MARCH 09 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

 MARCH 09  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord, IN YOU  there is a peace that the world just cannot offer, there is nothing in the world, not fortune nor fame, that can provide the Peace that comes from knowing You, for Your PEACE is PRICELESS. 

Lord Jesus, I praise You for knowing my heart and my thoughts for You — Your Lovingkindness knows just how to speak those well placed and perfectly timed Words of Grace just when we need them most and this morning as I awoke with a cloud on my spirit You spoke to me through the inspired verses Deb made for my desktop as I read this “personalized” verse: 

“You will have perfect peace if you keep focused on Me, Lanny.” (Isaiah 26:3)    

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS never Teaches just one Lesson so when we look at The JESUS Questions project we should keep in mind that all His Questions are Lessons from God that reveal the Truth of God and since it is the Son of God Himself doing the “Teaching” we should let the Holy Spirit illuminate our thinking as we study each Question; Jesus will always Teach the “obvious” Lesson but there will always be a “personal” Lesson that God has for each person that studies His Word. 

Think of this “personal” Lesson like this: Imagine there are 7 people and they are standing in a circle and in the center of their circle is a box with writings on every side of the box. The box is holding an artifact that no one recognizes and the question is asked: “What is in the box?” There is only 1 box and 1 artifact but there are 7 different unique viewpoints to answer the 1 question. 

The “obvious” answer is that there is “something” in the box but when each one goes to describe the artifact from their unique viewpoint there will be seven different answers, some may have a prior “unique” experience in their past that will help them recognize what the artifact is or “is like” and others may read the writings on their side of the box, but there remains the Obvious Truth that there is a box and the box contains an artifact but to fully understand “purpose” and “meaning” each individual will have to examine not only the box and the artifact but each individual must also consider their “unique” position within the circle of other individuals surrounding the box and the artifact. 

Jesus IS the Son of God and knows what is in each individual’s heart 

and keep in mind that God placed every star in the universe in their place 

so why is it difficult to believe God has placed each one of us in our “unique” place in time to give us a “unique” viewpoint? 

With each Lesson/Question Jesus is able to Teach each individual the “obvious” Truth of God and at the same time Jesus can address a “personal” circumstance “unique” to each individual. 

Because of His Infinite Knowledge and Love for us, Jesus always gives us more than we expect, and as He opens our Spiritual Eyes we naturally see different aspects of His Divine Nature. 

As I examine the context surrounding each Question encountered so far in the Gospel of Matthew, an underlying pattern is emerging that demonstrates that Jesus is building our understanding of the Father by Teaching us “precept upon precept” and “line upon line”. 

He is also developing an “Outline” to living the Christian Life if we but follow His Example, the key verse for that concept emerged today as I was looking to conclude JQ#08 and move to JQ#09 when the Holy Spirit directed me to use Matthew 9:9-13 as the conclusion of JQ#08 and a summary of JQ#01-JQ#08. 

Let’s start with Matthew 9:9 where we stopped yesterday with Jesus calling Matthew, a tax collector, with these two words: “Follow Me” (Matthew 9:9) and it was noted that as soon as Jesus called Matthew that Matthew immediately responded:

 “So [Matthew] arose and followed Him. (Matthew 9:9) 

What started me on the “Summary” of JQ#1-8 was the opening line in Matthew 9:9 “As Jesus passed on from there…” and the opening line in Matthew 9:10 that reads 

“Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table [with] many tax collectors and sinners…

” and these were tied together with the last line in Matthew 9:13 which Jesus Himself summarizes “why” he has been healing, demonstrating the Power of God, and forgiving sins when He clearly states:

 “For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

 (Matthew 9:13) 

A parallel verse is in John 1:17 “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” 

Therefore the Spirit showed that in JQ#1-8 Jesus calls us personally to get involved in His Work which is to do the Father’s Will and we know from John 3:16 that Jesus is God’s Gift to those that BELIEVE in the work of Jesus. Belief in the Work of Jesus as a Gift of God results in “Eternal Life” and 

JQ#1-8 teach us that Jesus came to “heal” the “sick”, give “sight to the blind”, enable the “lame” to “walk with God”, and that Jesus came to call “sinners” to “repentance”. 

