated would allow

it. Otherwise it’s, otherwise it’s sinful. And I, I think he just needs to understand, needs a lesson in God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness. It’s that, that’s the direction

I would go there. Great. Thank you, brother. Great question. That’s, that’s one of the things too that there’s a lot of people that just simply, so any other questions we can get on recording or we good. All right. Thank you for joining. We’re going to go into fellowship after this, but thank you for joining the Globe and Worship with you. It’s a Bible study,

Wednesday morning overseas. All those who are listening live, thank you so much. We’ll talk after we get there. So listening on the recording, we love you all and keep on laboring on the mission field, wherever you are, whether it’s here in the States or in Australia, I know

for the Hayden we’ll be listening and anywhere all over the world. We just really appreciate you keeping your hand to the plow and never looking back. God bless.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 13-24 – 13-58( end) Week 13

Good evening everybody and welcome to another edition of the Global Mission for Children Bible study.

We edify the body of Christ by some great teaching we have every week at 12.30 pm Eastern time here in the United States.

We would like to thank all our mission partners for participating. Although they are not on at the second, they will be dialing in.

And we also thank all of you of course, both our mission partners and everybody else that listen live as well as on the recording.

As always, Brother Aaron and myself ask that if anybody has questions, please email.

You can always go to the globalmissionforchildren.org website and hit contact there and leave a message.

We will get that immediately or you can email us at jaymond@globalmissionforchildren.org. So we are going through the book of Matthew and we have gone through 12 weeks so far.

We are on Chapter 13, so almost a chapter a week here, a little over. And we are starting this week in Matthew 13, 24.

So we are starting off a parable here, a parable of the sower. So I will turn that over to Brother Aaron.

Thank you so much again Brother Aaron for edifying us and we will turn it over to you.

Okay, thanks Jimmy. We are going to start then as Jesus puts forth another parable after the parable of the seed and the sower.

I am just going to get right into it in verse 24 here.

Another parable putting forth unto them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is laking unto a man which sowed good seed in his field.

But when men sucked, his enemy came and sowed tears among the wheat and went his way.”

So we know that seed represents the Word of God, the gospel message.

We are going to see later on by the Scripture in 1 Peter that the gospel message comes by the Word of God.

The gospel message supports all the Word of God. And that is why we could use them interchangeably here, those two terms.

So now we have Jesus talking about a counterfeit gospel, another type of seed that is going to produce something that is not an edible crop,

something that can look like wheat in its infant stages, but what it ultimately produces is a wheat that any farmer who knows anything knows that it is not eligible for the harvest.

So to contrast these tears among the wheat, just think about this compared to the Word of God.

Just think of the broad way, just accept Jesus, but not practice lawlessness versus the narrow way.

Being obedient, which is what the true seed of the Word of God brings those who receive it to.

Note by verse 25 that Satan works by darkness and subtlety.

I am going to just give some scriptures. I am not going to go there, but those who are listening and writing down scriptures can write these down.

2 Peter 2, verses 1 and 2, talking about how there will be false teachers among the churches who will subtly bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them.

Jude, verses 3 and 4, and contending for the faith once delivered unto the saints, this is needful, for there are certain men crept in on the wearers,

talking about men who were before will to ordain to this condemnation, and that is talking about men whose condemnation is foreshadowed or written in the Old Testament.

2 Timothy 3, verses 6, talking about how teachers who preach a perverted form of Christianity, they creep in the houses and we kept this silly woman laden with sins.

I think women in that context present soul and entire churches.

Satan studies the word of God in order to manipulate it so that he can counterfeit the truth therein. His intention is that people will think they are being taught by God’s word, when in fact they are being taught contrary to his word.

Every single truth that we accept, if it is really true, should be supported by everything else in God’s word.

There is not a single, if someone is using a scripture and they are saying something, they capture other scripture, they arrive. And that is especially dangerous when that is negating Jesus’s Lordship, negating our need to be obedient.

When that is somehow promoting sin or saying that something that is sinful is actually okay, whether directly or indirectly.

And they are just teaching a doctrine that would ultimately lead away from genuine obedience and lead into sin.

We want to remember Matthew 4, 4 here, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

That is something that is a thought that runs throughout this entire chapter.

I think of Brother Jimmy was telling me when he was in Kenya, I think he was with Brother Moses.

And they went by this church called the Holiness and Repentance Church. That sounds wonderful.

But the truth of falsehood of a church is not seen in its name, it is seen in the fruit. And that fruit might take some time to show itself.

But the genuineness of the seed will determine what the crop will ultimately become.

And I think here about John 8, 31 and 32 where Jesus said, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples; indeed, ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

And this Holiness and Repentance Church in Kenya, even though it had a good name, when Jimmy mentioned it, I think it was Brother Moses, forgive me if I am getting that wrong.

He immediately told him, “No, brother, it is a good name, but not a good church.” And obviously the fruit had shown itself there. So that is what this is dealing with.

Satan sowing a corrupt seed that produces tears among the wheat. So verse 26, “But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tears also.”

Adam Clark says about this verse, “When God revives his work, Satan revives his also. No marble therefore if we find scandal arising suddenly to discredit a work of grace where God has begun to pour out his spirit.”

So that is one thing that we can count on.

When there is fruit repentance and there are obedient disciples and there are people that are really overcoming sin and walking holy and experiencing victory and there is awakening, there is revival,

you know that Satan is going to attack that. And his attack of that is often subtle because the persecution, the outward persecution, the open rebuke and mockery from the world,

that is there, that is a factor. But the much more dangerous, the much more insidious thing that Satan is going to send, he is going to send false teachers with false doctrines that are going to bring confusion

and bring in false believers, seek to turn away true believers into false believers by returning to sin. And that is where in 2 Peter chapter 2, that is ultimately where Peter went with that.

We read in Acts chapter 20 that Paul is talking to the elders of the church at Ephesus and he tells them in verse 26, “Wherefore I take you to your record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men.

For I have not shunned it to clear unto you the whole counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievers was entering among you, not sparing the flock. Also your own self shall memorize speaking perverse things.”

That just means misguided corrupt to draw away disciples after them, to cause true disciples to become tears. Therefore watch and remember that by the space of 3 years I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears.

So obviously there is a need for vigilance. There is a need to really pay attention to God’s Word, pay attention to who is coming into a fellowship, who is bringing influence there, exactly what they are saying.

And that is primarily the job of overseers or elders in a fellowship. But that is certainly also the job of those who love God’s people and those who are studying the Word to also be aware of these things and to bring these things to the attention of the elders.

And if there is a real work of God going on, hopefully there will be Godly pastors, Godly elders to bring these matters to.

So the peril of the last days is that the bad seed will be multiplied so that its product, as it is maturing and showing its corrupt character, the peril of the last days is that this corrupt product will seem like normal Christianity.

And the good seed’s character will seem strange and out of place. And go to 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 through 5 which shows this.

And this shows just what Paul calls perilous times, dangerous. Just think of being in an ice storm and it’s really slippery outside.

We would call that perilous. When you are in the middle of a war and there is grenades flying everywhere, bombs dropping, that would be a perilous place.

And this is a perilous time when it comes to Satan’s attack on holiness.

2 Timothy chapter 3, Paul tells Timothy, “This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, come with us, bolsters, proud blasphemers.” These are the tears showing themselves.

“Disobedience, appearance, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truthbreakers, false accusers, incontinence.” Incontinent means without self-control, fears, despisers or those that are good. Traders, heady, high-minded.

Heady has to do with know-it-alls. People who think they know everything refuse to receive correction. High-minded has to do with ambitious, not content to just be a humble brother in a fellowship, but always seeking advancement and seeking a name for oneself.

Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. And this is what makes things so perilous. Verse 5, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, and from such turn away.”

Obviously a form of godliness here is an appearance of Christianity. Church attendance, Bible reading, talking and using biblical phrases, praying, all the…using biblical lingo to save people who say, “Oh, I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.”

And they probably go to church and they read the Bible every day, but yet they’re tears and their lives prove it, but it might not be evident at first.

So many now are even offended at the thought that being a Christian is incompatible with these evil traits. And some even have the idea that one could even…and some are even offended at the idea that somebody can be a Christian and not be those things.

That genuine holiness and genuine victory over sin and an upright life in God’s eyes, an upright, blameless life is even possible. And I think that most everyone listening to this has experienced that type of opposition.

So continuing, verse 27, “So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, ‘Sir, it is thou not so good seed in thy field, and so it just means plant.’ From whence then hath the tears.

He said unto them, ‘An enemy hath done this.’ The servant said unto him, ‘We’ll tell them that we go and gather them up.’ But he said, ‘Nay, lest will you gather up the tears.’ He root up also the wheat with them.

Let both grow together unto the harvest. And in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘Gather you together first the tears, and bind them in bundles to burn them. But gather the wheat into my barn.'”

Here’s a quote from Mark Bolan about this parable. The parable has to do with the realities of farming that the people were familiar with. It would be impossible to root up tears in a wheat field.

So you let them both grow and separate them at harvest, which is what God will do. The angels could indeed make mistakes if they were to try to separate them before the harvest.

“As Christ is the only rightful judge of the hearts of men, and Christ will, and Christ will judge at the day appointed. The tears are the products of seed and perverted doctrines, and the wheat is the product of Christ’s true doctrine.

They all claim to be believers, but as with tears. They appear to be so when they bear fruit of a different sort, which means the roots are all tangled together by this time.”

Now notice, because this is important here. He says, “The tears can become wheat in the spiritual realm, and the wheat can become a tear.”

And my own insert here, “The tears can become wheat, and the wheat can become tears when they start listening to, if a tear repents and feeds Christ’s true word, then they will become wheat.

And if the wheat starts to not continue in Christ’s word and heeds a different gospel, then they’re going to become a tear in the spiritual realm.

Good trees can become bad trees, and bad trees can become good trees. Repentance and conversion is always a possibility.

So God, who is not willing that any should perish, but that all come to repentance, is patiently watching and calling.

Someday that patience will be spent in judgment will fall.” So that’s Mark Bowen’s quote on this parable here.

I sent him an email about that, and he was gracious enough to reply. Let’s see here.

So it’s interesting because think about if there were no wicked people in the world, if God were to bring judgment upon them right now, but let the righteous keep going, that would eliminate the possibility that anybody else would come to repentance.

And that’s why it says in 2 Peter chapter 3 that the Lord is delaying His coming, so that all might come to repentance.

So it has mercy. If God were to deal with all evil right now, then there would be no chance for anyone else to come to Christ and be saved in the end.

The crop that the Lord is looking for, there’s a test that the righteous have to go through in continuing in Christ’s word.

And a large part of that test is the trials related to living among the wicked. So it’s necessary for His purposes in Italy.

The examples of the wicked are often what can bring the righteous people to repentance.

Now, the examples of the wicked generally have a bad influence and generally encourage wickedness in others.

But it’s hard to say that that’s always the case because sometimes maybe some of us could, maybe some people listening, can testify that they came to repentance after seeing what somebody they knew had become.

Somebody was following a false gospel and they didn’t think it was that bad. Somebody seemed to be okay and then they really showed their evil character.

And some people, that could be a factor and others coming to repentance is the fact that somebody could see it and say, “God saved me because I don’t want to become what they’ve become.”

Maybe you see somebody has to deal with a wicked person all the time and it could cause them to see God to say, “I don’t want to spend eternity in hell with people like that.”

And so those are all factors in why the Lord would let them both grow together until the time of harvest. And I’m probably leaving out a lot of things here. It’s something to meditate upon.

We also learned from this parable that the Roman Catholic Church was trying to persecute heretics.

Now we know the Roman Catholic Church is heretical itself, but a true church of God, a true church of Christ is not going to kill people for being unbelievers, for being apostates.

And this parable is Christ’s own direction about that.

Now we’re going to learn later on that the field is the world. The field is not the church and that’s an important factor.

So there is a place like we know from 1 Corinthians chapter 5 to expel terrorists who are evidently terrorists from the church.

But no church has authority to go any further than that and actually take people’s lives, which is what the Roman Catholic Church has done to those who considered heretics, proving the Roman Catholic Church to be a false church in and of itself.

So we’re going to revisit this parable shortly when the disciples asked more about it.

So continuing on. Another parable put forth unto them saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds.

But when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs or plants, and become at the tree so that the birds of the year come and lodge in the branches thereof.”

Another parable speaking unto them, “The kingdom of heaven is like on the leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the hole was leavened.”

I never, I cannot to this moment say that I understand whether these parables are speaking about the kingdom in a positive way or whether they’re speaking about Satan’s opposition to the kingdom.

But I think that there’s a few key lessons that we can take either way. I’ll just say first about verses 31 and 32.

Some skeptics, some unbelievers will take this, what Jesus said about the mustard tree growing up and becoming a great plant.

And they’ll say, “Mustard trees do not grow.” They’ll say they only grow a few feet at plants.

But it’s important to note that many plants that grow very poorly in colder climates have been known to grow greatly in warmer climates.

And this was a warmer climate that Jesus was speaking in Israel.

And there are records, at least records from history that show that there have been some very, very large mustard trees that may have grown to a similar size as the moringa tree.

Maybe from what I, if I remember correctly, around nine feet tall.

So I think of the moringa tree when this, as I read this, it starts out with a small seed, but it grows greatly.

So I believe that this is talking about how the Kingdom of God will grow great from humble beginnings.

Just a handful of disciples in the obscure land of Israel was under Roman conquest.

And how just in the first century, the apostles had spread the true gospel all over the Roman Empire.

And obviously as that happened, though, there was an increase of corrupt teaching, too. And there was an increase of tears. So we can definitely look at the parable either way.

We could see that it’s talking about the gospel message starting out in this obscure place, obscure region among a small group of people,

and expanding throughout the world.

And we could also look at it in terms of counterfeit gospels, in terms of the bad seed sown by Satan.

I don’t see how either view of that would be inappropriate.

In verse 33, we could say about, you know, leaven usually in Scripture represents something bad.

1 Corinthians 5 talks about a little leaven, leaven at the whole lump. And leaven in 1 Corinthians 5 is compared to malice and wickedness.

But I think we could make the same conclusion from verses 31 and 32, only apply verse 33 to the inward working of the soul.

How when God’s grace comes into our souls, as we continue in the good, in heating the good word of God,

and continue to grow as a good seed, as Christ nature forms in us, God’s intention is to conform us to the image of Christ.

And we’re told in 2 Peter 3, 18, the only alternative to being led away with the air of the wicked is to grow in grace

and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So it’s impossible to be a stagnant Christian and still remain a faithful Christian.

And we could also look at it in terms of evil in the soul that when a Christian compromises and gets involved with sin,

if there’s not swift repentance, then they’re going to grow worse and worse so that little leaven is going to gradually corrupt them increasingly.

So I think that there’s a lesson that I thought of Zechariah 4.10. It says, “With the supplies of the day of small beginnings.”

It’s like little small beginnings will have great effects in the end, both when it comes to godliness and when it comes to ungodliness.

And I think that that’s a lesson we can take from these parables here.

And then I also would reference Matthew 13.12, “For whosoever hath to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance,

for whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.”

So that’s definitely, looking at it from the positive side, that’s definitely true of God’s grace. And obviously the same is kind of part of the negative.

So continuing on.

All these things speak Jesus unto the multitude of parables.

And without a parable speaking out unto them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,

“I will open my mouth in parables. I will other things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.”

That’s a quote from Psalm 78.2.

Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house.

And his disciples came unto him, saying, “to clear unto us the parable, the tears of the field.” So we see something here in verse 36 that we saw back in verse 10.

That Jesus didn’t consider his public preaching to be the end of his preaching. And it’s a lesson about faithful gospel ministry.

That those who preach God’s word publicly have to be available afterwards.

Because people are not going to, even the wisest, sharpest people, are not going to understand everything you mean.

Even if you’re much more articulate and wiser than the average preacher.

Even the best preachers with the wisest people listening to them are going to have,

there’s going to be need to go over some things and inquire more into things and get some things clarified.

And there’s going to be further discussion.

And how much more when it comes to lost people who are seeking to be saved. There’s a lesson here about diligence and being accessible.

And it’s something that we, it was either Adam Clark or Albert Barnes said, really do not overlook this because this is really, really important.

It’s one of the fruits of a wise man with godly speech in James 3 is that the wisdom from above is easy to be treated.

There’s really a great lesson here.

And I can see personally that every godly person that I believe has really helped me has been accessible.

They’ve been somebody I could get up and call on the phone and say, “Hey, I’m going through this struggle and I need help.”

And sadly, I think of at least one man that I used to be able to call up like that, that I cannot anymore.

He’s just, I think the thorns of god to him.

I think he’s wrapped up in business and the cures of his life.

And he just, I just learned that he just seemed distracted with other things and I can’t just get on the phone and call him anymore.

So that’s a really important point.

And that also doesn’t eliminate Moses in the Old Testament.

His father-in-law, Jethro, he saw that Moses was absolutely just day and night just having to counsel people and make judgments for Israel.

He gave him counsel to set judges over the people to bring the smaller matters to them. And then only the greater matters would come to Moses.

So that doesn’t eliminate the fact that those who are over a greater work can have other people who, to help them carry the load.

And that goes back to Chapter 10 and why we talked about the importance of training faithful men to be laborers in God’s service.

Because as a work expands like I know it is in the cases with the missionaries, there’s a need for faithful pastors and faithful preachers to be trained up to handle the greater load.

Because it’s something that one person just can’t do themselves. One had a certain point anyways.

So continuing on.

Verse 37, “So the disciples have asked Jesus to declare unto them the parable of the tears of the field.”

So verse 37, “He answered and said unto them, He that silt the good seed as the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tears are the children of the wicked one.”

John 8 44, this shows how Satan is the author of evil. And Jesus said about Satan in John 8 44 that he is the father of lies.

And he is, let me get that.

For he is a liar and the father of it.

So this is when somebody asks about the origin of evil, you can point them to Matthew 13 38 and John 8 44.

“The enemy that sold them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels.”

Okay, so I’ll just continue on through verse 243. “And therefore the tears are gathered and burning the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world.

The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and that much do iniquity.”

So note the product of how Jesus sums up the tears and everybody who’s wicked, who was not the good seed, who was not a product of the good seed.

Them which are all things that offend and them which do iniquity or dualistness, anomia, nomos is the Greek word for law, “a” means without.

So this word iniquity is, it means lawlessness, without law.

“And shall cast them into a furnace of fire, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, then shall the righteous shine forth as the Son in the kingdom of their Father.”

That’s the last verse of amazing grace is taken from verse 43. “Who art the ears to hear, let him hear.”

So a lot can be said about verses 40-43.

So above all, note that the doctrine of the tears received permitted lawlessness. Remember back in 721-27 that I’ll just go back and read it.

This is right after Jesus had described the narrow way, shortly after he had described the Broadway verses the narrow way.

In 721, “Not every one that sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, if we not prophesy in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works, and then I will profess unto them, I never knew you.”

“Depart from me, ye that work iniquity, for while it is the same thing, same truth.”

We’re told in 2 Timothy 2.19 that the foundation of the Lord, saying, “Sure, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and let every one that nameeth the name of Christ depart from iniquity, or depart from all hisness.”

“Therefore, whosoever here at these things, am I to do with them, I will liken him unto a wise man which builds his house upon a rack.”

“And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon the house.”

“And it fell not, for it was founded upon a rack.”

So this is a narrow way of obedience, unconditional obedience to Jesus, receiving his authority as the king of mankind, as the Messiah, as the Son of God.

And therefore, unconditionally obeying him from the heart, and departing from that which, departing from all things that are contrary to his law.

“And everyone that heareth these things, and I am to do with them not, shall be liken unto a foolish man which builds his house upon the sand.”

“And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell.”

“And great was the fall of it.”

If you wrote 1 Peter, just to show this in another context, I know that this is something that is very much related to the age-wise conflict study,

and it’s something that probably most of the people listening have heard, but it’s important to see it from every possible angle,

or else we would be here for days, but from some different angles.

1 Peter 1.22, Peter tells, he’s writing to Christians who are in trial, who are in suffering.

“Seeing ye have purified your souls, and obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeamed love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.”

To love Christ and obey Him necessarily means to love His people, who also have the same heart of obedience.

“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.”

So that’s the good seed. “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof all the way.

But the word of the Lord endureth forever.”

And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you. So see that the Gospel comes by the word of the Lord.

The word of the Lord is summarized by the Gospel. The Gospel upholds everything in the word of God.

And then at the end of the next chapter, Peter tells, Peter says of the Christians, he’s speaking of Christ,

but then he applies Christ suffering, Christ’s obedience to what He did is meant to affect them.

“For His own self there are sins in His own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live under righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed.

For ye were sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls.”

So know how returning unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls means dying to sins and living under righteousness.

But the tares received a doctrine where they didn’t have to do that, or where they thought they did that, but they really didn’t.

And regarding that second point, I think of an issue that I’ve been discussing with Brother Jimmy about how some preachers are preaching holiness with their mouths,

but at the same time they’re also excusing filthy language, and that would be an example of the letter.

Somebody thinking, some are deceived to believe that they don’t need to depart from their sins and live under righteousness,

and some are deceived that they’ve done that and they’re doing that when they’re really not. So continuing on, what does it mean to not be under the law?

We read in Romans 6.14 that same show Paul is instructing the Christians on how to walk in victory over sin.

And he says in Romans 6.14, “For in that he died, he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead, indeed, unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ I will.” So the same thought that we just read about in 1 Peter 24 and 25.

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof.

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead,

and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”

So who is under grace? Those who yield themselves to God through Christ as those that are dead to sin and alive to God.

Those are the ones that are under grace and not under the law.

It’s the same as Galatians 5.18, “If he be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”

So what does it mean to not be under the law? Being under grace and not under the law doesn’t mean you’re free from being under the law,

or else it doesn’t mean you’re free from law altogether, or else we wouldn’t be told like 2 Timothy 2.19,

“Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from lawlessness.”

We wouldn’t be told that those who go to hell will be those who offend and who commit lawlessness like we read about in Matthew 13.

So those who are under grace are receiving, as we see from Romans 6, we note from 1 John 3.4 that sin is the transgression of the law.

So those who are under grace are those who are receiving freedom from transgressing the law, not those who are free from the demands of the law altogether.

In the sense of being under the law, in the sense of a lost person, it’s talking about those who are not yielded to God,

those who are disobedient, and to them the laws are condemned in cloneline, and they are left in their sins.

They’re without strength to live holy, to walk righteously, because they have a disobedient attitude.

They’re not yielding themselves to God.

So because they won’t do that, because they won’t forsake their sins without conditions, they might want to overcome some things, but they might want to be holding onto others.

So they’re left without strength, they’re powerless to overcome sin from dominating their lives, even when they don’t want it to dominate their lives, because of the fact that they won’t yield to God and be obedient to Him.

And this is important, because just a few days ago, I was informed of a message by a man that is known as a holiness preacher.

I’m not going to give his name here, and there’d be no point, because you name one and there’s millions of others.

But this guy was preaching a message about the law basically being a bad thing, and there were people in his congregation afterwards who were repenting of living under the law, and they were confused, but it was absolutely horrible to hear that.

So it’s just the main point to emphasize that not being under the law, but being under grace means that you are receiving power from the Lord that results in freedom to not transgress the law.

But you’re still expected to fulfill the law. And later on in Romans chapter 8, some people will say, and just think of Matthew 1, 21, it says of Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins, not save His people in their sins.

And being led by the Spirit, this is important because a lot of people will say, well, we’re led by the Spirit and we’re not under the law.

Well, if that’s the case, if you’re really led by the Spirit, you’ll be fulfilling the righteousness of the law by the Spirit, the morality that’s in, when they talk about the law, they’re talking about the law that was given through Moses in the Old Testament.

And the righteousness of the law is the moral precepts, the conduct that God expects a man. And we read in Romans 8, 4, I’ll go to Romans 8, a certain 8, 3, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh.

The law in itself can’t forgive anybody of sin, can’t give people power to live righteously. It just shows what God expects of us.

God said in His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

So Jesus and His Spirit are secure that saves us from the law’s condemnation and from being left powerless, being left helpless to fulfill the righteousness of the law as a result of that condemnation.

But the law doesn’t disappear. The law is still there, and those who are applying the cure are going to be brought into conformity with the law.

And those who will not be subject to the law are still condemned by the law, and they can’t righteously say that they have the cure, that they’re justified.

And right with the Lord, because Paul is going to say now as I go on in verse 5, “For they that are after the flesh do mine the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For the carnal mind is for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God.”

So notice how Paul describes the carnal mind or defines the carnal mind. “For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, so then they that are the flesh cannot please God.”

When he says neither indeed can be, he’s not saying that a carnal person can’t repent and be subject to the law of God and find victory over sin.

What he’s saying is that the mind that’s set on the flesh is by the very characteristic of the carnal mind, it can’t be led by the Spirit at the same time.

And that’s what Paul would deal with in Galatians 5.17, that “For the flesh, let sit against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”

So that’s all Paul is saying at the end of 8.7 there is that the flesh and the Spirit are contrary the one to the other.

So there’s so much more that can be said, but John 8.31-36 is another reference here, 2 Peter 3.16-18. So I’ll just continue on then.

I thought it was important to go into hopefully give a better understanding of the laws placed to a Christian because Satan wants to make us think that the law is out of the way and that he wants to make us think that the law is a bad thing.

And that being led by the Spirit and being in Christ means that you can toss a lot of God out the window and that if not there is a standard that you need to conform to, that you need to strive to attain.

And Satan wants to make the law opposite of grace rather than make the law as complimentary of grace.

That those who are under grace are given power to fulfill the righteousness of the law and that those who heed the law properly will come to Christ for grace to fulfill the law and for forgiveness for where they have failed.

But there has to be a subjection to the law. And Christ said that, “I’m not come to destroy the law and the prophets. I’m not come to destroy but to fulfill the 18th, 517 and 18th.”

He talked about how it’s easier for heaven and earth to pass away than one jot or tittle of the law to fail.

And even though Christ fulfilled the ceremonial aspect of the law by making an atonement person, which is basically what the ceremonial and ritual aspects of the law dealt with, the moral aspect of the law, the graciousness of the law cannot be fulfilled except by being fulfilled in a moral agent.

So as long as there’s moral agents with moral choices to make, the law could not be done away within the moral sense.

And I hope that’s clear because I can just guarantee that every single one of us is going to face challenges from false teachers, face corrupt doctrines and face some evil false prophets sowing corrupt seed.

And so much of it is going to be attacks on the law of God. And the terrorism themselves received, they were somehow deceived that they could be careless about the law, that they could go against the law and yet still have an interest in Christ.

So we know therefore we have a very strong in a way, a strong clue as to what Satan’s challenges, what Satan’s attacks on the true seed of the word are going to be related to.

We also learned from verses 40 to 43, we see that hell is something that is not in this life, but it’s going to be, it’s going to be, it’s something that the wicked will not be cast into until the day of judgment, because Christ is giving a literal interpretation of a parable here.

And he is, and he is, and he is in the literal interpretation, saying that this is going to be at the end of the world, the wicked being cast into hell.

So that’s another, that’s another why I’ve seen it debunked. I also think here about how what a, what a glorious day when Christ comes back, this is going to be for the righteous and what a terrible day it’s going to be for the wicked.

We read in Proverbs 19 12, that, that King’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion, but his favor is as due upon the grass.

And then we go to the book of Revelation and we see, we see that illustrated, which is what Jesus is talking about in verses 40 to 43. We read in Revelation 6 16.

At the end of time, there’s going to be people who are, um, Revelation 6 15 and the Kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bond man and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains.

And said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the peace of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath for the great day of his wrath is common who shall be able to stand.

And then, and then we read in Revelation 7 17 talking about the righteous on 16 and 17 that, um, I’ll start in verse 15.

Since they, since these have washed their rose white in the blood of the lamb, therefore are they before the throne of Adam served and damned out in his temple and he that sitteth on the throne shall blow among them.

They shall hunger no more neither thirst anymore neither shall the sunlight on them nor any heat for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living crownings of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

So chapter six deals with, um, the wrath of the lamb and then chapter seven deals with his, um, his favorite being is do upon the grass for the righteous.

So those are excellent evangelistic verses. Um, okay.

So now moving on, I think verses 40 44 to 46. This is all, this is all related.

Jesus continued song like the kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field, but which one a man had found he had it and for joy thereof goeth and sell it all that he had and buy it that field.

Again, the team of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls who went yet found one pearl of great price when sold all that he had about it.

Um,

there is again a lot of dispute about, um, who is the, is, is the, is the one who buys a treasure.

Is it Christ buying his people or is it, or is it his people on finding Christ same when it comes to the, um, Pearl of great price is Christ the man who went and sold all that he had and bought it or is Christ the Pearl of great price himself.

Um, I will, I will say this, they definitely, they definitely are. There’s no doubt that they’re correlated with each other. There’s no doubt that there is a,

that there is a great lesson when we combine these parables and we combine these other parables in this chapter.

And that, and that great lesson is something that is intact whether whichever interpretation we take of these parables.

Um,

Jesus had in the previous parable in verse, um,

in verse 30, um, in verse 38, he compared the field to the world. So,

it’s, it’s logical then in verse 44 here to compare the field in verse 44 to the world. Um,

from one angle, we can see that, that Christ,

note that the man in verse 44, he purchased the field in order, he purchased the field in order to get the treasure.

And we read in 1 John 2, 1 and 2 that, um,

that he is, that Christ is the propitiation or the atonement for our sins and not for, and not for ours only, but also of the entire world.

So we, we could say that, um,

we could say that Christ could very well be applied to the man who purchased the field here. Um,

I know from Philippians 2 5 through 11 that he,

that he emptied, that he, it cost him everything to purchase a price for our atonement. That he’s seeking,

he’s seeking a people that will be a treasure to him. And he, um,

and he paid a very, very great price in order to obtain such a people.

Um, Philippians 2 5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God,

thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He didn’t use his, um,

he could have, um,

he could have lived in royalty on earth and that would not have been robbery because he was in the form of God and equal with God,

but rather than verse seven, but made,

but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man.

He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross where forgot also with I.

So, so that’s the price he paid.

Not only take, not only making himself in the likeness of men taking the form of a servant, but even,

um, as a man just constantly serving,

serving people, taking the lowest place to the point where just think of the,

the wave rings and the sufferings that we’re reading about that had attending his ministry in the gospel to the point of even letting himself be crucified

and dying a death in that crucifixion that was much, much deeper than physical death in, um, in bearing our sins and making atonement for them.

There was, there was a darkness. There was a, there was a, there was a spiritual death experience.

Um, selling all that he had, there’s,

I read a quote from T. Austin Sparks who talks about, um, we will never fully understand what all really meant. I mean, it’s, it’s just something that’s incomprehensible.

It’s something that those who are redeemed are likely going to be, um, going to be learning about all eternity, what that, what that meant.

So we continue on in verse nine.

“Wherefore God also with highly exalted him, given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus have a niche about things in heaven and things on earth,

and that every puncture confesses Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of God the Father.” So, so, so there’s an application to us.

And I believe that verses 12 to 16 here describes that treasure.

That yes, he, he made an atonement for every man’s sin so that every man can, um, he has the potential to repent and to, um, and to find grace in God’s eyes

and to be, um, and to be redeemed from their sin and to be, um,

to be remade into his image, to be that, to be that good seed that grows into, uh, um, into a mature crop that is harvested and gathered into the,

gathered into the barn and that shines forth as the Son and the King of the Father. That’s, so this is a, this is a, all three of the parable of the seed and the sower,

the parable of the wheat and the tares and the parable of the, um, the treasure in the field all combined.

So, so this is a treasure that God is seeking to obtain.

So verses 12 to 16, “Wherefore my beloved, as he have always obeyed.” So, so the treasure is those who, um, who receive him as Lord right now and who, um, and who find his grace to be saved from sin and to walk holy as we’re going to read about.

So Paul’s writing to the Philippian Christians, “Wherefore my beloved, as he have always obeyed,

not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

Just because Jesus paid the atonement price doesn’t mean that everyone’s eye may be, everyone’s eye may be saved and we all know that.

There’s, there’s, he’s seeking, he’s seeking faithful citizens of his kingdom

and those who won’t repent and be faithful citizens, faithful subjects of his, um, and follow him under, and be under his reign now in his sufferings, um,

those, those who won’t do that ultimately can’t be part of the treasure that he’s going to receive

as a reward of his sufferings.

And, and that’s what Paul’s dealing with here.

So he says in verse 13, “To the Christians, for it is God which worketh and you both will and to do of his good pleasure.

Do all things without murmurings and disbudings, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,

among whom ye shine as lights in the world.”

Holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run and been, neither labored and been.

Well, this is a very fruit that is, um, this is a very fruit that is, that God is looking for. The very fruit that he’s seeking to mature, to, to bring into his barn.

And that is what Christ’s treasure is, is going to be. And that’s, and that’s a wonderful way to look at life.

And that’s, uh, that’s an excellent, um, that, that, that I believe is just a great treasure. And looking at these parables in their proper sequence.

Um, a message related to this, it, I’m guessing Jimmy has heard, but, um, it’s called Ten Shekels in a Shirt by Paris Reedhead.

It’s, um, it’s a message that is really, um, getting some traction online and really, um, spread around some.

And in his own excellent sermon that is related to this,

seeing Christ, the only true Christianity is Christianity from a, um, a Christ centered perspective.

And to make it about humanism, to make it, um, to make it about man’s happiness rather than the glory of God and God getting the obedience that he demands.

And that, um, and that Christ died so that we could, um,

so that we could be forgiven and enter into to make it about man’s happiness instead of that is a, is a great, is a great deception.

Um, so then, um,

I’ll just, I’ll just read one more scripture related to that.

Romans 1, 3, 5, not a, not a scripture we, um, haven’t looked at before. But really,

it’s, he’s, this is all, this is all for his name sake.

On Romans 1, 3, 5, he’s talking about the gospel in verse 3, concerning his son, talking about the gospel message,

Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness,

by the resurrection from the dead, by whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name.

So, um,

so I hope, I hope everybody can see the connection then to those parables. Um,

looked at from the other standpoint, we could say that, um,

we could say that, um,

from, from our standpoint, if we were to look at us as the man who, um, who goes and sells all that he has for the treasure,

we could say that Christ himself is the treasure that we should forsake all for, that we should, um, that we should hide, that we should, um,

that we should hold close to us and,

and, and value above, above all other things. And,

and that, um,

and that we should lose whatever we need to lose to obtain him, like Paul talks about in Philippians chapter three.

So, um, and, and, and we could apply a parable of the merchant man seeking goodly pearls in the very same way that we just, um,

applied, um, the parable of the treasure in the field. So, moving on, verse 47.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind,

which when it was full they drew to shore,

and sat down and gathered the good in the vessels, but cast so bad away.

So shall it be in the end of the world,

the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the dust, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire.

There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Um, notice how Jesus emphasized judgment day, and how in suffering for the wicked.

Um, the good and bad here are definitely talking about good and bad professors of Christianity,

just like, um, the weed and the tears. Um, we could also apply this to, um,

we could also apply this to the judgment that was going to come upon Israel. That, um,

that when, um, when the Romans came upon the land that only the Christians,

who were being obedient to Christ when they saw Jerusalem encompassed with armies, um, fled Jerusalem and escaped, I believe, into Syria.

And just like we’ve talked about a lot of things in Matthew, they have double meanings.

Um, talking, they can apply to the judgment that was coming on Israel by the Romans, and they can apply to the judgment at the end of time also.

Um, it was either Albert Burns or Adam Clark who,

um, talked about Christ’s salvation as, um, saving mankind from the sea of sin, the sea of despair, the sea of ignorance,

the sea of, um, the sea of rebellion against God and its consequences. Um, it’s interesting, it’s interesting that in Revelation 21 at the end of time, when it talks about the New Jerusalem, it says that there was no more sea. It seems like the sea in Scripture really does represent those things,

but obviously I can’t say that for sure, but it’s just, um,

it’s something to consider and meditate on as we read and see if we can get more insight into.

Um, so verse 51, “Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yes, Lord.

Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed, unto the kingdom of heaven, is like a man that is a householder, which brings forth out of his treasure things new and old.”

Um, so we are all, especially those who are called to preach,

but every Christian in a sense who is a disciple of Christ is called, uh, is called to be a student of God’s word and is, um,

and is called to have an understanding of truth that, um,

a householder here is talking about either like a father of a household

or talking about, um, maybe somebody that a father would set in charge over his household. Um, and, and, and, and, and the job of this head of household,

the job of this householder is to bring forth, um, the things his family needs when they need them. And so, so there’s a lesson here about, um,

that we want to, that we want to grow in our understanding of God’s word.

We want to grow in our understanding of truth so that when we’re witnessing to the last and a topic comes up and questions come up,

we can understand what’s appropriate to say to them.

And, and we’re going to have, we’re going to have things that we remember,

things that God has taught us and there’s going to be new things that God teaches us in the process.

Um, and, and just like a householder, he, he has things stored in the house and sometimes he, he goes out and gets things as the, as the need requires. The same can be said in the church and ministering to other Christians.

Um, this is talking about,

Jesus is talking about literally the need to be equipped, um,

to evangelize to the lost and to minister, and to minister nourishment to God’s people. Um, to be faithful stewards of, of God’s word in Colossians 1 27 to 29.

Um,

we read that Paul talks about, um,

in 1 28 he says, when we preach talking about Christ, learning every man and teaching every man and all wisdom. So that’s what Jesus is dealing with here.

That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,

whereunto I also labor, working according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. Um, and I think we can also see that, um,

a lesson we can take from verses 51 and 52 is that it’s important to have a good understanding

of the balance of the relation between the old and the new covenants, which I, I hope we are getting as we, um,

as we go through the book of Matthew, the very first, um,

the very first book of the new Testament showing Jesus as a Messiah. Um, the fulfillment of,

of the old Testament scriptures, the, um, the new covenant itself is, um,

is built upon the old covenant and the,

and the laws of the old covenant that were written and sown

are written in the hearts of God’s people by, by God’s spirit in the new covenant. Um, and, and so, um,

it’s important to understand that

the old Testament itself is, is still set in 2 Timothy 3, um, 17.

Um, I’ve read it before, but it’s good to read again 2 Timothy 3 16 and 17. The old Testament was the only scriptures that was still, um,

that were, um, available as the new Testament was being written. And Paul says in, in 2 Timothy 3 16,

all scripture talking about, um,

at the time the only recognized scriptures were the,

was the old Testament, all scriptures given by inspiration of God.

And it’s profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction, and righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished under all good works.

Um, so continuing on, and we’ll finish the chapter.

And it came to pass when Jesus had finished his variables, he departed them, departed from there.

And when he was coming to his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, and so much that they were astonished and said,

“Once hath this man this wisdom and his mighty works, is not this the carpenter’s son,

and is not his mother called Mary and his brethren James and Joseph’s, and Simon and Judas, and his sisters, are they not all with us?

Once then has this man all these things.” And they were offended in, in him.

“But Jesus saith unto them, which Jesus said unto them,

the prophet is not without honor, saving his own country and in his own house. And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

Um, in Mark 6 1-6, um, rather than being called the carpenter’s son, Jesus is called the carpenter.

So we have reason to believe that his father was a carpenter,

and he, um, and he took up his father’s trade and became a carpenter himself.

Uh, just before this Bible study, we were talking about, um, secular employment. And, and Jesus himself has proved that secular employment, um,

being employed in, um, in your own business or in the, you know, in an, in an, in an income earning job can be a holy employment. It can, can glorify God.

That was his, um, that was his preparation for ministry.

Was, I mean, that was a key part of it anyways, was being, uh, an ordinary laborer. And that’s, that’s just fascinating to think about.

That maybe for 17 years or more, Jewish, um, boys were considered to be men around 12 or 13 years old, I believe.

Um, and to think that he may have started work when he was 12 years old and labored till he was 30.

And that even the people in his own city that he had been raised with, when he started preaching, did not even know that he was a wise, um, that he was a wise preacher that had, um,

that was filled with just amazing insight into, into God’s word.

He had hid that from them for, um, his, the first 30 years of his life.

And, you know, he would have been going to the synagogue every single 70. It’s, it’s really, uh, it’s amazing to think that he, um,

he never stood up in the synagogue because you know that, you know, when he was 12 years old, we read about in Luke chapter two, um,

his, his discussion with the scribes that were in Jerusalem at the time. You know that at least by the time he was 12 years old,

he could have preached a better message than whoever, you know,

was the guy who, who was actually doing the preaching in the synagogue. And he, he stayed silent and was an ordinary worker.

Um, there’s just some, there’s just some key lessons I believe we can take from this, um, besides it.

Um, we see that showing people Jesus does not guarantee that they’ll believe on him because they saw him, they saw him directly in the flesh and they,

and these people were offended.

Um, the bias envy and prejudice and spiritual indifference of people can make that the case. Um, Jesus could have been from a prestigious background.

He could have been, he could have become the Roman emperor.

And that was probably, and that may have been Satan’s temptation to him. One of the three temptations in the wilderness to make him better,

to make him the king of Israel.

And, but the problem with that would have been people would have wanted to,

to follow him for worldly gain and for worldly honor and for some type of worldly lust. And even in his lowliness, some people still misunderstood his mission.

We see in the gospel so that they, um, some people tried to do that anyways, but those people didn’t endure.

All the, so, um, you know, those people eventually departed from him.

And that’s why we see people departing from him during the time that, um, that he was preaching.

They were offended by his sayings and they saw that, um, he wasn’t going to give them the, the worldly rewards and the worldly comforts that, that they were looking for.

Um, to, to appeal, to appeal to the things that worldly men value in preaching the gospel is to alter the gospel and the preaching of their Jesus.

This is a rebuke to the purpose driven life mentality to try to make Jesus, um, cool and entertaining to the, to the multitudes.

Rather than, um, to preach him as he is and to preach righteousness and holiness and to, um,

preach the word of God plainly and simply and, and only offer, um, an offer of godliness, offer, um,

justification with God, eternal riches, offer, um, the promises that, uh, that the, that the New Testament makes,

but not, uh, um, but not to try to drop people by, um, not to try to drop people by worldly gain and by worldly fulfillment,

because that’s, um, Jesus himself did not do that. And he did not, and when these people were offended in him, um,

because of his, um, his simple upbringing and their familiar, their familiarity with him, they did not, um,

he did not change to try to accommodate them, to try to, um, what’s the word I’m looking for?

Yeah, he, he didn’t change to try to accommodate them or suit them or appease them. Um, so it’s, it’s a great lesson about,

um, not using worldliness, not using compromise, not, not using carnal appeal to try to drop men to Christ because it, um,

it ultimately doing that changes the gospel and it, and it gives people false hopes and false expectations.

Um, the true, the true treasure, the true reward that, um, that’s ultimately, that we ultimately should seek and that ultimately will endure.

We read about an Ephesians, um, Ephesians chapter two and I’ll close with these verses. Um, Ephesians two verses one through seven.

Paul writes to the Ephesians, “And you hath equipment who are dead in trespasses and sins, where in time past you walked according to the course of this world,

and according to the prince of the power of the year, the spirit that now works from the children of disobedience,

among whom also we all had, we all had our conversation in times past and the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,

and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Meaning that those who, um, those who walk, um, after carnal lusts are at enmity with God because of that.

“For God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace are you saved.

And we know from Acts five thirty-two that the Holy Spirit that quickens, that makes the life is given to all them that obey Him,

and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the years to come.”

This is, this is a treasure spoken of, um, back in the parable of verses forty-four to forty-six of Matthew thirteen.

“That in the ages to come he must show forth, he must go the exceeding riches of his grace and in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”

And when that’s re- and when His grace and His people is revealed for what it is, that is going to be, um, that’s going to be a glorious day that is going to make worldly glory, um, seem, seem to be absolutely meaningless.

We know from one John two seventeen that the world passes away and lost zero, but he that doeth the will of God abide it forever. Amen.

Thank you very much, Brother Aaron. Wow, that was great. Um, hang on there, Bangladesh, for a minute. I just want to follow up.

They said, “That was a great teaching, Brother.” You know, the hyper-grace, no-work people, um, are, uh, you know, the Romans eleven-six people, they, they don’t understand certainly that the Spirit, you know, they say, “Well, we’re, you know, we’re saved by grace.”

Uh, okay, but, um, and not of works, right? But what they miss is, is that if you walk in the Spirit, then if they still sin, and then, you know, they don’t abide and obey the law and abide in Him, and more, that they’re actually saying that the Spirit leads them to sin.

And that’s insanity. So that’s how I answer that, personally, myself, you know. Uh, if you’re saved by grace, and you’re not walking obedient to the Lord, then you’re saying that you’re walking the Spirit because you’re saved, but you’re still sinning.

That means the Spirit is leading you to sin. That’s my definition of insanity. So I just wanted to add that. Um, a couple other things, too, before we open up to questions, too. Um, you know, Brother, you, you talked about, and we’ve talked about this, too, privately,

but preach plain and simply. And there is such, uh, uh, grievous things going on here in the body, and now I believe outside of the body, some of them, that are preaching not Christ.

You know, it says, “We rejoice if they preach Christ, even if they have the wrong motive.” You know, that’s what that Bible verse talks about.

We rejoice if they preach Christ, but we have agreed, certainly, that some are not even preaching Christ anymore. So this is a big problem. So I just want to let everybody know, too, I’m doing a huge study and expose on how the Bible tells us and shows us to preach, to witness, to testify.

And you just said it, Brother Aron, preach plainly and simply. But I also want to bring up, um, something that you mentioned last week, and we talked a little bit about this, uh, is that we shouldn’t be just loose cannons and just go out in a street corner and preach, be preaching, and just go away.

Our goal is to make disciples. Sure, certainly some are called to be pastors and some are called to be evangelists. We’re all called the witnesses, you just mentioned.

But it’s so important that we all work together. You know, Ephesians 4, 16 is, “From whom the whole body fitfully jointed together and compacted by that which every joint of the flyeth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every pot, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”

Um, it really convicted me last week, Brother Aron, where you said, you know, we should, we, when we go preach, paraphrasing, but we go preach, we should have some place to send to the people that are going to be convicted, and there’s usually very few, but praise the Lord for those few, right?

That they should be directed towards one of these local fellowships, or one that’s at least local enough, or we should be giving them our number. Can you just real quickly, and then we’ll go to Bangladesh, we’ll go up north to Michigan there real quick, if they have any questions, or we can go out to Washington State.

And if anybody needs to leave, you know, do so, but if you just get that on record, Brother Aron, just reiterate what we were talking about, where we should be working all together, and that’s our goal, is not just to go tell people they’re sin, but to call them in as disciples too.

Right, and you know, there’s just the fact that there’s a, as we’ve seen from the parables in Matthew 13, there’s a product the Lord is looking for, and beginning as a disciple, you, there still is a training, there’s a starting line, and when somebody comes to Christ, you’re coming, it’s like somebody who’s just entering the military, just

entering the military, it’s only the beginning. There’s still, there still is a need to be instructed and to be built up as a soldier, and it’s the actual product, it’s the actual wording to observe all things that he’s commanded, it’s the actual wisdom, the actual grace that is built up through the preaching of the Word of God.

It’s what the Lord is looking for, so if you’re just preaching just anywhere in some city that you just travel to, and you have no intention to come back to when somebody comes to Christ, and you don’t know of any faithful churches in that area, that person is just going to be right, pray for the devil to be drawn back, and probably end up in a worse state than that person.

It’s going to be a worse state than they were before, rather than trained as a disciple, and taught everything about the will of God, and what God expects, and be giving instruction and strengthening, and an opportunity to be ministered to when to minister.

For somebody to not be given that is just a very, very, it’s a very sloppy way to fulfill the Great Commission, it’s not really fulfilling the Great Commission.

And I understand there’s Acts chapter 8, where Philip the evangelist is led just out into the middle of the desert, and he talks to a man who’s heading back to Ethiopia, who had just been to Jerusalem to worship, and he preaches praise to him, and the man gets baptized and goes his way.

But I think the thing there is that God knew in that particular case that that man was going to be, that that was a faithful man, and the fact that he had the scriptures, and the fact that God obviously saw something in him where he was, I guess he was called to be a leader from the beginning,

and to start his own work from the beginning.

But Philip was listening to God, he wasn’t just running out anywhere, he was really considering, and God told him to go.

So there’s a time where God might tell us to do something, and it might not seem to fit, and we might not understand it, and it might seem sloppy to us.

But it’s like, well, I really think that the Lord has still led me to do that, and I don’t understand it.

That’s a lot different than somebody who’s just not really praying, not really listening, not really planning, just kind of just doing their own thing and thinking that wherever they go, that it doesn’t really matter.

The latter case is a lot different than the former there, and we should understand that sometimes the Lord may lead us to do things that we don’t fully understand,

but unless it’s the case that there’s a larger work, there’s a long-term goal, and we should have that long-term goal in mind,

and the things we do where we may just be at best building with Woodhay and Stubbold, it’s not going to ultimately have any impact for going on the Day of Judgment.

Amen, brother. Well said. Yep. I’ll add that into my speech in there.

Okay, Bangladesh, you can come off mute there and say hello if you have any questions real quick, and then we’ll go to fellowship after we talk to Brother William and Sister Stephanie and Brother Daniel if he has any questions.

But does Bangladesh have any questions?

Oh, man, we can’t hear Bangladesh again. Something’s wrong there, guys. I don’t know what’s wrong. Brother William, are you still there?

Are you on mute, Brother William?

Yeah, I’m on mute there, Brother. Okay, so we can hear you, but Brother Hilton, something’s wrong with your headset, maybe, because we can’t hear Brother Hilton. Thank you, Brother.

Well, do you have any questions, Brother or Sister Kowalski?

Not for me. Good teaching. Thanks, Brother Aaron. You still have? No questions for me. Stephanie did come in a few minutes later after we started there, but she’s here.

That’s awesome. Amen. How about you, Daniel?

I think Mr. Daniel’s on mute, too. No, he’s on mute. You know what, Daniel? We can’t hear you either. Hold on one second. Let me try to press this button. How about now, Daniel? Are you there?

Yes, I appreciate the teaching, but I don’t think I have any questions.

All right, great. Okay, so let me take this off. Thank you, everybody, for joining us. I’m just going to go. We’re going to fellowship, but please continue to say the word, and abide in him, and endure till the end. God bless, guys.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 14 through 15-20 Week 14

Good evening everybody here in the United States and good morning to the missionaries overseas. This is our Bible study that we do weekly Tuesday night here at 30 p.m. Eastern time in the United States. And as I said early in the morning on most missions we do overseas. So we thank everybody for joining us live and we also thank the people that are joining us on the recording. We know this edifies a lot of people and we thank brother Aaron who is a wonderful teacher of the word.

So we are going through the book of Matthew. We have completed through chapter 13. So this week we are starting on the very first verse of chapter 14. So again Aaron as usual we thank you so much for your time and we will hand it over to you.

Thanks brother Jimmy. My mouth has been drying up lately. I have been sputtering sometimes and I stutter a lot anyway. But I got some water next to me. So if I start to stutter and can’t talk and then I have to reach over for a drink I am okay.

So if you could maybe pray for me that this is anything that I would find out what is causing it and take care of it. But I am good to go now. So we are starting in Matthew 14. And I will just start reading here.

At that time Herod the Tetra occurred of the fame of Jesus and said unto his servants, this is John the Baptist. He has risen from the dead and therefore mighty works to show forth themselves in him.

For Herod had laid hold on John and bound him and put him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s life. For John said unto him, it is not lawful for thee to have her.

And when he would have put him to death he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet.

It is interesting to note that Herod hears of the fame of Jesus right after he has been rejected by those in his own hometown. I just thought that was interesting. They considered him just to be a common man and they thought that it was strange that he had such wisdom. But everybody else was amazed by him.

And there was a fame of him. There was, you could say, a fearfulness of his name.

But we see that Herod thought that this person he was hearing about was John the Baptist.

Because we’re probably going to get some more insight into that in Mark 6. It’s likely that Herod had not heard a definite name.

But he was troubled by his guilty conscience because of what we’re about to read, how he had put John the Baptist to death.

And we see here how a guilty conscience can cause a person to have irrational fears and can cause a person to imagine things to be true that aren’t true just because of the torment of their guilt.

We see in verse 4 here that John basically was, when we read this in Mark 6, we’re going to see how Herod had been a faithful listener to John the Baptist and had been willing to go, I don’t know about a long way, but he had been willing to take some steps towards repentance, some steps towards godliness.

But there was sin in his life that he would not forsake. There were breaches of the law that he was not willing to correct.

And Herod was like a politician at the time. Imagine if our politicians today were as bold when they,

imagine if Billy Graham and the president that he counseled in the White House was to be as unsparing with their sins as John the Baptist was with Herod.

Herod had married his, he had married his brother’s former wife, something that the law of Moses clearly forbid.

And that was a matter of, that’s a matter of the moral law. It was considered like a matter of incest.

And Herod had, I mean John had told Herod that it’s not lawful for you to have her. You need to repent of this. This is not acceptable.

You are not showing poor, worthy of repentance or fit for repentance until you put this woman away.

And so one example we have in John about somebody who had stood up and preached the truth, not just to the common people, but those in power.

And we know the price, we’re about to read about the price you paid for that. Herod was, John understood that Herod had the power to put him to death.

But he, you know, he, it didn’t stop him from, he cared more about his soul and his own soul and Herod’s soul than he did about his natural life.

And that’s what’s necessary to be a faithful preacher.

So when you hear about preachers who are consulting politicians and the politicians are not broken men who are repentant and who are cutting off evil associations and who are seeking to live holy.

And that’s just obvious. And yet there’s these preachers in their lives that are close to them. You can know that, well at least when it’s been for a prolonged period of time, you can know that preacher is a false prophet.

There was one more thing that I, so, and it’s also important here that I was talking with a friend the other day.

And we were talking about how it’s one thing to have repentance right in your doctrinal statement. And that is important and that is necessary.

But it’s another thing to discern true repentance and to discern the lack of true repentance and to have the right methods in preaching repentance.

And just a problem at a lot of churches is that all these people are proclaimed to be saved and to be following Jesus. And they’ll say, you know, so many people got seen to the Lord at this church and we have so many faithful people in our church.

But they’re not really looking at their lives. They’re not discerning that true repentance seeks wholeheartedly to correct where God has been offended and where God’s law has been broken.

And when there’s not that brokenness and that earnestness that we read about in 2 Corinthians 7, 10 and 11, I’m not going to go there now because we’ve looked at it before, but that that vehement desire, that zeal, that fear, that revenge, that just that God we zeal to correct where one has offended God.

And the wholehearted confronting of taking sides against yourself and agreeing with the law of God and doing what you need to do to make that right and to bring restitution, to break out from sin and to walk in the light and to cut darkness out of your life.

When that’s not the case, that’s something that when that is the case, it will be appearing. You can see how Paul told the Thessalonians that in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, how their repentance was something, how they turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.

That was something that was seen by those around them, not only in Thessalonika, but in the regions beyond Thessalonika. It was such a radical noticeable repentance.

So it’s really important to have the right methods and the right discernment as well as the right doctrinal statement when it comes to personal repentance. So we continue on here.

So and when he would have put him to death, that’s when Herod would have put on the Baptist to death, he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet. But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod.

This is an example of where a lot of people would think of this as not a big deal, but we’re going to see how just a little, what men would consider a little bit of lust, a little bit of fleshly entertainment.

They can say, “What’s the harm in it?” Well, there’s a destructive evil characteristic of it that can, and this can lead to much greater sins.

It can be the opening of a spring of a fountain that can lead to unspeakable evil. And we’re going to see how Herod’s lust, what this led him to.

So she danced before them and pleased Herod, whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. And she being instructed, her mother said, “Didn’t you hear John the Baptist set in the charger?”

And the king was sorry, nevertheless, for the oath’s sake, and them were set with him at meat. He commanded to be given her, and he sent him to beheaded John in the prison. And his head was brought in the charger and given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother.

And his disciples came and took her to the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

So one more verse here. “When Jesus heard it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place of art. And when the people had heard thereof, they fouled him on foot out of the cities.”

I want to go to Mark’s text, and Mark gives more details about this, and I think it’s important we cover. I’ll try not to overlap as much as I can, but we’re going to have to overlap some.

So, Mark, so I’ll just start at Mark 6.14.

“And when king heard it, for his name was spread abroad, and he said that John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him.”

It seems Jesus’ name was spread abroad, but it seems like here, we see by the next verse, it seems like here it thought that even though he was hearing about Jesus, it seems he thought Jesus was actually somebody else being called by another name.

“Other said that it is Elias, and other said that it is a prophet, or is one of the prophets. But when Herod had heard thereof, he said it is John who might beheaded. He is risen from the dead.

For Herod himself had sent forth, and laid hold upon John and bound him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Phil’s life. For he had married her.

For John had said unto Herod it is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s life. Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him and would have killed him. But she could not.

For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and a bully, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things and heard him gladly.

And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, his high captains, and chief of states of Galilee.

And when the daughter of the set of Herodias came in and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, ‘Ask me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.’

And he swore unto her, ‘Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee unto the half of my kingdom.’

And she went forth and said unto her, ‘Mother, what shall I ask?’

This was a very wicked daughter from a very wicked mother, and they remind me of a certain couple of duties, and a certain mother and daughter that’s in the news right now, but I won’t get into that.

I think most people know who I’m talking about. So when she came in straightway with haste unto the king and asked, ‘I will that thou give me by and by,’ were immediately in the charge of the head of God the Baptist.

And the king was exceeding sorry, yet for his old sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her.

So we see that Herod made a foolish note in his lust, and we see that the very reason that he was afraid to kill John the Baptist before the fear of man, the fear of the multitude, actually ended up being the reason now that he had a greater fear, a fear of not keeping this foolish oath that he made in the presence of these godless men, and to this girl that had pleased him in his lust.

The reason he wouldn’t kill John before the fear of man ultimately became the reason that he did kill John.

Very ironic, but not a surprise.

So verse 27, ‘And immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought, and he went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head into the charger and gave it to the damsel, and the damsel gave it to a mother. And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse and laid it in a tomb.

And the apostles gathered themselves together under Jesus and told them all things.’ The chronology in Matthew and Mark is a little different. It seems like the time that the disciples had got back to Jesus from the time they were sent out in Matthew 10, or from being sent out another time, and the time that John’s disciples would come and tell Jesus about John the Baptist,

it seems like those things coincided when it came to time.

So they told Jesus both what they had done and what they had taught, and he said unto them, ‘Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest awhile.’ For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure, so much as to eat, and they departed into a desert place by ship privately.

So I will go back to Matthew 14. I’ll just take a drink of water here. Sorry about that.

So now that John the Baptist has been beheaded, and the disciples and Jesus have been busy in ministry for a very long time, and that they’re stressed out, they might feel themselves in danger too because of what here they’ve just done.

They go apart to rest. They seek to go apart into a desert place to take a little vacation.

It is not right when we feel burned out, when we feel tired, if we can get a break from our responsibilities, and if our responsibilities don’t prevent it to go aside and to take some rest,

sometimes the best thing we can do in serving God when we’re tired is just to go to sleep, and sleep eight, ten hours, or maybe take a week’s vacation.

I’m not talking about a fleshly vacation on a cruise ship, but just to relax, maybe get out in nature. There’s nothing wrong with that.

If our responsibilities don’t demand that we do otherwise, so we have Jesus and the disciples, they’re getting apart, and they think that they are going to be able to rest some.

That was their plan. But the problem is, I wouldn’t call it a problem. I guess I think Jesus probably saw it as a good thing.

But the problem when it came to their vacation is that responsibility followed them. We people basically chased them out into the desert.

That’s where we’re going to pick up on Matthew 14. I’ll start on verse 13.

“So when Jesus said, ‘He departed thence by shipping to a desert place apart,’ and when the people had heard, there had befiled him and fought out of the cities.

And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.

And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, ‘This is a desert place, and the time has now passed. Send a multitude away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves vegetables.'”

“Vicules” means like food and water and necessary things.

“But Jesus said unto them, ‘They need not depart, give ye them to eat.'”

Why did Jesus say this? I think it had something to do with Matthew 6.33. He wanted to give a message that when you see first the kingdom of God,

all these other things, God is going to add them to you. And I think he wanted to send that message to them.

I think he probably wanted to send a message to his disciples that they needed to be concerned, more concerned anyways, about the material, the physical, the bodily needs of people, as well as their spiritual needs.

You can’t really separate. You can’t say you’re just concerned about the spiritual needs and neglect the more immediate temporal needs.

And the disciples were concerned, but it seems that they were making plans for them to go out by themselves and buy things.

But Jesus expected them that I think he wanted to give them a greater concern and send a message about seeking first the kingdom of God.

So verse 17, “And he said unto him, ‘We have here but five holes and two fishes.’ He said, ‘Bring them hither to me.’

And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and took the five holes and the two fishes.

And looking up to heaven, he blessed and great and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples of the multitude.

And they did all eat and were filled. And they took up all the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.

And they did eat and were about five thousand men beside women and children.”

So this is obviously a demonstration of Christ’s divinity. It’s a demonstration to the disciples that this is the only miracle besides Christ’s resurrection, I believe, that’s recorded in all four Gospels.

And it’s the only miracle, as far as I know also, that he included the disciples in.

So there’s a great lesson here. They took the little that they had and they bought it to Jesus.

And with Jesus’ blessing, the little that they had was sufficient to meet the needs of all these people.

And they also had twelve baskets left of bread, which there were twelve disciples. So there was one basket for a disciple.

So I think that’s a great picture of how when we spend ourselves, if responsibility demands it, to minister to others and to serve the Lord, that he will provide for us, he will fill us by it.

And there’s many proverbs about that.

I don’t need to go into the many verses to talk about how the liberal soul shall be made fat, talking about that there is its scatter, then increase it, and there’s that that withholds it more than its fit to meet and attend it to poverty.

I might be confusing those proverbs here, but there’s definitely a lot of passages like that to talk about how God,

God rewards a generous person and those who are greedy, those who hoard not just their money and their own things, but also their own time for themselves,

how people who hoard become empty. So we got a good picture of that here, so continuing. And straight away Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship. I’m in verse 22.

And to go before him onto the other side, well, he sent them all to two of the way.

I have a theory as to why he did that. I do not know this for sure. I certainly welcome anybody’s input at the end.

I think he was telling the multitudes that these are the spiritual leaders that he was training and that he had left on the earth to guide his church, to be leaders of his people.

And I think he was commanding these twelve disciples, these twelve apostles to the multitude, telling them that they’re the shepherds that he is going to be setting up over his church after he departs and that he would be…

And he’s commanding them as teachers and leaders that they would need to submit to and listen to in order to be saved. I don’t know that for sure.

I just think that that’s the most likely explanation. And it would make sense that Jesus would send them away before commanding them like that, before thousands of people.

Okay, so verse 23. “And when he set the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain of earth to pray. And when the evening was coming, he was there alone.

But the ship was now in the midst of the sea tossed with leaves, for the wind was gone forage.

And in the fourth watch, the night Jesus went unto them walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, ‘It is a spirit.’

And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spoke unto them, saying, ‘Be of good cheer it is I, be not afraid.’

And Peter answered him and said, ‘Lord, if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water.’ And he said, ‘Come.’

And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.”

Adam Clark warns here about, we’re told earlier, Jesus himself had told Satan earlier when Satan had bombed the pinnacle of the temple.

“Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” This is an instance where an immature Christian or an unbeliever could read this story and think that they needed to go to try to do some sensational thing to prove that they were filled with faith.

And Adam Clark gives a warning on his commentary to not put Christ to the test, not only to not put him to the test, not only to satisfy vain curiosity,

but even the thought of putting him to the test to strengthen our own faith.

It could be presumption. It could be the same as jumping out the pinnacle of the temple, basically.

This is why things like snake handling is around the people who handle snakes.

Because Jesus said that those who believe in his name, they’ll do miracles, they’ll cast out devils.

I’m not quoting this right. They’ll lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. And if they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them.

So there’s these people who handle snakes and they say it’s like a faith strengthening or faith proving exercise.

And we definitely need to be aware that Peter obviously knew that Jesus would be pleased in this case to have Peter do as Jesus was doing.

But the bottom line is that Jesus told Peter to come.

And we can’t ever do anything that is beyond natural means or expect anything beyond natural means if we don’t have the direct word of God somehow.

If we don’t have Jesus’ own word to do it.

So Jesus said, “Bid Peter come.” And that’s why it was unbelievable for Peter when he began to doubt and began to sink.

So Jesus said, “Come, and when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked down the water to go to Jesus.

But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, ‘Lord save me.'”

So through Peter’s faith, Jesus upheld him so that the laws of gravity were suspended temporarily.

But when Peter’s faith ceased, when Peter began to doubt and not act in faith, the laws of gravity kicked back in.

So verse 31, “And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, ‘Hold thou of little faith, wherefore did so doubt?’

Because Jesus had told him to come.” That’s the main point I think we did, especially with all the people who are doing, I wouldn’t say doing,

but expecting sensational things from God. The bottom line that they need to know is that Jesus had bid Peter to come.

And when they were coming to the ship, the wind ceased. And of course, comment on verse 31, “Every moment we stand in need of Christ,

what we stand we are upheld by his power only. And when we are falling, or have fallen, we can be saved only by his mercy.

Let us at least take care that we do not consider so much the danger to which we are exposed as the power of Christ by which we are to be upheld.

And then our mountain is likely to stand strong.” Verse 32, “And the Lord says, ‘Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and all is peace and calm, where he condescends to enter in a light.'”

No, I just took another sip of water there, sorry. So verse 33, “Then they that were on the ship came and worshipped him,

saying of a truth thou art the Son of God.” It’s likely that these were men who were crew on the ship.

It was likely, we don’t know exactly what type of ship it was, but it very possibly was a ship that was like a, it was maybe sort of like what we would say is a bus now.

It operated to bring people across the sea for money possibly. But it’s just likely that these were the crew of the ship because the disciples themselves had already been convinced of this truth.

Though maybe they were still of the group that was worshipping him here.

And when they were gone over, they went into the land of Geneseret. And when the men of that place said knowledge of him, they sent into all their country round about and brought unto him all that were diseased.

And beside him that they might only touch the hem of his garment. And as many as touched were made perfectly whole.”

So we are halfway through the book right now and I’m amazed at, I’m amazed at with all we’ve covered and all we’ve read that we are only halfway through the book.

But I think we can get through verse 20 tonight. So I will continue on with the first half of chapter 15.

“Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, what for of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread.'”

So these were the big shot religious scholars that were in Jerusalem. That was their normal residence anyway.

They were the big shots. They were the types of people that the people out in Galilee, the people from the country that when they came to Jerusalem to the feast and they saw these guys, you know, it’s like these are the big guys to them.

These are the guys that are, that they would stand in awe of. Like, wow, these people really are holy people who know the Bible.

But the, and they didn’t know the Bible better than most people. The problem is they didn’t obey the Bible. And another big problem is that they had a tradition which they were zealous for, which was not biblical.

Their thought that you need to wash your hands before you eat was not a biblical command. It was a command from the Talmuds, which were, it was a rabbinical tradition that rabbis since the time of Moses, especially in the time, in the 400 years between the Old and New Testaments.

These rabbis would make comments on the Bible, similar to how there’s Bible commentaries produced today.

And there got to be this tradition among the Jewish people that these respected rabbis’ comments on Scripture became in their eyes equal to Scripture of equal importance.

But in fact, they were comments that, in many cases, not always, but in many cases, they were comments that negated the Word of God and put what we’re about to read about.

They emphasized, they added to God’s Word things that those whose hearts were far from God could tolerate.

And the things that those whose hearts were far from God couldn’t tolerate, they gave them excuses, they gave them licenses, “Well, you don’t have to do this in this case, and we’re about to read of such a case.”

So Jesus answered and said unto them in 15.3, “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?”

This would have been a very heated moment.

This would have been something that people would have been very curious to see, because they’re in awe of Jesus, but they’re in awe of these guys also.

And these guys are the established leaders whom everybody has respected. So to see the two come in conflict like this, the crowds would have really been like, “Wow, this is something. We’ve got to hear this.”

So Jesus tells them in verse 4, “For God commanded saying, ‘Honor thy father and mother,’ and he that cursed his father or mother, let him die to death.

But ye say, ‘Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, it is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me.

And honor not his father or his mother, ye shall be free.

Thus have ye made the commandment of God, not effect by your tradition.”

Basically, one of the many problems that these leaders, the corrupt tradition that these rabbis were teaching, they were basically telling people who had elderly parents who needed their care.

Because at this time, they didn’t have what we have. They didn’t have social security. They didn’t have Medicaid.

And maybe I would guess in some of the missionaries countries, you guys don’t have that for your elderly people either.

It’s hard for us Americans to understand, because people in America have been saving up for retirement. They have Medicaid. They have social security.

So older people often don’t really need the help of their children in their later years. But that wasn’t the case in Israel here.

And basically, these corrupt leaders were telling people that you could reserve as a gift for the temple or for some other type of service, you could reserve your money for that.

And the money that you could have helped your elderly parents with. And they were saying that it’s okay.

You can save your money that it can be donated to the temple after you die, whatever you don’t take.

Or it can be devoted to support the synagogue or whatever it was.

And they were basically saying, they were in essence saying you don’t need to take care of your elderly parents because you reserve your money to be given to the temple or the synagogue or whatever after your death.

And this was a violation of God’s commandment to honor your father and mother. And Jesus was calling them out on their hypocrisy.

So he says in verse 17, “Hippocrites, well did Isaiah’s prophecy of you saying, ‘Isaiah says Isaiah, the prophet in the Old Testament, ‘This people draw thine to me with their mouth and honor with me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines of commandments and men.’

They professed to love God and they did things that seemed to be worship of Him. But it was vain. It was an external show.

It wasn’t genuine from the heart. And the proof of that is that they weren’t keeping God’s commandments.

They were substituting other things in place of that. They looked totally to those on the outside.

But these things still justified their own worldliness, their own carnality, their own selfish way of life.

The mode of worship that they had adopted was corrupt because it didn’t deal with the principles in the heart.

It didn’t require that they take up the cross, that they die to themselves, that they themselves get out of the way and do what God says and put self-interest aside.

Self-interest was still something that they were holding onto in their apparent, in their professed worship.

So verse 10, ‘He called them altitude and said unto them, Hear and understand, not that which goeth into the mouth defileth the man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth the man.

Then came his disciples and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard the saying?’

This goes back to even the disciples saw these men as being holy men.

They didn’t see them as a generation of vapors. John the Baptist had pointed them out. They didn’t see them as being deceivers, as being hypocrites.

If they did, they still had this, you could say, they still had this out of them. I don’t know this.

Maybe there was some carnal respect that they shouldn’t have had. It still was there, at least a little bit.

That can be true today when it comes to false prophets. It’s one of the reasons it can be hard to confront them.

They can often have something intimidating about them and even something respectful about them.

They can make confronting them, make those who confront them about their hypocrisy, make them feel like the bad guy.

I think the disciples still had, I think they were still influenced that way somewhat.

Verse 13, ‘But he answered and said, Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.

Let them alone. They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.’

It’s some lessons from this passage.

One, those who are going to churches with false prophets and false teachers are not excused just because they’re being led astray.

They have the Bible. They could study the Bible and see that they were not being led right and see that they’re being led by a wolf, not a true shepherd that they need to flee from.

But it also shows that people really can lead the… I’m sorry, I just got to get a drink of water. Sorry about that.

It also shows that those who are people really can, false teachers really can, despite the fact that the people have some guilt in it, false teachers really can lead people by their false doctrines.

It’s a serious matter. It’s not something that is… it’s not something like, ‘Oh, well, they’re all just ignorant.’

Or, you know, it’s all the teacher’s fault or it’s all the people’s fault.

When there’s people who are twisting God’s commandments and giving people an excuse to disobey God’s commandments and substituting something else,

there’s guilt by everybody involved and it’s a big deal. And there’s not… I guess you could say there’s not really a bright side to it.

We see that people have to come out of churches that are prosperity gospel churches, the Roman Catholic Church, any church that’s deceiving people

and is not preaching genuine biblical holiness and is not upholding a godly standard in their midst

and is not impartial in how they are meeting our church discipline.

A church that is not… any church that isn’t doing those things, any church that isn’t getting into the scriptures

and really… every verse of the Bible is on the table to preach from.

Every verse of the Bible, you know, a passage of scripture can be opened to and there’s not a single verse that they would shy away from.

I mean, obviously, to preach a sermon on every verse of scripture would take multiple lifetimes.

But it should be that there’s not a topic, that there’s not a scripture that the leaders would avoid, that they would want to run away from.

Because man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

I think there’s also a lesson here in Let Them Alone.

It’s not saying don’t expose their false teachings or even necessarily to name them because we see the apostles doing that,

naming false teachers and exposing false teachings.

But there is a truth there. We’re not to chase around false prophets because we could just get distracted as to what God calls us to do.

And there’s so many false teachers and false prophets that if we were to do that,

if God gives us a specific direction to go to confront somebody or to confront a certain group, that’s one thing.

But we’re not to make a habit of just going around to different churches and confronting different people and getting into long dialogues.

I mean, Jesus and the disciples could have gotten into a dialogue with these Pharisees that could have lasted years.

They could have distracted them from what God had called them to do. And Jesus could have never finished his mission.

We could not have the book of Acts if the apostles had just spent all their time debating the bad rabbis within the land of Israel.

What we are to do, though, is what Paul said in 1 Timothy 4. He told Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, 16, to take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine.

For he said, “Continue in them, for in so doing thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.”

Those who hear us, especially those who hear us on a regular basis and those whom we get a chance to talk to who are not solidified,

who are not steadfast in false doctrine or steadfast in some counterfeit for the word of God or in more blatant opposition to the word of God,

those are people that we can influence by when we are taking heed to ourselves and unto the doctrine.

We can share with people heart-searching truth from the word of God that really puts the matter before them plainly.

We can share with them wisdom that would break the hold of some stronghold of some false teaching

or some idea that they would have that is keeping them from the kingdom or some idea that a Christian would have that is putting them in great danger of falling away.

So 1 Timothy 4, 16 is really, I think, is a good script for to go along with Matthew 15, 14.

So verse 15, “Then answered Peter and said unto him, “Declare unto us this parable.” And Jesus said, “Are ye also yet without understanding?

Do not ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth ineth the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the drop?

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man.

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulterers, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

These are the things which defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands defileeth not a man.”

So this puts to death the idea that a lot of people who are living in sin make an excuse for their sin.

So they say, “I’m good at heart. I might be right on the outside, but I’m good at heart.”

And these verses from Jesus absolutely destroy that false comfort that people so often give themselves.

Malachi 2.17, the last book of Old Testament. “Ye have wearied the Lord with your words, yet ye say, ‘Where in have we wearied him?’

When ye say, ‘Everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord,’ and he delighteth in them. For where is the God of judgment?”

A comment from Adam Clark. This was back in 1511, but it’s Jesus in verses 16-20 is amplifying on verse 11.

So I’ll read that here. Adam Clark says, “On man through 1511, not that which goeth into the mouth defileth.”

This is an answer to the carbon question of the Pharisees mentioned in 15.2, “Why do thy disciples eat with unwashed chans?”

“To which our Lord here replies that which goes into the mouth defileth, not the man.”

“That if in eating with unwashed chans any particle of dust, etc., cleaving to the hands might happen to be taken into the mouth of the food.”

“This did not defileth, did not constitute a man a sinner.” “For it is on this alone the question injures.”

“Thy disciples eat with unwashed chans, therefore they are sinners.”

“For they transgress the tradition of the elders, the oral law which they considered equal in authority to the written law.”

That’s the comments that we were talking about.

“And indeed often preferred the former to the latter, the Pharisees did, so as to make the law of God of none effect to totally destroy its nature and design.”

As we have often seen in the preceding notes.

So I’ll read Adam Clark’s comment on verse 20 here.

“Our Lord’s argument is very plain. What goeth into the mouth descends into the stomach and other intestines.”

“The part is retained for the nourishment of the body and part is ejected as being improper to afford nourishment.”

“Nothing of this kind defiles the soul because it does not enter into it.”

“But the evil principles that are in it, producing evil thoughts, murders, etc., is defile the soul because they have their seat in operation in it.”

