keep your Bibles open there to Matthew chapter 19 Matthew not chapter 19 it's a
bit of a controversial chapter this time around some quite challenging phrases
that was spoken of Jesus Christ but look at verse number eight please Matthew
chapter 19 verse 8 the Bible says he's safe unto them Moses because of the
hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives the title for the
sermon tonight is the hardness of your hearts the hardness of your hearts let's
pick it up from verse number one Matthew chapter 19 verse 1 the Bible says and it
came to pass that when Jesus had finished these saints he departed from
Galilee and came into the coast of Judea beyond Jordan so if you know your
geography I Galilee is north from Jerusalem and Judea means he would have
had to travel south okay so the reason why he's traveling to Judea now this is
toward the end of his ministry we've been going through his ministry for the
last 18 chapters now we're getting toward the end of his ministry now he's
going on his way to Jerusalem for these final stop right he gets to Jerusalem
that's where he's going to be trade that's what he's going to be crucified
that's where he's going to pay for our sins so he's now on his way the last
journey and it says here at the end of verse number one that he came into the
coast of Judea beyond Jordan now just so you guys know we've got access to
that document documentary called beyond Jordan okay because our church donated
to that project I've started sharing the link we don't have a DVD just yet but
I've been sharing the link to some of you guys so once you've watched it well
share it to some of the families in the church but it's a documentary called
beyond Jordan which basically goes through some of the areas so it kind of
gives you a geographic understanding of the Bible so it's pretty effective
documentary that's not what I'm going to be preaching about just found
interesting that we've got that phrase there beyond Jordan at the end of verse
number one that's where it comes from but then look at verse number two and
great multitudes followed him and he healed them there so once again we see
Jesus on his journey once again he's preaching and he has great multitudes
following him Jesus Christ had many disciples every time he went traveling
from town to town you guys have already seen he's that great multitudes around
him okay just as a reminder because at the end when he gets arrested when he
gets crucified on the day of Pentecost there was only 120 people that were
gathered in the upper room if you guys remember he had thousands of people
following him okay and this is a reality of Christianity there are thousands of
Christians okay there are a lot of believers out there but very few
actually make it to church and out of those that actually go to church very
few of those actually go out door-to-door soul-winning this is just
a reality of Christianity we see this in the time of Christ great multitudes
believing on him following him but really when it came to doing the great
works it was always just a handful of believers will keep reading verse number
three the Pharisees also came unto him tempting him tempting Jesus that is and
saying unto him is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause now
what a question you know the Pharisees come to Jesus so for every reason for
every cause can we put our way our wives can we divorce our wives basically for
any reason now as you read this in your Bible you're probably thinking well
that's a stupid question for every reason or essentially if you can put
away your wife if you can get divorced for every cause every reason then really
what that means is you can get divorced for no reason it doesn't matter if it's
every reason you get get divorced then doesn't really matter it can be for no
reason and it might sound like a stupid question but you know what we have this
system in our nation today okay I look this up in 1975 our government brought
in the no what's it what's it called the I wrote it down the no-fault divorce act
no-fault divorce so prior to 1975 if you wanted to get divorced you had to prove
that your spouse had committed adultery or was a habitual drinker he was a
drunkard or he was insane okay if you if you could prove those reasons to the law
then you could legally get divorced in our nation okay now I'm not saying those
are the laws of the Bible I'm just saying in our nation okay even in our
nation okay we had restrictions okay but from 1975 so before I was born they
removed and said well we'll just do no-fault divorce you don't have to prove
anything as long as you're separated for 12 months you're not living together
that's fine we'll grant you your divorce okay and so in Australia can we divorce
for every cause absolutely for no cause absolutely okay and of course when you
start changing the fabric of what marriage is meant to represent this is
why we have family marriages this is why our divorce rates going through the roof
this is why people don't take marriage seriously okay so you know what I as a
pastor I get a lot of these questions okay because my generation and even the
prior generations our generations have made a lot of mistakes okay because we
remove these laws because the preachers behind the pulpit have gotten weaker
okay preachers today don't preach against divorce all right before yeah
absolutely every church in Australia preached on divorce you know the
Protestants preached on divorce the Roman Catholics preached on divorce the
Orthodox preached on divorce we are now in a nation where people don't want to
talk about this because it's gonna hurt people's feelings look it doesn't matter
whose feelings we're hurting at the end of the day we're all sinners and if we
go to preach the Bible we're always going to trample on somebody since we're
always going to trample on someone's mistakes but the thing I want you to
remember is this if you've made a mistake okay you're already in a
situation where you've been divorced so you've been remarried these kinds of
things and you say well I can't change that now well look appreciate the
preaching and teach your kids the right way teach your kids because your kids
have not made mistakes yet you know your kids don't have to go through the same
struggles the same stress that you may have gone through when you've gone for
this situation in your life okay this is why it's important to preach this you
know I'm afraid to hurt people not really what I really want is for the
next generation to be better than us I want them to hear preaching from the
Word of God and know what God has to say about divorce and remarriage yeah I get
these questions a lot okay I do I get because there's a lot of people that
