NT Framework - Prejudiced Perspectives

What if the biggest barrier to understanding Jesus isn’t ignorance, but confidence in the wrong story? We dig into how bias, tradition, and expectations shape the way people read the Bible—and why those lenses often hide the Messiah in plain sight. 

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New TestamentFramework.
Today, the full lesson fromJeremy Thomas.
Here's a hint of what's to come.

SPEAKER_02 (00:10):
That's why I go verse by verse through things,
right?
So you can tell I'm not foolingwith you.
If I just did topical sermonsevery week, I could play with
your mind all I want to.
I mean, you'd be like, you know,like a sponge in my hand.
I could just squeeze youwhichever way I wanted to.
Why?
Because you don't see the orknow the previous context well
enough to know that I am givinga spin to the text.

SPEAKER_00 (00:31):
Every single one of us comes to the Bible, comes to
any situation really, with a setof beliefs that form how we act
and interact and interpret andrespond to different situations.
When we come to the Bible withthese preconceived notions, with
these prejudices, it really hasan impact on how we interpret

(00:54):
the Bible.
We see that in the Pharisees.
The people of Israel werelooking for a king.
They wanted Messiah king, theone that was going to overthrow
Rome and usher in this kingdom,this dominion of the Jewish
people over the earth.
And yet they could not see thatthe Messiah had to suffer first.

(01:20):
Because they didn't want to seeit, because they had a
prejudiced view of what God wastelling them in the Old
Testament.
This is why God says we need arenewing of our minds for every
believer today, everyunbeliever.
The first renewing is to repentand to believe in God.
Then the renewing is now we muststart to think like God so that

(01:43):
we can be more like God, be holyas He is holy.
And to do that, we need to cometo the Bible open-minded to hear
what it says, not to try andforce it into what we think it
says or what we want it to say.
Today we're going to look atmany examples of where people
came to Jesus with the wrongmindset because they had a

(02:08):
prejudiced view based on whatthey wanted the Bible to say.

SPEAKER_02 (02:13):
There was a couple of principles I wanted to put
before us to think about interms of the responses to Christ
and the cross.
One, of course, is the principlethat the word of God does not
return void.
And I said that's like adouble-edged sword, right?
Usually people say, well, Imean, you know, just preach the
word.
It's not going to return void.
There's always going to beresults.
And I'm like, yeah, there'salways going to be results.

(02:34):
Most of them are negativeresponses to the word of God.
You probably experienced thistoo in the workplace.
If you tried to work with peoplein evangelism and so forth, uh
most unbelievers tend to remainunbelievers.
But every once in a while, ofcourse, someone does believe in
Christ.
So the um it is it is a trueprinciple, but just remember
that it can often be depressingin a sense because so many

(02:57):
people respond unfavorablytoward Christ and the gospel.
Um that so there are tworesponses, unbelief and belief.
Um why do people reject Christand the cross?
Another reason is essentiallybecause, well, people are
sinners.
This is the truth from Genesis3, you know, at the fall, Adam

(03:17):
sinned, and all of us who are inAdam, which is the whole human
race, sinned in him, so we areconceived in sin and born in
sin, and you don't have to teachpeople how to sin.
They just naturally know how todo that because they have a
sinful nature within them thatlikes to express itself, and um,
they don't have any othercapacity to live as unbelievers.

(03:38):
Uh, you need the Holy Spirit tohave another capacity to live.
And so they are quite naturallynegative to God because sin is
opposed to God.
So they are sinners and theydon't want to be exposed, and so
they uh hide from God.
And so that's one of the reasonspeople reject the cross.
It's related to their sinfuldisposition toward God.

(04:00):
Also, of course, they view thecross as something that's not
humanly wise.
I mean, this guy died on across.
How does that have anything todo with sin?
The whole concepts ofrestitutionary justice are lost
in society for them for many,for most.
And so the concept that Christwas making a restitutionary
payment on the cross to pay thesin penalty of the world, then

(04:23):
it just strikes people as not awise plan.
Um it looks like weakness, youknow, someone who got killed
under the Roman Empire wascrucified in the most horrible
way.
Who would want to believe inthat guy?
Um, and then finally, you know,that the text teaches us in
Romans 1 and other places thatall people actually do know God,

(04:43):
you know, because God has madeit evident to them.
And yet what they do, in otherwords, to hide from God is they
reinterpret the data.
This is the constant thing thattranspires.
I mean, for us, we think it'sobvious.
You look out at the world, yousay, wow, I mean, this is
amazing.
Look at this.
Even though there's, you know,nature's not perfect, it
manifests the glory of God.

(05:04):
I mean, who could who could makea tree?
Who could build a star?
Who could do these verycomplicated uh things and make
these structures that we see?
And so we we all know that Godis there.
Even look at ourselves andrealize how complicated each one
of us is.
Just the design features.
So we all know God is there, thetext says, but men want to,

(05:26):
again, hide from God, and sothey do not give God the glory
for these things, so theyreinterpret all the data and
say, oh, well, that's MotherNature, or that's the
evolutionary story, or whatever.
And so all these are justmechanisms to hide from God.
But God has done something inChrist, but people don't have to
hide anymore.
He's made the way plain, he'smade it clear, and it's a free

(05:48):
salvation that's by gracethrough faith.
You just believe in the LordJesus Christ and you shall be
saved, right?
So there's really no reason notto, but people are still hiding
and rejecting him.
And today we wanted to look atthe responses to Christ and the
cross in the Gospels from bothuh Jews and Gentiles.
So I'll start with Jews, andwe'll start on the one side with
belief, then we'll move tounbelief, right?

(06:10):
So you've got uh I just groupedit into two groups, uh, those
who are prophets andprophetesses in the early pages
of the Gospels, and then youknow, your average people like
Joseph, Mary, uh, and thedisciples and so forth who had
believed or came to believe inhim.
So let's start with people likeSimeon and Anna.

(06:31):
Just look at Luke chapter 2,verse 25, and I'll make a note
here about prophets andprophetesses.
Um the Baptist came along.
John the Baptist is not thefirst prophet uh in the New
Testament.
Uh many think it is, becausehe's the one who introduced the

(06:54):
king, right?
And paved the way for the kingwith his message to the Jewish
people, they need to repent, forthe kingdom of God is at hand.
Um, but some 30 years beforethat, right, um, you have
Simeon, you have Anna, he was aprophet and a prophetess.
So the period of silence, okay,what we know is the

(07:15):
intertestamental times, theperiod between Malachi in your
Old Testament and Matthew inyour New Testament, there's
about 400 years between thosetwo books.
And the reason there's 400 yearsthere is because there were no
prophets.
We read, I don't know, way backwhen we were studying the
framework from the book ofMaccabees, just not because we

(07:36):
think it's inspired, but becausewe turned to it for some of the
historical background in thatperiod.
And they noted that there was noprophet living among them.
So they didn't know what to dowith certain stones of the
altar.
And so they said, well, we'lljust wait until a prophet comes
along.
So the point I'm making is thatthere were no prophets for about
400 years.
There's not always prophets, youknow, there's really only a few

(07:58):
uh periods where there'sprophets in history where God is
speaking through prophets.
One now is not one of thosetimes, by the way.
If you're in a new apostolicreformation or something like
that, no, there's no prophetstoday.
Um, but whenever there is, uhGod is on the move to do
something and give revelation.

