JEAN'S BIBLE STUDY
| KJV WEB
| Endtime Prophecy
| Parallel Gospels
Page Numbers | Plywood Canoe
OT Commentary | Books
Contact | Gospel Tract

LUKE CHAPTERS 5 & 6 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel See previous page Lk 5,1-11 (149e) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Compel them to come in >> luring them in – The rewards that come to those who serve in a Spirit-directed ministry, as opposed to those who serve according to their own fleshly ideas, bring about reverence and deep faith in God. Peter knew he didn’t deserve the Lord, who came from nowhere into Peter’s life, who wasn’t even looking for Him, but after meeting Jesus, he couldn’t live without Him. Peter and his companions were fishermen, but God chose them to be His disciples and apostles, based on God’s gracious choice, and not based on merit or acts of faithfulness. Jesus said to Peter, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men,” essentially telling the fishermen they had a new job. They will still be fishermen, but they will no longer be catching fish but people as evangelists. This is what Jesus was doing, preaching a gospel that had not yet been born. Jesus told Peter that one day he would be an evangelist too and preach the same gospel and would see many people saved. Note that more people got saved under Peter’s ministry than under Jesus’ ministry; in fact, no one got saved under Jesus’ ministry, for the gospel was not complete until He went to the cross, died and rose again on behalf of those who would believe in Him for eternal life. In a way, Jesus’ ministry of evangelism was similar to John the Baptist's in that both preached that there would be one to come, the Holy Spirit, who was mightier than He. Lk 5,1-7 (14k) Servant >> Ministry of helps >> Helpers are indirectly in charge of the word >> They relieve church leaders of menial duties – Jesus blessed the fishermen with a great catch of fish at the beginning of His ministry of those who would become his disciples, whom He would transform into His apostles, and he blessed them again at the end of His ministry with a similar catch of fish, marking the end of His relationship with them in the flesh, using this blessing as a way of saying thank you for their services they provided Him throughout His ministry. It was significant that Jesus blessed them in the area of their business as fishermen and not in some other way, for the Bible promises that God will bless the works of our hands if we will love Him. God is especially good to those who serve Him, but there are those who think they are already serving God, participating in religious activities, making pies and cookies for ice cream socials to help generate revenue for the Church, participating in building programs and staying busy. What does God really want them to do? If they ministered to God in ways He has called them, according to the Royal Priesthood, becoming a student of God’s word and a disciple of prayer, God could direct their service to Him and give them a true reward. In this case He gave Peter, James and John two boatloads of fish, but He gave them more than that; He gave them an experience they will never forget, Hence the sign of the fish. He gave them the understanding that those who serve Him and participate in His ministry will be blessed with a true reward. Their reward is eternal life and a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ in this life and in eternity. (143k) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> Jesus is popular because of His words – Jesus was no doubt the most charismatic speaker of all time. In fact, charismatic people whether they know it or not use Jesus as a model. Charisma is summed up in a single word “confidence.” We have heard of confidence men, or conmen. They come in all shapes and sizes, but the one trait they all have in common is the ability to exude confidence. Confidence is extremely attractive to people; they have an effect on us like those who look into a flame; they are unable to take their eyes off them. Most people use their charisma for evil. In fact, charisma, charm for short, has evolved to having a less positive connotation from all the abuse people have suffered at the hands of these influential people. Nevertheless, Jesus holds first place for charisma, and He used it only for good. Jesus attracted great crowds and entertained them with his stories and taught them the truth about God. People would listen to Him speak for hours, and when He finished, He often had a special reward both for them. Lk 5-1 (255d) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> God’s word is Spirit >> Jesus is the word of the Spirit >> Jesus is the authority of God’s word Lk 5-2,3 -- No Entries Lk 5,4-11 (86k) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Be doers of the word >> Clothe yourself with the word of God >> Do the words of Jesus KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 5,4-7 (34k) Gift of God >> God is willing to Give >> Receiving God’s blessing through obedience (87h) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience is logical to your spirit >> Obey God to spite your carnal mind (147d) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> God exercises authority over every living thing Lk 5-4 (110b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit speaks through you >> Word of knowledge >> knowing the mind of Christ Lk 5-8 (88j) Thy kingdom come >> Fear of God causes repentance – When Peter beckoned Jesus to depart from him, he no doubt hoped He wouldn’t go, but if He did go, he wouldn’t have faulted Him for it, because Peter was all too familiar with his own sin. He wasn’t excessively sinful; he was just a regular sinner like the rest of us. The only difference between a sinner and a righteous person is that one pretends ignorance of his guilt, claiming that the negative feelings he has about himself are not real and the things he has done are not all that bad, while the other recognizes it an offense to God and seeks repentance. He can’t be saved if he doesn’t admit to himself that he is a sinner; otherwise, how can he see his need for a Savior? If a person is physically ill, he sees a doctor; if mentally ill, he sees a psychiatrist, but spiritually ill, he just accepts it as part of being human. (252d) Trinity >> You shall put no other gods before Me >> Worship Jesus (Because He is equal with God) >> Worship Jesus for what He does through the Father – Of all the miracles Jesus performed, this one had the greatest impact on the disciples, partly because it was one of the first miracles they had seen Him do (primacy effect), and also because it pertained to their profession. Simon Peter and his friends, James and John, the sons of Zebedee were fishermen, and the miracle was about catching fish. It was not a miracle to catch fish, but it was when they had caught nothing all that night, but at His word two boats were filled with fish until they sank. It was a personal miracle, tailor made for them; it meant so much to them that for three hundred years the official symbol of Christianity was the sign of the fish, until the Roman governor, Constantine, changed it to the cross, but the fish is still with us. The sign of the fish represents Jesus’ most impressive miracle, yet they left all those fish there and immediately followed Him. What impressed them was His great generosity of such a huge catch of fish. The disciples would have been happy with a couple dozen, but they had so many it sunk their boats. This God of ours likes to super-size things; He never does anything small; He made a big universe. That huge net-full of fish acted as an indicator of Jesus’ character and personality, symbolizing His greatness that He came from heaven, whose Father is big. Jesus demonstrated His attributes, being one of the reasons the disciples wanted to follow Him. God has a big vision for mankind to collect human souls over a course of 2000 years to fit an eternal kingdom. Who knows what vision He has in store for us after that? Whatever it is, it will be big. Lk 5-10 (23l) Sin >> Poverty (Oppression) >> Fear of the unknown >> Fear of miracles (62f) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Being clever >> Lure in your prey – These disciples were commercial fishermen, and once they saw this miracle, they were hooked on Jesus, who said to them, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” When we go fishing, we must fool the fish to get them to bite on our hook by putting a worm on it, but with a net the fishermen just scooped them from the water. At the preaching of Peter at Pentecost he caught five thousand people in a single scoop. That was probably a bigger catch of people than fish that day, hooking them by showing their guilt. If Peter could reveal their guilt, then he could get them saved, but nowadays people hold guilt in contempt. They say that guilt is evil, a dark figment of the imagination, and so it is very difficult to win people to Christ in that if we make them feel guilty, they will hate us for it instead of sensing their need for a savior. Peter laid it on thick, reminding them that they let Barabbas go but crucified the Lord of glory. Some of the people in the hearing of Peter’s sermon cheered for Jesus’ blood. Peter hooked them with guilt, and he reeled them in with the grace of God. They got saved and they stayed saved, because there was unity in the body of Christ, giving incentive to live for God. Lk 5-11 (93f) Thy kingdom come >> Following Jesus >> Leaving everything behind to follow Him -- This verse goes with verses 27&28 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 5,12-16 (142f) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> Having a good reputation >> Jesus’ reputation – The leper had heard and maybe had even seen Jesus working miracles in the past, having developed a reputation for being a miracle worker, and for this reason he had faith that Jesus was able to cleanse Him, but he didn’t know if Jesus was willing until he asked. (143g) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> Popularity >> Sought commendably >> Seeking Jesus to be healed – God needs faith from us to work His healing power. There are those whose faith seems intact but still can’t find healing, and the reasons for it sound hollow and replete with subtle accusation. What is happening on a spiritual level that people are not being healed? What is getting in the way? There are some people who pray very hard for a miracle, yet in vain; how could they not have enough faith? The leper who was healed didn’t even know that Jesus was willing, so if his faith wasn't complete, why are many of us today not being healed? When God performs a healing, it doubles as His seal of approval on the individual, on the local Church he attends and on the Church in general, and if God disapproves of these people and institutions, then healing can be quite elusive. The reason individuals often find physical healing elusive is that the Church isn't serving God, not