Matthew 4:12-24 (#9.2021.05.23)
In this episode, Scott continues the discussion about Matthew, starting with the significant contrasts between the Old and New Testaments, focusing on how Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount shift the approach from law to grace. Scott emphasizes hearing and acting upon Jesus' words, linking this practice to true happiness and joy. Through the lens of the Beatitudes, specifically blessed are the poor in spirit and blessed are those who mourn, he explains spiritual bankruptcy and the comfort that comes from repentance and acknowledgment of sin.
Scott also touches on the rejection Jesus faced in Nazareth, his role in fulfilling biblical prophecies, and his mission to preach the kingdom of God. He reflects on the responsibility and challenges of discipleship, urging listeners to consider who guides their lives. The episode concludes with a look at Jesus' profound authority over physical and spiritual ailments and the importance of following Jesus authentically.
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Transcript
Hi. If you're looking for greater hope, assurance, and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi, and welcome to today's episode. As always, for a deeper experience, you can go to the show notes and download the blank insight sheet. Fill in the blanks along with the group. Depending on how you're listening to this, there'll be a link to the episode website at beholdingbibletruth.com, and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode.
Scott Keffer [:Well, I was having a conversation with this, friend, Tony, who's going through struggles in his marriage, and, I told him to just take out the bible and to read, which he hadn't much. He said, I don't really know what to do. I don't know what to read. You know, we're talking about this. But I just want you to read a chapter of the book of John, just one chapter, and then just write down one thing you observe about Jesus. That's all. One thing you observe. And then day 2, just take the second chapter of John and read it.
Scott Keffer [:Just write down one thing. Maybe a prayer, but just write down one thing you observed about Jesus. What's clear is we were having a conversation, that each of us has an expectation about who Jesus is and about what he does. But it's usually about what he does. What is god doing? What's he doing in my life? What's he doing in in my future? What what does he have in mind for me? But unless we understand who he is, it's hard to be able to understand what he does because we have to run what he does through the filter of who he is. Otherwise, we can misunderstand what he does. Expectation. But I thought about that.
Scott Keffer [:So what are you expecting god to do these days? What are you expecting him to do? Go up expectations, don't we? What are you expecting him to do these days? Well, if all is going well in your life, you might say, I'm not really expecting much other than, well, I am expecting that he'll continue to make things go well. If you have a struggle or a challenge, you're expecting god to overcome it or overtake it. You may have a local expectation about what's going on in your life. You may have a national expectation about what happens in the world, what happens in our country, what happens in the future. But all of that seems to be because one of the things I I tell the people that we coach with, one of the the the things that derails people who wanna be in their own business is the desire for certainty. We long for certainty. We wanna put our hands on and control every event and we desire certainty in all things, and the reality is we don't have certainty. So we're walking through the book of Matthew looking afresh at the lord Jesus and looking at the sovereignty of God in the midst of it.
Scott Keffer [:Well, they had expectations. They had expectations about the Messiah. What he would he would do when he came. Not less about who he was, but really what was he going to do when he comes. Right? Some had no expectations. They could care less whether messiah was gonna come or not. Some, when he came, figured they're gonna he he he's gonna overthrow. Of course, he's gonna overthrow the government.
Scott Keffer [:He's gonna take back the tyranny. Right? He's gonna give us the blessing that we deserve. Right? So there's there's there's this whole sort of array of expectations about who he is, and it's a reminder as Jesus comes that he's not here to meet our expectations. He is here to unveil the the character and the nature of God because he is God in the flesh. And so as we understand who he is, it it better allows us to lay that framework over what he does so we can comprehend it at least a little bit more effectively. So I put on there the beginning that Jesus is connecting the prophetic dots. So step by step by step as we go through here, Jesus is perfecting the prophetic dots. He's showing that he is the fulfillment of prophecy.
