Matthew pt. 38 - Woe to the Unrepentant

Alright, turn to Matthew Chapter 11 if you want a title for this

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

one. For my note takers, woe to the

unrepentant. We're gonna read in Chapter 11,

verses 20 through 24. Then he began to denounce the

cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because

they did not repent. Woe to you, Chosen.

Woe to you, Peseta. For if the mighty works done in

you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented

long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more

bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven.

You will be brought down to Hades.

For if the mighty works done and you had been, had been done in

Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

But I tell you that you, it will be more tolerable on the day of

judgement for the land of Sodom than for you.

God, again we ask for light, we ask for revelation, we ask for

humility. God, unpack the deep truths that

you have for us, not just as a church, not just as a nation.

Help us to not listen to this word for our neighbor or for

that person who we have in mind, but help us to take it all to

heart to receive it as a a legitimate son who is loved, who

receives the the needed correction because he's so cared

for. We thank you for it in Jesus

name, Amen. You know, we go to to doctors

because even though sometimes they may inflict pain, right?

Anyone ever had a doctor inflict pain?

But their motive is not to inflict pain.

Their motive is to heal. Their motive is to bless.

And the scalpel of the Lord sometimes hurts the scalpel of

the Lord, and sometimes has to go in and cut out a cancerous

thing. And we say, well, that saved my

life, so I'll take it. I want the bones set the proper

way. I don't want to just go with it,

although it's going to hurt. Although it's going to sting.

Although a father's discipline may hurt and it may sting, like

we already read in Hebrews this morning.

It's the discipline of the Lord that He brings because of His

love. I remind my boys of that.

Do you see me disciplining all the children of the world?

No, you don't, because I don't love all the children of the

world. To the degree that I love you.

I do love all the children of the world and all the children

of Salt Church especially, but I'm not all their daddy.

But if God is your Father, then He will discipline you.

If God is your Father, then He will correct you.

If God is your Father, then He will train you and that is a

show and a sign of his love. So this morning, even though

we're dealing with a very stern, a very firm word from the Lord

Jesus, it's not anything to be rejected.

It's something to be embraced because it's who Jesus is.

It still reveals his motive. It still reveals his heart of

love because love doesn't just look like sweet sayings and

gentle talk. Love also looks like fierce

correction. So this is a, a biblical truth.

It's not a worldly thing that we're familiar with, but it's a

very biblical truth that we want to receive with great wisdom and

humility from the Lord. So the context of the verse that

we've just read, you know, we want to look at the previous

verses to see this connection because Matthew, remember

Matthew, the Jewish writer of this gospel is writing it to

Jews and he deliberately includes this rebuke.

It's an embarrassing thing for Jews because Jesus does this

thing multiple times throughout the Gospels and we're going to

dig into it. We'll see what he's doing here,

how he's already bringing correction to the Jews, but he

even does it and compares them to their enemies, to the people

that they hated, and to the people that they thought they

were so much better than. So he, he's humbling them in

multiple ways. But the context here is in

verses 18 and 19 where Jesus says for John, remember John the

Baptist, how Jesus was defending him and promoting him.

John comes with questions and with doubt.

Jesus reassures John. John sent his disciples because

John's in prison. But then he also says, hey, and

don't, don't everybody think that John is weak?

Don't everybody think that John is soft?

And then he promotes John and, and holds up John as a standard

of righteousness. But then he's rebuking everybody

who rejected John and he's rebuking everybody who rejected

him. He says, for look at these

people. What, what?

What are you like? Nothing, nothing satisfies you.

John came, he wasn't eating or drinking.

And they say, look, he has a demon, he says, but I come.

The Son of man came eating and drinking, drinking.

And they say, look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax

collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is justified by her

deeds. Jesus saying there's no pleasing

you people, you're hypocrites. Your hearts are hard.

And that's why nothing that the righteous do two, the greatest

prophet, whoever lived Jesus said was John.

Of course, Jesus not even including himself because he's

in a class of his own far superior above everything, the

name above every name, so that we take that for granted.

But Jesus saying they reject John because, oh, he's he, he

doesn't eat or drink. So here's his problem.

You know, he's he's fasting. He doesn't drink wine.

Jesus drinks wine. They go, oh, look, a glutton and

a how, how could we win here? So you're dealing with a person

who's unreasonable. Why?

Because they're hard heartedness and Jesus saying this is the

problem with you. So this is how he now

transitions into the more direct rebuke that we just read.

And then verse 20. Then he began to denounce the

city. So you can see him transitioning

there. You're going, they're not happy

with John because he does this. So I don't do those things not

to not that his motive was to contrast John who goes, I don't

do what John does. They reject me for the thing

that they said that they would have been pleased by.