Verses 16 to 20 would not justify getting drunk, being a guadain, being a drug addict.

Because of bringing those things into us, if somebody is getting high on drugs, they’ve chosen in their heart to engage in sorcery beforehand.

That’s not the same as dust and dirt that the Pharisees were worried about.

When somebody chooses to get drunk, they’re choosing to exalt their own pleasure above their own God-given judgment and their own God-given sanity.

When somebody chooses to be a guadain, they’re choosing to be an idolater, to set their heart upon food and set their heart upon gratifying their senses.

Thus, they’re hurting their bodies, but it’s not the hurting of the body in itself that would be the sin, but it’s the disregard of the body that would lead to that.

That would be what corrupts a guadain.

I will just close here with 1 Timothy 4, verses 1 through 5. We read in 2 Timothy chapter 3 last week about the peril of the last days

and about the tears and how living in lawlessness would be the normal in the last days for those who profess to be Christians.

That would be the great peril of the last days.

It’s interesting in the previous book that we’re given another side of the picture, another side of the ditch.

2 Timothy chapter 3 gives one side of the ditch.

You could say maybe it’s the same ditch, but it’s a subtle way of falling into it. Maybe you could say it’s a ditch on the other side of the road.

We read about counterfeit holiness. It would emerge within Christendom. Paul says in 1 Timothy, he tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 4,

“Now the spirits be hit expressly that in the later times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils,

speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” So what are these doctrines of devils?

“Forbidding to marry and to abstain from meat, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

For every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving.

For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”

So it’s interesting that Paul talked about forbidding to marry and abstaining from meat as doctrines of devils,

which would result in some departing from the faith in the last days.

And I believe that it just shows it’s a counterfeit holiness that Satan would come up with,

that people would glory and have confidence in and make the center of their religion not partaking of things,

which God himself had created as a blessing for mankind, or at least in the case of marriage as a blessing for many people.

We read in Hebrews 13 that marriage is honorable and all. There’s a God who would mean marriage of one man and one woman.

It’s something that is something that every person, even spiritual leaders like the apostles themselves who were married,

is something that every person is eligible for, though not all are called to that. It’s something that nobody should be forbidden in principle.

And we know that the Roman Catholic Church has, these are the very true things that the Roman Catholic Church has put so much emphasis upon,

even forbidding their spiritual leaders to marry and to make Lent and other celebrations, not so much celebrations,

but times of fasting and stuff to put such a heavy weight upon those things.

They don’t need meat upon fries and other things like that. And what it is, it’s a counterfeit holiness.

It distracts from true holiness. And it’s very much related to the era of the Gnostics,

that the Gnostics said that the heart was all that mattered and that the body was evil in and of itself.

So some Gnostics just indulged their body and lived in sensuality and lost another Gnostic,

adopted this false holiness where they emphasize things like forbidding to mirror and abstaining from each this counterfeit holiness,

which doesn’t really address the heart at all and doesn’t really deal with self, doesn’t really deal with pride,

with many other sins that only genuinely, only genuine repentance and true confidence in Christ can cleanse us from those things and really make us holy.

So I thought it was good time, but I will end there.

Thank you so much, brother. I’m just going to start off with a question here, brother. Because I like to always bring it back to us, you know, what are the ecclesia,

is the body of Christ supposed to do? And that’s to really go call people home to Christ, you know,

call them to repentance and the holiness and that good stuff. So the Great Commission. So there’s a lot of things that are going on in Christian dimmels.

Just a difference, you know, when do we leave them alone? You know, when do we let the blind leave the blind?

And, you know, can you differentiate that far? Can I make that clear? Probably not. No, I think you did. I think of Matthew 25. I hope I can find the verse quickly.

No, Russ, you made good time today.

Things really speed up there in Matthew between maybe chapters 14 and 21. So even though I rambled some, it still was pretty fast.

That’s good.

I think of the script from Proverbs that I might not be able to find right now, but it talks about a man who’s wise in his own conceits.

And it talks about how the sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.

It talks about CSL and he’s seen his words. There’s more hope of a fool than ever.

There’s just something about when somebody is — if there’s reason to believe somebody’s a brother in the Lord who is going astray,

but isn’t hard in their deception, that would be somebody to really pray for

and really seek a chance to give them a word that’s going to bring them back. So I’ll just say that for now.

Okay, good. Yeah, I think Proverbs 26 is where you’re probably looking there.

But yeah, so that’s very important that we know the difference in when to rebuke, reprove, and exhort,

and when to just leave it alone. Sometimes there is a time when we — which I’m not good at. I’m getting much better though to be silent, so praise the Lord.

Anybody else have any questions? William and Stephanie, any questions? No questions on this side.

All right, great. Okay, so I’m going to take it off recording.

Thank you everybody for listening. We also thank all our missionaries, our dear missionaries over there

in Kenya and Bangladesh and India. We thank you so much for listening, and we thank you for what you do, all of you. We’re all working together, and we thank all of our sponsors too, and everybody praying for us.

So I’m going to stop the recording and then we’ll go on to fellowship. God bless.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 15-21 through 16 Week 15

Good evening everybody and welcome to another Tuesday evening Bible study here in the United

States and Wednesday morning overseas we thank all our mission partners who are joining us.

I think there will be one or two more joining us from Kenya and we have our brother Hilton from Bangladesh and we are just so blessed to have you all here from the US and we also

have somebody from New South Wales, Australia, dear brother and other people throughout the

world. So we thank you. We are going through the book of Matthew, we are on week 15, believe it

or not I can just remember when this started it seems like just a few weeks ago we are on week 15

and we are on chapter 15 in the middle of it and we are going to start in verse 21. So we thank

brother Aaron Carey who is a very gifted teacher, really knows the Bible well and is able to

correlate the old and new testaments in a way that we can understand quite easily. So we really thank

brother Aaron for his dedication to the study every week and brother Aaron I am going to send

it over to you. Thank you. Thanks brother Jimmy. If you are not hearing me well just let me know

it seems like my phone is a little bit less powerful than it or something. But I just want

to thank everybody who has joined us. I want to again greet those who are listening and recording.

You are definitely not forgotten. Also my mouth is less dry this week and it has been in

previous weeks and I thank anybody who has prayed about that but I still might need to take a sip of

water now and then. But I will let you know what I need to do with it and maybe just have to take

the phone away from my ear for 10 seconds. So let’s get right to it Matthew 15, 21 beginning.

Then Jesus went then. So a dense means from there and departed into the coast of Troyer and Sadan.

Adam Clark thinks it could have maybe been translated towards that maybe Jesus didn’t leave the land of Israel here. If he did this would have been one of only two times he left the

land of Israel. The only other time being when he went to Decapolis on the coast of Gadira and

Angurgassa back in chapter 8. The story of when he cast demons out into this line. So not totally sure whether he left Israel here but he definitely was coming near the borders

into the land of near the coast of Troyer and Sadan and that would have been the Roman province

of Phoenicia. And behold the woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto him saying

have mercy on me O Lord. We know from Mark’s gospel that this was a woman of Syrophoenicia which was

the area of Troyer and Sadan but it seems like that she was a Canaanite by her nationality.

And that was obviously the race of people that got head commanded to be slain when Israel came

in the Canaan. That was definitely on the condition that they did not turn from their idolatry but it

seems it sunk wet out of the land of Canaan to Phoenicia and that’s probably and this woman was

probably a descendant of those who fled at that time. Okay so the woman came out of the same coast

and cried unto him saying have mercy on me O Lord. Thou son of David my daughter is grievously vexed

with the devil. But he answered her not a word and his disciples came and beside him saying send her

away for she cried after us. But he answered and said I am not sent but unto the last sheep of the

house of Israel. Then team she and worshiped him saying Lord help me. But he answered and said he

is not meat or not fit to take the children’s bread and to cast it to dogs. And she said truth Lord

yet the dogs give the crumbs which fall from their master’s table. Then Jesus answered and said unto

her O woman great as I faith be it unto thee even as in all willed. And her daughter was made whole

from that very hour. This is a passage that for a long time when I read it I would be very very

confused and very surprised that Jesus would act like this when this woman was approaching him.

And I think I think many people feel that way. I think that I think there’s an important lesson

here and that is that this woman was Jesus sort of was giving her the cold shoulder to either teach

her a lesson she needed to learn or to bring out the lesson that she had already learned that

she did not deserve to be among God’s people and to be given the blessings that were given to God’s

people. And that lesson in and of itself was a lesson that the Israelites themselves needed to learn. It’s a lesson that we all need to learn that God pours out his blessing and his mercy

and counts among his people only those that truly acknowledge who truly humble themselves

and acknowledge that they don’t deserve to be among his people. It’s like it’s very much like the man

in in book chapter 18 the the Pharisee who went up into the temple to pray that said God I think

that I’m not his other men are any listed the things he did and you know he said I fast twice in the week I give tithes of all that I possess and he thanked God that he wasn’t like

other men but the the public in the tax collector who was unwilling to lift his eyes so much as the

heavens had God be merciful east mode upon his best and said God be merciful to me a sinner

and Jesus said that this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.

So someone who was entitled to something doesn’t need to change and be obedient that was that was

a big problem among the Jews like we’ve seen that they thought that since they were descendants of

Abraham and since they were they were natural Israelites that God would accept them as they

were that they had an entitlement mentality that that opposed true repentance and obedience

but the one who’s truly convinced that they don’t deserve anything changing and being ruled by God’s

word that would involve suffering they’re happy to do it and receiving and in receiving that

obligation there’s also receiving of the truth that I only deserve judgment because I’ve already

failed to meet that obligation and and therefore there’s such a one taking on the yoke of Christ

is a very reasonable requirement in order to obtain mercy and meeting that condition is not

earning anything when one’s heart is truly broken and contrite. When the disciples asked Jesus in in

Luke chapter 17 to increase their faith I’ll just read that so Luke 17 1 through 10.

Another passage is very appropriate here. So Luke 17 1 then said he unto the disciples it is

impossible that offenses will come but will unto him through whom they come. It were better for him

that a milestone were hanged about his neck and he was cast into the sea than that he should

have found one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves if thy brother trespass against thee

rebuke him and if you repent forgive him and if he trespass against thee seven times in a day

and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying I repent thou shalt forgive him and the apostle

said unto the Lord increase our faith. They were saying this is really really hard to forgive somebody if they’ve transgressed against us multiple times and repenting from those asking for forgiveness they were saying God help us to have more faith to do this and listen to the parable Jesus well maybe not a parable but the lesson that Jesus gives them in the following

verses he sought to increase their faith by giving them an appropriate sense of their own obligation

and to lower their own estimate of their own entitlement. And the Lord said if he had faith

as a grain of a mustard seed he might say unto the sycamite tree be thou parked up by the root

and be thou planted in the sea and it should obey you. But which of you having a servant following

her feeding cattle will say unto him by and by when he has come from the field go and sit down to meet

and will not rather say unto him make ready wherewith I may self and gird thyself and serve me till I

have eaten and drunken and afterward thou shalt eat and drink that he think that servant because

he did the things that were commanded him I try not or I believe not or I think not. So likewise

he when you have done all things all those things which are commanded you say we are unprofitable

servants we have we have done that which was our duty to do. And so put in that proper light

on can anybody claim to can anybody claim that that they deserve God’s blessing and they deserve

to be among God’s people no and can anybody and can anybody say that obedience to God and true

repentance and holiness is unreasonable of course not and I believe that’s the lesson that um

that we see here another smaller lesson is related to um a conversation I was having with brother

Jimmy last night and that is um we see here that it’s a given that dogs eat the crumbs off their

master’s table and that dogs don’t sit at the table and and eat the same food in the same proportion

that the that the people do it’s just kind of like one of those it’s one of those given things that um

you should be without question and it’s a sign in a society that a society is straight far from God

when such a thing is um is not obvious when people start treating their animals like people and start

you know buying them expensive meals and start um pampering them rather than feeding them dog

food feeding them leftovers letting them eat the crumbs that are on the floor um it’s definitely it’s definitely a sign of um a corrupt society when when animals start to when people start

treating their own animals better than um people and start to make great expenses on their animals

at the expense of giving to people who are to people who are truly poor needy um and and and

that’s um I know Jamie had told me last night that he had done a study about the eyes of the Bible

that’s definitely one of those um definitely one of those um those verses that would be um

appropriate in such a study so continuing on verse 29 and Jesus departed from lense and came nigh

into the sea of Galilee and went up and went up into a mountain and sat down there and great

multitudes came unto him having with them those that were laying blind dumb maimed and many others

and cast them down at Jesus’s feet and healed and he healed them um when it came to the blind and

the maimed that the maimed were literally those that had um had lost body parts that didn’t have

a hand or foot or toe um had something chopped off so this was a category of miracle just like

when it came to healing the blind and curing the lepers at the old testament prophets um besides

naming curing curing um being cured by elisha um besides that these were miracles that were

unknown in old testament times they’re they’re very strong proof that Jesus is um that Jesus is

God that he is not just an ordinary prophet if you could even call any prophet ordinary um so verse

31 and so much that the multitude wondered when they saw the dumb to speak the maimed to behold

the lame to walk and the blind to see and they glorified the God of Israel they were on the coast of the land of Israel and Jesus obviously um Jesus obviously made it clear that um

he was serving the God of the God of Israel the God who um who spoke to Moses and the burning push

the God who um the God who spoke through the prophets and inspired the the Bible or the what

they had of the Bible is the time which we would consider now to be the old testament for the Hebrew

Bible um so verse 32 then Jesus called his disciples and said I have compassion on the

multitude because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat and I will not send

them away fast unless they in the way and his disciples say unto him when should we have so much

bread in the wilderness is to feel so great a multitude um this was definitely a weakness in

them this was definitely a lack of faith in them because they had very recently um just just in the

previous chapter faced a very very similar situation where they had a multitude in the wilderness and

had just five wolves and two fishes and Jesus had um and Jesus had five thousand people fed more

five thousand men besides women and children a greater multitude than they had at this point

and um so this was definitely their slowness to learn and their own um we could say immaturity or

something like that that they um did not have confidence for Jesus to to feed them um so

what Jesus was patient with them verse 34 Jesus said unto them how many loaves have ye and they

said seven and a few little fishes and he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground and he

took the seven loaves and and the fishes and break them and gave to his disciples and the disciples

to the multitude and they did all eat and were filled and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full um so the last miracle they had um there there were they took

12 baskets full one for each disciple and now they take up seven baskets full which would have been um

the same amount of the loaves that they had back in verse um verse 34 so that that’s interesting

that that that matches there um and they did it and they did it were four thousand men beside

women and children and he sent away the multitude and took ship and came into the coast of megalah

um megalah would have been um where Mary Magdalene was from that um the fact that she was called

Magdalene would have um denoted that she was from she was from the city or the the area surrounding

me made me doll um Adam Clark’s quote on Matthew 1538 let the poor learn from these miracles to

trusting God for support whatever his ordinary providence denies his miraculous power will supply

um what we can learn from Jesus feeding the four thousand and the five thousand um a key lesson is that Jesus is the is the sustainer of life as well as the giver of life

because it’s not enough just to be given life but that life has to be sustained and it has to be

sustained physically and the same is true the same is true of spiritual life and the fact that he

involved his disciples in these miracles um it’s um there’s a spiritual lesson to them especially

since they were to be the ones who would be charged with um being the chief shepherds of his of his

church and of his body on first peter chapter five this is a very key um so i i know that there’s

many here that are our pastors and have um have responsibility of shepherds to God’s people so

very um very relevant especially to you on first peter five one peter says so and peter had been

among those that had been partaking of this miracle and it had seen this miracle um the elders which

the elders which are among you i exhort who am also an elder and witness of the sufferance of

christ and also partake of the glory that shall be revealed feed the flock of God which is among you

taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre um but of

already mine lucre means means money and riches um neither is being hoards over God’s heritage

but being in samples to the flock and when the chief shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a

crown of glory that fadeeth not away um if you go back to colossians chapter one verses 22 and 23

we need to we need to feed um God’s people need to be fed because they need to endure in the faith um

Paul talks in Colossians one about um the Colossians being reconciled um to guide through um

i’ll start in verse 21 and you that were sometimes alienated anemones in your mind by wicked works

yet now if he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unbelievable and unreprovable in his sight is this automatic no if he continue in the faith

grounded and settled and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which he have heard and which

was preached every creature which is under heaven whereby Paul made a minister um in in chapter two

of the same book Paul exhorts to Colossians as he ever as he have therefore received Christ Jesus

the Lord so walking him rooted and built up in him and establishing the faith as he had been

tired of bounding during with thanksgiving so it’s because of this um this need to walk to continue

in the faith to walk in Christ as we have continued with him um this is why God’s people need to be

fed and this is why um and this is why shepherds those who are charged with having leadership

among God’s people especially have a responsibility to see that God’s people are fed by um quality

teaching from his word um it shows the need to since we’re all in a sense um shepherds one another

it shows the need to consider others and um and to seek out to have a word to to sustain others

that we meet and it also shows the need to um if we have a chance if God’s word is really being

preached being taught well somewhere and we have access to um to being there to to that type of

fellowship and the sit and the sit under teaching that is really um that the Lord is in and he’s his spirit is moving and he’s feeding his people there we have a responsibility to um

we have a responsibility to be there and and be fed and to take in the word and to and to seek to

minister that word to others in our life because um Jesus had told his disciples back in chapter

10 freely have you received really really give um I might not have quoted that perfectly but basically that God’s God’s truth is is ministered to us freely so we should minister it freely to

others um so continuing with chapter 16 um hopefully we’ll get through chapter 16 tonight um

and um brother we just had a few uh brother Aaron just real quick we’re we’re we’re on Matthew

chapter 16 for those who have joined us uh late we have a couple from other countries so I just

want to make sure okay thanks brother oh thanks Jim um the Pharisees also with the sadducees came

and tempting desired him that he would show them the sign from heaven um very very interesting

that the Pharisees and the sadducees who were um very much opposed to one another and very different in terms of their doctrine would team up to oppose Jesus um in x23 we see a description of um the difference between the Pharisees and the sadducees um

the Pharisees had more fundamental type beliefs that were true to the to reality true to the old

testament whereas the the sadducees were were liberals who denied um they were basically like

the liberal um false christians today who denied that there’s a judgment deny that there’s a resurrection um that make christ miracles and allegories that um that deny the supernatural aspect of christianity deny the need to be born again things like that um so in x23

just turn again myself um

okay so x23 6 Paul was on trial before the Jewish from san hadron the the council that ruled the

land of israel and so in verse six but when Paul perceived that one part were sadducees and the

other Pharisees he crowded cried out in the council men and brethren i am a pharisee the

son of a pharisee of the hope and resurrection of the dead i am called in question and when he

had so said there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the sadducees and the multitude was

divided so so you can see that there was this opposition among them and this was not not very

long relatively after um what we’re reading about in the gospels um for the sadducees say that there

is no resurrection neither angel nor spirit but the Pharisees confess both um so so this is

basically like um what we have in Matthew 16 one year it’s basically like um those who are right

in their doctrine but who have um who have evil hearts who have maybe um maybe they’re right in

their overall basic doctrinal statement but they they also have some other corrupt beliefs and they’re not obedient to the word that they believe it’s it’s it’s kind of like the fundamentalist ungodly professing christian who is teaming up with uh with the liberal who outrightly denies um biblical truth it’s um you know it’s it’s basically like when those types of churches

team up together and persecuting a a church that is preaching and living through holiness that’s

that’s what we have here so verse two and he answered and said unto them when it is evening

he say it will be fair weather for the sky is red and and in the morning it will be fall weather today for the sky is red and over and oh hypocrites he can discern the face of the sky

but can you not discern the signs of the times um basically jesus was telling them that um

they can judge they can judge weather by um they can judge coming weather by um by patterns in

in the sky they can um they can discern natural events and and what’s going to happen in them

and they know how to prepare for natural things but they don’t they’re not prepared for the messiah

when they should have known by the scriptures like we talked about in the opening that uh the intro

to this book how um that the messiah would be born in bethlehem that he would um if he would

come to the second to the second temple that he’d be of the seat of david that he would um be called

a nazarene that he would be on and and even the timing of the messiah by the 70 weeks of daniel

they they should have known that it was the time of the messiah they should have been able to discern

that um by the by the warnings and by the prophecies of the old testament and by the miracles he had

already done among them that um that he was the messiah promised in in the scriptures and that they

um and and that they and they were very unreasonable to be asking another sign when they had already

seen signs and they had already seen um and they had the scriptures which should have been enough

without a sign um so he says in verse four awakening adulterous generation seeketh after a sign

and there’s and there shall no sign be given unto it but the sign of the prophet onus and this and

that was talked about back in chapter 12 and he left them and departed um this is obviously a

reference to his resurrection um that was uh that was the only miracle that he was yet to do that

was yet necessary to confirm his identity um there’s a lesson here about debating with those who um

who oppose who oppose the truth of the bible who who openly oppose that jesus is a messiah

go to the resurrection because that’s the ultimate um that’s the ultimate proof of his divinity

that’s the ultimate um that’s the ultimate sign that he is the messiah promised in the old testament

and that he’s the son of god as he claimed to be um there are there are so many um obvious facts

even now they confirm that the skeptic can be given to um to give them very strong hints that he’s a messiah um that he’s the grace of son of god um if you just look at the fact that um his

his apostles who wrote the new testament the most pure holy book um claimed that they had seen him

alive and risen from the dead if they if that was not true they would be liars and then the entire bible the entire bible would be a lie um especially the new testament epistles um christ

was they appreciate christ was risen in jerusalem the very city that he had been crucified um very

shortly after he had been crucified if if they had been um if they had been making up a hoax it would

make sense that they would either wait a long time that they would go to another city that they would

go to rome that they would go to ephasis that they would go to all the cities that you know that the

apostle paul eventually went to but they started out right in jerusalem preaching that christ was

raised from the dead right where he had been buried and that’s an undeniable historical fact that

christianity began in in in jerusalem in israel um you know in the early 80s 30s that’s something

that’s um that’s something nobody can deny and and and so and that’s just a few things obviously

um we certainly could get much more detailed but um so so that truth combined with um the implications of that truth if Jesus is risen if he if he be lord then his sacrificial death on the

his death on the cross must have the meaning of being an atonement person like the scriptures

teach that and and it would be proof that man is guilty and needs an atonement person it would be

proof that he is um he’s the messiah of the scriptures and it would be proof that he’s

he’s lord right now and that he’s um and that he has a right to uh rule and reign over over people

right now and that they and that they need to repent and and and get right with him and that

he’s going to be coming back and worried just like he he said he was um and many other related truths

and and and so this is a commonly misused and abused passage on romans 10 9 to 13 um paul says the word of faith which we appreciate that if thou shalt

confess with thy mouth the word jesus and shall believe in that hurt the caddeth raised him from

the dead thou shalt be saved that’s not just saying that i believe jesus is lord because he

he said that not everyone that saith unto me lord lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but

he that throughout the world my father which is in heaven um to confess him with your mouth and

believe in your heart the caddeth raised him from the dead is um is implying that you’re yielded to

him as lord in your heart and that he is um and and that you’ve received his authority and you have

um and that you have taken him to and that you’ve committed your entire being onto him which is what

true belief is um for paul says for with the heart man believe it under under righteousness

and when the mouth confession is made unto salvation um when the mouth confession is made

unto salvation is basically saying it’s not enough just uh it’s not enough just to to believe in your

heart but that has to show by your life it has to show by your um by your confessing his word and

by your um standing for his word and by your um being ruled by his word because paul had sinned

tightest 116 um he talked about how some professed to no god but in works they deny him being

abominable and disobedient and and unto every good work replicate um so verse 11 of roman’s

10 for the scripture sayeth whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed for there is no

difference between the two and the greek for the same word overall is rich unto all that call upon

him for whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved um so let’s take a drink of water

excuse me okay so back to matthew 16

on verse five okay so verse four and he left them and departed and when his disciples were come to

the other to the other side they had forgotten to take bread then jesus said unto them take heed

and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the and of the sadducees and they reason among

themselves and it is because we have taken no bread which when jesus perceived he said unto them

oh ye of little faith why reason ye among yourselves because ye have bought because you

have not no bread to ye not yet understand neither remember the five wolves or the five thousand

and how many baskets you took up neither the seven wolves or the four thousand and how many baskets

you took up how is it that you do not understand that i speak not to you concerning bread that you

should be aware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the sadducees then understood then understood they

how how that he bade them not be aware of the leaven of bread but of the doctrine of the Pharisees

and of the sadducees um so this was another weakness in the disciples that they were um

that they were so focused on the natural realm and having their natural needs met after christ had

just um given them such a wonderful um demonstration of his ability to meet their natural needs in the

treating the five thousand and the four thousand um we can certainly be like that to be taken up

with natural things when when really there’s spiritual lessons that the Lord is seeking to

to get through to us and being overly concerned about natural things can um like Jesus had talked

about back in chapter chapter six what we eat what we drink what we put on even um you know even

other things that maybe um have some value and and obviously those things do have some meaning

but we can be so taken up with the natural that we um we neglect to hear the the real um the real

lessons that God’s seeking to tell us and this was a and that and that’s a weakness in us when we um

when we’re like that and that was the disciples problem here but in verse 12 they understood

that Jesus wasn’t speaking to them of actual leaven and bread but of the doctrine of the Pharisees

and of the Sadducees um one i i didn’t get this room down from Adam Clark perfectly i didn’t get

this written down perfectly but he talked about how bad doctrine assimilates the soul to its own nature

um just like what Paul said in first Corinthians five did a little leaven leavens the whole lump you

you get a bad doctrine a bad teaching that um permits a little bit of ungodliness a little bit

of um a little bit of wickedness and you start to entertain that it can um it can easily corrupt you

all together um it’s and and that’s why Paul told Timothy to take heed to himself and to the

doctrine first for doing this gospel save thyself and then to hear the doctrine is really important

and Clark also said something about um bad doctrines and affect one’s um conduct and temper

more than they’re aware of and that is very very true um i i know a man who says that you cannot

live above your doctrine and i either would agree with him or at least see it is very very difficult

and um and and that goes and and i’ll read from second Timothy chapter two um a scripture that i

think we’ve looked at before but certainly worth worth it to look at again here um second Timothy two verse um

i’ll start in verse 14 of these things put them in remembrance charging them before the lord that they strive not about words to no profit but to the subverting of the hearers study to shoo thyself approve them the god of work man that needeth not to be ashamed

rightly dividing the word of truth um but shun profane and vain badlands for they will increase

unto more ungodliness that’s the like the leaven of the Pharisees and the sadducees they will increase

on the more ungodliness if we don’t take it and be aware of um of bad

bad doctrines bad bad ideas that undermine biblical teaching um verse 17 and their

wordily the thothic anchor of whom is him and theus and philitus and and so this is an example of

a bed a bad doctrine that undermines biblical teaching verse 18 um who concerning the truth

that we’re saying that the resurrection has passed already and overthrow the faith of some um

so it’s it’s obvious that they’re teaching that the resurrection has already passed it

you don’t have to be concerned about a common judgment and that you know how whatever they

were doing whatever they were saying to justify that it was making people careless about um about

sin and it was it was making people um you know at least by degrees it was making people um

ungodly and and and you get by verse 19 you you see how their faith was overthrown

nevertheless the foundation of god stands assured having this shield the lord know with them that

are his and let everyone that name it the name of christ depart from iniquity or depart from mollisness depart from transgression um and we know that that is not something that

you cannot depart from iniquity and keep yourself from iniquity unless you are um unless you are

being sober and vigilant and diligent um because if otherwise it will overtake you peter had said

in first peter five that be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil is a roaring

lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour um there is um and there’s just many many other

examples in scripture of just how a little leaven can can leaven the whole lump so the bottom line

is it’s not um it’s not rhyme and you see somebody teaching a doctrine that you know you maybe in

itself it doesn’t seem that bad but you can see where it could be going you could see that you

know if this gets accepted then other things it could just play in a bad seed it could really

grow so it’s not rhyme to say to somebody um hey you know you’re teaching this but the bible says

this what what you have to see about that or um you know to to offer a word of correction and

weakness and to and to see if you see um if you see the bad ideas and bad doctrines of people in

your fellowship are starting to to believe them to really thoroughly intelligently teach so that

those doctrines can be um can be cast down and the people can um can see them for what they are

before they do grow into something much much worse um so verse 13 when jesus came into the

coast of caesarea philippi he asked his disciples saying whom do men say that i the son of man him

and they said some john the baptist some elias or elijah and others jeremiah are one of the prophets

um he said unto them but whom say ye that i am um we see by verse 14 that um there was a bad

doctrine that was going around in the land of israel that was um being added to the word of god

and you see that um it was common that people believed in reincarnation and by the very fact

that um some were saying that a lot that jesus was elijah or jeremiah um elijah had been taken up

into heaven hundreds of years before jeremiah had and the other prophets said they had been dead for

a long time and yet some people were saying that um that jesus was one of them and i can i can

understand where they would have got that from that would have been from melechai chapter four

when god had said behold i send you will um the prophet elijah before the great and notable day

of the lord they they had taken that literally when god did not mean it god did not mean it literally

because we we were going to see in the next chapter and we had seen back in chapter 11

that jesus said directly the town the baptist was elijah and he wasn’t literally elijah but he was um

we see by luke chapter one and i don’t have the verse right now and i’m not going to turn there

but um if you you know if you go over if you go through luke one you’re going to see that the

angel gabriel said that john the baptist was had was going to come in the spirit and power of elijah

so he wasn’t elijah but he was um he had an elijah like ministry he had an elijah like um

anointing and an elijah like um message and but there were many who were careless with god’s word

if they had been diligent they would have said you know the bible there’s no other verse in the bible

that teaches reincarnation or trans migration of the soul is another word for it so we better be

careful about taking this one passage and making such a conclusion and that’s how many bad actions

get built these people take one passage that out either out of context or at the very least you know it’s hard to say and there’s not another passage in the bible that supports it but they still take it um you know they they still foolishly determine something um that they are not

determined from just one passage and it can lead to years like that um but that wasn’t the main

point of jesus asking the disciples his question he was he was seeking to to hear what he heard

from peter in verse 16 um and simon peter answered and said thou art the christ the son of the living

god and jesus answered and said unto him blessed art thou simon barjona for flesh and blood if not

revealed it unto thee but my father which is in heaven um we learn here that god is as jesus son

john chaper for the god is a spirit god is not a a man with hands and feet in having um i think

that question came up in the ageless conflict study and this is another verse that can be used

and and and i and i do believe that mormons believe something like that but this is a passage

that would prove that god is um in his in his form in heaven is not um is a spirit and not a man of flesh and blood and so verse 18 and i also say unto thee that thou art peter

and upon this rock i will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it

and i will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt find on earth

shall shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven

so this is a very controversial passage um

a lot of things to deal with here um but let’s start out just to show that um the rock the rock is not peter the the roman catholic church believes that um

that this was jesus mason peter the first pope and that um and that peter is the rock upon which

um the church is jesus this church is built and that can be proven i i don’t know how they would

come up with that even from this passage because it’s clear that peter means a stone and not a rock

and there’s a different word used for for rock i i believe um i believe peter is i’m not going to get into the group because i didn’t i didn’t research it ahead of time but it’s it’s a different word in each case for peter and for rock um if you go back to

well if you go ahead to Ephesians 2 let’s start there

if the if the roman catholic church would just let the bible interpret the bible they would um

they wouldn’t the whole office of the pope and peter being first pope would be something that

they couldn’t entertain um so Ephesians 2 verse 19 um Paul’s telling the Ephesian Christians how

most of them are gentiles and how that they are being um that they are being brought among god’s people

and that they have the full privileges of god being among the true israel the true people of god

in christ and how the dividing between drew and gentile in christ through christ is um is taken

down so in verse 19 he says now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens

with the saints and of the household of god and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets jesus christ himself being the chief cornerstone so jesus himself has to be the

obviously the chief cornerstone is the is the rock upon which the rest of the building is built so that’s so the rock that the church is built on must be jesus christ and not peter um

if you go to peter’s own words about this in um in first peter chapter 2 you see you see the truth

just very plainly revealed again um so he’s talking about the lord in verse 3 of first peter 2 and then

in verse 4 he says to whom come and yeas unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen

of god and precious ye also as lively stones are built up of spiritual house and holy priesthood

to offer of spiritual sacrifice is acceptable to god by jesus christ wherefore also it is contained in the scripture behold i lay inside a chief cornerstone you act precious and he that believeth

on him shall not be shall not be confounded um unto you therefore which believe he is precious but

unto them which be disobedient the stone which the builders disallowed the same as made the head of

the corner so that’s just a thought that is so um that is so obvious that um you know the roman

catholic church if people would just study the bible carefully and and get serious about the word

of god the roman catholic church just couldn’t um exist anymore in sim 18 i’m i’m not going to go

there but it it says who is a rock saviour god in sim 18 so it’s it’s clear that um that jesus has

to be the rock and and also um that verse from sim 18 would also be another proof that jesus is god

because god is the only rock and jesus himself is the chief cornerstone who must be the rock upon

whom the church is built um so what does it mean in verse 19 i will give unto thee the keys of the

kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt find honor shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever

thou shall loose honor shall be loosed in heaven um i believe that this is um

this is a reference to declaring the doctrines related to salvation um to declaring how god will

save sinners and and declaring who will be excluded from heaven and on what account that’s that’s an

ademcloid paraphrase um so this is so this is talking about authority to preach the gospel and

to order the church um we see in first corinthian’s life that um that the apostle paul commanded that

uh that the man who was living in sin be cast out of the church and said that um basically said that

it’s the job of the church to judge those that are are within but them that are them that are without

god judge it um there’s a when there’s a when there’s a true new testament church it should be um

it should be um an axiom something that is um that’s a given something that’s implied that

being in the church is like being in the arch and that those who are um and that those who are

believers in christian who are um are keeping his word and who are partaking of his covenant um

are among his true people and that they have they have a hope of heaven they have a hope of

partaking in his coming kingdom and that those who are without even if they don’t acknowledge

even if those without don’t acknowledge it themselves do not um do not have that hope

but when somebody comes into the church who um tries to be among god’s people but who isn’t um

isn’t living like one of god’s people but who is um

who’s being obviously disobedient to god and who’s um not not honoring the teaching of the word

who is in the case of the man in corinth who isn’t um upholding standards of godly purity um they need to be cast out of the church as a um

to show them that living this is unacceptable um with it to be among god it’s unacceptable to be

among god’s people and to live like this and that those who um and that those who won’t meet the

conditions of being among god’s people can’t have the hope of god’s people and so it’s ultimately

a mercy to preserve the testimony of the church and a mercy to the to the sinner who gets cast out

to show that you need to repent you need to you need to get right with god and to get back on

the narrow way and to and to really um really surrender to the lord and be a disciple and to be um

um it’s it’s like it’s very much like a parent telling their child that um you can’t live in this house and partake of the benefits of of this house unless you’re willing to

honor the rules of the household and um and honor the father your parents authority and honor um

and and live as somebody in this house is expected to live and obviously god’s house without holding this no man shall see the lord back in ezekiel um i think it’s chapter 43 but in one of it talks about the law of the house is it’s on everything within the boundaries of the

house will be holy i’m i’m paraphrasing that but that’s the but that’s the love of god’s house and

so um so verse 19 is jesus giving peter and giving ministers of the gospel who um

follow the apostolic faith that peter and the apostles lay down he’s giving them authority to he’s giving them he’s giving ministers of the gospel authority to um to proclaim in the church what is um basically the way of salvation and to say that and and to say based upon

what they can see what is what they can know in their um in their human knowledge and whatever

the holy ghost should reveal to them to say that um this is this is conformity to

to god in his in his gospel and this is not into and uh and to bring people and into the church

that are um basically to judge people’s repentance and the sincerity of someone’s repentance and to

and and also to judge when one is not um is not truly repented and not truly holy but obviously

this has to be um this has to be based upon the word of god just like the president of the united

states he doesn’t have the authority to to make laws he only has authority to enforce the laws is the

he’s basically like the chief executive um the chief law enforcement officer of the country and

when a president gets into into making laws rather than enforcing laws he is he’s lawless himself

and that’s um that’s obviously been a problem with um our current president in america in

america and um and probably the and many corrupt leaders throughout the centuries and and so um

and the world right now but um and so when a leader of a church would abuse this power so as to make

his own laws and uh and to be um partial in in his judgments he is no longer a true minister of the

gospel who is um who is worthy to be followed and who ought to be followed um silver some continuing

chapter 16 um then shared she is disciples that they should that they should tell no man that he

was jesus that he was jesus the christ um this is very much like um what we’re gonna see in the next

chapter that after after he um after he received the honor that the father gives him on the amount

of transfiguration the next chapter they’re not to tell any man about the division until after he

were risen from the dead because the time for him to be glorified openly and proclaimed as a messiah

um was um publicly was not yet calm

now obviously um obviously people who had um who were paying attention and who were um

who were really reading his miracles and his teachings properly should have seen that but he wasn’t proclaiming it um he wasn’t proclaiming that openly saying you know i’m i’m the messiah he left that for his for his apostles to do after he after his resurrection

and ascension to heaven as as we see them doing the next chapter two on the day of panecost um

what he had to face now was the cross and his his imminent suffering so that’s what we’re going

to get into in verse 21 from that time forth began jesus to show unto his disciples how that

he must go on to jerusalem he must because the scriptures um he needed to do is to fulfill the

scriptures that christ must need suffer and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and

scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day um we see the three categories of the chief persecutors of god’s people here um the elders of israel would have been rich powerful

men from from noble families um that the chief priests would have been um they were for the most

part sadducees they were for the most part um liberals when it came to to the scriptures um but so we basically see rich men and who um

we see rich men we see religious leaders seeking to obtain their own power and who see the true

gospel and christ and his people as as a threat to their own power and their own kingdom and the

scribes we um scholars who have an agenda scholars who are are know-it-alls and aren’t humble enough

to be corrected and who um who want to push um who want to push their own chosen learning and

instruction um in opposition to the word of god those have those have always been the three chief

um categories of persecuting god’s people we see that in the book of x um we see how there were

business owners in philippine apoises who um who persecuted the apostle paul because his um

his preaching was um was threatening their business it was related to

was related to occult type practices with uh the girl in philippine who was a soothsayer her master

who bothered masters of much pain and and also the makers of the oils of diana in x19 um we we see

the chief priests and the scribes we see the we see both the um the Jewish religious leaders

and the different cities that the apostles went to and um an example describes i can’t think about

the top of my head but um i should have wrote it down ahead of time but but no doubt that um

but no doubt that the religious leaders who persecute god’s people have have their scribes who um

always have their scribes who are um assisting them and we’re going to talk more about that in

the next chapter so so verse 22 after jesus says that he’s he’s going to suffer and be killed in

jerusalem and be raised again the third day then peter took him and began to rebuke him saying be

far from the lord this shall not be unto thee um but he turned and said unto peter get thee behind

me saying thou art an offense unto me for thou savor is not the things that be of god but those

that be of men um many many lessons here um

i’ll just i’ll just give a reference to back to verse 19 and what i was saying about um church

discipline and the keys of the kingdom of heaven those who want a further reference about that um

lividicus chapters 13 verses 3 and 23 um is uh um a lesson about the priests of israel

and what their duty was it i think we’ll give you more insight that’s lividicus 13 verses 3 and 23 um

okay so there’s so much here in verses 22 and 23 and i’m getting my notes organized um so so we

learned here that it is possible to oppose christ by um by having human affection for somebody

and how um doing the will of god can bring suffering and when we um and we can have loved ones

that we might not want to see suffer and if we don’t channel our human affection for them

through the will of god we can actually oppose christ and earn his rebuke and we also have to

be aware of those who um those who would have um human affection for us it is not channeled through

the through the word of god and how that can that could be dangerous for us and that could throw us

out of the neural league jimmy was telling me last night about a sister who might even be on this

call but i won’t mention her name who um recent mission trip how um her family did not um

did not did not want her to go she was not under her parents authority they they couldn’t stop her

but um they were just afraid of the danger and the mission trip was a great blessing to her

and she was a great blessing on the trip but um the opposition from her family um it’s a good thing

that she did not let their concern about her get in the way of that because um that would have that

that could have been um a harmful thing um we learned here that we learned from verse 23 that um

it’s an obvious truth but people people who are infected by humanism need to see it that the things that be of god do not eat the things that um

the will of god and the the things that men um the warden are not are not wanting the same thing

um god’s will and man’s will can indeed be contrary one to another and often are um

when jesus calls peter seeden here i i adam clark said that adversary would have been a better

word for for that and i and i and i believe he’s right because the essence of the name seeden it’s

it’s just one of the many names it’s given for the devil in the scripture and you can see in

revelation 12 how seeden the serpent the dragon um the devil those are all those are all different

names for the same being but the name seeden comes from um the idea of an adversary and an opponent so

it’s not like it’s not like jesus was telling peter acquitting peter with the devil here and

it’s not like jesus was telling peter that the devil himself had been speaking through him he

he was but he was telling him that you are opposing me you are um it is a satanic mindset you could see

to um to savor the things that be of men to delight in the things of men um to the point of

to the point of opposing the will of god or to the point of bringing to the point of bringing him to disobey his father and not fulfill the scriptures out of his human affection it was it

was indeed um it was indeed a um an ungodly mindset it was um that peter need to be reviewed for

so verse 24 then said Jesus on the his disciples if any man will come after me let him deny himself

and take up his cross and follow him for whosoever will save his life to lose it and who so ever will

lose his life for my sake shall find it for what is a man profited official gain the whole world

and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul for the son of man shall

come in the glory of his father with his angels and then he shall reward every man according to

his works verily i say unto you there be some standing here which shall not taste of that

so they see the son of man coming in his kingdom um you know so much here um okay so here’s an

amclar quote this discourse was intended to show peter and the rest of the disciples the nature of

his kingdom and that the honor that cometh from the world was not to be expected by those who

followed christ um i can say right now that many many people who go astray go astray because they

received some doctrine and this goes back to what we were talking about earlier that promises them

that they can avoid the suffering that christ and the apostles on face that they can avoid the

opposition from the world that christ and the apostles faced they can happen in many many forms

it can happen in the idea that um the idea of dominionism the idea that the church should take

control of the world and christianize the world that that can happen before christ comes back

that will happen after christ comes back but it’s not when the kingdoms of the world becomes the

kingdoms of our lord and others christ but it’s not um it’s not the church’s job now and social hope is a vain hope it can come from the prosperity gospel um that makes all suffering um

opposed to the will of god and makes health and wealth to be the normal christianity it can come

through many many different things it can come from healing false prophets who say that um you know there’s false prophets who say america is going to come all the way back and

isn’t going to face judgment anymore it can come through many many different means but um what the

idea that um but the idea that you can follow christ and not face opposition and rejection

and suffering in this world is um is is an evil concept and many many people who go astray go

astray because they’ve convinced themselves that they can follow christ and avoid suffering and it just totally destroys their discernment it totally um makes them careless it it delivers

them over to greater deception um a lot of times people will talk about um do you need to to be

obedient or do you need to do you need to not have confidence in yourself and your own works and they

make it as if those two things are contrary one to another but the fact is they’re both true we need

to we need to deny our own pursuits and our own agenda and we need to deny our own self-sufficiency

um roman’s chapter 11 um 35 and 36 it shows that um

it it shows that those things together um and this is and and paul’s sort of summarizing the

doctrinal aspect of the gospel message um romans 11 33 to 36 oh the death bolt of the wisdom and

knowledge of god how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out for who has known

the mind of the lord or who has been his counselor or who had first given to him and it shall be

recompensed unto him again for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory

forever amen so we have to deny everything that um we have to deny living by our own agenda all

things have to be of him and through him that’s denying our own self-sufficiency our own high

thoughts about ourselves our own um our own sense of accomplishment our own trusting and our own power

and and and to him um our own our own um our own goals our own pursuits our own um agendas for our

life those are things that those are all aspects of denying ourselves and taking up our cross in

order to save our life um save our soul ultimately adam clark thought that that would have been a

better um translation but if we understand soul saving our soul to be um a way to have an eternal

life there there’d be no contradiction anyway um and so in verse 28 where jesus says there’d be

some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom

verse 27 is obviously a reference to the final judgment but verse 28 is obviously not talking

about grace coming we read in roman 14 17 that the kingdom of god is not meat and drink the

righteousness and peace and joy in the holy spirit uh the fullness of god’s kingdom when it

comes to the new covenant when it comes to when it comes to this age came when the holy spirit came

and the son of man came to live directly in the hearts of um of his people that the holy spirit

is we know from x5 32 is given to all them that obey him and so i believe verse 28 is jesus promising

um the glory that comes from that and the blessing that comes from that and the wonder you know you

can see you could see the excitement not the false pentecostal excitement but the true um

but the true excitement that happened on the day of pentecost and the um how the spirit was poured

out and and they were speaking in other tongues not not gibberish tongues but actual tongues to

the people who dwelled at jerusalem and and peter preached christ to them and many repented and

and it was the founding of the church 3000 people on on that one day um were added to their number

and and so there was a true blessing and and true excitement and that’s a true blessing and excitement

with the sufferings of the gospel with the um with denying ourselves and taking up our cross

um that we can hold for as a as an encouragement and as um as a very thing that the lord is seeking

to do through us to to the theory he wants to build his church and and build um and build his

kingdom the the aspect of the kingdom that’s him reigning and ruling in the hearts of men now

through us and and and that is and that’s ultimately going to culminate in the blessed

hope of his return when that kingdom is um when that kingdom is manifested and that kingdom is um

that kingdom is um is is exalted and and christ people are um

ring with him so i’ll end with hebrews 12 verses 25 to 29 see that you refuse not him to speak it

for if they escape not who refuses him to speak on earth how much more shall not we escape if we

turn away from him to speak it from heaven whose voice and shook the earth but now yet promising

yet once more i shake not the earth only but also heaven and this word yet once more signified the

removing of those things that are shaken that’s the things that are made that’s that’s a reference

to verse 27 grace coming back and judging every man according to his works that those things which

cannot be shaken may remain wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace

whereby we may serve god acceptably with with reverence and godly fear for our god is a consumer

employer you know god bless you brother arin um i just have a few comments before we go to questions

um thank you for that teaching brother it’s great as well um you know it’s amazing um you know you

were talking about last night um uh our chat you know and i was talking about a couple that are

what i believe is to be probably the best example of a godly couple you know and a great example to

a lot of people and um uh you know the devil always tries to get in our way you know and to discourage us you know and i think i uh told you last night to brother arin if i didn’t i’ll say it

here but you know even my own mother uh you know i i i sent out the moringa um newsletter and um she

writes back you know you shouldn’t be doing 75 that’s way too much to give to the mission you

know because i’m donating 75 of the profits you know and it’s always don’t do this don’t do that

and wanting to talk about secular stuff the last email i got from her obviously praying for her salvation still and still uh and that um uh you know don’t don’t give me any more bible verses you know but i love jesus and he’s with me 24/7 you know those are the exact words so

uh the devil will try to um discourage us try to get in our way and and typically from the closest

people in our lives uh obviously family and and former friends and stuff like that so uh i just

wanted to mention that and we always need to stay focused on him we should never let anything in

this world distract us from the left and the right and talking about um uh the uh uh politics of this

world you know it just gets me so sad that um you know i don’t have a minute left in the day you

know when i post on facebook it’s typically when i’m talking to somebody counseling somebody talking

to a missionary throughout the day uh and and i’ll put up bible verses that we’re talking about

stuff like that and uh post about the mission you know trying to do redeem every minute of the time

that i have in the day uh that i seem to run out of every day to glorify jesus christ you know but

i see people putting up videos and and and long uh dissertations on on on the politics of this

world you know and um it’s it’s it just grieves me you know as as we have people dying and going to

hell every day and and uh 21 000 children and 9 000 adults dying so um brother i just wanted to

thank you so much for going over that uh catholic verse i call it i call matthew a 16 18 the catholic

verse you know everybody if you had taken notes there and i’ll also put this together in a post

to add to my catholic teachings refuting catholicism of course i came out of catholicism although uh

not practicing but my whole family basically died uh in the catholic religion um as lukewarm as they

were even in that but um and still many left to go but that that ephisians first peter uh and etc

about jesus being the chief cornerstone and if you can break down like uh brother um aran did matthew

16 18 because that is what the catholic church is built on believe it or not it’s that one verse and

brother aran just decimated it uh in a matter of a couple minutes so if they would just read their

own uh you know the bible that they supposedly have in front of them they would see that uh he

wasn’t uh handing this off to peter and saying that peter was the rock how can some infallible

uh i mean fallible person think that um uh they could become the rock of the church you know

jesus is our chief cornerstone amen so thank you brother for going over that um and then the other

thing i’d like to thank you for because we have a new person on and i’m not sure if he’s still on

with us now i it sometimes is tough i do hear you brother william we’re going to get to you in a

minute god bless you brother william has been dropping off and on here and i think we had brother joseph too from thy roby join us for a while and and just for the record you know

romans 10 9 brother thank you for going over that thou shall confess with thy mouth uh the lord

jesus and shall be leaving thy heart the god raising from the dead that thou shall be saved

well that sounds all nice if you take it just as that one verse uh but we must preach and we must

believe the whole council of god so it’s not just believing the devils believe and tremble amen

and then reveler revelation um uh 316 says uh so because then thou ought look warm and neither hot

nor cold i will spew thee out of my mouth faith without works is dead you need to prove your

repentance by deed and we can go on and on for a second third john the whole chapters uh and and

every chapter but chapter uh seven in romans uh which he’s talking about his pre-conversion

talks about holiness holiness holiness and obedience so um it’s amazing that the uh well

i did it for eight years so it’s not that amazing actually you know when you’re stuck in sin you can

pick out these single verses and they comfort you you know you’ll you want your ears tickled when

you’re in sin you don’t want to go through the whole bible you don’t want to be a berian and study so

i just wanted to say that word to end here and uh i will turn it over to um anybody that has any

questions so please uh ask brother uh arin whatever questions you may have does brother hayden have any questions or william and stephanie

yeah sorry bravo i don’t have any questions for now amen i just uh i just have a comment there

brother jimmy on um about uh matthew 15 with a cany net woman and uh even mark mark chapter seven

same same story i think it’s chapter seven there it says that jesus even uh puts it goes into an

animal room and he’s just yeah just dealt with the Pharisees uh scribes and the Pharisees there who have

um rejected him and then here he is going hiding and then a gentile woman comes after him and she

starts a dialogue with him he uh effectively is rejecting the Canaanite woman by what he’s

telling her you know on face value i think it was tongue in cheek but uh he’s rejecting her on face

value and it just uh kind of shows contrast between um you know the he’s going to the Pharisees he’s

preaching to them day in and day out almost um and they want to have nothing to do with it right he’s he’s sent to the lost sheep of the children of israel but with the gentiles this

gentile woman’s coming after him in the inner room where he’s hiding away and she’s still persistent

after he’s rejecting her and and and this is just the contrast between you know the Jews are not

having anything to do with it but those who are were not called the children of god are coming

after him and pouring into the kingdom and it’s almost like a just kind of a game on you to the

Pharisees in a sense that this is your own messiah who you’re rejecting and that these these foreigners

are coming after him i think the same thing i get the same thing out of isiah 42 um where where it

says he shall not cry out but um if you look there that the the um the coastlines wait for him and

it’s talking about the the gentiles he he won’t cry out to the gentiles because he doesn’t have to

they’re already coming after him and then in verse 21 of isiah 42 it’s talking about how um israel has

as again it’s it’s describing how israel has rejected god so it’s it’s just a contrast there

um so even though jesus is kind of like you in face value is being pretty mean to her or rejecting

her it’s it’s all um kind of putting the jews treatment of jesus on display in a sense so just

yeah anyway something i thought was interesting great word brother great word yeah very good um

i am gonna see if we can uh let me unmute him and we’ll see if brother william can speak brother

william can you uh say something uh let’s see if we can hear you oh thank you brother god

so thank you so much and also uh

thank you so much god bless you brother i’m gonna put you back on mute um

we didn’t hear you in totality there but brother william is in an area that most people wouldn’t even dream of walking through or even probably flying over 30 000 feet really i just praise the lord for you brother uh william this is william wario he’s our mission leader up in

mayali kenya it’s fairly close to it’s in northern kenya a little bit to the east northeast part of

kenya and um he literally he’s from there uh we we uh started with him about three years ago and he’s

just it’s just miraculous what he has um what he has been doing up there there’s some videos of his

testimony that we’ve we have posted on our youtube site you can go to our global missions for children

dot org page and uh go down the bottom and see the youtube link and you you can search for brother

william wario w a r i o or brother william and um he lives up there there’s no electricity there has

been no water at all for his whole existence up there we’ve just got a great news report up there

from him uh that he uh got a borehole that’s still not done yet but they’re working on it they were

literally drinking out of a pond where donkeys drink where uh other animals drink out of it was

just so so bad and we only found out about this about seven or eight months ago and um it was just

heartbreaking so we just praise the lord the muslims are coming to jesus because of brother william

and brother joshua who are team leaders up there and we just couldn’t be happier brother william

uh that uh you know he’s he he has lost connection four or five times that i could count now and i

haven’t been you know counting uh that closely but i’ve heard and seen him come on and off from the

screen here four or five times that’s how dedicated he is to the lord and i just uh

pray for you all the time brother william and and and and just thank you all so very much so um anybody else have any questions for brother arin before i stop the recording

oh i have a quick question yes sir did you say we can we can um type in brother william’s name

on youtube and see videos of him preaching yeah let me um stop the recording and then now we’ll

we’ll chat about that thank you everybody uh thank you brother arin of course for your great teaching

and we thank all our mission partners for joining us we also thank everybody that listens to this

recording get out your pencil and paper and write down these verses because brother arin goes through

so many of them uh each and every week in addition to just a chapter that we’re going through out of

the bible so god bless you we love you all and we’ll talk soon

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 17 – Week 16

– Good evening everyone and we welcome you to the Global Mission for Children’s Bible Study.

We’re very blessed to have Brother Aaron Carey who is a very gifted teacher with us here every Tuesday evening here in America and every Wednesday morning overseas.

We welcome our mission partners from Kenya and also Bangladesh who are on the call tonight.

We also have some very dear brethren that are new that are joining us tonight. We thank you so much for joining us.

So we will listen to Brother Aaron as we start on, continue through the book of Matthew, a very, very powerful book of the Bible.

One of the most complete books of the New Testament.

I always tell people to start here when they become born again and just really study this. So it’s good that we have this on tape.

So we’re gonna go through this and then afterwards you can ask as many questions as you want.

You can also email me or Brother Aaron and we’ll give you that information at the end. So we’re gonna start in Matthew 17 if I’m not mistaken tonight on chapter 1, I mean, on verse 1.

So I’ll turn it over to you Brother Aaron. Thanks.

Thanks Brother Jimmy.

Just let me know if you can’t hear me that well because I’m maybe not hearing you that well tonight.

But as long as you guys can hear me, I can still hear you very quickly. Oh, loud and clear.

I’m sorry, what was that Brother?

Loud and clear Brother.

I think that’s a new headset that’s probably not that good. Okay.

Good.

I welcome everybody on the call.

I send my greetings to you and as well as to those who listen on the recording.

I’m just gonna start here with, we finished the end of chapter, we got through the end of chapter 16 last week.

And so we are gonna be beginning on Matthew 17, one and hopefully we’ll just do the entire chapter tonight.

So starting in verse 1 of Matthew 17.

And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringing them up into and high mountain apart.

These are the three men that he also would take into the garden of Gethsemane, apart from the other disciples.

And they would be the ones who would witness Jesus’s agony in the garden.

It’s in preparing them for, you could see in Ammonite, a very public important ministry.

He gave them special manifestations of his glory, but these were accompanied by the experience

of the patients that is involved in his suffering also.

There’s a principle in Romans 817 that it says in the children of God that there’s, I’m sorry, let me get there.

You don’t have to turn there.

You just turn there, Romans 817.

And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and jointers with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

And so there’s a principle that in partaking of Christ’s sufferings that leads to his glory. But there’s also a foretaste of that glory in this life at special times.

And this was an especially special time, you could say, that Jesus brought Peter and James

and John apart to see.

So verse 2, “And Jesus was transfigured before them, and his face to shine as the sun, and his raiment, raiment his clothing, was weighed as light.”

There’s Adam Clark says a comment on this verse, “The deadfulness of the Godhead which dwelt

bodily in Christ, now shone forth through the human nature and manifested to his disciples, not only divinity which Peter before had confessed, but also the glorious resurrection body in which they should exist in the presence of God to eternity.”

This was certainly, I don’t know if this was exactly, if they saw Christ in exactly how he would appear in his resurrection body, but there was certainly the reality of who

he was that had been, you could say, hidden to man’s sleep when he was in the flesh and his incarnation was brought before them.

He certainly here only changed in appearance and not in substance.

This reminds me of the verses we read in Hebrews 12 last week that talks about how when God

shakes the heavens and the earth, it signifies removing of the things that are seen, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

I didn’t quote that exactly, but that’s a paraphrase there, Hebrews 12, 27, and 28, I believe.

There certainly can be a reality to things, a spiritual reality that is not seen by man’s eyes.

I think everybody is familiar with Proverbs chapter 7, it talks about the harlot and the young man who was deceived by her.

He saw this beautiful, sweet-talking woman, but what Solomon gives a comment, “She is loud and subtle and stubborn and her feet are by not in the house.”

There’s a spiritual discernment that that young man that was seduced did not have. This is kind of like the same principle only towards good.

This was the excellence of Christ being shown for what it was before the disciples. “Behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias, or Elijah talking with him.

Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here.

If thou wilt, let us make you three tabernacles, one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elijah.'”

If you go to Luke 9.31, Mark chapter 9 and Luke 9 also deal with this same story.

It says in Luke 9.31 that Moses and Elijah, they appear in glory and speak of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.

It’s very possible that Peter and James and John were asleep during that conversation, just by…I think we’re going to see evidence of that as we go on, but I’ve got to get there. Regardless, Moses and Elijah were giving Jesus the details about how he was to…the decease that he was going to accomplish at Jerusalem.

He had certainly known before that it was going to happen, but now he’s getting filled

in more about probably instructions that he needed to know as to how to handle himself, and to go about that.

Adam Clark says on verse 3 that Moses and Elijah conversed with our Lord on his death, which

he was about to accomplish, because in it are the right ceremonies and sacrifices of the laws, but also predictions of the prophets were fulfilled.

Obviously, Moses and Elijah signify the law of the prophets.

It’s also interesting that God had forbid Moses to enter the Promised Land when Israel was in the wilderness, and Moses had to die because of the time he was disobedient and struck the rock twice when God had told him to speak to the rock.

It was for that that he couldn’t enter the Promised Land, but it’s interesting that here we find Moses in the Promised Land.

I think that shows an example of God’s faithfulness to a faithful man who had been chastened because

he failed, but he still got the thing that he ultimately wished, the thing that he ultimately had labored for in talking with Jesus on the mountain, which was even better than coming in with the children of Israel.

Adam Clark thinks in verse 4 that Peter wished to detain Moses and Elijah, supposing still that Christ would set up a temporal kingdom upon earth, and that Moses and Elijah were

going to have a significant part in that, whether that’s true or not, I’m not certain, but we’re definitely going to see as we go on that the disciples often, they still didn’t understand that their time of glory, their time of reigning with Christ in a place of

authority upon earth was not to come yet, and they still saw the Messiah as an earthly king who was going to defeat Israel’s enemies in the flesh, and we’re going to see that more as we go on here.

So I’ll continue here in verse 5.

So Peter yet spake, “Behold, a very cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, ‘This is my bull of the sun, and whom I am well pleased hear you him.’

And when the disciples heard, they fell on their face and were so afraid, and Jesus came and touched them and said, ‘Arise and be not afraid.’

And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only.

And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, ‘Television to no man

until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead.'”

There certainly is a lesson here about how Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament sacrificial system, and how that in itself, the temple ceremonies and the sacrifices and the ceremonies of the Lord Moses were not profitable in and of themselves, but only had significance because they ultimately pointed to him.

So we definitely can see that that in itself is foreshadowed here.

But I’ll tell you how one way that people often take these verses, which is not true, but there are many groups that do this.

Any group that thinks Jesus corrected Moses and improved upon Moses in terms of changing

the morality, the righteousness of the Old Testament life, they will take this passage

to say that while Moses and Elijah faded away before Jesus, so now that’s proof that we don’t need the Old Testament, that we should just listen to Jesus in the New Testament. And that is certainly not how the apostles understood this.

Peter is going to make reference to this in 2 Peter chapter 1.

And he did not take this as a lesson to throw away the Old Testament scriptures and only

listen to the gospels, he took this as a strengthening of the authority of the Old Testament scriptures.

And as those were still the only, and as those that was still only what the Bible was when Peter wrote 2 Peter, he called the Christians he wrote to pay all the more attention to

the scriptures, the Old Testament.

And he used the story on the mount of, his experience on the mount of transfiguration, to call the believers to the scriptures and to emphasize the certainty, the surety, the

guarantee that the scriptures are inspired by God and ought to be, and ought to be heeded. 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 16, “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we

made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses

of his majesty.

For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory.

This is my beloved Son, and whom I am well pleased.”

This is exactly what we’re reading about in Matthew 17, this is a reference to that.

And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy, where unto you do well that ye take heed,

as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star rise in your hearts.

And that light we’re going to see by verse 20 is the scriptures.

Knowing this verse, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God speak as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

So to say that the significance of, to say that the ceremonies of the Old Testament that ultimately point to Christ’s sacrifice faded away and were no longer needed with the new

covenant is true, but to say that the scriptures themselves of the Old Testament became irrelevant

is a grave, grave error.

Because we cannot understand the New Testament rightly and understand what Jesus meant without

understanding the Old Testament.

And it all fits together and nothing is to, you know, Jesus would never, had Jesus ever

spoke contrary to the Old Testament scriptures and had those become obsolete or irrelevant,

that would be saying that Jesus’ own word would become obsolete or irrelevant because Jesus himself inspired Moses and the Old Testament writers just like he, just like he inspired everything in the New Testament.

In Timothy chapter three, I know I’ve given these verses before, but it’s important to emphasize this.

Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 3.15, he tells him that from child Dallas known the holy scriptures, which at the time was only what we know as the Old Testament, which are able to make the wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.

They under, you can understand the gospel knowing what we know now simply from the Old Testament scriptures.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine and for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect or complete, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Let’s see here, and I’ll just add too that a friend of mine asked me a few weeks ago, he said does the Bible ever specifically use the term ceremonial as to distinguish that from the righteousness that God requires of all men to distinguish the ceremonies God

gave from Israel as part of the loud Moses from his own righteous eternal moral standards?

And I told him, well, the Bible never uses that term ceremonial, loud versus moral, but it definitely implies that many places, and I’ll just show you one of those places here.

In 1 Corinthians 9.21 Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9.19, I’ll just reverse this 19 and 20 here, as anybody who’s turning their gets here, “For though I be free from all men, yet if

I made myself servant unto all that I’m like gain the more, and unto the Jews I became

as a Jew, that I’m like gain the Jews, to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I’m like gain them that are under the law, to them that are without law, as without law, being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I’m like gain them that are without law.”

So Paul definitely understood the law that the Jews were under that would have included like keeping the Old Testament priests and being circumcised.

He definitely saw that distinguishment, now that included the moral law of God for sure, but it included the ceremonies and the things that were given specifically for Israel.

And Paul definitely understood that when he said without law, he meant without the ceremonies

and the things that would distinguish Israel as a nation, and he made it very clear that being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that there still is a moral

law, there still is a righteous standard that even when he was not living after the manner of the Jews law, that he was still under and that he was still obligated to obey.

And that’s the case with us today.

Romans 8, 4 talks about how the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit, and that’s just simply a reference to the righteousness that is seen in the moral commandments of the law of Moses that is revealed to all men, as everybody has the moral law of God written on their hearts.

And Romans 1 talks about the light that is given to Romans 1, 18 to 32, talks about how God’s wrath is against those who do not walk after the light that he has shown them and

live after the truth that they know inherently from creation and from just the general understanding

that God has given to all men, has made available to all men, though all walk not after it. So continuing that in verse 17.

In verse 5 when it talks about a cloud overshadowed them, that’s a bright cloud.

Obviously a bright cloud can cast a shadow, so probably surrounded or encompassed or enveloped

would be a better word there.

The disciples had heard the Father bear witness that Jesus is his son in Matthew 3.17.

They had heard that same phrase when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, “This is my beloved son and whom I am more pleased.”

It’s interesting in verse 6 when the disciples heard the Father’s voice, they fell on their face and were sore afraid.

In Daniel 8.17 in Acts 9.4 you have Daniel and Paul falling on their faces when they see God’s glory.

And that’s something that should make us very suspicious of the Pentecostal idea of being slain in the spirit because usually these people that claim to be slain in the spirit

fall backwards and feet first and they fall so that they fall backwards rather than forward on their face.

And people when they saw God’s glory from the Bible fell on their face. I thought that was worth pointing out.

Luke 9.37 implies that this whole story on the Mount of Transfiguration was probably

at night because it talks about in Luke 9.37 how the next day they came down from the mountain.

And just to finish here with verse 9, we talked about last week how back in 1620 Jesus had charged the disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.

The disciples openly proclaiming that verbally and expressly even though everybody in Israel should have discerned it, they were openly saying that would have provoked the Jewish leaders to kill Christ before the time the Father willed it, may be allowed to do it.

And it also just wasn’t appropriate.

This was a time that he was assigned to suffer and not to have openly talked about this at this time just wouldn’t have been appropriate.

After his resurrection though, it would have been appropriate because this would have only strengthened their claim that he had risen from the dead.

There were two or three witnesses, Jesus said about three people the witnesses and two or three witnesses as the standard that the Bible gives to establish a fact.

So the witness of these three men after Jesus had risen from the dead about what had happened

on the Mount of Transfiguration would have only strengthened the claim that he was risen from the dead and that he was a Messiah.

Albert Barnes says about this, the sole design of this transfiguration, at least from the

disciples standpoint I’ll add, was to convince them that he was the Christ, that he was greater

than the greatest of the prophets, that he was the Son of God, that Albert Barnes.

I also want to point out here about verses 1-9, a lot of street preachers and people who are you could say believers in oral government theology, they are right in proclaiming that we need to repent, we need to turn from our sins.

But often times that will be the only thing that they preach.

And the object of our faith, Jesus Christ, that we need to turn to and that we need to believe in and follow, they often will not hold up Christ.

And how can anybody believe in him to life if he’s not exalted and if he is not, if he’s not proclaimed as Lord in his proper place.

And I think that verses 1-9 here is the fact that they don’t, stories from the Gospel like this don’t have a place in their preaching, is a major flaw of their preaching.

And I know that many of us are familiar with people like that and I’m not seeking to attack them, I’m saying it for ourselves and for our own discernment so that we’ll be rightly balanced in our preaching.

Jesus said in John 5.22-24, “For the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father.

He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which has sent him.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come to condemnation but is passed from death unto life.”

Ultimately, when people are claiming to believe in Christ but they’re not turning from their sins, well that certainly is a time when it needs to be emphasized that you can’t truly believe in him while harboring sin.

And while walking in darkness, if we are to truly turn to him, we have to forsake our

sins but to only preach forsaking sin and to not exalt him as he really is and to give people the one who must be the object of faith to not hold him up in his proper place, it’s just not to do this, to not be fully preaching the gospel.

So that there was worth pointing out there.

So continuing on verses 10-13, “And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes

that Elias or Elijah must first come?”

Now they had just seen Elijah on the mountain and it’s interesting, “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things.

But I say unto you that Elijah has come already and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.”

Listed means chosen or desired, “Like why shall also the Son of Man suffer of them? Then the disciples understood that he speak unto them of John the Baptist.”

So in verse 10, they had been satisfied by the previous, what they had seen on the mountain,

the Jesus was the Christ.

Peter had known that before and I think that all the other apostles had at least strongly suspected that by this point, but they had had any doubts that they might have had were just blown away by what they had seen, but they still had a doctrinal hang up that was troubling them and that’s what they’re talking about.

The scribes were saying that Christ couldn’t appear because the Bible said Elijah had to appear first and it did.

And Elijah had just appeared on the mountain and Peter had thought he’d stay and I wonder if Peter thought that Elijah had to stay like that and he was referencing the scripture

in Malachi 4.

So the scribes were saying that Jesus couldn’t be the Christ because Malachi 4 says that,

I’ll just read that for those on the call that might not be that familiar with it, at

the very end of the Old Testament, the last three verses of the entire Old Testament.

Malachi 4, 4-6, “Remember you the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb,

for all Israel with the statutes and judgments.

Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and ye shall turn the heart of others to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

So the scribes were saying that Jesus couldn’t be the Christ because Elijah had to come first.

Now John the Baptist obviously was not Elijah and some people wrongly would teach reincarnation,

that the Bible teaches reincarnation by that.

I can understand why the scribes would have said that Elijah had to come first because look the Bible says that.

But God obviously didn’t mean literally Elijah but he meant what it says in Luke 1.17, what the angel Gabriel tells, we talked about this a little last week but I didn’t go to the

verse directly.

But in Luke 1.17 and 1.16 and many of the angel Gabriel is telling John the Baptist’s father Zacharias about the child that would be born.

Verse 16 “And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord his God just like we read about what Elijah would do in Malachi 4.

And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedience to the wisdom of just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

So even though God said Elijah and it seemed like he might have been saying that Elijah was literally going to come back, as he continued to unveil his plan of redemption he made it clear that the one who was to come before the Christ was not going to be literally Elijah

but was going to have an Elijah Lake ministry, have the same, just like John the Baptist did, the same fire and calling meant to repentance and the same, just the same weighty spirit and power attending his preaching.

And so they were right to teach Elias must come but they missed him and that’s what Jesus says in verse 12, “Elias is come but Elias is come already but and they knew and not

would have done unto him whatsoever they listed that the leaders of Israel did not receive on the Baptist and ultimately did not oppose Herod when Herod put him to death.”

So they didn’t know Elijah when they saw him but they persecuted him.

So now in verse 13, now the disciples finally get it, they understood the job of Baptist was Elijah in spirit that the Old Testament prophesied of.

So just another verse there to confirm that if you go ahead to Matthew 21.32, so Jesus rebukes Israel’s leaders because they did not recognize the authority of John the Baptist. Because had they recognized the authority of John the Baptist they would have had to

acknowledge him as a Christ because John the Baptist is the one who introduced him to Israel.

So Matthew 21.32 Jesus says, “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness and you

believed him not but the publicans and the harlots believed him and when he had seen it repented not afterward that you might believe him.”

He said back in chapter 11, talking very similarly, he said, “But wisdom is justified of her children.”

Talking about how those who basically seeing that John should have been believed and he was criticizing Israel’s leaders for being nitpicky and finding fault with him.

They weren’t expected to just believe, “Well, Elijah is not really going to come but it’s going to be somebody with an Elijah Lake ministry.”

They had witnessed his Elijah Lake ministry and they had seen the fruit of it.

They had seen publicans and harlots and soldiers and other Israelites who had been on Godly

repent and they saw the good fruit.

They saw that these people were now truly walking in the faith of Abraham which is what I believe,

what it really means when it talks about turning the heart of the children to the fathers and the heart of the fathers to the children.

It certainly includes honoring your parents but it’s more than that.

It’s walking in the faith of the Jewish fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who would have been

ashamed to have owned the Israelites for being their offspring.

At the time John the Baptist showed up and he came preaching repentance and persuading men to repentance saying that Christ was and his kingdom was at hand.

They had seen how many had through the spirit and power of his ministry had repented. They should have known that John the Baptist was the Elijah that was prophesied of him. That’s very applicable to today.

When we see a move of God and we see people who had been on Godly really repenting and

you see the fruit of it and you have all this evidence before you that God is really in this and his word is really being proclaimed and we see the good fruit of it.

That can be counterfeited of course but when it’s real God expects us to discern that. Let’s see if I had anything else on these verses.

Just a little bit about the abuse of the scribes to the gospel.

Christ obviously literally suffered as the scribes of Israel were instrumental in putting

him to death, they certainly abused the scriptures to claim that he wasn’t a Messiah and were

about to read about a dispute that happened that would be an example of that. Scribes with an agenda who are willing to be not corrected can be great opponents of the gospel.

As Paul was preaching in the book of Acts going from city to city he kept finding opposition

in the Jewish synagogues and often times the leaders were moved within because people were

seeing Paul and the apostles that he was with as people were giving heed to them and they feared their place of authority, their place of respect was endangered just like with the Jewish leaders in Israel at the time of Christ.

But they had also taught for the most part like we talked about before that the Messiah would be a king who was going to come in with the power of the flesh and deliver Israel from the Romans.

And so for a leader of the Jewish synagogue who had been preaching in the synagogues teaching

about Christ when Paul would have come to them or the apostles would have come to them preaching about how the Messiah was crucified and resurrected and wasn’t going to come to death but it wasn’t going to be right now.

And that following him now was going to mean suffering and was going to mean rejection by the world and we don’t get the kingdom of the Messiah in terms of the glory right away.

That would have been an offense to them because it would have meant that they would have to

be corrected.

And so in all the opposition among the Jewish people in the book of Acts and even to this date to some measure you see scribes persecuting Christ and scribes abusing the scriptures to negate who he is and what he’s done.

In just the thousands of false doctrines and false theologies now you have Christ suffering at the hands of the scribes in a way just like I consider how the Calvinists will how

they’ve abused words like foreknowledge and predestination and election to mean things that the scriptures just do not mean at all and they can be proven from the scriptures.

How Israel is called elect according to the foreknowledge of God as a nation.

Simply means chosen and foreknowledge has to do with God’s plan of salvation and how Christ would the way of salvation and the terms of entering into that predestination

refers to like Romans 8, 28 and 29.

It has to do with God’s intended destination for all believers to be conformed to the image of his son.

It has nothing to do with God randomly unconditionally picking people before the foundation of the

world to not be saved or to be saved or not be saved.

It has to do with God has a destination that he’s working to bring all believers to and if they stay faithful he will be faithful to do his part and we could just do week after

week of studies about how scribes oppose the simple gospel of Christ by their unnecessarily complicating scriptures.

So moving on then, Matthew 17, 14, “And when they were come to the multitude, there came

to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying, ‘Lord have mercy on my son for he is lunatic and so vexed for oft times he falls into the fire and often to the water

and I brought him to thy disciples and they could not cure him.’

Then Jesus answered and said, ‘O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?

How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me.'”

So with Mark 9.15, if you go to Mark 9.15 here, you see that, okay, I’m sorry, Mark 9.14. So when Jesus comes down for the mountain and when he came to his disciples he saw a great multitude about them and the scribes questioning with them.

It seems like they were probably either Adam, it was either Adam, Clark or Oliver Barnes who thought that they were questioning about him being the Messiah.

So that would be an example of what he had just been talking about.

It’s also possible they were questioning with them relating something about casting out demons

also.

But regardless, it was really inappropriate that the scribes were questioning with them

at such a time there was a boy that desperately needed help and they were using a time of great

need, a time of great crisis to bring up a doctrinal theological dispute.

It’s definitely important to be aware of people who would use times when someone’s in real need and there’s a real emergency to start a doctrinal theological dispute or discussion.

If there’s an emergency like a demon who’s this boy who’s manifesting his demons and his father is desperate to get him cured, it’s better to take their number or something or

their email and say let’s continue this discussion tomorrow after this is dealt with. And so it’s good to mark those who like controversy.

So Mark 915, “And straightway all the people when they beheld them were greatly amazed at running to him, saluted him, and he has subscribed to what questioned you with them.”

It’s interesting that he chose to question the scribes rather than his disciples here.

It seems he didn’t want to put them on the spot and he suspected the scribes were the ones in the wrong.

And one of the multitude answered and said, “Master, I bought unto thee my son which hath the dumb spirit.”

And, “Worthsoever he taketh him, he teareth him, and he fulminth, and nasheth with his teeth and bineth away.

And I speak to thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not.” And he answered and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you, bring him hither unto me?”

And they brought him unto him, I meant Mark 920.

And when he saw him straightway the Spirit tear him, and he fell on the ground and wowed homing.

And he asked his father, “How long is it to go since this came unto him?” And he said of a child.

It’s interesting that Jesus didn’t say anything more.

