Matthew 12.46 While He, the Lord Jesus, 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 but he answered and said unto him that told him who
is my mother and who are my brethren and he stretched forth his hand
toward his disciples and said behold my mother and my brethren
for whosoever shall do the will of my father which is in heaven
the same is my brother and sister and mother now In this chapter,
we've seen how our Lord has been talking with the Pharisees and
rebuking them and showing from the Word of God that their traditions
were false and warning them against their blasphemy. And now it says
he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples. We're almost surprised
to see that there are any disciples there. He's been in this whole
narrative speaking to the Pharisees. But this reminds us of something,
that wherever God's word is spoken, the Lord has some sheep. Paul
was in Corinth and preached the Lord Jesus Christ there, but
he was greatly opposed in the synagogue. And when he went to
bed that night, it says he was afraid. Religious zealots have done great
harm. And he was scared. But the Lord
spoke to him in Acts 18, 9, then spake the Lord to Paul in the
night by a vision. Don't be afraid, but speak. And hold not thy peace, for I
am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for
I have much people in this city. He was in the synagogue and was
greatly opposed. And there seemed to be no reception
of the gospel, no good reception. But the Lord said, I've got a
lot of sheep here. Even though we don't often see
it, wherever God's word is spoken, why is there a church in College
Grove, New Caney, Texas, or Taylor, Arkansas? Because among the godless
of those cities, our Lord has some sheep. And that's a comfort
to remember. And from these places, our Lord
will call out other sheep he has. which are not yet of these
folds. Our Lord was speaking to and
condemning the Pharisees. Everything that he spoke in this whole chapter was condemning
the Pharisees, but teaching his disciples, his sheep. He was doing that then, and he's
doing that now through his word preached. He's not trying to
convince the Pharisees of anything. Of course, the Savior had some
sheep among the Pharisees. Don't forget that. There was
a Pharisee, the scripture says, there was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus. Paul said, as touching the law,
I was a Pharisee. So the Lord has mercy even on
Pharisees. But one lesson here also is that
Christ is not trying to turn goats into sheep. Even when he's
speaking to the goats, it's a blessing to his sheep. He said to the Pharisees in general,
you are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father
you'll do. He said to them in John eight, I go my way and you'll
seek me and you'll die in your sins. He didn't have any illusions
about the Pharisees. He wasn't trying to change those
goats into sheep. He said, I came to seek and to
save my lost sheep. He said later in John 13 to his
disciples, where I go, you can't come. And he added one word. He just told the Pharisees in
John 8, where I go, you cannot come. Now he says to his disciples,
where I go, you cannot come now, but you'll follow me hereafter.
But to the Pharisees, he just simply said, you're not coming.
You're not coming. But as he rebuked and humiliated
and infuriated and denounced these reprobate religious leaders,
he was not only condemning them, but he was teaching us. His spiritual
family was standing there also, and when his earthly family came
and for whatever reason interrupted him while he taught, he continued
to teach and taught everyone there what true family is. Let's see a few clear and important
lessons here in this brief passage this morning. Number one, there's
nothing more important in this world than the preaching and
hearing of the gospel. Period. Now, you think about
this. Our Lord is sitting in a house,
in someone's house, teaching, preaching the gospel, teaching
concerning himself, rebuking these Pharisees in their ignorance
of him and his grace and mercy on sinners. And there was a messenger in
the text that said, your family's out here and they're waiting
to see you. And my Lord Jesus Christ said,
no, my family is in here. You see what he's saying? He
says his family stood without desiring to speak with him. And
that messenger said, your family's out here. And the Lord said,
no, my family's right in here. Where were they? They were sitting
hearing him preach. We don't know why Mary and these
brothers were not in the house when the son of God was speaking. But we know what our Lord said.
We know how that he identified his family as those that are
hearing those that do the will of my father. How are you going
to do what God says unless you hear what God says? And we know
what the scriptures teach. And the Lord said to that man,
he said, follow me. And he said, I have to go bury
my father. You know, I got to take care
of my earthly responsibilities. And the Lord said, let the dead
bury their dead. And you go and preach. There's something more
important than your earthly responsibilities, though they are to be carried
out. Good, honest, God-taught earthly responsibilities are
to be carried out. But there's something, and he's
not teaching that there. He's teaching this. There's something
that trumps all of that. It's the preaching of the gospel.
