this fact often enough or forcefully
enough, and I haven't yet declared it clearly enough. This book,
the book you hold in your hand, the Word of God, is in its entirety
a book about Christ, in its entirety. Now, we do not spiritualize the
Word of God. This is what I mean by that.
It is wrong. It shows irreverence for the
Book of God to take a statement, a word, or an event, and make
it show what it is not intended to show. That's wrong. But we
do interpret the Word of God That is, we interpret it by the
Holy Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, understanding
it. The plain statement of Holy Scripture
declares that the book is altogether about the Lord Jesus Christ.
I have often said it is a hymn book. It is all about him who
loved us and gave himself for us. I do not mean that the word
of God is a Christ-centered book. I do not mean that Christ is
the primary message of the book. I mean that Christ is the message
of the book written by divine inspiration. Now let's see if
that's what the book says. Turn with me to two or three
passages of Scripture, and then we're going to be going to the
book of Matthew. Luke chapter 24. Here the Holy
Spirit tells us that the message of the book is Christ and him
crucified. Our Savior is walking with his
disciples on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection, and as
he spoke to these two disciples who didn't understand what had
happened, he said to them in verse 25, O fools and slow of
heart to believe all that the prophet has spoken. Then we read
in verse 27, And beginning at Moses and in all the prophets,"
what does that include? Moses and all the prophets. That
starts in Genesis 1 and 1 and finishes up in the last verse
of Malachi. Beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things
concerning himself. Now, I have been more than a
year preaching just a little bit from those 39 books that
Luke here speaks about. And our Lord did not give a running
exposition of all 39 books in the Old Testament. That's not
what that means. But what the Holy Spirit is declaring is that
he showed these disciples that beginning with Moses and through
all the Old Testament, this book is talking about It talks about
ministry, and you haven't seen that. And he opened their understanding
that they should understand the scriptures. Now the message of
the book, then, is Jesus Christ and him crucified. This is not
a book about religious history or Jewish history. It is not
a book about religious morality. It is not a book about law. It
is not a book about religious dogma. It is a book about Jesus
Christ and redemption accomplished by him. Let's see if that's what
the book says. Look in Acts chapter 10. Acts
chapter 10, verse 43. This is exactly what Peter tells
us. Acts 10, 43. To him, the Lord Jesus, give
all the prophets witness. They're all bearing witness to
him, speaking concerning him. And this is what they say, that
through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission
of sin. All right, now turn, if you will,
to 1 Corinthians 2. Again, the Apostle Paul states
exactly what I'm telling you. He declares that the one message
that he preached everywhere to all people was Jesus Christ and
him crucified. That's what he preached. He didn't
preach one message one place, one message to another. He said,
well, nobody would do that, and you ought to listen to some of
them. I'm sorry to have to tell you
this. There are some fellows that I know, if I would invite
them to come here and preach at our conference over Labor
Day, they might come here and preach on limited atonement,
predestination, divine sovereignty, unconditional election, might
even preach on reprobation. But if they went right down the
road and preached, they wouldn't dare. They wouldn't dare. Paul
was not such a deceitful man. What he preached to one place,
he preached to another place. What he preached to one people,
he preached to another people. Now listen to what he said. 1
Corinthians chapter 2. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with an excellency of speech or of wisdom. I didn't
try to put on a show of telling you how much I know, declaring
to you the testimony of God. I didn't cover up the sword of
the Spirit in a nice, soft, smooth sheath so you couldn't feel its
point. But rather, I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and him crucified." This is what he preached to Paul.
Now look in Acts 20, Paul is bidding farewell to the Ephesian
elders. He is about to leave them never
to see their face again. And they begged him not to go,
fearing that the Jews, as Agabus had prophesied, would take him
and have him put to death. And so Paul declares to them,
I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem. The Spirit of God
sent me there and that's where I'm going. That I might finish
my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the
Lord Jesus. Nothing going to move me from this. And he tells
us exactly what his course and ministry were, that which he
had received from the Savior. He says it was to testify the
gospel of the grace of God. Now look at verse 26, and Paul
defines what it is to testify, to preach the gospel of the grace
of God. Wherefore, I take you to record
this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. I am pure
from your blood. appointed by God to be a watchman
upon the walls of Zion, to watch over your souls. And I ain't
much, but I'm here for your glory. And here's the reason, for I
have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God."
