{"id":18669,"date":"2019-03-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-17T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/israel-trip-2019-002\/"},"modified":"2019-03-17T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-17T05:00:00","slug":"israel-trip-2019-002","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/israel-trip-2019-002\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel Trip 2019 – 002"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[85],"series_event":[497],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18669","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-matthew","series_event-israel-trip-2019","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Israel Trip 2019 - 002","sermon_date":"20190317","sermon_month":"3","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":"","sermon_slides":6503,"sermon_mp3":6505,"sermon_id":"3171914212298","series_or_event":497,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":85,"chapter_and_verse":"16:13-23","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nIsrael Trip 002 2019\n\n3-17-19\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Matthew 16:13-23\n\nFather, we are thankful for today.\u00a0 I do ask that you\u2019ll be with us in Sunday School as we try to have a better understanding of the geography of Israel where so much of biblical history has happened.\u00a0 And even beyond that where so much of biblical history is yet to happen.\u00a0 So I pray You\u2019ll be with us during this study. I pray that Your word will be alive and active, it won\u2019t be just a boring lesson on secular type things, that You would be at work showing us things you\u2019d have us learn in Your Word today.\u00a0 I pray You\u2019ll be with our church service that follows as we continue on in the Book of Revelation, and all the things You want to accomplish today at Sugar Land Bible Church, I\u00a0 ask that You would have Your will, and I ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.\n\nLet\u2019s open our Bibles to the Book of Galatians, chapter 4 and verse 4.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have a handout for you in this series because the things that we\u2019re showing here are mostly pictures and I\u2019m not sure how that would work with a handout.\u00a0 But all the PowerPoints are posted online and if you have an interest in those.\n\nLast week we started a study on sort of the nation of Israel based on some trips that we took there recently, my family and myself.\u00a0\u00a0 We looked at\u2026 and I\u2019m kind of giving you these sites in the order that we saw them in.\u00a0 We looked at Tel Aviv, where Independence Hall is in Israel; Joppa where Jonah boarded a ship and fled from the presence of the Lord.\u00a0 Caesarea Maritma\u00a0 where you have the first Gentile conversion, a man named Cornelius.\u00a0 Then you have Mt. Caramel where there a famous prophet had a confrontation with the prophets of Baal, and what was that famous prophet\u2019s name?\u00a0 Elijah.\u00a0 And then we have Megiddo and we talked about how the historical and prophetic significance of Megiddo, which is a mountain overlooking the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel where apparently the final battle will be fought, Revelation 16, Revelation 14, etc.\n\nSo today we\u2019re moving on and we\u2019ve got some more sites to see before us,\u00a0 Upper Galilee, which would consist of Caesarea Philippi and the Tel Dan, the Sea of Galilee, the Mt.\u00a0 of Beatitudes, where a pretty good sermon happened, Capernaum, and then a place called Tabgha, it\u2019s an Arabic name.\u00a0 And we\u2019ll see how far we get today on this and what we don\u2019t do we\u2019ll just pick it up next week.\n\nBut as you kind of move up north in the nation there\u2019s a place near Nazareth called Sepphoris and you say well I\u2019m looking at my Bible dictionary and I\u2019m looking at my Bible index and I don\u2019t see Sepphoris in here.\u00a0 And the reason it\u2019s not in there is because it\u2019s not in there!\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 So why even talk about it.\u00a0 Well, I thought it was very interesting because I have never been on a trip to Israel that takes you to this place called Sepphoris.\u00a0 And what is the significance of it?\u00a0 It\u2019s based on tradition that\u2019s been handed down; it\u2019s generally believed that this was a traditional birthplace of Mary, Jesus\u2019 mother.\u00a0 And according to Alfred Edersheim, who wrote some very influential volumes in a prior generation about the cultural makeup of Israel at the time of Christ.\u00a0 It was the location of an advanced Rabbinical school.\u00a0 And Judaism sort of had developed to the point where there were mandatory schooling that the young people had to go through.\u00a0 And according to Alfred Edersheim Sepphoris was the location of one of those very important schools.\n\nYou say well why are you bringing this up?\u00a0 Well, the school or the city is located three miles from Nazareth.\u00a0 What is the significance of Nazareth?\u00a0 Well, according to Luke 2:51 which says, \u201cAnd He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and he continued in subjection to them;\u201d that\u2019s His parents, \u201cand His mother treasured all these things in her heart.\u201d\u00a0 So Nazareth is basically acknow\u00adledged in the Scripture as a historical place where Jesus grew up.\u00a0 In fact Luke 2:52 says of Jesus\u2019 life in Nazareth this is going from age 12 to age 30 roughly.\u00a0 It says, \u201cAnd Jesus kept increasing in wisdom\u201d that\u2019s intellectual growth, \u201cand stature,\u201d that\u2019s bodily growth, \u201cand in favor with God\u201d that\u2019s spiritual growth, \u201cand men, \u201cthat\u2019s social growth.\u00a0 So Jesus, as not just fully God but fully man had to go through the full growing, maturing process that all human beings go through.\u00a0 And Nazareth from age 12 (roughly) perhaps ever before, to age 30 is where Jesus experienced these things.\n\nAnd so it\u2019s very interesting that three miles from Nazareth is the place that many people believed (based on tradition) that Mary (His mother) where she was born.\u00a0 There was this well-known rabbinical school and rabbinical system.\u00a0 And so Jesus probably, based on the geography, could have very easily worked there as an artisan.\u00a0 And this is where He was educated; He had access at this point to Talmud and to Torah studies.\u00a0 And over in Luke 2:40 this is what is meant when it says, \u201cThe Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.\u201d I mean it\u2019s sort of unthinkable that given this growth that He went through and the knowledge that He had He wouldn\u2019t have accessed, or His parents wouldn\u2019t have had him accessed to this well-known rabbinical school in Sepphoris.\n\nAnd that\u2019s the meaning, part of the meaning of Galatians 4:4.