Skip to content Matthew 10:16-10:42 - What the Mission Requires | Kingdom Come Bible Study Part 19 Aug 28 · 50 min ...more
Matthew 10:16-10:42 - What the Mission Requires | Kingdom Come Bible Study Part 19
August 28, 2025 · 50 min
Discover what Jesus taught about endurance, sacrifice, and faith in Matthew 10:16-42. Part 19 of Kingdom Come unpacks what the mission of discipleship truly requires.
Series Matthew: Kingdom Come August 28, 2025 · 50 min · Matthew: Kingdom Come
Discover what Jesus taught about endurance, sacrifice, and faith in Matthew 10:16-42. Part 19 of Kingdom Come unpacks what the mission of discipleship truly requires. ...more Show the full description Show less Discover what Jesus taught about endurance, sacrifice, and faith in Matthew 10:16-42. Part 19 of Kingdom Come unpacks what the mission of discipleship truly requires.
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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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Sent Out with Courage: Embracing Hostility for the Gospel 0:00 It's 1 of the most frustrating realities any Christian will experience. On the 1 hand, the gospel message is powerful. People will be healed, touched, saved, forgiven, set free. On the other0:12 hand, there will will always be those who resist and reject what we have to say. They will even hate you for saying it. The tension can be frustrating. Many Christians just wanna share their faith, but the hostility they0:23 encounter makes them pull back, maybe even shy away from the mission altogether. But there's good news. Jesus knew this would happen and told us what to do when it did. He didn't just promise us0:35 an easy mission that everybody would accept. He promised us a clear prescription. People are sinners, but he's a great savior. And when we approach the mission with his words in mind, we can keep carrying on no matter0:46 what hostility we face in this world. Welcome to Kingdom Come episode 19. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the channel.0:58 It's been too long since we have done some bible study. Give it a like if you agree. How about that? Welcome to our pray dot com audience. My name is Tim. This is Tim Hatch live, and we are going verse by verse through1:09 the gospel of Matthew. So take out your bibles, take out your kingdom come journals, as we take a look at what this passage has to say in what's what Jesus really tells the1:21 disciples is expect hostility. Hostility is gonna come. So episode 19, Kingdom Journal available, at tim hanley life dot com slash journal or ask at tim hanley life dot com. And get to1:32 episode or chapter 19, part 19. I'll tell you what page that's on real quick. It's on page 41. We're in Matthew 10 16 to 42, and we're going to talk about this1:44 idea, sent out with courage. Now if you were with us last time, you probably remember that we were talking about this message of Jesus to his apostles for what to expect when they deliver the message of the kingdom.1:56 So it begins in chapter 10 with a lot of positivity. First off, you have the positivity of him using these very flawed individuals like Simon, Peter, Thomas, James and2:08 John, these very flawed individual Matthew, the tax collector, Simon the zealot, these diametrically opposed individuals who are part of Jesus' team. That's the church, by the way. The church is filled with2:19 people that are not like you. But these are the men Jesus called. The passage goes on and he talks about how they're called not to go to any, you know, distinct group other than the people of Israel, the lost sheep of2:30 the house of Israel. Then he tells them, you're gonna heal the sick. You're gonna raise the dead. You're gonna cast out demons, cleanse lepers. Then you're gonna get paid for this because the workman is worthy of his2:40 hire. That's back here in, verse 10. He talks about whatever time you enter. Stay there until you depart. If it's worthy, expect people to receive you. If you if they don't receive you,2:52 move on. I mean, it's it's really a cool message of positivity about bringing the message of Jesus to the next to to to the to the country of Israel. But everything turns3:04 right here in verse 16, and that's where we're gonna pick up this message. That's where we're gonna pick up this chapter. And so let's get into it because being ambassadors of God in the3:16 name of Jesus Christ, and that is a very important qualification. A lot of people claim to speak for God, but they don't speak for God in the name of Jesus Christ. Even a lot of people's claim to speak for God for Jesus,3:27 but they don't have the biblical Jesus in mind. They have some remanufactured, coach the appropriate, very acceptable, tolerant Jesus in mind. The true Jesus is going to cause conflict. The true message of Jesus3:39 is going to cause hostility. And if you have end ever had an a conversation with an unbeliever and it was going fine until the name Jesus came up, well, you know exactly what3:51 Jesus is going to outlay or lay out here in verses 16 to 42. So let's get into it. Verse 16. Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. So be wise as serpents and innocent4:03 as doves. 2 imperatives. Be wise, be innocent. Wise as what? Serpents. That's kind of an interesting metaphor. The serpent was the original deceiver in Genesis chapter 3. Yet, in our mission of the4:15 geez of of the gospel, we are called to have a shrewdness about us, but not a sinful shrewdness. Thus, he adds innocence as that of a dove. So here he goes4:27 telling these disciples, telling you and I, basically, in this in this generation even, that we are sent with this message that is going to demand quite a bit of both4:40 purity of heart and an expectation that some people are just going to hate us for what we have to say. You have to realize that we can't4:52 look at the gospel message or presenting the gospel message or even being involved in Christian ministry with rose colored glasses. That is we will and we have to anticipate5:04 that there's going to be some pushback. We also have to understand that people are people, and they are not nice. Many times, they're very mean to people when they send them a message that5:15 confronts their sense of self righteousness, which is exactly what the gospel does. So when we approach the message of the gospel or approach people with the message of gospel, we have to have a both and. And5:27 here's the big idea. Take the rose colored glasses off of yourself when it comes to preaching the message of Jesus or sharing your faith or witnessing to your neighbor.5:40 Expect that people will disregard it, argue with you, get upset, get, you know, mad, whatever you wanna say. This is part and parcel of being messengers of Jesus. Thus, he5:52 says in verse 17, beware of what? Beware of men. Don't be aware of tragedies. Don't be aware of, you know, environmental concerns. Don't be aware of your own6:03 needs and necessities. God's gonna take care of that, but there's something called people. People are unpredictable. They're also very hostile. And as much as the message of the gospel is this great message, good6:15 news, just delivering it, particularly for the Jewish people who, at this time in history, really were tied to the law, were tied to religiosity, were tied to, you know, this6:27 legalistic approach to pleasing God through obedience and being good people in their opinion. When the message of the gospel is presented to them that you're not good enough for God, there's gonna be hostility. And6:39 here's what he says, they will deliver you over to courts. And this is not an exaggeration because we see this happening in the book of Acts. Right? They take Peter and John to court in Acts6:50 chapter 3 and 4. They take Paul, the apostle, to court several times throughout the book of Acts. But I was struck. Friends, I don't say this often, but I was struck by the next words out7:02 of Jesus' mouth in verse 17. Words that I have read countless times, and how many of you have had this happen to you in the Bible, with the Bible? You've read it, read it, read it, read it, and then boom, it just smacks7:12 you right between the eyes. I I just was smacked by this. I want you to check this out. They will flog you. Where? Not in courts. No. No. No. No. No. In7:24 synagogues, in their synagogues, in your synagogues. They will bring you before your religious community and whip you. My friends, this is7:36 astonishing, and it's a heads up from Jesus that he is going to have a message in these guys' mouth that is going to be so off putting to legalistic religious minded7:48 people that they will take what was in that time a strap of calf leather with interwoven thongs, and they will strike you on the back according to the the dictates of the day 267:59 times, and they will strike you in the front 13 times just short of 40 because 40 would be to break the law or potentially kill somebody. You have to think about the hostility that these men were going to face. They were8:11 going to be held in contempt by their local religious community. We're not even talking about the world yet. We're not even talking about sinners. We're talking about people who think they are righteous, think they are8:22 religious, think they are good. You have to understand the depth of of faith necessary for these men to stay strong when members of their own local churches that's what a synagogue was. It was a8:34 local Jewish church. Okay? The the people in the local church were going to say, you are wrong, and we're gonna punish you for it. And all they did was tell them that they were sinners, and God's grace in8:45 Jesus Christ was going to save them from their