Matthew (Session 5) Chapters 6-7

well we are beginning session five of our review of the gospel of matthew focusing on matthews chapter five six and seven particularly chapters six and seven in this session and as i mentioned before christ did four major discourses in the gospels three of the four are in matthew but the one we're dealing with is the first one the sermon on the mount matthews five six and seven the manifesto of our king or of the kingdom and in matthew 5 the first 16 verses describe the true christian and deal with his character the rest of the sermon on the mount deals with a conduct that grows out of that character why because character always comes before conduct because we are what we are determines what we do what we are determines what we do and this whole issue of character and integrity words thrown around quite loosely among many integrity really involves belief and discipline your belief can be pretty weak if you don't have the discipline to exercise it properly the integrity implies the confluence of both your belief and your discipline integrity itself is the vertebrae of your soul character accrues when that integrity is combined with wisdom you can have integrity but poor character and still be consistently disciplined in terms of your belief system if it's a faulty belief system it's a fully belief system well how what kind of wisdom do you want to put with sound character and that's the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom the knowledge of the holy is understanding okay now the first 16 verses teaches us that the true righteousness is inward the rest of the last the last chapter points out that sin is also inward and he exposed this disturbing insight the false righteousness of the pharisees who taught that holiness consisted of religious actions that should give us all pause because we're all guilty of that there's some pharisee ism in all of our communities and they talked that sin was what you did outwardly no sin is what is just the outflowing of what happened in your heart and we went into the the beatitudes recogni that were recognizing the citizens of heaven they were beatitudes not do attitudes it didn't say do this or do that you told you what you needed to be and so this was not given to the multitudes it was given to the christians he gave it to his disciples those were that were already his we need to recognize that so this is directed to us not the unbelievers and we talk about the poor in spirit our attitude towards ourselves to where we recognize our need and admitted blessed are those that mourn this is our attitude towards sin a true sorrow for sin is what's in view there meekness has to do with our attitude towards others we need to be teachable we don't defend ourselves when we are wrong hunger and thirst after righteousness this demonstrates our attitude towards god this is the way we express it by our appetites merciful we have to have a we need to have a forgiving spirit and love others pure in heart we need to keep our lives and motives clean holiness is happiness to us there are no substitutes peacemakers we should bring peace in two ways between people and god that's the primary one and also between those who are odds with one another and persecution all those who live godly lives will be persecuted we talked about the pharisees last time it might be a good time to get a little more perspective the word comes from a hebrew word meaning to separate aramaic actually separatists in a sense they were the successors of the syrians a word meaning the pious that was a political party or a religious party that originated in the time of antiochus epiphanes in their revolt against his heathenizing policies and so that goes back uh you more than a century before the first mention of them is in the description by josephus who mentions three sects he mentions the pharisees the essenes and the sadducees that were the primary sex among the jews in the time of our lord they were the popular party um in the book of acts the sadducees had been risen to power the sadducees we'll talk about in a minute the pharisees were extremely precise and minute in all manners uh all matter of issues coming to the law of moses something else they also indulged in what they called the oral law a number of traditions that were handed down orally that were not part of the written law and that gets codified in the talmud later and is another source of errors in a sense paul when he brought before the council of jerusalem professed himself a pharisee of these different groups paul identified himself with the pharisees in fact he was taught by the greatest of the bunch a guy by the name of gamalio their system of religion though was form and nothing more form rather than substance it was actually a very lacks morality surprisingly enough it was really one of looking for loopholes and they were noted for their pride and their self-righteousness it's astonishing how you see that in israel today among the histidics you'll be standing in line to go through a security gate to the temple mount and the orthodox will come up and just try to just just try to push it in front of you because you're you know your agent tells you and the unfortunately the soldiers don't put up with that but i mean it's astonishing to see these people who are trying to represent their religious accountability uh so obnoxiously prideful and uh self-indulgent and thoughtless it's it's a it's it's hard to get used to but uh now they were ranked with the lord along with the sadducees as a generation of vipers now that's not a very nice label even in our culture but if you realize how a jew looks at vipers their serpents they associate with satan from from genesis 3. so a viper is that's bad news so that's that's what the lord used there they were frequently rebuked by the lord all through you'll see in this as we go through the gospels and so on and uh from the very beginning of christ's ministry they were bitter and persistent enemies of his they could not bear his doctrines and they tried every way they could to bring to destroy his influence ultimately of course going but pushing for the cross now the sadducees are a different kind of group altogether they would be more like what we