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[0:00] So good morning, everyone. If you have a Bible, please use it, open it to Mark chapter 2. So today's going to be a little bit of a different type of a sermon, but I hope you'll like it.

[0:16] I hope more importantly that it not only glorifies God, but you are going to be able to take some truth just to see how great and mighty is our Lord and simply how powerful the Word of God is.

[0:30] If you are new, welcome. My name is BK. I have the pleasure of being one of the pastors here. You met Dave who gave the introduction today.

[0:42] If you've been away, welcome back. And we are now studying the life of Christ. And what I'm doing with this life of Christ is looking at harmonizing all the Gospels to help us have a greater understanding of what is going on in the Gospels, both to help you understand Jesus Christ, but also kind of give you a structure for studying the Gospels, a structure of understanding where some of these stories fit in.

[1:11] As we know, the Bible has four different Gospels, which stands for the good news, four testimonies to what Jesus' life here on earth looked like.

[1:23] And they all come from these different points of view. And what we're going to be doing is we're kind of bringing those points of view and looking at a situation that is going down. So for the first year when Jesus gets baptized, he spends an entire year in the first phase of his ministry, preaching down in the south of Israel and around Jerusalem and Judea and in the wilderness.

[1:48] And he's using that time to connect with men and women there, but more importantly with John the Baptist.

[1:59] John the Baptist had a very vibrant ministry. The ministry was so big that historians tell us that Herod at the time was nervous that John's following was getting so big that it could usurp his power.

[2:15] So that's how much excitement was going on in the wilderness at that time. We know that the Bible, through all four of the Gospels, that Jesus lived on earth for three and a half years.

[2:28] So that first year, he's gathering a people to him. And we're now in this next stage, which is called the Galilean ministry. And for a year and a half, he is going to blanket his land where he grew, through the northern part of Israel, where the most majority of Jews at that time lived.

[2:45] We believe that there was over 2 million people. And it's actually a hub of trade and other nations are in there. There's Roman garrisons up there.

[2:57] There's highways going through. So there's all sorts of people. And Jesus has taken his time and he's going through the land sharing the good news. And he's got three parts to his message, right?

[3:08] Remember this? Repent. The king is here. His kingdom has come. Then he does these miracles and he's healing everybody.

[3:21] Matthew tells us that there was not one sickness. There was not one disease that existed when Jesus Christ was there. He was ultimately the ultimate soul physician.

[3:31] But he was also the perfect body physician as he created us. He's able to heal us. And he went around and by doing these things, he demonstrated the authority of God over diseases, sicknesses, leprosy, blindness, deafness, those who are paralyzed, even had the power to create food.

[3:56] He had the power to still storms. So anybody reading those texts and those stories knows that without a doubt, only God could do those things. And that's who Jesus Christ claimed to be.

[4:09] I am God, his son. And I'm also the Messiah. So within these tours, this time in Galilee, this one and a half years, the first tour, he went and preached and healed.

[4:28] And the crowds became immense. Mark chapter 3, 7 to 10 tells us that wherever he went, the great crowd followed from Galilee and Judea.

[4:40] And what that means is the saints are coming up, the people from the Jews from the south of Israel are coming up to hear him. And it says, and Jerusalem and Edomia. Edomia was a southern part of Israel.

[4:55] And that's where actually Herod came from. Not naturally, but it's kind of going into Africa, that part. So people as far as Edomia, as the gospel went out purple, people heard the stories about Jesus.

[5:08] They started to bring their families who needed to be healed, right? Loved ones. If you had someone that you knew who could heal your loved one, no matter what, you're taking them there.

[5:19] And then it also says, and from around Tyre and Sidon. And those were on the east or the west coast of Israel, up northwest into present day Syria or Lebanon.

[5:31] And so even those who weren't Jewish, even in that first phase of his ministry, are even bringing their sick to Jesus.