Scott Keffer [:So you can see that over and over again to fulfill what was spoken by the prophets. So we're gonna go to Matthew 4, and we're gonna pick up where we did last time. We're gonna read from Matthew 412 to, to the end of the chapter, and then we'll look at the other. So if you could stand out of reverence for god and his word, that'd be great. So Matthew 412, and I'm reading from the New American Standard. Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, he withdrew into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, he came, and he settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea in the region of Zibulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, and those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned.
Scott Keffer [:From that time, Jesus began to preach and say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw 2 brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, Nander his brother, casting a net into the sea, and they were fishermen. And he said to them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Immediately, they left their nets and they followed him. Going on from there, he saw 2 other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, John, his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately, they left the boat and their father and followed him. Jesus was going throughout all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. The news about him spread throughout all Syria.
Scott Keffer [:They brought to him all who were ill, those suffering from various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics, and he healed them. Large crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. The word of the lord. Thanks. Thanks be to God. Amen. To fulfill. To fulfill.
Scott Keffer [:To fulfill. So here we are, the Lord Jesus to fulfill. Right? And, of course, at this time, already, the wedding of Cana has happened. So his he he's already been rejected, if you will, in his hometown. So this is the next chapter of his ministry, if you will, Galilee of the Gentiles. Well, this is interesting because it's it's quoting from Isaiah. And if you go back to Isaiah 9, this is the verse that we always quote at Christmas. But this is the beginning of that verse.
Scott Keffer [:He says in chapter 1 verse said, there'll be no more gloom for her who is in anguish. In earlier times, he treated the land of Zebulon and and the land of Natale with contempt. But later on, he shall make it glorious. By the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the gentiles, the people who walk in darkness, they will see a great light. Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. He shall multiply the nation, he shall increase their gladness. They will be glad in your presence as with the gladness of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulder, the rod of their oppressor as at the battle of Midian.
Scott Keffer [:For a reboot of the booted warrior in the battle of tumult, and cloaked role in blood will be for burning fuel for the fire. 4. You know this verse, child is born, son is given. Right? But the context to that, this is sitting in the context of that promise. So they will see the gentiles will see a great light. And so this is not only fulfill what was spoken by the prophets, but this was to fulfill the promise to Abraham. The promise to Abraham, which John the Baptist's father quotes in in Luke, but you can go back to Genesis. It says where Yahweh spoke to Aaron, go from here to the country, from your relatives and from your father's house to the land which I shall show you, and I will make you a great nation.
Scott Keffer [:And I will bless you. I will bless you. Make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you, and in you, all families of the earth shall be blessed. So not just Jews, but Jews and Gentiles. Gentiles. Right? Gentiles. Galilee of the Gentiles.
Scott Keffer [:Mostly a Gentile area. Galilee of the Gentiles. And literally, the, the Greek is in the land of the shadow of death. In the land of the shadow of death, a great light would come about. Oh, in the land of the shadow of death. Shadow of death. Where have we heard that before? The great shepherd walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Right? That he would not only be a light in the midst of the shadow of death, but he would be the one who would be the great shepherd for those through the shadow of death.
Scott Keffer [:He would not only show up the shadow of death. He'd already been rejected in Nazareth. Right? So or if you look at Luke 4, again, look at him as the fulfillment. Right? It continues to say these are to fulfill. It says he returned to Galilee in the power of the spirit, news about him spread, and he began teaching in the synagogue. So this is in between. He came to Nazareth, right, his hometown where he'd been brought up. And as was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath.
Scott Keffer [:He stood up to read. The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Oh, really? How did he pick which day? How did they pick? Well, the readings were already set. So Jesus shows up. They hand him the book to read. He opens up he opened the book. He found the place where it was written. The spirit of the lord is upon me because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
Scott Keffer [:He sent me to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of the sight to the blind, set free those who are oppressed to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord of Yahweh. He closed the book, gave it to the attendant, and the eyes were all fixed on him. And he began to say, today, the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. All were speaking well of him, wondering is this not Joseph's son? He said to them, no doubt, you will quote this proverb to me, physician, heal yourself. Whatever you've heard done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well. Truly, I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. Right? And he says in verse 28, all all all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things. They got drove him out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill in which their city had been built in order to, what? Throw him down.
