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The title of my sermon today is holy violence in the Christian life. This is the first sermon. We're going to have a series of sermons on this. Some of you may know I may have mentioned the past one of my favorite verses is Matthew 11 12.
I'm going to get to that in a second. But I this will be the first part of an introductory series that hopefully we'll do a few more down the road. Before I start out. I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with John Bunyan his pilgrims progress.
It's a very very popular book. Actually pilgrims progress has been translated in 200 languages. It's second only to the Bible a number of book number of times. It's been published and much has been translated.
I highly recommend it. It's a it's a great allegory of the Christian life and how much and it sort of it shows you the The journey of a man named Christian from the time this conversion awaits the time he goes to heaven.
But this I got an excerpt from that book. I'm gonna read it to you real quickly. In his journey Christian stops the house a man called the interpreter and I'm gonna read this one section from you start my sermon off.
At interpreters house Christian saw a beautiful gate with four strong men in armor standing before it. To the side set a man at a desk with a book in which to write the names of those who entered. Above on the walls stood a host robed in white watching.
No one seemed willing to go in until a brave man stepped forward as he said to the scribe write down my name. Having done this he donned a helmet. He drew his sword and he rushed forward to fight the men blocking the gate.
They fought him a deadly force. But slashing and hacking his way through most fiercely and giving and receiving many wounds. He succeeded in cutting his way into the palace there. He was welcome clothed in white and took his place in the city.
This is John Bunyan's description of if you read the interpreters house. It's where the mini allegory itself because when Christian goes there He goes to various rooms and each room has a different allegory the Christian life.
This is John Bunyan's particular take on Matthew 11 12. And this verse to me is one of my life verses. I've always really been drawn to it. So please turn to Matthew 11. I'm going to read verses 2 through 15.
Sorry verses 1 through 15 with the whole chapter half the chapter Matthew 11 starting at verse 1. When Jesus had finished giving instructions to his 12 disciples, he departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.
Now when John while in prison heard of the works of Christ He sent word by his disciples and said to him are you the expected one or shall we look for someone else? Jesus answered and said to them go and report to John what you hear and see.
The blind receive sight the lame walk the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached them and Blessed is he who does not take offense at me as these men were going away.
Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John. What did you go out to the wilderness to see a reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see a man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in Kings palaces.
But what did you go out to see a prophet? Yes, I tell you one who is more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written. Behold, I send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way before you.
Truly I say to you among those born of women There has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent men take it by force.
For all the prophets in the law prophesied until John and if you're willing to accept it John himself is the Elijah who was to come he who has ears to hear let him hear. As I mentioned before Matthew 1112 is the key verse for my sermon series.
It's not a particularly well-known verse. Although it probably in my opinion gives the best one sentence summary of sanctification the entire Bible. The key word in this verse really is violence. This violence is not really physical but spiritual in our culture commonly when you hear the word violence.
We think of like killing drunk, you know slaughter people fighting in UFC cages all that stuff. But really the violence here connotes zeal perseverance and extreme dedication in the quest to become a heavenly saint.
The Puritans quoted this verse quite often their writings and I have a few quotes in here in this sermon. But you'll see it again. This is a very popular verse with them. In order to rightfully divide the word of truth We need to examine this text in the greater context of the 11th chapter of John.
Sorry, the 11th chapter of Matthew and the entire gospel Matthew. The main theme of Matthew 11 is there is rejection and doubt of Jesus ministry both by individuals and by entire groups of people. The reasons for this rejection may vary but they all have one commonality.
Jesus did not fill people's preconceived notions of the Messiah and his ministry confused and perplexed some Angered many others and was received with indifference by a large percentage of his contemporaries.
This is the same today when people think of Jesus. They don't really think of the Jesus. The scriptures think of a Jesus of their own imagination. You know apathy and questions predicated on acquiring a mere scholarly knowledge of the gospel.
They have sent as many people to hell as outright hostility and rejection of the gospel. If you think about hostility has slain thousands of souls, but apathy and mere intellectual curiosity have slain tens of thousands of souls.
If you were to receive a summons from an earthly King, you know. Would it be an appropriate response to frame that letter and just put on a wall? Or I think you all agree that that's probably not the appropriate response when a king sends you a summons.
He desires action from you and not an idle curiosity his letter in the same way indifference. The scripture is a passive disobedience or a lazy rebellion in our country. Open hostility. Or indifference to our nation's laws result in the exact same sentence.
If you if you break the law, it doesn't matter what you hate the law or just don't care about it. You get the same sentence. How much greater will the punishment be against those who have disregarded the word of the sovereign God and spurned the free offer of the?
