Welcome, to the
"Books of the Books," series.
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You're on 3ABN.
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We're exploring
the gospel of Mathew,
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inspired by the Holy
Spirit, written for our benefit.
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As we spent time in this word,
we're just drawn to the savior
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who is painted and portrayed
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in such beautiful word
pictures here, gospel of Mathew.
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I would like to welcome
back Dr. Ranko Stefanovic.
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Ranko, as a
professor of New Testament,
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all scripture is inspired by God
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but there are
certain books that draw you
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and there're certain
things about certain books.
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What is it about
the gospel of Mathew
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that especially appeals to you?
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We already stated
that the gospel of Mathew
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is the gospel for the Church.
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Telling us how
Christians should live
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and behave in the church.
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That's just the main point.
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What a wonderful
portrait we have here.
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Let's ask God to
guide us as we continue on.
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Lord as we study now we need you
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to open our eyes
and to open our hearts.
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We want not just
to be informed, Lord,
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but also inspired to
follow you more clearly,
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more closely, more dearly.
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So, Lord, please
come and teach us,
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through your spirit, we pray.
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In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen.
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As we've been
following the path of Jesus.
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A path that took him
from birth through baptism,
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through
temptations, through ministry
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in Galilee of
teaching and working miracles
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and healings--now, we
find his steps have turned.
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They're headed
towards Jerusalem.
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He is in Jerusalem now,
He's had a triumphal entry
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and the opposition
has been at every side.
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Everywhere he turns
they're looking to catch him.
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They're looking to trap
him as we saw from the test.
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As we come to
Chapter 23 this time and 24,
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Ranko, what's ahead for us?
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Yeah, Chapter 23 is
actually the climax.
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Upto this point Jesus is
always kind toward Pharisees.
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He tried to answer them
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but they're
sinking deeper and deeper.
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The animosity against Jesus.
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Evidently there was
nothing more to be done.
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But let me tell you
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that patience of
Jesus was not in vain.
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Some of these Pharisees,
that they were Pentecost
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as we read the Book of Acts,
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they really responded
the call of Holy Spirit.
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When Peter
preached that famous sermon
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and they became Christians.
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So we have encouragement
to never give up on people.
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Jesus never gave
up but Jesus finally
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had to make the public statement
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about those
Pharisees who really persisted
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in the unbelief and
the rejection of Jesus.
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Actually they
were those Pharisees
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who until the very end
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actually even
brought Jesus to the cross.
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Yes, yes and--
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It's not about
all the Pharisees.
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Many Pharisees,
as we make statement,
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became Christians later
but significant number of them
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together
usually should- leaders,
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they persisted
and it was the time
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for Jesus
finally to expose them.
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We must remember that
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this is the close of
his Earthly ministry.
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And when He was
crucified and raise
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and will then soon ascend,
people will be left wondering,
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which is the correct
path? Who really knows God?
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Who is telling us
about God? Is it Jesus?
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Or is it what the Pharisees
and the leaders have told?
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So He's got to make it
very clear to the public,
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to the crowds,
what is the true path.
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And it's a strong message here.
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Now Ranko, you're invited
to go and speak many places.
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I doubt if you've ever use
this as your opening sermon.
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No. It's a tough message.
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Let's try to get
little bit of the flavor
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But I would like to
remind us what we read
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in the "Desire of
Ages." Can you say?
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Yes, certainly
we want to remember
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that Jesus
spoke even these woes.
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We call this
chapter the woes in love.
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There was tears in His
voice as He's reaching out.
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But let's listen to the words.
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You know, many times we think
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about winning friends
and influencing people.
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There's a books even on
the subject and so forth.
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This is not a sermon to preach
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for the first time
you're dealing with people.
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This is the last call.
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This is a time when
you've got lay it all down
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and say okay folks
these are the issues,
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now you've got
to make a decision.
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Glenn, we don't
have even something close
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to this at the
beginning of Jesus ministry
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No. Do you remember
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even when we were in Chapter 12?
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When the Pharisees
they made that statement,
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a blasphemy,
against the Holy Spirit.
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When Jesus talked
about unpardonable sin
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we never have any condemnation
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from Jesus
nothing, nothing even close.
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But this is really the climax.
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Let's get a
little bit of the flavor.
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We won't read all of this
but I like to read a selection
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so you can catch
some of the thrust
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some of the
energy of this passage.
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"Then Jesus said to the
crowds and to his disciples,
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'the scribes and
Pharisees sit on Moses' seat.
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So you practice and
observe whatever they tell you.
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But don't do what they do,
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for they preach
but do not practice.'"
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We should pause right
there, many times we think
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that everything the
Pharisees taught was wrong. No.
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No. Jesus agrees with
many of those teachings.
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Much of what
they thought was good.
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But He says something
about the way they're living.
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Jesus actually
calls them hypocrites.
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We will go to
verse 20-- 13, verse 27.
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Actually 13, 15 where
else? 27, how many times?
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23, 25, 27, 29, how many times
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Jesus used the word hypocrite.