have made mistakes okay I'm in this situation now so what do I do and
everybody has their own situations okay because divorce is very messy okay
marriage is super easy it's super clean one man one woman married for life
children in that family home simple easy clean makes sense divorce is always very
messy and it becomes very messy of course when there's children involved in
that okay and so the question often comes what do I do in my situation what
do I do in that situation well the best response to that is to see how Jesus
responded okay now the Bible is not written for everybody's situation okay
the Bible's not written that way the Bible is written to show us God's
standard okay the Bible is written to show us his perfect will okay and when
you're outside of that perfect will or you can't fix things because you've made
mistakes in the past the best thing for you to do is say well this is the
situation I'm in this is God's perfect will how best can I make my situation
line up with God's perfect will but here's the thing when it comes to
marriage and divorce you will never get it exactly how God intended it okay
you're going to have to go with plan B in your life and you know what plan B
in your life may be even better than the plan a for a lot of people you know if
plan B you've made mistakes say well you know what Lord I made mistakes but I
want to serve you I want to be in church I want to get right with you I made
mistakes that can't change the past Lord but I want to follow after you today hey
your plan B can be effective your plan B can please the Lord many of us have
plan A's and we don't even serve the Lord of our plan A's okay so there's
never a place where there's no hope for people that have made mistakes there's
always hope I mean the Bible is filled of people making mistakes okay always
making mistakes reminding us how long suffering our God is how merciful our
God is all right but how did Jesus answer did Jesus answer every cause or
every cause so does he start giving a reason okay in this cause you do this
for this cause of married divorce you do this for this could know he focuses on
the single cause of marriage Jesus Christ goes back to what marriage
represents look at verse number four verse number four so that question was
every cause Jesus give us an answer for every cause Jesus look I'll give you an
answer for one cause look at this verse number four and he answered and said
unto them have you not read that here which made them at the beginning made
them male and female what's Jesus Christ quoting here Genesis chapter 1 all right
so he's insulting them he says have you not read Genesis chapter 1 I mean I
think everyone in this church even if you say to me I've never read my Bible
cover to cover I'm sure you've read Genesis chapter 1 all right so he's
insulting them right have you not read Genesis chapter 1 where it says God
created a male and female in the beginning and it's interesting I mean I
shouldn't have to labor these points it should be obvious but Jesus Christ is
telling us here that marriage is between one man and one woman I mean in 2019 I
actually have to say this behind the pulpit now okay because our society has
gotten so you know anti God has got so anti biblical today in our nation men
can marry men and women can marry women have they not read Genesis chapter 1
because if they read Genesis chapter 1 if the churches were preaching from
Genesis chapter 1 we wouldn't be in the mess we are today in our nation okay I'm
not gonna back away from this marriage is between one man and one woman and the
whole thing what they call marriage between men and men that's not marriage
okay that's an abomination okay it's an abomination it's not marriage all right
let's keep reading verse number five and said for this cause now remember that
was saying for every cause divorce Jesus look for this cause this is this is
marriage all right for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall
cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh so Jesus saying look when
there's a man and woman when they get married they become one flesh I was
going through this with my church up in Queensland the Bible tells us in Genesis
5 that God called their name Adam okay you know yes we think of Adam and Eve
but God called their name Adam it's the same idea when I married my wife she
took on my name okay Christina Rodriguez became Christina Sepulveda she took on my
name we became mr. and mrs. Kevin Sepulveda we became one family unit one
flesh when he says there and shall cleave to his wife it's speaking about
being glued together okay being joined together that's why you know in in our
day and age we say well people say you know when are you going to tie the knots
they're talking about when are you gonna get married you know when are you going
to join together when are you going to cleave together that's what it means by
tying the knot we still use that idea today because you become one you know
you become one flesh and then but the Bible says here in verse number six
wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh pay attention to that guys if
you're married you're not twain you're not two people as far as God is
concerned he says you're one flesh he looks at you as one team one unit what
therefore God have joined together let not man put asunder so Jesus look
marriage is for life let not man put asunder there's no reason that you should
get divorced that is not God's perfect will in your life to get divorced okay
we should be thinking of marriage as a lifelong commitment till death do us
part all right verse number seven they say unto him because now they're asking
question right they're tempting him remember it's not like they want an
honest answer they come in here to Jesus to find fault and let me tell you this
when I started my church in Queensland I started to get random phone calls just
weirdos and I thought this was normal I thought maybe maybe all the pastors get
all these weirdos calling them the whole calling me what do you believe
about divorce what do you believe about alcohol what do you believe about
whatever just all these things at first I thought they wanted honest answers but
then I started to realize these people are trying to find faults in my answers
all right it's the same thing that they went to Jesus trying to find faults to
his answer here verse number seven they said it to him why did Moses then
command to give them give a writing of divorcement and to put her away so what
they're saying is true okay in the Bible Moses did speak about a bill of
divorcement there is biblical divorce okay there is something you know like
people commonly think about independent Baptists that you're against divorce