Gospel, you know Jesus is in the head and the King of Kings our nation. Our our nation is really ruled by the rulers of our nation. So I have a quote from John Bunyan here. John Bunyan once said he said no sin against God can be little because it is a great God because it is against the great God.
In a like manner the the writer of Hebrews warms all Christians when he says. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking for if they did not escape who refused him when he warned them on earth. How much less we escape him if we reject him who warns him from heaven?
In context in for Hebrews 1225 this refers to the you have the inauguration of the Covenant works in Mount Sinai versus the Covenant of Grace. That modern believers are now under and this verse is speaking of actually of God the Father.
However. Since we serve a triune God, I believe these same words can be correctly applied to Jesus first coming and his second coming as well. Second Timothy 3 7 describes false teachers in this way. It says they're always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.
False teachers can never truly receive the truth because the only way you can receive it is to the help of the Holy Spirit and false teachers lack the Holy Spirit. Therefore they spend their entire life keeping up knowledge for themselves that profits them nothing and ultimately increases their condemnation on the Day of Judgment.
You also see this if you look at the book of Acts in the same exact manner the Greeks in Athens were asking many questions of Paul. But novel theology was their idol. They had a little or no interest in hearing they were accountable to their creator.
You see there was a few of them that say we'll hear more about this most of them just tell us something new. They weren't really interested in hearing God's laws and I'm gonna read that chapter that section real quickly.
Back 17 starting in verse 19. And they brought him to the air pot. The Arapagus saying may we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.
Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who live there would spend their whole time and nothing except telling or hearing something new. You know, I said before the Greeks they weren't interested in discovering the truth.
They rather they prize novelty above accuracy and they prefer scholasticism to true faith. Their example was include in the Bible to be a warning to us. Lest we are tempted to substitute theology for a real relationship with the living God first.
Corinthians 1011 says now these things happen to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come. I Believe reformed theology best encapsulates the doctrines of scriptures.
But we always need to remember people are not saved by believing reformed theology. People are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. We must hold fast to these tenets so we do not become factional about secondary or tertiary doctrines and Forsake fellowship with God's children.
God has his children every Orthodox Christian domination. The devil is more than happy to help us slide to hell with the correct doctrine if he can get us a substitute doctrine for a true relationship with Jesus Christ.
Looking at this chapter Matthew. I believe it you can roughly divide it into four sections. So if you look at John Matthew 11 starting in verses 1 through 15 John that you kind of see John the Baptist doubting right?
That's the very that's the kind of main theme there. If you look at John 11 16 through 19, that's rejection by Jesus generation if you look at If you look at 20 through 24, you see you see the rejection of the city's use time.
And then finally you see that Jesus gives the free offer of the gospel from 25 to 29. Those the four sections your Bible probably has it divided up roughly in that order as well because there's kind of natural division.
In my sermon today I'm going to give you an overview the first two points the first two sections there and then we'll pick up on the second two points in a future sermon. John the Baptist was the last the Old Testament prophets.
He had a very unique ministry that combined asceticism or poorness. He was very humble didn't have possessions with powerful oratory and calls to repentance for the people of Israel. Although John willingly passed over the reins to Jesus, you know when Jesus came on the scene he said here he is.
Listen to him. He's the Messiah. God in his perfect providence ensured the focus was shifted over to Jesus by allowing Herod Antipas to imprison John. So this was kind of if you think about John He was a very telegenic very great orator people were drawn to him.
Even though he said that's Jesus listen to him. A lot of people may say well, I'm gonna still stick with you. Well God ensured that couldn't happen because Harry put him in jail. So it's kind of hard to follow someone who's in jail.
John's life was marked by holiness and Passionate sermons to his hearers to repent and be baptized for the remissions of sins. This goes really along well with our Sunday school that we've been going with Burke Parsons the Great Commission, but John he didn't wait for opportunities to share the gospel.
He actively created them through his ministry. He didn't sit back and wait people to came. He told people they just came into idle curiosity. He said repent. Um, this was a man that truly took the kingdom heaven by force.
And I think that's what kind of surprised the Jews and kind of scared the Pharisees about him. Is he wasn't under their authority and he was very forceful very direct and that scared them. They weren't used to that.
They were used to tying people up in legalese and doctrine and all the other stuff. At this point Matthew's gospel according to various commentators. John's been in prison for about one to two years approximately.
So Being in prison in wrongfully is a severe trial for any man. But it's especially tough for someone like John. If you think about him, he was a free spirited man. He had an itinerant mean wandering around outdoor ministry.
We don't know if his imprisonment was due to the direct work of the devil. You think of something like Job where the devil actually said I'm gonna put him, you know I'm gonna pursue Job or it's just you know, we live in a fallen world.