[5:42] And it says, when the great crowd, that word great is an interesting word. We use it all the time. It would probably be more appropriate to say the mega crowd.

[5:55] We know that there was multitudes upon multitudes of people. We believe that the crowds would have been in the tens of thousands. Mark testified they came to him.

[6:06] And in this instance, he says, he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him. For he had healed many so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.

[6:25] So that's kind of what he's doing that first tour through Galilee. Then he's on this second tour and we talked a little bit about this. And he starts asking specific people, follow me.

[6:38] Remember, we looked at Matthew who was a tax collector. Come, come, follow me. And then he talks about James, John, Andrew. And then he's calling these disciples, these men who will eventually become apostles.

[6:53] And we know in Mark 3, if you look down at verse 13, it said, he went up the mountain and called to them those whom he desired. So there was a specific group in the larger group following him that he begins to call.

[7:08] And what he's going to be doing, and we're going to be learning very soon, he's going to be training them for special ministry. And the reason he's going to be training them for special ministry is for what we're going to be reading and studying today.

[7:28] There's no doubt that this is the high point of the ministry of Jesus Christ if you were to measure it by crowds. We usually measure things.

[7:41] Who's got the most likes on Facebook, right? Or how many newspapers are reporting on something. It's getting traction, right?

[7:52] You always see on Twitter, on your Twitter feed, tells you what's trending. So you know what most people are talking about. Everything at that time was Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

[8:03] And there's great excitement. But Jesus is beginning to plan for his third tour.

[8:14] And this scholar that I read makes it very clear to us. He says, you know, the crowds were thick, but their faith was about as shallow as water on a plate.

[8:30] They loved the spectacle. They loved hearing the words taught by Jesus. They loved seeing the miracles. They were interested in his talking and everything about him.

[8:44] But as far as what Jesus offered, which was a spiritual kingdom, they rejected.

[8:55] So this morning, I want to focus in on what is going to bring this Galilean ministry to a close.

[9:08] And I want you to think about this for a moment. Jesus is going to close his ministry because of a lack of faith.

[9:22] The greatest thing, the greatest experience the world had ever experienced. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the perfect teacher, the perfect healer.

[9:35] Come, loving, caring for people. And yet they still are rejecting him.

[9:46] So the question I want to answer for you this morning is, why? Why the rejection of the message of Jesus?

[10:00] Why this rejection of someone who is so good? Why this rejection of Jesus is so good? In describing their unbelief, one scholar says it's not good enough to say they did not believe in Jesus.

[10:19] He says what they had was a determined unbelief. A determined unbelief. And this morning, what I'm going to do is I'm going to actually connect some passages for you, which is going to demonstrate how Jesus Christ flushes out their unbelief.

[10:45] You're going to see that Jesus Christ always puts people to a choice. He's kind of not interested in the lollygagger who just kind of goes along for the sake of going along.

[10:56] Jesus Christ is going to confront every single one of them with where do you stand? Now, I know sometimes we pick up the Bibles.

[11:10] And one of the reasons I want to do this thing is sometimes our text, we got these four gospels, and we read, you know, we're going to have our daily readings. You're going to decide I'm going to read a chapter a day, two chapters a day.

[11:21] Maybe I'm going to read 20 minutes. And you kind of go from story to story to story. And sometimes we don't actually connect that there's an actual theme going on.

[11:32] So most people understand there's the Galilean ministry. Jesus does this. Then there's a time where he says parables, a lot of teaching. And then we have the end time where it's the last week of his life, a lot of prophecies.

[11:46] And then he goes to the cross and dies. But I want you to see some of the most amazing phrases that exist in the teachings of Jesus, which I really believe will help you understand a little bit more of what Jesus is getting at.

[12:04] Now, to help you understand what Jesus is confronting, this determined unbelief, it's important to understand the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

[12:19] Okay, I'm just going to give you a quick overview. God called his people through Moses. So he had called them originally out of Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph. 400 years, they spent some time in Egypt and they're slaves.