Scott Keffer [:They wanna kill him. They didn't like what he was saying. He was not meeting their expectations. Passing through their midst, he went his way. He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. Alright. So you see that this has already happened. So this is where we are.
Scott Keffer [:He'd already been rejected. And it says he's come to preach the kingdom Preach the kingdom. Like, he he preaches the same message that John the Baptist preached, repent. But it means to proclaim and literally was the same word used of a herald who was there to proclaim the message of the king. He was proclaiming what was already so. So he's proclaiming the message of the kingdom and he is fulfilling the prophetic past to show that he is indeed the messiah. In fact, not just the messiah, the king. King is preaching the kingdom.
Scott Keffer [:So then Jesus encounters the disciples, and he gives the general call which he gives to every disciple. What is the general call? Follow me. Very simple. Now follow rules Follow the law. Right? Follow me. Follow me. So I put on there, if they were right? If you think about back here, right, here we here we have, James and John. Right? Zebedee, we have Peter and Andrew.
Scott Keffer [:So follow me. So I put so who were they following? They were following somebody. Their course of their life was being set by someone. Likely who? Their dad, their culture, themselves, whatever it might be. Well, in the world today, when Jesus says follow me, for most people, who is who is the captain? Us. Right? We're the king of our own kingdoms. The king of our own kingdoms. So as Christians, Jesus is still saying day by day, follow me.
Scott Keffer [:So I put on there, so how are you doing? How are how are you doing? Following him, how are you doing? Who's the king of your life? Who's the king of your life? So over on the left is I'm lord. Over on the right, he's lord. Simple call. Follow me. Follow me. Just follow me. Follow me. Like, don't go there.
Scott Keffer [:Go where you're going. So there's 2 pieces of that. One where where is the dot, and you should put a dot on there. But more importantly than that, you should also put an arrow. Where where where's the direction of my life today? And as Steve said it, you know, very simply, it's them. I'm saying who so whose day is it? Who who's out in front? So follow me means somebody's out in front. Jesus will claim I am the way, the truth, the life. Are you following the way, the truth, the life? Right? Asking the simple question, if you're go where are you going? Right? If he says follow me, I might be saying, so, okay.
Scott Keffer [:So, Lord, where are you going today? Where where do you want me to go? Well, but but Jesus or or Paul said, as as I follow the Lord, follow me. So it's a it's a it's a good question. So who's out in front? Who's out in front? Who's in charge? A very simple phrase, follow me. A good question. How am I doing? How am I doing? And asking that question daily, weekly, somehow how am I doing? How am I doing? Are you are you really in charge? Daily, what where are you going today, Lord? What do you what do you want? Your plans for the future, are they his plans, or are they your plans? Are they his plans, or are they your plans? Because it's easy to say, here are mine. I'm gonna invite you in. I I've got this all sketched out, Lord. I'm gonna invite you into my plans.
Scott Keffer [:That's what we wanna do. Right? Here are my plans. I wanna invite you into my plans rather than he's the one playing. And a reminder in there of his promise. Right? Because following means leaving behind For for each of you, no doubt, coming to Christ and following Christ meant leaving some things. He says you you you will those who have left will receive manyfold. Well, the second part, the general call is follow me. Follow me daily.
Scott Keffer [:Follow me in life. Follow me as a course of action. The second is Jesus' specific call to them. He says, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. So they're they're calling because they very specific calling very specific calling. So if you if you go back to Jeremiah, we see we see it unfold, Jeremiah 14. It says the word of Yahweh came to me and Yahweh says to Jeremiah, before I formed you in the womb before when? In eternity past. In eternity past, I knew you.
