(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Hey, man, all right Matthew chapter 17 This is a good chapter Let's go ahead and get through this thing so basically we're gonna start in Matthew chapter 17 We're gonna start in verse number 10 and the reason that we're gonna do that is because I preached through the first 10 verses to answer The last verse of Matthew chapter 16, so if you look at Matthew chapter 16 verse 28 You know the basically the the first 10 verses of Matthew chapter 17 are a fulfillment of what Jesus said in Matthew 16 28 where he says verily I say unto you there be some standing here Which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom And of course then they see the transfiguration of Jesus and that fulfills that prophecy for Peter James and John So we're gonna start tonight's sermon in Matthew chapter 17 and verse number 10 now Keep in mind that these men have just seen you know, they've just seen the transfiguration of Jesus They've seen Jesus and Moses and Elias, you know up on the mountain and then right away You know that that that puts this question in their mind of this prophecy That the scribes had talked about and that the Old Testament had talked about that Elias would come first before the Messiah okay, and right away they get into this question with Jesus and the disciples say and disciples asked him saying why then say the scribes that Elias must first come because of course after the transfiguration he told them. Hey, don't say anything He's like don't tell anybody what you just saw Right and Jesus said that many times to people after he did miracles or he you know made somebody see that was blind Said hey don't tell anybody because you know wasn't his time He knew that that would get people fired up and they'd want to kill him and he knew he had more time more things that He needed to do to fulfill Okay, so he says that in the disciples ask about this prophecy of Elias and Jesus answered and said unto them Elias truly shall come first and restore all things But I say unto you that Elias has come already and they knew him not but have done unto him whatsoever They listed likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist turn to Malachi chapter 4 So, let's look at this prophecy that talks about Elias coming before the Messiah comes and that is found in Malachi chapter 4 and if you look at verse number 5 of Malachi chapter 4 will read it together and the Bible says behold I send you I will send you Elijah the prophet Elias of course being Elijah of the Old Testament Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord and she and he shall and now why what's the purpose? Of it right like all these all these prophecies and and miracles they all had a purpose, right? so in verse number 6 here, it tells us what the purpose of Elias coming first is and that I'm gonna show you is the theme of Matthew chapter 17 So remember we're trying to I don't want to go off on rabbit trails and just tell you funny stories You know throughout these these books of the Bible. I want to tell you the actual themes of the chapters What was the theme of Matthew chapter 16? It was the fact that Jesus was the Messiah It was who was Jesus the theme of? Matthew chapter 17 is found in Malachi chapter 4 in verse number 6 and I'm not gonna explain it to you right now I just want you to log it into memory for now and the Bible says he shall turn the heart of the fathers To the children and the heart of the children to the fathers lest I come and smite the earth With a curse. So first of all Was John the Baptist physically Elijah turn to John chapter 1 Let's look at this idea of John the Baptist being Elijah. Okay, because that's what Jesus said He said he fulfilled, you know this prophecy of Elijah the Prophet coming first. Look at John chapter 1 in verse number 19 Where the Bible says this it says and this is the record of John When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him who art thou and he confessed and denied not but confessed I am NOT the Christ So they're asking him who are you and he says I'm not the Christ and they asked him what them art thou Elias And he sayeth I am NOT art thou that prophet and he answered no, so was John physically Elijah Well, no, and if he was he certainly didn't know it, right? I mean so John, you know basically was asked directly are you Elijah and he said no, I'm not so he was the metaphorical fulfillment of Malachi chapter 4 he wasn't physically Elijah himself, you know, so I mean, how do we know that right you say? How do you know because Jesus said so I mean, what else do you need? Right? So did he do it? What was the point of that prophecy in Malachi chapter 4? It was what to turn the hearts of the Father to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers John the Baptist was to preach reconciliation Turn to Matthew chapter 3. Let's look at you know, he was he was Clearing the way the Bible said right? He was preparing the path for Jesus That was the whole point of his ministry. Look at Matthew chapter 3 in verse number 2 This is what John was saying when he was preaching and saying repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet of sighs saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness Prepare you the way of the Lord make his past straight look at verse number 7 of Matthew 3 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism He said to them Oh generation of vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come Bring therefore fruits meet for repentance and think not to say within yourselves. We have Abraham to our father For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children on to Abraham So that's very interesting right there when we look at the theme of Matthew chapter 17 is to reconcile You know children with their fathers and fathers with their children, right? And what do the Pharisees think they are? They think they're Abraham's children does Jesus think that they're