Kingdom Parables (Matthew 13:31-21, 44-52)
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Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43)
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Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23)
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Eternal Family in Temporary Suffering
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Kid City can go on in your living room! Check out songs, memory verses, and our lesson.
Great is Thy Faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not Thy compassions they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever will be
Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
And all I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
Searching for a Sign - Matthew 12:38-45
Transcript
If you have a Blue Bible New, it'll be on page 477. There won't be a lot of text on the screen, so we encourage you to follow along with us there. In the late 90s, I got to witness a cinematic classic. And I'm not talking about Titanic. I'm not talking about The Matrix. I'm talking about the rom-com, Fool's Rush In.
So, show of hands. Who has seen Fool's Rush In? Alright, like 10 or 15. Alright, so for everyone else, let me fill in the plot. So Matthew Perry from Friends is the lead role.
He plays the same sarcastic character he does in everything he's ever been in. He meets a girl. That's how romantic comedies work. Played by Selma Hayek. And she lives her life guided by fate. So she looks for signs from fate.
And that's how she lives her life. Now, you can pretty much fill in the plot from there. Fate brings them together. Tears them apart. But in the big climactic finish, the signs lead them back together and they live happily ever after.
So, that was in the late 90s. Early 2000s, Hollywood said that worked. Let's do it again. And they made the movie Serendipity. Which, y'all, is the same plot. Fate brings them together.
They follow the signs. It tears them apart. And then ultimately, it brings them back together. Now, this idea of searching for signs is starting to catch on. Then the show of How I Met Your Mother comes in the mid-late 2000s.
And then the idea of not fate guiding you, but the universe guiding you starts to become mainstream. I mean, throughout that show, it's this consistent theme of the universe is telling me. The universe is giving me signs. And now, that is a mainstream idea. You will hear people say, I think the universe is trying to tell me something. I think the universe is giving me a sign.
And we, as Christians, look at this and we go, that's not right. Right? Like, we don't look to the universe for signs. That's giving the universe this vague idea of universe fate, this God-like force. But what I have seen is I've seen Christians kind of adopt similar language when it comes to God.
I've seen Christians say, I'm looking for a sign from God. That I'm waiting for a sign from God to show me what I should do next. This is something that is, because we live in an experiential culture and we are trying to gather experiences like this. This is something that's consistently I'm seeing over and over again. And my question is, is that okay? Is it okay for us to be searching for signs for God to lead us in pursuits?
Like, is it okay to ask for God for signs if this is the one I should marry? If this is the job I should take? If this is the favorite child that I should spend most of my time with? All the basic pursuits. But then it becomes even bigger when you think about the more profound questions in life.
Is it okay to ask for God for signs with some of the bigger questions? Does God exist? Does He love me? Does He care for me? God, show me a sign that you love me, that you care for me, that you're here. Is that okay?
Is that posture okay to ask of God that He would reveal Himself to show His power, His presence, His love that He exists? That is a question that we're going to face today. It's a question that this story that we're going to read interacts with. In this story today, we're in another chapter of Jesus v. the Pharisees. You've been here the last few weeks. There's been one showdown after the other.
The Pharisees come and confront Jesus. And then He puts them in their place. We get another chapter of that. But it's going to interact with this bigger question. Is it okay for us as Christians to search for signs? So, let me pray.
And then we will jump into the passage and hear what God has to say. Father, I thank You that we get to gather this morning. God, I pray that You would help us be present. That You would give us ears to hear. That You would speak clearly to us and we would respond. We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen. Alright guys, verse 38. Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered Him saying, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you. Alright, so if you were here last week, this is what happened. Jesus casts out demons. And the Pharisees accuse Him of getting His power from Beelzebub.
Of getting His power from the demonic. They accuse Jesus of essentially worshipping demons and getting His power from them. And then the follow-up request that comes from this is, Okay, fine. Then show us a sign. We wish to see a sign from you. Which is just a crazy back-to-back follow-up request.
Now, it's not that signs are inherently bad. Otherwise, Jesus has been doing them over and over again. Since the Sermon on the Mount, we've seen Him heal paralyzed. We've seen Him heal the sick. We've seen Him control the weather. He's continuously performing miracles, displaying His power.
But this request is different. It is uniquely different. The Pharisees have shown, even in this last exchange that happened last week, they don't believe Jesus. They don't believe He is who He says He is. They don't believe what He is doing. And this is a request from unbelief, but also it's one of arrogance.
They are arrogantly looking at Jesus and saying, Dance. Perform a sign. Do what we want to see. And they have completely miscalculated the situation. You don't, creation does not get to look at the God of the universe and say, Do this. That position of arrogance is not okay.
And Jesus makes that abundantly clear in verse 39. But He answered them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. So no, Jesus is not going to bend Himself to these arrogant men in this moment. To the Pharisees, to the scribes, to the religious leadership, to everyone who has come out over this period of time, who have seen Him perform miracles, who have heard His teaching, and have not repented, because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He calls them an evil and adulterous generation. This is the language that is used throughout the Old Testament to describe the nation of Israel when it goes after foreign gods.
It's a strong way of saying faithlessness. This generation is faithless, and yet you demand a sign from this position of arrogance. This is similar to if you share the gospel with somebody who is not a believer, and at the end of it they say, No, I won't. If God is loving, and He's imminent, and He's all these things that you say He is, then He should just show up and prove Himself. Why is He hiding? It's this position of arrogance that is uniquely different.
It is not that Jesus is against doubt. It's not that He's against doubt at all. And we see that in the Gospels. We see that when Thomas, one of his disciples, who unfortunately gets the nickname Doubting Thomas, that's really not fair. He has one moment of doubt in the church for the next 2,000 years that gives them that label. But he has this moment after Jesus resurrects.
They say that He's risen. He doesn't believe. And he's like, I need to see His wounds. I need to see His wrists. And Jesus comes. He doesn't respond by saying, You should have believed.
He responds by, Put your hands here. We see this again in another situation where a father has a son who's afflicted by demons, and He comes. And Jesus uses some of this similar language of evil and adulterous generation. And He comes to them and He says, I believe. But Lord, help my unbelief.
Which is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. And Jesus doesn't respond with, He responds compassionately and lovingly. And He heals His son. And so Jesus is not against doubts. That isn't what's happening here. What's happening here is different.
It is unbelief. It is arrogance. And He is not going to respond with anything but what He just said, the sign of Jonah. You will get the sign of Jonah. Now, in order for us to understand the sign of Jonah, we need to understand the story of Jonah and a little bit of the context of Jonah. So just give me a moment.
Let me walk through the story of Jonah again. So he's an Old Testament prophet. God calls Jonah. He says, I want you to go to the city of Nineveh. And I want you to call out to the city of Nineveh. He wants to call them to repentance.
And Jonah says, No. And he runs the opposite direction. Gets on a ship. Goes as far away as he can from Nineveh. Jonah, a storm comes. And it's about to capsize the boat.
Jonah realizes this is from God. This is his fault. He tells them, Throw him overboard. The men on the ship. And they reluctantly throw him overboard. The sea is calm.
And a great fish comes up and swallows him whole. You may have heard the whale. That's fine. We don't know what kind of fish it was. But if the whale is good for picturing your mind, that's fine.
But a great fish comes up, swallows him, and he lives. For three days and three nights, he lives inside the belly of this great fish. And in that period of time, he reflects. He repents. He prays. And God doesn't destroy him for being a disobedient prophet.
He gives him grace. And Jonah is spit out onto dry land. He walks into the city of Nineveh. He preaches this message of repentance. Repent or you are going to be destroyed. And then he walks outside of the city and he sits down and he waits.
And they repent. In sackcloth and ashes, deep repentance, they repent. And Jonah is upset. He is angry. And unless you know the context of what's happening there, that seems a little bit confusing. Nineveh was one of the biggest cities in the kingdom and the empire of Assyria.
And in this period of time, the Assyrians have come in and completely destroyed the fabric of the nation of Israel. And they come in and ten tribes are completely forgotten. If they're not killed and destroyed, they're deported and scattered all across their empire. There is no one who looks for their lineage in Reuben or Dan or Asher or Manasseh. You can't because of what the Assyrians did. And not only that, they were the first major kingdom, the first major empire that was absolutely known for their brutality.
They did things like skin people alive. They were terrorists. Live dismemberments, live castrations. They would put men on, they put people on stakes and watch them die slowly to put fear in people's eyes. They did some of this stuff to the people of God. And Jonah's sitting outside the city and he wants justice.
He wants absolute fire from heaven, burn him up. Now, Jonah isn't justified in what he did. He gives you a little bit of background into why he did it. He didn't understand God's grace. But you need all of that.
You need all that context for the story to understand what Jesus is actually going to say next. In verse 40, he says, For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jesus uses Jonah's experience to point forward. Just as Jonah was cast into the sea, presumed dead by the men who put him there in this great fish, so also Jesus is going to be killed, presumed to stay dead, and put into the heart of the earth, put in a tomb. And just as Jonah, three days later, bursts forth miraculously from this great fish, Jesus is going to burst forth miraculously from the empty tomb.
He is pointing forward and saying, this is the sign. His death, his resurrection. That's the sign that you need. He's prophetic, and he also knows that still is not going to be enough. He's prophetic and HEezing that the man's not going to be. He is about to persevere a lot of the missed places before he passed away.
He agreed to find UNIVE Thank you.
Demons & Blasphemy
Transcript
Well, good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab your Bibles and let's head to Matthew chapter 12. We are working our way through the gospel of Matthew, studying through it verse by verse. We as Christians celebrate Jesus.
We celebrate who he is, what he's done. We celebrate the person of Jesus and we celebrate the work of Jesus. So we will magnify him. We'll sing to him and call him the king of kings, the Lord of lords. We'll lift him up. We'll call him the prince of peace.
We'll elevate not only who he is, but what he's done. We'll talk about him as a teacher, as a king, as a prophet. But there's one thing that is highlighted over and over again in the scriptures. That's celebrated globally and historically that we don't talk about a lot or celebrate a lot. And that is Jesus in his role, his position as an exorcist. You don't usually see that on banners in churches.
In this room, there used to be a banner before we put the TVs up so that we could have screens in here. There was a banner here that said King of Kings and a banner there that said Lord of Lords. That's normal. We see that kind of thing. I grew up in a church. We had banners.
People carried them in. But it wasn't like King of Kings, Lord of Lords, powerful exorcist. Like that isn't... I mean, if we had come in here and seen King of Kings, exorcist, we'd have been like, well, all right then. We have some questions. Because in the U.S., in the Western world, we are taught.
It is ingrained in us that everything has a scientific, testable, physical explanation. That is what you were taught. Scientific, testable, physical explanation. Everything. Anything beyond that, well, now we're getting a little kooky. And we're okay because we have a little bit of a Christian background in history in the U.S. with, okay, okay, you can believe in a God that's up above everything, that created everything.
You can even believe that Jesus came. But we're okay with those because they have physical, scientific explanation. Like, God created the whole world. Okay, now we can test this. We can see it. We can touch it.
Jesus came. We could see. We could touch Him. Okay, we're a little bit okay with that. But when it gets into the invisible, spiritual, things are going on that affect the physical realm, but that we can't see or test, we suddenly have some problems.
So I think today's text is going to be a lot of fun for us today. We actually get to look at Jesus in this role as an exorcist, and we get to see how His culture, the Pharisees specifically, respond to Him. And we're actually going to get to look at a few passages that are fairly difficult, and we're going to get to do them all together, and hopefully in context will help us understand them moving forward. So let's pray, and let's start studying the text together. God, we ask for Your Spirit to be active and at work in the Christians in this room this morning, that You would enliven in us, that You would illuminate Your Word, that we would understand it, that You would help us to see our sin and our need for repentance.
And we pray that You would be active and at work on the hearts of those who do not believe this morning, that they might see Your beauty and Your glory, and they might run to You away from their sin and into a beautiful forgiveness. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Romans, not Romans, good gosh, Matthew, chapter 12, verse 22. We saw last week that the interactions between Jesus and the Pharisees, the intensity is ramping up, and we saw last week that they have now just decided we have to destroy Him. Not we just don't like Him, not He's causing some problems, not we're not quite sure where His theology is.
They've settled on, okay, it's time to take this guy down. And so we'll see, as He continues to interact with them, that the intensity level has increased. Verse 22. Then a demon-oppressed man, who was blind and mute, was brought to Him, and He healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. Alright, so if we're not careful, we will do a lot of things approaching this text as Americans that will make us misunderstand this text greatly. We will approach it and say, okay, this is, we'll go, yeah, okay, he wasn't really demon-oppressed, that's just how they understood it.
That, you know, back then, they didn't have doctors and science, so everything was a demon. And we'll just put that lens over it and be incredibly wrong. Because they understood that there were spiritual powers and demonic activity, they also understood there were physical ailments. And even as we read the Gospel of Matthew, we'll see that there are times where Jesus heals somebody and it's just a physical issue. And there are other times where He heals somebody and it is a demonic issue. demonic issue. They did not understand the world to only be spiritual.
They understood there were physical aspects. Also, we would be taking this text very incorrectly because it says He was demon-oppressed. And we would somehow have elevated ourselves above the text and now we get to decide what it really means rather than placing the text above us and understanding the Bible to be true. So it says He's demon-oppressed. Now sometimes we'll use the word demon-possessed and even our text will translate it that sometimes.
He's possessed. But whenever we think of possessed we have in mind what we've seen in Hollywood which is this person is now just a puppet for all of this stuff. But it's a Greek word that just means demonized. This person was demonized or with a demon. And so we can translate it a few different ways to try to get the point across in English but I think demon-oppressed is one of the best ways to translate it. Meaning there was some demonic activity that was oppressing this man.
And it was oppressing him not that it just made him crazy or not that it made him mean or he foamed at the mouth or he started speaking Latin which is apparently what they do if you watch movies. He was blind and mute. He had physical ailments caused by demonic activity. that makes us more uncomfortable. Okay, so he's got physical ailments that are caused by demonic activity and also we would want this person to be if you're willing to say okay, okay, okay. I get that there's a God I get that there's a spiritual realm I believe that. I believe that angels that's usually people's first step I believe in angels like I'm okay with there are good spiritual beings and a lot of people go and I'm going to stop there.
Someone can show up and be an angel and do something wonderful. That's fine. It's like okay there are also evil spiritual beings who show up and do the opposite of wonderful things. But then we want to say okay, but they only mess with big stuff. They're only trying to mess with politics. And many of you go and I think I know which party they're messing with the most.
There's one party who's immune and this other one but maybe they mess with politics maybe they mess with powers we're really okay with it they mess with other countries they don't mess with America because they're afraid of freedom and AR-15s. We have some silly thought processes that you didn't realize you had but we have we have this it can happen elsewhere it can happen on this big level but it wouldn't mess with me it wouldn't be minute things but let me tell you this guy is very unimportant. At this point he's blind and mute he's been relegated to the fringes of society. We would want to think he'd have to be in power he'd have to be no.
So Jesus interacting with this man I love this I love how direct Matthew is because in our mind this would be so aggressive and epic and like a showdown. Then a demon oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him and he healed him so that he spoke and saw. Jesus has absolute authority. It's not like Jesus had to square up and he didn't have to stretch beforehand. His absolute authority he's healed. Not a big impressive amazing thing.
And mute was brought to him and he healed him so that he spoke and saw. Jesus has absolute authority. It's not like Jesus had to square up and he didn't have to stretch beforehand. His absolute authority he's healed. Not a big impressive amazing thing. It's beautiful what Jesus does it's glorious what Jesus does but it's highlighting his power
And how simple it seems for him. It says all the people were amazed I had to clarify I said it's not amazing it was amazing my bad guys but it wasn't something that was difficult for Jesus. All the people were amazed and said can this be the son of David meaning is this the Messiah can this be and the answer is yes it can be it is it is the Messiah
You are right they've guessed correctly they see his power and they go okay and you see what's happened is Jesus is displaying himself in such a powerful way that we now only have a few options if somebody comes in who's blind and mute and Jesus just heals them and it was obvious demon oppression you now have only a few options is he the Messiah
Is a good one he has to be greatly powerful and good but you see the Pharisees are about to come in and they're going to give another option which is he is greatly powerful but he's evil that's the other option they're going to say we got two options now we've seen what he's done we've got two options either he's really powerful and really good or he's really powerful
And really evil so they say is this the son of David now I want to before we move into what the Pharisees have said I want to highlight a few things for us that I think are helpful for us that we need to know I don't know this is the point of the passage but I think we need to grow in our theology here and so I want to help us a little bit demons are real they're not omnipresent
Satan's not omnipresent meaning he can't be everywhere at once he's not all powerful he's a created being he is seen as the figurehead the leader of chief over demonic forces so there are times where the Bible will just refer to as Satan and they just mean his work his legion his team he does actively affect humans and the goal is to steal kill kill
I can't say those back to back I'm sorry I'm southern steal kill and destroy that's what he does he's a liar he harms and he actively works to harm and if you are a believer primary goal with you would be to make you ineffective or to rob you of all the things that are given to you in Christ
Joy hope freedom delight love church family would want to rob you of that would want to lie to you and if you're not a believer would want to keep you from all of those as well and ultimately keep you from salvation and lead you into death he tempts he's called a tempter
He also is an accuser so he tempts us do this this will be great this will be wonderful and then he accuses you're terrible if you did that you obviously can't be a believer he does both and he is active but I want you to see a few things I think one of the things he does I think specifically as we look at this passage he does do cause physical harm and so I'm not trying to just
Spiritualize this but I also want you to see I think he does some of this same stuff where he wants us to be blind and mute the enemy wants you to be blind to his activity wants you to not think of Jesus as an exorcist which is actually very beautiful and freeing and hope filled wants you to be blind to the enemy's activity and wants you to if you notice it
Keep your mouth shut so maybe you're having aggressive nightmares maybe you have obsessive thoughts maybe you have you feel at times just absolutely crushingly overwhelmed and under attack and if for a moment you think maybe this is demonic one of the things the enemy does is he says shh you better not say anything they'll think
You're crazy they won't welcome you anymore you don't want to be that person so one of the things we do as a church family is we have a thing we call freedom in Christ which is just a practical prayer process to try to help people who are dealing with oppression from a real enemy find freedom in a real
King and so if you are dealing with something that you would think is oppressive we'd love to get with you and pray that's it we pray and we pray the way Jesus taught us in the model prayer he says pray forgive me my sins as we forgive those who sin against us so notice your
Own sin lead us not to temptation so notice how the world tempts you and delivers from the evil one notice that their enemy is real and most of us only pray a few of those things some of you notice your sin so well and the enemy co-ops that he's just like yes you are the worst
And you're like yes I am the worst you better repent I better repent but he doesn't actually want you to repent he wants you to feel guilty he wants you to feel condemnation he wants you to get the first part which is that you are a wicked sinner and he's right but that's
Only half truth you get freedom in Christ there are other people who notice the world but you don't notice your own sin it's just these friends I got they're all sinners I'm great they're the worst and I'm really just trying to help them out
By doing terrible things with them like you notice temptation you don't notice your own sin and there are some people who only notice the enemy most of us I would argue don't notice him at all but there are some people who only notice the enemy everything's
The devil he got the devil's at work and that he's the reason I got a flat tire it's like okay could also be the construction that's happening down from your house was it a nail was there a nail in your tire because it
Might just be the nail but a lot of us don't even have that as a framework in our mind that we might ought to ask we might ought to pray for deliverance from a great king who dispatches his enemy so I want us to understand that and I want if you have some of that going on
I want for you to get help even though the enemy will tell you not to and I will tell you that we have done this quite often in our church family and it ought not be normal but it is common for people in our church family to have something where the enemy is at work we pray through it and they find some freedom and we want that for all of us because we get freedom in Christ
And he is good and he is powerful so if that is you we would love to talk we would love to pray with you if you have more questions on this we would love to tell you more about it but we have to keep moving so Jesus is the king so the bible mentions demonic forces often but it always keeps the focus firmly squarely on Christ because he is
Authoritative so the people saw him heal and then they say could this be the Messiah verse 24 but when the pharisees heard it these are the religious leaders of the time they said it is only by Beelzebul the prince of demons that this man casts out demons Beelzebul means it is a little phrase they use it means master
Of the house and it was their colloquial term for Satan it is a little bit like in Harry Potter where they won't say Voldemort's name they called him the dark Lord or whatever it is like that and for those of you who haven't seen Harry Potter it is fine just go with it it is Beelzebul and it means master of the house oh I said seen I know
Their books don't talk to me about that later just they were books and movies it is fine anyway Beelzebul master of the house so they are saying they are saying is he is this the one is this the one who is promised look at this authority look at this power and the
Pharisees religious leaders of the day see the crowds start moving in this direction to follow Jesus to worship Jesus to hold him up as the king of everything as the messiah and they say no no no no no no no no no no
It is not that he has great power because he is good he has great power because he is extremely evil evil the reason he can authoritatively because they can't deny the fact that he just authoritatively healed somebody they can't
Deny the fact that he just dispatched the enemy at a word we don't even know if it was at a word he might it doesn't say but he just dispatched the enemy with ease they said no no no it is not
That he is good he is evil so extremely evil and I would tell you those are really your options today you can see Jesus in what he does and you can hold him up as king and as gloriously powerful
You can submit to him or you can reject him as evil you can say he is leading everybody astray he is the reason that everything is wrong with our world if we could just get rid of religion
It is hard to have Jesus come to us the way he does and try to hold him in the middle and say well he is a nice guy he doesn't really leave us that option verse 25 knowing their
Thoughts he said to them every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste and no city or house divided against itself will stand and if satan
Cast out satan he is divided against himself how then will his kingdom stand so he knows their reasoning he knows the point they're trying
To make and knowing their thoughts it means he just know what they said or just what they're thinking but he sees the core
Of the issue he sees their hearts it's on display before him now I can't read thoughts but I've had moments where with my
Four year old son I felt clairvoyant I could see right through him I have a four year old he's about to be five
I have a five year old and two year old and there are times where they're playing and all of a sudden my two
Year old is crying aggressively for a while it was only because my four year old had done something but my two year old has learned
Cry the older bigger people will show up and you might get what you want so now since they're both sinners I have to
Go in and figure things out so I walk in and I'll say to Archer the one who can talk I'll say why is
He crying 50% of the time he says oh he fell and smacked his head on that or I had this toy but he
Wanted it but I was playing with it first that's 50% of the time the other half of the time I walk in I
Say why is he crying and he goes well and I have my answer I don't know the technique that he used to inflict
Harm on his brother but we've already jumped to it and he will he's he's going to tell me the truth y'all he's not
At the stage where he's lying to me a bunch but he's really he starts he'll start like three minutes ago well okay so
We were in this room he's giving himself a lot of leeway and I'll go what did you do to hurt him and he looks
At me like oh no he's cut through my stuff and that's what Jesus is doing here Jesus just jumps right to it cuts
Right through it and for adults that's probably pretty startling and so we've got these options either Jesus is powerfully good extremely good gloriously
Good or he is extremely evil because someone who's neutral doesn't just get to tell the enemy what to do now I don't want to
Give away the ending I'm but I'm gonna I lean that he's really good you guys and that's what Jesus is going to argue as
Well so he says every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste no city or house divided against itself will stand and if Satan
Casts out Satan he is divided against himself how then will his kingdom stand so his first argument is basically what y'all said doesn't
Make any sense your argument is silly that's his first argument Satan is fighting himself smart good good plan that's what he says that
Doesn't make any sense so that's his first argument is pretty simple if Satan were attacking himself he wouldn't be able to stand there's
No kingdom that divides against itself that will stand why would he do that then his second argument verse 27 if I cast out
Demons by Beelzebul by whom do your sons that means your followers cast them out therefore they will be your Judges so the Pharisees
Also had a practice of helping people find freedom through the power of God this was a practice Jesus hadn't come yet God was still
Working through the Jewish people so there was a practice for Pharisees to help people find freedom against demonic oppression so Jesus is just
Saying some of y'all do this is your argument with them that it's because they're the most evil among you we have the regular
Pharisees and the ones that help people find freedom are the evil Pharisees is that your argument is that how they do it is
That how I'm supposed to understand how y'all thought this worked the whole time he says they'll be your Judges like that that's not
What you would say about them so why would you say that about me 28 but if it is by the spirit of God
That I cast out demons then the kingdom of God has come upon you so he's saying if what you've said doesn't make any
Sense let me tell you the other option I'm walking in the spirit of God and the power and the authority of God and
The kingdom of God is here and where the kingdom spreads his authority spreads and freedom spreads that's your other option or how can
Someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man then indeed he may plunder his house
So he says if it doesn't make any sense for Satan to be attacking himself you now have to understand that I'm walking in
The power of the spirit and this is by the spirit of God and the kingdom I'm already binding him I'm way more powerful
Than he is you can't break into some strong man's house and just be walking out with his goods if he's just hanging out
There first thing you gotta do knock him out bind him up then you can plunder his house so Jesus is saying I'm plundering
The enemy the things that he claimed the people that he claimed I'm bringing freedom and I'm doing it because I have power and
I've already tied him up I love the books the chronicles of Narnia in the first one the line the witch and the wardrobe there's an
Evil witch who's made this whole area of Narnia winter forever she rides around in a sleigh she thinks she's great there's a part where Aslan who's
Modeled after Christ begins to show up and so she's riding and all of a sudden the snow starts melting and flowers start blooming and her sleigh
Gets stuck it's one of my favorite parts in the books and they keep talking about Aslan's on the move that's what Jesus is saying the
Kingdom is here I'm on the move and where I move freedom comes spring is blooming and the enemy power is broken and it's
Because I'm more powerful than he is whoever this is verse 30 whoever is not with me is against me and whoever does not gather
With me scatters he's saying I split the world in half those who are with me and those who aren't there aren't any other
Options I'm either incredibly good or you're going to have to just join the other team and be against me that's what he's saying
That if y'all are warring against me then he says therefore I tell you every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people blasphemy is
A direct sin against God now all sin is against God but blasphemy is words hurled at God is a defiant spirit toward God
That's how they understood it Jesus is actually going to be crucified they accuse him of blasphemy because he says he's the son of
Man high and lifted up you're going to see me coming in the clouds of heaven he goes back to this ancient of days
Picture from Daniel says that's me high priest rips his robes and says y'all heard it what other testimony we need blasphemy and so
Jesus is bringing this picture and he says every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people but the blasphemy against the spirit will not
Be forgiven and whoever speaks a word against the son of man will be forgiven but whoever speaks against the holy spirit will not be
Forgiven either in this age or the age to come so he's saying there's no forgiveness that you'll find in this life and there's
No forgiveness that you'll find in the eternity to come there is no forgiveness for blasphemy against the spirit John Piper who's a pastor
In Minnesota I think somewhere where it's cold up there to the left a little bit he said that when God says forever he means forever and that
If what he's saying here is that if all the mountains of the earth were slowly disintegrating one millimeter every thousand years there would be
No forgiveness for this sin when the earth was as smooth as a billiard ball faithful finans what jeez This means forever. This is a weighty statement. And I think we ought to figure out what is blasphemy of the Spirit? What is He talking about? And maybe if you've grown up in the church, you've heard some teaching on this.
You've heard this referred to. Maybe some of you in this room have wondered, have I done this? You've had some fear over what is blasphemy of the Spirit. I know our church family, some of you, this is the first time you've ever heard it. It's still worth, let's figure it out. So as I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word, so this is words spoken against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. Before we define this, I want to answer a few things that it's not. It is not the concept of grieving or quenching the Holy Spirit. So this is something that's mentioned later in the Bible, don't grieve the Holy Spirit or quenching the Spirit, which is this idea that the Holy Spirit leads you to do something and you do not do it.
There was a time where He told you to go speak to somebody, where He told you to call something out, where He told you to repent, where He told you to... And you didn't do it. You fought against Him. And the Bible tells us not to do that because we ought to follow the leadership of the Spirit, but that is not what this passage has in mind. It's not what it's talking about. Secondly, and as I was studying this, I learned, this has been taught that the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is if someone commits suicide. I don't know how common that is. I had heard before that people thought that suicide was unforgivable. I don't know how many people had tied it to this, but I want to say a few things. For those whose lives have been touched by suicide, it is tragic and horrible, and I'm sorry. But the Bible, not here or elsewhere, says that suicide is unforgivable.
It is a sin. It is something that we ought not to do. But it is a sin that receives forgiveness and grace in Christ. There are some things that people want to nuance and talk out that if someone was a believer, they would have a hard time doing that. And if you want to have a philosophical debate about it at some point or discussion, we can. But I want you to know the Bible does not teach that. And it definitely does not teach it here. The context would not make any sense for this to suddenly be referring to suicide. But if you have questions about that or concerns about that, we'd love to talk with you. And if suicide is something that you are considering, do not do that. Come talk to us. Thirdly, it is not simply being opposed to Christ prior to being a believer. It doesn't mean that you said really mean things about him or that you actively tried to stop the church or attacked the church.
If that were the case, Paul, who wrote Romans, which I wanted us to read earlier, randomly, would not have gotten to be an apostle. He persecuted the church. He hated the church. He thought he was doing what was right. He killed Christians. And he was redeemed, gloriously redeemed. It can't be that if you are a believer, someone who already knows Jesus, and then there's a time where you deny him or you pretend like you don't know him or you run from him. Because if that were the case, Peter would not get to be an apostle and a leader in the church. But that's exactly what he did. He knew Christ. He was the leader among the twelve
And he denied Christ and then repented and received forgiveness. So it can't be simply that. And so looking at the context and trying to understand what's going on here, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a settled position. Heart position. Because he knows their thoughts and he's about to address this more clearly that he can see to their hearts. But it's a settled heart position that the Holy Spirit of God is evil. So they're looking in this situation and they're seeing the works of Christ and they're seeing the works of the Spirit and they're saying this is Satan's work. And we don't know at this point if the Pharisees have actually committed
Blasphemy against the Spirit. We know he's warning them. And they've been saying he's Beelzebul for some time and he's addressing this and saying let me tell you something. There is forgiveness but not if we keep heading down this road. We don't know yet if they've fully done it but he is saying there will be no forgiveness not in this age or the age to come for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit for a settled position that God is evil that his work is evil for seeing what he's doing and calling it Satanic. So let's see. He keeps going. Verse 33.
Either make the tree good and its fruit good or make the tree bad and its fruit bad for the tree is known by its fruit. That's how you know. He just says it's so simple. You know a tree's good if its fruit's good. His point is y'all are saying I'm doing good things but I'm evil. I just did wonderful fruit. I just brought forth someone into freedom and then you said see that beautiful fruit? Evil tree. It doesn't make any sense. The fruit will be good and the tree's good
Or the fruit will be bad and the tree's bad. He keeps going. You brood of vipers. I also think in that past phrase he's calling them into a little bit of repentance. He's calling them to be good trees as he points out their brokenness and this thinking here. He says but you brood of vipers children of snakes. I know there's some cultural difference between us and them but this is received about the same way it would be received if you said it to someone.
Not nice. I think he's telling the truth. He's Jesus. He's calling it as it is but he's not a kind thing to say is he? How can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil and I tell you on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak. For by your words you will be justified
And by your words you will be condemned. I think that the concept of the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit gets pulled out of context until people don't use the context to try to understand it and I think that phrase gets pulled out of context. I tell you on the day of judgment people will give an account for every careless word they speak. How many people just thought of middle school and got cold chills? Understanding that this means if I just oh my goodness I'm going to stand before him
In everything I've ever said. I was with my dad we were at my grandparents' house when they used to live in West Virginia and they had a house at the top of a hill and they had a paved driveway that was a very steep slope and it was very icy quite often because we would go visit him at Christmas we were unloading the vehicle this was a difficult process to unload the vehicle and get the bags up the hill and you wanted to be there early so that you could be one of the top cars because of big families so sometimes you were at the very bottom. We were there
We were unloading the vehicle my dad's feet shoot out from under him he lands on his back pow and just splayed out and slides down the hill. For his sons who watched it was great for him he didn't seem to enjoy it that much but he got up he's like oh he said that for a second and then he went I didn't cuss he's so proud of himself and you guys he did it that's all he had to do he passed the test
He didn't say a careless word he's fine in the day of judgment that's not how that works that's not what this passage is saying it does not mean have you said something bad or have you said something ill-timed or has something slipped out or have you had a season where it's not what it's saying what he's saying is you are confessing what you believe your mouth is telling on your heart and your mouth will stand in judgment against you he knows their thoughts he sees to their heart
And he says what's coming out of you is because your heart is evil and so some of us say I'm a good person and we're lying to ourselves I'm a believer but we're lying to ourselves your mouth is telling on your heart all the time when you get the chance to build somebody up when you get the chance to tear somebody down which do you take when you're rehearsing things to yourself about who God is and who other people are and what this city's like are you confessing are your words
Telling you and the world and God in judgment that you believe and that your confession is that Christ is good and that he redeems sinners are you confessing the truth because it's just pouring out of what's going on in your heart so you've got to realize the heart is the core it's not your words that are accomplishing this your words are putting it on display and he's saying the reason why you are settled in this the reason why this is pouring out of you is because your heart is evil
That's why you're making this argument that's why you're bent this direction that's what the Pharisees are doing they've already settled in their hearts their approach to Jesus so it doesn't matter what he does they're going to find a way to fight against it I remember when I first got married and I was I talked with Anna's brother and asked him to read the Bible with me he's not a believer but he was willing to read it he was interested
He was reading it with me we were reading through the Gospel of John and he said to me at one point he goes I don't understand the Pharisees at all because they keep seeing Jesus do amazing things and instead of acknowledging that was amazing they just further decide we've got to kill him like specifically it came out in John 11 where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and they're like oh now we have to kill Lazarus too
We better kill Jesus first or he'll undo it again and he was like what is going on here but the thing is they had already settled in their heart their position towards him and so they were going to fight against it the whole time this is the way I feel when I've ever seen that program Ancient Aliens on the History Channel which I love that that's on the History Channel because what on earth is the History Channel doing all they do they have it settled in their mind God doesn't exist
Supernatural doesn't exist and so they go around the world and they find pictures and stories and they'll read passages of the Bible and they'll go now this person who is supposedly a prophet of God met with God on the mountain this Moses but what if it wasn't God what if it was and it's always a big reveal aliens that's their that's their whole position they're willing to make that big jump to aliens
Aliens started human life aliens did this they're willing to make that jump and I'm always like what if it's what the guy who saw it said it was what if we took the eyewitness account instead of what you've made up but they have a settled position and then they're working from that spot the Pharisees have that their heart is settled and they're working from that position not all the Pharisees thankfully some repent
But in general that's what they're doing the ones he's interacting with are doing that and he's saying your words are pouring out there's no way for you to speak good things there's no way for you to see this well because you are evil so blasphemy against the spirit is the settled position that Christ that the spirit the work of God is evil that it's harmful and Jesus says that will not be forgiven now I want to I want us to not miss some things
First I want us to see the distinct and precious position of the work of the spirit Jesus even says blasphemy against the son of man will be forgiven so this position that he's fulfilling at this time he says that will be forgiven but blasphemy against the spirit won't to see the work of God and to fight against it and to think he's evil won't be forgiven I want you to see the preciousness of the spirit and the beauty of the work of the spirit
I want us to cherish that I want us to learn that if you are willing to repent desiring to repent if you have stuff where you feel like maybe I fought against the spirit repent if he's calling you to repent repent if your desire is for him if your heart is for him don't think maybe I've already committed this you have to repent but I also want us to be careful how we speak
Of the spirit's work because we can easily drift into tribalism and when we see other movements and other things going on in the Christian world we can be quick to judge rather than slow to discern and walk in the spirit as we give judgment I'm not saying accept everything the bible doesn't say that it says test the spirits but have the holy spirit lead that process
And don't just think because that's the first I've heard of it it must be evil be slow in that process secondly be guarded in the way you speak the holy spirit is precious let's not make jokes I don't know if y'all know this I love making jokes I also like jokes that are just on the
Hair of this was not the best time for this joke just on the hair I've never been beyond that just right there the holy spirit is precious Christ is precious let's be careful in thinking oh okay well he's there's grace there's freedom we can talk about him how we want
No he's he's glorious and to be upheld so I'm a fan of jokes but not about the Lord the only one I've ever heard about Jesus that I think is repeatable and I think it's kind of funny my dad
Told me he said at the last supper you know what Jesus said to his disciples y'all eat on this side of the table if you want to be in the picture that's the only one I'll tell because I think we're making fun
Of Leonardo da Vinci not Jesus so be careful the holy spirit is precious his work is beautiful be slow to discern slow to speak lastly don't miss this because I think we read this and we think oh my goodness there's an
Unforgivable sin and we don't see what Jesus just said look at this verse 31 therefore I tell you every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven he says
But and he clarifies about this position against the Holy Spirit but don't miss that every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven do you see how beautiful that is that's what Jesus has come to accomplish at the cost of his own life to spill
His own blood so that we might have redemption and he gets great glory as he forgives wicked wicked sinners your theft your lies your adultery your hatred your racism your pedophilia the times you've shaken your fist at God you've raged against Christ
Will be forgiven in the atoning blood of our glorious Savior do not miss that do not feel judgment from this passage and only see that see the judgment and find forgiveness run to the one who forgives
Sin and welcomes sinners the Bible is covered in this whoever believes in the son has eternal life whoever does not obey the son shall not see life but the
Wrath of God remains on him so there is a wrath that remains but there's forgiveness in the son John 3 36 John 5 24
Truly truly I say to you whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life he does not come into judgment
But has passed from death to life that we can go to Christ and be forgiven and he forgives all sins one of my favorite
Movies is oh brother where art thou it came out in the year 2000 it's like 20 years ago I talk about it like
It came out two years ago but there's these guys who escape from jail they're running through the woods and they see people getting
Baptized and one of them Delmer runs down to get baptized he goes out he talks to the pastor he comes back he goes
To his friends and he says come on in boys the water's fine and he splashes and they said what are you doing he
Says I've just been saved and forgiven all my sins have been forgiven even that piggly wiggly I knocked over in Yazoo one of
The other guys goes you said you were innocent of those charges and he goes well I lied and that's forgiven too and that's
Us in Christ that's forgiven too what is it that haunts you what is it that you feel like clings to you run to
Christ that's forgiven too in this age and the age to come all sin all blasphemy come on in the water's fine there's freedom
And redemption in Christ that his blood would be shed for sinners wicked evil despicable sinners the thing that makes shame creep up your
Neck the thing that you don't want to tell anybody he forgives he redeems and he receives much glory from it what is your confession
It says if we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord you will be saved the Philippian jailer comes to
Paul and he says how can we be saved Paul says believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved you and your household he doesn't say
I need to ask a question about blasphemy first he says no believe you'll find forgiveness you'll find salvation trust so for those of you who have
Placed your faith in Jesus I want you to feel the freedom and the forgiveness in Christ this morning that every sin and every
Blasphemy is forgiven and for those of you who have not placed your faith in Christ I want you to do so I want you to come to come to come to Jesus
That he is evil and that he is at work for bad but see him in his glory and see him in his goodness
And see him in his power and place your faith in him let's pray God we pray that you would work today we pray that you would help us to
See our sin so that we might run to the Savior I pray that you would help us to feel the forgiveness that is in your name the hope that is in Christ and
Christ alone I pray that for those who have been oppressed by the enemy lied to tricked accused tempted I pray that they would find freedom in your name that they would seek you who set
Captives free who have bound the strong man who have conquered the enemy who have brought him to open shame and have triumphed over him and who have nailed our sin to the cross may we find hope and freedom
And joy and delight in Christ this morning amen amen
And I think we ought to figure out what is blasphemy of the Spirit? What is He talking about? And maybe if you've grown up in the church, you've heard some teaching on this. You've heard this referred to. Maybe some of you in this room have wondered, have I done this? You've had some fear over what is blasphemy of the Spirit.
I know our church family, some of you, this is the first time you've ever heard it. It's still worth, let's figure it out. So as I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word, so this is words spoken against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. Before we define this, I want to answer a few things that it's not. It is not the concept of grieving or quenching the Holy Spirit.
So this is something that's mentioned later in the Bible, don't grieve the Holy Spirit or quenching the Spirit, which is this idea that the Holy Spirit leads you to do something and you do not do it. There was a time where He told you to go speak to somebody, where He told you to call something out, where He told you to repent, where He told you to... And you didn't do it. You fought against Him. And the Bible tells us not to do that because we ought to follow the leadership of the Spirit, but that is not what this passage has in mind. It's not what it's talking about.
Secondly, and as I was studying this, I learned, this has been taught that the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is if someone commits suicide. I don't know how common that is. I had heard before that people thought that suicide was unforgivable. I don't know how many people had tied it to this, but I want to say a few things. For those whose lives have been touched by suicide, it is tragic and horrible, and I'm sorry. But the Bible, not here or elsewhere, says that suicide is unforgivable.
It is a sin. It is something that we ought not to do. But it is a sin that receives forgiveness and grace in Christ. There are some things that people want to nuance and talk out that if someone was a believer, they would have a hard time doing that. And if you want to have a philosophical debate about it at some point or discussion, we can. But I want you to know the Bible does not teach that.
And it definitely does not teach it here. The context would not make any sense for this to suddenly be referring to suicide. But if you have questions about that or concerns about that, we'd love to talk with you. And if suicide is something that you are considering, do not do that. Come talk to us. Thirdly, it is not simply being opposed to Christ prior to being a believer.
It doesn't mean that you said really mean things about him or that you actively tried to stop the church or attacked the church. If that were the case, Paul, who wrote Romans, which I wanted us to read earlier, randomly, would not have gotten to be an apostle. He persecuted the church. He hated the church. He thought he was doing what was right. He killed Christians.
And he was redeemed, gloriously redeemed. It can't be that if you are a believer, someone who already knows Jesus, and then there's a time where you deny him or you pretend like you don't know him or you run from him. Because if that were the case, Peter would not get to be an apostle and a leader in the church. But that's exactly what he did. He knew Christ. He was the leader among the twelve and he denied Christ and then repented and received forgiveness.
So it can't be simply that. And so looking at the context and trying to understand what's going on here, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a settled position. Heart position. Because he knows their thoughts and he's about to address this more clearly that he can see to their hearts. But it's a settled heart position that the Holy Spirit of God is evil.
So they're looking in this situation and they're seeing the works of Christ and they're seeing the works of the Spirit and they're saying this is Satan's work. And we don't know at this point if the Pharisees have actually committed blasphemy against the Spirit. We know he's warning them. And they've been saying he's Beelzebul for some time and he's addressing this and saying let me tell you something. There is forgiveness but not if we keep heading down this road. We don't know yet if they've fully done it but he is saying there will be no forgiveness not in this age or the age to come for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit for a settled position that God is evil that his work is evil for seeing what he's doing and calling it Satanic.
So let's see. He keeps going. Verse 33. Either make the tree good and its fruit good or make the tree bad and its fruit bad for the tree is known by its fruit. That's how you know. He just says it's so simple.
You know a tree's good if its fruit's good. His point is y'all are saying I'm doing good things but I'm evil. I just did wonderful fruit. I just brought forth someone into freedom and then you said see that beautiful fruit? Evil tree. It doesn't make any sense.
The fruit will be good and the tree's good or the fruit will be bad and the tree's bad. He keeps going. You brood of vipers. I also think in that past phrase he's calling them into a little bit of repentance. He's calling them to be good trees as he points out their brokenness and this thinking here. He says but you brood of vipers children of snakes.
I know there's some cultural difference between us and them but this is received about the same way it would be received if you said it to someone. Not nice. I think he's telling the truth. He's Jesus. He's calling it as it is but he's not a kind thing to say is he? How can you speak good when you are evil?
For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil and I tell you on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak. For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned. I think that the concept of the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit gets pulled out of context until people don't use the context to try to understand it and I think that phrase gets pulled out of context. I tell you on the day of judgment people will give an account for every careless word they speak.
How many people just thought of middle school and got cold chills? Understanding that this means if I just oh my goodness I'm going to stand before him in everything I've ever said. I was with my dad we were at my grandparents' house when they used to live in West Virginia and they had a house at the top of a hill and they had a paved driveway that was a very steep slope and it was very icy quite often because we would go visit him at Christmas we were unloading the vehicle this was a difficult process to unload the vehicle and get the bags up the hill and you wanted to be there early so that you could be one of the top cars because of big families so sometimes you were at the very bottom. We were there we were unloading the vehicle my dad's feet shoot out from under him he lands on his back pow and just splayed out and slides down the hill.
