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[0:00] Oh, good. Well, take out your Bibles with me, please, and turn to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 20.!

[0:30] He's responding to the various attacks and schemes of his enemies, trying to trip him up. They have asked him questions he has answered, and now at the end of chapter 20, verse 41, he turns and begins to ask them a question.

[0:50] And then he gives, at the end of verse 45 to 47, he begins to give a negative example of what to be aware of, and then in chapter 21, verse 4, verse is a positive example that we should consider.

[1:09] And I'm only covering these 11, you look now, right? That's only 11 verses, that's like just an introduction for what I usually cover. And the reason for that is because if you go to chapter 21, verse 5, you have a long discourse that Jesus begins on future things.

[1:28] So we're kind of transitioning, and that's why we're covering this shorter section. So it should only be a few minutes long. I'm glad you laughed at that.

[1:40] Bill, do you want to change your mic? Oh, thank you. I'm wearing too many hats today. We good?

[1:56] Good, good? Okay. Okay, so Luke chapter 20, verses 41 through chapter 21, verse 4. If you're able, please stand as I read from the Gospel of Luke.

[2:11] Beginning at 41, 20, 41. Jesus said to them, how can they say that the Christ is David's son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

[2:32] Therefore, David calls him Lord. So how is he his son? And in the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples, beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes.

[2:49] And they love greetings in the marketplaces, and the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at the feasts. And he said, So it reads.

[3:32] So it reads. So it reads. For they contributed out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, put in all that she had to live on.

[3:44] So it reads. Let us pray. Father, help us today as we open your word, as we look at what Jesus says about the Christ Christ from the Psalms.

[3:56] And then as we look at what Jesus says about how we act, who we are, and what we believe.

[4:10] And so, Father, open our eyes. Fill our hearts. We ask in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated.

[4:25] I want to begin by just asking some questions and a little response. Okay? So these are not rhetorical questions. These are real questions.

[4:38] First question is, who is God? Who is God? Almighty. Creator. I am. The I am. What do we believe about God?

[4:51] He's sovereign. Creator. He's sovereign. He's just. He's just. He's just. Just and justifier. Okay? Good. Good. We could go on and on, obviously. Who is Jesus?

[5:02] What do we believe about Jesus? Son of God. Son of God. Son of God. Savior. God saves. The God who saves. Prince of peace.

[5:12] Huh? Prince of peace. Prince of peace. The word. The word of God. Okay? Again, we could go on and on. How about the Holy Spirit? What do you think of when you have the Holy Spirit?

[5:24] Who is the Holy Spirit? Our helper. Our helper. Our guide. Our convictor. Our convictor. And comforter. Yeah? Our instructor.

[5:35] Convictor in a gentle way, right? Well, Counselor. Counselor. Teacher. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Very good. Amen. So, okay.

[5:46] One more. One more. What are the promises of God? What promises does God make? I will be with you always. I'll be with you always? Bronson. I will not leave you over.

[5:56] I will not leave you or forsake you. You are mine. You are mine. Good. I know you. Huh?

[6:07] Eternal life. Eternal life. Promise of eternal life. In this world, you will have many promises. Yes. That's a promise. This world will hate you. Yes.

[6:17] There's lots. Those are those promises, too. Good. Good. Good. So, we have, as we have trusted in God, as we come to Christ, as we've read the Bible, studied the Bible, reflected on these things, we've come to understand things about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, promises of God.

[6:38] We could talk about other things as well. Those are the biggies. It's one thing to have a good biblical theology. Those are called theology, by the way, right?

[6:50] What we know about God, what we know about Christ, Christology, what we know about the Holy Spirit, pneumatology. We could go on and on to other things.

[7:02] Ecclesiology, what we talk about the church. Eschatology, things about the future. We could have a good biblical theology. We could study. We can read the scriptures.

[7:13] We have knowledge of the scriptures. We could maybe even defend our beliefs about who God is, who Jesus is, who the Holy Spirit is, what promises God has given us, et cetera. But does our life reflect that belief?

