November 26, 2025 • 38 mins
Though Hebrews 6 unpacks six core principles—repentance from dead works, faith toward God, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment—that trace the believer’s life from new birth to final destiny, we hone in our focus on Eternal Judgment.
We press into the hard but hopeful truth: judgment begins in the house of God. Ezekiel 34 confronts shepherds who feed themselves while neglecting the weak, and that pattern still speaks today. Then we follow Jesus’ strategy in Matthew 10: seek the “worthy,” let peace rest where the message is received, and shake the dust where it is not. Worthiness is not status; it’s reception. As Christ later pronounces woes on cities that witnessed miracles yet refused to repent, the stakes become clear—greater light brings greater responsibility. Rejecting the messenger means rejecting the One who sent him, and reception brings the first blessing of peace and hope.
We also hold up a mirror to our religious reflexes. Jesus names the Pharisees’ hypocrisy: heavy burdens, polished appearances, fixation on tithes while ignoring justice, mercy, and faith. That indictment challenges modern church culture to lift burdens, prioritize the wounded, and keep the weightier matters central. The call is simple and searching: preach the gospel, discern hunger, invest where the word is received, and move on without rancor. For every listener wrestling with spiritual leadership, mission, and endurance, this conversation offers clarity, courage, and a path toward the resurrection of the just.
"Message Our Father's Heart a Question or Response"
Thank you so much for listening and sharing with others!
We would very much appreciate you continuing to FOLLOW, SUBSCRIBE, and LIKE us through any of the following platforms:
Substack: https://ourfathersheart.substack.com/
Website: ourfathersheart.org
Podcast: https://ourfathersheart.buzzsprout.com/share
Twitter: https://twitter.com/@ofathersheart
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ofathersheart
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ourfathersheart
May God bless you and make you prosperous in Him as you listen and obey His voice!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
j - Jesus M. Ruiz (00:03):
The vision received was that of blood cells
traveling throughout the body,supplying the much needed oxygen
and other nutrients to thediffering members of the body to
fulfill their purpose.
Once the blood cells are spent,they must return back to the
heart to be refilled beforebeing sent out again and fulfill
their purpose.
Good morning.
(00:25):
Fifteen minutes.
Good morning.
Ah, um interesting how thismessage came about.
In 2001, I was ministering outof my home to a uh couple.
Um one of them was a highschool classmate of mine.
(00:48):
She was a year behind me.
The other one was one I battledagainst in football and
basketball, and we becamefriends in college since we were
both studying psychology.
But um I forgot how it cameabout, but at some point um I
began to minister to them theprinciples of the doctrine of
(01:08):
Christ from Hebrews.
And uh it the message beganthere.
I remember giving the message,and I remember not wanting to
post it on my website.
I just didn't like it on paper.
I don't, it wasn't that it wasfalse or wrong.
I just something about it onpaper, I just never liked it.
And so for seven years, I didnot post that particular matter,
(01:30):
but I posted the five previous.
And about a month ago, I get anemail from some guy who says
he's from Kenya.
And as soon as I see that, I'mthinking, oh no, one of those
emails, they want money, theirwife died, and they're raising,
you know.
So I didn't know what to thinkof it, but he didn't ask me for
money.
(01:51):
He said, I went to your websiteand I read the principles of
the doctrine of Christ, and Inoticed that the sixth one is
not there, and I need it.
I I want it.
What happened to it?
So I said, Well, you know, Ispoke to him back and introduced
myself and uh told him that uhI never really, you know, I told
him about exactly what I toldyou in my introduction, and I
(02:12):
said, But, you know, if youreally do need it, I I'll I'll
look back on it and I'll look atit over and try to come up with
something so that uh you canhave it.
Because what I found out isthat he was traveling to
America, he was establishingsome headquarters for something
that he was doing here, and hewas ministering that that
particular theme or topic of theprinciples of the doctrine of
(02:33):
Christ in Kenya and in differentparts of Africa.
And he and he w eventually Imet him and he went to the
Conyers uh um conference thatthat some of us here did go to,
and very tall man, over sixfeet, maybe six foot three, six
foot five.
I don't know, but he was verytall.
Um and so he asked me when wewere leaving, could I translate
(02:56):
it?
And I said, Well, yeah, sure,you know.
Um, and so it seems like he'sgonna go back and he's gonna
translate it in Kenya and givethat message and share that
message with others.
I don't know whether he'sapostolic, but everything that I
wrote in the doctrines ofChrist was sprinkled all over
with the apostolic message.
And uh he never said anythingabout it.
(03:16):
He just kept speaking so highlyabout it, how he never knew
about the left and the right.
And if you remember, one of thedoctrines of Christ was the
laying on of hands, and I gavethat message a couple months
ago.
But he was just, I don't know,he was just very impressed.
It's it's like I showed himsomething that he'd not seen
before.
So, you know, I gave that sevenyears ago, and it's just wow.
(03:37):
I I was not expecting to reacha man in Kenya.
You know, I was just expectingto reach my friend who who, you
know, I I was thinking locallyand not globally, but yet God
was thinking from the verybeginning globally.
And so I'm glad that he wasable to get that message, and
I'm glad today, because I wastold like within two to three
days of today that I needed togive the message this week.
(03:59):
So it was nice that within thelast month I had already done
this for him, and now I want toshare with you.
And so we will begin in Hebrewschapter six, verses one and
two, and hopefully my betterhalf help meet, we'll be able to
keep up with the verses so thatyou can see them in case you're
(04:19):
not there, because I do have anextra ten minutes, so I do have
time, but I think it might belong, and I'm gonna try to give
it all to you at once.
The author, who we believe tobe Paul, says, Therefore,
leaving the principles of thedoctrine of Christ, let us go on
unto perfection, not layingagain the foundation of
(04:40):
repentance from dead works, andof faith toward God, and of the
doctrine of baptisms and oflaying on of hands, and of the
resurrection of the dead, and ofeternal judgment.
There's a common thread thatconnects all these principles
that we just read, and it isthat they are focused on the
(05:00):
salvation of an from the momentshe or he is born again to
eternity.
These six principlesencapsulate his life, his faith
walk life experiences withChrist.
The first is repentance fromdead works, it's necessary.
As soon as the light of therevelation of the glory of God
(05:21):
shines in your life, you arerequired to there then make a
decision.
Choose life or death.
And if you choose life,inherent in choosing life is
saying, I'm going to repent ofmy ways and turn to you.
The second is exercising yourfaith toward God or faith in
Jesus Christ.
And the next that comes, afteryou start exercising your faith,
(05:45):
you start realizing, uh, I needto get baptized.
And so there's the doctrine ofbaptisms, and that baptism
includes baptism in Jesus' name,and it also includes receiving
the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
And the next is the laying onof hands, which a few about a
month, month and a half ago, Ishared with you on the laying on
of hands, and Bishop Harriselaborated on that some more,
(06:06):
but on my focus was since theseare the principles of the
doctrine of Christ and theyapply to the salvation of the
individual, the laying on ofhands really had to do with him
from the Holy Ghost to others,as we saw repeatedly done in
Acts.