We were unloading the vehicle my dad's feet shoot out from under him he lands on his back pow and just splayed out and slides down the hill. For his sons who watched it was great for him he didn't seem to enjoy it that much but he got up he's like oh he said that for a second and then he went I didn't cuss he's so proud of himself and you guys he did it that's all he had to do he passed the test
He didn't say a careless word he's fine in the day of judgment that's not how that works that's not what this passage is saying it does not mean have you said something bad or have you said something ill-timed or has something slipped out or have you had a season where it's not what it's saying what he's saying is you are confessing what you believe your mouth is telling on your heart and your mouth will stand in judgment against you he knows their thoughts he sees to their heart
And he says what's coming out of you is because your heart is evil and so some of us say I'm a good person and we're lying to ourselves I'm a believer but we're lying to ourselves your mouth is telling on your heart all the time when you get the chance to build somebody up when you get the chance to tear somebody down which do you take when you're rehearsing things to yourself about who God is and who other people are and what this city's like are you confessing are your words
Telling you and the world and God in judgment that you believe and that your confession is that Christ is good and that he redeems sinners are you confessing the truth because it's just pouring out of what's going on in your heart so you've got to realize the heart is the core it's not your words that are accomplishing this your words are putting it on display and he's saying the reason why you are settled in this the reason why this is pouring out of you is because your heart is evil
That's why you're making this argument that's why you're bent this direction that's what the Pharisees are doing they've already settled in their hearts their approach to Jesus so it doesn't matter what he does they're going to find a way to fight against it I remember when I first got married and I was I talked with Anna's brother and asked him to read the Bible with me he's not a believer but he was willing to read it he was interested
He was reading it with me we were reading through the Gospel of John and he said to me at one point he goes I don't understand the Pharisees at all because they keep seeing Jesus do amazing things and instead of acknowledging that was amazing they just further decide we've got to kill him like specifically it came out in John 11 where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and they're like oh now we have to kill Lazarus too
We better kill Jesus first or he'll undo it again and he was like what is going on here but the thing is they had already settled in their heart their position towards him and so they were going to fight against it the whole time this is the way I feel when I've ever seen that program Ancient Aliens on the History Channel which I love that that's on the History Channel because what on earth is the History Channel doing all they do they have it settled in their mind God doesn't exist
Supernatural doesn't exist and so they go around the world and they find pictures and stories and they'll read passages of the Bible and they'll go now this person who is supposedly a prophet of God met with God on the mountain this Moses but what if it wasn't God what if it was and it's always a big reveal aliens that's their that's their whole position they're willing to make that big jump to aliens
Aliens started human life aliens did this they're willing to make that jump and I'm always like what if it's what the guy who saw it said it was what if we took the eyewitness account instead of what you've made up but they have a settled position and then they're working from that spot the Pharisees have that their heart is settled and they're working from that position not all the Pharisees thankfully some repent
But in general that's what they're doing the ones he's interacting with are doing that and he's saying your words are pouring out there's no way for you to speak good things there's no way for you to see this well because you are evil so blasphemy against the spirit is the settled position that Christ that the spirit the work of God is evil that it's harmful and Jesus says that will not be forgiven now I want to I want us to not miss some things
First I want us to see the distinct and precious position of the work of the spirit Jesus even says blasphemy against the son of man will be forgiven so this position that he's fulfilling at this time he says that will be forgiven but blasphemy against the spirit won't to see the work of God and to fight against it and to think he's evil won't be forgiven I want you to see the preciousness of the spirit and the beauty of the work of the spirit
I want us to cherish that I want us to learn that if you are willing to repent desiring to repent if you have stuff where you feel like maybe I fought against the spirit repent if he's calling you to repent repent if your desire is for him if your heart is for him don't think maybe I've already committed this you have to repent but I also want us to be careful how we speak
Of the spirit's work because we can easily drift into tribalism and when we see other movements and other things going on in the Christian world we can be quick to judge rather than slow to discern and walk in the spirit as we give judgment I'm not saying accept everything the bible doesn't say that it says test the spirits but have the holy spirit lead that process
And don't just think because that's the first I've heard of it it must be evil be slow in that process secondly be guarded in the way you speak the holy spirit is precious let's not make jokes I don't know if y'all know this I love making jokes I also like jokes that are just on the
Hair of this was not the best time for this joke just on the hair I've never been beyond that just right there the holy spirit is precious Christ is precious let's be careful in thinking oh okay well he's there's grace there's freedom we can talk about him how we want
No he's he's glorious and to be upheld so I'm a fan of jokes but not about the Lord the only one I've ever heard about Jesus that I think is repeatable and I think it's kind of funny my dad
Told me he said at the last supper you know what Jesus said to his disciples y'all eat on this side of the table if you want to be in the picture that's the only one I'll tell because I think we're making fun
Of Leonardo da Vinci not Jesus so be careful the holy spirit is precious his work is beautiful be slow to discern slow to speak lastly don't miss this because I think we read this and we think oh my goodness there's an
Unforgivable sin and we don't see what Jesus just said look at this verse 31 therefore I tell you every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven he says
But and he clarifies about this position against the Holy Spirit but don't miss that every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven do you see how beautiful that is that's what Jesus has come to accomplish at the cost of his own life to spill
His own blood so that we might have redemption and he gets great glory as he forgives wicked wicked sinners your theft your lies your adultery your hatred your racism your pedophilia the times you've shaken your fist at God you've raged against Christ
Will be forgiven in the atoning blood of our glorious Savior do not miss that do not feel judgment from this passage and only see that see the judgment and find forgiveness run to the one who forgives
Sin and welcomes sinners the Bible is covered in this whoever believes in the son has eternal life whoever does not obey the son shall not see life but the
Wrath of God remains on him so there is a wrath that remains but there's forgiveness in the son John 3 36 John 5 24
Truly truly I say to you whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life he does not come into judgment
But has passed from death to life that we can go to Christ and be forgiven and he forgives all sins one of my favorite
Movies is oh brother where art thou it came out in the year 2000 it's like 20 years ago I talk about it like
It came out two years ago but there's these guys who escape from jail they're running through the woods and they see people getting
Baptized and one of them Delmer runs down to get baptized he goes out he talks to the pastor he comes back he goes
To his friends and he says come on in boys the water's fine and he splashes and they said what are you doing he
Says I've just been saved and forgiven all my sins have been forgiven even that piggly wiggly I knocked over in Yazoo one of
The other guys goes you said you were innocent of those charges and he goes well I lied and that's forgiven too and that's
Us in Christ that's forgiven too what is it that haunts you what is it that you feel like clings to you run to
Christ that's forgiven too in this age and the age to come all sin all blasphemy come on in the water's fine there's freedom
And redemption in Christ that his blood would be shed for sinners wicked evil despicable sinners the thing that makes shame creep up your
Neck the thing that you don't want to tell anybody he forgives he redeems and he receives much glory from it what is your confession
It says if we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord you will be saved the Philippian jailer comes to
Paul and he says how can we be saved Paul says believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved you and your household he doesn't say
I need to ask a question about blasphemy first he says no believe you'll find forgiveness you'll find salvation trust so for those of you who have
Placed your faith in Jesus I want you to feel the freedom and the forgiveness in Christ this morning that every sin and every
Blasphemy is forgiven and for those of you who have not placed your faith in Christ I want you to do so I want you to come to come to come to Jesus
That he is evil and that he is at work for bad but see him in his glory and see him in his goodness
And see him in his power and place your faith in him let's pray God we pray that you would work today we pray that you would help us to
See our sin so that we might run to the Savior I pray that you would help us to feel the forgiveness that is in your name the hope that is in Christ and
Christ alone I pray that for those who have been oppressed by the enemy lied to tricked accused tempted I pray that they would find freedom in your name that they would seek you who set
Captives free who have bound the strong man who have conquered the enemy who have brought him to open shame and have triumphed over him and who have nailed our sin to the cross may we find hope and freedom
And joy and delight in Christ this morning amen amen
Lord of the Sabbath
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Spencer and I'm one of the pastors here. We're going to be in Matthew 12 today, verses 1 through 21. I would encourage you to follow along with us today as we walk through the text. The text will not be on the screen. In the blue Bibles, that's page 476.
There are also black Bibles that have large print as well. So, I have two brothers and two sisters. My oldest brother, Sean, he's a part of our church. My other brother, who's two years older than me, he lives in Charleston. And we grew up together and we were the worst. We fought all the time.
My mom deserves a medal because we fought and we argued all the time. And I remember one specific time when I was about five or six. He was really good at getting under my skin. He was always a few steps ahead of me. He'd get under my skin. He would egg me on.
We were playing basketball this one time and we got into an argument and it started to get more heated. And we started lobbing, you know, schoolyard insults at each other. But it started to escalate and he knew something. He knew that recently I had learned a few colorful curse words. I just started riding the bus and I heard all the words. And public school buses for you.
He knew I learned a few words. And all of a sudden he's like, I'm going to get one of them out of him. So he kept pressing and pressing and pressing. And I finally got so mad that a hundred dollar curse word came out. I just, I lobbed it at him. And his righteous, unstained ears heard it.
And he's like, the only thing I can do to bring justice to this situation is to go and tell mom. So he turns around and he bolts it back to the house. He says, I'm telling mom. And as he heard last week, I had trouble running as a kid. So I took one deep breath and I ran towards the house.
And I ran out of steam. And he got there first. And he told my mom what I'd said. But he had really misunderstood and underestimated how her response would be. Because her general take in situations like this was, you probably deserved it. That's just, that was what she did.
I mean, she saw how much he egged me on. And I think that's literally what came out of her mouth. You probably deserved it. Get out. And the other thing that he misunderstood is that she wasn't a fool. She knew what was up.
She knew all, we pulled these kind of stunts on each other all the time. We were always messing with each other. We were always trying to get the other in trouble. She knew that his motives were not pure. She knew that he wasn't trying to promote justice like that. She completely saw through it.
And at this point in the Gospel of Matthew, we kind of get to do the same thing. I mean, we, at every point when the Pharisees, who were the religious leaders of Israel, at every point they show up, you can rest assured, their motives are not pure. They are not looking to promote justice. They're not looking to promote righteousness. Their motives are not pure. And every time that they have an encounter with Jesus, you can see it coming.
They are trying to catch him. They're trying to find a way to catch him in his works. And today we're going to see just that in chapter 12. We're going to see the Pharisees who seize upon something to actively take Jesus down. And from this point forward, it's going to be not just opposition to Jesus, but they're actively looking to take him down and destroy his movement. So we're going to see this today.
We're going to see the Pharisees attack him with a pretty strong accusation. But here's the deal. Jesus, unlike five-year-old me, is sinless. He is guiltless. He is innocent. And also, unlike me, he is ten steps ahead of them when they come at him.
So we're going to see that. We're going to see Jesus go to work with five different defenses against the Pharisees. We're going to watch him walk through these five defenses. And here's what's going to be abundantly clear. There are two different paths that come out of this story. There's one with Jesus that is marked by mercy.
And there's one with the Pharisees that is marked by self-righteousness. We're going to see his mercy at odds with their self-righteousness. And we get to see how we get to respond to that today. So let me pray. And then we will jump into the story. Father, we thank you that you've given us your word and you get to speak to us.
God, I pray that you would help us be present this morning. You give us ears to hear and that we would respond, that you would go to work on our hearts. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right.
Verse 1 and 2. All right. So there are a lot of times that the Pharisees come at Jesus with some very weak accusations. I mean, they are grasping at straws. This is probably the one time where as you read it, you're like, wait a second. I mean, they actually might have a little bit of a case here.
The disciples are traveling through a grain field. They're plucking off grain heads as a snack on the Sabbath. And technically, you can make the case that that's harvesting. And harvesting is a work. And that's forbidden on the Sabbath. You go to the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20.
It says, remember the Sabbath day. This is the fourth commandment. To keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.
On it, I want you to hear this. The force of this. You shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant or your livestock or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. See, Sabbath was a very big deal.
As we walked through in Genesis a few years ago, God creates the world in six days. And on the seventh day, he rested. Not because he needs rest. God is infinite in power. He does not need rest. But what he was doing for his creation was showing you are created not to endlessly work, but you need to rest.
And ultimately, we need to rest in God. So he ingrains that into the rhythm of creation. And then what happens is, is when you fast forward a little bit, the people of God become slaves in Egypt. For 400 plus years, they are slaves and they work and work and work and they do not rest. There is no Sabbath for 400 plus years. That's a long time.
That's longer than we've been a nation. That's a long tradition of not resting at all. So when they come out of the promised land, when God redeems them in the wilderness, he starts to establish his law. And he makes it abundantly clear. You are not a slave to anyone else. You are my people.
And I've created you for rest. Your work is not what defines you. What you produce does not define you. I'm what define you. You will rest. And this gets cemented in the law.
And about that same time in Numbers 15, there's an instance where a man is collecting sticks on the Sabbath. He's working on the Sabbath. And they catch him. And Moses comes to God and he says, Lord, what do you want us to do? And the Lord says, take him outside the camp and stone him. I mean, it's a sharp punishment.
Because God in that moment is trying to make it abundantly clear to the people of God, you are created to rest in me. Now, that is what the law says. And what comes out of that over the next thousand years are sets of priests who are trying to understand the Sabbath. And what they do is they start to add regulations to it. I think at first it's an honorable reproach, right? You saw how strict it is in the law to rest.
But then you've got one set of priests who says, all right, you can't do this and you can't do that. And then the next generation says, you can't do this and you can't do that. This happens for about a thousand years. Generation after generation of priests who are adding regulations, who are putting more restrictions on the law, all the way until Jesus comes. And this continues even into today. I mean, I was in Jerusalem about a decade ago.
And I was in a hotel. And we were, I think we were on the seventh or eighth floor. And every time that it was Sabbath and you had to get up to your room on the eighth floor, it was super obnoxious. Because you get in the elevator and at every single floor it would open, close, open, close, open, close. Because if you pushed a button, that was considered work. So they have elevators specifically designed to stop at every floor.
And there are tons of rules like that even today. They just are absolutely, they have missed it completely. And at the time of Jesus, there's this long list of extra regulations. And here's what happens. At the time of Jesus, the Sabbath looks nothing like it was originally designed to be. It becomes this anxiety-filled set of requirements.
The people kind of a little bit nervously making sure they don't break any of these rules. That's the context of the Sabbath by the time it gets to Jesus. And the Pharisees, who do not have pure motives, they see this and they say, We got him. We got him. He's breaking the Sabbath. And they call him out.
And I want you to understand something. The Pharisees were very respected, honored, and a little bit feared by the people because of the power they held. So when they told people, You're breaking the Sabbath. The people stepped to. If you get called out for breaking the Sabbath, you straightened up and you did what you were supposed to do. So there's got to be a little bit of, Oh, we've got him right now.
He's going to straighten up. He's going to follow us. Jesus turns and immediately launches into five different defenses. And in these defenses, He absolutely, just completely dismantles their understanding of Sabbath. And really actually reveals who they are. That they have misunderstood the Sabbath for so long.
And not only that, they have used the Sabbath as a way to promote themselves as looking holy. They've used it for self-righteous gain. So, first defense, verse 3. He said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, those who were with him? How he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests. His first defense is, I am the king.
He launches into this kind of vague story from the Old Testament. He says, Oh, you're going to call us out? Let's go to 1 Samuel 21. And he references this story where David is on the run from his life from King Saul. He's on the run for his life. And then you can read the Psalms.
When he's on the run, they're hungry. They're thirsty. And he comes upon a priest named Ahimelech. And he asks him, Do you have any food? And Ahimelech says, No, the only food that we have is the bread, the show bread, the bread of the presence. And this was bread specifically as the Old Testament law outlines.
It was made holy as a presentation, but ultimately the only people who could eat it were the priests. So David says, Can we eat that bread? And Ahimelech gives him the bread and his men the bread. And guess what? Nowhere in that story or in the rest of the Old Testament are those actions condemned. Not one place.
Because David is unique. He is the anointed one. He is the Savior King. There's some priestly stuff that is built into that. So when he basically, what Jesus just said was, is that I'm the greater David.
That I'm the King. And because I'm the King, we will do as we please. Just as David took bread, we will take grain. And that's kind of an abrasive thing to say. I mean, you should try this. Go down to the Amazon Fulfillment Center, down 12th Extension Street, walk on in, and you try taking stuff off the shelves.
You try to take an inventory. And when somebody comes up to you and says, What are you doing? And you say, No, no, no. You don't understand. I know Jeff Bezos. I'm actually greater than your CEO.
The richest man in the world. I will take as I please. You will end up in jail. And you will look crazy. And that is the point. And what Jesus just said to the Pharisees looks absolutely crazy.
He says, I am the King. Not only that, I'm comparing myself to the greatest King in the history of Israel. And what I love is with each of these defenses, like he doesn't give any room for rebuttal. This is not a debate. This ends up being a monologue for about four different defenses. He launches from one straight into the next.
Second defense. Verse 5. Or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests and the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. His second defense is I am the greater temple. He says, Oh, I'm sorry.
Have you not read the Old Testament law that says that priests profane the Sabbath? They have to work on the Sabbath? He said, Y'all know that priests have to circumcise babies on the eighth day, even if it falls on the Sabbath. That's work. Y'all know that when they prepare the temple for worship, they're doing that on the Sabbath. They are working on the Sabbath.
So he makes that case from the text. And then he takes it a step further. And he says, I am the greater temple. Something greater than the temple is here. That's one thing to say, compare yourself to David. But the temple, man, that is the most sacred place for the people of God.
I mean, there's so much history and tradition and ritual that is bound up in the temple. I mean, to this day, there's only one wall remaining from that temple. And all around the world, Jews will travel to pray in front of this wall. They will cry in front of this wall. They will kiss this wall. And that represents how sacred this place was.
I want you to imagine for a second, for you Clemson fans, just take a moment and imagine this. One day, Dabo is going, he's going to leave. I know he's going to retire in 30 years, or he's going to leave for another school. That's up for debate. That's not the point. One day, he is going to leave.
And when he does, I want you to imagine something. A new coach comes in. He's got a press conference. That's right at Death Valley Stadium. I want you to imagine if he just went, Death Valley, the hill, Howard's Rock, someone greater is here. You would tear your orange.
Like you would be severely upset. That's a great overstatement. That takes something that is so sacred. Like I just, Jesus just elevated. He said, I am greater than the most sacred object, than the most revered place. In all of Israel.
I am the greater temple. And he doesn't stop. He keeps on going with his third defense. Verse 7, he says, And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. You would not have condemned the guiltless. His third defense is you don't get mercy.
You don't get it. Jesus starts quoting something that's actually going at the very heart of their character. He quotes Hosea 6.6. He did this back in chapter 9. But they still don't get it.
The Pharisees still don't understand what he's getting at. He says, You don't get mercy. You've used the law, and specifically, you've used the Sabbath as a means of showing yourself to be self-righteous. As a weapon against the people. You don't get mercy. And what he's doing here is a little bit of a rabbi teaching tool.
He quotes the first part of Hosea 6.6. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. But what happens is, and this is how rabbis would teach sometimes, they'll take the first part of that verse, but the second part, the context, is also included. So what he just said from Hosea 6.6 was, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. The knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. What he just said was he went straight at their character and says, You don't know mercy, and you certainly don't know God.
You have rituals, you have sacrifices, you have burnt offerings, but you don't know God, and you don't know mercy. He goes directly at their character, which is a big deal even in our time. If you get into a debate with somebody, an argument, and it escalates, and eventually you start, you know, calling out each other's character, it gets heated. And we aren't even in a shame honor culture like theirs. In a shame honor culture, this is a huge deal. He did this to them, to their face.
He does it in front of all the people. He reveals who they are. You don't know God, and you certainly do not understand mercy. And he doesn't give them any room to respond. He goes straight into the fourth defense, verse 8. He says, For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.
And this is my favorite one. His fourth defense is, I am Lord. He starts off with Son of Man, which is the, this is Daniel language, this is looking for the Messiah, elevating himself to God. Now, when later he's on trial, right before he is sentenced to death, he references Son of Man language, and they recognize exactly what he just said, that he compared himself to God. At that point, they tear their clothes. They call out for blasphemy.
So not only does he say, I'm the Son of Man, he says, I'm Lord of the Sabbath, which is the trump card. I remember when I was, we were kids, that we would get in arguments, we'd get in debates, and you'd do something like, I'm the smartest, and they would say, no, I'm ten times as smart. You'd say, no, I'm a hundred times smarter. And then eventually, if you learn this word, infinity, it changed the game. It's like, I'm the smartest times infinity. And they go, what?
Grab a Webster's, son, get schooled. It's endless. I win. It's the trump card. Jesus lays down the infinity card. I'm the Lord of the Sabbath.
I run these streets now. I am the Lord of the Sabbath. I'm the captain of it. I'm the one that says what goes. This is a group of people that held God's people in check with Sabbath regulations. They told people what they could and could not do.
And Jesus steps in and says, I'm the Son of Man. Not only that, I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. What I say goes. I mean, he says something so bold, right to their faces. And this is what I love. It's that, he just kind of walks right past them.
Because in verse 9, it says he went on from there and entered their synagogue. And it's, this is like, he walks right past them and they're just like, wait, no, we got things to say. He just doesn't even listen. He walks straight into, catch this, their synagogue. Y'all, this, this is where they used to preach every week. This is where they used to teach the people.
This is where they were honored. He walks into their synagogue and he's about to lay down his fifth defense. This is kind of like Michael Jordan showing up to the elementary school, dunking on the school kids. I mean, he, he comes out of their court, their territory, and he launches into his fifth defense. Starts in verse 10. And a man was there with a withered hand and they asked him, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him?
He said to them, which one of you has a sheep if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep? So he walks into their synagogue. He finds a man with a withered hand, knowing good and well what's about to happen. This is what I love, is that they, he just absolutely took it to them for four different defenses and they come inside and they think, oh, we're going to get them now. It's like, y'all don't learn this.
It's not going to end well for you. And they walk up to him and they're ready to catch him. And what Jesus does, he senses this and he quotes something. He says, which one of you has a sheep if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will take hold of it, will not take hold of it and lift it out? What he just referenced was a very common debate at the time amongst Pharisees and Sadducees and the religious leadership in Israel. You see, because they had such intense Sabbath regulations, this was an ethical question that was asked, that was debated.
What do you do if an animal falls into a pit on the Sabbath? Now, there's a few hardliners that said, it dies. You don't want them watching your pets. And there was a couple other ones that would say, no, that's a little harsh. We can put some food in there. We'll come back on the next day and we'll get it.
The rest of them said, no, that's crazy. Let's look at the rest of the Old Testament law. No, God values life. So the overwhelming majority opinion to this ethical question that Jesus just referenced was, no, you save the animal. Go in and get the sheep. You can break a little bit of Sabbath work to save life.
And what Jesus just does, he takes that debate, he puts it front and center and then he says of how much more value is a man than a sheep. And what he just did was, he said, you, it's understood that you'll go in and you'll save something that has material value but you look at a man who has a withered hand and say, no, no, not him. He calls them out. Men and women are made in the image of God. They have value and you don't get it. You'd rather save your material possessions than actually help people.
You have completely missed the boat. So he says, so it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. And he said to the man, stretch out your hand. So the man has some type of withered hand, probably has it his entire life. And he says, stretch out your hand. And when he stretched out his hand, it was completely restored.
His entire life. All right? The stigma of being disabled in this culture and everything that goes along with that. Not be able to work like he wants to. Jesus shows mercy and his hand was restored healthy like the other one. But I want you to see the response here.
Verse 14. It says, but the Pharisees went out and conspired against him how to destroy him. I mean, Jesus displays this unbelievable act of mercy. This unbelievable act of God and healing. And their response is, he is too dangerous. We are going to destroy him.
We are going to kill him and destroy his movement. What a sharp contrast. It is at this point forward, there are two completely different roads. There is the road that Jesus is going to take and that is one that is lined with mercy. And there is one that the Pharisees are going to take and it is one that is completely marked by self-righteousness. These are two different groups.
These are two different faiths and understanding of who God is. Jesus being the perfect embodiment of mercy and them being the prime example of what it looks like to be self-righteous. And honestly, when you look at it from our position, that is the same choice today. Oftentimes, for those of us, especially in the church, we struggle with mercy and what comes with that and self-righteousness. So I want to actually flesh this out for a moment.
I think it is helpful for us to look and examine ourselves and see kind of which avenue we are going down, mercy or self-righteousness. So, I am going to walk through a few different categories of what this looks like. Starting with self-righteousness. You have good works versus grace. Good works says that I earn God's favor. I earn God's favor.
That by my good works, I can do enough to overcome all the bad. That I can do enough to actually earn God's favor. And there is this striving to continue to impress God. That is what good works that comes from self-righteousness looks like. That I earn God's favor. Grace says God's favor is freely given to me.
When you understand grace that comes from a God of mercy, you get it. It is like, there is not enough good I can do to overcome all of the evil that I am and that I have done. I have no chance outside the grace of God. These are two different paths. Another way of looking at that of good works is I have checked all the boxes which especially if you grew up in the church, that is a big one. I mean, if you grew up in the church, especially going consistently, you went on Sundays, maybe Sunday nights, maybe you were there on Wednesdays, maybe you did VBS, you did all the camps.
I learned a thing a couple years ago, it was called Baptist Allstate. Actually, our pastor Matt Freeman heads it up. I was like, man, these are the all-star kids, right? He's like, no, it's just a worship thing. There is all kinds of things you could have done growing up, checking all the boxes and what happens is is that you can confuse the fact that you're checking boxes, it's this thing and this thing and this thing and this thing and you can confuse that these are supposed to be things that grow you and shape you and mold you to be more like Jesus and you can think, oh, if I do all the things, then I'll be okay.
And then as you get older, it's serving on Sundays, it's doing all the things that you can be involved in, it's going and going and going and the reality is there aren't enough boxes to check. It's understanding that Jesus actually checks all the boxes for us. That by His grace, we are completely covered. Good work says that I can't ever fail, that it's on me, I have to succeed. Grace that comes from mercy says it is okay to fail. It's okay to fail.
That I have His blood that covers me, that His power is made perfect in weakness. That's one way of looking at it. The second way of looking at it is performance versus obedience. Performance that comes from self-righteousness says I obey, therefore, I'm accepted. That I do the things that I'm supposed to do, then I'll be accepted by God, but not only that, I'll be accepted by other people. And if you struggle with that, with some form of idolatry, of approval, you will do, you will do, you will strive, you will strive, and it will never actually be enough.
No, obedience that comes from mercy says I'm accepted, therefore, I obey. Because what God has done for me, because Jesus redeemed me, I'm accepted, therefore, I can walk in obedience. Performance says my good works earn me praise. That so much of the good that you do is so you can be seen by others, so that others will see your good works, that you will get the comment that says, man, thank you so much, you did such a good job, and you were living for the praise of others. Obedience that comes from mercy says my good works are actually worship. My good works are the way that I honor God.
God has poured out His life for me. My only response is that I'm His and that I believe that He's better than everything else. And when He says don't do these things and do these things, I get to worship God in my obedience. It is a response. I give you one more category that comes from self-righteousness is pride versus humility that comes from mercy. Pride versus humility.
Pride says it is never enough. It is never enough. You will work and you will strive and you will struggle and you will do whatever it takes and it is never enough. And humility says no, Jesus is enough. He's enough. I don't have to earn His favor because of everything that God has done for me.
Out of humility I say no, He is enough. Pride also says that I am my only hope. Maybe you have had that thought that it's on me. I'm my only hope. I'm the one that has to get this figured out. I'm the one that has to do all the work.
And humility says no, Jesus is my only hope. That I am absolutely hopeless without Him. When you walk this out and there's a bunch of different ways to walk this out, it is clear there are two different paths. There's one that is merciful and there's one that is marked by self-righteousness. And from this point forward in the Gospel of Matthew, these are the two different roads. And Matthew highlights the difference so clearly in this story by how he closes it out.
In verse 15 it says, Jesus aware of this withdrew from there and many followed Him and He healed them all in order not to make Him known. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. So Jesus is healing. He's doing His thing sometimes where He heals them and says, don't say anything about this. And what Matthew does a few times in his Gospel is he quotes these long Old Testament quotes. This one's from Isaiah to help us see who Jesus is, to help Him see that He's the Messiah, to help us see different parts of how He saves and that He is God.
And it is this quote that really helps Mark the difference between Jesus and the Pharisees. verse 18 says, Isaiah says, Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom I am well pleased. I put my spirit upon him. That is a picture of what happens at His baptism. The spirit comes upon him and He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. That is you and me. Everyone that is not Jewish.
That His ultimate goal is not just the people of God. It's all nations, all peoples, everywhere. Verse 19, He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. That's a little bit of a picture of what He just did. He's healing people. He's telling them, don't say a word.
And then I want you to absolutely absorb these next few verses. I want you to sit in this. Verse 20, A bruised reed He will not break. And a smoldering wick He will not quench until He brings justice to victory. And in His name, the Gentiles will hope. And man, that is where you see how good and merciful and gentle our Savior is.
A bruised reed He will not break. Reed grass, you may be familiar with it. We see it sometimes at the coast. It's the grass that just blows in the air. It's not very strong. And He says even more so, a bruised reed that's even more weak is a bruised reed.
He's not going to break. That if you have brokenness in your life, if you are struggling with sin, He's not going to break you. He's going to hold you. How gentle and loving of a picture of a Savior that we have that a bruised reed He's not going to break. And then it says a smoldering wick He will not quench. He's got this flame that it's flickering that it's getting ready to go out and He's not going to smother it.
He's going to take care of it. Maybe that's you that for you faith just feels like a flicker. Maybe you're in a season where it's so difficult right now. It's so difficult to see past all the trials past all of your sin past all of your brokenness and you just feel like it's just a flicker. And Jesus is so gentle and it's His picture that He's going to take care of us. It's not going to snuff us out.
And this picture of how gentle our Savior is has been so good for me. The last six months has been it's been difficult. I feel like following Jesus I've been following Jesus for over a decade and I feel like there's seasons where people ask me are you good? And I'm like yeah and I really am. And I'm like man I'm doing pretty good and I almost sometimes I think I've arrived almost. I'm progressing and then all of a sudden just pulls back the floorboards and I'm like oh dang there's a whole lot of sin and a whole lot of idolatry.
I mean this this happens. That's why Paul when he writes his letters early on in one of his earliest letters he says I'm the least of the apostles. And then you go a little bit later in his letters and one of them he says I am the the least of the saints of the Christians. And in one of his final letters he says I'm the chief of sinners. And it's like did he get more sinful as he got older? No.
But what he did see is more of the glory of God and more of his holiness and he saw more of his sin. And I'm in a season where I'm seeing so much idolatry and sin beneath the surface and I stumble upon verses like this that show me how gentle and loving our God is. He's been so good as I've journeyed through this in his word and in prayer. But about a few months ago I got to hear this song. It's a song called Relent. It's by a group called Citizens.
I've sang a few other songs even this morning. And it has been so helpful and so good when I stumbled upon this because it spoke to me so clearly in this season. So I want you to hear this. If you're in a season of brokenness of struggling with sin of struggling with pain I want you to so clearly hear the words from this song. He says if I gain the world would it be worth the price to work these hands to death and not be satisfied. And you'll feel that?
That you're working that you're striving working yourself to death you're not satisfied. He says if every effort brought another sleepless night I'd be so tired. And if that was the only hope we would strive and we would go and we would go and there'd be only anxiousness only sleeplessness we would be left absolutely tired. but then he gets to the gospel and the chorus and when I heard this it absolutely just wrecked me. He says I relent there is nothing for me here you can have it all this life is not my own you give life that is worth the loss of mine I surrender all I have to follow you.
The King and His Rest
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Spencer. I am one of the pastors here. I want to take a moment on the front end just to explain a little bit of how we do things in our approach to preaching. We have a team approach to preaching. So every Wednesday, one of us who's preaching brings their sermon to our teaching team.
And our teaching team is preached live, and then for the next hour or so, we go through it. We try to make sure that it's actually coherent here on a Sunday morning, that it preaches the Bible, that it's not boring, because we care about preaching. We care about this time as we open up God's Word. And we also have a team approach to how we do preaching. So we have multiple people that preach throughout the calendar year.
Most of the time, it is myself, it is Chet, and it is and has been Dr. Ken. But if you were at our member meeting a couple of weeks ago, Dr. Ken is going to be going back into semi-retirement again. And he's going to be at the end of March. He's going to be transitioning to just being a member here until God calls him to an interim position somewhere else.
So after that, it will be mostly Chet and I. Raz also, who's in the back walking around, he also preaches sometimes. We try to get Matt Freeman, who leads worship, to preach, but we do it very unsuccessfully. He does not say yes. So we have a team approach to preaching.
We value that. We think it's good to have different personalities. Chet and I have different styles. It also allows us to focus on other parts of the church on weeks that we're not preaching. So that's a little bit of how we do things.
I'm going to be here for the next four or the next five weeks. So if you've been coming around for a little bit, that might throw you off. That just explains a little bit of our philosophy of preaching. So we also preach through books of the Bible. And we are in the Gospel of Matthew. We have been for the last six months.
And we preach verse by verse, section by section. And every now and then we encounter a section that's a little more difficult. It's a little bit harder to absorb. And we don't skip parts of the Bible because they're difficult. We lean into them. And that's one of the parts that we're walking through this morning.
So we're going to be in chapter 11, verses 20 through 30. If you have a Bible, please follow along with us. If you don't have one, there's blue Bibles around you. That's on page 476 is where we will be. But I would encourage you this morning especially to open up a Bible.
There won't be a ton of text on the screen. This is a little bit more of a confusing passage. And it would be helpful to have it out in front of you. All right. So I have learned quite a few things since becoming a parent.
I have learned that you can operate on way less sleep than you thought you could. I have three kids, four and under. And right before our first, I was like, man, I don't know how we're going to do this. I really value sleep. But you just adjust.
It's fine. Your body adjusts. And you'll be okay. I've also learned that dads get way more grace than moms. So I was in Chick-fil-A a couple months ago.
It was the first time taking all three of the kids by myself to Chick-fil-A. And it was an unmitigated disaster. Every kid was crying by the time that we left. Multiple kids were injured. And I was fumbling around. I had a baby that was crying.
I had a daughter that was crying. My son fell out of his chair and conked his head on the towel. And moms came out of the woodwork. Like, they just, they were so there. They were helping tie shoes. They were like, let's get them some ice.
And I could see it on their face. It was, you go, dad. You're doing it. You're figuring this out. If that was my wife, she would not have gotten that kind of help. She would have gotten judgment, stares.
Like, girl, you ain't got it together. You need to figure this out. Like, they just, I've learned that dads get more grace. And the other thing that I've learned is that children are smaller case studies for later future brokenness. They are small little case studies for later future brokenness. So, when my kids get their minds set on something.
And it's just, they, like, they think they're going to get ice cream after dinner. They think that some friends are coming over and they cancel last minute. They lose their minds. They scream. They cry. They fall on the ground, limp, flailing.
And I used to think, stop overreacting. This is ridiculous. But what I've learned is, is they're not overreacting. They're reacting. That's what's going on in their heart. And they're three.
So, all of their emotions are on display. Right? All of their feelings. All of their thoughts. It's just out there in the open. But as you get older, you realize that it is culturally unacceptable to pitch a fit and to lose your mind.
Like, I just, I go to McDonald's a few times a week. And, uh, and listen, you know what you're getting. Like, every now and then they're going to mess up your order. That comes to the territory. Set the bar low. You won't be disappointed.
But I'll go to McDonald's and if they mess up my order in the drive-thru and I start screaming and shaking, I got, I will end up on a viral video. It will not go well. We just, we know you can't do that. You get older, you learn that actually that looks like weakness. You're not going to get what you want. But we do it in more culturally acceptable ways.
When we fix our eyes and our hopes on something and we don't get it, man, we will find other ways to do it. We'll throw our tantrums in silence or away from other people. If you're driving in traffic, that's when you're going to throw a tantrum. You're going to grab the wheel and shake it. Right? We'll beat ourselves up internally to the point of just deep anxiety, even depression.
We'll respond by over-drinking to medicate the pain of loss. When we set our mind on something, we find adult, culturally acceptable ways of dealing with it. But the reality is, is that we're really just a three-year-old version of ourselves. We just grow up a little bit and know how to change. I oversee, one of the things I oversee here is care and counseling. And I've been involved in some form of care and counseling over the last few years in different churches.
And what I've seen is, is that we will forge the good life out of anything we can put our hands on. So if it's a career, if it's comfort, if it's the pleasures of this world, we'll find something that we'll put all of our hopes in. We'll aim for it. And ultimately what happens, just take success for instance. A lot of people will make success the end goal. That's the hope.
They'll put all their eggs in that basket. And they'll ultimately pursue it. And it'll cause them to use their best hours at work instead of at home. They'll cut corners. They'll make questionable ethical decisions. They'll do whatever it takes to be successful.
But here's what ultimately happens. Success is never enough. It's never enough. You'll go and you'll go and you will eventually be disappointed. And what will happen is, is that you will be left disappointed and broken and tired and exhausted. This happens with anything.
You can fill in the blank there. And ultimately it will never actually bring fulfillment. It'll never actually bring joy. And it will leave you tired. It'll leave you broken. It'll leave you depressed.
It'll leave you anxious. Because we were designed to put our hope in something more. And that is what we're going to see as we walk through this passage today. As we get to the end of this passage, we're going to see that the things of this world, the good life that we try to forge and aim for, is not enough. So, I want to pray. And then we're going to jump into the text.
Father, I thank you that you have given us your word. Father, I pray that you would open up our eyes to see, that you would give us ears to hear what you have to say this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. All right. Follow along with me. Verse 20.
Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done. This is Jesus. Because they did not repent. Woe to you, Chorazin. Woe to you, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.
Now, Dr. Ken ended there last week. And we're picking up right here. Jesus is pronouncing woes on these cities. He's been doing ministry all over the region of Galilee. We saw in chapter 8 and chapter 9, he's healing the masses.
He's casting out demons. He's doing all kinds of mighty works. And the people are coming out to see him. They're coming out to see them. But also, he's not just healing.
He's not just serving the least of these. He's not just casting out demons. He's actually also proclaiming a message that we see as early as chapter 4. He's saying, repent. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. He's performing mighty works, but he's also preaching a message of repentance.
And these cities aren't getting it. They're not hearing and understanding the message. They're actually just focusing on the mighty works. So when Jesus comes to town, it's, let's see what he can do next. What more do you have, Jesus? Are you going to perform more miracles?
The crowds want to see, but they're not understanding what he is saying. So he starts to pronounce these woes on these cities. Verse 21, woe to you, Chorazin. Woe to you, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works done in you have been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.
So Jesus, he calls out these cities in Galilee where he's been performing these miracles. And then he mentions two other cities, Tyre and Sidon. Now these are, at the time, these are older cities that have been known. They're not Jewish cities. They're pagan cities. They don't worship God.
And they were known for this. And Jesus just said that if his mighty works had been done in those cities, they would have repented long ago. And then he pronounces this woe on these cities because they have not repented at seeing the mighty works. In verse 22, he says, But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades.
Now, a little bit of what he's getting at and what commentators may see this. He calls out Capernaum, which is actually where he's been living. That's his home base. He calls out this city and he says, Will you be exalted to heaven? Now, that is a statement that if, as the commentators have looked at this, they think this is probably calling out the posture of that city. That they thought there was something special about them since they are seeing these mighty works on display.
Well, now that we've seen these, aren't we too going to be exalted to heaven? They've missed it. They've absolutely missed it. They thought that proximity, nearness to the mighty works of God would gain them passage into heaven. Now, that is a warning that I think is helpful for us to hear as southerners. Because the reality is, is that we have access to these mighty works.
There are churches all across our city. There are preachers preaching this morning about the mighty works of God. There are ministries all across the city that are proclaiming the mighty works of God. And for us as southerners, there's a little bit of a general mindset down here that says, well, I believe in Jesus. I'm a Christian. I'm a Baptist.
I'm a Lutheran. I'm a Presbyterian. I can say that I believe that Jesus died for my sins. Because we have access to hearing about the mighty works of God. When in reality, there's a whole lot of lack of repentance. In a lot of ways, we look like the rest of the world.
And there can be this posture of arrogance. It's because we are Christian by confession. Because we are surrounded by churches that somehow proximity to the mighty works of God gains us entry into heaven. I think that's a warning for us that we need to absorb as we look at this woe that he pronounces on the city of Capernaum. So he pronounces this woe.
And in this, this is a little bit difficult to catch and wrap our minds around. He also says, it'll be more tolerable for these cities than for you. It'll be more tolerable for the cities of Tyre and Sidon than for Capernaum, than for Bethsaida, than for Chorazin. And what he just said was, is that because you have access to the mighty works, and they did not, it's going to be more tolerable for them on Judgment Day. That's a hard thing to wrap our minds around. But that is an implication of what he just said.
And he keeps going. Verse 23 says, for the mighty works have been done, and you have been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it'll be more tolerable on the day of Judgment for the land of Sodom than for you. So he gives another example, the city of Sodom, which in the Bible is one of the primary cities. It's a primary example of the city that has fallen and rejecting God. Sodom, as we walked through this in Genesis a few years ago, they were known for their sexual depravity.
They were also known for their lack of care for the poor, for the downtrodden, which is something that the heart of God deeply cares about. And because of this, his judgment rains down from heaven and it consumes the city and reduces it to ashes. He just used Sodom as an example of judgment for these cities to see. If the works had been done in Sodom, they would have repented. But works are being done in front of you and you are not.
It'll be more bearable for Sodom than it will for you. That is some pretty intense language, some pretty intense woes that Jesus pronounces on these cities. Now on the surface, that's exactly what it is. But as we walk through this, there's actually a little bit more of a bigger picture that's happening here. He picks up in verse 25. At that time, Jesus declared, Now, here's the bigger picture of what's happening.
As he's pronouncing these woes on these cities, for not repenting at his mighty works, Jesus starts to pray. This is a prayer of thanksgiving. And he prays to God the Father, saying, I thank you, Father, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Now, wise and understanding in the Gospel of Matthew and in the Gospels as a whole, that's generally referring to the religious establishment. This is the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the religious leadership of the Jewish people who thought they knew it all, the wise and understanding. And little children is applied to the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the sinners, even the children who hear of these mighty works.
And that actually leads to repentance and faith. Now, I want to take just a brief moment to address this. Just give me some range here. There are, in our culture, highly educated, elite people. So professors, people on TV, famous people, that look down on Christianity as a whole.
There's an arrogant posture about our faith. And what they will do is they will belittle our faith, because the hope for them has been that with actual education, with the 21st century happening, as the world is evolving and getting smarter, the hope was that we would drop this superstition, as they claim. That we would stop this. That the world would evolve, and it hasn't. Man, the gospel is exploding all over Africa and Asia and South America. I mean, the gospel is moving even in our city.
And there's this arrogant posture. They can't figure out why this is actually happening. And the reality is, it's this right here. That God has, you can see it throughout the Bible, that God humbles the proud and He gives grace to the humble. That He has hidden these things from the wise, the learned, the elite. And He's revealed them to little children.
He's revealed them to the simple. He's revealed them to people like you and me. And I say that to say that if you're in a situation, maybe you're a student, maybe you're just overwhelmed by how much some people in culture are talking down. You don't have to get frustrated. In fact, you can have a little bit of pity and pray. Because the reality is, is that their pride keeps them from believing.
And God has hidden this from the elite. He's hidden this from the wise and the understanding. Now, that's an aside. I don't want to bury the lead because I don't want to miss exactly what God is doing here. Because what He just said was, is that God the Father has hidden these things. He's hidden these things.
These things is a little bit of a vague term. But when you look at it in the context of the Gospel of Matthew, this is the whole package of belief. This is repent. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. This is God displaying His mighty works that lead to repentance. This is repentance and faith.
He has hidden these things from the wise and understanding. And when you understand what He is getting at, what He is saying is, is He has hidden faith from the wise and understanding. And when you go back and look at the previous five verses, this makes a little more sense of how God works. That God could have displayed His mighty works in Sodom, but He didn't. God could have displayed His mighty works in Tyre and Sidon, but He didn't. God displays His works even in His hometown in Capernaum.
And they still don't get it. It's been hidden from them. They still don't believe. It doesn't actually lead to faith and repentance. And when you skip down, you read it. Verse 27, it makes it even more clear.
And no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. The reality is, is that Jesus has chosen to reveal Himself in a way that leads to repentance to some, but He is not to others. And when you read that, I know there's a part of it to say, wait a second, did He really just say what He said? He can't possibly mean what He just said. But the reality is, is that He doubles down on this again a few chapters later.
In chapter 13, verse 10, He's telling these parables, and some of the people in the crowds aren't understanding. And verse 10 says, Then the disciples came and said to Him, Why do you speak to them in parables? And He answered them, To you, talking to the disciples, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. He's saying, to you the secrets of the kingdom, this faith that leads to repentance, that's been given to you, but to them it has not been given. And this idea that the Bible shows over and over again, that God gives faith to some, and not to others, it bothered me so much as an early Christian.
I came to faith right before I went to college. I got to college, started reading the Bible, started reading across passages like this, and I was like, the Bible can't be saying what it's actually saying, it must be something different. I had some friends that were Christians, and we would spend hours going back and forth about this. Hours in a coffee shop, hours in our dorm rooms, debating this. It's like the only time in my life that I've ever had, just endless hours to talk about this with other people. And we debate, we go back and forth, and I would, I would come up with these, these, these philosophical arguments, that had to explain away, this can't possibly mean what the Bible is actually saying.
I just think, I look back at it, the arrogance of a 19 year old college student saying, no, God has to work in my system, absolutely. But we go back and forth, over and over again, trying to say, no, this can't mean what it means. God can't give faith to some, and not to others. Choose to reveal His mighty works to some, and not to others. And the reality is, is that, I couldn't get on board with this idea, I think for a couple of reasons. I think the first reason, on a very macro, larger level, the reason why I couldn't, get on board with this, is because I think, me and I think others, have a basic understanding, of fairness, and entitlement, that says, that's not fair.
It's not fair. It's not fair that God reveal Himself clearly, that leads to faith to some, and not to others. No, that can't be. And the reality is, the Bible says, that is not the case. The Bible, when it addresses this, and its understanding is, fairness, is everybody, gets judgment. Fairness is, everybody, gets hell.
Because we have rebelled, against a holy, and perfect God, God is absolutely, just, and fair, because of our sin, to bring judgment. That's actually, what fairness is. And I just, I couldn't, wrap my mind, I cannot wrap my mind, around that. But I think, on a more personal level, for me, and this may be the case, for others, is that I had family, I had friends, that did not believe, and I could not, I couldn't possibly, fathom, no this doesn't make sense, that God would get faith, that clearly, is repentance for some, and not for others. That cannot be, the case. So for, pretty much the most, of college, I spent so much time, thinking about this, trying to figure this out, studying the Bible, looking at this, over and over again, and then finally, something clicked.
This summer, this one summer, after my junior year, I was at Myrtle Beach, and I was working, at a resort, cleaning bathrooms, and for some reason, when I'm doing work, especially by myself, it gives me time to think. And that whole summer, I'm thinking about a lot of things, but I'm thinking about this, this, the Bible, I'm thinking about this subject matter, and then finally, something clicked. And it's really bound up here, in verse 26. When in the midst of Jesus' prayer, He says, Yes, Father, for such was Your gracious will. Your gracious will. The first part of that, is grace.
The reality is, is that yes, fairness is, we absolutely deserve judgment. But God, in His rich mercy, and His grace, meaning we don't earn it, in His grace, and in His love, He comes from heaven, to redeem us. That He spills His blood, for the lost. That He comes, and He saves, many. And once I finally understood, God is gracious, to redeem many. That He's sending out, church plants, and missionaries, all across the world, to proclaim the gospel, that leads to repentance.
That God is gracious. But the part two of that, that really clicked for me, was His will. His gracious will. And what finally clicked for me was, is that I don't have to understand, the will of God. The greater will of God, is too wonderful, for me to comprehend. That this, the greater will, that is happening here, I don't have to understand it, because I don't actually have to know, the mind of God.
And when I finally understood that, man, it started to make so much more sense. That's a little bit, what Paul is getting at, when he's writing the book of Romans. The first 11 chapters of Romans, is this long, sustained argument, that is touching a lot, on God's sovereignty and salvation. And he's writing this, and there's two kind of basic responses, that come out of it. In chapter 9, he kind of gives a blunt one. And he says, basically, if you don't think this is fair, the reality is, is that you are a clay pot, and God is a potter.
What right does the clay pot, have to say to the potter? And it's like, dang, that's a little blunt. It's true, but it's a little blunt. But then towards the end, right at the end, of this long sustained argument, you get to chapter 11, verses 33 through 36. And Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is writing all these, big theological points. And it's almost like, at the end of this long discussion, he bursts forth into praise.
He has a doxology, in verses 33 through 36. It's almost like he can't, his mind is ready to break, and he just bursts forth. He says, Oh, the depths, of the riches, and the wisdom, and the knowledge, of God. How unsearchable, are his judgments. They cannot be searched. How inscrutable, his ways.
For who is known, the mind of the Lord. That's rhetorical. Nobody. Who has been his counselor? Who has given a gift to him, that he might be repaid? For from him, and through him, and to him, are all things.
To him be glory, forever and ever. Amen. He just can't help it. He can't wrap his mind around it. He doesn't have to know, it's the mind of the Lord. He doesn't have to understand this completely.
But what he can do, is look at a gracious God, that is on mission, to redeem this world, and say, praise God, that he saves many. We don't have to know, the mind of the Lord. We don't have to know, these complicated things, in and out. Thank goodness, we are finite, because we will never understand, the infinite. Once that finally clicked for me, that it was actually good, to see God as sovereign, in how he saves. It changed the game.
In high school, I played high school football, and I was talking to someone, our church family about this, a little while ago, and they were genuinely surprised, that I played high school football. And I was genuinely offended, for a moment, and then I realized, I don't do anything, physically active now, except chase my children. Fair point. But I did. I played high school football, and I was quick. I ran about a 4.640, which in high school football, that puts you, in a few different positions.
I played defensive back, and I played tailback, and receiver. If you don't know football, I got the ball, and I ran the ball down the field. And I would burst past people, for 30 and 40 yard gains. I was quick. But what happened, almost every single time, is at 50 yards, at 60 yards, at the 10, I got caught.
