Jesus Walks on Water (Matthew 14:22-36)

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Jesus Walks on Water

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Good morning my name is Spencer I'm one of the pastor's of Mill City Church of KC we as a Church believe that Jesus is better than everything else and because of this truth that we live by we get to be a Gospel centered community on mission and in this pass really all this year it has increasingly become difficult to be a Gospel centered community right like the there's lots of just culturally there's lots of disconnectedness it's it's growing all over the places we tried to social distance as we've got.

So many things on our plate fears of just kovat fears of the economy fears of social unrest there's so many things that fill our attention and so many things that we are concerned about and we're increasingly becoming disconnected and the Church is not a mean to that that as a Church we've increasingly become more disconnected right like it's it's been hard as we adjusted to going online and watching services online and focusing and being present there it's been hard we've taught a group leaders as groups are trying to continue to navigate this and be together that that attendance has been spotty at best in some in certain groups it's just been it's difficult there's this.

Disconnectedness that we are facing culturally but in the midst of all of that that's gonna continue as this year goes on in the midst of all of that I'm still hopeful and the reason that I'm hopeful is because the most important thing about us still is Christ the hope of Christ that's why we are a Gospel centered community so the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the spirit that has work in us so we can grow in this in the midst of all the adapting we need to do we can grow we can still grow in being present here on a Sunday morning.

So if you're here this morning seeing worship if you're at home right now watching take some time don't multitask don't listen to this in the background like be present see sit on the authority of God's Word let's grow and doing this together as we leave here we go into our community groups must be present well--that's meeting virtually or that's meeting outside whatever that looks like let's let's continue to grow and being a Gospel centered community on mission so if you're new here that's a little bit of who we are those that's what some of what we value as a Church and one of the easiest ways to experience this is to get into a group.

And you can do that by by going online there's there's a QR code that'll be on the screen that you can scan that'll take you to our website also you can go to Mill City KC com go to our groups and there's more information there you can fill out a request form and you can and someone will contact you and tell you more about our groups and where there might be a good place for you to jump in but we love.

For you to experience that and what we care about in groups if you are not new and you call this Church home we want you to continue to give we have giving slots that you can give at any point during the gathering today you can also give online so I want to pause and pray the God prepare our hearts for worship and then I want you to stand we read from Psalm 36 so let me pray I've got to thank you that you came.

For us to rescue us to claim a people that in the midst of whatever we are facing the midst of fears anxieties the midst of just the regular difficult rhythms of life that we can fix our eyes upon you that we can gaze upon you that we can worship you together as a Church wherever we are God I pray that you would help us prepare to worship and you would call us into worshipping you and that we would respond me s in.

Jesus name Amen you got stand when it calls into worship from psalm 66 shout for joy to God all the earth sing the glory of his name give to him glorious praise say to God how awesome are your deeds so great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you all the earth worships you and sings praises to you they sing praises to your name let's see we're gonna seam together how great thou are slipped our voices hold on my.

God when I in awesome wonder consider I see the song I by then sings my soul breakdown then sings my soul my Savior God ah shop my soul my Savior God - how a reading from Ephesians two and as we read this we remember our need to confess on our need for a savior and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the Prince of the power of the air the spirit that is.

Now at work and sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and we're by nature children of Wrath like the rest of mankind but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him in cedis seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ.

Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing it is the gift of God not a result of works so that no one may boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them let's continue worshiping there's nothing with nothing on Messer you know you want No No what a beautiful name it is nothing what a beautiful name death could not hold you.

God we've gathered in this place today only by the name of Jesus by the blood of Jesus about a sacrifice of Jesus can we come into this place and come into your presence freely as people who willingly confess our sin before you in our need for you God we thank you we thank you for the good news of the Gospel we thank you for Jesus and we thank you for the gift that worship is God but all of our lives our worship before you we live lives of worship before you.

And so we know we need you to teach us we need your spirit to fill us and to lead us that we might follow you in obedience then we might repent where we need to that our faith might grow where it needs to and God we're asking for that as well this morning God would you speak and change us in Jesus name Amen you guys gonna have a seat good morning my name is Chet I'm one of the pastor's here I'm glad to be with y'all this morning I have a few quick pieces of information that I want to share with you all that's not a description of the sermon it won't be quick.

It's got tons of stuff in it but before we get to the sermon a few quick pieces of information one of the things that people have said to us throughout the whole time you know we we plan to the Church we've merged together now with First Baptist Church of KC and throughout our whole history people have come up to us over and over again and said y'all communicate everything so clearly we've never been caught off guard we've never been surprised by anything we just always knew everything that was going on and in the spirit of that and actually the only thing that messed us up a little bit was this pandemic and there may be.

A few things you just need to be caught up on that we need to celebrate together and be excited about one is we launched a new community group this past week yeah so we've trained some leaders that's a big deal for us because we want to have group leaders that trained group leaders that send out group leaders and so we launched a new group you have 11 groups now and that's a big deal and so we're excited want to let y'all know that let's you be celebrating that we also are gearing up to helps into the Rockies to be missionaries the.

First foreign missionaries that we're sending out of our Church family and in the future we're gonna have them up here and help try to raise some support for them and Chris plays the drums and I even suggested that we would have him play the drums every week and put a hat here and as soon as we had raised enough money we'd send him out and you wouldn't have to hear the drums anymore if you didn't like them so it would be a way to help raise some support of course people like the jumps and they might be taking some of the money out.

So it might get might get convoluted but we're gearing up to send them excited about that we also are about to begin construction so we have planned to do some construction in this area to kind of make a welcome area over here so that it can be a little more open when you enter and to get ready for kids city because we had upwards of 40 children on Sundays and needed to make some more space for them we did just discover that in that section of the building there is some asbestos.

So it was built in the 70s and they put his bestest and everything because it was a miracle powder stuff and they just put it all over the place and it's in some of the joint compound and stuff so our construction just got a little more expensive and I know some of y'all consistently come over to me and say I have all this money laying around the house and I don't know what to do with it we would welcome you to help put it towards the construction we're about to be getting into.

But just want to let you know we are about to start some of that and it may change how we move around on Sundays but it is an exciting time for us now for those of you who keep up with how long I preach none of that counted we're starting now grab your Bibles got a Matthew chapter 14 we are walking through the Gospel of Matthew together and we just left off where Jesus it's the stories known as Jesus feeds 5,000 or the feeding of the 5,000.

But we learned last week there's 5,000 men was probably 15,000 people we're picking up right at the end of that Disney bought Marvel and then started making the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I have really appreciated the movies they put out and have two sons we watched them together and because of those I have been beaten senseless at my house because my children now have Thor hammers and shields that look like Captain America they sling at my head and that sort of thing.

But one of the original Thor movies I appreciate it because it reminds me of some of the Gospel story there's some as I watch movies a lot of times I see parallels to the Gospel and in sometimes I see contradiction so the Gospel and I think man Jesus is so much better than that sometimes I see things that remind me of the Gospel and so in the first Thor movie Thor who is a from the Norse he's a Norse God from Norse mythology.

But he got picked up by Marvel and just became a comic book hero in the movie he is sent to earth and he's actually banished for being a jerk so he sent to earth and then he has to regain his godness but there are some places throughout the story where he's interacting with people and he's telling them he's Thor and they can't decide whether or not he actually is he does some things that our hero s can he does some other things that are just nor guys stuff and it's an interesting movie.

But it reminds me of Jesus comes to earth he actually is God he wasn't banished he came with a good purpose to accomplish God's will but there are times where he does things that are godlike and there are other times where he does things that just seem like a normal person so we've been following this story with the disciples he just fed 5,000 men 15,000 people but it seemed like the disciples were surprised that happened it wasn't like this was how he always did things I think a lot of times they bought food ate what they had had to do with it.

So there are times where he seems like a normal teacher and there are other times where he seems like a prophet where he seems like there's more to it but in this story with Thor there comes this moment at the end of the movie he's been telling people he's Thor all of a sudden a flying hammer shoots into his hand he is struck by lightning and the Lightning dresses him like Thor it changes his clothes he comes out of the lightning would like braided hair and a cape and some chainmail which i think is one of the most underused powers of Thor.

Because that would be really nice you could sleep till almost the time you had to leave the house you just roll over pick up your hammer get struck by lightning be ready to go it'd be very very very convenient but in that moment when that happens it clicks for everybody around him he is who he said he was we're just gonna read this moment in the Gospel where there's a turning point here in Matthew where Jesus does a couple of things in a row and all of a sudden his disciples go oh not just a prophet not not just a teacher you are the son of.

God as we get to read that story today and it is a very interesting story as we see all the things that lead up to the disciples realizing who Jesus really is and so as we read that story we're gonna walk through it and then we're gonna just talk about as as we're disciples of Jesus what are for appropriate responses to the fact that Jesus is God that we see in this story so that's that's our goal today let's pray God we thank you.

For your word we thank you for how in your word your son is revealed to us his divinity is revealed to us and that in him we might have hope and life let me pray that we would grow in our faith today as we study this passage Jesus name Amen we're in Matthew chapter 14 we're gonna start in verse 22 immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd.

So he just fed this large crowd as soon as everybody's eating eating their fill it's been a wonderful time but it's in the evening it's already getting kind of late he tells the disciples get in the boat and go to the other side of the lake other side of the sea so this is Sea of Galilee it's about eight miles wide so he tells them y'all go to the other side which we don't know he kind of compels them to do this.

But he doesn't go with them so we know if they had questions they said like why are we leaving but you're not but he just says get in the boat go and then he goes and dismisses the crowds after he had dismissed the crowds he went up on the mountain by himself to pray this is actually what he had been trying to do when the crowd showed up and interrupted him last time so he had been trying to get away spend some time alone the crowds show up and interrupt him.

But he loves them has compassion on them heals their sick feeds them and then now he sends them away and he goes off by himself to pray and if Jesus the Son of God needs to get off by himself and pray we need to get off by ourselves and pray if you were questioning whether that was something you needed to do I'm glad you came here this morning the answer is yes and when I say by yourself I mean no other humans and no cell phone and I know some of you just walk no cell phone yes put it to him and go off by yourself and pray.

So Jesus does that when the evening came that means when it was late he was there alone but the boat by this time was a long way from the land beaten by the waves for the wind was against them and then it says in the fourth watch of the night the fourth watch of the night is 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. so somewhere between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. so these guys ate a full mil ate all the food they could possibly eat.

And then he told them get in the boat go to the other side and the wind was against them so they have rowed a boat for hours and I don't know if you've ever eaten a full meal where you were stuffed but you don't immediately think you know what would go really nice it's a manual labor I'd love to really row a boat now for hours but that's what they just did I don't think this has been the best night for them they got to eat a full meal that was nice and he says get in the boat we're going to the other side.

Okay but as soon as they start going to other side the wind is against them now we've recently had storms in Colombia I actually take my boys out sometimes right before a storm starts and I'll hold them outside and we just stand and look at it and watch the wind whip the trees around and really enjoy doing that but if you're on a lake there's nothing to stop the wind it just comes and so the wind is pushing against them and they're getting battered by waves.

If the wind was behind them they could travel across this lake probably in an hour hour and a half if there was no wind and they had to row it might take them about two two and a half hours but with the wind against them in obedience to Jesus they've been laboring and it's between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. some of them maybe have slept maybe they took turns maybe there's one guy who still is in a good mood at this time all of you ever hung out with a bunch of people too way late in the morning or had to work really long there's usually one that's still liked and that's the guy that most.

Of the other guys don't really like it's like you got to stop like can't you just be grumpy with the rest of us like please please quit but most of them probably not having the best night and says this when evening came he was there alone but the boat by this time was a long way away from the land beaten by the waves for the wind was against them and in the fourth watch of the night he came to them walking on the sea do not certify this in your head.

So that you act like that's normal and we're just fine with it Jesus just walked on the sea and not even like a calm nice sea a windy wavy terrible sea he just walks he absolutely displays his authority over creation it is absolute his kingship I worked swimming pools growing up and there were times when I have to go to somebody's house and I come to their backyard and I'd be at a fence and there'd be five or six dogs just acting crazy and I'm standing there thinking no no no I'm not going in this backyard like y'all spook and just stay the way it is you know.

But then there are times where all sudden the door opens the owner comes out and all these dogs pretend like to their owner that they're not vicious psychos they suddenly calm down there wagging their tail they run over to the owner and the moment that that happens you know your brain just registers this is the owner there is a chaotic sea Jesus walks down he gets to the edge of it and he just walks on to it and all of a sudden.

If we had been watching we would have had the same realization oh he's the owner the sea does what he wants he's absolutely in charge now I don't know how walking on water works I don't know if it's smoothed out for him I don't know if it was like some of the water was hitting his feet but then it was like there was something solid underneath it it certainly reads like it was very simple for him it's not like the waves were coming he was having to run up on my friend no I don't think that was happening I think he looked peaceful and in control I'll even think he had to do a whole.

Lot of like you know we watched movies and stuff and we get to see some of this stuff that you know people have now a CGI help us picture but they always make it seem like the person's really struggling I think Jesus just walking so he's walking on the sea absolutely in charge and it says but when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified and said it is a ghost and they cried out in fear yeah 3 to 6 a.m.

Stormy I doesn't seem like it's raining but it's windy they're out on a boat it's dark it seems like at this point by the time they saw him he was close he was there it was like you know they're rowing hey someone else is a ghost and it just says they yelled out my grandmother my grandmother whenever she would get intense situations like there was a time where my mom was driving and they were on ice and they slid my grandmother would start yelling and one of the things she would yell in any of these situations was we're coming home that was like her go-to thing to shout and I just I pictured just.

For my own sake that one of the disciples said the ghost is coming for us I'm assuming there were some Galilean ghost stories oh my goodness is one night Dimitri he come to get us they're terrified and they absolutely would be and here's the thing I don't think Jesus was bobbing up and down with the waves I think when they saw the figure of a person he's moving smoothly so they're rocking up and down in a boat and they see this figure moving in the waves and they just lose it and absolutely they would their adrenaline is pumping I mean that's it's go-time your brains trying to process what you're seeing that there's a mirror.

