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MATTHEW CHAPTERS 9 & 10 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel See previous page Mat 9,1-8 (59b) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> Your sins are forgiven / You are healed – Jesus attracted large crowds both from his speaking and from His signs and wonders. He had performed miracles before this, and now the Pharisees were calling Him a blasphemer because He claimed to forgive sins. Mk 2-7 records the Pharisees rightly saying, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” If an ordinary man could forgive sin, it would mean that man’s sin was not actually against God, but since only God can forgive sin, it proves that sin is aimed directly against God, making Him the only person who can forgive sin. The Scribes had a good point; they knew God only could forgive sin, but what they didn’t know was that Jesus was God in the flesh. Jesus called their thoughts evil, though they were theologically correct; their evil was being unwilling to acknowledge Jesus as God, their long awaited Messiah. He was saying that these men had enough evidence to know that this was true, especially after He sent the paralytic home on his feet, and He had done other things that only God could do. See also: Jesus can forgive sin; Mat 9,4-7; 12n Mat 9-1,2 (88d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith produces works >> The function of works in faith >> Faith doesn’t move God until it is manifested in the natural realm Mat 9,2-8 (145e) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Healing >> Pursuing the healing power of God KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 9,4-7 (12n) Servant >> Jesus serves mankind >> Jesus is the son of man – The son of man (not the Son of God) had authority to forgive sins. What did Jesus mean by the “son of man”? It means that Jesus is younger and smaller than any man, small in the sense that He humbled Himself more than anyone and became the servant of man. When we add the fact that Jesus descended from the heights of heaven to dwell among us, we see that He infinitely humbled Himself, making Him infinitely smaller than man. Jesus being a grown man was innocent as a baby. As newborns are incapable of evil, so was Jesus, and for that reason when He bled and died on the cross, God used His blood sacrifice to forgive sin. So we see that Jesus' ability to forgive was a preemption of the cross. He was the only adult who was without sin; no other person can claim this. Jesus obeyed His Father as He “sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law” (Gal 4-4), and He accomplished the work that His Father had given Him to do, healing the paralytic. Nobody could argue with His ability to heal, and therefore nobody could argue about His ability to forgive sin. Nobody could say that Jesus was wrong, because the paralytic walked home in perfect health. See also: Jesus can forgive sin; Mat 9-4; 68l Mat 9,4-6 (62j) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Being clever >> Let the Holy Spirit vindicate you Mat 9-4 (68l) Authority >> Discernment >> Judging between truth and error >> Perceiving false reasoning – This is the story of healing the paralytic (also told in Mk 2,1-13). The Pharisees accused Jesus of blasphemy after He told the paralytic that his sins were forgiven, and though Jesus didn’t hear their conversation, He discerned their thoughts and said to them that they were thinking evil in their hearts. To declare sins forgiven would in fact have been blasphemy had it been anyone else, so in that sense they were right in their understanding of Scripture, but they were wrong in their estimation of Jesus. In the account of the book of Mark they said, “Only God can forgive sins,” which is true. So if they were right in their thinking, then why did Jesus accuse them of thinking evil in their hearts? There is a recurring concept throughout the New Testament; Jesus numerous times pointed out the fact that the Jews should have known He was their Messiah. This is why He told them their hearts were evil: they should have known Jesus was the Son of God. Their willful ignorance refused to believe they were in the presence of God in the flesh, the expected One for whom their nation hoped for centuries, even the God that Moses worshipped. Mankind did not deserve a visitation from God like this, yet He came and they refused to recognize Him, and Jesus called them evil. See also: Jesus can forgive sin; Mat 9,1-8; 59b Mat 9-9 (215l) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> Suddenly >> The disciples immediately followed Jesus – All Jesus’ disciples immediately followed Him the moment He called them; that is His standard of discipleship. If a preacher came to town and preached a gospel message and commanded everybody to get saved, and invited everybody to come to the altar to give their hearts to Jesus, they could sit in their seats and think about it as long as they wanted without offending God, but if we hear the Holy Spirit inviting us to follow Him, we had better immediately get up and follow Him, or the moment will pass, and the wind will blow away our opportunity to be saved. Jesus said in Lk 14-33, “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.” He didn’t say anybody can be my disciple; He said “none of you,” meaning the default is that we are not His disciples, so when God calls us we should feel privileged (Lk 13,23-29). Far more people are going to hell than will make it to heaven, and part of the reason is that people don’t answer the call as Matthew did. No doubt God prepared Matthew’s heart to follow Jesus before He came, and no doubt Matthew had met Jesus prior to His invitation, and he had probably been thinking about Jesus ever since his first encounter with Him, so when the time came, Matthew left everything and immediately followed Him. He was in the tax collector’s booth and abandoned it. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 9,10-13 (207la) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Salvation verses >> The kindness of God >> God is kind to sinners >> He calls sinners to repentance – It was the religious establishment that persecuted Jesus. If secular people persecuted Him, it was so rare that it was not worth mentioning, so our greatest enemies are those with a penchant for religion, and those in the church whose hearts are far from Him. In other words, those who pose the greatest threat to the sheep are the goats and wolves, the Pharisees of our day. When Jesus said, ‘I did not call the righteous but sinners to repentance,’ He was being facetious, calling the Pharisees righteous, and those who were listening to Him sinners. When we think about it, the truth was just the opposite; the Pharisees were sinners, and those listening to Jesus were seeking the righteousness of God. This was highly paradoxical, Jesus Himself being a paradox to the sinful flesh of man in so many ways. Old covenant Israel got sidetracked into legalism, shortly after they settled in the land of promise, assuming faith and fixating on law; faith was no longer the active ingredient in their salvation but keeping the Law. All their seeking approval from God was based on the sacrifices they made, ignoring the intent of the Law while oppressing their neighbor. Jesus said that even if they did fulfill the Law as intended, compassion is better. In essence, Jesus was saying that compassion was the intent of the Law, making no mention of faith, but anything less than compassion is unacceptable to God no matter how hard we believe. Mat 9-13 (123f) Thy Kingdom Come >> Manifestations of faith >> Love >> Spiritual affection >> Compassion >> Compassion is greater than sacrifice (235c) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Tithing >> Be faithful in your tithes >> Unfaithfulness nullifies your tithe – God desires compassion over our tithe, meaning that if we don’t live and walk with a heart of compassion, our lack of it will nullify our tithe. That is, He doesn’t consider our sacrifices meaningful apart from love. Man may have received the sacrifices we have made, and maybe they have done some good with them, but God did not receive them, and in the believer's judgment, God will forget to reward the man who prioritized sacrifices above compassion. We give in hope of a return, not to get our money back, but that we should receive spiritual blessings from the Lord for our commitment and investment into His kingdom, but if we do not walk in love, he will disregard our tithes and offerings. We must be well-rounded Christians, faithful in all things, not just in one or two areas. We must do the whole will of God in order to receive a full reward, so we are lacking in no good thing. (249a) Priorities >> God’ s preeminence >> Values >> The Highest Values >> Spirit over the law -- We make sacrifices with our flesh, but we exercise compassion with our heart. For example, take people working together in a hunger relief program for the poor, those who do not walk in love consider their efforts a sacrifice of their time, while others practice compassion. Those sacrificing their time are doing it from as sense of duty, while others concerned about their fellow man do it from love. Compassion is greater than sacrifice as the Spirit is greater than the law. Mat 9-14,15 (189i) Fasting (Key verse) (189k) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Masochism (Self-made martyr) >> Fasting >> Fasting is a state of mourning – Note that there were disciples of John and disciples of Jesus and that they were not in competition with each other. Jesus did not try to convert them to His ministry but let them stay with John, knowing that John would point them to Jesus, that they would eventually make the transition to Him after John was killed. John’s disciples fasted because he was not the Messiah, whereas Jesus’ disciples didn’t fast because He was the Messiah. We don’t fast during good times but during hard times. We fast and pray and read our Bible and seek God during times of mourning, hardship and confusion, times when we don’t understand our own lives and the direction we are headed and the circumstances that are befalling us and the problems that are developing on the horizon, when nothing is happening as we expected after we spent so much time and effort preparing and hoping for things to work in our favor. When we feel utterly lost in the world, that is when we fast and seek God. This indicates the purpose of fasting: it is a way to simulate dying to self, in that if we continued fasting, eventually we would die of starvation. We fast for a day or two as a means of feeling the dying process. Fasting is a way of telling God that we wish this life would end so we could be with Him in paradise. Fasting is a way of telling God we don’t care about this life; we only care about the one to come. Fasting is a way of telling God we would rather die than sin