Every single time. I can think of two times, my entire playing career, in high school, that I didn't get caught. It's because those teams, were terrible. But I got caught, every time, and I could not figure out, why in the world, can I just blow, bass people for 30, 40 yards, but I get caught, at the end, every time. And then I got to college, and I learned a thing. That when I do, anything high impact activity, I can be in my room, moving stuff around.
I hold my breath. I don't know why, that's natural to me. But I do. I will hold my breath. And when I played, intramural sports in college, I finally figured it out. I'm running for 20, 30, 40 yards, and I am on one, maybe two, three breaths max.
And you might think, really? Seriously? It took until you were like, 20 years old, to realize that, breathing is a thing, that you should actually do? Yes, I know. I know there are two people, in the room right now, that just went, man, explains everything. I got you.
Breathe. It's helpful. You need oxygen. You are designed, to need oxygen, when you run, when you do anything, high impact activity. You will not make it. Just think, if I would have known that, in high school, I would have gone on, to the next level.
I could have gone pro, guys. But I wouldn't be here, with you. So, I think everybody wins. We, we are designed, to need oxygen, when we do anything, high impact activity. We need that. That's how we are designed, in the same way, in the same way, we are designed, by God, to see him, as the sovereign ruler, the sovereign king, over all things.
And to look to him, with all of our heart, with all of our soul, and with all of our strength. that he, is the one, that we are meant to look to, that we are meant to pursue, that we are not, meant, to find lesser things, in this world, and make that our focus. We are not designed, to make lesser, to focus on lesser things, and to forge the good life, out of things, that do not bring fulfillment, and do not bring joy. Jesus, hammers this point, about judgment, about his sovereignty, about how big he is. And then he makes a shift, in verse 28. Now often times, when you hear, this is one of the most, popular passages, from the gospels, and it is one of my, favorite passages, from the gospels.
But a lot of times, you will hear it, just quoted, and you will miss the context. So you need to understand, this is Jesus, after everything he just said, showing how big he is, that he is God. And then he goes, verse 28, come to me, all who labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you, rest. Take my yoke, upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle, and lowly, and hard, and you will find, rest, for your souls. For my yoke, is easy, and my burden, is light. This is how we were designed, to function.
Just as a running back, needs oxygen, to complete a long run, you as a Christian, need to see, God for who he is, and to focus, all of your affections, your pursuit, your life, fixated on how good, our creator, our sovereign king is, we need him, to focus on, that we can make it, through this marathon, of life, called faith. That is what, we are meant to see here. God flexes, his power, Jesus flexes, his power, for seven verses, and then he says, come, to me. I want you to hear that, this morning. The God of the universe, the creator, of all things, the one who is on mission, to redeem this world, all over the globe, just said, come, to me.
Do not make, the good life, about lesser things. Do not pursue, comfort. Do not pursue, the pleasures of this world, approval, money, sex. He says, no, come, to me. And I want you to hear this, I want you to right now, think about, what are the things, that so much, of your focus, so much of your attention, so much of your affection, so much of your focus, is fixated on. Jesus comes in, and says, no, no, no, come to me.
Come to me, you who are living life, on your terms. Your whole life, has been about, living life, on your terms. You're forging, this life, out of things. You're focusing, on everything else. He just says, no, no, no, come to me. They were so focused, on things, here in the earth.
He lifts up our head, he says, no, come to me. For those of you, whose plans, have fallen apart. Maybe life has not gone, the way that you, wanted it to. And you feel disappointed, you feel broken, you feel weary. He says, no, look, look, come, to me. Those of you, that are burdened, with shame, and guilt.
That all you can think about, is your sin. That all you can think about, is that I'm gross, that I'm dirty, that I'm unworthy. How could a God like this, possibly love me? He says, no, no, I'm way bigger than your shame. I'm about to take that, at the cross. No, no, no, come to me.
Look at me. Come to me. Those of you, that are anxious about work, anxious about money, so those of you, that have focused, so much of your life, on success, and thinking, that's going to bring fulfillment. The God, the universe cuts through, and says, no, come to me. If you focused your life, on the pleasures of this world, it could be sex, it could be drugs, it could be anything else. He says, no, look, come to me.
For those of you, that are perfectionists, that so much of life, is about controlling, your circumstances. Those of you, that are moms, that are trying to compare yourself, to other moms, and trying to do this perfectly, and it leads to anxiety, and it leads to depression, and it's just a cycle of crazy. He steps in, He says, oh, look at me, come to me, you were burdened, you were heavy laden, and I will give you rest. We need that. We need to see the sovereign king, who looks at his creation, and says, come to me, I will give you rest. He says, take my yoke.
Yoke is a wooden frame, that is placed on two animals. They're meant to pull a load, together. Jesus says, I'm in this. Come with me, come join this yoke. Take my yoke. And a lot of times, in the Bible, in the Old Testament, especially, yoke is used as a negative term.
It's when the people of God, the nation of Israel, has yoked themselves, to a foreign king. They've yoked themselves, to foreign idols, and it's crushing them. Or in the New Testament, Peter, when he's talking about, the Old Testament law, that the people have yoked themselves, to the Old Testament law, thinking, that obedience to the law, that performing good works, is going to earn obedience. Jesus cuts through all of that, and he makes this a positive. He says, no, no, no. Don't yoke yourself to lesser things.
Yoke yourself to me. I will carry the load. Take my yoke, and learn from me. Learn from me. I will teach you, for I am gentle, and a lowly in heart, and you will find rest, for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
And the reason, that he can say that, is because of where he is going. The yoke that he is going to take, the wooden frame he is going to take, is ultimately going to be a wooden cross. And he is going to carry that cross up a hill. And his blood is going to be poured out. He is going to take his perfect, righteous obedience, with him to the cross. And for those of us, that hear this call, and come to him, he is going to give us that standing, before God the Father.
And he is going to take our sins. He can say this, so helpfully. And it be so true. That he can take, our burdens. He can carry it. But we have to hear the call.
There is an early church father, named Augustine. He said, our heart is restless, until it finds its rest in God. We have restless hearts. Aren't you tired? Aren't you tired of this world? Aren't you tired of the things of this world?
Aren't you tired of the focus, that leads to more stress, that leads to more depression, that leads to more anxiety? We don't have to be tired anymore. Our restless hearts can find rest. We just have to hear the call, and come home. The band is going to come up. And we are going to take, the Lord's Supper.
And it is a meal, it is a meal of a reminder, of everything, that I just said. That on the night, that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread, and he broke it. And he said, this is my body, that was broken for you. And he took the cup, which is the cup of the new covenant. He said, this is my blood, that was shed for you, that as often as you eat, and drink this, you proclaim my death, until I return. So we are going to take this, there is going to be, members in the front and the back, serving it.
And if you are, if you are a Christian, if you have trusted in Jesus, what I want you to do this morning, is I want you to sit for a moment, and I want you to, to think. What are the things, in this world, that I have placed my hope in? What are the things, that have left me tired, and weary, and I want you to very clearly, hear, the sovereign king, say, come.
Confusion of a Generation
Transcript
Good morning. It's good to see you here this morning. Isn't it exciting to be here? I get to look forward to Sunday every Sunday. Just because it's so great to get to come together and worship the great God we have and do it with such enthusiasm. It's so refreshing to be able to do that.
My name is Ken Harmon. I'm one of the pastors here at Mill City Church. I want to begin this morning with sharing with you something that happened to my wife and I a long time ago. It was 1973. I just finished up my classwork at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. And we were moving back to South Carolina.
We were looking forward to having a church where I could be the full-time pastor. We were looking forward to continuing to serve the Lord. We were looking forward to starting a family. And that was going to happen soon because my wife was seven and a half weeks, I mean nine and a half months. Wait a minute. I'll get it right in a minute.
Seven and a half months pregnant. Six weeks to go. We had been back in South Carolina a couple of weeks. And one day she realized something had gone terribly wrong with the pregnancy. Went to the doctor. She was put in the hospital.
Three days later, she gave birth to our first child. Little girl. Still born. Because she had been dead for several days before she was born and because of the way they did things back then, we never even got to see her. Of course, we wondered, Lord, why did you let this happen? We're your children.
We're trying to serve you. Lord, this hurts so much. You ever felt that way? If you haven't, you will. We live in a fallen world. Bad things happen to good people.
We live in a fallen world. People do evil things to other people. Sometimes they do evil things to us. Sometimes they hurt us just because, like us, they are sinners too. You have a case one time where there was a teenage boy in the family. His teenage cousin got him into drugs because of some of the problems he already had.
Being on drugs led him to commit suicide. If you're a parent, what do you think then about a nephew? He made that happen. Sometimes our mates commit adultery. Sometimes children get kidnapped. Sometimes we're in a car wreck and the wreck was caused by a drunk driver and our back is injured and our job involved lifting.
We lose our job and we're going to be in pain for the rest of our lives. And the drunk driver gets sentenced to time served waiting for trial to six months probation. Life isn't fair. Life isn't easy. Life isn't easy. This morning we're going to look at a passage of scripture that helps us to get to get a deeper understanding that when we go through times like that, we have a deliverer.
Life isn't easy. Life isn't easy. This morning we're going to look at a passage of scripture that helps us to get to get a deeper understanding that when we go through times like that, we have a deliverer. Someone who can help us in one way or another. and we're also going to look at one of his followers who went through something very similar and so we're going to be looking at Matthew chapter 11 we're going to look at verses 1 through 24 it's on page 476 if you're looking at a pew bible and let me begin just by reading verse 1 when Jesus had finished instructing his 12 disciples he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities now we've been looking at the gospel of Matthew and past three weeks Chad has been preaching through chapter 10 of the gospel of Matthew and we've seen Jesus take his disciples instruct them how to be on mission remind them of the difficulties and challenges that they were going to face and of the strength and help that could come to them and today we're going to be looking as Jesus continues his ministry at an event that took place while he was doing that
Now I need to give you some background we're getting ready to look at a statement and some question a very important question from one of the greatest men who ever lived his name was John John like Jesus had a special birth an angel announced his birth to his father and it was really astounding because both his father and his mother were way past childbearing years so this was this was another in the you know kind of things almost like Abraham and Sarah back at the beginning of the Old Testament he was announced as one who would make ready the way for the Messiah and let me read to you what his father said right after he was born and you child will be called the prophet of the most high for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways to give knowledge of salvation to his people and the forgiveness of their sins so this is what was prophesied about John when he was young and this is exactly what took place he became the one to prepare the way for Jesus he is the one who went out and preached to people and you know call them to repentance he prepared the way for Jesus he was he was a different sort of guy uh he lived in the wilderness he wore rough clothing he ate locust and wild honey I could do the honey not so sure about the locust you know uh you know scientists today tell us that that locust and other insects are really a good source of protein and it takes takes a lot less land and water and feed to to produce that amount of protein but you know what I don't think we're ever going to see an outback locust house it's just not going to happen insects on the barbie
But John was that kind of ascetic person he was serious about what he was doing he he proclaimed the word of God in a very powerful way he preached repentance turning from evil and and he baptized people as as a sign that they had repented that they'd turn from evil and and opened themselves up to God and when he preached he preached uh what we would call hellfire sermons now some of the scribes and pharisees some of the religious leaders of the time went out to listen to him he saw them coming knew that there were a bunch of hypocrites said you snakes who warned you to flee from the wrath to come preaching to people he would say listen unless you're a tree that's bearing the fruits of repentance the axe is already laid at the root you're getting ready to be cut down he said there's coming a time when God's going to gather the wheat into his barn and the chaff the waste product of the fruit is going to be burned with unquenchable fire and and people flocked to him because they wanted to hear that word that would lead them to a different life a higher life a better life John was a woman who was preparing the way for the Lord he was brave he would take on anybody Herod Antipas was the ruler around there in those parts then and uh he had done something that wasn't very good he had enticed his brother's wife away from his brother and married her and John let him know in no uncertain terms that that wasn't right John was brave he would he was one that would stand up against unrighteousness John knew Jesus in fact on their mother's side there were cousins and he recognized that Jesus was the Messiah he looked at him one time when Jesus was coming to him and said behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world he had a good understanding of who Jesus was and yet John pushed it a little too far one time and Herod had had enough of him and had him thrown in prison can you imagine what being in prison would have been like for John I mean he was a a man of the outdoors he was a he was a man who could take care of himself in the wilderness
He was a man who who enjoyed being among people he was a man who you know was doing what God had called him to do from the time he was a child he knew his purpose and he was fulfilling that purpose and all of a sudden here he is cooped up in a little cell probably very dark probably very filthy not able to do what God had called him to do and so he had questions why is this happening to me what's going on I thought Jesus was the Messiah I was convinced of it and yet I thought when he came he would solve all the problems we have in this world he would help those who were going through injustice and he would bring justice and he would punish the wicked and here I am in prison and Herod and his new wife well they are living in acclaim and living in luxury so with that struggle going on
He did the best possible thing he could do he sent his disciples to bring the issue to Jesus see what he thought so let's begin reading again looking at verse 2 now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ he sent word by his disciples and said to him are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another and Jesus answered them go and tell John what you hear and see the blind receive their sight and the lame walk lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear and the dead are raised up and the poor have the good news preached to them and blessed is the one who is not offended
By me John sent a question to Jesus and Jesus took that question and he replied to it he took his John's question seriously understand something when we are going through a struggle when we are facing difficult times we can bring our request to Jesus we can share with him and he will listen because he cares he didn't condemn John for asking that question he didn't he didn't jump on him because he was struggling with what was going on
In his life he listened and he responded Jesus took him seriously even though John's question struck at the very heart of who Jesus was are you the one who is to come are you really the disciple I thought you were but now I'm beginning to wonder are you really that one John would have known the scripture John would have known
That in some of the passages from the Old Testament that look forward to the coming of the Messiah that we find things such as this where it says in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see but he also would have known that there are prophecies
From the Bible that talk about the Messiah coming and initiating that time where there is justice listen to what Malachi had to say for behold the day is coming burning like an oven when all the arrogant and all evil doers will be stubble the day that is coming will set them ablaze says the Lord of hosts so that it will leave them neither root nor branch two different types of prophecies
John was hoping for one especially in the situation he was in Jesus replied it's the other one right now you go back and tell John what do you see and they see the blind getting their sight the lame walking the left was being cleansed the deaf hearing those things are taking place tell John the things that are happening that are blessing
People that are meeting people's needs that are they're beginning to see that with the becoming of the Messiah ultimately life is going to be better sometimes people need to have their needs met before they can absorb the gospel one relief worker said the hungry have no ears in other words
You've got to meet people's needs and then share the gospel with them that's why you see believers doing good things to help people adopting working at food banks working with crisis pregnancy centers spending money to help relief efforts when there's a disaster God's people
Respond in these ways and we're showing the same kind of love the master had and doing the same kind of work that Jesus did but notice Jesus went on and he said good news is preached to the poor because that's got to be
Part of the ministry too we don't just do something good for somebody and leave them hanging we try to go on and share the good news and if we just do a good deed without explaining that this is pointing to Jesus in one way
Or another then we've only gone half way we haven't met people's deepest needs and because we as God's people want to proclaim the gospel we will do things like give away bibles teach children in church we will
Share our faith when we have the opportunity to do so we will support efforts to start new churches we will support missionaries in other countries we do these things so that the good news of Jesus can be proclaimed and people
Can come to know who he really is and what he really can do but notice verse 6 Jesus closed his first response by John to saying and blessed is the one who is not offended by me the word offended there has the idea of stumbling
Over it John was beginning to stumble a little bit over Jesus because he wasn't doing what John thought he ought to be doing and so Jesus said be careful don't stumble over to me don't get to the place where you think you can judge what I'm
Doing and that be the final word on something in other words you've got to let Jesus be Jesus and do things in his own way and his own time and then John went on and he spoke some things
Concerning Jesus beginning with verse 7 as they went away Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John what did you go out in the wilderness to see a reed shaken by the wind what then did
You go out to see a man dressed in soft clothing behold those who wear soft clothing are in king's houses what then did you go out to see a prophet yes I tell you in more
Than a prophet this is he of whom it is written behold I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you John had attracted a lot of people he had attracted them by saying
Judgment is coming and it's coming quickly and now John was in prison and judgment hadn't come so some of the people were beginning to leave John probably some of the people who heard Jesus speak and so Jesus was telling them
About John and what it was did you go out to see a reed reed grows in marshy land it's blown away by any kind of small wind and it was something that symbolized
Weakness Jesus is saying John wasn't a reed he didn't wear soft clothing he wasn't a softie he was brave he was strong he was courageous and he was a prophet he was a prophet and more than a
Prophet he was a prophet who made ready the way of the Lord again the Old Testament says that's what he was going to do Malachi 3 1 it says behold I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me and that's
What John was doing by calling people to take their sin seriously they were being prepared to receive Jesus as the one who could save them from their sins so he was preparing the way for the
Lord and in verses 13 and 14 it says for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John but if you're willing to accept it he is Elijah who
Is to come again there was a prophecy that Elijah would come back Malachi 4 5 behold I will send you Elijah the prophet
Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes so people were expecting a return of Elijah now John wasn't a reincarnation of Elijah
John was in the spirit and in the power of Elijah that was able to bring people to the Lord bring people made ready for the
Lord God and then Jesus after complimenting John in all of these ways said this and this is an amazing verse look at verse 11 Jesus
Said truly I say to you among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist wow Jesus said
Nobody is greater than John but look what he goes on to say yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is
Greater than he Jesus said this man John nobody is greater than John but the least one in the kingdom of heaven is greater
Than he now what do he mean well John was there and he saw the dawn of the kingdom of heaven Jesus had come
Jesus was beginning his work of bringing the kingdom of heaven to be but John died he got beheaded before Jesus finished his ministry
So John never knew that Jesus went to the cross and paid the price for our sins John never knew that when Jesus died the
Veil of the temple was split from top to bottom God tearing apart and saying you could come into my presence now because my
Son has died John never knew that Jesus has been raised from the dead John never knew that the Holy Spirit was poured out
On all of God's people and we know those things and so we are greater than John and if we are believers we have
The Holy Spirit within us and we can do things greater than John did because we can share more about the Christ than John
Even knew we're greater than John did you realize that as a believer you are that important and you are that great Jesus went on
Verse 12 from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has surfaced violence and the violent take it by
Force that probably means that people try to take the kingdom of God that Jesus was breaking and use it for their own devices or
They were trying to force Jesus to be a political military messiah and right away do away with the wicked throw off Roman rule
And establish a kingdom an earthly kingdom that would suit what they wanted so again you get to see this question what kind of messiah
Is Jesus is Jesus a messiah who meets physical and spiritual needs is Jesus a messiah who brings judgment is Jesus the one who
Is going to come and establish perfect justice which is it what kind of messiah is Jesus one who does good deeds one who
Judges one who establish justice all of them Jesus is all of those things Jesus is the messiah who comes to us and delivers
Us from the troubles and difficulties we face now just understand he does it in different ways sometimes he does it in a remarkable
Way way we would almost call a miracle you know Jesus comes in and all of a sudden the tumor that was there is
Now gone all of a sudden the wayward son or daughter has finally come to his or her senses and come home and started
Living a life that's going to be productive sometimes Jesus changes things right away sometimes Jesus uses other people to help us so that
In the midst of our struggles and difficulties we have someone to come and walk along beside us and help us and encourage us
And guide us and support us and provide what we need sometimes Jesus gives us the grace that we need to bear up under the struggles and difficulties
That we are facing and just day by day by day somehow he's always there and he gives us just the help we through one
More day sometimes Jesus uses the difficulties and challenges that come into our lives and takes them and molds us and shapes us and
Prepares us to be more beneficial in his kingdom and more helpful in dealing with other people because joy and I went through what we
Went through when our first child was still born we know what it's like to lose something and to grieve over it and to
Hurt because of it and sometimes we can understand people and sometimes when they know that about us they know that we understand what
It's like to lose and to grieve and to hurt and to question so we can form a bond and we can help Jesus
Is the Messiah the deliverer who does come and help now Jesus is the Messiah who will return and bring judgment he will come
Back as the king of kings he will come back as the Lord of lords he will come back and destroy all evil he
Will judge all evil he will come back and bring an eternal blessing Jesus is the Messiah who will bring a new heaven and
A new earth have you ever stopped to think about what it's going to be you could open the Old Testament and see even
Reflected there some of the wonderful things that are going to take place when the Messiah comes back returns again and really establishes his
Kingdom love what Isaiah says in chapter 11 he says the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with
The young goat and the calf and the lion and the fatted calf together and a little child will lead them don't you love
That picture little kid playing with a lion the cow and the bear shall graze their young shall lie down together the lion shall
Eat straw like the ox the nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra and the weaned child shall put his hand
In the adder's den they shall neither hurt or destroy and all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge
Of the Lord as the waters cover the sea oh what a time what a time it's going to be no more nature red
In tooth and claw no more danger for any little child anywhere from anything no more sorrow no more crying listen to what it says
In Revelation and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the dwelling place of God is with man and he shall dwell
With them they will be his people and God himself will be them and will be their God and he will wipe away every
Tear from their eyes and death shall be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more for the former
Things have passed away one day our deliverer is going to return and he's going to make such a perfect world that we can hardly begin to imagine how wonderful it's going
To be and he loves us now and he wants all all to be saved now so the scripture goes on look at this verse 16 but to what shall I compare this
Generation it is like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to their playmates we played the flute for you and you did not dance we sang
A dirge and you did not mourn for John came eating neither eating nor drinking and they said he has a demon the son
Of man came eating and drinking and they said look at him a glutton and a drunkard a friend of tax collectors and sinners yet
Wisdom is justified by our deeds here's the picture marketplace busy to trade their goods buy the things they needed children left to play with
One another and they had their different games and so a group of children one day were saying I tell you what let's play wedding
Let's play some of this joyous and happy and a good time let's play wedding another kid said no don't want to do that
Today if you don't want to play something joyful why don't we play something sad why don't we play funeral no don't want to
Do that either and Jesus says this generation is like that in the sense that John came preaching a fiery judgment and they said don't want to
Hear that nope no part of that Jesus came as one who entered joyfully into life and he got with anybody and everybody and
He worked it so that even those who had been pushed aside now felt forgiven and accepted people said no don't want no part
Of that either sometimes no matter what God does how he approaches us what he offers we want to push it away and we
Forget that he's doing that out of love whether he's calling us to repentance or offering us eternal life and eternal blessing he's calling
Us out of love because he wants us to be forgiven he wants us to have eternal life he cares for us and there's a little bit more to the answer John had are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another
Verse 20 Jesus Jesus still speaking then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent woe to you chorizan woe to you Bethsaida for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago
And sat cloth and ashes but I tell you it would be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you and you Capernaum will you be exalted to the heaven you will be brought down to Hades for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom it would have repainted until this day
But I tell you that it would be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you three cities where Jesus had done his ministry Jesus had done great deeds there healed cleansed wonderful things and got really no response and he said well then
You're like these cities Tyre and Sidon and Sodom who were known for their wickedness you're just like they are they didn't you know if what I'd done in them they would have changed but you're not changing don't change be judged if you don't respond to what Jesus is doing
The offers he's making the warnings he's given then it's a dangerous thing like children in the marketplace needed to respond to their friends you need to respond to Jesus maybe you need to renounce your sins maybe you need to hear a dirge be sorry for the wrong that you've
Done realize the consequences of it and realize that Jesus is the deliverer who can forgive you of your sins and give you a new start maybe if you're a child of God despite what you're going through you need to rejoice
Jesus is saying I'm here with you I care for you I'm going to get you through this and besides I've got a future waiting for you that's so wonderful you can't begin to imagine what it's going to
Be like like unrepentant cities you ignore Jesus at your own peril there can be a time when you leave this world and you're not ready man I knew was pastor in Newberry he was a member
Of the church bought and really out of the church didn't really know the Lord he was he had children as old as I was at the time so he was an older man very successful businessman hard gruff people told
Me that his mother had been such a godly woman and his wife came to church all the time she was a faithful woman but you know he just didn't seem to be too interested in that he was going to have surgery one time and they lived around the
Corner from us and so I went by his house and visited him with the wife for a while and you know before I left I said well can I have a prayer with you and he didn't really care where I had a prayer with him or not so he said well go ahead it
Will make my wife feel better later on he got sick again went to the hospital one complication after another no matter what treatment they gave him it didn't seem to work literally he was there for months I would see him went to see him one time and thought I need to talk with him again
About his relationship to the Lord he's in serious condition didn't get very far before he cut me off ah preacher I ain't interested in that stuff he died that night he had a godly mother he had a godly wife he had other people who had shared with him about Jesus
And if they wanted him to dance he wouldn't dance if they wanted him to be sorry he wouldn't be sorry he just didn't have anything to do with it people are still like that Jesus gives us the opportunity to have more than
We could ever imagine and sometimes we ain't interested in that stuff what kind of Messiah is Jesus is he is he the need beating joy bringing Messiah is he the Messiah who comes in judgment and pronounces judgment against those who will not
Turn to him because all are sinners is he the Messiah who is going to bring an end to wickedness an end to all unrighteousness an end to all evil and establish a perfect world what kind of Messiah is Jesus I think he's all of those
But the most important question is what kind of Messiah is Jesus to you will you let him deliver you from your sin will you let him walk with you through the midst of your troubles will you trust in him to provide for you
Now and provide for you for all eternity what kind of Messiah is Jesus to you now with me please for prayer heavenly father we stand amazed at Jesus Jesus the Messiah the Christ the deliverer father sometimes we struggle sometimes
We struggle with the hurts and the unfairness this old world that have come into our lives and sometimes we wonder Lord where are you father some of us here today need your comfort we need to assure us that
You are with us and that you are working for good in the midst of what we're going through some of us here today father need to repent to really admit that yes I am a sinner and I need Jesus to forgive
Me and give me eternal life some of us father may be on the verge of just walking away and not paying Jesus any attention help us to see that Jesus is the Christ is the Messiah is the deliverer and father I pray
That today when each one of us leaves this place we may be able to say Jesus is my Christ he is my Messiah he is my deliverer we pray this in Jesus name Amen
The Fearfully Fearless
Transcript
Well, good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. It is good to see you all this morning. Grab your Bibles. Go to Matthew chapter 10.
We've been working our way through the book of Matthew because we love the scriptures. And we believe that in them we have wisdom and life and they lead us to Christ and they train us and they equip us. And so we gather as a church and we study the Bible together seeking to not just learn it but to apply it to our lives. In 2006, in Quebec, Canada near the Hudson Bay, there was a mom walking with two small children. She heard some other children begin to yell. She looked in the direction of where the children were and they drew her attention to a polar bear.
This polar bear began to head towards her and her two small children. She had a seven-year-old. It seemed as if the polar bear was eyeing him. She told her sons to run and then she assaulted the polar bear. She charged it, began punching and kicking it. It knocked her to the ground, jumped on top of her.
She continued to kick it and she was outside aggressively fighting a polar bear. The beginning of the article I read said, Mother in Quebec, Canada will no longer have trouble from her two sons after they watched her fight a polar bear. That was the lead to the article. Eventually, somebody came with a gun and was able to get the polar bear off of her. It was a 700-pound polar bear. Why on earth would she do that?
The answer is immediately clear. Because if she didn't, there was a great fear that the polar bear would get her children. She had an overriding fear that made her absolutely fearless. This is often how someone who is brave, courageous, fearless is. They have a greater fear that drives them. If the story was local lady, unprovoked, walking by herself, attacks polar bear, I would read until I found out what substance she was on.
Something to help me understand what just happened here. But as soon as you hear that there were children in danger, it makes perfect sense to us because we understand that what she was more afraid of in that moment was not a polar bear. And most of the time, when you have fierce and aggressive, hungry polar bears on one side, it wins. Most of the time. But she had this overriding fear that made her fearless.
And that's actually, as we're reading this passage today, that's what we're going to see Jesus is instilling in his disciples, is calling them to. He's sending them out into a fearful situation and he's telling them this is a fearful situation. But he consistently says, don't be afraid, don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Actually, every time that Jesus mentions fear throughout any of the gospels, he's saying, don't be, except for in one place, in one case, he actually calls his disciples to fear. But it's a great overriding fear that creates complete fearlessness.
So let's pray and then we'll study this together this morning. God, we ask that as we look at this together, that you might make us fearful. So that we might be sent out utterly fearless. We ask for your help in this, this morning, through the power of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. Matthew chapter 10, verse 16.
So we've been seeing Jesus commissioning his disciples, sending them out on their first missionary work. He says this, Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. A lot of animal analogies there. But he's saying, I'm sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.
That's not something that if we were having a commissioning that you want to hear. That's not the most exciting news. Sheep and wolves don't get along very well. And sheep have no ability to defend themselves. But he says that's exactly what he's doing.
I'm putting you intentionally, purposefully in a very bad spot. I'm putting you intentionally, purposefully in a very dangerous, precarious position. So, so the rest of what he's going to say here is coming out of this idea that they're going into a fearful situation. The rest of what he's going to say in this passage is explaining how they ought to think and how they ought to approach life. He says, be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Serpents, sneaky, crafty, intentional.
Doves, not so much. Doves are innocent. They're not accused of things very often. They're, they're considered blameless. They're just, there's not much to them. Nobody's ever like, can I just tell you what this sneaky dove did to me?
Like it doesn't happen. It's not. So what he says is be intentionally crafty, but be absolutely innocent in your approach. And this is how missionaries ought to approach their work. Be wise. Be smart.
He's sending them out into dangerous situations. Don't be foolish, but don't be causing trouble. Don't be stirring things up. I'm going to mention in just a second, a missionary that I'm familiar with. But for the sake of posting this online, I'm not going to be able to say names.
So I'm going to give a very unspecified story. But there is a missionary that I am familiar with. And he helps an organization and their organization supports missionaries. They are currently actively supporting some missionary work and some church plant work in a nation where it is illegal to do so. And so those who are actively being missionaries there and trying to start churches are in danger. So this individual who is trying to get money to one of the people in the field has no ability to directly wire the money to them because if it got traced back, this person could get arrested.
They're already on a watch list. So they send money to another person in another country that nobody cares. They send money to that person gets in a vehicle and drives to the other country, crosses the border, meets this missionary and hands him cold, hard missionary cash. Wise as serpents, innocent as doves. This is how they are sent out and to make wise decisions to work within the means that they have. And there are times where Christians are slightly bending or breaking some laws in the midst of a difficult regime.
There are places where Christians in China and in Soviet Russia at times in different places have had to break laws, but they were doing it in an innocent way. If that makes any sense, they were not stirring up strife. They were doing it with good God honoring hearts, but they were having to break some laws because they were. Working inside of a system that was fighting against it, and that's what Jesus is calling him to. This isn't, I'm sending you out a sheep among wolves, so arm yourselves and become very aggressive, mean sheep. That's not what he's saying.
He's saying, but be intentional about how you go about this. Be wise in it. Nineteen. Oh, sorry, no, hadn't made it there yet. Seventeen. Beware of men.
So he's saying, watch out for them, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. Okay, so Gentiles are non-Jewish people. This specific mission was given to them to just go among Jewish people. We read that last week. So he's beginning to say this is overall information for the future mission of the church.
He's given more generic information for all the missionary work they're going to do from here on that also applies to us as we go forward. So he says, watch out for men. They're going to deliver you over to courts. This is verse 17. Flog you in their synagogues. So the synagogue in a bunch of rural places was where they held court.
The synagogue in rural areas was kind of the center of town. They would gather there. They would make good decisions there. They would lead from there. And so he's saying, as y'all go, there are going to be some synagogues that aren't going to like what you say. They're going to get you in front of everybody, and they're going to beat you with sticks.
There are going to be times where you're dragged before courts. To bear witness before them and the Gentiles. I think we ought to think really long and hard as Christians in the U.S. because one of the things that I hear often, and I have dealt with myself in work situations, is people saying, well, I'm not really supposed to talk about religion at work. I'm not really supposed to bring it up. It's kind of frowned upon. And I think we have to walk out the tension of being good missionaries in our culture, where I think being dragged to court and being publicly beaten meant that what they were called to do was frowned upon.
So let's be wise as serpents and innocent as doves, but let's be good missionaries where we are. 19, when they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say. I love that. He says, they're going to drag you to court. They're going to beat you with sticks. And people are like, okay.
And then you're going to have to do public speaking. And anxiety just shoots up in them. But don't be anxious. I heard Jerry Seinfeld talk about this. He said he saw a list of people's greatest fears. And the first one was public speaking, and the second one was death.
Jerry Seinfeld was like, really? At a funeral, most people would rather be in the box than giving the eulogy? Jesus isn't saying this because he understands people greatly fear public speaking. I don't think that's what he's getting at here. He is telling them, don't be anxious over this, that they're going to have to stand before powerful people, that they're going to have these moments where they're absolutely put on the spot. Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.
For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your father speaking through you. This is an active missionary work. And in moments where we're put on the spot and where we're having to testify to bear witness in a hostile environment. This is not a rule for preaching. This is not a rule for if you're going to help facilitate a community group or teach in Sunday school. He's going to give me in that hour what I'm supposed to say.
You weren't dragged there, hopefully. You ought to prepare. But this is a great encouragement for us when we think I'm trying to bear witness about the goodness of the gospel to my neighbors and to my coworkers. And I don't know what to say. And there are going to be these moments where I'm put on the spot and we can trust the Holy Spirit to work. I cannot tell you how many times I've had somebody have a story where they helped lead someone to the Lord or they just had a really wonderful conversation and they will say all excitedly, I don't even know what I said.
Or they do know what they said, but they're like, I was saying some really good stuff that would not be normal things for me to say. I was like quoting scriptures I didn't know I knew and was like, I was like, man, that's like third grade Bible school that just shot out. I don't know. I've had that so often because the Holy Spirit empowers those moments. And I also want to give you some encouragement. I've had times I went to try to share the gospel with somebody and what came out was some confusing, convoluted mess.
And some of y'all have heard me preach enough that you're like, that doesn't seem too far fetched. But I get to walk away trusting that the Lord can, through the power of his Holy Spirit, give me the words that are needed in that moment. And if he doesn't, I get to trust him when he does and when he doesn't. He says, don't be anxious about it. So as we go forward and try to share the gospel with our neighbors and our coworkers, as we are intentional about building relationships and sharing what we believe to be absolutely good news, walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, not in the power of the flesh.
Don't be anxious. Verse 21. Brother will deliver brother over to death and father, his child and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my namesake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. For truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the son of man comes. Okay. Brother will deliver brother over to death and father, his child and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my namesake. This is not an encouraging commission.
But Jesus doesn't blink. He says, this is, as you are sent forward, you will not be well received. There will be those who hate. I have two brothers. The idea that one of them would hand me over to death or that I would be willing to do that is craziness to me. But this is what the gospel does and is doing, has done throughout history and actively is doing in other parts of the world where someone believes and their family ostracizes them or has them put to death.
Where someone believes and someone in their family tells on them. In the U.S. this is a bit muted. We aren't having public executions for Christians. They're not being rounded up. You just may have someone who says, I can't believe that you would spend your time doing that. You may have friends and family say, this is so ridiculous.
They might call you bigoted or narrow-minded. They might call you intolerant. Foolish. We've had people who, parents said they were believers. And then when their children said, I'm going to go, I'm going to quit this job and I'm going to go help plant a church. They said, are you crazy?
Why would you do that? We still face some of this, but not to the extent that he's talking about. But this is the Christian mission is to go forward with good news in the face of death. He says, I'm sending you out a sheep among wolves. He tells them to be intentional, to be wise about it. But then he just says, you're going to be hated and some of you are going to die.
You'll be handed over to death. And then he says this, when they persecute, this is verse 23. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. For truly, I say to you, have not gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. There are a couple of different ways to understand that verse as to what he means by the Son of Man coming. Some would argue that he's talking about his death on the cross, his resurrection from the grave, specifically that he's talking about all the places in Israel.
I believe it is actually more of a eschatological comment, meaning the end of time comment. That eschatology is what that is. It's the study of the end times of when everything comes to a close. And the reason I believe that is because he uses the title Son of Man and that when he uses that again in front of the Sanhedrin, he's talking about his return. He says, the next time you see me, I'll be coming with the clouds. So I think he is saying that this mission won't fully end.
We won't have reached everybody before he returns. This is scary. This is intense. This is what he is calling his disciples to do. Verse 24. A disciple is not above his teacher nor a servant above his master.
It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher. So they understand he's saying, y'all aren't above me, but it's good to be like me. And the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household? Beelzebul is the devil. He says, if they've called me Satan, who buddy?
What are they going to call y'all? But it's enough for you to be like me. So then he says this. So have no fear of them. So this is the first imperative that he's given in this section.
He says, have no fear of them. Now, if you've been reading up to this point, fear seems an appropriate response. Sheep among wolves. Some of you are going to be flogged. Some of you are going to be dragged before court. Some of you are going to be killed.
Don't be afraid. But I want to show you something. He says this. Have no fear. And right before that, he says so. So when you're reading your Bible, when you see words like so and but and for, realize they're helping you understand the argument he's making.
So what he thinks is when he says have no fear, the reason he says so there is he thinks this first thing. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household? That's one of his points. That's to encourage us. It didn't sound encouraging when I read it the first time. What he's saying, his encouragement, the reason we ought to have no fear is when you face opposition, you're in very good company.
He's saying that you look like the master of the house and that's what else would a what else would a servant want to look like but his master? What else would a disciple want to look like but his teacher? That if they call me names and then they call you names, this fits with the other things where he says rejoice in that day. So he says have no fear because when they fight against you, you're in good company. But then he says this for so he's about to give us another one.
Another reason for nothing is covered that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known. That's his next point. Have no fear because when they attack you, when they fight against you, you look like me, look like Christ for nothing is hidden that won't be revealed. I think what he's telling us there is that the church, that you as a missionary, the disciples as missionaries will be vindicated. That one day this will all be evident. It is not now.
That is why we face opposition. If we said things that were clearly evident, perfectly understood by everybody, people would just nod along. But we're sent to send a message, to say a message to a group of people who don't want to hear it that fights against their understanding of things. And he says one day it will be clear. It'll be revealed. Meaning that as you share this with your friends and they no longer like you because you've become a weirdo.
Now, I think it's perfectly good to be a normal human and a Christian. Some people are weird not because they're Christians but just because they're weird. So I'm not saying everybody needs to try to be weird. But I am saying that there are certain things that we believe that are odd and that are at at odds with our culture. But here's the deal.
Jesus actually tells a story about someone who dies and then they're made aware of how everything works. And they begin to cry out and ask for help and they ask that somebody would go tell their siblings who are still alive. It tells us in Luke. There's some of your neighbors, some of your co-workers, some of your friends, some of your roommates, some of the people who live in your dorms, some of the people that you work with that are going to one day face the king standing in their own righteousness. And that will not suffice. And in that day, we want them to see that they had heard this message and they didn't believe.
Not that they were surrounded by a bunch of people who believed this and never told them. They'll make fun of you. You'll be vindicated. But if we don't speak, they won't malign us and we won't be vindicated because we never said this. So have no fear.
Proclaim this message. Go forward with it. He gives two more commands in the next verse, 27. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. So again, this is a message to be told.
Say it in the light. Proclaim it on the housetops. What you're learning, what you're growing in, where the Lord's teaching you, where you're seeing so truly in your own soul what is real. Share it. Proclaim it. Help people see who Jesus is and what he has done.
And some of them will hate you. There ought to be Christians who are getting written up at work. Some of the best workers, kindest people, they ought to be, they used to drag the disciples in front of, they would drag them in and they would say, stop talking about Jesus after they just healed somebody. They're like, we're fine with healing people. Shut your mouth about Jesus. And the disciples said, we can't help it.
So keep your stick ready. There ought to be Christians who have bosses pleading with them. You're one of my best workers. Please quit talking about Jesus. There ought to be neighbors who are serving and working with their neighbors and they're sharing the gospel and some will believe it and some won't. Some will hear it and be responsive and some won't.
But let us be saying and proclaiming from the housetops. It's one of the weirdest things I think you could do is proclaim this from your housetop. So I think whatever the Lord leads you to do is going to be just shy of that, but still really good to do. Verse 28. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both body, soul and body in hell.
Verse 28. Do not fear. Fear him. Those are the two commands. So he said multiple times, do not fear, do not fear, do not fear.
There are other places where he says, do not be afraid. And then he just said, be afraid. He says, do not fear those who can kill the body. And the reason is they cannot kill the soul. Well. Now, if you said, I'm going to New York and I'm a little worried about getting mugged.
And I said, oh, you shouldn't. Don't be afraid about going to New York. I've had plenty of people that I know have gone up there. The worst thing that they ever did was kill their bodies. That neighborhood's perfectly fine. The worst thing that will happen is someone will grab you and kill your body.
He'd be like, what? Tell me another neighborhood to go to. I don't. When he says, do not fear those who kill the body, my immediate response is. It's actually one of the things I'm most afraid of. I do a lot of my choices in life are based off of not having my body killed.
Seatbelts, helmets, door locks. I mean. But then he's making a clear break for us here. The absolute worst persecution that you could ever face is that they kill you. And then when they do, they have relinquished all control, all right. They have no claim.
Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. It is frowned upon to talk a lot about hell. I want you to be terrified of hell. I want you to be terrified of the great God and King who rules over the universe and who holds all eternity. I want you to be terrified at the notion that your soul will last forever. I want that to be an overriding fear.
Because it is a reality. I do not want my children running around afraid of everything. But there are some things I want them to be afraid of. My son, because he had only been around kind and generous people, had in his mind that everybody was his friend. This is problematic for a three and four year old. Because he would just open our front door.
And he would say things like, well, I know the mailman. And I would be like, bro, I don't even know the mailman. He seems nice. He delivers things to our home. But you can't even tell that's who's out there.
So just guessing it's the mailman that knocked is a bad plan. But I came and he had our front door open. So I took my three year old. I closed the door. I stood outside. I said, open the door.
He opened the door. I grabbed him by his shirt, clamped over his mouth and snatched him out of my house. He was in tears. And I said, this is why you do not open the door without me here. Because if someone tries to snatch you, it will be all on. But if I don't know you've opened this door and they close the door and we come out here and we're looking for you and they've already thrown you in a car and taken off, we don't know where you are.
He was terrified. But I'm fine with that. Because there are some realities that we ought to stare wide eyed into understanding the consequences. Hell is one of them. There is an eternity without the saving grace of Jesus. There is an eternity that humans will face in punishment for their rebellion and sin.
And we ought not to close our eyes to that. Because there is an eternity where those redeemed by Jesus are enraptured in his joy and grace and love based off of his work. And how dare we claim to believe this and be fearful of such small things as being disliked. May we see with wide eyes the king of the universe and in eternal hell so that we might be fearless in all other respects. There is a Romanian pastor. His name is Joseph Sons.
T-S-O-N. That's how you spell his last name. During a certain time. 1970. 1977. Around in there.
The Romanians were stomping out the church. They were trying to get rid of Christians. This man had been called to preach. So he was. So while the Romanian government was trying to get Christians to shut up.
This guy had a bad case of the can't help it. And he was telling everybody about Jesus. So they called him and they offered him a job. As long as he would quit preaching. So they thought maybe this is his livelihood.
We will give him a job. He will shut up. He prayed about it. He went to meet with the government official. He said this. I told the man.
Now I am ready to die. You said you were going to finish me as a preacher. I asked my God. And he wants me to continue to be a preacher. Now I have to make one of the two of you angry.
And I decided it's better to make you angry than God. The guy told him to go home. Later they rounded him up again. He would be interrogated at different times. For weeks on end. He says this in one of his things he wrote.
He said during an early interrogation. I had told an officer who was threatening to kill me. So the officer got him. Said look if you don't shut up. We're going to kill you. And he said sir.
Let me explain how I see this issue. Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying. Here's how it works. You know that my sermons on tape have spread all over the country. If you kill me.
Those sermons will be sprinkled with my blood. Everyone will know I died for my preaching. And everyone who has a tape will pick it up and say. I better listen again to what this man preached. Because he really meant it. He sealed it with his life.
So sir. My sermons will speak ten times louder than before. I will actually rejoice. In this supreme victory. If you kill me. After this.
After I said this. The interrogator sent me home. But he had settled in his mind. What the overarching reality of the world was. And therefore nothing else seemed to matter. Everything else became trivial.
In the face of the reality. Of what God has called us to. The reality of the world that we live in. And there is a God who rules over all eternity. There is a heaven. And there is a hell.
And we ought to. Rightly. Appropriately. Worshipfully. Fear the God. Who rules over both.
Who wants our bodies have died. And everyone's body will die. I looked it up. Ten out of ten. Still. CDC's website.
Everybody will die. But not everybody will be redeemed by Christ. Not everybody will have to taste the second death. Of judgment for their sin. And we ought to be fearless. In the face of anything.
That keeps us from proclaiming. The good news of Jesus. Who redeems sinners. Verse 29. He just said. Fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny. Odd transition. Not one of them will fall to the ground. Apart from your father. Fear. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear. Not. Therefore. You are of more value than many sparrows. I find those few verses so absolutely encouraging. He just said.
Aren't two sparrows sold for a penny? Does that register with us at all? Like I don't know. Has anybody ever bought two sparrows with a penny? Is this a thing? I looked it up.
It was very common food. For poor people. They could buy a couple of sparrows very cheaply. So I just made me think about chicken. I wondered. I got to thinking.
How many chickens did I eat in 2019? I'm going to spoil it for you. There's a lot. I eat. Chicken in my burritos. I eat.
Chicken. If it's a good week. I'll eat chicken from Bojangles. On a Sunday. My wife and I will get a rotisserie chicken. I'll eat half of that.
Rotisserie chickens cost like five dollars. It's a whole chicken already cooked. I think it equates here. Every Thursday I eat chicken at Egg Roll Station. I eat chicken in tortilla soup. Like we eat chicken all the time.
And I never think about it. But what he just said was. Not one single solitary chicken. Went from having a heartbeat. To a plate. Without God's permission.
Not one. There's not a bird on the earth. That we have given zero thought to. That falls somewhere out of a tree. And lands in some leaves. That God did not okay that.
That God did not allow that. That God did not work that. Then he says. You are of more value. Than many sparrows. He is saying.
God pays attention to everything. He knows everything. He is at work in everything. Sometimes I will sit and think about this. And sit outside. And just listen to birds chirping.
That he is in charge of their little heartbeat. That he knows. Every intricate detail about them. Whether they are hungry or not. Where he is going to feed them next. How many more breaths they have.
He helps them sing their song. And that when he calls us. To go into mission. When he calls us. To proclaim this news. In the face of opposition.
How much more do we matter to him. He also says this. It's an encouragement. He says the hairs. Even. The hairs of your head.
Are all. Numbered. Do you see the level of attentiveness? Dr. Ken and I were looking at this earlier. He said that he was trying to make it easier on God.
Do you see the attentiveness? My wife. We have two little boys. She pays a lot of attention to them. She will come to me. Often.
And say things like. I noticed Archer had a little spot on his hand. Have you seen that? I'm like. I am aware he has hands. She'll be like.
We need to look at it. And she has me investigate things a lot. And then her question is. Should we be worried? Which I always answer. No.
Even if I think we should. I'm just like. Probably not. And then I go Google things. I don't let her Google things. Because.
The first ten things that Google guesses. Are awful. Are awful. Google does not say at the beginning. You're probably fine. Google is like.
Well here's the worst fifteen things it could be. But she pays so much attention. She'll say. Ellis has a new spot on the back of his leg. Ellis had two bug bites. Where were y'all where there were bugs?
I'm like. The world. What are you talking about? She's paying attention to them. She's never once come to me though. And said.