And so the first born againthat we may see of God as
described in John chapter 3, 1through 8.
(06:28):
But the last two printsproperly born again.
Like there's a way to beimproperly born again, so don't
get confused at that.
But when you are born again ornot, there's only two outcomes.
You either going to attain tothe resurrection of the dead or
(06:49):
eternal judgment.
The final principle of thisdoctrine of Christ is eternal
judgment.
And the resurrection of thedead and eternal judgment kind
of contrast one another.
The resurrection of the deadhas to do with the resurrection
of the just.
And this happens before themillennial reign of Christ.
And this is where the just willreign with him for all eternity
(07:11):
in glory and be clothed withtheir new spiritual bodies.
And the second death will haveno power over the resurrection
of the just.
These are the manifest sons ofGod spoken of in Romans 8 and
verse 19.
But in contrast to thisresurrection of the dead, we
(07:33):
have the eternal judgment, andthis is the reward of the
unrighteous.
This does not apply to thesaints of the Most High God.
It does not apply to those whohave been born again, endure and
overcome even unto the veryend.
These are for those that areunjust who will spend eternity
in torment and in the lake offire with the devil and all of
(07:54):
his minions.
So the question we need to askis who are the unjust?
Am I?
Do the scriptures declare theiridentity to us?
Because if it does, I want tofigure out how do I need to be
just.
And there's a scripture in 1Peter 4 17, Peter speaks of
(08:21):
there is a time where judgmentwill come and it will begin in
the house of God.
And if it first begins with usin the house of God, what will
be the end of those who do notobey the gospel?
Paul to the Thessaloniansspeaks of the same matter, and
he says that Jesus is comingback in a flaming fire, and he's
(08:45):
going to take vengeance onthose that do not know God and
that obey not the gospel of ourLord Jesus Christ.
So from these two scriptures, Isee that judgment is going to
first begin in the house of God,and we don't really expect
that.
But if you read the scripturesenough and study it enough, you
realize he will always beginwith his children.
(09:07):
He will not begin with thebastards, he will not begin with
those that are outside of hishouse, he will always repair the
inside of his house firstbefore he cleans everybody
else's house on the block.
And this is not a newoccurrence, but this is a
continuation of how the Lord hasshown his ways in dealing in
(09:30):
judgment.
He always deals with his housefirst.
So I want to show you anexample of that.
We will turn to Ezekiel chapter34, and we will begin in verse
1.
This is that chapter whereEzekiel is never called by name
of the Lord.
(09:51):
He's always referred to as Sonof Man.
I shared with that with thatyou about a year ago.
I don't know if you rememberthat.
But Ezekiel chapter 34 says,And the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, Son of man,prophesy against the shepherds
of Israel.
Prophesy and say unto them,Thus saith the Lord unto the
(10:12):
shepherds, Woe be to theshepherds of Israel that do feed
themselves.
Should not the shepherds feedthe flocks?
But ye feed not the flock.
The diseased have ye notstrengthened, neither have ye
healed that which was sick,neither have ye bound up that
which was broken, neither haveye brought again that which was
(10:35):
driven away, neither have yesought that which was lost, but
with force and with cruelty haveye ruled them.
And they were scattered,because there was no shepherd,
and they came became meat to allthe beasts of the field when
they were scattered.
My sheep wandered through allthe mountains and upon every
(10:56):
high hill, yea, my flock wasscattered upon all the face of
the earth, and none did searchor seek after them.
Therefore, ye shepherds, hearthe word of the Lord.
As I live, saith the Lord God,surely because my flock became a
prey, and my flock became meatto every beast of the field,
because there was no shepherd,neither did my shepherds search
(11:19):
for my flock, but the shepherdsfed themselves and fed not my
flock.
Therefore, O ye shepherds, hearthe word of the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God,Behold, I am against the
shepherds, and I will require myflock at their hand, and cause
them to cease from feeding theflock, neither shall the
(11:40):
shepherds feed themselves anymore, for I would deliver my
flock from their mouth, thatthey may not be meat for them.
And using this one example wecan see how clearly the Lord
deals severely with theshepherds of his flock.
And if he deals so severelywith the shepherds of his flock,
(12:01):
how much sore punishment do youthink there will be for those
who do not know God, for thosewho do not obey the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ?
First and foremost, the unjustare those that reject the gospel
of the kingdom and reject theLord Jesus Christ Himself.
(12:22):
And I want to show you that inthe New Testament because Jesus
showed how he deals with themwhen he sent out his disciples.
And we're going to use theaccount found in Matthew chapter
10, verse 5.
Jesus sent forth twelve, and hecommanded them, saying, Go not
(12:48):
into the way of the Gentiles,and into any city of the
Samaritans, enter ye not, but gorather to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel.
His main and primary concernhas always been his people.
His people that have beenneglected, his people that have
been lost, his people that havebeen abused and misused and
(13:09):
mistreated.
His desire is to rescue themfirst.
Not that he doesn't considerthe others, but his first and
foremost responsibility as afather is to his children.
And so he sends his disciplesto his people, the Jews of that
day.
And he says, Go and preach,saying, The kingdom of heaven is
(13:33):
at hand.
Heal the sick, cleanse thelepers, raise the dead, cast out
devils, freely ye havereceived, freely give.
And the interesting thing isthat Jesus sent out the twelve
to cities that he was going tocome to.
But he sent them first.
(13:53):
They were his forerunners, asJohn the Baptist was the
forerunner of Jesus Christ,preparing the way for the Lord.
So were his disciples sentforth before him to the cities
that he wanted to go to, but hesent them and the gospel first
to prepare the way to receivehim.
In declaring the gospel of thekingdom, we are now the first
(14:18):
point of contact between theworld and Jesus Christ.
Just as Jesus was the cruxcontact point between the world
and the Father, now we are thecrucial point between contact of
the world and Jesus.
And so we continue in verse 11.
Jesus says, And into whatsoevercity or town ye shall enter,
(14:42):
inquire who in it is worthy, andthere abide till ye go thence.
And when ye come into an house,salute it.
And if the house be worthy, letyour peace come upon it.
And but if it not be worthy,let your peace return to you.
And whosoever shall not receiveyou, nor hear your words, when
(15:08):
ye depart out of that house inthat city, shake off the dust
off your feet.
Verily I say unto you, it shallbe more tolerable for the land
of Sodom and Gomorrah in the dayof judgment than for that city.
Behold, I send you forth assheep in the midst of wolves.
Be ye therefore wise asserpents and harmless as doves.
(15:29):
The word that jumps out of mein that excerpt is worthy.
What does it mean in thecontext of what Jesus was
speaking to his disciples to beworthy?
The disciples were supposed togo into the city, inquire, and
find out who is worthy.
(15:50):
So, in the context of thesescriptures, what made a
household worthy?
Do you see it for yourselfbefore I mention it?
Think of it.
What made that household worthybased upon what we just read?
Receiving the word that iscorrect.
(16:13):
Receiving the message that thedisciples were coming to give.
If the house was worthy, thepeace of God that rested upon
the disciples will then alsorest upon the house.
Why?
That is the initial blessing, ablessing of peace.
