Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
NT Framework - Prejudiced Perspectives
What if the biggest barrier to understanding Jesus isn’t ignorance, but confidence in the wrong story? We dig into how bias, tradition, and expectations shape the way people read the Bible—and why those lenses often hide the Messiah in plain sight.
More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com
This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament Framework. Today, the full lesson from Jeremy Thomas. Here's a hint of what's to come.
SPEAKER_02:That's why I go verse by verse through things, right? So you can tell I'm not fooling with you. If I just did topical sermons every week, I could play with your mind all I want to. I mean, you'd be like, you know, like a sponge in my hand. I could just squeeze you whichever way I wanted to. Why? Because you don't see the or know the previous context well enough to know that I am giving a spin to the text.
SPEAKER_00:Every single one of us comes to the Bible, comes to any situation really, with a set of beliefs that form how we act and interact and interpret and respond to different situations. When we come to the Bible with these preconceived notions, with these prejudices, it really has an impact on how we interpret the Bible. We see that in the Pharisees. The people of Israel were looking for a king. They wanted Messiah king, the one that was going to overthrow Rome and usher in this kingdom, this dominion of the Jewish people over the earth. And yet they could not see that the Messiah had to suffer first. Because they didn't want to see it, because they had a prejudiced view of what God was telling them in the Old Testament. This is why God says we need a renewing of our minds for every believer today, every unbeliever. The first renewing is to repent and to believe in God. Then the renewing is now we must start to think like God so that we can be more like God, be holy as He is holy. And to do that, we need to come to the Bible open-minded to hear what it says, not to try and force it into what we think it says or what we want it to say. Today we're going to look at many examples of where people came to Jesus with the wrong mindset because they had a prejudiced view based on what they wanted the Bible to say.
SPEAKER_02:There was a couple of principles I wanted to put before us to think about in terms of the responses to Christ and the cross. One, of course, is the principle that the word of God does not return void. And I said that's like a double-edged sword, right? Usually people say, well, I mean, you know, just preach the word. It's not going to return void. There's always going to be results. And I'm like, yeah, there's always going to be results. Most of them are negative responses to the word of God. You probably experienced this too in the workplace. If you tried to work with people in evangelism and so forth, uh most unbelievers tend to remain unbelievers. But every once in a while, of course, someone does believe in Christ. So the um it is it is a true principle, but just remember that it can often be depressing in a sense because so many people respond unfavorably toward Christ and the gospel. Um that so there are two responses, unbelief and belief. Um why do people reject Christ and the cross? Another reason is essentially because, well, people are sinners. This is the truth from Genesis 3, you know, at the fall, Adam sinned, and all of us who are in Adam, which is the whole human race, sinned in him, so we are conceived in sin and born in sin, and you don't have to teach people how to sin. They just naturally know how to do that because they have a sinful nature within them that likes to express itself, and um, they don't have any other capacity to live as unbelievers. Uh, you need the Holy Spirit to have another capacity to live. And so they are quite naturally negative to God because sin is opposed to God. So they are sinners and they don't want to be exposed, and so they uh hide from God. And so that's one of the reasons people reject the cross. It's related to their sinful disposition toward God. Also, of course, they view the cross as something that's not humanly wise. I mean, this guy died on a cross. How does that have anything to do with sin? The whole concepts of restitutionary justice are lost in society for them for many, for most. And so the concept that Christ was making a restitutionary payment on the cross to pay the sin penalty of the world, then it just strikes people as not a wise plan. Um it looks like weakness, you know, someone who got killed under the Roman Empire was crucified in the most horrible way. Who would want to believe in that guy? Um, and then finally, you know, that the text teaches us in Romans 1 and other places that all people actually do know God, you know, because God has made it evident to them. And yet what they do, in other words, to hide from God is they reinterpret the data. This is the constant thing that transpires. I mean, for us, we think it's obvious. You look out at the world, you say, wow, I mean, this is amazing. Look at this. Even though there's, you know, nature's not perfect, it manifests the glory of God. I mean, who could who could make a tree? Who could build a star? Who could do these very complicated uh things and make these structures that we see? And so we we all know that God is there. Even look at ourselves and realize how complicated each one of us is. Just the design features. So we all know God is there, the text says, but men want to, again, hide from God, and so they do not give God the glory for these things, so they reinterpret all the data and say, oh, well, that's Mother Nature, or that's the evolutionary story, or whatever. And so all these are just mechanisms to hide from God. But God has done something in Christ, but people don't have to hide anymore. He's made the way plain, he's made it clear, and it's a free salvation that's by grace through faith. You just believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, right? So there's really no reason not to, but people are still hiding and rejecting him. And today we wanted to look at the responses to Christ and the cross in the Gospels from both uh Jews and Gentiles. So I'll start with Jews, and we'll start on the one side with belief, then we'll move to unbelief, right? So you've got uh I just grouped it into two groups, uh, those who are prophets and prophetesses in the early pages of the Gospels, and then you know, your average people like Joseph, Mary, uh, and the disciples and so forth who had believed or came to believe in him. So let's start with people like Simeon and Anna. Just look at