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

And we're in Matthew, chapter 15. And so we start off here with a very important passage dealing with traditions of men compared to commandments of God. And so Jesus is really gonna hit the Pharisees pretty hard starting here in chapter 15. And trust me, he's just getting warmed up when we get into other chapters when it comes to this. Chapter 23 is where he just really starts hitting them hard. But in Matthew, chapter 15, verse one there, it says, Then came to Jesus' scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? So that's a very good question to be asked there. Now, some people take this way too far to say that we should never have any traditions, okay? Meaning that, you know, if you have a tradition to have the church serve a certain way, or you have a tradition, you know, in your family as far as doing certain things, there's nothing wrong with traditions. The problem is if your tradition trumps the word of God. And that's what he's saying here is that basically, your tradition is transgressing the commandment of God, okay? And I don't, you know, he's not necessarily saying that like washing your hands is a bad tradition, okay? You know, there's a whole book of Leviticus where it talks about cleanliness and washing things over running water, and it's very biblical as far as like just the fact of being clean and not being dirty. But what he's pointing out here is that they're basically saying that he's in sin because he's not keeping their commandments. He's not keeping their tradition, and that's wickedness. Meaning that to say that your tradition is the commandment of God, or it's on par with the commandment of God, that's where you turn into wickedness there. And this is where the Jews, you know, when you think of Judaism today, it is the reconstructed rabbinic Judaism that was back in Jesus' day. And so when we look at these Pharisees and what they're pushing, guess what? That's what Judaism is, meaning that even in the Talmud, it'll actually say that you need to hold to the traditions of the elders or traditions of the rabbis or the writings of the rabbis over the Torah. Now the Torah would just be the law, the first five books of the Bible, okay? And so they're even saying, listen, this is more, this is like more revelation. It's pretty much like the Paulinian disciples, meaning that people that just follow Paul's epistles over what Jesus said, okay? Meaning that they're looking at the Talmud as if that trumps the Old Testament, so to speak. Does that make sense? And listen, we believe that the New Testament replaced the Old Testament and that there are things that have changed as far as customary laws and all that stuff, but it doesn't replace moral law. It doesn't replace the Old Testament as far as the writings and the teachings and all that stuff and what it pertains to. It's just the fact that a lot of that was fulfilled, okay? It was a picture, then it was fulfilled, therefore it doesn't need to be done anymore. And so that's the difference between going from Old Testament to New Testament. It replaces it, but it's different because we're not talking about replacing moral law or stuff like that. But in verse four of Matthew chapter 15, it says, "'For God commanded, saying, "'Honor thy father and mother, "'and he that cursed father and mother, "'let him die the death.'" Now, what we're gonna see here is that God's gonna give an example of how they do this. So he doesn't go back to them eating, basically washing their hands because there's nothing inherently wrong with washing your hands before you eat. But he is gonna explicitly show them how their tradition is gonna transgress the commandment of God, and he's pointing at the commandment of honor and thy father and mother. Notice that it says God commanded that he that cursed his father and mother let him die the death. Now, this is what the atheists balk at. This is what the atheists, this is what Barack Obama got up in front of America and said, "'Hey, you're gonna follow Leviticus? "'It says that you need to stone your children "'if they're disobedient.'" Now, first of all, it doesn't say that. The Bible doesn't say that if your children are disobedient, to have them put to death. It says if you curse father and mother. That's a big difference than being disobedient, okay? But all I have to say is that, well, Jesus said it. He repeated it and says God commanded this, and he's gonna rebuke them for not keeping it because he's gonna go into the honor of thy father and thy mother. And notice what it says. And obviously, in our day, disclaimer, okay, we don't have, the Bible's not the law of the land right now, okay? So a lot of the capital punishments that are in the Bible, they're not in the law of the land, so we can't, we're not implementing that or anything like that. But if we had a righteous society, if we had a godly society, then that would be implemented, okay? Now, in Matthew chapter 15, in verse four, I'm sorry, in verse five there, he goes on to explain this as far as why he's bringing it up. In verse five it says, but ye say, whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, it is a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have you made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Now let me explain what's being said here because I think some people get a misunderstanding of what's even being talked about here. The commandment he's talking about is honoring your father and mother, and then he's saying, but you're saying that whosoever says that it's a gift, that if their father and mother profits by them, that basically, what they're saying here is that it's not required for you to honor your father and mother, it's above and beyond, it's a gift for you to do that. Does that make sense? Meaning that you're doing above and beyond by honoring your father and mother. Does that make sense? And what the Bible teaches is that if that's a commandment, that's mandatory. That's your duty to honor your father and mother. It's not a gift. Remember that Jesus said if you do all his commandments, you've done your duty and you're an