against Him. When we are tempted, we fast, because it brings about new problems; we focus on our hunger instead of our old problems. Mat 9-16,17 (132k) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Holy Spirit is in God’s people >> Holy Spirit is in the hearts of men – In the days of Noah people had only their conscience to teach them right from wrong, but after a while they manipulated their conscience to do whatever they wanted, so God sent a flood and destroyed them all, except eight persons of Noah’s family. After a few generations God raised up Abraham and introduced the concept of faith, and later God used one of his descendants, Moses, to set down the Law for Israel to follow. The Law was written clearly enough that anybody could read it and follow it without misconstruing it. For example, when it says, you shall not commit murder, it means just that, and when it says, ‘do not steal,’ it means just that. There is no way to make it say anything else; still it didn’t work. Instead of ignoring the Law, they added to it and then enforced their manmade precepts above that which was given to them from heaven (Act 7,51-53), and so they bypassed the Law (Mat 15,1-9). Then, God sent His Son who offered His life’s blood for the sins of the world and made a way for God to send the Holy Spirit into the hearts of believers that they might follow Him, who has caused the Law to be written in their hearts (Rom 2,14-16; Heb 8,10-13 from Jeremiah 31,31-34). Nevertheless, after 2000 years, man worked his way around even the cross, and the Church has fallen into apostasy and man has corrupted himself as in the days of Noah. Therefore, we conclude that when God tries to communicate with man in his sinful flesh, without physically being present among them, nothing works. Jesus is coming again and will establish His own kingdom on the earth for a thousand years, and He will personally teach man the ways of God, and the world will live in peace during His reign, proving that it has always been leadership that has corrupted the world. Had man the right leaders, man could have lived in peace with God and with each other, had they just followed their conscience or followed the Law or been willing to follow the Holy Spirit. Sinful flesh, even with the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, needs leadership to direct them in the ways of God. Those who fight and struggle the most for leadership positions are the ones least equipped to do the job, yet invariably they are always the ones who fill those positions, and those whom God would prefer to lead His people are suppressed. See also: History of Israel; Lk 15,11-32; 50dd (185a) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Abusing the grace of God >> Dragging God’s Grace Through The Mud >> Operating His grace through religion – God places His anointing on those whom He has personally trained, who have not been so much influenced by the various religions of the world, but by the word of God and prayer. Jesus was saying that God infuses His Spirit in His disciples with a willingness to serve Him, but the religious establishment of His day believed and taught doctrines that did not match the truth in God’s mind, and so they could not receive the Holy Spirit. According to Jesus’ parable, if God placed His Spirit in them, it would destroy them, for the patch pulls away from the garment and leaves a worse tear than the original, and the new wine expands in brittle wineskins and bursts, so that both the wine and the skins are ruined. Therefore, willingness to believe the truth must be present in His people before God places His Spirit in them. Unfortunately, those who believe the truth, who are filled with the Spirit, and then were persuaded by heretics, by false shepherds and by false prophets, if they abandoned the truth for lies, the wineskins burst inside them and their faith is ruined (Heb 6,4-8). The Holy Spirit becomes an enemy to them and destroys them. Therefore, if we Christians don’t believe the truth, God is not our friend but our enemy, in that as the patch pulls from the garment, it makes a greater tear than the original; the wineskins burst so both the wine and the person are wasted. For this reason there needs to be a change of doctrine and teaching that conforms to the truth in these last days before God will move among His people, because in so many cases willingness to believe the truth is not present. Instead of believing a lot of invented precepts of men they claim correlates with Scripture, God intends to raise up His own people, the Jews. The Bible says that in the last days they will come to believe in Jesus, and they will lead the gentiles in a Great Endtime Revival and preach the true doctrines of the faith, and God will fill His revival with the Spirit in measures that He has reserved for that day and hour, and there will be a great ingathering of souls before the end comes. In order for this revival to occur the truth must be restored, for He is unwilling and frankly unable to work with people who believe a lot of religious deception. See also: Great Endtime Revival (Jews expected to return to the faith); 1Cor 10-6; 8p (222e) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Do not give what is holy to dogs >> God does not entrust his treasures to dogs >> If you are unfaithful, God won’t bother with you -- Many people have a grasp on the Scriptures but cannot seem to get over certain sins that keep dragging them down the wrong path. With them God is unwilling to disclose His precious anointing until they are able to straighten out their lives and dispose of their hang-ups. God will not disclose until we dispose. See also: God anoints the truth; Mat 9-17; 110ja Mat 9-17 (110ja) Thy Kingdom Come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit of revelation >> Revelation of the truth >> Revelation of the true Church -- God does not place His anointing on religious or unfaithful people any more than He reveals His true doctrines to churches teaching bad theology. This means whenever there is a revival, there is also an alteration of doctrine, in order that He might place His anointing on accurate teachings, unmarred by man's religion. Look at Martin Luther for example. First came the alteration of his new doctrine of grace through faith, then came one of the greatest revivals to ever hit this world. God cannot anoint religious deception and ignorance, He only anoints the truth that we believe. See also: God anoints the truth; Mat 9-16,17; 222e Mat 9-18,19 -- No Entries KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 9,20-22 (110b) Thy Kingdom Come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit speaks through you >> Word of knowledge >> knowing the mind of Christ -- This woman rightly believed that Jesus was God in human flesh, that if only she touched the fringe of His cloak she would be healed. Based on these two things: the availability of the Spirit and walking in the truth, this woman got what she needed. These two components must exist whenever God works in a person's life. The Spirit and the Word can be combined in a myriad different ways necessary for a visitation from God, except in rare cases when God works sovereignly by His grace. This occurs at the beginning of a new dispensation, for example, when the angels visited the shepherds to announce the arrival of the world's Christ. In most cases, though, He requires some kind of involvement on our part, for He doesn't want us mere spectators of His grace, but active participants, such as when the shepherds came to see the child where He lay. (144k) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Healing >> Methods of healing >> Healed by touching Jesus Mat 9-22 (226k) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of heaven >> God rewards us for obeying Him >> Rewarded for believing in God -- This verse goes with verse 29 Mat 9,23-26 (147g) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Raising the dead -- Raising the dead was seen by Jesus' onlookers as some of His greatest miracles, probably because we don't know anything about death. It will forever remain a mystery among mortals. It has always been mystifying and fearful to us. However, the miracle of raising the dead was no more taxing on Christ than passing the potatoes at the dinner table. He merely uttered a few words and it was done, no long ceremony, no loss of blood. All of Jesus' miracles were anticlimactic, requiring faith even witnessing a miracle. See also: Requirement of faith; Mat 9-23,24; 107b Mat 9-23,24 (107b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Word creates faith >> Jesus’ words create faith – The flute players were professional mourners, and others were neighbors, friends and relatives of the family. Jesus would not perform the miracle in front of them, because they did not believe. Why was faith so important to Jesus that He would not let the unbelievers witness the miracle firsthand? God works exclusively through faith; unbelief kills faith! In order for God to perform a miracle, He either needs faith to be present or at least unbelief to be absent. At the onset of His ministry, before He started preaching the gospel and performing miracles, there was no reason for the people to believe in Him, but after He had preached the gospel for a while, He created faith in the people, and then He began performing signs and wonders among them. Jesus had performed many miracles before this, so the people had reason to believe in Him, but they didn’t believe, so they were not allowed to witness the works of God. See also: Requirement of faith; 198j (198j) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Frustrating the grace of God >> Frustrating Jesus through unbelief – Not only was Jesus unwilling to have unbelievers in the room with Him, He couldn’t have performed the miracle with them present, because unbelief has a negative power stifling the work of God. In Mat 13-58 it says, “He did not do many miracles there [in His hometown] because of their unbelief.” How big of an impact does unbelief have in our own ministries? The way to comprehend unbelief is to understand faith. Unbelief has the power to smother the work of God; why can’t He work in the presence of unbelief? The principle: “Do not give what is holy to dogs” (Mat 7-6) is pertinent, meaning unbelievers are unworthy to witness miracles, but the reason goes deeper than that. It has to do with the nature of God contrasting with the nature of unbelief; these are two opposite realms. Not even Jesus could muster enough faith to believe in His Father for a miracle when unbelief crowded Him; it grieves His Spirit so deeply that it literally stifled the Son of God; how much more does unbelief stifle our faith? See also: Requirement of faith; Mat 9,27-30; 115g Mat 9,23-26; 147g KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 9-24,25 (94k) Thy Kingdom Come >> God’s perspective on death -- We see death as the end of our lives, whereas God sees it in a couple different ways. He doesn't see it as something permanent as we do, but merely as a transitional state while we pass from one life into the other. He also sees it as we see sleep, anything but permanent, something pliable, fixable. As we awake in the morning, God raises the dead. (243b) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Mocking Christ Mat 9,27-30 (115g) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Laying on of hands >> Seeing signs, wonders and miracles – Jesus said this many times, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.” He was saying a couple things here: Their faith was involved in healing, and Jesus could not heal any more than their faith allowed. In other words, faith is the limiting factor. Some people get the cart before the horse and say that our faith is what heals us, but it is God who heals. He requires our faith, simply because He doesn’t want to work for us; He wants to work with us (2Cor 6-1). There are a few reasons this is true, but by far the most important reason is that God the Father is composed of faith; it is His substance. John said that God is love (1Jn 4,7-16), and then Paul repeatedly spoke about faith and love together as though they were one. Therefore, God’s essence is faith as much as love, and for this reason He does all things through love, and for the same reason He requires faith. He cannot do anything apart from faith, and He refuses to do anything apart from us. Love is the manifestation of faith, and faith is the substance of love. There are many people who don’t believe in God, yet they usually love their immediate family members, but then don’t care about anybody else; this is what makes them unbelievers. The absence of faith and love has an erosion effect on society, and so man’s unbelief is unsustainable. Unbelief in God will cause any society to fall into a pit of human depravity that man has fallen throughout the millennia. Civilization is impossible without these two sisters: faith and love. (144j) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Healing >> Methods of healing >> Healed by Jesus’ touch -- Jesus was the truth, and with the truth there could be a hundred different ways to heal someone, but without the truth, no one can be healed. This makes God's truth important as faith, and faith is the prerequisite for love. So we see that these three must exist to create the spiritual environment for miracles to occur. Mat 9-29 (226k) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of heaven >> God rewards us for obeying Him >> Rewarded for believing in God -- This verse goes with verse 22. There is a saying, "Those who believe obey and those who obey believe," but there are times when believing is obeying, like when the blind men believed in Jesus for their sight. They didn't do much to exhibit obedience except to follow Jesus into the house. Sometimes our belief is concrete as our actions, and other times God grants our prayers answered based on believing without having to do much to prove our faith. See also: Requirement of faith; Mat 9-30,31; 201b Mat 9-30,31 (201b) Denying Christ >> Whoever is not with Jesus is against him >> You are against Christ when your unbelief materializes >> Our disobedience is against Christ – When Jesus asked these blind men, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”, they said yes and their eyes were opened. Jesus gave them orders to tell no one, but they told everyone. Although they were happy they met Jesus and received their sight, they blabbed the miracle in disobedience, which was tantamount to unbelief. These guys had faith to be healed, but not enough to obey the Lord. What does that say? It takes more faith to obey the Lord than it does to believe in Him for healing! It partly shows why we don’t see healing in the Church these days, because of a lack of obedience, which is tantamount to unbelief. Before Jesus created faith in the people through His word, He could not perform many miracles, but the more popular He became, the fewer miracles He could perform without getting into trouble with the religious establishment. If people obeyed the Lord, we would see more healing, but because we are unwilling to obey Him, neither do we believe. See also: Requirement of faith; Mat 9-34; 242f KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 9-32,33 (146g) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Deliverance from demon possession >> Deaf, dumb and blind spirits – There’s a lot of people who would probably have a fuller life if they were mute, and just about everybody would be happier if certain people they know were mute. James said that it is impossible not to sin with the tongue; therefore, imagine the sins this man avoided by being mute. Jesus healed him, because sin was not the issue at hand. When the man got his voice, he assuredly used it to sin, but Jesus considered it more important that the man was delivered from his demons. The reason Jesus performed miracles in the first place was to bring glory to God, and to kick off the new covenant era that began with a bang, and hundreds of thousands of people were saved with the gospel spreading like wildfire. Some miracles occurred through the apostles, but the gospel didn’t spread because of the miracles they performed but because of the gospel itself, having an appeal to people of the time, indicating they already knew they were sinners. Those who lived in and around Jerusalem were familiar with the teachings of Moses and the prophets, and so they acknowledged they were sinners, and then Jesus came with a solution, and the people were ready to receive it, but in today’s world, people are repulsed by the word “sin”, much less acknowledge they are sinners; and when we remind them of it, they often persecute us. Every divine revival is accompanied by signs, wonders and miracles, and for this reason we don’t see them, because revival is not occurring in our world today, but when the next revival comes at the end of the age, it will be accompanied by signs and wonders, and everything we have read in the Bible we will see with our eyes. Mat 9-34 (242f) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecuting God >> Persecuting Jesus – The Pharisees knew that what they were saying was not actually true; they just said it to discourage people from believing in Jesus, trying to attract attention to themselves. It was not actually possible for the Pharisees to believe their own statement, because it was a proven fact that Jesus did the work of God. Demons don’t perform healings. We have heard it said that the Catholic Church is foremostly into exorcism, yet some say that the demons merely feign being exorcised by Catholic priests or that there was no demon possession in the first place, in effort to deceive the people that God uses Catholicism to do His will, but this follows the pattern of what the Pharisees said about Jesus, that He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons. The Catholic Church has specialized in exorcism, though most Catholic priests are all but devoid of God's truth, proving just how little faith it takes to cast out demons. See also: Requirement of faith; Mat 9,23-26; 147g Mat 9,35-38 (129d) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Bearing the fruit of evangelism >> Bearing the fruit of the gospel – If we don’t pray, the harvesters (evangelists) won't come, and without revival harvesters can do nothing. Paul said in 1Cor 3-6, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.” There is a process involved; there are seed-sowers, the rains must come, and there are harvesters, just like in a regular farm field, only the crop is human souls, but during times of apostasy few are saved. We are not to fear the extinction of the Church, for if Satan could not kill it in the last 2000 years, he never will. Christianity is currently represented by religiosity as a placeholder for revival; then this sleeping giant will awaken with a genuine faith in the truth with subsequent persecution. When revival comes, God will reintroduce the true doctrines of the faith and dispel the heresies that have accumulated over the centuries. During these times of apostasy, people become dispirited like sheep without a shepherd, and there could be no better description of the world today. We are a distressed people. Periods of apostasy are stressful, because wickedness is allowed to reign unchecked, and people fear the currents of human emotion. The Church is helpless to do anything, groping in the darkness trying to find its way, much less leading the world to Jesus. See also: Great Endtime Revival (Harvest at the end of the age); Mat 13-30; 237c Mat 9-35 (145c) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Healing >> Jesus healed them all Mat 9-37,38 (82a) Thy Kingdom Come >> Three elements of prayer >> Direction (Attitude) >> What to pray for -- There are three elements of prayer; one of them is direction. (The other two are: our approach to prayer, and where to pray.) The prayer of evangelism is the prayer of direction because it is the first step in bringing the gospel to a region. _________________________________ MATTHEW CHAPTER 10 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 10,1-15 (8k) Responsibility >> Responsible to defend God’s cause >> Preparing for the ministry -- Jesus sent His disciples out with a purpose and a message, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand," and for this reason Jesus gave them authority to cast out demons, because the demons would surely oppose their message. Jesus Himself planned to visit those villages after the disciples prepared the way for Him, like the ministry of John the Baptist. Jesus would never send us where He would not go Himself, but if we make sure that the kingdom has come near, He will make a personal appearance to empower His gospel. Without Him, all we have is words, and we can't expect anyone to make a commitment to a lot of words, but we can expect someone to make a commitment to a proven Christ, based on the words that God has given us to give them. This is where the apostles' confidence and insistence originated in demanding the people's obedience to their message. See also: The disciples; Mat 10,1-4; 93g Mat 10,1-4 (93g) Thy kingdom come >> Following Jesus >> Disciples follow Him – Jesus never formerly chose Judas Iscariot (Jn 13-18); rather, it was more an acceptance into the group. That is, Judas invited himself. Jesus picked twelve men who were completely clueless about His plan and purpose. The religious establishment had previously indoctrinated them in their own teachings, which involved skipping over the first coming of Christ and centering on His second coming, and the disciples honestly never let go of this teaching until Jesus rose from the dead; then He finally captured their attention. Jesus said, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old” (Mat 13-52). This means a person never fully releases his former beliefs but becomes a mixed bag of religious ideas. What we believed when we first got saved will remain in the background like shadows as we mature in the faith, crouching at the doorstep, waiting for an opportunity to retake center stage. This was the case with the disciples while they walked with Jesus: He tried to teach them His ideas, but they pieced them into their old ideas, which didn’t fit (Mat 9-16). They could not in good conscience pitch what Jesus said, and they didn’t want to jettison what they had previously learned, so they were stuck, not knowing what Jesus meant and becoming more and more confused about what they once believed, until He rose from the dead. Then they determined that everything He said was true, and everything that contradicted was false. See also: The disciples; Mat 10-1; 71c / Jesus Twelve Disciples. Mat 10-1 (71c) Authority >> Believer’s authority >> We have authority over demons -- This verse goes with verse 8. The disciples didn’t have authority over the unclean spirits until Jesus gave it to them. Note that they received authority before Pentecost, indicating that their ability to cast our demons was from Jesus simply telling them they had authority. Remember the seven sons of Sceva (Act 19,13-16)? They tried to cast out a demon and it protested saying, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Compare this account with the authority the disciples were given; they received direct authority from Christ to cast out demons. The seven sons of Sceva tried to wield the authority that Paul had without receiving it directly from God. In another instance when the disciples couldn’t cast out a demon, Jesus told them that it was from the littleness of their faith in Jesus telling them they had authority (Mat 17-20). In Mk 16-17 Jesus said, “These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons.…” A person must actually believe in Jesus before they can cast out demons. The seven sons of Sceva didn’t believe in Jesus, and they didn’t really care about the demon-possessed person; they just wanted authority probably to sell their services. Whenever the New Testament uses the word “believe”, such as in the last chapter of Mark, it refers to obedience. We can put Mk 16-17 this way: “These signs will accompany those who have [obeyed].” Obedience is the prerequisite to obtaining God’s faith, and it is by His faith that we cast out demons, and His faith can be defined as the anointing. The anointing came at Pentecost and the disciples cast our demons before Pentecost, indicating that Jesus endowed his disciples with an anointing as a precursor to Pentecost, similar to the Old Testament prophets. The disciples did not even have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them until after His resurrection; Jesus blew on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn 20-22). Therefore, in Mat 10-1 Jesus gave them preemptive authority to cast out demons that they would eventually receive in full at Pentecost, an anointing to obey Christ, and by these things they cast out demons. See also: The disciples; 145d / We get to heaven by the indwelling Holy Spirit; Gal 3-3; 238aa (145d) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Healing >> Jesus heals through the Church -- This verse goes with verse 8. It is one thing for Jesus to heal someone, but it is another for Him to heal someone through His disciples, because now He has multiplied Himself in His witnesses who are not just passive spectators, but active participants of His gospel. That speaks a strong message to the world that God is not only seeking mankind, but that mankind is listening. He has a great plan for us, and is expecting an appropriate response, which sets heavy conviction in the minds of the people. If God merely worked alone, He wouldn't get this kind of response. See also: The disciples; Mat 10,1-15; 8k (146h) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Deliverance from demon possession >> Disciples have authority to cast out demons Mat 10,5-15 (149f) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Preaching the gospel to the world >> Preach "Thy kingdom come" Mat 10-8 (34m) Gift of God >> Be generous like your Father >> Give to the poor -- Obviously there are some Christians who are rich, but generally the poor more readily receive the gospel. Jesus said in this verse, "Freely you have received, freely give." Prior to saying this Jesus told His disciples that they had power from heaven to, "heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons." This is what God is willing to give. He does not give money; if He did, people would line-up around the block to receive from God. If money is not important in heaven, then we shouldn't emphasize it in this life. Instead, He gives things that are important in eternity, like the power to become His sons and daughters and lead the sinner to salvation. We all know what it means to give to the poor, but we usually think of giving earthly things to help them make it through the day. Jesus also gave earthly gifts to the poor, but He mostly wanted to give them spiritual things. See also: Walking in the authority of Christ; Mat 10,11-15; 71ab (71c) Authority >> Believer’s authority >> We have authority over demons -- This verse goes with verse 1 (145d) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Healing >> Jesus heals through the Church -- This verse goes with verse 1 (234l) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Be a blessing >> Freely give what you received from God -- This verse goes with verses 11-13 (235h) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Giving (your inner self) >> Be liberal in your giving like God – Jesus spoke these things as though performing signs and wonders were a natural offshoot of being His disciple, and the book of Acts testifies of instances where they performed miracles, many of which are on this list. These things happened for a while, but then they faded. What happened? Paul in His later years spoke about some of his fellow disciples being sick, and he having an eye ailment. He prayed for them, and they did not die, but why were they sick in the first place? Even in the days of Paul, in his older age, signs and wonders had already faded. In the beginning of his ministry taking a handkerchief from Paul and laying it on a sick person caused him to recover, and Peter’s shadow falling on a sick person healed him. That was in the beginning, and then miraculous signs and wonders slowly faded. People say that this had to do with a dispensation that ended, but Jesus didn’t talk about dispensations; he said, “These signs will accompany those who believe” (Mk 16-17). Jesus made no concession for disobedience, but that is what happened; the apostles were not disobedient but the Church as a whole. The First Century Church was faithful for a while, but there was a lot of carnality, secularism and disobedience marbled in and among the people, and it stifled the ministry of signs and wonders. God wanted to reveal Himself to the people when the Church was first born, and to get people’s attention He performed signs and wonders through His apostles. Once the Church got off the ground and began to flourish, signs and wonders became less necessary, this being the second reason they faded. Therefore, Jesus, when he talked about performing signs and wonders, was referring to periods of revival, and He said about these periods not to withhold the gift from anyone who believes and is seeking God and needs a miracle. Dispensations are a man-made idea that cannot be supported in Scripture, though that is not to say there are no dispensations, such as the old covenant and the new, but inter-dispensations don’t exist; that is, they were not prophesied, neither in the Old Testament nor in the New. Mat 10-9,10 (71f) Authority >> Ordained by God >> Preachers are worthy of their support (130g) Thy Kingdom Come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Committed to caring for the needs of the body >> Caring for spiritual needs (249e) Priorities >> God’ s preeminence >> Wealth >> True perception of wealth >> Do not trust the carnal perception of wealth >> Do not depend on wealth -- We have a tendency to do too much stockpiling of resources for the future, instead of trusting in God. Let's face it, the carnal version of security only works when times are good, when we don't need it. Adversity will carry off our treasures and erase years off our life that we spent gathering them, time that could have been better spent gathering heavenly treasures. Jesus lived the way He instructed His disciples, counter to society and culture and to our own reasoning. He knows when we need a new pair of shoes, and He will always meet our needs, but we may not have a two or three-year supply. All we really need is for today; God will supply tomorrow when it comes. God wants to make us trust Him for long periods, until it becomes second nature to us. He is trying to wean us off the world and onto Himself. See also: Trust in God; 2Jn-4; 33g KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 10,11-15 (26k) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Curse >> Deeds that return to the doer >> God’s blessings are a curse if you don’t walk in them -- For Jesus to come all the way from heaven is the greatest blessing ever bestowed on mankind, making those who reject Him the most appalling act of rebellion. Consequently, there is a sense of responsibility imposed on us, who are blessed with His grace. We have only one response that is palatable to God, accepting Him and inviting Him into our heart and gladly obeying whatever He says with fear and trembling. He has come to bless us, not to curse us; but if we do not respond appropriately, His blessing will become a curse. (71ab) Authority >> Believer’s authority >> We have authority from God to evangelize the world >> We have authority to propel the gospel into all the world -- These verses go with verse 40. God put us in His place as though He came in person, and He gave us His authority when we carry the gospel into the world, "but make sure of this, that the Kingdom of God has come near" (Lk 10-10). Miracles are more prevalent with the evangelist taking the gospel into the world, than with the pastor and teacher in the Church, because God is trying to reach unbelievers in the world, and the way to do that is through signs and wonders. This is how we get the world’s attention, but those in the Church already believe in God. The pastor and teacher have authority over the Church to preach the word mostly to those who already believe, encouraging them to receive instruction in the teachings and doctrines that conform to godliness, but the apostle, evangelist and prophet have authority in the world to spread the gospel. They have an arsenal of tools