Matthew 12, read verses 46 and
47 with me. While he, our Lord, that is,
yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood
without, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him,
Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak
with thee. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ was talking to the people. He had just talked to the scribes
and Pharisees, condemned them, and they had nothing more to
say to Him. And then He began to talk with the people. The
scribes and Pharisees didn't like what He said, wouldn't hear
Him, certainly didn't do what He said or believe what He said,
There's a Scripture that says the common people heard Him gladly
as He talked with them. Common people. Sinners. Not the
wise, mighty, and noble, but common, ordinary, meek, and lowly
sinners. And that's what I want to be.
And I want Him to talk with me. I need Him to talk to me. And when our Lord talked, oh
my, Grace poured from His lips. No man speaks like this man.
His speech was, I'm trying to describe what I
haven't heard in person, but His words were always wise. His words were always marvelous. His words were always glorious.
His words were always Mysterious, his words were always a revelation.
Everything that came out of his mouth was a revelation. We've never heard it like that
before. He who is wisdom, he talks. That struck me. He talks. I once said that if I could have
a time period that I would like to live in, it would be in Solomon's
day. I take it back. I'd take three
years with our Lord. Just to walk with Him for three
years and hear His voice. It would be worth a lifetime,
wouldn't it? He talked. His daily speech,
His language, His speech, when He talked, there were no idle
words that came out of His mouth. His talking was preaching. His talking was teaching. We do a lot of talking, don't
we? Too much. We talk, but we don't have anything
to say. Oh, my. He talked. He talked to the people.
And it says, Behold, his mother and his brethren stood without
desiring to speak with him. And somebody told him, Your mother
is out there and she wants to speak to you and your brethren.
Behold, I love the language of our old Bible. the language of
Scripture, behold. That word is used quite a bit
in the King James Bible, in the original Scripture. Behold. Stop. That means stop and think about
this. Behold. When you see the word behold,
that means you need to stop and consider this. Think about this. Behold. His mother and his brethren
were outside and wanted to speak with him.
That's what it says there, desiring to speak with him. They had something
to say to him. Now, two things we need to behold
here. Well, several things. But two
things you need to stop and wonder about. And this is, I think it
was, I don't know who it was, one of the old writers said,
just the sad, language of Scripture, that what went on the side is
full of wisdom. He's preaching, he's teaching,
he's talking, and he gets interrupted, and he deals with that. And just
this little side conversation, or what he has to say on the
side, is full of wisdom, full of glory that we can learn from.
That's how we know this is God's Word. There's not one single
unnecessary idle word or just a piece of information. There's
infinite eternal wisdom to be had. A couple of things to behold. It says, his mother and his brethren,
his nearest relations, they were without. They were outside. They were
not on the inside listening to Him. Why weren't they in that
building listening to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why weren't they
in there? They sent word they had something
to say to Him. Why weren't they on the inside
listening to Him, wanting to hear what He had to say to them?
There's a great lesson here. That's why it's here. Mary had several sons and daughters. It's undeniable from Scripture. Now listen to me. Some were the
Lord's disciples. A couple of them were apostles.
Do you know that? Jude was the Lord's brother.
James. Do you know that? But some were not. This clearly shows us that the
Lord is no respecter of persons, not even His blood relation. He saves whom He will. He'll
save whom He will, whom He foreknew. None of these were, well, I'm
going to get ahead of myself. This clearly shows us that the
Lord is no respecter of persons. The old saying, familiarity breeds
contempt. One whom you're around a great
deal, one whom you hear a great deal, that one who is your peer,
that is, in your near age. He had some brethren, apparently,
that were born not too long after he was. You remember there was
another story where his brethren came to him to try to get him
to quit speaking and preaching, he said, he's beside himself.
Remember that? They came to him and said... And another time,
some of them said to him, show yourself. Show people who you
are. Nobody, you know, keeps it quiet
when they seek to be known. Tell them who you are. That was
his blood relations, so called. Familiarity breeds contempt.
Those nearest can be the farthest away. I think it was Matthew
Henry said, I read the old parable, is nearest to the church, farthest
from God. This man right here beside this
building has never been in this building, at least as long as
I've been here. Or on the other side, Mr. Robertson.