Luke chapter 2, verse 25, and I'll make a note here about prophets and prophetesses. Um the Baptist came along. John the Baptist is not the first prophet uh in the New Testament. Uh many think it is, because he's the one who introduced the king, right? And paved the way for the king with his message to the Jewish people, they need to repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Um, but some 30 years before that, right, um, you have Simeon, you have Anna, he was a prophet and a prophetess. So the period of silence, okay, what we know is the intertestamental times, the period between Malachi in your Old Testament and Matthew in your New Testament, there's about 400 years between those two books. And the reason there's 400 years there is because there were no prophets. We read, I don't know, way back when we were studying the framework from the book of Maccabees, just not because we think it's inspired, but because we turned to it for some of the historical background in that period. And they noted that there was no prophet living among them. So they didn't know what to do with certain stones of the altar. And so they said, well, we'll just wait until a prophet comes along. So the point I'm making is that there were no prophets for about 400 years. There's not always prophets, you know, there's really only a few uh periods where there's prophets in history where God is speaking through prophets. One now is not one of those times, by the way. If you're in a new apostolic reformation or something like that, no, there's no prophets today. Um, but whenever there is, uh God is on the move to do something and give revelation. Well, he's on the move here uh with bringing the Messiah into the world the first time with Simeon and Antis, so Anna. So the uh that gift was beginning to be given again. So Luke chapter 2, verse 25. There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, which would be the Messianic kingdom, when Israel is no longer under oppression of Gentile kingdoms. It says the Holy Spirit was upon him, and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to carry him or uh carry uh out for him the custom of the law, then he took him into his arms and blessed God and said. Now the narrative reads like Mary's carrying her baby, and the guy just like swept her out of his arm. Um it reads quick, and that's the point. It's trying to convey um something that I guess most mothers would say, What are you doing? You just stole my baby. But uh, this is what he did, and he blessed God with this babe in his arms and says, Now, Lord, you are releasing your bondservant to depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel. And his father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to his mother, uh, to Mary, his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many. There's the belief and unbelief. See, there's the two sides of the word of God not returning void, right? For the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed, and a sword will pierce even your own soul, Mary, to the end that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. Like what is in your heart? Uh, what is your response to the work of God in history, and uh and especially the Messiah and his crosswork of salvation? Um, both Jews and Gentiles are mentioned there too. So Simeon is a positive response of belief he was able to hold and behold with his own eyes God's salvation, right? Anna is another one she she follows in verses 36 through 38. It says, uh there was a prophetess Anna, the daughter of Fanuel, tribe of Asher, advanced in years, had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage. Then, as a widow to the age of eighty-four, she never left the temple serving night and day with fastings and prayers. At that very moment she came up. So it's notice how quick the narrative is. At that very moment, she came up and began giving thanks to God and continued to speak of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. Uh well, the redemption of Jerusalem hinges entirely on the Messiah, and um, she, as a prophetess, was looking forward to him. So they're both examples of believers. You also have uh your normal people like Joseph and Mary. These are people who were living righteous lives in favor with God and with men. So, and they were looking for the Messiah. So you see people like Joseph, it calls him in Matthew 1.19 a righteous man. What does this mean? Does this mean that he had gained righteousness with God and God had credited him righteousness because he was so great? No. It means that he was living according to the law of Moses. Whenever he sinned, what would he do? He would take the proper sacrifice. That's what it means to live a righteous law life under the law. He, um, like Psalm 119, he he would have loved the word of God and he was doing his best to follow the word of God. He was living a righteous life in that sense. But he still knew he needed a righteousness from the Messiah. And of course, he was looking forward to the Messiah, and uh, but could not put his faith in him until he came along. But we would view him basically as someone like an Old Testament believer, right? Someone who's looking for the Messiah. Mary would be the same way. Luke 130, she found grace or favor in the eyes of the Lord as the conduit to bring the Messiah into the world, right? And uh, she's kind of taken on a, let's say, a more than elevated position in some theologies like Roman Catholicism, where she's she's almost a fourth member of the Trinity, what we would call the quadrinity, then. Um, but um, she shouldn't be placed in or viewed that way. But nevertheless, she did hold a place of favor in God's plan in that she would be the one to bring the Messiah into the world. So there were people who were living righteous lives. There were people who didn't follow the Pharisees. Um, while the Pharisees dominated the stage, and most people did follow them, there was always a believing remnant of Israel. And there will always be a believing remnant of Israel until one day the believing remnant of Israel becomes equated with the whole nation Israel. And that's what we're still awaiting. And then, Romans 11, 26, all Israel shall be saved, and Christ will establish his kingdom on earth. So that's still future. But until that time, there's always a believing remnant. It's the minority, uh, but there's always a remnant. And there was in the first century when Christ was born. So that's the response of belief. Of course, we've got disciples like um Peter and Thomas and others, you know, who had conversations about this. Uh look at John 1, 45, 46.
SPEAKER_01:Gospel of John chapter 1, verse 45. 46.