sin. Notice the escalation, by the way. It doesn't stop with, the synagogues being at odds with the message of Jesus. It says you will be dragged before governors and kings8:56 for my sake, and you will bear witness before them and the Gentiles. Jesus, right here in Matthew 17 and 18, is calling the church, these apostles, to recognize the gospel message is not9:08 just for Israel. The The gospel message is going to go beyond Judaism. It's gonna go beyond the Jewish people. It's gonna go to the world. And this is what Jesus says about Paul, by the way, in the book of Acts when he9:20 tells Ananias to go pray for Paul who had been blinded by Jesus appearing to him in Acts chapter 9. He says, this man is gonna be my appointed messenger for Gentiles and kings, and he's gonna suffer a lot for my sake.9:32 So Jesus prescribes an attitude about all this. Why is his serpents innocent as doves? In other words, you're sharp. You're discerning too many Christians, and maybe you're 1 of them. And I pray it's not the case, but9:44 I I you might need to hear this. Too many Christians are oblivious to the reality that our message doesn't sit well with most people. Jesus says, wide is the gate. Right? Wide is the9:55 road that leads to destruction. Narrow is the path that leads to life. And so what it means is that in the human race, most people don't want God on his terms. They want God on their terms. They want they wanna be10:07 accepted according to their own religious obedience, according to their their conduct. They wanna consider consider themselves good people. And when that happens, you, as a messenger of the gospel,10:19 you cannot be gullible. You cannot just be blind to the nature of the confrontational, effect of the gospel. The gospel10:31 hits people between the eyes. You're not a good person. You're a sinner. You're under the just condemnation of a holy and righteous god against whom you have sinned. You have those you have to have those sins paid for by10:42 somebody, and you can't pay it. And good news is Jesus Christ, god's only son, has paid it for you. Now I know. I know. In the context of Matthew, Jesus has not yet died for sins, but but we're gonna get to why this is10:54 still part of the message, that we have to imbibe now, and it was going to become the apostle's message after Jesus died and rose again. That message confronts, that message upends people's sense of self. That11:06 message makes people feel like they've been attacked, and yet it is a very positive message because it is a message of diagnosis and solution. The diagnosis is you're sin. You're a sinner. The solution is god in Christ11:17 Jesus has given you the opportunity to believe on him and receive complete and total healing and restoration and forgiveness simply by faith. But there's hostility. There's hostility. Now if you're gonna be in11:29 ministry, if you're going to be actively involved in your local church or in any kind of gospel ministry, biblical ministry, you have got to wise up11:41 and innocent up. You've got to realize the hostility is coming, and then you gotta learn how to respond. Now as a pastor, I have had the unfortunate responsibility to hold people11:53 accountable, to challenge people in their sin, to deliver messages that don't wanna be heard, and I have had the pushback come at me on many occasions. Actually, I'm a pastor of a large church, and so sometimes I have to12:05 fire people who are on staff and they shouldn't be on staff. And we find these things out over time. 1 such person, this is just 1 of the most extreme stories I've experienced of just the hostility of being a gospel12:16 minister, though, is this time that we actually let somebody go on staff. They did not take it well. Then I ran into this person later on in a public12:28 space surrounded by hundreds of people. And when he saw me, this person just flipped out, swore, screamed, yelled at me, told me to get out of his face, gave me the finger. I wasn't in his face.12:40 I was about 5 feet away. And I went up to just say, hey, how you doing? And he just blew up. This is a very unstable person, by the way. Did it in front of other people, people watching it go down, and I'm just like,12:50 hey, man. I don't know what this response is about, but you need to chill. Like, I'm not going anywhere, and you're not going to have the last word here on me. I'm not going to just react the way you want me to react.13:02 The worst part is where he was hired that day, he lost that job as well because of that behavior. The the reality is is that being in the mission of the gospel, being in the mission of Jesus, you have13:14 to take the rose colored glasses off. People are difficult. People are hostile. People do not like to be challenged. People do not like to be led sometimes. They just don't. And so what the13:26 gospel message needs in