You oppose the powers you go to jail. You know if you tell them the truth, they don't want to hear it. But you know, we don't or whether the world system was responsible for it. But either way God providentially allowed this to test and strengthen the faith of John of John.
John's ministry can roughly in my opinion be divided into two halves. The first half was a very visible public ministry and the second half was a private lesson of suffering and waiting on the Lord. Both phases of his ministry are equal are equally praiseworthy in the eyes of the Lord if you look at the Hall of Faith Hebrews is probably one of my favorite books in the whole Bible.
But if you read the Hall of Faith You'll see a juxtaposition of the people that did great things to the Lord the people that suffer great things the Lord and if you notice Prosperity teachers, they'll never talk about the suffering part.
They'll just talk about the people that did great things. Let's look at Hebrews 11 32 to 38. Bible says. And what more shall I say for a time would fail me to tell of Gideon Barack Samson Jephthah of David and Samuel the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms.
Enforced justice obtained promises stopped the mouth of lions quenched the power of fire. Escaped the edge of the sword were made strong out of weakness became mighty in war put foreign armies to flight.
Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured refusing to accept release some they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats. Destitute afflicted mistreated of whom the world was not worthy. Wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.
If you think about it the refining fire of suffering its foolishness the world and it's an inconvenient truth for false teachers. Neither of them want to hear about that. However as real Christians, we know that suffering is transforming us from a sinful fallen creature of this world into a citizen of heaven.
Additionally suffering unites us with Jesus so we can share with him in his power of his resurrected life forever. If you think of Philippians 3 10, if we if you're not with him in the fellowship of the sufferings We also be united with him in his resurrection.
It's a key here the 11th chapter of Matthew. Opens up with John's questions. Lord by the way of John's disciples. Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of Christ He sent word by his disciples and said to him.
Are you the one to come or how we should look or shall we look for?
Another.
Commentators are split on why John's sent this disciples to Christ asked this question. Some believe John was saying disciples to So they keep their faith strengthened or officially pass them off to Jesus since John was now in prison.
Others believe that John himself had doubts about Jesus ministry and wanted to hear confirmation from Jesus that things were proceeding according to use his plan. It is very important to note that these verses nest don't necessarily that say that John had unbelief.
Unbelief is a sin. But I think it's very I think I I think you must have to stretch the text to say John didn't doubt. I think there was definitely some doubt on John's part here. I think that's a plain reading of the text kind of brings that out.
John did have it looks like he had doubts or confusion about either the timing and the ultimate purpose of Jesus ministry. If you think about John's fist, you know John was both physically separated and doctrinally separated from the Pharisees physically.
He had a very you know, he lived outdoors. He had a very interesting diet. He wore, you know camel hair cloaks and his doctrinal separation. He was an itinerant preacher. He was outside. He baptized people in the Jordan River.
Those were very separated from the Pharisees, but We need to remember he wasn't immune to imbibing or taking in the prevailing view of the Messiah. That was held by many in ancient Israel. You know His dad was a priest Zechariah and obviously he probably heard a lot of things about what the Messiah was like.
So even though he was very separate from the Pharisees It's not unlikely that he did have some vision and I think the scriptures do bear this out of Jesus a conquering. He had a second coming vision of Jesus not a first coming.
That's what he was thinking about. We also see some confusion from the disciples after Jesus resurrection on this in Acts 1. I Thought I'd throw this quote in here Alfred Edersheim the life and times of Jesus the Messiah.
It's a very excellent work gives you a whole sketch. I believe I've talked with Zach about this a few times of. You know the basically the history in the background the details around that day he wrote this he put the ideas of the disciples of John concerning the Messianic Kingdom as one of rest of Resistless outward victory and assertion of power were altogether wrong.
The bridegroom would be violently taken from them and then it would be the time for mourning and fasting. That's a direct quote from that's from his book, you know, obviously the life and times Jesus the Messiah.
But there was violence, but it wasn't Jesus made it meaning out the violence. It was you just receiving the violence on our behalf. In Acts 1 in verse 7 the disciples said Jesus they said. So when they had come together they said Lord will you at this time restore the Kingdom of Israel.
You can see again here. They kind of had this misconception of you know, oh now you're gonna kick the Romans out. We're gonna have a utopia. It's gonna go back to the salt the date times at the Davidic and Solomonic kingdoms, but that was just not the case John you know.
He had a he had a great stature in his ministry. There was no one like John in the New Testament. Jesus even said in the whole Bible Jesus kind of put him up there. But even though he was a great man John fought the same passions.
