Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Let’s Meet the King | Msg 1-24

Transcript

Let’s Meet the King | Msg 1-24 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: The Outline you find and your worship folder today will
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Speaker 1: be of an important guide, not only for today, but
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Speaker 1: for days to come. Matthew is a book of twenty
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Speaker 1: eight chapters, quite a study. We'll break it up from
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Speaker 1: time to time with various things the holiday season as
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Speaker 1: well as the Easter season and other occasions. But we'll
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Speaker 1: work our way through the Book of Matthew as we
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Speaker 1: go from one chapter to the next in an expository manner.
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Speaker 1: The Outline has on its back a chart which will
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Speaker 1: give you an overview of the book itself, and we'll
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Speaker 1: return to that chart from time to time, just to
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Speaker 1: orient ourselves to where we are and what has come
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Speaker 1: before and what will come later. I want to read
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Speaker 1: for you some excerpts from Matthew. No time to read
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Speaker 1: as many of the verses as we'd like, but this
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Speaker 1: will give you at least snapshots along the way of
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Speaker 1: the scenes that we will be encountering. I'll be reading
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Speaker 1: from the New Living Translation, and we'll be going from
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Speaker 1: one chapter to another several times, so be ready for that.
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Speaker 1: Once you find Matthew, please stand with one another for
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Speaker 1: the reading of the scriptures. I'll begin with the first
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Speaker 1: verse and then we'll go to verse sixteen. In this
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Speaker 1: first chapter, this is a record of the ancestors of
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Speaker 1: Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham.
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Speaker 1: Verse sixteen. Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband
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Speaker 1: of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called
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Speaker 1: the Messiah Verse one of chapter two. Jesus was born
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Speaker 1: in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod.
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Speaker 1: About that time, some wise men from eastern lands arrived
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Speaker 1: in Jerusalem, asking where is the newborn King of the Jews.
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Speaker 1: We saw his star as it rose, and we have
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Speaker 1: come to worship him verse thirteen. After the wise man
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Speaker 1: and were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to
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Speaker 1: Joseph in a dream. Get up, flee to Egypt with
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Speaker 1: the child and his mother. The angel said, stay there
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Speaker 1: until I tell you to return, because Herod is going
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Speaker 1: to search for the child to kill him. That night,
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Speaker 1: Joseph left for Egypt with the child and marry his mother,
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Speaker 1: and they stayed there until Herod's death. This fulfilled what
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Speaker 1: the Lord had spoken through the Prophet. I called my
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Speaker 1: son out of Egypt verse twenty. Get up, The angel said,
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Speaker 1: take the child and his mother back to the land
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Speaker 1: of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the
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Speaker 1: child are dead verse twenty three. So the family went
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Speaker 1: and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what
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Speaker 1: the prophets has said. He will be called a Nazarene.
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Speaker 1: Two more sections. Chapter nine, verse nine. As Jesus was
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Speaker 1: walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at
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Speaker 1: his tax collector's booth. Follow me and be my disciple,
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Speaker 1: Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. Finally,
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Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen, verse thirteen. When Jesus came to the region
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Speaker 1: of Cesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people
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Speaker 1: say that the son of Man is well? They replied,
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Speaker 1: Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others
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Speaker 1: say Jeremiah or one of the prophets that He asked them,
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Speaker 1: but who do you say? I am? Simon Peter answered,
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Speaker 1: you are the Messiah, the son of the Living God.
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Speaker 1: My hope as we undertake this study, which will be
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Speaker 1: lengthy and in something of detail, is that we will
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Speaker 1: get new glimpses of Jesus, the son of the Living God,
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Speaker 1: and that our love for him will intensify as time passes.
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Speaker 1: Please be seated, join me in prayer. Will you bow
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Speaker 1: with me? Please in the quietness of this moment, Our Father,
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Speaker 1: we are grateful for a relationship with you that has
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Speaker 1: brought peace in place of chaos, and has brought relief
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Speaker 1: in place of guilt, and has brought hope in place
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Speaker 1: of emptiness, and has introduced us to one who knows
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Speaker 1: us the best yet loves us the most, Your Son Jesus.
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Speaker 1: We never tire of worship, we weary of activities, even
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Speaker 1: religious activities. There are times when we long for just
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Speaker 1: moments with you, for we might get to know you
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Speaker 1: better and understand you more in depth than we have before.
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Speaker 1: We have no idea what the future holds. We couldn't
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Speaker 1: predict what this ear will be like or even tomorrow.
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Speaker 1: You've told us in other parts of your word that
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Speaker 1: your life is a vapor. It appears for a little
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Speaker 1: while and then vanishes away. Use the things we discover
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Speaker 1: to remind us over and over that we really are
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Speaker 1: not ready to live until we are ready to die,
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Speaker 1: and being ready to die, we're able to grasp all
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Speaker 1: that life has for us and live it to the full.
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Speaker 1: Thank you, Father, today for the reminder that your love
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Speaker 1: for us is constant, unconditional, pure, that it comes to
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Speaker 1: us again and again, often when we least expect it. Today,
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Speaker 1: on this day of worship, we thank you again for
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Speaker 1: your profound gift to us in your Son Jesus. Teach
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Speaker 1: us in the years we walk with you, to become
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Speaker 1: increasingly more unselfish, as we share the good news, and
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Speaker 1: as we share from our own treasure, that this message
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Speaker 1: might spread far beyond the familiar world in which we live.
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Speaker 1: I pray right now for the way that you will
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Speaker 1: use this operation Christmas Child in the lives of little
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Speaker 1: children literally around the world. May many of them come
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Speaker 1: to know your love through your Son Jesus. May our
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Speaker 1: gifts today take that message and spread it far and wide.
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Speaker 1: We release that with great joy and faith, just as
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Speaker 1: we give our gifts today in the name of Christ,
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Speaker 1: our Lord. Everyone said, Amen, Our God is a god
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Speaker 1: of surprises. He's filled with them. Stop and think about it.