the heart of the messenger is realistic expectations. I would call it clarity about the call. People are going to hurt, hit, fight,13:38 sheep, bite. Okay? Wolves devour, but sheep kick and bite. Okay? Anyway, the gospel message might be rejected by the Jews, back to the text here,13:50 but it will be also preached to the Gentiles. And by the way, Romans will talk about this. The the message being rejected by the Jews opens the door for the Gentiles to hear it, which had me thinking about this kind this14:01 this idea. They were gonna be flawed by their own religious community, but God would just use that to set them up for a larger opportunity, the Gentiles and the nations. Think about this. And and and I just had this on14:12 the screen for you. Hostility leads to greater opportunity. In gospel ministry, in Christian living, you need to have the right approach to the hostility that you're going to expect, that you're going to14:24 experience at the hands of people who don't wanna hear it. Just because they're hostile doesn't mean the message has failed or you have failed. In fact, God is gonna use a hostility to open the door to greater14:34 opportunity. And I've seen that in my own case. In fact, in the case of the person that I just talked about that just openly, you know, swore at me and cursed me out. Well, god opened that door to me showing the grace of14:44 Jesus in the front in front of other leaders of our church at that moment. And 1 such person said, I can't believe you catch your cool. That's really noble. And, yes, wise as serpent, innocent as doves. You can't14:56 fight back. You just have to move on and just receive the message of Jesus and preach it and let the chips fall where they may fall where they may. Okay. Moving on to verse 19.15:08 When they deliver you over, now what is he talking about? They're gonna hand you over to the authorities and and you're gonna be put on trial. What does he say? Do not be anxious. 1 of many calls in this passage15:20 to reject fear. Okay? Do not be anxious how you were to speak or what you are to say, for you are to say what will be given to you in that for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. Verse15:32 20. It is not you who speak, but the spirit of your father speaking through you. Another necessary ingredient for gospel mission is a trust and reliance on the Holy Spirit. Of course, the15:44 animosity that we experience at the hands of sinners is going to stress anyone out. But Jesus says there's nothing to fear. The Holy Spirit will step up in that moment. Now, some of you might say, I've never had that15:56 happen. Have you ever put yourself out there with witnessing and sharing the faith and gotten some pushback? Have you ever gotten into that heated moment with someone? I have on several occasions. Now, it16:07 hasn't happened for a long time. I don't know. Maybe I've gotten better in how I present the message, and I think there is something to that. You just learn by failing a bunch of times. But there's going to be moments16:18 where it's a heated exchange and you've got an opportunity look to say, just a silent prayer, Lord Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, give me something to say. That's going to deescalate this and then leave them with the16:29 message. And I remember when I was very young and I would fall into these traps of getting into arguments with people, but the Lord would just, in that moment, say, Tim, what are you doing? Stop. Move on. And after16:39 failing many times, which I have. So if you've ever failed when you've shared the faith with somebody, be encouraged. I failed many, many times. But 1 1 such time, this guy was just going at me again and arguing with me.16:51 And I said, you know what? Let me just let me just leave leave it to here. Christ Jesus loves you. He died for you. And I'm praying that you receive the message of the gospel. And he wanted to start arguing again and17:02 just walked away. You gotta learn hostility comes standard. You don't have to react the wrong way. We see this in the message that that Stephen delivers17:14 to the Jewish leaders in Acts chapter 7, and they saw him. And the scripture says in Acts 6 that he his face was like that of an angel, and he spoke up and told them the truth17:26 of their rejection of not just Jesus, but all the prophets before them. Where did he get all that? The Holy Spirit put it in his mouth. And I believe this thoroughly. Some of you want to17:37 experience the power of the Holy Spirit, but it requires you putting yourself in a place where you're involved in what the Holy Spirit wants17:49 to do. What does the Holy Spirit wants to do? He wants to make Jesus known. Jesus said that the spirit will come and glorify me. He will make me known. Right? That's the Holy Spirit's priority. The Holy Spirit's18:01 priority is the