WEBVTT 00:00:00.580 --> 00:00:03.040 Matthew 4 is where we're going to end up in just a minute. 00:00:03.060 --> 00:00:11.000 But we are now in that transition of our series together where we are crossing over from the Old Testament to the New Testament. 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:17.820 And last week we talked about the picture of the prophets, the last 17 books and how to look at the position of prophet. 00:00:17.820 --> 00:00:20.200 And now we're jumping into the New Testament. 00:00:20.280 --> 00:00:26.040 And you may wonder to yourself, why does the Bible have this division between Old Testament and New Testament? 00:00:27.260 --> 00:00:31.160 The word testament could also be translated as covenant. 00:00:31.520 --> 00:00:34.060 And the Old Testament is primarily set up around covenant. 00:00:34.080 --> 00:00:37.960 The idea of covenant, especially the old covenant under Moses and the giving of the law. 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:41.940 The new Testament is set up under Christ and what he's done for us in the New Covenant. 00:00:42.200 --> 00:00:48.420 Jesus says in Luke 22:20 with his disciples in the upper room, they're celebrating the Passover. 00:00:48.680 --> 00:00:53.640 And he takes the picture of the Passover and he now gives us the presentation of communion that we celebrate as a church today. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:56.340 And he says, this is my body, which has to be broken for you. 00:00:56.740 --> 00:00:59.480 This is my blood that is to be shed, do this in remembrance of me. 00:00:59.480 --> 00:01:02.460 And he calls it the New Covenant, Luke 22:20. 00:01:02.480 --> 00:01:09.740 It's based on an Old Testament promise in Jeremiah 31:31 where God says to Israel in their disobedience to the law, Israel, if you've 00:01:09.740 --> 00:01:11.050 remember, as we've gone through the series together. 00:01:11.640 --> 00:01:14.380 God calls Israel and Israel continues to walk in disobedience. 00:01:14.440 --> 00:01:16.190 Disobedience, the point they're carried into captivity. 00:01:17.080 --> 00:01:24.080 And God finally says to them, in Jeremiah, who writes during this period when Israel is being captured, and he says to them, I'm going to write my law on 00:01:24.080 --> 00:01:24.540 your heart. 00:01:25.460 --> 00:01:26.320 They can't obey it. 00:01:26.440 --> 00:01:29.880 God's going to transform us from the inside out to be obedience to him through Jesus. 00:01:29.940 --> 00:01:31.030 They call that the New Covenant. 00:01:31.080 --> 00:01:34.640 Jesus gave us his life and that represents the New Covenant. 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:37.780 We're going to talk about what the Spirit of God does to us in a few weeks. 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:41.000 But that's the reason your Bible has this division. 00:01:41.380 --> 00:01:42.740 New covenant, old covenant. 00:01:42.740 --> 00:01:45.960 Exodus 34:28 talks about the old covenant. 00:01:46.020 --> 00:01:48.160 Luke 22:20 talks about the new covenant. 00:01:48.620 --> 00:01:55.460 And when you turn to the New Testament, if you ever read the New Testament, just like the Old Testament, the way it's put together, it is not put together chronologically. 00:01:55.960 --> 00:02:01.070 So if you go through the Old Testament and you expect that you're going to just read the stories and unfolds, it does not go together chronologically. 00:02:01.500 --> 00:02:06.520 In fact, I would tell you probably one of the least beneficial things you can do. 00:02:06.740 --> 00:02:08.389 I think reading God's word is always important. 00:02:08.620 --> 00:02:12.440 But one of the more difficult things you could do is you can say, okay, I'm going to read the New Testament. 00:02:12.980 --> 00:02:14.060 And you start in Matthew. 00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:17.360 And then by the time you hit the Mark, you realize you are reading a lot of the same stories again. 00:02:17.560 --> 00:02:19.570 And you get to Luke and you're like, this is very repetitive. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:26.520 And John's different in his gospel setup, but you read a lot of the same stories over and over and you might get a little bored by it. 00:02:26.820 --> 00:02:34.060 But I would just say this, it's because the new Testament really wasn't put together in the sense of expecting you to read through it from 00:02:34.060 --> 00:02:35.440 beginning to end that way. 00:02:36.160 --> 00:02:43.260 During the time of Jesus, when Jesus would read from scripture, he didn't have a book that he just opened up to a certain page 00:02:43.260 --> 00:02:44.160 and read through it. 00:02:44.280 --> 00:02:46.470 There was no chapter divisions, verse divisions. 00:02:46.920 --> 00:02:50.340 It was presented in a scroll in a long literary form. 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:57.400 And they would unfold a scroll like, "Give me Isaiah." And they'd have to go through their series of scrolls and pull out Isaiah and unfold Isaiah and find the section they wanted and 00:02:57.740 --> 00:02:58.580 read from it. 00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:01.840 But over time they developed this idea of what they should do. 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:03.700 Rather than everyone carries around 66 scrolls. 00:03:04.040 --> 00:03:05.160 We should put this together in a book. 00:03:05.220 --> 00:03:05.830 It's way more convenient. 00:03:06.580 --> 00:03:12.580 When you get to the New Testament, let's put these gospels together up front, because this is the theme of what we're all about. 00:03:12.580 --> 00:03:17.090 Old Testament points forward to this moment and the New Testament points back to the moment of the gospel. 00:03:17.200 --> 00:03:21.260 So when you get to the New Testament, the new covenant, you have all four gospels there in the beginning. 00:03:21.920 --> 00:03:25.060 And then after that you have the history book of Acts. 00:03:25.460 --> 00:03:32.640 Acts records what happened in the early church historically, and it shows how the spirit of God worked through the people of God to accomplish the will of God. 00:03:33.020 --> 00:03:34.890 And then after the book of Acts, you get the letters. 00:03:35.380 --> 00:03:36.710 The letters that the apostles wrote. 00:03:37.440 --> 00:03:40.700 And even the first letters that pop up for you, are all of Paul's letters. 00:03:41.060 --> 00:03:45.530 And when you're looking at Paul's letters it's important to know, they're not even given to you in chronological order. 00:03:45.900 --> 00:03:48.380 They're actually given to you according to the size of the letter. 00:03:48.420 --> 00:03:49.650 They're like, let's put Paul's letters together. 00:03:50.160 --> 00:03:50.420 Okay. 00:03:50.460 --> 00:03:52.040 How are we going order these? 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:52.420 I don't know. 00:03:52.460 --> 00:03:53.290 Put the big one first. 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:55.560 And they got the big one up to the little one. 00:03:55.560 --> 00:03:56.890 And that's how it's put together. 00:03:57.260 --> 00:03:59.280 But you have the letters written by the apostles. 