Through the Bible - Deuteronomy 26-27, Mark 15:21-47
Good morning,
You may have noticed that many of the Verse for the Day verses have been coming from Matthew lately. Part of that is because the read through the Bible plan brought me through it and Pastor Bob's series "The X Factor" about going the extra mile had a lot to do with the sermon on the mount. A couple of the devotionals that I read have also been going through Matthew. Moody's "Today in the Word" is spending the month of March going through this book and Ligonier Ministries "Tabletalk Magazine" is taking the year to go through it.
Going through it in this kind of detail and repetition reveals so much about the completeness of Jesus ministry to teach to preach and to heal. It also reveals how His message is contrary to the "easy believism" that so many promote today.
Today's verse comes from Matthew 7 in a passage that closes out the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount. It continues with the theme of hearing, knowing, and obeying.
Matthew 7:24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. NKJV
The passage reveals a lot about our lives and the choices that we make every day. In Matthew 6 we were shown that we can't have two masters, our lives will show who or what is our master.
This passage breaks this down in several contrasts. Here we have two gates, two ways, two destinations, two groups of people (13,14), two kinds of trees and two kinds of fruit (17-20), two groups at the judgement (21-23), and two kinds of builders as we see in today's verses and following.
MacArthur comments that "Christ is drawing the line as clearly as possible between the way that leads to destruction and the way that leads to life."
Which way or path are you on?
There is something else that comes from spending extra time in reading and studying a book while reading through the Bible. You see how the same themes are repeated from the Old and New Testaments.
Read the passage, how does it relate to "easy believism"?
If you haven't been reading through, try reading today's O.T. passage in Deuteronomy 26-27 and see how it relates to Matthew's gospel.
In Christ,
Mike
The Narrow Way
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because[a] narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
I Never Knew You
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Build on the Rock
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
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