Matthew, Chapter 10

¹ And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

• This is the order…1) calling 2) discipline and learning 3) being empowered 4) being sent

² Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

³ Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;

• Matthew wrote this Gospel book and here he calls himself a publican in this verse. Publicans were not a well liked group….according to google AI “Publicans (Tax Collectors): These were Jewish individuals hired by the Roman authorities to collect taxes, often known for corruption, extortion, and being viewed as traitors.” When I was reading about Matthew being called by Jesus to follow him and about Jesus sitting with sinners I thought about it. Man would have chosen the most moral persons possible, someone everyone respected and thought of as a “good” man, but Jesus chose people who had no self-righteousness, people like Matthew who knew he was a publican. He didn’t have delusions of self greatness or entitlement or a thought of moral worthiness…so he was able to rely completely on the righteousness and power given to him by Jesus. His pride won’t be getting in the way of God’s work. Matthew 21:23-32 ²³ And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?²⁴ And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.²⁵ The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?²⁶ But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet.²⁷ And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.²⁸ But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.²⁹ He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.³⁰ And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.³¹ Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.³² For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him. The publican and the harlot have the advantage over the Chief Priest… because thy have no delusions of godliness, they know they are sinners. The Chief Priest has a head full of the scripture and while they do try to live their lives in accordance with what they believe it leaves them thinking they are enough with their self-righteousness, and they don’t need Jesus or repentance.

⁴ Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

• In verse , Jesus gave these 12 “power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.“…. Judas Iscariot was one of the 12 who was given this power and sent out. Judas wasn’t just following the others during this time, he was out there ministering like the other 11. Judas like the others had people coming to him for prayer and help… he was teaching and doing the same work the other disciples were. His name was listed with the others who were disciples and the people knew him as one of the disciples. When he approached the Chief Priest with an offer to deliver Jesus up, this was a massive betrayal.
• I noticed that not only does Matthew speak of himself as a publican before being called to follow Jesus, but here he speaks of the future when Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus.

⁵ These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:

⁶ But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

• Salvation is offered first to the Jews.

⁷ And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

⁸ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

⁹ Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,

¹⁰ Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.

• They weren’t to bring money, a scrip (bag of supplies like food), extras clothing, or walking sticks (staves used to stablize a person as they walk and to defend themselves against wild animals)…God is going to provide for his servents as they go about doing what Jesus sent them to do. GOD IS THEIR PREPARATION. These disciples are both going out to bring in the lost, heal the sick, and cast out demons….they are also learning complete reliance on God. Walking by faith is more than just powering through on your own steam (provisions)… it’s keeping the promises of God as your truth you live by and walking it out in your life.

¹¹ And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence.

• Jesus is telling his disciples to find a person in the town they are visiting who loves the message they are preaching and is known for their hospitality. Then once you get into this home, stay there until you leave the town.

¹² And when ye come into an house, salute it.

• You pray for a blessing to be on the house.

¹³ And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.

• If they are truly worthy , let your peace be there and if they prove to not be hospitable, then take your peace back.

¹⁴ And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

• Don’t fight the rejection, just shake off the dust of your feet and move along, God will deal with them… meaning, it isn’t our battle to fight. People reject Christians because they affirm and speak the word of Jesus and do his work….so they are rejecting Jesus in you.

¹⁵ Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

• There are going to be people standing at the judgment before God who will be shown all the times that God sent someone with the Word of Salvation. It’s going to be crushing to see all the ways God expressed his love and desire to save only to realize that they rejected him time and time again and now will spend eternity in hell with no chance of ever having a relationship with God. We’re a part of this process…we have to tell people who are going to reject Jesus….they have to be given every chance to repent so when the day comes and they stand before God, they are without any excuses. God knows we will face the rejection… the persecution and some of us even death…it has to be this way to turn the hearts of those ready to repent towards Jesus and remove the excuses from those who reject him.