(08:19):
Well, he's on the move here uhwith bringing the Messiah into
the world the first time withSimeon and Antis, so Anna.
So the uh that gift wasbeginning to be given again.
So Luke chapter 2, verse 25.
There was a man in Jerusalemwhose name was Simeon, and this
man was righteous and devout,looking for the consolation of
Israel, which would be theMessianic kingdom, when Israel

(08:41):
is no longer under oppression ofGentile kingdoms.
It says the Holy Spirit was uponhim, and it had been revealed to
him by the Holy Spirit that hewould not see death before he
had seen the Lord's Messiah.
And he came in the Spirit intothe temple, and when the parents
brought in the child Jesus tocarry him or uh carry uh out for
him the custom of the law, thenhe took him into his arms and

(09:02):
blessed God and said.
Now the narrative reads likeMary's carrying her baby, and
the guy just like swept her outof his arm.
Um it reads quick, and that'sthe point.
It's trying to convey umsomething that I guess most
mothers would say, What are youdoing?
You just stole my baby.
But uh, this is what he did, andhe blessed God with this babe in
his arms and says, Now, Lord,you are releasing your

(09:24):
bondservant to depart in peaceaccording to your word.
For my eyes have seen yoursalvation, which you have
prepared in the presence of allpeoples, a light of revelation
to the Gentiles and the glory ofyour people, Israel.
And his father and mother wereamazed at the things which were
being said about him.
And Simeon blessed them and saidto his mother, uh, to Mary, his
mother, Behold, this child isappointed for the fall and rise

(09:46):
of many.
There's the belief and unbelief.
See, there's the two sides ofthe word of God not returning
void, right?
For the fall and rise of many inIsrael, and for a sign to be
opposed, and a sword will pierceeven your own soul, Mary, to the
end that the thoughts from manyhearts may be revealed.
Like what is in your heart?
Uh, what is your response to thework of God in history, and uh

(10:09):
and especially the Messiah andhis crosswork of salvation?
Um, both Jews and Gentiles arementioned there too.
So Simeon is a positive responseof belief he was able to hold
and behold with his own eyesGod's salvation, right?
Anna is another one she shefollows in verses 36 through 38.

(10:32):
It says, uh there was aprophetess Anna, the daughter of
Fanuel, tribe of Asher, advancedin years, had lived with her
husband seven years after hermarriage.
Then, as a widow to the age ofeighty-four, she never left the
temple serving night and daywith fastings and prayers.
At that very moment she came up.
So it's notice how quick thenarrative is.
At that very moment, she came upand began giving thanks to God
and continued to speak of him toall who were looking for the

(10:54):
redemption of Jerusalem.
Uh well, the redemption ofJerusalem hinges entirely on the
Messiah, and um, she, as aprophetess, was looking forward
to him.
So they're both examples ofbelievers.
You also have uh your normalpeople like Joseph and Mary.
These are people who were livingrighteous lives in favor with
God and with men.
So, and they were looking forthe Messiah.

(11:15):
So you see people like Joseph,it calls him in Matthew 1.19 a
righteous man.
What does this mean?
Does this mean that he hadgained righteousness with God
and God had credited himrighteousness because he was so
great?
No.
It means that he was livingaccording to the law of Moses.
Whenever he sinned, what wouldhe do?
He would take the propersacrifice.
That's what it means to live arighteous law life under the

(11:36):
law.
He, um, like Psalm 119, he hewould have loved the word of God
and he was doing his best tofollow the word of God.
He was living a righteous lifein that sense.
But he still knew he needed arighteousness from the Messiah.
And of course, he was lookingforward to the Messiah, and uh,
but could not put his faith inhim until he came along.

(11:57):
But we would view him basicallyas someone like an Old Testament
believer, right?
Someone who's looking for theMessiah.
Mary would be the same way.
Luke 130, she found grace orfavor in the eyes of the Lord as
the conduit to bring the Messiahinto the world, right?
And uh, she's kind of taken ona, let's say, a more than
elevated position in sometheologies like Roman

(12:20):
Catholicism, where she's she'salmost a fourth member of the
Trinity, what we would call thequadrinity, then.
Um, but um, she shouldn't beplaced in or viewed that way.
But nevertheless, she did hold aplace of favor in God's plan in
that she would be the one tobring the Messiah into the

(12:40):
world.
So there were people who wereliving righteous lives.
There were people who didn'tfollow the Pharisees.
Um, while the Phariseesdominated the stage, and most
people did follow them, therewas always a believing remnant
of Israel.
And there will always be abelieving remnant of Israel
until one day the believingremnant of Israel becomes

(13:01):
equated with the whole nationIsrael.
And that's what we're stillawaiting.
And then, Romans 11, 26, allIsrael shall be saved, and
Christ will establish hiskingdom on earth.
So that's still future.
But until that time, there'salways a believing remnant.
It's the minority, uh, butthere's always a remnant.
And there was in the firstcentury when Christ was born.

(13:24):
So that's the response ofbelief.
Of course, we've got discipleslike um Peter and Thomas and
others, you know, who hadconversations about this.
Uh look at John 1, 45, 46.

SPEAKER_01 (13:40):
Gospel of John chapter 1, verse 45.
46.

SPEAKER_02 (13:49):
Well, 43.
Let's start in 43, 143.
The next day he purposed to gointo the Galilee, and he found
Philip, and Jesus said to him,Follow me.
Now Philip was from Bethsaida onthe city of the city of Andrew
and Peter.
Philip found Nathanael and saidto him, We have found him of
whom Moses in the law and alsothe prophets wrote Jesus of

(14:11):
Nazareth, the son of Joseph,which would be the messianic
line, that that seed line.
And Nathaniel said to him, Canany good thing come out of
Nazareth?
Philip said to him, Come andsee.
And so they did, uh, and theywere, of course, believing in
him.
Jesus says in verse 50, Jesusanswered and said to him,

(14:34):
Because I said to you, I saw youunder the fig tree, is that why
you believe?
Well, he was a believer.
That's the point we wanted tomake.
He had believed in him forrighteousness with God.
So you had the common Jewishpeople who did respond by
belief, did not follow thePharisees or Sadducees or
Zealots or Herodians, whateverlittle sect or group that uh you

(14:55):
find through the New Testamentthat Jews were a part of.
But you also find a prevailingunbelief, right?
Jesus comes on the stage,there's uh John the Baptist, and
John the Baptist is preparinghis way, right?
And he's trying to get thepeople ready for the Messiah.
So when the Messiah comes,they'll be able to greet and
welcome him, right?
Properly.