what? Unprofitable servant. So if you honor your father and mother, guess what? You're an unprofitable child. Because that's not profit. Now that doesn't mean that you're sinful because obviously you're keeping the commandment of God. Profit means you're getting above, where the breakeven point is. In business, you'd have, here's your cost to do the job. Here's the cost of the materials, here's the cost of labor, all that stuff. Here's how much they paid you for it. Well, if they paid you the same amount that it cost you to make it, and the materials and all that stuff, that would be breakeven, right? You broke even. Meaning you paid your bills, you paid your salary, whatever, all the overhead is paid, but there's zero profit, okay? But if you got paid more than what you put into it, that's profit, it's above and beyond. Does that make sense? And so that's why companies wanna be profitable because they're not just paying their salary, they're making more than that, okay? And so when it's saying here that you're profited by me, what they're saying is that if I honor you, that's a profit to you, that's not my duty, okay? And that's wickedness, and it's transgressing. Their tradition of saying that and doing that is transgressing the law, okay? And it says in verse seven, it says, ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, this people draw nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. And this is true as the day is long of all these fake Christians out there that wanna claim that they're Christians and that they're saved, and that they're teaching the commandments of God, but most of the commandments that they're teaching are of men. You know, and most of the phrases and the stuff that they're teaching is of men. Love the sinner, hate the sin, or you know, love the sinner, hate the sin, Gandhi, not Jesus. All sin is equal, I don't know who came up with that, but that's not in the Bible. You know, we need to love everybody no matter what. Not in the Bible, actually you're in sin. If you love them that hate the Lord, the wrath of God is upon you. And so there's a lot of people that just teach whatever they think is right, right? There's a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. So if you keep trying to teach your own commandment, your own traditions as the commandments of God, you're going to end up breaking the commandments of God. So you need to really just stick to what does the Bible say? And people are constantly, you know, you just keep saying Bible, what's the Bible say? Yeah, that's exactly what I keep doing, because this is my standard. And anytime you try to deviate from that, or you try to make up some other commandment or something like that, you're going to end up contradicting the Bible. And so, listen, there's enough rules in here as it is. Okay, there's enough commandments, enough rules that we don't need to be adding to that. Okay, and so that's why you get into this whole, and this can happen in Baptist realms, my friends, where it's wrong for you to have a beard. What? It's wrong for you to have a different haircut than the pastor. You think I'm joking about that. That's a real thing where people really get to that far extreme to where all the men need to have the same haircut as the pastor. It's weird, it's strange, my friends, but it happens. Okay, and you know, all this stuff, it's not in the Bible? How about, you know, you have to go to Bible college to pastor a church. You know, all these things are traditions of men that aren't in the Bible, and most of the time, they go against scripture, right? It's like, beards, I can probably find you more reasons that you should have a beard than not have a beard, okay? Let's be honest, and listen, I'm not saying you have to have a beard because, let's face it, not all of us can grow good ones, case in point, okay? I haven't shaved in like years, but I just keep it like the scruff, okay? And you may say, why aren't you growing a beard? Well, if you saw me try, then you probably know why, okay? And so, some people can't grow, so this isn't a sermon saying, listen, everybody start growing out those beards, but what I'm saying is that, you know, that's ridiculous, the stuff that people come up with, or the clothing standards, you know? And listen, you know, the idea that you have to be wearing a suit and tie to be in church or you're not right with God. Show me that in the Bible. Listen, I'm always wearing a tie when I preach up here. You know why I do that? Because I take it seriously, because I'm saying, hey, listen, this is important. I want you to know that I'm not just coming up here in sweatpants and a hoodie preaching for you, okay? What kind of message does that send to you if I did that? Okay, and I'm not wearing some like classy stuff, my friends. You know that, a lot of my suits I've had since high school. Okay, they're getting a little rough. Holly's having to sew them together, and they're still ripping. But all I have to say is that that's all because the lady's fault in the morning with all the treats. No, I'm just kidding. But all I have to say is that when you add all that stuff and you add all these commandments, all that's doing is just setting yourself up for breaking the commandments of God, okay? Now, going on from there, it says, you know, where it says, as Isaiah said, again, when you see that, let's go back to what's being said in Isaiah. We've got Isaiah 29. Isaiah 29, because it quotes this in the New Testament where it says, this people draw nigh unto me with their mouth and honor with me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Now, I'm gonna get to that portion of scripture in Isaiah 29, but I want you to see what's incorporated with that, okay? Meaning that there's something that's said before this that goes straight into that. And I think it's gonna make a lot of sense of why he says something later in Matthew chapter 15 about the Pharisees and the scribes, okay? So in verse nine of chapter 29, so Isaiah 29 verse nine, it says, stay yourselves and wonder, cry ye out and cry. They are drunken but not with wine, they stagger but not with strong drink, for