00:00 Introduction and Catching Up

00:55 Question on Matthew 5 and 7

02:19 Understanding False Prophets and Relaxed Teaching

07:04 The Importance of Knowing the Word

08:36 Discussion on Matthew 11

08:48 Jesus' Message to John the Baptist

12:08 Unrepentant Cities and Judgment

15:39 Jesus' Invitation to Rest

19:04 Concluding Prayer and Farewell

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

Hey everybody.

2

Welcome back to another edition

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

3

Hello, pastor Rod's back with us.

4

How was your class?

5

Yeah.

6

Fine.

7

Yeah.

8

Nothing terribly exciting.

9

Yeah.

10

It was more instructional about the

stuff that I have to do in the coming

11

months and one of the things that

he said is, you sure that the people

12

close to you know that you're gonna

be busier in the coming months.

13

Gotcha.

14

I said, okay.

15

Fair enough.

16

Noted.

17

So he explained some of those

things that I have to do and things

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I have to turn in and books I

have to read, things like that.

19

And that's the end of this particular

class in terms of the last time

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I'll meet with him and the others

in this class, this cohort.

21

And then I start a new class in November.

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And then another class that I have to do a

lot of pre-work for that meets in January.

23

So, it's exciting.

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I'm excited for what's ahead.

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Not bad.

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Still liking it.

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Yes.

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Awesome.

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Yes.

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I like the accountability.

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I like the fact that I'm reading

books that, I mean, I have books

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that I would like to read, but

just books that I now have to read

33

and write thoughtful responses to.

34

Gotcha.

35

Enjoying that.

36

That's good, man.

37

That's good.

38

Well, we had a question written in

by one of our own who wanted to know

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about Matthew five and Matthew seven.

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So, pastor Rod, do you wanna frame the

question for us as it was written to us?

41

Yes.

42

In fact, here I'll just read it

okay so that everybody can hear it.

43

It says, thinking about the difference

between Matthew five 17 through 20

44

and Matthew seven 15 through 20.

45

So briefly, then let's, if

you have your Bible, maybe

46

it'd be worth you going there.

47

But Matthew seven 15 through

20 is at famous section where

48

Jesus is saying that you're.

49

You need to be aware of false prophets.

50

You'll recognize 'em by their fruits.

51

Healthy tree can't bear bad fruit, nor

can a disease tree bear good fruit.

52

Every tree that does not bear good.

53

Fruit is cut down and thrown

under the fire, thus you'll

54

recognize 'em by their fruit.

55

So they're talking about the

fruitfulness of somebody's ministry.

56

In particular, false teachers.

57

False teachers cannot produce good fruit.

58

Only a good teacher, only a good

tree can produce good fruit.

59

Okay, and Matthew five 17 to 20.

60

Do you have that one PPJI do.

61

It says, do not think that I've come

to abolish the law of the prophets.

62

I've not come to abolish

them, but to fulfill them.

63

For truly, I say to you, until

heaven and earth pass away, not an

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iota, not a dot will pass away from

the law until all is accomplished.

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Therefore, whoever relaxes one of

the least of these commandments and

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teaches others to do the same will be

called least in the kingdom of heaven.

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But whoever does them and

teaches them will be called

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great in the kingdom of heaven.

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For I tell you, unless your

righteousness exceeds that of the

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scribes and the Pharisees, you will

never enter the kingdom of heaven.

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So the follow up to that is the question.

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And here's how it's phrased.

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Can you talk about the difference between

relaxed teaching, which you just heard in

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Matthew five yet still being a believer

and being least in the kingdom of heaven

75

compared to that of being a false prophet.

76

So I think the assumption that's

being made here is that a false

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prophet is likely going to relax

the teaching and going to tell a

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Christian, or tell believers, Hey, you

don't have to worry about this rule

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or that rule, this law or that law.

80

The question continues, would you say

that Matthew five is talking about a tier

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two or three issue, like lady pastors?

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And can you also talk about the

difference between relaxed disobedience

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to the word versus habitual sin?

84

To me, I see things black and white.

