You’d think that as often as songs mention how Jesus "paid the price" for our sins, that such terminology would be found in the Bible at least once.

Instead, the only price discussed in Scripture in reference to the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is our redemption … a "purchase" price. We were "purchased for God with [Jesus'] blood" (Rev. 5:9, NASB); The church of God was "purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20:28, NASB). We were "redeemed" with "precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless" (1 Pet. 1:18-19, NASB).

Usually, when we sing about how Jesus "paid the price," we mean that God was going to punish us with death and hell, but Jesus died in our place, paying a price to God in order to divert God’s wrath.

Scripture never uses such terminology.

We were purchased "for God" (Rev. 5:9). We were not purchased from God, nor from God’s wrath. We were "redeemed" (1 Pet. 1:18) and "ransomed" (Matt. 20:28).

I discuss my conclusions about this on my Christian history site at Substitutionary Atonement, but whether you agree with my conclusions or not, you have to acknowledge that what I’ve written above is true. It’s a simple fact that our very common use of "paid the price" or "paid the penalty" is never duplicated in Scripture.

The Schedule

• Chapter readings for this week
• Overall schedule, week by week

Exodus 1:1-8: Continuing from Genesis

As you can see, Exodus takes right up where Genesis left off. We took a week’s break to read Matthew, but there’s not supposed to be a break between the books of the Law. Think of them as parts one through five of one document, not as separate books.

In the German language, and I’m sure in others, the five books of the Law are First through Fifth Moses. They don’t have the names we give to them in English.

Remember, this is not only the story of God’s people—though it is the story of God’s people—it is a book of the Law. Although it is not like the Code of Hammurabi in its content, it is the same type of document. (We’ll talk more about the content of the Law of Moses and compare it just a bit to Hammurabi’s laws next week.)

Exodus 1:8-22: Enslaving the Hebrews

The king who did not know Joseph was not simply the next king after Joseph died. This description of the enslavement of the Israelites is a summation of the 400 years that pass between Jacob’s arrival in Egypt and the "exodus" of his descendants, which we’ll read about this week.

The rest of this chapter doesn’t need commenting from me.

Exodus 2:1-10: Moses Raised by Pharaoh’s Daughter

Again, this story doesn’t need explaining by me, but I do want to encourage you to see God’s intervention and provision in all such stories. "The Lord works in mysterious ways," they say, and it is true. His interventions are many, different from one another, and it’s never good to try to catalog God, as though we could figure him out.

His ways are higher than ours, and they are always good, whether we understand them or not (Is. 55:9; Rom. 8:28).

Moses was raised as Pharaoh’s daughter, but his own mother got to serve as wet nurse. It was miraculous provision for the people of God in every way.

Exodus 2:11-15: Moses Flees Egypt

Apparently Pharaoh’s daughter did not hide from Moses that he was Hebrew. It is also apparent that Moses had a very hot temper.

God’s purposes are not fulfilled by the wrath and effort of men (Jam. 1:20). God was going to have to mold Moses into a new person before he would be able to use him.

The prescription? 40 years of exile in the land of Midian would serve the purpose of humbling and beginning to prepare Moses for the Lord’s work.

One of the most crucial parts of growth for the spiritual child of God is learning to get ourselves out of the way and to trust in the Lord. Sometimes that is a gigantic work. In Moses’ case, it was 40 years of work. A friend of mine likes to say, "We don’t understand the length of the solution because we don’t understand the depth of the problem."

Exodus 2:23-25: God Answers the Israelite Prayers … for a Reason

I think it’s good to point out that in this passage, the Scriptures give the reasons that God heard the cries of the Israelites. I try to take note of all passages like these because I certainly like getting my prayers answered!

Exodus 3:1-22: The Burning Bush and the Deliverance of the Israelites

In chapter 3, God appears to Moses in the burning bush. He calls Moses and describes his plan to him.

Once again the story speaks for itself. My commentary will have to do with Moses’ questions, not God’s plan.

Exodus 3:1-22: A Note on the Appearances of God

It was once a universal belief that all old covenant appearances of God on earth were appearances by the Son of God, called "Christophanies." That is because John 1:18 says no man has seen God at any time. Jesus specifically said he was the one to appear to Abraham (Jn. 8:56-58). (I guess I should have mentioned that in the commentary on Genesis 19!)

That is still a common belief today, though no longer universal.

You must not imagine that the unbegotten God himself came down or went up from any place. For the unnameable Father and Lord of all has neither come to any place, nor walks, nor sleeps, nor rises up, but remains in his own place, wherever that is, quick to see and quick to hear, having neither eyes nor ears, but being of indescribable might. … He is not moved or confined to a spot in the whole world, for he existed before the world was made. … Therefore neither Abraham, nor Isaac, nor Jacob, nor any other man saw the Father and unnameable Lord of all … but saw him who was … his Son, being God. (Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 127, c. A.D. 155)

Exodus 3:13-16: The Name of God (Advanced)

"I am who I am" is not a name that God is revealing to Moses. God really is saying, "I am who I am."

God uses a lot of names in Scripture. These are useful as titles and as descriptions of God’s attributes, but they are not "God’s name," per se. The only name God is known by in the apostles’ writings is Father, although Jesus uses the term "I am" to hearken back to Exodus 3 at least once and possibly several times (esp. Jn. 8:58, possibly Jn. 8:24; 18:5).

There are a lot of "name of God" movements today which emphasize calling God by Hebrew names. I am strenuously opposed to all of them. They have no historical basis, and their fruit is almost purely condemnation and division.

One historical note to help you with this:

The Jews stopped using the name YHWH centuries ago. YHWH is what the original Hebrew of the Tanakh reads every time that you read LORD or GOD in all caps in your English Bible. It’s used in verses 3:15, 16, and 18 in our reading today.

The third of the ten commandments (which we will get to Friday) says that we are not to use the name of "the LORD" in vain when we read the command in English. In Hebrew the word is YHWH. As a result, in order to prevent using the name YHWH uselessly, the Jews quit using the name at all! Instead, they said "Adonai," the Hebrew word for Lord, even when they were reading the Scriptures publicly.

To this day, you may see Jews and "Messianic" Christians writing things like "G-d," for the same reason.

The reason that I write it as YHWH, rather than spelling it out as Yahweh, is because the original Hebrew manuscripts did not use vowels. YHWH went so long without being used that no one can be certain of its vowels or its pronunciation anymore.

The apostles did not correct this. Every one of the apostles writings, and the writings of everyone associated with the early churches that the apostles started, use "Lord" when they quote the Tanakh.

Obviously, the apostles were not concerned about restoring "the name" of God, and anything that did not concern the apostles should not concern us. It is through the apostles that the Gospel came, and it is their faith which must be defended as "once delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).

One caveat: I am not speaking against the charismatic (and other) churches that like to focus on and examine various names of God that are given throughout the Tanakh, such as "The Lord our Righteousness" in Jeremiah 23:6, for the purpose of revealing God’s attributes and offering praise. There is certainly nothing wrong with that! It looks to me like they are pursuing a better knowledge of our Father, and that is an excellent thing (9:23-24).

Exodus 4:1-5: The Rod of God

God gives Moses several signs to show the Israelites and Pharaoh. I have to pass on something that was told me once about Moses’ rod.

In the desert, a man’s rod meant a lot. It was his walking stick and his weapon. It could be used to help defend oneself against both human and animal assailants.

Moses’ rod turned into a snake when he threw it down at God’s command, and Moses ran from it, frightened (v. 3). But God told Moses to grab it. Not only did he tell him to grab it, but he told him to grab it by its tail.

Now we all know that it is foolish to grab a snake—especially if this was a poisonous one—by the tail. It’s a sure way to be bitten.

Nonetheless, Moses obeyed God, grabbed the snake by the tail, and it turned back into the staff.

Only now, it was no longer Moses’ rod, but the rod of God.

I actually heard a song about it. It had lines like, "With the rod of God, strike the sea and the waters will part."

It was a youth group that told the story and sang the song, and I’ve never forgotten—nor failed to be inspired by—the story of how the rod of Moses became the rod of God.

Exodus 4:10-14: Humility or Rebellion?

In this passage, Moses begins at humble, but he ends up at rebellious unbelief, and "the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses."

Humility is a good thing. Lack of trust in God is a terrible thing. No one has ever been helped by a Christian who refused to speak or take up some act of service because they were "humble." That is not humility; that is rebellion and unbelief.