That hangs on the back of my closet door and bedroom and sometimes if my wife leaves that door open when I turn at night to go into my own bedroom I'm suddenly staring at some shadowy figure of a full-grown man and I'm like so it's just me okay don't have to fight anybody but I do that maybe once a month just terrify myself absolutely I mean adrenaline pumping heart racing and the brains trying to process you know when you see something scary your brain tries the process to tell you what it is and the brain keeps just going best thing I got is that maybe.

If you jump out of the boat he'll kill these other guys I don't know I don't know terrified they cry out and fear but immediately Jesus spoke to them saying take heart it is I do not be afraid now that's comforting and certainly it's less scary that it's not a ghost but this adds a whole new layer of things right Jesus just walked to them I don't think their heart rate slows down that much I think they're just going Oh what on earth is going on that he can just come over here walking on water eleven of them are just trying to process.

But I'd like to introduce Peter to y'all Peter answered him lord if it is you command me to come to you on the water everybody else is just like and Peter yells me to I used to think this was like Peter's test to see if it was really the Lord like this is the ultimate ghost test prove you're not a ghost say come here and if that's what it was I like to think John later was like house ghost could say come here that goes could have just drowned you like I don't think that proved anything.

But I actually think it reads more like it since it is you O Jesus since it's you walking on water let me walk on water - y'all have known people like this right they see something Oh meet - how'd you do that you learned how to do a back flip I don't know how to do a back flip show me how to do that let me try Peter's a me-too person I grew up being a Nam good person my older brother's a me-too person hey you want to shot a coffin.

For this tree - that tree no I'm good hey I found a hole you want to crawl down it and see what's in it no I'm good you can tell me what's in it when you come out if you come out I think I'd be still in the boat but Peter jumped up and said call me out let me come out on the water with you you know how you get to hear stories about people maybe you've had some stories passed down to you and you kind of feel like you know some of your relatives or some of your parents friends or your grandparents friends even though you never met them.

Because you get these a glimpse of them in a story I think this story does that for us for both Peter and for Jesus I think this shows us something about God that I find extremely interesting Peter says if it is you command me to coming to you on the water he said come why I always feel like what God wants from us is utility that he wants us to be productive but he has things he wants us to do that.

When he calls us into something it's it's for some bigger purpose some kind of thing that needs to accomplish but I don't understand what this accomplishes other than Peter displays faith and gets to go closer to Jesus and Jesus says come that he wouldn't let him if it wasn't a good request you know there was a time that James and John asked Jesus if they could send fire down from heaven to kill a town Jesus said no to that request like the town wouldn't let him in and James and John were like hey you know how you do like prophet stuff yeah you know Elijah burned up a whole town yeah I know that can.

We do that to that to actually Lodge didn't burn up a town he burned up an army but Jesus says no no we're not new Peter says can I walked on water and Jesus says come because Peter wants to participate in what his Jesus is doing and he won't he has faith in this moment to do it so Jesus says come so Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus to people in human history have walked on water one of them was.

God incarnate the other one was a guy who trusted Jesus to let him do it and aggressively asked can I sue Peter gets to walk on water he walks on water and he came to Jesus but when he saw the wind he was afraid and began to sink and cried out lord save me so Peter gets out of the boat boats bounce and winds blowing he steps out and his foot sticks and he's watching Jesus and he's walking to him I think he probably looked like he was having a harder time Peter.

Jesus standing there doing fine Peters like walking to him and then all of a sudden he starts noticing the wind he starts noticing the wave he starts being a little more realistic about the situation he's in he starts thinking thoughts like you know if I quit being able to walk on the water I'm gonna die I was in a boat and that situation was kind of bad this is awesome but could suddenly be terrible and he starts looking at the wind he starts up into the waves he starts getting scared and he begins to sink I find I find that interesting I like that phrase begins to sink like I said earlier I worked on.

Swimming pools for all growing up and my family owned the pool company and I was that's a nice house we had just put in an inground and it's real pretty was awkwardly shaped kind of little design I was vacuuming it for him staying on one little edge and I went to step this way I don't know if y'all remember I said it was awkwardly shaped there wasn't any concrete here and what happened next I would not describe to you as I began to sink I sank fully clothed every I mean boots and blue jeans.

Because that's how I dress in the summer and fell directly into the swimming pool came out had to go knock on the door and be like hey y'all ready for me to teach you how to work this thing and they're like why are you soaking wet and I was like why don't you mind your own Peter begins to sink so it's almost as his his faith begins to fall his fear begins to rise and in that moment he doesn't just disappear into the deep it starts to flood it starts to rise up around him it starts to overwhelm him and it and it's just a beautiful picture of what following.

Jesus is like don't you have times where you go from your highest high like everything's good well I'm really loving Jesus right now I want to follow him I want to obey and then all of a sudden it's like everything is terrible and all I can see is the wind and the waves and I'm about to drown and everything is about to overwhelming it just starts rising up around you some of some people this takes a week to shift some people it's a day some of you were just riding in your car one day and all of a sudden it just feels like I'm starting to sink he was afraid and beginning to sink he.

Cried out lord save me and Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him saying to him o you of little faith why did you doubt oh you have a little faith why did you doubt so he had faith he was walking on water he begins to lose his faith he begins to rise up in fear and he sinks and Jesus says oh you little faith why did you doubt and we don't know it's hard to all wait to read in tone.

But it feels like seems to me that the tone the way Jesus says this would be similar to the tone I would have if I was helping my son learn how to ride a bike and he's moving and he's going and all of a sudden he gets scared even though he had it he had it and then he convinced himself to be scared so he slows down and you know if you slow down on a bike it gets worse and all of a sudden he starts and I had to catch him and I said why why'd you stop you had it I think that's kind of the tone Oh little faith you had it you.

And I were about to walk on water together we were gonna leave them row and we were like I don't know what he's gonna do but it's like you you had it why did you down because as he was moving in faith he could do anything he was conquering as Jesus conquers he was rising above all the mess the way Jesus does as he trusted Jesus and then sphere creeps any false and when they got into the boat the wind ceased.

So he gets in the boat call and those in the boat worshiped him saying truly you are the son of God now there's a handful of things that happen in this passage that may have been lost on us they were not lost on Jesus as Jewish disciples so I want to point them out to you they shifted from you're a good teacher your Lord as in your over us but not Lord is in Adonai from Scripture but then they shifted you know you're the son of.

God and they worship Him and let me explain something to you Jewish men know you worship God and God alone and for them to fall down and say you were the son of God and worship him they said no this is this is God and God alone so a couple of things that happened here and like I said earlier it's like when in the end of that movie where all of a sudden the hammer shows up the lightning strikes you dressed like you're Thor it's like check check check I think you actually are Thor that's what they just did check check check oh my goodness this is.

God this is the son of God first of all one of the things that happens here that when we translated in the English it doesn't have the same punches in verse 27 when they cry out in fear it says immediately Jesus spoke to them saying take heart it is I do not be afraid but he actually says take heart and in the Greek he says ego eimi which means take heart I am do not be afraid and there are places in the Scriptures specifically in the Gospels where.

When Jesus says I am he is intentionally drawing everyone's attention back to God's Revelation of himself in the book of Exodus at the burning bush Moses says who shall I say sent me and the burning bush God speaking through the burning bush says say I am since you I am that I am this is the divine name for God that if you look in your Scriptures will see in the Old Testament capital L Ord that's our english translation of yahweh or jehovah which is i am.

And when Jesus says this he says it with some punch throughout his ministry he says it in the Gospel of John at one point and everybody recognizes what he's doing to the point that they pick up rocks to stone him because he just claimed to be God at the end of the Gospel of John he says it to a group of soldiers that came out to him and they fall down it's this proclamation of I am this claim to divinity so he says do not be afraid I am or take courage I am do not be afraid.

So he says that as he's walking on water now he's done miracles that point back to Moses he's done miracles that point back to Elijah or Elijah there's like oh he looks like a prophet oh he looks like a teacher like Moses walking on water makes them go oh he looks like God because the only person who walks on water he treads over water who rules over water in the Old Testament Scriptures he's God that's job nine eight who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea it's a rhetorical question the answer.

God Psalm 77 says the same thing that he treads over the water his footprints are unseen that he leads the people of Israel but not just that when he gets in the boat after walking on water the storm ceases and the only person in the Old Testament who can make a storm sees who can control the ocean is God that's psalm 107:20 9 he made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were hushed Jobe 26/11 the pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at his rebuke and by his power he stilled the sea fed 15,000 people walks on water stills the storm had the power to let Peter walk on water said.

I am check check check check this is God and they fall on their face and worship Him now there's four times in the Gospel of Matthew when Jesus is worshipped the Wiseman worshipped him when they come to him as a baby so he's coming as the coming king they worship Him this moment here where they see him as the Incarnate God God in human flesh and then twice in chapter 28 after he has risen from the grave and there's this moment right.

When he dies when they think wait a second is he not God and then he comes back to life and they go oh yeah okay it confirms everything for him so they worship Him here now let me explain something to you we have a huge problem if Jesus is not God we now have a big problem because he lets them worship Him which you are not allowed to do for the record you can accept praise people can say yeah you play the piano really.

Well whoo whoo good job learn how to use a hula hoop whatever I did diversify the skill level for y'all so that you could get clap for for something but you can't have people say oh you are God and worship you humans are not allowed to do that humans are only allowed to worship God that's bad if you worship something other than God but if you accept worship in place of God as if you are God that's extremely bad that's far worse.

So if Jesus is just a human if he's just a prophet he's supposed to say no no no no no no that's what happens in in Acts chapter 10 Peter sent to Cornelius Cornelius falls down to worship Him and Peter says no no no no no get up get up get up get up get up I'm just a man so some people will say well he's more than a man he's not just a man he's more than a man we have Jehovah's Witnesses would say something along those lines the the Mormons would say something along those lines and he's more than a man that he's a prophet that he's a step above it that he.

Somehow got a little bit of something he's not deities not God but even in the book of Revelation John falls down to worship an angel more than a man and the angel says no no no no get up get out get up get up I'm here I'm a messenger of Jesus let's worship God and God alone so Jesus accepts worship so if you want to put him in the category of a good man or a good teacher or a good prophet you have to stop you can reject him or you can worship Him you only have two options and the disciples say let's worship Him and they are correct.

Jesus is God who has come in the flesh to redeem his people I want to quickly show you for appropriate responses to Jesus from this passage the first one is obedience the disciples were told go to the other side of the lake and they had to row all night long and it's like a row and it's like mind it'd be easier if we just floated with the wind over to there yes it would certainly be easier it would also be disobedient.

So let's not do that and one of them was like but how is Jesus gonna catch us and then later when he saw him walking on the water he was like it's a good thing y'all talked me out of that because he totally could have caught us you guys I had it all that that's not true but anyway obey and some of you that's the zone you're in right now he sets you on a course and it's difficult and it's exhausting and maybe every day you feel like that's what you're doing I'm just I'm just battling it would be.

So much easier to just go that way ah be so much easier if I just went that way but if he's God keep at it keep at it he knows what he's doing he knows what he's talking about he is good he is divine and when he wants us calm the storm he can keep moving in obedience second appropriate response to Jesus is to see what he is doing and ask excitedly if you can be involved I think a lot of times we decide to do something and we asked.

Jesus to join us but we need to get better at seeing what Jesus is doing and asked me if we can be involved and some of us need to also start praying prayers about Jesus command me to do something terrifying eleven men stayed in the boat one of them got out and that's because he asked if he could and I think everybody here needs to put it on their prayer list to start asking Jesus can I be a part of something that you're doing that will absolutely terrify me I think we'd be a better Church.

If that began or what are you doing that would make me have to rely solely on you can I be a part of something that absolutely demands my time and my money and it's terrifying so that I can only look at you or I will fail we need to begin to pray prayers like that another appropriate response from this passage that we need to see is that we all ought to yell out lord save me Peter was sinking into the abyss he was going to be he was going to be swamped he was gonna be drowned it was gonna go over his head and the reality is Peter would have died were it not.

For Jesus and the reality for us is that is exactly the same position we are in you will die you will be crushed you will be drowned if it art is not for Christ if we don't yell out lord save me we will be overwhelmed and for some of you you will be overwhelmed by the weight of your sin and your shame and your guilt and we need exactly what Jesus came for which was to die so that we might have life he is.

God and he did die on a cross and he did rise again and the appropriate response to him is to cry out lord save me and he immediately does the Scriptures tells us that no one who calls on the name of the Lord will be put to shame that he will save all of those who cry out to him and that is an appropriate response to Jesus as king is to call out to him to save me and if for those of us who have been been walking in faith.

But are suddenly feeling like we were beginning to sink the response is not to white-knuckle it the response is to run to Jesus saying I need you to save me I need you to encourage me I need you to redeem me I need the Gospel in my life to apply to my heart in my soul I need you to call me back into it I need you to snatch me up and he does the fourth appropriate response to Jesus as God is to worship Him as.

God to worship him and him alone this is why we sing to Jesus this is why we praise Jesus this is why we pray to Jesus this is why we speak of Jesus and proclaim Jesus because we believe that he is God who came to redeem who does redeem and save and we trust Jesus this is why we're excited about the Peters in the world but we also expect them to sink all Christian heroes get wet you guys two guys walked on water one of them got in the boat bone-dry the other one got on the boat like oh and that's.

Okay we're gonna have people that we look up to that fall into sin we're gonna have people that that are quote-unquote heroes with ourselves we're gonna have moments that are high in moments that are low and all of us get to run to Jesus and ask to be redeemed and he does so we worship Jesus he is our hero and everybody else is a sinner who gets the worst of Jesus - Peter got to walk on water and all it did was highlight how good.