Abraham's children No, he doesn't he's saying look God is able to raise up Stones to be Abraham's children period okay, so he's saying he's you know, most of these people went over there rate it right over their Head I'm sure thank God God wrote it down for us and preserved his word, right so we can understand it But he's basically telling people John the Baptist is trying to convince people to get right with God before Jesus comes He's trying to reconcile the children to their father Okay, turn to John chapter 5 Because if you don't if you don't believe your father if you don't have a right relationship with your father Look at John chapter 5 John chapter 5 identifies in verse number 46 identifies why Jesus tells the Pharisees and All these people that didn't believe on him why they didn't believe him The Bible says this in John 5 46 for you had you believed Moses you would have believed me for he wrote of me But if he believed not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? Look these people at this time these religious leaders at this time. They were teaching their own religion They were not teaching the religion that God taught them to teach They were teaching their own religion and look in John 3 36 a verse we all know Well, right he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life the second part of that verse says what? If you don't look so they didn't believe Moses, they didn't believe Abraham. They weren't Abraham's children. Otherwise, they would have believed on Jesus Right period so they didn't believe on Jesus. So what happened the wrath of God abideth on them Why do you think Jesus was so angry at them all the time his wrath abides on them I mean Jesus's literal wrath was coming out on the Pharisees all throughout the Gospels, right? I mean, he's just wrath wrath wrath, you know so much for sheep Jesus carrying the sheep and the cane, right? I mean the guys like constantly just ripping on the Pharisees again and again and again, right? But look it says I mean we use this soul winning. Oh, it's my favorite soul winning verse We don't really focus on the second half of it But the second half it he that believeth not the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him That's the opposite of reconciliation If you don't reconcile with your father his wrath still abides on you So that's the point of the prophecy. That was the point of John the Baptist Okay, let's continue look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 John Was preaching a Ministry of reconciliation look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and verse number 18 All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself By Jesus Christ and have given to us the ministry of reconciliation. So we go out soul-winning. What are we doing? We are preaching the ministry of reconciliation to people We are trying we are begging people to reconcile with their father Right We're trying to reconcile the children to their father All right to wit that God was in Christ Reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and have committed unto us the word of reconciliation So like nobody has any excuse tonight go out so many because we all have that ministry. That's your call We talked about this a couple weeks ago. Everybody has that call Okay. All right, we're gonna get more deeper into this idea in the end of the sermon But let's get through Matthew chapter 17. Look at verse number 14 Because there's a couple other themes here Matthew chapter 17 in verse number 14 and when they were come to the multitude there came to him a certain man So now we see a separate story Okay So this guy comes Lord have mercy on my son for he is a lunatic and sore vexed He is lunatic not a lunatic and sore vexed for oft times He falleth into the fire and oft into the water and they brought him to thy disciples And they could not cure him turn to Matthew chapter 10 So this is kind of strange right because Jesus basically gave this power to the disciples to do these miracles All right, and look at Matthew chapter 10 verse 1. Are you there and when he had called unto him his 12 disciples? He gave them power Against unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease and look they've been doing it They've been telling Jesus about it. They've been going out You know door-to-door and doing these things and they've been telling Jesus about it, but they couldn't do it with this guy So something strange is going on here. Look at Matthew 17 17 So they couldn't do it and this guy says your disciples. They couldn't cure him. They couldn't cure him Then Jesus answered and said Oh faithless and perverse generation. How long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you bring him hither to me and Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said why could not we cast him out? it and Jesus said Excuse me because of your unbelief for verily I say unto you if you have faith as a grain of a mustard seed He shall say unto this mountain Remove hence to a yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible unto you How be it this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting so look God Jesus basically tells them it's because of your unbelief which is basically the opposite of faith, right? So if you have really, you know, it's not that they did it wasn't unbelief on salvation He's talking about you know, if you have weak faith, you have a lot of unbelief, right? So it's this scale, right? We all have you know, we believed on Jesus we're sealed with the Holy Spirit But look do you trust God with everything in your life? God says if you know if you have great faith even the size of a mustard seed you could he would do anything They didn't have faith. That's why they couldn't cure this guy They didn't have trust that you know, God could do that that they could do that with the the power of the Holy Spirit Right. So you say, you know, I'm saved and I'm good to go. Well, that's true, right? But how