Introduction:
The proclamation of the Word of God could not be more consequential. Our Lord comes to the end of the sermon on the mount, and He calls for decision.
As we said last time — what He does with THIS sermon is true for ALL sermons.
We cannot meet with the Word of God and not be called to decision. OBEDIENCE is a decision.
And, at the end of the day, all these decisions point to ONE GREAT DECISION.
Which gate have we entered?
Which pathway are we on?
Which destination is our destination?
Which crowd are we traveling with?
Is Jesus truly our Lord? Are we truly His disciples?
And now, in our verses for this morning, we see it described in yet another way.
WHICH GUIDES DO WE LISTEN TO?
The apostle John puts us to the test in exactly that way.
DO WE LISTEN TO THOSE WHO REPRESENT APOSTOLIC DOCTRINE?
ESV 1 John 4:6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
People of the truth listen to those who represent the truth.
People who are not of the truth refuse to listen to those who represent the truth.
OR, TO LOOK AT THIS IN KEEPING WITH THE ANALOGY THAT PRECEDES THESE VERSES — STANDING RIGHT AT THE POINT OF SPIRITUAL DECISION ARE DANGEROUS GUIDES WHO ARE USED BY SATAN TO STEER PEOPLE THROUGH THE WIDE GATE, ON TO THE BROAD PATH, THAT WILL END IN THEIR SPIRITUAL DESTRUCTION.
What does our Lord say to us about those dangerous guides? This morning we consider three realities that our Lord gives concerning dangerous guides.
I. THE DANGER OF FALSE PROPHETS (vs.15)
The first reality is that they are, indeed, dangerous. They exist. They have always existed. They will always exist, and we must never take these people lightly.
Verse 15 opens with a command to be on the alert. It is the present active imperative second person plural form of προσέχω.
Christ gives this command in the context of calling for decision.
Here you stand at a point of decision, “Christ wants you to recognize that there will always be SOMEONE ready to assure you and affirm you as you find the RIGHT CHOICE to be a DIFFICULT CHOICE, and WANT TO TURN AWAY FROM IT.
There will be someone ready to tell you that you are entering the right gate, onto the right road, with the right crowd, when in fact you are making a disastrous choice.
The Lord Jesus never presented the way of righteousness as an easy decision. It is costly, though it is free.
So, the narrowness of the gate is already offensive to the flesh.
The difficulty of the pathway is already disturbing to the flesh.
Now, realize that there are dangerous men ready to affirm your hesitancy, your fleshly avoidance, with respect to the truth.
These dangerous men preach a message — they are prophets.
They claim to represent the true God — they are FALSE prophets.
But, in fact, they are the mouthpieces of the devil. They preach a message that greases the way into hell. They represent the wide gate, and the easy way.
Notice how our Lord describes them.
Dangerous Guides
Matthew 7:15-20
March 27, 2022 • Richard Caldwell Jr. • Matthew 7:15–20
The Living Christ & A Long-Term Plan
April 21, 2024 • Richard Caldwell Jr. • Matthew 28:16–20
The Bible is inspired. Matthew wrote exactly what God ordained for him to write. But if you understand inspiration correctly, then you know that his mind and his desires were at work in what he wrote. And so, I ask myself, “If you are Matthew, how do you end an account of the life of Jesus?” You are an eyewitness of many of the things you write about. You present the eyewitness accounts of others. You are presenting Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God, as the Israel’s King, as the Savior for the world — how do you end your account of His life and work and promises? Matthew ends this account in a very short space. It almost feels abrupt. But he has made his case, and as he ends, he chooses to do so in a way that explains where we are at the present time. This is where Matthew’s emphasis is when he finishes. HE TELLS US WHY WE ARE WHERE WE ARE — WHY WE ARE ABOUT WHAT WE ARE ABOUT. HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN WHAT THE DISCIPLES HAVE DONE AND ARE DOING SINCE CHRIST’S DEATH AND RESURRECTION? HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE FAITH OF THESE MEN WHO WOULD GO ON TO GIVE THEIR LIVES FOR THE TRUTHS THAT MATTHEW RECORDS? HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN WHAT THE CHURCH IS TO BE ABOUT FOR THE REST OF ITS EXISTENCE — UNTIL JESUS RETURNS. The answer is that our Lord’s meeting with His men, following