the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep and hath closed your eyes the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, read this, I pray thee, and he saith, I cannot, for it's sealed. And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, read this, I pray thee, and he saith, I am not learned. Wherefore, notice, wherefore, that's pulling in what was just said into what statement we get into now. Wherefore, the Lord said, for as much as this people draw near me with their mouth and with their lips to honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men, therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder, for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. So all these scribes and Pharisees, they're very intelligent people, but they can't understand even the simplest truths that Jesus is preaching to them, because God has closed their minds, he has blinded their eyes, blinded their heart, and notice how that's linked straight in there with that, meaning that that's what it's going into and why he's even saying this to them, which we'll get to later where it talks about every plant that my father had not planted shall be plucked up. Who's he talking about? He's talking about the Pharisees and the scribes. Now, go to Ezekiel chapter 33, because something similar is said there. Now, what was said in Matthew 15 was quoted in Isaiah, but Ezekiel 33 hits on it a little bit, and I'll say this, obviously, when it says thou son of man throughout Ezekiel, he's talking about Ezekiel, okay, meaning he's calling Ezekiel's son of man, right? But what does Jesus call himself throughout the New Testament? Son of man, son of man, son of man, son of man. Now, what that means, okay, is that this does apply to Ezekiel, but there's a parallel on how this would apply to Jesus. Okay, so it was happening to Ezekiel, right, because Ezekiel's a prophet, but so is Jesus, okay, and Jesus was the greatest prophet, obviously, he is the prophet, but notice what it says in Ezekiel 33, 30, it says, also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, everyone to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them. For with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument, for they hear thy words, but they do them not. And when this cometh to pass, lo, it will come, then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them. So, we can definitely see how this applies to Ezekiel, but you can definitely see how it applies to Jesus, too, because notice that the scribes and Pharisees were coming among those that did believe on Christ, and those that were listening to him gladly, and understanding what he had to say, but they were also coming among them, and they were acting like, hey, we're hearing this, we want to gladly hear what you have to say, and then they'd go away and say, we need to kill this guy. Okay, that's pretty much what, they would even say with their mouth, good master, we know that thou art sent from God. And that, and then he'd perceive their thoughts, right, and knows what they're saying. So, with their mouth, they'll say lovely things. With their mouth, they'll say, you know, it sounds like they like them, and they sounds like they're for them, but their heart is going after covetousness, why? Because they love the upper seats in the synagogues, and that was one of the main reasons why they wanted to kill Jesus. When Lazarus, when he raised Lazarus from the dead, they went about wanting to kill him, because they said, the Romans are gonna take away our seat of authority, and they wanted to kill him for that. Why, covetousness? How about the love of money is the root of all evil? You know, it goes into that as well, but anyway, going back to Matthew chapter 15, Matthew 15. So now he's coming back, so they're talking about, okay, you're transgressing God's commandment because you're eating without washing your hands, okay? And so, he's gonna now tie in dealing with eating, meaning he's gonna basically say, it's not gonna hurt your soul if you eat with unwashing hands, is what he's gonna get to here. And so, he is tying back into that and answering their question with eating with unwashing hands. And so, verse 10 there, it says, and he called the multitude and said unto them, hear and understand, not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. So, he's stating, you know, they're all worried about you eating something with unwashing hands. What's that mean? Meaning that you're gonna eat something and your hands are dirty and that's going into your mouth. Does that make sense? So, it's unclean, so to speak. And he's saying, listen, that's not gonna defile you. What's he talking about? He's talking about your soul. He's talking about dealing with sin compared to just eating some germs, okay? And so, and then he goes into talking about, I believe, calling back to them because, notice what it says in verse 13, it says, but he answered and said, every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. Let them alone, they be blind leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Then answered Peter and said unto him, declare unto us this parable. So, now he's saying, you know, we don't understand what you're saying about this, you know, eating, you know, what comes into your mouth and what proceeds out of your mouth. And notice what it says in verse 17, it says, do not ye yet understand that whatsoever enters into the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draft, and those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashing hands defiles not a man. So you can see he's coming all the way back to the beginning, okay? Talking about eating with unwashing hands, and he's saying that does not defile you, but what you say and what comes out of your heart, that defiles you, okay? So that's what he meant by that. And also, you know, notice how discreet the Bible is when it comes to these type of things, okay? And I know the Bible has some harsh language, has some crass language, okay? But it's very discreet, you know, it talks about, it goes into the belly and it's cast out into the draft. And you think about, have you ever heard