SPEAKER_02:Well, 43. Let's start in 43, 143. The next day he purposed to go into the Galilee, and he found Philip, and Jesus said to him, Follow me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida on the city of the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, which would be the messianic line, that that seed line. And Nathaniel said to him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see. And so they did, uh, and they were, of course, believing in him. Jesus says in verse 50, Jesus answered and said to him, Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, is that why you believe? Well, he was a believer. That's the point we wanted to make. He had believed in him for righteousness with God. So you had the common Jewish people who did respond by belief, did not follow the Pharisees or Sadducees or Zealots or Herodians, whatever little sect or group that uh you find through the New Testament that Jews were a part of. But you also find a prevailing unbelief, right? Jesus comes on the stage, there's uh John the Baptist, and John the Baptist is preparing his way, right? And he's trying to get the people ready for the Messiah. So when the Messiah comes, they'll be able to greet and welcome him, right? Properly. Even coronate him as king. That's what John's role was. But um, most people didn't respond that way. You've got the Pharisees and the scribes, and the Pharisees, they are the prevailing group. Okay, Sadducees were secondary, they were primarily around the temple and controlled the temple and so forth. But the Pharisees were spread out throughout the land, and they taught in all the synagogues throughout the land. So everybody was hearing in synagogue, you know, the Pharisees would read uh Moses or the prophets, and then they would give an interpretation. All right, much like we might do, except hopefully we don't follow their method of interpretation. So they weren't following the Old Testament. Look at John chapter, I'm sorry, Matthew 5, Matthew chapter 5. This is in the Sermon on the Mount. Well, obviously the most uh popular, well-known teaching of Jesus, Matthew 5, after the Beatitudes in verse uh 17, 18, 19, and 20. So 5, 17. Jesus said, Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them, to complete them. He's talking about uh messianic prophecies as well as the law itself. People were concerned that he was doing away with the law because his interpretations of the law were not those of the Pharisees. What are you trying to do away with the law? No, he's not doing with the law. He's coming to actually keep the law, to fulfill it, to complete it. Verse 18, for truly I say unto you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished. Now he did accomplish it, he accomplished it on the cross, he fulfills the law. But not by this point yet, right? Verse 19 Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments under the law of Moses and teaches others to do the same. Now, who was doing that? By the way, what group was doing that? Who was annulling the laws of Moses and who was teaching others to annul the laws of Moses? Well, the Pharisees. The Pharisees were doing that. He says, if anybody does that, the same shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And then he says, For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. So are the scribes and Pharisees going to enter the kingdom of heaven? No. No. They teach men not to keep the laws of Moses, but to, they, through their interpretations, annulled them. Okay? And then Jesus goes, like, for example, and we'll look at um, let's see, which one do we want to look at? We'll look at uh 538. 538. What Jesus will do is say, You have heard it said, meaning you've been sitting in synagogue and you heard the Pharisees read this text out of the Old Testament law, which is great. That is the word of God, right? But then they gave an interpretation, and that's what was at odds with the true intent of the Old Testament law. So he'd say, You have heard it that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, do not resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to your other temb also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him too. Give to him who asks of you, do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. And so uh the text is the text, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. But the question was, what's the interpretation of that text, right? And the Pharisees and scribes are going around synagogue teaching, well, it means this. And um Jesus said, No, this was the intent. I think he should know he gave the law on Mount Sinai. So I think he knows what it means. Um, so that's the name of the game. The name of the game was the Pharisees and the Scribes were sinful. What does the sinful nature do to the text of the Bible? It reinterprets it so it can, in a form, keep it. So the Pharisees and the scribes, they kept everything externally. They didn't keep anything internally. But the point of the law was to reach into our hearts, right? Israel's hearts. So they'd realize they didn't have righteousness, that they were sinners. So they would believe in the one who was going to come and bring righteousness. That's the Messiah. That's the point of the law, one of the major points or reasons for the law. But they externalized everything and thought that they were building righteousness with God. It was a righteousness based on works rather than God's point, which was to show that you can't keep the law, therefore you have to have faith righteousness, right? So let's go to Mark chapter 7. Because this same game is going on today. Okay, there's nothing new under the sun. People are still doing the same thing with the Bible, reinterpreting it to justify whatever it is. Mark chapter 7. Notice verse 1, the Pharisees and the scribes have gathered around Christ when they had come from Jerusalem. And they had seen that some of his disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed. In other words, they did not follow a ritual purity tradition of the Pharisees, that Pharisees and Scribes required. Okay, verse 3 is the note. Uh, for the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders. Was this the law? Or was it just tradition? It's just tradition. Tradition. Okay, you've seen the movie, that's good. And uh verse four, when they when they came, uh and when they come from the marketplace, this is another thing they do, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves, and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washings of cups and pitchers and copper pots, and my goodness gracious, these people. Verse 5, the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, Oh, why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands? In other words, why don't they go through all these ritual procedures? This is the traditions, right? And he said to them, Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, but in their heart is far away from me. Okay? In other words, see, externally you you honor me, but internally you're nowhere near me. Verse 7, but in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. See, these traditions were just the precepts of men, they weren't God's intent with the law. He says, verse 8, neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men. See what had happened? They had, by keeping the traditions of men, essentially negated the word of God. They were not keeping God's command. He was also saying to them, verse 9, you are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. You're experts. I mean, how good to become an expert, what do you have to do? Practice. Practice, practice, practice like your whole life has to be about practicing how to do this. What have they been doing their whole lives? Practicing how to set aside the commandments of God so they could keep their tradition. Verse 10 for Moses said, and he gives an example, okay? The law of Corban, he gives an example to show how they had a tradition that allowed