What is that? Jesus Christ and him crucified. The book of God, then, is a book
about Christ. In the Old Testament the law,
the prophets and the Psalms, declare someone is coming. And
when we get to the book of Matthew, let's begin in chapter 1. When
we get to the book of Matthew, we open this book and we see
that blessed someone step onto the stage of time, identifying
himself as the incarnate God, our Savior. Look at Matthew 1.21. She shall bring forth the Son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sin. Now this was done, that it might
be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold, a virgin shall be the child, and shall bring forth
a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted
is God's word." Here he is, he's He just stepped right onto the
face of time. And here is that one of whom
all the prophets spoke. He's coming. He's the desire
of all nations. That one in whom all that men
desire is found. That one of whom the prophets
all spoke. Here he is. He is a man born
of a woman whose name is Jesus sent to save his people from
their sin. And this man is himself God Almighty! Oh, blessed be his name. What a way to open the New Testament.
The Old Testament and the New Testament saints had the same
object of faith. There's not one way of salvation
in the Old Testament and another in the New. Some folks say, well,
the Old Testament saints were saved on credit. Nothing of the
kind. Christ is the land slave and
the foundation of the world, and they believe that Lamb just
as we do. He was not clearly identified
personally in the Old Testament. Peter tells us the prophets desired
to look into these things. But he was the same person, the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, to whom all the
Old Testament Saints looked in faith, and that same Lamb we
look to, and him alone, for redemption and righteousness by the grace
of God through him. Beginning with the gospel of
Matthew, we move from the realm of shadow and type and symbol
and prophecy to the full sunshine of the Son of Righteousness,
who has vision with healing in his wings." In the Old Testament,
as it speaks of him, we look from page to page and see shadows
and types and symbols and pictures and prophecy, as it were, clouds. But as you move through the pages
of the Old Testament, the clouds are dispersed one by It's kind
of like sitting out on the back porch of my house early in the
morning. I don't do it often, but sometimes. And you sit out
there on a plain morning and you drink your coffee just as
the sun starts to come up and you see the clouds disperse as
the sun rises. And when it rises up, things
are bright and clear. So bright and clear, you wonder,
you're just astonished that you didn't see them before. Because
suddenly, everything shines perfectly clear in the light of that sun.
Now, as we come to the Gospels, the book of Matthew and these
four Gospels, that day that Abraham rejoiced to see, that day that
Abraham looked forward to, arises up and the mist and the clouds
are dispersed. Here we open the book of Matthew
and we find fulfilled those things in the Old Testament that if
we had just read it, Beginning in Genesis, going through Malachi,
we would have had to look at it and say, this book is talking
about somebody who's not yet here. This book is talking about
somebody who hasn't yet come. This book is talking about a
man who is woman seeing. How can that be? This book is
talking about a man who is born from the seed of a woman and
a man who shall crush the serpent Ted, whoever that serpent was.
This book is talking about a man who is the promised seed of another
man called Abraham. This book It's talking about
one who is a lamb, a sacrificial lamb, a substitute who was given
to be an offering, a sin offering, made to be a sin offering for
the people. It's talking about one who is coming like David,
a king to set on his throne, like Melchizedek, a priest over
the house of God, like Moses, a prophet, but he's not yet come.
And we open the book of Matthew. Our Savior steps up and he says,
Here I am. Here I am. That one that men
looked for, for all those years, now comes. And as we read the
four Gospels through, we see this complete picture of our
Savior. And we have to say with Andrew and Philip, we have found
the Messiah, the Christ. We have found him of whom Moses
in the law and the pockets did write. Jesus of Nazareth, the
son of Joseph, that's the one they all talked about. The Word
was made flesh. and dwelt among us, and we beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. Here we see Christ as he is. Now remember, what he is is what
he was, and what he was is what he is. And what he is, all that
he is, in all his glory, in all his greatness, in all his possession,
in all his merited quality, in all his earned rewards, we have
in him. He's ours. Does the book say
we are Christ? And does the book not declare
Christ is yours? We are His altogether, and He
is ours altogether. Now, that makes the four Gospels
uniquely special to us. They declare to us who Jesus
Christ is. Sometimes folks raise objections,
and they wonder, well, why are there four Gospels? Why four
of them? And they read different accounts
of things, and when I look at Matthew, Luke says it's different. Mark says it's different. And
John didn't say some things they said. They don't say what John
said. You can't really believe that's inspired. Oh, yeah. They're
giving us not four different pictures of Christ. That's not
quite accurate. They're presenting him, can I
say, as a statue. Now, okay, you watching this
stuff? See that statue? Tell them what's
over here. Can you see this side? So I turn
it around and look to that side, and that side, and that side. Now you can see the whole thing.
