Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Let’s Meet the King Msg 124

Transcript

Let’s Meet the King Msg 124 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: The outline you find in your worship folder today will
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Speaker 1: be an important guide, not only for today, but for
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Speaker 1: days to come. Matthew is a book of 28 chapters,
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Speaker 1: quite a study. We'll break it up from time to
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Speaker 1: time with various things, the holiday season, as well as
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Speaker 1: the Easter season and other occasions. But we'll work our
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Speaker 1: way through the book of Matthew as we go from
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Speaker 1: one chapter to the next in an expository manner. The
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Speaker 1: outline has on its back a chart which will give
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Speaker 1: you an overview of the book itself. And we'll return
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Speaker 1: to that chart from time to time just to orient ourselves.
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Speaker 1: to where we are and what has come before and
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Speaker 1: what will come later. I want to read for you
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Speaker 1: some excerpts from Matthew. No time to read as many
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Speaker 1: of the verses as we'd like, but this will give
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Speaker 1: you at least snapshots along the way of the scenes
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Speaker 1: that we will be encountering. I'll be reading from the
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Speaker 1: New Living Translation and we'll be going from one chapter
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Speaker 1: to another several times. So be ready for that. Once
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Speaker 1: you find Matthew, please stand with one another for the
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Speaker 1: reading of the scriptures. I'll begin with the first verse
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Speaker 1: and then we'll go to verse 16 in this first chapter.
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Speaker 1: This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah,
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Speaker 1: a descendant of David and of Abraham. Verse 16, Jacob
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Speaker 1: was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Mary
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Speaker 1: gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah. Verse
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Speaker 1: 1 of chapter 2, Jesus was born in Bethlehem in
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Speaker 1: Judea during the reign of King Herod. About that time,
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Speaker 1: some wise men from Eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem asking,
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Speaker 1: where is the newborn King of the Jews? We saw
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Speaker 1: his star as it rose and we have come to
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Speaker 1: worship him. Verse 13, after the wise men were gone,
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Speaker 1: an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream,
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Speaker 1: get up, flee to Egypt with the child and his mother.
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Speaker 1: The angel said, stay there until I tell you to
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Speaker 1: return because Herod is going to search for the child
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Speaker 1: to kill him. That night, Joseph left for Egypt with
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Speaker 1: the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there
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Speaker 1: until Herod's death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken
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Speaker 1: through the prophet, I called my son out of Egypt.
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Speaker 1: Verse 20. Get up, the angel said, take the child
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Speaker 1: and his mother back to the land of Israel because
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Speaker 1: those who were trying to kill the child are dead.
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Speaker 1: Verse 23. So the family went and lived in a
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Speaker 1: town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets had said.
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Speaker 1: He will be called a Nazarene. Two more sections. Chapter 9.
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Speaker 1: Verse 9. As Jesus was walking along, he saw a
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Speaker 1: man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector's booth. Follow
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Speaker 1: me and be my disciple, Jesus said to him. So
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Speaker 1: Matthew got up and followed him. Finally, chapter 16. Verse 13.
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Speaker 1: When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he
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Speaker 1: asked his disciples, who do people say that the Son
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Speaker 1: of Man is? Well, they replied, some say John the Baptist.
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Speaker 1: Some say Elijah and others say Jeremiah or one of
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Speaker 1: the prophets. Then he asked them, but who do you
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Speaker 1: say I am? Simon Peter answered, you are the Messiah,
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Speaker 1: the son of the living God. My hope as we
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Speaker 1: undertake this study, which will be lengthy and in something
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Speaker 1: of a detail, is that we will get new glimpses
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Speaker 1: of Jesus the son of the living God, and that
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Speaker 1: our love for him will intensify as time passes. Please
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Speaker 1: be seated. Join me in prayer. Will you bow with me, please?
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Speaker 1: In the quietness of this moment, our Father, we are
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Speaker 1: grateful for a relationship with you that has brought peace
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Speaker 1: in place of chaos. And has brought relief. In place
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Speaker 1: of guilt. Has brought hope. In place of emptiness. And
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Speaker 1: has introduced us. To one who knows us the best.
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Speaker 1: Yet loves us the most. Your son. Jesus. We never
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Speaker 1: tire of worship. We really 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 where 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 year 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.
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Speaker 1: today on this day of worship, we thank you again
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Speaker 1: for your profound gift to us in your Son, Jesus.
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Speaker 1: Teach us in the years we walk with you to
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Speaker 1: become increasingly more unselfish as we share the good news
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Speaker 1: and as we share from our own treasure that this
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Speaker 1: message might spread far beyond the familiar world in which
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Speaker 1: we live. I pray right now for the way that
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Speaker 1: you will use this Operation Christmas Child in the lives
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Speaker 1: of little children literally around the world. May many of
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Speaker 1: them come to know your love through your Son, Jesus.
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Speaker 1: May our gifts today Take that message and spread it
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Speaker 1: far and wide. We release that with great joy and faith.