He didn’t dispute that that was possible, that a child could be demon possessed.

And it seems like, I don’t know this for sure, but when Jesus talks about later how this kind can come forth by nothing but prayer and fasting, I think it probably has to do with the fact that this had been with him since he was a child.

And I wish I understood it better, but I think that it’s not unreasonable to suspect that there’s a connection there.

“And oft times it had cast him into the foyer and into the waters to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything, he have compassion on us and help us.”

Jesus said unto him, “If thou canst believe all things are possible, to him that believe it.”

And straightway the Father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe you have helped all mine unbelief.”

Albert Barnes said here, “Not that his faith would give Jesus the power to heal him, but it would render proper that he should exert that power in his favor.

In this way and in this only are all things possible to believers.” It’s Albert Barnes.

So let’s see, I’m sorry, I lost my place in Mark there.

The different Gospels, the different things Matthew, Mark, and Luke close to emphasize, they’re all true and they’re meant to complement one another.

I think it’s important sometimes as we go through Matthew to let Mark and Luke fill in the details.

So back to Matthew 17, 18, it says basically the same thing.

When Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that period.

If you go to Luke 9 now, Luke fills in some more detail, which I think is very important to cover here.

So in verse 43 after Jesus was cast out the devil, Luke 9 43, “And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God.

But while they wondered every one of all things what Jesus did, he said unto his disciples, Let the saying sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men.

But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not, and they feared to ask him what they’re saying.”

So it seems like, I mean, not just seems like, but it definitely is.

They were at a time where they were getting some honor and they were getting some applause

and some wonder from the people.

And I think that 944 is something to remind ourselves of.

If we’re sometimes Christians can get some praise and get some honor from the world in general because people might see that we’re really, people might see you’re really helping somebody.

You’re really doing some good.

And even many lost people will acknowledge that.

Maybe there’s a miracle that God really does and people are wondering. It’s a time when it’s really easy to get attached to the praise of men.

So Luke 944 is something to take to heart there.

Let the saying sink down in your ears, for the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men.

When those who are not truly repentant and who have not really sided with Christ and his

government are still, you know, one unfavorable circumstance away from being involved in crucifying

him, as we find out later, and as is still the case with in terms of persecuting his people.

So back to Matthew 17. Okay, Matthew 17, 19.

Okay, then the disciples came to Jesus apart and said, “Why could we, why could not we cast

him out?” and Jesus said unto them, “Because of your unbelief, perverily I say unto you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, Remove, hence the yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you, albeit this kind goeth not output by prayer and fasting.”

Verse 19, Adam Clark takes this as a lesson to pray and inquire when our endeavors and ministry fail, whether we might have been because of that somehow, and that’s a good lesson we can learn from the disciples here.

I always had a hard time understanding verses 20 and 21, and what Adam Clark and Albert Barnes explained it in a way that makes sense to me, and I’m not just, I don’t want to just blindly believe what they say, but this makes sense.

I’m not quoting directly from either one of them, I don’t think, but this was kind of what I gathered from reading their comments.

The smallest faith can expand to do the greatest things, but just like back in chapter 13 when

Jesus talked about his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven being compared to a mustard seed that starts out small, but when it’s grown, it’s the greatest among all plants, and we

talked about how mustard trees can grow much bigger in the Middle East than in warmer climates

and in colder climates.

Jesus seems to be saying here that if you have the least bit of faith, it can be strengthened and grow to where you can do the greatest things, to the point of removing mountains.

He was probably pointing to the mountain that he had just been on with the disciples. He wasn’t speaking figuratively here, as I’ve often heard people do, but he says in verse 21, “I’ll be at this kind, goeth not output by prayer and instinct.”

To grow the faith so that it can accomplish great things like casting out the devil, I can’t see any other lesson, but that takes a depth with God and knowledge of God that

just doesn’t come easily, that requires earnestly seeking him and knowing him in times of fasting,

in times of really disciplining yourself, really submitting to hard dealings.

It seems like he’s saying that to have the great faith that could have cast out that

demon is going to require a lot of discipline and a lot of earnest seeking after God, which obviously is the main reason that one should fast.

Verse 22 and 23, “And when they were come to Capernaum, they were born and galed, and Jesus said unto them, The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and the third day he shall be raised again.”

And they were exceedingly sorry.

It was so hard for them to see how the Messiah could be put to death like this.

They heard about it, but they just hadn’t, probably from a human attachment to him, and from like as we see from verse 23 that they were seeing, sorry to hear this, they had

a human attachment to him.

They didn’t want to hear this, and it was hard for them not fully understanding the scriptures to see how the Messiah and somebody who had just done such a great work as casting out this demon was going to come to the point where he was going to be killed, and just

the wisdom of God and allowing that they just fully didn’t comprehend yet. And they never really did comprehend until after Christ’s resurrection.

So verse 24, “And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter,

and said, ‘Thou, if not your master, pay tribute.’ He said, ‘Yes.’

And when he was coming to the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, ‘What thinketh thou,

Simon, of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute of their own children or of strangers?

Peter saith unto him of strangers, Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, goeth out to the sea and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up.

And when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money that they can give unto

them for me and thee.'”

This was not Roman tax collectors.

From what I can tell Bible commentators, I agreed on that.

This was the voluntary, I don’t know if it was volunteer, I’m not sure, but if you were

to go to Exodus 30.13 and read the verses proceeding and following that, this was the temple tax.

It was to be paid by, I think it was only the males of the children of Israel above 20 years old, but maybe it was every Israeli.

I didn’t have a lot of time to find that out for sure.

But you see from Exodus 30 that it was certainly only for Israelites above 20 years old, and it was to be given to the priests for the service of the temple.

Whether they were picking on Jesus and the apostles, we don’t know. Maybe not.

But the bottom line here is that this was a tax for the temple, which was Jesus’ father’s house, and which Jesus did not, we know by his cleansing of the temple at the beginning

and the end of his ministry, that he did not hesitate to say that the temple was his father’s house, so this temple that the father was taking of the Israelites, Jesus being the

son, should not have had to pay because kings don’t take taxes of their own. I’m not talking about the president and our government.

When there’s a monarch reigning over a country, obviously the king himself doesn’t pay taxes.

The tax themselves would go to the king, and his family wouldn’t have to pay taxes. You see, in Saul’s case, King Saul back in Israel, one of the promises he had made to the man who would kill Goliath was that he would give him his daughter to wife and that

he would make his father the man who killed him, the man who killed Goliath, he would make

his father’s house free in Israel. Kings had power to do that.

This was a tax that Jesus could have asserted his right that I don’t have to pay this because this is a tax for my father’s house, and he was not ashamed to call that his father’s house.

This was a tax that he legally could have made an argument that I do not have to pay this, and those who are my servants, his disciples, do not have to pay this.

I don’t know how it is in the missionaries’ countries, but I know in America there is

a big movement to say that technically, legally, we do not have to pay income taxes. They try to say that I think the amendment that talks about the income tax is only talking about interest.

It is not talking about your actual income and people who are not controlled by the mainstream

media which tends to be Christians and conservative type people tend to be the ones who emphasize

this.

I suspect that they might be right.

They have been given judgments in their favor in some court cases that know they don’t have

to pay income tax.

If that is true, it still doesn’t matter for us and we should still pay our taxes. This is the example of Jesus and the apostles.

Jesus was unwilling lest he should offend the people who collected the money, lest he should

cause a misunderstanding.

He did not want to give them a bad appearance, make it look like they were trying, that they were cheapskates who were not paying what was there due.

So Jesus told Peter to catch a fish and that the money that they needed to pay the tax would be provided.

And this is obviously also a proof of Jesus’ divinity.

You could say it is a miracle that was maybe not done by him correctly but certainly that

he would have influenced it by commanding Peter and that the Father, through Jesus’ prayer,

would have answered and given him this answer. So there is a great lesson here.

As Christians, sometimes even when we legally, technically have a right to things, it still is right, it still is following Jesus and it still is apostolic to make sure that we

don’t give anybody a just ground for offense.

Paul would say in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, he gives this principle.

Some people teach that Paul was saying that it is okay to eat meat in the Eudal’s temple if your conscience will let you do that, but he wasn’t saying that.

He was saying your conscience is not the ultimate final decision when it comes to these things,

that there is a testimony to others that has to be considered.

And that is why when Paul talked about meat offered to idols in 1 Corinthians chapter

10, he gives this instruction in 10.25, “Oh, 10.24, let no man seek his own, but every man

another’s wealth whatsoever is sold in the shambles of meat markets, eat asking no question

for conscience’s sake, for the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof.”

When it comes to meat, when it’s just your conscience that’s at stake, then you can be directed by conscience.

But when it comes to other people’s, the testimony before other people, there’s a higher principle

to follow, which he’s going to talk about here.

In verse 27, “If any of them that believe not bid you to go to a feast and ye be disposed to go whatsoever is set before you eat, asking no question for conscience’s sake, but if any man’s saying to you this is offered in sacrifice on the idols, eat not for his sake

that should it end, for conscience’s sake, for the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof.

Conscience I say not thine own, but of the other, for why is my liberty judged over another man’s conscience?”

Our liberty for things like neutral, things like meat isn’t to be judged over another

man’s conscience, but we have to consider their conscience, or else we’re not following Christ, and Paul is going to say this here.

So verse 30, “For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that which I give thanks?

Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” Verse 32 is just what Jesus was saying in verse 27, “Give none offense neither to the

Jews nor to the Gentiles nor to the church of God, even as I please all men and all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved.”

When it comes to paying taxes, we might legally say, “Make a case that we don’t have to pay,

but what about our testimony before others if this is going to make us look like we’re

being chief skates who don’t submit to the government, and people who aren’t as informed

or could justly take offense with us, we should do what we can to knock out offense, and trust

God that he’s going to be able to provide for us and make up the extra that we’d have to pay like Jesus did with Peter.”

And I think this is important because there’s many conversations I’ve been having with Jimmy

recently.

There’s many who think that just because they’re persecuted, just because they’re facing trouble,

that they must be doing the right thing.

But when we bring ourselves into trouble because we want to promote a tough guy image, we want

to stand for rights that in standing for people could misunderstand and it could be a bad testimony.

Maybe we want to promote a tough guy image of ourselves and that would cause us to go places and provoke people that we need to provoke when we could have somewhere else and preach with better success and not put ourselves in unnecessary trouble.

That can be carnal and when it comes to holiness circles where it’s understood we need to be

holy, people can go astray in ways like that.

Doing things to making things about our own attainment, our own accomplishments and enduring

things and those types of subtle carnal ideas are proven when people get themselves into trouble that could have been avoided had they just been more attentive to the Scriptures and scriptural principles and had been seeking to not provoke others unnecessarily and to please other people as servants of God and really come to the point where I really won’t offend anybody else unless I absolutely need to do that in standing for the Lord and his truth.

Otherwise, we can just bring suffering on ourselves that just isn’t going to us or anybody else any good and that’s definitely when you get in holiness circles where it’s understood

we need to be holy and there’s zeal for God involved those are subtle ways that people can go astray and we definitely want to be aware of that so I will leave it there Jimmy. Hello Jimmy.

Hello?

We’re here.

I don’t know what happened to Jimmy. Oh, let’s hopefully use okay.

Wow, all I can say is wow, hell is where it must definitely be speaking through you because these are all touched on every single subject every single point and you touched on is what I’ve been God has been showing me or I’ve been studying the last day or two is just it’s crazy.

Praise God.

Wow.

Awesome.

Well, I hope we’re Jimmy’s okay, but does anybody have any other comments or questions while we’re waiting for them?

Sorry guys, I had it on mute.

Go ahead if anybody has any questions, please ask while we’re still on recording so we can record it.

I’m not sure if you guys heard me before, but that was a very good teach brother Aaron as usual and did you guys hear anything I said or that I just talked to myself the last minute?

Just talking to yourself brother.

I thought I got rid of that habit anyway, I just thank brother Aaron for the great teaching. You know, we do have liberty in Christ, but that word liberty now is being used, is just

being twisted so, so, so bad and to the point where preachers, supposed preachers are telling

other preachers they’re weaker vessels because they don’t understand the way they preach. They’re truly adding to the word of God and they’re making their own rules.

They’re beyond reproofs, they’re prideful and that’s something we’re going to be dealing with here in some videos and teachings and stuff like that as we go on.

It’s been in the works for a while, but so we’ve got to be careful not to cause, and I’m glad you brought that up brother Aaron, is to not cause offense to somebody else, you

know.

That just destroys the gospel message, you know, the good news of Christ.

We can review the religious Pharisees, you know, as I mentioned in the beginning of this,

there were two very prominent Christian bloggers, two women that I just found out about, both

have over 600,000 followers, you know, on the internet and that’s, you know, they’re in the big leagues there.

Sadly, they’re both heretics.

One just, as I said, I got divorced from her husband and now she’s turned into a lesbian

and she’s telling the whole world on her blog how the kids call the new lesbian mother father, whatever it, an M&M because she’s hard on the outside but her heart is so soft and it

was literally making me physically ill to read this blog post.

So that everybody obviously is not, and I think everybody on here, I tagged them that post, that is not liberty in Christ.

That is offensive.

That’s just actually downright blasphemy.

So we’ve got to be very careful not to offend others but we also don’t want to be too soft either, amen.

We don’t want to be the hyper-grace, hyper-love, never talking to people about their sin. That’s the whole part of the gospel message is to bring people to repentance and they have to get there by godly sorrow that they’re really sorry to God.

So we have to point out their sin but we have to do it in the right way and that’s something that Brother Aaron and I have been working on and will continue to work on and we’re going to be doing teachings on that too as we go along here.

So anybody else have any questions for the video or for the audio recording? I think I’m good.

I think that’s kind of blown away right now. Okay great.

Well let me just stop the audio recording.

Thank you everybody for listening to the Tuesday night in the US Wednesday morning overseas.

Teaching with Brother Aaron Carey. We thank you all very much.

All those that are listening on recording, we love you very much. We know that you guys are laboring for the Lord all over the world. We are just honored to be able to support you in every way we can.

We’re going to continue to do that with every bit of our heart, mind, soul and strength. So thank you everybody for listening and we’ll talk to you next week.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 18 – Week 17

Good evening everybody and welcome to the continuation of the Global Mission for Children Bible Study.

We have Brother Aaron Carey who is gracious enough to teach us every Tuesday night here in America and Wednesday morning, excuse me, overseas.

I’ll tell you, I’ve been taking notes and I’ve learned a lot so far as we are going through the book of Matthew, an incredible book of the Bible.

I guess they’re all incredible, but this one is probably the most extensive book of the New Testament.

I always encourage people, not because it’s the first book of the New Testament, but it’s

really the most complete book of the New Testament and it covers just about every single subject

that we can think of as we walk with Christ.

And of course, my favorite chapter, which is chapter 25, is coming up here towards the end.

But we’re not there yet.

We are on chapter 18.

So Brother Aaron, thank you so much and we’ll continue on. Thanks Brother Jimmy.

Yes, so I will just get right into it here, Matthew 18.

We got through 1727 last week, so we are continuing on in 18.1. Lord willing, we will get through chapter 18 tonight.

So, Matthew 18.1, “At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, ‘Who is the greatest

in the kingdom of heaven?’

And Jesus called a little child unto him, and said him in the midst of them.

And he said, ‘Verily I say unto you, accept ye be converted and become as little children.

Ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in

the kingdom of heaven, and whosoever shall receive one such child, and my name receive it with me.'”

So, in verse 1 here, it’s interesting to point out that if Jesus had made Peter the first pope in 16, back in chapter 16 verses 18 and 19, we refuted that idea back in the study two weeks ago.

And it’s just interesting to point out that if the disciples had understood Jesus to have made Peter the first pope and had back in chapter 16, then such a question would not have even been necessary as we see them in verse 1, as I think was the greatest in the kingdom.

The disciples still expected an earthly kingdom at this point. They were righteous men.

They were obedient to Jesus.

They were walking in the truth that they knew that they understood.

But the common Jewish understanding that the Messiah was going to be a conqueror and was

going to set up his kingdom at his first coming was still something that they still had hopes in and that they had in mind.

And we talked back in the introduction how even a Jew who knew the Scriptures well and who was ready to receive the Messiah at this time for the right reasons, for out of righteous,

relatively reasonable, may not have understood that Christ’s entire mission at his first coming

was to suffer and to set up a spiritual kingdom and not reign in terms of governing the nations

and making Israel the nation as a whole a kingdom until his second coming. They just often, for the most part, didn’t understand it.

And even the disciples at this point did not understand it. They had already suffered much.

They had been walking with Jesus close to three years at this point.

It probably felt like a lot longer than three years to them.

We’ve seen just as we’ve gone through Matthew how busy they were.

Just the overall taxation in terms of their strength, both mind and body could have been great at this point.

And I believe that’s a lesson to us that we can feel like we’ve already suffered so much. And we’ve already looked at what it’s already caused us to obey you.

But yet that might really only just be the beginning for us. And it was basically still the beginning for them.

But they had to yet understand that.

And that’s what Jesus is referring to in verse 3.

And he says, “Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

He was speaking to men who were already converted in terms of converted to righteousness and

in terms of being obedient disciples.

But in order for them to continue in the faith and continue as obedient disciples, they had to be converted in their understanding about the Messiah’s kingdom and the nature of it at this point.

In order to ultimately inherit the kingdom in terms of the kingdom within them when Christ would send his Holy Spirit at Pentecost, as well as ultimately reign with Christ when

he comes back, they were going to have to receive the truth that they had had much suffering.

And that they were not going to be exalted and reign as kings with him in this life.

And that was something that we talked about back in chapter 16, that so many people go astray because they get deceived one way or another that they can be faithful Christians

and yet not suffer with grace for graciousness, to say, whether it’s a prosperity gospel, whether

it’s just this idea that things just aren’t – things just aren’t – that the world has somehow changed from what it was when it persecuted Christ and the apostles. Whatever that deception could be, so many go astray because they believe that their

sufferings as Christians are past and that it’s God’s will to bring them to a place of

prosperity and to a place of just where they can follow Jesus and not have to suffer persecution

and not have to have the mindset of like 1 Peter chapter 2 talks about.

Peter warns – he tells the Christians – he procedures them as pilgrims and strangers that they would abstain from flesh we lust with war against us all.

And if we start to think of ourselves as anything besides pilgrims and strangers, then we’re being set up to give in to flesh we lust that war against us all.

So what Jesus is talking about in verse 3 is something regarding – not that they weren’t already converted, but they had to yet have their understanding changed in this area.

And this is a matter of depth, like we talked about back in chapter 13, how there’s a deeper

understanding, there’s a deeper strength, there’s a deeper level of – I’m trying to think of

the right word – there’s just a deeper identification with Christ and his sufferings and a strength

that has to be developed within a Christian’s life in order for that Christian to endure in the faith and ultimately be saved because Jesus would say later on in 2413 that it’s he that shall endure to the end that shall be saved.

So here’s a quote then from Adam Clark regarding verse 3, “Unless ye be saved from these prejudices

which are at present so painful to your nation” – painful means harmful and destructive – “and those prejudices are seeking a temporal and not a spiritual kingdom, unless ye be called with a spirit of humility, ye cannot enter into the spirit, design, and privileges of

my spiritual and eternal kingdom.” And Adam Clark also says, “The name, the kingdom of heaven should put you in mind of its nature.” And so here’s another quote from Albert Burns on verse 3, “Children are to a great extent destitute of ambition, pride, and haughtiness.

They are characteristically humble and teachable. By requiring his disciples to be like them, Jesus did not intend to express any opinion about the native character of children. But simply in these respects they must become like them. They must lay aside their ambitious views and their pride and be willing to occupy their proper station, a very lowly one.” So moving on to verse 4 here, “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as his little child,

the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Adam Clark says, “Thus our Lord shows them

that they were all equal, and that there could be no superiority among them, but what must come from the deepest humility. He intimates also that wherever this principle should be found it would save its possessor from seeking worldly honors or earthly prophets and from seeking to be a ruler over his brethren or a Lord in God’s heritage.” That those were

some very insightful thoughts here. So what we see in verse 5, Jesus said, “Then using this child as an object lesson to his disciples about how they needed to be in terms of not having pride, especially pride related to earthly ambition and being willing to occupy

your proper place, which is low, which is in an honorable place in man’s eyes.” So in verse 5 when he says, “And whosoever wants such child in my name receiveth me,” he had just talked in verse 4 about, “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as his little child,

that seems greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” So he’s switching there from talking about a child itself to a childlike disciple, which is the equivalent of a true Christian. So

in verse 5, from now on as Jesus talks about children, he is going to be talking primarily about disciples who have humbled themselves as his little child, and that’s important.

So in verse 6, “But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones which believe in

me, that were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depths of the sea, gone to the world because of offenses, for it must

need to be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense come, wherefore if thy hand or foot offend thee cut them off, and cast them from thee. It is better for

thee to enter into life, halt your means, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire; and if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having

two eyes to be cast into hellfire. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones,

for I say unto you that in heaven there angels do always behold the face of my father which is in heaven, for the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.” So the rest of

this chapter now, Jesus is going to move into talking about something that is very important, and it is something that if you believe in unconditional eternal security, as most of

the evangelical Christian world does, it really would have, the rest of this chapter from

verse 6 on would really have no point to you, because if you believe in unconditional eternal security, you would have to believe that no true Christian can ever be lost. And yet verses

6 through 35, our instruction about how a Christian can be lost, an instruction to his disciples to basically be our brother’s keeper, and how to best ensure that our brothers and sisters in Christ do not fall away. That is what he is dealing with. So he talks about,

in verse 6, “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in the it,

were better for him that a millstone were hanging about his neck, and that he were drawn in the depths of the sea.” Capital punishment with a millstone was a form of, it was a form

of capital punishment. The Greeks and the Syrians and probably the Romans also practiced. There were different ways it was done. There was more than one, and I am not very familiar with it. But it was no doubt a very unpleasant that even, I mean there is no such thing as,

I guess it is very rare that somebody would die pleasantly. It would have been, to have

this weighted stone put around your neck and be drowned in the sea would have been very torturous. So Jesus is basically saying that it is better for a person to have already

died than to be in a place where they have offended a Christian and cause them to no longer be humble as a little child in God’s sight. In verse 7, when Jesus says, “Woe to the world because of offenses, for it must need to be that offenses come.” This is not stating that anybody is being forced to do anything. It is not Calvinistic God over gaining

all things. He is simply saying that, I have a quote here from Adam Clark about this, “Such

is the wickedness of men, such is their obstinacy, their stubbornness, that they will not come unto Christ. He who gives, oh I am sorry, that they will not come to Christ that they

may have life, but desperately continue deceiving and being deceived. In such a state of things,

offenses, stumbling blocks, persecutions are unavoidable.” So given the evil of man, given man’s lust and man’s giving himself over to vanity and rebelling against God and refusing to repent in such a state as this, in such a world as this, it is inevitable that there

is going to be strong influences to sin. What Jesus says, “But woe to that man by whom the offense come.” It would be a horrible thing to be the one who is the cause of that offense.

So notice then in the following verses, “Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them

off.” I believe there are two lessons there. One, just because there is a strong influence to sin from others, we are not absolved from guilt if we give in to it. If it came down

to that, we would need to cut off our hand or our foot rather than in order to not give

in to a temptation because it was that strong. Then it would be worth it to do that. I think that there is also a principle that if we are offended ourselves and we yield to temptation ourselves, we live and sin ourselves. Our example is going to be a stumbling block to others and it is going to have the potential to lead others astray. I see both of those things here. I will just read the rest of verses 8 and 9 even though I read them before. “It is better for the dancer in the life alter me rather than having two hands or two feet

to be cast into a relates employer. And if then I offend thee, pluck it out and cast it

from thee. It is better for the dancer in the life with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into a whole fire.” Albert Barnes says on verses 8 and 9, “The meaning is that it is better to go to heaven without enduring the things that cause us to sin than to enjoy them here and then be lost.” This is also a proof that we cannot have Christ and live and sin. It is proof that if our bodies are defiled by sin, we go to hell. It is a rebuke

to the idea that you can be good at heart while committing sin in your body which is the essence of the lie of Gnosticism which was introduced very early in the late first

century and is repackaged now under many different names. Purity of body must accompany purity

of the soul. In Revelation 21-27 we are told about the New Jerusalem ultimately inheriting the kingdom when the thing that the disciples were seeking too early has actually arrived and God’s people are reigning with Christ. It says in Revelation 21-27, “And there shall no wise enter into it anything that defileth neither worketh a domination or makeeth a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Later on in chapter 22, “Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city for without our dies and sorcerers and warmongers and murderers and idolaters and whosoever loath them makeeth a life.” We also learn

here that everlasting fire would mean nothing if the body and soul weren’t tormented by the fire. Verses 8 and 9 are also a proof about the eternal nature of hell and Jesus

had said back in 1028 that to fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. So obviously such a threat would be vain if the wicked were just burned up in the fire.

And that’s obviously a doctrine that I think we’ve talked about is gaining momentum and

I feel good to be aware of that. Albert Burns and Adam Clark disagree regarding verse 10,

whether this is teaching about guardian angels. When Jesus says it, “Take heed that ye despise

not one of these little ones for I send you that in heaven there are angels to always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” I’ve definitely heard people suggest that that’s what is being taught there. I don’t really, if I had to guess, I don’t see it

that way. But I believe the main lesson here is that angels in general are charged with protection and care and aid of God’s people. And so Jesus is basically saying that every Christian no matter how despised they might be by the world is a special object of the Father’s care and attention. And therefore Albert Burns says in verse 10, “We should not despise the obscurest Christian for he is ministered by the highest and noblest of beings who are always enjoying the favor and friendship of God.” So I wouldn’t read any more into the passage than that and go and teach the guardian angels from that though

I can’t rule it out. So in verse 11 when Jesus says, “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost,” he’s obviously not talking about a one-time thing. He’s talking about

how if they’ve been bought into his kingdom, they’ve been bought into his world, how important

it is that they endure, that they continue. If Christ has gone to such lengths to pull them out of the devil’s snare, how important is it to keep them and to not offend them?

And so now as we move on we’re going to go into instructions of what if a Christian does

go astray? Is it the end for them? Not necessarily by any means. In James 5, 19, and 20,

James

ends his letter by saying, “Brethren, if any of you do hear from the truth in one conversion, let him know that he which converted the sinner from the earth his way shall save his soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins.” So the eternal security people would say that,

well, they’re saved anyways even if they die right in their sins. Or they might say that, well, if they go astray they were never really a Christian to begin with. And neither of those things are the first one. The former statement isn’t true and the latter statement is not necessarily true. There’s a Christian might go astray temporarily and be brought

back before they’ve come to a place where God has lost patience with them before their heart is lowered and they really accustom themselves to sin that they can’t be brought

back or to a place where them being brought back has become, you know, maybe from our standpoint,

we can’t tell whether they’re gone. But there’s definitely just the truth that it’s possible

for a Christian to temporarily go astray and be brought back. But they need to be brought back and their being brought back is not a guarantee. So what Jesus is going to talk

about as we go on is going to be how his church should deal with that when there’s a prodigal

who has left the fold or who is justifying sin while they’re still trying to be part

of the church. And especially when a brother has offended you somehow and how should we

go about that? So that’s what Jesus is going to be dealing with here. So verse 12, “How think ye, if a man have an under-cheap and one of them be gone astray, thou cannot leave

the ninety and nine and goeth into the mountains and seeketh that which has gone astray.

And

if so be did he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiced with more of that sheep than

of the ninety and nine which went not astray.” So we see a lesson there that it’s possible to be right with God and not going astray. That’s the ideal place to be in. Peter wrote

to the Christians in verse 2 that he said, “For ye werest as sheep going astray, but

are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls.” If we’ve been reconciled to God and we’re being obedient and we’re walking in the light he’s given us, we can have righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit and God doesn’t count us as having

God astray. And there would be no need to…and Christ’s words in verse 13 would be pointless.

If there were not people in his eyes that were…in Luke 15 he refers to those who went

not astray as just persons which need not repentance because they have repented and

they are continuing that repentance and improving that. So that was worth pointing out. So verse

14, “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” So this is not as to Calvinists say that it’s like a guarantee that since God wills it it’s going to happen. No. God…we’re told in 1 Timothy chapter 2 that God will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. Just because God wills it when it comes to humans and when it comes to moral agents who have…who are not robots, who not automatically respond to the late God sets before them, when it comes to people who have a choice, whether they will follow the Lord or not, it’s possible for God’s will to not be done. And that’s what makes sin sin and makes sin so terrible.

But Jesus is expressing here…he’s impressing upon the disciples how they should be watchful

for the souls of the other Christians and do all that is within their power to keep

them from going astray and ultimately perishing. So he’s going to go into greater detail about

how we should do that when another Christian sins against us or when we think another Christian

sinned against us in verse 15. Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy brother. The instructions Jesus is giving here have to do with restoring your brother

who has…who sinned against you without bringing more people into the equation than are necessary.

If that other brother has really sinned against you, it could bring great reproach upon God’s name if other people hear about it. So it’s better to go to that person right away and

talk it out between just the two of you because it might be you’ve misunderstood what they

were…maybe they didn’t sin against you really. Maybe it just seemed like it based upon maybe

you misunderstood something they said or maybe they were misinformed about something and

that was because of their action. And now that you know what they thought was true at

the time, maybe that wasn’t a sin at all ultimately. And I’m sure that if I were to really meditate

on it, if you were to really meditate about it, there could be a lot of reasons why it’s

really good to just not let more people know about something than is necessary. So verse

16. Now another thing that I’ll say about this is that this is obviously dealing with

things that are not already public knowledge. When a false teacher is teaching heresy publicly,

this whole process would be pointless. When somebody has done something that everybody knows about anyways, then like in the case of 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and the man who

was the fornicator who was part of the Church in Corinth, that’s just a matter that is already commonly known. That the Church would just have to deal with and the whole process of

taking one or of going to the person alone and taking two or three, that’s already unnecessary

when it’s something that’s already public knowledge. But a lot of things aren’t public knowledge, that they’re between two people. There’s something that only one person knows about and that’s what Jesus is really dealing with here. So verse 16, “But if he will not

hear thee, then take with thee one or two more.” When Jesus says hear thee, he obviously means admit that he was rhymed and repent and prove that repentance is as much as is appropriate. And if he’s only sinned against you, then him apologizing to you and making right whatever he made wrong to you would be appropriate repentance. And that’s not

dark or secret that nobody else would know about that because there’s no dishonesty there.

It just was that more people, it was a matter that just involved one person and there was no need to bring any more people into it. And so ideally in matters involving two people, they would just get settled like that. And it’s wonderful when that happens. So with verse 16, if he doesn’t repent though, if he justifies himself and you’re still convinced that he’s in the rhyme, verse 16, “But if you will not hear thee, take with thee one

or two more.” That in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. Those two or three witnesses might, in hearing both sides of the story, might determine that he really didn’t do anything wrong after all. But if he did, then they’ll have heard the evidence and they’ll be able to take on, if he still won’t repent, they’ll be able to

take that evidence before the church. So the church can know that indeed he was in the rhyme if he really was. So verse 17, “And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it

unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an even man and a publican.” In other words, don’t have any spiritual communion with him, don’t have any fellowship with him as a brother in Christ. That still wouldn’t negate showing kindness to him where he was truly in need and there was an opportunity to help him as with any other person. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him not be regarded as

a Christian brother anymore because he’s hard and desired and he’s not walking in darkness at this point. And until he repents, he can’t be receiving the communion again. Now those who, if you’re dealing with somebody who’s not a member of your particular fellowship,

all you could do is go to them alone and you could do verse 15 and go to them one on one and maybe you could take two or three more with you. If they were part of a fellowship,

it was that you knew about and you knew that it was a faithful fellowship, there would be, you could still work with the church he’s part of. But if it’s like, is the case so

often in America that he’s part of a backslidden church that really doesn’t teach biblical holiness or teach the necessity even of it or teach the core version of it, then there’s really nothing you could do besides reproving the person yourself. But again, this is why verses 15 to 17, really verses 15 to 20 are just an illustration. I would say this whole

chapter really is just a powerful illustration of how to live the Christian life as God intended it to fulfill God’s program as he intended it. We need to be part of a biblical church

body. If we don’t have a biblical church body available to us, and I know in my case, it’s hard, I fellowship with just one family, it’s just one family and myself. We need to make the best we can with the light we have, the opportunity we have and seek God to send us to a biblical church or to start one through us with the believers we know in our area,

they would also be seeking that. And that’s really, really important. And this is just an illustration of where the program could not be fully carried out unless there was a

biblical church. That was worth saying. Verse 18, “For I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be

loosed in heaven.” Again, I say unto you that if two or three of you shall agree on earth, and instruction anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which

is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, they remind amidst of

them. Let’s see here. I interpret verse 18 to be whatsoever you shall bind on earth.

I would see that as the equivalent of having gained thy brother that we see in verse 15.

If you have gained your brother on earth according to the instructions here, then he has been

gained in heaven. “And whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

I would equate that to verse 17. If you neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as

a heathen man and a publican. He has been loosed. He has been put aside from the Christian

assembly, the Christian communion, and therefore he is from heaven’s perspective the body of

Christ anymore. Now obviously this has to be done according to the instructions in the

Bible or else it would just be man interfering with God’s truth and misrepresenting his church.

That is how it would be. Verse 19 Jesus is really emphasizing in verses 19 and 20 the need to pray and the need to seek out when another Christian is raised, when another Christian hears from the truth. I believe this is just when there has been intercession according to the Word of God for a stringed brother, then God is going to do everything

in his power to bring that person back. I see verses 19 and 20 as a commandment, but it’s

also an encouragement for those who are seeking God’s interest, those who value the kingdom

of Baalah and have their priorities and values in alignment with God’s bringing back a stringed

brother would be a matter of rejoicing to them just as it would be in heaven. That is

a key factor in whether we are truly rejoicing at heart when a sinner repents and when a back-soothing Christian comes back to the halt. One more thing with verses 19 and 20. To further prove that Peter was not the first pope, what Jesus tells all of the 12 disciples in 1819 is what he had told Peter back in chapter 16, proving that Jesus has promised that whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall

loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. That was not limited to Peter, but that was especially the apostles and I believe to his faithful servants of any age to some extent. So further proof Peter wasn’t the first pope and also in verse 20 we see Christ on the

present and that there can be believers gathered together in Christ’s name under his authority

in a million different places around the world and yet he can be in the midst of all of them. So a strong evidence that Christ is present everywhere and therefore that is a characteristic that belongs to God alone. So that was worth pointing out. So verse 21, “Thank him to him and said, ‘Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me?’ And I forgive him till seven

times.” Jesus said, “Am I saying unto the until seven times?” But until 70 times seven. The Jews at this time, the Jewish teachers, this was a way in which they had made the word of God of none effect by their tradition and we talked about how the Jewish rabbis

would often impose their own thoughts upon scripture and they would regard their tradition as equal to the scripture itself and when their thoughts did not align with scripture

at all and so by their adding to God’s word they would subtract from its force and one

of the things that many Jewish rabbis taught at this time was that you only had the forgive

of a person three times. That after somebody had offended you three times and come to you for forgiveness, if they came back the fourth time you would not have to show mercy to them again and so that’s an example of how they were lawless and they added to the scripture

and they negated the force of God’s commandment. “Vakon Leviticus 19, Leviticus 19.17.” I’m sorry,

Leviticus 19.18. “Thou shalt not avenge nor fear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, I am the Lord.” So when God says that thou shalt not avenge nor fear any grudge against the children of thy people, he didn’t place any conditions upon those things. When it’s not our place to take vengeance we don’t

have a right to take vengeance and when it’s not our place to hold a grudge when somebody’s

rhymes us and comes back to us for forgiveness and we have reason to believe they’re truly repentant then we have to forgive them and that’s what Jesus is saying here. He’s telling

Peter, Peter thought he was being generous by saying seven times because the Jewish leaders

had been teaching three times but Jesus was showing him no, Peter, you don’t have a right to even limit it to seven and I believe him saying until seventy times seven was basically saying that as often as it happens you don’t have a right to bear a grudge at all. So now Jesus is going to give a parable to illustrate that but I’m just going to get a drink of

water before I go into it. So in verse 23, “Therefore is the kingdom of heaven leaking

unto a certain king.” Obviously here Jesus when he says therefore is the kingdom of heaven leaking unto, he’s saying this is how the kingdom of heaven works and how it operates.

This is how God’s, this is the principle of God’s rule and reign related to this matter,

that they need to know. “Therefore is the kingdom of heaven leaking unto a certain king which

would take account of his servants.” And when he had begun to reckon one was brought unto

him which owed him ten thousand talents. So we learn here, we want to be careful in terms of applying parables too strictly but a principle we certainly see here is it sin or is it that?

And we’re going to see that what this servant owed the king was very, very, very much greater

than what this servant was owed by his fellow servant. So verse 25, “But for as much as he had not to pay his word commanded him to be sold and his wife and children and all

that he had and payment to be made, the servant therefore fell down and worshipped him saying,

‘Lord have patience with me and I will pay thee off.’ Then the Lord of death’s servant

was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt.” We learn something here about, now this is obviously not a complete doctrinal statement on repentance but it still is an example that Jesus gave in a parable that deals with, we know from thousands of

other scriptures that God will only forgive a man when he truly repents and this is illustrated here by this servant who falls down before the king who is compared to and worshipped

him and saying, ‘Lord have patience with me and I will pay thee off.’ On the true repentance, it brought this forgiveness, we see how it involved worshipping God and receiving our

obligation towards him and how even that cannot make up for passing because every day we all

know God, our bodies and our service and all that we have were commanded to love God with

all our soul strength and mind. So even if we could render perfect obedience for the

rest of our lives, it would not make up for the past that we piled up. So we see a principle here that this man did not earn his justification, it’s a gospel principle, we have to be justified by grace and not by worse. But God’s grace is conditioned upon having an obedient heart, it’s conditioned upon us truly repenting and that would involve receiving our obligation

to worship God and to be his servants and to not knock his grace. Adam Clark said about this verse, might have been Albert Burns, but he pointed out that it’s different aspects

of a sinner’s salvation here, deep humility of heart, fervent prayer, confidence in the

mercy of God, a firm purpose to devote his soul and body to his maker and by God’s grace bringing the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus to the throne of God which is an equivalent payment for the pardon that he’s seeking. So this servant was truly repentant and we see this

again not a perfect doctrinal statement about repentance and forgiveness, but still a picture

that is appropriate to compare to how a sinner needs to respond to God’s offer of grace and

Christ and fine mercy. So verse 27, “And the Lord of dead servant was moved with compassion

and loosed him and forgave him the debt, but the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred pats, and he laid his hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me that thou oweest.’ And his fellow servant fell down

at his feet and beside him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will pay the all.'”

So notice it, the fellow servant had the same response toward the servant that he owed money

as that servant had had towards the king. So both of them at the time that they pleaded

for patience and mercy were truly repentant and they were repentant in the same way. And that’s a key point that we’re going to get to. So verse 30, “And he would not but went

and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt.” So he did not respond to his fellow servant the way that the king had responded to him when he was pleading the same thing

before him. So when his fellow servant saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told them to their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord after that he had called and said unto him, ‘O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because thou didst

me. Shouldest thou not thou also have paid compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee?’ So they didn’t notice it, ‘Shouldest thou not have also have paid compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee?’ And his Lord was rather angry and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses.” So we see in verse 35 that this man who had been forgiven had his forgiveness revoked because he would not show the same forgiveness to

another man who had approached him in the same way. Jesus had sat back in Matthew chapter

6. He had said in Matthew 6.14-15, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” So this is a key proof against eternal security that because we see that it’s possible for a man to be forgiven by God and then be unmerciful

towards another person and have that forgiveness revoked. And that’s the very thing Jesus is

warning against. That’s the very thing he’s warning the disciples and us of here. So I wrote down some lessons that we can see from this parable. And I want to point out what it doesn’t say. “Nowhere are we told that we need to forgive one who does not repent.”

In Luke chapter 17, Jesus made this so clear and I don’t know how so many abuses so badly.

So as to teach that we need to forgive people before they repent. That we just need to forgive

people who are unrepentant to often, you know, they won’t even admit to saving them in rank.

Or even if they admit it, they don’t want to do anything about it to show that they’re truly sorry for it. In Luke 17, Jesus says, “Take heed to yourselves that thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. And if you repent, forgive him. And if he trespass

against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day, turn against thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him.” And the apostles found that to be exceedingly difficult so that they asked Jesus to increase their faith. Peter had found that the idea that

he would need to forgive his brother more than seven times to be exceedingly difficult.

And that’s why Jesus gave this parable. So this parable is shocking about forgiving people

that we have reason to believe are truly repentant. And nowhere in Scripture are we told that we

need to forgive those who are unrepentant. And so a lot of churches who, many who don’t even teach biblical holiness, who water down God’s standards in so many ways, will then say that, well, you know, you need to forgive people and it doesn’t matter if they’re really sorry or not because, you know, and a lot of times Christians will go up to people and they’ll say, you know, I forgive you when they’re unrepentant. And that’s just casting

pearls before swine. And people get challenged to forgive people who won’t even admit that they were wrong and who are hard hearted. And they see this and they’re given a standard that is so much higher than the Scriptures. And no wonder it’s so hard for them. Forgiving those who are truly repentant, especially when they’ve sinned against you multiple times,

is hard enough. Forgiving the unrepentant sends a very bad message. It sends a message that it misrepresents God. God himself does not forgive people until they’re truly repentant.

And the thing is that God sees people’s hearts. God sees that somebody might tell God they’re

sorry and God might see deep down inside that they’re really justifying themselves somehow,

that they really don’t intend to make it right the best they can or something like that.

We don’t necessarily see those things. So we have to give people the benefit of the doubt. But with that difference, it’s the same principle that from God’s standpoint, because of what Christ did and God’s patient kind of heart, anybody who sees us truly repentant, as soon as the very moment they come to him and ask for forgiveness, he forgives us.

It’s not really clean, and I’m like, why don’t you back it then? So they give you the right

to come home. So there’s a… Right, you feel sick. Hey brother, Hayden, you’re off mute, brother.

Sorry, that guy. That’s okay. Go ahead, brother Aaron.

So yeah, so when somebody’s truly repentant, at the moment they ask God for forgiveness, God forgives them. So that should be the same principle with us. We have a willingness to

forgive somebody who’s wronged us. And the moment they come to us and we see reason to

believe they’re truly repentant, we have to, in that moment, forgive them. But it’s not right to ask somebody, let’s just say somebody’s being really, really vague and just says, “I’m sorry.” It’s not right to test them a little and say, “Well, what did you do?” And if they won’t admit it, to be cautious. If they’ve defrauded us out of money to ask them, “Well, what are you going to do about that?” And if they say, “Well, I intend to pay you back,”

then we need to forgive them and give them a chance to do that. And if we see fit, maybe forgive them the debt. But it’s not right, even in that case, let’s just say they owe

us money. It’s not right to institute a plan for them to pay the money back. It could be the best thing for them also. It could be the best thing for them to give them a chance

to show that they’re sorry, to show that they’re repentant, and to show that… And to learn the lesson that God’s grace does not negate His government, to show that with a lot of things we cannot just say, “I’m sorry,” and that ends it. And that’s even the case with God. We can… You see it in King David’s life. And I think all of us have probably

experienced it to some extent, is that King David committed adultery and he repented afterwards.

And God forgave him, but He still gave him some terrible consequences. There were some natural consequences. It would have been a miracle had David avoided them. So asking somebody to pay you back within reason so as to not destroy them is not… Even that

itself is not necessarily unmerciful. Those who believe in a false grace want this bad message that they can just abuse other people and then expect that the other person is just going to forgive them automatically or just forgive them when they say they’re sorry,

when they’re not willing to bring forth room need for repentance, to pay the cost necessary to show that they’re sorry, to pay back those that they’ve defrauded with interest, like

the case was. People… By believing that God will forgive people without truly… Without

true repentance and proving their repentance, people want to believe that because that’s how they want to be towards God and often towards their fellow man. And that’s just simply not what’s being taught here. People can also abuse this to conspire against God together. People can say, “Well, if I forgive everybody, then God has to forgive me.” But

that’s just one aspect of the kingdom. We can’t take this and negate every other commandment

and every other law of the kingdom and everything else that God requires of us just because we forgive people. Forgiving those who have wronged us, even when we do it rightly on

the right terms, doesn’t absolve us from every other responsibility and every other thing that God would require of us. We also see in verses 21 to 30… Well, taking verses 21 to 35 with the previous verses and verses 15 to 20, if it’s something that… If the

matter is something that we would believe that… If somebody’s not acknowledging that they wronged us, if we have reason to believe that they’re guilty and that they would need

to repent, then we have to go to them. We have to make them aware of what they did. And if it’s such a small matter, we don’t think they would have known any better. If it’s not worth

it for us to go to them and tell them their faults, then we just got to let it go. And there is such a thing just like with God. He lets go a lot of things from people that…

When we’re obedient to the light we have, there still are things that we miss and things that we fail at that God just lets go because he sees for the moment we just didn’t know

any better. And as long as we’re being obedient to what we do know, as long as we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from even the things that are beyond our awareness. So it’s right that we show patience with other people like that. But if we think that somebody should have known better and we would consider it a matter worth it that

I can’t have fellowship with this person until they make this right, well then in that case, we got to go to them and let them know. Or else we would be guilty too by not rebooting.

So I will leave it there. Great teaching brother. I just want to add a few things. That’s such

a great chapter. Real quick, one saved, always saved versus Matthew 18, 12. When we go find

that one that went astray, where do they go in astray from? They go in astray from the

faith. So that’s another verse that’s an eternal security killer. Also, I just have a few other parts to bring up and then we’ll go to questions. But Matthew 18, I just want to reiterate, we have a lot of people saying, nope, nope, you can’t question anybody unless you go to them and then you bring two or three and then you bring it to the church in general, which

they think is Facebook or something. But basically Matthew 18, of course, if we see a brother

in sin, we should rebuke him harshly or go to them humbly first. But if they’re continuing in sin, we have to do everything we can to try to get them out of sin and bring counsel

to them any way we can. That’s the love of God. But Matthew 18, and we talked about this a few weeks ago, brother Aaron, Matthew 18 in totality, 18, 15, 16 and 17 is talking

about a local church matter. Amen? Yeah, okay. So I just wanted to get that on there again. And then a couple other things too, as we continue our side study on preaching and how the Bible tells us to preach. There’s a lot of things that we must remember that we used

to be wicked sinners too, right? And we always have to keep that in our mind. So Matthew 18, 21 and 22, obviously it’s talking about when a brother sins against us, right? That

way to forgive them. Of course, they have to be truly repentant, etc, etc. So we pray that we don’t have to forgive brothers that often because they shouldn’t be sinning. But the Lord made it very clear here that, you know, if they do, maybe one has a problem

with anger or something, you know, that we forgive them and correct them and love them enough to bring them back into the fold, right? And then the other one is Matthew 18, 33, 34 and 35, talking about how the king forgave the fellow servants and then he didn’t pay it forward, so to speak. And we have to also remember that too, that, you know, we were there at one point and we need to give mercy. Of course, where it’s due, can you just go a little bit more with that brother? I think that those last two sections I mentioned,

Matthew 18, 21 and 22, and also Matthew 18, 33, 34 and 35, we can incorporate that into

preaching too, to know when to give the goodness and severity of God, amen? When people are

showing, I’m just trying to correlate that when people show true repentance as we’re out there. Well, sure. I mean, that’s, I mean, I think that there’s just a general principle

that if you’re preaching the gospel, you know, if you’re preaching the strangers especially,

obviously they would have never rined us anyways, but there just is a sense in which when you

see that somebody is, you see that somebody’s repented or you see that they’re, that they’re at least, you know, just because somebody’s crying and maybe receiving what you’re saying, they might not be at repentance yet. There’s just the truth that there’s a time to comfort somebody that there’s, you know, at least to tell them there’s hope, you know, there’s,

you know, you can pray to Jesus and if you really want him to be your master and you

be his disciple, then come to him and he is going to pour out his grace upon you and you’re going to be comforted and sometimes people need that type of encouragement. Amen.

Yeah.

Yeah. I see those two sets of verses as like a picture of what we hope happens, right? When we go out and preach to people. I know that’s talking about brethren here, but it’s kind

of a picture that we like to portray. Okay. Anybody else have any questions or comments so far? We’d love to. I’ll just mention one more thing. Go ahead. Oh, I’ll just say, I’m

just saying that there’s also a truth there that when somebody really, you can tell that

they’ve repented and God has made them alive. There’s also the sense in which we shouldn’t

be reminding them of, you know, the, we shouldn’t be reminding people of things that we have

reason to believe that they have repented of. Amen. Amen. Fantastic. Anybody else have any questions or comments? All right. Well, we’ll end it there, but I’m going to keep

you guys on. We can go into a, um, uh, fellowship here. So let me just end this. Thank you everybody

for listening to us for our mission field partners overseas. God bless you. Um, we know most of you will be listening to this, uh, over the next couple of days. So we hope you’re edified and we’ll see everybody next week. God bless. Hold on one second guys. I’m sorry.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapters 19-20 Week 18

Good evening, everybody, and welcome to the Global Mission for Children Tuesday Night Bible Study here in the United States and Wednesday morning overseas. Brother Aaron

Carey is teaching us through the book of Matthew, one of the greatest books of the Bible.

They’re

all great, but this one really encompasses just about everything that a believer would

need to know. I always direct new believers to this book because it really is quite complete. So we’re on week 19 and we’re actually going to be going in, no, excuse me, we’re on week 18 and we’re going to be going. Brother Aaron, I’m going to turn it over to you. Hold on.

We’ve got some, hold on one second brother. We’ve got some, hold on one second brother.

Mr. Daniel, if that’s you, Mr. Daniel, if that’s you, could you just… Yeah, that’s Daniel, hold on.

Okay, I’ve got him. Go ahead, brother Aaron, I just muted him. Okay, thanks Jimmy. We’re next to everybody.

If those who are on the call and anybody who’s listening to the recording wants to read an article about…

I did a little study about when it’s proper to forgive somebody

and about what our attitude should be towards those who are on this because we were dealing with that at the later part of 2018.

So if anybody that I don’t have their email address wants to read their article, just email Jimmy and he will…

He can send me your email address and then let me know if you want me to just send you the little studies that I put out from time to time.

And actually brother Aaron, if I could just cut in there, I will actually post that right after this call on Facebook too, okay?

Okay. Amen.

So I want to get through chapters 19 and 20 today just because you’ll see at the end of chapter 19 and…

I mean the Bible itself doesn’t have chapter breaks at all. They’re just books, I think many of us know that.

But just the content for the first part of chapter 20 is just so directly related to the end of 19 that I thought it’s better to just try to do chapters 19 and 20 together.

But Lord willing, after this, we’ll try to just get about one chapter per week till we finish.

And if Lord willing that goes smoothly, that would mean we will finish probably sometime in the later part of January.

But we will see about that.

So yeah, I’m going to want to go kind of fast, but chapter 19 will probably take longer than chapter 20.

So when I start to get into chapter 20 and if you’re a little bit tired or something, just know that chapter 20 should go pretty fast.

So beginning with chapter 19 verse 1.

“And it came to pass when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee and came into the coast of Judea beyond Jordan.

And great multitude followed him and he healed them there.”

It’s likely that there had been a good amount of time between 1835 and 19.1.

And that the other gospels cover a lot of instances that happened between this time.

Now Jesus is going up to Jerusalem for the last time where he will be crucified and resurrected.

The Pharisees also came on him, tempting him and saying unto him, “He’s a lawful for a man to put away his way forever because.”

It’s interesting how when Jesus was teaching and healing the multitudes, the Pharisees would come tempting him.

That didn’t seem to bother him, didn’t seem to mind interrupting how he was blessing people. They were looking to accuse him and looking for controversy.

So they ask, “He’s a lawful for a man to put away his way forever because.” Notice that they say forever because.

And this is documented about the Jews at this time.

That they believe that you could divorce your wife, a man could divorce his wife if he was simply annoyed by her for some silly reason.

Or if he saw a more attractive woman.

They had a very light view of marriage. And that’s what Jesus is dealing with here.

This is not going to be a comprehensive teaching about the ins and outs about divorce and remarriage.

There’s a lot that Jesus is not going to cover here. Paul is going to cover in 1 Corinthians 7.

And Paul understood Jesus perfectly.

So verse 4, “He answered and said unto them, ‘Have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female?’

And said, ‘For this God shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they too shall be one flesh.

Wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh.

What therefore God hath drawn together, let not man put us under.'” Many people will misquote verse 6.

They’ll say, “What therefore God hath drawn together, man cannot put us under.” But that’s not what Jesus said.

He said, “Let not man put us under.” It is possible.

It is possible to put us under what God has drawn together. Or else there’d be no such thing as divorce whatsoever.

And even God himself did make provision for divorce in Deuteronomy chapter 24.

The thing is, he made that provision for a very narrow reason, which Jesus is about to talk about.

And the Pharisees took that narrow provision to include everything. And they were wrong to do that.

And Jesus is showing here that divorce will always at least involve sin by one of the two people involved in the divorce.

It is impossible for there to be a divorce and for both people to exit the marriage, not in sin, right with God.

At least one of them would have to be in sin and be doing wickedly for a divorce to happen.

So verse 7, “They say to him, ‘Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorce and to put her away?'”

Moses, they’re abusing Moses. They’re abusing the word that God gave through Moses. We’ve talked about how everything in the Bible is God’s word.

And Moses, whoever was writing the Bible was just the instrument of God giving his word.

And when they spoke through Moses in Deuteronomy 24, we’ll just read what God actually said that they’re referring to.

“Deuteronomy 24, when a man had taken away from married her, and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes,

because he hath found some uncleanness in her, then let him write her a bill of divorce and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.”

The Pharisees interpreted something cleanness to mean whatever they wanted it to mean rather than sexual impurity,

which Jesus is about to say was what was meant here.

“And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.”

So God himself permitted remarriage. But if a woman was really sent out for that reason, she was sent out in sin.

But it still didn’t preclude her from marrying again.

And so he says in verse 3, “And if the latter of husband hate her and write her a bill of divorce,

and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house, or if the latter of husband die, which took her to be his wife,

her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is filed,

for that is abomination before the Lord. And thou shalt not cause a land of sin, which the Lord thy God giveth the for an inheritance.”

So Jesus here in Matthew 19 is not talking about after the divorce has happened, whether that’s then rightfully or wrongfully.

He’s dealing with the Pharisees’ late attitude towards marriage and showing from the beginning how God intended that when men and women joined together

that they would not be put asunder. And the Pharisees’ late attitude towards marriage and putting their wife away for less than God had permitted through Moses.

They were sinning because of that. So verse 8, “He saith unto them, ‘Moses, because of the hardness of your heart, suffer due to put away your wives.’

But from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife excepted be for fornication,

and shall marry another committed adultery, and who shall marry her which is put away that committed adultery.”

So it’s important to take this rightly and not draw on warning and conclusions from this.

There are churches that teach that a divorced man or a divorced woman

who got divorced when they were an unbeliever and then they become a Christian and they remarry. There are churches that teach that they have to divorce again

and they use this passage. When the fact is this passage simply isn’t teaching that. It’s teaching that Jesus isn’t giving a prescription about every circumstance

after the divorce and remarriage. He’s just simply saying that if the Pharisee who wants to put away his wife for any cause,

if he does that and it’s not because of sexual impurity in the woman, which is this word fornication is “pornaia” in the Greek,

it’s where we would get the term of pornography from. If they and anybody were to put away their wife and not for that reason and marry another,

they would be committing adultery just because they’ve got the paperwork right in man’s eyes and they can justify it before man.

It’s still adultery before God and “lucil” is put away by committed adultery. Jesus is probably referring to a woman who’s been put away from her husband for less than fornication.

She is in a state where she could be reconciled to her husband. If you go to 1 Corinthians 7,

Paul, so basically the lesson we can take from this is that when there’s a Christian couple and they are married before God as Christians,

it would be impossible for the marriage to happen unless one of the parties had apostasized from the faith,

had committed adultery or apostasized in another way.

That’s how Paul interprets Jesus and no doubt Paul is inspired by the Holy Spirit just as the rest of the Scriptures in 1 Corinthians 7 verse 10.

Paul is dealing with marriage and he says, “And unto the married I command, yet not I but the Lord, let not the wife depart from her husband.

But an if she depart letter remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband, and let not the husband put away his wife.”

When Paul says, “Not I but the Lord” in verse 10, he’s not saying that everything else he writes in this chapter is uninsured.

He’s talking about the Lord’s Word when he was on earth, which is the very passage we’re reading in Matthew chapter 19.

It’s other variations in the Gospels. Everything else Paul says, he’s dealing with things.

He’s inspired by God, but he’s dealing with things that Jesus didn’t deal with directly in the Gospels.

So in verse 12, “But to the rest speak I, not the Lord, if any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.

And the woman which hath a husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband.

Else were your children unclean, but now are they holy.

But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God hath called us a peace.

For what knowest thou will wither thou shalt see thy husband, or how knowest thou will man wither thou shalt see thy wife?

What has God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one? Let him walk and so will our DNA in all churches.”

There are no instructions here to people who had gotten remarried before Paulistus 1 Corinthians 7 is a comprehensive teaching about marriage and the Christian’s attitude towards marriage.

And there is not a single instruction in this chapter telling people who had been married before they came to Christ and are now remarried as Christians.

There is not a single instruction here telling them that they need to divorce their current wife and go back to their first wife if possible.

And that’s important because there are churches that teach that Christians have to do exactly that.

And it has caused and they have broken up families needlessly and caused a lot of trouble needlessly by that.

So Paul continues in verse 18, “As any man called being circumcised, let him not become uncircumcised. As any called an uncircumcision, let him not be circumcised.

Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the commandments of God.

Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he is called. Art thou called being a servant, here not for it, but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.”

So I’m going to skip ahead to verse 27.

“Art thou bound unto a wife, seek not to be loosed?”

Well, he had said earlier that if the unbelieving depart, let him depart.

“Art thou loosed from a wife, seek not a wife, but if thou married, thou is not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she is not sinned.

Nevertheless, such shall have trouble in the flesh, but I spare you.”

So the Bible does know of remarriage for the innocent party and the divorce.

And the Bible doesn’t deal with people who had been married before they came to Christ and telling them that they need to separate and go back to their first partner or remain single the rest of their life until the first partner dies.

And there’s churches that teach those things. The Roman Catholic Church is even worse in that they don’t allow remarriage under any circumstance.

But they do allow people to get annulments which cost money and they make money for the church, which basically says that the marriage was never valid to begin with.

And it’s just blatant hypocrisy because they’re basically teaching that basically there can be a couple in the Roman Catholic Church that the church recognizes their marriage and then the next year one of them leaves the other one.

And really does commit adultery. And they can just pay to get an annulment and say that the marriage was never valid to begin with.

And now both parties can remarry. And it’s just sort of hypocrisy.

And so the bottom line is that a marriage cannot end without between two faithful believers.

But this is not what Jesus says here in Matthew 19 is not a total complete teaching about all the details about divorce and remarriage.

And even the Pharisees would have understood that conclusion to be the case. So continuing on in verse 10.

His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.

Albert Barnes says on 1910, the disciples were full of Jewish notions. They thought that the privilege of divorcing a wife when there was a quarrelsome disposition or anything else rendered the marriage unhappy was a great privilege.

And that in such cases to be always bound to live with a wife was a great calamity. They said therefore that if such was the case, such the condition on which people married, it was better not to marry.

And that’s Albert Barnes’ comment on 1910. And I can’t disagree with him.

The disciples were infected by the teaching of the Pharisees still, which taught that it was lawful to divorce your wife for very insignificant things.

And the thought of not being able to do that and being stuck with somebody was something that caused them to say what they said in verse 10.

But he said unto them, All men cannot receive the saying, say they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs which were so born from their mother’s womb.

And there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men. And there be eunuchs which are made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

Obviously those who are eunuchs from their mother’s womb are those who are being capable of the duties, one of the main duties of marriage, which I don’t need to say.

I think everybody knows what that’s referring to. They were born incapable of that. And there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men.

And that’s referring to oftentimes in the ancient cultures, they would castrate males in childhood and they would raise them to be chamberlains.

And that’s where that term eunuch came from because that’s another variation of the word chamberlain. They would be charged with being housekeepers for queens and other women in the palace.

So obviously it was a lot safer to have a man that was castrated to be doing such a job. So obviously somebody that happened to them in their youth would also be somebody that would have to receive the saying about it’s better not to marry.

And there would be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. I have to believe that Jesus here is speaking figuratively.

He’s speaking of people like Paul in 1 Corinthians 7 who wish that all men were even as themselves able to serve the Lord in singleness without the distraction of marriage.

But Jesus’ point here is that it’s the same point Paul made in the first nine verses of 1 Corinthians 7, is that singleness should not be imposed upon anybody that is capable of marriage.

And that’s another way in which the Roman Catholic Church greatly errs by forcing their priests and their leaders to be celibate.

And they don’t have a choice about it if they want to be priests and leaders in the church. Again, this is not a comprehensive statement, a comprehensive teaching about singleness.

Jesus is not saying here that the day you return 18 you either have to get married or declare yourself to be a eunuch for the kingdom of heaven’s sake for life.

He’s simply teaching that singleness, celibacy should not be forced upon anybody. And that marriage is indeed a valid option despite the disciples’ concern in verse 10.

It’s true with every Christian to some extent, especially if you’re a believer in your teenage years,

there’s going to definitely be a time where you just have to wait and see whether God opens a door of marriage for you or not.

And there’s going to be a period where you’re not sure whether you’re going to end up getting married or serving the Lord in singleness.

And so verse 12 again, it’s not a comprehensive teaching about singleness. It’s just an answer to the disciples’ objection in verse 10.

So continuing on to verse 13, “And then were there bought unto him little children that he should put his hands on them,

and pray and the disciples rebuke them.

But Jesus said, ‘Suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me, for of such as the kingdom of heaven.’

And he laid his hands on them and departed them.” So departed from there.

This would, I think the timing of this is important.

It shows God’s blessing upon marriage right after the passage we just read. Obviously it’s God’s will that children be conceived in marriage.

If they’re not conceived in marriage, they would be conceived sinfully. It’s no fault to the child.

But obviously for the parents not, they have sinned, they would have to be conceived in marriage.

And we talked in the last study about verse 14, “For of such as the kingdom of heaven.”

This is not teaching that children should be evangelized to and let in the sinner’s prayer and told that they’re going to be saved forever

because they said the sinner’s prayer is a little child.

This is simply teaching that children have many of the attributes that God would require in a disciple of Christ who is somebody who’s going to inherit God’s kingdom.

He’s not in any way teaching that little children need to, you know, should be, Jesus is called to be born again, to follow Him, to repent.

We’re always given to adults.

And in Jewish culture, and I think this basically lines up with how things are today. They didn’t regard anybody as an adult until they turned 13 years old.

And the concept of a bar mitzvah, it means when a Jewish boy turns 13, they’ll have a party for him, a ceremony for him called the bar mitzvah.

And that literally means son of the law, or for a girl that’s bad mitzvah, daughter of the law.

And that means that for most Jewish families now, it’s just a ceremony that is just an excuse for worldly fun.

But the concept is a good concept that now that you’re 13, you’re old enough to be accountable to God.

And now you’re in danger of punishment if you’re not obedient to God’s commandments. The whole concept should be a very solemn thing.

And so Jesus is basically teaching that one, that we should value children, because the disciples that were reviewing these people thought that it was a waste of time, that Jesus would lay His hands on them and bless them.

And He’s teaching that children are, not that they’re totally innocent, or not corrupt in any way, but they certainly aren’t under condemnation.

And they certainly don’t need to be born again as little children.

And so we can see why evangelizing them, and yes, we should teach them about Jesus, we should teach them about the Bible.

It’s easy to see how evangelizing them and having them say the sinner’s prayer, and then telling them when they get to be teenagers and beyond that they’re saved because they pray the sinner’s prayer as a little child.

That is a great, great deception.

And this passage should not be used to further that deception. There would be no warrant for that.

So continuing on in verse 16, “And behold, one team and said unto him, Good Master, what good things shall I do that I may have eternal life?

And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”

Let’s see here.

So this is, a lot of people will use verses 16 and 17 to say that this is proof that Jesus isn’t God.

They’ll say, well, we know that he was a rich young ruler from Mark and Luke’s account.

They’ll say that the rich young ruler called Jesus good and Jesus said, “Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God.”

Jesus is not teaching he’s not God. He’s teaching that this young man did not understand that Jesus is God.

And by him calling him good, he had an opinion of human nature that was too high.

And not knowing who Jesus actually is, he gave him a title that would be unfit to give him unless it was of good master.

It would be unfit to say such a thing to somebody unless they really were God.

And since Jesus knew that this young man didn’t know that, he rebuked him for saying it. There’s a lot of people who are just way too quick. They think wildly of man.

And they’ll toss around terms like good and righteous and things like that.

And it’s not that it’s, I mean, John said in 3 John 11 that he did do it good as of God and he did do it not good if not seen God.

It’s not that man cannot be, man can indeed be holy and obedient and truly repentant and live in a way that’s acceptable to God.

But there’s just a way in which many people have such a high opinion of human goodness without God that they’ll throw those terms around.

And without understanding, without recognizing that there’s no goodness that doesn’t originate in God himself.

And they’ll just have a humanistic, a humanistic inflated view of man. And that’s what Jesus is dealing with in verses 16 and 17.

So verse 18, Jesus said, “But if thou wilt enter in the life, keep the commandments. He sayeth unto him which.”

Jesus said, “Thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness.

Honor thy father and thy mother. And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man sayeth unto him,

All these things have I kept from thy youth up. Woe lay a guy yet.” Okay, so there’s a lot to be said here.

Imagine if Billy Graham or some popular evangelist was to deal with some rich young man who expressed an interest in salvation at their crusades like Jesus did here.

People would be in shock. People would say, “What are you doing?” Salvation is not, you know, it’s by accepting Jesus.

It’s not by keeping the commandments, but they don’t understand how faith in Christ establishes a lot.

It’s that deception that has been permeated so that proper biblical evangelism seems strange in the evangelical world.

And the acceptable evangelical way to evangelize is foreign to the Bible and to the way Jesus and the apostles did it.

Adam Clark points out that the word Jesus used for “keep” in verse 17 is not the same word that the rich young ruler used for “kept” in verse 20.

And those who have a concordance, the word Jesus used in verse 17 is “strangs 5083” in the Greek.

And the word the rich young ruler used in verse 20 is “strangs 5442.”

The word Jesus used has to do with holding fast, keeping your eye on all the time, being completely watchful,

with never observing diligently, never taking your eye off. And the word that the rich young ruler uses in verse 20 has to do with observing, keeping,

but it’s not the same strictness as the word used in verse 17.

I’m not going to go into the Greek because I’m not a Greek scholar myself, but it is worth pointing out that they used different words there.

And the word Jesus used was a more serious, more intent version of the word “keep” compared to what the rich young ruler used.

Let’s see.

Adam Clark says about the rich young ruler’s trouble in the letter part of verse 20, “He felt a troubled conscience and a mind unassured of the approbation of God,

or the pleasure of God, and he clearly perceived that something was wanting to make him truly happy.”

Okay, so I’m going to continue that. It’s interesting that, I’ll just say in verses 18 and 19, it’s interesting that Jesus, he didn’t quote all the Ten Commandments.

He quoted the commandments 6, 7, 8, 9, and 5. So he quoted 5 through 9. And then he quoted, “And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

So the Ten Commandments are a key sample of God’s life. They were the basis of, you could see they were the introduction to his covenant with Israel,

the foundation stone of the way God expected them to walk. But they’re not a comprehensive statement about everything that God requires.

Jesus said that the commandments that, we’re going to read in verse, in chapter 22, that the commandments Jesus gave as a comprehensive statement,

“To love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

And obviously every other commandment is an expression of what it means to love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind,

and what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.

So though this rich young man had some regard for the commandments, he had not seriously considered what true obedience to God really was.

And he was not wholeheartedly obedient. He did not love God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love his neighbor as himself.

And that was the reason that he felt guilty, and he perceived that even though his conduct was more upright than most people,

he perceived that it wasn’t sufficient, that it was not true repentance and wholehearted obedience and worship and delusion to the true God.

And so what Jesus is going to say in verse 21, Jesus isn’t going to argue with him about, well, you know,

I’m sure there was a time when you were 14 when you didn’t do what your mother told you.

Jesus is going to tell him in verse 21 is something that’s going to prove to him that he does not really love God with his heart, soul, strength, and mind,

and love his neighbor as himself, and that he’s not a subject of the kingdom that is fit for inheriting the kingdom.

And the instruction Jesus is going to give him here is meant as a rebuke to show him his idolatry, his disobedient heart.

And it’s also going to be the instruction he needed to follow to deal with that, to truly repent and truly be fit to be a disciple of Jesus that is a candidate for eternal life and inherited in God’s kingdom.

So in verse 21, Jesus said unto him, if thou wilt be perfect, they’re complete. He’s not saying be totally sinless. This word perfection, it’s what was used in Job chapter 1.

It’s talked about Christians who are walking right in Philippians chapter 3. It’s talking about somebody whose heart has really turned to God and has really renounced their sin and is worshipping God in spirit and in truth.

Jesus said unto him, if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me.

So ultimately, Jesus is dealing with his co-edicence and the fact that he loves his money more than he loves God, and that his heart towards his treasure is keeping him from having a proper response to God’s kingdom and God’s Messiah.

So in verse 22, when the young man heard that saying, he wanted to be sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Adam Clark says on this, men undergo great agony of mind while they are in suspense between the love of the world and the love of their souls.

When the first absolutely predominates, then they enjoy a fictitious rest through a false peace. When the latter has the upper hand, then they possess true tranquility of mind through the peace of God that has acknowledged.

Mark Bolin, a Bible teacher that I highly respect, he preached a message called “Lacence, Bondage, and Liberty.”

And basically, that message is talking about how there’s three basic states in which a person can be in.

And one of those is a state of license where somebody has convinced themselves that they’re right and that they’re not required to live holy, or they receive such a false version of holiness that they think they’re holy when they’re really just living however they want.

And in that state of license, man feels free. But it’s not true freedom. It’s actually bondage to see him, but he feels a freedom to indulge his flesh and to follow the love of the world.

And that person who’s in that state is just 100% deceived. And the function of the law of God is to confront a man in that state and make him aware of his true misery and the false license that he’s received.

But when he’s in that state of license, he can appear to have happiness and joy just like from the outside it can look just like the true joy a Christian has.

And then there’s a state of bondage where you know how you’re supposed to be living. You can’t get away from that fact. The law of God has impressed upon you what God requires, but you don’t want to do that.

And you’re rebelling against that. And so that puts you in a state of misery. And that’s the state that this young man is in. He goes away sorrowful.

And then there’s a state of liberty where you really repent. You agree with the law of God. Yes, God’s way is right. And I’ve been in the wrong.

And then all of a sudden when you repent, God gives you grace to do that which you have now, the commandments which you’ve now aligned yourself with, and he gives you true joy and peace and happiness.

And so those three states are seen in what this young man would be in. If he was to totally just forget this encounter with Jesus altogether, he would be in a state of license.

And as long as he refuses to repent, otherwise he’s going to feel himself in a state of bondage. And if he were to truly repent, and maybe he did repent later on, he would have the true joy of the Lord, and he would find true freedom over sin to fulfill the law of God by the power of Christ.

And know that, know truly that his sins were forgiven and that he was really, and he’d be walking at true gospel liberty to do that which his intentions were really set upon if he were truly repentant.

Let’s see if I have anything else here. Albert Burns’ comment on verse 21 paraphrasing what Jesus said, “If thou wilt be perfect, complete, finished. If thou wilt show the proper expression of the keeping of the commandments, go, etc. make the disobedience complete.”

Verse 21, when Jesus says, “Follow me.” When he was on earth, people would follow Jesus in the flesh and attending on his ministry.

And having was something that Jesus required of people, but now that he’s no longer in the flesh, obviously we can’t follow him around with our, you know, physically see Jesus as a man.

Following him, it’s a deeper concept that has to do with an established, an established habit of obeying his commands. I believe it was A.W. Tozer who made that definition.

I heard a message once that talked about what it means to be a true disciple, and that is to have a heart towards Christ where there’s no rivals towards his government, there’s no refusal, there’s no refusals of his commandments, and there’s no retreats.

You’re set on obeying him and him being the Lord of your life, whatever happens, and you don’t have a backup plan to get out of that.

Only true disciples have eternal life. There’s no distinction between a true believer and a disciple.

And John 831-36 is a good passage that proves that absolutely. I won’t go there right now.

So obviously this man’s idol was his wealth, and you can’t truly serve God and serve mammon at the same time.

Jesus put mammon in Matthew 6, chapter 6, verse 24, as the great obstacle towards God in this world, the chief idol of man. Obviously the temple of God has no agreement with idols.

I think another lesson we can learn from this is that there’s only one type of obedience which God accepts, though there’s many versions of obedience that people try to offer God.

In 1 Samuel chapter 15, Saul was told by God to “audibly destroy the Amalekites and all that they breathed among them because God was executing vengeance upon them for the aerial treatment of his people.”

And the Amalekites, and Saul did, was telling what God said. He killed most of the Amalekites and saved very little alive, but he did save some things alive and offered them what he did save alive as a sacrifice to the Lord.

And God was so displeased with that that he removed Saul from being the king of Israel.

So obedience to God has to be unconditional. This is a quote that I was made aware of recently.

It’s not that Jesus isn’t merely the only way to heaven and to God, but there’s also only one way to have Jesus. And there is holy surrender to his Lordship and his kingdom. And that’s expressed by wholehearted confidence in keeping his word and utterly dependent upon and hoping in his mercy offered by his shed blood.

So, let’s see here.

So continuing on then in verse 23, “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?

Would Jesus beheld them and said unto them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

So, the way Adam Clark says on this, “Earthly reaches are a great obstacle to salvation, because it is almost impossible to possess them and not to set the heart upon them.”

And Mark 10.24 is another scripture where Jesus said, “How hard is it for them to trust and reach his center in the kingdom of God?” So Adam Clark continues,

“And they who love the world, they have not the love of the Father in them.” That’s a reference to 1 John 2.15-17.

“To be rich therefore is in general a great misfortune, but what rich man can be convinced of this? It is only God himself who by a miracle of mercy can do this.”

Christ himself affirms the difficulty of the salvation of a rich man with an oath, verily, when he said verily in verse 23.

“But whom of the rich either hears or believes him?” That’s Adam Clark.

It’s interesting, if you go to Proverbs 19, you see a general tendency in man’s attitude towards riches that keeps him from truly trusting in the Lord.

Proverbs 18.11, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it in the safe.”

So notice the contrast in verse 11, “The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and as in high wall in his own conceits.”

In his own idea, his wealth is his protection. So he reasons in his heart, “Why do I need God?” This is not true of every single rich man, but it is a tendency that is so strong that makes what Jesus said in verses 23-26 to be true.

Adam Clark talks about seeing a rich man as one who gets more than is necessary to supply his own lots and those of his household and keeps the rest to himself.

Apparently, the disciples had a pretty loose definition of what a rich man is.

I know that Jimmy has talked about how most Americans are rich men compared to the world in general.

We just might have a greater struggle and greater obstacles than we realize.

So one thing we can learn is it’s important not to compromise truths and not to set our hearts to be richer than we already are when we already have enough to live.

Paul deals with that in 1 Corinthians 6. He talks about how we bought nothing into this world.

Not 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Timothy 6, how we bought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out in with food and raiment.

Let us there would be contempt, but they that will be rich, those who insist on having more than the necessities,

fall into temptation and a sneer and many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in perdition and destruction for the love of money is the root of all evil, which will some, having coveted after, veered from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Some people might make a lot and become rich without setting their heart upon it, but even those need to be generous in giving and need to express that their trust is ultimately in God and not in their wealth.

Paul would say later in 1 Timothy 6, 17, charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high minded. That’s what we just read about in Proverbs there.

Nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

And of course, says on verse 26, the words seem to intimate that it requires more than common exertions of omnipotence to save a rich man.

So that’s a warning that is, I doubt many churches really deal with that seriously. But we certainly want to preach the whole counsel of God ourselves.