Exodus 4:24-26: Circumcision

There’s more to this story than is told in these three verses.

The covenant of circumcision was given to Abraham back in Genesis 17. We are not told directly that this had already been an issue between Moses and God, but the story makes it clear that this is not a new incident. When the Lord met Moses and was going to put him to death (by sickness? an angel?), Zipporah knew exactly what to do. This was not the first time she’d heard of circumcision.

My guess is that Zipporah really didn’t like the whole idea of circumcision, and Moses had given in to his wife rather than to God. Now that the stakes are raised and Moses has become God’s prophet, God doesn’t leave the decision up to Moses anymore.

Exodus 4:27-30: Aaron Shows Up

Aaron hadn’t seen his brother in 40 years, but God sends Aaron out to the wilderness to meet him.

We don’t always know how God speaks to people, but we do know God speaks to them. We Christians have fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit, and of all people, we should hear him most often (Matt. 4:4).

Exodus 4:31: The Fickle People of God

In Exodus 4:31, the people all believe! That won’t last long, as we shall see tomorrow.

Introduction: Unrelated to Today’s Reading

If you are enjoying this through the Bible series or getting anything out of it, you really need to give thanks to God today. As I write this, two days before you’ll read it, I just got a stem cell transplant yesterday (Jan. 17).

There’s really no reason I should have the energy to be undertaking a task like this. Commentaries like the ones I’ve done the last two days take at least 2 hours. (Last week’s only took about an hour each, maybe a little more.) I’m taking the time to look up and link early Christian quotes for you, rather than just telling you things from memory.

I have the energy to do such things because people are praying for me, and God is carrying me along miraculously. I feel obligated to give him praise and to thank all of you wonderful people who are praying for me.

Matthew 24: End Times; A Story

When I was in my 20′s, I was very excited about carefully putting together all the prophecies of Revelation, Daniel, Zechariah, Matthew 24, Mark 13, etc. I would say that I read books and studied the Scriptures on the subject for two years. I carefully compared the arguments of many people, and carefully built a model that I felt put all the Scriptures together.

I’m good at that sort of thing. I hope it’s not inappropriate to tell you that I’m a member of Mensa, the international high-IQ society. Don’t be fooled. High IQ doesn’t necessarily mean you’re smart in any useful sense, but it does mean that you’re really good at puzzles. Tests say that in an average group of 500 people, I should be in the top one or two at assembling theoretical models like that.

One day, as I was driving and explaining my model of the end times, of which I was so proud, to a 17-year-old who read the Scriptures but didn’t know them very well, he asked me one question about my theory.

I couldn’t answer it. My theory collapsed on itself in a massive cloud of dust.

One question. From a teenager. Two years work undone.

It’s a lot easier to tear apart end time scenarios than to build them.

Like I’ve been saying, Jesus’ teachings about the end times are not to help us build end time scenarios. Not one single Messiah scenario proved to be accurate at Jesus’ first coming. He had to reveal the Scriptures when he came. It should not surprise us that it will be this way the second time.

Matthew 24: What I Can Tell You

• Lots of Christians have theories on Matthew 24. Some think all of it was fulfilled by A.D. 70, when Jerusalem fell, and some think almost none of it was fulfilled then.
• At the very least, the temple really was torn down with no stone left upon another in A.D. 70 by the Roman general Tatian.
• For 1870 years after, no Jew was allowed in Jerusalem.
• God restored Jerusalem to the Jews in 1948. Whether you believe that’ a fulfillment of prophecy or not, that is an absolutely incredible story!
• When Tatian marched on Jerusalem in A.D 70, it was Matthew 24 that warned the Christians to flee Jerusalem, saving their lives.
• The “abomination of desolation” is mentioned in Daniel as well (8:13). He may be referring to the offering of a pig on the altar by Antiochus Epiphanes in A.D. 167. Bible.ca gives some thoughts, as well as quotes from 1 and 2 Maccabees, on the abomination of desolation.

Those sorts of issues are easy. There are actual historical events to point to. Future events are not so easy to discern.

Even in the link I give you above, I feel the writer has way too much confidence. Just because the abomination of desolation was fulfilled in A.D. 70 does not mean that it doesn’t have a future fulfillment as well! Don’t forget Matthew’s quote of Isaiah 7:14. Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled during the days of King Ahaz, several centuries before Jesus’ birth, but it was also fulfilled when Jesus was born.

There are plenty of statements in Matthew 24 which do not make sense in the context of the events of A.D. 70. Do we really want to say that Jesus came in A.D. 70, has already been seen by all the tribes of the earth, and that his angels have already gathered the elect? (vv. 30-31).

I know I don’t.

Let us learn from the past and humbly keep our eyes open for how God fulfills these things in our lives.

Matthew 24: The Point You Must Not Miss

Therefore you must be ready, for it as at an hour that you do not expect that the Son of Man is coming. (v. 44)

A wise teacher once told me that you can judge a teaching by the commands given at the end of it.

Jesus’ teachings have a point, and they typically end in practical guidance. Most other teachings do, too, and it is often easier to compare the instructions at the end of some man or church’s teaching with the instructions at the end of Jesus’ teaching than to try to figure out the entire teaching on your own. Go with the teaching that tells you to do what Jesus tells you to do.

Matthew 24 has a practical instruction at the end. We must be ready because we don’t know when he’s coming.

Matthew 24:45-48: How To Be Ready for Jesus’ Coming

Jesus gives clear instructions in this passage on what it means to be ready. Matthew 25 will give us even clearer instructions.

Matthew 25:1-29: The Parables of the Virgins and the Talents

I don’t think it will benefit you to get my help in interpreting these two parables.

Matthew 25:31-46: The Judgment

This passage is not difficult to interpret, either … unless you’ve been trained by modern theologians.

The passages on the judgment in Scripture do not contradict. They are not difficult to interpret. They are all consistent, and they all say the same thing. After we die, we will be judged by our works. This passage describes the works more specifically than any other, but passages like Galatians 5:19-21 an Revelation 21:8 list some evil works that apply at the judgment if we have lived in them without repentance.

In modern times, however, we have developed an extreme and inaccurate emphasis on "salvation by faith alone," an emphasis specifically and thoroughly refuted directly in the Bible at James 2:14-26. It even refutes the specific wording. (James 2:24 is the only occurrence of the phrase "faith only" in the entire Bible.)

I am not saying we are saved by our own efforts! I know, emphasize, and constantly proclaim that apart from Christ, we can do nothing (Jn. 15:5).

I am saying, however, that our relatively recent historical overemphasis on salvation by faith alone has made us create ridiculous, embarrassing interpretations of Scripture that don’t allow us to simply read passages like Matthew 25:31-46 for what they say.

The judgment is a specifically bad area for this sort of misinterpretation, with over-zealous, confused theologians splitting the judgment into two judgments so that they can have a judgment for Christians that doesn’t involve anyone going to hell (as this passage does).

On the other hand, if these sheep aren’t Christians, then who are they?

You don’t want to know. There are many answers that these confused theologians give. That sort of thing definitely has to be reserved for advanced studies elsewhere.

You will do much better just letting the Scriptures say what they say. You will wind up agreeing exactly with those who actually heard the apostles speak. (And those are people I always recommend you read. As I said yesterday, you can read some of them in modern English here.)

So here’s my advice for you on Matthew 25:31-46. Jesus means exactly what he appears to mean. It’s not confusing.

Matthew 26:1-5: The Plot Begins

Remember that in yesterday’s reading, Jesus took on the Pharisees aggressively. He’s ready to die. This is just the plan unfolding.

Matthew 26:6-13: The Alabaster Vial

This one’s for you to interpret, not for me to interpret for you, but don’t miss that Jesus himself says this scene is important. It will be discussed wherever the Gospel is preached, he says. Let us get whatever lessons the Holy Spirit gives to us from this. Definitely "chew the cud" on this one!

Matthew 26:14-25: Judas

Again, this is part of the plan of God. Don’t think that everything God plans will look good to us. Don’t be like Peter, rebuked by Jesus in Matthew 16, for looking on things from man’s viewpoint. It was good that Judas betrayed Jesus. It was the plan of God.

However, don’t hope for mercy for Judas. Americans love a happy ending, but Jesus makes it clear it would have been better for Judas never to have been born than to have done what he did (v. 24).

