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: Monday, October 11, 2021
Chapters: Matthew 9, Luke 7
Message: Not Worthy
Hello My Friend,
When I was praying this morning I took God with me as I purchased the security certificate for I’m Following Jesus, then I took Him with me as I checked the status of my sister in law’s father, who was in a car accident last night. I prayed for him a few times since I had found out about him, but said an extra prayer when I saw the status. Then something hit me, life is so fragile, it can change just as fast as the vapor that it is. Sometimes we think that it is necessary to say these long extravagant prayers to our Father, but the truth is, He just wants us to talk to Him. In fact, sometimes saying nothing at all brings the best conversation with Him because that is when you feel the hand of Jesus touching you, and rest unto your soul, [Matthew 11:27-29 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. 28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.]
Now, it is interesting that I started with this passage because Jesus points out that God is the one who reveals to us who Jesus really is. And what do you think that God uses to reveal Him to us? Faith. As we continue in the reading of the Gospels, Luke tells us of the faith of the centurion’s servant, who we learned of back in Matthew. Jesus had just finished His amazing sermon and was headed back to Capernaum, when the centurion heard that Jesus was near he sought Him. Now, Jesus never saw the centurion, but He saw something in this man that He had not seen since He began His ministry, faith, but it was not a Jew.
[Luke 7:2-4,6-7,9-10 And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die. 3 And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant. 4 And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this: 6 Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof: 7 Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. 9 When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 10 And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick.]
[Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee:] In order for God to even reveal His Son to us, we must first come to understand the fact that none of us are worthy to come to Jesus. If we first admit that we are sinners, that is when we are given the opportunity by God to know of Him. Did you notice something that Luke points out as he gives his testimony of what he saw when he walked with Jesus? [Lord, trouble not thyself:] He refers to Jesus as the Lord. He does it again when he tells the story of a widow who had just lost her son and they were taking him to be buried.
[Luke 7:12-16 Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. 14 And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. 15 And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. 16 And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.]
[And he came and touched the bier:] [Bier; A carriage or frame of wood for conveying dead human bodies to the grave.] I find it interesting that Jesus only touched the carriage, He just spoke to the man, and he sat right up. Did you ever hear Jesus speak to you and you woke right up? Well, you did if you accepted Him as your Saviour. I will never forget when Jesus spoke to me and literally told me to get up. And when Jesus speaks to you, let me tell you, His voice is like no other, strong and powerful, and truly like a two edged sword. You do not need the Bible for Him to speak to you, but when you do get in His Word and it speaks to you, it speaks loud and clear, [Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.]
[That a great prophet is risen up among us;] These religions that proclaim God, but reject Christ have no clue who God is, in fact, He does not know any of them. These people were so blind that they could not see that Jesus was not some mere prophet, rather the Son of God Himself. Let me tell you, when Jesus truly touches you people know it, they may not know that it is Him at the time, but they see something different about you. When you tell them that it is Jesus, some will rejoice with you, but the majority will reject your testimony because they do not want to actually believe that Jesus is the one who did more than just save your soul. Now, the fame of Jesus was all around Judea, word got around to John the Baptist, who was still in prison, of all the miracles that were taking place, he sent some of his own disciples to see if the stories were true.
[Luke 7:20-24 When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? 21 And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. 22 Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. 23 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. 24 And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind?]
[What went ye out into the wilderness for to see?] I always love reading this. What Jesus is asking them is, “What exactly did you come here for? Some miracle that would make you finally accept the I am Christ?” He knew their faith, in fact, they rejected Him right there, and Jesus calls them out on it too.
[Luke 7:29-35 And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. 30 But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. 31 And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? 32 They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept. 33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. 34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! 35 But wisdom is justified of all her children.]
[But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves,] Jews refuse to accept that Jesus is the Messiah. Muslims refuse to accept that Jesus is much more than a prophet. Catholics believe Jesus died, and arose, but refuse to accept that all you need to do is ask Him to save you to be saved. Mormons believe that you must ask Christ to save you and obey their rules in order to keep your salvation. Religion rejects the counsel of God, according to their faith, their own righteousness is what saves them. What a shock they receive when they face Him when they die, and He denies them, [2 Timothy 2:11-13 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: 12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.]
Now, to prove that it is the ones who know they are not worthy for Jesus to come to them that get saved, Jesus accepted an invitation to one of the Pharisees house for dinner. As they are sitting there a woman, will known by these people went up to him, and it was not what she did that caused a great stir, it was what Jesus did.
[Luke 7:36-40 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. 37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, 38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. 40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.]
[Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it,] This woman was a prostitute, it is interesting that this man who thought himself without sin would even let her in his house. I imagine that there were several people around who just showed up. Well, Jesus, once again, puts them in their place, although it actually made them even more angry, [Luke 7:44-49 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. 45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. 48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 49 And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?]
[Who is this that forgiveth sins also?] Well, if they even bothered to pay attention, then they would know exactly who it was that forgives sins also. In fact, later on, after He heals the man who was paralyzed, He tells them why He has the authority to give sins, [Matthew 9:2-8 And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. 3 And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. 4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? 5 For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? 6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. 7 And he arose, and departed to his house. 8 But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.]
[which had given such power unto men.] There they go again, thinking Jesus as being just a man. Now, Matthew gives us another take on this, he actually makes it a point to give his testimony of when Jesus came up to him, and became one of the disciples. Remember, he was publican himself, which is a tax collector, and the people despised them because most of then were crocks. Well, Jesus was sitting at Matthew’s house for dinner when it once again came up that He was eating among sinners, [Matthew 9:9-13 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. 10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? 12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. 13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.]
[he saw a man, named Matthew,] Matthew actually sought to bring his old associates to mean Jesus and knew by experience what the grace of Christ could do, but as usual, they rejected Jesus, even worse, refused to admit they were sinners. Those who truly come to understand that they are sinners and are brought to Christ, and desire that others also may come to Him and be saved as well. Those who are too proud to admit that they are sinners will never see Christ, even if He is right there in front of them, [Romans 10:9-12 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.]
Today’s Prayer: Jesus, You know my heart, my thoughts, and even my actions before I do them. I know that I am who I am today because of my faith in You. I am not the same creature I was, and You are not done with me yet, I know You are doing a great work in me even though I mess up time and time again. Lord, lead me and guide me, give me the strength that only You can give me to not only live by faith, but walk every single day by faith in You. Let me be a witness and a testimony for those who are searching for You in a time when they need You. Give me Your mercy, grace, and strength to suffice my infirmities and be a pattern that would lead souls to You. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
Are You 100% Sure You Are Going To Heaven?: http://readytofollow.com/
Receive The KJB Daily Devotions In Your Email: http://eepurl.com/2WMzT
Missed A Message: http://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/
Visit I’m Following Jesus Missions: https://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/welcome/
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/readytofollowJesus/
Copyright © 2021 I’m Following Jesus, All rights reserved.