Is He Worthy — Westlake Bible Fellowship

0:00 Opening prayer and introduction

Morning. So we open a word of prayer. Father, we are grateful again that you bring us here each and every week, lord, that we might learn from you, that we might remember you, that we might gather one with another and be encouraged. Lord, we pray that you'll encourage us through the study of your word even today. Lord, help me to convey that which you've laid on my heart and to have those ears that can hear it.

It's in your son's name that we do pray. Amen. Okay. Have you ever had the experience of the Holy Spirit preaching the sermon at like the first meeting and then you have to preach what you got in the second meeting. So, I think you'll find some, if you were here this morning, you'll find some favorite themes and maybe the spirit did a whole lot better than I will but let's let's see what happens.

So, alright. Technology is working well already. So... Well, let's see. Okay.

There we go. Alright. So if you haven't heard some of these sayings recently, I wonder what kind of rock you've been hiding under, right? Have you have you heard this one? It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Tell me if you haven't heard that one. You haven't heard that one? No, I I have. Okay. So, we want to see little bit of hands here.

Anybody that hasn't heard that one. I mean, you can't walk through the mall. You can't click on something else. You've heard that one. Right?

Or it's the happiest season of all. Right? We hear that one all the time. Maybe, I'll be home for Christmas. Maybe some of you that are my age or you know, even others can remember that first time you weren't home for Christmas or if you are my age now, you can remember that first time when one of your children or any of em weren't home for Christmas but do you ever listen to this song carefully?

What it says, I'll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams, right? So, this time of year, this season is a thing that dreams are made of, right? But you don't have to look very far. Some of you might not be old enough to realize that this time of year can be a very difficult time of year. And we as a body don't have to look very far.

We heard about it earlier this morning to realize that this is a difficult time of year. This is a difficult time for us as an assembly. It's a difficult time. And if you haven't experienced that in life, you will eventually. A difficult time.

Okay? So the question really becomes is there's another tagline that's out there too, right? We see this one on church bulletins and that kind of thing. To try and counteract this idea that it's it's all about chestnuts roasting on the open fire or you know, Jack Frost nipping at our nose. Whatever that case is and you say, no, wait a minute, Jesus is the reason for the season, right?

That's one, you know, that's like, it's like the counter culture, the counter to what we see out there and and this is this. So, in a sense, we have to ask our self a question. If Jesus is the reason for the season, today's question is, is he worthy of that? Is he worthy to be the reason for the season? Is he the worthy to be your reason for hope in spite of a difficult time?

Is he worthy? So, that's our our plan today. We're gonna cover a little bit of a portion from Luke 20 verse 41 through twenty one four. Not a very long section, but we are gonna advance the ball. We're gonna advance it a little bit through review.

Okay? We're gonna go back a couple weeks and and cover a little bit about what Andy was saying, little bit about Ray was saying. I want you to know I'm not disagreeing with anything they said. Just trying to fill in around the edges and look at it from a little different perspective today because it's a big deal. This is a big pivot point.

They both said that. It's a pivot point when Jesus comes to Jerusalem. In his life, his career, his time on Earth, this is a special. Okay. So, he's entering Jerusalem and in a sense, this is a Christmas story too because he entered the world at this time.

This is what we celebrate now, right? So, he's entering Jerusalem. There's a little bit of theme there going on And if we look at John chapter 12, we get a little different perspective than we do from Luke. Now there's only a few verses I wanna highlight, but I'm gonna read all of them here. Chapter 12 verse one through I'll go through 19.

So, it says, then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus who had been dead, whom he had raised from the dead, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There, they made him a supper and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him. Then Mary took a pound of very costly spikenard or oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with their hair or with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil but one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray him said, why is this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denari and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor that because he was a thief and had the money box and he used to take what was put in it but Jesus said, let her hair or let her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial.