them to set aside the actual intent of God's uh law, his commandment. Okay. Now, when you do that, if you neglect the commandments, you're not keeping the commandments, if you're not keeping them, you're doing what? Sinning. Sinning. In the morning, if you practice it, you become an expert at setting aside the word of God, then guess what? You're sinning all the time. Sin, sin, sin, sin, sin, sin, sin, sin, sin, sin, that's all it is, right? Now, what does that do to you? What is the effect of sin on a person? It hardens and blinds. It hardens the heart, it blinds the eyes, it deafens the ears. And so the Pharisees in the gospels become known as the blind, the leaders of the blind. Um, because the people would follow them. So they became blind too, because they were taught how to annul the commandments of God. Even though they heard Moses read every Sabbath in synagogue, they didn't keep it. And so they became they sinned and more and more and became blind. And that is what blinded them from recognizing who he was, recognizing who Jesus truly was as the Messiah. So this is amazing, right? Because these are people who said, Oh, we believe the Bible, we hold to the Old Testament. I mean, my goodness, they memorize a lot of them memorized the first five books. Have you memorized Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy? They memorized it, but they didn't know it because they had reinterpreted it and they held to their quote-unquote tradition. Which were really a man. Can people still do that today with the Bible? Well, of course. They do it all the time. I mean, it's unbelievable. That's why I go verse by verse through things, right? So you can tell I'm not fooling with you. If I just did topical sermons every week, I could play with your mind all I want to. I mean, you'd be like, you know, like a sponge in my hand. I could just squeeze you whichever way I wanted to. Why? Because you don't see the or know the previous context well enough to know that I am giving a spin to the text. In fact, I used to teach some classes in my first pastorate where I would do topical things. I still do topical at times, but I realized that very early on it was very dangerous because people were pulling texts out of context in order to make them proof texts for certain doctrines or ideas or theology. And I realized how dangerous it was. And as I was studying and teaching, I was like, boy, this is, I'm on, you know, unstable ground. I had to be very, very careful. So that's when I got into uh my interest became what are book arguments? Like, what's the book argument of Ephesians? What's the book argument of Colossians? And so forth. That way, when I'm in a text in those books, I know the overall argument, and I'm not, I'm not able to stretch a verse, or, you know, they're not like rubber. You're not supposed to stretch verses to fit what you want. The author's using it in a particular way, but I realize very easily people can manipulate verses when they're taken out of verse, out of context. So I realize the value of book arguments, and that's what I try to teach you. And that's what my commentaries that I'm writing are written for book argument purposes, so people can't manipulate verses and manipulate you or debate, you know, points that are irrelevant in the context. I mean, it's just honestly now, so much of the arguments that people argue, this verse, that verse, it's just it's dumb to me. It's really dumb. I don't I really don't even want to give it five seconds worth of time. Um, because they're just well, you just lifted that right out of the context. That's ridiculous. Um, that was not his point at all. And that's exactly what the Pharisees had done, right? They had manipulated the word of God to uphold their traditions. In that way, they thought that they were gaining righteousness with God. And they didn't have to deal with their sin, the sin problem that we all have, which, if they'd been honest with the text, they would have had to admit we fall short of the glory of God. And we need to wait for the Messiah and put our faith in him because he's going to be the one who gives us his righteousness. That's how we get right with God. Right? But you can see what they did, and now everybody is blinded in the first century, most people at least. So let's turn to Acts 13 27. Acts 13 27. Notice what Paul says in one of his earliest sermons on his first missionary journey. He's gone to Poseidon Antioch, and he has gone out from there, and now he's uh preaching in this sermon in verse 26. Brethren, sons of Abraham's family, so these are Jews, right? And those among you who fear God, so there's some Gentile God fearers there. To us the message of this salvation has been sent. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, recognizing neither him nor the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these scriptures by condemning him. Do you see the irony? You did they did not recognize him or the utterances of the prophets which are read every single Sabbath. That's how how could you do that? How could you not recognize him? How could you not recognize the utterances? Because every time they heard Moses, they read in their tradition. We are also, we can be guilty of this. We have certain theology in our mind. We come to a text, we say, Yeah, that agrees with my mind. Maybe you read it into the text. I've been guilty of it. I know I've been guilty of it. It's very hard to shed your theological bias and read the text objectively for what it teaches. But it's obvious it can be done. To the point that they didn't even know who the Messiah was and they had no clue what Moses taught. It's a little bit unnerving. Um so letter B here. Popular views of the Bible were a distortion. Here's another thing that went on among the Jews and why they didn't believe Jesus was the Messiah. If you have uh Old Testament prophecy, there are two types of prophecies. There are those that prophesy of the glories. That are to come and the sufferings that Messiah had to go through. Now they were looking this way, and they couldn't see the sufferings in the Old Testament, but all they saw was the glories. So when the Messiah came, what did they expect? He's going to usher in the kingdom, he's going to defeat the Roman Empire and set up his kingdom. So they're all looking at the glories. And they're not seeing that the Old Testament also prophesied his suffering. 1 Peter talks about this. So let's look at 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 10 and 11. In other words, this meant that they had a distorted view, right? They didn't have the total picture. 1 Peter chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01:Verse 10.
SPEAKER_02:Now this talks about the prophets. They talked about both, right? But they didn't understand how it all fit together in the Messiah. But by the time of the New Testament, I mean they're just looking for the glories. You know, why can't you come and destroy the Roman Empire and just bring in the kingdom? If you're really the Messiah, that's what you do. They had the wrong, what I call messianic profile. It was only a half profile. Verse 10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries. It's the Old Testament prophets, okay, they're trying to understand the Old Testament prophecies. Verse 11, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. So we know the Old Testament predicted both the sufferings as well as the glories to follow. But in the New Testament pages, in the Gospels, they're thinking only of the glories to follow. And they're thinking, if you're really the Messiah, why haven't you taken care of the Roman Empire?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, to see this, let's turn to, let's see, let me go back. Let's go look at Luke 1.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, no, let's go to Luke 24. Same book, just different. Luke 24. This is on the road to Emmaus when Jesus was talking with these guys. Remember, they didn't recognize him, right?
