Matthew 12:46-50

[0:00] Good morning. It's nice to see some more people in the room. Excellent. I'll confess before I start that I don't know whether I've gone the right route this morning with this or not.

[0:13] So we're at the end of chapter 12 and we've got verses 46 to 50 to go. So it's Matthew chapter 12, verses 46 to 50.

[0:24] And when I first looked at this, I thought, oh, we'll knock those four verses or five verses off and then we'll get started on the parable of the sower or the soils, depending on how you care to entitle it.

[0:43] But I found myself in these last five verses really drawn into something that we mustn't overlook. Jesus didn't put this in there to be overlooked. And it's very easy when you get close to the end of a chapter and you've got the whole of the parable of the sower ahead of you and you think, I've got some real meat I can get my teeth into there.

[1:02] To skip over these verses, which are a little bit kind of esoteric anyway, aren't they? But just by way of recap, before we move on, what we've realised is that this chapter 12 has reached a pivotal point in Jesus's ministry.

[1:19] Where effectively, after the study that we did last week, his relationship with Israel has come to an end apart from his believing remnant.

[1:31] He has said, enough's enough. You have now finally and officially rejected me. You're getting no more signs apart from the sign of Jonah, which is, of course, the sign of resurrection, which they would get twice, a third occasion being at the other end of history when the two witnesses are raised.

[1:54] But they would, in their lifetime, they would experience the raising of Lazarus, to which 44 verses is devoted in John's Gospel, chapter 9 or 10.

[2:05] I can't remember which. And then there would be his own resurrection. But other than that, he was not doing signs for them anymore. Up to now, he had done signs purely for them to tell them that he was the Messiah.

[2:19] And he had fulfilled scripture again and again and again and again. And they were still rejecting him. And they'd come to this ridiculous place where they'd said, Lord, we want you to show us a sign.

[2:31] And he'd already done nothing but show them signs. And so he said, no more signs apart from the sign of resurrection.

[2:43] And he gets to this place in verse 46 where it says, While he was still speaking to the crowds, behold, his mother and brothers were standing outside seeking to speak to him.

[3:09] Someone said to him, behold, your mother and your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to you. But Jesus answered the one who was telling him and said, who is my mother and who are my brothers?

[3:23] And stretching out his hand towards his disciples, he said, behold, my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.

[3:35] And the question occurred to me, why were they outside? Why were they not in that meeting that Jesus was conducting through this period of immense opposition against the Pharisees who had already said in an earlier reading that we studied as we came up to this point, they were already looking for a way to destroy him.

[4:01] They had made their mind up that he had to go. And it's clear from the language that when they said destroy him, they didn't just mean spoil his ministry. They meant kill him.

[4:13] And so he is amongst people who are committed to the idea of destroying him. Probably his current situation where just a little bit earlier, he has healed the deaf mute man, deaf mute and blind man, a messianic miracle itself.

[4:37] And his response to that when he knows that they're trying to destroy him is not to back off and go quiet and do what I would probably do, which is go and put my head in a bag somewhere and hope I'd remain undiscovered.

[4:51] What he did was he confronted them again and again to the point where he said, you brood of vipers. How can anything good come from you? So his folks weren't there.

[5:08] And he says, so who are my mother and brothers and so on? And you think, what did he mean? What was the point he was trying to make?

[5:19] And this is where I think there's a lot of application for us in terms of how we prioritise things. And I have to be careful how I say what I'm going to say because it's not meant to be.

[5:32] It's always good to start off with what you're not saying. It's not meant to be a put down for anyone. It's meant to be an exhortation and a reminder of priorities that we should seek to uphold.

[5:45] So Jesus said to this, you can imagine, if you put yourself just in Jesus' place as a human rather than as the living God in flesh, when your mum and dad show up and your brothers and your sisters, and you're in a place where you're having a rough time and they've threatened to destroy you, and in fact, because of his foreknowledge, which you can read about his foreknowledge in, I mean, Psalm 22 is a really big reminder of his foreknowledge, that he knew what he was going to be facing, and his family almost certainly had a sense that things were not going to go well for their big brother.