For the poor, you have with you, with me, or you have always, but me, you do not have always. Verse nine, now a great many of the Jews knew that he was there and they came not for Jesus' sake only but that they might also see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead but the chief priest plotted to put Lazarus to death also because on account of him, many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus. Yeah, I'm gonna chip skip to verse 16. But let's read verse 12. The next day, a great multitude that had come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went out to meet him.

Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord, the king of Israel, then Jesus, when he had found a young donkey, sat on it, fear not, daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming, setting on a donkey's colt. His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him, and that they had done these things to him. Therefore, the people who were with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb raised from the or tomb and raised him from the dead bore witness. For this reason, the people also met him because they had heard that he had done this sign. The Pharisees therefore, said among themselves, you see what you are accomplish...

That you are accomplishing nothing? Look, the world has gone after him. So here we have that section and we just have to understand that this is a way to gather a crowd. Where's Jacob? I know Jacob back there.

Jacob, you you did some paint boarding or what what's that? What do you call that thing? He does a paint board where he goes to Downtown New York City or anywhere else. He starts painting his picture and people start looking at it. See, what's this all about, right?

You gather a crowd. If you really want to gather a crowd, raise some guy from the dead. People will start looking, right? Not that we can do it but Jesus did that, right? And he he raised Lazarus from the dead.

So, that people knew about it and they said, you know what? I want to go see Jesus but that was a common thing. Lot of people had, you know, said, I want to go see Jesus. I want to hear what he's saying. I want to know what's going on.

They couldn't click on YouTube or they couldn't, you know, hear it over the television. They want to go see him, okay? But now, others are wanting to say, I want to see Lazarus, okay? And because I want to know, is this really true? Because some people are believing and the witnesses of that miracle witnessed.

They went out and told people. Ain't going to believe this, but Lazarus who was dead is now alive and Jesus raised him. So, we were gathering the crowd. The news traveled far and wide and very quickly. In that day, it was much more difficult to have the news travel but one way to make the news travel is to gather everybody together, right?

Everybody's in Jerusalem and talking. Wrong way. So, how do people respond to this sign from Lazarus of Lazarus being raised from the dead? Well, the authority said, we want to kill Jesus. We also want to kill Lazarus because if we can take away the proof, then, you know, that's as good as killing the man, right?

You will you will discredit him. They were very jealous. He was taking his their popularity away. He was going to become the popular candidate if you will. Well, we've just gone through an election cycle.

Right? And we know that the popular people... You can gain popularity by, you know, being in front of people, by telling a story, by by... Well, in this case, he raised people from the dead. And what did they say?

Look. What are you accomplishing? They're all running after him. So if you're a politician, if you wanna maintain power, you don't want the people going the other way. So this is one response.

Another response was that many believe. If he can do that, if this is true, if this is what happened, I believe in Jesus. I wanna follow him. Now, most of these were the common people, I believe, and what did they do? They gave him a hero's welcome.

As he came into Jerusalem, he was given accolades and shouted and and the lord himself said, if these didn't shout, what would happen? The rocks would even cry out. This was his praise. He is the king. It is special.

Now, I I happen to be, you know, researching that. There was probably at least one other entry into Jerusalem that had some pomp and circumstance. Maybe two, Okay? When Pilate would have come from Caesarea into Jerusalem, he would have made it known, I'm here. Okay?

Have to believe that because he was in control. He was the the the guy that was running Jerusalem for Rome and so, he probably came in with some circumstantial circumstance. You may have seen Herod Antipas. He was a ruler from up, you know, north. He may have come in in that way, but they might...

This was different. This was sort of like spur of the moment. Like, what do they call that in today's terms? Crowdsourced or something like that where all of a sudden, it's a pop up. That's it.

That's the word I'm looking for. A pop up welcome or a pop up parade. We also know that the the disciples and John would say that you know what? We, they, he says they, but think he means as well. We didn't understand it at the time.

We didn't know what was going on in in a sense. We saw everything and we thought it was one thing but what we look at it now, we can see was something else altogether different. And that's the point I want to try and make to you today. Okay? There was more than one thing happening.

