Matthew 15 - 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 let's pray father thank you for your faithfulness to us thank you for your promises so many of which we have seen come true in our lives we've seen how good you are we have tasted and we believe and we know father I pray that tonight you would not only further our acquiring of information but provide real inspiration to touch us in the deepest part of our beings that we would know what certain truths mean to us how our response is to be to them lest we become like some of the people that Jesus denounced even in the passage we're about to read we set this site this time aside for you to speak and we pray that you would in Jesus name Amen I do feel that some people have a picture of Jesus that is a false picture I call it the Sunday School Jesus it's how they've chosen to picture Jesus in their minds it's a nice picture but it's an inaccurate one Jesus the one who liked to pet little children on the head and he'll birds who had broken wings and sit over in the sidelines just sort of smiling as people would walk by and that's Jesus gentle Jesus meek and mild look upon this little child Jesus was wonderfully gentle and compassionate at the same time he could be very confrontational it really depended on who you were in front of him if you were trying to put on a show put on an act put on a mask play the hypocrite or be sincere confess your need and be who you really are so chapter 15 helps us to dispense of the sunday-school Jesus and gives us the real Jesus as he confronts a group of scribes and Pharisees in many ways Jesus Christ was radical he was a nonconformist he did not conform to the societal standards of his day to the spiritual religious practices of his day he would hold tenaciously to the ancient truth that was God's revealed word but he would bristle hard against traditions religious traditions that covered over the truth or made it hard to access the truth as we're gonna see here now I think it's helpful for you to identify a few groups in the New Testament you read their names but if you've read the Bible through and you go from the Old Testament to the New Testament you wonder where these guys come from because they're they're not mentioned in the Old Testament but you open the New Testament and suddenly you have groups like scribes Pharisees Sadducees Herodians who are they and where do they come from not all of them but many of them appeared in that 400 years gap between the Old Testament and the New Testament the Jews had been in captivity you know this for 70 years when they came back humbled desirous to do the will of God nationally and to please God groups formed first of all there were the scribes that was a group that really was started by Ezra in the Old Testament he's called described and he is regarded as the first scribe originally the scribe would copy portions of the scripture the Old Testament Torah the first five books of Moses and make them available to people when they came back from the captivity but eventually the scribes wrote down comments and debated those comments interpretation of portions of the law asking questions like what would Moses do in this situation or that situation and they would discuss and write those down and those comments became a law to themselves it's sort of like if you get a good study Bible that has notes by an author at the bottom of the page and you start regarding the notes at the bottom of the page on equal footing with the words above the notes the text of Scripture itself the oral law was something that was written down discuss codified by the scribes eventually by the time of Jesus Christ in the New Testament the scribes though they started well became nitpickers became those who were more interested in the letter of the law than the spirit of the law itself a second group were Pharisees from a hebrew word para Shema the word Pharisee means to be separated and they started out so well the Pharisees began after the Babylonian captivity with a heartfelt desire that we're going to be separated from the world separated from foreign influences from idolatry totally sold out to God but as time went on they Kame so separated it became ridiculous and they became very legalistic third group was the Sadducees and I'm not going to make the typical crack that I make when we get to this the Sadducees were the Liberals they did not believe in the oral law they did not believe in miracles they did not believe in a physical literal resurrection from the dead they were liberals they were more politically inclined they were wealthy aristocrats that had a social conscience it was more about social activity and less about what the Bible says they wanted to make peace with people like the Romans and just you know not buck the system much but just live in peace with all all people but not really believe in the text of Scripture they really aren't enemies of Jesus much in the New Testament until we get to the book of Acts they become enemies of the early church and it's easy to see why the early church believed and taught and preached the resurrection from the dead everywhere they went they didn't believe in the resurrection hence the Sadducees became the enemies during that period a fourth group are called the Herodians the Herodians were Jewish nationalists who sided with the Herod family that we discussed last time and wanted to keep the Herod family in power after all it was Herod the Great who built the Jews their wonderful temple and allowed the temple worship to go on so they sided with the Herod's and they were sort of in link with them Jesus did not go looking for trouble trouble found him and he was unafraid of the confrontation though he didn't look for trouble when when there was a problem an issue he would confront it head-on and one of the biggest problems Jesus dealt we're a group in all of those different groups that I mentioned that he gives a new name to it doesn't call them scribes Pharisees Herodian Sadducees he calls them