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Alright, Matthew chapter 10 verse 16, the Bible reads, Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves. The title of the sermon tonight is, In the midst of wolves. Think about it for a moment. God is sending us as His people, as His workers, into the midst of wolves. Is everyone on camera? Is that it? Sorry, was it the camera? Okay, okay, sorry, sorry. That's alright. So, yeah, just think about that. Think about the fact that God is sending us there in the midst of wolves. You know, the word God has given us, you know, not just a dole to dole sewing, but all the servitude that we can have for God and serve God, it's amongst wolves. We as sheep going amongst wolves, you know, in the likelihood that by serving God, we're going to harm ourselves. We're going to be hurt by those that seek to hurt the people of God or to hate the people of God. Let's start off with verse number one, though. Let's get the context of what Jesus is talking about here. Verse number one. And by the way, this is quite a chunky chapter, so I'm going to try my best to get through this as best as I can. Now, I told you guys that in the church in Queensland, I'm preaching through the book of Luke, okay? And I kind of regret doing the book of Matthew with you guys at this point in time, in one regard, because sometimes I get confused. You know, because, you know, there's a lot of similar stories in the two books, obviously. So sometimes I get confused, did I cover that last time? You know, but one of the advantages that I've seen by going through two gospels in quite a lot of depth is you realize just how many layers the Word of God has. Like you might find Jesus teaching one topic, and then one book takes that one layer and expands in that layer. And then you go to another book of the Bible, let's say Matthew, you know, from Luke, and then you go to Matthew, you see the same teaching, but Matthew takes a different layer to that teaching and applies that truth in another area. And so it's really interesting how deep the Bible is. I'm really appreciative that God has given us four accounts of the gospel, of the, you know, the ministry of Christ, because we get a lot of that unraveling as we compare the different books of the Bible. So let's start off with verse number one there, Matthew 10 verse one. It says, and when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. So you see here that Christ calls 12 his disciples and he gives them power over unclean spirits. Okay. Now this is something that today in a New Testament time that we today do not have this power necessarily to, you know, heal people from sicknesses, you know, just at our command and things like that. You'll see that this was at a certain period of time when God gave this kind of power to his disciples. Okay, and these things were given to the Apostles and the Apostles passed them down to others. Okay, this was a sign of their apostleship. But today we don't have the Apostles. Okay, these powers have come to an end and we'll see this as we go through. But what we now see is the selection of the 12 Apostles, the selection of these 12 disciples that we know of and this is a good time for us to just stop quickly and understand who are these 12 Apostles? Who are these 12 men that God gave this special privilege to? Look at verse number 2. Now the names of the 12 Apostles are these. The first Simon who is called Peter. Okay, so you guys know Peter is very familiar, right, as an Apostle of Christ, the one that denies Christ three times when Christ was arrested. Okay, his name was Simon and Jesus also called him Peter. Okay, and the Aramaic version of that name was Cephas. So when you go read through your Bible, you see Cephas named Cephas. That's also Simon Peter that's been referred to. But notice it says, and Andrew, his brother. So here we have in this group of 12 Apostles, I don't know if you realize, there's at least three groups of brothers. So the first one here is Simon and his brother Andrew. And if you know the story, Andrew is the one that first realized who Christ was, you know, by the preaching of John the Baptist. Then he goes and finds Peter and says, hey, we found the Messiah, you know. So here's the one that got Simon Peter on board, even though it's Peter that's kind of more renowned in the Bible. And then look at the next two names, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother. So there's our next pair of brothers, right? We've got James the son of Zebedee and John his brother. They're also known as the sons of thunder. Now, just to get you to understand who these two are, James, that first James there, some people call him James the greater. That's a title that's given to him amongst, you know, just in the theological circles is James the greater because there's another James in this list and is known as James the lesser. Okay. Now James the greater. Here's the guy that gets killed by Herod in Acts chapter 12. Okay. So if you read through Acts chapter 12, the James that gets killed is James here the brother of John. Okay, and of course John we know John very well because he's the writer of the Gospel of John. He's a writer first John second John third John and the book of Revelation. Okay. Here's the the disciple who Christ loves is another reference to him. So there we have another pair of brothers right there. Now, let's keep looking. It says in verse number three Philip and Bartholomew. It's interesting that God puts these two together because it's Philip that recruited Bartholomew. Okay. Here's the one that went to Bartholomew. So hey, we found Christ as well kind of like what Andrew did to Peter. Now Bartholomew is also known by the name of Nathaniel. Okay. So if you read about Nathaniel as the Apostle, that's also Bartholomew. Okay. It's the same person. Now, if you kind of know what does Bartholomew mean if you know the three words there bath B-A-R that means son of so his Bartholomew is the son of Tolamue. So it's possible that Nathaniel's father was Tolamue and that's why they call him Bartholomew. Because he's the son of Tolamue. Okay, so that's just a possibility there. But just so you know, you know, he goes by Bartholomew. He also goes by Nathaniel. All right, and then we've got some it says Thomas the next one in verse number three, of course doubts in Thomas, you know, the one when Christ was resurrected he had some doubts whether that was true or not and it says Matthew the publican, you know again, that's that's Levi. He's also known as Levi in the Bible. He's a publican and he's also recognized as being the author of this very Gospel the Book of Matthew. Okay, and then it says James the son of Alphaeus. So that's James the Lesser and they'll to James that's James the Lesser James the son of Alphaeus and this is and libyas now libyas you might say I've never heard of that name for who is that guy libyas is also known as Judas. Okay, but not Judas Iscariot. This is a good Judas. All right. Now I'll just quickly read to you from Luke 6 16 which talks about the same group just very quickly. It says and Judas the brother of James. So when we fill that in there, okay back in verse number three James the son of Alphaeus and libyas. That's James. Okay, who's the brother? Sorry, sorry Judas who's the brother of James. So there we have another group of brothers. Okay, it's James and libyas that they're brothers. Okay, James or and Judas their brothers whose name whose surname is Thaddeus and then number four Simon the Canaanite will touch upon him very soon. And then it says and Judas Iscariot who also betrayed him. So there were two Judases. Okay, and it's Judas Iscariot