First Baptist Church, DeWitt, AR

¹Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 

So after the baptism of Jesus where the Father tells all around how pleased He is with His Son we have this passage (Mark 1:12 adds the word immediately so we assume the 40 days in the wilderness and temptation occurs right after the the baptism)

Led by the Spirit to be tempted-The Spirit just came and rested on Him like a dove and now the Spirit is leading Him to be tempted.

-hypothetical, but what if Jesus fails at this temptation? IfHe fails it’s game over. No Savior for mankind because now our King is like us. It’s VITAL that Christ does not fall into any kind of  temptation…yet the Spirit leads Him into it…why?

Hebrews 4:15-16   ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.  ¹⁶ Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

-Christ can sympathize with us because He walked this earth.

   -Did He face the temptation to steal his sister’s ipod while she was at a party…no, not exactly. However, He does know what it’s like to be tempted with selfishness and stealing.

Something else interesting about this text is this mention of the wilderness. It was a barren place, and was more of what we would think of as a desert. Mark 1:13 mentions that Jesus was with the wild beasts…perhaps he faced the threat of scorpians and spiders in this wilderness as well.

Compare the location of Christ’s temptation with the temptation of Adam. Adam was in the paradise of Eden where nothing harmful existed. He had a constantly full stomach and everything was a joy to him. He fell when he was tempted by Satan.

Jesus was in a miserable location and was starving. It’s as if Satan won on the human’s own turf and now Jesus comes to fight him on Satan’s own turf.

² And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. 

What is fasting?

-doing without something (usually food) for a certain amount of time in order to pray or focus.

   -It’s showing God you are greatly concerned about something. Just because you fast doesn’t mean that God must answer because He still does whatever He pleases, but He is more apt to answer because He knows it’s important to you. Important enough for you to give up a big portion of your life in order to make a request to Him.

I find it interesting the way the Bible says it this way, particularly the words “after” and “became”. It tells me that Jesus wasn’t hungry as He was fasting. When (not if) we fast I think this is a good example of what we should be focusing on. I take this to mean that Jesus was so focused on the Lord that He didn’t notice his hunger pains or headaches or his mouth salivating. After he had fasted He then became hungry.

³ And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."

Tempter was obviously the devil who was mentioned in verse 1.

Obvious question: how is this a temptation? How would this be a sin for Jesus to do this? Doesn’t He feed multitudes in other places, why would it be wrong for Christ to turn stones into bread?

-A big clue is given in how Satan opens up this question, “if you are the Son of God”.

-Remember that Christ came to the earth in submission to His Father, He came in humility, He came out of love and to do the will of His beloved Father.

Psalm 40:8  ⁸ I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart."

But now He’s starving in a wilderness.

“He had been born in a stable, had to flee to Egypt for His life, spent thirty years in an obscure village in Galilee, and forty days and nights unattended, unrecognized, and upitied in the wilderness.” (Jmac)

Satan was encouraging Jesus, saying, “Jesus, friend, brother, you’ve suffered enough with no gratitude. It’s time for you to use some of your powers for your own good. Your Father said He loves you, but what kind of love is this? You’re the Son of God, it’s nothing for you to turn these stones to bread, wouldn’t that be great Jesus? I mean, don’t you have these powers for a reason?”

Satan is cunning and very convincing.

But what he’s attempting to do is so bold and arrogant. He is trying to make Jesus not trust His Father’s plan for His life. He is telling Jesus that what Jesus decides to do is best, not what His Father wants Him to do. Satan is trying to break up the Trinity and make the Son fight against His own Father.

How does Jesus respond?

⁴ But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'" 

Jesus is basically saying that it’s more important to obey His Father than it is to eat and have the necessities of life.

Actually, it is important to note that Jesus didn’t make this up, but used Scripture to fight the temptations of Satan. He quotes Deuteronomy 8:3  ³ "He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.

This was quoted to the Hebrew children before they came into the Promised Land. The people complained against Moses because they had nothing to eat. God wanted them to trust Him, but they complained. They failed the test, but Jesus passed it. We see no complaint from Jesus about the trials that He had to go through, only submission to God. This is going to come up several times in the life of Christ. No complaints, just a gentle submission to the Father’s will.

-In a couple chapters Jesus is preaching a sermon and talks about how man can’t serve 2 masters and how people are constantly worrying over their possessions and even their necessities. In settling this argument, he says not to worry because God takes care of plants, He can will take care of His beloved children. Then Jesus finishes with Matthew 6:33   ³³ "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (speaking of the necessities of life)

-in John 4, the disciples haven’t eaten along with Jesus. They go into a town to buy food while Jesus sits at a well. A woman comes up and He speaks to her about her spiritual state, she seems like she is converted. The disciples come back and find Jesus. Many people of the town are also coming to Him because of the woman’s testimony. They are asking quesitons and the Bible says this:

John 4:31-34   ³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  ³² But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."  ³³ So the disciples were saying to one another, "No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?"  ³⁴ Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.

Jesus seems more concerned with obeying the Father than He is with surviving in this world…is this true? …we will see this all the way to the cross…and calls you to do the same.

Now before we move from this section, we need to hit on what Christ uses to fight Satan…the Bible. I think it’s clear that Christ was doing this to show us an example…He could have said whatever and been quoting the words of God because He was God. But the fact that He used previously written words tells me that He was showing us how to do it.

So how does it work, maybe like this

You get convicted after reading the Bible or a sermon from the Bible and think I may not be a Christian, I don’t know if I’m saved.

Here comes Satan who says, “hey, brother, listen now, remember that time when you were with Pastor Jones and the two of you prayed and asked precious Jesus to come in your heart? Remember how you felt? You’re saved, Pastor Jones WAS THERE! You’re not calling dear old Pastor Jones wrong are you? And on top of all that, you know about God, would a loving God send you to hell? What did you do so wrong that’s worthy of hell? Stop doubting child.”

You can retort back to Satan:

2 Corinthians 13:5  ⁵ Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-- unless indeed you fail the test?

Romans 3:23  ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23   ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Bible tells me to test myself, I am a sinner and my sin is worthy of hell. I must put it on Christ.

All this to say, use Scripture when faced with temptation…obviously you must know it before you can use it.

“Knowledge of the Bible never comes by intuition. It can only be got by hard, regular, daily, attentive, wakeful reading. Do we grudge the time and trouble this will cost us? If we do, we are not yet fit for the Kingdom of God.” JC Ryle

⁵ Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,  ⁶ and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, 'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU'; and 'ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'" 

Not sure how this happens but Satan takes Jesus to Jerusalem and to a high place on the temple and basically says, jump off, God has promised in the Bible that He protects those whom He loves.

-why did Satan take Him here to tempt Him? Why not out alone in the wilderness? It’s part of the temptation. Satan needed a crowd to be there. We will see why.

-hard to know exactly what this looked like because in the next 50 years, the entire city of Jerusalem will be wiped out by an attack, the pinnacle of the temple will be destroyed. An historian named Josephus tells us that the pinnacle of the temple to the valley below was about a 450 foot drop.

-now to the weird part…how is this a temptation? This is probably the one we get the least at first glance. If we were all confessing our temptations, this wouldn’t make any sense…lust, we get…temper, we get…even drunkeness, we get…throw kittens into a wood chipper, not so much.  We are tempted to think that this one doesn’t apply to us…O but it does.

Here’s the situation. Satan has taken Him to a metropolis area and said, “prove that you’re the Messiah to all these people, God will rescue You and You know it, You will not be hurt” Then all will see. Prove yourself!!! Satan even uses a couple of Bible verses to help his temptation Psalm 91:11-12  ¹¹ For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways.  ¹² They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone.

Jesus was in the right, Satan was tempting Him to show everyone that He was in the right. Vindicate yourself, justify yourself, show yourself to be right.

Do we ever make this cry?

-you get a bad grade on a test –you call a friend and want them to talk bad about that teacher with you.