Jesus was it didn't highlight Peter when they got back in the boat they didn't go you are the son of God and I guess you're like his cousin they didn't do that he got back in the boat they said you are the son of God and Peter fell on his face too because he knew that the only way he was able to move that way the only way he was able to be a part of that was something that brought glory to.

Jesus and so in the midst of all this as we beg to get to be a part of things let's worship Jesus and Jesus alone and when the people next to us fall into sin let's grab them and say cry out to Jesus because he is our only hope don't sink and don't think you're the one who does this let's trust that Jesus redeems and Jesus saves and Jesus heals and Jesus works and let's worship and Jesus as the band's gonna come back up and we are going to worship.

Jesus and some of you need to ask Jesus to save you you're sinking and some of you need to pray right now Lord I've been staying in the boat I've been trying to keep myself safe command me to do something that makes me trust in you and some of you right now you just need to keep rowing you're exhausted just keep rowing just keep moving in the direction he sent you in just trusting let's pray now we thank you for your grace we thank you that you tread over the chaos and that in you we can be saved we can walk we can conquer you can still the storm or.

Jesus may you receive all of our praise in Jesus name Amen you guys Stanley sing together I can buy me two greatest friend like you yes No my Huygens Oh goodnight my soul to find the coldest Oh when tied you sound to your face my rock gracious Crossley on shore you suffer you know may Almighty returned my lord amen you may be seated all right so just a couple of things before we get out of here today the last two two and a half three months and some of that range we've been doing a lot of stuff to this building and by we I mean Isaac Hill who is in the back and the booth.

Of the Hat on when we decided to hire someone for part-time kids in part-time facilities in a full-time position right before kovat hit and kid City went into a new mode it was like oh okay that was a step of faith now what and and to see how much work he's done most of the work that's been done here he's either directly overseen or he's done and we're just thankful to have you Isaac and what you do here secondly if you are new here or.

If you've been coming for a little bit if you're listening online for the first time we want to connect you to a group so if you're here please stop by the connect tab on your way out Phoebe Garcia who is singing up here will be by there to answer the questions you have about groups to tell you which one might be good one to go check out we'd love for you to jump in if you're online you can scan the QR code that will be on the screen you can also go to our community groups tab at our website on a close to the word from Ephesians three verses 20 through 21.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us to him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever amen you guys have a great week.

Jesus Feeds Thousands (Matthew 14:13-21; 15:32-39)

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

Jesus Feeds Thousands

Chet Phillips

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Transcript

Good morning it's so good to see you guys this morning in this building it's been a while but we're excited and hopefully this time of worship will be blessing to us and so would you stand as we begin to sing there are tears Oh it's good to see you this morning my name is Chet I'm one of the pastor's here we are excited to be able to gather again as a Church family we know that some people aren't able to make it and don't feel comfortable yet and that is fun and we have the live stream set up.

But we are glad that we are able to gather even in the ability that we have right now having to be spread out some things have changed we're not passing a plate we're not having bulletins we won't be taking communion we're not having anything that people touch we're trying not to touch each other we did discuss it and we did say it was okay to have chairs in here but that's about it we're not gonna have anything else that we can touch and as we gather.

Today I want to remind us that we are people who believe that Jesus is better than everything else and if he's better in all the situation's of life that he is good that he works for our good even when things are difficult and every Sunday that we gather we both gather as a people who are celebrating and who are mourning our Church family is large enough that that we have people who come in and it's been a really good week and it's been a really blessed season and we have people who come in and it's been a really hard season and a really sad one and and that's more poignant this morning as we gather.

Again because we're celebrating that we can get back together that things are moving back towards normal there are some good things to be excited about and there are some real things to mourn right now this has been a difficult season for our nation there are a lot of people who have gotten sick there have been people who have died from this pandemic there's a lot of tumult and difficulty and so as we join together for the first time this morning we are going to do both we're going to mourn and we're going to celebrate.

And so as we start this morning I will pray and then we'll read a psalm of lament and sing a song that is more in that vein and then Isaac will eat read a song of celebration and will sing a song that's more in that vein said that we rejoice with those who rejoice and we mourn with those who mourn and we gather together in a way that understands the situation the unique time that we're in right now so let's pray.

And then we'll read together God we thank you for your grace we thank you that it is sufficient for our need that you have been at work in this situation we thank you for all the people who have been brought back together this morning we thank you for all the people who are able to join via technology that we would not have had even just a few years ago for us to be able to do what we're doing today so that we can gather as your people we pray that you would minister to us through your spirit and that those who mourn we would join them in the morning.

For all the things we have to rejoice in we would rejoice well this morning but that we would be genuine followers of you worshiping you in truth and in spirit in Jesus name Amen if you will stand with me I'm going to read from Psalm 80 and if you will read the underlined portion with me give ear o Shepherd of Israel you who lead Joseph like a flock you who are enthroned upon the cherubim shine forth before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up your might and come to save us restore us O.

God let your face shine that we may be saved Oh Lord God of hosts how long will you be angry with your people's prayers you have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure you make us an object of contention for our neighbors and our enemies laugh among themselves restore us O God of hosts let your face shine that we may be saved turn again Oh God of hosts turn I looked down from heaven.

See have regard for this vine the stock that your right hand planted and for the son whom you made strong for yourself they have burned it with fire they have cut it down may they perish at the rebuke of your face but let your hand to be on the man of your right hand the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself then we shall not turn back from you give us life and we will call upon your name restore us O.

Lord God of hosts let your face shine that we may be saved let's continue singing cry he was Christ we for my life he bled and died Christ alone me first just it won't be fast is a reading from Psalm 30 I will extol thee O Lord for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me O Lord my God I cried to you for help and you have healed me O Lord you have brought up my soul from.

See all you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit sing praises to the Lord o you his Saints and give thanks to his holy name for his anger is but for a moment and his failures for a lifetime weeping may tarry for the night but joy comes in the morning but seeing this song in celebration we rutila's Christ saw me by his green stand once found by finishing not slave the righteousness of who see a new face the key crazy.

While we will we keep dying making us reconcile to eternal day even in our painting flesh Oh open let's he's drowning baby Jesus Saves hotseat now it's all too easy the glorious founder the one who gives great joy Jesus Christ God we thank you for this moment that we get to come together and gather as your people to give you praise and to recognize that you are truly better than everything else in this world and we pray that as check comes up to preach that you give us ears to hear and hearts to.

Listen to what your word would say in Jesus name Amen you may be seated good morning y'all don't even know how excited I am to preach to real people I didn't know how much I needed to be able to see faces but when you're talking to a camera first of all a lot of times I'm up here and I can see on your faces y'all don't know what the heck I'm talking about and it helps I can then sometimes I can tell it's like I we got it we can move on.

When you're talking to a cameras like best of luck I don't know and I am excited I'm glad that we get to study the Scriptures together this morning I think I've done a decent job when talking to a camera of keeping it short but I'm excited so there's no telling grab your Bibles go to Matthew chapter 14 we are walking through the Gospel of Matthew and we're picking up today right where we left off last week John the Baptist had been arrested he had been proclaiming that King or.

Well he's not King Tetrarch Herod had been sinning he was arrested because of that and that the Tetrarch had him beheaded and this news was brought to Jesus by the disciples of John and that's where we're picking up and so we're gonna pray then we're gonna jump right into this text and see this story of a miracle that Jesus performs and we're gonna study it together and we're gonna see something that I think Matthew intentionally wants us to see and hopefully grow in our love.

For Jesus this morning as we do that let's pray God we thank you for your word we thank you that you recorded these moments for us that we might be built up by them we might be encouraged in them and we pray that our faith would grow this morning and that we would walk out of here with a greater love for Christ and the glory of the Gospel of salvation in Jesus name Amen so we're gonna pick up in verse 13 it says.

Now when Jesus heard this and that this is that John the Baptist had been beheaded in prison so he got this newse he had been in Nazareth if you'll remember he was in Nazareth and he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief so he had been ministering to his hometown and because he was from their hometown they didn't listen to him they were like boy I know your mama so I don't have to pay attention that's kind of what they did.

So they didn't have belief and so he's in Nazareth and it says when he heard this he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself so he's with his disciples we find out they they withdraw he hears sad news and he just tries to get away and that's his hope is to to retreat catch his breath this is a turning point in ministry for him because John the Baptist had gone before him to prepare away and John the Baptist goes before him in death.

Jesus knows the same thing is coming for him that that it's moving forward in the story of he's going to be progressing towards his execution and so he's sad hip this was a friend of his and a a relative of his and so he wants to retreat and so they do they get in a boat and they leave but still verse 13 when the crowds heard it they followed him on foot from the towns and when he went ashore he saw a great crowd.

So he's trying to get away from the crowds he's trying to retreat and so sia galilee is is not massive but it's pretty big and there are little towns dotted all around it and then there are areas where there's nobody and it's got rolling hills around it and so they pick a little spot he and the disciples are just gonna go get away from everyone there like it's gonna be a nice little mountain retreat and instead of it being a nice little mountain retreat it's Gatlinburg like they show up and there's a massive crowd there they didn't know what's coming these people sneak around.

And when they show up they there's a giant crowd and you could almost picture it's like they're landing the boat like ah relaxation it's like when you're a parent and you're like we finally get to go on vacation but you have to take your children with you it's like that ha oh no this is the same this is the exact same just in a different place where they're more bored for some reason that's it they show up and it's the same this whole crowd has shown up.

And so for the disciples I bet they were like hey let's spin this boat around but that's not how Jesus responds and so Jesus sees the crowd and it says he had compassion on them and healed their sick and in that beautiful when Jesus is the perfect embodiment of God the Father when he's the image of the invisible God he's trying to retreat he's trying to rest he's trying to mourn he's trying to pray and people interrupt that and his response is not frustration his response is not to be angry to reject that his response is compassion that he loves them we find out later in.

Verse 21 that there were it says that there were about five thousand men besides women and children so common way for them to count was to just count the men and then they said so there was five thousand men and not counting women and children I was common for them that's not common for us but if you want to mess with somebody try that next time someone asked you how many people were at a place how many people came to your party I heard it was a lot seven men not counting women and children won't go over super.

Well but it'll be fun for you alright but there's five thousand men which means there's about 15,000 or 20,000 people when you add in women and children so this is a picture of 15,000 people so it may have been a little less a little more but they're trying to retreat and they show up 15,000 people and Jesus's response is compassion it's love and says he healed their sick and that's why they ran to him he was a teacher but he was a healer they here he's coming and there's some people who this is their last shot there's somebody who went and said come on mama I know you don't feel good I know you've been.

Coughing I know you can't but we'll take our time but he's coming and we don't know where he's gonna land but we're gonna find him and we'll take a shot at this there's somebody who's carrying his little son who's fever has continued to rise and whose becoming more and more lethargic and not responding and he's just going as fast as he can so he can get to Jesus and Jesus sees him and he loves him and that's how he responds he heals the sick we don't know exactly what time they started.

But we're told in the next verse it says now when it was evening so from the time they arrived till it's getting dark it's most likely I would think it's most likely that they left in the morning because it was easy for them to get away and then people found out they had left so I would guess they left pretty early in the morning they'd show up over there they wouldn't had to go too far people have run around to them and they stay and do this till evening.

Now the people came to see Jesus Jesus teaches and heals and we don't know how much his disciples participated in the healing we don't know if they just did crowd control if they were just like all right everybody you line up he's gonna see everybody if they're like hey he's gonna work his way through no need to push he's gonna get to you we don't know if they actually walked through healing because they he had given them the authority to do this and send them out before.

So we don't know exactly but we know that all of them have been when they expected to get to rest not resting when they expected to get to retreat they expected to get to catch their breath the opposite happened I don't know about you that doesn't go well for me well if I know I'm about to go into something difficult and get my mind right but if I'm expecting to get to rest and and all of a sudden that's just taken away from me I have to get my mind right on the fly maybe you're excellent at that I'm not that good at it.

So there are times where I'm suddenly caught off guard but his disciples just roll with it Jesus who's perfect rolls with it perfectly I don't know how well his disciples handle it but it says this when it's getting late now was evening the disciples came to him and said this is a desolate place and the day is now over send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves that does not read harshly but it doesn't read really respectfully either a lot of times they call him.

Lord it sounds a little bit like it's the end of a long day they come to him and say hey days over we're in the middle of nowhere we need to send them away you need to send them on and otherwise they're not gonna get any food and I don't know where you're from but I know this moment and the day cuz I'm from Edgefield I know the moment in the day when you go well if you go and you better go on.

Because everything's gonna be closed that's what they're saying we're in the middle of nowhere so they better go if they're gonna go otherwise everybody's hungry tonight that's what they're saying to him and they say it in a little bit of a we're hungry too fashion that's how I read it you may read a little bit differently doesn't say but it just sounds a little bit like it's been a long day they need to go on if they're gonna eat they're gonna eat part of the reason I say that is this.

But Jesus said this is verse 16 they need not go away you give them something to eat you ever feel like Jesus tells you something that doesn't make a whole lot of sense that's the way the disciples felt often I think he would say something not joking dead serious that seemed very unrealistic that's what it says they said to him we have only five loaves here and two fish now this interaction they come to Jesus and they say you need to send them away.

So that we can have they need to go so then get somebody he says you feed them I think there's a moment where they go look at the crowd look back at each other and I think one of them pretty quickly answered we have five loaves and two fish not in a faith way here Jesus multiply this but in the way you and I would respond like if I said I was doing some work and my son Ellis was there so it was more difficult and you said why doesn't he help you I would say he's two years old that's my answer do you.

See how he made things more difficult he's - I just give you information that now helps you understand what you said doesn't make any sense I also think this came from one of the disciples who had already counted as the loaves and fish and was doing some quick math on how much that would split up between 13 people that's what it seems like y'all feed them we only have 5 loaves and 2 fish and if I'm doing this right I get 1/3 of a loaf depending on how hungry Philip is cuz sometimes it's not that hungry I've been trying to talk some of the disciples into fasting I think they need it like I think.