[6:32] And so there was probably something of them that wanted to get him out of there. He was in this really difficult, very dangerous situation.

[6:44] They'd already tried to stone him to death a couple of times during his ministry. There was another occasion when they, and I'm not sure of the chronology, but there was another occasion when they wanted to throw him off a cliff and he walked through the crowd, which in itself was a miracle, I think, because I certainly think if a crowd tried to throw me off a cliff, I wouldn't have the power to just walk through the crowd.

[7:06] But the point is that they knew that things were not great for their big brother. So let's look in a bit more detail at this. Was he disparaging his earthly family and his relationships with them?

[7:27] And I would say the answer to that is clearly no. But what he was doing is was putting those relationships in context and in priority as secondary to the relationship that we should have with the Lord.

[7:44] And we'll explore more of that in a moment. So we've got this crazy time. Pharisees had already challenged Jesus over, and of course his disciples, on their conduct on the Sabbath.

[8:01] They challenged him when he healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath. He'd made, in verses 7 and 8 of this chapter, he'd made what can only be described as an absolute claim to divinity.

[8:18] You can just read back there where he said, But if you had known what this means, I desire compassion and not a sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent, for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

[8:35] That is an overt claim to divinity. He was saying that he was the Lord of the Sabbath. And there is only one Lord of the Sabbath, and that's the Messiah.

[8:46] So verse 14 tells us that they were conspiring together to destroy him. And they then accused him of carrying out this miracle by the power of Beelzebub.

[9:02] And what he then does, very publicly, so these Pharisees are used to being put up on pedestals. They are famed among the people.

[9:16] Famous or infamous, I'm not sure which, but they were certainly famed. And he effectively destroyed them publicly when he took them apart over their views on the Sabbath, and he took them apart over their views on the idea that he might be operating under the power of Satan.

[9:36] And so there was, in a sense, there was public rebuke and public disgrace for these religious leaders. And he had told them, once again, you can only do this if you're God, but he had told them they would not be forgiven for what they had done.

[9:54] Called them a brood of vipers, leveled at them the direst comparison, promising that the worst of judgments would be theirs.

[10:05] If you remember, he compared them to Nineveh and said, Nineveh's going to sit above you in the judgment because they at least repented. And he also compared them to the Queen of Sheba, who came to hear the wisdom of Solomon and said, you know, she came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

[10:23] Someone greater than Solomon is here. And you've just rejected the wisdom that I have to offer you. So against that background, mother and brothers turn up.

[10:38] And clearly they're there to try and extricate him from this. We want to speak with him. And it's not clear that they were trying to extricate him, but I can't think why else they would bother to turn up when they could have been there for the whole meeting and they could have heard everything that was said and they didn't.

[10:58] Earlier in the chapter, we read that Jesus, whilst involved in this confrontation, was also fulfilling Isaiah 42 verses 1 to 4. And we get that from the beginning of the chapter, don't we?

[11:11] Where it says there, he was not a quarrelsome person. So he's not given to quarrel. But he is keen to save.

[11:27] And he is keen for the truth, the word of God to come forth. And so, he has this opportunity to leave because they say to him, your folks are outside, they want to chat to you.

[11:45] And he could have at that point said, okay, I'll go and chat to them. Bye. And he would have been out of the circumstance. But instead, he said, who are my brothers and sisters? Now, we understand earthly family, do we not?

[12:04] There are people in this room who have mums and dads in this room. We have brothers and sisters in this room. And we understand how earthly families work.

[12:17] And we also understand the precious nature of families and the high priority that family relationships take. The speed with which we get to the hospital when we realise that one of our folks is in A&E or broken down on the motorway, the speed with which we get out to help them or whatever.