In these first 8 Jesus Questions Jesus clearly has presented His Gospel: each individual must personally recognize our need as sinners for a Savior, then we are to

 “believe” 

that Jesus is the Son of God and has the Power of God to “forgive us our sin”. 

The really Good News is found back in JQ#07 where we read: 

“ And behold , a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’ Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” (Matthew 8:2-3) 

And lastly, once we have been “healed” we are to “Arise” and “follow” Him. 

In our modern church vernacular (1) We admit we are a sinner (2) We believe Jesus is the Savior and (3) We confess before men that we have decided to

 “Follow Jesus”.

 Have you made your personal decision to live your life for Christ who is “willing” to “cleanse” you of your sin and replace your sin 

with the Gift of Everlasting Life in the Presence of God Almighty?

MARCH 08 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

 MARCH 08  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord we know that because You are Risen that we can have confidence that our sins are Forgiven. 

Because You are Risen, we can Hope for our Eternal Fellowship with You and the Father immersed in the Eternal Light of the Holy Spirit!  Lord, forgive me when I get distracted by the world, for when I think I am in control, I quickly see that there is no “Power” in me — what “Power” that is in me is there because of the Marvelous Gift of Grace!

 Lord always keep Your Life-Death-Crucifixion-Burial & Resurrection before me for when my eyes are on You, I can’t see anything but You and the Living God!    

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS healed the paralytic and there was a “multitude” that heard Jesus when He stated the Divine Truth that He had the “power on earth to forgive sins” (Matthew 9:6). It should be noted here that the “multitudes” and the “Scribes” all witnessed the same event but there were two different outcomes: (1) Those that believed Jesus, “marveled and glorified God” (Matthew 9:8) and (2) those that accused Jesus of “blasphemy” were exposed as having “evil in [their] hearts” (Matthew 9:4). 

This section also was full of examples of God’s Law of Choice and Consequence. One of God’s ways of involving our personal actions in His Work is the Gift of Free Will — God will reveal Himself and His Powers and He will make it clear what His Purpose and Intent towards us is, but He never forces us to choose Him! God wants us to be Free Agents so that we choose what we want to choose; however, He makes it perfectly clear that even though we are free to choose  our “actions” that God has already determined the “Consequence” of our “Free Will Choice”. The Truth of God IS that God NEVER changes and the “Consequence” of our actions is as constant as the effects of gravity for they are the result of God’s Law which is never changing and fairly administered to all creation.

 It is God’s Laws and His Divine Power that keeps the stars on their course through His heavens and we are able to chart our course because of that same consistency of God’s Laws.

 God declared in the Garden of Eden that the “penalty for sin is death” but He also provided an “acceptable sacrifice” to cover Adam and Eve’s sin when God killed an animal (most likely a lamb without blemish) which He then presented to Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness. 

God has been consistent to punish sin with death (i.e. the Great Flood) and yet with each judgement God gives us a choice — God told Noah to get on the ark but God did not force Noah on the ark. God rewarded Noah’s choice by giving all who chose to follow God’s instructions with “life” and those that chose not to get on the ark with “death” thereby administering faithfully His Laws. 

I challenge you to read this Matthew 9:1-9 passage again and 

consider how God’s Law of Choice and Consequence was fairly applied

 to (1) the ones that brought the paralytics to Jesus (2) some of the scribes (3) the paralytic himself and (4) the multitudes that witnessed Jesus physically healing the paralytic. It is very interesting that Jesus said “Arise and walk” in verse 5, then again in verse 6 he says “Arise, take up your bed, and go…” then in verse 7 we read that the paralytic “arose and departed”. 

The Lesson is that Jesus wants us to get personally involved and exercise our Gift of Free Will to “act” upon our belief in God. 