This wasn't just a political parade. This wasn't just a political issue. It was something more. But once they saw some of these things happen, they went back and looked at it again. They remembered the scriptures.

They remembered what had happened. They remembered that they had done these things to him, okay? Properly. Don, is it Essines or SNs or S? Essines.

Essines, okay? Now, we don't hear about these folks in the in the New Testament, okay? But you could look em up and you could talk up or look at that. Josephus is a good source for this but we do hear a lot about the Pharisees and the Sadducees, okay? And it's important.

13:15 The Sadducees and Pharisees

So let's start with the Sadducee. So effectively, it was a party. Okay? It was a system of belief, a political system at the time. Now, it would have been a theocracy, so still they were following God's law.

Okay? We wouldn't understand that in our form of government, but essentially, this was one end of the spectrum, one side of the aisle. You've heard that term before. These were the aristocrats. They were very conservative.

Okay? They were probably very rich as well. Many of the priests were Sadducees. Okay? The chief priests at this time would have been a Sadducee.

Okay? They they were favorable to the Romans. They had worked things out with the Romans. Okay? They said, okay.

You stay on your side of the block. I'm gonna stay on mine. We're gonna do our thing. You're gonna do your thing. But they would have worked things out, so they still were in power and would have, if not reported to the Romans, had very close ties to the Romans.

Okay? They were looking for a Messiah. They're real happy because they're rich and and famous and in good shape. They didn't need one. Right?

They were sitting here saying, I'm good with the status quo. Quote, if you bring in a Messiah, you bring in some other power, I'm gonna lose what I got. Right? That's gonna mess things up for me. Their distinctive beliefs, so they only believed in the written law.

And we'll talk about the Pharisees a minute, the opposite of that. No traditions or precedent added to it. They denied the resurrection, which is interesting because that's the question they asked. That's last the question they asked. We'll talk a little bit more about this that Ray addressed last week and they said, what about the resurrection?

Is it true? And Jesus said, no. Or yes, it is true. Okay, you're wrong. No, you're wrong.

It is true. Okay? And we'll talk a little bit more about that as we go forward. The denying the existence of angels, good and evil are the result of our actions only. It's a 100% about me.

What I do is the end. Okay? And it's interesting. I read this note somewhere that says that there's no record of a sadducee in the church, which is interesting. You know?

I don't know if that's true. I don't know how somebody could say that, but that's that's what's one scholar said. Okay. Now this is one side of the aisle. Let's jump over to the other side of the aisle.

Right? These are the Pharisees. Okay? This was probably the most influential sect or group at the time, and they had distinguishing garb that they wore. They had special dress because they wanted to stand out.

They were... They wanted to be considered a separatist. One that was separate from the masses, separate from others. Look at me. I'm different.

Three characteristics of them was that they believed they were very legalistic. Okay? Legal legalism was prone and very important. Nationalistic. Okay?

They had nationalism. Go go Jerusalem. Go Israel. You know? Very prideful in that.

And then they had formalized their religion. They had written it down. They had it figured out. They were expanding upon it. They were, you know, trying to make sure this was clear to everybody.

Okay? Strict adherence to the law was very important to them and they believed in predestination. They believed in immortality of the soul or the resurrection. They believed in a messianic hope. They wanted to see the Messiah come.

Despised Herod, hated Rome, wanted this to be gone, didn't think this was the right thing. So frequently, as I mentioned, the chief priests were sided on that side. Okay? So a lot of times we talk about the Sadducees and they talk about the chief priests, we're kind of talking about same folk. Okay?

On the other side, we're talking about the scribes. These were teachers or rabbis, maybe professors of sorts. They may have been fanatic or extreme, very arrogant because they had worked out their religion in their own minds. Okay? And their own practices, their own their own teaching to the point where they thought they were better than everybody else.

But the scribes were the legal folk, okay, if you will. They held the office or they were the leaders. They were the ones that were teaching this religion. And then the elders is another one. These were folks who were local representatives.