[12:37] We make a very high priority of our earthly relationships. Jesus here seems at first glance to be almost disparaging of these. Who are my sisters and my brothers?

[12:49] He doesn't immediately go out and say, okay, what do you want, guys? He says, effectively, this is what I think he's saying. I don't want to go and speak to them. I'm doing God's business here.

[13:01] And anyway, they're not my true brothers and sisters. Now that's a bit of a shocker. It should be a bit of a shocker. They're not my true brothers and sisters.

[13:14] These guys here, these disciples of mine, they're my true brothers and sisters. We're going to have to do a little sidetrack just to clarify some things on the way.

[13:32] And I'm doing it as much as anything for anybody that listens to this online. And for, I don't think it applies to anybody here, but we need to, well, you'll see where it goes.

[13:44] So, what he's, the point he's making is instead of running after the brotherliness and sisterliness and motherliness of his earthly relationships, he's going to be outlining the spiritual nature of his supernatural relationships that are in the spiritual realm.

[14:09] And so, these disciples are people who have decided to put God first. They are committed to him in a different way from his family.

[14:22] Now, in Luke's account of the same event, we have a woman shouting out in praise of Mary. And she shouts out, blessed be the womb that bore you and blessed be the breast that gave the suck.

[14:39] And so on. And from that verse, so I'm going to deliberately make a little aside here that I did think about not making, but I just couldn't not make it.

[14:52] Roman Catholics and others who venerate saints and worship Mary use this verse as one of the verses to say that, you know, Mary was, of course, the mother of God and there are lots of myths that surround that such as Mary was a perpetual virgin.

[15:09] And so I just want to take a little aside to clear that rubbish out of the way for anyone that listens to this at any time. Firstly, we know for sure that Mary had other kids.

[15:23] And we can read about that. I won't dwell on it this morning, but we can read about it in Matthew 13, verse 55 and 56. And we can read about it in Mark 6, verses 1 to 6. And so this doesn't support the fact that Mary was a perpetual virgin.

[15:42] And that is important because in order to remain a perpetual virgin, it's possible then that she might be viewed as divine and therefore worthy of worship.

[15:53] So the one other thing I will point out is, and I didn't write down the scripture reference, but you'll find it for yourselves, when Mary was receiving her angelic visitation that said that the Lord was going to plant Jesus in her womb and that she would give birth to the Messiah, what she said at that point is, my soul does magnify the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.

[16:22] Mary recognised that she needed a Saviour. She wasn't divine in any way, shape or form. She was probably the greatest woman that has ever graced the planet, but she was human and she needed a Saviour.

[16:36] So I throw that in, no extra charge. And we have this woman shouting out about, in praise of Mary, Mary, Mary with these other male and female children, at least two sisters and the brothers are listed, she was human, she had kids and therefore Jesus had flesh and blood brothers.

[17:17] brothers. Now they were half-brothers, of course, same mum, different dad. That's fairly obvious. But there's a prophetic insight into what happens here in Psalm 69, if you'd like to turn there.

[17:31] in Psalm 69, the key verses are verses 8 and 9.

[17:54] Now, scholars agree, almost universally, that this is a prophetic psalm, a messianic psalm, and it says this in verses 8 and 9, I have become estranged from my brothers and an alien to my mother's sons, for zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproached you have fallen on me.

[18:20] So, most interpreters of this psalm would say that I have become estranged from my brothers, means from national Israel, the brotherhood, if you like, of Israel.

[18:34] But the next line, an alien to my mother's sons, suggests that Jesus was estranged from his own flesh and blood brothers.

[18:51] So, difficulties with these earthly relationships had been foretold, and if you like, it's a double-barrelled statement, because it suggests that he's going to fall out of favour with the sons of Israel, as well as the sons of his mother.

[19:10] If we turn to John 7, what we have in this passage here, this is the passage where Jesus teaches at the feast, and we get an indication of where the brothers, and the one I can't quite pin down here is the mother, because the mother bore him, and she bore him following an angelic revelation as to who he would be.

