Let's Meet the King, Part 1

You chosen a significant day to join us today on Insight for living trucks went a brand-new study through the gospel according to Matthew. It's the first time in Chuck's preaching ministry presented a series of this magnitude in the coming months will take our time to trace the life of Jesus, beginning with his miraculous birth and concluding with his magnificent great commission. The series is called the King's arrival. Following Jesus will find that our love for him intensifies check title. This first message, let's meet the outline you find in your folder you will be of any guided not only for today but for days to come. Matthew is a book of 28 chapters quite a study will work our way through the book of Matthew as we go from one chapter to the next in an expository manner. The outline has on its back. A chart which will give you an overview of the book itself and will return to the chart from time to time story in ourselves to where we are and what is come before and what will come later. I want to read for you was some excerpts from Matthew. No time to read as many of the verses is would like, but this will give you at least snapshots along the way of the scenes that we will be encountering.

I'll be reading from the new living translation and will be going from one chapter to another. Several times, so be ready for that. I'll begin with the first verse and then will go to verse 16. In this first chapter.

This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendent of David and of Abraham. Verse 16 Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus who is called the Messiah. Verse one of chapter 2 Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod about the time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking where is the newborn King of the Jews. We saw his star as it rose and we have come to worship him. Verse 13, after the wise men were gone and angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream jet up flee to Egypt with the child and his mother. The angel said stay there until I tell you to return because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary his mother and they stayed there until Herod's death.

This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet I called my son out of Egypt.

Verse 20 get up. The angel said, take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel because those who were trying to kill the child or did verse 23, so the family went and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets and said he will be called a Nazarene to four sections.

Chapter 9 verse nine. As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collectors boot follow me and be my disciple Jesus said to him, so Matthew got up and followed him.

Finally, chapter 16 verse 13 when Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the Son of Man is well, they replied, some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah and others say Jeremiah or one of the prophet that he asked them, but who do you say I am Simon Peter answered. You are the Messiah, the son of the living God.

My hope is we undertake this study, which will be lengthy and in something of a detailed that we will get new glimpses of Jesus the son of the living God, and that our love for him will intensify as time passes for living to search the book of Matthew with Chuck Swindoll. Be sure to download his searching the Scriptures. Studies by going to Insight world.org/studies another message from Chuck entitled, let's meet the king our God is a God of surprises. He's filled with them. Stop and think about who else but a God of surprises could ever raise a plan for saving humanity, and in that plan design that he himself would step into the ranks of human flesh to carry it out.

When a genius but a surprising idea when our daughter surprises would've arrived in the way he arrived in a stable, born to parents that didn't have two shekels to rub together just absolutely abject poverty and from them. The child was raise our God would use the flaming star in the sky to lead wise men from over a thousand miles away to find their way over months of travel to that one place for the child was living with his parents, not realizing when they arrived with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh that it was that child who, while second member of the Trinity, creating all the stars who put our daughter surprises.

But I got a surprise would've assembled a ragtag body of disciples made up of fishermen and of all things tax gatherer tax collector and it with him. His brother, with whom he must've bought a number of occasions and brought him also as a disciple, but I got of surprises new wills when our God would cause a heated Greeley tax collector to have his life transformed from extortion and fraud and dishonesty and cooperating with an enemy force like the Romans known among the Jews as the swine and make him one of the 12 only our God would do that. And while I'm at it, it would be that tax collector who would sit down with pen in hand and write the story of the one who came to save the lost. Originally presented is the King of the Jews there Messiah, only to have him not accepted but rejected and crucified, mistreated, misunderstood, who but I got a surprises would've brought him back from beyond and had them stand before those who had witnessed his debt announcing that he is risen and that he would then ascend and he would arrive and be seated at the right hand of the father back in the place which he had left 33 or so years earlier and there he would wait for us and pray for us, with plans to return for us to take us to himself.

The book we begin to study is a book filled with the story is the story of the great King who left the riches of heaven to become a commenter on this earth that we the commoners after believing in him would become the regal children in his family. No one ever said it better than Paul. Second Corinthians 89. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus, who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor but we through his poverty might be rich. Only a God of surprises would've come up with a plan that magnificent. It's our joy to begin the day to take on the study of this gospel story, I provided you with an outline of a like you to keep your eye on it as we work our way through it. Have your pen ready or your pencil given you four columns that mark out the four Gospels, but you might want to write in the margin. The meaning of the word gospel is an Anglo-Saxon word good spell. It comes from a term that means good news so the gospel would be the good news. The good news of Matthew.