00:04:00.140 --> 00:04:03.860 And then at the end you had the book of Revelation, which is a book, honestly, of worship. 00:04:04.840 --> 00:04:08.280 People take Revelation and they butcher it all kinds of ways. 00:04:08.540 --> 00:04:14.600 But Revelation is actually written to a persecuted church to remind them that they win and Jesus calls them to worship. 00:04:14.620 --> 00:04:16.060 And they look at that victory in Jesus. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:21.279 And so Revelation, a beautiful book that describes worship before the Lord. 00:04:21.420 --> 00:04:26.750 It's apocalyptic in it's literature, which when you understand that is a very beautiful way of writing. 00:04:27.340 --> 00:04:29.720 But that's how your New Testament is pieced together. 00:04:30.440 --> 00:04:31.330 But why do you have four gospels? 00:04:32.620 --> 00:04:37.780 When you look at the gospels, you'll see that the stories are very similar, but oftentimes different things highlighted within the stories. 00:04:37.780 --> 00:04:44.300 It's not because the people who wrote the books didn't get their stories straight or get their stories right together and they're kind of fabricating. 00:04:44.520 --> 00:04:51.030 What they're doing is they're sharing their story experience and that you find in the gospels from their angle as a disciple. 00:04:51.760 --> 00:04:58.120 All of us have a different perspective when we go through certain events together, but they drive towards the main point. 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:05.160 And so what I'm saying is when you read these gospels, what you get is this story told from different angles as they experience 00:05:05.160 --> 00:05:08.700 Jesus and what they went through with him in life. 00:05:09.240 --> 00:05:14.800 And the importance of that is that it provides a testimony that holds up in the court of law. 00:05:15.460 --> 00:05:22.940 There's this word called collusion, that if someone's put on trial and someone set up to testify against them and you put another witness and another witness. 00:05:23.020 --> 00:05:30.080 When all three witnesses are saying the same exact thing, the same exact way, they've corroborated in their story and there's no 00:05:30.080 --> 00:05:30.960 credibility to it. 00:05:31.900 --> 00:05:39.000 But when you read the gospels, what you actually find is a slightly different flavor of different stories throughout the gospels, though the same stories being told, you have a different 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:39.300 angle. 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:41.710 And it says to us, look, this is not collusion. 00:05:42.960 --> 00:05:47.110 These guys have experienced what they're talking about with Jesus and they're telling it from a different angle. 00:05:47.320 --> 00:05:49.180 And not only that, they're writing to a different audience. 00:05:49.380 --> 00:05:56.320 So when you read Matthew, Matthew quotes a lot of the Old Testament, because Matthew is primarily writing his book to the Jews. 00:05:57.200 --> 00:06:00.220 When you read Mark, Mark uses this word often. 00:06:00.220 --> 00:06:02.960 He says immediately, immediately, immediately. 00:06:02.960 --> 00:06:07.060 Because he's writing to a particular culture that's familiar with Roman society. 00:06:07.060 --> 00:06:08.190 Romans were doers. 00:06:08.320 --> 00:06:11.540 When you get to Luke, Luke was a doctor, he was a Greek, he was a thinker. 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:14.120 Luke is more meticulous in how he shares things. 00:06:14.260 --> 00:06:17.880 And so Luke is more towards the Greek style of culture. 00:06:17.900 --> 00:06:20.270 And then John writes to what we say is to the world. 00:06:21.660 --> 00:06:26.420 And so you have these different gospels presented to different audiences to best reach them. 00:06:26.420 --> 00:06:31.380 Sharing stories that don't have collusion, but rather from their angle as they've walked with Jesus. 00:06:32.220 --> 00:06:38.360 And when you read the gospels, you might even ask the question, okay, so why don't we have anything about the entire life of Jesus? 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:45.620 You pick up the gospels, you read a little bit about his birth, you have one little story about Jesus disappearing in the temple when he's a kid, but the rest of 00:06:45.620 --> 00:06:52.380 it is about his years of ministry when he's 30 plus and honestly about half of it is the last week of his life. 00:06:53.860 --> 00:06:56.900 If Jesus is so important, why do we not have his entire life? 00:06:58.100 --> 00:07:03.100 Well, the point of Jesus' life wasn't so much about his life as it was about his death. 00:07:04.640 --> 00:07:06.700 Jesus' life was about his death. 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:13.760 And so when it share stories about Jesus, it's giving us these stories so we can identify that he is the Messiah so that when he 00:07:13.760 --> 00:07:16.440 does die, we can recognize the significance of his death. 00:07:17.280 --> 00:07:21.760 At the end of John, the last of the gospels records it for us. 00:07:21.780 --> 00:07:28.800 It says, "Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:31.740 disciples, which are not written in this book. 00:07:31.940 --> 00:07:39.060 But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life 00:07:39.060 --> 00:07:44.260 in His name." John 21 goes a little further and it just elaborates more. 00:07:44.260 --> 00:07:51.270 It says this, "And there are also many other things that which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, 00:07:51.340 --> 00:07:58.480 I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written." So what the disciples are saying is, yes, you get to this 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:00.610 story and you think, where's all of the detail about Jesus? 00:08:01.320 --> 00:08:07.980 And they're saying, yeah, Jesus did way more than what's described in this book. 00:08:08.820 --> 00:08:11.250 But the point of this book isn't to give you every detail of Jesus. 00:08:12.700 --> 00:08:19.760 The point of what he says in John chapter 20 is to say, we're sharing these stories so that you can see the significance of who Jesus is and find life in 00:08:19.760 --> 00:08:19.880 him. 00:08:19.940 --> 00:08:21.200 It's not to be caught up in every story. 00:08:21.820 --> 00:08:23.660 But rather the story had a point. 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:31.080 And what it's saying is when the authors are writing the gospels, they're not sitting there thinking, guys, we walked with Jesus for three years. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:33.020 What should we include in here? 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:35.059 What was the most entertaining story to you? 00:08:35.780 --> 00:08:36.850 Man, that was a good one, Jesus. 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:39.620 When we write your book later, we're going to put that story in. 00:08:39.700 --> 00:08:42.080 That other miracle you did a little bit is not as good as the first one. 00:08:42.520 --> 00:08:44.880 So this second one we're going to include, right? 00:08:45.020 --> 00:08:49.040 This is not the reason for which they chose to put in the book. 00:08:49.240 --> 00:08:50.110 It's not about entertainment. 