Do you see this? What is that? It's Ellis's hair. Okay. No, no, no. This is hair.
Two thousand. Two hundred and fifty two. It fell from his head today. Should we be worried? I'd be like. I'm a little concerned.
It's not for Ellis. But do you see how well God knows us? How much he is zoomed in. It doesn't say your hairs are counted. It says they're numbered. This is so clearly proven to us.
That the man who is saying these words. Is God come from heaven sent to die? He says. You don't understand how much God loves you. I can sit and send you out as sheep among wolves. And you can be afraid.
But let me tell you. There's a God who rules over all eternity. And don't be afraid. He loves you so immensely more than you could ever comprehend. And this is the son of God come to die to give his life for sinners. He did not come to save the well behaved.
He did not come to rescue the righteous. He came to save wicked, evil sinners. And make them righteous. Through the power of his blood. That this love for us is overwhelming. And incomprehensible.
So we ought to go forward fearlessly. Because there is an eternity. But there's a king who rules over it. Who loves us so beyond our understanding. That it is baffling. Verse 32.
Verse 32. So everyone who acknowledges me before men. I also will acknowledge before my father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men. I will also deny before my father who is in heaven. So he ends here.
He's going to change directions a little bit. Following this as he continues to send them out. But he says. So. In light of this. The chief desire of our hearts.
Ought to be. To stand before the king. And have Jesus go. I know him. I know her. Because we walked forward.
Proclaiming this good news. To those who would hear it. And that we would be before him. And he would accept us. And welcome us. Because we have placed our faith in him.
Publicly. And then he says. Those who. Have no desire. To claim me. Those who would say they're a believer.
But it doesn't show up. Don't walk it out. Don't have any desire. To tell others about me. Then. I'll stand before him.
And say. I don't know him. He tells so many stories. That work along these lines. So we ought to.
In light of eternity. And God's great love. Go forward. Fearlessly. To help people know who Jesus is. To know the hope.
And the life that is in him. John G. Patton was a missionary. Who went to the new. Hebrides islands. The islands.
At this point. Were. The people who lived there. Were cannibals. So when he told his.
Church. That he was going. There was a. Leader in his church. Named Mr. Dixon.
Says he exploded. The cannibals. You will be eaten. By cannibals. Because there was. Missionaries that had gone before.
And that's exactly what happened. So later. In writing a letter to this. Church leader. He said. Mr.
Dixon. You are advanced in years now. And your own prospect. Is soon to be laid in the grave. There to be eaten by worms. Jesus.
And I confess to you. That if I can but live. And die. Serving the. And honoring. The Lord Jesus.
It will make no difference to me. Whether I'm eaten by cannibals. Or by worms. And in the great day. My resurrection body. Will rise.
As fair. As yours. In the likeness. Of our risen redeemer. May we be those. Who take the call.
Of Christ. Seriously. Because we understand. The reality. Of an eternal soul. Seriously.
And may we rise. Gloriously loved. Gloriously welcomed. Gloriously brought home. In the image of Christ. Who on that day.
Says I know you. Let's pray. God we pray. That we would appropriately. Fear you. That we would.
See you. Above. All else. That we would see. The eternity. That awaits us.
Lord may we see your love. Feel your closeness. That may we be fearless. In the face. Of everything. For the sake.
Of your name. In Jesus name. Amen. There may be some of you. In here today. Who have never.
Placed your faith in Jesus. Have never publicly told others. That you trust him. May I tell you. That he loves you. And that he redeems sinners. and I would encourage you after this to grab somebody, grab me and say, I believe, what do I do now?
I trust him, what do I do now? May we be public and bold in our proclamation that we love Jesus and may we be fearless in the face of all else.
Sent
Transcript
Well, good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here, and I'm glad to be with y'all this morning. If you'll grab your Bibles and go to Matthew chapter 10, that's where we'll be this morning. Matthew chapter 10. I want to begin this morning by reading a few quotes.
We're going to be looking at a section of Scripture where Jesus is sending his disciples out as missionaries. And I want to talk a little bit about mission. And I want to begin by reading a few quotes about mission and missionaries and this desire to share our faith. The first one comes from Pope Francis, the current pope. He says this, but listen, never, never bring the gospel by proselytizing. Proselytizing means by attempting to convert, by sharing a message where you are trying, the end goal being that you are trying to convert someone to Christianity.
So he says, never, never bring the gospel, the good news of Jesus. So gospel means by trying to convince someone. Of the good news of Jesus so that they might believe. If someone says they are a disciple of Jesus and comes to you with proselytism, they are not a disciple of Jesus. Now that's the pope.
There's a reason why he's not quoted often from this pulpit. I want to read what it says in the Atlantic. They were looking at Christian missionaries and Christian mission. They're studying this because the tone of Christian mission and the tone of Christian missionaries has changed. It says Christian missionaries nowadays are relatively less inclined to tell others about their faith by handing out translated Bibles. They're more likely to show it through their work.
Often a tangible social project. For example, in the context of a humanitarian crisis. Humanitarian work has long been part of the Christian mission experience. That last statement is very true. The humanitarian process has long been a part of the Christian missionary experience. But it can now take precedence over the work of preaching.
Some missions do not involve proselytizing in any significant way. But there's no attempt to preach, to proclaim, to convert. It's not to say, she's quoting a professor. It's not to say that no one ever does any preaching. Of course they do, said Melanie McAllister, a George Washington University professor who writes about missionaries. But the notion that our main goal is to convert people has been much less common.
Much less common. It's becoming less common for missionaries to be sent out with the desire and the purpose to see people come to Christ. While I was looking into this, I read a study from Barna. They asked 992 practicing Christians. They gave them this statement. It is wrong to share your faith with someone in the hopes that they will come to have the same faith.
That was the statement. And then the Christians were supposed to say, agree, disagree. It's a statement. It is wrong. It is wrong. Morally incorrect.
To share your faith in the hopes that someone would come to share your faith. Come to believe the same thing. Most of the age demographics fared fairly well at this. Until we got to the age of 25-year-olds to 39-year-olds. 47% agreed with this statement. Half of the practicing Christians in this sample group said, yes, it is wrong to share your faith with the hope that someone would believe it.
I guess you could share it as part of your story, as part of your experience. Because there's this push in our culture that what's true for you is true for you. And you let everybody else have what's true for them. And we don't try to push our ideology on someone that's closed-minded. It's offensive. It's arrogant.
Depending on how you go about it, it could be bigoted or colonialism. Now, I would hope that there's part of us that says, yeah, not us. No, no, no, no, no. That's not us. Like you started with the Pope. That's not us.
We're not there. But I would say that I think culture has shifted on us. And there's a bit of a hush that has fallen over the American church. I was sitting at a wedding yesterday. And we're sitting there and they're playing the prelude. It was very pretty.
And everybody's just sitting chatting. The room was full. They're playing. And then the pianist and the person playing the really big violin stopped. And they quit playing. And then from there, the rest of the room just got quiet.
And everybody, just picking up on context clues, shut their mouth. Now, I'm willing to bet that most of us would not agree with that last statement that Barna put out. But functionally, we may be operating like we do. When I hear this utter nonsense, it is insidious. It is evil. It is demonic.
I want us to read as Jesus sends out his first disciples in Matthew 10. As he's sending these disciples out, this is the first mission he sends them on. And I hope that we might learn a little bit of the foundation for mission. What flows out of it as he's training them to be missionaries, that we might begin to see just some core factors to this, that we might grow in this. So let's pray.
Lord, help us. Help us to believe with grace-filled defiance of the cultural push for us to keep this to ourselves. Help us to so believe the reality of eternity with Christ and the reality of an eternity without Christ. That we cannot but speak. Do not let us shut our mouths. In Jesus' name.
Amen. This is Matthew chapter 10. It says, And he called to him his twelve disciples. This is verse 1. And he gave them authority over unclean spirits. So there's a spiritual realm.
There are good spirits. God being God, Christ, Holy Spirit. And then there are angels that are ministering spirits. And then there are unclean spirits. Those who have fallen away. Those who have rebelled against God.
Led by Satan, which means adversary. And he gives them authority over those unclean spirits. The sermon today will not be primarily about the demonic activity. But if you have questions or concerns about that, I would love to speak with you. But we do believe this.
Over unclean spirits to cast them out. And to heal every disease and every affliction. So we're going to come back to this. But he endows these disciples with this authority. And it keeps going. It says he called them together.
He gives them this authority. The names of the twelve apostles are these. 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 tax collector. James, the son of Alphaeus. And Thaddeus. Simon, the zealot. And Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
I want to make a few observations here. First of all, Jesus calls them. They did not assemble themselves. He calls them. He calls specific people. With specific names.
And specific nicknames. Like he calls specific people. He calls some that are brothers. He calls some. He calls Matthew, who is a tax collector. Which means he was actively serving the Roman Empire.
To help keep the Israelites in check. Would have not been popular among Israelites. And he calls Simon the zealot. Who is actively working. Being a zealot. To try to overthrow the Roman Empire.
And sow discord. I feel like it got real awkward. Between Matthew and Simon. When they were introduced to one another. What do you do? I'm a tax collector.
What do you do? Until recently. I snuck into groups. And stabbed tax collectors. I was like. Okay.
Cool. I'm going to hang out with the fishermen. It was good talking to you. The beauty of this. Is that. This is displayed.
All throughout our church family. Where people are being pulled. From different areas. From different political parties. From different. Socioeconomic backgrounds.
From different forms of racism. And we're growing into. What it looks like. To be Jesus people. As he changes. Our hearts.
It's glorious. And it's beautiful. He calls them together. And even being called. And being pulled into this. Does not mean.
That faithfulness will ensue. Because Judas Iscariot. Is one of these. And he ultimately. Betrays. Betrays.
Jesus. But he says this. Verse five. These twelve. Jesus. Sent out.
So he calls them. That he might send them out. And you got to understand. That's foundational. For Christians. That we're called to Jesus.
That we belong to him. That he pursues us. Chases us. Makes us his. And then. Commissions us.
As his church. And when Jesus gave them. The authority. That he gave them. He was sending them out. As his representatives.
To the world. And we're told. As the New Testament progresses. That that's the church. That we are now his body. He's the head.
But we're his body. He fills all in all. In us. But he sends us out. As his representatives. To the world.
This is why Christians. Ought to. Be kind. Gracious. And do humanitarian aid. We ought to.
Care for the least of these. We ought to. Practice church discipline. Where we. Watch over the holiness. Of one another.
And pursue Jesus together. Because we are sent out. To represent Christ. To the world. So he calls them.
He gives them authority. He sends them out. And then he gives them instructions. Instructing them. Go nowhere. Among the Gentiles.
And enter no town. Of the Samaritans. But go rather. To the lost. Sheep. Of the house.
Of Israel. And proclaim. As you go. Saying the kingdom of heaven. Is at. Hand.
Okay. So let's make a few observations here. He says. Go nowhere. Among the Gentiles. And don't go.
Among the Samaritans. That's honestly. A little bit odd. Because Jesus. Had not been going. Anywhere.
Among the Gentiles. He had not been going. Anywhere. Among the Samaritans. And his Jewish disciples. Would not have jumped up.
And done that. On their own. They would have had no desire. To go to the Gentiles. If he said. I'm sending you out.
As missionaries. They would have thought. There's no. There was no. Mental place for them. To think.
I'm going to go. Hang out with Gentiles. Because there was this. Big gap. Between Jews and Gentiles. He's actually.
By saying that. Indicating. That while this mission. Is limited. There's going to come a day. Where Gentiles.
And Samaritans. Are included. Which is really good. For us. Because most of us. Are not Jewish.
Probably not a lot. Of Samaritans. In here. We mostly fit. In the Gentile camp. Those who were outside.
Of the covenant promises. Of Israel. And ultimately. At the end of Matthew. He's going to say. Go to all people.
Groups. All languages. All nations. But he limits it here. And the reality is. He still does this.
The global scope. Of the reach. Of the church. Is not limited. To a culture type. To a skin type.
To a language type. It's not limited. But. For specific missionaries. With specific names. It is.
God calls specific people. To specific tasks. And it's beautiful. There's a great diversity. In what he calls. The church to.
This is why. It seems so silly. To me. When we argue about. This is who we ought. To care about.
There's a. There's a man. In our church family. His name is Ben Johnson. He has. Felt called.
Specifically. To the people. Who live. In the 1040 window. It's what it's called. But it's this.
Area. On a map. It has to do with latitude. And longitude. It's where the most. Unreached people groups are.
It's the Arab world. It's North Africa. He weeps. Over the loss there. And he's excited. That people want to go.
To South America. But I don't think. He spends a lot of time. Crying. And stressing out. Over the people.
In South America. He feels. Specifically. Called. To. The 1040 window.
God's. Claimed him. And said. This is where you're. Supposed to go. He's burdened his heart.
With a specific. Mission. There's another. One of our church family members. Named Chris Rocky. And his wife.
Danielle. Who. Felt called. To missions. And they went. And talked.
To Ben. And Ben. And tried to convince them. That the people. In the 1040 window. Are the most lost.
More lost. Than the other lostness. And Chris Rocky. Said. Neat. We're supposed to go.
To probably Honduras. But somewhere. In South America. Is where we feel that. Now. We're going to vote.
By raise of hand. Who is wrong. Don't we as Christians. End up arguing. Over some silly things. There's some people.
Who think. I have a burden. For the homelessness. In the city. Because I have this burden. Everybody else.
Needs to have it. Hmm. We should care. Yeah. But there are some people.
Who have a burden. For every elementary student. At this school. Praise Jesus. Go. And do not.
Take your burden. And think. That it has to become. Everybody else's. That's not. Healthy.
You get to lead. You get to call others. To go with you. One of the things. That I found. As a pastor.
Is that. The Lord will wake somebody up. And tell them. You're supposed to go do this. And they will come to me. And say.
I think we're supposed to go do this. He didn't wake me up. He didn't wake me up. And tell me that. I'd love to help equip. I'd love to help send.
I'd love to help you have a platform. To explain what it is. And help people go with you. I'd love to help give some guidelines. But I'm actively doing this thing.
He woke me up and told me to do. And by God's grace. I'll get to keep doing it. But he calls specific people. To specific missions. But.
One message. A lot of mission areas. A lot of mission fields. A lot of methods and approaches. But one message.
He says. As you go. Proclaim. As you go. Saying. The kingdom of heaven.
Is at hand. This is the same thing. That Jesus was proclaiming. It's the same thing. That John the Baptist. Had been proclaiming.
That repent. For the kingdom of heaven. Is at hand. Jesus is walking around. Proclaiming. Repent.
For the kingdom of heaven. Is at hand. When he sends out his disciples. He says. Go. And proclaim.
The kingdom of heaven. Is at hand. The first thing they are to do. Is proclaim a message. This is why. Just doing humanitarian aid.
With the hopes. That if somebody wants to believe. They can ask me. And I'll explain it to them. But that's not my primary deal.
Is not at the core. Of what Christian mission is. The gospel. Is the good news. Of what Jesus Christ. Has done.
It's news. The gospel. Is not. Christians are nice people. Hopefully. That's true.
But that is not the gospel. The gospel. Is a message. To be shared. Maybe some of you. Have heard the quote.
Preach the gospel. At all times. And if necessary. Use words. Words. I'm fine with that quote.
Because it is always necessary. To use words. So it's necessary. From the beginning. Keep using them. It's a message.
To be shared. And he sends them out. With this message. That the kingdom. Is breaking in. Now.
They get a glimpse. Of this. We get the full picture. That the kingdom of God. Is breaking. In.
That where Jesus is. As king. There is hope. The kingdom of heaven. That there is opportunity. To be in heaven.
To be welcomed in heaven. For heaven to come down. And to rescue us. And that's what Jesus. Does. That's what the gospel.
Is. That heaven is real. And Jesus has brought it. To us. Through his sacrifice. Through his death.
Through his resurrection. So this is what it says. Verse seven. And proclaim as you go. Saying the kingdom of heaven. Is at hand.
Verse eight. Heal the sick. Raise the dead. Cleanse lepers. Cast out demons. So he gave them authority.
Go proclaim this message. Do these signs. The signs. Co-sign. The message. The kingdom of heaven.
Is at hand. And then they. Put it on display. To. He's lending his authority. So that they might.
Display to the world. This is what it. Looks like. For heaven. To break in. So that people.
Might believe. We've been reading through. Matthew together. We're studying through Matthew. We're picking back up. We're going to keep.
Going through. Matthew. And there's this time. Where Jesus is. Looks at a paralytic. And he says.
Rise. He says. Son. Your sins are forgiven. And there's some. Religious leaders there.
Who have a problem. With this. Because. Only God. Should forgive sins. This would be a problem.
Were Jesus not God. But there's no problem with this. Because Jesus is. So he looks at them. And says. So that you may know.
That I have authority. To forgive sins. Rise. Walk. And he stands up. And walks.
The signs. Are so that you may know. So that you may believe. So that you may know. That this is real. That what he says is real.
That heaven is breaking in. So they. Raise the dead. You ever seen. Like old. Like you watch a western.
Or something. And there's like an old. Charlatan-y guy. Doing some like. Snake oil stuff. And he has a friend.
In the crowd. Who's going to help him. Act like he can hear now. Or his. All his joints are fixed. Or whatever.
That's not what's happening here. They'd roll up. They would raise. The people who were dead. In that town. They would heal the sick.
In that town. People that they knew. They would cleanse. Lepers. And that's not easily done. And it's obvious.
Sign. They would cast out. Demons. Because that authority. Over the enemy. And this is a picture.
Of what is ultimately. Going to happen in Christ. That all that is broken. Is going to be taken away. All that is dead. Is going to be.
Raised to life. Where we're coated. In shame. And sin. And guilt. He's going to forgive.
This is. This is heaven. Brought to us. Proclaimed to us. In Christ. Showed to us.
Ultimately. In the resurrection of Christ. That we might. Believe. So Christians are sent.
With a message. And yes. We ought to. Do good. We ought to. Proclaim.
And help. And help. Show. What it looks like. For people. To belong to one another.
To love. One another. To serve. One another. The Holy Spirit. Is still active.
He still does work. Miraculous works. We have a more. Fulfilled. Completed version. Of the resurrection.
Of Christ. That we are to proclaim. So that people. Might have faith. And what they were doing. Was it was a foretaste.
Of ultimately. What was going to happen. Kind of like. The smell of food. Before you get to eat it. I walked.
I had been working. All day. I walked into my house. The other night. I opened the door. My wife had been cooking.
And oh my goodness. I just dropped my bag. I said baby. It smells so good in here. That's what it is. They're saying.
This is what heaven is like. This is what the kingdom is like. And they're giving a glimpse of it. And they're saying. Now believe.
Believe in this king. Who does this work. And do you all know that. That in heaven. That as Jesus goes to work. Death doesn't win.
Sickness doesn't win. Where our bodies begin to fail us. And fall apart. That he restores. That he works. That the sickness of sin.
You see he gives these physical signs. That we might believe the spiritual. Eternal reality. The cancer of sin. That creeps through our bodies. That claims us.
That will kill us. That will choke out life in us. That he actually can redeem. He actually can fix. And our shame. And our guilt.
That causes us to be outcasts. Like lepers. He can fix. And that the enemy. Does not win. That Psalm earlier said.
Your enemies come cringing. To you. That's a reality. In Christ. So they proclaim this message.
Says this. It gets better. It says. You received. Without paying. Give without paying.
Acquire no gold. Or silver. Or copper. For your belts. No bag. For your journey.
Or two tunics. Or sandals. Or a staff. For the laborer. Deserves his food. And whatever town.
Or village you enter. Find out who is worthy in it. And stay there. Until you depart. So he gives specific instructions.
For this missionary journey. There are other missionary journeys. Where he gives some different instructions. So we know this isn't just. Exactly how it works forever. But there is a tone here.
That I think is helpful. First of all. There's an urgency. He just says. Go. Don't get two tunics.
Don't get another staff. Just go. And there's a dependency. That they would be dependent. On those they were sent to. But ultimately.
That they would see. That they were dependent on God. To provide everything. They needed. But the more beautiful thing here.
Is that this is by grace. He says. As you received without paying. Give without pay. The point of this. Is not to exchange goods.
For the glorious. Inbreaking of the kingdom. The impetus. Behind them going out. Was that God. Had already given them everything.
He had already redeemed them. He had already worked. On their behalf. So they would go out. With gracious. Joy.
To share this. That they had received it. Without payment. And they would just give it away. Freely. Without pay.
The heart. Behind Christian mission. Is not obligation. It's joy. The heart. Behind Christian mission.
Is not fearfulness. It's a delight. It's an overwhelming sense. Of the glory of Christ. And the inbreaking of heaven. And the hope that we have in Jesus.
That drives us to mission. Guilt. Makes a terrible missionary. But joy. Makes an unstoppable one. Delight.
An overwhelming sense. Of appreciation. And gratefulness. He says. You received without pay. Give without.
Pay. That you might go forward. By grace. That that is actually. How the gospel moves forward. It's not a transaction.
It's not something. That we pay for. And receive. That we ultimately. Are motivated. By delight.
And we naturally. Do this in life. If you enjoy something. You share it. You praise it. I had a friend.
This past week. Who's in my neighborhood. He. We and I. Were going to grab lunch together. So I asked him.
What I ask everyone. Who's going to go eat lunch with me. Have you ever eaten. At egg roll station. He said. No.
And his choices. Became very limited. On where we were going to eat. I had to ask the follow-up question. Which is. Do you have cash?
Because egg roll station. Is not a high class establishment. They don't have a card reader. But. I do that with everybody. Because I delight.
In egg roll station. I have to watch about it. When I talk about it in sermons. Because I might just close my eyes. And start thinking about it. Like I.
I share it. Because I enjoy it. Naturally. It overflows. And what he's saying. Is you received without payment.
Give without pay. This is how. We respond. In light. Of the glorious. Joy.
And delight. That is in Christ. Who redeems sinners. Who did not deserve it. There's not a soul. In this 12 man team.
That was a well behaved. Super stud. There's not one. That he was like. Everybody. Try to be like that guy.
Because he's awesome. Simon. It lists as first. And then the Bible. Seemingly. Goes out of its way.
To highlight. How terrible he was at that. I don't know. So that we wouldn't. Turn him into a pope. Sorry.
I got to leave the Catholics alone. There are a lot of Catholics. Who love Jesus. We have been redeemed. By grace. And grace alone.
That makes us a joyous bunch. We're not earning it. We haven't paid for it. We don't get to strut. There is no swagger. In this room.
There's the delight. Of someone who has not deserved something. Who has received way more than they deserve. In a gracious overflow. Of God's goodness towards us. And a freedom that comes with that.
You didn't earn it. You don't have to keep it. That he keeps us. As he pours out grace on us. And we get to share this message. Twelve.
As you enter the house. Greet it. And if the house is worthy. Let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy.
Let your peace return to you. It's unclear. As to how much. That is just him acknowledging. This is how this is going to work. And how much they actually had control.
Over. Their peace going and returning. It seems as he keeps going. That it's more of a. Their posture towards the people. So they're basically blessing.
A house that's going to. Hear the word. That's going to. Welcome them. In this culture. They were supposed to be.
Very hospitable. So it was. Understood. That if people came around. You would welcome them. You would host them.
And he says. Greet the house. Bless it. And if they receive you. Let your blessing stay. But if they don't.
Move on. The reality of the Christian mission. Is that God has people. Who are prepared. This is what Jesus just said. In Matthew 9.
The harvest is plentiful. Meaning. There's a harvest. To. To just be. Brought in.
He says. We don't have enough laborers. To just bring in the harvest. So they go out. There are people. That God had prepared.
To hear this. Who would delight. In this message. So as we're sent. There are God. People.
God. Who wants to. He wants to redeem. That he's already got ready. We're just sent. To try to bring them in.
So they might hear this news. And there's. Freedom. For those who don't want to hear it. For us to not feel like. It's our job.
He's the Lord of the harvest. It's not our job to convert them. It's not our job to make them. Receptive. It's our job to go. It's our job to proclaim.
That we can keep praying. We can keep pleading. If it's someone that lives near us. If it's someone in our family. But we're not.
Sent to continually. Try to get one person. To believe. Who's not going to. We're sent to go. And see who's receptive.
Who's ready. Who wants to. Which means that as we go. As missionaries. God has designed it. To be effective.
One way or the other. If he has people ready. To receive. Or he has people. That you'll have the freedom. Of saying.
Lord. I tried. I'm going to keep moving. We get to go to places. Where he's already at work. And where he's.
Working among. People. I've seen this. With my neighbors. I've seen this. With co-workers.
People who want to hear. People who. Do not. Want. To hear. So we get to build.
With those who want to build. We get to pour into those. Who want to hear it. We get to. Meet with those people. Who will show up.
And listen. Verse 14. And if anyone. Will not receive. You. Or listen.
To your words. Shake off the dust. From your feet. When you leave that house. Or town. Truly.
I say to you. It will be more bearable. On the day of judgment. For the land of Sodom. And Gomorrah. Than for that town.
What Jesus just said there. Is striking. Sodom and Gomorrah. Is a story that we're told. In Genesis. Of a town.
That was so. Wicked. That the cries. Against that town. Had risen up to God. And God.
Who knows all things. But also. Who joins us. In misery. Says. I'm going to go down.
And see for myself. It's a picture. Of what Christ does. Is our wickedness. Rises up to him. That he comes down.
For himself. But. There's this picture. Of total. Depravity. And wickedness.
And God. Judges it. Directly. Immediately. That fire. Falls from heaven.
And crushes this town. That the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. Is wiped. Off the map. And it stands. As a monument.
To God's. Wrath. And judgment. On sin. And sinners. So that.
All those. Who knew. This story. Understood. That God. Does not take sin.
Lightly. And that judgment. Is real. So what he just said here. Is striking. If anyone.
Will not receive you. Or listen. To your words. Shake off. The dust. From your feet.
When you leave. That house. Or town. Truly. I say to you. It will be more.
Bearable. On the day. Of judgment. For the land. Of Sodom. And Gomorrah.
Than for that town. Romans 1. Tells us. That all the world. Ought to know. God's goodness.
Because it's been displayed. Through creation. That we have no excuse. That we look at creation. And see. We see his.
Greatness. And his glory. I asked somebody. This past week. We were talking. About.
Faith. And I was trying to. Talk with him. About Jesus. And he just said. That he has a hard time.
Given that. Our world. Is just. He says. We're just a dot. On a dot.
On a dot. In a dot. On a dot. Like that's what he's. We're just. People.
On a little planet. A little planet. And a little solar system. A little solar system. Next to bigger solar systems. Next to.
He just said. It just seems like. The likelihood. With all this. That there would be humans. That it would work out this way.
He was just saying. That this randomness. And this massiveness. Of the galaxy. Seems to point towards. There's just really.
No way to tell. And I was like. The bigger it gets. The more I think. There's got to be. Somebody back there.
Working. It doesn't seem like. This would just shoot out. Of nothing. Like the bigger. And more massive.
And more glorious. It gets. And then we find out. That he named all the stars. That they respond. To his call.
Like I. That he's this. Glorious God. Who oversees. All of this. That he is at.
Work. And that he knows. Us. So he tells them. You see. He's put on display.
For Sodom and Gomorrah. Who he is. Through his creation. They ought to have known better. They had their own. Conscience.
That testified to them. The wickedness. Of their deeds. That all of humanity. Ought to know better. This is why.
You go globally. With people who. Do or don't believe. There's in general. Some sense of morality. That's in line.
Somewhat together. Because we are all built. With this understanding. Of how things ought to work. What's justice. What's right.
What's wrong. We yell things out. Like that's not fair. Because it's innate in us. That there's some sort of. Fairness.
And some. Some judge. That ought to. Arbitrate over it. There ought to be. A booth.
That can do a review. Over what just happened. That's Sodom and Gomorrah. For those who are told. Here's the kingdom. Of the king.
And here's what it looks like. And they reject it. It's far worse. That there is. Genuine. Eternal.
Judgment. For those who do not believe. There's an urgency. To this message. It is eternally. Urgent.
And I think the question for us. Is do we believe this. Do we believe that in Christ. We are given heaven. And all that is good. And all that is glorious.
And that in his person. We see the king of the universe. Who would die to redeem us. And do we believe. That there is a judgment coming. And that it falls on all of us.
In our wickedness. And that ultimately. Only those who are redeemed. Are those who are in Christ. Not those who are well behaved. Not those who are good.
Not those who are nice. Not those who are kind. Those who are in Christ. You see judgment fell on him. So that it will not fall on us.
The king. Has won the battle for us. That we might be brought in. Freely. And joyously. The high.
On this side. Is so gloriously. Beautifully. High. And the low. Is so eternally.
Terribly. Low. Do we believe that? Because if we did. I don't think there would be a hush. Over the church.
As to this message. I don't see how we could claim. To care for others. So much so. That we would fly somewhere. And dig them a well.
But we would not tell them. About the eternal realities. Of joy. And delight. And pleasures. Forevermore.
At the right hand of a God. Who redeems. And forgives. And saves. And the weightiness. Of running from that.
And standing in our own sin. And in our own glory. And in our own ability. And in our own morality. Before God. So that our wickedness.
Might be put on full display. It seems as if the posture. In the church has been. If someone wants to become a Christian. They can. But it's not my job.
To go tell them about it. If they want to become a Christian. That'll be great. But I'm not going to necessarily. Just be offending people. And bothering people.
When you believed this. When it clicked in your mind. Were you bothered? Did it mess you up. In any other way. Than a glorious one.
That changed your world. Some of you in our church family. Are here. Because your neighbor. Or your co-worker. Harassed you.
Praise Jesus. At one point. You thought. This is the most annoying human. I've ever met. And there was another time.
When you stood with them. In a baptismal water. And you hugged them. You said. Thank you for praying for me. Thank you for pursuing me.
Thank you for pleading with the Lord for me. Thank you for talking to me. Do we believe this? I was talking to a co-worker. At one point. And I said.
I was a Christian. And he said. Oh. So I guess you want me to become a Christian too? I don't know what he expected. I said.
That would be wonderful. If you are here. And you don't know Jesus. We want you to become a Christian. Because in Christ. You are redeemed.
You are brought in. You are loved. You are cherished. You are forgiven. You are free. You don't have to go earn your own identity.
Your own salvation. Your own worth. It's given to you in Christ. And we get to from that position. Proclaim this good news to whomever will listen. And some of them will.
And praise God for every one of them. How dare we be silent. In the face of heaven. And in the face of judgment. God help us. If we can't help but talk about this.
God help us. If we don't labor in prayer for this. God help us. If we don't get to know our neighbors. And our co-workers. So that they might believe.
God help us. If he doesn't call us to places. And we go. The stakes are too high. The delight is too good. Our God is too glorious.
For us to shut our mouths. So may we sing his praises here. And may we proclaim his gospel there. And may we do that. Until we stand face to face with our king. Let's pray.
God we thank you for your grace. And your goodness towards us. We pray that you would change. Our hearts. That we would believe. So that we might go.
We pray that you would speak now. To those who need to go to a specific people. In a specific place. That you would call them. God we pray that. Weekly and monthly and yearly.
We would see people leave our church. That they might be a part of your global church. That we would lay hands on those. Who would go start new works. And new churches. And join those who are laboring.
In the field. That you would call those who would proclaim this. And lead churches. And God we pray that every one of us. Would be sent as an everyday missionary. Where you have already infiltrated.
Because we are there. And we are your church. May we see the harvest before us. That we might proclaim your glory. In Jesus name. Amen.
Amen. It seems to me that the opposite of what the Pope says in this quote is true. That if you meet a Christian. And they care nothing for you coming to know Christ. They may not actually know him. That if they don't come to you with some desire to see you believe.
To see you changed. They may not actually know the Jesus that so radically redeems and saves. That may we be people who so love Jesus. So delight in him. That we can't shut our mouths. Amen.
Healing and Raising
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab a Bible and head to Matthew chapter 9. We're working our way through the book of Matthew. If this is your first time hanging out with us, we're glad you're here.
If you do not own a Bible, you can take one of these blue ones home with you. That's our gift to you. We want you to own a Bible. We want you to read it often. Nicholas Cage, who many of you know is one of the most renowned and greatest actors of our time. He did a movie 15 years ago called National Treasure.
Yeah, and it's on Disney Plus if you have that, so you're welcome. You can go watch it. But in that movie, he plays Benjamin Franklin Gates, who is a historian, and who finds out that there is a secret treasure map hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence, which feels like a really bad place to hide a map if you intend to use it. I wonder if they had made the map first, and then they were like, we need some paper for the Declaration of Independence. And they were like, Benjamin Franklin's got that huge piece of paper he's always carrying around with him. Can we use that?
And he couldn't awkwardly talk his way out of not letting him use it, so they did. But anyway, he has to, they have to find this map on the back to find a national treasure. I don't want to give too much away. And at some point, they have to find some glasses that have these different lenses on them. So there's these glasses.
They have to look at the back of the map, and there are these red and blue lenses that they have to drop down. And this is made all the better by Nicolas Cage calling them spectacles the whole time. And if you've ever watched Nicolas Cage, you know, he either whispers or yells all of his lines. So at different times, he's like, hand me the spectacles. And he does this little thing, and he's looking at the stuff. And he has to use these in order to see what's going on there.
And so, what we're going to do as we read Matthew today, is we're going to read in chapter 9 a handful of miracle stories and interactions of people with Jesus that Matthew kind of just runs through fairly quickly. He just lays them out. This happened, then this happened, then this happened, then this happened. This is how much of chapter 8 and 9 have happened. It's almost like everything was back to back to back to back to back. Matthew's just laying this out for us.
And then we're going to take a few verses from Matthew chapter 9 to help us understand how we are to read this and what we're to understand from this. And those are going to be our spectacles. These two lenses that we're going to drop down, some verses, some quotes from Jesus that help us understand what he's doing. And we're going to just drop those down, and we're going to use those to look at this. So we're going to walk through the stories, then we're going to look at those two verses, and then we're going to walk back through trying to understand what Jesus is doing.
Because he's come, ultimately, to work his way to the cross. That did not catch him by surprise. Jesus came in order to die to redeem sinners. But he's spending a lot of time healing people and walking around and teaching, and he's working towards displaying something to us, and he's telling us as we go what he's doing. And so we're going to read through these interactions, but rather than just zooming in on them, we're going to kind of zoom out and look at them through a different lens and try to understand what he's doing. So we're going to pray, and we're going to do that.
God, we thank you for your word, and we pray that you would speak to us through it, that we might see Jesus more clearly. We love you, and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Matthew 9, verse 18. While he was saying these things, so he'd just been talking to John the Baptist's disciples. While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him.
We find out from one of the other Gospels he's a ruler of a synagogue, so he was well-respected. But he kneels before Jesus, saying, My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live. So this man comes to Jesus, and he says, My daughter just died. We find out in the other Gospels that she was 12, but he's got a young daughter. He comes, and he gets down in front of Jesus and says, She just died. And so he was mourning.
They were praying for her. I'm assuming he's a ruler of a synagogue. There's people around her hoping that she's going to get better, and she doesn't. Maybe they've been pleading with God, but he finds out that Jesus is near, and he just leaves. He leaves his daughter. He leaves whoever else was in his family there mourning, and he just heads out.
Maybe he told them what he was going to do. Maybe this is his last chance effort, but he's going to go try to find out what's going on. His daughter's sick. She's died. He goes to Jesus and kneels before him and says, She's died, but if you'll come, she can live. If you'll come, we have hope.
Jesus rose and followed him with his disciples. And you know this man's walking. He's got to have a mix of hope and fear and doubt. He comes to Jesus, and he says, If you'll come, she can live. And Jesus gets up and starts following him, and you know he's got to be going, Okay, good. That's as good as it could go so far, but there's got to be these moments of him trying to wrestle with himself and say, This can't happen.
This will be good. He will. And trying to convince himself, I would assume. But he does approach Jesus with a great amount of faith, saying, If you'll just come, she'll live. And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for 12 years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment. For she said to herself, If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.
And Jesus turned, and seeing her, he said, Take heart, daughter. Your faith has made you well. And instantly, the woman was made well. So Jesus is walking with this man to where his daughter is located. She's just passed. And he's walking along, and there's a lady who's had a discharge of blood for 12 years.
This would have made her ritualistically unclean. Luke tells us that she had suffered greatly at the hands of physicians for 12 years. So she had been trying to get this fixed. But every time she went, and every time she got it worked on, it seemed like it just got worse. It was a more painful solution. It didn't work.
And if she's ritualistically unclean, this means a couple of things for her. If she was following faithfully after the Lord and practicing Judaism, it would mean that she would, everything she touched would become unclean. So she'd have to do a lot to try to keep things washed and cleaned around her. She should not have touched Jesus because she's unclean. And she would have not been able to gather for feasts. And festivals and go into the temple.
This would have excluded her because of the Mosaic law from a lot of what she would have been able to walk in. But she also has suffered. She's in pain. She's tried to get this fixed, and it's not being fixed. She's got some kind of an issue that doesn't go away. And she says, if I can just touch Jesus, I'll be healed.
She just comes up with this on her own. She just makes up her own system. She just, and if you'll notice, this is what happens a lot. People approach Jesus, and they just approach him, and they're like, if you do this, it'll work. And Jesus is like, you're right. He talks to a centurion.
The centurion says, my servant's home, and he's paralyzed. And Jesus says, I'll go with you. And the centurion says, you don't have to go, just heal him. And Jesus is like, good point. One of the best points made, actually. This guy comes to Jesus and says, if you just touch my daughter, you can bring her back to life.
This lady's just in her head. She didn't even talk to Jesus about it. She just is like, if I can just touch him. So she's walking, there's a crowd. She just is like, grabs the fringe of his garment. I don't know how long it was.
I don't know how long she's, if she got on the ground, if she could. And that was it. She just is, she's going to sneak away. She did it. She touched the line. She's gone.
Jesus stops, turns around, sees her. He says, take heart, daughter. Your faith has made you well. And instantly, the woman was made well. Instantly. No long process.
No test. No practices. Nothing she had to walk through. She said, if I just touch him, I'll be made well. She touches him, she's made well. Because she believed that's what would happen.
She trusted Jesus. Can you imagine, how life changed for her, from that point on? If she had been, unclean, and actually practicing, what it meant to be unclean, now she's not. She gets to, gather for worship. She gets to, live normally, in relationships. This would have been, a beautiful thing.
She no longer has to suffer, consistently, constantly, painfully, for 12 years, she had been in physical pain. She's healed. And when Jesus came, this is verse 23, when Jesus came to the ruler's house, and saw the flute players, and the crowd, making a commotion. So there's people out, already mourning. There's a crowd, out around the house. People are, are mourning.
They're weeping. There are people playing the flute. They're playing, mournful songs. He said, go away, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping. And they laughed at him. Now this is an interesting, interesting interaction.
Jesus walks up to a house, they know that this girl is dead. It would seem as if, not everybody understood, what the dad had gone to do. Because if everybody had understood, they, I would have think, they would stop, they would pause, they would be like, Jesus is coming, let's see what happens. Jesus walks up, they keep doing what they're doing, and he says, hey, disperse. No funeral today. She's just asleep.
And this is such a crazy thing, that they laugh. It wasn't, and they awkward silenced him. They murmured around him. They laugh. I would assume it's derisive. Bitter laugh.
Not like, good one, we really needed that. No, like a, like a, like a, a bitter, angry, like, what are you talking about, kind of laugh. He just says, go away, no funeral. She's asleep. And they laugh at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he just says, get everybody out.
Get everybody out. He went in, took her by the hand, and the girl arose. And the report of this went throughout all that district. Some of us have had the unfortunate experience of seeing the life drain out of somebody. seeing someone who was alive moments ago pass. This family got to see the life come back into somebody. She was laying cold and dead.
Looked like her, but not quite her. there's something very, very important missing. Jesus grabs her hand. Her face fills back up. His blood begins to pump in her body again. She sits up alive. Now, I don't, the story doesn't tell us this, and I don't think it happened, but I do think it would be fun if Jesus had walked out holding her hand and said, she's asleep.
I told you. Is it funny now? He didn't do that. It doesn't say that he did that. I doubt he did that. He actually, but it says that the report of this went throughout all that district.
That they tell everybody that Jesus rose, raised this girl from the dead, that he, that he brought her back to life. And Jesus passed on from there. So you see, he just, he's, Matthew's giving us these just back to back. He moves right on. Jesus passed on from there. Two blind men followed him, crying aloud, have mercy on us, son of David.
That phrase, son of David, is that they're saying that he comes in the line of David, that he is the prophesied king that is to come. That's what they're, they're giving him this, you're the Messiah, son of David. Now, Jesus actually is the Messiah. He is in the line of David. It doesn't seem like they would have known his actual genealogy, but they are saying, son of David, they're saying, you're the one, you're the Messiah, you're the one, have mercy on us. So these blind men are following him, crying this out aloud.
When he entered the house, the blind men came to him. So Jesus doesn't stop. He doesn't talk to him. He just goes into the house and they keep following him. They come into the house. Jesus said to them, do you believe that I'm able to do this?
They said to him, yes, Lord. Then he touched their eyes saying, according to your faith, be it done to you. And their eyes were opened and Jesus sternly warned them, see that no one knows about it. But they went away and spread his fame through all that district. So with every single one of these, Jesus's fame is spreading.
His name is growing. People are knowing more about him as he's raising this girl from the dead as they go and proclaim his fame as well. So they were blind and Jesus touches their face. He says, do you believe I can do this for you? And I think it probably startled them a little bit to suddenly have someone touch their face. Wouldn't have seen it coming.
He touches their face. That was not meant to be a joke, you guys. It was just a thing. Sometimes I make bad jokes. That one's on y'all. That one's on.
He touches their face and they receive their sight and they can see Jesus. And they can see. And then he says, he sternly warned them, see that no one knows about it. That feels hard to pull off. I kind of feel for these guys. It says that they immediately failed miserably at that.
See that no one knows about this. And they were like, hmm. And then it says, they went and spread his fame everywhere. But it would be hard. I just, just let's give them the benefit of the doubt here a little bit. It would be difficult to walk in blind, walk out not blind, and not let people know that had happened.
It feels like you would have a hard time. Like people would be like, there's something different about you. And you'd be like, no, it's the same. I'm fine. But can you imagine?
We have stories now because we've advanced science, technology, medicine of people who have had massive hearing loss or have been deaf and were able to, they're able to get hearing. And you can get online. You can read stories. You can watch videos of people who were deaf who can now hear. And it's interesting to read the things that they were surprised by that made sounds, the things that they thought would make sounds. I saw a list of things the other day.
Someone who had been deaf and had got his hearing, thought the sun would make a noise, was surprised that it didn't, thought it would like hum or something. There's other stories of people who went and used the bathroom and the toilet scared the mess out of them because they flushed it and it was way louder than they thought that would be. People hearing birds, people being surprised at how different the voice between adults and children is. We don't have stories of people who have never seen being able to see. The closest thing I think we come to it is people who have colorblind and they've made those new glasses that you can put on and it fixes that and you can see in color.
And if you ever watch those videos, they show this beautiful picture and they'll show you in the video like this is what it looks like to them. Then they'll put the glasses on and you see these people who are colorblind putting these glasses on and being like, oh, y'all been able to see like this forever? This is what color looks like? This is crazy. And these men were blind and now they see. And they went and told everybody and how could you not?
He might argue obedience and that's a good argument but he says, don't tell everybody and they go spread his fame. I was blind and now I see. As they were going away, verse 32, behold, a demon oppressed man who was mute was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke and the crowds marveled saying never was anything like this seen in Israel. But the Pharisees said he casts out demons by the prince of demons.
So Jesus moves on. A mute man's brought to him who's mute because he's demon oppressed. Jesus casts out the demon and the man begins to speak. Everybody's excited except the Pharisees. So his fame's been growing.
This one ends. The Pharisees are fighting against his fame in the end of this story. Jesus is becoming more prominent and the Pharisees are saying, no, no, no, no. It's because he's actually evil. That's how he's able to do that. That's the argument they make.
I want to point something out. Spencer, we spent a couple of weeks ago, we spent some time talking about demons and some of how they work and how they operate. We do believe that they are real. We do believe that Jesus is in charge of them, that he is over them, that they bend to his will. I just want to point out here because I think it's a helpful thing to note. There are times where Jesus heals physical ailments and he just heals the physical ailment.
He heals a paralytic. He heals someone who has epilepsy. He heals someone who's blind. There are other times where he heals a physical ailment that is specifically told to be attached to something demonic. One of the arguments people make is they'll say, well, that's just how they understood it. They understood that when you had some kind of sickness, it was demonic, so they just put in here that he healed somebody who's cast out a demon.
But that's not how it works. They don't always say he cast out the demon of being paralyzed or he casts out the demon of epilepsy. It at times says that they're connected and times that they're not. This is why our basic argument for how do we approach this as a church, I always just call, I say fire all your guns. You're a whole person. So are you exhausted?
Are you in pain? Do you have weird emotional things? Okay. Yeah. You're a whole person. So let's talk about your sleep.
Let's talk about when you're eating. Let's talk about other things going on in your life. Let's talk about your emotional state. Yeah, maybe you should see a therapist. Maybe you should talk this out with somebody. But we're also going to pray that if it's demonic, Jesus would work deliverance.
We're not going to just focus on these and not fire this gun. We're going to also say, Lord, if this is demonic, bring some freedom, bring some healing. We're also not just going to focus on this one. We were walking through this with a girl one time and she, lady in our church, and she was talking about different things and we were praying with her about some stuff that seemed like spiritual attack and at one point we asked, what's it like when you try to read the Bible? She said, every time I read the Bible I get really, really sleepy and I have a hard time reading the Bible. She said, do you think that's demonic?
I said, well, when do you read the Bible? At night? Where do you read the Bible? In my bed. Okay. Let's try reading the Bible in the middle of the day at a kitchen table and see if you get sleepy then and that'll help us figure that out because you're a whole person.
There are certain things that do affect us. There are times where it's just physical. There are times where the enemy is at work and we want to address all of them and so I just wanted to point that out. That's not a main point in this but I just want us to see that as we walk through but Jesus shows his dominance over the enemy. Verse 35, And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. Alright, so as Jesus travels the primary thing that he does the thing that's listed first every time it gives us one of these summary statements is that he teaches in their synagogues and he proclaims the gospel of the kingdom and then it'll say he heals he works miracles but the thing that he's traveling around doing is teaching and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing and working miracles.
So the question is as he's traveling around doing this what is his end goal? What's he trying to accomplish as he's traveling? He's come here to go to the cross to die for our sins but what's he's accomplishing now in his ministry? What's he doing? Is it just to heal? Is it just to provide some sort of physical fix for people?
Alright. Our two lenses we're going to drop down. Our two national treasure spectacles. Y'all ready? Matthew 9 they're both from Matthew 9 they're both quotes from Jesus that I think help clarify what Jesus is doing and I think was designed as Matthew laid this out to help make this clear to us. Matthew 9 look at verse 5 this is in the story where Jesus is going to heal a paralytic the first thing he says is son your sins are forgiven and the scribes have a problem with that.
So Jesus reading their thoughts begins to talk to them and he says for which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or to say rise and walk but that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins he then said to the paralytic rise pick up your bed and go home. I think this is one of the things that's very helpful for us as we look at these stories about Jesus not to get too focused in on just the action and just the interaction and just the miracle of your forms because he says right here that you may know that the son of man has the authority to forgive sins. One of the things he's telling the scribes is I'm doing some of this to show to you who I am and what I've come to accomplish. This is that you may know this is why in the gospel of John John refers to all of these as signs that he's putting on display he's not just here to heal he's putting on display who he is and what he's come to do.
