Turn back to Matthew chapter
13. Often when I preach, when I'm
looking at a message, a portion of Scripture, there are a few men that I'll
go and see if they've preached on it. Because I can get some
direction, I can get encouragement, and it just makes it a real blessing
to me. But in this chapter, and I didn't
check everyone, but in this chapter, they all stopped with the parables. But I didn't want to stop there. I wanted to look at the rest
of it because there's something here. When I looked at it, there's
no fillers in the Word of God. There's no fillers. Everything
has its purpose for being written, and there is a message in it.
I thought of that scripture just above this. It said, when the
Lord in verse 51 said, have you understood all these things? And they said, yes, Lord. And
he said, then every scribe, which is instructed into the kingdom
of heaven is like to a man that is a householder, which brings
forth out of his treasure, things new and old. And I thought, well,
what's in this? What's in this treasure? What's in this portion of scripture? And as I read it and I kept reading
it and thinking about it, this title come to my mind and
it kind of gave me direction for the message. Prejudice Kills
Many Blessings. Being prejudiced kills many blessings. It says he did not many mighty
works there because of their unbelief. And I just read to
you the scorn that they had for him. There are two things that
I see in this portion of Scripture that I think is important to
point out. Number one is contempt. Contempt. And the other one is
prejudice. Both are deadly, not only in
the natural realm, but also in the spiritual realm they are
very deadly. Very deadly. They keep us from
many blessings. They blind us to the truth. They
blind us to the truth. Now I look these two words up,
contempt, it means a feeling of scorn. A feeling of scorn
or extreme reproach. And I thought it was interesting
because I remember watching a program once and this marriage counselor,
he was being interviewed, and he said, When I see this look of contempt,
when I see this look of contempt, he said, I know it's over. He
said, I've never ever been able to rescue anyone when I see that
look. When I see that look of scorn
and reproach, he said, I've never been able to bring anyone back
from that. And then prejudice means a preconceived opinion. It's a preconceived opinion.
It is to be biased. It is to be partial. It's to
show partiality. And that's what I see in these
verses. Now it says in verse 53, and
it came to pass, as it always does, it can be written on this
day and every day as it came to pass. Every day brings to
pass the will and purpose of God. And how revealing, how revealing
things are when God brings them to pass. Now since it came to
pass, He departed from there. Our Lord was always on the move. He was always about His Father's
business, even now. He's working. The scripture says
that by Him, all things were made by Him and for Him. And
by Him, all things consist. That means all things are maintained. All things are held together
and maintained. He maintains the universe, this
earth, the people on it, and everything on it. He maintains
it daily. By the second, he maintains it. He's not just sitting and watching. He's maintaining. He's working.
Now the work of salvation, the work of redemption is done. He
says it's finished. That's finished. But all this
other stuff has got to be brought to pass as it came to pass. And we must cherish the time
we have with the gospel. For there will come a time, and
we need to take this seriously, there will come a time, if time
goes on, that sooner or later, it will depart. Just look at
history. All you have to do is look at
history. It's like a wave that comes through and then moves
on. Now, it came to pass and he departed
from there and he goes back to his hometown of Nazareth. Nathaniel
said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? It was thought
of so lowly by the Jews, by most of the people. It was thought
of so lowly. Nothing good can come out of
that place. Nothing good. And yet the God
of heaven and earth, chose that place to make it his home, his
country, he says, back to his own country, his place. What a blessing, what a blessing,
yet what a responsibility to have the favor of God's presence. He was in their midst and they
didn't know him. Only a few, I mean just a few,
not many. And while He was there, He taught,
He preached in their synagogue. When they would meet together
like we are here, He showed up. What an example for us. He showed
up. He was always there, and He would
teach. And He would teach them the truth. They heard the truth. Listen, they heard the truth
from the truth. They heard the truth from the
truth. Our Lord was always teaching and preaching, He was always
about His Father's business. And as He taught, and as He preached,
and they saw some miracles, they saw some things, the power, they
saw it. It says, they were astonished.
They were amazed. They were absolutely amazed. But listen, astonished and amazed
is not salvation. It's not salvation. Here's the truth of the matter.
Here's the truth. They were astonished that someone
whom they thought so little of could know so much and do so
much. They thought, how can this, how
can such wisdom, such words, such power come from this? Never judge wisdom by someone's
education. Because there is a difference.