of a draft house? What are you dealing with, an outhouse? So it's very wholesome, very, you know, it's not being really crass about that, but we know what we're talking about here. You know, everybody uses the draft house, and basically that's just what it's saying, is the fact that, you know, you eat the food, the food leaves you, it has nothing to do with your soul. Does that make sense? It's just physical things that's keeping you going, okay? Now, he says to them, he says, they be blind leaders of the blind. So these people that said that to them, right? The scribes and the Pharisees, he's saying, they're blind leaders of the blind. And that's interesting because what was said about them, meaning that he was quoting Isaiah, saying that, you know, with their mouth, you know, they do bless me, and it calls back to that. And what did it say in Isaiah? That he had given them the spirit of deep sleep, and he had blinded their hearts. Well, go to John chapter 12, John chapter 12 and verse 39. He's stating that the elders of Israel, the scribes and Pharisees are blind. They're not saved. But he takes it even a step further, okay, because the unsaved are blind, right? But what we're gonna see is that God made them blind, okay? So I'm gonna show you that unsaved people are blind, you know, but it's not because God made them blind. And so in John 12, verse 39, it says, it says, therefore, they could not believe because that Isaiah said again, he had blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart and be converted, and I should heal them. So who blinded them? God. God blinded their eyes, okay? Now go to Romans chapter 11. Go to Romans chapter 11 and verse seven. Romans chapter 11, verse seven. That was gonna take you to 2 Corinthians chapter three, but it, you know, it talks about, but their minds were blind in front of this day, remained at the same veil, untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil was done away in Christ. So obviously, it's talking about the Jews that rejected Christ, you know, he had blinded their minds and stuff like that. But it does say, nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away, meaning that not all Israel was blinded, okay? Meaning that, you know, we're going to Romans chapter 11. It says he did not forsake his people. He did not cast away his people, which he did foreknow, meaning that there's a lot of Israelites that ended up, that did get saved, okay? So he's not saying like every single Israelite was blinded, but a lot of them were, okay? And so in Romans chapter 11, verse seven, it says, what then Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. I'm still trying to figure out how, you know, these Zionists are gonna say that Israel is the elect. I mean, this flat out says that Israel is not the elect, okay, but anyway, we keep going on there. It says, according as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber. Where was that written? Well, we already read it in Isaiah 29. That's where that comes from. And so it says he hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear unto this day. So do you see how all this works together? But also it doesn't stop there in Romans 11, because now it's gonna quote Psalms with what David said. In verse nine, it says, and David said, let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see and bow down their back all way. Who's he talking about, Israel? And so this makes perfect sense that when we're talking about the blind leading the blind, what you have is the blind that are leading are those who God has blinded, okay? And he's leading the blind because, go to 2 Corinthians chapter four, 2 Corinthians chapter four, and we all know the verse in 1 Corinthians chapter two, verse 14, it says, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God. And it says, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. So we obviously know that an unsaved person can't understand the Bible unless someone explains it to them, okay? That's why, how should they hear without a preacher? You know, and the fact that, you know, understand is what thou readest, how can I except some man should guide me? And you know, that whole aspect of the lost needs a saved person, and the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, okay? Meaning that someone that was saved had to give me the gospel or I wouldn't have got saved, okay? But in 2 Corinthians chapter four and verse three, it says, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. So who are we talking about? The lost, people that aren't saved. It says, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. So who's the God of this world? The devil. So the unsaved people in general, you know, the children of wrath, children of disobedience, they are blinded by the devil. Does that make sense? They're blinded by the devil. But there can come a point where they become a child of the devil, and now they're blinded by God. Does that make sense? God blinds them, now they're a child of the devil. And so when it says the blind are leading the blind, yeah, I mean, you could have the aspect that, you know, they made a proselyte and they made them twofold more the child of hell than themselves, and therefore they're leading that twofold, you know, child of hell with them. But you could just have the fact that you have a bunch of reprobates, a bunch of blind leaders that God has blinded that's leading the blind unsaved, okay? And both of them are gonna fall into a ditch. This is why an unsaved person cannot win someone to Christ. How can a blind person lead you anywhere? How can a blind person lead you to Christ when Jesus said the blind is gonna lead you into a ditch? You know, and listen, there's tons of verses why I can disprove why an unsaved person can't lead you to Christ, but that alone should tell you that, right, that if someone's unsaved, they're blind, and how are they gonna lead you anywhere? They don't know where they're going, okay? Now, and also, you know, when you think about the fact that every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. How about the, you know, these are trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, what? Plucked