Matthew (Session 7) Chapters 10-11

well we're beginning session seven of the gospel of matthew in which we're going to explore chapters 10 and 11. now remember the design of the gospels we have four different gospels with different perspectives matthew focuses on jesus the messiah and his thus his genealogy started with abraham all the way through david to solomon to the to the legal father of jesus christ and he focuses on what jesus said typically quotes from the old testament he spoke to the jew where mark and luke spoke to the gentiles romans and greeks and john of the church the first miracle was a leopard cleanse which is a very jewish kind of thing in contrast to mark and luke which had the demons expelled and john has in his mystical way had the water turned to wine and they each end consistent with their theme matthew ends with a very jewish thing the resurrection mark ends with the ascension luke the promise of the spirit and john the promise of his second coming each of them setting up their sequels luke's book of acts the promise of the spirit the acts of the spirit really and john the promise of return in terms of the book of revelation and and the various symbol symbols that surround the tabernacle the lion the ox the man and the eagle reflect these same four points of view but we're in gospel of matthew and we went through section one which presented jesus christ his genealogy his birth his baptism is temptation and then his manifesto the sermon on the mount and uh verse 16 verses describe the true christian and deal with character the rest of the sermon amount deals with a conduct that grows out of character character always comes before conduct because what we are determines what we do character versus integrity we throw those words around a lot what's the difference i'm going to suggest you integrity is belief plus discipline not just believing but a discipline having that committed to a discipline it really is the vertebrae of the soul in a sense and you can have integrity without being good necessarily just be consistent in effect but when you take integrity and tie it to wisdom you have character and the wisdom comes from the fear of the lord the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom the knowledge of the holy is understanding i hope that helps matthew 5 first 16 verses jesus shows that true righteousness is inward and the next uh the rest of the chapter he points out that sin is also inward not just acts you'd read the ten commandments all but one are really overt acts you can see sin is in the heart far be sooner and jesus exposes the false righteousness the pharisees which taught that holiness consisted of religious actions and that sin was with what you did outwardly sure i'm a christian i attended sunday school steadily for 20 years i give a tithe and you fill do whatever list you want those are actions externals and they can be misleading they can be in lieu thereof always like like a progress report that's a progress that's a report in lieu thereof right so uh same kind of thing well beatitudes they recognize the citizens in heaven they are be attitudes not due attitudes not something you do it's something you need to be each one goes deeper than just the doing and they will manifest themselves in doing but that's they can't you can't synthesize them and lord did not give the sermon on the mount to the multitudes he gave them to those that were his you need to understand that many people misunderstand well i live my life by the same amount oh really i feel sorry for you because there's no way you'll qualify there's no way you can keep it because he gives you the manifesto he doesn't give you the dynamic that comes later he's the dynamic the beatitude is poor in spirit what does that really mean our attitude towards ourselves the way we feel uh our our need and admit it blessed are those that mourn that's our attitude towards sin a true sorrow for sin is what's in view there blessed are the me our attitude towards others see attitudes ourselves attitude towards sin attitude towards others we need to be teachable we don't defend ourselves when we are wrong hunger and thirst after righteousness our character is manifested by our appetites and what do you turn to on sunday your bible or the sports page i won't go there i'll just leave you think about that blessed are the merciful we have a forgiving spirit and love others why because he loved us first the pure heart we live our lives with clean motives and accept no substitutes blessed are the peacemakers we should seek peace between people and god first and also between people who are at odds one another blessed are persecuted because we will be persecuted we're talking about persecution for him not because we're obnoxious but because we're standing for him and we talk all through here commandments widely misunderstood what commandments are being referred to not moses's all the way through he's setting himself up as the lawgiver and the law interpreter in spite of moses far beyond moses the ones we find are in the remainder of matthew 5 and chapter 6 and 7 jesus will always emphasize my words not moses words my words and it says call is for obedience that's the that's important for us as new testament christians to understand that his call is to obedience but jesus did fulfill the law in two ways he became our sacrifice and shed his own blood on our behalf once and for all for all mankind everything was fulfilled just before jesus death on the cross when he uttered his last words it is finished to telesty paid in full his last words he also fulfilled the law in another way in that he taught and commanded what god's will is under the new covenant for those who would enter the kingdom of god he gave a new set of rules paul calls these rules christ's law in contrast to moses law some of them are the same as god gave in the old testament some were changed but most of the old