His resurrection, SET THAT COURSE. Matthew ends by giving us the living Christ’s long-term plan for His disciples. It is a vital thing that we remember that genuine Christianity is not inventive, it is submissive. It is vital that we are always clear about the fact that any valid philosophy of ministry has not be created individually, out of the mind of man, but simply reflects the reception of revelation — that is, we have heard and believed what God has set forth in His word, and we are striving to obey it. SUBMISSION TO WHAT GOD HAS REVEALED EXPLAINS MINISTRY THAT PLEASES GOD AND IS POWERFULLY USED BY GOD. And all that goes back as far as the charge that Jesus gave to His disciples when He gathered them together in Galilee after His resurrection. We finish our journey in Matthew this morning by looking at Matthew’s close under two main headings. I. THE MEETING WITH JESUS (vs.16-17) Our Lord had sent news through the women — by the angel and from Himself personally — that His disciples were to meet Him in Galilee. The disciples obeyed. They made their way to Galilee and to a mountain which Jesus had designated. Matthew describes them as the eleven. He reminds us that Jesus chose these men for a special task. There were many followers of Jesus, many disciples of Jesus, but the eleven are now in a special class. They are the Lord’s apostles. It also reminds us that they are no longer “the twelve” because Judas had his good things, and threw his privileged place away for a lie. Matthew begins verse 16 with a mild adversative (de or but) and reminds us that this is the best answer to the lies of the council. THEY SAID HE IS STILL DEAD AND THAT HIS DISCIPLES STOLE HIS BODY, BUT HIS DISCIPLES MADE THEIR WAY TO GALILEE AND MET WITH HIM. The Lord is very much alive. The Lord’s choice to meet them in Galilee is instructive also. D.A. Carson — “Associating the Great Commission (vv. 18–20) with Galilee not only has nuances with Jesus’ humble background and the theme of Gentile mission (see comments at v. 10) but “ensures that the risen Christ and his teaching are not thought of as a substitute for, but as continuous with, Jesus’ ministry and teaching in Galilee” (Hill).#_ftn1 The one whom they meet with, and will spend their lives proclaiming, is the very same one they have been following throughout Galilee, and He does not need Jerusalem’s approval to save His sheep all over the world. I mentioned last week that I fear we become so accustomed to what we read in Scripture that sometimes we become insensitive to the wonder of it. We are so familiar with it that we don’t recognize how SHOCKING it would have been to the people who lived through these events — how shocking it would be to us right now! We have read about the resurrection. We have read about Jesus calling people, like Lazarus, out from death. BUT WE HAVE NEVER SEEN THAT, and we underestimate how DIFFICULT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN WITHOUT WHAT WE ARE NOW PRIVILEGED TO HOLD IN OUR HANDS (the Bible). These people didn’t have the gospel accounts, they LIVED what became the gospel accounts. SO THAT MATTHEW HONESTLY COMMUNICATES THE FACT THAT THERE WAS SOME INITIAL DOUBT AMONG THE APOSTLES. MATTHEW TELLS US THREE THINGS. A. THOSE DISCIPLES SAW JESUS What Matthew doesn’t tell us is that the disciples would see Jesus on other occasions. He limits himself to this occasion but makes the point that the idea of Christ resurrected is not “a story that gained traction.” They don’t believe in a resurrection because a body went missing, and the story given to explain it was naively believed. NO, IN CONTRAST TO THAT, THESE MEN WERE EYEWITNESSES OF THE RISEN CHRIST. They saw Jesus alive. B. THOSE DISCIPLES WORSHIPPED JESUS The disciples bow before the Lord Jesus. What Matthew indicates by this is that they not only see Jesus, but they also BELIEVE WHAT THEY ARE SEEING. They worship their Master. C. SOME OF THOSE DISCIPLES STRUGGLED TO BELIEVE IT WAS REAL But then he says, “but some doubted.” The word διστάζω does not indicate settled unbelief. Rather it speaks of hesitation. SEVERAL QUESTIONS EMERGE FROM THIS. #_ftnref1 D. A. Carson, https://ref.ly/logosres/ebcrev09?ref=bible.mt28.16&off=637&ctx=in+26%3a32%3b+28%3a7%2c+10.+~associating+the+grea in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew–Mark (Revised Edition), ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, vol. 9 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 663.