up by the roots. Isn't it interesting that we, in Matthew chapter 13, we got dealing with the tares, where the tares were what? They were pulled up, bundled, to be cast into the fire. And so, and it says, every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, who planted those? The devil. That's one of the most explained parables in the whole Bible, okay, meaning like, it's just like, the harvest is the, you know, the field is the world, the harvest is the end of the world, the reapers are the angels, and it goes down and just like, boom, boom, boom, boom, here's all your answers. And so, you know, when we're dealing with the blind leading the blind, we're dealing with the fact that God has blinded these guys. And so when you see him ripping their face off in Matthew chapter 23, there's a reason, okay? He's not just dealing with your typical, unsaved person. And so, by going back to Matthew chapter 15, verse 21, Matthew 15, verse 21, this is a story where Jesus heals this woman's daughter, but it's a very interesting story, because at first, he's not, he's basically refusing to do it, okay? And this is where there's a lot of confusion. This is where the Zionists would come in and be like, see, you know, the Jews are above the Gentiles, you know? And, but I wanna explain this because I believe there's a logical explanation and, you know, what we're dealing with here. And so in Matthew 15, verse 21, it says, "'Then Jesus went thence and departed into the coast "'of Tyron-Zidon, and behold, a woman of Canaan came out "'of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, "'Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David, "'my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil.' "'But he answered her not a word, and his disciples came "'and besought him, saying, "'Send her away, for she crieth after us.' "'But he answered and said, I am not sent "'but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. "'Then came she and worshiped him, saying, Lord, help me.' "'But he answered and said, It is not me "'to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. "'And she said, Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs "'which fall from their master's table.' "'Then Jesus answered and said unto her, "'O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee, "'even as thou wilt.' "'And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.'" So what's interesting about this is how Jesus is basically saying, we're not gonna cast this on the dogs, basically associating her with a dog, okay, and where she comes from. Now, go to Mark chapter seven, Mark chapter seven. I believe we're gonna get a little more information here. And listen, this story's not in the Bible by accident, okay? And what he says here is not here by accident, meaning that there's something we need to learn here and something that's being said here that's pertinent, okay? And so, you don't look at this and be like, well, you know, that was just in there and it didn't really matter, whatever. No, I mean, it's explaining something, but what we see in the Mark chapter seven, verse 24, I believe is the same story. Now, you could always say, well, this is a different person and it's just the same exact thing happens and he says the same exact thing to that person, okay? But notice in verse 26, and why I say that, some people could say, well, maybe this is a completely different person. It says, the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by nation, and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. Now, in chapter 15 of Matthew, it said that she was of Canaan, okay? Well, this just simply means that she has dual citizenship as far as what she's dealing with. Paul said that he was a Roman, but he was also a Jew, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, or the stock of Israel, right? So, which one is it? It's both, okay? People have dual citizenship all the time, okay? So, what it means is that she's from, I believe she's of, meaning she's a Greek person that lives in Canaan. Does that make sense? That's really how simple it gets and there's people that do that all the time, right? There's a lot of people that live in America that aren't from here and they would say, I'm Greek, or I'm English, or I'm whatever, just whatever country, German. And so, all that to say is that I believe she's a Greek woman, a Syrophoenician by nation, meaning that nation, but she lives in Canaan, okay? So, that's why she's even there, okay? But notice what it says in verse 27, because in Matthew 15, it says, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Notice what it says in verse 27, it says, but Jesus said unto her, let the children first be filled, for it is not meat to take the children's bread and to cast it unto dogs. Go to Romans chapter 15, because what we're dealing with here is Jesus' earthly ministry was to Israel, okay? And I'm gonna show you scripture on what that meant. This doesn't mean that he didn't want people to get saved, okay, because what we're dealing with here is casting out a devil, okay? We're dealing with healing people and stuff like that. And so, you can have an illness and still be saved. Now, obviously, if you get saved, you're not gonna have the devil in you anymore, but what I want you to see here is that he's saying, let the children first be filled, and there's a reason why he did that. And a lot of this has to do with the fact that the promises were made to Israel, and this was all the fact that he had to do this. He had to come to Israel. He had to do what he had to do, and it was to fulfill all righteousness, to fulfill all prophecy. And if you think about it, it's three and a half years, okay, of his ministry, okay? We're not talking a big span of time throughout the history of the world as far as where he was just focusing on this nation. And if you think about it, aren't we focusing just on this area? When it comes to our church in general, aren't we focusing on this area? Is that wrong? You know, that we're not going to, like, we're spreading out all the way over here to do this or that yet, okay? But what if