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Actually hypocrite was the word,
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in the 1st century among
Ancient Greeks, for actors.
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Who in normal life
they were one thing
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when they were
before people acting,
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they were
completely different things.
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This is actually what
the Pharisees were doing.
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They were
teaching many right things,
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but there
behavior was much louder
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than what they were talking.
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So they're wearing a mask.
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They're pretending
to be what they aren't.
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And in honesty we
would have to pause
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and say there's a
little bit of hypocrisy,
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may be more than
that, in each of us.
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Oh, yeah.
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We seldom show people
our real true character
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and Jesus takes
off the masks here.
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"They preach but
they do practice.
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They bind heavy
burdens hard to bear,
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lay them on men's shoulders.
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They themselves will not
move them with a finger."
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So, the
compassion of Christ is here.
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He is speaking about the
compassionless leadership
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at that time. Verse 13,
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"But woe to you scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites!
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You shut the kingdom
of heaven against men.
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For you neither enter yourselves
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nor allow those who
would enter to go in.
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Woe to you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites,
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for you traverse sea and
land to make a single proselyte,
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and when he becomes a
proselyte or a convert
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you make him twice as much
a child of Hell as you are."
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Ranko, these
are hard statements.
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You know, I teach
a antibiotics class
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and every once in a
while I'll assign a student
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to preach on this passage.
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They have a hard time
because this doesn't sound like
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Jesus meek and mild.
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This doesn't sound like
the sweet and loving Jesus.
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It seems harsh to say
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"you make someone twice
the son of hell as you are,"
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I don't think most
preachers walk into the pulpit
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and say something like
that. We have to find out why?
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"Woe to you
blind guides" Verse 23,
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"Woe to you scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites!"
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Actually 23, is really--
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Let's look at that
one little further.
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It's somehow in nutshell
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everything what
Jesus said in verse 23.
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"For you tithe,
mint, and dill and cumin,
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and you've neglected
the weightier matters
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of the law, justice
and mercy and faith."
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What's the weightier matters?
What's the deeper things?
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Care about people. It's
that horizontal relation.
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That's what we are talking.
That's the main thread in--
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He's not saying
it's wrong to tithe.
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He is not saying it's
wrong to do any of those things.
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But if we do those
really just actions
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and we forget our relationship
with one and another.
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You see the
observance of the law,
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paying tithe and
everything, is not a substitute
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for the way how
we treat the people.
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You've said a lot right there.
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Verse 25, "Woe to you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites!
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You cleanse outside of
the cup and of the plate,
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but inside they are full
of extortion and rapacity."
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So everything is up to
the end of the chapter about--
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"Woe to you,
scribes and Pharisees,
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white-washed tombs.
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You're like dead men's bones.
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Woe to you scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites!
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Truly I say to you all this
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will come upon this generation."
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But he concludes, we
have to go to verses 37
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This text now is very important.
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Yes it's very precious.
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Glenn, can you, can you read it.
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"Oh, Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, killing the prophets,
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stoning those
who were sent to you.
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"We should pause and
think about Jesus' tone.
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What was in His eyes?
What was in his heart?
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Ranko He was
trying to wake people up.
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If you're home was on fire
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and you're fast asleep
in the middle of night.
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You don't want me just
knocking on the door quietly.
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You want me to
shout. You want me to cry.
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Whatever it takes
to wake you up and say.
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Your building is collapsing.
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And their system
was about to come down.
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Actually what Jesus tried
to say, "I tried to help you?
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I did everything.
You did not accept it.
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Now the
consequences will come to that."
00:10:16.55\00:10:19.11
And actually this
is the introduction
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to our next subject that
we would will like to go.
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I want those of
you, who are listening,
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to hear Jesus'
words and His heart.
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I believe sometimes
the most difficult love
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is the love of letting go.
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You may have had a situation,
relationship in your life.
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A son, a loved one.
You tried to reach them.
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You tried to reach
them and eventually
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you had to honor their choice.
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God does the same
thing. He honors our choice.
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And yet Jesus' heart is broken.
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"O Jerusalem,
killing the prophets,
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stoning those
who were sent to you,
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how often I would have
gathered your children together,
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as a hen gathers her broods
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under her wing
and you would not.
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Behold your house is
forsaken and desolate."
00:10:59.33\00:11:03.72
This is his last
public declaration
00:11:03.73\00:11:05.60
here for the
crowds. "For I tell you,
00:11:05.61\00:11:07.97
you will not see me again.
00:11:07.98\00:11:09.77
Until you say blessed is he
00:11:09.78\00:11:11.72
who comes in name in Lord."
00:11:11.73\00:11:13.35
So, Glenn, let us try
to see what we have here.
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The disciples are
there and they're listening
00:11:18.51\00:11:21.67
to what Jesus is to
saying, "I tried Jerusalem,
00:11:21.68\00:11:26.68
everything to do in
order to do bring you myself."
00:11:26.69\00:11:30.38
I mean and he's
using even this metaphor
00:11:30.39\00:11:33.86
of a hen and chicken.
