“Exclusive Grace”

(Matthew 21:33-22:14)

Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

July 5, 2020

The Passage

Matthew 21:33-22:14

33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner, who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. He leased it to tenant farmers and went away. 34 When the time came to harvest fruit, he sent his servants to the farmers to collect his fruit. 35 The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Again, he sent other servants, more than the first group, and they did the same to them. 37 Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

38 “But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”

41 “He will completely destroy those terrible men,” they told him, “and lease his vineyard to other farmers who will give him his fruit at the harvest.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.This is what the Lord has done and it is wonderful in our eyes?

43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit. 44 Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will shatter him.”

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew he was speaking about them. 46 Although they were looking for a way to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because the people regarded him as a prophet.

22:1 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to summon those invited to the banquet, but they didn’t want to come. 4 Again, he sent out other servants and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: See, I’ve prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

5 “But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. 7 The king was enraged, and he sent out his troops, killed those murderers, and burned down their city.

8 “Then he told his servants, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 Go then to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.’ 10 So those servants went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests. 11 When the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed for a wedding. 12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.

13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Introductory Comments:

We finished last week’s passage with the parable of the two sons. This week we’re going to study two more parables.We’re going to do things a bit differently this week. I’m going to give you both main sermon points upfront and then we’re going to walk through each of these parables to see how these truths are drawn out in these parables.Before we do so let’s pray together and ask God to supernaturally speak to us. 

(prayer)

Remember, while Jesus is in Jerusalem, He is correcting the religious leaders and demonstrating that He truly is the Messiah and He truly has the authority of God. 

Today, He gets a little more direct with His condemnation of the

“Submission and Obedience”

(Matthew 21:23-32)

Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

June 28, 2020

The Passage

Matthew 21:23-32

23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?”

24 Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Did John’s baptism come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” They discussed it among themselves, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we’re afraid of the crowd, because everyone considers John to be a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘My son, go work in the vineyard today.’ 29 “He answered, ‘I don’t want to,’ but later he changed his mind and went. 30 Then the man went to the other and said the same thing. ‘I will, sir,’ he answered, but he didn’t go. 31 Which of the two did his father’s will?” They said, “The first.”Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him. Tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; but you, when you saw it, didn’t even change your minds then and believe him.

Introductory Comments:

When I was in college three of my buddies and I talked ourselves into driving about four and half hours from Louisville, Kentucky to Wooster, Ohio to go camping, in the middle of the winter, in a tent. It was quite foolish, to be honest with you. However, my buddy was from Wooster and he had a “great spot!” We got there in the middle of the night and tried to find a flat spot amongst all the snow to pitch our tent. We finally found a spot on a sheet of ice and put our tent there. As we walked around to find firewood my buddy whispered to me, “Shh, we don’t want the farmer to hear us.” It was at that moment that I realized we were on someone’s private land. We had no authority to be there. To make a long story short, when we woke up the sheet of ice was now a puddle, my car had a flat tire, and we had to sneak out of the woods in the daylight because we had no authority to be there. 

You see, authority matters. In today’s passage, Jesus was questioned by the religious leaders as to what authority He had to do the things that He was doing and to teach the things that He was teaching. Today’s sermon is entitled, “Submission and Obedience.” Submission and obedience have everything to do with authority. 

Before we get into this passage, let’s pray together and ask God to speak to us.

(prayer)

Remember what’s going on in Matthew 21. Jesus has entered into Jerusalem triumphantly, He’s shaken things up in the temple, and He has cursed a fig tree because it didn’t have any fruit on it, which served as a picture of why we need fruit in our lives. Jesus will press into this idea in today’s passage as we discover two pathways needed for the faithful follower of God.Here they are: first, . . . 

I. Submission to the Son’s authority (vv. 23-27) [on screen]

The first pathway we will discover today to help us in following after God is submission to the Son’s authority. 

There was an authority issue in Matthew 21:23-27. You see, there was no denying that Jesus was doing great works and teaching like no one else had taught. The religious leaders didn’t dispute that, but they wanted to know who He thought He was to do these things in the first place. Let’s check out the passage. Look at verses 23-27.

