Matthew 12:1-21 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] welcome to expound our weekly worship and verse by verse study of the Bible our goal is to expand your knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the Word of God in a way that is interactive enjoyable and congregational we call this a textual community let's rejoice and learn God's Word in an interactive and enjoyable new way father were hungry we bow before you we pause before you and we submit the next wellalmost hour in your presence the presence of your word spoken expounded so that our knowledge of you might be expanded and I pray Lord more than gaining knowledge of facts and figures historical truths facts of language that we would know you the author of the book the one who superintended the Gospel of Matthew and that we would see Jesus Christ as our King our Lord the one who reigns supreme in our lives you are the Lord of all you are the Lord of this fellowship and I pray Lord that over our decisions and directions plans that you would be in charge of every single one we commit we submit to you in Jesus name Amen down in South America in between the countries of Argentina and Chile there's an impressive statue that was placed there years ago called Christ of the Andes it's on the border and when it was erected it was placed there as a symbol of peace and friendship between those two nations that as long as Christ was standing there there would be an understanding of peace security love of one country toward the other however as soon as the statue was erected there was a problem there was a an anxiety a beef that was simmering among both peoples it really started in Chile as the Chileans recognized that the back of Christ was facing their country while the front of Jesus with his armed outstretched and sight was facing Argentina so the Chileans got up in arms very angry about it very vociferous about it and as the argument was not only brewing but escalating a brilliant newspaper journalist had a great solution he decided to write in the editorial column his editorial column the reason for the placement of the statue the journalist was Chilean and what he wrote both made the people laughed and made them at ease he said well it's placed that way because the people of Argentina need more looking after by Jesus and the people of Chile so everybody sighed a sigh of relief and the argument was quelled interesting that people would dispute about Jesus in this case only a statue in the actual case there were many disputes over the person of Jesus Christ fierce opinions anger love all of those emotions were simmering and escalating while Jesus was on the earth during his ministry some were wondering could this be the Messiah while the enemy's sensing that the rope of control was slipping out of their hands wanted to clamp down upon the people and upon their excitement over Jesus because they realized so many are following him running after him amazed at him he's a miracle worker his messages are amazingly clear intense challenging they'd never heard Authority like this ever before they'd never heard teaching and preaching like this ever before and so Jesus was garnering the crowds meanwhile the religious leaders were becoming enemies because that rope was slipping from their hands they weren't in the spotlight anymore so they're looking for ways means reasons to accuse Jesus in Chapter 12 all of the controversy is centered around one issue the keeping of the seventh day of the week what we call Saturday would jews call the sabbath the Shabbat all centered around the keeping or in their view the breaking of the Sabbath and so we read in verse one at that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath and his disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat sounds like a lot of fun hanging out with Jesus going through the fields finding food on the stem taking it off eating it fellowshipping talking sounds awesome and when the Pharisees saw it they said to him look your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath first off my question would be what did the Pharisees doing in the grain fields on the Sabbath to begin with it just strikes me as odd that Jesus and His disciples would be there that I understand that was reserved for the poor anybody could go into the fields and glean but why the Pharisees what were they following them around were they hiding behind the stalks of grain and as soon as a disciple would pluck it they lift their little heads up well I saw that it seems like they were but it was a question I've always had and then of the commentaries I've ever read address it okay what's going on what's going on is what the disciples were doing was permitted and it was permitted according to Jewish law that is biblical Jewish law and you have to understand there was a difference between biblical Jewish law and what became known as the oral law the traditional law added rules and regulations not specified in Scripture but added by the experts later on so in Deuteronomy 23 as an act of mercy God caring for the poor and I love how the laws of God always keep the underprivileged and the poor in mind so that they would always be taken care of if you were poor you were allowed to walk through any of your neighbor's fields at any time and if there was well if there were grapes in the vineyard you could pluck the grapes if there was grain standing on the stock you could pluck the grain and you could