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Speaker 1: Just as we give our gifts today in the name
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Speaker 1: of Christ our Lord. Everyone said amen. Our God is
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Speaker 1: a God of surprises. He's filled with them. Stop and
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Speaker 1: think about it. Who else but a God of surprises
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Speaker 1: could have arranged a plan for saving humanity and in
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Speaker 1: that plan designed that he himself would step in the
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Speaker 1: ranks of human flesh to carry it out what a
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Speaker 1: genius what a surprising idea who but our God of
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Speaker 1: surprises would have arrived in the way he arrived in
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Speaker 1: a stable Born to parents that didn't have two shekels
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Speaker 1: to rub together. Just absolutely abject poverty. And from them,
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Speaker 1: the child was raised. Who but our God would have
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Speaker 1: used a flaming star in the sky to lead wise
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Speaker 1: men from over a thousand miles away to find their
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Speaker 1: way over months of travel to that one place where
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Speaker 1: the child was living with his parents, not realizing when
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Speaker 1: they arrived with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh
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Speaker 1: that it was that child who, while second member of
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Speaker 1: the Trinity, created all the stars. Who but our God
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Speaker 1: of surprises? Who but a God of surprise would have
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Speaker 1: assembled a rag-tag body of disciples, made up of fishermen
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Speaker 1: and of all things, tax gatherer, tax collector, and with
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Speaker 1: him his brother, with whom he must have fought a
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Speaker 1: number of occasions, and brought him also as a disciple,
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Speaker 1: who but our God of surprises. And who else but
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Speaker 1: our God would cause a hated, greedy tax collector to
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Speaker 1: to have his life transformed from extortion and fraud and
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Speaker 1: dishonesty and cooperating with an enemy force like the Romans,
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Speaker 1: known among the Jews as the swine, and make him
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Speaker 1: one of the twelve. Only our God would do that.
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Speaker 1: And while I'm at it, It would be that tax
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Speaker 1: collector who would sit down with pen in hand and
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Speaker 1: write the story of the one who came to save
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Speaker 1: the lost, originally presented as the King of the Jews,
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Speaker 1: their Messiah, only to have him not accepted, but rejected
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Speaker 1: and crucified, mistreated and misunderstood. Who but our God of
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Speaker 1: surprises would have brought him back from beyond and had
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Speaker 1: him stand before those who had witnessed his death, announcing
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Speaker 1: that he is risen and that he would then ascend
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Speaker 1: and he would arrive and be seated at the right
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Speaker 1: hand of the Father back in the place which he
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Speaker 1: had left 33 or so years earlier. And there he
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Speaker 1: would wait for us and pray for us with plans
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Speaker 1: to return for us to take us to himself. The
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Speaker 1: book we began to study is a book filled with
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Speaker 1: this story. It's the story of the great king who
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Speaker 1: left the riches of heaven to become a commoner on
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Speaker 1: this earth. That we, the commoners, after believing in him,
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Speaker 1: would become the regal children in his family. No one
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Speaker 1: ever said it better than Paul, 2 Corinthians 8, 9.
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Speaker 1: You know the grace of our Lord Jesus, who though
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Speaker 1: he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we,
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Speaker 1: through his poverty, might be rich. Only a God of
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Speaker 1: surprises would have come up with a plan that magnificent.
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Speaker 1: It's our joy to begin today to take on the
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Speaker 1: study of this gospel story. I provided you with an
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Speaker 1: outline and I'd like you to keep your eye on
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Speaker 1: it as we work our way through it. Have your
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Speaker 1: pen ready or your pencil. I've given you four columns
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Speaker 1: that mark out the four gospels, but you might want
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Speaker 1: to write in the margin the meaning of the word gospel.
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Speaker 1: It's an Anglo-Saxon word, good spell. It comes from a
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Speaker 1: term that means good news. So the gospel would be
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Speaker 1: the good news. The good news of Matthew. The good
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Speaker 1: news of Mark. The good news of Luke. The good
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Speaker 1: news of John. Now, with that in mind, be ready
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Speaker 1: to write in each column various things. Matthew presents Jesus
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Speaker 1: as the king. So put king below his name. You
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Speaker 1: will see all the way through the writing of Matthew,
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Speaker 1: the king, the king, the Messiah, the promised one. When
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Speaker 1: you get to Mark, Jesus is presented as a servant.
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Speaker 1: He's at work. You read very little of regal significance
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Speaker 1: in the gospel by Mark. You'll read a lot about work,
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Speaker 1: a lot about immediately moving from this action to that action.
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Speaker 1: Mark is a book of action because he's a servant
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Speaker 1: at work. Luke presents Jesus as the man, the son
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Speaker 1: of man, the man who would represent us among humans
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Speaker 1: on this earth. Luke sees him as the man, and finally,
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Speaker 1: John presents him as God. The preface of John's gospel
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Speaker 1: is filled with 18 verses of the deity of Christ,
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Speaker 1: the one who came, logos, becoming humanity, God incarnate. He
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Speaker 1: is the man God, the God man, and John presents
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Speaker 1: him as God like none other. Now go back to Matthew.
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Speaker 1: Matthew was written to Jews. That's why there are so
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Speaker 1: many references of Jewish significance, references to the law, references
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Speaker 1: to the customs. references to the feast and events of
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Speaker 1: the Jews, very familiar to Jews. Mark is written to Romans.