SPEAKER_01:Luke 24, 19 to 21. 19.
SPEAKER_02:And he said to them as walking along, you know, what things? You know, what things have been going on around Jerusalem? What things are you talking about? And they said to him, Well, the things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet, mighty indeed and word in the sight of God and all the people. And now the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to the sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping it was he who was going to redeem Israel. We thought it was going to be him, but well, he's dead now. We thought he was going to do what? We thought he was the one who was going to bring in the glories of the kingdom. But he died. See how they didn't have the right profile or expectation of the Messiah? This is one of the reasons they rejected him. The Gospel of Matthew is written for this entire purpose, okay? Because you have a group of Jews who do believe in him. You know, Matthew, the other guys, the apostles, and so forth, other people. But after Jesus died, he was resurrected, we know, and he ascended, right? Well, unbelievers would say to Jews, now, why are you believing that Jesus is the Messiah if Messiah's kingdom isn't here? This was the early argument made against Jesus being the Messiah by Jews. Why are you believing Jesus is the Messiah if Messiah's kingdom is not here? So the Gospel of Matthew was written for that purpose. That is the entire purpose of the Gospel of Matthew. To explain how Jesus actually is the Messiah and how the kingdom was offered. But the reason it's not here is because you rejected your Messiah. That's why the kingdom didn't come. So that in a nutshell is the whole argument of the Gospel of Matthew. And early Jews had to deal with that argument that Jesus couldn't be Messiah because Messiah's glorious kingdom isn't here. They didn't read the Old Testament right, though, because the Old Testament predicted that first he must suffer and then reign in glory. And we know how it works out. He actually comes twice, right? His first coming was to suffer on behalf of sin. His second coming is to judge his enemies and reign in glory.
SPEAKER_01:But they missed it. Oh, another one.
SPEAKER_02:They would not repent. Letter C. Yet repentance was necessary because they were blind. How do you get your blindness removed? Well, you have to repent. What does that mean? It means you have to have a change of mind. See, the Pharisees again, once again, and really what I'm doing is just trying to help teach you how to read the Gospels. The Pharisees, again, they're over here keeping the law externally, trying to gain righteousness with God through works. Right? John the Baptist comes along, Matthew 3, which we'll turn to, Matthew 3, and he says, repent, right? Well, what do they need to repent? Okay, repent doesn't mean turn from your sins, it means have a change of mind about the source of righteousness with God. How do you get righteousness with God? Their idea, their thinking was, well, we have the law and we have it codified in tradition, and if we keep those traditions, we're gaining merit with God. It's by works. That's how we get right with righteousness with God. What is John the Baptist saying? No. No, that's not how you get righteousness with God. So let's look at Matthew chapter 3. They need to repent of the idea that righteousness is by works, and they need to come to an idea that it's by faith in the Messiah. That's the only way to get right with God. So Matthew chapter 3, you see, these uh in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That means it's imminent, like it can come if the condition is met, which in this case was the nation would need to repent of the idea that righteousness comes through works of the law. He says, For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet. John was the one prophesied, right? The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way for the Lord, make his path straight. In other words, when a king would come to visit a city, there would be people that would go out and they would prepare the way because it was a great entourage that was about to enter the city. So everything would be cleaned up, everything would be made nice. Why? So the people could line up on the side of the street and welcome the king. Well, he's trying to get their hearts prepared for the king. That was John's purpose, right? To welcome him. It then describes, you know, John, you know, his odd dress, you know, garment of camel's hair, and he eats locusts and wild honey. He's kind of an odd figure, you know, everybody'd be like, who's this guy? And that was the point, you know, is to gain attention. Not to him, but to the message that he had. And they were down at the bat uh the river Jordan, right, in verse 6. He's baptizing those as they confess their sins. But then look, verse 7. When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers.
SPEAKER_01:Um snakes.
SPEAKER_02:What's the first picture of a serpent or snake that you get in the Bible? Satan. That's what he's calling them. You children of Satan. That's what he's saying. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, bear fruit in keeping with repentance. See, their fruit was just a tradition. That's not God doesn't care about that. He's upset about it. He's mad about that, actually. It was all sin, right? They needed to repent, right? I mean, if you're really coming out here to be baptized, to be identified with my message that the kingdom's at hand and the Messiah's about to be here, you might want to have a change of mind about the source of righteousness, because the one I'm introducing is the Messiah and he is our righteousness. And you're not on that page, guys. So what are you doing coming out here? You snakes? Now, John wasn't exactly the most popular preacher. And we call him a fire brimstone type. So he says, bear fruit and keeping with repentance. And you would really want to get baptized, actually repent. Change your mind about the source of righteousness. And don't suppose you can say to yourself, Well, we have Abraham for our father, so we're we're in like flam. No. You can't. That's what they thought, see? We're physical descendants of Abraham. We're all good. It's the Gentiles that have a problem. Their theology was absolutely terrible. So you see them in unbelief. They don't want to repent, right? They're under the wrath of God. Let's turn over to Acts 19.4. Because here's where Paul interprets exactly what John's ministry was all about. Why was he out baptizing at the Jordan? Why was he telling them to repent and so forth? Acts 19.4, he tells us exactly what John was doing. Paul said to uh, this is like 12 Jews or something, he meant outside Ephesus, some disciples, he said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, which is what we just looked at, right? Telling the people to do what? Believe in him who was coming after him. That is, in Jesus. That's what his whole purpose was. Why do you need to believe in Jesus? Because you can't get righteousness by keeping the law. It's that simple. And that's what the Pharisees and scribes were trying to do. And so they did not come to him by faith. They wanted to do it by their own works. This was a problem. Is this a problem today? People saying, well, I'm good enough, I've got enough works. I mean, in the end, God will say, Well, you did more good than bad, therefore he'll accept me. Sure, that's very super common. That's the way most people think. Where is justice in that? I mean, if you if you have done sin, I mean, shouldn't there be some judgment on that sin? Well, we all