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"Matthew" Tagged Sermons

THERE ARE TWO PLANS

JESUS CAME TO PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM.
Chuck Swindoll in his commentary on this text writes:
“For many years, faulty information had been taught by the religious aristocracy. With unquestioned authority, these religious leaders twisted the meaning of Holy Scripture, offered interpretations that were simply wrong, and demanded applications that were frankly impossible. Not content to let God’s Word speak for itself, they added to the commandments of God and required that everyone obey their additions without hesitation.
When Jesus sat down and delivered His illustrious Sermon on the Mount, jaws must have dropped as His audience heard an entirely different interpretation, delivered in an entirely different mode of communication.”
Dr. Michael Heiser in his book “Supernatural” writes:
“Though Eden was lost, God intends that it be restored. Ultimately, his rule – his kingdom – will return in its full scope when Jesus comes back and God creates a new heaven and earth (one that, in Revelation 21 and 22 looks a lot like Eden.)
In the meantime, we can spread the truth of God and the gospel of Jesus everywhere. We can also represent God to everyone we meet and in every place. We are God’s agents to restore Eden in the here and now, looking forward to the day when Jesus brings that plan to a climax.”
John Stott says it this way in his commentary on Matthew:
“Christian righteousness is greater than pharisaic righteousness because it is deeper, being a righteousness of the heart.
The righteousness which is pleasing to him is an inward righteousness of MIND AND MOTIVE.”

Preparing Christ’s Second Coming – Part One

We know that the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, is primarily the revelation of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Throughout the entire bible from Genesis to Revelation, the main theme is always the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah and the Redeemer of mankind.
The Apostle Paul declares that Jesus Christ has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. And he goes on to say that by Him, Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah to the Jews, the king of the Jews, the Savior of the world, is the one who created everything that is in heaven and that is on the earth. All things were created through Him and for Him. And the book of Revelation is giving us the details HOW GOD HIMSELF IS PREPARING CHRIST’S SECOND COMING TO THIS EARTH. There is a condition that must be met before Jesus Christ will return to this earth to establish His VISIBLE KINGDOM.
According to Matthew, Jesus began His ministry in chapter 4. You can read this Gospel from chapter four until chapter twelve to find out that Jesus went around Israel proclaiming that He is the promised Messiah. The purpose of all His miracles recorded in those chapters was to authenticated His Messiahship and His message, the Gospel of the kingdom. In other words, all the miracles Jesus did were signs to the nation of Israel to challenge them to make a decision about Him. Everything changed regarding the purpose of His miracles and His message in Matthew, chapter 12, beginning with verse 22.
The people were not willing to come to a decision by themselves. They were looking for the answer from their religious leaders, the Pharisees. When they accept Him, when they authenticate Him, then we will accept Him as well.
Then, in verses 30-37 Jesus pronounced a judgment on the Jewish generation of that day. Why? Because that generation had committed the unpardonable sin: THE BLASPHEMY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Listen, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit was not an individual sin but a NATIONAL SIN. It was committed by that generation of Israel in Jesus’ day.
In other words, the content of the unpardonable sin was the national rejection of the Messiahship of Jesus while He was physically present, on the grounds that He was demon possessed. THIS SIN WAS UNPARDONABLE, AND JUDGMENT WAS SET. THE REALIZATION OF THIS JUDGMENT CAME IN THE YEAR 70 A.D. The Roman army destroyed Jerusalem, burned down the temple, slaughtered over one million Jews, and dispersed the rest world-wide.
It is interesting that from this point on in the Gospel of Matthew, special emphasis is placed on THIS GENERATION. Why? Because it was this generation that was guilty of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Judgment was unavoidable, because there would be no forgiveness for this sin.
Listen, the book of Hebrews was written to a group of Jewish Christians who, because of persecution, were contemplating a return to Judaism. The book warned them that they must completely separate themselves from Judaism. If they failed to do so, they would be caught up in the judgment of 70 A.D. and suffer physical death. Only of they separated themselves from Judaism completely would they have the opportunity of escaping the judgment upon that generation. Of course, from Hebrews it is not known what the results were. But it is known from JOSEPHUS AND EUSEBIUS quoting HEGESIPPIUS, a Jewish Christian historian of the second century. These men recorded how the Hebrew Christians, in obedience to the book of Hebrews, separated themselves from Judaism. So when the revolt against Rome began in the year 66 A.D., the entire Jewish Christian community left the country and waited the war out in the town of PELLA, and the east bank of the Jordan River. Although 1,100,000 Jews died in this Jewish revolt against Rome, not one Hebrew Christian was killed. Because they did obey the book of Hebrews, they escaped with their lives, and they were freed of the judgment upon that generation.