hypocrites a term they were familiar with it was a Greek term it spoke about an actor on the stage who would live his life behind a mask that's what the actors were like back then they didn't assume bit parts like they do today they just wore a mask a sad mask or a happy mask and they would have speaking parts but the idea of a hypocrite was somebody who lives behind a mask an actor every area of life has its hypocrites the worst our spiritual hypocrites and Jesus unloads whenever he dealt with spiritual hypocrisy he didn't hold anything back he didn't pull any of his punches he let him have it you'll really see this when we get to chapter 23 which will be a while but we'll get there there was a pastor who was visited by a man because the man's brother died the pastor knew the brothers they were notorious in the town for being scandalous bar hoppers partiers scoundrels womanisers just lowlifes he knew that but one of the brothers died and the remaining brother went to the pastor and said I'd like you to do my brother's funeral passages that I'd be happy to and the surviving brother said there's just one hitch in your funeral message I want you to say that my brother was a saint Pasteur said I can't do that I'd be lying we both know the whole community knows he wasn't a saint it was the scoundrel I know that pastor but it's my brother this is is the last memorial for him and I'd like you to say that my brother was the saint would you do that if you do it there's a lot of money in it for you pastor thought about it he said all right I can do that the day for the funeral came and the pastor stood up said several words during that message and then he said these words all of you here today know about this man who is lying in the casket here he was a scoundrel he was a womanizer he was a drunk he was a drug addict he was a low-life but compared to his brother sitting here in the front row the man was a saint [Applause] he didn't want to be a hypocrite he kept his promise he told the truth we read in verse one then the scribes and the Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus saying now it's good to link one chapter to another chapter Jesus has been healing people in Galilee miraculously I mean people who are blind they can now open their eyes and see things they never could before those who had no hearing can hear sounds they've never heard before people who were lame could walk those with withered hands had full use of them the dead were being raised and that kind of news spreads quickly and attracts attention one thing for sure the doctors in Galilee could take a vacation while Jesus was around that's one nice thing for them they didn't really need them anymore for a while because Jesus just would touch a person make them completely hold but because the news of that would spread it would incur lots of interest especially from the religious hierarchy of the Jewish people down in Jerusalem now Jerusalem's a hundred miles away from Galilee you have to be intentional attentional about making a walk making a trip from Jerusalem to Galilee but probably the rulers of the synagogue's in that area made a request that a special delegation approved by the 70 ruling elders the Sanhedrin would check this Jesus out because he had been healing so long and so they came the scribes and the Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus saying why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders for they do not wash their hands when they eat bread this was probably a public rebuke Jesus spent so much of his time out in public whether it was in a house teaching or addressing the crowds from town to town or out in the countryside and probably the delegation came with their long robes and they would just make a scene as they would walk right up to wherever Jesus was and publicly asked this kind of a question why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders what did they mean by that they meant the oral law the oral law the tradition of the elders was the body of rabbinic literature that had been discussed and written down codified as I mentioned after years and years known as the Mishnah and then the Talmud and that's a lot of literature the Jewish Talmud had 63 books and is typically printed in eighteen volumes in many cases those adjudications or those findings by the ancient rabbis or the scribes that were argued upon and then written down were as binding to the devout Jew as the Word of God the scripture itself there was a famous rabbi in Jewish history called rabbi Akiba he was a contemporary actually of matthew who wrote the gospel rabbi Akiba talked about the tradition of Judaism the many traditions as a fence around the law hasa a hot Torah it was called in Hebrew the fence of the law the idea is that when we have our traditions we have them so that it will help you not break what the Word of God says so you keep these traditions and and will impose enough of them and we'll make them steep enough so that you can't even get close to breaking the law that is the letter of the law though you could break the heart of the law because once you have lots of rules and regulations you have a problem you can perform rules and regulations mechanically your heart doesn't have to be in there in it there's no real sincerity doesn't have to be it could be it's best if it is but you can go through the motions and do it perfunctory mechanically without real thought and break the very heart of the law itself but they came from Jerusalem and they noticed probably at a meal that the disciples were just sort of digging in eaten away and so Jesus is approached by this austere delegation why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders for they do not wash their hands when they eat this has nothing to do with hygiene this has everything to do with ritual I mean to travel 100 miles and say you know I noticed you didn't wash her hands that's kind of that's kind of like crazy I mean my mom was a stickler for me watching my hands but she wouldn't