(15:15):
Even coronate him as king.
That's what John's role was.
But um, most people didn'trespond that way.
You've got the Pharisees and thescribes, and the Pharisees, they
are the prevailing group.
Okay, Sadducees were secondary,they were primarily around the
temple and controlled the templeand so forth.
But the Pharisees were spreadout throughout the land, and

(15:37):
they taught in all thesynagogues throughout the land.
So everybody was hearing insynagogue, you know, the
Pharisees would read uh Moses orthe prophets, and then they
would give an interpretation.
All right, much like we mightdo, except hopefully we don't
follow their method ofinterpretation.
So they weren't following theOld Testament.
Look at John chapter, I'm sorry,Matthew 5, Matthew chapter 5.

(16:02):
This is in the Sermon on theMount.
Well, obviously the most uhpopular, well-known teaching of
Jesus, Matthew 5, after theBeatitudes in verse uh 17, 18,
19, and 20.

(16:22):
So 5, 17.
Jesus said, Do not think that Icame to abolish the law or the
prophets.
I did not come to abolish them,but to fulfill them, to complete
them.
He's talking about uh messianicprophecies as well as the law
itself.
People were concerned that hewas doing away with the law
because his interpretations ofthe law were not those of the
Pharisees.

(16:43):
What are you trying to do awaywith the law?
No, he's not doing with the law.
He's coming to actually keep thelaw, to fulfill it, to complete
it.
Verse 18, for truly I say untoyou, until heaven and earth pass
away, not the smallest letter orstroke shall pass from the law
until all is accomplished.
Now he did accomplish it, heaccomplished it on the cross, he
fulfills the law.
But not by this point yet,right?

(17:04):
Verse 19 Whoever then annuls oneof the least of these
commandments under the law ofMoses and teaches others to do
the same.
Now, who was doing that?
By the way, what group was doingthat?
Who was annulling the laws ofMoses and who was teaching
others to annul the laws ofMoses?

(17:25):
Well, the Pharisees.
The Pharisees were doing that.
He says, if anybody does that,the same shall be called least
in the kingdom of heaven.
But whoever keeps and teachesthem, he shall be called great
in the kingdom of heaven.
And then he says, For I say toyou that unless your
righteousness surpasses that ofthe scribes and the Pharisees,
you will not enter the kingdomof heaven.
So are the scribes and Phariseesgoing to enter the kingdom of

(17:48):
heaven?
No.
No.
They teach men not to keep thelaws of Moses, but to, they,
through their interpretations,annulled them.
Okay?
And then Jesus goes, like, forexample, and we'll look at um,
let's see, which one do we wantto look at?

(18:08):
We'll look at uh 538.
538.
What Jesus will do is say, Youhave heard it said, meaning
you've been sitting in synagogueand you heard the Pharisees read
this text out of the OldTestament law, which is great.
That is the word of God, right?
But then they gave aninterpretation, and that's what
was at odds with the true intentof the Old Testament law.

(18:29):
So he'd say, You have heard itthat it was said, an eye for an
eye and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say to you, do not resistan evil person, but whoever
slaps you on your right cheek,turn to your other temb also.
If anyone wants to sue you andtake your shirt, let him have
your coat also.
Whoever forces you to go onemile, go with him too.
Give to him who asks of you, donot turn away from him who wants
to borrow from you.

(18:50):
And so uh the text is the text,eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
But the question was, what's theinterpretation of that text,
right?
And the Pharisees and scribesare going around synagogue
teaching, well, it means this.
And um Jesus said, No, this wasthe intent.
I think he should know he gavethe law on Mount Sinai.

(19:12):
So I think he knows what itmeans.
Um, so that's the name of thegame.
The name of the game was thePharisees and the Scribes were
sinful.
What does the sinful nature doto the text of the Bible?
It reinterprets it so it can, ina form, keep it.
So the Pharisees and thescribes, they kept everything
externally.

(19:33):
They didn't keep anythinginternally.
But the point of the law was toreach into our hearts, right?
Israel's hearts.
So they'd realize they didn'thave righteousness, that they
were sinners.
So they would believe in the onewho was going to come and bring
righteousness.
That's the Messiah.
That's the point of the law, oneof the major points or reasons
for the law.

(19:53):
But they externalized everythingand thought that they were
building righteousness with God.
It was a righteousness based onworks rather than God's point,
which was to show that you can'tkeep the law, therefore you have
to have faith righteousness,right?
So let's go to Mark chapter 7.
Because this same game is goingon today.
Okay, there's nothing new underthe sun.

(20:15):
People are still doing the samething with the Bible,
reinterpreting it to justifywhatever it is.
Mark chapter 7.
Notice verse 1, the Phariseesand the scribes have gathered

(20:35):
around Christ when they had comefrom Jerusalem.
And they had seen that some ofhis disciples were eating their
bread with impure hands, thatis, unwashed.
In other words, they did notfollow a ritual purity tradition
of the Pharisees, that Phariseesand Scribes required.
Okay, verse 3 is the note.

(20:56):
Uh, for the Pharisees and allthe Jews do not eat unless they
carefully wash their hands, thusobserving the traditions of the
elders.
Was this the law?
Or was it just tradition?
It's just tradition.
Tradition.
Okay, you've seen the movie,that's good.
And uh verse four, when theywhen they came, uh and when they

(21:16):
come from the marketplace, thisis another thing they do, they
do not eat unless they cleansethemselves, and there are many
other things which they havereceived in order to observe,
such as the washings of cups andpitchers and copper pots, and my
goodness gracious, these people.
Verse 5, the Pharisees and thescribes asked him, Oh, why do
your disciples not walkaccording to the tradition of
the elders, but eat their breadwith impure hands?

(21:36):
In other words, why don't theygo through all these ritual
procedures?
This is the traditions, right?
And he said to them, Rightly didIsaiah prophesy of you, you
hypocrites, as it is written,This people honors me with their
lips, but in their heart is faraway from me.
Okay?
In other words, see, externallyyou you honor me, but internally

(21:58):
you're nowhere near me.
Verse 7, but in vain do theyworship me, teaching as
doctrines the precepts of men.
See, these traditions were justthe precepts of men, they
weren't God's intent with thelaw.
He says, verse 8, neglecting thecommandment of God, you hold to
the tradition of men.
See what had happened?
They had, by keeping thetraditions of men, essentially

(22:23):
negated the word of God.
They were not keeping God'scommand.
He was also saying to them,verse 9, you are experts at
setting aside the commandment ofGod in order to keep your
tradition.
You're experts.
I mean, how good to become anexpert, what do you have to do?

