Matthew's Five Discourses of Jesus Christ

As you know, on the first sermon, Sabbath of the month, for many years here, we've gone over what we call a Sabbath Bible study. And to go over the sections of the Bible, we finished 2 Thessalonians, which I learned a lot. I hope you did too, but I sure did.

Very valuable these, and I hope they're valuable to you.

Well, as you know, earlier I had been asked the previous semester of the pastoral care classes to cover the five discourses of Matthew in the Gospel of Matthew. There are five discourses Bible scholars know that there are five of them, and I will go over them in a minute with you.

But I thought I'd cover them here in our Sabbath Bible study, because I found it so beneficial, again, that I thought I'd like to share it with the congregation.

And on the pastoral care classes, we try to give a little bit more – you're talking to elders, you're talking to people who are – you know, so you want to have something that's up to scratch, that is something that elders could find interesting. And I think this congregation would as well. I'd like you to start by looking at Luke chapter 5. Luke chapter 5.

And we'll look at verse 27. Luke 5 and verse 27.

Luke 5, 27. After these things he went out – this is the beginning of his ministry – after these things he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, follow me. So he, Levi, left all, rose up and followed him. Then Levi gave him a great feast in his own house, and there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.

Tax collectors, as I think you know, were despised by the local population, the other citizens of the other Jews. And some say they weren't even welcomed in the synagogues, that they were really despised. First of all, they worked for the Romans, the oppressive Romans, and they had agreed to carry their water and raise taxes for them. And second of all, that meant they regularly associated with the Romans, which the Jews felt wasn't a good idea. You should stay with your own people and do that, so they were despised by the local population. Oldman Bible Dictionary, article, Publican. In New Testament times, people bid for the job of the chief tax collector, and then extracted the tax plus a profit from the citizens. Most of the offices were filled by Romans, although some natives got the bids. Publicans were held in the lowest esteem because of their excessive profits being placed in the same category as harlots. Remember, he referred to harlots and publicans once there. Now, it says he, Levi, decided to give him a feast.

And there were a great number of tax collectors. Now, the thing is, the tax collectors could only associate with tax collectors. So you're going to have a feast, you're going to have a feast of tax collectors. But he invited Jesus to them, and Jesus went. Verse 30, and their scribes and Pharisees complained against his disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? They wouldn't. And here's Jesus doing it, and it got them very upset.

But he was doing this. Jesus, of course, had the perfect answer. He always has the perfect answer.

Jesus asked and said to them, Those who are well have no need of position, but those who are sick.

You don't expect to see doctors with a lot of well people. You expect to see doctors with people who need help. I have come to call the right, not, I have, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. You'd expect the savior of mankind to be with people who need saved, who need salvation. So it's appropriate there that he did just what he did.

Now, Jesus saw Levi, and some think he gave him a new name.

Because in other Gospels, he's called, and Matthew was the tax collector.

Now, dictionary.com says Matthew is a proper name introduced in England by Normans and so on, and there's a Hebrew for duration of it. Anyway, it means gift of God.

Now, he's introduced in Luke as Levi, but Matthew introduces himself in Matthew 9.9 as a man named Matthew, and he uses the name consistently. So it's unclear whether Jesus gave him that new name. But if he did, wouldn't it be something if Jesus renamed you gift of God?

What an amazing thing! It may be that he had a special task for Matthew.

I mentioned how tax collectors were despised, and everything you read about them, they were totally despised. But they had one talent, one particular strength that they were really good at.

They were excellent record keepers. You can't be a test collector and not keep good records.

You've got to keep it exactly, including skimming your amount and knowing how it goes.

In the message of Matthew, put out by InterVarsity Press, page 23, it is clear from the careful plan of the gospel that he was a highly organized person.