00:08:52.540 --> 00:08:59.800 The reason they put the particular stories they chose to put within the book of the Bible is because it identifies the significance of who Jesus is, 00:08:59.880 --> 00:09:01.180 so that you can rest your faith in him. 00:09:02.860 --> 00:09:09.900 For example, there's a few Jewish scholars that have written on this, but during Jesus's day, there are people that came and declared themselves 00:09:09.900 --> 00:09:10.720 to be the Messiah. 00:09:11.040 --> 00:09:14.730 And sometimes Israel would follow after him believing they were the Messiah and they would be led astray. 00:09:15.300 --> 00:09:20.500 And so Israel, during the time of Jesus actually came up with a test to demonstrate, is this the Messiah? 00:09:21.020 --> 00:09:23.620 And one of the things they include on the test is that he would heal a leper. 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:28.240 Because Israel would say, look, no Jews ever been healed of leprosy. 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:32.340 Miriam was healed of leprosy, but it was before they had the law. 00:09:33.660 --> 00:09:40.690 You have a Gentile that was healed of leprosy in the Old Testament Naman, but no Jew after the giving law was ever healed of leprosy. 00:09:40.780 --> 00:09:42.300 So when the Messiah comes, he'll heal a leper. 00:09:43.580 --> 00:09:45.000 And so when you read the gospels, what do you see? 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:45.580 One of the first miracles. 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:47.100 Jesus performs the healing of leper. 00:09:49.380 --> 00:09:54.520 The reason they include that story is because historically to the Jews, that was a test to demonstrate the Messiah. 00:09:55.520 --> 00:09:58.360 It's not some random story of, man, that's really cool, let's just put that in. 00:09:59.920 --> 00:10:02.520 But there's a theme that they're communicating to us. 00:10:02.520 --> 00:10:05.160 And this is what I want to say to us when we look at the gospel of Matthew. 00:10:05.420 --> 00:10:10.760 When we read these individual stories, specifically within these stories, there are things that we can learn and that is important, right? 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:12.860 You can stop on each little story they tell. 00:10:13.100 --> 00:10:14.880 Beautiful, beautiful stories that they're saying. 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:16.330 Wonderful things about Jesus. 00:10:16.940 --> 00:10:23.230 But their intention and motive behind these stories are to give us a thematic idea of the concept of what the Messiah is. 00:10:24.700 --> 00:10:32.200 And this is something that had been saying to us from the beginning as we've gone through the series together, is that when we come to the Bible, oftentimes when we study it, we look at individual stories 00:10:32.200 --> 00:10:33.040 and those are important. 00:10:34.160 --> 00:10:36.420 But there is a greater story being told. 00:10:36.640 --> 00:10:43.940 And if all we focus on is the individual story, we will miss the greater picture of what God is declaring to us thematically through the concept of Scripture, 00:10:44.120 --> 00:10:47.320 as it's God's redemptive hand for our souls in sin. 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:49.430 God comes to redeem us. 00:10:50.520 --> 00:10:53.160 And when you look at the stories of Matthew, it's the same thing. 00:10:54.300 --> 00:10:55.870 They're not just specific stories. 00:10:57.020 --> 00:11:04.360 But the author when he's putting these stories together for us, is carrying a thematic idea that we could gather in worship to the concept 00:11:04.360 --> 00:11:06.550 of this Messiah and the brilliance of who He is. 00:11:08.100 --> 00:11:15.240 And so when you begin in Matthew 1, I'm going to move through this quickly for us, but Matthew 1, it just says, "The record 00:11:15.240 --> 00:11:20.560 of the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham", and we've already talked about this a couple of weeks ago. 00:11:20.560 --> 00:11:24.000 The word genealogy in Greek actually means Genesis. 00:11:24.300 --> 00:11:26.490 Just like the book of Genesis is like saying, okay, here we go. 00:11:26.800 --> 00:11:29.160 The book of Matthew, it's starting over from the beginning. 00:11:29.180 --> 00:11:31.980 In Genesis, we have this Jesus, the Messiah. 00:11:32.060 --> 00:11:33.880 He's going to reset everything for us. 00:11:33.940 --> 00:11:35.540 The son of David, the son of Abraham. 00:11:35.540 --> 00:11:38.070 This is for you to say, ah ha, the promised one. 00:11:38.400 --> 00:11:41.250 The one who was promised to come through Abraham, the seed that would bless. 00:11:41.320 --> 00:11:44.800 The one that is to come through David, the royal lineage to rule as our King. 00:11:44.800 --> 00:11:45.410 This is Jesus. 00:11:46.180 --> 00:11:48.180 And then he goes on and start to share these stories for us. 00:11:48.180 --> 00:11:49.810 And I'm just going to pepper this. 00:11:49.920 --> 00:11:54.240 You can go further than what I'm going to go in this idea, but I just want you to see it. 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:56.520 This thematic description that he's giving. 00:11:57.100 --> 00:12:04.120 It says in chapter two about Jesus, that the Magi came and visited Jesus when he was born and they worship 00:12:04.120 --> 00:12:04.900 Christ. 00:12:04.920 --> 00:12:07.130 And then they warn him that Herod's going to kill this baby. 00:12:07.640 --> 00:12:14.520 And so Joseph got up and took the child and his mother, and while it was still night, they left for Egypt and he remained there until the death of Herod. 00:12:14.920 --> 00:12:22.040 This was to fulfill what was spoken about the Lord through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my son." Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by 00:12:22.040 --> 00:12:28.020 the Magi, he became very enraged and he sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem all in its vicinity. 00:12:29.700 --> 00:12:33.210 Couple things here, I'll just say real quick, I'm going to leave a question, put it on the shelf and move on. 00:12:33.820 --> 00:12:40.740 But when I think about some of the prophetic fulfillments of Jesus, and I look at this one about out of Egypt, I called my son. 00:12:41.800 --> 00:12:42.600 Honestly, it's weird. 00:12:43.380 --> 00:12:44.040 That is a weird one. 00:12:45.040 --> 00:12:46.300 I think about some good ones. 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:49.820 I would say, being born of a virgin, that's a pretty good one. 00:12:49.820 --> 00:12:51.500 I'm glad Matthew says that. 00:12:51.540 --> 00:12:53.700 Born in Bethlehem, the Messiah be born in Bethlehem. 00:12:53.920 --> 00:12:57.960 I'm glad prophetically that was proclaimed and Matthew lets us know that. 00:12:58.340 --> 00:13:03.160 But then when you get to this idea of, "Out of Egypt, I call my son," I look at that as a specific story in this place. 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:06.620 And I think, why do I need to care about this one? 00:13:07.160 --> 00:13:07.720 What is this? 00:13:08.380 --> 00:13:09.960 Who cares? 