There is a difference. But now comes the contempt and
the prejudice. They're just a small example
here of the human race. They're just a small example
of the human race. But here's going to come the
contempt and the prejudice they have against Him. In verse 54,
"...Whence hath this, this wisdom and these mighty
works. They knew His name. They knew
His name, but refused to acknowledge Him by His name. They knew His
name, but instead they just called Him this. That's how much contempt
they had for the Lord Jesus Christ. They had to admit that this man,
that this, the one they had so much content for, was not like
other men. Never a man spake like this man. He spoke with power and authority. Turn over to Matthew chapter
7. In Matthew chapter 7, in verse 28, And it came to pass, when Jesus
had ended these sayings, the people were astonished. Again,
hear that word, astonished at his doctrine. For he taught them
as one having authority. There was power, power went with
what he was saying. He taught them as one having
authority, and not as the scribes, not as someone who's just reading
a book to them and giving some explanations. He spoke with authority. And they were amazed again, astonished. They were astonished when they
looked at this man. It says in Isaiah 53 that when
we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He
was so common-looking. He was so plain looking. When they saw him, they just
said, how can this be? You know the old adage, don't
judge a book by its cover. Read the book, then judge it. But they couldn't get past his
appearance. They couldn't get past it. And they had so much contempt,
but they had to admit that this man speaks like no other man.
He speaks with authority and power. Power goes with what he's
saying. And they watched him perform
some miracles. Now listen, here it comes. Verse
55. They heard him speak. And they
were just dumbfounded. I have no doubt those scribes
in the synagogue, they couldn't answer him. They were just dumbfounded. And what you do, you know, it's
like children when they just start making fun of you. You
know, they'll start making fun when they get embarrassed, and
that's what they do here. They start saying, is not this
the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? There's nothing special about
his father or his mother. They're just very common people. But they're not only just common
people, they are poor people. Poor. You know, poor people are looked
down on. They're looked down on far more than any other class,
the poor are. And they say, and his brethren,
James, and Josie, and Simon, and Judas, and his sisters, they're
with us. His sisters didn't marry anybody
of nobility, anybody of recognition. It's a family with no credentials.
Isn't it amazing the condescending grace of God that he would be
born into such a family? What kind of son can a carpenter
produce? What kind of son can a carpenter
and a common woman, what kind of son can they produce? Can
they produce this? This? And we're supposed to listen
to this? We're supposed to believe this
and follow this and to commit our lives to this? Absolutely. Because this is the Son of God.
This is God. This is our God. This is the
God of creation, the God of redemption. This is our God. Yes, we commit
everything to this man. This man. They say, where did
he get all this power and wisdom and authority? Look over in John
chapter 17. John 17, verse 1, these words
spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, this is where he got all this
power and authority. This is the carpenter's son.
No, this is God's son. The hour has come, glorify thy
son, that thy son also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given him. This is where he got all power
and authority. He got it from his father. God
is his father. And it says, You know, when they
looked at him, and after he had spoken, and they just stepped
back and says, this is the carpenter's son. And he's claiming to be
God's son? This is the carpenter's son.
We don't know what we think we know, do we? We don't know nearly
what we think we know. This is the carpenter's son.
Oh, this is God's son. This is God's son. If all you
see is the carpenter's son, you'll be offended too. But this is
God's son. And it says in verse 57, And
they were offended in him. They were so prejudiced and had
so much contempt that it offended them. When they heard him speak
and he spoke the truth and the messages he spoke, they were
offended. But the one thing I noticed here
is that our Lord identified himself with the poor. He identified himself with the
poor. He identified himself with the uneducated. They're just
fishermen. He called fishermen. He identified himself with the
working class people. He did. Joseph was a carpenter. He was a working man. He worked
daily. It was a fine profession. Our Lord identified with the
working class people more than any other, more than any other.
He knows poverty. He became poor that we through
His poverty might be made rich. He knows what it is to be poor,
to be poor, but they were offended at that. They were offended. Here's what they saw. They saw a poor man, a very common
poor man. He just had a robe. And I mean, it didn't have broad
phylacteries on it, it wasn't all, it was just a robe. Very
common, very common. He was born into poverty. He
lived in poverty. Solomon said this in Proverbs,
The rich hath many friends, but the poor is despised by his neighbor. The poor is despised by his neighbor,
but not by the Lord. Not by the Lord. He identified
with them. And they were offended of his
family. None of them had any credentials.
None of them. None of them. I think you and I would be surprised
if just in our natural state like they were, if we could see
Jesus Christ in the flesh as he was in that day, you'd probably
be disappointed. You and I naturally would say
the same thing. This, where did he get all this
education and wisdom and power? You want I'm to follow this? The son of God wouldn't look
like this. The son of God would not come
into town like this. Offended at him. They were offended
at his poverty, his family, his education. How know if they said
one place, how know if this man letters having never learned,
having never been to the university, our schools. I did business with a man one
time. He's passed away now. But he
was telling me he had his own small company. He was telling
me a story when he worked for a larger company. He was over
the engineering department, but he did not have an engineering
degree. And he told me, he said, you don't know the trouble I
put up with out of those engineers, because I didn't have an engineering
degree. But he was a brilliant man. I did business with him,
brilliant. I'm telling you, the man was brilliant. And the company
that he worked for recognized it. And he designed a lot of
things. He designed a lot of things.