who was the unsaved betrayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. So I hope that gives you an idea of these men who they were but I want you to just notice that we're free at least three sets of brothers that we know of in this group and this is really encouraging to know that you know as parents that have you know, more than one child that you know that have brethren brothers and sisters that our children can serve the Lord together. You know, I think it's such a great thing that these brothers got together and say hey, let's just serve the Lord together, you know, and and what what a blessing for their family, you know, for their parents to know that these you know, my sons they're following up the Christ they're working together and serving him. So I think it's a great thing. You know, sometimes our children don't want to work together. They don't want to necessarily do the same things together. But one thing that they can be brought together to do is to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. I think you know, when my kids get older, I'd love to send my boys, you know, my one of my boys, one of the one of your sisters out door-to-door soul winning together, you know, get into laboring together. We see that Christ chose brothers, you know, because that there's obviously that strong family bond there. And so that there's an advantage to to being brethren and serving the Lord together. Now, I wanted to go back to Simon the Canaanite there in verse number four. And I think this is important because Simon in another, I think it's in the book of Luke is also known as Simon the Zealot. Okay, if you guys have heard of that before and I want to touch upon this very quickly because there's a misunderstanding of the Bible. Okay, there's a missing understanding the sense that there's a teaching out there that says that Jesus really when he first came his point of coming was for the Jews only. I mean, there's a there's a real people really believe he came for the Jews and because the Jews largely rejected him, then he went and and and you know died on the cross and and made himself available to the Gentiles also. Okay, but what's really stupid about that belief is that one of his 12 apostles was Simon the Canaanite. Okay, this this is not a Jewish man. Okay, he's not a Jew. He's a Canaanite. Now just to help you understand that if you remember when when Moses delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, right, they that and they will journey into the promised land. Remember Joshua led them into the promised land. And what was that land known as? It was known as the land of Canaan and the people on that land were known as the Canaanites. All right. So these are people that are not Jewish that are not traditionally the children of God as it will and yet even then Jesus has the mindset to select Simon the Canaanite someone that is non-Jewish to be one of his 12 apostles. And I think the fact that he's called Simon the Zealot is very important or Zealot, Simon Zealot, which means Zealot because he was someone that was on fire for God. He was someone that had a great zeal to serve God and Jesus saw that in him and goes, look, it doesn't matter if you're not a Jew. I'm going to take you because you're someone that wants to serve the Lord, you know, and he's known as Simon Zealot. Okay. Now there's a there's a missed teaching as well out there, which I'll just let you guys know in case you hear about it. They'll say well the zealots you've got that all wrong brother Kevin. They'll say, you know, the zealots were people that were like this militia in the time of the Roman Empire. And you know, they were just a militia of men. They would get together and fight against the Roman Empire, you know that they kind of like terrorists they go and destroy certain things. They'll do this. But the problem with that is that that militia group of the zealots did not exist for another 30 years after Christ. So the history behind that is wrong. But that's what some people teach because they want to get away from thinking that God selected a non-Jew to be one of his 12 apostles. They have a problem with that because it it doesn't go with their theology, but you can see that, you know, yes, Jesus Christ came to the Jew first, but he also came to the Gentiles. We'll have a look at that later on. But I hope that gives you a good idea of who these 12 apostles were. Okay, let's keep reading verse number five. 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. So what were these 12 to do to go to the Jews to go to the lost house of Israel to find those that would, you know, should have been the children of God that were unsaved, they weren't put in their faith on Christ, they were going out there to preach the gospel. But Jesus made it very abundantly clear. Look, you're going to the house of Israel. Don't go to the Gentiles. Don't go to the Samaritans. Go to the Jews first. Now that might sound a little bit unfair to some of you. I don't know, it might sound a little bit unfair, but this is just a reality of the Bible is that when Christ came, he came first to his people, as it were in the flesh, the Jews. Okay, and I'll just quickly read to you from Romans 1 16 and Romans is an epistle written written to Gentiles. It's written to the Romans. Okay, it says for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, but then it says this to the Jew first and also to the Greek because what Paul is doing is following the pattern that Christ left, you know, they will come into the Israelites. They were the ones that were meant to be the children of God. They were the ones that were meant to receive Messiah. And so the good news will come into them first. But the intention was just because they're first the intention was that the gospel would eventually go everywhere as well. Okay, the intention was and it did happen. Many of the Jews believed on him and many of the Jews then went out and preached the gospel to this lost and dying world. But even though it says to the Jew first in the same book of Romans in Romans 10 12, it later on says for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So, you know as far as salvation is concerned God has made sure that the gospel would go out to Jews and to Greeks Gentiles Samaritans all alike that everybody that would call upon them. The Lord will be saved and that's a great promise that we have. Okay, the reason we're saved today is because eventually once once the gospel got out into Israel then the believers spread out throughout the whole world started preaching the gospel to all the places and then eventually 2,000 years later we hear about it. We can be saved praise God for that. All right, so let's keep reading verse number 7 in Matthew chapter 10 verse 7. And as you go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand now look in another place in the Bible. I won't go there. It says after Jesus gave him the command to preach the kingdom of heaven. It says they went and preached the gospel. Okay, preaching the kingdom is preaching the gospel. Okay, because when you preach the gospel to someone and they believe on Christ, they believe him then what happens they enter into that kingdom of God spiritually speaking. And so preaching the gospel is preaching the God preaching the kingdom of heaven is preaching the gospel. But notice that it says in verse 7 saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. What does that mean? What does it mean to be at hand? It means it's it's available right around the corner. It's close by you can take the kingdom of heaven right now if it's what you want. And this is a reality guys when we go out and