"16 But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children, 17 and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds."
20 Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. 21 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. 24 Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you."
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What makes being a defender of the faith so challenging is not only the false religions, false Christians, but because tolerance has become the chief virtue of our culture and since the culture always creeps into the church, the church today is decidedly against anything that at hints judgement or criticism.
Christian culture has followed in the footsteps of a morally deficient worldly culture, tragically mistaking God’s grace to mean that we get a daily allotment of free passes for sin. Over the years, I have been repeatedly criticized for not understanding God's grace, because of my firm position that a lifestyle of sin is evidence that we are not truly saved. It would seem today, that love and correct doctrine are somehow directly opposed to one another. And, if we are forced to choose, we choose love and ignore doctrinal error.
God
has always had strong words for those who live ungodly lives. But the
strongest words of all are reserved for those who teach and live that
way and claim they represent God. I realized that as a pastor, the grave
importance of Peter's message all the more! Again, the burden of Truth is on
us who teach and we must know where to draw the lines between right and
wrong.
Rather
than calling people to holiness, they appeal to their fleshly lusts,
claiming because God loves them, He surely wouldn't want them to deprive
themselves of every pleasure. Even those Christ says will not inherit
His but will be cast into the lake of fire.
Let
me be very clear; there's no half way point with God, Jesus didn't go
half way to the cross! We're not half way saved! It's all or not at all.
We are not granted the privilege to pick and choose what and when we
will obey His Word.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
In His name we ask and pray
Amen
Today's Message: The Sin of indifference
If you will remember in our last message, Jesus spoke about the greatness of John the Baptist, saying those those who received John, had also received the one of whom John spoke. And, by doing so, have received the Kingdom in their hearts. What a powerful Truth in a world that rejects sound teaching. Men must listen, they must hear and they must rightly respond when confronted with the truth of God, When given a choice, we know that they do not listen, they do not act on it, but choose to reject it.
We know that doubt can occur, as it did with John the Baptist. Up until now, Matthew has given us several reports as to how people responded to Jesus. Now, Jesus is going to talk about other responses which are actually very common and much more serious. Criticism and indifference. Criticism and indifference is a shocking assessment of how many have responded to the gospel of Christ. In spite of Jesus' popularity, there is very little repentance among so called Christians in the church today. Their defense is, they've never done anything to repent for. That will be their condemnation!
In our text, Jesus indicts those who had heard His preaching, witnessed His miracles and now the work of His disciples. Much like today, they wanted a "have it your way" Messiah. They wanted nothing to do with Jesus, unless He was willing to conform to their personal desires and selfish expectations. Because they did not repent, Jesus rebukes them. The church today needs to understand, Jesus came not to to attract a huge following, but rather to call sinners to repentance. A truth that is often misunderstood
and tragically ignored in today's teaching. Many self-proclaimed followers of Christ are absolutely implacable. I strongly caution each of you to examine your own hearts, to insure you are not among them.
Jesus posed the question as if to say "How can I make this point, liken it to something in life that will make it clear, in a way you'll understand. This was a very common practice in Rabbinic teaching. Then, He says " It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children, and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’"
Whenever there was a wedding, a great processional went through town, there would be the bride, the bridegroom, the friend of the bridegroom, and all of the ladies who were waiting on the bride, it was like a parade going through town. The people were hopping around and dancing with joy, while flutes and pipes were being played. It was quite a celebration. So the children would gather and some little boy and girl would pretend to be the bride and groom. Somebody would be blowing a whistle or play a flute while all the rest of the children would dance around mimicking what the adults did.
When there was a funeral, they would lift up the body, carry it through town with all the family and friends of the deceased following along. They would hire women to wail, and moan, lament and they would beat on themselves. It was common for people to strike themselves they would cry. The kids of course saw this, and they would play, pretending to have weddings and funerals. However, children being children, there were some children who didn’t want to play and would say things like "We don’t want to play your stupid game." No matter what the game is, there's always some children who do not want to play along. So they sit and watch, criticizing the other children. There's a lot of adults in the church like that today, they dislike the worship service being too long or too short, the worship music isn't what they prefer, the pastor doesn't wear the right kind of clothes, so they sit and criticize the worship service.
That's why in verse 17, Jesus said, "We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’" They were fickle, and nothing satisfied them. So He compared them to children who complained. Then He continues the theme of His relationship to John the Baptist, letting them have it. Verse 18, "For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’"
When Jesus and His disciples came along, both eating and drinking, and they accused Him
of being a glutton and a drunkard, and worse yet, One associated
with sinners.