\u00a0 It says, (Paul writes) \u201cBut when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, the sovereignty of God is in play determining not just when Jesus would be born, He couldn\u2019t have been born at just any time because we know from the Book of Daniel that He had to present His Messianic credentials to the nation of Israel at a specific point in the calendar.\u00a0 So if He had to present His Messianic credentials at a specific point in the calendar on the exact day, Luke 2:42, 44 talks about that.\u00a0 [Luke 2:42, 44, \u201cAnd when He became twelve, they went up there<\/em> according to the custom of the Feast;\u00a0 [43] and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it, [44] but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day\u2019s journey; and they began<\/em> looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances.\u201d\n\nIf you need proof on that go back to our Daniel series when we were in the Seventy Weeks of Daniel and the reason that I took seventy weeks to go through the Seventy Weeks of Daniel, roughly, is I wanted people to understand this chronology and this precision.\u00a0 So if He had to present His credentials at a specific day that means He had to be born at a particular time and the Lord determined all of that and the Holy Spirit revealed it here in the Scriptures, Galatians 4:4, the \u201cfullness of the time.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [Galatians 4:4, \u201cBut when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.\u201d]\n\nAnd God\u2019s providence in the whole thing was so overpowering that He even determined the place where Jesus would grow up, only three miles from this very well educated rabbinical system.\u00a0 And is this something to start a new church over?\u00a0 Is this something to be dogmatic on?\u00a0 Not necessarily but it\u2019s highly likely, it\u2019s highly probable that Jesus received a tremendous education, that was available to Him just three miles from Nazareth in this place called Sepphoris.\u00a0 And I think this is interesting because a lot of people will portray Jesus as sort of a toothless hillbilly, you know, poor, uneducated, and easy to command kind of thing.\u00a0 We have a tendency to portray Jesus like ourselves a lot times.\u00a0 And the reality of the situation is, if what I\u2019m saying here is true, Jesus was highly educated and his family placed a great deal of emphasis on education at a very early age.\n\nAnd I think there\u2019s a reason why He went into that temple at age twelve, Luke tells us, and confounded the religious leaders with His knowledge.\u00a0\u00a0 I mean, it was certainly because he was God in human flesh but it was also because His parents took advantage of this tremendous educational system that was available to Him just three miles away from Nazareth, his boyhood home.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s why I think Sepphoris is very interesting and there\u2019s hardly any tours that will take you to that area or even know its significance.\u00a0 I was fortunate to be part of the tour group led by Dr. David Hocking, that wanted to take us there and explain these things to us.\u00a0 These are things I really didn\u2019t know and so I found that to be very interesting.\n\nFrom the, you might want to slip over to Matthew 16 for a moment, Matthew 16:13-23, we went to a place called Upper Galilee, that would be north of the Sea of Galilee, to a region called Upper Galilee, and there it\u2019s significant because you\u2019ve two things, number one, a place called Caesarea Philippi, not to be confused with a Caesarea that we saw last week on the coastline of Israel where Cornelius was converted.\u00a0 This is a different Caesarea and these cities get named Caesarea because they\u2019re trying to sort of \u201ckiss up\u201d so to speak to who?\u00a0 The Caesars, and this one is called Caesarea Philippi, and it\u2019s north of the Sea of Galilee.\u00a0 And if you look at Matthew 16:13 it\u2019s very clear, the geographical location where this interaction between Jesus and Peter took place.\n\nIt says in verse 13, \u201cNow when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, \u201cWho do people say that the Son of Man is?\u201d\u201d And one of the things that\u2019s interesting to note about Caesarea Philippi is it is an area known for the Temple of Pan, which was basically a pagan religious system.\u00a0 And when you understand that that was sort of the headquarters or the beachhead or the dominance of the Temple of Pan, all of a sudden the things that Jesus says to Peter in Caesarea Philippi starts to jump off the page.\u00a0 It starts to make sense why Jesus is making some of the points that He is making.\u00a0 So it\u2019s here that Jesus asked the disciples \u201cWho do people say that I am?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 And you know how that story unfolds, Peter finally coughed up the right answer, and the Lord basically tells Peter that this was disclosed to him from heaven, because Peter has identified Jesus properly as the Son of God, Son of man, being the Messiah of the world, the Messiah of the nation of Israel, etc.\n\nAnd in that interaction Jesus starts to make certain promises to Peter concerning the church, which is on the horizon, yet to be birthed in which chapter of the Bible?\u00a0 When was the church born?\u00a0 Acts 2, so the church didn\u2019t exist yet, the nation of Israel is sort of going to be put in time out for two thousand years at least because the leadership rejected their own Messiah.\u00a0 The church, Matthew 12, the church is on the horizon and here is where we find the first reference to the church that\u2019s coming in Acts 2.\n\nSo Jesus says to Peter, [Matthew 16:18] \u201cI say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades\u201d or hell itself \u201cwill not overpower it.\u201d What a statement to make in the part of the Israel where the temple of Pan has the most influence. \u00a0I mean it\u2019s almost like Jesus is going right into the home court of the devil and articulating a promise that hell itself is not going to be able to destroy this church that I\u2019m going to begin to build from heaven, as Jesus is at the right hand of the Father starting on the Day of Pentecost.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t know, some of this background information that you pick up really helps a lot of the statements in the Bible come into a sharper focus.\n\nIt\u2019s also here that Jesus says to Peter, in the same verse, \u201cI say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church<\/u>;\u201d and the verb oikodom\u0113s\u014d<\/a> is in the future tense, so obviously when Jesus made that statement the church did not exist yet.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 He didn\u2019t say I\u2019m building My church or I have built My church or I\u2019ve been in the process of building My church in days gone by.\u00a0 He said \u201cI will build My church.