do this it has nothing to do with hygiene not like you should clean your hands before you eat there was a tradition an elaborate hand-washing ceremony that had been added in the Oral Law it's not in the law of God it's not in the Bible but it was demanded here's the deal your hands would be placed like this before you eat a meal up water would be poured from the fingertips it would run down the hands it you'd bend at the wrist and the water would fall off the wrist then you would reverse that and water would be poured on the wrist down to the fingers number two number three you would dry your hands by moving your hands an open palm in a fist open palm and a fist and dry it like that the pious Jew did that not only before every meal but between every course of a meal won't find it in the Bible but they did it it was a tradition of the elders and the disciples didn't do it and so they approached Jesus and and they mentioned that I've got to tell you another little tradition superstition has a way of working its way into any religious system I I think of this what I'm about to tell you and I automatically think I know Christians that are as superstitious is this the Jews believed that there was a demon called cipta that could attach itself to your hands while you were asleep and because it was on your hands if you touch food you could ingest the demon by eating the food so that's why you had to wash your hands elaborately to wash away the demon which is sort of interesting that I got to do is wash your hands and the demon goes away it's pretty cool but it put people in fear so people would go through the ritual and the regulation out of fear not out of love not out of real sincerity but no I don't want to demon inside of me and so look what Jesus said he answered and said to them why do you transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition see the question they ask is why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders Jesus says why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition so the argument here isn't about Scripture it's about tradition tradition remember Fiddler on the Roof remember Tavia and that opening song about tradition and he was happy that tradition preserved the customs of Judaism and would bind the people together generation after generation but he discovered over time that which preserved the Jewish people also perforated his own relationship with his daughter who wanted to date somebody and marry somebody he didn't approve of it was a two-edged sword so this is like the New Testament equivalent of Fiddler on the Roof this is Pharisee on the roof why do you transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition for God commanded saying honour your father and your mother and he who curses father or mother let him be put to death it's quoting the fifth commandment but you say whoever says to his father or mother whatever profit you might have received from me as a gift to God then he need not honor his father or mother thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition what was Jesus speaking about he's speaking about a way that scripture had been twisted by these traditionalists in the oral law they had a thing called Corbin and Corbin meant dedicated so let's say you had something and your parents were suffering and they needed to be taken care of you had extra cash or you had an extra bed or you had an extra chair that they could have and they they don't have a chair and so they come and they say son your mother and I we're not doing very well we could really use your help you could say if you were this heartless and this much of a creep you could say dad boy I'm so sorry and I'd love to help you but this chair this bed and this money in my bank account is Corbin it's dedicated to God I can't touch it because it has been dedicated you've gone through the formula of simply saying Corbin over it I've dedicated this to God now it's for God's exclusive purpose just like anything that was used in the temple here's the catch though it was dedicated to God you could still keep it at home and use it if at any time you wanted to use it for yourself you can just use it for yourself and then later on you could say korban over it again and dedicate it again so it was a scam and it was a way of getting out of the plainly written fifth commandment honor your father and your mother so Jesus says by this you are making the commandment that clear unmistakable principle of Scripture of no effect by your tradition be careful of traditions we've always done it that way is the mantra of many churches and many groups within churches don't change anything we've always done it that way okay I'm glad you've always done it that way but are you sure that that way that you've always done it is according to the scripture or is it just a convenient way of you applying it there's nothing wrong with tradition it reminds us of important truths Paul said that we were to keep the traditions that he passed down to the church but those were the traditions that were rooted in Scripture you see Peter was able to say when on the day of Pentecost they said what is that he said this is that which was spoken of by the Prophet and he was able to point to the scripture to validate a practice that was going on we should always be able to do the same and traditions within spiritual faith communities can be some of the most destructive and obstructive things that prohibit spiritual life so jesus said you are canceling God's Word by your tradition so look at verse 7 hypocrites boy I'd hate to be called that by Jesus well did Isaiah prophesy about you saying he's saying he's saying look now I know who you guys are you guys fulfill the very scripture that you're so meticulous about memorizing and keeping you're keeping the scripture and here's the scripture these people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me in vain do they worship Me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men nobody likes the word hypocrite