SNBS - The Book of Matthew part 19

What's up everybody? Welcome to...I guess we'll still keep going at Sunday Night Bible Study, even though I've been doing it live on Thursdays the past three weeks.

It's kind of taken the place of Sunday Night Bible Study for now. Like I said, I don't know what's better, these live ones on Thursday or the pre -recorded ones on Sunday.

I don't really know. But I've been doing them live on Thursdays for the past three weeks just to try them out.

I'll probably continue it. We'll see. Probably won't have one next week, but again, we'll see.

So, we at Witten are done with mission trips for the summer. We did a team of 50, which of a church of only...we

regularly clean out our rolls. So, of a church of only what? Maybe 200 members?

Taking 50 people, 25 % of the church population, probably 35 % of the adult population to Puerto Rico.

Which, though it's U .S. territory, is another country in and of itself, basically. It is no small feat.

We've done that two years in a row now. We went to the Bahamas for the 10th time. I know for those of you who don't go to Witten or haven't...

Hey, what's up, Cynthia? Who haven't heard us speak about that before, you hear mission trip,

Bahamas, scam. But of course, once you pass the touristy part and get to the inner part of the island, you can actually, of any of the islands, we can go to Freeport.

Some good work can be done there. Anyway, we did a pastor's conference there. That was fruitful. Opportunities for that in the future some more.

We had a conference from about, I think it was 95 pastors there. So, that was fruitful. And then, we had the church in Puerto Rico that we've been helping for the past three years.

Their pastor, Omar Santiago, and a team of their guys came up here and helped us to work at our church.

We've had some nasty weather in Memphis this spring and summer. So, they helped us do some repairs there.

There was a fruitful connection there and some real love with our brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico. So, that has been awesome.

In fact, Pastor Omar and I have discussed me coming on his

YouTube channel and us doing some broadcasts in Spanish. And him coming on this one and us doing some in English.

I don't know how to do that, but he does. Him being on here with me and us going through Matthew or whatever we're going through together.

Wouldn't that be fun? So, that is... Hey, Janine, I miss you too.

You need to come by and see me here at the church. That's what you need to do. I've come by to Evergreen now, but I need to come back there too.

Hey, Jennifer. So, look. That's kind of what's going on there. Let's get to work, yeah?

Matthew chapter 20. Last week, you can go back and look at that.

We did 1 through 16. The parable of the vineyard. Love that parable. But now, we are at the beginning of Passover week.

Now, for those of you that are unfamiliar with what Passover week is. When we say

Passover week, we typically think of the last week of Jesus' life on earth pre -resurrection.

And that's fine. But you need to remember that Passover was instituted all the way back in the book of Exodus.

Let's see. I guess that would have been Exodus 13 and 14? 12, 13, and 14? Someone can check me on that.

And what the Passover was, was of course the tenth plague of Egypt.

That the first one would die. And the angel of death would kill the firstborn of every living thing in the land of Egypt.

Unless the blood of the lamb was over the doorpost.

Just dripping with beautiful analogy and types of Christ and prophecy, isn't it?

Guys, remember. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. And the blood of bulls and goats never actually took away sin.

But they symbolized atonement. That's what atonement is. It's a blood payment for sin.

And what's so amazing, if you go back and read the details. Yeah, I know you want to rush through and get to the part about the parting of the

Red Sea. But chapter 12, 13, and 14 of Exodus. We have a description where everyone is supposed to take an animal.

The best one you have, without spot or blemish. And kill it. And that night, eat it.

But put the blood, splash, paint some of the blood over the doorpost.

And if you were too poor to afford your own animal, you would share with your neighbor and go stay with them for that night.

And everyone who was inside a home with the blood of lamb covering it, the angel of death passed over.

Just beautiful. As we fast forward. Oh, by the way, there's a song that I love.

There's some charismatic bits to it, but that's okay.

But there's a song that I really like, called Plead the Blood. It's a rendition of the old hymn,

Nothing But the Blood. Yes, my daughter likes it too. It's a rendition of Nothing But the

Blood. And it's a really good one. Except for, I think it's the second line of the song. And I just,

I can't sing that line. It doesn't ruin the song for me, but I just can't sing the line. It basically speaks of the enemy having to pass over their home because the blood of lamb is covering it.