-your girl breaks up with you –you don’t want a friend to say that anything’s your fault, you want to hear what a jerk she is.

-When we go through something we call someone we know will have sympathy towards our side and tell us we are right and the other side is wrong. And most of the time it doesn’t matter who’s right or wrong, we just want to be seen in the right.

-Many of you know what’s going on behind the scenes and you might be catching flack from it from people…I know I have.

-FBC doesn’t want to cooperate with anyone

-FBC doesn’t believe in having fun and playing games

-Nathan’s been teaching that Christians shouldn’t play sports

-the youth minister at FBC DeWitt is not teaching the Bible

-You and me both want to shout and say, “that’s not true, or let me explain. Stop the rumors”  

Do we not trust the Lord? 1 Peter 5:6   ⁶ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,

He will give us justice…We don’t have to say a word to protect ourselves.

In many ways Christ being tempted by Satan in this account is the exact way that we are tempted right now.

Christ was right, the temptation was to prove that He was right…we are right the temptation is to prove or scream “WE’RE RIGHT”

⁷ Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'

Remember that Satan used Scripture in his last temptation so as Christ responds, He uses other Scripture.

-This is not the point of the passage but we can see from this that you can’t just pull some Scripture out of the Bible and use it as proof that you should do something. Jesus had “proof” that He should jump off the high place, but it didn’t mean that it was the right scenario for that verse to be applied.

-Verse is quoted from Deuteronomy 6:16  ¹⁶ "You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.

-Jesus obviously didn’t quote the entire verse, but now the question comes up, what happened at Massah?

Exodus 17:1-7  Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.  ² Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water that we may drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?"  ³ But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, "Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?"  ⁴ So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me."  ⁵ Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.  ⁶ "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.  ⁷ He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us, or not?"

So at Massah, the Jews being thristy cried out, “is the Lord among us, or not?” This was a clear indication that even though the Lord had brought them out of Egypt, they really didn’t trust Him. When more trials came they cried out to go back to their slavery in Egypt assuming that God could not help their new trouble. 

The problem is that they wanted to be rescued and they wanted to be rescued when they wanted to be rescued. This is the same temptation that Jesus is facing. Again, they fail, He passes.

God’s people fail, but His Son doesn’t, that’s why He’s the Savior.

"  ⁸ Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; 

One thing we haven’t pointed out is that the devil is leading Jesus around. Satan was thrown out of Satan, perhaps by Jesus, but now he is leading Jesus around, taking Him places. Is Satan more powerful?

-No, Christ is allowing the temptation. It points back to what we saw earlier

Hebrews 4:15-16   ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.  ¹⁶ Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The temptation is for our benefit, so that we can know that Christ defeated the temptations of Satan and we can defeat them as well. He showed us how.

Satan takes Him to another high place

 -sees all the kingdoms of the world and their glory (beauty)

   -Not sure how this works

     -Jesus might’ve been taken to a high place and saw the surrounding communitites

     -I feel that this was more of a vision and Satan showed Jesus all of the huge cities of the world, perhaps even showed them in a future state.

-Keep in mind that Jesus is in human form, He’s not sitting in heaven. He’s never seen these things before. Keep in mind Luke 2:52   ⁵² And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Also keep in mind that Jesus was from Nazareth-rural.

• Remember your first time to see the Memphis Pyramid
• Another big city, the ocean, Grand Canyon

A part of Jesus is probably really blown away by what’s being presented, things that blow His human mind.

9 and he said to Him, "All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me."

Now this is a temptation that we understand…at first. Then we think about it and we see another side of it and understand it all over again.

Satan says I’ll give you everything you want, just fall down and worship me.

At first, we get it. Satan wants to give him the entire earth in exchange for Jesus to bow down before him. Basically your simple I’ll give you $50 to change my oil exchange except on an infinite scale. But that’s not the case.

Psalm 2:7-8  ⁷ "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.  ⁸ 'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.

See, Jesus studied the Scriptures enough to know that His Father has promised Him the same thing that Satan is promising. So what made Satan’s proposition so tempting? It had 2 main appeals, 1 shallow but very real, the other deep and without question makes this the hardest temptation Jesus faces.

1. God promised in paper and ink…Satan promises in real sights of nations.

-no sense in proving this, we get it

       2. Satan is offering Jesus a sweet deal…He will take away the cross.

Jesus, you switch sides and the pain is gone. You won’t have to worry about suffering, I’ll give you the world, just join my side.

-Now it’s clear that each temptation in some way has been setting Jesus up for this one.

  -Your Father doesn’t love You, He left you out here to starve, I love you Jesus, here turn these stones into bread and everything’s going to be okay.

   -Your Father doesn’t love You, He’s going to let the multitudes mock you and eventually kill you, if He really cared for You, You could jump off this temple and He’d save You.

   -And Now: Your Father doesn’t love You, He’s been making You suffer and eventually die for these people, the ones He doesn’t need, and the ones who oppose You…I’d never make you do that Jesus. Come to my side and you can have all that you see …without the cross.

We know that Jesus doesn’t fall for this temptation, but if we didn’t know that we’d be on the edge of our seats here waiting for his answer. If He says okay, we’re doomed.

It’s the key part of the movie, will Jesus choose His Father (and us) or Satan (and Himself)

10 Then Jesus said to him, "Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'" 

From our text it seems that Jesus doesn’t even give it much thought. He seems more angered that Satan would even think of such a thing than take his offer seriously.

Basically tells him to leave and then quotes Deuteronomy 6:13-14  ¹³ "You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name.  ¹⁴ "You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, 

Important to see that Jesus again fights and defeats Satan with Scripture, but why this Scripture? What is going on in Deuteronomy 6 that would cause this to be written?

In Deu. 6

 -God is preparing the Jews to go into the land that He promised Abraham many years ago

 -He knows that they are entering a land that is already somewhat built up, some villages had walls, most had wells that were already dug, fields already cultivated, etc.

-God gave them this warning so that they would not turn to the gods of the land, but would stay close to Him

-Israel will fail to clear the land of false gods and it will haunt them. They will eventually be taken over by another country because of their idolatry.

In all 3 temptations we see Jews fail and Jesus succeed

-Jews don’t have food, they complain in the wilderness

-Jews do not get rescued on their timetable, they complain again

-Jews told not to go into foreign gods, yet they end up going to them

But in all 3 temptations, Jesus succeeds in fighting off Satan

11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.

Luke’s account says it like this

Luke 4:13  ¹³ When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

Satan himself had tempted Jesus but failed to make Him sin. At this point Satan leaves him for the time, but will return to tempt Him again. We never see temptation in this format again, but Satan will attack in more subtle ways.

-demons will call him out from people

-Religious groups will try to trick him into saying something wrong, they will work over His patience with their rudeness and disrespect

-his disciples will act dumb questions and struggle with their selfishness

A spirit of Satan will constantly try to trip him up even though he leaves him for a moment

The angels ministering to him

-Why now?

   -More than likely, these angels weren’t simply created for this time only. They were alive and probably watching the entire time Satan was tempting their King…they just showed up now.

   -We’ve seen time and time again that though Satan looks to be in control over this last chapter, God is orechestrating all of it. The angels never ceased to exist, they were held back by God.

-What did the angels do?

   -I don’t know, here’s what we can guess

     -food

     -worship

     -assurance from God

This seems to be a pattern that after a time of temptation we are given a break and encouragement. Perhaps this verse is in the Bible just to assure us of that.   

¹² Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; 

                                               MAP!