would consider the liberals they didn't believe in the supernatural things they didn't believe in the resurrection or angels that sort of thing they were also financially the aristocrats and they were also very politically astute and uh they gradually gain power so when you get to the sanhedrin in the days of acts you'll discover the sadducees are really the dominant factor there anyway um the statues probably were the outcome of the influence of greek customs and philosophy during the period of greek domination under the seleucid empire and the first time we meet them of course in john the baptist ministry and he he also calls them a generation of vipers who warned you of the wrath to come so he used the same term that jesus used uh else later the lord called them hypocrites and a wicked and adulterous generation the word hypocrite by the way is a greek term for an actor and it comes from a word meaning two-faced that you know like tragedy comedy that's where the idea comes from but hypocrites are two-faced it's a it's an idiom that's pretty straightforward now the sadducees ridicul ridiculed the doctrine of the resurrection and deny the existence of angels and that's where we often will quip that's why they were sad you see and that that corny pun though will help you remember which are the pharisees which are the you know the sadducees are the liberals they're not they're really they didn't believe in the in the supernatural they interesting thing about sadducees they're not mentioned in john's gospel at all they're mentioned in the other gospels briefly but one thing that i've noticed in my bible study i can i can find several places where there's references that later on that priests and pharisees some of them came to faith in jesus christ that was mentioned in action it's interesting to me that you cannot find any record of a sadducee coming to faith in christ doesn't mean they didn't but i just can't help but feel that might be significant i think it's tougher for a a liberal to embrace god and christ than it is for those that take god seriously but in the wrong way so to speak there are many sadducees among the elders in sanhedrin in the next 23 and of course they showed their hatred for christ in taking part in his condemnation all through the scriptures and they tried to prohibit the gospel the apostles from preaching the gospel and uh they do not appear as a separate sect after 70 a.d when jerusalem falls they seem to have evaporated as an organized group but this this this uh closing line of chapter five be therefore perfect as your father in heaven's perfect needs to be fresh in your mind as we go on and uh and and also the great commission where jesus in matthew 28 says go you therefore and teach all nations baptizing in the name and the father and son the holy ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever i have commanded you we want to be sensitive we're going to find out now what these commands are in chapters 6 and 7 of matthew and they're the ones that we'll find in remaining in chapters 6 and 7 as we'll see jesus will emphasize all through here my words in contrast to moses words or prophets or he's taking he's he's stepping above openly stepping above all of those and he has a call to obedience we want to be sensitive to if we fulfill the law because he became our sacrifice and shed his own sinless blood on our behalf and everything was fulfilled when he before he died when he said it is finished to tell us die it is paid in full the second way fulfilled the law is that he taught and commanded what god's will is under the new covenant for those that would enter the kingdom of god so that's that's the other way this the law has been um presented and he he gave us a new set of rules paul calls those new rules christ's law some of them are the same as the old testament but there are many things in the old testament he did not include in his those ceremonial things that were primarily designed to distinguish israel from the nations are not part of his presentation here christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone to believeth tell us meaning the end termination so forth and colossians has this remarkable argument in chapter two you being dead in your sins and uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened together with him having forgiven you all trespasses blotting out the handwriting of ordinances or more precisely the certificate of debt that was against us which was contrary to us he took it out of the way nailing it to his cross and so that's our debt to the law so to speak he paid for it done away with it for on our behalf for what the law could not do and then it was weak through the flesh god sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled of us who walked not after the flesh but after the spirit romans chapter 8 the early verses it may shock you to reflect on what the purpose the law is though the law through the law we become conscious of sin that's his primary purpose the law was added so that the trespass might it might increase that sin would increase that shocks many people study romans 5 20 for yourself he was added because of transgressions until the seed that is the which is the title of lord jesus christ to whom the promise referred had come galatians 3 so the law was put in charge to lead us to christ that we might be justified by faith that's the whole program and galatians lays that out especially chapter 3 if you want to get into it now that faith has come we are no longer under the supervision of the law again all this is extracted from galatians chapter 3 marvelous marvelous chapter brief little book well we in the last session talked about two of the four relationships relationship to self the first 16 verses of matthew 5 and our relationship to the law the last half of matthew 5. we're now going to go to the the final two chapters in the sermon amount our relationship to god in matthew 6 and our relationship to others in matthew 7. now chapter 5 the king speaks of the righteousness which is subjects must possess you must be righteous to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees that comes only through trust in christ okay we've got that veiled chapter six now is going to deal with