Scott Keffer [:Not a surprise. Right? There was there was one day when god became real to you, but but he knew you from eternity past. And he said before you were born before you were born, I consecrated you. What's it mean to consecrate? Set apart Set apart with a purpose. Set apart with a plan. Set apart. And I have appointed. Right? So you were formed, consecrated, and appointed.
Scott Keffer [:What was he appointed? A prophet to the nations. Paul was appointed to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches. These disciples were appointed as apostles of Christ. There is the appointment, consecrated an appointment. And then he says, lord, lord, excuse me, I can't do this. That's what he said. I can't I can't do this. I don't know how to speak.
Scott Keffer [:And, by the way, I'm a youth. Aren't you aware? Do you know how old I am? Do you know I don't have the experience. I just I'm I'm not able to do this. The Lord said to me, do not say I'm a youth. And the thing I take from this is all of the reasons that you can't you can't do what he has consecrated and appointed you for because of my experience, because of my background, because of my lack of whatever that is. He says, don't say that. Because he he just said everywhere that I send you, you shall go. Follow me.
Scott Keffer [:Right? Everywhere and all that I command you, you shall speak. So just follow me. Do not be afraid of them. I'll deliver you. He says then the lord touched out stretch out his hand, he touched my mouth. There is the there is the spiritual anointing, the the equipping, if you will, for for what he's calling to do. And he said, I put my words in your mouth, and I've appointed you. Put my words in your mouth.
Scott Keffer [:And Johnny said, you didn't choose me. I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain. So there there is a specific calling that rests upon each of our life. Long before God actually formed us in the womb, he consecrated us and he appointed us with that very specific calling. He's given us spiritual gifts to carry out that calling. He has touched us with his anointing and equipping to be able to do that. Likely, there are things in your life which would suggest that's not possible. I can't do this.
Scott Keffer [:And he says, those are your do not sas. He says, do not say. So what is your calling? We should be able to articulate it. Paul said, I preach to the gentiles. There's a verb in there. There's a noun in there. The sense of what's your verb, which is always always connected to your spiritual gifting. Right? What what are you carrying out? Gift of helps, the gift of administration, the gift of right? So what is your calling? Because that's the specific call.
Scott Keffer [:We did he's demonstrating it. In the kingdom, there's a general call. The general call is those in the kingdom follow me. They follow the king. There's a specific call that we each have a role in that kingdom. So you can be everywhere from I'm not sure what my calling is to I have put the clutch in. I mean, you know, I'm coasting to I've got the gas pedal down, and I continue to need the Lord's power to do it. I don't know where you are.
Scott Keffer [:I just suggest you need him wherever you are. Is it a revival or reboot? Is it clarification? Or is it continued encouragement to endure to press on? Press on. Press on. Well, their response is stunning to me. Immediately. Woah. What do you mean immediately? I'm kind of a I like to plan. So, Lord okay.
Scott Keffer [:That's what you want me to do. Let me get back to you. Right? That's what I gotta do. Let me let me kind of clarify what the, you know, what what are the implications of doing that. Right? That it's just it's stunning obedience. Now some of that is personality, but I think at the core of that is it's a general sense of if that's where you're going, I'm going there. I'll tell, Lord, sometimes it'll take me a little while to get rolling, like, to get to get my heart in. Right? Sometimes a little little while to get rolling, but they had an immediate response.
Scott Keffer [:And it said that he was continuing to demonstrate and to affirm and confirm that he was the messiah. Because the messiah was the king, and the king in the kingdom had all authority and all power. So he's saying, if I have authority, you need to follow my authority. He's saying, I'm also going to demonstrate my power. Right? A king has authority and a king has power. And so he demonstrates his power in in chapter 4 verse 23. It said, going throughout all Galilee, teaching, here is to proclaim and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. And in the kingdom, he has all authority and all power, healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.