85

You're either in sin or you're not,

but when reading John MacArthur's

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commentary on Matthew five, he brings

up the idea of relaxed disobedience.

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Is that a sin?

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If so, why is that?

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Not also classified as habitual sin.

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Yeah.

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That, wow.

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Alright.

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Pastor PJ, pick one part of it and

maybe we can tease it apart a bit.

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Y Yeah.

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So the difference y you

mentioned false prophets right?

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Versus what's going on in Matthew five.

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I think the false prophets are

those that are teaching antigo.

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They are teaching a gospel that doesn't

save, versus in, in Matthew five,

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it's not necessarily that they're

undermining the gospel, but that they

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are not holding to and maybe, yeah.

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The way that you put it there, in this

the person who asked this question, tier

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two issues probably wouldn't go so far as

tier three issues, but tier two issues or.

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Not holding people to as high

a standard as they should.

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That would be something that would

be, you'd be in danger as one teaching

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somebody that it's okay to not be fully

committed, fully devoted to the Lord in

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this particular area, instead of calling

for that full and complete devotion.

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So you're not undermining the

gospel, you're not denying the gospel

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like the false prophets would.

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And that's the bad fruit is gonna

reveal that they're not in Christ.

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But you're not, you're also not being

faithful to call somebody to the pursuit

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of godliness the way that they should.

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Yeah, I, the difference between

relaxed disobedience and habitual

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sin is I think that modifier there

before the word sin is habitual.

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I think if you've got somebody that

is continually teaching, somebody

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to relax the law and not to.

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To pursue the law.

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We call that antinomianism.

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That can become a form of false

teaching in and of itself.

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But if you've got somebody

that is, there's one area where

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they're like, you know what?

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That's not as big of a deal

where you would ha would say, no.

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The Bible is clear on that, and

it is a big deal to obey it.

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That might be an example of a

one-off relaxing the commitment.

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It's, they're both dangerous.

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Neither of one of them are good, but I

would say that's part of the difference.

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If I'm understanding the

direction of the questions.

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Your thoughts.

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Yeah, I would agree with that and I

think what the key to understanding the

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Sermon on the Mount is understanding what

Jesus is trying to accomplish with it.

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He's not trying to say, Hey, do all

these things and you'll make it guys

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just put, clean up your act, do the

right things and you're gonna be fine.

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And Jesus is not trying to

encourage your self-esteem here.

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If I could be so blunt.

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He's trying to destroy your facade of.

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Righteousness are righteous

enough to stand before God.

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And so all of these things are really

meant to draw our attention to the fact

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that we are insufficient in ourselves.

138

And therefore what we need

is an alien righteousness.

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That's how people used to talk about this.

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We need an external righteousness that

is applied to our account, which is

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why he says in chapter five, verse 20,

that our righteousness has to exceed

142

that of the scribes and Pharisees.

143

He means that in at least two ways.

144

In the first way is the practical

exceeding that is you have to.

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Do more in, in the sense of

your righteousness before

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God is gonna be more than.

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Then what they're doing.

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I believe that is true.

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But that's because of the second

thing that he means by this

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is that your righteousness is

also going to be a gift of God.

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You're gonna have a justification, a

righteousness that is not your own,

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which will result in a practical

righteousness that is greater

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than the scribes in the Pharisees.

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So the internal will be changed and

therefore the external will be greater.

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I think that's what's happening here.

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The bad tree and bad fruit are false

prophets who are going to lead us astray

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and those who will want to tell us

differently than what the word tells us.

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And Jesus is simply trying to say,

look, you're gonna know who these guys

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are based on the fruit of their lives.

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Now if you see bad fruit

you're gonna find bad roots.

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And I think that is the simple point.

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You're gonna recognize them

by these things, which means

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that you as a congregation.

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You as a Christian have to be

well armed enough to discern that.

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And part of your ability to discern

is being a student of the word.

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You have to know what God's word is.

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So well that you can detect differences

from what the so-called prophet is

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saying or doing and what scripture says.

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Now that doesn't mean that you

have to be the Holy Spirit.

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Detector for everybody.