His great contribution was to assemble this teaching and put it into some stereotype form in which it could be handed on to others. It's thought that Matthew wrote his gospel in a way that it could be used to teach. The message of Matthew was a little farther down. Most of the disciples would have found that a fishing net came more readily to hand than a pen. Not so, Matthew. He was skilled at book work, and if we are to believe the united testimony of the early Christians, he used this gift in the service of the gospel. There's a man named Paul Minear in his book, Matthew, the teacher's gospel, which is an interesting title all by itself.

He viewed the gospel as a manual to help church leaders do their work.

Again, from the message of Matthew, what we have without a doubt is the most organized account of the life and teachings of Jesus admirably adapted for the purpose of those who are called to teach the faith. So since our goal as a congregation is to become kings and priests, it seems very appropriate that we do a discussion on the teachings of Matthew. You'll remember that after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples, and he gave them their marching orders. Take a look at that in Matthew 28. I know you know it extremely well, but I'd like you to see another aspect of it that you might not have thought of. Matthew, chapter 28, and the last couple verses there in verse 16. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them, when they saw him, some worshipped and some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Verse 20, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you.

And lo, I am with you always, even till the end of the age. Now consider this. Matthew was one of those eleven. And he recorded the instruction, the instruction, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. And in five discourses he wrote down all things he commanded.

He put them together like that.

Jesus said plainly, We to observe all things I have been commanded.

So not just note them or pay attention to them, but actually observe them. And Matthew was one of the eleven standing there on that mountain. It seems that by the time Matthew penned the words, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you, because he wrote that, he had already gathered and written Christ's words on these different things in the five discourses, so that people would know what he commanded in an organized way, and make Jesus' teaching easily available. Michael Green, who is the author of the book, The Message of Matthew, writes, Why was the gospel so popular? Popular it certainly was.

In the second and third centuries it was constantly being quoted, whereas Mark was rarely consulted. Today, by way of contrast, it is Mark that enjoys it in favor, and Matthew is generally neglected. Why would that be? Why was it so in vogue in the early church? Why was it placed first of the four when the gospel canon emerged in the latter part of the second century?

Yeah, why? Why is Matthew right in front? Well, he goes on to explain that Matthew was often quoted by church leaders in Antioch in the second century. They would quote Matthew when they were teaching.

It's also, Matthew is also a wonderful bridge to the Old Testament, covering the continuity and the differences between Christianity and Judaism. If you look at Matthew 1, Matthew 1, and let's look at verse 21. This is the angel speaking to Mary, and she will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. So all this was done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and verison, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated God with us. Matthew starts like that, and he uses that phraseology. This was done that it might be fulfilled by spoken of the prophet.

Matthew does that 15 times. This is the first of 15, where he links it to the Old Testament, and he ties the prophecies there. Others do as well, but Matthew just one after the other after the other after the other, where he's very diligent to put it across like that.

Additionally, another reason Matthew was popular, it is beautifully arranged because it's spraying from an orderly mind. When you study it out, it's a very orderly presentation and a very valuable one.

And it's both concise and clear. The words are very concise and very clear.

The author of the message of Matthew views it as the most complete of the four Gospels.

I suspect there is another reason that they used to quote Matthew and don't so much today.

The reason is, with the rise of Catholicism, there was less emphasis on closely following the teachings of Jesus Christ. If you want to closely follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, you're going to go into Matthew. And if you don't want to closely follow them, you're going to avoid Matthew. You're going to go into other places and just quote little passages that don't really teach you in an organized, structured way. All the Gospels teach in an organized and structured way, but this is the most structured and the most complete and the most there, the most organized.

As I mentioned, Bible scholars know that Matthew's Gospel is organized into five discourses that were given by Jesus Christ. And it's interesting, the five discourses all end with similar language. Look at the end of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, chapter 7.

The end of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, chapter 7.

Verse 28. And so when Jesus had ended these sayings, and I should point out to you that the word sayings there is logos. And logos is verbal instruction from God or his representatives that must be followed. And so when Jesus had ended these sayings, and by the way, Matthew used it twice before. In verse 24 it says sayings, and that word is logos. In verse 26 it says, he says, here are these sayings, it's logos of mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man.