Right? Maybe they were tribal leaders or from a certain area of of the town or countryside, but the... These all made up the tribunal, known as the Sanhedrin. This is the group we're talking about. So, again, we we throw all these terms around, but there's a reason to understand what they believed and why and why they're saying what they're saying, I believe.

So the Sadducees didn't want any change. Okay? They like the status quo. It was okay with them. You know, so what if Rome does their thing as long as they're keeping the peace, I got my money still.

I'm okay. That's an exaggeration but for the purpose of making the point. On the other hand, the Pharisees were like, look, we are proud of what we've built here. We think we know how to get to God. We've written it down.

We've expanded on it. We know better than everybody else. And so they had a pride about them and a national pride too. They really wanted to see Rome go on. It's interesting that we we mentioned a little bit that Jesus rejected both sides.

He said, you're wrong. There is a resurrection, okay? And you'll see here as we're going forward in in in this section that he's going to tell the Pharisees, you know, you don't have it right either, okay? So, the whole system, both sides of the aisle, they all he was saying, this is not the right way. Either way you look at it, any way you look at it, the two agreed on one thing.

They didn't want Jesus in charge. That's clear, okay? Jesus threatened both sides or all of them or how they say that down south, all y'all, right? They they affected everybody. He didn't want them there.

19:54 Why everyone was going to Jerusalem: Passover

Passover. What's that? Passover. They were going there for Passover. Right?

And we have to remember, Passover. Something's ringing a bell. Passover. What's that all about? Right?

So it is Passover, and here's the first Passover. It talks about it in Exodus chapter 12. For the sake of time, I won't read that, but you can go back and read that section. We all know the story. Right?

Israel is in Egypt. They're being oppressed. They're under bondage. They're supposed to be making bricks without straw. You know, all that, do you remember the story?

And Pharaoh says, I'm going to keep him here because I need this slave labor. It's a couple generations past where Joseph was where he was a revered person of you know, the family and they got good standing but over time, they had been oppressed and put under bondage in Egypt. Know, Moses grows up in Pharaoh's household. He leaves. He wants to liberate the Jews eventually and there's this big division eventually an exodus.

All of these miracles happen where he's trying to show who's in control here, not you, Pharaoh. The lord's in control and then finally, the last night, he says, the firstborn will die. The firstborn in every household will die unless unless you do what? Unless the lord passes over and what's that all about? What about the sacrifice of a lamb, right?

And the blood that went on the lentils and then the the consumption or they ate the the lamb afterwards, right? Don't leave any of it for tomorrow. Get it all gone today. Alright? But this choice had to be made.

It was a choice of a lamb. Very important to choose the right land. Okay? Choosing the right land had these requirements. Number one, these basic requirements.

One, a year old male. Since of the first year, think most would agree, it's essentially one up to a year old. Okay? And a male, a ram, if you will, either from the sheep or the goats. And it must not have any blemish.

Okay? And then you must keep it. You must bring it in close. You must bring it in your household. Keep it close by.

For what purpose? So that you can expect it to make sure it's a good one. Okay? Now this... If if you look...

If you know anything about animal husbandry, this would not have been anything quote unquote special. Alright? You would have been looking at your flock regularly to find a ram or a couple of rams depending on the size of your herd that could service your flock would be the the the continuation of the herd. One ram can can really service maybe up to 30 or 50 ewes. Okay?

You don't need a lot of rams around. Matter of fact, if you have a lot of rams around, you've got a big problem. Okay? They start banging you in the back. Oh, did that happen to me?

You know? They start running into you. They're mean. They they wanna fight instead of doing their duty, which is taking care of you. And so you would have been looking, particularly for a year, but for a whole year.

Now a lamb, we all look at the pictures, and we know what a lamb looks like. Right? What does a lamb look like? A bag of bones. Okay?