The good news of Mark. The good news of the good news of John now with that in mind, be ready to write in each column, various things. Matthew presents Jesus as the King support King below his name. You will see all the way through the writing of Matthew, the King, the king, the Messiah promised one when you get to market Jesus is presented as a servant. He's at work. You read very little of regal significance in the gospel by Mark you read a lot about work a lot about immediately moving from this accident that action mark is a book of action because he is a servant at work who presents Jesus as the man the Son of Man, the man who would represent us among humans on this earth. Luke sees him as the man and finally, John presents him as God. The preface of John's Gospel is filled with 18 versus of the deity of Christ, the one who came log on us becoming humanity.

God incarnate, he is the man God the God man and John presents him as God, like none other. The go back to Matthew. Matthew was written to Jews.

That's why they were so many references of Jewish significance. References to the law. References to the customs references to the feast and events of the Jews very familiar to Jews.

Mark is written to Romans there. The workers there. The people who constructed so much during their generation and mark rights to them. Luke writes to Greeks being one of them. The physician rights to fellows in his same rates and third or fourth. John writes to all the world, or to all the church. He wants all the world to know the Jesus the King, the servant, the man God himself is available to the whole world. Now let's go to the order in which they were written.

Most likely, Mark was written first. He got his information from Peter. Peter gave Mark information regarding the details of those discussions that Took Pl., Mark took notes. Mark doing well and from Peter especially, he was able to write the first gospel.

The second was most likely Matthew as best we can tell Matthew wrote his good news.

Second, the third was Luke and the fourth was John so in this order, Matthew come second. Mark written first loop third John four limited visual word and I'll tell you what significant the word is synoptic.

Write it down SYNOP TIC synoptic. It comes from two Greek words soon as Julian means with an optic you know what that is that's seeing seeing things with these first three Gospels are called the synoptic Gospels because they see similar thing and they write about similar events. However, when you get to John's gospel which is not among the synoptic Gospels. You write many things found only in John. Not only does he write in the 90s 8090s but he is writing 92% of his information is unique to John. Think about even though Matthew Mark and Luke have written the good news of information that they received in Saul witnessed and wrote similar things in the various ways John wrote from an altogether different standpoint. In his presentation is unique 92% of Y for one, not one.

What one may just be satisfied with one gospel whelp.

These forgive us for eyewitness accounts. These 4C different flavors different shadings different scenes from their perspective.

If a terrible accident were to take place on the corner out here near our church. Let's imagine someone is jogging along the way and witnesses the accident, let's say there is another driver behind the person driving it was in the accident.

He sees the accident in another way. Let's say several members on the construction crew that are working today over in this project beyond this would look over they would see they would have another perspective was just imagine someone is up in a tree to see somebody up there just gonna sit there in the tree. Maybe a kid to decide to climb a tree that date, he would see from another perspective same accident for different perspectives and anyone who investigates the accident would want to know the perspective of those people who witnessed it, they would give evidence from their perspective.

It's interesting though they come from different perspectives. There is no contradiction in all of the writings in spite of what the critic might tell you or in spite of what you may learn may have learned in your religion class in college. There is no contradiction in any of the Gospels, as well as any of the Scriptures matter if I talk about content, 42% of 46% of all the information in the New Testament is found in the four Gospels. If you add the book of acts. It grows to 60%.

Think of that since Luke wrote acts.

If you take all the writings of Matthew, Mark, of the two books of Luke and then John, you have 60% of the New Testament, represented here. This is an amazing amount of information contained right here it's a good place for me to pause and end up bring a challenge to everyone of you. I'm of the opinion that every Christian. At least once a year should become reacquainted with the Savior.

I suggest that you do your own study. It may be one of the Gospels, it may be a chapter from one of the Gospels is always intrigued you.

It may be of the crucifixion of Jesus. It may be of the resurrection. You may choose to do it in the Christmas season or the Easter season. You might want to take the three months of the summer and take on a study of the life of Jesus. What would I say that he's your Savior. Some people know Paul better than no Jesus. Some of study.

The disciples and know them as a group better than the person of Jesus himself. Me tell you something in going through this study.

