Matthew (Part 12)
Bible Study Time 12-9-07
Bible Study Time 12-9-07
Matthew was an Apostle of Jesus Christ who was sent out by the Lord Jesus to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Matthew had walked and talked with the Lord Jesus. He had witnessed the power of God flowing through Jesus as Jesus healed the sick and cast out demons. Matthew was there when they arrested Jesus, and He actually saw Jesus after Jesus was raised from the dead.
Some twenty years after the Lord’s resurrection and ascension, Matthew was prompted by the Holy Spirit to document the story of Jesus. In the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew told about the life of Jesus from His birth to His ascension. The Holy Spirit prompted Matthew to tell this story because the people needed to know the truth about Jesus Christ.
About sixty years after the ascension of Christ, the Apostle John wrote to the seven churches in Asia. He wrote as the Lord Jesus directed him, and as he wrote to the church at Ephesus, he said:
Revelation 2:2 NKJV
2 "I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you . . . have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;
These saints at Ephesus were dedicated to the truth. They resisted any attempt to change, or dilute or modernize the word of God. They simply held fast to the truth of God’s word as it had been revealed to the true apostles of Jesus Christ.
The Ephesian saints had the testimony of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, they had the testimony of Peter and Paul, and they tested and evaluated every doctrine by the standard revealed in the written word of God.
They were wise to do this for someday every person will be judged according to that which is revealed in the word of God. We will all be judged by our personal response to that truth which has been revealed concerning Jesus Christ. As John the Baptist said:
John 3:34-36 NKJV
34 . . . He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.
35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.
36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
Noah and his family went through the great flood. They witnessed the salvation of God, but within a few generations after the flood some of the descendants of Noah turned their backs on God. In Romans, Chapter 1, the Apostle Paul was apparently making reference to these rebellious descendants of Noah when he said:
Romans 1:18-25 NKJV
18 . . . the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Noah’s sons were Shem, Ham and Japheth. One of Ham’s sons was Cush who was the father of Nimrod. The Bible says that Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord, and many believe that Nimrod was not only a skillful hunter of beasts, but he was a mighty hunter of men. He became a ruthless tyrant who conquered men and established an empire.
Nimrod built the city of Babylon in Shinar and Nineveh in Assyria. As you may recall, it was the Assyrians who later conquered the ten northern tribes of Israel, and it was the Babylonians who later conquered the two southern tribes of Judah.
Nimrod led the people of Babel to build a great tower in which the stars of the heavens were worshiped. When God confused their language and drove them into the outer regions of the earth, these rebellious people took their idols and their idolatry with them. Thus, Babel became the fountainhead for all of the pagan religions of the world.
Nimrod is a picture of the antichrist who will come during the tribulation period. Like Nimrod, the antichrist will establish a great empire, and he will establish this empire on the foundation of an evil religion teeming with heresy and the filth of every conceivable abomination. The antichrist will suppress the truth, and the wrath of God will ultimately be poured out upon Babylon, the capital city of His empire.
Like Nimrod, the antichrist will oppose the truth of God, but the truth of God is not that easily overthrown. Jesus said that He is the Truth, and when Jesus Christ returns to the earth to destroy the antichrist, He will come from heaven sitting upon a white horse, and He will be called “Faithful and True.” The Apostle John saw a vision of the coming of the Lord and said:
Revelation 19:12-16 NKJV
12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.
13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.
15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
At this point in the tribulation period, all those who have opposed the truth will be destroyed, and Jesus Christ will rule over the earth in a kingdom of righteousness.
As Matthew penned his gospel, he documented the truth about Jesus. He wrote about the good news that Jesus is the Son of God who came down from heaven to be born of a virgin and live among men. He wrote about the great and mighty miracles that Jesus performed. Matthew wrote about the suffering that Christ endured upon the cross, and then he wrote about the Lord’s resurrection and ascension.
Those who believed this message and put their faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah were given eternal life. We see in the scriptures examples of those who were saved by simply believing the truth about who Jesus was. When Jesus told Martha that He is the resurrection and the life, He asked Martha if she believed that. She responded by saying:
John 11:27 NKJV
27 . . . "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."
When the Lord Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”, Peter said:
Matthew 16:16 NKJV
16 . . . "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
When Philip told the Ethiopian that God required him to believe in Jesus with all of his heart, the Ethiopian said:
Acts 8:37 NKJV
37 . . . "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."*
These people were given eternal life simply because they believed the truth concerning Jesus, that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. As Jesus explained it to Nicodemus:
John 3:16 NKJV
16 . . . God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Then Jesus said:
John 3:17-18 NKJV
17 . . . God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Since the time that Matthew wrote his gospel, God has given further revelation concerning not only the life of Christ, but the work of Christ upon the cross. This revelation was given to and through the Apostle Paul. It was Paul who revealed all that Christ actually accomplished for us on the cross.