Maybe he was years ago, but he's not now. And on and on it goes,
all around us. You won't find anybody close
by. Years ago, there was a man who
lived right beside 13th Street Baptist Church. And he never
entered the building. Ever. He never came. He was a
strict Nazarene. Nazarene. Well, he moved. His family moved to Ohio. And
you know what happened? He started coming to church in
1933. The Lord had to get him away. That's just sad, isn't it? Those nearest the truth, yet
farthest from God. Our Lord said this. And when
he went to Nazareth, remember? He first came to his hometown
as a 30-year-old man. He grew up there. He grew up
in his father's carpenter shop. They all knew him. They said,
this is the carpenter. They knew him. This is Jesus. We saw him grow up as a boy. In spite of the fact that he
was the most extraordinary boy ever, ever, they could not deny
that that's one special young man there, though they didn't
know who he was. They couldn't deny that. And yet, when he came
to his hometown, they rejected him. Rejected him. Why? Because a prophet is not
without honor. save in his own country and among
his own family. Our Lord said that. He himself
said that. Job's wife rebuked him. There was not a finer man on
the earth than Job. God said so. And his wife rebuked
him. David's wife, David mind you,
despised him. despised the sweet psalms of Israel. The Lord's brethren didn't
hear Him. Some of them. Those that did,
it was by the grace of God. That's another story we're learning
here. His mother and His brethren interrupted the Lord Jesus Christ
as He was preaching the Word. Can you imagine? was going through her head. Why would she do this? Mary's
a sinner, was a sinner. Mary was a sinner, just like
you and me. She was able to be lifted up
with pride. It was pride on her part. It
was great presumption on her part to think that she could
interrupt the Lord Jesus Christ. as he's speaking to his people
and have a special audience with him, that he'll stop what he's
doing and saying just for her. And how many people actually
think, you know, these celebrities that come and so forth, well-known
people come and think, isn't God pleased that I'm here? Surely
he'll acknowledge me. Oh, my. If the President of the
United States walked in this building right now, It would
be a great dishonor to our Lord if I stopped this service and
acknowledged Him. Wouldn't it? Decide who does
He think He is to come in here. It would be His great honor and
His privilege, not ours, but His, to come and sit and hear
about His King and His Lord. To sit at His feet. To sit at
the feet of this lowly, worthless preacher as He declared who really
reigns and rules. It would be the highest honor
conferred upon that man if God would bring him in here right
now. And great dishonor to our Lord if I were to stop what I
was doing and acknowledge this worm. That's right. We're a bunch of nothings and
nobody. Mary was a nothing and a nobody. To think that the Lord should
stop what he's doing and say into here from her. You know, we all do this to an
extent with one another. We interrupt one another. That's
a sign of the age we live in. It's a sign of pride, the last
day, proud, boasters. We've got a lot of talking to
do. Everybody wants to be heard, don't they? That's so rude. It's so proud to not want to
hear others, but want them to hear from us. When the scripture
says we need to be swift to hear and slow to speak and slow to
rap, we need to be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice
of fools. That's talk. And nothing describes
this age more than that, talk. It didn't used to be that way
just a few hundred years ago, just 50 years ago. It's a mark
of youth and ignorance to talk. It's a mark of maturity to hold
your tongue. A mark of maturity to walk. Walk the walk, not talk the talk.
They said to her, they said to him, somebody said, behold, your
mother and your brethren stand without desiring to speak today.
Now, I wish every Catholic in the land could hear this, because
this is a complete and total repudiation of Roman Catholicism,
what they say about Mary, a complete renunciation of all that they
say about Mary. Right here in these side words.
Apparently, Mary was now well-known. You know she was. She was well-known. They knew that this was the mother
of the rabbi named Jesus. This is the mother. And people
tend to confer great honor upon the mother of one unnoted person. And now, perhaps she's treated
with extra favor by some. You know she was. You know she
was. Somebody said, oh, your mother's
out there. And your brethren, they probably got caught up in
it too. Yes, that's my brother, the well-known preacher, my brother. Oh, you're the brother of Jesus. Yeah. Aren't I something? Well, Mary was just a sinful
human being like you and I. Mary was able to be lifted up
with pride like you and I are, which we're so susceptible, every
one of us are so susceptible to pride more than anything else. We're all easily manipulated
by Satan. Easily. Satan used Simon Peter. Satan wants nothing more than
to keep people from hearing this Gospel. Nothing more. He'll use anything. He's a master
at this, to keep people from hearing the truth which alone
will set them free. He knows. He's seen it done countless
times. Keep people from hearing the
gospel. Believe in God's Word and you'll
use whatever. And he used Mary. He used his
brethren. And as I said, what a clear and
powerful and complete renunciation of all that that false religion,
Roman Catholicism, says about Mary. They say she's sinless. Oh, no. No. She's not sinless. They say she has special favor
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. He wouldn't even hear her. He
did not stop and listen to her. They say that she is a mediator.