And these four narratives, given by divine inspiration, show us
our Lord Jesus Christ in four different lights, each light
giving us a different aspect of his being. Someone suggested
that the four Gospels might be compared to the four cherubs
described by Ezekiel in Revelation. Remember one was like a lion,
one like an ox, one like a man, and one like an eagle? Well,
Matthew shows us our Lord Jesus Christ as the lion of the tribe
of Judah, as the king who has come to save his people. Mark
presents him as Jehovah's servant, like that cherub with the face
of an ox. the ox ready to serve, and the ox ready to be sacrificed
upon God's altar. And so Mark presents our Savior
as the servant, and Luke, the beloved physician, presents him
as the Son of Man, the Son of Man full of human sympathy, full
of tenderness, as the cherub with the face of a man suggests.
And John, like the eagle that soars into the heavens, presents
our Savior as God the God Almighty comes in the flesh. So now, we
see our Savior with these four Gospels put together as God's
King, and our King. God's servant, who obtains eternal
redemption for us by his obedience to the Father, is described in
Mark. And Luke tells us, this man,
the servant, who is God, he's a man. A man just like us. And everything, just like us,
accepts this. And then John puts it all together,
and he says, now this man, God's servant, this kid, he is God
Almighty in all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him. All right, let's look briefly
at Matthew's gospel. And it'll just have to be brief,
and I want you to see some things here. It begins to describe our
King by giving us a genealogy. Do you ever wonder why in the
Old Testament you read 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles,
you read over there in Ezra, all those genealogical names.
And when you read them, our natural tendency is, well I can't pronounce
those names, so we'll skip right through them. I've never done
it, but I have read works of men who've done so, who've compared
name after name, with list after list, in various places in the
Old Testament. They were given for a reason. Because when Christ
came on this earth, there was one thing, and only one thing
that I can think of, the Jews never challenged about it. They
never challenged. Neither the genealogy given in
Luke, nor the genealogy given here in Matthew. They never questioned. Because up until the time that
God sent the Roman armies under Titus to destroy Jerusalem in
70 AD, they maintained genealogies that were absolute and precise. And the Jews never raised a question
about his genealogy. Not one time. He came and said,
I am the son of David. I am the Christ of God. I am the Messiah. I am God the
Son. That throne that was set in Jerusalem,
that throne that was picturing another throne, is mine by right. Because I'm that man of whom
David spoke when he called me his Lord. And I'm David's son. And the Jews? They said you're
a blasphemer because you being a man called yourself God. They
said you're a drunk, you're a wine-dipper, you're the friend of publicans
and sinners. But not one time did they question his genealogy.
But there's something even more precious than that in the genealogies. In Matthew's account here, as
we open the New Testament, our Lord seems to say deliberately, of whom the prophets spoke, the
Christ, the King. I'm the son of Abraham, yes.
God's covenant is with me, and God's covenant is fulfilled by
me. I am the king, David's son, yes. The throne is mine, the
kingdom is mine, the glory is mine. I'm the king of glory of
whom he spoke, and I've come now into my kingdom. But he seems
to say something that almost all the commentaries I've read
have missed. And I don't know that I've ever heard a preacher
refer to it. He says, I've come, O King, specifically
to save sinners and to bring them into my kingdom. So where'd you get that new genealogy?
Well, there are three women named in Matthew's account of the genealogy.
One of them's name is Tamar. You remember Tamar? She played a harlot. She committed incest with her
father-in-law, Judah. Another one is Ruth. Ruth the
Moabitess. That one who found the Pinsman
Redeemer in Boaz. But she was a Moabitess. She
was the child of a cursed race. The Moabites, you remember, came
from Lot's fornication and incest with his own daughter, a cursed
race. But a cursed race who by the
specific command and decree of God were preserved from the Jews
destroying them, as we're told in the book of Deuteronomy. And
then he mentions Bathsheba, the adulterous wife of Uriah. And as if to put an asterisk
beside his message. He says, I'm the son of David. I'm the son of Abraham. I'm the
king. And I came into this world by
the union of an adulterous man and an adulterous woman. I'm
Solomon's son. He identifies himself with her,
and declares himself to come to seek and to save that which
was lost, declares himself indeed before the Pharisees ever thought
to use it for slander. I am indeed the friend of publicans
and sinners. Now, look at his incarnation
as it's described in verses 18 through the end of the first
chapter. Here our Savior's wondrous divinity
is immediately presented. You see, his coming into the
world is meaningless if he's not God. His coming into the
world is meaningless if he's not God. You say, well how can
you say it's meaningless? Your coming into the world is
meaningless, and mine too. Just give it a little while and
you'll find out. Nobody's going to remember who we are. Nobody.