1. Break in Matthew’s account

1. Previously discussed

1. Genealogy
2. Birth
3. Baptism
4. Temptation

Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody

2. Why?

1. Matthew 14:3-4   ³ For when Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip.  ⁴ For John had been saying to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her."
2. Herod divorced his wife, Herodias divorced her husband (Herod’s half-brother) and they got married. John spoke out against it and was imprisoned
3. will have a great effect on Jesus

2. Now moving into the ministry of Jesus

1. Most say that ministry lasted about 3 years

1. A year of obscurity
2. A year of popularity
3. A year of rejection

2. Matthew, Mark and Luke all skip the first year
3. How do we know? John 1-4
4. Very brief summary of first year of Jesus

1. After baptism, he meets a few disciples: Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael. (John 1:35-51)
2. Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11)
3. Goes to Jerusalem and clears the temple (John 2:12-25)
4. Meets Nicodemus and speaks of new birth (3:1-21)
5. Gaining followers and baptizing, discusses things with John the Baptist (obviously not in prison yet) (John 3:22-36)
6. Leaves for Galilee, passes through Samaria and talks with woman at the well (4:1-42)
7. Makes it to Galilee and heals an official’s son (4:43-54)
8. All great stories, just not our focus

5. John’s imprisonment gives us a timetable. We know there’s a gap between vs. 11 & 12.

He withdrew into Galilee; 

6. Withdrew? Is Jesus retreating?

1. Compare with John 4:1-3  Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John  ² (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were),  ³ He left Judea and went away again into Galilee.
2. Given 2 reasons for Christ’s withdrawing to Galilee

1. John the Baptist imprisoned by Herod
2. Pharisees turning their persecution attention towards him instead of John the Baptist

3. Is Jesus scared?

1. No
2. Time had not yet come

1. John 2:4b  My hour has not yet come."
2. John 7:30  ³⁰ So they were seeking to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.
3. John 8:20   ²⁰ These words He spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come.

3. Time will come

1. John 12:23b  "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
2. John 13:1  Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
3. John 17:1  Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You,

4. The time will come for Jesus to meet his opponents head on, but He knows that this will be death and this is not the time

1. Jesus goes to a place that would have less opposition from religious people
2. Also be out of the reach of Herod

3. Galilee (map)

1. Jerusalem was a metropolis area, religion was a high priority, Temple was a big deal

1. Galilee was at the northern tip of Israel and had many non-Jews living there
2. Unsure of religious state, imagine it less based on tradition, more simple, not more correct, but more ready to hear

2. Galilee was a northern “state”. Many of its cities will border the sea of Galilee.

1. Booming fishing industry, farming good too
2. Not a metropolis, but by no means a rural area estimated to have about 3 million people

¹³ and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 

1. Goes home, but leaves

1. Perhaps passes on the family business to his brother, looked over the place one last time and headed out
2. In John’s account John 4:44   ⁴⁴ For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

1. Verse seems a little out of place, perhaps this is John saying that Jesus passed through Nazareth and left bc He felt that His time would be better spent somewhere else
2. Will return to Nazareth but it won’t go well

Matthew 13:54-58   ⁵⁴ He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?  ⁵⁵ "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?  ⁵⁶ "And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?"  ⁵⁷ And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household."  ⁵⁸ And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.

2. Settles in Capernaum (Map)

1. Closer to other cities, but far enough away

3. Zebulun and Naphtali –OT regions, why are they mentioned?

¹⁴ This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:  ¹⁵ "THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES--  ¹⁶ "THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED." 

1. Christ goes to this area in accordance with a prophecy
2. Isaiah 9:1-2  But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.  ² The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.

1. Zebulun and Naphtali

1. Regions named after Jacob’s sons when Jews took over Canaan.
2. They were told to get rid of inhabitants…neither did

1. Led to intermarriage and idolatry

3. When Solomon was king, he actually gave 20 cities in Galilee to another king (Hiram in 1 Kings 9:11)
4. Would be among first group carried off in slavery by Assyria (2 Kings 15:29)
5. In each case, more and more Jews were being replaced with Gentiles, that’s why it was called Galilee of the Gentiles.
6. Gave the towns in this region a bad reputation

1. Nathanael to Philip: Can anything good come out of Nazareth? John 1:46

7. Regions had suffered greatly because of their sin

2. Dark times for the region, but upon them a light dawned as Isaiah promised

1. They will see the Messiah personally. They are privileged enough to be around Jesus in His most popular years on earth.
2. They will be healed of diseases, have their children healed, see others healed and see the true way of salvation  

¹⁷ From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

1. Jesus began to preach

1. Not form a worship band
2. Didn’t write a book
3. Didn’t start a blog, or a website

2. Obvious connection with the message of John

1. Herod had shut John up, but now comes a mightier voice
2. Repent –turn away from your life of sin (pride, selfishness, lusts, envies, etc.)
3. Because the Kingdom of heaven –heaven is coming down to earth you must repent now!!!

¹⁸ Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  ¹⁹ And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."

1. Peter and Andrew

1. We already said that he called Peter and Andrew in John 1

1. They were called to salvation in John’s account (right after the baptism)
2. Seems like they went back into their job of fishing, not leaving the faith, but being Christian fishermen
3. If you read John’s account carefully, there was no call to follow Christ in a full-time vocation
4. It looks like they did spent some time together (Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding at Cana) but not full time ministry
5. The call here is “follow Me”

2. The Call

A.    Follow Me

       a. Jesus is in His popular time, they might think they’re signing up for an awesome opportunity

       b. It is, but it’s going to be tough

           1. They will get a cross before a crown and a tomb before a throne...same thing for us –it will be tough but worth it

2. They were fishermen, popular job in the region

1. Call of Jesus was “Follow and be a fisher of men”
2. Should this be our call?

1. Could be, but I think it’s clear that Jesus is using culture to make his point
2. Cultural relevance doesn’t drive His message, but useful

   ²⁰ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 

1. Their response

1. We picture this as if this is the first time they’ve ever seen Jesus and they left their nets lying in the water and followed
2. Not exactly, remember John 1, they had met Jesus before and they actually probably knew Him for about a year before they give up their jobs to go into full time ministry

Luke 14:27-33  ²⁷ "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  ²⁸ "For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?  ²⁹ "Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,  ³⁰ saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  ³¹ "Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?  ³² "Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.  ³³ "So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

3. We see immediately and think they just blindly followed some man, luckily it was Jesus and it worked out

1. That’s not what happened!! They followed a man bc He was worthy of being followed.
2. If we followed that example we would follow every cult leader who said, God said you should follow me.

4. They do leave behind their former occupation and follow Christ

²¹ Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them.  ²² Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him. 

1. James and John

1. 2 brothers mending their nets
2. John will become the author of 5 books of the NT
3. We can read what happened to James in

Acts 12:1-2  Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them.  ² And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword.

4. Bible says they were mending their nets while Andrew and Peter were casting their nets

1. Andrew and Peter will end up being more evangelistic  (casting nets) while James and John will be more pastoral (mending nets)

5. Who calls a man to this?

1. Who calls a man period?

1. How odd would it be if I simply called your dad and said, I need you to quit your job and follow me around?
2. He acts as if He has authority over everyone…He does

2. How can He call a man to this when He knows death awaits

1. He knows that though it is hard, it is worth it

Ring, Ring, Hello Mr. Johnson, this is Bro. Nathan. Listen I need you to quit your job and follow me. I’ll see you tomorrow at my house, Oh and make sure and kiss your wife and kids goodbye. How would your dad respond to me? How did they respond to Jesus?

6. They follow Him

1. Again we picture this as if they’ve just met some random guy and they leave their crippled father in the boat to take care of everything…not so.
2. In this situation, Mark 1:20 is helpful

Mark 1:20  ²⁰ Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.

3. They leave their jobs and knew what they were doing, they didn’t leave an old man in a boat while they went out to follow some cult leader, but left their former life to follow Christ in full-time ministry.

²³ Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. 

1. Review

1. Matt.  1-genealogy and announcement
2. Matt. 2 –birth, flight to Egypt, Return to Nazareth
3. Matt. 3 –John the Baptist, baptism of Jesus
4. Matt. 4 –Jesus fasts, is tempted by Satan, then calls disciples

2. Next phase of ministry

1. Verse introduces us to next phase of Christ’s ministry
2. This verse has a parallel verse in chapter 9

Matthew 9:35   ³⁵ Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

3. 4:23 and 9:35 seem to bracket off this section of Matthew (basically 5-9) to give us an example of Christ’s teachings and healings.