And so it was, when Jesus had finished into these sayings, the people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, not as described as not as described. The people were astonished. Now, when he says it, when he ended these teachings, then he went on to someplace else. Discourse number two, Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10.

It's sometimes broken off and put in the next chapter, as it is in this one. Matthew 11 chapter 1. After he finishes Matthew 10, which is the second discourse, Matthew 11, he says, now it came to pass when Jesus finished commanding his twelve disciples that he imparted from there to teach and to preach in other cities. So he's summing up. When he finished this, then he went on to something else. Okay, and this time he was commanding his twelve. Last time it was the logos, when he finished his logos. First, Matthew 13. Look at the end of Matthew 13.

It's actually, this was a little, the chapter doesn't end quite the same way.

Verse 53 of Matthew 13. Now it came to pass, Matthew 13 53, when Jesus had finished these parables. Matthew 13 is seven parables. Now when he finished these parables, then he departed from there. So again, Matthew is summing up his various ones. Look at Matthew 18. Matthew 18.

We'll actually have to look at chapter 19 verse 1, because Matthew 18 is the third discourse and, sorry, it's the fourth discourse. And he says in Matthew 19, now it came to pass when Jesus had finished these sayings, these logos, he departed from Galilee and came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. Now look at Matthew 26. The fifth discourse is Matthew 23 24 25. The first one is three chapters, 5 6 and 7. The fifth one is three chapters, 23 24 and 25. Matthew chapter 26 and verse 1. Now it came to pass when Jesus had finished these logos, these instructions from God, that he said to his disciples, you know, after two days of the Passover. So this is how they're set out and how Matthew organized them, and he arranged it that way.

Now we covered Matthew 5 6 and 7 in 2011, so I felt we didn't need to go back over that so quickly, so I thought we'd jump ahead to the second discourse in Matthew chapter 10 and pick it up there in chapter 10. Actually, I want to start a little earlier in the end of chapter 9.

So this is Jesus's or Matthew's, well, this is Jesus's second discourse in Matthew. It's Matthew's second discourse of Jesus' saying, but look at chapter 9 and verse 35. Matthew chapter 9 and verse 35.

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

This would draw attention.

The NIV Bible study says, teaching in the synagogues, a very important religious institution among the Jews of that day originating in the exile, or during the exile, it provided a place where Jews could study the scriptures and worship God.

Remember, the Jews were carried off the land. They didn't have access to the temple, so they didn't have any form of service because everything was around the temple.

So when they went out there, they started forming synagogues, and they had a way to go over the scripture. I was taught that Ezra was the one who organized that when he came back from Cap...

when he was out there, he started going or at least influenced it.

So originating during the exile, it provided a place where Jews could study the scriptures and worship God. A synagogue could be established in any town where there were at least 10 married Jewish men. It began to teach. Jesus, like Paul, took advantage of the custom that allowed visiting teachers to participate in the worship service by invitation of the synagogue leader. So he taught, and he preached the kingdom of God, and he healed every disease and sickness.

Now take a look at Isaiah chapter 29, if you would. We'll go back to Matthew 10, of course.

Isaiah chapter 29. I just thought it's worth pointing out these prophecies about how the Messiah would come. And they didn't understand it clearly, but let's look at Isaiah 29 and verses 18 and 19. Isaiah 29, 18 and 19. In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The humble shall also increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among them shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. These were prophecies about how they would rejoice in Him. And notice Isaiah chapter 35.

Isaiah chapter 35. When we lived in South Africa, there was a man who would sing on the Feast of Trumpets or in other appropriate times from Isaiah 35, and it's a wonderful thing. I'll just break into it a little bit. Isaiah 35 and verse 3, he says, strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. That's where Paul got that from in Hebrews. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, Be strong, do not fear, behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God, and He will save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing, for water shall birth forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

Now, these prophecies are partially fulfilled when Christ came, but they're going to be more fulfilled when He comes the next time. But the sign of the Messiah was there, which He pointed out to John the Baptist. So let's go back to Matthew chapter 9 and verse 35. Then Jesus went about all their cities and villages teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness. Teaching, preaching, which is more than what our word is.