Scott Keffer [:They brought him all who real those suffering from various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics. He healed them all. In other words, there wasn't a physical or a spiritual disease that he does not have authority over. We tend to confuse that that well, that means he's gonna heal every disease all the time in every place. Well, he says in Psalm 103, bless the lord, oh my soul, all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the lord, oh my soul, and forget none of his benefits. He pardons all our iniquities, and he heals all our diseases.
Scott Keffer [:That means he's gonna heal him how I want, when I want. Promise to heal. Junge. How's he gonna do that? I don't know. Could heal him on this side. Could heal him on the other side. Don't know. He has promised to heal, and he has power over every spiritual and physical disease and sickness.
Scott Keffer [:He's proving that to be so, and he's proving himself to be the messiah by Isaiah 661. Spirit of the Lord is upon me because Yahweh has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted, sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to claim liberty and freedom to prisoners. Really, listen, the lord is about the afflicted, the brokenhearted, the prisoners to proclaim, to herald the favorable year of Yahweh, the day of vengeance, to comfort those who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified and they will rebuild the ancient ruins. Well, fame is spreading for Jesus as he heals all kinds. And it says in verse 25, who followed him? Large crowds. Large crowds followed him. Well, this is kinda interesting.
Scott Keffer [:It's kinda interesting because Jesus says to his disciples, follow me. And immediately, they left. So we have that follow, then we have large crowds following. Is this the same following? So here's the question. Because he juxtapositions the 2. And I ask him there, what were they following? Because we'll see as he goes along in his path to define what the kingdom is, 1 by 1 by 1, Laura, the groups, they start to all the way. Right? Well, I wasn't following that. I was really following what? So it's a good question.
Scott Keffer [:Right? They were following the blessing. They were following the healing. They were following the result. Just a good question. That sits in context to the following of the disciples. Then it says in in chapter 5 verse 1, it says, when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain. After he sat down, his disciples came near to him, which not just those 4, but those who were, you know, seeking to follow him. And it says that he opened his mouth and began to teach them.
Scott Keffer [:So here it becomes the proclamation or the declaration of life in the kingdom of God. And you can underline, Tracy, opened his mouth because in in Matthew, when he's in he's in the wilderness being tempted, he said he quotes, right, from Deuteronomy, a man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. And now God opens his mouth because he is God in the flesh. Jesus opened his mouth. It's interesting. He didn't just say he taught them. No. He opened his mouth.
Scott Keffer [:And it says in Hebrews that he had spoken in the past. Well, read Hebrews 1 1 through 3. Right? You've you've spoken in the past and many in in you with one one. God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers, how did he speak? Through the prophets in many portions of many ways. In these days, he has spoken to us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also made the world. He is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature. So in the past up until now, God has spoken through the prophets and now he is speaking through his son. And, of course, I put in there, we're we're about to hear a radical proclamation because he's not gonna tell them what they expect, and he's not gonna tell them what they want.
Scott Keffer [:He's going to reorient. Underline that. Reorient. He's gonna show us about wholehearted devotion to God, not outward religiosity, but inward obedience. Well, it's interesting because if you go back to Malachi, the end of the old testament. So you just go a couple of pages back in your bible. Although between the end of Malachi in here, there's 400 years of silence. It's one page in my bible.
Scott Keffer [:This is 400 years of silence. Right? So it tends to kind of confuse us. 400 years, nothing. And here's how he ends. Right? The day is coming. Burning like furnace, all the arrogant and evildoer will be chaff. And on that day that is coming, we'll set them ablaze, says the lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root or branch. But you fear my name, the son of righteousness, rise with healing in its wings.
Scott Keffer [:You'll go forth and skip about like haves in the stall. You'll tread down the wicked for they will be ashes under the soul of your foot on the day which I am preparing, says Yahweh. There's a day coming, he said, with day of vengeance. Remember the law, my servant, even the statutes which I commanded in horror for all Israel. Behold, I'm gonna send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. So there's a great and terrible day. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, the hearts of the children to their fathers so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse. Closes the old testament with the law, the day of vengeance, and curse.
