WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000 This morning we're going to continue our study in the Gospel of Matthew. 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:10.000 We've come to chapter 12 and we're going to look at the whole section that Sophie read for us. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:14.000 But we can read again at verse 30 where Jesus said, 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:20.000 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:22.000 Scatterj. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:29.000 Over the past couple of weeks we've been working our way through chapters 9, 10, 11 and 12 of this Gospel. 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:36.000 And we've seen in these chapters that Jesus is out and about in different places, meeting people, healing people. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:42.000 As he does so, his fame starts to spread and people are amazed at him. 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:47.000 But at the same time, there's also an increase in opposition against him. 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:49.000 So the tension is building. 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:53.000 On the one hand there's people admiring Jesus, amazed at what he's doing. 00:00:53.000 --> 00:01:01.000 On the other, there are people who are more and more and more starting to hate Jesus. 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:09.000 That polarization is building up and in many ways it comes to a head in the passage that we read. 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:15.000 Jesus tackles the comments that are being made about him behind his back and he sets it out plainly. 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:20.000 You are either with me or you're against me. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:25.000 In doing so, Jesus is challenging the people to get to the truth. 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:31.000 And that's exactly what we want when there's tension. We want to get to the truth. 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:42.000 The result, however, is that as Jesus gives out the truth, he gives us a section of teaching that's not necessarily that easy. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:47.000 And that is because all too often truth can be difficult. 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:50.000 And that's what I want us to think about today. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.000 Our title is The Trouble with Truth. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:56.000 And we're going to look at three things. 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:03.000 We're going to say that truth is inflexible, truth is penetrating, and truth is relentless. 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:14.000 But before we look at these, I want to just do a quick glossary of terms, if you like, of two or three words or phrases that appear in this passage. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:17.000 First is Son of David. We see that being mentioned. 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:21.000 David was the model king in the Old Testament. 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:30.000 And the Old Testament promised that one of David's descendants, a son, would come as God's anointed king and savior. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:34.000 And the name for that is the Messiah or the Christ. That means the same thing. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:37.000 So Son of David is a reference to the Messiah. 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:44.000 Pharisees were religious leaders, and they were characterised by a very strict emphasis on the Jewish law. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:51.000 And that included the Old Testament laws, but they also supplemented these laws with additional requirements. 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:56.000 And then the third kind of unusual phrase that we see here is the term Beelzebub. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:01.000 That's actually the name of a Philistine deity, which means Lord of the Flies. 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:11.000 But in the New Testament, it's used as a term for Satan, the ruler of demons and the ruler of the kingdom of evil. 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:18.000 So just wanted to explain a couple of those terms which come up as we go through. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:23.000 So the first thing that we want to say is that truth is inflexible. 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:29.000 We see that at the start of the passage we read, there's a very stark contrast 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:34.000 between the reactions to Jesus healing the man who was mute. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:37.000 Some people were amazed and said, could this be the Son of David? 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:44.000 Others were saying it's only by Beelzebub, the Prince of Demons, that he's doing this. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:49.000 Now the polarisation here is astonishing. There's two options. 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:56.000 Jesus is either the Messiah, God's chosen anointed king, or he's a devil. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:00.000 Now Jesus' response to this is very interesting. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:07.000 He directly challenges the Pharisee's accusation that he's a devil, and he shows them that that claim is absolutely absurd. 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:13.000 They're basically saying that Jesus is destroying the power of evil by using the power of evil. 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:15.000 And that of course makes no sense at all. 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.000 The fact that Jesus is casting out demons does not mean that he's working from the devil. 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:21.000 It means that he's defeating the devil. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:32.000 And as it says, he's bound the strong man, and the fact that he's casting out demons is a sign that the kingdom of God has come. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:40.000 But although Jesus challenges the Pharisees in their accusation, he doesn't deny the polarisation. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:42.000 In fact, he emphasises it. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:46.000 He says, you're either with me or against me. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:55.000 And he's presenting the Pharisees and us with this very strong either or decision. 00:04:55.000 --> 00:05:01.000 And all of that is because truth is inflexible. 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:03.000 We see that in the world all around us. 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:07.000 If shops or cafes are told to shut, then they're shut. 