(22:44):
Practice.
Practice, practice, practicelike your whole life has to be
about practicing how to do this.
What have they been doing theirwhole lives?
Practicing how to set aside thecommandments of God so they
could keep their tradition.
Verse 10 for Moses said, and hegives an example, okay?
The law of Corban, he gives anexample to show how they had a

(23:08):
tradition that allowed them toset aside the actual intent of
God's uh law, his commandment.
Okay.
Now, when you do that, if youneglect the commandments, you're
not keeping the commandments, ifyou're not keeping them, you're
doing what?
Sinning.
Sinning.
In the morning, if you practiceit, you become an expert at

(23:29):
setting aside the word of God,then guess what?
You're sinning all the time.
Sin, sin, sin, sin, sin, sin,sin, sin, sin, sin, that's all
it is, right?
Now, what does that do to you?
What is the effect of sin on aperson?
It hardens and blinds.
It hardens the heart, it blindsthe eyes, it deafens the ears.

(23:50):
And so the Pharisees in thegospels become known as the
blind, the leaders of the blind.
Um, because the people wouldfollow them.
So they became blind too,because they were taught how to
annul the commandments of God.
Even though they heard Mosesread every Sabbath in synagogue,

(24:13):
they didn't keep it.
And so they became they sinnedand more and more and became
blind.
And that is what blinded themfrom recognizing who he was,
recognizing who Jesus truly wasas the Messiah.
So this is amazing, right?
Because these are people whosaid, Oh, we believe the Bible,
we hold to the Old Testament.

(24:34):
I mean, my goodness, theymemorize a lot of them memorized
the first five books.
Have you memorized Genesis,Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy?
They memorized it, but theydidn't know it because they had
reinterpreted it and they heldto their quote-unquote
tradition.

(24:55):
Which were really a man.
Can people still do that todaywith the Bible?
Well, of course.
They do it all the time.
I mean, it's unbelievable.
That's why I go verse by versethrough things, right?
So you can tell I'm not foolingwith you.
If I just did topical sermonsevery week, I could play with
your mind all I want to.

(25:16):
I mean, you'd be like, you know,like a sponge in my hand.
I could just squeeze youwhichever way I wanted to.
Why?
Because you don't see the orknow the previous context well
enough to know that I am givinga spin to the text.
In fact, I used to teach someclasses in my first pastorate
where I would do topical things.
I still do topical at times, butI realized that very early on it

(25:38):
was very dangerous becausepeople were pulling texts out of
context in order to make themproof texts for certain
doctrines or ideas or theology.
And I realized how dangerous itwas.
And as I was studying andteaching, I was like, boy, this
is, I'm on, you know, unstableground.
I had to be very, very careful.
So that's when I got into uh myinterest became what are book

(26:01):
arguments?
Like, what's the book argumentof Ephesians?
What's the book argument ofColossians?
And so forth.
That way, when I'm in a text inthose books, I know the overall
argument, and I'm not, I'm notable to stretch a verse, or, you
know, they're not like rubber.
You're not supposed to stretchverses to fit what you want.

(26:21):
The author's using it in aparticular way, but I realize
very easily people canmanipulate verses when they're
taken out of verse, out ofcontext.
So I realize the value of bookarguments, and that's what I try
to teach you.
And that's what my commentariesthat I'm writing are written for
book argument purposes, sopeople can't manipulate verses
and manipulate you or debate,you know, points that are

(26:43):
irrelevant in the context.
I mean, it's just honestly now,so much of the arguments that
people argue, this verse, thatverse, it's just it's dumb to
me.
It's really dumb.
I don't I really don't even wantto give it five seconds worth of
time.
Um, because they're just well,you just lifted that right out
of the context.
That's ridiculous.
Um, that was not his point atall.

(27:04):
And that's exactly what thePharisees had done, right?
They had manipulated the word ofGod to uphold their traditions.
In that way, they thought thatthey were gaining righteousness
with God.
And they didn't have to dealwith their sin, the sin problem
that we all have, which, ifthey'd been honest with the
text, they would have had toadmit we fall short of the glory
of God.

(27:24):
And we need to wait for theMessiah and put our faith in him
because he's going to be the onewho gives us his righteousness.
That's how we get right withGod.
Right?
But you can see what they did,and now everybody is blinded in
the first century, most peopleat least.
So let's turn to Acts 13 27.

(27:45):
Acts 13 27.
Notice what Paul says in one ofhis earliest sermons on his
first missionary journey.
He's gone to Poseidon Antioch,and he has gone out from there,
and now he's uh preaching inthis sermon in verse 26.

(28:06):
Brethren, sons of Abraham'sfamily, so these are Jews,
right?
And those among you who fearGod, so there's some Gentile God
fearers there.
To us the message of thissalvation has been sent.
For those who live in Jerusalemand their rulers, recognizing
neither him nor the utterancesof the prophets, which are read
every Sabbath, fulfilled thesescriptures by condemning him.

(28:29):
Do you see the irony?
You did they did not recognizehim or the utterances of the
prophets which are read everysingle Sabbath.
That's how how could you dothat?
How could you not recognize him?
How could you not recognize theutterances?
Because every time they heardMoses, they read in their

(28:52):
tradition.
We are also, we can be guilty ofthis.
We have certain theology in ourmind.
We come to a text, we say, Yeah,that agrees with my mind.
Maybe you read it into the text.
I've been guilty of it.
I know I've been guilty of it.

(29:14):
It's very hard to shed yourtheological bias and read the
text objectively for what itteaches.
But it's obvious it can be done.
To the point that they didn'teven know who the Messiah was
and they had no clue what Mosestaught.
It's a little bit unnerving.

(29:35):
Um so letter B here.
Popular views of the Bible werea distortion.
Here's another thing that wenton among the Jews and why they
didn't believe Jesus was theMessiah.
If you have uh Old Testamentprophecy, there are two types of

(29:56):
prophecies.
There are those that prophesy ofthe glories.
That are to come and thesufferings that Messiah had to
go through.
Now they were looking this way,and they couldn't see the
sufferings in the Old Testament,but all they saw was the
glories.
So when the Messiah came, whatdid they expect?

(30:16):
He's going to usher in thekingdom, he's going to defeat
the Roman Empire and set up hiskingdom.
So they're all looking at theglories.
And they're not seeing that theOld Testament also prophesied
his suffering.
1 Peter talks about this.
So let's look at 1 Peter chapter1, verse 10 and 11.
In other words, this meant thatthey had a distorted view,

(30:36):
right?
They didn't have the totalpicture.
1 Peter chapter 1.

SPEAKER_01 (30:46):
Verse 10.

SPEAKER_02 (30:49):
Now this talks about the prophets.
They talked about both, right?
But they didn't understand howit all fit together in the
Messiah.
But by the time of the NewTestament, I mean they're just
looking for the glories.
You know, why can't you come anddestroy the Roman Empire and
just bring in the kingdom?
If you're really the Messiah,that's what you do.
They had the wrong, what I callmessianic profile.
It was only a half profile.

(31:09):
Verse 10 As to this salvation,the prophets who prophesied of
the grace that would come to youmade careful searches and
inquiries.
It's the Old Testament prophets,okay, they're trying to
understand the Old Testamentprophecies.
Verse 11, seeking to know whatperson or time the Spirit of
Christ within them wasindicating as he predicted the
sufferings of Christ and theglories to follow.

