Latest / Scripture Central / Come Follow Me Insights (May 15 - May 21)Matthew 21–23; Mark 11; Luke 19–20; John 12

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Come Follow Me Insights (May 15 - May 21)Matthew 21–23; Mark 11; Luke 19–20; John 12 · Scripture Central

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  Hello everyone. Thanks for listening to come.
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  Follow me, insights with Taylor and Tyler, presented by
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  scripture Central. We use a lot of visuals in our
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  videos. So, if you want to see the
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  visuals, we invite you to find us on YouTube.
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  Thanks for listening and enjoy. I'm Taylor and I'm Tyler.
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  This is scripture Central's. Come follow me, insights this
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  week. Matthew 21, through 23, Mark 11,
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  Luke 19, and 20, and John 12, boy.
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  That's a lot to cover. It's a lot because we are
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  beginning. During the week of the atoning
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  sacrifice, this is Palm Sunday today.
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  And now that we get into this final week of Jesus life, you're
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  going to notice that all four gospel writers, John joins with
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  the synoptics in telling many of these stories, which remember,
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  there weren't very many of those previously.
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  The other thing to notice is that in our new testament,
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  gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John 66 percent of the chapters
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  cover the first 33 years of his life.
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  And a full one-third of the chapters cover the last week
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  plus a day. So eight days of his life are
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  covered in one-third of the scripture pages that we have in
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  the gospels. So this is day one as we now
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  begin that final week of Jesus life leading into his, his
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  infinite atonement and because there's so much here it's kind
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  of hard to To separate out before we do the the actual
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  triumphal entry in, we're going to spend most of our time in
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  Matthew, 21, and 22. We need to go to John, chapter
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  12 and pick up one little story. That is a precursor to the
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  triumphal entry and it's this little Feast that takes place
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  over in Bethany verse 1, says then Jesus.
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  Six days before the Passover came to Bethany where Lazarus
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  was, which had been dead whom he raised from the So we're back at
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  the home of Mary and Martha. And there they made him a supper
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  and Martha served and Lazarus was one of them which sat at the
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  table and then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard very
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  costly and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with
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  her hair and the house was filled with the odour of the
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  ointment. This is, this is amazing.
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  Martha is serving and marry, her sister is pouring.
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  This ointment this this oil on his feet and that smell is
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  permeating the room. This ointment our best
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  understanding is it comes from the Himalayan Mountains.
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  So think about how far that has got to travel to the Khyber Pass
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  across the Iranian Plateau, through Mesopotamia, down the
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  lavond into Jerusalem. It's it's a significant trade
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  route and the it's interesting there in the village called
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  Beth. Any which in Hebrew means House
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  of the poor. And this is one of the most
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  expensive items anybody could ever acquire.
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  So this contrast is quite interesting that the humblest of
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  all men. Jesus Christ is in this.
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  Poor Village being honored by these poor people, with the
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  wealthiest thing they could get access to well.
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  And, and there's another person sitting at the table who doesn't
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  think this is such a great idea. Verse 4, then saith one of his
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  disciples Judas. Iscariot Simon's son, which
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  Should betray him. Why was not this ointment?
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  Sold for three hundred Pence and given to the poor.
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  You notice that he's he's in front of everybody, accusing,
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  Mary of doing a very foolish thing.
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  She dumped that ointment on to his feet.
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  It's not we can't recollect it and we could have sold that for
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  three hundred Pence. Remember, in previous lessons,
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  we've talked about what Pence means, it's plural for Penny.
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  It's one penny is what a common laborer on a 12-hour shift, for
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  a Would receive as wages that would sustain him and a family
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  at basically subsistence level and she just dumped 300 days
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  equivalent of labor on to his feet.
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  That's over that's over an annual salary.
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  If you take out weekends and vacations for us today, it's a
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  lot of money and Judas is saying that could have been given to
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  the poor. Now John the author of this
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  story he wants. To make sure that you understand
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  motive verse 6. This he meaning Judas said not
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  that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief and he
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  had the bag and bear. What was put there in?
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  He's the treasurer for the 12 and he's looking with greedy
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  eyes at that spikenard ointment thinking I could have been Rich
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  because I could have sold it with the pretense that I was
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  going to give the money to the poor, and I could have kept ER
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  all or a major part of that that profit and I love the fact that
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  Jesus does it again, when somebody's being accused, he
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  jumps in the middle and he turns to Judas and he says, in 3
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  words, some of my favorite three words, let her alone Back off,
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  basically, leave her alone. She has done a good thing and he
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  says, if you look at the Joe Smith translation, 78 says for,
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  she has preserved this ointment until now that she might annoy
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  me, anoint me in token of my burial.
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  And then he says in verse 8 for the poor always you have with
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  you but me ye have not always This is, this is such a
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  beautiful story again with Mary and Martha and now you get Judas
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  in the mix. And did you see what John's
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  gospel tells you the very next event is verse 10, but the chief
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  priests consulted, that they might put Lazarus also to death.
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  It's not enough that we need to get rid of Jesus.
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  Now, we need to get rid of Lazarus to yeah, verse 11.
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  Because that by reason of him, Him.
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  Many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus.
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  They had seen the miracle, they'd known Lazarus.
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  And they had been empowered to believe, because he's miracles
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  of Jesus, so, let's now remove this witness of Jesus.
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  So then after that, you see the triumphal entry from John's
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  account to make things perhaps a little easier to flow through
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  the storyline. We're going to go back and pick
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  up the story now with Matthew. One.
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  Beginning with the triumphal entry, there's there are a lot
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  of beautiful little elements here in this story that often go
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  overlooked. This is one of my favorite
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  unsung miracles in the entire New Testament and some of your
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  probably thinks yourself, the triumphal entry is a miracle.
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  Hold that thought. Let's, let's see as we go
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  through what you think about this first, before you even
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  start down into the Kidron Valley, we need to get the
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  animal. Because Jesus apparently doesn't
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  own a donkey or a mule. So we've got to get that first.
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  So we begin in chapter 21 with him, sending servants to go and
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  get that animal. He says unto them, go into the
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  village verse 2 over against you and straightway ye shall find an
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  ass tied and a Colt with her lose them and bring them unto
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  me. And if any man say ought unto
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  you ye shall say the Lord hath need of them and straightway he
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  will send them. So can you see, there's there to
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  animals mentioned here in Matthew's account.
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  There's only one in marks and Luke's and John's and you're
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  going to see that when we get down to verse 7 the disciples
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  are going to go and get that that animal it's the full of an
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  ass. So we don't know whether it's a
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  donkey or a mule because The Offspring of a donkey depending
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  on the Vintage, the parentage is going to either be a donkey or a
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  mule. I personally kind, not that it
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  matters. This isn't going to get you into
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  heaven, but I love the analogy of this being a mule simply
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  because it ties back in. So beautifully to First Kings,
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  chapter one in the Old Testament.
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  And then we'll tie that in in just a minute.
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  So hold that thought verse 7 says and they brought the ass
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  and the colt and put on them their clothes and they set him
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  there on again, the two animals Smith in the footnote, you'll
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  notice he changed it to and brought the colt and put on it
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  their clothes and Jesus Took the Colts and sat thereon and they
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  followed him if you were to read Matthew's gospel, the way it's
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  written in the in the King James version, it makes it sound
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  really literally than he sitting on two animals, the colt and the
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  Colts mother. And so Joseph Smith fixes this
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  to match up beautifully with Mark Luke and John Zack count
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  one animal. And really what this comes down
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  to is is Jesus as the king comes into Jerusalem and we will read
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  in a little bit from First Kings chapter. 1 verses 33 to 35 about
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  how Jesus re-enacts the triumphal entry of the king of
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  Peace named Solomon. Solomon's name in Hebrew comes
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  from the Hebrew word for peace. And Solomon is as king who rides
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  in on a donkey or a mule right into the same location, where
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  Jesus is going to be logically simplest, this This is
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  incredible. So again earlier on I threw it
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  out there that this is one of my favorite unsung miracles in the
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  New Testament and some of your still probably wondering how is
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  this a miracle. Well, if if you live near any
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  kind of a ranch that has us a horses or donkeys or mules, you
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  might go and ask that Rancher if he would ever in a million
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  years. Have people put clothing items
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  on top of a young donkey or a mule that has never been ridden
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  on before we learn in a different gospel and then if he
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  would be willing to climb up on top of that young animal and
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  then go up a really Steep Hill from Bethany to the Mount of
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  Olives and then down a steep Road into the Kidron Valley and
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  then turn South to go down this steep path past the the gihon
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  spring and then the whole time. Have people come rushing up to
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  that, that animal, that's never been ridden on before unbroken
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  shouting shouting and waving palm branches in the air and
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  throwing clothing down on the ground in front of that donkey.
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  And and what are they shouting verse 9 Hosanna to the son of
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  David blessed. Is he that cometh in the name of
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  the Lord hosanna in the highest and ask that Rancher, if he
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  would ever consider doing that with a young donkey, or a mule.
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  And he'll probably look at you with an incredulous.
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  Look of. Why are you even asking such a
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  silly question, nobody in their right mind would ever do that.
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  But Jesus would he takes this this animal?
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  And he goes on this journey, he takes that donkey for that, mule
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  places that that little donkey, or a mule never thought
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  possible. That's a miracle to be able to
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  calm even an animal in the face of that kind of a condition
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  with, with the Steep terrain and the people rushing up and all of
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  the noise in the and the clothing and the waving of the
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  palm branches. The fact that donkey just kept
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  walking someday, I want to meet that donkey or that mule.
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  And think that animal for being such an inspiration to me.
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  Because I can't tell you how many times in my life, I have
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  gone into a situation where I look down this, this Steep Hill
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  down into the Kidron Valley, and look at where I'm supposed to
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  go. And think I can't do this, I
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  can't, but then there's this reassuring voice of he who holds
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  the reins. Saying you can, you can do this,
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  you can go forward in faith. As long as you, let me, Guide.
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  You as long as I am holding the reins, you can calmly go into
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  situations and accomplish things that you never thought possible.
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  This miracle is one of the most relevant.
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  And yet the applicable element in, the story happens to be a
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  donkey that I can relate to and I love, I love scripture study
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  when you can get layers of symbolism, even in things like
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  an animal that apply to us. In our situations today.
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  So I love some of the words that show up here, things like
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  spreading, which is the r word. Straw comes in the same Greek
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  word, and it's also related to the word destroy but in the
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  opposite sense. So they're actually spreading
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  like goodness. And there the path.
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  Where is to destroy is to cut off such spreading.
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  And so when Jesus talks about the wicked will be destroyed,
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  they're cut off from the path. And here people are spreading Or
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  at the path, they're using their cloaks also really interesting
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  word. Listen to this one.
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  And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat,
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  let him have thy cloak. Also, it's his outer garment
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  worn under the undergarment and it's the same word.
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  So, on a sermon of the mount, when Jesus said, you should be
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  willing to let go of your outer cloak and give it away.
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  People are actually doing that for Jesus walking with him
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  Twain. I love that.