our church gets bigger and we spread out and we get a lot more people? Well, obviously, we could spread our tentacles out and try to get more people, okay? And so, but in Romans chapter 15, I believe this answers this question as far as why he did that, but he also commanded his disciples to do the same thing when he sent them out two by two, okay? But in Romans chapter 15, verse eight, it says, now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, why? To confirm the promises made unto the fathers and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy as it is written, for this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles and sing unto thy name. So was, did Gentiles plan B or was it the plan the whole time? Okay, it's just the fact that he said, I'm coming first unto the Israel and he knew they were going to reject him. God knows everything, my friends. He knew that he was going to come onto his own, and was going to receive him not. That's why it's been prophesied throughout all the scripture. And every time it talks about the Gentiles, they're quoting Old Testament scriptures, okay? So it's not like the Gentiles were plan B. He knew that's the way it was going to be, but it's almost kind of like he's proving the point, right? He's proving the point that he's being rejected. Does that make sense? If he wouldn't have done that, then you wouldn't have the strong case, like I came onto my own, my own received me not, because he wasn't really in his own. So he had to do that, but that doesn't mean he didn't care about it because he healed the daughter, right? He did it, but he's making a point saying, hey, listen, I'm supposed to be coming first unto the children, meaning the children of Israel. And that's why in Matthew 10, we already went through this, dealing with the fact that they went just to Israel. In Matthew 10 five, it says, these 12 Jesus sent forth and commanded them, saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans, enter ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Isn't that what he told the woman? I am sent not, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So that was their ministry, you know, with Jesus and his 12 disciples for those three and a half years. But go to Matthew chapter 28, because that changed pretty quickly. It only took about three and a half years for that to change. And I'm saying three and a half because we know that there was three Sabbaths, or not Sabbaths, there was three Passovers that's recorded when Jesus started his ministry, meaning he started his ministry and then there was three Passovers that are mentioned, okay, meaning that it would be around three and a half, because we don't know when that started. He could, you know what I mean? Because it could have been four years and he started like right before, right after the last Passover, does that make sense? So you don't really know, you're kind of just guessing on where that was at as far as when he started it compared to when the next Passover was. Because when did he die? On the Passover, so we know when he died, but we don't know exactly when he started his ministry. We just know that, hey, here's how many Passovers are mentioned. There's two Passovers mentioned and then there's the Passover that he died on. So you kind of know what you're dealing with there. Is that right? Yeah, no, it'd be three Passovers, right? So there's two, yeah, anyway. So all that to say is that that's where you get the three and a half approximately. We don't really know. We're just kind of assuming that there's somewhere in there. But anyway, getting off track on that. So go to Matthew chapter 28, verse 18. It says, and Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world, amen. So what do you have? Basically, when Jesus was here in the flesh, he had a local ministry that he was focusing in on, okay? And he was just sticking to that. There was a reason for it. But in the end, he was, you know what he was doing for three and a half years? Making sure every single door was knocked in Israel. Making sure every single person heard the gospel and had a chance. Does that make sense? He's basically just leaving no stone unturned for those three and a half years. And if he would have focused on another area or gone outside of that, that wouldn't have gotten accomplished, okay? But it doesn't mean that he didn't care for the people outside of that. Because guess what? There was people that were soul winning outside of that anyway. We know that to be true because remember, they tried to rebuke people for preaching Jesus, or they were preaching the gospel and all that. And he says, don't, you know, if they're not against us, they're for us. Even if they don't follow with us, okay? So there were obviously still soul winners out there. There were soul winners before Jesus came on the scene. Someone got, you know, John the Baptist saved, you know, probably his dad, you know, because he was filled with the Holy Ghost. And you know, like all these things, people just get this weird idea that basically everybody was in the dark, no one got saved, you know? Like there's this dark period when no one got saved. And then there was like this generation of just no salvations and everybody's lost. Just none of us would be saved then, okay? Because there's an unbroken chain from Adam down to the end of the world where people have been getting people saved. And because the writings of God is revealed from faith to faith. And so I hope that makes sense because that can definitely be a confusing passage where you're just like, what in the world? You know, he's kind of like shunning this person because she's a Greek. It has to do with his ministry. It has to do with what he was focusing in on in a time he had to spend on that, okay? And that's why he didn't wanna make himself known because, you know, he wouldn't be able to do what he was trying to do. It was all about getting the work done and where he had to get it done at, okay? Now, Matthew 15, go on to verse 29. The last thing that we see in this chapter is the feeding of the 4,000. So in chapter 14, we had this feeding of the 5,000. So this is