It means an official word of a herald sent that must be obeyed. It's an official. The word means more than it does in English. Preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd. Their shepherds, their teachers, did not care for them or serve them. This is the first place in the New Testament where the Greek word shepherd appears in the New Testament. It's translated 18 times in the New Testament. Seventeen of them it's shepherd. One in Ephesians 4, 11, it's called pastor.

Only in Ephesians 4, 11 is a translated pastor. The English word pastor comes from the Latin root for shepherd. The term shepherd describes how pastors are to lead and govern. As a shepherd leads sheep. Sheep need to be cared for. They need to be fed. They need to be properly led and protected. If not, they become agitated and upset. Remember when all the changes were going on, how upsetting it was for everybody? And it was very frustrating. And if you have eyes to see, you can actually see it when they get upset. The religious teachers of that day were not caring for the sheep. To the elders, I pointed out Numbers chapter 27. If you wouldn't mind going there.

Just to see how this is used in Scripture, I thought it was worth pointing out to them, and I also feel it's worth pointing out to you. Numbers 27.

God informed Moses that he would not be going into the Promised Land because he got, he didn't do right at the second rock. He lost his cool. He started yelling at the people and other things. He didn't glorify God. So God told him, you're not going into the Promised Land.

Then Moses, in Numbers 27 and verse 15, then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in.

That the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd.

Moses knew it was important for the sheep, the children of Israel, to have a shepherd.

So he asked God, Please provide a shepherd to lead.

And God had already had a plan, of course. He had Joshua right there at Moses' right hands.

I don't know. It's really something. But God already had a plan and he used Joshua to lead the people so that they didn't get into trouble and they weren't weary. Like Jesus said, when he saw the people, when he saw the multitudes back in Matthew 9, he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd.

There was nobody caring for the children of Israel. The leaders were looking after themselves.

I want to share with you, as I did with the elders, Ezekiel chapter 34, verses 1-10 in the NIV.

Ezekiel chapter 34 verses 1-10.

Ezekiel 34, 1-10 from the NIV.

The word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel.

Prophesy and say to them, This is what the sovereign Lord says.

Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves.

Should not shepherds take care of the flock. You eat the curds, you clothe yourself with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock.

You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured.

You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost.

You have ruled them harshly and brutally.

So they were scattered because there was no shepherd.

And when they were scattered, they became food for all the wild animals.

Sheep on their own are defenseless.

My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill.

They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.

Therefore, you shepherds hear the word of the Lord.

As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, and there's nothing surer than that.

As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd.

And so have been plundered and have become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds do not search out my flock, but cared for themselves rather than for my flock.

This is pretty strong, is it not?

Therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord.

This is what the sovereign Lord says.

I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock.

I will remove them from tending to flock.

So that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves.

I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

That's about as strong as you can get, isn't it?

In the rest of Ezekiel 34, he describes how he'll rescue Israel, return them to their own land, and raise up David to be shepherd to them.

Going back to Christ's time, it was also true that the sheep of that day were often blind to the help Jesus could provide.

He was the good shepherd, but they couldn't relate to him.

Many of them couldn't, and it was very difficult.

In my view, we have a very similar situation today.

There are so many people who don't know where to look for guidance and don't know where to go, and it's frustrating and it's... they're weary.

And it's very hard.

Back to Matthew 9, 36.

When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

Then he said to his disciples, The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest, and send out the sheep of the sheep.

He's a harvest, and to send out laborers into his harvest.

I once pointed out, talking to Mr. Armstrong, I said, He didn't say the number of employees would be few.

Either the number of laborers would be few.

That could be a big difference.

Notice how he calls himself the Lord of the harvest.

Think about that phrase.

The Lord of the harvest means he's in charge of the harvest.