Nobody. Meaningless. Insignificant. But
this man who's come. He is God Almighty. Surely then, he must have come
for some grand reason. Look at it, verse 18. Now the
birth of Jesus was on this watch. When his mother Mary was his
spouse to Joseph, that is, when they were engaged, before they
came together, before they had consummated the marriage, she
was found with child, of, that is, out of the Holy Ghost. Joseph, her husband, being a
just man and not willing to make her a public example, he saw
that his wife was pregnant. And he was embarrassed and hurt
and angry. I just imagine, wouldn't you
be? He knew he hadn't slept with
her, but somebody had. Looked like it to him. And he
thought, well, I don't want to make an example of her, I'll
just put her away privately. How am I going to get Mary through
this thing with no great embarrassment? While he thought on these things,
behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and
said, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary
thy wife. For that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost, and she shall bring forth the she
shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sin. Now all this
was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord
by the prophet. You find it in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14. Behold,
a virgin shall be with Now, if you want to understand Isaiah
7.14, you don't find the interpretation in Isaiah 7. You find it in Matthew
1 and verse 23. But that word doesn't always
mean virgin. It may mean young lady. It meant virgin. Now, if
you have a problem understanding what a virgin is, then, you know,
I'm sorry. I'm just sorry for you. A woman
who's never known a man. And that's what it's talking
about here. But you can be with child. That can't be. It can't
be unless you believe God. That's all. That's all. And shall
bring forth the Son. And they shall call his name
Emmanuel. What does that mean? That means
God with us. God right here in our midst.
God in our company. God among us. God one of us. Then Joseph being raised up from
sleep. did as the angel of the Lord
had bidden him, and took unto him his wife. He married her,
but he still never knew her. The marriage was not consummated
until she brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Savior,
God my Savior." He picks up his baby. Can't you
imagine? Oh, you talk about a smiling
daddy. He picks up his firstborn son, who's not even his own son,
but rather God's darling son. And he said, as Jehovah my Savior. That's what Jesus said. You mean
he believed that? I know to believe that. He heard
it from God. This is Jehovah, my Savior. Now
here's a picture of the new birth. Our Lord Jesus was conceived
in a center. That's what Mary was. She wasn't
immaculate. She was a center. She wasn't
holy. She was a center. She wasn't
better than others. She was a center, just like everybody
else. He was conceived in a center. conceived in a sinner by the
Holy Spirit, and conceived in a sinner without the aid of a
man. That's how sinners are born,
God. God's darling Son is born in you, by God the Holy Spirit,
through an irresistible work of almighty grace. And this is
the hope of glory, Christ is. You've been made to be partakers
of the divine nature. Here is our Savior's name, Jesus
Christ. Here's his mission. He shall save his people. Now
notice they were his people before he came to save them. He shall
save his people from their sins. That tells us who they are. They
are sinners. And here is the certainty of
his success as our Savior. This one who has undertaken the
responsibility of our souls as our Savior, he is Emmanuel, God
in human flesh. We won't try to look at them
this evening, but I'll call your attention to them as we move
along. In Matthew 1 and 2, Matthew, more than all the gospel writers,
refers to the Old Testament. He speaks of the prophecies of
the Old Testament. And in Matthew 1 and 2, he gives
us a whole slew of prophecies that are fulfilled by the appearing
of our Savior. In Matthew 1, verses 22 and 23,
he's telling us that Isaiah 7, 14 fulfills. This is the virgin-born
son. His name is Emmanuel. In chapter
2, verse 23, he's telling us that Judges 13, 5, that picture
of Samson, who was himself a titan, a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Nazarite, Here in verse 23, he came and dwelt in the city
called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
by the prophets. It never was spoken, not by any
prophets, not literally, not verbally. It was spoken in the
tithes. It was spoken because of Samuel,
Hannah's son, and it was spoken because of Samson, that one described
in Judges 13. He shall be called a Nazarene.