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  And also that, of course, you Of the shouting.
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  And this this word, it's a cries.
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  Oh, in fact, ancient Greek, writers would relate it to
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  crows, who had just inarticulately just shout their
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  call. And its people are just so
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  exuberant. They're, they're shouting with
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  triumphant noise to a point that you can't even really fully tell
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  what's going on. Except you can hear this
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  powerful Hebrew word Hosanna which means save save us please
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  which is based on the name. Name of Jesus.
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  Jesus is name is based on the Hebrew word, Joshua of which is
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  related to Hosanna. So all these really interesting
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  things going on with the words in this text.
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  So now if you look at this 3D Recreation of Jerusalem at the
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  time of Jesus, as we look down this Kidron Valley, you notice,
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  here's the gijón spring this area here.
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  That location is significant. We already mentioned it back in
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  First Kings chapter one, that's when David's on his deathbed and
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  Nathan. And Bathsheba come to him and
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  say, hey, I thought you promised the throne after your death to
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  our son Solomon. He said I did and she says, will
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  Auto Nyjah, is conspiring to take it at which point David
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  revives, tells Nathan to go take his finest mule go, to the gihon
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  spring, put his son Solomon on that mule and Anoint him to be
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  the king, anoint, the Messiah, the anointed one, the crystals
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  in the Greek, the anointed one at the gihon spring and then he
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  will ride into Jerusalem on David's mule amid.
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  Shouts of Triumph is the, is the idea, celebrating their, their
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  new king. So the fact that Jesus is coming
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  down this very same Valley past this very same spring, Writing
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  on an animal as the anointed one, the people are apparently
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  getting the message. And so they're crying to him.
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  As Taylor mentioned, the word Hosanna is saved.
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  Now please, it's a plea for salvation from Yeshua Jehovah
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  saves their seeing the connection and you see that it
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  says Hosanna to the son of David.
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  They're seeing him as the the Fulfillment of all of their
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  Jewish. Messianic expectations of a
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  coming Messiah. 'He who is going to be taking
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  the davidic throne restoring, royalty back into the family
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  line of David and he's going to overthrow the Romans over
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  through all the government's, take the government upon his
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  shoulders and and be in charge. They were expecting him on this
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  experience to come in and fulfill.
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  All of the Old Testament prophecies that are pointing us
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  to the second coming. The coming of the Lion of the
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  tribe of Judah. And instead of writing in like a
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  lion, he's going to come in meek and lowly like a lamb to be
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  slain. So here they are on Palm Sunday,
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  shouting Hosanna and there aren't going to be that many
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  people shouting Hosanna on Thursday, and on Friday, morning
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  of that week, when he's being led to Golgotha and yet
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  ironically they actually are being saved.
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  They're asking for salvation. And so he's going to do, what
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  will deliver what needs to happen to save them by perform
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  that infinite atonement? So, let's read in First Kings,
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  chapter one, a couple of these verses.
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  And as you hear these, want you to think about Jesus and how
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  clear this connects to what Jesus is doing first 33 to 35.
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  The king also said unto them, this is David take with you the
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  Servants of your lord and cause Solomon my son to ride upon
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  mine. Oh, mule and bring them down to
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  G home and let zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet.
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  Anoint him their King over Israel and blow you with the
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  trumpet and say God, save King Solomon.
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  Then he shall come up after him that he may come and sit upon my
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  throne for he shall be king in my stead and I have appointed
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  him to be ruler over Israel. And over Judah, we should also
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  point out this gihon spring, which is still there in
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  Jerusalem. Today is Berkeley, the lifeblood
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  of Jerusalem. Just a few days ago, I was
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  talking with my kids about, we were actually studying some
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  stuff in the Old Testament and about why the city of David was
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  built on such a steep hill. We talked about because it's
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  very difficult to attack. And so Jerusalem was very well
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  situated because it had two major things had great defense
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  and had an eternal water source that starts at the gijón spring
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  and that water source. Still flows today goes right
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  through has a Kai's tunnel. You want to think about this,
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  any City any civilization needs water?
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  Ultimately surf of for survival. If you look around the world
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  today conflicts past and present often water is related to that
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  conflict. Consider what Jesus is doing.
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  He begins at the source of life for the city, the gr own spring
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  and enters in symbolizing that he is the Eternal source of life
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  and water for these people. I just find it.
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  So powerful, the symbolism is so thick in these scriptures.
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  And sometimes, as much as I love the words, I wish it was just
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  visualized for us and we could see how the symbolism just
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  clearly laid out. Here's what Jesus is trying to
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  communicate. He is the Water of Life.
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  Love that. So now he's entered into the
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  city on that lowly animal. And he finds his way into the
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  temple and all of the the Jewish people around him or probably
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  expect him to go towards the Antonia Fortress and a wipe out
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  the Roman Garrison and the guards, and start over throwing
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  this, these Roman oppressors, but instead verse 12, Jesus went
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  into the temple of God. God and cast out all them that
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  sold and bought in the temple and overthrew the tables of the
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  money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves.
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  So instead of casting out Romans, he goes in and he casts
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  out. Jewish people who were up in the
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  temple, exchanging money, and selling doves selling sacrifice.
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  Why is that such a big deal? Like, people were supposed to
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  sacrifice? Why is that an issue?
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  Exactly. So I don't know all of the the
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  Reasons here. Most of the sacrifices would be
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  purchased outside of the temple traditionally and to buy a
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  sacrifice. The tradition is, you can't use
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  your foreign currency. So, if you're coming into
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  Jerusalem, as a good practicing, Jew needs to do.
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  You've got the three festivals in the ear Passover Pentecost
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  and Tabernacles when you come you exchange your foreign
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  currency for temple currency and You can see how the Sadducees
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  who are in charge of this this trade business there.
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  You can see how they start to say, hmm, we've got these people
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  over a barrel because for them to be good, practicing Jews,
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  they have to buy a sacrifice because they're not going to be
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  able to bring a lamb or doves with them if they're coming
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  from, say, Greece or Italy, or from Libya, or Northern Egypt.
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  Any of those places, you even got a leak. 70 miles north,
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  you're going to sell your animal up in the north.
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  Get the money. It's way easier to deal with
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  protect it in your pocket, get down to Jerusalem and transition
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  it to the drachmas at the temple.
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  But who controls the exchange rate, who makes money off that
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  exchange? I'll Sadducees.
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  So, what happens is, there's clearly, an increased charge
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  going on from year to year to year where they're now stealing
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  basically from the people in order to To be a good practicing
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  Jew, and then you go to buy your animal for the sacrifice.
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  And once again, they've got you over a barrel so they can set
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  that price anywhere they want. And they can keep inflating that
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  price artificially from year to year to year, because it's a
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  monopoly. It's a monopoly and now they've
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  taken that practice from out in the markets, around the temple.
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  Now they've brought them into the temple Courtyards probably
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  in under the porticos. And and here they are making all
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  this money. Jesus comes in and he cast out
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  all them that sold. This is one of the this is
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  another of my favorite unsung miracles of the New Testament.
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  If you read books on the miracles of Jesus you're
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  probably not going to find a section on the triumphal entry
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  as a miracle and you're probably not going to find the cleansing
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  of the temple in any of those books as a miracle.
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  But I'm here to tell you, it's a miracle.
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  And if you don't believe, Give me.
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  Try going into a huge sporting event and I'll let you have a
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  whip to use. John's first cleansing of the
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  temple account. You can use Whitby, have to be
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  alone and go and get all of the concessioners to leave that
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  Sports venue that stadium, that that Arena, whatever it is, you
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  all by yourself, kicked them all out.
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  And then tell me it's not a miracle.
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  That one man went in against this entire group of people who
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  are making making an incredible amount of money for the
• 24:16
  Sadducees and they hold all the power with the temple guards and
• 24:22
  he kicks them out, brothers and sisters.
• 24:25
  This is one of my favorite Miracles because if you're if
• 24:30
  you're not careful, you'll read this story and think we're just
• 24:34
  talking about a bunch of stones and mortar and buildings.
• 24:40
  I love Paul's question to the Corinthians what know, ye not
• 24:45
  that ye are the Temple of our God.
• 24:49
  And all of a sudden, you say, hmm.
• 24:51
  So the cleansing of the temple that happened on that day, two
• 24:54
  thousand years ago, Could be seen as a symbolic object lesson
• 25:01
  for what Jesus is asking to do with me, but I have to let him
• 25:06
  in first. He's the one who cleanses my
• 25:10
  temple. He's the one who gets rid of
• 25:13
  those, those elements of my soul, and in my life that are,
• 25:18
  conquering me, that are holding me back that are evil.
• 25:22
  He's the one who cleanses the temple and then he doesn't stop
• 25:24
  there. There's There's Miracle.
• 25:27
  Number two is says, verse 14. The Blind and the lame came to
• 25:33
  him in the temple and he healed them raising now previous to
• 25:38
  this. How would the Blind?
• 25:39
  And the lame have felt in the temple with all of these
• 25:42
  Pharisees Sadducees and scribes walking around looking down
• 25:45
  their nose at them. Yeah, not welcome.
• 25:47
  If you turn to Isaiah 56 and the Isaiah 58.
• 25:51
  There's passages there where Isaiah prophesies about how
• 25:54
  eventually the temple. We'll be welcoming to everybody
• 25:59
  who's worthy, but ancient leaf or in that Isaiah's time, it was
• 26:03
  like if you're lame door, had certain other physical
• 26:06
  situations, you weren't allowed in the temple.
• 26:08
  Matthew has us reference, Jeremiah connecting, Jesus
• 26:14
  actions to things that Jeremiah the prophet did.
• 26:17
  During the time of Lehi around 600 BC in Jerusalem, verse 7 of
• 26:22
  chapter 7, the word that came to Jeremiah for the Lord saying
• 26:26
  Stand in the gate of the Lord's House and proclaimed their this
• 26:30
  word and say hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, to
• 26:33
  enter these gates To Worship the Lord.
• 26:35
  Thus, saith the Lord of hosts, the god of Israel amend, your
• 26:39
  ways and your doings, and I will quiet cause you to dwell in this
• 26:45
  place. Trust you not in these lying
• 26:48
  words saying the Temple of the Lord.
• 26:50
  The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord are these
• 26:54
  very interesting that This is echoing, Jeremiah saying, just
• 26:59
  because there's a building doesn't mean you'll be saved in
• 27:03
  the time of Jeremiah people believe that because there was
• 27:06
  the temple that meant all was well in, Zion and Jeremiah stand
• 27:12
  in the gate of the temple saying, it is not enough to have
• 27:15
  the building. You have to have the inward
• 27:18
  Temple vessel cleansed. So if the outward vessel of the
• 27:21
  temple actually helps and Jesus is doing something similar.
• 27:26
  And to connect us the Book of Mormon.
• 27:28
  It seems that Laman and Lemuel were part of the crowd in the
• 27:32
  time of Jeremiah who felt that the presence of the temple alone
• 27:37
  was enough to protect them and the City from anything they
• 27:41
  might do and would protect them from the Babylonians and Nephi
• 27:46
  and Jeremiah Lehigh and others including Jesus teach.
