MATTHEW 15-19 YOU ARE THE CHRIST2014 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Matthew 15-19 You Are The Christ

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2014.

This evening, Matthew chapters 15 through 19, going through the chapters that we read this week as we continue to work our way through the Bible in three years. We're at the beginning of the New Testament in the Gospels, and so we're starting here in the book of Matthew. We'll be here for another couple weeks, and then we'll be working our way through Mark, Luke, and John after that. This particular Gospel is

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And so Matthew is recording these events very early and putting them down in writing. One of the key elements of this is that as he's writing these things, the people who were part of these events are still alive. And so they're able to testify of the truth of Matthew's records or if there was an issue, they would be able to dispute it. And so it's important to understand that these things are written very soon after the events actually transpired.

Matthew, as he's writing this record of the life of Christ, emphasizes that Jesus is the Messiah because he's primarily speaking to the Jewish people. He's writing this account with a Jewish mindset. And one of the ways that you can see that is this.

the great emphasis and referring back to the Old Testament, the scriptures that God had given under Moses and then the prophets, that those things that were declared...

well in advance, thousands of years earlier, are being fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ. And so Matthew makes, you know, takes great care to point those things out. And so we take a moment as we go through each chapter to look at some of those references to the Old Testament and get an understanding of what was going on and why that was being referred to in the text.

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When he was an adult and he began his earthly ministry, he moved to Capernaum, which is at the top of the Sea of Galilee there. And so that was the base of his ministry to the whole region of Galilee and to the nation of Israel. And then, of course, you have Jerusalem, which is the capital, where

you know, Jesus participated in many of the feasts and ultimately he was crucified just outside of Jerusalem, buried just outside of Jerusalem, and then ascended to the Father outside of Jerusalem as well. Well, we're going to start out in chapter 15 of Matthew this evening. Verse 11 is the key verse and here's what it says. Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.

As we jump into chapter 15 here, Jesus is teaching about what defiles a person. And he's explaining the things that come out of

of the mouth is what defiles people, not the things that go into the mouth. Now, this came about because the religious leaders, as they often did, were coming against Jesus and his disciples, and they're accusing the disciples of Jesus and saying, hey, Jesus, your disciples are not washing their hands before they eat.

Now, their objection was not, you know, nothing related to hygiene. It wasn't like, hey, their hands are dirty and, you know, then there's germs on there and then they're eating food. They're talking about a ceremonial washing. So it's not so much an issue of whether their hands were clean or dirty, but they're not going through these procedures. They had specific procedures of how they would pour the water and how they would let it flow and, and, and

It was this ceremony that they would go through to wash their hands in preparation to eat. And the disciples were not practicing this ceremony of washing their hands.

And so Jesus is addressing these religious leaders and addressing their traditions. Because this hand washing ceremony was not required by God in his law. It was a tradition that the Jewish people had developed. And so Jesus is pointing out to them, hey, you guys value your traditions more than what God actually said.

And so he's addressing this issue in their hearts of they're holding fast to what they've developed, their religion, but they're ignoring the things that God has actually and clearly said.

He'll go on in verse 11 to explain, you're not defiled by what goes in. He explains it even more clearly in verse 19. He says, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man. And so Jesus is saying, as he's been saying throughout his ministry, the real issue is the heart.

So the outward things and eating with an unwashed hand, not performing this outward ceremony that's a tradition of man, that doesn't defile you. But all of the issues within, those are the things that defile you. Your heart is the issue. Well then in verses 21 through 28, we see that Jesus heals a Gentile woman's daughter.

It's a woman who has great faith. Now Jesus goes from Capernaum at this point to Tyre and Sidon up to the north. And so he's up there and there's a Gentile woman. So she's not Jewish. And Jesus was primarily sent to the Jewish people. I mean that's where his ministry was. That's where his preaching was. That's where his miracles were. But this Gentile woman has great faith.

And so she comes to Jesus and Jesus says, look, I'm primarily sent to the Jewish people. And she says, yeah, but he is using a metaphor. He's talking about, you know, hey, I'm sent to the Jewish people, not to the dogs. And she says, hey, the little puppies get the crumbs that fall off the table. It's just a little thing, Jesus. You're the Savior. You're the Messiah. You can heal my daughter.

And so Jesus says, you have great faith. He recognizes her faith. She really believes that he is the Savior. And so he heals her daughter and responds to her faith in that way. Well, then going on in verses 29 through 31, we see that Jesus heals many others. The lame, the blind, the mute, the maimed, as well as many others, it says in verses 29 through 31. So

Jesus is doing all kinds of miraculous works. It must have been amazing to be around Jesus at this time. Can you imagine? It says in verse 31 that the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking. Can you imagine seeing the mute begin to speak?

And the maimed made whole. They're crippled. They're unable to walk. And then all of a sudden the strength is restored and they're able to walk. They're made whole. The lame are walking. The blind are seeing. It's these incredible works that Jesus is doing. These miraculous healings. It was something radical that was going on. What I love about verse 31 is it says at the end, "...and they glorified the God of Israel."