3. The verse

1. All throughout Galilee (map)
2. Teaching in their synagogues

1. Synagogue like a church/court house
2. It was a religious center, but also took care of some legal activity as well
3. Kind of like a town center, it usually was one of first buildings built and the city grew around it

3. How did Jesus get to speak there?

1. Synagogue services were on the Sabbath (Saturday) and then also Monday and Thursday services as well

1. It was customary to allow guest teachers to speak in the synagogues, much like we do today in churches.
2. I would think that Jesus spoke most of the time on these mid-week services. But it appears that more often than not He spoke on the Sabbath

Luke 4:16   ¹⁶ And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.

4. Healed every kind of disease and sickness

1. It appears that Christ cured cancer and the common cold
2. It would be great to have a man visit our community that could go and clear the hospital

²⁴ The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. 

1. Fame of Jesus is growing

1. We’ve said that we can break the ministry of Jesus down into 3 different periods

1. Obscurity
2. Popularity
3. Rejection
4. We are in year 2

2. Syria (map)

1. This could be another name for the area of Galilee, it could be all of the region of Israel, either way, point is clear: the fame of Jesus is spreading

2. All kinds of illnesses

1. Keep in mind that diseases were more serious back then than they are today

1. People didn’t get cured very often, some diseases when found were a certificate of death
2. Others, people just dealt with their problem

1. Matthew 9:20-21  ²⁰ And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak;  ²¹ for she was saying to herself, "If I only touch His garment, I will get well." 
2. Woman was bleeding for 12 years when she was finally healed by Jesus

2. The listed problems

1. Demoniacs –those who had demons in them

1. Not a verse anywhere that says demons don’t get into people anymore
2. It was real back then and it’s real now
3. Mental health field has put labels on things that used to be considered demonic influenced

2. Epileptics –people who had seizures

1. Problem with nerves and more of a mental than muscular problem
2. The first time you see a seizure it’s scary, medicine has helped a lot of people with seizures…medicine they didn’t have back then

3. Paralytics –people with crippling handicaps

1. Our age can help a little bit, but most people who face paralysis just have to deal with it.
2. Jesus healed paralytics

4. Perhaps Matthew gave these 3 subjects to show us that Jesus had power over the spiritual sicknesses, the mental sicknesses and the physical sicknesses

3.  Miracles

1. When we read this, we are tempted to think that if could only see a miracle, we would believe, or if you’re friend could see a miracle then they would believe.
2. That’s not accurate
3. Jesus told a story about a rich man and Lazarus where the rich man lives the high life and Lazarus, a beggar, used to eat the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table.
4. Both men die, Lazarus goes to heaven and the rich man goes to hell. Rich man begs for God to allow Lazarus to give him a single drop of water but God says no.
5. The rich man then makes this request

Luke 16:27-31   ²⁷ "And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father's house--  ²⁸ for I have five brothers-- in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'  ²⁹ "But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.'  ³⁰ "But he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!'  ³¹ "But he said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.'"

6. I think we would disagree with this at first. No, Abraham. If someone rose from the dead, my family would believe. If someone came back from the dead and said, your brother sent me to warn you not to go to the dreadful place he’s in, they would listen to him.
7. The Bible teaches that they wouldn’t believe.

1. Example: Israelites leave Egypt with plagues and walking on dry land through the Red Sea…within a small amount of time they are ready to return to Egypt because they don’t trust the Lord.
2. That’s the way it would probably work, your family would believe for a little while, but eventually would go back to living a lifestyle of unbelief.
3. Emotional change is not long-lasting

8. On top of the fact that miracles won’t ultimately convince anyone anyway, is the fact that Jesus Himself said that people who seek miracles are evil.
9. The situation in Matthew 12 is that Pharisees are wanting him to perform a miracle

Matthew 12:39  ³⁹ But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet;

10. This is very relevant to you because people are going to be looking for miracles and signs.

1. Friend of mine went overseas and everyone who was saved had a miracle story. When he told them that he was a Christian as well, they asked for His miracle story. A miracle (like we think of them) is not necessary for salvation.
2. Go to college and the philosophy professor will want proof that God exists. He wants to see a miracle. Jesus calls seeking signs evil.
3. Charismatic movement is many times abused to where a person must perform the act of speaking in tongues before that person is considered a Christian. 

²⁵ Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. ¹When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 

1. Popularity and fame (map)
2. Large crowds

1. Not all of the crowd came because they believed Jesus was the Promised Seed of Eve or the chosen Son of Abraham or anything like that.

1. Most probably came for the healing and perhaps the teaching.

2. Were all of these people true followers of Christ?

1. What do even we mean by true followers and untrue followers?

1. true followers are ones who have put following Christ as their number one goal and whatever comes their way, they are determined to follow Christ. They are like this because Christ has changed them.
2. Those who are not true followers have not been changed by the Spirit of God. They follow Jesus for other reasons and when trouble comes they leave.

3. No, here’s why.

1. In  John 6 Jesus is talking to some crowds and teaches them some hard and even strange things. We’ll read his closing remark and the crowd’s response.

John 6:65-66  ⁶⁵ And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."  ⁶⁶ As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.

2. So what does the crowd in John 6 have to do with the crowd in Matthew 5.

John 6:59  ⁹ These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

(map)

3. So here’s the gist of what happens later in the ministry of Jesus. He hears that John the Baptist is killed and goes off by himself.

1. Crowds follow Him so He teaches them.
2. Crowds get hungry so He feeds them miraculously (5 loaves, 2 fish)
3. He sneaks away to the other side of the sea of Galilee and comes to Capernaum.
4. The crowds find Him and Jesus says to them, “you’re only coming after me because you ate the loaves and were filled.”
5. He then tells them that He is the bread of life and that He is the bread they should be seeking and eating in sense.
6. They ask how can Jesus expect them to eat His flesh
7. Jesus responds that those who God is drawing to Jesus will accept Jesus.
8. When the crowds hear this, they walk away.

4. True followers of Christ follow Jesus no matter where He leads them.

4. The majority of these crowds were not true followers of Christ because within the year they will stop following Jesus.

1. One of the distinguishing marks of a Christian according to the Bible is that a Christian will follow Jesus until death.

Matthew 10:22  ²² "You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.

2. No one here would argue this when we speak of Judas. He followed Jesus for 3 years closer than any of us but betrayed him at the end. The Bible tells us

Mark 14:21   ²¹ "For the Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born."

1. I don’t think this describes a man on His way to heaven.

² He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,

1. What we have written in the next 3 chapters is called the Sermon on the Mount. We have a sample of Christ’s teachings written down for us.

1. Example

1. Imagine if our entire life’s goal was to pass a test when we were 20. If we pass we go to heaven, if we fail we go to hell.
2. Let’s say the man who wrote the test gave you the answers for the test.
3. Don’t you think it’s worth your time to study what he gave you?

2. Jesus is speaking to lost people telling them what they need to know in order to gain eternal life.

1. Don’t you think it’s worth your time to study this section of Scripture?
2. I do.

The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: 

There have been years of silence after the last Old Testament prophet spoke. As God finally breaks His silence and brings His own Son into the world, we start off with a genealogy. Why?

-We do so because it is important to prove that all the prophecies about Jesus are through. He had to be linked with David, He needed to be linked with Judah.

² Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.  ³ Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram.  ⁴ Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon.  ⁵ Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse.  ⁶ Jesse was the father of David the king.

We start with Abraham, but obviously Abraham isn’t the first human, Adam was. Why did Matthew start his account with Abraham?

-Matthew was writing to Jews and they claim that they began with Abraham. He was their first Jew. They could’ve gone back through Shem, but the Jews always began with their “Father Abraham”.

We have the story of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and a little bit of Judah in the book of Genesis.