we preach door-to-door when we preach our family to our friends. We are bringing that kingdom of heaven nigh. We are bringing that kingdom of heaven near literally to their doorstep. Okay, and it's available because it's right there if they want to believe on Christ. Then they enter into the kingdom right there and then you know, what a blessing and we shouldn't shy away from from saying that to people that hey today is the day of salvation. You can receive eternal life right now. If you were to believe in him because they will enter into that kingdom of heaven. Hey brother, let's keep reading verse number 8 verse number 8. So we're in Matthew 10 verse 8. It says heal the sick cleanse the lepers raise the dead say wow, is that our instruction? Are we to clean, you know, heal the lepers and and raise the dead cast out Devils freely you have received freely give. Now, let me I'll just say that again. This is not an instruction for us, you know, we're not called to go out there looking for Devils and cast them out of people, you know, we're not called to get out there to the hospitals and and you know, pray over people and get them all healed up. Okay, it's not going to happen those those powers. We saw were given to those 12 Apostles for a reason. Okay, they haven't been given on to us. And if you think I'm just trying to get away from the Bible, let's just keep reading it. Let's have a look at this verse number 9 because Jesus says to do these things. So he's to these 12 disciples and he's saying he will heal the heal the sick Etc. But look at this number 9 says provide neither gold nor silver more brass in your purses says look when you go out and preach don't even take money with you. Okay, and then verse number 10 no script that word script is basically like a like a backpack in a backpack with stuff that you need no script for your journey. Neither two coats neither shoes nor yet stays for the workman is worthy of his meats says look when you go out you 12 when you go out preaching gospel, don't take anything else. Don't take a change of clothes. Don't take extra shoes. Don't take anything with you. It's all going to be provided for you is what Jesus saying. Okay for the workman is worthy of his meats. Don't worry. God's going to provide when he sees you working is going to provide the things that you need to do this work for him. Now, let me show you why this is no longer applicable to us today, including what we just read in verse number 9 healing the sick casting out devils all those kinds of things keep your finger there and turn to Luke chapter 22 Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. Because this is much later into his ministry when we look at Luke chapter 22 verse 35 look at this Luke 22 verse 35. This is later in the ministry right near the end. In fact, I believe this is Christ final week before his before he's crucified here in Luke 22 verse 35. It says and he said unto them when I sent you without purse and script and shoes like anything and they said nothing. So there's the fulfillment of what we just read before right in Matthew chapter 10 says when I sent you out without money about shoes. Did you did you like anything and they said nothing? Wow, you know God truly provided the look at verse 36 then said he unto them but now hey something has changed but now he that have a purse let him take it and likewise his script and he that hath no sword. Let him sell his garment and buy one. I even you need physical protection. All right, so we can see that something has changed from the time that Jesus was physically walking on the earth sending out his 12 to cast out Devils not to take anything with them. He says but now at the end of his ministry in this last week before he's crucified. He says but now you've got to take all your stuff with you. Okay, so you can see there's been this change of the instruction that was being given to them. But unfortunately, you have the Charismatics you have the Pentecostals that would read back in Matthew chapter 10 in verse number, you know, verse number 8 heal the sick and cleanse the lepers and they're like, yeah, that's what God has given us to do. No, you know that was instruction given to those early apostles of Christ. Okay, and they were given the other instructions to take nothing with you. But now he's changed it all into look take what you have with you. Okay, so let's keep reading then let's go back to Matthew chapter 10 verse 11. If I haven't made that clear, please, please let me know. Okay, but something has definitely changed from that. I don't know exactly why that is. Okay, I don't really fully understand that but all I know is from according to the scriptures is there has been a change. Okay, and obviously it's got something to do with Christ being physically there on the earth and then no longer been on the earth. Okay, but let's keep reading verse number 11 verse number 11 and into whatsoever. So this is Matthew, Matthew 10 verse 11 and into what sort of a city or town you shall enter inquire who in it is worthy for their abide till you go thence. So it says look when you go into a city you go into a town to preach the gospel and you go to your first house. See if that person is worthy for and what's what it wasn't mean to be worthy. How are we worthy before God? The only way to be worthy is to be believer. The only way to be worthy is to have your sins forgiven. Okay, so it says look if you go into a city you find a believer. Someone that's worthy. He says then inquire and there abide till you go thence. So it says look find a house establish yourself stay there with a fellow brother in Christ and from that place do your work. Go and preach the gospel to the city. It says and there abide till you go thence. So stay in that house go and preach the whole city until you leave. Okay, stay in one place is what he's saying and then verse 12 and when you come into a house salute it. So when we go door to door so when you guys and people open the doors, we should salute people. We should be friendly say hi, you know, my name is such-and-such, you know salute people. Same thing these people were doing they'll go in house to house verse number 13. And if the house be worthy let your peace come upon it, but if it be not worthy let let your peace return to you. All right, so and then verse 14 and whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words keep arguing with them. Keep trying to convince them if they won't hear you know, what is it says here? When you depart out of that house the city shake off the dust off your feet. Listen when we go door-to-door soul winning and someone says to you, I'm not interested and they want to hear it. You know does Jesus say get offended does Jesus say keep debating with them trying to get no look do your best to get them interested. But if they're truly not interested just move on shake the dust off your feet as it were and move on to the next house. Don't get offended just go to the next house, you know, and we should be people that have a mindset, you know, there's been days I don't know about you guys, but there's been days when I've gone soul winning and like just maybe the weather's hot time comfortable. No one's interested not interested not interested. No one's home. No one's home. No one's home. No one's home. And you just feel like man this day is just gonna be one of those bad soul winning days, right? But then you get to like to the last house and someone's there ready to believe the gospel be saved. I mean it's happened to so many people when I talk to me about soul winning. How many times is it the last house that someone gets saved and you know that the mentality behind