Jesus then in verse 9 shows that His intent is for us to “Arise and go” when Jesus tells Matthew “Follow Me” and we read that Matthew “arose and followed Him.” 

(Matthew 1-9)  

Who are you going to chose to follow — Jesus or the world of men?!?!?

MARCH 07 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

 MARCH 07  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Lord, Savior, the Prince of Peace, my Redeemer, what Joy it is to awake to a new day and to know that I will not have to face this world alone for You are with me. Lord forgive me of the many years I spent running to my sin which is nothing more than running away from You. 

Thank You Jesus for showing me that it is my sin that separates me from You and that it is the purity of our lives lived through Your strength and sacrifice that draws us nearer to You — I pray to always be moving towards the Savior that my Joy may be made full.    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS addressed a very personal issue which is universal to mankind when He addressed “evil” in JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4) Our natural tendency is to suspect that the “evil” addressed by Jesus was directed at those that had chosen to follow man’s law instead of accepting the Truth of God. Indeed, Jesus had pointed out that God is not limited to what the Pharisees and their interpretation of what God “really meant to say”. Usurping the Power of God makes the Pharisee’s actions “evil”.

 God cannot be restricted in His Power and His Divine Sovereignty by anyone or anything so for the scribes to witness God’s Power being displayed through His Only Begotten Son in the healing of the paralytic, the Pharisees should have reasoned that if only God can do the things that Jesus was doing, then Jesus must be God!!! 

Instead “at once” the scribes passed judgement on Jesus based on the Pharisee’s laws and accused Jesus of blasphemy! Jesus knew what was in their hearts so He immediately asked the scribes who were blinded by the “legalism” of their day a second question, that if answered in the Spirit of Truth, would result in their faith being elevated to the point that their spiritual blindness would be healed and they would be able to see that Jesus was what He said He was, the

 SON OF GOD sent to do the work of THE FATHER. 

The second question Jesus asked the “evil” scribes immediately was JQ#8b, 

“For which is easier, to say ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say ‘Arise and walk’?” (Matthew 9:5) 

which Jesus knew could only be answered by saying that “Only God” could heal the paralytic and “Only God” can forgive sins so both are above the power of men and only possible through the Power of God!  Jesus didn’t leave them hanging as He  immediately told them the answer: “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” — then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” (Matthew 9:6) Just as Jesus pointed out that the “evil in their hearts” was the fruit of their unbelief in Him, He immediately gave them a visual to prove He was God as Jesus commanded the paralytic to “Arise”. 

We witness the fruit of the paralytic’s belief in Jesus because the paralytic 

“arose and departed to his house”! (Matthew 9:7)

 Jesus never leaves us hanging and He always makes it clear what answer we should give. The case of the scribes and the paralytic are no different. The scribes refused to see the Truth of God and therefore the “fruit of their faith in the doctrines of men” was “evil hearts” whereas the paralytic believed Jesus and the “fruit of his faith in God” was “healing”. 

Both the scribes and the paralytic heard Jesus but it was the paralytic that believed Jesus had the Power to Heal so he received healing and the scribes refused to acknowledge what they had witnessed so their hearts remained “evil”. 

It was the tradition of the Jews that it only took two witnesses and in this case there was a “multitude” of witnesses and the verdict of the multitude was that they “marveled and glorified God” — Jesus is indeed guilty — guilty of being the Son of God! Jesus gives us the Truth of God but it is up to us to “Arise and walk”!

MARCH 06 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

 MARCH 06  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#08 “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:4)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, all Praise, Glory, and Honor to the King of kings, who by His Great Sacrifice for all mankind has earned true Praise, Glory, and Honor from all mankind for there is no other name but the Name of the One that lived a Perfect Life before God the Father, even our Lord Jesus Christ! Only the Perfect Life of the Son of God was the Acceptable Sacrifice demanded by the Perfect Father and only through the Perfect Sacrifice of the Son of God can sinners be made Perfect before the Father.

