Grab your Bibles, go back to Matthew chapter 4, Matthew chapter 4.
If you guys can hear me, that's all that matters. I can barely hear myself.
But Matthew chapter 4, Matthew chapter 4.
And for those of you guys that are visiting us for the first time, or you're not regular attendees,
we're currently going through the book of Matthew, okay?
We're going through the book of Matthew chapter by chapter.
And so we're up to Matthew chapter 4, we're up to Matthew chapter 4.
Look at verse number 3, Matthew chapter 4, verse 3.
The Bible says,
And when the tempter came to him, that's came to Jesus,
and said, If thou be the Son of God, command of these stones be made bread.
And the title of the sermon we're sporting is, When the Tempter Came.
When the Tempter Came.
And if you know the context of this story, who's the tempter?
Anybody wanna answer that? Who's the tempter?
It's the devil, it's Satan, okay?
And we know when Jesus Christ was walking on this earth, the tempter came.
Satan came, the devil came, temped in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hey, if Satan is able to try to tempt Christ, guess what he's going to do to you?
He's going to try to come to tempt you, okay?
Satan's gonna find his way, or maybe not Satan, or many of his other devils that are with him,
hey look, there's enough temptation of man in your heart, okay?
You already have the fallen sinful nature in you.
You're already tempted to sin because of that sinful nature.
But it's so much harder when Satan himself comes, and the devil himself comes, bringing temptation to you.
Hey, but look, if you sin, when you commit sin, you can't blame the devil.
And I see Christians do this all the time.
They say, well the devil made me do it.
It was the devil that caused me to sin, no.
Yeah, he can come and tempt you.
Hey, it's not sinful to be tempted, but when you carry out that sin, that's on you buddy, okay?
When you sin, that's your decision to sin.
You could either decide not to, to walk in the Spirit, obey the commands of God,
or give in to your fleshly lust, to give in to the pride of life, to give to your, the pride of, um,
uh, obey the pride of life.
Uh, it's your decision to give in to those temptations.
You cannot blame the devil for that.
But there's a reality that we need to understand is that the devil does come to tempt the children of God.
Okay? So let's pick up the story in verse number one.
Verse number one.
It says, then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
So the first thing I want you to understand about Jesus, it was the Holy Spirit,
it was the Holy Ghost that led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted.
Okay? It was important that Jesus would face temptation because we know Jesus Christ was without sin.
We know that he's the perfect Lamb of God, and it's important for us to read about temptation
and knowing full well he was unable, he was incapable of giving in to those temptations, okay?
Because it is impossible for God to sin.
And if Jesus Christ is the Son of God, if he's God the Son, that means it is impossible for Christ to sin.
And it's so important that he would be that sinless Lamb of God who took on our sin,
who became sin for us, who paid the penalty of our sin on the cross, so we can go for him.
It was important that Christ would be sinless, alright?
Now look at verse number two.
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward in hundred.
Hey, Jesus Christ fasted for forty days, forty nights.
I've only met like maybe one or two people who have told me they fasted forty days and forty nights.
And it's a big task to do such a thing.
You know, obviously Jesus Christ would have been drinking water because you can't go forty days without drinking water.
But obviously he went without food, okay?
And it's important that he was nourishing the Spirit, okay?
He was, you know, taking down the flesh and nourishing the Spirit within him.
Now notice this, it says Jesus was hungry.
Of course he would be, okay?
If any of you have fasted any period of time, you know, you get to a point where you're hungry, alright?
You're hungry.
And look at verse number three.
And when the tempter came to him, he said,
If thou be the Son of God, now hold on.
Was Jesus the Son of God?
Absolutely.
The Bible makes it abundantly clear that he was the Son of God.
But it's the devil's attempt that comes and asks the question,
If thou be the Son of God, okay?
So, you know, the devil when he comes to you, he's always making you ask questions.
Hey, instead of taking the Bible at face value, he wants you to ask,
If thou be, is that right? Is that the answer? Is that really what the Bible says?
Is the Bible really against homosexuality and same-sex marriage?
Yes, it is.
It's not, is it? No, it is, okay?
There are so many sins in the Bible, the Bible makes clear these things are sins.
But the devil comes along and says, But is it really?
You know, who's at harm here? No.
You know, the Bible's black and white.
We take the Word of God as this, and the Word of God tells us that Jesus is the Son of God.
Okay, but we see the devil immediately casting doubt on the Word of God.
But look, it says, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Now, your first thought might be, Wow, the devil's really caring.
I mean, Jesus is hungry, right?
And the devil's just telling Jesus, Hey, just make these stones into bread.
Hey, surely, I mean, he knows that Jesus wants to eat.
And let me say to you guys, is that when Satan, when the devil comes tempting you,
it's not going to be for the most wicked things that's out there.
It might appear that the devil is trying to nourish you.
It might appear that he's asking you to do something good, all right?
Now, you would think that Jesus is hungry, he wants to eat.