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:11.020 What does this even mean? 00:13:12.500 --> 00:13:16.610 So I just put that on the shelf for a minute just to think, out of Egypt, you called your son. 00:13:16.980 --> 00:13:18.980 How does this point to anything great about a Messiah? 00:13:20.660 --> 00:13:23.990 And then he says in verse 16, Herod went on and killed kids. 00:13:24.640 --> 00:13:30.100 He knew he was tricked by the Magi and the Magi went and warned Jesus and his family and Jesus has gone, but he's like, kill them all anyway. 00:13:30.360 --> 00:13:31.450 Just in case. 00:13:31.780 --> 00:13:33.960 That's, strange. 00:13:34.220 --> 00:13:37.000 And why includes such a dark thing in this passage of scripture? 00:13:37.040 --> 00:13:38.160 Let me move on. 00:13:38.260 --> 00:13:39.200 Matthew 3:1. 00:13:39.940 --> 00:13:43.000 Now in those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. 00:13:44.040 --> 00:13:45.300 Let me just stop there and say this. 00:13:45.940 --> 00:13:53.060 If you are the one proclaiming the Messiah and you were to think of all the places that you could go in Israel to tell people that the Messiah is coming, you need to prepare the way, 00:13:53.660 --> 00:13:56.800 just going to throw this out, probably the worst place you could pick as the middle of nowhere. 00:13:58.400 --> 00:14:04.480 Maybe the brightest idea would be Jerusalem, or even a second city of great population. 00:14:05.140 --> 00:14:06.830 But you would think primarily it would be in Jerusalem. 00:14:07.760 --> 00:14:09.600 And yet John goes to the middle of nowhere. 00:14:10.560 --> 00:14:10.980 Why? 00:14:12.120 --> 00:14:12.960 Why would he do that? 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:18.140 And verse six, and the Jews were being baptized by him in the Jordan river as they confess their sins today. 00:14:18.140 --> 00:14:20.570 That doesn't seem as odd to us because as Christians. 00:14:20.780 --> 00:14:24.780 Put our faith in Jesus, the first act of obedience described us in Scripture to be baptized. 00:14:25.520 --> 00:14:28.900 It's a demonstration of your love for Jesus publicly before the world. 00:14:29.400 --> 00:14:32.890 So to us, it doesn't sound bizarre, but to the Jewish people, that would be very bizarre. 00:14:33.340 --> 00:14:34.100 Because Jews didn't get baptized. 00:14:36.450 --> 00:14:39.880 In Jesus' day that was something Gentiles did. 00:14:39.940 --> 00:14:46.880 When Gentiles converted to Judaism, they would be circumcised, they would memorize portions of the Torah, and they would go out into the water and they would self baptize themselves. 00:14:47.320 --> 00:14:48.760 Jews wouldn't even touch them until they were baptized. 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:50.040 They would self baptize. 00:14:50.540 --> 00:14:52.360 And why all a sudden are Jews being baptized? 00:14:52.860 --> 00:14:53.360 That's bizarre. 00:14:54.220 --> 00:14:54.910 Put that on the shelf. 00:14:56.320 --> 00:15:00.700 And Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John and to be baptized by him. 00:15:02.540 --> 00:15:02.990 Kind of bizarre. 00:15:03.220 --> 00:15:06.420 Jesus is being baptized when Jesus is perfect, but Jesus being baptized. 00:15:06.840 --> 00:15:10.020 But then you see this thought that Jesus is coming from Galilee to the Jordan. 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:18.160 Now, I don't know if you guys have ever seen the Jordan river here locally, but I promise you, I can almost guarantee 00:15:18.160 --> 00:15:24.030 this, probably put my life savings on this, that no one's ever driven by the Jordan river and thought that's a spectacular river. 00:15:24.980 --> 00:15:26.000 Wow. 00:15:26.100 --> 00:15:31.080 If they're saying wow by the Jordan, it's not because they've been impressed. 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:33.020 It's because they saw something nasty floating down. 00:15:33.500 --> 00:15:40.580 But I will tell you this, when you look at Israel's Jordan river, and if you were to take pictures of Israel's Jordan river and pictures of 00:15:40.580 --> 00:15:45.680 our Jordan river and you were putting them side by side, you would have a hard time distinguishing which one's in Israel and which ones in Utah. 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:49.350 Because they looked like the same junky river going down the road. 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:51.390 And you think about, okay, Jesus is going to be baptized. 00:15:51.760 --> 00:15:53.300 I mean this is the Savior of the world. 00:15:53.650 --> 00:15:54.530 Jesus, where you want to be baptized. 00:15:55.280 --> 00:16:00.140 He just left the Sea of Galilee area to go to the Jordan river. 00:16:01.020 --> 00:16:03.520 Why would you do that? 00:16:03.580 --> 00:16:07.140 And it's the concept of thematic ideas, but just put it on the shelf again. 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:08.400 Look at this. 00:16:08.400 --> 00:16:15.580 Matthew 4 when Jesus, after he's baptized, it tells us immediately was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by 00:16:15.580 --> 00:16:15.900 the devil. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:24.580 And after he had fasted 40 days, 40 nights, he then became hungry and the tempter came and said to him, if you're the Son of God, command these stones 00:16:24.580 --> 00:16:25.440 become bread. 00:16:25.700 --> 00:16:30.480 But he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. 00:16:32.140 --> 00:16:34.120 Why 40 days? 00:16:36.500 --> 00:16:43.060 I think if you read this interaction with Jesus, Satan just says three things to him. 00:16:43.160 --> 00:16:44.980 We could settle all this in an hour. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:46.620 Jesus, go to the wilderness. 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:52.120 Satan's got three things to say to you and you should say three things really good back to him and we'll call it done, right? 00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:53.960 But it goes for 40 days. 00:16:54.060 --> 00:16:54.180 Why? 00:16:54.440 --> 00:16:56.000 Why does the text want us to know that? 00:16:56.420 --> 00:17:01.440 Why right after baptism does Jesus is He led by the Spirit to this wilderness to do this? 00:17:01.520 --> 00:17:03.280 What does all this have to do with anything? 00:17:03.460 --> 00:17:06.720 You can look at this specific story, draw things out of it. 00:17:06.780 --> 00:17:12.339 I think it's important, but there's a thematic theme being communicated to us. 00:17:12.339 --> 00:17:17.839 And I think it's important to appreciate the identity of the Messiah and discover what is this? 00:17:17.880 --> 00:17:18.750 What does all this mean? 00:17:18.819 --> 00:17:21.310 How do these weird scenarios fit together? 00:17:21.880 --> 00:17:25.640 When you get to Matthew 5 to 7, that's where Jesus shares with us the Sermon on the Mount. 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:34.140 He goes up on the mountain and he preaches and he talks about the law and the kingdom and he presents this upside down kingdom where he starts in the very 00:17:34.140 --> 00:17:37.920 beginning, blessed are you who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for yours is the kingdom of God. 00:17:40.540 --> 00:17:46.380 This upside down kingdom where it's not the elite that God loves, it's everybody. 