[7:30] It's one thing to have a theology. It's one thing to have a belief system. It's one thing to have an understanding of the scriptures. It's another thing to apply them, isn't it?

[7:43] Jesus talks about the two builders, right? When it builds on the sand is the one who hears the words of Jesus but does not act on them, right? And the wise builder is the one who hears the words of Jesus and acts upon them, applies them, right?

[7:57] So what do I believe about God? If I believe God is sovereign, what difference does that make in my life? If I believe God promises he will never leave me, what difference will that make to the way I live, the way I conduct myself?

[8:15] And so I've called this today Christology and our conduct. That's a little bit of a different kind of title in Christology, meaning the study of Christ, right?

[8:27] Christology. Ology, the study of Christ, the understanding of Christ, the belief about Christ. What do we believe about Jesus and how do we live? Do I live in reflection?

[8:40] Does my life reflect what I really believe about Jesus? Okay? So Jesus challenges our belief in this, at the end of chapter 20, beginning of 21, he challenges our belief and how we live in light of our beliefs.

[8:59] In the context, we have observed a controversy. The last couple of chapters, the end of chapter 19 and then all through chapter 20 has been a controversy. As Jesus has come to Jerusalem and now he's in the temple.

[9:14] Remember that when he came to Jerusalem in the last leg, as he comes up to the wall of the city. Remember, he came riding on a donkey, right?

[9:26] And that was Zechariah 9. He's fulfilling scripture. And then the multitude of his disciples are proclaiming him Messiah. They're hailing him.

[9:37] Hosanna, right? Blessed is he, the king who has come in the name of the Lord. They're proclaiming him the king, the Messiah. And his religious enemies, the scribes and the Pharisees, are telling him, you need to stop this.

[9:53] And remember what Jesus says. If they don't say it, the rocks and the stones will cry out. Right? And then immediately after he enters Jerusalem, he goes into the temple and he begins to cleanse the temple.

[10:05] He begins to cast out the settlers. And then he confronts the chief priests who run the temple that they are a den of robbers.

[10:19] That this is the house of God made for prayer. And they've made it into a robber's den because they're taking money from people. They're cheating people who have come to worship.

[10:31] And then in chapter 20, he tells a parable that the Pharisees and the leaders of Israel recognize as a parable against them. That shows that they have been rebellious against God.

[10:44] And then last time in chapter 20, 20 through 40, he catches the wise in their own craftiness. As the scribes come to him and ask him about who should we give taxes to Caesar.

[11:05] Right? And they think they're going to catch him. Right? Either answer is going to get him in trouble. If he says, yeah, we should pay taxes, then they're saying, oh, see, you don't really believe that as a Messiah.

[11:17] And then if he says, no, we shouldn't pay taxes because I'm the Messiah, then they can charge him with rebellion against Caesar. So it's a no win. And then what does he do?

[11:29] Show me the coin. Give to Caesar what Caesar's and give to God what's God. And they're like, oh, we didn't. Okay. And then the Sadducees who don't believe in resurrection ask him about resurrection.

[11:41] And he shows them from the scriptures they trust the most, which is the Pentateuch, the law of Moses, that resurrection is even in the book of Moses.

[11:53] When God's, when God was in the burning bush telling Moses, I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac.

[12:03] I am the God of Israel. He's not the God of the dead. He's the God of the living. Though Abraham and Isaac and Jacob had been buried, he's still their God.

[12:14] He is their God, not was their God. And so he silences them. And we saw back in verse 39, after he did that, some of the scribes said, hey, teacher, you've spoken well.

[12:28] They were amazed at that. They were like, yeah, give it to those Sadducees. And then verse 40, they no longer dared to ask him any question. So he catches the wise in their craft.

[12:40] And they're trying to catch him. He catches them. So now we come to verse 41. Now Jesus is going to ask a question. They've asked the questions. Now they're silenced.

[12:51] Now he's going to ask the question. And the question is going to be a counter reply. It's going to be, first of all, about theology. Who is the Christ?

[13:02] And then it's going to be about practice. How do you live? Okay, so we're looking at today. I want to look at today. How is theology related to how we live?

