Thru the Bible

Steve Shwetz: The best way to test a Christian is by their pocketbook. How do they handle their money? How do they handle God's money? Welcome to Thru the Bible. That's just a bit of wisdom Dr. J. Vernon McGee shares in our study of Matthew chapter 15 today. Now, before we plunge in, as Dr. McGee will say at the start of our study, Greg and I want to share a bit about some great partners that we have helping us fling the seed by radio in Honduras and Guatemala.

Greg: Yes, Steve, and we're excited. Usually every month we like to have a conversation about that month's newsletter article. We have a newsletter and we really encourage you to get it. It is a really rich piece. It's beautifully produced, usually with a beautiful cover and a quote from Dr. McGee. I know you and I both are digital guys, but we get the physical copy.

Steve Shwetz: Yeah, I like reading the Bible physically and I like reading the newsletter physically. I like both of them to reside together. Basically, the newsletter fits nicely into the inside cover of my Bible.

Greg: Exactly. It has teaching content from Dr. McGee, and usually I have a short letter. We have lots of responses and one of my favorite parts is our global team, which is growing. Usually we are writing. I think last month you wrote an article and I enjoyed reading that. You're a very good writer, Steve. Well done.

Our other team members are writing about their travels around the world. So, if you don't have our newsletter, just call 1-800-65-BIBLE, send a request through the app, or email us at biblebus@ttb.org. All we need is your address. We will never send you a fundraising appeal because we don't do that. We will just send you resources.

Steve Shwetz: Now, James Rosa, who's our ministry director for Asia and Latin America, wrote the latest article and he titles it, "A Legacy of Faithful Broadcast." I think that was so appropriate because although we have been in foreign languages since 1973 with Spanish, our ministry partners, particularly in South America, were there before then. I mean, you're talking about 1960 when one ministry in Honduras started.

Greg: Yes. And yet, as soon as A Través de la Biblia, which is the Spanish version of Thru the Bible, came along ten years later, they started airing it from the beginning. We're now talking about over half a century that we've been airing the Spanish in Honduras. You talk about a legacy; that's pretty cool.

Steve Shwetz: Yeah, and this is also another part of the world, Guatemala and Honduras, where radio potentially makes sense. In a lot of places, it doesn't make as much sense as it used to just because people have internet access and smartphones. That's still available, but radio does provide, particularly in these hard-to-reach areas, an opportunity to minister to people in depth with a program systematically studying the Word of God over five years. We get great response.

Greg: We do. One of my favorite stories that he told wasn't a specific story, but it was a picture of what's happening at this particular station in Honduras. He said it's so much a part of the community that people just walk in off the street and say, "Hey, you know, our daughter's doing really well. Thanks for praying for us." So, the local station literally becomes like a community center, and of course, it's centered around Christ and the Word of God.

Steve Shwetz: That was the same thing that I witnessed firsthand in Mexico. There were same opportunities where they were doing that translation into the Tzotzil language from Spanish, doing it live on the air, and the community that was around there. That radio station played a vital part in not just people hearing the program, but in really bringing that community together with a Christian message, and Thru the Bible was a part of that.

Greg: James also talks about the multigenerational impact of Thru the Bible. You have grandparents, and then they had their kids listen, and now their kids are parents, and their grandkids are listening, and even great-grandchildren are listening. Steve, there's so much more in this article. I really hope everybody listening will get the newsletter, but right now, it's time for our study.

Steve Shwetz: We do. Let me pray for us, Greg, as we begin. Heavenly Father, we are thankful for Your faithfulness to us and for allowing us, from back in 1973, to go into Spanish. We thank You for the part that it's played in reaching people for Christ in South America, in Guatemala, and in Honduras. I pray that it would continue to go out, Lord, and that You would continue to bless the people with the teaching of Your Word. In Jesus' name, amen.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now we continue in this section of Matthew where we have a movement. The movement is of the king. He's beginning now to move toward the cross. We've already seen his rejection and conflict. Actually, this chapter advances the ministry of Jesus to the very breaking point with the religious rulers. He has an altercation here with them, and you find him denouncing scribes and Pharisees. He rebukes his disciples. He heals the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman and the multitudes, and he feeds the 4,000. There's a lot of action in this chapter, as you can see. So, let's plunge right into it. First, we have the Lord Jesus denouncing the scribes and Pharisees.

Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem saying, "Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread." We have here the scribes and Pharisees who have come out from Jerusalem. You'll recall that back in the last chapter, he was way out in a desert place where the crowd couldn't even get to a hamburger stand and they had nothing to eat, and he fed them. So, these religious rulers come all the way out, and you would say, "Well, my, this is a very wonderful thing that they've come all the way out." Well, frankly, they haven't come all the way out to applaud him or to accept his teaching. They've come out to criticize, and immediately we recognize it was not a friendly visit.