00:17:48.080 --> 00:17:52.840 The people that disconnected from God, maybe abandoned, maybe worthless. 00:17:55.100 --> 00:17:56.000 Jesus loves them all. 00:17:58.720 --> 00:17:59.360 What is this theme? 00:18:01.620 --> 00:18:03.020 Well, consider this. 00:18:04.900 --> 00:18:07.880 Go back to Matthew 2:14, out of Egypt. 00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:08.520 I called my son. 00:18:09.940 --> 00:18:13.920 Who liked Jesus was a leader called out of Egypt? 00:18:16.580 --> 00:18:16.940 Moses. 00:18:20.060 --> 00:18:24.600 And who like Jesus was almost murdered as a baby by a ruler? 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:27.100 Moses. 00:18:27.350 --> 00:18:30.580 Matthew 2:16. 00:18:30.660 --> 00:18:32.680 And who liked Jesus went through the water? 00:18:34.680 --> 00:18:35.020 Moses. 00:18:36.800 --> 00:18:42.180 And who liked Jesus was led by the Spirit of God through the wilderness for a time of 40? 00:18:44.280 --> 00:18:44.880 Moses. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:48.820 And who liked Jesus delivered the law from a mountain? 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:52.240 Moses. 00:18:54.020 --> 00:19:01.360 But not only that, is not only as Jesus identifies himself as a Moses like figure for the Jewish mind was the pillar of what Judaism was about. 00:19:01.560 --> 00:19:04.340 He was the one of all of Jewish people. 00:19:06.020 --> 00:19:13.020 Not only is it identifying Jesus like Moses, but the Messiah comes out of Egypt and John rather than rather 00:19:13.020 --> 00:19:15.920 than go preach in Jerusalem, he's taking Israel to the wilderness. 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:22.920 Which is exactly a representation of the place where Israel had failed to follow after God and 00:19:22.920 --> 00:19:24.140 did not repent. 00:19:26.780 --> 00:19:29.180 And John leads them back to their place of failure. 00:19:31.560 --> 00:19:38.680 The Jordan river, the place where they rather than cross the river, rejected God and 00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:39.560 wandered in the wilderness. 00:19:41.160 --> 00:19:45.120 And John rather than baptizing Gentiles, now is baptizing Jews. 00:19:46.040 --> 00:19:50.100 To demonstrate that when the Messiah comes, he's going to begin something new. 00:19:51.980 --> 00:19:55.130 And he's providing for them a place to start over in their failure. 00:19:56.900 --> 00:20:04.420 And Jesus takes Israel to the Jordan, the boundary line between the wilderness where they wandered for 40 years and 00:20:04.420 --> 00:20:09.330 the promised land, which was all that God desired for them if they walked in faith on the other side. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:17.320 This line between sin and rejection to faith and obedience, and it's Jesus who faithfully goes through the water. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:24.400 Jesus then goes to the testing of 40 days. 00:20:25.620 --> 00:20:32.820 Just as Israel had failed God in their 40 days of the spies sent into the land of Canaan and 40 years 00:20:32.820 --> 00:20:34.360 of wandering in the wilderness. 00:20:36.020 --> 00:20:39.640 The Bible tells us through those 40 years that the Spirit of God directed them. 00:20:41.180 --> 00:20:48.320 And all of a sudden, as soon as Jesus is baptized through the waters, Jesus is immediately led by the Spirit for 00:20:48.460 --> 00:20:52.820 40 days, a representation of Israel and their rejection of God through those 40 years. 00:20:55.040 --> 00:20:56.080 But what does Jesus do? 00:20:58.620 --> 00:21:03.420 Rather than disobey the law, Jesus is faithful to it. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:12.100 When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, it tells us that Jesus, in chapter four he goes to the temptations of the gamut of all that human society will face. 00:21:12.180 --> 00:21:14.860 The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. 00:21:15.260 --> 00:21:16.840 It's the temptation Adam and Eve had in the garden of Eden. 00:21:17.180 --> 00:21:19.850 It's the temptation all of us go through, no matter what it is. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:21.700 Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. 00:21:22.100 --> 00:21:24.520 Jesus is tempted by it all and Jesus is faithful. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:27.600 And the reason we know Jesus upholds the laws because what Jesus quotes. 00:21:28.140 --> 00:21:30.990 Every time Satan tempts Jesus quotes from the book of Deuteronomy. 00:21:31.280 --> 00:21:35.640 It's said of Jesus that Jesus' favorite book in the Bible was the book of Deuteronomy. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:38.560 And the book of Deuteronomy means the second giving of the law. 00:21:38.580 --> 00:21:40.960 It's Moses sermon about the law. 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:45.700 And when Jesus defeats Satan, he does it through the word of God being obedient to the law. 00:21:47.980 --> 00:21:53.330 And then Jesus comes out and preaches the Sermon on the Mount and he talks about this kingdom for which he's coming to represent. 00:21:53.640 --> 00:21:54.700 And what does he say about the law? 00:21:56.300 --> 00:22:03.060 He tells us in Matthew 5:17 do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. 00:22:04.280 --> 00:22:06.800 I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. 00:22:08.040 --> 00:22:13.700 For truly, I say to you until heaven and earth has passed away, not the smallest letters, stroke shall pass them law until all is accomplished. 00:22:15.420 --> 00:22:22.000 Jesus is saying in this new thing, it's not to disregard what God has done, but rather Jesus is saying he's come to fulfill it all. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:27.700 And what is identifying for us in this story it suddenly becomes crystal clear from chapter two to chapter five. 00:22:28.780 --> 00:22:36.240 That the reason the prophecy is saying that out of Egypt, I called my son is not some arbitrary idea, but he wants us to identify for us, that 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:43.500 as Israel left Egypt and they did so in disobedience there is finally coming one Israelite who 00:22:43.500 --> 00:22:44.620 was faithful to it all. 00:22:46.660 --> 00:22:49.040 And out of Egypt he come and through the water he passes. 00:22:50.520 --> 00:22:52.320 And into the temptation he enters. 00:22:52.320 --> 00:22:56.740 And through the 40 years of wandering or 40 days for Jesus, symbolic of Israel's wandering. 00:22:58.100 --> 00:23:02.440 And he is the faithful Israelite. 00:23:05.660 --> 00:23:12.740 Jesus walked the path no one else could walk so he could pay the debt no 00:23:12.740 --> 00:23:14.120 one else could pay. 00:23:15.500 --> 00:23:19.500 He, Matthew 5, fulfilled the law. 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:28.860 Jesus goes on from verses 17 and 18 and he says to us, he warns humanity, none of you could fulfill the law. 00:23:31.460 --> 00:23:36.880 But only one who is greater could fulfill this law, talking about himself. 00:23:39.900 --> 00:23:44.540 This is why when we look at religion, we say religion doesn't work because no law could ever set you free. 