This is a picture of Jesus what he has come to accomplish and who he is that you may know that ultimately this spiritual reality is going to be fixed I'm going to show it in a physical way that you may know I can forgive sins I'm going to intentionally go out of my way to say your sins are forgiven we're going to have this interaction and then I'm going to show you that I can actually do what I'm saying. Part of what Jesus is doing in all these miracles is he's giving himself credibility he's putting on display for us that when he says I've forgiven your sins when he says my death is in your place when he says that you're going to proclaim forgiveness in my name to his disciples that we may know that he can that we may know that he walks with God that God and he's not lying he's not tricking us he's got this on display. That's the first one. Second one he says just a few verses later is when he's talking to the disciples of John we're going to look at verse 15.
So the disciples of John come to him and they say why do we fast? And the Pharisees fast but y'all don't fast. We talked about this Jesus is celebrating with his disciples he's having a feast when most everybody else will be fasting and so they say what's going on? Jesus said to them can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them and then they will fast. This is interesting.
He says I'm the bridegroom and I'm here. But then he says there's going to come a day when I'm not here. Then they'll mourn then they'll fast. I'm here now we're celebrating. I'm giving you a picture of the kingdom I'm putting on display a foretaste of what this is going to be like but at some point I'm going to be taken away and at that point they will mourn they will fast. Jesus does not say to them I have come fasting is over.
Ultimate game changer we're done. No he says right now while I'm here with them and then he says there's going to come a day when I'm taken away then they will because what Jesus is giving us is a foretaste of the kingdom. Wherever he goes he's bringing the kingdom with him. He's going to die to accomplish for us everything that is needed for salvation but he has not fully consummated he has not fully conquered he has not fully claimed and put everything under his feet his enemies are not his footstool yet so there's we're in this middle zone where we've had a foretaste of the kingdom where he's brought it in where he's inaugurated it where it's already but not yet. he's already accomplished what needs to be accomplished for salvation for life and hope but it's not yet fully realized so now there's some struggle now there's some mourning now there's some fasting because we've had a foretaste of the kingdom and we long for it to be fully brought to bear.
So what Jesus is doing he's putting on display who he is and what he's come to do he's doing this so that we may know but he's also showing us that this is not typical for how everything will work from now on. This is not exactly how this is going to play out. There's going to come a day when we're not sitting around the table feasting where Jesus isn't walking around fixing everything because we're going to be in a zone where there is some mourning where there is some pain where there is some lingering doubt and frustration as we long for something better. But right now he's inaugurated he's brought it he's displaying it then there's going to be a time where we're in the middle.
Doubt and frustration as we long for something better. But right now he's inaugurated he's brought it he's displaying it then there's going to be a time where we're in the middle. So he's displaying it he's showing it because I think sometimes we look at this and go why don't he just keep doing this why ain't everybody just fixed all the time. And it's like because he was doing one specific thing as he was here to display and give credibility to his name
To manifest his glory to show us that we might place faith in him we might trust in him when he rose from the grave and he's bringing about the kingdom showing us what it looks like but eventually we're going to get there but we're not going to be there just yet. In the movie Frozen there's two sisters one's name's Elsa pretty early on in the movie Elsa goes crazy she freaks out starts freezing everything she takes off running across this fjord it's water she's trying to get away
From everybody it's a fjord escape and she takes off running and she runs up onto this mountain and she sings this song as she completely loses her mind she builds a spiky ice castle on a spiky ice monster and she's well on her way to becoming a crazy ice queen witch person that like from Narnia but her sister comes and talks her out of it and it ends up being okay. But when she's running across the water everywhere she steps freezes every place her foot falls
Freezes and she has solid ground and she works her way across and in some ways that's what Jesus was doing and displaying as he walked on earth that everywhere he stepped the kingdom advanced that everywhere he went it was displayed what the kingdom would be like when the king was fully present and fully reigning that's why he he displays this and he shows us what the kingdom will be
And then he says there's going to come a season where it's not fully realized and we're going to long for it and there are going to be moments where it works that way and there are going to be moments where it seems so marred and broken by sin we're going to mourn then we're going to know who he is we're going to long for it we're going to fast we're going to
Mourn so walking back through these stories as a display of what the kingdom is like for the people who are in between to help us understand the spiritual reality that Jesus came to accomplish so that we may know what he does and what his kingdom is like let's look at these he heals a lady who's had a physical ailment for 12 years he can do that now
He can heal us physically now but he may not you see the promise of the kingdom is not that everything will work out fully here Jesus was putting on display what the kingdom would be like but he says there's going to come a day where we're going to mourn where we're going to fast we're going to long for it to be like
That it also so often these physical ailments are attached to sin and there are some of us who our sin has been much like this ladies it's been a secret that has plagued us and we have fought with it and we have not won it's been something that we've labored
For we've begged to get taken away we've worked on we've fought against and it seems like all we've done is suffer and it's continued and whether this is a long term physical ailment for you or a long term battle with sin the promise
Of the kingdom is that one day we'll be in the presence of Jesus and we'll be immediately healed this physical pain this unending season of depression that for those of our brothers and sisters who I get to talk with periodically who struggle with same gender attraction who just want it
To go away want it to be cured for those people who have a physical pain that seems like it will not ever stop and every time they go see a doctor it doesn't go away it seems like it gets worse yes the already part of the
Kingdom means that you have been justified in Christ that you have been made new that you are righteous and the not yet part means that it may not go away just yet but the promise of the presence of Jesus is that it will not remain that it will not make it Matt who is up here
One of our pastors he works for the South Carolina Baptist Convention he was leading a worship conference this past week and the people who were leading worship last minute said hey we think it would be good if we read the
Apostles creed and so they went and quickly typed it up and so after a song we started reading the apostles creed together and it's just it's a creed that some apostles wrote it's really
Good it has doctrinal statements that help clarify things for the church and it's been around for a very long time and it's just helpful and so we were reading it and there's a section that says we believe
In the communion of the saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting amen and it's I mean that's the part where you really you know bringing it home
The guy who typed it up was in a hurry so he typed up we believe in the communion of the saints the resurrection of sins the resurrection of the body and life everlasting so we go to reading and the
Guy's playing melodically on the piano we're reading and we all hit the resurrection of sins these are baptists so they're not super familiar with the apostles creed some of them are and you could just hear the
Whole room was like and the guy just stopped and goes no we don't believe in the resurrection of sins that's a typo and very very wrong and it was actually more worshipful for me than if we had just read it seamlessly because I got to come
Face to face with the idea of the resurrection of sins and then I got to celebrate the fact that no we don't believe in that that's not going to happen you see there is someone in eternity there is someone in the kingdom who will be marred by
Sin and that's the lamb who was slain and then everybody else healed pure free there's a resurrection of the body but there is no resurrection of sins and see Jesus then raises this girl to life you see ultimately we're going to be plagued by stuff and then we are going to die unless the Lord
Returns we're going to take our last breath but we are going to enter into eternity that Jesus will stand over us and say nope not dead no that's momentary there's an eternal life that is to come through what Jesus has accomplished see Jesus has died for our sins and those who have placed faith in him
Will not be claimed by their sin will not be marred by their sin will not be marked by their sin and will not be owned by death Jesus is a ruler over death that when death claims someone we have
So many stories about death showing up got a hood has a sickle claim someone and it's over and we got all these stories and movies and books about trying to cheat death guess what Jesus does not cheat death he owns death and when he grabs
Someone and says no and eventually he conquers death on the cross and eventually he throws death into the lake of fire death does not claim those in the kingdom death does not claim those in the kingdom we without
Jesus are blind and when Jesus touches us and claims us our eyes are open we see him face to face there will be a time in the kingdom when we will behold Jesus clearly face to face
We will no longer be in darkness we will no longer be fumbling around lost we will have sight and when you place faith in Jesus that's what Jesus says happens that those who understand that they're blind and own the fact
That they're blind without Jesus then you see and those who would claim that they have sight don't here's one of the most infuriating things that happens that I see in the church and I was reading this passage it started to make
A little more sense to me but there are times when you see somebody who has this pride about being a believer or there are times that the church is accused of acting like we have a corner we've cornered the market
Of truth we're the only ones who know what's right everybody else is wrong do you want to know something that's true there's no pride there do you know who I believe were probably some of the most gracious people to the blind
People in their community these two guys who used to be blind I think they understood it whenever anybody seems very prideful about no longer being blind it's a good chance they're blind and they're pretending there's a good
Chance Jesus hadn't touched them they hadn't truly seen their depravity and they hadn't truly seen their weakness you see who they went and proclaimed as glorious when they left here
Jesus how could they not and if Jesus has brought us to where we see him and has redeemed us how could we not proclaim Jesus not ourselves not our own power not our own glory
Not our own morality we have nothing to claim in ourselves other than we went to Jesus and said we were blind and we need your help and that he gave us sight and then we
Point to Jesus and make much of his name every once in a while in the American church there are people who go man I can't believe somebody would go and spend their
Whole life in a foreign country they would go and be somewhere where it's dangerous I just have such a hard time with that the reality
Is held up to the cross that makes way more sense than spending your time running around on the American dream that one makes
Sense someone who would be bent on making sure everybody knows the one who can redeem and the one who can save than people
Who are running around focusing on something else how could they not proclaim him and how can we not and the last one Satan
Will not reign in the demons was over top of the demons and so the demons would have to obey the prince of demons
That's what they say he's doing this by the prince of demons but what they fail to reckon on is that the king of
Kings is over the prince of demons yes right Jesus has more authority good point but he goes way higher than the prince of
Demons some of us struggle with fear I feel like the enemy is attacking us I feel like we're laboring and we just can't
Win well guess what Jesus wins he conquers the enemy and there is a kingdom where your sins aren't there where there's life everlasting
Where we see Jesus face to face and where the enemy has been cast into an eternal punishment and we're free and Jesus has
Done this so that we may know so how how do we access this how do we get to this what do we do
What is our response faith Jesus says to the blind men do you believe I can do this yes Lord Jesus looks at the lady who grabbed
The hem of his garment and says your faith has made you well he says that over and over again what is faith faith
Is trusting Jesus not ourselves faith is us putting our hope in him cashing all of our chips in on him saying that you
Are the only one who can do this without you we have nothing faith is going to Jesus and saying I'm not strong enough
I'm and when we have faith we get the kingdom because we get the king our sins are taken away our shame is gone
What has marked us and broken us and kept us down is conquered we're raised to life we were dead in our sin but
When we place faith in Jesus we're brought to new life in him we see and the enemy is conquered and has no claim
Over us faith is not something that you muster up in your own strength faith is you rejecting your own strength and running to
Jesus and saying I believe son of David have mercy on me I believe you can do this God have mercy on me I
Believe you can do this Jesus have mercy on me I trust you and some of us right now are in that stage where
We're mourning we know these promises of the kingdom but we're not in the already we're in the not yet and so we have
Physical pain we have fear and doubt we have things that have fallen apart around us and we are hurting we will labor we
Will fight sin we will beg and plead for hope and help but someday the king is going to return he's going to claim
His bride he's going to consummate the kingdom he's going to claim the throne he's going to put his enemies as his footstool and
We will eternally behold him face to face free from sin victorious over the enemy raised to life forever if you have not placed
Your faith in Jesus some of y'all have been hanging out for a while you've been hanging out with groups you've been here on Sundays
We want you to trust Jesus we do not want you to become a good person we are not here to mend your behavior
We are not here to help you work out this one issue you have and send you merrily on your way we want you
To run to Jesus claiming that you're blind and beg that he might give you sight some of you need to place your faith
In Jesus today you need to be ushered into the kingdom you need to be brought into what Jesus has accomplished through the cross
And his death on your behalf when he rose again and conquered everything for you some of you everybody in your group thinks you're
A Christian and you need to tell them this week I wasn't but I am now I was just blind pretending I could see
In a moment we're going to take communion and we're going to celebrate that Jesus body was broken for us that his blood was shed for
Us communion is for Christians who look forward to his coming so I don't know where you are today I don't know what kind
Of pain you have what kind of fear you have what kind of doubt you have I want you to take it to the Lord
Say have mercy and I trust you and if you've never placed your faith in Jesus do and have him save you let's pray God we thank you for your grace your redemption
And your love may we have faith God we thank you that you conquer and that you came so that we might know and Lord as we long for your kingdom give us endurance help us to hope and to
Cling to you in Jesus name amen
Jesus Calls Sinners
Transcript
Good morning. Grab your Bibles, go to Matthew chapter 9. We are working our way through the book of Matthew. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. And excited to see y'all this morning.
If you are new, if this is your first time hanging out with us, one of these blue Bibles will be on page 475. If you don't own a Bible, take this one with you. That's our gift to you. We want you to own a Bible. Charles Spurgeon, who's a pastor in England, about 100 years ago or so, he said, the legalist in us is older than the Christian. That for all of us, the legalist in us is older than the Christian in us.
Meaning that the legalist being the person who wants to adhere to and follow the law. Wants to be good enough. That's the default mode of our hearts is that we approach the world with, I've got something to prove and I've got something to earn. And that I want to earn what I get and I want to have value in my own labor and through my own work and through myself being able to accomplish my salvation and my value. And so we approach God that way. We approach religion that way, which is what am I supposed to do?
What do I need to do to be one of the good ones? What do I need to do to adhere and be good enough? And so as Christians, we preach and proclaim grace, which is the opposite of that. Which is that Christ has done for us what we could not do for ourselves and that he has given us what we did not deserve. And we sing songs like Amazing Grace, which, if you're unfamiliar with the song, is about grace and how amazing it is. And we celebrate this, but there's part of us that rejects grace, that is uncomfortable with it.
That even after we place faith in Jesus and even after we've sung that song and even after we've celebrated grace, there's part of us that still doesn't quite feel comfortable with grace. We don't like it. There's still part of us that wants to have like, yeah, okay, but there's like a minimum standard you have to reach. And these people underneath it, he didn't save those people. Those people are the worst. We still kind of have that creep in.
Or when we're dealing with God and when we've sinned and we've run, we feel like, oh, even though we're a Christian and we would say, oh, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that he would redeem, save a wretch like me. We sing that. But when we actually feel wretched, when we actually are face to face with our wickedness and our sin, do we burst into song? Or do we feel overwhelmed and we want to beat ourselves up and we want to atone for our own sin? One of the ways that we see this practically show up so often is that when someone tries to, when we're in need, when we're weak, when we need help and someone tries to help us and we don't want to accept help, we don't want to accept the money they would give, we don't want to accept the help they would offer, we'll accept help when we don't really feel like we need it.
Man, it's super nice that you'd help me move. But when we actually really, really need it, it's harder for us to accept it. And that's because there's part of us that does not like grace. Doesn't like neediness. Well, we're going to read a story this morning where Jesus is interacting with people just like us. He's interacting with some terrible sinners like you.
And he's interacting with some people who reject and fight against grace and have some questions about it. And this is a really, really hope-filled, joyous story where Jesus is just amazing. So let's pray and let's study this together. God, we think of this time we get to spend together this morning studying your word. And we ask that each of us would take one step further into understanding, resting in, celebrating, and praising your glorious grace. In Jesus' name, amen.
Matthew 9, verse 9. And Jesus passed on from there. So he's been teaching, he's been healing. And he saw a man called Matthew. I want to ruin it for you. He becomes one of the disciples.
He later writes a gospel called the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 9, verse 9. Matthew 9, verse 9. Matthew 9, verse 9. You're reading his book, you guys. It's going to go well for Matthew.
Jesus passed on from there. He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, follow me. And he rose and followed him. What just happened was amazing. Earth shattering.
We don't quite understand this. We're going to take a second to try to dig into this a little bit. First of all, Jesus consistently, if you've noticed, walks up to people at work and demands that they follow him. And just a basic principle is that Jesus is not opposed to inconveniencing you with his presence. So some people are sometimes like, now's not a great time for me to follow Jesus.
He doesn't care. Now is the best time. Start now. When I get some of this stuff sorted out, he's like, no, now. So he walks up to him while he's at work at the tax booth.
But here's the thing. We maybe don't appreciate the IRS. Maybe when you have to deal with the tax man and he comes to you to audit you or whatever, you're upset with that person. But in general, you're upset with the role that they're fulfilling, not them as an individual. We don't just hate tax people. We dislike the organization they work for.
Well, this is different. Tax collectors in Israel were the worst. Absolutely hated. And here's why. The Romans were occupying Israel at this time. Tax collectors worked for the Romans.
But tax collectors were Israelites who had paid for the opportunity to levy taxes on their own people so that the foreign Romans could occupy them. So Israelites didn't like Gentiles, didn't get along with them, but those people were born into their Gentileness. These tax collectors were a part of Israel who were supposed to be people who fought for the promised land, defended the promised land against evil oppressors, and they had paid money to become tax collectors so that they could help oppress you. It gets worse. Not only were they traitors, they got rich doing it. They were a traitor with a nicer car than you have.
And a swimming pool. They were... The way it worked was they had a certain quota they had to reach for the Romans. So they had to get a certain amount of taxes, tolls from the area they were in. Anything more they took was theirs. The system was designed for them to be so hated that they loved the Romans and wanted to keep oppressing the people around them because if the Romans suddenly were out of power, they were in trouble.
So they cheated, they overtaxed, and they were quite wealthy doing it, and they had the Romans backing them up. And they were supposed to be people who fought against the Romans, defended against the Romans. They were supposed to be your blood, your people. They were hated. And this was universally understood. This is why Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5, verse 46, says, For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?
Do not even the tax collectors do the same. Jesus uses them as a sermon illustration for the worst people possible. They're universally understood to be awful. He's like, Garbage people do that. I'm not talking about like trash collectors. I'm talking about people who are human garbage.
That's the way he uses them in this sentence. A way that we would all, like if we structured any sentence, you can put any people group in that. If we use that sentence on stage, people would be upset with us. When I walked down, they would be like, Really? Doesn't matter what people group you picked. I'm tempted to just pick five just to annoy people right now so you can feel how it was understood.
Does that make sense? He's just using them as like, this is a whole group of people we agree are terrible. And everybody's like, yeah, they're the worst. If they can do it, shouldn't you do more? That's the way he structures this. So, it's not like Jesus didn't know.
He walks up to Matthew at the tax booth and calls him to follow him. It didn't like he ran into him at the market and they struck up a conversation and Jesus didn't know who he was. Didn't realize his occupation. Was just talking to him. He's like, you know, son, I like the cut of your jib. Do you want to be one of my disciples?
And then later it's like, oh, you're a tax collector. No, he walks up to the tax booth. Now, he's in his own city. That's what the beginning of chapter nine told us. We didn't read that this morning, but it's in there. Matthew, which would be Capernaum.
His hometown is Nazareth, but in chapter four, it tells us he moves to Capernaum. So, he's in his own city. So, he's well known. He's been healing. He's been doing these things. Matthew would have known who he was, but as far as we know, this is the first time he's ever talked to Matthew.
Maybe he's paid taxes to Matthew. Jesus walks up to him, says, come follow me. And Matthew does. It says, he rose and followed him. It gets worse. Or better if you're Matthew.
And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, this is verse 10, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? Okay, so there's a decent amount we've got to unpack to try to understand what's going on here. Jesus goes to Matthew's house. We get that from Luke, tells us that it was Matthew's house, not Jesus' house. Jesus goes to Matthew's house, so he enters a house of a tax collector, which would have made him unclean.
Nobody would have done this. No Jewish people would have really had any interaction with Matthew as a tax collector other than to pay their taxes. They definitely aren't going to his house. Jesus goes to his house. Matthew invites all of his horrible sinner friends, his tax collector buddies, and just regular run-of-the-mill sinners. Now, we use the term sinner as in like, well, we're all sinners.
We're using the more further down the line Christian understanding of the word. But when it's used here in a Jewish understanding, it's a whole class of people who are also the worst. Tax collectors and sinners is how it's phrased sometimes. Sometimes it'll say tax collectors and prostitutes. The way it's understood is that it's people who have just absolutely rejected the notion of following God and being a good Israelite. They're the people who just have just kind of said, this isn't for me.
They're just doing what they want to. So they're Jewish people, but they're Jewish people who aren't good Jewish people. That's how they would have understood it. They've rejected God. They've rejected following him. Now, also in the class of sinners would be people who had physical ailments.
There's a group of people that would have fit in there as well just because they were understood to be struck by God, harmed by God, that they had done something bad or their parents had done something bad. But this is the worst collection of rabble. And Jesus is reclining at the table with him, celebrating with them, sharing a meal with them. So Jesus goes from the tax booth, calls this person to follow him. Jesus chooses Matthew. It's not like Matthew came to Jesus all repentant.
Jesus goes and chooses Matthew and then they go have a party. So the Pharisees say, they call some of Jesus' disciples and they ask him, why does your teacher, why does your rabbi, this guy who's been going around and teaching and explaining the law and he's been teaching in our synagogues, why does he hang out with tax collectors and sinners? Now, the Pharisees had taken legalism and they'd gone pro. They're amazing at it. You think your uptight church lady that you grew up with, no, no, no, no. Pharisees would smoke her in legalism.
They had added extra rules that they followed. They were amazing at it. They were the most uptight, well-controlled, in the lines. They knew all the rules and they followed them. And so they taught people. They taught in synagogues.
They let Jesus teach in their synagogues. Most of them were, this was like the main class of people that would have synagogues and would help structure for everybody how we're supposed to follow the Lord. And so Jesus has been teaching. He's a rabbi. He's got a following. He's been healing people.
And then they come and say, okay, hold on a second. What is he doing? What on earth is he doing? Now, to help you understand a little bit more of this, if Billy Graham, in the height of his ministry, went to a party at the Playboy Mansion, if we just heard, if TMZ just came out and Votie Bauckham or John Piper was at a rooftop party with R. Kelly, when you hear that, the way that makes you feel with like, ah, brrrr, where? Who?
The conversations that would happen. People would be sharing links. That would go out. We have a little group chat thing with our pastors. I would send that. You guys, what's up?
Is this good? Bad? Seems bad. Because here's what we would be okay with. Let's just be real.
I'm okay with a tax collector following Jesus if really quickly the tax collector looks like what I think a follower of Jesus should look like. So if they said, he's got a tax collector, and then when they went and they looked, the tax collector, ah, like had dirt on his head and looked sad. Like Jesus had just spent, like, I don't know, an hour shaming him. He'd be like, yeah, look at that. Repentant garbage person who's becoming, Jesus will train him. He'll turn into a, he'll become a disciple.
This will be great. Look at him. He's reading the Torah. He's memorizing it. Okay. Like if you heard that R.
Kelly had been hanging out at Votie Bauckham's church, you'd be like, yeah, okay, all right, R. Kelly. Probably just so you look a little better, but okay. We'll see. Right? Right?
No, no, no, no. Jesus goes to his house. They're having a party. And you walk up on it and you go, oh, I don't feel good inside about this. I'm uncomfortable because it looks like, it doesn't look like a tax collector started following Jesus. It looks like Jesus started following a tax collector.
So the Pharisees are like, point of order. I got a question. Point of personal privilege. I need to talk about something real quick. So they ask, why is he doing this?
What on earth is he trying to accomplish? Verse 12. But when he heard it, he said, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. for I have come, for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Okay, so Jesus says, he hears it and he says, those who are well have no need of a physician.
So Jesus is saying, I'm a physician. And he says, I came to call not the righteous, but sinners. But this isn't how you do this. If you're going to be a rabbi, if you're going to teach people, you pick from the people who've already shown some promise. Matthew has not shown promise. He's done the opposite.
He's derailed everything. He's actively chosen to rebel against God. He's, he's, he's oppressing others. And Jesus says, here's my guy. I'm adding him to the top 12 starting lineup. He says, I came to call the sick.
Those are the ones who need a doctor. Those are the ones who need healing. And then he says, go and learn what this means. And this is a normal kind of rabbi phrase, where they would just be like, good question. Why don't you go study this section and we'll talk some more. So he just rabbis them.
And he rabbis them from the book of Hosea. Hosea was a prophet that God told to marry a prostitute. He marries her. It doesn't go well. She runs off. God keeps telling her to chase her down.
He keeps chasing her down. He keeps bringing her home. She keeps running off. It's a big mess. He says, this is a picture of what it's like for me, God, to love you, Israel. That's God's point in the book of Hosea.
Well, in Hosea, he says, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Jesus says, go study Hosea. Specifically this section. Come back and we'll talk. That's his answer. No, not yet.
But that is it. That's it. We're going to look at it again later. So, verse 14. Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?
And Jesus said to them, can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. And they were on an old garment for the patch tears away from the garment and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wine skins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed.
But new wine is put into fresh wine skins. And so both are preserved. Okay? Jesus calls Matthew from the tax booth. They go to heaven. Sinner Party.
Now, Jesus wasn't sinning. He's accused of it. Later they call him a glutton and a drunkard. He wasn't sinning. He never sinned. But he was hanging out with sinners who sin.
So he's at tax collector Sinner Party. Pharisees show up. They're the supreme legalists of the day. And they say, what is he doing? Why is he hanging out with these bad people? And then disciples of John show up.
This is John the Baptist who was the precursor prophet to Jesus who called people to repentance. And the disciples of John and John do not get along with the Pharisees. So much so, if you look back at chapter 3, the Pharisees show up to John where he's baptizing in the wilderness and he says, who told you to repent? You brood of vipers. Not a nice phrase. So they don't get along but they come and they say, hold on a second, we fast, disciples of John, who were following after John's baptism and his call to repentance, we fast and the Pharisees fast but y'all don't.
Now, the Pharisees, there were times in the Old Testament where God calls the nation to fast and they would have fasted. The Pharisees added extra times that they would fast. They would fast twice a week. It seems as if the disciples of John were still practicing that. They would fast twice a week. It seems as if Jesus' sinner party is on a fast day.
He's reclining at the table eating money paid for by tax collectors, eating food paid for with the money from tax collectors on a fast day. It's what it seems like. Now, maybe they've just been watching him long enough to know you don't fast but they come to him in the middle of a party and they say, why, why? We're hungry. We're fasting. You aren't.
What's up? And then Jesus gives this answer. He says, can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? So Jesus is the groom and he says, wedding party. We're celebrating. He says, the day will come when they will mourn.
That's the connection between fasting and mourning. Fasting is this sackcloth ashes. You don't eat. You would mourn your sin. You would mourn brokenness. A lot of times these people would have been fasting because they were under Roman oppression.
Which they would have seen as punishment by God. So they would be fasting for their sin and for the sin of the nation and asking God to get rid of Roman oppression. And Jesus is hanging out with the Roman oppressor people. He says, they will fast. They will mourn. Not yet.
And then he talks about, nobody, let's read it again. Verse 16. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. For the patch tears away from the garment and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed.
But new wine is put into fresh wineskins and so both are preserved. This is not a cryptic saying where they were supposed to go try to figure this out. They would have understood what he was talking about in general. It's a very straightforward concept. It would be like if I looked at you and said nobody adds diesel to a car that runs on gasoline and you don't go swimming with your iPhone in your pocket. You'd go, right.
That is true. That's what he's doing. He's just a straightforward example. When you have clothes and you wash them and you wear them over time, they draw up. That's what fabric does. So he says, if you get a hole in some old fabric, you don't patch it with new fabric because as soon as you patch it with new fabric and then that new fabric draws up, it makes a bigger hole.
Nobody does that. You patch old fabric with old fabric. They're like, right. Everyone knows that. Then he says, nobody puts new wine into old wineskins.
Wineskins, a big leather pouch, you could put wine in it. That's what it was for. Made out of skin. Following so far? Yeah. If you put new wine in that has not fermented yet, when it ferments, it swells.
Let's off a gas, it swells up. If you put new wine, unfermented wine, into an old wineskin that was made out of leather and has already stretched, when it starts fermenting, your wineskin rips open, you pour out all your wine. Nobody does that. You put new wine in an unstretched wineskin, then when it ferments, it lets off a gas, the leather stretches, and everything stays fine. That's all he's saying. But his point is, I'm doing something different.
I'm not going to be practicing all the practices y'all practice. I'm doing something different. I'm doing something new. And because I'm doing something new, I'm not pouring it into the old system. It's going to be different. It's going to look different.
So you have the Pharisees who are saying, why are you hanging out with these people? And you have the disciples of John saying, why aren't you doing the good stuff, the right stuff? And what you have here is the starter pack for legalism. If y'all want to become a legalist, let me tell you how to do it. Pick a group of people that will be the bad people. Step one, super easy.
Who don't you like? Boom. Those are the bad guys. Usually, if you want to do this well, they need to be people who are bad at a thing that you are good at or that you place a lot of value in. So if you are an amazing mom, pick bad moms.
Boom. Nailed it. You've accomplished step one. What people have liked to do throughout time and history is pick something that people can't control and that you can't control. Skin color. That's a great one because you don't lose your skin color and the other people can't change their skin color.
So pick that. Nationality. People love that one. That's a good one. Pick a whole nationality and say, these are the bad guys. We're one of the good ones because you can't lose your nationality.
It's great. You don't even have to really accomplish anything. Super simple. That's step one. Pick the people who are going to be the bad people. If you work really hard, pick lazy people.
If you're rich, pick poor people. If you're poor, pick rich people. Super easy. If you already picked your person, good. That's step one. You can put a lot of people in there.
Step two. Pick the stuff that you're going to do that makes you one of the good people. Pick the practices. Pick the things that offset you from those people. We've done it. We're legalists.
And you've naturally done this your entire life. This is the default mode of our hearts. That you would have people that you look down on and things that you do that make you one of the good ones. That's what they were doing. The Pharisees were saying, these are the bad people. Why would you hang out with them?
And the disciples of John are saying, aren't we supposed to be practicing these things? Don't they make us good? And I feel for, I connect with the disciples of John. Because the disciples of John also look down on the Pharisees. I'm super good at that. I look down on them.
They're the bad people. Disciples of John. Here's what they were doing. They got called into following through repentance. They started off well. We're going to repent.
We're going to acknowledge our sin. We're going to turn from our sin. And then they started practicing some things as they practiced repentance. And then what they did was it started off so good. We're going to do these things because they're good things to do. And then they went, and because they're good things to do, and because we do them, we're going to become some good people.
That's the temptation. We don't know exactly. They're trying to understand. They're coming to Jesus. They seem genuine, but there's this temptation to say, we practice the right things. Therefore, we're one of the good guys.
And Jesus says, I'm doing something different. What was he doing? Hosea 6, 6. This is what he said. For I desire steadfast love. That word there is translated steadfast love quite often in the Old Testament from the Hebrew to English.
It can be translated from steadfast love to mercy when you translate it from Hebrew to Greek. Jesus is quoting this passage, steadfast love or mercy, work. I desire steadfast love. Jesus says mercy in the Greek and not sacrifice the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Jesus said, go read that. Go think about that.
Here's what he's saying. He's hanging out with tax collectors and sinners because what he wants, what God wants, is for us to know him and receive mercy. For us to know him and receive steadfast love. And for us to be people who because we know him, because we have a knowledge of God, we offer mercy and steadfast love to others. Jesus is saying, I'm doing exactly what he, what the Hosea says he desires. Not sacrifice, not work, not prove yourself.
See, that's what the Pharisees wanted to do. They wanted to say, we're the ones who do this, this, this, this, and this. Therefore, we're the good guys. The disciples of John seem like that's what they're asking. It's like, hold on a second. Is there something that we're supposed to do?
Why aren't y'all doing the things that make us some of the good guys? And Jesus just says, mercy. Not sacrifice. It's not what you give up. It's not the debt you pay. That's our mercy.
That's our steadfast love. The knowledge of God that you would just know Jesus. That we would understand who God is and what he's like. Not burnt offerings. Not religious practices. So here's what this means.
This is what Jesus has come to do. He's come to offer grace. Mercy. To people like Matthew. Matthew went from the tax booth to the table with Jesus. Based off of what?
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus just calls him to it. What did Matthew do that made him one of the good ones? He responded to Jesus? Nothing?
What had he done to earn something? What had he done to begin to cut out his position and to make himself lovely and beautiful and lovable? Nothing. He went from the tax booth to the table. And then there's these groups of people sitting outside who can't get around the table with Jesus. And they're going, hold on a second.
Are we supposed to do the stuff? And Jesus says, mercy. Not sacrifice. Not your works. Not your accomplishments. Mercy.
Steadfast love. Come pull up a seat at the table if you're sick. If you're a sinner, you're welcome. If you're sick, wretched, you get a seat at the table. If you think you're righteous, if you think you're well, you don't go to the doctor. If you think you're righteous, you don't need God.
You just need some good rules to follow.
The Healing of the Paralytic
Transcript
Good morning, my name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We're going to be in Matthew 9 today. The first eight verses you can go ahead and flip there. We're going to be on page 475. If you don't have a Bible, and the blue Bible is on page 475, you can follow along with us.
But we do encourage you to follow along as you walk through this story today. When I was in seminary, my wife and I both worked for an organization called Community Life. It is a Christian non-profit that the goal, if you know some of the folks who have done apartment life in our church, it's very similar. The goal is that you would put Christians in apartment complexes, and they would help develop the community through events, through connecting neighbors to neighbors, neighbors to what's happening in the community as a whole. And you would develop the community and use that as a means for mission, that you would make disciples through being a team on site and living there.
And my wife and I did that for a couple of years. And then a couple of years later, my boss, he said, I want to make you the regional director over Louisville and eventually over our Memphis region. So I oversaw those regions. And it was my job to help make sure that teams were accomplishing what we set out to do. And every year we do this once a year retrain, refocus training. And there's one year that we did it.
You have a bunch of different sections in the training that we're doing. We're refocusing a lot of the things that we work on in the program. And one of them is just refocusing on making disciples, asking how is that going? How are we reaching people? What does that look like? And one year in particular, there was a team that got hired not long after we were hired as a team.
And I had watched over the next few years as they started to get more into some different preachers. They started to detach a little more from their church. They wanted to see more of their apartment complex as their church. They got more into social justice. And I watched this transformation slowly start to happen. And then this one year that we did this retrain, refocus, we got to this section on making disciples.
They just kind of came out and said, I don't think we're actually called to make disciples. I don't think we're called to actually share the gospel with people. I think our main calling as Christians is to really love the people in our apartment complexes. To serve them. To care for them. And it got heated.
Because one of our other teams, they were a couple that was a missionary on the mission field. They came back and were here for a few years. And they were working with us. And they just fired back and said, you can't be serious. No, the Bible says we're clearly called to make disciples. We're clearly called to share the gospel.
What point is helping people if they're going to spend an eternity in hell apart from Jesus? And it just got heated. And what was happening there was that there were different people that were arguing for what they thought the heart of God was. What they thought the gospel was. And it was a reflection of a greater debate that has happened in the American church over the last 100, you know, 120 years. There's been a growing movement amongst Christians to ask the question, should we be caring for others or should we be sharing the gospel?
Should we share the good news or should we share our lives and share meals and serve the poor? That has been a debate that has raged on over the last 100 years. And because everything right now in culture is at a fever pitch and everyone gets crazy about literally everything, right now is the most heated I think it has ever been. And today we get to look at a story that speaks to this. We get to look at another miracle that Jesus performs and actually see how it applies to this debate. And the actions of Jesus will actually give us a picture of how we should respond and what the heart of God looks like.
So let me pray and then we will jump into the story. Father, I thank you that you love us. I thank you that you give us a story like this to teach us. God, I pray that you would help us listen. And that you would change hearts. We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen. Alright, so. Verse 1. So last week we saw Jesus was in this region called the Gadarenes. It's a region that has more Gentiles, non-Jewish people. He gets in a boat.
He actually comes back to more of his home base where there are more Jewish people. And anytime he's in a more Jewish region, the crowds come to see him. I mean, Jesus is the most popular person in the land at this point. So when he comes, the people come out in droves. And we see that part of this group that has come to see him is a man, a paralytic, who's on a mat. And we learn from Mark's gospel that it's four men carrying him on a mat, on a bed, to come and meet Jesus.
Now, paralytic is a pretty broad category. There are some people who have paralysis that they can do more, that they can function more, that need less help. There are other people that need more help. It's a pretty broad category. I learned quite a bit about just disabilities in college when I spent a summer in Myrtle Beach with our campus ministry. I lived with three other roommates.
And one of my roommates had cerebral palsy, which is a genetic muscular disorder. And, you know, he came down and his parents brought him. This is kind of a big deal for him to spend his first summer away from home like this. And they just said he's going to need help. And he did. He needed help, you know, getting ready for the day, you know, transportation to and fro.
And I learned a ton from this guy. His name is Mike. Just about humility, just about his outlook on life. It was such a blessing to spend a summer with him. But I also learned a little bit about our culture and how we respond to disabilities.
That our culture, for the most part, actually does a somewhat decent Job of making accommodations for disabilities. We have government programs. We have building codes. We have parking codes that show up. And I saw a little bit of how that worked. And I would say we're pretty good as a culture.
But I also learned we've got a long way to go. Just this summer and being with them, certain bathrooms we would go to. And it just wasn't very conducive to someone who had disabilities. That we'd be in certain restaurants. The way they were laid out, it was hard to get a walker into certain places. So I learned that we had a long way to go to make accommodations for those who are disabled.
But as a whole, our culture right now probably is one of the better times in history to actually struggle with and have disabilities because of all the accommodations that we make. That is very different than this culture. And this culture didn't have wheelchairs, didn't have certain government programs. They did not make a lot of accommodations for the disabled. You had to hope that you had family or friends that would take care of you. And if that was not the case, you would spend your life begging in the streets.
So outside of just the fact that this culture didn't make a lot of accommodations for those who were physically disabled, there's also a social stigma attached to it. There was a belief that if you had some type of disability, that something you did wrong, that something that your parents did wrong, that your bloodline must be cursed. And I got to see a little bit of what this looks like. There's still parts of the world where this is still a thing. When we were in Egypt this summer on our mission trip, we got to know a pastor named Pastor Jurgis. His entire ministry is devoted in that region of Egypt to helping reach people with disabilities.
Because in their culture, if you have a disability, it is stigmatized. Your family hides you away. They put you in a part of the house and they don't want anyone to know that you exist. So these people spend 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 years in hiding. 40 years of not being taken care of well. Because the thought process is that if the village, if the other people know that we have someone with disabilities, they're going to think there's something wrong with our bloodline, therefore we're not going to be able to marry off the rest of our kids, which is very important in their culture.
So these people would spend their lives heading away, thinking that they were a problem. And this pastor would spend his time putting his ear to the ground, figuring out maybe this family actually has someone that is disabled. He would be invited into their home. He'd get to know the parents. They would act like that they don't have anyone in their home that would be disabled. And he would either do one of two things.
He would lead the parents to Christ and change their perspective on their child, or he would finally have access to go and meet the individual. He'd share the gospel with them and help them see that they are beautifully and wonderfully made in the image of God, that they have value and worth. It was an incredible ministry to see in action. But it also was a little bit of a picture of how socially stigmatized disabilities are, and really what this paralytic would have been facing his entire life. Not just the challenges of being paralyzed, but also the stigma of being in a culture that looks at you like this.
But we can at least tell one thing specifically about this individual. There are at least just four people in his life that care. Four people that get him on a mat and bring him to Jesus. Verse 2, it says, And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed, and when Jesus saw their faith... I'm going to pause there for a moment. This is the Cliff Notes version of the story in Mark's gospel.
We get a demonstration just more of what their faith looked like. These four men put this paralytic on a mat. They carry him for what could be miles. They get to a house where Jesus is teaching, and the crowds have so filled up the house, so filled up the outside of the house, they don't have access to Jesus. So they climb up on top of the roof.
Pull him up on top of the roof with him. They cut a hole in the roof, and they lower him so that he can be in the presence of Jesus. Which this is an aside. This is the main point of the story. But what a cool picture.
I get so convicted when I read this story. They do whatever it takes to make sure that he can be in the presence of Jesus, that he can meet Jesus. Man, what would it look like if we as a church would move heaven and earth, we would do whatever it takes to have friends, neighbors, coworkers, family members, we would literally cut holes in the roofs of houses so that people could meet Jesus. Not the main point of the story. It's an awesome demonstration of their faith. And Jesus recognizes this.
This is when Jesus saw their faith. He said to the paralytic, Take heart, my son. Your sins are forgiven. Now this is different. This is different than how Jesus has responded throughout most of these healing stories. He has been healing people left and right.
That is the reason why the crowds have come out to see him. He has a reputation for healing all kinds of people. And that makes sense that they would come and see him if you told me that there was a doctor in the area that could heal back problems. It's like, no, no, he doesn't treat them. He will literally heal them. I would be like, where is he?
And I know some other people in our church that struggle with back problems. They would be getting in their car and we would go and we would see him. And if he saw us and he said, all right, I'm so glad you're here. Let me tell you something. Your anger is forgiven. The sin is forgiven.
I'd be a little thrown off too. It's like, bro, I thought you were going to heal. My suffering. The crowds are a little bit thrown off. This is a different response than he has given thus far. And it really throws off the religious leaders.
In verse 3 it says, And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, This man is blaspheming. The scribes are a part of the religious leadership in Israel. And they say he is blaspheming. He is dishonoring the name and the character of God. And if you understand a little bit of Old Testament law, Their response is not completely off base in some respect. Because forgiveness of sins was a process.
In the Old Testament law, there was an entire sacrificial system that was set up. The sacrifices were to be done in a very specific manner. And if the priests did this in a very specific manner, And if the people had repentant hearts, Of all of this lined up, Then the sacrifice would be accepted. The animal sacrifice would be accepted. And forgiveness would happen. Jesus bypasses all of that.
He says, Your sins are forgiven. And they are floored. That he would actually say this. Which means, Either, Jesus is crazy For what he just said. Or, He believes that he is really God. Either he is crazy or he is God.
Because only God has the power To forgive sins. Which is why we say, When other religions that take the Bible and say That Jesus didn't believe he is God. It's like over and over again. No, he absolutely It is displayed. He is God. And in verse 4 it says, But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, Said, Why do you think evil in your hearts?
Now there's a couple of clues here That point to the divinity of Jesus. Firstly, The scribes said themselves, That's a way of saying they thought it. They thought, This Jesus is blaspheming. Blaspheming. Jesus knows their thoughts, Reads their thoughts back to them. If anyone can read your thoughts And articulate them back to you With that kind of clarity, It's a clue that something miraculous is happening.
Another clue we get from the text here That is showing the divinity of Jesus. This is the third miracle in a row. Chet was setting this up a few weeks ago. These miracles happen in sets of three. This is the third miracle in a row. It shows the power and the divinity of Jesus.
A couple of weeks ago, We got to see Jesus on the Sea of Galilee. And he displays his Genesis 1, Genesis 2, Creative power, And tells a storm to stop. Last, we got to see his power over, Not just creation, But the spiritual realm, As he casts out demons, And demons shudder in the face of him. And this week, We get to see that Jesus has power To forgive sins. And the people, Man, they've been so, I mean, Put yourself in their place. They had to be so excited About Jesus coming and healing.
I mean, this paralytic has spent years, Possibly his entire life, Not being able to walk, All the social stigma attached to it. But Jesus addresses a deeper need. The people are spiritually broken. They are broken. He addresses that first to show A need forgiveness of sins. It's understandable that it might be A little bit thrown off.
Because that's what we do as humans. It's our nature. The physical needs that we have, They're the most in front of us. It's the most pressing. It's the ones we feel the most. And it's human nature for us To just want to see those get met first.
Because it's human nature Just to see what's right in front of you. I've learned a thing about children. They are like velociraptors. They're fine Until they start opening doors. And then it gets dangerous. Our son learned how to open doors A few months back.
And They're outside playing in the backyard. We have a fenced-in backyard. And my daughter comes. And she says, Bridgers! That's our son. Bridgers!
Bridgers! And either she said the gate Or we made the connection That he had gotten out of the gate. We used to have gates That were unlocked Because my daughter was never adventurous. We now have locks. I run out the door. Dead sprint.
I look left. I see the gates open. And I see my son. And he is ten feet from the street. He's going to walk into the street. So I grab the closest thing to me.
I grabbed a rock. And I hit him right in the back And dropped. Now I ran and scooped him up. Brought him back. I was like, Son, you can't do this. I showed him the gate.
I'm trying to show him You can't. This is dangerous. You can't go out here. He's a toddler. This is right in front of him. This is, of course, Open the door.
Oh, the street. I want to walk into the street. He doesn't see the danger Of what's ahead. And we get older And we get wiser. But that's human nature.
We see what's right in front of us. The most physical needs. We don't understand The spiritual nature of things And how dangerous it is. For us, We don't acknowledge The spiritual reality That our souls are eternal. Jesus gets that. And he addresses this.
He says, Your sins are forgiven. And when the scribes Think this to themselves, Jesus addresses it. Verse 5. He says, For which is easier To say, Your sins are forgiven Or to say, Rise and walk. But that you may know The Son of Man Has authority on earth To forgive sins.
He then said to the paralytic, Rise, Pick up your bed And go home. And he rose And went home. When the crowd saw it, They were afraid. And they glorified God Who had given such authority To men. I love Jesus. I love his response In situations like this.
Because the first thing he does Is he flexes on the scribes. He says, Which is easier? To say, Your sins are forgiven. Or to say, Rise, Get up. And then he uses This very physical healing, This very physical demonstration To show The spiritual reality Authority has Over sins. That you would know That authority Over sins.
And this man, I want us to miss this. He does actually address The physical. This man has probably Been dreaming. Dreaming. Of what it would be like To actually be able to Stand. To be able to Walk.
And he Strengthens His legs. Gets up. Takes a step. He's healed. All the stigma. All the shame.
All the pain. Gone. And he picks up his mat. And I would like to think He skipped home. I would like to think That he went home And he danced In front of friends And family After years Of not being able To walk. And the crowds See this And they're afraid.
Because they recognize What the disciples Have been recognizing. This is no mere Man. Something Much bigger Is happening.
Jesus Heals the Demonized
Transcript
Good morning. Tell you what, I should have paced myself. I thought Sunday school this morning at Casey First. I need to show some really anthem banger songs. And I should have paced myself. All right.
My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We are walking through the Gospel of Matthew. We are finishing out chapter 8 today. So you go ahead and flip there in your Bibles.
We're going to be on page 475 in those blue Bibles. You'll want to follow along with us as we walk through it. I had a friend in college that the more I got to know his story, you know, I realized that we have different backgrounds and different upbringings. And the more I heard his, the more I realized, man, that is way foreign, way different than anything I'd ever heard before. He, his father is British. And the stereotype of British families is that they're, they can be a little cold, not as affectionate, not as warm.
We as Americans are more emotional. And in British families, the stereotype is that they're a little more cold. And his family really fit the stereotype pretty strongly. Because I'd talk to him and he would be like, I'd say, yeah, what was it like, you know, growing up? And he'd just say, you know, honestly, we just kind of passed, you know, family in the house. And we didn't really talk a whole lot.
We just kind of did our own thing. And so did y'all, did y'all reflect on? Did y'all hug? No, we didn't do any of that. We got, you know, we ate meals together, I guess every now and then. But we just kind of led our own lives.
And the more he talked, I just was like, that's not, that's not a normal reality. That, and he thought that that's how most families were. That that's, well, that's how, that's how he was raised. And that's why, did you really think a lot of families are raised the same way as we are? And I was like, man, that's not, I'm sorry, like, that's not the way family is supposed to be. It's not this cold, callous environment that you grew up in was not the norm.