[12:32] God comes to Moses and said, will you lead my people? And he leads them out of Egypt into the promised land, which is modern day Palestine, Israel area.

[12:47] And he tells them, I will go before you. And during that time, they get these books. He writes these first five books of the Bible. When we look at the first five books of our Bibles, those are the books that Moses wrote.

[13:00] And he writes those to his people. And during that time, he's receiving the law. Now, the law is a funny thing. And we're going to learn a little bit more about it.

[13:11] But he's got this promised land. And they go into the promised land. And then they're led by Joshua. Then they're given judges. And eventually they're given kings.

[13:24] But there was one thing that God told his people to do. Was to get rid of foreign gods. I will prepare all this land.

[13:35] But you have to get rid of all the foreign gods from the land. And the story of the Old Testament is really a story of compromise.

[13:47] They just kept not willing to do it. And then we even see in the kings who were supposed to lead the way would marry foreign women and bring in false gods.

[13:59] And they would set up worship altars to God in God's temple that he had Solomon build. Which was the center of Jewish worship.

[14:12] And these other gods would be worshipped. A king would come. He'd rise. He'd say I'm going to do what's right. He'd go through and he'd wipe out all the gods. And then what would happen? His child would marry someone or through some other reasoning kind of accept another god.

[14:28] Just kind of turn a blind eye about it. I'm not going to really worry about it. And it gets so bad by around 700 BC. God says that's it.

[14:38] I'm done with you. So he just brings Assyria and he wipes out northern Israel. To this day we do not know where the 10 tribes that lived in northern Israel lived.

[14:49] They just come in. They wipe out everything. No records. No nothing. And then you have the Judah which is the southern portion around Jerusalem. And they hold on for another 200 years.

[15:01] But eventually they follow other gods. They disobey. They do not worship the one true God which is Yahweh. And he wipes them out.

[15:13] And Babylonians come in and take them. So while in exile the Jewish leaders start thinking we really messed this up. We continually constantly worship these false gods.

[15:28] Why? Why did we do it? And they come up with this plan. And I can't give you the chapter or verse of what part of history. But we read from the ending what happens is they obviously knew the people did not know God's word enough.

[15:43] Right? When we don't have the law we don't know what's wrong. Right? And we've been trained sometimes to think that the law is a bad thing. The law is a really good thing.

[15:56] Do you know that? It protects us. Did I tell you the story about me finding my dad's gun cabinet in the basement in my house? No? Yes? No? So my dad was a police officer and he had a lock box downstairs in the basement.

[16:13] And there was certain parts of the basement I was not allowed to go into. And I remember finding the box and figuring out how to get the hinges off.

[16:24] And gun. Right? I got a beating for that. That was a good thing.

[16:35] Some people would have thought that was a bad thing. I never went near that box or in that part of the basement again. Because my dad knew he was protecting me from something that could have killed me or someone else had I started fooling around as a dumb kid does.

[16:54] Right? So sometimes the law gives us protection. When you look at the Ten Commandments, they're based around two things. How to love God and how to love others. When Jesus Christ was asked, what is the greatest commandment?

[17:08] To love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul. And to love others as yourself. Right? That's everything in the Old Testament laws are all about. And they're just practical ways.

[17:19] And they had laws about what happens if your cow or your bull went into the next land and gouged the neighbor's son. Right? We might laugh at that.

[17:31] But that would have been an important issue for a farmer who's losing his only son who's supposed to be helping him raise up the other cattle. Right? So how do we do that? And the law would provide a measure of justice on how to protect yourself.

[17:46] So the law was always good. So the Pharisees that rise up, they say, you know what? Our people don't know the law enough. They don't know what's right, good, and true about God.

[17:57] So we're going to create these ideas of synagogues. So all of a sudden we come 400 years after captivity, we're in Jerusalem, and synagogues are all over the place. And the synagogue would have been like a church.