well by and large we are because when you think about divorce as far as the
world standard is yeah we're against the way the world does divorce okay but there
is biblical divorce I'm gonna have a look at that soon and then it says here
verse number eight so why why did Moses write this verse number eight he's safe
unto them Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered or allowed you
to put away your wives but from the beginning it was not so so it says look
this was not God's intention but because of the hardness of your hearts this
isn't what God really wants in a marriage but because you've been
hardened men husbands been hardened against their wives wives hearts have
been hardened against their husbands God did permit divorce okay in the book of
Deuteronomy we're gonna look at that later on but remember what we're talking
about biblical divorce okay and biblical divorce is not for every cause
biblical divorce has parameters and we're gonna look at that shortly all
right verse number nine verse number nine and I say unto you now pay
attention to this this is so important I think this is black and white I really
think this is black and white I don't think there's any loopholes around this
and I say unto you whosoever shall put away his wife except to be for
fornication and shall marry another committed adultery and whoso mary her
which is put away doth commit adultery all right so Jesus look if you get
divorced for any reason besides fornication or if you get married to
someone that has been divorced here says you're committing adultery all right so
we see the parameter that Jesus gives the only permissible reason to get
divorced is because of fornication all right now there's now there's gonna be
two thoughts about this because that's black and white okay nobody can really
debate about what Jesus says but the question becomes for people that want to
try to find a way around this is well what does fornication mean because if we
can make fornication to mean several things then we can get divorced for
several reasons if that's essentially what it means okay so let's look at the
two common options that people talk about when it comes to divorce here now
the first thing I'm going to get you to do is please turn to Jeremiah chapter 3
keep your finger there in Matthew 19 keep your finger in Matthew 19 and go to
Jeremiah chapter 3 okay because the first argument is well fornication can
mean all types of sexual sins all kinds of sexual acts can fall under the
umbrella of fornication now I'll just say this I think sometimes yes
biblically speaking fornication can be an umbrella term for other sins I
believe that okay but I don't believe it's an umbrella term in this chapter
okay I'm going to explain to you why but let's go to Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 8
and we're going to see how some people I try to find a loophole in this all
right Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 8 God speaks here and he says and I saw when
for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her
away and given her a bill of divorce yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not
but went and played the harlot also so let's think about this this is God
speaking about the northern tribe of Israel right he says about them that
they've committed adultery okay and because they've committed adultery God
has put them away and given them a bill of divorce me okay so the argument there
is we'll see God here sorry names adultery here in this passage as grounds
for divorce so Israel has divorce has committed adultery God is divorced in
Israel over it and therefore God is given Israel a bill of divorcement and
so by that passage the conclusion then becomes well if God can divorce over
adultery then surely when Jesus Christ speaks of fornication here in Matthew
19 that must also include adultery so if your husband or your wife cheats on you
okay they commit adultery that is grounds for divorce so I'm showing you
what one interpretation is I don't agree with that interpretation and I'll go
through that in a moment okay but I'm just showing you the scriptures behind
that so you become aware when people bring up these arguments to you now why
don't I accept this because was God married to Israel I mean when we look at
the passage that we're looking at here okay one man one woman till death do us
part did God actually get married to Israel or like is he literally married
to Israel or is this figurative language is God using the allegory of a marriage
divorce to speak about his relationship with Israel and himself what do you
think do you think this is a literal marriage or an allegory figurative
speaking obviously obviously it's figurative speaking right obviously when
when when God says that Israel committed adultery he's speaking there of
spiritual adultery he's speaking about the nation going and serving other gods
the nations of you know turn their hearts against the Lord right and he any
uses this extreme case of this picture that he's given them now look do you
think there was a bill of divorcement giving this paperwork somewhere that God
wrote I'm divorcing you Israel no this is not a literal divorce okay this is
obviously figurative language okay so taking this story and applying it
between husband and wife one man and one woman you know you're drawing a really
long bow there I mean you're trying to apply something that doesn't really
apply now let me give you another right let me give you this other idea here so
the idea here is well see God divorced because of adultery therefore we can
divorce because of adultery now let me give you another allegory or another
figurative language here and go to our first Thessalonians chapter 5 first
Thessalonians chapter 5 and we're looking basically at a passage of the
rapture here first Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 2 first Thessalonians chapter 5
verse 2 now this is obviously a passage a lot of you are aware of first Thessalonians
chapter 5 verse 2 it says for yourselves know perfectly that the day of
the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night okay so think about this the Lord
is coming as what a thief in the night okay a thief in the night do you think
Jesus is literally a thief if he was he'd be breaking the commandments of God
all right but let me give you this argument so let's take this picture all
right so God divorced Israel because of adultery therefore I can divorce because
of adultery well that's like saying I can be a thief I can go and I can go and
rob the bank because Jesus is coming as a thief I mean you say so how ridiculous
when you take something that is meant to be figurative something that's meant to
be like an allegory of some of some greater truth and then you're applying