What's so wrong about, you know, making these stones into bread?
But here's what you need to understand.
Here's what you need to understand.
Actually, what's the thing?
The ends doesn't justify the means, okay?
The ends does not justify the means.
You might see something that's good, like Jesus, yeah, eating bread is good,
nothing wrong with that.
But then to carry out the means would be that he would be obedient to the devil.
Yeah, don't you think if the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights,
don't you think that God would provide for his son?
Don't you think God would make the best decision
and make sure that Jesus would be nourished and looked after once his time is done?
Of course, but here comes the devil saying, hey, let's do it right now.
Obey me rather than obey God, okay?
So be careful about the devil. It's very tricky.
He comes appearing like he's trying to help you,
but instead he's trying to take your focus away from the word of God.
Hey, when the Holy Spirit leads you in life, when it's black and white for you,
this is what God wants from me, then pursue it.
Don't find an evil way to make the same means met.
If God is leading you, he's going to provide every way,
he's going to open every door for you to be able to accomplish that task that he's leading you into, okay?
Yeah, the first thing about the devil, and you don't need to turn there,
but in Genesis chapter 3, in Genesis chapter 3, you know the story of Adam and Eve?
When the snake, when the serpent came, that was the devil.
When the serpent came, and remember, God commanded Adam and Eve,
they could not eat of the tree, eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
What does Satan say to Eve in Genesis 3 verse 1?
I'll read it to you quickly. It says,
Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made.
And he said unto the woman, Yea, have God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
You know, that is the devil's way, guys.
When you start doubting the word of God, it's the devil that's put that in you, okay?
It's put those doubts in your mind, okay?
There's going to be times in your life when you read the Bible,
you know, you're going to be like, hold on, this doesn't seem right.
You know, and you're asking questions,
hey, it's the devil that's planted seeds of doubt in your mind.
And you need to make a decision,
am I going to go with the doubts against the Bible, with the devil?
Or am I just going to believe what the word of God says?
I'm going to believe what God said in his book, all right?
You need to make that decision.
And the woman said unto the serpent,
We may eat of the fruits of the trees of the garden,
but of the fruits of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,
God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it,
neither shall you touch it, lest ye die.
And look at the serpent, and the serpent said unto the woman,
You shall not surely die.
Again, you see the doubting of God's word, okay?
Denying what God has said.
God told Adam and Eve, if you partake of that fruit, you will die.
And we know that they did, that they disobeyed the commands of God,
but how did they die on that day?
Did they die physically? No, they died spiritually, okay?
They died spiritually, and they were in sin.
And they knew they were in sin,
but they had a shame of their nakedness towards God.
And later on, you know, when we read the rest of the Bible,
we read how God had provided coats of skin
to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve, okay?
God had to kill an animal,
take the skin of that animal,
send the blood of that animal
to cover the nakedness and shame of Adam and Eve.
And then we say to you guys now,
as we celebrate Christmas, as we celebrate the birth of Christ,
why did Christ come into this world?
So that he would be the one that would shed his blood for our sins, okay?
That his righteousness would cover our shame and nakedness, as it were,
our sinful nature.
And the Bible says in John 3.16,
For God so loved the world, God loves you,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that's Jesus Christ,
who went to the cross for you,
who died on the cross for your sins,
who took on your sins,
died and was buried three days later,
rose again from the dead, praise God.
But the most important part says that
whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.
It doesn't say whosoever is baptized
shall have everlasting life.
It doesn't say whosoever shall get hurt
and have everlasting life.
It doesn't say whosoever lives a clean and good life
shall have everlasting life.
No, it doesn't say you have to repent of your sins
to have everlasting life.
No, it says just whosoever believeth in him
shall have, so not perish, but have everlasting life, okay?
If you think you're going to heaven
because I'm a good person, look at me,
look, that's not going to get you to heaven.
The Bible says there is none righteous, no, not one.
Hey, what's required of you is to believe in Jesus Christ,
to put all your faith, 100%, all your trust on Jesus Christ,
that in 5% that it's not of works,
that it's not of baptism, that it's not of church attendance,
it's not of whatever else you thought it was,
you'll take 100% of Jesus Christ,
you put your faith on him, you call upon the name of the Lord,
and that shall be saved, the Bible says, okay?
If you do that, and you can be sure that you can have eternal life,
you can be sure that you're on your way to heaven,
because of what Jesus did for you, okay?
That's why you came, you know, 2,000 years ago,
born in the manger.
Now, before I keep reading,
can you guys, you guys are in Matthew 4, right?
Can you go to John chapter 8?
Go to John chapter 8, keep your fingers there in Matthew 4.
Go to John chapter 8.
Because I want you to understand,
why did Jesus not turn the stone into bread?
Look at John chapter 8, verse 28.
John chapter 8, verse 28.
It says here,
Then said Jesus unto them,
When ye have lifted up the Son of man,
then shall ye know that I am he,
and that I do not, look at this,
and I do nothing of myself,
but as my Father hath taught me,
I speak these things.