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:10.000 If I'm late for a meeting, then I'm late. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:16.000 While I was coming into the church building to just just now, a road was closed. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:18.000 And that was that. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:20.000 I had to find a different way. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.000 If my Wi-Fi conks out, then my internet won't work. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.000 If hearts get relegated, then they're relegated. 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:30.000 Truth is very inflexible. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.000 And sometimes that can be helpful, but sometimes it can be very frustrating. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:42.000 And if that's true with shops and Wi-Fi and football, it is most definitely true about Jesus. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:46.000 Ultimately, the truth about how you view him is inflexible. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:50.000 You are either with him or against him. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:57.000 This is a reminder that religio-philosophical neutrality is a myth. 00:05:57.000 --> 00:05:58.000 Now, what do I mean by that? 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:01.000 Well, I kind of made up that word, religio-philosophical. 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:05.000 What I mean by that is just how you view and understand the world. 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:08.000 Religion and philosophy are really two sides of the same coin. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:15.000 They're both describing your worldview and everyone, absolutely everyone, has a worldview. 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:24.000 So whether you're an atheist or an agnostic or a Muslim or a humanist, you have a religio-philosophical position. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:34.000 Now, by myth, I mean something that people imagine but something that doesn't actually exist in real life. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:44.000 So when it comes to Jesus, people think and talk a lot in terms of religio-philosophical neutrality. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:51.000 So rather than saying we're with him or against him, people say, well, I'm kind of in the middle. 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:58.000 So some will say I admire Jesus, some would say, well, I respect Jesus, some would say, well, I maybe have my doubts about Jesus, 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:00.000 but I'm not against him. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.000 All of these things are kind of seen as neutral. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:14.000 And that sounds great, but the idea that these opinions are neutral is actually a myth. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:22.000 And it's a myth because the claims that Jesus makes are polarizing and ultimately there's no flexibility. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:26.000 All the stuff that looks neutral is just a variation of the same thing. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:30.000 We're either with him or we are against him. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:39.000 Now, that's not to say that the respectful doubter is no better than the vicious critic. 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:47.000 Jesus makes that clear when he goes on to speak about the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit in verses 31 and 32. 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:52.000 Now, there's a lot that we could say about this topic and in many ways it's a kind of whole sermon on its own. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:55.000 There's different views as to exactly what this means. 00:07:55.000 --> 00:08:06.000 In general terms, though, we can say that Jesus is referring to a willful and deliberate rejection of the truth about Jesus. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:12.000 So this is not talking about some kind of sin that you might accidentally slip into and then you're doomed forever. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:14.000 It's not like that. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:24.000 It's a very conscious and deliberate hardening against Jesus that leaves a person totally unrepentant and totally hostile. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:31.000 And Jesus is saying this because the Pharisees who are witnessing a miracle and who are saying that he's a devil, 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:37.000 they are in serious danger of doing exactly that. 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:50.000 And so you do have those who are kind of at the far side of the spectrum, who are just utterly consciously hostile, irreversibly hostile to Jesus. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:59.000 But the crucial thing that we have to recognize is that when truth forces polarization, 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:14.000 the neutrals in the middle who don't want to be with Jesus are ultimately going to default into being against him. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:19.000 And all of that is because truth is inflexible. 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:25.000 Now, humanity struggles with this in regard to religion and morality and worldview. 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:35.000 And in response to that, people try to kind of bend the truth or stretch the truth so that multiple worldviews can be brought into one kingdom if you like. 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:43.000 But if you try to bend something that's inflexible or if you try to stretch it, it's going to break. 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:47.000 You think of a piece of raw spaghetti or a cream cracker. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:55.000 And that's why the attempts to stretch truth across all sorts of different worldviews, it doesn't last. 00:09:55.000 --> 00:10:00.000 The inflexibility of truth makes polarization unavoidable. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:05.000 And the result is just as Jesus says, a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:07.000 And we see that in lots of places around us. 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:14.000 So you see politically just now the UK is struggling to cope with unionism and nationalism. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:19.000 You see feminism and transgenderism struggling to cope with each other. 00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:24.000 You see people rightly objecting to fake news. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:30.000 All of that is because ultimately truth doesn't bend or stretch. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:35.000 The trouble with truth is that it's inflexible. 