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Speaker 1: Who else but a god of surprises could have arranged
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Speaker 1: a plan for saving humanity and in that plan design
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Speaker 1: that he himself would step in into the ranks of
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Speaker 1: human flesh to carry it out. What a genius. What
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Speaker 1: a surprising idea. Who would our God of Surprises would
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Speaker 1: have arrived in the way he arrived, in a stable
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Speaker 1: born to parents that didn't have two shekels to rub together,
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Speaker 1: just absolutely abject poverty, and from them the child was raised.
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Speaker 1: Who would our God would have used a flaming star
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Speaker 1: in the sky to lead wise men from over one
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Speaker 1: thousand miles away to find their way over months of travel,
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Speaker 1: to that one place where the child was living with
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Speaker 1: his parents, not realizing when they arrived with their gifts
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Speaker 1: of gold, frankinsense, and murder, that it was that child who,
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Speaker 1: while second member of the trinity, created all the stars.
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Speaker 1: Who but our God of surprises? Who but a God
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Speaker 1: of surprise would have assembled a rag tag body of
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Speaker 1: disciples made up of fishermen and of all things tax gatherer,
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Speaker 1: tax collector, and with him his brother with whom he
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Speaker 1: must have fought a number of occasions and brought him
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Speaker 1: also as a disciple. Who but our God of surprises,
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Speaker 1: and who else but our God would cause a hated,
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Speaker 1: greedy tax collector to have his life transformed from extortion
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Speaker 1: and fraud and dishonesty and cooperating with an enemy force
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Speaker 1: like the Romans, known among the Jews as the Swine,
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Speaker 1: and make him one of the twelve. Only our God
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Speaker 1: would do that. And while I'm at it, it would
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Speaker 1: be that tax collector who would sit down with pen
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Speaker 1: in hand and write the story of the one who
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Speaker 1: came to save the loss, originally presented as the King
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Speaker 1: of the Jews, their messiah, only to have him not
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Speaker 1: accepted but rejected and crucified, mistreated and misunderstood. Who but
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Speaker 1: our God of surprises would have brought him back from
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Speaker 1: beyond and had him stand before those who had witnessed
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Speaker 1: his death, announcing that he has risen, and that he
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Speaker 1: would then ascend, And he would arrive and be seated
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Speaker 1: at the right hand of the Father, back in the
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Speaker 1: place which he had left thirty three or so years earlier,
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Speaker 1: and there he would wait for us and pray for us,
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Speaker 1: with plans to retur turn for us to take us
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Speaker 1: to himself. The book we began to study is a
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Speaker 1: book filled with this story. It's the story of the
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Speaker 1: great King who left the riches of heaven to become
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Speaker 1: a commoner on this earth, that we, the commoners, after
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Speaker 1: believing in him, would become the regal children in his family.
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Speaker 1: No one ever said it better than Paul Sewo Corinthians
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Speaker 1: eight nine. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus, who,
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Speaker 1: though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor,
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Speaker 1: that we, through his poverty, might be rich. Only a
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Speaker 1: God of surprises would have come up with a plan
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Speaker 1: that magnificence. It's our joy to begin today to take
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Speaker 1: on the study of this gospel story. I provided you
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Speaker 1: with an outline, and I'd like you to keep your
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Speaker 1: eye on it as we work our way through it.
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Speaker 1: Have your pen ready or your pencil. I've given you
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Speaker 1: four columns that mark out the four Gospels, but you
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Speaker 1: might want to write in the margin the meaning of
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Speaker 1: the word gospel. So an Anglo Saxon word good spell.
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Speaker 1: It comes from a term that means good news. So
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Speaker 1: the gospel would be the good news, the good news
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Speaker 1: of Matthew, the good news of Mark, the good news
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Speaker 1: of Louke, the good news of John. Now would that
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Speaker 1: in mind be ready to write in each column various things.
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Speaker 1: Matthew presents Jesus as the King, So put king below
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Speaker 1: his name. You will see all the way through the
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Speaker 1: writing of Matthew the King, the King, the Messiah, the
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Speaker 1: promised One. When you get to Mark, Jesus is presented
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Speaker 1: as a servant. He's at work. You read very little
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Speaker 1: of regal significance in the Gospel. By Mark. You'll read
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Speaker 1: a lot about work, a lot about immediately moving from
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Speaker 1: this action to that action. Mark is a book of
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Speaker 1: action because he's a servant at work. Luke presents Jesus
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Speaker 1: as the Man, the son of Man, the man who
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Speaker 1: would represent us among humans on this earth. Luke sees
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Speaker 1: him as the Man, and finally, John presents him as God.
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Speaker 1: The preface of John's Gospel is filled with eighteen verses
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Speaker 1: of the deity of Christ, the one who came logous
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Speaker 1: becoming humanity, God incarnate. He is the Man, God, the
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Speaker 1: God Man, and John presents him as God like none other.
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Speaker 1: Now go back to Matthew. Matthew was written to Jews.
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Speaker 1: That's why there are so many references of Jewish significance.
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Speaker 1: References to the law, references to the customs, references to
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Speaker 1: the feast and events of the Jews, very familiar to Jews.
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Speaker 1: Mark is written to Romans. They're the workers, They're the
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Speaker 1: people who constructed so much during their generations, and Mark
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Speaker 1: writes to them. Luke writes to Greeks, being one of them.
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Speaker 1: The physician writes to fellows in his same race. And
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Speaker 1: third or fourth John writes to all the world, or
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Speaker 1: to all the church. He wants all the world to
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Speaker 1: know that Jesus, the King, the Servant, the Man God
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Speaker 1: himself is available to the whole world. Now let's go
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Speaker 1: to the order in which they were written. Most likely
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Speaker 1: Mark was written first. He got his information from Peter.
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Speaker 1: Peter gave Mark information regarding the details of those discussions
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Speaker 1: that took place. Mark took notes. Mark knew him well,
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Speaker 1: and from Peter especially, he was able to write the
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Speaker 1: first gospel. The second was most likely Matthew. As best
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Speaker 1: we can tell, Matthew wrote his good News second, the
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Speaker 1: third was Luke, and the fourth was John. So in
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Speaker 1: this order Matthew comes second, Mark written first, Luke, third John. Fourth.