much do you trust the Lord? How's your faith right? How's your faith doing salvation is that mark that we want everyone to get to right? We want everybody to get to at least that you know that salvation mark Right where you know, you're sealed you've got that earnest of the Holy Spirit that that's enough to get you to heaven, right? however, the journey of perfecting your faith That's your life, man. I Mean that that's your life this journey of perfecting your faith is what your life is supposed to be turn to James chapter 2 and Guess what? We don't talk a lot about this, but that's where your works come in That's where your works come in. Look at James 2 in verse 22 James 2 you know a chapter a lot of people will use to you know twist single verses to say that you know You're saved by your works. It's not anything what it says But look at verse 22, but it does talk about your works and how they tie into your faith It does talk about that. Look at verse 22. It says seest thou how faith rot with his works This is talking about Abraham okay, but it applies to you too because your faith will rot with your works and Then your see is how your faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect. So your faith will rot with your works and That will make your faith perfect by that So look if the disciples had perfect faith, they would have been able to cast the demon out of this guy their weak faith Was the problem is what Jesus told them. All right now look We play down works and we ought to because we're you know, soul winning is a main focus of this ministry of this church it always will be and Everybody out there that has is wrapped up in workspace salvation. So we play down works a lot right but look we need to realize as saved people the importance of Works and how they rot with our faith They work the rot means work they work with our faith Those works your faith look your faith your faith is the muscle and your works is the exercise Think about it that way, you know you go and you lift a bunch of weights and your muscles get stronger That's your works and how it affects your faith All right, look and you say I have weak faith you say I just I don't have faith in anything You know, I'm scared of everything. Look that's another thing if you're scared of everything you have weak faith That's a definite sign. You're only supposed to be scared of one thing You're only supposed to fear the Lord So if you find yourself afraid of all these different things out there from whatever to whatever You have weak faith, I mean I hate to break it to you if you won't leave your house you have weak faith I Mean if you're In it, you know, it's a chicken and egg struggle For certain people right because I mean think about the exercise thing, right if I sit home and all I do is watch You know YouTube and eat Cheetos. I'm not gonna want to exercise at all, right? I Have to break that cycle at some point I have to break that cycle and just be like, you know what? I just got to put the Cheetos down and it's gonna go start exercising you say I have weak faith I don't know how to make it stronger. I don't want to go to church. I don't want to go soul-winning I'm afraid of everything. Well, the problem is you have weak faith. You need to start exercising and your faith will get stronger Well, how do you exercise that faith? Well, first of all, you walk through the church door You open your Bible You learn the Word of God You start, you know fellowshipping and and you know getting exhorted and you know with fellow believers again Right and guess what your faith will come back. You will get faith. We're not talking about saving faith here. We're talking about faith Rotting, you know works rotting with your faith and getting stronger Right. So you got it. You got to break that cycle. But look the opposite is true as soon as look as soon as you start exercising and Getting in better shape and all these different things, you know, you really don't want to eat junkie food It doesn't it doesn't seem good to you anymore It's a pretty good analogy because you know you want to and that's the same thing with your faith Once your faith gets stronger, then you're gonna start wanting desiring the things of God again Then you're gonna stop being afraid of everything and then you know your faith will grow. That's that's how it's designed That's James chapter 2 right there Right your faith your works make your faith. Perfect I mean we all like if you got saved, you know, you got that down payment of the Holy Spirit. You're never going to hell Congratulations You know congratulations see in heaven who wants to waste their life I've never had someone say me when I've asked that question to somebody who just got saved not one time, right? All right, let's continue in Matthew chapter 17. So he basically told me he's like look you just got you got a weak faith You know, that's why that's why you couldn't do it Matthew chapter 17 look at verse number 22 and while they abode in Galilee Jesus said unto them the Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men and they shall kill him and on the third day He should be raised again and they were exceeding. Sorry and when they were come to Capernaum They received the tribute day that received the tribute money came to Peter and said doth not your master pay tribute He said yes, and when he was come into the house Jesus prevented him saying what thinkest thou Simon of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute of their own children or of strangers Peter saith unto him of strangers Jesus saith saith unto him then are the children free Turn to first Kings chapter 9. First of all, what was Jesus talking about here? Okay, I mean there's a lot that he just said in two verses right there All right, and that's where we're gonna pretty much spend the rest of the sermon on is is those last two verses But look, what was he talking about? Turn to first Kings chapter 9 and look at verse number 17 