If you receive the word of God,that is the initial blessing
(16:36):
you will receive to know thatthis is really of God.
And if the house is unworthy,meaning they didn't receive the
disciples or their words, thenthe peace of God should remain
with the disciples.
Not only that, they were todust off their feet the dust of
(16:56):
unbelief and move on.
We're not to stay there toargue with people, we're not to
stay there to win an argumentand show how superior we are in
our wielding of the word.
It is very simple.
Paul on Mars Hill justpresented the gospel to a bunch
(17:18):
of Greek philosophers.
He simply presented it and usedtheir own statue.
This unknown God is the God ofall creation.
And he presented the gospel andthey wanted to continue arguing
and said, Well, let's talkabout this again tomorrow.
And he was not going to staythere and argue.
(17:39):
But he found those that wereworthy, those that heard his
words, received his words, andwanted to know more.
It says he went with them andhe continued to minister to
them, but he left the others.
And that is how our faith walksas we dis as we spread the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
(17:59):
That is how it should be.
Because we do not have controlover who's going to be saved and
who's going to be damned.
We don't have control on who'sgoing to receive our words and
who's going to reject the words.
So just preach the gospel.
And whoever receives, ministerto them.
Whoever does not receive, I didmy job.
I planted the seed.
(18:21):
Let's move on because there'ssomebody else that needs to get
saved.
There's somebody else thatneeds to be rescued.
And I can't waste all my timebecause I don't know what his
end is.
The Lord knows.
Samuel was speaking to thepeople, and the people said, We
(18:46):
want a cnations.
And Samuel was very grieved atthis, but the Lord told him to
do as they ask.
Give them what they want.
He says in 1 Samuel 8, 7, Forthey have not rejected thee,
(19:06):
Samuel, but they have rejectedme.
That I should not reign overthem.
You see, when a prophet came inthe Old Testament to give the
word of the Lord, and it's thesame mentality that we need to
have today, but the prophetshould have just gone, said the
word, and now worried about arethey going to receive it or are
(19:29):
they going to reject it?
Because it's not a personalaffront to you.
You are not delivering your ownmessage.
You are delivering the messageof the Lord, and you are his
mouthpiece.
And if they don't receive it,they're not rejecting you,
they're rejecting him.
He was the source of the word.
And so the same way that thepeople of God rejected the word
(19:52):
of the Lord, his counsel, hewanted to reign over them.
He wanted to be their king.
But they did not want that.
And so he says, Give them whatthey want, but know that they
have not rejected you, theyrejected me.
And in Mark 9, chapter 37,Jesus says the very same thing.
(20:13):
And whoever shall receive mereceiveth not me, but him that
sent me.
That was him, that meetingpoint between the world and the
Father.
But look at what he says inMatthew 10, 40, coming back to
where we originally started, hesays, He that receiveth you,
(20:36):
disciples, whom I am sending tothe cities, he receives me.
And he that receives mereceives him that sent me.
The principle is there, fromold to new, it has not changed.
Jesus made us a part of thesalvation process by having us
proclaim the gospel of thekingdom.
(20:58):
And without controversy, hesays, if those who hear your
words do not receive you or yourwords, they not only have
rejected you as a person, butthey have rejected Christ
Himself and God who sent him.
Now that was Matthew chapter10.
(21:18):
I told you he sent hisdisciples first to the cities.
If you go to the next chapterin chapter 11, starting in verse
20, Jesus now comes to thecities in which he just sent the
disciples.
Woe unto thee, Khorazim! Woeunto thee, but Seda! For if the
(21:50):
mighty works which were done inyou had been done in Tyre and
Sidon, they would have repentedlong ago in sackcloth and ashes.
But I say unto you, it shall bemore tolerable for Tyre and
Sidon at the day of judgmentthan for you.
And thou Capernaum, which areexalted unto heaven, thou shalt
(22:12):
be brought down to hell.
For if the mighty works whichhave been done in thee had been
done in Sodom, it would haveremained until this day.
But I say unto you that itshall be more tolerable for the
land of Sodom in the day ofjudgment than for thee.
So we notice he sent hisdisciples in Matthew 10, 12
(22:36):
disciples to spread the gospel,to get them ready to receive the
gospel, Jesus Christ Himself,because He is the embodiment of
the gospel.
He sent them to heal the sick,to cleanse them of their
diseases, of their infirmities,to deliver from them from the
oppression of demons, but thecities did not receive them.
(22:58):
And Jesus came with mightysigns and miracles and wonders.
And he even told them the worksthat I do testify of me.
If you can't believe in me, butat least believe in the works
because you know that only Godcould heal that man.
You know that only God coulddeliver him from that demon that
(23:19):
was ravaging his soul.
He pleaded with them.
If you don't believe me, justbelieve the works.
Don't question the magnificenceof the works that were done.
Because they can only be doneby my father.
And sadly, they still would notbelieve him.
(23:42):
Even after all the miracles,the signs, the wonder that his
disciples accomplished in theircity, they still would not
repent.
They still would not believe.
And he speaks of the woes oftheir decisions.
And Sodom and Gomorrah, who wereligious folk kindly look down
on when we look back on thescriptures, even they have a
(24:04):
better chance than those whoreceived the gospel of Jesus
Christ and saw the miracles andthe wonders.
Even Sodom has a better chancethan you.
He says Sodom would haverepented and believed if they
saw it.
That's one of those what-ifquestions.
I hate what-if questionsbecause I never know.
(24:26):
But I know God knows, and hesays, if Sodom had heard that,
they would have repented andbelieved.
So God is the only one thatknows the what-ifs.
So we clearly see that first hesent the gospel through his
disciples to prepare his coming.
He came himself in the miraclesand the signs and the wonders,
(24:48):
but they rejected hismessengers.
They rejected his gospel thatwere the forerunner, and they
ended up also rejecting him.
Their judgment is made surebecause they would not believe
and receive his messengers orthe gospel sent to them, nor
they would receive Jesus ChristHimself.
Who are the just, who are theunjust.
(25:11):
Those who have obeyed thegospel have the potential to
become the just in the end.
I want to speak of thoseshepherds of Israel again.
The shepherds of Israel fromEzekiel 34, because in the old
covenant they were the shepherdsof Israel, and over time they
(25:34):
evolved into what Jesus met inthe days of his flesh.
They were the Pharisees.
Jesus had much to sayconcerning the Pharisees on many
occasions.
But we'll start in Matthew 7,verse 1, very quick verse.
Jesus said, Judge not that yebe not judged.
(25:57):
For with what judgment yejudge, ye shall be judged.
And with what measure ye meet,it shall be measured to you
again.
This is a spiritual law.
If you judge and let me definejudge for a second if there's a
black kettle on the stove and Isay the kettle's black, I am
(26:20):
judging that the kettle isblack.
That is different, and there'snothing wrong with that.
It's a state of a fact.
It is an observation.
I judge that the kettle isblack.
I judge that this man won therace.
Those are not the type ofjudgments talking about here.
The judgments that he's talkingabout here is when you feel so
(26:42):
superior to others that in yourjudgment of them you also
condemn them.
And that is not your place, forit is not the time.