23 When he entered the temple, the chief pries

“Jesus Shakes Up the Holy City”

(Matthew 21:12-22)

Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

June 21, 2020

The Passage

Matthew 21:12-22

12 Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. 13 He said to them, “It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves!”

14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that he did and the children shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant 16 and said to him, “Do you hear what these children are saying?” Jesus replied, “Yes, have you never read: You have preparedpraisefrom the mouths of infants and nursing babies?” 17 Then he left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

18 Early in the morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, he went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” At once the fig tree withered.

20 When the disciples saw it, they were amazed and said, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”

21 Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you tell this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. 22 And if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Introductory Comments:

It’s such a joy to be back in worship with you all in person and with those who are worshiping online. We want to continue to pray for God’s mercy on our church family, our extended families, our community, our country, and our world. 

Today, we’re going to see how Jesus shook things up when He was in Jerusalem, the Holy City. This is a famous story of which many of us are familiar. 

In today’s sermon, we will witness the priority that Jesus places upon proper worship of and proper faith in God.

Before we get into this passage, let’s go to God in prayer and ask Him to speak to us. 

(prayer)

One thing we know for sure right now is that a lot of people have differing opinions about what’s going on in our culture. Indeed, people have shared with me what I am doing, right or wrong, when it comes to leading our church and what our church is doing, right or wrong, when it comes to handling COVID-19. Let’s set all that aside for a moment. Think back with me to the pre-COVID days (it seems like it was a year ago, but it was almost exactly three months ago that we last met in person). Imagine that someone came into our church and shared their opinion by us that everything we were doing was wrong. Imagine that they told us that our worship and the exercising of our faith were just not being carried out properly. We wouldn’t like that very much, would we?

Well, in today’s passage, we’re going to see that Jesus brought correction and instruction to the people of Jerusalem and we can imagine that they weren’t very happy about it. In fact, we’ll find out later that we know they weren’t very happy about it.I’ve entitled this sermon, “Jesus Shakes up the Holy City.” Indeed, today we’ll see that He starts to shake things up. As He does so, He provides for us three spiritual aspirations to which we can set our direction as individuals and as a church. 

Let’s start with this first spiritual aspiration to which Jesus points us:

I. Proper worship (vv. 12-13) [on screen]

So, we know that Jesus has come into Jerusalem during the week of Passover. As many people are doing during the time of the Passover, Jesus goes into the temple. 

As Jesus goes into the temple He sees something happening that He doesn’t like very much. Let’s check it out. Look at verse

“The Procession of the Prince of Peace”

(Matthew 21:1-11)

Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

June 14, 2020

The Passage

Matthew 21:1-11

1 When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples, 2 telling them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once.”

4 This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:

5 Tell Daughter Zion,“See, your King is coming to you,gentle, and mounted on a donkey,and on a colt,the foal of a donkey.”

6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt; then they laid their clothes on them, and he sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their clothes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9 Then the crowds who went ahead of him and those who followed shouted: Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the nameof the Lord!Hosanna in the highest heaven!

10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar, saying, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Introductory Comments:

It’s a joy to be back in the Gospel of Matthew. I missed Matthew. I love to preach verse by verse through the Bible.

Today, we will pick up our study of Matthew in Matthew 21:1-11. We will study what has become known as the Triumphal Entry of Jesus. 

Before we study this passage, let’s pray together.

(prayer)

Many of you have probably seen The History Channel show American Pickers. Well, my family used to watch it a lot and when we lived in Kentucky we wanted to go visit a new store that they had opened at the time, in the city of Nashville. Nashville was only a couple hours away from us, so we got in the car and headed that way. We called to check their hours and found out that one of the stars of the show, Mike Wolfe, would be there in person. It multiplied our excitement to find out that we were not only going to be able to check out the store, but we could meet Mike Wolfe. When we got there, there was a long line to see Mike, but we were glad to wait. People were excited because they got to see a television star!

Well, today, we’re going to see that people are excited to see Jesus as He is coming into Jerusalem. They realize that He is not a regular man. There is something special about Him. 

Jesus makes this entry into Jerusalem and it is a triumphal entry! It is an entry of celebration and praise! So, let’s check it out. 