\u201d\u00a0 And this is what makes us very different than Reformed theology which basically tries to argue the church has always been in existence.\u00a0 They have this one people of God theology and they basically believe the church started with Abraham or some even push it back as far as Adam, when Adam got outside the Garden and put his clothes on, that\u2019s when the church started according to them. And that just makes a mockery of Christ\u2019s statement here.\u00a0 If the church was already in existence why in the world would Jesus put the verb \u201cbuild\u201d in the future tense?\n\nSo we need at Sugar Land Bible Church to not embrace the \u201cone people of God\u201d theology that many people artificially impose on the Bible. We believe that God has separate programs, ONE plan of salvation but separate programs for Israel and the church and we believe that because God is a God of diversity.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t God a God of diversity?\u00a0 I mean, don\u2019t you have male and female, isn\u2019t that diverse?\u00a0 Don\u2019t you have good angels and fallen angels, and God has a separate plan for the good angels, another plan for the fallen angels.\u00a0 And so many people are threatened by this two peoples of God idea and yet to me I don\u2019t see what the big deal is given the fact that God is a God of diversity.\n\nAnd in this same statement Jesus also says this, and it doesn\u2019t show up in English, you have to study this in Greek to really understand what He\u2019s saying, \u201cI say to you that you are Peter,\u201d now when He says Peter there the word is Petros<\/em>, and it\u2019s a masculine noun and it means little stone.\u00a0 \u201cI say to you that you are \u2018little stone\u2019 (<\/em>Petros) and upon this rock\u201d and the moment that he says \u201cthis rock\u201d the noun switches from Petros<\/em> to Petra<\/em>, the gender changes, it\u2019s no longer a masculine noun, it\u2019s now a feminine noun, and Petra<\/em>, unlike Petros<\/em> does not mean little stone but large stone.\u00a0 So, \u201cI say to you that you are little stone and upon large stone I will build My church and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.\u201d\u00a0 And this was all happening at Caesarea Philippi.\n\nAnd you say well what\u2019s the big deal?\u00a0 Well this is a huge deal because Roman Catholicism, based on this passage, as they\u2019re not telling people what the original Greek actually says, has convinced I don\u2019t know how many countless people, that Peter is the first Pope, and they argue this from Matthew 16:18, after all, Jesus built the church on Peter.\u00a0 [Matthew 16:18, \u201cI also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.\u201d]\u00a0 And I hope that\u2019s not the case because the very next thing out of Peter\u2019s mouth is that Jesus needs to stay away from the cross, in the same conversation, and Jesus says to Peter, \u201cGet behind me\u201d what? \u201cSatan.\u201d\u00a0 [Matthew 16:23, \u201cBut He turned and said to Peter, \u2018Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man\u2019s.\u201d]\n\nSo Peter is the first Pope, his first papal utterance [laughter] which by the way can\u2019t be erased because they believe in what\u2019s called ex cathedra<\/em>, which means from the chair, meaning the Pope speaks for God.\u00a0 The Pope is the vicar of God on the earth; \u201cvicar\u201d means in the place of.\u00a0 And so if Peter is the first Pope then the very first thing that came out of his mouth, which was ex cathedra<\/em> which can never be withdrawn, because you run into Catholics and you say you teach this, and they oh, we don\u2019t believe that anymore.\u00a0 Well not so fast, you guys have been telling us this ex cathedra<\/em> doctrine for a long time so whatever some Pope said in the past can\u2019t be withdrawn because your Roman Catholic friends look at the statement of the Pope as actually on par with the Scripture itself.\u00a0 And this was Luther\u2019s whole point in the Protestant Reformation when he kept emphasizing sola<\/em> by itself, sola Scriptura<\/em>.\u00a0 You get your authority from the Scripture, not from papal statements.\n\nSo if Peter is the first Pope than his first utterance is a satanic statement.\u00a0 So you start to see very fast that the doctrine of Peter being the first Pope disintegrating.\u00a0 And it also disintegrates when you understand that Jesus never said, looking at the original Greek, that He was going to build His church on Peter.\u00a0 If He was going to build His church on Peter, the noun Petros, when it\u2019s translated \u201cthis rock\u201d a little bit latter would stay the same, wouldn\u2019t it?\u00a0 I mean it should say, \u201cI say that you are Petros and upon Petros I will build my church.\u201d\u00a0 But He switches the noun, He doesn\u2019t say Petros any more, He says Petra.\u00a0 So it\u2019s very clear that the church was never built on Peter.\n\nSo what was it built on?\u00a0 It was not built on Petros, little stone, it was built on Petra, big stone and there\u2019s sort of a debate as to what the big stone is. I think the big stone is the statement that Peter correctly made concerning the identity of Christ in this conversation.\u00a0 He identified Christ accurately; he identified Him as to who He was.\u00a0 Jesus said, \u2018who do men say that I am. [Mark 8:27, \u201cAnd Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and on the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Who do men say that I am? ...<\/strong>]\u00a0\u00a0 Elijah, one of the prophets, verse 16, \u201cBut Peter answered \u2018You are the<\/u> Christ\u2019\u201d that means the Messiah, \u201cthe Son of the living God.\u201d\u00a0 Peter got the question right.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because of verse 17, \u201c\u201cBlessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this<\/em> to you, but My Father who is in heaven.\u201d\n\nSo God the Father put the thought into Peter\u2019s mind and Peter articulated it and Jesus says upon that statement, not upon you Peter, I mean, you wouldn\u2019t even had the statement if God hadn\u2019t put the idea in your mind.\u00a0 Upon that statement that just came out of your mouth, Petra<\/em>, big stone, the proper identification of Christ, \u201cI will build My church and the gates of Hades\u201d here we are on the home court of the temple of Pan, the gates of Hades itself is not going to be able to prevail against this church that I\u2019m going to start constructing on the Day of Pentecost.\n\nSo you kind of look at the state of the church today and we see different apostasies going on and it\u2019s easy to sort of get discouraged about the state of the church.\u00a0 But we have to go back to this statement that the church is not a manmade project, it\u2019s God\u2019s project and hell itself, whether it be the temple of Pan or any other thing is not going to prevail against it.