It is not that we will not everjudge, but there is a time and
a place for us to judge in thesense of condemnation.
It's in the wrongness ofsomething.
We are asked when we go to thecourts to be a juror, to judge
(27:07):
whether the evidence showncauses this man to be innocent
or guilty.
Or should we say guilty or notguilty?
Because sometimes the evidenceis there, but is not there
enough, even though we know he'sguilty, and we can't say he's
guilty because the evidence doesnot prove without a shadow of a
doubt.
But we judge the rightness orwrongness of things, and there's
nothing wrong with that.
(27:29):
We should be doing that.
If we can't judge between therightness or wrongness between
one another, but we'd rather goto court and sue that person, we
have not matured in Christ atall.
We are carnal, as if we didn'thave the Holy Spirit of God.
So now that I've given you thatdefinition, judging for the
(27:49):
sake of observing and astatement of fact whether
something is right or wrong isdifferent than condemning
someone.
We're the jury, we say whetherthe person is guilty or not
guilty.
If we pronounce that he'sguilty, that he's done something
wrong, the jury does notdetermine what is his
consequence, the judge does.
And so if you look at thatanalogy and bring it to a
(28:14):
spiritual aspect, it is thejudge, Jesus Christ, that will
determine their outcome.
He will determine what is theirproper punishment for not
having obeyed the law.
And so I come back to this.
If you judge or condemnsomeone, you will be judged and
condemned.
And in the same measure thatyou judge and condemn someone,
(28:36):
the same measure you will bejudged and condemned.
In other words, as muchmercilessness as you show toward
others, don't be surprised ifthat same amount of
mercilessness is also shown toyou.
The Pharisees put themselves inthe seat of Moses.
(28:57):
They judged people according totheir law or their
interpretation of the law.
And they even made up some newones on top of what was
originally the law of God.
And they did not realize thatthe same judgment and
condemnation that they werebringing upon others would be
the same judgment andcondemnation that they would end
(29:18):
up receiving.
If we turn to Matthew 23, hespeaks even more of the
Pharisees.
Matthew 23, starting in verse2.
Jesus said, the scribes and thePharisees sit in Moses' seat.
(29:39):
All therefore, whatsoever theybid you to observe, that observe
and do.
But do not do after theirworks.
For they say and do not.
For they bind heavy burdens andgrievous to be born.
(29:59):
And lay them on men'sshoulders, but they themselves
will not move them with one oftheir fingers.
He advised us to do what thePharisees say and taught, but
don't do as they do, becausethey were nothing but
hypocrites.
They told people what to do,but they did not themselves.
(30:21):
Look at what they're reallyinterested in.
Woe unto you, scribes andPharisees, hypocrites, for ye
shut up the kingdom of heavenagainst men, for ye neither go
in yourselves, neither suffer yethem that are entering to go
in.
Woe unto you, scribes andPharisees, hypocrites, for ye
(30:44):
devour widows' houses, and for apretense ye make a long prayer
in the midst of thecongregation, and therefore ye
shall receive even greaterdamnation.
Woe unto you, scribes andPharisees, hypocrites, for ye
compass sea and land to make onea proselyte, and when he is
made, ye make him twofold morethe child of hell than
(31:08):
yourselves.
Jesus called them hypocritesbecause they did not enter into
the kingdom of God, and theykept others from entering into
the kingdom of God.
These were the shepherds ofIsrael described in the old
covenant, and this is what theybecame.
Not only did they feedthemselves, not only did they
(31:29):
neglect the flock and they leftthem and they let them go lost
and they never went after them,but now they judge them for
their condition.
And their condition hadeverything to do with how they
were shepherded.
So if you're gonna judge thesheep for being in the condition
(31:50):
that they're in, make sure thatyou know that the shepherd, the
great shepherd, will judge theshepherd because of the
condition that they're in.
Did he judge Satan first?
Yes, he did.
But who did he go to first?
He went to Adam.
(32:12):
Then he went to Eve.
Then he went to Satan.
But he went to Adam firstbecause Adam was the head.
Adam was the one who hadprimary accountability.
The shepherds are the ones thathave primary accountability.
And in all the churches thatyou see today, the judgment will
first begin with the shepherdsin each of those houses for how
(32:34):
they have treated or mistreatedtheir flock and the state and
the condition that they findthem in.
Because judgment will begin inthe house of God.
In verse 23, woe unto you,scribes and Pharisees and
hypocrites, for ye pay the titheand the mint and anise and
cumin, and have omitted theweightier matters of the law,
(32:57):
judgment, mercy, and faith.
These ought ye to have done,and not leave the others undone.
But ye blind guides whichstrain at a gnat and swallow of
scribes and Pharisees,hypocrites, for ye may clean the
outside of the cup, and of theplatter, but within they are
(33:18):
full of extortion and excess.
Thou blind Pharisee, cleansefirst that which is within the
cup and the platter, that theoutside of them may be clean
also.
Woe unto you, scribes andPharisees, hypocrites, for ye
are like unto whited sepulchres,which indeed appear beautiful
(33:42):
outward, but are within full ofdead men's bones and of all
uncleanness.
Even so ye also outwardlyappear righteous unto men, but
within ye are full of hypocrisyand iniquity.
The Pharisees forgot about theweightier matters of the law.
They were imbalanced, theyfocused on the little things and
(34:05):
forgot the greater, weightierthings.
But notice they were also quickto focus on the money, the
tithe, and the mint.
They focused on that money thatwas coming in from the people,
and that happens all in thechurches we see today.
And I can speak of that becausewe came from a church that
(34:29):
treated their flock, the flockthat was undocumented, trying to
make their way in America,hardly without money to pay for
their food, yet they alwayswatched the flock.
Did you give your tithe?
They watched it.
I know it.
(34:50):
They watched it.
It was their main concern.
And they didn't want the flockto give their money to another
charitable, godly cause becauseit would take away from the
tithe coming into the church.
They put on them heavy burdens.
They said, you gotta dress thisway, you gotta have hair this
(35:12):
way.
You gotta be a part of thisclique, this group.
And if you don't succumb to allof the or submit to all of the
different laws and regulationsthat we put on you, you have no
part with us.
I won't even talk to you.
That's the way it is today inmany churches.
(35:35):
The Pharisees that we sawclearly in the New Testament are
just as clearly in many of thechurches today, if y'all just
open your eyes.
He continues in verse 33.
He says, Ye serpents andvipers, how can ye escape the
damnation of hell?
Wherefore, behold, I send untoyou prophets and wise men and
(35:57):
scribes, and some of them yeshall kill and crucify, and some
of them ye shall scourge inyour synagogues and persecute
them from city to city, thatupon you may come all the
righteous blood shed upon theearth, from the blood of
righteous Abel unto the blood ofZachariah, son of Baracas, whom
ye slew between the temple andthe altar.
Verily I say unto you, allthese things shall come upon
(36:20):
this generation.
This generation was not onlythe generation he was speaking
to, because much of the judgmentthat he did spoke happened upon
that Jewish generation.
But spiritually, it is thegeneration that walks in these
types of sins that will receivethe damnation of hell.