You know, Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, to let your light so shine that they may see your good works and glorify your God in heaven. And that's a key. You can see that in the life of Christ. He works these miracles in such a way that people glorified God, the Father. They glorified God as Jesus was working. And that's a great example for us that we do not do things

obviously you're probably not going to be walking around working miracles, but sometimes we do things with the intention that people will notice us and know about what we did and, you know, be paying attention to who we are or what we're doing or how great we are. But Jesus worked these great miracles in such a way that people glorified God. And that is to be our aim. That is to be our goal. That even as God does great things, that he is the one who gets the glory.

Well, then in verses 32 through 39, we see that Jesus feeds 4,000 people. Now, in the previous chapter, chapter 14, we saw Jesus feed 5,000 people. This is another occasion, a slightly different number. There's 4,000 men, it says in verse 38, besides women and children.

So we don't know what the exact total number is, but over 4,000 people. And they had seven loaves of bread and a few little fish.

And just like he did with the 5,000, Jesus had the crowd sit down. He prayed. He gave thanks to the Father. He broke the bread. He gave it to his disciples. And then the disciples took it to the multitude and fed the 4,000 men along with women and children.

Now, this is a really great example as well, especially as you're talking about things of ministry, serving the Lord. I love Warren Wiersbe and his examples from this. He has great illustrations from this. He puts it this way. You and I, as servants of the Lord, are called to be distributors...

not manufacturers. That is, when we serve the Lord or when we're serving people, we don't have to come up with something ourselves. We don't have to make things happen. We don't have to make the resources, you know, available. What we're supposed to do is just what the disciples did here. It's Jesus who broke the bread and then Jesus gave the bread to the disciples. The disciples' only job was to distribute.

It's like, okay, Jesus, give me what it is that you want. Okay, now I've got that. Now I'll distribute that to those that you've called me to serve. And that is what we are called to do. As servants of the Lord, we're not called to manufacture. We don't have to create anything. We just go to the Lord.

And as we go to the Lord, we allow Him to provide for us the resources that we need. And so you can apply this in a multitude of ways. Of course, if you're looking to meet financial needs, you don't have to figure out where the finances are coming from. You go to the Lord and...

Say, God, how do you want to provide? What do you want to do? Let him provide the funds. If you're ministering to someone, say, like in a counseling idea, or you're giving them advice or direction from the word of God, you don't have to come up with, okay, let me think about what's the best thing to do in this situation. I got to figure out what to tell them. No, you go to the Lord, hear from the Lord, and then distribute what the Lord says.

this is how we are to be. We're distributors, not manufacturers. We don't have to come up with the plans or the resources or the funds. We got to go to Jesus and sit with Jesus and spend time with Jesus and hear from Jesus and then pass along and distribute the things that he gives to us.

Well, we have a few references to the Old Testament here in chapter 15. The first one found in verse 4. It says,

Now Jesus quotes from two portions of scripture here. Exodus chapter 20 verse 12 where it says to honor your father and mother. And then also in Exodus chapter 21 verse 17 which says he who curses his father or mother shall surely be put to death. This is in the context of remember the religious leaders challenged the disciples about their washing of hands.

Now again, this was a tradition that had developed, not, you know, something that was explicitly commanded in the Word of God. And so Jesus says, you guys value your traditions like washing hands more than you do the actual commands. Because here's what the commands are. Honor your father and mother. And if you curse your father and mother, then you shall be put to death. That's what God's Word says.

But they held to their traditions over those commands of God. And Jesus is talking about situations where people would, well, their parents would be in need. So just picture yourself. Okay, here you are. Your parents are in need. You have resources, but you don't provide them the resources that they need. Instead, you say, I'm going to dedicate these resources to God.

So that they don't get them. Now, the way that they developed their traditions and their rules was, I can dedicate this to God and that means I can use it all I want. But you can't use it, mom. You can't use it, dad. Because I've dedicated it to the Lord. So here's your mom. Here's your dad. They're in desperate need of a car. And you say, sorry, you can't use my car. I dedicated it to the Lord. Only I can use it because it's dedicated to the Lord.

And so they've just manufactured these systems so that they could withhold and not honor their father and mother because they were holding to their traditions. They valued their traditions more than the word of God. And so Jesus described them. And so the other quotation or the other reference to the Old Testament is in verses 8 and 9. He quotes from Isaiah chapter 29 verse 13 saying,

And he says,

They honored God with their lips. They drew near with their mouth. They said the right things. But God sees through all that and he says, their hearts are far from me. Now, I'm taking the time to point these things out because this is so appropriate for you and I to consider as well. We have to be very careful. We can fall into the trap of these religious leaders and hold to our traditions more than the actual word of God.

And we can hold to, well, presenting, you know, an outward appearance of being really good. We can say the right things. Man, we're so good at saying the right things, you know. So it sounds like everything's great and we're walking with the Lord. People tell us all the time they're living in sin. They're disregarding the Word of God. But they tell us, oh no, I have a relationship with God. Me and God are good. We're fine. But they continue to live in sin. That's

drawing near with the mouth but the hearts are far from we have to be so careful that we're not just putting on a show that we're not just pretending to be walking with god but that our hearts are really walking with god that we're inclined towards him well that brings us now to chapter 16 verse 16 is the key verse simon peter answered and said you are the christ the son of the living god

We start out in verses 1 through 4 where Jesus declares that a wicked generation seeks after a sign. Jesus is rebuking here the religious leaders because they were really good at reading the weather. They could see the clouds. They could see the color of the sky. They could say, okay, tomorrow the weather is going to be like this. They could look and see all those things, but they didn't recognize that the promised Savior was

That was promised all throughout the scriptures was right there in front of them. And so he says, you guys are hypocrites. You're really good at predicting the weather, but you do not understand spiritual things. They're demanding a sign. But remember, we just read about all those miracles that Jesus was doing. He was performing signs right in front of them.

