Latest / Journey Elgin / Journey Through Scripture- Mt 8 & 11, Luke 9-12
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: Hey, it's good to see you today. Welcome to our journey through scripture. ⁓ we are continuing our chronological journey through the scriptures. ⁓ my name is Philip Thomas, Pastor of Journey here in Elgin, Texas, and thank you so much for joining us. All right, today we're going to be mainly looking in Luke chapters nine, ten, eleven, and twelve. So nine through twelve. ⁓ there's a little bit in Matthew eight and Matthew eleven ⁓ that we'll we'll talk about as well. ⁓ and and this is kind of a a big transition period. So in the synoptic gospels, which are ⁓ Matthew, Mark, and Luke, ⁓ they have been talking about Jesus' ministry in Galilee, so in kind of northern Israel, ⁓ in Capernaum, that area. ⁓ John has talked about that area, but he's also talked about how Jesus has gone down to Jerusalem and then come back. He's ⁓ Jesus makes that journey a few times. The synoptic gospels don't, but their focus, all of them, their focus changes when Jesus is beginning to make his journey to Jerusalem for the last time, leading up to the crucifixion, which is obviously the most important journey to Jerusalem. And so we see start seeing the Synoptic Gospels ⁓ are now transitioning from Jesus' ministry in Galilee to now the traveling to Jerusalem, which is what we're gonna hit now. Luke has a a whole lot. about Jesus' teachings and his encounters as he's making his way to Jerusalem. And that's what we're going to be looking at ⁓ this episode and next as well. And so it's it's it's very interesting. Again, the things are starting to change now ⁓ as Jesus is headed towards ⁓ Jerusalem. We'll start off just in a little part in Matthew chapter eight, because Jesus starts to be more honest. ⁓ not that's bad. He's always honest. more direct with ⁓ the disciples and they they are starting to hear teaching that is really tough and is basically h gonna hold them to a very high standard. And in Matthew chapter 8, 18 through 22, it talks about the cost of disciples discipleship. And ⁓ basically Jesus is saying, you know, if you're gonna follow me, it's going to be tough. And one of the responses in verse 21 says ⁓ then another of his disciples said to him, Fur Lord, let me first go and bury my father. But Jesus said to him, Follow me and let the dead bury their own dead. Now that seems a little heartless. Well, the reason that it seems a little heartless and ⁓ d doesn't seem very understanding or compassionate is because we look at that from our own perspective of how we bury the dead. ⁓ we someone dies and within a few days Possibly a couple of weeks, ⁓ but usually within just a few days you have the funeral service and the burial and you're finished. Well that's not how it was done then. what one, this person wouldn't have been asking Jesus this question if his father had already died. ⁓ he would have been tending to his father. ⁓ so he's but one of the main and important things ⁓ that a family did was that that the Children would make sure their parents were buried, and that that was showing them honor. And it was a long process. ⁓ in fact, it could take ⁓ weeks, ⁓ and even you would do things throughout the next year. ⁓ so more than likely, that's kind of what this the cycle, and again, these aren't one of the twelve, ⁓ this ⁓ person considering following Jesus is saying. Well, can I just wait until my father passes and then I'll be all in for you. Right. So well, that could be a year down the road. And so Jesus is saying, No, if you're gonna follow me, you you follow me. I I am I am more important than all of the earthly things. I am the Lord your God. you you should when you follow him, all the other things become secondary. ⁓ that is what Jesus is is indicating. ⁓ then in Luke chapter nine, starting in verse fifty one, you have Jesus again starting to make his way down Jerusalem. So he goes through ⁓ some of the areas in Samaria. Remember he's had the Samaritan woman, he's shown ⁓ kindness to the Samaritans, ⁓ but whenever he went through there, he was rejected. ⁓ it says, now it came time to pass when the time had come for him to be received up That he steadfastly he set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his face. And as they went they entered a village in Samaritans to prepare for him, but they did not receive him, because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And when his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did? So the the the people kind of reject Jesus, they don't they just want him to keep going, just stay out of the way. The disciples get a little irritated and say, let let's just let let's consume them. ⁓ Jesus said he rebukes them, he says, You do not know what manner of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. ⁓ so Jesus, while obviously frustrated, ⁓ he didn't he's he doesn't want to destroy, he came to save. ⁓ our destruction is a result of our own choices not to accept the salvation that He offers. It's ⁓ Jesus is not condemning