From my own opinion, let me say, too, that while Judas’ betrayal is part of the plan of God, it was not something God forced Judas to do. There is a difference between foreknowledge and predetermination. You may know what your spouse would do in response to a certain situation, but that does not mean that you forced them to do it!

Judas was responsible for his own behavior; God just used it to fulfill the plan of our redemption.

Matthew 26:26-29: The Lord’s Supper and the New Covenant

Jesus’ death and blood brought in the New Covenant. Jesus held up the cup of wine at this dinner and said that it was the blood of the New Covenant and that we should continue to do this in memory of him.

The church’s response in the early years was to do this weekly on Sunday mornings. Sunday was chosen because it was the day on which he rose, and every week the church celebrated the resurrection on that day (ref and ref).

Matthew 26:26-29: A Symbolic Supper? (Advanced)

You may know there is a dispute between Catholics, Protestants, and denominations that are somewhat in between, over whether the Lord’s Supper is a symbolic meal or whether there is a "real presence" of Christ.

Obviously, there is something symbolic about the meal. Bread and wine are being eaten and drunk, not the meat and blood of Jesus’ resurrected body.

It is just as obvious, though, that the early Christians saw it as far more than symbolic. One of the earliest Christian writers, a head pastor of the church at Antioch—the apostle Paul’s home church—and possibly appointed by the apostles to that position, calls the bread of the Lord’s Supper "the medicine of immortality; the antidote to keep us from dying" (Ignatius, Letter to the Ephesians 20, A.D. 107-116).

I would point out as well that the apostle Paul tells us that eating the Lord’s Supper unworthily can lead to sickness and death (1 Cor. 11:29-30). If eating the Lord’s Supper unworthily can have negative results, why would eating it worthily not bring positive results?

As for determining whether there is a "real presence" of Christ in the communion bread and wine, that is impossible to determine. There is nothing in the Scriptures or the early Christian writings about such a thing, and it is nothing but something to argue about and divide over—and thus an egregious sin—in my opinion.

Matthew 26:26-29: The Lord’s Supper and Grape Juice

Just a note on wine vs. grape juice. Grape juice is a modern invention. Grape juice requires preservatives to last longer than a couple days without becoming wine. There was no way for early Christians to eat the Lord’s Supper with grape juice. They drank wine.

America is the only culture in history with a taboo against alcohol. The Scriptures are only against drunkenness.

I understand concerns about former alcoholics in the church. Churches can deal with that as they need to. I’m just commenting on history and fact here.

Matthew 26:31-55: Jesus Betrayed, Arrested, and Abandoned

Peter directly denied the Lord, but all the apostles abandoned him. Judas directly betrayed him. In the end, only his Father and the angels stood by him.

This was a dark, difficult night for our Savior. It was a temptation so great that even the Son of God asked for the cup to pass from him and sweat drops of blood in preparation.

We have read that our Savior’s yoke is easy and his burden is light (11:28-30), but there will be hard times for us, just as there have been for our Savior.

However, like our Savior, we will find our Father in heaven and his angels there to give us everything we need if we will always remember that "apart from him, we can do nothing" (Jn. 15:5), but in him, we can do everything (Php. 4:13).

Matthew 26:57-68: Jesus Before Caiaphas

The high priest and the Sanhedrin did not really have the power to put people to death. The Romans alone had that power. Caiaphas needed a good accusation, however, in order to ask for the death penalty. Jesus gives it to them in v. 64 by telling them the truth, that he was the Son of Man who would come on the clouds of glory as mentioned in Daniel 7:13.

Should I mention that Jesus does not answer Caiaphas until he commands Jesus to do so by the authority of the living God? Jesus held some regard for the official offices instituted by Moses (Matt. 23:2-3), and God himself seemed to have regard for the office as well (Jn. 11:49-51), even if neither had regard for the persons who held that office.

Matthew 27:1-2: Jesus brought to Pontius Pilate

Pilate was the Roman governor. As I said, the Sanhedrin needed Roman approval to put Jesus to death.

Matthew 27:3-10: Judas Hangs Himself (Advanced)

This passage says Judas hung himself. Acts 1:16-20 has a different version of Judas’ death, though both involve a potter’s field being bought (cf. the prophecy in Zech. 11:12-13).

There are several attempts to reconcile the two. I admit to being one who doesn’t worry about such things. Good eyewitness reports are supposed to differ in details, or police assume there was collaboration on the part of the witnesses. I believe that inspiration from God is spiritual because God is concerned about spiritual things, not about ensuring that exact details match between Matthew’s memory and the memory of whomever Luke interviewed to make his report in Acts.

Matthew 27:11-26: Jesus before Pilate

This speaks for itself, but there is something spiritual going on here, too. It cannot be for no reason that the replacement for Jesus, the one that was released for the day of Passover, was named Barabbas. The name means "Son of Father" in Greek.

God is always putting spiritual significance in front of us in daily events. Keep your eyes wide open for them, as they can provide both encouragement and guidance.

Note, too, that the same crowds that were shouting, "Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!," were now shouting, "Crucify him!"

Jesus didn’t stop the people’s emotion, but he knows not to rely upon it, either. Don’t confuse your own emotion for real zeal for God.

Matthew 27:27-66: The Crucifixion and Death of the Lord of Glory

So many prophecies were fulfilled here that it is impossible to cover them all. Some are mentioned by Matthew, but others are not. There are many books and web sites that cover them.

Surely the very best coverage of the prophecies in the Tanakh ever written was Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho. That’s a long work, and I don’t know anywhere that it’s translated into more modern English, but what an incredible look into the way the early churches understood the prophecies! It is so insightful that you will feel like you, too, have been on the walk to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32).

Almost every early Christian writing contains numerous references to prophecies about the new covenant, however.

Matthew 26:44: Potential Contradictions Again (Advanced)

Matthew says that both the robbers crucified with Jesus insulted him. Luke, however, tells us that one of them was repentant (23:39-43).

This one’s easier to reconcile because it may just be that Matthew didn’t bother to mention that one of them repented later. Jesus did hang on the cross alive with those men for several hours.

On the other hand, Matthew may never even have heard about the repentance of one robber. There’s no reason to assume he stood at the foot of the cross all day long. Both Matthew and Luke wrote their Gospels at least twenty or thirty years after the crucifixion. Expecting every detail to line up is really pretty silly unless you’re expecting God to miraculously inspire their memories on such subjects.

Most Christians seem to think it’s really important that God inspired miraculous memory, but I don’t understand that at all. I think there is a big problem in that modern Christians have forgotten that the new covenant is not written on tablets of stone (2 Cor. 3:7-8). The letter kills. It is the Spirit that gives life (2 Cor. 3:6).

That is why it is just as important to note that Barabbas, "Son of Father," was Jesus’ replacement as it is to note that the event happened. We are a spiritual people. Let us learn from the spiritual inspiration that is in every word of Scripture, and let us use the spiritual inspiration we have as Spirit-filled human beings to do that learning.

Matthew 28:1-15: The Resurrection

The resurrection happened, and without it there would be no Christian faith (1 Cor. 15). Christianity is not a nice way of living based on Jesus’ teaching. It is a brand new life, possible only by Jesus resurrecting himself right inside each one of us (Jn. 15:1ff).

I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet it is not me, but Christ lives in me, and the life I live in the body, I live through faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal. 2:20)

Once he had convinced us in the former time [i.e., under the old covenant], before Christ appeared, that our nature was unable to attain to life, and now that he has revealed the Savior, who is able to save even those things which it was impossible to save—by both these facts he wanted to lead us to trust in his kindness and to consider him our Nourisher, Father, Teacher, Counselor, Healer, Wisdom, Light, Honor, Glory, Power and Life. (Anonymous, Letter to Diognetus 9, c. A.D. 100)

There are a lot of people who present powerful historical evidence for the resurrection. (One such book is to the right.) I want to just tell you about one from me.

Eleven men who spent three years with Jesus, every day, seeing him at best and worst, gave their lives to testify that he rose from the dead and that they believed he was God in human flesh. Their testimony took root in human hearts, and despite some of the most awful corruption of any religion anywhere, the name of Jesus continues to bring people into new life every day, some two thousand years later.

That’s overwhelming to me.

Matthew 28:16-20: The New Covenant Arrives!

I have told you that in response to all these awful things that the Jewish leaders did to Jesus, God would take away the kingdom of God from them and give it to a new nation (21:43-45). Where previously, the apostles were told only to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (10:5-6), now they are told to go into all the world.