And as he started to experience Jesus for the first time, he didn't grow up in a household that talked about the gospel. He didn't go to church growing up. And the more that he started to encounter the gospel and understanding where he came from, it began to clash. There was something that he'd been missing, a reality that he had missed out on growing up. And that was the love of Christ. For the first time in his life, he was in a community of Christians.
He was experiencing love that he'd never seen, never felt before. And finally, he became a Christian. And, and it changed his reality, opened up a new perspective for him of how things are supposed to be. And we as Americans love stories like that. We love hearing testimonies like that. That is an easy concept for us to wrap our minds around.
That you would be confronted by the love of Christ. And that would expand your, your view of reality. The reality is, is this story today is not easy for us to wrap our mind around. We're going to be talking about demons today. And as American Western Christians, this is something that we don't have strong categories for. When we get confronted by this reality, it's hard for us to really understand it.
Largely in Western culture, as they looked at stories like this in the Gospels, as we're walking through today, as Jesus is casting out demons. It's been rationalized and explained away that, well, actually, you know, they didn't have science back then. So a lot of what he was encountering was schizophrenia or epilepsy. And they just thought that as demons. And I'd say that there absolutely probably were physical realities to a lot of these situations. But I also say the Bible speaks truthfully when it says there was demonic influence involved.
That is exactly what is going on. If it's not rationalized, we'll just kind of move quickly. I guess we're uncomfortable with the story as it is. We're like, all right, let's get back to the healing stories. Let's get back to some of those because this is a little bit weird for us.
We don't have a strong view of this as Westerners. And it clashes with the reality of the Bible. But I would argue that many of us in this room, like my friend in college, live in a reality that you think is normal. And the Bible wants to blow that up and expand it. That there is a spiritual realm. That demons are an actual reality.
And as uncomfortable as it is to walk through a story like this and realize that it is a present reality, my hope today is that our view, our scope would be expanded. And we'd leave it with a better understanding of how the demonic actually works in the world today. And that God willing, for some of you, you would find some freedom. So let me pray. And then we'll jump into the story. God, I'm thankful that you've given us stories like this that challenge us.
God, I pray today that you would speak to us. And I pray in the name of Jesus that you would help us hear what you have to say clearly. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, verse 28. And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes. So this is some setting.
Last week we walked through the story. Jesus and the disciples are on the boat in Sea of Galilee. A storm comes and Jesus displays his miraculous power. And he rebukes the storm and it ceases. And it shows the creative power of God that is in him. This is Genesis 1, Genesis 2, authority over the cosmos.
That Jesus displays this magnificent power. They step off the boat into this region of the Gadarenes. This is a region of Galilee that is heavily Gentile. We're going to see in a moment how that shows up. But he's been ministering to mostly Jewish people.
And he's in a region where there are Gentiles. So he has this big miraculous event. They step off the boat in this region. Verse 28. When he came to the other side of the country of the Gadarenes. Two demon possessed men met him.
Coming out of the tomb. So fierce that no one could pass that way. So they're traveling in this region. And the text tells us two demon possessed men came. Now I'm going to get more into this later.
But I want to help remove I think some unhelpful pictures here. That word demon possessed in the Greek is demononza. It literally means demonized. We get demon possessed because this is in translation. The New Testament is written in Greek. And one of the earliest most popular translations in the English language was the King James Version.
The King James Version translated this back in the 1600s as demon possessed. And we've kind of inherited that word for the last few centuries of translations. And I think that word is a little bit unhelpful for two reasons. Firstly, it literally means demonized. To be affected by demons. But the real big reason I think that it's unhelpful for us when we hear that.
Is because we can't hear demon possessed. And not think a girl on a bed head spinning exorcist. We can't not think found footage demon possessed films. Like the whole Hollywood genre of demon possession has really confused that word. So when we hear that, I want you to hear affected by demons and stay with me.
These two men are affected by demons. They are coming out of the graveyard. And it looks like their go-to activity when they come out of the graveyard is to block the path that comes into the town. Now, they're going to get in the way. Which I would argue is a reason why when you block someone in an interception, that is literally of the devil. Can't prove it from this text.
It's just inherently true. So they block this path. And then they step in the way. And it says, verse 29, Behold, they cried out, What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time? And I like to picture this scene.
This may not be helpful for you. But I'm going to say it anyways. Y'all remember one of the greatest shows from the 90s? Not Seinfeld. Not Friends. Y'all remember Hercules?
With the thespian Kevin Sorbo? The bad guys never just gradually showed up. They just jumped out of the trees. Like right in front of them. They jump out of the path right in front of them. They had their little call-out session and it would begin.
They jump into the path and they start shouting at Jesus. What are you up to, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time? And the Gospel of Mark gives us some more. And the same story gives us a window-end, a little bit more of the details. That these are men that were bound with chains.
And they had been breaking these chains and getting free. That they are men that would cut themselves. So they think bloody, scarred up, wild, angry, screaming men. That are oppressed and affected by demons. And they cry out. There's a little bit of the demons speaking through them.
They cry out to Jesus. Because they recognize just how powerful He is. Just how much of a threat He is. And they try to cut a deal. Verse 30. It says, Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them.
And the demons begged Him, saying, If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs. And He said to them, Go. So they came out and went into the pigs. And behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea. And drowned into the waters. Now, admittedly, the pig part of this story is just odd.
It feels a little bit out of place. Have you all seen The Greatest Showman? We watched that movie like a hundred times in our family. Our kids love it. The movie begins with the, you probably heard the song, The Greatest Show. That's the opening track.
And it closes. The whole movie is bookended between that song. And it closes out at the very end. And Hugh Jackman is handing off the circus to Zac Efron. He wants to watch his kids grow up. And then he rides into the city, New York City, on an elephant in the snow.
And then he embraces his family. And it shows like they're going to live happily ever after. And it's this big crescendo, this big finish. And it ends. And you're like, wow. That elephant scene was weird.
That makes no sense. If you ride ten miles in the city in the snow on an elephant, that doesn't make sense. What happened to the elephant? Did they just leave it in New York City? It's confusing. And it feels a little bit out of place.
And that's a little bit when I read this story. It's like the pig's part is just, it's odd. It feels a little bit out of place. And as we try to understand a little bit what's going on here, understanding the scene that Mark's gospel says, this is a legion of demons. These are thousands of demons that are in these two men. And they're begging Jesus, don't, if you're going to cast us out, cast us into this herd of pigs.
And Jesus says, yes. Yes. And they go into the pigs. And the pigs go cliff jumping. And they die. It just, it feels a little bit out of place.
Why did he just destroy them? Why did he cast them out? Why did he grant their request? It feels a little bit odd. And to be honest, I don't have a very solid, firm, this is the reason why. I don't think the text gives us a firm reason as to why he does this.
We get a little bit of a window in of some possibilities when you read the last part of the passage. Verse 33, it says, The herdsmen fled, and going into the city, they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men. And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region. So it's possible that what Jesus is doing here is he's doing this big display of power that the pig herders see it, and they go in and spread this throughout the region.
It's possible. I've heard other people try to explain this and say, well, actually, this is 2,000 plus pigs that we learn from in Mark's gospel. This would have really decimated their local economy. This region would have been greatly hurt by this loss of pigs. So what Jesus is actually doing here is he's showing the value of human life over the material.
It's possible. This is also a Gentile region. We know this is a Gentile region. We can tell directly here because Jews, the pigs were unclean. They would never keep pigs like this. So it's possible that Jesus is showing up into a region.
He's been doing ministry mostly with Jewish people. But this prophet who's stirring up the land has come into the city or come into their region, and all of a sudden he's done this big event where he exercises some demons, and he throws them into some pigs, and it could be possible that by their response and saying we don't want you to be in, just leave this region, that they are scared. There's a few different reasons I'm sure that you could come up with. We don't really know for sure why. There are two clear things that we can see in how this passage ends. First, demons are harmful.
They are destructive. They have plagued these two men probably for years. And then when they leave, they enter a herd of pigs, and that herd of pigs dies. They are destructive. And the second thing we can tell is that they obey the voice of Jesus. Jesus has power.
I want you to imagine 3,000 of the baddest, scariest warriors. Think 300 Spartan-style warriors raging in to battle against one man. And they are yelling, and they are screaming, and they're getting ready to pull their swords, and they fall on their face and beg for mercy. If you saw that in a movie, you would say, what kind of power? How scary is that man? That is the power of Jesus on display here.
As the pigs jump into the waters, and the Mark's Gospel tells us that the men were freed of this oppression. At least one of them goes throughout the region declaring what had happened. And when you finish this story, you might think, this is a little bit weird. I want to just kind of back out of this and keep moving on, because our American Western view of this kind of reality doesn't make room for stories like this. But I want to take the rest of our time to actually lean into this reality.
That demons still exist. They still have a place in this world. I want to let that sink in. And when we do that, it will open up a new perspective. And like my friend in college, who when he encountered the love of Christ for the first time, it changed his perspective on everything. I want to press in a little bit here, as uncomfortable as it may be, and open our eyes to the reality that the demonic realm still exists.
And when you understand this, when you get this, it opens your mind up and you see the world in a completely different way. Alright, so, to do that, I want to give us a theology of demons. This is going to come out in three different sections. The first is the nature of demons. The second is their activity. And the third is our response.
Let's start off with the nature of the demonic, the nature of demons. I said this a few, you know, a month ago in the temptation narrative as we walk through Jesus being tempted by Satan. To understand demons, we've got to understand a little bit that it's said. There's a lot more said about Satan than there is the demonic. We have to have a proper understanding of who Satan is. Especially for those of us that are a little bit open to this reality.
Because we like to think, sometimes people say, oh, the devil did this, the devil did that, like he's under every rock, like he's listening in on every conversation. It is very helpful for you to understand Satan is not omnipresent. He is not in all places. He's not behind every single thing that happens that is bad. Now, a better way to see that is that he is the head of evil. He's the head of a network of demons that are seeking to destroy the good fabric of God's creation.
Now, somebody may have been up here preaching, I don't know, a month ago and said accidentally that Jesus is the head of all evil. He misspoke. And upon finding out that he said that was mortified. So, very clearly, definitively say today, no, no, Satan is the head of all evil and it's better to see the work of demons as a larger network that is accomplishing the purpose to destroy what is good in this world. Satan is called the, well, Satan means adversary. So, by nature, the demonic is adversarial.
It opposes what is good. Satan is also called the accuser that demons deal in accusations. It's called the murderer. He is, destroys things. He's called the father of lies that he deals, that demons deal in deception. It's called the enemy.
He is an enemy of God. He is called the tempter that demons lead us into temptation. He's called destroyer. He's called Beelzebub, which loosely means Lord of filth. They are the very embodiment of evil in this world and they seek to destroy what is good, especially those who are made in the image of God. That is their nature.
Second, I want to look at the activity of demons. I know at some point some of you still may be on the fence. You might think, okay, I'll concede. The Bible teaches that demons are reality, but still, like still, now, like I've heard this happening in other countries, but is it really happening here? I would argue that the majority of you, if not all of you, have had interactions with the demonic and you have been unaware. And I want to make you aware of this this morning so you actually see it in its activity.
It's kind of like when you have a friend that gets a car and they get a Ma, that's an interesting choice. I don't see a lot of those on the road. Then all of a sudden for the next three weeks you see that car everywhere. Either your friend and everyone else got the car at the same time or you are now cognizant of it. You are now aware of it and you are starting to see it. And the hope is as we walk through this that you'll be cognizant of how the activity of demons and how they work and you'll be able to see it.
Because in our rational western culture, we actually don't see many versions of what's on display in the story today. Like not many of you are going to walk in a target, on your way in a target, a crazy person jumps out in front of you who is being afflicted by demons and screams at you and won't let you in to target. That's just not, it can happen, it's not the norm. I'd argue that also this story is a more extreme version. In Matthew 4 he's healing, he's casting out demons, he's doing this and all of a sudden this big story happens. That isn't a normal version of what happens in our country, in our area.
I heard someone argue it this way. It's an argument largely based off of C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters which is a book on the demonic. And he said in our rational, modern, post-modern western culture, how foolish would it be for the demonic who are by nature destructive and deceitful and want to pull us away from following Jesus. How foolish would it be for them in a culture that has largely rejected God? Largely rejected Jesus?
How foolish would it be for them to just reveal themselves, to peel the curtain back on the spiritual world? How foolish would that be? Because if you actually see what's going on in the spiritual realm, if you actually see the demonic face to face, it begs the question, if this is real, God must be real and the gospel must be real and I need to respond. You look at other cultures that are more animistic, you look at certain cultures in Africa and different parts of the world, their encounters with the demonic is a lot more like this story. And it makes sense because they already have a category for that and the goal is to keep them from believing in Jesus.
But in our culture, we're more rational, it would be foolish for them to reveal themselves in this way. So, if they don't reveal themselves in a way like this, then how do they? How do they have, if I'm making the argument that they have activity in our lives, that all of us have had run-ins, what does it look like? Since they are deceptive by nature, dealing in lies and accusations, I argue what Jesus argues in John 8, 44, he says, you are of the father of the devil and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies.
I would argue that in our culture, this is how they are going to operate. This is how we see them operate. They deal in deception and accusation and lies. And we have seen this as we walk with people in our church. We have seen this kind of activity where it has come in and there is deception and there is lies and there are accusations. So I want to take a few minutes and walk through a few different examples of what this looks like and how we have seen some of this play out and how the forces of evil in this world are seeking to destroy us.
First example is discouragement. What we will see sometimes is that in the subject matter of discouragement, the demonic attack Christians, they attack people in our church. Let me give you an example of what this looks like. How many of you have been in a group? Everyone's friends, you're having fun, it's been a great night, you're gospeling one another and then you leave group and you have a thought that comes in. It's almost an external voice but it sounds a little bit like your own and it says they don't really like you.
They don't really care about you. They just have, they're friends, they just have to be friends with you. They don't actually think you are a part of this. How many of you have felt that when you've left a situation just discouraged feeling alone like no one cares? How many of you have heard some type of voice that says no one really loves you? No one really cares about you?
No one cares to want to get to know you? You don't have value. How many of you have heard a version of you are a fake? You are a fraud. Like we're talking about Jesus is better than everything else. We're a gospel-centered community on mission.
You hear this voice that comes and says you don't really believe that. You don't really, you're a fake. If they knew what was going on behind the curtain, if they knew what was going on underneath the surface, you'd be exposed. You'd be a fraud. You don't actually believe this gospel. How many of you have heard voices like that?
How many of you heard some version that is attached to your past or to your present, some version of you are dirty, you're gross, you're sick. And it's this persistent, sometimes subtle, sometimes overt discouragement that keeps you from believing and applying the gospel. Shows up in hiding, it's a different category. How many of you have been in a group where it's a night where everyone's confessing sin? People are confessing real struggles. And you're like, this is the night.
I've been carrying this burden for years. It has been heavy. I'm tired. I'm ready to actually practice what 1 John 1, 5-10 says. I'm ready to practice walking in the light. But then this voice comes in and says, but if you do that, you can't put that back in the box.
Once they know, they know, and they're going to look at you different from now on. In fact, the only thing they're going to see is your sin. And then you close up and you say, no, I just haven't been reading my Bible enough lately. It discourages us and keeps us in the hiding. And you hear a voice that says, you can't share that. You can't go there.
You're going to lose control of the situation if you don't actually open up. If you actually open up in this area, and it keeps us in hiding. Another way that it keeps us in hiding is maybe you're tempted by sin, and you hear this voice that comes in that says, I get away with this. You can get away with this. Do it. Nobody needs to know.
And it's subtle, and it comes in, it's like, maybe I could actually get away with this. Maybe I could commit this sin. Another area is prophetic, what I'll call prophetic failure. this was me in seminary. I had this persistent voice that as I'm preparing for ministry, as I'm preparing for what's next, this voice that would come in and would say, you're going to fail. This whole thing is going to fall apart. You're going to blow up your family.
You know those pastors that have real public meltdowns that blow up your ministry. All of this is going to fail. And for years, I heard this over and over and over again, attacking the weakest parts of my sinful nature, saying, it's all going to fall apart. You are going to fail. And finally, I'm talking with Chet one day, and he starts asking questions. He says, man, that's not normal.
It is not normal to hear that persistent over and over and over again. Maybe some of you have that kind of version that you are consistently hearing a voice that says, you are going to fail and everything is going to fall apart. Maybe it's in the area of sexual temptation that in the hardest fights against sexual temptation, the hardest, longest nights where you are fighting to believe the gospel, fighting to flee. There's a voice that comes in and says, just do it. Get it over with. Pull out your phone.
You're going to fail. Just give up. Get it over with. Maybe it's someone in your office, and she's cute, and you're hearing this voice that says, you know what, just enjoy yourself. Do it. Take a risk.
Nobody has to know. love you like no one else has loved you. You deserve this. It lures us into sexual temptation. How about self-harm? That's something we've seen in our churches. We walk through people that there is this voice that comes in that just says, kill yourself.
End it. End the pain of this life. Just get it over with. people hear that. It's a refrain that comes over and over and over again. Drive off the road, hit a tree, fill the tub, find a gun, do it. Another area is self-medication.
Some of you that drink, there's an encouragement to have another. No, you can do it, have another. Keep going. Numb the pain of this life. It's been a long week, you deserve this. Maybe it's prescription medication.
Take some more. It'll get you through the day. Maybe it's simply as eating. That in really stressful weeks, there's this encouragement. No, you deserve this. Keep eating.
Go. Order double. Fill yourself. Maybe it's the area of anxiety. For those who struggle with anxiety, there's a voice that comes in that sounds like you got to keep everything together. You got to maintain control.
If you don't maintain control, if you don't figure this out, everything is going to fall apart. And it stirs up more anxiety. And it's like, no, you got to grip harder. You got to figure this out. And it stirs up more anxiety. I'll give you one more example.
This is identity identity attacks. How many of you have heard a voice that comes and says, you are a bad mom. You're a terrible mother. You are failing your kids. Look at all the other moms on Facebook. They've got it together.
They're doing activities. They're going places. Their kids are going to love them. You're a terrible mom. father. How many of us have heard some version of, you can be just like your father. You're a terrible father.
Some version of, you're a terrible Christian. You're a bad Christian. You follow Jesus. You're a bad Christian. Some version of, you're a joke. No one respects you.
You're a terrible employee. You're a terrible boss. This happens over and over and over again. That is a sample of the things that we hear. And people think that's normal. That it's normal to have a persistent voice in your life that says these things.
Let me tell you something. If you struggle with depression and you are struggling to get out of bed in the morning, what if a real person, maybe a friend, comes into the house, sits on the bed beside you and says, don't get up. Just go back to sleep. Stay in bed. There's nothing for you out there. You know this is not worth it.
Stay in bed. Also, if you do get the energy to get up, why don't you go ahead and kill yourself? We've been playing about it. We've been talking about it for a while now. What if someone came into your house as you're raising your kids and everything that happened, every meltdown that happened with your kids, they just said, you are a bad mom. You're a terrible mom.
You're going to fail them. If a real actual person came into your house and did these things, you would say, get out. You don't, you're awful. You don't belong here. Get out of my life. I don't need that kind of negativity.
But that is an actual reality that we are unwilling to accept. That there is, there are demonic forces in our lives that are discouraging, that are accusing, that are bringing lies, and they don't have a place amongst the people of God. You might think, well, no, you really over planned this. You might try to rationalize this and think, no, that can't, some of this can't possibly be from the enemy. Well, let me give you four options for what it can be. It is either God saying these things to you, which we know is not true, based on the Bible.
He is loving, he is good, he is perfect, he is holy. He would never say these kind of things to you. So that option is off the table. It's either secondly, your flesh, which sometimes that is true. Sometimes that is a reality, that your flesh does terrible things to you. But let me tell you something.
For those of you that are hearing persistent things like this, your flesh isn't that good. It's not that crafty. You are overselling your ability to destroy yourself. So I would argue that for some of you who are receiving persistent lies like this, no, you're flesh isn't that good. The third option is it's the world, and that is also a possibility. There are things that have been said to you by friends, family, coaches, teachers, parents, teachers, stuff that you've heard over and over again for the last year, five years, ten years, that you've heard the last 20 years.
That is a reality. Let me tell you something. What they said 20 years ago, they probably don't even remember you. They certainly don't remember what they said. So that's not the world coming at you over and over again with that type of skill and persistence.
It's either one of the two I just mentioned, the flesh or the world, or it's the very real possibility that it is the enemy, that it is the demonic, that they deal in deception, they're called the father of lies, that Satan is like a lion that is seeking to devour someone, 1 Peter 5, 8, that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, cosmic powers of this present darkness, Ephesians 6, that we get example after example after example in the gospels of demons oppressing and afflicting people, that it is time to accept the reality that this is true. You need to understand that you are in a war and unless you wake up you will never learn to fight back and you will never find freedom. Half the battle is realizing that you're in it and that it's a reality. You might be thinking, but if I talk about this, they're going to think I'm crazy.
I'm a pastor who is telling you I have been there. thinking this persistent voice, that's got to be me, that's got to be something, that can't be, it's an actual reality and once you finally accept that you are in a world where the demonic is all around you and is whispering lies to discourage you, to keep you from following Jesus, that is half the battle. And once you understand you're in the battle, then you can actually respond. Last thing is our response. it is recognizing that the power for freedom from this type of oppression, the power resides in Jesus. It is found in Christ. Think, look at the story.
Thousands of demons come before the feet of Jesus begging, pleading. Jesus has that kind of power and there's so much power that is bound up in Christ. It's simply the mention of his name causes them to flee. In Mark's gospel chapter 9, this man starts following Jesus and it says John, the disciple said to him, teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name. We tried to stop him because he was not following us. And Jesus, but Jesus said, do not stop him for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able to soon afterwards speak evil of me. for the one who is not against us is for us.
And there's a lot going on there, but there's one very clear application. There is power in his name. This guy starts following Jesus, starts going around and casting out demons in the name of Jesus. There is power bound up in his name. We see this in the book of Acts. Paul is traveling around in Acts 16.
There's a woman who's afflicted by a divination, demonic spirit. And Paul said, in verse 18 it says, and she kept doing this for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, in turn said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out of, it came out that very hour. And once you get past the kind of humorous part where he was just annoyed for a few days and finally took action, you see there is power in his name. It's not a formula that we use.
It's not a tag online that we use. It's a reality that that power comes from Jesus and what he has done for us. And the clearest, most powerful example that we have of that is found in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. One of my favorite passages in the Bible, one of the first scriptures I ever memorized was Colossians 2, 13 through 14, where he says, and you who were dead and your sins, your sinful nature, and the uncircumcision of your flesh. God made alive together with Christ, having forgiven us all of our trespasses, all of our sins, by canceling the record of debt that stood against you with its legal demand.
This he set aside, nailed it to the cross. That's the celebration of the gospel that we come and take from the table every week. That our sin is covered and paid for. It is a beautiful aspect of the gospel, but the next verse that follows really brings it home for this. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them. The rulers and authorities are the cosmic powers over this present darkness.
It is the demonic. Because of the cross, He puts them to shame. He destroys their work in a way that nothing else can. There is power in His name because of what He has done for us. So how do we practically respond?
I'm going to leave you with four quick things and then we'll close out. First, you need to recognize that you're in the battle. You need to recognize the oppression. Some of you have been hearing stuff like this for years. And you've tried to explain it away. You've tried to ignore it and it has not left.
And you've got to understand you're in it. You are in the war. They are coming for you and they will not stop. Their goal is to destroy you. I want you to hear that. Their goal is to destroy you and keep you from following Jesus.
So you've got to recognize what you're in already. Second, you have to understand that you, if you are a Christian, if you've trusted in the finished work of Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit living inside you. You have the God of the universe, the God in whom demons flee from and fear is living inside of you. You have power. You may be oppressed but you are not weak. Well, you are weak but He is strong within you.
We need to recognize the kind of power that is for us and nothing can actually stand against us. Third, oftentimes when we see this it is done together. We see in the Gospels over and over again someone is oppressed and then someone who has the light comes in and frees them from oppression. You can pray yourself in the name of Jesus and go to war but a lot of times it is hard in the midst of it to actually understand everything that is going on so we value doing this together. We have a process that we do in counseling and care in our church called Freedom in Christ where we walk people through this.
It is an extended prayer session sometimes anywhere from two to three hours where we are covering a whole bunch of different aspects in our lives and we do this together because all of us are going to face this at some point and we need someone to come in and preach the Gospel to preach truth to expose the reality that is before us and lastly we respond by praying in the name of Jesus. That is our hope. There is power bound up in His name. It is not a formula it is a reality. That when you pray in the name of Jesus we want you to pray boldly. It could be depression it could be anxiety it could be sexual temptation it could be any of the number of things that I just went through.
We want you to pray boldly in the name of Jesus that there is power in His name specifically addressing areas of sin and we also want you to pray continuously. The reality is is that some of you will experience freedom but sometimes it does not last.
Jesus Calms the Storm
Transcript
Grab a Bible, go to Matthew chapter 8. We're walking through the book of Matthew together. One of the fun things about children is that they don't have any sense. And that's kind of why God gave them parents, so that someone who does have sense is around them. I'm watching them. I have an 18-month-old.
And one of the funny things is there are certain things that, like he's 18 months old, he's a year and a half, whatever, and there are some things that he just absolutely is not afraid of at all that he should be. He should be afraid of it, but he doesn't have enough sense to know, like outlets. He shouldn't mess with those, but he thinks there's something going on over there that my parents are keeping from me, some sort of secret fun that they don't want me to be in on. And there are other things that he really probably shouldn't be that afraid of, and he's terrified. He just, he doesn't know, he doesn't know how to, what's scary and what isn't, and when he should be afraid and when he shouldn't be.
And so the other day, I put him in the bed of my truck, which is like a traveling playpen. It's real nice to have a truck and little kids. I just, I need to put him somewhere. I set him in there. But he's gotten to where he can climb, so he climbed up on the toolbox.
And then he was running towards the edge and stopping. And then looking at me and laughing, because he could see the fear on my face. And apparently this is a fun game. Because I'm like, whoa. Which is a really terrible idea. When you're primarily just a head, you don't run to the edge of things and stop over concrete.
I mean, it's equivalent of like me on a two-story building. It's like you don't, it's not a good idea, but he thought that was a fun game. And not afraid of it at all. And then last week, we're in here, after everything's over with, and he's, right now he cries a lot if he's not with his mom. He prefers her over me. I was shocked when I found out as well.
So I've been taking him away from her, and letting him cry, and explaining to him, this is not how we're going to live our life. You cannot just only cry and harass your mom. And so I've just been walking around with him going, no, you're going to calm down. You're going to learn to love me. I am your father. So we were doing that here last week, and he had calmed down, and I said, all right, you can go run around and play or whatever.
So I set him on the ground. Well, he didn't want to run and play. He wanted to go find his mom. So I was standing over here. He took off running over to where she was. I was just watching him.
She had left. So he runs over there all excited, and then he's like having a look at everybody's face, and he's like, all right, not my mom, not my mom, not my mom. And then you could just see him like getting scared because it turns out she can move. And she wasn't where he left her, and he was like, he started freaking out. And some of y'all are like, yeah, that's terrifying. Being around other humans is the worst.
But he got really scared, and then he just bolted back over to where I was, and I was like, yeah, that's right. I'm great, aren't I? But he had this moment where you could just see. He realized, I'm in over my head. Like, I can't, I don't know these people. I'm not sufficient by myself.
This is terrifying. I'm not okay. I need somebody else. And the reality is, we grow older, and there are certain things we learn are bad and scary and that we should avoid. But for the most part, there's still a real similarity between us and the 18-month-old is that there are a lot of things that we feel like we have in control, that we have under our authority that we can handle, and we don't know how close we are to just falling off the edge, how close we are to having that perceived control and that perceived safety taken away from us, and there are these moments in life where it becomes very, very clear that we're in over our heads and that we need help, that we are beyond our sufficiency, and that we are actually very small and very weak.
So we're going to read a story this morning of the disciples coming to that conclusion and how they interact with Jesus and what we can learn from their interaction and ultimately from Jesus' response, and hopefully it'll be some good news for us this morning. So let's pray, and then we'll start reading the Bible together. God, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for what you have come to do for us in Christ. And we ask that this morning as we study your word that you would grow our faith and that we would leave here knowing more about you and trusting you more fully. In Jesus' name, amen.
So Jesus preaches a Sermon on the Mount. He comes down. He's been healing people. He's been having these interactions with disciples. What we left with last week was it said this big crowd had come. He had healed their diseases, and then he saw the big crowd.
He said, let's get in the boat. Let's go to the other side. Jesus' plan was not to have one big central ministry where he did healing. He was going to go proclaim the gospel, travel around, and eventually die. So his signs, his healings, were to show the world what it looked like when the kingdom advances and to show the world his authority, but he ultimately wasn't here just to heal people.
So he says, let's get in the boat. Let's go. He gets in the boat with the disciples to travel across the Sea of Galilee. And so the Sea of Galilee is kind of like an egg-shaped sea. It's about seven and a half miles one way and 13 miles, 14 miles another way. And so it's a fairly big lake, fairly big sea, but it's not massive.
And so they get in the boat, and they're going to travel across. So we're picking up in 8, 23. When he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea. So the boat was being swamped by the waves, but he was asleep.
Okay, there's a lot in that sentence, so let's talk about this. They were in a fishing boat, most likely, because he had disciples who were fishermen, so they're in a fishing boat. We found some of those, about 27 feet long, seven and a half, eight feet wide. It's fairly big. Mark tells us that he was asleep on a cushion in the stern, which means he was at the back of the boat on a cushion, which was apparently some section designed where you could lay down or rest. And I think it's most likely that it was in the stern of the boat.
There was like a little top deck and a little place you could crawl underneath. The reason I think that was likely is because the boat was being swamped with water, which means it's filling up with water, and Jesus is still asleep. I think if he were out on the deck, getting absolutely soaked, he might would have woken up. But it's a big storm, he's asleep, and the best assumption here is that he's absolutely exhausted. So he's fully God, but he's also fully man, and it's been a long day, and he's beat.
And so he lays down and falls asleep and stays asleep in the middle of a storm. He was fully human, so I'm assuming he's having some weird dreams, but there's a big storm going on, and there's rocking the boat and crashing over to the point that the waves are coming over the side of the boat, and the boat is being swamped, which means it's filling up with water. So this was not good. The word great there is the word megas, M-E-G-A-S, similar to our word mega. So there arose a mega storm on the sea so that the boat was being swamped by the waves, but he was asleep.
Now, I haven't spent much time on boats. I've spent some time on boats, but not much time on boats. And we have very accurate, helpful weather forecasts. So if it's going to be bad weather, I spend zero time on a boat. Because that's a bad time to be on a boat. Jesus tells them, let's get on the boat, let's go.
They go, and a storm comes in. Now, there are mountains next to the Sea of Galilee, so storm clouds would form over and then just drop down onto the sea. And where there are no trees, then winds can pick up. It can become a big mess in a hurry, and that's what happens. And it's possible the disciples who were used to boating, when Jesus was like, let's get on the boat and go, we're like, hmm, seems like a bad idea. We don't know.
They get on the boat, and they go at Jesus' direction, and now they're in a big storm. So I had a hard time picturing what it would be like to be in a big storm on a boat, so I went to YouTube, and I looked up boats in storms, and I found a fishing boat in a storm, and we're going to watch it for just about 45 seconds to see and help us feel what was going on here. So we're going to show this, and then we'll keep talking. Thank you. Thank you. So there are times where the boat is completely sunk down.
You cannot see. They would have been surrounded by the ocean. They would have been tipping up, tipping down. It's a mess to the point that water is filling up the boat, and that boat would be bigger than the boat they would have had, and if you noticed, water would pour into it, and then you could see it pouring out the sides. I don't think they had that sweet setup, and so it also wouldn't have been as deep of a boat. They were in a mess.
Now we're going to keep reading, and we'll see that it absolutely is a mess, and I'll be able to prove it to you in just one second. Verse 25. And they went and woke him, woke Jesus, saying, Save us, Lord, we are perishing. Save us, Lord, we are perishing. Now, a couple of things are at play there. I think it's helpful for us to understand.
One, we see as the story plays out that they did not really expect him to be able to save them the way that he does. So, hey, if I ruined it for you, he does save them. But they're surprised when he does. They went to him, waking him up, because they had reached the point that the only plan they had was, wake the holy man, maybe he can talk to God for us. The best plan they had. And I can tell you, there was a lot in between the storm rolling in and that moment, because they waited until it was almost over.
They woke him up and said, Hey, hate to wake you up, but you're about to die. We're all going to die. Sorry to bother you with this news. The boat is sinking. There were four fishermen on the boat. We don't have many disciples were on the boat at this point, but we know that four of them were fishermen.
Peter and Andrew, James and John. When it first started, they didn't go, Oh, a storm's rolling in. Wake up Jesus. If someone had said, should we wake up Jesus? I feel that one of the four of them, it's not in here, but I think given how life works, one of them would have said, why? What does he know about boats?
We got this. That when it first started, they were just doing what they did. Steering the ship. Yelling out boat things to each other. That if you were a disciple on the boat and you weren't used to being on boats, you would have had to find a way to get out of the way and hold on to the side. You probably were praying, but they're, they're going back and forth and they're saying, batten the hatches, hoist the jib, scuttle the brisket, you know, boat stuff.
But they would have been yelling back and forth to each other. And at some point, they would have felt like, we got this. We've been in this kind of thing before. And then there would have been at times where if you were paying attention and you were looking at their faces, you would have realized that without so many words, they quit saying good things to each other and they started looking at each other. That Peter and Andrew, who were brothers, looked at each other like, I think we're going to die. That at some point, they reached the place where they said, we've just got to wake up Jesus.
Tell him we're going to die. Ask him to save us and see what happens. Because we've gotten beyond our ability. It's tipping down. Waves are coming. This wave's rolling and you're thinking, maybe this is the last one.
Maybe this is the one that flips us over. Maybe we can, and at some point, they're no longer in control and they know that they're very small and very weak and in over their heads. And it was clear to them to the point that they go run to Jesus and just say, save us. Not even really knowing what he can do, but just, they've reached the point where the best chance they got is, somebody pray and we think he's got the direct line, best chance of getting through. Now, pause this story for a second. This is a real actual story that happened with them out on water, but for us, I connect with that.
If I was one of the disciples, my first reaction wouldn't have been a little storm rolling in and thought, yeah, I just talked to Jesus about it. Easy. I'd have been doing what I, oh no, I got this. I can handle this. I'll put my head down. I'll get to work.
We got this. We don't have to worry. We're fine. I might have said a prayer along the lines of, Lord, help me got this. Help me be great. But that, that'd have been it.
They were just working to accomplish what they could do. What was it? And some of you feel that. Some of you know that right now. You're, you're, this makes sense to you. You're in a midst of chaos, brokenness.
You're looking at life going, I don't know which one, which wave comes. It's finally going to sink this ship, but I, maybe this one, maybe that one, it's coming. And you've already done all the things that you could think to do. That's what you went for first. You had the conversations. Maybe you saw a counselor.
Maybe you've gotten on some medication. Maybe you've tried to work it out with the situation with your children or with your finances or with work or with your boss or with your mental state. And you, you've tried to make the changes and do what you possibly could and none of it seems to be working. And with each thing we try, we get more desperate and more fearful. And then, at first, maybe we were hopeful we can handle this. We just do a few things and then slowly we try another thing and we try another thing and we try something else and eventually it starts going, I don't have anything else to try.
I don't know what else to do here. And maybe you've reached this point where all you're doing is trying to rouse Jesus. Let's see what happens. So they went to him and they woke him saying, Save us, Lord. We are perishing. And he said to them, Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?
I have a problem where when I think things, a lot of times it just is immediately translated on my face. So there are times where I look at people like, just when they say something, and I have a feeling that the disciples at times had to look at Jesus like, And this feels like one of those. Like Jesus says things and sometimes in church we go, Oh yes, Jesus. But it's like you woke him up. The boat's tipping. You got in the little hole.
You're smacking your head on things. Water's rushing in. And you said, Wake up. We're about to drown. And he says, Why are you afraid? And it's like, What?
Because I'm drownable. Like it feels like, it's like, What is that response? What is Jesus getting at? Don't you think they just looked at him like, What? Why are you afraid of you of little faith? So what Jesus is saying is that fear and faith are opposed to one another.
That the way they approached him was fear. They were shook. They didn't approach him like he was big and good and holy and capable. They approached him at the end of their rope terrified. They didn't have faith because he was their last chance. Last ditch effort.
Well, let's try Jesus. All the good plans have fallen through. And so he's saying that this fear in the midst of chaos and things that none of us, none of us would look at this situation and say, chickens. They shouldn't have been afraid. I wouldn't. If you told me you were out on a boat and it was getting swamped and it was shaking and you were terrified and you said, I was scared.
And I looked at you and said, I wouldn't be scared. You should stop being my friend because I'm the worst. But Jesus is calling them to something that sounds crazy. That in the midst of something that absolutely should be terrifying that no one would fault you for being scared. He says, why are you afraid? And he says, oh, you of little faith.
That if they'd approached him the way that the centurion approached him. See, the centurion came to him earlier in chapter 8 and said, I'm a man who's also under authority. Just say the word. Jesus said, I haven't seen faith like this. And he heals a paralytic without even having to go. He just says, go, he's healed.
And they didn't approach him thinking, you're capable, you can just say the word, we know you're in charge of everything. They approached him terrified saying, is there anything you can do? Help us. And he says, why are you afraid? Oh, you of little faith. But he doesn't just say that.
And I don't think he said it. The way I read this and the way I understand Jesus, I don't think he said it angrily as much as just a little bit like, why are y'all scared? Like, you don't understand? Why are you afraid? Oh, you of little faith. And then, look at this.
Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm. And the men marveled saying, what sort of man is this that even winds and sea obey him? The reason they didn't, you can know they didn't approach him in faith is that when he tells the winds and waves to stop and they stop, they said, what on earth just happened? If they didn't know he could do that, if they approached him like he was capable of it, then they would have been like, told you, knew it, thanks Jesus, you can go back to sleep. But that's not what they did.
They wake him up. He says, why are you afraid? Oh, you of little faith. The boat is rocking. Jesus is probably getting wet. He walks out and he fusses at.
That's the southern term for rebuke. He chewed out the winds and the waves. He says, Luke tells us, he says, peace be still. And if you ever watch like a Jesus cartoon, he says it like this, peace, be still. But that's not a rebuke.
Just so you know. Like, if your boss came to you and said, peace, be still, you wouldn't go home and go, I almost got fired today. Got fussed at. That's not how it works. He fusses at the weather like it's a misbehaving child. And then the weather obeys.
So there's this massive storm. Waves are rolling. Jesus rebukes it. And it stops. And it says there was a great calm. It uses the same word.
So it went from being a day that was a mega storm to mega calm. Like, awkwardly, aggressively calm. To where the boat probably was still having to like figure out like, oh, okay, we're okay now. But they were the only ones like putting ripples in the water. Wind stops. Waves stop.
And I'm assuming they stopped as like an epicenter from where Jesus says it and just flattened out. Like the only thing you could see in like a cartoon or something where it doesn't make any sense and the physics don't work but Jesus is in charge. So the waves and the wind just went whoop. And then the disciples are like, who is this? What kind of man is this that the winds and the waves obey him? You see, a holy man, a prophet would have asked God.
Holy men and prophets could speak on behalf of God if God told them something first. There are times where there's stuff going on and we'll see Elijah who's one of the best prophets ever. He gets down and he prays and he has to pray seven times. Jesus doesn't pray. He just tells the weather what to do. Don't, if you've heard this over and over again, don't add your little church filter to this.
This is crazy if you're on a boat with somebody who can do this. They knew he could heal but this is apparently in some absolutely different category. And it is, biblically. You see, the waves and the ocean and storms, these were good representations of chaos and evil completely outside of human control. If you're on ground, you have some ability to kind of control yourself unless there's like an earthquake and the ground opens up and swallows you like you've got some control but they understood when you got out on water you were losing some control. You had no real ability to handle.
That was the other thing they understood with weather. Like we have no ability to know when the weather's coming, what it's going to do. It's the same thing they understood with like wild beasts. And throughout the Old Testament we see that God is in charge of wild beasts and he's in charge of the weather and he's in charge of the ocean. And so when Jesus does this, the answer to the question is what kind of man is this is God. That's the kind of man.
A man who is also God. I'm going to read some from Psalms a couple different places and then we'll look at one together but I'm going to read a few. So Psalm 29 verses 3 and 10 says, The voice of the Lord is over the waters. The God of glory thunders the Lord over many waters. The Lord sits enthroned over the flood. The Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
It's God who's over the water. Psalm 93 says, The floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their roaring. Mightier than the thunder of many waters. Mightier than the waves of the sea.
The Lord on high is mighty. So the ocean is terrifying. The flood is terrifying. And Jesus is scarier. God is scarier. Proverbs 8, 27 through 29 this is wisdom speaking talking about being there at creation.
It says, When he established the heavens I was there. When he drew a circle on the face of the deep. When he made firm the skies above. When he established the fountains of the deep. When he assigned to the sea its limit so that the waters might not transgress his command. It says that God put the sea and drew a line.
Looked at the sea and said don't cross it. And the sea said yes sir. That's what Job 38 says. And Job there's a man named Job who's had a lot of calamity and trouble and pain in his life to where he begins to question God and ask him what's going on and God shows up and what God says is not here's why this happened. What God says is here's who I am. He says this in Job 38 8 through 11 he says who shut in the sea with the doors when it burst out of the womb when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors and thus said thus far shall you come and no farther and here shall your proud waves be stayed.
And doors and thus said thus far shall you come and no farther and here shall your proud waves be stayed. This is the God who controls the weather and that Jesus when he says peace be still when he rebukes the wind and the wave and it listens he is God. That's what the disciples would have seen that's what Psalm 107 this will be on the screen
I think it's a helpful picture of what they just went through and how the Old Testament talks about a similar situation it says some went down to the sea and ships doing business on the great waters they saw the deeds of the Lord his wondrous works in the deep for he commanded and raised the stormy wind which lifted up the waves of the sea they mounted up to heaven they went down to the depths their courage
Melted away in their evil plight they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits end then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress he made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were hushed I love that verse because that's what Jesus says peace be still hush
Hold your peace shut your mouth stop he hushes them and tells the waves to be still that's what God does here and that's what Jesus does there that he is God verse 30 then they went then they were glad that the waters were quiet and he brought them to their desired haven let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love for his wondrous works the children of man let them extol him in the congregation
Of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders Jesus controls the weather and the disciples are amazed Luke says they're terrified Luke says they were scared of the storm and then terrified of Jesus and that seems fair because he's now scarier than the storm if the ocean is scared of Jesus and you're scared of the ocean you should also
Be scared of Jesus that's how that works so they were like okay if he's in charge of this like this is crazy that he is this powerful that he commands even the weather so the Bible is showing us and Matthew is showing us that Jesus is not just God over sickness he's not just king over some brokenness on a human level but that he's actually the God over creation that he's over
Over chaos and the things that are completely outside of our control and Jesus says why are you afraid oh you of little faith basically if you knew who I was this conversation would not be so frantic now what happens if they're all on a boat with him again and a storm starts coming I would think at that point they would be like oh Jesus has this
Let him sleep let's wait until it gets kind of intense and then we'll just wake him up and ask him to control this like if you were about to go out to sea and it looked like it was going to storm and people were like it's a bad time to go I think the disciples would be like well is Jesus going to be on the boat because we'll be fine and if he's not going to be on the boat probably good point
We'll just stay over here because at that time they would begin to understand who he is and what he's capable of I think my approach would be different the next time if I understood who he was and what he was capable of and how much more for us if you belong to Jesus and know what he's done how much more has he done than show his power
In calming a storm how much more has he displayed his greatness and his trustworthiness how much more has he shown us what he's capable of that we might run to him and trust him and not be swallowed up in fear and doubt and anxiety because we are an anxious fearful people if right now
We had to list out all the things that could go wrong some of you without even being prompted do that on a regular basis just in your head are constantly running through nightmare scenarios of all the things that could fall apart and all the things that could possibly just unravel you feel this more acutely than others you feel this fear and doubt over your life over your finances
Over your health over the health of those around you over the relationships that you have some of you have a conversation with someone and it seems weird and then on your ride home or after you get off the phone you run through 15 scenarios of what possibly could be going on and how this relationship will fall apart and how you won't have friends anymore
And what they were actually thinking and we are fearful some of us have situations with our spouse or with our children and we're fearful some of us are in the midst of an actual terrible storm things have fallen apart the boat is being swamped and we keep asking the question is when is the next wave going to just
Roll us over when is this going to end and the only end we see is a terrible one and Jesus says in the face of that why are you afraid don't you know who I am why are you afraid don't you know how big I am and how good I am and how capable
I am why are you afraid why is your faith so small and I don't think he says it like he's fed up with you I think he's pleading with us why why are you acting like this why are you afraid there's some situations I have with my four year old
Where he's freaking out I'm trying to get him to do something and I'll look at him and say boy I'm your daddy I'm not going to hurt you I'm not out to get you I think I'm not I'm not afraid why are you afraid why do you keep acting
As if you're completely out of control and that you were the one who was in control in the first place part of the reason we're terrified is because we're trusting ourselves and yes you aren't very trustworthy if it's just you yeah let's be terrified but Jesus
Is saying have faith trust me grab your Bible go to Romans chapter 8 because our story if you know Jesus your story your anchor is better than just he can control the weather your hope is more firmly
Founded than just we saw him do this Romans 8 Paul is writing to the church and he's talking about this idea of us being fearful and problems and pain doubt and sin and everything that could absolutely swamp us
Verse 31 what should we say to these things if God is for us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but gave him up
For us all how will he not also with him graciously give us all things we're terrified we're terrified Paul's looking at us the way Jesus is
Looking at us saying take a deep breath catch your breath hold on a second if God is in the boat with us what who are you going to put outside of it if God is on this side of
The battlefield who are you putting on the other side that now we should all be afraid I'll give you a minute when you
Make a very good list ball it up throw it away it's garbage it cannot handle God and he says if he would not
Withhold his own son from us how will he not give us everything how is he not going to accomplish all that he's promised
If he's already given you his son if Christ has already bled and died for you what why are you afraid what's going to
Take that from you what's going to crush you what's going to destroy you what's going to win he keeps going he gives us
A list gives us two actually he says who shall bring any charge against God's elect it's God who justifies if God makes you right
If God pays for your sin if God redeems you if Jesus christ went and died in your place who's going to crush you who's going to destroy you who's going to
Cast you into hell who is to condemn christ Jesus is the one who died more than that who was raised who is at
The right hand of God who indeed certainly is interceding for us who shall separate us from the love of christ tribulation that's terrible
Horrible circumstances distress we don't use distress much take the dis off stress persecution famine nakedness danger sword as it is written for your sake we
Are being killed all the day long we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered no in all these things we are more than
Conquerors through him who loved us you are not more than a conqueror through you you are not more than a conqueror through the
People around you you are not more than a conqueror through your own work or your own ability or your own intelligence or your
Own morality you are more than conqueror through him if he's in the boat it's not going to tip up ultimately we will not
Be sunk we will not be swamped now I say ultimately because I gotta make something really clear here this does not mean for
Believers that we won't have storms it actually doesn't mean that for believers the boat will never be shipwrecked just read the book of Acts Paul
Was on a boat he goes to the centurion on the boat in the middle of a storm and he says hey I've got
Good news nobody's going to die but the ship is going to crash the reality is some of us will lose our jobs some
Of us will lose family members some of us our faith our health will fail some of us will have divorces some of us
Will have children that in an instant as we're passing through an intersection leave us some of us will get sick some of us
Our children will get sick some of us will not make it through the next year five years ten years and none of that
Will win none none of it none of it will conquer you because in Christ we conquer that our hope is held secure by
Him who rose from the grave that we can face anything and it will be painful and it will be devastating and there will
Be times where we're leaning into Jesus and just begging him help save redeem work and the answer in that moment will be no
Not in the way you want not in the way you've planned but he's good and he has us and we will not be
Conquered doesn't matter what it is it's the fall the most wonderful time of the year it's getting colder there's football the other day when
I got to put on one of my thicker flannel shirts I just stood in the mirror smiling at myself I watch football in
The fall one of the things that's stressful and frustrating about football is I don't know how the game is going to end I
Have a good guess I'm a Carolina fan there's been some times over the past couple years and especially more often when I lived at
Home with my parents because they had like a DVR thing that I would have to work or something and I would miss the game and I
Know some people it like ruins them to find out what's going to happen in the game but I would just keep up with it
And know and there were some games that I went into knowing that we won I knew and then I loved it when the other team
Started doing well I didn't mind it at all if I knew we were going to win and we were down by 24 points
In the fourth quarter I just knew I popped some popcorn this fourth quarter is about to be really good that's why I like
Some of the movies that I like some of the ones that are supposed to be really cliche type movies where the good guys
Win and culturally right now people are like that's boring that's not art it's like I don't care stack the odds against them and let them
Overcome I love that story you have conversations with some people who are like yes but I like movies where the bad guys win
Or where it's just really convoluted I am very intelligent and I like movies that are stupid but I'll say to him I don't like
That he goes but it's more real and I'm going to be honest with you that's not real for me because I belong to
Jesus the end isn't convoluted the bad guys don't win I am not conquered you can stack the odds however you want it can
Fall apart however you want it does not end with us shipwrecked if you belong to Jesus that is not your reality if you
Hold fast to Christ you will not be sunk let them throw whatever they want cancer death divorce let them run off let your
Finances fail go bankrupt we conquer he rules he reigns he rose he was dead and buried we have the phrase that put the
Nail in the coffin which means that was it it was over not for us Christians rise because Jesus rose and in Christ we
Conquer I don't care make a list make a list like Paul makes a list and then ask can this separate me from the
Love of Christ can it snatch me out of his hand can it overpower him will this destroy him is he weak in the
Face of this no never has never has been never will be he rebukes the waves and they stop and we can trust that
If we're in the middle of the storm he's not asleep because he doesn't care for us he's asleep because he's not afraid that
If he doesn't seem quick to run in in this moment it's not because he doesn't love you it's because he's not scared and
His response to them is the response to us why are you afraid just trust me why are you afraid just have faith and
The way we respond to this is we don't have faith in ourselves we don't have faith in our faith we don't say okay I'm
Going to be strong enough to believe well enough we just begin to look at him and to understand who he is and what
He's capable of grab your bible open it up and start reading about the God who told the ocean stop here and don't go
Any further and trust that he can do the same thing in your life read about the God who came to earth because he
Loved us so much that he died for your sin and rose again and then offers you his love and his life in you
And then trust understand him is big and good and holy and capable not you it's okay to be small it's okay to be weak when
He's going to pick us up and carry us through when he's the one who conquers not us in a minute we're going to take communion
Where we celebrate that Jesus Christ bled and died to save sinners and that in him you're okay and in him you might be
In the middle of something right now where you're just waiting for the next wave to actually swamp the boat and you think this
Will be the end of it and it will be over and in him you might be exhausted and fearful but in him hope
And there's life and there's a future and we can trust so in a moment you take a minute to pray to run to
Jesus not in fear but in faith talk to him about all that stands looming over you and threatens to destroy you and then
Come take communion celebrating that Jesus Christ is the one who died he's the one who rose and if God has given us his
Son how will he not graciously give us all things let's pray God we thank you that in you we have hope that you
Are big that you rule over the storm that whatever right now threatens to undo us you are sovereign over it you hold us
In your gracious hands and you hold the storm and it moves at your will and that we can trust you that if we
Placed our faith in the risen Christ we will not be conquered just as you will not be conquered in Jesus name Amen
The Cost of Discipleship
Transcript
It's good to see you all this morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab your Bible. Go to Matthew chapter 8. We're walking through the book of Matthew.
