The content of Christ's Message

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The content of Christ's Message

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Matthew's gospel. We're going to be going forward in Matthew some as well looking a little bit at a couple of passages in the 16th chapter and then the 19th and 20th chapter and maybe a little bit in the 21st chapter.
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Now that's not a that's not neither a promise nor a warning nor an expectation for you to assume that we're going to be here for an hour and a half or two hours longer unless we are.
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Also by the way with that disclaimer having been given go ahead and turn over to the 2nd
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Thessalonians and mark your spot there. I feel that it's very important this morning
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I do not want to get ahead of myself or get ahead of the
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Lord in any way. I do want to take time in going through the text of Scripture this morning but the theme of the message if you're if you want to write this down take note of this the theme of the message today is this simply we're going to look at the content of Christ's message.
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The content of Christ's message. What made up the message that Jesus Christ himself preached and proclaimed.
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What we have preserved for us in the text of Scripture. And so before we begin reading in Matthew chapter 4 this morning let's go to the
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Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father as I come this morning I come first and foremost with thanksgiving.
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Thanking you for the truth of your word. Thank you for illuminating your truth unto your people.
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Thank you God today for the power in the gospel.
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Lord little by little day by day as that goes by I understand a little bit better what
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Paul meant when he said I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to the
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Jew first and also to the Greek. Lord help me this morning not to get ahead of myself or ahead of you help me this morning
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Lord to preach in such a way that all who are in this place would hear and know the content of your message and that we might be salt and light in the world in which we live to proclaim your truth to those who are lost who are dying who stand in need of salvation
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Lord it is in the name of Jesus I pray amen and amen.
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For myself that truly is one of the as a from the time
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I got saved is how do I communicate the message what do I say to people when I try to witness to people and over the years
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I've learned more and more the more time that you spend the more time that you study the more time that you pray the more time you're seeking
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God in his word the more his word gets in you the more his word gets in you and I is as though when we are like a sponge that you stick down in water it just absorbs it and the trials and the troubles and the persecutions in this life are like the wringing out of a sponge
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I would ask you this is the Word of God being wrung out of you because if the
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Word of God is being wrung out of you in your troubles in your trials in your persecutions in your tribulations in your problems in this life then those around you are going to see the power of God taking place and being actuated but in your life so this morning let's read
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Matthew chapter 4 let's actually read beginning in verse 12 and we'll read down to verse 17 to begin with here now when
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Jesus had heard that John had been put in prison he departed Galilee and leaving
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Nazareth he came and dwelt in Capernaum which is by the sea in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali by the way of the sea beyond the
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Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles the people who sat in darkness and have seen a great light and upon those who sat in the region and the shadow of death light has dawned and from that time
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Jesus began to preach and to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand so the content of Christ's message was one a call to repentance in our world in our lives in our families it may even be in you that there is such a rebellious attitude so as that when you are called and you are commanded particularly by the
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Word of God to obedience unto Christ that your initial response is to bow up your initial response is to refuse your risk initial response is to reject and your initial response is to cast it away from you my friends
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I want you to know that we are called unto repentance first and foremost contrary to what some of the hyper grace teachers teach nowadays and I'll just I'll call his name
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Joseph Prince is one of the hyper grace preachers he is one who will say that repentance is a change of mind and he'll kind of leave it at that I want you to know that the gospel idea of repentance is more it's the word metanoia in the
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Greek it's more than the idea of simply changing your mind what if as a parent your mom said to you
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Debbie go clean your room your initial response is to say
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I don't want to clean my room right Natalie when your mama says go clean your room your initial response again is
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I can see it in your eyes now I don't want to clean my room or I'll do it later that is not the proper response nor is the proper response to say all right
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I've changed my mind mom I'm gonna go clean my room and yet you stay sitting on the couch or you stay sitting in your chair or you stay doing what you were doing you say your mind has been changed and your body is not demonstrating that you have genuinely repented of that sin there is a difference between saying you are repenting and repenting of sin what
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Christ calls for is repentance it's not only having your mind changed but it's having your body affected by the change of your mind it's doing it's stopping doing what is wrong and doing what is right
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Christ's call was to repent to turn from sin and to turn unto the
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Savior and his message was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand this is very very important this is showing great importance and great value and great stress upon the statement notice this