It is not just the Jews who are responsible for Jesus’ death. We all put Jesus to death with our sins. This was all the plan of God to rescue us from our lost state, and the Jews just happened to be the tools God used to bring us into the plan of redemption.

They, too, endured the plan of being an earthly, fleshly kingdom for the express purpose of showing us all that none of us are capable of attaining to the kingdom of heaven by our own power. It is only as Jesus lives in us by his Spirit that we can do good (Jahn 15:1-5; Rom. 8:5-13; Gal. 5:16-18; 6:7-9).

The goal of God’s plan is to bring all of us, Jew and Gentile alike, into the glorious salvation of the new covenant (Rom. 11:15-36).

Matthew 28:16-20: Is It the Great Commission?

I say all this because I don’t really want you to think of these verses as "The Great Commission" as so many do. Evangelism is a great thing, but if you focus on it too much, you can entirely miss the new covenant! Matthew 28:16-20 is the beginning of the new covenant far more than it is "The Great Commission."

In and of yourself you are a worthless evangelist, capable of only producing false conversions which will confuse people and separate them from God. Even Paul believed this about himself (2 Cor. 3:5).

Evangelism is NOT your purpose. Walking in the Spirit is your purpose.

I know that it is popular to believe that Matthew 28:16-20 is directed at all of us rather than just at the apostles, but really, unless you just refuse to see past tradition, that is obviously terrible Bible interpretation. There is no doubt that it is inaccurate.

There is not a single verse written to the churches that could be construed to tell Christians in general the same thing the apostles are told in Matthew 28:16-20. If this were "the great commission" to all of us, wouldn’t you expect it to be repeated to us at least once?

Instead, there are plenty of verses that can be construed to say the opposite: "Keep your mouth shut and live your life in obedience to God, and you will be a great testimony to outsiders" (e.g., 1 Thess. 4:11-12; 2 Thess. 3:10-15; 1 Pet. 3:10-17).

There are those who are gifted for evangelism (Acts 21:8; Eph. 4:11; 2 Tim. 4:5). Scripturally, we see that they tend to be powerfully effective at what they do. Let’s let them operate their gift in obedience to God, and let’s walk in our own gifts, so that their converts (and ours, the result of people seeing our Spirit-filled lives) will be able to grow together with us into the fullness of Jesus Christ (Eph. 4:11-16), producing a testimony to the world (Jn. 17:20-23), rather than a shame as we see so often today.

… many who once were of your way of thinking … have changed their violent and tyrannical disposition, being overcome either by the constancy which they have witnessed in their neighbors’ lives or by the extraordinary forbearance they have observed in their fellow travelers when defrauded, or by the honesty of those with whom they have transacted business. (Justin, First Apology 16)

Another large commentary. Give the Bible priority! Just look up on this page what you want to look up.

Matthew 18:1-10: The Little Ones

There’s so much to learn from Jesus’ statements about children here!

If you are going to become committed and holy before God, at some point you will struggle with Pharasaism. In other words, you will be like the Pharisees, and you will be constantly trying to justify yourself so you look good in front of others while being very judgmental for everyone else. Whether you realize it or not, you will want to "bend" the Word of God just enough that you don’t feel like you’re disobeying God, but you won’t have any such mercy on anyone else.

These ideas are all lumped together here. Jesus doesn’t only tell us that we must become like children, he also tells us not to make the ones who have already become like children to stumble. Don’t trip them up. Don’t make it difficult on them. Help them!

The judgments on those who bring stumbling are severe!

Matthew 18:6-10: God’s Judgment

In today’s world, it is good to remember that Jesus never shied away from judgment. Clearly, he believed and taught, over and over again, that following God is worth great effort. As he said back in Matthew 7, a section we did not discuss in the commentary, it is a narrow road that leads to life, and there are few who find it (v. 14).

Matthew 18:12-14: The Lost Sheep (Advanced)

Here’s one for the pastors and leaders and something for us all to think about. If you are the leader of a "flock" of people, and one of them leaves … do you even know? Can you really leave the 99 to go find the one, or do you not even know the one so that he or she can simply slip off unnoticed.

The Good Shepherd knows the name of each of his flock (Jn. 10:27). In fact, at some point, he has a new name for each of them (Rev. 2:17).

Today, we often do not have a flock. We have an outreach meeting that anyone can attend. There’s a membership list, but there is no "feeding" meeting that is just for the members, the flock that is supposed to be fed and watered by the shepherds God has raised up.

I point this out because it wasn’t always this way. Our modern system is a reaction to the influx of people created when hundreds of thousands of Romans followed the emperor into the church in the fourth century. We’ve never revamped it, and we’ve continued to run our churches as though the entire population of our nations is supposed to be part of the Christian meeting.

That’s not how Jesus saw it. He had outreach, and he had a flock whom he knew, and he noticed if one went missing.

We are a body knit together … by a common religious profession, by unity of discipline, and by the bond of a common hope. We meet together as an assembly and congregation so that we may offer up prayer to God. With united force, we wrestle with him in our supplications. This violence God delights in. We pray, too, for the emperors, for their ministers and for all in authority, for the welfare of the world, for the prevalence of peace, and for the delay of the final consummation.
     We assemble to read our sacred writings if any peculiarity of the times makes either warning or reminder needed. Whether or not such is needed, with the sacred words we nourish our faith, we animate our hope, and we make our confidence more steadfast. We confirm good habits by nothing less than repeatedly instructing ourselves in God’s precepts. In the same place exhortations are also made, and rebukes and sacred censures are administered.
     It is with great gravity that the work of judging is carried out among us, which is appropriate to those who feel assured that they are in the sight of God. You have the most notable example of judgment to come when anyone has sinned so grievously as to require his severance from us in prayer, in the congregation, and in all sacred intercourse.
     The tried men of our elders preside over us, obtaining that honor not by purchase, but by established character. (Tertullian, Apology 39, c. A.D. 200; wording updated by me)

Matthew 18:15-19: Maintaining Relationships in the Church

Everyone knows this passage. How many really use it?

At Rose Creek Village, we made a determination to actually follow this advice of Jesus. To say it was life-changing would be an understatement.

Just as a shepherd should go seek the one if he wanders away from the one hundred, so we should make the shepherd’s job easier and stay together! Every time our relationships fall apart, we are wandering!

When we struggle with relationships, we usually want to separate or to resort to private counseling with a church leader. That is not Jesus’ advice. "Have it out, just between the two of you alone" (v. 15, Kingdom New Testament). If you need help, get it from one or two others, and only after you have safely determined with the help of an unbiased brother or sister or two, then you can safely take it to the church and its leadership.

Matthew 18:15-19: "Binding and Loosing" (Advanced)

Much is made of "binding and loosing," especially in charismatic and "Word of Faith" denominations. I’m going to step out on a limb here and flat out disagree with what they do.

I suspect most Bibles include verses 18-19 right in the same section as verses 15-17. They should.

There is a link between the idea of binding and loosing and the idea of the forgiveness of sins, and it is tied to the church. John 20:22-23 carries the same idea, using slightly different words.

"Binding and loosing" can best be understood as "God will back the church up when it makes a decision together as discussed in Matthew 18:15-19." He gives the same promise to the apostles as builders of the church in John 20:22-23. Something similar is being practiced in 1 Corinthians 5 when judgment is made on the rebellious, they are turned over to satan, and later when they are restored.

There is just no Biblical precedent or example for binding and loosing demons or binding and loosing anything else. There are no examples of people praying and making binding or loosing proclamations. There are plenty of examples of demons being cast out in the Scriptures, and no one ever binds or looses anything when they do so.

You can safely ignore the binding and loosing path and quit being confused by it.

If this isn’t all clear enough, then notice Matthew 18:21. Obviously, Peter thinks that Jesus is still on the subject of sins being forgiven. He was not distracted by binding and loosing, nor distracted by the promise that God would back up what any two of us on earth agree on. He knew the subject remained the forgiveness of sins.

Matthew 18:21-22: Abundant Mercy

You will need this for the future. If Jesus asks us to be willing to forgive our brother 70×7 every day, then how merciful do you suppose he will be with us if we repent? Surely God is more merciful than we are, not less!

Lamentations 3:23 says that God’s mercies are new every morning. Isaiah 55:7 says he will "abundantly" pardon if we will forsake our way. Let us believe that and rise in joy to serve him anew each day.