Scott Keffer [:400 years of silence. Jesus shows up. He opens his mouth. The first words he says here are blessed are. He opens with a blessing. He ends with a curse. The old testament then with the current Jesus begins with a blessing. Really amazing, ain't it? He closes with the law, he opens with grace.
Scott Keffer [:So it begins with blessed are but if you look, in order to understand, because we're gonna take a look at this Sermon on the Mount, a lot of stuff in here, always look at the beginning and the end. Right? You wanna get a context for a book. You read the beginning and the end before you start. Just get a sense when the book ends. Right? Where's the start? Where's it end? So he says in chapter 7 verse 24, every everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man. Here's these words of mine and acts upon them. Here's these words of mine and acts on them. Oh, so these are to be heard and responded to.
Scott Keffer [:These are to be heard and acted upon. He says if you do that, you'll be happy. You'll be happy. I thought that Christian life was about joy, not happiness. Well, it's the same word. It's happy. You'll be happy. Joe, Barkley says, joy which has has its secret within itself, joy which is serene and untouchable, Self contained joy, which is you can underline completely independent of all the chances and changes of life.
Scott Keffer [:That's a huge struggle for me. I I can't say I live with a whole lot of sense of that joy. I don't know where you are, but that that's a struggle. But that's part of the promise here. Part of the promise. Well, the end of chapter 7 verse 28, Jesus finished these words and the crowds remember large crowds followed him. What did the crowds do? What was their response? Verse 28. Amazed.
Scott Keffer [:They were amazed. They were amazed. He was teaching them as having authority. They were amazed. They were amazed. Amazing. This guy's amazing. Wow.
Scott Keffer [:It's amazing. And people say, yeah. You should hear this. It's amazing. It's really amazing. This is amazing. Teaching is amazing. This is amazing.
Scott Keffer [:Jesus said, everyone who hears these words and acts upon. So reminder there, Jesus wasn't teaching to amaze. Jesus wasn't teaching to amaze. 1 of the 1 of the, the knocks on the modern, Protestant church is we're, you you know, we're a concert with a great message. And often the message is amazing. It's amazing. We'll say, how was how was the tale? It was amazing. It's amazing.
Scott Keffer [:You have to hear it's amazing. Amazing. Jesus said, I teach to amaze. He'll use these words of mine. It acts upon. So why we try and end and say, what's your insight and what's your application? What what what what's one thing I can take and act upon? He wasn't teaching to amaze because we've become an amazement society. Amaze me. Amaze me.
Scott Keffer [:Show me another video. Play me another song. Give me another phrase. Be amazed. Amazed. It's addicting, ain't it? Amaze me. Amaze me. So now he's gonna say, okay.
Scott Keffer [:Here's where we start. Beatitudes. It means blessedness. That's where he starts. Blessedness. Blessedness. Jesus is gonna teach about blessedness. That's actually super cool.
Scott Keffer [:So it begins with a recognition. He said blessed are the poor in spirit. Poor in spirit. Heard that before. Spiritually bankrupt. In fact, more than bankrupt in debt. Now this is important because it doesn't mean insignificant. It doesn't mean without value.
Scott Keffer [:It's very different. It's a recognition and the confession of our sinful rebellion and our other inability and impossibility of earning God's favor. We are bankrupt spiritually in terms of I can't earn God's favor. He said, if you recognize that you are poor in spirit, you will be happy. Happy that I'm bankrupt? That doesn't make sense. Well, the reward is the kingdom, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Wait a minute. I'm bankrupting yet so Spurgeon said the poor in spirit are lifted from the dunghill.
Scott Keffer [:I love that. And said, not among hired servants in the field, but among princes in the kingdom. Poor in spirit. The words sound as if they describe the owners of nothing, and yet they describe the inheritors of all things. Happy poverty. Isn't it good? Happy poverty. So that's where he starts, poor in spirit. Well, I'm pretty capable.