[19:52] So, that she would be confused is a bit difficult to understand, except that she may never have expected that things would go this way. She may have had the standard Jewish concept of the Messiah turning up and somehow taking over leadership and trampling Rome so that they were no longer oppressed.

[20:15] She might not have expected her son to finish up arguing with the Pharisees on points of doctrine, and to get himself in this pickle where they were about to put him to death.

[20:26] So, her confusion might have been that. But in this chapter 7 of John, it says this, this is at the Feast of Tabernacles. After these things, Jesus was walking in Galilee, for he was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him.

[20:44] Now, the Feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, that's the Feast of Tabernacles, was near. Therefore, his brothers said to him, leave here and go into Judea so that your disciples may also see your works which you are doing.

[20:58] For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For not even his brothers were believing in him.

[21:11] So Jesus said to them, my time is not yet, but your time is always opportune. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it that its deeds are evil.

[21:24] Go up to the Feast yourselves, I do not go up to this feast because my time has not yet fully come. Having said these things to them, he stayed in Galilee. So, the point here is they are trying to campaign manage Jesus.

[21:39] Get yourself up to the feast where what you're doing can be seen by everyone. Get yourself a bit of good publicity. Get on the election trail and put yourself out there.

[21:51] But it says his brothers were not believing in him and his brothers had completely missed the point that he was Messiah. He was on a mission. He had a plan and he wasn't going to be deviated from the plan.

[22:04] But it says they didn't believe in him. if you turn to Mark 3 31. And it's just another reference to the same event.

[22:32] His mother and his brothers arrived, standing outside. they sent word to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him and they said to him, behold, your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you.

[22:43] And answering them, he said, who are my mother and my brothers? So that's just Mark's vision or Mark's recording of the same event. And what it shows is firstly that Matthew wasn't the only one that recorded this.

[22:59] But secondly, he had maintained this distance from his own brothers and looking at John 7 as we've just done, we can understand why.

[23:13] Now coming back to Roman Catholic myths, one of the myths that abounds out there is that Mary was actually a perpetual virgin and that these brothers were from a different marriage.

[23:31] They were from an earlier marriage or a former marriage. So just to cast that to one side, if that were true, Joseph's oldest son by his first marriage would be the one that should inherit the throne of David, not Jesus.

[23:45] So it's absolute rubbish. And the Roman Catholic Church should know that it's rubbish. They should never be preaching it. Another little aside, but never mind.

[23:56] So we've just read John 7 verse 1 to 9. And from that we can deduce they could have been amongst the crowd, they decided not to be, and then they're banging on the door saying, can we have a chat to Jesus, please?

[24:15] Can we get him out of there? And we've just read his brothers were not believing in him. And we've And so when Jesus says, who are my brothers and sisters and mother, what he's alluding to, I think, is the fact that they, whilst being his flesh and blood, are not believers, and therefore in the spiritual sense are not his brothers and sisters.

[24:50] And he therefore visibly gives a lower priority to those relationships. One of the most difficult things, I think, about church life is putting Jesus first, putting his commandments not to forsake fellowshipping together first, and turning up to church and having relationships with those who are in Christ, with whom he wants us to have relationships, and giving a lower priority to these other relationships, even if they're related to us in the physical realm, but giving a lower priority for these people who either reject Jesus or who are ambivalent about Jesus, or who just can't be bothered.

[25:41] And I found myself quite sort of taken aback almost. If we go back to the passage in Matthew, Matthew 12, 46, I felt as if, and this is me, I could be putting an emphasis on the scripture that is not right, so I'll let you pray about that and deduce it for yourselves, others.

[26:20] But I kind of get this feeling of, your mother and your brothers are outside, and if, this is not what Jesus said, but it's the overtone that came through to me, you just don't get it, do you?