He said, let somebody else take care of those things and you
go preach the kingdom of God. That's what he said. And I'll
exhort you again because I'm your pastor. There's nothing
more important. Just a few hours out of all the
hours we spend in this world. We'll be spent worshiping our
Lord Jesus Christ, learning of him, fellowshipping with his
people, enjoying the comfort and edification of the gospel.
Number two, understand that the Lord here not being disrespectful
to his mama. That may seem so on the surface.
He's saying, here's my mother in here, not out there. He's
not being disrespectful to her. Remember his words from the cross
when Jesus saw his mother standing there watching her son suffer
and die on the cross. And he saw that disciple standing
by whom he loved. John referred to himself in John's
gospel as he wrote, he referred to himself as the disciple whom
Jesus loved. That was the most important way
that John felt he could identify himself. What else matters about
me? The Lord loves me. You don't
need to know about my credentials or my abilities. Here's what
you need to know. about me. I've thought before,
I don't want to be sickeningly, like religion wants to be super
spiritual sounding and things like that. And so I probably
won't, but I've thought it'd be a good thing to put on your
tombstone. Here lies a disciple whom Jesus loved. What else really
matters about me? If the Lord loves me, that pretty
much trumps everything, doesn't it? And he looked at that disciple
and he said, there's your mother right there. Now, from here,
from today, from right now, that's your mother. And he looked at
his mom and said, there's your son right there. And from that
day, the Lord's mama went and lived with John, it says in the
scripture. He said, Behold thy mother, and
from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. The Lord loved his mama. Isn't
that a blessing? He honored his mother always.
And even in this, he's honoring her. He's teaching her as a sinner
the same thing he's teaching us. He's teaching a very simple
truth. The truest sense of the word
family is our spiritual family in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
a beautiful truth, and it's one that we're still learning, aren't
we? Our spiritual family relationship
with the people of God does not make earthly, blood family relationships
anything more, less, or different than what they are. It doesn't
change that at all. We're to honor our mother and
father, and I don't know anybody that wouldn't do just about anything
for their brother or sister just simply because that's my brother
or my sister. Just because of that. There may
not be any earthly other reason in the world to do anything for
them. You know what I mean? But that's my sister. You see
what I'm saying? And that's right. That's good.
It doesn't change it at all. The spiritual family doesn't
change that, but the spiritual family upon the authority of
God's word is more than that. It's more than that. All earthly
relationships are going to end. All of them. A spiritual family
is eternal. You'll always be my brothers,
you'll always be my sisters in Christ. Always. Even that closest
of all earthly relationships, that of marriage, which is so
close a bond that the Lord said they twain shall be one flesh.
This is no longer when we leave this earth. that earthly relationship
dissolves. The Lord clearly taught that
in Matthew 22. The Sadducees were trying to mock the Lord
Jesus concerning the truth in his preaching of the resurrection
and they concocted this story where a woman was married to
seven different men in this world and they asked him in Matthew
22-28, therefore in the resurrection Whose wife shall she be of the
seven? For they all had her as wife.
And Jesus answered and said unto them, you do err. How many times
did he say that? Haven't you read the scriptures?
You do err not knowing the scriptures. Wow, that's a harsh thing to
say to somebody. You don't know the Bible or you
wouldn't say what you do. To a preacher, these Pharisees,
now that was their pride. What if I went down here down
the street and I said, you don't know You don't know the Bible
or you wouldn't preach what you do. That'd be offensive, wouldn't
it? He said, in the resurrection, there's no marriage. There's no giving in marriage.