Matthew 18:23-35: We Must Forgive Others

God does not forgive those who do not forgive others. You will find Jesus emphasizing this throughout the Gospels, and he’s already said it once in our reading, at Matthew 6:14-15.

Matthew 19:1-9: Divorce

God hates divorce (Mal. 2:16), and Jesus explains why here.

Divorce happens, but it should happen very rarely in the church. That is especially true because of what we read today! If your marriage has problems, get help! Call for a brother, a sister, or even better, another couple that knows how to work through difficulties.

For you that are not married, practice that now with your friends, just as Jesus commanded. You will learn to save relationships with your single friends, and later, you will learn to save your most important earthly relationship of all.

Let me boast here. Through obeying Jesus’ command about getting help at Rose Creek Village, our children have learned both the importance of relationships and methods for saving them. I would argue that the majority of our teenagers could sit down and counsel a married couple on saving their marriage better than most trained professionals.

I’m sticking to that boast, confident it’s true.

Obedience to Jesus provides a wisdom that can be obtained nowhere else, not even in the greatest schools of our land.

Matthew 19:9: Divorce and Remarriage Today (Advanced)

Jesus says that a person that divorces and remarries has committed adultery. All of us need to take a stronger look at how quickly we feel free to divorce. We need to be followers of Jesus in this area, too.

However, on the other side, there are some who teach that if a person is divorced and remarried, they must split up their current marriage (and possible family), and either return to their first spouse or remain unmarried.

One can imagine the awful mess this would cause! Not to mention the emotional destruction!

Jesus’ teachings are for the church and the kingdom of God. When a person comes to Jesus, their entire past is wiped out. They are new creatures, buried and raised again from the dead (Rom. 6:3-4; 2 Cor. 5:17-18). Paul even ties this idea of our death to being divorced from the Law of Moses (Rom. 7:1-6).

"But if you have married a wife, you have not sinned" [1 Cor. 7:28]. That is because to one who, before believing, had been "loosed from a wife," she will not be considered a second wife who, subsequent to believing, is the first. For it is at believing that our life begins. (Tertullian, On Monogamy 11, c. A.D. 200)

Paul delves much further into this in 1 Corinthians 7, and we will talk more about that there.

God is not an inflexible God, looking to strike down marriages and families because of bad decisions in the past. There is nothing in the Gospels, in the apostles’ letters, or in the writings of the early church that ever even discusses breaking up marriages because of this passage of Scripture. Because divorce was common in ancient Rome, the fact that breaking up marriages is never mentioned is a powerful—in fact, irrefutable—argument from silence.

Matthew 19:1-9: Why the Pharisees Asked

It’s probably good to know that the issue of whether divorce was just okay or whether it should be strongly avoided was a conflict between two major rabbinical schools. This was not just a random question.

Jesus, in a sense, took a side. He did not choose one side over the other, he simply gave the truthful answer from God.

Matthew 19:10-11: Eunuchs (Advanced and Mature)

The disciples suggest that if divorce is so difficult, it might be better not to get married. Jesus doesn’t object to this, but he does say it’s "only for those to whom it has been given." 1 Corinthians 7:7-9 says exactly the same thing.

You probably know that there is mandatory celibacy in the main branches of Roman Catholic leadership, and it’s held in honor in other ancient churches. The tradition of encouraging celibacy among leaders is very ancient. It certainly dates back to the third century. I would say that my own readings of the writings of the second century church indicate that celibacy, except for the purpose of having children, was encouraged among all Christians, leaders and non-leaders alike! (e.g, Justin, First Apology 29, c. A.D. 155).

However, I am also convinced from history and Scripture that this was the influence of Greek philosophy, not apostolic teaching. We have just seen Jesus saying that only some people are so gifted, and only they should avoiding marrying. We referenced Paul saying the same thing.

Marriage is a deterrent to impurity, and there is nothing impure about it (1 Cor. 7:2-9; Heb. 13:4).

Matthew 19:16-22: The Rich, Young Ruler

I won’t comment on the rich, young ruler. The story speaks for itself.

We should comment on Jesus asking why the ruler called him good. There is really no doubt that the point he is making, hoping the young man will pick up on it, is that the rich, young ruler is not as good as he thinks he is!

The man does not know that Jesus is the Son of God, the living Word of God come to earth, so Jesus did not bother explaining that he himself really was good. That would have just made the young man miss the lesson he needed to learn.

Jesus is good and perfect. This was not a momentary flash of low self-esteem on the part of our Savior.

Matthew 19:23-26: Rich Men and Heaven

You’ve already read that storing up treasure on earth is a danger to your heart (6:20ff). Jesus drives this home. It’s a miracle to save a rich man.

Most of us who are western lavish in wealth, and we are becoming, I fear, less and less aware that it is so. You are not impoverished until you have not enough food, not enough clothes, and not enough shelter. And I may be exaggerating on the shelter.

Get a different view of riches! Most of the world already has that different view.

Rich Men (Advanced)

Let me take one more shot at modern preachers, in this case, the prosperity movement, which should be heavily opposed by every true Christian.

Under the old covenant, God had an earthly, fleshly kingdom. Riches and long life were a sign of blessing under the old covenant.

The new covenant is a spiritual covenant with better promises and a spiritual, everlasting kingdom. Every fleshly blessing of the old covenant finds its fulfillment in a spiritual blessing in the new covenant. Our riches are heavenly, our long life is eternal, and it has nothing to do with whether we are in this body or on this earth.

Prosperity preachers use old covenant teachings to con people into giving them money, promising them that by giving they, too, can be rich. If it actually worked (which it does not), the result would be that this would tie their hearts to earth and make it impossible for them to enter the kingdom of heaven until God miraculously delivered them from their love for money.

We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can bring nothing out. Therefore, let us be content with food and clothing. Those that want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which drown people in destruction and punishment. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. When people have longed for it, they have erred from the faith and skewered themselves with many sorrows. But you, o man of God, flee these things! (1 Tim. 6:7-11)

Matthew 19:27-30: The Disciples’ Reward

The reward speaks for itself. Note, though, that though Matthew doesn’t specifically emphasize it, Luke specifies that the that the "many times as much" (v. 29, NASB) is in this present time, not just in heaven (Luke 18:30).

Entering the church, the gathering of the disciples together, is entering a family of people whose regard is for eternal things. They share, not because it is commanded but because that is what families do.

The family possessions, which generally destroy brotherhood among you [Romans], create fraternal bonds among us. One in heart and soul, we do not hesitate to share our earthly goods with one another. (Tertullian, Apology 39, c. A.D. 200)

We who valued above all things the acquisition of wealth and possessions, now bring what we have into a common stock and share with every one in need (Justin, First Apology 14, c. A.D. 155).

Matthew 20:17-19: Jesus’ Prophesies His Death and Resurrection

Remember when you read Jesus’ statements about his death that his apostles really didn’t understand how that could happen. Peter had rebuked Matthew, only to be called "satan" in return, the last time Jesus said these things.

We are used to the idea of Jesus dying on the cross to save us. The apostles were not. No one had ever prophesied a Messiah who would die, rise from the dead, then raise up a worldwide, spiritual kingdom composed of Jews and Gentiles together.

Jesus statements puzzled them (Luke 18:34).

Matthew 20:20-28: James and John Ask for Special Status

The story speaks for itself, but we should hear Jesus’ words about how authority works in the kingdom of God. Jesus carefully points out that it is contrary to the way the nations do things. Therefore it will be contrary to our human nature, and we need to walk with the Spirit of God so that we can learn how to carry authority spiritually.

The starting lesson is easy: serve and never stop serving. Have the best interest of others in mind, and not your ease of leadership!

Matthew 21:12-16: Cleansing the Temple

I skipped the triumphal entry, thinking it speaks for itself. But notice the difference between the way Jesus treats the excited crowd and the way he treats the spiritual businessmen.

Often, we want to quiet the crowds that have gotten "emotional." Jesus thinks that’s impossible, and that even the rocks will cry out if you don’t let people have their zeal for God.

But spiritual businessmen? Be very careful how you attempt to traffic the things of God for your own benefit.

Matthew 21:18-22

Be very careful here that you don’t stumble by fretting over the future of a fig tree. There are spiritual lessons in this passage. Jesus gives one of them, but we should also learn lessons about the importance of bearing fruit and not putting on a show.

