So, welcome back to The Seminarian and the series
on the gospel according to Matthew. In this episode,
we take a look at the first five books of the
gospel according to Matthew and discover the
claims that Matthew has to make about who Jesus
is. I hope you enjoy this episode and we'll keep
coming back. So, let's get started. This week
we are actually jumping into the gospel according
to Matthew. And last week we discussed the story
of the Bible. We had understood that one of the
big problems a lot of people have when it comes
to their biblical literacy or their biblical
knowledge is the fact that many of us were taught
the Bible as children or we were introduced to
the Bible as adults who were taught the bible
as children and often our level of biblical knowledge
doesn't really get beyond that level and as we
get older and life happens we often our faith
often gets tested and we should be able to rely
on scripture to help us during those tough times
But due to a lot of Christians' lack of understanding
of what the Bible is and how that plays into
the stories in the Bible, sometimes we can be
left wanting, and that can cause people to walk
away from their faith because of just a simple
lack of understanding. I've really been debating
today about how I wanted to open tonight's teaching.
You know those puzzles where you have several
ways to start, and then you've got to get to
the end, and there might be four or five ways
to start the puzzle, but only one of them actually
gets you all the way to the center? That's what
I've been dealing with today, and I've been trying
to decide which starting point will get me all
the way through to the end of where I want to
go. I'm not sure if I've picked the wrong rabbit
hole or not. We're just going to have to play
this thing out and see how it works out. tonight
just by asking, what's the story? What is the
story of the Bible? In other words, what is the
argument that the Bible makes? Now, before I
ask you to answer, if you have an answer, if
I talk too quickly or if I rattle things off,
if I go across something that you might not understand,
please just raise your hand and slow me down.
And I'll go back over it. That was one of the
things I have heard from people with the podcast
from episode one was things went really, really
fast. So there's no reason why we can't make
sure everybody has an understanding of what we're
talking about. So if I don't explain something
fully or I go too fast over a subject, please
stop me and let me know. I also want to let you
know for those of you that missed last week,
if you go to the semi seminarian dot com. semiseminarian
.com you can click on the listen to podcast link
and you can catch last week's last week's episode
and each one of these will be uploaded within
the next day or two from their teaching so if
you'd like to go back and listen to it you can
take your scripture reference home with you and
kind of if you like to feel like maybe there
was something you'd like to listen to again you'll
be able to do that if you go to that go to that
website So, the Bible, the Bible that we all
believe in, the Bible that we profess faith in,
what is ultimately, what's the argument? What's
the Bible say to the world we believe? Huh? Okay,
it's about accepting Jesus, right? That's absolutely
a part of it. I'm going to throw out, I tried
to think of something in very general, as broad
as I can terms, to try to include everybody's
own personal vision of it. And I think I've got
it. If this doesn't make sense to you, it doesn't
mean that I'm right at all. It doesn't mean that
you're wrong. It just means that maybe there's
something there I didn't consider. But here's
my argument. My argument is that what the Bible
is trying to say to the world is that God created
the world. Right? And that God loves His creation.
Right? And everything within the Bible explains
how either God created the world. Here's our
scripture references that we'll be looking at.
Or how God loves the world. Right? Are we cool
with that? If you think about from beginning
to end, what the Bible is basically arguing is
that there was a being that created the whole
of the universe, that we are a part of that creation,
and that God loves us as that creation and wants
an active relationship with us. And the story
of Jesus and all of that, the story of Noah,
the story of Abraham, all of those things go
into how that relationship works. I think another
thing that the Bible does is it explains how,
how God created the universe and how he wants
to have a relationship with us. And one of the
things I think that we can notice. In the Bible
is God does something. I think that it speaks
to the nature of God. And that is God creates
order out of chaos. Sorry about that. Order out
of chaos, right? We know this from the very,
very first page of our Bibles. Genesis one says
in the beginning, God created the heavens, the
earth. Now the earth was formless and empty.
Darkness was over the surface of the deep and
the spirit of God hovered over the waters, right?
And that is the spark of creation. In this instance,
God is taking chaos or he's also taking nothing
and creating something, right? Either order out
of chaos or creating something where there was
nothing, right? Does anybody, Matthew chapter
1, verse 1, this is the genealogy. Does anybody
have a different word there? This is the something.
Family tree. That's one of them. Ancestry. Anybody
else? This is funny. You're going to see it right
off the bat. That word there in Greek is? Genesis.
It's actually Genesis is how it would be translated
in Greek. This word means origin. It also means
the birth or the creation point. So that word
in Matthew's gospel, whenever it was translated
into Greek, historians believe that. The gospel
according to Matthew was originally written in
Hebrew and then later translated into Greek.
Does anybody know why that is? We talked about
it just very briefly last week. Because Matthew's
writing his gospel account to a very, very specific
group of people. Jews, right? They are religious
Jews, and Matthew is writing this account, and
this is very, very important as we look through
tonight. Matthew is writing his account to Jewish
people to make some very specific claims about
who Jesus is. Namely, that the Messiah that was
foretold in prophecy in Hebrew Scripture has
been fulfilled. All of the conditions have been
met through the life of Jesus Christ. That is
first and foremost. The number one argument that
Matthew is making, he's making this argument
to a very specific group of people, to Jews in
Judea at the time. And his gospel would have
originally been written either in Greek or Aramaic,
which is a dialect. It's a Semitic language.