Hey, when Jesus Christ came,
he did nothing of himself.
What that means is, he didn't do anything
that the Father did not ask him to do.
Okay, so who asked him to turn the stone into bread?
The devil, the tempter.
He wasn't asked of the Father.
Obviously, if God the Father asked him to do that,
he would have carried that out, okay?
And then in verse 29 it says,
And he that sent me is with me,
the Father hath not left me alone,
for I do always those things that please him.
Hey, Jesus was concerned that everything he would do
would please God the Father.
Hey, that's the same as us, alright?
The devil comes sending you,
you ought to say like Jesus said,
for I do always those things that please him,
that please God.
Now I know we don't always, because we fail,
because we have weaknesses, because we sin.
Nevertheless, it should be our goal,
it should be our purpose to do things
that please God the Father.
And even though I mentioned that baptism does not save you,
that church attendance does not save you,
you know what pleases the Father?
That we are in church.
It pleases the Father that we do baptize believers.
That's why we do it, okay?
It's not about me.
It's not about Pastor Kevin.
It's not about anyone else except to give God all the glory,
to please him.
Go back to Matthew chapter 4, please.
Matthew chapter 4, verse 4.
So how does Jesus answer to Satan?
He says, but he answered and said,
it is written, man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Listen, you know what Jesus did?
He quoted Old Testament scripture.
Now this is what you need to do, guys,
because I know you're made of the same flesh and blood as me.
I know you suffer the same temptations that I suffer.
I know you have the same sins that every man struggles with,
that every woman struggles with, okay?
But this is what you do.
If you say to me, I'm not having victory over my sins,
and I'm still struggling with the same sins time and time again,
what do you do?
What do you do?
You've memorized scripture.
You've memorized the Bible.
Hey, look, Jesus here is quoting scripture, right?
He's quoting.
I don't know if I have the reference.
Yeah, I do.
He's quoting Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 3.
I'll just read it to you.
Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 3, it says,
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger,
and fed thee with manner which thou knewest not,
neither did thy fathers know that he might make thee know
that man doth not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord,
doth man live.
You want to overcome sin in your life?
You memorized scripture about the sin that you struggle with, okay?
If you're struggling with lying, you know,
you struggle with crying, not telling the truth,
then memorize.
Here's a commandment number 7, I can't remember right now.
You know, you're actually not there close to witness.
Memorize that, okay?
And when you're tempted to lie, you can quote that scripture
that's going to feed the Spirit of God in you.
That's going to feed your spirit, the new man,
and give you at least some level of victory in your life, okay?
That's what you do.
But notice what Jesus said,
man cannot live by bread alone.
Hey, you know what's just as important as your daily food,
as your daily bread, what's just as important?
What's compared to the bread there?
Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
You say, where do I get that from?
Where do I get every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God?
Do I have to go to a high mountain?
Do I need to go to a forest and seek God's voice and God's wisdom in the...
No, it's right here.
It's right there in the Bible.
Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God
has been recorded for us in the 66 books of the Bible right here.
And you know what that means?
If you've not read this book cover to cover,
you're going to struggle with sin, okay?
You need to make sure that you learn to read the Old Testament
as well as the New Testament.
Every word of God is your food for the spirit
that's going to give you victory over temptation, okay?
So let me encourage you guys,
if you've not read the Bible cover to cover,
we're approaching a new year very soon, right?
2019.
Set it in your mind from 2019,
I'm going to read my Bible cover to cover.
From January 1st to December 31st,
we're going to read the Bible cover to cover
once, maybe twice, whatever.
Look, it's just spiritual food.
You need to know what the Word of God says, okay?
And remember, Jesus says every word.
You can't go,
Well, here at Leviticus, that's a bit rough.
I'm going to skip that book.
Or Ezekiel, what's Ezekiel talking about?
No, just read it, okay?
Just read it.
Ask God to give you wisdom, to give you guidance.
Look, if you don't understand what you're reading,
just keep going, just keep reading,
until you do find things that you do understand.
Look, even if you don't understand it,
the fact that you're reading it is still feeding the new man.
It's still feeding the spirit that's within you, okay?
I mean, how many of you guys can remember
what you ate last week?
For Sunday.
Sunday last time.
I mean, I can't remember what I ate, okay?
But obviously I ate something, okay?
I ate something, and by eating that,
it nourished my body, okay?
I don't remember what it was, but it nourished my body.
Hey, sometimes when you read your Bible,
you're not going to fully understand what's being said.
But somehow, it's nourishing the spirit.
It's nourishing the new man.
So please, don't skip over parts of the Bible.
Matthew chapter 4, verse 5.
Then the devil taketh him into an holy city,
and seteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
and saith unto him, If thou be, there's a doubt again,
if thou be the son of God,
cast thyself down, for it is written,
he shall give his angels charge concerning thee,
and in their hands they shall bear thee up,
lest at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone.