testament law was not included in christ's law and we're going to see that dramatized as we go forward in matthew's gospel the law of christ he didn't set aside the law of moses he fulfilled it for us he takes the law of moses interprets it to the extreme and in an absolute sense and then he absolutely fulfills it remember that your salvation does not accrue because of your ability fulfill matthew 5 6-7 but because jesus did and you can appropriate his achievement to your benefit well that was all in section 1. we're now in section 2 8-12 we saw calming the storm the demoniac at guevara the call of matthew jairus daughter the woman of the issue of blood last time and we also saw a lot of healings leprous centurion servant peter's mother-in-law the demonics the palsy the jericho's daughter the woman of the blood two blind men we're going to see the withered hand and the blind and the dumb forthcoming and we should be sensitive so you won't get stumbled when you see some of these matthew mark and luke cover much of the same ground but with subtle differences in some of the narratives don't let that throw you some scholars believe those differences imply there were two occasions that were very similar others believe they are just slightly different details of the same account i lean that way but in either case it's not a it's not a real problem but we incurred right away a type of sin leprosy is a disease an inner corruption that manifests itself outwardly especially in later stages that's exactly what sin is a form of corruption in this case it's also a genetic disease in the mind of the leper there is no basis for healing outside of god and yet by calling him lord he showed his understanding he understood who jesus all the way through here we're going to see not only healings but we're going to see them all accrue to a widespread recognition that jesus was god not just some great teacher with great ideas and we noticed the declaration of the demons they announced what was not known at that time they recognized that there is a time coming that they would rather avoid they know that he is in control of it they acknowledge his deity their destiny and his control of their destiny so in demonology i think they're different than fallen angels you'll find many uh books written on demonology it fails to make that distinction but i think their fallen angels and demons are quite distinctive it's very possible not for certain of course but it's very possible the demons are disembodied spirits of the nephilim that drown in the flood and the rephaim and so forth daniel 10 is another glimpse into this dark side of of the powerful angels but demons we know that demons are in satan's control there are some of his resources they are malevolent they're not out for your best uh outcome they're dangerous they're around and if you're not a christian you're vulnerable to them if you're a christian you have christ it's greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world and these are not euphemisms so to speak for psychiatric disorders something very distinctive it's interesting to notice too they could not indwell animals without his permission so that's a that should also give us a comfort we last time we went through the call of matthew found out that he uh that you know that he was brought as a result of several miracles jesus demonstrated authority to make a person clean ceremonially and to forgive sins and now those two authorities are brought to bear on one who's to become his disciple he's a tax collector and as you understand the way they franchised that it was a it was a invitation to extortion much hated collaborators with the enemy so to speak his name was really levi and jesus calls him matthew and he left all made a decisive break from his old life and uh there's a the error is participle imperfect indicative means literally he was continuously following him he left all but he he uh uh continued to follow him and it's really we need to understand what he gave up uh this franchise was a big deal he broke with herod and he would never again have any future in the roman empire he made his choice it was a concept of leaving as well as cleaving in other words and uh he was probably collecting tolls from boats on the seashore an employee of herod and vessel rome they collected um taxes for docking in the harbor uh they had even a cart tax by the wheel anything they could find they taxed and abusively and so but being a lackey of the romans it would have alienated him from society so he could not he would be excluded from the synagogue he could not serve as a witness in court etc but he throws this big party so it must that big thing that i think most people don't realize is that he had shorthand skills and most the professionals in the greco-roman world would be able to had to write shorthand and he was a customs official that would be taken for granted and so that means he took down probably most of these sermons there are uh four major uh uh discourses in the scriptures three of those four are in the in matthew that's why matthew's gospel is longer if you take the discourses out it's even shorter than marx and uh there's a term called a ready writer in the greek translation of the psalms in psalm 45. there's a term there and when it's translated into greek three centuries for christ before his ministry the technical term for stenographer was used so that was a common term in the greek language three centuries before so you have to understand the culture no no carbon paper no printers no way to to reproduce stuff so they had to be copied by hand and so that led to of course shorthand skills we talked about hymns very important understand the woman with an issue of blood that the hymns are was to represent one's personality authority and so with husband could divorce his wife by cutting off the hammer of a robe a nobleman could authenticate his name on clay table by