It's a dialect of the Jewish language. That by
the 7th century, in that region at least, was
overtaken by Arabic. And so this is the genealogy,
right? Or the birth narrative or the family tree
of Jesus. But this word is genesis. That word
in Greek means origin. And we see that we're
talking about the family of origin of Jesus.
That includes David. And Abraham. Now why would
it be important for Matthew to tie Jesus to David,
King David, and then Abraham? Because the Messiah
was going to come from that line, right? That
was the promise as foretold. And we're not going
to go through all of the so -and -so was so -and
-so's dad and all of that. But we're going to
go down, and I want to skip down to verse 18.
This is how the birth of Jesus came about. And
that word there also happens to be the word Genesis.
So he's using this word again here. Matthew is
in Greek. So this is the origin of Jesus' birth.
His mother Mary was pledged to be married to
Joseph. But before they came together, she was
found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Now,
that's interesting because we just look back
to Genesis chapter one, where we found God's
spirit hovering over the chaotic waters. And
we talked about one of the patterns of God is
that you'll see things kind of repeat. And so
where there was nothing, the spirit hovered over
that nothingness. And here we have Mary, the
virgin. Right. And the spirit interacts with
Mary and there's a creation where there was nothing.
Right. Here's another example of God's work being
repeated from Hebrew scripture into Christian
scripture. OK, but after and then skipping down
to verse 20. But after he had considered this,
this is Joseph having second thoughts about whether
he should go through with this marriage to Mary.
An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.
and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid
to take Mary home as your wife, because what
is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son, and you are to
give him the name Jesus, because he will save
his people from their sins. Now, this name, Jesus,
is actually, in English, we use the name Joshua,
right? In Hebrew, that name is Yeshua. And then
this name gets changed into Greek as Yesos or
Yesus. And then somewhere along the line, this
Y, which is a horrible Y. I'm not a teacher,
but the Y turns into a J. And the O goes away
and becomes a U, and we get Jesus, right? So
Yeshua, that name, all of these Hebrew names,
they mean something, right? Not like Jim. Jim
doesn't mean the eagle in the sky, right, or
whatever, right? But in Hebrew it does. And Yeshua,
it actually, this is the Yahuwah. That, Yahweh,
that is a derivation of the name Yahweh. And
so this name, Yeshua, actually means Yahweh saves.
And we're going to find right here, right off
the bat, Matthew making one of his important
claims about who Jesus is. Because the angel
of the Lord says to name him Jesus, right, which
in Hebrew would be Yeshua, which means what?
Yahweh saves. So you're to give him the name
Yahweh saves because he will save people from
their sins. He's who? He's Yahweh? Or he's Jesus?
Right? And you're to give him, the son, Jesus,
the name Jesus. Right? Which means Yahweh saves
and he will save his people from their sins.
And it sounds like I'm kind of just talking in
a circle. But Matthew is not. Matthew here is
saying, yes, to answer your question, both, yes.
One, that Yahweh is going to be the one that's
going to do the saving. That's why he's called
Yahshua, right? And the angel of the Lord says,
and he, this young child that you're going to
name that, he's going to grow up and save people
from their sins. Who? Yahweh? Yes. Meaning, Matthew
is saying here, right? That Jesus is God among
us. Emmanuel. This is not some, and we've talked
about this in other settings, but you may or
may not, if you've been here, we talked about
the Gospel of John where the Greeks looked at
the Gospel of John and they looked at God. The
Gospel of John is making an argument against
this. That the Greeks, these Gentiles that were,
they followed Plato and Socrates. Whenever they
tried to conceptualize Christianity, they saw
God as being wholly righteous and humankind being
fatally flawed, and they could not see how God
could actually enter into a fatally flawed world
if he was indeed 100 % righteous. And so what
they believe is, over time, God created copies
of himself. Like, did you guys ever, like, I'm
going to really date myself, but I think everybody
here is going to know what I'm talking about.
Like, you know, like Casey Kasem on the radio
and you'd record the Michael Jackson song, right?
And then you might, like, take that cassette
tape and bump it up against another bean boom
box and record it onto another tape, right? You
know exactly what I'm talking about. Well, we
know that with each recording that the recording,
the quality degrades, right? Well, their argument
is that with each emanation of creation, God
becomes a little less God until finally there
was a creation that was a little less God enough
that that creation could enter into the earth.
And that was Jesus. And John says that's nope,
nope, nope. That none of that's true. Whenever
we say that Jesus is God, we mean God, God. And
the reason why is because if God loves us as
much as John believes that God loves us, then
he has to be the very sacrifice himself. Anything
less. As a sacrifice from God, then himself on
that cross means that God doesn't love us as
much as he says he does. It has to be God, John
says. And so whenever we talk about who Jesus
was and his divinity, Emmanuel, Matthew's making
the argument, it's God himself in bodily form
with us. So what we see here in chapter 1, this
is not just about Jesus' birth. It's not just
about the first Christmas. What we're seeing
here is actually Matthew doing something very
skillfully because he's including his whole family
tree here. He's talking about Jesus' family of
origin. And that's important. That's a language
that sometimes we use in modern society today
when we talk about our family of origin. And
often that's like in therapeutics scenarios where
we might be with a counselor or someone and you
kind of talk about your family of origin and
you talk about maybe what your parents were like
and what your home life was like and what your
grandparents were like. Because that history,
right, it informs who you are today. All of your
family of origin, it makes up who you are today.