[26:41] You don't understand what brothers and sisters are all about. They're not my brothers and sisters, they are these people who revere God, these people who do the will of God, who seek constantly to put God at the top of their tree, to do everything to please him.

[27:01] They're my brothers and sisters. You've misunderstood the importance of flesh and blood relationships. It's of secondary importance to the relationships that are supernatural, the relationships that God gives us.

[27:21] Now the brothers outside and the mother outside were probably terrified. They knew that they were plotting to kill Jesus. They undoubtedly would have liked to have got him out of there.

[27:33] And despite not believing in him, I find it hard to believe that they didn't care for him. It sounds to me like they were a bit confused as to why he got into this muddle in the first place because they were still expecting him to rout Rome, to get Rome off the backs of the people.

[27:55] So they weren't there probably because they didn't believe that what he was doing was of God. Probably. Guessing a bit, but it would seem to indicate that.

[28:08] And they want to talk to him and he effectively says no. Who are my brothers and who is my mother?

[28:25] Behold, these are my brothers and my mother. Now, in this room, I feel very confident to say, these are my brothers and sisters.

[28:39] Because we are all in Christ. Christ. But it did give me a bit of a kick up the pants in that I think all too often I get dragged away from that priority.

[28:57] I can make a priority of all sorts of things that if I stopped a moment and said, Lord, what should I prioritize here? He would give me a different one from the one I've chosen. these disciples that he's referring to when he just waves his hand towards them and said, these are my brothers and sisters.

[29:15] They've given up businesses. They've walked away from lucrative incomes. Matthew was loaded and he walked away from it all to serve Christ.

[29:25] Peter walked away from his fishing business along with Andrew. This was a sacrificial love for the Lord. in our society, I don't feel that I have made much by way of sacrifice to love the Lord.

[29:47] I'm not asking for it, Lord, just register that with you. I don't want trouble, but nevertheless, the question I ask myself is, would I be among those where Jesus would point to me and say, he is my disciple, he is my brother, brother?

[30:06] It also speaks, I think, if Jesus says this, these disciples are my brothers, implied in what he said is that we, Jesus and them together, are a brotherhood.

[30:25] And that there's a certain element of this that says we should be brothers and sisters like that to each other. And that's born out in other places in scripture. It could also be why, if we quickly turn to 1 Corinthians 10, and verse 13, which is the wrong verse, verse 10 to 30, which is still the wrong verse.

[31:22] So I don't know what I've got wrong there. Try Romans 16, verse 17 and 18, which makes the same point, and I'll correct the reference next time I get a chance. Romans 16.

[31:47] And Paul says to the Roman church, verse 17 and 18, Now I urge you brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.

[32:00] For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Jesus Christ, but of their own appetites, and by their smooth and flattering speaks they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

[32:11] There are stern warnings in scripture, and there is one in 1 Corinthians somewhere, but I've written down the wrong reference. There are warnings against dissensions and divisions, and yet we divide all the time with people who are supposed to be our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we do it sometimes over the most asinine things, things that should be a matter for debate among us, a matter for further Bible study, a matter for clarification, a matter for humbly stepping down when it becomes clear that you're wrong.

[32:47] but should not be a source of division that means you're no longer my brother or my sister. And I note with sadness some of the major speakers who spend all their ministry time tearing down other brothers and sisters.

[33:08] I've used the example before, but people, for example, he doesn't do this, but it's often done to him, John MacArthur. People tear him down all the time.

[33:21] The fact is he's a brother in Christ, and the fact is he's a brilliant teacher. The fact is I don't agree with him on everything, but he's my brother in Christ.

[33:33] I would far rather have a meal with John MacArthur than I would with all the people who are constantly slating him. and anybody that's got a little bit about them, who's going to make strong points in preaching and in counsel, is going to make enemies.

[33:58] But the enemies they make shouldn't be us. It's perfectly right to disagree with them if you think they're wrong, but do be Berean if you think they're wrong and chase it down through the scripture before you make up your mind.