They did not, you see, accuse him really of breaking the Scriptures, but the tradition, which they considered to be on a par with the Scriptures. They want to know why they didn't wash their hands. Well, that's a very interesting thing because a great many people feel like if you go through some sort of an outward ceremony and clean up the outside some way, that is all that's necessary. They're wondering why now they have not washed their hands. It was ceremonial cleansing, actually, and was not really for what we would consider physical or sanitary reasons. But he answered and said unto them, "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?"

These men, he now accuses of breaking the commandment of God with their tradition. Their tradition, you see, permitted a man to disobey the law. That's an amazing thing, and they had a very clever way of doing it. Verse four: "For God commanded saying, 'Honor thy father and mother,' and 'He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.' But ye say, 'Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, "It's a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by it," and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free.' Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition." Now, he says you honor your father and mother by supporting them.

The way that they got around it in that day was to dedicate it to the temple. They would contribute it as a gift to God, and that would relieve them of the responsibility of supporting their parents. Now, this gives a very pious way out for a man to break the Mosaic law. Very frankly, I still believe that the best way to test a Christian is by his pocketbook. That is the barometer of the Christian even today. That's the real test. How does he handle his money? How does he handle God's money? I actually believe that God would have you put your very close personal responsibilities first.

I'm of the opinion that God wants you to pay your honest debts before you give to him. I think that he wants you to support your family before you give to him. Now, I had a man who had a wild idea; he would come on payday and want to give half his income, and actually, his family went hungry. When we found that out, we had quite a little talk with him. My, he was offended at first, but finally he saw the light, in the sense that he saw that he'd neglected his own family. That's a tragic thing to do. It's amazing how people try in many ways to escape a responsibility in a very pious way.

Notice here what he says in verse seven: "Ye hypocrites." This is the most frightful word in the Scripture. Nothing quite corresponds to it, but it doesn't have quite the connotation at that time that it does now. It's a scorching word today. It actually was a word used for an actor in a play. It means that one would receive a cue and then answer back. That's what it means to answer back. In other words, the Lord Jesus accused them of playing at religion. He quotes now Isaiah: "Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you saying, 'The people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.'"

That is the important thing. They were very eager to have you go through a ceremony of washing your hands, but the important thing was the condition of the heart. Here they were doing something, breaking really the Mosaic law in a very pious way. My, how we can rationalize today. We do the same thing. How many parents say to their children, "You wash your hands before you come to the table," but they pay no attention to what they're seeing on television. It's this thing that is the damaging thing to the heart. Of course, they should wash their hands, but that's not final. By the way, it's what's on the inside that is the important thing.

Now we find him here in verse 10: "And he called the multitude and said unto them, 'Hear and understand.'" Now he enlarges upon this. "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." Then came his disciples and said unto him, "Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying?" My, they were amazed that he would offend the Pharisees. This actually is the real break between them. Up to this point, there's been a conflict, but now we've come to the breaking point. Here it is. Listen to him: "But he answered and said, 'Every plant'—and you could almost say the word would mean system—'every system which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.'"

Every system. It's not, I think, too broad to interpret Jesus as saying every religious system which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. Now we read on in verse 14: "Let them alone. They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." I think this is a humorous statement that he made at this point. It's certainly biting sarcasm, for if a blind man leads a blind man, they both will fall into a ditch. The Pharisees were blind leaders. Then answered Peter and said unto him, "Declare unto us this parable." And Jesus said, "Are ye also yet without understanding?" Now, he's been speaking to them in parables and they don't seem to have gotten the point yet.

Jesus said, "Are ye yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man." Now here is a great principle. It's not what goes in the mouth; it's what comes out of the mouth. By the way, what's in the well of the heart is going to come up in the bucket of the mouth sooner or later. Listen to him: "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man."

But to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. We are seeing that working out in our contemporary culture today. We've come to a period of what's known as new morality. We've reached the day that Isaiah talked about. He said the day's coming when they'll call evil good and good evil. They're doing that today. You and I are a "square" if we believe the Bible and that this sort of thing is entirely wrong. We're entirely wrong, but if you engage in these things, what do we have in this day of freedom? Now that the lid has been taken off, man today can express what's in his heart. What comes out? New morality? No, same old thing.

Evil thoughts, murders, adulteries. We hear a great deal about sex today. That's what you expect. Fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. It is a great day of freedom, but my friend, if you don't put the lid on the bucket, you've opened really a Pandora's box and we're in trouble. Man has to be controlled. Man is the most vicious animal on this earth, and we put other animals in cages, yet we're talking today that man must be free to do his thing. Well, here's what he'll do. It's not new morality at all, and our Lord said this sort of thing was evil. These things defile the man.

Think about it today, all of this emphasis upon sex in our schools, now in our churches, everywhere on television, and radio. It stares at you from the billboards, the front pages of magazines, and the headlines on papers. My friend, these things defile you. Don't tell me that you are immune to this type of thing. No one's immune to it. These are the things that are defiling young people. Yet, it's all being done in the high, lofty-sounding terminology of freedom of speech, and that today we must express ourselves. This is the way we're doing it. The thing that's in the heart is now coming out. This is a tremendous statement.