When a lamb comes out and is born, it... You can't believe that it can stand up because it... There's only skin and bones literally that you kinda, you know, do one of these numbers and pretty soon, in a few minutes, they're up and that mama is saying, come on, come on, get up, get up because your brother's right behind you here. Let's go, let's go, you gotta get up or else we're gonna have a problem. And they get up and somehow they can bounce around and they grow rapidly so that when you have a year old lamb, a year old lamb is almost full grown.

He's capable of being full grown. He can make babies, all that kind of stuff. He's a full grown individual. Now he's gonna add weight. He's gonna add experience.

He's gonna... He he gets bigger. Right? But this is a full end. Now they would have been looking, I believe, regularly for this.

Which one's the best? Which one's the best? And now, Moses comes along and says, here's what the lord said. Take that best one. Take the one you think is best.

Pull him in close. Get him right next to your house and look at him even more carefully. And make sure he is the best. Give me your best. You are counting on this one for years to come.

I'll bet. But now I want it. Give me your best. So, I'm going to submit that Jesus was a lamb. Remember how John John brought this up earlier today.

He said, John introduced him by saying, behold the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world. Now, we talked about a lot of things in the past couple weeks and who Jesus was and what he taught and what he was teaching by example but let's not forget, this was Passover. Passover required a lamb and this is he is the perfect lamb. And I think he went through a series of inspections during this time, right? He's a year old, maybe a year old lamb sort of represents the time that he was out and about and teaching, right?

But now, he's coming in close. He's in Jerusalem. People are looking at him very closely, right? And the common people looked at him and said, we accept the people in power looked at him and said, we reject. We don't want him around here.

26:00 The Sanhedrin's response and Jesus's claims

He goes before Herod. He goes before Pilate. He is scourged. He was mocked. He was crucified.

All of which were intended to bring out the truth. I'll hit him so hard until he finally admits what it was. Okay? And then we have these testimonies of the thief on the cross. Wait a minute.

This is a righteous guy. Can't you see? He didn't do anything wrong. We did. So...

And then the certurion. Surely, this is a righteous man, Son of God. So there's a purpose, seen and unseen here, that we're looking at. A political, if you will, prop... Process and also one that's behind the scenes, this, inspection process.

So this political challenge, I will submit, orchestrated this final inspection. Everybody came. So, let's go. We wanna see it. Right?

The common people said, I wanna see Lazarus. I wanna see Jesus. I wanna see what's going on. I wanna hear it for myself. So, everybody flooded in and flooded to watch what was going to happen with Jesus, okay?

We we know that we have to put this together differently otherwise. So, if we look back a couple weeks, we can see that and we remember Andy talked about the lord coming as a king. He got a hero's welcome, right? Mostly from the popular, the common folk. He cleaned house and act as a priest, right?

He also came in and told the future. Now, that at that time was to be determined. He was, you know, saying, this temple will be torn down and it did actually get torn down later. So, he foretold the future. So, we can see those all enrolling.

We can see how they apply to our lives but these were also tests. These were also inspections if you will. Ray did the same, right? He said, there's three questions. Whose authority?

Simple answer, one unstated, that's obvious. Well, by god's authority, I'm preaching what I'm preaching. Should we pay taxes? And he said, I I agree with Ray. He kind of brushed it off, right?

Yeah, you should pay your taxes but I think also what he was saying was, it's not that kind of revolution. You can be a believer in me without Rome going away. We saw that actually happen, right? If we look back at history. You can believe it.

This is not that kind of revolution. I'm not gonna overthrow. Similar to what happened in Pharaoh. They didn't he didn't like build an army. Moses didn't build an army to run Pharaoh out.

He left on his own accord. And we already talked about. Yes, Sadducees. There is a resurrection. I don't agree with what you're saying.

So, if we take the next portion of Luke twenty forty one to 44 and compare it to the other two synaptic gospels, Matthew and Mark, and the respective sections there, and take those passages and mash them together. Okay? Because we we can learn from all of them. We'll do... Is that called a mash up?