 Lord Jesus, I BELIEVE, make me Perfectly Acceptable to God!

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS always Taught us the “Truth of God” and Jesus demonstrated the Power and Greatness of the Father 

both in His earthly life and His Divine Death, Burial, and Resurrection!  

The world teaches mankind, “Do as we say, not as we do” but when Jesus came to reveal the TRUTH of the FATHER, Jesus Taught men, “Do as I do for I reveal the Truth of God but what a man does on his own is in opposition to God’s Truth.” 

JQ#08 is the first time in the gospels that Jesus directly challenged the “legal” authority that mankind had usurped from God. Some background here on the “scribes” is helpful ——— the scribes were used by the prophets and religious leaders of Israel to write down the words of God; therefore, by their association with the Holy Scriptures, the scribes were considered very important in Israel.  The Pharisees used scribes to write down man’s interpretation of what the Pharisees “thought God meant” when He spoke His Word. 

This is very similar to the situation today in America where we have a

 “Constitution of the United States of America” 

that was written down by our founding fathers but now there is a “supreme court” where officials appointed by the ruling political party write “opinions” of what they think the “Constitution” and America’s founding fathers really meant to say?!?!? 

It should be understood also that “blasphemy” was defined during the time Jesus Himself walked the earth, as taking from God the Unique and Divine authority “to forgive sin”. 

 Nowhere in the Old Testament writings studied by the Pharisees contemporary with Jesus had the Pharisees given even the Messiah Himself the “right” to “forgive sin” so when Jesus spoke to the paralytic, 

“Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you” (Matthew 9:3)

 the Pharisees started quoting their interpretation of God’s Law (as the Pharisees had determined what God had “really meant to say”) 

{see paraphrase of Genesis 3:1 “Now the [Pharisee] was more cunning than any [religious leader in Israel] which the LORD God had [put in authority] and [the Pharisee] said [to Israel] ‘Has God indeed said…’ (Genesis 3:1)} — 

the Pharisees declared that Jesus, by “forgiving sin” had called Himself “God” because according to the Pharisees interpretation of the “law” in Holy Scripture and written “officially” by the scribes, only God Himself had the Authority to “forgive sins”. 

Do you not see that Jesus is confronting “legalism” here and in TRUTH,

 Jesus is revealing that the ones that are condemning Him of “blasphemy” are really the guilty ones for usurping the authority of God from God’s Law and making man’s law the “law of the land” that the people must live by? 

When I read passages like these, the Holy Spirit stirs me to ask my contemporaries; “How is our modern laws on abortion which usurp the authority of God, any different from the law of the Pharisees which condemned our Lord Jesus Christ of “blasphemy and to death on a cross?”   

If we as Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God who was sent by God Himself and promised by God that if we will believe that God sent His Son to us as a gift that we would not have to “perish but have everlasting life” — then how can we support a “man-made law”  made by the “opinion” of man that denies the unborn their right to receive God’s gift of life? 

An “aborted unborn” has “perished” and man’s legalism is responsible for taking God’s authority and Gift of Life away from the unborn, and the “legal” death of the “unborn” can be interpreted as nothing but modern day blasphemy by America’s lawmakers resulting in the taking away of the unborn’s God-given right to life!!! 

Jesus confronted the legalists of His day and the TRUTH is that not only did Jesus demonstrate the Power of God over the “physical” by healing the paralytic, He also healed the paralytic “spiritually” by “forgiving” his sins and the “verdict” of a “jury of the (paralytic’s) peers” was that “the multitudes saw [Jesus heal the paralytic and heard Jesus say that He could forgive sin], [and] they marveled and glorified God”. (Matthew 9:8)  

Let TRUTH be our judge and jury as to the “Consequence” of our “belief” that Jesus is the Son of God! More importantly, let TRUTH guide the way we live our day-to-day lives and treat the unborn with all the dignity we demand for ourselves!  

Having a “position” in any governing body does not give anyone 

the “legal authority” to deny the “unborn” of their  

“God-given” Right to  Life!!!