But it makes it sound as if the angel of death was Satan. The angel of death was Jesus. And I can show you that from other passages in Jude and Exodus.

God sent the angel of death. God is the one who sent the plagues, not Satan. Does everyone understand that?

That was God's judgments. So, as much as I love that song, I don't like that we're taking a biblical figure who is

Jesus and saying that was the enemy, that was Satan. That's just, unfortunately, someone who doesn't understand the text.

But apart from that, it's a beautiful song. So just don't sing that one line. Or change the word or something.

What is up? Okay, how do I go back? Alright, so.

Now that we are fast forwarding to, I guess, 1500 years later in the final

Passover week of Jesus' life. We have thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of animals being brought to Jerusalem to be sacrificed at the temple for Passover week.

But the final, perfect sacrificial lamb is going to be sacrificed on Passover.

And that's Jesus Christ. Behold the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world, said John the Baptist. So, he's the final

Passover lamb. Because, as the book of Hebrews tells us, instead of offering sacrifice year after year, day after day, by one offering,

Hebrews 10, 14, he has perfected forever those who are sanctified. Amen. Alright, verse 17.

And Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. Remember, not north. Going up, as in, up the hill.

Jerusalem's on a hill. He took his twelve disciples aside, and on his way he said to them,

See, we're going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death.

This is chapter 20, verse 19. And deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, and crucified.

He'll be raised on the third day. This is the third time Jesus has made this prediction to his disciples. Third time.

Remember, the resurrection is God the Father's stamp of approval that Jesus Christ really is who he said he was.

See, when the Father spoke at the baptism, that was a stamp of approval, but not everyone was there.

When he spoke on the Mount of Transfiguration, that was the Father's approval, but only three people were there. So on and so forth.

When Jesus did miracles, that was God the Father's stamp of approval. But when the resurrection happened, that was

God the Father's stamp of approval to the entire world that this really is my Son, the Messiah. This really is him.

You see, there are many so -called messiahs. People have claimed to be messiahs. The problem is their graves are not empty.

They died and didn't come back. Not only did Jesus rise from the dead, he predicted his own death, burial, and resurrection.

Look at the detail here. Jesus, a few days before he dies, says, I will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, to the

Jewish leaders. They will condemn me to death and hand me over to the Gentiles, that is the

Romans, to be mocked, flogged, crucified, and then raised on the third day.

Striking predictive detail there. Pretty fantastic. Because that's exactly what we're going to see.

In fact, in person this Sunday night, we're in Matthew 27. We're going to continue with the trial. We already did the

Sanhedrin in 26. We're going to continue with the trial of Pilate. So Sanhedrin, that is the chief priests and the scribes.

Now we're in Pilate. Handed over to the Gentiles. See, we're even in the order that Jesus predicted here.

And guess what the Gentiles, Pilate, and the soldiers are about to do? They're about to mock him. Then they're going to discourage him, flog him.

Then they're going to crucify him. Then he'll be raised on the third day, in the order Jesus predicted. It's almost like he's

God or something. Verse 20, Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee, oh goodness, came up to him with her sons, and knowing before him she asked him for something.

He said to her, What do you want? She said to him, Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left hand, in your kingdom.

Oh goodness. These are grown men. And their mommy is coming up to Jesus to ask a favor for her two baby boys.

This request, by the way, they also are requesting it. The parallel accounts show us that.

She wasn't the only one speaking. This request probably comes from chapter 19, when

Jesus, after the rich young ruler, when Jesus said in verse 28 of chapter 19,

Truly, truly, I say to you, in the new world, the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, and you who have followed him will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

So now, they're asking to sit at his right and left hand. The other disciples get real mad at this, probably because they didn't think to ask him first.

So look at his response. Verse 22, You don't know what you're asking for. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?

And they said, We are able. Jesus has used this analogy of drink this cup to talk about his death several times.

So they say they're ready, except they're about to run away when stuff gets real.

Verse 23, He said, You will drink my cup, thus predicting the way the apostles would die.

