Participants: Bill Santos
Series Code: IIWC
Program Code: IIWC201228
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00:02 >>Bill: When the first missionaries came to Alberta, Canada, they were
00:05 savagely opposed by a young chief of the Cree Indians named Maskepetoon. 00:10 But he responded to the gospel and accepted Christ. 00:14 Shortly afterward, a member of the Blackfoot tribe killed his father. 00:20 Maskepetoon rode into the village where the murderer lived and demanded that he 00:24 be brought before him. 00:27 Confronting the guilty man, he said, "You have killed my father, so now 00:30 you must be my father. 00:33 You shall ride my best horse and wear my best clothes." 00:37 In utter amazement and remorse his enemy exclaimed, "My son, now 00:40 you have killed me!" 00:46 He meant, of course, that the hate in his own heart had been completely erased 00:51 by the forgiveness and kindness of the Indian chief. 01:08 ANNOUNCER: It has stood the test of time. 01:12 God's book: the Bible, 01:15 still relevant in today's complex world. 01:19 It Is Written, 01:22 sharing the messages of hope around the world. 01:37 >>Bill: Let's go back to Matthew 10 and with that as a background, remind 01:41 ourselves of the uniqueness of these twelve men. 01:46 Twelve men who literally turned the world upside down. 01:50 Not only were they heroes because of their courage, their devotion, and their 01:54 obedience but because they accomplished their goal. 01:58 They literally established the church. 02:02 They touched a whole world. 02:04 They extended the Kingdom, just these twelve, one of them unfaithful, eleven 02:11 faithful, humble, simple people just like us. 02:16 Listen, what kind of people does God use? 02:20 He uses the common kind like we are. 02:22 He uses the unqualified. 02:25 Remember last time? 02:29 God is in the business of accepting unqualified people because nobody's 02:35 qualified. 02:37 The Lord uses strong, bold leaders like Peter who take charge, initiate 02:41 plans, strategize, confront, command people and who make big, big 02:46 blunders. 02:49 And He uses humble, gentle, inconspicuous souls like Andrew who seek 02:53 no prominence but quietly bring people to Christ. 02:57 And He uses zealous, passionate, uncompromising task-oriented, 03:02 insensitive, ambitious men like James. 03:05 As well as sensitive, tender, loving people oriented, believing, 03:11 intimate truth seekers like John. 03:15 And He uses skeptical, analytical, mechanical, slow- witted, weak-faith, 03:19 visionless, pessimistic, insecure men like Philip. 03:26 And He uses seekers of truth, honest, open, clear-minded, meditative, 03:33 deeply surrendered men like Nathanael Bartholomew who are full of faith and 03:39 understanding and yet who are flawed by serious sin such as prejudice. 03:46 Now, we're going to meet two others that He uses this morning; Matthew and 03:51 Thomas. 03:54 Let's take Matthew first. 03:59 Nothing is ever said about Matthew and nothing is ever said by Matthew 04:05 except one tiny little thing in Matthew 9:9 and that is the extent of 04:10 everything we know about Matthew. 04:13 (Matthew 9:9) 04:30 When Matthew puts his name in the list in chapter 10 verse 3 he says: "Matthew 04:33 the tax collector. 04:37 " And may I hasten to add that no other disciple in the list is ever 04:41 associated with his job. 04:44 Why does Matthew say - Matthew the tax collector? 04:49 That's not something you're proud of. 04:52 A tax collector was the most hated, despised, despicable human being in 04:57 the society of Israel. 04:59 And Matthew is showing us his genuine humility and sense of sinful 05:03 unworthiness. 05:05 Matthew was a traitor. 05:08 Matthew was an extortionist. 05:10 Matthew was a robber and a thief. 05:12 Matthew was greedy. 05:14 Matthew was a social pariah, or outcast. 05:15 And he knew it. 05:18 You see, to be a tax collector is to be a publican. 05:22 And what that meant was you as a Jew were used by the Roman government to 05:23 collect taxes from the Jews to give to Rome. 05:31 You then sort of worked for the oppressor. 05:34 You were a traitor first class. 05:38 And not only that, but you bought the right to collect taxes, so you paid 05:43 the government, you bought into the system. 