And then in Matthew 2, 17 and 18, The prophecy of Jeremiah
31, verse 15, is fulfilled, where the Lord speaks of weeping in
Ramoth. And then in chapter 2, verse 15, Hosea 11-1 is fulfilled,
where God said he would call his son out of Egypt. And then
Micah 5-2 is fulfilled in chapter 2, verses 5 and 6, where he was
born at Bethlehem. Now look at chapter 2, verses
1-13, we have something that Matthew alone describes. Now remember, Matthew is describing
for us Christ the King, and he's setting before us the nature
of his King. That's Matthew's primary purpose. So it shouldn't
be surprising that Matthew alone records the visit of the wise
men from the East. Matthew alone describes that.
And these wise men who have come to worship him that is born King
of the Jews, is itself a foreshadowing of the adoration of our Lord
Jesus Christ as the universal King of glory who rules over
all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the Father has
given him. Matthew alone tells us how Herod,
the usurper of David's sovereignty, that one who had usurped unlawfully
the dominion that belonged to David's house, Herod sought to
kill the Lord Jesus. Then in chapter 3, we'll start
at verse 17. Matthew begins to describe the
minister John the Baptist who came preaching repentance, and
introduced the Lord Jesus as the mighty judge, who shall purge
his floor with tremendous judgment, and at the same time shall bring
in everlasting righteousness for his people. Look at verse
10. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the tree. Therefore
every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down
and cast into the fire. Now look at verse 11. I indeed
baptize you, let me read it like it ought to, in water. John didn't
sprinkle a little water on somebody and call it baptizing them with
water. The word is in. I baptize you in or into water. He shall baptize you in the Holy
Ghost. He's going to put you in the
life that is spiritual, by God's perspective. He will put you
in the spirit, and in fire, whose fan is in his hand. And he will
thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner,
but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Verse
13, then comes Jesus, just after John gets done Then cometh Jesus
from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. And again,
the translation is horribly, horribly wrong. That is not a
translation. The word baptized is no word
at all until they wrote the King James Translation of the New
Testament. No word at all. It was a transliteration
of the Greek word. The word is immerse. He shall
immerse you, dip you, plunge you. Our Lord Jesus then comes
to John to be immersed, plunged, dipped by John, verse 14. But John said, No. John knew
who he was. John said, This is him. I had
me to be baptized of you. John forbade him, saying, I had
me to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus
answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now. For thus it
becometh us," this is the right thing for us to do, to fulfill
all righteousness. Now, if you should happen to
read that Campbellite who writes in the paper every week, or you
should turn them on the radio and they talk about baptism,
you get to Matthew 3, they say, now this is how righteousness
is fulfilled. You make yourself righteous by
getting in that pool of water and coming up out of it again.
Well, if I'm going to baptize in David, Sunday morning, Lord
willing, and if they come in here dirty, getting in that water,
won't do anything except cause the dirt to get wet and come
out dirty. That's all. And if they come in without righteousness,
they will come out without righteousness. That's not what it's talking
about. Well, how then does baptism fulfill all righteousness? In
a picture. In a picture. This is how sinners
are made righteous. The Son of God in human flesh
dies in our womb and flesh, and is buried in the grave, and rises
up from the grave. And we died with him, were buried
with him, and arose with him in perfect righteousness. That's
how righteousness is fulfilled. John said, OK, let's do it. So
he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens were
opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like
a dove and lighting upon him. And lo, a voice from heaven said,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Our Lord Jesus
said, is owned by God Almighty in a visible way to John the
Baptist who is Elijah and says this is he on whom I swear my
spirit and he's going to stay on it and this man he's my son
and he's a representative man in whom I am well pleased for
he fulfills all righteous and he is well pleased with us and
him for that reason. In chapter 4, Matthew describes
in great detail our Lord's temptation. He was driven into the wilderness
and tempted of the devil. Tempted in all points like as
we are, yet without sin. Now folks fuss and argue, and
they say, well, it must have been possible for the Savior
to have sinned, otherwise he couldn't have been tempted. The
word translated tent throughout the New Testament means test
or trial. It means trial. Test. It means trial. Test. Now trial
doesn't change anything. Tests don't change anything.
They just show what you are. They just show what you are.