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I know I want to read you a few things that Matthew Henry said let me go back to it here some things that Matthew Henry has said concerning preaching and really what preaching is and what it means to do
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Matthew Henry said this Christ had lain in the bosom of the Father and could have preached sublime notions of divine and heavenly things that should have alarmed and amused the learned world but he pitches upon this old this plain text repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand it is important when we study the scriptures to know what the words mean
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I I went through the meaning of what the Bible refers to as biblical or what is biblical repentance but I want
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I want us to look also very quickly at the word preach there from that time
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Jesus began to preach to preach can be defined by to publish or to proclaim openly something which has been done another portion of the definition is this preaching is always to be done with the suggestion of formality with the suggestion of gravity and authority which must be listened to and obey
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Christ call to repent of your sins to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ it's not something that he's just throwing out there nonchalantly but it is a command of God we are taught this in the book of Acts when
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Paul preaches at Mars Hill and he presents the gospel there at Mars Hill he said but now
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God has commanded all men everywhere to repent to turn from their sin to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ so it means to suggest with formality and with gravity sometimes many times most times nowadays it seems like that the gospel is preached so nonchalantly and people are called to repentance with such flippancy that folks come into the church thinking it don't matter if I listen or I do what the
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Word of God has said I'll still gonna get by with what I'm doing friends I want you to know the gospel call to repentance is a serious thing that you must deal with may hope to God that you never ever leave this place thinking that the preacher preached a message that you can do with or without it don't matter oh well
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I'm telling you the Word of God says to repent of our sins and if we don't do that we are disobedient to the got to the
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God of the Word to Jesus command Jesus command was authoritative
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Jesus command we had a very grave tone it was a very formal statement and he was spoken with authority as a matter of fact if Jesus spoke one time and it was stated of him he does not speak like that the
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Pharisees or the scribes but he speaks with authority because the authority does not come from the volume of the preacher's voice nor with the sweat from the preacher's brow the authority comes from God himself and there is a day coming by the way and we're going to move into this but as we see it later on in the message
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I want you to know that the day of the Lord is coming that you must be ready for that so in looking at the content of Christ's message as we move forward in the gospel here of Matthew I just wanted to share with you a few examples of how the kingdom of God the kingdom of heaven is constantly brought forth constantly brought out by the
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Lord Jesus Christ now let's begin if you want to jump over to chapter 16 very quickly chapter 16 of Matthew and verse let's go to verse 13
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Jesus is questioning the disciples and he asked the disciples this question it the
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Bible says this when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples saying who do men say that I the
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Son of Man am so they said some say John the Baptist some Elijah and others
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Jeremiah or one of the prophets and he said to them but who do you say that I am
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Simon Peter answered and said you are the Christ the Son of the
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Living God Jesus answered and said to him blessed are you Simon bar
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Jonah for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven now that may be that may be the past one of the passages scripture that you have read may be a passage of scripture that you hear quoted quite a bit it is a very important passage of scripture but going on and understanding that Jesus the content of Jesus message was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand or the kingdom of God is used those two terms are used interchangeably throughout the scriptures he says this he goes on here in verse 18 and Jesus says and I say to you that you are
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Peter referring to Peter's confession of faith and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it and listen to what
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Jesus said and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven then he commanded his disciples that they should tell no one that he was
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Jesus the Christ now I want you to make note of this particular passage right here when
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Jesus said I give you the keys to the kingdom whatever you loose on bind on whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven there is a tremendous misapplication and a misunderstanding and miss misappropriation of this particular verse in many of the church world today this is not speaking about us what we do or what we bind or what we loose what
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Christ was speaking about was the truth of the confession that Peter made that he is the
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Christ the only begotten Son of God come into this world to save sinners so Peter's confession or I want to read you this note here the
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Apostles are foundational to the church they've been given binding and loosing powers or quote -unquote keys which lock and unlock doors the
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Apostles open the kingdom to those who share Peter's confession and exclude those who will not receive the testimony to Christ the apostolic foundation of the church is laid in the written
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Word of God in the scriptures themselves which are now the keys of Christ authority in the church on what authority do we proclaim the opening of the kingdom of God we proclaim the opening of the kingdom of God on the authority of the
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Word of God God came to save that which was lost so and on what authority are men bound or shut out of the kingdom on the authority of the
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Word of God Alistair Begg said what does a man need to know in order to be saved and his answer was simple and it's this this is good if you want to take note of this what does a man need to know to be saved he needs to know that he needs to be saved if you don't know that you need to be saved you are shut out of the kingdom of God you are dead in your trespasses and sins but if you have been made aware of your sin you have been made aware of your circumstance if you've been made aware of your standing before a holy