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:47.330 But here comes Jesus. 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:52.500 So you see the thematic idea that Matthew was communicating to us. 00:23:52.500 --> 00:23:56.200 He's not just putting together a hodgepodge of stories to impress you with Jesus. 00:23:57.560 --> 00:24:04.880 I think he wants you to be impressed with Jesus, but each story is connected to the next to give this grand 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:10.580 story of exactly who this Messiah is so that no one makes the mistake and rejects Him. 00:24:11.300 --> 00:24:13.210 And so what does this mean for us? 00:24:14.080 --> 00:24:22.220 Well, in the middle of this as it's unfolded from chapter one to chapter seven as Jesus is giving the law, Jesus 00:24:22.220 --> 00:24:23.840 delivers a message. 00:24:23.840 --> 00:24:30.900 And in this passage of scripture tells us that not only did Jesus deliver a message, that this message was 00:24:30.900 --> 00:24:34.520 the repeated message Jesus stated throughout his ministry. 00:24:34.560 --> 00:24:41.180 In Matthew 4:17 and what it is saying is if you look at this text, you say, okay, what do I do? 00:24:41.180 --> 00:24:45.200 This is great thematically to understand in scripture, but what do I do with this? 00:24:45.900 --> 00:24:51.080 Well, the answer is listen to the call for which Jesus makes for your life in Matthew 4:17. 00:24:51.120 --> 00:24:52.700 This is what Jesus said, this is what you do with this. 00:24:53.120 --> 00:24:59.620 From this time, Jesus began to preach and say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 00:25:01.180 --> 00:25:06.180 And what he's recognizing for us is in our lives, we can live for all sorts of self-made kingdoms. 00:25:08.140 --> 00:25:10.880 Mostly every kingdom we set up as a whole about us. 00:25:10.920 --> 00:25:18.450 We look for things that just want to provide what we desire in our lives for our own kingdom and so we live for our purposes. 00:25:18.980 --> 00:25:24.210 But what God is saying is there's something completely different for what your life should surrender to in submission. 00:25:24.460 --> 00:25:31.200 Don't submit to your kingdom, don't submit to the kingdoms of this world, but rather my kingdom. 00:25:33.640 --> 00:25:37.900 And when we think in terms of repentance, I think it's important to discuss what exactly this means for us. 00:25:38.100 --> 00:25:40.780 Because repentance is a very abused word religiously. 00:25:43.300 --> 00:25:47.980 I can tell you in concept of kingdom as this demonstrate in this passage here's what repentance means. 00:25:49.340 --> 00:25:50.120 Turn from, turn toward. 00:25:53.840 --> 00:26:02.420 It's a turning inwardly of your heart of everything that it's lived for apart from God and 00:26:02.420 --> 00:26:05.560 turning around completely and devoting it entirely to His kingdom. 00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:11.020 It's this idea of submission of saying, what's going to guide you? 00:26:13.140 --> 00:26:13.500 Repent. 00:26:15.290 --> 00:26:20.520 Here comes this King to present this kingdom and I invite you to be a part of it. 00:26:22.380 --> 00:26:27.420 Lay down everything else and turn towards this King. 00:26:29.940 --> 00:26:36.980 Repenting is about recognizing this Jordan river moment God is calling us all too. 00:26:40.080 --> 00:26:42.100 Remember Israel goes to the Jordan river. 00:26:42.980 --> 00:26:46.040 It has an opportunity to embrace God. 00:26:47.700 --> 00:26:52.360 And rather than pursue his kingdom, the promises that come with that, they reject God. 00:26:53.960 --> 00:26:57.210 They choose to walk with themselves and their desires. 00:27:00.220 --> 00:27:02.420 I love how simple Jesus' first words are. 00:27:03.660 --> 00:27:04.090 Could you imagine? 00:27:04.500 --> 00:27:10.260 Jesus like, all right guys, I'm going to share my first thoughts with you as the Messiah that's been recognized in my baptism. 00:27:10.260 --> 00:27:12.660 You saw the Father speak, the Spirit descend. 00:27:12.660 --> 00:27:19.160 You saw and know I went to the wilderness and Satan tempted me and I went through that without any sin. 00:27:20.020 --> 00:27:21.190 You know that I'm the Messiah. 00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:22.170 I'm going to give you my first message. 00:27:22.360 --> 00:27:22.430 Are you ready? 00:27:23.380 --> 00:27:26.140 And everyone pulls out their notes and pads and they're ready to write down. 00:27:26.200 --> 00:27:26.360 Okay? 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:28.120 The first one, we've been waiting for this. 00:27:28.280 --> 00:27:31.300 The Bible's talked about this forever and Jesus says, here it is. 00:27:31.380 --> 00:27:32.690 Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. 00:27:32.700 --> 00:27:34.140 You're like, okay, good, I got that. 00:27:34.600 --> 00:27:34.940 Repent. 00:27:35.340 --> 00:27:36.160 Okay, Jesus. 00:27:36.260 --> 00:27:40.230 Point number two and Jesus says, there isn't a point number two. 00:27:42.900 --> 00:27:49.400 I don't want to delude the thought because this one thought makes all the difference in the world. 00:27:49.400 --> 00:27:50.120 This is it. 00:27:50.400 --> 00:27:57.660 This is what this kingdom is about for you to turn from all your self made kingdoms that leads to brokenness, that leads to rebellion against God 00:27:57.660 --> 00:28:02.840 that leads to eternity without me and embrace who I am that's come to set you free. 00:28:05.540 --> 00:28:12.540 You know what's interesting, if you follow the rest of the gospels, what's astounding as you see all the miracles that Jesus performs 00:28:12.620 --> 00:28:17.600 and the way that he demonstrates his as himself as the Messiah, they reject him. 00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:24.660 This thematic ideal in the brilliance that we just share in the first few chapters and they still reject them. 00:28:26.840 --> 00:28:34.080 And as you read the gospels, here's what you begin to find according to the gospels, that truthfully, 00:28:34.200 --> 00:28:41.600 and I don't say this half-heartedly, I mean this fully, that religion is the greatest obstacle 00:28:42.900 --> 00:28:43.840 to true repentance. 00:28:45.940 --> 00:28:48.480 You look at the individuals that reject Jesus, they're all about their law. 00:28:48.540 --> 00:28:50.610 They're all about their religious living. 00:28:51.300 --> 00:28:56.220 And the religion becomes for them the greatest obstacle, from true repentance and turning to the Messiah. 00:28:57.300 --> 00:29:01.420 I know sometimes in our lives we think, it's the rebels God needs to rescue. 00:29:02.360 --> 00:29:03.520 It's the rebels that need him. 00:29:03.520 --> 00:29:04.840 I'm okay, I'm good, right? 00:29:04.840 --> 00:29:05.360 I got it all together. 00:29:05.580 --> 00:29:07.820 I've done better stuff than they have. 00:29:07.820 --> 00:29:10.550 It's the rebels that need Jesus. 00:29:11.900 --> 00:29:15.160 But can I tell you guys, if you read the gospels, that's not so. 00:29:18.280 --> 00:29:23.040 Religion is going to blind more people then rebellion ever has. 