Matthew (Page 4)
Matthew 16:13-20
Who’s Got the Keys to the Kingdom? Introduction: We are skipping several portions of Matthew as we come this morning to chapter 16, verse 13. Each of the sections we are passing over from 15:29 to 16:12 has a close parallel with one of the passages we have recently wrestled with, so I am going to move this morning to chapter 16, verse 13, which addresses the critical question of “Who is Jesus?” and the related question of “Who’s Got the Keys to…
Matthew 17:1-8
The Transfiguration of Christ: Preview of the Resurrection Introduction: On this beautiful Easter morning I want to ask you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew 17:1-8, or you can follow along on the screen as I read aloud: After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as…
Matthew 18:1-9; 19:13-15
Too Small to Ignore Introduction: Today we are returning to the Life of Christ. We started studying the book of Matthew back in 2006 and completed the first eight chapters by June of ‘07. We picked it up again from Thanksgiving to this past Easter, covering chapters 9-17. Today we start in chapter 18 and, Lord willing, we will finish this amazing book by Easter, with a few planned interruptions along the way. We will not preach every single passage, because we have already studied…
Matt 19:16-30
The Rich Young Ruler Introduction: Turn with me, please, to Matthew 19:16-22. While you’re turning there, you perhaps will notice that I have skipped several paragraphs in chapters 18 and 19. That is because we dealt with those topics in other series the past few years. In 18:15-20 the issue of resolving conflict in the church is discussed, which was the topic of our series entitled Great Church Fights last fall.[i] The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant was preached in our series on parables a…
Matthew 20:17-34
A Mother’s Selfish Request Introduction: The last will be first and the first, last. The way up is down. The one who wants to lead must become a servant. These are truths Jesus makes explicitly clear in the passages we have recently been studying; in fact, in a sense our last two sermons and the one today all have the same essential message. I trust you recall the conclusion of the story of the Rich Young Ruler in chapter 19: “Many who are first will be…
Matt 21:1-27
This Was the Week That Was Introduction: A satirical television comedy program hosted by David Frost aired on BBC TV in 1962 and 1963. It was called That Was the Week that Was, or TW3. Ever since then the phrase “the week that was” has been used to refer to any week that is highly unusual. Sportscasters use it to refer to a week that has unusual upsets in the NFL, which means almost every week. Bob Schieffer used it as the headline of a news column…
Matt 21:28-46
Parables for Pharisees, Ancient and Postmodern Introduction: Last Sunday our text from Matthew 21 concerned the beginning of The Week that Was, Passion Week, the final week of Christ’s earthly life. It began with the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem on Sunday, followed by the cleansing of the temple, the cursing of the fig tree, and the challenge to Jesus’ authority by the religious leaders of Israel. Each of these events uniquely revealed the authority of Jesus –over people, over…
Matthew 22:15-22
Paying Taxes to Caesar Introduction: Taxes are a huge issue in the current presidential election. If you listen to the respective candidates or get on their websites, you will hear all kinds of promises and guarantees of tax cuts from each candidate, and all kinds of charges and countercharges about tax increases from the other guy. My advice is that you’d best hold on to your wallet, because with the deficit rising at a dizzying pace and the national debt approaching $11…
Matthew 22:23-33
What Will Family Relationships Be Like in Heaven? Introduction: Nearly everyone believes in heaven, but when asked what heaven is like, words like mansions, streets of gold, and gates of pearl are about as far as most people can go. The Bible certainly teaches the existence of heaven, and there is actually a fair amount of descriptive language about it in Revelation 21 and 22. What we don’t know is how much of that language is literal and how much symbolic; for it…
Matt 22:34-40
The Greatest Commandment Introduction: The religious leaders of Israel were not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier. They never seemed to learn that their efforts to discredit Jesus and entrap Him were utterly futile. Time and again they were intellectually annihilated but kept coming back for more. In just one chapter, Matthew 22, we witness three major confrontations that spell disaster for these pompous religious hypocrites. First the Pharisees thought they had Jesus cornered when they asked Him if it was right to pay…
Matthew 23:1-39
Jesus Unloads on Religious Hypocrites Introduction: Before we turn our attention to Matthew 23 this morning, I want to go back to last week’s sermon for a moment. Our topic was the greatest commandment–to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. I learned on Wednesday that one of our elders skipped worship last Sunday. I don’t know how we can be spiritually healthy as a church when one of our key spiritual leaders…
Matthew 24:1-25
Signs of the Second Coming Introduction: In our journey through the Gospel of Matthew, we come today to chapter 24, one of the key prophetic passages in the entire Bible. It was just six months ago in our series on the new Free Church Statement of Faith that I preached a message laying out the entire prophetic program in Scripture. We discussed the Kingdom of God, the Great Tribulation, the Rapture of the Church, The Second Coming, the Millennium, and the Eternal…