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Speaker 1: Let me teach you a word, and I'll tell you
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Speaker 1: why it's significant. The word is synoptic. Write it down
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Speaker 1: s y n O, p TC synoptic. It comes from
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Speaker 1: two Greek words soon su in means with an optic
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Speaker 1: You know what that is, that's seeing seeing things with
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Speaker 1: These first three gospels are called the Synoptic Gospels because
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Speaker 1: they see similar things and they write about similar events. However,
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Speaker 1: when you get to John's Gospel, which is not among
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Speaker 1: the Synoptic gospels, you write many things found only in John.
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Speaker 1: Not only does he write in the nineties eighty nineties,
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Speaker 1: but he is writing ninety two percent of his information
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Speaker 1: is unique to John. Think about it. Even though Matthew, Mark,
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Speaker 1: and Luke have written the Good News of information that
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Speaker 1: they received and saw, witnessed, and wrote similar things in
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Speaker 1: it various ways, John wrote from an altogether different standpoint,
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Speaker 1: and his presentation is unique ninety two percent of it.
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Speaker 1: Why four? Why not one? Why wouldn't he just be
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Speaker 1: satisfied with one gospel? Well, these four give us four
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Speaker 1: eyewitness accounts. These four let us see different flavors, different shadings,
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Speaker 1: different scenes from their perspective. If a terrible accident were
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Speaker 1: to take place on the corner out here near our church,
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Speaker 1: Let's imagine someone is jogging along the way and witnesses
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Speaker 1: the accident. Let's say there's another driver behind the person
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Speaker 1: driving that was in the accident. He sees the accident.
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Speaker 1: In another way, Let's say several members on a construction
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Speaker 1: crew that are working today over in this project beyond
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Speaker 1: us would look over and they would see they would
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Speaker 1: have another perspective. Let's just imagine someone is up in
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Speaker 1: a tree. Let's say somebody's up there just kind of
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Speaker 1: sitting there in the tree, maybe a ki that decide
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Speaker 1: to climb a tree that day. He would see from
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Speaker 1: another perspective the same accident, four different perspectives. And anyone
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Speaker 1: who investigates the accident would want to know the perspective
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Speaker 1: of those people who witnessed it. They would give evidence
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Speaker 1: from their perspective. It's interesting though they come from different perspectives.
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Speaker 1: There is no contradiction in all the writings. In spite
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Speaker 1: of what them critic may tell you, or in spite
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Speaker 1: of what you may learn may have learned in your
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Speaker 1: religion class in college, there is no contradiction in any
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Speaker 1: of the Gospels, as well as any of the scriptures.
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Speaker 1: Matter of fact, talk about content. Forty two percent of
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Speaker 1: forty six percent of all the information in the New
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Speaker 1: Testament is found in the four Gospels. If you add
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Speaker 1: the Book of Acts, it grows to sixty percent. Think
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Speaker 1: of that Luke wrote Acts. If you take all the
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Speaker 1: writings of Matthew Mark, and the two books of Luke
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Speaker 1: and then John. You have sixty percent of the New
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Speaker 1: Testament represented here. This is amazing amount of information contained
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Speaker 1: right here. It's a good place for me to pause
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Speaker 1: and bring a challenge to every one of you. I'm
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Speaker 1: of the opinion that every Christian, at least once a
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Speaker 1: year should become reacquainted with a savior. I suggests that
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Speaker 1: you do your own study. It may be one of
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Speaker 1: the Gospels. It may be a chapter from one of
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Speaker 1: the Gospels that's always intrigued you. It may be of
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Speaker 1: the crucifixion of Jesus, it may be of the Resurrection.
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Speaker 1: You may choose to do it in the Christmas season
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Speaker 1: or the Easter season. You may want to take the
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Speaker 1: three months of the summer and take on a study
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Speaker 1: of the life of Jesus. Why would I say that, Well,
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Speaker 1: he's your savior. Some people you know Paul better than
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Speaker 1: than o Jesus. Some have studied the disciples and know
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Speaker 1: them as a group better than the person of Jesus himself.
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Speaker 1: Let me tell you something. In going through this study
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Speaker 1: for the last several weeks in preparation for today, I
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Speaker 1: found any number of things I'd never known before, and
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Speaker 1: I've been at this all these years. There's truth ready
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Speaker 1: to be discovered when you spend your time in it
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Speaker 1: over a concentrated period of time. Now, let's go back
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Speaker 1: to the outline and notice that there is a writer,
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Speaker 1: and he writes for a reason. To begin with. The
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Speaker 1: writer in this book, of course, is Matthew. He's only
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Speaker 1: called Matthew in this book. Mark and Luke call him Levi.
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Speaker 1: No doubt Jesus gave him the name Matthew. Back for
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Speaker 1: your notes, you may want a note. It means gift
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Speaker 1: of God, gift of Yahweh. So God chose the Lord
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Speaker 1: Jesus chose Levi to walk with him, and he chose
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Speaker 1: this man, giving him a name Gifts of God. What
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Speaker 1: a man he was. Now why do they write? Well?
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Speaker 1: Matthew writes obviously to show us that the King who
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Speaker 1: has come is worthy of our trust. He is. That's
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Speaker 1: the reason Matthew put his words together. He wants us
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Speaker 1: to know. This is written by a man who knew
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Speaker 1: him personally. What with him was among the disciples? How
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Speaker 1: about their family? What do we know about them? Well, first,
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Speaker 1: let me have you go to the list. Look at
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Speaker 1: Matthew ten where the Lord gives us a list of
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Speaker 1: all the disciples. They're in verse two. Here are the
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Speaker 1: names of the twelve apostles. You can read them. Simon
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Speaker 1: called Peter Andrews Peter's brother. James is the son of Zebedee,
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Speaker 1: John James's brother. So we've already got brothers, James and John.
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Speaker 1: They were called otherwise sons of Thunder. They had a
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Speaker 1: real anger problem. That's another subject. And then Philip comes along.