just the local Church, but the Church in general. It is not enough to read the will of God from the Bible; the new covenant is about interacting with the Holy Spirit, and the Church in general isn't doing that. If a person or a church wants nothing to do with God, which is often the case, then how can anyone in that church be saved let alone healed? Lk 5,12-14 (32d) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> Grace >> The grace of God’s healing power – After Jesus had healed so many people before this leper, He knew Jesus was able to heal him too, but was He willing? This is what He came to do. He didn’t come to withhold, to say no or to reject; He came to those who would believe in Him and give them all they could retain. Jesus healed him through the leper’s faith, though it was incomplete. Had the man had no faith at all, Jesus would have walked right passed him without stopping or even saying hello. Jesus can do nothing without faith, He needed the person to believe with Him, otherwise the heavenly chain of power would be broken. God is always looking for those who believe in Him to fill their storehouses with all He offers. Much as we need faith to be healed, we need as much faith to be saved, for God sees no distinction between healing and salvation. (144j) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Healing >> Methods of healing >> Healed by Jesus’ touch – When a person contracts leprosy, he is quarantined from society, because the disease is contagious, so Jesus’ touch was significant to the man. It was possibly the first time anyone touched him in years. Imagine going through life without anyone ever touching you; that would be a very sad and lonely life. We need other people to come close enough to touch us. It also communicated Jesus' total lack of fear for the disease. Lk 5-15,16 (80l) Thy kingdom come >> Prayer >> The priesthood >> Jesus ministered to people through His ministry toward God – We need to stay connected to God and find out what He wants us to do. Remember Jesus' wilderness experience? He frequently returned to the wilderness to minister to His Father in prayer. It was the foundation of His ministry. We see Him often disappearing into the wilderness and into the mountains and away from people, including His twelve disciples, and get back in touch with His Father. We don't ask our pastor what we should do for the Kingdom of God, we ask God. A lot of people think they are ministering to God, but without being students of His word and disciples of prayer, they are only fooling themselves. Most people have no clue what God wants them to do. Jesus taught about the narrow way, and Paul taught about the good works that God has prepared for us; put them together and we find the trail of good works. Walking on this trail is how we minister to God and find healing and salvation. We could be walking on a trail of our own making, and it may be a good trail, but if it is not God’s trail, and it will not bear the fruit He intended. What does God want us to do? Making pies and cookies for the Church bake sale is good, but is it the reason God created us? If it is, we should do it as students of His word and disciples of prayer. That is the foundation of all God's worshippers. Our specific ministry will be built upon this foundation that opens our ears to hear what the Spirit is saying that we may do what He says and become established on the trail that God has prepared for us from all eternity, where we will be healed and saved and lead others to the Healer and Savior of their souls. See also: Trail of good works is related to our salvation; Act 15-1,2; 7a (82g) Thy kingdom come >> Three elements of prayer >> Where to pray Lk 5-16 (77b) Thy kingdom come >> Hunger for the essence of God >> Hunger for His presence Lk 5,17-26 (178k) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Hypocrisy >> Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for accusing Him of Sin – Why do you suppose the Pharisees were there; were they quietly learning at the feet of Jesus? Probably not, they were there for reconnaissance purposes to discover what this troubler of Israel was saying and doing. The power to perform healing was present to spite them, and the faith of the crowd overruled their skepticism. What was in the way of the Pharisee’s faith, but their business of religion? They had ulterior motives, making a lot of money fleecing the people, which got in the way of believing in Jesus, regarding the Pharisees first and also their followers, and Jesus was a threat to all that. The more people believed in Jesus, the less they believed the teachings of the Pharisees who only took advantage of them. They essentially had a monopoly on religion, until Jesus came along and offered a new way of thinking about everything, and His teaching was very appealing. They listened to Him, but it is questionable how much they understood. He contradicted almost everything the Pharisees taught, their theology, their lifestyles, their attitudes and values, and even their perceptions of God. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 5,18-26 (59b) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> Your sins are forgiven / You are healed – The sick man was a friend of Jesus because he believed He was both able and willing to heal him, and this speaks volumes about his opinion of God. If we think God is both able and willing to heal, then God is good; this is what Jesus came to teach us. Jesus equated the man’s healing with forgiveness, suggesting that being healed and being forgiven are essentially the same in the mind of Christ. That is, the faith we need to be healed is the same faith we need to be forgiven, meaning that if our heart is receptive enough to receive God’s healing virtue, then we are also receptive to His forgiveness. To be forgiven is to be healed on the inside in so many ways, until it manifests as physical healing on the outside. In other words, the man was healed as proof that he was forgiven. (forgiven = healed). When we come to terms with God’s forgiveness, there is a healing process that takes place that goes to the root of our souls, ultimately manifesting through the members of our bodies as healing in our bodies. (99n) Thy kingdom come >> Perseverance (Working to keep in motion) >> – The man was healed through the faith of those carrying the stretcher, just like so often people are healed through the prayers of others. Unlike the leper in our previous example (Vs12,13) who only believed in Jesus' ability to heal him but not in his willingness, those carrying the sick man believed He was both able and willing to heal their friend on the stretcher. Had they been unsure of either one, they would not have gone through such great lengths to place him in front of Jesus. Lk 5,23-26 (253a) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is equal with the Father >> Jesus has all the external qualities of the Father >> Son has equal authority with the Father – It says that Jesus was able to forgive and heal as the son of man, not as the Son of God. In other words, He was able to heal as the servant of all and as the most humble of all. The humility of God to subject Himself to human weakness gave Him authority to forgive and to heal. The Pharisees were right in questioning how He could forgive sin, because only God has that authority, since sin is committed against Him. However, what they got wrong was His identity. When He spoke in passive voice He meant, ‘I forgive you through My Father.’ After Jesus went to the cross, the roles were reversed; now our heavenly Father forgives His children through His Son. The scribes and Pharisees were experts in Mosaic Law, yet Jesus knew the Old Testament far better. They knew what it said, but Jesus knew what it meant. They almost completely misunderstood the Old Testament, though they knew it backward and forward, yet compared to Jesus it appeared there was nothing they correctly understood. However, they were right about one thing: “Who can forgive sin but God alone?” So what does it mean for Jesus to forgive sin? It means Jesus is God in human flesh! Lk 5-23,24 (66k) Authority >> Lordship of Christ >> Jesus’ authority >> He has authority over man Lk 5-27,28 (93e) Following Jesus (Key verse) (93f) Thy kingdom come >> Following Jesus >> Leaving everything behind to follow Him -- These verses go with verse 11. Jesus said to Matthew, “Follow Me,” and he followed Him. This is the charisma Jesus had. He was able to communicate so many things with His confidence. Everything in His mind was on display in His eyes, emanating from His countenance and reverberating through His voice. Matthew could see there was something special about this man. Just by looking at Him he perceived that if he followed Him it would result in his benefit. Matthew's name is placed on one of the 12 foundations of the wall that surrounded the great city, the New Jerusalem (Rev 21-14). (234ab) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the glory of God >> God chooses us as we seek His glory >> As we follow Him – Jesus called Matthew, but when he got up and followed Jesus, his status changed from "called" to chosen. Being chosen requires our response; that is, God chooses us as we choose ourselves. Matthew could have remained sitting in his booth saying, ‘Wow, I am chosen of God,’ and Jesus would have just kept right on walking, and that would have been the end of it. Matthew had to get up and follow the Lord in order for his status as chosen to become a reality, but first he needed Jesus to call him. So both must be present in order to rank among the called and chosen. In Mat 22-14 Jesus said, “many are called, but few are chosen.” We can still reject God though He called us; we must follow Jesus with more than just our mind; we must also follow Him with our bodies. This is the concept of predestination. This doctrine is incredibly misunderstood. Depending on where we are standing, in hindsight it is perfectly clear that Matthew was chosen, but from Matthew’s limited perspective, had he not gotten up and followed Jesus, his status would have regressed from chosen to merely called. When Matthew got up and followed Jesus, that brought his destiny in focus, but it wasn’t written in stone until he entered eternity and realized for sure that he was indeed chosen of God. If we discover ourselves in heaven one day, we will know for sure that we are chosen of God, but until then we must consider ourselves called, and continually answer His call until it is our time to enter eternity. Then and only then will we know whether God has truly chosen us. See also: Predestination (Calvinism) Salvation is an amalgamation of God's will and man's will; Jn 7-17; 230b Lk 5,29-31 (207la) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Salvation verses >> The kindness of God >> God is kind to sinners >> He calls sinners to repentance – Levi was Matthew, one of the twelve disciples, who wrote the gospel of Matthew. This passage tells that he held a party at his house in honor