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:42.000 The second thing we see is that truth is penetrating. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:49.000 This is shown to us in verses 33 to 37 where Jesus speaks about a tree being either good or bad. 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:53.000 It's either a good tree with good fruit or a bad tree with bad fruit. 00:10:53.000 --> 00:11:01.000 And Jesus used that imagery to apply to ourselves, our hearts, our inward heart and our outward actions. 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:06.000 That either going to be both good or both not good. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:10.000 Jesus is re-emphasizing a point that he made in the Sermon and the Mount. 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:12.000 One that really runs right through the whole Bible. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:16.000 The fact that integrity matters. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:22.000 From the inside to the outside, God wants us to be people of consistency and integrity. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:30.000 That's why Jesus had absolutely no time for the religious leaders who were just wanting to put on a really good outward show. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:33.000 But inwardly they harbored all sorts of sin. 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:42.000 You can see in verse 34, he calls that kind of people, he calls them a brood of vipers. 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:49.000 And so the idea that you can kind of put on an outward show to cover inward sin and brokenness is a lie. 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:54.000 Jesus is saying that if your heart is bad, then your outward fruit is going to be bad as well. 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:58.000 If the heart is good, then the fruit will be good. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:06.000 Ultimately, the truth about who we are can't be hidden or masked or spun. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:11.000 And that's because truth is penetrating. 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:14.000 And again, we see that in the world all around us. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:19.000 Sometimes truth can be suppressed for a while, but eventually it will penetrate through. 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:22.000 That happens with scientific discoveries. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:32.000 And when DNA was discovered, it wasn't that DNA suddenly just appeared into the universe and into existence. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:37.000 It was that the truth of DNA penetrated into our understanding. 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:38.000 It's the same with business. 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:45.000 If a company is struggling, eventually that truth is going to penetrate through to the shareholders. 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:47.000 And it can even happen with our cars. 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:54.000 If something like the alternator is not working, sadly that truth is going to penetrate through as well. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:56.000 Sometimes it might take a long time. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:03.000 And for some things, it might not even be until the day of judgment that the whole truth penetrates through. 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:09.000 But no matter how long it takes, it will happen. 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:13.000 And that applies even to stuff that can seem small and insignificant. 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:18.000 And Jesus highlights that here when he talks about words. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:27.000 Our words can so easily just pop out of our mouths, and yet they can penetrate a long, long way. 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:32.000 Sometimes that can be for good, but all too often it can be for harm. 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:40.000 There's a really clear example of that right here in Edinburgh at the moment concerning the statue of Henry Dundas in St Andrew's Square. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:48.000 Henry Dundas was an MP who was involved in the debates about the abolition of slavery at the end of the 18th century. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:56.000 And he inserted the word gradual into the legislation proposing to end slavery. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:00.000 So instead of making it happen quickly, he said it needed to happen gradually. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:03.000 Now there's a big debate as to whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:09.000 Some people argue that that caused half a million more people to be enslaved. 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:17.000 But others are arguing to say, well, if he hadn't put that word in, then the legislation would never have passed. 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:22.000 And there's a big discussion to be had about what the truth actually is. 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:29.000 The key point is that that little word gradual penetrated a long way. 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:32.000 It penetrated into the laws of the British Empire. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:35.000 It penetrated into the lives of half a million slaves. 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:41.000 And it's penetrating down into the news here in Edinburgh and in the UK in 2020. 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:46.000 It's a powerful reminder that truth is penetrating. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:52.000 And if we apply that to ourselves, it can be unsettling. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:15:00.000 I'm often very relieved that the rest of the world can't penetrate into my heart and see all the brokenness that's there. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:07.000 But God can. And God's standard of truth is so high that it penetrates everything. 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:09.000 We can't hide anything from him. 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:12.000 We can't pretend to be something that we are not. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:19.000 And I wish I could say to God, I've never said a careless word that I've never done that. 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:21.000 I've never hurt anyone with a careless word. 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:23.000 I wish I could say that. 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:27.000 But the truth is I have. 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:32.000 As a result, we would prefer to pretend that truth isn't penetrating. 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:37.000 And one of the best ways to do that is to try and distract ourselves. 