(31:31):
So we know the Old Testamentpredicted both the sufferings as
well as the glories to follow.
But in the New Testament pages,in the Gospels, they're thinking
only of the glories to follow.
And they're thinking, if you'rereally the Messiah, why haven't
you taken care of the RomanEmpire?

SPEAKER_01 (31:50):
Okay, to see this, let's turn to, let's see, let me
go back.
Let's go look at Luke 1.

SPEAKER_02 (32:04):
Oh, no, let's go to Luke 24.
Same book, just different.
Luke 24.
This is on the road to Emmauswhen Jesus was talking with
these guys.
Remember, they didn't recognizehim, right?

SPEAKER_01 (32:17):
Luke 24, 19 to 21.
19.

SPEAKER_02 (32:30):
And he said to them as walking along, you know, what
things?
You know, what things have beengoing on around Jerusalem?
What things are you talkingabout?
And they said to him, Well, thethings about Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet, mighty indeedand word in the sight of God and
all the people.
And now the chief priests andour rulers delivered him to the
sentence of death and crucifiedhim.
But we were hoping it was he whowas going to redeem Israel.

(32:54):
We thought it was going to behim, but well, he's dead now.
We thought he was going to dowhat?
We thought he was the one whowas going to bring in the
glories of the kingdom.
But he died.
See how they didn't have theright profile or expectation of
the Messiah?

(33:14):
This is one of the reasons theyrejected him.
The Gospel of Matthew is writtenfor this entire purpose, okay?
Because you have a group of Jewswho do believe in him.
You know, Matthew, the otherguys, the apostles, and so
forth, other people.
But after Jesus died, he wasresurrected, we know, and he
ascended, right?
Well, unbelievers would say toJews, now, why are you believing

(33:39):
that Jesus is the Messiah ifMessiah's kingdom isn't here?
This was the early argument madeagainst Jesus being the Messiah
by Jews.
Why are you believing Jesus isthe Messiah if Messiah's kingdom
is not here?
So the Gospel of Matthew waswritten for that purpose.
That is the entire purpose ofthe Gospel of Matthew.

(34:01):
To explain how Jesus actually isthe Messiah and how the kingdom
was offered.
But the reason it's not here isbecause you rejected your
Messiah.
That's why the kingdom didn'tcome.
So that in a nutshell is thewhole argument of the Gospel of
Matthew.
And early Jews had to deal withthat argument that Jesus
couldn't be Messiah becauseMessiah's glorious kingdom isn't

(34:23):
here.
They didn't read the OldTestament right, though, because
the Old Testament predicted thatfirst he must suffer and then
reign in glory.
And we know how it works out.
He actually comes twice, right?
His first coming was to sufferon behalf of sin.
His second coming is to judgehis enemies and reign in glory.

SPEAKER_01 (34:44):
But they missed it.
Oh, another one.

SPEAKER_02 (34:49):
They would not repent.
Letter C.
Yet repentance was necessarybecause they were blind.
How do you get your blindnessremoved?
Well, you have to repent.
What does that mean?
It means you have to have achange of mind.
See, the Pharisees again, onceagain, and really what I'm doing
is just trying to help teach youhow to read the Gospels.
The Pharisees, again, they'reover here keeping the law

(35:11):
externally, trying to gainrighteousness with God through
works.
Right?
John the Baptist comes along,Matthew 3, which we'll turn to,
Matthew 3, and he says, repent,right?
Well, what do they need torepent?
Okay, repent doesn't mean turnfrom your sins, it means have a
change of mind about the sourceof righteousness with God.

(35:32):
How do you get righteousnesswith God?
Their idea, their thinking was,well, we have the law and we
have it codified in tradition,and if we keep those traditions,
we're gaining merit with God.
It's by works.
That's how we get right withrighteousness with God.
What is John the Baptist saying?

(35:53):
No.
No, that's not how you getrighteousness with God.
So let's look at Matthew chapter3.
They need to repent of the ideathat righteousness is by works,
and they need to come to an ideathat it's by faith in the
Messiah.
That's the only way to get rightwith God.
So Matthew chapter 3, you see,these uh in those days John the

(36:17):
Baptist came preaching in thewilderness of Judea, saying,
Repent for the kingdom of heavenis at hand.
That means it's imminent, likeit can come if the condition is
met, which in this case was thenation would need to repent of
the idea that righteousnesscomes through works of the law.
He says, For this is the onereferred to by Isaiah the
prophet.

(36:37):
John was the one prophesied,right?
The voice of one crying in thewilderness, make ready the way
for the Lord, make his pathstraight.
In other words, when a kingwould come to visit a city,
there would be people that wouldgo out and they would prepare
the way because it was a greatentourage that was about to
enter the city.
So everything would be cleanedup, everything would be made
nice.
Why?
So the people could line up onthe side of the street and

(36:59):
welcome the king.
Well, he's trying to get theirhearts prepared for the king.
That was John's purpose, right?
To welcome him.
It then describes, you know,John, you know, his odd dress,
you know, garment of camel'shair, and he eats locusts and
wild honey.
He's kind of an odd figure, youknow, everybody'd be like, who's
this guy?
And that was the point, youknow, is to gain attention.

(37:19):
Not to him, but to the messagethat he had.
And they were down at the bat uhthe river Jordan, right, in
verse 6.
He's baptizing those as theyconfess their sins.
But then look, verse 7.
When he saw many of thePharisees and Sadducees coming
for baptism, he said to them,You brood of vipers.

SPEAKER_01 (37:40):
Um snakes.

SPEAKER_02 (37:43):
What's the first picture of a serpent or snake
that you get in the Bible?
Satan.
That's what he's calling them.
You children of Satan.
That's what he's saying.
Who warned you to flee from thewrath to come?
Therefore, bear fruit in keepingwith repentance.
See, their fruit was just atradition.

(38:04):
That's not God doesn't careabout that.
He's upset about it.
He's mad about that, actually.
It was all sin, right?
They needed to repent, right?
I mean, if you're really comingout here to be baptized, to be
identified with my message thatthe kingdom's at hand and the
Messiah's about to be here, youmight want to have a change of
mind about the source ofrighteousness, because the one
I'm introducing is the Messiahand he is our righteousness.

(38:26):
And you're not on that page,guys.
So what are you doing coming outhere?
You snakes?
Now, John wasn't exactly themost popular preacher.
And we call him a fire brimstonetype.
So he says, bear fruit andkeeping with repentance.
And you would really want to getbaptized, actually repent.

(38:47):
Change your mind about thesource of righteousness.
And don't suppose you can say toyourself, Well, we have Abraham
for our father, so we're we'rein like flam.
No.
You can't.
That's what they thought, see?
We're physical descendants ofAbraham.
We're all good.
It's the Gentiles that have aproblem.
Their theology was absolutelyterrible.

(39:08):
So you see them in unbelief.
They don't want to repent,right?
They're under the wrath of God.
Let's turn over to Acts 19.4.
Because here's where Paulinterprets exactly what John's
ministry was all about.
Why was he out baptizing at theJordan?