-Tamar, Perez and Zerah is a wild story (11-20/27)

Rahab was a prostitute in the land of Jericho. She hid spies from Israel and so, when Israel came in and destroyed Jericho, God told them to spare Rahab and her household. Apparently she marries a guy named Salmon. Her great-great grandson will be King David.

Ruth is also mentioned. She was a girl living in Moab when there was a famine in Israel. A Jewish man brought his family to Moab in order to find food. The father dies but his two sons take wives for themselves. This girl marries 1 of his sons. About 10 years later, both of the sons die, leaving the mother and these 2 daughters-in-law. The mother tells them to return to their fathers. One does, but Ruth, decides to stay with her mother-in-law. They return to the mother’s homeland of Israel and specifically to the town of Bethlehem. It is there that they meet Boaz leading eventually to marriage and a son named Obed, the grandfather of David.

David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.  ⁷ Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa.  ⁸ Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah.  ⁹ Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah.  ¹⁰ Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah.  ¹¹ Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.  ¹² After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel.  ¹³ Zerubbabel was the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor.  ¹⁴ Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud.  ¹⁵ Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob.  ¹⁶ Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. 

We know about David and Solomon. Odd that Bathsheba is listed in the genealogy along with her first husband, Uriah. Solomon was a wise and rich man.

Rehoboam begins a tough stretch for Israel because they divide into 2 kingdoms.

King Abijah doesn’t serve God whole-heartedly he fights with the other kingdom his entire reign and dies (1 Kings 15:1-6)

King Asa takes his place and serves God faithfully (1 Kings 15:7-15)

King Jehoshaphat takes his place and follows suit. He also makes peace with the other Israel (1 Kings 22)

Joram takes his place but cuddles too closely with the other kingdom and starts doing the same things they were doing and thus, did evil in the sight of God. (2 Kings 8)

Pattern will continue with a mix of bad kings and good kings, but eventually the kingdom will fall under Jeconiah, who is carried away as a prisoner himself.

Not much record of the rest of the group, but we do see Joseph, Mary and Jesus at the bottom.

¹⁷ So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations. 

-Abraham to David was the time period of the beginning of Judaism until it became an established nation. It began with Abram’s call to go to a land God would show them, went through slavery in Egypt and then the conquering of the land of Canaan to form their own country.

-From David to Babylon was when Israel discovered that their kings would lead them away from following God. There was a great decline in this period in speaking of their devotion to God. This time period ends when they are taken as slaves to the land of Babylon.

-From Babylon to Christ. It was a period of darkness and silence. Most names aren’t known apart from the list.

-Bible says that there were 14 generations in each of these categories. Perhaps showing us that within each of these time periods, within each of these stories, God knew what He was doing and was moving towards an event. Which is…

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. 

NOW-Finally, after waiting for thousands of years we have a story about the Promised Seed that is going to crush the serpent’s head.

We all know the story so it’s easy to skip over this and not give it its proper attention.

-So let’s say you’ve found a bride and she loves you and you love her

But as your marriage approaches, you find out that she’s pregnant and you know that you never got with her like that. In your mind, somebody else got with her…and everybody is going to know that you married a girl who had so-and-so’s baby behind your back.

-If Joseph would’ve got her pregnant and deserted her, it would be one thing. But nobody would blame him for breaking off an engagement if his fiancée was pregnant with another man’s baby.

¹⁹ And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. 

It seems that Joseph really loved Mary so he didn’t want to embarrass her with his breaking up, so he planned to break it off without a public declaration. People close to the situation would know eventually, but the point we can take from this is that we don’t see any anger or resentment from Joseph. It seems he really and truly loved Mary and wanted to serve her even though it appears that she was unfaithful to him.

²⁰ But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.  ²¹ "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." 

So an angel comes and gives him this message and all his heartache and devastation becomes joy and hope on many fronts. He gets to keep the one he loves as a bride. He has been entrusted by God to raise the Messiah. More importantly than both of those, he will have a way to God. Christ is coming and He will save His people from their sins!!!

-Look at this again…God will save us from what? Our sins. What sins have you been saved from?

²² Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:  ²³ "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US."  ²⁴ And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife,  ²⁵ but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

Prophecy comes from Isaiah 7:14

Virgins don’t have babies so this is probably a good sign that something is going on.

-“God with us” the Infinite with the finite

-Joseph wakes up and obeys and doesn’t “have his honeymoon” until after the birth of Jesus.

Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,  ² "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 

First time that we are introduced to John the Baptist. Luke provides details of his birth but in biblical order, this is the first time we see him come up.

If I were to ask you who the greatest person in the history of the world was you would say Jesus. Who would be in second place? Jesus claimed that among men, nobody was greater than John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11) so he is worth our time to study.

Luke says that he was about 6 months older than Jesus and it would stand to reason that he probably started his ministry about 6 months sooner (based on the idea that most men started their careers at age 30).

He was preaching in the wilderness of Judea which was North of Jerusalem about 20 miles.

His message was very simple, but we can still learn from it. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

What does it mean to repent?

To repent means to change your mind about sin and that change brings forth a difference in your life…if you truly repent. It is you and God teaming up against yourself.

John says to repent now because the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. What’s he talking about? The King is coming to earth, in fact, He will be here very shortly. Repent and trust in Him, time is short!

³ For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, "THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT!'" 

We’ve read of the prophecies about Christ, but now we read of a prophecy about John the Baptizer. Isaiah 40:3   ³ A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

John’s job was to prepare the way for Jesus. That’s what he is concerning himself with.

⁴ Now John himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 

This guy would never teach a class on how to win the masses. People were not walking around in suits like us 2,000 years ago, but it  is clear that this is a strange way of life even for that culture. If you compare John’s attire and habits with the style of other religious leaders he is clearly found lacking. They were probably well-dressed and had acceptable diets. Why would John do this?

-He was probably reacting to the self-indulgent lifestyle that other religious leaders practiced. He would not fall into the lifestyle that they practiced. His coat was durable and kept him warm but was not fashionable and maybe not comfortable.

-The locusts and wild honey that he ate would keep him nourished but probably not any other satisfaction from the food. He was not a slave to the comforts of this world.

⁵ Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan;  ⁶ and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins. 

Despite his rough appearance he was a very popular and influential preacher. In fact, the Bible says that most of the region was going out to him to get baptized and confess their sins. They probably weren’t going bc he was cute or told them what they wanted to hear, they were going because he told them the truth and nobody else was doing that.

Bible says that John was baptizing them as they confessed their sins. This was significant. Jews didn’t do baptisms. Their ceremonial washings were on head, feet and hands. This was a full body immersion into water. The only time a full-body washing was done was when a Gentile came into the Jewish religion. These Jews who were coming out to John were saying in effect, I need to enter the kingdom of God, I’ve been a fake. My religious practices have been dead, I come anew into God’s kingdom.

They were baptized as they confessed their sins. They didn’t just come and get dunked, but they came confessing their sins and their need of God. How did John protect against fakers?

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism,

he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  ⁸ "Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 

Who were Pharisees and Sadducees? Both were religious leaders, but they are going to come up a lot, what was distinct about each of them?

Pharisees- The Pharisees were a group of rule-keeping religious people. They had a great loyalty to the nation of Israel but didn’t care much for the individual Jew. They covered their self-centeredness with religious talk and religious excuses. For example, on one occasion Jesus is asked why He doesn’t make His disciples wash their hands according to their traditions of hand-washing. He tells them why do you break the command of God for the sake of your traditions? He then mentions their practice of taking whatever money they would give to their parents and giving to the church. He said that God is not pleased with sacrificing their parents in this way. What was happening was, parents were getting older and had no way to support themselves. Instead of helping out their old mom and dad, they would say, anything I would have given you I gave to the church. This was just one example of how their religion stood in the way of their love for others. They were marked with self-indulgence and their only true loyalty was to themselves. They will oppose Jesus over and over throughout His ministry and Jesus will oppose their teachings over and over throughout His ministry.

