WE ARE STUDYING THE FOUR GOSPELS MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE AND JOHN TO KNOW THE LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. TO KNOW HIM IS TO LOVE HIM.
Our Savior was rejected in Nazareth see;
Then He;
We see that He;
He then tells us how to get saved;
Jesus ends His Ministry in Judea and;
John the Baptist Exalts Christ.
Jesus finished His Ministry in Judea and went up to Galilee but did not take the long road the Jews normally take to avoid going through Samaria but went straight to a place called Sychar near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus and the Woman of Samaria.
Jesus returned via Samaria to Galilee and we see The Rewards Of Service John 4:28-38, The Growth Of Faith John 4:39-45 and lastly The Reward Of Trusting Jesus’ Word John4:46-54.
Back in Galilee after a year in Judea;
Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds.
Nazareth’s loss was Capernaum’s gain. The people in the latter city recognized that His teaching was authoritative. His words were convicting and impelling.
The Sermon on the Mount.
And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
The Beatitudes. Salt and Light.
Christ Came to Fulfill the Law
Retaliation and Love Your Enemies
Secret giving and secret praying
What to Seek and Whom to Serve
Ask, and It will Be Given & The Golden Rule.
Rewards Of Faith, The Great Physician
The Helper Of The Needy And The Friend Of Sinners
a Sermon Christ in Me by Dr. Sidlow J. Baxter.
Hope for the hopeless. Tender Ministry to Maid and Women. Curing the Incurable and Raising the Dead
The sending forth of the twelve in Chapter 9 opens the third year Jesus’ public ministry
The Harvest Is Plentiful, the Laborers Few
Frederick Brotherton Meyer, a contemporary and friend of D. L. Moody and A. C. Dixon, was a Baptist pastor and evangelist in England involved in ministry and inner city mission work on both sides of the Atlantic presents it to us this way;
MISSIONARIES SENT OUT
Matthew 10:5-15
For the present, the Twelve were to confine themselves to Jews, because the Lord’s ministry was the climax of the Jewish probation and it was desirable that every opportunity should be given to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to repent. God can never be unmindful of any covenant into which He has entered with the soul. If we believe not, He remaineth faithful.
May we not say that our Lord was the first medical missionary? He has taught us that the healing of disease is often the best way of approaching the soul. The kingdom of God deals not only with our eternal welfare, but with the conditions of human life. On Christ’s head are many crowns; social, family and civic life are departments of His beneficent reign. His servants must be without worldly entanglements and live in absolute dependence upon God to whom they have consecrated their lives. The peace of God goes forth and returns.
STEADFAST UNDER PERSECUTION
Matthew 10:16-23
The way of the servants and heralds of Christ will never be easy. From the first, it has been lined with jagged flints. On the one hand, they are assailed by the rulers and potentates of this world; and on the other, by the members of their own homes. See Act_4:25. But all these experiences are permitted in order to secure an entrance for their message into the most unlikely places, 2Ti_4:17. The fact of the disciples being driven from city to city brought the gospel within the reach of a much wider audience than if they had remained in peace in one center. See Act_11:19.
But when we are persecuted for the Lord’s sake, the Father bends over us with tender pity and helpfulness, Joh_12:26. And we are supplied, from the Eternal Light and Love, with wisdom of speech and an unfailing patience of love that cannot be gainsaid.
FEARLESS CONFESSORS OF CHRIST
Matthew 10:24-33
The more Christlike we are, the more certainly shall we incur the dislike and hatred of men. Only let us take care that they hate us, not on account of our personal peculiarities and pretensions, but solely for the truth’s sake. See 1Ki_22:8; Dan_6:5.
Christ is often speaking. In the secret chamber of the heart, in the darkness of the night, in the shadowed room of pain and sorrow, in the room which holds all that is mortal of our beloved, hear His voice. It may be in dark sayings, but they are “the dark sayings on a harp,” of which the psalmist sings. There are music, tenderness, love-notes in these dark sayings. And our hearts can receive lasting impressions in the dark.
Remember that in all your anxiety and pain, the Father is near. His presence encloses you in its gentle, holy embrace. You are of value to Him, of more value than you can count, because you were purchased with the precious blood of Christ.
We thank William MacDonald (1917-2007) who, for more than forty years, written directly about the key issues of Christianity. Leaving a promising business career as an employed investment analyst with First National Bank of Boston “at the foot of the Cross”, he had travelled worldwide, proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ for the Believer’s Bible Commentary.
The Mission to Israel
Matthew 10:5-33
10:5, 6 The remainder of the chapter contains Jesus’ instructions concerning a special preaching tour to the house of Israel. This is not to be confused with the later sending of the seventy (Luk_10:1) or with the Great Commission (Mat_28:19-20). This was a temporary mission with the specific purpose of announcing that the kingdom of heaven was near. While some of the principles are of lasting value for God’s people in all ages, the fact that some were later revoked by the Lord Jesus proves they were not intended to be permanent (Luk_22:35-36).