05:47 And then the government would stipulate a certain amount of tax that had to 05:50 be collected, and that was given to Rome. 05:55 And then you were free to collect anything more you could from the people and 05:57 that you kept for yourself. 06:00 And so there were bribes and extortionist roots taken, abuses beyond what 06:04 we could even dream. 06:07 Something interesting, in the gospel of Matthew there are more quotes of 06:13 the Old Testament than in Mark, Luke and John combined. 06:17 So, Matthew knew the Old Testament. 06:20 Matthew knew the law of God in the Old Testament. 06:24 And yet we have no idea of him at all being interested in spiritual 06:29 things. 06:31 But when Jesus comes along, verse 9, He says to him - Follow Me and he 06:34 arose and followed Him, instantly. 06:38 Now what is involved in this? 06:41 First of all, he just walked away from his career. 06:45 I mean, it wasn't like the earlier guys who were fishermen. 06:49 If they didn't like what went on with Jesus there were always fish. 06:54 Right? 06:56 And there were always nets. 06:57 And there were always boats. 06:58 And they could go back. 07:00 And in fact, they did in John 21, they all went back fishing. 07:02 And the Lord showed them they couldn't catch anything. 07:05 But when Matthew walked away from that table, believe me the Roman 07:10 government would have somebody there the next day. 07:13 And somebody was in line to buy into that and he was cutting off his career 07:18 for good. 07:19 No lingering. 07:21 Also, he was identifying with somebody who was equally rejected by the 07:27 establishment.., for the Pharisees and the scribes hated Jesus as much or 07:31 more as they hated him as a publican. 07:35 So he was really going from the frying pan into the fire. 07:40 It's a high price he paid. 07:42 You say - Well, why did he do that? 07:46 Well, I'll tell you why he did it. 07:48 There is only one reason. 07:51 This little section in chapter 9, the thread that keeps weaving its way 07:55 through here is the forgiveness of sin. 07:58 In verse 10 Matthew calls a feast after Jesus calls him. 08:04 And he gets together tax collectors and sinners. 08:08 And Jesus is the guest of honor at the feast. 08:12 (Matthew 9:10) "While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax 08:19 collectors and 'sinners' came and ate with him and his disciples. 08:23 " And the Pharisees say - Well, why does He hang around with tax collectors 08:28 and sinners? 08:30 And Jesus says, "They that are well need not a physician but they that 08:35 are sick. 08:38 " I am come not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. 08:43 The point of the banquet then was for Jesus to call sinners to repentance. 08:48 So the whole thread here is confession of sin, repentance and forgiveness 08:52 and Matthew plops himself in there because I think that's the issue with him. 08:57 Nobody in the world knew better his sin than Matthew knew. 09:01 He knew he was a sinner. 09:04 He knew his graft, his abuse, his extortion, his greed. 09:07 He knew that he had betrayed his people. 09:10 He knew that he could be bought for money. 09:12 He knew that. 09:14 And I believe he despised it. 09:16 I believe he wanted out. 09:18 And I believe when Jesus came to him and said - Follow Me - he knew that 09:21 inherent in that was the forgiveness of sin and he ran to get that. 09:28 And he was willing to say goodbye to his career and everything else because he 09:31 wanted forgiveness. 09:34 What kind of people does God use? 09:38 Stained glass saints? 09:40 No. 09:42 Vile, wretched, rotten sinners, the most despicable people in 09:47 society who are willing to be forgiven. 09:50 You say - Yeah, but He can't use them for much. 09:52 Oh? 09:55 How about writing the gospel that introduces the New Testament? 09:58 You see, God is in the restoration business. 10:01 He takes the unqualified and transforms them. 10:03 That's His business. 10:05 And I believe Matthew risked a lot more than the fishermen did because he 10:10 could never go back. 10:11 And he was a vile sinner. 10:14 What if Jesus couldn't forgive him? 10:17 There he would be stuck with the same sin and no job to go back to. 10:23 But he quietly forsook all. 10:26 And the genuineness of his repentance, I believe, is found in the fact that you 10:31 see his humility. 10:33 He is utterly humble. 10:35 He has nothing to say about himself. 