say, well, yeah. Well, then why did Christ come? To pay the penalty for those sins, right? So that we can freely by faith come to him and have salvation. Okay? But in the idea that, well, it's just my works, good works versus my bad works, but you've never accepted Christ's payment for your sins, these sins still have to be dealt with, then. You decided not to accept his payment. So what? You're gonna die in your sins. That's what the text says, John 8. So um let's go to Romans 9. Romans 9, verse 30 to 33. This this is what caused them to stumble over the Messiah. The Messiah came, he's offering his righteousness to them if they just believe, but they're trying to do works righteousness, and so they don't, they stumble over him. Romans 9 30. What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness, he's talking about righteousness by works, they didn't pursue it by work, attained righteousness, but they attained even the righteousness which is by faith. That's how they attained it. But Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. See, they tried to meet the standard of a law of righteousness to be become righteous with God by their own works, but he says they didn't arrive at righteousness. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. As a result, what? They stumbled over the stumbling stone who is Messiah. And that's what Paul was saying in Acts 13. He says, They hear the law week in, week out, and yet ironically, they ended up fulfilling it themselves by rejecting the Messiah. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, didn't they? See, as long as a person is in works mode, they're going to stumble over the Messiah, because the Messiah is saying what? Your works don't count. It's my work and my work alone. He said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No one comes to the Father but what? By me. Not by my works plus me, or your works plus me. No, not your works plus me. It's just by me alone. There is no other name under heaven by which men may be saved than by the name of what? Jesus and Jeremy Thomas? Jesus and put your name in there? Jesus and put everybody's name in there, collective good works? No. Jesus alone. That's the only way. You say, but I've done good. Sorry. It doesn't count with God. It doesn't merit his righteousness being given to you. Only Christ's work, because our work is all tainted. Paul even says, I don't even know, I don't even judge myself because I don't know all my motives. Do you know all your motives? Have you been able to search the depths of your heart and know everything, every good thing you ever did had a perfectly good motive behind it? No, you can't. You can't, we we can't even evaluate ourselves that well. We could have mixed motives in ourselves. We're sinners, that's the problem. We need someone to come pay our debt. And Christ did it. He paid it in full. But they were still trying by works, right? E. They rejected the word of God. Acts 13, 46. They didn't perceive their sinful condition and their need for eternal life. Acts 13, 46. I mean, if you think you're good enough, if you really think you're a good person, I mean the Pharisees, they thought they were good. If you really think you're a good person, right, then you're not going to see your need for eternal life. Because you're going to think, well, I'm good enough. 13.46. Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, It was necessary the word of God be spoken to you, that's to the Jews, first. But you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life. See, they judge themselves unworthy of eternal life because they thought, well, we're good enough in and of ourselves. So then he turned to the Gentiles. And they wanted it. Boy, the Gentiles realized they were sinners. They were anxious for salvation. Now the nation of Israel today is still in unbelief. Okay. But whenever a Jew turns to the Lord, guess what? They're saved. 2 Corinthians 3 15 to 16. And it says the veil is removed. You know, it's like there's a veil over their eyes or over their heart, and they can't see. But it says, whenever they believe in the Lord, they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the veil is lifted. It's like they see. And you know, there are Jewish believers today. They're not a lot, but I mean there's Jewish believers in the land. There's we're talking right now in our deacons about supporting Jewish believers in the land. Um some of them are, as we've been reading about different ministries that are to Jewish believers in the land, they're members of the IDF and they minister within their you know their platoons and their battalions and all that. Um and it's tough for them because for a Jew to believe in Jesus today, if a Jew believes in Jesus, especially in the land, that most other Jews, secular Jews, consider you committing treason against the Jewish people because they think you're becoming a non-Jew. In other words, they think that by becoming a Christian, you are becoming, you're rejecting your Jewishness. That's not true. Paul was a Jewish believer, and he didn't say, I'm no longer a Jew. He said in Romans 9:1, I am a Jew. He was a Jewish believer. Some people call him today messianic believers or messianic Jews. Um they still maintain their racial heritage as Jewish people, as descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, right? Jesus was a Jew, right? Salvation is of the Jews, John 4. So when a Jew believes in Jesus, they don't become a non-Jew, they become what I call a completed Jew. Because a completed Jew is one who believes in their Messiah, Jesus, who is a Jew. Which is the true purpose that God had for the Jewish people, that they believe in their Messiah. So we have those believers today, they're known as the remnant, right? And there will always be a remnant. Okay, Romans 11. In fact, Romans 11, 1 through 10 can make you could make the argument that if there is a time on earth when there is not one single Jewish believer, God would destroy the Jews. Now that'll never happen because he made covenant promises. This is why, by the way, if you want to know one of the intricacies of my theology that I've never told you, I believe that after the rapture happens, the moment the rapture happens, I believe that the 144,000 basically come to salvation almost at an instant in time. But that's just my belief. There's nothing hard behind that, it's just some data points that try to put together. Um, so for the most part, the nation of Israel letter G here is partially hardened, and they will be Romans 11, 26, until the fullness of the Gentiles come in, and then all Israel will be saved. So after the church is gone, and then you know, the 144,000 and the two witnesses and all that, um, by the end of all those events in what we call the 70th week of Daniel, the nation of Israel will be saved, the Messiah will return, and usher in the glories to follow, right? The kingdom to come. But these are the two responses of the Jews, okay, belief and unbelief. For the most part, unbelief. But we can understand they've been partially hardened, right? Due to their uh generational rejection that's continued every generation since the Messiah. Um, but if a Jew turns to the Lord, they're saved. This is good. As far as Gentiles, interesting story in the Gospels. Um, of course, we have the first the side of belief and then unbelief. So as far as belief, very interesting stories, right? The wise men in chapter 2 of Matthew, I mean, this is right near the birth, after the birth, right? Not immediate, not when the shepherds were there, but several months later, more than likely. Here come the wise men from Babylon. Huh?