Matthew 21:23-46

This passage could sound like a question and two parables. It is not. Together, they are a showdown between the Pharisees and Jesus, and Jesus not only stands up to them boldly, but he makes clear what the end of the battle will be. The kingdom of God once belonged to the Israelite nation, but after the destruction of the prophets first, then the Son, which was soon to come, the kingdom would be taken from them and given to a new nation.

The new covenant is on its way. Jesus has been teaching about it the entire Gospel, but it will soon go into effect for all the world.

Both parables are an answer to the Pharisees’ attack.

Notice, too, that Jesus’ method of answering the Pharisees will change regularly, depending on the situation. This is near the end of his ministry. It is time for him to die, and he is confronting them with the truth, knowing that they will kill him.

At other times, he would say, "My time has not yet come," and he would wait. At times he confounded the Pharisees and lawyers who questioned him, and at other times he didn’t even answer, leaving them apparently thinking they were right. (We see this especially in the Gospel of John.)

There is not a "right" way to speak for God.

Remember, we are a spiritual people, in whom the Spirit of God dwells. The Word of God is planted like a seed and growing within us. We must be like Jesus, and we must answer as the Spirit leads. Remember the martyr Stephen, and the way he spoke (Acts 6:8-10).

Matthew 22:1-11: The Wedding Feast

As I have said, we must be careful about constructing endtime scenarios in which we trust. On the other hand, we must not ignore Jesus’ statements about the end times. We must be those who can read the end times, and parables like this teach us how to be prepared.

Parables like this can teach us for years and decades. Let’s get them inside of ourselves, and be like the clean animals of the old covenant (Lev. 11:2-3). Let us "ruminate" on them, not just chewing them once, but bringing them back over and over again, until they become part of us and God can constantly be teaching us from them.

The other part of the clean animals, by the way—splitting the hoof—has to do with walking in the things we’ve ruminated on. Animals with split hoofs have a better grip on the ground, and it symbolizes both separating from the world and walking carefully in the things we have learned.

Matthew 22:15-45: Jesus Questioned

As I pointed out above, Jesus, the living Word of God, is of course superb at answering his detractors perfectly every time. He confounds the questioner, and he teaches the listeners, all at the same time.

Matthew 22:41-45: Jesus Asks His Own Question

Jesus’ question should not be as hard for us as it was for the Pharisees. We know who Jesus is! He is both man and God, and thus he is both son of David and Lord of David.

This was not, however, a question any Jew would have been able to answer until Jesus revealed the answer.

Matthew 23:1-12: Spiritual Authority

Jesus’ words in this passage are not much different than his words in Matthew 20:20-28. A person walking in God’s authority ought to know all this without having to be directly told.

Matthew 23:9: Call No Man Father (Advanced)

This passage is so abused by Protestants that there is no way to avoid commenting on this. (Of course, the abuse by the Protestants has not stopped Roman Catholics from ignoring this verse and continuing to use the title "Father" on a widespread basis.)

The problem is that Protestants seem to have one narrow focus on the word "father." Exactly how is the title "Reverend Jones" any better than "Father Jones" in the context of this passage?

Both are wrong, and in both situations God’s Word is being ignored for the traditions of men. There’s no dancing around that; no one can miss that this passage is addressing both situations. Both Reverend Jones and Father Jones have something to learn about authority in the kingdom of God versus authority among the nations. They’re both missing it.

Don’t follow in the footsteps of those who heed tradition. Follow in the footsteps of those who obey the Word of God. Don’t be called father, reverend, teacher, etc. as a title.

The issue is the love of honor (23:5-7). Paul was a father to Timothy, and Timothy was a son to Paul (1 Tim. 1:2). Paul was a father to all the Corinthians (1 Cor. 4:15). But Paul was not addressed as "Father Paul," nor even addressed as "Apostle Paul," though in the third person we refer to him as "the apostle Paul" in order to distinguish him from other Pauls.

It is okay for people to say you are a teacher, or a gifted healer, or even a father in the church. Wearing a title in the church as though it makes you superior to others is the issue Jesus is addressing in this passage, whatever that title may be.

Matthew 23:13-37

Everything leading up to this chapter has given the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders a chance to avoid this tongue-lashing from God himself.

They didn’t, and here it comes.

The rest of the Gospel, which we will cover tomorrow, covers the response of the Jewish leaders and the setting up of the new spiritual kingdom based on a new covenant with better promises.

I’m realizing from a discussion I’m having with Restless Pilgrim that to many people I seem like I’m against a lot of things rather than for one thing.

Here’s my goal: That Christians would walk together, full of mercy to one another, but also full of zeal for obedience to Jesus Christ; that we would love one another and take care of one another’s needs, and that we would meddle in one another’s lives, admonishing and comforting each other as needed in order to provoke each other to love and good works (Heb. 3:13; 10:24).

There’s something standing in the way. It’s a system that promotes attending services rather than living as family to one another and which treats the pointing out and correcting of real problems as judgment that Jesus forbids.

A former pastor and current Sunday school teacher admitted to me recently that his church never has and never will obey 1 Corinthians 5:

I have written to you not to keep company with anyone who is called a brother who is a fornicator, greedy, an idolator, verbally abusive, a drunkard, or a swinder—no, don’t even eat with such a person. … Put out from among yourselves that wicked person. (1 Cor. 5:11, 13b

There are very few congregations, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant, that are even allowed to find out if a person is a fornicator, greedy, or verbally abusive. Yes, if one of the minority deeply committed Christians confesses such sin, we will provide help. Those with damaged marriages, who struggle with pornography or substance abuse, or who have some other problem that Christians tend to seek professional counsel—or non-professional counsel in a counseling environment (weekly meetings with a person that was a stranger before the counseling)—then we deal with it.

But what we do today is not church life Biblically. Paul didn’t write 1 Corinthians 5 because he had a vendetta against greedy swindlers. I’m not writing this blog because I have a vendetta against denominations.

Paul was building the church, and accommodating the wicked inside the church was in the way. I’m trying to proclaim the church, and our organizational practices are in the way of obedience to that extremely central Biblical teaching!

There’s two problems with leaving the sexually immoral and verbally abusive (if they’re unrepentant) in the church.

1. They’re not going to heaven. Paul says so in the next chapter. Treating them like Christians is lying to them and stealing their opportunity to repent and be saved (cf. Jam. 5:19-20).
2. There is incredible power in the fellowship of the saints. That is the church. When the saints are in fellowship with the sons of the devil, even if they’re sweet children of the devil (Eph. 2:1-3), then they’re not in fellowship with each other, the church doesn’t exist, and the power of the church vanishes.

Jesus gave himself for the church! (Eph. 5:25-27; Tit. 2:13-14). He wants his own special people, zealous for good works. Those people will be led by the Spirit of God (1 Jn. 2:27), protected from deception (Eph. 4:13), and will grow together into everything that Jesus is himself (Eph. 4:14-16).

In the first couple centuries of the church, the devil failed to rip Christians apart by attacking them. But then he switched tactics. Rather than try to terrify these bold Christians into fleeing into the world, he sent the world into the church. As the church forgot 1 Cor. 5 and admitted almost everyone into their fellowship, Christians were crowded apart, and the power and benefit of the church disappeared.

The devil couldn’t pull Christians apart, but he was able to crowd them apart.

He had to. When they were near each other, they were exhorting each other to higher and higher levels of power and holiness, and they were beginning to convert many and influence everyone.

We have come to believe a lie today. We believe that we can listen to the Gospel, read the Bible, pray, and go off to live a Christian life.

That’s not Biblical.

Christians need one another. We need daily exhortation, says the writer of Hebrews (3:13).

Not only that, but when we listen to the Gospel, read the Bible, pray, and go off to live a Christian life, then our invisible, deceptive sins go undealt with. We wind up with our own righteousness, but we miss God’s righteousness, which goes deep down inside and deals with the places even we don’t know about, but which others—if they’re spiritual others—see.

One final note. Yes, there are superstars who do great in the current system.

Most people, though, are not offered the help that was offered in the first century. They have Christ the head, but they don’t really have Christ the body, the family that takes them in, ends their loneliness, and grows with them into the fullness of Christ. And we cannot say that we don’t need the body. Paul was pretty vehement about that (1 Cor. 12).

Today I watched a powerful video, When the Rabbi Says "Come," for the second time. It’s one section of a video called In the Dust of the Rabbi.