(36:44):
That means it doesn't apply toa time, it applies to a
generation of people that walkin this.
So to be clear and to be sure,the Pharisees were in God's
eyes, serpents and vipers.
And as their father was aserpent in Eden, Jesus said to
(37:10):
them, Your father is the devilin John 8 44.
They were destined to thedamnation of hell.
If you were blessed andappreciate listening to this
podcast and you would like tosupport us in our efforts,
consider lifting us up in prayerfirst.
Then remember these four socialmedia buzzwords.
Share, like, subscribe, orfollow.
(37:33):
Share this podcast link withsomeone else by text, email, or
word of mouth in the hopes thatthey might be uplifted as you
were.
Like by leaving a positiverating or review with whomever
you listen to our podcast with.
Subscribe to support the showmonetarily with the link in our
podcast description.
Follow us on all our socialmedia platforms.
May God bless you and make youprosperous in Him as you listen
(37:57):
and obey His voice.
The vision received was that of blood cells
traveling throughout the body,supplying the much needed oxygen
and other nutrients to thediffering members of the body to
fulfill their purpose.
Once the blood cells are spent,they must return back to the
heart to be refilled beforebeing sent out again and fulfill
their purpose.
Good morning.
(00:25):
Fifteen minutes.
Good morning.
Ah, um interesting how thismessage came about.
In 2001, I was ministering outof my home to a uh couple.
Um one of them was a highschool classmate of mine.
(00:48):
She was a year behind me.
The other one was one I battledagainst in football and
basketball, and we becamefriends in college since we were
both studying psychology.
But um I forgot how it cameabout, but at some point um I
began to minister to them theprinciples of the doctrine of
(01:08):
Christ from Hebrews.
And uh it the message beganthere.
I remember giving the message,and I remember not wanting to
post it on my website.
I just didn't like it on paper.
I don't, it wasn't that it wasfalse or wrong.
I just something about it onpaper, I just never liked it.
And so for seven years, I didnot post that particular matter,
(01:30):
but I posted the five previous.
And about a month ago, I get anemail from some guy who says
he's from Kenya.
And as soon as I see that, I'mthinking, oh no, one of those
emails, they want money, theirwife died, and they're raising,
you know.
So I didn't know what to thinkof it, but he didn't ask me for
money.
(01:51):
He said, I went to your websiteand I read the principles of
the doctrine of Christ, and Inoticed that the sixth one is
not there, and I need it.
I I want it.
What happened to it?
So I said, Well, you know, Ispoke to him back and introduced
myself and uh told him that uhI never really, you know, I told
him about exactly what I toldyou in my introduction, and I
(02:12):
said, But, you know, if youreally do need it, I I'll I'll
look back on it and I'll look atit over and try to come up with
something so that uh you canhave it.
Because what I found out isthat he was traveling to
America, he was establishingsome headquarters for something
that he was doing here, and hewas ministering that that
particular theme or topic of theprinciples of the doctrine of
(02:33):
Christ in Kenya and in differentparts of Africa.
And he and he w eventually Imet him and he went to the
Conyers uh um conference thatthat some of us here did go to,
and very tall man, over sixfeet, maybe six foot three, six
foot five.
I don't know, but he was verytall.
Um and so he asked me when wewere leaving, could I translate
(02:56):
it?
And I said, Well, yeah, sure,you know.
Um, and so it seems like he'sgonna go back and he's gonna
translate it in Kenya and givethat message and share that
message with others.
I don't know whether he'sapostolic, but everything that I
wrote in the doctrines ofChrist was sprinkled all over
with the apostolic message.
And uh he never said anythingabout it.
(03:16):
He just kept speaking so highlyabout it, how he never knew
about the left and the right.
And if you remember, one of thedoctrines of Christ was the
laying on of hands, and I gavethat message a couple months
ago.
But he was just, I don't know,he was just very impressed.
It's it's like I showed himsomething that he'd not seen
before.
So, you know, I gave that sevenyears ago, and it's just wow.
(03:37):
I I was not expecting to reacha man in Kenya.
You know, I was just expectingto reach my friend who who, you
know, I I was thinking locallyand not globally, but yet God
was thinking from the verybeginning globally.
And so I'm glad that he wasable to get that message, and
I'm glad today, because I wastold like within two to three
days of today that I needed togive the message this week.
(03:59):
So it was nice that within thelast month I had already done
this for him, and now I want toshare with you.
And so we will begin in Hebrewschapter six, verses one and
two, and hopefully my betterhalf help meet, we'll be able to
keep up with the verses so thatyou can see them in case you're
(04:19):
not there, because I do have anextra ten minutes, so I do have
time, but I think it might belong, and I'm gonna try to give
it all to you at once.
The author, who we believe tobe Paul, says, Therefore,
leaving the principles of thedoctrine of Christ, let us go on
unto perfection, not layingagain the foundation of
(04:40):
repentance from dead works, andof faith toward God, and of the
doctrine of baptisms and oflaying on of hands, and of the
resurrection of the dead, and ofeternal judgment.
There's a common thread thatconnects all these principles
that we just read, and it isthat they are focused on the
(05:00):
salvation of an from the momentshe or he is born again to
eternity.
These six principlesencapsulate his life, his faith
walk life experiences withChrist.
The first is repentance fromdead works, it's necessary.
As soon as the light of therevelation of the glory of God
(05:21):
shines in your life, you arerequired to there then make a
decision.
Choose life or death.
And if you choose life,inherent in choosing life is
saying, I'm going to repent ofmy ways and turn to you.
The second is exercising yourfaith toward God or faith in
Jesus Christ.
And the next that comes, afteryou start exercising your faith,
(05:45):
you start realizing, uh, I needto get baptized.
And so there's the doctrine ofbaptisms, and that baptism
includes baptism in Jesus' name,and it also includes receiving
the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
And the next is the laying onof hands, which a few about a
month, month and a half ago, Ishared with you on the laying on
of hands, and Bishop Harriselaborated on that some more,
(06:06):
but on my focus was since theseare the principles of the
doctrine of Christ and theyapply to the salvation of the
individual, the laying on ofhands really had to do with him
from the Holy Ghost to others,as we saw repeatedly done in
Acts.
And so the first born againthat we may see of God as
described in John chapter 3, 1through 8.
(06:28):
But the last two printsproperly born again.
Like there's a way to beimproperly born again, so don't
get confused at that.
But when you are born again ornot, there's only two outcomes.
You either going to attain tothe resurrection of the dead or
(06:49):
eternal judgment.
The final principle of thisdoctrine of Christ is eternal
judgment.
And the resurrection of thedead and eternal judgment kind
of contrast one another.
The resurrection of the deadhas to do with the resurrection
of the just.
And this happens before themillennial reign of Christ.
And this is where the just willreign with him for all eternity
(07:11):
in glory and be clothed withtheir new spiritual bodies.
And the second death will haveno power over the resurrection
of the just.
These are the manifest sons ofGod spoken of in Romans 8 and
verse 19.
But in contrast to thisresurrection of the dead, we
(07:33):
have the eternal judgment, andthis is the reward of the
unrighteous.