they use to prove God's message to unbelievers. The gospel is his foremost weapon of righteousness, coming in the authority of Christ. God respects the evangelist as much as He respected His Son; we are His representatives in the world, and Jesus said, “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me” (v40), and so the chain of command goes all the way back to God. Therefore, anybody who rejects us is rejecting God, who accompanies the evangelist with signs and wonders. See also: Walking in the authority of Christ; Mat 10,11-13; 234l (71j) Authority >> Ordained by God >> God ordains us through His commandments -- These verses go with verse 40 (72b) Men Delegating Authority (Key verse) (72g) Authority >> Transferring authority >> Receiving the delegated authority of Christ (223j) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Miss God >> Missing the train >> Miss the invitation from God Mat 10,11-13 (234l) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Be a blessing >> Freely give what you received f rom God -- These verses go with verse 8. We are to remain in the same house when we enter a city so we don't offend the host, who might perceive our leaving as rejection, or they may think we are seeking better provisions elsewhere. Another reason to stay in one place is to avoid creating rumors, in that others might perceive the host having offended us. What we offer is God's peace and His gospel of eternal life, which more than compensates for the hospitality we enjoy from the souls we are seeking to save. If they do not receive what we came to offer, we should take it back, not maliciously; just let our greeting of peace return to us. We are not to let their rejection rob our faith and peace from God. See also: Walking in the authority of Christ; Mat 10,12-15; 222d Mat 10,12-15 (222d) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Do not give what is holy to dogs >> God does not entrust his treasures to dogs >> Do not give to dogs who will not receive you – When it comes to evangelism, love and truth go hand-in-hand (1Cor 13-6), but one who loves people without sharing the gospel, their love was not offered in the name of Christ, indicating they are promoting their own agenda. We are to test the spirits by giving it our greeting, and if we are received in His name, then that house has the capacity for love, but if that household will not receive our greeting, then neither will it receive our love or our gospel. “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces” (Mat 7-6). See also: Walking in the authority of Christ; Mat 10,13-15; 157c (235ga) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Giving (your inner self) >> Hospitality (providing a Mat 10-12,13 (126a) Thy Kingdom Come >> Manifestations of faith >> Peace >> God is at peace >> The peace from God (156da) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of salvation >> Loving your fellow man is evidence of sa lvation >> Love your enemies KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 10,13-15 (157c) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Rejecting God >> Rejecting God’s people – What is our blessing of peace that we extend to a household or a city but the message of the gospel? God does not want us to determine who gets to hear the message and who doesn’t, for we don’t know whom God has prepared to receive it. He wants to bless every household to give them an opportunity to hear and believe that they might receive the message of the gospel and be saved, but if they refuse, they have condemned themselves. If they don’t receive our blessing, then we are to take it back; they are not worthy of it; we are not at fault. We are to demonstrate the blessing of God and demonstrate the curse if they reject Him, wiping off the dust from our feet in protest against them. This is to show that we are erasing every trace of their unbelief from our lives; the curse is all that remains from our visit, deposited in the house, in the community or in the city to the sphere of their rejection. We are not the guilty party; we came to bless them; we did not curse them; they cursed themselves by rejecting the gospel message. God will remember the household in the Day of Judgment or the city or the nation that rejects the gospel of peace, but even before that day comes judgment often finds its mark. See also: Walking in the authority of Christ; Mat 10-14,15; 47l Mat 10-13 (70c) Authority >> Righteous judgment (outcome of discernment) >> Being sensitive to the Spirit >> Test the spirits -- Jesus was talking about operating in the gift of discernment. We are to shake the dust off our feet and go to the next city where hopefully we are better received. Mat 10-14,15 (47l) Judgment >> God judges the world >> Eternal judgment against unbelief >> Rejecting the gospel – We have authority with the gospel among those who receive it (they become our brothers and sisters in Christ), and with those who don't, we are not responsible for God’s judgment on their lives. Many think they have taken away our power simply by rejecting our message, but our authority over those who hear the gospel remains in effect either way. God has given us authority to preach the message of God's love to every creature, and after they have heard it in power and rejected it, the fact that they have rejected the knowledge of God and His will for mankind is cause for judgment. The Bible speaks of a White Throne Judgment where the wicked dead will stand before Him and be judged for their sins, especially the sin of unbelief, and He will cast them into the Lake of Fire. Their fate will be worse than that of Sodom and Gomorra for rejecting the gospel. Jesus said that they have committed a far greater sin than homosexuality and will suffer a far worse fate. This indicates there are levels of judgment in hell. If there is only one Lake of Fire and everyone is thrown into it, whose names are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life, then how can there be levels of judgment? There are things we can deduce through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The fact that there are levels of punishment in hell means there is something about each person that will cause their experience in the Lake of Fire to be worse than others. Their sins will be strapped to them, and the weight will pull them into the liquid-hot magma. Others' sins will be less so that they may float on the lake’s surface and possibly swim to shore, since it is a lake. Hell is a hellish place; nobody there will enjoy his stay. See also: Walking in the authority of Christ; Mat 10-8; 34m / Hell; Mat 10,26-28; 25c / Lake of fire (Located at the center of the new earth); Act 2-34,35; 245j (200b) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Rejecting the will of God >> Rejecting the gospel Mat 10,16-20 (110c) Thy Kingdom Come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit speaks through us in times of persecution -- This is a gift that all God's children have and will unfortunately need in the last days, during times of persecution. Jesus tells us not to be alarmed, because we will always know what to say to our enemies, when we open our mouths to speak. What we say to them is critical; in fact, it would be impossible for us to have in ourselves the right words, since what God would have us tell them we would not have the courage to say without Him. Mat 10-16 (61g) Being Clever (Key verse) (62a) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Being clever >> Responding with wisdom to your enemies >> Outwit them (180c) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Be shrewd as wolves and more innocent than they appear >> Fighting off wolves with a clever innocence >> Being more innocent than their self-righteousness -- Fight fire with fire. Most people of the world cannot be trusted, especially after they find out that you are a Christian (You cannot hide it, because they too have a sense of discernment that they have received from their father). However, we do have an arsenal of which they are completely ignorant, for they can only discern evil and the absence of it. We are to be innocent of all evil, at least as far as they know. We must be perfect around our enemies, for they will use what they can against us. (250d) Priorities >> God’s prerequisites >> Sequence of priorities >> In all things ... >> Be innocent of all Evil – Here is a big question about God—why does He send us as sheep among wolves? Why did He allow the conditions of Satan’s world versus the Church to be established, providing us with no rights to defend ourselves, so when someone slaps us in the face, we can only turn the other cheek? What is God trying to achieve in this, and why is it so important to Him? Of all the configurations that He could have created, He put His Church, His beloved people, in harms way, between a rock and a hard spot, between Himself and the world. We are trying to find a narrow pass between them, stepping neither to the left nor to the right, neither offending God nor man in our effort to please Him, so that no matter what we do, we are wrong, except to do His will, obeying His word and always walking in love. When the world has lost its love. Jesus said that we are to become shrewd as serpents, “not [to] be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Eph 5-17). We are not to do anything that asks for trouble, because we already have our plate full. Every little thing we do that contradicts the Scriptures puts us at risk of adding to our troubles, and puts us in a no-win situation, so that the only option we really have is to obey Christ, if we want to please Him. Why did God do this to us? People talk about foreknowledge and predestination so that He knows what we would do in any given situation, so why does He need to test us? God is in the process of creating a very real kingdom; it is not a fantastic kingdom or a fanciful one but a physical one, more real than the world today. He wants to test us and prepare us for that kingdom so we become confident that we will obey Him in every situation we encounter in the ages to come. He is building our confidence in Him and in our willingness to obey Him, and the fact that He is using very real circumstances to do this proves the realness of the kingdom that is coming that will ultimately manifest on the earth and survive eternity, because of the things that He is building in our heart today. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 10-19,20 (112a) Thy Kingdom Come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Wisdom of the spirit -- Act 6-9,10 says about Steven before they martyred him, "They were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking." Now look at 1Cor 10-13, "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it. " What we think we cannot endure we will endure through His Grace. See also: Persecution; 255e (116g) Thy Kingdom Come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God through the words you speak (255e) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> God’s word is Spirit >> God is Spirit -- Jesus said, "It is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." In the trinity we have three persons in one: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Which one was the God of the Old Testament? Whenever the Bible uses the general title "God", it refers to the Father. Therefore, to say, 'God is Spirit,' is to say the Father is Spirit. However, the Father is more than Spirit, otherwise He would be counted twice as both the Spirit and the Father. As we continue to study the Scriptures, particularly the topic of the trinity, it will emerge that all members of the trinity have dissimilar characteristics distinguishing them, though they are all equal in personality. See also: Persecution Mat 10-20 (153c) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Holy Spirit bears witness of the father -- When we are persecuted and open our mouth, things designed for the moment spills upon our enemies, for it is the Spirit of our Father speaks in us. The person of the trinity who most wants the world to know about His mercy and judgment is the Father, since He sent His Son to die for our sins and is the judge of all, though Jesus will be the person seated on the White Throne Judgment. See also: Persecution; Mat 10,21-28; 242ka Mat 10,21-28 (242ka) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Reacting to persecution >> Enduring persecution – It is inevitable that anyone who believes in Jesus will be persecuted, as it is written, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2Tim 3-12). It’s not a question or a possibility but a guarantee. The only way to avoid persecution is to avoid being like Jesus, and that is to avoid God’s plan your life. Persecution never hurt anybody; no martyr was ever killed serving Christ; “They will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish” (Lk 21,16-18). If we get our hand slapped for reaching in the cookie jar, then we might as well grab as many cookies as we can (human souls), and if no matter what we do we are persecuted, we should preach the gospel all the more. See also: Persecution; Mat 10-24,25; 42j Mat 10-22 (98k) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Endurance invites the Holy Spirit into your life >> The salvation of God >> Endure to the end Mat 10-24,25 (42j) Judgment >> Satan destroyed >> Transformed >> Conform to the walk of Christ – We may become martyrs, yet we are called to work with the grace of God, as Jesus worked with His Father (Jn 5-19,20). We will become like Him and possess His attributes, first and foremost the capacity for love. We will be born-again and have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us even as the Holy Spirit dwells in Him. We are to live as Jesus did, so when people see us, they might recognize us as having been with Him, and if we are like Him, Jesus says it is enough. See also: Persecution; Mat 10,26-28; 25c KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 10,25-27 (112i) Thy Kingdom Come >> Faith >> Light e xposes sin >> Light reveals hidden motives -- The things we hear from God are for the purpose of revealing them others. Jesus came to the world and to a generation dark as our own, a period when the truth was suppressed by those who turned religion into a business. He promised in His day, "There will be nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known." Then He said, "What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops." He intends to use us to fulfill His promise of ushering in His eternal kingdom. Therefore, whatever God tells us is for making it known to others, that we may break the cords that bind people to this present darkness. (242c) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecuting God >> Persecuting the word of God Mat 10-25 (41b) Be like Jesus (Key verse) (200l) Denying Christ >> Whoever is not with Jesus is against him >> He is against Christ who does not receive Him >> Whoever does not receive the Church is against Christ (224d) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> Describing the kingdom after he makes all things new >> Children of God resemble their Father Mat 10,26-28 (25c) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Murder >> Persecution to the death >> Murdering for prestige -- These verses go with verse 31. Jesus has given us reason not to fear our persecutors. We fear that what they do to us in secret will never come to light, but Jesus set us at ease and promised that all their works will be revealed in judgment. We fear their injustice perhaps more than anything, but we are not to fear them, for God will expose every sin that they conspire against us. We don’t have to be afraid to suffer shame their hands. God will employ us in exposing their sin and in revealing His truth, so they might repent and be saved and stop persecuting us, instead become our brethren in the faith. The Lord is talking to our persecutors and saying they are the ones who need to be afraid, not us, saying we should fear God and not man. If we fear our persecutors, it will subtract from our fear of God and from our ability to trust Him. We should warn them that if they continue to persecute the saints, they run the risk of hellfire, that they are heading for it at a blinding pace, like a speeding locomotive full of momentum that has no time to stop before it runs out of track and plunges into the ravine. See also: Persecution; Mat 10-19,20; 112a / Hell; Mat 10-28; 47d Mat 10-26,27 (212f) Nothing Hidden (Key verse) (212h) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> God is all knowing >> Nothing hidden >> God exposes things hidden in darkness -- See commentary under verses 25-27 Mat 10-27 (106a) Thy Kingdom Come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Attaining the hearing ear >> Knowing the sound of His voice >> God speaks in the darkness to shine the light -- God spoke in our darkness and revealed His light, and now we shine the light on the surrounding darkness that it may become light (Eph 5-13,14). Working with the Lord we speak His light in their darkness by reiterating what we have heard from Him. Mat 10-28 (47d) Judgment >> God Judges the world >> Hell is a place of destruction – Far as destroying both body and soul in hell, the only hope of those who go there is annihilation, which is a belief that is widely held among cults, who don’t want to believe the notion of eternal punishment, probably because they know they are going there. Surviving hell would be the worst-case scenario. Fire cannot destroy a spirit or a spiritual body. A person can be caught in a house fire and their bodies burn-up, but their soul remains untouched, so “destruction” doesn’t mean annihilation but something more insidious. Their bodies continue to exist throughout an eternal death process. The Bible says that in the resurrection God will give us indestructible bodies, and that goes for the wicked too. If it says that the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever, a person who has been annihilated cannot be tormented. When those coming back from war return with shredded souls, they are in some way destroyed; we say they have PTSD and in need of mental, emotional and spiritual repair. The person needs to know there is love in the world and that people personally care about him, but in hell there is no one to care for him or help restore his soul, so they remain fragmented forever, while their bodies continually burn but are not consumed, like the burning bush (Exodus 3,1-5). After all, they wanted to be like God. See also: Hell; 88h / Adam wanted to be like God; Rom 1,21-25; 195i (88h) Thy Kingdom Come >> Fear of God >> Fearing the judgment of God is the beginning of wisdom >> Fear the sovereign hand of God on your life -- This statement compares the fear of our enemies with the fear of God, and concludes that we have a better reason to fear God than man. After we are dead, there is nothing else men can do to us, but God has the power to torment the human soul in hell. We are not to fear that God will send us to hell, but we are to fear Him who will send our enemies there if they don't repent. See also: Hell; Mat 10-32,33; 150c KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 10,29-31 (160l) Works of the devil >> Satan determines the world's direction >> Temptation >> Tempted to act like an animal – Of all the bird species, Jesus chose the sparrow, partly because they are one of the most common birds in the world, and also because they act a lot like people. They aren't very nice to each other; they are competitive when it comes to food; they peck at each other on the bird feeder, and when a flock of sparrows are feeding, no other birds will come near, because they are obnoxious. They are also social birds, unlike robins that live in isolation. After the sparrows finish at the bird feeder, they return to their nesting place and chirp like maniacs. Some say their chirping tells other sparrows to keep their distance. Jesus chose the sparrow, because they’re mean, they’re competitive and they’re social, like people. Obnoxious as we are to each other, God still loves us, cares about us and has a lot of compassion for us, because we are victims of our circumstances. Much of what we suffer is not our fault, though sometimes we create trouble for ourselves, but even when we suffer from our own stupidity, God still pities us. See also: Analogies (Surveyor); Rom 5,8-11; 72b Mat 10-29,30 (212f) God Is All Knowing (Key verse) (212j) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> God is all knowing >> God knows everything about you -- The harsh tone of the last verse is mitigated by this very comforting verse. There is something special about God knowing the current number of hairs on our head, which changes on a daily basis. Mat 10-31 (25c) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Murder >> Persecution to the death >> Murdering for prestige -- This verse goes with verses 26-28 Mat 10-32,33 (150b) Confessing Jesus (Key verse) (150c) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Confessing Jesus to be saved >> Confessing Jesus that He may confess us to the Father – This statement can make a person choke on his breakfast. There are plenty of books that speak about God’s love; some of them are sickening sweet, saying that He loves us unconditionally, but that is a half-truth. He expects us to become more like Him. When we look at these last few verses, He was talking about not fearing persecution, saying that if we give into our fears and publicly deny Him, He will deny us before the Father. When we die and meet God after denying Him throughout our lives, Jesus will tell His Father that He doesn’t know us, and that will be the end of us. The angels will throw us into the lake of fire, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, so