[13:13] How do our beliefs reflect in our life? So Jesus links this question about the Christ to immediately, verse 45, beware the scribes and their false piety.

[13:27] And then beginning of 21, looking at the givers, the rich giving in this poor widow. And he wants to focus on the poor widow. That behavior.

[13:40] What does that reflect? Okay, so let's look at this first section, verses 41 to 44. Who is the Christ? The theology section.

[13:51] This particular theology is what I've said is called Christology. Who is the Christ? What is his true identity? And what Jesus is going to do is introduce the concept of the two natures of the Christ.

[14:07] The two natures of the Christ. Something, a mystery that none had thought about before. But I want you to know that he's going to quote from Psalm 110. And Psalm 110 is one of those Old Testament texts that is quoted over and over and over in the New Testament.

[14:25] It's quoted in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It's quoted in Acts. It's quoted in 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Hebrews multiple times, and Revelation.

[14:36] There are other references to it in other texts as well. But this text is very, very important.

[14:47] Because after Jesus brings it up, the apostles are going to start thinking about what did he say about Christ? What he said is something we've never thought of before. He's saying that Christ is bigger than we thought of him.

[15:02] He's not just the son of David. He's something bigger than that. So let's look. So first of all, verse 41, Jesus raises the question. He said to them, verse 41, how can they say that the Christ is David's son?

[15:18] Now, he's not saying that that's not true. Because the Old Testament says over and over again that David would have a descendant who would be the Messiah.

[15:32] 2 Samuel 7, to David, David wanted to build a house for the Lord. And the Lord said, you shall not build my house, but I will build a house for you. And your descendant will sit on your throne, and his throne will last forever and ever.

[15:48] So it wasn't going to be Solomon. It was going to be the Messiah. And then other texts like Isaiah 9, Jeremiah 23. Remember Isaiah 9, we quote that at Christmastime.

[15:59] A child has been born to us, a son has been given to us. Upon his shoulders shall rest. The government and the throne of David will be in his hand forever and ever.

[16:12] So, several places. The Gospel of Luke, the early chapters referred to this coming son as the son of David. Chapter 1 talked about he would be in the house of David.

[16:25] Chapter 2, remember when Mary and Joseph came all the way down to Bethlehem to register? And why did they have to register in Bethlehem? Because they were of the house and lineage of David.

[16:39] And so Christ was going to be... Or, excuse me. Jesus was born in the lineage of David. Then chapter 3, Luke even gave us a lineage, a genealogy, proving Jesus came from Joseph and then traced Joseph all the way down to David.

[17:01] Well, he traced him all the way to Adam, but showed that he is the son of God. Son of David, excuse me. So, that's the question.

[17:12] The question Jesus is asking is how can he be the son of David? Comma. For, verse 42, now he quotes Psalm 110.

[17:25] How can he be the son of David when Psalm 110 says this? Right? So, then verse 42. For David himself says in the book of Psalms, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.

[17:41] So, how can he be the son of David when he's the Lord of David? Is the question. Because David says in the book of Psalms, The Lord, capital letters Lord, Yahweh.

[17:59] So, when we go to Psalm 110 in Hebrew, it's Yahweh says to Adonai. Yahweh says to Adonai, sit at my right hand.

[18:13] Well, how does Yahweh talk to another Lord? For one. And David is saying, Yahweh says not just to Lord, but Yahweh says to my Lord.

[18:32] So, sit at my right hand. Sit at my right hand means what? The right hand of God is the place of power, the place of authority, the place of sovereignty.

[18:47] Huh? The quiddle. Quiddle. But it was with the right hand. God saved Israel from Egypt with his mighty right hand. So, the picture of the right hand is the hand of power, the hand of working.

[19:00] And he's saying, Yahweh is saying to Adonai, sit at my right hand. In other words, you execute my plans. You run things.

[19:10] You rule. Okay? So, what we're being told here, and Psalm 110 was recognized as Messianic Psalm, that the identity of the Messiah is not just that he's David's son, but he's the Lord.

[19:27] He's the Lord. He is at the right hand. He executes the power and the sovereignty of the Father.