pressing his hem on the soft clay that was like a a seal of signature and uh david cut off the skirt of saul's robe in the wilderness of engetti and he because his genealogies were over into that and dave's conscience was stricken because he realized that was uh an appropriate thing to do it served a purpose at the time but he grieved it later and saul understood anyway fringes and levitical garments god's covenant with israel i'll spread my skirt over you joseph's coat's another example lord's ham was sought for healing several times but it certainly becomes a subject in mark in matthew 9. and ruth and boaz ruth goes to boaz to open the door to being his wife by saying spread your skirt over your handmaid and a widely misunderstood verse in ninth verse of chapter three but key to the whole thing the issue of blood of course makes one ceremony in clean anyone touch touching a person with a issue of blood would be ceremonially unclean unable to to participate in any of the procedures so this implies that she's a gentile otherwise she would have been allowed in the crowd and pattern is prophecy the woman has an issue of blood for 12 years the daughter raised from the dead was 12 years old that links them to at least conceptually jesus called on he's on his way to raise the daughter of zion and which is a title of of of israel 18 times in lamentations alone and he's on the way there he raises a gentile woman uh being healed so there's an eschatological modeling going on here i think and leave it up to you to think about it ten miracles to establish his credentials the first sermon he announced he would prove that the spirit was armed by healing and helping multitudes and isaiah had predicted the same thing in isaiah 35 and all these chapters link back to matthew 4. so his credentials he had power over disease leprosy palsy fever and others power over nature power over satan power over sin power over death power over darkness power over the demons themselves each one of these things selected from all his different acts by matthew are highlighting his credentials that he was none other than um deity well okay so now we're going to go in chapters 10 and 11. the 12 will be sent out and in chapter 10 and in chapter 11 we have some interesting responses to john the baptist that we want to take a look at chapter 10 verse 1 and when he had called unto him his twelve disciples he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease is that something we have not predictably the holy spirit can operate through us and do some things but it it's clear that we can't just run around and raise people from the dead i haven't met anyone i've met some people raised from the dead but not so that not as a gift that we would necessarily be able to exercise unless the lord leads you to now the names of the twelve apostles are these the first simon is called peter and andrew's brother james the son of zebedee and john his brother notice there's disciples in verse 1 and they're called apostles in verse 2. so a disciple is is someone that's a follower and given certain tasks an apostle is one that is now qualified to be sent out you see now the name twelve apostles are these first simon is called peter he's number one andrew his brother james son of zebedee and john his brother so you've got four brothers right up front philip and bartholomew thomas matthew the publican matthew's the only one that appends his profession because it's an indictment it's almost like saying in matthew he had leprosy socially i mean that's sort of what's going on here none of the others do you bother commenting on the profession it doesn't mention that the first four were fishermen they were but okay it's not not that's relevant matthew putting his own name in there fellaini it's a form of meekness i guess james the son of alphys different james and labias and whose name was his surname was thaddeus simon the canaanite and judas iscariot who also betrayed him that's a that's a look ahead of course and uh there's another issue comes up here because when judas betrays they have 11 in the book of acts they pick another disciple so whenever you start talking about the 12 then well what about matthias and you know they take lots and mathias is chosen by lot to replace judas so there's still 12 in the book of acts chapter 1 right there are a lot of scholars that view paul as really the 12th as the replacement for judas rather than matthias and i ran into that but i have to tell you candidly i don't buy that i'll tell you why see the apostles mission was very jewish matthias was joined to be the 12th apostle after jews betrayed jesus okay paul was an apostle to the gentiles paul mentions the twelve and matthias at that point was one of the twelve in first corinthians 15. so at first idea is colorful and interesting but i have to tell you candidly i don't think it's consistent with the rest of the the pattern paul is certainly an apostle and top guy but his ministry much to his grief was the gent he wanted to be to israel but no it's to to the gentiles peter was the one to whom the door was opened in acts 10 but he is clearly called to the unto israel and paul and paul and peter both make understood that he took israel paul to the gentiles and very effectively he had a gentile education as well as jewish one now this chapter gives instructions to the apostles that chapter 10 is full of advice counsel and if you try to go through it and apply it to yourself you'll stumble a little bit because there's three different kinds of instructions there's instructions to the apostles of the past there seems to be some passages they changed about verse 15 that sounds more like it's aimed at those in the tribulation and there's some of it that does apply to the servants today so just recognize that up front as jesus gives this instruction he it seems as if he has far more in view than their immediate sending out you follow me