eat it it was permissible what was not permissible is you couldn't take a sickle a knife you couldn't Thresh you couldn't like take a big basket and load it down with grapes and load it down with grain because I'm hungry no because obviously you're not just eating you're storing it up so it wasn't permitted to harvest but it was permitted to take and eat and you could even do it on the Sabbath day wasn't a big deal if you're not far from your house you can just go out into the field and you can take the grain and you can eat it now for the Pharisees this would have been fine any other day the fact that it was the Sabbath day was a problem not because of biblical law but because of oral law traditional law added rules and regulations according to the Mishnah they have several chapters on keeping the Sabbath there were 39 outlined actions that were not permissible to do on the Sabbath day that's what they wrote that's not what God wrote God just said don't do ordinary work on the Sabbath day now most people can figure that out that is it's it's not brain science but these guys decided no no no no we have to tell people what that means they can't figure it out on their own we need to figure it out for them so technically according to Jewish oral law the disciples had broken four laws written about in the Mishnah number one they were reaping that's work number two they were threshing number three they were winnowing and number four all of that constituted the preparation of a meal those four activities were prohibited on the Sabbath day here's what they meant as soon as you pluck some grain to them that's reaping as soon as you rub it in your hands your threshing as soon as you go so that the chaff blows away now your winnowing and because you would eat that you must have been preparing a meal all of that constituted the preparation of a meal so they said it's not lawful not according to God's law according to their law they had added they had made the Sabbath now just listen to how oxymoronic this sounds they made the Sabbath the day of rest hard work to keep it's hard to keep the Sabbath you were to remember all those things and check yourself and worry about this and worry about that so they bring it up why are your disciples doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day but he said to them have you not read I love this I love this in a in a comeback underscored with sarcasm and bite to get their attention this really would get their attention it was an affront to a Pharisee and a scribe who were scholars of the law to say to them don't you guys ever read the book don't you ever read your Bibles you're the experts on the Bible don't you ever read them have you never read what David did when he was hungry he and those who were with him how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who are with him but only for the priests nine different verses in the Gospels record Jesus asking this question to the legal experts the religious leaders don't you guys ever read your Bibles now he is referring back to an incident that you will remember it's in 1st Samuel chapter 21 and certainly they would remember when David did in fleeing from Saul had to go to a place called Knob in OB not Nob Hill nob around Jerusalem where ahem elect the priest was hanging out and in those days as in all days of Judaism when there was a temple or a tabernacle in this case the tabernacle on every Sabbath day the bread that was in the holy place remember what it was called show bread the table of showbread twelve loaves that were of wheat and flour that were taken through a sieve and sifted no less than eleven times was carefully prescribed bread they were baked every Sabbath and replaced so that the old bread was eaten by only the priests it was holy consecrated bread new bread was put in at place etc that happened every single week this happened to be we figure if you go back and look the Sabbath day because David goes to ahem alack fleeing from King Saul in hiding and ahem alack sees him and says what are you doing here it got really afraid why is David here and David said well I'm I'm a secret agent man I'm on a secret mission from Saul I can't really tell you what it is he didn't want me to tell you what it is so David isn't being honest comes up with a story but he says my men and I are hungry I need five loaves of bread and the bread the priest says well we don't have like regular bread we only have this holy bread and it's only lawful for the priests David says well we're hungry and we need it and the priest agreed with David said well if you have kept you and your men have kept yourselves from women at least that's the very least since this bread has been baked and dedicated but it hasn't been placed yet we'll give it to you so they did that they took it and they ate it and that's the incident that he is referring to have you never read that how David ate the show bread which is not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him that is David's men his soldiers also running from Saul but only for the priests now there's a point to be made and I believe Jesus is making it in Israel's history the king at this point was Saul but the rightful king over Israel was David because by now in 1st Samuel 21 David has already been anointed as the King in Bethlehem as the prophet Samuel came and a cruse of oil was extended and David was anointed as the next king however at this point David is not enjoying his rightful