[19:38] And he will do that, verse 43, until I make your enemies your footstool.

[19:50] Sit at my right hand. Father to son, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. And of course, this is quoted again in 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul is talking about Christ has risen, he has ascended, he is sitting at God's right hand, until he puts every enemy under his feet.

[20:16] And there, Paul's talking about Jesus doing that. Jesus putting his enemies under his feet. And when he's done putting enemies under his feet, the last enemy he'll put under his feet is death, and then will come the resurrection, and then will come the end.

[20:31] But in the meantime, Jesus is at God's right hand, putting enemies under his feet. Not as quickly as we want, not all the enemies we want, but as he sovereignly decides.

[20:47] Okay, so then Jesus restates the question, verse 44. So there you go. So therefore, David calls him Lord. So how is he his son? All right, so he poses the question, how can you say that the Messiah, the Christ, is the son of David, when David himself calls him Lord?

[21:08] If David himself calls him Lord, how can he be his son? He doesn't answer this question, does he? That's why I think it's quoted in so many places in the New Testament, because they're working that out.

[21:21] What did Jesus mean? How is he the son of David? Yes, he's the son of David, but how is he also Lord? And so I believe he's introducing, Jesus is introducing for them the two natures of the Christ.

[21:38] He's not just human. He's also divine. And there's that mystery. There's that mystery. How can he be man and God?

[21:48] And Luke provides some of those answers. Remember the way he talked about Mary when Mary discovered she was pregnant, remember? And she said, how can it be since I'm a virgin? And remember the angel said, this is why he will be born of a virgin, because he is holy.

[22:07] He already exists, and now he will take on flesh and to protect his holiness, he will not have Joseph's seed.

[22:20] And the Holy Spirit will overshadow Mary, protecting the birth of this child from Mary's sin nature as well. He will be a holy child, one not infected by what we all, the rest of us all are infected with, a sin nature.

[22:38] He will be the new Adam. He will be the new Adam. We would never think of this. Only God can think of this. But Jesus is introduced, this is foreign to their thinking.

[22:54] Okay? This is foreign to their, they're expecting a Messiah to be like David, to be a mighty conqueror, right? To take down Rome. And Jesus has not been that.

[23:05] He's been, he's accepted the term son of David, yes. He has told his own disciples, I am the Messiah. And when he stands on trial, we'll see in chapter 22 of Luke, when he stands on trial, he will fully admit he's the Messiah.

[23:21] And he will admit he's the son of God. Which puts the extra nail in his death, right? He will admit it fully to them.

[23:34] So, let's look at this. As I said, Psalm 10 is quoted in several places in the New Testament. Let's look at one of them, in Acts 2, where Peter uses this reference.

[23:50] Now, this is, remember, Acts 2, that's when the spirit comes, right? And the apostles are speaking in tongues, right? And there's all kinds of confusion going on.

[24:01] People are thinking, oh, they're drunk, right? And so, Peter stands up and says, no, they're not drunk. This is the fulfillment of Joel 2. And it's a fulfillment of several other texts that Peter's going to refer to.

[24:14] We're going to pick it up halfway through Peter's sermon here, Acts 2, 29. He says, brothers, I say to you with confidence about the patriarch, David, because he's just quoted from David in Psalm 16.

[24:30] David, that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw, David foresaw and spoke in Psalm 16 about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades nor did his flesh see corruption.

[25:00] This Jesus God raised up and of that we are all witnesses. Therefore, being, now he's going to go on, Peter, not only is he raised but he's exalted, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God.

[25:15] There's our phrase, at the right hand. And having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

[25:26] for David did not ascend into the heavens but he himself says, so he's going to quote David again, now Psalm 110. But he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, Yahweh said to my Adonai, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

[25:47] Then Peter says, let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him, Jesus, both Lord and Christ.

[26:02] Both Lord and Christ. Both deity and Son of David.

[26:15] This Jesus whom you crucified. remember what happened at the end of Peter's sermon? They were struck to the heart, remember?