\n\nSo he goes from little stone to big stone and if you look at some of these pictures, particularly the picture in the upper right,\u00a0 and the picture in the lower left, it would have been a perfect place for Jesus to make that point because as you look at the lower left you see the\u00a0 Y there and sort of inward from the water over to my right is a little area that\u00a0 you can sit as tourists, and I was actually privileged to do the teaching at this particular location and what was scattered all over that area was these little tiny rocks.\u00a0 And then what you see in the background is this giant cliff and so I don\u2019t know, maybe I\u2019m being a little imaginative here, maybe not, but I think when Jesus was talking about Petros He pointed to one of these little tiny stones, that\u2019s who you are Peter.\u00a0 But then when He said Petra He turned and pointed backwards to that giant immovable cliff.\u00a0 And I don\u2019t know, I found all of that very, very interesting, and these are things that just start occurring to you as you\u2019re standing in the very location where Jesus uttered these statements.\n\nIf you drop down to verse 19 of Matthew 16, He says, \u201c\u201cI will give you the keys of the kingdom\u201d now what do you do with keys?\u00a0 You open things.\u00a0 \u201cI will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.\u201d And it\u2019s interesting to me that Peter was given those keys and he is the one that led the first Jews to Christ on the Day of Pentecost, Acts 2, and he is also the one that led the first Gentile to Christ, in the church age I\u2019m talking about, Acts 10.\u00a0 And it\u2019s almost like Jesus is saying this temple of Pan and all this paganism is not going to hold men\u2019s mind hostage.\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019re going to have the keys to open the truth of the gospel to people.\n\nAnd as you look at verse 21, now this is where Peter kind of gets the bighead and he starts to second guess Jesus.\u00a0 I mean, it would be easy to get the bighead, wouldn\u2019t it, at this point.\u00a0 I mean, you\u2019ve got the keys.\u00a0 So verse 21 says, \u201cFrom that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and Scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. [22] Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him\u201d can you imagine doing that to God, I mean you obviously think He\u2019s God because you\u2019ve got His identity right come here God, I want to show you a few thing.\u00a0 \u201cPeter took Him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, \u201cGod forbid it,<\/em> Lord! This shall never happen to You.\u201d\u00a0 Concerning His crucifixion. \u00a0[23] \u201cBut He\u201d that\u2019s Jesus, \u201cturned and said to Peter, \u201cGet behind Me,\u201d what? \u201cSatan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God\u2019s interests, but man\u2019s interest.\u201d\n\nSo it\u2019s interesting that one moment Peter makes a statement\u2026 and we\u2019re very much like this, and this is why the Book of James, chapter 3, verses 9-12 tells us to be careful about being double-tongued.\u00a0 [James 3:9-12, \u201cWith it we bless our<\/em> Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; [10] from the same mouth come both<\/em> blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. [11] Does a fountain send out from the same opening both<\/em> fresh and bitter water?<\/em> [12] Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can<\/em> salt water produce fresh.\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s sort of frightening that you can make a statement in one breath that God can use to edify or build and then the next breath as we appeal to pride or the sin nature something else can come out of our mouth that the devil could use.\u00a0 And that\u2019s just who we are with two natures.\u00a0 I can make statements from the new nature or make statements from the old nature at will.\u00a0 Now the old nature doesn\u2019t have the power over me as s slave owner as it once did but I can still go back to it.\u00a0 And so this is what happened to Peter and now Jesus says Peter, the devil is using you now, in this location where the temple of Pan was you\u2019re no longer yielded to the purposes of God the Father, you\u2019re now yielded to the purposes of the temple of Pan.\n\nAnd it\u2019s also very interesting in verse 21, and a lot of commentators will miss this, it says, \u201cFrom that time\u201d or some of your versions say \u201cFrom that time on,\u201d now that expression, \u201cFrom that time on\u201d to my knowledge only occurs two times in Matthew\u2019s Gospel.\u00a0 The first time it occurs is in Matthew 4:17, which says, \u201cFrom that time on Jesus went and He preached\u201d what? \u201cRepent for the kingdom of heaven is\u201d what? \u201cat hand.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s the national offer of the kingdom to the nation of Israel which we know they rejected in Matthew 12.\u00a0 The very next time that that identical expression shows up is in Matthew 16:21 and what\u2019s happened in between Matthew 4 and Matthew 16?\u00a0 Matthew 12 which is the rejection of the offer of the kingdom.\u00a0 So now that the offer of the kingdom is off the table, withdrawn, at lease from that generation, Jesus articulates another purpose for which He came into the world, to die on the cross, to rise from the dead for the sins of humanity.\n\nSo those two expressions from that time on, whether it be the offer of the kingdom in early Matthew or \u201cfrom that time on\u201d and as He begins to speak of the crucifixion and the resurrection in latter Matthew, those two expressions reveal the two great purposes for which Jesus came to the earth.\u00a0 Early on His first purpose was to offer the kingdom to Israel.\u00a0 Now I think He always knew that the offer would be turned down which would lead to His second great purpose, which is to be betrayed by the nation of Israel and handed over (the leadership anyway) handed over to the Romans for execution.\u00a0 And consequently pay for the sins of the entire world through His death, burial, resurrection and ascension.\n\nAnd so the expression \u201cfrom that time on\u201d will give you those two purposes and the whole thing is this latter purpose, the second purpose is revealed for the first time here in Upper Galilee, up north, in Caesarea Philippi.\u00a0 Peter liked the first purpose, he liked the kingdom stuff but he really didn\u2019t like this idea of now that the offer has been rejected, Matthew 12, and withdrawn, he really didn\u2019t like this idea of his second purpose, of a Messiah that\u2019s suffering and dying.\u00a0 But anyway, it\u2019s very interesting to look at this and to see that this whole interesting exchange took place there in Caesarea Philippi.\n\nContinuing on, we\u2019ll go to a place called Tel Dan, and there\u2019s a common expression in the Bible from Dan to Beersheba.