very similar. Now, this one isn't mentioned in all four gospels. We mentioned that the feeding of the 5,000 was mentioned in all of them. But in Matthew 15 and verse 29, it says, and Jesus departed from thence and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee and went up into a mountain and sat down there. Okay, so now we kinda see the location. He's by the sea of Galilee. He's up in a mountain. It says, and great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet, and he healed them, insomuch that the multitude wondered when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to behold, the lame to walk, and the blind to see, and they glorified the God of Israel. Now, go to Isaiah 35, and I know I mentioned this, but I believe this ties in, and I've gone through this before, dealing with the fact of him healing the lame, the blind, the dumb, the deaf. I mentioned this when we were talking about John the Baptist and why he said, tell John the Baptist this is what's going on, because it points to the fact that, hey, this is the Christ, right, because this is being fulfilled. But Isaiah 35, verse four, this is the last thing we're gonna touch on. I'm gonna try to make it short tonight because we have the Lord's Supper as well, but actually, this is gonna tie into the Lord's Supper. So it just happens to work out that way. I really didn't plan it that way, but we're gonna be dealing with a subject that would kind of tie into that. Now, in Isaiah 35, verse four, it says, say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap, as in heart and the tongue of the dumb sing, for in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert. Now, what four things are mentioned in Matthew chapter 15? Those four things, okay? Meaning the lame, the blind, the dumb, the deaf. So all of that's mentioned. So what's he pointing back to, and what's that pointing back to? That passage, and notice that it says, for in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert. And what's he gonna do right after this? And even in, I didn't hit on this really that much, but in the feeding of 5,000, what did he do right before he fed the 5,000? He healed all the multitude's illnesses, all the sicknesses, all the diseases. And you kind of read over that, right? Because it says he healed all the multitude, and you're like, oh, wait a minute, that's 5,000 men beside women and children where he healed every single person that had an illness and had a disease or whatever was wrong with them. But here it kind of tells you a little more detail as far as what all the problems they had. And then we get into the feeding of the 4,000. So going back to Matthew chapter 15, I wanted to show you that because it's interesting how that goes straight into the fact that, hey, he's gonna give you water out of a desert. Where are they at? In a wilderness. They're in a place where there isn't food, okay? And so Matthew chapter 15 and verse 32, it says, Then Jesus called his disciples unto him and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat, and I will not send them away fasting lest they faint in the way. And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness as to fill so great a multitude? It's interesting that they asked this. I always wanted this because they just saw the 5,000 being fed, you know what I mean? I don't know how much time has passed, but we know this pretty much happens right after one another, meaning that in the other gospels, it just seems to be right after that. But either way, I don't care if it's a year. Wouldn't you remember? Like, hey, I remember that time that he asked me the same exact question, and this is what happened. Anyway, so I just laugh at some of those things like when they, they're just like, how are we gonna do this? Anyway, so in verse 34, it says, And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven and a few little fishes. And this is a little different because remember, there was, goodnight, how many, there was two fishes. And the last one, five loaves, two fishes. This is seven, few fishes. And so few is a little different because it could be more than two, right? So if I say a couple, what does that mean, two? If I say few, that usually means two or more. So usually if you say few, you're usually talking about three or more, because you would have just said like, anyway, so that's just terminology. But anyway, all that to say, I'm not really getting into the numbers here, you know, with the five loaves and the two fishes and seven and you know, and how many baskets they took up. You know, maybe I'll find some symbolism in there one day and really preach a good sermon on that. But for right now, it's all about the fact that he just did that with a very small amount of food. But all that to say, it says, and he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves and the fishes and gave thanks and break them and gave to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat and were filled. And they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. And they that did eat were 4,000 men beside women and children. And he sent away the multitude and took ship and came into the coast of Magdala. Now, what's interesting about this is the fact that they're in the wilderness, they have no bread, and Jesus miraculously makes bread. And he does this in two different occasions. But this screams the picture of the fact of manna in the wilderness. You know, how God gave manna in the wilderness. And what is Jesus liking himself to? Go to John chapter six. John chapter six is the fact that Jesus is the bread of life, okay? So, and all these miracles that he does, a lot of this has to do with associating with himself and the fact of, or even how he takes illustrations like that as far as the woman at the well with the water of life and likening that to eternal life. But he does the same thing with the bread or the manna that came down from heaven. And so, you can kind of think about how when he preaches this sermon in John chapter six, what just happened? The feeding of the 5,000, okay? And so, that happens in John chapter six. So you have the feeding of 5,000, then