First the route is given. They were not to go to the Gentiles or to the Samaritans, a mixed race detested by the Jews. Their ministry was limited at this time to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
10:7 The message was the proclamation that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. If Israel refused, there would be no excuse because an official announcement was to be made exclusively to them. The kingdom had drawn near in the Person of the King. Israel must decide whether to accept or reject Him.
10:8 The disciples were given credentials to confirm their message. They were to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons. The Jews demanded signs (1Co_1:22) so God graciously condescended to give them signs.
As to remuneration, the Lord’s representatives were to make no charge for their services. They had received their blessings without cost and were to dispense them on the same basis.
10:9, 10 They would not be required to make advance provision for the journey. After all, they were Israelites preaching to Israelites, and it was a recognized principle among the Jews that the laborer deserves his food. So it would not be necessary for them to take gold, silver, copper, food bag, two tunics, sandals, or staffs. Probably the meaning is extra sandals or an extra staff; if they already had a staff, they were permitted to take it (Mar_6:8). The idea is that their needs would be supplied on a day by day basis.
10:11 What arrangements were they to make for housing? When they entered a city, they were to look for a worthy host—one who would receive them as disciples of the Lord and who would be open to their message. Once they found such a host, they were to stay with him as long as they were in the city, rather than moving if they found more favorable living conditions.
10:12-14 If a household received them, the disciples were to greet the family, showing courtesy and gratitude in accepting such hospitality. If, on the other hand, a house refused to host the Lord’s messengers, they were not obligated to pray for God’s peace on it, that is, they would not pronounce a benediction on the family. Not only so, they were to dramatize God’s displeasure by shaking the dust off their feet. In rejecting Christ’s disciples, a family was rejecting Him.
10:15 He warned that such rejection would bring severer punishment in the day of judgment than the perversion of Sodom and Gomorrah. This proves that there will be degrees of punishment in hell; otherwise how could it be more tolerable for some than for others?
10:16 In this section Jesus counsels the twelve concerning their behavior in the face of persecution. They would be like sheep in the midst of wolves, surrounded by vicious men bent on destroying them. They should be wise as serpents, avoiding giving needless offense or being tricked into compromising situations. And they should be harmless as doves, protected by the armor of a righteous character and faith unfeigned.
10:17 They should be on guard against unbelieving Jews who would hale them into criminal courts and flog them in their synagogues. The attack against them would be both civil and religious.
10:18 They would be dragged before governors and kings for Christ’s sake. But God’s cause would triumph over man’s evil. “Man has his wickedness but God has His way.” In their hour of seeming defeat the disciples would have the incomparable privilege of testifying before rulers and Gentiles. God would be working all things together for good. Christianity has suffered much from civil authorities, yet “no doctrine was ever so helpful to those appointed to govern.”
10:19, 20 They need not rehearse what they would say when on trial. When the time came, the Spirit of God would give them divine wisdom to answer in such a way as to glorify Christ and utterly confuse and frustrate their accusers. Two extremes should be avoided in interpreting verse 19. The first is the naive assumption that a Christian never needs to prepare a message in advance. The second is the view that the verse has no relevance for us today. It is proper and desirable for a preacher to prayerfully wait before God for the appropriate word for a specific occasion. But it is also true that in crises, all believers can claim God’s promise to give them wisdom to speak with divine intuition. They become mouthpieces for the Spirit of their Father.
10:21 Jesus forewarned His disciples that they would have to face treachery and betrayal. Brother would accuse brother. Father would betray his child. Children would become informers against their parents, resulting in the execution of the parents.
J. C. Macaulay put it well:
We are in good company in enduring the world’s hatred. … The servant may not expect better treatment at the hands of the enemy than the Lord Himself received. If the world had nothing better than a cross for Jesus, it will not have a royal carriage for His followers: if only thorns for Him, there will not be garlands for us. … Only let us see that the world’s hatred of us is really “for Christ’s sake,” and not on account of anything hateful in us and unworthy of the gracious Lord whom we represent.
10:22, 23 The disciples would be hated by all—not by all without exception, but by all cultures, nationalities, classes, etc., of men. “But he who endures to the end will be saved.” Taken by itself, this could seem to imply that salvation can be earned by steadfast endurance. We know it cannot mean this because throughout the Scriptures salvation is presented as a free gift of God’s grace through faith (Eph_2:8-9). Neither can the verse mean that those who remain faithful to Christ will be saved from physical death; the previous verse predicts the death of some faithful disciples. The simplest explanation is that endurance is the hallmark of the genuinely saved. Those who endure to the end in times of persecution show by their perseverance that they are true believers. This same statement is found in Mat_24:13 where it refers to a faithful remnant of Jews during the Tribulation who refuse to compromise their loyalty to the Lord Jesus. Their endurance manifests them as genuine disciples.