• 27:50
  It's not enough to have the building.
• 27:53
  It's amazing. You have to have the inward
• 27:56
  vessel Cleansed. So these these references from
• 28:00
  the Old Testament, from Isaiah 56.
• 28:02
  And from Jeremiah 7, look at look back in in Matthew 21 verse
• 28:07
  13. He said unto them.
• 28:09
  So this is before he heals the sick folk that come in to him
• 28:13
  verse 13 and he said unto them, it is written, my house shall be
• 28:17
  called the house of prayer that ye have made it a den of
• 28:22
  Thieves. There's a there's a subtle
• 28:25
  Nuance going on here because here we are in the week of the
• 28:28
  savior's infinite. Sacrifice his atoning, sacrifice
• 28:32
  in John's gospel, the cleansing of the temple by John's account
• 28:37
  occurs. In when Jesus is 30 at the very
• 28:42
  beginning of his ministry. So it's possible that he either
• 28:45
  cleanse the temple twice once at the beginning.
• 28:47
  And John tells us that story on once at the very end where the
• 28:49
  synoptics tell that story, Matthew and Mark Have It
• 28:52
  reversed in the order will talk About that in a minute.
• 28:55
  But the amazing thing is that in John's account, he refers to it
• 28:59
  as my father's house. In his telling at the beginning
• 29:03
  of the ministry and now here at the end of his ministry, he's
• 29:06
  calling it my house. Now if you think about that in
• 29:09
  the context of the you as a child of God, a child of the
• 29:15
  Covenant, an adoptive son or daughter of Jesus Christ through
• 29:20
  the Covenant. And now as a disciple of Christ
• 29:24
  you can see this through that Ministry.
• 29:26
  Jesus is now staking ownership staking a claim over you Over
• 29:32
  the temple, he's calling it his house, a house of the Lord.
• 29:36
  And, and you'll also notice he's not defiling the sacrifices or
• 29:42
  the law of Moses or telling them, they shouldn't be doing
• 29:46
  all those things. What he's what he's rejecting
• 29:49
  is, how they're robbing from the people, basically, in order to
• 29:56
  for them to get gained while the people are just trying to keep
• 29:59
  the law of Moses. I love the fact that they're now
• 30:02
  Gone. These poor people who have been
• 30:05
  blind and lame. They come into the temple and he
• 30:08
  healed them, I I could be wrong. But for me, I love looking at
• 30:14
  this two-part Miracle of Jesus, taking things out of the temple
• 30:19
  that are defiled and unclean, and bringing things into the
• 30:23
  temple that have been judged in the past to be defiled, an
• 30:26
  unclean, and making them pure and whole It's almost as if we
• 30:32
  get this miracle of forgiveness of sins of commission where he
• 30:37
  helps us get rid of those things out of our life that we're doing
• 30:40
  that, we shouldn't be doing and where sins of omission or being
• 30:43
  overcome where he brings into our life.
• 30:46
  Things that before we haven't let in that really need to be a
• 30:50
  part of our life. I love this miracle.
• 30:53
  That once again often gets overlooked as a miracle.
• 30:56
  So next, we come to this miracle of the cursing of the Fig Tree,
• 30:59
  which Many of you are probably wondering.
• 31:03
  Why is why is there a miracle where Jesus uses his divine
• 31:07
  power to destroy up to this point most of his miracles
• 31:11
  you've seen with probably, without major exception has been
• 31:16
  to restore to build to enliven and in this one, he's using his
• 31:23
  power to destroy. It's worth mentioning that in
• 31:27
  Mark's gospel. He reverses the order of events
• 31:32
  in Mark's gospel, you get the triumphal entry into Jerusalem,
• 31:35
  Jesus walks into the temple, looks around and sees, what's
• 31:38
  happening goes back to Bethany spends the night and in the
• 31:41
  morning comes back curses the Fig Tree, then goes into the
• 31:45
  temple and cleanses the temple. So there's a beautiful symbolic
• 31:49
  connection there of the fig trees, representing the
• 31:52
  leadership of the Jewish people at that time, these Sadducees
• 31:56
  and scribes the Sanhedrin. Of showing all of the appearance
• 32:01
  of having fruits of righteousness but there's no
• 32:04
  fruit on the tree. So when Jesus comes to this fig
• 32:08
  tree can't find any food on it in the morning when he's hungry.
• 32:12
  He says let no fruit fruit. Grow on the henceforward forever
• 32:17
  and presently. The Fig Tree withered away.
• 32:20
  The Greek word, there is immediately And so the disciples
• 32:24
  are sitting there marveling. And then he goes into the temple
• 32:27
  again, in marks account, then you get the cleansing but in
• 32:31
  Matthew's account is still works because he's cursing the Fig
• 32:36
  Tree. And in the temple you're going
• 32:38
  to get different groups of people coming to him and
• 32:41
  questioning him. And he's going to be showing the
• 32:43
  people, the contrast between appearing to be righteous versus
• 32:47
  showing us fruits of righteousness, verse 23, when he
• 32:51
  was coming to the temple, the chief priests, and the Elders of
• 32:54
  the people came unto him as he was, Teaching and said by what
• 32:58
  Authority doest thou these things and who gave thee this
• 33:01
  Authority, it's a really good question.
• 33:04
  They want to know what, how, how do you have authority to cast
• 33:09
  people out and to perform these Miracles?
• 33:11
  Where did you get this? And I love this moment when
• 33:14
  Jesus looks at them and says, well, I'm also going to ask you
• 33:18
  a question. And if you can tell me the
• 33:21
  answer to this question, then I and likewise will tell you by
• 33:24
  what Authority I do these things and then he says the baptism of
• 33:28
  John once was it from heaven or of men.
• 33:32
  Keeping shout moment when these Chief priests stand there.
• 33:35
  Looking at him with this this confused look and then they go
• 33:39
  and huddle up together and say um if we say that it's of God
• 33:44
  then he's going to say Well then why don't you go get baptized?
• 33:46
  And if we say, it's of men than the people are going to hate us
• 33:48
  because they all think John was a prophet.
• 33:50
  We're stuck. So they go back to Jesus and say
• 33:53
  we cannot tell. We cannot say And I love verse
• 33:58
  27. When Jesus says, well, neither
• 34:02
  telling you by what Authority, I do these things.
• 34:06
  It's fair, you're not going to answer my question.
• 34:08
  I'm not going to answer yours and then look at the very next
• 34:11
  word. 28 starts with the word, but But what think ye the idea
• 34:19
  here is he is going to answer their question, he's just not
• 34:23
  going to answer directly to them.
• 34:25
  He's going to tell a parable, a story with the answer of.
• 34:31
  Where did you get your Authority and, and who gave it to you?
• 34:36
  And here's the answer in Parable Store.
• 34:39
  Parable form. A certain man had two sons, and
• 34:42
  he came to the first and he said, Son, go work.
• 34:45
  Today in my Vineyard Cured and he answered and said, I will not
• 34:51
  but afterwards, he repented and went.
• 34:53
  And he came to the second and said, likewise, and he answered
• 34:55
  and said, I go sir and he went not, now you're hearing that
• 35:00
  Parable and you're thinking, wait a minute, how in the world?
• 35:03
  Does that answer the question of?
• 35:06
  Where did you get your Authority?
• 35:07
  Who gave it to you? Because neither of those Sons
• 35:11
  sound like Jesus. But if you are reading in the
• 35:16
  King James version makes it really hard to see.
• 35:19
  But in the Greek look at verse 29 again, the first son, his
• 35:24
  answer was I will not the word will can imply.
• 35:30
  I'm not going to do it or it can imply.
• 35:35
  It's not my will it's not what I want to do, huh?
• 35:41
  Now if you picture Jesus going into Gethsemane few days after
• 35:46
  this event, when he falls to the ground, his prayer is Abba.
• 35:54
  Father all things are possible unto thee.
• 35:57
  Remove this cup from me. He's basically saying I don't
• 36:02
  want to do this. And none of us are frustrated by
• 36:06
  that. He says, but afterwards, he
• 36:11
  repented and went the word repented meta, no'eau means to
• 36:18
  change. He didn't persist in this, in
• 36:23
  this request of, I don't want to do this.
• 36:25
  Remove this cup from me, you don't have to sin to change or
• 36:31
  to repent in the Greek context here.
• 36:34
  So this first son said, I don't want to do this.
• 36:38
  But then he met a narwhal, he changed his thinking and in
• 36:45
  Gethsemane Jesus said, nevertheless not my will, but
• 36:51
  thine be done. And he went he completed the
• 36:54
  task. Now what about the Second Son?
• 36:58
  The second ones said, I go sir and he went not if you look
• 37:04
  closely at your wording there in verse 32, go is italicized.
• 37:08
  Sized which means it didn't exist in the Greek text.
• 37:11
  They added it because they didn't think that it was very
• 37:14
  good English to say. And he answered and said, I sir
• 37:18
  and went, not what? He's saying is hey, go kitty.
• 37:22
  A, i sir, did you notice the word for I in Greek ego ego?
• 37:29
  Eg0 with Lucifer. It's all about the ego.
• 37:34
  It's all about. I But he went not, he wasn't
• 37:39
  willing to come and suffer, he wasn't willing to pay anything
• 37:43
  and he wasn't the chosen from the beginning.
• 37:45
  He's trying to take that role from Jesus.
• 37:49
  And notice is says whither of them to whether of them Twain
• 37:54
  did, the will of his father and they send him the first and
• 37:57
  Jesus saith unto them verily. I say unto you that the
• 38:00
  publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God.
• 38:03
  Before you, you think, you have power and authority, you think
• 38:08
  you have all these amazing things that make you better than
• 38:13
  everybody? And he said, no publicans and
• 38:15
  sinners are going to going to happen before you.
• 38:17
  But we're getting ahead of ourselves.
• 38:19
  He answered their question. Where did you get your
• 38:22
  Authority, and who gave it to you?
• 38:24
  His answer is I got it before the world was and my father gave
• 38:30
  it to me and he sent me down here to do his will.
• 38:34
  Well then he says in verse 33 hear another Parable, there was
• 38:39
  a certain householder which planted a Vineyard and idea, the
• 38:42
  parable of the husbandman authority matters.
• 38:46
  It's a big deal to know, where did you get your Authority and
• 38:49
  who gave it to you? So he's already answered in
• 38:53
  Parable number one, where he got his own authority now in
• 38:58
  Parable. Number two, he's going to give a
• 39:02
  second parable. About where the chief priests,
• 39:06
  the very people he's talking to, where did you get your
• 39:09
  Authority? Because they do have some
• 39:10
  Authority. And he tells this this example
• 39:14
  of a Vineyard and the husbandman goes into a far country leaving
• 39:17
  the vineyard in charge or under the care of these husbandmen So
• 39:23
  then the Lord of The Vineyard sends his servants into the
• 39:27
  vineyard to get the fruits of the vineyard from these
• 39:30
  husbandman. But when they come the servants
• 39:34
  beat one, they kill another and they Stone another.
