JULY 09 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#21 “What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep, forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” (Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

 

JULY 09  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#21  

“What do you think about fish, taxes, lost sheep,

 forgiveness, and your fellow servants?” 

(Matthew 17:25, 18:12,33)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Your Peace is freely offered yet we struggle 

to release ourselves from the chains of our past sins which 

You have already won the victory over?!?!? 

Lord Teach me as only You can that when You died on the cross 

that it was for ALL sin, EVERY sin of the past,

 EVERY sin in progress today, and EVERY single sin 

that we WILL COMMIT in our future!!! 

Lord let me hear Your words as You gave Your last 

drop of Precious Blood for the atonement of my sins —

 “It is finished!” 

— Yes !!! 

The Work of God has been accomplished, our sins ARE FORGIVEN !!! 

Lord do not let me go on trying to drag my sin around with me,

 I am powerless against it and it is nothing more than dead weight 

of guilt and shame that drags me down, 

Lord I lay my sin at Your feet and pray for the spiritual strength

 of weakness to not pick it up again!    

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus Teaches us a Lesson and we should pay close attention 

but if Jesus Teaches the same Lesson more than twice it is 

VERY important that we “think” about it long enough 

and from the right “spiritual” viewpoint to see the

 Truth of God

 that God Himself has declared important enough 

that He would send His Only Begotten Son to Teach us!

 It should impress us that God would allow His ONLY BEGOTTEN SON

 to be born of flesh and suffer innocently through all the temptations

 that the creation must suffer in this world that was once a paradise

 but through our own iniquities the world has become a cesspool of sin. 

Jesus makes it clear that the world is in deep trouble with God 

and there is an upcoming judgment because of sin 

— and this is not the first time Jesus has Taught this Lesson! 

In this section Jesus gives us several warnings, 

first Jesus tells us that we must change our direction of our convictions

 of how we live our daily lives when He states:

 

“Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted 

and become as little children, 

you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” 

(Matthew 18:3) 

Jesus continues stressing the importance of us entering 

the kingdom of heaven through Him when He says plainly: 

“Whoever receives one little child like this

 in My name receives Me” 

and then Jesus tacks on a warning, 

“But whoever causes one of these little ones 

who believe in Me to sin, 

it would be better for him if a millstone 

were hung around his neck, 

and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” 

(Matthew 18:6) 

So there Jesus says that the “unconverted sinner” will be judged guilty!!!

 We should note that Jesus Teaches we should “convert” from 

being men seeking personal “greatness” to being humble

 like innocent children and if we “think” about that for a minute

 we will see that when we are “innocent” that we do not seek “greatness”

 and the problem with seeking “worldly” greatness is that the 

“road to worldly success” leads down the path of destruction

 that is paved with sin 

and that pathway is very broad for our sins are many. 

Jesus Teaches this same Lesson in the next verse as He warns more severely:

 “Woe to the world because of offenses! 

For offenses must come, but woe to that man

 by whom the offense comes!” (Matthew 18:7) 

No one can read this section of scripture and escape the fact that 

our sins are an “offense” to God and that

 there is going to be severe penalties to pay

 for our transgressions against God 

for Jesus continues to warn us by listing the consequences for our sinful actions.

 Jesus already listed one consequence 

(C1) “drown in the depth of the sea” and now Jesus throws in 

several more “visuals” for us to imagine in the form of punishment — 

(C2) “if your hand or foot causes you to sin, 

cut it off and cast it from you” (Matthew 18:8) — 

(C3) “if your eye causes you to sin, 

pluck it out and cast it from you” (Matthew 18:9) 

Then to make sure we understand that it is sin 

that causes us to lose our direction

 Jesus makes a clear definitive statement of why 

He is on earth Teaching us about sin when He says:

 “For the Son of Man has come 

to save that which is lost.” (Matthew 18:11)

 This section should Teach us that we should “repent” of our sin 

(which Jesus used the term “convert”)

 to avoid the penalty of sin that will be judged by God Himself and as always

 Jesus tells us how to resolve our sin problem 

and paints a “positive visual” of the judgement 

when He says that “if” we “convert” 

we will “see the kingdom of heaven” 

and twice Jesus used the term “enter into life” 

then Jesus promises that if we “become as children” 

we will have “angels” assigned to guard us 

from sin and that the “Father” in heaven 

will always look over His “converted” children 

— and the picture I got was that if I become as a little child 

that I will have a personal audience with [our] 

“Father who is in heaven” 

and be rewarded with eternal life rather than staying lost

 in my sin and end up with a 

“millstone hung around my neck” 

and 

“drowning in the depth of the sea”.

 Which vision fits your spiritual eye, 

being cast into hell fire or entering into life 

being protected and provided for by our Father in heaven?