SPEAKER_01:Who are these people? And how did they know that he was born?
SPEAKER_02:Right, and this is the story of the star, right? And trace back to Numbers 24, trace this to the story in the time of Daniel when Daniel was in the Babylonian uh empire, he was raised up high in the government, he saved all the uh sorcerers and diviners and soothsayers that that worked for King Nebuchadnezzar, and he became the head of the whole school of astronomers. And uh that's when a lot of those men believed and their families, because Daniel was instrumental by God in rescuing those men from slaughter. And now here we are, six almost six centuries later, right? In a group from the exact same area, the wise men, to seek him, born king of the Jews, right? So there's an interesting story. Do you think they believed in him? Well, yeah, I mean, absolutely, they were looking for him. The star, that was Numbers 24, Shekinah glory. Okay, it's another story, but um, but you have a good response here in Matthew 2. So interestingly, uh it's the first response you see is is not Jewish, right? It's a Gentile response. Gentiles are responding positively to him. This is one of the sub-themes in Matthew's gospel. Remember, I said Matthew's gospel is teaching us that uh is it is an answer for Jews who said, Well, if Jesus is really the Messiah, where is his kingdom? Answer that one. Matthew is answering that one. His answer is he's not his kingdom's not here because you rejected you. In the midst of that argument, he makes plugs for Gentiles responding positively. There are three of them. The wise men in chapter two, the centurion in chapter eight, and the Syrophenician woman in chapter uh 15. Okay. And what's he doing? He's getting us ready for that statement at the end of Matthew, where he says, the Great Commission, right? Go to all what nations and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them all that I've commanded you, and lo, I'm with you even to the end of the age. Right? It's preparatory for this statement because when Christ comes on the scene, it's Israel, Israel, Israel. Wasn't John the Baptist saying to Israel, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand? That was for Israel, right? Even in Matthew 10, verses 5 and 6, he says, Do not go in the way of the Gentiles. Do not get on any road that goes to Samaria, but go only to the lost sheep of the house of who? Israel. Why? Because Israel was to be offered the kingdom first. Upon their rejection, what happens? Well, we've already been seeing that Gentiles are responding positively. You get the Great Commission at the end of that. It says, go to all nations now. Go to all nations. So there's a shift in God's work. So you have these Gentiles responding positively. The centurion over in Matthew 8, let's look at that one. This is a great one. Centurions, you know, they were part of the army, right? Roman army. Did they know anything about authority? Oh, yeah, I think you do if you go in the military. You're trained in authority orientation. These were the types of people that, both here and in the book of Acts, the centurion in Acts chapter 10, they responded super well to the gospel. So Matthew chapter 8, verse 5, when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, imploring him and saying, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented. And Jesus said to him, I will come and I will heal him. I'll come right to your house. But the centurion said, Lord, I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word. And my servant will be healed. Just say the word. That's all you have to do. Just say the word. You don't need to come to my house. Just say the word. You're Lord over everything. All you have to do is just say a word. You created by your own word. You don't need to come anywhere. You just say it is done. He says, Because I'm a man under authority. I have soldiers under me. I say to this one, you go, and he does it. And to another, come, and he comes. And he and to my slave, do this, and he does it. Now, when Jesus heard this, he marveled. And you do know Jesus only marvels like three times in the entire gospel. This is one of them. And he said to those who are following, Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in the entirety of Israel. You think that wasn't a slap in the face to every Jew who heard this? Gentiles? The dogs? The people they considered the scum of the earth? One of them had greater faith than anyone in our entire nation. Yo, you better believe it was a slap in the face. Jesus didn't get up and give feel-good sermons. He gave it straight. And if people didn't like it, they needed to adjust to him, not to their little feeling. Right? What he says is what matters. And this guy got it. I say to you, he says, Many are going to come from the east and the west. These are Gentiles, and they're going to recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom, this is the natural ones who should have been responding to him, Israel, will be cast into the outer darkness. In that place there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said to the centurion, Go, it's done for you. Just as you believe. Matthew chapter 15, verse 21 to 28. She understood. She understood. Matthew 15, 21. Jesus went from there and he withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. This is basically a pagan place. Look who's there. Verse 22, a Canaanite woman. Remember them from the Old Testament? The Canaanites? Those who are basically a society that was totally overtaken by sex. Just totally overtaken by sex. And so there's this woman from this culture, and she came out and she began to cry out saying, Have mercy on me, Lord. Look at this. Look at this. Have mercy on me. Son of David, we know who that is. That's the Messiah. That's a messianic title. My daughter is cruelly demon-possessed, but he did not answer her a word. He just totally ignored her. Most people say, Well, Jesus didn't have good manners. Well, Jesus was on a mission. He knew what he was doing. His disciples came and implored him, saying, Can you just send this lady away? She just keeps shouting at us. What an annoyance, right? But he answered and said to her, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That's it, that's my mission. But she came and she began to bow down before him, saying, Lord, help me. Now notice, first of all, Jesus doesn't waste resources. He's busy. He has a task, he has a mission, and he's not going to waste his resources on something else. See? He is very purpose-driven. We maybe learn a lesson from this, right? But some of us take this, we go, whoa, he's being really rough with this lady. But let's just see what happens. He answered, uh, I've been sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. She came and she began to bow down before him, saying, Lord, help me. And you can hear, right? The pain, the suffering, the hurt from the problem of sin, right? And this issue with the demon possession of her daughter. And he answered and said, It's not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. Now, how would you like that? Most people today, I'm just leaving. I can't believe in this Jesus character. He's meanie. Oh, I'm sorry about your feelings again. Jesus didn't care. But she said, Yes, Lord, but even the dogs feed on the crumbs that would fall from the master table. Then Jesus said to her, Oh, woman, your faith is great. It shall be done for you as you wish. And her daughter was healed instantaneously.