10:38 He has nothing to say about his talent and what he has to offer the Lord. 10:42 The only thing he wants to say is Jesus forgives sin and one of the ones He 10:48 forgave was a man named Matthew who was really a sinner and whose only 10:55 friends were a lot of other sinners, tax collectors and sinners. 11:02 And so we learn about his humility. 11:06 I think we learn another thing. 11:07 He had a heart for the lost. 11:10 There are some people in this world who just kind of gravitate to the down 11:13 and outers, you know? 11:15 That must have been Matthew. 11:18 I mean, if ever there was a discussion about whether the disciples ought to get 11:23 involved with some riffraff, I'm sure Matthew would have led the parade 11:27 toward the riffraff, having been one. 11:30 I'm glad that when the Lord puts together a team of men What a man. 11:35 A criminal, an outcast, the most hated of men, he was utterly convinced of 11:44 his sin and when given an opportunity to believe, he believed and he followed. 11:50 He became a man of quiet humility who loved the outcasts, who gave no 11:54 place to the religious establishment, a man of great faith, a man of 11:58 total and utter surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and a man who knew 12:04 the Old Testament and a man that God used to write the gospel. 12:08 That brings us to the second name we will look at today, Thomas. 12:15 And immediately when I say Thomas what is the first word you think of? 12:18 Doubt! 12:20 Thomas has gotten bad press. 12:22 Thomas is a better man than you think. 12:27 In fact, I'm convinced that most people really don't understand Thomas. 12:33 We just say Thomas the doubter. 12:36 I think you're going to learn some things about Thomas you didn't know in 12:41 the next few minutes. 12:42 Listen. 12:43 Matthew, Mark and Luke give us nothing about Thomas. 12:47 But John again, always digging into the heart of people, opens Thomas up to 12:53 us. 12:54 John chapter 11, we look at three very brief texts. 13:01 Jesus is up by the Jordan river and the Lord is out of the city of Jerusalem, 13:07 the pressure has been tremendous, the plot to take His life has been 13:09 hatched. 13:11 He and the disciples are up by the Jordan. 13:15 The report comes to them that Lazarus is sick. 13:18 That is significant because Jesus loves Lazarus in a very special 13:21 way. 13:23 Jesus has tarried to give sufficient time for Lazarus to die and then 13:26 says this: "Lazarus is dead. 13:31 And I am glad. 13:34 " Now wait a minute, why are You glad? 13:37 "For your sakes, I'm glad I wasn't there, for the reason that you may 13:39 believe. 13:42 " And so He says he's dead and I'm glad for your sakes that I wasn't there 13:45 because now you're going to see something that will make you believe. 13:50 Then in verse 15 "Let us go unto him. 13:54 " Let's go. 13:57 Now where was Lazarus? 13:59 Bethany. 14:00 Where's Bethany? 14:01 Two miles east of Jerusalem. 14:04 Now that is a scary announcement because all the disciples can think 14:08 about is - Oh, this is suicide, this is absolute suicide. 14:10 We can't go back to Jerusalem. 14:13 Thomas apparently moves into this situation with some leadership, in verse 14:18 16 (John 11:16) 14:33 Now, I see several things in that. 14:36 First of all I see a certain amount of initiative. 14:39 He rises to the top and says - Wait a minute, guys, let's go with Him 14:41 and die with Him. 14:43 I also see pessimism. 14:47 Now he was convinced Jesus was going to be killed. 14:50 And if they went they would die You know, some will say, the greatest 14:56 courage in the world is not the courage of an optimist. 14:58 An optimist has courage. 15:01 He has courage because he believes the best will happen. 15:04 The greatest courage in the world is the courage of a pessimist because he 15:08 knows the worse is going to happen and is willing to go anyway. 15:11 You see? 15:13 Thomas says - We'll die, so let's go. 15:15 That's a lot of courage. 15:21 Now, why does he want to do this? 15:25 If you think of him only as a doubter then this doesn't make any sense. 15:31 Why was he willing to go die with Jesus? 15:35 Not because he doubted Him, but because he so totally believed Him. 15:39 If Jesus is going to die, then let's go die with Him, because the 15:43 alternative is to be without Him. 15:46 A man of courage and a man of love. 15:48 He did not want to be separated from Christ. 