So the devil here is quoting the Bible.
He's quoting a psalm, though he doesn't quote it properly.
Hey, this is another way the devil comes.
He comes quoting the Bible to you.
And you can be fooled into believing false doctrine.
You can be fooled into believing heresy.
And you go back, no, it's based on the Bible.
Look, the devil has Bible as well.
And you need to know the Word of God to know when you're being deceived.
It's important, because even Satan can use the Bible for his purposes.
But again, why would Jesus not cast himself off?
Why would he need to prove himself to be the son of God?
It's not long ago we know Jesus was baptized,
and the Father said, This is my beloved son,
in whom I am well pleased.
Why does he have to doubt if the Father already claimed
that he was the son of God just one chapter ago?
Hey, there's no need to doubt the Word of God.
And there's no need to listen to what Satan says.
You know, the Father did not ask Jesus to throw himself
from the city called the temple.
Let's keep reading, verse number eight.
Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain,
and sootheth him all the kingdoms of the world,
and the glory of them.
And he said unto him, All these things will I give thee,
if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Wow! What an offer!
Guys, what if the devil came to you and said,
I'm going to give you all the riches you wanted,
all the power, all the kingdoms of this world.
Would you take it?
It's pretty attractive, all the money in the world, you know,
rich, powerful, you know.
Yeah, look, I don't know how much, but this is true.
I don't know how much power Satan has in this world.
Obviously, he has a lot of power.
Obviously, he controls a lot of the corrupt governments
in this world.
I'm not sure how much Satan is able to give.
I'm not sure how powerful his kingdom is on this earth.
And sometimes people read this and go,
see, Satan controls all the kingdoms and all the governments.
I mean, we don't really know that.
It's not God telling us that.
It's Satan claiming that he can give that away.
And we know that Satan is a powerful one.
I don't know if I can take him to Satan's valley.
But obviously, he does have some power.
And if you guys are familiar with the celebrity world,
Hollywood and music, you know, celebrities,
you know, artists, music artists, rock stars and stuff,
if you look at some of their testimonies of how they got famous,
so many of them, so many of them say,
I sold my soul to the devil.
Somehow, they made an allegiance to the devil
and the devil gave them power.
The devil gave them popularity.
The devil gave them the ability to play music.
You know, I mean, those are things that I've heard from them now.
And if I only heard one person say that,
I'd be like, oh, what?
But the fact that so many of these famous celebrities
and stars say the same thing, that they sold their soul to the devil.
And so it looks like the devil is able to grant some power to people
if you work with him, okay?
And we see this was the purpose at the end of the day.
He wasn't concerned that Jesus was hungry, okay?
That wasn't his concern.
All he wanted was to be worth it, okay?
What the devil wants you to do at the end of the day
is to not worship the Lord God of the Bible, but to worship him.
And if you're not worshiping the God of the Bible,
if you're not worshiping Jesus Christ,
then by default, if you're worshiping someone,
you're worshiping Satan, okay?
All these false religions, these false idols, idol worship,
and stuff that people do,
that worship is going to a devil.
It's not going to the God of the Bible, okay?
Let's keep reading. Let's keep reading.
Actually, keep your finger there and turn to the book of Revelation.
Revelation chapter 11. Revelation chapter 11.
Revelation chapter 11.
Now look, Jesus will one day take full control of the kingdoms of this world, okay?
Revelation chapter 11 verse 15.
Verse 15. Revelation 11 verse 15.
When does Jesus take control of the kingdoms of this world?
Look at this.
And the seventh angel sounded.
Hey, if you know the book of Revelation,
you know that God pulls out his wrath by the seven prophets and the seven boils,
and it says here that the seventh angel sounded, the seventh prophet,
and there were great voices in heaven saying the kingdoms of this world
have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he shall reign forever and ever.
Hey, there's coming a time when Jesus will rule and reign on this earth
in the millennium to come on this earth.
It's going to be raining.
So Jesus obviously knows what's promising him.
So we know that what Satan was offering was only a temporal thing, was not eternal.
Notice that Jesus will reign forever and ever.
Now look, when Satan, when the temper comes and offers you things,
it's temporal.
It's earthly, okay?
These celebrities that have their popularity, that sold their soul to the devil, it's temporal.
A hundred years from now, no one's going to remember their names.
A hundred years from now, as your life continues, there's going to be other celebrities,
other people people are looking up to.
No one's going to remember those from 100, 200 years ago.
It's temporal, okay?
But if you follow up with God, his rewards, his treasures,
his eternal life is forever and ever, okay?
You might be poor in this life, you might suffer in this life for his name's sake,
but his rewards are forever.
Please do not trade the temporal things of this life.
You know, the brand new car and the nice house.
Don't trade those things for eternity.
The mansions, the streets of gold that God has promised us forever and ever, okay?
Verse number 10, Matthew 4, verse 10.
Matthew 4, verse 10.
