King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Sunday, October 10, 2021
Chapters: Matthew 6-7
Message: Clean The Inside First
Hello My Friend,
Yesterday I had a customer that was so rude that I got a bit confrontational when he started saying that I was not helping him when I was doing the only thing that anyone that he talked to could have done. I was not rude back, and I did apologize to him if I sounded, as he put it, sarcastic, but it actually was not until I become confrontational that he calmed down and did the only thing possible to do. As I was reading the chapters for today, I kept thinking about that call, and what it would have been like to watch Jesus as He preached, [Matthew 7:28-29 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: 29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.]
Yes, I know that is an odd thought to have, but could you just imagine what it would have been like to watch Jesus preach? If there is one thing that I have learned these past couple of years, it is that people only accept what they want to hear about Jesus. If you do not tell them exactly what they want to hear, then they will fight you every step of the way. Jesus put it this way, [Matthew 7:24-27 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.]
Let me tell you, when we seek a relationship with God we must be careful to make sure that what we are doing to seek Him is actually biblical and not what some religion is telling us, or even our own thoughts. As we continue reading through the Gospels, Jesus continues preaching, and although a huge crowd was gathered, He was not speaking directly to all of them, He was speaking to His disciples, who by the way, were not just the twelve that walked with Him daily, these were all who believed in and accepted His words. These religious people were proud of the fact that they gave tons of money and valuables to their synagogues, said thousand word prayers, and followed what they thought was the Law. Well, Jesus addresses each and one of these “works” and flat out calls the people what they really are, hypocrites, beginning with their charity.
[Matthew 6:1-4 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. 2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.]
[otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.] [Alms; Any thing given gratuitously to relieve the poor, as money, food, or clothing, otherwise called charity.] Do they think that they can give tons of money, food, or clothes to every charity and expect God to be pleased? Do they think that they can give money to every beggar on every street corner and expect God to be pleased? Do they think they can give money to every church and expect God to be pleased? Well, God is not pleased one bit. These people are not really doing anything from the bottom of their heart to help the poor or needy, they are doing it for their own glory. Why do you think they let it be known how much they give in charity, which by the way, they are quick to list on their taxes every year to get compensated for it? God does not nor ever has accepted one penny that has self written all over it, [Matthew 6:19-21 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.]
Jesus was not done calling them out as hypocrites for their reason behind their charity, He also calls them out for their praying, [Matthew 6:5-8 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.]
[use not vain repetitions,] Do you see how Muslims pray? They’re kneeled down, bowed to the ground, chanting the same prayer. Jews do something similar, only they are standing, wearing a prayer shawl that has fringe at the end with exactly six hundred and thirteen strings representing each commandment that God had given Moses. The prayer shawl is actually biblical, it is the praying that is not, and what Jesus is referring to. Catholics also have their prayer ritual, only they go into a booth, confessing their sins to a priest and the priest tells them to pray Hail Mary’s and Our Father’s for however many sins they confessed. Oh, and speaking of, Our Father’s, this is what they repeat like ten times for the forgiveness of their sins.
[Matthew 6:9-15 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. 14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.]
[After this manner therefore pray ye:] I admit that I do recite the Lord’s Prayer quite often, almost daily, but this is not what Jesus is referring to as being repetitious, He is referring the chants and endless words that have no meaning and are not sincere. It is not from their heart, and God knows this, which is why He stresses that we must be forgiving of others sins if we want to be forgiven by God of our sins, [James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.]
The word effectual means, [Producing an effect, or the effect desired or intended; or having adequate power or force to produce the effect.] God knows whether or not each and every prayer is true and straight from the heart. Sometimes when we want to produce an effect on God and have something that we really need to reach Him with we result to prayer and fasting. Well, Jesus was not done with them, He goes on to call them out for their hypocritical fasting, [Matthew 6:16-17 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.]
[That thou appear not unto men to fast,] I knew a woman who was so obsessed with body weight that she convinced herself that God only wanted His people to be thin. She would go on these crazy fad diets, drag her family into it as well, and would make it known to everyone what she was doing. While she did lose some weight, it only stayed off until she went off the diet. Later in her life, she would come to realize that perhaps what pleased God was not what she did to improve her physical body, but her spiritual body, [1 Timothy 4:8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.]