We all battle in our spiritual walk disillusionment depression. Misunderstanding and impatience. They were all assaulting him while he sat confined in Herod's jail cell. If you think about John's imprisonment This was a real test of his faith because it pitted his love of the outdoors and a free lifestyle.
Against his love for God because he was a man who's used to going places when he wanted to. You know doing what he wanted to eat what he wants. We had no restrictions no family nothing to tie him down now.
He was sitting in a prison could do nothing without people's permission only got fed on their schedule. It was a real test for him. Nothing is more irksome to a man of action than periods of force and activity.
That's a fact if you're a man of action being forced to be inactive is a real trial. That can be due to external factors like imprisonment or internal like sickness. You can see you know God. We've been.
Paul talks about the thorn in the flesh the New Testament a lot of commentators think that was blindness. It could have been a sickness an ailment. But when you're a man of action having something restrain you that's a real trial for you, and it was especially a trial for John.
Now that Jesus had started his ministry I believe God was teaching John how to have patience and trust the Lord during his confinement. That was his lesson for John. Holy violence necessary not only for public ministry, but for privately enduring suffering for our faith.
You know it's not just you know people think well. This is a public thing. I need the violence that well.
No.
You need the violence when you're suffering you know from whether it can be from cancer or that you're suffering because the loss of a Daughter or son or because you have unbelieving spouse or unbelieving children.
That's just as necessary you need the perseverance in either way. It reminds me. You know in this John and us were united with Jesus. And I put if you look at Hebrews 5 8 it says although Jesus was a son he learned obedience through what he suffered.
Jesus suffered we're gonna suffer as well. Since John was in since he was in jail John received secondhand news of Jesus ministry. This isn't a revelation. He's not getting it. He's not able to see stuff for himself.
The information that he did receive probably came late, so it's probably a couple weeks late, and it was in fragments. We don't know how often Herod allowed people to visit John. It could have been every month.
It could have been more frequently, but clearly he wasn't. He wasn't there to see everything. The full so it's very unlikely that John knew the full scope of Jesus activities, so that's one thing. There's like an information deficit here.
John doesn't know anything that's going on. In his previous role as a Messianic Herald John was the one imparting knowledge about the Messiah to the people who flocked around him. Now he was sort of relegated to the bench.
He was no longer just giving direct revelation people. He was waiting and he's like well. What am I gonna hear about Jesus ministry? Is this what's gonna happen? I I paved the way for him. What you know when is the kingdom gonna come?
You know now his news Messiah came a little dribbles, you know a little dribble here a little dribble there. It wasn't just like he had that you know before he was kind of dispute tip the spear now. He's kind of like the tail end of the train.
You know once he taught his disciples in the open air of Galilee now He was totally dependent on his disciples for any news of communication with Jesus or his family or his friends any of them Jesus replied to John I believe conveyed truth in a very gracious manner.
Although we don't know John's direct intention in saying this message Jesus reply was meant to strengthen the faith of both John and John's disciples. Let's pick up in Matthew 11 starting in verse 4 Jesus answered and said Go and tell John what you hear and see the blind received their sight.
The lame walk. The lepers are cleansed and the deaf here. The dead are raised up and the poor have the good news preached them and blessed is the one who is not offended by me. If we break down this reply, we see that verses 4 and 5 are just more informational.
They list basically the miracles that Jesus performed to validate his messianic claims. The language you think about the language is used this year it's very similar to the Beatitudes he says blessed, right?
That was given of course in the Sermon of the Mount. I know pastor says a lot the greatest sermon ever preached and I concur with that. The Beatitudes are merely just descriptive the lives of all true Christians.
When people read through the Beatitudes and say oh. This is something to aspire to know every true Christian will have it might be a sliver of daylight. But that is your life. You will be meek you will love the Lord.
You will take you know, you will hunger and thirst for righteousness all that. Although you know Christians we may have times in our life where we're ashamed to confess Christ. These patterns won't last if you're a true Christian.
You ultimately will return and making the way and in your arena not everyone's arena making Christ known as the same. But you will return to making the Lord known if you're a true Christian.
I think.
Verse 6 to me is an admonition to John and by extension all believers that we should not be ashamed of our Savior of God.
Or a gospel.
Romans 1 16 says for I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes the Jew first. And also the Greek and right there we see the gospel. It's laser-focused.
We don't preach a different gospel to the Jew. We don't preach a different different gospel to the Greek. We don't tailor our gospel to different groups. The gospel is the same every everyone's a sinner and everyone must repent.
When I see the fact that Jesus delivers a gentle admonition here. It leads leads me to believe that John's purpose was to sort of assuage or kind of rest his own doubts. I don't think Jesus would have given him admonition if he had fully trusted him.