¹⁶ Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

• Jesus is telling us to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves…. this is about not underestimating people who seek to hurt you and to stay aware of the traps they set all the while being harmless towards them.

¹⁷ But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;

¹⁸ And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.

¹⁹ But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

²⁰ For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

• The people God wants to speak to are in these courts, so he speaks to them through the Christians being brought before them for their faith. These people who are persecuting and killing Christians are the ones who need to hear the truth and to understand that one day they will be standing before God in a HIGHER court that is able to kill both their body and soul forever. The court they set up to put Christians to death for their faith is the one that will be used as evidence against them when they face God…. it will testify against them.

²¹ And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.

• The schools…especially of higher learning are seeding children to disobey their parents and to reject their beliefs in God or even their morality. These schools have become indoctination institutes for hedonism and nihilism…even when it dresses these up as being proactive global health advocates, the core of this leds back the worship of self or nothing at all. They also teach SELECTIVE empathy…which is an empathy and love only for those who embrace your same political/social/moral mindset… everyone else is worthy of rejection and hatred…even if they never say this or own that they are doing this. This leds to families spliting and becoming more than estranged… they become enemies.
  While Jesus is speaking to his disciples before sending them out… his words reach into the future in a time like now as we approach the end of this age.

²² And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

²³ But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

• It’s ok to run away from persecution, but not to go into complete hiding where you stop spreading the Gospel.

²⁴ The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.

• Our Lord was persecuted and crucified.

²⁵ It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

• We need to stop being shocked when they call us evil for being against the homosexual lifestyle, the adulterous lifestyle, the trans lifestyle, abortion…etc…. we need to understand they will call us evil… and will say we are being narrowminded and unloving… that we are against women… and causing mental distress in people because we won’t affirm their delusions of being a gender they weren’t born as. They don’t care about what God thinks or what his design for mankind is… they serve and seek only to satisfy themselves. If we stand against this, then they will consider us the enemy and their shame and guilt will compel them to come against us to silence our voices.

²⁶ Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.

• We are seeing this in real time as we approach the end… the sins of the rich elite that have engaged in debauchery are being exposed…. the sins that are commited behind the pulpit that was hiding behind the name of Jesus while comitting egregious sins are being exposed… the covering of sins are being ripped away to give everyone a chance the repent… because the door for grace is about to slam shut.

²⁷ What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.

²⁸ And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

• Judas commited suicide and John the beloved died of natural causes (though it is believedhe was boiled in oil once and survived completely unharmed)… all of the other disciples were martyred.

²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

• The least expensive animal to purchase are 2 sparrows…and even though we as people don’t place a great value on them, God does and he is there in their deaths… it matters to him when they die.

³⁰ But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

• God has the very number of your hairs numbered… a number that changes constantly… and God’s data about this is current. Even the smallest detail about you has God’s attention.

³¹ Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

³² Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

• As you go out and spread the Gospel message to the whole world, Jesus is telling God about you… he’s praying for you.

³³ But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

• If you deny Jesus and spread that message about to others, then be aware that Jesus is going to inform God about this.

³⁴ Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

• The Word of God is a Sword… Jesus is the Word… the sword (Gospel message) will divide the people who love God from the people who reject him… those that accept Jesus and salvation by his blood, repent of their sins and state following him… from those who don’t. What is amazing is… this division will also reveal those who confess Jesus with their mouth, but reject him with the way they live their life. These false converts will try to shape the sword (the Gospel message) so that it doesn’t divide them away.

³⁵ For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

³⁶ And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

³⁷ He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

³⁸ And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

³⁹ He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

• Getting saved ends up being a kind of transfer of investments… like before I was saved I was all about this world and this life… and what I could build here… I was invested in the flesh…. but after I met Jesus and he transformed me… my investment became in the Kingdom… and building there. There is nothing to save here… it’s temporary.

⁴⁰ He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

⁴¹ He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.

⁴² And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.