Those who take part in the resurrection of life because of Christ, who
rose from the dead, the firstborn from the dead, those who take
part in that resurrection, he said, they are as the angels
of God in heaven. They're not married to one another
there. She's not going to be wife to any of them. They'll
all be as the angels. And, you know, that seems kind
of sad on the surface, doesn't it? Because we've been married
for a lot of years now. Some of you have. It seems sad
until we realize why. It's not because marriage is
bad or sinful. We know that nothing sinful can
enter in there. That's not why there won't be
any marriage relationship. God instituted the marriage of
one man and one woman, and this pictures Christ and his relationship
to his church. But when we are all with Christ
and we're all married to him in glory, this doesn't dissolve
my relationship with my wife. It improves on it. We won't be
husband and wife anymore. We'll be the bride of Christ.
We'll be one in him. It doesn't dissolve our relationship.
It makes it better. it supersedes the relationship
that we have now. Is that clear? I hope it is. Our bond in Christ
is so much greater and more glorious than any other bond that we have.
That when that bond is perfected, it makes all other relationships
obsolete. Don't think of it as not being
married anymore. Think of it as being a whole
lot more than that. Because it is. Much more than
that. And even now, though we're husband
and wife, in every beautiful way that a man and woman can
be and should be, we're even more than that now. There's something
more, isn't there? We're one in Christ. Our Lord
teaches us this here. This is more glorious, more blessed,
more wonderful than our earthly relationship to one another.
Whatever our earthly relationship is, husband, wife, brother, sister,
father, mother, daughter, or son, though they be precious
relationships and dear, the spiritual is more precious, more important,
more endearing, and more to be desired than any. Earthly bonds
may be dissolved by the spiritual right here on this earth. And
this is tragic and sad. and yet necessary sometimes. Listen to what our Lord said.
What do you mean by that? How is the earthly bond dissolved
by the spiritual? Well, our Lord said in Matthew
10, 34, don't think that I've come to send peace on the earth.
I came not to send peace, but a sword for I'm come to set a
man at variance against his father and the daughter against her
mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and
a man's foes shall be they of his own household. The spiritual
causes the earthly to be dissolved sometimes. It's necessary sometimes. But happy is the person whose
earthly family member is also his spiritual family member. What a blessing that is. Is there
any greater earthly blessing than for your husband or your
wife to also be your brother or sister in Christ. Is there
any greater earthly blessing than that? I can't think of one
right now. Is there anything more important
to you parents than to see your children blessed of the Lord? John spoke of his children walking
in truth, and he wasn't talking about earthly children. Listen
to this. Turn to it with me, 3 John 1. You might argue with me that
there's no greater earthly blessing than to see somebody that you
love, blessed of the Lord and saved by the Lord, but you'll
be arguing with the Apostle John, too, if you argue with me on
it. Look at what he said in 3 John 1. The elder unto the well-beloved
gave us whom I love in the truth. Beloved, I wish above all things
that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul
prospers. For I rejoiced greatly when the
brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, even
as you walk in the truth." And then, look at this, now I have,
John said, I don't have any greater joy, there is no greater joy
to me than to hear that my children walk in the truth. He's not talking,
Gaius wasn't his earthly son. He's talking about a spiritual
relationship. But how blessed when the earthly
relationship and the spiritual relationship are combined in
the same person. What a blessing. What a wonderful blessing. Paul
said in 1 Timothy 1.1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by
the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which
is our hope, Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith. Who is
my son? Who is my mother? Who is my father? Paul said, Timothy is my son
in the faith. And he said, grace, mercy, and
peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Before
my family and I left Texas and moved here, my pastor Jack Shanks
preached from that passage right there, where Paul said to Timothy,
you're my son in the faith. And he said that I was his son
in the faith. And it was true. It was absolutely
true. And he was my father in the faith.
My earthly father was also my brother. And I thank God for
that. I thank God for that. If that's
true in any earthly relationship of yours, thank God for it. But
Jack was also my father in the truest sense of the word. There's
no greater sins. And then number three, let's
consider the final and the most wonderful lesson of all in this.