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Speaker 1: Then Bartholomew has mentioned Thomas, who was a twin named
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Speaker 1: Didimus in John's gospel meaning twin. Here's Matthew Parenthesis, the
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Speaker 1: tax collector, James son of Alpheus, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot,
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Speaker 1: and Judas Iscariot. Study the name. Study the list of
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Speaker 1: these names. For a few moments you can't tell by looking,
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Speaker 1: but no doubt it's pretty close through probable that Matthew
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Speaker 1: and James, the son of Alpheus, were brothers. See Matthew
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Speaker 1: followed by James in another gospel writer in another gospel,
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Speaker 1: two others Matthew, I should say Mark and Luke. Matthew
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Speaker 1: was called son of Alpheus, just as James is. They're brothers.
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Speaker 1: Listen to the writings of Michael Green, who adds this
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Speaker 1: about this fascinating family. We learned from Mark and Luke
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Speaker 1: that Matthew was the son of Alpheus, and so it
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Speaker 1: was James Mark three eighteen as well as Matthew ten
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Speaker 1: verse two. They were therefore brothers. And at the end
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Speaker 1: of the Apostolic list, for all its variations, we find
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Speaker 1: James son of Alpheus, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot.
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Speaker 1: For the last four who were named, we know that
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Speaker 1: Simon was a Zealot, not to be confused with Simon
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Speaker 1: Peter see down next to the last. Simon is called
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Speaker 1: the Zealot. What does that mean? That is to say,
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Speaker 1: a violent resistance fighter against the occupying Roman forces. Very
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Speaker 1: likely Judas is Scariot was one as well. One of
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Speaker 1: the more probable derivations for his name is Sickarius. The
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Speaker 1: word means dagger carrier. He carried a dagger. He would
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Speaker 1: be among those so bent on resistance that they were
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Speaker 1: ready to assassinate, and the dagger was always handy. Judas,
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Speaker 1: no doubt, was the most zealous of the twelve, which
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Speaker 1: explains his departure from the faith. He never was really
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Speaker 1: a believer, in the Lord Jesus. But he followed Jesus,
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Speaker 1: believing Jesus would overthrow the Romans, and he lived for that.
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Speaker 1: And when he realized he would not be doing that,
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Speaker 1: Judas turned on him. It's another subject, we'll go into
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Speaker 1: it some other time. Back to this quote, most of
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Speaker 1: the common people of Israel were people of nationalistic patriotism,
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Speaker 1: but his brother, Matthew or Levi, was totally different. Now
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Speaker 1: follow this carefully. James is a zealot. He's the son
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Speaker 1: of Alpheus. So is Levi, but Levi's different. As he
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Speaker 1: grew up, he farmed taxes for herod Antipus. He cooperated
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Speaker 1: with the occupying power that his brother was set on
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Speaker 1: seeking to overthrow with a bloody revolution. Imagine that you're
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Speaker 1: a strong right winger and you have a left wing
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Speaker 1: liberal for a brother. And to make matters worse, he
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Speaker 1: works for the irs. And so here you are with
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Speaker 1: a brother completely different agenda in life than you have,
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Speaker 1: and you wind up in the same list of disciples.
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Speaker 1: I told you he was a god of surprises. Only
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Speaker 1: a life and a person like Christ could change the
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Speaker 1: heart of a Matthew. And while I'm at it, changed
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Speaker 1: the heart of a James who must have grown up
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Speaker 1: prejudiced against his own brother. Matthew was a quizzling James
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Speaker 1: was a freedom fighter. Here they are winding up not
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Speaker 1: just in the same family, but among the same body
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Speaker 1: of disciples. He writes in conclusion, it took Jesus of
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Speaker 1: Nazareth to bring the two brothers together. Nobody else could.
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Speaker 1: You know, I'm not going to let that go without
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Speaker 1: an application. Some of you are sisters or brothers to
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Speaker 1: someone who is totally different. You're convinced of one frame
29:17
Speaker 1: of thinking, and your sibling is convinced of another. You
29:23
Speaker 1: don't walk together, you don't think alike, you don't vote alike.
29:30
Speaker 1: You aren't in the same camp. And I'm sure people
29:34
Speaker 1: who know both of you have said to you on occasion.
29:37
Speaker 1: You know, it's hard to believe that your sisters are
29:40
Speaker 1: that your brothers because you're so different. And you know,
29:45
Speaker 1: what's the shame of all that Your tendency is to
29:49
Speaker 1: write them off. Ah, he's so right wing, you won't
29:55
Speaker 1: ever make a left turn or the other side. He's
29:58
Speaker 1: so liberal he can't think outside the boundaries of liberalism.
30:06
Speaker 1: I mean, and on top of that, he works for
30:08
Speaker 1: the irs. What can you expect he I won't go
30:13
Speaker 1: any further. I'll get an amen if I go further.
30:16
Speaker 1: So I'm not going to go there. But you know
30:18
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Now, bring Jesus into the picture. All
30:25
Speaker 1: of a sudden, all of your habit of writing off
30:28
Speaker 1: has to stop. I'm going to warn you about writing
30:32
Speaker 1: anybody off in case you need the reminder. Someone probably
30:38
Speaker 1: once wrote you off. And look at where you are today,
30:45
Speaker 1: and look at your background. Maybe you're not a quizzling,
30:48
Speaker 1: maybe you're not a fraud, but truth be told, you've
30:52
Speaker 1: done some things you're ashamed of. So I I we're
30:56
Speaker 1: all sinners, sorry, who don't deserve the breath that's in
31:02
Speaker 1: our lungs. And along came Christ who said to us,
31:08
Speaker 1: I want you to follow me. Let me show you
31:12
Speaker 1: how this works its way out. While I'm on this
31:15
Speaker 1: sort of personal site, go back a chapter to Matthew nine.
31:20
Speaker 1: I love thoughts like this Matthew nine. As Jesus verse
31:23
Speaker 1: nine is walking along, he saw a man named Matthew
31:26
Speaker 1: sitting at the tax collector's booth. By the way, it's
31:30
Speaker 1: the last place that you ever wanted to go. That
31:32
Speaker 1: was a strong right winger. Stay away from those crooks.