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:40.000 But even that tactic doesn't work for long. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:47.000 The trouble with truth is that it's penetrating. 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:51.000 The third thing we see is that truth is relentless. 00:15:51.000 --> 00:16:01.000 This is highlighted in verses 38 through to 45 where as the tension builds around the truth of who Jesus is, 00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:05.000 the scribes and Pharisees demand a sign from him. 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.000 And so that's if they're saying, well, prove yourselves, prove yourself. 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:15.000 Jesus refuses and instead he points them back to the Old Testament. 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:25.000 He talks about Jonah, who spent three days in the belly of a fish and he applies that to what is going to happen to him in his death and resurrection. 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:33.000 Now, one of the key points been emphasized here is that Jesus doesn't need to prove himself with a fancy sign in front of these leaders 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:42.000 because the truth of what the Old Testament prophesied about him and the truth of what's going to happen to him is certain. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:46.000 He doesn't need another sign to prove it. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:51.000 And that's because truth is relentless. 00:16:51.000 --> 00:17:02.000 So if what the Old Testament says about Jesus is true, then that is going to show itself and prove itself to be true. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:13.000 But equally, the truth about the generation around Jesus of whom he speaks in these verses, the truth about them is going to show itself as well. 00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:16.000 That's why Jesus refers to another incident in the Old Testament. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:27.000 He talks about the Queen of the South and the men of the South who came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, the men of Nineveh to whom Jonah preached. 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:40.000 They stand in judgment over the generation in front of Jesus because their faith is exposing the unbelief of the people who are confronting Jesus. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:43.000 And the consequence of that is very serious. 00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:56.000 And it all kind of culminates in verses 44 and 45 where Jesus talks about an evil spirit leaving a house but then returning and bringing others with it. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:01.000 So that the last state of that person is worse than the first. 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:05.000 So it will also be with this evil generation. 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:21.000 In other words, if this generation, the people in front of Jesus, if they maintain their opposition to him, if they keep regarding Jesus as a devil, if they keep opposing him, then the implications of that are not going to go away. 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:27.000 Eventually, this generation is going to find itself worse than ever. 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:32.000 And that's because truth is relentless. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:35.000 And again, we can see that all around us. 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:41.000 The truths of past injustices are relentless. 00:18:41.000 --> 00:18:47.000 And maybe for years, people have tried to suppress or ignore that, but truth is relentless. 00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:51.000 Truth won't go away. 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:55.000 And again, for us personally, that can be really difficult. 00:18:55.000 --> 00:19:03.000 The truth about our mistakes, our regrets, our weaknesses, our feelings, they don't go away. 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:11.000 And that's why so often we can find ourselves plagued by the question, why did I do that? 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:16.000 The trouble with truth is that it's relentless. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:18.000 So there's our three headings. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:22.000 Truth is inflexible, so it will polarize. 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:27.000 Truth is penetrating, so it exposes everything. 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:29.000 And truth is relentless. 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:32.000 It won't go away. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:40.000 Sometimes, as I said, that can be for good, but in terms of how we stand before God for humanity, it's a problem. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:46.000 When it comes to our relationship with God, we don't want the truth to be inflexible. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:50.000 We want to be able to believe and do whatever we like. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:52.000 We don't want the truth to penetrate. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:56.000 We'd rather our hearts and lives were not exposed. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:58.000 And we don't want the truth to be relentless. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:06.000 We'd far rather, if all these questions of life and death and God and judgment would just go away. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:10.000 Now, you might be thinking, well, Thomas, this is a really depressing sermon. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:13.000 Well, please hang in there. 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:23.000 All of this trouble with truth applies if we reject Jesus, either casually or deliberately. 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:27.000 That brings us back to verse 30 that we started with. 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:31.000 Ultimately, we are either with Him or against Him. 00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:41.000 And the seriousness and danger of rejecting Jesus cannot be exaggerated. 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:54.000 If we push Jesus away, then the truth of that is going to cause us eternal trouble. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:21:03.000 But the message of the gospel is not follow Jesus in order to avoid something awful. 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:11.000 The message of the gospel is follow Jesus because being with Him is utterly amazing. 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:16.000 And that's highlighted in the very last verses of the chapter. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:21.000 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brother stood outside, 00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:24.000 asking to speak to him, but Jesus replied to the man who told him, 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:26.000 who is my mother and who are my brothers? 