And now he continues his rebuke. Then he began to denounce the

cities where most of his mighty works had been done.

What does denounce mean? Denounce means to heap insults

upon, to find fault, to rebuke, to revile.

Strong, strong, strong words. He is heaping insults upon these

people, upon these cities, upon these towns.

He is finding fault in them, He is rebuking them, He is reviling

them. Why?

Because he's a really mean guy and he's in a bad mood.

No, the Scripture specifically tells us in the same verse,

because they did not repent. And what does a woe mean?

Because now Jesus goes into woe to you and woe to you and woe to

you to pronounce. Woe means how dreadful, how

dreadful it will be for you, what calamity will come upon

you. Woe to you because of what

you've done. Dread, catastrophe and calamity.

It is going to be dreadful and terrible for you.

That's the, that's the prophecy that Jesus is making over the

people of these cities. That's the rebuke that Jesus is

bringing. I always have to point this out.

I always have to emphasize this, not because I want to

overemphasize it, but because I want to bring us to a place of

balance. So if it seems like pastor

always emphasizes when Jesus is being fierce, it's because we

have always had the other emphasis.

I don't intend to bring you into another ditch and not have the

full picture. I intend to bring you to the

middle of the road to tell that sees the whole truth, not to go.

Yeah, Jesus only cracked a whip over people.

No, no, that's not all he did. He did do that multiple times

actually. So that's a thing that we can't

escape. So that's true.

And it's also true that he washed the feet of his

disciples, but it's not one or the other, it's both.

And Jesus is the right thing at the right time.

He's the whole thing. He's perfect.

He's the alpha and Omega. He's the beginning and the end.

Well, what's Jesus going to be to me?

You determine what Jesus is going to be to you with your

repentance, just like the people of these cities did.

So do you want the merciful and kind Jesus?

Well, that's, that's what he wants to be to you.

And with your repentance, that is what you, you will receive.

But how dreadful to those who don't repent, what calamity,

what catastrophe is coming to those who don't repent.

So we we see here the obvious fact, just some really surface

level things, just like in other places in Scripture, that there

will be a day of judgement. Jesus refers to on a future day

that's still yet to come. We haven't experienced it yet.

There's a lot of things in the Bible that have already happened

and been prophesied. And yet there's still plenty of

things in the Bible that have not yet come.

We talk about the end times. There's debates within the body

of Christ. How is the world going to end?

Some would say that there's going to be this rapture.

Some would say that we're going to continue to make disciples

until the Kingdom fully comes. There's all kinds of mature and

faithful loving believers who study the Scriptures and come to

different conclusions on there. I don't encourage you to spend

all of your time arguing on those things.

If you want to come to conclusions on it, that's just

fine. And yet the most important thing

is that you would love the Lord your God with all your heart,

soul, mind, and strength, that you would love your neighbor as

yourself. And then that that would what

compel you into the mission of God to make disciples for his

glory. Because if he comes today, you

want to be ready. And if he comes in 2000 years

from now, you want to be faithfully secure in his

Kingdom. So we want to keep First things

first, but Jesus says there is a day coming, a judgement day

where Jesus is going to sift, where Jesus is going to sort.

Remember what we learned in the Apostles Creed.

The Apostles Creed is just teaching we got from Scripture.

But he is coming to judge the living and the dead.

Jesus is coming to judge the living and the dead.

Why? Because he's the perfect judge.

He was the sacrifice for the living and the dead.

It's only perfect and appropriate now that he would

then say I will judge. I will sort out the sheep from

the goats, and I will even. Another thing we can see and we

can deduce here, there will be degrees of punishment.

There are clearly going to be degrees of punishment.

How's that look? How's that work?

I don't know and neither do you and neither does your favorite

theologian or preacher. But we can see clearly in

Scripture multiple places. There's enough implication to

see there are going to be degrees of punishment.

Jesus refers to that in other places as well.

That's not our purpose here, but we just wanted to point that

out. A day of judgment is coming and

on that day Jesus will judge everyone and then it will be

worse for some than it will be for others.

But the punishment is still going to be eternal separation

from God. Jesus gives an example.

He says there's going to be a beating when he's, he's telling

a parable, I think it's in Luke, he's, he's telling a parable

about the master who comes and he says, look, everyone who does

wrong is going to going to get a beating.

But those who did wrong in ignorance will receive a less

severe beating compared to those who did wrong with knowledge

they had knowledge and understanding.

They will receive a more severe beating.

So I don't want a beating. I don't want a beating at all.

And of course, the, the reference there is not for the

righteous, it's for the unrighteous, it's for the

unsaved. So don't, don't be confused,

don't be unclear. The discipline of the Lord is

for his children. That's a different thing.