the external part of our religion the righteousness that the subjects of the kingdom are to practice okay so what we're going to see should flow out of what we possess with me so far okay of course the internal motive is the most important thing in what you do for god what you do is not so important as the motive by which you do it matthew 6 jesus continues take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them otherwise you have no reward of your father which is in heaven therefore thou doest thine alms do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory of men for verily i see you saying to you they have their reward if you if you get your reward from the people god will pass if you want your reward from the father it's got to be a private deal between you and him when someone really applaud some wonderful charitable act you did you might cringe because you've just got your reward if you're trying to get it from the father you want to keep it be a loaf profile it's what is the flavor of what he's saying here when thou does let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth that thy names may be in secret that they father with seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly and when thou press thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men fairly i say unto you they have their reward but thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet or your private room in other words and when thou has shut thy door pray to thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward the openly but when ye pray use not vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking be not ye therefore like unto them for your father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him and uh so what he's calling for here is sincerity and simplicity you want to be real when you pray you want to just get down to the nitty gritty let him know what's on your mind but it's private between you and he nothing public there is a place for corporate prayer but that's not what he's dealing with here then we get to the thing that's called the lord's prayer commonly called that but it really isn't because if you examine that prayer jesus could not pray it it would not fit the messiah he couldn't read it was really a model prayer to teach his disciples how to pray there's no further mention of it in the book of acts or any of the epistles it disappears from you after you get out of the gospels it's never alluded to so it's just a model it's a it was a rhetorical device i'm not trying to disparage it's been exaggerated that that's sort of the end all of all things if you really want to understand what the lord prays with the father there is a fabulous chapter chapter 17 of john is a recording in effect of a private intimate outpouring between the son and his father on the night of his betrayal where he commits he takes credit for having preserved his disciples but he hands them over to the care of his father because he knows he's going to the cross incredible intimacy and it's interesting when you when you uh study that that he does not pray for the world he prays only for his own in the world it's interesting you know obviously people pray for world peace for everybody that that's not jesus didn't do that jesus prayed just for his own after this manner jesus says after this manner pray so he's given an example our father which art in heaven you know it's interesting i don't think you can find anyone speaking of our father in the old testament he was all these other titles when jesus is hanging on the cross his first words are my god my god why hast thou forsaken me why it's the only time in recorded history we can find where he didn't call him father why didn't he call him father because he couldn't he was in our shoes he was in the role of the sinner paying the price anyway here our father which are in heaven hallowed be thy name boy see only someone born again can use the term father to be born of him you see and hallowed be thy name it's something there's only one thing that god puts higher than his name you know what that is his word right on exactly in psalm 138 verse 2 he puts his word even above his name and i believe that the third commandment as we call it doors of the fourth anyway the thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain has nothing to do with vocabulary it has to do with ambassadorship if you're going to take on the name of the king you better represent him faithfully and competently hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come wow that's a biggie thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven this is all about wills sin came because satan created a will other than the will of the father and the job of the son is to take it all and we put it back together under the father our prayer thy kingdom come we're praying for jesus to take the throne of david and establish his kingdom that's what that really means thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven that's the goal of this whole program the redemption is not just of you and i it's of the creation too give us this day our daily bread and this is uh bread can be ascribed to manna or it can be ascribed to the bread of life but the primary point is thank you want to be thankful for the sustenance that's at hand whether you're speaking materially which is valid or whether you're speaking spiritually both are uh are fair here and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors your forgiveness is not conditional upon forgiving somebody else it sounds like that at first that's to misunderstand it you've already been forgiven and that's why you forgive others you understand the difference you're not earning your forgiveness by forgiving others that's a common mistake we all make that's not the intent here and you're forgiven because jesus christ paid for your debts and because you're forgiven you should forgive that's what it's all about we're getting to the whole 70 times 7 issue later and so forth but and lead us not into temptation the word lead here is unfortunate because it gives us the wrong impression but the lead is not in the temptation but deliver us from the evil one the word one the person is implied in this in the grammatical structure