• 39:38
  And so then he sent more servants and they do the same
• 39:42
  and worst to them as well. And finally, the husbandman says
• 39:47
  I'm going to send my son. Surely they will reverence my
• 39:51
  son so the The air of the Vineyard comes in and they say
• 39:57
  here's the wording. When the husbandmen saw the son,
• 40:00
  they said among themselves. This is the heir come.
• 40:03
  Let us kill him and let us seize on his inheritance and they
• 40:07
  caught him and cast him out of the vineyard and slew him.
• 40:12
  And then Jesus does something fascinating.
• 40:15
  Keep in mind, they're interpreting these stories, very
• 40:18
  literally. So he's just telling the story
• 40:20
  and they're thinking, man, these are terrible servants, and Jesus
• 40:25
  asks them, this inspired question when the Lord therefore
• 40:29
  of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those
• 40:34
  husbandmen? So he lets them answer this
• 40:38
  question, and they say unto him, he will miserably destroy, those
• 40:42
  wicked men and will let out his Vineyard unto other husbandmen,
• 40:45
  which shall render him the fruits in their, in their
• 40:47
  seasons. And then Jesus quotes to them.
• 40:52
  Psalm 118 Verse 22 from their hymn book.
• 40:57
  About the stone being rejected by the builders.
• 41:02
  The very Stone that's rejected becomes the head of the corner.
• 41:08
  And he finishes and you can picture this moment where those
• 41:13
  Chief priests are standing there thinking.
• 41:17
  Wait a minute I think I think he might have been talking about us
• 41:24
  with that story. Look at verse 45 when the chief
• 41:29
  priests and the Pharisees had heard his Parables, they
• 41:33
  perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay
• 41:37
  hands on him they feared the multitude because they took him
• 41:42
  for a profit. And then he's going to tell one
• 41:46
  more Parable in the beginning of chapter 22 and this is where we
• 41:54
  get our Authority. So he's already told about his
• 41:58
  own and the chief priests Authority.
• 42:00
  Now, he talks about us through the parable of the marriage,
• 42:04
  Feast of the King's son, and we're all of these rich people
• 42:09
  are invited, bidden to come to the wedding and they would not
• 42:14
  not come. So the the doors are thrown
• 42:19
  open. The party is laid out and these
• 42:22
  people won't come. And so, what is what does he do?
• 42:27
  He sends servants out into the highways and he gathers as many
• 42:31
  as would come both bad and good and the wedding was furnished
• 42:34
  with guests. He brings people into this
• 42:37
  wedding feast and when he came into the wedding, Feast the
• 42:42
  king, he saw there, a man which had not Not on a wedding garment
• 42:48
  is covering akka. Far from the Old Testament.
• 42:51
  There's a man who came in and he must have thought, he could come
• 42:56
  in without going through the front door, and accepting the
• 43:00
  clothing, the covering that the lord of the feast would have
• 43:04
  provided as part of the wedding, and he's sitting there without
• 43:07
  it, as, if to say, I don't need the saviours infinite atonement
• 43:12
  to be saved in this wedding. Feast And the King comes to him
• 43:16
  and says friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding
• 43:20
  garment and he was speechless. He didn't have an answer.
• 43:25
  Then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot
• 43:28
  and take him away and cast him into outer Darkness.
• 43:31
  There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth for many are
• 43:34
  called, but few are chosen and verse 14.
• 43:39
  Joseph Smith ads, where for all do not have on the wedding
• 43:43
  garment there are some who are coming in acting like they're
• 43:49
  taking Christ upon them being closed in Christ but they don't
• 43:54
  have the wedding. Garment on and there is no place
• 43:57
  for them in his wedding Feast. So, where do we get our
• 44:01
  Authority? It's by accepting the Kings
• 44:04
  invitation to come in to the wedding Feast of his son.
• 44:08
  This beautiful symbolic, Union between Christ and his church
• 44:13
  and to put on Christ as Paul would say and to be prepared.
• 44:17
  That's where we get our Authority.
• 44:21
  Now this this is the end of Segment 1, when we pick up
• 44:26
  segment to will start here, halfway through Matthew, 22 and
• 44:31
  finished 22, and 23 with some incredible teachings of Jesus,
• 44:36
  there in the temple, likely on that Monday of the week of his
• 44:41
  atoning sacrifice. I hope that you can find meaning
• 44:47
  and purpose that you can apply in your own life.
• 44:50
  These stories that happened. 2,000 years ago, that are
• 44:53
  getting the Savior closer, and closer and closer to get cemani
• 44:59
  the trials and Golgotha. I hope you can see elements of
• 45:03
  yourself in that little donkey or that mule.
• 45:07
  I hope you can see elements of yourself in the stones and in
• 45:10
  the buildings of the temple being cleansed.
• 45:13
  I hope you can see elements of the savior's power showing, what
• 45:19
  happens? When we act like, we have fruits
• 45:23
  of righteousness, but we don't have them in the cursing of the
• 45:27
  Fig Tree. And then these three Parables
• 45:30
  showing Authority, the amazing thing to me in these three
• 45:33
  Parables is how much God wants to share his power and his
• 45:39
  authority with us down here on the Earth, but we have to be
• 45:43
  willing to accept it the way he intends to give it and to use
• 45:49
  that power and authority. Ways that he directs us, and
• 45:53
  it's always going to be in ways to help build up his kingdom and
• 45:59
  to help people who are struggling in a variety of ways
• 46:05
  on both sides of the veil. So, in episode 1, we covered
• 46:10
  most of the stories that are in Mark, Luke and John and the
• 46:16
  Matthew 21, and the first half of chapter 22.
• 46:18
  So today in this second episode, I sewed, we're going to cover
• 46:23
  the second half of Matthew, 22, and all of Matthew 23.
• 46:27
  So to begin, there are three experiences here.
• 46:32
  Starting in verse 15, where Jesus is going to be judged
• 46:38
  tempted, Tried by three different groups of people.
• 46:42
  So in your scriptures, if you were to mark them, you would say
• 46:49
  verse 15. Is where the Pharisees come to
• 46:53
  to prove him to tempt him. Verse 23 is where the Sadducees
• 46:58
  take their shot, tempting him and pushing him into a corner to
• 47:04
  trap him. And then verse 35, is where a
• 47:08
  lawyer or a scribe comes to do his testing of Jesus.
• 47:16
  So there's some incredible significance and having
• 47:18
  Pharisees Sadducees and Hibs sending representatives in turn
• 47:24
  right here, a few days before Jesus crucifixion to to tempt
• 47:29
  him to examine him and to try to trap him.
• 47:33
  So we have in the Passover season over the years as the
• 47:38
  Jews would celebrate, they would have a lamb that they would use
• 47:42
  for Passover service that they would Slaughter and consume.
• 47:45
  But before that before you would Slaughter that lamb you would
• 47:49
  have to bring that. Come to the temple, to be
• 47:52
  examined by the authorities. To ensure that that lamb was
• 47:57
  ready for the sacrifice and it seems that Matthew is making it
• 48:02
  very clear for us, that Jesus is the Lamb being brought to the
• 48:06
  temple, being examined by the authorities.
• 48:09
  And actually, he's found worthy by God, even though the
• 48:14
  authorities don't seem to get the message.
• 48:18
  So let's jump into the Pharisees trap.
• 48:20
  Up first starting in verse 15. Now keep in mind, this is a
• 48:23
  group who they know that they're going to get their shot at
• 48:30
  trapping Jesus. So you can picture these
• 48:33
  backroom conversations. What could we, what could we do
• 48:38
  with him in front of the big group in the temple, that would
• 48:41
  make him just look terrible and would would ultimately be his
• 48:47
  demise. So they've crafted the there.
• 48:50
  S case trap for him. And now they spring it or
• 48:55
  rather, they try to spring it on him.
• 48:57
  It comes in verse 15. Then went the Pharisees and took
• 49:01
  counsel, how they might entangle him in his talk and they send
• 49:06
  out unto him, their disciples with the herodians saying
• 49:09
  Master, we know that thou art true and teaches the way of God
• 49:15
  in truth. Neither carest thou for any man
• 49:18
  for thou regardest, not the person of men.
• 49:20
  Men, can you hear the the flattery and the the fault
• 49:25
  sprays that they're laying on him to try to to soften him up
• 49:33
  so that he would walk into their trap.
• 49:36
  Now, while those techniques might work with normal people,
• 49:39
  They don't work great with the Son of God and so, here's their
• 49:44
  trap. You ready?
• 49:46
  For this? Tell us therefore, what thinkest
• 49:48
  thou is it lawful to Of tribute unto Caesar or not.
• 49:53
  So, after their flattery, you speak the truth.
• 49:56
  You're such a wise master and we we're really wrestling with
• 50:00
  this. This debate of is it really okay
• 50:03
  for us to continue to pay tribute to Rome?
• 50:05
  Because we know what happens when we pay money to Caesar, it
• 50:10
  gets spent to build Pagan temples, Pagan idols.
• 50:14
  And to build up that Roman Empire, which is rooted in idol
• 50:18
  worship. And you're also So, using money
• 50:21
  to pay the Army, that's oppressing us.
• 50:24
  So there's a lot of reasons they don't like paying the tax.
• 50:27
  So can you see the Trap two-sided here?
• 50:30
  If he says don't pay it. Well, you've now have an
• 50:35
  insurrectionist claim on their hands to say C.
• 50:41
  And if he says do pay it, then they say, well, then, you're not
• 50:45
  supporting the law of Moses that you're not supposed to worship
• 50:49
  idols. You're not supposed to.
• 50:50
  Support oppressors. So they're thinking this is the
• 50:56
  perfect trap, we've got him, can you picture that moment that
• 51:00
  pause? After they've laid the question
• 51:02
  at his feet and all the people are sitting there thinking
• 51:04
  what's he going to say? And I love Ali says Jesus
• 51:08
  perceived their wickedness and said why tempt ye me.
• 51:12
  Ye actors you Hypocrites of the word is actor.
• 51:16
  Like they're not sincere. He's like let's have a real
• 51:19
  conversation about real issues that people really Care about
• 51:23
  instead. You guys are just acting that
• 51:26
  the intention of creating problems for me and actually,
• 51:29
  for a lot of other people. So then he says, verse 19 Shew
• 51:35
  me the tribute money, and they brought unto him a penny.
• 51:41
  So I have here a replica Denarius that was made out of
• 51:47
  silver from my friend. Richard Beach Jeweler and This
• 51:53
  is an exact replica of what coins these pennies or penny in
• 52:00
  that day would look like. And so he says, show it to me.
• 52:04
  So they produce one and show it to him.
• 52:07
  Now, look at the next thing he says, and he saith unto them,
• 52:11
  whose is this image and superscription?