that to a literal you know or a physical literal interpretation you're going to
start messing things up I mean if you've read the Bible you start to realize
there are certain things that are literal there are certain things that
are figurative okay when the Bible says that you know if you go out and you
proclaim the you know the Lord about sorry the words of the Lord about the
Bible says that the the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you
into singing and all the trees of the hills shall clap their hands I mean you
think the trees are literally clapping their hands you think the hills and the
mountains are literally opening their mouths and singing no of course not
right they don't have heads they don't have mouths but this is figurative
language to tell us that creation rejoices when the when the the word of
the God is is proclaimed throughout the world okay we understand there is
figurative language and then there are literal things that we need to base out
doctrines on all right so no I do not believe adultery is grounds for divorce
okay I don't believe you can take something that's figurative between God
and a nation okay with no real literal bill of divorcement okay this is
obviously figure language and then apply that between one man and one woman okay
I think you're taking it way too far all right so let's talk about what I
believe this is talking about go to Deuteronomy chapter 24 please
Deuteronomy chapter 24 because the important thing here is that we keep it
within context always guys when you're struggling with something stay within
the context of the chapter or or refer back to an Old Testament passage which
the New Testament is speaking of or stay within the same book that you're reading
from quite often the answers are in the same book okay but look at Deuteronomy
chapter 24 verse 1 because this is where Moses taught on the bill of divorcement
okay Deuteronomy chapter 24 verse 1 look at this it says when a man have taken a
wife and married her and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes
because he have found some uncleanness in her then let him write her a bill of
divorcement and give it in her hand and send her out of his house and when she's
departed out of his house she may go and be another man's wife here we have a the
biblical practice of divorce okay now I'll go into that in a little bit more
moment but what I want to notice is when this woman is biblically divorced from
her husband is she allowed to be remarried she is allowed to be remarried
right but when Jesus Christ is dealing with the Pharisees unbiblical divorce he
says you cannot marry a divorced woman okay so we're talking about you know
Jesus is addressing their issues for every cause there is a cause okay to get
divorced and it's it's found within here in
Deuteronomy chapter 24 verse 1 so I just want you to see that okay when the
husband finds some uncleanness in his wife now go to Matthew chapter 1 please
Matthew chapter 1 verse 18 we'll just tie it all up together now Matthew
chapter 1 verse 18 so a lot of the times guys when you're trying to find an
answer I really recommend try to find an answer in the same book of the Bible
it's good to compare scripture with scripture it's good to compare different
books with different books but the best one to compare to is the same book many
times the same book has the answer let's go to Matthew chapter 1 verse 18 Matthew
chapter 1 verse 18 the Bible says now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this
wise when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came
together she was found with child of the Holy Ghost so pay attention now there
espoused together what is a spouse it's a husband or a wife these they're
married okay these two are married okay but she's found to be with child right
she's found to be with child and it says here that verse 19 then Joseph her
husband being a just man what does this mean he's a righteous man he's doing the
right thing okay he's found just and look at this and not willing to make her
a public example so he doesn't want to embarrass her publicly was minded to put
her away privately okay so he wants to divorce her put away is another way of
saying divorce and the Bible says what he's doing is just all right let's keep
reading oh I'll just leave it there okay what was doing was just so think about
this they had not yet come together they had not yet consummated the marriage as
husband and wife and before they had come together she was found to be with
child and the Bible says he was just to think that he should put her away
privately okay so he was just the Bible says he was doing right to think I
should divorce this woman okay so what is the grounds of divorce then Bible
said fornication didn't that said fornication what do we see in the same
book here giving us an example of the same events or the same situation is
that if you get married and you find out that your wife has not been faithful
okay and has hid that from you you find out you know before you consummate the
marriage with that woman then you can biblically divorce her you can biblically
give her a bill of divorcement and she will be free to marry another man okay
that's the the condition that's the framework of what the Bible speaks when
it comes to divorce and say well that's that doesn't ever happen well that's
because we're used to our culture right we're used to marriage and on the same
day of marriage you know normally husband and wife go somewhere they
consummate the marriage immediately and it's done okay but in many cultures
around the world you know in Chile South America in other places like Europe many
times they're married they're legally married okay but then several weeks or
several months might pass before they actually consummate the marriage why
because they're first legally married then they might decide to get married
you know with a formal reception from a wedding formal party at a church or
something that might take longer to prepare and like in South America Chile
you cannot get married in a church unless you first show the pastor that
you have been married legally okay and obviously there would that be a time
that took place there this is the same thing that is happening in these days in
Israel they would be legally married but it might take a look several several
time a time before they consummate that marriage okay and during that time if
she's found to be unfaithful and you know pregnant with a child like Joseph
found out then he could divorce divorce so okay at that point but they're
already legally married all right if you have any questions about that for me
later on please ask let's go back to Matthew chapter 19 I'm not done I'm not