SPEAKER_01:See? See, this lady knew that he was the only hope in the situation.
SPEAKER_02:And so what did she do? She wouldn't give up pursuing him and crying out, I I need help. Help me. I need your mercy. Isn't that the right response? And that's a Gentile. She understood this is He's the way. He's the one. So given as a picture. So, and then in the book of Acts, you have an interesting group. Okay, of course, you've got Jews in the synagogue, and you've got proselytes to Judaism. These are other Gentiles who had joined themselves to Judaism by becoming circumcised. When you got circumcised, that put you under the law, Galatians 5, 1 through 3. So once you get circumcised, then cut around, peritome. So once you get circumcised, you are under the law. In other words, you're supposed to keep the law of Moses. But if you were a God fearer, a third group, you did not undergo circumcision. You were what we call on the fringe of Judaism. So they didn't undergo circumcision and they're not under the law. Okay. These people in the book of Acts have a very positive response to the gospel. I think it's because they were not encumbered by the law. They had not taken that step. They were not thinking in terms of keep the law for works of righteousness. And because they weren't encumbered by that theology, they'd not totally bought into it yet and got circumcised. Because once you get circumcised, guys, I mean, you kind of taken a big step there, boys. Let me tell you. That's a big step. Any surgery is a big step. But they hadn't taken that step. So they were totally open to faith righteousness, see? And that's why you see that group uniquely in the book of Acts that's responding to the Messiahship of Jesus and his death and resurrection. So that's kind of a wonderful story. But then we have unbelief, and we won't go into it today. But I do want to bring us to modern reasons that have crept into the church. But as far as first century reasons, they just thought it was a foolish message. This guy who was crucified on the unlucky tree and something about a resurrection. I don't know about that. Nobody can be resurrected from the dead. People just at the time just thought it was foolish. Just a silly message. But the modern reasons are quite different. And so I'll just prep you. It's the idea that the cross is not necessary because God is love. That's the fundamental idea that is prevalent in liberal Christian and in some evangelical Christian movements. It's this idea that because God is love, he's not going to require this substitutionary blood sacrifice to atone for sins. All that is needed is repentance. If you repent, that atones for your sins. If you repent, that atones for your sins. Well, if repentance atones for your sins, do you need Jesus Christ to atone for him on the cross? No. It becomes unnecessary. By the way, that is the exact belief of Judaism today. They celebrate every year. Right? We had a little book about it growing up. It's the book with the bird. Y'all remember that book? Anyway. I think it's it Yom Kippur. But the what you're supposed to do on Yom Kippur is repent of your sins. Why? Because that atones for your sins. Repentance atones for your sins. That's present in Christianity. That's present in Judaism. Okay? And that's why they don't think that Jesus is necessary. And what Jesus did on the cross was necessary. Because all we need to do is just repent. And if we repent, that's good enough. God will accept our repentance as our atonement for our sins and welcome us. But all that means is Galatians 2.21.
SPEAKER_01:We'll just finish with this, Galatians 2.21. Galatians 2.21.
SPEAKER_02:It's all a you know work system. If I repent, you know, then I get atonement. I don't nullify the grace of God, says Paul. Because if righteousness comes through the law, if in other words, if righteousness comes through works, then what? Christ died for no purpose. It's totally a waste of time. It doesn't mean anything. This is totally needless. Because what? Well, because I can repent of any bad works. My good works are, those are good. The bad works I just repent of, atone for my sins. I'm good with God. Paul says, nope, that won't work. Christ died needlessly then. There's no purpose of the cross anymore. You erased it entirely. So we'll deal with that next week and talking about why repentance is not what atones for our sins and why God can't just save out of his love. That's what a lot of people think. Well, God is so great in his love, he'll just save us if he wants. It doesn't work like that. God's justice must be satisfied. This is the key idea. God is love, yes. But he's also just, right? In fact, it's out of his love that he sent his son to pay the penalty so he would be just in the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ. So both love and justice are there, right? For God so loved the world, right? John 3.16, but also Romans 3.26, that he is just and the justifier of the one who has faith in him. See, it's both. God never sets aside any of his characteristics. He's always consistent within himself. And uh we we um are by his mercy healed, right? We're saved.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app. And until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.