place as the king of Israel he has been rejected nationally with the government of King Saul so David is in exile hiding it's not David's fault that he's in exile it's not David's fault that he is physically deprived and needs to eat bread it's sauce fault David has been rejected if David would have his rightful place as the king of Israel none of this would have happened the showbread incident wouldn't have even been historical record here's the analogy Jesus Christ also was the rightful king of Israel he was nationally rejected by the Jewish leaders if he could have taken his rightful place as king if they would have allowed that which they didn't then Jesus nor his disciples would have to be reduced to being the poorest of the poor going through the fields on the Sabbath or any other day but because of the rejection like that of David they find themselves in this position so Jesus brings that up to draw that analogy now I'm gonna make a confession to you the first time I read this and the first book that I read was the Gospel of Matthew I told you when I was first a brand new believer I read the Gospel of Matthew it's the first book in the New Testament I had a New Testament so I'm reading the book when I got to this passage I put my Bible down I got so excited and I went with a sigh of relief Oh Lord thank you here's why for years I had been carrying around a load of guilt because of my upbringing I was raised a Catholic in Catholic schools and here's before in a Catholic school I didn't know the Bible but I did know that during Lent when there was mass said every day at our Catholic school in the auditorium that the priests would keep the sacred bread the hosts and they had it in a plastic bag in one day during let I didn't bring my lunch true story I couldn't really call my parents they weren't home to get the call they wouldn't have dropped the lunch off I don't think anyway he was too far away none of my friends were willing to share their lunch but I remembered that there was bread which if if you had the same background that I had you do you know it's like oh man that is so bad you go to hell for that so at lunchtime I snuck in and I grabbed like several handfuls of the hosts and that was my lunch I felt really really bad about that for a long time could not get over that at age 18 I gave my life to Christ during that next month reading the Gospel of Matthew I came to this passage and I said no David did it too awesome especially that Jesus endorsed what David did and said you know God really wasn't bummed out of David because meeting the physical need was more important in God's thinking than keeping a ritual even for the priests and a hymn elect the priests signed off on it so I read this went back and read first Samuel and I just thought amazing tailor-made for my experience so true confessions Jesus continues or have you not read in the law this is the law of Moses now the Pentateuch the first five books in your Old Testament have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless yes and I say to you that in this place there is one greater than the temple in Israel in general every Saturday actually Friday night at sundown all through Saturday is Shabbat Sabbath it's still kept it's still observed I have a tour guide who is an Orthodox Jew has been a good friend for years he has guided many of our tours but he will not work on the Sabbath he'll be in his hotel room Ruby at home you can't you try to get a hold I'm on the phone he won't answer the phone you can email him won't answer his emails he won't drive his car because if you drive a car you're kindling a fire on the Sabbath the spark is sent to the head the cylinder fires you're can't do it in the temple on the Sabbath the priests had to work there's the point Jesus is making you have the Sabbath off you do no work it's illegal according to the law of Moses for people to do to ordinary work yet the priests need to work so they're in the temple on Shabbat they have to light a fire they have to lift an animal they have to kill an animal prepare the animal for sacrifice sacrifice the animal etc etc on Sabbath they would do this every day in the temple on the Sabbath they did double the work all of the sacrifices were times two so if anybody else in Israel tried to lift an animal or light a fire or prepare an animal for sacrifice or a meal it'd be constituted as unlawful illegal profaning the Sabbath the adji says because they're doing this for the worship of God which supersedes the commandment not to work their blameless so you're gettin all bent out of shape that my disciples are doing what you say in your oral law is wrong and illegal go back and read your Bibles read the Sabbath laws how the priests in the temple have to work therefore they would be profaning the Sabbath by doing that work on the Sabbath day what I love about Jesus is he goes back to the book he doesn't say well you know my opinion is or I've always thought of God as he goes this is what the book says is what the Bible says now the Pharisees knew the Bible they studied the book you know it's possible to read the Bible and yet misunderstand the intention of it they misread the heart the intention of the law and the heart of God it's possible to read the Bible with a blind eye with a presupposition a lot of people approach the Bible looking for text to support their position that's called bringing your theology to the Bible that's different than receiving your