[18:09] And the purpose of the synagogue was to teach the law. Right? God's word. So when there was 10 men, they knew if each one tied 10%, they'd be able to hire for themselves a scribe.

[18:24] And that scribe's role was to find other scrolls and write out God's law. So every synagogue would have a copy of God's law. You with me on that?

[18:35] So by the time we get to the New Testament, following other gods isn't an issue anymore. They learned their lesson.

[18:46] In fact, when they came back from captivity, those who were married to foreign wives, God permitted divorce at that time so they could get rid of false worshipers.

[18:59] And so that they would keep away any false religion from coming in. That's how serious they were. So here we are New Testament and they have this law.

[19:11] But as man is prone to do, we make laws around other laws to protect ourselves from breaking the initial law.

[19:23] So we create all these other rules. So today, I'm going to show you what some of the other rules that these Pharisees added to God's word and showed them how they sort of messed things up.

[19:43] So let's turn to Mark chapter 2. And we're going to start at verse 18.

[19:54] And I'm going to be skipping around pretty quickly. I'm not going to fully explain all the verses to you. But I want you to see some things that are very clear. Because it's going to link all these thoughts together.

[20:10] So if we look at Mark chapter 2, verse 18. Look, I'm even blending the gospels of how I speak, right? Marthew. It's just Mark.

[20:21] It's just Mark. All right, verse 18. Now, John's disciples, those that still, and I said those that didn't get John the Baptist. So John's disciples, he had gathered a group of people saying the Messiah has come.

[20:33] He then said, there's the Messiah. But for some reason, they chose to stay with John the Baptist. And the Pharisees.

[20:50] So these are the men, the scribes that run all the synagogues. So these are elevated people because of their quote-unquote religiosity.

[21:00] They become the king of the rules and the laws. It says, so now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast?

[21:17] But your disciples do not fast. Right? This is the reason. There was only one day in the year that the Old Testament law said that people were to fast.

[21:30] And that was on the Day of Atonement. These guys decided, you know, that's not good enough. We might forget that once a year. So we're going to do it twice a day. Or twice a week, sorry.

[21:41] So they devised twice a week. The whole, if you were to be religious to demonstrate religiosity, you would fast twice a day. Look at verse 23. One Sabbath.

[21:55] All right? Here we are on the Sabbath again. You're going to see this theme. And the Sabbath was supposed to be the holiest of holy days. It was to representative when God said, when he finished creation and he rested, so are we to do the same thing.

[22:12] We are just to rest. Do not work. Just take some time off. Think. Meditate. Just don't work. Put it aside. So verse 23.

[22:22] One Sabbath he was going through the grain fields. And as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, Look, why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?

[22:39] There is no law in the Old Testament that says he can't pluck grain. In fact, you're actually encouraged to.

[22:52] Now, a farmer to go and farm his land on the Sabbath would be breaking the Sabbath. But if you were hungry, you would, you know, take some of the grain off, pop it off, eat the seed.

[23:04] That was expected to do. And the farmers would lead a part of their farm around the edges, the ability to do this. So I want you to see that these Pharisees are calling this law, which does not even exist.

[23:20] But in their ideas, they're getting very upset at Jesus for breaking laws that are made up laws. Mark chapter 3 verse 1. And again, he entered the synagogue.

[23:33] And a man was there with a withered hand. And they, being the Pharisees, watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath.

[23:44] So they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, come here. And he said to them, it is lawful on the Sabbath. Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm?

[23:57] And they knew on the Sabbath you could do good. You could give someone medicine. There was no prohibition from healing on the Sabbath. And, but they were silent.

[24:08] And he looked around at them with anger. This is Jesus looking with anger.

[24:23] Grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, stretch out your hand. The man stretched it out and his hand was restored.

[24:38] Who knows how long that person would have been living with this withered hand. A lot of times when we have some kind of deformity, we try to hide it.