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:29.000 And stretching out his hand towards his disciples, he said, 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:32.000 here are my mother and my brothers. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:40.000 For whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.000 Now, in these verses, Jesus is not rejecting his siblings. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:48.000 We know from other passages that he was really devoted to his mother, Mary, 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:53.000 and later his brother became key leaders in the early church. 00:21:53.000 --> 00:22:01.000 But what Jesus is emphasizing is that his true family are not his biological mother or his half-brothers. 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:07.000 His true family are those who put their trust in him. 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:12.000 His true family is the church. 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:20.000 And this is highlighting the fact that at the heart of Christianity is family. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:26.000 In so many ways, this is the foundational truth of the whole of the Christian faith. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:31.000 Throughout the whole Bible, the theme of family is constantly at the forefront. 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:40.000 And if we are trusting in Jesus, our whole relationship with God and with one another is in terms of family. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.000 So God the Father is our Father. 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:50.000 The infinite, eternal, unchangeable God is our Father. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:56.000 And you are his precious, treasured, beloved child. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:59.000 Jesus, God the Son, is your brother. 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:01.000 He identifies himself with you. 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:03.000 He stands alongside you. 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:06.000 He rescues you and protects you. 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:14.000 And no matter how much others may reject you, if you are trusting in Jesus, you are his brother or sister. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:17.000 As believers, we are a family. 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:20.000 So the church is not an organization or a society or a club. 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:23.000 It's a family. 00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:28.000 In Jesus, we are united together as brothers and sisters. 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:33.000 And that's a family bond that stretches across all the nations of the world. 00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:44.000 And through God the Holy Spirit, we enjoy fellowship and togetherness with God the Father, with Jesus our brother, with one another as brothers and sisters. 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:52.000 At the heart of the church, of the Bible and of Christianity is family. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:24:01.000 And that means that if you are a Christian or if you become one, Jesus would look at you today and say, 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:07.000 here are my mother and my brothers and my sisters. 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:14.000 And that truth is incredibly precious. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:20.000 And there's three reasons why that truth is incredibly precious. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:30.000 Number one, the truth that you are in Jesus' family is inflexible. 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:41.000 So if you are a Christian, Jesus identifies you as his sister or brother, and he is absolutely inflexible in regard to that truth. 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:48.000 So that means that there's never a moment's hesitation, never a trace of ambiguity, never a hint of second thoughts. 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:56.000 Jesus looks at you and says, you're my brother or you're my sister, and he is utterly inflexible about that. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:25:07.000 So if anyone or anything tries to shift Jesus away from his commitment to you as his brother or sister, he is totally and utterly inflexible. 00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:12.000 It's a non-negotiable, it's a non-event, it's an immovable object. 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:21.000 Jesus says to you, I am your brother, I am your brother, you are my brother or sister, and I am not shifting. 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:33.000 And the fact that that's true is emphasized very powerfully in these verses, because if you look at these verses, it's not that the disciples and the people around Jesus are saying, can we be your family Jesus? 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:38.000 We are your brothers and sisters, aren't we? It's not them who are saying it. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:41.000 It's Jesus who says it. 00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:46.000 He is saying, this is my family. 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:56.000 And if you are a Christian or if you become one, then he is saying exactly the same thing about you. 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:07.000 The truth that you are his sister or brother is eternally inflexible. 00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:17.000 The second reason why this truth about family is incredibly precious is because the truth that you are in Jesus' family is penetrating. 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:25.000 Now this is really important. Jesus' commitment to you as your brother is not superficial. 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:32.000 Often other people's commitment towards us only goes so far, and that can even happen in families. 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:42.000 When everything is great in their lives, then all is well, but when the truth about our brokenness penetrates to the surface, then sometimes people don't really want to stick with us. 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:46.000 Jesus is not like that. 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:54.000 And the truth of the fact that you are Jesus' brother or sister, that's a truth that penetrates. 00:26:54.000 --> 00:27:03.000 So if we look within us, so often we can find many reasons why Jesus would not want us as brother or sister. 00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:10.000 So we peel back our lives and we see failings and mistakes and struggles and sins, weakness and temptation. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.000 And the more you look at these things, the more you think, well, Jesus would never want me. 