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God that is the evidence of the effectual working of God in your life so it is important that our authority and this message or the message repent for the kingdom of heaven is hand is based upon the
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Word of God if we go in a little bit further in that same chapter to verse 24 or actually verse 21 notice what the word says from that time
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Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the third day now imagine how encouraging that must have been to the disciples there look guys it's about over one of these days before long
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I'm gonna have to go to Jerusalem I'm gonna suffer under under the hands of evil men
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I'm gonna be killed but I'm gonna be raised again the third day then the Bible says then
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Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him saying far be it from you
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Lord this shall not happen to you I'm sure if we all wanted to we could place ourself in Peter's place and say we might likely have the same same leaning same thought process going on we want to try to do all we can to protect the
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Lord that's what Peter was doing he had determined he was gonna die for him but we know later that he wouldn't even deny he wouldn't even go without denying but the
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Bible says here that Jesus turned to him in verse 23 and he said to Peter get behind me
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Satan you are an offense to me for you are not mindful of the things of God but of the things of men very powerful statement very important statement not only then but also for us now if we are going to proclaim the message that Jesus proclaimed if we're going to proclaim the message that was prophesied should be proclaimed in the
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Old Testament we're gonna we're going to proclaim the message that John the Baptist proclaimed repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand with urgency if we're going to proclaim the message that Jesus preached repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand with great urgency then we must we must we must not be mindful of the things of this world but be concerned about what
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God has said because no matter what the world tells you no matter what the world tells me the world is a fallen world amen that means this from the time of Adam and Eve the world has been in a downward spiral since Adam and Eve sin and the downward spiral will continue until God stops it and makes all things new now the urgency of Jesus statement note this the urgency of Jesus statement ought to be recognized it from the context in which we read it
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Jesus Christ was the Son of God fully God and fully man so when he said the kingdom of heaven is at hand he meaning right then and right there it wasn't something that was going to be down the road necessarily but it was to the people at that time for them at that time and for us in our time as well simultaneously all at the same time
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Jesus said you're an offense you're not mindful of the things of God but of the things of men we must be mindful of the things of God we must be concerned about the things that God is concerned about we must be proclaiming the message that Jesus proclaimed verse 24 there in that same chapter
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Jesus said to his disciples if anyone desires to come after me and then let's let's just let me just take a breath here because I want you to I want you to grasp what's being said
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Jesus is not giving a a what if leading into this statement he's not saying and if this happens down the road maybe things won't be as bad as they seem
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Jesus says this if anyone desires to come after me simple statement let him deny himself let him take up his cross and follow me there's no need for complicating the message there's no need for convoluting the message there no there's no need for confusion in that message it's a simple statement
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Jesus said if you want to be my disciple if you want to come after me you must deny yourself take up your cross and follow me they understood what the cross depicted for whoever
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Jesus said whoever desires to save his life will lose it he didn't leave any gray area if you want to save your life if you want your life to be saved and he's speaking this in the context of the tribulation and the trouble and the trials and the persecutions that these disciples themselves were about to face
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Jesus said if you truly want your life to be saved you must lose it you must give it up if you whoever desires to save his life we'll lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake the same we'll find it just as certainly as there is a cost to godly living there is a benefit to godly living some may say gathering together on Sundays much of the world will say this today it's an exercise in futility why do you go and you gather why do you sing songs why do you pray why do you pray listen to preaching someone says an exercise in futility
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I want you to know the Bible says for the Christian it is an exercise in faithfulness how faithful are you
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Jesus goes on to say this for what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul or what will a man give in exchange for his soul there is gravity in that statement it is not a nonchalant thing it is not a passive words that's words that are spoken it isn't meant to be thought about and meant to be comprehended it's meant for you to latch on to and take a hold of and to know that your life is but a vapor and it's passing away what are you spending your life on are you mindful of the things of this world or are you mindful of the things of God and so Jesus here in verse 27 moving down there he says this for the
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Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father there is a great day coming there is a day some are so skeptical even some
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Christians are skeptical they say I've been hearing that since I was a little child miss
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Lincoln's been hearing it since Abe Lincoln was president but doesn't matter how long you hear it it's still the truth he's coming there is an imminent return of Christ not only an imminent return but a physical return of Christ and we're going to read about that here shortly but Jesus said the
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Son of Man will come remember at the content of his message repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand for the
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Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels and then he will reward each according to his works assuredly
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I say to you there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the