and i just uh suggest that as a possibility to avoid confusion bring it up in verse 5 then the 12 jesus sent forth and commanded them saying go not into the way of the gentiles go into any city the samaritans enter ye not that's very different than acts chapter one judea samaria and then the uttermost parts of the earth different different commission this is a different commission here very jewish very focused need to understand that because it's going to change but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of israel that's the emphasis all through the first 12 chapters of matthew it's going to change in chapter 12. you'll see why when we get there as ye go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand it's an offer of the kingdom to israel in fulfillment prophecy heal the sick cleanse the lepers raise the dead cast out demons freely every seat freely give provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses nor script for your journey neither two coats neither shoes nor yet stays for the workman is worthy of his meat in other words you should be supported on the land not you know you're not funded and into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter inquire who in it is worthy and thereby until you go this in another rendering do not go not do not go house to house you find out which is worthy and that works great if not you move on when you come into a house salute it and if the house be worthy let your peace come upon it if it not be worthy let your peace return to you and whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words when you depart out of that house or city shake off the dust of your feet boy there are ministries that i have left feeling i should dust my shoes off verily i say unto you it shall be more tolerable for the land of sodom and gomorrah in the day of judgment from then for that city behold i send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves be therefore wise as serpents but harmless as doves but beware of men for they will deliver you up to the councils and they will scourge you in their synagogues and you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake for testimony against them and the gentiles and when they deliver you up take no thought however what you shall speak for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak for not ye to speak but the spirit of your father would speak within you boy it's tragic how that couple of verses 10 20 and 21 chapter 10 verse 21 is used by more people it's an excuse not to prepare sermons well i'm just going to speak what the spirit leads don't misunderstand i i think there's a place for that too but that's not a license this was given to them under those conditions that's not a license to fail to prepare and the brother shall deliver up the brother to death the father the child the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death wow and you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake but ye that endureth to the end shall be saved and when they persecute you and this city flee into another for verily i said to you he shall not have gone over the cities of israel till the son of man become wow the disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his lord it is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his lord if they have called the master of the house baal zabob how much more shall they call them of his household who is the master of the house in this in this context jesus if they're calling him belzab you know how much more will they call his his servants in other words fear them not therefore for there's nothing covered that shall not be revealed and head that shall not be known what i tell you in darkness that's speaky and light and what you hear in the ear that preach ye upon the housetops and fear not them which kill the body but are able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both the soul and the body in hell and the word hell there is gehenna not hades big difference hades is just the boat of the dead good and bad but after the cross you're with christ when you die but gehenna is where hades ultimately ends up later are not two sparrows sold for afar thing and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your father knowing but the very hairs of your head are all numbered god knows more about you than you do you know how many hairs on your head i have no idea every time i take a shower the inventory goes down a little bit but god knows fear he therefore ye are you are of more value than many sparrows you ever see a flock of birds for pharaohs or whatever whatever you do think about it god knows them individually that one of them can fall to the ground without your father knowing whosoever therefore shall confess me before men him will i confess also before my father which is in heaven but whosoever shall deny me before man him will i also deny before my father which is neven fabulous couple of verses and then the surprise boy i have used this an awful lot this throws a lot of people they didn't know this was in the bible jesus said think not that i come to send peace on earth i come not to send peace but a sword interesting con uh conflict here he tells them not to take anything extra extra shoes extra coat just go bare minimum in luke chapter 22 near the end he says he that hath no sword let him sell his garment and buy one and he's talking about a sword sword different deal once you understand what he's saying here and what he instructs later are very different very different where i am come set to a i have come to set a man at variance against his father and daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a man's foes shall be they of his own household he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me and he that taketh not his cross and followed after me is not worthy of me heavy stuff christ is saying you better be serious if you're with me it's