Ray Vander Laan’s excellent portrayal of life in Galilee and the background of the Gospels is so helpful that I purchased a copy for my family even though it’s a bit pricey. I also got the study guide, so I could go over it carefully with the children.

But this blog is not about Vander Laan’s convicting and important teaching. It’s about the fact that even a man like Vander Laan, whose study of the geography and culture of the Bible has led him to strongly emphasize a life-changing discipleship, is confined by semantic taboos every bit as much as those less well-informed.

His study guide says:

Jesus and his disciples had a very different view of discipleship. They made no distinction between "being saved" and living in obedience to God. To be saved was to be totally committed to a life of obedience—to walk as the Rabbi walked, to become like him.

That’s clear, and no one who’s read First John—and believes that it’s God’s Word—could deny that what Vander Laan says is true.

Mark Twain once said, "Laws are sand; customs are rock. Laws can be evaded and punishment escaped, but an openly transgressed custom brings sure punishment."

What Twain says concerns society is no less true of modern Christianity. You can often say things that flatly contradict the Bible yet maintain an audience in the churches. Say something, however, that contradicts well-established tradition, and you will be quickly called to task.

To call Christians to discipleship is no violation of modern tradition, but to tie it to salvation … that’s another story. For Vander Laan to say "They made no distinction between ‘being saved’ and living in obedience to God" is to walk on thin ice despite the fact that he’s practically quoting 1 John.

So Vander Laan adds a line in honor to modern tradition.

They did not do this in order to be saved, but rather because they were saved. (emphasis in original)

We hate to say that we obey to be saved. In fact, custom forbids it.

But does the Bible forbid it.

If so, the apostles didn’t know about it. They had no qualms about tying obedience to salvation, nor about saying that we obey to be saved.

For example:

• "Therefore, brothers, be diligent to make your calling and election sure because if you do these things you will never stumble, for in this way an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:10-11)
• "What benefit is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith and does not have works? Can faith save him? … You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only" (James 2:14,24)
• God will repay everyone according to their deeds. To those who seek glory, honor, and immortality by patiently continuing to do good, [he will repay] eternal life. (Rom. 2:6-7)

Yes, yes, I know that modern Christians excel at rewording the apostles so that their words don’t violate modern tradition. James, for example, really didn’t mean "justified by works and not by faith only," they say. He meant "justified by faith alone, but not by faith that is alone."

Slick.

But clearly James wasn’t guarding his words the way modern custom prescribes. Neither was Peter. Neither was Paul.

James didn’t follow his statement with, "Oops, sorry. I’m not saying that we do works to be justified. Obviously we do them because we are justified."

Peter didn’t follow his words with, "I didn’t mean that we diligently do these things to enter the kingdom of Jesus Christ. I meant that we diligently do these things because we already have an entrance."

I highly recommend learning to quote the apostles, despite the fact that you will quickly be labeled a heretic. You may find that there’s a reason that between 80 and 95% of people who make a profession of faith don’t even attend church five years later. As you learn to say what the apostles said, I believe you will find that their words will change what you believe as well, slowly delivering you from the vise-like grip of unyielding custom.

By the way, the statistic I quoted in the last paragraph came originally from Ray Comfort’s Hell’s Best Kept Secret. I recommend the book because it describes the problem so well, though I strongly disagree with his solution. We have a Gospel that doesn’t work for the large majority—at least 4 out of 5—of the people who hear it.

In modern Christianity, it is common for a "Christian" who has been rebuked to say something to the effect of, "Don’t judge; we’re under grace."

That kind of statement is based on a very wrong understanding of grace. The very reason that we can admonish one another is because we’re under grace. "Sin will not have power over you because you are not under law, but under grace" (Rom. 6:14).

There are four main verses I like to use to define grace properly. You just saw one of them. Grace is the power from God that causes sin to lose its power over us. Here are the others:

Similar to Rom. 6:14, the following passage tells us that grace delivers us from sin:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, godly, and righteously in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us so that he might purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. (Tit. 2:11-14)

This one talks about the fact that grace helps us in time of need:

Let us come boldly to the throne of grace so that we may find mercy and grace to help in time of need. (Heb. 4:16)

And finally, Peter tells us that grace is the power behind our spiritual gifts and services:

As each one has received a gift, serve it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracle of God. If anyone serves, let it be from the ability which God provides, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. (1 Pet. 4:10-11)

In today’s world, we like to confuse grace with mercy. We call grace God’s unmerited favor, which may not be a bad definition if we understand favor correctly. Grace is power, and if you have grace, it will teach you to live godly, break sin’s power over you, and make you an able servant of the gifts God has given you. In fact, whatever the need, if you come boldly to the throne of God, you can find mercy from God, and you can also find grace, which will help with anything you might have need of.

It gives a little different picture of the fact that we are saved by grace. God has kindly given us access to grace through faith (Rom. 5:2), and we stand in that power by faith. That is why Paul tell us that …

By grace are you saved through faith … (Eph. 2:8)

Freely, apart from works, with all our past forgiven, we can enter into grace through faith. When we do, just as Titus 2:11-14 tells us above, we become "his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do" (Eph. 2:10).

We are in desperate need of the grace of God, but it is not because we need God to overlook sin which he has never promised to overlook. If we practice the works of the flesh, we will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21). If we live according to the flesh, we will die (Rom. 8:12), but we will never overcome the flesh on our own. We need the righteousness of God, those good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do, which we will only be able to do as we "by the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body" (Rom. 8:13).

I believe that God is far more merciful than we give him credit for. Day after day, as we repent and are taught and empowered by grace, we will find his mercies new every morning. But God is not mocked. It is only as we walk in the light that we will find fellowship with one another and experience the ongoing cleansing of the blood of Jesus (1 Jn. 1:7).

Yesterday I talked about reconstructing Christianity as the apostles delivered it. The emphasis yesterday was on the role of sacrifices and that only those with a pure heart can offer sacrifices to God.

Let’s touch on another example of that, one which contradicts another assumption of modern Christianity.

The first example of a rejected sacrifice in the Bible is Cain’s. In today’s Christianity it is usually taught that Cain’s sacrifice was rejected because it was from the field, while Abel’s was accepted because it was from the flock. Abel’s had blood; Cain’s didn’t.

That wasn’t the early Christian understanding, and they have some very clear Scripture on their side.

Cain went away angry when his sacrifice was rejected, and God came to him asking him why he was angry:

If you do good, will you not be accepted? If you do not do good, sin lies at the door. (Gen. 4:7)

Cain’s sacrifice was rejected because he was already an evildoer, not because he sacrificed grain. The apostle John drives that home for us:

We should love one another, unlike Cain, who was of the wicked one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because his own deeds were evil, and his brother’s righteous. (1 Jn. 3:11b-12)

Cain was already an evildoer before he killed Abel, and it was for this reason that his sacrifice was rejected.

What we saw yesterday is true. Sacrifices are offered to God by those whose hearts are purified by repentance. All other sacrifices are rejected.

This applies to those of us who are New Testament believers. We must not think that we can live any way we please and hope to be purified by Jesus’ blood. Hebrews tells us that it is possible to count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing (10:29). It remains true that "without [holiness] no one will see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14) and that "the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6:9).

It also remains true that the only ones who are righteous, as Christ is righteous, are those who practice righteousness, says the apostle John (1 Jn. 3:7).

The first and foremost message that God gives to man is that we must repent. If we repent, then we can call on the name of Jesus and find all the benefits of his blood, including both mercy and grace (which we will define tomorrow). If we do not repent, then we are fooling ourselves, insulting the Spirit of grace, and our attempts to use grace as a license to sin will only result in our spiritual death (Rom. 8:12-13).

A Little Help with the Confusion Tradition Brings

I’ve given you Scripture for everything I said today, but if you are new to reading my blog, then I understand that some of the things I say may be shocking. Yet, who can deny that it is true that the only ones who are righteous as Christ is righteous are those who practice righteousness? John tells us not to be deceived about that! (1 Jn. 3:7).

Still, "works" has become a forbidden word in modern Christianity, leading to a version of the Gospel that has dozens of difficult, barely understandable Scriptures. Some of the ways that modern Christians try to dance around James 2:24, where James says that we are justified by works, are simply embarrassing.

The early church never struggled with such issues. The Scriptures were one, uncomplicated, and easy to understand for them because they still had the apostles’ words echoing in their ears.