message of the gospel going out. In fact, that's what we see from the book of Acts chapter 2 and onward is that every time the Holy Spirit fell, somebody preached the gospel louder, stronger, with more18:12 conviction, AKA Peter, in chapter 2 and chapter 3, on and on it goes. So the Holy Spirit's priority is to make much of Jesus, to make the message of Jesus known. If you18:24 wanna receive the power of the Holy Spirit, if you want to experience the Holy Spirit moving in your life, put yourself out there. And I wanna challenge somebody. You've never done this. You've18:35 never taken that shot to just share your faith. You say, I don't know what I should say. Put yourself out there and how about you take Jesus's words18:47 at face value? For what you are to say will be given to you in that hour through the Holy Spirit speaking through you. Wow. Imagine, some of you,18:59 your faith would grow by a gargantuan leap if you ever did this. Anyway, we've gotta move on because there's a lot of text to get to and I'm I've been19:11 really slow so far. So let's move on. Verse 21. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. Again, the astonishing amount19:23 of hostility that the Christian will experience. Jesus did not sugarcoat what was required to be his ambassador.19:35 And I can tell you after 27 years of full time ministry, okay, I'm glad because when I experienced that hostility, I could say, oh, yeah. Yeah. Jesus talked about this. You're gonna get hostility from what?19:47 From your own brothers, from your parents, from your own child, and and it's gonna be a a murderous hostility, they will want you dead. And you will be hated by all19:59 for my name's sake. Now listen to me, Christian. It's very important that you get this, and first Peter talks about this. You don't suffer as a Christian by being a nosy person or a busybody or20:10 just a jerk to people. That's not suffering as a Christian. Some of you, you gotta delineate here. You suffer rightly for a Christian when you don't repay evil for evil, when you preach the message of the gospel, when20:22 you share your faith and people resist it and call you names and all that kind of stuff. In other words, you're living admirably before God, but you're you're you're facing animosity from people. Now this is what Jesus20:33 is basically laying laying out here. You have to anticipate as a messenger of Jesus, even as a follower of Jesus, even if you're not sharing your faith just yet, that there20:45 is going to be, listen to this very carefully, an altering of your familial attachments. People who loved you then will not love you now. The message of20:56 Jesus will bring family division. It will bring ethnic division. It will bring community division. It might, unfortunately, for some of you, bring, marital21:08 division. I I I know and I talk to people in in the church, and I have for many years, of how often we see a new convert whose family resists them truly getting deep into the21:20 faith. A couple of days ago, we had a great mass baptism at our church. And, 1 lady came up to me tears in her eyes because she was with a young child. It was her grandchild. And she said, her mother will not let21:32 her get baptized. She wants to get baptized. She loves Jesus. She she wants to follow him. Her mother will not let her. This is insane. Right? Because as a Christian, you think, here's a young child who wants to do the21:43 good thing in in this age in which children are basically taught to do everything evil and are celebrated for it. Here's a child who wants to serve God, wants to follow God, wants to love the Lord. And the21:54 mom's like, no. I'm against that. Isn't that insane? Isn't that crazy? But yet Jesus lay this out for us here in Matthew chapter 10. And then in verse 22, you'll be hated by all. I think22:06 about people who come to our church from a very highly religiously structured family environment where they were baptized as infants, and I think you all know what I'm talking about. And I have many, many people who tell22:18 me this. They disown me. They don't want me to be here. They think I've joined a cult. They think I'm crazy. It's it's insane to see this. But Jesus said to his apostles,22:30 expect it. Family allegiances will be altered as you share your faith and live out your faith in Jesus. Verse 23. When they22:42 persecute you in 1 time. Now here's the prescription for hostility. When, not if, they persecute you in 1 time, flee to the next. Move on.22:54 Jesus has already outlined that when it comes to the resistance, okay, that you face in the movement of Jesus, you are under no compulsion23:06 to just suck it up and deal with it and just live with the fact that people hate you and just keep going. Keep going because that's just part of the job. No. You move23:18 on. There are people who are ready to hear. And if