That's that was kind of the answer was we have 5 loaves to fish like your plan doesn't make any sense I don't mean to be rude Jesus your plan doesn't did no that's kind of the answer he gets that's kind of the answer we give Jesus often when he says something and were just like I know I did the math for you won't work so he says brings them here to me then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.

Now if you're the disciples again it doesn't say all this I'm just trying to think through this story I think some of the disciples got excited I think some of them thought oh he's about to do something some of the people who have faith you know like you've been around these people things are getting worse and worse and worse and you're with some people in the realistic people are like hey things have gotten worse and worse and worse and then there's a person in there with yous got the gift of faith and they're like.

Jesus is about to do something and the realistic persons like I hope so now would be a good time he hasn't seemed to be doing something yet but there are some people I think some of the disciples were like oh he's about to do something I think the disciple who'd already counted the stuff thought all right if we take 5 loaves and we give it to 15,000 people let's not count the women and children just feed them in like I think he was trying to figure out he's coming down this like I'm not gonna get to eat like I think that's probably just this doesn't seem like I don't know what's about to happen.

But so he says he orders them to sit down on the grass and taking the five loaves and two fish and this is normal travel food for them would have been some baked loaves he'd have gotten relatively recently the two fish would probably be salted or pickled travel food for us this is this is the type of food you take to a picnic kind of food staple two hotdogs per minute cheese sandwiches depending on your level of fancy and what you like or don't like.

But that's kind of what what they have he looked up to heaven and said a blessing then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples and the disciples gave them to the crowds and they all ate and were satisfied and they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over and those who ate were about five thousand men besides women and children so he takes five loaves two fish he feeds fifteen thousand people now that's a lot of food.

If you have ever planned an event and tried to figure out how much food should be there that's a difficult part of the event planning this is the part of the event planning where my wife and I argue because my assumptions on how much people eat are based off of me and her assumptions on how much people eat are based off of her the last event we had she looked at me and said people will not be drinking continuously the whole time they're here everybody doesn't need six drinks and I was like.

If they want them they can have them and if they don't drink them I'll drink them later plus I want to drink the whole time I'm there sodas and stuff guys please posts they focused it was a birthday party for my child okay I'm not drinking the whole time I was there okay I just realized how it sound when I said it I want to drink the whole time felt like I needed to clarify that feeding 15,000 people even if their whole boat had been full of food I don't think it was enough food.

For everybody to eat and be satisfied and have 12,000 baskets look at twelve thousand twelve baskets left over I got excited and I think it was enough if they would had it that way but Jesus makes this happen and you know at some point the disciples were like okay and then pretty quickly they were like this is already more food than we had and I don't know how it happened the Bible doesn't tell us how it happened it tells us that it happened it doesn't tell us how it happened.

So I don't know if when Jesus broke it it immediately became to Morelos I don't know if when the disciples are breaking it it kept going or if they had to keep going back to Jesus we don't know we know that he miraculously fed 15,000 people and I love this miracle so encouraging for a couple of reasons one its glorious and transcendental I mean it is above and beyond he is displaying his holiness and his divinity because he's creating food this points back to Moses who gave the Israelites manna in the wilderness.

But he actually didn't give it to him God did he just kind of was the intermediary this points back to Elijah who feeds a hundred men with a couple of barley loaves but Jesus out does both of those he decides of his own volition to do this because He is God and he over produces for fifteen thousand people it's amazing you know at some point the disciples are kidding this is not going what on earth is happening and how long has he been able to do this.

Because feels like we should have done this before for us I wouldn't had to count the five loaves and two fish and do the math but Jesus decides in this moment that he's gonna take care of her badi a love how big this miracle is and how absolutely simple it is how small it is there were people there that day who probably gotten cured from blindness there were people there that day who maybe had neurological damage or had epilepsy or had some brain wave stuff that he fixed.

For them there were people there that day who had never walked and he straightened out their legs and gave them muscle and I mean went from having legs that have never been used to perfectly healthy God-given legs and then he feeds everybody a meal they're gonna eat it they're gonna burn up the calories I said it's so simple so daily it's so routine they would have most haven't been been fine if they hadn't eaten could have still made it home would have been a little hungry most of these people probably used to going to bed a little hungry.

But he feeds all of them and he satisfies all of them with food this is a beautiful picture of how God works for us how he blesses us how he provides for us that he does miraculous things and sometimes we're told that like are you in the worst spot ever you can run to him he can heal he can redeem he can fix what is terribly broken and guess what he can also provide for you in the mundane and the simple the daily this is actually a little picture of why Christians believe in tithing why we believe in giving financially to the.

Lord and his work and being generous to other people because he can make the math not work all thirteen disciples also got to eat their fill even though the math didn't make any sense and so there are times where we're coming it's like I'm doing the math on how my budgets gonna work but I'm gonna give to the Lord because I'm gonna trust him to be able to provide in ways that I can't see coming in a way that gives him glory that provides.

For us but you see Matthew is not just showing us that this simple kindness that Jesus does for all these people he wants us to see something else and before we move to that I wanna point something out so that I love about this story do you know how nice it is to have all the food you need the right amount of food to be able to eat as much as you want we're Americans we get to do that quite often you know.

When you're really hungry to have all the foods you want some of you your whole life you don't eat much every meal you sat down you had all the food you wanted some of you that's not the case you've had to do the quick math on probably shouldn't eat as much as I want I can swing by a place on the way home they have all the food they want for people who don't usually get all the food they want and they've all just been healed there's a family sitting down there getting the biggest meal they've gotten in a long time.

While their child has never walked his running laps around them there's somebody sitting there with their mama that they thought they were gonna have to say goodbye to a little too soon and she's challeng for the first time without having coughing fits without saying it hurts without them having to force her to eat she's just eaten there's somebody sitting there and when someone reached out to hand him a loaf saw the hand come for the first time ever was able to reach right up and get their own food not have somebody tap them not have them help them they've been given new eyes and they're sitting there just staring happily eating maybe not even paying.

That much attention to the food they're getting that they have this this is blessed this is the most beautiful picnic you've ever been to that Jesus has worked this miraculously and then he feeds all of them but Matthew wants us to see something a little bit beyond that you see the way Matthew writes this story and the way he writes the Last Supper he intentionally has them overlap he writes this story and then when he writes the story of the Last Supper in Matthew chapter 26 he has them overlap and he does that on purpose.

And so I just want to show you all that and for a little bit we're just gonna have some slides going so that you can see what I'm talking about but in the Greek he intentionally writes it out so that it's bleh that he retells this story so this is the top part is gonna be Matthew chapter 14 and the bottom part is going to be Matthew chapter 26 so now when it was evening the disciples came to him we're gonna jump to 19.

Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass when it was evening he reclined at the table though that phrasing is the same so when it was evening when it was evening and ordered them to sit down and he reclined it's translated a little bit differently in English but in the Greek same phrasing he changes the verb tense for it being a bunch of people and one person but it's the same thing keep going go to the next section.

So it says and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven said a blessing then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples so Jesus took bread and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples so taking and took loaves and bread same word he looked up to heaven he said a blessing same broke it's the same thing gave it to the disciples it's the same thing so he writes this out.

So that these these are overlapping he is connecting how this story plays out using the same and you can tell these stories differently but he's intentionally wording it this way on purpose he does it a few more times so if you go to the next one he says that gave it to the disciples again that's on the bottom of verse 26 says they all ate and we're satisfied take eat this is my body he took a cup when he had given thanks he gave it to them and saying drink all of you Matthew.

When he writes out and you can show one that shows both where he just plays it out in the same order in the same way because Matthew wants us to see that what Jesus did in the feeding of the 5,000 is a picture of what he ultimately came to do when he when he when we read in Matthew chapter 26 that he it was evening and he reclined and he took bread and he said a blessing and he broke it and he gave it to the disciples we're supposed to hear what he's already told us.

When he did this with the 5,000 that Jesus on a more personal level as telling this is what I came to do and in that moment he's saying this is my body broken for you this is my blood for the forgiveness of sins take it all of you and he's telling them this is what I'm going to accomplish and when Matthew ties these stories together we get to look back at the story where he feeds the 5,000 and we get to.

See the Gospel in it Jesus says take a seat and he provides that he is the one who accomplishes the disciples said it's time to put these people to work send them off tell them to go get what they need Jesus says no let him have a seat and Jesus provides for them all that they need that he satisfies you see one of the things that happens in this story is that it's not about how he did it but that he did it and that's one of the things we.

See in the Gospel as the New Testament writers are writing they tell a some of how it works but mostly they tell us that it works that his blood is sufficient for the forgiveness of sins that those who trust in him will be saved that it's not about all the intricacies of how it plays out although God did make it very intricate and the Bible does tell us about that but primarily what you are to know is that it works if you come to.

Jesus all who call on him will be saved none will be putting shame you trust in his name that he provides fully and he satisfies everyone I mentioned this earlier but my wife and I have different we like the same type of food I just need more of it and there are times where we're at a wedding or some kind of a party or something and and we get in line to get food I think my wife peeks to see what type of food it is I peek to.

See how much food is there I can usually eat whatever I just want a lot of it I'm working on that but that's how it works for me throughout life and there are times where I'll hit I'll tap her I don't hit her tapper and I say baby they don't have enough food and so I do something that I think is both gracious and selfish so it's a wash that's how that works I'll just say let's eat later I won't I want to be able to eat and the food.

So I'll just say well they don't have enough I don't need to go through that one and make myself either eat too much of their food or make myself sad by eating just a little bit of something that tastes good and so I'll just say let's stop and I know I know that if I was on the edge of this 15,000 person crowd I'd hit an answer were the closest to town first of all we'll get there and be first in line also nope they do not have enough food.

If they had enough food we have already seen it - they'd have been carrying out trunks of it when we watched them get off the boat I can see the boat that didn't load it down with food they're not feeding everybody they started handing out food everybody sit down started handing out food I've been like mm-hmm and there are some of us who are coming to God with that same general attitude it's not enough don't have enough to cover my amount of sin can't handle what I'm bringing to the table some people come with the exact opposite I'm too small this is too simple why would he care.

For me but he feeds them a simple need but he provides all that they need and he satisfies everyone there no matter the size of the appetite I got two boys one of them I can put a pig he has food allergies we just feed him beings that's pretty much all it is you can put beans in front of him and he will shovel them into his face the other day I said hot dogs down on the table they were still cooling off he climbed up the table went Moo and grabbed the hot dogs and poured them towards himself my older son he'll say things like didn't we eat yesterday dude you gotta eat it.

Multiple times today some of you feel like I don't have that much sin you need a Savior you need him to work for you regardless of what you're bringing to the table and some of you think there's no way he can handle what I'm bringing and he can there were 12 basket full left when they've gathered manna in the wilderness they had exactly what they needed every time when Jesus provided it was more than enough overcompensated over-covered His grace is lavished upon us that.

When you come to him and your brokenness and your need some of you say I already came to him I already believe and then I've run off into sin he has grace sufficient do you know how beautiful and glorious that is that he knows your every need he knows your every moment he knows the simple needs you have and the extravagant needs you have the little sins you commit consistently and the ones that you committed that brings shame to your soul every time you.

Remember them and he's covered it fully satisfied but he sat there with five fifteen thousand people and he took loaves and he said my body broken for you my body broken for you he tried to retreat to get away because you knew that his death was coming and then he sat and had a communion meal with fifteen thousand people to image what he where he was headed so that he might save and redeem a people and that we might be brought together to have a glorious meal with him where we're all healed and were all satisfied and he sits at the head of the table with the people that he's redeemed his grace is sufficient.

I don't know what you're going through right now I don't know the fears you have I don't know the simple needs but I know that His grace is sufficient that his provision is good enough and some of us ought to remember eyes this story so that we can remind ourselves with a really simple picture how he has compassion how he provides and how His grace is sufficient to satisfy the deepest longings of our soul and to satisfy the depths of the debt of sin that we have you need to memorize that you need to meditate on this you need to remind yourself that you need to tell yourself this story and say that.

If right now he saw me he would have compassion and he would break his body for me that I might be redeemed he would shed his blood that I might be welcome so that I might joyously sit and be healed and partake in the glorious salvation that he offers and if you have not yet come to Christ with your sin you need to he will not put to shame anyone who trusts in his name His grace is sufficient I grew up singing a song that would say there's room at the cross.

For you though millions have come there's still room for one yes there's room at the cross for you and that's a reality for you and all your sin and all your baggage is Grace satisfies and it is sufficient let's pray now we thank you that there's room that it wouldn't matter if there was 15,000 or 20,000 or 25,000 you would have made enough to cover them and that your blood was shed for the forgiveness of sins and it works that if we come to you and trust in you and partake in you you redeem you redeemed to the uttermost that you lavish grace on us we pray that we would celebrate that truth this morning.

And that some people in this room would believe it for the very first time in Jesus name Amen just easy my my soul me everything Jesus to God - no turning no turn No Oh No No No to follow Jesus no turning back to follow Jesus no turning back maybe see if this is your first Sunday here with us that was intermission this is our second sermon I'm just getting to have a few quick announcements before we get out of here.

Today during all this we had to go to virtual community groups community groups are our primary way that we walk through life being Church family that we get around one another in life to know one another walk with one another and to be good missionaries together in our city if you are just checking out what it means to be a follower of Jesus we would love for you to join a community group to get around other people who are following Jesus.

See what it looks like in normal life so usually we would hand out a card but we're afraid that we would give you something if we did that more than the card so if you grab your phone you can pull up the camera this QR code will take you right to where you need to go so that you can fill out information to join a group if you're online you can go to Mill City Casey comm and go to our group's page to help join a group.