I think God's trying to tell him like gently like don't don't be ashamed of me. You know, you weren't ashamed of me before don't be ashamed of me now. You know, we don't know what John thought. He could have thought that Jesus ministry was not as zealous as his own.
Maybe he thought I was more zealous what Jesus kind of seems more low-key. He could have thought the pace of change was too slow. Like it seems like things are moving along very slowly here. Like when are things gonna accelerate and kind of got moving?
You know if you think about it, but Jesus reply is perfect. You know, what's more earth-shattering than healing the blind and crippled raising the dead and preaching the gospel to the penniless poor.
You know, that's things John can never do any of those things and those are great signs. You know nature itself was no match for the one by whom and for whom all things are made if you think about nature.
There's an inevitable process of decay whenever all of us are born. We start aging from the minute we're born and we continue aging until we die. If you think about how particles are how particles are formed in atomic structure.
There's something called entropy. Particles never go to a more complete state. They always go to a looser and more relaxed state because it takes energy to build something up. But it's just natural for things to decay.
That's just normal. You know the miracles of Jesus those were primarily given to authenticate his ministry. But the power of unbelief can only be broken by the Holy Spirit. I think the Gospels. If you read the Gospels many times you see the unbelief can only be broken when the Holy Spirit convicts.
Jesus moves on from John the Baptist doubts and then he starts detailing the rejection that he received from some of the small communities in Which he performed miracles. I'm gonna pick up in verse end of verse 20 Jesus says then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works have been done because they did not repent.
Woe to you Corazon. Woe to you Bethsaida. For if the mighty works done and you had been done in Tyre and Sidon. They would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashless ashes. But I tell you it will be more bearable on the Day of Judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.
And you Capernaum? Would you be exalted to heaven you will be brought down to Hades? For if the mighty works done in you have been done in Sodom it would have remained until this day. But I tell you be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.
The main charge that Jesus brings against these cities is even though they saw his mighty works and listened to his teaching. They still refused to repent. They just they would not do it. Corazon Bethsaida and Capernaum.
These are all relatively small cities. They're not very big. I believe we only know where two of them are today. I think they don't know exactly where Corazon is that shows you how small it was. There you know when you consider the cities of Tyre and Sidon those were on the Mediterranean seacoast.
That's where Jezebel came from. She was a Phoenician. Those were bustling massively big trade ports. There's a lot of wealth a lot of richness. So there you definitely see a big difference here between a small little village where Jesus lived and these massive seaports were you know.
That were with that were wicked, but they had a lot more importance in these small towns. These cities also didn't have the fertile plains or prestige of ancient Sodom either. Sodom was a lot bigger. It had a lot of well water plains and it was a well-known city.
So these were very tiny hamlets these cities had the great privilege to witness both the unparalleled miracles and the Authoritative teaching of Messiah and what they how they respond from familiarity and apathy.
They didn't really care. They just say well, that's not our Messiah. We see his miracle, but that's not important to me. Sodom was the site of you know Deviant homosexual perversion and Tyre and Sidon were well known for their horrifying rituals of infant sacrifice a lot of the stuff about sacrificing Infants.
Tyre and Sidon were known for that. They were very very wicked people. Yet Jesus pronounced a more severe judgment on all three of the cities a witness in for their Indifference to him and that shows the worst wickedness is religious wickedness to God.
He the sin of those three cities is much worse than the sin of the pagan nations that they were destroyed. If the indifference of unbelievers draw such a harsh condemnation. How much worse is it when Christians lap and laps into indifference in their spiritual walk as the Bible says judgment begins with the household of God.
Peter writes in his first epistle. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God if it begins with us. What will the outcome be for those who did not obey the gospel of God as first Peter 417 if you note?
Jesus does not say that Tyre site sidon and Sodom will escape on the day of judgment. There's no escaping for them rather. He mentions that I'll be more bearable for them a little bit. Not not as bad.
Matthew Henry brings this out on in his commentary on Matthew do I believe the word bearable has three main facets or sides in this verse.
First.
The Gentile cities that Jesus mentioned will have less regret because they just rejected God's laws everyone across the nature across the world. Rejects God's laws if they don't trust in Jesus, but these three cities rejected the incarnate God.
I mean how many cities have Jesus walking down before miracles and they just rejected him that that's a pretty. There's a pretty big difference between rejecting a herald and rejecting the king himself.
You know imagine how uncomfortable be for those people that town. You know when they when they step up to be judged by the Lord. They're gonna see the Lord that walk down their streets and perform miracles.