• 52:16
  And they say unto him. Well, it's got Caesars image on
• 52:21
  the coin. As you can see here, and his
• 52:24
  answer is okay, well render, therefore unto Caesar the
• 52:28
  things, which are Caesar's and unto God, the things that are
• 52:31
  gods. Now, most people read that verse
• 52:36
  and think. Wow, that was ingenious T, he
• 52:40
  got out of there trap, he didn't take a side.
• 52:43
  He just said, look, if it's got Caesars image on it, then render
• 52:46
  it to Caesar's Caesar because it's his And then we often stop
• 52:51
  there and smile at how smart Jesus was to overcome this trap
• 52:57
  and perhaps we might miss from my opinion, for my perspective,
• 53:01
  the single most important part of the entire inner change here
• 53:06
  which is a message. Not just to overcome the trap
• 53:10
  for this group of Pharisees and herodians that came to him, but
• 53:14
  for Disciples of Christ in that Temple setting as well as in the
• 53:19
  21st century. Treated a reading.
• 53:21
  This story. It's that second phrase.
• 53:24
  It's far less focused on Render unto Caesar that the things
• 53:30
  which are Caesar's. And it's the second phrase and
• 53:34
  Render unto God, the things which are gods.
• 53:39
  You'll notice how do I know that this coin is Caesars because it
• 53:46
  has Caesars image on it. So, how do I know what to render
• 53:50
  to God? Well, probably something that
• 53:54
  has God's image on it. There's only one thing that has
• 53:58
  God's image on it and that's God's children.
• 54:02
  That's you, that's me. So, at the end of the day here,
• 54:07
  When Jesus makes this statement, the message to me as a disciple
• 54:12
  of Christ is Tyler. You need to give your life
• 54:17
  render to God. You you'll notice how much
• 54:21
  easier it is to pay money and to give things away.
• 54:27
  As opposed to giving yourself. So full consecration is to
• 54:33
  Render unto God my whole life. It's to say to the Lord.
• 54:39
  You can have anything that you want.
• 54:41
  It's all yours. I place my whole life into your
• 54:45
  hands to Render unto God. The things which are Gods is a
• 54:49
  very profound teaching for complete, consecration to the
• 54:55
  Lord. This is really transformative.
• 54:57
  If we go back into Genesis, we hear about creation and the
• 55:02
  crowning event is God, creating us his children in His image and
• 55:09
  those in the crowd who with ears to hear should have seen that.
• 55:14
  That is true. I am in the image of God, and I
• 55:18
  need to give myself to him, and it's also significant that in
• 55:22
  the ancient Middle East, most of the surrounding cultures, would
• 55:26
  create images of their gods and spent a lot of time, taking care
• 55:30
  of those statues, and dressing them up, and giving them food
• 55:34
  and building temples or houses to those images.
• 55:38
  And think about the Revolutionary concept that God
• 55:41
  teaches in scriptures, instead of you creating images, you
• 55:45
  spend time focusing on. I've created an image that I
• 55:49
  want you to focus on. That image is me and it's in you
• 55:54
  and it's an everybody around you.
• 55:57
  So we've we've overcome the test or the trial from the Pharisees
• 56:06
  that had started in verse 15. Now we go to the second trial
• 56:13
  Late At His Feet. The second trap or examination
• 56:17
  from the Sadducees which remember they don't believe in
• 56:23
  the resurrection. It tells you that in verse 23,
• 56:26
  the same day came to him the Sadducees which say there is no
• 56:30
  Reggie Resurrection. It's really simple to remember
• 56:34
  the difference between Pharisees and Sadducees in their Doctrine
• 56:37
  Sadducees. Don't Leave in Resurrection, and
• 56:39
  that's sad. You see, it's just a simple way
• 56:42
  to to keep that straight. The Sadducees is the group
• 56:47
  there, more of the, the aristocracy of the Jews there,
• 56:51
  more of the, the rich, the elite, the Highborn.
• 56:54
  And as such, they have many more opportunities for political
• 56:58
  appointments from the, the Romans and previous to the
• 57:02
  Romans, the Greeks back before Pompey overthrew.
• 57:09
  The Greek control. So they are, they have become
• 57:14
  more, shall we say attached to the doctrines and the
• 57:18
  philosophies of the world of their day and the Greek
• 57:22
  philosophies that come down from from Socrates Plato Aristotle,
• 57:27
  400 years before Christ, all of those doctrines in those
• 57:31
  teachings. Have pretty much infiltrated the
• 57:35
  ranks of the Sadducees, the Greeks, Don't believe in the
• 57:39
  Resurrection. The Greeks, don't believe in
• 57:41
  angels the Greeks. Don't don't believe all of these
• 57:45
  things that are in the Old Testament.
• 57:48
  And so it doesn't come as a shock that the Sadducees are
• 57:50
  going to have adopted many of those philosophies and, and find
• 57:55
  ways to say. We're still good practicing
• 57:57
  juice. Even though we don't believe all
• 57:59
  of these things that the Pharisees have been teaching.
• 58:02
  So what their focus is on, they're focusing on death,
• 58:06
  they're trying to trap Jesus in this discussion about what
• 58:10
  happens at death or after death and will just give you the
• 58:14
  preview Jesus focuses on life. It's very interesting how he
• 58:19
  turns the tables and says you're asking the wrong questions.
• 58:22
  You're so worried about what happens in death or after death,
• 58:25
  why not focus on what happens in life and he himself is the
• 58:28
  bringer of life, this is the scenario that they're using as a
• 58:33
  trap against Jesus, you're ready?
• 58:37
  Verse 24. There's this group of saris
• 58:39
  Sadducees and they say master. Moses said, if a man die having
• 58:44
  no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up seed
• 58:47
  unto his brother. That's called The levirate Law
• 58:50
  of marriage. But if your older brother dies
• 58:54
  without seed, the younger brother and it doesn't matter
• 58:57
  how much of an age separation. There is, it, it just doesn't
• 58:59
  matter when you're of age, you're under obligation to
• 59:04
  marry, your brother's wife. And raise up seed and the
• 59:08
  economic system in the very far, ancient Israelite past was that
• 59:14
  the children were supposed to inherit what the parents had?
• 59:17
  And also use those resources to support the parents in their old
• 59:20
  age and also to maintain the name of that owner of the land
• 59:26
  on the land. And so this is all about land
• 59:29
  and inheritance and posterity and prosperity.
• 59:33
  So this tradition or this culture, I've been preserved for
• 59:37
  a lot of years. So the story continues.
• 59:40
  This this trap is being set here.
• 59:45
  Now, there were with us, that's a really important distinction,
• 59:49
  there were with us. So, these are Sadducees seven
• 59:54
  Brethren and the first, when he had married a wife deceased, and
• 59:58
  having no issue left, his wife unto his brother, Likewise the
• 1:00:03
  second also on the third unto the 7th, by the way, can you
• 1:00:06
  picture being the 7th brother thinking?
• 1:00:09
  You know, my six older brothers of all not lasted long in this
• 1:00:14
  marriage? I wonder how it's going to fare
• 1:00:16
  for me. So, verse 27, says, M last of
• 1:00:21
  all the woman died. Also, therefore in the
• 1:00:24
  resurrection, remember the Sadducees don't believe in
• 1:00:27
  Resurrection so it's one side of their trap.
• 1:00:32
  In the resurrection, whose wife shall?
• 1:00:35
  She be of the 74, they all had her.
• 1:00:40
  Now, watch carefully. Did you see the trap in the
• 1:00:44
  resurrection? Who's going to be married to
• 1:00:47
  this woman because all seven had her. there's the trap now this
• 1:00:53
  next verse Jesus answered and said unto them ye do err not
• 1:00:59
  knowing the scriptures nor the power of God for in the
• 1:01:04
  resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but
• 1:01:09
  are as the angels of God in heaven that verse that one verse
• 1:01:15
  gets used all the time to say see there's no such thing as
• 1:01:19
  marriage. There's no such thing as Eternal
• 1:01:21
  family. Here's the fascinating thing.
• 1:01:28
  The Sadducees had plenty of opportunity in their in their
• 1:01:31
  Shady backrooms to come up with a trap for Jesus.
• 1:01:36
  Do I need to find it odd that they would use that example of
• 1:01:41
  pitting, the doctrine of Resurrection against the
• 1:01:44
  doctrine of marriage for eternity to say we'll come up
• 1:01:49
  with a scenario where marriage for eternity in the resurrection
• 1:01:52
  doesn't work and those are the two halves of their trap.
• 1:01:58
  If Jesus has never taught the Eternal nature of marriage.
• 1:02:03
  Why would they come up with a plan to trap him on something?
• 1:02:07
  He's never taught. The idea being that Jesus has
• 1:02:12
  openly taught about resurrection and he's openly taught about
• 1:02:16
  Eternal Marriage. So, they've come up with this
• 1:02:18
  scenario, to try to disprove him and make him look bad.
• 1:02:24
  And some would say, well, no, he doesn't ever directly talk about
• 1:02:27
  Eternal Marriage. Well, there are other places
• 1:02:30
  where he's touched on this. He said, things like what God
• 1:02:33
  has joined together. Let no man.
• 1:02:36
  Divide asunder when he was having that debate with
• 1:02:39
  Pharisees about divorce there, enough hints that even though
• 1:02:44
  certain plane and precious truths might have been taken out
• 1:02:47
  of the Bible. One point doesn't mean that
• 1:02:50
  Jesus Couldn't have taught about these things and there are
• 1:02:54
  enough hints in other places that he is talking about the
• 1:02:56
  Eternal nature of family. And this ironically is for me,
• 1:03:02
  one of the greatest sources to show that Jesus did teach
• 1:03:06
  Eternal Marriage because of what the Sadducees are, using that
• 1:03:09
  Doctrine as a half of their trap in this instance, And here's the
• 1:03:16
  fascinating thing if you if you write a cross reference in your
• 1:03:20
  scriptures next to verse 30, right Doctrine and Covenants
• 1:03:25
  section, 132 15 through 17 in that passage the Lord in
• 1:03:33
  section, 132 is giving a series of different types of marriages
• 1:03:39
  that are performed and what effect they have and the type of
• 1:03:43
  marriage in verse 15. You're 17 is a marriage that is
• 1:03:48
  for time. Only it.
• 1:03:51
  It's not performed with ceiling keys under proper Authority.
• 1:03:57
  It's just performed basically till death.
• 1:03:59
  Do you part? And if you look in doctor and
• 1:04:02
  Kevin's 132 15 through 17, you're going to see some
• 1:04:04
  identical wording to this exact passage here that gets repeated
• 1:04:09
  their in context of There, they will not be married because they
• 1:04:14
  weren't sealed. And remember, back in the
• 1:04:17
  beginning in verse 25. Now, there were with us seven
• 1:04:20
  Brethren. So those marriages were
• 1:04:22
  performed under what Authority Under Sadducees and authority
• 1:04:27
  and they don't have the ceiling keys.
• 1:04:29
  They are not sealing. This woman to these Seven
• 1:04:34
  Brothers, they're simply marrying her till death.