And if you have no clue what that is and that startles you I'll be outside to talk with you about groups on your way out if you're interested in joining a group we do want to say happy Father's Day we are proud of the followers we have in our Church family fatherhood is extremely important and it is waning in the u.s. and so we appreciate encourage fatherhood masculinity and leading and raising children and so we are proud of you thankful for you we hate that we missed Mother's Day we were not able to gather.

Then but at least we get to celebrate the people who made Mother's Day possible fathers sorry I couldn't resist we're sorry we missed Mother's Day and we're glad that we get together this morning but we do want to say happy Father's Day we have a few things to celebrate before we pray and one item that we need to share that we need to mourn together so first during the time from when we met last till now our Church family has had three babies born in the middle of a pandemic three healthy babies.

And so we're yeah excited miss Wilma Howard's son Jaime Howard who is in a long-term care facility they said that he had gotten coronavirus they had to move him to a more intense care facility and he has gotten better and they have moved him back and so that is wonderful news and so we're excited about that and praising the Lord on that and this past week the husband one of our Church family members basil Mac mr. miss Ginny Mac's husband passed away during surgery and it was a surprise he was he was going in.

For a fairly routine operation and and did not make it out and so be praying for the Mac family they will have services this coming Tuesday and so if you are interested in being able to go by and visit either at the visitation or being at the funeral we have that information for you but if you're not able to do that or didn't really know them well enough be praying for the Mac family because this is this is a hard a hard hit.

And so with that we will close in prayer God we thank you that you are near to the brokenhearted and we thank you that as a Church we get to mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice and we pray that we would do that well as your people who long for the day that you return and we celebrate with you the feasts in your kingdom of all those who have been healed and redeemed and until that day comes may we be faithful missionaries.

For your name Amen.

Of Prophets and Power (Matthew 14:1-21)

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Of Prophets and Power

Chet Phillips

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Good morning my name is Spencer I'm one of the pastor's of Mill City Church we were excited about the prospects of being in this room it's be able to worship together after months of being apart but as maybe you saw on Facebook or on email or through word of mouth because a few people that are important to pulling off Sunday mornings either tested positive or didn't I get there negative Cova test results back we decided to push it back and to continue to live stream which is a little bit disappointing.

But we're not crushed and the reason that we're not crushed is because our hope is not bound up in being in the same room on a Sunday morning our hope is bound up in Christ we believe as a Church that Jesus is better than everything else which means that our hope and our joy and our longing is bound up in him and because of that we get to be a Gospel centered community on mission which for this morning means in our homes that we get to either sing songs we get to have the Scripture read over us we get to sit under the authority of God's Word and as we leave.

Today we get to continue to be a Gospel centered community on mission and our community groups our community groups our smaller groups our smaller parts of our Church family meeting together and we are finally meeting together in different homes throughout the city and we're practicing as best we can social distancing and safe meeting efforts but if you want to know more about our groups and be able to join in with some of them we invite you to look on our web site and our community groups tab and you can get plugged into a group through that also.

If you are part of our Church family we invite you to continue to give with a giving tab on our website that's the easiest place to give also you can drop checks or money in this building throughout the week so I want to pause and pray for our Church family's been affected by this virus so I'm gonna pray that God will pair of hearts for worship and I'll read from Psalm 95 so let me pray father you are our our great physician got a pray that you would heal the people in our Church that have been affected by this virus I pray that you continue to protect our Church from this.

God I pray that as we are in our homes this morning as we are singing songs as we are sitting under your word that you would speak to us so God prepare our hearts for worship in Jesus name Amen our own Ernie from Psalm 95 verses 1 through 6 to call us into worship oh come let us sing to the Lord let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation let us come into his presence with Thanksgiving let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise the.

Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods in his hand are the depths of the earth and the heights the mountains are his also the sea is his for he made it and his hands formed dry land oh come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord wherever you are listing together this No my heart to say never ceasing call for songs of yes my save me Jesus Jamie nice when rather was in light of the world party Oh hasn't lost its hello Steven Kim me from his here gah we thank you.

For the ability to come into your presence this morning and to worship you we're thankful that even though we're meeting all across the city today we can still be in your presence Lord we ask that you would speak to us this morning as people who want to follow after you who want to chase after you faithfully to be obedient we pray that you would speak to us this morning that you would fill Chet with your spirit Lord that as we sit under the authority of your word you might change us we ask these things in.

Jesus name Amen well good morning my name is Chet Phillips I'm one of the pastors with Mill City Church of KC if you will grab your Bibles and go to Matthew chapter 14 we're making our way through the Gospel of Matthew and today the story we're going to look at is a little bit distinct in the Gospel of Matthew in that it doesn't zoom in on Christ we've been following Jesus what he teaches what he does and this story is gonna be primarily about John the Baptist.

But as we read through this story it functions as a case study in what Jesus has been teaching it functions as a case study in portraying the Kingdom of Heaven in that we see that Jesus has been teaching that blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake that blessed are those who mourn that the kingdom is like a treasure that was hidden in a field and when a man discovered it he went and enjoy sold all that he had that he might purchase that field this idea that the kingdom is valuable in that it's worth everything that you would give up.

For it and that those who know and love and follow the King in his kingdom will have difficulty and so as we read the story of John the Baptist I think we're gonna see those things put on display and my hope for us this morning is that we would gain both courage and correction from this story if you will join me in praying God we thank you for your word we thank you for faithful Saints who have gone before us we pray that we might live out our faith daily and that we might make it to the end of our days trusting you and pursuing your kingdom above all else we ask that you would.

Speak to us through your word this morning in Jesus name Amen chapter fourteen verse one says at that time Herod the Tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus now this is not is actually the third Herod we've run to run into in the Gospel of Matthew this is not here the great who was king when Jesus was born this is not his this the tetrarch's brother Herod Archelaus who was over half of the kingdom when Jesus returns and they moved to Galilee this is herod the tetrarch it's Herod Antipas you know he rules over a quarter of this area.

So there's two tetrarch's Herod Antipas and Herod Philip the second and then one brother has half of a kingdom so a little bit of favoritism there a little bit of power just play it out a little bit differently but we got one brother with half a kingdom two brothers with a quarter of a kingdom and that's the one we're messing with right now is Herod the Tetrarch it says when he heard about the fame of Jesus he said to his servants this is John the Baptist who has been raised from the dead that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.

Okay so this kind of just jumps us into the middle of Herod he just jumps in and what he says about Jesus so he hears about Jesus he hears that he's doing miraculous works and his assumption is oh this is John the Baptist raised from the dead now if you've been following along in Matthew that's a little surprising because we haven't been told that John the Baptist is dead yet that's actually the story we're about to read but Matthew tells us at the beginning he's dead.

And then tells us how that happens the last time we saw John the Baptist was in chapter 11 and he was in prison and if you'll remember that - that we read that John the Baptist was in prison and you didn't even question it we didn't tell us why he was in prison but I guess because he's a Baptist it just seemed plausible and we moved right along but that he's in prison we find out why in this story and we find out how he died.

And so before we get into that let's look at this Herod the Tetrarch oversaw the death of John the Baptist and when he hears about Jesus his assumption is one based in fear that oh no John the Baptist must have risen in power and he must have come back that I've made a mistake because we're gonna see later that he thinks he's a prophet he's gonna say oh no I've made a mistake he's come back and he's more powerful than he was earlier that's not true that's not who.

Jesus is but that is the way Herod responds in a bit of guilt and a bit of fear but let's keep going it says verse 3 for Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias his brother Philips wife and when you first read that you think but I guess that's nice he's doing something for his brother Philips wife maybe he's you know a big fan of his brother and then it keeps going it says.

Because John had been saying to him that's Herod it is not lawful for you to have her so now the story takes a twist into a darker area Herod has taken the wife from his brother Philip now this is Herod Philip one who is not a Tetrarch not haired Philip two who is a Tetrarch Herod Philip one was the person who was going to he was the oldest in the line but he just kind of backs out because Herod the Great had this this you know personality flaw where he kept killing all of his children that could potentially become king.

And when he made it down to Herod Philip won Herod Philip once said you know what I don't want to be king I don't want any power and he went and lived as a private citizen and he married his niece so Herodias is named after her grandfather who is Herod and she married her uncle Herod Philip won but then her other uncle Herod Antipas the Tetrarch takes her and there it's it's a little unclear as to whether or not this was just a power move or.

If they actually loved each other if they had met at some family functions you know as you do when you go to like a family reunion and you scope out who's Muriel here and you think well there's my niece / yeah there's my niece / sister-in-law maybe I'll start dating her and that's what happened and so he takes her and then John the Baptist comes and says you ought not to do this and I love what the Bible does here because this does this in a couple of different places the Bible does not refer to her as Herod the Tetrarch s-- wife although she was.

Because he had married her he refers to her as his brother Philips wife because the Bible doesn't care what kind of sinful mess you play out it's gonna stick to what's real and this should be still Herod Phillips Herod Philips wife and not his brother Herod the Tetrarch so John comes and says what you've done is unlawful and he comes to a man in power and speaks directly to him and says you ought not to have done this and he is assuming that there is a law that is greater and above Herod Antipas that he's speaking to a Tetrarch who is perfectly within his rights to arrest John eventually perfectly within his rights to have.

John executed but John says no there's a law that is above you and that regardless of what human institutions we have right now there's a law that you ought to adhere to you see the Scriptures are clear that God hates injustice and oppression and the wrong use of rule and power and that consistently throughout human history power has been used not to care and tend and provide for those underneath it but it has been used to be abused and to oppress.

Now that's clear but currently in the situation we're in culturally as soon as you say that which is clear and true there are a lot of other things that also need to be said which is the Bible is not anti Authority its anti unjust Authority oppressive Authority but there ought to be good authority and even as believers in the midst of unjust Authority we are meant to speak truth to it but to submit to it and it gives us a very complicated position that we have to walk out.

But it's a poor understanding of the Bible and a poor understanding of sinful human nature as taught by the Scriptures to say either all power is good and incorruptible or all power is bad and not to be rid of and we have to stand in the middle which makes our position more difficult to hold and we can potentially make everyone mad at us but that's fine as long as we're holding on to truth and that's the situation John Zym he is arrested thrown into jail.

Because he told Herod something that was true he called here to repentance and if you remember John he he had a message of repentance that we are sinners in need of repentance in need of grace and he speaks it to a king it was indiscriminate if you met John he didn't matter what what race you were what color you were how poor you were he was going to tell you you needed to repent he sounds like a nice guy and he's going to tell it to everybody even Kings.

So he's arrested first five and though he that's Herod wanted to put him that's John and though Herod wanted to put John to death he feared the people because they held him to be a prophet so Herod had hit Herodias as wishes his his niece sister-in-law wife arrests John and he wants to kill John because that would be easier but he's afraid that people would there be a bit of an uproar there'd be a bit of an uprising so he just doesn't and he just keeps him in jail.

Verse 6 but when Herod's birthday came the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask I was talking to an old Baptist pastor one time and I asked him why Baptists were so vehement used to be so vehement against dancing and his response was the last time someone danced in the Bible a Baptist lost his head I and I still don't know if he was joking or not.

But what happens here is that Herodias is daughter so this is Herod's niece grandniece and step-daughter she comes to his birthday party where if we're to assume and just kind of picture this we would you'd be in a pretty lavish Hall one of the most one of the nicest places in this area there'd be a fairly large gathering there would be a feast there would be drinking good food good drink celebration and it goes from just a good birthday party into debauchery and sin and it's fair to assume that at this point he is a bit intoxicated.

If not heavily intoxicated and his wife's his brother's wife if we're gonna stick with the way the Bible talks about it daughter comes in and dances for this group and it is most likely that this was a sensual dance she's brought in to entertain the men who are celebrating this birthday and Herod enjoys it so much is so pleased by this as he stares at someone drastically younger than him soaks it in lusts he's so pleased by this that it says he promised with an oath.

Verse 7 to give her whatever she might ask she dances he's in a very merry mood most likely intoxicated and he says whatever you want you can have it prompted by her mother she said give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter now we don't know what prompted by her mother means we don't know if she was given the chance to go think about it if she went to go talk to her mom and come back we don't know.

If her mom really quickly called her over we don't know if this was actually the intended effect that her mom had had her go dance for us she'd already told her go do this there's a really good chance he'll offer you something as soon as he does what we want is the head of John the Baptist on a platter not just we want John the Baptist killed we want to celebrate with his dismembered body this is wicked as he watches her dance and lust after her he chooses to offer her whatever she wants and what she wants.

Because her mother wants it is the head of John the Baptist and the King was sorry but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given so at his birthday party he calls for an execution says he was sorry but the best way we can read that in this text is the reason he was sorry was that he had hoped to not have to kill John the Baptist because he thinks that might affect his position of power that.

If enough people if there's enough of an uproar this will cause some turmoil and he didn't really want that he just wanted him to be in prison he wished he could kill him but he didn't think he could get away with it and now because of his guest because of his promise he has to and his birthday party turns into an execution he sent and had John beheaded in the prison and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl and she brought it to her mother.

So that the eyes that once saw the Spirit descend like a dove unto Christ the ears that once heard the voice of the father from heaven the tongue that once proclaimed repentance and hope and forgiveness are now put on display for the enjoyment of Herodias this is wicked that they would have had his head where they were so that they could drink and laugh and celebrate so that in this story verse 12 it says and his disciples came and took the body the headless body of John the Baptist and buried it and they went and told.

Jesus in this story if we're looking from an earthly perspective Herod gets to celebrate Herod gets to have fine food and drink and party and entertainment and John the Baptist spends his remaining days in a Cell and at some point heard the feet of people walking down to where he was kept in the prison heard the key turn in the lock some men walked into the room one with an unsheathed sword and as a party favor he lost his life in this story we have John the Baptist on the one hand and Herod on the other and they give us a beautiful picture case study of what.