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But it does mean that you have your

eyes wide open, that you're looking

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at your church and your pastors, and

even your fellow Christians through

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the lens of scripture and saying,

how does these things match up?

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I think that, I hope that speaks

to your question, and if not,

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please write us in and tell us.

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Write another one where we got it wrong.

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We're happy to jump back in.

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But I think that that sums up the idea.

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Yeah.

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Knowing the word is so important.

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And it's such a healthy mark

of a good church is a church

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that it's not just pastored by.

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Pastors that would say, well, we

know the word 'cause we weren't the

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seminary and we did these things.

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But it's a church where the body is

immersed and saturated with the word.

186

We were just talking about this recently

as pastors and about how much we desire

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and want our church to be a church where

people are in the word of God regularly.

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And that's why we do

the daily Bible reading.

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That's why we do this daily Bible podcast.

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And even the daily Bible reading,

maybe you're out there sending

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yourself thinking, okay, you're

talking about studying the word,

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being a student of the word.

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And that conveys a lot of investment

and time and I just don't know if I have

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the ability to take, well, today we're

only covering one chapter, Matthew 11.

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Maybe you do have that amount of time, but

Matthew five through seven, that's Sermon

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on the Mount from a couple of days ago.

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Man that's three chapters

and there's a ton there.

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I don't have that much time.

199

And it doesn't mean to be a student in the

word, doesn't mean that you have to pull

200

out your commentaries and that you have to

go verse by verse and you have to, consult

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all of your various study bibles, right?

202

If you've got that time to do

things like that, that's good.

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And there's gonna be rich fruit there.

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But spending time in the

word of God is reading it.

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Reading it for comprehension.

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Reading it to just say, okay,

what is chapter five about?

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Lemme summarize it in one sentence.

208

What's chapter six about?

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What's chapter seven about?

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Maybe noting a few questions

there and walking away going,

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okay, what do I need to take away?

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What.

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Nugget can I walk away from for the

rest of my day to day and chew on that?

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What can I meditate on from the

time that I spent in the word today?

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So you don't have to have pen and paper

out and do the tan method that then

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always now that we talk about in partners

every time you come to the word of God,

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you can just read it to read it and know

it, and you're gonna benefit from that.

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There's gonna be fruit born from that too.

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Amen.

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Well, let's jump into our reading for

today, which is Matthew chapter 11.

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And chapter 11 opens with a situation

that we saw recently in another

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one of our synoptic readings.

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And that is John the Baptist's question.

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John the Baptist in prison sends his

disciples, his followers to Jesus

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and says now would be a great time

for you to do the whole Messiah thing

226

and to flex, because here I am in

jail and I may not live much longer.

227

And are you the guy?

228

And Jesus responds again with his

citation from the Old Testament,

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from Isaiah and says, go and tell

John what you hear and what you see.

230

And Jesus essentially says, I'm doing what

the prophets prophesied that I would do.

231

But the implication is, you know what?

232

There's more to what I'm

going to do than just.

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What you see me doing, just these

things that I've already done.

234

In fact, Jesus even says that early on.

235

He says, you're gonna see greater

things than these in John's Gospel.

236

And ultimately the greatest

thing that Jesus has come to do

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is to go to the cross for us.

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And so John the Baptist he.

239

Was a forerunner for Christ and he

was a man that Jesus goes on in this

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context to say, of those born of women,

there's no one greater than John.

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And yet John was in his humanity, limited

in his understanding of who Jesus was.

242

And so here we even see John

was struggling just like

243

Jesus's disciples would do.

244

Luke 24 is gonna show us that he's not.

245

Fully understanding yet the type

of Messiah Jesus has come to be,

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even though he was the one that

said, behold the limb of God, who

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takes away the sins of the world.

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And so Jesus has this gracious

interaction with John's disciples

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here, encouraging John while John's in

jail, John, I'm the one, I'm the one.

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You can trust me.

251

You can believe me.

252

And don't be offended by me.

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Know that I'm he.

254

And yet the implication is, but I've

come to do more than what you're

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looking for me to do right now.

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I really appreciated when Jesus

says to John, blessed is the

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one who is not offended by me.