(39:29):
Why was he telling them torepent and so forth?
Acts 19.4, he tells us exactlywhat John was doing.
Paul said to uh, this is like 12Jews or something, he meant
outside Ephesus, some disciples,he said, John baptized with the
baptism of repentance, which iswhat we just looked at, right?

(39:50):
Telling the people to do what?
Believe in him who was comingafter him.
That is, in Jesus.
That's what his whole purposewas.
Why do you need to believe inJesus?
Because you can't getrighteousness by keeping the
law.
It's that simple.
And that's what the Phariseesand scribes were trying to do.

(40:11):
And so they did not come to himby faith.
They wanted to do it by theirown works.
This was a problem.
Is this a problem today?
People saying, well, I'm goodenough, I've got enough works.
I mean, in the end, God willsay, Well, you did more good
than bad, therefore he'll acceptme.
Sure, that's very super common.
That's the way most peoplethink.
Where is justice in that?

(40:32):
I mean, if you if you have donesin, I mean, shouldn't there be
some judgment on that sin?
Well, we all say, well, yeah.
Well, then why did Christ come?
To pay the penalty for thosesins, right?
So that we can freely by faithcome to him and have salvation.
Okay?
But in the idea that, well, it'sjust my works, good works versus

(40:52):
my bad works, but you've neveraccepted Christ's payment for
your sins, these sins still haveto be dealt with, then.
You decided not to accept hispayment.
So what?
You're gonna die in your sins.
That's what the text says, John8.
So um let's go to Romans 9.
Romans 9, verse 30 to 33.

(41:14):
This this is what caused them tostumble over the Messiah.
The Messiah came, he's offeringhis righteousness to them if
they just believe, but they'retrying to do works
righteousness, and so theydon't, they stumble over him.
Romans 9 30.
What shall we say then?
That Gentiles who did not pursuerighteousness, he's talking
about righteousness by works,they didn't pursue it by work,

(41:37):
attained righteousness, but theyattained even the righteousness
which is by faith.
That's how they attained it.
But Israel, pursuing a law ofrighteousness, did not arrive at
that law.
See, they tried to meet thestandard of a law of
righteousness to be becomerighteous with God by their own
works, but he says they didn'tarrive at righteousness.
Why?
Because they did not pursue itby faith, but as though it were

(41:59):
by works.
As a result, what?
They stumbled over the stumblingstone who is Messiah.
And that's what Paul was sayingin Acts 13.
He says, They hear the law weekin, week out, and yet
ironically, they ended upfulfilling it themselves by
rejecting the Messiah.
They stumbled over the stumblingstone, didn't they?

(42:19):
See, as long as a person is inworks mode, they're going to
stumble over the Messiah,because the Messiah is saying
what?
Your works don't count.
It's my work and my work alone.
He said, I am the way, I am thetruth, I am the life.
No one comes to the Father butwhat?
By me.

(42:39):
Not by my works plus me, or yourworks plus me.
No, not your works plus me.
It's just by me alone.
There is no other name underheaven by which men may be saved
than by the name of what?
Jesus and Jeremy Thomas?
Jesus and put your name inthere?
Jesus and put everybody's namein there, collective good works?
No.

(43:00):
Jesus alone.
That's the only way.
You say, but I've done good.
Sorry.
It doesn't count with God.
It doesn't merit hisrighteousness being given to
you.
Only Christ's work, because ourwork is all tainted.
Paul even says, I don't evenknow, I don't even judge myself
because I don't know all mymotives.

(43:20):
Do you know all your motives?
Have you been able to search thedepths of your heart and know
everything, every good thing youever did had a perfectly good
motive behind it?
No, you can't.
You can't, we we can't evenevaluate ourselves that well.
We could have mixed motives inourselves.
We're sinners, that's theproblem.
We need someone to come pay ourdebt.

(43:41):
And Christ did it.
He paid it in full.
But they were still trying byworks, right?
E.
They rejected the word of God.
Acts 13, 46.
They didn't perceive theirsinful condition and their need
for eternal life.
Acts 13, 46.
I mean, if you think you're goodenough, if you really think

(44:03):
you're a good person, I mean thePharisees, they thought they
were good.
If you really think you're agood person, right, then you're
not going to see your need foreternal life.
Because you're going to think,well, I'm good enough.
13.46.
Paul and Barnabas spoke outboldly and said, It was
necessary the word of God bespoken to you, that's to the

(44:23):
Jews, first.
But you repudiate it and judgeyourselves unworthy of eternal
life.
See, they judge themselvesunworthy of eternal life because
they thought, well, we're goodenough in and of ourselves.
So then he turned to theGentiles.
And they wanted it.
Boy, the Gentiles realized theywere sinners.

(44:45):
They were anxious for salvation.
Now the nation of Israel todayis still in unbelief.
Okay.
But whenever a Jew turns to theLord, guess what?
They're saved.
2 Corinthians 3 15 to 16.
And it says the veil is removed.
You know, it's like there's aveil over their eyes or over
their heart, and they can't see.

(45:05):
But it says, whenever theybelieve in the Lord, they
believe in the Lord JesusChrist, the veil is lifted.
It's like they see.
And you know, there are Jewishbelievers today.
They're not a lot, but I meanthere's Jewish believers in the
land.
There's we're talking right nowin our deacons about supporting

(45:26):
Jewish believers in the land.
Um some of them are, as we'vebeen reading about different
ministries that are to Jewishbelievers in the land, they're
members of the IDF and theyminister within their you know
their platoons and theirbattalions and all that.
Um and it's tough for thembecause for a Jew to believe in

(45:46):
Jesus today, if a Jew believesin Jesus, especially in the
land, that most other Jews,secular Jews, consider you
committing treason against theJewish people because they think
you're becoming a non-Jew.
In other words, they think thatby becoming a Christian, you are
becoming, you're rejecting yourJewishness.

(46:07):
That's not true.
Paul was a Jewish believer, andhe didn't say, I'm no longer a
Jew.
He said in Romans 9:1, I am aJew.
He was a Jewish believer.
Some people call him todaymessianic believers or messianic
Jews.
Um they still maintain theirracial heritage as Jewish
people, as descendants ofAbraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

(46:29):
right?
Jesus was a Jew, right?
Salvation is of the Jews, John4.
So when a Jew believes in Jesus,they don't become a non-Jew,
they become what I call acompleted Jew.
Because a completed Jew is onewho believes in their Messiah,
Jesus, who is a Jew.

(46:50):
Which is the true purpose thatGod had for the Jewish people,
that they believe in theirMessiah.
So we have those believerstoday, they're known as the
remnant, right?
And there will always be aremnant.
Okay, Romans 11.
In fact, Romans 11, 1 through 10can make you could make the
argument that if there is a timeon earth when there is not one
single Jewish believer, Godwould destroy the Jews.

(47:19):
Now that'll never happen becausehe made covenant promises.
This is why, by the way, if youwant to know one of the
intricacies of my theology thatI've never told you, I believe
that after the rapture happens,the moment the rapture happens,
I believe that the 144,000basically come to salvation
almost at an instant in time.
But that's just my belief.