That's me a very uncomfortable day for them less so for people that don't maybe know Jesus personally. But a lot of these citizens they sound probably knew Jesus. Oh, yeah. He's the miracle worker. The very person they ignored and didn't pay attention to is gonna be made very person that judges them.
The second reason I think that it'll be worse for them as many of these Jewish people these towns. They probably cherish the false hope of heaven heaven because they say look we're Abraham's descendants.
You see that from the Pharisees a lot. We're the descendants of Abraham. We don't need Jesus. The citizens of the pagan towns they had their own deities and religious practices. So they were under no, you know when they died and they see Jesus.
I mean they know the gig is up but for these people to say, you know. Oh, we were sons of Abraham. It didn't see the man that they rejected judging them. That's gonna be quite a shock. Finally think about the Jewish the Jewish descendants of these towns.
They'd spend the attorney in hell knowing the door to heaven was in their hometown and they were too busy to listen to him like how if you think about all the Chances a person is given to hear the gospel.
These Jewish towns had the opportunity to hear the gospel from the person who died for their sins. They just spurned it and they're gonna look back. Well, they are looking back on that now and saying what a foolish foolish mistake to not even listen to the Messiah when he was Walking in the streets.
They were too busy worldly things. You know family affairs are more important their eternal soul. You know the citizens of these pagan towns their regrets are not going to the same they didn't they never saw Jesus in his earthly Ministry, so how could they be if we were to use like the parable the talents here?
I'd say that the Gentile cities all had one talent. They each had a single talent. But if you look at like Corazon the Satan Capernaum. They received a bank vault filled to the brim with talents probably even more than that really because Jesus was there is Pouring out his wisdom and they just didn't want to hear it.
Jesus expects us to use a light we have been given to generate proportionate light and advance the kingdom of heaven. That's what Jesus expects us to do. In closing the sermon I have I have three main applications.
I like to share with you. The first application is about searching our hearts. We need to really search our hearts for any sign of sloth or apathy in our Christian walk. If we find like an indifference or a spiritual malaise in our soul, we're just going.
I don't really I don't feel like doing this. We need to cry out to the Lord for his strength and resist it with every fiber of our being, you know. This type of attitude is the complete opposite of holy violence if we're just sort of slothful and different to it.
It and the two things this does is it quenches the zeal of other Christians and it delights the fortress forces of darkness the devil's Very happy to see us in spiritual form. He doesn't like to see us on fire for the Lord and living for the Lord and praying.
But he loves to see it just kind of apathetic about it. Nothing about Jesus ministry on this earth was haphazard apathetic. If you look at him, he was a man of purpose. If you look at like just think about his determination to go to the cross.
It was so intense as disciples were not certain how to handle it. It says they were amazed and afraid. Mark 10 32 to 34 says this and they were on the road going to Jerusalem and Jesus was walking ahead of them and they were amazed and those who followed him were afraid and Taking the twelve again.
He began to tell them what was to happen to him saying see we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles and They will mock him and spit upon him and flog him and kill him and after three days.
He will rise again. This is an interesting verse because you know, Jesus was telling all this didn't happen to me. But he's resolutely forging his way to Jerusalem. The disciples are kind of they're shocked.
They're like, why is he so boldly, you know, this is me. I'd be like walking either way or slowing it down looking at the rocks. Maybe look at the butterfly but Jesus was like I'm going. I'm very determined to get to Jerusalem and die for for the for my for those that I've appointed from time in the past.
If Jesus had a set his face like a flint to be tortured and killed at the hands of his creatures if he could do. That then we can certainly endure some hardship and fight through some Some sleepiness or lethargy to worship a wonderful Savior.
That's the best the very minimum we can do. We need to carry on with the same zeal that we had when we first became a child of God by remembering our first love. Often the task of maintaining the zeal it does become more difficult the longer we in the faith.
Jonathan Edwards knew this as well and he wrote the following in a letter to a young lady that had written him to ask for spiritual counsel. He said I would advise you to keep up a great as Great a strife and earnestness in religion as if you knew yourself to be in a state of nature seeking conversion.
We advise persons under conviction to be earnest and violent for the kingdom of heaven. But when they have attained conversion, they ought not to be less watchful Laborious and earnest in the work up in the whole work of religion, but the more so for they are under it under infinitely greater obligations.
That that book I got it from is called a sweet flame. It's a collection of Jonathan Edwards letters to his daughter to his wife to other pastors. I'd highly recommend it. It's just very you can see this man is a man just saturated with scripture.
He loves the Lord and his whole fiber of being is about making the Lord known. It's a fairly inexpensive book. I think it's like eight or nine dollars. But if you I think if you get it your soul will be blessed.