Listen to me now. This is what they say. Don't
let anybody tell you differently. This is what they believe. That
she is a mediator between Jesus Christ and us. That's right. That's what they say. That she
is the one you pray to Mary, and she goes to him because she
has special favors. She's his mother. If you want
to talk to me, you know, you're going to go to my mother. If
you got to my mother, she can convince me. There's a story
years ago of Solomon in 1 Kings 1. Solomon had a brother who
secretly wanted to be king. In fact, he tried to be, and
David, David did, and he said, Solomon
is my king. It struck fear in that brother
of Solomon, and he shut his mouth. But it didn't do anything to
his heart. He still wanted to be king. Alright? So Solomon
is now reigning. And this brother of Solomon came
to Bathsheba and said, would you tell Solomon to give me Abishag,
that woman that David was warmed by, give me her as my bride.
Go to David and plead for me." There's a reason that story's
in there. He went to Solomon's mother and said, would you plead
with him, give me that woman? And she did. Bathsheba came to
Solomon and said, I just have a request to you. And he said,
sit here. Sit here, my mother. I love you. I'll give you anything
you want. That's what he said. A loving son. A caring son. Honored his mother. And she said,
would you give Abishag to your brother? Solomon had his head cut off.
And he told Bathsheba, he wants my kingdom and you get out of
here. She had no special favors with
them. Nor does Mary. Mary sits at the feet of Jesus
Christ right now, right beside Mary Magdalene. The only thing that made those
two women different was in the sovereign providence of God.
One was a harlot and one was a virgin. It was only the grace
of God that made the difference, okay? But they're both sinners
needing to be saved by the same Christ. To say that Mary, to give any
place to Mary, any special place, is idolatry. It's anti-Christ. To attribute any power whatsoever
to Mary is idolatry. It's anti-Christ. To pray to,
to think on, think on Mary rather than the Lord Jesus Christ is
idolatry. Anti-Christ. That's a fact. You see that, don't you? Doesn't
this clearly say that to you? And our Lord said this in verse
48, Who is my mother? I can't say that. Can you? There's not a human being in
here that can stand and say, who is my mother? Right there
she sits. That is the woman that brought
me into this world. A mother is the one who brought
you into this world. The one you owe your existence
to. You got your beginning from her. That's the one who sustained
your life. Kept you. Nursed you to strength. That's the one you're subject
to. The Lord Jesus Christ. He who has no beginning. He who
has no father or mother really. He stands there and says, who?
is my mother. Or for that matter, his father. I'm careful to say this, but
does not the scripture say, call his name, wonderful counselor,
the baby, the child? Unto us a child is born, a son
is given. Call his name, wonderful Counselor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father. Did he not say, he that hath
seen me hath seen the Father? I and the Father are one. The Father is in me, and I am
in the Father. Do you believe that? Sure we
do. I can't explain it. People don't
believe it because they can't explain it. That's why I believe
it, because I can't explain it. Father, who is my mother? Our
Lord dealt four times with Mary. Every time she came to him as
his mother, he dealt with her, didn't he? When he was twelve
years old. Twelve years old. He's in the
temple. And again, she interrupted. I mean, the first time. She said,
son, Don't you know your father and
I have worried? We've been looking for you." He did not say, old mother, I'm
sorry. Did he? No. He said, wished you not that
I must be about my father's business? Mary, she kept these things in
her heart. She remembered that, but 18 years
later, she forgot. Eighteen years later, she forgot
whom she was talking to. There was a wedding, a wedding
feast, remember? She came to him. Somebody apparently
went to her and said, we don't have any wine. We hear your son
can do miracles. And she came to him and said,
they don't have any wine. And what did he say? What have I to do with thee? And then here, he dealt with
her. He wouldn't even speak to her.
And then on the cross, one last time. Remember? He's hanging
on the cross. And his mother, you know she is more distraught
and more sorrowful than anybody, or as much as, because the rest
of them loved him too. But she, you know, he is her
son to her, right? She's distraught. And the Lord
does not call her mother. But He said, as he does to all
his people. Woman, here's your son. I'm not your son. You're my daughter. And son, behold, that's your
mother. Who is my mother? See, our Jesus, our Lord Jesus,
their Jesus is not like our Jesus. They've got another Jesus. I'm
so glad we know that. We wouldn't know it if the Father
hadn't revealed it to us. Revealed through Scriptures like
this. Well, I've got to go on. There's several things I want
to say here. He said in verse 48, Who is my mother? Who are
my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand
toward his disciples and said, Behold, my mother and my brethren. If we were sitting there, He does right now. This is addressed
to us. What a wonderful word. We're
his brethren, his mother, his sister. Oh my. He said in verse
50, Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven,
the same as my brother, sister, mother, family, my dear and closest
relations. Blood kin. family. Behold, my family. Now, did not
our Lord say, except ye forsake all ye have, ye cannot be my
disciples? Did he not say, he that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of men? Son or daughter. Didn't he not say that? Did not
he prove his love to his people in leaving his father to cleave
unto his bride? Did he not? Oh, how he loved
the Father. And the Father loved him. Because
he loved his people the same. The same. Think about that. Get a hold of that, would you?