But they were not believing. They were still full of unbelief. And so he says the only sign is going to be given is the sign of Jonah. Just as he was buried three days and then resurrected out of the great fish. The son of man Jesus will be buried for three days and then resurrected. We also saw this in chapter 12. So the same reference there back to Jonah. Well then in verses 5 through 12.

Jesus tells his disciples, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. So Jesus is with his disciples now. They're continuing to go on and he says, watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Now the disciples were confused. They thought that Jesus was correcting them because they forgot to bring bread with them on their trip.

And they're like, oh no, we forgot the bread. Jesus is upset. So he's talking about the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And Jesus is like, no, that's not what's going on. Don't you remember? He's like, come on guys. I fed 5,000 people. You brought basketfuls of leftovers. I fed 4,000 people. You brought basketfuls of leftovers. I'm not concerned about the food. I'm not talking about the food.

Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And so it tells us in verse 12, then they understood to watch out for the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Watch out, Jesus said. Beware of what they're teaching you. Because again, they're teaching the doctrines of men rather than the doctrines of God. Well, then in verse 13 through 20, Peter declares that Jesus is the Christ. The Christ.

Jesus begins to ask his disciples, who do people say that I am? They're in verse 13. And there's different responses that they come back with. Well, some people say you're John the Baptist. Some people think that you're Elijah. Some people say that you're Jeremiah. Others say you're maybe one of the other prophets. I don't know why they were stuck on this idea that he had to be a resurrected prophet. But that's where the people's minds were. He must be one of those old guys raised from the dead.

So then in verse 15, Jesus asks the more important question, who do you say that I am? And Peter responds here with some great insight. He says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Peter says, you are the promised savior. The one who is declared that would come, the one who would save the people from their sins, the one who would be the king of kings and lord of lords, the one who would reign on high, you are the promised savior.

Now this conversation is happening in a place known as Caesarea Philippi. This is located in the far north of the nation of Israel. The Sea of Galilee is there at the bottom, Capernaum. That's where Jesus' home base was. And so they head up north to Caesarea Philippi, which is a beautiful area. There's beautiful springs that come out from there that feed the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee.

And there is a picture on the top right, and this is the background, the backdrop for this conversation that they're having. And so Jesus says, who do people say that I am? They offer the different opinions. Then Jesus says, who do you say that I am? Peter says, you're the Christ. And then Jesus says in verse 18, I say to you that you are Peter,

So here in Caesarea Philippi, the prominent feature is this huge granite mountain. And so he's looking at Peter. He says, okay, little stone, you're Peter. Good statement. And on this rock, I don't know if you can see, there's a person right there. So you can kind of get the

context or the scale of this. It's, you know, several hundred feet. It's huge. And so he's saying, this is the rock and on this I will build my church. Now he's not talking about the geographic location, but the declaration that Jesus is the Savior. He is the promised one. That is what the church is built upon. Believing that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.

Well, going on in verses 21 through 23, we see that Peter rebukes Jesus. How quickly we can go from revelation to rebuke. Peter has this great revelation. Jesus tells him, you didn't get that from yourself. God gave you that insight. You declared that I am the Savior. God gave you that. You didn't come up with that. But then, you know, two verses later, Jesus is talking about his death.

And Peter pulls him aside and says, oh, no, no, you stop talking about that. That's not right. You don't know what you're talking about, Jesus. Now, we don't know Peter's heart, but, you know, we like to puff him up a little bit. You know, he's pulling Jesus aside. I have revelations from God, you know. I'm the one who realized that you're the Savior. So I know you can trust me, Jesus. That's not happening to you. You're not going to suffer and you're not going to die. It reveals an important truth for us to grasp hold of. Okay, you ready? Grasp hold of this.

We can receive from God one moment and then be mindful of the things of man the next moment. This is one of the conditions of you and I as human beings. We can be confused. We can be off base. And like Peter, we can have great revelation from God and two verses later be declaring something that is incorrect.

And this is why we, as those who hear those who are sharing the word of God, need to be diligent to check what we hear against the word of God. Please understand, I do the best that I can to exposit, to study, to get a good grasp of the passages, but

By no means would I say that I always declare the perfect interpretation or the perfect examples or the perfect application of the things that we're studying. There's going to be times I miss the mark. That's part of being human. And you need to check what I teach. You need to check what anybody teaches against the Word of God. If a person has some great insights from the Lord, understand that it doesn't mean everything that they say is from God.

Did you catch that? If a person has great insights from the Lord, it doesn't mean that everything they have to say is from God. Also, you could flip that around. If a person has this off doctrine, that doesn't mean that nothing that they say is from God. We have to learn to discern. We have to learn to kind of pick apart and say, okay, these things match up with the word of God. This is according to the word of God.