For the last several weeks in prep preparation for today I found any number of things I've never known before, and I've been at this all these years. There's truth ready to be discovered when you spend your time in it over a concentrated period of time. Now let's go back to the outline and noticed that there is a writer and he writes for a reason to begin with the writer in this book. Of course, is Matthew he's only called Matthew in this book Mark and Luke calling Levi no doubt Jesus gave him the name Matthew back for your note. You may want to note it means gift of God. Gift of Yahweh. So God chose the Lord Jesus chose Levi to walk with him and he chose this man giving him a name gift of God. What a man he was now one of the right. Well, Matthew writes obviously to show us that the king who is calm is worthy of our trust. He is that that's the reason. Matthew put his words together. He wants us to know this is written by a man who knew him personally walk with him was among the disciples about their family what we know about them will first let me have the Lord of the list.

Look at Matthew 10 where the Lord gives us a list of all the disciples there in verse two. Here are the names of the 12 apostles. You can read Simon called Peter Andrews.

Peter's brother James is the son of Zebedee, John, James's brothers.

We've already got brothers, James and John. They were called. Otherwise, sons of thunder. They had a real anger problem of the subject and then Philip comes along. Martha Bartholomew is mentioned. Thomas was a twin named didymus in John's Gospel meeting twin. Here's Matthew parenthesis the tax collector James son about the years Thaddeus Simon the zealot and Judas Iscariot study the name just study the a list of the these names for a few moments. You can't tell by looking but no doubt it's pretty close through probable that Matthew and James the son of Alpheus were brother. See Matthew followed by James and another gospel writer in another gospel to others. Matthew I should say Mark and Luke. Matthew was called son of Alpheus. Just as James is there brothers listen to the writings of of Michael Greene who at this about this fascinating family we learn from Mark and Luke.

That Matthew was the son of Alpheus and so was James Mark 318, as well as Matthew 10 of verse two. They were, therefore, brothers, and at the end of the applied apostolic list for all its variations, we find James son of Alpheus Thaddeus Simon the zealot and Judas Iscariot for the last four who were named we know that Simon was a zealot not to be confused with Simon Peter C down next to the last. Simon is called a zealot what is that mean that is to say a violent resistance fighter against the occupying Roman forces very likely Judas Iscariot was one as well. One of the more probable derivations for his name is sick. Carious. The word means dagger carrier. He carried a dagger he would be among those so bent on resistance that they were ready to assassinate and the dagger was always handy. Judas knows no doubt was the most zealous of the 12, which explains his departure from the faith. He never was really a believer in the Lord Jesus, but he followed Jesus, believing Jesus would overthrow the Romans and you live for that and when he realized he would not be doing that Judas turned on them.

It's another subject will go into at some of the time back to this quote most of the common people of Israel were people of nationalistic patriotism, but his brother Matthew or Levi was totally different. To follow this carefully. James is a zealot. He's a sons of Alpheus so is Levi the Levi's different as he grew up he performed taxes for Herod Antipas. He cooperated with the occupying power that his brother was set on seeking to overthrow with the bloodied revolution. He writes in conclusion, it took Jesus of Nazareth to bring the two brothers together. Nobody else could. As you can see were digging beneath the surface promises to be a rewarding exploration through the book of Matthew, you're listening to Insight for living in the very first message in a brand-new series from Chuck Swindoll. He's titled today's opening study. Let's meet the king to learn more about this ministry. Visit us online head insight world.or this first book in the New Testament tells the story of our King from his arrival in Bethlehem to the call for his great commission and it's never been presented on Insight for living before now in order to make the most of this series, you may want to secure swindles living insights commentary for Matthew comes into hardbound volumes and it's written in a style that's easy to understand and the format is simple to navigate Chuck's deep insight, conversational style and humor bring a warrant, then the accessibility rarely found in commentaries. These are excellent reference books that belong in the library of anyone is a student of the Bible. So to purchase swindles living insights commentary for Matthew go to Insight.org/store if you prefer, call us listening in the US dial 1-800-772-8888 Insight for living ministries is a nonprofit organization fueled not by the purchase of resources through the voluntary donations of grateful support and were deeply grateful for the loyal friends who stepped forward to help us finish 2020 in a strong position. Your support comes at a very strategic time because we're facing complicated cultural issues today. Men and women all over North America and around the world are looking to Insight for living, for biblical clarity and direction to help us continue to give a donation today by calling us listening in the United States dial 1-800-772-8888 or if you prefer you can give her a convenient mobile app you can also give a donation by going online to Insight.org Chuck Swindoll has more to us about the king's arrival Thursday Insight for living.

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