First, let’s acknowledge that Matthew 21 kicks off what I call the beginning of the end for Jesus’ time on the earth. Jesus is going to Jerusalem and He will die there. 

Jesus knew what would happen and He is readying Himself for this. 

So, as we take in Matthew 21:1-11, we will discover three milestones in the triumphal entry, and in the story of God’s redemption of His people. 

First, . . .

I. The preparation (vv. 1-3) [on screen]

Let’s look at verses 1-3. 

1 When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples, 2 telling them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once.”

So, as we dive into this story we see that Jesus gives very specific instructions in order to prepare for His entry into Jerusalem. 

First of all, we see that there is a specific geographical location from where Jesus will come into the city. 

Jesus is coming from Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives. 

Bethphage was a village loc

“Spiritual Things: Part 5 – Spiritual Warfare” 

Series: Spiritual Things [on screen] 

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD 

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida 

June 7, 2020 

Introductory Comments: 

When it comes to spiritual things, there is perhaps no topic that attracts as much interest as spiritual warfare. Many sermons have been preached and many books have been written about spiritual warfare.

Yet, I dare say that the average Christian doesn’t understand the most important aspect of spiritual warfare. However, after this message, I pray that all those tuning in will properly understand spiritual warfare. 

Before we dive into this topic, let’s go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to teach us.

(prayer) 

We are continuing our series called “Spiritual Things.” [on screen] Thus far we have discussed Heaven, Hell, angels, and demons. Today, we’ll bring this sermon series to a close by discussing spiritual warfare. [on screen]

Now, bear in mind that this is part five of a five-part series. So, as we study this topic, we are doing so in the context of the four that we’ve already studied. 

As we examine this topic of spiritual warfare, we will discover three foundations upon which we can stand when facing spiritual warfare.

We’re going to start our discussion today learning about some of the popular aspects of spiritual warfare; then transition to something that is not as widely discussed, but is perhaps more important; and finally, we will conclude with a truth that should bring us great encouragement.

Here’s the first foundation of spiritual warfare for us to discover:

I. Be conscious of the presence of evil forces. [on screen]

We must first grasp the reality that there are spiritual forces around us, some of which are evil.

Over the last two sermons, we talked about the reality of angels, both good and evil, who are in the spiritual realm, and who are present on this earth. If you need to refresh your understanding of that you can do so by reviewing the previous sermons on our YouTube channel or our church website. 

So, we must be conscious that there are evil spiritual forces around us, perhaps even now in the place where we are watching this. We learned all of this in the last two sermons.

On that note, we must remember that God has allowed the devil to have dominion over the world to a certain extent and for a certain period of time. In fact, the apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” [on screen] So, even though Satan is clearly not a deity, or a god, he is given authority to rule during this time to the point that he is called “the god of this age.”

The great Christian author and thinker C. S. Lewis said in his book Mere Christianity, “Enemy-occupied territory—that is what this world is.” The world in which we live is occupied by our enemy Satan and his demons. 

This reminds me of a scene from the great movie, The Lion King, where Simba and Nala, two lion cubs, venture into hyena-occupied territory. This place is called the elephant graveyard. Even though Simba’s dad, Mufassa, is the king of all the pride land, the elephant graveyard is controlled by the hyenas.

Indeed, God is in control of all things, but the world is not our permanent home, and while on the earth we face the reality of evil spiritual forces. We are in enemy-occupied territory.  

Yet, as followers of Jesus, we are not to live in fear.

God is sovereign and Jesus has ultimately conquered the devil. This is a truth that we will discuss more in a moment.

Still, we are to prepare for and engage in spiritual battle while here.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4,“3 For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, 4 since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful throu

“Spiritual Things: Part 4 – Demons” 

Series: Spiritual Things [on screen] 

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD 

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida 

May 31, 2020 

Introductory Comments: 

What a joy to be led in worship through music. I joked with Dirck this week about trying to pick out some songs that had to do with demons. 

Well, there’s not a lot of worship songs out there about demons, but we are going to learn about them nonetheless. Before we do, let’s go to God in prayer and ask Him to teach us.