• 1:04:37
  Do they part and those deaths came pretty quickly and they
• 1:04:41
  parted Added pretty quickly. And so Jesus, in verse 30 is
• 1:04:45
  saying for in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given
• 1:04:48
  in marriage but are as the angels of God in heaven, perfect
• 1:04:51
  description from over there. In section, 132 of what happens
• 1:04:54
  to people who choose not to enter into a temple ceiling,
• 1:04:59
  that is for time. And all eternity really
• 1:05:02
  fascinating. How this this trap, or this
• 1:05:06
  exchange ends, who uses these powerful phrase, 31 and 32.
• 1:05:10
  But it's touching the The resurrection of the Dead, have
• 1:05:13
  you not read that? Which was spoken unto, you by
• 1:05:14
  God, saying I am the god of Abraham and the god of Isaac,
• 1:05:19
  and the god of Jacob. Pause right there, that phrase
• 1:05:24
  is the summary phrase, point us back to the abrahamic Covenant.
• 1:05:30
  So I find this extremely powerful that what is supposed
• 1:05:34
  to be a trap ends up being this lesson about covenants.
• 1:05:37
  All of us have eternal access to if we choose to be loyal to God
• 1:05:44
  by keeping the Commandments, which is way of showing loyalty,
• 1:05:48
  which is interesting. Because what's the very next
• 1:05:50
  challenge JH. It comes from the the lawyer
• 1:05:54
  described by Temptation about which Commandments we should
• 1:05:59
  keep, how should we show our loyalty to God?
• 1:06:02
  So all these things are intertwined with the Old
• 1:06:04
  Testament, those two covenants of mountains, Mount Moriah, the
• 1:06:07
  Eternal Covenant, that God gave to Abraham and all his
• 1:06:10
  descendants and you are included in that as a his descendant.
• 1:06:13
  And then Mount Sinai or God through Moses gave a list of
• 1:06:17
  instructions for how people should be Covenant loyal to him.
• 1:06:21
  These are all bound up right here in these two little
• 1:06:23
  stories. So, look at the conclusion here,
• 1:06:26
  this sadducee entrap that Jesus unsprung and, and overcame verse
• 1:06:33
  33. When the multitude heard this,
• 1:06:35
  they were astonished at his Doctrine there.
• 1:06:39
  They are sitting there saying, wow, this is deep.
• 1:06:43
  And so the sadducee group walks away saying we tried, we gave
• 1:06:47
  our very best thought to how we could Trap him, and it didn't
• 1:06:52
  work. And so now verse 34, but when
• 1:06:55
  the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to
• 1:06:57
  silence, they were gathered together then one of them which
• 1:07:01
  was a lawyer, asked him a question.
• 1:07:03
  Tempting him and saying, so now you get this expert in the law
• 1:07:10
  of Moses, The Scribe who knows the Old Testament?
• 1:07:13
  Very well Master, which is the great commandment in the law.
• 1:07:19
  Can you see what he's trying to? To do, he's baiting Jesus to get
• 1:07:23
  into a debate here to show how much smarter he is than Jesus
• 1:07:29
  when it comes to knowing the law.
• 1:07:31
  He's going to let Jesus pick a Commandment that he thinks is
• 1:07:34
  really important and then he's going to Bible bash with him and
• 1:07:37
  show him. Lots of verses that would show
• 1:07:39
  that other Commandments might be more important.
• 1:07:41
  So you're thinking. Wow, how do you get out of that
• 1:07:44
  one? Well, watch what Jesus Does.
• 1:07:47
  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
• 1:07:52
  thy heart, with all thy soul. And with all thy mind, this is
• 1:07:56
  the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it.
• 1:08:00
  Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thyself on these two
• 1:08:05
  Commandments, hang all the law and the prophets.
• 1:08:12
  Two Commandments. This is really fascinating,
• 1:08:15
  because how many Commandments are there in the law of Moses
• 1:08:18
  613? And then if you were to boil
• 1:08:21
  those 613 specific parts of the law down to its simplest form.
• 1:08:29
  You would say, well, there are Ten Commandments which we get in
• 1:08:33
  Mount Sinai and Jesus is giving us to notice.
• 1:08:36
  He says this phrase upon these two laws, hang all the law and
• 1:08:41
  the prophets. The The law is the law of Moses,
• 1:08:43
  or the five books of Moses, the Torah, love God, love your
• 1:08:47
  neighbor. And if you do those things, you
• 1:08:49
  are loyally entwined with God and you receive all the
• 1:08:52
  blessings of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
• 1:08:56
  You know, Taylor, I wonder if it's there is great application
• 1:09:01
  to us today. In the Church of Jesus Christ of
• 1:09:03
  Latter-day Saints. I think the same thing could be
• 1:09:07
  said all of the procedures that happen in church, all the
• 1:09:11
  programs, all the policies, all of the practices, all of The
• 1:09:15
  Commandments, all of the ordinances, everything that
• 1:09:19
  happens in the church. Could be hung on those two.
• 1:09:23
  Same Commandments those two same ideas of love.
• 1:09:29
  The Lord thy God with all thy heart might mind and strength
• 1:09:34
  and love thy. Purrs thyself, everything that
• 1:09:37
  we do in the church today, all of our efforts are built on
• 1:09:41
  those two things. It's pretty powerful when we
• 1:09:45
  keep things in that perspective, otherwise it's too easy to get
• 1:09:48
  off in the weeds of one of those 613 laws of Moses.
• 1:09:51
  And think it's the most important aspect when God's two
• 1:09:56
  most important and loving him and loving the neighbor.
• 1:09:59
  These should all be means to that end and it isn't it
• 1:10:03
  beautiful. How you can take those Ten
• 1:10:04
  Commandments for Since even if we if we boil from the 613 down
• 1:10:09
  to the 10, you look at those first four.
• 1:10:12
  Those are all focused on how you treat your relationship with
• 1:10:16
  God. No other gods before me.
• 1:10:19
  Don't worship idols, don't take the name of the Lord thy God in
• 1:10:22
  vain. And remember the Sabbath day to
• 1:10:24
  keep it. Holy all of those are focused on
• 1:10:26
  your connection with God. And number five through 10 are
• 1:10:31
  all focused on how you treat. People honor, thy father, and
• 1:10:34
  thy mother. Don't kill, don't commit
• 1:10:36
  adultery, don't steal, don't lie or bear, false witness, and
• 1:10:41
  don't covet. It's everything really does boil
• 1:10:45
  down into these two parts. And then later on, we're going
• 1:10:49
  to find that. If you're in the service of your
• 1:10:51
  fellow men in chapter 25 of Matthew, you're only in the
• 1:10:55
  service you were God. So even if I'm keeping the
• 1:10:57
  second commandment, I'm actually that's an extension of how I
• 1:11:00
  keep the first commandment how I love God.
• 1:11:04
  But we live in a world that wants to kind of reverse that
• 1:11:07
  order. Have you noticed that a world
• 1:11:09
  that wants to emphasize loving your neighbor first?
• 1:11:14
  And then, if you've got any extra time or energy, then you
• 1:11:18
  can love God. There have been some beautiful
• 1:11:20
  conference talks given in the last few years, about the
• 1:11:24
  importance of keeping that first commandment first, love the
• 1:11:27
  Lord, thy God first, and then Hebrews, they self second so you
• 1:11:33
  can see Heard that he's overcome the Trap from the Pharisees, the
• 1:11:37
  Sadducees. And now the first cycle lawyer
• 1:11:41
  And instead of just sitting there, now, Jesus puts a little
• 1:11:46
  bit of focus on them. Look at verse 41, while the
• 1:11:51
  Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them.
• 1:11:55
  Now he comes to them and says what think ye of Christ, the
• 1:12:00
  Messiah, the anointed one, all of your Messianic expectations
• 1:12:05
  that you're looking for. What do you think of him?
• 1:12:08
  Whose son? Is he?
• 1:12:09
  And they say unto him. Well, he's the son of David.
• 1:12:13
  That's that's the prophecy, right?
• 1:12:15
  Sort of appropriate title but if it's a little more involved than
• 1:12:19
  that, so then he says, hmm. So if the Messiah the Christ is
• 1:12:25
  going to be the son of David, then why did David in spirit
• 1:12:31
  call him Lord saying. The Lord said unto my Lord sit,
• 1:12:35
  thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy
• 1:12:37
  footstool. If David then call him Lord.
• 1:12:41
  How is he his son and no man was able to answer him a word.
• 1:12:47
  Neither Durst any man from that day forth, ask him any more
• 1:12:52
  questions. They've learned their lesson.
• 1:12:55
  You don't try to debate with Jesus because it's impossible.
• 1:12:58
  He always gets out of your trap that you lay for him and you
• 1:13:03
  can't get out of the questions. He asks you there's no answer
• 1:13:08
  And it's this beautiful realization that they finally
• 1:13:12
  come to of, okay, we're not going to we're not going to ask
• 1:13:16
  him any more questions. Which now brings us to chapter
• 1:13:19
  23. This is a, this is a very direct
• 1:13:28
  chapter where he's condemning the Pharisees and the scribes
• 1:13:32
  and he speaking to the multitude and to his disciples.
• 1:13:36
  So I find this interesting because it's almost like he is
• 1:13:40
  done having all these debates and then he turns his disciples
• 1:13:44
  and now says something about the individuals who were trying to
• 1:13:47
  trap And it doesn't make it absolutely clear here.
• 1:13:52
  But my, my assumption is that Matthews trying to narrate that
• 1:13:57
  Jesus is describing for his people.
• 1:14:00
  Here are the leaders of society that you should not be trying to
• 1:14:04
  spend time with unless you're just loving them and encourage
• 1:14:07
  them to follow me. So let's pick it up in verse 22.
• 1:14:12
  Jesus says, to this this multitude and to his disciples,
• 1:14:16
  the scribes and the Pharisees say, Sit in Moses has seat.
• 1:14:21
  So this is the, the Judgment the instruction, the seat of
• 1:14:25
  leadership over the people all therefore whatsoever.
• 1:14:29
  They bid You observe that observe and do but do not ye
• 1:14:33
  after their works for they say and do not.
• 1:14:35
  So he's saying, look, they're teaching you out of the law,
• 1:14:39
  observe the things that they're telling you to do, but don't
• 1:14:42
  watch their example and do what they're doing.
• 1:14:47
  For, they bind heavy burdens and Grievous to be borne and lay
• 1:14:50
  them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move
• 1:14:53
  them with one of their fingers. So they're putting these
• 1:14:57
  expectations and these Commandments upon you but
• 1:15:00
  they're not willing to do it. Listen to some of these words in
• 1:15:04
  the Greek that the burdens heavy hard to Bear.
• 1:15:08
  A burden, for example, is something like you would put on
• 1:15:11
  the freight of a ship. Some individual ship had just
• 1:15:13
  has to carry this in. It's like driven about The heavy
• 1:15:17
  is something is very burdensome or weighty even oppressively or
• 1:15:22
  violently. So Or hard to Bear.
• 1:15:26
  Also, the word become comes from being oppressive and the, the
• 1:15:31
  core word is just the enormous difficulty.