Jesus is calling us to in his kingdom you see John the Baptist is faithful he makes his choices to be faithful he does what the Spirit has called him to that he's empowered by God to go and proclaim truth to whomever will listen that he calls everyone to repentance and not just generally but specifically and it works out very poorly for him that the end result of this is the loss of his freedom the loss of comfort and joy and pleasure and ultimately the loss of his life and Herod pursues whatever he desires and as best we can tell he gets it I think some people think was this really a sensual dance.

Well the reality is he's staring at what history tells us her name is Salome the daughter of Herodias she actually marries her uncle Herod Philip - and so she like her mother if she gives birth to any children would give birth to sons and daughters that are also her first cousin and we listened to that and I'm not going into all this family history stuff to make our Church members from Kentucky feel homesick we listened to that I'm trying to point this out.

So that we might see that the the way they ran their family and their life was so that's actually not all that uncommon that they would intermarry in royal families but the reason they did it was to not share power with any other bloodline it's not uncommon at all throughout history to intermarry between royal families they didn't usually do sisters mother to parent son daughter stuff but they did a lot of cousins nieces and nephews that kind of thing because they wanted to keep power in their family and not only is there power that is being kept.

But you can see that across the board even against their own brothers and sisters they're grabbing whatever they desire so that they might have it so this family and Herod are based off of the pursuit of their own passions the fulfillment of their desires that they would keep what power they have that they would maintain their position this is why they take spouses this is why the inter marry this is why they murder one another this family is wicked but the reality is they line up pretty.

Well with what culture currently tells us we ought to do that you are the sum of your desires that if you have a desire that it's meant to be fulfilled that if you have a desire if you have a passion that's who you really are no we draw the line our culture is not promoting incest their culture is not promoting murder and harming others but we're not far back because the reality is you're told well if that's what you want that's who you are.

Look inside and find your deepest desire and that's who you really are and and how dare anyone tell you you can't do what you want and if anybody tells you that they're the enemy I thoroughly enjoyed the movie wreck-it Ralph and then the second one came out and I watched it and that's the whole premise of the movie is that if someone pursues some desire of theirs and it's ultimately harmful and you try to stop them you're a monster that's the premise of the.

Second wreckit-ralph movie you become a monster and you destroy everything if you try to stop someone from pursuing what they want and that is the Gospel occurring according to our culture that you are designed to pursue your desires and if you fulfill them you are the sum of your fulfilled desires and you think oh my goodness that's out there in the culture but the reality is that's in the Church how many times have we heard how many times have we said why no just.

God wants me to be happy I just know that he wants me to be happy I know he wouldn't tell me not to do something that makes me happy John you fool don't you know don't you know you're supposed to be happy don't you know that as soon as you met some pushback don't you know that as soon as they imprisoned you you should change everything don't you know that Jesus never meant for you to have to subvert your desires to be faithful.

If the reality is that God just wants us happy here and the way that's defined is by what is comfortable and what is nice here John is a failure he didn't get it doesn't John know God wants him to to die of old age wealthy and comfortable then he know that's God's intended desire the reality is we would do well to go out as faithfully and as beautifully as John the Baptist does you see John the Baptist testifies that he believes that there is something better than what he can.

See and touch and he believes that there is a God who tells us to subvert our desires for a greater purpose there's a pastor his name's Wang Yi he was arrested in 2019 in China he was a pastor of underground churches in China home churches in China and he wrote a document and he gave it he to leaders in his Church and he said if I'm ever arrested and kept for more than 48 hours I want you to release this he and several others in his Church were arrested all of them have since been released except.

For pastor Wang Yi and he has been sentenced to nine years for some sort of a governmental subversion charge and it's possible we'll see him eight years from now and it is quite possible we won't see him this side of eternity but this is a quote from that letter that he wrote he says as a pastor my disobedience is one part of the Gospel Commission you see John the Baptist because he believed what he believed and because he was sent forward and faithfulness he's arrested and it's a bit of disobedience to man-made rules.

But obedience to God so pastor Wang Yi says as a pastor my disobedience is one part of the Gospel Commission Christ's Great Commission requires of us great disobedience the goal of disobedience is not to change the world but to testify about another world 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 in the Gospel to the Gospel into the human conscience we must obey.

God and not men and for this reason spiritual disobedience and the bodily suffering are both ways we testify to another eternal world and to another glorious king the reality is every choice we make we get the opportunity to look like John or to look like Herod you see Herod did whatever he possibly could to defend his position to silence the voice of God in his life and John walked forward in faith believing that there was something beyond here there was a resurrection there was a life beyond the one he had and Herod lives as.

If everything that he can see and everything that he can touch he better enjoy it now he better get what he can get now and every choice we make we get to choose along those same lines am I gonna be faithful at the expense of my comfort at the expense of nice things here I'm not gonna be faithful with my money I'm gonna be faithful with my time these are small decisions and big decisions am I gonna listen to the voice of.

God and walk forward and what he's calling me to even if people don't like it don't want to hear it even if that work it makes me seem weird or am I gonna do what hair does and try to defend my position against the call to repentance so that I might enjoy what is here so that I might be driven by my passions the end of the story is that the disciples of John go and tell Jesus that John has been beheaded.

Jesus just tries to go off by himself he can't at first and then eventually he gets to and he goes in prays and it seems at first that Jesus doesn't really do anything you feel a little bit like Lazarus the sisters in the Gospel of John who say to Jesus if you'd been here this wouldn't have happened he knew he was in prison but he doesn't really seem to do anything he knows he's in prison and later he finds out that he's dead all he does is go off by himself he seems sad about it.

But just like Jesus you could have done something and the way that Matthew has written this is to show us that Jesus didn't do nothing he ultimately did everything seemed Ashley writes this out in a way that he highlights how John the Baptist goes before Jesus and how Jesus joins John the Baptist in suffering see John the Baptist is handed over to a ruler so is Jesus Jesus was handed over to Pontius Pilate he actually does at some point go in front of Herod Antipas John the Baptist was seized and bound.

Jesus was seized and bound Matthew writes out using the exact same greek words they feared to kill John the Baptist because the crowd held him to be a prophet feared to kill Jesus because the crowd held him to be a prophet John uses the same phrasing they take John and ultimately when he is sentenced to death the one who does the sentence sentencing seems to regret it a little bit than the same with the Jesus and the way Matthew wrote this up he intentionally frames it.

So that you might see that John came before Jesus and ministry and he goes before Jesus and death and that Jesus joins John in death and when he does Herod's greatest fear about John comes true it comes true about John because it first becomes true about Jesus Jesus Christ is killed but he rises in power and because Jesus rises in power so does John the way this started we're here it said oh no John's risen from the dead John has risen from the dead.

Because Jesus rose John gets to rise that what was sown perishable is raised imperishable and then what is sown in dishonor is raised in glory and what is sown in weakness is raised in power that's the reality of this situation is that John looks like on earth he failed but in the kingdom of heaven he is ushered into glory eternally because he believes that Jesus is who he said he is Jesus is the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sins of the world and that.

Jesus Christ is king a glorious king of a more glorious Kingdom and so he lives in a way that testifies to it my question to us is do we look like John the way you speak the way you act the way you spend your money the way you spend your time do you testify to another world that is beyond this one or do we look like Herod and I will tell you as Americans even American Christians it's very easy to look like here it to make our decisions based off of what is enjoyable and what is.

Now and what do I desire and have others cosign it the greatest tragedy in this story is not that John the Baptist loses his head that is a victory and a triumph that will never be taken from him the greatest tragedy in this story is that Herod succeeds in silencing the voice of God Herod succeeds in resisting the call to repentance John offered him Grace and Herod rejects it and my hope for us my prayer for us is that we would live as.

If we believed there was a better Kingdom coming and that we would reject our passions and desires where they are out of line with God's kingdom so that we might have something better that we would gladly sell everything we have that we might buy the field that we might have the Kingdom that he's laid out for us let's pray God we thank you for your grace I thank you for your love that you would send Jesus to join us and suffering that we might join him in victory and we pray that you would help us to.

See our sin and to hear the voice of God in our lives that we would yield to the work of the Spirit that we might repent and that we might be faithful we pray that you would bless our Church with saints who live out their days as John did following your will regardless of the cost and ending faithful the Savior yes watching Jesus phenol thought you had better change the Jesus ha before the master Jesus paid it all all to him I owe 2,000 stayin here be lighter Oh.

Jesus paid it all to him all right so the only announcement that I have is that we are gonna continue to walk in wisdom and evaluate evaluate week by week whether we'll be in here together next week so just be looking out for updates to see if we'll be here next week and then we'll announce those and God willing we'll be here in the same room and be live streaming as always let me close this with a benediction from Romans 15.

Verse 13 may the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope amen you guys have a great day you.

The Kingdom and the Image of God (Matthew 13:53-58)

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

Kingdom and the Image of God

Spencer Cary

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You we are taking our first steps towards re gathering as a Church family this week we are back in the building we are live next week we get to regather together as a Church family we'll be able to open the doors we'll have a place clean we've done some work to be able to spread out we understand that as we regather and kind of come back together after this pandemic that there are still those who feel uncomfortable still those who maybe have gotten sick and still those who are in a vulnerable demographic.

And so we understand that we won't all be able to gather but some of us will be able to gather in this room next week and we've gone ahead and done the work it takes so that we can livestream our gatherings for our Church family who cannot gather with us in the location can still join with us together at the same time as we study the Scriptures and worship the Lord together and so this week we are live next week we get together and be live and we're excited that things are moving back towards some sense of normal our Church family is two churches that came together at the beginning of this year and rolled.

Into 2020 very excited about what was going to happen and we're unable at all to guess what was actually going to happen and we've had an interesting year but God it is gracious and good to us and in the midst of a lot of changes we are learning how to love one another and grow together as people who believe that Jesus is better than everything else so we are a Gospel centered community on a mission we gather in community groups out the week to be those who point one another back to Christ love one another's family and are sent as missionaries to our city.

So it's been a weird season for us and we are re getting in the middle of a pandemic it's not as bad as it seemed like it could have been but people are still sick numbers are still growing and in the midst of all that we have a lot of civil unrest and so we gather today as the people of God to pray to worship our one true king and - as we study the Scriptures understand that the primary issue in the world is not the sin out there.

But the sin in here that it's not those people out there causing problems but that God has done work on our hearts so that we might see our sin that we might repent and that change and grace and love and unity might come from the Church and work its way into the world and that's our hope that we would be people who repent we would be people who were quick to listen and slow to speak and listen to the Word of.

God and submit to his leadership that we might be good missionaries and to put on display what the Gospel does among people so join me this morning and praying as we begin our gathering God we thank you that you are sovereign and in the midst of a season of so much uncertainty so much despair so much pain and fear and anguish and frustration and anger you are sovereign and you are good and so may we be a people of the cross who understand that in the midst of chaos you are working.

For our good to bring about joy and hope and freedom that in the midst of suffering you bring about good results and that you never lose control may we be a people of the cross who run to you to have our sins forgiven atoned for by the blood of Jesus and who walk in freedom and life and joy may we be a people of the cross who are not swayed by this political party or that political party or this news outlet or that news outlet.

But first and foremost listen to you and kneel to you to hear your word and your truth so that we might walk forward in grace and love and humility and empathy and action so Lord we gather this morning as a people of the cross in need of grace in need of healing in need of love in need of certainty and finding all of those in Jesus in Jesus name we pray Oh shelters Los Angeles merci Oh with praises before again Hey it's great great will rise to price our team do price argue yeah - tae-suhk your man to Christ the resurrected King is resurrecting me in your name I come to prepare your dress were.

Soldiers your name your name is hi - hi start your name to prize Jesus we praise you as our resurrected King Lord we praise you for the fact that you have resurrected those of us who are in Christ that you have paid the penalty for our sin and given us new life in you which gives us reason to celebrate Lord and as your people we need to follow we need to obey we need to repent an exhibit faith in our lives and we pray that as we sit under the authority of your word this morning you might transform us you might help us follow you better in.

Jesus name Amen good morning my name is Spencer I'm more the pastor's of Mill City Church of KC last weekend peaceful protests all across the country and our own city morphed into riots because of what happened in Minneapolis a couple of weeks ago now we are walking through the Gospel of Matthew in the final passage of Matthew 13 today while we would normally sit in the main part of that passage and preach the main part of the ply the main aspects of it.

Because of everything that is transpired over the last few weeks I don't think that would be appropriate what we're going to do this morning is we're going to pick up on a key theme that runs throughout the kingdom of heaven that the Gospel of Matthew has been talking about and it is a theme that is connected to this passage which is going to be difficult to do it's going to be difficult to do because of the history and the emotions that are packed into that are built into this discussion in our Church we have both police officers and minorities we have both conservative-leaning thinkers and liberal-leaning thought we have a wide variety of opinions in.

Our Church and I know this because I'm friends with most of you on Facebook and I can see this but the reality is is we don't avoid difficult conversations because they are loaded we don't avoid what is difficult if it is good and true and worth pursuing so today we're going to look at a situation where Jesus brought the message of the kingdom to his hometown and it was rejected for silly reasons and my hope this morning my prayer this morning is that we would.

Look at any central aspect of the kingdom of heaven and we would not do the same and I'm gonna be honest I'm mostly going to be addressing the majority of our congregation that is why so before we jump into this let me say some things that I want you to hear very clearly I love you I love our Church family this has been one of the more difficult sermons I've ever had so you prepare some of you are going to want to turn off your livestream please don't please stay with us and please continue this conversation past even.

Today some of you are going to want to conflate my words with some of the more unhelpful voices and our culture please don't some of you are going to want me to spend time talking about the the evils of rioting and violence and I've seen them I've seen that the coverage on a Facebook i've seen the memes like the meme of Jesus flipping over tables in the temple area and the justification for that is we can do violence that causes that hurts small businesses that actually caused the death of people i'm not gonna go there it is both as idiotic as it is unbiblical.

But that's not the point of today the goal of today is to look an essential aspect of the kingdom of God and that is the image of God so the Holy Spirit needs to go to work on our hearts because we cannot be okay with sin and our own hearts we cannot turn a blind eye to the marginalized we cannot just sit in the the presuppositions that the the thoughts that we bring to the table that may be shaped by political ideologies without actually having the Bible check it.