00:11:33.87\00:11:35.84
"And I do, I
try to do everything
00:11:35.85\00:11:37.74
to put you under the
wings of my protection.
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Therefore your house,"
which is evidently the temple,
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"will be left to you desolate."
00:11:45.28\00:11:48.47
The disciples
are listening there
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We have to understand
00:11:50.42\00:11:51.98
something very, very important.
00:11:51.99\00:11:54.87
That the Jewish people
were very much familiar
00:11:54.88\00:11:59.36
with the Old Testament promises.
00:11:59.37\00:12:01.53
Let's keep in mind
that in the gospel of Mathew
00:12:01.54\00:12:04.98
everything that the
Jesus does is the fulfillment
00:12:04.99\00:12:08.66
of the Old Testament
prophecies. Mathew wrote it.
00:12:08.67\00:12:11.24
So Mathew was so much in the--
00:12:11.25\00:12:13.50
and they were
listening to what Jesus said.
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According to those
Old Testament prophecy,
00:12:15.31\00:12:19.24
one day God will
bless Israel and Palestine,
00:12:19.25\00:12:25.88
Jerusalem will be established.
00:12:25.89\00:12:28.86
Okay, the Messiah would come
00:12:28.87\00:12:32.30
establish his
kingdom and Jerusalem,
00:12:32.31\00:12:36.72
with its temple will
become the centre of the World.
00:12:36.73\00:12:42.44
By the way there are
numerous Old Testament passages
00:12:42.45\00:12:46.18
that talks about the
centrality of Jerusalem
00:12:46.19\00:12:49.40
with its temple in the
future Messianic Kingdom.
00:12:49.41\00:12:53.08
There are maps, you
had Jerusalem at the side.
00:12:53.09\00:12:55.56
Actually no temple-
00:12:55.57\00:13:03.47
it's the end of the world.
00:13:03.48\00:13:04.90
Without the temple, no
temple no Messianic Kingdom.
00:13:04.91\00:13:07.63
The end of the temple
is the end of the world.
00:13:07.64\00:13:13.21
the disciples are listening
to what Jesus is saying.
00:13:13.22\00:13:16.82
But you know you listen
something you don't want
00:13:16.83\00:13:19.46
suddenly to interrupt
Jesus and ask questions.
00:13:19.47\00:13:23.00
But then they were
leaving Jerusalem--
00:13:23.01\00:13:24.78
by the way, this was
Jesus' last time in the temple.
00:13:24.79\00:13:30.11
Jesus is leaving. As
they were leaving the temple
00:13:30.12\00:13:32.77
we still have that original
stairways there in Jerusalem.
00:13:32.78\00:13:35.73
They were coming out
going through the door.
00:13:35.74\00:13:38.42
But disciples they
wanted to have a kind
00:13:38.43\00:13:41.46
to start
conversation with Jesus.
00:13:41.47\00:13:43.27
To ask him what he mean
00:13:43.28\00:13:44.27
"your house will
be left to desolate?"
00:13:44.28\00:13:46.64
And I would like
just to take some moments
00:13:46.65\00:13:48.75
to read the first three verses
because this is very important
00:13:48.76\00:13:51.60
to understand for
what is coming after that.
00:13:51.61\00:13:54.83
And just before we
read I want to make sure
00:13:54.84\00:13:56.40
we understand
Jesus did not give up.
00:13:56.41\00:13:58.61
Because he still
went to the cross.
00:13:58.62\00:14:01.06
For those very Pharisees.
00:14:01.07\00:14:02.64
For those very people
who were not responding
00:14:02.65\00:14:04.73
at that time,
many did respond later.
00:14:04.74\00:14:07.19
Mathew 24 verse 1,
"Jesus left the temple
00:14:07.20\00:14:10.75
and He is going away,
when his disciples came
00:14:10.76\00:14:12.77
to point out to Him the
buildings of the temple.
00:14:12.78\00:14:15.36
But he answered them,
'You see all these do you not.
00:14:15.37\00:14:19.37
Truly I said you
there were not be left here
00:14:19.38\00:14:22.82
one stone upon another that
will not be not be thrown.'"
00:14:22.83\00:14:25.90
What a shock it must have been.
00:14:25.91\00:14:27.70
And the verse 3, "As He
sat upon the Mount of Olives,
00:14:27.71\00:14:31.09
the disciples came to
him privately and saying,
00:14:31.10\00:14:33.20
'Tell us when will this
be. And what will be the signs
00:14:33.21\00:14:36.56
of your coming and of
the close of the age.'"
00:14:36.57\00:14:39.43
Let's deal with this
text after the break.
00:14:39.44\00:14:41.43
All right, Ranko, it's
so good to explore this.
00:14:41.44\00:14:45.11
You've stirred
up some questions.
00:14:45.12\00:14:46.48
We're gonna come
right back after our break
00:14:46.49\00:14:48.12
to go into one of these most
powerful chapters, Mathew 24.
00:14:48.13\00:14:51.58
You won't want to miss
this, we'll be right back.
00:14:51.59\00:14:53.86