[26:27] 3,000 Jews converted as a result. Because Peter, unlike ever before, Peter now being filled with the Holy Spirit, quotes from David, right?

[26:48] quotes from Joel. I mean, he's quoting Old Testament. He knows the scriptures. Why does he know the scriptures? Because Jesus, after he was raised, sat down with them, remember?

[27:03] And he went through all the texts with them. He went through all the texts with them and opened up to them what the scriptures said about Jesus all through the Old Testament.

[27:14] So Peter had his guns ready and loaded. sword. Not his guns. Sword. But here he's applying that same text.

[27:25] See, now he's gone a little further. Jesus just introduced it. Now Peter's going, okay, this is about his exaltation. This is not just about him being raised.

[27:36] This is about him being exalted to the right hand of the Father. And he's explaining how did the Holy Spirit come? The reason the Holy Spirit came is because Jesus, sitting at the right hand of the Father, received the Holy Spirit and sent the Holy Spirit to you.

[27:58] Poured out the Holy Spirit upon you. Father, Son, Spirit. Working in unison. Father, Son, Spirit.

[28:11] Spirit. But what Peter's also showing is that Jesus, sitting at God's right hand, is in control now. He decides.

[28:22] He distributes. He directs. He pours out. And he will put enemies under his feet. He will work through his church.

[28:33] He will work through his people. And he will continue to slay the enemy and convert souls. Jesus. So Psalm 10 is an extremely significant text.

[28:48] It reveals that Messiah is raised, is exalted to God's right hand. And Jesus claims, this is very significant, Jesus claims this text speaks of him.

[28:59] that his true identity, who he is, and what he's about, is the sovereign Son of God.

[29:10] Okay? And actually, he will bring this up again when he goes on trial in Luke 22. They will ask him if he's the Christ and Jesus will say this. This I'm quoting from Luke 22, 69.

[29:23] Jesus said to the Sanhedrin who want to kill him, right? Are you the Messiah? He says, from now on, the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of God, at the right hand of the power of God.

[29:39] And they said, and then they said, are you the Son of God then? Oh, are you this Psalm 110 person? And he said to them, you have said it.

[29:52] And then they said, we need no more evidence. Let's crucify him. He has claimed to be the Son of God. All right.

[30:02] So, that's the theology. The theology. And again, like I said, Jesus is just introducing it. The rest of the New Testament begins to unpack what that means.

[30:13] The two natures of the Christ. So, now we've got to practice. So, then, Jesus turns from beliefs to conduct. Now, so, verse 45.

[30:27] First word, verse 45 is and. Right? So, it's just continuing on. It's not a new instance. He asked that question, verse 45, and in the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples, beware of the scribes.

[30:41] Right? And then, chapter 21, verse 1, the and isn't there, but there is an and there. Luke, it's just continuing. The chapter divisions are not inspired.

[30:52] Where the chapters end and start are unfortunate in a lot of cases. This should just still be a continuation. So, chapter 21, if I had anything to do with it, it would start with verse 5.

[31:03] But I don't have anything to do with it, so. So, practice. What do we mean by practice? How do we live in light of what we believe? How do we live in light of what we believe?

[31:17] What we believe about God, what we believe about Jesus, what we believe about the Holy Spirit, what we believe about God's promises to us, what we believe about what God says about who we are? How do we live in light of those things?

[31:29] Okay? Well, one simple way of saying it is we walk by faith. Not by sight. We walk by faith. Faith, meaning what we believe.

[31:41] We walk by what we believe. Right? Okay, so, Jesus gives then two examples. One negative, one positive. Verse 46 and 47 is the negative example.

[31:55] Beware of the scribes. There's a false piety that we must beware of. Right? False piety. What does that look like?

[32:05] Well, verse 46, beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, which means expensive, fancy, they dress it up, they want to look good, they want to call attention to themselves.

[32:22] They love, they like that, they love greetings in the marketplaces and they love the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feast. They love that. Why? Because they seek attention.

[32:36] They seek recognition. They want honor. Scribes. Warning about the scribes. What do they believe? Well, the scribes believed in God.