you get stuck trying desperately to win over the hater, you're gonna miss the opportunities that god opens up for you. Paul the apostle modeled this23:30 in the book of Acts. He talks about shaking off the his clothes at 1 point because they wouldn't receive. He actually goes to the Gentiles because the Jews presented hostility to him when he met with them in the23:41 synagogue. This is all over the book of Acts. We see Jesus's words played out. Earlier in the gospel of Matthew, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, don't catch your pearls before swine. Don't give dogs for the23:53 sacred. In other words, don't just sit there with people who are hostile and think, please, you know, it's it's my job to convince you and, you you know, I'm just gonna bear this hate. No. Move on. Move on.24:05 Now there's 1 area where I think a lot of Christians really struggle with moving on. You've got an unsaved son or daughter, and it's just always an argument. It's always a frustration, and you think,24:17 yeah, but they're my kids. I get it. And you could pray for them, but there's no need to go back and forth with them until kingdom come. Pray for them privately. When you can, share your faith strategically, wise as24:28 serpents, but then don't overdo it. Think about someone else other than them. Jesus loves your kids. Yes. Does God want your son to come to Christ? Yes.24:40 But there are neighbors that you could be reaching. There are other people you could be inviting to your local church. There are people that you could share your faith with that will receive it. And I think we can apply24:48 Jesus' prescription here in Matthew 23 to that, 10 23 to that. Now there is a passage in here that befuddles commentators. Here's what he says. I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before24:59 the son of man comes. Now this is a strong this is a, a passage that really brings a lot of questions because people say, what does that mean when the son of man comes? Does it mean when25:11 he comes again? And so the disciples were supposed to be preaching until he comes again, but that's not true because they're all dead. We all know that for a fact. What is this idea of the son of man25:23 comes? Or are or is it when he comes back from the dead? Is that what he means? Well, I think, basically, what Jesus is saying here is he's painting a picture of what the25:34 the the church age that we're currently living in is going to look like. The evangelistic mission will have hostility and persecution, and we'll have to move on from certain people groups because they25:46 just don't receive it. And there will still be pockets, even in Israel, of people who do not yet know about Jesus until he comes again. Now there is a25:58 passage in Matthew 24 where he says, this gospel this gospel of the kingdom will be preached to all nations as a testimony to them, and then the end will come. So how do we correlate these26:10 2 passages here? Matthew 10 23 and that passage in Matthew 24. Just because it's preached to all nations doesn't mean that it's preached to every person in that nation. And I what what I think Jesus is basically laying26:21 out here is you have got to understand that you will still have people to reach even up to the moment when I return. By the way,26:34 there is always a subtle movement in the Knesset in Israel, Jewish the Jewish parliament, in the state of Israel to ban Christian evangelism. In fact, we have a friend in the leadership of26:45 Israel named Benjamin Netanyahu who repeatedly puts a stop to these bills, but they're offered almost, you know, every 5 or 6 years or so. Even in March chapter, March, 23, Benjamin26:58 Netanyahu was like, no. We're not we're not putting a law on the book that bans Christians from proselytizing. And and thank god for that. But there is an undercurrent of anti Christian sentiment amongst the Jewish27:08 leaders of the nation who want this to stop. Sometimes people say it's just a a performative thing to say, we're Jewish and you're not gonna make us Christian. And so we know the bill's gonna lose, but we have to just27:19 kinda postulate in this regard. Nonetheless, maybe you heard that it's illegal to evangelize in Israel. It is not. It's just that there is a underlayment of hostility. The point is, Jesus told27:30 us this was going to happen, and this was going to be the reality of the gospel message on mission until he comes again. So if you're experiencing hostility as a Christian and in ministry as a Christian, man,27:43 it's okay. You aren't doing something wrong. You might actually be doing something right, but approach it with Jesus' guidance in mind. Verse 24, he says, a disciple is not above his teacher nor a servant above his27:54 master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household? In other words,28:04 Jesus is saying, you