And that's why in Acts chapter 17 verse 11, the Bereans are commended. It says that they're more noble than the Thessalonians because they heard what Paul preached and then they searched the scriptures daily to find out if these things were so. And I would encourage you to do that. Find out if these things are so. Check what you hear. Don't just receive because of the way that it's presented or it's powerful or there's great revelation. Don't just receive.

Check it out. Make sure it lines up with the word of God. Make sure it lines up with what God has revealed. And so Jesus rebukes Peter because although he had great revelation a few moments earlier, he's off. And Jesus is going to suffer. That is part of the plan. Well then in verses 24 through 28, Jesus says, look, not only am I going to suffer, but if you're going to follow me, you need to take up your cross and follow me.

If you want to follow me, you're going to follow in my footsteps. And so you're going to have to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Jesus. That is what it takes to be his disciple. You have to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him. Jesus is explaining that many things, spiritual things, are opposite of what we would think.

He says if you want to find your life, you have to lose it. But if you try to save your life, then you'll lose it. He's saying, look, you have to die to yourself. If you want to find fulfillment, you're not going to find it by putting yourself first, by putting your needs first. If you want to experience fulfillment, Jesus says, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. Put me first, Jesus says. Put others first.

Serve. Love. Be obedient to me. And that is the way to be fulfilled. That's why Jesus said in Matthew 6.33. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And then all these other things will be added. Now we think. Okay I got to put food on the table. So first things first. I got to get a job. So first thing I'm up in the morning. I'm looking at the ads. I'm looking on Craigslist. I'm looking on monster.com. Whatever. I'm trying to find a job. I got to find a job. And Jesus says look.

Put me first. Now that doesn't mean you don't look for a job. But put me first. Seek me first. Seek to please me first. And all those other things. What are the other things? It's food and clothing and shelter. All those things that we need. Those necessities. Jesus says I'll provide those. Your job is to put me first. And then as I tell you to look for a job. Then look for a job. As I tell you to go here. Then go there. But put me first. You're not going to fulfill yourself. You're not going to find fulfillment there.

By just living out what you think is best. You've got to put me first. You've got to deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me. And that's the way to experience the life that Jesus desires to provide you. Well we have one reference to the Old Testament here in Matthew chapter 16. Here is in verse 4 where Jesus is dealing with the religious leaders looking for a sign. He says, only the sign of the prophet Jonah will be given. And that's a reference back to Jonah chapter 1 verse 17.

where Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. And so just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, Jesus would be buried for three days and then resurrected. And just as Jonah came out of the great fish, Jesus came out of the grave and came forth proclaiming the truth. And so that's the sign that Jesus was going to give them.

All right, chapter 17 now, verse 2 is the key verse. It says, And he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. In verses 1 through 13, we see that Jesus is transfigured. The transfiguration takes place on top of a mountain. We don't know exactly which mountain it was. Jesus is there with Peter, James, and John.

And then this miracle begins to unfold. His face shines like the sun. He begins to shine. His clothes are transfigured. And they see this great experience of Jesus there in his glory with Moses and Elijah. And they're talking to him. And Peter's like, this is amazing. Let's build some tents. We got to stay here. This is awesome.

Some great application. I'm not going to get into it for lack of time. But great application. Man, we always want to do that at the retreat, right? The retreat's like, awesome, let's build tents, let's just stay here. But there's still work that God has for us down the mountain too. And so the Lord speaks to Peter. He says, look, this is my beloved son. Listen to him. Don't just build tents when you want to build tents. Listen to what he says. Well, the disciples are with Jesus. Peter, James, and John with Jesus heading down the mountain after this.

And it brings up the question of Elijah. Because they're realizing, okay, Jesus, you're the Savior. We saw you in your glory. Your kingdom's about to come. What about Elijah? Because the scribes teach that Elijah is supposed to come. Now, we also talked about this last week. And Jesus explained last week as well as this week, well, Elijah has come, if you're willing to receive it, in the person of John the Baptist. Because he came in the spirit and the power of Elijah.

But Jesus also says Elijah is still to come. He will come in the future. That still future as we are looking at these things today. In Revelation chapter 11 we see the account of the two witnesses that come during the tribulation period. And it's believed that Elijah is one of those two witnesses who will come again before the final day or the final return of Jesus Christ.

Well then in verses 14 through 21 we see that Jesus heals a demon-possessed boy. The nine disciples who were not on the mountain while Jesus was transfigured, they're down in the valley and a man brings his son to them who's demon-possessed and the disciples are trying to cast out this demon but they're unable to. And so as Jesus comes down the guy says to him, hey I brought him to your disciples, they couldn't do anything, can you help him? And Jesus casts the demon out of this boy.

The disciples are perplexed. They're like, hey, how come we couldn't do it? You could do it. We couldn't do it. What's going on? Why couldn't we do it, Jesus? And he explains to them basically two reasons. In verse 20, he says, you lack faith. One of the issues that prevented you from casting out this demon is your lack of faith. You don't really believe. And because of this unbelief,

You are unable to cast out this demon. But then also in verse 21, he goes on to say, hey, this kind does not go out except for by prayer and fasting. What Jesus was saying here is that you're also not, you're lacking faith, but you're also lacking relationship with God. He's not saying you were supposed to pray and fast as soon as, you know, the man brought

This son to you. He's saying. There needs to be an ongoing prayer and fasting. In your life. An ongoing relationship with God. To provide for you the resources. For those ministry opportunities that come up.