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The word that we get scandalized

from is the word that would

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sit underneath the Greek there.

260

So the word offended is

what our modern word.

261

Scandalized comes from scandalize.

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And I think one of the challenges with

being a Christian is that so often

263

if you're gonna come to scripture

the way that God wants you to you're

264

going to be offended by Jesus.

265

Yeah, I don't see how you're not Yeah,

because he lives in ways that are

266

contrary to what we think is right.

267

And he calls us out, and I think a

lot of us are so comfortable with the

268

things that Jesus says that we probably

are missing the meaning by and large.

269

Jesus says things that are difficult

to understand, difficult to digest.

270

E even his disciples when Jesus said,

Hey, are you guys ready to leave now?

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I think he understood that what he

was saying was meant to be provocative

272

and even con, con confrontational.

273

And so it's important that you see if

you're coming to scripture, honestly,

274

you're gonna find things really

hard, even things that Jesus says.

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Even the thing that he says where he's

like, Hey if whoever's gonna follow me,

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if you're not worthy of me, if you love

anyone else more than me, father, mother,

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sister, brother, et cetera so blessed

are those who are not offended by him.

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And John is struggling here,

and I appreciate this because.

279

Jesus is, on the one hand, he's

not saying it's okay, but he's

280

saying, yeah, the this is hard.

281

Yes but don't let it, don't

let it get you all tripped up.

282

I think it's important to, for you

to do what John does when you have an

283

issue with Jesus or you have an issue

with something that's said in the Word,

284

you should go to Jesus and take it

to him and let him walk you through.

285

Through his word on some of

the issues that you might have.

286

And there's going to be issues.

287

There's always gonna be problems

at your church, problems with your

288

fellow Christians and your community

groups, or, really anything.

289

There's always a way for sin to

interrupt the good things that God is

290

doing, but don't get jostled by that.

291

Mm-hmm.

292

Expect that it's gonna happen.

293

Do what John does.

294

Take it to Jesus.

295

Read his word.

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Some of the things that were

hard led a lot of people to

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reject him as you were implying.

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And some of those were in the very cities

that saw and heard the most from him.

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And that's where Jesus in Matthew

turn in Matthew chapter 11 verses

300

20 down here through verse 24.

301

And these are the your header in

the ESV says unrepentant cities.

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These are those, and they're not

repentant because they heard the

303

majority of Jesus' preaching.

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So Chorazin Beth you've got.

305

Capernaum, which was Jesus' home

base up in Galilee, who were witness

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to so many of the things that he

did and said the miracles that

307

he performed, the sermons that he

preached, and yet they resisted him.

308

They didn't put their trust.

309

They didn't truly believe in him.

310

In fact, some of these are those that.

311

In John chapter two after the

wedding in Cana they were believing

312

in him, but it says, Jesus did

not believe in their belief for he

313

knew what was in the heart of man.

314

And so these are people with

spurious faith or no faith at all.

315

And so Jesus confronts and condemns

these cities and makes some pretty

316

amazing statements here that help

us understand even part of the

317

nature of eternal condemnation.

318

And that is that there's gradations there.

319

'cause he says it would've been better.

320

For you to repent it.

321

In other words, it's gonna

be, he says it's gonna be more

322

tolerable for Tyre and Seden.

323

Now, we've read about them not

long ago in the Old Testament.

324

These were Phoenician cities.

325

These were some of the cities

that came under the judgment of

326

the prophets saying, God is gonna

come against you, Tyre and Seden.

327

And Jesus is saying Here, it's better

for them than it will be for you.

328

And then he's gonna say it's even

better for Sodom and Gomorrah than for

329

Capernaum here because they didn't see

the things that you saw or hear the

330

things that you heard and then reject me.

331

So this is a reminder to us that the one.

332

Of whom much is entrusted,

much will be required.

333

And that is not just for oh,

the church and believers,

334

that's also for the unbeliever.

335

The more exposure you have to

knowledge about God and about Jesus,

336

and the harder you harden your

heart against him the more you

337

will suffer for that in in eternity.

338

And so it's a good warning to

us to make sure that we've got

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our heart right before the Lord.