Paul said in Romans, Chapter 3, that when Christ was crucified, He did not simply die a martyr’s death, but He was actually accomplishing the mission which had been assigned to Him by the Father. The truth is that Jesus was sent into the world by the Father to shed His blood for the sins of the world. Romans 3:24 says that we are:
Romans 3:24-26 NKJV
24 . . . justified freely by (God’s) grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood
Now this word propitiation refers to that which appeases or satisfies the requirements of God so that the blood of Jesus was set forth by God as that which satisfies God’s righteous requirements. Jesus provided the propitiation by His own shed blood. Paul goes on to say that God did this:
Romans 3:25-26 NKJV
25 . . . to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Paul is clearly teaching here that without the shed blood of Jesus, God would not be free to forgive sin. It would be unjust for God to forgive sin without the penalty for sin having been paid. Therefore, God sent Jesus into the world to pay the penalty for sin, and since the penalty for sin is death, Jesus came into the world to die for the sins of the world. Because Jesus died, He was able to pay the penalty for sin with His own shed blood.
This is something that Matthew did not explain in his gospel because Matthew didn’t know about this. This great truth was hidden in the Old Testament scriptures until it was taught by the Apostle Paul. Way back in Deuteronomy 29:29, Moses said:
Deuteronomy 29:29 NKJV
29 "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever . . .
This truth concerning the work of Christ upon the cross was one of those things which was a secret that belonged to God until God revealed it to the Apostle Paul. Accordingly, Paul said in Romans, Chapter 2 that:
Romans 2:12,16 NKJV
12 . . . as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law
16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
All people will someday be held accountable for what they have done with Paul’s gospel, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and that He was buried and that he rose again the third day. As Paul wrote to the Romans, he said:
Romans 10:8-11 NKJV
8 . . . "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."*
This is the truth of God’s word. There are certain things in the Bible which we cannot fully understand, and there are different interpretations which are all perfectly justified, but the gospel according to Paul is one of those things concerning which there is no room for any divergence of opinion.
To deny this truth or to dilute this truth would be to deny the truth of God which brings salvation. Therefore, Paul said:
Romans 1:16-17 NKJV
16 . . . I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
The saints of Ephesus stood firm for the truth of God’s word, and that is exactly what God wants us to do. May we take to heart the words of the Apostle Paul to the Colossians when he said:
Colossians 2:6-10 NKJV
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
It’s been a joy to study with you this morning, 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/
Some twenty years after the Lord’s resurrection and ascension, Matthew was prompted by the Holy Spirit to document the story of Jesus. In the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew told about the life of Jesus from His birth to His ascension. The Holy Spirit prompted Matthew to tell this story because the people needed to know the truth about Jesus Christ.
About sixty years after the ascension of Christ, the Apostle John wrote to the seven churches in Asia. He wrote as the Lord Jesus directed him, and as he wrote to the church at Ephesus, he said:
Revelation 2:2 NKJV
2 "I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you . . . have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;
These saints at Ephesus were dedicated to the truth. They resisted any attempt to change, or dilute or modernize the word of God. They simply held fast to the truth of God’s word as it had been revealed to the true apostles of Jesus Christ.
The Ephesian saints had the testimony of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, they had the testimony of Peter and Paul, and they tested and evaluated every doctrine by the standard revealed in the written word of God.
They were wise to do this for someday every person will be judged according to that which is revealed in the word of God. We will all be judged by our personal response to that truth which has been revealed concerning Jesus Christ. As John the Baptist said:
John 3:34-36 NKJV
34 . . . He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.
35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.
36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
Noah and his family went through the great flood. They witnessed the salvation of God, but within a few generations after the flood some of the descendants of Noah turned their backs on God. In Romans, Chapter 1, the Apostle Paul was apparently making reference to these rebellious descendants of Noah when he said:
Romans 1:18-25 NKJV
18 . . . the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Noah’s sons were Shem, Ham and Japheth. One of Ham’s sons was Cush who was the father of Nimrod. The Bible says that Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord, and many believe that Nimrod was not only a skillful hunter of beasts, but he was a mighty hunter of men. He became a ruthless tyrant who conquered men and established an empire.
Nimrod built the city of Babylon in Shinar and Nineveh in Assyria. As you may recall, it was the Assyrians who later conquered the ten northern tribes of Israel, and it was the Babylonians who later conquered the two southern tribes of Judah.
Nimrod led the people of Babel to build a great tower in which the stars of the heavens were worshiped. When God confused their language and drove them into the outer regions of the earth, these rebellious people took their idols and their idolatry with them. Thus, Babel became the fountainhead for all of the pagan religions of the world.