And Matthew's trying to explain that this stuff
that took place in the Old Testament, it's very
important to who Jesus is in Matthew's words,
who Jesus is today. It's the whole package of
things that make us up who we are. And so Matthew
is showing us right off the bat. He's tying,
explaining the origins of Jesus to the Hebrew
scriptures. This is the bridge between the Old
Testament and the New Testament. And Matthew
is directly tying on page one of his gospel,
Jesus to King David as foretold in Old Testament
prophecy. Okay. So when we turn the page and
we go to chapter two. This is the story of the
three wise men. You'll notice that there's no
story of three wise men there. It's the story
of the Magi. It certainly would have been many
more than three people. There would have been
three presents mentioned, but there's not three
wise men because the whole of Jerusalem was afraid.
King Herod himself afraid as well. It would have
been a caravan of people from Persia that would
have showed up there in Jerusalem with the star
looking for the young child. And it didn't happen
despite what our nativity scenes show. It didn't
happen when Jesus would have been an infinite.
It wouldn't have been in the manger. It would
have taken probably. historians surmise that
it probably would have taken a minimum of 70
weeks for that caravan to make it from Persia
to Jerusalem. So you're looking at a child that's
at least a year and a half, but scholarship seems
to believe that Jesus probably would have been
somewhere between two and three years of age
when these wise men show up. And so... So we
have a young child, Jesus, but not in the traditional
nativity sense. And the wise men leave by a different
route and go back home. And Herod is looking
for, come on in, have a seat. How are you? It's
okay, Anthony, have a seat. And Herod is now
looking for this young child. He doesn't know
who he is, but he knows where he is. And all
of those children in Bethlehem and the surrounding
area of that age are killed. Young boys are killed.
And we know that an angel appears to Joseph and
says, flee to Egypt. Joseph and Mary and Jesus
go to Egypt for a period of time until King Herod
dies and his son comes into power. When they
had gone, I'm picking up here in chapter 2, verse
13. This is Magi. Whenever they had gone, an
angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.
Get up, he said, take the child and his mother,
escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you,
for Herod is going to search for the child to
kill him. So he got up, took the child and his
mother during the night, and left for Egypt,
where he stayed until the death of Herod. And
so fulfilled what the Lord had said to the prophet,
out of Egypt I call my son. Does anybody have
a little footnote there or asterisk there after
that? Out of Egypt I call my son. You do? Is
it reference? Hosea. That's right. And if you
look, you'll see if you have red letter Bible
where Jesus, when he speaks, it's in red and
often it's offset. It'll be like tabbed over
when Jesus speaks often. That's the same way
whenever Old Testament or Hebrew scripture is
quoted in the New Testament. It won't be in red,
but it will be often offset or tabbed over. So
it's kind of set aside. And you'll look through
Matthew, and in the times when that isn't read,
sometimes it's read and it's Jesus quoting Old
Testament prophecy. But if you look just at the
typography of your Bible, you're going to see
a lot of pieces of Matthew that are offset and
tabbed over because, again, Matthew is tying
his story of Jesus. back to the Old Testament.
And every time he does, he's going to quote Old
Testament prophets like Hosea or Micah or Jeremiah
or Isaiah. And whenever he does, you're going
to see those prophecies set to the side. And
right there is one of them. When Herod realized
that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was
furious. In order to kill all the boys in Bethlehem
in their vicinity who were two years and under,
according to the time with which with the time
he had learned from the Magi, right? And then
that's what was said through the prophet Jeremiah,
which was fulfilled. And here is another prophecy
from the Old Testament. After this, after Herod
dies, Jesus returns back to Judea. After Herod
died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream
to Joseph in Egypt and said, get up, take the
child and his mother and go to the land of Israel
for those who are trying to take the child's
life are dead. So he got up, took the child and
his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But
when he had heard that Archelaus was reigning
in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was
afraid to go. Having been warned in a dream,
he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he
went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So
it was fulfilled what was said through the prophets
that he would be called a Nazarene. And just
real quickly, is there another story? in the
Bible about fleeing Egypt? Can anybody think
of one? About people fleeing Egypt? Is there
another story? That's right, Exodus 14. If you
want to put your finger there in the Bible. This
is important because we're seeing Matthew make
an argument of who Jesus is. Exodus 14, that's
the second book of the Bible. All right, so on
the very left -hand side of your Bible there,
Exodus 14, and what I'm going to do is I'm going
to go ahead and start reading, and then you can
catch up as we go, because I'm going to read
a chunk of it here. Then the angel of God had
been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew
and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also
moved from in front and stood behind them, coming
between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout
the night, the cloud brought darkness to the...
to the one side and light to the other side,
so neither went near the other all night long.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,
and all that night the Lord drove the sea back
with a strong east wind and turned it into dry
land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites
went through the sea on dry ground with a wall
of water on their right and on their left. The
Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh's horses
and chariots and horsemen followed them into
the sea. During the last watch of the night,
the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire
and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into
confusion. He jammed the wheels of the chariots
so that they had difficulty driving, and the
Egyptians said, Let's get away from the Israelites.
The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.
Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your
hand over the sea so that the waters may flow
back over the Egyptians and the chariots and
horsemen. Moses stretched out his hand over the
sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its
place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it,
and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water
flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen.