theology from the Bible one is exegesis one is eisegesis really has nothing to do with the person of Jesus exegesis means I am taking what the Bible says revealed in the text out of the text that forms what I believe eisegesis is this is what I believe and I'm gonna find a scriptural text to prove what I believe and they look for a proof text that's eisegesis that's reading something into the text that's what they had been doing by adding to the Bible all of these rules and regulations in the oral law so Jesus nailed them you guys should go back and read your Bibles read what David did and read what the law said yet I say to you verse a that in this place there is one greater than the temple but if you had known what this means now quoting the Prophet Hosea chapter 6 verse 6 I desire mercy and not sacrifice you would not have condemned the guiltless for the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath that's quite a statement do you know what that statement means here is Jesus interpreting the Sabbath based upon his rendering of the Old Testament and in effect saying I'm the only one worthy of doing that since I invented it I am the lord of the Sabbath therefore since it's my invention because I am deity I am Lord I am God the way I make application regarding the Sabbath is really the only right way to look at it it's an unmistakable claim to deity Jesus is saying my authority is greater than the Sabbath authority over the people of Israel Wow the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath now when he had departed from there he went into their synagogue and behold there was a man who had a withered hand and they asked him saying is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath that they might accuse him I have an interesting question to ask the Pharisees had studied Jesus by now long enough they knew his style they knew his habits they knew that he was an observant Jew that he went to church or he went to synagogue on Shabbat on Sabbath he's going to be wherever he's at there's a synagogue he'll be there with God's people they also knew that Jesus was Restless in the face of human suffering do you think that these Pharisees knew that in the synagogue that day there was that man here's that here's the question could it be that they actually planted him there let's get this guy in the synagogue and watch what geez I bet Jesus is gonna heal him he can't stand it when in the presence of God there's human suffering he's gonna do something about it mark our words could be that they planted him simply in observing the way he ministered around Galilee but he was there and it says he had a withered hand the word whether it is say to us in Greek we get our word Zero's or like we have xeriscaping zeros say arroz means dry dry landscaping xeriscaping the word dry or as a das in Greek speaks in anatomical fashions when a limb or a portion of the human body is drained of its fluids it's sapped of its strength drained of its fluid it's dried up its shriveled up withered is the word that is used here in English and so they asked him a question is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath now just stop and analyze that question what a stupid question really to me it's just stupid I can't think of a better term I'm being nice actually in saying that word it's lame kind of a question is that you mean it's like not lawful to heal on the Sabbath actually in their opinion in their mind there were occasions when it was illegal to heal on the Sabbath okay okay okay okay wait wait wait wait when is the last time any of these nincompoops healed anybody on the Sabbath or any other day right ever ever hadn't happened there was provision in the law for it but they never did it they had no power but here they are just being very academic and very scholarly and it not like dealing with the obvious fact this dude like heals people let's figure out why did there's a lawful to heal on the Sabbath again according to their oral law they said that you could only give medical attention to a person on Shabbat on the Sabbath if their life was in danger you couldn't actually make it better you couldn't put a poultice on a sore only if the person was going to die could you stop the death but you could not make anyone better on the Sabbath that was their belief system so they asked him the question and then he said to them what man is there among you who has one sheep if he falls into a pit if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath will not lay hold of it and lift it out how much more value then is a man than a sheep therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath and then he said to the men stretch out your hand and he stretched it out and was restored as whole as the other to lift a sheep out of a pit was to bear a burden on the Sabbath you'd break the law however they got out of it by saying yes but certain acts of mercy for the purpose of keeping one's life intact this is my life sustenance this sheep as an act of mercy I'm gonna lift it out I don't want to see that poor animal suffering fair enough they had their oral law but they had their oral caveat to get out of their oral law but Jesus makes a valid point you call that an act of mercy but here's a man who is suffering which is more valuable a sheep or a man now you'll have to answer that question in your own mind because we live in a day and age when if you ask certain people they would say well actually sheep are