I mean, I don't know what it is. We mash them together. That's the way I would say it. And then we say we come up with this. Okay?

This is the way I would read it in my mind, the way I understand it. It says, while the Pharisees were gathered together and Jesus was teaching in the temple, he asked everyone this question. What is it that the scribes have taught you about the Christ? Whose son is he? They said to him, the son of David, which I can see him nodding like you got it right.

That's correct. Jesus said to them, how is it then? Answer me this, how is it then that David inspired by the Holy Spirit calls him Lord when he said it in Psalm one ten one. That's not there, but that's where it came from. Right?

He says, how is it that he could be both? Here's the quote. The Lord said to my Lord, sit in my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. That's the quote. It says, if...

And then the lord says, if David then calls him lord, how can he also be his son? It's a riddle in a sense. Well, there... It's a rhetorical question too. Right?

There's there's an answer here. You should know what it is. I'm pointing to some direction. Right? And the answer is, there's only one way that he can be god and man man at the same time.

And this is a claim he makes and this is the claim the the final inspection. How can we have a Passover lamb that can take away my sins? I can't sacrifice enough for me, let alone you. I can't work my way to heaven. How can we find a lamb that's perfect?

One that can be a perfect sacrifice. That can take away the sin of the world. There's only one way. He can only be perfect if he's god. That's the only answer that makes sense in this particular question.

And so here's the response too. He said, and no one was able to answer him a word nor from that day on did anyone dare ask him a question anymore. So Jesus kinda went into this and said, I'm gonna ask you a question. Answer is obvious. Mic drop.

Right? Done. I'm done here. This is the end of the examination. I...

I'm claiming to be God, and that's the only way I could be sacrificed. Now you don't understand it right now. They didn't understand it right now, but you will later. You'll put it together. You'll understand that they did these things to him and that he is the perfect sacrifice.

31:58 How people respond to Jesus

Even when he had diminished mental capacity, instinctively, he could tell things were happening. He could tell when somebody was picking on my mom. He could tell when something wasn't going right and it bothered him. And I could see that in him. He didn't know what to do with that.

But instinctively, I look back over his life. That's the way he was instinctively. Knew that. I believe instinctively, these kind of people said, this makes sense. This makes sense.

Was there any blemish? Can you find any blemish on the lord? Is he perfect? I'd say yes. Okay.

So, let's talk a little bit about these scribes, scribes. These these guys are really about it. Right? They they had a systematic a practice of systematic study. They were trying to preserve or preserve the law and expound upon it.

Okay? It was a professional occupation. Maybe they were like Paul and they were tent makers and they had another occupation, but many times I think they probably got a stipend and maybe not always the way they should have, right? People were paying them to teach them, okay? They were probably probably most of them were part of the Pharisees party.

They were in office. They dressed nice. They were respected for their knowledge. They developed these teaching communities. People would say, I'm of and I'm of, that kind of thing.

Right? I I learned from so and so, Galileo, whatever those... That guy's name was. They had very difficult teaching. And so the the people relied on these teachers to teach them.

Most of them were probably illiterate. Many of them were qualified, therefore, to be in the Sanhedrin. Okay? But now in and of itself, if you just read that list, did does this sound bad? They were trying to be about the law.

They were trying to be good people of god. They they did it professionally, sometimes to their own expense but what is what is the next section of Luke say? It says, you you guys, 20 to four... 45 to 47 says, y'all wear long robes to make... To show off the best dressed in town.

He has special greetings in the marketplace. Probably people had to say, oh, professor. Oh, rabbi. Oh, you know, that kind of thing. They expected that kind of thing.

They had the best seats in the synagogues, the best places at the feast. They were honored. Sometimes, you combine, you know, teaching somebody about what the lord says with money, it goes haywire, okay? That's one thing I think we can learn here and they had these long false prayers and what does the lord say about that? You will receive greater condemnation.