• 1:15:34
  Let's think again, let's go back to Mount Sinai to God.
• 1:15:38
  Reveal the law of Moses, for the intention to oppress people and
• 1:15:43
  make life difficult. Now, let's put context.
• 1:15:46
  The people had been oppressed and had very difficult task
• 1:15:50
  Masters and burdens in Egypt. Life have been really difficult
• 1:15:55
  Built in God, Liberate. The people about the do, Mount
• 1:15:58
  Sinai was his intention to be there.
• 1:16:00
  Taskmaster now know to be in relationship with them.
• 1:16:04
  So, listen to this subtle thing. That Jesus is saying these
• 1:16:08
  Pharisees and scribes they sit in Moses seat.
• 1:16:10
  They teach the truth of how to be liberated through the gospel
• 1:16:14
  through Covenant relationship but in but what are they doing?
• 1:16:18
  They're acting like the Egyptian taskmasters to you.
• 1:16:24
  And God doesn't like that. God does not like people to be
• 1:16:26
  oppressed. That is one of the Core Essence
• 1:16:29
  is of the Gospel. So you have these subtle
• 1:16:32
  connection to the Old Testament and God's salvific efforts.
• 1:16:36
  Remember, this is Passover week so this should be on people's
• 1:16:39
  minds that this is a time. We celebrate God liberated us
• 1:16:43
  from oppressors and burdens and toil that keeps us from being in
• 1:16:50
  relationship with God. So now he picks it up in verse 5
• 1:16:54
  but all their Works. They do for to be seen of men
• 1:17:00
  and they make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the
• 1:17:04
  borders of their garments. So let me show you some
• 1:17:10
  modern-day examples of phylacteries.
• 1:17:14
  First, these are little boxes that inside have little Scrolls
• 1:17:21
  that are written with Certain key passages from the Old
• 1:17:25
  Testament and the the practicing Jews today.
• 1:17:32
  We'll take these and bind them to their, to their forehead, and
• 1:17:37
  find another one to their arm. So that it's up on their bicep
• 1:17:43
  near their heart. So, the words of God would be
• 1:17:47
  bound in their mind and before their eyes and in their heart,
• 1:17:53
  That way it actually, it's not just any words of Moses, it's or
• 1:17:57
  God. These are specific Commandments
• 1:18:00
  revealed by God to Moses at Mount Sinai about how to be
• 1:18:03
  loyal to God. So you can worship God with all
• 1:18:06
  your heart, might mind and strength.
• 1:18:09
  I actually think it's a great reminder.
• 1:18:12
  Like, if you take the time to put something like this on, or
• 1:18:14
  you see it with others, you like, I really need to be
• 1:18:17
  committed to God. So, as an object lesson, it
• 1:18:20
  actually can be a really good thing.
• 1:18:22
  Until until the Pharisees and scribes have thought.
• 1:18:29
  Hmm. Well, all of the common people
• 1:18:33
  have phylacteries that have these scriptures written on
• 1:18:36
  them. This size, let's make our
• 1:18:39
  phylacteries bigger, what is the message?
• 1:18:42
  If I walk into a synagogue or out at the street and it's the
• 1:18:48
  time of prayer and I put on my phylacteries, and they're this
• 1:18:51
  big and I'm Standing next to a guy who's got a big box on his
• 1:18:56
  head and a big box sitting on his arm.
• 1:18:58
  The message is wow. He has more of the word of God
• 1:19:02
  in his mind, and his heart, he's more righteous than me.
• 1:19:05
  He's better than me. I'm just a lowly simpleton with
• 1:19:09
  a normal-sized phylactery. That's what Jesus is condemning
• 1:19:13
  now. They also have their prayer
• 1:19:17
  shawls. But then again, beautifully
• 1:19:22
  symbolic, lovely. A reminder about putting
• 1:19:26
  yourself in a state of reverence and humility before God.
• 1:19:30
  Yeah, it's it's, when you talk about holy Envy, it's this idea
• 1:19:36
  of they come up with these outward ways to shut out the
• 1:19:42
  world. So if you, if they put on the
• 1:19:45
  prayer shawl, it's this way of shutting out the world.
• 1:19:49
  And focusing on God's word and on heaven.
• 1:19:53
  So it's a beautiful symbol and I'll use another word that we've
• 1:19:57
  talked about the word in Duo, which means to be clothed, and
• 1:20:02
  think about our temples. People are clothed in the
• 1:20:05
  garments of the priesthood. And these are not garments of
• 1:20:07
  the priesthood, but they are a form of clothing.
• 1:20:09
  And the point there is to represent, or to symbolize your
• 1:20:13
  relationship with God and to say, you're in a state of
• 1:20:16
  worshipfulness. So there's a lot of beautiful
• 1:20:18
  connection. Is here with things that were
• 1:20:20
  familiar with. And so, if you look at the
• 1:20:24
  border or the Hem of the prayer shawl, you'll see these four
• 1:20:30
  corners. These seats eat that come down
• 1:20:34
  from all four corners. And this is symbolic, the, the
• 1:20:40
  number of strands and the name seat seat, having a numeric
• 1:20:45
  value of 600 plus 13. W in the, the corner borders
• 1:20:54
  adds up to six hundred and thirteen.
• 1:20:57
  So when I'm praying I'm focused on God, I'm focused on his word
• 1:21:02
  and I'm focused on his law. It's just a reminder real
• 1:21:06
  quickly because we sometimes forget that.
• 1:21:09
  The law was the set of instructions that God wanted his
• 1:21:12
  people to live by the show. They loved him again, if you're
• 1:21:15
  in a loving relationship with somebody and they gave you a
• 1:21:17
  list of like, here's my top. Top 10 list for how you can show
• 1:21:22
  me. Love, if you really love that
• 1:21:23
  person, you'd be interested to know what that top Len, 10 list
• 1:21:26
  is to memorize it and to live it.
• 1:21:29
  And so everything we're talking about here is all rooted in a
• 1:21:33
  deep desire to be Covenant. Ali related to God become
• 1:21:38
  intensely combined with God. Yeah, it's the practice.
• 1:21:43
  You'll notice. Jesus is not condemning the
• 1:21:46
  practice of using phylacteries, and a shawl.
• 1:21:49
  All that he, he is not opposed to them saying their prayers and
• 1:21:56
  feeling connected to God, and God's laws.
• 1:21:59
  What is the condemnation? Look closely back at verse five.
• 1:22:04
  But of all their Works, they do to be seen of men, they make
• 1:22:07
  broad their phylacteries and they enlarge the borders of
• 1:22:12
  their garments. They increase the size of these
• 1:22:16
  seats seek these tassels. They may come bigger Longer even
• 1:22:22
  start adding colored strands in to draw more attention to it.
• 1:22:28
  So if you're standing there with the traditional sized prayer,
• 1:22:32
  shawl, Just to a Pharisee who's got a much bigger and longer
• 1:22:38
  border to His Garment. The implication is oh he's more
• 1:22:43
  righteous than me. He's more holy than me.
• 1:22:46
  He's better at keeping these 613 laws than me because his borders
• 1:22:51
  happened to be longer than mine and bigger and maybe more
• 1:22:53
  colorful than mine. He's so how hard is it to make
• 1:22:57
  your borders of your garments longer or more colorful or make
• 1:23:02
  a phylactery? That's even Bigger it.
• 1:23:05
  You don't have to be more righteous to do any of those
• 1:23:08
  things. And yet they're doing it to be
• 1:23:10
  seen of men. And that is one thing.
• 1:23:15
  Jesus just doesn't seem to have a lot of patience for us this
• 1:23:18
  hypocrisy. This self-righteous AG
• 1:23:21
  self-aggrandizement drawing attention to look how good I am
• 1:23:26
  at, keeping the law of Moses and loving go.
• 1:23:28
  I'm so much better than you. Jesus doesn't have a lot of
• 1:23:31
  patience for that and he, Continues in verse 6, these
• 1:23:35
  these Pharisees, they love the uppermost rooms at feasts and
• 1:23:39
  the chief seats in the synagogues.
• 1:23:41
  They love the place of prominence.
• 1:23:44
  They loved the glory, the honor that they can get from people
• 1:23:47
  and quite frankly, we live in a world in a fallen condition
• 1:23:51
  where you have to recognize the human weakness that actually
• 1:23:56
  enjoys popularity that enjoys honors of men that enjoys the It
• 1:24:03
  has an honorific things that this world can place at our feet
• 1:24:07
  and you have to fight against that natural tendency to worship
• 1:24:12
  God and love your neighbor because those are not quite as
• 1:24:17
  inherently natural in the, in the Fallen State.
• 1:24:20
  We have to work with the Lord at developing those verse 7 and
• 1:24:27
  greetings, in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi
• 1:24:30
  Rabbi. They love these titles, they
• 1:24:33
  love these. These seats.
• 1:24:34
  They love this attention and Jesus is teaching the multitude
• 1:24:38
  and his disciples stopped setting your heart on those
• 1:24:41
  things. Don't love those, love God and
• 1:24:44
  love each other. I've had to do a little bit with
• 1:24:46
  this. I spent a lot of years in
• 1:24:48
  graduate school and I eventually was handed a title called doctor
• 1:24:53
  and a few years went by and I realize wait a second.
• 1:24:56
  Who's the real Doctor? It's Jesus and he teaches
• 1:25:00
  Doctrine. Now I think I do a pretty good
• 1:25:03
  job of teaching classes and so forth and helping students but I
• 1:25:06
  realized my job is not to be teaching my Doctrine.
• 1:25:09
  It's to be teaching his Doctrine because he's the real doctor and
• 1:25:14
  so it still happens today now look titles, inherently are not
• 1:25:17
  the problem. It's useful to understand who
• 1:25:20
  has what role and responsibility.
• 1:25:22
  There's a lot of confusion when people don't know who's supposed
• 1:25:24
  to be doing, what? But I've So scene where even the
• 1:25:27
  modern-day people can use titles as a almost a hammer to hurt
• 1:25:32
  other people. Well, I have this title, you
• 1:25:34
  don't have it. So that says something about me,
• 1:25:37
  that I should get more of God's love than you.
• 1:25:40
  And I actually feel like titles simply should be designations of
• 1:25:44
  opportunities for serving people, a greater weight or
• 1:25:47
  responsibility to serve people and Jesus, I think was doing
• 1:25:52
  similar things. So I don't think titles
• 1:25:54
  themselves of the problem, it's how we I choose to use roles and
• 1:25:58
  responsibilities and titles that God has given us.
• 1:26:00
  Is it for us or is it a serve other people?
• 1:26:03
  So Jesus goes on exactly that line in verse 8, but be not ye
• 1:26:08
  called Rabbi for one is your master even Christ and all ye
• 1:26:13
  are Brethren. You're all together.
• 1:26:16
  You're all in this together. Look down at verse 10.
• 1:26:21
  Neither be called Masters for one is your master even Christ
• 1:26:25
  but he that is greatest Greatest among you shall be your servant.
• 1:26:29
  Are you seeing the subtle shift in Focus here?