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Speaker 1: They're the workers. They're the people who constructed so much
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Speaker 1: during their generation. And Mark writes to them. Luke writes
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Speaker 1: to Greeks, being one of them. The physician writes to
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Speaker 1: fellows in his same race. And third, or fourth, John
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Speaker 1: writes to all the world. or to all the church.
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Speaker 1: He wants all the world to know that Jesus, the king,
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Speaker 1: the servant, the man, God himself is available to the
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Speaker 1: whole world. Now let's go to the order in which
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Speaker 1: they were written. Most likely, Mark was written first. He
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Speaker 1: got his information from Peter, Peter gave Mark information regarding
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Speaker 1: the details of those discussions that took place. Mark took notes.
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Speaker 1: Mark knew him well, and from Peter especially, he was
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Speaker 1: able to write the first gospel. The second was most
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Speaker 1: likely Matthew, as best we can tell. Matthew wrote his
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Speaker 1: good news second. The third was Luke, and the fourth
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Speaker 1: was John. So in this order, Matthew comes second, Mark
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Speaker 1: written first, Luke third, John 4th. Let me teach you
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Speaker 1: a word and I'll tell you why it's significant. The
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Speaker 1: word is synoptic. Write it down. S-Y-N-O-P-T-I-C. Synoptic. It comes
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Speaker 1: from two Greek words. Sun, S-U-N, means with. And 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 90s, A.D. 90s,
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Speaker 1: but he is writing 92% of his information is unique
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Speaker 1: to John. Think about it. Even though Matthew, Mark, and
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Speaker 1: Luke have written the good news of information that they
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Speaker 1: received and saw, witnessed, and wrote similar things in various ways,
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Speaker 1: John wrote from an altogether different standpoint, and his presentation
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Speaker 1: is unique, 92% of it. Why four? Why not one?
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Speaker 1: Why wouldn't we just be satisfied with one gospel? Well,
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Speaker 1: these four give us four eyewitness accounts. These four let
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Speaker 1: us see different flavors, different shadings, different scenes from their perspective.
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Speaker 1: If a terrible accident were to take place on the
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Speaker 1: corner out here near our church, Let's imagine someone is
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Speaker 1: jogging along the way and witnesses the accident. Let's say
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Speaker 1: there's another driver behind the person driving that was in
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Speaker 1: the accident. He sees the accident in another way. Let's
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Speaker 1: say several members on a construction crew that are working
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Speaker 1: today over in this project beyond us would look over
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Speaker 1: and they would see they would have another perspective. Let's
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Speaker 1: just imagine someone is up in a tree. Let's say
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Speaker 1: somebody's up there just kind of sitting there in the tree,
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Speaker 1: maybe a kid that decided to climb a tree that day,
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Speaker 1: he would see from another perspective. The same accident, four
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Speaker 1: different perspectives And anyone who investigates the accident would want
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Speaker 1: to know the perspective of those people who witnessed it.
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Speaker 1: They would give evidence from their perspective. It's interesting, though
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Speaker 1: they come from different perspectives, there is no contradiction in
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Speaker 1: all of the writings. In spite of what them critic
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Speaker 1: may tell you, or in spite of what you may
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Speaker 1: have learned in your religion class in college, there is
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Speaker 1: no contradiction in any of the gospels as well as
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Speaker 1: any of the scriptures. Matter of fact, talk about content,
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Speaker 1: 46% of all the information in the New Testament is
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Speaker 1: found in the four gospels. If you add the book
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Speaker 1: of Acts, it grows to 60%. Think of that, since
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Speaker 1: Luke wrote Acts, If you take all the writings of Matthew, Mark,
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Speaker 1: and the two books of Luke, and then John, you
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Speaker 1: have 60% of the New Testament represented here. This is
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Speaker 1: an amazing amount of information contained right here. It's a
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Speaker 1: good place for me to pause and bring a challenge
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Speaker 1: to every one of you. I'm of the opinion that
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Speaker 1: every Christian, at least once a year, should become reacquainted
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Speaker 1: with the Savior. I suggest that you do your own study.
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Speaker 1: It may be one of the Gospels. It may be
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Speaker 1: a chapter from one of the Gospels that's always intrigued you.
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Speaker 1: It may be of the crucifixion of Jesus. It may
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Speaker 1: be of the resurrection. You may choose to do it
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Speaker 1: in the Christmas season or the Easter season. You may
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Speaker 1: want to take the three months of the summer and
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Speaker 1: take on a study of the life of Jesus. Why
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Speaker 1: would I say that? Well, he's your savior. Some people
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Speaker 1: know Paul better than they know Jesus. Some have studied
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Speaker 1: the disciples and know them as a group better than
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Speaker 1: the person of Jesus himself. Let me tell you something.
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Speaker 1: In going through this study for the last several weeks
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Speaker 1: in preparation for today, I found any number of things
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Speaker 1: I'd never known before, and I've been at this all
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Speaker 1: these years. There's truth ready to be discovered when you
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Speaker 1: spend your time in it over a concentrated period of time. Now,
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Speaker 1: let's go back to the outline and notice that there
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Speaker 1: is a writer and he writes for a reason. To
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Speaker 1: begin with, the writer in this book, of course, is Matthew.