it's a scathing word it's an indicted word anybody who's called a hypocrite boy that that gets us but Jesus used the word 23 times in the New Testament 21 of those 23 times speaking about religious hypocrites and again in chapter 23 he will really unload the reason he calls them hypocrites is simple because they preached by the yard but practiced by the inch and so Jesus dealt with them by the foot gave him a swift spiritual kick hypocrites you're fulfilling what Isaiah the prophet said that it's all mouth it's all words but it's far from your heart you're doing it in a very mechanical way but your heart is not in it when he had called the multitude to himself he said to them so just picture the scene wherever Jesus was when the delegation came and with their robes and their pious announcement asked the question why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders Jesus said publicly to them why do you transgress the commandment of God by your tradition so he's just sort of put him in their place then Jesus speaks to the crowd about the Pharisees when he called the multitude to himself he said to them hear and understand that is pay very close attention to what I'm about to say not what goes into the mouth to files a man but what comes out of the mouth this defileth a man okay stop right there if we were reading the Book of Leviticus the law the scripture we would discover that certain things that go into a man do to file a man there were certain foods that God prohibited them from eating an animal that doesn't chew the cud prohibited an animal that doesn't have cloven hooves prohibited a fish that doesn't have fins and scales prohibited mollusks prohibited all of those were prohibitions in the law so that if you eat them you could be defiled however the reason God gave those Commandments in the Old Covenant was to protect them in their physical health in their well-being they didn't have the capacities that we have now so God said separate yourself from them clean and unclean animals it was all a means of protecting them and what it was was a picture of defilement and a picture of sin God never said that those things were sinful he says don't eat them or you'll be defiled and then there was rituals to get back on track for that but they were a picture of the defilement of sin and it was to be a picture of something that outward was to be a picture of something that was inward so here Jesus says not what goes into him the mouth defiles a man but what comes out of his mouth that defiles a man religious people traditionalists people who lean toward their tradition more than Scripture and make it all about keeping the rules in the regulation they place all of the emphasis on outward when God places it all on the inward I'm not going to cover this too much in depth because we've done it in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus would say you've heard that it was said by those of old and he would quote a law but I saying to you and then he revealed that the real issue God was dealing with wasn't just the outward behavior but the inward attitude whether it was lost or murder etc he was dealing with the heart attitude the inward not the outward look at verse 12 then his disciples came and said to him this is probably sometime afterward he talked to the crowd about the scribes and the Pharisees about what what this conversation going on his disciples came to him and said do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying now you answer that question did Jesus know that they were offended of course he did he meant to offend them look that was the intention of it he was undercutting and undermining their false trust in their legalistic religion on purpose gentle Jesus meek and mild look upon this little child do you know that you offended them Jesus going uh-huh don't you guys get it they came publicly in front of this crowd I want this crowd to know that the leaders they've been following have placed the wrong emphasis on the wrong things when it's all about the heart but he answered and said every plant which my Heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted what does that remind you of the parable of the tares in the wheat remember the wheat are true believers the tares are false believers they look at the beginning stage is very similar the Pharisees sounded so sincere so religious there they're really believing and really trying to get other people to follow God with all of their heart and they're offended by the truth now mark this one of the marks of a hypocrite is they will be offended by truth a hypocrite will always be offended by the truth of Scripture they hate the truth in Scripture it's not ambiguous enough for them it's there's not a lot of latitude in the black and white of the Bible and a mark of a hypocrite is their reaction to the truth is they'll be offended by it another mark of a hypocrite according to these verses is that they are destined for judgment just wait Jesus said there's coming a time because they're not God's plant they're not planted by my father they're the tares in the wheat they're gonna be uprooted they're not gonna last they're not going to be able to withstand God's judgment they are destined for judgment so I find it interesting that in this case Jesus is condemning the sin and the sinner together not one or the other both both if they persist in the sin of hypocrisy their doom is judgment that's their end they will be uprooted now look Jesus says this let them alone leave him alone that could be translated stay away from them don't mingle with them don't be around people who are perpetually degrading and denigrating the Word of God stay far away from that type stay far away from the hypocrite let them alone they are blind leaders of the blind and if the blind leads the blind both will fall into a ditch then Peter answered and said to him gotta love Peter could you like explain this parable to us Peter still thinking about food oh you're talking about like eating stuff and what