And so it's a good example for us as we seek to be witnesses to Jesus. As we seek to invite people to Jesus. We need to be prayed up and we need to be prepared. We don't know what's around the corner. And you might be facing this man who brings a demon-possessed son tomorrow morning. Are you ready for that? Are you prepared for, you know, your co-worker finding out that they have

terminal cancer and they're not going to live for but a few more weeks are you prepared for that have you been prayed up have you been seeking the lord do you have that connection with the lord so that in that moment you're able to minister to them because you've been walking with the lord that's the point they lacked faith but they also lacked that ongoing relationship with the lord

Well then in verses 22 through 23, Jesus declares that the Son of Man will be betrayed. And we see him share this with his disciples a few times. And so much so that later on when Jesus is crucified, the religious leaders recognize, hey, he said that he was going to be put to death and then resurrect the third day. They understood that Jesus had made that prediction.

But we see that the disciples are pretty clueless throughout. They sorrow, they're grieving, but they don't really get what Jesus is saying until later on. Then in verses 24 through 27, we see a situation where Jesus pays the temple tax. They go back to Capernaum and the tax collector comes and talks to Peter and says, hey,

Doesn't Jesus pay the temple tax? It's due. What is he going to do? And so Jesus has Peter go catch a fish and inside the fish is a coin and they're able to pay the tax for both Peter and Jesus with that coin. Well there's a couple of references to the Old Testament here in chapter 17. In verse 10 and 11 it's Peter, James and John asking Jesus about Elijah who is to come and why do the scribes say that?

And the scribes say that because in Micah chapter 4 verse 5, the prophet Micah says, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And so the scriptures had declared, God had already declared that Elijah would come. And that was partially fulfilled by John the Baptist, but will ultimately be fulfilled by the actual prophet Elijah. Again, who is probably one of the two witnesses in Revelation chapter 11.

The other reference we see is in verse 24, which is a reference to the temple tax. Hey, doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax? And that's a callback to Exodus chapter 30, verse 13, where God declares the amount of tax that is to be given along with the census that is to be the provision for the tabernacle. God built provision for us.

The functions of the tabernacle, the functions of the temple. He built those things into his law. And so the people had the tithe of the grain and the produce of the land that they would bring. And that would be provision for the priests and the Levites. It would be their food. There was offerings, you know, the sacrifices that they would offer. Part of it would be burned on the altar. Part of it the people would eat. But also part of it would go to the priests and the Levites.

and that would be provision for them they also had periodically a special tithe that would be brought in for the poor and God had built in you know some provision for the poor into the law and then also there was this tax that also provided and helped maintain the facilities the tabernacle and later on the temple and so that's the what's going on there with this temple tax all right chapter 18 now verse 4 is the key verse

I love the disciples because it tells us in verse 1, they say, That's great boldness, right? Jesus, am I the greatest? Yes.

Am I going to be the greatest when I enter into your kingdom? Who's going to be on top? Who's going to be in charge? And Jesus goes on to explain something that they...

You know, wouldn't quite get until later on. He says, whoever humbles himself as this little child. Now this corresponds with, we just went through a couple weeks ago in Luke, these same teachings. And so there we saw that what Jesus is talking about, is he's talking about becoming like a little child, is he's talking about absolute dependence upon God. That we cannot come to God with what we can offer.

And like, okay God, let me into your kingdom. I'm going to be the greatest in your kingdom. Because I do this and I do that and I do this and I have these things. And I'm like this and I have this character and I'm this loving. And I have that much joy and all those things. We can't bring what we have. Instead, like a little child, we just have to have absolute dependence upon God. That we recognize that our salvation, our forgiveness, and everything that we have and all that we are is God's work. And so we completely depend on Him.

And as we talked about in that message a few Sundays back, you know, we can work real hard, but the most that we can produce is just a dirty diaper. And that's not going to save you. And so we need to just surrender and depend upon God. That is the way to eternal life and the way to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Believe in Jesus Christ. In verses 6 through 14, Jesus continues to talk about

these children and the idea of children, he says, woe to the man by whom offenses come. He's making it very clear here. God cares greatly for children. He has intense concern for children. And Jesus is making sure we understand he will severely judge those who harm children. Now he says offenses will come.

There are going to be tragedies and children are going to suffer. But woe, woe to those who bring those offenses, Jesus says. They will experience severe judgment. And so make sure that you are very careful when it comes to children. To your children, to other people's children. Make sure that you're very careful to take them to the Lord, to point them to the Lord, to represent the Lord to them.

And to not do anything that would be harmful or hurtful or would keep them from the things of God. Otherwise, Jesus says, woe to you. In verses 15 through 20.

He says, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault. Now here in verses 15 through 20 of Matthew 18, we have a passage you're probably familiar with because it's one that has been referred to often. Here Jesus gives us the process. Here's the procedure. How to deal...