In Bible passages dealing with the future, the Spirit of God often shifts from the immediate future to the distant future. A prophecy may have a partial and immediate significance and also a complete and more distant fulfillment. For instance, the two Advents of Christ may be merged in a single passage without explanation (Isa_52:14-15; Mic_5:2-4). In verses 22 and 23 the Lord Jesus makes this kind of prophetic transition. He warns the twelve disciples of the sufferings they will undergo for His sake, then He seems to see them as a type of His devoted Jewish followers during the Great Tribulation. He leaps forward from the trials of the first Christians to those of believers prior to His Second Advent.
The first part of verse 23 could refer to the twelve disciples: But “when they persecute you in this city, flee to another . . .” They were not obligated to remain under the tyranny of their enemies if there was an honorable way to escape. “It is not wrong to escape from danger—only from duty.”
The latter part of verse 23 carries us forward to the days preceding Christ’s coming to reign: “… you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” This could not refer to the mission of the twelve because the Son of Man had already come. Some Bible teachers understand this as a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. However, it is difficult to see how this holocaust can be spoken of as “the coming of the Son of Man.” It seems far more plausible to find here a reference to His Second Coming. During the Great Tribulation, Christ’s faithful Jewish brethren will go forth with the gospel of the kingdom. They will be persecuted and pursued. Before they can reach all the cities of Israel, the Lord Jesus will return to judge His foes and set up His kingdom.
There might seem to be a contradiction between verse 23 and Mat_24:14. Here it is stated that not all the cities of Israel will be reached before the Son of Man comes. There it says that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world before His Second Advent. However, there is no contradiction. The gospel will be preached in all nations though not necessarily to every individual. But this message will meet stiff resistance, and the messengers will be severely persecuted and hindered in Israel. Thus, not all the cities of Israel will be reached.
10:24, 25 The disciples of the Lord would often have occasion to wonder why they should have to endure ill treatment. If Jesus was the Messiah, why were His followers suffering instead of reigning? In verses 24 and 25, He anticipates their perplexity and answers it by reminding them of their relationship to Him. They were the disciples; He was their Teacher. They were servants; He was their Master. They were members of the household; He was the Master of the house. Discipleship means following the Teacher, not being superior to Him. The servant should not expect to be treated better than his Master. If men call the worthy Master of the house “Beelzebub” (“lord of flies,” an Ekronite god whose name was used by Jews for Satan), they will hurl even greater insults at the members of His household. Discipleship involves sharing the Master’s rejection.
10:26, 27 Three times the Lord told His followers not to fear (vv. 26, 28, 31). First, they should not fear the seeming victory of their foes; His cause would be gloriously vindicated in a coming day. Up to now the gospel had been relatively covered and His teachings had been comparatively hidden. But soon the disciples must boldly proclaim the Christian message which up to this point had been told them in secret, that is privately.
10:28 Second, the disciples should not fear the murderous rage of men. The worst that men can do is kill the body. Physical death is not the supreme tragedy for the Christian. To die is to be with Christ and thus far better. It is deliverance from sin, sorrow, sickness, suffering, and death; and it is translation into eternal glory. So the worst men can do is, in a real sense, the best thing that can happen to the child of God.
The disciples should not fear men but should have a reverential fear of Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. This is the greatest loss—eternal separation from God, from Christ, and from hope. Spiritual death is the loss that cannot be measured and the doom that should be avoided at all cost.
The words of Jesus in verse 28 evoke memories of the saintly John Knox, whose epitaph reads, “Here lies one who feared God so much that he never feared the face of any man.”
10:29 In the midst of fiery trials, the disciples could be confident of God’s care. The Lord Jesus teaches this from the ubiquitous sparrow. Two of these insignificant birds were sold for a copper coin. Yet not one of them dies outside the Father’s will, without His knowledge or His presence. As someone has said, “God attends the funeral of every sparrow.”
10:30, 31 The same God who takes a personal interest in the tiny sparrow keeps an accurate count of the hairs of the head of each of His children. A strand of hair is of considerably less value than a sparrow. This shows that His people are of more value to Him than many sparrows, so why should they fear?
10:32 In view of the foregoing considerations, what is more reasonable than that the disciples of Christ should fearlessly confess Him before men? Any shame or reproach they might bear will be abundantly rewarded in heaven when the Lord Jesus confesses them before His Father. Confession of Christ here involves commitment to Him as Lord and Savior and the resulting acknowledgment of Him by life and by lips. In the case of most of the twelve, this led to the ultimate confession of the Lord in martyrdom.
10:33 Denial of Christ on earth will be repaid with denial before God in heaven. To deny Christ in this sense means to refuse to recognize His claims over one’s life. Those whose lives say, in effect, “I never knew You” will hear Him say at last, “I never knew you.” The Lord is not referring to a temporary denial of Him under pressure, as in Peter’s case, but to that kind of denial that is habitual and final.
Please pray the Holy Spirit-The Paraclete will use these sermons and studies to bring many to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
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