goes into a man could you could you like go over that one more time now when the clergy don't understand spiritual truth you know you got problems Peter's been following Jesus for two years two years he's got some answers right and some answer is wrong but two years so Jesus says here's his response to him are you also still without understanding are you like the crowds are you like the average person we've been together you know what I emphasize you you know more truth than the average bear are you also still without understanding do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated but those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile a man for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witness blasphemies these are the things which defile a man but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man the heart that is not the organ that pumps blood when Jesus uses this term the heart where you do your thinking that's the heart in the Bible where you do your processing that's the heart where your motives are the seed of your motives your will that's the heart proverbs 23 as a man thinks in his heart so is he Jesus said at one point in his ministry why do you think evil in your hearts it's the place where you think is your heart it's what proceeds out of that you don't get defiled by your diet you eat food it goes into your stomach it's processed it's broken down by the acids it goes into the duodenum and the small intestine and the large intestine works its way through the alimentary canal that which is not appropriated is eventually eliminated but the real filth comes from the heart through the mouth what comes out of the heart through the mouth is worse than what goes into the sewer sometimes that's what he's saying that's where the defilement comes in it's the human heart the Prophet said the heart is deceitful above everything desperately wicked who can know it that's why God in the Old Testament said circumcised or cut away your hearts don't just be religious people going through the motions but cut away those fleshly desires from your heart these are the things which defile a man but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man doesn't matter if you're a vegan a carnivore a junk food junkie none of that has anything to do with your spirituality when I was single living in Huntington Beach California I was outside on a sunny day sort of like today which is beautiful it was June it was about 75 degrees enjoying the sunshine the day I had my Bible I'm looking down reading it my front porch and I noticed sandals walk up to me I'm looking down so I noticed a pair of feet and attached to the feet it looks like a robe a flowing white robe with sandals comes walking up to me so I'm thinking I'm a young Christian I'm thinking maybe this is it so this is how it's gonna happen huh I look up and there's a bearded man with long hair and the Sun is right like right behind his hair so you know what I'm thinking I'm going oh you're here until he started talking then I knew I know it's not the Lord because he didn't say do you know Jesus or can I talk to you about your spiritual walk talk to you about the cross the gospel he said to me do you eat meat I'm thinking I don't know I've heard a lot of like opening lines before but do you eat meat is not one of them not how are you what's your name do you eat meat Oh a bearded guy with a white robe and sandals do you eat meat what is this guy work for Oscar Mayer I don't get this now I think I had an actual Big Mac I think I had a McDonald's like in a bag next to medicine well she I do eat meat and he started he proceeded to condemn me in my walk with God because he saw that I had a Bible so he thought I'm gonna ask this guy if he's a vegetarian and he went on this whole thing about a spiritual diet pleasing to God and the guy I just knew he was a false prophet so I stoned him no I'm just kidding that's right I'm in the New Testament that I'm not the older don't let anybody give you a trip about what you can and can't eat that's what they were doing then Jesus said it's what comes out of you not what goes into you it's the heart of a person it's the sinful nature of a human being that's where the evil needs to be checked then Jesus went out from there and he departed from there to the region of tyre and sidon so now he's going far north 35 miles north 60 miles north tyre and sidon it's up in Phoenicia it's modern-day Lebanon and behold a woman of Canaan came out from that region and cried out to him saying have mercy on me O Lord son of David my daughter is severely demon-possessed this is an interesting story because this woman a Canaanite woman one of the condemned races from the Old Testament she's a survivor a hanger-on she's living in that area and she as a Gentile as a non Jew addresses Jesus with the Messianic Jewish title son of David I wonder how she knew that she identified him as the son of David I know who you are you're the Messiah of the Jews now she was not Jewish she had no claim on Jesus as her Messiah because she wasn't part of the covenant people but she addressed him as that son of David my daughter is severely demon-possessed but he answered her not a word and the disciples came and urged him saying send her away for she cries out after us you wouldn't want these guys counseling anyone in church would you get him out of here mr. sensitive here I think what they're saying is look help this lady so we can get rid of her and they're sort of surprised that knowing Jesus how compassionate he was he's not doing anything she's crying after us but he answered and said I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel Jesus is stating his mission he came unto his own that is his own people and his own received him not Paul's formula was to the Jew first and then also to the Greek so he's simply stating his primary reason coming as the Messiah for Israel under the Covenant stipulations of the old cup of the Old Testament that's why I was sent now listen to