The entire army of Pharaoh that had followed
the Israelites into the sea, not one of them
survived. But the Israelites went through the
sea on dry ground with a wall of water on their
right and on their left. That day the Lord saved
Israel from the hands of the Egyptians. And Israel
saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And
when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the
Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people
feared the Lord and put their trust in him, Yahweh,
and in Moses, his servant. Here we see a pattern
begin to develop in the gospel according to Matthew
that will become much more clear to us as we
press on this evening. But we're going to see...
As Jesus, as Matthew begins to reflect Jesus
as a new Moses. And I hope that how and why will
become apparent. So let's move to chapter 3.
Flip back over to the right hand side of your
Bible. Chapter 3, this is the portion of Matthew's
gospel account where he explains John the Baptist.
In those days, John the Baptist beginning verse
1. came preaching in the wilderness of Judea
and saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven
has come near. This is he who was spoken of through
the prophet Isaiah, a voice of one calling in
the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight the paths for him. John's clothes
were made of camel's hair. He had a leather belt
around his waist. His food was locusts and wild
honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem
and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan,
confessing their sins. and they were baptized
by him in the Jordan River. But when he saw many
of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where
he was baptizing, he said to them, You brood
of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming
wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
Do not think you can say to yourselves, We have
Abraham as our father. I tell you that out of
these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
The axe is already at the root of the trees,
and every tree that does not produce good fruit
will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I
baptize you with water for repentance, but after
me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose
sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize
you with the Holy Spirit and fire, his winnowing
fork in hand, and he will clear his threshing
floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and
burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
John the Baptist was not a very chill dude. Jesus
came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized
by John. But John tried to deter him, saying,
I need to be baptized by you. And do you come
to me? Jesus replied, let it be so now. It's
proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.
Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized,
he went up out of the water. At that moment,
heaven was opened. And he saw the Son of God
descending like a dove and alighting on him.
And a voice from heaven said, This is my Son,
whom I love, with whom I am well pleased. So,
here we see a couple of patterns beginning to
develop. We've got this out of Egypt thing. And
we also have this. Water thing. Now, let's do
water baptism. And so I want to talk just a bit,
though. So we see a couple of things paralleling
Old Testament, New Testament, Jesus, Moses, right?
They're both going to come out of Egypt. We've
got this crossing through the water. And let's
talk about baptism. In the first century, is
there a... Does anybody know? Is there a ritual,
a Jewish ritual of baptism? There's not. The
ritual might be cleaning, right? Washing yourself,
making yourself ceremonially clean. And that's
what you're doing. Whenever they would have those
big pots of water that like at the wedding feast
in Cana that Jesus turned in the hell, like...
50 gallons or whatever a piece, and he turned
the water into wine. Those big pots, those were
pots that were used by the people to make themselves
ceremonially clean. And whenever they would use
that water and wash themselves off, do you know
what they were recreating? The crossing of the
Jordan River from the wilderness, as the Israelite
people, into the promised land. Whenever Joshua,
right? Joshua, Yeshua. The same guy, same name,
Joshua from the Old Testament, Yeshua, took them
across the Jordan River and into the promised
land. It's in that moment, from one bank to the
other, that the Israelite people changed their
identity. On this side, if you will, whatever,
on this side of the Jordan River, out of the
wilderness, out of Egypt, out of the wilderness,
they're still slaves on the run, right? They're
still bondsmen and women, right? They're shackled
culturally because they're just escaping. Slaves
is all they are. But whenever they cross the
Jordan River, when they actually are led by Joshua,
through the water into the promised land, and
actually get to the place God said, I'm going
to make you a special people. I'm going to make
you a people set apart. And I have a land that
I am definitely promising you. When? When did
he make that promise to that land? Abraham, right?
Hundreds of years before, right? God's saying,
I'm making that promise fulfilled now. And when
you cross the Jordan River, you stop being a
slave and you start being my people. So whenever
we baptize and you go under and you come up,
you're reborn from a different person. Before
you go under the water, you're still a slave.
We're still a slave to sin. We're still a slave
to the depraved human condition. Right? We may
have run away from Pharaoh, figuratively, but
because we're human, we're still sinners. We
go under the water, we come up a new creation.
Right? A child of God. We are recreating that
Jordan River experience as Joshua led the people
out of the wilderness and into the promised land.
Right? And so this is another... The baptism
of Jesus, right? This is another example where
Matthew's saying you have a new Moses authority
on the ground here. Okay, so the next is chapter
4. We're going to slow, I'm going to try to slow
this down a little bit because I want to go through
this story a little slower because I think this
is one of the stories in the Bible. There's no
other story in the Bible, in the gospel accounts
rather, like this story. This story is mentioned
in three of the four gospel accounts, but there's
no other story like this one. I think this is
a story that really kind of weirds people out
sometimes. So let's just kind of, let's walk
through it together and see if we can come out
on the other side with a better understanding.
been baptized, and the Spirit of God has descended
upon him as a dove, and then the Spirit does
something, leads him into the wilderness to be,
and what does your Bible say? Tempted? Anybody
else have anything different? Tested. That's
right. Tested is actually a better translation
there. And I'll explain why I think that is.
Tempted, at least in our language, at least today
for sure, tempted typically means trying to convince
someone to do something bad, right? We don't
tempt people to go for a 5K run, right? But we
will tempt you with chocolate cake. You see what
I mean? Right? And that word is actually, it
can be tempted, but... It can also mean tested.