us. ⁓ we condemn ourselves and the Samaritans were basically committing theirs themselves or this group of Samaritans. then ⁓ you you have ⁓ there at the the end of Luke chapter nine, more of Jesus kind of the the cost of of following him. ⁓ Then you get to where Jesus He sends out seventy of his followers ⁓ to again begin ⁓ spreading ⁓ his message. ⁓ Matthew chapter eleven, verses twenty through thirty kind of talks again about if the if they do not pay attention to you, ⁓ just you know, leave them, they will receive their judgment. I thought it it's interesting in this section, Matthew eleven, verse twenty says Then he began to rebuke the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent. And he says it would be better, ⁓ but I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. So he's talking about Corusine, ⁓ Tyre, Sidon, some of these places, Capernaum, that he's done many of his miracles, they are choosing not to repent. And they are not changing their ways. They are not changing their belief to him. And he said, It it's going to be bad for you. ⁓ If if if Sodom had seen some of these miracles, they may have repented, but you have seen them and choose not to repent. ⁓ says, Come to me all who you are labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Jesus again, he desires for us to be fully invested in him. He demands a lot, but yet his burden is light. Because we when we find that we give our lives truly over to him, ⁓ the the blessings that we get from that far outweigh the challenges ⁓ of changing our lifestyle to fit his. Luke chapter ten talks about sending out the ⁓ the seventy, and they go, then you have the same woes to the different different cities. ⁓ the the seventy return with joy. ⁓ they talk about how they were able to do miracles. ⁓ so things are are really moving ⁓ as Jesus is ⁓ going down to Jerusalem. ⁓ then you have in Luke chapter ten, ⁓ verse twenty-five, you have the parable of the Good Samaritan. Remember that that parable ⁓ when it says, Who is your neighbor? I mean this is in response to a ⁓ a lawyer ⁓ who is asking ⁓ Jesus says, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus asked him, Well what what do the scriptures say? And he says, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and all your mind, and your neighbor is yourself. And then he said, do this and you will live. That's what Jesus tells him. And then of course the lawyer, that's not good enough, so he says, Well who is my neighbor? And that's when Jesus ⁓ gives that ⁓ answer ⁓ of the ⁓ parable of the good Samaritan where the Samaritan is the one who help helps ⁓ the person who has been beaten, the Jew who has been beaten, and the priest and the s teacher of the law just kind of go around because they could not be bothered. ⁓ it's and again this is probably happening as they are walking ⁓ well we know it's happening as they're traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem, but probably close to Samaria. So those tensions would have been high. Again, remember some of the Samaritans just rejected Jesus. Yet he still is using them as an example ⁓ of of how to treat each other. You get to chapter ten, verse thirty-eight. ⁓ Jesus gets to the home of Mary and Martha, and ⁓ Mary is ⁓ sitting at Jesus' feet and listening to Jesus. Martha doesn't like that. She's ⁓ going about preparing the meal and all all of those things. and Jesus answered says to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. That sounds like a lot of us, right? Worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken away from her. So whenever you start finding yourself consumed by many things, make sure you focus on the one thing, your relationship with the God whose burden is light, whose yoke is light. is light. ⁓ Then you get to Luke chapter eleven, ⁓ starting in verse thirty seven, you have woe to the Pharisees ⁓ and the the scribes and the lawyers. ⁓ Jesus really really starts ⁓ calling calling them out. ⁓ it says, Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness, foolish ones. Did not he who made the outside make the inside also, but rather give ⁓ alms ⁓ of such things as you have, then indeed all things are clean to you. So they think that just by you know ⁓ following the law on the outside that the inside is going to be taken care of. And Jesus is like, no, that's that's not it. The inside must be right with God as well. It's not just what we do on the outside. It's who we are on the inside. Do we believe and ha have we ⁓ entered into a relationship ⁓ with Jesus? ⁓ verse forty six, and he said, Woe to you also lawyers, for you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you, for you build the tomb of prophets, ⁓ that your fathers killed. ⁓ the the extra burdens that are given ⁓ the from our our human in institutions, and many times we take on more burdens than we have to, ⁓ maybe to to make ourselves look good or to ⁓ to To try to to be more pious and then we than we really are. ⁓ that Jesus is warning them of that, of the hypocrisy. ver ⁓ chapter twelve, ⁓ he says ⁓ well