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Son of Man coming in his kingdom if we went on just a little bit further
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I want you to notice the the the emphasis that Christ placed on the kingdom of heaven moving forward if you go over to chapter 21 very quickly chapter 21 beginning in verse 23
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Jesus is has cleared out the temple Jesus has come into town and the the people the men the women and the children are praising him they are saying
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Hosanna to the Son of David they are casting down their branches before him in the road they're lifting his name up and then the
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Bible says as he speaks some things the Bible says here in verse 23 now when he came into the temple the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted him as he was teaching and said by what authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority so in relation to our responsibility to be able to communicate the truth of the gospel message to those in which we work with in it those who we come in contact with at the store those who we are family with those who are our friends our casual acquaintances or even close acquaintances we feel
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I don't know about you but there are times where I feel compelled that I have to give them an answer but notice what
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Jesus does here they said Jesus by what authority do you do these things and who gave you this authority and Jesus answered and said to them
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I'll ask you one thing which if you tell me I likewise will tell you by what authority
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I do these things so he said look I'll tell you what you answer my question and I'll answer your question they were seeking an answer from Christ Christ says okay if you answer my question
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I will certainly answer your question and so Jesus said this the question to them that Jesus asked was the baptism of John where was it from from heaven or from men and the
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Bible says here they reasoned among themselves saying they began to think it out and begin to conversate and began to to try to be wise and they said if we say it's from heaven he'll say to us why then did you not believe him so we can't tell him that but if we say from men we fear the multitude for all count
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John as a prophet so they answered Jesus and said we do not know so their answer was that they were afraid to give an answer because they knew no matter what answer they gave that they were going to be accountable for the answer that they gave catch -22 darned if you do darned if you don't situations and so Jesus said
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Jesus said neither will
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I tell you by what authority I do these things but Jesus did not leave off their preaching the gospel means that we ought to pursue men and women with the truth we need to learn how to do it wisely
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Jesus pursued them and he goes on to say this but what do you think a man had two sons and he came to the first and said son go work today in my vineyard and he answered and said
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I will not but afterward he regretted it and went then he came to the second and likewise said and he answered and said
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I go sir but he did not go which of the two did the will of his father they said to him the first Jesus said to them assuredly
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I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you the content of Christ's message was what repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand
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Jesus says here to the Pharisees I'm telling you that the tax collectors and the harlots are going to see and enter the kingdom of God before you do what a statement that he makes there the
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Bible says they said to him assuredly I say to you that tax collectors and harlots Jesus said to them as surely
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I say to you tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you for John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him but tax collectors and harlots believed him and when you saw it you did not afterward relent and believe him repentance is not only the changing of your mind but is the changing of your actions your actions will demonstrate the reality of salvation he said this here another parable there was a certain land owner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and he leased it to vine dressers and went into a far country now when vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the vine dressers that they might receive its fruit and the vine dressers took his servants beat one killed one and stoned another again he sent other servants more than the first and they did likewise to them then last of all he sent his son to them saying they will respect my son but when the vine dressers saw the
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Sun they said amongst themselves this is the air come and let us kill him and seize his inheritance so they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes what will he do to those vine dressers they said to him he will destroy those wicked men miserably and leave his vineyard to other vine dressers who will render to him fruit in their seasons and Jesus said to them have you never read in the
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Scriptures that the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone this was the
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Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes therefore listen to what
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Jesus said therefore I say to you the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruit of it now this is contrary to popular
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Christian message of do what you want decide when you want when you're ready turn over a new leaf this is absolutely contrary to that message it is this if you do not repent of your sin the opportunity will be taken from you and you will forever be lost men and women boys and girls alike are dying and entering eternity and they're doing it because the
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Church of the Lord Jesus Christ has not stood and proclaimed the message of Jesus Christ as it was proclaimed by Christ himself he's speaking these
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Pharisees when he makes this statement I say to you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you these who were born into the right families who had done the right things this is not said he was not saying that they'll be saved and then they'll be lost what he was saying is that they never were saved in the first place though they thought they were
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Jesus said the kingdom of God will be taken from you and the one who has the authority and the power to bind to shut the doors of the kingdom of God and the man is
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God himself and the one who has the authority to open the doors of heaven is