Then saith Jesus unto him,
Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and him only shalt thou serve.
Okay?
So we see that Jesus resists the devil.
Every time he was tempted, he quoted scripture.
That's what you need to do.
You need to learn scripture, memorize scripture, and quote it.
Especially for the sins that you struggle with.
The temptations that come your way and you struggle with, okay?
Now, I'm going to read to you from James, chapter 4, verse 7.
James, chapter 4, verse 7.
It says this,
Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
He will flee from you.
Look at Matthew 4, 11 again.
Matthew 4, 11.
And look,
Then the devil leaveth him,
and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
And Jesus Christ submitted himself to God the Father,
when he resisted the devil, and the devil fled from him.
That's the example that we need to follow.
When we're tempted to sin, okay?
We submit ourselves to God, to his word.
We resist the devil, and he's going to flee from you.
At least for a while, okay?
At least for a while, you'll have spiritual victory.
But notice in verse 11, it says,
And the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
That's ministered unto Jesus.
God the Father sent angels to Jesus, to minister.
That means to serve him, okay?
No doubt, they brought him food.
They brought him the nourishment he needed, okay?
Jesus swore out his period of temptation,
and now God the Father provided his needs.
And instead of listening to the devil,
he knew that God would answer the prayer, okay?
He would answer his needs, and God the Father definitely came,
sent the angels and ministered unto him, okay?
Guys, sometimes, like I said,
when the Spirit of God is leading us, just go, okay?
Because God will send his angels, as it were,
and minister unto you, will give you your every need, all right?
I mean, you guys know that we're based in Queensland, all right?
You know, and I had to leave my full-time work to get up there,
and, you know, I prepared myself the best I could financially,
and you know what? God has provided my every need.
You think I really wanted to come down to Sydney every week?
You know, I could tell it was going to be difficult, right?
I could tell, but the Holy Spirit was leading me, you know?
It was leading you guys to be part of this church,
and yet we see the Lord has provided our every need as a church, okay?
Praise God, for the Lord that we serve here knows our needs.
He's going to provide for us.
Now, what I want you to do is turn to Isaiah.
If you've got the Old Testament, turn to Isaiah chapter 9, okay?
Isaiah chapter 9.
I want to read to you a part of Isaiah, okay?
And I just want you to think about what we're reading, okay?
Isaiah chapter 9, verse 1.
The Bible reads,
Nevertheless, the dimner shall not be such as it was in her vexation,
when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun
and the land of Natali,
and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea,
beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.
The people that walk in darkness have seen a great light.
They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death,
upon them have the light shined.
There has multiplied the nation and not increased the joy.
They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest,
and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden
and the staff of his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor as in the day of Midians.
For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise,
and garments whirled in blood.
For this shall be with burden and fuel of fire.
Now, we're reading that.
You're probably wondering, what is this?
What are you reading?
Like, I don't know.
Are you wondering that?
You know, we see that the land of Israel is in darkness,
and that God will send a light.
We saw that, right?
Not just the Israelites, but it said in verse 1,
in Galilee of the nations,
say the word nations is the word Gentiles, okay?
What is that about?
Well, look at verse number 6.
For, okay, for is a conjunction,
or because, because of what we just read.
For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given,
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace,
of the increase of his government and peace.
There shall be no end upon the throne of David
and upon his kingdom to order it,
and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
And that's a very popular verse, right?
Isaiah lines 6 and 7,
we know that's about the Lord Jesus Christ.
But if you're just reading your Bible,
and you're just going through your Old Testament,
and you read those first verses,
you're probably going, what is that?
What is that about, right?
I know what 6 and 7 is about,
but I don't know what 5, what's the 5 is.
Go back to Matthew chapter 4.
Matthew chapter 4 verse 12.
Because it's quoted here and now.
It's quoted, what we just read in Isaiah 9.
It's quoted here.
In Matthew 4 verse 12, it says,
And when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison,
he departed into Galilee,
remember, to Galilee, Isaiah,
and lived in Nazareth.
He came and wrote in Capernaum,
which is upon the sea-coasts,
and in the borders of Semulam and in the heavens,
which was spoken by Isaiah to the prophet,
what we just read,
saying,
The land of Zebulon and the land of Nephthalim,
by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people which sat in darkness saw great light,
and to them which sat in the region of the shadow of death,
light is sprung up.
Okay?
So, we see that when the book of Matthew was written,
it's taken into consideration many, many prophecies
of the Old Testament,
prophecies from the hundreds of years
before Jesus would be born.
Okay?
And what we see in Isaiah 9 is a fulfillment
in Matthew 4,
when Jesus would go through this region,
bringing the, obviously Jesus Christ gives the light,
so bringing the light of the gospel into these areas.
Look, the only reason I wanted to show you that
is just to show you how important the Old Testament is.
Hey, read the New Testament, know the New Testament,
and then when you go back and you read the Old Testament,
you'll be like, wow,
this is stuff that I found that I read in the New Testament,
and you'll see how much Christ fulfilled in the scriptures.