So verse 27, then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and thou wilt thee. What shall we have therefore?

And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or mother, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

But many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first.

Jesus is clearly talking about, in verse 20, you’re talking about a resurrection, and reigning with him after the resurrection.

It’s hard to say, I would guess that there is going to be a millennium where Christ and his people rule over the nations, that not every single heathen is going to be destroyed when Christ comes back,

and that Christ is going to govern the world as it was meant to be governed.

Had men never listened to Satan, and had Satan never gotten the great power that he has.

But regardless, even if somebody doesn’t see it that way, there certainly is a true scene throughout the Bible that those who are faithful to Christ are going to, in this life, are going to reign with him somehow over someone in the future.

I’ve mentioned Romans 8-17 many times in this study, so I’ll just give that scripture revelation to verse 26.

Jesus says, “And he that overcometh, and he put my works unto the end. To him will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.

As the vessels of a powder shall they be broke in the shivers, or the pieces, even as I received them by my father.”

And the 12 apostles, at least the 11, and maybe Matthias, who eventually took Judas’ place, or maybe Paul, were told that the 12 apostles, however, counts them.

Peter was not the first pope, and the Roman Catholic Church might think too highly of them, but it’s still true that they are going to have a special honor when it comes to the New Jerusalem and reigning with Christ later.

In Revelation 21, we read that, let’s see, so that’s 22.

So in Revelation 21, it says, “In the wall of the city, the New Jerusalem, Revelation 21.14, and the wall of the city had 12 foundations, and in them the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.”

So they definitely are still going to, they still have a special place. They’re called the found, in Ephesians 2 Paul talked about the apostles being the, and prophets being the chief from, being the foundation of the church, but he talked about Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone.

He’s ultimately the foundation on which everything rests, and everybody is a little stone compared to him. Everybody is a little stone, and he is a rock that upholds everything in his church and his kingdom.

Gary, do you want me to do chapter 20? I could probably do it in 20 minutes, or I can end now. It’s up to you, and if you want to ask the others.

If nobody else has objection to that, I wouldn’t mind going through it.

Does anybody else have an objection? I will certainly just wait until next week if anybody is overwhelmed at this point.

So everybody says go. Okay, so Jesus in chapter 20 is going to give a parable that’s going to be expanding upon what he says in verse 30.

“For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard.”

Notice that the preaching of the gospel and calling men to Christ is compared to hiring laborers into a vineyard. True faith has to produce works of obedience and labor that is acceptable to God.

Not foolish labor, not labor that not labor like foolishly try to atone for your own sins and negate what Christ did in shedding his blood on the cross, but like the Roman Catholic Church and other churches teach.

But labor that is labor as an obedient citizen under God’s Messiah, the obedience of faith on all nations like we’ve seen in Romans is the purpose of the gospel itself.

And faith without works of wholehearted obedience and faith to God’s commandments is faith without that type of obedience is dead, we’re told in James 2. So where’s 2?

“And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw their standing ode on the marketplace and said unto them, ‘Go ye also into the vineyard and whatsoever is right I will give you.’

And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found other standing ode on saith unto them. Why stand ye here all the day ode?

They say unto him, ‘Because no man hath hired us, he saith unto them, ‘Go ye also into the vineyard and whatsoever is right that shall ye receive.’

So when evening was come, the Lord of the vineyard saith unto a steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.'”

So that’s obviously a reference to chapter 19 verse 30.

“And when they came that were heard about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more, and they likewise received every man a penny.

And when they had received it, they murmured against the government of the house, saying, ‘These last several hours, but one hour.’ And that was made them equal unto us, which had borne the burden and heat of the day.

But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I do thee no rhyme. Didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is and go thy way. I will give even unto this last, even as unto thee.

Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine I evil because I am good? So the last shall be first and the first last. For many be called but with few chosen.'”

It’s interesting how he’s a terrible… I lost you, brother.

He’s illustrating something that is…you know what he’s expanding upon, the final verses of the previous chapter.

And it’s interesting how, from what I can tell, Bible commentators really aren’t agreed upon what he meant.

I do believe that there’s an aspect here of Babylon as a warning to the Jewish Christians, like the twelve apostles were, that they’re not going to be regarded superior in the church just because they’re Jews, just because they were the first to receive the gospel.

It’s God’s wisdom that the gospel will be preached to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. We see that phrase multiple times in the book of Romans.

But we see from Ephesians 2 that the distinction between Jew and Gentile in the church is eliminated.

Not that there’s not a consciousness of it, but that both are equal in Christ when it comes to privileges, when it comes to nearness to God, when it comes to His covenant.

And so this is definitely a warning to Jews not to think that they’re going to be owed more than the Gentiles in terms of special privileges here or in the world to come.

It’s also a caution to those who come to the Lord maybe early in life or maybe come to the Lord a lot sooner than other people that they’re currently in fellowship with, not to think themselves superior.

And ultimately it’s a caution that if God chooses to exalt another believer and give them a ministry that is more public and maybe more useful,

or He does something special for one believer that He doesn’t do for others, it’s a warning not to be jealous of them, that God has His promises.

And when we respond to the call of the gospel and serve Him faithfully, He will do us no wrong.

And we shouldn’t be looking at how He deals with others and trying to say, “Well, that’s not fair. Look at this Christian God. He got something that I didn’t get.”

And God blessed Him in a way that He didn’t bless me or think that we’re entitled to something just because that other believers are and are complaining when other believers seem to be promoted more than us in terms of God’s service.

It’s a warning to live before God and trust His promises, and God will be faithful to us, and that is enough. The very last episode in the Gospels is Jesus is going to be talking with Peter and basically telling Peter that He’s going to be crucified.

And Peter asks Jesus, he sees the Apostle John watching, and he asks Jesus, “What about this man?”

And Jesus basically tells him that how I deal with him is not important to you. I’ll just read that.

John 21, 18, Jesus tells Peter, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, for you hold yourself, and watch as whither thou withers, but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou withers not.”

This makes you signifying by what death he should glorify God, and when he has spoken this, he saith unto him, “Follow me.” Then Peter turning about, seeeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast as supper, and said, “Lord, what should he that betrayeth thee?”

That was what John had said to Peter. I mean, that’s what John had said to Jesus at the last supper. Peter seeing him sayeth to Jesus, “Lord, and what shall this man do?”

Jesus saith unto him, “If I will did he tear you till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me.”

He’s basically telling him how I deal with John is not relevant to you, that even if John should never die, you have a calling to fulfill, and you’re going to be crucified at the end.

That’s going to be your exit into eternal life and God’s presence, and that you should just follow me, and that should be enough for you.

So verse 23, “Then went the saying of brought among the brethren, that that disciple should not die, yet Jesus said not unto him, he shall not die. But if I will did he tear you till I come, what is that to thee?”

And verse 23 is a lesson to stick exactly to what Scripture says, because we see how easily a false tradition can be developed by just not paying attention to every word.

And then John holds in verses 24 and 25 his Gospel. One comment that Adam Clark gave on 2016 around this miracle as a whole,

as those who did not come at the invitation of the household to work in the vineyard did not receive the wages. So those who do not obey the call of the Gospel and believe in Christ Jesus shall not inherit eternal life.

That’s Adam Clark calling a bishop here. So that’s another lesson, is that people were called at different times, but people had to respond when they were called, and they were not absolutely promised that they would be called again.

The people at the 11th hour, I think that this can especially apply to the Gentiles, because we see that in verse 9, in verse 6, in the 11th hour, they were asked, “Why stand ye here all the day, Oidl?”

They say unto him, “Because no man hath uttered us, he saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is racially received.” And that certainly would apply to, I think it’s certainly not inappropriate to apply that to Gentiles who had never had a prophet of God, never had an evangelist come their way.

And they didn’t have to do as much, you could say, but they had less opportunity, and they were given the same reward for responding to the light that they did have, and the opportunity that they did have.

So that should be a comfort, that should be a warning to those who have more light, to know that to whom much is given, of whom much shall be required, which Jesus said, I believe, in Luke 16.

And to know that those who maybe don’t have a lot of, like, don’t have a lot of privileges, well, they’ll receive eternal life all the same if they are obedient and make use of the light and the privileges that they do have.

So I think we can go on then.

Okay, so moving on, verse 17. “And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart in the way and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and discourage him to crucify.

And the third day he shall rise again.” It’s like Jesus has to tell them this in every single chapter. And for some reason, it was hard for them to perceive.

They were intense still on an earthly kingdom, and that the Messiah was going to reign onto earth immediately.

And for some reason, Jesus had to keep telling them this, and it’s hard for us to understand, but it’s also hard for us to identify with the disciples and the fact that they do not know what we know now, and that has to be remembered.

I believe that the fact that Jesus told them this repeatedly, and they’re finally seeing it, and seeing God raising them from the dead was a big factor in why they were so fearless in the book of Acts.

Because the suffering that Jesus had been talking about, that they were warned of, that they didn’t think could possibly happen happened, and yet they saw how God raised Jesus up and had worked that out.

And they were given that same promise regarding themselves, not that they were to be literally raised from the dead after they died, but that God would be faithful to them as they laid down their lives for the gospel.

And that was certainly a big factor into why they were so different in the book of Acts after Christ had risen.

So moving on, verse 20, “Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons worshiping him and desiring a certain thing of him.

And he said unto her, What will thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these two of my sons may sit to one on thy right hand and the other on the left in thy kingdom.

But Jesus answered and said, You know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of them, to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?

They say unto him, We are able. He saith unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.

But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give. But it shall be to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.”

The sons of Zebedee obviously, maybe they had misinterpreted what Jesus said in 1928,

talking about how in the regeneration that they would sit upon twelve thrones with him, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

They may have thought that he was going to establish his kingdom on earth. They might have took regeneration to meet his resurrection.

They might have believed that Jesus was going to conquer the Romans after he had died in rows again at this point.

They wanted to have a special privilege in that kingdom.

That sounds crazy to us, but you’ve got to remember that James and John along with Peter were the ones that Jesus took on the Mount of Transfiguration into the garden of Gethsemane with him,

away from the other disciples. They had been privileged much already, and they were immature.

This was certainly wrong for them to ask, but it just may not have been as crazy and as self-exalting as it would seem to us now.

Jesus basically tells them in verses 22 and 23 that having reigning in his kingdom and basically having what they sought,

we sign Revelation chapter 2 that Jesus made that promise to everybody, that those who overcome would sit on his right hand.

There’s a sense in which every believer who overcomes is going to have this in some way.

Jesus’ main point is that he’s not telling them to seek an ambition over everybody else, even in the resurrection.

He’s basically telling them that the way to glory is through suffering, and that they think that their sufferings have basically come to an end when really they were just beginning.

That’s why he tells them that he has somebody else, and verse 22, “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of them, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

Basically, the main point is that the way to glory, the way to being exalted is through suffering, not needless suffering, but suffering out of obedience to God.

He’s warning them about what’s coming upon them.

When he says in verse 23, “But to sit on my right hand on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be to them for whom it is prepared to my Father.” He’s basically telling them that he cannot give them anything ultimately in his kingdom out of a personal favor.

These were men who didn’t know him intimately, who didn’t know him personally in the flesh in a way that nobody else ever has since he ascended to heaven.

A lot of people have an emotional idea that they have this relationship with this imaginary Jesus in their mind that is basically like an imaginary friend to them, that they think is unconditionally for them.

They neglect the terms of the Gospel and they just think that Jesus says, “Oh, he’s my buddy.” But the fact is, even if he really were, even if that was not just your imagination, that in a long would not guarantee somebody’s salvation.

Because he cannot give somebody privileges based upon that personal relationship alone.

So verse 24, “When the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them unto him and said, ‘You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercised dominion over them, and they did a great exercise authority upon them.

But so shall it not be so among you. But whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.’ Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

It’s interesting that the word that is said about the disciples in chapter, in verse 24, that the ten head towards James and John, that’s actually a variation of the word in indignation in 2 Corinthians 7, 11, talking about the anger we should have at ourselves over our own sin, which is a characteristic of true repentance.

It’s interesting too that I will just point out here that it’s easy to, like what we had read in the last chapter, talking about how Peter had asked Jesus, “How many times shall my brother sin against me?”

And I forgive him up to seven, and Jesus said not till seven, but until seventy times seven. This is an example of how Christians need to be truly patient and long suffering with one another.

It’s not like James and John in doing this forsook the Lord and backslit and followed the devil. They had an immature, foolish ambition that they sought. And Jesus, rather than reproving them, just offered them better instruction as to what it meant to follow him.

And when you’re close, I mean I think we all know this, when you’re close to other Christians, especially like husbands and wife, roommates, that type of thing, people who are serving closely in a church, there’s a lot of offenses that can come, not because somebody backslides and turns against the Lord and turns against his people,

but just because of immaturity, misunderstanding, lack of information that people have, things like talking to loud and waking somebody up at night, different things like that. And it’s in that sense that we’re told an effusion for.

And when it comes to things like that, we really might have to forgive other people hundreds of times and be forgiven hundreds of times. In Ephesians 4, Paul says in verse 1, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation, wherewith ye are called, with all holiness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one Spirit even as ye are called and one hope as ye are calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all.”

So when Paul talked about walking worthy of a Christian’s calling, the first thing he said is, “with all holiness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love.”

And this is an example of how that can be meaningful and necessary among disciples. It’s interesting too that Jesus, there’s a lot of times you see how Jesus led by example and how

he, we know Jesus rebuked them at times, but he preferred to just give them better instruction, which he did here.

And I think there’s a lesson here about spiritual leadership and the fact that example and mild instruction is often better than strong rebuke. So strong rebuke is necessary sometimes.

Just to note in verse 28 that the Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Jesus came to ultimately to die to redeem us from our sins.

And we’re told, and that’s talked about in 1 Timothy 2, that he gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. Where Hebrews chapter 2 verse 9 says that he was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death.

That he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. So that’s important to know because we certainly, that’s not only the very basis of salvation, but that shows how serious sin is and how it can just not be overlooked.

God is so righteous and holy that he had to not spare his Son the death of the cross in order to righteously deal with it.

And that should be the, if that will not convince us to repent and to hate sin and to seek to be saved from its power as well as its guilt, then nothing will.

Finishing up, verses 29 to 34, “And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him; and behold, two blind men sitting by the wayside, when they heard that Jesus passed by cried out, saying, ‘Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.’

And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace. But they cried the more, ‘Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.’ And Jesus stood still.”

It’s interesting, you see him serving, you see an illustration here how he came to, he came not to be ministered to, but to minister.

And he’s doing that, but he still maintained dignity in, as a king, as a son of man, that he still stood still and let them come to him.

And so Jesus stood still and called them and said, “What will ye that I shall do unto you? They say unto him, ‘Lord, that our eyes may be opened.’ So Jesus ate compassion on them and touched their eyes.

And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.”

And there is obviously a proper response to Christ’s death and resurrection, a proper response to his, to the salvation that he died to purchase on.

I’ll just read Adam Clark’s comment on verse 31 and see one more thing on verse 34.

“Whenever a soul begins to cry after Jesus for Lloyd and salvation, the world and the devil join together to drown its cries. They’re forced to be silent, but let all such remember Jesus is now passing by.

That their souls must perish everlastingly if not saved by him. And they may never have so good an opportunity again. When there is a broken and contrite heart, let it science come cleanse to God.”

So he here answered Adam Clark, “When the world and the devil begin to rebuke, in this case, it is a proof that the salvation of God is near. Therefore, let such cry out a great deal the more.”

I like that.

And I’ll just say here that, to close with verse 34, that the Christian life in itself has very much to do with God restoring our spiritual blindness.

And those who seek the Lord and are responsive to his word get a greater glimpse of his glory and ultimately the glory that’s going to be revealed and those who are faithful to the end.

In 1 Peter 8 and 9, Peter says, “Peter is telling Christians who are in trials about Jesus in verse 8, ‘whom having not seen ye love, in whom though now you see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.'”

1 John chapter 3, I’ll just close here with 1 John chapter 3 verses 1 through 4.

“The old one man, or above the Father, hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore, the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

That’s ultimately when faith will become sight. That will be the ultimate eye-opening for the faithful.

“And every man that hath this hope in himself purifies himself, even as he is pure.” Otherwise, it’s just a vain hope if we don’t purify ourselves even as he is pure.

“On the other hand, whosoever commends his sins transgresseth also the law.” “For sin is the transgression of the law.” And I will just read verse 5. “And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin.”

We’ll read verse 6. “Whosoever abideth in him sineth not, whosoever sineth hath not seen him, neither know him.” So I will leave it there, Jimmy.

Praise the Lord, Brother Aaron. Great teaching. I know we went a little longer than that. We have Brother Wilson Sarapelie, our mission leader from India, still on the phone with us.

Hello, Brother Wilson. We also have Brother Daniel Bishwas from Dakar, Bangladesh, our mission leader there. Brother Hilton’s brother.

Any questions, Brother Daniel and Wilson, while we still have you on? Brother. Yes, sir. No, because it’s Brother.

Thank you so much for listening in there, Brother Wilson. We love you, and we’ll certainly talk to you soon. That was another great teaching. How about you, Brother Daniel?

Brother, it’s clear to me, and thank you, Brother. He teaches very good, and thank you, Brother. You join me in his Skype, because in the middle of teaching I could not hear.

So thank you, everyone, and everything is clear to me. So there is no question for me.

Okay, great. Any other questions from the people that have called in before we stop the recording?

Okay, we’ll go into a little fellowship next. Thank you, everybody, for joining us. This will conclude the recorded part of our study tonight.

And all those that are going to be listening to us on the recording, as I’ll post that now, we thank you. We love all our mission partners all around the world, and just please be edified as we continue to our series on the Book of Matthew.

God bless you. Thank you, Brother. Thank you, Brother.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 21 Week 19

Good evening everybody and welcome to week 19 of the Bible study as we go through the book of Matthew. We’re blessed to have our dear brother Aaron Carey here go through this book with us and verse by verse word by word. He’s doing a fantastic job. So we thank him and we also thank you for listening. We say hello. Good evening to our United States brethren and then the people overseas. We say good Wednesday morning to you.

God bless you wherever you are and all the people that are going to be listening on just know we’re praying for you and we thank you for joining us if not live. I know it’s in the middle of night. So we thank everybody though for joining us. So this week we’re going to be starting at the first verse on chapter 21 of Matthew as we continue through the book of Matthew. So I’m going to turn that right over to you brother Aaron. Thank you so much.

Thanks brother Jimmy. We will get right into it then. So now we have Jesus actually in every single, I don’t know about every single chapter but many of the recent chapters he had been on warning his disciples over and over again that he was going to go to Jerusalem and be killed by the, be betrayed by the people.

He was betrayed by, convicted by the Jewish leaders and delivered to the Romans and be killed and rise again the third day. So now we are actually at the point we’re beginning the week of, we could say Christ’s Passion is not an unbiblical word because that word Passion is often, it’s related to the word suffering.

If you go back to its early meaning in English and in the original in the original Greek and how the word was used.

And he, what he’s going to, in the book of Exodus before the Passover land was killed, it was to be taken into the people’s homes on the 10th of the month of the month that the Passover was in and then it was to be with them in their, in the family’s home that was going to slay the land for five days.

And then they would kill it on the night of the 14th day of the month. And I’m still, I still have to get the exact, the proof of the exact days but we know that Christ was slain the day after, the night before he was slain had been the night of the Passover.

And he’s going to be among, he’s going to be right among the Jews at Jerusalem for five days demonstrating his perfection that he’s without spot and blemish just like the Passover land was to be among the Israelites home as they, before they celebrated the Passover.

So I’m starting Matthew 21 one, and when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, they’re near unto Jerusalem, and where come the Bethphage unto the Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus to disciples saying unto them, go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ester, that’s a donkey-tide, and a colt with her, loose them and bring them unto me.

And if any man say out unto you, ye shall say the Lord at need of him, and straightway, and straightway ye will send them.

Now, there’s some question about whether Christ wrote upon the adult donkey or upon her colt. It’s obvious that both of them were brought to him.

I believe that through analyzing all four gospels that Christ wrote only on the colt, the younger, the younger donkey.

Dachys and mules were signs of peace that kings would write upon during times of peace. Solomon, the king of Israel, whose name itself denotes peace and who reigned during the time of peace, he wrote on a mule when he was anointed king in the book of 1st Kings.

And a mule, I think, most know is a cross between a horse and a donkey. Horses themselves are, they denote like an animal of war.

And Christ’s first coming, he came preaching peace, and his object was peace between God and man. He didn’t come to execute judgment upon his first coming.

And so there’s a lot of significance to the fact that he came writing upon a donkey rather than a horse.

We also see how whoever this was that had owned these two dachys, they must have thought the disciples were thieves at first.

But Jesus obviously, it seems evident to me that Jesus knew that these were disciples.

This happened on the Mount of Olives, and the two towns right on the Mount of Olives on the other side of the mountain.

The one side led into Jerusalem, but on the other side of the mountain were the villages of Bethphage and Bethany.

And Bethany was where Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead recently.

And so there were many who truly believed in him within these towns on the Mount of Olives.

So it’s reasonable to assume, I believe, that the owners of these dachys would have been disciples of Christ, or at least people who were very close to that.

And when they heard that Jesus had need of these dachys, they obviously knew when they said the Lord had need of him.

They knew who they met. They gave them up right away.

And that is a part of being a disciple of Christ, is having your property ready to be used for the Lord’s purposes whenever he should request it,

whenever circumstances would show that this kind of mind could be used to further the Gospel.

And I got an extra car, but they need a car right now, and I got an extra car, so then the Lord has need of him, so you give it.

And that’s just a part of truly being a disciple, to have your property ready for the Lord’s use.

Okay, so continuing in verse 4, “All this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying,

‘Tell you the daughters I, and behold thy king come with unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass on a colt the fall of an ass.’

And the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass on the colts, and put on them their coals, and they set them thereon.”

Adam Clark says about related to these scriptures, “Jesus is continually humbling himself to show us how odious pride is in the sight of God.

But in his humility he is ever giving proofs of his almighty power, that the belief of his divinity may be established.”

And that’s going to be in how he receives the people’s praises of himself going into Jerusalem, as well as the fact that he knew that the owners of these donkeys were going to give them up for his use.

In verses 4 and 5, the prophecy here quoted is taken from Zechariah 9-9, “But not in the precise words of the prophet,” says Adam Clark.

“It was always by the Jews applied to the Messiah.” And that’s from Albert Barnes.

And that was so they understood.

The Jews had had this understanding that the Messiah was going to make a triumphal entry into Jerusalem, writing upon a docu.

That was something that was believed among them based upon Zechariah 9-9, and they were right.

Let’s see here.

Albert Barnes says, “He came in the manner in which kings were accustomed to write, but with none of their pride and ambitious feeling.”

He was basically coming, even though the people here in sending him to Jerusalem thought that he was going, at least most of them thought that he was going to come to be their king in an immediate sense and give them dominion over the Romans.

And we’ve been dealing with that false belief throughout this study.

He was actually coming to be rooted by his own people and to make himself a ransom price for their souls by his death.

Like in John Chapter 1, he came unto his own and his own received him not, but as many as received him to them gave him power to become the Son of God.

And that was only possible because he willingly bought himself into the circumstance where the Father was going to leave them into their hands in a moment where their wickedness was going to have an opportunity to manifest itself.

The idea of carrying palms in other branches was emblematic of victory and success, Adam Clark says. I’m not going to go there now, but in 2 Kings Chapter 9.13, this was what was done to Jehu when he was proclaimed king.

The people put their garments in the way before him. It was a way of honoring, recognizing somebody as royalty and wishing them victory and prosperity and blessing.

So continue, Han, in Verse 8.

And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way. So we just dealt with that. Others cut down branches from the trees and stride them in the way. And the multitudes that went before that followed Christ’s name.

Hosanna to the Son of David blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

And when he was coming to Jerusalem, all the city was moved saying, “Who is this?” And the multitude said, “This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.”

Hosanna, I think we talked about it in the introduction, or I think at least once in one of the previous studies. Hosanna means saved now. It’s taken from Psalm 118.

And so the people have regularly acknowledged that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of David, and that he has come to save his people.

But they did not understand the way in which he was going to do that. They’re crying for him to save them now. And they for the most part mean the earthly deliverance from the Romans, when he has a higher plan, a higher purpose.

And he is going to do the very act which would lead to the potential for their salvation and the potential for the salvation of every person.

In Luke chapter 24, after Jesus had risen from the dead, you see a true disciples attitude about this. This is again a man in this case of Cleophis. This is a man that had a right heart, but he didn’t have a right understanding of Christ’s purpose at his first coming.

So in Luke 24, 18, I’ll start in verse 15.

Two disciples are walking to Emmaus from Jerusalem, and it says in verse 15, “And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself through an error and went with them.

But their eyes were holding that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another as you walk and are said?

And the one of them whose name was Cleopas answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?

And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him concerning Jesus from the Israelth, which was a prophet, mighty indeed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.

But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. He thought that Israel’s redemption was finished by Christ’s crucifixion when it was Christ’s crucifixion that was a very act of redemption for Israel that he was ultimately hoping for.

He just didn’t understand really how it would happen. So he says, What we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And besides this today is the third day since these things were done.

And we know the rest of the story, how he’s actually talking to Jesus and he’s going to realize that himself later that day.

And we might return to that passage in our final chapter.

So another thing that’s worth pointing out here, there’s a heresy that is common called dispensationalism, which basically teaches that they basically negate the entire Old Testament and most of the gospels and they say that they say about the gospels and the Old Testament that that was for the Jews.

And they say that there’s been a different gospel since Jesus’s resurrection. And the logic that they use to justify that is that they say that Jesus came to give the kingdom to the Jews and the Jews refused the kingdom.

And because the Jews refused the kingdom, he started over with a different purpose to the Gentiles.

And so they’re very, and then there’s a lot more to it than that. But a basic premise of dispensationalism is that Christ wanted to be the earthly king over the Jews and the Jews refusing as their earthly king.

And we can see here that that’s not the case. That he wanted to proclaim himself king over the Jews and reign by a promise to take over the Romans, he could have done that.

And then John chapter six was another time where the people wanted to take Jesus actually by force and make him an earthly king and he refused it at the time.

So the dispensationalist really here. And then they use that false premise to basically teach that the things that are said about repentance in the gospels, the things that are taught in the Old Testament about holiness and obedience, they teach that those things aren’t, they teach that those things are only for the Jews.

They have an easy believers in gospel where you just have to accept Jesus as death for your sins. You don’t have to really repent and obey Jesus and live holy.

And so this is one modern heresy that we can just see as this passage would prove is just absolutely nonsense as many other passages do.

So continuing on in verse 12 here. Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m just going to go to Mark 11 and Luke 19 real quick because Mark and Luke fill in some more details after verse 11.

So in verse 11, the 10 verses 10 and 11, the city’s moving within upper saying who is this and the multitude said this is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth and Galilee.

And then in Mark 11, we read in verse 15, they come to Jerusalem. Let’s see, I’m sorry, I’m just going to go to Luke 19. I apologize for that.

Okay, so, so in verse so in Luke 19 37 and when he was come near even at the descent of the Mount of laws, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God for with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen.

Saying blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord peace and heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master rebuke thy disciples.

And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that if he should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. And when he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it, saying if thou it’s known, even thou at least in this day, the things which belong to thy peace.

But now are they hid from thine eyes for the day shall come upon thee, the dynamite shall cast trench about the angel come and compass the around and keep the in on every side and shall lay the even with the ground and thy children within thee.

And they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

And he went into the temple and began to cast out them that sold therein and them that bought, saying it is written, My house is a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den at these and we’re about to get to that in Matthew.

And he taught daily in the temple what the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him and could not find what they might do for all the people who were very attentive to hear him.

Okay, so back to Matthew 21. And Jesus went into verse 12.

And Jesus went into the temple of God and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple and overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold those and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den at these.

That is a reference to Isaiah 56.7 verse 13. Basically, these people who were changing money and selling those in the temple, the temple tax head that the people would end the different offerings in the temple could not be paid in the Roman coins.

And in the coins of the people from all the different countries that came to Jerusalem, it had to be paid.

It was either the Jews used Greek coins or they had their own coins. I’m not totally certain about that, but it had to be changed.

Most of the people, a lot of the people who came, their coins had to be changed into a different currency.

So in order for them to pay the temple tax and make the different voluntary offerings at the temple.

So these people were basically taking the circumstances as an opportunity to change people’s money.

And of course, they would charge a fee for it.

So they were using the outermost core of the temple to get rich.

So this is regarding those, those were a, they were, and as well as the other animals that met through those that doesn’t mention right here, the sheep, the cows, the bulls, the rams, the different animals that were used in sacrifice.

They were obviously very inconvenient to bring from long distances to Jerusalem, especially the adults.

So when they would, so when people would come and need to offer sacrifices, well, these people said, well, we’ll, we’ll sell them these things right at the entrance to the temple.

And we’ll, and obviously they could charge really high prices because the people needed them.

And so, so this was, they basically had the scheme that they would use, they would use a temple and the current circumstances, the needs of the people who would come to the temple.

They would use that to make a living and make a very good living, probably.

Adam Clark says here, “They who are placed in the church of Christ to serve souls and do not, and they who enjoy the revenues of the church and neglect the service of it, are thieves and robbers and more senses than one.”

Our Lord is represented here as purifying his temple.

And this we may judge it in reference to his true temple, the church, to show that nothing that was worldly or unholy should have any place among his followers.

Or in that which he can, or in that heart which he can, or in that heart which he condescended to blow, Adam Clark.

Obviously had these people, had these people taken their services away from the temple and just, they had just been, they had done them somewhere else.

I don’t believe Jesus would have had a controversy with them, especially if they were honest in their dealings and didn’t really rip off the people or take advantage of them.

But they basically were using God’s religion and God’s prescribed way of worship as an opportunity to make money.

And obviously we can relate that to many, many, many evil things that go on today in the name of Christ.

Another question that we should ask here is, “Why did the Jewish leaders never cast these men out of the temple before?

Why did they allow this to go on this entire time?”

Obviously they value their positions in having a following a lot more, or at least this abuse was not something that they considered to be that bad since their values and priorities were so messed up.

And I believe there’s a lesson to be learned here about false prophets and false teachers.

They laughed in, “These men are about to persecute Jesus and get upset over him doing the right thing related to these thieves in the temple and related to much else that he did.”

But they didn’t get upset about the things that they really should have got upset about.

If you want to see if somebody is a false prophet or not, one key thing to look at is, “What do they get upset about? What do they rebuke?

And what do they find acceptable to go on in their church and in activities related to their church?”

That’s a really important lesson.

So continue in verse 14, “And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them.”

Jesus never first took meekness and doing well, even after doing something that many would accuse him of not being meek.

Of course, they would have a bad definition of that.

But even in exercising his severity in a place he had jurisdiction, he still didn’t forsake doing well to the needy and true meekness.

And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the son of David,” they were so displeased.

They weren’t displeased by what was going on in the temple all this time, but they were displeased now over something that somebody in touch with heaven should have been rejoicing over.

“And said unto him, ‘Herest thou what these say?’ And Jesus saith unto them, ‘Yes, have you never read out of the mouths of babes and sochlings?

Thou hast perfected praise.’ And he left them and went out of the city in Bethany, and he lodged there.”

Bethany was the other town with Bethany on the Mount of Owls.

So, verse 16, that’s Jesus’s quoting there from Psalm 82. One thing I would point out is that it’s important to point out the difference between these children were praising Jesus for the great things he was doing,

and they were genuinely amazed and genuinely saw what he was doing as something good and wonderful.

And that’s what led them to cry out in praise like this.

It would be an abuse of this passage to maybe like in a church take a children’s choir.

And I’m not saying it’s a remind to have the children’s scene, but what I’m saying, it wouldn’t be the scene to get children to get this big choir and to make it like we’re going to teach them some signs and we’re going to get the cameras going,

and we’re going to make this big spectacle that’s been cordial graft and has been, it’s really just there for everybody’s entertainment.

That’s just not, again, I’m not saying it’s a remind to have the children’s scene, but it’s right to get the children to do things to please everybody rather than an instance like this where they were genuinely impressed and genuinely glorifying God for something wonderful that he was among them.

If there can be, if a church can have a true revival where the children start to cry out praise God without anybody having to teach them or coach them about it, that is a very wonderful thing.

And to try to counterfeit that, and I’m not saying all getting children to sing is counterfeiting that, but it is possible to try to counterfeit that and to try to counterfeit that can be, you know, that’s just not right.

Another thing we can learn by verses 15 and 16, Calvinists, I know many of you are familiar with Calvinism, but for those who aren’t on another heretical theology that teaches many heretical things.

And one of the things it teaches is that man is so totally depraved that before somebody can be born again, there’s absolutely nothing that they could ever do that has any good in it whatsoever.

Now, it’s true that before we can live acceptably, that before an adult, before like we talked about last week, that Jesus is commenced to repent and be born again were spoken to any man.

And the Jews would have understood that to be somebody at least 13 years of age. But many Calvinists teach that.

So it’s certainly true that you need to repent and submit to God and be truly converted before you can do works that are acceptable to God.

But Calvinism will teach that, for one, they teach that man is so totally depraved that you can’t even repent until God overcomes you by an irresistible force.

That’s their heresy of irresistible grace.

But they also teach in their doctrine of total depravity, they teach that children are enemies of God in their childhood and are just nothing but corrupt things who are just their fruit in childhood is totally corrupt.

And what we see here, we see Jesus saying here that, in quoting right out of the Old Testament, that that’s actually children praising God like they are here, is actually a prime example of what it means to praise God.

And obviously if children were just totally wicked and enemies of God and that there was no innocence in them whatsoever, like many Calvinists teach, Jesus wouldn’t have said what he said here.

And this is just another proof also that children who died and his children can truly be innocent and go to heaven.

And many Calvinists do teach that children, even little babies who die, they teach that they go to hell.

I’m not saying all do, I’ve heard Calvinists argue this point amongst themselves, but some do take their own theology to its logical end and do it.

So continuing on, verse 18.

Now in the morning he returned into the city, he hungered, and when he saw fig tree and the way he came to it and found nothing there on, but leaves only and said unto him, “Go through, grow on, be henceforward forever.”

And presently the fig tree withered away, and when the disciples saw it, they marveled saying, “How soon is the fig tree withered away?”

Jesus answered and said unto them, “Verily I say unto you, if ye have faith in thou not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast unto the sea, it shall be done.”

And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive. So let’s see here.

When Jesus curses the fig tree in verse 19, the word in the Greek doesn’t denote anger or malice.

It means only that basically he devoted the fig tree to death and destruction.

Adam Clark says here that when the soul continues an unfruitfulness, the influences of grace are removed, and then the tree speedily withers from the very root.

There’s a lot of, many people would apply this to the nation of Israel as a symbol of what was about to happen, how God was going to stop working through Israel as a political nation and then move on to working through the church.

And I certainly don’t have a problem with that. It’s important to note that even the church is called the true Israel in Scripture because it’s built upon the worshippers from Israel as a nation.

And there was always a sense in which the only true Israel were the true worshippers of God even when God was working through Israel as a nation.

So I don’t think it’s out of line to say that this applies to Israel, that God is going to, that as a nation they did not receive their Messiah, they were not bringing forth the fruit that God expected, and Jesus was going to tell a parable shortly that deals with this.

And that they were going to, and that their nation was shortly going to be destroyed.

And that rather than work through the physical, political nation of Israel and through the physical temple, God was going to form a new nation out of the true Israelites.

It remained and bring the Gentiles and graft them into that true Israel while cutting the unbelieving Jews out of being his covenant people that he was working through.

So I certainly don’t have any problem with that. Luke 13 verses 6-10.

Jesus, he had just been talking about the necessity of repentance, and he said in Luke 13-6, he spoke also this parable.

A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and saw fruit thereon and found none.

Now he’s obviously speaking about Israel as a nation here, then said he, unto the dresser of his vineyard, behold these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none.

Cut it down, like hungrids hit the ground.

And he answered and said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also till I shall dig about it and dung it, and if it bear fruit well, and if not after that I shall cut it down.

And even after this point, even though God was working through the church from the day of Pentecost onward, he still gave the nation of Israel.

He gave the people within the nation 40 years to repent before the nation was ultimately destroyed by the Romans.

And God delivered the Christians who had been in Jerusalem from the calamity of Jerusalem’s destruction.

They took Jesus’ words about, that we’re going to read about in Chapter 24, the flee when you see Jerusalem encompassed about with armies.

They heeded those words and were delivered from the starvation and just all the awful things and ultimately the death and destruction that came when the Romans destroyed the city.

And so that was a case where believing Jesus not only saved people’s souls but saved people’s bodies from a judgment in this place.

In verse 21, Adam Clark says, this is a controversial passage, “He that have faith will get through every difficulty and perplexity. Mountain shall become mowgills or plains before him.

The same is neither to be taken in its literal sense nor the hyperbolical. It is a proverbial form of speech which no Jew can misunderstand and with which no Christian ought to be puzzled.”

It’s important to point out that in 1 John 5, John talked about how in 1 John verses 5, 11 to 15,

verse 14, and this is a confidence. He’s speaking to believers in the Son of God.

And this is a confidence that we have in him. Then if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.

And if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

So believing, so asking God in prayer, believing implies our own obedience and our own lack of double-mindedness like James talks about in James 1.

It implies that we’re submitted to God and we’re doing what’s pleasing to him and we’re ready to pay the cost to continue to do what’s pleasing to him.

And that also implies that his word and what he’s promised is the basis of our prayer.

It doesn’t, so it’s not like the prosperity gospel and word of faith people teach that you can just want something and name it and claim it.

It’s teaching that if you’re submitted to God’s will and you have, and there’s an obstacle that you need to overcome, then you can pray to God and trust him that he’s going to give you what you need to be faithful

and whatever else you need related to this life. So I’ll continue that in verse 23.

“And when he was commented to the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching and said, ‘By what authority doest thou these things and who gave thee this authority?’

And Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell me, I am likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.’

The baptism of John once was it or where was it from, from heaven or of men.

And they reasoned with themselves saying, ‘If we shall say from heaven, he will say and tell us why did he not then believe him.

But if we shall say of men, we fear the people for all who hold John as a prophet.’ And they answered Jesus and said, ‘We cannot tell.’

And he said unto them, ‘Neither tell you by what authority I do these things.'”

Acknowledging John as a true prophet would have meant acknowledging Jesus as a Messiah.

These people who challenged Jesus had all the evidence that they needed that he was a Messiah sent from heaven,

who had a right to be cleansing the temple and had a right to be teaching in the temple and had a right to themselves and had a claim on their own authority and their own position.

They should have submitted themselves and their position to him, but they didn’t want to do that.

And so they were looking, they kept looking to find Paul with him in order to justify themselves.

And so Jesus asked them this question. They asked Jesus by what authority he does these things.

And the question Jesus asked them about John the Baptist put them in, he was taking the wise in their own craftiness.

It put them in an awkward spot because John the Baptist, the people in general, held him to be a prophet.

And they had rejected John the Baptist and they were afraid of the people.

And John the Baptist himself had proclaimed Jesus to be the Son of God. And John had baptized Jesus publicly and said so.

So now the ball was in their court.

They have to, and that’s the source of their reasoning, that if John the Baptist was from heaven, they should have believed John the Baptist and then baptized with him.

And they would have to acknowledge Jesus had the authority to do the things he was doing.

But if they were to say that John the Baptist was a man and that Jesus had never been given any authority from John the Baptist, were he not a true prophet, then they were going to be in trouble with the people.

And they didn’t want to put, the very nature of the question was they were seeking to keep their own authority.

So how could they risk not only their own authority but their own lives by saying publicly that John the Baptist was from men and not from heaven?

So this question really confounded them. They should have said if they were honest that they would not tell, not that they could not tell, because they could have told that both John the Baptist was a true prophet and Jesus was the Messiah from heaven.

Had they honestly considered all the evidence? Adam Clark says on verse 27, “Simplicity,” and I think he’s referring to innocence, “gives a wonderful confidence and peace of mind, but double dealing causes a thousand in quietudes and troubles.”

Pherocyical pride according to its own interest either pretends to know everything or affects or acts to know nothing.

I think that’s very insightful.

Sometimes somebody can, it’s possible for somebody who’s hypocritical and who is a pretender to act like they know everything.

It’s also possible for them to act stupid sometimes when they see it in their own interest to act stupid and that when some truth comes in and crosses them and offends them and would prove them to be hypocrites, it can be in their interest to act like they don’t understand.

It’s interesting, I thought that was a good quote from him. So continuing on in verse 28. So he gives this parable which is directly related to the previous five verses.

“But what think ye, a certain man had two sons? And he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’ He answered and said, ‘I will not.’

But afterward he repented and went. And he came to the second and said, ‘Likely.’ And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir.’

And went not. Whether of them, twain or two, did the will of his father. They say unto him the first.

Jesus saith unto them, ‘Verily I say unto you that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.

For kind came unto you in the way of righteousness. And ye believed him not, but the publicans and the harlots believed him.

And ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.”

Albert Burns, Song of the Spiritible, a way of speaking designed to direct them particularly to what he was saying, that they might be self-convicted.

He asked them this question, whether of them, twain, did the will of his father. They say unto him the first.

And they basically had just condemned themselves, which is what Jesus proves to them in the rest of verse 31 and verse 32.

There’s a lot of lessons we can learn here. One, a profession of Christ means nothing in and of itself.

In Luke 6, 46, Jesus said, “Why call you me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say.”

Whatever professions one might make of being saved by Jesus and loving God and knowing God, if they don’t lock obedient to God’s word and receive what his word has to say and do his will,

then the profession itself means absolutely nothing. It’s actually self-condemning, because if I say, “Jesus is my Lord,”

if I say, “He is the Lord and he is my Lord,” and I don’t obey him, I’m just professing that I know the right way.

I’m very familiar with what’s the right way, and yet I’m still not doing it. Titus 1.16 says, “Falls talking about the false teachers that are corrupting the churches.”

He says in Titus 1.16, “They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient and unto every good word, reprobate or rejected.”

It’s also important to know what the call of the Gospel is, and we talked about that in the last chapter, that Jesus acquitted the call of the Gospel, the call of salvation,

and the true faith of Abraham as a call to go working God’s vineyard.

We talked about how the obedience of faith to all nations is the end of the Gospel, that true faith is obedient to God, and those works that are fit for repentance, and works that prove that one is truly believes,

and truly is obedient to the Father in Heaven.

The publicans in Harlinson and the land of Israel, they had openly said no by the way that they were living to the Father.

But when John the Baptist came, when he came preaching the whole counsel of God and shedding more light upon them, and they heard him inside his testimony,

they at least many of them repented and actually said yes to the Lord and proved that by their works.

Whereas, and I think that there’s a great lesson there about America’s a very lost nation, and there’s the equivalent of publicans in Harlinson everywhere.

But we want to be true, as well as whatever country you’re in, you want to be a true laborer that shines the true light of the Gospel, that when people hear of God sets you on fire,

and they hear the wisdom God’s given you, and they see the testimony of yourself and your church, that it would not be crazy that many who are just openly heathen will say,

“You know, I need to turn to Jesus and obey the Bible.” And that would be a wonderful sight, and it was that sight that the Pharisees and scribes,

they had seen people that looked hopeless and looked like they were lost causes, repent upon at John’s preaching.

And they knew that John, they saw the evidence by their repentance that John was a true prophet.

They saw the righteousness, the fruit of righteousness that his preaching was producing.

And they should have got the message that this is evidently of God, we’ll get the fruit of it, and we’re not in line with this.

We need to repent ourselves. We need to believe John and receive the one that he’s calling all men to believe upon.

But they didn’t do that, and that’s what Jesus is rebuking them for, that when they had seen, he had said back in 1119 talking about the same issue,

that wisdom is justified of her children, that those who had heated John and repented him were now and had become disciples of his,

the scribes and Pharisees should have seen that, but the people who were opposing Jesus should have seen that,

and seen that they needed to repent themselves, even though they had said yes by their profession and by their outward conduct,

and the show that they were putting on, even though they had appeared to say yes to the Lord, they were in opposition to his word,

they were in opposition to the salvation he was working and was preaching right in their very midst.

And they should have got the message that we need to repent through and really do the will of the Father like we had been professing, but not doing.

And that’s a true heresy, by the way, is somebody that says but doesn’t do, not somebody who says and also really does.

And just another thing here in Daniel 12.2, and we’re going to deal more with the Pharisees in chapter 23,

and Jesus’ controversy with them, but in Daniel 12.2, it’s kind of hard to get to, I’m just kidding there myself, I’m sorry, Daniel 12.2 and 3.

So it’s talking about the resurrection, and God has been showing Daniel about the end times in the resurrection,

and it says in Daniel 12.2 and 3, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

That’s a good description of how shame and everlasting contempt. “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the permanent or of the sky.”

And they that turn many to righteousness as it starts forever and ever.

That’s the right way to think about true gospel preaching is the goal is to turn many to righteousness.

And that’s what John the Baptist had done, and that’s what Jesus is rebooting them here for not acknowledging and embracing the message of John and ultimately himself from John and preach.

So continuing in verse 33, “Here another parable.” So Jesus is continuing talking to the leaders that he had just rebuked by the previous parable.

So he says, “Here another parable. There was a certain householder.”

It’s interesting how Jesus, this is the third time in Matthew, he used the illustration of a householder, like the head of a householder, somebody who had been set in charge over a house.

There was a certain householder which planned a vineyard and had to get round about and dig the wine press in it and build a tower and let it out to husband men or farmers.

I think they were called husband men because I think the King James translates this word husband men because their word for farmer had to do with the man who plants the seed in the field.

And so he let it out to husband men and went into a far country.

And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husband men that they might receive the fruits of it.

So the husband men had been, it was their job to keep the vineyard for the owner.

And as their payment, they were to receive a certain portion of the vineyard, of the fruits of the vineyard.

But the rest of them were supposed to, and I’m talking about the natural illustration of this.

Obviously the parable is not totally parallel to reality, but Jesus didn’t, the parable is not intended to be a perfect 100% parallel.

So the keepers of the vineyard are supposed to get on a certain part, but the rest are supposed to give back to the owner.

And so that’s what’s being talked about here.

And the husband, verse 35, and the husband men took his servants rather than giving them the fruit that was expected.

The husband men took his servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first, and they did unto them likewise.

But last of all, he sent unto them his son’s name. They will reverence my son.

But when the husband men saw the son, they said among themselves, this is here, come let us kill him and let us seize on his inheritance.

And they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard and slew him.

When therefore the Lord of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husband men?

They sand him. He will miserably destroy those wicked men and will let out the vineyard unto other husband men, which shall render him the fruits and their seasons.

So this parable just to those who want to make a note of it, it’s closely related to Isaiah chapter 5.

The first part of Isaiah chapter 5 is a very similar parable. What Jesus himself obviously was also the author of.

And so anybody who heard it would have recognized that.

He has the liberty to tell the same story in a little different way like he did here.

The different circumstances in verses 33 to 36 is obviously, I should say in verses 33 and in verse 33 alone, is I think that there’s certainly parallels we could find.

But sufficient to say now with the notes is God’s care of the Jewish nation and how he made them a special people for himself for a certain purpose.

And he did the different things described in verse 33 today.

And then ultimately that he would receive the fruit of righteousness from that nation.

So when God called them by the prophets to repent of their wickedness and turn to God and live out their calling, generally, for the most part, the prophets were not well received.

And that’s what verses 34 to 36 are dealing with.

So verse 37, “The last of all, he sent unto them his sons, and they will reverence my son.”

The idea here is it’s a reference to the honor due to one of his ranking character in our thoughts, our feelings, our reactions.

Adam, I heard a good Bible teacher reflect upon what the true meaning of verse 37 before. And then I found Adam Clark’s quote, and I think that he really hits it on the head.

“They will reverence. They will reflect upon their own conduct and blush for shame because of it when they see my son.”

And he says that the Syriac and Persian versions of scripture say this directly, I believe he means.

We see by verse 38 that true faith in Christ is acknowledging his authority, submitting to his teaching, and bringing forth fruit in accordance with their profession.

And we could reference John 15, 1-6 here.

I’m sorry, not that word. Yeah, maybe not verse 38 to roughly, but by this whole parable, true faith in Christ is acknowledging his authority,

submitting to his teaching, and bringing forth fruit that is in accordance with their profession.

And John 15, 1-6 is another good parallel here that ultimately God is looking for the fruit of righteousness.

That’s his entire purpose of separating Israel for himself and bringing forth grace.

That’s his entire purpose for Israel in the Old Testament, and it’s his entire purpose for the church right now.

That’s just the ultimate end God is looking for, and people who preach the gospel that stop short of that and give some alternative to that are preaching the false gospel.

Adam Clark says on verse 39, “What a strange and unaccountable thing is this? A sinner to enjoy a little longer his false peace, and the gratification of his sinful appetites rejects Jesus and persecutes that gospel which troubles his sinful repose.”

And that’s certainly what these leaders here were doing in verse 39, representing the parable.

They were doing it against the greatest light, having praised himself among them.

It’s what they not only did in the parable, but what they were actually going to do shortly after they were plotting his death rate as Jesus spoke this.

So Jesus himself asked them a question.

In verse 40, rather than relating this to them, rather than saying, “This is you guys,” he could have said that, and that would have not been improper.

But he does something even better. He asked them the question. He hasn’t told them yet that they’re the people he’s speaking about.

So he asked them when he’s speaking a parable as far as they know, when the Lord therefore the vineyard cometh, “What will he do unto those husbandmen?

They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits of their seasons.”

Now in verses 42 to 46, Jesus is basically going to tell them, “You’ve just answered why your place ought to be removed, and why God’s judgment ought to fall upon you,”

which is basically what he’s going to say in the final five verses of the chapter.

This method of talking about what somebody else did, talking to somebody who is blameworthy and needs to be rebuked,

but to talk in terms of what somebody else did, and have the person you’re talking to give a sentence upon that person, and then say, “You’re the one I mean.”

Think how effective that can be. That’s what the prophet Nathan did to David in 2 Samuel chapter 12.

So I’ll go there.

2 Samuel 12. And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. So David has committed adultery with Bathsheba. He got her pregnant.

In their adulterous affair, he had her husband killed, and then he took Bathsheba to be his wife.

And there might have been a whole year or two before where he was in hardness, and he was unrepentant.

So in verse 1, “And the Lord sent Nathan unto David, and he came unto him and said unto him, ‘There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor.

The rich man had exceeding many flags and herds. But the poor man had nothing save one little eulam, which he had bought and nourished up.

And it grew up together with him and with his children. It did eat of his own meat or his own food and drank of his own cup, and laying his bosom and was unto him as a daughter.

And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him.

But took the poor man’s lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him. And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man.

And he said to Nathan, ‘As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die.

And if this had been an actual man in Israel, David would have had the right to command him to be put to death as king.

And he shall restore the lamb for full, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.

And Nathan said to David, ‘Thou art the man, thus saith the Lord God of Israel. I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul.

And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s ways into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah.

And if it had been too little, I would more over have given thee such and such things.

Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house, because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against the out of thine own house, and I will take thy voice before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and ye shall lie with thy wives on the sight of the sun.

For thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.

And there wasn’t a publicity statement, he humbled himself and repented. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord hath also put away thy sin, thou shalt not die.

God gave Nathan a parable to show David the nature of what he had done, so that when David would first give his sentence about it, it would be towards somebody else, and then he connected it to himself.

So it’s good if somebody you need to rebuke, and rebuking somebody should not ever be a pleasure.

But if we need to do it, God can give us an illustration that for the person we need to rebuke, and apply it to somebody else, and then only connect it to them after they gave their sentence against the person in the parable.

That certainly is a biblical way of doing things, if you’re given wisdom to do that.

We see a lesson here that it talks about in Galatians 6, that if any man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of muteness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted.

When somebody gets overtaken in the sinner, we discover that somebody has done something terrible, and we need to rebuke somebody over something they did. In every horrifying revelation of another, we have to consider how this applies to us, and how this could potentially tempt and destroy us.

We might be doing the same thing in a different way. We might overreact to what this person did in saying I’m not going to be like them, and overreact in a different way, and commit iniquity in a different way.

We could end up having a very unterrable and hopeless attitude towards the person.

I’m not going to say it’s human nature, but it’s a human tendency to be extra hard on others, and not so hard upon ourselves.

This principle in being applied to others is something we also need to remember for ourselves, and consider ourselves when another is in sin.

When another is in sin, we need to consider ourselves and make sure that we don’t have the same thing in us, and make sure that we don’t react to this in a way that we would go astray ourselves.

Because people do go astray in such circumstances, and that’s why we have to heed the warning there.

So continue on the last five verses.

So Jesus is going to now apply this parable to them after they’ve given sentence against themselves.

Verse 42, “Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures? The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner.

This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof.

And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whosoever it shall fall, it will grind him to power.

And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.

But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a profit.”

Obviously when Jesus has talked about being the chief cornerstone, it has to do with him being the chief cornerstone of God’s church, of the nation that God would now be working through.

There’s certainly a sense in which he always had been, but now that he had been revealed to Israel and to mankind like this, it was known exactly who this cornerstone is.

And the Father would exalt him to be the mediator of the New Covenant by his resurrection from the dead.

That’s ultimately what Psalm 18 is referring to, Christ’s resurrection after he was killed by these builders.

The stone which the builders rejected, he has become the head of the corner. He was openly exalted and proclaimed that, like Peter said in Acts 4-12,

“neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven, given them the men whereby we must be saved.”

So he is the chief cornerstone on worship of salvation and mankind rest.

And ultimately the nation of Israel that did not receive him as a whole, like we talked about, God’s kingdom would be taken from them and given to another people bringing forth the fruits thereof.

1 Peter 2, verses 5-12 is a good related scripture. I won’t read it now, but something you can write down there.

Think of Revelation chapters 2 and 3. The seven churches that had lampstands that Christ spoke with, those who did not respond to his rebuke

and did not live and respond to his word in a godly way and continue bringing forth godly fruit.

Their churches would have their lampstand removed. There are no respective persons with God.

His true people, he expects true fruit out of those who are his people. And just like Denzel now, if a person or a church is not bringing forth fruit and keeping with their possession,

he’ll move out from them and work with others who are responding to his word faithfully and bringing forth the proper fruit that he expects.

So in verse 46 here, I’ll just close by saying that I think when they start to lay hands on him, they fear the multitude because they took him for a prophet.

In John 5 43 and 44, Jesus was also reviewing the Jewish leaders. He told them, “I am coming in my Father’s name and you receive me not.

Everything Jesus taught was in accordance with the word of God. And if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive.

How can you believe which receive honor one or another and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?”

False prophets have to consult the people out of fear of what the people will think of them.

It’s right for a church leader to consult the other Christians in his congregation and find out whether they see things that he doesn’t see.

But it’s not right for a leader to compromise the word of God and to compromise what is true in order to please the people.

And you see the instability of these Jewish leaders that they had a position to maintain and to keep that position and protect themselves.

They had to constantly scheme. They had to constantly manipulate and pretend and hold back their true intentions.

They were kind of put through their own little misery just in this alone.

Not to mention the ultimate judgment that was going to come on their nation and that was going to come upon them on the day of judgment which Jesus talked about in verses 43.

There are so many false doctrines that have crept into churches now that came about. So many things related to feminism, related to lack of standards of true holiness,

related to standards of how a Christian ought to dress, related to standards of what church is supposed to be, a time where God is sat, a time where his word is proclaimed, where his people pray to him and praise him.

And see to know him more and to plan how there will be a testimony of the Lord of the Gospel to the world rather than a place where lost people are entertained, rather than a place where people come to find social connections primarily and business connections.

And there are so many churches that have been corrupted because there have been compromising leaders who fear the people more than they fear God.

And in order to keep their own positions, give in and compromise Godly standards. And we’re right in the midst of that.

And the price to our own lives and to just ourselves in terms of having to study and break away from just so many of these ungodly practices and doctrines that have crept in.

It’s obviously going to be anybody who would do that and really follow the truth without pollution, without compromise. It’s obviously going to be costly.

But the heart that we need to have is the heart that evaluates things, not how when we’re brought into confrontation with something, whether it’s a doctrine from God’s word or practice from God’s word, an idea.

If we evaluate it from the standpoint of how is this going to affect me, and you might not have a position in ministry, but it might be how will this affect my own image?

How will this affect my business? Whatever that could be, that would be falling into the same here that the Jewish leaders fell into here.

And the right heart is obviously, is this true? Is this pleasing to God? And is this, how does this relate to what God says and my obligations towards God with God’s word?

And only those who will be honest and evaluate things like that and respond in that way can really be part of God’s people that are bringing forth the fruit that is appropriate for God’s children.

All done, Jim.

God bless your brother Aaron. You know, I kind of want to ask this question. It is getting kind of late for some, maybe we’ll leave it for another time, but I want to put it out there in the recording.

And you know, you brought up professionalism. And I’ve seen people on many different sides of this. I mean, there’s actually two sides, but I’ve seen a lot of different flavors of it.

Certainly, Matthew 21 43, therefore, our city of the kingdom of God be taken from you, right? Natural Israel and given to the nation of bears the fruit of it.

And then can we correlate that to first Peter 2 9, which is the new nation, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people that you might proclaim the praise of him, the call of the year of the darkness is among his light.

Well, you know, we have not just dispensationalism, we have just sensational Zionism also, right? And again, this is probably for another whole study, not months long, but certainly a week or two.

And but I’ve seen people go too far on either one of those. Amen.

Absolutely. Yeah, so we don’t have to get into that too much tonight. But yeah, that was a very good chapter. And those parables are very powerful and use them as much as we can, of course.

So does anybody else have any questions for Brother Aaron? While we’re still on the recording here that may edify people that are listening, not only on the phone call here, but also in the future.

I do. It’s Rachel. Okay, go for it.

Going back to Matthew 21, 12, where he’s talking to the Pharisees, I’ve seen a lot of street preachers this verse when defending their strong rebukes. I’m putting that mildly. But actually, what I’m getting there is he was actually talking to the Pharisees,

the members of the church, regarding the money changing and everything. He wasn’t talking to sinners like I’ve seen people use it. You know what I’m saying?

Like the preachers are going down to the sinners and railing, basically. And they’ll come back to this verse saying, “Well, Jesus went in and he overthrew the tables, and he was angry,

and this and that.” But this is just referring to him being angry at the church, right? Not the sinners. So that’s not really something that I’m trying to say. Something that they could use.

Yeah, that’s actually an excellent question. I guess we’ll call them the sinning church, right? That’s my question.

Yeah, Brother Aaron, he’s going to lighten us on that because that’s what happens. People will use these rebukes that Jesus is giving to a certain segment of people, right?

And there is nobody that we should rebuke more than people that are using the Lord’s name to make money or to fill up seats. And basically, that all goes back to money. But can you address that? That’s a great question, sister.

Absolutely. I mean, these were people who were specifically using God’s worship and God’s name to make money and probably were getting very rich by it too.

So it’s not like, I mean, there was just the temple was the one place where since Jesus did not become a judge or become a king in an earthly sense, the temple was the one place that he had jurisdiction since it was his father’s house.

It was the place that was set aside 100% to be a house of prayer for all nations. And so, yeah, it’s one of those things when people are doing things in the name.

When people are doing things in the name, they’re doing things and getting rich by that. That puts them in an entirely different category. I wouldn’t say entirely different, but it puts them in a different category where there’s so much more blameworthy.

And there’s a scripture to talk about how judgment begins at the house of God. Ezekiel chapter 9, 1 Peter 4, 17 to 19, you see the principle judgment begins at the house of God.

And so that’s where the most severe rebukes should be to the people who are really flagrantly using Christ’s name for money and for other selfish agendas.

And I’ll also add that many of these three preachers I found out are not rebuking the men in their own circles, and some of them are doing some things in Christ’s name that are very, very, very wicked.

And they’re not holding them accountable even for those things. So that’s very hypocritical of them.

Amen. Thank you so much. Any more questions, anybody? Daniel, I’m muted.

No problem, brother. It’s okay. Actually, I have a question, brother.

My question is, why he had just carried Christ when he came to Jerusalem as a king? Actually, he didn’t mention Matthew, but why he carried?

He carried when he came in front of Jerusalem. Did you understand that, brother Aaron?

Honestly, I didn’t.

Okay, brother Daniel.

Can you say that one more time? Should I say it again?

Yes.

Why had Jesus cried when he came to Jerusalem as a king? Why?

Actually, he didn’t mention the book of Matthew. Did you get it, brother?

I didn’t get it.

Okay. Hold on. Let me put him back on mute here. I think he said, why did Jesus cry? I didn’t quite.

Yes, brother.

Why?

Go ahead.

Go ahead, brother Aaron.

Let me just look at Mark 11. I think there might be a little more liberation there.

I think it’s safe to say that if you go to Luke 13, that’s the scripture I’m thinking of.

Luke was really such a good percentage of Luke, as well as John, in the final stage of Jesus’ life.

In Luke chapter 13, verses 34 and 35, I think is a good answer there.

Jesus says, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee.

How often would I have gathered thy children together as a hand that gathered her brought under her wings,

and ye would not ye hold your houses left unto you desolate?

I say unto you, ye shall not see me until the time come when ye shall say blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

God loves people and God is, it grieves him when people persist in their sin and when people reject late.

Jesus was obviously the greatest late that they could have had, and yet the city of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel as a whole continued unrepentant,

even when he had been in the midst of them for about three and a half years.

And so they were, even though you could say he wasn’t surprised by what they did, and he had a plan for what would happen after they rejected him,

it still grieves him, it still pains him that they would be so stubborn and that they were going to have to face such a terrible judgment in his righteousness.

So I think there’s a lesson there about just the personal aspect of God and how God is a personal God who has feelings,

even though his feelings are not, they’re regulated by truth, God still does have feelings, and I think you can see it from truth like this.

Yep, I think Matthew 18.14.2, “It’s not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” Amen.

Daniel, I’m going to take you off mute real quick.

I’m muted. Thank you, brother. Yeah, and I have also some questions, but it’s not Book of Matthew.

My question is from Book of Daniel. Later I will ask you, I will email you, also Brother Aaron and also Brother Jimmy.

I’ll write to you my question from Book of Daniel because I have to go out. Thank you very much, Brother. Thank you, Brother Jimmy. Thank you.

God bless you, brother. Thank you.

I’m going to stop the recording. Check out Beltan.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 22 Week 20

Good evening everybody and welcome to the Global Mission for Children Tuesday Night Bible Study. Brother Aaron Carey is our teacher who’s been so graciously going through the book of Matthew and we’re going to continue that tonight. We’ve gone through 21 chapters of Matthew so we’re coming towards the end here and we’ve got some really, really, really

good chapters coming up. My personal favorite is chapter 25 but I’m not a respecter of chapters.

So I’m sure that I just read this to today. Chapter 22 is just going to be as powerful.

So without further ado, Brother Aaron, thank you so much for lending us your wisdom and we’ll turn it over to you. Thanks Jimmy. I want to greet everybody who’s on the call

and everybody who’s going to be listening to the recording. Chapter 22 is probably one of my favorite chapters too if I was a respecter of chapters myself and I don’t want to be.

But I do find this chapter to be somewhat fun to read and obviously that shouldn’t be the main goal of Bible reading. But there is some very, this is wisdom against false doctrine and is really seen here in a very powerful way. And there’s a lot of lessons

in this chapter about dealing with people who are stubborn and who are self-righteous

in opposing the Word of God, especially people who think they’re clever and mount challenged,

even just the way scholars who deny the Bible, whether openly or just maybe they say they accept it but they add their own inventions to it and deny the plain meaning of the text.

And those are the more dangerous kind of scholars. Jesus is going to be dealing with men like

that in this chapter. And so even though we can read it and find that it’s a very, that there really is some, you could say godly entertainment here, this was a very tense

situation. Jesus had just spoken the parable at the end of chapter 21 about the householder planting the vineyard. And he’s going to continue, he’s right in the midst of the temple. The Jewish leaders who are mad against him and seeking to crucify him, they’re seeking for

a reason to crucify him, are all around him. Their faces must have been just the way people

often are in church meetings who are opposing the truth. They might be trying to put a nice look on their face but they got anger beneath that it’s hard for them to hide. And they

can obviously, obviously some of you have felt that type of environment very much so.

This was just that type of environment to the maximum. There’s something dangerous about when you get a lot of leaders together and a lot of people who consider themselves to

be big shots in the Christian community, whether real or whether they’re, you know, if they’re not really godly men who have nothing to defend in their heart and are totally relying on

the Lord, if they’re not men like that, being in environments with people like that can be one of the most spiritually challenging environments we could ever face, I believe.

You know, religious conferences and that type of thing. You know, maybe it’s a lot of godly

people there but you get some people there who have agendas. They’re clever men but they’re

opposing the word of God to keep their own position and that’s what we’re facing here.

In chapter 22 only, you know, times a thousand, the heat is up. Jesus has just spoken the parable of the householder and the vineyard basically saying that God is going to move on from working among the nation of Israel and is going to, in 2143, the kingdom of God

shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruit syrup and the unbelieving

Jews are going to come under judgment and whose sliver shall fall on the stone shall be broken, 2144, but on whose sliver shall fall it will grind him to powder. And when

the chief frees and pharisees had heard his parables they perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him they feared the multitude because they took him for a profit. So we’re continuing in chapter 22, this is the very same, you know, this

isn’t a different scene. This is made for all we know a minute later. So in, you know,

in 22 verse 1, Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables and said, the kingdom

of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son and sent forth

his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants saying, tell them which are bidden. Behold, I have prepared

my dinner, my accent and failings are killed, and all things are ready, come unto the marriage.

But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. And the remnant took his servants and treated them spitefully and slew them. But when the king had heard thereof, he was wrapped angry and he sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. And that was literally fulfilled when God

sent, since God is ultimately his sovereign, he is in control of everything. He, it’s not like the Calvinist might say, it’s not like he was, it’s not like he was the one who inspired

the evil in the Roman armies, but he, he allowed circumstances where the power and the rage

of the Romans came upon the Jewish people for their, for their disobedience to God and their rejection of his Messiah and just their overall contempt of God’s word and the privileges that God had given them. And this was literally fulfilled in, in 8070 when the Romans came

in and sacked Jerusalem and many, many, most everyone either died or was taken into slavery

except the Christians who had escaped the city. As Jesus had warned, and we’re going to get to that warning in chapter 24, and the city was burned and, and then Jerusalem was basically uninhabited on by the Jewish people until, until just this past century.

So verse 8, “Many sayeth ye to us servants, the wedding is ready, but they which were

bid and were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways and as many as ye shall find bid to the marriage.” So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all

as many as they found both bad and good, and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. And he saith unto him, Friend, how came is thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless, then said the king to his servants, bind him hand and

put him take him away, and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and nash, there shall be weeping and nash, for many are called, but few are chosen.” This is a

very key parable, obviously. Jesus is talking about, he’s talking about the kingdom of God being taken from the Jews, and that he was going to, he was going to move on to the,

to the Gentiles. And obviously the church that he found it was going to, Jew and Gentile,

were going to be made one and him. But the nation of Israel as a political nation was

not going to be the center of God’s work anymore. So this was a great rebuke. This was a great

rebuke that God would reject the Israelites who didn’t believe in their Messiah and move on to the Gentiles. But there’s a further lesson here for everybody about the Gospel.

And that is, and that is, there’s many, and so I’ll talk about those. In verse 6, Adam Clark’s comment talking about how, in verses 5 and 6, when many received the invitation to the wedding, obviously, obviously the, the marriage is obviously talking about the Gospel and its promises. It will ultimately culminate in the marriage supper of the Lamb that we read about in Revelation chapter 19. It’s talking about, it’s talking about a promise of reconciliation with God and union with God. And ultimately, and ultimately being

joined to him as his people for eternity. But just having the invitation is not enough.

Many rest falsely in the fact that Jesus died for them and has bidden them to come and believe

on him. And they think that just because Jesus died and they accept that, that they’re going

to be ready to meet God. But having the invitation isn’t enough unless you come at the invitation.

And then even coming at the invitation isn’t enough. You have to, you have to come in the wedding garment. And that shows how the call of the Gospel is a call to be holy, to be pure, to be blameless before God. And we’ll look at some scriptures about that. And the thing is, it’s not a purity and a blamelessness that anybody had to work in order to lay hold of. It was offered as part of the invitation. And we’re going to read some quotes about that. It was freely offered to everybody, but only those who applied for it and put

it on were actually going to be accepted at the marriage and not cast away. Adam Clark

says on Matthew 22, 11, Adam Clark on 22, 11, speaking about the wedding garment. “Among

the Orientals, long white robes were worn at public festivals, and those who appeared

on such occasions with any other garments were esteemed not only highly culpable women’s

guilty but worthy of punishment. Our Lord seems here to elude to Zephaniah 1, 7, and 8. The

Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid in his guest. And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord’s sacrifice that I will punish the princes and the king of children,

and all such as our coals was clothed with strange apparel. The person who invited the guest prepared such a garment for each for the time being, and with which he was furnished on his application to the ruler of the feast. It was this which made the conduct of the

person mentioned in the text inexcusable. He might have had a proper marriage garment if he had applied for it.” So obviously there’s a lesson that Jesus offers a free salvation

from sin. But we need to come to him seeking to be saved from our sins, seeking to be pure and holy, and coming to him with that end. His grace will wash us and give us power over sin and ultimately if we continue in the faith present us pure and blameless before God on

the last day. But there were people who thought that just the invitation was enough or thought

that they could respond to the invitation without seeking salvation from sin and true

purity. And they were deceived. And when those without the wedding garment were found, they

were found without the garment, they didn’t have an answer. The man was speechless. Adam

Clark says, “I am 2212. He saith unto him, Friend, rather companion.” So the Greek word should be translated. “As this man represents the state of a person in the visible church, the man in verse 12, who neglects to come unto the master of the feast for a marriage garment, for the salvation which Christ has procured, for the salvation which Christ has

procured. He cannot be with any propriety called a friend, but may well be termed a companion

as being a member of the visible church and present at all those ordinances where Christ’s presence and blessing are found by all those who sincerely wait upon him for salvation.

How came as thou and hither? Why profess to be called by my name while living without

preparation for my kingdom? He was speechless. He was literally muzzled or gagged. He had

nothing to say in vindication of his neglect. There was a garment provided, but he neither put it on nor applied for it. His conduct therefore was in the highest degree insulting

and indecorous or improper. As this man is a young one, by general consent of those who shall perish in the last day, may we not ask without offense. Where does the doctrine of absolute reprobation or preterition appear in his case? He’s talking about Calvinistic predestination. If Christ had never died for him, or if he had applied for the garment

and was refused, why he will not have alleged this in behalf of his soul. The Calvinist teach that Christ didn’t die for every person, but only for those who were chosen before

the foundation of the world. And then, of course, saying if this were true, then this man would have had a just reason to plead for himself, and he would have had a just excuse for not having the garment. But since Christ did die for every man and does offer the garment to every man, this man was without excuse and he had nothing to say for it. And, of course, goes on, but there is not the smallest excuse for him. Christ died, the sacrifice was offered for him. The ministers of the Gospel invited him, the Holy Spirit strung with him. He might have been saved, but he was not. And the fall bligh so absolutely at his own door that the just God has vindicated in his conduct while he sends him to hell. Not for the lack of

what he could not get, but for the lack of what he might have had, but either neglected or refused it. Verse 13, “Outer darkness is a reference to hell.” If you go back, just letting the… Some people teach that it’s some type of temporary, kind of like purgatory location that people go for a certain time that… And I don’t know how they get that,

because they’re not studying the Bible carefully. Back in 3141 and 42, Jesus talked about his coming and he said, “The Son of Man shall send forth his angels and they shall gather

out of his kingdom all things they defend and them which do iniquity or lawlessness,

and shall cast them into a furnace of lawyer. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Son and the kingdom of their Father. Who art there to hear, let him hear.” Talking about the wedding feast, if you go to Revelation chapter 19, ultimately the kingdom of God and the early kingdom of heaven are the same people. Ultimately that’s going to end with Christ coming back and taking the kingdom, the world and reigning and his faithful people reigning with him. And the marriage supper, the lamb is going to be the celebration of that time. So if you read in… So Christ

is coming back in chapter 19 and it says in verse 5, “And a voice came out of the throne, saying, ‘Praise our God, all ye servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.’ And

I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, ‘Aululia, for the Lord God, omnipotent reigneth. Let

us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the lamb has come and his

wife hath made herself ready.'” Human responsibility in receiving, not in making your own salvation,

and earning it by making your own program and earning it by earning it by your own toil and your own… earning it as like God would be indebted to you, but receiving the promises of God by grace and therefore letting God’s grace work in you, his ultimate intention,

which is a pure and holy people of faithful subjects that Christ died to obtain. “So let

us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the lamb has come and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be a great and fine linen, clean and white.” That’s the wedding garment that we read about in chapter 22. “For the fine linen is the righteousness of…” Now at this point, most evangelical Christians

would say the fine linen is the righteousness of Christ, but the Bible doesn’t say that.

“For the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” There’s a false doctrine out there

called the Doctrine of the Infuded Righteousness of Christ, which teaches that God sees those

who believe in Christ as holy as Jesus himself, and that God takes Jesus’ righteousness and credits it to them as if they were as perfect and holy as Jesus’ and that’s something the

Bible just doesn’t teach. The Bible teaches that God washes us and counts us as righteous on virtue of our faith in Christ, and because we are believing on him and being obedient

to him, and Christ’s blood has cleansed the record of those who are exercising faith in

him and who are in agreement with his purpose. But that does not mean it’s Jesus’ righteousness

being credited to them. Jesus’ righteousness itself was only able to make him the perfect sacrifice to atone for our sins. But to say that Jesus’ righteousness is credited to us would be saying that we don’t need to obey, that we don’t need to be holy, that we don’t

need to seek God to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling like the Bible teaches,

that we don’t need to continue in the faith and be faithful and apply God’s promises to

purify our own lives and make ourselves blameless. That’s the very great deception of the doctrine

of the imputed righteousness of Christ is it denies the need to actually be righteous and holy ourselves by the grace of God. It teaches that you can just have a one-time

moment of saying, “Okay, I accept the invitation,” but you don’t actually need to put on the

wedding garment because they teach that Jesus himself is your wedding garment and that he’s

just magically made you righteous forever because of what he did and who he is. That’s just not

the gospel message. His grace is given to put the wedding garment on us to make us pure and blameless. If you go back to Chapter 7 of Revelation, this is an absolute proof that Jesus’ pure garments are not what’s going to save us, that the white robes that we have

to have have to be our own robes. They can only be cleaned because of what Jesus did on the cross and Jesus’ application of his blood and his saving power as our high priest. But we have to actually be, our own robes have to actually be made white. If you go to

Revelation Chapter 7, John sees a vision of a multitude before the throne of God and they’re

praising God. In verse 13, “And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which

are our raid and white robes?” Same thing as what we just read about in Matthew 22 and

Revelation 19. “And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are our

raid and white robes?” And once came they, “And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest.”

And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their

robes and beat them right in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple, and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. Neither shall the sunlight on him nor any heat. For the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall

feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away out tears from their eyes. So in verse 14 here of chapter 7, notice that the robes that these people are wearing before the throne of God have been washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb, implying that they were once dirty. So if they were Jesus s robes themselves that they had been able to put on, they would have never been dirty at all.

They had appeared before God in their own robes which were made white. Jesus made them clean,

but it was still their own robes. It wasn t Jesus s robe itself that was applied to them.