Enemies of The Resurrected Christ
April 21, 2024 • Richard Caldwell Jr. • Matthew 28:1–10
Introduction: Matthew tells us of two disciples, two women, who met with the wonder of the resurrection through an encounter with an angel and then met with the resurrected Christ Himself. These women were characterized by devotion, amazement, worship, joy, and an immediate desire to obey the instruction they were given and to report the good news to the Lord’s disciples. But, as we have seen with the crucifixion of Jesus, and the burial of Jesus, we now meet with response of Christ’s enemies to the resurrection of Jesus. What do we see in the enemies of Christ as they respond to the reality that He has been raised from the dead? Tonight, we see four characteristics of these enemies of Christ as they respond to His resurrection. I. UNWILLING RECIPIENTS OF MERCY (vs.11) After all the ways that the chief priests, along with the other religious leaders of the Jews, had sinned — blasphemy, lying, manipulation, mockery, cruelty, MURDER — they are now receiving a report. The guards who had been charged with securing the tomb, now made their way to the chief priests to tell them about everything that had happened. These men now knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that everything Jesus promised about His death and resurrection was true. REMEMBER, they claimed that if Jesus was delivered from death, they would believe in Him. ESV Matthew 27:42 "He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" Yes, they were talking about Him coming down from the cross, but what they heard about now was even greater. HE WAS DELIVERED BY GOD AFTER DYING. THEY ALSO MADE CLEAR THAT THEY KNEW THAT JESUS CLAIMED THAT THIS WOULD HAPPEN. They called that DECEPTION. They said that He was a deceiver. ESV Matthew 27:63 and said, "Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, 'After three days I will rise.' 64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, 'He has risen from the dead,' and the last fraud will be worse than the first." WELL, NOW THEY KNEW THAT HE WASN’T A DECEIVER. THEY RECEIVED NEWS FROM THE GUARDS: They heard about the earthquake. They heard about the angel and his dazzling appearance. They heard about the empty tomb. IT WAS A TREMENDOUS MERCY THAT THESE RELIGIOUS LEADERS WERE STILL ALIVE TO HEAR ABOUT THESE THINGS. God could have justly struck them dead for what they had done with His Son. But here they are given another opportunity. Here was their opportunity for repentance. Here was their opportunity to fall on their faces and admit their sinful foolishness and their need for forgiveness, and the truth — Jesus is the Messiah. II. BRAZEN OPPONENTS OF THE TRUTH (vs.12-13) What do they do instead? They prove themselves to be BRAZEN. Bold, without shame, when they should have been full of shame. The chief priests gather with the elders, and they decide to SPREAD A LIE. NOTE: THIS RESPONSE PROVES THAT IT WAS NEVER REALLY ABOUT EVIDENCE. This is one of the most amazing things the world has ever seen. A man is questioned about signs that would prove He is the Messiah. He answers that the sign will be His resurrection. They take steps to kill Him. He is then raised from the dead. You hear this from eyewitnesses who are not motivated to lie about this. YET YOU DON’T STOP YOUR OPPOSITION? IT PROVES THAT WHAT THE JEWISH LEADERS DID, THEY DID DESPITE EVIDENCE, NOT FOR LACK OF IT. This has never changed. People claim that they don’t believe because they don’t have enough evidence when the evidence that they have is already overwhelming to any honest mind. NOTE: NEVER THINK THAT PEOPLE ENTER THE KINGDOM BY INTELLECTUAL PERSUASION. THEY ENTER THE KINGDOM WHEN THEY ARE BORN AGAIN. What you see in these religious leaders is the fruit of their sinful natures. This is SINFUL UNBELIEF. This is STUBBORN UNBELIEF. This is DISHONEST, WILLFUL, UNBELIEF. And so, they choose to construct a lie and convince the guards to disseminate their lie. HOW DO THEY INCENTIVIZE THESE GUARDS TO SPREAD THEIR LIE? MONEY. AND IT WAS NO SMALL SUM OF MONEY. Whatever it took to get the guards to do it, they paid them. NOTE, ONCE AGAIN, THE INCREDIBLE BLINDNESS THAT SIN PRODUCES. WHAT AMOUNT OF MONEY IS WORTH YOUR SOUL? YOU JUST WITNESSED AN ANGEL. WHAT AMOUNT OF MONEY COULD EVER WORTH DENYING WHAT YOU JUST SAW? But mankind, in the blindness of his sin is willing to throw away FOREVER in order to have riches RIGHT NOW. THE LIE WAS LUDICROUS. “The guards are asleep, and the disciples came and stole him away.” “YOU MEAN THEY QUIETLY ROLLED THAT STONE AWAY FROM THE ENTRANCE OF THE TOMB?” “YOU MEAN YOU SLEPT THROUGH IT ALL?” THE LIE, FROM THEIR VANTAGEPOINT, ONLY HAD TO BE CONVINCING TO THE PEOPLE FOR WHOM IT MATTERED.