This does not apply to thesaints of the Most High God.
It does not apply to those whohave been born again, endure and
overcome even unto the veryend.
These are for those that areunjust who will spend eternity
in torment and in the lake offire with the devil and all of
(07:54):
his minions.
So the question we need to askis who are the unjust?
Am I?
Do the scriptures declare theiridentity to us?
Because if it does, I want tofigure out how do I need to be
just.
And there's a scripture in 1Peter 4 17, Peter speaks of
(08:21):
there is a time where judgmentwill come and it will begin in
the house of God.
And if it first begins with usin the house of God, what will
be the end of those who do notobey the gospel?
Paul to the Thessaloniansspeaks of the same matter, and
he says that Jesus is comingback in a flaming fire, and he's
(08:45):
going to take vengeance onthose that do not know God and
that obey not the gospel of ourLord Jesus Christ.
So from these two scriptures, Isee that judgment is going to
first begin in the house of God,and we don't really expect
that.
But if you read the scripturesenough and study it enough, you
realize he will always beginwith his children.
(09:07):
He will not begin with thebastards, he will not begin with
those that are outside of hishouse, he will always repair the
inside of his house firstbefore he cleans everybody
else's house on the block.
And this is not a newoccurrence, but this is a
continuation of how the Lord hasshown his ways in dealing in
(09:30):
judgment.
He always deals with his housefirst.
So I want to show you anexample of that.
We will turn to Ezekiel chapter34, and we will begin in verse
1.
This is that chapter whereEzekiel is never called by name
of the Lord.
(09:51):
He's always referred to as Sonof Man.
I shared with that with thatyou about a year ago.
I don't know if you rememberthat.
But Ezekiel chapter 34 says,And the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, Son of man,prophesy against the shepherds
of Israel.
Prophesy and say unto them,Thus saith the Lord unto the
(10:12):
shepherds, Woe be to theshepherds of Israel that do feed
themselves.
Should not the shepherds feedthe flocks?
But ye feed not the flock.
The diseased have ye notstrengthened, neither have ye
healed that which was sick,neither have ye bound up that
which was broken, neither haveye brought again that which was
(10:35):
driven away, neither have yesought that which was lost, but
with force and with cruelty haveye ruled them.
And they were scattered,because there was no shepherd,
and they came became meat to allthe beasts of the field when
they were scattered.
My sheep wandered through allthe mountains and upon every
(10:56):
high hill, yea, my flock wasscattered upon all the face of
the earth, and none did searchor seek after them.
Therefore, ye shepherds, hearthe word of the Lord.
As I live, saith the Lord God,surely because my flock became a
prey, and my flock became meatto every beast of the field,
because there was no shepherd,neither did my shepherds search
(11:19):
for my flock, but the shepherdsfed themselves and fed not my
flock.
Therefore, O ye shepherds, hearthe word of the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God,Behold, I am against the
shepherds, and I will require myflock at their hand, and cause
them to cease from feeding theflock, neither shall the
(11:40):
shepherds feed themselves anymore, for I would deliver my
flock from their mouth, thatthey may not be meat for them.
And using this one example wecan see how clearly the Lord
deals severely with theshepherds of his flock.
And if he deals so severelywith the shepherds of his flock,
(12:01):
how much sore punishment do youthink there will be for those
who do not know God, for thosewho do not obey the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ?
First and foremost, the unjustare those that reject the gospel
of the kingdom and reject theLord Jesus Christ Himself.
(12:22):
And I want to show you that inthe New Testament because Jesus
showed how he deals with themwhen he sent out his disciples.
And we're going to use theaccount found in Matthew chapter
10, verse 5.
Jesus sent forth twelve, and hecommanded them, saying, Go not
(12:48):
into the way of the Gentiles,and into any city of the
Samaritans, enter ye not, but gorather to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel.
His main and primary concernhas always been his people.
His people that have beenneglected, his people that have
been lost, his people that havebeen abused and misused and
(13:09):
mistreated.
His desire is to rescue themfirst.
Not that he doesn't considerthe others, but his first and
foremost responsibility as afather is to his children.
And so he sends his disciplesto his people, the Jews of that
day.
And he says, Go and preach,saying, The kingdom of heaven is
(13:33):
at hand.
Heal the sick, cleanse thelepers, raise the dead, cast out
devils, freely ye havereceived, freely give.
And the interesting thing isthat Jesus sent out the twelve
to cities that he was going tocome to.
But he sent them first.
(13:53):
They were his forerunners, asJohn the Baptist was the
forerunner of Jesus Christ,preparing the way for the Lord.
So were his disciples sentforth before him to the cities
that he wanted to go to, but hesent them and the gospel first
to prepare the way to receivehim.
In declaring the gospel of thekingdom, we are now the first
(14:18):
point of contact between theworld and Jesus Christ.
Just as Jesus was the cruxcontact point between the world
and the Father, now we are thecrucial point between contact of
the world and Jesus.
And so we continue in verse 11.
Jesus says, And into whatsoevercity or town ye shall enter,
(14:42):
inquire who in it is worthy, andthere abide till ye go thence.
And when ye come into an house,salute it.
And if the house be worthy, letyour peace come upon it.
And but if it not be worthy,let your peace return to you.
And whosoever shall not receiveyou, nor hear your words, when
(15:08):
ye depart out of that house inthat city, shake off the dust
off your feet.
Verily I say unto you, it shallbe more tolerable for the land
of Sodom and Gomorrah in the dayof judgment than for that city.
Behold, I send you forth assheep in the midst of wolves.
Be ye therefore wise asserpents and harmless as doves.
(15:29):
The word that jumps out of mein that excerpt is worthy.
What does it mean in thecontext of what Jesus was
speaking to his disciples to beworthy?
The disciples were supposed togo into the city, inquire, and
find out who is worthy.
(15:50):
So, in the context of thesescriptures, what made a
household worthy?
Do you see it for yourselfbefore I mention it?
Think of it.
What made that household worthybased upon what we just read?
Receiving the word that iscorrect.
(16:13):
Receiving the message that thedisciples were coming to give.
If the house was worthy, thepeace of God that rested upon
the disciples will then alsorest upon the house.
Why?
That is the initial blessing, ablessing of peace.
If you receive the word of God,that is the initial blessing
(16:36):
you will receive to know thatthis is really of God.
And if the house is unworthy,meaning they didn't receive the
disciples or their words, thenthe peace of God should remain
with the disciples.
Not only that, they were todust off their feet the dust of
(16:56):
unbelief and move on.
We're not to stay there toargue with people, we're not to
stay there to win an argumentand show how superior we are in
our wielding of the word.
It is very simple.
Paul on Mars Hill justpresented the gospel to a bunch
(17:18):
of Greek philosophers.
He simply presented it and usedtheir own statue.
This unknown God is the God ofall creation.
And he presented the gospel andthey wanted to continue arguing
and said, Well, let's talkabout this again tomorrow.
And he was not going to staythere and argue.
(17:39):
But he found those that wereworthy, those that heard his
words, received his words, andwanted to know more.
It says he went with them andhe continued to minister to
them, but he left the others.