her then she came and worshiped him saying lord help me now she's unflustered by this she didn't go okay well I'll go now she has a direct approach she knows that the only hope for her daughter is this Jesus if he doesn't help her she's not going to get help so instead of approaching her now as a messianic title if I can't approach you as a Jew speaking to her Messiah then I approach you as Reacher approaching her creator Lord helped me but he answered and said it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs are you offended yet she said yes Lord yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table and jesus answered and said to her o woman great is your faith let it be to you as you desire and her daughter was healed from that very hour now let me give you two things to help you understand what was just going on number one context number two language context the setting is a dinner table in a home where you have a pet at home a doggie looking for crumbs do you have a dog at home that does that I do and I spoil my dog number two is language the word that Jesus uses for dog is aptly translated little dog in Greek it's the diminutive form of another word that is used generally for dog that's the scavenger type of dog the kind of rome's and packs the the mongrel type of dog but the word Jesus uses is a diminutive form of that which means and can only mean a pet a little puppy Fido or in my case Mac that's my dog's name Mac's always under the dinner-table and always knows that I'm an easy target there's anybody else at the dinner table you just kind of Foom comes right by me because he knows that I'm the one that's guy I do I spoil him so Jesus uses the term little dog speaking to this lady here's why the Jews would call Gentiles many times dogs Gentile dogs they met the scavenger dog that goes in packs Jesus uses a different term for the Gentile a little pet a puppy dog and he does that to draw out her faith and it works because her response is beautiful and that's why Jesus remarked on it is yes Lord even the little dogs eat crumbs which fall from the master's table she's saying you know what I know my place I'm not under the Covenant that the Jewish people are under I don't have the right to ask for the choice morsels like the covenant people of the Jews I just want the leftovers just throw me the scraps could you just give me the leftover mercy that'll be enough to heal my daughter that's all I want I have no claim on you you're not my messiah you're the Jewish Messiah I get that and so I take my place at your table Lord as my master and I'm the little pet puppy would you just throw me a scrap and that's why Jesus said o woman great is your faith let it be to you as you desire her faith was persistent faith jesus said ask seek knock it means continually do it you know what if she woulda said okay well see you bye now she goes oh wait a the son of David no no answer get rid of her get her out of here I said look I've come to for just the lost sheep of the house of Israel lord help me well you know it's not right for me to take this food that is a portion for the covenant people the children of Israel and give it to the little pet puppies I know I'm a pet puppy just throw me a scrap persistent faith and humble faith and her daughter was healed from that very hour Jesus departed from there skirted the Sea of Galilee and went to the mountain and sat down there and great multitudes came to him having with them the lame the blind the mute the maimed and many others and they laid them down at Jesus feet and He healed them so the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speak the maimed made whole the lame walking the blind seeing and they glorified the God of Israel now did everyone who lived in the Galilee towns did everyone come to Jesus no there were interested people there were some who came to listen to him talk there were some who came because they wanted a free lunch the miracle of the food but the people who really came to Jesus were people who knew they couldn't live without him the lamed the maimed the blind unless Jesus touches them nothing's going to change they were so aware of their need they wanted to get around Jesus those are the people people who know their need admit their need those are the ones who are saved people who never admit that oh I'm good enough those are that hell is filled with those people they never admit their need they never come for forgiveness and Jesus called his disciples to himself and said I have compassion on the multitude because they have now continued with me three days and I and have nothing to eat and I do not want to send them away hungry lest they faint on the way how merciful is that this mercy Ministry of healing lasted apparently three days they're out somewhere in the fields in the wilderness and Jesus wants to give them a meal before they go home his disciples said to him where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude jesus said how many loaves do you have they said seven and a few little fish i canna stop right here for just a moment we're dealing with a miracle that sounds and looks a lot like a miracle we've already covered right that was the feeding of the 5,000 this is the feeding of the 4,000 and critics like to say well you know it's really the same story and it's just they got the numbers wrong there's differences in these stories that are night and day to different accounts altogether there was the feeding of the 5,000 that Matthew records and then now is the feeding of the fourth that he records what are the differences difference number one when Jesus fed the 5,000 which we already covered they were with Jesus one day only here they're with Jesus three days difference number two in the feeding of the 5,000 the first one Jesus commanded the crowd to sit down on the grass and mark even says the green grass of it was probably late winter early spring now it's just the ground they're not commanded to sit on the grass probably because the grass doesn't exist