people too you know and they have rights sheep rights and belt they'll try to pull the wool over your eyes seriously and they'll be talking about animal rights and the soul of animals and the commercials on television with look at those dogs and the music playing well behind them and fair enough I'm not saying I'm not advocating Cruelty to Animals in fact the book of Proverbs says a righteous man will treat his animal kindly but if you're gonna treat animals kindly and have commercials about suffering little puppies what about humans I was in New York City a while back and there were protesters picketers in front of one of the buildings that they thought perfume buildings saying that they're cruel to animals by their testing and they're all of these up and arms picketers it's like this is the cool new cause to have a sign for most of them didn't spell right but they were picketing back and forth so I watched it and I was gonna go on I just thought wait wait a minute let me just ask them a question so I walked up and I asked a simple question I said what do you believe what is your stance on the abortion of babies in the womb and after all the rigmarole about their cause they said look it's a woman's right to choose I just thought okay it's all I wanted to know interesting that you would say the rights of these animals are far more important than the right of an unborn human being who has no ability to help himself or herself in the womb that's out of whack so Jesus asked them you answer this which is more valuable a sheep or a man now they would have no well let me think about that they would say of course a human being made in the image of God unique among all creation of all creatures on the earth mankind is more valuable than any animal they would believe that of how much more valuable is a man than than a sheep therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath and then he said to the man stretch out your hand okay picture yourself you're sitting there in the synagogue there's a man like this it's his hand is withered and Jesus says publicly turns from hey you stretch that hand out you would immediately think how cruel don't you think that if he if he could have stretched his hand out he would have done it long ago and here you are saying to a man who can't stretch out his hand Hey Dude stretch your hand out that's so heartless to ask a man to do the impossible but we keep reading he stretched it out how could he stretch it out here's how with God's commandment comes God's enablement if God gives you a command he'll give you the power to do it so if he gives you a command to do something then you can't ask well I don't know if I can do that that's just impossible you can't go there he wouldn't give you a command unless he give you the power to carry out the command that's utterly impossible for a man to do that but with the command came the infused power the enablement with the commandment comes the enablement I wonder if some here tonight have thought my life may never really amount to much oh I'll live and I'll maybe have a family and make a little dent here or there but what if God were to say to you I'm going to use your life to radically change the world a nation a people group a city you might immediately think oh not me impossible you can't go there if he calls you if he commands you Yuko okay let's go for it so he gave a command he gave the enablement and it was restored as whole as the other then the Pharisees went out and plotted against him how they might destroy him consider for a moment the importance of the Jewish Sabbath 90 times it's mentioned in the Old Testament fewer times in the new 55 times it's mentioned in the New Testament the word Sabbath in Hebrew Shabbat means simply to stop to cease to desist to end a thing to end an activity so the Sabbath day is the end of the week the week has ended where does the Sabbath come from not from the law it comes from creation in Genesis 2 it says the God created the heavens and the earth and on the seventh day God finished the work which he did and he rested on the seventh day and so God blessed and sanctified the seventh day so it predates the law goes all the way back to creation the 6 in 1 pattern comes from God himself he rested not because he was tired just because he was done the Sabbath day gets resurrected as a ritual in the law of Moses under the economy of the Old Covenant the old Commandments in the book of Exodus around I think chapter 16 I believe they're out in the wilderness and manna falls from heaven this bread from heaven I've told you what it's like it's like I'm telling you its Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and in small fashion it's like it tasted from what I can read amazing like hot now fresh out of the oven Krispy Kreme Doughnuts coriander seed mixed with honey wow that's just my idea if you're looking up Creek let me look in the concordance Krispy Kreme maybe you use a different version or translation for six days manna was on the ground it did not fall on the seventh day God said pick up enough on the sixth day to last you for the seventh day and so that six in one pattern was established and then God said when he gave the Ten Commandments to keep the Sabbath holy and it was to be regarded by the people of Israel when we come to the New Testament and I've taught on the Sabbath before so I'm not gonna do a whole expose on the Sabbath and a Christians relationship to it but by the New