(47:40):
There's nothing hard behindthat, it's just some data points
that try to put together.
Um, so for the most part, thenation of Israel letter G here
is partially hardened, and theywill be Romans 11, 26, until the
fullness of the Gentiles comein, and then all Israel will be
saved.
So after the church is gone, andthen you know, the 144,000 and

(48:00):
the two witnesses and all that,um, by the end of all those
events in what we call the 70thweek of Daniel, the nation of
Israel will be saved, theMessiah will return, and usher
in the glories to follow, right?
The kingdom to come.
But these are the two responsesof the Jews, okay, belief and
unbelief.
For the most part, unbelief.
But we can understand they'vebeen partially hardened, right?

(48:24):
Due to their uh generationalrejection that's continued every
generation since the Messiah.
Um, but if a Jew turns to theLord, they're saved.
This is good.
As far as Gentiles, interestingstory in the Gospels.
Um, of course, we have the firstthe side of belief and then
unbelief.

(48:44):
So as far as belief, veryinteresting stories, right?
The wise men in chapter 2 ofMatthew, I mean, this is right
near the birth, after the birth,right?
Not immediate, not when theshepherds were there, but
several months later, more thanlikely.
Here come the wise men fromBabylon.
Huh?

SPEAKER_01 (49:01):
Who are these people?
And how did they know that hewas born?

SPEAKER_02 (49:08):
Right, and this is the story of the star, right?
And trace back to Numbers 24,trace this to the story in the
time of Daniel when Daniel wasin the Babylonian uh empire, he
was raised up high in thegovernment, he saved all the uh
sorcerers and diviners andsoothsayers that that worked for
King Nebuchadnezzar, and hebecame the head of the whole

(49:30):
school of astronomers.
And uh that's when a lot ofthose men believed and their
families, because Daniel wasinstrumental by God in rescuing
those men from slaughter.
And now here we are, six almostsix centuries later, right?
In a group from the exact samearea, the wise men, to seek him,

(49:53):
born king of the Jews, right?
So there's an interesting story.
Do you think they believed inhim?
Well, yeah, I mean, absolutely,they were looking for him.
The star, that was Numbers 24,Shekinah glory.
Okay, it's another story, butum, but you have a good response
here in Matthew 2.
So interestingly, uh it's thefirst response you see is is not

(50:16):
Jewish, right?
It's a Gentile response.
Gentiles are respondingpositively to him.
This is one of the sub-themes inMatthew's gospel.
Remember, I said Matthew'sgospel is teaching us that uh is
it is an answer for Jews whosaid, Well, if Jesus is really
the Messiah, where is hiskingdom?
Answer that one.

(50:36):
Matthew is answering that one.
His answer is he's not hiskingdom's not here because you
rejected you.
In the midst of that argument,he makes plugs for Gentiles
responding positively.
There are three of them.
The wise men in chapter two, thecenturion in chapter eight, and

(50:58):
the Syrophenician woman inchapter uh 15.
Okay.
And what's he doing?
He's getting us ready for thatstatement at the end of Matthew,
where he says, the GreatCommission, right?
Go to all what nations and makedisciples, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, the Son, andthe Holy Spirit, and teaching
them all that I've commandedyou, and lo, I'm with you even
to the end of the age.

(51:19):
Right?
It's preparatory for thisstatement because when Christ
comes on the scene, it's Israel,Israel, Israel.
Wasn't John the Baptist sayingto Israel, Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand?
That was for Israel, right?
Even in Matthew 10, verses 5 and6, he says, Do not go in the way
of the Gentiles.
Do not get on any road that goesto Samaria, but go only to the

(51:41):
lost sheep of the house of who?
Israel.
Why?
Because Israel was to be offeredthe kingdom first.
Upon their rejection, whathappens?
Well, we've already been seeingthat Gentiles are responding
positively.
You get the Great Commission atthe end of that.
It says, go to all nations now.
Go to all nations.
So there's a shift in God'swork.

(52:01):
So you have these Gentilesresponding positively.
The centurion over in Matthew 8,let's look at that one.
This is a great one.
Centurions, you know, they werepart of the army, right?
Roman army.
Did they know anything aboutauthority?
Oh, yeah, I think you do if yougo in the military.

(52:22):
You're trained in authorityorientation.
These were the types of peoplethat, both here and in the book
of Acts, the centurion in Actschapter 10, they responded super
well to the gospel.
So Matthew chapter 8, verse 5,when Jesus entered Capernaum, a
centurion came to him, imploringhim and saying, Lord, my servant
is lying paralyzed at home,fearfully tormented.

(52:44):
And Jesus said to him, I willcome and I will heal him.
I'll come right to your house.
But the centurion said, Lord,I'm not worthy for you to come
under my roof.
Just say the word.
And my servant will be healed.
Just say the word.
That's all you have to do.
Just say the word.
You don't need to come to myhouse.
Just say the word.
You're Lord over everything.
All you have to do is just say aword.
You created by your own word.

(53:04):
You don't need to come anywhere.
You just say it is done.
He says, Because I'm a man underauthority.
I have soldiers under me.
I say to this one, you go, andhe does it.
And to another, come, and hecomes.
And he and to my slave, do this,and he does it.
Now, when Jesus heard this, hemarveled.

(53:25):
And you do know Jesus onlymarvels like three times in the
entire gospel.
This is one of them.
And he said to those who arefollowing, Truly I say to you, I
have not found such great faithwith anyone in the entirety of
Israel.
You think that wasn't a slap inthe face to every Jew who heard
this?
Gentiles?

(53:46):
The dogs?
The people they considered thescum of the earth?
One of them had greater faiththan anyone in our entire
nation.
Yo, you better believe it was aslap in the face.
Jesus didn't get up and givefeel-good sermons.
He gave it straight.
And if people didn't like it,they needed to adjust to him,

(54:07):
not to their little feeling.
Right?
What he says is what matters.
And this guy got it.
I say to you, he says, Many aregoing to come from the east and
the west.
These are Gentiles, and they'regoing to recline at the table
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacobin the kingdom of heaven.
But the sons of the kingdom,this is the natural ones who
should have been responding tohim, Israel, will be cast into

(54:29):
the outer darkness.
In that place there'll beweeping and gnashing of teeth.
And Jesus said to the centurion,Go, it's done for you.
Just as you believe.

(54:55):
Matthew chapter 15, verse 21 to28.
She understood.
She understood.
Matthew 15, 21.
Jesus went from there and hewithdrew into the district of
Tyre and Sidon.
This is basically a pagan place.
Look who's there.
Verse 22, a Canaanite woman.
Remember them from the OldTestament?

(55:15):
The Canaanites?
Those who are basically asociety that was totally
overtaken by sex.
Just totally overtaken by sex.
And so there's this woman fromthis culture, and she came out
and she began to cry out saying,Have mercy on me, Lord.
Look at this.
Look at this.
Have mercy on me.