not everything about God is sickening sweet; there are sides of God we must fear. If we follow Him, there won’t be any problems, but if we are not conforming to His image, it will not go well with us at the judgment. See also: Hell; Mat 10-14,15; 47l (199g) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Throwing God away >> Denying Christ KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 10,34-39 (5h) Responsibility >> Discipleship tested >> God tests your loyalty >> Your commitment to follow Jesus – To love anyone in this world more than God is idolatry. This estrangement that Christ is addressing is between Christians and non-Christians, between light and darkness, particularly within the family structure; it is the turbulence between two opposing kingdoms. Jesus contrasted all human relations against the divine relationship, saying that we should be closer to Him than anyone else. If we love certain people more than Christ, by definition we cannot be His disciples. God will view us as unworthy servants, and it may ultimately result in losing our faith. It is all or nothing with the Lord; we either serve Him with a whole heart or risk this world stripping our faith. We cannot serve two masters for long. See also: Family; 189d / Idolatry; Mat 10-37,38; 179i (189d) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Holy sacrifice >> Costly sacrifice – This is the level of commitment to which God is calling us; it is what Jesus said would happen to us when we get saved and follow Him according to His dictates. We will have to make one sacrifice after another, but He says it will be worth it, because in the Church we will receive many brothers and sisters and many sons and daughters and many fathers and mothers, and in the end eternal life (Mat 19,27-30). However, in most churches, there is almost no unity, and therefore no benefit to serving Christ, and for this reason few are being saved. Those who claim to belong to God are not committing to the faith; if they did, many would lose their personal family members but would gain others. As it is, anyone who would make a commitment to God in this way, might lose their families, but when they went to church expecting to gain relationships to replace those they lost, they wouldn’t be there, because the same commitment is not happening in other people. So for the one person to commit with no hope of benefit is unattractive. None of the things the Bible promises are apparent because of a lack of faith and commitment to God. See also: Family; Mat 10,34-36; 65f Mat 10,34-36 (65f) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Jesus brings division >> Families break up because of faith in Christ – To love God more than our own family members is equivalent to suicide in many countries and cultures in the world, which is really what Jesus said in these words, “He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” We Christians who are sold-out to Jesus make our unsaved family members feel that we are rejecting them and they will respond by ostracizing us, or they may turn to Christ with us. Our faith in God will affect every relationship in our lives, becoming the main influence, until we make everybody we know a Christian or repel them. See also: Family; Mat 10,37-39; 170b Mat 10-34 (65c) Jesus Brings Division (Key verse) Mat 10,37-39 (170b) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Seeking the glory of man >> Pursuing the glory of man turns us in the wrong direction >> It’s the reason we don’t die to self – How many Christians actually live the way Jesus is describing? How many people actually sacrifice their closest relationships for the sake of faith in God? Some of those relationships will be the type that Abraham had with his son Isaac, God will give them back to us, only those relationships will then be consecrated. Like a Husband and wife who are both Christians understand that God means more to each of them than they do to each other, this is acceptable to them; but non-Christians are not capable of understanding how God could mean more to someone than an immediate family member. To a none-Christian, God is nothing more than a concept; they cannot fathom the idea that a person can have a relationship with God. See also: Family; Mat 10-37,38; 72l KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 10-37,38 (72l) Authority >> Hierarchy of authority >> Authority makes you accountable >> Parents are responsible for their children – Good parents love their children, but if we love our children more than we love God, we can’t lead them to Jesus. Giving them their natural lives but neglecting to lead them to eternal life is the greatest travesty of parenthood. Many people will spend eternity in hell because their parents thought it was better to be a good parent than to be a good Christian. We cannot help our children if we don’t know God. We can work really hard and find a good-paying job and put them through college, and they can give us grandchildren, and we can feel happy and content, but if we don’t know God, we are just leading our family into the abyss. In contrast, if we dedicate our lives to Jesus, we will have the faith to teach them the ways of God. See also: Family; 179i (156c) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of salvation >> Loving God is evidence of salvation >> Expressing your feelings toward Him – We are not talking about easy-believism any more than the cross was easy for Jesus. His purpose was to die for the sins of mankind, and our purpose is to die to self so we can serve mankind with our resulting faith. Following Jesus with the cross on our backs is not the end of the story. Since Jesus rose from the dead, God will also impart to us new life, an anointing of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Eph 1-17), but we cannot know these things while we allow our flesh to reign over us, because the fleshly mind simply cannot know God, nor in a million years would it lead us to do the will of God. We must commit ourselves to doing His will, so when He imparts His ability, we can fulfill His purpose. God will not impart His ability before we have committed our hearts to Him, for He doesn’t give an anointing to do what we think is right. If we let Him, God will lead us in directions that we could have never imagined. We can make a commitment without the anointing, but we cannot fulfill that commitment without His empowerment. (179h) Unworthy Servant (Key verse) (179i) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Unworthy servant >> Unworthy because of unfaithfulness – If we love our family members more than Jesus, then we are not His children. When He says we are not worthy of Him, that doesn’t mean He will make us His children anyway. People often remind themselves and others that none of us deserve salvation, which is true; it is a gift. Paul said that Jesus died for us while we were still sinners (Rom 5-8), so we didn’t do anything to deserve eternal life. However, the subject of “worthiness” is different from the notion of deserving God’s grace. We can be worthy of eternal life even though we don’t deserve it. What this means is that God puts parameters on His grace so that though we don’t deserve it we can be worthy to receive it when we commit ourselves to doing His will. See also: Family; 234h / Idolatry; Mat 10-37; 195a (234h) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Sold out >> Placing no boundaries on your commitment to God >> Going to any extreme to fulfill the will of God – If we love our parents or children more than Jesus, we are not worthy of Him, for whatever we love more than God is idolatry, and to whatever degree our commitment falls below a full commitment, defines our level of idolatry. In that sense we are all idolaters to some degree, for no one is committed to God like Jesus was to His Father. The apostle who came closest to having zeal similar to Christ was Paul. The subject of idolatry is not straightforward as we often make it. Usually we turn to the Old Testament and see how the ancient world worshipped idols. It was all very literal to them. They would fashion an idol with their hands and then fall down and worship it, basically worshipping the works of their own hands, worshipping themselves in other words. All idolatry reduces to self-worship, but the Bible teaches that there is a demon behind every idol, suggesting that idol worshippers inadvertently worship demons, but in worshipping the works of their own hands it also suggests that there is a demon behind every idolater. No wonder God hates idolatry more than any other sin. See also: Family; 252a (252a) Trinity >> You shall put no other gods before Me >> Worship Jesus (Because He is equal with God) >> Jesus is worthy of our worship >> Worship Jesus for His inherent worthiness – In virtually every other case this kind of language would be cultic and would even break the laws of God, which commanded us to honor our parents (Exodus 20-12). However, what Jesus said means something different from a cult or dishonoring our parents. A cult would tell us to disown our family members for the sake of the Jim Jones foundation or some other nefarious cult leader, but Jesus was telling us to live according to the words and teachings of Christ, making it a higher priority than our commitment to our parents, because His teachings center around love. If we love our immediate family members more than our relationship with Christ, we love them more than practicing the love of God, and if we sacrifice the love of God for the sake of our earthly family members, how can we expect to love them? In other words, if we dedicate our lives to Him first and foremost, then we can go back and love the people in our lives the way we should. Our faith in Jesus must be above everything else; otherwise, our lives are worthless. Without putting Christ first we could not hope to bear fruit that would benefit anyone. See also: Family; Mat 10,34-39; 5h Mat 10-37 (195a) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Serving two masters >> You can only love one at a time – Literally anything can become an idol, whatever we consider more important than our faith in Jesus. In fact, many people use their religion as an idol. This is the concept of believing in the Bible instead of believing in God to whom the Bible refers. Many people presume they are going to heaven because the Bible makes certain promises, but the unbeliever can read the same promises. We believe in the person of Jesus Christ and not just the doctrines that speak about Him. A person can go to church every Sunday and recite the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s Prayer, and it won’t get him any closer to heaven if he isn't born-again. When we tell somebody about Jesus and they say in their defense that they go to church, if they are not born of God, they are speaking about their idol. They point at their church and say that it represents their faith, but anything that represent faith is not faith, and is therefore an idol. God doesn't need any symbols to represent Him after He has given us His Spirit. Doesn’t the Bible represent God to us? Yes, therefore, to set it above our faith in God is again idolatry. So how do we avoid idolatry? We must be born-again, and seek God with all our heart until we come to an understanding of Him through the Spirit. See also: Idolatry; Mat 10-38; 190b Mat 10-38,39 (226k) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of heaven >> God rewards us for obeying Him >> Rewarded for believing in God – The heathen doesn’t understand why God doesn’t just show Himself, but the world hates God. He doesn’t even show Himself to His own people except by the Holy Spirit because He wants us to believe in Him for a couple very important reasons. First, the saints will need to believe in Him throughout all eternity. More importantly though, God literally consists of faith, so He demands faith from us, so that believing in Him we might become the children of God. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 10-38 (190b) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Masochism (Self-made martyr) >> Taking your sinful nature by force -- God gave everything to us and expects everything from us. Just like Abraham, He wants us to give Him our most precious possessions, whatever or whomever it may be. What we keep from Him becomes our idol of worship. Sometimes we don't see that what we give to God is safer in His hands than in our own. Another thing we don't often see is that whatever we give to Him, He replaces with things of greater value, such as a new and better life by faith in the Son of God. See also: Idolatry; Mat 10,34-39; 5h Mat 10-39 (53a) Paradox >> Opposites >> Of life and death >> Die in order to live -- Those who have the sense that there is more to life than what this world offers seeks greater meaning, but they usually do not find it in the form that they expect, because it is obscured by the trappings of this life. Instead, they find it in the word of God, prayer and obedience to the small voice who speaks clearly within them. (55k) Paradox >> Gain the world to lose your soul >> he who saves his life shall lose it -- Those who think they have found their place in this world and feel comfortable in their skin should seriously question whether they have a place reserved for them in heaven. You can have many houses, but you can have only one home, and home is where we feel most comfortable. If we feel comfortable in the world, chances are we won't feel comfortable in heaven among the saints with Jesus in their midst. (95a) Thy Kingdom Come >> Perspective >> False perspective in the world – There are times when this life tests every man’s worldview, often during times of war and other calamities. People will do anything to protect their perspective, because their pride is in it; more than that, their heart is in it. Just look how the Pharisees reacted to Jesus; they had Him crucified because He was threatening to topple their worldview, plus He was tampering with their moneymaking religion. Had they obeyed Christ, it would have required them to recreate a new belief system from scratch. That's what Paul had to do after he got saved; he was a Pharisee of Pharisees (Philippians chapter three). People see the truth according to their sense of reality. Visit colleges and they will say this very thing in so many words. They will even say that truth doesn’t actually exist. What they mean is that truth is unnecessary, since everyone has their own reality and each person's viewpoint is different; therefore Truth is relative, but what they don’t know is the future, and one day their paradigm will be tested, and depending on how far it falls from the truth is the degree to which they too will fall. When the truth replaces our paradigms, if only a few adjustments are needed, it is not very painful, but when a person’s worldview needs a complete overhaul to fit God's reality, it can be very stressful indeed. See also: Truth (Relativism); Act 23-1; 232l KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 10,40-42 (127b) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Kindness >> Be kind like God >> Kindness is meeting the needs of the saints – This is a gigantic statement! Jesus made mention of this in other ways, such as in Mat 25,31-45, where He speaks of separating the sheep from the goats, saying, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” The things we do to one another are how we would treat Christ if peradventure we met Him in the flesh. He is speaking about this vicariously; the one who would be kind to the saints would be kind to Jesus too. He is saying that whoever receives one of the least of these is like receiving Christ Himself. This is the kind of authority we have. A person who would be kind to us would be kind to Christ if He were in our place, and the person who would be evil to us would be evil to Him too. If they were evil to Christ, they would also be evil to His Father, meaning if God allowed them in heaven, eventually they would attempt a coo against His throne. A person who would treat His saints well has an open heart to the gospel, meaning they can be saved. (207h) Salvation >> Salvation verses >> The Kingdom of God >> Salvation authority of God’s kingdom – Jesus is not talking about temporal rewards in this life; rather, He is talking about eternal rewards and we know that unless unbelievers repent, they will ultimately find their place in hell, where there are no rewards. Jesus is not talking about unbelievers but people who are being saved, because generally unbelievers do not show kindness to the saints. God intends to reward in heaven those who are kind to us, meaning they will be there to receive the reward. If an unbeliever is kind to the saints, the result is that the door opens for them to become Christians too. Being kind to the children of God leads to becoming the children of God. If unbelievers are intentionally kind to Christians, they will soon become part of Christ’s growing family. The one who is kind to the disciples of Jesus is either a Christian himself or is soon to become one. (208bb) Salvation >> Salvation verses >> The kindness of God >> You can be saved without ever hearing about Jesus Mat 10-40 (71ab) Authority >> Believer’s authority >> We have authority from God to evangelize the world >> We have authority to propel the gospel into all the world -- This verse goes with verses 11-15 (71j) Authority >> Ordained by God >> God ordains us through His commandments -- This verse goes with verses 11-15. This is just one of a hundred statements depicting Jesus’ expectation of His disciples, “He who receives you receives Me.” This pertains to Jesus’ closest disciples who obeyed His commandments with all their hearts, even to the point of death. Every disciple except John paid the ultimate price for the privilege of serving Christ, and they were 100% sold-out to Him. Everything about them was drenched in faith; it is this kind of Christian to whom this verse applies, for this is the only Christian who really knows the truth, but to those who rarely have time for their faith, this verse simply does not apply. We cannot know God without being completely devoted to Him, or we do not know Him at all. (153a) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Church bears witness of the Father through Christ – The believer has both the Father and the Son (2Jn-9), for Jesus did not come on His own initiative, but the Father sent Him (Jn 8-42). This cannot be over-emphasized, based on the number of instances in Scripture it is mentioned, meaning the works of Jesus were based on obedience, not prerogative. This stresses the importance of obedience. God has called us to live as Jesus did; obeying the Holy Spirit denotes His entire ministry, and it should describe us too. We should be able to look back in our lives to a pattern of following the Holy Spirit and seeing fruit that He produced in us. Most of us will see long periods in our lives when fruit is lacking, because we were disobedient. This occurs to every person; we need God’s mercy and with it His strength to lead a godly life. Unquestionably, there are many Christians who are afraid to follow the Holy Spirit, because they are not confident in His voice, and maybe they have a point, because if we simply guess at God’s will, our likelihood of pleasing Him is nil. Some Christians have never heard the voice of God because they never committed themselves to obeying Him. See also: Obedience; law versus the Spirit; Lk 6,1-11; 173i (250f) Priorities >> God’s prerequisites >> Sequence of priorities >> Natural then the spiritual (obedience then anointing) -- People want authority without accountability. We want everyone to listen to us, but we don't want the responsibility of seeking the gospel for ourselves and perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2Cor 7-1). There is an anointing that God wants to place on every person who calls on His name, but many of us only want so much of God, and then we want to spend His blessing on our pleasures in the world. This is not the road to a genuine faith, and without it we will accomplish nothing for the Kingdom of God. If we want to be an effective Christian in the world, we must listen to the Holy Spirit who has what we need, and we need to practice obedience to all He calls us to do. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 10-41,42 (152i) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Prophets >> The Church holds the position of a prophet >> Church operates under a prophetic anointing >> Receiving a prophetic word from God – Being intentionally kind to a prophet proves that he believes the prophet's message and will receive a prophet's reward, which is a spiritual understanding of God's word, which translates to an anointing from God. Therefore, anyone who is intentionally kind to a prophet will understand God’s purpose for his life, and the question that remains is whether he is willing to fulfill that purpose. “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself” (Jn 7-17). People are not automatically saved because they know the will of God, but when the revelation comes, it is an open invitation to be saved. (226c) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of the Kingdom of Heaven >> Reserved in heaven >> God crowns us with glory for sharing our rewards -- What prophets and righteous people offer is beyond the grasp of this world. Their simple mission is to share what they have inside them from God. The wonderful thing is that anyone can partake of their rewards by simply believing their message and blessing them. However, they get more persecuted than blessed in the world. The Church walks in darkness whenever the people refuse to acknowledge their prophets. See next page