The discipline of a father for his children is different from

the wrath of God. So you know, the, the discipline

that I bring my sons is not a rejection from my presence

compared to if someone wanted to enter my home and harm my family

at 2:00 AM. They, they receive a different

kind of interaction with me entirely.

They don't receive a, a light discipline, they receive a

complete rejection. So why is Jesus so emphatic in

his judgement on these people? That's the obvious question that

you have when you come across this verse, man, what is going

on here? Why is he so emphatic?

Why is he so fierce with his judgment?

It's because they have been shown the greatest mercy.

It's because these people in particular have been shown the

greatest grace that anyone in the world had ever received up

to that point. All of the prophets, all of the

Old Testament Saints looked forward to the day when the

Messiah would finally come. And these people in particular,

just the nation of Israel, but in particular, literally these

towns and villages. Jesus walked on your Rd.

He walked past your front door. He stood and preached in the

town square. He raised Gyrus's daughter from

the dead. All these things that you knew

happened in your town, in your villages.

And not only that, He did His greatest works in front of you.

You already received the mercy of the Scripture being preached

to you, which by the way is a great mercy.

Just to have preaching hit your ears is a great gift and a

kindness from God to show that He loves you.

That's it. So the street preacher, he is

bringing a great kindness to whoever would pass by wherever

he may go, just saying, hey, repent, for the Kingdom of

heaven is at hand. He has just brought a mercy of

God to the people who walk by. Whether they dismiss him or

whether they receive, they are now going to their, their

judgment now will increase if they reject that.

Why? Because they've received more

light, they have received more knowledge.

Our God is perfectly fair. Our God is perfectly just.

And Jesus is saying that to whom much is given, much is required.

That wasn't, you know, to the kids who think like, is that a

Spider Man quote? And then it's also attributed to

Abraham Lincoln often, isn't it? No, just Spider Man.

I feel like Abraham. There's like an Abraham Lincoln

quote, too. Like, there.

That's the house divided against itself.

Oh, that's the one. A house divided against itself

cannot stand Abraham Lincoln. I'm like you people.

Abraham Lincoln. Really.

I wonder if he got that from somewhere.

Yeah. He also killed vampires.

Abraham Lincoln did it all. That was George Washington.

I think so. He's so emphatic because so much

has been given to whom much is given.

Jesus said much more is required and that was the point of his

parable. Like I said, I think in Luke

where he's saying if you've received much more than your

beating will be much more severe if you disobey in it.

And this is the point of his judgement.

This is the point. Because the Lord of glory lived

and walked among these people and they refused to repent and

they refused to believe in Him. He did some of his greatest

miracles among them and they refused to repent.

Repent. Let's clarify that.

Define that again. Repent means to change any or

all of the elements composing one's life, attitude, thoughts

and behaviours concerning the demands of God for right living.

Well, that sounds like everything.

Yeah, that is. I'll read it again.

Repent means to change any or all of the elements composing

one's life, my attitude, my thoughts, my behaviors

concerning the demands of God for right living.

So God says, here's the standard.

Joe Michael doesn't meet the standard.

God won't lower it. God says repent.

That means you change Joe Michael, you make the

adjustment. Man, there's so much.

And the Lord goes, I know. So walk with me.

Walk with me. We're going to get there next

week for those who are overwhelmed, and it's all in the

same context. We're going to get there next

week. If you want to cheat ahead, come

to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden.

So right after these, woe to you and woe to you and woe to you.

Somebody might go, I'm from Capernaum.

Oh no. And he goes, if you're humble,

come to me and I'll give you rest.

But if you're not, it'll be worse for you than it was for

Sodom and Gomorrah, who I blew up with fire, by the way.

It'll be worse for you. The wrath I'll have for you is

worse than what I did for them. And my wrath for them was so bad

it couldn't even wait until Judgment Day.

I judged them early because they did receive grace, because they

did receive mercy. How do you know that, pastor?

Because I know the nature and character of our God, that he's

faithful and kind, and he loves people way more than you and I

do. He loves people more than they

love themselves. So repentance is required.

Jesus is looking for repentance. They received the most amazing

gift ever. Christ Himself, the Messiah,

walked and lived among them. And like I said, not only that,

but just the reception of the preaching of the truth is a

great mercy. The word of God delivered to

anyone as a gift. So even an intense rebuke can be

a mercy. But these people had been shown

things that no one had ever received.

So where are these places that Jesus is referring to?

Tyre and Sidon and Sodom? So these the, these are the bad

guy cities that are listed here, right?

And notice what he does. Woe to you Cherism.