31:36
Speaker 1: Stay away from those people. They want your money. By
31:40
Speaker 1: the way, it's a good time for me to add
31:42
Speaker 1: this before I go any further. Matthew being a tax collector,
31:47
Speaker 1: it took the life of Jesus to change him. They
31:51
Speaker 1: were as much hated as social pariahs. The Jews class
31:56
Speaker 1: them with murderers. They weren't even welcome in this synagogue.
32:03
Speaker 1: There were two kinds of taxes. There was the fixed tax,
32:08
Speaker 1: made up of ground tax, grain and wine taxes, oil tax,
32:15
Speaker 1: fruit tax, income tax, and poll tax. Those were fixed taxes,
32:23
Speaker 1: and then there were the arbitrary taxes levied on customs, transport, exports,
32:31
Speaker 1: and imports. The former, that is, the fixed tax, had
32:36
Speaker 1: a fixed percentage well known by everybody. It was figured
32:40
Speaker 1: to be about twenty five percent. It was in the
32:43
Speaker 1: latter category that there was limitless opportunity for bribery and extortion.
32:50
Speaker 1: They made the publicans, that made the publicans so hated.
32:57
Speaker 1: To make matters worse. Matthew worked under the employee of
33:02
Speaker 1: herod Antipus, who in turn had to make massive block
33:08
Speaker 1: tax disbursements to the Swine of Rome. It was a
33:14
Speaker 1: very lucrative place in which to work. This is the
33:18
Speaker 1: man who has changed from his disreputable profession to become
33:22
Speaker 1: a follower of Jesus. Now all of that is the background.
33:26
Speaker 1: I want you to get the picture of Levi before
33:29
Speaker 1: Christ got a hold of him. This is not the
33:32
Speaker 1: first time he hears of or meets Christ. I think
33:36
Speaker 1: there have been weeks that it passed where he's followed
33:38
Speaker 1: from a distance and maybe even believed in his heart
33:42
Speaker 1: that this is Messiah. He doesn't quite know what to
33:45
Speaker 1: do with all of this. Now look closely. Jesus comes along.
33:49
Speaker 1: He sees Matthew sitting in the collector's booth, and rather
33:53
Speaker 1: than walking away as all the other freedom fighters would
33:56
Speaker 1: have done, he walks in and says, follow me and
33:59
Speaker 1: be my disciple. Matthew got up and followed him. Think
34:09
Speaker 1: about it, cheat though he was, he was rich. He
34:16
Speaker 1: has made money on the hide of fellow Jews hated.
34:22
Speaker 1: Why would he want to be numbered among those who
34:24
Speaker 1: were going to follow Jesus. They're filled with people who
34:27
Speaker 1: are gonna hate people like him. It was the power
34:30
Speaker 1: of Christ that drew him. Read on. I love this part. Later,
34:35
Speaker 1: Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home. I'm
34:39
Speaker 1: sure it was a big place, really big place. He
34:44
Speaker 1: invited them to be his dinner guests, along with many
34:47
Speaker 1: tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. Now that doesn't mean
34:52
Speaker 1: much to you, because we don't have tax collectors today.
34:54
Speaker 1: What we do, well, we call them by other names.
34:57
Speaker 1: But let's say you have a party and you bring
34:59
Speaker 1: in a bunch of your friends from the irs, and
35:02
Speaker 1: you bring your buddies along with those with whom you
35:06
Speaker 1: once worked. We're all together at one table. Is not
35:09
Speaker 1: going to be fun. I can just imagine how some
35:12
Speaker 1: of you would respond to that. I'm sure you'd be
35:14
Speaker 1: very gracious. But we read verse thirty one, I should
35:20
Speaker 1: say verse eleven. When the Pharisees saw this, saw what
35:24
Speaker 1: this whole group sitting together for dinner, disreputable centers, tax collectors,
35:32
Speaker 1: people that are hated as well as those disciples. When
35:34
Speaker 1: the Pharisees saw this, they said to the disciples, what
35:38
Speaker 1: does your teacher eat with such scum? These are Pharisees
35:43
Speaker 1: looking in from the outside. They wouldn't dare go in
35:46
Speaker 1: there and get their garments soiled by this sorry bunch
35:49
Speaker 1: of sinners sitting around the table. Now look at Jesus' response,
35:55
Speaker 1: he said, healthy people don't need a doctor. Sick people do.
36:01
Speaker 1: Then he added, now you go and learn the meaning
36:04
Speaker 1: of the scripture. I want you to show mercy, not
36:08
Speaker 1: all for sacrifices. They're all busy doing all their sacrifices,
36:12
Speaker 1: all their fees, all their customs. Don't go that route.
36:16
Speaker 1: Go and show mercy, for I've come to call not
36:18
Speaker 1: those who think they are righteous, but those who know
36:24
Speaker 1: their sinners. By the way, do you know that about yourself? Honestly,
36:37
Speaker 1: there are some so smug and snobbish that consider that
36:41
Speaker 1: an insulting question. If you are born without Christ, as
36:47
Speaker 1: you are, and if you're living your life without God,
36:50
Speaker 1: you have no righteousness. Oh you have status. Oh you
36:56
Speaker 1: may have all the stuff that money can buy. But
36:59
Speaker 1: you're a sinner. Not until you acknowledge that and see
37:05
Speaker 1: yourself as that will you ever come anywhere near the
37:09
Speaker 1: ranks of those who are followers of Christ. No one
37:14
Speaker 1: comes to Jesus who doesn't first see herself or himself
37:20
Speaker 1: as a sinner, Because when you see yourself in that light,
37:27
Speaker 1: you have no trouble believing in one who can save
37:31
Speaker 1: you from your plight. Because the tragedy is if you
37:36
Speaker 1: are like most, is that you die in your sins
37:42
Speaker 1: and you have nothing when you face eternity to bring
37:46
Speaker 1: you before God clothed in the righteousness of Christ. See,
37:51
Speaker 1: you're not surrounded by personally righteous people today. You're not
37:59
Speaker 1: hearing the words of a righteous person. In myself, I'm
38:04
Speaker 1: a sinner that's been delivered from my sin by the
38:07
Speaker 1: grace of God, like every one of you know Christ,
38:12
Speaker 1: That's what the Pharisees could never see. All they could
38:15
Speaker 1: see was the sinfulness of life. They didn't realize they
38:19
Speaker 1: were the same camp in need of a physician as
38:24
Speaker 1: much as any other sinner. I love this thought, as
38:28
Speaker 1: one man writes, when Jesus called Matthew as he sat
38:32
Speaker 1: at his receipt of custom, Matthew rose up, followed him,
38:39
Speaker 1: left everything behind him except one thing, his pen. It's
38:48
Speaker 1: not good he brought along his pen. You see with
38:53
Speaker 1: the other disciples that they weren't writers. They're fishermen. They're
38:57
Speaker 1: people who work the trades. Matthew made his living writing.