[32:47] The scribes believed in Messiah. The scribes believed in Moses and the law. The scribes believed in a lot of things, yet, how they behaved was different.

[33:00] They behaved like they believed in themselves. They behaved like they, like they believed they deserved the honor, not God. And then he goes on.

[33:10] Here's the, here's the worst part though. Verse 47, they also are people who devour widows' houses. What does that mean? Well, to devour can mean to exploit, to take advantage of.

[33:28] Sometimes, you know, in the first century, the widows, the Jewish widows, remember in Acts 6, remember the big controversy was that the widows weren't being taken care of?

[33:38] Remember, that's why they brought, they established the office of deacons, right, to take care of the widows, right? So, widows are pretty vulnerable in the first century.

[33:51] They don't, in the way that society works, they're vulnerable. They're, remember, story of Ruth, right, and Naomi. Naomi's husband dies.

[34:04] Well, that makes her somewhat vulnerable, but she still has two sons. But then her sons die. And so Naomi's, she's got nothing. And even though her husband had land back in Bethlehem, that doesn't mean it's hers necessarily.

[34:26] Without help. Without relatives' help. The way that society worked. And that's why it's such a beautiful story because you have this introduction of this Boaz guy who falls for this beautiful, wonderful Ruth person.

[34:43] who has come to seek refuge under the wings of Yahweh. She's a real believer. And because of that, then Naomi is okay.

[34:57] Because she's also under those wings. And Boaz is a Christ-like character who redeems them, takes care of them, protects them, relives them. Anyway, so widows are vulnerable is what I'm saying in the first century.

[35:11] And they are today as well. But a widow in that situation doesn't have the kind of securities we can have in this country. So they could be taken care of.

[35:21] So in many cases it was up to the other good hearts of men around them to take care of the widows. That's why it became a bigger issue in the church.

[35:33] It was a true religion to take care of widows and orphans. Right? And the Jews were supposed to be doing that but in many cases we have scribes who took advantage of that somehow.

[35:48] Whether they took advantage of the holdings that they had or the money that they had we don't know. Took advantage. They're predators in other words of vulnerable people.

[35:59] They're takers. And then Jesus adds they have a greater condemnation. They will be judged more harshly. They will receive a worse eternal faith.

[36:09] Do you know that there's levels of judgment? There's levels of reward in heaven and there's levels of judgment in hell. These will receive Jesus saying these will receive a worse condemnation.

[36:25] They will receive a so there's the old Dante thing has a little bit of credence to it. There are levels. Remember he said remember Jesus said woe to Capernaum right?

[36:41] The miracles done in you. If the miracles done in you would have been done in Sodom and Gomorrah they would have repented and therefore Sodom and Gomorrah will have a less tolerable judgment than you. So Sodom and Gomorrah is not the worst.

[36:57] Capernaum those who reject Christ are the worst condemnation. And then those who represent Christ or represent God and take advantage of others there will be a worse condemnation for them.

[37:13] So then it gives a contrast verse 21. Again though it's a new chapter for us it's not a new situation for Jesus. He's still in the temple.

[37:25] Right? He's dialoguing in the temple verse 45 he's talking about beware of the scribes verse chapter 21 verse 1 through 4 he's still in the temple and continuing after he tells them to beware now in chapter 21 he starts to watch.

[37:47] This is an interesting thing he begins to watch people putting their money into the treasury. Now what's the treasury? So remember we have the temple in the outer court of the temple right?

[37:59] So everybody can come into the outer the court of the Gentiles right? They can come into the outer part. And next to the court of Israel were 13 containers and they were shaped like a trumpet.

[38:13] They had the bottom and then they came up so that you couldn't reach your hand in there and steel I guess I don't know but they were brass and so when you put your coins in there what happens?

[38:27] Ding, ding, ding, ding. Right? So the rich put theirs in and it's like lots of noise, lots of attention. And when the poor widow comes and she puts in her two little coins, ding, ding.

[38:44] That's how they knew it was two little coins. Ding, ding. Ding. Ding. And so Jesus is observing this and then he makes a comment.