[24:50] It's not something that we want people to see. Whether it be a scar, whatever. This man had been obviously living with a hand that had withered and he could not use it. And yet, in the Pharisees' mind, they had created so many laws that it would be wrong for Jesus to love this man so.

[25:16] See, what I'm getting at is the law had become so perverted, it even lacked love. The law which was to express our love to God by obeying him had now become a hardship on his people.

[25:39] So Mark is stringing these stories together. Notice verse 3.6. The Pharisees went out and immediately held council with the Herodians, that is the political party upon which the Sadducees belonged to, against him and how to destroy him.

[26:08] This is that sobering reality I'm talking about. This is Jesus Christ walking here on earth, doing all these amazing things, healing everybody.

[26:24] The story that Dave read for us this morning is found in John 5.1. You don't have to turn to it. But John tells us specifically that he was an invalid for 38 years.

[26:40] And when you go into the city, he would have always had his spot. Jesus comes, simply says, do you want to be healed? Yes, you're healed. Take up your mat and walk.

[26:51] The Pharisees, who would have done a lot of their teaching, they're interacting with people, obviously see the man who had been an invalid for 38 years, walking in front of him.

[27:10] Would that not be time to rejoice? Would that not be the time to praise God? To lift up our hands, holy hallelujah, praise the Lord mighty on high.

[27:23] Our friend, our family, this man that I see that I've been given alms to for 20 years is walking. They're upset because he's breaking the Sabbath by carrying his mat.

[27:41] That was considered work. Back in the Old Testament, that wasn't work for God. Work was what you did for an employee, whether you're a farmer or a tradesman or a merchant.

[27:55] It was like, take a break from that. Rest, spend time with your family. It wasn't going through and trying to nitpick what type of laws would be.

[28:07] And it looks at verse 18. This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him. Because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.

[28:25] The reason he was is because he was. Instead of rejoicing the healing, why are you taking up your bed? They claim he is working.

[28:37] Now turn with me to Matthew. Matthew's gospel. It's our first gospel in our Bibles. Chapter 5. If you understand your Bibles, you know we are getting to the Sermon on the Mount.

[28:52] But this is where things are going to start really getting good. When we read the Sermon on the Mount, we read it as, and we understand it, it's just this multiple chapters of Jesus' teaching.

[29:12] We kind of have this idea. He's on this big mountain and he's teaching over a day and it might have been that way. This would have been the message possibly he does in different places. Luke also records it.

[29:26] But at this point, he is done with the Pharisees. And I'm going to show you how done he is with the Pharisees. So when we look at Matthew chapter 1, you know, it says, and he opened up his mouth and taught them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

[29:44] Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

[29:57] Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

[30:10] Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

[30:25] Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. When we look at this, this is the ultimate underdog sermon, right?

[30:37] This is the sermon that you have a group of people who are bruised, battered, and beaten who cannot help themselves. This is the first century Jewish everyman.

[30:53] First of all, you're ruled by Rome who are a cruel, horrible ruler. And then you have the religious leaders. The religious leaders at the temple, they're trying to steal your money any way they can.

[31:06] When you have to go to a festival, they're there to rip you off. They will say your sheep is no good, but we'll sell you one differently at 10 times the price, right? So the whole religious system that they had was corrupt.

[31:20] And then you had the synagogue with the Pharisees that had these laws, were like adding pounds and pounds and pounds and pounds upon a person's spirit.

[31:35] Where worship was no longer joy, but it was hardship. It was gross. It was disgusting. It was like the big people stepping on the little people.

[31:54] Now let's take a look at verse 21. I'm going to go through really quickly and I want you to see these quotes by Jesus. Look at verse 21. It says, you have heard that it was said.

[32:08] Right? Just that phrase. Look at verse 27. He says again, you have heard that it was said. Verse 31. It was also said.

[32:22] Right? And that's whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife except for grounds of inter-eruality. So there's these teachings within what he's saying. Verse 33.