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see that in 1 Kings 4:25.\u00a0 [1 Kings 4:25, \u201cSo Judah and Israel lived in safety, every man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.\u201d]\u00a0 Dan is all the way up north, Beersheba is down south, so when someone says \u201cfrom Dan to Beersheba\u201d they\u2019re basically talking about the totality of the nation of Israel, not so much in the Abrahamic Covenant, we know that Israel\u2019s land in the millennial kingdom is really going to go from the Nile all the way to the Euphrates.\u00a0 But from Dan to Beersheba is talking about the totality of Israel as it existed at the time.\n\nSo in the upper north there, upper Galilee, is a place called Tel Dan, and Tel Dan is interesting because when you go further north of Tel Dan you\u2019ll run into something called Mount Herman, where Israeli\u2019s today, I asked my tour guide about this, can actually go skiing there.\u00a0 So it has snow certain parts of the\u00a0 year and the snow melts and as the snow from Mount Herman melts it flows into a river called the Jordan River, (which sounds familiar) which runs through Dan and ultimately continues to move down south and spills out into the Sea of Galilee.\u00a0 So there in Dan you have this kind of rushing water from Mount Herman into the Jordan down to the Sea of Galilee.\u00a0 And so consequently Dan, Tel Dan is an area that is lush and it\u2019s sort of out of place up there given its sort of arid conditions of the rest of the nation.\n\nAnd it\u2019s actually a very significant place because according to 2 Kings 10:29 and 2 Chronicles 13:8, I would just jot those verses down, I don\u2019t know if we have time to read every single verse.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [2 Kings 10:29, \u201cHowever, as for the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin, from these Jehu did not depart, even the golden calves that were at Bethel and that were at Dan.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2 Chronicles 13:8, \u201cSo now you intend to resist the kingdom of the LORD through the sons of David, being a great multitude and having with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made for gods for you.\u201d]\n\nBut 2 Kings 10:29, 2 Chronicles 13:8, this was for a northern king named Jeroboam.\u00a0 Now let me back up for a minute.\u00a0 Solomon left the throne in about 931 B.C.\u00a0 Solomon was the last king of the United Kingdom.\u00a0 After he left the throne the kingdom divided between Israel and Judah, north and south. \u00a0So the very first king of the United Kingdom was a man named Saul, and he reigned for forty years.\u00a0 His reign was followed by David and he reigned for forty years and David\u2019s reign was followed by Saul, and he reigned for forty years.\u00a0 So the three first kings of the United Kingdom each reigned for forty years.\u00a0 Saul reigned, we think, from about 1051 to 1011 and then David reigned from 1011 to about 971, and then Solomon reigned from about 971 to 931.\n\nAnd Solomon brought divine discipline via the Mosaic Covenant because it\u2019s almost like Solomon got up one day and did the exact opposite of what God said, late in his life. The king is not to intermarry with foreign women, so what did Solomon do?\u00a0 He intermarried with foreign women.\u00a0 He is not to amass unto himself gold and silver.\u00a0 What did Solomon do?\u00a0 He amassed\u00a0 unto himself gold and silver.\u00a0 And he made the mistake that all bad kings make, they put themselves not under the Mosaic Law but over the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a no-no, because the King, unlike these ancient Middle Eastern deities surrounding the nation of Israel is not a deity himself.\u00a0 Kings are not gods, gods are not kings, the king was supposed to be\u00a0 under the Law, Deuteronomy 17:14-17.\n\n[Deuteronomy 17:14-17, \u201cWhen you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, \u2018I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,\u2019 [15] you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one<\/em> from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. [16] \u201cMoreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, \u2018You shall never again return that way.\u2019 [11] \u201cHe shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.\u201d]\n\nAnd so at the end of the Solomonic reign God brought discipline and the nation of Israel is divided between the ten northern tribes called Israel, headquartered in Samaria, and then the two southern tribes, who were the two southern tribes, Benjamin and Judah, those two tribes taking on the designation Judah, headquartered in Jerusalem.\u00a0 So Jeroboam was the first basically king of the northern kingdom, and what did Jeroboam do according to 2 Kings 10:29 and 2 Chronicles 13:8?\u00a0 Jeroboam, up north, erected two golden calves as gods in two place, Bethel and Dan.\u00a0 So he got tired of everybody going to Jerusalem, which was in the south to worship so he said let\u2019s just set up a rival system via paganism in the north.\u00a0 And he did that at Tel Dan and what\u2019s interesting is when you go to Tel Dan there\u2019s some excavated remains of altars and things like that.\u00a0 You can find all kinds of pictures of this on the internet where it\u2019s generally believed that he, at least in Dan, erected these two golden calves.\n\nAnd one of the other very interesting things about Tel Dan is what\u2019s called the Tel Dan Stela, and what is it?\u00a0 It\u2019s a broken and inscribed stone discovered around 1993 to 1994 through excavations at Tel Dan.\u00a0 And what it reveals is Hazael, of Aram-Damascus boasting of his victories over the King of Israel.\u00a0\u00a0 And the King of Israel\u2019s ally, the King of the house of David.\u00a0 Aha, so David, as we study in the Bible, is not just a fictitious character, as many have led us to believe, but now through this Tel Dan Stela you have a record of a man named David and a \u201cHouse of David.\u201d\u00a0 All of this discovered at Tel Dan.\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of interesting isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Didn\u2019t last week at Caesarea Philippi we saw an inscription there giving record of Pontius Pilate\u2019s existence.\u00a0 Remember in Caesarea on the Mediterranean coastline this is found, \u201cPontius Pilatus, the prefect of Judaea, (erected) a (building dedicated) to (the emperor) Tiberius.\u201d\n\nSo we have evidence of Pontius Pilate existing, like the Bible says, we start to see evidence that David himself existed, just like the Bible says.\u00a0 Now can the Mormons find anything like this related to Jesus supposed entrance into North America in what was it, the 1800\u2019s or earlier?\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of interesting, Mormonism, their key school is BYU, Brigham Young University, they boast one of the greatest archeological departments in the world, and they can\u2019t find a shred of evidence of their religion.