And that s important because this man in chapter 22 who was speechless, not having a wedding

garment, he thought that he didn t actually have to be pure himself, that what Jesus did and how Jesus said and invited him to the feast, he thought that just accepting the invitation and showing up was going to be enough, and that he didn t actually have to put on the wedding garment offered by the host of the feast. Just some other scriptures there that related to that before we go on. 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 14. Peter s talking

about the coming of the Lord in the new heavens and the new earth, and he says, Nevertheless,

we according to his promise look for a new heaven and a new earth, we are in dwell with righteousness. Wherefore, beloved King, that ye look for such things, be diligent that

ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless. So that s the robe the Christians

are given that when we truly turn to Christ, he cleanses our record and we have to walk in faith as his faithful subjects and continue in the faith as we started and be obedient

to him and not go back to the world and let him conform us to his image and keep us holy in the midst of an impure world. And we have to be diligent that we may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless because if we turn back to sin, then we defile our

robes and we fall in front of the base. Ephesians chapter 5 verses 30 to 33. I m sorry. Verse

25. Husbands love your wife even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. That he might sanctify or set it apart, make it holy, and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having

spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blameless. And then Colossians chapter 1. Paul writing to the Colossian Christians in verse 21 says,

And you that were sometimes alienated in enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath

he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight, if he continue in the faith grounded and settled, and not

moved away from the hope of the gospel which he have heard, which was preached every creature

which is under heaven, where have I, Paul, made a minister? So that s just a very, very key, a very key passage in refuelling the false gospel that Satan has infected the world with, which denies the need to actually be holy and righteous and blameless in actuality by the grace of God, rather than just saying that we accept what Jesus did for us. And

though we re unholy and unrighteous, that his grace is going to cover that. That s definitely a lie. And I ll just give two more passages for everybody to write down who wants to look into it more on passages we ve looked at. Titus 2, 11-14 and 1 John chapter 3 verses

3 and 4. Okay, so moving on then to chapter 22. I m going to read an Albert Barnes quote on verse 16 after I read through verse 22, and that s going to explain the situation

more. So obviously, after having finished this parable and the parable at the end of the last chapter, he s really offended these religious big shots that have been around

him. And he s rebuked them and shown them to be in the rhyme and talked about the certain judgment that s coming upon them. And they re offended and they want to crucify him,

but they re seeking for a reason to accuse him. And that s going to be the source of

these next three scenarios we re going to read about. So verse 15, Then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle him in his stock. And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true and teach us the way of God in truth. Neither care us thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person

of men. Tell us therefore what thinkest thou, or what do you think? Is it lawful to give

tribute on the Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, Why tempt ye me,

hypocrites? Show me the tribute money. And they bought unto him a penny. Well, a penny

would have been probably a Roman denarius, which would not a penny like just a little worthless thing that in America we call a penny. It would have been about the equivalent of a day s wage. We read about that back in Chapter 20. And he saith unto him, Whose is this image in superscription? They send unto him Caesar s, then saith unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar s, and unto God the things that are God s. When they had heard, they marvelled and left him and went their way. This was

a very, very hard question. It was a controversy among the Jews at the time, a very hot controversy

about whether it was proper for them to pay taxes to the Romans. And so here s a quote from Albert Barnes. He s talking about the Herodians, talked about in verse 16. He says, It is not certainly known who these were. It is probable that they took their name from Herod the Great. Herod the Great was the king that sought to kill Jesus when he was born. The Herod were about, we re going to read about the Herod that s reigning at this time would have been Herod the Great Son. Perhaps they were first a political party

and were then distinguished for holding some of the special opinions of Herod. Dr. Pareto thinks that those opinions refer to two things. The first respected subjection to a foreign power, the law of Moses was that a stranger should not be set over the Jews as a king, Deuteronomy 1715. Herod, who had received the kingdom of Judea by appointment of the

Romans, maintained that the law of Moses referred only to a voluntary choice of a king and did

not refer to a necessary submission where they had been overpowered by force. His followers

supposed therefore that it was lawful in such cases to pay tribute to a foreign prince.

This opinion was however extensively unpopular among the Druze and particularly the Pharisees

who looked upon it as a violation of their law. And it s interesting that it s the Pharisees

and the Herodians getting up on him here because even though they were probably disagreeing

about this issue, they were both looking to have a reason to accuse Jesus. So the Pharisees looked upon this as a violation of their law and regarded all the acts growing out of it

as oppressive, meaning the acts growing out of a foreign king subjecting the Jews. Hence the difficulty of the question proposed by them. Whatever way he decided, they suppose he would be involved in difficulty. If he should say it was not lawful, the Herodians

were ready to accuse him as being an enemy of Caesar. If he said it was lawful, the Pharisees

were ready to accuse him to the people of holding an opinion extremely unpopular among them and as being an enemy of their rights. So the Herodians, if Jesus said that it wasn t lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, the Herodians could accuse him of treason, sedition, so that the Romans would crucify him for that. And if he said it the other way around, that

it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, the people might be turned against him. The other

opinion of here which they seemed to have followed was that when a people were subjugated

by a foreign force, it was right to adopt the rights and customs of their religion.

This was what was meant by the leaven of Herod in Mark 815. The Herodians and Sadducees seem

on most questions to have been united. It is interesting when Jesus was praised by these

people who were not sincere of not respecting persons and not fearing men. They were actually

trying to get him to please themselves and they were basically trying to influence him

to probably do what they were trying to get him to do so that they could incriminate him.

We have to be careful when people praise us for being wholehearted and not influenced

by the world etc. Especially if they are not people who are evidently wholehearted Christians,

they may well be trying to trick us into saying something stupid or incriminating. Jesus proved

their words right by not regarding his temptors and not letting them slay him in what he said.

We see in verse 20 that Jesus had the tribute money, the money of the Romans bought to him.

There was a wisdom here in that he had them answer the question themselves so that there

would be no dispute about it. If he had just said that, they might have questioned his reasoning.

By him asking the question and them answering him like that, they had basically already

given the answer. They had said to him, “Caesar’s.” Say at the end of them, “Rendr therefore

unto Caesar the things which are Caesars and unto God the things which are Gods.” When they had heard these words, they marveled and left him and went their way. We learn

a lesson here that the Roman emperor at the time was Tiberius Caesar. Augustus Caesar had been the first Roman emperor. Augustus was a nephew of Julius Caesar who had been assassinated because the Romans thought that he was going to try to become the emperor. Then in the chaos that ensued after that, Julius’ nephew Augustus did become the first Roman emperor. I don’t know if Tiberius was Augustus’ son or if he was some other relation,

but Tiberius was the emperor after him. It would have been him whose image and superstriction

was on this coin. Tiberius was a very wicked man, we know from history. Nevertheless, Jesus,

when he says, “Rendr under Caesar the things that are Caesars,” I won’t turn to the passages.

Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2, they confirmed that we owe civil leaders honor and obedience and

tribute and the text that they collect according to the law. That’s an important thing that

God does not consider civil government inherently opposed to his own government. Romans 13 talks

about that. I think we probably looked at that before. Adam Clark says on verse 21, “Give not therefore God’s things to Caesar and give not Caesar’s things to God.” Jesus said, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesars,” before he said, “Rendr to God the things that are God’s,” because I suspect one of the reasons is that it would be foolish for a Jew to give

to the temple or for us to give to the gospel money that we owe to the government. We should

pay what the law requires us to pay in terms of taxes and debts to other people before

we give to God’s work, because God doesn’t want anything given to his work and to things

that are of him that are rightfully owed to other people. We see a lesson about true repentance

in verse 21. True repentance is yielding our all to the true God. His image is on our soul and his superscription. The evidence of his work is in us and in our bodies. It shows

how God has a right to the service of our bodies and of our minds and our souls, and we’re going to deal with that later in the chapter. A good passage there that I won’t go through now for time’s sake is Luke 17 5-10. We’ve looked at it in another context

before. Jesus basically did answer the question that these people had asked him whether it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar. It was a hard question to answer, but he did it in

a way that was so self-evident by how he called for the point and pointed out that it was Caesar’s

image, that any opposition he might have received from the people, they themselves decided such

opposition would have been unjust, and that’s why they marveled and left them and went their

way. Continuing on in verse 23, “The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, saying, ‘Master, Moses said, ‘If a man die having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up seed unto his brother.’ Now they were with a seven brethren, and the first one he had married a wife deceased or died,

and having no issue left his wife unto his brother; likewise a second also, and the third unto the seventh; and last of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seven, for they all had her, Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do hear not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. From the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven, but as touching the resurrection of the dead. Have you not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.’ And when the multitude heard this,

they were astonished at his doctrine.” The Sadducees were basically the religious liberals of the time, and they were mainly the high priests, and those of the most powerful priests

were actually mostly Sadducees. So this was a dispute between the Sadducees and the Pharisees,

which we looked at in Acts 23. They were so fiercely divided over it. The Sadducees denying the resurrection and denying that man had a spirit, that man could exist separate from

his body. And so this was a heated religious question in Israel at the time, as it would

be if a bunch of conservative and a bunch of liberal scholars came together at some,

you know, church conference or something today. The Sadducees were making to look at anybody

who believed in the resurrection of the dead look stupid by asking this question. So there’s a lesson there. But first of all, I think it’s good to point out, I think this is a really,

really important point, that we see from this example, the previous example, answering the question about is it lawful to contribute to Caesar, and the next question that he was

asked about the greatest commandment. Notice how Jesus kept his words to his opponent’s view. It’s good to think twice when we start along with when the defense of some doctrine

that we believe or some other answer that we’re asked to some question that we’re asked maybe

you can tell the person is not sincere, or they’re looking to catch you and make you

look foolish. Proverbs 17, 27 and 28. Proverbs 17, 27 and 28. He had had knowledge, spirit, words, and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. Even a fool when he holdeth

his pieces counted wise, and he that shut his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. Jesus being the Son of God, having perfect wisdom, no hindrance into receiving what he needed from the Holy Spirit in each moment, absolute total understanding of the Scriptures and the doctrine they teach, and absolutely secure in his Father’s love and protection,

he still before his enemies kept his words few when he was challenged. When he was with

his disciples we read that he had some pretty long sermons and long messages, and even when

he was preaching before the multitudes who were there to listen to him, but when he was before his enemies getting tempted, he kept his words few at that point. So the sadducees are trying to make Jesus sound ridiculous, but the very scenario they propose is in itself

ridiculous and so absurd that they sound like fools, just having spoken. Verse 24 is a reference

to Deuteronomy 25.5. It was a lot given to the nation of Israel, to preserve inheritances

in the nation of Israel, that if a man died without seed, mean children or posterity offspring, if a man died without a child to take his inheritance, that his brother was to marry

the woman who had been his wife, and that the first child that they would have would

be counted as the son or the daughter of the man who had died, even though it wasn’t his literal child. So remember that the sadducees deny the resurrection altogether. And we see

a lesson about how people can abuse the scriptures. They added to a biblical teaching, the biblical

teaching is the resurrection of the dead. They added to that by supposing that marriage is in the resurrection, and that was a foolish assumption to deny that there’s going to be people married in the resurrection like people are married here. Adam Clark says, “This is a question put by these bad men as well suited to the mouth of a libertine.” A libertine

is somebody who is less anxious, who freely partakes a fleshly sin, who feels himself entitled and at liberty to get drunk and to fornicate and to do other wicked things. Those who live without God in the world have no other God than the world, and those who have

not had happiness which comes from the enjoyment of God have no other pleasure than that which

comes from the gratification of sensual appetites. The stream cannot rise higher than the spring.

These men and their younger brethren, atheists, deists, and libertines of all sorts can form

no idea of heaven as a place of blessedness unless they can hope to find in it the gratification

of their sensual desires. Notice what he says at the end. It’s a good thing for witnessing

the Muslims on this very ground Muhammad built his paradise, Adam Clark. It’s a proof against

Islam that the heaven in Islam is being able to gratify earthly desires and even things

that were forbidden to you on earth. But the true heaven and those who are truly heavenly minded according to the God of the Bible look forward to a reward that is related to spiritual fulfillment and justice and righteousness reigning and a greater intimacy with God himself

and things like that. The fantasies only acknowledge the five books of Moses. So Jesus answers them

from the five books of Moses, meaning the five books of Moses are called the Pentecost,

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, the first five books of the Bible.

There’s

people today who teach many false doctrines who say that they only listen to the words

of Jesus in the red letters and the Gospels. And those very same people, their false doctrines

can be proven wrong by the words of Jesus in the Gospels. They say that Jesus is only love and mercy and forgiveness and doesn’t preach against sin and doesn’t preach about judgment and all. And obviously you can go to Jesus’ words in the Gospels and prove them wrong right from the very words that they claim that they adhere to. People who teach

that Jesus, contrary to Moses in the Old Testament, can be proven wrong by the fact that Jesus

equated Moses’ words with God’s word, as we’ve seen back in Chapter 15 and many other places.

He said, “Think not that I’m come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.” So basically,

Jesus answers the sadistic objection about what they claimed was absurdity about marriage and the resurrection by telling them that he says, “You do not wear in verse 29, not

knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God, for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.” But as touching

the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, “Notice again Jesus said that the word spoken by God in Exodus that Moses wrote is God’s word. I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” And when the multitude heard this, they were

astonished at his doctrine. When God spoke to Moses in the bush in Exodus, Abraham, Isaac,

and Jacob had been dead. I saw the numbers in one of the commentaries I read. I think Abraham had been dead for about 329 years, Isaac for 224 years, and Jacob for 198 years. So when God called himself the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob to

Moses in Exodus, when these three men had died already, it’s obvious that if they had ceased

to exist, if they were annihilated like the Pharisees had taught in denying that there’s

a resurrection, that God would not have called himself their God because they would have ceased to exist at that point. So how could God be their God? And the people understood that Jesus had just solved the question by the very books of Moses that these sadducees

claimed were, you know, which the sadducees themselves claimed to believe. And so that’s why the multitude was astonished at his doctrine. In Luke 2038, Jesus said, “For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto him.” And so that’s a very, “For

all live unto him” is a very good description of what it means for him to be your God. And obviously those who are wicked who don’t live unto him are still going to be held accountable and judged for not living unto him. God doesn’t, the wicked people in the Bible, I think it

was King Ahaz in the Old Testament, he’s called, it talks about him transgressing against the Lord as God. And I think, and one of the Bible commentators I forget where it was said, “God didn’t forfeit his sovereign right to Ahaz just because Ahaz denided himself.” And that’s

how it is when we talk about Jesus being Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Jesus is everybody’s

Lord and everybody’s King, but not everybody acknowledges it and lives like it. But it doesn’t change the fact that he still is your ruler. And when he comes back, he still is going to, he’s still is going to assert himself as a ruler of the wicked. But it’s going to be, in the case of those who do not bow to his reign in this life and follow him in this life, it’s going to, he’s going to assert his reign by destroying them as his conquered enemies and not having mercy upon them as his faithful subjects as he will do to his people. Let’s see, is there anything else here? One of the Bible, it was either Adam Quark or over, but it’s not on verse 33, “God uses the infidelity, the unbelief of song for

the edification of others.” So that’s a lesson to us when it comes to refuting false doctrine. When somebody brings a false doctrine and people in your church become aware of it, it’s an excellent opportunity to teach them the truth. But what is really, what is really

the truth about that? And that’s a very, and that’s a very good way to establish Christians in the faith is to, I’m not saying we should be careful about introducing false doctrine

to people that they don’t know about because why, you know, why, why expose people to lies

unnecessarily. But if you know that people are going to be exposed to lies a certain lie inevitably, or that lie is already, they’ve already been exposed to it, well that’s a perfect opportunity to teach them on what really is the truth related to that matter

that they’ve been lied to about. So continuing on, so verse 34, “But when the Pharisees had

heard that he had put the sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them,

a lawyer, asked him a question tempting him and saying, ‘Master, which is the great commandment

in the law?’ Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt blow the word thy God with all thy heart,

and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” This is the first in Greek commandments. “And

the second is laid unto it, thou shalt blow thy neighbor as thyself.” And these two commandments

saying, “Oh, the law of the prophets.” Jesus was not teaching that, Jesus, some people used his passage to say that, to teach, they wrongly assumed that everything that was said

in the Old Testament now, well those commandments are done away with it. Now it’s just, “Love

the word your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” But Jesus was not teaching that this would be the case from now on. He was teaching that it’s always been this way, that there’s never been a time that all the commandments didn’t

hang on these two great commandments. And every other commandment in God’s word that is related

to morality, or really it’s the covenant we’re under, is an example, is a lesson on what it means to love God with your all and love your neighbor as yourself. And a true worshipper of God, a faithful subject of God’s kingdom, will tremble at God’s word because they’ll

see it that way. If God gave a commandment about how I’m supposed to dress, that’s a

commandment about how I’m supposed to spend my time, or a commandment about anything,

that’s our response to that commandment is ultimately an indicator of whether we really love God with our all and whether we love our neighbor as ourself, whether that’s our sincere intention or not. And that’s how we should see every commandment of God’s word. There’s a lesson of how to do those two things. This man in verse 35 was likely a teacher of the law. He wasn’t a lawyer in the sense that we think of it like a criminal lawyer,

a district attorney. He was a teacher of the law of Moses. He was a scribe, a letterman, likely one who was of a sect called the Keroids that rejected the corrupt oral tradition of

the Jewish elders and only accepted the written word of God as scripture. And that was good in and of itself. Many Jews thought that it was sacrifice or circumcision or washings.

It was the greatest commandment. And we’ve talked about how that was just a major problem

and a major deception in Israel at the time was that there was a high regard for much of the ceremonial law, but the moral law of God and ultimately the attitude towards the

great commandments upon which every other commandment hung was very, very low. And that’s a big

reason why you had these people who were very devout in some ways ultimately living in sin.

And despite their great devotions when it came to things like sacrifice and circumcision

and washings, we see in verses 37 and 38 what it means to render to God the things which

be God, which Jesus had talked about back in verse 21. So Albert Barnes has some very good

comments on this passage of scripture, which I’m going to read here. 22, 37, Jesus said unto him, Mark says that he introduced this by referring to the doctrine of the unity

of God, “Garrow Israel, the word thy God is one Lord,” taken from Deuteronomy 6, 4. This was said, and I’m going to pay close attention to what Albert Barnes says here. This is why it’s important to really teach people about who God is. This was said probably because

all true obedience depends on the correct knowledge of God. None can keep his commandments who

are not acquainted with his nature, his perfections, and his right to command. In Acts 17, remember

the first words that Paul said to the Athenians when he preached to them on Marcell. He saw their altar to the unknown God, and he said, “Whom therefore ye inherently worship him

the glory unto you.” Then he got into talking about how God has created everything and isn’t worshipped with men’s hands. He talked about how we ought not to think God is like silver or bold that’s graven with art and men’s devices. He started to talk about God’s majesty and how oils were so unfit to represent him. That’s just what Albert Barnes is talking about here.

I paraphrase that, but it’s good we study what Paul spoke to the Athenians on Marcell

in Acts 17. “So Albert Barnes continues, “I shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.”

The meaning of this is, “Thou shalt love him with all thy faculties or powers. Thou shalt love him supremely more than all other beings and things, and with all the ardor possible, to love him with all the hardest to fix the affections supremely on him, more strongly

than on anything else, and to be willing to give up all that we hold dear at his command, with all thy soul, or with all thy life.” This means to be willing to give up the life

to him and to devote it all to his service, to live to him and to be willing to die at

his command, with all thy mind to submit the intellect to his will, to love his long gospel more than we do the decisions of our own minds, to be willing to submit all our faculties to his teaching and guidance and to devote to him all our intellectual attainments and all the results of our intellectual efforts, with all thy strength on Mark Eds. With all

the faculties of our soul and body, to label and toil for his glory and to make that the

great object of all our efforts. On 2238, the first and great commandment, this commandment is found in Deuteronomy 6.5, “It is the first and greatest of all. First, not in order of

time, but of importance, greatest in dignity, in excellence, in extent, and duration. It is the fountain of all others. All beings are to be loved according to their excellence,

because God is the most excellent and glorious of all beings. He is to be loved supremely.

If he is loved to write, then our affections will be directed toward all created objects in a right manner.” That’s a key statement. I’ll read it again. “If he is loved to write,

then our affections will be directed toward all created objects in a right manner.” 2239, the second is linked unto it. Leviticus, it’s taken from Leviticus 19-18. That is, it resembles

it in importance, dignity, purity, and usefulness. This had not been asked by the lawyer what

was the second great commandment. But Jesus took occasion to acquain him with the substance

of the whole law, compared with Romans 13-9. Mark adds, “There is none other commandment

greater than these. None respecting circumcision or sacrifice is greater. They are the fountain

of all.” Adam Clark says on 2239, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor. The love of our neighbor springs from the love of God as its source.” To truly be the love of our neighbor and God’s eyes. To be the righteous love of our neighbor. “It is found in the love of God as its principle,

pattern, and end. And the love of God is found in the love of our neighbor as its effect, representation, and infallible mark. This love of our neighbor is a love of equity, charity, secure, help, and benevolence. We owe to our neighbor what we have a right to expect from him. Do unto all men as they should do to you,” Jesus said in Matthew 7-12, “is a positive command of our blessed Savior. By this rule therefore we should speak, think, and write, concerning every soul of man. Put the best construction upon all the words and actions

of our neighbor that they can possibly bear. By this rule we are taught to bear with, love, and forgive him, to rejoice in his felicity, your happiness, mourn in his adversity, desire, and delight in his prosperity, and promote it to the utmost of our power. Instruct his ignorance, help him in his weakness, and risk even our life for his sake and for the public good. In a word, we must do everything in our power through all the possible varieties

of circumstances for our neighbors, which we would wish them to do for us where our

situation is reversed.” Continuing on 2240, Robert Barnes says, “On these two commandments,

saying that if these comprehend the substance of what Moses and the law and what the prophets

have spoken, what they have said has been to endeavor to win people, to love God, and to love each other.” That’s the end of what God’s law taught, to endeavor to win people,

to love God, and to love each other. Love to God and man comprehends the whole of religion,

and to produce this has been the design of Moses, the prophets, the Savior, and the apostles.

Mark 1232-34 adds that the scribe said, “Well, master, thou hast said the truth,” and that

he has sent it to what Jesus had said and admitted that to love God and man in this manner was

more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices, that it was of more value or importance. Jesus, in reply, told him that he was not far from the kingdom of heaven. In other words, by

his reply, he had shown that he was almost prepared to receive the doctrines of the gospel. He had evinced such an acquaintance with the law as to prove that he was nearly prepared to receive the teachings of Jesus. Mark and Luke say that this had such an effect that

no man after that just asked him any question while Luke 24, Mark 1234. This does not mean

that none of his disciples just asked him any question, but none of the Jews. He had confounded all their sects, the Herodians, Matthew 15-22, the Sadducees, verses 23-33,

and last the Pharisees, 34-40, finding themselves able to confound him. Everyone gave up the

attempt at last. I thought those were very insightful statements there.

So I’ll just say that I’m 22-39. We can’t have the love of God without loving our neighbor also, but the former has to regulate the latter, or you really don’t have either.

We have to love God first and filter our love towards our neighbor through the commandments

of God, or else we can’t love our neighbor righteously. But if we truly love God, we will seek to love our neighbor as ourself also. The two, when rightly understood and

laid hold of, are inseparable. This man was not far from the kingdom of God. I think that also meant, in addition to what we heard Albert Barnes say, his excuses and substitutes of repentance were very close to destroyed by this understanding. I think that some of the things that he did, and what it’s also important to note that he still wasn’t in the kingdom

of God, even though he had understood this truth and seemed to be impressed by it. He still had to act upon it and repent and live it out. And truly, if he had truly repented,

he would be ready to receive Christ as an Messiah. We don’t know whether he did. But

I think we can at least see that his excuse, people have excuses and substitutes for repentance,

that in really getting this understanding, really did a lot to put these excuses and substitutes and counterfeits to true repentance to an end. So finishing up the chapter then, verses 41 to 46, “While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying what thinking of Christ, whose son is he?” Now when Jesus says Christ here, he’s talking

about the Messiah, which the Messiah is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah, the king and deliverer of God’s people. He’s speaking to them. They’re not acknowledging him as the Christ, but they’re still expecting the Christ to come. So Jesus is seeking the correct understanding of who the Messiah is. So he said, saying in verse 42, “What thinking

of Christ, whose son is he?” They say unto him, the son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David and Spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. If David then call him Lord,

thou is he his son.” I’ll read, I’ll finish verse 46 after I do that. Jesus is clearly

teaching here that the Messiah is more than just a mortal man. And obviously, he is the Messiah and he spoke this to them, knowing he’s the Messiah, but with the understanding that they weren’t acknowledging him as that. Jesus himself, people will ask questions related to the incarnation and the Trinity. And people will ask such questions as if they’re a mark against Christ and Christianity often. But Jesus himself asked them a question about that.

And obviously, he knew what the answer was. But he was speaking to them as if they had inflated opinions of their own intelligence and they thought that they had something that was very complicated figured out. Obviously, the mystery of God becoming flesh in Christ and the mystery of the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit being three distinct

persons would get all being one God. Obviously, that’s a great mystery. But these religious scholars were very confident in their own intelligence and their own understanding.

And Jesus is asking them this question, kind of lovingly showing them, “You think you’re so smart?” Well, so yes, if the Messiah is the son of David, how then does David and the Spirit call him Lord? And in verse 44, the Lord said to my Lord, “Sit down in my

right hand till I make thine enemies like woodstool.” That’s from Psalm 110, a very team messianic Psalm that we have looked at. I won’t go to it now, but it’s definitely

worth studying closely. So he asked them, “If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?” The conclusion that they would have to make by this is that their understanding of the Messiah had been faulty, and they had to go back and reevaluate who exactly they should be looking for and what they should be looking for. And a clear conclusion that they had not considered is that the Messiah, who was the son of David, is also the Lord of David.

And there was no way that they could… And there was no way that they could…

They could say that Psalm 110 wasn’t referring to the Messiah, because it was just like many

passages in the Old Testament that refer to the Messiah. The Jews had already understood

that this is a messianic passage. It’s ultimately… It might be talking about somebody in Old Testament times, but it’s ultimately pointing forward to who the Messiah is. And the Jews

couldn’t deny that Psalm 110 was talking about the Messiah. They had to conclude by, if they

were honest with this question and with what Psalm 110 said, that they’d have to conclude that the Messiah is divine as well as human. And so we read in verse 46, “And no man was able to answer him a word, neither did there send him in from there before to ask him any more questions.” And that’s talking about his adversaries, his enemies who were seeking to tempt him and to prove him to… They were seeking to prove that he was a sinner, that

he was not the Messiah that some of the people were claiming him to be. But verse 46 shows

that their efforts had failed. We talked before about the Passover land, how it was to be five days with the family that was to slay it before it would be slain on the note of

the Passover and eaten. And that Christ… He’s in his five days in Jerusalem right in the midst of the center of God’s people and the religious controversy at the time. And

one of the reasons that the land was kept among the… In the home… One of the reasons the Passover land was kept in the home of the family that would slay it for five days

was to show that it was without spot and blemish. And it was to be proven within that time. And Christ here had just proven himself amongst the most heated controversy to be… To be perfect. He had perfectly… He had perfectly warded out the attacks of these enemies against his character and against his action. And he was vindicated here before all the people,

right in the midst of the temple, as being truly the Lamb of God that would take the way of the sins of the world, that he is truly the King of Israel. And that everybody was obligated to receive him as the Christ and obey him. And I thought of this chapter…

I thought of Psalm 23. We know that God’s ultimate vindication of Jesus as a Christ

was when he was risen from the dead. But there was a foreshadow of that here. Just like there’s

a foreshadow of future resurrection of Christians. Those who are being faithful and walking with

God are… They ultimately… Their ultimate glory is not going to be until they’re raised

and they reign with Christ when he returns. But there’s a preview of that for the faithful as they are doing the will of God. And God is vindicating God showing himself to them and is owning them as his servants. And I thought here that it was good to end with

Psalm 23 to show God’s dealings with his people and ultimately… And these dealings were ultimately seen in Christ’s life. And how what we read in chapter 22 is… Although

it wasn’t the ultimate God preparing a table before him in the presence of his enemies,

it was certainly that happening. It was certainly a foretaste of his coming resurrection and his coming returns. I’ll finish with Psalm 23. “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.

He maketh me to lay down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For thou art

with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest me a table in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointed my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Truly goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.” And that certainly primarily is… It’s a very important and important thing

to know. David wrote that and obviously it’s… And obviously it ultimately refers to Jesus Christ, the son of David, as well as his people, his faithful subjects. So we have a teardown. Great teaching, Brother Aaron. I just want to point out a few things here and maybe get

your comment on them. Taking your teaching and now turning it on to when we go out preaching.

You know, one of the things that people use the most… I’m going back to Matthew 22,

36, to 40, okay? Which is the greatest commandment in the Lord. You send us a love of God. Love

that God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength as the first greatest commandment. But love the neighbor as thyself, all these two commandments hang on to all the prophets. So, yeah, that is used habitually by so many different people that we talk to, of course,

as we are true holiness believers and we believe what the Bible really says. They use that to say, “Yep, there’s no laws that we have to follow as long as we’re loving.” And of course they put that in quotes too. Loving to them is basically passing out cookies and

having pizza party at a church building or going to help the neighbor put up the Christmas lights, right? That’s what they say is loving. Without ever talking about the saving grace

of Jesus, which is obedience and repentance and holiness, right? So this, sadly, is used in such great error by so many people. And I almost hear it. You could almost count it down when you start talking to somebody that even knows the Bible a little bit, that they’ll refer to this. And of course we can go back to all the holiness verses and that. So I

just wanted to make a comment on that. I’m sure you’ve seen that to yourself, Brother Aaron, right? Absolutely. And just the bottom line is that when people start to, when people start to talk like that, they just need, they need to know that you cannot, it sends all

the law and the prophet saying upon those commandments that if they’re not obeying the

specific commandments, they should not deceive themselves that they will have God and that

they love their neighbor as themselves because all those commandments, because every commandment

of God’s word is an expression of fulfilling those two great commandments. So if they’re willfully disobeying anything in God’s word that God commands them, they need to repent of not loving God with all their heart, soul, strength in mind and not loving their neighbor as themselves because they’re not doing that if they’re neglecting the specific council.

Amen. Now I just wanted to go one more thing here too. I like when you talked about Albert Bond’s comment that says, “If he has loved a right, then our affections will be directed toward all created objects in a right manner.” I don’t want to get off on a tangent here.

Now this is something the Lord has really pressed on me in the last six months here, about how would a preach. Okay, I just want to get your thoughts on this. So I’ve been

studying this as you know extensively, brother Aaron, and you know, you went to Psalm 23, and it says, “Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.” And that directly led to a Proverbs 67 which says, “When a man ways, please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Amen. So going back to talking about loving our neighbors as ourselves, this pertains to truly loving people to pull them out of

the fire. We know that most people are in the fire, right? They’re lost. Some have no

clue who Jesus is, like I didn’t. I grew up right in a… I was born into a non-practicing Catholic family my whole life. I never knew Jesus, you know? So I was clueless, you know?

And so I guess what I’m trying to get to is here is that I think that the very powerful verse Proverbs 67 says, “When a man’s way…” You know, I look at this like, “I love you, it was yourself,” because what it’s saying here, it makes even his enemies be at peace

with him. Well, we should always try to live peaceably with all men. Amen. We should never try to create strife. We would want to treat others how we would want to be treated. That doesn’t mean we’re wimpy. That doesn’t mean we put our tail between our legs and don’t do anything. But when we do go out there, which should be often, as far as I’m concerned, that we do go… We’re at the store, we’re at the gas station. We want to be bold, right?

But we want to do it in a way that we don’t create on purpose strife and stuff like that.

So am I on the right track there when it says, “Love thy neighbors thyself”? We want to get them out of their sin, but we want to do it in a way that’s biblical. Amen?

Absolutely. And not to give them any reason to write out our message because of something in our character, something that we should be… They should have no just ground to blame us and they should have no just ground to say, “If I become a Christian, I’ll end up

like him.” And I think I’m… And I probably would be better off just staying the way I

am than to end up like him. We should give them no reason to ever think such a thing. Yeah. Hebrews 12, 14, “Follow peace with all men and holiness, which no man shall see the Lord.” There’s a great teaching that I won’t mention tonight, but I will be advertising

at some point soon that was just absolutely fantastic. And it talks about pleasing everyone. Now, not in a way that obviously creates sin. We don’t want to please sinners in a sense that we want to comfort them in their sin, but certainly there is a way that is right,

in righteous to preach and to witness, even tell our testimony. There’s a right and a wrong

way to tell our testimony, and that’s something we certainly need to learn how to do. I’m sorry

for talking too much, everybody. Anybody else have any questions or comments? I know we have Brother William that has joined us, Brother Aaron. So that’s a big blessing that Brother William is on. We also have Brother Chuck. So say hello, guys, and I’ll be quiet and

put my mute button on. And Brother, are you still with us in India, Brother Wilson?

Yes, Brother, I am here. Oh, how are you, Brother? Why don’t you go first, then, and any comments

or questions you have? No, Brother. It is good. Glad to hear again. Amen. Amen. Want to give us a quick update? Yeah, regarding ministry? Yes, sir. Yeah. Last week we went to the village ministry. There are around 46 pastors came. They’re all the same. They have different backgrounds. So two things I shared with them. One is truth. Obey the truth. So if you didn’t obey the truth, you will be lost, even though you are the pastor, evangelist, bishop, or whatever it may be. So finally, after talking to them, around

half of them, they’re all re-contented their life to God, and also they’re all willing

to obey the Bible, true gospel, holiness, and also they want to live for God. Wow, that’s

so encouraging, Brother. Yeah, then that second session I thought about Matthew 28, 19, about

making disciples. Church is not your income generating program. Church is not a business company. Church is not for you. Church is for the people. So out of 46, around 39 people

showed their hand that they want to do discipleship making church. So first lesson, they want

to obey the Bible according to truth, not to sin again, not to quarrel again, not to

say bad things about other brothers. Then second one, they want to make disciples. So then we went to the one village church, a village where the local pastor is running

the small church in a small tribal village. Actually, it’s all the pastors, tribal pastors, people groups, gypsies. So I went there, we went there, we did a small prayer meeting.

One of the fathers lost his son, second son, eight months back, still he’s crying. I encourage him to go to the chapter four. So he’s happy. So God did, so many people came and heard the gospel and also they’re all happy. So he gave some encouraging words to the family.

So after 22 hours, he came to home. That’s so encouraging, Brother. It’s amazing to hear these stories. I was studying this today too. Actually, Brother Aaron, I was actually reading your book, one of the chapters to my wife about what a New Testament church is really about. I encourage you, Brother Wilson, I know you have a copy of that book. It’s actually one of the appendix, I think. I think it’s the first appendix, right? Brother Aaron, I

don’t have it right on me, but it’s on the table. Anyway, I’m on my headset. I can’t

leave my computer here, but anyway, it’s about the New Testament church. What does it look

like? And one of them was Brother Wilson is that the pastor, the leaders of the church, actually take reproval from others. Even if it’s members of the church that say, “Hey, you know, pastor, I think you don’t see this right. Can we look at the scripture and see if you’re going wrong?” And in this case, it was you saying to these pastors, “Hey, look,

we got to make sure we’re preaching holiness. Make sure they’re repenting correctly. We can’t have people in sin sitting in our churches. I mean, you know, continually in willful sin. We got to preach the way Jesus preached it. That’s so encouraging, Brother, that you are preaching that to them and they’re coming to the truth. You know, you’re talking about pastors, right? That are switching their ways of thinking and then going to make disciples based on that. That is so encouraging. Thank you for sharing that with us, Brother. Yeah, yeah, Brother, Brother, from that group, two pastors, one pastor is from other town. And also one of the other women, pastor’s wife, also came to that conference. She told his wife to that, his husband to, “We need to invite this Wilson again and we need to share

this truth to them.” Amen. Amen. It is two more and also Friday, tomorrow. This is Thursday for me. So Friday morning. So, tonight, early morning, I’m going to travel tomorrow night,

I think, to 15th night. I’m traveling again to other town. There’s supposed to be 100 evangelists, pastors, different categories, different churches, different denominations. So, I’m going to share them the same subject so that they will come to the knowledge of truth gospel. Amen. Amen, Brother. So, please pray about it. We will all be praying for that. That’s such a great report. And, you know, all these teachings, they really edify

me and I’m sure they edify you, Brother Wilson. So, thank you for sharing that. Yes, yes. Brother,

Jack or Brother William, want to say some words? Yeah, I was just on mute, Brother Jimmy.

No problem. How are you doing, Brother? Oh, just fine. Who was the guy that was just speaking?

That was Brother Wilson, Sarah Pealy. And if you guys can just give me a second, I’m

going to just take this off because I’m going to be running out of space to store this teaching,

because I’ve got to take some off here. So, thank you everybody for listening and God bless you all. We’ll continue next week.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 23 Week 21

Good evening everybody and welcome to the Global Mission for Children Tuesday night Bible study here in the US Wednesday morning overseas. I’m just so happy this evening to have brother William Wario from Muy Ali Kenya on with us tonight. We also have I think I see brother Joseph Oteano from Nairobi on with us too. I see another Kenyan number. We also have brother Hilton that’s joining us here from Bangladesh and we have some of course.

US brethren. We love you all equally, but I just wanted to mention our mission partners because that’s what we really originally started this Bible study for us all for all those mission partners and other brethren that are going to be listening on to the recording.

We welcome you as we go through the Bible. We’re going through one of the best books of the Bible in my opinion because it’s the most complete book. I believe in the New Testament. It’s the book of Matthew. So we’re on week twenty.

Week twenty one, believe it or not, and we are going to be going on chapter twenty three. So everybody pull off their Bibles, go to chapter twenty three of Matthew and we’re going to turn this over to our teacher brother Aaron Carrey and as always brother Aaron, thank you so much for taking your time to edify us.

Thank you, I was just thinking as you were making the introduction there just how the distance if you were to draw a line from everybody on this call from Kenya, Bangladesh to every different person in America. I bet it would be tens of thousands of miles that line. It’s amazing to me.

We are going to be dealing with a very, very important chapter tonight. I’m more deeply impressed with every week we do the study. Just how important every single chapter of the Bible is and just how there’s a really, there’s just really, really critical lessons that God wants us to understand in every single, every single chapter of the Bible.

And there’s really nothing that we can just overlook and say, well, that’s not that important. And I think everybody would acknowledge that in principle, but in just in reality that’s just more something to really comprehend in a deeper way.

And I’m thankful for what this study is just teaching me that in a deeper way. I needed that. We’re going to deal with the important question tonight of what is a Pharisee because this chapter is Jesus on reviewing the Pharisees.

And the scribes and the Pharisees, the scribes were like the Jewish doctors of the law that were held in high reputation among the people. And the Pharisees were very closely associated with many of them.

And they had a reputation for holiness among the Israelites at the time. This is in a way the climax of Jesus’s public teaching.

This would be his last, as far as I can tell from the Gospels, this would be Jesus’s last sermon preached publicly before the people. He’s got a lot to say yet just before his disciples.

What we’re going to read in chapters 24 and 25 deal with that. And even after that, there’s what he would tell them in the Garden of Gethsemane, what he would tell them in the upper room at the Passover feast.

But in terms of public teaching, this would be Jesus’s last sermon, I believe. And the last time he would be in the temple.

And we’re going to see how appropriate his last words in this chapter are considering that this would be his last time in the temple.

This is the same dialogue if you go back to chapter 21 verse 23 and you see the conversation that started there. This is the very same scene.

And really at the end of chapter 23, Jesus is going to leave the temple. And then chapters 24 and 25 are what he’s going to tell his disciples privately right after they had left the temple.

So basically 21-23 through 25-46 are all going to be things to happen probably within just a couple hours of each other. Let’s see if I have anything else here.

So with that said, then we will start reading the chapter. And there’s just so many important lessons here, but we will begin.

So Matthew chapter 23, starting in verse 1, “Then speak Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples, saying, ‘Describes on the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.

All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do ye not after their works? For they say and do not.

For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.'”

These rebukes that Jesus is going to give in this chapter, he’s going to be rebuking the scribes and the Pharisees, but notice he’s speaking to his disciples and the people at the beginning.

These rebukes were necessary for the protection of his disciples and the people because they considered the scribes and the Pharisees to be spiritual leaders.

Remember that back in chapter 15 verse 14 when Jesus told his disciples about the Pharisees, he said, “Let them alone, they be blind leaders of the blind.”

Let me make sure. He said in Luke 6.39 that, “If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into a ditch.”

And that’s why these rebukes were so necessary to give in front of his disciples and the rest of the people.

He said back in 15 verse 14, “Let them alone, they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”

And we had some conversation about what that meant to leave them alone. But one thing it definitely means is don’t follow their example.

And so the public nature of this rebuke was important for the other people who would have considered them to be spiritual leaders.

Adam Clark says on verse 2, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. They sit there formally by divine appointment.

They sit there now by divine permission. What our Lord says here refers to their expounding scriptures.

For it was the custom of the Jewish doctors to sit where they expounded the law and the prophets.

And the law and the prophets we know are the Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament, and to stand up when they read them.

By the seat of Moses we are to understand authority to teach the law.

Moses was the great teacher of the Jewish people. And the scribes here are here represented as his successors.

And so Adam Clark says on verse 3, “All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that, observe and do. But do you not after their works?”

He says, “That is, all those things which they read out of the law and the prophets, and all things which they teach consistently with them.

This must be her Lord’s meaning. He could not have desired them to do everything without restriction, which the Jewish doctors taught,

because he himself warns his disciples against their false teachings, and testifies that they had made the word of God of none effect by their traditions.”

See Matthew 15.6. “Besides, as our Lord speaks here in the past tense, whatsoever they have commanded, he may refer to the teaching of a former period,

when they taught the way of God in truth, or were much less corrupted than they were now.”

Note in verse 3 here, many people consider a Pharisee to be somebody who calls other people to obey the word of God.

But that’s not what a Pharisee was, according to Jesus, in the negative sense.

He didn’t rebuke the Pharisees for doing what the Bible said to do, and he didn’t rebuke them for telling others to do what the Bible said to do.

He himself was going to tell his disciples, and we’re going to see in Chapter 28, to teach all nations whatever he has to observe whatsoever he had commanded them.

So that’s not a Pharisee. The Pharisee, what he was rebuking here about the Pharisees’ related description was that they were not doing the right things that they were telling others to do.

And in addition, they were putting other burdens upon people, like we read about in verse 4.

Adam Clark says on verse 4, “They are now so corrupted, they have added to the ceremonies of the law, others of their own invention,

which are not only burdensome and oppressive, but have neither reason, expediency nor revelation to countenance them.”

Meaning that there’s not a reason from the Word of God to make these added ceremonies profitable.

In a word like “all their successors and spirits of the present,” they were severe to others, but very indulgent to themselves.

And Albert Barnes said on verse 3, “That is, all they teach that is consistent with the law of Moses,

all the commands of Moses which they read to you improperly explain.”

The Word all cannot be taken without such a restriction. For Christ himself accuses them of teaching many things contrary to that law,

and of making it void by their traditions, Matthew 15, 1-6. They say and do not the interpretation which they give to the laws and the main correct,

but their lives do not correspond with their teaching.

It is not the duty of people to imitate their teachers unless their lives are pure.

They are to obey the law of God and not to frame their lives by the example of evil people.

So continuing on, verses 5 and 6, Jesus is now going into the evil example, the Pharisees, which they are not to follow.

Verse 5, “But all their works they do for the best seen of men, they may prod their phylactries,

and enlarge the borders of their garments, and the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats, and the synagogues,

and greetings in the markets, and they be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.”

By verse 5, when it talks about making bread, the phylactery was some type of Jewish prayer.

It was some symbol they used to relay the prayer. I did not write down anything on it.

But basically, they made these things extra big on themselves to try to show that they were more spiritual and more holy by this outward symbol.

And they enlarged the borders of their garments.

The enlarging the border of the garment was something that God had commanded.

He had commanded that blue ribbons be worn on the borders of the Jews’ garments in Numbers 1538-40 and Deuteronomy 2212.

But the Pharisees made theirs wider than others to show that, to try to say, to try to show people that they had a special respect for the honor of God’s law.

So basically, they were seeking to make themselves look extra spiritual and extra holy on the sight of men for what Jesus is rebuking them for in verse 8.

So, verse 6, they loved the uppermost rooms at feast and chief seats in the synagogues. They loved places of distinction at public events, especially religious events.

Contrast this with the attitude that a disciple, the attitude of true holiness, that Jesus talks about in Luke chapter 14.

Verse 7, “And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms.

The very thing that he is rebuking the Pharisees for here, saying unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room.

Lest a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him.

And him come and say that ye give this man place, and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.

And thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room, that when he that invited thee come, you may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher.

Then thou shalt have worship, or thou shalt have honor,” he means in this sense, “in the presence of them which sit at me, for whosoever exalted himself shall be a beast, and he that humbled himself shall be exalted.”

He’s not saying it’s right if you’re invited to have the chief seat. He’s not saying it’s right to take it.

But by sitting down in the lowest place, one, you’re protecting yourself from shame in case somebody more honorable than you comes.

But you’re also saying that, you know, I don’t need to look exalted in the soil of men. I can take the low place, and I’m comfortable with that.

And that’s not a big deal to me if I should end up staying here and not being called to come up higher.

And that’s just a proper attitude of true separation to God and true holiness, true humility.

On verse 7, about the greetings in the market, Selma Brown says, “Markets were places where multitudes of people were assembled together.

They were pleased with special attention in public places and desired that all should show them particular respect.

Greeting salutations is another word for that.

He says, “See Luke 10.4, to be called Rabbi, Rabbi.” This word literally signifies great.

It was a title given to eminent teachers of the law among the Jews, a title of honor and dignity, denoting authority and ability to teach.

They were gratified with such titles and wished it given to themselves as denoting superiority.

Every time it was given to them, it implied their superiority to the persons who used it. And they were found therefore of hearing it often applied to them.

There were three titles in use among the Jews, Rabbi and Rabbi, denoting different degrees of learning and ability as literary degrees do among us.

There was something about them that coveted titles of distinctions.

And so Jesus is warning here that, and in the following verses, that we shouldn’t seek a title that would imply a higher distinction than other Christians and other ministers of the Gospel.

It’s obviously not saying that there’s not a place to recognize somebody as an elder or a teacher, but it’s something that, as we’re going to see in verses 11 and 12, there’s a key condition to that.

And that was something that the Jewish doctors and the Pharisees had missed, and we’re going to get to that in verses 11 and 12.

So Jesus says in verse 8, continue what he had said, and he had rebuked them for in verses 5 to 7.

But be not ye called, Rabbi, for one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren; and call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your father, which is in heaven; neither be ye called masters, for one is your master, even Christ.

But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant, and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

So, Elbert Barnes says on verse 9, call no man your father. This does not, of course, forbid us to apply the term to our real father. Religion requires all proper honor to be shown to him.

That is your real father on earth. But the word father also denotes authority, imminence, superiority, a right to command, and acclaim to a particular respect.

In this sense it is used here. In this sense it belongs imminently to God, and it is not right to give it to people. Christian brethren are equal. Only God has supreme authority.

He only has a right to give laws, to declare doctrines that shall bind the conscience to punish disobedience.

The Jewish doctors affected that title because they seem to have supposed that a teacher formed a man.

They seem to have supposed that a teacher formed a man or gave him real life, and sought therefore to be called father.

Christ taught them that the source of all life and truth was God, and they ought not to seek or receive a title which properly belongs only to God.

Let’s see what else I have here. A key thing to when Jesus in verse 8 says, “But be ye not called rabbi, for one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.”

In contrast to that, the right attitude is seen in Isaiah 54.13. God is talking about his promises to Jerusalem when he restores it.

He says, “And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children.”

God is ultimately the one who declares what is true. Even somebody in his church who has the ability to teach has to learn of him.

They are not an authority in and of themselves. It is that type of attitude that somebody would be an authority in and of themselves.

And of thinking of a man higher than Yahrabeetah that Jesus is getting to here.

As he also talked about in verse 10, neither be ye called masters. All the word God says here, “That is leaders guides, for this is the literal meaning of the word.”

It refers to those who go before others who claim therefore the right to teach, the right to direct and control others.

This was also a title conferred on Jewish doctors. Neither of these commands forbids us to give proper titles of civil office to men or to render them the honor belonging to their station.

And he quotes Matthew 22-21, Romans 13-7 and 1 Peter 2-17. They prohibit the disciples of Jesus from seeking or receiving mere empty titles,

producing distinctions among themselves, implying authority to control the opinions and conduct of others,

and claiming that others should acknowledge them to be superior to them.

This obviously isn’t forbidding church leaders to use church discipline and to govern their church after the word of God.

But it has to be done in humility. And that’s what we get to in verses 11-12.

And that’s what the Jewish leaders had missed. “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant, and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”

It’s one thing to seek a position of greatness and to seek to exalt yourself to be thought of as greater than others.

It’s quite another thing to support your life for Christ and lead his people under his direction. And that is different.

And what I have this note here, which I think is a good way to look at it.

The Pharisees and Jewish doctors’ view of leadership and greatness made them above the common man and made it improper that they should have limited dealings with common people, like celebrities.

They basically were thought of like celebrities.

Jesus’ view of leadership and greatness puts leaders below the common man, at least in many ways, and indebted to servile without distinction or class.

There’s a real emptying of yourself and it comes in true leadership.

And when there’s a man who’s really pouring out his life for the Gospel and is seeking to have the church covered after the Word of God and has wisdom to that, certainly they need to be submitted to.

And that’s how we can reconcile what the rest of the Bible teaches about elders and the need to submit to them and the qualifications for elders that we see in 1 Timothy 3.

And some people, and just as a commoner, that leaders will either not listen to what Jesus is saying here in like verses 5-12, or that people will eliminate leadership altogether and they have to ignore chapters like 1 Timothy 3.

And we don’t want to do either one of those. So continue.

Verse 13.

So Jesus is going to further continue rebuking the ears of the scribes and Pharisees. “But won’t you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites, for ye shall not the kingdom of heaven

against men, for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.”

I’ll read verse 14 also.

“Won’t ye scribes and Pharisees hypocrites, for ye devour widows’ houses and for pretense, make one prayer; therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.”

Albert Barnes says on verses 13 and 14, “You are guilty and punishment will come upon you by his phrase, ‘Woe unto you.'”

Jesus proceeds to state wherein they were guilty.

This most eloquent, most appalling, the most terrible of all discourses ever delivered to morals was pronounced in the temple in the presence of multitudes.

Never was there a more faithful dealing, more terrible reproof, more profound knowledge of the workings of hypocrisy, or more skill in detecting the concealment of sin.

This was the last of the Savior’s public discourses, and it is the most impressive summary of all that he had ever said, or that he had to stay of a wicked and hypocritical generation.

He shut up the kingdom of heaven.

They shut it up by teaching false doctrines respecting the Messiah, by binding the people to an observance of their traditions, by opposing Jesus and attempting to convince the people that he was an imposter, thus preventing many from becoming his followers.

Many were ready to embrace him as a Messiah and were about entering into the kingdom of heaven.

That is, the church, but they prevented it.

Luke says that they had taken away the key of knowledge in Luke 11.52, and thus prevented their entering in.

That is, they had taken away the right interpretation of the ancient prophecies respecting the Messiah, and thus had they done all they could to prevent the people from receiving Jesus as their Redeemer.

And they certainly thought of trying interpretation of God’s law, which we’re going to get to later in the chapter also.

Verse 14, “The Bower of Widows’ Houses” — I’m not sure if this is Adam Clark or Albert Barnes — “The word ‘houses’ is used here to denote property or possessions of any kind.

You take away or give possession of the property of widows by improper arts and pretenses. This was done in two ways.

One, they claimed the very exact knowledge of the law and a perfect experiment of it.

They pretended to extraordinary justice toward the poor friendship to the distressed and willingness to aid those who were in invariably circumstances.

They thus induced widows and poor people to commit the management of their property to them as guardians and executors, and then took advantage of them and defrauded them.

They put on the appearance of great sanctity and induced many conscientious but credulous or gullible women to give them much under pretense of devoting it to religious purposes.

Their prayers are said to have often been three hours in length.

One rule among them, says Dr. Lightfoot, was to meditate an hour, then pray an hour, and then meditate another hour, all of which was included in their lying prayers or devotions.

When Jesus says that he shall receive greater damnation, he is certainly speaking of a greater degree of punishment.

God certainly, among those who are ultimately judged in this life and those who are condemned to hell at the judgment,

not all people are going to be seen, not all the damned are going to be equally guilty.

There’s going to be greater degrees of punishment for some than others, and definitely hypocrites who pretend to be holy and use that pretense as a means of self-hene are going to be a chief class of people that are going to get some of those higher degrees of punishment.

Albert Barnes, our partner Adam Clark also says about for a pretense of prayer, “They for appearance or show they prayed lying in order that they might better defraud poor people.

They would not be condemned for making lying prayers, but because they did it with an evil design.

Public prayer should, however, be short and always to the point.

A man praying in a Sunday school should pray for the school and usually not for anything else.”

So he’s just basically saying that public prayers in themselves are not condemned, but we shouldn’t pray in public to try to impress people,

and therefore that’s a good reason why when we do pray in public that we should keep it short and to the point as possible.

So there’s a lot here.

So okay, continuing on. This next one is very, very, obviously it’s all important, but this next one I got some things to say about.

So Jesus continues, verse 15, “Won’t you scribes and prayers, these hypocrites, for he encompassed he and land to make one proselyt,

and when he is made he make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”

Being an evangelist, we can learn from verse 15 that being an evangelist and preaching, even at great sacrifice,

great cost to yourself, is not necessarily a good thing.

The Pharisees were content to win somebody if they could get a convert from among the Gentiles,

and he was one to their sect, to follow them and to be part of their group. They were content with that.

They were not content that this person was actually living righteously before God.

I mean, they were content if the person was not living righteously before God, as long as he was part of their group.

And that’s what was especially grievous about this.

Jimmy and I have been talking about, there’s many street preachers here in America that are all over YouTube.

They’re making a pretty big name for themselves.

And one of the things that they use to justify themselves is look at how much we’re laboring, and how much, you know, look at the opposition we’re receiving.

And that’s the type of thing that the Pharisees would have used to justify themselves when people were questioning their evangelism techniques.

But the proof of whether somebody is really a successful evangelist is one in looking at their own character.

And is there testimony in their methods? Is that aligning with the word of God?

I mean, that’s the number one test. Because even if you were to never have a single convert from your preaching,

if you’re striving according to the word of God, and you’re doing things like his word says,

yeah, I mean, if there’s not any converts, you might weep before God and say, “God, is there a reason?”

But still, throughout the Bible, look at the prophet Jeremiah.

He did not have, as far as we know in all his preaching in the book of Jeremiah, he had maybe at most one person who repented through his preaching.

And then, look at Noah, there were only seven people who went through the ark with him. Big does not necessarily mean good.

And many of these three preachers who claim to be mighty servants of God, the people, their younger followers who are following their steps,

these preachers are using bad language, and they’re unnecessarily offending people.

Their homes are out of order, and many of their young converts are acting more aggressive, more rude,

more sensational than themselves. In a way, it’s very similar.

They’re very much truthful more the children of hell than the people who are mentoring them.

Having a lot of people in a church, in a group, is not a good thing if those people are not showing fruit of true repentance

and true disciples who are really broken or humble,

who are willing to be corrected by the Word of God, who are really advancing in godliness.

And so people who have big churches and try to use their sacrifice they’ve made to build their church

and to do evangelism are following in the Pharisees’ footsteps when the people in their church are living insane.

They’re often worse than they were before because before they didn’t reconcile their sinful life with a profession of godliness,

with a profession of holiness, with a profession of knowing Christ. And yet now they’re in church and they know the right language.

They say Jesus is their Lord and Savior, but they’re still living in sin, and they’re all the more deceived.

And they often are more bold to sin.

In both Adam Clark and Albert Burns’ commentary I found that they both said things about how the Jewish–

Oh, I actually had the comment here.

The Jewish writers themselves say that the Prostylites were scabs of Israel and hidden in the coming of the Messiah by their great wickedness.

The Pharisees gained them either to swallow their own numbers or to make gain by extorting their money under various pretenses.

And when they had accomplished that, listen to this, they took no pains to instruct them or to restrain them.

So basically they’re part of my church, I’m getting their money.

But now they didn’t take any efforts to instruct them or to restrain them.

These people that were their converts, they had renounced their previous superstition, which they had before somewhat restraining them.

But the Pharisees had given them no religion in its place to restrain them, and they were consequently left to the full indulgence of their voices.

They’re in their sober appearance. So continuing on verse 16.

“Woe unto ye blind guides which say, ‘Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the goal of the temple, he is a debtor.

He who is blind for whether is greater the gold, or the temple that sanctifyeth the gold; and whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing;

but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

He who is blind for whether is greater the gift, or the altar that sanctifyeth the gift.

Whosoever shall swear by the altar, swears by it, and by all things thereon; and whosoever shall swear by the temple, swears by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.

And he that shall swear by heaven swears by the throne of God, and him that sit it thereon.'”

Basically, these rebukes to the Pharisees show their covetousness and how earthly-minded they were.

They valued the gold of the temple, whether it was part of the temple or the gold offered to the temple, or maybe both.

They valued that more than the temple itself, where God’s presence, the welter, was supposed to have dwelt.

And they valued the altar more, I’m sorry, they valued the bird or the beast that was sacrificed on the altar of the temple more than they valued the altar itself.

And therefore, if somebody among the Pharisees were to speak of out, were to swear an oath to say, “I swear by the temple,”

they reasoned that they had a right to break that oath because they said that the temple itself isn’t of great value.

But they made it so that if you swore by the gold, you had to perform your oath. And the altar and the gifts upon it would correspond to that.

So this goes back to what Jesus talked about in chapter 5, as he was also rebuking the false righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.

They were making oaths that they had a loophole and that they were finding ways to retract. And they’re saying that they swore by the temple or by the altar or by heaven.

They were trying to say that the oath wasn’t binding because it wasn’t directly related to God.

And Jesus is here telling them that the temple is where God is. God’s laws are supposed to blow.

The altar is what in the temple is what makes any gift upon it actually valuable. Swearing by heaven is actually swearing by God’s throne and by God.

So he’s saying you don’t have any… there’s no loopholes for your oath. Every oath you make is binding to God and when you break it, you’re guilty.

And by making the goal of the temple more than the temple and the gift on the altar more than the altar,

they were showing their covetousness and their rhyme priorities. Let’s see here.

So continuing on. However, Barn says on verse 22,

“The essential thing in an oath is calling God to witness our sincerity.

If a real oath is taken, therefore God is appealed to. If not, it is foolish and wicked to swear by anything else.”

So continuing on verse 23 here.

“Woe unto scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise, and come and have omitted the weightier matters of the lot, judgment, mercy, and faith.

These are not you to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” Adam Clark on verse 23, “You pay tithe of mint, etc. etc.”

They were remarkably scrupulous in performing of all the rites and ceremonies of religion, but totally neglected the soul, spirit, and practice of godliness, judgment.

He is defying judgment in verse 23.

“Acting according to justice and equity towards all mankind, mercy to the distressed and miserable.”

You remember in Luke chapter 10 that when Jesus gave the parable of the Good Samaritan,

the man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he was robbed and beaten and left injured and naked on the road.

Jesus talked about the priests and the Levite who walked by him and didn’t do anything.

Then the Samaritan came and bandaged him up and took him to an inn and took care of him and told the innkeeper to take care of him

and that whatever he spent more he would give to him when he came again. This is what Jesus is talking about when he talks about mercy.

He is saying the priests and the Levite and the parable of the Good Samaritan, they thought that they were going to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice

or to keep whatever feasts there. They put the ceremonial aspect of the law above the moral aspect of the law.

They should have said we will do the ceremony in Jerusalem later, but we need to attend to this poor man here, but they didn’t.

It was that type of attitude that was prevalent among them, and that has a lot to do with what Jesus was rebuking them for.

So Adam Clark continues.

“They neglected faith in God as the fountain of all righteousness, mercy, and truth.

The scribes and Pharisees neither began nor ended their works in God, nor had they any respect under his name in doing them.

They wanted them to be seen among them, and they had to reward him and applause. These ought you to have done.

Our Lord did not object to their paying tithe, even though they could comment about it.” So it’s important to note it’s not that tithing even was wrong.

It’s that there were other things that they neglected, which were even bigger. This tithing did not affect the spirit of religion.

But while they did this and such, like to the utter neglect of justice, mercy, and faith, they showed that they had no religion and knew nothing of its nature.

It’s important in preaching righteousness to preach on the essence of faith, which is that God’s way is really what is best,

and that doing things God’s way ultimately is what is not only right towards God and towards others, but also for ourselves.

I’m just going to show some examples of this from Scripture, which I’ve put to right now.

Just to get them, because people need to know that God is rewarded with them to diligently seek Him.

And if we’re not convinced of that and convinced that really doing God’s way is best, it’s going to be easy to faint when things get really difficult.

And God has many promises that are given so that we can have confidence in doing His will, even when it is really hard.

I’m just going to give some examples. 2 Chronicles 16-9.

“For the eyes of the Lord are on two and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.”

Psalm 40 verses 7-10. This is actually a prophecy about the Messiah.

“Then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book it has written on me. I delight to do thy will, O my God, ye thy was within my heart.

I have preached righteousness in the great congregation. Lo, I have not reframed in my lips, so lo, thou knowest.

I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart.”

So notice in preaching God’s righteousness, He says, “I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation.

I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great congregation.” So many examples. Isaiah 40, 25-31.

These are things that people need to know, especially people who are in distress. It is right to comfort somebody in the sense that if you do look at Him, He is going to be faithful to you.

You are not going to regret it in the end. Isaiah 40, 25-31. And also He will help you and give you the strength you need as you obey Him.

Isaiah 40, 25-31. “To whom then will you like in me, or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One?

Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number.

He calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power, not one fae with God.”

God sustains the stars in the sky and even knows every single star.

And there’s literally trillions of trillions of stars in the sky, which we know now that the writers of the Bible probably didn’t know.

But notice how He continues in verse 27 then.

“Y saith thou, O Jacob, and speakest of Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God.”

“Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard?

That the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth fainted not, neither is weary.

There is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increases strength.

Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young man shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.”

I’ll just give one more. It’s an important point to emphasize. Hebrews 10.23.

The writer of Hebrews is writing to Christians who are fainting, and he says, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful, they promised.”

And were to exercise faith in Christ and hold fast that faith because God is faithful.

And the Pharisees, the scribes and Pharisees did not emphasize that because they had not, at least the ones Jesus was rebuking here,

really had not abandoned themselves to God with a true living, obedient faith themselves.

So Jesus continues in verse 24, “You blind guides which string at a net and swallow a camel,

willing to use scribes and Pharisees’ hypocrites, for you may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

Thou blind Pharisees cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also,

while unto you scribes and Pharisees’ hypocrites, for ye are like unto the way it supplicurs, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness.

Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity or lawlessness, while unto you scribes and Pharisees’ hypocrites.”

Well, I’ll stop there in verse 28. Let’s see here. On verse 24, Elbert Barnes says, “You drifts take great pains to avoid offense in very small matters,

superstitiously observing the smallest points of the law, like a man carefully straining out the animal particles from what he drinks.

You are at no pains to avoid great sin, hypocrisy, deceit, oppression, and lust, like a man who would swallow a camel.

The Arabians have a similar proverb. He eats an elephant and is suffocated with a gnat. He is troubled with little things, but pays no attention to great matters.

Now, Jesus did not say it was rhyme to pay attention to little matters. The gnats and camels were both animals that would be considered unclean by the law of God,

the Jewish dietary laws. And Jesus isn’t saying that you guys were rhyme to strain at the gnat.

It would be right if the gnat is unclean and you see a gnat in your drink, it would be right to strain the water from it and eliminate the gnat.

But the problem is they swallowed camels, and Luke Adam Clark said, or Albert Barnes said, that there were sins like hypocrisy, deceit, oppression, and lust that they did without a strain of conscience, and that made them hypocrites.

So it’s important to note that just being scrupulous in little things is not what Jesus is rebuking.

It’s the fact that they didn’t observe bigger things while they observed little things that just made their sin worse, that made them fully hypocrites.

Same with verses 25 and 26, similar principle. Adam Clark says on verse 25, “You may clean the outside.

The Pharisees were exceedingly exact in observing all the washings and purifications prescribed by the law, but paid no attention to that inward purity which was typified by them.

A man may appear clean without, who is unclean within, but outward purity will not avail on the sight of God, where inward holiness is wanting.”

But noted by verse 26, Jesus told them the quenched verse, which was within the cup of prayer, that the outside of them may be clean also.

The Gnostics thought that if you…the false heresity of the Gnostics, which came up in the early church, thought that everything was inward.

And they said that you could have a clean heart while living on clean in your body.

So they totally missed what Jesus was saying here, that if we cleanse what is within, that the outside, it should be that the outside will come clean also.

It still is important to be clean on the outside, but it has to start with…it has to start with replenence of sins in the heart and having a broken and contrite spirit toward God in the heart.

And looking right outwardly without that just makes a person a white sepulcher.

The white sepulcher is the Jews would…as we get into verses 27 and 28 here, the Jews would paint the sepulcher as a grave,

and the Jews would make their sepulcher as white because it was considered unclean by the law of God to touch a grave.

And so they would make their graves white so that people would not accidentally touch them.

And Mark says on verse 28, in that the scribes and Pharisees were like white sepulchers.

“Even so ye also are pure righteous, ye outwardly, ye also outwardly are pure righteous on the men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”

Adam Clark says on verse 28, “But what will this appearance avail of men when God sits in judgment upon his soul?

Will the fear of reputation which he had acquired among men, will his heart was the seed of unrighteousness screening from the stroke of that justice,

which impartially sends all impurity and unholyness into the pit of destruction?

No, in the sin that he has sinned and in which he had died, and according to that he shall be judged and punished.

And his profession of holiness only tends to sneak him deeper into the lake which burns with unquenchable failure.

Readers, see that thy heart be right with God.”

So continuing on, verse 29, “Won’t you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the graves of the righteous,

and say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which kill the prophets, fill ye up on the measure of your fathers.”

Adam Clark says on verses 30 and 31, “They imagine themselves much better than their ancestors, but our Lord who knew what they would do,

uncovers their hearts and controls them that they are about to be more abundantly vile than all who had ever preceded them.”

Because they obviously were about to have Jesus killed.

He acknowledged that ye are the children of, in verse 31, he says,

he acknowledged that ye are the children of those murderers, and ye are about to give full proof that ye are degenerated.

There are many who think that had they lived in, so this is important,

there are many who think now, if they had lived in the time of our Lord, that they would not have acted towards him as the Jews did.

But we can scarcely believe that they who reject his gospel, trample under foot his precepts, due despite to the spirit of his grace, love, sin, and hate as followers,

would have acted otherwise to him than the murdering Jews had they lived in the same times.

Basically, they were saying that if they had lived in the time of the Old Testament prophets, that they would not have treated them so badly.

But they proved by their rejection of Christ and by their rejection of his messengers afterwards,

that they would have indeed killed the prophets in Old Testament times.

And Adam Clark is applying to now that there are people who think that they would not have killed Christ and not have hated the apostles had they lived back in the first century.

But the fact that they reject his gospel and love, sin, and oppose God’s spirit and God’s word right now proves that they’re guilty of the same,

that they would indeed have opposed Christ and the apostles had they lived in the first century.

In verse 31, when Jesus says, “Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets,”

he’s not saying that Albert Barnes says here, “The emphasis here lies in the words, ‘To yourselves.’ It is an appeal to their conscience.

It was not by their building the tombs that they were witnesses that they were the children of those who killed the prophets,

but that in spite of all this pretense of piety or holiness, under all this whole profession,

they knew in their consciences and were witnesses to themselves that it was meritocracy and that they really approved the conduct of those who flew the prophets or killed the prophets.

They resembled those who killed the prophets. They approved their conduct in hearing their feelings.

They not only showed that they were descended from them, but that they possessed their spirit, and that in similar circumstances, they would have done as they did.

Adam Clark says on verse 32, “Till ye have done the measure of your fathers, notwithstanding the profession you make, ye will fill up the measure of your fathers,

will continue to walk in their way, accomplish the fullness of every evil purpose by murdering thee.

And then when the measure of your inequities full of engines shall come upon you to the othermost, as it did on your rebellious ancestors.”

So it’s interesting then that people who are the people who persecuted Christ basically continued in the sins and completed the sins of those who had opposed the Old Testament prophets.

But there’s another way to look at this, and that is that those who obey the Word of God, those who labor in the Gospel also complete the work that was begun by Jesus and the apostles.

And that’s what Paul was talking about in Colossians chapter 1, verse 24. It’s a controversial passage, but it’s good at this point to look at it, because it can be understood in this light.

Paul’s talking to the Colossian Christians, and he says in verse 21, “And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath ye reconciled in the body of his flesh through death,

to present you holy and unblameable and unapproval in his sight, if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and not moved away from the hope of the Gospel, which ye have heard,

and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven. Where have I, Paul, made a minister, who now rejoiced in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his value sake, which is the church.”

That’s the same concept, the only opposite in that it’s for righteousness and not for wickedness.

“Where have I made a minister according to the dispensation which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to the saints,

to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, wherein to I also labor.”

Striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

Those who seek to obey Christ and minister in his gospel fill up the work of Christ and the apostles of God getting a redeemed, separated people of faithful subjects for himself.

The book of Acts is in a sense, there’s a sense in which it’s called and that it can’t be added to in terms of adding to the scripture, but there’s a sense in which the mission of Acts, the mission of the apostles is continuing to this day.

And that those who believe in Christ and faithfully minister his word, preach his gospel, minister to other Christians are on the same team and completing the same mission that Jesus and the apostles started.

And that’s part of what the high calling of God in Christ Jesus is, and that’s something that is extraordinary to think about and something to really be excited about.

So Jesus continues in verse 33, “Ye serpents, generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”

I’m going to say more on this, but just to continue the thought verse 33, “Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes, and of them ye shall kill and crucify, and of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city, that upon you may come all the righteous bloodshed upon the earth, from the board of righteous Abel, and to the board of Zecharias, the son of Barakaius, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

And surely I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation.”

In verse 33, Jesus is possibly, when he says, “Ye serpents ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”

It’s possible he is alluding to the young viper who sometimes eats his way out of its mother’s womb, thus killing the one who basically gave it life.

And that’s what they were about to do in crucifying Christ, was kill their very matrix, their one who ultimately is the source of their life.

Many use verse 33 to justify dealing with people in a very harsh way, to justify being arrogant and just overall rude towards sinners.

And they scream at them about hell and they say they’re following Jesus. But it’s important to note the timing of what Jesus said here.

This is his final sermon that he’s preaching in the temple.

These were what we talked about at the beginning, the people that Israel was looking to for spiritual guidance.

It was important and they were deceiving the people.

And by their hypocrisy and their opposition of him, they were doing great harm. And they had to be reviewed publicly.

They had to be shown for what they were because of how they were misleading everybody else.

And because of how they were so deceived themselves, they had to be strongly reviewed like that.

Jesus was not going out in front of the temple every single day with a banner that said, you know, “Scribes and Pharisees, how can you escape the damnation of hell?”

He wasn’t just screaming at them every day. He was in Jerusalem. He wasn’t saying this to the common people even.

Now, obviously, there was a lot of things he rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for to become everybody has to heed.

And that’s why he gave it publicly.

There’s obviously a warning to everybody about hell in this.

But Albert Burns saw the serious critical timing of this and how the scribes and Pharisees really needed such a public review.

And how being hard on everybody, on the average person at all times like Jesus was hard on that beer, he said that that was not appropriate.

And he said that when we preach about how we address characters and not persons, he’s just basically saying that it’s important to preach about the sins that God will send people to hell for.

And yes, it’s important for those in your fellowship to remove them from communion and tell them that they’re candidates for divine judgment when they persist in sin and won’t repent.

But to use this to generally be super hard on people and to say we’re following Jesus, we really do got to be careful about that.

Let’s see, I have a note on this also.

Yeah, it’s not saying that there’s never a time to show terribly review someone like this, but a godly man would never do so without much caution, fear, trembling, etc.

It’s not it’s not something to be done lately.

And it’s something that we need wisdom and Godly discernment about and to just set somebody and a lot of people are already angry and just looking to take their anger out on somebody.

They find this in the Bible and they become fear sees themselves by using a passage like this to to vent their anger and to be rude towards people.

So that’s definitely a need for Godly discernment.

In verse 34, Stephen and James would be examples of this, people that were killed in Jerusalem in the book of Acts shortly after this, just further proving the hardness of the Jewish leaders and the appropriateness of their condemnation.

And we know that in Acts chapter eight, they would persecute the early church and most of the early church would have to flee Jerusalem because of their persecution.

In verse 35, when he says that upon you make come all the righteous bloodshed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel into the blood of Zacharias, the son of Berakaius, probably a reference to Zacharias, the son of Jehovah, Jehovah, Adah in 2 Chronicles 24, 20 to 22.

But the bottom line is that the fact that these men who claim that they were, that they would not have persecuted the prophets are going to prove that they would have, by the way, been persecuted.

And the bottom line is that the fact that these men who claim that they would not have persecuted the prophets are going to prove that they would have, by their shortly after having Christ crucified and by persecuting the apostles and the early church, as we read about, as we’re going to read about later in this book and in the book of Acts.

So God is basically going to, God is basically, when he says in verse 36, all these things shall come upon this generation.

God’s basically going to hold them guilty, not for things they didn’t do in the past, but the fact that they were of the same spirit of the people who persecuted the Old Testament prophets and actually went even further and that they had greater light when Jesus was among them.

And yet they persecuted him anyways.

They had the best revelation of God, the best chance to repent and be saved. And yet, so those who rejected him were going to ultimately get the judgment that the ultimate judgment on the Jewish people, which was going to be when the Romans came and destroyed their nation.

I should say the ultimate judgment in this life on the Jewish people, which we talked about would be 40 years later when the Romans came and destroyed the nation.

And everybody but the Christians who had fled Jerusalem would either be killed or sold into slavery, and the Jewish people would be scattered throughout the earth until literally very recently.

So that’s what Jesus is going to lament about, the necessity of their judgment in the final three verses, so we’ll finish the chapter.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathered with her chickens under her wings, and ye would not certainly have rebuked the Calvinism here.”

Calvinism would teach that God only wills to save a certain amount of men, but Jesus is saying that he wanted together the city as a whole, and as a whole it would not.

And so the fault is in them, not in God for not choosing them. “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate, for I have sent you, you shall not see me henceforth, so you shall see, blessed to see the cometh in the name of the Lord.”

The days of their special mercy and of the Jews being God’s special people, and I would refer people back to the pyramidal in 21, 33 to 46, something you could read on your own just to clarify that.

The days where the Jews would be God’s special people under his special covenant with his special blessings and revelation would now be over.

They were still given 40 years after this that those who would repine and receive the Messiah could have a chance to be saved from the judgment that was going to come on their nation in 8070, have a chance to get right with God in these ideal circumstances that the Jews were given.

Jesus would, when he said, “Your house is left unto you desolate,” it was agreed among the Jews at the time as far as I can tell that God’s glory that was originally dwelt in the temple when it was constructed by Moses and at Solomon’s time had already departed.

But God’s glory had come to the temple in a better way by Jesus himself coming to the temple, and that was prophesied about in Haggai chapter 2 and Melachi chapter 3 as we’ve looked about.

We talked about how that’s one of the key proofs about the Messiah, is that he would come to the temple, meaning that after the temple was destroyed, it was impossible that the Messiah could come.

So the Messiah had to have come by 8070 between the time a guy and Melachi were written in 8070, and Jesus had indeed come to the temple, and now he is about to leave the temple.

We’re going to see that in 24/1, and he is not going to come back.

So when he says in verse 39, “For I say unto you, you shall not see me henceforth, till you shall say, blessed is he the cometh in the name of the Lord,” it’s somewhat controversial what he meant there.

But there’s a principle, I’m not going to look at it, but anybody who wants to study more could read Jeremiah 6.1-7.16.

That’s a warning to Jerusalem that God was going to abandon its judgment before the Babylonian captivity.

It shows that God’s principles of judgment never change, and this is especially true of those who abuse the great privileges that God had given to the Jewish people.

Many those who have the true Gospel and true Christians and true churches in their lives to really shine the light of Christ are in a similar position, especially those who are raising godly homes.

It certainly is true that the Jews as a whole are not going to…

I think verse 39 is primarily a reference to the fact that just at the time of God’s special mercies towards the Jewish people were coming to an end.

So I want to end reading in Romans 11.

It’s important to understand the role of the Jew in terms of the Gospel, because the Gospel is to be preached to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.

God used the rejection of the Gospel by the Jewish people as an opportunity to reach the Gentiles.