340

Amen to that.

341

I think it's important to notice here

that God is not, he's not a communist.

342

Everybody doesn't get the same

thing, and that's true not only for

343

judgment, that's true for rewards.

344

The rewards that you derive on the day

of Christ rewarding you is gonna be

345

contingent upon what you do in this life.

346

So everything that you do

is enormously valuable.

347

Jesus doesn't even ignore a cup

of cold water given in his name.

348

And so you see the principle working

on both sides of the equation,

349

whether it's judgment, Jesus takes.

350

All the things into consideration,

including how much knowledge

351

or how much light you had.

352

And in, in addition to that,

what you did with that.

353

So one thing that's especially dangerous

to do if you don't want more judgment

354

is don't come to a church like ours.

355

Don't go to a Bible teaching church.

356

Sure.

357

Because this is going to give you

more information, consequently

358

more light, and therefore more

judgment on the day of judgment.

359

On the other side of that, if you

want more rewards, more of the honor

360

and glory that Christ promises.

361

Then come to a church like ours.

362

Yeah, go to a church

that's teaching the Bible.

363

They're gonna help you navigate life

in such a way to derive the most value

364

and benefit possible in the next life.

365

And maybe people are put off by that.

366

Shouldn't you just do good?

367

For goodness sake, pastor PJ,

as opposed to to be motivated

368

by rewards seems Gotcha.

369

Crass, the, you know, carnal and fleshly.

370

Gout holds that out for us.

371

Paul says I'm looking forward

to receiving the crown when

372

I die and gonna be in heaven.

373

I know that it's gonna be rewarded

in me by Christ at that point.

374

And so, there, there's a good

motivation there because when we

375

receive those rewards in heaven, they're

not gonna be tainted by the flesh.

376

When we get reward here, when we work for.

377

A bigger paycheck here,

a bigger house here.

378

Yeah.

379

It's tainted by our flesh.

380

Congratulations on new yacht, by the way.

381

Thanks, man.

382

It's it looks really awkward in my

house, but yeah, and that can feel

383

like, oh man, that, that's really heavy.

384

That that Jesus says that about

Corzine and Bese and Capernaum.

385

And yet when we understand the teachings

of Jesus correctly, which is where he

386

goes in the rest of the chapter here.

387

It's not a burden to respond

to him in faith and repentance.

388

It's not a burden to follow him as the

master and the Lord that he is, and

389

that's end of chapter 11, is another

well-known text from Jesus, but Jesus

390

is turning to those around him, it says

at that time, so right on the heels of

391

this, he prays and he says something

hard to understand and we're gonna get

392

to this in a few days with the parables.

393

But he says I'm grateful that you've

hidden these things from those with

394

the otherwise ability to understand

and given them to those that.

395

That are least expected.

396

And then he says, come to me

all who labor and are heavy

397

laden and I will give you rest.

398

Take my yoke upon you and learn from

me, from gentle and lowly in heart,

399

and you will find rest for your souls.

400

For my yoke is easy and my burden is life.

401

This was not what they were

experiencing from the Pharisees,

402

from their religious leaders.

403

This was not the what being a

disciple of the Pharisees looked like.

404

And so here Jesus is even

contrasting himself saying if

405

you truly come to me in, in.

406

And follow me.

407

What you're gonna find is not that,

that this is gonna be burdensome and

408

difficult, such that you're gonna wanna

reject me but you're gonna find that my

409

yoke is easy, my burden is light, and

there's a joyfulness in following me here.

410

Verse 25, Jesus is thanking

God for hiding these things

411

from a certain group of people.

412

Now, I want you to,

here's what Jesus says.

413

He says, you hidden it from the

wise and understanding, and yet

414

revealed them to little children.

415

Now, of course, Jesus is not

talking about the truly wise

416

and the truly understanding.

417

So it's important to see even from this

context here, I just wanna point out to

418

you how greatly Jesus emphasizes humility.

419

Dependence, a willingness to

say, I don't know everything.

420

Mm.

421

When, whenever someone violates this

principle and comes to you with this

422

self-sufficient understanding, or this,

I heard one person say recently I'm

423

telling you this, with an unbiased filter

on the truth, and I said, oh, really?