You build a boat. Get it all polished and shiny
and make it look pretty and drop it in the water. Let's see if
it floats. That's the test. That's all. Any of you fellas
ever test water? You know what to do to test water?
You don't change the water. You test it to see if there's
anything in it. See if there's anything impure in it. And when
Satan came to tempt our Lord, he found nothing in him. He tested
him, and the temptation declares, this man is indeed without sin. And Satan found nothing in him,
and the angels came and ministered to him. Then beginning in chapter
4, verse 17, our Lord describes his kingdom. He begins preaching, repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The word, the kingdom,
appears 53 times in Matthew's The Kingdom of Heaven appears
thirty-five times. Thirty-five times, the Kingdom
of Heaven. And that phrase isn't used anywhere
else in the entire Bible. The Kingdom of Heaven. What Matthew
is talking about when he talks about the Kingdom of Heaven is
the Church of God, either in its present state, being built,
or in its ultimate glory when it shall at last be finished,
when all God's elect will be saved. In chapters 5, 6 and 7
we have what's referred to as the Sermon on the Mount, because
our Lord went up in a mountain and began to preach. And in this
Sermon on the Mount, the most lengthy recorded message of our
Savior, the Lord Jesus describes for us that kingdom he came to
preach. And he describes that kingdom
in such a way that anyone, without being manipulated and having
their judgments perverted by false religion, would look at
it, and our Lord is What he's come here to do, Matthew's describing
this king, and now he's sitting in his kingdom, and all the Jews
were expecting him to come and sit on David's throne, literally.
They were expecting him to come and deliver them from Roman bondage,
as a nation, literally. And they were expecting him to
make them rulers over all the Gentiles, as a physical thing. And our Lord says, oh no, you've
got it all wrong. My kingdom's not of this world. Let me tell
you what it's like. And it tells us that his kingdom is not an
outward thing, but an inward thing, and it begins with the
Beatitudes. Not who are spiritually poor.
That's everybody. That's everybody. That's talking
mad about folks who have been made to know the poverty of their
souls. Who know they have nothing to
offer God. Peacemakers. God's people are peaceable people. They live together in peace.
And they make peace for others as instruments of his grace.
Then in chapter 6 he starts to tell us about the services at
peace. the Jews, their constantly repeated sin and transgression,
for which God constantly brought judgment upon them, was that
they turned the outward ordinances into worship. They turned the
outward ceremony into worship, and called it worship in God,
when there was no pardoning. They turned morality into righteousness,
when there was no righteousness in them. And our Lord says, now,
the service of my kingdom is inward, and it's spiritual, and
it's just for you and God. He said, when you pray, don't
do like these folks. Don't go out in the street corner
and blow the trumpet, wave the flags, and now, y'all! We'll
take from the prayer now, y'all. Take a good, good religious walk.
You know, all religion, all religion, All religion tells you to show
folks your religion by your outward behavior. All religion does.
Show it. Our Lord says don't ever show
it. I want to show people that I'm holy. How you gonna do that? He didn't. I want to show people
that I love Jesus. How you gonna do that? He didn't.
I want to show people I love God. How you gonna do that? By
what you do. Well, if I pray, if I get up
here and take up an offering, I'll pull out a hundred dollar
bill and offer a few times, make an offering and pray. Oh, he's
generous. If there's anybody who ever knew
God, he's good. He's so sacrificial. He looks
so humble. He fasts. I know he does. I watched
him because he told me that's what he was doing. He's good.
Our Lord said that's what the Pharisees do, and they have their
reward because everybody says that looks like God to me. The
only time our Lord tells us to show anything, He tells us to
show love. That's the only thing He tells
us to show. Isn't that amazing? That's the
only thing He tells us to show. It's all God's teaching to show
man. But to pray, they said, or in
hip hop, make a petition To give is not just to let him
know what to let them do, counting no cost to them. To fast is to
pour out your heart to God in private, to carry your burdens
with you. He says in chapter 7, my kingdom,
my kingdom is all about another kind of law, and this we ought
to show. It's called loving each other.
How are we supposed to forgive a fellow? Just as often as we
need it. Just as often as we need it.