Tested is a better word here because when we
take a test, if I was to give you a test, well,
I wouldn't because I think I'm probably not doing
such a great job of explaining this, but if I
was to give you a test on what we discovered
tonight, what would that test do? It would tell
you, tell us all a little bit about something
about you. In this instance, it would tell us.
a little bit about what you know about what we
just talked about, right? Testing tells us something
about ourselves, okay? That's why I think the
word tested here might be better than tempted
because this testing in the wilderness is going
to tell us more about who Jesus is, okay? So,
chapter 4, then Jesus led by the Spirit into
the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After
fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry.
Real quick, how long was Israel in the wilderness?
40 years, and here's Jesus in 40 days, the number
40, right? Pattern, again, coming back. The tempter
came to him and said, if you are the Son of God,
tell these stones to become bread. Jesus answered,
it is written, man shall not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of
God. Now, I think some people read that sometimes
and go, we don't need bread to live. We need
God's word as our bread. But that's actually
not, that's just silly to even think, right?
Do we need bread to live? Yes, right? Jesus isn't
saying you don't need food. And in this instance,
we're talking about not just food, but you don't
need the world. You just need the Word of God.
And what Jesus here is even saying, look, there
are still human physical aspects, physical needs
need to be met. But understand, that's not what
gives you real life. Right? Bread, the world,
might keep your heart pumping, might keep your
lungs expanding and contracting, but it's the
word of God that gives you real life. Okay? Now,
he's quoting Old Testament scripture here. He's
quoting Deuteronomy chapter 8. And I'm just going
to read beginning with verse 1. Deuteronomy chapter
8, verse 1. This is Moses speaking, right? Moses
writes the first five books of the Bible. The
Deuteronomy is one of those. Be careful to follow
every command I'm giving you today so that you
may live and increase and may enter and possess
the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors.
Remember how the Lord your God led you all the
way in the wilderness these 40 years to humbly
and test you in order to know what was in your
heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.
He humbled you, causing you to hunger. and then
feeding you with manna, which neither you nor
your ancestors had known, to teach you that man
does not live on bread alone, but on every word
that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Okay?
So, the devil's doing the tempting, and Jesus
says, we've already covered this. My ancestors
already covered this. I'll read you some scripture
to tell you why it's not important that I'm able
to turn. these stones into bread so back to matthew
right so here's the next temptation then the
devil took him to the holy city and had him stand
on the highest point of the temple so so the
devil has learned a trick right so oh jesus we're
going to play this quoting scripture game well
i can do that too he says if you are the son
of god he said throw yourself down for it is
written where In Hebrew scripture, he will command
his angels concerning you and they will lift
you up in their hands so that you will not strike
your foot against a stone. We have a footnote.
Psalm 91, 91, 11 and 12. Psalm 91 is a beautiful
poem. And what that Psalm 91 is about is about
trusting, learning to trust God. And the tempter
is using that Psalm 91 about trusting God, and
he's kind of twisting that scripture. But Jesus,
he's not having any of it. Jesus answered, oh,
you want to quote scripture with me? He says,
it's also written, do not put the Lord your God
to the test. And we go right back to Deuteronomy
again in 6. When the Lord your God brings you
into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, to give you a land with large
flourishing cities you did not build, houses
filled with all good things you did not provide,
wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive
groves you did not plant, then when you eat and
are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget
the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, out of
the land of slavery. Fear the Lord your God.
Serve Him only and take your oaths in His name.
Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples
around you. For the Lord your God who is among
you is a jealous God and His anger will burn
against you and He will destroy you from the
face of the land. Do not put the Lord your God
to the test as you did at Massa. Right? Remember
that? Does any Old Testament scholars in here
know what happened at Massa? The thirsty, did
you bring us out of Egypt to die of thirst out
here in the desert? God is so powerful and God
can't even provide water for us to drink. And
Moses uses the staff to create the spring and
they get water. Don't put God to the test like
you guys did out of Massa. By the way, Massa
in Hebrew, that translates as the place of testing.
So another correlation. Exodus 17, the whole
Israelite community set out from the desert of
sin, traveling from one place to places the Lord
commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there
was no water for the people to drink. So they
quarreled with Moses and said, give us water
to drink. That's that story there in Masa. And
ultimately, what is that telling us? All of this
story, all of these times. where Scripture is
quoted back to the Israelites in the wilderness
and having trouble meeting tests of their own.
And are they succeeding at these tests or are
they failing? They're failing every single time.
Every time you turn around, the Israelites...
are failing to trust in God. Why did you bring
us out of Egypt? We are so tired of this free
bread you give us miraculously every day, and
we'd rather go back to Egypt where we had all
that good food to eat, right? And Jesus goes,
oh, you want some meat? I'll give you so much
meat, I'll make your stomachs burst from it,
right? And it's not the point of making stomachs
burst. It's like, why are you, do you not see
that I'm providing you literally with daily bread?
And you can't trust me? And every time, every
time the people of Israel try to trust God, using
the laws of Moses, right, the man -made laws,
they fail. When Jesus comes along as a new Moses
figure, what we're going to see is because Jesus
is in control of things now, the people of Israel
won't fail, right? People won't fail anymore
because Jesus is going to perfect these things.
In these instances, what's happening here with
the devil, right? What's happening here with
the devil is Jesus is starving. 40 days he has
been fasting. He is starving. And the devil comes
along and says, I know how you can get food.
I know how you don't have to be so filthy dirty.
