Matthew (Part 6) BST 10-28-07

Matthew (Part 6)
Bible Study Time 10-28-07

After the Lord Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He went up into Galilee and started preaching the good news that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. God had promised the kingdom to Abraham but even Abraham knew that the coming of the kingdom was dependent upon the coming of the Messiah.

The prophets had through the years reiterated this doctrine, that the coming of Messiah would precede the coming of the kingdom. This, of course, was one of the primary reasons that the Jews of Jesus’ day were so enthusiastically waiting for the coming of the Messiah. However, very few people realized just how special the character of the Messiah would be.

Many people had come before Jesus claiming to be the Messiah, and they all had their followers. Many of these false messiahs came bearing the sword, promising to deliver the people from Roman rule and from Roman taxes. Jesus, on the other hand, came preaching that people should render unto Caesar the things that belong to Caesar. He taught that people should love their enemies.

The false messiahs would hide out in the hills that surrounded Jerusalem, and they would randomly attack passing Roman military detachments. With each successful attack, the people back in Jerusalem would get all excited and discuss among themselves whether or not one of these rebel leaders could be the Messiah. Some of these rebel leaders were secretly supported by some of the more radical Jewish leaders in Jerusalem.

However, in John, Chapter 10, Jesus said:

John 10:1-3 NKJV
1 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

The rebels who hid in the hills of Judea were thieves and robbers, as were the Jewish religious leaders. The rebels didn’t dare show their faces around the temple for they would have been arrested by the Roman guards.

However, God had opened up the door for this One named Jesus, who had been anointed by John the Baptist and by the Holy Spirit of God as Israel’s Prophet, Priest and King. Jesus was the Shepherd for whom God had opened the gates of the temple so that He could go in and speak to the sheep.

Jesus was the Messiah, the King of the Jews, and yet no one laid a hand on Him. He spoke freely to the sheep, and those who had ears to hear heard His voice and followed Him. Jesus said that the shepherd:

John 10:3-5 NKJV
3 . . . calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."

When the disciples heard the call of the Lord Jesus, they dropped all that they were doing. They left all that they had, and they followed Jesus. Jesus said that the shepherd knows his sheep by name and when He calls them, they follow.

Jesus Christ knows by name all of those who are going to hear and respond to His voice. Paul confirmed this for us today as well. He said that those of us who believe were:

Ephesians 1:4-5 NKJV
4 . . . (chosen in Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

God already knows who will and who will not accept Christ, and His calling is based upon that foreknowledge. His plan and purpose for the universe is based upon that foreknowledge. Whether a lost person accepts Christ or not will not change God’s plan for the universe, but it will dramatically change that person’s future.

The other day I saw a ten year old boy on TV who preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ. The news lady told the boy that she did not believe in Jesus, and then she asked, “Do you mean to tell me that I’m lost and going to hell just because I don’t believe in Jesus. Do you mean to tell me that it doesn’t matter how good a life I’ve lived?”

The boy looked her right in the eye and said, “That’s right, if you don’t believe in Jesus, that’s what will happen.”

What he told her was exactly right. The implication was that as long as she’s alive, she can still believe in Jesus, and if she does believe in Jesus, she will be spared an eternity in hell. If she does believe at some point along the way, her eternal destiny will be changed. But whether she believes or does not believe, it won’t affect God’s plan for the universe because God already knows what her decision is going to be.

As we apply the truth of John, Chapter 10, we can see that the sheep will hear the voice of the Shepherd, and they will respond to His voice. They will follow Him, but they will not respond to the voice of anyone who is not the true shepherd.

Jesus was the Good Shepherd, and He went about preaching the same gospel of the kingdom which had been delivered to Abraham. Two thousand years before the time of Christ, God told Abraham:

Genesis 12:2-3 NKJV
2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Genesis 17:4-8 NKJV
4 " . . . My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations . . .
8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."

One day the Lord came to visit Abraham and said:

Genesis 18:9-10 NKJV
9 . . . "Where is Sarah your wife?" So (Abraham) said, "Here, in the tent."
10 And (the Lord) said, "I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son." . . .

Genesis 21:1-3 NKJV
1 And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken.
2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
3 And Abraham called the name of his son — whom Sarah bore to him — Isaac.