15:51 He could never be disloyal to Jesus. 15:54 He could die for Him before he'd be disloyal. 15:56 That's how deep his love. 15:59 Go to John chapter 14 and we see him again. 16:02 And the same attitudes come out again. 16:06 Jesus gives this little message about letting not your heart be troubled and 16:09 believing in God and He's going to prepare a place for you, and I'll come 16:13 again and receive you unto Myself and where I am there you may be also. 16:19 He says - You know where I am going and you know how to get there. 16:21 Verse 5: 16:31 This is the same heart that's saying - Lord, don't You go somewhere 16:33 where we can't come. 16:36 The thought of separation was the issue with Thomas. 16:41 I don't like what I hear, You' re going to go and we're not going to know 16:46 where You are or how to get there. 16:48 His heart, I think, is nearly broken as he speaks. 16:52 And he's a pessimistic and he says - We'll never find the place. 16:57 Jesus tells him, 17:05 What He's saying is - Thomas, I'll take you there. 17:08 I'm the way, you don't have to fear. 17:11 I'm not going to go someplace and leave you. 17:14 You see the same pessimism again, don't you? 17:16 And you see the same love again. 17:19 Let's go to a third and last look at Thomas John 20. 17:24 Jesus died. 17:29 You know what happened to Thomas when Jesus died? 17:30 He said, I knew it. 17:32 He died and I didn't die and He went somewhere and I don't know where He is. 17:34 I knew it. 17:36 And all of his fears came true all of the worst things that he had ever 17:39 thought. 17:41 He felt betrayed. 17:42 He felt rejected. 17:43 He felt forsaken. 17:45 And it was out of love that he was shattered. 17:47 He was like a wounded animal. 17:49 And he didn't want to be around people so he just split, that's what he did. 17:53 And when all the rest of the disciples came together he just wasn't 17:57 there, he was out and he was depressed because he loved so deeply. 18:00 He would have died with Jesus but Jesus died without him. 18:05 He wanted to go with Jesus but Jesus went without him. 18:08 And now his pessimism is vindicated, and he's really in the pits. 18:12 John 20:24 18:29 We've seen the Lord, Thomas, and you weren't there. 18:31 You didn't show up. 18:33 But Thomas is depressed. 18:35 Did you ever try to talk to somebody who is depressed? 18:36 Really difficult isn't it? 18:38 He says, Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where 18:42 the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it. 18:46 Now he's a pessimist, I've got to see it. 18:49 But before you pounce on him with both feet, would you kindly remember this? 18:55 That none of the disciples believed until they saw Jesus. 18:59 I mean, after all, it is not that easy to believe that somebody rose from 19:04 the dead. 19:06 On the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, two are walking along and the Lord is with 19:11 them and they're moaning and groaning about His death. 19:13 And they don't believe either. 19:15 Nobody believed till they saw Him. 19:16 So don't make Thomas the doubter. 19:19 You see, he's a loving pessimist is what he is. 19:22 That's better than being a doubter. 19:25 I want to see before I believe, he says. 19:27 John 20:26 19:41 It seems a fitting greeting, doesn't it, to the chaos that must have 19:44 occurred. 19:46 And then He zeros in on this dear soul that loves Him enough to die with Him 19:50 and is utterly depressed and shattered. 19:52 He said to Thomas, "Thomas, reach here your finger, behold My hands, 19:57 and reach here your hand and thrust it into My side and be not faithless but 20:02 believing. 20:03 " Did Thomas do that? 20:06 It doesn't say he did it. 20:09 It just says immediately, without doing anything, "He answered and said unto 20:12 Him, My Lord and my God. 20:15 " The greatest single confessional ever made. 20:17 He affirmed the deity of Jesus Christ. 20:20 He affirmed the Lordship of Jesus Christ. 20:22 He affirmed that He was God. 20:26 Thomas - yes he was melancholy, he was moody, pessimistic, comfortless, 20:34 shattered, but when he saw the Lord Jesus Christ, he gave the greatest 20:37 testimony ever given. 20:39 And you know what? 20:42 In that one little statement Thomas gave the speech that literally 20:45 destroys every lie that has been told about Jesus not being God. 20:49 Thomas - tradition tells us he went as far as India preaching. 