39:03
Speaker 1: That's why when you read through Matthew you find it excellent,
39:08
Speaker 1: excellent Greek, excellent writing. He's a well as d a
39:15
Speaker 1: Carson writes, Matthew was a skilled literary craftsman and gave
39:21
Speaker 1: his gospel structure, form and rhythm. That's the Matthew we're
39:28
Speaker 1: going to be studying. It'll be a book of structure,
39:31
Speaker 1: form and rhythm. Now, as far as his styles and
39:36
Speaker 1: phrases are concerned, just keep in mind what he loves
39:41
Speaker 1: to refer to. You'll see it on the chart. He
39:44
Speaker 1: refers thirty two different times to the Kingdom of Heaven.
39:48
Speaker 1: That's a phrase he loves. He also will refer to
39:53
Speaker 1: the law, he will refer to customs, He'll refer to
39:56
Speaker 1: many of the Jewish traditions because it's a Jewish gospel
40:00
Speaker 1: written to fellow Jews. And by the way, while we're
40:03
Speaker 1: on the subject of styles and phrases, get this, only
40:08
Speaker 1: twenty references to the Old Testament are in John's Gospel,
40:14
Speaker 1: twenty five are in Loose Gospel. Thirty six Old Testament
40:20
Speaker 1: references are in Mark's Gospel, fifty three are in Matthew's
40:27
Speaker 1: Gospel Did You get Them? Fifty three in Matthew, thirty
40:32
Speaker 1: six in Luke, twenty five in I'm Sorry, thirty six
40:38
Speaker 1: in Mark, twenty five in John's Gospel, let me start over,
40:45
Speaker 1: shall I? There are twenty in John's Gospel, there are
40:49
Speaker 1: twenty five in Luke's, there are thirty six in Marx,
40:53
Speaker 1: and fifty three in Matthew. Got that said, Now, then
41:02
Speaker 1: the theme and the plot. Here's the theme. Jesus Christ
41:08
Speaker 1: is Israel's Messiah. Are you heavy? Jesus Christ is Israel's Messiah.
41:18
Speaker 1: You're looking for a master. You'll find him in Matthew.
41:22
Speaker 1: He alone is the king of glory. It's another phrase
41:25
Speaker 1: that he loved to use. And there is the flavor
41:29
Speaker 1: of the Jewish mind as you work your way through it.
41:34
Speaker 1: Every family has a flavor, Every lifestyle has a flavor.
41:45
Speaker 1: Our family, when we were growing up, had a flavor
41:48
Speaker 1: of music. Music was in our blood. Several of us
41:53
Speaker 1: played musical instruments. We all sang. We loved music. Music
41:58
Speaker 1: was a part of our lives. I heard this story,
42:01
Speaker 1: or heard the speech of an Italian fellow whose name
42:07
Speaker 1: was Tony that Fits. Tony talked about his family, and
42:11
Speaker 1: he said, when he was in school, he ran around
42:13
Speaker 1: with two friends all the way through. They all rode
42:16
Speaker 1: the school bus together. He had an American friend named Freddie.
42:21
Speaker 1: That Fits had a Jewish friend named Saul. That fits Tony,
42:26
Speaker 1: Freddie and Saul. He said, When my American friend would
42:32
Speaker 1: be running to the bus, the mother would be at
42:34
Speaker 1: the door saying, Freddie, do you have your baseball glove?
42:38
Speaker 1: So American, he said, When my Jewish friend Saul was
42:45
Speaker 1: running to the bus, his mother was at the door saying,
42:48
Speaker 1: do you have your books? Today? She would say, you
42:51
Speaker 1: have your computer? And he said, every time I'd run
42:55
Speaker 1: to the bus, my mother would say, Tony, do you
42:57
Speaker 1: have your lunch? My mother would have said to me,
43:01
Speaker 1: do you have your musical instrument? Every family has this
43:05
Speaker 1: kind of flavor. When you get to this Matthew's style,
43:09
Speaker 1: you come to realize oozing from the pores of his
43:14
Speaker 1: writing is the way the Jews saw life. It's could
43:19
Speaker 1: have become acquainted with them. Especially when we get into Matthew,
43:23
Speaker 1: it'll help us understand it all the more. Now, right, quick,
43:27
Speaker 1: let's sort of zoom through the chart, shall we do that?
43:31
Speaker 1: Got your roller blades on, don't worry, I'll be through
43:34
Speaker 1: about one point thirty. Here we go. We're going to
43:36
Speaker 1: move from left to right. Look down at the bottom.
43:39
Speaker 1: Look at the bottom, you'll see categories chapters one through fifteen.
43:46
Speaker 1: We have the King presented in his identity one through
43:50
Speaker 1: fifteen as the King Israel's promise. King. Move across the
43:54
Speaker 1: page and you will find his destiny is emphasized in
43:58
Speaker 1: chapter sixteen to twenty seven. What's the destiny? He came
44:02
Speaker 1: to die. His mission was to die. It was to
44:06
Speaker 1: pay the price for the sins of the world. And
44:09
Speaker 1: when you move into chapter sixteen through twenty seven, there
44:13
Speaker 1: is an increase in hostility against him, as the tide
44:17
Speaker 1: of popular opinion turns against him. When you get to
44:20
Speaker 1: the last chapter, he comes back from beyond and he's
44:23
Speaker 1: victorious over sin, death and the grave and the title
44:28
Speaker 1: there could be he has risen. That's chapter twenty eight.