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God him self repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand unless that's just we'll close with the into the 22nd chapter here
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Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said the kingdom of heaven is like a certain
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King who arranged a marriage for his son and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding and they were not willing to come again he sent out other servants saying tell those who are invited see
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I have prepared my dinner my oxen and fatted cattle are killed and all things are ready come to the wedding but they made light of it and went their ways one to his farm another to his business and the rest seized his servants treated them spitefully and killed them but when the king heard about it he was furious by the way
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Jesus is speaking to them in this parable know this he is the king and he sent out his armies the
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Bible said destroyed those murderers and burn up their city then he said to his servants the wedding is ready but those who were invited were not worthy therefore to his servants he said go into the highways and as many as you find invite to the wedding so those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found both bad and good and the wedding hall was filled with guests but when the king came in to see the guests he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment so he said to him friend how did you come in here without a wedding garment and he was speechless he did not have an answer then the king said to the servants bind him hand and foot take him away and cast him into outer darkness there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth for many are called but few are chosen
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Jesus reference to the kingdom of God to the kingdom of heaven throughout his preaching was prominent the prominent message that he proclaimed and the only way that we as God's people in this world are able to rightly proclaim the message of the gospel is this to know what the
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Word of God says not to get our methodologies not to get our means from worldly ideas or worldly patterns or worldly principles but to take the
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Word of God and to become immersed in the Word of God so that when we communicate to those outside the church we are communicating with them the truth of the
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Word of God because if Jesus words were efficient and effective then you better know if they were efficient and effective then they are efficient and effective now and they are the only means of salvation to this world so Jesus clearly gives this example of the king inviting those certain of the people to the wedding he clearly gives the example and the illustration of those who rejected the call which men do every single day but he also gave a clear explanation and a clear word to his hearers and to us as we have it preserved in the
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Word of God today that our responsibility is to go and to preach the content of the message that Jesus Christ preached and we are to preach it unto all men now we'll all men let me don't normally do this but let me ask you this are all being gonna be saved no do we know who's gonna be saved no we cannot we do not know it's
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Charles Spurgeon said if it were possible that God should paint a yellow stripe on the back of everyone who's left he would make our job as preachers a lot easier we could just go lift it up shirttails and see who had a yellow stripe and say amen you're good to go but we don't know
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I don't know your heart and I don't know your mind but God knows your heart and God knows your mind and God knows the condition of your soul repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand 41 minutes
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I'm gonna do it second Thessalonians please second Thessalonians second
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Thessalonians is written of it goes without saying that the book of first Thessalonians the letter to the
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Thessalonian Church the first letter was written a little beforehand they were probably written within about a year of each other
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Paul in his first letter to the Thessalonian Church is speaking to them about the coming of Christ and and that one day after a while the trumpet will sound and Christ will come and in that letter in that letter of encouragement to the church he he's reminding the
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Christians of the hope that we have of looking forward to the day of Christ coming nevertheless there were men and women within the church who were telling a untruth saying that the coming of Christ had already happened and apparently nobody was aware of it friends
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I want you to know when Christ comes all will be aware of it from this corner of the earth to that corner of the earth wait a minute we don't live on a flat earth do we northeast south and west oh we'll know
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Paul though in this letter listen to what he says Paul Silvanus and Timothy to the church of the
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Thessalonians in God our Father in the Lord Jesus Christ grace to you and peace from God our
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Father and the Lord Jesus Christ we are bound to thank God always for you brethren as it is fitting because your faith grows exceedingly and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all listen to what he says in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure it is a certainty that if we proclaim the gospel as it is given to us in the scriptures as we communicate the gospel in love in love to those who are outside of the grace of God if we communicate the gospel even in love we are going to make some people upset some people are going to be come so offended at the doctrines taught in the
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Word of God that they will refuse to even hear anything nevertheless our responsibility is to stand upon the
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Word of God Paul says your persecutions and the tribulations that you endure he said this verse 5 which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God I sent that few of the men last night the question that had been rolling around in my mind if our preaching of the gospel does not offend me and are we proclaiming the gospel rightly and the short answer is this no because the gospel is an offense the gospel will put off men and women the gospel is an offense but Paul said this he said he referred he uses their tribulations and their persecutions and he says which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God God is righteous in his judgment men men who he said that you may be counted worthy of what the kingdom of God for which you also suffer since and in here's if we're gonna move move to the close here and I mean this and I know listen
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I've got a timer on myself it's been 45 minutes since we've started but if you you can just bear with us throughout this text this is very very very important because what