but uh it's not temptation god doesn't lead us into evil he may allow temptation to take place and there's that's the whole study of job the book of job the oldest book in the bible is all about but um he does allow satan to put us to the test yes he does do that and uh but fortunately we have a high priest praying for us none other than jesus christ praise god for that and now this last part for thines the kingdom of the power and the glory forever is debated by some scholars because it does not occur in certain manuscripts but that's not a big deal one way the other i don't think because his is the kingdom the power and the glory forever amen amen the lord's own prayer as i say he could not play pray this prayer for a lot of reasons john 17 is the is the details the true lord's prayer his relationship his commitment and the father's to us that he he's coming to us he hands the responsibility of our welfare to the father because he's going to the cross it's interesting that he prays for his own only in verse 9 of chapter 17 john he says i pray not for the world interesting thing the world is evil the world's adverse the world is going to go to war with god and jesus goes on if you forgive them in their trespasses your heavenly father also forgive you but if you forgive not men of the trespasses and he will your father forgive your trespass because you're not forgiving you've got a problem more bear in mind this is flowing from the precedent chapter so let's go on more when you fast which means by the way they will fast that's interesting a lot of people are well that was for the old testament apparently not moreover when you fast be not as the hypocrites of sad countenance for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast look how holy i am verily i say unto you they have their reward but thou and thou passes anoint thy head and wash thy face that thou appear not unto men to fast but unto the father which is in secret and thy father would see it in secret shall reward thee openly fasting is for today but if you're going to fast i strongly encourage you to get a little background you can get a little book at most christian book stairs out fasting there's several one of them is called god's chosen fast those that are god's chosen do fast and it's a good little primer gives you some basic pointers so you don't mess mess yourself up here but check it out but there is there's a role for fasting i would not get into extreme fastings without good counsel because it can be complicated but a day or two or three is not a big deal that's the hardest to do by the way the long fasts are easier because after the first few days astonishingly it's a breeze but you still shouldn't you need to know some things before you try that but um the first few days it's you know it's a commitment that's the whole point of it part of the whole point of it okay lay up not for yourselves treasures upon the earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven and where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal for where your treasure is there will your heart be also that's the stewardship that's critical the stewardship of your heart the treasures tend to give you a competing um uh possibility and there's so much talk about this we're going to take a little deviation here briefly and take a quick look at luke 16 because luke 16 has jesus gives a parable to his disciples that's one of too many the most weird troublesome parables of the scripture and uh but it also has to do with this whole thing of giving and so forth so let's just jump in jesus said unto his disciples there was a certain rich man i'm reading from luke 16 verse 1 which had a steward and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods and he called and said on them how is it that i hear of this of thee give an account of thy stewardship for thou mayest be no longer steward so this guy knows he's going to face an audit and he's a little shook up by that because he knows he's in trouble verse 3 then the steward said within himself what shall i do my lord taketh away from me my stewardship i cannot dig and to beg i'm ashamed okay i am resolved what to do that when i am put out of the stewardship they may receive me in their houses meaning his the clients of his master so he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him and said unto the first how much uh oh us thou are to my lord he said a hundred measures of oil he said um take thy bill and sit down quickly and write fifty what is he doing here he's reducing the his master's receivables you see what he's doing and uh then he then said he to another and how much thou he said a hundred measures of wheat send them take thy bill and write four score 80. lord commit now here's the here's the troublesome verse the lord commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light for i say unto you make to yourselves friends of the man of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations what is going on here this guy's a crook he knows he's going to get fired so he ingratiates himself to his his his master's debtors by reducing their debts that that's that sounds like it should you know put him in prison and the lord jesus christ says he's done wisely you've got to be kidding is the lord jesus christ admonishing us to do things that are illegal no of course not of course not the point he's making though is what this guy is doing he knows he's going to be changing venues he's going to be fired so he's using his position to try to grease it for himself later that's basically the issue and the lord doesn't commend his honesty he just says it was a shrewd move on his part and the point he's making we should be doing the same thing in a sense we're here in this world and we have leverage we've got influence here and there we should be using that influence to gain uh our stature when we get to heaven they say you can't take it with you that's not true you can take it with you've got to send it up ahead so whether it's money or whether it's opportunities you want to turn those in favorable terms to your master which is the lord jesus christ you know what obviously don't don't don't don't misread this that you ought to cheat no that's not what he's saying he