In verse 19 He says, "The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds." To further explain the parable, John came in funeral mode, lived in the desert, dressed in a camel’s hair cloak, eating locusts and wild honey with message of judgment and fiery condemnation. Jesus came as a wedding celebration, attracting large crowds wherever He went, eating and drinking. He was in the temple and the synagogues, going from village to village, healing the lame, the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead.
Because John wasn't social, they criticized him. He insisted on repentance. Jesus mingled with many kinds of different people, sharing their sorrows and their joys. He insisted on salvation. Both testified to the truth, they weren't looking for the truth. Though Jesus and John were completely different, this generation still found fault, and rejected them both. Look at the end of verse 19; "Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds." They were critical of both Jesus and John, it was a matter of their hearts.
So, in verse 20, the gentleness of verse 19 is gone and judgement begins. "Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent."
John came to bring the nation of Israel to repentance. When that didn't happen, Jesus offers stinging words of rebuke to those cities that had greatest contact with Him and who had witnessed the most miracles. Still they will not acknowledge their sin, instead their guilt becomes aggravated, which is what eventually lead them to have Him crucified. People do not have to do something to go to hell; they just have to do nothing. It's the sin of indifference.
In verse 21, His fury and righteous judgement of wrath intensifies; "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes."
"Woe to you," would have been a very familiar phrase to the Jewish people. The prophets of old would pronounce the judgment of God on cities beginning with the same phrase. By the way ,a woe is a curse, a promise of doom, and of judgment. Though Jesus is referring to those cities, cities are just streets and buildings; He's talking about the people in those cities. They had the privilege of witnessing Jesus perform miracles in order to demonstrate His divine nature, to cause them to repent; but they responded in indifference, as if they had seen nothing. Jesus performed His mighty works in these Galilean cities, He went from village to village, healing sickness and disease, the lame, sight to the blind, casting out demons, raising the dead, you name it. In fact no cities had a greater privilege of witnessing the overwhelming evidence that they had. But they did not repent. In other words, the greater the privilege, the greater the responsibility there is to respond to Christ.
Today, we have a generation unable to be satisfied. A generation known for it's discontentment, dissatisfaction, it's sexual immorality, idolatry, anger, hated and violence. As such, it
cannot please God and will not inherit the kingdom of God. Let me tell you something, it is far better to know nothing about Jesus Christ, than to know anything about Him and reject Him, by living in disobedience to what Scripture clearly calls sin. Those who truly belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the flesh, along with its lusts, passions and sinful desires. In a generation claiming to be "born this way," you can turn your life around, by becoming "born-again. I beseech you to do so!
I have often been asked why Jesus would deliver such strong language against these cities, He ministered to the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. The answer is simple; He had given them overwhelming evidence, they should have been stopped in their tracks, but they did not repent. Church, we have to acknowledge that even many Christians have no difficulty living in sexual immorality and orgies, idolatry and drunkenness. How quickly we condemn the sins of others, while overlooking our own. We often feel that our sin is tolerated, if not justified, before a Holy God. Sin has been tolerated, even celebrated among the professed people of God for far too long. We have effectively redefined sin as applying to others and not ourselves, as any transgression outside of societal norms, and whatever offends a particular group of people. Allow me to remind you, this is not the historic understanding of sin found in Scripture! All sin whether yours, mine or theirs is vile, wicked, evil and is abhorrent to God. This is not what God want out of a believer. That's not the reason Christ died on the cross is so that believers would get a "free pass" on sin.
Sin is not just some faux pas that hurts feelings or offends others. Though our actions certainly do injure others. All sin is vile, wicked, evil and is abhorrent to God. How you live affects your worship, how you worship affects your eternity.
Hebrews 10:26 tells us "For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins."
As a footnote, Chorazin, was a small village 2 1/2 north of Capernaum is now extinct. There's nothing left but ruins. Bethsaida was more north and west, above the Sea of Galilee. You will remember, it was the town that Andrew and Peter originally came from. Capernaum was Jesus headquarters, they had seem many miracles. In fact, John 21:25 says "And there are also
many other things which Jesus did, which if they *were written in
detail, I suppose that even the world itself *would not contain the
books that *would be written."
Historically, Tyre and Sidon were considered to be deplorable cities to the Galilean Jew. They were proud, immoral, avaricious, cruel pagan cities deep in the pit of Baal worship. Amos denounces them in his prophecy. The prophet Jeremiah says that God will pour out the winepress of wrath on them. Ultimately, it's because of their vile wretchedness that God destroyed them. Yet, Jesus says "For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." These Jews had seen His miracles, they had heard our Lord speak but were unable to perceive God in their midst. They were worse off than Tyre and Sidon. What an indictment!
Look at verse 22, "Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you."
To the Jew, there was absolutely nothing worse than the Gentiles. So Jesus says "It will be better for them than it will be for you." Notice the phrase "more tolerable," that tells us there are degrees of punishment in hell. Capernaum, where the Lord made His home during His ministry, was the guiltiest of them all. They had the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God eating and drinking, walking in their midst, and they knew Him not. How scathing were Jesus’ words to these se;f-righteous religious leaders, who because they were Abraham's seed, thought themselves be marked safe for eternity in the Kingdom of God.
When a culture is no longer characterized by the Living God, sin prevails in that generation. Our society and the church are without Truth, a moral standard, they have rejected the righteousness of Christ. Spiritually bankrupt preachers, agents of Satan marked out for condemnation, continue to name the name of Christ, celebrating their ungodly manipulation of the Word, full of greed and self-indulgence, flourishing by teaching demonic doctrine affirming sin, damning the people of God, who flaunt their wretchedness in the streets in the face of a Holy God, believing that on the day of judgement they will somehow escape being brought before His throne to be judged, condemned to hell for their eternal punishment.
America, a nation who has turned it's back on God, is worthy of extinction. Woe to you, hypocrites! Destroying souls, corrupting the faith of those who look to you for guidance! Those called by God are not to be destroyers of souls. Among the professed people of God will be found liars and backstabbers, adulterers, fornicators, sexually immoral; they protest the teaching of sound doctrine, because it's insensitive and offensive to others feelings, while contending that they want to see Christ exalted and God glorified!
It's not worshiping God when you choose to engage in every salacious behavior. More concerned about rejoicing at wrongdoing than serving the Living God, it is an embarrassment to the Church of our Lord. Surely you will not be exalted to heaven, will you? Lest you repent, and turn from your wickedness, the final sentencing of fire and brimstone awaits you.
In verse 23, He continues His indictment, "And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day."
The arrogance of Capernaum is reminiscent of the arrogance of Sodom, a city populated by homosexuals, who tried to rape angels when the two angels showed up to visit Abraham. To the Jew, Sodom was the worst because God wasn’t there. Capernaum, as far as we know did not have a homosexual problem, they didn't attack God’s people but they did reject Christ, they ignored Him. And that brings about the deepest damnation. And so He say's "You will descend to Hades." To obtain a better understanding of the word Hades, it sometimes refers to waiting place for the dead, the grave, In the Old Testament, they used the Hebrew word Sheol. However, sometimes it's used with more specificity. Matthew uses it in the sense of hell, a place of torment.
In Luke 16, Jesus tells the story of the rich man and Lazarus, saying "In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.And he cried out and said, ‘Father
Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip
of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’"
That brings us to verse 24, "Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you."
The heathen are condemned because they have rejected the revelation God has provided them. The torment of Capernaum will exceed that of the torment of Sodom, worthy of severer judgment. This is an incredibly devastating indictment! Comparing Capernaum to Chorazin and Bethsaida in privilege; Tyre, Sidon Sodom in wickedness is the ultimate contrast. That should have been enough to cause them to run in terror, because they had no need of Him, it didn’t matter to them, believing they were righteous already, they were indifferent rather than repent. Hell will be even hotter for them!
In Closing..
Self-righteous people never admit their sin, "I never did anything wrong," is all too commonly their response, as they slip into a destructive condition. Sin seems to just continue to flourish in these people. Someday, like it or not, they are going to stand before the Holy and Righteous Judge and in their indifference to Christ, they will bring upon themselves a more severe judgment.
Regular church attendance and tithing, nor doing good deeds will make you a Christian. For even the godless find themselves in church from time to time, be it a wedding, funeral or holiday service. In fact, both Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler were baptized as infants by well-intentioned parents, just look how they turned out! Being a Christian is one in submission to Christ, and a life of obedience through a transformed life. Much of what is being passed off as Christianity today, is people continuing to live is the same sinful patterns they did before they decided to call themselves a "Christian."
We are called to be more than mere name, to do more than just share our faith, but with love and compassion we must boldly warn the lost of the judgment that is to come. It's true, we may offend more than a few people but if we can bring even one, two or twenty more to Christ, it will have been worth it!
May it be so..
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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