You read about that throughout the book of Acts.

How Paul would go into the synagogues and preach Christ, and when they would throw him out of there, the Gentiles would hear about what was happening, and they would listen.

And Paul would start a church composed of the Jews who had believed the Gospel out of the synagogue combined with the Gentiles who had believed the Gospel out of the city that the synagogue was in.

And so it would be a very, very interesting mix of people in the early Christian churches in Gentile cities, and there were Jewish synagogues scattered throughout those cities.

And as we read the book of Acts, we…

And the apostols, you read about many of the conflicts that would come up there related to that.

But certainly we can say that a Jew has to receive their Messiah to be restored to the special privilege, being among the special privilege of God’s people, just simply being Jewish and being of the natural seat of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, doesn’t save anybody.

And there certainly is true that God is going to have dealings with the Jews at the end times to bring them, to bring the nation as a whole to repentance.

And I believe if you were to read like the book of Zechariah, chapters like 12 through 14, there’s prophecies about how God is going to deal with the Jewish people at the end times, and how he’s going to prepare them to at least the ones that survive,

at least some of the ones that ultimately survive in the tribulation they’ll face, that they will say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord when he does return.”

But that’s not going to go there now, but Zechariah, chapters 12 through 14 are…

That’s a long return by 6.1 to 7.16, are good passages of the study related to this.

So I’m just going to end reading from Romans 11. I’m going to start in chapter 11, verse 11. “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall, talking about the unbelieving Jews?

God forbid, but rather through their fall salvation has come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them the Jews to jealousy.

Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness?

For I speak to you Gentiles, and as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify my office.

If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.

For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, the casting away of them is what Jesus is talking about in verses 37 to 39.

For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but like from the dead?

For if the first root be holy, the lump is also holy. And if the root be holy, so are the branches.

And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou being a wild olive tree, were grafting among them, and with them partakest of the root and fattness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches, but if thou boast thou bearest not the root but the root thee.

True believers are graft into Israel’s Messiah, and God’s covenant with Israel, and God’s the new covenant made with the house of Israel, and the unbelieving Jews have been broken off.

Thou wilt say then, in verse 19, the branches were broken off, that I might be graft in. Well, because of unbelief, they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear. For if God’s Spirit not the natural branches, take heed, lest he also not spare thee.

This is a key proof against unconditional eternal security. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God, and them which fell severity, but toward thee goodness, if thou continuing his goodness.

Otherwise thou also shall be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still, and unbelief shall be graft in. For God is able to graft them in again.

For if thou were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were graft contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graft into their own olive tree?

For I would not brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness and progress happen to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.

And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, “There shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.”

So all Israel shall be saved is not saying that everyone in Israel is ultimately going to be saved, but it is saying that when an Israel repents and receives their Messiah, they’ll be saved.

And that when Gentile believers, without their profession, shine the light of Christ to the world and to the Jews in a powerful way, that it’s going to provoke them to repent and to receive their Messiah.

So Paul continues in verse 28, “As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes; but as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father’s sake.”

Meaning that God’s chosen the seed of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob to be a source of blessing to the world through their Messiah.

And God still has a heart to bring Jews to repentance and bring them into fulfilling their true calling.

For the gift and calling of God are without repentance.

And obviously this isn’t saying that talking about an unconditional salvation, but saying that God’s heart towards the Jewish people, that they would receive the Messiah and be saved has not changed.

For as in verse 30, “For as ye in times fast have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief.” Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

All the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out.

For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor, or who hath first given to him, and shall be recompensed unto him again.

For of him and through him and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Beautiful brother, beautiful. Yeah, Romans 11, so all Israel shall be saved. We could almost rephrase that as, and so all believers shall be saved. Amen.

Amen.

Also, just quickly guys, and then we’ll open up to questions as we’re getting closer to preparing the study on how to preach according to the Bible.

You know, there’s a lot of, I guess you’d call them, bold words used here in this chapter, isn’t there? Generation of vipers, right?

Being one of them. And, you know, the people that we need to rebuke, harshly are those that are professing the name of Jesus and doing evil.

You know, I just did an exposé, I sent it to your brother, I sent it to all the brothers that are on here.

Also, brother Aaron, I emailed you just a little while ago today, and I was asked to do by the Kenyan brother an exposé on Kenyan pastors, false Kenyan pastors, and I want to get this on the record here.

So I did a very extensive study, it was hours long, you know, exposé, gathering information from the internet.

And it’s absolutely mind-boggling how powerful money is to the human. It really is.

And I say that because there are pastors in Kenya that make even the likes of T.D. Jakes and Joe Olstein and Creflo Dollar, well, they look like cousins, I should say.

I won’t say they make them look like rookies, but they certainly make them look like very close cousins.

And these people are fleecing poor people out of every dime they have, promising them riches, promising them just all different kind of things.

And it’s just so disconcerting, so disheartening, so grievous to see these people.

So if there were anybody to rebuke harshly, it would be false preachers and wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Would you agree with that, Brother Aaron? Definitely.

Yeah, I mean, one of them just got a 50 million, I’m just looking here, I think it was $50 million private jet.

This guy is, yeah, Bishop Allen, he calls himself a bishop, Allen Kuna, shows off his new private jet he got for his 50th birthday.

And we’re talking tens and tens and tens of millions, and he has the gall to say thank you very much, wonderful people.

This is it, it’s our season, blessings.

And it says, come see what the Lord has done, what a mighty God we serve.

And it’s this huge $50 million jet, as the average person in Kenya makes under $100 a month.

And I think I did 25 of these type of people.

So when we go through these Bible verses, there sure is a good time for harsh rebutance. This sure is a good time that we’re really to stand up to these wolves and to rebuke them.

And there’s a time, of course, that we’re supposed to use our judgment, be wise as serpents and gentle as doves, when we’re talking about the sinners in public.

But would that be the dividing line, brother? We have kind of two categories of people.

We obviously have the false teachers and stuff.

We know they need to be, you know, the scribes and Pharisees.

And then we have people that profess to know Jesus and that use his name, trample his blood by living in sin.

I think we can kind of almost put them on steps, right? You know, I think of a passage in 1 Timothy 5.

I mean, what I was writing to Timothy is, and Timothy is either like an apostle or the head elder of a church or something along those lines.

And he says in verse chapter 5, 19, “Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses, then the sin rebuke before all that others also may fear.”

When it comes to the average member of the church, somebody who’s not an elder, it’s probably not wise to rebuke them before everybody.

Right.

I mean, in the case of Ananias and Sephora, God did that himself by striking them dead.

But unless God himself exposes them publicly, I don’t see any scripture that would say that they should be dealt with in anything besides in private.

But when it comes to elders, they’re to be rebuked before all that others also make fear.

And I just believe it’s mainly because other people need to know that they’re considering leaders who are living in sin, that that’s not acceptable.

And so rebuking false prophets and false teachers in public and rebuking when it comes to an apostle or the head elder, rebuking other elders from sin before all.

That’s necessary for the protection of the rest of, especially of God’s people and for those who are maybe false believers who are deceived by the false prophets and not consciously knowingly deceivers themselves.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Any questions on this chapter from Brother Chuck or Brother William? All right. Well, let me just stop the recording here and then we can chat.

I see you just joined us a while ago there, Brother Chuck. Actually, not a little while ago, 80 minutes.

Thank you everybody for listening to the Bible study this evening. Wonderful teaching here on chapter 23 of Matthew.

So everybody that has listened live, thank you very much. Everybody listen on the recording.

We also thank you. And again, join us next week as we continue through the book of Matthew. Thank you.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 24 Week 22

We’re going through Matthew chapter 24 here. There are accounts of the same event, the discourse on the Mount of Olives, also recorded in March chapter 13 in Luke chapter 21.

Matthew chapter 24 verses 1-3, “And Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple.

And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things. Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another.

That shall not be thrown down. And as he said upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world.

The disciples seemed to understand Christ’s second coming as marking the end of the world. That is the end of the age, Aion, or Eion in the Greek.

They also seemed to believe that that would also be the time when the temple was destroyed.

We know now that the temple was destroyed in AD 70. Yet Christ did not return in person then to rule and reign over the earth at that point.

There is a lot of debate over whether the things said in this chapter apply to AD 70 or to Christ’s second coming.

The fact that these events are distinguished, yet Jesus answered the question without distinctly explaining which things apply to which time, makes it clear that there are great parallels between the two events.

We should generally note the parallels between the two events, yet use common sense to distinguish the things which obviously apply to one event, but not the other event.

The apostles obviously came to understand this and do that themselves.

The clarification that we need to explain the necessary things which are still uncertain from the gospel accounts can be found in the apostolic epistles in the rest of the New Testament.

And of course, and especially in the book of Revelation, which was given through the apostle John.

Verses 4 and 5, “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ, and shall deceive many.”

I’ve heard people say things like, “Don’t be deceived and wake up.” Yet they don’t elaborate.

1 Corinthians 14, 8, “For of the trumpet given uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle.” In this case, all we have to do is keep reading through this discourse to know what Jesus is talking about.

He is talking about deception in relation to things along the lines of committing lawlessness, being lukewarm towards God’s righteous commandments, being unfaithful in God’s worship and service, etc.

Things along these lines will shuttle a person out of his kingdom and send them to the everlasting floor of hell.

Verses 9 to 13 and verses 45 to 51 of this chapter prove this. Matthew chapter 25 does as well.

Chapter 25 is a continuation of the same discourse.

The apostles obviously weren’t speaking in different terms in their other writings.

Remember that they wrote or were involved in the writing of the Gospels. Study 1 Timothy chapter 6 for an especially appropriate cross-reference to Jesus’s admonition in these verses.

We’ll also read from that in a moment anyways.

Jesus will warn about false Christ later on in this chapter. That is indeed a concern. It has been especially so among the Jews.

Consider though with verses 4 and 5 hear that Jesus is speaking in the first person to his disciples.

“Take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in my name.”

Jesus is speaking in the first person saying, “I am Christ and shall deceive many.”

Think about it. Are we in greater danger of being deceived by people claiming that they are Jesus or that they are the Christ or by people who say with their mouth that Jesus is the Christ?

Obviously the latter. Has that been any different regarding Christianity from the beginning? Of course not.

Jesus is evidently warning here that the most dangerous deception will come in his name from those who say that he, that is Jesus of Nazareth, is the Messiah.

The reason I put together the recent compilations on dispensational theology, Calvinistic Reformed theology, Pentecostal, Charismatic/Word of Faith theology,

and why we rebuke Judaizing Roman Catholicism and emotionalism and ritualism in general is to combat the most prevalent deceptions which have spread in his name.

The denominations, the megachurches, the mass marketed stuff on Christian radio, supposedly Christian radio and television, the prosperity gospel.

These are key fortresses in Satan’s employer, a false Christianity which he has built and labeled to the world as standard or normal Christianity.

And this is done mostly through people trained at his well-funded Bible colleges and seminaries, which he has infiltrated with at least one brand of his many poisonous corruptions of Christianity.

When people find fault with Jesus in Christianity and say, “Well, look at all the different denominations,” and all the arguing among professing Christians, and all the confusion in Christ’s name,

that tells me, and you can fill in the blank with whatever charge they’re making against Christ in Christianity.

Yet these adverse circumstances and this overall confusion is exactly what Jesus warned would happen.

This is exactly why he and his apostles warned that the world would become so spiritually perilous.

So how do we know what and who we should accept that comes in his name?

Those who don’t come in his name, those who obviously represent another God or another Messiah are obviously false.

The Book of Mormon openly calls itself another Testament of Jesus Christ right on its cover.

When you analyze its doctrine and the life of Joseph Smith, its fraudulence is really, really obvious.

That shouldn’t be very hard to spot as a counterfeit.

Yet obviously, the real Jesus Christ faithful servants come in his name too. How do we discern them from the false ones?

Just like Jesus discerned Satan’s schemes when he was tempted in the wilderness.

You go back to the Bible, you test everything by the Bible, you hold those who teach accountable to the Bible.

Yes, they all, at least the ones who aren’t necessarily rather easy to spot, will quote from the Bible.

Yet they fail and prove themselves to not be genuine when exposed to wise counters of “it is also written” from the Bible.

Remember that some know more than others.

One person might be 99.9% right, yet their resistance to the other 1/10th of 1% proves them a fraud.

Another may not know as much, yet they are striving from the heart to be totally faithful to every word of God.

That is what matters most.

I know of a guy who can teach the Bible better and more accurately than just about anyone, and he probably would have said amen to everything set up to this point.

Yet there are a few clear biblical points which he is utterly resistant to.

I remember meeting another guy who didn’t speak so well and probably knew a lot less.

Yet when he was confronted with one apparently accidental misquote which he gave from the Bible,

or he was trying to quote the Bible and he misquoted it, he was really grieved over that, and he was kicking himself from messing up.

He really seemed like he’d go back and correct himself before his previous audience, if possible.

Isaiah 66, verses 1 and 2, “Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.

Where is the house that ye build unto me, and where is the place of my rest?

For all those hath mine hand made, and all those things have been saith the Lord.

But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and tremble at that my word.”

Isaiah 8, 20, “To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”

1 John 4, verses 1-3, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try or test the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Hereby know ye the spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth.” And this is homo legeo in the Greek text, same word.

It is speaking of an agreement of thought and purpose.

Coming in the line with God’s word is true acceptable worship with him.

Every spirit that confesseth, homo legeo, that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh of God. And every spirit that confesseth not, that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of antichrist, where have ye heard that it should come?

And even now already is it in the world.

1 Timothy 6, verses 3-6, “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ,

and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing,

but doting about questions and strays of words, where have cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmising,

perverse disputing of men of pure minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness.

And my comment, many have literally chosen preaching as their career and means of obtaining an income.

Those governed by such a decision will surely be at odds somehow with the requirements of God’s words, from such would draw thyself.”

2 Timothy 3, verses 13-17, “But evil men and seducers shall wax or become worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived,

but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.”

And we have the Apostle Paul’s character, insight into his character in the Bible and his doctrine and manner of life.

“And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness,

that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” Continuing in Matthew 24, verses 6-8, “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes and divers of various places.

All these are the beginning of sorrows. Some take such things as signs that the end is near.” Yet Jesus basically said not to take such things as signs that the end is near.

This also proves that the prophecy in Isaiah chapter 2, verse 4 about the Messiah’s kingdom has not been fulfilled yet.

Isaiah 2, 4, “And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people.

And they shall beat their swords and the plowshares, and their spears and the pruning hooks.

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

People use this verse to justify their belief in pacifism. Yet Jesus told his disciples to carry swords.

“Don’t misunderstand. We should live as faithful subjects of his kingdom.

We must indeed do so to inherit salvation.

Yet his kingdom has not come to the earth in its fullness. That is, he does not reign over the nations yet.

When he does, it will be his use of force from the top, which will bring peace.

To not use appropriate force in our jurisdiction in this dark age is actually rebellion against his kingdom, his kingly authority.

And it is a misrepresentation of his authority when this failure to put down evil by force happens in his name

and is falsely labeled as faithful Christianity or as kingdom Christianity, verses 9-13.

“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many.”

And because iniquity, a nomia in the Greek text, meaning literally lawlessness, A without nomia law,

“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold or become cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

Effective deception causes one to practice lawlessness.

This would include tolerating lawlessness where one has jurisdiction to put it down.

It also includes being called towards righteousness and towards the sufferings and needs of those being faithful to Christ

who are in adverse circumstances and adverse towards the suffering and needs of those who are destitute and in great need in general.

You can be sure that those who deny lordship salvation along with all who don’t faithfully lead those who listen to them

to shun sin and obey God’s Word faithfully are among the very deceivers that Jesus is warning about here.

Such are promoting the very deception which he is warning us not to get trapped in.

Such deception is most effective when promoted in his name, using select quotes from the Bible used out of context.

Verse 14, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.”

Note that Jesus said the gospel of the kingdom, or this gospel of the kingdom.

The dispensationalist concept that Paul preached a different gospel to the Gentiles than Jesus and the other apostles preached among the Jews is a bold-faced lie.

In relation to the comment just made on verses 9-13, you can be sure that those who preach a gospel which denies Jesus’ lordship

by not insisting people submit to his kingly authority is a false gospel and is a chief example of the very deception that Jesus is warning about here.

All of Christ’s true apostles, including Paul, preached Christ with the goal of making people subject to him and obedient to his commandments.

There is no salvation in Christ outside of this being so in authenticity.

Any gospel which teaches otherwise is surely false. Matthew 28, verses 18-20, “And Jesus came and spoke unto them, his apostles, saying, ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,

teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.'”

And that is what they all did. Acts 28, verses 30-31, “And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came unto him, preaching the kingdom of God,

which is the same as preaching the kingdom of heaven.” See Matthew chapter 19, verses 23-24, “And teaching those things which concerned the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.”

Paul also testified in Romans chapter 15, verses 18-19, “For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me,

to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about unto O’erican, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.”

Verse 14 is not necessarily saying that the gospel would have to come to every single tribe or people group on earth in order for the end to come.

It is speaking of God’s general plan that the gospel be preached to the nations outside of Israel before the end comes.

That thought alone would have contradicted the belief which many had then, that the end was imminent.

Verse 15, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place. Whoso readeth, let him understand.”

We can know by the following verses that this is speaking directly of what would happen when Jerusalem was invaded by the Romans and eventually destroyed.

Though not ruling out some general parallel at the very end of time, which could seemingly be cross-referenced with 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and Revelation chapters 11-13.

Any desecration of that which is appointed by God as holy can be the abomination of desolation in principle. There was such a desecration between the time the book of Daniel was written and the time of the gospel accounts.

The Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes put an idol in the holy place of the temple in the second century BC.

In the context of the then coming destruction of Jerusalem, the Roman army surrounding Jerusalem could be the abomination of desolation.

The Romans eventually did enter the temple and destroyed it.

This was God’s judgment upon the Jewish people for their rejection of their Messiah and their sins which led to that and His wrath is not turned away from them.

The heathen ways of the Jews made a judgment and a blatant defilement of the temple by the blatantly heathen, a very fitting judgment.

It was the very same with the destruction of the first temple by the Babylonians. See especially Ezekiel chapters 8 and 9 along these lines.

We of course also see here that you can’t receive what is in the New Testament without reading the Old Testament. And many professing Christians actually don’t read the Old Testament.

Many don’t even read the New Testament.

Verse 16-20, “Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes, and woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give succor that nurse in those days.

But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.” There was a mysterious withdrawal of the Romans from Jerusalem after they initially accomplished it.

This gave the Christians who heeded these words a chance to follow through and comply with this warning.

This is why the Jerusalem Christians were spared from destruction after the Romans returned, seized the city for good and eventually destroyed it.

The Romans also killed or enslaved Jerusalem’s remaining inhabitants.

After much starvation, disease and infighting among the Jews had already caused untold misery in the city and had caused many to die already.

The Christians were commanded to pray that the flight which they would inevitably need to make would not be in the winter or on the Sabbath day.

In the winter the cold would obviously make things much harder than they already were.

If the flight were on the Sabbath, they would then be risking arrest by the Jewish authorities for violating the Sabbath.

When understood in its context, these verses are by no means saying that Christians should be keeping the Sabbath now, like many claim that they teach.

Verses 21 and 22, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, known nor ever shall be.

And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect’s sake or the chosen’s sake, those days shall be shortened.” Shortened could also have been translated as abridged.

Two abridges to make a briefer modified version of something. That does not need to be a shortening at the very end.

It could come through making things briefer or modified at any point.

Though not ruling out some possible general parallels regarding the tribulation at the end of time,

I see no reason to conclude that the shortening referred to here isn’t a reference to the mysterious Roman withdrawal

after the Romans initially encompassed Jerusalem, which allowed the Christians to escape.

Verses 23 to 25, “Then if any man shall say unto you, ‘Lo, here is Christ,’ or ‘there, believe it not,’ for there shall arise false Christ.

And false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, in so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Behold, I have told you before, there were especially many false messiahs among the Jews in the first and second centuries,

and there have been false messiahs throughout history.

Contrary to what many teach, it is possible to deceive the very elect or chosen ones.

Hence the need which Jesus sought to give these warnings, and our need to take very careful considerate heed to them.”

See also my message, “The Five Points of Calvinism,” crushed in seven minutes.

Matthew 24, Verses 26 to 28, “Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, ‘Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth.’

Behold, he is in the secret chambers, believe it not.

For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west,

so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.

For wheresoever the carcasses, there will the eagles be gathered together.

Jesus will return again in person to condemn His enemies with the sword and deliver His faithful people.

He will not have a secret coming before that point.

He will not be walking around on the earth in disguise.

He did give a foretaste of His return when He judged Jerusalem in 8070. And perhaps He has at other times given a similar foretaste of His return. And perhaps He yet will. You never know.

Yet 8070 and other such times are not His second coming. He will dwell at God’s right hand until that point.

And then He will return visibly to immediately assume His rightful authority over all things.”

Hebrews 10, Verses 12 and 13, “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,

sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.”

This principle that Jesus will not return secretly also destroys the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine,

a doctrine which we will even see destroyed directly in the following verses in Matthew 24, Verses 29-31,

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,

and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken,

and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,

and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,

and He shall send His angels with the great sound of a trumpet,

and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

There will be no trumpet after the last trumpet. And 1 Corinthians 15 makes it clear that the faithful will be delivered at the last trumpet.

This demolishes the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine. We are now dealing with the very end of the age.

This goes back to what was said near the beginning of this study,

how we should generally note the parallels between the two events of the destruction of Jerusalem in 8070 and Christ’s Second Coming,

yet use common sense to distinguish the things which obviously apply to one event but not the other event.

Jesus is obviously dealing with His return at the end of the age now.

The account of this discourse in Luke 21 makes the transition between the 8070 judgment and His Second Coming a lot more apparent and evident.

We read in Luke’s account from Luke 21 verses 20 to 28,

“And when ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh or near.

Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let them which are in the midst of it depart out,

and let them that are in the countries enter their into.

For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled, but woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days.

For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.

And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations.

And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

My comment, in these times have not ended.

God’s worship ceased to be centered at Jerusalem in 8070, and it has not yet returned to be centered there.

It is rather in whatever Christian church is scattered throughout the world, that He counts faithful in regards as a lampstand for His name,

continuing, “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring,

men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth,

for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the cloud, with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads,

for your redemption draweth nigh or near.”

Verses 32-35 of Matthew 24, “Now learn a parable of the fig tree,

when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near.

So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.” The word generation here is genia in the Greek text.

Genia can mean age.

I see no good reason not to relate this back to the question which began this discourse in verse 3 of this chapter, which is related to the end of the age.

Jesus is speaking of the end of the world in the sense of the end of this period of time, which will lead to the next one, his millennial reign over the nations.

Acts chapter 3 verses 19-24, “Repent ye therefore and be converted,

that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

And he shall send Jesus’ grace, which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets.

Since the world began, from Moses truly said unto the fathers,

the prophets shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me. Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you,

and it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet,

shall be destroyed from among the people, yes, and all the prophets from Samuel,

and those that follow after as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.” Revelation 11-15, “And the seventh angel sounded,

and there were great voices in heaven, saying,

‘The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ,

and he shall reign forever and ever.'”

Revelation 16-17, “And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air,

and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, ‘It is done.'”

These all describe and pinpoint the day that will mark the change of the ages for mankind. Verse 36, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man,

know not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”

And yet many have tried to specifically predict such throughout history,

and right up until this time, they are clowns who can’t be trusted for anything. They usually don’t even admit their error afterwards,

nor confess that they were a clown in making their faulty prediction.

Verses 37-39, “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be,

for as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, mirroring and giving and marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away.

So shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.

Know that the rescue of the righteous and the destruction of the wicked happened on the very same twenty-four hour day.”

Jesus relates how it was with Noah and those on earth in Noah’s time, directly to the time of his second coming.

Again, along with verses 29-31, “Destroying the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Concept.” Note also that it was being obsessed with the cures of life,

which generally prevented the people in Noah’s day from repenting and serving God faithfully.

This warning would mean nothing if we did not need to turn from sin,

and follow Jesus faithfully as his disciple who keeps his word until the end. Those who are obsessed with the cures of life inevitably live in sin,

and will inevitably be surprised when Jesus comes back for judgment.

They are already deceived in the fact that they are obsessed with the cures of life,

and they are candidates to be further deceived yet.

Many, if not most, are all the Christians whom I have seen fall away from being wholehearted disciples of his.

They let themselves become obsessed with cures of life, and this was a key ingredient in their fall.

Luke records the following words from Jesus in wrapping up the account which he gave of this discourse.

Luke 21 verses 34-36, “And take heed to yourselves,

lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, that is excess, and drunkenness in cures of this life.

And so that they come upon you unawares, for as a snare, a trap, shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

Watch ye therefore and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things

that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Look at the theme of this discourse.

We can’t escape tribulation in this world, especially if we would be faithful to Christ.

We do need to escape the snare of sin because we need to overcome our flesh, the devil, and the devil’s world system of evil in order to be ready to stand before the Son of Man.

John 16-33, “These things I have spoken unto you, then in me ye might have peace,

and the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Acts 14 verses 21-22, “And when they have preached the gospel to that city and had taught many,

they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and Antioch,

confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”

Verses 40 and 41 of Matthew 24, “Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, and the other left.”

It is obviously possible for a righteous person and a wicked person to be doing the same job right next to each other.

Verses 42-44, “Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come, but know this, that if the good men of the house had known what watch, the thief would come.

He would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.” Watching is not referring to trying to discern when it will happen.

It is referring to walking before the true God and doing righteousness before Him at all times. We will never know for certain when He will come.

The only way to be ready and not be ashamed when He comes is to be utterly steadfast in doing what is pleasing in His eyes all the time.

1 John 2, verses 28 and 29, “And now little children abide in Him, that when He shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him that it is coming.

If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him.

Even if ye knew when He was coming, and ye were not living acceptably in His eyes by doing what is righteous in His eyes at all times, then ye would still be damned.

Lying for the day of the Lord is no proof that one is actually ready to meet Him.

People have always found ways to convince themselves that they are God’s friend whom He will rescue from both the misery of this world and from eternal damnation, though they live in sin.

Be warned that such a hope is vain, such a hope will be disappointing and end in damnation for those who so presume upon and twist God’s grace to give themselves a license to live ungodly and unrighteous.”

Amos chapter 5, verses 14 to 20, “Seek good and not evil that ye may live, and so the Lord the God of hosts shall be with you as ye have spoken.

Hate the evil and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate. It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

Therefore the Lord the God of hosts, the Lord saith us, ‘Whaling shall be in all streets, and they shall say in all the highways, alas, and they shall call the husband man to mourning.’

And such is our skillful lamentation to wailing, ‘And in all vineyards shall be wailing, for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord, woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord.

To what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness and not light, as if a man did flee from a lion and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall and a serpent bit him.

Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light, even very dark and no brightness in it.” Romans 1.18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.”

In its context, this verse is speaking of refusing to walk in the light of the truth of God’s Word.

A living faith in Christ rather submits to doing this. Look at the previous verses, Romans 1.16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, the Gentile.

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.”

Righteousness here would have been better translated as justification. Exercising an acceptable living faith in the true God by authentically abiding in Jesus Christ is utterly opposed to ungodly and unrighteous living.

Such living is rooted in holding the truth in unrighteousness. We can relate this point directly back to verses 9-13 of Matthew 24, as well as to the closing verses of Matthew 24.

This is what Jesus is warning us not to be deceived concerning. There will also be various elaborations of this point, and various angles which these elaborations analyze this point from in the three parables given in the continuation of this discourse in Matthew 25.

The chapter closes in verses 45-51, “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat or food in due season?

Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you that he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

But in if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite his foul servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken.

The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites.

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” This is the eternal flare of hell. It is not purgatory, nor some non-Catholic version of purgatory, which some dispensationalists, and perhaps certain others, say that it is.

The following passages not only illustrate the separation of the wicked and the righteous at the end of this age, but they especially and specifically also illustrate the separation of righteous professing Christians from wicked professing Christians at that time.

Just as we just read about in the closing verses of Matthew chapter 24, Matthew chapter 13 verses 40-43, “As therefore the tears are gathered and burned in the flesh, so shall it be in the end of this world.”

“The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and that which do iniquity.” Anomia, lawlessness, relate this back to verses 9-13 of Matthew chapter 24, continuing, “And shall cast them into a furnace of fire.

There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Son in the kingdom of their Father, who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Matthew chapter 13 verses 47-50.

“Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind, which when it was full they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire.

There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew chapter 25 verses 41-46. Note also that the two other parables in Matthew chapter 25 also end with a preview of this coming eternal separation.

“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was in hunger, and he gave me no meat or food. I was thirsty, and he gave me no drink.

I was a stranger, and he took me not in. Naked and ye called me not, sick and imprisoned, and ye visited me not.’ Then shall they also answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when saw we the Enchilid, or a thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?’

Then shall he answer them, saying, ‘Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment.

but the righteous into life eternal.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 25 Week 23

Good evening everybody and thank you for joining us for the Global Mission for Children Bible

Study.

I’d like to thank everybody that’s joining us here on a new time, Saturday evening at

8.30 Eastern time here in the US and Wednesday morning overseas.

So we thank you all for joining us and tonight we’re going to be continuing our study going through Matthew chapter, we’re on Matthew chapter 25 today which is a very powerful chapter and I’m sure brother Aaron will edify us greatly.

So we’ll let you take over there brother Aaron, God bless you. Thanks Jimmy.

Matthew 25 is definitely a very key chapter dealing with, really with the topic of what does it really mean to be obedient to God because I’ll talk about some errors related to that later but there’s just many people have very shallow definitions of that and very rhyme definitions of that and obviously we’ve got to go to the entire Word of God to define that really.

But Jesus is going to give three different parables here in Matthew 25 to talk about what it means to be ready for His coming.

As He gets into chapter 25, this is a continuation of the dialogue that Jesus was talking about.

This is a continuing of the illustration Jesus was giving at the end of chapter 24.

It’s important in reading the Bible to know that the original books didn’t have chapter breaks and so often times a chapter will end and another chapter will begin.

And there’s no break in the action you could say.

It will be the very same sermon or the very same scene continued.

And then there’s other times where it will be a new sermon or a new scene that starts right in the middle of a chapter.

And then sometimes chapter breaks reflect that accurately.

And it’s important when you start a new chapter, I’ve heard it recommended that you, when you

start a chapter, that you reread the final three, maybe final five, seven verses of the previous chapter so you don’t lose the thought.

And there are people who make errors regarding Matthew 24 and 25 as if Jesus is talking about

something totally different in chapter 25 than he was in chapter 24 and he’s not. Jesus is talking at the end of chapter 24 about, he talked about the days of Noah and how his coming will be as it was in those days.

And so I’m just going to start reading in verse 43 of chapter 24 and then we’ll go over to chapter 25.

“But know this, that if the good man of the house had known and would watch the thief would

come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be he also ready.

For in such an hour as he think not the Son of Man cometh, who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household to give them meat in due season.

Plus it is that servant when his Lord when he cometh shall find the so doing. Verily I say unto you that he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

But in it that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin the smite as fellow servant sent to eat and drink with the drunken.

The Lord of that servant shall come that day when he looketh not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of and shall call him a sunder and appoint him his portion with

the hypocrites.

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be laken on the ten virgins.

He’s illustrating in this parable and the following through what we just read at the end of chapter 24 there.

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be laken on the ten virgins which took their lives and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

Virgins here is talking about the purity of Christian doctrine and Christian character. These people were ten believers, ten servants of God who really had a lamp that was lit and really had a testimony for Christ.

But in five of their cases they did not find the grace of God to keep that fire burning in them.

And they were unprepared when Christ came back.

So verse 2, “And five of them were wise and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them.”

Now they did what we’re going to see, they did have oil at one point.

They did have a lamp that was burning at one point but they didn’t keep the oil to supply the light to sustain it.

But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

While the bridegroom carried they all slumbered and slept and at midnight there was a crymate,

“Behold the bridegroom coming, go ye out to meet them.”

Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps and the foolish said unto the wise, “Give us of your oil for our lamps are gone out.”

So they were lit at one point. They were gone out.

But the wise answered saying, “Not so, lest means prepare basically.”

So it gets given as a caution, “Not so, lest there not be enough for us and you.” But go ye rather to them that sell and die for yourselves.”

And while they went to die the bridegroom came and they that were ready went with him to the marriage and the door was shut.

And afterward came also the other virgins saying, “Lord, Lord, open to us.” But he answered and said, “Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

Push therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh.”

Now the following two parables Jesus gives are going to be illustrations of the same thing, what it means to be ready for his coming.

But there are different aspects. There are different points of view.

There are different areas in which we need to be ready.

And somebody who is truly ready will be ready in all three areas.

And if you are not ready in all three areas you are probably not really ready in even one of the areas.

But it is important to look at the whole picture.

We are dealing in the first parable with the inner life, the testimony of God’s grace, God’s Spirit which is often in the Bible likened to oil.

God’s Spirit burning brightly in somebody’s heart, somebody having a clean and pure heart.

In the second parable we are going to look at being useful to the Lord, being profitable to the Lord.

You cannot root that there are people who try to serve God and try to be useful to him without having his grace falling in their hearts.

And obviously they cannot really be profitable to him.

And then the third we are going to look at, well if God’s grace is in our hearts and we are profitable to him, that has to be expressed in serving his people and identifying with his people and their sufferings and being a help to the poor and to the needy.

Now obviously there are people who try to be a help to the poor and needy who aren’t doing it unto the Lord nor do they have God’s grace falling in their hearts.

So I mean if you go wrong in any of those three things you are going to be disqualified. And so these are all aspects of pure and undefiled religion before God, true faithfulness to Christ which we need to consider.

And it’s not like you have one or the other, it’s like you have to have all of them together.

And we should focus on all three but not so focused on one that we would neglect the others.

It’s possible for some of these, even the right things that they do to disqualify them

on the day of judgment because they weren’t thorough and they didn’t prepare in every area that God expected them to. In 1 Corinthians 9, just one illustration of this, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, 2 to 27, he says, “He is talking about his ministry as a gospel preacher, to the week became I his week that I am like ye in the week. I have made all things so

amended I might I’ll mean save some. And this I do for the gospel sake that I might be partakers

thereof with you. Though ye not that they which run in a race run all but one receiveth the price, so run that ye may obtain. And every man that strivers through the mastery

or the Olympic crown is tempered in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown but we in incorruptible. I therefore so run not as uncertainly so for yet I not as one

to beat at the ear but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. Less by any

means when I have preached to others I myself should be a castaway. This word castaway could

also be translated reprobate or it literally means it’s a documea. It literally means undocumented.

Paul is saying that if I if I preach the gospel to others and even save others in my ministry but I’m not I’m not disciplined in my own body in my own personal life. I I fear that

I’ll I’ll end up disqualified. I’ll end up God will say that you you don’t win the price

at the end that he he won’t be able to testify that he’s fought the fight. Paul say that in 2 Timothy 4 6 he said he said I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. He he feared that God would on if he wasn’t if he wasn’t disciplined

in his own person then whatever ministry he had would on would end up still being disqualified.

And so that that’s a lesson that we can learn from the parable the ten versions is that we’re we have to we have to know the grace of God and and and his spirit has to be on we read in Romans chapter 8 that if any men have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his and

the next 532 that the Holy Spirit is given to them that it will be it will be Christ.

There has to be there has to be an inner life that is on that is burning out impurity that is on that is fulfilling the righteousness of the law that we read about in Romans chapter 8 verse 4. There has to be a there has to be a pure testimony in us of the work of the

grace of God and and of and of a just a different verses that we talk about like people being on being filled with the Holy Spirit and and and that’s and it’s not just a one-time thing

where Christians are told in a few years chapter 5 to be not drunk with wine but what be filled

with the Holy Spirit. God’s grace has to it has to flow in us and not just have fallen in the past but to be operating powerfully to be maintained and we don’t maintain it

by we don’t maintain that in any way other than we would receive it to begin with through a yielded heart to the Lord that is that diligently is seeking him that is on that that is turned from the corruption of the world or second Corinthians 7 1 it says having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse ourselves from all the healthiness of the flesh and

spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God believing God’s promises in agreement in agreement

with his ultimate purpose of saving us from our sins and of and of bringing up appeal and

of making a special people that faithful citizens for his kingdom we read in God is out to refine

the purifier characters and those who and those who are careless those who are those who may be at one time were born again and had it and had a real light it really had

to the player of God burning in them and of course those who never had it to begin with.

If they if they don’t have that if they don’t if you don’t have the fire in you and and

maintain that by seeking God and by diligently putting away sin then then you’re not going to have that you’re not going to have that the oil that you need to have to have the

player of God in your heart which is like the vessel that we read about in this parable. So some other things that we can believers are told in Hebrews 12 1 and 2 seeing that we are accomplished about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every

weight and the sin that does so easily beset us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the

shame that set down at the right hand of God for consider him that endured such contradiction

of sinners against himself lest you be weird and faint in your minds.

The wise the wise versions here knowing that knowing that the Lord could come at any time

and knowing that if they were careless he could come unaware obeyed this continue to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily beset them and continue to look to

Jesus the author and finisher of faith and and they found he finished their faith he completed their faith by renewing his his grace and the fire of his spirit in their hearts well

the foolish the foolish didn’t do that. Fresh oil supports the life and weight of a lamp which would otherwise expire and in Romans 8 13 and 14 it says on it says for if you be if you live after the flesh you shall die written to Christians but if you through the

spirit do mortify the deeds of the body the deeds of the carnal nature you shall live for as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God and we will talk about Ephesians 5 to where it says be not drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit it has to be it’s the same thing as where Jesus told his disciples to in John

15 that as a branch cannot bring forth fruit of itself accepted abide in the vine no more can you accept you abide in me and he talked about if a man abide not in me he has cast forth as a branch and quite he was all he was connected at one time and then gather them into the fire and they are burned but so so so there’s on so John 15 1 to 6 is another is another reference here um I think we’ve looked at this before but it’s good to look

at again um since it’s so related to this parable in Acts chapter 11 um Barnabas had

just was visiting the new Christians and Antioch and so we see he went there in verse in next

11 22 and then it says in verse 23 who when he came and had seen the grace of God it’s interesting that the grace of God is visible as something else we learned from this passage

was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord um

that that was that’s what the wise virgins did here and it’s what the foolish virgins neglected to do because they had said in their heart like Jesus said at the end of chapter

24 that my Lord the lathe is coming and they thought themselves immune to um to judgment and thought themselves um at least they thought that they would have time to sober up and get right again later and obviously the lie of unconditional eternal security would definitely

embolden a person to do that and that’s why we want to we have to um we have to show people

that that’s a false doctrine the concept that once you get saved once you know the grace of God that you can never lose it it’s a very evil concept so later on in back x chapter

13 just the same same concept again just in different words Paul and Barnabas had just preached a gospel um in in another city called Antioch they they had started out in Antioch of Syria now they’re in Antioch and Turkey and so they had preached a gospel um in the

synagogue and it says in x 1343 now when the congregation was broken up many of the Jews

and religious proselytes or converts Gentiles who had converted to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas who speaking to them persuaded them to continue in the grace of God same

thing is same thing is um back in 1123 where Barnabas exhorted the new Christians that with

purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord um in foolish in this parable it could it could literally be translated he who sees not what is proper or necessary something

I found from either Adam Parker Albert Barnes um Albert Barnes says here the five foolish

versions probably expected that the bridegroom would come immediately they did they therefore

made no provision for any delay you know in other words after he didn’t come immediately they they didn’t make provision to go on the wise versions knew that the time of his coming was uncertain and they therefore furnished themselves with oil this was carrying vessels

to let it could be poured on the torches when it was necessary um what we can learn from verses five and six a bridegroom came later than expected all slumbered and slept not

not obviously not all in a bad sense because even the wise ones are said to have slumbered and slept all but all were weary all um all were all were exhausted but the wise the wise

kept pressing on and seeking the Lord and finding his grace at the weight of his testimony the weight of his grace was still flaming in their hearts another parable along these

lines that Jesus spoke in Luke exactly in this context to Luke 18 verses one through eight um and he’s spake up then he’s just been talking about his coming he’s he had given at the end of chapter 17 almost the same words he gave it at the end of Matthew

24 so Luke 18 is a very almost exact same context as Matthew 25 and he spake a parable unto them to this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint saying there was

in a city of charge what fear not got neither regarded man and there was a widow in that

city and she came unto him saying avenge me mine adversary or mine enemy and he would not

for a while but afterward he said within himself do I fear not gotten or regard man yet because

this will trouble me I will avenge her less by her continual coming she weary me and the Lord said here what the unjust charge sayeth and shall not got avenge his own elect which cried day and night unto him though he peer along with them I tell you that he will avenge them speedily nevertheless when the Son of Man come with shall he find faith on the earth

those who continue in the faith will be avenge probably not Jesus probably doesn’t mean speedily

we all thank them right away but when he comes back it’s going to be speedy like it said in chapter 24 that as the lightning he had said back in 24 in 24 27 for as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west social also the coming of the Son of Man be and that’s just that’s how it is not just with Christ coming but with many trials in the Christian life the Christian has to keep seeking God and not grow and not grow

faint and discouraged even though God doesn’t seem to be answering them but then but then

when God does avenge them it’s going to be it’s going to be quick it’s going to just be

like one day possibly all the sudden the answer you were seeking the hope that you had all the sudden arrives and but until that point you had to and you had to endure the hardship and keep seeking God even though you know it was like he was it was like there was a cloud over you and his mercies and the hope that you were hoping to obtain just aren’t necessarily apparent to you and and so so the the end of the parable is that the point

of the parable is that he he’s going to come back quickly at a time you don’t expect and

so it’s it’s an encouragement it’s an encouragement to those who are steadfast and those who those

who might seem like fools to to those who are on are living in are living in the pleasures

of sin those who are growing lukewarm and slothful and you know saying saying well what’s the

point of seeking God what’s look at what’s happening look at how long we’re having to

wait look at how hard this is we shouldn’t be surprised if we have to go through times

like that um before before he comes especially especially at the very end time um in verse eight um that could literally be translated that the lamps are going out um regarding

verse nine this is a good quote from Adam Clark the grace which every man receives is just enough to save his own soul I think of first Peter chapter four verses 17 to 19 that

talks about um for the time has come the judgment must begin at the house of God and if at first

begin at us which the envy of them that obey not the gospel of God and if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and sinner appear wherefore let them to suffer according to the will of God from the keeping of their souls to him and well-doing as unto a faithful creator so very appropriate um verses um see here Hebrew thinker Hebrews

9 27 with verse 10 it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment there

was once once either death or Christ coming happens there’s going to be no second chances

to get right with God um and and yeah and the door will be shut to those who don’t um who don’t enter the door of salvation and remain in it um well the opportunities there

um verses verses 11 verse 11 after we came also the other urgency and Lord would open to us it’s it’s important to understand that this is a parable it’s not like um it’s the

same truth that we see in chapter back in chapter seven that there’s going to be many

in that day who say Lord Lord did we not prophesy in thy name and in thy name cast out the devils

and in thy name perform many wondrous works and then I will profess unto them I never knew you depart from you that work iniquity or lawlessness um you know it’s there’s going to be there’s going to be um there’s going to be professing Christians who said the right words and did a lot of things that in themselves were right in Jesus’s name that will be cast away from because they’re workers of iniquity um the the coming afterwards after um after the wedding feast has begun that’s what Jesus is saying here is suited to the parable it’s not like it’s not like um it’s not like there’s going to be people at the wedding feast of

the limb in that are saved and there’s going to be you know people knocking on the doors of the new Jerusalem afterwards that won’t already have been judged the the the point

is that this is going to there’s going to be people on the day of judgment the day when grace comes back that um to think that they ought to enter and head and even had called Jesus Lord that are going to be expect are going to be especially expecting him to let them in that won’t be able to be let in um when Jesus says in verse 12 um really I tend

to I know you not um Albert Barnes says that knowing in scripture is often it often has

to do with approving loving and acknowledging his real friends and followers um so some scriptures

here would be Psalm 1 6 Matthew 7 23 and 2 Timothy 2 19 which I won’t get into for time’s

sake um so um so so then the ultimate end of the parable is seen in verse 13 watch therefore

you know for you know neither the day nor the hour we’re in the Son of man cometh so now in now in the next parable Jesus is going to he’s going to show another aspect of being ready for him if his grace is working in our hearts um and and our hearts are right with

him it has to it has to express itself in seeking the interest of Christ and of the gospel

um a lot of people there’s people who go out and preach and people who try to do wonderful

things in Jesus’s name who don’t keep their own heart right and obviously they’ll be disqualified

but there’s also people who want to think that their own hearts are right and that um

they think they’ve been born again maybe they have been born again and they think that if they just keep themselves in their own immediate person pure that that’s going to be enough but then and they don’t they don’t live for the Lord’s interest um they think that they

think they can live for having a good time as long as that’s a Christian good time and I think you guys understand what I mean by a Christian good time it’s not like they’re

going out and you know going to bars and getting drunk and getting and doing drugs and you

know committing adultery and going to nightclubs and dancing they’re just they’re doing they’re

doing things that in themselves are innocent but they’re you know they’re things that are not in are not rhyme for a Christian for a Christian to to do to some extent but um you

wonder how many have so much time to um just to pursue hobbies to pursue um different pleasures

even if those pleasures are not rhyme in and of themselves um and and people who live for those things it’s a subtle form of idolatry and and those who are not are not seeking the

advancement of the gospel seeking um to edify Christ people this is a parable that that would

rebuke those people especially those people who think that it’s okay because after all

my own life they say is pure and maybe compared to the world it is so Matthew 25 14 for the kingdom so Jesus continues on for the kingdom of heaven is a man traveling into a into a far country um who called his own servants and delivered unto them as goods um unto one he gave five talents and to another um and to another two and to another one to every

man according to a several ability and straight way took his journey then he that received the five talents one and traded with the same and made with them five other talents and likewise he did receive two he also gained other two but he had received one talent one and and digged in the earth and hid his lord’s money after a long time the lord of those servants the lord of those servants come up and reconnect with them and so he did receive five talents came and brought five other talents saying where thou deliver us unto me five talents behold I have gained beside them five talents um behold I have gained beside them uh five talents more his lord said unto him well done thou good and faithful servant thou has been faithful over a few things I will make thee rule over many things enter thou

into the joy of thy lord he also that he had um received two talents came and said lord thou deliver us unto me two talents behold I have gained two other talents beside them his lord said unto him well done um good and faithful servant thou has been faithful over a few things I will make thee rule over many things enter thou into the joy of thy lord then he which had received the one talent came and said what I knew thee that thou art

an hard man reaping where thou is not sown and gathering where thou is not strayed and I was and I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth whoa there has there thou

has there is dying his lord answered and said unto him thou wicked and lawful servant thou

knewest that I reap where I sow not and gather where I have not strayed thou oughtest therefore

to have put my money to the exchangers and at my coming I should have received mine own

with usury or interest take therefore the talent from him and give it unto him which hath ten talents front to everyone that has shall be given and he shall have abundance but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he had and cast ye the

unprofitable servant in the outer darkness there shall be weeping and nash of teeth um so I’ve actually heard this is this is this is sad but it’s kind of funny I’ve actually

heard a man I read an article there’s this guy who wrote a book called rich dad poor dad I’m just I don’t know if he professes to be a Christian or not but he he took this parable to try to say that God is that God is angry with poor people and happy with rich people and obviously if he had just read the next parable he would see that that’s not the case

and obviously Jesus isn’t talking here about actual money and this just an example of how a man can how people can so brutally brutally abuse the scriptures and my friend who sent me the article said oh he said Aaron um something is is wrong with this article but I can’t put my finger on it and it made me sadly um understand that he did not know the scriptures like I I thought he might have because it’s like you would hope a two-year-old could see what’s wrong with it but um I think it’s I think it’s important to say here that many

when they when they think of being profitable to the Lord they think of soul winning and that is not that is not totally wrong obviously but there’s a lot of um but the concept many have of soul winning is not really a scriptural concept anyway because usually they think of getting people to repeat the sinner’s prayer and and that if you can get people to repeat they have eternal security concepts that if if they say the prayer that they must really

be seen then they often would say they could never lose it anyways um I would think more along the lines of the great commission that Jesus is going to give it the end of Matthew um all power is given unto me in heaven and earth go ye therefore and teach all nations

baptizing them in the name of the father son and the holy spirit um teaching them to observe

on all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I’m with you only even unto you even

unto the end of the world um there’s a lot of we’ve talked about how God is ultimately out to um the gospel is the end of the gospel is God obtaining faithful citizens redeemed

redeemed people who are in line with his government and who are after his own heart and who um

are conformed to his image that genuine worshippers of people that people that will be faithful

citizens of heaven um and so there’s so much there’s so much in terms of Christ preparing his bride to that end that don’t that aren’t that isn’t directly related to evangelism even

I mean bad evangelism is unprofitable to the Lord anyways but even true evangelism is just one part of the equation um I know that um many people are and I think especially on

this call are in positions where God is used them mightily in that way and may yet be in positions to be used even more mightily but there’s a lot that is there’s a lot that can

be I think it was the last um the last study of the ageless conflict study we talked about

um the need to be our brother’s keeper afterwards somebody coming really coming to crisis just

the beginning of um of their race um that they need to complete faithfully and there’s that proverb and I think it’s in Proverbs 12 it says a slothful man roast if not that

which he took in hunting but the substance of a diligent man is precious um those who

are diligent those who are active though in a good way those who um those who are in touch with the Lord’s interest God’s people will be precious to them and and they’ll seek to advance the gospel in evangelism and in and in perfecting his people and protecting his

people from evil influences and um and and out of his people in in the grace and um knowledge

of God um so so here’s a here’s a few other ways that I considered that a person can really be profitable to the Lord that are that are not um evangelism Hebrews 5 11 to 14 um Paul’s talking about Melchizedek who’s um who who’s a whom Christ high priesthood is um is the Old Testament character who’s who’s kind of like a preview of the nature of Christ high priesthood is he so he says in verse 11 of whom we have many things to say of Melchizedek and hard to be hard to be others in your tall hearing for when for the time you ought to

be teachers you have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the

oracles of God and have become such as have need of milk and not of strong needs the overall

character the overall diligence of the Hebrews was um was compromised though these had though

these had once um though these people had been born again and ought to have been ought to have been mature and them at least in the heart who have been able to be teachers by this point they weren’t they were they were um they were sold in growth and they weren’t

they weren’t keeping pace with the exhortations that they had had received so welcome the word

of Hebrews continues in verse 13 for everyone that uses milk is unskilled on the word of righteousness for he is a babe but strongly belongeth to them that are of full age to

those who by reason of use have their have their senses exercised discern both good and evil um there’s an overall those who are diligent to hear God’s voice and to understand his word will get a will get a better understanding of what is fleshly and what’s of the Holy Spirit

what is what is carnal and what is truly spiritual um and and obtaining that understanding and

imparting that as is appropriate in the case of women not teaching God’s people publicly

but still in in private conversation and exhorting other women and teaching children obtaining that understanding um can really can really edify a body and make the overall character

of the church stronger and and better protect it against Satan’s influence and when that and when that and and that was part of the problem with the Hebrews is that there weren’t enough people like that to hold up the church to help and invent and cause it to advance

and go forward uh the street preaching controversy that um that sadly you know we’re there many

of us are very familiar with many of these men were born again preachers who were who were doing well who were um faithfully serving God but they got they got turned aside by some charismatic men who were zealous for their own ideas for their own chosen way to preach publicly that is absolutely carnal and contrary to God’s purposes and these men

who were deceived by them had not um had not learned to discern between good and evil um

well enough in in order to be to be saved from being what is free by them and and and

sadly many of them are are hurting themselves even against the correction and the understanding

they’re receiving now um there certainly is just uh there’s just a general there’s just

a general hearing from God in gaining discernment and imparting that to his people to edify his

church that is that can be very very profitable to God’s purposes um there’s something I call the pioneer principle it’s just something that um there’s there’s a sign kind of it’s

about it called pioneer and it’s it’s it’s talking about how if um somebody who somebody

who um goes through hard wildernesses as a Christian not because they’re seeking adventure

or seeking to hardship but because they’re in those types of circumstances that require them to do that and have to go through hard things that you know just people in their generation just haven’t had to go through and and those who press on and seek the Lord and get um and get insight get strength from that they’re clearing a road for um for other believers that um that they’re going to need to have and and that’s something that can and our diligence in that and just in in terms of overcoming trials and and understanding how to faithfully walk with God and imparting that to his church and to his people can just

be an immense um can be immensely profitable to the Lord and a way of improving our talents

whereas those who um whereas those who slack and dead and those who grow lukewarm and dead

um they’re not improving their talents as they ought to have done so and and and there’s many it’s ultimately um ultimately everybody and and and definitely there’s first Corinthians 12 that talks about spiritual gifts and Romans 12 that talks about prayer to ministries and there there certainly also was a matter of hearing from God about what specifically he’s called us to do on in in terms of advancing the gospel and edifying his church that has

and and our diligence and our faithfulness when it comes to that has very very much to do with with this we see from verse 14 that we belong to God we’re not kings or gods in and of ourselves like the satanic bible would say like the general spirit of the world would say um God calls us just just like back in 21 verses 1 to 16 um the call of the gospel

is a call to go labor and in the master’s vineyard and revel and then there’s revelation 411 that talks about how all things are are for God’s are for God’s pleasure that he’s

created all things and for his pleasure they are and were created um God God created us for a purpose of obtaining something that is um it is beneficial to his own um to his

own purpose for his own glory and it’s a and the ear that the socialists make the socialists on earth think that people are entitled to um to things just because they just because

they exist no matter what they do but true um truly true economic um laws dictate that no employers is going to hire an employee and just pay them because they just because

they’re a person they they expect they expect that if they hire somebody for a certain amount of money a certain rate of pay that they’re going to make more money off them than they hire them than they’re paying than they’re paying them and since all things are about

God’s pleasure his his saving us is um there’s um there’s an aspect of that he’s expecting he’s expecting a return on us salvation is still by grace through faith and and I think everybody who’s been through the study in the age of Wisconsin study doesn’t need that to be explained again but there’s um but he’s looking for a return on our lives that is actually by his grace um first Corinthians 15 verses 9 and 10 grace grace labors when

we don’t we don’t we don’t earn we don’t earn the grace by our labor but when we find race it’s it’s to it’s to be put to use and and and Paul says this and in first Corinthians

15 he says in verse first Corinthians 15 9 for I am the least of the apostles that I’m

not meet or not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God he didn’t he didn’t earn his apostleship he didn’t earn anything besides damnation but his his his opportunity to repent and to be part in which he did not deserve was to the end that he would be a servant of God and walk in the calling of a Christian and and in and in and in fulfilling the ministry the Lord calls him to as his subject be profitable to him so he says in

verse 12 but by the grace of God I’m sorry in verse 10 but by the grace of God I am what

I am and his grace which was bestowed upon he was not in vain but I labored more abundantly

than they all meaning the other apostles yet not I but the grace of God which was with me um very similar to what he said in Galatians 20 I’m crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ live which liveth in me and the way that I now live I live by

the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me um so I and and I’ll and

just in terms of being profitable to the world just I’ll just add the case of Anna Luke chapter

2 the lady who served God with fastings and prayers night and day and as well as um Jesus calling his disciples to be the lawyer of the world and the salt of the earth in Matthew

5 13 to 16 um regarding verse 18 um Albert Barnes says we are not to suppose by this parable however that our Savior meant to teach that only those of feeble talents neglected their duty the parable does not require us to do this and the fact is perhaps that those

and the fact is perhaps that those most highly endowed are the furthest from properly improving

their talents um Albert Barnes says on verse 19 to reckon is to settle accounts here it means to inquire into their faithfulness and to reward or punish them according to punish them accordingly um when it comes to when it comes to the Lord telling those who had two and five talents well done thou good and faithful servant and to that unto the joy

of thy will that that just proves it when a person like it says in 3 John 11 that he

that doeth good is of God and he that doeth not could have not seen God God calls those who are um God calls those who are obedient to him good and faithful and many Calvinists teach that you can’t be good nor faithful even even after your conversion and that’s

simply simply not true he tells them to enter into the joy of thy Lord well that’s that’s Lordship salvation Jesus has to be our Lord and and in recognizing him as our Lord he expects goodness and faithfulness on our parts not if he were to if he were to if he were to reckon to us according to the demands of the law we would still be found not good and

not faithful but even with the grace of God and God’s pardoning um grace taken into account he’s still he still expects us to he still expects us to be obedient that he would by

his grace um count us as truly having been good and faithful and not just and then actually good and faithful by by account of what we did by his grace and not just in some invisible sense like many antinomians would teach um either Adam Clark or overbarn says on verse 24 the design of this part of the parables to show that no one is excused for neglecting

his duty because he has few talents God will require of him only according to his ability

um we see in verse 25 all sinners make excuses for not submitting to God and serving him from the heart and no and and and Christ was not he was not admitting that he was uh that

he was such a man that he was um in verses 26 and 27 Jesus isn’t admitting that he’s um if he’s an hard man reaping where he’s not sewn in gathering where he has not strut but he’s he’s he’s just simply saying that even if that worked for you still you still

don’t have an excuse for your um for your sloppfulness and your reasons um your reasons

not to faithfully serve me um gain gain in verse 27 is is referring to increase or lawful

interest not unlawful or excessive interest which obviously God forbids from men and obviously

wouldn’t would not expect for himself um verse 29 certainly verse 29 certainly explains verse 28 um on verse 30 here no unprofitable that that’s all that it required for this person

to be judged and and just the same point in in all of these parables that um and we’ll get more into it at the end here um a good quote from Albert Barnes here if the servant who kept the entire talent without injuring it and who returned it to his master as he

received it was nevertheless judge condemned and cast away what must they expect to abuse

their talents destroy destroy them by drunkenness and and lost the noble the noble facilities

conferred on them and squander the property that might be employed in advancing the interest

and morals of religion over Barnes um the careless virgins and unprofitable servants

were saints and in comparison of the millions who are notwithstanding dreaming of an endless

heaven when fitted only for an endless hell I think that was over Barnes too but um but

bottom line is that um this man the man with the one talent was condemned he wasn’t necessarily

a homosexual a nightclub dancer a thief um a drug addict a um a murderer but he was he was at the very least a um a lukewarm subtle eye doubter who didn’t um who didn’t value God enough in his interest to lead out his life for them and that was enough to condemn him um he didn’t need to he didn’t need to go any further so now in our last parable

here in verses 31 to 46 um so we looked at we need for our hearts to be right we need and we need God’s grace by his spirit to be to be burning greatly in our hearts need to lay aside every sin and every way in the sin that thus will easily beset us and we can

use the author and finisher of faith um we’ve got to be right with God if you’re on the inside and have a and have a truly burning testimony for Christ and and that has to be and it has to be with the end of advancing his interests and his cause cause of his gospel and the great commission in the world and oh and what along with that there has to be

um those things also have to result in an unfeened laying down your life for God’s people and

those who are in great need and affliction and and all three of those and all three of these things are aspects of what it means to be ready to meet the Lord when he returns

and and to neglect any of these is to neglect is to neglect the plan of redemption the program

of redemption and through and through discipleship and to disqualify oneself for the king’s kingdom

when he returns and to um and to um earn oneself um a one-way ticket to hell and so in verses

31 to 46 we have I know Jimmy loves these verses and obviously um they are verses that are terribly neglected in especially among an American evangelical Christianity and and they’re also they’re also verses that there’s people there’s there’s especially people who

are on the liberal spectrum um who abuse them who make them as if they’re the only verses in the entire Bible and they think because they’re interested in in helping the poor

and needy even though they’re ashamed of Christ in the gospel even though their attitude towards

sin is not one of other hatred even though um even though they’re not living by every

word of God they think that because they have some they have some regard for people who are poor and needy that they’re gonna the heaven is going to be open to them and they’re and they’re greatly deceived they we’re about to read isn’t meant to be taken apart from

the whole council of God and all scripture but it cannot be left out of the whole council of God and all scripture these are still Jimmy is still right to point out these verses to

the people and say hey what about this this is those who are those who um who neglect the least of these my brethren will be will be um will depart into like it says in verse

46 and to everlasting punishment that is something that that is something we it’s it’s just about

in line is what we’re about to read in verses 31 to 46 cannot be separated from the whole council of God but they cannot be taken away either and so Jesus you use his final parable and and and the first two were more parables but this is more um but this this one is more direct and obviously the sheep and the goats is is a parable and that it’s an analogy I actually I’ve actually heard a man who was trying to um it’s interesting I heard I’ve

heard the second parable abused badly by the prosperity gospel guy and I’ve actually heard I know of a man sadly who is actually um when when told that Jesus talked about eternal hellfire and he didn’t want to admit it he tried to say that um that this was literally

about sheep and goats and that they were literally going to be goats cast in the house and obviously

he’s greatly deceived and stubborn and trying to defend his own his own doctrine um so what

apart from apart from the the righteous being like into the sheep and the wicked being like in the goats this is this is much more direct when the son of man so versus everyone when the son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him then shall he

sit upon the throne of his glory um and before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall

and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats

and he shall set the sheep on his right hand but the goats on left then shall the king say

unto them on his right hand come ye blessed of my father and here at the king and prepared

for you from the foundation of the world for i was in hunger and he gave me meat i was thirsty

and he gave me drink i was a stranger and he took me in naked and he called me i was sick and he visited me i was in prison and he came unto me thanks y’all the righteous answer saying lord once saw we the in hunger and fed thee for thirsty and gave thee and gave thee drink once saw we the a stranger and took thee in or naked and called thee and called thee for once how we be sick or in prison and came unto thee and the king shall answer and say unto them really i say unto you in as much as he did in as much as he have done unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me then shall he also then shall he say also unto them on the left hand apart from the curse and devilish

employer prepared for the devil and his angels for i wasn’t hungry and ye gave me no meat nor no food i was thirsty and he gave me no drink i was a stranger and he took me not

in naked and he called me not sick and in prison and he visited me not then shall they also answer him saying lord once saw we the in hunger or a thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister unto thee then shall he answer them saying verily i say unto you in as much as he did it not to the one of the least of these he

did it not to me and thee shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous in

the life eternal now above all note here that um the things that were expected regarding

the least of his brethren were to be um were to be done unto him remove um remove the king’s

honor and seeking the interest of the king here and whatever somebody does is still going to disqualify them because they they were operating in their own wisdom their own strength and their own program um a prerequisite for um for being accepted is that um is it weren’t tuned with god’s word with god’s interest um remember how jesus talked about how there’s drawing the there’s drawing heaven over one sinner that repented and move 15 and there’s

drawing the presence in the of the angels of god over one sinner that repented um somebody

who’s in touch with god is going to rejoice when a sinner repents and that’s a sure and it’s a sure proof that somebody’s um it’s a sure proof that somebody’s heart is not

with the lord when a sinner does repent and they and they don’t find joy over there well they’re like oh okay that’s that’s good that’s that’s definitely um that’s definitely a red

plague and so it’s the same concept here that being being led by god’s word being um having

um your heart and your interest and your goals defined by by his word and his ultimate ends are are necessary here um to really to really even to for want to even know the true needs

for the most part of the least of his brethren and also um and and also to to do them appropriately

to to to have to have um to have these things in in their proper place um so there’s there’s so many lessons here um i i would also add here too um we can’t stop in not separating this from the whole council of god in scripture um there’s still this first timothy chapter

five verses seven and eight if a person were to say think that um if somebody were to take this apart from the whole council of god they might give their entire paycheck to um you know maybe just some needy church or some mission organization and maybe neglect their family and they would be greatly deceived if they were to do that because it it says

in first timothy chapter five verses seven and eight um paul tells timothy and these

things give in charge that they may be blameless but if any provide not for his own especially for those of his own house he has denied the faith he has denied the faith and is worse

than an infidel um obviously a man would be sinning by making his own family unnecessarily need because he he preferred on others to the true needs of his own family now when

it comes to luxury and when it comes to spoiling his own family and choosing such things over

the needy that’s that’s different obviously um but it’s just important to point to point

that out um god’s name and its value is what the main interest is here in hebrews and hebrews

six verses nine and ten we read um paul’s writing to the hebrews it’s five we had read

five eleven to fourteen earlier paul’s expressing to the hebrews he warns them in six and six one through eight about how if they um if they don’t bring bring forth frugal in keeping

with the their exhortations and go on to perfection go on the completion and in their christian

race that they um that they could end up lost and cursed by god but in verse nine he expresses

a hope that that’s that they haven’t um gone to that point and that they can recover and he so he says in verse nine but beloved we are persuaded better things of you and things

that accompany salvation though we thus speak for god is not unrighteous so forget your work

and labor of love which he eschewed toward his name and that he administered to the saints and do minister they they had expressed their um their faith toward god and love to his name by ministering to the saints um and that they still were to some extent and we desire that every one of you to show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end that you be not thoughtful but followers of them who through faith and patience and here

at the promises um later on in chapter 10 um very similar thoughts um he says in verse

32 but called the remembrance of the former days again right after warning about judgment if they if they didn’t continue in the faith he says in verse 32 but called the remembrance

of former days in which after you were illuminated you endured a great flight of afflictions partly

whilst you were made a gazing sight both by reproaches and afflictions and partly while

you became companions of them that were so used um for you had compassion on me and my

bonds and took joyfully the squealing of your goods knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and enduring substance you cannot believe in christ on the salvation

without identifying with his people and without his family remember jesus said that my mother

and brethren and sisters um he had said back in matthew 1250 that um he said back in matthew

1250 for whose lover shall do the will of my father which is in heaven the same as my brother and sister and mother and he he said in in luke 821 same thing equating god’s will

with god’s word that um he said in luke 821 in luke 821 my brother my mother and my brethren

are these which are the word of god and do it we cannot believe in him without his people becoming our family and and in that all of a sudden now you have um however many real christians are in the world you have you have that is your support network even if you don’t see it or know it but you also you also have an obligation to be part of the support network and to care for them as regard them as dear as you would or dearer than your own family

well of course not neglecting those and those of your own household obviously like we talked

about um and and and don’t limit either some might some might take um feeding the least of these and giving them drink and visiting them in prison and coming to them when they’re sick or in prison or a stranger some might take that totally in a spiritual sense and

they would be wrong but it’s also wrong to take it totally in a material sense also because back in chapter 24 um like we read at the beginning here in verse 45 jesus said who

then as a faithful and wise servant with what is made rule over his household to give them meat into a season blessed is that servant when it’s lord when he comes she’ll find so

doing um that’s that’s certainly not just talking about material needs about actual food and clothing and and ministering to the sick but it’s certainly talking about those

who are um it’s it’s talking about ministering the word of god and the spirit of god and so and to regard you you know of a brother who’s struggling you know of a brother who’s or sister who’s um who’s weak who’s who needs encouragement that’s part of um that’s part of improving our talents is to um is to see that is to see the need of his people whether that be in the spiritual realm or the material realm and to and to meet it and to um and

to do it as on as as as if you were ministering to the lord himself and and that’s um and those who um and those who won’t take that burden upon them who won’t take that identity of yeah maybe they they’ll profess Jesus as lord maybe they’ll try to do wonderful things

in his name but if they won’t take the the burden and the and the labor of of treating his own people like like family and laying down their lives for the brethren they’re going to be found to be goats on the day of judgment you see you see um that in first

john chapter three verses fourteen to eighteen it’s it’s amazing how the gospels and epistles

really just so perfectly compliment each other and um so one john chapter three verse fourteen

we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren he that love it not his brother abideth in death who so ever hated his brother is a murderer and you

know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him hereby perceive we the love of god because he laid down his way for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren but who so hath this world’s good and see if his brother had need and shut up his balls

of compassion from how dwelt the love of god in him my little children let us not love in the word neither in tongue but indeed and in truth and that’s that’s feeding his people administering to his people in two seasons meaning as as the need requires i might not i might not need your money but i might but maybe i need just a word of encouragement and if you’re if you’re in touch with the luring you’re led by his spirits you’re going

to be led to christians who are in um in some kind of need and and and as you’re um and as you’re faithful to improve the talents god’s given you you’re gonna you’re gonna minister to those needs and that’s um and that’s the issue here um god also has a special

regard for the widows and the orphans and people who cannot help themselves did he um the issue here is is christ brethren but but there’s a sense in which even if they’re not christians god has a special regard for people who are desolate people who are in widows

and orphans is a general term the bible uses like in james 127 um if you go to exodus chapter

22 um versus 21 to 24 exodus 22 21 thou shalt not shall not vex a stranger nor oppress and for you were strangers in the land of egypt ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless

child if thou afflict them at any wise and they cry at all unto me i will surely hear their cry and my wrath shall wax hot and i will kill you with the sword and your wife

shall be widows and your children fatherless so we certainly we certainly can’t um disregard them either because um this is an interesting quote um by um by elder bonds how great is the condensate the condescension and kindness of the judge of the world uh thus to reward us to reward our reactions and for what we have done to the poor has done to him um verse

40 my brethren neither those who are christians whom he condescends to call his brethren or

those who are afflicted or those who are afflicted poor and persecuted who are his brethren and

companion and suffering and who suffer as he did on earth that is that’s obviously either from Adam, cork or overburdens we may not have wrote down um some other things we can oh here here here here’s here’s another here’s another one this is especially good for um especially applicable to women when it’s talking in first same same chapter that talks about um how if any man it’s amazing how the bible balances itself um the same chapter that talks about it how if any man provide not for his own especially those of his own house he is

he has denied the faith and is worse than an infant though it says later in that chapter talking about widows that the church out of support as um as servants of the church those who are worthy to be um supported in that way um look at the qualification in verses

nine and ten of verse seventy five whatnot it will be taken into the number under three square years old meaning sixty years old having been the wife of one man well reported of

her good works and so so so look at what those are if she have brought up children obviously

in the fear of the lord if she have watched strangers if she have watched the saint’s feet if she ever leave the afflicted if she have diligently followed every good work um strongly related to the previous parable that and we see we see how they come together um just

some other notes on matthew 25 31 to 46 here um notice that jesus equates his own glory with his glory we read in isaiah 40 and jesus is the same thing in john 11 4 talking about liz versus sickness his sickness is not on the death but for the glory of god that the

son of god might be glorified thereby and we read in isaiah 42 8 that god is the lord

in his glory will he not give to another proving that christ is either god or would be um or

would be a false prophet um sheep are emblems of verse 33 sheep are emblems of innocence

of innocence and harmlessness um as eq 34 and zechariah 10 3 would our um scriptures it would um verify that from the old testament um golds are golds are more the opposite of it known for um being stubborn and um you know just uncompliant obnoxious um the left hand you see by descriptions like ecclesiastes tend to where it says a wise man’s heart is at a that is left hand and what the heart of a fool is at his very hand i just paraphrase

it it’s it’s time it’s a place of um it’s a place of rejection or at least maybe more

moderately a place of um subservience whereas the right hand is a place of a place of um a place of honor basically um notice notice in verse 34 um this is a great review to calvinism then shall the king say unto them as very hand come you blesseth my father and here

at the kingdom prepared from you from the foundation of the world some so calvinist might use this to say well look it they were predestinated before the foundation of the not so because look who hell was prepared for in verse 40 um in verse 41 eventually say also unto them on the left hand depart from me he cursed unto everlasting player prepared for the devil and his angels and i didn’t prepare hell for man he he prepared for the devil and his angels and only those who would follow the lusts of the devil um

and refused refused to worship and serve god would ultimately ultimately would go to hell god intended god didn’t create hell for man um but so so here’s and and this is a good and this is a good explanation of any scriptures to talk about predestination and things like this and this is from um this is from madam clerk for such as you understand okay i said

that with verse 41 it was god’s purpose and determination to admit none and to his heaven

but those who were made partakers of his holiness so and and and he cites he and he cites he

was 12 14 their foul peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the

lord god has a god has god has a plan of redemption and he has conditions of partaking of that

plan and he and and he um and his purpose is to save everybody who submits to that plan and walks in that plan um god resolved from all eternity to do good man to man and redeem him from the fall and make him a partaker of his life and nature um and that’s and that’s something we can none were none were excluded from that possibility before the foundation of the world but only those who actually um only those who actually believe in and endure

in that plan of redemption will ultimately be saved and inherit the glory and the and

the kingdom that god intended that man should enter into all those who reject all those who reject that plan and refuse to walk in it will ultimately be condemned with the devil and his angels um let’s see here i would just to note here

be aware of those who um want another thing we can learn about this passage which is key be aware of those who only want to preach to you and don’t really want to lay down their ways for you and get to get get to know um i’m not saying get to know you in the sense

of like necessarily know everything about you but but know you in a spiritual sense and really discern what your real needs are go to first crinkings chapter four i won’t

mention the name but jimmy told me about a recent um just a recent example where it was related to this it was like a red flag somebody he he knew um paul says in first crinkings 415 for though you have 10 000 instructors in christ yet you have not many fathers for

in christ jesus i have begotten you through the gospel therefore i beseech you be followers i mean what’s the context of that well it’s it’s back in it’s back in verses nine to fourteen

try think the guy said forth us the apostles last as it were appointed to death for we

are made expect to go onto the world and to angels and to men we are fools for christ’s sake but you’re wise in christ he’s being sarcastic we are weak but you’re strong you’re honorable but we are despised even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst in

our naked and are buffeted and have no certain volume please and labor working with our own

hands being reviled we bless being persecuted we suffer it being defamed we entreat we are made as a filth of the world and as the oscouring of all things unto this present day i write

not these things ashamed me but as my beloved sons i warn you for though you have 10 000

instructors in christ yet have not many fathers for in christ jesus i begotten you through

the gospel and if you go ahead the first tessellings chapter two um now obviously in some cases

maybe preaching and teaching is the only way a person could help you but i’m saying beware

of those who who would neglect um neglect bodies of believers that they could that they could minister to in other ways but only want to preach paul says um paul says in first tessellings two seven he tells them but we were gentle among you even as a nurse even

as a nurse sheriff for children so being affectionately desirous of you we were willing to have imparted

unto you not the gospel of god only but also our own souls because you were dear unto us for you remember our brethren our labor and prevail for labor and night and day because we would not be chargeable unto any of you we preached unto you the gospel of god you

are witnesses in god also how holy how holy and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves

among you that believe as you know how we exured and comforted and charged every one of you as a father dot his children that you would walk worthy of god who had called us unto his kingdom and glory um so these are all aspects of what it means to be ready to when jesus had said back in 24 chapter 24b also ready for you know not neither the day nor the hour these are all aspects of that in all these cases it was neglect of what

was good and what was right and not only that condemn these people um and and this shows

the ear of moral government many street preachers are moral government theologians and it’s it’s

it’s right that god’s government does um is established by the gospel but the problem

is that they preach a shell of you of god’s government and they make it sound as if you’re

as if they preach a gospel whereas if you’re not a thief if you’re not a an adulterer if you’re not a homosexual if you’re not going to nightclubs and dancing you’re not a drug addict they they they would have no they would have no rebuke or any instruction for you and they make it sound like being a christian as just not being any of those things but

there’s many muslims who aren’t those things there’s many the men who crucified jesus for many of those things as far as we know um there there’s ways to live in sin there’s

ways to there’s ways to reject god there’s ways to be disobedient that don’t necessarily they aren’t necessarily expressed by any of those things and in all and in all these cases

um those who were um those who were unprepared and were condemned were people who whatever

whatever else was true about them they neglected they neglected to do that which was good and

right and and to be diligent faithful subjects of the king expressed in expressed in having a um a pure inner life a pure testimony um profitability to god in his interest and a genuine sincere laying down their life for his people and and and it’s and it’s in those things it and it and it’s in seeking those things and diligently following those things

that’s what it means to wait for christ and to to suffer with him here and to uh prepare

for his coming so i will leave it to my brother jimmy god bless you brother alan thank you for that it was really wonderful that is one of my favorite chapters no doubt i’m glad you brought up too that that um uh you know we can’t be like uh for example catholics you know the thing you can do works to overcome uh your sins and stuff like that you know that’s what i was thinking about when you were saying we can’t uh separate uh matthew 25 from the other part of the uh bible and the commands that are in it and we can’t also

go off on the ditch to just exclusively do what we’re commanded to do in matthew 25 because

you go off into the other ditch you know and that’s what a lot of people do inside you went to the extreme too where um people actually uh will will literally forsake their family and and their family will go hungry for them to help others you know so we have to have that biblical balance uh and i think that’s very very very very very important i’m really

glad you brought that balance up too you know but but so many people i am grieved that um

and i also rejoice too because there are um more people than i can probably mention on the phone call today that um uh over the last four years have uh have come from not doing absolutely anything for the poor at all to to um understanding that matthew 25 and other verses of the bible are saying you know i just want to conclude my comments here with

um you know luke 620 said blessed be the poor for yours is the kingdom of heaven and also matthew 53 uh the seminar the mother of the poor and spirit for this is the kingdom um

of heaven so um as you so often like to reference brother arin albert bronze does a really wonderful

job i think we touched on this before when we were going through um that i might have mentioned this but he says poor in spirit luke simply says blessed are the poor it has

been disputed where the christ meant the poor reference of the saints of life into the humble the gospel said to be preached to the poor luke 418 and 515 it was predicted that the bessire would preach to the poor in isaiah 6 1 it is said they have special faculties

for being saved and i thought that is one of the greatest commentaries on any verse

in the bible special faculties for being saved and and i know the kawalski certainly could vouch for this and anybody that’s been in an overseas mission field where you go to

a country that is just really the poorest of the poor these people are just i mean it

brings tears to eyes how humble these people are and i mean we brought brought with us out of our hundreds i i guess i didn’t count them but we had gospel tracks and i i’m really

not exaggerating saying we could have bought boxes of gospel tracks thousands of them and

got rid of them probably in two or three days or if not even sooner and the kawalski is probably could say that but i mean they were children and even adults too but a lot of the children you know there are some muslim children they’re just so hungry for anything over there and that’s what why i think albert bond did such a good job here in saying that

they do have special faculties because here in america and even where brother hayden over

there is in australia and europe and the developing world people have riches that produce care

and anxiety and all that other stuff you know we have to keep up with the joneses and the

american dream and the the the uh 16 to 20 000 commercials the average american watches

every year are all geared towards the iphone 5s 6s 7s this one that one you know better house better cars and this stuff clouds our judgments and and and takes our focus you know then you’ve got sports and everything you know when you go over and see some of these really poor people and i’m not just figuring out the poor in other countries but especially there i believe um they just have nothing of the world you know so so so when

the gospel is presented to them the good news they can really grasp onto that of course easier

than than certainly somebody with um with earthly goods and the earthly means and then i’ll just end with a fusions 413 to 416 because we also understand that um uh everybody is an individual in the body of christ that they believe in abiding in christ and we all have certain talents you know there are some people that i’ve talked to that felt really guilty

because they uh they have um they have a job that keeps them uh 12 14 sometimes 16 hours

a day and um they they get very um sometimes or they’re used to anyway you know get anxious

over that jimmy i want to be out more preachy you know i want to do this and i said well wait a minute you know you you know you’re you’re you’re you’re um blessing those people that are going out preaching on the streets you’re blessing those people overseas that

are preaching in churches and also preaching the open air maybe and and also taking care of the open a little so even though you’re not physically with your hands and feet doing

it as much as you might think you like to you’re using a great deal of your income or whatever it is you know uh what i would think is a great deal of hearing come to to support those who are so so i think afnesians 413 through 16 if i may read it real quick really sums that up we all have certain callings from jesus it doesn’t exclude us from all

the other things that we’re supposed to do we can’t go to heaven with a zero on part

of our report card but but we can get there by by helping other people do that being being their financial means or their spiritual means or just maybe a a good word to them that picks them up to be able to do it you know a lot of people uh you know like having a pen pal

um in uh in a jail or something for example i know some some brothers who do that and

uh just to give an uplifting message to somebody that’s in jail um using email or even going there so there’s many ways so afnesians 413 to 16 says so we all come into the unity of faith and knowledge of the son of god unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness

whereby they lie and wait to deceive but speaking the truth and love may we grow up into him

and all things which is the head even christened the verse 16 here is beautiful for whom the body fitly jointed together and compacted by that which every joint supplier according

to the effectual working in the measure of every part making increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love so i guess i’ll end there and if anybody else has any comments or questions that’d be great but i thank you for pulling that together brother aron to say that you know um we can’t exclude it and we can’t just exclusively uh just be

a do-gooder and think we’re getting into heaven when other parts of our life are not in order

amen amen anybody have any questions or comments all right i’m gonna turn this um hayden i’m

just gonna move this for one second i know you’re on like a speaker of a speaker here uh let’s just take this thank you everybody for joining us we’re gonna be on the third

to last chapter next week which will be bathew chapter 26 god bless

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 26 Week 24

Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the Global Mission for Children Bible Study. We’ve changed

it from Tuesday nights to Saturday nights here at 8.30pm on the East Coast here in the United

States. We also welcome all our people that are going to be listening to this overseas, all our mission fields, listen to this of course on a weekly basis as Brother Aaron

is so kind to teach us here each and every week. So we’re going through the book of Matthew.