done back to Matthew chapter 19 Matthew chapter 19 verse 9 verse 9 let's look at
it again and my final reason so I've given you a few reasons now why or where
the the the the the boundaries of the framework work of fornication fits in
but finally I'm a King James Bible believer okay I believe this book has
been perfectly translated I believe every word is pure and I believe every
word in this Bible is there for a reason okay now look at this let's look at
verse number nine again because if we want to say that fornication is also
just another way of saying adultery or something like that then why in verse
number nine do our translators or why does God allow the English to be worded
this way and I sent to you whosoever shall put away his wife except be for
fornication okay and shall marry another commit of adultery they've got the word
adultery already in this verse all right and it says and who so married her which
put away doth commit adultery twice in this verse we have the words adultery
there's got to be a reason in verse number nine why they use the word
fornication and I'll tell you why it's differentiate fornication from adultery
as a separate act okay so those are my reasons why I believe fornication for
divorce is prior to a husband and wife consummate in the marriage all right
let's move on from there verse number 10 if you have any questions please ask
me out for the service verse number 10 his disciples saying to him if the case
of the man be so with his wife it is not good to marry say what they're saying
look if this is the case if we can't divorce our wives for every reason it's
just better not to get married and say well that sounds ridiculous but again
look at our nation no folk divorce you get divorced for any reason doesn't it
there's a surprises them that people today don't want to get married there's
a surprises today that people would rather just leave it with de facto
relationships just just try it out see how it goes and if it works out maybe
then get married look people don't respect marriage they like they should
okay and and the the statement that is being said here is essentially what's
happened to our nations who cares why get married why one woman you know why
can't I just enjoy my life and have several and whatever you know what's
the point why do I need to settle down that's what happens when you destroy
what marriage is about when you don't preach about it till death do us part it
starts destroying the fabric of the family in our nation I think about this
think about this you say well this hurts my feelings a little bit you know think
about this think of your children right if your children grow up thinking well
I can get divorced for any reason okay marriage is not important if it doesn't
work out I can just get divorced okay if that's how they grow up do you think
they're going to when they when they choose their married part marriage
partner do you think they're going to take in serious consideration for that
you think they're going to really care about who they're marrying when they
feel well I can get divorced for any reason if it doesn't work out of course
they're not going to take it seriously but if your children grow up in a church
that preaches the Word of God that preaches this is death to you know till
death do us part don't you think when your child gets to a married age they're
going to really think long and hard about my marriage partner hey the person
I'm going to marry that's going to be the person I'm with for the rest of my
life and and don't you think when when you're married and you start having
relationship problems and we all do every married couple here can testify
that we've had problems in our marriages but don't you think that when you when
you understand this is till death do us part you're going to say well I need to
work out these problems we just sort this out because we need to live
together we want to be in harmony we will enjoy our lives we're going to sort
out our problems of course they're going to fix that when they when their
mindset is till death do us part but if their mind is well we can just get
divorced for any reason or for no reason of course when the problems come what
was the point of sorting it out let's just get divorced and try again with
someone else okay so this is important preaching because we want our children
to grow up and make serious decisions about who they marry okay let's keep
reading verse number 12 verse number 12 I'm sorry verse 11 but he said unto them
all men cannot receive this saying save they to whom it is given so they're
saying like it's better for not to not get married and Jesus says look all men
cannot receive the same in other words most men do want to get married most men
want a wife most men want that companionship that help meet for them
okay but then he says save they to whom it is given so there is some people some
men in the Bible that have the gift of not being married okay they have no
desire to be married they have no desire to be with a wife all right now if you
say to me you know I yeah I want to get married maybe I'm one of these guys you
know they have the gift well you know if you burn for a woman if you have a
desire for a woman that's not you okay these men don't have that desire we'll
have a look soon look at verse number 12 verse number 12 this is who Jesus is
speaking about for there are some eunuchs okay now let's look at this which
were so born from their mother's womb and there are some eunuchs which were
made eunuchs of men and there be eunuchs which have been met who have made
themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake he that is able to receive
it let him receive it so this is a saying just for some to receive okay to
those that can receive it let him receive this saying okay so Jesus
speaking about eunuchs these are men that are not married these are men that
do not desire to be with a woman all right so let's look at this free eunuchs
being described here the first eunuch it says here it says which were born were
so born from their mother's womb okay so there are some men that are born
disabled there are some men that are born with deformities okay and they
cannot you know have that marital relationship okay that's what Jesus
Christ is speaking about here okay some people that cannot have that marriage
relationship because they've been born like that from their mother's womb there
there's some type of deformity some problem with them that they cannot even
have that physical relationship okay then he says and there are some eunuchs
which were made eunuchs of men now this is pretty disgusting but you know in in
the olden times you know I don't know if it happens I hope it doesn't happen