Did he not say, if any man come to me and hate not, hate not his father, his mother,
or that is, the world will Think you don't love them if you forsake
them for Him, for Christ, for His people. But he said, if any
man, whoever it is, if they don't do this, mother, father, wife,
children, brethren, sisters, they have his own life also.
He cannot be my disciple. He cannot. He has not. Never
has been. Never will be. And he proved that himself. As
some in here have done just that. Left family. literally had to
come here to be with God's family. And I remind you what the Lord
said about that. Peter once said, Lord, we've
forsaken all. And he had. He said, no man,
not one single person ever. who's left father, or mother,
or husband, or wife, or son, or daughter, for my sake, for
the gospel, not marriage, but for my sake, they won't receive
a hundredfold in this life, and in life to come, everlasting
life. Not one. Not one. Oh, great. Those that
sacrifice for me, oh, it's no, you'll not be a loser. No way.
You'll be the great gainer. Let family. The world loves its
own. Our Lord said this, if you love
them that love you, what thank is there in that? Everybody loves
their blood kin. To be a good father, a good brother,
a good son or daughter, and a good husband or wife, that's not thank-worthy. That's just natural. Love your
own. But now this is supernatural.
This is where the rubber meets the road. This is the greatest
proof of all that you're born of God. This is the greatest
proof of all, that you're born of God. Because he that is begotten
of God loveth them that are begotten of God. Those that are born of
God. This is how you know. When you
love God's people as much as your blood can. That's supernatural. You can't
do that. You can't produce it. It just
won't happen. It just won't happen. There's
nothing closer, nothing thicker than blood. Blood relation. Except one thing. The grace of God. The grace of
God. Oh, my. Now this shall all men
know that you're my disciples. That's how they'll know. You'll
leave your blood kin. You won't prefer them. You'll
esteem God's people more highly. You'll prefer their company to
your own flesh and blood. Behold, my father and my mother.
Behold. You know, there are no earthly
relations in heaven. None. There are no husbands and
wives. Your husband won't be your husband.
Your wife won't be your wife. Your children won't be your children.
Your father and mother won't be your father and mother. You
won't know them as such. You won't think of them as such.
That way, if they're not there, you won't be disappointed. Nor
is there any inequality, you see. My mother and father will
always be my mother and father while I'm on this earth, right?
I'm subject to them. I should be. As Christ, as a
man, was subject to His Father as a man. But now, He's equal
with the Father. He's on the right hand, equal
with the Father. And all of us will be equal.
What are we? The bride. Sisters. We'll all be sisters. We're the
bride of Christ. He's the bridegroom. He's the
bridegroom. He's the one. He's the head overall. And we're all the same. We're
all the same. We will know, as we've been known,
we will know that in God's good providence, He had this woman.
There's that woman. If you see your mother, you'll
see her and say, well, that was the woman whom the Lord chose
to be my mother. Well, she's your sister, but
you'll see God's good providence and wisdom and grace and mercy
in putting you with her, a godly woman, to bring you up unto the
gospel. And you'll praise God for giving
you such a woman. And she'll praise God for making
her such a woman. But there won't be that same,
you won't be more happy to see her than you will her. No. And that starts here. Starts
here. That's how you know. It's the
biggest, the clearest proof of all. The clearest proof of all. I remember, that's why that clock makes a
big change, it keeps throwing me. But one time, and this has
happened many times, you offend people's family, they'll quit
church. One time there was a family that
attended for many years. They were there as long as I
grew up with the son. And they seemed to be, you know,
solid, faithful members. They seemed to love the gospel,
okay? Well, the son was about in his early twenties, and brought
a friend of his to the service one Sunday. Dad was still a pastor. And the son was a Catholic. And
apparently, Dad said something in the course of the message,
about like I said this morning. And he took offense to that.