Let's look at this idea of tribute money and who paid it. Okay, because Jesus makes a reference to it Right here. So let's figure out what it is first Kings chapter 9 look at verse 17 and Solomon built Geezer and Bethoron and the nether and Bela and Tadmor in the wilderness of the land and all the cities of the store that Solomon had and the cities for his chariots and cities for his horseman horsemen and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his Dominion And all the people that were left of the Amorites the Hittites the Perizzites the Hivites the Jebusites that were not of the children of Israel Their children that were left after them in the land whom the children of Israel also were not able to utterly destroy Upon those did Solomon levy a what a tribute a bond service unto this day But the children of Israel did Solomon make no bond men But they were men of war and his servants and his princes and his captains and the rulers of his chariots and his horsemen Turn to Ezra chapter 4 So you see that Solomon was building his empire and of course they were supposed to destroy all the people but they didn't right They didn't do it. They stopped destroying everybody of their enemies So they had all these enemies and the reason God told them that you're supposed to destroy your enemies and just get rid of everybody Is because you'd end up living with them, which is exactly what happened here and they ended up living with these people But they put this tribute on the people that they had conquered these conquered people that were in bond service to them All right, and in Ezra chapter 4 in verse 13, we say this see the same concept Whereas Ezra this is where Zerubbabel is building the temple and they're rebuilding Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity They were able to go back and you have Ezra the priest Ezra the scribe and it says here There's these people that were against them and they were trying to stop them from rebuilding the city and this is what they said This is what they told the king of Persia that was going to happen If you let the Jews rebuild the city and they say in Ezra chapter 4 in verse 13 be it known now unto the king This is those people that are trying to get him to stop if this city be builded and the walls set up again Then they will not pay toll Tribute and custom and so thou shalt and damage the revenue of the king So what they used to get them to stop and it worked for a while to get them to stop was they told the king Of Persia they said hey, they're not gonna pay tribute anymore. They're gonna build up their wall They're gonna think they're all strong and they're gonna quit paying these taxes this tribute tax because look They were a conquered people at this point They were I mean they you know, they were allowed to go back, but they were still under the Persian Empire They were still in bond service to the to the Persians All right So look it was common for conquered people to pay these taxes to pay this tribute in the case The the Jews they paid this tribute to who they paid it to the Romans, right? So it's money for basically being allowed to live there as a conquered people underneath this empire that overtaken you now It's not to be compared with you know, the temple tax in Exodus 30 for example, or you know in Nehemiah 10, we also see the temple tax. No, this is a tribute this is a tax that this isn't a Religious tithe of any kind this is simply a tax that a conquered people pays to the Empire that rules them So in this case, that is the Jews paying it to the Romans now Jesus The Jesus he points out that they were in tribute to the Romans, right? So he was quick to point this out Right now we're gonna get back to that But I do want to you to log that into memory that why would he have said that? Right, he points out right before he gets into his answer on whether it should be paid He points out that the fact that they're in bond service At that time, okay now go back to Matthew chapter 17 There's another incident like this actually go to Matthew chapter 22 where somebody asked Jesus if you know You should pay the the tribute money or pay the tax to the Romans go to Matthew chapter 22 It actually happens twice in the New Testament and in Matthew 22 It's the second time somebody asked it asks in this right in Matthew 22. Look at verse 17. The Bible says tell us therefore What thinkest thou is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said why tempt ye me you hypocrites show me the tribute money What they're trying to they're trying to catch him, right? They're trying to be able to accuse him of something like like I if I hate you, you know If I hate brother Ryan and I go up to him and like my buddy My buddy's a secret IRS agent and I'm like, hey man, you know taxes, you know, I don't like those Do you pay those and brother Ryan's like no, I don't pay those and I'm like get up, right? That's what they're trying to do. They're trying to catch Jesus in like some unlawful activity because they hate him, right? They want him out of there. He's causing all this stir. He's he's preaching against them at like every turn He's doing all these miracles. All these people are following him. They're trying to catch him They're trying to catch him in something, but he's you know, he's God. Oops Not verse 19 show me the tribute money He says and they brought him unto him a penny and he saith unto them whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him Caesars Then sayeth he unto them render therefore unto Caesar the thing which are Caesars and unto God the things that are gods Now when they heard these words, they marveled and left him and went their way go back to Matthew chapter 17 So he basically just said look this is Caesars money, you know What does it have to do with me is what he said? All right, and look at the last verse of Matthew chapter 27 Matthew chapter 17 verse 27 Notwithstanding Jesus gives the same answer here lest we should offend