And that is how our faith walksas we dis as we spread the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
(17:59):
That is how it should be.
Because we do not have controlover who's going to be saved and
who's going to be damned.
We don't have control on who'sgoing to receive our words and
who's going to reject the words.
So just preach the gospel.
And whoever receives, ministerto them.
Whoever does not receive, I didmy job.
I planted the seed.
(18:21):
Let's move on because there'ssomebody else that needs to get
saved.
There's somebody else thatneeds to be rescued.
And I can't waste all my timebecause I don't know what his
end is.
The Lord knows.
Samuel was speaking to thepeople, and the people said, We
(18:46):
want a cnations.
And Samuel was very grieved atthis, but the Lord told him to
do as they ask.
Give them what they want.
He says in 1 Samuel 8, 7, Forthey have not rejected thee,
(19:06):
Samuel, but they have rejectedme.
That I should not reign overthem.
You see, when a prophet came inthe Old Testament to give the
word of the Lord, and it's thesame mentality that we need to
have today, but the prophetshould have just gone, said the
word, and now worried about arethey going to receive it or are
(19:29):
they going to reject it?
Because it's not a personalaffront to you.
You are not delivering your ownmessage.
You are delivering the messageof the Lord, and you are his
mouthpiece.
And if they don't receive it,they're not rejecting you,
they're rejecting him.
He was the source of the word.
And so the same way that thepeople of God rejected the word
(19:52):
of the Lord, his counsel, hewanted to reign over them.
He wanted to be their king.
But they did not want that.
And so he says, Give them whatthey want, but know that they
have not rejected you, theyrejected me.
And in Mark 9, chapter 37,Jesus says the very same thing.
(20:13):
And whoever shall receive mereceiveth not me, but him that
sent me.
That was him, that meetingpoint between the world and the
Father.
But look at what he says inMatthew 10, 40, coming back to
where we originally started, hesays, He that receiveth you,
(20:36):
disciples, whom I am sending tothe cities, he receives me.
And he that receives mereceives him that sent me.
The principle is there, fromold to new, it has not changed.
Jesus made us a part of thesalvation process by having us
proclaim the gospel of thekingdom.
(20:58):
And without controversy, hesays, if those who hear your
words do not receive you or yourwords, they not only have
rejected you as a person, butthey have rejected Christ
Himself and God who sent him.
Now that was Matthew chapter10.
(21:18):
I told you he sent hisdisciples first to the cities.
If you go to the next chapterin chapter 11, starting in verse
20, Jesus now comes to thecities in which he just sent the
disciples.
Woe unto thee, Khorazim! Woeunto thee, but Seda! For if the
(21:50):
mighty works which were done inyou had been done in Tyre and
Sidon, they would have repentedlong ago in sackcloth and ashes.
But I say unto you, it shall bemore tolerable for Tyre and
Sidon at the day of judgmentthan for you.
And thou Capernaum, which areexalted unto heaven, thou shalt
(22:12):
be brought down to hell.
For if the mighty works whichhave been done in thee had been
done in Sodom, it would haveremained until this day.
But I say unto you that itshall be more tolerable for the
land of Sodom in the day ofjudgment than for thee.
So we notice he sent hisdisciples in Matthew 10, 12
(22:36):
disciples to spread the gospel,to get them ready to receive the
gospel, Jesus Christ Himself,because He is the embodiment of
the gospel.
He sent them to heal the sick,to cleanse them of their
diseases, of their infirmities,to deliver from them from the
oppression of demons, but thecities did not receive them.
(22:58):
And Jesus came with mightysigns and miracles and wonders.
And he even told them the worksthat I do testify of me.
If you can't believe in me, butat least believe in the works
because you know that only Godcould heal that man.
You know that only God coulddeliver him from that demon that
(23:19):
was ravaging his soul.
He pleaded with them.
If you don't believe me, justbelieve the works.
Don't question the magnificenceof the works that were done.
Because they can only be doneby my father.
And sadly, they still would notbelieve him.
(23:42):
Even after all the miracles,the signs, the wonder that his
disciples accomplished in theircity, they still would not
repent.
They still would not believe.
And he speaks of the woes oftheir decisions.
And Sodom and Gomorrah, who wereligious folk kindly look down
on when we look back on thescriptures, even they have a
(24:04):
better chance than those whoreceived the gospel of Jesus
Christ and saw the miracles andthe wonders.
Even Sodom has a better chancethan you.
He says Sodom would haverepented and believed if they
saw it.
That's one of those what-ifquestions.
I hate what-if questionsbecause I never know.
(24:26):
But I know God knows, and hesays, if Sodom had heard that,
they would have repented andbelieved.
So God is the only one thatknows the what-ifs.
So we clearly see that first hesent the gospel through his
disciples to prepare his coming.
He came himself in the miraclesand the signs and the wonders,
(24:48):
but they rejected hismessengers.
They rejected his gospel thatwere the forerunner, and they
ended up also rejecting him.
Their judgment is made surebecause they would not believe
and receive his messengers orthe gospel sent to them, nor
they would receive Jesus ChristHimself.
Who are the just, who are theunjust.
(25:11):
Those who have obeyed thegospel have the potential to
become the just in the end.
I want to speak of thoseshepherds of Israel again.
The shepherds of Israel fromEzekiel 34, because in the old
covenant they were the shepherdsof Israel, and over time they
(25:34):
evolved into what Jesus met inthe days of his flesh.
They were the Pharisees.
Jesus had much to sayconcerning the Pharisees on many
occasions.
But we'll start in Matthew 7,verse 1, very quick verse.
Jesus said, Judge not that yebe not judged.
(25:57):
For with what judgment yejudge, ye shall be judged.
And with what measure ye meet,it shall be measured to you
again.
This is a spiritual law.
If you judge and let me definejudge for a second if there's a
black kettle on the stove and Isay the kettle's black, I am
(26:20):
judging that the kettle isblack.
That is different, and there'snothing wrong with that.
It's a state of a fact.
It is an observation.
I judge that the kettle isblack.
I judge that this man won therace.
Those are not the type ofjudgments talking about here.
The judgments that he's talkingabout here is when you feel so
(26:42):
superior to others that in yourjudgment of them you also
condemn them.
And that is not your place, forit is not the time.
It is not that we will not everjudge, but there is a time and
a place for us to judge in thesense of condemnation.
It's in the wrongness ofsomething.
We are asked when we go to thecourts to be a juror, to judge
(27:07):
whether the evidence showncauses this man to be innocent
or guilty.
Or should we say guilty or notguilty?
Because sometimes the evidenceis there, but is not there
enough, even though we know he'sguilty, and we can't say he's
guilty because the evidence doesnot prove without a shadow of a
doubt.
But we judge the rightness orwrongness of things, and there's
nothing wrong with that.
(27:29):
We should be doing that.
If we can't judge between therightness or wrongness between
one another, but we'd rather goto court and sue that person, we
have not matured in Christ atall.
We are carnal, as if we didn'thave the Holy Spirit of God.
So now that I've given you thatdefinition, judging for the
(27:49):
sake of observing and astatement of fact whether
something is right or wrong isdifferent than condemning
someone.