44:32
Speaker 1: Go back to the scope. In the first fifteen chapters,
44:35
Speaker 1: there are large crowds. People are following him, there's a
44:40
Speaker 1: growing popularity. There's an interest in his teaching. People give
44:44
Speaker 1: ear to his stories. They're impressed by the miracles. When
44:47
Speaker 1: you get to chapter around chapter sixteen, he begins to
44:52
Speaker 1: turn his attention to his twelve rather than to the
44:55
Speaker 1: large multitudes. Why would that be because he is mentoring
44:59
Speaker 1: his twelve to carry on without him. That's the purpose
45:03
Speaker 1: of his pouring his life into the twelve. In chapters
45:07
Speaker 1: one to four there's a menth emphasis on Bethlehem and Nazareth.
45:11
Speaker 1: When you get to chapter five through fifteen, there's a
45:14
Speaker 1: special ministry emphasized in Galilee, and when you get to
45:18
Speaker 1: sixteen on Judea, because that's where Jerusalem is and that's
45:23
Speaker 1: where he was crucified. The key verses you'll see at
45:27
Speaker 1: the very bottom, for Peter testifies that Jesus is the Christ,
45:32
Speaker 1: the Son of the Living God. And at the very
45:35
Speaker 1: end you come to the great commission. I want to
45:37
Speaker 1: turn there as we wrap it up, go to the
45:40
Speaker 1: last chapter of Matthew's Gospel. You do that, Matthew twenty eight.
45:48
Speaker 1: Go to verse sixteen Matthew twenty eight, when the eleven
45:56
Speaker 1: disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountains where Jesus
45:59
Speaker 1: had told him to go. When they saw him, they
46:01
Speaker 1: worshiped him, but some of them doubted. Look at that.
46:06
Speaker 1: Don't paint the disciples it's perfect. Even to the end.
46:10
Speaker 1: Some of them had doubts, some of them still scratching
46:14
Speaker 1: their heads, wondering how it's all going to work. Remember,
46:15
Speaker 1: they were looking forward to a kingdom, and all of
46:18
Speaker 1: a sudden their Savior has died, and now he's been
46:20
Speaker 1: raised from the dead. Is confusing. We've had centuries to
46:24
Speaker 1: look back on it and had it explained to us.
46:27
Speaker 1: It's happening in time for them. Now read on. Jesus
46:31
Speaker 1: came and told his disciples, and this is not called
46:34
Speaker 1: the Great Commission. Pay close attention. Here are his words.
46:39
Speaker 1: I've been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
46:43
Speaker 1: Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
46:48
Speaker 1: them in the name of the Father and the Son
46:50
Speaker 1: and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey
46:56
Speaker 1: all the commands I've given you, and be sure of this.
47:01
Speaker 1: I'm with you always, even to the end of the age.
47:06
Speaker 1: In a previous set of messages, I talk to you
47:08
Speaker 1: about the importance of observation. Remember seeing what is really
47:13
Speaker 1: in the text. Go back up to verse eighteen, then
47:18
Speaker 1: verse nineteen, end with verse twenty, and look for one
47:21
Speaker 1: word that's repeated three times three times. I've been given
47:31
Speaker 1: all authority in heaven and earth. Therefore go and make
47:35
Speaker 1: disciples of all the nations verse twenty. Teach these new
47:39
Speaker 1: disciples to obey all the commands. See the word circle
47:45
Speaker 1: it all all all the first has reference to the king.
47:56
Speaker 1: We don't have all authority he does. For anyone to
48:01
Speaker 1: say I have all authority over heaven and earth would
48:04
Speaker 1: be a fool, would actually be mentally ill if he
48:09
Speaker 1: thinks that, or if she thinks that. But not Jesus.
48:13
Speaker 1: He's made the heavens and the earth. None of it
48:16
Speaker 1: is unfamiliar to him. He's the one in full authority,
48:20
Speaker 1: so all authority in his existence and in his life.
48:26
Speaker 1: And now he speaks to those places where to go
48:30
Speaker 1: with his message to all the nations. I'm going to
48:34
Speaker 1: come back to that in a moment. And how about
48:38
Speaker 1: us who take the message? We are to obey all
48:43
Speaker 1: he has said. Why. Well, for people to believe our message,
48:47
Speaker 1: we need to be modeling what the message is saying.
48:51
Speaker 1: It's awfully difficult for a soiled messenger to deliver a
48:54
Speaker 1: pure message. So he says, for all of you who
48:58
Speaker 1: are going to carry the message, remember you to obey
49:01
Speaker 1: all that I've told you, and you're to take the
49:04
Speaker 1: message to all the nations. Now, for a brief moment,
49:07
Speaker 1: I want you to remember the cross. Remember the sign
49:10
Speaker 1: that was placed above his head. On the cross, it read,
49:15
Speaker 1: this is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.
49:21
Speaker 1: You know that that was written in three languages, according
49:24
Speaker 1: to John chapter nineteen, verse twenty three languages Aramaic, Greek,
49:41
Speaker 1: and Latin. Those were the languages of that day. Aramaic
49:47
Speaker 1: is the spoken language, the lingua fronca of that area.