time to take crisis seriously that was given to them but i think that also there's not all but some of this that applies to us we've got to pray that through he that findeth his life shall lose it and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it he that receiveth you receiveth me and he that receiveth me received him that sent me he that receiveth the prophet in the name of prophet shall receive a prophet's reward and he that received the righteous man and then right in the name of a righteous man shall read receive a righteous man's reward and whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple verily i say to you he shall in no wise lose his reward i love that every time i run out of water i'm reminded of that i'm almost out gang okay i'm just kidding i'm just kidding there are two commissions and you need to understand their differences the kingdom presentation will be withdrawn when israel rejects it that will occur in chapter 12. we already see it starting then the focus will shift to the gentiles in chapter 13 and following the crucifixion the resurrection and a new commission will be given the ecclesia that is the church be very different you'll notice differences when this one is completed the second one is completed the church will be taken out and then the first commission resumed by the 144 thousand israel rejected the offer of the kingdom we need to understand that rejection we'll see it in 12 and especially at the triumphal entry when he rides the donkey in it's over not over permanently but god will then focus on the gentiles there's a whole era that we call the church not churches we think of the mystical church but when that church is completed it's taken out and god renews his offer of the kingdom and it then will be rejected but it'll take 144 000 to as as israel gets driven to the wall that's all described in hosea and elsewhere in the old testament strange enough the new commission is all through the new testament that's why it's called the new testament and we'll be talking more about that as we go you can jot it down from the notes if you want but we'll go on chapter 11 and it came to pass when jesus made an end of commanding his twelve disciples he departed events to teach and to preach in their cities now when john had heard in the prison the works of christ he sent two of his john the baptist was in prison at the fortress of machaerus because he had courageously denounced an adulterous marriage between herod antipas and herodias that's all that's recorded for you in luke 3 goes into that and you would think that the jewish leaders would have opposed herod and sought to free john but they didn't they didn't like herod obviously but they didn't care enough they didn't mind john being in prison anyway johnson when when he heard in prison the works of christ he sent two of his disciples and said and and they came and they said unto him art thou he that should come or do we look for another now there's two views here you can you can assume that gee maybe john is in prison and kind of down and looking for some encouragement that's fair maybe that's it another possibility is he sent those disciples as a training mission to let them get first-hand confirmation you follow me so you can look at it several ways either way what might might be real and jesus answered and said to them go and show john again those things which he do and hear and see the blind receive their sight the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the deaf hear the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me he's actually these words are taken from isaiah 35 verses 4 through 6. isaiah 35 reads roughly as follows it's almost the same thing here say to them that are of a fearful heart be strong fear not behold your god will come with vengeance even god with a recompense he will come and save you then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the years of the death shall be unstopped then shall the lame man leap as a heart and the tongue of the dumb sing and in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert so that's the illusion jesus is making to now some of the doubt that may be lurking here either in john or his disciples is they they know something's up because what they hear about christ but there's some things that don't compute let me already be recognized that he's not being accepted and he's point this is all one can argue that this is also pointing to a second coming where he comes in in in power anyway as they departed jesus began to say under the multitudes concerning john so they came he gave them their answer they're on their way now he's turning the crowd around him and he says what went he into the wilderness to see a reed shaken in the wind what went she out for to see a man clothed in soft rainman behold they that wear soft clothing on the king's houses but what went ye out for to see a prophet yay i say unto you and more than a prophet for this is he of whom it is written behold i send my messenger before thy face which shall prepare thy way before thee verily i say unto you among them that are born of women there have not risen a greater than john the baptist let's stop for a minute and realize what he's saying that's quite a pat on the back that's quite an appellation among them that are born of women which is a way of saying everybody every man there hath not risen a greater than john the baptist boy that cuts that cuts through a lot of people abraham moses you may you can make a list of pretty impressive people and yet jesus said john the baptist is there's no one greater than he is he doesn't say he's greater than them but he says there's no one greater than him okay good that's all fine until you get to the next the rest of the sentence notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he wait a minute he that's least in the kingdom of heaven that's pretty low i imagine in the list right at