I know how you can be made a king. And Jesus,
despite his present circumstance, a lesson for
us all, says, no, no, no, no. I'm going to put
my trust in God because I know that I'm doing
God's will and I'm following God's plan despite
my present circumstance. That's where the thing
departs from the Israelites. Oh, no, we know
the power of God in the past. But given our present
circumstance, we don't think we can trust God
now. And Jesus, in this instance of testing,
is replicating those same events that I just
read from Exodus 17. He's being tested whether
he can trust in God to provide or not. And in
each instance, Jesus says, I'm going to trust
in God despite my present circumstance. So let's
move from... Exodus 17, back to Matthew again.
And we finish this story. Again, the devil took
him to a very high mountain and showed him all
the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
And this I will give you, he said, if you bow
down and worship me. Jesus said to him, away
from me, Satan. For it is written, worship the
Lord your God and serve him only. Then the devil
left him and the angels came to attend him. So
what's this story about? Just like I mentioned,
present circumstances can be trumped by God's
trusting in God's will. Performing the will of
God, submitting to his direction, provides for
us true, real, and full life. The things of the
world, the bread that the devil might coerce
us into making out of stones given our power,
Again, cause us to continue to live. But without
God's direction and our desire to meet his will,
we are denied real, true and full life. So here
we are at the end of chapter four. We've got
one more chapter to go through real quickly tonight.
And what the end of chapter four, we see Matthew.
It shows Matthew shows Jesus preaching and teaching
and healing. And what is He preaching? I think
I mentioned this earlier, right? That the kingdom
of God is near. Right? That God has lowered Himself
close to the earth. The kingdom of God is near,
but that is going to look very differently than
you expect. The kingdom of God is not going to
look like you think. Okay, Jesus. How's it going
to look? Well, so Jesus is with his disciples,
and he sees crowds that have begun following
him around, following his teaching. Is there
another part of the Bible that uses a mountain
and instructions on how to live life and please
God? Moses and the Ten Commandments in Mount
Sinai, right? The mountain experience here. Another
parallel between here and Exodus, right? Here
is another example of Matthew going, new Moses
figure, but things look a little bit different.
Yes, he's going to be on a mountaintop, but it's
not really a mountain, right? It's like a really
large hill. There's no mountains in this region.
But Mount Sinai is a really big hill, okay? So
he goes up on this mountain, and he's going to
instruct people. on what the kingdom of God looks
like, and on what right conduct should be if
you desire to please God. That same thing happened
to Moses, only God gave that to Moses. Jesus,
who is Emmanuel, who is God with us, gives it
to the people that have come to hear him teach.
It's the same process, but it looks a little
bit different this time. On the first day of
the third month after the Israelites left Egypt,
on that very day, I'm reading from Exodus 19,
they came to the desert of Sinai. After they
set out from Rephidim, they entered the desert
of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert
in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up
to God, and the Lord called him from the mountain
and said, This is what you are to say to the
descendants of Jacob, what you are to tell the
people of Israel. You yourselves have seen what
I did. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant,
then out of the nations you will be my treasured
possession. Although the whole earth is mine,
you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a
holy nation. These are the words you are to speak
to the Israelites. Then we get the Ten Commandments.
Matthew 5, verse 1. Now when Jesus saw the crowds,
he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His
disciples came to him, and he began to teach
them. He said, Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed
are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the
earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed
are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure at heart, for they will
see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they
will be called children of God. Blessed are those
who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, how
revolutionary would this have been to be spoken
in the first century in Judea? A little or a
lot? Anybody want to take a guess? A lot, right?
And why is that? Because not only religiously,
but culturally too. They're living eye for an
eye, tooth for a tooth. They're living in such
a way that says if God or the gods prefer you
or bless you, or if God wants to show that he
thinks that you're in a right relationship with
him, then you are going to be powerful. You're
going to be rich. You're going to be important.
You're going to... Not be one of the people that
are currently listening to Jesus, the people
that he's healed from being sick. You're not
going to be lame. You're not going to be blind.
If you're blind, that means that either you sinned
against God or your family has sinned against
God. Your good fortune on earth is reflective
of your right relationship with God. And that's
the way the world was in the first century in
Judea. Not just Judea. Everywhere. That's, I
mean, and that's not such a foreign concept if
we think about it today. I think that there are
a lot of people that think, well, I'm a good
Christian and that's why I feel good about being
able to drive a nice car with heated seats and
massagers in the back seat and all of that stuff,
right? It's because I'm such a good Christian.
If God didn't want me to have these things, he
wouldn't let me have them. Right? So this first
century idea here is still alive and kicking
today. And Jesus says, no, no, no, no. That's
not how any of this actually works. Right? And
he goes, I'm actually, but we'll see when we
get to the end of the story. I'm actually going
to show you how it works. Because the new world
order says that those that are weak. those that
are meek, those that are poor in spirit, those
who decide to be courageous enough to be a peacemaker,
right? You will be a child of God. Peacemaker
is kind of a funny one I think of because if
you get in between two people fighting and you
don't take a side, most times what happens is
you get ended up hated by two people, right?
Because you don't take one side or the other.