With a situation where there is a Christian who has sinned against you. And so Jesus gives the steps here. This is how we are to deal with those situations. Now, these are not, you know, kind of light suggestions. These are not things that, well, maybe if you feel like it. We need to take this seriously and follow Jesus.

or follow the procedure that Jesus gives to us here. But I'd like to take just a moment and clarify some things, okay? So first of all, understand this is not about getting an apology, okay?

This is not you, you know, making sure they apologize for the wrong that they did to you. That's not what Jesus is talking about. So he's not saying, you know, go to them. If they don't apologize, then get two or three people. Come back and make sure they apologize. If they don't apologize, then, you know, then. That's not what he's talking about. He's not talking about getting an apology. He's talking about calling people out.

He's talking about calling people to repentance from sin. So the idea here is there's this ongoing sin. And it has to be a sin issue. So it's not just a difference of personality or a difference of preference. But you need to have scripture to say, look, this is a violation of the word of God. This is sin. And so this is dealing with saving their souls.

Because they're living in sin. They're continuing in sin. It's not a license to be petty and, you know, bring up every issue that's ever come up. We see also in the scriptures that love covers a multitude of sins. But if there's something that's serious and it's ongoing, it's a sinful practice, Jesus says, here's what you need to do.

And so he gives the procedure here. I've kind of laid it out a little bit graphically here to kind of help us walk through it. So if your brother sins against you, so you have a Christian brother, Christian sister, and they're sinning against you, what do you do? Well, the first thing you do is you go talk to your mom about it.

And then after you talk to your mom, then you go to your best friend. And then you call up your neighbor. And then, no, no, no. That's not what Jesus says, right? That's what we do many times. But here's what Jesus says. If your brother sins against you, then you go to them by yourself. Just you two. And address the situation. Say, look, this is what's going on. You are violating the scriptures. You're rebelling against God. I'm concerned for your soul.

Because you're disregarding what the Lord says. Now, you have two options from that conversation. If he hears you...

then now our job is to restore the relationship and treat him or her like a brother, like a sister. That we're to be reconciled. That it is to be forgiven. It's not, you know, to be continued on and to be, you know, brought up over and over again. No, it's to be dealt with, addressed. They heard you. They repented. Now the relationship is restored.

If they don't hear you, then Jesus says you have to take the next step. And so if he refuses to hear, then step two, tell the person with one or two witnesses. So now is the time where you get a couple other people involved and you say, hey guys, I have this situation. You know, Jake's really been doing this thing to me and I tried to talk with him about it, but he said I was crazy and

And so I need some help. Will you guys help me assess the situation? First of all, hey, am I right in this? Is it a sinful thing? And Russell says, yes, it is a sinful thing. We've got to go talk to Jake. And so I take Russell, I take Mike, we talk to Jake, we say, hey Jake, here's the situation. You're violating the word of God. You're in rebellion to God. We care for you. We're concerned for your soul. So this is why we're addressing this.

Now again, this conversation has two possible outcomes. If he hears you, if she hears you, then treat them like a brother. There's repentance. There's a turning away. Doesn't mean they're going to be perfect. They might do it again. But treat them like a brother. Embrace them again. Restore that relationship. Now I should say, okay, just to pause here for a moment. Restored relationship forgiveness is not the same as...

Like nothing ever happened. Trust takes time to develop. It has to be earned. It's not just give him back overnight. You know, so if he stole your car, you don't just leave your keys lying around and give him the other opportunity. You know what I mean? You can have some trust issues. That's allowed. But the relationship has to be restored. The communication has to be restored. Treat him like a brother.

So if he hears you, if she hears you, then restore that relationship. But if they refuse, well then you go to the next step. And here you address the church. And so here you involve the bigger gathering of believers. The church, it means a gathering. It's the called out ones. And so you address the group that you're a part of. You address the church that you're connected to. And you say, look, here's the situation. They're in violation of the word of God.

I took the first step. I talked with them. They refused. I took a couple people that they trusted and bought them and still they refused. And so now we as a church need to address this. And the church collectively testifies to that person in sin and says, yes, this is a violation of the word of God.

And again, there's two possible outcomes here. If he then responds and says, okay, I didn't believe you. You know, I didn't believe you, Jake, Russell, and Mike, or you, Russell, and Mike. But now, now that everybody's saying this, okay, now I'm starting to get it. I see, I must be wrong because everybody agrees this practice that I'm involved in is sinful. And so we're then to treat him like a brother. When there's repentance, there's restoration.

But then, if there's not repentance and they still refuse, then we pull up our rocks, we pull out our staffs, and we beat them. Right? No. What does it say? Treat them like an unbeliever. Here sometimes I think we get a little bit confused. It doesn't mean that we hate them. How do we treat unbelievers? We love them.

We call them to repentance. We reach out to them. It's a difference in our fellowship. We don't have fellowship with unbelievers in the same way that we have fellowship with believers, but we still love them. We still want them to repentance, you know, to come to repentance. We still want that relationship restored. And so it's not that we, you know, then, all right, get out of here. I don't want to ever see you again. I hate you. You're ugly. You know, not like that. It's

you're in continued sin. We're not going to be able to fellowship with you until you repent. We're here for you. We love you. We want you to come back. But you got to repent. And until you repent, we can't have that kind of fellowship. And then if I run into you later on, it's like, hey, have you come to repentance yet? That's the issue.