We’re going to be going on to Chapter 26 tonight which is a very, very interesting chapter which is going to hit on a lot of different teachings and they’re very important teachings. So without further ado, Brother Aaron, thank you so much again and I’ll turn it over to you. Thanks, Brother Jeremy. Greetings to those on the call as well as those who listen on the recording. Certainly always feel free to email questions to myself if you have my email address or Brother Jeremy. Always a pleasure to hear from anybody who’s any of the missionaries or anybody who’s been listening to this study. We will get right into it in Chapter 26. It’s a long chapter but we’re going to try to get through it all here tonight.

So Jesus has just finished his discourse with the disciples about essentially about the

end times and being ready for his coming and we noted how the end times, the time of the

end when Christ comes back as very many parallels to the time in Judea before AD 70 and the judgment

that came upon the Romans in AD 70 and the chapters 24 and 25 were basically right after the scene that it started at Chapter 21 verse 23. So Jesus had been very, very, he spoke

a lot that was all the same day Chapter 21 verse 23 to the end of Chapter 25 but now we’re going to move on to the events that are leading up to Christ’s crucifixion and

that’s what Chapter 26 deals with. So verse 1, “And it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days as a feast of

the Passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified, then assembled together the

chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people unto the palace of the high priest who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by His subtility

and kill them, but they said not on the feast day, lest there be an upper among the people.”

Adam Clark notes that God’s providence basically overruled this attempt to keep, they wanted

to take Christ and execute Him privately and they didn’t want to do it on the day of the Passover. We’re going to talk later in the chapter how it seems like there was a discrepancy

even among the Jews about which day the Passover was to be kept. But they ended up,

Jesus ended

up being executed very publicly on the day that at least the chief priests did celebrate the Passover. Jesus and His disciples had kept it one day beforehand and it’s interesting

to consider why that was. But the bottom line for now is that there was no doubt that about who had killed Christ and that He had not publicly introduced Him. Paul had told King

of Gripp on next chapter 26 about the Messiah and His death and resurrection and explaining

the gospel and he told him that this thing was not done in a corner. And so their attempt to take Jesus by subtility, even though they did take Him by subtility, they did not execute Him in subtility. It’s interesting, we’re going to see something also throughout this

chapter about how Satan works in secret and does, the Bible talks about how the way of God is light and the way of evil, of Satan is darkness. And we’re going to see that throughout this chapter, how God does, He does openly. There’s nothing to, a true Christian has nothing to be ashamed of. Whereas a servant of the devil, especially a very willing, especially

the brave servant of the devil who would go to the point of persecuting God’s people, they do have much that they’re hiding, much that if people were to find out they would

be angered and wow, that’s horrible, how could you keep that from us? And we’re going to see

that throughout these last three chapters here, very much illustrated. Let’s see here. There’s also, it’s also, they’re said to have been about three million people in Jerusalem at

the time of the Passover because of, because it got required that the three feasts, Passover,

Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles, that every male Jew was to come to the place where

God put His name, which was Jerusalem now, and celebrate these feasts. So continuing

on. Now when Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a

woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment and poured it on his head as he said

at meat, or as he said, eating. But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation saying,

to what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor. There’s an account in John chapter 12 that seems to have been six days before the Passover. It’s said to have been six days before the Passover that’s in the house of,

in the house of Lazarus and his sister, Mary and Martha. And Albert Barnes and Adam Clark,

even among themselves, have a little, some disagreement about whether this is the same account. It’s possible that this is, that this is a different account with a different

woman pouring on an alabaster box of ointment upon Jesus’ head. But it’s also possible that, it’s also possible that Matthew’s doing a flashback to that same, that same dinner in

John chapter 12 to connect this incident to Judas, betraying Christ. And perhaps in addition to Lazarus and Mary and Martha, perhaps they had a leper, or at least a quenched leper, who lived with them named Simon. But that is something that in preparing this, I just

didn’t, since we have so much to get to, I didn’t see it, I didn’t see it profitable

for now to go into great, deep research about that. But the disciple in verse 8 who had

a new nation, we know from the other gospels, was especially Judas. But it’s sometimes, sometimes the Bible uses that phrase talking about the disciples. It’s like when it says that the two thieves, the thieves that were crucified next to Jesus and moved 23 reviled him, as far as we know that was only one thief of the two. But sometimes, just in Hebrew, biblical literature, one of a group can be substituted for the whole group. Though it

is possible that some of the other disciples did follow Judas in agreement with his accusation here. We know from John chapter 12 that Judas was, whether this is the same account as in

John 12 or not, it’s definitely the same nature, the same basic principle. Judas was grumbling,

not because he cared for the poor, but because he had the bag and he was a thief and he stole

what was put there. Albert Barnes points out how greeting covetous can lead Judas to the most enormous crime and greed always leads to guilt in other ways. Because obviously, religion itself is guilt worthy. Adam Clark says on verse 9, “How often does charity service

as a cloak or a cover-up for covetousness?” So continuing on verse 9, “When Jesus understood

it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? For she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you, but me ye have not always.” It’s interesting

that what is said here has to be considered with chapter 25 verses 31-46, which we read about in the last chapter. It doesn’t in any way negate the final 16 verses of Matthew

25, but it has to be considered here. This woman had a chance to bless Christ in his own person since she had him before her in the flesh. That was a greater priority than the

poor, even the poor disciples of Christ. Albert Barnes here says, “Whatever duty should be done in this place.” The duty then in covenant is that which Mary had performed. They would afterward have abundant occasion to show regard to the poor. Mark adds after verse 11 that Jesus said in Mark that, “Ye have the poor always with you, and whensoever ye will ye

may do them good, but me ye have not always.” So this was a special opportunity and she was right to have done what she did. Jesus continues in verse 12, “For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this that this woman

hath done be told for a memorial of her.” This woman probably did not know. She probably did not clearly understand that Christ was about to die. But God just worked it out in

his providence. It heard good work upon him, would preserve his body in the time that between

when he died and when he was embalmed and the time he rose again. Just in God’s providence,

there was still a convenient, God worked it out, it still had a convenient use even if she didn’t understand what that was going to be. Albert Burns says on verse 13, “It

is right that the good deeds of the pious,” pious means the saints, the God-fearing, “should

be recorded and had in recollection.” It’s a good reason to read and study church history if it doesn’t interfere with your study of the Bible and other duties. This woman did

was recorded in the Gospels themselves. The preachers often don’t preach about it or teach about it. Where the gospel is preached, this work that this woman did is right in the gospel

accounts. We also learn here that the gospel has a broader application than just the summary

about what Christ did for us and how we’re to respond. There’s a sense in which the gospel is everything that we have in the gospel accounts and everything that is related to everything in the Word of God basically, but especially related to Christ’s life and deeds and what

he spoke. Note the irony too that God preserved the recording of her good work when she had

poured the ointment on Christ to embalm and preserve his body. At least that’s the practical

effect of her pouring the ointment was that she embalmed and preserved his body. God honors

those who honor him. I thought it would be good to look back to Jeremiah, chapters 38

and 39 to give just another instance of that. God rewards and punishes in very, very appropriate

ways. It’s really good to consider that. He rewards and punishes. He can do it at least over the long run to give us exactly what our deeds deserve and there are scriptures to talk about that. In Jeremiah chapter 38, Jeremiah is let down into the lowest part

of the dungeon where he’s surely going to die if he’s left there. In Jeremiah 38 verse

6, “Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Melchiah, the son of Hamilac, that was in the court of the prison. They let down Jeremiah with cords. And the dungeon there was no water, but mud.” So Jeremiah sunk in the mud. Now when Ibed Melchiah, one of the etheopians, which was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in

the dungeon, the king then sitting in the gate of the prison, Ibed Melchiah went forth

out of the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying, “My lord, the king, these might have

done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have cast into the dungeon.

And he is likely to die for hunger in the place where he is, for there is no more bread in

the city.” Then the king commanded Ibed Melchiah, the Ethiopian. He had just let a group of

men put Jeremiah in the dungeon, but now that a man is courageous enough to come before him,

this king, Zedekiah, who was apparently very pliable and had a lot of fear of man himself,

he agrees to let them take Jeremiah up. So the king commanded Ibed Melchiah, the Ethiopian,

take from hence thirty men with thee and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he died. So Ibed Melchiah took the men with him and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took them from there the old cast-clouts and old rotten rags

and let them down by cords into the dungeons of Jeremiah. And Ibed Melchiah, the Ethiopian,

sat unto Jeremiah, putting out these old cast-clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under

the cords. And Jeremiah did so. So they drew up Jeremiah with cords and took him up out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison. So Ibed Melchiah rescues Jeremiah when he is in distress. Now look at what God tells Jeremiah to tell the Ibed Melchiah in the next chapter right after this is kind of a flashback. The city has been taken

over by the Babylonians, but before that happened in chapter 39 verse 15, kind of gives a flashback

after the city’s fall is recorded. In verse 15, “Now the word of the Lord came on the Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Go and speak to Ibed Melchiah, the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. Behold,

I will bring my words upon the city for evil and not for good, and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee. But I will deliver thee in that day.” See, Ibed Melchiah delivered Jeremiah the prophet when he was in distress. So God promises to deliver him when the city is taken. “But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the Lord, and thou shalt not be

given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid. For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword. But thy life shall be for a prayer unto thee, because

thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord.” Very, very wonderful that God is so attentive and so faithful. So continuing on in verse 14 here. “Then one of the twelve called Judas

Iscariot went unto the chief priest.” Luke says that Satan entered into Judas. Probably, Satan probably instigated this Judas to do this by appealing to his greed. And probably

because he was offended by the previous account, because he didn’t get the money he had been

seeking, or at least because Jesus didn’t listen to him. You can tell that Judas was very easily offended and very easily hurt when he didn’t get his way or get listened

to. So verse 15. “Then one of the twelve called Judas Iscariot went unto the chief priest and said unto them, What will you give me, and I will deliver him unto you. And they covenant with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.” According to Exodus 21.30.30, “thirty pieces of silver was the price of

a common slave. The chief priest likely did this on purpose to show their contempt of

Jesus. They also knew that Judas was covetous and anxious to obtain money. So why give him

more than he would be willing to take it, rather than give him more if he was happy to get thirty.” Clark points out here that many have sold Jesus in their interest in

heaven by renouncing the religion of their master for a temporary gain. Very, very true. And we’ve looked at 1 Timothy 6, verses 7-10 multiple times of this study. And this is just another illustration of that. So verse 17. “Now the first day of the Feast of Unlathered

Bread the disciples came to Jesus saying unto him, Where will thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? And he said, Go unto the city to such a man, and say unto him, The master sayeth my time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at my house with my disciples.

And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them, and they made ready the Passover.”

This

is the fourteenth day of the month of a beeb. The Passover was killed on this night. And

then the Feast of the Passover was the seven-day Feast was afterward between the fifteenth

to the twenty-first day of this month. And again, there was probably some disagreement about the Jews, among the Jews, as to when the month of a beeb started, which we will surely get to. Jesus did not have a home in Jerusalem. I think of how Abraham did not

have a solid possession in the land of Canaan. You see how God’s Christ is the head of God’s

household, and the members of his household often can be without the things in the world

that most people take for granted. What humility Jesus had, that he did not have a home in Jerusalem,

the city that was essentially his own—not everything is his, but the city that was especially devoted to his worship as a true God. When he came in the flesh, he didn’t have a home there. Adam Clark points out that sin must be so destructive and so inveterate, meaning so ingrained into sinners, that sin must be so wicked and so hard to destroy, that such humility was necessary to sin’s destruction. That’s another way to look at it. The language

in verse 18 shows that this man who was not mentioned here was probably a man well-known

to Jesus and his disciples. He was probably a disciple himself, not one of the twelve apostles,

of course, but likely a man who had received Christ’s ministry. Very possibly he was one

of the 120 that was praying in the upper room in Acts chapter 1 before Pentecost. This was possibly the place where they prepared the Passover in the upper room in Acts chapter

1. It might very well be the same house. I don’t think we can know that for sure, but I don’t think it’s out of the question. John 1828, 1914 and 1931. Albert Barnes points

out that these definitely prove that the Jewish leaders as a whole kept the Passover one day after Jesus and his disciples did. We see one day after Jesus and his disciples ate the Passover, the day Jesus was crucified, we see in John 1828, “Then led the day Jesus from Caiaphas unto the Hall of Judgment,” and it was early, “and they themselves,” meaning

the Jewish leaders, “went not into the Judgment Hall lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover,” in John 19.14. As Jesus was about to be crucified, it says in verse 14, “And it was the preparation of the Passover in about the sixth hour,” and

then it says in John 19.31, “That you therefore, because it was the preparation, that the body

should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, for the Sabbath day was a high day, the

saphilot that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.” A possible

reason for this one day discrepancy in when the Passover was kept might have to, it probably,

it would have to do with when the month of a bead started, the first month, and that

was, and they kept track of that based upon, they used the lunar calendar rather than the

solar calendar, and so they would have marked the beginning of the month from when the moon

would have first appeared at this time. And there was some disagreement even among the Jews as to how that was done. Sometimes some people just said, “Well, it’s when the moon becomes so visible to everybody,” but others would watch for it very carefully and know

the very first trace of when it could be seen and begin the month from there. So it’s probably not that important to look at right now, but just useful to point out that there was definitely

a discrepancy in when the Passover was kept, and that would explain why Jesus and his disciples

kept the Passover one day before the Jewish leaders did. There’s probably a lot there

that we don’t know. In verse 19, “And preparing the Passover, they obtained the lamb, and they had it killed according to the manner that the Passover was to be killed,” that

we read about in Exodus 12. So continuing on then, back to Matthew 26. So verse 20, “Now,

when the evening was come, he sat down with the twelve; and as they did eat, he said, ‘Verily,

I say unto you that one of you shall betray me.'” Well, Jerusalem in a sense already had betrayed him, but he’s referring to actually delivering Jesus to the priest. “And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, ‘Lord, is it I?'”

The men who were righteous, the men who had clean consciences were very soft and very

tender and very afraid that they might be the ones who were guilty. Verse 23, “And he answered

and said, ‘He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.'”

The Son of Man goeth as it is written of him, but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It had been good for that man if he had not been born. We know that the

Jews would, when they were eating, they had a special sauce that they would eat on the Passover. It seems to have been like a bitter sauce to commemorate the Jews’ slavery in

Egypt. And at the Passover, it would have been kept in smaller bowls so that there would have been only like two or three people who would have been sharing one dish. We know by John’s Gospel that John was leaning on Jesus’ bosom. So it’s probable that Judas was sitting right next to Jesus as they were eating the Passover, just showing just how brazen he was and how hardened he was that he could be betraying Christ and he wasn’t

even keeping himself hid. He was planning to betray him anyways and he was eating right next to him and keeping the Passover. Let’s see here. This is a quote by, “When men are

completely hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, they can outwardly perform the most solemn

acts of devotion without feeling any sort of inward concern about the matter.” That’s

from Adam Clark. “You read about false prophets in 2 Peter chapter 2 in Jude, and the book of Jude how that they’ll sport themselves with their own deceivings while they feast

with you.” That’s in 2 Peter 2. Jude talks about that these are spots in your feasts

of charity. When the early Christians would share a meal together, whether that was the Lord’s Supper or whether it was a meal after their weekly meetings, false prophets could come and act like they were one of the brethren and act like they kept recruiting it as a holy, solemn matter without the slightest pain of conscience. The most hardened, deceitful people can do that and not even shake or feel shame about it. We see that in Judas here. We know by John chapter 13 verses 23-30 that Judas left at this time after verse 25. Okay, so I’ll read verse 25. “The Son of Man goeth as it is written of him, but woe unto that

man by whom the Son of Man is be created. It would have been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas which betrayed him answered and said, ‘Master, is it I? He said unto him thou hast said.'” So we know by John chapter 13 verses 23-30 that Judas left at this point. So he wasn’t there when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper and the following verses. By verse 24 it’s a proof against the doctrine of ultimate reconciliation.

There are those who teach that the wicked are going to burn in hell for a certain period of time and that they’re going to be taken back to heaven eventually. And there’s others who teach the doctrine of annihilation which teach that the wicked will just be burned up and won’t suffer in hell forever. But if either of those doctrines were true, what

Jesus said in verse 24 would not be true. Jesus said that it would have been good for Judas if he had not been born. And if the wicked go to hell like Judas will, maybe not

to the same degree of punishment, but to the same hell as the Scriptures no doubt teach that they will, then that’s another proof that the sufferings of hell will be forever.

Because if you simply, even if a wicked person were to burn in hell for a million years and then be released and be in heaven for eternity, then it would still be good for them to have been born. And if the wicked were just burned up in the lake of fire just immediately and that there was no hell afterwards, it would still have been good for them to have been

born because they could have experienced pleasures and good things in this life. So verse 24

is really just another one of many scriptural proofs against the doctrines of annihilation and the doctrine of ultimate reconciliation. We saw back in 2546, it says about the wicked

and these shall go away into everlasting punishment with the righteous and the life eternal.

The

wicked everlasting punishment is contrasted to the life eternal of the righteous. So if the righteous will live in heaven forever, will live with God forever in blessedness and happiness and the wicked must necessarily then suffer forever in hell. In Acts by verse

24 we also see that God had determined that Jesus was going to be crucified but we see

that the guilt was upon Judas for having betrayed him. Peter says in Acts chapter 2 verse 23,

a very key statement about God’s justice and his righteousness and that God is powerful

enough to plan that man’s evil would accomplish certain things for his purposes without being

the author of that evil himself. Peter tells the crowd at Jerusalem that it had basically

the same crowd that it crucified Christ. Him talking about Jesus in verse 23, being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken him by wicked hands of crucified and slain whom God hath raised up, having loose the pains of death because

it was not possible that he should be holding of it. God determined to put Christ into a

situation where man by his own free will would, by God’s foreknowledge, by God’s understanding

of the hearts of the people he would put them among in the situation, God could tell that they would do what they did without Judas and everybody who played a role of guilt in Christ’s crucifixion. God could tell that he would do what they did without, while still

utterly having absolutely nothing to do with the actual wickedness and not being responsible for the wickedness in and of itself. That’s a really key point. I would bet that some,

maybe not everybody listened, but some of you might be familiar with the musical Jesus Christ Superstar, a very blasphemous, wicked musical that came out in the 70s and is so popular to this day. Jesus Christ Superstar, it not only gets Judas wrong, it gets virtually everything wrong, but it makes Judas out to be the victim. It makes it seem like Judas

had to do what he did. God himself was compelling him to do what he did. The Scriptures just

utterly clear God from their charge and placed the guilt upon Judas, as it rightfully is

on Judas here. So continuing on in verse 26, “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and busted and break and gave to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat, this is my body.’ And he took the company and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drinky, all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when

I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’ And when they had sung in him, they went out

into the Mount of Olives.” Albert Grant says on verse 26, “The meaning of this important passage may be thus expressed, ‘As I have given this broken bread to you to eat, so will I deliver my body to be afflicted and slain for your sins.'” The Roman Catholic

Church were about to get more into where the Roman Catholic Church would teach that their

version of communion, which this Catholic Church teaches that when the priest blesses the bread

in the wine during the Roman Catholic Mass, that they become literally the body and blood of Christ, the bread in the wine. And they used this passage to try to prove that. But,

it’s very obvious that Christ is speaking of the bread and wine symbolically of what

he was about to do on the cross and not teaching that this bread and wine that he was breaking

was literally going to be his body and his blood. And a clear proof of that is in verse

29. After he figuratively calls the bread his body and the wine his blood, he calls the wine this fruit of the vine. So that’s really key. It’s not like it had become his

blood. Literally, he’s speaking figuratively. And so the Roman Catholic Church is deceived

because the people believe that if they’re taking the Roman Catholic communion every week,

that they’re partaking of the body and blood of Christ and that they’re basically right with God because they’re in right standing with the Catholic Church and they’re taking

communion. And that’s just a major, major deception. So the Roman Catholic Church also disobeys verse 27. And that they don’t even insist their worshippers drink the cup in taking communion. And yet, if, I mean, the blood of Christ is a very, his body was shed, his body was broken that his blood might be an atonement for our sins. So the blood is

actually the most essential aspect of Christ’s salvation. So even if the Roman Catholic Church

was right, that you needed to take their communion by not even offering the cup to their worshippers,

they would still be not really giving anybody communion even by any standard anyways. Because

Jesus had his disciples drink the cup and he told them to drink all of it. Regarding

in verse 28, the New Testament, this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins. It’s clear in scripture that the blood represents the

life and that it was Christ’s perfect life that was laid down and was taken away that

is the atonement for man sin. If you go back to Leviticus chapter 17 verses 5 through 11,

I think, okay, I’m just going to read verse Leviticus 17, 11, “For the life of the flesh

is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls.” Obviously, the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament were temporary means of atonement for the Israelites until the ultimate true atonement that they represented would be made by Christ in shedding his blood. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls.” For it is a

blood that makes it an atonement for the soul. This is a point to bring up with Muslims.

If they can accept that the five books of Moses were of God, they have to acknowledge that there has to be a blood sacrifice to make an atonement for the soul, to make an atonement for sin. Obviously, Islam does not offer that atonement. Then we read in Isaiah 53, as really every other religion besides biblical Christianity does not offer such an atonement. Then we read in Isaiah 53, “Since the life of the flesh is in the blood and

the blood makes an atonement for the soul.” It says in Isaiah 53.10, which we know is

one of the clearest prophecies about the Messiah and his suffering to redeem man. It says in verse 10, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and

the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.” He poured out his soul unto death. I’ll keep reading in verse 11, “He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.

By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore, I will divide him a portion of the gradient. He shall divide the spoil with

the shrine, because he hath poured out his soul unto death.” He was numbered with the transgressors and he bear the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. Paul in giving an account of the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11, I’m just going to read Paul’s account. Paul basically gives the summary of everything that the Gospel writers put here together and maybe even a little bit more. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul’s rebuking

the Corinthians for their improper taking of the Lord’s Supper. He gives them the right

understanding of the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11, 23. “For I have received of the Lord that

which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed

to the bread.” So this is the account, the same thing we’re reading about in Matthew

26. “And when he had given thanks, he break it and said, ‘Take ye, this is my body which is broken for you, this is due in remembrance of me.’ After the same manner also the cup,

when he had soft or when he had eaten, saying, ‘This cup is a New Testament in my blood. This too is after he is drinking in remembrance of me.’ For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall

eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and

blood of the Lord.” Those who are not dead to sin and alive to God and are not in agreement,

not just with their head but with their legs with the purpose of his death, crucify him afresh as clearly Paul is saying here. So verse 20, “A beloved man examined himself and sold out of meat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that he ate it,” so he says eat of that bread and drink of that cup, he instituted both and the Roman Catholic Church has no right to take away the cup. “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily,

eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cosmony are weak and sickly among you and many sleep, for if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged. But when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord, we are chastened of

the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world.” So that’s the apostolic full account

of this which is important to look at here. The word for remission in verse 28 does not

merely mean pardon, but also the removal or taking away of sins. 1 Peter 2, verses 24 and 25, we read, “We see this illustrated, Peter writing to the Christians, he was writing to whom his own self there are sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes he were healed.”

So, “For ye were a sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls.”

So he shed his blood, not merely to just pardon our sins, but to save us from their power, and by being justified by his blood and renewed by his spirit, like Romans 8, 4 says, the righteousness of the Lord might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.

So let’s see here. To have been at this last supper, in verse 30, “And when they had sung in him, they went out into the Mount of Olives.” I’m not going to read it here, but the Jewish, the traditional Jewish Psalms that were sung at the Passover were sung at the Passover.

The Passover were Psalms 113 through 118 in order. They’re called the “Hail El Psalms.” I might not be pronouncing that right, but it’s from where we get the word “Hallelujah.”

And there are six Psalms in a row that talk about praising God for his goodness to Israel, and for basically how perfect to sing those Psalms when you’re commemorating the night that God delivered Israel out of the land of Egypt.

And obviously that’s a picture of the Passover land, and God redeeming Israel is all a picture of Christ, the salvation Christ would purchase to redeem those who would believe on him and be his people.

From the world and the devil and the flesh, they’ve seen its power.

So to have actually been there when Jesus and his disciples had sung those six Psalms, it’s just mind boggling to think about what that would have been like.

So continuing on in verse 31, “Then saith Jesus unto them,” now they’re at the Mount, we read in verse 30 that they went out into the Mount of Olives.

“Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

But after I am risen again, I will go before you in the Galilee.” He said this for encouragement.

It doesn’t preclude that he would make appearances before appearing to them in Galilee. And we know that he did appear to them in Jerusalem before he appeared to them in Galilee.

“Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, that this night before the cuckro thou shalt deny me thrice,” or three times.

“Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.” Likewise also said all the disciples.

In at least one of the Gospels we read that Jesus said that before the cuckro twice you’ll deny me thrice, or three times.

Twice is two times and thrice is three times. That can be reconciled because the cuck is a rooster and the rooster would normally crow twice from my understanding once around midnight and another time in the middle of the night, maybe 3am, maybe 6am.

I read different, I’m not totally sure about that. But the second cuckrowing would have been considered the ultimate time that cuckroed.

But it would have included the rooster would have crowed once before that. Think of it like, this is a good way to think of it.

When you go to a basketball game or a soccer game or most any game there’s a half time and there’s a buzzer or a whistle that’s blown at half time.

But then there’s the ultimate buzzer or the ultimate whistle that’s sounded at the end of the game.

So if you tell somebody at the beginning of a basketball game before the buzzer sounds they know that you mean the last buzzer.

But if you say the second buzzer they know you also mean the last buzzer. So it’s the same principle regarding the cuckrowing.

Whether Jesus had said the cuckrow or the cuckrow twice, somebody in this society would have understood those to mean the same thing.

We learned by Peter in the disciples here that devotion is not enough without the sparing of self-confidence and relying on God for strength.

We’re told in Hebrews 4.16 that let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We’re going to deal more with this at the end, but our need for God’s help and acknowledging that truly, that’s an aspect of obedience also.

The disciples, especially Peter, we’re going to learn a deep heart lesson about through this. So continue on in verse 36.

“And come with Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and say unto the disciples, Ye here will I go and pray yonder.

And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, just like he had often done on the Mount of Transfiguration.

And these three were the same that had come to him in chapter 24. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.

Thierry ye here, or weight ye here, Thierry means weight, and Thierry ye here in white with me.”

We learn from this. Well, first of all, in verse 36 Jesus would have passed over the Bruxhedron on the east of the city, which we learn from John 18.

The historicity of this is so important to know that this actually happened, that this isn’t a cartoon.

And this didn’t happen in some cartoon in some other world. This happened right in our world, real life, in places that exist right to this very day.

Gethsemane may signify an olive press in Hebrew, at least according to Adam Parker Albert Barnes.

And it’s very ironic that this is called the Garden of Gethsemane. And if it indeed does mean olive press, that’s basically Christ’s only year was pressed, was basically when Jesus said that My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.

What an appropriate place that this should happen. The names of places in the Bible can give a lot of insight into what’s actually happening.

It got often worked out in its providence. It’s something we’ve got to be careful about and not take too far, but there can be lessons about that.

In verse 37, when Jesus said, actually when it says that He began to be sorrowful and very heavy, that could actually mean pressed down or overwhelmed with great anguish.

According to Luke 22.44, He was so sorrowful and very heavy that He began to sweat drops of blood in addition to this, which some people have said is crazy.

But it’s been documented both historically and there are many cases in history where it’s recorded that people began to be in such distress and so terrified that they indeed had drops of blood in their sweat.

Even Jesus, and we also learned here that even Jesus in His humanity sought sympathy and support from Godly man. That’s not a sign of weakness when you are genuinely in distress to do that.

It’s amazing that we weren’t also from this Christ. We see that He had a human as well as a divine nature. That’s illustrated here.

That He had to face this trial as a man and now that He has been bought to the point where it’s inevitable. He knew this was going to happen before, obviously.

We read back in the Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus spoke with Moses and Elijah about his deceased, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.

He must have known from the time that he was a child that he was born to die in such a terrible way.

But God had helped him up to this point to be healthy and whole and to not let the anguish and the grief of what was going to happen to him cause him to be discouraged or to be moved from the grave.

He was not able to be moved from the will of God. But at this point, the reality of what was about to happen just came upon him.

He knew that it was time to face it. It’s hard to understand the reason that the grief came at this point other than that obviously he knew what was going to happen the next day.

There were obviously a lot of factors which I didn’t prepare enough about to get into. But continuing on here, verse 39, he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed,

saying, “Oh, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass for me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as I will.”

Obviously, the Father did not let this cup pass for him. We learned by this that there was absolutely no way to save us.

Besides Christ actually dying, there was no way man could atone for his own sins. There’s nothing man could do to appease God.

Christ himself had to make atonement. Paul said in Galatians, “If righteousness comes by the law, then Christ does that in vain.”

Meaning if men could achieve a record that would justify them by the merit of their own works.

Obviously, antinomians and lawless gospel preachers abuse it, but no person can take a record of their deeds and hand it to God and say that they had never sinned and don’t deserve death and hell.

Obviously, the antinomians, the lawless gospel preachers, they preach that if you just accept what Jesus did, you’re saved.

When the Bible and the truth teaches it, only those who are wholeheartedly sorry for their sins and in agreement with the standard of God’s law and wholeheartedly striving to do what’s right in God’s eyes by his grace are eligible for Christ’s atonement.

Only those who are truly repentant and obedient are eligible for the atonement. But everybody needs the atonement. Nobody can present a record that would justify them apart from Christ’s atonement being applied to them.

And we learned that here. Albert Parnes says on verse 39, “In this Christ has left us a model in all times of affliction. It is right in times of calamity to seek deliverance. Like the Savior also in such seasons, we should, we must submit surefully to the will of God, confident that in all these trials he is wise and merciful and good.”

So obviously, we learned by this that it’s not right to want to be safe from suffering. It’s not cowardly to say, “I wish that this did not have to be the case.”

But it is cowardly to not submit to God and go through with the suffering that you need to go through for righteousness to seek.

And obviously, a lot of times when we’re faced with terrible trials, we can see them coming, but we don’t know exactly what’s going to happen.

Maybe things won’t end up being as bad for us as they seem they’re going to be.

But Jesus knew what needed to happen and that there was no possibility that he was going to be saved from the total extent of the suffering that was before him.

So verse 40, “He cometh unto the disciples and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What could ye not watch with me one hour?”

It’s interesting that Peter was the most bold to say he was ready to face death with him, and Jesus specifically speaks to Peter here.

“Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Continue on.

“He went away again the second time and prayed, saying, ‘O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, I will be done.'”

So despite the fact that he would have rather not faced it, despite the fear you could say, the anguish about it, he’s still understanding that there was nothing else that could be done submitted to the will of God.

And in this he was, we read in Hebrews chapter 5 about how Jesus learned obedience by the things that he suffered.

And this was, he experienced what it meant to obey as a man, and what it meant to submit to the will of God in actuality.

And he was made perfect at this point when he submitted to the death of the cross in Philippians chapter 2, we read,

Paul tells Philippians in verse 5, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,

but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.

And being found in fashion as a man.” So not only humbling himself to take the form of a servant and being made in the likeness of men,

and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself even further. Those are my words, but that’s what’s implied.

“And became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.”

In Hebrews chapter 2.15-17, this is amazing and mysterious. We read that, I’m sorry, 2, okay, I’ll read 2.14-18.

“For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the scene, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death,

that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels,

but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things that behold him, or was fitting for him to be made like unto his brethren,

that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest, and things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted,

he is able to secure or come to the aid of them that are tempted.” Very confident verses for Christians in distress that we should never forget.

So verse 43, “And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them and went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words.”

So just because Jesus forbid vain repetition and prayer, he didn’t forbid on being persistent and pouring out your soul when it’s genuinely in anguish,

and genuinely needs to cast its burden upon God. “Then come with each of the disciples and say unto them, ‘Sleep on now and take your rest. Behold the hour is at hand,

and the Son of Man has betrayed him to the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. Behold, he is at hand at death. Be free me.'”

A little bit hard to understand there. Maybe he was being sarcastic in verse 45. Maybe he was going to just let him sleep,

and then he saw that Judas and his company were really coming. And then he woke them up and pulled them to rise.

But regardless, verse 47, “And while he yet speak, O Judas, one of the twelve came and with him a great multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests and elders of the people.”

Very great lesson here of how Gospel preachers who do not preach for repentance and who do not discern for repentance and proclaim people to be Christians without true repentance,

without true submission to discipleship and to Christ’s teachings. They might lead a lot of people to believe that they have faith in Jesus,

and a lot of people to come to church and to make professions of faith in him, or people who have been born again to think that they don’t need to obey anymore.

So they’ll confidently profess Jesus and think that they say they belong to him. But when they’re not repentant and obedient, they’re ultimately going to betray him.

Just like Jesus talked about how the man that built his house on the rock, that when the floods and wind and rain came, that that house could not be shaken,

was founded upon a rock. But he did hear it then, my words do it then, not as like a man that built his house on the sand.

And he talked about how when the winds and rain and flood came and beat upon that house and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

And so preachers who preach false grace and easy believers, and ultimately a man-centered gospel that does not lead men to true repentance and to be obedient disciples of Christ,

bring a multitude to Jesus who are ultimately going to end up betraying him in a very, what’s likely to be a very public shameful way,

just like you would hear about a multitude to Christ who ended up publically turning against him and betraying him.

So verse 48, “Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign saying, ‘Whomsoever I shall kiss, next to him is he, hold him fast.’ And forthwith, or immediately he came to Jesus and said, ‘Hail, master,’ and kissed him.”

In another one of the gospels, Jesus said, “Judas, betray us, thou the Son of Man with a kiss.” Many people betray Christ and corrupt his word. This honestly teaches word, seek to use Christ for their own gain and for their own reputation.

But all the while saying that they love him, they’re essentially like Judas betraying the Son of Man with a kiss.

We also learned by verse 48 that the multitude needed, the multitude that Judas bought to Jesus needed Judas to betray him in the garden at night, which is a very strange hint that Christ looked like an ordinary Jew in the first century.

That he certainly was not the white skinned rock and roll figure, white-haired rock and roll sissy figure that he’s portrayed in western art.

He would have looked like a first century Jew, probably with brownish color skin that was very much affected by the heat of the sun, would have dressed like a first century Jew.

Obviously, God hasn’t given us, didn’t leave us any further description, but we can imply from the scriptures that he looked like a common first century Jewish man.

That’s really important because we don’t want to be infected by the idolatrous false representation of him that is infected on western culture because that just simply does not represent him properly.

I’m sure that he doesn’t look like the white-haired, white-skinned rock and roll star that he’s portrayed in the media today.

So verse 15, “And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come.” Friends here, it’s like back in chapter 22. Back in 22, it’s the same word as in 22.12.

Not implying somebody who’s like my friend that I can trust, but implying a companion. Obviously, Judas had been a companion of Christ for about three years.

The fact that he had been among the disciples and been so near to him and had been his whole companion, it was all the more shameful that he was betraying him here.

In verse 50, it’s also a good question to those who would persecute God’s people, especially those who would have once been members of a church and once possibly even a true believer.

So verse 15, “Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? And came they and laid hands on Jesus and took him. And behold one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest and smote off his ear.”

We know that this was Peter from the other Gospels and that this was a servant named Melchized. And we know that Jesus healed his ear to show how he did good to his enemies and to show this crowd how unreasonable it was that they were coming out against him, yet they still took him.

“Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place. For all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” This is obviously not teaching pacifism.

Albert Brandtz pointed out how in Luke 22, Jesus told his disciples that they would, to take two swords with them, he actually commanded it. And Brandtz pointed out how they would need these now to protect themselves from robbers when they were traveling.

Jesus was not, by verse 52, he was not forbidding self-defense and defense of others when there was real, true life-threatening danger. But he’s talking about, Romans 13 talks about how the civil government bears not the sword in vain.

And these were civil authorities. The Jewish authorities were commissioned by the Romans themselves. They were lawful authorities.

So verse 52, I can’t define it exactly, but it definitely has to do with taking up the sword against the civil authority and at other times when it’s unreasonable.

Just because self-defense and defense of the weak is permitted to a Christian, when it comes to governmental authorities, you really gotta flee. And it really is, and it really is, this could lead to many, many problems when it comes to, when it comes to fighting them.

As well as when it comes to using force out of, when it’s not really necessary, when it’s out of personal vengeance, or when it’s out of certainly rebellion against the government, against the Romans or whoever your government is.

There’s many of the false messiahs themselves resorted to. And that’s definitely what Jesus was getting at here. And furthermore, Jesus is gonna, in the following verses, show why using the sword was especially unreasonable at this time.

He says in verse 53, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels.” A legion was a Roman army unit of over 6,000.

And there were now twelve men, Jesus and the eleven disciples, now the Judas was gone. So there probably is logic in which Jesus, deeper logic even, in what he says here. It wasn’t just a random number probably.

But he says in verse 54, “But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” I believe that what Jesus said in verse 54 was a comfort to his disciples and a caution to the pride of his enemies.

That this is not you prevailing against me, but this is done, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.

So in verse 55 again we see this Jesus rebuking the deceptive, secretive, sly nature of his persecutors.

Verse 55, “In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, ‘Are ye come out as against the thief with swords and staves, for it takes me.’ I sat daily with you teaching in the temple.” Which Jesus taught was openly. And in John’s gospel he elaborated that what I’ve said I’ve said before the world and I’ve said nothing in secret.

I’m paraphrasing that. But Jesus taught openly and he had nothing to hide, but these men wouldn’t take him publicly for fear of the multitude, but they worked their plans in secret behind the scenes.

That’s just some great contrast between light and darkness illustrated. “I sat daily with you teaching in the temple and you laid no hold on me.”

But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. “Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.”

Okay, so continue on in verse 56. I’m sorry, verse 57.

“And David laid hold on Jesus, led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled.

But Peter filed him afar off unto the high priest’s palace and went in and sat with the servants to see the end.”

We know from John’s gospel that he sat with the servants to warm himself at the foyer.

There’s a lesson here about getting cozy with the world, even in a case where it was legitimate.

There’s nothing wrong with warming yourself at the foyer.

But I’m sure Peter heard on the conversation of these servants.

You know, he very well, just in hearing their conversation, may be getting friendly with them, may be hearing them speculate privately that he might be one of Jesus’s disciples.

He very well may have had many fears of his maybe wanting to not get in their bad favor out of wanting to please them over out of fear for his own life.

He might have had such desires kindled by being at the foyer with the servants like that.

Verse 59, “The chief priests and elders and all the counsel sought false witness against Jesus to put them to death, but found none.” We learn by Mark that their witness agreed not together.

“Yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found a none. At the last came two false witnesses and said, ‘This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’

And the high priest arose and said unto him, ‘Answers, though nothing, what is these witnesses against?'”

Obviously, these false witnesses were not agreed in terms of what Jesus exactly said and what he meant by that.

And the high priest was obviously not just, and he tried to make Jesus bear witness against himself.

But we read in verse 63, “But Jesus held his peace.” And that’s definitely a lesson.

We learn in Mark 15 when Jesus was being attacked before Pilate verbally that Jesus said nothing at their accusation.

And we learn later in the chapter that Pilate knew that for envy, the chief priests had delivered him up.

There’s a way in which when a man isn’t quick to…it’s not right to give an account when we’re charged with things and to tell people what actually happened.

But sometimes when people are just unreasonable and carnal and what they’re saying is just utterly ridiculous, we learn from Jesus it can be good to just simply say nothing.

Certainly it’s right to not think that we have to jump and defend ourselves at every little accusation.

And unbelievers can see a man’s character and a man’s confidence in God and can often, even if they’re just a little honest, see that these people are not being just.

They clearly have an evil agenda and this man is obviously not carnal like them.

And they’ll see that if they’re even just a little bit honest, they’ll see that just by the way they’re acting,

I can see that this man is much more reasonable and much more bare minded and honest than these men who are attacking him,

which I’m sure that many who are witnessing these trials could have seen continuing on then.

We read in Mark 14.56 about the false witnesses that came against Jesus, that their witness agreed not together.

So there’s a key principle here about those different religions, different attacks on the Word of God, different reasons people have why the Word of God is not true,

different doctrinal hang-ups of people have to militate against true obedience to Christ, true holiness, true godly living.

Their witness agrees not together.

All the different opposers to Christ and his doctrine are not agreed among themselves.

And it’s a march against people who adopt false doctrine and false religion and reject the Bible and thereby reject Christ.

And that had they studied the issue fully and carefully, they would have seen that they had no reasonable ground to reject Christ and his word,

and that they should have instead bowed to Christ and become an obedient disciple.

And that’s very similar to what, and that’s basically the same issue here that we’re about to get into more fully.

Verse 63, “But Jesus held his peace, and the high priest answered and said unto him, ‘I had journeyed by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.'”

Notice how the Jewish understanding is that the Christ or the Messiah would be the Son of God.

So basically when he says, “I had journeyed by the living God,” he’s putting him to an oath.

And this goes back to chapter — and Elvin Barnes himself paraphrases this. “I put the upon oath before God.”

It implies calling God the witness, the truth of what was said.

So we see this goes back to chapter 5 regarding oaths that Jesus was clearly talking about casual, false, swearing by anything other than calling God to witness in hopes of not really having to follow through on your oath is what Jesus was rebuking here.

That there’s a time to swear upon under oath in serious and solemn matters still, and that Jesus’ teaching was not negating that.

And Jesus himself answers in verse 64, under oath.

So verse 64, “Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said,” which is basically a Jewish way of saying, “Yes, it’s true. Nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming into clouds of heaven.”

If you go to Daniel chapter 7, God calls Ezekiel the son of man in a sense of like, “You’re a weak, frail man who needs to acknowledge your dependence upon God as a prophet.”

So there’s a sense in which Jesus and his humility took upon him the son of man in that sense.

But there’s a sense in which the son of the Jews understood the son of man to be the Messiah himself, who was ultimately the son of man.

Think of son in terms of like the one that inherits everything from the Father, the one who’s Lord of all and ruler of all by the Father’s decree.

That’s the sense in which Daniel uses the term son of man.

So this what Jesus said in verse 64 was an admission to being the Messiah because it’s a reference to Daniel chapter 7, where it says that Daniel says in Daniel 7, 13, “I saw the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the ancient of days, and they bought him near before him.

And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away in his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”

So that’s what Jesus was referring to in verse 64.

So continuing on then in verse 65, “Then the high priest ran his clothes, saying, ‘He has spoken blasphemy. What further need we have witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy.

What think ye, he is speaking to the St. Edward, to the Jewish council, the governing body of Israel. What think ye, they answered and said, ‘He is guilty of death.’

Then they did spit in his face, which is the highest form of contempt and insult, and buffeted him, meaning that they hid him with their fists, and others smote him with the palms of their hands, the open-handed strike, saying, ‘Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who is he that smote thee?’

It’s very ironic that they condemn Christ for blasphemy, but Luke adds at this point, and many other things, plants famously spake they against him.

They charged Christ for blasphemy when they were in the highest act of blasphemy themselves at this moment, which, those words would imply there.

So it’s Luke 22.65, there’s great irony.

So, yes, if Christ had not been the Son of God, he would truly have spoken blasphemy, and would have been worthy of that.

But back to what I was saying about their witnesses, agree not together.

People who look at all the evidence for Christ in the Bible and thoroughly consider it will see that he really is the Son of God, that he really is Lord of all, and really should be bowed down to, and obeyed, and served, and worshipped.

And these men condemned Christ because they were offended by him, and they did not honestly consider the evidence that they had had before them, and all the signs he had wrought,

and the perfection of his doctrine, and its agreement and insight with the Old Testament, the Word of God they had at the time.

Had they done that, and considered the Old Testament scriptures about the Messiah, had they done that, they would have had to conclude that he was the Messiah and bowed before him.

But they were quick to heed the false witnesses, because they wanted to find them guilty.

And they were willfully ignorant of all the evidence, and those who corrupt Bible doctrine, and those who outright reject the scriptures, ultimately make the same damnable error that these men did.

So continuing on in verse 69. It’s interesting that in all this the focus is not completely upon Jesus at this time.

Peter’s denials of the Word that we’re about to read about are in all four Gospels. Not even Christ’s birth is in all four Gospels.

Only the feeding of the five thousand, and Christ’s death and resurrection, maybe a couple other things.

But Peter’s denials of the Lord are on a very short list of things that are included in all four Gospels.

Now Peter said without any repelice, and a damned Lord, a young woman came unto him, saying thou also was with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before all saying, I know not what thou sayest.

And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there.

This was also with Jesus of Nazareth, and he denied with an oath. Notice how Peter sinfully uses the oath when he’s lying.

The lie came with a casual oath, and that has a lot to do with what Jesus was rebuking back in chapter 5.

And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a while, came unto him, David stood by and said to Peter, surely thou also are one of them.

For thy speech be ready, or his speech makes him known. It’s likely that since he was from Galilee that there was something about the way the Galileans talked, compared to those in Judea and Jerusalem that made it clear that they were from Galilee.

And obviously the fact that Peter would have been from Galilee would in and of itself have been a hint that he would have been with Jesus.

Then began he to curse and to swear, that this was truly awful, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock grew the second time, the ultimate cock growing.

And Peter remembered the word of Jesus which said unto him, Before the cock grow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

And he went out and went bitterly.

It’s amazing, Albert Barnes points out how all the Gospel learners record this. And this is a proof of their honesty and credibility.

And even the Gospel according to Mark, which is basically understood to have been a Gospel that was basically spoken to Mark by Peter, or at least it had Peter’s approval.

And we see that in 1 Peter chapter 5 of Scripture, we’re going to read the closeness of Peter and Mark together.

Mark’s Gospel gives the greatest details, the one that was either spoken to Mark by Peter or approved by Peter himself gives the greatest details about Peter’s denial.

This is a proof of the honesty and credibility of the apostles, that they would expose Peter, who was the chief leader.

He wasn’t the first pope, but he was obviously the chief apostle to the Jews.

He was obviously one of the pillars, one of the most well-known Christians in the early church, that they would expose this.

We learn here that we see how one sin leads to another, how Peter’s overly, maybe you could say, his prideful self-confidence led to lying, which led to cursing and swearing, and ultimately even denying that he knew Christ.

We learn here that great favors do not protect us from great sins, and we see that they actually, I think it’s reasonable to say that the great favors conferred upon Peter made us sin all the greater.

We learn the danger of self-confidence in 1 Corinthians 10, 12, and 13. It’s a warning that I’m not going to go there right now.

It says, “Wherefore let him to think it that he standeth, take heed lest he fall.”

There is no temptation taking you, such as this common demand, but God is faithful, who would the temptation make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.

But those who think that they stand are going to fall if they don’t acknowledge that they need God’s help, and that they need his grace to find that way of escape that he would provide.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,” we know is the first principle, the kingdom of God, a truly practical acknowledgement upon God of dependence upon him, and need for his grace, his divine aid and assistance.

We also are going to learn, though, by Peter’s repentance. Failure can be beneficial, and this is a key, when you refuse to accept failure.

Peter didn’t say, “Well, when he fell, God’s grace is going to cover me, so I’m okay.” He didn’t try to justify himself. He didn’t accept failure, and we know that his weeping bitterly by the aftermath was true Godly sorrow that leads to repentance, that he’s endlessly sought to avenge.

Your words can be left by God when they get overly confident, to break that confidence, to be left so as to fall into great sins.

We have a lesson in Peter that there can be mercy and a second chance for those who will be broken and will sincerely repent and sincerely get back up and take the precaution and seek God like they didn’t before in their failure being brought about.

It’s also interesting that Peter was braver, even though he was wrongfully brave. Peter was braver before the soldiers in drawing the sword than he was with the maidservants and the other servants who were at the fire.

It’s possible for a man to be out on the streets, rebuking a multitude of people rightfully or in a right manner or a wrong manner, and especially if it’s in a wrong manner, it’s possible for that same man to be afraid of people within his own church and to rebuke people who are even more guilty within his own church and to maybe be afraid of his wives and daughters.

There are many men who are willing to rebuke sinners at bars who are afraid to rebuke their wives and daughters for their modest rest.

And you see that just by many street preachers how they can act on the streets and then you see their families and you see their daughters dressed just as bad as the woman that they’re calling, that they’re rebuking at the bars and at the college campuses.

There’s many street preachers. I’m just going to mention one since it’s public knowledge anyway, so Reuben Israel, this guy’s out on the streets, you know, seeing…

He can be fall-mouthed, he can be inappropriate, but you can admire him at times for his boldness, but yet despite that, his own younger disciples can be even more fall-mouthed and inappropriate and arrogant than even he can put up signs wearing shirts that say, “You deserve rape.”

And even using deception to try to preach the gospel, going into sinful businesses and acting like they’re patrons of the business.

Well, another one preaches outside and the other preacher who’s inside pretending to be a patron of the business will be acting like he’s getting convicted by the preaching outside and talking to the other people in there, “Oh, well, I’m getting convicted.”

And Reuben Israel doesn’t rebuke those guys. He’s proving that he either agrees with their conduct or that he’s afraid to rebuke them.

And there’s just a lot of instances like that regarding that street preaching circle and regarding other men who aren’t in that circle.

So there’s just… I don’t know exactly what to conclude by it, but we just see by Peter’s example that it’s possible to seem so bold in one case, and yet in another case, it seems like it ought to be a lot easier to just be another coward.

And certainly it teaches us the limitations of human strength and human ability.

And this human confidence is confidence in ourselves and anything that… any attribute about ourselves that we would pride ourselves in and say, “Oh, I’m good there. I’m strong there.”

Flesh has its limits, and God will see through it, especially regarding those that he sees ultimately have a heart for him.

He’ll see through it that those limits are exposed to persuade them that they need to humble themselves and pray that they, let’s say, enter into temptation.

Peter learned his lesson from all of this, and it’s a lesson that…

It’s a heart that he adopted, a heart that we’ve got to make sure we have and have to a deeper and higher degree.

And those who are serious about pleasing God and serious about not having a testimony that’s a shame for him need to take heed to this lesson Peter learned.

So we’re going to close by reading in 1 Peter chapter 5, verses… we’ll read through the end of the book just to show the connection too between Peter and Mark and how Peter must have…

to show how reasonable it would be to believe that Peter had a large role in Mark’s gospel.

In 1 Peter 5, Peter says, “Lake wise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yes, all of you be subject one to another and be cold with humility.

For God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him. For he careth for you.

Be sober, be vigilant.” So notice in calling us to humility and under the mighty hand of God and casting all our care upon him, there’s with that a call to be sober, be vigilant.

Because you’re adversary, the devil is a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Home resists steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

But the God of all grace with called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus. After that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you.

To him be glory and dominion forever and ever, amen. By Sylvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose I have written briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein you stand.

And we need to read the whole book of 1 Peter to hear that testimony of the true grace of God wherein Christians stand.

The church that is at Babylon elected together with you, seludith with you, and so that Mark is my son. That’s the Mark who wrote the gospel according to Mark.

Greet you one another with a kiss of purity. Peace with you all that are in Christ Jesus, amen.

Amen, brother. Good word. You know, I’ve been praying about these studies, and as we’re coming to the end here and the schedule has changed, of course, we’ll talk about the schedule and whatnot as we go along here.

But there was so many things in that chapter, although my favorite chapter was chapter 25, there’s so many things in chapter 26 that just, you know, sparks are wanting more, at least for myself, you know, to want to learn more about those specific things.

Well, I was just thinking about all the different things that you went through in this chapter, so I’m going to end this study here. I don’t really have any questions.

Ron, are you still on the call? Do you have any questions that we would want to get on the recording for anything in that chapter?

No, I don’t.

Okay, so we’ll fellowship after this. So let me just stop this. I want to thank everybody for listening to this. That was a fantastic study, as usual, brother Aaron.

But that was a really, really good chapter. You clarified actually a couple of things for me, too, that I had questions on a few things there, but they’ve already been clarified by your biblical references there in teaching.

So thank you everybody for listening, everybody that’s listening to the recording. We thank you so much. We know you get greatly edified by these, and that’s why we do them, and we’re going to try to keep them up as long as the Lord will.

So thank you for listening. God bless you.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 27 Week 25

Good evening everybody and welcome to the Global Mission for Children Bible study. It’s Tuesday night here in the US and Wednesday night overseas.

We want to thank brother Aaron Carey for continuing to put up with us here every week. He really does such a great job showing us the Bible here.

We’re on chapter 27.

We’re going through the book of Matthew. This is a study through the book of Matthew.

We believe it’s the most complete book and it touches just about every single subject that there is in the Bible.

This week we’re going to be on chapter 27 of Matthew. We thank you for joining us.

Anybody that’s listening to us on the recording too, obviously turn to chapter 27.

You can also stop this recording and take notes because brother Aaron does do a lot of references.

Those people that are on today too, I would suggest you get out a pen or a pencil and

a piece of paper and write down the references because brother Aaron goes at a nice pace. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up if you’re just not writing stuff down.

This is going to be recorded though.

Everybody that’s on tonight will also have that reference.

Without further ado brother Aaron, thank you so much again for giving us your time. We’ll turn it over to you.

Thanks brother Jimmy.

We definitely have a lot to cover here in Matthew 27. I’m just going to give right into it.

I just have a few notes on Peter.

We ended chapter 26 where Peter had denied Jesus three times before the cock wrote, before

the rooster closed.

Peter is weeping bitterly in godly sorrow at the end of chapter 26.

I just had a few more lessons from Peter that you see by just the general lesson that Peter had learned that we looked at in 1 Peter chapter 5, we read through verse 5 to the end of the chapter at the end of the last study.

Nobody can really grow in Christ and go on with him without becoming greater acquainted with their own natural weakness and ability because there’s just the greater temptations you would face and the harder the trials that God would lead you into, those who would go

on and get victory and would continue in victory have to see their own insufficiency and their need to really learn the lesson that Jesus said that without me you can do nothing.

And finding God’s grace to overcome sin and temptation, it develops a greater thankfulness to Christ for his delivering power.

And those who don’t, and any time somebody starts to feel self-confident and self-sufficient while they’re letting the things he stands to take you bless you all.

And sadly that is a lesson that many real Christians have to learn and it’s a lesson that God wants

to teach us deeper and so that’s why God will allow his servants to fail sometimes.

And we talked about how failure, somebody who is, who doesn’t have a great attitude

towards God, somebody who is, who isn’t really seeking to please God can accept failure but

somebody who is, but somebody who set their heart on pleasing God will not accept failure if they continue to have their attitude.

And failure can be beneficial to the person who won’t accept failure and we see that with Peter.

There’s also just a truth that everybody who grows and goes on with grace is going to understand

with their experience that they have a lot left to learn and it’s kind of like growing

and learning in the Lord are always going to be accompanied with understanding that

if it’s genuine it’s going to be accompanied with the understanding that they have a lot left to learn and a greater awareness of your own limitations and that we’re not invincible.

And so those are just, and also just the thought that if we think we know all the answers, experience

teaches the person who continues in the faith that the questions can change and so we constantly

need to seek out for wisdom and there’s just a general attitude of self-sufficiency which

is an aspect of disobedience because we talked about last time how depending on God and prayer

and not relying on our own strength, that is an aspect of obedience and that people who

feel themselves naturally confident and self-sufficient, if they’re, at the very least, God is going

to deal with that and teach them that I work to break them of that and part of continuing in the faith is cooperating with that and learning lessons related to that.

So we’re going to start then with Matthew 27. We’ve got a lot to cover here.

This is a line chapter but I want to get to it all but we’ll see how this goes. So we’re going to just start reading in Matthew 27.

So verse 1, “When the morning was come all the chief priests and elders of the people

took counsel against Jesus to put him to death and when they bound him they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.

This was, they had already judged him guilty the night before but this counsel was really just a plan to see how they could accuse him to Pilate and get him to be put to death by the authority of the Romans since the death penalty was not lawfully there to execute.

And they wanted to clear themselves publicly of Christ’s execution because they were afraid of the people.

But they were trying to make it look like they were careful and conscious about condemning him and bringing him to the governor and that they had really considered the evidence and we know that they didn’t really care about that, that they just wanted him and God.

And so this whole counsel, at least when it came to what they were trying to make it look

like before the people, it was a deception.

Verse 3, “Then Judas which had betrayed him when he saw that he was condemned, repented

himself and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, ‘I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.’

And they said, ‘What is left to us?’ and seeth out of that.

And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself.”

So here’s a quote from overgarns on this. “The word rendered repented himself.

It has been observed.

It is not of necessity to know the change for the better, but any change of views and feelings.

Here it evidently means no other change than that produced by the words of a guilty conscience

and by deep remorse for crime and its unexpected results. It was not saving repentance.

That leads to a holy life.” That’s an important point.

“This led to an increase of crime in his own death and his committing suicide. True repentance leads the sinner to the Savior.

This led away from the Savior to the gallels.

Judas if he had done a true precedent would have then come to Jesus, would have confessed

his crime at his feet, or at least would have repented before the Father and then led to the resurrected Christ.”

That’s my answer.

And so if he had been a true planter, he would have sought pardon for what he did. But overgarns continues, “But overwhelmed with remorse and conviction of vast guilt,

he was not willing to come into God’s presence and added to the crime of treason that of

self-murder.

Assuredly, such a man could not be a true penitent.” That’s from overgarns.

Judas, a lot of people in their shallow understanding of repentance might think that Judas repented

here because Judas had admitted he had done wrong. He felt great guilt about it.

He even did some things, he even cast a silver down in the temple. Obviously true repentance makes restitution for what is done where possible.

But this all came true out of true repentance and Judas continued to put pleasing self over pleasing God.

And the horror of his guilty conscience overwhelming him, that in itself was not repentance.

And he dealt with that horror by doing what was still in his own best interest, ahead of what was in the Lord’s interest.

And he took his own life to relieve himself, to take away the torment he felt rather than, I mean contrast this to Peter and his weeping, bitterly in godly sorrow.

And obviously surrendering to serve God with the life he had left, he was led to the risen Christ.

In Acts 9-6 when Paul was persecuting the Christians and Christ appeared to him, he said, “Lord,

what will thou have me to do?”

There was nothing like this from Judas here.

True repentance turns to live to God and to promote with truth and righteousness. Judas certainly didn’t do this.

True repentance bows to God’s sovereign right to have dominion and power over us.

In Luke 24 and 20, the book of Judas 25 we read, “You concludes his letter, now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence

of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.”

So not just in heaven, but now and ever.

And so Judas obviously, even though he had a change of mind about the things he didn’t betray in Christ, he just increased his crime by how he dealt with it, rather than turning

to God and being repentant towards God.

And it’s important to understand the difference between Judas’s repentance over one thing versus a heart that’s truly repentant towards the Lord.

We see by verse 4 that these priests should have, when Judas brought the 30 pieces of silver to them, they should have cared about justice being done, but they didn’t.

So these men were such great hypocrites.

One of the things that in like a sixth aid, it says, “He has showed the old man what is good and what the Lord required of thee, but to do justly and to show mercy and to walk hungry with thy God.”

But these men were, we’re going to see by verse 6, they were concerned about small matters

of the law, when the waiter met, who’s like judgment and justice and mercy, they cared not for it all.

We see again here how the blood equals the life, Leviticus 1711.

And just another thing with verse 5, Matthew records the means of Judas’s death and that he hanged himself.

Peter recorded the end result in Acts 1, 18.

It’s very, when he talked about how Judas fell headlines and his balls, and was torn asunder and his balls are his intestines fell out.

It’s very possible.

And the common understanding which both Elbert Burns and Aaron Clark think is probable is

that Judas went to hang himself on a weak rope.

And so when he went down on the rope, the rope broke and that could have caused him to fall

down on possibly from a great height to a rock or something.

And that would have had he fallen on his face, it could have the impact of the fall could

have ripped out his insides. Okay, so continuing then.

Verse 6, “And the chief priest took the silver pieces and said it is not lawful for to put them into the treasury because it is a price of blood.”

So they just completely disregard justice and condemn an innocent man to death, but they’re concerned not to use this money into the treasury of the temple.

“And they took counsel and brought with them the father’s field to bury strangers in, wherefore

their field was called the field of blood unto the state.”

This really shows the condition of Israel at this time we’ve talked about.

There was a general attitude of seriousness about ceremonial law, but carelessness about weir mirrors of the law like justice.

Albert Barnes notes that people are often scrupulous in small things which aren’t bothered by committing

grave crimes.

Without realizing it, his priest had acknowledged Jesus’s innocence. Albert Barnes notes they had brought him, not condemned him justly. They condemned him justly.

They wouldn’t have needed to pay a price for his blood.

Adam Clark makes a very interesting note with verse 7, “The bodies of strangers and foreigners

have a place of rest in the field purchased by the price at which his life was valued.

And the souls of strangers and foreigners have a place of rest and refuge in his blood, which was shed as a ransom price for the salvation of the whole world.”

Very interesting.

I know that Ephesians 2, 12, and 13, I’m not going to turn there, but that’s, if you write that down.

In verse 8, when it says to this day, Matthew was obviously talking about when he wrote his gospel, which was probably about 80/60.

But whenever he did write it, that’s what he meant by to this day.

In verse 9, “Then was fulfilled there which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, and they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they

of the children of Israel did value, and gave them for the father’s field, as the Lord appointed me.”

It’s interesting that this is not a quote from the book of Jeremiah, but it’s a quote from Zechariah 11, 12, and 13.

It seems that in Zechariah’s context, God had sent Zechariah to the priest at the time to see how much they valued his prophetic ministry.

And they gave him thirty pieces of silver and contempt.

And we talked about how that was the price of a common sleeve, and that that was probably why they gave Judas that amount for Christ to show their contempt of him.

And it seems that the priests in Zechariah’s time had done the same thing to him in valuing his ministry, and that God had directed him to give the silver to the potter, or maybe

throw them in the potter’s field also at that time.

And so it was an actual circumstance, and it happened in actuality.

The prophetic fulfillment happened in the priests buying the potter’s field.

So how do we reconcile the fact that this is from Zechariah and not Jeremiah?

The best explanation I can find is that the Jews had three writings and sections of their Bible, the Hebrew Bible, which we call the Old Testament.

And it was the Wild Moses, Genesis, Deuteronomy, the Psalms basically, which were like Psalms,

Proverbs, and probably Ecclesiastes and the Psalm of Solomon. And then the prophets was the other category.

And Jeremiah was the first book in the order of their Bible at this time.

And so it’s probable that Matthew, considering the effect, may have included any writings of the prophets under the heading of Jeremiah the prophet.

So that’s the best explanation I can find about that.

We know that whatever the explanation is, God, even if it seems wrong to us, even if something the Bible seems wrong to us, if you fully investigate it and were to get all

the information, there would definitely at least be a deeper explanation that was right. Okay, so continuing on with verse 11.

And Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, saying, “Art thou the king of the Jews?”

And Jesus said unto him, thou sayest.”

And we talked about how that is a Jewish way of saying that it is true.

And we know Jesus’ conversation with Pilate more fully in Acts by John 18, that Pilate knew that Jesus was not a rival king to Caesar.

Pilate knew that Jesus wasn’t a rival king to Caesar, like the Jewish leaders were accusing him of, because he knew Jesus had told him that his kingdom was not of this world.

And if it were of this world, then his servants would fight, that he should not be delivered to the Jews.

But he said, “Now is my kingdom not from here.”

So the Jewish leaders had condemned Jesus for blasphemy and for saying he was the son of God.

But before Pilate, in their hypocritical inconsistency, they were accusing him of being a rival king

to Caesar.

And that was probably the real meaning of their counsel, in verse 1 there.

So in verse 12, “And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing, then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee, or they accuse him of?

And he answered him to never a word, in so much that the governor marveled greatly.” Very great lessons here.

Adam Clark says, “The Jews had undoubtedly delivered him to Pilate as one who was rising up against the authority of the Roman emperor and assuming the regal office, accusing him of being a rival king to Caesar.”

In verse 12, we learn a lesson that there’s no need to answer a charge against you that can’t be proven.

There’s not even any evidence whatsoever that might seem to prove it.

Albert Burns says on verse 14, “The pilot was probably more surprised that he bore this so meekly and did not return railing for railing.”

And did not return railing for railing. And then he did not set up a defense.

The latter was unnecessary setting up a defense. The former was unusual.

The governor was not accustomed to see it and was therefore greatly amazed. There’s a lesson.

There’s a proverb about this that Jesus obviously fulfills everything good in the Word of God perfectly.

Proverbs 25.15.

This is just such a perfect instance of a Jesus before Pilate.

Proverbs 25.15, “By wine forbears a prince persuaded and a soft tongue break at the bone.” How appropriate.

I think that’s a lesson that anybody who’s been on Facebook knows that many, many, many who profess the name of Christ don’t understand when it comes to being accused.

One of the requirements of an elder listed in either Titus or Christimathy is no striker.

That means a striker is somebody who is quick to rise up and enter into controversy when someone attacks them.

And that doesn’t just mean, that especially means verbally and especially when they’re ministering in the Word or some work they’ve done for God or they think they’re doing for God is threatened.

Also continuing on in Matthew 27 verse 15.

“Now that that feast the governor was want or it was usual for him to release unto the people of prisoner whom they would.”

It’s hard to say when this custom arose.

It’s not, it’s obviously not recorded in the Bible.

But it’s definitely, the Jews definitely valued it or probably thought of it because it was a time of the Passover when the Israelites were delivered from Egypt.

And so they had probably insisted on it to the Romans at some point and the Romans granted

it as just a means of keeping them calm to prevent them, to prevent rights. And they had done a notable prisoner called Barabbas.

“Therefore when they were gathered together Pilate said unto them, whom will ye that I release unto you Barabbas or Jesus which is called Christ?”

Now notice verse 18, Pilate had seen Jesus’ conduct for he knew that for envy they had delivered him and not answering them and not lashing out at his accusers even to see them Pilate who obviously was uninstructed in the ways of God and wasn’t even that interested in justice.

Even Pilate could tell who was wicked here and who was righteous.

Let’s see, Pilate shouldn’t release Jesus anyways seeing he knew the truth.

“Jesus had said back in 1213 that he that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me skittereth of bread.”

Pilate didn’t want to condemn Jesus, he knew he was innocent and we’re about to read about

another reason why he would have been very scared to condemn him. But he wanted the people to decide to release Jesus himself.

So popular opinion would be on his side and so he could release him without risking a riot freaking out at his position as governor coming into, without risking his position

as governor and his climb up the hierarchy in the Roman Empire.

Some would be Jesus’ disciples through Christians if they could do it without risking a tomb alter a conflict in one way or another.

But in the Roman world it doesn’t deal with God, that’s not possible. And this world is our testing ground for eternity.

So there has to be loss or at least risk of loss in confessing Christ and inciting with it.

And having good intentions isn’t enough, there has to be a siding with truth that is going to resist evil and do what is proper for you to do within your jurisdiction.

Even though most are not judges like Pilate was, we still have a sphere of influence that we’re called to side with Christ on and take the loss if that gets us into trouble.

There’s a sign from the 70s, maybe Jesus is just alright with me, the Doobie Brothers. And some people consider it to be a Christian sign but it’s obviously the Doobie Brothers were not Christians.

They also, Jesus being just alright with you, that was true with Pilate but Pilate was still his enemy because Pilate wasn’t willing to pay the price to side with truth.

That’s a very important, especially in our culture where so many people profess to be Christians, that’s a truth that people have to see and have to understand it and be reproved by and instructed by because good intentions and a good opinion of Jesus are not enough. We see that with Pilate.

We know by John 19 that Pilate made a false assertion that he had power to release Jesus and power to condemn him.

But then as you read through that chapter you see that Pilate was seeking to release him but he couldn’t do it.

Now he could have done it but it would have resulted in a tumult which at least Pilate thought it might and that’s something that he was just not willing to risk.

But for him to not have guilt in Christ’s crucifixion he would have had to take that risk.

Okay, so continuing on.

So verse 19, “When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, ‘Have thou nothing to do with that just man?’

Obviously nothing to do with condemning him.

For I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.

But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask for a rabbis and destroy Jesus.

The people themselves would have probably have chosen Jesus over the rabbis had the chief priests and elders not instigated them.

The governor answered and said unto them, ‘Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you?’

They said, ‘Barrabas.’

Adam Clark says here, ‘When pastors are corrupt, they are capable of inducing their flag to prefer Barabbas to Jesus the world to God and the pleasures of sense to the salvation

of their souls.'” Very joyful there.

Verse 22, “I would say unto them, ‘What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?’ I’ll say unto him, ‘Let him be crucified.’

And the governor said, ‘Why would he have he done?’ But they cried out the more saying, ‘Let him be crucified.’ They had no reason.

Those are two good evangelistic questions to people after you’ve shared the gospel with them.”

Elbert Barnes here says, “What strange fear and injustice they could not answer Pilate’s question.

He had done no evil and they knew he had done none, but they’re determined on his death.” I’m sorry, that’s Adam Clark.

After verse 23, Elbert Barnes notes Luke says they were instant with loud voices demanding that he be crucified.

“The people instigated by the chief priests, they urged it, they demanded it with a popular clamor.”

What we’re seeing in this decision is the essence of sin, the nature of sin being made bare, it shows how ugly and unreasonable sin is to reject God’s reign over you and break his commandments.

Verse 24, “When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing but rather that a tumult was made,

the one thing he was not willing, he would not risk, should happen.

He took water and washed his hands before the multitude saying, ‘I am innocent of the blood of this just person, see you to it,’ then answered all the people and said, ‘His blood be on us and on our children.'”

Pilate had an armed force at his disposal, the Roman army that was stationed in Jerusalem, and could have scared the mob.

But self-preserving fear can definitely turn upon Christ when they might have not even lost anything anyways, while it was still very much guilty then.

With verse 25, remember the judgment that’s going to come upon them in about 40 years, God did bring judgment upon this unrepentant nation that had rejected their Messiah.

Jesus talked about it back in verse 22 in the parable he said he gave about the wedding feast that, I’m sorry, back in chapter 22, “When the king heard there of talking about

the Jewish rejection of the gospel, he was rather angry and sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city,” Matthew 22, 7.

We see from verse 25 a lesson that anybody who’s ever shared the gospel with a Jewish person has seen.

For a Jewish person to come to Christ, he or she must renounce not their Jewishness, but the rejection of Christ by their Jewish forefathers.

They must essentially confess that their family and culture have been in enmity with God and

break from them in confessing Jesus as the promised Messiah of his people, of God’s people.

This involves confession of God’s just judgments upon their ancestors, the Jews. This is why so many Jews are so close to the gospel.

They sense this truth.

I know it from being on a college campus.

I noticed that there were a pretty good number of Jews and Muslims on the campus, not like a large population, but still, for an American college, a pretty noticeable number.

Jews and Muslims, they understand that if they were to come to Christ, they would likely lose their family and most of their friends.

That’s not anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim. It’s just affected.

It’s just affected their culture as such that they understand it to be that way. They kind of sense it even before you talk to them.

So verse 26, “Then released he were rabbits unto them, and when he had discouraged Jesus,

he delivered him to be crucified.

Our Lord, being about to be put to death after the man of our common slave, was also treated

as a slave of one of the lowest and most despised of mankind,” Elbert Byrne says. “Discouraging was a very severe punishment all by itself.

Sometimes people would die just from that.”

Adam Clark quotes from Tacitus, a Roman historian from the first century, of those who want evidence outside of the Bible about the truth of the gospel.

There’s some quotes from early Roman historians.