You know, the Bible's an amazing, miraculous book.
Okay?
Always pointing us to Jesus Christ,
even when you don't think it's about Jesus.
It's about Jesus!
It usually is somehow, all right?
It usually is, all right?
Now, what I want you to notice there
is in verse number,
verse number,
sorry, just bear with me.
Okay, I'm missing some of my notes, but that's okay.
I'm going to notice in verse 15,
it said, Galilee of the Gentiles.
Okay, of the Gentiles.
Now, also,
sorry, just bear with me, let me just,
I've lost my point.
Well, it's going to be later on as well,
but I just wanted you to notice that when Jesus Christ came,
there's a false teaching that says he came for the Jews,
and what they mean by that is that he came only for the Jews.
And then what they teach is,
because the Jews rejected Christ,
then he went to the Gentiles.
Then he decided, hey, I'm going to offer myself for the Gentiles.
But I want you to notice that from Isaiah,
it was promised that he would come to the Jews
and to the Gentiles and to the nations.
Jesus Christ, as the Lamb of God,
came to die for all mankind, okay?
The Jews are not more important than the Gentiles.
The Gentiles are not more important than the Jews.
We're all the same, okay?
We all go to heaven the same way,
by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, okay?
Now, I'm going to read to you, okay, from John 5, verse 46.
If you want to turn it, you can.
John 5, verse 46.
Because there's so much confusion today about Israel and the Jews,
and people today still call them the Jews of God.
They still call them the chosen people of God today.
2,000 years later, okay?
Most of them have their own religion, Judaism.
And Judaism rejects Jesus.
They hate Jesus Christ.
And let me tell you something.
If you hate the Lord Jesus Christ,
if you reject the Lord Jesus Christ,
your destination is hell.
And the children of God will never go to hell.
If you're saved, you're always saved, okay?
This is important because a lot of people think today
that the Jews worship God the Father.
They say, yes, He rejects Jesus,
but they worship God the Father.
You know, they believe the Old Testament writings,
and we saw the Old Testament writings paint us to Jesus.
So do they really believe the Old Testament writings?
Look at it in John 5, verse 46.
John 5, verse 46, Jesus speaking to the Jews,
He said, for had ye believed Moses,
ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me.
And if ye believe not his writings,
how shall ye believe my words?
You know what Jesus is saying there?
If you even believe Moses,
if you believe the writings of Moses
and the writings of the Old Testament prophets,
if you believe them, then you would have believed me.
The fact that Judaism today rejects Jesus
means they do not believe Moses.
It means they don't believe the Old Testament scriptures.
Because as we saw in Isaiah,
the Old Testament scriptures point us to Jesus, okay?
You cannot say, I believe in the Old Testament
and reject Jesus.
That is a false religion that'll send you to hell
because you're rejecting the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world.
There's no other way to have a sin
or speak of it or take it again,
except through Jesus Christ.
Verse 17, Matthew 4.17,
Matthew 4.17,
From that time Jesus began to preach and say,
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
It was at hand leave.
It means it's close by, right?
It's close by.
It's almost upon you.
Hey, when we go out and we preach the gospel,
when we knock doors and we say,
hey, do you know you're going to heaven?
You know what we're essentially saying
is that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
It's right here.
You give me five minutes,
I can show you right now from the Bible
how you can be sure of going to heaven.
If there's anyone here that is not sure
they're going to heaven,
please speak to me after the service
or speak to someone else.
Ask the service so you can be sure
that you're going to heaven.
The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
He can take you to that if you want.
It's available today.
Now, please go to Galatians chapter 1.
Galatians chapter 1 verse 6.
Because people will say,
this is another false teaching.
They'll say, no, no, no.
When Jesus came,
he came preaching another gospel.
They'll say,
he came preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
That's what they'll say.
Instead of saying, you know,
they'll say,
when we go out solving him,
we preach the gospel of grace.
But the Jews,
they need the gospel of the kingdom.
Look, it's the same gospel.
Okay.
How do you enter in the kingdom?
You must be born again.
You must be saved.
Look at Galatians 1 verse 6.
Galatians 1 verse 6.
I marvel, says Paul,
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him
that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel,
which is not another,
but there be some that trouble you
and would pervert the gospel of Christ,
for though we are an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you
than which we have preached unto you,
let him be accursed.
As we said before,
so say I now again,
if any man preach any other gospel unto you
than that ye have received,
let him be accursed.
Guys, there's one gospel.
Jesus said, I am the way,
the truth and the life.
No man cometh unto the father,
except by me.
Salvation, the gospel,
is through his said blood.
I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shall be saved.
If people come and say, well, hold on,
Jesus preached another gospel than Paul,
then what do they say about Jesus?
That he's accursed.
That Jesus was preached in another gospel.
Look, please,
be very careful about who you listen to,
the preachers you're listening to.