And that's where we need to be. So this is the procedure that Jesus gives for how to deal with a situation where a brother or sister in the Lord sins against you. Now if someone's sinning against you and they're not a Christian, that's a whole other matter. That's not, you know, these steps aren't going to help you there. You need to love your enemies and do good to those who spitefully use you. That's another passage to look up.

All right, the final part of chapter 18 now, verses 21 through 35. Jesus says we are to forgive your brother up to 70 times, or yeah, 70 times 7 times. 70 times 7. I'm a little redundant there, but you get the point. 70 times 7, because Peter says in verse 21, hey Jesus, how often shall I forgive my brother?

All right, I got it, Jesus. Okay, he sins against me. I go to him. He repents. I forgive him. How many times do we do that? Seven times? Can you picture this? Okay, so just picking on Jake. Jake sins against me. I go to him. He refuses to hear. I take Russell and Mike. We go to him. He refuses to hear. I tell everybody. And Jake goes, okay, okay, you're right, you're right. I repent. Okay, restore that relationship. And then he sins against me again. I go to him. Jake,

You're doing it again, bro. No, I'm not. Yeah, you are. No, I'm not. Hey, Russell, Mike, let's go talk to Jake again. You're doing it again, Jake. No, I'm not. How many times are you going to go through this, Peter says? Seven times? I mean, that's a lot of times to go through this whole thing. Do I have to forgive him seven times? Jesus responds in verse 22, I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven. So, if you're doing the math, that's 490 times. Now,

I love spreadsheets. And so I've been keeping track of when Pastor George has sinned against me. So we started hanging out back in 2003. And in 2003, I remember the first time he sinned against me because we were at Prado Park and we were fishing and we were catching nothing. And we were fishing and we were fishing and we were fishing and we were fishing and we

And he wasn't a believer. And he was really grumpy. I mean, he was so upset because we weren't catching anything and it was hot out there. And I first met him and he was grumpy to me and he was mean and angry. And I was like, I was scared of him.

I knew he was Daniel's dad. That's all I knew. And here's this guy. He's grumpy and angry. Yeah, he sinned against me back there in 2003. Now that wasn't the first time. Almost 70 times he sinned against me that year. And you can see the different records throughout 2014. I mean, you've got to pray for George. I mean, it's really been rough this year. He's been sinning against me a lot.

And he's at 489 times, which is really great news because I only have to forgive him one more time. It's ridiculous, right? That's the point Jesus is making. You're not to keep a chart. This is all made up. Pastor George doesn't sin against me, okay? The point is, you're not to have some, you know, elaborate accounting system of how many times someone has sinned against you. The point is,

As often as they come in repentance, you are to forgive. And it doesn't matter if it's been a couple times or a few times or a couple hundred times. We are to be gracious and loving and merciful and forgiving. And so Jesus tells this parable of this servant who's forgiven a great debt, but then goes out and, well, holds this other guy accountable for a much lesser debt.

Now this servant owes 10,000 talents to his master. Now the talent was a measure of weight. And so it depends on whether he owed 10,000 talents of gold or silver, how much this debt actually was. If it was silver by today's values, it would mean that he owed about $198 million. That's a pretty big debt.

If it was gold, it would mean that he owed about $12 billion according to today's values. So he owed this massive debt, hundreds of millions of dollars, possibly billions of dollars. But he begs and pleads his master and his master says, I forgive you. Go ahead, you're free. You no longer owe me anything. Can you imagine walking away from, I mean, hey, I'd be happy if someone forgave me $10,000 of debt, right? I mean, that'd be like, woo, it's cause for great celebration.

But millions of dollars just forgiven. You don't owe it anymore. But then he goes out from there. He finds this brother he knows. He's like, hey dude, you owe me a hundred denarii. A hundred denarii, that's a hundred days wages. You work that out to the average of $40,000 a year. That means you owe me $15,000. And he's choking him and shaking him and throws him in prison. Pay me that $15,000 you owe me. Meanwhile, he's just been forgiven millions of dollars.

Now, first of all, $15,000, that's not nothing. I mean, that's real money, right? But in comparison, that's the point. Jesus is drawing this contrast. The amount that he was forgiven, he should have forgiven that much lesser amount and not treated that servant so harshly. The point that Jesus is making is this contrast. Other people's sins against us, it's like the $15,000.

It's not nothing. It is hurtful. But in comparison to my sin against God, what you do to me doesn't even come close. And so receiving the forgiveness from God for my sins, it's a much greater debt than I should be willing to forgive those who sin against me, which is a much lesser debt. And so there's a saying that says, forgiven people are forgiving people because we've been forgiven a great debt.

And so we're willing to go through the process. You sin against me, but you repentant. I forgive you. And to do that over and over and over again. Well, there's one reference to the Old Testament here in chapter 18. It's in verse 16. As he's given the procedure, he says, look, if they don't hear you, then take with you one or two more that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. And so this is a call back to Deuteronomy chapter 19, verse 15.

And again, I just point out here, you know, when you bring the two witnesses, the one or two witnesses, the idea is not, hey, let me bring you my friends and tell you that they agree with me. The idea is bring one or two people that the other person respects.