Well, how are we supposed to forgive him? Just like he's been
forgiven. Freely. Freely. Oh, God. In Spurgeon's biography, folks
frequently refer to a trait that he had. Folks would hear him
well. Spurgeon was commonly the object of slander and being maligned
by men. And folks who knew him, they
would come to Mr. Spurgeon after something had
happened a few months or a year or two later, and they'd start
to mention it, and he'd look at them, and, what are you talking
about? They said he seemed genuinely
to have the marvelous grace to forget offenses. Oh, what do
God give me such grace? His kingdom is called loving,
forgiving, worshiping, trusting, saving. And then our Lord gives
a whole slew of miracles in chapters 8, 9, and 10. I mean just a whole
school of them, by which he doesn't have to tell anybody who he is.
He just multiplies loaves and fish and feeds the multitude,
heals the sick, calms the blind, takes those who are dead and
raises them up. Who is this man? Who do you think he is? He's
God Almighty! In chapter 13, our Lord gives
us seven parables of his kingdom. There are many, many others given
in the book of Matthew. As I read through it today, I
thought I'll have to just jot these down and mention them later.
But these parables of the kingdom show us the spiritual nature
of our Lord's kingdom. And two are common, real familiar
parables. Or three, really. There's a parable
about the soul, gospel preaching of the soul. And the seed that brings forth
fruit is that which God Almighty causes to fall on good ground,
broken, ready to receive the seed, made good by God's grace. The preaching of the gospel is
like sowing seeds in the field and the pears and the wheat grow
up together. What do you do with the pears
and the wheat? Leave them alone. I'm going to
go out and pluck up those pears. I don't like those in my field.
You'll jerk up the wheat every time because you don't know how
to tell the difference. You don't have the ability. I said, let
them grow together. And he will, by his word, send his angel,
his messenger, who will bind up the pears for the burning. And he does the work. And the
kingdom of heaven is like a wedding. But in order to come into the
wedding feast, you've got to have a garment. A garment made
and prepared for you. A garment given you. And if you
come in without the garment, you'll be cast into outer darkness.
Our Lord gives promises to his church. He says, I'll build it.
I'll protect it. I'll cause it to fire. And when
two or three are gathered together in my name, I'm there with them
every time. 20th chapter, he describes his
sovereignty. Verse 15, he says, is it not
lawful for me to do with my own what I will? In verse 28, he
says, the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister and to give his life a ransom for everybody. No, no. To give his life a ransom for
many. His sheep whom he came to fetch. In chapter 22, verse
14, he says, many are called. I call you now to repentance.
but few are chosen. Those chosen and redeemed by
him, they are called irresistibly by him. And then there are questions,
apparently in chapter 22. Oh, they raise questions. Isn't it amazing how many women
will raise questions about nothing? I mean nothing. I preach to folks the gospel
of God's and talk to them about the crucifixion, for example,
what we have in Matthew 27, and describe His accomplishments as our substitute.
His being forsaken as a father. And you won't believe this. You
won't believe this. As often as not, when I get done
preaching that, not here, thank God, not here, but most places,
I get done preaching that, somebody will come to me and ask me about
those dead folks who got up and walked out of their grave. And you're
not supposed to understand what happened. All I know is some
dead folks got him walked out of the grave. That's all I know.
I don't have any idea what all that means. But didn't you hear
what I said about what's important? In chapter 22, the Pharisees,
they came and asked about political things. We're Jews. You expect
us to pay taxes to the Romans? Sadducees, they came and asked
questions about the resurrection. Because they didn't believe in
the resurrection. They wanted to trap it. And the lawyers came and
said, which is the great commandment you had to know me and you? We
know you're an ungodly wretch. Tell us which is the great commandment.
And you know what our Lord did? He answered a fool according
to his folly every time and sent him on to hell. And then he said,
there's just one question you need to answer. What makes you
cry? Who is it? Whose son is he? Nothing else really matters.
And then our Lord's crucifixion is described in the 27th chapter
and his resurrection in chapter 28. He dies as a substitute for a criminal who deserved to
die by the name of Aravis. criminal by the name of Don Holt. And he's forsaken God because
he's made to be a sinner. And at last he dies under the
curse of God's holy law, and is buried as a filthy, dead thing
in the heart of the earth, justly slain because he was made guilty. Justly slain, because he was
made to be slain. And buried, that's what you do
with the dead, you bury them. Three days later, he arose. Not as a criminal, not as the
vile wretch that deserved to die, not as one made to be seen,
Not as one may sin for us, but he arose without sin unto salvation,
and he obtained eternal redemption for us. And he said, now you
go tell the whole world all about it. Amen.