So my hope is is the love of Christ this morning would lead us to an empathy that helps us better understand our black and brown brothers and sisters in Christ so in order to do that we're going to need Lord to go to work so let me pray and then we'll jump in Father we pray right now that you would open up our hearts that we would listen that we would not be combative in our own hearts and God I pray you would bless this time and what comes out of it in.

Jesus name Amen all right so I'm going to start in Matthew 13 chapter 53 and then we're going to move from there starting in verse 53 and when Jesus had finished these parables he went from there and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue so that they were astonished and said where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works is this not the carpenter's son it's not his mother called Mary are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas are and are not all his sisters with us one of this.

When did this man get all these things and they took offense at him but you just said that him a prophet is not without honor except in his own town and his own household and he did not do mighty works there because of their unbelief so Jesus has been teaching kingdom parables he's been teaching all kinds of teachings and when you take a step back from the whole of his teaching ministry what he's doing is he's traveling from town to town from region to region teaching these same parables these same teachings and what's different about this situation is that he's come to his hometown the audience is different.

Now Matthew gives us the Cliff Notes version of what's happening here Luke gives us a more expanded version he gives us more details like when he was rejected here they didn't just reject this message they thought they sought to throw them off of a cliff and kill him say the the audience is different they watched him grow up which is why they respond like where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works is this not the carpenter's son is this not Joseph's boy you know that the one who had the carpenter business years ago yet that Joseph.

When they recognized that he's got mighty works they recognize that he's got wisdom but wait this is Mary's son so they reject his message because of that Jesus preaches with the same the same boldness with the same truthfulness as he does anywhere and his this message the text says is offensive they are offended which comes from the Greek word scandal ISA which is where we get the English word scandalous this message is offensive it is shocking and is scandalous and they sought to kill him.

For it so Jesus responds to this rejection says but Jesus said to them a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household and he did not do mighty works there because of their unbelief so that's the climactic finish to this story that they reject him like the prophets of old are ejected in their hometowns that he's not going to because of this perform these mighty works these miracles these healings that he's been doing anywhere and that's that the main part of this passage that's the main idea.

But I want to focus on on a different aspect that is connected to this that the idea of Jesus message of the kingdom that it is by nature offensive especially when it hits close to home the message of the kingdom the Gospel is by nature offensive it offends our presuppositions it offends our pre-loaded ideas our comfortable world views it is scandalous by Nature and here's the deal if we reject this message because it offends our understanding because it touches in places that we don't want to we are in danger Church family of missing out on the mighty works of.

Jesus and I don't want that Jesus is the perfect embodiment of the image of God and they rejected him and I want us to do that I want us to look at the image of God today and I want us to look at the image of God in three different ways I want to spend time looking at the image of God created I want to look at secondly the image of God fallen and thirdly I want to look at the image of.

God redeemed and my hope is is that as we walk through this love and empathy for black and brown brothers and sisters in Christ would win the day so we're gonna look at first his image created like many of you I watched the video of George Floyd I watched both clips I watched as they put as one officer put his knee on the back of George Floyd's neck as he begged him to stop for about nine minutes he slowly suffocated to death begging.

For relief and for two minutes and 43 seconds he was unconscious he was practically gone the excessive nature of this is indisputable police officers all across the country have looked at us and said that this is this is this is worthy of prosecution our own chief of sled here in Carolina said if you are if you think this is an acceptable means of restraining a suspect turn in your badge it is absolutely horrific i watch my kids play sometimes and they'll put pillows over each other's faces which happens in our household or not that happens in yours.

But they they play like this and then all of a sudden this panic sets in for me that says no no please stop please get off your brother and there were bystanders who were filming this they were saying please get off of him get off he is you can't breathe one a bystander was an off-duty firefighter she said you need to check his pulse it is horrific video and when you paired this next to the release of the video from the Ahmad Aubry killing from a few weeks ago and you compound this with a long history of oppression violence and justice you had a powder keg that explodes with black people all across the country.

Begging for their voices to be heard now I'm not naive I understand that when I start saying this that there's a pretty quick response because we've seen this debate play out at kitchen tables we've seen this debate play out on TV and in social media what usually follows this is what about burning down businesses what about burning down businesses owned by minorities what about the all the history of riots that have happened where were these parts of the city don't bounce back.

Because of violence or what about the majority of police officer have them have a very difficult job and they were disgusted by what they saw what about investing in better police training about about mental health for police officers or what about black-on-black client crime in Chicago that happens every weekend or what about the media's agenda in all of this what about the people who make a living off of this debate all of those are questions worth discussing but not as an ad hominem what about beside the point deflection which is what we do and what we do this you come home and and maybe your spouse comes home and they they'll say.

Well you didn't mow the grass you didn't take care of the lawn like I asked you to and we're very quick to say well glass a couple of days ago you didn't take care of the downstairs it was a mess we do this we deflect because we don't want to do is look at the fault within ourselves we will point out the fault in someone else will point out the fault and someone else's community but we won't look at what's going on with him.

So I'm not going to go there today I'm not going to discuss that I want to address the image of God as a relates to this subject matter because for black people this situation highlights a long history where the image of God has been diminished in them so let's look at where all of this began in the garden Genesis 1:26 says then God said let us make man in our own image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the heavens over the livestock and over all the earth and every every creeping thing that creeps on the earth this is.

When the image of God is created we walk through this and a series of Genesis a few years ago that there is so much packed into what that you are made in the image of God specifically for our purposes today it means that you are made in the image of God and therefore you have dignity and value and worth that it's a fight for the dignity of man and the Church has here this rightfully fought the evils of abortion on this area we have rightfully taken a stand against this.

But while we've been doing that we have black and brown brothers and sisters in Christ who said that's great but what about us - what about our dignity our value our worth as people made in the image of God so how do we lose this how did all of this go so wrong more specifically in our own country how did this a country founded by Protestants seeking religious freedom how did this become so central to our identity in the beginning how did systematic injustice against black people become our country's original sin it is.

Because very early on we lost the doctrine of the image of God you see early on as America this land was being settled in order to justify the evils of slavery we Christians began to make distinctions within the image of God there was something unique about whiteness that made us a more superior reflection of the image of God and the heathen as Africans who are being brought over there was something lesser about the image of God and then therefore there was these categories of distinctions between two sets of person hoods.

Now there's a spoken word artist named propaganda who captures this he is specifically talking about the Puritans the Puritans were English Protestants that have a rich history of theology theology that shapes much of what we preach today and the American Church but what happened is when they came to America around the around the time that slavery began in this country is that they checked their theology at the door when it came to this subject matter so I'm gonna look at me says in his song he says they looked at my onyx and bronze skin forefathers and their face their polytheistic.

God hating face their shackled diseased imprisoned face and taught a Gospel that said God had multiple images in mind when he created us in it therefore destined salvation contains a contentment and the stage for which they were given which is to be owned by your forefathers superior image bearing face says your precious Puritans that's a lot right there but what he just said was is that very early on there was a Christian understanding that there are distinctions between whiteness and blackness and the levels of reflecting the image of.

God and the justification for slavery came out of well that is their destined place of contentment they should be and this stage and be okay this came out of thought from heroes in theology like Jonathan Edwards that shapes so much of the theology that we have in America but the reality is is that Jonathan Edwards the reason he had so much time to write such beautiful sermons and beautiful books is but he wasn't working his own fields you see this is what he is getting at in this what started as an economic justification.

Because sugar tasted very good and British tea and who else was going to harvest the crops and the sugarcane and the Caribbean quickly leptin to a satanic justification and hijacking of the Bible and that has continued all the way to the formation of our country that black people didn't have full personhood and even continues into the formation of our own denomination that right down the road in Augusta and the mid 1800s the first Southern Baptists came together and they formed the Southern Baptist Convention.

Because they said they wanted unity in missions but what was really happening is the northern Baptist we're asking them to fight against the oppression of slavery and they said no we want unity so we'll start our own denomination and this continues this is why black people have been have been asking and saying and declaring I am a man they want the full recognition of their personhood and that doesn't disappear overnight they've been fighting for this for centuries now I know what some of you might be thinking why are we still talking about slavery that was a hundred and fifty years ago why are we still talking about this.

Well in the grand scheme of time that's not a lot of time you can look at the Old Testament things what happened hundreds of years before the people of God and and and they have this strong historical attachment would happen in the centuries previous mypos in perspective for us my great-great-grandfather fought for the Confederacy and surrendered under Robert Ely at Appomattox Courthouse they gave him for war reparations a donkey that he wrote all the way back to pillion my grandfather was a businessman in this part of town he was a respected businessman he's been gone.

For twenty years but but many people are but a few people in our Church remember him all right my grandfather's grandfather someone he had he had memory of my grandfather's grandfather fought for the Confederacy that is not a lot of time and the legacy of slavery bleeds into Jim Crow segregation and all the evils of that and then after the civil rights movement the practice of redlining continues into the late 70s formally informally continued a little bit longer than that redlining is is.

When real estate agents and lenders would look at black people and say we'll give you a loan we'll show you houses but it has to be in this part of the city which further separated and continued to separate black people and white people it's the reason why many of us grew up in predominantly white schools and predominantly white communities can you see the thread it flows all the way back to the theological justification that there is distinctiveness within the image of.

God and separateness because of that and all our black and brown brothers and sisters want is the same value dignity and worth it is their gift from their Creator it is an essential aspect of the kingdom of God because Jesus came to claim for himself every tribe every tongue every people group so how did this become so corrupted even before anyone settled this country from Europe it goes all the way back to the fall when his image fell back in the garden.

When Adam and Eve sinned against God it brings sin into this world and because of that hate spreads took one generation to see hate turn into murder and hate continue to spread in one of the ways that it continues to spread is through prejudice it spreads like a poison it's one of the early problems in the New Testament Church you see in multiple places in the New Testament the Bible is addressing in addressing the prejudice within the early Church because you had Jews and Gentiles that were brought together you had Africans and enrolments who were brought together you.

See the Church was an early cultural melting pot in history and because of that you've got multiple New Testament letters that address this we walk through this in the book of Ephesians a few years ago in the book of Ephesians Paul is addressing the divisions that have happened because of ethnic differences between Jews and Gentiles and in chapter 2 he says verse 14 for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility this dividing wall that's come.

So naturalist just as Paul says that we inherit the sins of our forefathers there's this there's a separation that we will just naturally do because the inherited prejudice that we get from our forefathers because of culture further and granion in us but the cross came to tear down the wall verse fifteen by abolishing the law of Commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create and himself one new man in place of the two so making peace and might reconcile us both to.

God in one body not to one body through the cross thereby killing the hostility Jesus addresses this as well he's asked let's at one point in his ministry he's asked well what does it mean to love your neighbor he tells the parable of the Good Samaritan and what often gets lost in the parable of the Good Samaritan is that Samaritans and Jews or different ethnic groups and they despise one another and he makes as he's telling this parable to Jews a Samaritan the hero of the story.

Because loving your neighbor means loving someone else in spite of cultural differences in spite of color differences it's a it's it's been something in the early - it was something in the early Church that needed to be addressed and it's something that still needs to be addressed today so I could cite statistics that show some of the injustice is for black and brown brothers and sisters in the American Church but the reality is is what I've seen is that you could pretty much find any statistic to justify your position I mean they're out there you'll find something that says no this is why is the way it is.

So instead of just jumping into that debate that has become so muddy what I wanted to do is I wanted you to hear from three different men of color and your Church I sat down this week I talked to three different members of three different members of our Church family and I got their perspectives on this and they gifted their perspectives their perspectives to us so I want you to listen to these stories from their from their history from their past and I want you to take a moment.

Listen and not become combative or not try to argue a fight with their experiences so at first I talked to Ricky Jackson Ricky Jackson is in my group he's African American at 15 years old he was four doors down from his house four doors down in the street and a police officer pulled up immediately seized him and then threw him on the hood of his car because he looked like a suspect who was currently at that moment robbing the concession stand and the ballfield across from his neighborhood.

Now I asked him after that I said how many times do you think you've been pulled over by police officers and he just laughed he said I thought you can I cannot count that been pulled over countless times and he said it's driving while being black and I know that might seem crazy to some but it's a reality and it flows out of this reality of it because of the separation there are two parts of town and if you are african-american and a predominantly white part of town there's been an understanding what are you doing in this part of town you must be up to no good that's something that Tim Scott are one of.

Our state senators who happens to be regardless of your politics one of the most respected politicians in Washington he stood on the Senate floor a few years ago and helped explain this that his entire life he has been pulled over even as a senator he gets pulled over consistently in DC it's a reality that black people have to face now outside of the realm is related to police I just asked him will he just hear some more of what it's like to be black in America he said some of the things that have been said to him before is you were very articulate.

For a black person or you don't sound black he got into the University of North Carolina or as he said Carolina which I corrected him on because South Carolina is also a school but he got into the University of North Carolina and his immediate thought was are the media thought of of the people who have found out that he was at that school was oh you must have gotten in for an athletic scholarship as if he couldn't have gotten in on an academic scholarship which he did he got in on a full-ride he's had to learn to overcompensate.

Because he seems threatening because of his the color of his skin he's had to learn to be super nice to be super friendly to put other people at ease he says consistently on the street as he walks by white women they clutch their purses in fear he said he had to learn to be as twice as good as everyone out so that his success would not be will not be lumped in with oh you just must have gotten here because you were black in a couple of weeks I'm gonna go camping.

For a vacation and he said you don't have to think about where you can't but the reality is for our family we do because there's some places we don't feel comfortable I talked to Craig Kerr he's also in our community group he's also African American he grew up in an all-black neighborhood and he moved to a white middle upper class suburb neighborhood and he consistently got pulled over by the police he said sometimes twice a week now one time he said that he was the passenger and the car where his buddy was driving who is white.