Woe to you Bethsaida. For if the mighty works done in

you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented

long ago. So he just combined Cherism and

Bethsaida with Tyre and Sidon. So he grouped those two together

and then you're going to notice he does something different with

Capernaum. Capernaum gets compared with

Sodom. It's easy to read this and lump

them all together and go like, yeah, he threw them all in the

same box, but he he actually didn't.

Capernaum has even a higher standard.

Why? Because Jesus lived in

Capernaum. So he says this city.

I spent a lot of time in this city.

I spent a lot of time in Capernaum.

You you're even, you're you received even more.

I lived in you. You got, I laid down my head in

the houses in that city. I spent time in those villages

with those people. So Tyre, Sidon and Sodom were

Pagan cities that the Jews looked down on.

These are gentiles. This is where the Gentile people

live. You and I are Gentiles by the

way. So this is where they lived and

this is where all the non Jews are judging these people and

they go, they're not like us, they're not like us, they're not

like us. So Jesus does hear what he does

with the story of the Good Samaritan, and he throws it into

the face of the Jews and condemns them with it because

he's telling the story of the Good Samaritan.

And he says a man was on a trip and instantly they're thinking a

Jewish man, that's who they pictured because that's who he's

talking about. They're.

So they're going a Jewish man and he's going, yeah, fine.

A Jewish man is on a trip and then he gets robbed and he gets

beaten and he gets attacked and they're going, OK, yeah, that's

sad. Bad guys got him.

I bet it was Samaritans who did it.

But anyway, go on, Lord, I'm, I'm sure that's who it was.

He says, And then a priest comes and he passes by on the other

side of the road and goes, I don't want anything to do with

that guy. And then a Levite comes, another

holy man, and he goes, I don't want anything to do with that

guy. And they're going, yeah, yeah, I

guess I could see that. And he says, then a Samaritan

comes and they're going, this guy's probably going to finish

him off. Poor Jew lying on the side of

the road, this murderous Samaritan's going to get him.

And Jesus says, and the Samaritan took care of him, He

loved him. He bandaged up his wounds.

He put him on his own donkey. He took him to essentially a

hotel to be cared for. And he told the innkeeper, I'll

pay you now and I'll come back and I'll pay for any other

expense that you have. And all the Jews are sitting

here going, I hate this story. This is the worst movie I've

ever seen. This is not the plot twist I

wanted. He throws it into their faces.

And he says, which one is a good neighbor?

And they said the one who shows love.

And he says, go and do likewise. I got to go and act like the

Samaritan. Go and show the love of God.

That's the point. So here he's doing the same

thing. These wicked cities, they're

going, oh, those are wicked cities.

He's going, it'll be better for them than it is for you.

What Messiah? You're supposed to be on our

team. You're our guy.

And he goes, no, I'm my guy. I stand up for it's for my

name's sake. Remember Psalm 23, He does all

of his goodness and his mercy and his kindness for his name's

sake, for who He is, for His nature, for his character.

Well, doesn't that include love and kindness towards me?

You better believe it does. And also he does it for his

name's sake. And that's what Jesus is

communicating. He's saying I'm doing what I'm

doing for me and for my glory and for my name's sake.

So he points the He points to the Gentiles and says they'll

have it better. And just like Cherezin, just

like Bethsaida and Capernaum, you and I are given chances to

repent. This is the point.

We're not just here to condemn these cities.

That's the the judge is in position to do that.

You and I aren't. So we're observing what Jesus

did with these cities. And you and I this morning want

to make sure that we're not these cities.

We want to make sure that we're not the people of these towns.

And that's the temptation because it's the people closest

to the fire who sometimes can be deceived and be convinced.

How much more light have you received?

How much more revelation have you received?

Even in those towns? How much more insight do you and

I have on this side of the cross, looking back with 2020

vision, 'cause you could argue for them and go, well, he didn't

quite do it the way they thought he was going to and they

expected a Messiah like this. You could argue none of it's

satisfactory to the Lord, but you could try.

You and I, how much more revelation do you and I have,

how much more clarity do we have about who Jesus is and what he's

done for us? I'm so close.

Are you, are you in the crowd or are you really with the Master?

Cause lots of people are in the crowd.

I live in the same city as Jesus, right?

Americans have done that for a long time.

This is a Christian nation. What does that mean?

Is, is America going to be saved?

Jesus died for people. Jesus died for sinners like me.

He didn't die for a geographical or a or a constitution or a

political landscape. He died for individuals.

Well, can't nations be blessed? Of course they can.

But righteous individuals doing righteous things in those

nations. So just like these cities, we're

given chances to repent. And if we do not take them, we

too will run out of time, and we too will be judged.

God is merciful to give us time. God is merciful to give us

space. God is merciful to give us

opportunities to repent. Look at what God has done for

you. Look at what God does for us.

He answers your prayers. He blesses you.