he's basically saying, hey, by the way, I am that bread of life. And isn't that interesting that, you know, he would be basically preaching this right after he fed the 5,000? Now, I don't know if it was after he fed the 4,000, but I think it is because the way that that chronologically works, meaning that the next chapter we're dealing with the fact of them talking about how they don't have bread and he's rebuking them for that, well, that happens right before he preaches this in John chapter six, okay? So I believe what you have in John chapter six is he's already fed the 5,000 and the 4,000 and now he's gonna give a great sermon about how he's the bread of life and how he's the manna that came down from heaven. And so, in John chapter six and verse 26, it says, Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me, not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled. We're gonna see that in Matthew chapter 16 where they say this, but in Matthew chapter 16, it's more so dealing with the leaven of the Pharisees and the doctrine and he's talking about that. In this, it's focusing on what he says about what that represented, okay? Because in verse 27, it says, labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth in the everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed. So they're asking him, saying, hey, they wanna come up to me, he's saying, listen, you're not coming to me for the right reasons here. You're coming to me because I fed you. I gave you physical food in the wilderness and he's saying, listen, you need to be looking for the spiritual, right? Because that'll fade, you need the meat and it's gonna last forever. Go down to verse 35, it says, and Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. And so you can see how this all works together especially when you look back at the prophecy in Isaiah 35, what's it talking about? Not thirsting or having water in a wilderness or in a desert and then you also have the fact that Matthew 15 is dealing with feeding him with food, with bread and he's liking himself unto what? Basically, he likes himself unto the door, he likens the Holy Ghost unto the water of life, he likens himself unto the bread of life and so down in verse 47, you should have this memorized. John 6, 47, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world. Amen and amen. And I say this ties in because he's going in, he's gonna get my heart saying because he's talking about eating my flesh and drinking my blood but we know what that represents because the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life and it says the flesh profiteth nothing and when we take the Lord's Supper, what is the bread and the juice represent? The body and the blood, his flesh and blood, right? But we're not actually, it doesn't actually turn into that. It just symbolizes that just as much as the manna that came down from heaven which they ate was Jesus, okay? So unless the Catholics wanna believe they were actually eating Jesus in the wilderness, okay? They were eating his flesh in the wilderness, you can't say that with the Lord's Supper either but it's interesting how this ties together. So you'd say, have you ever wondered, why did he feed the 5,000? Well, one, because they were faint and he wanted to take care of them because they were coming out there for a good thing, right? They wanted to hear him preach and he just wanted to feed them but it's also a great illustration on the fact that it doesn't really matter, it's always gonna be enough. My grace is sufficient, you think about that and notice that it says here, it says in verse 51, it says, and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world. That's everyone, my friends. And it's amazing to me how Calvinists will say, well, he didn't die for everybody. I think the world would count everybody, wouldn't it? I mean, usually when we talk about worldliness, we're not talking about saved, not talking about the elect, we're talking about the world, right? Love not the world. A lot of the things that are there. So it's very clear that he died for everybody and it's sufficient, meaning that if there would have been 10,000 there, he would have been able to feed them all. If there would have been a million there, he would have been able to feed them all with seven loaves. Right. So it's just really showing you and it's just like the picture of the meal with Elijah and it's just like any other picture where they didn't have much of anything or the oil with Elisha. Remember the story where it says borrow a bunch of vessels, borrow not a few, and remember that every vessel, until they ran out of vessels, they had enough oil. Guess what, if you would have got another vessel, there would have been more oil. If you would have got another vessel, there would have been a little more oil. But the fact is is that you have to have the vessel for the oil and if they don't believe, then they're not gonna get saved and you can't force people to do that, but it's sufficient, meaning there would have been enough time. There would have been enough oil, there would have been enough bread, there would have been enough anything that it takes to get them saved because Jesus died for everybody. It says that he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And so, great passage here and dealing with the feeding of the 4,000 and Jesus rebuking the scribes and the Pharisees. But Jesus, the bread of life, praise the Lord for that and just the great truth of the Bible. Well, let's end with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for today and just pray that you would bless us throughout the rest of this week and Lord, we do pray that you would be with us as we observe the Lord's Supper and Lord, as we remember your death and especially as it would pertain to the fact that we're around the time that you were crucified and Lord, we just pray that you'd help us to honor you and just what you've done for us and praise the Lord you rose from the dead and Lord, but we just thank you for what all you did to pay for our sins and Lord, we love you and pray all in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.