them go thou to the sea and Cast in a hook and take up the fish that first cometh up and when thou hast opened his mouth thou shalt find a piece Of money that take and give unto them for me and thee so he tells Peter, you know Go catch a fish and there's gonna be you know, I wish it worked that way, right? I mean, I mean we go fishing you guys go fishing and you know You pull it in and it's exactly what you owe the government for the year. I mean, that would be awesome, right? Maybe we should put that on the prayer list But anyway, but the point is he just says he says look he's there's two points that Jesus makes on taxes We're gonna we're gonna hit the most obvious one first. All right at the end of the day give them their money That's what he says Alright, he used these moments to teach an important lesson more important than just this We'll get to that at the end, but he said look it's Caesars anyway Just just give it back to him you know, I mean look I mean I Don't like taxes At all Right. I mean, I don't like taxes. I don't like the fact that the government takes my money You know and they give it, you know to a bunch of people that you know Which is like half the country at this point that just won't go to work, right? Look, I'd like to be able to save more money. I'd like to be able to you know You know work hard and pay my bills You know that that's what I like to do and not you know Have the government just take it away and give to all these bums and drug addicts out here I mean, that's what I would like to do right look it creates more of them first of all Right. I mean if I wanted to destroy a people like if I really hated a people, you know what I would do I would just like give them a bunch of free money To sit and do nothing and they would just destroy themselves. I mean case in point, California Right, but look at the end of the day We don't like it. It's not a hill. We're supposed to die on Right because look money money While necessary and that will come if you do what you're supposed to do in the Bible is not the point of this life that We're living Right. I mean, it's not the point Look, God is gonna God's gonna give you he tells you do the things that I tell you to do go work hard Support your family do these things you're gonna and you're gonna have enough God's gonna bless you with enough to feed your family and clothe your family. That's God promises you that right? So look It's not the hill. We're supposed to die on it's all these tax pro I mean, there's a lot of Christian tax protesters out there and it's it's the wrong fight And you say how do we know that? That's just your opinion. No, like Jesus literally said that right here. I Mean he He actually makes a point that we're gonna get to in just a second that has nothing to do with Taxes or money or anything? He actually uses the moment that they ask him to pay taxes or not pay taxes to actually tell people Who he is and why he's there and it goes right over their head right, so look Taxes, you don't have to like it. Just pay it Just just pay what you're supposed to you're supposed to pay. All right now in verse 25 and verse 26 This is the second point what I really want to focus on We pay these taxes, right? But Jesus makes a point to point out to these people that hey if you pay these taxes You're not free. He says look at verse 16 Or verse 26, I'm sorry look at Matthew chapter 17 in verse 26 And he says well, let's read verse 25 and he saith yes when he was come into the house what thinkest and then he says what thinkest thou Simon of Whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute of their own children or of strangers and Peter saith unto him? Strangers Jesus saith unto him then are the children free So you have the people that are paying the taxes. They're not the children right turn to Isaiah chapter 61 He's basically pointing out to these people that they are slaves That they are in bond service. He's pointing out to them Why turn to Isaiah 61 and look at verse number one of Isaiah 61? Look Isaiah is preaching during the time. We just talked about it during the time of you know He's preaching against the kingdom of Judah and you know against the kingdom of the northern kingdom of Israel That has just been taken into captivity the kingdom of Israel the northern kingdom of Israel got taken into captivity during the time of Isaiah and During the time of Hezekiah then the Assyrian Empire came down and attacked So this is who they went to when they brought that letter from Reb sheka. They brought it to Isaiah Okay. So Isaiah is preaching against the kingdom of Judah. He's like he's just cursing and cursing and cursing He's like you better get right you better get right you better get right and then the northern kingdom gets taken into captivity And he just starts preaching again and again, but then he also preaches towards the end of Isaiah He starts preaching about future blessings to the nation of Israel and this is what we're reading here in Isaiah 61 Look at verse 1 he's talking about the coming restoration and blessing for Israel So he preaches fire and brimstone and then he preaches this Alright, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings That's blessings unto the meek He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim Liberty to the captives and the opening of prison to them that are bound So look Liberty is always a blessing on a nation in the Bible So look if this country if our country is blessed then we will have Liberty So when we had, you know, when we have Liberty we can say we have God's blessing But when you are in captivity or you are in bond service I mean, this is the whole theme of the Old Testament right here, right when you go into bond service You're you're under God's curse at that point. So why would Jesus point out that they don't have Liberty Why so to explain it? Let me ask you this. What kind of father what kind of father would want his children? living and bond service