Testament the Sabbath had been sabotaged it had been not added to it had had it been wrangled and twisted by people it didn't even mean the same thing so as I mentioned it was like much easier to work seven days a week than to keep the Sabbath one day a week you got you need like a vacation after the Sabbath adjust to rest from it in Matthew 23 Jesus said concerning the Pharisees they bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders speaking of the regulations of ceremonial law so they twisted it to mean something it never really even meant but they always figured out ways to get out of it and let me tell you of one of them actually something that happens today still okay in Jewish law on the Sabbath you can go a Sabbath day's journey that's about three-quarters of a mile that's about 3,100 steps or 3,100 about 3,000 feet you can't walk any more than that that's your domicile that's your area that's your digs that's where you hang out you can't go anything any further a rat away from your home than that 3,000 feet however if you were to carry food previously prepared not on the Sabbath previously prepared 3000 feet away from your home now you have made that food an extension of your home which allows you to walk another three and feet see how this is going see where this is going so Jewish communities place a cable around their cities referred to as a drove in Hebrew it's it's the domicile exchange I'm making this whole city where I live this is my home these are my digs so in Jerusalem there's a cable and it's monitored and around Jewish cities it goes around the perimeter of the city it's the ADA roof it allows them on the Sabbath to go further than the designated footage and to ramble around cuz I'm still at home I'm still at home can you hear me now can you hear me I'm still at home so it's their way of adding to the regulation so Jesus you can see where he's coming from he's not down on Sabbath law he's not down on the law of Moses he didn't come to destroy the law but to fulfill it he's down on their wrangling of it the Pharisees went out and plotted against him how they might destroy him but when Jesus knew it he withdrew from there okay so I have a question from the web and we'll throw it up and I think we just answered it but do the Jews today believe this kind of Sabbath interpretation and it was up here I'm sorry I waited so long I did recognize it and I well let me just give a little disclaimer a couple weeks ago I said to Justin hey I saw a couple questions and how come you didn't throw them up he goes well because you kept talking and you answered the questions so we just took them off so I think I already answered the questions some today not all there's different classifications of judaistic of Jews some are reformed some are conservatives some are Orthodox some are ultra Orthodox if you lived in Jerusalem there's a neighborhood called Nazarene if you come to us with us to Jerusalem and we go by it let me point it out to you we'll probably go by it in my ashram it's the ultra ultra Orthodox black hats black coats black suits kind of grim faces and they believe your car through their neighborhood on the Sabbath they would pick up stones and stone you in the car they throw rocks at the car and try to stone the car because you've broken the Sabbath law you've kindled a fire on the Sabbath day so not all but there are some pockets who believe very strict interpretations as such so back to our text when Jesus knew it he withdrew from there and great multitudes followed him and He healed them all now they wanted to destroy Jesus did they want to destroy Jesus because of what he said about the Sabbath no I don't think so and that would make a mad but not enough to kill a person the reason they wanted to destroy him they want to kill him and they will succeed in their view it's because of his claims he claimed to be the Messiah he claimed to be the lord of the Sabbath he claimed to be greater than the temple all of those claims they knew unmistakeably what this man is doing he's claiming himself to be not only Messiah but not the Messiah like we thought he would come but this grand representative of God like he's the Lord Himself that's why now it says Jesus knew it and he withdrew from there and great multitudes followed him and He healed them all why did Jesus withdraw himself I mean he has all power right if he has all power and he can heal people certainly he could like go like this and put up a force field like a shield just gonna keep people away like a Star Wars episode or why not just kind of look at them and like hold up a pen or something and of course they didn't have pens back there and erased their memories like another movie I don't even remember what happened hi how are you he had all of his power but he he did what you and I would do if our life is in danger he withdrew himself he was very practical it's because though Jesus had all power he never misused his power for personal use or protection it wasn't an inordinate use of power so he withdrew himself now he's able to heal people he was able to make predictions etc know all things he knew that they were doing this and it says that the scripture might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying behold my servant whom I have chosen my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased I will put my spirit upon him and he will declare justice to the Gentiles he will not quarrel nor cry out he will not hear nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets a bruised Reed he will not break and smoking flax he will not quench until he sends forth justice to victory and in his name the Gentiles will trust according to Donald Gray Barnhouse who was a pastor and a biblical commentator at this point at this point in Jesus ministry God's calendar for the nation of Israel stopped and in effect God is doing what he predicted in the prophets turning toward not the house of Israel like he sent the disciples around the Sea of Galilee don't go to any of the houses of the Gentiles he said only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel remember that now the calendars stopped and God is turning toward the Gentiles and will do a work toward the rest of the world not just Jewish people but the rest of the world until he's done doing that work with the Gentiles and concentrate back on the nation so let me give you a scripture to throw in with that Romans 11 verse 25 I believe blindness in part has happened unto Israel until the full number of the Gentiles be come in the calendar is on hold God is turning toward doing the work were Gentiles most of us I'm definitely really Gentile but I love the Jewish people I you we have been grafted in were were the wild olive branch Paul spoke about in the book of Romans we've been grafted in to the original olive branch the Jewish nation by God's grace we've been grafted in and God is doing a work principally around the world with Gentiles but there's coming a day when God says I'm done there now I'm gonna turn my attention back to the nation of Israel that is called on the prophetic calendar Daniel 70 weeks Daniel chapter 9 verse 24 25 26 the seventy weeks of Daniel there's still one of those periods of times seven-year period the 70th week yet unfulfilled when will that be fulfilled the tribulation period the tribulation is a seven-year period divided into two segments the first part is relatively mild and the LAT part is like hell on earth all of God's fury and judgments are poured and one fell swoop upon the earth judgment after judgment till it's virtually almost destroyed and then Jesus comes back that 70th week of Daniel his win representatives from all of the 12 tribes of Israel's 144,000 of them are saved and become a catalyst toward other Gentiles in the world at that time to be saved I believe that at the rapture of the church this is my belief that's when the fullness of the Gentiles be come in God takes the church off the earth the 70th week of Daniel begins the Tribulation Period kicks off 144,000 Jews radically saved radically evangelize I wrote about it in a book on the book of Revelation to outline what the book of Revelation says but at this point this is when the pause happens and and according to the prophets notice even in this text Gentiles is mentioned twice he's quoting isaiah 42 the classic one of the four classic servant passages of isaiah it was always God's plan to not just select a chosen people called Jews but to reach the whole world did you know that was always God's plan you gonna go all the way back to Genesis and God said to Abraham in you all the families of the earth will be blessed all of them my family has been blessed your family has been blessed because of what Abraham and his lineage principally Jesus Christ who came from the loins of Abraham what he did so were recipients of it and that was always on the prophetic calendar and this is the time when when all of that pause happens and there's that change of direction now I'm running out of time but if you look in the text that is quoted in Isaiah 42 verses 18 through 21 notice it says I will put my spirit upon him three times the prophet Isaiah said the Messiah this is Isaiah 11 42 and Isaiah 61 all three passages speak about the Spirit of God empowering the Messiah The Anointed One in Isaiah 11 we're told a rod will come out of the stem of Jesse a branch will come from his roots and the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of might and counsel the spirit of the fear of the Lord and and and several derivation zuv that the Holy Spirit will empower him so Matthews saying this is being fulfilled the Spirit of God has enabled Jesus to do these miraculous things as predicted by the province but notice this he will not quarrel nor cry out that means he won't extreme excitedly or cry out in the streets a bruised Reed he will not break a smoking flax he will not quench until he sends forth justice to victory and in his name the Gentiles will trust this was against what they expected they expected the Messiah to make a hoopla the Messiah is going to impose his government radically forcefully overturned the government set up his kingdom by force make people worship God not according to the prophets he's going to come meek mild gentle a bruised Reed he will not break what does that mean or everybody knows what a reed is you go down to the river and you have that those little tiny shafts those little Reed's that grow in those days by the Jordan River where John the Baptizer was little tiny hollow shafts that were plucked up and sometimes shepherd would even put holes in them and make little tiny flutes out of them did it be really careful because if you just bruised it and got a crease in it its shocked but there's thousands of them so you can keep going the point is the Messiah won't come in crashing forcing demanding he'll come in quiet meek mild being gentle with bruised broken