Sadducees-As much as we don’t like the Pharisees, we wouldn’t like the Sadducees even more. While the Pharisees get a little sympathy for being misguided, the Sadducees weren’t. They are kind of sellouts. If the theory of evolution was around back then, they would have agreed with that. They were liberals in their theology and their practice of religion. The Pharisees had all kinds of tradition tacked on to the Law given by God but the Sadducees didn’t aim to practice anything that wasn’t written in the Law. While the Pharisees usually had a second job, the Sadducees were usually very wealthy because they ran the Temple. There were certain sacrifices that had to be made and the priests (usually Sadducees) preferred those bought at the Temple. So millions of people were coming to offer sacrifices to God over their sins and the Sadducees were making a killing by selling animals to be sacrificed at outrageous prices at the Temple. Jesus, to say the least, was not a big fan. On a couple of occasions He will enter the Temple, flip over the tables and drive out all who were selling these things and claim “My Father’s house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.”
To go along with all of this, the Pharisees and Sadducees didn’t get along with each other. It seems that the only time they do get along is when they are going after Jesus or His followers.

-In our text, both Pharisees and Sadducees were coming to get baptized by John. Why would they do this? The Pharisees wanted to see what this prophet was all about, perhaps getting his approval for their lifestyle, maybe offering correction to him.

The Sadducees probably saw this guy in the wilderness as a man whom they could gain financially from if they piggy-backed off his ministry. Can’t you hear their slogan

“Believe the man in the camel coat,

Offer to God a perfect goat”

Obviously, from John’s response, he was not interested in helping their financial ministries,  giving them any kind of approval, or gaining any kind of correction from them.

He calls them a brood of vipers. What does this mean? 

-It literally means a batch of offspring. So why is John calling these religious men baby snakes? He is calling them children of the original serpent. They are in this close-knit group of people that aren’t doing anything but causing harm to others. John is not going to sugarcoat things.

After addressing them as a brood of vipers, he then asks them, “who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” His question is simple, I’m offering baptism for people who want and need to repent. How did you know that you needed repentance? This probably shocked them.

What do you mean “wrath to come, John? I’m a good Jew, who else would salvation be for? I’m a descendant of Abraham and God has promised to bless the descendants of Abraham. Now I’m not perfect John, but c’mon, who is. I need to repent of things just in case I sinned, but I mean really John, wrath to come, saying I’m in trouble spiritually is going to prove that you are not from God.”

But John goes on, bear fruit in keeping with repentance. This can be applied today. John is saying, “you claim you are repenting, let’s see some evidence that you are repenting. It must be done with more than lips. It must be shown with deeds.”

Let’s say before Fuge you were a terrible liar. You told everyone you had a really hot boyfriend in Missouri (that no one had ever met), your dad had bought you a car but a friend of his is fixing it (it’s a 1969 Stingray Corvette) and your grandma has $185,000 saved up for you when you graduate. Let’s say at Fuge everyone starts confessing their sin to one another and you say, “I lie sometimes and I need prayer. I want to change, I repent” 2 days later, a friend asks you over to her house, you don’t feel like it so you say, “I think I’m going to see my boyfriend in Missouri today.” That’s not true repentance. True repentance effects what you do. You may continue to struggle with sins, but you will not freely do them like you did before.

9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father'; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. 

I’m not sure exactly if they were dialoging with John and only the high points were wrote about in Matthew’s account, or if John simply assumes what these religious leaders were thinking. He says, “don’t think that just because your Jewish and “descended from Abraham” that you are of God.” Just to give you an idea of what the Jews thought of Abraham, some traditions say that he stands at the gate of hell turning away any Jew. They said that Abraham’s relationship with God is what kept their ships safe at sea and what brought rain to their crops. They said that he is the reason Moses could receive the law and also why David’s prayers were answered. Almost everything pointed back to Abraham. But they were forgetting Genesis 15:6   ⁶ Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. Abraham was made right with God by faith. How could his descendents hope to be made right with God by any other way?

Abraham, the Old Testament guys, the New Testament guys, and us as well enter the kingdom of God the exact same way…by trusting in God to be our righteousness or perfection.

¹⁰ "The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 

John is saying time is beyond short! It’s almost too late, the kingdom of heaven is NOW! He compares to a man cutting down a tree that has arrived at your base, getting ready to cut you down. You’re next in line, he’s off his break and in a short time you will be cut down.

What does he mean about fruit and trees? We are probably getting the short version in Matthew’s account. Jesus will use this same illustration several times throughout the Gospels and He does expound on what all this means.

Matthew 7:15-20  ¹⁵ "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  ¹⁶ "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?  ¹⁷ "So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.  ¹⁸ "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.  ¹⁹ "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  ²⁰ "So then, you will know them by their fruits.

If you moved in to a new house and had one tree in the backyard but weren’t sure what kind it was, it would be a really big hint if there were pecans all around it. You wouldn’t assume it was an apple tree because the fruits of your tree are pecans.

He is comparing these trees to people obviously, and he’s saying the men who aren’t producing the actions that are natural flowing out of a godly man will be go to hell.

The Bible will never tell us to believe a man is a Christian because of a prayer he prayed, an experience he had when he was 8, 9, or 10, baptism, church attendance, or anything like that. However, we are constantly and consistently being told in the Bible that a Christian is known by his actions and attitude. To be more specific, his obedience to Christ in his actions and attitude.

John also reminds us that this is no game. Those who don’t produce fruit will be thrown into the fire…I think he clearly means that those who aren’t Christians will go to hell.  

¹¹ "As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 

John was a great man, but he was not the Messiah. His job was to get the people ready for Jesus so He is constantly pointing to Jesus. John 3:30  "He must increase, but I must decrease.

John says that he is baptizing with water to signify repentance, but the One coming after him will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. What’s this mean? We can figure out that he speaks of Jesus, but what is baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire.

The Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity of God. He has the power of God and when you are baptized into Him, He has power to change you that water doesn’t. When John speaks of fire, he speaks of a closely related thing.

When I was a kid there was a forest fire and I saw the aftermath a few days later. Everything was black and dead. But less than a month later, I went back to the same spot and it was already turning green again with grass, weeds and small trees. I drove past it the other day (it’s been 15 years or so) and you can’t tell that anything happened there. It’s just as green and grown as any other forest. The point I’m making is that while fire destroys, it also clears the way to be made new. When John says that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, He means that Jesus will do what he cannot, Jesus has the power to make a person a new man. 2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

¹² "His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." 

 A winnowing fork was kind of like a pitch fork. It was used to separate wheat from chaff (or the excess that wasn’t any good). A harvester would lift up a pile of wheat with his winnowing fork and toss it in the air. The chaff would float away, leaving the wheat to be gathered. John is using this farming illustration to show what Christ will do.

1. He will thoroughly clear. Christ is not going to take out the very good, give them heaven and then take out the very bad and give them hell. Everyone who has ever lived must fit into one of these 2 camps. You were born on your way to hell. Unless you have put your trust in Christ, you remain that way. Only those who trust Christ escape punishment for their sin.

1. Don’t be fooled into thinking that you’ll just jump lines, or sneak into heaven after hours. Don’t think that God will judge everyone else according to their deeds, but He’ll judge you on your personality or charm, or the fact that you feel close to him when you pray yourself to sleep.

2. John says that Jesus will separate. We don’t do this perfectly, even John didn’t do it perfectly. He did warn these religious leaders about coming to get baptized for all the wrong reasons, but he could be fooled. You could fool all of us, you can even fool yourself. But what John is saying is absolutely true and it can be terrifying: You can’t fool God. Jesus Christ, who knows the deep parts of your heart will not be fooled. He will separate the wheat from the chaff, the righteous from the wicked, true believers from those who simply profess.
3. The wheat will be gathered into his barn: those whom Christ knows will be gathered from a world of sin and resurrected into a world of perfection. A land without heartbreak. Sin and all its punishments will be banished, never a tear will fall from unhappiness.
4. But the chaff will face an unquenchable fire. In stark contrast with the wheat, the chaff will face an eternity where nothing is felt but the punishment for sin. God’s wrath will continually be poured out on them with an unceasing fire. Nothing will be made new because the fire will never go out. Pain and torment for an eternity.