If they preach us more than one gospel,
let them be accursed.
Okay?
There is one gospel.
The gospel of the kingdom is the same gospel
as the gospel of grace.
Okay?
It's the same gospel,
the good news of Jesus Christ.
Go back to Matthew 4.
Matthew 4 verse 18.
I'll try to hurry up a little bit.
Matthew 4 verse 18.
It says,
And Jesus walked in by the sea of Galilee,
saw two brethren,
Simon called Peter,
and Andrew his brother,
casting a net into the sea,
for they were fishers.
Hey, these are two brothers,
Peter and Andrew,
and it was a full-time work
to be fishermen.
Okay?
Now look at verse 19.
And he saith unto them,
follow me,
and I will make you fishers of men.
Hey, instead of you fishing for fish,
you're going to go fish for men,
for the souls of men.
Look at verse 20.
Left their nets and followed him.
It's a bit of a funny story, right?
Two guys fishing,
Jesus walking along,
hey, come and follow me.
Leave your nets,
and they leave their nets
and straightaway follow him.
Hey, they leave their full-time jobs,
and they follow after Jesus.
You know, that's crazy.
You know, if someone came along
asking you to give up your job
and follow him,
would you do it?
Well, here's the thing.
This isn't the first time
Jesus met Andrew and Peter.
Okay?
They already knew who he was.
It's not like they decided,
oh, let's just follow a man.
No, no, no.
They knew he was the Son of God.
They knew he was the Messiah.
Turn with me to the book of John.
John chapter 1.
Verse 35.
John chapter 1.
John chapter 1, verse 35.
So this was before what we just read.
Okay?
John chapter 1, verse 35.
It says, again,
the next day after John stood,
and two of his disciples,
this is John the Baptist,
and looking unto Jesus as he walked,
he said,
Behold the Lamb of God!
And the two disciples heard him speak,
and they followed Jesus.
Then Jesus turned and saw them following
and said unto them,
What seek ye?
They said unto him,
Rabbi,
which is to say,
been interpreted,
Master,
where dwellest thou?
He saith unto them,
Come and see.
They came and saw where he dwelled
and abode with him that day,
for it was about the tenth hour.
One of the two which heard John speak
and follow him
was Andrew,
Simon Peter's brother.
So Andrew has already spent
a day with Jesus.
Okay?
And look at this,
verse 41.
He first findeth his own brother Simon,
and saith unto him,
We have found the Messiahs,
which is being interpreted
through Christ.
Hey, we found the Christ,
we found the Messiah,
we found the anointed one,
we found the promised one.
Verse 42.
And he brought him,
that's called Peter,
to Jesus,
and when Jesus beheld him,
he said,
Thou art Simon the son of Jonah,
thou shalt be called Cephas,
which is an interpretation,
a stone.
So,
so we see what played out before, okay?
They really knew who Jesus was.
They knew he was the Lamb of God,
they knew he was the Messiah.
Then later on,
as they work in their full time jobs,
Jesus comes walking past,
and they leave all their things,
and they follow after Christ.
Okay?
I hope that gives you a bit more context,
and not thinking,
wow, these guys are pretty foolish.
Who are they following?
You know what I mean?
If they were some other guy,
some close Christ,
they had followed him,
and they confirmed,
by John the Baptist,
that this would be the Lamb of God.
Okay?
Now,
I do want to say this very quickly,
okay?
Because,
there are Christians,
that think,
when they read about the disciples,
leaving their nets,
leaving their full time jobs,
and following after Christ,
there are Christians,
very foolishly,
that think,
well I'm just going to leave my full time job.
I'm just going to leave my work.
And I'm going to follow Christ.
Okay?
And they leave their full time jobs,
they can't provide for themselves,
they can't provide for their families.
Do you think that's what God wants from them?
To leave their work?
You know,
the Bible repeats,
time and time again,
that for the man,
for the husband of the house,
for the head of the house,
the father,
to provide for his family.
To work.
You read that in the Old Testament,
you read about that in the New Testament,
so how do we make sense of what we read here?
It's very easy guys.
And this is something,
as we go through Matthew,
that I want you to understand,
is that many of the things Jesus teaches,
are to his disciples.
Do you know what a disciple is?
A disciple is a follower of a man.
Okay?
When Jesus Christ was on this earth,
for those three years of ministry,
he had disciples,
disciples following after him.
They left their jobs,
they left their families.
They had limited time to hear Jesus.
And many of these disciples,
became the leaders of the New Testament purpose.
Alright?
Now,
they followed Jesus.
Jesus,
and Jesus provided for them.
Okay?
Obviously we know Jesus performed miracles.
He fed the five thousand,
with two loaves and five fishes.
I think it is.
Okay?
So we know Jesus could provide supernaturally.
But there were also thousands,
of people following after them,
given of their needs,
given of themselves,
ministry to the disciples,
and Jesus Christ.
Okay?