And when the police officer pulled him over the conversation was going very normal until he realized that Craig was in the passenger seat and as soon as he saw Craig he quickly put his hand on his gun now Craig was gracious he said listen they've got really difficult jobs I can't imagine some of the things they have to face so he said is what I've learned is that I need to remain calm de-escalate the situation whenever it arises he's made it his mission in all of life to not be combative to be the opposite of what other people believe he said his parents taught him at a young age to not be disrespectful which is.

Something that I'm going to teach my son I want my son to to be respectful but not for one moment not for a moment have I thought if he isn't disrespectful it may result in harassment or he might even be killed it has never crossed my mind and he said the last thing one of the things he said was he being in an interracial marriage Ricci also was in is in an interracial marriage he said being in this area they still get lots of looks.

Because he is black and his wife is white a third person I talked to is Carlos Rosales Carlos is from Honduras and asked him permission to share some the stories we've talked about in the past he is the only Hispanic worker on a crew for dot4 department transportation and because he's the only Hispanic on that crew he's had in the past both the white men and the black men look at him like when there's a job that has to be done that's hard you do it you're the one that's going to do the work.

Because he's Latino so he's the one that has to do the work and he worked as hard as he can and he is his reference in the past there have been moments he feels like he's been passed over even though he's the hardest worker on his crew he's been passed over for promotions because he is Latino these are just a few of the stories just a few of them and these are stories that are in line with so many stories that are black and brown brothers and sisters in Christ have been telling.

For years there are stories that have been fixtures in our country for hundreds of years now I would argue absolutely we have come a long way since 1619 we've come a long way in the last 400 years but we've got a long way to go I'd argue that while also prejudice is ingrained into our culture into our country all the reasons is the visable is because we are one of the largest cultural melting pots in the history of civilization so it's more visible.

But you can go in any part of the world and see this currently the Chinese have placed entire people groups like the Turks and internment camps or as they call them re-education camps Middle Eastern cities like Dubai were built off the backs of practically forced labor from migrant workers like Nepal they would come in promised good work and good money they could send back their families and immediately their passports were seized they were put into into living camps that were horrible they were paid much less and many died from heat exhaustion many died from suicide.

Because of the conditions in which they built that city the same thing is happening in Qatar right now cutters where the next World Cup is going to be and they've had loads of migrant workers that were brought over who have died from heat exhaustion died from terrible working conditions now also this happens in Europe and in America our academia likes to hold up Europe as the shining example because it is the most educated of all the continents but here's the deal the reality is is that in the last 20 years as Europe has seen an influx of immigrants from Syria from Africa the place that was once very monolithic and white has grown very weary.

Of having different people of color and there are far-right groups that have risen up all over Europe is the reason why African soccer players still get bananas thrown at them and soccer matches this happens all over the world yes systematic prejudice is complicated and it is loaded with historical and cultural baggage but here's the deal at its core it is not an education issue at its core it is a sin issue and because it is a sin issue we can deal with this as Christians and repentance which brings this the last part of this the.

Third aspect of the king of the image of God is his image redeemed see back in Ephesians 2 Paul highlights the problem the dividing wall of hostility but he also highlight it's the solution the solution is the cross the solution is that a savior looked at this world that was ripping itself apart in hate and he steps into our timeline and he lives out a perfect life one that does not touch prejudice and then he takes that work to the cross where his blood is poured out.

So that ultimately hatred in our hearts could be routed out he came as the solution to this problem now education might help you understand prejudice better it might help you understand systemic injustice better but here's the deal at its core all education is going to do is is give you more knowledge it's gonna make give you more knowledge of the situation but what you will do if you're just educated as you will bury it deep you will hide it you will realize that it's it's one of the worst things to be labeled as a racist and you'll just keep all those hidden inner thoughts to yourself it is the reason why black people have looked.

At white progressives for the last ten years with a lot of hesitancy and then every time they have an action that comes out that shows the prejudice within everyone's real shot it's because education doesn't fix this process for this problem only the cross and the blood of Christ that came to claim every single people group every tribe every tongue every color every nation that the final picture is is that in the New Jerusalem there will be all peoples celebrating together who our King is that's the final picture and the solution is the cross.

So how do we respond we respond in repentance one of the things that Ricky and Craig that we talked about is they said when you'd be able to talk about this around the table there are community groups need to be able to talk about this as if it's another sin worthy of repentance we need to be able to talk about it without the fear of judgment to have honest conversations so that healing can begin when I became a Christian when I was 17 before I became a Christian there was some explicit prejudice in my life.

And then I became a Christian I came very a repented hard on this and I came became very combative against racism and Prejudice with issues and then my freshman year of college one of my best friends his name's Chris Chris is black there was a conversation we were having and the assumption I made and what I said I don't remember the conversation was but the assumption that I made in the conversation is that he wasn't able to fall along with what I was talking about and he just called me out on in that moment he said oh you don't think I can understand this.

Because I'm black and I did what pretty much any white person does in that situation so no I'm not I'm not I'm not racist it's not at all no I missed it no I and then in the the weeks that followed I began to reflect on where that came from where that thought came from and I had to come back to him and confess later wait a second I actually do this thing this came from a prejudicial understanding that you were not able to understand this.

Because you were black and less educated here's what happened the next four years of college Chris and I began to walk through this together he gave me the space and the grace to be able to work out some of the things that were buried deep in my heart because the reality is is that no one's immune averse no one's immune to prejudice it is a it's a sin we inherit from our forefathers it's it's deepen in our sinful nature culture deepens it even further one of the things that Hollywood likes to think itself as the most enlightened as african-americans laugh that's why award shows are more painful every year.

For them there's these ideologies that have come out for decades that further enforce these these stereotypes that we have in our hearts and for four years I was able to walk with Chris and be able to to work out some of this and he was able to work out some of his stuff and and times now just I really am frustrated and I think I hate white people and I'm like I mean I know but we gotta work through this together we were called to to law that we worked through all of this.

Because he gave me the space and the grace to treat this like any others that is worthy of repentance and that is the same space we need as a Church we need to give each other the space to realize all of us are dealing with the issues of prejudice until we actually begin to work this out together to have the toughed honest conversations to stare at the parts of our sinful nature that we hide very deep and that our Dorn until we deal with this we'll never move.

For is the Church and I certainly don't think our country has a shot at moving forward until we deal with this so with me fully recognizing the irony as a white pastor trying to talk on this subject I want to close us with a quote from one of my favorite bands the Avett Brothers which if that joke was lost on you the Avett Brothers is a very white band but they wrote a song last year called we Americans I just want to close this with reading a couple lines from this song the song deals with the the reality that America is a beautiful American experiment also grappling with the scars of our painful past.

This is what they say and accountability is hard to impose on ghosts of ancestors haunting the halls of our conscience but the path of grace and good will is still here for those of us who may be considered among the living I am the son of God and man and I may never understand the good and evil but I dearly love this land because of this and in spite of We the People we are more than the sum of our parts all these broken bones and broken hearts.

God will you keep us wherever we go can you forgive us for where we've been I love this this picture of maybe we can deal with the ghosts of ancestors past haunting the halls of our conscience maybe we can't see the path of grace and good will is here maybe we can see that we're not the sum of all of our of our broken parts maybe God can't help us get through this the reality is is that for our country the last two weeks I'm just not sure.

If we're gonna get there I don't know but here's the deal the Church can the Church can Christians we can our Church we can deal with the ghosts of our pasts the painful parts of our sinful nature we can be the ones that go back to our community groups that have the difficult conversations about what's going on beneath the surface the Church can listen to our black and brown brothers and sisters and we can have empathy redemption is possible and it is beautiful it is the reason that a great-great grandson of a Confederate soldier who fought to keep Ricky and Craig's great-great-great grandparents in Chains can be in the same community group walking through the.

Gospel talking about these things showing grace and love and kindness and mercy so that may be as we work through this together as the Church we can be salt and light to a city that is hurting that's the hope and my hope is is in this Church we'd be different so this week put down your swords this week don't revert to talking points don't revert to arguments of the past this week let's strive to be empathetic and loving and listen so that maybe we can bear the Gospel in a way that looks beautiful in the midst of this present darkness.

Let me pray father I pray right now that you would go to work on our hearts the reality is is there so much brokenness in our country there's so much brokenness within ourselves but it is not beyond redemption the Gospel is beautiful and it is good and it breaks down dividing wall of hostility God I pray right now that you'd bring healing within us I pray that for anyone listening right now that you would go to work on their heart they would begin to deal with the parts of their sinful nature that are stained by prejudice including myself.

God I pray that you would bless the conversations of our community groups this week as we wrestle with a very difficult conversation that is heated in this country right now God I also pray if it be your will to begin to heal the wounds of our country to restore us and to help the Church lead the way in Jesus name Amen we are going to regather as a Church we've done some work in the building we've removed the pews we've spread out some chairs we are going to have as best we can a gathering.

While living out some social distancing there are gonna be some changes made we're gonna have a video that comes out this week that helps lay out some of those changes for how we're going to try to be able to gather but do it in a safe manner as safe as possible and so we are looking forward to that look forward to seeing you next Sunday we understand that some of you won't be able to join us in person would love for you to continue to join us do it via the livestream let's join together in praying right.

Now God we ask for your grace we ask for what we consistently need is your Holy Spirit to work in us that we might see our own sin that we might root it out know where it hides know where we lie to ourselves know where we walk in ways that are unhelpful and unproductive and counter to the Gospel help us to remember that that is who we are outside of the saving grace and the work of your spirit and may we be people who repent and walk in freedom and joy and life we pray.

For all those right now that are hurting and all those right now that are sick all those right now that are fearful that have had job situations messed up we'd pray that you would continue to heal and bless we pray that you would bring us together safely next week in Jesus name you.

Kingdom Parables (Matthew 13:31-21, 44-52)

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Kingdom Parables

Chet Phillips

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Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43)

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The Parable of The Weeds

Spencer Cary

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Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23)

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The Parable of The Sower

Spencer Cary

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Community in Chaos

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Community in Chaos

Spencer Cary

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Six Reasons to Love Your Bible

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Six Reasons to Love Your Bible

Chet Phillips

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Dont Waste Your Pandemic

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Don't Waste Your Pandemic

Chet Phillips

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Isolation and Idolatry

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Isolation & Idolatry

Chet Phillips

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Easter

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Easter

Chet Phillips

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The Hidden Hope of Suffering

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In Tenderness

In tenderness he sought me
Weary and sick with sin
And on His shoulders brought me
Back to His fold again
While angels in His presence sang
Until the courts of heaven rang.

Oh, the love that sought me!
Oh, the blood that bought me!
Oh, the grace that brought me to the fold of God
Grace that brought me to the fold of God.

He died for me while I was sinning, needy and poor and blind
He whispered to assure me: "I've found thee; thou art Mine"
I never heard a sweeter voice, it made my aching heart rejoice.

Upon His grace I'll daily ponder, and sing anew His praise
With all adoring wonder, His blessings I retrace
It seems as if eternal days, are far too short to sing His praise.

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O Praise the Name

I cast my mind to Calvary
Where Jesus bled and died for me.
I see His wounds, His hands, His feet.
My Savior on that cursed tree

His body bound and drenched in tears
They laid Him down in Joseph's tomb.
The entrance sealed by heavy stone
Messiah still and all alone

O praise the name of the Lord our God
O praise His name forever more
For endless days we will sing Your praise
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God

Then on the third at break of dawn,
The Son of heaven rose again.
O trampled death where is your sting?
The angels roar for Christ the King

O praise the name of the Lord our God
O praise His name forever more
For endless days we will sing Your praise
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God

He shall return in robes of white,
The blazing Son shall pierce the night.
And I will rise among the saints,
My gaze transfixed on Jesus' face

O praise the name of the Lord our God
O praise His name forever more
For endless days we will sing Your praise
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God
O praise the name of the Lord our God
O praise His name forever more
For endless days we will sing Your praise
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God

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The Hidden Hope of Suffering

Spencer Cary

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A Very Present Help

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Whom Shall I Fear

You hear me when I call
You are my morning song
Though darkness fills the night
It cannot hide the light

Whom shall I fear?

You crush the enemy
Underneath my feet
You are my sword and shield
Though troubles linger still

Whom shall I fear?

I know who goes before me
I know who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

The one who reigns forever
He is a friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

My strength is in your name
For you alone can save
You will deliver me
Yours is the victory

Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?

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Living Hope

How great the chasm that lay between us
How high the mountain I could not climb
In desperation, I turned to heaven
And spoke Your name into the night
Then through the darkness, Your loving-kindness
Tore through the shadows of my soul
The work is finished, the end is written
Jesus Christ, my living hope

Who could imagine so great a mercy?
What heart could fathom such boundless grace?
The God of ages stepped down from glory
To wear my sin and bear my shame
The cross has spoken, I am forgiven
The King of kings calls me His own
Beautiful Savior, I'm Yours forever
Jesus Christ, my living hope

Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There's salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope

Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There's salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope

Then came the morning that sealed the promise
Your buried body began to breathe
Out of the silence, the Roaring Lion
Declared the grave has no claim on me
Then came the morning that sealed the promise
Your buried body began to breathe
Out of the silence, the Roaring Lion
Declared the grave has no claim on me
Jesus, Yours is the victory, whoa!

Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There's salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope

Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There's salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope

Jesus Christ, my living hope
Oh God, You are my living hope

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A Very Present Help

Dr Ken Harmon

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Eternal Family in Temporary Suffering

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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!

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Eternal Family in Temporary Suffering

Spencer Cary

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Searching for a Sign - Matthew 12:38-45

Searching for a Sign - Matthew 12:38-45

Spencer Cary

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

Demons & Blasphemy

Chet Phillips

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

Lord of the Sabbath

Spencer Cary

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

The King and His Rest

Spencer Cary

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

Confusion of a Generation

Ken Harmon

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