And would listen to. Bring one or two people that would correct you. If you're actually the one that's wrong. And not the person that you're thinking is sinning against you. Involve two mature people. Who would be able to handle the word of God. And address the situation. And would bring correction to whichever side needed it.

All right, chapter 19 now, verse 9 is the key verse. He says, And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery. And whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery. In verses 1 through 9, Jesus declares, What God has joined, let not men separate. This comes about because there's this debate going on. What are the valid reasons for divorce?

And one camp said, hey, any reason is good enough for divorce. The other side said, only sexual immorality. That's the only valid reason for divorce. So they asked Jesus, well, what do you think? And Jesus doesn't answer the question directly. He says instead, hey, let's go back to the beginning. God joined these two. And so therefore, what God has joined, let not man separate. But then they say, well, but Moses allowed divorce.

And so then Jesus gets to the point. He says in verse 9, Except for sexual immorality, divorce and remarriage is adultery. And so he highlights sexual immorality as the valid reason for divorce and then remarriage. Well, the disciples hear this in verses 10 through 12, and they say,

it's better to not marry then. I mean, if that's the case, that you're stuck with that person for the rest of your life, except for unfaithfulness, I mean, that's a serious commitment. So it's better not to marry, the disciples decide. And Jesus says, well, maybe that's true, but not everybody can do that.

And so some have the gift of celibacy. They can live that way, but most don't. And so live according to the way that God has gifted you. Marriage is good, but it's not to be entered into casually because it is permanent. It is binding. It is very serious as far as God is concerned. Well, then in verses 13 through 15, Jesus says, let the little children come to me because they were coming, but the disciples were keeping them away. And Jesus says, no, they're part of the kingdom of heaven. Let them in.

In verses 16 through 22, Jesus counsels the rich young ruler who comes and says, hey, I want to enter into the kingdom of God. He says, obey the commands. I do, the guy says. Jesus says, okay, but you're lacking one thing. Go sell everything you have, give it to the poor, and then come and follow me. But he went away sad because he was not willing to let go of those things that had such a great place in his heart.

Then in verses 23 through 30, Jesus says it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Now we just went through these things in Luke a couple weeks ago and so I'm kind of hitting them a little bit faster.

Well, let's finish up. We have a few references to the Old Testament here in Matthew chapter 19 verse 4 when Jesus is responding to the question about marriage. He goes back to Genesis chapter 1 verse 27. He says, God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him male and female. He created them. What I'd like you to notice as we go through these last few references is look at how Jesus used the word of God

As the basis for his opinions, his decisions, his declarations. This is what we mean when we say that the word of God is to be our foundation. That the word of God is our standard. That we are to look to the Bible to tell us what to think about issues, about situations. That we're to allow God's word to override what society says, what we think, what our parents told us. That the word of God is...

To be the final word on whatever situation we face. And so here we see God created man in his own image. We did not evolve. It wasn't a process of, you know, elimination. It was the creation of God. He created us male and female. Well then in verse 5, he quotes Genesis 2.24.

A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And so here Jesus is saying God created marriage. It was his idea, his invention. And when a couple gets married, they are joined together. They become one flesh. So what God has joined together, let not man try to tear them apart. God has joined them together. Jesus is saying, look, God created marriage.

he's the only one who gets to modify it he's the only one who gets to redefine it if he wants to he's the only one who gets to change the terms it's his invention it's his creation and so he goes back to the authority in genesis chapter 2 well then in verse 7 they talk about why then did moses you know talk about divorce it's a quotation from genesis or deuteronomy chapter 24 verse 1

And so this is the passage that the rabbis would debate because it says, it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her. And so what is that uncleanness? And so some said, well, if she burns your food, that's uncleanness and you can divorce her. Others said, no, uncleanness is sexual immorality. And so Jesus defined this uncleanness as sexual immorality. And that is the valid reason for divorce that he declares.

Well, then the final quotation is from in Matthew chapter 19, verse 18 and 19, where he quotes two different passages to the rich young ruler. Exodus chapter 20 and Leviticus chapter 19, as he says, these are the commandments that you're to keep and you're to love your neighbor as yourself.

But again, look at how Jesus uses the scripture to shape his opinions. And that is what we are to do. We are to look to the word of God. It overrides whatever society says, whatever we think, whatever we prefer. What God says is what goes. And so this is what we mean when we talk about the Bible as our foundation. God gives us his word.

So that we can be steadfast. So that we can be founded upon it. So that we can have an accurate understanding of what is really going on. And so we have to let the Bible override our own thoughts and feelings and be obedient to it. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for giving us such a foundation that we could dig deep and build our house upon the rock.

Lord, that we could be steadfast in our relationship with you. Lord, because there are storms. There are great storms and winds and waves that try to push us away from you, to try to distort our thinking, to confuse us, to distract us. But Lord, I pray that you would help us to hold fast to you.

Lord, that we would take your word seriously, that we would obey it and walk according to what you've declared. And so, Lord, help us to believe in you, to be steadfast in our faith, that we would not be shaken or shifted, but Lord, that we would stay true in that narrow road, walking in right relationship with you. Help us to pursue you, to love you with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.