people and people whose flame is about to to go out he'll fan it into flame look at the disciples weak people average normal people like you and I and he used them and he restored them then one brought to him one was brought to him who was no listen to this condition demon-possessed blind and mute you can't get really any worse than that to be blind and mute and demon-possessed and the worst of course is being demon demon possessed and it would seem since demon eyes Asian is mentioned first that that is what caused the blindness and the deafness perhaps and He healed him so that the blind and the mute man both spoke and saw and all the multitudes were amazed and they said could this be the son of David now that was the intended response this is why Jesus did what he did to get this response he he wandered all of Israel to say this is the son of David that's a messianic term here's our Messiah this is the one predicted by Jeremiah and Isaiah and Amos and Hosea here he is could this be the son of David is this the one from the royal house of David now when the Pharisees heard it see they heard the response of the people remember the Rope is slipping out of their hands when the Pharisees heard it they said this fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub the ruler of demons but Jesus knowing their thoughts he knew their thoughts and said to them every Kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against itself will not stand is Satan cast out Satan he's divided against himself how then will his kingdom stand if I cast out demons by Beelzebub by whom do your sons cast them out therefore they shall be your judges but if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God surely the kingdom of God has come upon you or how can you enter a strong Mans house and plunder his Goods unless he first binds the strong man and then he will plunder his pee-yew is not with me is against me and he who does not gather with me scatters abroad this is all Jesus response to their reaction therefore I say to you every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven by men but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven men anyone who speaks a word against the Son of man it will be forgiven him but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit it will not be forgiven him either in this age or in the age to come love to tell you what the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is but the time is up so we're gonna have to wait for the explanation next week to see Jesus response to their reaction it's a very very important section of Scripture and it might not be what you think it means as we look at it but we have to wait and look at it next week now I got to tell you my intention is always greater than my delivery I always anticipate I said this today I'm gonna make it through all of chapter 12 I'll be able to pace myself I'll be able to do it but it's taking longer than I anticipated to get through Matthew I hope you don't mind but because I'm going I want to go deep and have you understand the history in the background and the language and really probe deep enough so when some of these scenes are repeated in mark and Luke then we can move quickly through them because they've already been covered so enough said let's pray father what shall we say to these things that's the question Paul asked Swift came his answer if God be for us who can be against us Lord here for us not breaking a bruised Reed not putting out a smoking flax the gentleness the sweetness the kindness of Jesus our Messiah our Lord and Savior toward those who are offering those who are blind those who were oppressed by evil spirits those who were incapable of stretching out a hand or an arm you cared more about the need of the individual than the ceremonies that spoke about how to meet or not meet the needs of an individual you cared about people you came for people no wonder no wonder we read the common people heard him gladly we're so refreshed to read these events in these words by Jesus how we love it when he stands up to these religious academics and he pulls for the common person the oppressed people some that were oppressed by these religious leaders how we love our Jesus and how our faith is increased because faith comes by hearing and hearing by your word now father I pray the rest of this week that you would bless your people that you would strengthen them with all might in the inner man I pray that they would go from strength to strength being victorious and taking your calling of them and your promise to them as the enablement as impossible as it might seem to them as impossible as their life might be to them right now that nothing is impossible with you so if you say stretch out your hand or obey me in this area or go to that City or that culture or that ministry that we would just marvel that it's you who's given us the power do your work you love to do it it seems through the week and the imperfect if that's true then we're your man were your people in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 5,026

Rating: 4.8481011 out of 5

Keywords: Sabbath, healing, Pharisees, Jesus and the Sabbath, Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Sermon, Matthew, Calvary Church, demon possessed, Gentiles, Law of Moses, withered hand, King, Mishnah, Reaping, Christ of the Andes

Id: VnCb8ymCuVw

Length: 58min 24sec (3504 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 11 2018