The hearts of the people are in your hands. You're teaching them and you're teaching them wrong and you're teaching them from a lofty position. That's not okay. Rejection of the Pharisees now. It's it's said that they built a fence around the law.

And this is an interesting concept. You're so worried about breaking the law, you put a fence around it. Sometimes we put up a fence, and what do we do? We keep something in. Sometimes we put up a fence, like for a new tree.

We try to keep something out. Well, I don't wanna break the law. So I'm gonna take a step back from the law, what I know to be the law, and make sure I don't break the law. It's kind of a hard concept to understand, but let me try and explain it to you this way. If if I wanna avoid a sweet, for whatever reason, reduce my girth or whatever the case would be, I can walk past...

Roger, you're not gonna believe this. I can walk past Mitchell's ice cream. Jog of maple walnut. A good thing. It's only here for a couple weeks in the spring but I'll tell you, if there's something in the house that I can't walk past, you know what it is?

A chocolate chip cookie. I can't walk past a chocolate chip cookie. We make chocolate chip cookies and we take them to prayer meetings so we only have a couple before they go. Everybody else eat them. Thank you for helping us out.

But the point is, I can't walk past that. Now, I could say, I can't eat chocolate chip cookies, so you know what, don't make them. That solves the problem, right? Yeah, but the ingredients are still there. If the chocolate chips are there, I want a chocolate chip cookie.

So I tell you what, let's not buy chocolate chips. Let's say, you know what, don't tempt me when I walk through Giant Eagle, right? I have to walk by that list of chocolate chips. I petition Giant Eagle, Get those out of here. I could go to the government and say, please, we need to outlaw chocolate chips.

Don't don't laugh. This has happened. Look up the history on the eighteenth amendment and then the twenty first amendment. If you wanna understand what I'm trying to say. The point is that it isn't about the chocolate chip cookie.

But I built a fence around my issue. I built a fence around that law that I put in front of myself to say, I don't wanna eat a chocolate chip cookie. Okay? That's what I mean by building a fence, making it more difficult than it actually has to be. And that's the point that these guys were making.

37:48 Beware of the scribes' sinister evil

Sorry. Can't think of that right now. And a mite was of Jewish mint. It wasn't a Roman mint. In other words, it was a Jewish coin, and it was the lowest value thing.

Think of this. It was out of copper and worth a fraction of a penny. Does anybody remember when you could actually go and and buy penny candy? George, you remember that? And and it wasn't just, you know, like you got a, you know, a fraction of a, you know, little piece.

You got a couple pieces of candy when you were a kid. It was called penny candy, Ralph. Here's a penny. Maybe it's worth less than that, but it was worth something to this widow. Now, this is the second time, the previous passage, he talked about devouring widows' houses.

Basically, you all come up with these rules, you all come up with these fences, you all come up with this extra stuff that takes a house away from a widow. And now he starts... He says, now look at this widow. She just... So there's something about widows that are important, I think.

He's trying to make that point. And what is it about it? Widows were an extreme extreme economic pressure or distress. They didn't have a a a husband to provide for them. And if they didn't have a son to provide for them or somebody wasn't benevolent to them or do something for them.

They were they were stuck. To doing things like begging or maybe prostitution or other things and and if if they were old and frail, they they were probably prevented from even that, Okay? Go read the book of Ruth and think about Naomi in that perspective. Okay? No home.

They can't work. But somehow, it appears this widow was provided for. Right? It says that others gave out of their abundance. It's what they didn't need.

Right? This is... Forgive me for saying it because some of you are big fans of this guy, but this is the Dave Ramsey method. Right? I have a month's salary on reserve.

I have insurance that takes care of me if I have a problem. I know what my car repairs are going be and then, then I can give, right? That's backwards. I know you're a teacher, brother. So I I don't wanna offend you.

But that's... And and then I can give is backwards. We we would say you wanna give first, but still, the point is this idea that they would give after they were taken care of. What does she give? It says, out of her poverty but essentially, I think the translators would say, all that she had.