of Jesus, his newfound friend, teacher and Master, whom he was beginning to recognize as the Messiah. Jesus had no problem attending this reception that was filled with tax collectors and sinners. These were Matthew’s friends and colleagues, for Matthew also worked as a tax collector, who were some of the most hated people in all Israel, the scum of the earth. As the name implies they collected taxes, but they had a reputation of collecting more taxes than Rome required and sticking the difference in their pockets, and some of them became very wealthy. The house was full of these people, and they were keenly aware of how society viewed them. The Pharisees complained to Jesus that He was associating with people of low social order, which made Jesus appear low in social order Himself, according to the adage, “Birds of the feather flock together,” meaning people of like persuasion tend to find each other and are often seen together. The Pharisees were strong believers that prestige was everything, and they condemned Jesus for tarnishing His own reputation by consorting with the dregs of society, whereas the Pharisees associated with high-class people, giving the air of being high-class themselves. Jesus didn’t care about any of that; He spent eternity past with His Father, who is more prestigious than any created thing. He didn’t consider the Pharisees to be high-class at all; rather, they were the last people to see the Kingdom of Heaven. The tax collectors and sinners were more likely to believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of sin and the salvation of their souls and inherit eternal life, so the Pharisees had it all backwards. Jesus told them, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” This made the Pharisees feel that Jesus was not trying to convert them because they were righteous, and the tax collectors were sinners, which made sense to them, so they left Him alone after that. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 5-31,32 (57c) Paradox >> Opposites >> Vision impairs sight, but the blind can see – The Pharisees did not seem to understand what Jesus was telling them. They were self-righteousness, so they didn’t need the righteousness that Jesus offered, who said, 'I came to call sinners who know they are sinners.' That is, He was talking about how people view themselves in their hearts. In reality, “all have sinned” and "there is none righteous, not even one" (Rom 3,10-23), except Jesus. The Pharisees were the greatest sinners of all, which led them to ignore this statement, not appearing to have even heard it. The Pharisees were spiritually blind, deaf and dumb, yet they were the religious leaders of Israel, and believed in themselves that they were in the know about the things of God, when in fact they were the most deceived and the most lost of all. When they came to the house of Matthew, they didn’t come to bask in the teachings of Christ; they were there to criticize and condemn Him. Their presence was merely for the purpose of espionage; they would go back to their leaders and tell them what they saw and heard, who were destined to conclude that Jesus was a danger to their business of religion and must be eliminated. This is the epitome of wickedness. The more a person knows he is wicked and evil in his heart and wants to be healed of it, the less there is standing in His way of being saved, but the more a person believes he is righteous without Christ, the less faith he has to offer God, because he is too busy believing in himself. Likewise, if we know that we don’t know the truth and believe that God can lead us into the truth if we let Him, our openness to Him will vacuum His truth into our hearts, but if we believe we already know the truth, our false knowledge will push the truth from us. Lk 5-32 (208c) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Salvation verses >> The expectations of God >> God expects us to repent and be saved Lk 5,33-35 (189k) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Masochism (Self-made martyr) >> Fasting >> Fasting is a state of mourning – The disciples of John the Baptist were fasting because they weren’t following Jesus; does that mean John was their leader? His purpose was to direct people’s attention toward Jesus, and now that He had come, John’s ministry was diminished to merely baptizing the followers of Christ. John even made this statement, “He must increase, but I must decrease” in Jn 3-30. If John had disciples, they were following John’s teachings, not John himself. He would have refused to lead any disciples during Jesus’ ministry had He not been thrown in prison by the authority of Herod; he would have simply told them to follow Jesus. John the Baptist had virtually nothing to offer them, except to prepare the way for the coming of Christ. Lk 5,34-39 (225k) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Parables >> Parables about the wedding feast Lk 5,36-39 (110ja) Thy Kingdom Come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit of revelation >> Revelation of the truth >> Revelation of the true Church – The parable of the patches and the wineskins is a comparison of the old and the new covenants: trying to work the new covenant into old covenant law is a lesson in futility. The new covenant was a whole new way of thinking; we must throw the worn out pants away and get new ones that don’t need mending, and the new wine represents the Holy Spirit that we must avoid pouring into old covenant ideas. Everything is new; we pour new wine into new wineskins, so both are preserved. Jesus revolutionized the way Israel worshipped God, who was the only nation that came into existence through faith; we can’t say this about any other nation. God spoke to Abraham and created Israel the moment he believed. He became the father of many nations, but primarily the nation from whom God would bear His child, Jesus Christ. That was one of God’s purposes for Israel, that it might give birth to the world’s Messiah. When Jesus came and fulfilled the purpose of Israel, born of the virgin Mary and entered His ministry, He taught Israel that they had to give up all their old ideas. The old covenant became obsolete at the conception of Christ in Mary's womb, who would later purchase a new and living way through His own blood. After His resurrection and ascension, Israel was required to start brand new; they were expected to work through His grace instead of the law. Lk 5-39 (173m) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Man’s Religion >> Resisting the Kingdom of God (197c) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Spiritual laziness >> Rebelling against where God wants you to go >> Refuse to walk in freedom – Israel resisted Christianity because the old covenant was good enough. Tradition says, ‘I don’t care if it’s better, I like the old way.’ That is the voice of stubbornness, going back to the Pharisees’ way of thinking. So much of learning the truth is about opening our minds and inviting it in our hearts, not trying to make the truth do something for us, but letting it work for Christ in our hearts to the glory of God. _________________________________ LUKE CHAPTER 6 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 6,1-11 (173i) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >> Unholy sacrifice >> Penance of following the law (Legalism) – Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for treating the Sabbath and all the laws as nothing more than a laundry list of things to do without understanding the purpose of any of them. Israel didn't start with Moses but with Abraham, whose significance the Pharisees completely overlooked. Abraham lived prior to the law, yet he was commended as pleasing to God. Abraham is an example of how we should live by faith, proving that we can please God without any laws to govern us. Whether old or the new covenant, the will of God is to obey Him. When we look at the difference between the Pharisees obeying the law and Abraham obeying God's voice, we see that it is far more important to obey God from the heart than it is to obey Him from a book. Jesus' point in healing on the Sabbath was that doing good was lawful any day of the week. The curse of the law was that disobeying it showed a lack of reverence and respect for our Creator, but obeying it did not gain His favor; it only preserved them in a sinful world. This is what the Pharisees did not understand. See also: Obedience; law versus the Spirit; Heb 10-8,9; 139i Lk 6,1-5 (108b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Balance between truth and error >> Jesus brings balance between truth and error – Since the Pharisees were so adept in the Scriptures, Jesus asked them whether they remembered a certain story from the Old Testament. He picked a story that the Pharisees had overlooked, in that it conflicted with their interpretation of Mosaic Law, commanding that the Levite priests should eat the sacred bread. Every day they offered fresh showbread in the temple, so the Levitical priests ate bread made a day earlier for their sustenance, and no one else was allowed to eat this bread. As the story goes, David and his men were famished, so they entered the house of the Lord asking for the sacred bread, and the priest gave it to them and they ate it, which was technically unlawful, yet David did not sin, why? The Pharisees probably never ventured to understand the logic behind this story. David was doing the Lord’s work, living under submission to Saul’s authority while running from him. The moral of the story is: Obeying the Lord from the heart is more important than mindlessly obeying His laws. Under similar conditions where Jesus’ disciples were hungry and technically breaking the Sabbath; they were picking and eating raw grain from the fields. What they did falls under a similar premise: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mk 2-27). The way the law was written did not give room for interpretation, unless one understood the intension of the law as Jesus did, even as David also understood that the law can be set aside in order that men may live. David understood God and His ways as opposed to the Pharisees, who just saw the law as a battery of exercises that man should perform. Even temple worship was something that was completely disguised to them. Had they understood what it meant, they would not have crucified the Lord. Had the Pharisees understood the intent of the law they would have recognized Jesus as the lamb of God that their temple worship represented. When taken in this context, it seems that God had designed Israel's future with their ignorance in mind to crucify their own Messiah, knowing how they would react. Who would do that on purpose? Lk 6,1-4 (79l) Thy kingdom come >> Know the word as a sword in spiritual warfare >> To defend yourself from religion – The Pharisees did not personally question Jesus, but picked on his disciples, doing this also in Lk 5,30-32, but Jesus stepped in both times and answered for them. He would not have the Pharisees heckling His disciples, because frankly the Pharisees could have torn them to ribbons with their knowledge of Old Testament. By the time they were finished with the disciples, they wouldn’t have lost the reason they were following Jesus, and isn’t that what Satan does with those who serve Him, knock the righteous off the path of righteousness? Jesus would have none of it. The time was coming when they would defend their own faith, but while Jesus was with them He would deal with the situations and problems. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 6,6-11 (20d) Sin >> Nature of sin >> Motives of unbelief (114a) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Obeying the Holy Spirit >> Believing the Father by obeying the Son >> Obeying Jesus’ word – This passage is a classic example of Working with the Grace of God. Jesus made the man responsible for his own healing based on a simple request. He wasn’t required to climb Mount Everest, or retrieve the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West. All he was required to do was come to Jesus and stretch out his hand. He had a withered hand, meaning he wasn’t able to stretch out his hand, so for the man to do this may have seemed like climbing Mount Everest, but when he did as directed, his arm was fully restored. Jesus' request wasn’t simple, yet under the power of God it remained a simple matter of reaching out and taking Jesus by the hand. In some ways what God asks of us is difficult, but in concert with His ability it is simple. If we look at it from a physical standpoint, Jesus' request was impossible, but in terms of faith, He didn’t ask much at all. God asks from each of us to live an impossible life by faith. In making this request He also promises His strength to accomplish His goals. Jesus was saying to the man, ‘I know you cannot stretch out your hand, but I want you to do it anyway. Forget about your physical inability and just do what I say.’ This is faith: as the man stretched out his hand it was restored. It may not have been a lot of faith, standing in front of Jesus who had already performed hundreds of miracles, who was the talk of the whole region, yet had the man not made the effort, he would not have been healed. (144k) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Healing >> Methods of healing >> Healed by touching Jesus -- These verses go with verses 18,19 (178k) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Hypocrisy >> Jesus rebukes the Pharisees >> Rebuked for accusing Jesus of Sin – After Jesus healed the man with the withered hand, the Pharisees got together to discuss what they might do to Jesus. This was an amazing response, proving they were the veritable antithesis of faith. Where there is such an absolute void, there is demonic activity. It’s one thing to switch off a light and allow darkness to fill the room, but it’s quite another thing to allow the very substance of darkness to live in your soul. The Pharisees were obviously allergic to Jesus. The Spirit that these Pharisees imbibed were the opposite of Christ, and He made that clear in Jn 8-44, calling them children of the devil. So, does that mean they were demon possessed? Jesus never tried to exorcise the demons from the Pharisees, but why not? There are three possible reasons: (1) the demons were conjoined to the Pharisees to the point that they had a perfect right to be there based on the Pharisees’ willingness to host them. (2) they were not demon possessed at all. (3) Jesus didn’t exorcise the demons from the Pharisees as an act of mercy, since it says (in Mat 12,43-45) that afterward seven others more terrible than the first would have invaded and taken over their souls, and their spiritual state would have grown worse than the first. The Pharisees were demonically controlled, whether they were possessed or not; they actually looked to the demons for direction. This is unfortunately more common than we might think. Lk 6-8 (68l) Authority >> Discernment >> Judging truth and error >> Perceiving false reasoning Lk 6-9 (89e) Thy kingdom come >> Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom >> Wise questions >> Questions from and about Jesus Lk 6-11 (24g) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Envy >> Angry at God because of their poverty KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 6,12-19 (82l) Thy kingdom come >> Power of prayer >> Prayer anoints your life in the word – Jesus went to the mountain to pray as a way to prepare for the next day when He would pick His twelve closest disciples. Most people when preparing for an important event would make sure to get enough sleep, but Jesus prayed the whole night, descending from the mountain far more prepared than had He gotten a good night sleep. Jesus didn't need to pray to receive spiritual discernment in order to choose His twelve disciples; He had already chosen them. Rather, He was praying for them that they would accept the call of God and follow Him. He had previously met His chosen disciples in past occurrences; He just went around collecting them all, formally selecting the disciples as His future apostles, but He didn't choose Judas. Rather, he assumed His position among the eleven, and Jesus allowed it. Lk 6,12-16 (219e) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> The elect >> God transforms the world into the Church >> God selects us from the world – In the Scriptures we see the disciples as a bunch of ragtag goofballs, chosen by the Lord, not because of their abilities; they were not even Jesus’ pick, but the Father’s choice. Jesus stayed up all night in prayer to ensure He picked the men His Father intended for Him, needing His discernment sharp the next day. Jesus chose the twelve according to the will of His Father, and they may not have been the twelve He would have chosen on his own, being why He prayed all the previous night. He may have otherwise walked passed these guys and picked others whom He thought would be easier to train, maybe more intelligent, perhaps more focused, but the Father had Him choose the twelve who later established the Church in the world after Pentecost. None of them had any particular qualifications, except one aspect they all had in common: they were faithful (except Judas Iscariot of course). Only God knew the potential of these men, because outwardly they had no appearance or qualities that someone would notice that would inspire anyone to choose them for such a purpose as this. Lk 6-12,13 (100k) Thy kingdom come >> Devotion >> In your ministry to God >> Devoted to prayer Lk 6-12 (82g) Thy kingdom come >> Three elements of prayer >> Where to pray Lk 6-17 (143l) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> It is popular to follow Jesus – To say that there was a large crowd of his disciples and a great throng of people made the distinction between those who were committed to Him and those who were not. Just because people made the journey from town into the wilderness to see Jesus doesn’t mean they actually believed in Him, anymore than people who make the journey to church every Sunday is proof they believe in Him. A mere nucleus of disciples in a crowd of people attend just about every church in America and in the world, some attendants not far from agnostics (people who have not decided if God even exists). There have been many movies made about Jesus within the last couple decades, and people flock to them, but this in no way proves they believe in Him. Lk 6-18,19 (144k) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Healing >> Methods of healing >> Healed by touching Jesus -- These verses go with verses 6-11. Imagine everyone clamoring to touch Jesus, and everyone who touched Him was instantly healed. The words He spoke have echoed throughout the ages as some of the greatest words ever spoken, and His disciples witnessed these things just about every day for three years; and when it was their time, they changed the world forever. Righteousness goes from faith to faith (Rom 1-17) as a snowball effect that accumulates in an environment of obedience. Unbelief operates under the same principles, only opposite, producing disobedience in the accumulation of sin. When people of faith gathered around Jesus, He could perform miracles, in some cases healing them all. Large crowds would gather to hear the word of God and see the miracles He performed, which created an environment of faith so Jesus could present the word of God. After He had performed so many signs it was easy to believe in Him, and when combined with His words, it was almost impossible not to believe in Him. He stood in one place and people came and just touch the fringe of His cloak and were healed. We too must create an environment of faith, and stamp out unbelief both from ourselves and from the church; otherwise, it is pointless to believe in God for miracles. Lk 6-18 (146e) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Deliverance from demon possession >> Casting out spirits with a word Lk 6-19 (145c) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Healing >> Jesus healed them all – God was using the power of Christ to attract the people, and they came not just for the word of God, but also to be healed and to see people with all forms of diseases being cured before their very eyes. With their boring lives, this was the only thing that was happening. It would have been big news even in our own time. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 6,20-26 (36d) Gift of God >> Gifts from the Holy Spirit >> All good things are gifts from God – This world doesn’t like God, but it loves His gifts such as: a sunny day with blue sky and cottony clouds. They like lemonade, shade trees and crickets at night; they love their turkey dinner at thanksgiving, but they don’t like God, who says to the world, ‘I come as a package deal with My gifts; if you don’t want Me, then you can’t have My gifts either.’ In hell none of these good things will exist; then (and only then) will they come to know that the things they once enjoyed originated from the hand of God. Hell is the absence of God, His person, His traits and His gifts. (47f) Judgment >> God Judges the world >> Hell is a place of torment – Some say, ‘God is not so mean as to create a hell; instead, people who don’t accept the Lord are just blinked out of existence,’ but if there were no hell, then why did Jesus say, “Woe to you who are rich”? They have it made in this life, and if death is the end of their existence, then where is the “woe”? Woe to the rich, for there is a heavenly life coming after this one, and they can’t go there because they don’t believe in Jesus, but there is a place reserved for them, and they will exist there forever, not alive and not dead; it will be hell. Jesus is telling us the experience of hell; people will have bodies similar to our own, only without a way to satisfy their needs. Their stomachs will get hungry, but there will be nothing to eat; they will become thirsty with nothing to drink, forever! Their thirst will just grow and grow, and throughout eternity they will get hungrier and hungrier. See further commentary v25. (56ka) Paradox >> Opposites >> Least are greatest >> Least are the greatest servants – Jesus spoke in these very terms in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Lk 16,19-31). The angels came and got Lazarus, but the rich man died and was buried. Jesus’ explanation was that Lazarus had a miserable life while the rich man lived in splendor every day. He made no mention of faith or good works, though the Bible speaks of these things in other passages, faith being the theme of Paul’s writings, and good works being the theme of James, so faith and good works were implied with Lazarus, but he also had a very mournful and miserable life. He had nothing, and there are folks like him all around us today. God supplies their needs; He is with them in their poverty and in their dire circumstances, and the more they mourn the more they will be comforted. The more misery we endure in this life, the more comfort we will receive in the life to come. (184f) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Abusing the grace of God >> Spending His grace on your pleasures >> Trying to take advantage of God’s kindness – There are a lot of people who are willing to forego heaven just to enjoy the fleeting moments of this life. That attitude is clearly seen in the way rich people control the economy nowadays, sacrificing tomorrow for today. If they are willing to sacrifice millions of poor people in the process of obtaining a richer life for themselves, how much more are they willing to sacrifice eternity they don’t even believe exists? For those who don’t believe in God’s justice, after we feel the cold hands of the rich taking the last morsel of sustenance from our plate so they might live a more luxurious life, then maybe we will finally wakeup and understand why God created a hell for them. If we don’t believe in God’s justice, then maybe we will join them, for being rich has nothing to do with money, but how much greed, lust and pride we allow in our hearts. (241f) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Obstacles in the way of the kingdom >> Obstacles that keep you from Jesus – Not every poor man will be saved, but they have a better chance of believing in Jesus than the rich, who believe in money. For the rich man, the spiritual cards are stacked against him, who are at ease and living a full life that keeps him from searching for something more, but the poor do not have the obstacle of money and materialism blocking their way of believing in Jesus. The greatest obstacle in the way of the rich man is his worship of money. If he heard the call from God, would he liquidate his assets and give to the poor for the doors of heaven to swing open for him? Most likely not! Lk 6-20,21 (56m) Paradox >> Opposites >> The poor in spirit are rich in faith Lk 6-20 (23f) Sin >> Poverty (Oppression) >> Rich are those who are poor in their own minds Lk 6,21-23 (103l) Thy kingdom come >> Purifying process >> Purified by circumstances >> Purified Through hardship KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 6-22,23 (226g) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of the Kingdom of Heaven >> Reserved in heaven >> Rewarded in heaven – It is a good thing that Jesus told us we are blessed and could leap for joy, because being ostracized, insulted and having our names scorned as evil for the sake of the son of man is not fun. Our reward is coming, while the rich in this life are receiving their reward in full. Jesus was putting it in perspective that anyone who serves and loves the Lord will be persecuted in this life. (242l) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Responding to persecution Lk 6-22 (18j) Sin >> Twisted thinking >> Unable to distinguish between good and evil >> God’s people are evil Lk 6,24-26 (57d) Paradox >> Opposites >> God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble Lk 6-24,25 (249c) Priorities >> God’ s preeminence >> Wealth >> True perception of wealth >> Do not trust the carnal perception of wealth >> The pursuit of wealth brings a curse – Jesus essentially said, ‘Blessed are you who hunger in this life, for you shall be satisfied in the next;’ ‘Bless are the poor in this life, for you shall be rich in the next.’ At the same time He was saying, ‘cursed are the rich, for in the next life yours is eternal damnation. Cursed are you who are satisfied in this life, for you shall hunger in hell.’ When He said, ‘Blessed are you who weep now, for in heaven you shall laugh,’ He also meant, ‘cursed are you who laugh now, for in hell you shall weep.’ Lk 6-24 (195a) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Serving two masters >> You can only love one at a time Lk 6-25 (77l) Thy kingdom come >> Being Humble Before God >> Let your laughter be turned to mourning – This corresponds with the story Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus, with the rich man in hell because he enjoyed his life, and Lazarus in heaven because he suffered in poor misery at the rich man’s gate (Lk 16,19-31). This makes it sound that for the very reason the rich man enjoyed his life he wound up in hell. Would God send us to hell for enjoying our lives? No, He sends people to hell because they care only for themselves and their easy life leads them astray, making them believe they are intrinsically better people than those who suffer. They have no need of God, because they already have everything they want; this is the curse of an easy life: it leads them away from God. The blessing of a miserable life is that it leads them to wish for something better, if not in this life, then in the one to come. Hell is a place to avoid at any cost. Hell is worth sacrificing this life just to avoid it. Blessed are those who are poor in this life, because their poverty will drive them into a desire for a better life in heaven. Woe to you who are happy, for it will lead you to all the wrong conclusions, such as this life being the only one we will ever have. Living at ease won’t lead us to seek God, and we will likely die without Him, and find ourselves in a place that is devoid of every good thing, and there we will remain forever apart from the attributes of God. It would be better if we lived in sadness and gloom all our days if it made us search for something better and discovered faith in Jesus Christ. Lk 6-26 (240d) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Natural disadvantage >> Beware when all men speak well of you >> Natural disadvantage of being popular – The fathers treated the false prophets with honor, but the true prophets are persecuted, and Jesus said about them, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Mat 5-12). That is, prophets are persecuted and false prophets are honored in the Church, and Jesus knew it would be this way. Most people speak well of false prophets, but who speaks well of God’s true prophets? It is no wonder false teachings proliferated in the Church the minute the original apostles fell asleep! Since everyone speaks well of those who usher in false teachings, it becomes impossible to keep them and their teachings out of the Church; meanwhile, the true prophets are warning the people treat them like they treated Steven (Act 7,57-60). So it would seem the Church was destined to fall into apostasy. The saints suffered through the first and second centuries, and going into the third century they were so tired of persecution that they finally gave into it, and the Catholic Church was born. It is like the current of a river constantly pushing in one direction, while God has called His Church to swim the other way. The world gets out their recreational inner tubes and makes an afternoon of it, dawdling downstream with a drink in their hand and playing in the water with their toes; meanwhile Christianity is a struggle, a constant fight, and if anyone wants to change something in the Church, good luck, because heavy forces are against it that have shaped the Church in its current direction. These forces are holding the Church in place, and many of them are demonic. The promise of religion is a great deception; it resists change, and by that it guarantees the truth will remain, but Satan is too clever, and behind the scenes he makes sure the truth slowly drifts away and false teachings come to replace it little-by-little, and then religion holds them in place. When the prophet comes and shines the light on the Church’s darkness, he is scandalized and rebuked and sent on his way. People like to be popular and have many friends and be accepted, but Jesus would say to them, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you,” for they have their reward in full. The prophet seeks the truth and wants to help other people understand what he knows and is persecuted for it and impolitely asked not to return. They are considered troublemakers and false prophets, because they disagree with the general consensus, but Jesus said about the general consensus that the false prophets have helped shape the general consensus. The Church hardly knows God and the world doesn't know Him at all, and for this reason the prophets are persecuted, and they have nowhere to go. The more the Church persecutes the prophets, the more it wants religion, and the more the pastor’s only real concern is to guard his paid position in the church. See also: Analogies (Train and railroad tracks); Jn 5-24; 205aa KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 6,27-38 (34n) Gift of God >> Be generous like your Father >> Love your enemies – Jesus is saying the most diametrically opposed utterances to the old covenant possible, for while the old covenant speaks of eye-for-eye and tooth-for-tooth, the new covenant speaks of life-for-life. That is, Jesus laid down His life for us that we should lay down our lives for Him and for the brethren. Jesus came to offer a new way; He didn’t go to the cross just to amend the old way. The new covenant is not just a new way; it is the opposite way of the old covenant in some respects, and this is why it was so difficult for the Jews to comprehend it. They saw His miracles and then heard his words and said, ‘How could this be.’ He spoke about love, and they were unable to accept it; love is indeed incomprehensible to the world. God used Israel as a nation of mercenaries to deal out retribution against the godless nations that were polluting the world with their evil practices. They were not initially called to love, but to butchery and annihilation of entire cultures and peoples. Yet, just that He spoke about love, how could He be wrong? No matter what era we're living, no matter what background, love is intrinsically correct. (43j) Judgment >> Satan destroyed in the absence of sin >> Perfected in love – The fact that we had a coat in the first place was proof that He is blessing us, but now asks us to give it away, because we are promised always to have what we need so long as we serve the Lord. We can give everything away yet always have enough, for Jesus is calling us to a life of faith. When we give away our coat in the middle of winter, we figure that is God’s problem. We give away our coat, not by commandment but by the dictates of the Spirit, who blesses the world because He is good, but He blesses His church with the expectation that we will share His rich bounty with those in need. God plans on meeting our needs, but He also plans on meeting the needs of others through us. (129h) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> love perfects unity >> Genuine love – Jesus called us to behave better than sinners as leaders of righteousness, for the truth is something the church must fulfill on a corporate level. What He taught would never work with individuals; they could give away all their possessions, and all the recipients would get from it is a coat. If every believer in God’s church took these words to heart and lived by them, we would have a healthy church. Jesus’ vision was for people corporately to apply His word to their lives with the result of a brand new culture and society born into the world, so that the rest of humanity could look on and see the beautiful thing that God has wrought and want to be part of it. Jesus was describing the relationship that His people should have with Him, and when we add Paul’s teachings to the words of Christ, we see that the beatitudes are how the Church should behave toward one another, so that we have the strength and resources to relate to the world in like manner. John the Baptist taught that if we have two coats to give one to the person in need, but Jesus taught to give up our only coat. What if it’s winter and we needed a coat? Someone in the Church will provide for us, so we can minister to the world. Jesus spoke extensively about unity; therefore unity in the Church is the only way we will ever realize the beatitudes. The Kingdom of God was not designed to grow as individuals, but as a body. (139i) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Tear down the old to rebuild the new – Both the old and new covenants tear down the old to rebuild the new. Pertaining to the old covenant, God commanded Israel to exterminate the previous inhabitants of the promise land before they could possess their land. How does that apply to the new covenant? God commands us to exterminate the deeds of the flesh such as: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, etc., before replacing them with the traits of Christ: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, etc. (Gal 5,19-23). We tear down the structure of the sinful nature in order to build a relationship with Jesus in its place. We who are born-again tear down the altars where we once worshipped, and put in their place the throne of the living God, and then fall on our face and worship Him who dwells in our heart. This analogy suggests the level of violence required to uproot the behaviors of our sinful nature and how committed and vehement God has called us to battle against the opposition to His throne in our hearts. Note that this violence is not directed to the body itself, but to its evil passions and desires that conflict with God’s purpose in us. Until we die to self, it is not remotely possible to live according to the way Jesus outlined for us in the beatitudes. Lk 6,27-36 (6b) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> Jesus’ yoke of love – Jesus was looking at His disciples when He spoke these words, but the general public heard Him too, who were incapable of fulfilling these words. They must have thought He was crazy, yet miracles were coming from Him and healing everyone. Obviously we can bless those who mistreat us, and obviously we can give our shirt to him who demands our coat, but how long can we put up with this kind of ill treatment before we get sick of it and take our shotgun to their house to get our stuff back? Jesus is commanding us to live in ways that are virtually impossible to our flesh, but He is not appealing to our flesh. Instead, the new covenant is about the indwelling Holy Spirit, and so He is speaking to our souls infused with God Himself. However, not even the Christian who has the Spirit of God dwelling in him can do these things until he first tears down his old ways and rebuilds his mind according to the pattern that God will show Him through the word of God and prayer. Jesus is calling us to be like Him; the beatitudes is how He lived. If we are the children of God, then we should do the works of God. (12h) Servant >> Bond servant >> Their indifference to the world – Jesus was conveying a message of an attitude we should adopt about this life in the flesh, not to take our material possessions so seriously and not to hold on so dearly to our things, but to let them go when they get in the way of our faith. A bond servant almost always chooses love over his possessions. God calls us to let go and live for the life to come. (124j) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Love your enemies >> Love your enemies because God loves His – Jesus did not say to lend only to good people, but to sinners, because God is also kind to ungrateful and evil men. No one could just write this; Jesus had to come down here and do it for us, and not just anybody, but God in human flesh inaugurated this new policy in His own blood. This is therefore how we behave like God: when we love our enemies. As Paul said, it is like pouring cold water over their heads. After they persecuted us, we reward them with good, not evil, which was the opposite way of the old covenant. The problem with the old covenant, there was no solution established for love until Jesus came. Now we can afford to love our enemies instead of killing them. Instead of putting out their eye or knocking out their tooth, God has set us free to be merciful, just as our Father who is in heaven is merciful. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 6,27-31 (120d) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Forgiveness >> Forgiving your brother >> As God has forgiven you -- These verses go with verses 35&36 Lk 6-27 (106e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Attaining the hearing ear >> Having the ability to hear (168l) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world has deaf ears to God >> God does not speak to people who will not hear Him (222g) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Do not give what is holy to dogs >> God shares no intimacy with dogs >> God does not speak to dogs Lk 6-31 (1b) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God and man >> follow the golden rule – "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you;" that is the golden rule. It is the exact opposite of the old covenant. God delivered Israel from the pharaoh of Egypt with an extremely violent and mighty hand for the purpose of pressing Israel into service as His henchmen with the mission of totally annihilating entire societies and nations and possessing their land. In this sense it is understandable that Israel had a hard time understanding Jesus. Based on their past, they were expecting their Messiah to come with a new mission to unleash them on a new adversary, but He came instead with the message of love. How could two covenants made by the same God be so different? Where was love in the Old Testament? Actually it was written throughout the ancient writings of their prophets. Israel got so caught up in the mission that they forgot about its purpose. God had them destroy the people that previously inhabited the land of Canaan because they were excessively evil, and there was no system in place to intervene outside of sending another flood upon the world, which God had already promised He would never do again, so He established Israel instead. The goal was to kill and destroy and restore law and order to a world that was spiraling out of control. So, when Jesus came with a covenant of love to replace the law, Israel was broadsided; they never saw Him coming. Lk 6-35,36 (16f) Sin >> Man’s willingness to be evil >> Using sin to achieve your goals – If we lend to ungrateful and evil men, we will never see our money again or whatever we lent to them. In terms of love and giving, they are cul-de-sacs, and this is what differentiates them from the truly poor. Poor people, though by definition have few resources, yet they are some of the most giving people on earth. In contrast, Jesus is talking about giving to a black hole; once our gift leaves our hand, it disappears into the abyss, and nothing comes of it; no one is saved or enlightened, nor is the gift paid forward to anyone else. Our act of kindness dies right there; these people are receptacles of people’s kindness and live by the principle of taking by exploitation. This is an unfortunate way of life for them, a very hard life, unblessed and based on a lie. Jesus is not talking about giving to a good cause, but to our enemies who hate us, the last people to whom the natural mind would consider being generous; in fact, this might incite them to hate us all the more by the fact that they despise our generosity, interpreting it as weakness. sometimes our persecutors get saved, but more often it is those who observe the injustice done to us who get saved. It may not stir them to be treated likewise, but it does often stir them to seek our faith that appears more valuable to us than life itself. If a person had all the money in the world, what good would it do him when he dies? For we Christians, the greatest day of our lives is the day of our death, for it will transition us to the next life in heaven that we have been long awaiting, and this will prove to be our real life. Ever since we came to faith in Jesus, we have been waiting for this life to end so we can begin our real life that will never end. (120d) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Forgiveness >> Forgiving your brother >> As God has forgiven you -- These verses go with verses 27-31 (124k) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Love your enemies >> Love your enemies that you may not become like them – Owners of pets expect something in return for providing them food and shelter; the owner expects to receive love and affection. In contrast, if we feed the birds or the squirrels or the deer, all we can expect in return is the satisfaction of feeding them, and so is the case of giving to our enemies; they are like wild animals in this way. If you try to tame a wild squirrel after feeding it for a while, it will bite you, and so will our enemies if we expect anything in return from them. 2Pet 2-12 says, “But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed.” Nevertheless, Jesus is telling us to be kind to them, because their eternal future is destined for bleakness and horror, and this is the only moment they will have in eternity to experience love from someone and to enjoy a blue sky and a cold glass of water; it is the only time anyone will ever give them anything, but as for the Christian, God