(prayer) 

Think about what comes to mind when you think about demons. For many of us, our ideas of demons have been shaped by movies, literature, Halloween costumes, nightmares, and even team mascots.

If I were to ask you to describe how a demon looks, many of you would probably describe something slender with grayish or red skin, sharp teeth and claws, pointy ears, perhaps with a set of horns, and a pointed tail.  However, those descriptions don’t come from the Bible.

The Bible has quite a bit to say about demons so let’s get into our study.

We are continuing our series called “Spiritual Things.” [on screen] Thus far we have discussed Heaven, Hell, and angels. Today, we will discuss demons. [on screen]

Most of you, if you’ve been worshiping along with us each week, have picked up on the fact that I try to answer a few basic questions each week about the topic we’re studying. So, here we go!

First, let’s answer the question . . .

I. What are demons? [on screen]

Theologian Wayne Grudem offers a good definition for demons, so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Grudem defines demons as, “Evil angels who sinned against God and who now continually work evil in the world.”

That’s a pretty simple and pretty biblical explanation of what demons are.

So, demons are actually spirits or angels. How do we know this? Well, the Bible says as much. Second Peter 2:4 says, “For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but cast them into hell and delivered them in chains of utter darkness to be kept for judgment” [on screen]

Remember, also, that God created everything and it was good. So, demons were once good angels, but something happened. As we learned last week, angels have moral choices. Well, a certain group of angels decided to make the moral choice to reject God and His ways, they were cast out of Heaven into Hell, and these evil angels, or evil spirits, are what we know as demons.

We don’t know all the details about how they fell into sin and fell from God’s grace, but by the time we get to Genesis 3 we see a demon tempting Adam and Eve to sin. So, sometime between Creation in Genesis 1, and the entrance of sin into the world in Genesis 3, these evil angels rebelled against God and His ways.

These evil angels also share some characteristics with good angels. 

They are generally spirit form, so they are invisible. Just as there may be good angels around us at any time, there may also be demons around us at any time.

They can at times take on physical form. We see this demonstrated most clearly in the story of the chief demon, Satan, taking on a physical form of a serpent. Further, we see in Scripture that demons may inhabit physical beings as, and we’ll look at a little more later.

They are intelligent, moral, and personal creatures. Although they do make wrong choices, primarily in rejecting God’s ways, they are able to make choices and communicate as intelligent personal beings. 

They can have great power and abilities beyond human abilities. Demons can do things that human beings can’t do. They are supernatural beings.

There are also some who are personal in nature. We hear about the name of a group of demons named Legion in Mark 5. We’ll learn more about Legion later. We also learn about Apollyon in Revelation 9. Obviously, the chief demon is a personal creature, and we’ll hear more about him in a moment. 

Also, demons are large in number, beyond what we ca

“Spiritual Things: Part 3 – Angels” 

Series: Spiritual Things [on screen] 

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD 

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida 

May 24, 2020 

Introductory Comments: 

I hope you were blessed by worshiping through music. Now, let’s transition to our time of studying God’s Word together. 

When I was growing up, one of my favorite shows to watch was Highway to Heaven. One of the reasons I enjoyed that show is because Michael Landon’s character was an angel. I was intrigued by angels. 

The fact of the matter is, many people are intrigued by angels. There are movies about angels, TV shows about angels, books about angels, people named after angels, and much more. People are fascinated with angels.

Well, today, we’re going to discover what the Bible says about angels. 

Before we do, let’s pray and ask God to teach us as we look into His Word. 

(prayer) 

We are continuing our series called “Spiritual Things.” [on screen] Thus far we have discussed Heaven and Hell. Today, we will discuss angels. [on screen]

As we do, let us start by answering this question . . . 

I. What are angels? [on screen]

Well, angels are created beings, generally in spirit form, who serve God and His 

purposes.

(pause)

First of all, they are created. 

Nehemiah 9:6 says, “You, Lord, are the only God. You created the heavens, the highest heavens with all their stars . . .”[on screen]

Revelation 4:11 says, “Our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because you have created all things, and by your will they exist and were created.” [on screen]

Second, angels generally take on a spirit form. 