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:25.000 But the truth is, Jesus' commitment to you penetrates through every single layer of your life. 00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:30.000 So peel back your life, you peel it back and you see failures. 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:35.000 But Jesus is standing over your shoulder and he says, I'm still your brother. 00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:40.000 You peel back further and you find your insecurities, your fears, your doubts, your jealousies. 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:46.000 Jesus says, I'm still your brother. You peel back further and you see this massive pile of stupid mistakes. 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:49.000 Jesus says, I'm still your brother. 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:54.000 You peel back even further and you find all the scars of when you've been hurt. 00:27:54.000 --> 00:28:00.000 And Jesus says, I am still your brother. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:07.000 And the truth that you are Jesus' beloved brother or sister, the truth that you are a precious child of God, 00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:12.000 is a truth that penetrates with unstoppable force. 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:21.000 If you are a Christian or if you become one, the truth that you are in God's family is one that saturates everything about you. 00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:27.000 And that's why when God looks at you, he doesn't see a broken, lost, hopeless sinner. 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:34.000 He sees someone who is completely saturated with the righteousness of Jesus. 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:37.000 That's what it means to be united to Jesus. 00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:46.000 Everything that he is and everything that he has done has penetrated into your whole life. 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:53.000 You're a new person. You are his family. 00:28:53.000 --> 00:29:03.000 And the third reason, I'm sure you can guess, the third reason why it is a precious truth is the fact that the truth that you are in Jesus' family 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:07.000 is relentless. 00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:12.000 So Jesus is your brother. That truth is relentless. 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:19.000 That means that it is never going to go away. He is never going to go away. 00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:22.000 You think of everything that might happen in the future. 00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:28.000 We have no idea what a week or a month or a year is going to bring, but no matter what happens in your life, 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:33.000 Jesus' commitment to you is relentless. 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:38.000 Jesus is saying to you, I am your brother and I'm not going away. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:46.000 And the relentlessness of that commitment stretches not just to the end of your life, but right into eternity. 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:49.000 Jesus' commitment to you never fades. 00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:54.000 It never loses energy. It never comes down a notch. It never even flickers. 00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:58.000 And that's why on the day of judgment, if you are trusting in Jesus, 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:04.000 He will look at you with as much enthusiasm and energy and excitement as He ever has done. 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:09.000 And He will say, that's my sister. That's my brother. 00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:14.000 It's so easy to think that Jesus will reluctantly accept us and reluctantly take us home. 00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:17.000 That on the day of judgment, it'll kind of be a case of Jesus saying, 00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:24.000 well, oh, yeah, I think I remember them. I suppose I better include them. That is complete nonsense. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:33.000 Jesus' joy over you is abounding and it will always be abounding. 00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:39.000 And that's because He loves you with a relentless love. 00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:48.000 You are His and that's a truth that will never, ever relent. 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:52.000 And I think we can see a glimpse of that even in our lives just now. 00:30:52.000 --> 00:31:00.000 I'm sure that for everyone of you watching, like me, you really miss your family just now. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:05.000 And we have family that we long to see, grandparents and siblings and aunties and uncles. 00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.000 We long to be able to see them. I'm sure you feel exactly the same. 00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:17.000 But I am sure I can say about you that lockdown has not diminished your love for your family one bit. 00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:19.000 I'm sure that's true of you. 00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:31.000 Well, that's just a glimpse of the relentless love that Jesus has for you. 00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:40.000 Jesus is calling us into His family and if we trust in Him, that's a truth that is inflexible. 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:49.000 It's a truth that's penetrating. It's a truth that's relentless. 00:31:49.000 --> 00:31:55.000 And that's why being with Jesus is so amazing. 00:31:55.000 --> 00:32:02.000 And that's why that question, are you with Him or are you against Him, is so important. 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:09.000 If we reject Him, then the truth about Jesus and about reality and about life and death, 00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:13.000 that truth will ultimately cause us trouble. 00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:24.000 But if we trust in Jesus, the truth about who He is will take away all our troubles. 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:30.000 The big question is, are you with Him? 00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:36.000 Let's pray. 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:41.000 Dear Father, we thank you so much for your truth. 00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:51.000 We thank you that that truth is inflexible, penetrating and relentless. 00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:57.000 And we just thank you so much for everything that you've done for us through your Son, our Saviour Jesus. 00:32:57.000 --> 00:33:05.000 We pray that we would all trust in Him, follow Him and look to Him. 00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:22.000 Amen.