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Speaker 1: He's only called Matthew in this book. Mark and Luke
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Speaker 1: call him Levi. No doubt Jesus gave him the name Matthew.
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Speaker 1: Back for your notes, you may want to note it
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Speaker 1: means gift of God, gift of Yahweh. So God chose,
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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus chose Levi to walk with him, and
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Speaker 1: he chose this man, giving him a name, gift of God.
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Speaker 1: What 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, walked with him, was among the disciples. How
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Speaker 1: about their family? What do we know about them? Well,
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Speaker 1: first let me have you go to the list. Look
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Speaker 1: at Matthew 10, where the Lord gives us a list
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Speaker 1: of all the disciples. There in verse 2, Here are
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Speaker 1: the names of the 12 apostles. You can read them.
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Speaker 1: Simon called Peter. Andrew is Peter's brother. James is the
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Speaker 1: son of Zebedee. John, James' brother. So we've already got brothers,
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Speaker 1: James and John. They were called otherwise sons of thunder.
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Speaker 1: They had a real anger problem. That's another subject. And
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Speaker 1: then Philip comes along. Then Bartholomew is mentioned. Thomas, who
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Speaker 1: was a twin, named Didymus in John's Gospel, meaning twin.
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Speaker 1: Here's Matthew, parenthesis, the tax collector. James, son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus,
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Speaker 1: Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot. Study the name, study
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Speaker 1: the list of these names for a few moments. You
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Speaker 1: can't tell by looking, but no doubt, it's pretty close
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Speaker 1: to probable that Matthew and James, the son of Alphaeus,
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Speaker 1: were brothers. See Matthew followed by James. In another gospel writer,
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Speaker 1: in another gospel, two others, Matthew, I should say Mark
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Speaker 1: and Luke, Matthew was called son of Alphaeus, just as
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Speaker 1: James is, they're brothers. Listen to the writings of Michael Green,
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Speaker 1: who adds this about this fascinating family. We learned from
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Speaker 1: Mark and Luke that Matthew was the son of Alphaeus,
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Speaker 1: and so was James, Mark 3, 18, as well as
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Speaker 1: Matthew 10, verse 2. They were therefore brothers. And at
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Speaker 1: the end of the apostolic list, for all its variations,
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Speaker 1: we find James, son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot,
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Speaker 1: and Judas Iscariot were the last four who were named.
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Speaker 1: We know that Simon was a zealot, not to be
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Speaker 1: confused with Simon Peter. See down next to the last,
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Speaker 1: Simon is called the zealot. What does that mean? That
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Speaker 1: is to say, a violent resistance fighter against the occupying
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Speaker 1: Roman forces. Very likely, Judas Iscariot was one as well.
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Speaker 1: One of the more probable derivations for his name is Sicarius.
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Speaker 1: The word means dagger carrier. He carried a dagger. He
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Speaker 1: would be among those so bent on resistance that they
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Speaker 1: were ready to assassinate. and the dagger was always handy. Judas,
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Speaker 1: no doubt, was the most zealous of the 12, 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 a son
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Speaker 1: of Alphaeus. So is Levi. But Levi's different. As he
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Speaker 1: grew up, he farmed taxes for Herod Antipas. 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 liberal for
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Speaker 1: a brother. And to make matters worse, he works for
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Speaker 1: the IRS. And so here you are with a brother,
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Speaker 1: completely different agenda in life than you have And you
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Speaker 1: wind up in the same list of disciples. I told
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Speaker 1: you he was a God of surprises. Only a life
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Speaker 1: and a person like Christ could change the heart of Matthew.
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Speaker 1: And while I'm at it, change the heart of a James.
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Speaker 1: Who must have grown up prejudiced against his own brother.
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Speaker 1: Matthew was a quizzling. James was a freedom fighter. Here
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Speaker 1: they are winding up. Not just in the same family,
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Speaker 1: but among the same body of disciples. He writes in conclusion,
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Speaker 1: it took Jesus of Nazareth to bring the two brothers together.
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Speaker 1: Nobody else could. You know I'm not going to let
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Speaker 1: that go without an application. Some of you are sisters
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Speaker 1: or brothers to someone who is totally different. You're convinced
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Speaker 1: of one frame of thinking and your sibling is convinced
29:21
Speaker 1: of another. You don't walk together. You don't think alike.
29:27
Speaker 1: You don't vote alike. You aren't in the same camp.
29:33
Speaker 1: And I'm sure people who know both of you have
29:35
Speaker 1: said to you on occasion, you know, it's hard to
29:38
Speaker 1: believe that you're sisters. or that you're brothers because you're
29:43
Speaker 1: so different. And you know what's the shame of all that?