• 1:26:33
  I should point out. I also happen to collect a
• 1:26:35
  master's degree, so I have a master's degree and a doctorate
• 1:26:39
  degree. Well, who's the real master?
• 1:26:41
  It's pretty clear in scripture Christ.
• 1:26:44
  So, even though a worldly institution, gave me that title,
• 1:26:47
  I hope that I don't get sucked into the Honors that title and
• 1:26:51
  forget who the real master is. It's beautiful, verse 12
• 1:26:56
  whosoever, shall exalt himself shall be abased and he that
• 1:26:59
  shall humble himself shall be exalted.
• 1:27:03
  I love that because it goes so against the natural tendencies
• 1:27:07
  of trying to build oneself up and he's just saying, no, you
• 1:27:12
  just stay humble, give God the credit and God will build you
• 1:27:16
  up. Don't look for men to build you
• 1:27:19
  up. Look to the heavens for that.
• 1:27:21
  And then as you turn the page over, we're going.
• 1:27:24
  To go very quickly through verse 13 through 3039.
• 1:27:29
  This end of this chapter because he goes into this long speech
• 1:27:35
  about the scribes and the Pharisees being Hypocrites.
• 1:27:38
  And you'll notice these are, these are strong words, there's
• 1:27:42
  nothing neutral about these verses.
• 1:27:44
  Now again, if the context is we're at the temple out, in the
• 1:27:47
  outer Courtyards, Jesus is teaching his disciples.
• 1:27:50
  And yet these groups that have been debating with him are still
• 1:27:53
  there. Hearing all of this verse 14 is
• 1:27:57
  interesting. Woe unto you scribes and
• 1:27:59
  Pharisees Hypocrites or play-actors ye devour widows
• 1:28:04
  houses and for a pretence, make long prayer.
• 1:28:06
  Therefore, you re shall receive the greater damnation.
• 1:28:10
  This underlying word for to devour means to, to squander, or
• 1:28:14
  to fully consume down till there's nothing left.
• 1:28:18
  And think about how often in the, in the Old Testament.
• 1:28:21
  God says, in the law of Moses, make sure to Take care of the
• 1:28:25
  Widow, the orphan, the fatherless.
• 1:28:27
  And instead these people who have been put in positions of
• 1:28:30
  power or taking advantage of those who are disadvantaged, and
• 1:28:35
  the advantaged are making more Advantage for themselves by
• 1:28:38
  disadvantaging, the disadvantaged even more, it's
• 1:28:41
  very sad. So if I could sum up verse 13
• 1:28:45
  through 22, using verse 23. I think it's a conclusion to
• 1:28:52
  that entire column woe unto, You scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites
• 1:28:57
  for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have omitted
• 1:29:02
  the weightier matters of the law, judgment mercy and Faith.
• 1:29:06
  These are each who have done and not to leave the other undone.
• 1:29:10
  Did you notice his example, his a object lesson, mint and anise
• 1:29:13
  and cumin are the smallest herbs that you could grow.
• 1:29:20
  And they're saying look how righteous I am.
• 1:29:23
  I I even pay my tithing on my mint and anise and cumin the
• 1:29:28
  very smallest of the, the forgettable herbs in my garden.
• 1:29:33
  I will even pay tithing on those.
• 1:29:35
  Look, look how good I am. And he's saying, and you're
• 1:29:38
  leaving out judgment, mercy and Faith, you're missing the whole
• 1:29:44
  point. These three words are Justice in
• 1:29:47
  the Old Testament, really could be translated as righteousness.
• 1:29:51
  Now, it's a different word here in Greek.
• 1:29:53
  It means To make good righteous decisions.
• 1:29:57
  The Old Testament, the word justice and righteousness meant
• 1:30:00
  the same thing. So he's talking about meeting
• 1:30:03
  out Justice. It's means living righteously.
• 1:30:05
  But then you have this word, mercy, very powerful.
• 1:30:08
  This word mercy, when it's connected to the Old Testament
• 1:30:11
  is related to The Compassion that has said that God has and
• 1:30:17
  that we should be having, which means Covenant to loyalty and
• 1:30:21
  everlasting kindness to one another It gets back to those
• 1:30:26
  comments, you made some verses ago where he said, love God,
• 1:30:29
  love your neighbor, it look, it doesn't matter how much tithing
• 1:30:32
  you pay on greater little things mean, that is an important
• 1:30:36
  thing, but don't let that get in the way of loving God.
• 1:30:39
  Loving your neighbor, living righteously enacting merciful
• 1:30:43
  mercifully, and showing loving, kindness to God and to those
• 1:30:47
  around you because that's what he does.
• 1:30:50
  And he models for us how we should be living.
• 1:30:53
  And then verse 24, he says, ye blind guides which strain at a
• 1:30:58
  gnat and swallow a camel, you'll notice the contrast he picked
• 1:31:06
  the very smallest animal. He could come up with an at and
• 1:31:13
  then he contrasted with the very biggest animal.
• 1:31:17
  We're on the two extremes of the animal kingdom here with these
• 1:31:21
  people. And he say, you're straining at
• 1:31:24
  a gnat or straining out and that they would actually put these
• 1:31:28
  cheese cloths over their pictures and their amphoras and
• 1:31:35
  their cups and they will strain out in case if a gnat or a
• 1:31:40
  little flying insect got into your your drink, they'll strain
• 1:31:45
  that out because they by law by law of Moses, they're not
• 1:31:48
  allowed to consume gnats or flies mosquitoes, all of those
• 1:31:53
  Flying insects. So we'll strain those out and
• 1:31:55
  he's saying, but you're eating a camel, it's both are actually
• 1:32:01
  unclean. Things are unclean in the law of
• 1:32:03
  Moses and one takes a lot more effort and and Joseph Smith,
• 1:32:07
  gives this beautiful conclusion to verse 24, when he says, when
• 1:32:11
  he added who make yourselves appear unto men, that you would
• 1:32:15
  not commit the least sin. And yet ye yourselves
• 1:32:20
  transgress, the whole law. You're eating the whole camel
• 1:32:24
  but you're showing people how righteous you you're appearing
• 1:32:29
  to be when you strain out these these gnats.
• 1:32:34
  And then he says, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites
• 1:32:38
  for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter but
• 1:32:41
  within they are full of extortion and excess.
• 1:32:45
  And he basically tells them to cleanse the platter verse 27,
• 1:32:50
  woe unto you scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites.
• 1:32:52
  For ye are like unto Whited sepulchres which indeed appear
• 1:32:55
  beautiful outward but are within full of dead, men's bones, and
• 1:33:00
  of all uncleanness. So there on the Temple Mount
• 1:33:03
  what might people be able to see when they walk right off the
• 1:33:05
  Temple. Mount, what are they going to
• 1:33:07
  see? And if you look to the left, if
• 1:33:08
  you're walking down to the South up on the southern part of the
• 1:33:12
  Mount of Olives, you've got to me.
• 1:33:15
  Seems you've got sepulchres and keep in mind when a person dies
• 1:33:19
  in the first century, and if you're not going to bury them in
• 1:33:22
  the ground, you're going to bury him in a tomb.
• 1:33:24
  You place them in the Tomb. You prepare their body for
• 1:33:26
  burial. Then you seal up the stone and
• 1:33:29
  you paint it white. That's your message that there's
• 1:33:32
  a newly buried body in the Tomb, a year later after it's gone
• 1:33:38
  through a whole year cycle, you then unseal the tomb go in and
• 1:33:41
  you gather the bones together, put them in an ossuary and put
• 1:33:44
  the officer. The niche or a local.
• 1:33:47
  I and now the table is ready for the next family member to die in
• 1:33:52
  your family. And so a Whited Sepulcher, looks
• 1:33:56
  beautiful on the outside but on the inside it's got a decaying
• 1:34:01
  body for that year. These are these are very strong
• 1:34:06
  words against the Pharisees. This is a personal connection.
• 1:34:11
  Some years ago I was out of graduate school that the outside
• 1:34:14
  of the buildings were Absolutely gorgeous and compelling and I
• 1:34:18
  went inside went into the basement.
• 1:34:19
  It was just so oppressively grimy and a place that I didn't
• 1:34:24
  want to be and I thought, you know, people on the outside and
• 1:34:27
  you see these pictures, these buildings Autumn brochures that
• 1:34:30
  University never is sharing pictures with potential
• 1:34:34
  students. Hey come to our University and
• 1:34:36
  check out our basement and I remember thinking this very
• 1:34:39
  thing. Like yeah we shouldn't simply
• 1:34:42
  just have an outward face of making ourselves.
• 1:34:45
  Look like something we truly should be through and through
• 1:34:49
  what we represent. And remember the very beginning,
• 1:34:51
  we talked about the image of God, we should be the living and
• 1:34:56
  Lively image of God, not dead men's bones.
• 1:34:59
  So let's conclude jumping over to verse 37 when he says o
• 1:35:05
  Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Thou that killest the prophets
• 1:35:09
  and stonest them which are sent unto thee.
• 1:35:12
  How often would I have gathered thy children together?
• 1:35:15
  Even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye
• 1:35:20
  would not that phrase. He's going to use it again with
• 1:35:26
  the people, in The Book of Mormon in 3rd, Nephi chapter 10,
• 1:35:29
  verse 5, that exact phrase of, I would have gathered you but ye
• 1:35:35
  would not It's not me keeping you out of the Covenant.
• 1:35:40
  It's not me rejecting you and keeping you out of Heaven.
• 1:35:43
  It's you who was doing this and he promises them in.
• 1:35:48
  Verse 38 behold, your house is left unto you desolate which
• 1:35:53
  ties into Jeremiah chapter 22 verse 5 in closing early
• 1:36:00
  ancestors. There's there's righteousness.
• 1:36:03
  And then there's self-righteousness There are
• 1:36:07
  Deeds. That help us love God and love
• 1:36:11
  our fellow beings and they're our Deeds that help us get the
• 1:36:16
  honors in the praise and the glory of the world.
• 1:36:19
  For me, the message from from this particular set of
• 1:36:24
  scriptures this week is to stop looking for the praise of the
• 1:36:29
  world and start looking to God and to love him.
• 1:36:34
  With all of our heart might mind and strength and love our
• 1:36:37
  neighbors as ourselves knowing that God loves them perfectly,
• 1:36:42
  just like he loves us perfectly. And there's there's something
• 1:36:46
  liberating about letting go of having to To orchestrate
• 1:36:50
  everything and let God be God. And let me be a humble servant
• 1:36:55
  doing the best. I can to find as many people as
• 1:36:58
  I can to lift and to build, and to bless and to serve, not for
• 1:37:02
  their praise, not to be repaid by them, but because I love them
• 1:37:07
  and because I love the Lord, what a, what a beautiful pattern
• 1:37:11
  for us to try and try and try again to emulate from the
• 1:37:15
  savior's life in his perfect example, and we leave that with
• 1:37:18
  you in the Jesus Christ, amen. Now that you're loved and spread
• 1:37:23
  light and goodness.