¹³ Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him.

Doesn’t say how much time passes between verse 12 and 13, could be a few minutes, a couple days, maybe even a few weeks. Bottom line, the King is here!

Jesus arrives from Galilee, a region north of where John is preaching and baptizing.

Did John recognize him? Absolutely. Here’s how we know.

1. John 1:19-28 records when John the Baptist was discussing with religious leaders about who he was (a separate convo than the one we just read) and the next verse says John 1:29   ²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
   So it is clear from Scripture that John recognized him at first glance as the Messiah.
2. Luke 1:39-43   ³⁹ Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah,  ⁴⁰ and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.  ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.  ⁴² And she cried out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!  ⁴³ "And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me?
   So from here, we know that John’s mother knew of the Godly nature of Jesus so we would assume that she would teach her son who He was. Especially in view of the prophecy concerning John found in Luke 1:17   ¹⁷ "It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

However, John and Jesus lived so far apart that it’s probably not accurate to think that they grew up with each other and formed a great friendship with one another. They might’ve met before, they might not have. I would guess they would be acquainted with one another, but it’s not that important to get in a tissy over it.

Obvious question: why is Jesus coming to be baptized by John? I thought Jesus was God, why is he submitting to John? John asked the same question.

¹⁴ But John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" 

Why wouldn’t John be surprised. We’ve just read of him sending away people that he didn’t feel were truly repenting of their sin, but now he is met with a man that he knows hasn’t sinned. We’ve just read that he is baptizing people who are wanting to confess and repent of their sin, why would he baptize someone who hasn’t sinned?

-going back to that for a moment, imagine what these religious folks said about John. “He’s arrogant, He’s judgmental.” No, John wasn’t any of those things…He was honest and true to God. He did not care what was said about him by men but only cared what was thought about him by God. He did not baptize the Pharisees and Sadducees because they were not worthy of it. By contrast, he did not want to baptize Jesus, because John was unworthy of it.

I don’t feel that Jesus was unhappy with what John was saying, Jesus knew that John had deep relunctance out of genuine humility and unworthiness. I wouldn’t think that this is an attitude of disobedience, but an attitude of sincere confusion: Are you sure Jesus, did I hear you right?

¹⁵ But Jesus answering said to him, "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."

Then he permitted Him. 

Jesus didn’t deny all that John was saying. He basically said, “You’re right John, but please allow me to be baptized by you for now because this is what I need to do to fulfill all righteousness”

What does it mean to fulfill all righteousness? Why did Jesus get baptized by John? 3 things

1. Jesus was baptized to submit Himself to God as a sinner. Christ never sinned past, present or future. But He submitted Himself to the will of God and was submissive even to the point of death. Baptism is a symbol of Christ’s death, burial and ressurection. His Baptism showed this submission.
2. Jesus was baptized to identify Himself with mankind. Though He never sinned, He did come and live around sinners. So when he was baptized for the remission of sins, it was to join those who had sinned, yet without becoming a sinner.
3. To provide an example for us. His baptism symbolized His death, burial and resurrection. Our baptism symbolizes the exact same thing, the death, burial and resurrection of ourseleves to our King. Romans 6:3-4  ³ Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?  ⁴ Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. When a Christian is baptized it is a symbol of their old man dying and their new man raising up from the water. It is a picture. Christ provided an example.

I would also say that the baptism of Christ made His ministry public. Just like baptism of a believer is a public announcement that they have begun their walk with Christ.

¹⁶ After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, 

So just in case John wasn’t sure if Jesus was from God, all these signs take place to prove it.

-heavens were opened I’m not sure what this means, perhaps clouds rolled back and it was very dramatic, maybe it was just an expression saying that God came down in the form of a dove.

-John saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him –I don’t know why it says “lighting on Him” it looks like it would be much easier to say that the dove came upon Him.

   -Most people would’ve associated the dove with a sacrifice because that’s what most of them offered as their sacrifice at the Temple (rich people did young bulls, middle class offered lambs, but poor offered doves and it was most prevalent). So when dove came down onlookers including John the Baptist and maybe even a few of Christ’s future disciples got their first clue as to what Jesus was going to do. Like most of us, they probably didn’t catch it.

¹⁷ and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." 

The first thing we need to point out is that the entire Trinity is taking part in the baptism. The last time we see all 3 of the Godhead together is when They are making man back in Genesis 1. Much has changed since then. Those who said, “Let Us make man” are now joining together saying “Let Us save man.”

   -Can’t you picture a movie about this, a warrior must go to the 3 great immortal kings and convince them all to join in a fight to save mankind. Without their help mankind is destined to live under the tyranny of evil. They all meet together and decide that they will act.

Has anyone ever been watching a godly person and saw this happen? A voice yells out from heaven, “I am well-pleased with this guy”? No, Jesus is the only person this ever happens to. God yells from heaven and says, “I love this guy” God is excited and happy about His Son. Now..

God being pleased is interesting, but what do we do with Isaiah 53:10a   ¹⁰ But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief;

If we were to take these 2 verses and put them together, we might read it as “the LORD was pleased to crush the One in whom He was well-pleased with” And we know that God was pleased to crush the Son is a reference to the cross and how God punished Jesus on that cross. We are tempted to think that God traded something He valued for something He valued more, like if I were to trade my most prized baseball card for $2 million I would be pleased to sell what I was well pleased with. But that’s not what God did.

Acts 17:24-25  ⁴ "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;  ²⁵ nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;

We weren’t needed by the Lord, it’s not like He sacrificed His Son so that He might gain something of greater value. Christ went to the cross to redeem mankind from sin to show His love to the Father and the Father is greatly pleased in the gift He received. He was pleased by His Son and what His Son agreed to do.

Be like God…love Jesus.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,  ² "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him." 

Jeremiah 29:13 seeking Jesus with all their heart

-most people think that these magi were star-watchers, astrologers, magi actually means magicians

-they shouldn’t be confused with the shepherds that we read about in Luke’s account of the birth of Christ. Those shepherds come within the first few days of the birth of Christ. The magi seem to come a little later.

-how did “people from the east” know about a baby being born King of the Jews when the Jews didn’t seem aware of it?

--back in Old Testament, Jews, who were looking for a Messiah were carried off to lands in the East after they disobeyed God. Most people believe that Daniel’s influence probably started a tradition in the East while he was there as a captive that there would be a baby born King of the Jews and the sign would be a star. I don’t think we have any record of this, but it’s a good theory.

-Here’s how I see it happening: these magi are studying the stars one night and a bright new star appears and it looks to be in their East. So they frantically start studying to figure it out and learn of the Jewish tradition of a promised Messiah. They pack down their camels, perhaps a wagon of some sort and set off to the capital of Jerusalem to meet this coming King with their best gifts.

-could you really do this? Believe someone else’s religion so much that you would travel great distances and offer great gifts because of a passed down tradition?

-they came to worship him –how about these excuses for not coming to church

1. I just couldn’t get up

2. I just don’t get along with anyone at the church

3. I wasn’t feeling well

4. I go all the time

5. They never sing the songs I like and the preacher preaches too long

6. There are hypocrites that go to that church

How about these reasons for going to church

1. I have close ties with people at that church
2. I like learning the lessons
3. My parents make me
4. I just need to go

Where is “I come to worship Jesus”?

-may that be your preparation for Sundays

How did Magi from the East, see a star in the East and wind up in Jerusalem, wouldn’t they go to China?

Best way to understand this is to say that the Magi from the East saw a star while in the East.

³ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 

Why should Herod be troubled?

-in his mind a king is born who is going to take his place. He thinks there will be an uprising in his land that’s going to remove him from the throne. His kingship, his authority is threatened.