Our Lord, the Lord, the Lord of glory, the son of God, whom
Isaiah called the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince
of peace. He calls us, you and me, his
family. Turn to Hebrews 2, and what a
blessing this is. Hebrews 2, verse 7, speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ and man here, and who Christ is among
men. Verse 7, Paul said, You made
Him a little lower than the angels, and crowned Him with glory and
honor, and did set Him over the works of that hands. Thou hast
put all things in subjection under His feet. For in that He
put all in subjection under Him, He left nothing that is not put
under Him. But now we see not yet all things put under Him,
but we see Jesus, we see Him, who was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory
and honor that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for
every man. For it became Him for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons,
many sons, many sons, unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through suffering. God has one only begotten Son,
but He also has many sons. He made the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings for both He that sanctifieth,
that's the Lord Jesus, and they who are sanctified, that's you
and me if we're his, are all of one, for which cause he is
not ashamed to call us, who is my brother? You are, I am, my
brethren. By virtue of his sacrifice for
our sins, for the love that caused him to submit and humble himself
and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
And he who did that, who perfected us and sanctified us through
his suffering, said, you're my brothers, saying, I will declare
thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church while
I sing praise unto thee. Quoting Old Testament scripture
now where the Lord called us his brothers. And again, he said,
I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the
children which God has given me. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same. You know what that tells me?
That before he ever came down here, I was his child. Did you
hear that? The children were partakers of
flesh and blood, so he also himself likewise came down here and became
flesh and blood for me, his child. That through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren. And it doesn't say
it in this verse, but it says it all through the Word of God.
It behooved me too. It behooved him. It behooved
me too. That he was made like me. Why, that he might be a merciful
and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. In what sense
is he our high priest? To make reconciliation. He did
what a priest does. He made reconciliation for the
sins of his people, his brothers, his children. For in that he
himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able also to secure them,
to comfort them, to strengthen them, to keep them better tempted. Isn't he able? Have you found
him so? You see what he's talking about? He's talking about something
here. Not that he didn't love his mother and have the same
relationship with his earthly family as all believers do in
a much greater sense. But he's talking about something
more than that. He's talking about those who
are His, those who are God's, those who do the will of the
Father by God's grace, those who hear the preaching and delight
in the preaching, and the followers, the disciples. He says He stretched
forth His hand to His disciples, those who followed Him, and said,
here's my family. Here's my family. You see what
He's talking about? In this family relationship, as brothers and
sisters and mothers and fathers, Our family relationship to our
Lord causes us to consider other ways that our Lord identifies
with us. This is one way that he shows
the relationship between himself and his church. There are others.
He calls us his church. The church of God it says that
he purchased that God bought with his own blood What does
that word church mean? It means assembly and in this
we're promised as His assembly that he'll be in our midst where
two or three are assembled together He said that's where I am that
day in that place right there or his worshipers We assemble,
why do we assemble together? To worship Him. To give glory
to His name. To thank Him for all that He's
done. To learn of Him. To fellowship
with His people. What a privilege it is to be
in that number. Isn't it wonderful to be part
of the assembly? God's assembly. And then He said,
we're His sheep. And this emphasizes His care
of us. David said, The Lord's my shepherd,
and therefore I won't want for anything. There's great comfort
in this consideration of this relationship to our Lord. He
says, fear not little flock, for it's your father's good pleasure
to give you his kingdom. We shall not want. Is there anything
that you really lack? I know we'll be complaining about
something before we leave here. but as his child, as his sheep,
is there anything you lack? He said we're his body. Romans
12, 5, so we being many are one body in Christ and everyone members
of one another. This reminds us also of our relationship
to one another. Our relationship to Christ is
precious and blessed and everything Everything about our relationship
to one another is true only in our relationship in our common
relationship to him In our text There's there's this word whoever
Whoever does the will Of my father he said he said that's my brother
my sister and my mother right there whoever talking about each
individual every individual but as the church We're many whoever's
in one body. Anyone who is my Lord's brother
or sister is my brother or sister. Isn't that true? And like him,
if I have to choose between them or anybody else, let's just put
it this way. If you're not my brother or sister
in Christ, don't make me choose. He says we're his bride. Revelation
21 9 listen to the language and there came unto me one of the
seven angels which had the seven vows Full of the seven last plagues
and talked with me saying come hither. I Will show thee the
bride the lamb's wife Would you be interested in seeing her?