Now Isaac was the son of promise but he was not the promised Seed. After Isaac was grown, the Lord told Abraham:

Genesis 21:12 NKJV
12 . . . in Isaac your seed shall be called.

So the fulfillment of all of the promises which had been given to Abraham were dependent upon the Seed who would come through Isaac. Abraham and his descendants were promised that they would possess all of the land of Canaan, but this great kingdom was dependent upon the coming of the promised Seed. Isaac was not the Seed, but the Seed was going to come through Isaac. When Jesus came, He announced that He was that promised Seed, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.

Shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication. One day while He was in the temple area, the Jewish leaders gathered around Him and said:

John 10:24-28 NKJV
24 . . . "How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."
25 Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me.
26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.*
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
28 And I give them eternal life . . .

John 8:51-56 NKJV
51 Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."
52 Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.'
53 Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?"
54 Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your* God . . .
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."

Obviously, Abraham knew that the establishment of the kingdom would be dependent upon the coming of the Messiah, and God had allowed Abraham to see in his mind the day when Jesus would come as the Messiah. Jesus said, “Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”

Jesus told the people that He was the Messiah, and He said that His miracles were the proof. The disciples were sent out to preach this gospel of the kingdom, and they also did miracles to validate their message.

By the time they came back to Jesus, we can only imagine the extraordinary stories they rehearsed. Only God knows all that they did through the power of the name of Jesus as they were out preaching the gospel. When they returned to Jesus, there was no doubt in their minds that Jesus was the Christ. When Jesus asked them:

Matthew 16:13-16 NKJV
13 . . . "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"
14 . . . they said,"Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15 (Then Jesus asked,) "But who do you say that I am?"
16 Simon Peter answered and said,"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Peter had been transferred from the realm of darkness into the kingdom of light, and his statement was the proof of that spiritual reality. Jesus said:

Matthew 16:17-19 NKJV
17 . . . "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of (Hell) shall not prevail against it.
19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed* in heaven."

Now this was not the beginning of the church of today as some would have us believe. The word church simply means a called out group of people. Stephen said that the children of Israel who were wondering in the wilderness were a church. He called them the church in the wilderness.

Later, Luke referred in Acts 19 to the riotous crowd in Ephesus, and Luke called them a church. It was the same word, ekklesia in the Greek. Unfortunately, it would appear that many people in churches today are like those who gathered in Ephesus. They are confused and know not why they have come together.

There is much confusion among believers about the Bible because many believers fail to rightly divide the word of God. If we study the scriptures and God by His grace allows us to discern those things that truly belong to us, we can avoid much confusion. Then we will be better able to understand why we have come together. We will be able to understand why we do the things we do.

Now I don’t mean to imply from this that understanding the facts of the Bible is the believer’s number one priority. No, knowing and loving the Lord is always our number one priority. There is nothing greater in all the world; there is nothing more important for us. The facts of the Bible alone have never saved anyone, but when those facts are absorbed into the human heart so that God can use them to instruct us and edify us, then we can bear fruit that is precious in the sight of the Lord.

The Bible is God’s means of communicating with us today, and He has instructed us to rightly divide the word of truth so that we can see and understand and live by those doctrines that God has given for us. If we fail to rightly divide the scriptures, we will end up like the assembly in Ephesus in that we will be confused, and we will not really know why we have come together.

So just because Jesus used the word church in Matthew, Chapter 16, it does not mean that He was referring to the Church to which we belong today. In fact, the church of Matthew 16 was the Church of the New Covenant. It was the church which God has predestined to inherit the kingdom that was promised to Abraham. We know this because Jesus went on to tell Peter:

Matthew 16:19 NKJV
19 . . . I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed* in heaven."

As the administrators of the New Covenant Kingdom, the apostles will have tremendous authority and power when the kingdom of heaven does come to the earth. After all, they will be immortal beings ruling over mortals in an imperfect world. The power that the Apostles had during the Acts period was just a foretaste of the glorious power that the Apostles will have when the kingdom of heaven does finally come to the earth.

Well, I see our time is gone for this morning. It’s been a pleasure studying with you, and I’ll look forward to studying with you again next week at this same time.

Church links:
http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/
http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/
http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/