But if you're courageous enough... to see peace
and tranquility and harmony exist amongst other
people, that's what it means to be a child of
God. And that's what Jesus is saying here. And
then he looks at all of these other things that
Moses talks about or that God talks about to
Moses on Mount Sinai, right? The fulfillment
of the law, those things. And he says, oh man,
let me give you an example. I know Moses talked
about don't commit adultery. New rule, if you
even think about it, you're guilty. And he kind
of lists those off, divorce, oaths, and every
one of them, it's not the act, it's the heart.
And that's what Jesus is trying to teach us about
the new kingdom. It's not about the external
appearance. It's not about the acts. It's not
about the way I look. It's not about the way
I talk. It's about the way I feel in my heart.
And this is the part that says, look, if you're
trying to be a good Christian or you're trying
to be a good Jew and you've got a problem with
your brother and you're still trying to go to
the altar to do your sacrifices, Put it down.
Go make it right with your brother. Then come
back and make the offering. If you make that
offering and have evil on your heart, that's
offensive to God. If you think that you're covering
that up by doing the right thing, you're wrong,
Jesus says. And that's what this new world order
is going to be all about. This is the new law.
So here, just in the first five, chapters of
Matthew, we see three things that Matthew is
asserting about the identity of Jesus. One, that
Jesus is of the messianic line of David, which
was promised to us in Hebrew scripture. That
two, he is indeed God with us, or Emmanuel. But
also, He is a new Moses figure for the people.
But this time, a better one. A perfected one.
Because despite all that was given to Moses,
the people, no matter how hard they tried, and
to be quite honest, there were times where they
didn't even try that hard, they couldn't fulfill
the law. Right? And then be able to be justified
or made righteous with God. And Jesus, through
his sacrifice, is going to make all of that possible.
And so that's the first part of what Matthew
is trying to tell us. Now, we conclude tonight
looking at how Jesus begins to tell people what
the new kingdom of God is going to look like.
And unfortunately... What we're going to see
next time is it's not that everybody just stops
what they're doing and believes what he says.
Next time, we're going to dive into people's
reaction to his teaching, and we're going to
see that it's not always positive. And we're
going to see that we're going to find people
that are going to say, Jesus is the Messiah.
We're going to find people that say, is Jesus
the Messiah? And we're going to find people that
say Jesus is not the Messiah. And each one of
those groups of people tell us a little bit something
about ourselves and about the reality of Jesus.
So I hope that you'll come back on the 30th and
we'll continue our series. Well, thanks for taking
this journey with me as we discover more about
what the Bible has to say about Jesus and what
that means for us in our lives. I'd ask for you
to do me a favor on whatever platform you're
listening. I'd ask you to subscribe so you'll
know when there's a new upload and to make sure
and review and rate this podcast. Rating and
reviews help us be seen by more folks. Be blessed.
Hope to see you next time right here at the Semi
-Seminarian. Let me ask you guys a question.
How many people know some weird people, right?
But they're not weird in the right kind of way,
right? They're probably weird in the bad kind
of way. Everybody is weird in a certain extent.
But that's well, and there's also people that
are weird in a good kind of way, right? Tonight
I want to talk about being weird in a God kind
of way. So here's what Jesus said. Our opening
scripture tonight comes to us from the gospel
according to Matthew. next Wednesday night for
our Bible study series on Matthew. We'll talk
more in depth about chapter 7. But in chapter
7, we read verses 13 and 14. Jesus said, Enter
through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate,
and broad is the road that leads to destruction,
and many enter through it. Think about this.
Broad and wide is the road and the gate. which
the majority of people travel. Unfortunately,
it's in that crowd. That's where we often find
our comfort, saying, look at all of the people
doing the same things we're doing, going where
we're going, living how we're living. We're normal.
We must be okay, because this is the majority,
we're the majority of people. It's going. Fortunately,
though, Jesus said many, the crowd, we could
say normal people are on the road that leads
to destruction. And then he said this. He said,
but small is the gate and narrow is the road
that leads to life. And only a few find it. If
you're on the broad road, let me just say as
soberly as I can, if your life seems to look
like everybody else's life, if you look at your
life and see yourself doing the things that everyone
else is doing, if you feel like you're pretty
normal, it could be that you're on the broad
road that leads to destruction. Because when
you leave the normal road, and you get on that
smaller one where few are, the normal people
will think that you're weird, that you're different.
Your life just doesn't look the same as theirs
does. So I want us to follow the teachings of
Jesus, and we're going to lead a weird life.
Because even if we just take the Bible and put
it aside, and we just look at this practically,
wouldn't you agree? In our world today, that
living with the quotes, living normal, just isn't
working. Think about it. What's normal in our
schedules today? Overwhelmed, rushed, stressed,
panicked, never enough time for what's truly
important because we're overwhelmed with the
urgent and we're missing out on the quality.
What's normal when it comes to money today? I
mean, let's just be real honest. Normal is the
pursuit of material things, which we all know
never makes us happy. Normal is broke, right?
Normal is debt. Normal is financial fear. Normal
is fighting with our spouses about money. Think
about our professional lives. What's normal today?
Just working for a paycheck. Doing something
that you really don't like just to get by. Normal
is feeling like there's got to be something more,
but you just can't quite find out what it is.