represent me, so what you see me experience, you will experience. Now what do Christians represent? Again, this is why the gospel message stings, hurts, and28:16 gets hated. We are not presenting high moral character to people. We are not presenting religion to people. We're28:28 actually doing the opposite. We're presenting to people the fact that they aren't right with god, that they stand presently under the28:40 condemnation of sin and judgment, that hell is real, and apart from Christ, they're going there. That's an offensive message, especially to28:51 people who are desperate to validate themselves on their own religiosity or moral resume, AKA,29:04 I'm a good person. What are you talking about? The message of the gospel is an affront. It is the exact opposite message of, quote, unquote, I'm a good person.29:17 The gospel is you're not. You never have been. You never will be apart from God's grace. But the good news is the good person that actually lived, he29:29 died for you. It's a you understand it's offensive to tell people that. So there's a bunch of churches that don't tell people this anymore. There's liberal mainline churches that no longer teach the29:40 offensive message of the gospel that men are sinners. No. Now they embrace sin. Now they just tell people, hey. You are good people. It's just be a little bit better today. Just live in the love of29:52 god. God loves you. God loves everybody. We're all cool. Everybody's cool. Everybody's fine. Don't worry about it. Just be nice. A lot of a lot of pastors distill this very powerful, very provocative30:04 message of the gospel down to 2 words, be nice. And the secularists distill it to 3 words, do not judge. Like, the the the the cardinal rule is30:16 that you do whatever you wanna do, but don't judge anybody else for what they do because then you're definitely a bad person. Right? And and so what they did with Jesus, they condemned him. They hated him.30:28 They called him names. What did he say? How if they've called the mouser by the house of Beezebel, they're gonna call me demon possessed because I'm gonna challenge their self righteousness.30:40 I'm going to call out their hypocrisy. I'm going to expose them for what they really are, and that's what they're going to do with you. They're gonna call you names. They're going to blame you. They're going30:52 to attack you. That's what you should expect. Now, all of that in verse 25 flows right into verse 26.31:04 So have no fear of them. Again, another call to fearlessness. Why? Because nothing is covered that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known. What does he mean31:16 by that? What what what's that? Well, look at the context here. He just got done telling us that people would hate us for just presenting the message of Jesus. And now he says, everything that is covered will be31:26 revealed, will be exposed. Meaning, that everyone's deeds will be made known, even the haters, even the people who attack you. 1 day, their31:38 wickedness will be revealed before God, and they will be found out for what they really are. Even the people who drape themselves in their own sense of morality and31:50 righteousness, they're going to be exposed. And and there is a trend in the religious world, and we've all seen this, that the most tolerant I'm sorry. The most intolerant and32:01 vicious people are the ones who are full of sin themselves. John the Baptist called out the religious community. He called out Herod for sleeping with his brother in law's wife, and32:13 he got killed for it. When Christians suffer today, we're just carrying on the very prophetic words that John the Baptist and Jesus lived32:25 out. Anyway, it's all gonna be exposed. So he says, what I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim in the house tops. In other words, the gospel message is an exposing message. It's32:35 a UV light that scatters the roaches. Okay? But they can't hide forever. So it might look like they win today. It might look like, you you32:47 know, you're just the fool in the midst of all of these wise in their own eyes people, but there's gonna come a day when all deeds of men are exposed. And I think we will be shocked at those who are the most32:59 viciously anti gospel message people. And, it'll be a dark day for many, many people. Anyway, verse 28. Another 1. And do not fear.33:11 Isn't it amazing how Jesus starts out in verse 16 with sheep among wolves? But now he said it repeatedly, don't fear. Do not fear what this time? Those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can33:22 destroy both both soul and body in hell. Okay. So don't fear men. All they can do is kill the body. God is the 1 who is in charge of where your eternal soul33:34 resides. Fear him. Now when he says fear, a lot of people say, well, I don't wanna be afraid of God. Is that what