Scott Keffer [:I can probably earn
Scott Keffer [:a little bit of God's favor.
Scott Keffer [:Right? Come on. Like bankrupt? Nah. That's counter. That's counter to the captain of my own destiny. I'm the captain of my own destiny. Then he said, blessed are those who mourn. This is a deep grief. Seven words for grief, sadness, and the Greek.
Scott Keffer [:This is the the strongest. This is the kind of grief that you wail and weep over go back to Psalm 51. David is crying out. He said, be gracious to me, oh god, according to your loving kindness, according to the greatness of your compassion, blot out my transgressions. Not one. It wasn't one. It was many. Watch me thoroughly from my inequity.
Scott Keffer [:Cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. This is an important thing. When I read this, I thought, wait a minute. He said against you and you only, I've sinned. Against you, Lord. Wait a minute. What about Uriah? What about the family? What about it sinned against many, but he says my sin is fundamentally god against you.
Scott Keffer [:I've done evil in your sight, so you are justified when you speak and blameless when you judge me. I was brought forth in inequity and sin. My mother conceived me. You desire truth in the innermost being. Purify me with hyssop, then I shall be clean. Anybody have the ability to purify your heart, to wash your soul, to cleanse your innermost being? It can cleanse our outside, but, man, how do I cleanse my soul? How do I wash my heart? How do I do that? Wash me, I'll be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones which you have broken hide your face from my sin, blot out my iniquities.
Scott Keffer [:Create in me a clean heart. We go down in verse 16. He says, for you do not delight in sacrifice. Otherwise, I would do it. If there was an external thing I could do, I would do it. You're not pleased with burnt offering. Sacrifices of god are are this this broken spirit, it's the mourning. Right? I'm I'm I'm broken over my sin.
Scott Keffer [:A broken and a contrite heart of god, you will not despise. You will not despise. It's a deep grief. Thomas Watson said, till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet. It's a good reminder. For sin, be bitter. And, Romans reminds us that sanctification is the lifetime struggle of the Christian life. If you're not struggling, if you're not frustrated, mourning over your own sin, that's a that's a warning.
Scott Keffer [:That's a that's that's a red light on the dashboard. It is a red light. You feel like I mean, come on. I've seen under control. Or what's the big deal? Couple of little things every day. That's it. I'm pretty good. Doing fine.
Scott Keffer [:That's a dashboard warning warning warning light. Here's what Paul says. Things that I wanna do, I do not do. So he says, for I know in verse, 18, for I know that nothing good nothing good dwells in me, that is in the old man, the flesh, for the for the willing is present, but the doing the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice a very evil that I do not want. But if I'm doing the very thing I do not want, I'm no longer the one doing sin. There's sin. I find this principle evil is present in me.
Scott Keffer [:And I joyously concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in my flesh, the members of my body, waging war. If if you're you're not in a war with sin, making me a prisoner of the law, wretched man that I am, who will set me free from this body of death? Well, thanks be to god through Jesus Christ, our lord. This is a lifetime struggle. If you're not in a battle with sin in your life, it is a warning sign. Warning, Will Rogers. Warning, Will Rogers. You know? Warning. Warning.
Scott Keffer [:Warning. So pay attention to that. Where's the promise? Condemnation. Condemnation for your sin. Right? That's what he promises. No. He says for those who mourn shall be comforted. Those who mourn over their sin shall be com wait a minute.
Scott Keffer [:Comforted by the God of all comfort? Perikaleo, the same word that's used for the holy spirit to come alongside. He's gonna come alongside to help you. Wait a minute. No. I'm gonna be broken over my sin. You're gonna come alongside. Jesus meets your repentance with comfort, not condemnation. Ain't that ain't that amazing? Yes.