We're looking at the life of Jesus, specifically as told by one of his disciples, who is trying to present to us who Jesus is and why we ought to love him, serve him, follow him, believe in him. One of the things that happens a lot in movies and TV shows when there's a courtroom scene, specifically if that's one of the main things about the show is courtroom stuff, is that the lawyer that we're rooting for will have been doing poorly. It's not going well for him, you guys. It doesn't look like it's going to work out. And then all of a sudden, they have an idea, and they start asking questions that in some ways seem a little unrelated to the case.
So they start asking these questions, and eventually the defense lawyer, because it's usually a defense lawyer, stands up and says, Objection, Your Honor. What does this have to do with the case? He's badgering the witness. Other lawyer words. And the judge will say, I'll allow it, but you better be going somewhere. And our lawyer that we're rooting for says, I am your lawyer.
I am your honor. Thank you. And then they keep asking the questions, and then eventually they've asked question, question, question. Then all of a sudden, you think we're over here, and they walk over and go, Well, if that's true, then, and they present their case. And this happens in all the great law dramas of our age. Liar, liar, legally blonde, my cousin Vinny.
In some ways, that's what Matthew is doing in chapters 8 and 9. He's showing us something here. Saying, Look at this. Look at this. Look at this. And then he goes, If that's true.
And he walks through something that seems unrelated in some ways, and says, Then this. He does that three times. In chapters 8 and 9. We're going to look at the first kind of set of that. But I just want you to look at the headings first.
I usually don't like the headings. You know, the authors didn't write those in there. If you have a Bible that has the little headings, and the sections are broken up. The author didn't put that there. Other people who printed the Bible put that there to try to make it helpful. Sometimes it is.
Sometimes I disagree with the heading they gave it, and it's like, Why don't you just let the Bible speak for itself, and quit adding your own little thoughts in here. But we're going to use them today. So, if you'll look, it's, Jesus cleanses a leper, the faith of a centurion, Jesus heals many, the cost of following Jesus. That's what we're going to look at today. But then he does it again.
Jesus calms a storm. Jesus heals two men with demons. Jesus heals a paralytic. Jesus calls Matthew. And then there's this question of fasting that's connected to that. And then it does it again.
Girl restored to life. Jesus heals two blind men. Jesus heals a man unable to speak. Harvest is plentiful. Labor is few. And then it goes into this whole discipleship thing.
So he goes, Miracle, miracle, miracle, following Jesus, discipleship. Miracle, miracle, miracle, following Jesus, discipleship. Miracle, miracle, miracle, following Jesus, discipleship. So he's saying, notice these miracles, but his point is over here. So that's what we're going to look at today.
We're going to look at the first three, but then we're going to come back through and go, okay, but here's his point. Y'all ready for that? Doesn't matter. We're going to do it anyway. Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for how good you are. that you are powerful. You do perform miracles and that we can know you and relate to you and have hope in you. So we pray that you would, through your Holy Spirit, help us to understand your word, to believe it and to follow you. In Jesus name. Amen.
Matthew chapter eight, verse one, when he came down from the mountain. So he had just been giving the sermon on the mount, teaching about what the kingdom would look like. And now he's going to begin to kind of apply that and press the kingdom into the world around him. So he says, when he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him and behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him. Okay. So this is our first story is a leper.
This first picture that Matthew's giving us about Jesus's miraculous power, his authority is this interaction with a leper. Now a leper was anyone who had a skin disease that was contagious. So there's an actual disease we call leprosy, but this also, the term here would have included other skin diseases that were contagious. And skin diseases are painful and awful. They just are. They can be debilitating.
What would have happened here for this person to actually be called a leper meant that they, not only did he have this skin disease, but he was actually kind of included in this group in society. And that was very painful and problematic. So let's, let's talk first about the ailment. He would have had a skin disease that was growing or continuous or contagious, would have had open sores. If it was leprosy, would have slowly began to lose his limbs, would have lost feeling in toes and fingers and extremities like nose, ears can fall off, would have potentially had his skin turn white, would have potentially had open sores.
If you've ever had just really bad sunburn, and think about how much that affected you and how much it hurt and was awful, and you worked to try to get rid of it. For anybody who's had continuous skin issues, it's painful and hurtful. But in their culture, it was beyond that because they didn't have good ways to treat it. And they knew it was contagious. They removed lepers from society. So this is Leviticus 13.
This was the law for those suffering with leprosy. It says, The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose. And he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, Unclean, unclean. He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone.
His dwelling shall be outside the camp. He shall live alone. You lived alone or with other lepers. You wore torn clothing. You were to make your hair look disheveled. And if that didn't work, you were to yell out, Unclean, unclean.
You remember in middle school, when you got a really big pimple on your face and you felt like it would glow in the dark? This doesn't have to just be middle school. This still happens to us as adults. I would pull out a pocket knife and cut my face. I'd rather have like a cut on my face and make up some story than walk around with some giant... Like it's a thing that we feel like people just notice and see.
It hurts us to have just some kind of skin thing. You ever spill something on your shirt? Like I spill stuff on myself periodically and I think, well, I'm announcing to the world that I'm an idiot today. Or, like I'll go out of my way to like go get a new shirt, change my shirt, get my wife to bring me one or something because it's like... And you feel like it's obvious. Leprosy was in their skin.
And they had to yell out, unclean, unclean, that they were marked by this. Separate from the rest of the world. Not only was it physically debilitating, it was socially, emotionally. You can even add in spiritually that you'd be wondering why the Lord had done this. Were you hated by God? You were cast out.
And so this leper pushes his way into a crowd. I don't know if he was yelling unclean the whole time. You ever have a hard time pushing your way into a crowd? Start yelling unclean as you walk through it. I bet people will be like, I don't know what that means, but I'm going to just back up. Makes it all the way up to Jesus and says this, Lord, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.
Knelt before him. So potentially this was very painful for the leper. We don't know, but maybe he had had open sores on his leg. Knelt before Jesus and says, if you will, you can make me clean. And that is the opposite of the way we usually say that. We usually say, if you can, will you?
If you can do this, will you? He doesn't say that. He says, if you will, you can. I know who you are. I know what you're capable of. And if you're willing, you can do this.
That's actually a really good way to pray. Lord, you can do this. I'm just asking, will you? Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. The way that's written in the Greek is to make it, it's similar to the way it's written out in the English here. That stretched out his hand is to make that moment last a while.
It's to show how much this happens. So this guy kneels before Jesus. He's a leper. He is unclean, potentially contagious. If you touch him, you become unclean. And Jesus did something that potentially got an audible gasp from everybody in the crowd because he reaches out his hand and touches him.
Which if he's a teacher, he, he ought to know not to do. It's potentially the first time this leper has been touched in who knows how long. Jesus touches him. I will be clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. If Jesus touching him didn't get a gasp, this did.
There's a story in 2 Kings where a guy named Naaman interacts with a guy named Elisha. And Elisha tells him to go wash himself in a river seven times. And it says when he came out, his skin was like a baby's skin. My guess would be this was a similar process. This guy could have starred in a little commercial with how supple and beautiful his skin just became. For those of you who've had braces, you remember when you had them taken off?
And so you licked your teeth like a weirdo? Because they felt so smooth and amazing. I bet this guy was just walking around like rubbing himself. Like you guys feel this. See how nice he felt. Can you imagine when he got to go back and be in society again?
He got to walk into a market. He didn't have to yell unclean. I bet when he came around the corner sometimes and he's startled, there was this reaction to almost yell out unclean because he was used to having to do that when he saw people. And he was like, Oh, no, not anymore. Actually, instead of unclean, you want to hug? When he got to go be back around family, like Jesus just heals him.
Jesus says this, see that you say nothing to anyone. That's a little sad because if I was a leper and then I wasn't a leper, like I, I'm not, I don't even play for the Gamecocks. I want to talk to you all about the Georgia game because it's just such great news. It's wonderful. But if you were a leper and Jesus healed you, you'd want to tell everybody, but he says, don't do that.
Go, show yourself to the priests and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a proof to them. So there was this process when you were unclean, you went to the priest, they would check and see if you had leprosy, they would declare that you had leprosy and you'd have to go on. And there was a process for when your leprosy had kind of run its course, you could go back to the priests and they could declare you clean and there would be this process of sacrifices that you would do. He says, go do that. Again, upholding the law, not getting rid of it. And Jesus says, go practice what you're supposed to practice and be brought back into society.
So Jesus takes someone who was the lowest of the low, cast completely out, was not welcome, was unclean, was marked by this, covered by it, felt it in their skin painfully in any way that you would look at it, emotionally, physically, socially. Jesus heals him. And then Matthew just moves on. He's going to tell us another story. So the second picture he's going to give us is this story about him interacting with a centurion and healing the centurion's servant.
So he says this, when he had entered Capernaum, so he came down from the mountain, met a leper outside of the city where the leper was supposed to be. And then he went into the city. When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly. And he said, I will come and heal him. So the centurion comes.
Now a centurion was a Roman officer. The Romans were occupying Israel, which was the land that God had given to his people. The Romans had conquered them. They were occupying them. He was not well liked. He was powerful, but he would not have been well liked or well received among Jewish people.
Not only was he a Gentile, which they weren't supposed to eat with, weren't supposed to interact with, weren't supposed to have at their home. He was a Gentile, which meant he was unclean and he could make Jewish people unclean so they would have avoided him. But he wasn't just a Gentile. He was a centurion, which was a person of power who would quell rebellions, who had authority over the Jewish people, which they didn't feel like was a just or right authority. And he's a powerful person, but he comes to Jesus. And in Roman society, he was highly, would have been highly looked up to, well off, wealthy.
So Jesus interacts with someone very low and someone very high, back to back, even though the Jewish people would not have appreciated or liked the centurion as a centurion, although this one, we find out in other gospels, is an okay guy and has done, is fairly well received among Jewish people-ish. So he said, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering terribly. So it would seem like the servant was able-bodied at some point. He would have to have been. And we don't know if he got a disease that slowly debilitated into being paralyzed or if he had an accident. It was just some sort of physical calamity.
He fell off a roof. He got run over by a wagon, crushed by a rock. We don't know, but he's suffering. So now he's paralyzed. Feet are crushed. Legs are crushed.
They aren't working. He's got some kind of disease. He can't move, but he's in pain. So the centurion comes, shows love for his servant and says, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering terribly. Jesus said to him, I will come and heal him, which is interesting because as a Jewish person, he shouldn't go to a Gentile's house, but he says he will because he's Jesus and he does what he wants. And the centurion replied, Lord, I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed.
For I too am a man under authority with soldiers under me and I say to one, go and he goes and to another, come and he comes and to my servant, do this and he does it. He comes and says, my servant's suffering. Jesus says, I'll come with you. And then he has the audacity to say, no, no, no, no, no. Like if you did this and Jesus said, I'll come, I'd just be like, sounds great, let's go. He says, no, I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof.
He lowers himself, he humbles himself and then he says, he not only humbles himself, he exalts Jesus. He says, look, I know what it's like to be in charge. I tell someone to go, they go. I tell them to come, they come. I tell them to do this, they do it. All you have to do is say the word.
This is, this is beautiful understanding on the centurion's part as to who he's talking to. That's the way Jesus responds. He says, when Jesus heard this, this is verse 10, he marveled and said to those who followed him, truly I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. he looks at the people with him and says, hey, this Gentile gets it. Y'all see this centurion that y'all dislike? He knows who I am. He's the first person who's talked to me like I'm in charge of everything.
Bingo, 1,000 points to the Gentiles. Like he, he said, I hadn't seen this. The Jewish people don't, don't understand. I hadn't seen this in Israel because what you would usually think with someone who heals and performs miracles is that they are close to God and they are a conduit for God's power, God's authority, that they work in submission to God and that he runs his power and authority through the conduit, which means he's got to be there. He's got to touch. He's got to do whatever for God to work his authority through it.
But the Gentile says, you're not a conduit. You're in charge of everything. We've been working to try to get a power pole moved. We've been making some phone calls trying to see if we can get a power pole moved potentially. And as we've made these phone calls, if we got a hold of the person who is absolutely in charge of dominion, as high as you could go up, when we talked to him, we would say, will you say the word and have this moved? Not, get in your truck and come move this power pole.
Because they don't move the power pole. They're in charge. Someone else moves the power pole who gets paid hourly or whatever. Like they, they get to make a phone call and that's what he says. You're in charge. Just say the word.
And Jesus goes, he says he marveled. It's the only time that says this about Jesus. Jesus' mouth popped open. He said, all right. Nobody else understands that. You're the first person who's acted like you know who I am.
Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. Gentiles are going to understand this. Gentiles are going to make it to the kingdom. But those who should understand this, the Jewish people will be cast out.
That's what he says. In that place, out in the outer darkness, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And to the centurion, Jesus said, go, let it be done for you as you have believed. And the servant was healed at that very moment. All right.
The Bible doesn't say this. But let's just for a second think about that servant. Paralyzed, suffering greatly, in a lot of pain. Maybe he was told the centurion is going to go see if he can find this person to heal you. The centurion's going to go get help. And you would be thinking, hopefully he does that.
You would be honored that the centurion cared enough about you to do that, that he would humble himself to him, run an errand and go try to do this for you, that he was going to try to find help. But you'd be waiting for the healer to show up. And then, while you are suffering greatly, laid up somewhere, in excruciating pain, and your legs do not work, immediately, instantaneously, you're better. Now, I feel like if that were me, I was laying in excruciating pain, and suddenly, all the pain was gone. I would be like, oh, I'm dead. I just died.
That's the only way that works. Like, you can slowly, gradually have pain get better. You can shift, and maybe it gets a little lessened. You can take some medicine, and then over time, realize it's not as bad as it was earlier, but we don't have instantaneous, amazing fixes. But you'd have been like, maybe you just wiggled your toes.
You'd have gotten out of your bed. You'd have looked back and seen if your body was still there, because you don't know how this works. You've never died before. You'd walk into the other room. Everyone would look shocked to see you, and you'd be, that's either because I'm walking or I'm a ghost. Can you imagine?
Do you know who met the centurion when he came walking back to his house? I'm guessing this guy. Maybe the first chest bump in unrecorded history as he celebrated that his legs work again. Again, all that was made up, but it was an instantaneous healing of a paralytic and Jesus has displayed his power. Next story. When Jesus entered Peter's house, so when outside the city, inside the city, now inside a home, he saw his mother-in-law laying sick with a fever and he touched her hand and the fever left her and she rose and began to serve him. that evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick and this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah.
He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. So the third picture that Matthew gives us is that he heals Peter's mother-in-law who's laying in bed sick with a fever and having healed somebody from leprosy and having healed somebody from being paralyzed. This one feels a little more trivial but isn't that good that Jesus works in the normal regular sick? We don't know how feverish she was. Maybe she was really bad off but he walks in, he touches her hand, she's fine and goes and starts cooking. That's the way that served reads it.
It seems like it includes food. Maybe I'm just reading that in there because that sounds great. She goes and begins to serve and she's healed and then it says he sits there the rest of the evening and he heals. Anybody who's brought to him, he casts out demons we're going to talk more about that but we believe that there are evil spiritual forces that actually harm people and that Jesus is in charge of them. He casts out demons and he heals all who are sick and then Matthew says he did this, this is the point, he did this to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.
Alright, so Matthew said this story, this story, this story. We're going to go back and I want to point out something that Matthew, that has happened in all these stories that has been included as we've walked through and then where Matthew takes this when he begins to talk about following Jesus. So let's look at the leper. Jesus has this interaction with the leper and then he tells him, go practice the sacrifice, not only have I healed you, but go practice the sacrifice, go to the priest and walk through what they tell you. Well in Leviticus 13 it tells us, here's what you do with a leper and in Leviticus 14 it says, here's what you do with a leper when he's no longer a leper and what they do is, they show up, he has to get two birds, some scarlet yarn and some hyssop, they kill one of the birds, then they cover the other one with the blood and the hyssop and they tie the yarn to it and they set that one free.
One of them is a sacrifice that dies, one of them is a sacrifice that carries the uncleanness away. This is the same thing, same type of practice that they do on the Day of Atonement. It's actually what Jesus does for us that he dies for our sin to atone for our sin to pay for our brokenness and our iniquity and he rises from the dead and carries our sin away. So what Jesus tells this leper is it's not just, what Matthew's showing us is it's not just this physical thing that happens but this also connects to what Jesus is ultimately going to do. So in this story of the leper we see sacrifice.
The next day, the next week, you can go ahead and show that, the next week, this comes into the story, the next week, they would have come back and actually had a sacrifice to atone for sin. So it's not just that he's healed physically but that Jesus cures us and makes us clean. Not physically, not just physically, but spiritually. That he went from being unclean to clean because he met and interacted with Jesus. So they would have sacrificed the two birds, they would have waited the week, then they would have had a sacrifice of a lamb to atone for sin.
The second story is of this interaction with the centurion. Centurion comes, he shows faith, says, when Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, truly I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. So what overshadows this, what is inserted into this, what Jesus even kind of changes the subject from healing to this meal in the kingdom. That Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are in the kingdom and that the Jewish people would have thought, okay, when I die, I get to go join them at the table.
And what Jesus says is centurions will be sitting at that table. People from the east and from the west will be sitting at that table. But there will be people because of a lack of faith who should have been there who won't. The sons of the kingdom who were supposed to share in that meal will be cast out. Jesus takes what would be just a physical thing and he brings it all the way into the kingdom. And he says they'll be cast out into utter darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Do y'all believe what Jesus believes? That there is an eternity for those who have faith and trust Jesus and know who he is where you share in all the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob where you're gathered around the table and that there's an eternity for those who do not see him for who he is, do not understand who he is where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, where there is heartbrokenness and bitterness and pain so much so that people are grinding their teeth. So Jesus takes what we would want to make just a story about how, look at how he heals and he pulls it all the way into the kingdom and says, I'm telling you, this is what it's about. And the third story, Matthew ends by quoting Isaiah 53, 17.
This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. So Isaiah 53 says this. This is the one that he's translated. Again, Matthew knows Hebrew so he just translates it into Greek as he's writing this. It says, Surely he has borne our griefs.
That's what he translates took our illnesses. And he has borne our diseases. He's carried our sorrows and that's what he translates bore our diseases. So you can translate borne our griefs and carried our sorrows the way that Matthew translates it. It's a perfectly fine translation. He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.
And what Matthew's doing is he's kind of stradding the line for us. He's saying, Matthew uses real physical terms, diseases, illnesses. But when we translate Isaiah 53 because of the way it goes, it keeps going into further, it talks about sin and iniquity and the spiritual things. And so we just translated a perfectly fine way to translate it, which is griefs and sorrow. And what Matthew's doing is he's saying, this Isaiah 53, this suffering servant is who Jesus is. That when he heals people, it's to show you that he's this servant who has come to not just carry away physical things, but ultimately what that continues to say, which is spiritual things.
We esteemed him stricken and smitten by God and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
All our sin has been placed on Jesus that he keeps going in that passage and talks about him as being like a sheep led to slaughter, that he is this sacrifice that will take our sin and our uncleanness and he will bring us in and make us okay that he'll give us his righteousness. So Matthew is saying, do you see what he does when he interacts with people on earth? Guess what? He's going to do that at a cosmic, eternal level. He is this servant, this king. We would be tempted when it says he took our illnesses and bore our diseases in verse 17.
We would be tempted to think that just means that he took them away, he sent them away, but it says he bore them, he carried them. It means that Jesus took all this on to himself. So you have this picture of the sick mother and in front of it Matthew puts the suffering servant. He says, this is what this is about. This is who Jesus is. This is what he has come to accomplish.
That our sin would be placed on him, that it wouldn't just be our physical things that he takes away. And then Matthew does something that again, when you read this whole chapter, it's miracle, miracle, miracle, following Jesus, miracle, miracle, miracle, following Jesus, miracle, miracle, miracle, following Jesus. So he goes from this to following Jesus because he's about to say, your honor, I'm about to make my point. Verse 18. Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side and a scribe came up and said to him, teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.
All right. Scribes were people who knew how to read and write. They would have studied the law. They would have known the law. They would have helped interpret the law. They were well thought of.
They were in a higher social class. So if you moved out of the way for a leper, you might also move out of the way for a scribe, but for completely different reasons. The scribe comes up to him. Jesus is telling him, hey, we're going to get on boats and leave. And the scribe says, teacher, rabbi, I'll go with you where you're going. sweet. Sounds nice.
Jesus has been recruiting disciples so far. He's only got some fishermen. Scribe sounds good. Here's what Jesus says. Foxes have holes. Birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.
That's it. The next verse is another disciple as he changes the story to something else, another interaction that Jesus has. Maybe that response makes perfect sense to you. I'm a little confused by it. I had to look at it a bunch. Scribe comes and says, I'll follow you wherever you go, which is what you think that Jesus wants people to say to him.
That's an appropriate response. We would encourage that from this stage. Follow Jesus. You should do that. If someone came down at the end and said, I want to follow Jesus wherever he goes, I think we would say, that sounds great. Not.
Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Now go think on that and go sit back down. Answer me these questions three. Like it sounds like a riddle. Like what has happened here? But I think because Jesus can see into our hearts, you see this scribe, it seems as if he comes up and his hope is that by following Jesus, he will advance.
He sees this big crowd. Here's a good teacher. I'll come and this will be a good new promotion in life for me. And Jesus looks at him and cuts right through it. He says, buddy, foxes and birds are better off than I am. I'm about to go sleep on a rock.
You want to come? There is no advancement or promotion that way. There is no greater wealth that way. You get on that boat, things aren't great. It gets harder from here, not easier. It gets worse, not nicer.
You want to come be homeless? Let's roll. It's aggressive. He cuts right to, I think, the heart of the issue with this scribe. He keeps going. And another disciple, this is someone who would have been trying to follow him or has been following him, said to him, Lord, let me first go and bury my father.
Seems like a really, genuinely, perfectly fine request. Now, there's some debate. I'm going to explain the debate real quick and then I'm going to tell you why I don't think it really matters. Some people say, that means his father just died and he's got 24 hours to bury him as is Jewish custom. So he's saying, I'm going to come to the other side but let me go bury my father.
Some people think that it's just a phrase they use which means, I'll follow you as soon as my dad passes and I can handle all of that. So basically, let me tend to my father as he ages, handle all of that, make sure I get the inheritance set up, make sure all that works out and then, I'll follow you. Here's Jesus' response. Jesus said to him, follow me and leave the dead to bury their own dead. Now, I would like to think that it's just kind of in the excuse realm of like, let me tend to my dad as he ages and the reason I would like to think that is because Jesus' response is very aggressive because if this man just came up and said, my dad just passed, may I bury him and Jesus said, no, get on the boat.
It feels like that's harsh but I think Jesus is doing the same thing with the scribe that he's doing with this guy and that's why I think it doesn't really matter. I think Jesus is cutting to the heart of the issue and proclaiming his supremacy in both instances. We want to look at this. We want to look at these stories. We want to look at the story of the rich young ruler and we want to ask the question. Rich young ruler, Jesus interacts with a guy who's super rich.
Jesus tells him, sell everything you have and he says the guy went away sad because he was really rich. And we ask, wait, does that mean I have to sell everything I have in order to follow Jesus? We read this one and go, does that mean we're supposed to all be homeless? Like I've got to live worse than birds? We read this and go, does this mean we can't tend to our parents or bury them? It's wrong for Christians to go to funerals?
No, I don't think so. I don't think that's what Jesus is teaching because I don't think he directly ever teaches that. I actually think it's not that bad. I think it's way, way, way, way worse. Because I think that whatever you most value, most treasure, whatever it is that you would put in between you and Jesus and say, Jesus, I'll follow you if this gets to happen or Jesus, I'll follow you as soon as I get to take care of this. That's the thing that Jesus is going to look at and say, maybe not.
How about no? How about instead of coming to me with conditions, you just understand who I am and realize it's worth it. How about you actually, if you had your eyes open, saw that I can banish leprosy because I'm going to take it down to myself, saw that I can heal a paralytic without even going over there, explain to you that there is a kingdom where there will be a table set where those who have faith will be welcome no matter where they come from or who they are. And there is a kingdom where outside of it is darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth. There is a kingdom where those who are in are welcome and joyous and there is an eternity for those who do not understand who I am where they will be crushed and it will be overwhelmingly painful and dark.
How about you understand that I'm the one who came to take away sin and iniquity, to die, to redeem your soul and how about instead of coming to me with conditions, you just come. I think Matthew tells us these stories and says, look at who Jesus is and then he goes, so, are you going to follow him or is it only under the condition that it works out well for you? Are you going to follow him but just as soon as? You know, I really feel called to this but I'm going to have to wait until my kids get out of school. You know, I'd really love to be that generous. I really would, Jesus.
I would do that but I really just got to take care of this first. God, as soon, you know, I would sell everything, I would give up everything but my dad really expects me to take over this business. He really wants me to handle this and you know, I'm not supposed to dishonor him and Jesus just says, how about you just follow me and understand who I am? We don't know how they responded because that's not the point. The point is, how are you going to respond? You're not in charge of them.
You won't be held accountable for whether or not Jesus' response to them affected what they did and what they didn't do. You'll be held accountable for what you do or don't do. You're not in charge of their excuses. You're in charge of yours. You're not in charge of the responses of people in general in America or the people that hang out in your group. You're in charge of yours.
Some of you have something right now that you're saying, I really would follow Jesus but I'm going to have to be able to keep this. You know what Jesus' response to that is? No follow. Deal's off. No negotiating. Do you know why?
He loves us. He dies for our sin. He takes away our leprosy. He heals us from our inability to heal ourselves. He welcomes all those who just trust Him and He loves us enough to not let us have the stupid thing that would get in the way. Do not sit in here and believe that Jesus is the God who can get rid of leprosy, who's the King of the kingdom that welcomes people for eternity.
Don't sit in here and believe that He can banish paralytic, He can heal a paralytic at a word. That He's the one that takes away sin and then let something temporary and small or the opinions of someone else keep you from being hell-bent on following Him. Do not let something get in the way. There's some of you in this room who need to become a Christian and you need to do it right now. You need to repent of sin and you need to run to Jesus faster than you've ever run to anything else, to anyone else and you need to say save my soul. No conditions.
Take it all away. Give me everything. Give me nothing. I don't care. Give me you. You don't need to walk to Jesus and say I'll follow you if.
You just need to run to Jesus and say I'm yours and actually begin to follow. There's some people in this room who you say I am a Christian. You would be listed as the one that says a disciple said to Him. So you'd say I'm a disciple. Okay, well they're here. A disciple said to Him let me do this then.
Jesus said no. There's some of us in this room who are disciples who need to go to Jesus and just lay the thing down. What is it? What are you holding on to? What are you frustrated with Him about? What do you think He ought to give you?
What do you think He owes you? He owes you nothing. He's died for you. He's given everything. Everything that you own now belongs to Him. There's some of you now who need to give up fear and become missionaries.
You need to begin to pursue your co-workers and your classmates and your neighbors. There's some of you in here now who need to let go of your wallets who need to let go of your time. There's some of you in here now who need to let go of your children. Keep parenting. Sure. But Jesus doesn't owe you anything when it comes to them.
He's given you everything when He died on the cross. There's some of you that need to let go of your spouse and let them be a sinner that you're married to and not your savior and your hero and the person that you have to do everything for and that everything has to work out in order for you to continue to trust Jesus. We've got to lay it down and just walk to Him and say, clean slate, I'm yours. He's good. And He's better than everything else. And if He wants to take away your sickness, if He wants to take away the pain, if He wants to fix it, He can say the word.
But sometimes He doesn't want to. If He will, He can. Sometimes He just wants you and you just don't get to set the terms. Some of you need to be group leaders. Some of you need to go into full-time ministry. Some of you need to plant churches.
Some of you have been called to be missionaries and you need to go. There's some people who are supposed to be missionaries in Columbia, South Carolina. There's some people who are supposed to be missionaries where they work right now. But some of y'all have been told to go to another country where you don't know the language and you don't know the people and you're supposed to go and sleep outside and you need to go. Don't stay here another year if you're supposed to go. If you're supposed to be a part of a church plant, go.
If you're supposed to submit to the call to not make any money and go be a pastor or go be whatever, go do it. If you're supposed to lead a group, go do it. If you're supposed to be committed to your group and you're supposed to win, you say you're going to bring some food, bring some food and quit making excuses and have your wallet and your heart open, do it. But don't sit with something in the way. He's too good and he genuinely saves sinners and he really can banish leprosy and he can make it to where we can walk and he can give us hope and he can give us life but he died for us and he owes us nothing.
And Lord, help us if we let something silly stand in the way and then we're out where we're weeping and gnashing our teeth and Lord, help us if we let our neighbors go somewhere where they weep and gnash teeth and we never told them anything. God, forgive us. In a minute, we're going to take communion where we celebrate that we actually believe that Jesus died for sinners and his blood was shed for us and his body was broken for us and we need to really genuinely consider is there something that is keeping us from actually following Jesus and repent and then take communion because we're free and forgiven for all those who will run to him and place faith. That centurion didn't know the law.
He didn't have anything to offer. That leper didn't have anything to offer. That paralytic wasn't even there. But we need to walk up and just say, Jesus, I trust you. Help me and be forgiven and free. Where you are, pray.
Ask the Lord to help you see it. Ask the Holy Spirit to show it to you. Repent. And then let's take communion as people who are redeemed by Christ, saved from our sin and our brokenness and given hope in him. Let's pray.
Lord, help us to follow you. Too often we put something in the way. We say we see what you're capable of and who you are that we understand your glory and your goodness and then we let something so small stand in the way of us just following. We ask for your help. Your Holy Spirit would empower our obedience. May we trust you and know who you are.
And God, if there are people in this room who have never surrendered to you that are standing far off, may they see that you die for sinners, that you love them, that you welcome them, that you are the king and that only you will sit on the throne. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Sermon on the Mount - Part 2
Transcript
Well, it's good to see you all this morning. As Raz said earlier, as we've continued this conversation with the First Baptist Church of Casey, they approached us a while back about what it would look like if we merged, if basically our leadership kind of came over there and we became one congregation. And so as we've continued that process, they'll be voting. And sometime this fall, probably, on whether or not they feel like the Lord's leading in that. And so today we are trying to help them kind of understand what we look like and how we go about things. And we wanted to kind of put our best foot forward.
We're going to be preaching over there this morning, and we wanted that to go really well. So I'm here. Grab your Bibles. Go to Matthew chapter 5. We are in the Gospel of Matthew, and we are walking verse by verse through the Gospel of Matthew. And as we have gotten to the Sermon on the Mount, we are approaching this a little bit differently.
We taught through the entire Sermon on the Mount at the beginning of 2017, I believe. All that's online if you want to study any of this in particular. But we're just taking two weeks to kind of get a big overview, try to understand how this fits in this Gospel and what Jesus is communicating. And so Spencer walked us through last week about the weighty version of this, that if we're standing looking toward salvation, and if this is the price of righteousness, this is the standard for righteousness, then none of us make it out alive. I sitting over there last week was just overwhelmed by how sinful I am and how much I fall short when it comes to what Jesus is calling us to.
And then Spencer got there and he said, yes, this bears down on us, but Jesus Christ fulfilled the law on our behalf. And he accomplished this through his work and so that we have hope in him. And so we're going to approach this a little bit differently today. We're going to read back through it from a different vantage point. One of the things that I appreciate about different cultures is how they think about the world, how they approach things differently. There's a lot of different etiquette.
You don't realize where you're from, the home you grow up in, the place you live, your nation of origin does a lot to tell you about how to think about the world. It does a lot to tell you how we're going to approach this. You're just kind of given this culturally. It's trained in you. This is how we think about this. This is how we'll act.
It shows up in small things like etiquette. You take classes where you try to learn like which fork am I supposed to use and how am I supposed to, what do I do to be respectful? So there's some cultures where in order to be respectful, when you show up, you better take your shoes off before you go in their home. It's very disrespectful not to. There are other cultures where they don't think about your shoes at all, but you better take your hat off. There are other cultures where it swaps around depending on how you greet each other.
There's just a lot of different things. I was asking Phoebe Garcia. She's from the Philippines, and she used to not be a Garcia. That kind of gives it away. Her last name used to be Smith. It's a very Filipino name.
She's from the Philippines, and I was asking her what some of the cultural differences were. She said one of them was when an adult entered a room or showed up, everybody had to greet them by kissing them. You'd go kind of kiss cheek to cheek. And so she said she'd be hanging out at her house with 10 or 15 of her friends. Her mom would show up, and there would just be this. Everybody would line up to greet people.
And she said it was real weird when she came over here because she was like, how do we greet adults? She's like, what am I supposed to? I just wave at them and say, hey? That's super offensive. That feels weird. She said she had to just teach herself.
When an adult shows up, do nothing. She had to, like, restrain herself. That kissing cheek to cheek, Ben Johnson, I asked him about some of this. They did that as well in Lebanon where when you greet people, you would kiss them. And he had been over there for about a while, a couple years, working as a missionary. And he came back, and it had been a long flight, and he was exhausted.
And he ran back to his home church in Georgia, and he ran into the guy who worked on facilities there. And he went to say hey to him. So without thinking, he grabbed him and went to kiss him. And the guy shoved him across and was like, hey, hey, what are you doing? Because that's not what we do here. It's different.
He also, one of the things he learned was if someone invites you to their home for dinner, etiquette is you bring dessert. That's the rule. Everybody knows that. Ben didn't. So he was super rude for, like, a year straight.
People would invite him to their home, and he would just walk in. And they just thought Americans are rude. But it's like he didn't know the rule, you guys. But there's just certain things etiquette-wise and culture-wise that are different. I remember my uncle. He's from Africa, Obomashaw area, the Yoruba people group.
And the first time some white missionaries came to his town, he just was blown away. Because this adult comes in with his young son, and his young son climbs up in a tree. And you don't climb up in trees. And he was waiting for his dad to snatch him out of the tree and beat him. And he didn't. He just let him climb up in a tree.
And the reason you don't climb up in a tree in the village he's from is because if you fall out of the tree and hurt yourself, you're just hurt. They don't have a way to fix you. I asked, what would happen if you broke a bone? He said, you'd go to the doctor. He'd get you to bring a chicken. He would take the chicken.
Like, if you broke your leg, he would take the chicken. He would break the chicken's leg, and he would give you the chicken back. And he would say, while the chicken limps, you limp. When the chicken starts putting weight on that leg, you start putting weight on your leg. What if a doctor did that in the U.S.? You're going to need to fill out these forms.
This is your first time as a patient. We're also going to need you to bring a chicken. But the rule was, in his town, if you climbed up in a tree, any adult in the village could come, pull you out of the tree, and spank you. Any adult was allowed to spank any child for doing anything dangerous or unhelpful. And I'm just, just as a cultural study, I'm going to test this out at Walmart later today. I'll let you all know how it goes.
When Raz first moved here from Australia, the way they do rent in Australia is weekly. So he was working out his whole budget. He had some money saved. He raised some support to come here and to go to school. And he found a place over near CIU, and it was in a little trailer park over there. And he was going to rent a trailer for himself, and he thought it was going to be a pretty good deal.
And he could maybe get some roommates. And they told him, I think it was like $500 was the rent. And he was like, oh, that's pretty steep. He's from Sydney. You know, rent could be $300 or $400 a week. But he was like, $500, okay.
So he worked out his whole budget. He's thinking, all right, you know, $2,000, $2,500 a month. And he showed up. And it's not weekly. It's monthly. And Raz was like, I'm rich.
And I told him it was good. It didn't work the other way because I'd have been going to Australia being like, oh, $400. Sweet. And I'd have gotten evicted. Wouldn't have been ready for that. So there are these different things that just happen culturally where culture just defines for you how we view things, how we act, how we walk through life.
And it's little things, simple things like that that you just get used to and you don't realize this isn't how everybody thinks. This isn't how everybody processes things. It's easier to go unnoticed if you're in a culture where you're the majority, where most everybody thinks and Acts like you. It's more noticeable when you're in a culture where you're the minority and you don't understand exactly how to fit into the culture. So you notice this more.
It's called culture shock when you transfer to another culture and you're the minority and you don't understand how to just go along with normal everyday life. It shows up more. But there's a lot that it tells us about how to view money and how to view time and how to view relationships and how to think about the future and the past and family. There's a lot that it goes into. And what we're going to look at today as we look at the Sermon on the Mount is we are not going to stand back looking towards salvation, but we are going to stand from the position of salvation that Jesus Christ, if we have placed our faith in him, has redeemed us, has fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law on our behalf.
And now we are learning how as citizens of heaven, citizens of the kingdom of heaven who belong to Jesus, how are we to view time, money, relationships? Like we're going to begin to see what's our new culture. Because if you belong to Jesus, I don't care your country of origin. I don't care your native tongue. You are a citizen of a kingdom that will last forever. And we, there are certain characteristics that go along with that kingdom that we are meant to exhibit in life.
That's how we're going to view it. As those redeemed by Jesus, how are we to think as people who will live for eternity? How are we to live and act now? How does that change how we view the world? We're going to approach it that way. Let's pray and we'll jump into where he begins in chapter 5.
God, we thank you for your word. We thank you that we can, if we've placed our faith in you, approach this as people who are redeemed. We can approach this as people who have been saved by grace, who have been transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of your beloved son. And that we might learn how we ought to view the world as kingdom citizens, as those who will live forever. We ask for your help as we do this, that your Holy Spirit would empower this. We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen. Matthew chapter 5. Now we're going to jump around a little bit, but we're going to start where he starts. And then I'll try to just pull out some, see how this shows up, some of these ideas. But we're going to start here.
Matthew chapter 5. Seeing the crowds, he, that's Jesus, went up on the mountain. And when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now that word blessed means the good life.
They've got everything that is good, everything that is right. They will be blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So the poor in spirit belong to the kingdom. And the rest of these are going to be people who are in the kingdom. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you. And other all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Okay, so he holds up this idea and he says, these people are blessed. Blessed are those who mourn.
Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who are persecuted. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit. Now, if we were walking and we just got to pick, if there was a list of things that you could choose, I want my life to be categorized by. And these were on the list. I don't know how many of us would, oh, mourning, yep.
Okay, let me take some meekness. Yes, I'd like to be poor in spirit. Oh, persecution. Give me some of that. Like, we wouldn't think this is the list of blessings. Like, if you were getting to pick, but he's saying this group, this people, it's going to look backwards here, but they're the ones who get everything.
And then at the end he rolls it. So he says, blessed are those, blessed are those, blessed are those. Blessed are you when you're persecuted for my sake. So now he's rolled it and said, this group of people who are blessed and look backwards in this culture, it's actually you, his disciples, and it's tied directly to himself. He ties it directly when you're persecuted for my sake. So he's saying that you're actually going to be, he's talking from the position of God, that you're persecuted for righteousness, persecuted for my sake.
So he's saying, this is the people who belong to me and they're the people who are in the kingdom. They see God, they receive mercy, they're comforted. This is the kingdom. That's true blessing that we would be comforted, that we would see God, that we would receive mercy. That's the people who have placed their faith in Christ, they're the redeemed. So if you are in the room and you are a Christian, some of this meant this is who you had to be to understand this need for the gospel.
You had to understand that you were poor in spirit. Because if we read through this last week and Spencer said, this is the standard of righteousness, and you sat back and thought, I'm already 80% there. Give me another year or so, I'll get up to a full 100. And then God will gladly have a parade for me and accept me into the halls of greatness. If that was you, you will not believe the gospel. Not until you understand that that is not true for you.
But some of us last week, I was sweating. I knew that Spencer at the end of the sermon was going to tell us that Jesus was good. And I felt terrible. I'm over there thinking about how awful of a sinner I am and how much I fall short. And the reality is I do and I am and I'm now. That's how we get to approach God as poor in spirit.
I have nothing to offer. And he redeems us and we receive mercy. That's you. Now he's going to begin to tell us how we ought to look. So he says, You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?
It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a stand. And it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
So he says, This people are distinct from culture. As distinct as salt is from food. If I said, You know what's really good on your steak? Little bits of steak. Just changes the flavor. That's not how that works.
Oh, you know what's really good? If you take a potato. This is for real. If y'all take a potato. A baked potato. And you open it up.
And you stuff it with more baked potato. Oh. Nobody does that. You put something different in it. That's why he's saying about salt. Is that it changes the flavor.
It changes its distinct. And if it's not distinct, it's a waste of time. A light that is hidden is useless. Salt that is not distinct from the food is useless. He's saying be different. And he's going to begin to tell us how.
This culture needs to show up. I have a four-year-old and a one-year-old. My one-year-old can walk now. And is moving well enough for there to now be altercations at my house. Where I will hear screaming, hollering, crying. I'll come in the room.
My one-year-old will have picked up something hard. Hit my four-year-old in the head. My four-year-old will have turned around. And fireman kicked him to the ground. I have to come in and go. I look at my older son.
I say, Archer, stop. You cannot do that. He hit me in the head. He's one. He's one. I made him stand up the other day so he could see the height difference.
I said, that's about me to you. And then I just pushed him to the ground. And I was like, do you see how easy this is? I'm going to write a parenting book at some point. It's going to be great. And sometimes my wife is like, what are you doing?
I'm like, I'm just winging it, hoping for the best. But I look at him and I say, you have to act differently. What I'm expecting from your one-year-old brother is not what I'm expecting from you right now. You should look differently. And this happens all the time where I'll tell my older son, I'll say, that's not how we think about that. That's not how we act.
We're not going to behave like that. He's learning. And in some ways, I think that's what Jesus is looking at us right now and saying, you are going to exist forever. As someone whose sins have been taken away, you are going to have all of your good things kept for you in heaven. Act differently. Look different from the rest of culture.
If you, who will live forever, treat money and time and sin and relationships and good works the same as everybody else, you're confused. We're going to be different. You're going to be different. Sometimes I look at my son and I say, you're four years old. Act like it. And I think Jesus is looking at his disciples and saying, he's looking at us and saying, you're going to live forever.
Act like it. Because so often we run around here stressing out and acting as if we will not exist eternally and we look silly. My one-year-old screams and cries when he wants something because he cannot speak English. My four-year-old, when he does it, I say, stop. You look silly. You can use words.
And there's times where we look silly. Because we're living as if we won't exist for eternity. So the first thing that I think Jesus does, and I'm just going to pull some of this out. We're going to jump around a bit. Citizens of an eternal kingdom worry about their hearts, not just their actions. Citizens of an eternal kingdom worry about their hearts, not just their actions.
Another way of saying that is citizens of an eternal kingdom worry about the eternal consequences of their life. We see this as Jesus begins. He says in verses 17 through 20 that he didn't come to abolish the law. He came to fulfill it. And that none of the law is being taken away, but it's going to be upheld. And then he actually says your righteousness has to be beyond the scribes and the Pharisees.
Well, the scribes and the Pharisees were very good at meeting the letter of the law, of behaving. Of behaving. What do I have to do? And he says, no, it's beyond just your behavior. It's beyond just your actions. Who are you?