And this guy was, if I had any question about something, I'd
call Finley up. And he could just calculate that thing in
his head. He was just, man, he was sharp. But he told me, he
said, I was over at the whole engineering department. It was
a pretty good-sized department. He said, they were offended. They were
upset. He said, it took a long time
before I finally got the respect. And I saw that, I thought of
that when I read this. They were offended at the Lord's
education. How knoweth this man letters,
having never learned? And they were offended at the
company he kept. Poor fishermen, poor fishermen. Publicans, the most hated people
in town. Republicans harlots you kidding
me harlots Mary Magdalene one whom he cast out seven devils
Remember an adulterous woman they brought Through her at his
feet She's part of that crowd In fact in his ancestry is a
Rahab the harlot If he walked in here right now
with a crowd that he had at that time, hmm, I wonder if I could
walk over there and get in that line, if I really could. By his grace, we can. But they were offended at his
company. But they were definitely offended at his message. Grace
for the guilty, Jew or Gentile. Grace for the guilty. And not only grace for the guilty,
but sovereign grace. He saves whom he will and passes
by whom he will. You know, he told the Jews at
one time about a leper and God passed by, there's many lepers
in the days of, I think it was Elijah. And God only saved one. He only healed one, Naaman the
Syrian. And it made him mad, it made
him mad. They wanted to throw him off
a hill. They tried to kill him over that message. Because all
he gave was God's sovereignty and salvation. And it made him
mad. The truth is offensive to liars. If you don't believe me, call
a liar a liar. Tell a liar he's a liar. I bet
you make him mad. You'll make him mad. Even if
he knows he's a liar, it'll still make him mad. The truth is offensive. It's
offensive to liars. And he says in verse 57, A prophet,
and oh, what a prophet! This is that prophet that Moses
said should come. This is the prophet. Scent of
God, spoken of in the Old Testament. Here he is. And he said, a prophet
is not without honor except in his own country and among his
own brethren. I could preach to you probably easier than I
can to my family, the ones I grew up with. I could preach to you easier.
In fact, you'll listen to me. You'll listen to me more than
they probably would. The Lord just said that. He just
said that. A prophet's not without honor
except in his own country and in his own house. Instead of acknowledging the
work of grace, they remember when. I remember
when, I remember when you was a little boy, someone said to
one of the Preachers that I know, one of the ladies said, I changed,
I used to change your diaper in the nursery. I wonder if she
really listens to me. I know you when you just, you're
just a rotten rascal. Instead of really acknowledging
the grace of God, the work of God, it's like I remember when. And they never listened to the
message. They never listened to the message. They're jealous, envious, prejudiced,
contempt for him. Of all people had contempt, it
was the people of Nazareth. That was the lowest town around.
That's just human nature. It doesn't matter if you're on
a throne or if you're in poverty. Human nature is the same. It's
the same. The only difference is if you're
rich, you got the money to fulfill the lust of the flesh a little
easier. But the lust of the flesh is still the same. It is what
it is. It doesn't change no matter what
class you fall into. And because of this, it says,
He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Unbelief. It's amazing. Someone said, I
heard someone say one time, it's amazing what God will do with
a man that believes him. Instead of expecting great things
from this man, they said, who is this man? Who does he think
he is? But here's, let me read it like
this. Because of their unbelief, he
would not do many mighty works. It's not like we put a check
on God. It's not like because of their
unbelief, his hands were tied, and he couldn't do anything.
Like faith releases the power of God, No, He would not do many
mighty works there because of their unbelief. They watched
Him grow up. They saw Him. They knew Him. They knew Him. Our Lord is not entertaining
sinners on their way to hell. That's not what He's doing. There are two things that are
deadly. Contempt, which comes from pride.
It comes from pride. It comes from pride. We have
pride of grace. God save us from pride of grace.
Pride of face. Thinking we're somebody. Pride
of place. Pride of race. Pride, you know, scripture says
pride goes before a fall and the Holy Spirit before destruction. God said there are seven things
I hate. The first one's a proud look. It's a proud look. And then the other deadly thing
is prejudice. It'll blind you to the truth.
It'll shut the door. It'll shut the door on great
blessings. It'll shut the door. And I say this, Lord, remove
both of these from me. Let me see. Let me see. Remove these. Don't let them
blind me to who you are. Don't let them blind me to who
your children are. Don't let them blind me. Save
me from them. All right.