[34:14] Because so often we divide over something that's by no means proven in scripture, or we divide over things where you have to say, let's pick a topic that exercises a lot of people.

[34:28] Eschatology, end time stuff. Right? I should be able to fellowship. I am a pre-millennial believer.

[34:39] I should be able to fellowship with someone who's not. I should even be able to fellowship with someone who's amillennial. It's a big ask, but I do.

[34:53] I've got a very good friend who's an amillennial believer, and the thing is, we can talk about that, and one day he will realise I'm right. No.

[35:04] What I mean is, it doesn't matter whether he's right or I'm right. What does matter is, we are brothers in Christ, and that should be number one.

[35:16] And if you were to ask him, who in this room is your true brother, he should be able to point to me, among others, to say he is a true brother, despite the fact that we don't agree.

[35:28] There are very, very, very few things that are absolutely essential that we agree on, and those essentials mean that that person isn't our brother.

[35:40] So when they start, I don't know, denying the virgin birth, or denying the vicarious sacrifice, or any of those essential ingredients of our salvation, well that's not a brother.

[35:56] And if I happen to be related to that person who's saying that thing, then despite the fact that he's my brother in the flesh, he's not my brother supernaturally and spiritually.

[36:12] And I have to give that relationship second place. Now what I mean by that is the relationship is totally different. I'm not fellowshipping with him brother to brother.

[36:24] I suppose I'd use the word evangelising him, trying to help him to see the pathway to Christ. I don't reject him, he's not less precious as a result of what he believes, but what he is, is in a different category.

[36:42] He has a lower priority, even though he's related to me. And if I was having a hard time, he'd probably be the one on the outside saying, can I have a word with Ray, can you send him out?

[37:00] Because he didn't understand why I was there. These brothers, I mean, let's, there's no way we should ever be keen to divide.

[37:12] But, they thought Jesus at one point was mad. Right?

[37:22] And I've, I think the point of that is, you know, it says, it says, his people took a hold of him.

[37:32] Now, his people would be his family. It wouldn't just be random people. His people would mean his flesh and blood. Took a hold of him, and they took a hold of him to take him out of the way, because they thought he'd lost his mind.

[37:47] So, these are the same brothers who were outside knocking on the door saying, can we have a word with Jesus, please? They think he's bonkers. They didn't believe.

[38:01] Now, we know they came to believe after the resurrection, and in fact, Jesus' brother James became the elder of the church in Jerusalem. So, this problem was cured, and James, the brother of Jesus did actually become a brother of Jesus, eventually.

[38:22] But, because he makes this demarcation between flesh and blood brothers and sisters, and true supernatural brothers and sisters, because he makes that demarcation, so should we, is my point.

[38:38] And so, he points to these, if you just flip back to Matthew, he points to these, and he says something, which kind of puts it where it belongs.

[38:57] In verse 49, behold my mother and my brothers, for whoever does the will of my father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother. Whoever does the will of my father is my brother and sister.

[39:12] answer. And so, we have to kind of answer, what does that mean? Now, if you go to John 6, 29, how much time have I got left?

[39:42] John 6, verse 29, Jesus answered and said to them, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.

[39:57] So, what do we do to do the will of God? Well, it starts with we believe. It's, it kind of seems like a cop-out, that, doesn't it?

[40:11] Like, I should have a job to do. There must be something I have to actually do. What's implied in this verse is that it's sufficient to believe because as a believer you will then respond to the, to whatever the Lord asks you to do.

[40:28] You will have that response in your heart because you believed. So, that's the first point. I think it was, so, so, so, before I move on, 1 Thessalonians 5, turn there.

[40:59] 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verses 16 to 18. So, how do I, how do I conduct myself in Christ?

[41:11] How do I, how do I become one of those people who does the will of the Lord? And it says very, very simply this, verse 16, rejoice always, I think I fail that one quite often, but there we go, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, can I just say, pray without ceasing does not mean spend your whole life on your knees.

