Latest / Journey Elgin / Journey Through Scripture- Mt 23-5, Mk 12-3, Lk 20-1
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: Hi, it's good to see you today. Welcome to our episode of our Journey Through Scripture. My name is Philip Thomas, pastor of Journey here in Elgin, Texas. And as we continue to go through a chronological view of Scripture, we're in the Gospels at the end of Jesus' life. But a lot happens in that last week of Jesus' life. So today we're going to be looking at Matthew 23 through 25, Mark chapter 12 and 13, or the end of chapter 12 and then 13. and then Luke chapter 20, the end of chapter 20 and the first part of chapter 21. So Matthew chapter 23 ⁓ is the woes to the scribes and the Pharisees. This is really the extensive ⁓ woes are given in Matthew only. There's some of the similar things given in Luke and Mark as well, but the biggest section is in Matthew. And it's important to know whenever Jesus would have been criticizing the religious leaders like this, this would have been pretty shocking to people. The religious leaders were not used to being criticized. They were used to telling people what to do and being revered, or listened to. And so for Jesus to come after them like this would have not only made them mad, but it would have been shocking to the crowd. ⁓ And you can see why some of the crowd may not like how Jesus is being so ⁓ upfront. And probably they'll say, Jesus, why don't you be a little nicer? These are religious people. being, I kind of can hear that in some of our discourse today. But Jesus has been very harsh here. And the religious leaders clearly, do not like this, but at the heart of it is that what the religious leaders are doing, they're not doing it because of their love of God, they're doing it because of their love of themselves. Which that goes all the way back to the heart of all sinfulness, back in the Garden of Eden is when Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan whenever he said, Don't you want to be like God? And when we elevate ourselves above God, that is at the heart of sinfulness and then behavior starts to follow. And that's what's happening here. ⁓ Jesus continues to say, woe to you scribes and says to you scribes and Pharisees. Verse four of Matthew chapter 23. For they bind heavy burdens hard to bear and they lay them on men's but they themselves will not move with them ⁓ one of their fingers, but all their works they do to be seen by men." Right? So it's all ⁓ a show. ⁓ It's not flowing from a true relationship and a love of God. ⁓ Verse 11, but he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled. He who humbles himself will be exalted. That is the heart of the problem. It's what's on the inside that is most important. And that leads to what happens on the outside. That leads to our actions. It continues to go, it talks about how they don't take care of widows, they go through the motions, but they don't actually... take care of the widows, talks about how they travel to convert people because that looks good, but then they don't really convert them to loving God. They convert them to following the rules that they have set. It just kind of continues to go along. I love verse 23, says, what do you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law. justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. So they're focused on the smaller things, the ritual things, but not about justice and mercy and faith. Blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. I love that. Continues talks about extortion and self-indulgence. It says, Clean the inside of the cup. All you worry about is cleaning the outside of the cup what you look like on the outside Clean the inside of the cup and then everything will be cleansed So it calls them whitewash tombs Would they appear beautifully outward? But inside they are full of dead man's bones I love in verse 29 says because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous and say, if we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Basically, they're saying we would have been so much better than the people back then because we are godly and they are not. There's some contemporary connections there. It's easy for us to look back and say, we would have done things so much different because we are so much better now. No, we're not. We're just as whitewashed. We're just as dirty on the inside. And the only way that gets clean is through a relationship with Christ and not because we've come up with better societal laws. ⁓ Continue on, see, calls him a brood of vipers. Says, how can you escape the condemnation of hell? Again, sometimes we, and maybe I harp on it too much, we don't like the thought that there may be those who are condemned to hell. Well, Jesus is asking the question now. He's asking it rhetorically, ⁓ but would Jesus be just throwing that out if it wasn't even a possibility? It says, therefore indeed I send you prophets, wise men and scribes. This is verse 34. Some of them you will kill and crucify and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city. That on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah, son of Barakiah whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. you know, it's essentially, he says, you think you would do better, but actually you're going to kill the prophets that testify about me. ⁓ That is what Jesus is saying there. And then he has time where he laments over Jerusalem. also saw this in Luke, whenever he's looking at the city in the triumphal entry. Mark chapter 12. 