29:47
Speaker 1: Your tendency is to write them off. Oh, he's so
29:54
Speaker 1: right wing, he won't ever make a left turn. Or
29:57
Speaker 1: the other side, he's so liberal, He can't think outside
30:01
Speaker 1: the boundaries of liberalism. And on top of that, he
30:08
Speaker 1: works for the IRS. What can you expect? I won't
30:13
Speaker 1: go 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 want 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 quizling.
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 have I. We're
30:56
Speaker 1: all sinners. Sorry sinners who don't deserve the breath that's
31:02
Speaker 1: in 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 side. Go back a chapter to Matthew 9.
31:18
Speaker 1: I love thoughts like this. Matthew 9, as Jesus, verse 9,
31:24
Speaker 1: is walking along, He saw a man named Matthew sitting
31:27
Speaker 1: at the tax collector's booth. By the way, it's the
31:30
Speaker 1: last place a Jew ever wanted to go that was
31:32
Speaker 1: a strong right-winger. Stay away from those crooks. Stay away
31:37
Speaker 1: from those people. They want your money. By the way,
31:41
Speaker 1: it's a good time for me to add this before
31:42
Speaker 1: I go any further. Matthew, being a tax collector, it
31:47
Speaker 1: took the life of Jesus to change him. They were
31:51
Speaker 1: as much hated as social pariahs, the Jews collectively. classed
31:56
Speaker 1: them with murderers. They weren't even welcome in the 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 25%. It was in the latter category
32:44
Speaker 1: that there was limitless opportunity for bribery and extortion. They
32:50
Speaker 1: made the publicans, that made the publicans so hated. To
32:57
Speaker 1: make matters worse, Matthew worked under the employee of Herod Antipas,
33:05
Speaker 1: who in turn had to make massive block tax disbursements
33:10
Speaker 1: to the swine of Rome. It was a very lucrative
33:15
Speaker 1: place in which to work, This is the man who
33:18
Speaker 1: has changed from his disreputable profession to become a follower
33:23
Speaker 1: of Jesus. Now, all of that is a background. I
33:26
Speaker 1: want you to get the picture of Levi before Christ
33:30
Speaker 1: got a hold of him. This is not the first
33:32
Speaker 1: time he hears of or meets Christ. I think there
33:36
Speaker 1: have been weeks that have passed where he's followed from
33:38
Speaker 1: a distance and maybe even believed in his heart that
33:42
Speaker 1: this is Messiah. He doesn't quite know what to do
33:46
Speaker 1: 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 going to hate people like him. It was the
34:30
Speaker 1: power of Christ that drew him. Read on. I love
34:34
Speaker 1: this part. Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to
34:38
Speaker 1: his home. I'm sure it was a big place. Really
34:42
Speaker 1: big place. He invited them to be his dinner guests
34:46
Speaker 1: along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. Now,
34:51
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean much to you because we don't have
34:53
Speaker 1: tax collectors today. Well, we do, but we call them
34:55
Speaker 1: by other names. But let's say you have a party
34:59
Speaker 1: and you bring in a bunch of your friends from
35:01
Speaker 1: the IRS and you bring your buddies along with those
35:05
Speaker 1: with whom you once worked. We're all together at one table.
35:08
Speaker 1: Isn't that going to be fun? I could just imagine
35:11
Speaker 1: how some of you would respond to that. I'm sure
35:14
Speaker 1: you'd be very gracious. But we read verse 31, or
35:18
Speaker 1: I should say verse 11, when the Pharisees saw this,
35:22
Speaker 1: saw what? This whole group sitting together for dinner. Disreputable sinners,
35:30
Speaker 1: tax collectors, people that are hated as well as those disciples.
35:34
Speaker 1: When the Pharisees saw this, They said to the disciples,
35:38
Speaker 1: why does your teacher eat with such scum? These are
35:43
Speaker 1: Pharisees looking in from the outside. They wouldn't dare go
35:45
Speaker 1: in there and get their garments soiled by this sorry
35:49
Speaker 1: bunch of sinners sitting around the table. Now look at
35:52
Speaker 1: Jesus' response. He said, healthy people don't need a doctor.
35:59
Speaker 1: Sick people do. Then he added, now you go and
36:03
Speaker 1: learn the meaning of this scripture. I want you to
36:06
Speaker 1: show mercy, not offer sacrifices. They're all busy doing all
36:10
Speaker 1: their sacrifices, all their feasts, all their customs. Don't go
36:14
Speaker 1: that route. Go and show mercy, for I've come to
36:17
Speaker 1: call not those who think they are righteous, but those
36:22
Speaker 1: who know they are sinners. By the way, do you
36:30
Speaker 1: know that about yourself? Honestly, there are some so smug
36:39
Speaker 1: and snobbish they'd consider that an insulting question. If you
36:44
Speaker 1: are born without Christ, as you are, and if you're
36:48
Speaker 1: living your life without God, you have no righteousness. Oh,
36:53
Speaker 1: you have status. Oh, you may have all the stuff
36:57
Speaker 1: that money can buy, but you're a sinner. Not until
37:02
Speaker 1: you acknowledge that and see yourself as that will you
37:07
Speaker 1: ever come anywhere near the ranks of those who are
37:11
Speaker 1: followers of Christ. No one comes to Jesus who doesn't
37:17
Speaker 1: first see herself or himself as a sinner. Because when
37:23
Speaker 1: you see yourself in that light, you have no trouble
37:28
Speaker 1: believing in one who can save you from your plight.