Scott Keffer [:It's stunning. It is stunning. When we are honest, you don't want to hide. You don't have to hide. I thought I told this story before. This was early in our marriage. Beth and I were having a vigorous conversation. Vigorous.
Scott Keffer [:I read vigorous conversations, and I and I took a drive. And I wanted to see if I could, detach the steering wheel from the steering column. I was doing my best to see if it would come it wouldn't wouldn't. And I was like, and I felt the the Lord prompted me to come near and I said, I can't come near like this. And, again, I've never heard the the Lord, audibly, but I hear him in my spirit. He said, so you're gonna clean yourself up and then come to me? You can't. You have to come to me like that. That's I'm the only place to that's the place that's the time to come.
Scott Keffer [:It is the kind to come. He meets your repentance with comfort, which means I don't have to pull the wool over my own eyes. I don't have to hide from God. What did what did Adam and Eve do? Like, because they had shame. They had guilt. He has his blood has not only washed away our sin but our guilt. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We should more boldly confess and repent.
Scott Keffer [:And therefore, I put down again, if you're not in the practice of daily saying the lord search me, show me my sin, show me my sin and confessing daily, it's at the heart of our intimacy with him because he doesn't meet your confession and your repentance. He says in 1st John 19, should know this verse, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous. Not just the right the the right the right translation is righteous because it connects with 1st John 21. He is Jesus Christ, the righteous. The 2 are connected there. It's the same word. If we confess our sins, say with our mouth that you are right, he will forgive our sins. More important than that, he will cleanse us.
Scott Keffer [:Where does he cleanse us? In our heart. He creates a new heart within us Because it's not just cleansing. Right? It's not just forgiveness, but it's cleansing and intercession. He ever lives to intercede. He is Jesus Christ, the righteous. This is a king in the kingdom who calls you into that kingdom for radical obedience, and when we sin and fall short, he comforts us. What kind of kingdom is this? What kind of king is this? A king with all authority and power who calls us to radical obedience, and then when we fall, we mourn and he comforts us. I don't get it.
Scott Keffer [:It's not my kingdom. Not my kingdom. Good thing. Good thing I'm not the king. Often wanna be, often try to be, but he's the king kings. His name is Jesus. He's awesome in authority and power because the word became flesh and dwelt among us. He's the only begotten god.
Scott Keffer [:But he is the god who when we are poor in spirit, we get the kingdom of heaven. When we're bankrupt, we get the kingdom of heaven. And when we mourn over our brokenness and our rebellion and our unwillingness to follow him, he comforts us. And more than that, he ever lives to make intercession for you. And he's called you to follow him because in it, he has happiness for you. He has blessing for you, and that includes not only following in him, but the calling that he has for your life. Because he's not only gonna bless you, he's gonna bless through you. And he says, you know, those who water are watered.
Scott Keffer [:If you want more if you want more water for your soul, be the hose for him. We're we're we're the we're the vessel through which he blesses others. And when when you do that, you're blessed even more. Right? Because he satisfies our soul. He meets our repentance with comfort for cleansing and intercession. Alright. Put down an insight and maybe even an action. The gospel is great news.
Scott Keffer [:It is great news. It's and it's great news because it's filled with reality, real news. It's the reality of who we are, and it's the great news of how our god responds. And I think the reality that I've experienced is the longer I go with him, the more I see in my sin. Right? At the end of the thing, I I I thought, you know, 30 years, I'll have it all together. Like, I'll be I'll have oh, I'll have it all together. But the more you see him, the more you see the reality of his grace is when we see the reality of the depths of our sin. That's what he saved us from.
Scott Keffer [:Amen to that. Amen to that. May the Lord bless you. May he keep you. May he cause his face to shine upon you. May he lift up his countenance and grant you his shalom this week as you follow him. Bless you and keep you.
Scott Keffer [:Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance, and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the God of the bible and his son, Jesus Christ. Until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time, may god bless you and keep you.