So he determines when to plant the seed, where to plant the seed, who is to plant the seed, how to care for the plants as they mature, and when to send his angels in to bring in the harvest.

That's what the Lord of the harvest does. He's in charge of bringing the harvest, and the harvest, of course, is children into the kingdom.

That's the big plan there.

So he says, the harvest is plentiful, laborers are few.

Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labor. We're to ask Jesus Christ to send laborers into the harvest, to raise up people to do the work of the harvest.

In 2 Timothy 2, 4, 5, I won't turn there. I was going to read a quote.

But Timothy was called an evangelist.

And Mr. Wust, I've quoted him in the past, W-U-E-S-T, says this word means an evangelist, one who brings good news. I think we all know that. He continues, Paul does not exhort the local pastor to engage in an itinerant ministry.

Paul does not exhort the local pastor to engage in an itinerant ministry, going from place to place, holding evangelistic meetings.

That is for those specifically gifted men called evangelists.

But the local pastor should be evangelistic in his message and his methods. He must ever be reaching out for the lost both in his teaching, preaching, and person contact.

And as I mentioned before, when we desire to have public proclamation increased, he said we're to pray the Lord the harvest, to send out laborers and do his harvest. We are to ask him to send specifically chosen by those particularly chosen by him to proclaim his gospel message with power.

And with the phrase, just to send laborers into the harvest, the word for labor, the word for send there is an unusual, it's not an unusual word, but it's seldom translated send.

It's translated send out, but it means to kind of throw out or shoot out or cast out. It's even used to cast out in three places there nearby. So to his disciples that he was sending to preach the gospel, Jesus used a different word. You're going to send them too.

But he used the word apostolo, or that's the verb for the word apostolos, the apostle, until it's one sent with an official message. So this was to be workers to be sent out.

Suggested laborers would be he would send would not be his personal representatives in the same way the apostles were, but extra workers to help with the harvest as he is the Lord of the harvest. Okay, with that background, we'll begin Matthew, actually. I wanted to give the background on it to get it started so we have an understanding of it, of the background, and that if this was Levi, the despised tax collector, who he used as a record keeper to put together the first gospel in scripture. Okay, Matthew 10, in verse 1, And when he had called his twelve disciples to him, he gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out. That's really that same word to send out, to cast out and to heal all kinds of sicknesses and all kinds of diseases. Now, that's kind of to the twelve. He gave power to drive out evil spirits and power over every disease and sickness.

Now, think about this. This is similar to Matthew's statements about what Christ himself did. If you look at Matthew chapter 4, Matthew chapter 4, and back of page 2, in verse 23, this is how Matthew introduced Christ.

And Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

This is the power that Jesus is giving his apostles to teach, to preach, and to heal sicknesses. Verse 24, Then his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics and paralytics, and he healed them. Great multitudes followed him from Galilee and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

He got everybody's attention with that. And that's the same thing he said in Matthew chapter 9, verse 35. Then Jesus went about all the cities, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. Now he's giving the apostles this same instruction, this same power. So the teaching and the preaching and the healing brought considerable attention from the public.

That's how the attention came.

And they demonstrated that the Messiah was among them, because those things could be done only by the Messiah and His personal delegates.

After giving those twelve a period of personal training, which of course included the Sermon on the Mount, he sends them out to preach the kingdom of God, who the kingdom of heaven.

And he gave those who would become his twelve apostles special authority and power to accomplish the mission he gave them.

I want the congregation to understand how God uses apostles.

It's important to see this. Not like an average minister or elder, you know, like myself. He uses them with power. Look at Acts chapter 5.

And I wanted the elders on that class to understand this as well.

To understand how He, what He did with these apostles. Acts chapter 5 verse 12.

Acts chapter 5 verse 12.

And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were, you remember Acts, he had already had the healing of the gate called Beautiful. And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people.

And they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. Yet none of the rest dare join them. But the people who esteemed them, the apostles, highly. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord multitudes of both men and women. So they brought the sick out of the streets, out into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits. And they were all healed. He gave attention to those apostles. And he made it very clear. Look at chapter 14 and verse 27. Acts 14 and verse 27.

This is Paul 14, 27. Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them. Please notice that. It wasn't what they did.

It's what God did.

They reported all that God had done with them, and how he had opened doors of faith to the Gentiles. So they were there a long time, the disciples. Look at 1512. 1512, Acts 1512. Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul, declaring how many miracles and wonders and God had worked through them among the Gentiles. It was God working, not Paul and Barnabas. And God had done it in a way that you could see God did it, not the individuals.

It was very important to see that. Please check it 2 Corinthians chapter 12.

2 Corinthians chapter 12.

Verses 11 and 12. You may remember that he was there explaining the visions he'd been given. He said in verse 11 of 2 Corinthians chapter 12, I have become a fool in boasting you have I have become a fool in boasting you have compelled me for I ought to have been commended by you for in nothing was I behind the most evident apostles though I am nothing truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you think about that the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance all perseverance the apostles persevere oopomony that's the word in signs and wonders and mighty deeds God used the apostles with signs and wonders and mighty deeds Paul knew it and so did the Corinthian members and he's reminded them of it what God had done not what he had done now Mr.

Armstrong had no public healings or signs but neither did John the Baptist God worked no miracles through John the Baptist he had a different function it was a different responsibility you probably have heard many of the things that God did to open doors before hwa and he always said that he did not build the work and from experience he was right and if if you said anything to say he built it he'd get on your case quick because he knew that wasn't so in early 1934 he was invited to give a regular religious radio program that grew and grew uh he the invitation came to him and it went from there he had done a few and then they invited him to do it regularly that was January 7th by the way 1934 I was very young I'm kidding and then it began it grew and grew from there and eventually led to a huge work with three ambassador campuses and him invited to meet leaders like King Leopold of Belgium and Japanese officials and other other officials throughout the whole world when he visited South Africa in the 1970s I witnessed so many doors opening before him that it was astonishing a man had written he had seen the plain truth but he saw that the German edition and he wrote me because I was on the plain truth as a South African representative and he was South Africa and he said he invited me down for lunch in Cape Town and he said well if you want to talk about the plain truth he said you ought to have Mr Armstrong come out here give the plain truth about South Africa he was a chairman of the South African foundation which tried to promote goodwill to South Africa for South Africa and in between nations and so on well I said well you know I can't I will let Mr Armstrong know that you know you've invited him and we'll see what happens but I can't he said I understand so uh I sent the letter off a little while later we got the got a note from Stan Rader that we want you to set up a meeting Mr.

Armstrong is going to visit South Africa and we want you to set up a meeting with the Prime Minister the State President and various cabinet members and speech clubs well I didn't you know what am I going to do how would I know that he said maybe that guy that wrote the letter could be of help to you so I called him up made another visit and he said well yeah I can arrange to have the Mr Armstrong meet the State President the Prime Minister and the cabinet officers he says I have contact with the Rotary Club in the round table he said I don't have the lines I said we'll do the rotary in the round table and we set up public lectures in all major cities in South Africa and it ended up with Mr.

Armstrong making three four-week trips to South Africa a four-week trip it's a long trip Mike knows he gets to go to long trips but he had and it was just astonishing that just opened up it just flying over and there was one I said we didn't have the Lions Club one of our office men was we were in a building in central Johannesburg and and we had our office all set up there and one of our guys David Hume was downstairs coming up on the elevator and we got on an elevator with a man and the man was all agitated he was all upset he said I've just been appointed the president of the whole Lions Club for the whole of Johannesburg that's a huge area and he said and I've decided that I'm gonna have a theme for this year David hasn't said anything yet they just stand there he says and I thought I'd have a scene of international peace he said I'm looking for some kind of a speaker to come from overseas and talk to the Lions Club David says well perhaps we could help so we walk off David and this guy his name by the way was Jimmy Lamb I gotta tell you that walk off they go around to the office on the floor we were on the 35th floor and we walk up they walk up to our office door there are two glass doors we had big round seals the ambassador's seal there and Jimmy Lamb says look at that the lion he says that's me I'm with the lions and my name is lamb he comes in we introduce we start talking and we went to a meeting I've never been in a meeting like this he he he wanted me to get together with the presidents of the various lions club around Johannesburg so I'm sitting in this meeting and David was there too and they're talking about well we could do this we could do that we could do this and occasionally I foolishly in retrospect put in a thought well what about this then and I began to notice that every time I said something it went down the idea got smaller but when I shut up the idea got bigger when I figured that out I kept my mouth shut I just sat there and at the end they decided with me sitting silently my contribution was to shut up they sitting silently decided Mr.

Armstrong should speak to all the lions club in that area combine them all together for one big occasion and Jimmy Lamb was so supportive of this and so enthusiastic and he says I'm good when I'm finished working there in the center we were in he said I'm going to devote my whole life to this well Mr. Armstrong came he spoke to the combined lions club there and he gave his usual message that nobody else could copy and it was just powerful and strong and they heard it and then it all we went home and afterward Jimmy Lamb like what like it never happened and I could come and tell you what God had done God got the lions together lions clubs together and he did it we didn't do that God did that I say I've seen it firsthand and I just want you to know that he opened those doors like anything I think I told you this one before we were going in to see the state president and surprisingly he had never had the local church people go with him he invited me to go with him and he this had never happened before and so we're walking into the state president John Foster if you remember who he was and we're going in there's a little africants guy standing outside the the prime prime minister's office and he said uh as we're walking in Mr.

Armstrong by and then raider and then me and the guy small man he said tell Mr. Armstrong I'm a plain truth reader we're right behind him so we got in there and I whispered that in his ear and that was kind of an encouraging thing again was what God did that's the thing I want to make clear that God did it in those ways okay that's Matthew 10 and the first verse and when he had called the 12 disciples together he gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all kinds of sicknesses and all kinds of diseases verse two we got to make more progress than that now the name of the 12 apostles are these first Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother James the son of Zebedee and John his brother Philip and Bartholomew Thomas and Matthew the tax collector that's himself the writer James the son of Alpheus by the way other places it's called Matthew the son of Alpheus it looks like they were brothers but he put tax collector he puts the negative on himself and then he says James the son of Alpheus that they'll make more sense in a minute and Labius whose surname was Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanite, Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him this is the only place in Matthew where the 12 are referred to as apostles the noun is only used once in the book of Matthew and this is here so that makes it the first time it's used in the New Testament.

Apostles, Thayer's first definition, a delegate, messenger, one sent with orders the message of Matthew says the word means sent ones it denotes action rather than status it's a humble word somebody who's sent God's words are humble words man's words are you know the super right reverend okay Matthew used the verb send or sent often and that's the word apostello or apostello appropriately Matthew used the term apostles when they were being sent out an apostle is one personally chosen by Jesus Christ to represent him to be a witness of his resurrection and proclaim his gospel as we will see they were they were to go travel from city to city proclaiming his his gospel and when the apostles are mentioned the word go is often used too as we will see if you look at acts chapter 10 you'll see the commission given to the apostles at Matthew chapter 10 sorry acts chapter 10 we're in Matthew chapter 10 acts chapter 10 verse 39 speaking to Cornelius Peter says this verse 39 and we are witnesses the word is the ancestor of our word martyr a witness is somebody who's willing to lay down their life that they're telling the truth it's a good witness and these all were called upon to lay down their life with it we understand the exception of John and we are witnesses of all these things which he did in the land of the jews and in jerusalem whom they killed by hanging on a tree him god raised up on the third day and showed him openly not to all the people but to witnesses same word chosen by god before by god even us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead and he commanded us to preach to the people preach is that official word of an official delegation preach to the people and to testify witnesses testify and to testify that it is he who was ordained by god to be judge of the living and the dead he who was ordained by god to be judge of the living and the dead that's the message they were to get across to him all the prophets witness that through his name whoever believes in him will receive remission of sins okay it's really an amazing thing that what they were done the the apostles there and i went to the names of the apostles i read through from two to four expositors makes this comment i thought it was a very good comment lists of the twelve are found here and in three other places in the new testament there are four places where the lists the apostles are given many significant things arise from comparing these lists peter is always first judas iscariot always last matthew uses first in connection with peter the twelve apostles of these first simon uh matthew uses first in connection with peter the word cannot mean he was the first convert andrew or perhaps john was and probably does not simply mean first on a list which would be a trifling comment more likely it means primus inter paris first among equals that peter had a leading role but he wasn't the boss but he was a leading role continuing the first four names of all four lists are those of two pairs of brothers whose call is mentioned first in matthew 4 18 to 22 in each of these lists there are three groups of four each group headed by peter philip that's the the second group not to be confused with the evangelist and james the son of alpheus respectively so there seems to be a grouping within the grouping but within each group the order varies even from luke to ax and luke wrote luke and he wrote ax so so there's even a variation there except judas is always last this suggests if it does not prove the 12 were organizationally divided into smaller groups each with a leader the commission in mark 6 7 sent the men out two by two perhaps this accounts for the pairing in the greek text of matthew 10 2 and 2 to 4 he groups it by two but the leaders are there are three groups of four some variation in order can be accounted for within a high degree of probability for the first four names markless peter james john and and appends andrew doubtless because the first three were on an inner core privileged to witness the raising of jerus daughter and the transfiguration peter james and john and invited to be close to jesus and gethsemane peter james and john matthew provides the order suggested by the sibling relationships he not only puts himself last in his group but mentioned his last and savory past is this a sign of christian humility the tax collector apparently simon the canonate the canonite matthew mark is the same person as simon the zealot luke x if so then a perius thaddeus is another name for judas the brother of or son of james see further below and their last sentence in that section really was something not much is known concerning most of these men we don't know a lot about them but they're named there then they go into an extensive background information into background information on each fossil but but with a lot of speculation which i didn't cover and i don't think i will hear but i wanted to share you with something with that let me mention one more thing here james and faucet brown this directory you'll see that matthew from verse five to the end verse 42 is this discourse the second discourse matthew records this first part sorry the directory divides itself into three distinct parts the first part matthew 10 5 to 15 and that's how it's laid out in my bible the other ones aren't laid out similarly contains direction for the brief and temporary mission on which they were now going forth with respect to the places they were to go to the work they were to do the message they were to bear and the manner in which they were to conduct themselves the second part matthew 10 16 to 23 contains directions of no such limited and temporary nature but opens out into the permanent exercise of the gospel ministry i think you're going to find this very interesting the third part matthew 10 24 to 42 it's the longest one is a wider application still reaching not only the ministry of the gospel in every age but to the service of christ in the widest sense it is a strong confirmation of this three-fold division that each part closes with the words verily i say to you notice this matthew 10 15 assuredly i say to you there'll be a more tolerable land of sallam gamora in the day of judgment than for that city i've explained in the past that verily verily is the king james and most assuredly i say to you as a new king james the greek is amen amen the hebrew at even to mean so be it or truth and the niv i like their translation best i tell you the truth so we'll point that out i'll tell you the truth i tell you the truth it will be more tolerable for the land of sallam gamora than for you look at verse 23 verse 23 and you'll be hated all nations for my name say sorry that's 22 but when they persecute you in this city flee to another for assuredly i say to you i tell you the truth you will not have gone through the cities of israel before the son of man comes please notice they're in judia and he says you won't go over to the city israel till the son of man comes then finally in verse 42 he said and whoever gives one of these little ones a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple assuredly i say to you he shall by no means lose his reward i look forward to going through this and taking it apart but i thought i'd just take the time to give a little background on this and get us organized to be able to drink in and take what here is the amazing thing that god has done through his servant matthew to have five discourses from jesus teaching which we want to analyze in detail