He's patient. But we foolishly can see his

actions and his patience and his kindness as a winking and a

nodding at our sin, a minimization of it.

Because he's kind, because I'm not getting the Sodom and

Gomorrah treatment, I go, well, I guess I'm good, right?

No, no, you're confusing God's patience and God's kindness with

God's with, with his approval. We can be tempted to be like the

people of Israel and Jeremiah too, who are being rebuked by

the Lord. They took His patience as a sign

of His approval. They said I'm innocent.

He is not angry with me not recognizing that.

That's just His mercy. That's His kindness.

That's His kindness. And really, if I continue in

that, all I'm doing is stacking up judgement for myself.

Like we already read in Hebrews, New Testament stuff here in

Hebrews that I'm stacking up for myself.

On the day of judgement, we can squander His grace and think

that we're safe, but the more the Lord does for you, the more

he'll hold you responsible for like we said, Jesus said to whom

much is given, much is required. And you can even see this how he

lists Capernaum separated and he compares Capernaum specifically

to Sodom. Why?

Because he lived in Capernaum. So you other villages, Tyran,

Tyran, Sidon, these are other, these are other cities that were

still functioning at this time. And they're like, oh, there's

Gentile cities and he goes Capernaum, you'll have it even

worse than Sodom. Sodom would still be here.

And Sodom, like, come on, how does it get any worse than

Sodom? Like that's what we refer to all

the time. We don't refer to Capernaum.

Maybe we should. We go, it's going to be worse

than Capernaum because Jesus plainly says he's not using

hyperbole. He's plainly saying it's going

to be worse for you. Why?

Because you got greater light. You got revelation.

You had me walking and living among you, more grace than ever

shown to anyone. Once you go to Hebrews chapter

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

10. We read from Hebrews 12 earlier,

but now we're Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

I'm going to read to you verses 26 through 31.

Hebrews 10/26. For if we go on sinning

deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no

longer remains a sacrifice for sins.

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the

knowledge of truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for

sins. If that wasn't in the Bible, you

would think a preacher was a false teacher saying something

like that. Yeah, uh huh.

You feel like whoa, heretic, pipe down.

Let's keep reading, though there's more context for if we

go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the

truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a

fearful expectation of judgement and a fury of fire that will

consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law

of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three

witnesses. How much worse punishment do you

think will be deserved by the one who has trampled under foot

the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by

which he was sanctified, and has outraged the spirit of grace?

For we know him who said, vengeance is mine, I will repay,

and again the Lord will judge his people.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living

God. So the context here, he's

talking about believers who have now turned and they have

rejected the faith. These people were in the faith

and now they are out of the faith.

So we want to clarify some context here.

But still, I don't want to be that.

I don't want to be shipwrecked in my faith.

I don't want to eventually be a castaway.

And also, I'll bring some quick clarification here.

Does this mean after I become a Christian, if I sin after I

became a Christian, I'm immediately going to hell for

that. That's not what's being taught

here, but what is being revealed here is that as I continually

choose deliberately sin, verse 26 for if we go on sinning

deliberately, that's the difference.

That's the distinction. Oh, I'm in Christ now and, and

maybe you are legitimately and maybe you are for a decade and

maybe you are for longer and praise God for it.

But there could still come a day where you could say, but sin is

tempting and sin is enticing and the enemy deceives and my flesh

is weak and I continue to build. I continue to feed.

I can reach, I can come to a place where I have actually

rejected and I have trampled the Son of God under foot and I

have. Are you saying, Pastor Michael,

you can lose your salvation? I've never used that language

and I still won't use that language.

But for the sake of your question, yes.

And yet my point is the way you get saved is the way that you

stay saved. That's the way I teach it.

That's the way I articulate it with my life.

The way you get saved. What by grace through faith is

the way you stay saved? It's by God's grace through

faith. So what are you saying?

I'm saying walk with the Lord. Amen.

Walk with the Lord. Faithful and sincere believers

would argue that point. And they have till they're blue

in the face. And again, another one of our

simple conclusions here at Saul. Wake up and follow Jesus and

walk with the Lord and stay far from any sort of boundary line.

But if we go on sinning deliberately, the scriptures are

are still true. After receiving the knowledge of

truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for our sins, but a

fearful expectation of judgement and a fury of fire that will

consume the adversaries. So this is what these cities are

experiencing now. Jesus is saying I have made my

judgement. You'll notice here he's not

warning them, He's actually denouncing them.

It's not a warning, it's saying I'm judging.

It's clear you have rejected and now it's done.

God intervened in their situation, in his goodness, and

God has intervened in your life and in my life with his

goodness. Where the car on the Interstate

going 80 miles an hour towards a Cliff and Jesus steps in the way

to say, hey, hey, stop right here.