(55:38):
Son of David, we know who thatis.
That's the Messiah.
That's a messianic title.
My daughter is cruellydemon-possessed, but he did not
answer her a word.
He just totally ignored her.
Most people say, Well, Jesusdidn't have good manners.
Well, Jesus was on a mission.
He knew what he was doing.
His disciples came and imploredhim, saying, Can you just send
this lady away?
She just keeps shouting at us.
What an annoyance, right?

(55:59):
But he answered and said to her,I was sent only to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel.
That's it, that's my mission.
But she came and she began tobow down before him, saying,
Lord, help me.
Now notice, first of all, Jesusdoesn't waste resources.
He's busy.
He has a task, he has a mission,and he's not going to waste his
resources on something else.
See?
He is very purpose-driven.

(56:20):
We maybe learn a lesson fromthis, right?
But some of us take this, we go,whoa, he's being really rough
with this lady.
But let's just see what happens.
He answered, uh, I've been sentonly to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel.
She came and she began to bowdown before him, saying, Lord,
help me.
And you can hear, right?
The pain, the suffering, thehurt from the problem of sin,

(56:43):
right?
And this issue with the demonpossession of her daughter.
And he answered and said, It'snot good to take the children's
bread and throw it to the dogs.
Now, how would you like that?
Most people today, I'm justleaving.
I can't believe in this Jesuscharacter.
He's meanie.
Oh, I'm sorry about yourfeelings again.

(57:04):
Jesus didn't care.
But she said, Yes, Lord, buteven the dogs feed on the crumbs
that would fall from the mastertable.
Then Jesus said to her, Oh,woman, your faith is great.
It shall be done for you as youwish.
And her daughter was healedinstantaneously.

SPEAKER_01 (57:23):
See?
See, this lady knew that he wasthe only hope in the situation.

SPEAKER_02 (57:33):
And so what did she do?
She wouldn't give up pursuinghim and crying out, I I need
help.
Help me.
I need your mercy.
Isn't that the right response?
And that's a Gentile.
She understood this is He's theway.
He's the one.
So given as a picture.

(57:53):
So, and then in the book ofActs, you have an interesting
group.
Okay, of course, you've got Jewsin the synagogue, and you've got
proselytes to Judaism.
These are other Gentiles who hadjoined themselves to Judaism by
becoming circumcised.
When you got circumcised, thatput you under the law, Galatians
5, 1 through 3.
So once you get circumcised,then cut around, peritome.

(58:16):
So once you get circumcised, youare under the law.
In other words, you're supposedto keep the law of Moses.
But if you were a God fearer, athird group, you did not undergo
circumcision.
You were what we call on thefringe of Judaism.
So they didn't undergocircumcision and they're not
under the law.
Okay.

(58:36):
These people in the book of Actshave a very positive response to
the gospel.
I think it's because they werenot encumbered by the law.
They had not taken that step.
They were not thinking in termsof keep the law for works of
righteousness.
And because they weren'tencumbered by that theology,
they'd not totally bought intoit yet and got circumcised.

(58:58):
Because once you getcircumcised, guys, I mean, you
kind of taken a big step there,boys.
Let me tell you.
That's a big step.
Any surgery is a big step.
But they hadn't taken that step.
So they were totally open tofaith righteousness, see?
And that's why you see thatgroup uniquely in the book of
Acts that's responding to theMessiahship of Jesus and his

(59:21):
death and resurrection.
So that's kind of a wonderfulstory.
But then we have unbelief, andwe won't go into it today.
But I do want to bring us tomodern reasons that have crept
into the church.
But as far as first centuryreasons, they just thought it
was a foolish message.
This guy who was crucified onthe unlucky tree and something

(59:47):
about a resurrection.
I don't know about that.
Nobody can be resurrected fromthe dead.
People just at the time justthought it was foolish.
Just a silly message.
But the modern reasons are quitedifferent.
And so I'll just prep you.
It's the idea that the cross isnot necessary because God is
love.
That's the fundamental idea thatis prevalent in liberal

(01:00:10):
Christian and in someevangelical Christian movements.
It's this idea that because Godis love, he's not going to
require this substitutionaryblood sacrifice to atone for
sins.
All that is needed isrepentance.
If you repent, that atones foryour sins.

(01:00:31):
If you repent, that atones foryour sins.
Well, if repentance atones foryour sins, do you need Jesus
Christ to atone for him on thecross?
No.
It becomes unnecessary.
By the way, that is the exactbelief of Judaism today.
They celebrate every year.
Right?
We had a little book about itgrowing up.

(01:00:51):
It's the book with the bird.
Y'all remember that book?
Anyway.
I think it's it Yom Kippur.
But the what you're supposed todo on Yom Kippur is repent of
your sins.
Why?
Because that atones for yoursins.
Repentance atones for your sins.
That's present in Christianity.
That's present in Judaism.

(01:01:13):
Okay?
And that's why they don't thinkthat Jesus is necessary.
And what Jesus did on the crosswas necessary.
Because all we need to do isjust repent.
And if we repent, that's goodenough.
God will accept our repentanceas our atonement for our sins
and welcome us.
But all that means is Galatians2.21.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:32):
We'll just finish with this, Galatians 2.21.
Galatians 2.21.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:48):
It's all a you know work system.
If I repent, you know, then Iget atonement.
I don't nullify the grace ofGod, says Paul.
Because if righteousness comesthrough the law, if in other
words, if righteousness comesthrough works, then what?
Christ died for no purpose.
It's totally a waste of time.
It doesn't mean anything.
This is totally needless.

(01:02:08):
Because what?
Well, because I can repent ofany bad works.
My good works are, those aregood.
The bad works I just repent of,atone for my sins.
I'm good with God.
Paul says, nope, that won'twork.
Christ died needlessly then.
There's no purpose of the crossanymore.
You erased it entirely.
So we'll deal with that nextweek and talking about why
repentance is not what atonesfor our sins and why God can't

(01:02:31):
just save out of his love.
That's what a lot of peoplethink.
Well, God is so great in hislove, he'll just save us if he
wants.
It doesn't work like that.
God's justice must be satisfied.
This is the key idea.
God is love, yes.
But he's also just, right?
In fact, it's out of his lovethat he sent his son to pay the
penalty so he would be just inthe justifier of the one who has

(01:02:55):
faith in Christ.
So both love and justice arethere, right?
For God so loved the world,right?
John 3.16, but also Romans 3.26,that he is just and the
justifier of the one who hasfaith in him.
See, it's both.
God never sets aside any of hischaracteristics.
He's always consistent withinhimself.

(01:03:16):
And uh we we um are by his mercyhealed, right?
We're saved.

SPEAKER_00 (01:03:22):
Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls
with Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today's lessonproductive and useful in growing

(01:03:43):
closer to God and walking moreobediently with Him.
If you found this podcast to beuseful and helpful, then please
consider rating us in yourfavorite podcast app.
And until next time, we hope youhave a blessed and wonderful
day.