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting that we keep finding these things in the land of Israel, not contradicting but vindicating and validating what the Bible says.\n\nNow I don\u2019t know if archeology can prove the Bible, I don\u2019t even know if God is going to allow us to find so many things that completely prove the Bible because God wants us to deal with Him on the basis of faith, \u201cfor without faith it\u2019s impossible to please God.\u201d \u00a0[Hebrews 11:6, \u201cAnd without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.\u201d]\n\nBut is interesting to me that God is allowing more and more discoveries to be made, whether it\u2019s Pontius Pilate or David or whoever, kind of showing us that the biblical narrative, the biblical story is a credible story.\u00a0 I mean, when I have to believe other things I have to kind of set aside my intellect and accept something that\u2019s true just because someone tells me it\u2019s true, like The Book of Mormon.\u00a0 Not so with the Bible, God over and over again gives us evidence, if you will, concerning the fact that the Biblical story is in fact a very credible story to believe.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to throw your brain away to become a Christian.\u00a0 Christianity, contrary to the way people portray it, is not anti-intellectual.\u00a0 God has given us an intellect and many times He appeals to our intellect by reminding us that the faith that we have is a reasonable faith.\u00a0 We still have to walk by faith but it\u2019s very, very reasonable.\n\nFrom there we moved to the Sea of Galilee, and Angela,\u00a0 you might start seeing yorself in some of these pictures, because she was there with us, there is a picture of myself at the very bottom with Sarah and Anne, and Angela and you know about the Sea of Galilee, right?\u00a0 One of the things I like about the Sea of Galilee is no one can go there and build a church over it. All these other sites, someone gets ahead of us, usually the Catholics, and they build some giant church there and it blocks the view and all this stuff.\u00a0 I kind of like things in a natural state and I don\u2019t think anybody has figured out how to build a church over the Sea of Galilee.\n\nAnd by the way, there\u2019s not a lot of debate concerning whether this was the Sea of Galilee or not, there\u2019s only one Sea of Galilee in the nation. The Sea of Galilee is the location of the largest freshwater lake in Israel.\u00a0 You\u2019re saying well can you swim across that?\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t recommend it unless you\u2019re in very good shape.\u00a0 The Sea of Galilee is 33 miles in circumference,13 miles long, 8 miles wide and its maximum depth would be about 141 feet.\u00a0 And depending on what location you are on the Sea of Galilee it\u2019s about 705 to 686 feet below sea level.\u00a0 It\u2019s the lowest fresh water supply on planet earth, the largest fresh water lake on planet earth.\n\nNow whatis the largest body of water below sea level on planet earth?\u00a0 The Dead Sea, which we haven\u2019t talked about\u00a0 yet.\u00a0 So the Sea of Galilee would be the second lowest lake on planet earth (to my knowledge) only to be rivaled by the Dead Sea.\u00a0 And what\u2019s the source of water that flows into the Sea of Galilee?\u00a0 The Jordan River, which we just talked about.\u00a0 Josephus, now who was Josephus?\u00a0 A first century Jewish historian, who a lot of people within Israel kind of look at him as sort of a turncoat; he got captured by the Romans and he really didn\u2019t put up much of a resistance and so he kind of had a career working for Rome recording history and that\u2019s why with Josephus you\u2019ll see him often dscribed with the first name Flavius Josephus, if I remember right, Flavius would be his Roman name.\u00a0 And he wrote several books of the time period just a tad after the life of Christ there at the conclusion of the first century.\u00a0 And if it wasn\u2019t for his writings we wouldn\u2019t have a lot of independent verification of the things that we read in the Bible, about the destruction of Israel that Jesus predicted in A.D. 70, etc.\n\nSo Josephus is a pretty important soruce and he speaks of thriving fishing area of the first century with 230 boats regularly working the lake.\u00a0 And so this starts to make sense, doesn\u2019t it, about Jesus and the fishing business and how He went to the Sea of Galilee to recruit disciples.\u00a0 In fact, this is where Jesus called Peter into fulltime discipleship, Matthew 4:18-23.\u00a0 [Matthew 4:18, \u201cNow as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. [19] And He said to them, \u201cFollow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.\u201d [20] Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. [21] Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son<\/em> of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. [22] Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him. [23] Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.\u201d]\n\nIn fact, when you go over to Matthew 4 verses 18-23, this is the famous story where Jesus tells Peter to leave his nets because Jsus would make hiim \u201cfishers of men.\u201d\u00a0 And it says in verse 18, before this story happened it says \u201c\u201cNow as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee,\u201d so the way Jesus describes it as a thriving fishing business industry with 230 boats in the time of Christ it makes a lot of sense based on what the biblical record reveals concerning this is where Jesus recruited His initial disciples.\u00a0 And this was the part of geography where Jesus did so many, many important miracles. Like what?\u00a0 Walking on the water, ever tried to do that?\u00a0 It was a miracle.\u00a0 Calming the storm, the miraculous catch of the fish, and on the shores of the Sea of Galilee He fed the five thousand.\u00a0 And not far from the Sea of Galilee is a place called Gedera\u00a0 Mark 5, where Jesus cast the demons out of a man and they went into a herd of pigs and rushed over the cliff.\n\n[Mark 5:10, \u201cAnd he began<\/em> to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. [11] Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. [12] The demons<\/em> implored Him, saying, \u201cSend us into the swine so that we may enter them.\u201d [14] Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them;<\/em> and they were drowned in the sea.\u201d]\n\nI mean, all of these things are happening at this location called the Sea of Galilee.\u00a0 AND one of the things that\u2019s very, very interesting is it\u2019s the place where a very important discovery was made called the Jesus boat.\u00a0 Or if you\u2019re a Hebrew\u00a0 and you like to use the Hebrew name for Christ we\u2019ll call this the Yeshua Boat.\u00a0 And what is this exactly?