But to sit at my right and left hand is not mine to grant, but it is for those to whom it has been prepared by my

Father. When the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers, and Jesus called them to him and said,

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

It shall not be so among you. So they heard the thing about them judging the twelve tribes of Israel in Matthew 19, and said,

Oh, authority, power, look at me. Jesus said, That's not what being a leader is about, you see.

That's not what being a real leader is about. And some of you pastors out there, listen to me. That's not what being a leader is about.

You shouldn't be like the Gentile rulers who lord it over them, and exercise authority over them. And Jesus said in verse 26,

It shall not be so among you. Whoever would be great among you must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be your slave.

Even as the Son of Man came, not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Verse 28 again, Leaders, Fathers. Even as the

Son of Man came, not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

If the Sovereign Creator came to serve, then how much more should earthly leaders serve those that follow them?

The reason why the pastors of this church are not above cleaning toilets, or doing plumbing, or working outside, is because we don't ever want to be the ones that Jesus describes here, who lord it over them.

We want not to be served, but to serve. That's why our parking spots are in the back, not the front. That's why we don't have chairs that are grander and taller than everyone else's.

We have the same chairs that people are sitting in the pew on the stage. That's how it should be. What's up?

Pinto, what's up my friend? Pinto, I don't know if you heard me. Omar and I are going to come on each other's shows.

I'm going to go on there and do one in Espanol. He's going to come here and do an English one with me. The Son of Man came, not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Ladies and gentlemen, how dare us think we are too high over other human beings to serve them.

You are a creature made from dust. It should be much easier for you to serve another creature made from dust than the

Sovereign Creator. He is the level of humility we should all aspire to. Verse 29.

As they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. Verse 30.

And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside. And when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out,

Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David. The crowd rebuked them and told them to be silent.

But they cried out all the more, Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David. And stopping, Jesus called them and said, What do you want me to do for you?

They said to him, Lord, let our eyes be opened. And Jesus, in pity, touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight, and they followed him.

This is a lot like the blind men from another passage in Matthew.

It's always funny when you have unbelievers say, See, Matthew's retelling the same story twice.

Yeah, or maybe over the course of three and a half years, Jesus healed more than one blind person. Is that possible? It's kind of like there's actually two accounts in the

Bible of a woman washing Jesus' feet, and the details differ, though they both were at a house of someone whose name was

Simon. People always say, see, Matthew, Mark, and Luke can't agree because neither of them are accurate accounts of what happened.

You think it's possible that more than one woman washed Jesus' feet in the course of three and a half years? Is that possible?

Of course it is. Why do we always assume contradiction? We would never...

Skeptics have a different standard for the Bible than they do every other work of history. It just amazes me. Anyway.

So, they call him Son of David. Now, for those of you that missed that, we've gone over this many times before.

That is a messianic title, meaning that in 2 Samuel 7,

Isaiah 11, Jeremiah 23, we are told that the Messiah would be from the lineage of David, or Jesse, David's father.

So, the beginning of Matthew and Luke, showing the genealogies of Jesus, are really important because it demonstrates that he is from the line of David, meaning that the prophecy that the

Messiah would come from the line of David has validated that he is a potential candidate at the get because he's from that line.

Pretty incredible stuff there. So, next week we're going to get into, or next time, we're going to get into the triumphal entry.

That's always an interesting title for this section because it is a triumphal entry, but he comes lowly on a donkey, and there's a prophecy about that, too.

If you haven't noticed, Matthew is all about fulfilled prophecy. In fact, Matthew quotes the

Old Testament more than Mark, Luke, and John combined. I believe it's 65 times. Someone can go back to the first or second video on YouTube and verify that.

Alright, guys. I think we're good for the day. Jesus is about to enter the area of Jerusalem for the final time.

We're in his last week of life. The rest of Matthew is focused on this last week from 20 to 28.

Alright, we'll do chapter 21 next time. I hope this was of some benefit and blessing to you. Hey, guys, look,

I'm not above changing the format, doing it a different way. I need to know if you prefer the live or the recorded, and don't tell me one unless you mean it.

So we'll figure out the best way to do this. Of course, as always, I want to minister primarily to the people of Witten, but also to other people who are not at Witten so that I can be some type of blessing to them.

As always, like, share, subscribe, and I guess that's all.

Chapter 21 next time. Love you guys. God bless. Yeah, baby.