You notice how she's introduced the lamb's wife Have you ever
been introduced as your husband's wife or your wife's husband?
and not as yourself because they're more important than you. I'm
Vicky's husband, that's who I am. We're the Lamb's Wife. And He
carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain
and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem. Holy. What
did you see? You saw the Lamb's Wife. What
did you see? She's holy. Why? Because she's the Lamb's
Wife. And He carried me away and showed
me that holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God. Having
the glory of God. Not having great glory of herself. Having God's glory. You see how
she's identified by her relationship to the Lamb. And all of her glory
is whose glory? Not her. It's God's glory. Having
the glory of God. Not her own. Her glory is God's
glory. And her light was like unto a
stone most precious. She was beautiful, even like
a jasper stone, clear as crystal. The Lord picked out a beautiful
bride. No, no, he picked out the ugliest,
most repulsive and obnoxious bride imaginable and made her
beautiful through his comeliness. Her glory is his glory. Her holiness
is His holiness. Her robe is washed in His precious
blood, and so it's white. Revelation 19, 7, let me read
you that. Let us be glad and rejoice. You
want to rejoice this morning? And give honor to Him. Why? For what? There are a lot of
things to give honor to Him for. Here's a good one. For the marriage
of the Lamb has come, and His wife hath made herself ready.
And to her, how did she make herself ready? Oh, there's our
responsibility. No, how'd she make herself ready?
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white. It was granted to her. That's
how she made herself ready. For the fine linen is the righteousness
of the saint. Not that they worked up, but
it was granted unto her to wear his robe, his dress, his linen,
clean and white. And he saith unto me, write,
blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the
Lamb. And he saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God.
Who is my wife? Who is my husband? Who is my
father? What does this relationship emphasize? The bride. We're his
bride. Well, there's one thing that
comes to mind in regard to that. We're chosen by him. When I met Vicki, she didn't
come up to me and say, I'm ready to be your wife now. It doesn't
work that way, does it? And yet the religion of my generation
has it exactly that way. A sinner walks down an aisle
and says, I'm ready to be your bride now. I don't recommend
that. Vicki and I do not get married
until I say I choose you. Is that how it happened with
you? You're my choice. Do you know how I know and knew
then, even then, that she was the one for me? There's just
one for me. And this is how I knew it was
her. We dated long distance for several months and she'd fly
into Houston now and then on a weekend and we'd spend that
weekend together. It seemed like it'd go by in
just a matter of minutes. And one of the times that she
was getting on a plane back to Wisconsin, I said in my heart,
I can't live without her. And I don't ever want to see
her going away from me ever again. I do not want that. And here's
the truth of my relationship to my Lord Jesus Christ. He had
to have me. He had to have me. He chose me. He picked me out. He singled
me out. And he would not let me go. He
would not let me leave. I would have left, but he wouldn't
let me. And he said, other sheep I have
which are not of this fold, and them also I must bring. You know why he must? Because
he loves them. There are several answers to
that question. Because they're elect. But why are they elect?
Because he loves them. You can trace every answer to
that question back to that woman. He loves them. I must bring them. I must. He said, Father, I will
that those whom you've given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory. There's great comfort in our
text this morning, and there's warning. Don't turn there, but
you remember the text in Matthew 25, 31 through 46, where our
Lord talked about his family. He said to those on his left
hand, Depart from me, be ye cast into
everlasting darkness, because I was sick and you didn't visit
me. I was hungry and you didn't give me anything to eat. I was
in prison and you didn't come see me. And they said, we've
done many wonderful works. What do you mean we didn't do
these things? And he said, in that you did
it not to the least of one of these, my brothers. You did it
not unto me. And he said to those on his right
hand, you've been a comfort and a blessing
to me. You fed me when I was hungry.
You visited me when I was sick and when I was in prison. And
they said, Lord, that wasn't me. And it's true. It wasn't me. It was him. But he said, in that you've done
it to the least of one of these, my brothers, you've done it unto
me. You see the relationship between our Lord Jesus Christ
and his family. That messenger said, Lord, your
family's out here. And he said, no, here they are,
right in here, listening to my word, following me, obeying the
will of my father. This is my family. And I pray
the Lord will give me grace to think about that all day today. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. Let's bow in prayer.