today but in some of the olden times right when people would conquer other
other people when people would conquer other nations sometimes they'll take the
men of those other nations and castrate them all right the same way you would
castrate a bull so you can have like an ox you know like it's like a karma rocks
okay because when you castrate a man a man you know the the hormones change the
testosterone doesn't you know develop in their bodies the way it
normally would and so you would have a more docile man okay so this is a they
they castrate a man so they can serve they can be a servant okay and not sort
of be in a position to want to fight back because they don't have those
testosterone hormones you know surgeon for their bodies that's pretty
disgusting okay but that's what Jesus there are some like that it's happening
history Jesus is not saying that's something you should do it's just making
a point okay there's a point some people are born disabled some people
are castrated from for men okay in that sense but then it says this and this is
the one that is really referring to here and it says and there be some eunuchs or
there be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of
heaven's sake he that is able to receive it let him receive it so there are some
men who have the ability to withhold themselves from a woman and the reason
they can do that is because their desire is for the kingdom of God their
desire is to serve God with all that they have for their whole lives and we
have an example of this person with the Apostle Paul and you guys know the
Apostle Paul wrote many epistles of the New Testament he was used greatly by God
he was never married he didn't have any kids okay and he served as an apostle
you know he gave himself completely for the starting of churches he gave himself
completely for preaching the gospel he didn't have a wife and kids to take care
of there was nothing holding back the Apostle Paul he was fully you know
serving in the kingdom of God so there are some people yes very few men that
are this way they have such a desire for the kingdom that they'd rather not get
married and use all that they have to serve the Lord all right now we know the
qualifications of a pastor is to be the husband of one wife okay and this is why
the Apostle Paul was never a pastor he never pastored a church he served an
apostle he was there serving as a missionary but he was never a pastor
because he was never the husband of one wife okay let's keep reading verse number
13 then where they brought unto him little children that he should put his
hands on them now before I keep reading the rest of it remember last week
chapter 18 and the disciples were asking who's gonna be the greatest in the king
of heaven what did God do what so what did Jesus do he took a little child
didn't he right and brought him in the midst of them all right he talks about
how important the little children are and it boggles my mind because the
disciples did not learn look what look what happens here and they were brought
unto him little children that he should put his hands on them like to bless them
to pray for them and and and it says here and the disciples rebuke them okay
but Jesus said suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me
for of such is the kingdom of heaven and he laid hands on them and departed
thence so you see Jesus Christ and rebuking his disciples they did not
learn from the previous chapter Jesus Christ speaking highly of little
children you know having to humble yourself as a little child we saw that
last week and here they are making the mistakes again you know not respecting
not receiving the little children and just again guys we need to remind
ourselves little children are important little children need to hear the word of
God little children look we've made mistakes in our lives but we want our
children to not make the same mistakes that we've made and we need to show them
what the word of God says we need to really spend time with the children
they're the next generation okay they're the next generation of Christians and
they're gonna grow up in a generation that's gonna be harder for them to serve
the Lord than it is for us okay generation after generation it's getting
harder and harder to serve the Lord the world is getting more wicked there's
more persecution against preaching from the word of God okay we need to be
praying for our children we need to be receiving the little children the same
way that Jesus Christ did verse 16 and behold one came and said unto him good
master what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life so we this is
a story of the young rich ruler now okay we're now changing gears to a new story
this young rich ruler goes to Jesus and this man wants to be saved this man
wants to receive eternal life he's gone to the right person he's gone to Jesus
ask him the question hey and there's a lot of churches there are a lot of
people that claim the name of Jesus today they want to be saved they want to
go to heaven and they know I've got to go to Jesus but they make the same
mistake the young rich ruler says what he says what good thing shall I do this
young rich ruler wants to receive eternal life because he wants to do good
works you know he wants to earn his way to heaven and we know in this church
that you'll never earn your way to heaven you we know that there's no
amount of good works you can do to ever be accepted by God all right this man
had the right person Jesus but he wanted to do it by his works okay how many
churches are there today that claim Jesus Christ that speak highly of Jesus
and they're still preaching a gospel of works they're no different to the young
rich ruler all right verse number 17 and he said unto him why call us down me
good there is none good but one that is God but if that will enter into life
keep the commandments all right now let's think about this Jesus Christ says
why do you call me good now was Jesus good I think everyone I mean even non
believers generally think Jesus was a good man a good teacher at least right
of course Jesus was good so what is Jesus saying that is God says why do you
call me good there's only one good that is God therefore I am God is what Jesus
got I'm pointing to myself I'm not God but Jesus obviously saying I am God
right Jesus is doing that okay and then he says well you know basically if you
want to if you want to do good works then this is how you get to heaven you
keep the commandments right Jesus is given the answer that the young rich man
is looking for you know I need to do worse all right yeah keep the
commandments all right let's have a look what are the commandments here
this number 18 he's safe unto him which Jesus said well thou shalt not do murder
thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear
false witness on thy father and thy mother and thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself so Jesus quotes some of the Ten Commandments there and then verse
20 the young man safe unto him all these things have I kept from my youth up what
lack I yet you believe this do you believe this this young man I know how
it is let's say he was 18 or whatever is a young ritual okay let's say he's 18 he
says look I've kept all these commandments from my youth up what is
he saying I've not I've never disobeyed the commandments I'm sinless is what
he's saying he said I've never broken the commands of God is he telling the
truth oh nobody can do this I mean I've got ten kids I'm telling you by the age
of two they've committed thousands of sins already all right that's what they
call the terrible twos for a reason all right because they committed a great
amount of sins by the time they get to that age all right verse 21 Jesus said
unto him if thou wilt be perfect okay if you're gonna be perfect go and sell that
that that that thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in
heaven and come and follow me now we need to think about this for a minute
okay because people get confused this is where people get the idea of works
gospel based Gospels okay Jesus says I've got to sell my things I'll keep the
commandments and then I can have eternal life that's what Jesus Christ teaching
here but just think about this if someone if someone says to you what must
I do to inherit eternal life what must I do to be saved what are you gonna say to
that person of course you're gonna say believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
there shall be saved I mean do you is anyone here truly going to say someone
comes up to you what must I do to be saved are you truly gonna say go and sell
that thou hast just go and sell everything that you have give it to the
poor and come and follow Jesus is that what you're going to say to someone to
be saved is Jesus telling this person if you do this you'll be saved now what
Jesus Christ is doing is showing him that he does not have God as his
priority that this young rich ruler still has his riches above God now
these these riches these these possessions his material wealth was his
God and not the Lord Jesus Christ he would rather keep his money okay then
follow after Christ what Jesus trying to show this man is you are a sinner okay
you cannot put aside your money after God if you can't do that hey that's your
sin he's trying to show this man that he's a sinner and that's why when we
start when we go and preach the gospel door to door the first thing we're
trying to do is to show this person you're a sinner and have you have you
ever told a lie yeah or you're a sinner you've broken the laws of God you've
broken that shall not bear false witness as one of the commandments you're
already a sinner you know and then we can go from there Jesus Christ is
showing this man you're not sinless you haven't kept all the commandments you
are a sinner verse number 22 verse number 22 and when the young man heard
that saying he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions and what he
should have said was Jesus I can't give up my possessions I love my riches too
much is there another way to be saved that's what he should have said and no
doubt Jesus would have said to him yeah believe on me okay believe on me okay
but let's keep reading verse 23 then said Jesus unto his disciples verily I
stand to you that a rich man can hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven and
this is so true it's so true on the Sunshine Coast where I am where we we've
got our church base there's a lot of rich people in that area there's a lot
of people with money a lot of people that have retired they don't have to
worry about working they're relaxing that they've got it easy now so
unreceptive and if you've been if you've gone door-knocking in places that are
rich where people have a bit more money you know how unreceptive those people
people are this is a true saying of Jesus Christ that for rich men it's very
hard for them to answer the kingdom of heaven like for rich people they really
have to come to a point of loss you know a point of like where do I go to now
like my life is vain my life is empty this money is empty what what is that
for me that's really what a rich man has to get to you know a point of
despair in order for them then to call out to Christ and and know the way of
salvation but look at verse 24 and again I thank you it is easier for a camel to
go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
God now that this verse is very simple well we know what a needle is people use
needles to sew and so the the eye of needles a very small hole we know what a
camel is it's a large animal and of course we would say a camel cannot go
through the eye of a needle it's impossible okay well that's what we
would say right common sense just reading the Bible of course a camel
cannot go through the eye of a needle but I just want to show you what's how
some people interpret this it just very quickly won't take us too long some
people teach you know if you know Jerusalem you know the the ancient cities
back then had had like huge walls you know to protect them from the enemy and
then at night they would close the gates so the enemy cannot come through you
know at night so the story goes that if you were traveling with a camel and you
wanted to get into Jerusalem at night they would not open the gates just in
case you're an enemy you know and then armies would come into the city but they
would open this little passageway you know and this is called the eye of the
needle okay this is the this is these are the Jewish fables okay so there's a
small little passageway called the eye of needle and the only way a camel could
go through that into the city was for the camel to go on to all its knees for
it to be completely unburdened and for it to enter in like that so it's very
difficult to get a camel through the eye of needle gate okay now that say well
that sounds interesting maybe that's true everybody messes this up okay it
messes it up completely because you see just like a camel cannot go through a
needle cow the eye of a needle salvation is impossible for man you
cannot be saved by your own efforts you cannot be saved by keeping the
commandments it's impossible for you but if it's speaking about a camel going
through a small gate it's very hard but it's achievable so think about the
gospel there okay well that gospel would be well getting saved requires a lot of
hard work no requires a lot of effort but man can save themselves so you can