least is greater than john the baptist what does that mean does that mean john the baptist isn't saved i don't think so but what does it mean he's going to explain i think in the next verse from the days of john the baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffered violence and the violent take it by force for all the prophets in the law prophesied until john see john is the close of the old testament he's the last of the old testament prophets so he's saved in the same sense that jeremiah and isaiah and whatever you follow me the old testament doesn't end with the italian book malachi commonly called malachi i'm being facetious malachi does not close the old testament it may be the last book in the old testament as you have in your laps but the old testament is until matthew 11 11 or luke 16 16. they both say the same thing the law and the prophets were until john he's part of the old testament dispensation if i can use that term and if he will receive it this is elias which was for to come malachi chapter 4 prophesied that elijah would come and if you will receive it this is elias he could he that could have been a fulfillment of that prophecy if they'd received him john the baptist denies that but that's easy because they didn't receive him follow me it's very difficult to reason from a contrary to fact premise if he will receive it this elias which was to come for he that half ears to hear let him hear see elijah was promised he was the last the old testament uh john was the last old testament prophet christ states that john's ministry was the fulfillment of malachi 3 1. had the nation received jesus john would have been the elijah promised by god it would have fit it would have qualified it would have been considered it would have qualified to be that fulfillment because they rejected both john and jesus the literal and final fulfillment will not come until the end times that's what also is in in malachi three first three verses let's move on and let's look ahead actually in matthew 17 we're going to encounter this but i thought we take a glimpse of it now his disciples ask him saying why then say the scribes that elias must first come jesus answered and said to them elias truly shall first come and restore all things but i say unto you that elias has come already and they knew him not but have done unto him whatsoever they listed likewise shall also the son of man suffer of them and then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of john the baptist so elijah will come again he shows up in matthew 17 as at the moment of transfiguration and i'm among those that believe that he's one of the two witnesses in in revelation chapter 11. that might be something else but that's our view getting back to matthew 11 again where unto shall i liken this generation jesus talking in uh resignedly of the current generation there where to shall i like in this generation it is like the children sitting in the markets and calling unto their fellows and saying we have piped unto you and you have not danced we have mourned unto you and ye have not lamented our way we put it in our language you haven't danced to our tune he wasn't fitting what their expectation was rather than trying to learn and understand who he was he didn't fit the model they were expecting so they just rejected him we all do that that's dangerous the only certain barrier to truth is the presumption you already have it very dangerous uh form of myopia moving on jesus said for john came neither eating nor drinking and they said he hath the devil poor demon the son of man came eating and drinking and they say behold a man gluttonous and a wine pepper a friend of publicans and sinners but wisdom is justified over children i like that and worldly wisdom is justified of its children follow me but you know here here's john who's neither eating or drinking and he's disparaged said a man was a a party guy apparently he was eating and drinking and they said behold a man gluttonous and a wine bibber and a friend republicans are sinners that tells you a lot about christ he wasn't monastic he was mixing he was with people wisdom is justified over children that's that's his back hand to those people then began he to upgrade the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done because they repented not voluntary corazon woe into the bethsaida where if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in tyre and sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes but i say unto you it shall be more tolerable for tyre and sidon at the day of judgment than for you heavy stuff these are the northern cities along the northern coast of the sea of galilee pretty much and uh karzai and bethsaid are are simply nothing but ruins today tyre and sidon are all through the old testament and so see if the works had been done uh uh that uh done in those cities uh it would have they would have repented so it's a whole different thing and thou capernaum which already exalted unto heaven shall be brought down to hell for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in sodom it would have remained until this day that's heavy stuff let's heavy stuff but i say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of sodom in the day of judgment then for thee where does that put us in the united states we have a heritage that's unlike any other in human history several centuries committed to a constitution that uh extolled our creator the declaration of uh independence that extolled our creator um formulated by geniuses the early uh examination of the early history of this country uh underscores its commitment to god in various forms yes but still commitment to god how unique in contrast to most empires of the past but to whom much is given much we and we and the result of all of this is an abundance that is an envy of the world that's the problem what have we done with it squandered it lived beyond