Why should Herod be rejoicing?

-A child is born who will take away his sins! His biggest problem is not an uprising from his people. His biggest problem is one day he will die and face punishment for his sins.

Bible says that all Jerusalem was trouble with Herod…why?

-my guess is that Herod made it tough on them. I find it hard to believe that everyone in Jerusalem was against their Messiah (not ruling it out, I’m just very doubtful). I see Jerusalem being troubled with Herod being due to Herod getting worried about being replaced and trying to be very stern and strict to show his superiority

⁴ Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.  ⁵ They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:  ⁶ 'AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH, ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH; FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.'" 

So Herod gathers the religious leaders of the Jews to ask them where the child would be born. They are able to tell him (with relative ease it appears) that the child would be born in Bethlehem.

-but don’t you find it strange that not one of these leaders made the 5 mile trip to Bethlehem? It would take them an hour and a half to 2 hours. Compare that with the magi who would have traveled about 800-1000 miles. At the very least they would’ve started their travels about 40 days ago.

-The Jews were the ones who were supposedly yearning for the Messiah. Wouldn’t you think they would go and check out the slightest rumor of His birth? Apparently they had better things to do.

-prophecy comes from Micah 5:2   ² "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity."

-doesn’t match exactly because Micah was going from Hebrew to English. Matthew is going from Hebrew to Greek to English.

⁷ Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared.  ⁸ And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him." 

By the use of “secretly” you would think that everything else was pretty open. But now Herod calls the magi secretly. Why does he want to know the exact time the star appeared?

-Because that would probably give him a good estimate of how long the child has been alive and thus, a close age.

-Again, Herod seems greatly interested, but not enough to make the trip himself. If you’re the magi aren’t you thinking, “If this is the King of the world like everyone says, how come we are the only ones excited enough to act upon it?”

-where did we get this idea that Christianity doesn’t cost us a thing?

Matthew 16:24-27  ²⁴ Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  ²⁵ "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.  ²⁶ "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?  ²⁷ "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.

When are we going to get out of this Ho-Hum religion and follow Christ whatever the cost?

-Herod says he wants to worship the child. Do you buy this? –course not

⁹ After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was.  ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 

So apparently the star had led them to Jerusalem and after they leave Herod, they see it again and this time can follow it to the house where Jesus and family are staying.

-Take note of the use of “rejoiced exceedingly with great joy”. I think we get the point, but let it sink in. When’s the last time you rejoiced exceedingly with great joy? When our team beat Stuttgart in the last inning. When I made the squad. When the Hogs beat LSU. When I found out that so and so liked me. When I got the new twilight book.

How about, when I figured out that Christ took my punishment on the cross and cleansed me from sin past, sin present and sin future.

¹¹ After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 

First off, they are now in a house. In Luke’s account, they had no room for them in the hotel or inn, so Mary gave birth in the stable and they actually laid Christ in a box that they used to feed the animals with, called a manger.

-That makes me feel terrible when I think that the King of Heaven left His throne to come to earth and we couldn’t even give Him a bed to be born on. Isaiah 53:3  ³ He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

You would think this could’ve waited until later in His life, perhaps even day 2 of His life, but no, He was a Man of sorrows from the beginning.

-The shepherds actually found Christ while He still laid in the manger (Luke 2:15-16)

-These Magi had a long journey and by the time they made it to Bethlehem the family had a house to stay at. If I were to guess I would think that Jesus might be 1 at the most, but it’s within reason to think He might’ve been a little older.

-So the magi see the boy and fall to the ground and worship Him. They also give Him very expensive gifts.

-Why are they worshiping Him?

JC Ryle: They saw nothing but a new-born infant, helpless and weak, and needing a mother’s care like any one of ourselves. And yet when they saw that infant, they believed that they saw the divine Savior of the world. “They fell down and worshiped Him.”

They saw nothing praiseworthy or notable about this baby, but simple believed that this was the One that was promised by God. No miracle convinced them, simple faith.

¹² And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way. 

Magi made it to Jerusalem simply following a star so to think that they received a message in a dream is not too farfetched.

-secondary route would probably just bypass Jerusalem, but could’ve picked a new route altogether.

¹³ Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him." 

The Lord was very busy in dreamland and visited Joseph as well.

-The verse seems to hint that this message is very urgent. “GET UP and FLEE!!!”

-Again we see our sad state, Our Creator, Savior and King comes down from heaven to save us from our sin, and Herod seeks to destroy Him.

-Leonard Ravenhill used to ask the question: “How come the world couldn’t get along with Jesus, but it gets along fine with you and me? Are we compromised?”

--you will most likely lose friends because of Jesus, you will be made fun of because of Jesus, you will be persecuted because of Jesus.

2 Timothy 3:12   ¹² Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

-Why Egypt? Why not somewhere else? In the same line of thought…why didn’t God just have Herod killed, or a distraction for Herod? Why didn’t God simply stop Herod?

-It seems like God wants Jesus to escape death by going to Egypt…why?

--God is pointing back to his other “son” his “firstborn son” Exodus 4:22  ²² "Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD, "Israel is My son, My firstborn.

But even before Israel was chased into Egypt, Abram was chased into Egypt by a famine.

Abram sinned while there. Israel sinned when they left there. But Christ will not sin there or after He leaves. Only He truly and completely obeyed His Father.

But the whole point of going to Egypt was to link him with Israel before Him.

¹⁴ So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt.  ¹⁵ He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON." 

-it looks as if Joseph gets up right after having the dream, packs what he can and leaves urgently. He spends time in Egypt but we don’t know how long or any stories from there.

Herod will die and the Bible tells us why it happened like this: to fulfill prophecy.

-The point of prophecy was to leave no doubt that Christ was the Son of God. The chances against  all the prophecies in OT coming true in one person are astronomical.

For instance, if there was a prophecy about a child being born of a virgin, that would be 1 in a billion. But to say that this virgin born child will also be raised in Egypt is 1 in several billion.

Prophecy comes from

Hosea 11:1  When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.

¹⁶ Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. 

So back in Israel, Herod waits around for the magi and when he is convinced that they’re not coming back he gets angry and decides to kill all the children.

-Pharaoh did the same thing back in Egypt whenever Moses was born. Satan knows that a Son is coming to crush his head.

¹⁷ Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:  ¹⁸ "A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH, WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING, RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN; AND SHE REFUSED TO BE COMFORTED, BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE." 

-We are tempted to overlook the tragedy, but think about those families who had to deal with losing an infant or baby child.

Matthew uses a Scripture from Jeremiah 31:15   ¹⁵ Thus says the LORD, "A voice is heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more."

Passage is talking about the time when the nation of Israel would be carried off to Babylon as slaves due to their rebellion against God. Mothers will be weeping for their children and refusing to be comforted. But in Jeremiah, the next verse says Jeremiah 31:16  ¹⁶ Thus says the LORD, "Restrain your voice from weeping And your eyes from tears; For your work will be rewarded," declares the LORD, "And they will return from the land of the enemy.  

There is comfort on the way mothers, your Savior is born, He has come to take away the power of sin over humanity!

¹⁹ But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said,  ²⁰ "Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child's life are dead."  ²¹ So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. 

Death is the great equalizer. Whatever person brings dread on another, we know that one day that person will face death. It looked very dim for the Jews under Hitler, but Hitler died and the persecution went away. In the same way, death levels things out when it needs to.

-Joseph does what he is told and brings the family back to Israel. I’m not sure we can know how long he was there.

²² But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee,  ²³ and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: "He shall be called a Nazarene."

-it’s not that Joseph was told to take the child to Israel, then got heard about this wicked ruler, got scared and asked God to go somewhere else and God said okay, I didn’t realize that and sent the family somewhere else.

-Judea and Galilee are regions within Israel. Joseph planned to take his family back to where they came from, but when he heard that Herod had been replaced by an equally wicked ruler, he sought the Lord about going to a different area within Israel, which the Lord granted.