We're the jury, we say whetherthe person is guilty or not
guilty.
If we pronounce that he'sguilty, that he's done something
wrong, the jury does notdetermine what is his
consequence, the judge does.
And so if you look at thatanalogy and bring it to a
(28:14):
spiritual aspect, it is thejudge, Jesus Christ, that will
determine their outcome.
He will determine what is theirproper punishment for not
having obeyed the law.
And so I come back to this.
If you judge or condemnsomeone, you will be judged and
condemned.
And in the same measure thatyou judge and condemn someone,
(28:36):
the same measure you will bejudged and condemned.
In other words, as muchmercilessness as you show toward
others, don't be surprised ifthat same amount of
mercilessness is also shown toyou.
The Pharisees put themselves inthe seat of Moses.
(28:57):
They judged people according totheir law or their
interpretation of the law.
And they even made up some newones on top of what was
originally the law of God.
And they did not realize thatthe same judgment and
condemnation that they werebringing upon others would be
the same judgment andcondemnation that they would end
(29:18):
up receiving.
If we turn to Matthew 23, hespeaks even more of the
Pharisees.
Matthew 23, starting in verse2.
Jesus said, the scribes and thePharisees sit in Moses' seat.
(29:39):
All therefore, whatsoever theybid you to observe, that observe
and do.
But do not do after theirworks.
For they say and do not.
For they bind heavy burdens andgrievous to be born.
(29:59):
And lay them on men'sshoulders, but they themselves
will not move them with one oftheir fingers.
He advised us to do what thePharisees say and taught, but
don't do as they do, becausethey were nothing but
hypocrites.
They told people what to do,but they did not themselves.
(30:21):
Look at what they're reallyinterested in.
Woe unto you, scribes andPharisees, hypocrites, for ye
shut up the kingdom of heavenagainst men, for ye neither go
in yourselves, neither suffer yethem that are entering to go
in.
Woe unto you, scribes andPharisees, hypocrites, for ye
(30:44):
devour widows' houses, and for apretense ye make a long prayer
in the midst of thecongregation, and therefore ye
shall receive even greaterdamnation.
Woe unto you, scribes andPharisees, hypocrites, for ye
compass sea and land to make onea proselyte, and when he is
made, ye make him twofold morethe child of hell than
(31:08):
yourselves.
Jesus called them hypocritesbecause they did not enter into
the kingdom of God, and theykept others from entering into
the kingdom of God.
These were the shepherds ofIsrael described in the old
covenant, and this is what theybecame.
Not only did they feedthemselves, not only did they
(31:29):
neglect the flock and they leftthem and they let them go lost
and they never went after them,but now they judge them for
their condition.
And their condition hadeverything to do with how they
were shepherded.
So if you're gonna judge thesheep for being in the condition
(31:50):
that they're in, make sure thatyou know that the shepherd, the
great shepherd, will judge theshepherd because of the
condition that they're in.
Did he judge Satan first?
Yes, he did.
But who did he go to first?
He went to Adam.
(32:12):
Then he went to Eve.
Then he went to Satan.
But he went to Adam firstbecause Adam was the head.
Adam was the one who hadprimary accountability.
The shepherds are the ones thathave primary accountability.
And in all the churches thatyou see today, the judgment will
first begin with the shepherdsin each of those houses for how
(32:34):
they have treated or mistreatedtheir flock and the state and
the condition that they findthem in.
Because judgment will begin inthe house of God.
In verse 23, woe unto you,scribes and Pharisees and
hypocrites, for ye pay the titheand the mint and anise and
cumin, and have omitted theweightier matters of the law,
(32:57):
judgment, mercy, and faith.
These ought ye to have done,and not leave the others undone.
But ye blind guides whichstrain at a gnat and swallow of
scribes and Pharisees,hypocrites, for ye may clean the
outside of the cup, and of theplatter, but within they are
(33:18):
full of extortion and excess.
Thou blind Pharisee, cleansefirst that which is within the
cup and the platter, that theoutside of them may be clean
also.
Woe unto you, scribes andPharisees, hypocrites, for ye
are like unto whited sepulchres,which indeed appear beautiful
(33:42):
outward, but are within full ofdead men's bones and of all
uncleanness.
Even so ye also outwardlyappear righteous unto men, but
within ye are full of hypocrisyand iniquity.
The Pharisees forgot about theweightier matters of the law.
They were imbalanced, theyfocused on the little things and
(34:05):
forgot the greater, weightierthings.
But notice they were also quickto focus on the money, the
tithe, and the mint.
They focused on that money thatwas coming in from the people,
and that happens all in thechurches we see today.
And I can speak of that becausewe came from a church that
(34:29):
treated their flock, the flockthat was undocumented, trying to
make their way in America,hardly without money to pay for
their food, yet they alwayswatched the flock.
Did you give your tithe?
They watched it.
I know it.
(34:50):
They watched it.
It was their main concern.
And they didn't want the flockto give their money to another
charitable, godly cause becauseit would take away from the
tithe coming into the church.
They put on them heavy burdens.
They said, you gotta dress thisway, you gotta have hair this
(35:12):
way.
You gotta be a part of thisclique, this group.
And if you don't succumb to allof the or submit to all of the
different laws and regulationsthat we put on you, you have no
part with us.
I won't even talk to you.
That's the way it is today inmany churches.
(35:35):
The Pharisees that we sawclearly in the New Testament are
just as clearly in many of thechurches today, if y'all just
open your eyes.
He continues in verse 33.
He says, Ye serpents andvipers, how can ye escape the
damnation of hell?
Wherefore, behold, I send untoyou prophets and wise men and
(35:57):
scribes, and some of them yeshall kill and crucify, and some
of them ye shall scourge inyour synagogues and persecute
them from city to city, thatupon you may come all the
righteous blood shed upon theearth, from the blood of
righteous Abel unto the blood ofZachariah, son of Baracas, whom
ye slew between the temple andthe altar.
Verily I say unto you, allthese things shall come upon
(36:20):
this generation.
This generation was not onlythe generation he was speaking
to, because much of the judgmentthat he did spoke happened upon
that Jewish generation.
But spiritually, it is thegeneration that walks in these
types of sins that will receivethe damnation of hell.
(36:44):
That means it doesn't apply toa time, it applies to a
generation of people that walkin this.
So to be clear and to be sure,the Pharisees were in God's
eyes, serpents and vipers.
And as their father was aserpent in Eden, Jesus said to
(37:10):
them, Your father is the devilin John 8 44.
They were destined to thedamnation of hell.
If you were blessed andappreciate listening to this
podcast and you would like tosupport us in our efforts,
consider lifting us up in prayerfirst.
Then remember these four socialmedia buzzwords.
Share, like, subscribe, orfollow.
(37:33):
Share this podcast link withsomeone else by text, email, or
word of mouth in the hopes thatthey might be uplifted as you
were.
Like by leaving a positiverating or review with whomever
you listen to our podcast with.
Subscribe to support the showmonetarily with the link in our
podcast description.
Follow us on all our socialmedia platforms.
May God bless you and make youprosperous in Him as you listen
(37:57):
and obey His voice.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.