intends to give us everything He owns. He will even set a chair on His throne at Jesus’ right-hand that we might sit in judgment of His creation. This is the power and authority that we will have, so we can afford to be kind to ungrateful and evil men. (237j) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Transferring the kingdom >> The Church is transferred to the kingdom >> Citizens of heaven KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 6-35 (55i) Paradox >> Opposites >> Our possessions are more a curse than a blessing; therefore, give them to your enemies – In Lk 12-33,34 Jesus said, “Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” None of our possessions have any value; in fact, they are more of a curse than anything, so why shouldn't we give them to our enemies? He advised us to give to the poor and to our enemies and to whomever asks of us, for our reward in heaven will be great. He will reward us for the faith we showed in releasing our possessions. Possessions meant nothing to Jesus; there was no place for Him to lay his head at times. He didn’t have a house or a bed. He was trying to show us a proper set of priorities that we should adopt, not that we should live without a roof over our heads, but if we lose our house, not to take it too hard. There are more important things than houses, and if God takes care of the sparrows, He will take care of us too. The way Jesus lived will be very much the way we will live in heaven; there will be streets of gold and mansions galore, and we will have crowns, but it says we “will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne” (Rev 4-10). This suggests that our possessions will mean nothing to us. The only thing in heaven that will matter is Jesus and our gratitude that He chose us from the foundation of the world to be His worshippers and live with Him forever in heaven. (127a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Kindness >> Be kind like God >> Practice the kindness of God – The saints who are kind to ungrateful and evil men will be rewarded in heaven for being generous without expecting anything in return. Jesus said the same about giving to the poor and the blind and the lame, who have no ability to repay our kindness, that we may be rewarded at the resurrection of the righteous. So whether we invest our resources into the poor or into the wicked doesn’t matter. It only matters that we give, because in light of eternity we will suffer no loss. God will return everything we have given with interest, and our reward will be great. Jesus said that there are many mansions in heaven, yet everything we know from Scripture suggests that our reward will be appended to our resurrected bodies. We will wear in the most literal sense the rewards that God has prepared for us, so it is not the things we have in heaven that will be valuable to us, but our relationship with God, represented by its outward appearance in our resurrected bodies. See also: Rewards appended to the resurrected body; Eph 6-7,8; 218d Lk 6-37,38 (11g) Servant >> God’s standard is in proportion to our output – If we give to others, we can expect to receive both from God and from our fellow man, though under a completely different set of rules, and those rules are defined by unity in the body of Christ. If we lend expecting to be repaid, “What credit is that to you.” If we have this attitude, we have not yet risen above the heathen. When we give, we are like adding to the public fund, so when it is our turn to receive, though we may have given money, we may receive something else in return, and we may not receive the same amount that we gave. In the natural realm we will always have enough, but this is not the language Jesus used; He said that a generous, concentration of blessing from God will overflow into our lap so much that we won’t be able to contain it. Being that these are spiritual principles, they are on God’s terms, which are different from the terms of men, who want everything now. In contrast, God’s blessing could come at any time, forcing us to be vigilant and wait for His provision. He may not be on time according to our own standard, but He will never be late. We may give today and receive a year from now or ten years from now. The person who loves the Lord and walks according to His principles may lack the car or the house or the job that he really wanted, but he will never lack the sustenance for his life, so long as he remains faithful, for by our standard of measure it will be measured to us in return. (226h) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of heaven >> Levels of reward >> God rewards us to the degree of our faithfulness – There are some pastors who teach their congregations to give in order to get; some televangelists will say just about anything to attract the unrighteous mammon to themselves. Apparently, our money is more valuable than theirs, and so they teach false doctrines to wiggle the bills from our pockets. There are certain verses that seem to assert what they teach, but many of their teachings are misconceptions of Scripture. Getting should not be our motive for giving. How many times have we heard this verse mis-taught? Giving in order to get is just another form of greed. The only things we can give exist in the physical realm, but God’s gift is often spiritual; therefore, when we give to a ministry or to an individual, what we receive in return may be spiritual in nature, and if we are okay with that, then fine, but those who invest their possession into the Kingdom of God hoping for a monetary return may be disappointed. In fact, a giving attitude like that will not even receive on a spiritual level. We can give our money to the Lord, and He will give back to us spiritual blessings that we cannot contain, and He may even lead money our way, but we shouldn’t depend on that. What is more notable, if we help those in need, He will make sure someone returns the favor when it is our turn to be in need. When a person prefers spiritual possessions over worldly possessions, this divine system of giving and receiving works most efficiently. Here is a shortcut to becoming spiritual: “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (Mat 19-21). If we give our money to the ministry to become wealthier still, we’ve been hornswoggled by swindlers who would like us to believe their lies and deceptions. Lk 6-37 (17m) Sin >> Unrighteous judgment >> Discerning by the flesh >> Judging the sins of others that you practice – It is difficult to write commentary for the beatitudes because they are self-explanatory, yet they are profound because our flesh is sinful. We know these things, but we find them difficult to do them. What Jesus is telling us is so foreign to our flesh that the words hold an air of fascination with us, as though He were describing another world. In fact, He is describing how people behave in heaven, but here on earth TV is filled with shows that revolve around judging people, not just the television shows themselves, but everyone at home watching the programs. People love to judge one another though our judgments are hardly based on divine principles. If all our judgments were accurate and correct, Jesus’ advice would be the same, do not judge. That is, He doesn’t tell us to quit judging because we too often get it wrong, but because it is impossible get the right answer when judging people in the wrong spirit. People who are judgmental think they know what they are doing, when if fact all they really know is their own sin as they project the contents of their hearts onto other people. (45g) Judgment >> Believer’s sin >> God will judge us with the world if we live like them – Jesus’ command is to pardon those who condemn us, so He can pardon us on the Day of Judgment. (48g) Judgment >> Levels of judgment >> Judged according to your standard of measure – Judgmental people use their own sin as a standard by which they judge others, yet sin is not a standard but a toxin that cannot determine anything except their own fate if they don't repent. On the one hand, some people insist on judging everyone for every little thing they say and do, and so will God judge them at the final judgment. On the other hand, if we are kind and merciful to wicked people, others will see and pardon us, and so will God. Those who are judgmental will judge us no matter what we say and do. We can be kind to them, but the judgmental person will look for faults and complain about us to others, because they are busybodies and concern themselves with other people’s business. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 6-38 (192d) Die to self >> Result of putting off the old man >> Gain by losing >> Receiving from God by substitution >> Wheeling and dealing in God’s spiritual economy – The prophet Elijah told the lady to find jars in which to pour what oil that remained from the small jar into other jars, giving her the hint to collect as many jars as she could, and the oil never stopped running until she filled the last jar, meaning that had she collected more jars the oil would have continued (2Kings 4,1-6). Therefore, by her standard of measure it was measured to her in return. God’s system of giving is based on this principle: “He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack” (Ex 16-18; 2Cor 8-15); this refers to the collection of manna in the Old Testament. Whatever we receive is what we need the most, coupled with contentment. This suggests that when God sends a gift our way, He always wraps it in a generous portion of His Spirit, which in His perspective is more important than the natural gift. Most people would prefer money, but in this economy money is not particularly useful. If it pours into our lap, then we must be sitting down, resting as a prerequisite of receiving from God. When we are suffering or are in need and have previously developed a reputation of giving, we will receive in return. This is the concept of sharing, where God is in charge. This is the kind of economy that Jesus wants His church to adopt. Trading is a type of sharing that bypasses the use of money, being similar in concept to giving. He wants us sharing all good things with one another. Jesus was talking about God giving back to us through our sharing, so even if we receive from a human source, God takes the credit, because we are operating in His economy. Whatever standard we establish by giving determines the ceiling of our potential to receive from God. The advantage of this system is we give to men but we receive from God, and so the return is exponential, especially when considering the reward will continue into eternity. Lk 6-39 (1l) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> Carrying a false burden >> Taking on responsibilities that are not yours – Following the wrong person can be a false burden if the result is falling into a pit. We are not responsible to accept other people’s consequences just to make them feel better about themselves. The Bible says to weep with those who weep, but there