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:27.120 You think of who Jesus' friends were. 00:29:29.740 --> 00:29:32.920 The sinners, the drunkards, the tax collectors, the Bible tells us. 00:29:33.860 --> 00:29:41.120 One of my favorite sections in the gospels, that my heart just loves to sit in, is Luke 15 and Jesus sharing the parables of all the lost 00:29:41.120 --> 00:29:41.220 everything's. 00:29:42.340 --> 00:29:42.960 Several stories. 00:29:42.960 --> 00:29:48.820 He shares the lost coin, lost sheep, and then ends with the idea of the prodigal son, which I'm sure you're familiar with. 00:29:48.980 --> 00:29:51.300 I love what Tim Keller says about that section of scripture. 00:29:52.540 --> 00:29:56.000 Tim Keller says, we've got it wrong calling the prodigal son story of the prodigal son. 00:29:56.840 --> 00:29:58.040 It's not about the prodigal son. 00:29:58.700 --> 00:30:00.540 Because the story has two sons. 00:30:01.300 --> 00:30:02.700 It's about the prodigal God. 00:30:03.640 --> 00:30:07.600 And what we learned about the prodigal God is there's one son in rebellion and one son in religion. 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:09.520 And you know who embraces the father? 00:30:11.180 --> 00:30:12.220 It's not the son in religion. 00:30:14.620 --> 00:30:15.890 It's the sun in rebellion. 00:30:15.960 --> 00:30:21.760 And listen to this, the pinnacle of this story for me is in Luke 15:20, listen to what it says. 00:30:22.760 --> 00:30:25.760 The son recognized, I had it better with my father. 00:30:26.920 --> 00:30:30.960 In verse 20 it says this, the son got up and came to his father. 00:30:32.200 --> 00:30:39.380 But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for 00:30:39.380 --> 00:30:44.020 him and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 00:30:47.480 --> 00:30:48.580 This wasn't Jewish custom. 00:30:50.740 --> 00:30:53.080 The father didn't run to you. 00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:55.690 You were to run to them. 00:30:57.180 --> 00:31:01.540 But yet this is a picture of God and the rebellion of our heart. 00:31:03.520 --> 00:31:04.840 And we see the goodness of who he is. 00:31:06.360 --> 00:31:08.950 And it's not about putting on religion to make yourself look better. 00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:11.020 It's to come in your rebellion and lay it down. 00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:14.420 Repent, repent. 00:31:14.540 --> 00:31:17.320 For the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 00:31:17.320 --> 00:31:19.960 What is the benefit of repentance? 00:31:22.200 --> 00:31:23.420 I would just give us this thought. 00:31:23.420 --> 00:31:30.420 I would say repentance is healing because 00:31:30.420 --> 00:31:31.580 Jesus is fulfilling. 00:31:34.420 --> 00:31:41.560 If I were to give you another verse to think about in terms as it relates to repentance and the practice of it, the epistle of James. 00:31:41.960 --> 00:31:45.680 James writes about this, the concept of repentance in James 5:16. 00:31:46.520 --> 00:31:51.220 He doesn't use the word repentance, but he clarifies here the outworking of what repentance looks like. 00:31:51.480 --> 00:31:52.000 And look at this. 00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:53.760 He says, therefore, a concluding thought. 00:31:55.120 --> 00:31:59.220 Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. 00:32:01.880 --> 00:32:03.030 What does this mean? 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:06.800 Confess your sins is not the same as repentance. 00:32:07.020 --> 00:32:09.560 There is some distinguishment there, but they work together. 00:32:10.020 --> 00:32:14.500 And confession is really the outwardness of what repentance represents. 00:32:15.180 --> 00:32:16.340 Now, let me be clear in saying this. 00:32:17.400 --> 00:32:19.240 Sometimes we confess things and it's not repentance. 00:32:20.900 --> 00:32:23.600 And sometimes we confess things not because we are repentant. 00:32:23.600 --> 00:32:24.640 We look at God and we're like, you're right. 00:32:24.640 --> 00:32:25.940 I've been living for the wrong kingdom out. 00:32:25.980 --> 00:32:29.380 I surrender myself to you as King, but rather the reason we repent is simply because you feel guilty. 00:32:30.940 --> 00:32:33.710 And you confess because it just makes you feel better. 00:32:33.780 --> 00:32:37.120 2 Corinthians 7:10 talks about worldly repentance and godly repentance. 00:32:39.740 --> 00:32:41.800 Worldly repentance is saying, ah, you caught me. 00:32:41.800 --> 00:32:42.300 I feel guilty. 00:32:42.780 --> 00:32:43.400 I'm sorry. 00:32:45.260 --> 00:32:46.610 But you wouldn't have done it unless you got caught. 00:32:48.960 --> 00:32:55.970 Godly repentance is recognizing this, whether someone catches you or not, we live contrary to the Lord. 00:32:57.140 --> 00:33:00.160 And His kingdom sets us free and we're created to live for that kingdom. 00:33:01.520 --> 00:33:04.400 That's why I lay myself down and I turn to it. 00:33:05.320 --> 00:33:07.080 It's not about avoiding this world anymore. 00:33:07.080 --> 00:33:08.320 It's about living for that. 00:33:09.320 --> 00:33:10.240 His world, His kingdom. 00:33:11.840 --> 00:33:14.960 Naturally in living for his kingdom, you'll deny the things of this world. 00:33:16.160 --> 00:33:18.620 But repentance is about turning and living for a totally different purpose. 00:33:20.480 --> 00:33:27.500 Sometimes people look at this verse and it's a little weird because you think, okay, if I confess my sins, I got some physical ailments and I'm going to feel 00:33:27.500 --> 00:33:27.750 better. 00:33:28.080 --> 00:33:30.460 And if the reason that I don't feel better, it's because I didn't confess enough. 00:33:30.500 --> 00:33:33.160 Because it says if we confess and pray a little bit, then we're going to be healed. 00:33:33.500 --> 00:33:33.680 Right? 00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:35.540 Is that what does this passage talking about? 00:33:36.740 --> 00:33:40.300 I've seen people even apply this where it's like, okay, this says we need to do it. 00:33:40.360 --> 00:33:41.780 So I'm going to go around and confess my sins. 00:33:41.800 --> 00:33:46.080 I'm going to look at other people, I'm going to quote this verse and I'm going to guilt him into doing it too, right? 00:33:46.080 --> 00:33:52.750 I'm going to confess, I'm going to say some weird things in my closet and I expect you to share your skeletons in your closet, and then you sit there and like, do we feel any better? 00:33:52.780 --> 00:33:52.980 No. 00:33:53.260 --> 00:33:54.510 We just talked about awkward things. 00:33:54.680 --> 00:33:57.680 What is this passage saying to us? 00:33:59.820 --> 00:34:06.860 Have you ever been in that moment where you've done something and it's damaged your relationships and what you've done is wrong? 00:34:09.480 --> 00:34:11.270 And you wonder, how can I come back from this? 00:34:14.360 --> 00:34:15.179 What's the way of escape? 00:34:16.520 --> 00:34:17.440 How can we erase it? 00:34:19.239 --> 00:34:21.360 This word healed actually means be made whole. 00:34:23.020 --> 00:34:24.179 You can be made whole. 00:34:25.860 --> 00:34:26.960 Let me give you another scenario. 00:34:27.000 --> 00:34:32.409 Have you ever been in a situation where someone's wronged you and there was no acknowledgement and you think to yourself, I'm not taking crazy pills? 