424

You've been able to successfully remove

yourself from any bias or any shade of.

425

I don't know of having your own

mind leaning one way or the other.

426

I don't think there's any such thing

as someone who's truly unbiased.

427

We all have our biases and we're oblivious

to many of them, but Jesus is calling us

428

to be aware of the fact that it is the

truly wise and the truly understanding.

429

The truly those who truly

understand who, who receive him.

430

And there's no other

salvation besides Christ.

431

All things have been handed

over to me by my father.

432

No one knows his son except the father.

433

No one knows a father except the son.

434

Jesus is revealing some straight fire

truth here, where he is giving us some

435

really in interesting insights and.

436

Yeah.

437

And then he says.

438

If you're laboring and you're heavy,

come to me and I'm gonna give you rest.

439

And that's the good news of the gospel.

440

And that's why it's not for

the understanding of the wise.

441

I'm reminded of even one Corinthians

chapter one when Paul says it's

442

foolishness to the wise of this

world, to those that wanna understand

443

it from a human perspective.

444

And that's why you look at so many other

religions that are out there, be it

445

Islam or Hinduism or anything like that.

446

It's all about, we want skin in the game.

447

We want to be able to contribute

to it because that's what.

448

Our logical brains make sense of, well,

we need to earn our way into this.

449

We need to work hard enough

to get our way into this.

450

And Jesus is saying, no, come

to me and I will give you rest.

451

You'll find rest in me.

452

Because you'll find that salvation

comes through faith and repentance

453

through, through saying, you can't do it.

454

You can't save yourself.

455

And coming to the son to have the father's

love and mercy and grace revealed to

456

him through the forgiveness that's

ours as we put our trust in Christ.

457

Just a sweet passage at the

end of this in chapter 11.

458

For sure.

459

Yeah.

460

Really quickly, that instinct in

Christ is sanctified because he

461

does give you skin in the game.

462

Yes.

463

After salvation.

464

Yes.

465

Your salvation is a free gift.

466

You can't earn it.

467

There's no way you can make your way

to him, but once he gives it to you

468

now, he's like, all right, go for it.

469

Yeah.

470

Get them heavenly rewards, buddy.

471

Yeah.

472

Get after it.

473

Yeah, no, that's true.

474

That's true.

475

Yeah.

476

He still does give us a yolk.

477

He doesn't break us

completely free from a yolk.

478

Yeah.

479

There is still something to say.

480

There's work to be done.

481

It's a great yoke too.

482

Yeah.

483

No better one.

484

Yeah.

485

Alright, let's pray and then

we'll be done with this episode.

486

God we ask for just grace from

you to be able to understand.

487

What that looks like to run after

you even not trying to earn more

488

of your favor or merit more of our

salvation, but to respond rightly,

489

to take up the yoke and to recognize

that a yoke is, an implement for work.

490

And yet it's a yoke that's easy and light

because we love Christ and we want to,

491

and you've given us the Holy Spirit to

help us as we labor for you in this life.

492

So again, make us a church that on the

judgment day we'll have plenty of rewards.

493

Stored up for ourselves, make us a church,

God, that will have none of us fall preyed

494

it to being condemned, even in spite

of all of the knowledge that we were

495

exposed to while we were here on earth.

496

Lord, make us a church that believes

in Christ and that follows him

497

with everything that we are in,

that exalts him with our lives.

498

And so we ask this and

pray this in Jesus' name.

499

Amen.

500

Amen.

501

Keep in your Bibles tuned in

again tomorrow for another edition

502

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

503

Bye.

504

Bernard: Well, thank you for

listening to another episode of

505

the Daily Bible Podcast, folks!

506

We're honored to have you join us.

507

This is a ministry of Compass

Bible Church in north Texas.

508

You can find out more information

about our Church at compassntx.org.

509

We would love for you to leave a

review, to rate, or to share this

510

podcast on whatever platform you're

listening on, and we hope to see

511

you again tomorrow for another

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

512

Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

513

PJ: Yeah.

514

I would agree with

everything that you said