[32:33] Again, you have heard it said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. But he says, but I say to you.

[32:44] So God's looking at what was said and what God really means. Verse 38. You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

[33:05] But do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, excuse me, and turn the other also.

[33:23] So look at verse 43. You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and praise for those who persecute you.

[33:38] So what he's doing in these teachings, he says, you've heard what it was said, but I say this. Who do you think the people are who said, who, where have you heard this?

[33:53] You with me? Keeps asking the same question. You have heard that it was said. Who said that? Who said that?

[34:05] The Pharisees. The teachers of the law that had been burdening them. And you could almost see Jesus. He's in the mound, sermon on the mound. He's got his people there.

[34:19] And I don't know if he's pointing at them, but you know he's looking over at them. You've heard that it was said, but I say something else.

[34:30] So he's creating this, this, this, this, this, he's now, he's pushing back on them. All right? And now we turn to chapter 6 of Matthew.

[34:44] And this is where Jesus really begins to unload on them. Chapter 6, verse 1, he says, beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.

[34:59] They had a whole type of clothes that they would wear in public to demonstrate how holy they were. When they were fasting, they would put ashen on their skin to make them look weaker to demonstrate to the people, oh, I'm doing what's right.

[35:19] You know, look at me, look at me. And it says, for then you will have no reward from your father who's in heaven. Verse 2, thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets.

[35:38] Who sounded the trumpets to let everybody know that they were giving? The Pharisees. So he's starting to get exceptionally aggressive with these people that have been weighing down God's people.

[35:49] And look, notice verse 5, and when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others.

[36:06] Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when they pray, but when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who's in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you.

[36:23] So that whole Sermon on the Mound, which is the most to be the most glorifying sermon of all time, is about Jesus finally confronting false religion, false self-righteousness.

[36:38] Matthew 7, 1, Judge not that you not be judged. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

[36:52] Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is a log in your own eye?

[37:06] You hypocrite. First take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. So the whole Sermon on the Mound is a condemnation by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, on this false religion that God's people are being crushed by.

[37:33] Verse 728, And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as the scribes.

[37:53] Drop down to Matthew 8, 5. This is the ultimate attack on modern religion that existed in Israel.

[38:04] So right after this, there's a miracle, then he gets approached by this centurion. Matthew 8, 5 says, When Jesus had arrived, entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.

[38:26] And he said to him, I will come and heal him. But the centurion replied, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. And remember last week we were talking about Matthew.

[38:37] When Jesus went in to eat with the prostitutes and the tax collectors, the Pharisees were saying, Why aren't you coming to visit me?

[38:49] Why aren't you in my house? Didn't you not come to the holiest of the holies to reward us for our religiosity? But here's the man who gets God.

[39:01] God, I am not worthy. I'm not even worthy to have you come into my house. What a contrast. To have you come under my roof for only say the word and my servant will be healed.

[39:12] For I too am a man under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to one, Go and he goes and the other, Come and he comes and to my servant, do this and he does it.

[39:24] When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.

[39:49] Do you get the weight of that statement at that time in this part of the text? He's been just totally dismantling this whole false religion, this rabbinicism, I call it, that the rabbis had created more and more laws thinking they were offering better and better worship.

[40:09] Look at us, Lord. We're showing more faith. We're doing this thing. Next thing that happens is a Gentile Roman centurion who is in authority over them as the military might that is crushing down Israel.

[40:26] And Jesus just simply says, No greater faith have I found in Israel. This would have been crushing to the Pharisees.

[40:43] Absolutely crushing. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

[40:56] While the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

[41:17] So why do they reject Jesus? I'm going to conclude this sermon by giving you the three reasons why. The first reason why they reject Jesus is because they have a flawed view of the Messiah.

[41:33] they have a flawed view of the Messiah. The Jewish people at that time understood that they were under Roman control.