00:34:32.780 --> 00:34:37.380 Does this person not know or are they just so hard hearted they just don't even care? 00:34:39.040 --> 00:34:41.750 And all of a sudden there's this wedge relationally, in either aspect. 00:34:42.080 --> 00:34:45.560 Where whether you did something to someone or they did something to you. 00:34:45.560 --> 00:34:48.100 And either way, relationship is damaged. 00:34:48.100 --> 00:34:52.550 There's this wall and you're thinking to yourself, well, they did this to me and if they recognize it, they're just not repenting. 00:34:52.620 --> 00:34:53.380 I don't want to be around them. 00:34:53.639 --> 00:34:57.400 And if they don't recognize it and they're just not coming to me, then I don't want to be around them. 00:34:59.300 --> 00:35:00.000 So how is it made whole? 00:35:02.520 --> 00:35:10.980 Well, the answer James is saying, when you mess up, go before your friends and 00:35:10.980 --> 00:35:11.500 expose it. 00:35:13.060 --> 00:35:16.770 If what you've done is directly affecting them, I'm not telling you that you need to tell them everything. 00:35:17.620 --> 00:35:21.940 You know that some things that you've done hasn't even affected a relationship. 00:35:21.940 --> 00:35:23.620 But this is talking in terms of effecting of a relationship. 00:35:24.140 --> 00:35:25.010 And so what do you do? 00:35:25.020 --> 00:35:28.700 You expose it and what the result is healing. 00:35:29.060 --> 00:35:29.520 It works like this. 00:35:29.520 --> 00:35:30.150 Let me give you the scenario. 00:35:30.980 --> 00:35:34.120 As a dad or as a husband, I'll blow it. 00:35:35.660 --> 00:35:39.360 There's some times where I'm like, today if I got a grade, it would be an F. 00:35:41.040 --> 00:35:42.340 How do I come back from this as a dad? 00:35:43.100 --> 00:35:48.080 How in my weakness and my failures do my kids even know how to walk with God when their dad can't even do it right. 00:35:49.860 --> 00:35:53.040 James is showing you it's not about you. 00:35:53.120 --> 00:35:53.680 It's about him. 00:35:54.980 --> 00:35:56.620 Put everyone's eyes on him and here's how it looks. 00:35:58.080 --> 00:36:00.140 I go before my kids and I say, look, this is what I did. 00:36:00.380 --> 00:36:00.880 I blew it. 00:36:01.020 --> 00:36:04.340 I'm sorry, but this is who I want to be. 00:36:06.280 --> 00:36:08.120 This is who God's called me to be. 00:36:09.200 --> 00:36:11.580 A man of integrity that walks in the fruit of the Spirit. 00:36:11.860 --> 00:36:12.580 This is the target. 00:36:14.380 --> 00:36:16.680 And now rather than my children wondering what's wrong with dad? 00:36:16.720 --> 00:36:22.860 Does he even know how his behavior might affect us or whether my wife wondering or some person wandering, they know that I've identified before them. 00:36:22.860 --> 00:36:25.020 Look, I know that I wasn't what I was supposed to be. 00:36:27.040 --> 00:36:28.760 But this is who God's called me to be. 00:36:30.400 --> 00:36:34.480 In the midst of the brokenness, we still have the glory of God made known his target. 00:36:36.660 --> 00:36:39.800 And when I acknowledged that before us in the separation that divided, we begin to find healing. 00:36:41.660 --> 00:36:44.780 I'm not saying this passage is now telling you now go guilt everyone into doing this. 00:36:44.800 --> 00:36:45.680 I don't think he's saying that all on. 00:36:45.680 --> 00:36:52.710 Rather, I think it's saying to you, if you read the rest of the context that if you know someone walking contrary to the Lord, going and guilty and it's not going to work, 00:36:52.820 --> 00:36:53.600 but pray for them. 00:36:55.160 --> 00:36:55.860 Pray for them. 00:36:58.060 --> 00:36:58.770 Pray for the heart. 00:37:00.420 --> 00:37:01.820 Because what God wants is unity and healing. 00:37:03.860 --> 00:37:05.330 God wants us restored. 00:37:05.560 --> 00:37:07.180 It works like that for the church too, guys. 00:37:08.560 --> 00:37:09.080 We're not perfect. 00:37:10.760 --> 00:37:11.220 Jesus is. 00:37:12.560 --> 00:37:15.120 And when we fail in our imperfection, guess what we still get to do? 00:37:16.380 --> 00:37:16.800 Point to him. 00:37:18.240 --> 00:37:25.400 We still in the midst of our failures can say to the church, even though we're weak, look what God's called us to be. 00:37:27.760 --> 00:37:28.320 Repentance. 00:37:29.280 --> 00:37:32.960 Confession is healing. 00:37:33.100 --> 00:37:36.930 This is God's call for us to come home. 00:37:38.240 --> 00:37:38.560 Come home. 00:37:42.080 --> 00:37:43.010 I'll end with this story. 00:37:43.260 --> 00:37:50.190 There was a lady in Glasgow, Scotland, and she had a daughter and they were in conflict in their family. 00:37:50.280 --> 00:37:53.720 And finally the daughter as a teenager, she decided, forget this, I'm leaving. 00:37:53.740 --> 00:37:54.500 I'm going out on my own. 00:37:54.500 --> 00:37:55.980 She went out into the streets and lived on her own. 00:37:57.160 --> 00:38:02.260 And she lived the nightlife of the streets, sold her soul, sold her body for years. 00:38:02.400 --> 00:38:04.140 Went through this period of time. 00:38:04.160 --> 00:38:09.020 And the only reason she was able really to ever make it as she would go into shelters every once in a while. 00:38:10.660 --> 00:38:16.000 And one night while she was in a shelter, she went to a bulletin board and on the bulletin board there was a picture. 00:38:17.500 --> 00:38:18.120 It was of her. 00:38:19.800 --> 00:38:25.330 Her mother had spent years traveling around with a picture of her daughter, sharing with people, asking, have you seen her? 00:38:26.240 --> 00:38:30.940 And her mother posted this picture on the bulletin board of every shelter that she went into. 00:38:30.940 --> 00:38:38.370 And she just wrote these words across the front, I still love you, please come home. 00:38:39.960 --> 00:38:43.120 And the middle of the night and the brokenness, that's all the affirmation his daughter needed. 00:38:43.280 --> 00:38:49.780 She ran home, got home in the wee hours and she went to knock on the door and all of a sudden the door suddenly popped open and she was afraid. 00:38:49.900 --> 00:38:51.680 She knew mom always locked the door. 00:38:51.860 --> 00:38:55.580 And she went in the house thinking that it had been burglarized and she runs into the bedroom. 00:38:55.680 --> 00:38:58.960 She feels through the darkness and she touches the bed and startles her mother. 00:38:58.960 --> 00:39:01.020 She wakes up and she embraces her. 00:39:01.120 --> 00:39:02.600 Mom, she says, I was so worried. 00:39:02.600 --> 00:39:04.400 I thought something had happened because the door wasn't locked. 00:39:04.560 --> 00:39:05.860 It just slid right open. 00:39:05.880 --> 00:39:12.640 And her mom embraced her back and just said to her, from the moment you left, the door has never been locked. 00:39:15.020 --> 00:39:16.590 Guys that's what Jesus' call is. 00:39:18.360 --> 00:39:19.460 It's not a call of guilt. 00:39:20.960 --> 00:39:21.860 It's a call of healing. 00:39:23.520 --> 00:39:25.160 Only His presence can do that. 00:39:26.800 --> 00:39:29.800 To start your Christian walk it begins that way. 00:39:30.860 --> 00:39:32.200 Your kingdom, not mine. 00:39:33.500 --> 00:39:40.420 And to live the Christian life, it continues that way, not your kingdom, but mine.