\u00a0 It\u2019s a boat that has been discovered from the first century.\u00a0 It\u2019s an ancient fishing boat, it was discovered in 1986 in a drought and receding waters and it was discovered in the southwestern section of the Sea of Galilee.\u00a0 If you want the dimensions of the boat that was discovered it\u2019s 27 feet long, 8 feet wide and has a maximum height of about four feet, and it\u2019s now being housed in a place called Gennesaret, and you see there in the upper left where Gennesaret is there on the Sea of Galilee. And it\u2019s basically been acknowledged by everyone that this is a fishing boat from the first century.\u00a0 In fact, when they pulled this thing up it\u2019s an interesting story, they have there in Gennesaret sort of a museum that you can go to and sort of a little movie that they show you, the chemicals and all of the things they had to put into place to preserve this thing from the first century because it began to disintegrate the moment that they found it.\n\nNow can you look in the boat and say [can't understand word] because Jesus was here and Peter was here.\u00a0 I mean, is this the boat that Jesus was on or was His disciples?\u00a0 Well, we don\u2019t know that, but there really is no evidence besides the date of connecting the boat to Jesus or His disciples.\u00a0 I just want to make the very simple point that your Bible talks about Jesus in a boat with His disciples, it talks about a thriving fishing business, and this whole scenario on the Sea of Galilee is confirmed, not only by the writings of Josephus but by the discovery of this Yeshua or Jesus boat.\n\nAnd if you go over to Mark 4, I was privileged to give a sermon actually on the Sea of Galilee, I wasn\u2019t walking, I was on a boat, and when I figured out how much they charged us to get on the boat I could understand why Jesus decided to walk.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 But there we were on the Sea of Galilee and I had a chance to teach out of Mark 4:35-41 which is a story you all know, it\u2019s about Jesus calming the waters on the Sea of Galilee.\n\nAnd it\u2019s very interesting here, it says in verse 37, \u201cAnd there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.\u201d\u00a0 Look at Matthew 8:24, you have the same kind of thing happening as Matthew which accounts either the same event or a similar event.\u00a0 It says, \u201cAnd behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep.\u201d And we can draw all kinds of spiritual applications out of that, can\u2019t we?\u00a0 But one of the things that\u2019s very interesting to discover about the Sea of Galilee is based on how it\u2019s situated storms have and can arise lickety-split, just like the Bible says.\n\nI found this on the internet, it says, \u201cThe seas location makes it subject to sudden and violent storms as the wind comes over the eastern mountains and drops suddenly onto the sea.\u00a0 Storms are especially likely when an east wind blows cool air over the warm air that covers the sea, the cold air being heavier drops as the warm air arises.\u00a0 This sudden change can produce surprisingly furious storms in a short time as it did in Jesus\u2019 day.\u00a0 Matthew 8:24, Mark 4, etc.\u201d\n\nSo whether we\u2019re talking about evidence of the existence of Pontius Pilate, evidence of the existence of David, evidence of the existence of a fishing industry, and fishing boats from the first century or even sudden storms on the Sea of Galilee you see very fast that oh my goodness, this Bible that we\u2019re reading is very credible.\u00a0 This is not Jack and the Beanstalk stuff.\u00a0 I mean, these things historically actually transpired, just like\u00a0 your Bible says.\u00a0 But I hope what this is doing is it\u2019s growing your faith or your confidence in the Word of God.\u00a0 That\u2019s my goal in sharing this with you.\n\nAnd then one other thing very fast, how am I going to do this fast?\u00a0 It\u2019s the Sermon on the Mount for crying out loud.\u00a0 We went to a place called the Mount of Beatitudes where it\u2019s generally believed in a location like\u2026 either it was this one or like this one on the Sea of Galilee, that the Sermon on the Mount transpired.\u00a0 You may know or may not know that Matthew\u2019s Gospel has five sermons in it.\u00a0 Remember, Matthew\u2019s Gospel is the most Jewish Gospel that we have.\u00a0 It is the first gospel written, it was written to Hebrew Christians answering the [can't understand word] because the whole early church was what?\u00a0 Gentile or Jew?\u00a0 Jewish.\u00a0 So it stands to reason that Matthew\u2019s Gospel is the most Jewish one and will be the first one.\u00a0 \u2026answering the question if Jesus is the King then where is His kingdom, because in the Jewish mind king and kingdom are like horse and carriage. And it was a stumbling block to the early Hebrew Christians that we believe in\u00a0 Yeshua as\u00a0 our Messiah but where\u2019s His kingdom.\u00a0 How come Isaiah 9:6-7 isn\u2019t being fulfilled right now, where He\u2019ll beat their swords into plowshares and all that stuff.?\n\n[Isaiah 9:6-7, \u201cFor a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.\u00a0 [7] There will be no end to the increase of His<\/em> government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.\u00a0 The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.\u201d]\n\nMatthew\u2019s point is the kingdom has not been cancelled but it\u2019s been postponed.\u00a0 Amen.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that great that I can say this in church and everybody gets the right answer?\u00a0 If I go to a church down the street and I say that they wouldn\u2019t know what I was talking about.\u00a0 But not so at Sugar Land Bible Church.\u00a0 Praise the Lord for you guys.\n\nSo Matthew\u2019s explanation is if Christ is the King then where is His kingdom, and Matthew\u2019s Gospel has in it five sermons that he draws our attention to.\u00a0 How do we know that these are the five?\u00a0 Because every sermon ends with a literary device, \u201cand when Jesus had finished saying these things.\u201d\u00a0 At the end of every sermon you\u2019ll see that expression, \u201cwhen Jesus had finished saying these things.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s how you know you\u2019re concluding each sermon.\n\nAnd how many sermons are there?\u00a0 There are five.\u00a0\u00a0 You say what\u2019s the big deal about five?\u00a0 To the Jewish mind five is a big deal.\u00a0 How many initial Books of the Bible do we have called the Torah?\u00a0 Five.\u00a0 The Book of Psalms is divided into how many books?\u00a0 Five.\u00a0 David went and slew Goliath with how many stones?\u00a0 Five. You guys can high-five me later on this.\u00a0 So it stands to reason that he would\u2026 Matthew, the most Jewish Gospel that we have, would highlight these five sermons.