[38:58] Right? He said verse three, truly I tell you this poor widow has put in more than all of them. Ding, ding, was a lot more than closing closing closing closing closing closing closing be more. For they all contributed out of their abundance, out of their leftovers, out of what they have left, their abundance.

[39:33] And she has given out of her, it says poverty here, but really the word is lack. Her lacking. Their abundance, her lacking.

[39:48] Because she put in all she had. Jesus apparently knew that. That was the last two she had. Now why does he bring that up? Well I think to contrast with the false piety, what is true piety?

[40:06] With those who are takers and those who are givers. Those who are takers because their belief system, their theology, whatever they believe about God and Messiah and law and whatever they believe isn't how they live.

[40:26] Whatever they say they believe anyway. Whereas this poor widow, what do you think she believed? God will supply.

[40:41] Why does she give all? Because she has faith. She has faith. Now you can argue, well the system they're giving, you know, obviously the system of the scribes and the Pharisees and the chief priests is all corrupted, right?

[40:54] Jesus had to clean up the temple. But that's not what she's, she's not worried about. She's just giving. Because that's how God set it up. There's the temple, give to the temple.

[41:05] And these were free will offerings. These 13 containers were just free will. They were to kind of offset for the priests, the regular priests, not the chief priests.

[41:17] Not the corrupt ones, but the ones doing the real work, right? To offset that. And whatever else was needed. These weren't, these weren't gifts that she gave that she had to.

[41:29] These were just gifts she just wanted to give. Can you imagine that state had the last two coins? Shall I buy bread or give the bread? I don't know what was in her mind.

[41:43] But that Jesus pointed it out tells us he noticed that. He noticed that. And what was more important was not the number of the coins, but the heart and the the heart and the trust, the faith.

[42:07] Here's a woman who's walking by faith. Here's a woman who she may not have had a complicated theology, may have had a very simple theology. She knew of God who took care of widows.

[42:20] And so she's giving in, trusting that he will provide. And she's probably someone that's already experienced that over and over again. She just trusts the Lord.

[42:30] She doesn't need much. She trusts the Lord. So the question for us then is, do our beliefs reflect in our life?

[42:45] Do what we believe about God and Jesus show that we trust the Father and the Son? Let me quote something here from 1 Corinthians 8 and 9 where Paul is talking about giving.

[43:01] I want you to recognize several principles from here about giving. Okay? This is a gift in 1 Corinthians 8 and 9.

[43:12] He's talking about a gift that the churches are gathering, right, for the poor in Jerusalem. And so Paul is going around from town to town and he's gathering from the various churches this offering that he's going to take then to Jerusalem to help those who are poor in Jerusalem.

[43:32] And he's asking all these Gentile churches to help out the Jewish churches. And he's kind of saying, hey, you got a lot from the Jews, now how about giving some back? He's kind of that sense and they're believers.

[43:44] So here's what he says. You want, 1 Corinthians 8, we want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia.

[43:57] He's talking about an offering. For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

[44:10] For they gave, first of all, first principle, they gave according to their means. They gave according to what they could give. They gave proportionately.

[44:23] As I can testify. And secondly, they gave beyond their means. In other words, they not only gave proportionally, but they gave a little beyond that, sacrificially. Beyond what they, beyond their means.

[44:36] And of their own accord. So they gave willingly. Banging us, not just willingly, but banging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.

[44:47] And this, not as we expected, but fourth principle, they gave themselves first to the Lord. They gave themselves to the Lord first. And then, by the will of God to us.

[45:00] But, here's a fifth principle. But as you exceed in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you, see that you excel in this act of grace also.

[45:15] So in other words, let your practice reflect your beliefs. As you excel in faith, what you trust, what you believe, as you excel in knowledge, and what you know about God, and Christ, and promises of God, so excel in this giving also.

[45:35] Sixth principle. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

[45:50] So he's giving the example of Christ's example. Right? So here's your Christology that overflows into your practical life. Live like Jesus did.

[46:01] Jesus gave everything. You give. You give. Here's a motivation for giving. Jesus gave. Okay? That's pretty simple.