that should be well God's just moving us on God's just moving us through the houses to eventually find that person, you know, otherwise if you get stuck with someone that's not interested, you know, then you're never going to find make your way to that final house, you know, you're going to run out of time before you get to that last person. That's instruction. We should take on board when you read this. All right, let's keep reading verse number 15 verily I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment then for that city now the next next week in the next chapter. I'm going to preach more about biblical tolerance. Have you ever been told, you know as a Christian you should be more tolerant doesn't the Bible teach tolerance. It does teach tolerance and we'll cover that next week. But I want you to notice here because Sodom and Gomorrah that was they were wicked cities. Okay, but the Bible says look it's going to be more tolerable for them in the day of judgment then for that city, you know for the people that we go and we preach the gospel. We have the words of life. We have the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and we're going to and they reject us at the day of judgment can be worse for them than for these people that perish in Sodom and Gomorrah. That's hard to wrap your minds around but we'll cover that next week. But just just very quickly. So you understand is that when you're someone that has the gospel presented to you and you reject it time and time and time again, it's going to be worse for you. Okay Hellfire being judged in in hell, you know is not equal to everybody not every you know, it's not like everybody just suffers equally, you know for those that are more wicked. They're going to suffer more than others for those that had had the opportunity to believe the gospel. Maybe they were raised in a Christian home. Maybe they went to church and they still rejected the gospel. It's going to be even worse for them in that day because they've had the opportunities where others have not had the same opportunities as others. Okay, but we'll cover that next week when we go into that Jesus teaches on that much more next week or in the next chapter. I should say but verse number 16 and this is the verse we spoke about behold. I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves be therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves. You know, God does not want us to be ignorant when we go out and we do the great works for God. You know truly before we go out and preach the gospel door-to-door before we go out and do some great works for God. We need to first realize God, you know, there's dangers out there. You know, there are people that hate the Lord. There are wicked people that would not want nothing more than to hurt his children. Let alone Satan and his ministers, you know, and the Devils they don't want people going out and preaching the gospel, you know, and so before we go out, we should be praying to the Lord to give us protection to give us safety as we go out and do his his work, you know, but it says look be be harmless or sorry be wise as serpents, you know, it's the serpent. Have you ever seen a documentary of animals where you know, the serpent looks at the prey finds its weakness and eventually lashes out at that prey, right? But the point is the serpent studies the serpent studies out its prey, you know, it studies out. This is going to be my meal and how do I creep up to it? You know, we need to be people that have studied the Word of God. We need to be people that are aware of potential dangers. You know, we shouldn't be sending, you know, you know, two ladies out soul-winning in a very dangerous area without, you know, a few men in the same area or anything like that. We need to be mindful about how we go about and do our door-to-door soul-winning, but at the same time we should be harmless as doves. Okay, we shouldn't be people that are just trying to strike like the serpent. We're not trying to, you know, we're not trying to devour these people. We're not trying to call down fire from heaven to destroy those that don't want to believe the gospel. Okay, we should be coming as people as neighbors as people that have a genuine heart for the lost. That's how we truly should be, but we should be aware of the dangers that might come our way when we go door-to-door soul-winning. But thank God we live in Australia. I mean, literally there are parts of the world where you really are in danger of preaching the gospel. I would say largely we're not, but even though, you know, we're not in that same sense, we shouldn't get, you know, what's the word? We shouldn't become, you know, comfortable in that situation because Satan is, you know, or one of his devils could be around, you know, trying to cause us some type of damage. Let's keep reading, verse number 17. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils, for they will scourge you in their synagogues. Now, there's something interesting. This is where this chapter gets really deep. Okay, obviously he's given these instructions to his 12 apostles, but it's not just that. This is what I'm saying. The Bible has many layers. Now Jesus is not just teaching the 12 apostles, but he's also teaching on the end times. Okay, teaching on the end times, because you'll soon see he gets straight into the tribulation period. Okay, as we go on, as we keep reading this, okay. Verse number 18. And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you, take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. So you see these 12 were given. So look, if you get arrested and brought before magistrates and authorities, don't worry. You don't need to prepare yourself. You don't need to prepare a defense. The Holy Spoke will speak on your behalf. That's an amazing thing. And people then will say, well, you know, what about today? You know, are we also meant to, if we get arrested and brought before governors, are we not to prepare a defense? Are we not to get a lawyer to represent us? No, no, no. We should do all those kinds of things, okay. Because yes, that was applicable to the time of Jesus. It's also applicable to the end times, okay. But today we should still, like Jesus said, but now, you know, have your purse, have your scrip, have your shoes, take a sword. We should be people that are ready to defend ourselves if that time comes. But we'll soon see, if you guys can't keep your finger there, turn to Mark. Turn to book of Mark chapter 13. Mark chapter 13. Because I want to show you these exact same words are spoken in the book of Mark. But Mark makes it much clearer that Jesus is actually speaking of the end times. I'll just show you this. Mark 13 verse 8. Mark 13 verse 8. Look, it says here, For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in diverse places, and there shall be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. For those of you guys that know about end times, about the, you know, the end times, the beginning of sorrows is the first three and a half years of that final seven years. Some people refer to this to the tribulation. Following the beginning of sorrows comes the great tribulation, when the Antichrist rises himself and persecutes the children of God. Okay? So we can see straight away when we read the book of Mark here, in Mark 13, is that this is about the end times. But let's keep reading, verse number 9. But take heed to yourselves, for they shall deliver you up to the councils. And in the synagogues ye shall be beaten, and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. And the gospel must first be published among all nations. But when they shall lead