So you need to be careful when you read the Bible,
is not to go,
wow,
look at the disciples.
I want to be like that.
No.
The word disciples,
is only mentioned in Matthew,
Mark,
Luke and John,
and the book of Acts.
When you read the epistles of the church,
to the church.
Okay?
And you read the epistles to,
you know, the pastors,
like Timothy and Titus.
The word disciple is not found there.
Okay?
And you're going to find time and time again,
the importance for men to work hard jobs,
to work jobs,
and to provide for their families.
Okay?
Because the time for discipleship is over.
That was during the time,
Jesus was on the earth.
Okay?
But just because that's the truth,
we can still take applications,
and apply that today for us.
We can still take it.
Now,
let me give you an example of this.
Even though Jesus is not physically walking the earth,
the body of Christ is still here.
What is the body of Christ on the earth?
Anybody?
The body of Christ?
Jesus.
Jesus?
No, it's not Jesus.
The church.
The church is the body of Christ.
Okay?
So,
if your church says to you,
it's not going to happen here,
because we just haven't got the finances.
But you know,
if we ever get to a point,
and your church asks of you,
hey,
can you serve in time in the church?
You know,
we'll provide for your family,
we'll provide for your finances,
this will be your full-time job.
You know,
can you leave your full-time job that you have,
and come and serve in the church?
Then yes,
at that point,
you know that the church,
the body of Christ,
is going to provide for you.
So we can take that application
to the church.
Okay?
The church is going to provide for you and your family.
Then yes,
you can leave your jobs,
and serve the church in a full-time ministry.
Whether it's a pastor,
a deacon,
maybe an evangelist,
or a missionary,
or whatever,
that's where you can apply these principles,
and apply that today.
Okay?
Please,
I never want to come across someone like you guys,
you ring me up,
Pastor Ken,
I decided to leave my full-time job and serve Christ.
I'd be like,
you idiots!
Go back to church,
go back to work,
and provide for your family.
Because that's the instruction that we see,
throughout the rest of the Bible.
Okay?
1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 8,
1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 8 says,
But if any provide not for his own,
especially for those of his own house,
he hath denied the faith,
and is worse than an infidel.
Hey, if you don't work,
and provide for your own,
and provide for your own family,
the Bible says you're worse than an infidel,
you're worse than an unbeliever.
Okay?
So please,
you know,
be mindful when you're preaching the Gospels,
we already spoke about it,
Jesus is not always preaching to believers,
sometimes he's preaching to non-believers,
sometimes he's preaching to false teachers,
sometimes he's preaching to reprobates.
Okay?
But the teachings that he gave to his disciples,
are first and foremost,
to those that left everything,
and fallen after Christ.
Okay?
That's not how you get saved.
Salvation is not follow Jesus.
Hey, I tell you who became a disciple and followed Jesus.
Judas Iscariot.
Do you think becoming a disciple saves your soul?
No, Judas Iscariot became Jesus.
Okay?
Salvation is not by following Jesus.
Salvation is by believing on Jesus Christ.
By trusting his death, burial, and resurrection.
Hey, Judas Iscariot followed Jesus.
Judas Iscariot was a disciple.
Okay?
But he did not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That was his downfall.
Okay?
And if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
I will say to you, hey, follow him,
follow the commandments that we see in the word of God.
But whether you follow it or not,
how well you do it or not,
is not going to determine whether you're saved or not,
whether you're going to heaven or not,
because it's all being paid for by Jesus Christ
and his sacrifice.
Okay?
Let's wrap it up now.
Okay, go back to Matthew 4.
Matthew 4, thank you for your patience so far.
Matthew 4, verse 23.
The Bible says,
And Jesus went about all Galilee,
teaching him the synagogue,
and preached him the gospel of the kingdom.
There it is.
Hey, when he said,
Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is ahead,
he said, preach him the gospel of the kingdom.
Okay?
And healing all manner of sickness
and all manner of disease among the people.
And his fame went throughout all Syria.
Hey, what's Syria?
That's a Gentile nation.
Okay, the Syrians.
And brought us in all sick people
that were taken with diverse diseases and torments,
and those which were possessed with devils,
and those which were lunatic,
and those that had the palsy,
and he healed them.
And they followed him right,
multitude of people from Galilee,
and that's Israel,
from the Catholics,
and the Catholics is a Gentile region.
And that's D-E-C, the Catholics,
that's 10.
It's 10 Gentile cities.
People from 10 Gentile cities were following Jesus.
And from Jerusalem,
and from Judea,
and from beyond Jordan.
Hey, I just want to end on this.
The people that came following Jesus,
they were Jews, yes.
But they were Gentiles as well.
And Jesus accepted them.
He healed them.
He prayed for them.
He cast out devils.
Jesus Christ came for the Jews
and for the Gentiles.
Please remember that.
Please.
You're not a second-class citizen
in the eyes of God.
He came for the Gentiles as much
as he came for the Jews.
All right, let's play, guys.