didn't command him for that he just pointed out that he was looking ahead and he was setting up his situation for where he goes does it make you make make to yourselves friends of the moment of unrighteousness that when you fail when he says fail here he means when you die you they may receive you a different they uh into everlasting inhabitations he that is faithful and that which is least is faithful also in much and he that is unjust in the least is also unjust and much if therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon who will commit to your trust to true riches for if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's who shall give you that which is your own no servant can serve two masters for either will hate the one and love the other or he will hold to the one and despise the other ye cannot serve god and mammon now the word mammon by the way is an aramaic word for wealth there's nothing wrong with wealth it's the love of money that's the source of all evil not money but money can be used for all kind purposes it it it it's uh it's it its value comes from how it's being used and it shouldn't be worshipped obviously it shouldn't it you can't use it as a god that's what that's the illusion here in verse 13. let's talk a little bit about giving though because i get a lot of questions about that in my personal experience i don't give according to need because there are more needs around than i can possibly deal with so the fact that there's a need of some kind isn't isn't my primary interest there are more needs than i can address what i want to know is the lord in the action is there evidence that the lord wants this to happen that's my question i want proof when somebody has an issue i want proof that the god is in the action somehow why do i say that because i'm used to being a portfolio manager and if you manage a portfolio of assets or whatever the way that works that at the end of a period you want to look back and be able to equip yourself for how you handle it during the past period whether it's a quarter or a year at the end of the year you want your to show your stewardship that you invested in the right things right well i'm convinced see that god doesn't need my money what i want to do with my money using that just as an example i want to invest it where i know god's in it because i know god's in it it's going to be blessed so at the end of the year i can say wow look what happened there well i was part of that i helped that you follow me and so what i'm interested in is is the lord in the action and so i look at it like a port my portfolio of giving is just as important as my portfolio of assets and more so actually and so you measure the portfolio's performance at the end of the period looking back so i try to invest in such ways that at the end of the period there's a high likelihood i'll be glad i invested in what i invested in you follow what i'm saying so the way i tell it isn't how bad how desperately they need something that's not that that's probably a factor but it's not certainly not the primary factor primary factor is there evidence that god is in this is this a project that is is uh is useful for the lord there's a lot of things soliciting money that i'm not convinced god is in there are ministries i think god would like to shut down if the supporters would let them but let's move on jesus christ says where your treasure is there will your heart be also the light of the body is the eye if therefore thine eye be single the whole body shall be full of light single mind is the view here but if i and i be evil that whole body shall be full of darkness if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness no man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other you cannot serve god and mammon therefore i say unto you take no thought for your life what you shall eat or what you shall drink nor yet for your body what ye shall put on is not the life more than the meat and the body more than rainman and now the word therefore is always important many of these precepts are very different if you really understand that therefore links to what what happened what happened before and when he says thought here he really means anxiety not like you shouldn't plan or be thinking about he's talking about take no anxiety if you will thought in the sense of being anxious for it be not anxious be anxious for nothing paul writes in in in in first session 4. do you realize that worry is a sin when you look in the book of revelation and listen in 21 to verse 8 those that enlist all these bad guys who don't enter in the first one is the fearful and the unbelieving don't think of that as sin do you worry a sin you know why it's a form of blasphemy it means you you don't you're not trusting god doesn't mean you can't be concerned and be be diligent in this but if you're worrying that's a form of blasphemy worry is assuming a responsibility that god did not intend for you to have think about it worry is the trickle of fear that soon cuts a crevice so deep that it drains all other thoughts away i love that i i don't where i got that years ago i read it somewhere but it never left me i'd love to be able to acknowledge where that quote comes from i don't remember where is a trickle of fear that soon cuts the crevice so deep that it drains all other thoughts away boy is that descriptive jesus goes on behold the fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap neither gather into barns yet your heavenly father feed of them are ye not much better than they which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to a statue and why take ye thought for rainman consider the lilies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet i say to you that even solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these you know it's interesting that solomon is always used used adversely in the scripture um this is an example even solomon was not arrayed is like one of these it's used as an adversity very interesting anyway wherefore if god so clothed the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more clothe you o ye of little faith see i really believe god finds a new way every day to ask you a question do you trust me that's what it's all about