it's probably summertime and it's burned up number three different third difference in the feeding of the 5,000 there were five loaves and two fish here there are seven loaves and a few small fish different numbers altogether fourth difference in the feeding of the 5,000 there's how many baskets left over twelve in this miracle defeating of the four thousand there are seven it says large baskets and five here's the fifth difference in the feeding of the five thousand that was around Galilee a Jewish population this is part of the Decapolis the Decapolis means ten cities it's a conglomerate a network of ten Gentile cities so it's a different population base altogether so G verse 34 Jesus said to them how many loaves do you have and they said seven and a few little fish so he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground and he took the seven loaves and the fish gave thanks broke them gave them to his disciples and the disciples gave to the multitude so they all ate and were filled and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left I'm a little bit amazed at the disciples you would think that when Jesus said how many loaves do you have because right before that they go how are we gonna do this how are we gonna feed this big multitude it's like you would think one of them ago oh wait wait wait wait wait I remember something really cool happened recently you fed 5000 men plus women and children but how quickly we forget I don't think that miracle happened like a few days before that it was probably sometime that transpired and as time goes on we tend to forget these things the right answer would be well I don't know how you're gonna do this because there's no bakery around here Jesus but that's not a problem you've done it before you're gonna do it in I don't know how you're gonna do it but you'll figure something out it's just gonna be fun to watch so go for it do something cool one of our problems is if we can't figure it out we think it's not going to be done can't be done our problem is we know too much you're an engineer and so you thought I don't know how I can video it's impossible that was Sarah's problem when the Lord said Abraham I'm coming back within the year and Sarah your wife is gonna have a son and she's behind the curtain and she goes that's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time because she's an old lady knows that can't happen I'm a woman I know about these things you're a man obviously you don't even though you're God so she starts laughing our knowledge can get in the way of things I marvel when I see a 747 take off the ground look at that you know you know what that thing weighs you know much luggage over packed luggages in that thing and yet why does it fly any engineer knows well it's simple even though there's a law of gravity and that thing weighs so much and gravity demands it stay earthbound there are other laws that supersede the law of gravity like thrust lift and those laws when employed supersede even the law of gravity making that huge thing fly okay that's how you explain a miracle God has another set of laws that he applies to this situation it's not impossible it's like easy watch this done and so they were fed they were filled real quickly as we bring this to a close and I'm not reading the last two verses though I will but as soon as I read them you're gonna close your Bible so so here's the deal how did Jesus do the miracle by using what was there and by using the people that were there doubt did he have to do it that way now could it could Jesus have just said watch this and all of a sudden manna would fall from heaven I could that could be possible or and then in-n-out burger and everybody's luck Blake's green chili whatever but he uses people to do his work he does the miracle but he uses the people to perform the miracle now that is exactly how evangelism takes place God has the message that is a life-changing message but he entrusts you with it he says pass the bread out past the fish out get her done I'll give you that what you need I'll supply it but you go pass it out good now God could use angels to get the job done he didn't he doesn't need you he doesn't need me he could get it done with angels in fact in the Tribulation Period God will dispatch an angel to fly through heaven with the everlasting gospel that everyone on earth will hear it he's going to get it done that way but he has chosen to use the foolish things us that's beautiful what a partnership okay now those who were who eight were four thousand men besides women and children and he sent away the multitude got into the boat and came to the region of Magdala this is just a couple miles north of Tiberias it's on the western shore of Galilee remind me if you're going to Israel in May when we take the boat ride from Tiberias and we go over toward the museum I'll point out Magdala on the left-hand side of the boat you'll see it that's where they went at a little port back then we're out of time I had some other things to share but we'll have to wait father thank you for your word for the life and the ministry of Jesus and how he loved and had compassion on people and how patient he was with his men who were learning what he said meant and if it was all about eating food or it was about a spiritual reality that went deeper than that thank you for your patience with us thank you for entrusting the glorious treasure of the gospel and to think that you would use our words our actions our lives to eternally change people we come in contact with and you would feed multitudes but it-it-it marvels us and we're grateful you've done it in our lives and you do it through our lives to others in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 5,668

Rating: 4.7948718 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Sermon, Matthew, Calvary Church, Pharisees, hypocrites, Canaanite woman, little dogs, faith, miracles

Id: preM1ZC6oeM

Length: 58min 10sec (3490 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 11 2018