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I'm about to read to you might make some of you cringe you might make some of you do that you know where you close your teeth and you suck spit through I don't know about that it might make some in the church world somewhat uncomfortable because all that people want to hear is the love of God but friends
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I want you to know the kingdom of heaven is at hand and it will be a day for the loss when
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Jesus comes it will be a great day for the saved but it will be grim for the lost for listen how the
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Apostle Paul encourages them this is remember a few weeks ago we talked about in Precatory Psalms where the the
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Psalmist prays that God would have justice on these people where God would do this and God would do that Paul uses that same that same train of thought and and he kind of explains and encourages the
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Saints to remind them that their suffering is not in vain he says this and to give you who are troubled verse 7 to give you who are troubled rest with us when the
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Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels what was
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Paul proclaiming he was proclaiming the content of Jesus message for Jesus said the
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Son of Man will come in the glory of his holy angels
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Paul said this in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know
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God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our
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Lord Jesus Christ that's not a very loving message by the world standards but it is the truth of the
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Word of God that God when he comes when Jesus comes back he is going to come in flaming fire taking vengeance upon those who do not know him friends
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I got people that I dislike greatly but you know what they need to hear the truth because no matter how bad
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I dislike them I don't know if they're gonna be saved or lost I've still got a responsibility to proclaim repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand for Paul goes on to say this these shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the
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Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes in that day when he comes in that day
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Paul said it will be to glorify be glorified in his face and to be admired among all those who believe because our testimony among you was believed therefore we also pray always for you that our
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God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power that the name of our
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Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him according to the grace of our
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Lord Jesus Christ now brethren concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ he is coming repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand in a very real sense in a very true sense not in an imaginary sense let me make that clear when
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Jesus came the kingdom of heaven was among men but in the same very real sense he's coming again brethren concerning the coming of our
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Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together with him we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled either by spirit by word or by letter as if from us as though the day of Christ had come let no one deceive you by any means for that day will not come unless falling away comes the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed the son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called
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God or that is worshiped so that he sits as God in the temple showing himself that he is
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God do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things Paul it makes a very clear statement there do you not remember when
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I sent the letter before and when I was there that I told you these things and now you know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way and then the lawless one will be revealed whom the
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Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming there is a great day coming repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand you know what
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I wouldn't doubt if some of you or anybody that may be even listening today had the idea flash across their mind of the wacko with the big beard and the wild hair standing out on the side of the road with the sign that says
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Jesus is coming soon let me ask you something in light of the context of the passages of Scripture that we looked at what's wrong with that he is coming soon are you ready are you prepared is your heart right with God and Paul goes on to say the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power signs and lying wonders and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved
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I always thought that that work that reference there cam was to save people falling way
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Paul was talking about the lost remember what I told you earlier since the fall since Adam and Eve sin humanity is in a downward spiral how many of you ever have ever failed before by showing hands just get your blood flowing before we leave how many of you have tried to stop yourself while you was falling you want an exercise in futility trying to stop yourself will make it worse man has forever been trying to stop himself from falling but I want you to know the only way to be stopped from falling in sin is to be saved by the grace of God that is a gracious gracious salvation last of all the
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Apostle Paul here in verse 16 said this now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and our
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God and Father who has loved us and given us an everlasting consolation actually
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I should have read 13 but we are bound to give thanks to God always for you brethren by the Lord because God from the beginning chose you for salvation that's
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God's electing purpose through sanctification that's by the work of the Holy Spirit cleansing us by the spirit and the belief in the truth to which he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of Jesus Christ therefore brethren stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught whether by word or by our epistle the traditions he's speaking about are not man -made traditions but they are the
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Word of God that has carried throughout the ages they are timeless truths that's what's referred to as the tradition here and now may our
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Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation that means a consolation that is eternal our consolation our hope is in Jesus Christ the eternal immutable son of the living