[41:46] And the only way they could get out from that Roman control if someone could lead them more powerfully over them. So they saw the Messiah as a warrior king.

[42:00] And the Old Testament gives, there's testimony to that. But there's also testimony in the Old Testament that he will be the suffering servant.

[42:14] Right? That he will bleed and die for us. And get this. They, the reason they believed they needed a physical Messiah is because they believed and knew they needed to be delivered physically.

[42:31] The reason why they rejected the spiritual Messiah is because they said, God, we got that. We don't need saving.

[42:44] We are already righteous. Look at all the laws that we have that we follow. We do this to love you. Yes, we do crush the people, but by crushing them, they're loving you.

[42:59] So that's the first reason why they reject Jesus ultimately. They have a corrupted view of the Messiah. The second reason why they reject Jesus Christ is they believe that the Messiah would come for Israel alone.

[43:17] They believed it was their Messiah and he would vanquish all others. That's why the text Matthew 8 that I read for you.

[43:29] He says of the Roman, I have never found so much faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at the table of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[43:44] John 3, 16, right? For God so loved the world. That word world means people of every tribe, nation, language, color, background.

[44:01] The banquet table that I offer is for everyone who would believe. And the third reason, they also believed that when the Messiah came, came, all they needed to do was demonstrate that they were the seed of Abraham.

[44:26] What I mean by that, there was no need to repent. There was no need to confess sin. I'm of the Jewish line all the way to Abraham.

[44:37] I'm already in God's good club. So this is how Jesus begins to heat things up a bit.

[44:51] And we're going to see next Sunday that Jesus Christ is going to do a pivot. What he's going to do, he's going to quit working with the crowds and he's going to start spending his time with 12 specific men because he knows his time is coming for the cross and he's preparing 12 men who will go out and take the gospel to the world.

[45:20] That's why we're here, right? We all the same tribe? No? Tongue? Different countries? Different continents? Praise God.

[45:33] That is because of the work of Jesus Christ calling those to follow him. Let's pray. Dear Lord, Heavenly Father, I know sometimes it's confusing when we go through the text and there's this message that's in there and these things that we miss.

[45:49] But I'm thankful when we just be able to track these words, we can continue with these thoughts and even see that you hated the false religion, you hated man's self-righteousness.

[46:01] And I believe it's the same thing today, oh God. There's many people who claim to follow Jesus but have their own system of self-righteousness.

[46:12] Whether it's because they're born of the right family, they give so much money, or they show up to church. When the only thing that Jesus Christ asks is to follow me.

[46:28] Not believe all the good things I tell you. but follow me. He promises that we are to give our burdens to him and he will lighten our burdens.

[46:44] That spiritual burden of trying so hard to connect with the God that we know is real. We walk out of here, we see the incredible creation that is around us.

[46:57] We study the small things, we study our body, we study the science and the stars and there's so much order to it that there can only be a God.

[47:11] What's amazing is 2,000 years ago you came down to deliver us this message so that we may believe and we may become your spiritual children. father I pray that we think through the hatred that Jesus Christ had for the Pharisees and I say hatred it was a rightful anger.

[47:40] May we not be the ones that he is angered because we've made our kids succumb to a false righteousness or we've forced our spouse to come under a false righteousness or our friends to come under a false righteousness.

[48:01] righteousness there is only one righteousness and that comes through life in you through you. So father on this day I pray that you would reveal to us some of our own legalism our own self-righteous those things that we do thinking we're pleasing you but are actually burdening ourselves and misunderstanding the love that you actually have for us that you offer true life.

[48:36] You are the fountain of life and the bread of life. We will never thirst and we will never hunger in your house. So on this Sunday I pray as we march ahead in these coming days may we be confronted with these truths and I pray that we would pray honest prayers to you asking the Lord to root out those idols areas of false worship in our life that impede our worship of you.

[49:14]  We ask these things in your most holiness in your most holy and gracious name. Amen. Amen. So I