49:52
Speaker 1: Greek would be the written language that everyone had been taught,
49:55
Speaker 1: the common Greek of the day. Latin would be the
49:58
Speaker 1: formal language, known especially by the Romans, so that all
50:02
Speaker 1: who passed by could read what the sign says. His
50:07
Speaker 1: message is now to go to all the nations. Let
50:10
Speaker 1: me give you an example of how the nations have
50:13
Speaker 1: advanced in the last few centuries. Now, think of how
50:18
Speaker 1: far the name of Jesus has gone. The name could
50:21
Speaker 1: be written in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, Polish, Bengali, German,
50:39
Speaker 1: It's Russian, Arabic, Japanese, all the Slavic countries, all the
50:46
Speaker 1: Scandinavian countries, all the European languages. And then when you
50:51
Speaker 1: get to Africa, you have languages and dialects, many of
50:54
Speaker 1: which have not yet been translated. Some of them are
50:57
Speaker 1: called heart languages because there is an even and alphabet. Then
51:01
Speaker 1: you go to the islands of the sea, where you
51:03
Speaker 1: have the same thing. Imagine that ultimately even the heart languages,
51:09
Speaker 1: by God's grace, will be getting the message of Christ,
51:12
Speaker 1: and it will be our pleasure to make that message
51:14
Speaker 1: known to them. Never think of this message of Christ
51:20
Speaker 1: as something you cling to. It was given to us
51:24
Speaker 1: to pass it on, to release it. Illustrated even by
51:28
Speaker 1: a sign that hung above Jesus' head. What a great
51:31
Speaker 1: thought that is. Talk about a message for the missions.
51:35
Speaker 1: That's it. Now, how about us personally? Let me wrap
51:38
Speaker 1: it up with four statements. You're ready. Number one, When
51:43
Speaker 1: we were born again, the King arrived. You could put
51:45
Speaker 1: that here on your outline. When we were born again,
51:48
Speaker 1: the King arrived in our hearts? Are you there? Has
51:53
Speaker 1: the King arrived? Has he begun to change your nature?
52:00
Speaker 1: Has he given you another name? If you will, unlike
52:03
Speaker 1: the name you were born with and you have lived out.
52:06
Speaker 1: Is there a new name that's beginning to take shape
52:09
Speaker 1: now that the King has arrived in your heart. When
52:11
Speaker 1: you were born again, the King arrived. Here's the second.
52:16
Speaker 1: When we began to grow in our faith, the King
52:20
Speaker 1: demonstrated his power just as he does. Through the Gospel
52:23
Speaker 1: of Matthew, change has occurred, some nearly miraculous. The truth
52:30
Speaker 1: began to sink in. He revealed his will to us.
52:36
Speaker 1: He dealt with addictions in our lives. He took care
52:39
Speaker 1: of vulgarity, evil thoughts that once dominated our thinking. He
52:45
Speaker 1: took away our greed. He made us aware that life
52:48
Speaker 1: is not made up by the things you can touch
52:51
Speaker 1: or buy? Are you there is that where you are
52:55
Speaker 1: in the stage of your growth. Here's the third His
53:00
Speaker 1: growth accelerated, so did opposition and testing. Same with Jesus.
53:08
Speaker 1: As you noticed even the disciples there were doubts. Maybe
53:12
Speaker 1: you've experienced them lately, doubts replacing what was once simple
53:18
Speaker 1: confident faith. Discouragement now harasses you. Maybe you're being misunderstood
53:26
Speaker 1: by those who once called you a friend. Perhaps if
53:30
Speaker 1: you're in a mixed marriage where you're saved and your
53:33
Speaker 1: partner is not, there may be a growing distance between you,
53:39
Speaker 1: and there's been a sword brought instead of peace that
53:43
Speaker 1: you once had. Maybe in your business, success is waning
53:48
Speaker 1: because as you grow deeper, you will discover The Lord
53:52
Speaker 1: purifies us as he brings us to a place of
53:56
Speaker 1: focus only on him. Fourth, and finally, when all seems lost,
54:05
Speaker 1: he arises victorious in our lives, just as he does
54:09
Speaker 1: in chapter twenty eight. He reminds us, I'm still the
54:13
Speaker 1: King Jesus. I'm sure to call it. He's still here
54:16
Speaker 1: to call the shots in your life. You can trust me.
54:20
Speaker 1: I have all the power, I have all the authority.
54:23
Speaker 1: Now I ask you to obey all that I've told you.
54:28
Speaker 1: What a great place to close by asking you where
54:32
Speaker 1: is Jesus in your life? You were to put that
54:38
Speaker 1: answer on a piece of paper, what role would he fill.
54:47
Speaker 1: I'm just being introduced to him. I'm just beginning to
54:52
Speaker 1: realize what he can mean. I've begun to discover that
54:58
Speaker 1: life isn't made up of the things I can buy
55:02
Speaker 1: our own. Or maybe I've come to a place that's very,
55:07
Speaker 1: very painful, kind of a crossroads in my walk with him.
55:13
Speaker 1: You may say I've never met him. I don't know him.
55:23
Speaker 1: He's still a bit of a stranger to me, and
55:25
Speaker 1: I would like to know him personally. Following the service
55:31
Speaker 1: in the first hour and a man come to me
55:34
Speaker 1: who is searching, It's obvious from the words he used
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Speaker 1: he had several questions to ask me. I could tell
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Speaker 1: that the Lord was working on his heart. He's intrigued
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Speaker 1: by the power of the scriptures and how they still
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Speaker 1: speak to his life, speak right into where he is today.
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Speaker 1: I'm convinced the Lord's going to win him over, just
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Speaker 1: as he will in your life. Remember, the Lord never
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Speaker 1: met his match. He could turn a quizzling like Levi
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Speaker 1: into a disciple like Matthew. That with me, will you please?
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Speaker 1: We look forward, our Father, to a journey through these stories,
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Speaker 1: lines on a page that will become living truths in
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Speaker 1: our lives. Make us good students of your word, even
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Speaker 1: better followers of your son. Hear in our hearts, Father,
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Speaker 1: the cry teach me, change me, Begin now to make
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Speaker 1: me like Christ. Father, We anticipate the growth that will
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Speaker 1: come from learning of your son through this story of
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Speaker 1: his life. Give us ears to hear and eyes to see,
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Speaker 1: and hearts to accept this. As Matthew writes about him,
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Speaker 1: maybe come to know him and love him as never
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Speaker 1: before in our lives. We pray for Christ's sake. Everyone
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Speaker 1: said amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message, Let's Meet the King was copyrighted in
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Speaker 2: twenty fourteen and twenty twenty one, and the sound recording
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Speaker 2: was copyrighted in twenty twenty one by Charles Arslindahl, Inc.
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Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
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Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited