Matthew 15:10 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
12 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?
13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
15 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.
16 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
In our study of the book of Exodus, we have been learning of the early history of the nation of Israel. They would never have been a nation if not for God. There was no powerful man who decided to break away from his family or his people and form a new nation. Abram was not like Nimrod. Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord. He was a rebel who wanted to rule the world. He managed to convince the people of his time to build a tower that would reach to heaven.
Nimrod never saw that tower completed. Nobody has ever seen that tower completed. It never will be completed. However the evil philosophy of Nimrod is still alive and well today. Lost humanity, which makes up the majority of humanity, is looking for a way to utopia without Truth.
God knew what was going on then and He put a stop to that building project over night. It was not that they ran out of money or the people were discouraged and just walked away from it.
No, the fact is that God confounded the language of the people so that they could no work together. There were enough languages created in that moment that the people could not longer communicate and thus the tower-building stopped just like that. There was nothing Nimrod could do to get that project going again. He may have tried, but there were not enough people who could understand him to carry on the work.
After we read about Nimrod and his venture, we read of a man named Abram. There is no recorded history of Abram before that time. He lived in Ur of the Chaldees. He lived in the area where his parents lived. Abram was a married man but they had no children at that time. God chose Abram for His own reasons and He commanded Abram to leave his homeland and his family and to take his wife and go to a new land that He would show him.
Abram was unique in that he chose to listen to God. He left much of what he knew and followed God to a new land. It was a land that already had occupants. Some of those people seemed friendly, but Abram was afraid of others. God spoke with Abram and told him He would give him a certain parcel of land. Abram was told to walk throughout that land and to know that his descendants would one day take that land and live in it. God gave that land to Abram. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah. He promised them a son, but He did not tell them they would have that son right away. Abraham needed to learn some important lessons first, before he could become the father of that promised son. Abraham and Sarah grew impatient with God and Sarah had the foolish idea that Abraham needed to help God with His promise. She told Abraham to take her handmaid, Hagar, and see if maybe God would give them a son with her. What could possibly go wrong with such a foolish scheme?
Well, Hagar conceived. Sarah could not conceive at that time, but Hagar did. Not only did she conceive, but she bore Abraham a son. Abraham was so pleased with this son. God was not at all pleased with this disobedience. God acknowledged that son and he prophesied to Abraham about that son. That son would not be a blessing to Abraham and Sarah. In fact, that son would not be a blessing to the world. That son is part of the Arab communities in the Middle East and they fight amongst themselves and they hate Israel. They also hate God.
That struggle has been going on now for several thousand years and will continue until the end of the Tribulation time. No amount of human intervention will change that fact.
Recently the U.S. assumed the right and responsibility to interfere in the Middle East and broker a ‘twenty point’ peace deal between Israel and the descendants of Ishmael. Mr. Trump chose two unelected men to be the main players in developing that peace deal. Those two men are Jared Kushner and Steve Wittkoff. Mr. Kushner is a Jew but like many other Jews he does not know the history of his own people, nor does he care to know it. He has an agenda and he thinks he can advance his agenda by undermining the sovereignty of the nation of Israel. He is a fool and seemingly proud of it.
At the time that Mr. Kushner presented his peace plan to Mr. Trump, his father-in-law, Israel was within about a two week time frame of defeating Hamas. If Israel had been able to do that, they would have had the “legal” right to claim Gaza for themselves. They could have set the terms and conditions for that region. Mr. Kushner and many others, including Mr. Trump did not want that. Saudi Arabia and Qatar and other nations in that region were more important to Mr. Trump and Mr. Kushner than Israel.
Yes, Mr. Trump has done some good things for Israel, but he too does not understand that region nor the place that Israel has in that region. God gave a parcel of land to Abraham. His descendants have never yet inhabited all the land that God promised to him. They will have it all in the Millennium. Until then, that land will be trampled under foot of the Gentiles because of the rebellion of Abraham’s descendants.
In our verses that we have today, Jesus was exposing the wickedness of the Pharisees. They were Jews. They hated God, even though they pretended to be honouring Him. They were able to gain a place of power and they could dominate the majority of the priests and they controlled what happened at the Temple. They had managed to get in close with Herod and the Roman government in general. They hated the Romans, but they were going to play along with them to a degree until their imaginary Messiah would come and overthrow the Roman government and give them back their imaginary days of king David.
As Jesus was teaching in our text, the Pharisees took offence to what He was saying. Jesus’ disciples informed Jesus of this fact. His disciples did not yet know Who Jesus was. Jesus’ response to them proved further that He was the Messiah. He could not be bought. He was not intimidated by the heavy handed tactics of the Pharisees.
Jesus referred to the Pharisees as blind leaders of the blind. In today’s world, there would be many professing Christians who would take offence to Jesus for talking like that. The general philosophy is that we need to live and let live. After all, the way to God is broad and many people are on it, so they say. Forget what the Bible says. What does God know??
Jesus declared that if the blind are leading the blind, both will fall into the ditch. They won’t know until it is too late, that they are going the wrong way.
In our opening, we talked about the twenty point peace deal that Israel has agreed to. That deal will not last. Mr. Netanyahu is a blind man leading the blind. He has made some alliances with nations like the U.S. He has warned those at the U.N. more than once that Iran has plans to develop a nuclear bomb. The world shrugs his warnings off. Mr. Netanyahu is a smart man, but he is a fool when it comes to spiritual matters. He is hoping against hope that somehow they can find peace in the Middle East without knowing the Prince of Peace.
Mr. Netanyahu is an older man. We do not know how much time he has left. If he persists in his present course, he will end up in hell. The same it true for Mr. Trump and Mr. Kushner and Mr. Witkoff. They will get their names in the history books, but not in the book of life, unless they repent and are saved.
Then this week the Knesset voted to claim sovereignty over Judaea and Samaria. However, J.D. Vance said the U.S. will not accept that vote. It is interesting how people who do not live in Israel and have no real authority in that land, want to tell the Jews how they should live in their homeland. This is the result of the Jews’ rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.
Those who are truly saved today need to continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We need to witness to both Jew and Gentile, of the Gospel of Christ. The events happening in the Middle East right now are taking us one step closer to the Rapture every single day. When that day comes, is only known to God. However, God says that those who are saved can know the times and the seasons.
I Thessalonians 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
People can cheer for the ‘twenty point’ peace deal and they can talk of the great negotiator that Mr. Trump is, etc.
I Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
That time is coming. I do not know the day nor the hour, but we are in that season now. It is important to know the truth and to speak the truth. Those few who will speak the truth will find much opposition to the truth. That should not shock us. It will sadden us, but it is a reality. Proud people do not want to be told they are going the wrong way. Be sure you are not blind and be sure you are not following blind leaders. The Pharisees were smooth talkers. They sounded very spiritual to the lost. Jesus was not fooled by them. We should not be fooled by the thousands of false teachers today. Some of them are pretty smooth talkers as well. We still have the sure Word of God. We can know the truth. The truth shall make you free.
Pastor Bartel