see how that interpretation just messes up the gospel the gospel is you cannot
save yourself that's why you need the Savior okay that's the gospel and this
is exactly what Jesus Christ says in verse 25 verse 25 he says when his
disciples heard it they were exceedingly amazed saying who then can be saved the
disciples know then it's impossible for man to look a camel cannot go for the
if a camel could go through a small gates they wouldn't say this they
wouldn't ask the question you know that who then can be saved but look at verse
26 but Jesus beheld them and said unto them we've men this is impossible but
with God all things are possible with God all things a possible possible the
reason you can be saved today the reason you can be forgiven for your sins is
because God made it possible okay it was impossible for you you no matter how
much hard works you put into it you're not going to make it okay you're not
going to make it okay Jesus did all the hard work Jesus paid the penalty Jesus
paid for your sins and God makes it easy okay God makes it easy believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ accept what he's done for you
salvation is easy for us Jesus did all the hard work verse 27 then answered
Peter so we need the end now then answered Peter and said unto him behold
we have forsaken all and followed thee what shall we have therefore so what
Peter saying here is well if it's only if it's possible by God it's not
possible by man but we've left a lot for you Jesus we know that Peter and the
others they left their full-time jobs as you know fishermen Levi's a tax
collector they left these jobs to follow after Christ remember that so
they left a lot of things for Christ okay and he's asking this question well
then what profit like what's the advantage of us doing all this stuff you
know and this is where Jesus now turns toward our rewards in heaven you see
just because salvation is free just because it's a free gift doesn't mean
that God doesn't want you to work hard doesn't mean that he doesn't want you to
serve him of course he wants you to serve him of course he wants you to do
good works of course he wants you to keep the commandments not for salvation
because that's impossible but in order to fellowship to be a disciple to serve
the Lord you ought to strive now that you are saved to serve him and this is
how Jesus responds to Peter he says there in verse number verse number 28
verse number 28 and Jesus said unto them verily I sent you that year which have
followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the front of his
glory you also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of
Israel so you see Jesus has pointed them to heavenly rewards okay eternal rewards
he says these 12 disciples those that have left everything to follow after him
he says look you've got an advantage you're going to be rewarded you're going
to in the millennium this is what I believe is talking about the
regeneration when we have our new resurrected bodies we're and the Lord
rules and reigns on this earth that these twelve apostles of course not not
Judas you know some people say it's Matthias or Paul but anyway that they
will rule and reign with Jesus Christ during those thousand years and each one
of them will be ruling over a tribe of Israel okay so they're going to get
reward they're going to be they're gonna have high positional authority because
they left a lot of they forsake they forsook a lot of things for the Lord and
verse 29 and everyone that have forsaken houses or brethren or sisters
or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my namesake shall receive
and hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life you see whatever you
give up for the Lord okay maybe before this church existed maybe on Tuesday
nights you already had other plans you know maybe you already had plans for
you know catching up your friends maybe plans to go and play soccer or something
or some sporting thing or it right and you said no you know what on Tuesday
nights I'm gonna be in church I'm gonna forsake that what I had Jesus says I'm
gonna reward you for that if you forsook it for my name whatever you lose in this
life for Christ Jesus says you're going to receive and hundredfold okay and and
let me just encourage a lot of you guys because maybe a lot of you have not
grown up in a Christian home you know you believe the gospel what happens to a
lot of people their family disowned them or they just don't want that they
you know they hate them they don't want anything to do with them and they feel
they feel like you've lost your mind and you might lose those relationships Jesus
says you're gonna be rewarded in heaven you're going to be rewarded in the
future okay whatever you leave and this for me personally this was an
encouragement to me when I went to the Sunshine Coast to start the church in
Queensland you know I was I was leaving my my parents I was leaving my friends I
was leaving the you know Sydney where I grew up in you know my whole life I was
losing all these things where I'm comfortable I was going to a place where
I really did not know many people you know the people that I didn't know I
didn't really know them that well and I was encouraged by this verse in our
world I'm losing these things for the name of Christ and I'm going to receive
an a hundredfold in the future now sometimes these sacrifices are important
Jesus is a hundredfold hundred times you know you know if you ever if you have a
job and you work overtime sometimes your employee will pay you double time you
know for doing what Jesus is not he's gonna pay you a hundred time okay a
hundred time for the things that you've left in order to serve him and then in
verse number 30 verse number 30 but many that are first shall be last and the
last shall be first so this parallels the teacher from the last chapter
remember again the little child Jesus putting the little child in the midst
and saying look you need to be humble like this little child who's gonna be
the greatest who's gonna get the most rewards who's gonna have the highest
positions of authority in the kingdom to come those that made themselves last
okay not those that promote themselves not those that that seek the the praise
of men look how much I'm serving the Lord look how much I'm doing no not
those people okay the ones that do the most for the Lord are those that just
get into the work that just shut up I'm just gonna serve the Lord who cares if I
get the praise of men they're the ones the ones that come last to serve other
people those that humble themselves and lift up their fellow men they're the
ones that are going to come first into the in the kingdom all right so let's
leave it there and pray