20:56 And one tradition says that he died in a very special way. 21:00 They took a spear and rammed it through him. 21:03 Because of his faith in Christ, it would be kind of fitting climax for one 21:09 who was told to reach forth his hand and feel the spear mark in his own 21:12 Lord. 21:14 What kind of people does God use? 21:16 Vile sinners like Matthew. 21:19 Tender-hearted, moody, melancholy pessimists like Thomas. 21:25 You name it, they're all unique and He can use you too. 23:54 >>Bev: Hi, everyone. 23:57 If you're not using quinoa on a regular basis, you are missing out on the 24:00 significant nutritional benefits this super food has to offer. 24:05 For one thing, it's a complete protein, which means it contains all of 24:08 the essential amino acids that our bodies cannot create. 24:12 That's unusual for a plant food. 24:14 Quinoa was used by the Inca civilization as a staple food in their daily 24:18 diet, and with good reason. 24:21 It boasts more protein than rice, millet, or wheat, and it's 24:25 gluten-free with a healthy complement of minerals such as manganese, 24:28 magnesium, iron, and copper. 24:32 Today, I'm sharing my own recipe, Bev's Quinoa Salad with Tahini Lime Dressing. 24:37 Here are the ingredients: one cup of cooked quinoa; one carrot, grated; half a 24:43 cup of shredded kale; a quarter cup of currants; a quarter cup of pumpkin 24:47 seeds; and you can put a quarter teaspoon of salt. 24:50 That's optional. 24:51 I usually don't. 24:53 This is a high-octane kind of salad. 24:55 You're going to get great nutrition from the quinoa, the carrot, the kale, and 24:58 the pumpkin seeds. 25:00 And the currants add a nice little hint of tart sweetness. 25:04 And then for the dressing, I just use the juice of a lime, two teaspoons of 25:09 tahini, a teaspoon of almond butter, water to thin it out, and a half 25:13 teaspoon of sweetener, and a little sprinkling of chili pepper seeds and a 25:18 few dashes maybe of Herbamare or some other kind of spices. 25:22 You mix the salad ingredients together, then mix the dressing, and pour 25:25 it over. 25:28 So let me show you. 25:29 I've got the quinoa right here. 25:31 I'm going to add in some shredded carrots. 25:32 m going to add in the wonderful kale. 25:35 And this has wonderful colour to it, this whole salad. 25:38 And then I've already got the currants and the pumpkin seeds mixed. 25:41 That's all you've got to do. 25:45 Those ingredients, and then you'd just pour the dressing on top of it, mix 25:49 it together, and you've got a spectacular, good-for-you kind of 25:56 salad. 25:57 And let me show you how gorgeous it is. 26:01 The beautiful colours. 26:04 And it's so fresh. 26:06 Much of the ingredients is raw. 26:08 There you go. 26:14 Beautiful salad. 26:16 Enjoy it in good health and I'll see you next time. 26:25 >>Allen: What kind of people can God use? 26:26 Any kind. 26:29 All we have to do is make ourselves available. 26:31 That means there is hope for you and me. 26:35 Pastor Bill has written a book, All the King's Men. 26:38 It includes all the messages in this series. 26:41 We would like to send it to you. 26:44 So here is the information you need to get your free copy. 27:25 >>Bill: Well, we've come to the end of another It Is Written program. 27:27 I want to thank you for joining us each and every week. 27:31 You know, if this series on the disciples is one that has been of a benefit 27:35 to you, it's been something you've enjoyed, we have a terrific offer. 27:40 We have a study guide that goes along with the DVD of this series and the book. 27:46 You can go on our website and you can pre-order that for a donation of $50 and 27:49 we'll send that to you. 27:52 It is a tremendous resource for your own personal study or small 27:54 group study. 27:56 Please check out our website, itiswrittencanada.ca, for 27:59 that. 28:01 You can also watch our programs on our youtube channel, 28:03 Youtube.com/iiwcanada. 28:06 You can even follow us on Twitter. 28:10 Well, I hope we're going to have the opportunity to do this all again next 28:12 week. 28:14 In the meantime, you remember this, it is written: Man shall not 28:19 live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of 28:24 God. 28:27 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ |
Revised 2015-02-06