Now verse 21: "Then Jesus went thence and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon." Now he's left the land for the first time, and that's interesting. He has come as king. You remember he sent his own, "Go to the cities of this nation. Go not beyond the boundaries of the nation Israel." He sent them out. He was rejected. There was the conflict, and now there's the open break. The breaking point has come. What happens? He steps over the boundary himself for the first time to put down another great principle, and that is that he'll receive Gentiles. His invitation is a sincere one. "Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come to the waters." Now wait, that's in the Old Testament.

But he said, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll rest you." Now notice the incident that took place. "Behold, a woman of Canaan"—she was a Canaanite—"came out of the same coast and cried unto him saying, 'Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David.'" Now, she had no claim on him as son of David. "My daughter is grievously vexed with a demon." But he answered her not a word. Why? Well, she has no claim on him. He answered her not a word and his disciples came and besought him saying, "Send her away, for she crieth after us." She was causing a disturbance, probably a little embarrassment.

And he answered and said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Now you mark that down. That is the primary issue that had to be settled. He died with this superscription written over him: "The King of the Jews." Now listen to her: "Then came she and worshipped him saying, 'Lord, help me.'" Before, "son of David," he said, "I'm just sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." She had no claim upon him as son of David. Now she comes and worships him, and she calls him Lord, and she asks for help. She's going to get it. He answered and said, "It's not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs."

That's a very strong statement. That rebuff would have driven many of us away. We would have walked away and said, "You can't talk to us like that." Well, listen to verse 27: She said, "Truth, Lord. Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table." You remember the poor man that ate the crumbs that fell from a rich man's table, and the dogs licked his sores. Now verse 28: "Then Jesus answered and said unto her, 'O woman, great is thy faith.'" He marvelled, really, at the faith of this woman. "Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." Her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

So, when he said, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll help you, I'll lift the burden," that's what he's doing even for a Canaanite. Her answer, I tell you, revealed a great faith. On that, our Lord responded. Now verse 29: "Jesus departed from thence, came nigh unto the sea of Galilee, and went up into a mountain, sat down there. And great multitudes came unto him having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet, and he healed them." Again, my friend, I call your attention: multitudes were healed. Not just a few little isolated cases that, after all, you can't really substantiate.

There were too many in that day. Nobody denied he performed the miracles. Inasmuch that the multitude wondered when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see, and they glorified the God of Israel. Then Jesus called his disciples unto him and said, "I have compassion on the multitude because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I will not send them away fasting lest they faint in the way." Now, again, his compassion on the multitude. His disciples say unto him, "Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness as to fill so great a multitude?"

Now, don't miss this because, very frankly, when you read this incident here, you feel like it's just a rerun of the feeding of the 5,000. It's just a repetition. You wonder why Matthew included it here because it doesn't seem to add any further advancement of the messianic claims of the Lord Jesus. However, we're in the section where the emphasis is not on Jesus pressing his messianic claims any longer, but the rejection of his claims. This miracle shows how slowly the disciples were to learn. Now, they've already witnessed the feeding of the 5,000, and I don't think it took place but just a few days before this.

But here they raise the same old objections of unbelief. Same thing that they say here. His disciples say unto him, "Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness as to feed so great a multitude?" Jesus said unto them, "How many loaves have ye?" And they said, "Seven and a few little fishes." He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. He took the seven loaves and fishes and gave thanks. You have here feeding the multitudes. It reveals that his disciples hadn't really learned the lesson. Their reluctance to believe actually constitutes a form of rejection.

You remember unbelief is sin. Paul in Romans 14:23 said whatsoever is not of faith is sin. I think laying aside every weight—what is every weight? Well, I think it's unbelief and the sin, the sin of unbelief. You and I today just don't believe him. If you want me to make a confession, I'm willing to make a confession and it is just simply this: I wish I believed him more. He can be believed. I ought to believe him. The problem is with me, and I'm of the opinion that the problem is with you also. He fed the multitude. Now we're told verse 38: "And they that did eat were 4,000 men beside women and children."

Again, it's 4,000 plus. I'm sure that you'd have to put one woman with a man, and one child with the man and the woman. A family. So, you would have here four multiplied by three, and that would be 12,000 who were fed at this time. He sent away the multitude and took ship and came into the coasts of Magdala. That place is on the Sea of Galilee today in ruins. This chapter reveals that his disciples were just not keeping up. They were slow to believe and understand. Actually, this is hindering the Lord Jesus. It would seem at this point that since he's reached the breaking point with the religious rulers, he's having a real problem with his disciples and he's just marking time now until they catch up. Very frankly today, he's very patient with you and me also that we might catch up. I'm afraid a great many of us need to catch up with him today. Oh, that we might believe him. May God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Shwetz: To learn what it means to live your life for God, get our app or go to ttb.org and download Dr. McGee's free digital booklet "Living the Christian Life God's Way." I'm Steve Shwetz, and I'll meet you back here next time as together we go through the Bible.