are better ways to help people than to share in their sins. (54b) Paradox >> Opposites >> Ignorant people wanting to teach – If we want to go to heaven, we must take action; we need to ask Jesus in our heart and to live for Him and walk with Him and renew our minds in the word of God and prayer and be transformed into the image of Christ. The real gospel doesn’t sell in this world, and for this reason Hollywood refuses to teach the full gospel, but then it is not their job to teach the gospel. They are doing it because they see money in it. When we quantified all the people who claimed to be Christians, it would conflict with what Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Mat 7-13,14). Anybody who is getting wealthy on the gospel is not teaching the truth. We need teachers nowadays who are not blind themselves, who can effectively lead God's people through the wilderness of this life. (169c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is blind to God >> Blinded by Satan’s thoughts >> Blinded by a false sense of sight – The Pharisees were highly religious people; Jesus could not heal blind men who thought they could see. Jesus said of the Pharisees, “Let them alone.” The man who could control the wind and the waves of the sea could not help those who could not see their need. Jesus was powerless to help the Pharisees understand the truth or convince them to follow Him. There are lots of people we cannot help, and we need to discern between them and those we can help and focus our energy and resources on them. When we go fishing and throw our line in the water and catch nothing, it is wise to reel-in, pick up our tackle box and look for a better fishing hole. Lk 6-40 (42f) Conform To Christ (Key verse) (43c) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Conform to the character of Jesus’ image – God has called us to discipline, like Paul said 1Cor 9-27, “I discipline my body and make it my slave.” We train our flesh to be like Jesus, though the flesh is slow to accept the things of God, yet we can force it to do whatever we want. The flesh is like a spoiled kid that only wants what his feeling and emotions dictate, but we can decide whether he gets his way. If we choose not to give our flesh what it wants, it might scream and holler and throw a temper tantrum, but eventually it will run out of energy, and because it is undisciplined it doesn’t have the fortitude or character to push through our resistance, and like training a horse, it will finally surrender and let us ride it, so we can use our flesh as a vehicle to do the will of God. However, we must persevere in these things, so when it submits to our will, we can claim authority over it. (43h) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Perfect (mature) – After we have been fully trained we will be like Jesus. We will be on the same level with Him. He will raise us with Him and seat us on His own throne in heaven that His Father has given Him (Eph 2-6). This is the authority that God intends to give us in eternity. Although we may have His heavenly authority, we will be fully trained and continually grow to become more like Jesus but never quite arrive, like an asymptote, a term in mathematics defined as: a curved line reaching a vertex that forever gets closer as it approaches infinity. (109i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit the teacher >> Spirit trains us to be like Jesus (137i) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Maturity >> Maturing in Jesus is hard work >> Maturity is a training process – Jesus was the first Christian. In Jn 14-12 He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” If Jesus taught that we can do the things He did, then we will also have a relationship with God similar to His own, for we have the same Spirit. The question is: how close do we want to be with God, and what sacrifices are we willing to make to achieve that relationship? The sacrifice in coming to know God is to overcome our sinful flesh through our commitment to the word of God and prayer. Having a relationship with God is really no different from any other relationship; it takes time and effort. People come and go in our lives, people we really liked we don’t see anymore for logistic reasons mostly, and this can also happen in our relationship with God. We can zealously seek Him and in ten years our faith fizzles, because we no longer spend the time and effort developing that relationship in the way we live, walk and pray. Lk 6-41,42 (53h) Paradox >> Opposites >> Blind discernment (175g) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance >> Dodging the issue (willful ignorance) >> Evading the heart of the matter – We are adept at seeing the littlest speck in other people, but we can’t seem to get far enough away from ourselves to see our own faults, like being unable to see the forest through the trees. We take an instrument in our hand and offer our assistance, prodding in someone else’s eyeball while we have a giant log in our own eye. ‘How can you see what you are doing with that log in your eye,’ is what any passerby would ask. Sin blinds its host to its presence so he doesn’t know to rid himself of it, while it heightens his senses to the same sins in other people. Jesus is talking about teachers (v39) in their cause of a lack of knowledge from their faults that they are unwilling to address. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 6,43-45 (129a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Bearing fruit >> Evidence of your fruit >> The type of fruit indicates who you are serving – Jesus used weedy plants with needles to describe people who would counterfeit a fruit tree. Attempting to glean nutritious food from people like this is a waste of time, for they have nothing to offer. When we try to partake of their fruit, we find it a painful endeavor, and if we come too close, they sink their needles into our skin and tear our clothes. In contrast, an apple tree is a lovely plant, and on a grape vine hangs wonderful fruit. These are very nurturing to the body, and they give us vitality and brightness. These people bear good fruit and offer spiritual health, because they have bothered to develop a relationship with Jesus, so they have something to share. They are filled with the Spirit and have all good words to speak, and we come away edified in our souls. They make us feel closer to heaven to be around them, but watch out for those thistles and briars, for they have nothing to offer but pain and suffering, and if we find ourselves in a patch of them, we’ll be sorry. Lk 6-45 (74g) Thy kingdom come >> Heart is central value system >> Man’s treasure chest (79a) Thy kingdom come >> Putting your heart on display >> Faith and disobedience are in the balance (84c) Words Of Your Mouth (Key verse) (156j) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of salvation >> You will know them by their words Lk 6,46-49 (51e) Judgment >> Judging the Church with the world >> Warning against hypocrisy (87b) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Be doers of the word from the heart >> We have no choice but to be doers of the word (195j) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Lord, Lord >> Lip service – “Lord, Lord,” He said twice, talking about people giving Him lip service. James the epistle, reads like Jesus spoke; He was a works oriented preacher. James wanted to see these good things of our boasting; he didn't want to just hear about them or be required to believe us. He wanted us to do what Jesus said and pattern our lives after His words; then he will believe we are a true child of God. This was James’ gospel, and it was the teaching of Christ. (206k) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Eternal security? >> Perish in your sin >> Perish in your omission of righteousness – Believers in eternal security use Jn 10,27-29 to support their claims, and in a sense they're right; nobody can take our salvation from us, not even Satan. If we decide to get saved and dedicate our lives to Jesus, the devil cannot stop us. Jesus has taken the keys of death and hell from him. Paul made that perfectly clear in Rom 8-38,39. He listed numerous forces in this world that have no power over our eternal destiny; nobody can “separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our lord.” However, there was one person missing in Paul’s list of impotent forces: the believer himself. We can give up on God whenever we want. We can blaspheme the Holy Spirit and develop a reprobate mind after we are saved. This has happened to many people throughout the ages, but the person who is totally committed to Christ and absolutely determined to go to heaven needn’t worry about this. Sin has the power to separate us from God, but it happens slowly in stages. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 6,47-49 (137b) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Jesus is the foundation >> Jesus is the rock of the Church’s foundation – Jesus is the foundation of our house, and our house is our faith in Him, consisting of joists and lumber and studs of true knowledge that we discover in the Bible that we connect together in the gospel of salvation. If we don’t build our teaching on the Scripture, our flesh is attracted to all that is wrong and evil, and we will invariably adopt principles that we think are shortcuts, but will lead to spiritual ruin and collapse. Jesus criticizes those who merely give Him lip service. They say, ‘I am an involved member of my church.’ Jesus is talking about our relationship with Him, not about religious involvement, bake sales, building programs and whether we tithe. What is our theology? It represents the structure of your house. Do we know what we believe; do we believe what the Bible teaches, and do we apply what we know? These things pertain to building your house on the foundation of Christ. Lk 6-48 (137a) Jesus Is The Foundation (Key verse) Lk 6-49 (200d) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Rejecting the faith of God >> Rejecting Christ through disobedience – The house is only as strong as its foundation. If a house is built on shifting sand and begins to slide off its foundation, the house is a total loss; but if a man anchors a well-built house in solid rock, it will stand the test of time. For a house that is built on sand, it doesn’t take that big of a storm to demolish it, especially if it is built next to the sea, where hurricanes roam. A house built on shifting sand is more like a bungalow; it doesn’t even particularly need a storm to destroy it, just a little time, and before long its foundation is no longer square, shifting with the underlying sand; the joists are no longer square with the walls and the walls no longer at ninety-degree angles. Perhaps even the windows crack, and eventually the entire structure collapses at the slightest undulation. (215g) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> Suddenly >> The judgments of God come suddenly >> Without warning See next page