Christ Disciples & His Resurrection
April 21, 2024 • Richard Caldwell Jr. • Matthew 28:1–10
Introduction: God is giving testimony to His Son. He does so at the cross. He does so at His burial. He does so through the means of providence. He does so through the means of miracles. In every case He is fulfilling His Word. His testimony to His Son a testimony of fulfilled Scripture. In each case, we are presented with two responses. We are told how the disciples of Jesus are responding, and we are told how the enemies of Jesus are responding. Now we arrive at the greatest sign of all. Was Jesus of Nazareth the Son of God? Was Jesus the King of Israel? Was Jesus the Savior, the Lamb of God who takes away sins? IS THERE A WAY FOR ALL OF OUR SINS TO BE FORGIVEN? IS THERE A WAY FOR US TO BE RECONCILED TO OUR CREATOR? IS THERE A WAY TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE — TO LIVE WITH SALVATION’S LIFE FOREVER? GOD’S ANSWER IS YES, AND THE PREEMINENT WAY THAT HE SAYS “YES” IS BY RAISING HIS SON FROM THE DEAD. You will remember that Jesus made reference to the prophet Jonah in the belly of the fish, and compared that to His resurrection, and HE CALLED IT A SIGN. The sign of the prophet Jonah. ESV Matthew 12:39 But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Today we look at THAT SIGN — the resurrection of Jesus — and as we do, we will once again see two responses. This morning, we look at the response of disciples; tonight, we will look at the response of His enemies. We look at verses 1-10 under three headings. I. HEAVENLY WONDERS WITH GREAT FEAR (vs.1-4) The Sabbath day was over. The first day of the week (Sunday), which began with sundown the previous day, had reached the time when the sun dawns. Matthew tells us about two women. Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph (27:56). John tells us that these two women came when it was still dark (20:1). Mark (16:1-8) and Luke (24) told us the sun was just coming up. Morning is breaking and a new day is dawning in every sense of the word. These two women were not alone. Mark tells us that Salome was with them, Luke mentions Joanna, and other women (Luke 24:10), but Matthew focuses on these two Mary’s. Why were they coming? They were bringing spices to anoint the body of Jesus (Mark 16:1). WHY? WHEN NICODEMUS BROUGHT SPICES FOR CHRIST’S BURIAL? Perhaps these two women had watched that preparation and recognized that it was rushed, due to time, and wanted to do it more carefully. Or, maybe they simply wanted to demonstrate their own love for Jesus, honoring Him this way as well. BUT WHEN THEY ARRIVE AT THE TOMB, IT IS NOT AS THEY EXPECTED. Now, let me say that when you look at the four gospel accounts and the details concerning what these women met with at the tomb, it can be a bit confusing. And EVERYONE trying to put a timeline together of the events, can put one together that makes sense of the differences, but NO ONE can know for certain if they have reconstructed things exactly. You have four different accounts, reflecting eyewitness testimony, that you can be sure is inerrant (it is God’s Word), but differing due to the differing roles and circumstances of the people involved. So, instead of doing a harmony of these events, I simply want to focus on what Matthew emphasized in his account. A. BEFORE THE WOMEN ARRIVED