What's going on inside? So let's see. He talks about anger, lust, divorce. He says this about anger. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder. And whoever murders will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. And whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. And he goes on to say if you're offering your gift and you realize that you have something against somebody or somebody has something against you, that you would go work it out. He says because they have something against you and they take you, you'll eventually be carried off to court and locked up and you'll have to pay every penny. And that means not just here, but ultimately that you'll pay the price.
Lust. You have heard that it was said, this is verse 27. You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. In both of those he mentions hell. He's saying eternal people consider eternal consequences. Which makes sense. Eternal people consider eternal consequences.
And he begins to point out that it's not just our behavior, but it's who you are. What's going on inside? If the law is to be upheld and we are to behave. And the whole process of being good is that we would behave. That we would follow the rules. Then you just need to know the rules and you need to do them.
And your attitude doesn't really matter. That's how the Pharisees approached it. Just follow the rules. What's going on inside doesn't really matter. Punch the clock. Check off the list.
Present it to God. And you're fine. If salvation is about faith and worship of Christ. If he's upheld the righteous requirement of the law for us. If he is what we read in 2 Corinthians 5.21. That he became sin for us.
That we might become the righteousness of God. If we've been made righteous. Meaning the righteous requirement of the law. The rules have been upheld. Then you know what really matters?
Do we actually love Jesus? Are our hearts drawn to him? What is our attitude? You see that? You see how faith turns that on its head? That if it's moralism.
Then you better behave. And who cares what's going on inside. As long as you can keep yourself in check. But the gospel is. Your behavior has been met by Jesus. Do you love him?
That's why people in the church can look like such a mess. Failing all the time over here. But consistently drawn to Jesus. Who redeems sinners in repentance. Fighting actively against our sin. And trusting that it's what is internal.
That matters. And taking very seriously the consequences of sin. That we understand there are eternal consequences. That eternal people think about the world. In an eternal way. That it's not just our actions.
But our hearts. That matter. This is why when you get with your group. And as you're trying to walk. And follow Jesus together. Are we asking the question.
How's your behavior? Or are we asking the question. How's your heart? Are we loving Jesus? Is that leading us to repentance? Is that leading us to hate our sin?
Or are we just trying to behave good enough to get in? Secondly. Is that leading us to repentance? Is that leading us to repentance? Is that leading us to repentance? Is that leading us to repentance?
Is that leading us to repentance? Secondly. As he pulls this through. I think citizens of an eternal kingdom. Are open-handed. With their temporary possessions.
And positions. Some of the stuff that he says in this. Is so difficult for us to take. So difficult for us to understand. So difficult for us to apply.
Is because it's so difficult for us to consider. Eternity. That eternal citizens. Don't care that much. About their temporary position. And their temporary possessions.
Because we're going to last forever. That eternity is written in our heart. That we belong to a different kingdom. That our treasure is elsewhere. So he says.
Go to retaliation. Verse 38. You have heard that it was said. An eye for an eye. And a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you.
Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek. Turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you. And take your tunic. Let him have your cloak as well.
And if anyone forces you to go one mile. Go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you. And do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. That is one of the most. Heinously.
Un-American passages. In the Bible. Someone slaps you. Do not defend yourself. Nope. I have castle doctrine.
Which means I am a castle wherever I go. And can defend myself however I would like. I do think it does not just mean. Physically assaults attacks. I do think it means slaps. It brings disgrace upon you.
Dishonors you. You ever heard someone say it was such a slap in the face? And you know what we usually follow that up with? I can't believe they would act that way. It was such a slap in the face. I will never.
Ever. Let them. Get myself in that situation again. Be put in that. That was such a slap in the face. I can't.
They will never. And Jesus says. It was such a slap in the face. I primed myself. For the next one that's coming. I'm going to put myself right in the back in the same position.
I'm not defending my position. I'm defending my honor. I'm not trying to display to the world how I will be respected. It says if you're sued. Let them have it. Someone begs from you.
Give it to them. Someone wants to borrow something from you. Hand it over. Who can do that? People who aren't tied to their temporary possessions. Who can be absolutely not tied to their temporary possessions?
People who have greater possessions elsewhere. People who are going to live for eternity. One of the things they tell people who are traveling. They'll tell you to get. You can get a secret belt. That you can hide all your real important stuff in.
Like your passport. Your credit cards. And your money. And then you can have a wallet. It has some money in it. But it's not that important.
And that way. When all the foreign criminals. Rob you. You just hand them your wallet. You're supposed to act. Like it means a lot to you.
Oh no. Not my wallet. And you hand it to them. And you walk away. Unfazed. Because of your utility belt.
The reason you can hand over the wallet. Is that it actually doesn't hold all the things that are good. The reason when someone sues you. And they just take your stuff. Or someone slaps you. And brings shame upon you.
You can just allow it to happen. Is because we're eternal people. And all our good stuff is elsewhere. That there's treasure beyond the horizon. That there's a reality of hope and honor beyond the horizon. And it's held in Christ.
We can only approach this through faith. Faith in what Jesus has accomplished for us. That he's paid for our sins. So our hearts matter more than our behavior. That we might run from sin. Because Jesus hated it so much.
And it was such a big deal that he died for it. And that we might be able to walk. Holding all of our position and our possessions loosely. He keeps going. He talks about giving to the needy. He talks about all these good works.
But I want to jump to. Do not be anxious. This is Matthew 6.25. Therefore I tell you. Do not be anxious about your life. What you will eat.
What you will drink. Nor about your body. What you will put on. Is not life more than food. And the body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air.
They neither sow nor reap. Nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not more value than they? And which of you by being anxious. Can add a single hour to his span of life.
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field. How they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you. Even Solomon in all his glory.
Was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field. Which today is alive. And tomorrow. Is thrown into the oven. Will he not much more clothe you?
Oh you of little faith. Therefore do not be anxious. Saying. What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear?
For the Gentiles seek after these things. And your heavenly father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God. And his righteousness. And all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow.
For tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. The reality of an eternity. Allows the temporary things. That would hold sway in our life. And claim our allegiance.
And our hope. To not have that much. Pressure. And presence. In our lives. That we can trust God.
Who knows us. Who loves us. Who knows we need these things. How many of you need to hear. Worry about today. Sufficient for tomorrow.
Is its own trouble. My wife. When she has something looming over her head. A week out. She will torment herself. For a week.
She's working on it. I don't. I don't remember stuff well enough. I put it on the calendar. And unless my phone reminds me. I'm not going to show up.
I forgot. But worrying about. What's coming up. But. I was reading this. And I don't feel like.
I'm an overly anxious person. But worrying about. What I'm going to eat. Worrying about. What I'm going to wear. Yeah.
Okay. I worry about that. I think about that. That holds sway in my life. I'm not free. There are things that grab.
A hold of my heart. But that we're meant to be. Free. Free. My dad is an entrepreneur. At different times in our life.
We've been doing well financially. He's been doing well financially. Other times. Not so much. Okay. But he's always busy.
Very hectic. He has a business partner. Same way. They were riding through Augusta, Georgia. One day. Stressed out.
Frustrated. Talking about some stuff. Some business stuff. They were trying to work on. That wasn't working out. And they rode up under an overpass.
And there was a guy sitting up. On a hill. Under the overpass. You know. Tucked up in there. And leaned back.
His hands behind his head. In the middle of a work day. I realize what I'm about to say is not true. He was leaned back. But I don't think his hands were behind his head.
Because he had a cigarette and a drink. He had a cigarette and a drink. And he was just hanging out. And they're sitting there at the light. Stressed out. And they looked up at him.
My dad said. He and his business partner were like. Look at that. His business partner said. I haven't been that relaxed in years. He was.
The reality is. That person probably could relax. Because he didn't have much to worry about. And what Jesus is saying is not. Don't have a job. Don't.
Don't have a home. He's not saying that. What he's saying is. Realize. You don't have that much to worry about. You're not that good.
One of the reasons I enjoy golf. Is that I'm not good enough to be frustrated. I also like the woods. I do. I go to my dad's house. And walk around the woods.
Golfing gives me some of that as well. I'm not good enough to be frustrated. That's what Jesus is saying. You're going to live forever. And you can't even. Who by being anxious.
Can add an hour to his life. Rhetorical question. No one. You're not strong enough. You're not good enough. Just hold.
Just. Just trust me. Do you know how freeing that is? In the Harry Potter books. There's a little boy named Harry Potter. And.
There's this giant that shows up. And he's all. You're a wizard Harry. Harry. And he takes Harry. And he tells him he's a wizard.
And he's going to take him to wizard school. And. One of the things that Harry finds out. Is not only is he a wizard. His parents were. And he's rich.
There's a bank. Guarded by goblins. That no one can break into. And Harry has a lot of money there. And that all happened in like a day. And I think there was a lot of.
Joy and freedom. From what I can tell. In the books. For Harry to suddenly find out he was rich. But if someone just showed up.
And was like. Hey guess what. You're rich. And we've kept it safe. And it can never be taken away. The reality is.
Even in that fictitious world. You can break into that bank. And steal things. So it's not even safe there. But for us.
Who have an eternity held fast by Christ. None of it can be taken. There's a song that we sung some. And we play some. And it says. When I met you.
I didn't know you had money. I didn't know you were a king. And then the chorus is. You've adopted us in. And you've made us your own. I love that line.
Because it's just this idea. That when we come to Christ. We don't realize. All the other good things. That come along with it. We get saved from our sin.
But I didn't know. That everything else good. Was thrown in. That's what he says. Seek righteousness. Seek the kingdom.
Trust me. And everything else good. Comes along. And it cannot be taken. So quit worrying.
One of the least loving things. It seems to say. To someone who suffers with anxiety. Is stop being anxious. You're welcome. But that's what Jesus says.
And it's not. That the world is going to crush you. Or that you're big enough. He just says. I'm big enough. Stop being.
What he says. Is stop being anxious. You're too small. You're too small. I look at my four year old all the time. And I say that.
Calm down. I'm here. I'm afraid of monsters. Boy I'll punch a monster in the face. I'm worried this will happen. You don't have to worry.
I'm here. What he doesn't say is. Stop being anxious. You'll be strong enough. I'll give you five tips. To rid yourself of anxiety.
He says. Stop being anxious. It will do you no good. You're going to die at the same time. That's really what he says. What are you worried about?
You will die. When we say. You're welcome. You can't add anything to your life. I'll provide for you. You're okay.
It can't be taken from you. Eternal people. Hold. With an open hand. Temporary possessions. And positions.
Three. Citizens of an eternal kingdom. Pursue eternal reward. Start back up at six. Beware of practicing your righteousness. Before other people.
In order to be seen by them. For then you will have no reward. From your father who is in heaven. Okay. He says. Don't practice righteousness.
In front of other people. To be seen by them. And he follows that up with. Not. Because that's bad. He says.
Because you will get. No reward. This is interesting. He brings this idea. That we're rewarded. For doing good things.
As long as the purpose behind it. Wasn't. That we would display to everybody. How good we are. And isn't that a real temptation. I want to be good.
But for some reason. I really want other people. To know. That I'm good. I want to do. I want to do.
Random Acts. The Acts of kindness. When nobody's looking. But I really want someone to see. Y'all feel that? That's what he's saying.
There's this real temptation. To do what you're supposed to. But the reason behind it. To be kind. To give to the needy. Is what he talks about.
Praying is one of the things. He talks about. Fasting is one of the things. He talks about. Generosity. This idea that we would do.
All these things. But the purpose behind it. Would be. Hey look at me. And he says. If you do that.
You get your reward. People looked at you. They saw it. They noticed it. They clapped. They put your name on the thing.
They honored you. That's it. That's your reward. He says. No. No.
No. Eternal people. Think about eternal reward. We're supposed to want to be rewarded. For our good deeds. Did you see that?
We have entered in. With this idea. Of that would be wrong. Shouldn't we just do good things. Because they're good. I don't know.
He says. Do it. So that you get a reward. I really. Have thought about this some. The idea.
That we should do good things. Because they're good. So I should just. Be generous. Because generosity is good. What I'm doing.
When I do that. If I say. Generosity is right. And so I'm just going to be generous. There's this internal transaction. That happens.
Where I add. To my self-righteousness. I'm just a good person. I don't need the reward. I'm not doing this. Because.
Isn't it greedy. To pursue reward. I'm not doing this for reward. I'm doing it. Because I'm good. I'm adding to myself.
Righteousness. Y'all know something. I try to do some of these things. On this list. I try to give some money away. You know why?
Not because I'm a good person. I would not give money away. I like it. I want to use it for stuff. But we do.
Because I'm trusting. That what he says here is true. That we'll be rewarded. That he sees. That he sees. I'm walking to him in faith.
Saying I trust you. And people say. Wasn't that greedy? I don't know. If somebody came to you. And said.
I have a good investment opportunity. And you said okay. And you looked into it. And you trusted the people. Who were going to do it. And you said okay.
I'm going to invest $10,000. Would anybody jump up. And go. That's really greedy? I don't know. Doesn't seem like it.
If I'm saying. I trust Jesus. So I'm going to put some money. Towards this. I'm going to put some time. Towards this.
I'm going to put some prayer. Towards this. I'm going to put some fasting. Towards this. Because I trust him. And I actually believe.
At the end of time. I will spend eternity with him. In a place where he promises reward. I think that's faith. Because the only way. You can spend your time.
And money and effort. Doing that. Is if you actually trust. That this is going to work. That you're going to get there. That he's going to pay for your sin.
And that the eternity is real. And there are times. Where we just look silly. If you got a job. Let's say you were offered.
To go work in France. For let's say eight weeks. And they were going to pay you. A hundred thousand dollars. So you said.
I'll put up with French people. For eight weeks. Because you're racist. Nationalistic. You said. I'll go.
I'll do it. I'll put up with it. I'll do the work. I'll figure it out. I'll get over there. I'll be there for eight weeks.
And I'm going to make a hundred thousand dollars. And while you were there. You rented. Got a lease on a little place. A little house. And when the first paycheck came in.
You thought. You know what this house needs? A fireplace. A fireplace. And so you added a fireplace. To the place you were renting.
For eight weeks. And your next paycheck came in. You said. You know what makes fireplaces awesome? Swimming pools. And you put one of those in.
Eventually. If someone cared about you. They would look at you. And say. Hey. Nut.
What are you doing? You're going to be here eight weeks. You don't live here. This is not your house. You're going back. To your other home.
Quit spending all your money here. On things you can't take with you. That's what Jesus is saying. You're going to exist. For eternity. Look at verse 19.
619. Do not lay up for yourselves. Treasures on earth. Where moth and rust destroy. Where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves.
Treasures in heaven. Where neither moth nor moth. Nor rust destroys. Where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is. There your heart will be also.
If you are going to be redeemed by Jesus. And live for eternity. Act like it. If your good things are kept there. Act like it. Eternal people.
Seek eternal reward. This is the main idea. Citizens of an eternal kingdom. Love Jesus. And it shows up. In the everyday stuff of life.
That the everyday stuff of life. Is affected by. An eternal culture. It is affected by. An eternal mindset. We're going to jump to the very end.
Of what Jesus says. And we're going to pull down. Some of the ideas. That he talks about. In chapter 7. But he says this.
Everyone then. This is 724. Everyone then. Who hears these words of mine. And does them. Will be like a wise man.
Who built his house. On the rock. And the rain fell. And the floods came. And the winds blew. And beat on that house.
But it did not fall. Because it had been founded. On the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine. And does not do them. Will be like a foolish man.
Who built his house. On the sand. And the rain fell. And the floods came. And the winds blew. And beat against that house.
And it fell. And great. Was the fall. Of it. And great. There is an eternity to come.
There is a kingdom of heaven. And there is an eternal hell. And Jesus says. Everything he says. In the sermon on the mount. From the vantage point.
Of someone who knows. About eternity. And has had it written. In his heart. Who knows it. Can't not see it.
He looks. At his disciples. And he says. There is a kingdom. Where true blessedness is. There is a kingdom.
Where hope is. There is a kingdom. Where reward is. There is a kingdom. Where good things are. There is a kingdom.
That belongs to me. Where you see God. Where you receive mercy. There is a kingdom of hope. There is a kingdom of joy. And there is a hell.
Where there is destruction. And where there is pain. And where living a good life here. Living a whole life here. Doesn't matter when you get there. If you don't know me.
Everyone who hears this. And builds their life on it. Banks on it. Is wise. Because that will stand. Every bit of money you have sent towards eternity.
Will stand. Every bit of time that you have sent towards eternity. Every time you have let something go. Because you are an eternal. Citizen of an eternal kingdom. With a better king.
It will stand. It will stand. Everything else will fall. He says. Beware of those who come to you. And proclaim.
Hold themselves up as false prophets. But outwardly. The ravenous wolves. He says. You will know them by their fruit. Then he.
Underneath that says. Not everyone who says to me. Lord. Lord. Will be welcomed into the kingdom of heaven. But those who do the will of my father.
And then he says. That on that day. They will say. Didn't we cast out demons in your name. And do mighty works in your name. And they will say.
Depart from me. I never knew you. If you cast out demons in Jesus name. If you do mighty works in Jesus name. And at the end of it. He can still look at you.
And say. I don't know you. I think that means. There's a lot of really. Seemingly normal. Small stuff.
That shows up in life. In the everyday stuff of life. Where we actually believe. That we're going to last forever. So that.
What our hearts are doing. How we're treating others. Where our anger is. Where our lust is. Not just our behavior. But what's going on.
Where our trust is. Where our hope is. Infinitely matters. Because we have such a good and glorious kingdom. I think. Like Paul.
Who got swept up. And got to see it. And God brought him back down. And I think Paul. Landed back down. And went.
Yep. Everything here is stupid. Except. Everything that will make it there. To live is Christ. To die is gain.
I'll live for him. Everything will be about him. Everything will be for him. And the day they behead me. Because that's what they did to Paul. I'll show up there.
And infinitely gain. Beyond imagine. Beyond imagination. There's a guy named Wang Yi. I want to read a quote. He's a pastor in China.
Facing persecution. In the Chinese church. He wrote this letter. And he said. When I get arrested. If I get arrested.
If I'm in jail for more than 48 hours. I want y'all to publish this. They published this. At the end of last year. He is still in jail. If he is still alive.
He says. For the mission of the church. Is only. To be the church. And not to become a part of any secular institution. He's saying.
This is why I'm not going to fight communism. I'm just going to be. A Christian here. From a negative perspective. The church must separate itself from the world. And keep itself from being institutionalized by the world.
From a positive perspective. All Acts of the church. Are attempts to prove to the world. The real existence. Of another world. The Bible teaches us.
That in all matters. Relating to the gospel. And human conscience. We must obey conscience. We must obey God. And not men.
For this reason. Spiritual disobedience. And bodily suffering. Are both ways. We testify. To another eternal world.
And to another. Glorious king. Spiritual disobedience. Means we're going to keep being the church. Regardless of. If the state says we're allowed to.
And then he says. And bodily harm. Because bodily suffering. Because at some point. They'll round us up. That's what he's saying.
And he's. In his situation. That is accurate. He says. To another eternal world. And to another.
A glorious king. I hope. God. Uses me. By means of first. Losing my personal freedom.
To tell. To tell those. Who have deprived me. Of my personal freedom. That there is an authority. Higher than their authority.
And that there is a freedom. That they cannot restrain. A freedom that fills the church. Of the crucified. And risen. Jesus Christ.
When someone tries. To take our possessions. When someone tries. To take our position. And we open handedly. Let it go.
We look. Distinct. From the world. And we proclaim. A hope. Of an eternity.
That cannot be touched. And when we. Argue. And fight. For our rights. And we argue.
And we work. To show. How righteous we are. So that we might be held. In high standing here. We display.
To the world. That I just want. The same things you want. And my life will end. Around the time. That yours does.
And my hope. Is here. But when our money. And our time. And our effort. And our work.
Testifies. To another world. We put God on display. And we live as if. We believe. The gospel.
That we have an eternal king. And an eternal kingdom. And we've been set free. From everything here. That we have nothing to gain. And nothing to lose.
Other than what Christ will reward us with. On that day. Raz and Christy. You're going to come back up. And we're going to sing. Together.
And we're going to take. Communion. Which is us. Physically. Representing. A spiritual reality.
That when Christ's body. Was broken for us. The power of sin. Was broken over us. The power of sin. Had over us.
Was broken. That when his blood. Was shed. We were washed clean. That when he rose. We rose.
And that we. Have. Eternal. Life. That if you've placed your faith. In Jesus.
The righteous requirement. Of law. Has been fulfilled. And that you will exist. For eternity. And that we're free.
To live like it. So in a moment. I want us to pray. And ask. Lord. Where have I forgotten?
Where am I living. As if I'm just a kingdom. Of here. I just live in this kingdom. I'm just a citizen. Of the U.S.
I'm just a citizen. Of this place. Where am I. Acting as if. This thing matters too much. Set me free.
That I might live. With eternity in mind. And then we're going to take communion. With the hope. That all of this is true. Trusting that Jesus did rise.
And that our sin has been paid for. And that you. And your future. And your eternity. Are secure. Let's pray.
Let's pray. Thank you for coming and getting us. Thank you for coming to redeemed sinners. Who could not save themselves. Thank you. For the grace.
And the eternity that you offer. And Lord. In your grace. We're small. We so easily forget. Help us to love mercy.
Help us to keep our hearts pure. In repentance. As we hate. Sin. And think about the eternal consequences. Help us to be poor in spirit.
That we might come to you. For all the good things. That you might give us. Help us to mourn. Remembering that all our good things. Aren't here.
The purpose of this world. Is not to just be happy. In this moment. Help us to be meek. To not push for our rights. Or defend ourselves.
To trust you to do that. Help us to rejoice when persecuted. Help us to look like citizens of your kingdom. Help us to be so in love with you. That eternity never leaves our gaze. Ride it in our souls.
We might be free. That we might trust and walk with you by faith. And how we interact with one another. And how we work. And how we serve. And how we secretly do good.
That we be free from our reputations. And our possessions. We ask you to bless us by your spirit. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
Sermon on the Mount - Part 1
Below is the full-length clip of the video referenced toward the end of this sermon.
Calling Disciples
Transcript
Well, good morning. My name is Chet. I am one of the pastors here. We are in Matthew chapter 4, so if you'll grab one of the Bibles, it'll be on page 472. If you grab one of the Bibles, it's on the pew near you. This morning, the title of our sermon, the title of this message is The King and His Call.
The King and His Call. Did I sound like a real preacher? I'm working on it. If we move forward with this union with KC First Baptist, we'll be preaching to real Baptists, and so I've got to practice and get ready. We're going to be starting in verse 12. Actually, today we're going to walk through this text, and then we will be heading over there.
So if this is your first time, usually joining us on a Sunday, usually what happens is when everything's over, we hang out for a good bit of time. There's a lot of talking, a lot of hanging out. We've cleaned up everything, put everything away, and there are still people just standing around talking to each other. And so that won't happen today, though. So today we're going to finish up and say, everybody, sprint out of here.
And there's a few things that we'll have to do real quick to get out of here. So if you feel like that was super weird, everybody just took off. It's because we're all going to go eat. I actually talked with Miss Louise. She said they got the room ready, and they have put down different colored placemats, and you're supposed to sit at a designated color. That way we don't all sit together with at least breaking a rule.
So the goal being that we would get around. Your job today is to get to eat a nice meal, but really to make a friend and try to get to know somebody over there at KC First Baptist as we continue this conversation with them about is the Lord leading here and what it would look like for us to be one church family together. So we are going to look at, though, this morning, Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew is beginning to call disciples. He's beginning his ministry. So last week we saw the temptation of Jesus where he withstood the temptation of the enemy that he did not sin.
He was tempted, but he didn't sin. And now he is beginning his ministry. And so we're picking up in verse 12. It says, now when he, that's Jesus, heard that John had been arrested, that's John the Baptist, he withdrew into Galilee. And I know you're thinking, just like a Baptist, to get arrested. That sounds true.
What happened was John was preaching this gospel of the kingdom and then he began to actually call out Herod the king. This is a different Herod from when Jesus was a baby. This is Herod Antipas. It's his son. But he begins to call him out for some of his behavior.
And so not a thing that you really get to do in a place with a king. We get to say whatever we want to about our president. He can't just arrest people, but they didn't get to. So he starts calling out the king for some of his behavior and some of the things he had done that were wrong. And the king has him arrested. We'll find out more about that in Matthew chapter 14.
But it says, when John was arrested, Jesus moved. So it says, leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. So if you look at this map, that's Mediterranean Sea, Jordan River's running down here. This is where he was. It was in that area, kind of in the Judea area, close-ish to Jerusalem. And then he moves up to Capernaum by the sea of Galilee.
Now, it doesn't seem exactly like he's running from Herod. If you'll just leave that map up for a minute. It doesn't seem like he's running from Herod because that's all Herod's territory. So in some ways, it just seems like he, and when John is arrested and John kind of moves off the scene, Jesus begins his ministry and he begins it here. And Matthew tells us the reason he starts there is that he's fulfilling prophecy. So John the Baptist is preaching this kingdom message.
And when they come to him and they say, who are you? He says, I'm not the guy. The guy that's coming after me, I don't even, I'm not even worthy to untie his shoes. I'm not even allowed to touch his feet. He's so far above me. And then Jesus steps on and is the guy.
He's the prophesied one. He is the one who's stepping in as the king to fulfill what has been written in the Old Testament, to fulfill the promises of God for the people of Israel. And Jesus is doing that. So that's what it says. It says he moved to the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. And those are two of the tribes of Israel.
So that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. And he quotes. It says, This is Isaiah 9. If you actually go read in our Bibles, Isaiah 9, it's written a little bit differently. And that is because it's most likely that Matthew, who was Jewish, took his Jewish Bible. And when he was writing his gospel, he just did his own Matthew translation of that text into Greek for his purposes to highlight what that text is saying.
So it's slightly different than when we sat with the original Hebrew and wrote it out in English. He writes it out this way. They're translating the Greek here. Him translating Hebrew to Greek and then us to English. And then we went back and translated it from Hebrew in Isaiah 9. But it's saying the same thing.
And what he's highlighting is a couple of things that I think are very interesting. He's saying Jesus starts. He's a light shining in a dark place. In Galilee of the Gentiles. So he's that's called foreshadowing.
He's highlighting for us that Jesus is not just going to be here for the Jewish people. That's going to come out more fully later. But Matthew's just kind of tipping his hand a little bit. But he's also highlighting that he starts in Zebulun and Naphtali in these northern tribes. That was the first place that the kingdom began to fall apart. That's the that's where the Assyrians came and took.
So they came down into the north and they took the northern tribes. And so Jesus is stepping in and he's starting in a place where everything fell apart, where everything was broken, where everything was dark, and he's becoming this king. He's stepping forward to complete and fulfill this prophecy. And if you read the rest of this, I'm going to read it for you from Isaiah 9. It says, You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy.
They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult, and every garment rolled in blood, will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And of the increase of his government and of his peace, there will be no end.
On the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth, and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. So he says he's fulfilling prophecy, and he highlights which prophecy, and then if you read that, he's saying he's the king. This is the one coming in the line of David who is going to fulfill this prophecy. What he does is he starts, where everything's broken, where everything's dark, and he is a light shining in a dark place. And some of us became Christians, placed our faith in Jesus, and we knew that.
That's exactly why we came to him. We said, I'm in a dark place. I'm broken. I'm busted. I'm at the end of my rope, and I need you. I need you to redeem me.
You went to him saying, I need you to shine light here, because I'm in the dark. I'm overwhelmed. I'm crushed. And there are others who try to become Christians not from that position. Who try to place their faith in Jesus, and in a much more clean, controlled fashion. So you try to, you know, maybe you want just this area of your life.
He can mess with that. Like, I'd like my children to behave, and if Jesus can figure that out, okay, I'll follow him. I'd like my finances to be good, and if Jesus can handle that, okay, I need my health to be okay. But there's this other stuff that we just want to keep in the dark. It's almost like we think we're Mufasa, and he's Simba. And we bring him up, and we say, everywhere the light touches is your kingdom.
But Jesus says, what about that shadowy place over there? We try to look at Jesus and say, you must never go there. That's my personal business. Like, we just, we want to look at him and say, you're not allowed there, but the reality is, Jesus goes to the dark place. Like, as soon as you invite Jesus in, he goes, I'm heading over there, and I've got some work to do. And some of us have fought that as a losing battle, where there's this thing that we're trying to hold on and say, no, no, no, no, no, no, that's mine, and that's not how Jesus works.
And when Jesus comes in, he goes where it's dark, he goes where it's broken, and he begins to restore and to redeem as a conquering king. And sometimes it's painful, but it's very, very good. So let's keep going. It says, from that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So let's see this for a second.
This is exactly what John the Baptist preached. So John the Baptist preached, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He got arrested, and Jesus was like, I'm going to start preaching. What should I say? The exact same thing. Now, when you're in a kingdom, and you publicly begin announcing, everyone change how you are.
That's what repent means. Surrender. Change. Feel sorrow. Be different. Change from your sin.
Run from your sin. Change. And you begin to proclaim, in a kingdom, a kingdom is coming. This has political implications. There's a reality to, this is kind of a dangerous message to walk around in a kingdom proclaiming. For you to act as if there's a new kingdom coming, but that's exactly what Jesus is doing.
And Matthew just said, hey guys, he's the king. And so Jesus begins to proclaim, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now let's talk for just a second about the kingdom of heaven, and how they would have heard this, and understood this. They wanted the kingdom of heaven. In reality, so do we. So does our entire culture.
We have this longing for, we're able to understand that this world is broken, that there are things that are wrong with our surroundings, that things don't work the way they ought to, and there's this longing in us to have them fixed. This is what we do. We argue about how do we best get to, now some people aren't going to call it the kingdom of heaven, but that's what we're ultimately working for, where things work, where there's no injustice, where there's no crime, there's no poverty. Even as we argue about guns in America, the end of the line, everybody hopes, is that people aren't randomly shot with guns.
It's an argument about how to get there. Do we take them all away? Do we just arm everyone? Can't shoot me if I shoot you first? Nobody can shoot if nobody has guns. But we're still trying to, the ultimate goal would be that this would work.
That this would be good. That there would be some form of peace, there would be some form of happiness. And then when he proclaimed this, he's saying all the prophecies that we've seen coming, that you've heard about, that the lion will lay down with the lamb, that we'll take all of our weapons of warfare, and that we'll turn them into farming tools, that there will be joy, that there will be peace, that there will be no more. This prophecy that we just read, that the enemy, the oppressor, will no longer, the rod will be taken out of his hand, he won't have any power, all that was used for warfare will be taken away, that there will be joy, that there will be hope, there will be peace.
He's proclaiming that, that's the kingdom. You want that. If you could just say, look if my house could just be, as if it were in the kingdom. Where we got along, where there was joy, where there wasn't strife, where there wasn't pain, there was no tears, there was no mourning. He's proclaiming this, he's walking around saying, this kingdom has come. And so if it was just that, if it was just to be happy, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
It's imminent, it's present, it's walking, it's marching forward. But that's not the message. The message is, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So I've got bad news. You're not welcome in the kingdom. You don't fit.
That's the assumption with that statement. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Meaning the kingdom is coming and you aren't a good citizen of it. See, the assumption when we talk about politics, when I talk about politics, when I would be arguing with somebody or whatever, my assumption is, your assumption is, when somebody puts a Facebook post or rant, depending on how they wrote it, depending on where they placed it, their assumption is, I'm one of the good ones. People thought like me, if they acted like me, they understood what I understood, if they saw what I saw, then we'd all be fine.
We'd all get along. If everyone would just read my somewhat incoherent Facebook post. You don't know exactly my point, but you know I'm angry. I mean it. If you would just read this and know exactly what I meant for it to mean, then we'd, harmony. We'd all be doing well.
That's the assumption. If somebody started proclaiming to you, repent for the kingdom of Bernie Sanders is at hand. Repent. Trump is president. Change your ways. The assumption would be, you don't fit.
You need to change so that you can fit. And their assumption would be that they already did. But Jesus is proclaiming this, a kingdom that he's the king of, and he's telling you, you don't fit. If you had a perfect kingdom, if there was a family that was a perfect family, perfect, sinless, and they adopted you, that family is now messed up. That's how that works. There are no jails in the kingdom of heaven, but if they just let me in, they'd have to build one.
I would mess that place up. I would be like, why don't y'all have speed limits? And they'd be like, speed what? I'd be like, I got it. Never mind. And in a week, they'd post speed limit signs because there's one nut riding around here with reckless abandonment.
Like, you know what I'm saying? We wouldn't fit. So he says, repent for the kingdom of heaven and there's something in us that wants to assume, yeah, that's for the bad people. And let me tell you, you are right. But it's quite possible that you made the bad people category too small.
That is for the bad people. But there aren't bad people and good people. There are bad people and Jesus. Welcome to the bad people. You aren't allowed in the kingdom. This is the most exclusive message that can be proclaimed.
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Everyone who hears the voice of Jesus has to change. You are not welcome. You do not fit. And it is the most inclusive message ever proclaimed. Because everybody who repents, you're welcome.
The only way to exclude yourself from the kingdom is to think that you already deserve to be in it. If you think you're in, you're out. That's why when the Pharisees showed up, John the Baptist called them a brood of vipers and said, who told you to flee? Y'all don't think wrath's coming. Who told you to flee? Which Pharisee looked at you and said, we better change?
If you think you're in, you're out. And if you know you should be out, you get to be in. The person who comes forward and says, I don't deserve this. I have not earned this. I am not good enough. I am not welcome.
Jesus says, you're ready. Join the kingdom. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's the message to everybody. And that is an exclusive message. You are not welcome unless you realize you're not welcome.
And then it's the most inclusive message you'll ever hear. Then you get to be brought in. Jesus makes us deserving as we repent. As we walk forward and say, I don't deserve this. He fulfills this as he dies on the cross for our sin. It's a kingdom that's unfulfilled.
He's proclaiming this message, but ultimately we're going to learn how this works. is that he's going to take everything we needed to repent of and he's going to absorb the wrath for it. He's going to take the punishment for it so that we might be brought in. So I'm sorry. Actually, I can't. I'm not sorry. If you're, if you thought you were one of the good ones, I hope that, I hope that you understand that you are not.
And if you want people to get close to you, join a community group. They'll help point it out. You just don't have enough friends who love you. If you still think you've got everything together, someone needs to, to tell you about it. If you're married, you know, probably someone's told you. You have a roommate probably did the same thing for you.
But since we're all failures, we all get to be welcomed in if we'll repent. But he keeps going. That's his general call, but we're about to see this specific call. It says, while walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, that's a rock, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. I always appreciate how Matthew wrote that. He's like, there's like a twist in it, like he leaves us hanging for a second.
They were throwing nets in the sea. They were fishermen. It's like, oh, okay, that was weird before then. It's like, they were fighting bulls, for they were bullfighters. That's kind of how he wrote it. So that's what he writes it out.
He says, they're casting net in the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Immediately, they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets. And he called them. Immediately, they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Jesus walks around. He proclaims this general message, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then he's walking by the sea. He sees two brothers working. And he walks up to them and says, follow me, I will make you fishers of men. Seems as if he probably just began walking off.
Because they dropped what they were doing and followed him. If he had stood there, I think they probably would have stood there too. But he was just like, you, you, follow me. And they do. Now, Matthew writes this on purpose so that we feel the abruptness of this. This was abrupt.
John tells us that they had kind of heard about Jesus, knew a little bit about him through John the Baptist's ministry. They had met him. There was a little bit of, but this is the moment when they really kind of said, okay, we're going to follow you. And he hadn't done things to really prove he's been proclaiming this message. It feels like he just made eye contact and they kind of felt like they had to say yes. He does, he Acts like a king.
If you're watching a movie and a king rides up and then he goes to a town and he sees a farmer and he says, join me. War is upon us. The farmer person says, yes sir, king sir. Not, well, I'll come in the middle of something. That's the way Jesus rolls up and just says, follow me. And they're like, okay.
And he calls specific people. He actually begins to interact with and intersect their everyday lives and their trajectory of their life is changed forever. And this is kind of how it feels that he still works. Like, there's some of you who maybe feel like, I became a Christian because I heard this message. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. I began to learn what the kingdom was.
I began to learn how I could repent. I began to learn who Jesus was and I came and I said, I need to repent. I need to come forward. I need to lay this down. I need you to take my sin. I need to be free of it.
I realize I don't bring anything to the table. I'm not one of the good ones. And there are other people, if you talk to enough Christians, if you're not a Christian, you start asking people. Some people will say, yeah, that's kind of my story. And there are other people who will tell a story that sounds a lot more like this. I was minding my own business.
Jesus rolled up. I don't know. I'm following him now. He just kind of told me to. And it felt like I had to. That's the way that works.
There's this little bit of like, I just, I don't know. It was like, there's some people who will tell stories about if churches would do altar calls all the time. There's stories of people who said they were doing one and they just felt like the Holy Spirit put them in a headlock. And it was like, I really felt like I had to walk down and say I'm going to follow Jesus or I was probably just going to die. I don't really, felt like the alternative wasn't a good one. And that's kind of what happens here.
He comes to these fishermen and he tells them and he's very disruptive. So that's the first thing is that he says, follow me. We're going to just kind of take this statement and look at it because this is what it works like. You follow him that they would drop what they're doing. Follow him meant where he went, they went. What he did, they did.
If he retreated and prayed, they'd retreat and pray. If he fasted, they fasted. If he ate, they ate. If he ministered, they ministered. That's it. I love that it says, casting their nets into the sea for they were fishermen.
There's nothing amazing about a fisherman. It's not the most glorious. It's not terrible. Blue collar, normal. He said to them, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
So that's two of the fishermen left nets. Then going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother in the boat with Zebedee their father mending their nets and he called them immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Now they're all fishermen. It says they were all holding on to nets but it says Peter and Andrew left nets and it says that James and John left a boat and their father. The reality is we may be coming from similar places but we're all going to feel like we left something different to follow Jesus. That there are some things we had to give up.
We couldn't hold on to anymore. And what he calls them to is probably not something they had ever really been dreaming about. He's changed the whole trajectory of their life. I don't think when he said I'll make you fishers of men they were like about time. Catching fish you've got to catch too many. I've been saying for a long time if we catch people they're bigger.
I don't think Andrew looked at Peter and said told you million dollar idea. He's tagging in on something they understood fishing but he's going to transition their entire life to something else that he's taking them and changing them and this is what it looks like. You don't get to look the same after Jesus calls you. And they have to follow him they have to do what he says. So for us it's a little different than for them.
I think in some ways it's a little simpler for them because you wake up where's Jesus? He's walking that way. Let's walk that way. Where's Jesus? He's staying put. He's praying.
We just we get to you lay eyes on him and you you do what he does. And for us you need to wake up you need to open your Bible. You need to learn how to walk with the Spirit. You see if you watch if you read the Gospels they follow Jesus around. If you read the book of Acts the Spirit sends them around. If you read the book of Acts and you just look at where it says the Holy Spirit it'll say the Holy Spirit sent them here the Holy Spirit commissioned them to that the Holy Spirit told them they couldn't go there the Holy Spirit like we if you're a believer open your Bible and learn how to walk with the Spirit but every day it ought to be about what they were doing which is opening the Bible and saying where to?
What do you have for me? What do you want for me? Learning how to walk and follow Jesus but life fundamentally changes as we do that. So he says follow me. Then he says I will make you fishers of men.
Their job keep their eyes on Jesus. His job change them. Their job keep their eyes on Jesus keep in step see where he's going go with him. His job to fundamentally remake them. He's going to turn them into something different. This is the same thing that happens with us.
Go with him. His job to fundamentally remake them. He's going to turn them into something different. This is the same thing that happens with us. As we place our faith in Jesus we're supposed to keep our eyes on Jesus but he makes us new. That he changes us. He goes to work in our souls. This is what 2 Corinthians says it will be on the screen. 2 Corinthians 5 we're going to read 14, 15 and 17 it says for the love of Christ
Controls us because we have concluded this that one has died for all therefore all have died and he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. When Jesus called them he had not yet proven what he was going to do it had not fully been confirmed it had not been laid out when he calls us he's already died
He's already risen he's already conquered the grave there's hope for us and what he says is that we because we're Christians now because you place your faith in Jesus we know that when he died we all died when he rose we all rose and now it says therefore a verse later if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the old has passed away behold the new has come
Come follow me and I will make you new that's what he does and guys this is so fun to watch in other people it's kind of hurtful sometimes when it's you but let's just talk about other people for a second as we get to see people in our group meet Jesus it's so fun to watch how they change and sometimes it really does feel like
Spiritually there's them wanting sin but having Jesus remake their heart and he's just dragging them along and they can't even explain it you're like you're different and they're like I know it's so weird like I don't know like part of me wants that part of me wants this and it feels like Jesus is winning and then when you're walking through that sometimes you're seeing how he works in you
And how he changes you and how he pulls you along and sometimes it's painful but he makes us new and he does this all at once when you believe that you die with him your sin is gone and he remakes you and he makes you new that if you were to die at that moment and you stood before God you'd be a new creation but he also the process of sanctification means that he does this slowly over time functionally in our lives and that ultimately he's going to make us into new creations here that our trajectory
Has changed our life has changed and that he has claimed us and nothing will be the same again he says I will make you fishers of men so he's going to do it he's going to accomplish it he's going to change them he's changing their trajectory and then he says I will make you fishers of men so they understood fishing alright so if you came along you met Peter and Andrew
And they were sitting in the ancient Israel version of an Adirondack chair and they had a net laid out in front of them in the sand and you said what you doing and they said fishing for what fish I'm I'm not a fisherman I don't want to step on your toes feels like this is an ineffective way to go about that you're like well it was real hard to get in a boat
Early try to find where the fish were you can't really see them under the water you had to tend to the nets all the time they got kind of gross so we just thought if we laid the nets out here we wouldn't have to fool with all the extra stuff that goes along with the difficulty of fishing and maybe we could catch some fish this way and we'd at least be able to see them coming so the reality is when he said you're going to be
Fishers of men that immediately triggered a bunch of stuff that made sense to them they understood that means we've got to go to them we've got to plan ahead we have to think we have to intentionally put ourselves in a place for that to work this is going to be hard work if they had been farmers he might would have said we're going to start farming
For men but he says it in a way that they would have understood that they were going to have to go out of their way to try to see this happen and that's the reality that as he works in us we want more people to meet Jesus as he changes us we want more people to have what we have and that means
We have to get around people and get out of what is comfortable and normal for us that we might see them come to believe in him he's saying we're going to go get more people for this kingdom you're going to walk around with me and we're going to invite more people in and that's really good news and it means that if we are Christians
We're called to the same thing that he's going to change us and that we're going to go around and try to see more people come into this you ever watching a movie and some people are hiking and they're in the woods maybe like the Appalachian Trail they come up on a log cabin and there's like smoke coming out of the chimney and the music's
Changed so we already know this isn't going to go well plus you probably know what type of movie you're watching you know this is all right it's getting tense door opens crazy old guy steps out beard spittle gun every time I ever see that I think that's the life if I could just live in the woods by myself on a mountain
Play a harmonica not have my wife say quit playing that harmonica she can come but in this imaginary thing she likes the way I play the harmonica but just not have to know people not have to be around people that when I was in high school and summer came I would say bye to my friends they were my actual friends and then I would see them again when school started
And I would not think about them the entire summer I didn't even notice they were gone Jordan Surratt and I have conversations like this every once in a while and you can watch those words physically hurt him if you don't know Jordan Surratt just imagine a person who has way too many friends I would love to live on some land we moved to
Columbia South Carolina where it's like $30,000 an acre from a place where it was like $3,000 we live in a neighborhood where I have intentionally knocked on all my neighbors doors harassment to try to get to know them when I feel no intrinsic desire on my own to know anyone
I would just shave my head real short just with the thing the little clippers because that's easier for me but I've been told that it makes me harder to talk to and also look like a white nationalist or something so I grow my hair out and psychotically mess with it all the time we're in a
Community group that we're committed to relationships that we've built that they're good for our souls we live in a place where I don't feel like we're allowed to move from our neighborhood both my wife and I would rather just live in the middle of nowhere and we do this because we believe that there are people who do not know Jesus and one
Of the best ways for us to get to know them is to live near them and knock on their doors and harass them to find out where they are to be where they are we intentionally moved to plant a church because we felt like the Lord told us to moved to a place where we will not own land
I mean a little bit but not like land like I have to like wear clothes walking around outside my house I grew up in the woods you didn't have to I mean it's optional and I think we'll do this for the rest of our lives and I've told Anna I've said I think maybe maybe the Lord will let us
Live far away from people in heaven and maybe in heaven we won't care but we'll be one big family and we'll love each other and this will be really beautiful and the reality is that's my little bit of a story on how he's worked in me for that but he's doing the same thing for you if you're a Christian
He's calling you to fish for people he's calling you to some of you that means you're having to get to know your co-workers some of you that means you've given away so much money that the last car or house you bought you could have paid cash if you'd have just saved it some of us have
Intentionally changed our budget intentionally changed our schedules joined extra leagues started watching other people's children hosted parties hosted our community group gone out of our way to have really uncomfortable conversations for ourselves all for the sake that we believe that Jesus Christ is actually the king that he actually does have a beautiful kingdom this invitation is real
And he's brought us in and therefore we cannot be the same will not be the same cannot be the same life will not look the same there is a kingdom where there is no more brokenness where there is no more pain there is a kingdom where sinners are welcome and made new there is a kingdom
Where there's joy and hope and peace there is a kingdom where actual lions lay down with actual lambs and there's a kingdom where an actual lion of the tribe of Judah laid his life down as a lamb to sacrifice himself that we might be brought in and cause us to join him in seeing more people welcomed terrible awful sinners like us welcomed into a joyous kingdom
That they do not fit in and would not deserve outside of the blood of Jesus Christ Peter and James Andrew and John their life never looked the same every single one of them that is listed is killed for their faith John is boiled alive in oil and then put on an island in Patmos so he dies of old age but in jail melted and they have spent the last couple thousand years in the
Presence of the king awaiting for a kingdom that will descend from heaven and reclaim the earth see Jesus does it first through his own shed blood and then he comes as a conquering king and that we get to invite people in to repent and to be welcomed so I don't know where you are I don't know if you're in the zone where he's called you to follow him and there's some things you're trying to hold on to that you've
Got to drop I don't know if you're not in the practice of getting up and open your Bible and asking the Holy Spirit to lead your day but you need to start so that you might follow him and he might make you new I don't know if you're in the zone where he's currently sanctifying you and you need to just yield to him and see what he changes because it's good for your soul I don't know if some of us are in the zone where we say I'll follow Jesus I read my Bible
But we are not actively trying to see other people welcomed in and that is what we are meant to do as we are commissioned by the king that was why he brought them along was that he might make them new and that he might get more people in but the hope is that we would follow Jesus that he would make us new that we would join him in seeing more people welcome the band's going to come back up we're going to sing we're going to worship this Jesus who redeems sinners who
Welcomes the bad guys through his own shed blood that we might be made new and that we might be sent out to join him in his mission let's pray God we ask that if anybody in here thinks they're one of the good ones that they would repent that they might see their sin and be welcomed in we pray for those that you are putting pressure on that you're making eye contact with that you are calling by name and saying follow me we pray Lord that you
Would through your spirit give them the power the strength the fearlessness to let go of what's holding them back we pray that we'd be a people that wake up and follow you and we ask Lord that as you change us and make us new that you would empower us to join you to see more people brought in we might be people who proclaim this kingdom message that everybody's welcome through the blood of the cross amen amen
Thank you.