I'll save you. I'll turn you around and I'll

take you into eternal life. But if you drive over Jesus, you

smash through him with your car, you run him over under both

wheels. What else is there to stop you

from going over the Cliff? There is no longer anything

else. There's no sacrifice coming.

He's the only barrier between you and your eternal

destination. He's the only thing standing in

the way. There's no other mercy.

There's no other grace. And he sacrifices himself to do

it. He goes, hey, stop, stop.

You can see him. It's not an accident.

He doesn't jump out in front of you.

Suddenly, I didn't have time. He goes, stop, stop, stop, stop,

stop, stop, stop, stop. Let me tell you.

And we plow ahead. If you do that, there no longer

remains after him. There's nothing else.

There's no other guardrail. There's not any.

There's not a traffic light, there's not a there's not a a

speed bump. Christ is all there is.

So if you trample Christ under foot, what hope is there for

you? How could there be?

If you trample the blood of Christ and you go, well, someday

I'm going to. There's nothing else coming.

There's no other protection. You're doomed.

You're doomed. I don't want to be doomed.

Then hold up the blood of Jesus and cover yourself in it.

Well, I don't want then you're doomed.

The rest is just a matter of time.

It's irrelevant. You're you're just walking out.

You're death. Maybe it's today, maybe it's in

40 years, but you're dead and you're doomed forever.

Why? Because you trample Christ.

Well, I'm sorry. That's repentance, and that

changes everything. Humble yourself under the blood

of Jesus. But for those who trample Christ

and run him over with their car and go, whatever, I'll deal with

that later. No, you won't, because that hard

heart isn't humble. It doesn't love him and it only

loves yourself. And Jesus will still be kind.

But the Father sees his Son in the road and the Father sees

that it was you who did it and it was me who did it.

And the Father doesn't like that.

And there is coming a judgement, a fearful expectation of

judgement. Why?

Because we trampled him under foot.

How much worse punishment? Verse verse 9, he's saying under

the law of Moses, two or three witnesses come, hey, we saw Bob

doing the thing. Hey, do we have a confirmation

this has really happened? Yep, Bob did the bad thing.

All right, we're going to put Bob to death because he violated

the law of God. Verse 29, how much worse

punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has

trampled under foot the Son of God and profaned the blood of

the covenant by which he was sanctified?

You were sanctified by this blood.

So again, he's talking to those who were Saints.

They were sanctified, it happened, they were sanctified,

they were saved, but now they've trampled it under foot.

That's even more terrifying that this could be St. and then later

not and has outraged the Spirit of grace.

Did you know you could outrage the Holy Spirit?

He's not quick timbered, quick tempered, thankfully.

He's slow to anger and yet he can be outraged.

And Jesus plainly is outraged. So much so to say it'll be

better for Sodom than for Eucapartium.

Sodom the city who wants to? I won't explain.

Most of you know what happened in Sodom.

A graphic disgusting description is given to you in the

scriptures of what took place there.

But it'll be worse for certain places.

Why? Because of more light, more

revelation, more knowledge. This is why for the one who has

walked with Christ and been changed by Christ to then

trample under foot Christ, who could there be a heavier

punishment for anyone. You walked with him, you talked

with him, you loved him. Imagine Judas's punishment.

It's worse. Imagine the one who walked with

the Lord and tasted it all and then says, Nah, you've had the

full experience, you've had the fullness of Christ, you've had

the goodness of God. How much have you and I tasted

and seen? And we go, he's an option.

Maybe tomorrow. I'm busy.

I enjoy this sin. But if I go in deliberately

sinning, deliberately sinning, not a humble heart going, Oh

Lord, I hate my sin. Help me.

And I'm truly vulnerable. Are you really vulnerable with

the Lord? Are you really vulnerable with

the Lord? For those of you who are really

vulnerable with the Lord, you've already answered this.

You go yes, and you're and you're good.

For those of you who go, I don't know, you know, go, then become

so, then become so. And you know what will happen

when you're truly vulnerable with the Lord, Here's a hint.

You'll be truly vulnerable with others that will lead to that.

To truly be vulnerable with the Lord will not create walls

around your life around other people.

If you're truly vulnerable with the Lord, you won't always just

have a facade. This is, this doesn't mean you

tell everybody everything, but you ought to tell somebody

something. And if you never tell nobody

nothing, then that's an indication.

And that should be a check engine light to say the least.

What we will call a red flag, a bit of a warning light to go.

I don't open up anything with anybody.

Then I would start doing that. I would take things to the Lord

first of all, but I would take things to others.

Brother, would you pray for me? Sister, would you pray for me?

Here's how I sinned. I repented to the Lord.

I want to confess my sin to you that I may be healed.