you and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate, but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour that speak ye, for it is not ye that speak but the Holy Ghost. You see that it's literally word for word the same as we saw in Matthew chapter 10. But this time it's made very clear that Jesus is speaking about the end times. Okay? So this is what I mean about the Bible. It's multi-layered. It's very deep. Jesus is teaching something to his disciples now, but he's also teaching us principles about that future time. You know? And I would say to you that if we are that final generation, or if our children are that final generation, that go through these times where they've been delivered up and brought before magistrates, where they're going through the beginning of sorrows, they're going through the tribulation, then at that point, hey, you're not going to need your lawyers. You're not going to need all those kinds of things. Because there will be, according to this, a moving of the Holy Ghost. Where literally you'll be able to stand before these magistrates, and the Holy Ghost will give you words to speak, you know, to defend yourself. And that's an amazing thing that's promised to us that's going to come on those last days. Alright? But so let's go back to Matthew chapter 10 verse 21. Matthew chapter 10 verse 21. So, yes, just keep that in your thought. The 12 disciples of Jesus, that's what he's teaching. But also the end times. Okay, these two things are running parallel as we go through this chapter. Verse 21. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child. I mean, this is unbelievable to me. This is unbelievable to me that in the last days, that brothers are literally going to betray their own brothers, their own flesh and blood. And then it says, and the father the child. You know, a parent whose child believes on Christ, they're going to deliver that child up to these authorities, you know, to be persecuted. And then it says, and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. I mean, that just blows my mind. But when I look at our society today, I think it's not that far off. I mean, children seem to hate their parents. Okay, it's almost like they can't stand their parents. And verse number 22. And you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Okay, he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Now, if we keep it within the context, okay, it should be pretty obvious what it means. He that endureth to the end shall be saved. Because verse 21 just spoke about, you know, your blood relatives delivering you unto death. Okay, this is not about the soul salvation. This is not about going to heaven. This is about a physical death. Okay, because then it says, but he that endureth to the end. So if you make it to the end, you will be saved. You will be physically saved. Because we know that the end of the tribulation, Jesus Christ comes back to to rapture his believers. And that's the salvation that Jesus is speaking about. But yes, some people use this to say, look, you've got to endure to the end. You need to live a faithful life. You need to be serving God. You need to make yourself disciples and go out preaching the gospel. And if you keep in the faith, and if you endure to the end, then you will be saved in the sense that you'll be forgiven of your sins and that you'll go to heaven. So they teach a workspace gospel taking this verse out of its context. Okay, but I'm just going to read to you very quickly. Actually, no, I won't read that passage. Can you guys go back to Mark 13? Mark 13. Keep your finger there. Go back to Mark 13. I should have told you to stay there. Mark 13. Because it makes it a little bit clearer here in Mark 13 verse 12. Mark 13 verse 12. It says, now the brother shall betray the brother to death and the father the son and children shall rise up against their parents and shall cause them to be put to death and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake but he that endure unto the end the same shall be saved. So we see the support of the book of Mark as well speaking about the physical death. Okay, and the salvation from that physical death that comes if you endure to the end. But let me just quickly read you from Galatians 1 6 and you guys are familiar with this passage. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel which is not another but there are be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Hey, and those that teach that salvation is enduring to the end. Let's say, you know, being faithful to Christ. That's your salvation. Hey, they're the ones that that put up pervert the gospel. They're the ones that are bringing another gospel. There is only one gospel. Salvation has always been by grace through faith. Okay, it's always been that Christ has done all the work. It's been that God will bring that sacrifice. It's always been by the shedding of blood provided by God that people were saved. Okay, and so when you read this it says verse 8 but though we are an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you then that which we have preached unto you. Let him be accursed. What does it mean to be under the curse of God? It means someone that's not saved. Someone that is not saved is under the curse of God. Okay, but when you become saved Christ has become the curse for you. Okay, he's taking that curse off you and put it on himself that was and was nailed to the cross for your sake. Okay, and so let these people that preach another gospel let them be accursed as though it be they're still unsaved. Okay, and then it says as we said before so say I now again if any man preach any other gospel unto you then that ye have received let him be accursed. You know Paul writes this twice of the Galatians twice. Let them be accursed. So please when you read a passage like this that sounds like hold on do we have to endure to be saved? Just read the context. The context very clearly it's about the physical salvation. Physical salvation of the flesh. All right, back to Matthew chapter 10 please verse 23. But when they persecute you in this city flee into another. So and it now now this is about Jerusalem. We know that this is about because Jesus Christ was was on his way to Jerusalem as he's teaching this stuff. But it says look when they persecute you go into another city. Okay, now why and if this were if this was our last generation if this was us and we're being persecuted in Sydney, okay, the instruction that's been given is to flee into another. Okay. Now you'll be thinking man. Does that mean we have to flee for our lives? You know, is are we trying to get away from death partly? Okay, partly but the reason to flee is so we can go to another city and influence that city. So we go to another city and preach the gospel. That's what we've been called to do. All right, because look what it says there. It says for verily or truly I say unto you you shall have not got sorry. You shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man become so you can see how Jesus now is talking about also talking about the end time got the coming of Christ and he says look if you flee from one city to another says for verily I sent to you you shall not have gone over the cities of Israel. There's still going to be plenty of cities for you to go to you're not going to run out of cities is what Jesus is saying. Okay, you go into the cities you go and you can just continue doing the work of God continue preaching the gospel of the kingdom to all nations. Okay that we saw before that the gospel needs to go out for all the nations and one way that God achieves this is by bringing persecution into an area. So