[41:33] what it means, this is my take on it and feel free to disagree, take me aside afterwards, beat me with something heavy if you don't think I'm right, but to pray without ceasing I have to be God conscious all the time.

[41:51] If I'm fixing a car or if I'm shopping or if I'm driving a truck or whatever I'm doing, to pray without ceasing means I have to be constantly, now I can't speak for you because this is something that God, the reason I say this is because it's something that God has done for me.

[42:10] I find that if I wake up during the night, the first thing in my mind is the Lord. Now I don't engineer that, I'm not bragging and saying I'm such a good Christian, it's just I open my eyes in the middle of the night and he's there, not in person, but he's in my thoughts and I get up in the morning and I'm doing breakfast and he's in my thoughts and I find it hard to single out a time of day when he's absent which means that in some way and I sometimes mess it up badly because I allow myself to be distracted from this totally, but a lot of the time he's there and so I'm able to say for that period of time I am praying without ceasing, not that I'm uttering specific prayers, but I'm in kind of dialogue and I can't put my finger on it any more than that, I'm not hearing voices and seeing visions and so on, I suppose I'd say I'm God aware and I'm responsive when he puts something into my mind that needs action,

[43:17] I tend to act upon it and I don't think I'm strange in that regard, some would say I'm very strange, but I don't think that's a strange thing, I think that's something that one would expect who has a father-son relationship with the Lord.

[43:34] And one of the outcomes, and we haven't finished reading have we, number and verse 18, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

[43:51] Right, so we do the will of the Lord, what's the will of the Lord? Well, pray without ceasing, rejoice always, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.

[44:02] There's a simple, uncomplicated answer, that's the will of God for us. And when he put out his hand and said, these are my brothers and sisters, I suspect he meant people who pray without ceasing, rejoice always, and in everything give thanks, because they were in the will of God.

[44:20] one of the fruits of that is peace. So let's turn to John 14. And we're close to finishing.

[44:35] John 14. Verses 23 through to 27.

[44:49] And it kind of confirms that one of the fruits of abiding in Christ is this supernatural peace. Starting in verse 23, Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him.

[45:12] In other words, they will live with him, and in terms of the Holy Spirit, would live in him. He who does not love me does not keep my words, and the words which you hear is not mine, but the father's who sent me.

[45:27] So he who does not love me, that's my brothers and sisters outside who aren't even in the meeting, they're not my brothers and sisters. Okay? The ones who are in the meeting, and he's able to go, these are my brothers and sisters, are the ones who keep his words, and the words which you hear are not mine, but the father's who sent me.

[45:55] These things I have spoken to you whilst abiding with you, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

[46:08] Peace I leave with you. And remember he's saying this to a group of guys who are already experiencing some persecution and are going to experience a lot more. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives, do I give to you.

[46:23] Do not let your heart be troubled Or let it be fearful. will. There's a supernatural relationship available to us.

[46:34] I think it was Corrie Ten Boom that said peace only exists in the centre of God's will. Outside God's will there is no peace. Now these disciples who heard Jesus say that were in God's will looking forward to a time of persecution and yet had peace available to them and were instructed don't even be fearful of it.

[47:02] So I suppose my finishing thing would be John 6 37 to 40 tells us that he will raise us up on the last day.

[47:19] And we should have confidence in that and place our confidence and our priorities in relationships that are saved because they're our true brothers and sisters in Christ and they are ones who will keep us close to Christ and keep putting our nose to the biblical wheel and keep us in the right direction.

[47:39] And we have a kind of a duty to do that for each other. I suppose the application for us is to be careful what we prioritise.

[47:51] I hope that's helped. I found the preparation for this study a difficult one and I'm not even yet sure I've done it justice but hey. Father we thank you for this word and we do ask Lord that you order our priorities, that you place in our hearts a craving for you and a love for you and that you somehow take over our focus that we become focused on the right things.

[48:25] In Jesus mighty name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.