What's normal in relationships? Hopping from
bed to bed to bed with different people until
you finally get married, and then seven years
into marriage, since things aren't going all
that well, normal is for half of us to end up
in divorce. Normal is not working. Here's the
truth about normal. If you want what normal people
have, do what normal people do. But if you want
what few people have, you have to decide to do
what few people will do. Think about it. If you
want a normal life, then live like normal people
live. If though. If you want something better,
if you really believe that there is something
different and better than the normal life where
the majority of people are traveling, you'll
need to leave that broad road and get on to that
narrow path where people will begin calling you
weird. And if you want what few people have,
things like peace, or joy, or security, a sense
of fulfillment, an eternal destiny. If you want
what few people will have, you're going to have
to decide to do what few people will do. Think
about the teachings of Jesus, right? Mega weird.
Think about how weird His teaching is compared
to the world's normal. Normal says, don't commit
adultery. Jesus says, you've heard it said don't
commit adultery, but I say unto you, don't even
look lustfully at a woman. Whoever looks lustfully
at a woman has already committed adultery in
his heart. That's weird. Jesus said, if you want
to be first, you need to be last. If you're already
last, then you can be first. That's weird. Jesus
said, when you give, it will be given to you.
That's weird because normal says if you take
it, it will be given to you. The teachings of
Jesus, the teachings of scripture lead us off
of that normal broad path and onto a narrow and
different path. And if you want what normal people
have, just keep on doing what normal people are
doing and you just go right on with the flow
of the world. If you want what few people have,
you're going to have to do what few people do.
And take scripture seriously. And you can have
something way, way, way better than normal. So
I want to give us just two simple thoughts. They're
things that I don't feel like I really probably
need to tell you. They're things you already
know anyway because they're pretty obvious. Two
thoughts. The first one, it's in your notes there
I've given you. My first thought for this evening
is this. Weird people don't think like normal
people think. Here's what scripture says in the
12th chapter, second verse of the letter to the
Romans. Do not live any longer the way this world
lives. Don't live like normal people. The apostle
Paul would say, that's stupid. Let your way of
thinking be completely changed. Then you'll be
able to test out what God wants for you. Not
what the crowd, not what everybody else, not
what the normal people want for you, but what
God wants for you. And we'll all agree, I hope,
that what he wants for us is what? Right? Is
right. I love the way the message, it's kind
of a devotional style translation or version
of the Bible. I love the way that the message
translates this. It says it like this. Don't
become so well adjusted to your culture that
you fit into it without even thinking. Wouldn't
you agree that there are people today Many people
that just seem to fit into the worldly culture
without even thinking. The Bible says instead,
fix your attention on God. Not on everybody else.
Not what's normal, but on God. And you'll be
changed from the inside out. Weird people don't
think like normal people think. If you want what
normal people have, do what normal people do.
If you want what few people have, do what few
people do. It's time for us to get a little bit
weird. Weird people don't think like normal people
think. Second thought for our little discussion
this evening is this. Weird people don't live
like normal people live. When you take Scripture
seriously and you pursue God diligently, you
will be different from the world. And if you're
not different, if you seem to look like everybody
else and act like everybody else and live like
everybody else, I would submit to you that you
may not truly know the God of the Bible. Because
the more you pursue after Him, the more different
your world will be. Your values will change.
Your motivations will change. And the way that
we live will change. Apostle Peter says this
in 1 Peter 2, verses 11 and 12. Peter says this,
Dear friends, I urge you, and I love the way
he says this, as aliens and strangers. In other
words, this world isn't even your home. This
place is kind of weird to you. Why do people
live according to this world? He said, as aliens
and as strangers in this world, I urge you to
abstain from sinful desires which rage war against
your soul. In other words, you know, if this
world is your home, then you go right on and
do whatever in the world you want. Whatever you
feel like. That's normal. But you, you're not
going to be normal. Verse 12, he says, live such
good lives among the pagans, among those who
don't understand, amongst those who are non -believers.
Live such good lives amongst them that though
they accuse you of doing wrong, in other words,
the world, The normal say, hey, hey, don't leave
us. Hey, stay on the normal path with us. Where
are you going? Hey, don't go. This is normal.
This is better. That's stupid. Because you're
going to be weird. Though they accuse you of
doing wrong, in the end they may see your good
deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.
When you seek the God of the Bible, He will lead
you to a life that is very different. And He
doesn't have a cookie cutter weird for all of
us. He has for you a custom weird that He wants
to give specifically to you if you seek Him.
And I don't know what that is for you, but I
invite you, I beg you, join me and other committed
followers of Christ of leaving that normal road.
Because you have to admit, normal isn't working.
It's broke. It's overwhelmed. It's miserable.
It's fear. It's shame. It's regret. And it doesn't
have to be that way. It can be full of peace
and joy and purpose and momentum and a deep sense
of fulfillment and knowing that our lives are
making an eternal difference. When I read scripture,
Jesus said, if you want to find your life, you
lose it. That's weird. And I'm telling you, right,
you can go to church all day long. And that's
still, at least in our part of the world, that's
normal, right? To worship one day a week in church.
That's normal. But friends, when worship for
you becomes a seven days a week passion, when
worship of God becomes something that you are
and not just something that you do for one hour
a week, one hour a day on one day a week, That's
when you become that God kind of weird. We're
not talking about a shallow, me -centered Christianity.
We're talking about a wholehearted, full surrender
to the God of the Bible that will take us off
that normal path and onto one in which the world
will not understand, but God will empower and
direct. You can settle for normal. Or you can
choose something better than normal. If you want
what normal people have, friends, do what normal
people do. If you want what few have, leave that
normal path. And I invite you to a journey with
the God kind of weird. So, as always, you are
a part of the sermon. So if you will flip your
little notes over there, you will find.