it's believers escape and continue preaching the gospel in other areas. This is our last chance. If this is us going for this. This is our last chance to earn great rewards in heaven. Okay. It's our last chance. Verse number 24, please Matthew 1024 look and you're saying what this is. This is really bad. Like I don't want to be persecuted. I don't want to be you know, potentially my own family being, you know, presenting me before the Magistrates, you know, and maybe being put to death but look at verse 24. The disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his Lord. Look you Jesus saying look you're not better than me. I'm your Lord. I'm your master. You're not going to get things better than I am. We know that Jesus was persecuted. We know that he was taken and put to death. He he was tortured, you know leading up to the cross and died on the cross. This is in verse 25. It is enough for the disciple to that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub how much more should I call them of his household? So Jesus says look if they call me Beelzebub if they call me devil. Now, what are they going to call you the same thing because I'm your master and you're my servants. Okay, verse 26 fear them not therefore for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed and hid that shall not be known because when you get a sermon like this about the end times about the prosecution potential death it does bring fear to some extent. Okay, I mean that's just a natural thing but that's why Jesus says in verse 26 fear not them therefore God doesn't want us to fear. Okay, this is for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed. Hey these people that hate believers these people that are wicked that hate the children of God that preach another gospel or whatever these these wicked people the Bible says that they're going to be revealed. Okay, it's going to be made known as to who they truly are even if it's not in this life, it's definitely going to come in the judgment to come. Okay, God's going to make sure that whatever we suffer for his name will be repaid to these wicked wicked people. It's not going to be hid. All right, and verse number 27 is the flip side for us what I tell you in darkness that speak ye in light and what you hear in the ear that preach ye upon the housetops. Now, this is it's so contrary to what we think right that in the time of persecution in the time of tribulation when the answer Christ and his minions want to kill the people of God Jesus. That's not a time to be quiet preacher from the housetops. He says and I go out and preach the gospel and one thing that you'll notice guys is that if you're someone and it will see this later on if you're someone that's not afraid of losing their life for Christ you're going to be that person that perseveres to the end you're going to be that person that makes it all the way but the believers that try to protect themselves they go and hide and try to save the lives. They're going to be the ones that lose their lives. Okay, because during this time there's obviously going to be some sort of supernatural protection that comes from God. All right, I'll show you that in a moment. Let's keep reading verse number 28 and fear them and fear sorry and fear not them which kill the body says look what's the worst I can do to you I can kill your body say what's the worst thing that can happen to your life maybe die Jesus don't worry about it. I mean, it's like to Jesus dying is not a big deal. Okay, because dying is we know that life is a vapor. We know that we hear moment gone the next I'm 30 I'm 37 and I might live another 37 years and that's kind of like the average age and that might be the end of me and I've already got I potentially have already gone through half my life and I feel like I wasn't a little child that long ago, but you know life goes but look here's the thing you know beyond life there's eternity. There's there's the blessings of being with Christ forever being with God forever and obviously that's going to that's eternity that's going to be forever it's like to Christ, you know dying isn't really that big of a deal. In fact, it's wonderful because all that if you've died for the name of Christ can be rewarded greatly and as we get toward the end of this chapter, you will notice that it's about the rewards Christ wants to encourage us with the rewards to come so don't don't don't fear them that can kill the body but I'm not able to kill the soul. Hey, that can't kill your soul. They can't cast into hell but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Hey, who's that? Who can cast both soul and body in hell? That's obviously God. Okay, God is the one that can do such thing and this is how you overcome the fear of man is when you have a healthy fear of God when you fear the one that can kill the body the one that can cast those he's not going to cast your soul into hell if you're a believer, but he has that power to do it to the unbelievers fear God and if you have a good measure of fear of God, then the fear of man will diminish away because you are more concerned about pleasing God. You're more concerned about doing the things that he has commanded us to do and that will prevent you from fearing those that can potentially kill your body. Look at verse 29 not two sparrows sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father says I don't know what a farthing is. I'm assuming probably something very cheap, but it says look two sparrows are sold for that amount. Okay, and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father says look even when a little bird dies God the father knows Okay, and if God knows about the little creature that dies, how much more does he care for you? How much more does he know about you? How much more is he aware when you're going through pain and suffering and tribulation, you know, God does not leave outside and look at verse 30, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. God knows every little hair on your head as well. That's how much he cares for you. Then it says verse 31 fear not therefore for ye are more value than many Sparrows, you know, if God looks after the little Sparrow how much more is he going to look after you and if we're this final generation guys going for this time. Yes. There's going to be some amount of fear, but just be God. Okay, he cares for you. He knows your situation do what he's called us to do preaching the gospel. He'll take care of you. That's the promise of God, you know, and it's very hard to understand that but that's the word of God. That's what he's given us. Do you have any time to Jesus say don't fear here, you know, he doesn't want us to fear and truly I believe if there's a if there's an outpouring of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost upon the last generation of believers. I can see how believers can be strong and stand firm for God and do the works that God has called them to do verse 32 whosoever therefore shall confess me before men him will I confess also before my father which is in heaven. What an honor if you go out and you confess people your Christ, you know, if that's so winning, you know, tell your family and friends about what Christ has done for you the gospel you confess him. Then Jesus is I will confess also before my father which is in heaven. Jesus will confess about you and he'll tell God the father. Hey brother so-and-so, you know brother Luke, you know is out there every week preaching the gospel, you know, and you know, brother Daniel is out there preaching the gospel and whoever it is that's going out there. Jesus will confess that to the Heavenly Father. What an