This is not to say that we are not to take care of our bodies, after all, they are God’s temple, but it is to say that if we are careful to take care of our spiritual need, the rest will come to us naturally. Another woman, obsessed with her worth, convinced herself that buying a four dollar skirt at Goodwill was shameful, and that we should never admit to such a thing. I for one, would have been proud to say that I had found a fifty dollar skirt for four dollars, praising God for the find. When money and wealth becomes the object next to God, guess which one gets the most attention? This was one of the biggest factors of why my relationship failed, he did not make God number one, always put the money before Him. God will not have any gods before Him, especially, money.
[Matthew 6:24-27,34 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.]
[Take no thought for your life,] Let me tell you something, I was, and actually had gotten hired again for a job that I had previously so I can make some extra money. Well, they had wanted me to work right away, but something came up and I was not able to. When I started work yesterday, we were actually given the option of some over time, I actually added two hours yesterday and four for Monday. So, even if I only get paid my base pay, I would still make well more money that an entire day working the other job. Do you see how God takes care of us when we put Him first? And here is the key, not looking or trying to get back to our past, that is unless it was in God’s will to begin with. Remember, if it is in God’s will, there is nothing that we can do to stop it, likewise, if it is not, there is not enough prayer that can change that, [Matthew 7:7-8 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.]
I love it when everything that God has me address is found within the very chapters that we are reading. So, forgive me if it seems that every verse in these two chapters are in the message, but as always, God makes it a point for me to use as much Scripture as I can because this may be the only Scripture some people get. And Now, Jesus addresses something else, and this is the passage that all the “Christians” who are not living as God wants them to live love to throw at you when you mention that God wants them to get right with Him, judging people, [Matthew 7:1-5 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.]
[For with what judgment ye judge,] There is two kinds of judgment, righteous, which is what we do when we per say talk to someone about drinking and say that God does not want us to be doing that. Then there is critical judgment, that is when the person you are addressing gets defensive, calling you a hypocrite because you are the actual sinner and what they are doing is acceptable. This is what Jesus is talking about, we would all be hypocrites if we thought that we never sinned again after we get saved. Those that do believe that are the true hypocrites, [1 John 1:8-10 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.]
Do you know the five stages of grief? Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. That has been me for the past six months, I believe. I just broke down in tears as I prayed this morning, feeling like I have failed God so much in how I handled myself over the relationship that I was in. I am so glad that I am standing on the Rock of Christ, if I had been in this situation twenty years ago, which by the way, I was in an even worse relationship, and only God knows what I would have done. Then of course, God reminded me that all of that was in the past, I have since repented, a thousand times, and was a thing of the past the first time I confessed my sins. We are given the choice, God’s ways or our own, and if we are saved and choose our own, then we can expect God to send judgment. If we choose His ways, then it would be wise to walk the strait and narrow way.
[Matthew 7:13-17 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.]
[and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction,] Saved or not, if you are walking through life trying to live it up as you please, with no thought or conviction, your life will end tragically. We need some common sense when it comes to the things we want in life. First of all, we are the gender, height, and shape that God made us to be, and therefore, it is no sense in trying to alter our body to be what God never meant it to be. Second, we need to start taking some responsibility for our actions, not blame others or God, and third, which is the very first thing that we ought to have done to begin with, receive Christ as our Saviour, or not even repentance of sin will help us on that one. We must know Christ as our Saviour in order for God to even acknowledge who we are, [Matthew 7:21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.]
[but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.] What is the will of the Father? Believing in and accepting the simple Gospel of Christ as the only one who can save us. This does not mean that we will never sin again, that we will lose our salvation if we do, or that we will not face consequences for sin, but it does mean that we belong to Jesus and that is eternal. Praise God! Living the Christian life does not mean that we paint the perfect picture on the outside, or as Jesus puts it, the platter. It means perfecting our soul first, then the outside will take care if itself, [Matthew 23:25-26 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.]
Today’s Prayer: God, You have called us to follow Your will, and when we do, You promise that we will receive all that we ask. The first step to Your will is putting our faith and trust in Your Son alone for our salvation. Everything else comes as we begin to mimic Christ in the works that we do. Lord, lead us and guide us, give us Your Holy Spirit power to learn, discern, and walk in the ways of Your Son, let us live our lives to please and glorify You alone, and not man. Give us also Your mercies and grace to walk the straight and narrow path that leads to Your blessing our lives with even more than we could ever ask for. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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