37:34
Speaker 1: Because the tragedy is, if you are like most, is
37:39
Speaker 1: that you die in your sins. And you have nothing
37:43
Speaker 1: when you face eternity to bring you before God clothed
37:47
Speaker 1: in the righteousness of Christ. See, you're not surrounded by
37:55
Speaker 1: personally righteous people today. You're not hearing the words of
38:00
Speaker 1: a righteous person in myself. I'm a sinner that's been
38:05
Speaker 1: delivered from my sin by the grace of God, like
38:09
Speaker 1: every one of you know Christ. That's what the Pharisees
38:13
Speaker 1: could never see. All they could see was the sinfulness
38:17
Speaker 1: of life. They didn't realize they were the same camp
38:22
Speaker 1: in need of a physician as much as any other sinner.
38:27
Speaker 1: I love this thought, as one man writes, when Jesus
38:30
Speaker 1: called Matthew As he sat at his receipt of custom,
38:35
Speaker 1: Matthew rose up, followed him, left everything behind him except
38:42
Speaker 1: one thing, his pen. It's not good. He brought along
38:51
Speaker 1: his pen. You see, with the other disciples, they weren't writers.
38:55
Speaker 1: They're fishermen. They're people who work the trades. Matthew made
39:00
Speaker 1: his living writings. That's why when you read through Matthew,
39:06
Speaker 1: you find it excellent, excellent Greek, excellent writing. He's a, well,
39:14
Speaker 1: as D.A. Carson writes, Matthew was a skilled literary craftsman
39:20
Speaker 1: and gave his gospel structure, form, and rhythm. That's the
39:27
Speaker 1: Matthew we're going to be studying. It'll be a book
39:30
Speaker 1: of structure, form, and rhythm. Now, as far as his
39:35
Speaker 1: styles and phrases are concerned, just keep in mind what
39:40
Speaker 1: he loves to refer to. You'll see it on the chart.
39:44
Speaker 1: He refers 32 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
40:07
Speaker 1: 20 references to the Old Testament are in John's gospel.
40:12
Speaker 1: 25 are in Luke's gospels. 36 Old Testament references are
40:21
Speaker 1: in Mark's gospel. 53 are in Matthew's gospel. Did you
40:28
Speaker 1: get them? 53 in Matthew, 36 in Luke, 25 in,
40:30
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, 36 in Mark, 25 in John's gospel. Let
40:34
Speaker 1: me start over, shall I? There are 20 in John's Gospel.
40:49
Speaker 1: There are 25 in Luke's. There are 36 in Mark's
40:53
Speaker 1: and 53 in Matthew. Got that said. Now then, the
41:03
Speaker 1: theme and the plot. Here's the theme. Jesus Christ is
41:09
Speaker 1: Israel's Messiah. There you have it. 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 the speech
42:04
Speaker 1: of an Italian fellow whose name was Tony. That fits.
42:09
Speaker 1: Tony talked about his family. And he said when he
42:12
Speaker 1: was in school, he ran around with two friends all
42:14
Speaker 1: the way through They all rode the school bus together.
42:17
Speaker 1: He had an American friend named Freddy. That fits. He
42:22
Speaker 1: had a Jewish friend named Saul. That fits. Tony, Freddy,
42:26
Speaker 1: and Saul. He said, when my American friend would be
42:32
Speaker 1: running to the bus, the mother would be at the
42:34
Speaker 1: door saying, Freddy, do you have your baseball glove? So American.
42:40
Speaker 1: He said, when... My Jewish friend Saul was running to
42:46
Speaker 1: the bus. His mother was at the door saying, do
42:48
Speaker 1: you have your books? Today she would say, you have
42:51
Speaker 1: your computer. And he said, every time I'd run to
42:55
Speaker 1: the bus, my mother would say, Tony, do you have
42:57
Speaker 1: your lunch? My mother would have said to me, do
43:01
Speaker 1: you have your musical instrument? Every family has this kind
43:05
Speaker 1: of flavor. When you get to this Matthew style, you
43:09
Speaker 1: come to realize that Oozing from the pores of his
43:14
Speaker 1: writing is the way the Jews saw life. It's good
43:19
Speaker 1: to 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 rollerblades on? Don't worry, I'll be through about 1.30.
43:34
Speaker 1: Here we go. We're going to move from left to right.
43:37
Speaker 1: Look down at the bottom. Look at the bottom. You'll
43:41
Speaker 1: see categories. Chapters 1 through 15, we have the king
43:47
Speaker 1: presented in his identity, 1 through 15, as the king,
43:52
Speaker 1: Israel's promised king. Move across the page and you'll find
43:55
Speaker 1: his destiny is emphasized in chapter 16 to 27. What's
44:01
Speaker 1: the destiny? He came to die. His mission was to die.