honor what a privilege, you know to be put in that situation and verse 33, but whosoever shall deny me before men and if you stay quiet, you never preach the gospel. You never had a heart to win the souls of men says him will I also deny before my father which is in heaven. What a sad thing, you know, yeah, you can be saved. It's a wonderful thing, but you can be denied by Christ in the sense that he's not going to speak highly of you is not going to praise you to the father because you've not taken instruction that God has given us seriously. Now, you know when it says denied my father that's not a loss of salvation anything like that. Okay, so you're not going to get the praise that those that served Christ will receive. I'll just read to you from 2 Timothy 2 12. It says if we suffer if we suffer for Christ, we shall also rain. Yeah, we shall also rain with him. If we deny him he also will deny us and then it says in verse 13 if we believe not yet he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. So even though he denies you in the sense that you're not going to be a ruling rain and get the rewards that you could have got he's not going to deny in the sense of being cast out because the Bible says that he cannot deny himself because once you're saved you have Christ living in you you have the Holy Ghost in you and God cannot deny himself. Don't just save to save you can't lose it. Even if you're a foolish lazy Christian. Okay. Now let's go back to Matthew 10, please Matthew 10 verse 34 Matthew 10 verse 34. Sorry that it's a long sermon, but it is a very deep chapter. Matthew 10 34 think not that I am come to send peace on Earth. I came not to send peace but a sword. So what you know when we talked about this before but in Christmas, right? We sing that him, you know, peace on Earth and mercy mild say when he's come to bring peace, hasn't he? But how do he says here that he's not come to bring peace send peace on the Earth. That's because at the end of that him he goes God and sinners reconciled the peace that Jesus Christ came to bring was to reconcile God and sinners gay God and man. That's the gospel. He did not send us here to be peacemakers in the sense of going to war-torn countries, you know and and and and bring about world peace. You're never going to achieve that. Okay, that's only going to be possible. That's only going to happen once Christ comes establishes thousand year Kingdom. Then there's going to be some element of peace on the Earth. Okay, but let's keep reading verse 35 for I am come to send a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the mother-in-law against him daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a man's foes shall be they of his own household, you know, and I thank God that I grew up in a Christian home. I thank God that I had godly parents and they encourage me to serve the Lord and to know the Bible all these kinds of things. I'm happy that I don't have a broken home in that sense, but maybe some of you have not grown up in a Christian home. Maybe some of you ask safe today. You've tried to give the gospel to your family to your parents your brothers and sisters and they rejected it and not only rejected the gospel, but maybe it's brought division between you and them. Okay. I know, you know, there are a lot of testimonies of people that you know families that might be a staunch Catholic or something like that. Someone gets saved and they're like, you know, how could you turn against it's not just against their religion, but it's like you've turned against the whole family, you know, and when we're out there, you know preaching the gospel to a lot of Muslims in punchbowl. I felt that was a big problem with someone would hear the gospel Muslim would hear the gospel would think well, this is awesome. This is great news, but I can't believe because it will cause me to be an outcast in my family. You know, there was one woman that I got saved a letter to the Lord a Muslim lady and she but I came next week to bring her a Bible and she sent me an email saying look I can't my family won't let me you know, you know, and she just didn't want to be known as a believer, you know, she but she believed she got saved, you know, but she's someone there that would you know, deny Christ in a sense and when she gets brought before the father Christ will deny her because she's not willing to stand up and face that division in her family, but that's a reality, you know for many of its I feel really sad for people that have not grown up in a Christian home and have that division in their family, but that's what Jesus came in here. Look we should be surprised Jesus taught us this was going to be a reality. Okay, verse number 37, please Matthew 10 verse 37. Now we're near the end of this chapter now and Christ really just reinforces the rewards. Okay, you serve me up me don't fear man. Don't feel what people can do unto you just do what I've called you to do and there's going to be great rewards for you. This is what Jesus finishes up and off in this chapter verse 37 he that love of father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that love of son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And again, once again, look your own family could be the ones that stop you serving the Lord. Okay now we should try to live peacefully with our family. But if God has called you to do a work God's called you to go and serve him go to church, you know, go so in your family may very well try to stop you from that. Okay, and if they stop you that's you love in your family more than love in the Lord. Okay, but Jesus Christ wants us to love him to love God more than our own families in the sense that what God has called us to do must be a priority in our lives. Okay verse 38 and he that taketh not his cross and follow off after me is not worthy of me. God wants us to take our cross as it were he wants us to show to some burden of the work that he's left us to do so we can be worthy of him again. This is not about salvation. Okay, you're not you can never be worthy for him in the sense because we've all come short, you know, we're all sinners and we come short of the glory of God. It's Christ that makes us worthy, you know, it is imputed righteousness. Once we believe in him that makes us worthy to God. Okay, but what we can do in our walk in our daily walk of life is be worthy of Christ to win Christ as Paul talks about it by doing the work that Christ has left us to do and in verse 39 he that findeth his life shall lose it and he that lose of his life for my sake shall find it. Now, let me show you this very quickly, please. I wanted to show you this go to Luke 17 go to Luke 17 verse 31 because I want to show you just in comparison here Luke 17 verse 31. What does it mean verse 39 when he said he that findeth his life shall lose it and he that lose of his life for my sake shall find it Luke 17 verse 31 Luke 17 verse 31. This is talking about the last days as well. Okay, another teaching of Christ on the last days. Look what he says in that day. He would shall be upon the housetop and his stuff in the house. Let him not come down and take it to take it away and he that is in the field. Let him likewise not return back. Remember lots wife now, we know that the end times is is paralleled with the times of Sodom and Gomorrah on time of lot being cut taken out and Sodom being destroyed but look at verse 33 whose server shall seek to save his life shall lose it and whose server shall lose his life shall preserve it. Remember what Jesus said before about enduring to the end. How do we preserve our life to the end and then verse 34? I tell you that in that night there