The second application is merely possessing intellectual knowledge of the gospel is a snare and Many people that has given many a rude awakening to some that were Bible scholars some that were pastors Faithful husbands or wives and missionaries upon their entrances with your attorney first Corinthians 13 says.
Even if we possess all knowledge if we become a martyr if we give away all our possessions the poor but have not loved we are.
Nothing.
When I was growing up, my parents taught me the simple acrostic Kat which signifies that true salvation always contains three things. There's knowledge. There's acceptance and there's trust in God and His written word, you know, if you have knowledge or knowledge and acceptance, you're gonna that's not gonna cut it.
Really knowing that God is Lord and knowing except is enough. You must trust in him and people that only have those two they're gonna find out to their everlasting chagrin. They had a foundation built upon sand.
I'm going back to our national national laws. If you just merely know the laws and assent to them. If I know the laws and I break them do I get penalized? Absolutely, if I know the laws and say I agreed to them, but I'm still gonna break up you still get penalized.
It's only if you know the laws of sent to him and say, you know what? I'm not gonna break. I'm gonna trust that they're right thing for me. You're free of combination. It's the same thing here. Just knowing God it saves no one knowing God and accepting these God saves.
No one to because the Pharisees had a lot of things right, but they didn't trust in God. That was their problem. How much greater is the penalty though for those who heard the gospel if you think about it.
There are a lot of people out there who've never heard the gospel and they have one condemnation. But how much greater is the people that hear the gospel multiple times and refuse it actively there say, you know what?
That's great that you just died for me, but I want to rely on my own strength and my own righteousness for salvation. James writes the following about the devil and his servants. We just finished a series on James a year or two back.
But so I know this verse is familiar pastor did a very good series on that. James 219 says you believe that God is one you do. Well, even the demons believe in shudder. The devil's they know the truth of God backward and forward they can quote the scripture.
They're great theologians. Additionally the devil's they accept they know that one day they're gonna be consigned to hell forever. There's no there's no confusion with them on that. However, they're not able to trust God.
That's a big difference in devils and us we can trust God. They cannot. There was no sacrifice or second chance for angels when angels fell they fell forever. This is the reason I and I this is not my own Personal interpretation, but I've read this before.
When you think about like why angels can understand salvation. They don't understand second chances or trust because they don't have a second chance. They fell and they're either there they did fall or they did fall first.
Peter 2 12 says speaking of angels. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves. But you and the things that have now been announced to you. Through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.
Things into which angels long to look, you know, as I said before there's no path to redemption. Even the ones that have stayed loyal to God. They have no experiential knowledge of what it means to be redeemed as redeemed sinners.
We can know I once was lost but now I'm found but angels they don't really understand that like why I've always been with God. I left God, but there's no this whole idea of crossing over from unredeemed to redeemed is foreign to them.
Thanks to God though. That's not true of mankind and and because of that we need to continually examine ourselves. See if we'd be in the faith. Where do our thoughts wander if you're. I don't have nothing to occupy our time.
That's a very great test right there. Is spending time in God's Word a chore or delight? It should be delight if you read the Psalms. David talks about that very frequently. My delights in the law of the Lord.
I love the law Lord. I meditate on day and night. I mean Psalm 119 is a master class, you know in 148 different ways that he loves the law of God. Do we love to pray as it tedious for us, you know, that's I mean Obviously, I think most Christians struggle with either praying or read the Bible for me.
It's definitely the praying part of it. That's the part, you know, you can pray and say Lord help make it easier for me to pray. That's that's not a bad thing at all because you're saying Lord. I know I don't.
I know I don't pray like I should help me to become better at praying. If our affections are not on holy things We need to pray the Lord will stir our hearts up to have more love for him because that's ultimately.
You know, the Lord will do that for us. You can also, you know reading the Psalms Valley of Vision is a great resource. But reading the prayers of other people reading the biographies of their people and seeing how they the Lord infuse every fiber there being.
That's a great way to stir us up to. The first Corinthians 8 1 B says knowledge puffs up that loves builds up, right? We want to make sure that we don't just have knowledge. We have true love. My third application is being passionate for the Lord also can strengthen to edify the church body by providing them with an holy life to emulate.
Holy violence is contagious and we need the best to set our fellow Christians on fire to serve the Lord. You see this a lot. You may see this at sports. I don't know how many of you've been in professional sports.
I've been to a few. You may have you gone to a concert various things when people are enthusiastic it kind of ripples through the crowd people get more and more enthusiastic they kind of like and that that's just a human nature thing and When you look at like Christians, the reason today so many people are not Passionate the Lord is because they it's hard to find people who are passionate Lord.