and uh i really think that god wants us to be as beautiful as possible that's part of what's implied in all this sort of thing but he wants you to trust him you want to do the best with what you got the greek have a term called cosmos the cosmos the term refers to bringing order out of chaos bringing order out of chaos it's the same route from which we get the term cosmetics i thought i'd just share that with you okay all right i thought you'd enjoy that jesus goes on therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewith all shall we be clothed for after all these things do the gentiles seek for your heavenly father knoweth that ye have need of all these things but seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you and that's the line to trust verse 33 of chapter 6 is your key verse but seek ye first the kingdom of god easily said but do you really do it that's your challenge every day every morning when you get up can you put god first around new years we make new year's resolutions did your resolutions put god at the top of the list and so on when anxiety begins faith ends when faith begins anxiety ends george miller said that i think it's cool he's got to throw it in here and then we get to verse 34 take therefore no thought for the moral for the moral shall take thought of the things of itself sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof now of course what he's talking about here is no anxious thought this is not a license to go through life without planning without forecasting without acknowledging the futurity of today's decisions that's what planning is all about planning is the futurity of today's decisions peter drucker's face and he's one of the most prolific competent writers in the field of management and that's one of his key phrases there is a legitimate need for all of us to do what we might call forecasting your stewardship requires you to do that and counting the cost of things you don't build a tower unless you first count the cost thereof that verse in verse 34 in chapter 6 is not an excuse to close a blind eye to what seems to be coming down the road jesus expects us to understand the signs the times he expects us to understand the implications of debts he just expects us to understand when we get into a transaction to look ahead you want to always check the destination before you buy a ticket and of course there are non-linearities in life we plan with linearities typically yesterday's tomorrow's gonna be like yesterday next week like last week next month like last next year sort of like last year except if we think about it 10 seconds we realize there are non-linearities there are upheavals financial upheavals medical upheavals there are non-linearities things that that are surprises so you do need to plan but you don't depend it's a big difference big difference and i didn't have time to dig up some cartoons i used to have a bunch of cartoons i used to use in management circles i was when i had a consulting firm of these one of them should i couldn't find it quickly to put it it's the thing where you have these guys that are obviously building a train tracks that are meeting but the left one connects to the right one and they're looking at it puzzled because they obviously are it's not going to work and they're all set you're scratching the headlights you've got to plan ahead or building bridges that are built where they don't line up then you know there's a need to do some planning and there's a number of these things that would would would qualify some people for what we call the darwin award where they're really you know self-imposed disasters but uh anyway planning i don't have to get into that except to recognize don't use don't misunderstand what he's saying there and uh let's get this we're in matthew chapter seven we're making progress here seven's a tough one though fasten your seat belts this is gonna be upsetting it says judge not that you be not judged for what what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged with what measure you meet it shall be measured to you again that seems pretty straightforward this whole passage is to believers of course and there are occasions when we are to judge within the fellowship first corinthians 5 deals with that so don't use that there's one thing we speaking of it interpersonally it's quite another where we are called upon to judge and and paul talks we're not to judge the intent of the heart you can't you make a mistake where you try to judge motives you are to be fruit inspectors you want to be able to tell a tree by the fruit it heals and that's exactly what the scripture lays out in many many places and by the way the scripture does not say that you cannot go to law against a brother there are some procedures we should invoke first and that's what matthew 18 details and one of the great tragedies in the church today is the failure of the church to establish accountability churches that are run on hearsay and rumor where you can't get you never confront your accusers where there isn't a systematic jurisprudence of some kind i've seen the landscape littered with careers of people who to this day still have no idea what hit them when the great tragedies in church governance i see it coast to coast in many many places is is is it is disgraceful i have seen major or christian organizations argue that matthew 18 doesn't apply to them that's for the laity nonsense that's exactly what it's all about and no there are procedures and matthew 18 is a whole worthy worthy study to get into i've been asked to do briefing packs on that i've deferred because i don't want to be a pawn of certain politics going on but somewhere along the way we'll do that matthew 7 verse 3 why and why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye and considereth not the beam that is the own eye now a moat is a small dried twig typically blown about by the wind and of course a beam here is the term used for a stick of timber or a splinter a real splinter if you will that's the difference substantially larger and more dangerous than a twig the contrast between the two is simply one of signs so why behold it's now the moat that is in that brother's eye and and considers not the beam that isn't the in