38 through 44, ⁓ condemns the teachers about them being ⁓ hypocrites, but also uses the example of the widow's might, how she gives just a tiny bit, but it's all that she has, where the Pharisees make a big deal out of giving more, but they could give so much more, but she gives all that she has. You see that also in Luke the end of chapter 20, the first part of chapter 21. Then we get to Matthew chapter 24. Matthew 24 is one that we like to talk about. It's talking about end times type things in some ways. What it's talking about is the beginning of the sorrows. ⁓ This is kind of the birthing process that the labor pains are beginning. And so then it goes through a lot of things that many people have tried to connect to when they're living, which is okay because it's accurate to all periods of time. Jesus answers them verse four, says, take heed that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name saying I am the Christ will deceive many. You'll hear of wars, rumors of wars, see that you not be troubled for all these things must be come to pass. But the end is not yet for nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines, pestilence, earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of the sorrows. They will deliver you up to tribulation, kill you. They be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, will hate one another. And then many false prophets will rise up and deceive and because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold, but he who endures till the end shall be saved. And the gospel of the kingdom will be preached and all the world is a witness to all the nations and then the end will come." And then it continues on ⁓ and it talks about the coming of the Son of Man, ⁓ that Christ will come again. Then you have the parable of the fig tree of being ⁓ paying attention to all of this so that whenever you see these things, you know that it is near at the doors. Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. Now, you know, there's different ways to interpret that. People have interpreted it a lot of different ways. One, we don't know. the time or the place, Jesus is going to say that in Matthew 25, so right after this. ⁓ But one of the things that we can know for sure is that those things that Jesus expressed, that's part of the pains that have already begun. The birthing process of the new kingdom of God, the fulfillment of the kingdom of God, we are not there yet. But the process has begun. And so they are going to see all of these things in their time, but they're not going to see, the fulfillment is not completed. There's an illusion, an illusion or a foreshadowing of the destruction of the temple. That is going to happen by Rome. It's going to bring a lot of this. There were false prophets during that time that were claiming to be messiahs, all of that. So I... I think it's okay for us to see this as things that we will experience as well, but just because we're seeing them go around doesn't necessarily mean, ⁓ right around the corner ⁓ is ⁓ the second coming. ⁓ It's a reminder to stand fast, stay firm till the end. The birth pains have begun and we don't know how long they're going to last, but they're going to last until the birth is completed and the... the fullness of the kingdom of God is at hand. But they experienced some of this, but we also will experience those things. And our job is to stay and stand firm till the end and continue to do what God has called us to do no matter what is going on in the world around us. Mark, because by the way, if you read that, I can make a case that everything in Matthew 24 is happening right now. Does that mean that Jesus is going to return next year? I don't know. I kind of hope so, but I don't know. It could be thousands of years more, but it's easy for us to get so caught up into the wind that we forget why Jesus told us about these things so that we can stand firm. Matthew 13, Jesus talks about destruction, signs of the end of the age, the great tribulation, the parable of the fig tree. Luke 21 verses 5 through 33, same thing, goes through all of this. And then Matthew 24 through a lot of 25, Matthew says, ready. This is verse 36 of Matthew 24. But of the day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my father only, but as in the day as of Noah were, so also will be the coming of the Son of man." So he's saying, just be ready. And then he gives ⁓ lots of ⁓ parables that again is just reinforcing the importance of being ready. ⁓ And that because at some point you're not going to have the opportunity to choose to follow Jesus or not. That is... So important. Verse 31 of Matthew 25 says, the Son of Man comes in his glory and all his holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory and all nations will be gathered and he will separate them one from another as the shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And verse 41, then he will also say to those on the left hand, depart from me you cursed into the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil. Again, that there will be that time of splitting, that in the meantime, we need to continue treating and caring for the least of these, living out our faith, not being preoccupied with when the end is gonna come, but being preoccupied with what are we going to do until that time. right, Mark 13, 32 also talks about no one knows the day or the hour. Luke 21, 34 says, but take heed to yourself lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing drunkenness and cares of this life. And that day come on you unexpectedly. To again, pay attention, pay attention how you're living your life now makes a difference. All right. So we will continue. So let's read John 12, Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, go ahead and get John 13 as well. So John 12 and 13, Matthew 26. Mark 14, Luke 22, that's gonna get us, I kinda judge this by how many pages. So yeah, that'll get us quite a ways. ⁓ Yeah, well, we'll stop there. So John 12 and 13, Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22. All right, we will see you.