we're supposed to be? No. No. No. It means that your sense of awe and respect33:47 and your hatred to disappoint is astronomically higher with regards to God than with men.33:59 So what it does is it releases you from feeling the need to appease. I I don't need people to like me. At the end of the day, the only thing what could people really34:10 do? They could kill your body. The moment they kill your body, you are in the presence of god and everlasting joy forever and never suffering again. Not 1 teardrop ever again.34:23 Put it in in other words, Jesus is saying, put it in perspective. This hostility that you feel from non believers, please please put it in perspective because they really34:35 can't do much to you. And the moment that they do the worst thing that they could do to you, the best thing that could ever happen to you happens. You go to be with34:46 Jesus forever in perfect peace and harmony with the Lord. My friend, we have nothing to lose as faithful messengers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now to illustrate this, Jesus gives us34:59 a a little quantifying, you know, statement. Are not 2 sparrows sold for a penny? Now sparrows were the cheapest commodity sold in the temple markets of that time. And the smallest35:10 coin here, a penny that he mentions here, an asarion, is worth 1 sixteenth of a denarius. And denarius was less than an hour's wage. So what's the minimum wage today? I think the minimum35:22 wage is something around, what, 7 dollars? I'm not sure. I didn't I didn't look this up. What is 1 sixteenth of 7 dollars? It's less than 70 cents. We're talking about 50 cents. Okay? So a sparrow35:35 purchased for 50 cents. What does Jesus say? Not 1 of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. God has his eye. We get a song, an old gospel song about this. His eye his eye is on the sparrow.35:48 God's eye is on 50 cent sparrows, but even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Christian, fear God36:01 because you are safe where it matters. Life in this world is a messenger of Jesus is going to present you with all kinds of hostility. At the end of the day, it's a36:14 fragment. It's a it's a pittance compared to the overwhelming glory that you will experience, in the next life. The hairs of your head are numbered. God36:26 cares for you. And let's move on in this text because he's continuing here. He says another 1, fear not. So are you catching a theme here? Verse 17, beware of men. And then verse 19, don't be anxious what36:38 to say. Verse 26, don't have fear of them. Verse 28, do not fear those who kill the body. And now verse 31, fear not. You are more what? Valuable than many sparrows. You are way more than 50 cents worth. Okay? So36:48 everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will all also acknowledge before my father who is in heaven. And whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my father who is in heaven. We need to take this text fear36:57 seriously. We need to take this to to we need to take this text seriously. If you care more about what people think of you than what god thinks of you, you are on shaky ground with regards to your salvation. I don't37:09 mean to say that you are losing your salvation. You just might not be saved. I believe that hostility and persecution and the message of Jesus being unpopular is the great37:20 sifting sorting of the church. When the message is popular, when the message is commonplace, when it's okay, I believe that environment is rife37:33 to develop false believers. But when there's hostility, when there's animosity, when there is a cultural rejection of the Christian life, that's when the real believers stand37:44 up and the phonies get out of the way. I think we saw that during the last 6 or 7 years of our country when we went through all these crazy stupid ideologies and when we were told37:56 to not believe our lying eyes about many, many facts. Okay? When we were supposed to trust the science blindly and the experts implicitly, and we were supposed to shut down our churches, but but38:08 the liquor stores were still open. I think that was a litmus test. Who do you fear? Do you fear what government can do? Do you fear God? And I think there's going to be more of this go going on38:20 in the future. We'll see how it all plays out. But let us not pretend that everyone in the church is truly a Christian.38:32 And many times, God uses persecution. God uses the hostility of culture to delineate true believers from the false believers.38:44 So if you deny Jesus because you're afraid of what people think, Jesus is very clear here. You you you're probably going to be denied because they're not truly a a genuine born againShow more In this video 0:00 Sent Out with Courage: Embracing Hostility for the Gospel
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