I have a longer teaching on the subject of faith and works written especially for modern Christians, to help them get over the hump of terrifying tradition. In fact, I have several:

"Not by Faith Alone" (Titled that way because it’s a quote from James 2:24)

Christian Salvation

I would love to completely deconstruct some of the myths that have made their way into evangelical tradition, then become unquestionable, but which have no Scriptural or historical support. Then afterwards, I would love to retell the story of Christianity the way the early churches said they received it from the apostles.

We would be so blessed; it would honor God, and the Scriptures would fall into place, all saying one thing, rather than our beating each other over the head with competing verses.

But those traditions are so ingrained, it’s hard to do.

As an example, all early Christians knew about Christ’s "new law" (Heb. 7:12), which was not a new law, but the fullness of the old Law of Moses that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 5:17. That teaching answers all the fuss about the Sabbath, the ten commandments, why Paul says the Law came to an end (Rom. 10:4), yet appealed to the law (1 Cor. 9:8). Their teaching is clear, and it pulls the Old and New Testaments together in a way we can all understand.

Amazingly, despite the fact that at one time all Christians knew the teaching, no one does now. It’s astounding. You can read the teaching at Christian-history.org.

I have no idea how to do such a reconstruction. Who’s going to believe me?

So, let’s keep picking away at it.

Today, I want to talk one more time about the role of sacrifices.

Yesterday, I went to a National Bible Bee contest. It was a Scripture memory contest for kids with some large cash prizes. The kids were impressive. It seemed like they had the entire Bible memorized.

Anyway, one of the passages was Hosea 6:1-3. This is typing, not talking, so I’ll just quote part of the passage, though the rest is amazing and worth reading, too:

Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. … So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. (vv. 1,3, NASB)

I’ve been somewhat immersed in the writings of second-century Christianity for about twenty years now. When I read an Old Testament passage about returning to the Lord, I know what it’s going to talk about. It’s going to talk about repentance, and it’s going to emphasize that Israel will be wasting it’s time if they try to sacrifice their way back to fellowship with God.

This is not a concept most modern Christians have.

Sure enough, by v. 6, God says:

For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. (NASB)

At the start of chapter 7, God tells them that they forget that he remembers all their wickedness (7:2). Towards the end of the chapter, God complains, not that they don’t offer sacrifices, but that "they do not cry out to Me from their heart" (7:14, NASB).

By chapter 8, he specifically mentions their sacrifices, saying:

As for My sacrificial gifts, they sacrifice the flesh and eat it, but the LORD has taken no delight in them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish them for their sins. (8:13, NASB)

Notice, as I said, that he consistently calls for their behavior to change, their repentance, and he says sacrifices will be a waste of time until they do.

Hosea is an amazingly consistent book, staying on the same subject for chapters, outlining the sins of Israel and Judah before drawing to a conclusion in ch. 14, at the end of the book. By the time Hosea reaches that conclusion, it is surprising what he tells Israel to bring with them when they return to the Lord …

Take words with you and return to LORD. Say to him, "Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips." (14:2)

One more thing we have forgotten that the early Christians knew is that sacrifices don’t purify the heart. If the heart is wrong, the sacrifice is rejected, and that is consistent throughout Scripture, not just here in Hosea. It is the heart that purifies the sacrifice. That is why King David writes:

For you do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. (Ps. 51:16-17, NASB)

This is as true of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as it is of the sacrifice of animals. Paul tells us, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap" (Gal. 6:7, NASB). He then goes on to say that sowing to the flesh will produce corruption for us, while sowing to the Spirit will produce eternal life.

We are those who have nothing good in us, who rely on Jesus Christ to deliver us from this body of death (Rom. 7:24 w/ 8:3-4). We depend daily on the mercy of God, but we need to know that mercy is poured out on those who confess their sins and repent. Then we can enter boldly into the throne of grace, seeking mercy and grace to help in time of need. God will always forgive the repentant, but if we come boldly into the throne of grace, holding sin in our heart, without crying out for deliverance, we may find ourselves recipients of the mercy of God in a form far different than we expected.

It is possibly to trample the Son of God underfoot, to count the blood of the covenant as an unholy thing, and to insult the Spirit of Grace (Heb. 10:29). The writer of Hebrews tells us that if we do so, there is only a fearful expectation of judgment.

Even such judgment is the kindness of God, for we cannot be allowed to continue to believe that grace is a license to sin. If you care to enter the presence of Almighty God by the blood of Jesus, then take words with you and repent before the Lord. He is well able to cleanse you, but not if you have no care to walk in the Spirit and live pleasing to his will.

All of us have run across people who say they are saved but are not. In fact, for most "Christians," the teachings of Christ and the apostles play little to no role in their lives. Polls by George Barna confirm this regularly, from the mouths of church attenders themselves.

So those of us who are serious about the Gospel have looked for ways to see people really saved. We’ve told those who pray the sinner’s prayer to really mean it. We’ve emphasized follow-up. We’ve made our doctrines better. We’ve increased church activities, and we’ve even tried getting a little more worldly ourselves so that these Christians in name only might get a little more committed.

All to no avail.

I was reading a Christian drug rehab site today, and I realized that one problem is that nominal Christians don’t see that there is anything they need to be really saved from.

At a drug rehab center, there’s something to be saved from. You’ve either stopped brewing meth, or you’re still using it. You’ve either stopped smoking crack, or you’re still smoking crack.

If the drug rehab’s "Gospel" isn’t working, there’s no denying it isn’t working. We don’t usually use the word "saved" in reference to their work, but at a Christian rehab center, that’s exactly what’s going on. Either they’re being saved, or they’re not.

Since I don’t know all the details of what a drug rehab center does, nor how successful they are, nor how much follow-up they do, let’s switch to something I know more about.

U.S. prisons have very high "recidivism" rates. A recidivism rate is the percentage of criminals released from prison who wind up behind bars again. Standard statistics vary depending on how they’re calculated, but a 45% recidivism rate after three years is acknowledged by all. A Free Republic article says that if you track all prisoners for 20 years, then it’s 82% of inmates who return to prison.

The article describes a program that successfully reduced that recidivism rate to 61%, a minor but significant success. It involved counseling.

I have now met two men involved in major prisoner reform programs. Both programs take a prisoner from the prison to a counseling program, help them find a job, and follow up with them for at least two years. Both programs successfully cut the recidivism rate in half.

Now that’s salvation! It is at least for the men who never return to prison.

We have no such standard of measure for Christianity today. Anyone who can attend a meeting can be a Christian.

It was not that way in the beginning. To join the Christians was to join a new family. They shared their meals and even their possessions. They met every day in the temple, and they ate together in their homes. Their leaders taught them "night and day, both publicly and from house to house."

The "every day in the temple" part happened only in Jerusalem, but the rest happened everywhere for around 200 years.

An early Christian tract is still extant that made it into two early Christian writings, one the earliest church manual ever written. That tract urges Christians to "seek out the faces of the saints ever day." It tells them that if they share in eternal things, how much more should they share the things that are merely temporary.

As late as A.D. 200, we read about the Christians that "the family possessions, which generally destroy brotherhood among you [Romans], create brotherly bonds among us. One in mind and soul, we do not hesitate to share our earthly goods with one another. All things are common among us except our wives" (Tertullian, Apology 39).

A counselor who takes an inmate fresh from prison and guides him to a new life can tell you whether that inmate was successfully "saved." If the inmate went back to prison, the counselor knows that, at least for now, he’s failed. If the inmate is surrounded by wholesome friends, employed, and has a new life in front of him, then he’s succeeded.

When Christianity is again a family, rather than a set of weekly meetings; when we are again seeking out the faces of the saints every day; when our teachers are again teaching day and night and from house to house as well as publicly; when each saint is expected to stretch out his hand to give as well as stretching it out to take … when these things are happening, we may again be able to tell the difference between the saved and those who merely attend our meetings.

That would require a pretty radical overhaul, but don’t you agree we need it?

One happy note: I have run across a number of churches attempting to make exactly those kind of changes. Some are failing, but some appear to be succeeding.

If you’re in Sacramento or Atlanta, I can already put you in contact with people. Unfortunately, I didn’t get contact information from the elder of one church like this I met, but there are a couple others in the middle of these changes that I know about, too.

David Platt has a rather famous church doing these sorts of things in Birmingham, and if you’re in San Francisco, you ought to look up what Francis Chan is doing. Simple and brilliant.