Oh my goodness, let me encourage you in the word.

Let me encourage you in the Lord God is merciful.

He gives us time, He gives us space, He steps in front of us

to stop us. But if we run Him over, if we

trample him, there is no one else to save us, and we will

receive the wrath that we already deserved.

These cities, these people, they made their choice and it looks

like Jesus is pronouncing wrath on them, but that is not the

case. Remember, God doesn't bring

wrath to us in the future. We have wrath on us already,

according to Ephesians 2, verse 3, among whom you all once

Ephesians 2:3

lived, talking about sinners, among whom you all once lived

according to the passions of your flesh, carrying out the

desires of the body and the mind, and you were by nature

children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

That was our default setting. It's not like we're good people

and we're going to enter into wrath one day.

No, we're already under the wrath of God.

And then by the grace of God, we exit that wrath and we enjoy

sonship. But then the punishment becomes

greater if we reject it from that point forward.

Take Jesus at his word, Amen. Next week we'll see him speak

with more tenderness, all in the same context.

And we're going to make sure we connect it all.

Because he knows it's heavy. He knows it brings a big weight.

And then he goes, My yoke is easy, my burden is light.

So if you're humble, walk with me.

I won't extinguish you if your if your flame is barely

flickering, I'm not going to blow it out.

If you're a Reed that's bruised, I'm not going to go ahead and

break you off, but come to me. Come to me.

All you who are weary and heavy laden.

I'm weary and heavy laden with my sin.

Come to me. I'm weary and heavy laden with

fear. Come to me, come to me.

This is what Jesus's command and expectation.

But that's the only relief. I ran him over with the car.

Turn around, come to him. The wounded Savior will heal

you. Take him at His word.

We'll see him speak with more tenderness next week, but this

week he speaks fiercely. And guess what?

It's the same Jesus. Want to avoid wrath?

Stay humble and tender and repentant and vulnerable with

him and with the Holy Spirit. You can fake it with me and I

can fake it with you. And the more you spend time

around Christians, the easier that gets because you learn the

language. I know how to even look humble

without actually being humble. That's really scary.

And I truly have that ability. I wasn't, I'm not being speaking

with hyperbole. I know how to do that.

I can make you think I'm humble, but the Lord knows.

The Lord sees, Oh, that's like an extra level of pride.

It's one thing to be prideful and everybody sees it to go,

that's kind of gross. But to be prideful and to know

how to hide that in front of others a bit and still have it

in my heart and the Lord's going, that ain't good.

You ought to let me cut that cancer out and go, Nah, too

prideful for that. That's the problem with pride.

It's this spiral and the whole time you're being flushed down

the toilet and you want it. Stay humble, stay repentant,

stay vulnerable with the Lord, stay vulnerable with the Holy

Spirit. Sounding good is not the same

thing as having good fruit, and Jesus is interested in fruit.

In John 15-8 Jesus says by this my Father is glorified that you

bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so

prove to be my disciples. You need to know what fruit is

and what fruit isn't. What is fruit?

It depends. It really depends on the

circumstance. It depends on the situation,

depends on the person, depends on the motive.

Fruit doesn't look the same for everybody at every season, at

every stage. Fruit looks like results.

Fruit looks like humility. Fruit looks like love.

God wants to be believed, and when He's believed, people will

truly be transformed. Transformed people look like

transformed people. They don't look perfect, but it

looks like something. It can't look like nothing.

Romans 2 and we're closing Romans 2, verses four and five

tell us that God's kindness is intended to lead us to

repentance. That's the purpose of His

kindness. That's the purpose of Jesus

stepping out in front of the car.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Stop the car.

Stop the car, stop the car. I got good news, I got good

news. I'm saving you.

I'm turning it all around. That kindness, that sacrifice,

that risk that he takes. Romans 2, four and five says, Do

you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and His

patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to

repentance, but because of your hard and impenitent heart, you

are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath,

when God's righteous judgment will be revealed?

What he's saying, are you just, are you just trampling over

again the, the kindness of God? Because I haven't been blown up

like Sodom. I guess I'm all right.

No, no, no. It's called kindness.

It's called mercy. And actually, the more that you

receive, the more you'll be accountable for.

Actually, the deeper the wrath will become, the deeper the

punishment will become, the more you go.

Man, look at all that I've been given.

Just like the parable of the talents.

If you've been given much, you have much to be faithful with

and you've been given much 'cause you receive the Word of

God, you receive the Scriptures preached.

Do you know how many people don't receive the scriptures

preached to them? Do you know how many people

don't own a Bible? Do you have people who don't

have 15 Bibles laying around their house?

And you know how many people have given their lives for the,

for the five sentences that was smuggled into the prison that

they're in? How much light and revelation

and hope and help have I received?