thin own eye or how will i say that thy brother let me pull out the mood of thine eye and behold a bemus thine own eye thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of the known eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast the boat out of the brothers and of course it's speaking that idiomatically here and again the word hypocrite is an actor in greek it literally means two-faced as you understand give not that which is holy unto the dogs neither cast ye your pearls before the swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you you know ii peter chapter 2 verse 22 says the speaks of the dog that's turned to his own vomit and the sow the wash that's been washed has returned to her wallowing in the mire what doesn't hit you at first but not only is it inappropriate that's your first thought putting pervs before the swine but the tone here implies that's not only inappropriate it's dangerous lest they turn again and rend you and so he's speaking again idiomatically it's a very strange term to use because pearls were non-kosher they're from oysters and they weren't revered by the jews except to sell the gentiles so the pearls are a whole interesting study of their own right but again both the pearls and swine are gentile items but neither castie or pearls before the swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you and so this is uh this is it's not only a question of being inappropriate but it's a question of incurring an inappropriate hazard to yourself then he continues to ask and shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you for every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and him that knocketh it shall be opened you know it's interesting this is an imperative he tells you to ask it's not an option he asks you to it's imperative it's a commandment in the sense that it's not discretionary you are to ask and seek and so forth and god answers and there's a whole bunch of verses that you can jot down if you like or get them out of the notes if you want philippians 4 6 and 7 being an example it goes on and on i won't take them all here to put on the tape but you could take those out or just do a study on your own about god answering prayer it's a very fruitful and very encouraging study to do because he does one of the great phenomenal things about the god we worship is that he delights in making and keeping his promises man he's not capricious he's not arbitrary he's one he has integrity and he has character that's one of the most precious things to all of us he goes on what man is there of you whom if his son asks bread will give him a stone or if he ask a fish we'll give him a serpent if he them being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the law and the prophets the law and the prophets those are the two divisions of the tanakh the old testament but this is interesting we have here the gold what appear people would say gee we got the golden rule here well the golden rule is a term we actually use of confucius and it's a misunderstood this one is positive the if you the golden rule really comes from kung fuji which is sometimes known as confucius out of china fifth century bc roughly what he says don't do that which you don't want people to do to you and what you notice is negative and passive it's negative and passive the talmud also has the same idea in the talmud again it's the negative don't do that to some don't do that to somebody that which you don't want him to do to you it's negative and it's passive the golden rule here the word therefore is in front of the golden rule okay in the scripture here that implies it derives from what happened before the verses before what jesus is expressing is not just an ethical principle he's linking this practice with a supernatural agency of the father neither the confucius nor the talmud really see it that way golden world does not include the gospel it is the fruit of the gospel the concept of the golden rule as described by confucius or the talmud is not a declaration of god's love this one is that's the difference it's assertive it's active and it's uh it's positive and it's an active imperative subtle but very profoundly significant let's move on jesus enter ye in the straight gate for white is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in there at because straight is the gate and there is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it very familiar verse to most of us but what is it it's a rebuttal to universalism if you're going through a gate and it's crowded you've got the wrong gate there lots of people if you're following lots of people through this gate you got the wrong gate if if we understand this right there aren't many paths to god there's only christ that's that's that's just what it is what it is and uh so and who is the gate jesus christ is the gate john 10 and john 14 hammer that home i am the door i am the gate and so forth jesus christ lays claim to that goes on before false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves and wolves and sheep's clothing comes from this verse and they're out to devour you and they're not simply inherently misguided people they're here as ministers of the church of satan come to you and she's going but inwardly they are ravening wolves and ye shall know them by their fruits that's how you tell by their fruits do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit every corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit neither can a crop tree bring forth good fruit every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire wherefore by their fruits he shall know them now we come to the tough pair the next two verses now there's a bunch of scriptures that back up these but those you can get those from the notes jesus says the following listen carefully not everyone that sayeth unto me lord lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven many shall say to me in that day lord lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils and an eye named on many wonderful works sounds good boy they prophesied they cast out devils they have a long list of achievements and then we come to verse 23 and then will i profess unto them i never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity can you imagine the shock that's implied here when people will come up to the lord to thinking they were saved who have a long life of contributions apparently and never had a relationship with him i know george bush the president of the united states but he doesn't know me i mean there's a difference does bush know me he didn't know me from adam you see the difference does the lord jesus christ know you in the sense of a personal relationship is the implication here see there are supernatural spirits that will attempt to seduce you first timothy 4 deals with that that chapter kicks off with that you can be derailed from your pursuit of jesus christ by pseudo-intellectualism by the prattling of science or knowledge falsely so-called does our shepherd lose his sheep no way not this shepherd but you want to make sure you have a relationship with him then he continues therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and do with them i will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock the rain descended the floods came the winds blew and beat up on that house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock and i want you to understand what a rock is there's only one foundation you can lay it on that's jesus christ there's a fancy word for what i'm about to describe they call it the principle of expositional constancy whenever you discover some simple little idea it's very very useful to give it a very fancy name if you're in school and whatever this is the principle of expositional constancy the theory that an idiom is used in a similar way all through the scripture and the word rock in exodus and numbers is used in a way that clearly is prophesied and prophesying the messiah jesus christ and paul in first corinthians 10 verse 4 says that speaking of the rock that they hit for the water in in in the water wilderness wanderings the rock that followed him was christ he's speaking idiomatically of course but the point is it's very consistent we see the word stone it's all through the scripture the stone that the builders rejected has become the headstone of the corner and that's all through the old testament all through the new testament dozens of places that does not mean that every time you see a stone it refers to christ because they stone criminals you know it's used otherwise too but when it's used in that way it's very conspicuous it's interesting how consistently it's used the sure the stone that's the sure foundation it's both in isaiah and romans and so forth anyway let's move on everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand and when the rain descended the floods came the winds blew and beat upon that house it fell and great was the fall of it what are you building your house on what will it stand the storms that are coming it will if you've built on the right foundation what's the what is that foundation jesus christ exactly right right on the rock yes but in the sense of jesus christ he came to ask when jesus had ended these sayings that people were astonished at his doctrine they understood that what he was saying was putting himself above moses he taught them as one having authority not as the scribes i say i interpret he says it's first person singular and it it it it builds on top and goes beyond anything that moses would talk about that's the point the law of christ paul calls it he did not set aside the law of moses he fulfilled it he takes the law of moses interprets it in the extreme and in the absolute sense and then he absolutely fulfills it that's what this is all about remember that your salvation does not accrue because of your ability to fulfill matthew 5 6-7 but because jesus did and you can appropriate his achievement to your benefit by simply receiving it it's available for the asking so in conclusion i thought i'd never get there didn't you be careful of that term when paul writes finally my brethren that means he's got four chapters left to do you know this won't be quite that bad the main thing to understand as you go through your new testament in fact all through the bible is understand who is speaking and mel gibson did a great job in my opinion with the passion it accomplished a lot accomplished many things but it failed in a couple of ways in which it had to because it paints the impression that the past passion of christ was a tragedy it was an achievement and what makes it irrelevant is not that he suffered so much is that who he was that was the creator of the universe who had become flesh and dwelt among us for that very purpose you have to understand who's speaking here in the sermon on the mount the ruler of reality the real reality where are we headed we are in an interval between the miracle of our origin and the mystery of our destiny and in this interval we discover we're just pilgrims in a simulated universe scientists are finally beginning to come to grips with the fact that we live in a digital simulation whether you're looking at the macrocosm which is finite not infinite they now know that was a great discovery of 20th century science or the microcosm of particle physics in which the subatomic particles don't even have locality we're in a d and it's all digital that's why they call it quantum physics we're in a simulated universe and we recognize even from what we can tell that we are a subset of a larger reality that's the bible's been saying all along what's been saying all along and we're headed to leave our dimensionality of time which is a physical property so the question is are you serious about the master are you serious about the coming king the ruler of this reality the real reality and he's given you his manifesto he's giving you the rules you know if you have a professor that gives you the the answers to the final before the final exam what does that tell you about the professor that tells you that he really wants you to pass the final and that's exactly what jesus christ has done he has laid out the rules in advance for the beam of judgment not the great white throne job we're not talking about the bema seat in advance let's buy our hearts

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Length: 55min 30sec (3330 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 17 2020