44:06
Speaker 1: It was to pay the price for the sins of
44:08
Speaker 1: the world. And when you move into chapter 16 through 27,
44:13
Speaker 1: there is an increase in hostility against him as the
44:17
Speaker 1: tide of popular opinion turns against him. When you get
44:20
Speaker 1: to the last chapter, he comes back from beyond and
44:23
Speaker 1: he's victorious over sin, death, and the grave. And the
44:27
Speaker 1: title there could be, he is risen. That's chapter 28.
44:32
Speaker 1: Go back to the scope. In the first 15 chapters,
44:35
Speaker 1: there are large crowds. People are following him. There's a
44:39
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 around chapter 16, he begins to turn
44:52
Speaker 1: his attention to his 12 rather than to the large multitudes.
44:56
Speaker 1: Why would that be? Because he is mentoring his 12
45:00
Speaker 1: to carry on without him. That's the purpose of his
45:03
Speaker 1: pouring his life into the 12. In chapters 1 to 4,
45:08
Speaker 1: there's an emphasis on Bethlehem and Nazareth. When you get
45:12
Speaker 1: to chapter 5 through 15, there's a special ministry emphasized
45:15
Speaker 1: in Galilee. And when you get to 16 on Judea,
45:21
Speaker 1: because that's where Jerusalem is and that's where he was crucified.
45:26
Speaker 1: The key verses you'll see at the very bottom where
45:28
Speaker 1: Peter testifies that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
45:33
Speaker 1: the living God. And at the very end, you come
45:36
Speaker 1: to the Great Commission. I want to turn there as
45:38
Speaker 1: we wrap it up. Go to the last chapter of
45:41
Speaker 1: Matthew's Gospel. You do that? Matthew 28. Go to verse 16,
45:46
Speaker 1: Matthew 28. When the 11 disciples left for Galilee, going
45:57
Speaker 1: to the mountains where Jesus had told them to go,
46:00
Speaker 1: when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some of
46:02
Speaker 1: them doubted. Look at that. Don't paint the disciples as perfect.
46:09
Speaker 1: Even to the end, some of them had doubts. Some
46:12
Speaker 1: of them still scratching their heads, wondering how it's all
46:15
Speaker 1: going to work. Remember, they were looking forward to a kingdom,
46:17
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden their Savior has died, and
46:20
Speaker 1: now he's been raised from the dead. It's confusing. We've
46:23
Speaker 1: had centuries to look back on it and had it
46:25
Speaker 1: explained to us. It's happening in time for them. Now
46:29
Speaker 1: read on. Jesus came and told his disciples, and this
46:33
Speaker 1: is now called the Great Commission. Pay close attention. Here
46:37
Speaker 1: are his words. I've been given all authority in heaven
46:41
Speaker 1: and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all
46:45
Speaker 1: the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
46:49
Speaker 1: and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Teach these new
46:53
Speaker 1: disciples to obey all the commands I've given you. And
46:58
Speaker 1: be sure of this, I'm with you always, even to
47:02
Speaker 1: the end of the age. In a previous set of messages,
47:07
Speaker 1: I talked to you about the importance of observation. Remember?
47:12
Speaker 1: Seeing what is really in the text. Go back up
47:15
Speaker 1: to verse 18. Then verse 19. End with verse 20
47:20
Speaker 1: and look for one word that's repeated three times. Three times.
47:30
Speaker 1: I've been given all authority in heaven and earth. Therefore,
47:34
Speaker 1: go and make disciples of all the nations. Verse 20,
47:38
Speaker 1: teach these new disciples to obey all the commands. See
47:43
Speaker 1: the word? Circle it. All.
47:46
Speaker 2: All.
47:53
Speaker 1: The first has reference to the king. We don't have
47:57
Speaker 1: all authority. He does. For anyone to say, I have
48:02
Speaker 1: all authority over heaven and earth would be a fool,
48:05
Speaker 1: would actually be mentally ill if he thinks that or
48:09
Speaker 1: if she thinks that, but not Jesus. He's made the
48:13
Speaker 1: heavens and the earth. None of it is unfamiliar to him.
48:18
Speaker 1: He's the one in full authority, so all authority among,
48:23
Speaker 1: in his existence and in his life. And now he
48:26
Speaker 1: speaks to those places where to go with his message,
48:31
Speaker 1: to all the nations. I'm gonna come back to that
48:35
Speaker 1: in a moment. And how about us who take the message?
48:40
Speaker 1: We are to obey all he has said, why? Well,
48:45
Speaker 1: for people to believe our message, we need to be
48:48
Speaker 1: modeling what the message is saying. It's awfully difficult for
48:52
Speaker 1: a soiled messenger to deliver a pure message. So he says,
48:57
Speaker 1: for all of you who are going to carry the message,
49:00
Speaker 1: remember you're to obey all that I've told you, and
49:03
Speaker 1: you're to take the message to all the nations. Now,
49:06
Speaker 1: for a brief moment, I want you to remember the cross.