How much do we have? Do you presume on the riches of

His kindness and His forbearance and His patience, not knowing

that His kindness was meant to lead you to repentance?

You were just taking that for granted.

But because of your hard and impenitent heart, you're storing

up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous

judgment will be revealed. Paul wrote that letter to

Christians. It didn't apply to everyone in

the church, but it applied to who?

It applied to you and I, Saints, and this is your walk away.

You and I have received even more kindness than Tyre and

Sidon or Capernaum have. Why?

Because you and I received. When you and I get to look back

and see the thorns, we see the whip, we see the nails, we can

see the cross and we can see the blood.

He didn't just show us a miracle from somebody else.

Oh wow. He raised Gyrus's daughter from

the dead. He did a miracle for you.

He raised you from the dead. He did it for me.

We have all the benefit of 2000 years of church history to look

back on what the Savior did. We have more even revelation

than they did. We have more clarity than they

did. We got access to the best

preachers in the world on a podcast.

We got study tools that can help us understand the scriptures and

gain revelation. We have the freedom to worship,

count your blessings. They are many.

And also recognize this is the kindness of God to you.

This is the goodness of God to you.

This is the grace of God to you. This is the mercy of God to you.

And if you run it over with a car, there's nothing else after

that. There's nothing else after this

kindness, the blood of Jesus to rescue you or to pull you back.

There's no bungee cord that's going to yank you back.

That is the mercy of God. We are already doomed for His

wrath, and yet we've been saved by His grace.

So what do we do with that now? We pursue Him and we come to

Him, which is exactly what He's going to tell us as we go into

next week. He's going to say, come to me.

Keep coming to Jesus. Don't let your physical

proximity deceive you. Don't let man, I got a good

preacher, man, I got a good church, man, I've got good

friends, man, my Bible study is good.

Those are good things. Those are blessings and

kindnesses, but don't let those deceive you in your inner life

and your inner walk with the Lord.

Where is that? Oh man, I'm surrounded by

brothers who are faithful to the Lord, and that's a good thing.

And that's also like having Jesus live in your village.

What are you doing with that? And I got these sisters who

surround me and encourage me and, and they and they're super

faithful. That's great that Jesus lives in

your village, Capernaum. So what about you and the Lord?

What about you? What are you bringing to the

Lord, to the feet of Jesus? What is your vulnerability and

your prayer life look like with the Holy Spirit?

I'm glad he lives in your village.

That's amazing. Please tell me you're sitting at

his feet every day. I I assume you're waiting

outside of his house every morning for him to come outside

and you and you hang around like his shadow all day long, Right?

Right. Isn't that what you would do if

we could go back right now and be in Capernaum?

That's literally what I think you would do.

I literally think I would do that.

Like he would go in the house and then I'd be like, can I come

in? He'd be like, of course, because

that's what he said. He's going to invite us in.

He already does give that invitation.

Oh, if I lived in Capernaum, I would have done that.

OK, well today's a great day. Today's a great day.

And he stands at the door and knocks for us.

He's going, can I come in? Can I come in?

Can he come in? Heavenly Father, we thank you so

much that you love us and discipline us as sons.

Lord, we pray that you will protect us.

Even preaching a message like this.

I wish I could have been in the Pew as as the receiver.

God, keep us from pride, keep us from ignorance, keep us from

arrogance, keep us from the the falseness of familiarity,

thinking that just because you live in our village that that

has impacted our heart. There's so many ways that you

live in our village. There's so many ways that you

live in this city. There's so many ways where we're

blessed, all the churches in our community and in this country,

the sermons, there's preachers on our television preaching the

gospel of the Kingdom everywhere we go.

We can have more light and revelation and more fellowship.

Just be even being pressed upon us from the outside.

But are we really seeking it from the inside?

Keep us close and keep us humble.

Draw us near to You, Lord. You correct us because you love

us and you want to be close to us.

You have stepped in the way of that Cliff that we were speeding

towards. God help us in the name of Jesus

to slam on the brakes and to say this car is yours, this life is

yours, everything I have is yours.

Jesus, what would you have me do?

I submit to you. I love you, I want you, I want

to be closer to you, I want to please you.

Don't let me go on deliberately sinning.

I thank you for your correction and your mercy and your kindness

as you did it. That's why a father disciplines

his children. A good father disciplines his

children not because he's fed up, but because of his great

love for his children. Reveal your love to us, God.

Reveal your great care, your great kindness, and draw us

deeper into repentance. Change everything about us until

it looks how you want it to look.

Sanctify, protect, secure and seal.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face shine down upon you and be gracious to

you. The Lord lift up His countenance

upon you and give you great peace in Jesus name, Amen.