sorry, ⁓ this is still in in chapter eleven, ⁓ verse fifty-three, it says, And as he said these things to them, the scribes and Pharisees began to assail him vehemently. And to cross examine him about many things, lying in wait for him, and seeking to catch him and something he might say that they might accuse him. Right, so that they're starting to ⁓ to look to to get him, to entrap him. He's starting to do all of these ⁓ things that they're not they're not too sure of. and and so ⁓ Jesus is is being smart and he's being wise, ⁓ but Tensions are definitely rising. Continue on in chapter twelve as you ⁓ read that in verse four it says, And I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who after he is killed has power to cast into hell. Yes I say to you, fear him. So Can you know Jesus is very loving and very kind and very gracious, but he also is very truthful, and he talks about the reality of a separation. Fear the one who will separate you from God if you do not listen to the truth. ⁓ But he who denies me before man will be not de be denied before the angels of God. And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man it will be forgiven him. But to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven. So what is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? Whenever you connect it right with the passage that just ⁓ preceded, it's those who do not confess the name of Jesus, right? ⁓ and ⁓ an overt blasphemy would be cursing the name of Jesus, right? But but that is what is necessary to be forgiven is to confess ⁓ to the name of Jesus. anything other than that doesn't lead to forgiveness. ⁓ and so that that is, you know, sometimes we we stress about what does that mean? Because that's unforgivable. I don't want to accidentally ⁓ you know blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Well No, that's an intentional thing, ⁓ intentionally rejecting ⁓ who Jesus is. ⁓ Luke chapter twelve, verse thirteen starts having some different parables. The parable of the the rich fool said ⁓ this is verse fifteen, and he said to them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. ⁓ then it's talking about being aware and being ready. ⁓ the parable is the the man Spends all his time building up treasures here. And he says, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, You fool, this night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be which you have provided? So is is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God. Again, where are we where are we putting our our time and our our energy? Is it towards things of ⁓ worthy of God's kingdom or are we just doing and accumulating things for our kingdom here? ⁓ Luke ⁓ chapter twelve you can continue it talks about the faithful and the evil ⁓ servant ⁓ about always being ready. This kind of applies both in an individual level because guess what? You don't know what day's gonna be your last. And so make sure you are always ready. Don't say, ⁓ well You know, tomorrow I'll start thinking about this Jesus stuff. No, why don't we think about that now? ⁓ be ready for that. It also applies to this coming of Christ. Eventually he will come again. Are you ready for that? we should always be prepared, whether it happens in our lifetime or in the lifetime of our grandchildren's grandchildren. ⁓ it doesn't matter. ⁓ we should always be ready. ⁓ then it kinda has some again, very tough teachings. ⁓ where he actually says, I I come to bring division. ⁓ he says verse fifty one of Luke chapter twelve, do you suppose ⁓ that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you not at all, but rather division. Now what is he saying? Does he want peace on earth? Yes. But he knows his message is the one that is going to divide, and it does divide. Jesus knew that and he gave the message anyway. ⁓ it should not concern is not the right word, but it should not surprise us when his message causes there to be division. ⁓ it's going to be. But we have to preach and to to live by the truth that he has laid out for us. ⁓ and for those who don't like that truth, ⁓ there is going to be division. verse fifty four is is understanding the time. says then he ⁓ also said to the multitudes, whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say a shower is coming, and so it is. And when you see the south wind blow, you say there will be hot weather, and there it is. Hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky and the earth, but how is it that you do not discern this time? Right? That people are missing who he is. ⁓ it's important that we know the times that we are in. the and it is it is time to follow him. ⁓ so Mm. We'll we'll end we'll end there. So we're going to look at Luke chapter thirteen through eighteen. Luke thirteen through eighteen. This will be Jesus continuing to make that trek from Galilee down to Jerusalem, ⁓ where he will ⁓ enter into Jerusalem for the last time. ⁓ so I hope hope you are enjoying our chronological walk through scripture. ⁓ take time to read these passages and allow God to speak to you. All right.