She gave everything. That's all. She reached in her pocket. That's only thing she had and she put those two in. She gave all.

She gave everything. Now, what's the message here? It's about her heart attitude. Was she suicidal? I'm going to give all because I'm going to commit suit.

No. I don't think so. Was she trying to be more righteous than others? No. I think she kind of did it a little bit on the slide.

Tink, tink. Tink, tink. She would have had to follow all these guys who were clunk, splash. Tink, tink. There she was.

I think it's about faith. I think she realized. You know what? My husband died and I didn't think I had anything left to live for. I didn't think anybody was going to take care of me.

I didn't know what was going to happen but you know what? I've been taken care of. The lord is taking care of me. Somebody was benevolent to me. Somebody helped me out and you know what?

I don't need these. This is abundance to me. The Lord will take care of me. Tink, tink. And drop those widows and those mites in here.

He will provide because I know he has provided. Remember this story? What are those? Two sparrows, right? The story says, the sparrows don't reap and they don't sow.

But what do they do? They eat and they're not worried about it. Can you imagine being a sparrow getting up every day and saying, where am I going to find my seed today? Well, we went to this place yesterday. No, that's all done.

It's all out of there. We we we can't go there. Let's go over here. I don't know, but they just go. And they are provided for very well.

Have you ever looked carefully at a sparrow? Very carefully. I pulled this picture up because it's ornithologically correct they say, right? Meaning, it's what a sparrow looks like. Have you ever seen one of these around a sparrow's neck?

No? Nope. Why not? Because they don't collect. They don't have to have a basket because they don't have to worry about the seed for tomorrow.

They don't have to have money to buy for the seed for today. They don't carry it around. They just go and look and there it is for em. Can we have that kind of faith? Maybe this widow had that kind of faith.

Have you ever been without something? It's easy for us to talk about money but how about have you ever been without the ability to solve a problem? Have you ever been to the point where you've been disappointed by your parents? Have you ever had your kids in a point where you can't help them? Have you ever been without something?

Whatever that is. You might be holding on to two little mites of hope. Two little mites that maybe I could solve that problem. Because she could have done that and said, you know what? These two little mites will help you eat for a day.

I can't afford to give them up. But she didn't. She said, you know what? The Lord's gonna provide for me. Do you, can you give your two little mites?

Your last hope, your last penny. Can you give your last penny and say, you know what? I give it up. Lord, you're going have to take this one because I don't have an, I don't have enough. Can we believe like that?

44:21 Review: Is he worthy?

Is he worthy? Is he worthy? I'd say, yeah. Under careful inspection by many, and I would choose to challenge you to inspect the lord Jesus and see if he will find any blemish in him. You see, you have find any reason not to believe.

Even if you have believed, it's a good thing to do to make sure we are believing. It's a careful inspection that needs to be done and if you do a careful inspection, I'm going to submit the scripture say, you will not find a blemish. Number two, beware. Don't settle for the cheap imitation of where people, man had created a religion. That's cheap.

That's not the lord Jesus. The lord Jesus says, it's in me you're saved, not in that religion, not in that man made system. So, if you're going to put your face somewhere, don't put it there and can you believe? Can you depend on him only? He provided for the widow, I believe.

He's provided for us. And I bet many of you around here could tell you... Tell people... Tell stories of testimony how he provided for me. I provided for you.

He can be believed. I think he is. There's that song out, who sings that song? Is he worthy? He is.

Is it Chapman or Chapman or... I forget. We sang it here. Chris Tomlin. Chris Tomlin.

Is he worthy? He is. Let's pray. Father, we're grateful again. Lord, we thank you that your your son is worthy.

We're thankful that that he has done all for us. Lord, if we could only take one step forward, we can believe all that. We're glad that that you provided him for us. Take us, lord, into our day and support us with these promises. It's in your son's name that we do pray.

Amen.

Is He Worthy — Luke 20-21

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Is He Worthy — Luke 20-21

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