I think Keith mentioned in tennis school this morning. A lot of people say they're Christians. You say okay, let's talk about the Lord and they have this look on their face. It's like well, I don't know I don't really I really want to talk about the Lord.
Let's let's talk about the Bible. Let's read it. Let's let's discuss how great the Lord is. It would be super strange for me to say I'm a Patriots fan. But you know, I don't want to talk about the Patriots.
I don't watch their games. Don't want to wear their merchandise have nothing. I'll just say I'm a Patriots fan if you say you're a Christian, but you want nothing to do with the Lord. You don't want to read his word.
You don't want to pray. You don't want to fellowship as believers. The Bible says the first John you're not a Christian like Christians love those things. That's how heaven is if you don't if you don't like singing fellowship in the Lord thing with the Lord.
What do you think everyone's been doing in heaven for all of eternity? You're not gonna like heaven if you don't like the Lord here and that's what this place is right now. It's training. It's our training ground for eternity here.
We train and an attorney. We're perfect forever. Teaching by example. That's a lot of times less confrontational and more effective in persuading fellow Christians to show fervency for the Lord. I'm not saying there isn't a time for rebuke because the Bible does say to rebuke admonish and exhort.
So I'm not gonna go that far. But I think there are a lot of times where it's best to say, you know what? I'm gonna show a person by my life or do something and they say you know what that's that's example to emulate.
That's more effective. You used to get a lot a lot of times he would do stuff and then say as I have done you do the same. And so he would even follow up an example with a command, you know, we can do that as well.
But sometimes that's less confrontational and more effective than just telling someone you should do this. Just do it yourself. And if they're a Christian around you, they're gonna say oh he does that I should copy that.
The author of Hebrews alludes to this when he writes Hebrews 10 Verses 24 to 25. He said let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
It's no coincidence. But the call to stir up one another love and good works is immediately succeeded by the exhortation and not neglect the fellowship of the Saints. Physical proximity in the Christian life is important regardless of modern technologies.
A Few years back we had Kobe we did some stuff virtually, you know, obviously we're trying to Protect the health of people and it's just it's very tough. Fellowship is tough. Seeing is tough like there is a physical proximity that physical proximity is important.
You can listen to sermons online and that's a great thing to do. But it's hard to effectively serve the body be accountable or disciple people virtually. It's just not easy. So that's why the Lord has said gather together basically.
When people have this attitude toward worship, they sort of say well I don't need to actually go to church and just listen to a sermon line be done. You can start they're sort of placing their ease and comfort above assisting other other people in their local body in their Christian walk.
And it's very self-focused. Usually it's usually like I want to sleep in and out of the temptation to you're tired from Saturday. You're tired from the week. You just want to sleep in on Sunday. But it's like what's more important than a wake up and go celebrate the Lord who gave you the Sunday who gave you the life.
Who gave you the breath who gave you the the house you live in the car all the blessings come from him. If you think there's no need for church because if you attain enough biblical biblical knowledge then consider the example example of Jesus.
You know Jesus was the incarnate God. He had no need to attend worship in the synagogue or the temple yet. You see him consistently doing that throughout his earthly ministry. If I think about like in in eternity God did there's a central location in eternity where heaven is.
Of course, you have the new earth as well. God could have dispersed everyone throughout the galaxies and they can still communicate that's not difficult for God. But God chose to put all the Saints together in one spot in heaven, right?
And if you think about that he chose because he chose to gather one together that shows that gathering together is important. That's thing to not to forget. There's there's many other things that as I close the sermon.
There's there's many things that holy violence is a kind of theme. Especially the Old Testament and the new that kind of stretches through. I want to pick back up on the second half of this chapter. You know Lord willing in a few month in a month or two and then kind of go through profiles of holy violence but the important thing to remember is Are we passionate the Lord did we strive after Lord and if we don't have that in our lives?
Yeah, Lord make me more like yourself because Jesus was very like that. He was very passionate. He was very he was a perfect balance of we think about Jesus. The word me comes to mind because because that's I think the only time just ever described himself in the scriptures.
Is he said learn from me I am meek and lowly of heart. That's the only time he said we tried himself and meek is basically power under control. Jesus was the Almighty God. He had all power. It's perfectly under control.
He could have just zapped his enemies. Cousin have heart attacks. He could just said that I don't like that person blow their ship. Of course, but no he he controlled his power a lot of times. He used, you know, he talked with people.
He reason with people he used the what God had given him and he kept himself under the control of the father. And that's that's what holy violence is having a purpose and a strong effort. But not just going out and lashing out and swinging all around like a boxer doesn't know what he's doing.
It's control purposeful power under control and that's what the Lord wants from us. So let us close in prayer.