shall be two men in one bed and one shall be taken and the other shall be left. So I believe it's all about the Rapture one is taken with one another ones left. So I just want to give you the context about the end times, but I want to show you if you can just back in Luke 17 verse 31. So this is talking to Brethren in Judea believers in Judea. Okay that when the Antichrist comes and brings persecutions to those people the instruction is in that day. He would shall be upon the housetop. If you're on the top of your house and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away. Don't go into your house and get all your stuff is what he's saying. Okay, don't come and get all your possessions don't come and get all the things that you you think you need. Okay, and it says and he that is in the field let him likewise not return back. If you're out in the field working don't come back to your house and get your stuff is what Jesus said. It's time to flee it's time to go and then verse 33 whose server shall seek to save his life shall lose it. Okay. Now, let me give you a quick illustration of this. Obviously you guys know probably isn't I'm not sure if you use this analogy here. You may be in our church, but you know, obviously flying every week, you know and you get the you get the all the safety instructions and the safety card and they talk about how to evacuate a plane. So if a plane, you know crash lands into let's say into the ocean something like that. What they say is don't take your stuff. Okay, don't take your bags. Don't take your you know, your things just evacuate, you know, get out as quickly as possible and you might be thinking no, I need to get my things. I need to get my wallet and in my wallet. I need my phone to call people if I need them. I need those kinds of things. But if everybody on the plane I say there's a hundred people on the plane who everyone's getting their things that they think they need by the time they evacuate the plane is probably going to be underwater by then. Okay, in order to save the most passengers to get people out there. You need to evacuate quickly instead of causing, you know, a bottleneck situation when people aren't getting out. Okay, so there's a situation where you think you need to get all your things. You're actually going to slow down the evacuation and you could potentially lose your life. Okay, this is the same thing that we see here in the Bible and Jesus says look if it's that last day if it's that if it's that time, it's time to go. It's time to move on and flee into another city and continue the work of God elsewhere. Okay, because if you go back trying to get the things need oh, man, I need I need a new another jacket. I need to get my wallet. I need to get my phone. I need to get you know extra food. I need to get all this stuff for my family, you know, so we can survive. Well, if that's you verse 33 whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it. Okay, those that are more concerned about saving and preserving your own life. You're going to be the one that gets that loses their life. But then it says and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it in the sense that if you're willing to go, you know what God I'm going to lose my life. I'm going to go and flee to the other city. I'm just going to do the works that you called me to do. I'm just going to preach, you know from the house tops the things that you taught us. I'm just going to go and preach the gospel. If that means I lose my life Lord. So be it those people are going to are going to preserve their life. They're going to preserve it. Okay, so, you know, it's it's contradictive to what we think in the last days. You think I'm out in there save myself find a cave and hide now those people going to lose their lives the ones that go and do the work and serve the Lord openly. They're the ones that going to preserve their life. I don't know how but that's the promise that we see from the Word of God. All right, so I wanted to give you that thought now, let's I go back to Matthew 10 verse 40. I'm almost done now Matthew 10 verse 40. Matthew 10 verse 40 it says he that receiveth you receiveth me and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. So when you're going out and preaching the gospel someone receives you they believe on Christ. They don't just have just received you they received Christ and they haven't just received Christ, but they receive the Father. Okay, because Jesus says, you know, I am the way the truth in life. No man cometh unto the Father except by me. Okay, but it's an amazing thing that we get to represent Christ in that sense. Okay, and then in verse 41, it says he that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward, you know, and I'm really thankful because I obviously I travel from from Queensland. I have many offers of people offering me food offering me some place to stay. You know, you know that means the reward that I get for doing the work will be shared with you guys as well. You're going to get that same reward. Okay, it's you don't you don't have to even do the work yourself, but because it says that look he that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. If you if you you're hospitable to a prophet a prophet just means preacher if you're hospitable to a preacher you do the best you can to that person. Then you're getting to get the same reward the preacher gets. Okay. So, you know, you might say well, I'm not someone that's in a position that I can go and preach the gospel, you know, I've got illnesses. I've got little kids or anything like that. Yeah, but if you enable other people other preachers you will get that same reward as them as well. Okay, and look at this in verse number 42 and whose service shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple verily I say unto you he shall no wise lose his reward and just given a cup of water to a little child, you know in the name of a disciple in the name of Jesus as it were you're going to get a reward just for doing the little things. Okay. It's an amazing thing. So it's not just doing the great works of God, but it's serving one another guys, you know, this should encourage us as a church that we should try to find areas that we can serve one another. Okay, you know drink of water whatever prayer, you know, brother. Have you got anything you need me to pray for, you know, is anything I can do to help you, you know, there are people in need is are you able to feel that need if you do those things because you're serving a brother, you know, you're serving Christ as it will and if you're serving Christ and you're serving the father and you're going to get a reward just for those doing those those small things. So I hope that gives you a great snapshot of Matthew chapter 10. Sorry that sermon was a bit long. It was very deep lots of layers there, but I hope you can see what Christ is teaching. All right, don't fear man. Don't fear those that can hurt you. Okay, if you try to save your life, you're going to lose it. But if you're willing to lose it, you're going to preserve it Christ wants us to endure until the end and then if we're the last generation that goes through this period of time got Christ does not want us to fear. You know, he wants us to fear God first and foremost do the works that he's left us to do, you know, serve the Brethren do what we know that Christ has told us and somehow supernaturally Christ will make sure that our lives are preserved and not only that but there's going to come a time when he comes and he's going to give us those rewards. Okay, the great rewards that he's left us to do. So let's leave it there. Let's pray.