\n\nAnd one of the biggies is the Sermon on the Mount which I believe is an explanation as to why the nation of Israel rejected the kingdom.\u00a0 I mean, why would they turn the whole thing down? Read Matthew 5-7 and you\u2019ll see it.\u00a0 They actually, according to John 6:15 and verse 26, after Jesus fed the masses with a few fish and a few loaves they were going to take Jesus, these Jews, by force and make Him the king.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to be our king whether you like it or not.\u00a0 You know why?\u00a0 Because they loved the parts of His ministry dealing with their physical needs.\u00a0\u00a0 [John 6:15, \u201cSo Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.\u201d\u00a0 [26] Jesus answered them and said, \"Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.\u201d]\n\nAfter all they had been under Roman subjection and they couldn\u2019t wait for a Messiah to get there and overthrow Rome and set up His kingdom.\u00a0 So what was the delay?\u00a0 Well, Jesus begins to articulate that you can\u2019t get into the kingdom without the transferred righteousness that God gives.\u00a0 That was unpopular.\u00a0 That\u2019s why He makes statements that unless your righteousness, Matthew 5:20, what is it?\u00a0 \u201cexceeds,\u201d exceeds who? \u201cthe Scribes and the Pharisees\u201d you can\u2019t get in.\u00a0 [Matthew 5:20, \u201cFor I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.\u201d]\n\nWell how in the world do that with when the Scribes and the Pharisees are the holy men of Israel?\u00a0 Well, what he\u2019s teaching there is you can\u2019t get in through works righteousness, which always appeals to pride, you get in through transferred righteousness, what the Protestant Reformers called alien righteousness.\n\nAnd how badly do I need this transferred righteousness?\u00a0 I need it pretty bad because the Law of God does not just sit in judgment on what I do; it sits in judgment on what I think.\u00a0 Did you know that?\u00a0 When you look at an ancient Near East list, look at the first thing mentioned in the list or the last thing mentioned and that typically will unlock the meaning of the list.\u00a0 What is the last commandment, number 10.\u00a0 \u201cThou shalt not covet.\u201d\u00a0 Do you know the rabbis wrote extensively on almost everything on that list except that one?\u00a0 That was a stumbling block to them.\u00a0 Why was it a stumbling block to them?\u00a0 Because coveting is something that I can to in my heart without physically doing anything. Do you see that?\n\nThe Law of God\u2026 here\u2019s the deal, my heart has committed sins that my hands haven\u2019t gotten around to yet.\u00a0 I mean, it that\u2019s the standard who\u2019s going to make it?\u00a0 No one!\u00a0 Unless you have what?\u00a0 The alien righteousness of Christ.\u00a0 And this is why Jesus said if you\u2019re angry with your brother then you are a murderer.\u00a0 Well, I didn\u2019t physically do anything, Lord.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter, the Law of God sits in judgment not just on what you do but what you think.\u00a0 The inward motivations of the heart, commandment ten, should make that obvious.\u00a0 If I am looking at someone sexually that I\u2019m not married to, that makes me a what?\u00a0 An adulterer\u2026 but I haven\u2019t done anything.\u00a0 Well, the Law of God sits in judgment, not just on what you do but what you think, Matthew 5:21-22, Matthew 5:27-28.\n\n[Matthew 5:21-22, \u201cYou have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER ' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.\u201d [22] But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.\u201d\n\nMatthew 5:27-28, \u201cYou have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY'; [28] but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.\u201d]\n\nThat\u2019s why He says your righteousness has to surpass the Scribes and the Pharisees or you can\u2019t enter the kingdom of God, Matthew 5:20. [Matthew 5:20, \u201c\u201cFor I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.\u201d\u00a0 Well, what hope is there for any of us?\u00a0 How does the Sermon on the Mount end?\u00a0 \u201cAsk, and it will be\u201d what? \u201cgiven to you; seek and you will\u201d what? \u201cfind;\u00a0 knock, and it will be opened to you.\u201d\u00a0 You can\u2019t get this righteousness through self, contrary to what the Scribes and the Pharisees were teaching, you get it only by asking God.\n\nAnd that\u2019s why when you get to the end of the Sermon on the Mount it says, [Matthew 7:28-29] \u00a0\u201cWhen Jesus had finished saying these words, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, [29] for He was teaching them as one having authority, not as their scribe.\u201d\u00a0 He was going back the original intent of the Law of Moses, that the Law of God sits in judgment on what I think, which has been lost through the self-righteousness mindset of the Pharisees.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why they didn\u2019t want the kingdom anymore, because the kingdom is not just about getting fed physically, and it\u2019s not just about overthrowing Rome, there\u2019s moral requirement to get in which has to be supplied by God.\u00a0 And this is where Jesus gave this sermon.\u00a0 As you look on this map it\u2019s generally believed that He was sort of seated more down on the hill and the crowd was up on the hill.\n\nAnd one other quick thing before we close here, something has been built here by Roman Catholicism called The Church of the Beatitudes, and it is an octagonal floorplan, having eight sides.\u00a0 Why would they build a church with eight sides to it?\u00a0 Anybody know?\u00a0 How many beatitudes are there?\u00a0 Anybody want to guess?\u00a0 Blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are those who mourn, Matthew 5:3-10.\n\n[Matthew 5:3 \u201cBlessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.\u00a0 [4] \u201cBlessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.\u00a0 [5] \u201cBlessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.\u00a0 [6] \u201cBlessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.\u00a0 [7] \u201cBlessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.\u00a0 [8] \u201cBlessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. [9] \u201cBlessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.\u00a0\u00a0 [10] \u201cBlessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.\u201d]\n\nThere\u2019s eight of these, that\u2019s why they build this church there with eight sides.\u00a0 Anyway, that\u2019s the significance of the Mount of Beatitudes.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for this class and the things that we\u2019re learning.\u00a0 I pray that you will continue to grow us deeper in Your Word as we study the very important life and geography of Israel.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name and God\u2019s people said\u2026. Amen!","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t