Or what kind of father would want, you know a good I mean wouldn't a good father Want to free his children from prison if they were in prison Wouldn't wouldn't a good father want that right? I mean Jesus is is here and he uses a small detail like taxes To point out their physical bondage right turn to Romans chapter 11 So he's point I mean he's literally pointing out their physical bondage to them to the Romans, right But it's a picture of their spiritual bondage That they have put themselves in But the real prison that these people in were in was a spiritual prison look at Romans chapter 11 in verse number 26 and Who was Jesus? They were in this spiritual prison not only were they in physical bondage but they were in a spiritual prison look at verse 26 of Romans 11 and social all Israel be saved as it is written there shall come out of Zion the deliverer and Shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob for this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins look at Romans chapter 6 What their deliverer is here? Their their Savior their person that could take them out of that bondage is here Romans chapter 6 for he that is dead is freed from sin 618 being then made free from sin He became the servants of righteousness in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 I'll just read it for you verse 17. Now. The Lord is that spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is There is Liberty So Jesus he's the way he's pointing out that they're slaves You guys are bond you're in bond service, but really they're in spiritual slavery and he's the one that's there to break him out And it went right over their head Right. Well, like I said, thank God God wrote it down and preserved his word for us, right? the reason that he points it out that they're not free before addressing the actual it's You know issue itself is because he's there to free all of mankind He's the one and he points out Again, very interesting. He points out that the children Are free go back to Matthew chapter 3 in verse number 9 Look at Matthew chapter 3 in verse number 9 and Think not to say within yourselves We have Abraham to our father for I say unto you that God is able to make up to make able of these stones to raise Children on to Abraham if you are not children you are not free. That's the other side of that coin So look if you're saved you are children But the other side of that coin is you know that if you're not you're in bond service, you're still a slave But but if your children, you know, that is your freedom, right? That's your freedom, but the unsaved are still slaves and Look, they're slaves to sin They're slaves to dead works They're slaves to they're stuck in this they're stuck in this prison camp Right. I mean think about it this way. I mean these people out here that we're going to visit Every single week they're stuck in this prison camp and we're trying to convince them like hey, there's no fence There's no fence we're showing you the way out But but they're they're in bond service You know and and you know, there's no fences for now Right, but they you know, most of them just won't leave They won't leave They won't leave the prison. So what do we do? You know the change there's no chains. There's no shackles yet We'll meet people who will meet some people who have shackles on them already And you'll know who they are But What the theme of the chapter is this from John the Baptist right from Malachi 4 6 to turn the heart of the fathers toward their children and To turn the children the heart of the children towards their fathers. That's the big one, right? I mean look if we're out there and we're preaching the gospel to somebody and they don't want to hear it The heart of the children is not turned towards their father That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to do the same thing that John the Baptist did We're trying to clear that path. We're trying to look some maybe it takes two or three soul winners Maybe it takes a John the Baptist to get there first and then you know They think about it and then next year we go knock that same door and then you know Their heart turns and then you know when their heart is turned towards their father their heart, you know Softens toward the truth then they get saved I mean how many people do you know that have gotten the gospel several times? I know one guy you got the gospel like two or three times over the period of like four years Before he got saved soul winner knocking on his door And then it took him another two years to get into church. I Mean look this is the heart of the children that needs to turn towards their father Because these people that Jesus was talking about when he was talking. I mean the Pharisees I mean they didn't even didn't have any idea what he's talking about No clue And then he uses taxes to teach the same thing This is the whole theme of Matthew chapter 17 is just reconciliation of the Father Through Jesus Christ That's it Reconciliation towards the Father. That's the theme of Matthew chapter 17. It's not really about taxes at all It's all about this overarching theme. I mean taxes. It's a nice little doctrinal lesson But it's really just about you know, the children being reconciled to their father period and Jesus is that It's who it's through right through Jesus Christ. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer Dear Heavenly Father we thank you for This great chapter in the Bible. We thank you for writing all these things down for us Lord we thank you for just all the great words that Jesus said and and and used and And even though people maybe didn't get it at the time that he was talking to I mean I thank God that we can learn from it. I thank you that we can learn from it today I thank you for this church. I thank you for everybody that It came tonight Lord. I pray that you bless everyone's trip home and the fellowship this evening to come in Jesus name we pray in Jesus name we pray