[46:12] Not, not, okay. And then he goes on. A little bit into chapter nine. So I thought it necessary to urge brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised.

[46:22] So they're getting ready for Paul to come. He's sent people ahead of him to get the gift ready, right? So they're taking offerings, et cetera, et cetera. For the gift you promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.

[46:36] So Paul wants to make this point clear. I want this to be voluntary. This has to be from your heart. Don't do it because you feel guilty. I don't want any compelling. We're not going to play music to stir your hearts.

[46:48] And, you know, we want you to do this willingly. The point is this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. Whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

[47:02] Now, there's a text that's been corrupted a lot by the prosperity people. All he's saying is give sacrificially and give with faith.

[47:18] You know, give proportionally and then ask God, can I give a little more? Is there something I might sacrifice for the sake of this gift? That's all he's saying.

[47:29] You know, give so bountifully. And he's talking about these churches that are poor churches and they just want to give to this. And he's saying, what a bountiful thing they're doing.

[47:40] It probably, it may have only been like the two coins of the widow for these poor folks. But from their heart, God sees it as much, see. So finally, then the last principles, each one must give as he has decided in his heart.

[48:02] So in other words, follow through. If you've decided to give, you have intention to give, you've decided in your heart. The heart is not your emotion. The heart is where you make your decision. The heart is your thoughts and intentions.

[48:14] So if you've intended to give, if you've done that prayerfully, thoughtfully, before the Lord, follow through. Sometimes that's simply an act of faith. Sometimes it's an act of obedience.

[48:25] But he's saying, that's a principle. Give it. Each one give as you've decided. Not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

[48:36] He wants you to give cheerfully. He wants you to give willingly. And God is able, here's the promise, that God is able, here's one of those promises, to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

[48:53] Why? Because God loves a cheerful giver. He loves a giver that gives sacrificially. He loves a giver that gives regularly, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So there's the example.

[49:04] Do you live in light of your beliefs and your theology? Do you walk by faith? And by walking by faith means walking according to what I truly believe.

[49:16] So in what Jesus has brought out about behavior, do I live in humility or do I want attention? Do I live for recognition? Do I want the honor?

[49:27] And there's the darkness in all of us that might want those things sometimes. Right? It's very human to want recognition, to want honor. And so he's saying, beware.

[49:40] Beware. Catch that in yourselves. Catch that in yourselves. Do you give? Do you give like these principles, proportionally, sacrificially, willingly, that your belief is meeting with your practice and your Christology is showing in how you follow him?

[50:01] Do you believe God loves you? Do you believe God directs you? Do you believe your trials have a purpose?

[50:22] So, when the trial comes, when you feel, don't feel, when the devil's telling you, see, God doesn't love you, how do you respond?

[50:34] What's your shield? Right? What's your shield? And what's your sword? See, we fight those struggles, we fight those, those slings of the devil with our faith and our sword.

[50:55] In the meantime, we keep that breastplate on, right? Keep the truth on, keep our shoes of the gospel on. Right? I love that Paul gives us that imagery so we can kind of think through those things.

[51:12] So, if you believe God loves you, that he directs your life, that your trials have purpose, live life. Live life. Let's, let's pray.

[51:28] And then I'll lead the next song. Father, we thank you for Jesus, we thank you that he, oh, as he simply brings up a question, that becomes a matter of study for the apostles and the church for years to come about the nature of Christ and about who Jesus is.

[51:51] That becomes a huge, crucial issue in what we believe about Jesus. Not only that he's the, that he was the descendant of David in a physical sense, but that he is the preexistent eternal son of God.

[52:12] And because he had two natures, he could be our savior. And Father, all that we believe, all those wonderful truths we believe about Jesus, we want, we do desire, Lord, for those to make a difference in how we live.

[52:28] Help us, Lord, to not just think through what we believe, but how that makes a difference. What do we do in relation to that? Sometimes it's just that we trust you.

[52:41] Sometimes it's that we must be prompted by your spirit to act in some way. But Father, you show us those things. We trust you to show us through your spirit how you want us to respond.

[52:56]  this we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.