That visitor took offense to that. And he went up to Dad afterward
and began to take offense with him. And Dad began to tell him
what's what. And the friend, the son of the
members heard that and told his parents. And they got indignant
with him and quit and never came back again. Well, they were not
of us. Or they no doubt would have continued
with us. But here's the point. Flesh and blood. They offended
my child, his friend, his pagan, heathen rebel friend who hates
God. Hmm. You don't say. Who is my
mother? These are my mother. These are
my sister, my brother. Oh my. Those that do the will
of Him that sent me. Oh my. The will of the Father
which is in heaven. There's so much there. There's
just not enough time to deal with that. Those that do His
will. But chiefly that means And our
Lord said, this is the will of Him that sent me, that he that
seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life.
That's where it began. And it begins there and it keeps
going with commandments like love one another. This is a commandment.
Those that do that. And this is the will of the Father,
even your sanctification. And I want to give you twelve
things. Don't worry. It won't take long. This will
be a blessing. Twelve things that the Lord is
saying here when he says that believers are my family. Listen
carefully, okay? Twelve things. Number one, his
family wear his name. They wear his name. Sons of God. Christian. They don't wear Mary's
name. Luther's Calvin's. No. Christian. Disciples are called
Christian. They bear his image. His family
bears his image. He did not look like Mary. But
she began to look like him. He didn't look like his mother.
But his mother gradually began to look like him. And so do we. So will we, thankfully. We have His image, His nature. We have His nature. He didn't
have Mary's nature. Oh, no. But she became partaker
of His divine nature. We're loved by Him. His family,
His true family, are loved by Him like brethren. He tells us,
love like brethren. No, he did, didn't he? Loved
like a mother. Loved like a mother. Or a son
is mother. A mother is a son. Or a father,
or a brother, or a sister, or a husband, or wife. That's how
he loved. All of his people loved like
that. Do you think there's a son who loved his mother more than
Christ the Lord loved Mary? Not possible. Not possible. He loves all of His children
like that. Loved by Him. They have communion. Christ's
family, if they're His family, they have communion with Him.
They have close contact with Him. He's in confidence with them. He has confidence. He confides
in them. Meaning, He said, I call you
friends. Not servant, friend, but I'm
telling you everything on my mind. Not everybody. They are welcome at his table,
like family. If your sons pop into your house,
you want them to, don't you? A family can't intrude. You know,
the older they get, the more they think they're imposing on
you, intruding on you, you know. And you keep telling them, you
can't. You're family, you can't. And
Trude, family just comes in any time you want to. Family comes
and opens a fridge any time you want to. It doesn't matter how
old they get. That's your food. This is your house. Everything
is yours. I'm your father, your mother.
It's yours. That's what our Lord said. This
is my family. You can't pose on the Lord. You can't Trude on the Lord. Smile! Okay? We're welcome at his table always,
daily, eternally. We'll be sitting at his table.
Family sits close. I'm going to ask him to explain
that. But family is provided for by
him. I don't take care of other people's
children. I don't have the money. I don't love them like I love
my own. All of his children are well
provided for, protected by him. Like Mary, when he's hanging
on the cross, he saw to her provisions and her protection. He died for
them. His family, he died for them. Would you not lay down your life
for those you love? Would you stop and think about
it? You wouldn't even stop and think about it. You wouldn't
even stop and think about it. Don't have to. That's what he
did. That's what he did. He's left
all of us an inheritance that fadeth not away, incorruptible,
undefiled, fadeth not away. Nobody's going to get it reserved
in heaven for us. Somebody's going to get your
earthly inheritance. Somebody's going to swindle it away from
you. It's not going to happen. What's right is not going to
happen here. Just forget it then. Just forget it. Write it off.
Even if you did get it, you'd squander it. But not this inheritance. Because he ever lives to make
sure that they all get it. And nobody's going to take it
away. He corresponds with his family.
He corresponds with them. He says, these things are written
for you. These are love letters. This
Word is love letters. That's why I resent people throwing
it out there like it's an offer. Oh, no, this is for His people.
He corresponds. He's coming back for His brethren. He's coming back for them. He said, Father, I will. These
are my brethren and Your sons, those You love, I love. I will
that they be with Me where I am. that they might behold my glory.
And he said, I'm coming back to you, my bride. Carry us. He's going to carry us across
the threshold. Yes, he is. Not Peter. Not Peter. Christ
himself, the bridegroom. And then listen to this. If you're
his family, if you're his brethren, you're sorry sons of Jacob, he's
not ashamed. He's not ashamed of you. It's wonderful. He's not ashamed
to call him that. Is that your brother? Is that
your sorry brother? Yes, it is. Don't you say anything
about it. Isn't that wonderful? Behold,
my brethren. Behold, my sister. Behold, my
mother. I love her. Oh, I love her. Don't you say anything about
my mother. My brother, my sister, my family. These are mine. I
died for them. I lived for them. They're going
to live with me forever.