Now, they shouldn’t need evidence from outside the Bible because the Bible’s historical book in and of itself, that the writers can be proven accurate by archeology, by their

consistency among themselves, by the consistency of the writers of the Bible from Genesis to

Revelation.

But Adam Clark quotes from Tacitus, a Roman historian, “Neuro put those who commonly went

by the name of Christians to the most exquisite tortures.

The author of this name, Christian, was Christ, who was capably punished in the reign of Tiberius

by Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator or governor.”

Okay, so verse 27, “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.”

A band of soldiers, I understand, was about 400 to 600 men. And they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe.

And when they had plated a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head and a reed in his right hand.

And they bowed the knee before him and mocked him, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews.” And they spit upon him and took the reed and smote him on the head.

And after they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him and put his own ramen or clothing on him and let him away to crucify him.

And to no means in false grace, believers do this.

They use Christ for all as a savior to oppose his office as Lord.

Anybody who confesses to be a Christian would profess Jesus as the Son of God, would profess

that he’s the Messiah, the Christ, but who continues to live in sin and disregards his word essentially does what these Roman soldiers are doing.

They’re mocking his government.

And they’re basically, in many cases, they’re using the fact that he died for them and shed his blood for them as an excuse to continue to trample on his authority and live in sin.

And that’s why the false grace, the antinomian who teach that Christians need not obey the

law of God because they say the grace of God isn’t covered anyways and they preach a false

grace, they essentially do what these Roman soldiers did here.

So verse 32, “And as they came out they found a man of Cyrene Simon by name, him they compelled

to bear his cross.

And when they were coming to a place called Golgotha, that is to say a place of a skull, they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall.”

The myrrh, I understand it, which was a sedative, which was to relieve the pain of the one being

crucified and when he had tasted thereof he would not drink. Cyrene was an area that’s within the nation of Libya now.

We see by John 19-17 that Jesus had begun to bear his cross and it’s likely the fact

that the cross was so heavy anyways and that Jesus had already been weakened by the scourging,

by the stress leading up to the crucifixion, by probably lack of sleep the night before, probably was dehydrated already and very injured and in pain.

It’s likely he couldn’t continue to bear the cross.

So it’s likely that the Roman soldiers compelled this Simon who was likely in Jerusalem for the Passover to help Jesus bear the cross.

They probably didn’t relieve him of bearing the cross altogether because carrying the cross was part of the punishment.

Calvary Golgotha in verse 33, it’s also been, in the other gospels it’s also called the place of a skull or calvary.

In verse 34, Jesus being unwilling to have the vinegar that was mingled with gall, Albert Brown says he was unwilling to blunt the pains of dying.

Jesus had things yet to do on the cross in terms of fulfilling scripture and the things

that he said on the cross were very important and necessary for him to finish the work he was called to do to redeem mankind.

So it wasn’t fitting for him to ease his body and soul considering the effect.

There’s a lesson there about it’s right to seek deliverance from pain if you can righteously do so, but an aspect of following Jesus is not letting yourself be delivered from pain

or hardship or agony when that relief would somehow keep you from doing the will of God. So there’s a lesson there about pain addiction and people who would get high and use illegal drugs and people who would take something that would cause them to break the lung or

not be sober to even ease a physical pain in their body.

They’re going against the gospel principle by that and we see that Jesus here obviously was a very intense pain that he refused to have relief.

So verse 35, “And they crucified him and parted his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet.

They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture of clothing that did they cast lots.

And sitting down they watched him there.”

Jesus does much to refute the claim that Muslims make that Jesus never actually died. He was crucified publicly with the soldiers and themselves keeping his body.

And we’re going to see that he actually does die.

The scripture quoted in verse 35 is from Psalm 22 to 18.

I have on my computer, I had an old group running already, but we’ll see if I can get it all piece.

How are we?

We lost you there, buddy. Oh, I’m still here.

I want to read a note from all of the parts on verse 35 and I just got to get it up on my computer here.

No problem at all.

Just want to make sure.

Welcome brother Wilson, by the way, from India. He joined us right after you started.

Is that a brother from India, brother Jimmy? Yeah, that’s a brother.

We’ll talk to him right after we’re done. Amen.

Yeah, I had this note already to go on my computer in terms of that I had the screen already pop up, but then I forgot to turn on my internet box before this started.

But I’m going to have it up here in just a few seconds.

So what I’m about to read is a description of crucifixion by Albert Ponce that I thought was very cool to read.

So, I’m just going to keep reading for the moment.

So continuing with verse 37, “And sitting down they watched him there and set up over his head his accusation written, ‘This is Jesus the King of the Jews.'”

We know by Mark 15.26 and Luke 23.38 and John 19.19 that the entire sign, there’s two explanations.

Since Mark, Luke, and John, I’ll put something a little different in the sign.

It could be either that the entire sign read, “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,” and that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John each focus on a different part of that sign.

But we also see from Luke 23.38 and John 19.20 that the sign was written in Greek, Hebrew,

and Latin.

And there’s a lesson there in and of itself because the Greek was the scholarly language

at the time Hebrew, the religious language of the Jews, and Latin, the government language, the language of the people and power.

So it could be that the sign read a little differently in each language or it could be that just each gospel writer focused on a different part of the sign there.

Albert Barnes says on verse 25, “The crucifixion.” To crucify means to put to death on a cross.

The cross has been described at Matthew 27.32. The usual manner of the crucifixion was as follows.

After the criminal had carried the cross, attended with every possible dive and insult to the place of execution, a hole was dug in the earth to receive the foot of it.

The cross was laid on the ground.

The person condemned to suffer was stripped and was extended on it. And the soldiers fastened the hands and feet either by nails or thighs.

After they had driven the nails deeply in the wood, they elevated the cross with the agonizing sufferer on it.

And in order to fix it more firmly in the earth, they let it fall violently into the hole which they had dug to receive it.

The sudden fall gave to the person that was nailed toward a violent and convulsive shock and greatly increased his sufferings.

The crucified person was then suffered to hang commonly until pain, exhaustion, thirst,

and hunger ended his life.

Sometimes the suffering continued for days and when friendly death terminated the life, the body was often suffered to remain.

A lolesome object, putrefying in the sun or devoured by birds.

I’ve read that sometimes even the birds would come and eat at the one who was crucified while

they were still living.

This punishment was deemed the most disgraceful and ignominious, meaning shameful, contemptible,

that was practiced among the Romans.

It was the way in which slaves, robbers, and the most notorious and abandoned wretches were commonly put to death.

It was this among other things that exposed those who preached the gospel to so much contempt.

It was this among other things that exposed those who preached the gospel to so much shame

and contempt among the Greeks and Romans.

They despised everything that was connected with the death of one who had been put to death as a slave in an outlaw.

Since it was the most ignominious punishment known, so it was the most painful. The following circumstances made it a death of special pain.

The position of the arms and body was unnatural, the arms being extended back and almost immovable.

The least motion gave violent pain in the hands and feet and in the back which was lacerated

with stripes.

The nails being driven through parts of the hands and feet which were bound with nerves created the most exquisite anger.

The exposure of so many wounds to the air bought on a violent inflammation, which greatly increased the poignancy of the suffering.

The free circulation of the blood was prevented.

War blood was carried out in the arteries and could be returned by the veins.

The consequence was that there was a great increase of blood in the veins of the head, increasing intense pressure and violent pain.

The same was true of other parts of the body.

This intense pressure in the blood vessels was a source of inexpressible misery. The pain gradually increased.

There was no relaxation and no rest. There was no prospect but death.

The sufferer was commonly able to endure it until the third and sometimes even to the seventh day.

The intense sufferings of the Savior however were sooner terminated.

This was caused perhaps in some measure by his previous fatigue and exhaustion but still by the intense sufferings of his soul, impearing our griefs and curing our sorrows and making an atonement for the sins of the world.

In Albert Barnes continues about parting his garments. It was customary to crucify a person naked.

The cause of the sufferer belonged to those who were the executioners.

One says that they divided his garments into four parts, each soldier apart, but for his cult they cast lots.

When Matthew says therefore that they parted his garments, casting lots, it is to be understood

that they divided one part of them and for the other part of them they cast lots. The words here that it might be fulfilled there are quoted in Psalm 22.18.

The whole psalm is usually referred to Christ and is a most striking description of his sufferings and death.

I will also add there that Psalm 22 was written before crucifixion was even practiced as a punishment, at least widespread.

So the fact that you have this prophecy in Psalm 22 that so resembles a person being crucified before crucifixion was ever even known as a form of capital punishment was

really just one of the many evidences of the supernatural words in the scripture.

So continuing on with verse 38, “Then were two thieves crucified with them, one on the right hand and the other on the left.

Contempt for Jesus was seen by this, that he was put between the two thieves.

Lately these were robbers who had committed murder while also committing robbery, committing

the murder to aid them in the robbery.

We read in Isaiah 53.12 that he was numbered with the transgressors.

He was likely put in the middle to show that he was the worst of the three and this was obviously where Barabbas should have been.

So verse 39, “And they that pass by rebiled him, waving their heads to show contempt and insult and saying, Thou that destroys the temple and buildest it in three days, save

thyself.

If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.

Likewise also the chief priest mocking him with the scribes and elders said, He saved others himself he cannot save.

If he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver him now if he will have him.

For he said, I am the Son of God.”

This is a great lesson about what the world wants in the Messiah compared to who the Messiah

actually is.

Jesus’s death will never profit anybody who does not identify with him in his death to sin and in dying to sin there has to be the death of worldly ambition since that is such a big aspect of sin.

And the Jews especially in the world would want a Messiah who comes to give them the things that they want and doesn’t demand that they die to sin and live to God.

And that is exactly what the world is going to get into the Antichrist and has gotten in the different Antichrist figures throughout history.

If he will just come down from the cross and if he will just act like mankind’s sin is not a big deal and mankind’s happiness in this life is what really needs to be focused on then they will believe him.

But obviously we read in Matthew 16, 23 that Jesus rebuked Peter saying that the things that he rebuked Peter for being an adversary to him saying that you savor, you delight in the things that be of men and not the things that be of God.

There’s a world of difference between those two and the fact that Jesus calls us to die to ourselves to live to the will of God is what makes the Gospel is what makes the way to life a straight and narrow way.

And those who preach otherwise are false prophets who are preaching the bad way that ultimately

leads to destruction.

The significance of the resurrection is seen by verses 40 to 43 also.

These people supposed to God would deliver Christ from the cross but God ultimately was going to vindicate Jesus by raising him from the dead.

And we’re going to see in the book of Acts how these very same people are confronted with their truth through the preaching and the miracles that the apostles did.

And so God did vindicate him but there was a work of atonement that needed to be accomplished.

And these men in their shortsightedness and spiritual blindness weren’t thinking about that at all.

Paul says here all of this when their own prophets foretold this very scene and when they were fulfilling the predictions of their own scriptures.

So wonderful is the way by which God promises his words to be fulfilled.

These men were actually quoting from Psalm 22.8 words that the Psalmist’s enemies had spoke to him.

They were speaking them as enemies to Christ and they still didn’t see it.

Paul says in Acts 13 when he says in Acts 13.27, “For they that dwell on Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets, which are

read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them and condemned him.

And though they found no cause of death in him, yet they deserve a pilot that he should be slain.

And when they had fulfilled all that was written from him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a cell poker or grave.

But God raised him from the dead.” Amazing.

So continuing on in verse 44, “The thieves also were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.”

And it might, we know by Luke 23 that one of the thieves repented.

Although it might be that the actions of one of the thieves are put under the heading of both thieves, which would not be impossible by Jewish literature.

But it’s also possible that they were both insulting him at first and the one of them, the one that repented in Jesus told him that they be with him in paradise.

It’s possible that this man saw how Jesus was handling the intense mockery and insults of the crowd.

And when he saw that, was convinced that he was the son of God.

And he pleaded to him that, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” Okay, so verse 45, “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.”

It’s likely that this was just the land of Judea and maybe the surrounding countries. I don’t think we can know for sure.

And about the ninth hour, or the sixth hour would have been noon to the Jews, and the ninth hour would have been 3 p.m.

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, “Eli, Eli, Llamas, Sivaktani, that is to say, ‘My God, my God, why is thou forsaking me?'”

Some of them that stood there when they heard that said, “This man called for Elias.” And straightway one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and put

it on a reed and gave him the drink.

The rest had let a sea-weather Elias, or Elijah will come to save him.

The darkness that came over all the earth at this time, he was bearing the judgment for our sins.

So this darkness was an appropriate testimony.

This darkness was an appropriate testimony to that fact, if not something much more. He was the light of the world.

So when he was dying, it was fitting that the land be dark at that time. Adam Clark noted that this was a supernatural darkness.

It was celebrated only when there was a full moon.

This was a time of Passover which was celebrated only when there was a full moon. And I don’t know about astronomy.

Adam Clark says it’s impossible to have an eclipse for the moon to eclipse the sun when there’s a full moon.

I’m not going to pretend to be an expert in that, but I’m taking his word for it.

I think that God would have, just the tear that these people were in at the time, which we’re going to read about, shows that they understood it to be a supernatural darkness. Christ was made a curse for us to redeem us from the curse of the law.

Albert Barnes says here, “It was a manifestation of God’s hatred of sin in some way which he

has not explained that he experienced in that red hour.

It was suffering endured by him that was due to us and suffering by which and by which alone we can be saved from eternal death.”

Albert Barnes, exactly what happened in Christ making the Atonement. If we just stick to the language the scripture uses, we’re good.

It’s interesting that when the apostles preached the gospel in the book of Acts, they didn’t, when they evangelized, I’m not saying they didn’t teach the church this, but when they evangelized, they didn’t get into details of how the Atonement saves as they preached.

But they did make it clear that Christ died for our sins and that through repenting and

believing on him that we can be forgiven and be partakers of eternal life. So what’s some of the language the scripture uses?

Well, we read in Isaiah 53.5 and 6, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities or our needs of lawlessness.

The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his troops were healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

That would show why the Father’s displeasure had to be displayed at this time if the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Peter says in 1 Peter 2.24, the passage we looked at a lot, that says, “If first to himself bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live under righteousness.”

I think of the two goats on the Day of Atonement, they’re both pictures of what was accomplished

by Christ’s death.

The one goat was slain and its blood was bought into the Holy Place to make a sin offering for the children of Israel in the Holy Place.

And the live goat, they laid their hands on it and confessed over at the iniquities of the children of Israel to where we get the term scapegoat.

And then they let the scapegoat into the wilderness and tool in on an average, implying that … And

those two goats show how Christ bore the judgment for our sins and carried them away. And so you think about that there was like a curse upon the scapegoat that they had in a figure put the iniquities of the children of Israel upon.

We read in 2 Corinthians 5, 19 to 21, “To know that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not impugning their trespasses unto them, and yet committed unto us the word of reconciliation, to which now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us.

We pray you in Christ’s stead, or Christ’s place, be reconciled to God, for he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.

He hath made him to be sin.”

And that’s understood to be a sin offering, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

We read in … Let’s see here.

And the two goats, and that’s Leviticus 16, 15 to 22.

I won’t read it, but Leviticus 16, 15 to 22 is the reference.

The main point here is that if we stick to biblical language in talking about the atonement, we’ll be good.

And people who try to speculate, it says in 1 Timothy 2 that Christ gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.

We read in Galatians 3.13 that Christ was … I’ll just go to the passage.

Galatians 3.13, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.”

For it is written, “Cursed is everyone that angeth on a tree.”

And that’s a reference to Deuteronomy 21, 22, and 23 that talks about how he that is saying that a tree is a curse for God.

We see in Hebrews 9.14, there was something about the fact that Jesus’ sufferings could have an eternal worth because of who he is, because he existed from all eternity.

And it says in Hebrews 9.14 that through the eternal spirit, Christ offered himself without spot to God.

There was something about that that made a satisfaction for our sins. Satisfaction is the same as appeasement or propitiation.

That’s 1 John 2.2, that he is a propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

We read later on in Hebrews 9.24, “For Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but within the heaven itself, now to appear

in the presence of God for us.

Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as I presentereth into the holy place every year with both of others.

For then must he have suffered since the foundation of the world, but not once in the end of the

world, that he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

And as is appointed unto men once to die, but after this to judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them to look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

So, bottom line is, we just want to stick to what the Scriptures say about the atonement. And if we do that, we can’t go around.

Let’s go back to Matthew 27, “When Jesus said, ‘My God, my God, why is he so forsaking me?'”

That’s a controversial passage because some people would use it to say that Jesus sinned when he was on the cross.

But that’s certainly not the case.

It shows Christ, verse 46, it shows Christ’s human anguish.

It’s not a sin when we’re suffering to ask God, “Why is this happening?”

It could actually display a trust, a confidence that God must know what’s best, even if you don’t understand it.

And maybe Christ at this point was so overwhelmed by anguish that he was just overwhelmed.

There’s another possible reading of this, another way this passage might have been translated,

though.

It goes like, “My God, my God, what sort of men have test thou delivered me to?”

And look at from that perspective, it might not even be so much a cry of anguish about

his own suffering, but a cry of like mumbling and wonder at how wicked his enemies could have been at that point.

So those are points to consider.

In verse 47, well, Jesus’ cry in verse 46 was, “It was neither Syriac nor Hebrew.”

It was a combination of both, because Jews had their language at the time, which was Aramaic, it had degenerated from the original Hebrew.

And so they were kind of speaking a mixture of Hebrew and the language that they would have probably learned in Babylon, to my understanding.

And so it’s not even clear when people said that he’s calling for Elias in verse 47.

It’s not totally clear to me whether people were being sarcastic or whether they had really misunderstood him.

In verse 48, it’s, “When one of them ran, took the sponge filled with vinegar and put it on a roof and gave him a drink.”

This was in response to what John added in his Gospel in John 19.28, where Jesus said, “I thirst.”

They were showing mercy to him by giving him a drink.

“The rest said, ‘Let thee let us do other lives, we’ll come to save him.'” This was almost certainly a sarcastic insult.

So verse 50, “And behold the veil of the temple was ran in twain from the top to the bottom.”

And obviously there’s a symbolism about Christ finishing the work of redemption and opening

the way for man to be in direct fellowship with God through him that was not possible to the same extent under the Old Covenant, just pictured by the fact that in the Old

Covenant that nobody could come into the holiest place in the temple except the high priest once a year on the Day of Atonement.

And even then he had to take all these precautions, not to bring incense and make a cloud of

incense lest he see the place where God’s glory had dwelt in the temple.

So obviously this would have been a very symbolic and very terrifying scene.

“And behold the veil of the temple was ran in twain or two from the top to the bottom. And the earth did quake in the rock’s rent.

And the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out

of the graves after his resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared on the many.”

Lord God says on verse 50, “It was in the height of his egg and he probably attended

with deep growing and uttered amid sorrows which were never else experienced in our world.

It finished the work of Atonement when Christ died and made the way of salvation possible,

rolled away the curse from guilty people and opened the kingdom of heaven to all true believers.”

I believe that Jesus’ last words on the cross from comparing the Gospels would have been, would have been, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

I wrote down the order the best I can determine.

The first thing he probably would have said was, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do on Luke 23, 34.”

And that obviously was not a cry to forgive them unconditionally, eternally, but a cry

to spare them from immediate judgment which God did not bring judgment upon Jerusalem for 40 more years and he gave the Jewish nation space to repent.

The second was probably to the repentant thief earlier I say and to this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.

The third was probably, this might have been first or second, was when he said to the Apostle

John in John 19, “Woman, behold thy son and to John, behold thy mother.” The fourth is what we just read about in verse 46.

The fifth would have been I thirst, the sixth it is finished, and the seventh, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

And that would have been a reference to Psalm 31.5 and it’s very, got to go there because it’s very important.

In Psalm 31.5 we read, “Into thine hand I commit my spirit, thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.”

Jesus had, in dying years a man had to trust his father to raise him from the dead and to ultimately vindicate him and that’s what happened in the resurrection.

We never read in the Bible about Jesus raising himself up by his own power.

We read in Romans 6, in Romans 6, 4, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death,

that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the queer of the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

And then we read in Romans 8, 11, “But of the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead.”

And so it’s the father and the spirit who raised him from the dead dwelling you.

“He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken or make alive your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you.”

When Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12 that, “I’m not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I’m persuaded that he is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against

that day.”

It was the same concept that he trusts God to deliver him out of his sufferings in due time.

And just one more passage related to Christians along that line.

Second Corinthians chapter 4, since Jesus is our ultimate example of faith.

And 2 Corinthians 4, 10-14, Paul talks about the apostles always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be manifest or shown in

our body.

“For we which live are only delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

So then death worketh in us but life in you.”

We have in the spirit of faith according as it is written, “I believe and therefore have I spoken.

We also believe and therefore speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you.”

When it says in verse 51 that the rocks were rented means that they were torn asunder. Albert Barnes said in the 19th century that there still were torn rocks on Mount Calvary during his time.

I haven’t checked to find whether they were. So it must have been something.

I cannot explain verses 52 and 53.

It is something that I don’t know that anybody, Albert Barnes and Adam Clark are both pretty clueless about it.

And there’s no shame to them.

It appears so that there were righteous people who had recently died that may have resurrected

and came into Jerusalem and appeared to many.

And they probably would have been people who had recently died because otherwise it would

have been hard to recognize them.

But there’s also speculation that maybe just some of the bodies came out of the graves and they were still dead and people could see them.

I don’t think we can know for sure because there’s no other details. What happened to them?

Did they go back into the graves? Did they die again?

Were they raised up to heaven like Elijah and Enoch were? We just can’t say for sure.

But there certainly is a symbolism about how people who had died before Christ were ultimately

saved by his death.

People have been saved by grace through faith from the beginning of time and God was able

to forgive them.

Although they couldn’t have all the privileges of the new covenant, God was able to forgive them based on those who sought him for mercy with a replying obedient heart.

God could pardon them on the basis of what Christ would someday do. Romans 3, 25, and 26 talks about that.

So continuing on Matthew 27, 54, “Now when the centurion and David were with him, watching

Jesus saw the earthquake and those things which were done, they feared greatly saying truly this was the Son of God.

The gospel establishes a fear of God and God’s judgment yet upon unrepentant sinners.”

Paul talked about in Romans 1, 16, 18 that he’s not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for

it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth for theirness and righteousness

of God revealed from faith to faith.

“As it is written, the church shall live by faith for the wrath of God is revealed from

heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.”

It has not changed.

In Romans 14, 7, “The everlasting gospel, fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come.”

And worship can be made, I’m not going to quote the verse perfectly without going to

it, but it’s called mental fear God and give glory to him because his judgment is coming. And obviously at the time of Revelation it was virtually arrived.

The judgment upon Jerusalem in AD 70 and the fact that the Scripture still talks about

a judgment day upon transgressors who get refused to repent and despise God’s salvation. In Christ Hebrews 2 and 3 we read, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?”

And the context is talking about how if under Moses’ law every transgression and disobedience

received a just recompense and reward, how much those who have the ultimate fulfillment

of Moses’ law and the perfect wisdom and example of the Messiah and the privileges of the New

Covenant, the blessings of the New Covenant, if they ultimately disobey him, how shall they escape if they neglect so great salvation?

And we see that even in the moments after Jesus died, Albert Burns says here, “They regarded

these things, the rocks rending and the earthquake.

They regarded these things as proof that God was angry and they were terrified at the prospect

that vengeance was coming upon them.”

Albert Burns, when the centurion had probably heard that Jesus had claimed to be the Son of God, he probably did not have the proper Jewish understanding of that.

He might have thought of Son of God in terms of like a semi-God superhero type figure. But he acknowledged that Jesus was at least an extraordinary person by what he said. In Luke 23 47 we read of him also saying that certainly this was a righteous man.

He agreed that they were guilty of murder and that they had condemned an innocent man to death.

This centurion may very well have been repented and agreeing with the light that he did have

at the time.

So continuing in verse 55, “And many women were there beholding afar out, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him, among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.”

Albert Burns says on verse 55, “Never did female constancy or faithfulness shine more greatly and never was a happier example set for all who should afterward believe on him.” Adam Clark says on verse 56, “It is difficult to ascertain and distinguish these women where their names occur in the Gospels.

So many being called by the name of Mary that some…” I’ve got to agree with him there.

Verse 57, “When the evening was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea named Joseph,

who also himself was Jesus’ disciple.

He went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus.”

We saw, I think it’s John 19 38, that Joseph had been a disciple of Jesus secretly for

fear of the Jews, but it seems like his heart was right and that there’s a difference between somebody who maybe just needs a little more time and a little bit of wisdom as to how they’re to go about confessing Christ versus somebody who’s a coward, who’s not willing to lay down their life for his sake.

Well, either Joseph had the right moment here or he repented of the fear he had had before. So he went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus, and Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.

And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb.

And this was probably when it says his own new tomb, it probably means the tomb that he had purchased for himself intending to be buried in himself someday, which he had

hung out in the rack and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher and departed. And there was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulcher or the grave.

This is another remarkable fulfillment of prophecy.

It says in Isaiah 53.9 that Isaiah 53 is just such a clear chapter about the Messiah and what he would do.

And it’s so obvious it couldn’t apply to anyone but Jesus. And it’s a great passage to share with Jews and Muslims.

And with anybody who doubts or denies the claims of Jesus being the Jewish Messiah and

the Son of God and the necessity of the Messiah having to make an atonement for sin that he

must need sulfur and rise from the dead. It’s all seen in Isaiah 53.

It says in Isaiah 53.9, “And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.”

This is really remarkable because of what Brown says, the fulfillment of this is more remarkable because during his life he associated with the poor and was himself poor. How many crucified criminals are buried in a rich man’s tomb?

Not many.

Probably almost never did it happen.

And that’s why the fact that Christ was numbered with the transgressors and died the death of a common slave who was among the worst criminals and yet he would be buried in a

rich man’s tomb.

Very very unusual.

And an evidence of the reliability of scripture and the Christ is the Messiah prophesied of Isaiah 53.

And this is significant with the following verses too.

Adam Clark says here, “Had our Lord been buried in the common burial ground of the male effectors, a male effectors, a criminal, his resurrection could not have been so distinctly remarked as the chief priest would have never thought of sealing the stone there or setting a watch.

But now that the body has got into the hands of a friend, they judge it necessary to make use of these precautions in order, as they said, to prevent imposter.

And imposter means like deceit or pretending to prevent the disciples pretending he rose from the dead.

So the fact that they’re going to take the means necessary to prevent a claim that he

had risen from the dead when he really hadn’t, that’s going to mean that the only way that such a claim could be made is that if it actually happened.

And so Adam Clark continues, “And from this very circumstance the resurrection of Christ had its fullest evidence and was put beyond the power of successful contradiction.”

No God’s sovereignty here.

Sovereign means reigning over everything.

The Calvinists take it, they abuse it to say that God is the one who did everything, even the evil, and that obviously that’s crazy.

But know how God uses the decisions men make and works circumstances out so as to give such credible evidence of a resurrection and to put it beyond any honest person’s doubt

that Christ really had died, really was buried, really had risen from the dead so that there would be no doubt that he is a Messiah and that therefore his words are totally true,

that the Bible as a whole is true and that we can stake our lives upon him and his word, in believing in him.

So continuing on to finish the chapter.

Verse 62, “Now the next day that followed the day of the preparation,” probably the preparation

of the Passover itself and of the Sabbath was basically the chief priests and Pharisees came together on the pilot saying, “Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, ‘Well, he was dead alive.

After three days I will rise again.'”

It’s interesting that they had falsely accused him of saying, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”

They had used this to falsely accuse him of saying that he was going to destroy the temple, but they proved by their very own words here that they had understood what he meant, that he had really meant, “After three days I will rise again.”

Adam Clark says here, “Neither the devil nor a servant ever speak truth, but when they expect to accomplish some bad purpose by it, very insightful.

Command therefore,” verse 64, “that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away and say unto the people, ‘He has risen from

the dead, so the last year shall be worse than the first.'”

His claims of who he was were in their eyes, in their bias, and in their preserving their own lives that wasn’t near to them.

Pilate said unto them, “Ye have a watch.”

They had had a group of soldiers at their disposal already to crucify Christ, or maybe he was giving them a new group of soldiers.

“But either way, go your way and make sure as you can.”

Until they went and made the sepulchre, sealing the stone and setting a watch.

And in doing this, they prevented every possible human means of getting the body out of the tomb, thus showing that if the body is out of the tomb, it had to have been a real resurrection by God’s own power.

His wicked priests took every precaution to guard Christ’s body, and this actually established the truth of the resurrection more powerfully.

Albert Brown says at the end of his commentary on this chapter, “We cannot be struck with the wisdom of God in ordering the circumstances of the Savior’s burial in such a manner as to avoid the possibility of deception.

Had all this been done by his friends, it might have been said that they only pretended to secure the tomb, and only pretended that he was dead.

But he was judged to be dead by the Jews themselves. Pilate was satisfied that that was a fact.

They had their own way about his burial. He was buried alone.

The place of a sepulcher was made sure expressly to prevent his being removed, and they placed

around him a guard.

And their own judgment, large enough to precaution to place his resurrection beyond the possibility

of suspicion of fraud and imposture.

And those precautions were the very means of furnishing the most striking proof that his death, burial, and resurrection were not in position, were not the seats, but most affecting awful in the sense of amazing and yet sharing realities.

How amazing.

We read in Proverbs 21.30 that there is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord.

And it’s just amazing how God just caused everything in terms of the circumstances about his burial and used even the wickedness of men to ultimately vindicate Christ’s resurrection by their precaution to prevent it.

And it just reminds me, I’m just going to close with Psalm 147.4 and 5. Something that God’s people should remember in their sufferings.

And when things in our lives seem absolutely just out of whack, how could God allow this? This is just crazy.

And how is this happening?

Well, God is wise and understanding enough that he can allow circumstances to be totally beyond man’s comprehension and just utterly seem like he’s out of the picture altogether.

And yet, he can and yet still be in utter total control and still be working things for

his purposes and the good of his people, which they cannot possibly even see at the moment.

It says in Psalm 147, “Praise you, the Lord, for it is good to sing praises unto our God, for it is pleasant and praises calmly.

The Lord that buildeth Jerusalem, he gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds.

He calleth the number of the stars, he calleth them out by their names. He is our Lord and of great power.

His understanding is infinite.

The Lord lifteth up the meek, he casteth the wicked down to the ground. Amen.”

Amen, Brother Aaron, you know, the Jews were looking for an earthly king and so sadly now,

you know, we’re going through this season that we just elected a new president and nobody’s

doubting that God can’t use him or anybody, but the idolatry and stuff is just running rampant.

So, you know, we almost see that too, how people now were looking for an earthly king. You know, in all the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we’ll just pick one of them out for whoever will try to save his life, they’ll lose it and whoever will lose his

life for my sake shall find it, you know.

We should have a heart of just giving everything to him and never looking to the world for a savior, you know.

I’m not saying voting is a sin necessarily, anything like that.

I just chose not to, of course, but, you know, people are looking for anything but the true saving grace of Jesus Christ.

And, you know, the same thing has been perpetuated throughout time too, just like the lie that

was told in the garden, “You shall surely not die.”

And for anybody on here that doesn’t have Brother Aaron’s book called The Ageless Conflict,

I’ll be more than happy to mail you all to copy.

It’s one of the, I don’t really usually read any other books other than the Bible and some commentaries Albert Barnes and Adam Clarke, but sometimes Wesley too.

But this book is a must read for anybody that’s in the faith, whether you’re new or somewhere

down the road with Jesus.

So anyway, we don’t want to believe that lie and we don’t want to believe the lie that we’re looking for an earthly king either.

So Aaron, really great teaching.

So we’re still on recording, everybody, if you have any questions that pertain to this particular chapter, please speak that now.

You can always email them to.

So if you have any questions on this chapter, please say it now and if not, I’m going to take it off of recording that we can fellowship.

Okay, great.

So let me just take it off record. I want to thank everybody.

By the way, I made a mistake, I’m so used to these teachings being on Tuesday night. I said it was Tuesday night and Wednesday.

Please don’t think I’m going with a little loopy.

That was just something that was ingrained in my brain there. So obviously it’s Saturday night here, Sunday morning overseas. So God bless you all and we’ll talk soon.

File-Study Through the Book of Matthew – Chapter 28 Week 26

>> Good evening to everybody here in America. I’ll get this right this time. It’s Saturday evening here in the United States and early Sunday morning over on the mission fields. We thank all our mission partners who are joining us tonight and those that will be listening also on the recording. This has been a very, very interesting study. We’ve

gone through 27 chapters of the book of Matthew. It’s a very, very complete book. Certainly, we let people know that they should probably read that book the first thing they do when they come to know the Lord Jesus simply because it is a really complete book. Not that it’s the first book of the New Testament either. We’re going on chapter 28 tonight and we’ll

be concluding this. We will be also taking a couple week break. Brother Aaron will fill us in there on what he thinks about there after the study. This is week 26. So we’ve

done 28 chapters in 26 weeks to the book of Matthew. So let me stop talking Brother Aaron and I’m going to turn it over to you and we’re looking forward to concluding this study.

Thanks Brother Jimmy. It’s been a blessing. It’s taken us about six months to get here.

I thank the Lord for just His faithfulness and keeping us on track. I’ll just say at

the beginning as we go into chapter 28 that I’m not going to get into reconciling the four different resurrection accounts of the Gospels. A lot of critics, skeptics will use

the different resurrection accounts to say that the Bible contradicts itself and it doesn’t. In John it’s definitely hard to reconcile John with the three other Gospels especially.

But Albert Barnes in his commentary on his intro to Matthew 28 gives a reconciliation of the Gospel accounts and it’s very, very interesting. I think that he’s right or very close to right and how he handles it. So I’m not going to get into reconciling what we

read in Matthew with the three other Gospels except a little bit, a few places. But anybody who wants to look into that can go to find the Albert Barnes study on studylate.org. I’m sure it’s online in other places and they can see the reconciliation of the resurrection accounts and how they do not contradict each other. So we’ll get into Matthew 28 then.

So verse 1, “In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the

week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the Sublicor. And behold, there was a great earthquake. For the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it.” Matthew is careful here that we would

know that this was not an ordinary messenger because that word angel could just be, it could, the seven angels of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 are likely referring

to the leaders of the churches, the head elders of the churches. So that word angel can just be messenger. But Matthew is careful to let us know that it’s an angel of the Lord, that

it’s a heavenly being that’s being spoken of here. So verse 3, “His face was like lightning

and his raiment, or raiment as cold and white as snow. And for fear of him the keepers did

shake and became his dead men.” Adam Clark says here, “He was cold and garments, emblematical,

or symbolic of the clay of tidings which he came to announce. Albert Barnes’ aids, white

among the Jews, was the symbol of purity or innocence.” Adam Clark says on verse 4, “Guide

man by one and the same means comfort his servants and terrify his enemies. The resurrection

of Christ is a subject of terror to the servants of Satan, at least it is if they’ll yet not repent, and a consolation to the sons of God, because it is proof of the resurrection of

both, the one to shame and everlasting contempt, the other to eternal glory and joy.” So verse

5, “And the angel answered and said unto the woman, Fear not ye, for I know that ye see Jesus which was crucified.” Adam Clark notes here the appropriateness of…well first I’ll just say that in Mark 16.5 and Luke 24.3 it shows that the woman had entered the tomb by this time. So even though Matthew doesn’t record that, he certainly doesn’t contradict that. Adam Clark notes the appropriateness of Christ, of the angel first, these women

first discovering the resurrection of Christ and seeing and talking to the angel, and we’re

going to see that they quickly met Jesus afterwards. Adam Clark notes the appropriateness of this,

considering how consistently these women were attached to Christ. They really had stayed

more faithful than even the disciples in all of this, and so this was very appropriate, and we’ll get back to that in a little bit. Luke mentions that there were two angels, but Albert Barnes says here the fact that there is but one mentioned by Matthew, where it is not denied that there were others, does not prove that there could not be others.

So just Luke mentions two angels, and Matthew and I think Mark only mentioned one, but that’s

the same principle regarding in the Gospel accounts when Jesus heals the blind man out near Jericho. Some of the Gospel writers or at least one say it was one blind man, another say two, and that’s just the principle that just because one is mentioned and there’s

not another, unless they had specifically said that there weren’t others, and there’s not a contradiction by any means. I think it’s interesting that the angel said to the

woman, “If you’re not Yifre, I know that you saved Jesus which was crucified.” I believe

there’s an important lesson and an important encouragement to God’s people. These women,

they had kept seeking Jesus through hardship and reproach, and they were steadfast in the Lord and seeking Him even after what seemed at the time to be the greatest tragedy. It says that Hebrews 11 and 6 says that without faith it’s impossible to please Him, for He

that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. These women are showing what it means to diligently seek Him. They had truly chosen Christ above everything in this world. They had chosen to suffer affliction with

the people of God and to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. It talks about Moses

in Hebrews 11. Those who seek Jesus and are not ashamed of His Word and the reproach of

His cross and everything about Him and being a Christian, that the world would disdain. Those who stay faithful through trials, they have a glorious end promise. Proverbs 23, 17 and 18, “Let not thine heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fair of the Lord all the day lying, for surely there is an end, and thine expectations shall not be cut off.”

Those who endure in seeking Jesus no matter what, they are going to see God’s glory. They

don’t need the fear and I think that’s a wonderful encouragement to those who are true disciples

of His. Continuing on in verse 6, “The angel continues, he is not here for he is risen,

as he said, from see the place where the Lord lay.” That implies that they were in the tomb at this point. Remember that He was put in a tomb where no one had ever been laid before. That’s significant because it prevented any thought that there could have been deception here. So the angel continues in verse 7, “And go quickly and tell his disciples that he

has risen from the dead, and behold he goeth before you in the hallelujah,” which Jesus Himself had said back in I believe in chapter 26 verse 32, “Behold he goeth before you in the Galilee, there shall you see him, O I have told you.” Mark had something very very

encouraging too to those who have fallen badly but are repentant. In Mark 16, 7, “The Gospel

Core in the Mark” is I think we’ve mentioned this in previous studies but that’s Mark was

we know from the Epistles was very close with Peter and Mark details on things about Peter that the other Gospel writers don’t. And in Mark 16, 7, we find these same words the angel spoke but we find Ann Peter also and that’s just a great encouragement about Jesus’s mercy

to those who fall and very badly and are wondering if they can ever come back. If they have godly

sorrow that works for descendants like Peter did, they can’t. So regarding the woman going and telling his disciples that he’s risen from the dead, “Thus faithful woman proclaim the Gospel to those who were afterwards to be the teachers of the whole human race. Behold, the honor God puts upon those who persevere in his truth and continue to acknowledge him

before men.” It’s from Adam Clark. So verse 8, “And they departed quickly from the sepulchre

with fear and great joy and did run to bring his disciples word.” That’s fear and great

joy is something that is appropriate. It’s an appropriate response to the Gospel message and I won’t go to these scriptures because I’ve quoted them numerous times in this study or at least in Psalm 2, 10 to 12 and Philippians 2, 12 to 16 are references there. So verse 9, “And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying, ‘All hail.'”

This word hail, in the original it means rejoice. It could also mean happiness. “And they came

and held him by the feet in worship camp.” Adam Clark says on verse 9, “Christ bestows

his graces and cancellations by degrees, first by his angels and then by himself. He does

not reveal himself to incredulous and disobedient souls. He appears not even to these women

till he has tried their faith and obedience by his minister and angels.” So that’s from

Adam Clark. That’s a notable principle here. “And they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him.” Elwood Brown says on them worshiping him, “In this place the word worship

seems to denote the homage due to the Messiah, risen from the dead, regarded by them now

in a proper light and entitled to the honor which was due to God, agreeably to John 5.23, where Jesus said that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.” We know by John’s Gospel that Jesus received worship as God and did not deny it. It’s good

to show this to Muslims and to Jehovah’s Witnesses who deny that Jesus is God. John 2027, “And

then said to Thomas, ‘This was after Thomas said, this is a little after what we’re reading in Chapter 28, after the 11 disciples had all seen him besides Thomas.’ And Thomas was doubting when he finally said, ‘Then said to Thomas, ‘Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my sight and be not faithless, but

receiving.’ And Thomas answered and said unto him, ‘My Lord and my God.'” Jesus is receiving

worship as God. Jesus saith unto him, ‘Thomas, because thou hast seen me thou hast believed,

blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.’ So continue, “Then said Jesus unto them, ‘Be not afraid, go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall

they see me.'” Well, this did not eliminate the possibility that he could appear to them before he went to Galilee. And we know by the Gospels as a whole that he did appear

to them in Jerusalem, even before they came to Galilee. And he would appear to them in Jerusalem at least once afterwards. And Albert Barnes has a timeline in his commentary as well right around where he has the reconciliation of the resurrection accounts. I found this interesting. Albert Barnes was on Galilee in verse 10. “There the Savior commenced or began his ministry, and there away from the noise and confusion of the city, he purposed

again to commission them to go forth and preach the everlasting gospel.” So it’s interesting that Jesus began his ministry in a place that was away from the noise, the confusion of Jerusalem, away from not just the literal noise, but the false teaching and the corruption

of the true faith that took place there. And he went back again to Galilee to commission them, as we’re about to surely read about. And I also think there about how he often retired to the Garden of Gethsemane with his disciples, which was a quiet place on the outskirts of Jerusalem, even when he wasn’t Jerusalem. I think that that’s important to not look over. So verse 11, “Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came

into the city.” This is a group of Roman soldiers that was assigned to guard Jesus’ tomb. The pilot had assigned to the chief priest so that they could prevent his disciples from

coming by night and saying he was risen from the dead. And we talked in the last study about the fact that this happened is a very, very key proof of the resurrection. And that Matthew could write this in the first century. And obviously, when Matthew wrote his gospel, the thing he was speaking of, if he was lying, he would have been found out. He could write these things as fact in the first century. “Now when they were going, behold, some of

the watch came into the city.” So this strongly implies that the resurrection happened very shortly before these women had come to the tomb. That it happened on that very morning, as we know from Mark, because of the fact that these women are going to tell his disciples.

And we have the watch that has just been terrified by the earthquake and known that they knew

the truth about what happened. You have the watch still going into the city at this point. And the city is probably about a mile away from because we know that Jesus was crucified outside the city. And that’s, Calvary was likely about a mile outside the city and the

tomb was near there. “Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city

and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.” So this is significant because

who is mocking Jesus in 2741? It’s the chief priests with the scribes and elders saying that he saved others himself he cannot save. If he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. He trusted in God. Let him deliver him now

if he will have him for he said, “I am the son of God.” So even though Jesus never himself appeared to the chief priests, they not only had the testimony of the 11 disciples, but

they get the testimony of the Roman guards who had been at the tomb. So they know what happened and yet they still reject Christ and they still fight against his gospel. And

we see them doing that in the book of Acts, especially on chapters 4 and 5 of the book of Acts. So verse 12, “And when they were assembled with the elders,” that is when the

chief priests were assembled with the elders. The elders is the Sanhedrin, the ruling council

that was like the governing body of the Jerusalem and the land of Udaya. “And when they were

assembled with the elders and a taking council, they wouldn’t just say, ‘He obviously is the Messiah, let’s go and worship them also.’ They need to fight to keep their position in their own minds. And so they can’t just do what they obviously should have done and even more obviously after this report from the soldiers. And when they were assembled with the elders and a taking council, they gave large money unto the soldiers saying, ‘Say ye his disciples came by night and stole them away while we slept. And if this come to the governor’s

ears, we will persuade him and secure you.’ Because if the governor had found out about

it, they could have been executed by Roman law.” And we find Roman soldiers executed

in the next chapter 12 when they were supposed to be guarding Peter and Peter escaped from

the prison miraculously. I point out also, okay, I’m just going to finish through verse

15. So verse 15, “So they took the money and did as they were taught, and his saying is commonly recorded among the Jews until this day.” It’s interesting that they had given

Judas probably a much smaller amount of money than this. They gave Judas 30 pieces of silver

at the place of the common sleeve. It’s never called a large sum of money by Matthew or any of the other Gospel writers as far as I remember. But Matthew says that they gave

a large amount of money to these soldiers. I think there’s a lesson there that fighting the truth can increase in difficulty as the light of truth is increased. And that’s why,

that’s why in the book of Acts when there was such a powerful testimony of Christ, people would either, it was hard for people not to react strongly one way or the other, either

in true repentance and being part of the disciples’ company, being part of the Christians’ company,

or by persecution, by getting angry and being part of the persecution that came upon the early church. They themselves had through their scheming, I’m talking about the chief

priest, they had already through their scheming proved beyond the doubt that Christ was really

dead and buried. And they had, so they had no way of saying that, they had no way of saying that he didn’t really die. They had no way of saying that he was never really

buried in the tomb. They themselves had made sure that he was dead and that the tomb was

guarded. And the fact that Matthew would write this in the first century and say that this was a story that was spread among the Jews until that day, he couldn’t write that at

the time unless he was really telling the truth. And the fact that such a story was going

around among the Jews about Jesus’ resurrection, that something so crazy could happen as these

disciples who had been so afraid when Jesus was taken in the garden, the idea that they would risk their lives and try to break through this group of Roman soldiers at the tomb and roll away this heavy stone and bring out the body, the thought that such a thing could actually happen is so ridiculous. And that they would risk their lives with no earthly

gain attached to it. We know that they were all, that they did not become rich men, that they suffered for the sake of Christ and they did not get earthly gain by this. And yet, they consistently said that he was risen and they staked their lives on the truth of the Gospel as we know by, as history itself proves and the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire, pure Christianity in the first century proves. So the fact that such

a story was in circulation among the Jews at that time, it shows how desperate the Jewish

leaders and the unbelieving Jews were to explain away Christ’s resurrection. And the fact that

they were even bought to that point is a very, very, very strong piece of evidence to confirm the truth of the Gospel. It’s also proof that men will do anything and believe anything

to conceal the truth about Christ and to hold on to their own earthly interest and try to

convince themselves that they can reject His, that they can reject Him as Lord over their own lives and get away with it. And we also see just a general truth about lies about

the Gospel being spread because somebody got prides. There was a monetary interest in it.

These soldiers to save their own earthly lives from the fallout from the punishment that they could have got for letting a body out of a tomb that they were forced to guard rather than bow to Christ and tell the truth and risk death for the sake of the truth. They

just take the money and do as they were told. And there are a multitude, probably millions by now of lies about the Gospel that have been spread by people who see the Gospel as

an offense and a threat to their own earthly interest. And there are people who are spreading

these lies because they were offered money to do so and they saw it convenient to themselves

to do so. And the great deception in our day is that the lies about the Gospel and the people who are spreading the lies are doing so in the name of Christ. They are saying

Jesus is Lord. They are saying He is the Messiah. But they are telling lies about His Word and

what it means to just whatever the particularism they are promoting, whether that is the prosperity

Gospel, whether that is just an antinomian church that is preaching a false grace message, and whether that is twisting whatever Bible doctrine it is that people would see it in

their own interest to twist. Now the lies are being told, the worst lies and the vast majority of the lies are being told in the name of Christ by those who profess to be Christians. And again that just shows the terrible, horrible deception of our day and

our need to take heed to every word of God which we are going to get more into very soon.

So verse 16, “And the eleven disciples went away in the Galilee into a mountain where

Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him, but some doubted.”

That might be a reference to Thomas when he first saw Him. It might be when he first heard the report that he was risen and Matthew is referring to that. It might be that there

were more than just the eleven disciples here, though it seems that this is talking about the eleven. It is possible that there were other disciples at this time. Jesus we know

from 1 Corinthians 15, at one point did a period of 500 brethren at once. And Paul testified at the time he wrote 1 Corinthians that the majority of those brethren were alive at that time. That is another strong evidence for the resurrection, the fact that Paul would

write such a thing that there are hundreds of people alive now who have seen Him risen from the dead. It might be that some who had seen Him before when they saw Him afar out, doubted that it was Him. It is hard to say. I wish I could say more there. But we know

with the eleven disciples for sure that their doubts eventually all were dispelled. So verse

18, “And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and

in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and

the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded

you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” Amen. Albert Barnes says about verse 17, “They are cautioned in examining the evidence their slowness to believe.” This is about the doubting, which I should have read this quote before. “They’re from conviction after all their doubts, and their willingness to show their conviction

even by their death is the most conclusive proof that they were not deceived in regard to the fact of His resurrection.” So I got a lot here on the last three verses. There

was a sense in which Jesus had always had authority in heaven and in earth. But there was a special authority that He purchased regarding executing the salvation of souls,

regarding being head over the church, regarding a special protection over His people to defend

them to intervene on their behalf, to promote His interest and the interest of truth and righteousness in the world. There was something special that it has to do with what it says in Philippians 2, talking about, “After He has become obedient to the death of the cross,

wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow things in heaven, and things in the earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess to Jesus Christ, His Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” That’s Philippians 2, 9-11. And then there’s another

passage of Ephesians 1, 20-23, which I’ll read, which talks about this. So Paul is praying for the Ephesian Christians, and he’s praying that he started this verse. I’ll just start

in verse 19, that they know the exceeding greatness of His power to us, for it will

believe according to the working of His mighty power, in verse 20, which He wrought in Christ,

when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places,

far above all principality and power, and might in dominion. There was a victory, Jesus won over Satan at the cross, and demonic forces, which has to do with what He says about all authority being given unto Him in heaven and earth. “For above all principality and power, and might in dominion, and every name that is named not only in this world, but also

in that which is to come, and that put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him, that fill

with all and all.” Adam Quark also says here, “If Jesus Christ were not equal with the Father, could He have claimed this equality of power, without being guilty of blasphemy and impiety?

Surely not. And does He not in the fullest manner assert His Godhood, and His equality with the Father, by claiming to possess all the authority in heaven and earth?” Very good point. Verse 19, “Go ye therefore, by the command and assurance of the authority just spoken of.” Obviously, we see in the command of baptism the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We see another proof of the Trinity. If Christ and the Holy Spirit were lesser beings than the Father, then to put their name in baptism with the Father would truly

be wrong. So we have another proof of the Trinity here, as we’ve seen constantly, as we’ve seen multiple times in this book. Baptism signifies a full sealing of somebody to the authority and honor of the one whose name the baptizer is baptized in. This couldn’t be unto any besides God without being blessed from His idolatry. We see the authority of the Son and Spirit as equal to and in union with the Father. So like I said, this is another

proof of the Trinity. Baptism among the Jews was known as binding somebody to the system of religion, to bind one to the system of religion, and in doing so to bind the soul

to obey the laws and to receive the instruction of the one whose name they were baptized in.

So baptism rightly understood is an entrance into discipleship. It’s impossible for somebody to say that they want to be a disciple of Jesus while being unwilling to go through baptism.

Peter said in 1 Peter 3 that baptism does not save us, and he said not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience to a God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s not the physical act of baptism that saves, but it’s the heart

that says, “Yes, Lord,” that says, “I’m yours and I’m going to…my life is now devoted

to your honor and to receiving your instruction and to be under God’s authority and trust of his promises.” And it’s the heart that…and God wills that that heart be expressed. The first step of that heart being shown is by baptism. And the Jews understood this. If

you go to Acts 2, we’ve looked at it before, but just in this light. So they hear Peter’s preaching on the day of Pentecost. And I’m going to start because…I’m going to start a little earlier just because it’s a good summer of the book overall. I’ll start in verse 29 of Acts 2. “Men and brethren, let me speak freely unto you of the patriarch David, that he has both that and buried in his sepulchre, his grave is with us unto this day, unlike

Christ.” Unlike Christ’s grave. “Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh, he would

raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He’s seeing this before spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption. This

Jesus hath God raised up where we are all witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted and have it received of the Father, the promise of the Holy Ghost, he

has shed forth this, which you now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens,

but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my word, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy folds thy footstool.” That’s Psalm 110. “Therefore, let all the house of Israel know

assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

God has sealed the fact that he is a Messiah whose hand their salvation and our salvation

is in. God has made that known by his resurrection from the dead. “Now when they heard that, they

were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and

brethren, what shall we do? Then said Peter unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the

gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that

are afar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward, or this perverse, this wayward,

this out of the way generation. So verse 41, this is the main point I wanted to make. “Then

they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day they were added unto them

about three thousand souls. They understood that repentance unto remission of sins, they understood that they had to be subject to the authority of the Messiah, and received,

and learned to observe all things whatsoever he commanded. They understood that it was a baptism unto discipleship, and that remission of sins depended upon having the heart of

a disciple, being subject to God’s own authority through the Messiah. And that’s why in verses

41-47 the people who understood baptism rightly didn’t just go their way and say, Okay, thanks,

we have eternal life now no matter what we do afterwards. They understood that their eternal

life was based upon their regulation to the Messiah, and they understood that their regulation to the Messiah was based upon learning to live as he’s commanded. And regarding his authority as God’s own authority as it is. So they continued, so it says in verse 47,

“Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day they were added unto them about three thousand souls. They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and prayers.” They understood that their coming to Christ was not a one-time thing, that they were coming unto a purifying process where

they were to, obviously they had to be repented, they had to have renounced what is evil and

be in subjection to the truth. But they have to learn to live out, they have to learn how to live righteously and to follow the program that set forth, that Christ had set forth

for his church. And so they have to have their characters that had been murdered by sin returned

to God’s image. So they got to go through, they understood salvation is like, it’s not just a one-time shot that I take, oh it’s all done. It’s checking into a hospital and receiving care at the hospital and obeying the instructions in the hospital and doing

the therapy exercises and being subject to the rules of, you know, you’re in the hospital,

you have to get up at a certain time and go to bed at a certain time, and there’s restrictions,

and there’s obligations. They understood salvation that way, or they understood it like a school.

It’s now like some shot where you go to one class and you’re all said. They understood it as you’re coming into a school to learn and to receive discipline, that you might

be a product that is useful to the society at the end. And the disciples understood salvation this way, that they were coming to Christ, that they might be molded into a product by

the grace of God that they were going to receive as they went through that process, a product

that God was going to accept at the end, that he was going to see as something acceptable to him, and we’re going to look more at that in a short time. So they continued steadfastly

in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers, and

fear came upon every soul, and many signs and wonders were done by the apostles, not by everyone in the church, as some of the Pentecostals would have you believe, only

by the apostles. And all that believed were together and had all things common. This isn’t a mandatory, this isn’t saying Christians need to be together and have all things common all the time, but they understood that in receiving Christ rightly, they had to consider

his people as their people and lay down their lives for his brethren like we talked about

in chapter 25. And they sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all as every man

had need. And they continue and they continue in daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house to eat their meat or their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. So notice that those that the Lord added to

the church daily were such as should be saved and such as should be saved were added to the church. If our evangelism is not making disciples who are added to the church ready

to learn and to obey everything Jesus taught, then that evangelism is in vain and people

need to know that. And there’s so much confusion now in Christendom because there’s been evangelism

that’s been considered acceptable that hasn’t been met and that’s tragic. And we’re left to deal with that mess, which was a problem even that the early apostles didn’t have to deal with. Let’s see here. I got a lot of verses 18 through 20. So Albert Burns says

about Christ saying that he’s, “Though I am with you always even unto the end of the world.” Albert Burns says, “Though you are weak yet I am strong. Though you will encounter many troubles and dangers, yet I can defend you. Though you die, yet I live and the work shall

be accomplished.” Let’s see here. Oh, Albert Burns also says on verse 19 that the word

for teacher is not the usual and the New Testament word for teach. This word properly means to

disciple or to make disciples of. This was to be done however by teaching and by administering

baptism. That’s Albert Burns. So I’m almost kind of on to the conclusion here, but a few more things. We see by verses 18 and 20 that we see the evil, the purpose-driven church concept, the idea that the church has to make fun for everybody and that the church should be about meeting what the people themselves say are their own needs. Now obviously the church should be about meeting people’s true needs, but most people’s what they consider their needs are not their real needs. The things that they consider as not very important are things related to holiness and things related to purity and things related to godly character.

Most people don’t consider those things. Most people even in churches in America don’t consider

those their real needs. Well, they are their real needs. So we see a lesson in verses 18

and 20 about how the church cannot be about pleasing its members because what if as happens

all the time that people add contrary to being a disciple of Christ? Well, there has to be

considered unacceptable. And so obviously people are going to be offended and rubbed the wrong

way when that’s considered unacceptable. And it just shows how pleasing men and making church

fun for men versus and pleasing God are things that just cannot be reconciled with each other.

Adam Clark says on verse 20 that this could literally read, “Behold, I am with you every day.

Only those whom he is with every day are qualified for gospel ministry.” We also see here that

fellowship with Jesus has to be in being his disciple, wanting to obey all things whatsoever

he’s commanded. He had said in John 15 10, he said, “If you keep my commandments, you shall abide

in my love, even as I’ve kept my father’s commandments and abide in his love.” There’s a subjective, you could call it mysticism out there, which emphasizes devotion to Christ

and personal intimacy with Christ. But it doesn’t emphasize objectively keeping his commandments and

specifically how he is to be obeyed, how he is to be obeyed. Whereas the true gospel doesn’t separate

the objective side, the objective part of the equation of what he requires and how it’s to be carried out, that can’t be left out of the subjective side of experiencing his fellowship

in your heart or else you’re just opening people who do that are just opening themselves up to

another spirit and to much deception. Jesus’ call to intimacy with him is just, it can’t be separated from,

it can’t be separated from actual discipleship. I guess that’s just a simple way of putting it.

Back in 1128 to 30, “Come unto me, all ye that labor in our heavy labor, and I will give you rest,

take my yoke upon you.” That’s the burden of, I don’t, we shouldn’t consider it a burden in that

sense, but you know what I mean. That’s the taking the obligation, receiving the obligation to

obey all things whatsoever he is to take my yoke upon you and learn of me. Obviously learn of him,

how to please God and how to walk acceptably to God and keep his word. For I am meek and lowly

and hardy and ye shall find rest unto your souls, rest unto our soul in discipleship. For my yoke is

easy and my burden is void. And obviously it is when we forsake and awe and when we have obedient

hearts that seek his kingdom first and aren’t trying to be double-minded, trying to serve two masters.

I’m basically now we’re coming to our conclusion. I just want to give some scriptures about,

I guess we’re still on the same verses, but I’m just saying we’re coming

pretty close to our close here. In Isaiah chapter one we read, “God exhorts Israel, wash you,

make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil, learn to

do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless and plead for the widow, come now and let us reason together, say it to the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as void as snow, though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool.

If he be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land, but if he refuse and rebel ye

shall be devoured with the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.” Many preachers emphasize

putting away the evil of your doings and that’s important. We have to emphasize that.

Is it just that you’re replying, you put away the evil of your doings and now everything is

exactly how it should be. That’s just the beginning of the program and even that has to be in being

subject to God and being willing to live his way and from being subject to him and to his word of

righteousness and that’s just the beginning because from there it says after putting away the evil

you’re doing from before when I cease to do evil it says learn to do well and that is something that

takes away time of discipleship to learn how to stay obedient and to learn to keep yourself from

sin after you’ve turned from it and to learn how to do well, how to walk and to please God.

The

apostles in 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 1 and 2 as they were applying teaching them to observe all

things whatsoever he’s commanded based on 1 Thessalonians 4 1 and 2 further than we beseech you

brethren and exhored by the Lord Jesus obviously referring to the great commission that as you

have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God so ye would abound more and more for

ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus and he goes on to talk about abstaining from

fornication from sexual sin talking about brotherly love talking about everything that

the book of 1 Thessalonians and everything that the episodes talk about. God is seeking a product of

righteousness that has been refined through enduring in the faith and being

learning through trials. Time hearing godly men preach timing God’s word, learning of Him not just as an individual but as part of His church, as part of His overall program,

learning how to please Him and how to more acceptably and how to have your part among

His church, among His people and fulfilling His great commission of expanding the Messiah’s

kingdom that heal His spiritual kingdom that He’ll inherit when He returns. We read in Isaiah chapter

oh yes Isaiah 61. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath annoyed me to

preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty

to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable

year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God. And that’s an amazing thing that God’s

day of there’s a year of God’s mercy and leading up to the day of vengeance and

what hope any of us have if God was not patient in long self-firm. What obviously that patience wears

out because there’s a day of vengeance coming. Romans 2, 4, and 5 is the scripture we’ve covered

there. So to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them

beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness.

It’s the that. This is a product God’s seeking. That thing might be called trees of righteousness.

The planning of the Lord. That he might be glorified. Church leaders have a responsibility.

I’m speaking especially to the missionaries here but certainly true of anybody who has a spot of

spiritual leadership even if it’s only in their own hold for now. Certainly being an example to younger believers is any believers calling and even the newest believer still has a part in upholding the testimony of what the church ought to be and how a Christian ought to live.

To be an example in the measure God’s given them to other believers and to the world of what it

means to follow Jesus and what it means to walk uprightly. The Apostle Paul told the Philippians

in Philippians 4 and 9 those things which he had both learned and received and heard and seen and

redo and the God of peace shall be with you. He was an example that could call people to follow him

as he followed Christly. He said in 1 Corinthians 11. He gives an example in verses 12 to 13 about

learning righteousness and how he had learned the godly character throughout his Christian life.

He says in verses 12 and 13, “I know both how to be a base and I know how to abound.

Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and

to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” You see how he dealt with

the people that he had responsibility over back in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2.

He says in verse 9, 1 Thessalonians 2, “For ye remember brethren our labor and travail, for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you,

we preach unto you the gospel of God. You are witnesses in God also, how holy and justly,

and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe. As ye know how we exhorted and

comforted, as ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father to his

children, that ye would walk worthy of God who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.”

What an example. There’s just our heart before God and our continuingness program is based upon

bringing forth fruit as we hear the word of God preached as we’re challenged, as we’re given better understanding. Obviously we have a responsibility to seek him in his word and

pray ourselves to receive this. We can’t separate our heart before God and our ultimate salvation

from how we receive the instruction in his word. Yes, it’s bought us as well as in being diligent

to hear the instruction to begin with. Paul says in 2 Timothy chapter 4, he tells Timothy,

this is related to verses 18 to 20, “I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ,

who shall judge the quick and the dead, the living and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom,

preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.” True doctrine, pure doctrine of the Bible. “For the time will come

when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves

teachers, having it few years, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned

on the fables.” I believe he’s basically telling Timothy, if you let the people that you’re

responsible for grow lukewarm and thoughtful, it’s going to be all the harder to gain them back.

So keep the fire burning and preaching God’s word faithfully and seeing that it’s responded to

faithfully. We saw back in 1 Thessalonians 2 how Paul handled that. He was gentle. He comforted

those who were weak. He encouraged, but he also did exhort strongly, and obviously there’s a need

to rebuke one that counsel is being disregarded. So he says in verse 5, “But watch thou in all

things endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry,

for I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good

fight. I have finished my course. I have kept thee faith.” Obviously, “the faith” is all things

whatsoever the word of God commands. He says, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of

righteousness. Since he’s been faithful, he’s going to reign with Israel’s Messiah when he returns,

which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all

them also that love his appearing.” Or in other words, all who prove themselves faithful, subject,

sire, in this present darkness will reign with him at his appearing in his kingdom, like was spoken

of back in chapter 4, verse 1. I want to encourage everybody… I’m not going to get into it here.

I want to encourage everybody to read the book of Ephesians, because it’s a book that’s written to

mostly Gentile Christians, talking about God’s eternal purpose, and talking about how the incredible mercy of God, and just the incredible grace of God,

in that the Messiah that was promised to Israel was to…

His purpose was to include the Gentiles in his plan, and to bring the Gentiles who believe in

Israel’s Messiah into the commonwealth of Israel, into the household of God. It talks about that

purpose from the eternal purpose, and just what is at stake in the gospel message, and what is at

stake in our response, and it shows the promises to Christians, and just the overall glory that’s

associated with being a disciple in this life, and especially that is coming for those who remain

faithful. And it doesn’t just talk in verse chapters 1 through 3, our very general chapters,

about what God has done, and what God offers in Christ, and the privileges the effusion believers

have, but then chapters 4 to 6 are practical discipleship. These aren’t things that are just

to be kept on the inside. They’re there to be laid hold of as we practically obey, and improve as we practically obey, as we learn to observe all things whatsoever he’s commanded, and prove that and endure in the faith, prove our subjection to the Messiah, and continue in it.

And chapters 4 to 6 give practical

instructions for practical discipleship. It’s such a wonderful, complete book.

Beware of the dispensationalist life, which teaches that basically, if you ever hear somebody say about

the Gospels, or the Old Testament, well that was just for the Jews, or anybody say that Paul preached

a different gospel than Jesus, those are dispensationalist lives, that we see rebuked very clearly in the final three

verses of Matthew, that the gospel and being preached to all nations, all the disciples are to be made who

are baptized in Christ’s name, and learn to observe all things whatsoever he’s commanded, proving that

everything that Jesus taught, everything in the Old Testament which he confirmed, is binding upon

Christians. And obviously, I don’t think I need to say it on this study, but obviously Jesus fulfilled

the ceremonial aspects of redemption. So we don’t need to sacrifice animals, or have an earthly

priest, because he’s fulfilled those things by being the ultimate sacrifice person, and sending

to heaven to be our heavenly high priest. But still, the principles, the lessons from those things

are still for Christians. So the commands and the Gospels are for Christians. So anytime you hear

anybody say about the Gospels, well that’s just for the Jews, and it’s not for Christians.

Try to instruct them better, they might be sincere, but be deceived. But know that that statement is

not true. And what we see in the book of Acts and the Epistles are the truths Jesus preached in the

Gospels, and the things he commanded in the Gospels being applied. There’s certain things that were not

mentioned in the Gospels that are mentioned in the Epistles, and I think the main reason for that is

that they were things that the Jews of Jesus’ time already clearly understood. But the Apostles in

preaching the Gospel to Gentile cities had to establish things that all the Jews would have

understood anyway in Jesus’ time. And those are things that need to be established, obviously were

in Gentile cities and Gentile towns, that need to be established in 99.7% of the population now,

even more so than in the first century. So now we’re getting into the…

I’m just gonna… and I would also say that… I also see that reading through the book of

Romans along with the book of Ephesians, that’s an even more thorough summary of what is happening

in the Gospel of the Word of the Mathew. So I’m just going to take a drink of water and then give the

conclusion of the conclusion. Okay, dry mouth, but so if you go to Isaiah chapter 49…

It’s a prophecy about Christ. It says in verse 4, it’s talking about the Messiah and His sufferings.

“Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for naught or for nothing,

and in vain; yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. And now saith the

Lord that formed me from the womb to be a servant, to bring Jacob again to him, or to bring Israel

again to him. Though Israel be not gathered, though most Israelites will not repent and receive

their Messiah, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.

And He said, ‘It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob,

and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation unto the ends of the earth.'” And that’s what we see

being carried out in the book of Acts as they fulfill the commission Jesus gave in the last three verses of Matthew. This is God’s eternal purpose being carried out. There are things at stake in this that will last for eternity, the consequences of things at stake and for eternity

that we cannot even fully see right now. But I want to read then from Psalm 118 talking about…

Obviously, verse 22 was a prophecy about the Messiah, and the people had a wrong expectation

about what the Messiah came to do. And they were saying, “Hosanna, expecting deliverance from the

Romans for the most part.” And Hosanna is simply the literal Hebrew of verse 25 of Psalm 118,

but rightly understood in line with God’s ultimate purpose. There’s rejoicing with the resurrection

for those who have received the Lord’s Christ in truth and are faithful subjects of his.

Verse 22, “The stone which the builders refuses become the headstone of the corner. This is the

Lord’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice

and be glad in it. Save now I will cease thee, O Lord. O Lord, I will cease thee, send now prosperity.

Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.

God is the Lord which has showed us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords even unto the horns of the

altar.” Romans 12, 1, and 2 is a good reference here. “Thou art my God and I will praise thee. Thou art

my God. I will exalt thee. O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever.”

Then back to Psalm 22. One of the most detailed accounts of Christ’s crucifixion is prophesied of

in verses 1 through 21. It ends with the Messiah on the cross saying, “Save me from the lion’s mouth,

for thou has heard me from the horns of the unicorns.” Then in verse 22 we find what’s quoted

in Hebrews chapter 2, the resurrection. “I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of

the congregation while I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him. All ye the seed of Jacob,

glorify him, and fear him. All ye the seed of Israel. For he hath not despised nor abhorred

the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath he hid his face from him. But when he cried unto him,

he heard, ‘My praise shall be in the great congregation. I will pay my vows before them

that fear him. The meat shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that speak him. Your heart shall live forever. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the Lord.

And all the kindreds or families of the earth shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord’s

and he is the governor among the nations. All they that be fed upon earth shall eat and worship. All

they that go down to the dust shall bow before him, and none can keep alive his own soul. A seed shall

serve him. It shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.” The very first verse of Matthew,

Matthew 1.1, the generation of Jesus Christ. And we see the ancestry leading up to him here. But

we see at the end of Matthew, his spiritual seed. We see a commission to gather spiritual seed of his

among the nations. And that’s what verse 30 is talking about. A seed shall serve him.

It shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come and shall declare his righteousness

unto a people that shall be born. That he had done this. Chronologically in the Gospels, the very last

thing that happened before Jesus ascended to heaven is in Luke chapter 24. He’s standing before

them in Luke 24.44 as they’re marveling that he’s um… I think that they were still um… when they had saw him they thought he was a spirit. And they were still having trouble comprehending the actual bodily nature of his resurrection. And he says in verse 44,

“These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be

fulfilled what were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me.

Then open he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures.” He showed them how

Christ must need suffer. What we’re going to see in verse 46, “And he said unto them,

Thus it is written, and thus it be hold Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.”

That resurrection is pictured by men like Joseph, rejected by his brethren, cast out as good as

dead, and yet exalted to be the ruler of the world basically. In men like um… men like Isaac who

was a picture of Christ that he willingly obeyed his father, carried the instrument of his death,

willingly though he could have chosen to do otherwise, basically humbled himself to the

point of death God delivered him. Obviously he told Abraham not to kill him, and obviously Christ was

delivered in that he actually did die and was resurrected. But Isaac is still a type of him.

And a man like Joseph, a great man who was destroyed by the devil and is ultimately

is put to affliction and misery, basically brought near to a point of insanity, and yet is raised up

and made if possible greater than before to the praise of God. Just God’s redeeming resurrecting power. So many examples in the Old Testament. Daniel and the lions then,

righteous man who was persecuted by great men for envy and thrown into kind of like what was a…

basically they thought would be his tomb and was raised out of it, and was promoted to a place of

possible even greater honor while his enemies were slain. So many pictures in the Old Testament.

So thus is written, “And thus it behold Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all nations,

beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of

my father upon you. But tear ye your way ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endured with power

from on high. And we know that came in next chapter 2. And he led them out as far as to Bethany,

and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass well he blessed them. And it came

to pass well he blessed them. He was parted from them and carried up in the heaven. And they

worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And we’re continuing the temple,

praising and blessing God. Amen.” And what was that blessing? It was probably the blessing that

Israel’s high priest was to give to the children of Israel that we see in Numbers chapter 6.

Numbers 6 verses 22 to 25. “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and unto his

sons.” Obviously a picture of Christ and his people saying, “And this wise ye shall bless the

children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face

shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee

peace. And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”

And that is just one of the most remarkable things about the gospel is that Christ is

with his people literally. As he promised his disciples he’d be with them always till the end

of the age. Hebrews 7, 24 and 25. “But this man, because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable

priesthood, wherefore he is able to save them to the othermost, they come unto God by him,

seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” And his true disciples await that day when

he returns in glory. And like it says in Isaiah 53, “He shall see of the travail of his soul and be

satisfied.” He will have the parables back in chapter 13, the parable of the merchant man seeking

goodly pearls. The parable of the man who found the treasure hid in the fields. And for joy there

of when it sold all that he had him, that he might buy that treasure. He will have that treasure and

that will be a glorious day. And that is we labor in God’s vineyard and stay faithful ourselves to

to give him ultimately a greater reward for his suffering, for the travail of his soul, that he

endured to save sinners and to restore us to the image of God. This is like Hebrews 2 and 3 says,

“How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” I want to end with the last verse of the hymn, “Parest Lord Jesus.” It’s a wonderful hymn. It’s the last verse. “Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations, Son of God and Son of Man, glory and honor, praise adoration,

now and forevermore be thine. Amen.” Fantastic, Brother Aaron. That was really great.

You know, as we went through that first study through your book, The Age of Conflict, and of course through Matthew, or just about anywhere in the Bible, there’s some things that are

really prominent. And one of those things, of course, is revering Jesus, of course, as God.

But

when you have reverence for God and the fear of God, right, you must obey him, you know.

And that’s

something that so many people, you know, the apostate church today, and I know I say this

probably on every study, but it is making a huge difference on the mission fields. We’re seeing

literally entire areas of Africa and India and Bangladesh, you know, where we have our mission

fields completely changed, where pastors and missionaries are literally realizing that they,

you know, they were doing it incredibly wrong, you know, because what I call American Christianity

has infiltrated the whole world, you know, the prosperity preaching and the word of faith. So,

as we’re still on the recording here, I just wanted to include that, that I’m just so blessed to be

able to report that it took us some time, but on all our mission fields, you know, they’re preaching

the true word of God. And I’ll tell you, I know Justin Schloem can certainly vouch for this. The

worship and the preaching over there, which is so powerful. I mean, I think he actually was one of

the ones that said, I believe it was you, brother, that said, this is really a true acts church, you know, when he went over there and experienced that. And it really is. It’s,

I don’t think you can walk into a church building here in America and find such passion and such

want for the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, you know, we went back through Matthew and Matthew 5,

3, you know, the sermon of the month, blessed of the poor in spirit. And Luke says, just simply

blessed of the poor. And I’ll tell you this such as much as we see guys on the news and everything

else, that’s just all this gloom and doom. I don’t have a TV now for years and years, but,

you know, I do scan the news at least once a day to see where the world is, if it’s blowing up yet.

And it is theoretically blowing up every day. But certainly, it’s not all this gloom and doom

everywhere in the world. There’s a great, and I don’t use this term often, but there’s a great revival on the mission field. So there’s two things that I just wanted to put on here to one,

you actually touched on here, Brother Aaron was every Christian, some might not be called to be

pastors or street evangelists, open air preachers, or, or they might not be called like you, Brother

Aaron, to be teachers. But we all have a calling. And, you know, we need to know what that is. But

there is one thing that is a command throughout the Bible, all of us, and that is to witness to

other people, we should want to do that, we should be led by the spirit to do that. And certainly,

I go back to Mark five, where the person with the unclean spirits came out, you know, and

the unclean spirits went into 2000 swine. Amen. And he wanted to follow Jesus after that who

wouldn’t right he wanted to be physically with him and go with him. And Jesus says no,

go back to your village, go back to your town, go back to your city of just paraphrasing, of course,

for anybody here lives in town villages or cities, go back right now. This was the moment he was

healed and delivered. Amen. And it says go tell everybody what has happened. So that’s what we

need to do. We disciple people, you know, we had many churches that took us a little while, but you

know, they they were the typical type of churches where, you know, all the members of the church

come in and it was like a gathering and then they went home. So Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,

Friday, Saturday, or Wednesday night, they would come for prayer. Amen. But at the same thing,

like in America, Wednesday night prayer, Sunday morning service, and that was it. Nobody in the

church actually went out and shared the gospel in ways that they could, you know, whether it’s on

the street or in prisons or nursing homes or at the market, whatever it was. So we’re so happy to

note that. Thank you, whether Aaron for teaching us all this stuff. And, you know, your your teaching

and the encouragement that we give to these people has made an incredible world of difference this

last year too, because not only are they making disciples, but they’re gaining the knowledge. So

I thank you. We look forward to stuff that’s coming in the future. So you let us know how many

weeks you need to take off here and then we can we can certainly move forward. Now, if anybody else

has any questions before I take the the recording off, please ask so now. Okay, and that’s open up

to anybody. Okay, great. Let me let me take this. Thank you, everybody. This is the conclusion of the

Global Mission for Children Bible study. We thank all our missionaries that are on the mission field.

I believe you edify us with your reports more than we edify you. So thank you so much. Thank you,

brother Aaron for doing this for us. We’re going to go into now just a fellowship here afterwards,

but we want to take this off recording again. This is the conclusion of the Matthew Bible study.

Eternal Evangelism

Evangelizing Jesus to the Lost

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