Nimrod is a picture of the antichrist who will come during the tribulation period. Like Nimrod, the antichrist will establish a great empire, and he will establish this empire on the foundation of an evil religion teeming with heresy and the filth of every conceivable abomination. The antichrist will suppress the truth, and the wrath of God will ultimately be poured out upon Babylon, the capital city of His empire.
Like Nimrod, the antichrist will oppose the truth of God, but the truth of God is not that easily overthrown. Jesus said that He is the Truth, and when Jesus Christ returns to the earth to destroy the antichrist, He will come from heaven sitting upon a white horse, and He will be called “Faithful and True.” The Apostle John saw a vision of the coming of the Lord and said:
Revelation 19:12-16 NKJV
12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.
13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.
15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
At this point in the tribulation period, all those who have opposed the truth will be destroyed, and Jesus Christ will rule over the earth in a kingdom of righteousness.
As Matthew penned his gospel, he documented the truth about Jesus. He wrote about the good news that Jesus is the Son of God who came down from heaven to be born of a virgin and live among men. He wrote about the great and mighty miracles that Jesus performed. Matthew wrote about the suffering that Christ endured upon the cross, and then he wrote about the Lord’s resurrection and ascension.
Those who believed this message and put their faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah were given eternal life. We see in the scriptures examples of those who were saved by simply believing the truth about who Jesus was. When Jesus told Martha that He is the resurrection and the life, He asked Martha if she believed that. She responded by saying:
John 11:27 NKJV
27 . . . "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."
When the Lord Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”, Peter said:
Matthew 16:16 NKJV
16 . . . "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
When Philip told the Ethiopian that God required him to believe in Jesus with all of his heart, the Ethiopian said:
Acts 8:37 NKJV
37 . . . "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."*
These people were given eternal life simply because they believed the truth concerning Jesus, that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. As Jesus explained it to Nicodemus:
John 3:16 NKJV
16 . . . God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Then Jesus said:
John 3:17-18 NKJV
17 . . . God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Since the time that Matthew wrote his gospel, God has given further revelation concerning not only the life of Christ, but the work of Christ upon the cross. This revelation was given to and through the Apostle Paul. It was Paul who revealed all that Christ actually accomplished for us on the cross.
Paul said in Romans, Chapter 3, that when Christ was crucified, He did not simply die a martyr’s death, but He was actually accomplishing the mission which had been assigned to Him by the Father. The truth is that Jesus was sent into the world by the Father to shed His blood for the sins of the world. Romans 3:24 says that we are:
Romans 3:24-26 NKJV
24 . . . justified freely by (God’s) grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood
Now this word propitiation refers to that which appeases or satisfies the requirements of God so that the blood of Jesus was set forth by God as that which satisfies God’s righteous requirements. Jesus provided the propitiation by His own shed blood. Paul goes on to say that God did this:
Romans 3:25-26 NKJV
25 . . . to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Paul is clearly teaching here that without the shed blood of Jesus, God would not be free to forgive sin. It would be unjust for God to forgive sin without the penalty for sin having been paid. Therefore, God sent Jesus into the world to pay the penalty for sin, and since the penalty for sin is death, Jesus came into the world to die for the sins of the world. Because Jesus died, He was able to pay the penalty for sin with His own shed blood.
This is something that Matthew did not explain in his gospel because Matthew didn’t know about this. This great truth was hidden in the Old Testament scriptures until it was taught by the Apostle Paul. Way back in Deuteronomy 29:29, Moses said:
Deuteronomy 29:29 NKJV
29 "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever . . .
This truth concerning the work of Christ upon the cross was one of those things which was a secret that belonged to God until God revealed it to the Apostle Paul. Accordingly, Paul said in Romans, Chapter 2 that:
Romans 2:12,16 NKJV
12 . . . as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law
16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
All people will someday be held accountable for what they have done with Paul’s gospel, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and that He was buried and that he rose again the third day. As Paul wrote to the Romans, he said:
Romans 10:8-11 NKJV
8 . . . "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."*
This is the truth of God’s word. There are certain things in the Bible which we cannot fully understand, and there are different interpretations which are all perfectly justified, but the gospel according to Paul is one of those things concerning which there is no room for any divergence of opinion.
To deny this truth or to dilute this truth would be to deny the truth of God which brings salvation. Therefore, Paul said:
Romans 1:16-17 NKJV
16 . . . I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
The saints of Ephesus stood firm for the truth of God’s word, and that is exactly what God wants us to do. May we take to heart the words of the Apostle Paul to the Colossians when he said:
Colossians 2:6-10 NKJV
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
It’s been a joy to study with you this morning, 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/
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