49:09
Speaker 1: Remember the sign that was placed above his head on
49:12
Speaker 1: the cross? It read, This is Jesus of Nazareth, the
49:18
Speaker 1: King of the Jews. you know that that was written
49:22
Speaker 1: in three languages according to John chapter 19 verse 20
49:30
Speaker 1: three languages Aramaic Greek and Latin. Those were the languages
49:44
Speaker 1: of that day. Aramaic is the spoken language, the lingua
49:49
Speaker 1: franca of that area. Greek would be the written language
49:54
Speaker 1: that everyone had been taught, the common Greek of the day.
49:57
Speaker 1: Latin would be the formal language known especially by the Romans,
50:01
Speaker 1: so that all who passed by could read what the
50:04
Speaker 1: sign says. His message is now to go to all
50:08
Speaker 1: the nations. Let me give you an example of how
50:11
Speaker 1: the nations have advanced in the last few centuries. Now
50:17
Speaker 1: think of how far the name of Jesus has gone.
50:21
Speaker 1: The name could be written in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, Polish, Bengali, German, Russian, Arabic, Japanese,
50:43
Speaker 1: all the Slavic countries, all the Scandinavian countries, all the
50:48
Speaker 1: European languages. And then when you get to Africa, you
50:52
Speaker 1: have languages and dialects, many of which have not yet
50:54
Speaker 1: been translated. Some of them are called heart languages because
50:59
Speaker 1: there isn't even an alphabet. Then you go to the
51:02
Speaker 1: islands of the sea where you have the same thing.
51:06
Speaker 1: Imagine that. Ultimately, even the heart languages by God's grace
51:10
Speaker 1: will be getting the message of Christ and it will
51:12
Speaker 1: be our pleasure to make that message known to them.
51:17
Speaker 1: Never think of this message of Christ as something you
51:20
Speaker 1: cling to. It was given to us to pass it on,
51:25
Speaker 1: to release it, illustrated even by the sign that hung
51:29
Speaker 1: above Jesus' head. What a great thought that is. Talk
51:33
Speaker 1: about a message for the missions. That's it. Now, how
51:36
Speaker 1: about us personally? Let me wrap it up with four statements.
51:40
Speaker 1: You ready? Number one, when we were born again, the
51:44
Speaker 1: king arrived. You can put that here on your outline.
51:47
Speaker 1: When we were born again, the king arrived in our hearts.
51:51
Speaker 1: Are you there? Has the king arrived? Has he begun
51:57
Speaker 1: to change your nature? Has he given you another name,
52:01
Speaker 1: if you will? Unlike the name you were born with
52:04
Speaker 1: and you have lived out, is there a new name
52:07
Speaker 1: that's beginning to take shape now that the king has
52:10
Speaker 1: arrived in your heart? When you were born again, the
52:13
Speaker 1: king arrived. Here's the second. When we began to grow
52:18
Speaker 1: in our faith, the king demonstrated his power, just as
52:22
Speaker 1: he does through the gospel of Matthew. Changes occurred, some
52:27
Speaker 1: nearly miraculous. The truth began to sink in. He revealed
52:34
Speaker 1: his will to us. He dealt with addictions in our lives.
52:39
Speaker 1: He took care of vulgarity, evil thoughts that once dominated
52:44
Speaker 1: our thinking. He took away our greed. He made us
52:47
Speaker 1: aware that life is not made up by the things
52:50
Speaker 1: you can touch or buy. Are you there? Is that
52:54
Speaker 1: where you are in the stage of your growth? Here's
52:58
Speaker 1: the third. As growth accelerated, So did opposition and testing.
53:06
Speaker 1: Same with Jesus. As you noticed, even the disciples, there
53:10
Speaker 1: were doubts. Maybe you've experienced them lately. Doubts replacing what
53:16
Speaker 1: was once simple, confident faith. Discouragement now harasses you. Maybe
53:24
Speaker 1: you're being misunderstood by those who once called you a friend.
53:30
Speaker 1: Perhaps if you're in a mixed marriage where you're saved
53:32
Speaker 1: and your partner is not, there may be a growing
53:36
Speaker 1: distance between you. And there's been a sword brought instead
53:42
Speaker 1: of peace that you once had. Maybe in your business,
53:46
Speaker 1: success is waning. Because as you grow deeper, you will
53:50
Speaker 1: discover the Lord purifies us as he brings us to
53:55
Speaker 1: a place of focus only on him. Fourth and finally,
54:02
Speaker 1: when all seems lost, he arises victorious in our lives,
54:08
Speaker 1: just as he does in chapter 28. He reminds us,
54:12
Speaker 1: I'm still King Jesus. He's still here to call the
54:16
Speaker 1: shots in your life. You can trust me. I have
54:20
Speaker 1: all the power. I have all the authority. Now I
54:23
Speaker 1: ask you to obey all that I've told you. What
54:28
Speaker 1: a great place to close by asking you, where is
54:33
Speaker 1: Jesus in your life? If 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
54:51
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: or 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, I had a man come to
55:33
Speaker 1: me 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. Bow 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
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Speaker 1: see and hearts to accept this. As Matthew writes about him,
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Speaker 1: may we come to know him and love him as
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Speaker 1: never before in our lives. We pray for Christ's sake.
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Speaker 1: Everyone 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: 2014 and 2021, and the sound recording was copyrighted in
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Speaker 2: 2021 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
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Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.