our means support everything we do by debt totally ignoring any stewardship any sound stewardship it's all going to come home to roost of course too much is given much will be required all through the scripture here's a give you a rough feeling of the geography here the sea of galilee or kanezaret or kynaret however you want to say it and uh we have capernaum there on the north i didn't put tiberia i put the dot didn't put tiberius in i probably should have but it wasn't there till later um corazine is just north of capernaum let's say it is on the north side but on the other side of the jordan entry up north is dan and banyas that's caesar of philippi it'll show up later gadara is on there's some debate whether it's actually on the sea of galilee a little further south there's a whole region called gudera but it's generally viewed as being on the cliffs where they went over the side nazareth's halfway between there and megiddo which is at the southern end of the carmel range jezreel valley lies between megiddo and nazareth when jesus was growing up in nazareth he could look across this valley and see megiddo you wonder how much insight he had that early and of course caesarea is on the coast actually a little south from where i'm showing it on the map because of the i just i suck it in there to give you a frame of reference let's just give you a rough feeling of the geography matthew 1 verse 25 at that time jesus answered and said i thank you now he's going to pray the father i thank thee oh father lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes the wise and prudent is using here of course using the terms as the world might see them obviously even though father for so it seemed good in thy sight all things are delivered unto me of my father no man knoweth the son but the father neither knoweth any man the father save the son and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him very key emphasis is going to be underscored all through right up to the end there's only way to the father is through the son that's the way he's set it up come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me for i am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light closing verses of chapter 11. now in the next session chapter 12 which is really part of this unit in a sense but i left it separate because there's a couple of deep issues there we're going to hit head on into the sabbath issue and there's anybody that thinks that that's a simple issue for the christian hasn't done their homework you can make you can make a lot of ways to deal with shabbat the sabbath is the seventh day not the first day and yet as christians we have a tradition of worshiping on sunday it's not to be a divisive thing paul tells us that no man judge you in keeping of a sabbath or any holy day so that's fine this is we're not seventh-day adventists here we're not getting into the law on the one hand but there is so there are some discoveries that i think we need to make about shabbat that may interest you so there seems to be in my view two errors you can make one is to totally ignore shabbat most christians do sunday worship is not shabbat the other extreme you can go to is to get into the shabbat thing and get back under the law there's a balance between those two we'll talk about and let you make your own conclusions but do it from a point of view of having given serious prayerful consideration and then we'll deal with this strange issue of the so-called and pardonable sin what on earth is it and that's a little scary but more to the point chapter 12 ends a major major issue in the gospel of matthew having to do with the offer of the kingdom to israel what on earth does that really mean and what is chapter 13 all about and it will surprise you most sermons i've heard drawn on chapter 13 in my opinion missed the point they're really wrong i'll show you why when we get there but you won't really appreciate chapter 13 until we've really set the stage with chapter 12. we've had the revelation of the king it's now complete first 10 chapters we're beginning to see the rebellion against the king in chapter 11 all the way through 13. in this section the jews rebelled against every revelation christ gave of himself he was announced by john and they allowed john to be arrested and put in prison he performed many miracles and the cities refused to repent he announced his principles and they argued with him about it you're going to argue with god he revealed his person and they said he worked with satan so they they they they rebelled against every dimension of his ministry so we're going to take these last two these argue about these principles and how and they're ascribing his work to satan himself that's the subject of chapter 12 that's why we're going to focus on it next time so i'd like you to read matthew 12. i'd like you to think about some things does a christian need to observe the sabbath the sabbath was established in genesis not in the law the ten commandments say remember the sabbath they had already been observed the law was given in exodus 20. in exodus 16 when the manna came they didn't collect it on shabbat that means they were observing it before the law was given oh that's interesting give you another little tidbit that's interesting about in the millennium they're gonna have a temple temple's only gonna be open on shabbat not on sunday only on shabbat and the new moons in certain holy days does a christian need to observe the sabbath we'll talk about that any quick answer i can tell you right up front it's probably wrong we want to get into that and what on earth is the unpardonable sin read that and come to your conclusions and be ready for next time and so with that let's stand for a closing word of prayer

Channel: Bible Study

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Length: 45min 47sec (2747 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 18 2020