Angels are present, in spirit form, all around this world and in Heaven.

They are not generally even visible to the human eye. For example, Balaam did not see the angel standing before him when he was riding his donkey. 

Numbers 22:31 says, “Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the path with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam knelt low and bowed in worship on hisface.” [on screen]

In order for us to see these spiritual beings, the Lord must supernaturally open our eyes. 

To be sure, sometimes angels may take on a form that is physical or at least appears physical to us. 

For instance, Matthew 28:5 describes when the women were at the tomb of Jesus and they saw an angel. We read, “The angel told the women, ‘Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.’”[on screen] So, we may see them at times.

Angels also possess characteristics that are similar to humans in some ways. 

For instance, angels seem to possess the ability to make moral choices. In 2 Peter 2:4, we learn that a certain group of angels rejected God’s ways and sinned against Him. It says, “For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but cast them into hell . . . ”[on screen]

Angels also seem to express a certain level of intelligence as they are able to have conversations with people. In other words, they’re not like animals. Think again, of the angel speaking to Balaam or the women at the tomb of Jesus. We’ll hear more examples of this later. 

Angels are personal in that at least some of them have names like humans. We’ll learn about a couple of famous angels in a moment. 

Angels have emotions. For instance, we see joy expressed in Luke 15:10. It reads, “I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.” [on screen]

We also see some characteristics that angels have that are unlike humans. 

One that we’ve mentioned already is that angels are generally invisible. None of us are invisible. I can’t see most of you now, which is good because some of you are still in your pajamas. However, you’re not invisible because you are a physical being. 

We see that angels have great power. Psalm 103:20 says, “Bless the Lord, all his angels of great strength, wh

“Spiritual Things: Hell”

Series: Spiritual Things [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

May 17, 2020

Introductory Comments:

What a joy to worship the Lord through music. Now, we will worship Him through studying the truth of His Word. 

We are continuing our series called “Spiritual Things.” We are learning about Heaven, Hell, angels, demons, and spiritual warfare. Thus far, we have learned about Heaven. Today, we will shift our attention to Hell. 

I have to warn you, we have a lot of Scripture passages today and I’m moving pretty quickly. You may want to grab a pen and paper so you can jot down some verses to study on your own later. 

Before we do, let’s go to God in prayer and ask Him to speak to us. 

(prayer)

Hell is not something that is fun to talk about, or at least it shouldn’t be. At the same time, Hell is not a topic that we can neglect.The truth is that the Bible does not ignore the topic of Hell and neither should we. 

You may be surprised to know that Jesus spoke more about Hell and judgment than any other topic. If it was important to Jesus, it should be important to followers of Jesus. 

As we learn about Hell we will follow a very similar format to last week when we learned about Heaven. 

So, first, let’s answer the question . . .

I. What is Hell? [on screen]

Simply put, Hell is the place reserved for the judgment of God towards unrepentant sinners. 

We know that through trusting in Jesus we can experience the forgiveness of our sins. Well, what about those who do not trust in Jesus? 

John 3:36 answers this for us. It says, “The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.” [on screen]

Well, what happens to those who have the wrath of God remaining on them? They go to experience the judgment of God in Hell. This truth is overwhelmingly evident in the Bible. 

For instance, Jesus says in Matthew 25:41, “Then he will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!’” [on screen]

The apostle Paul adds in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, “They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from his glorious strength.” [on screen]

Whereas Heaven is the place of reward for those who trust in Christ, Hell is the place of judgment for those who do not trust in Christ. 

Further, whereas Heaven is the place of life, Hell is the place of death. 

Revelation 20:14 says, “Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.” [on screen]

Often, in the Bible, Jesus referred to Hell as “Gehenna.” This was a Greek term that was a derivative of the Hebrew word that means “Valley of Hinnom.” Well, why do I share that? 

You see, Gehenna was a valley near Jerusalem that was used for evil atrocities. Some of these acts are difficult for me to mention in this setting. It’s enough to say that this place was terribly evil and despised. 

Jesus uses this place to describe Hell. He didn’t mean that Hell was literally in that place, outside of Jerusalem, but He used that word to describe how awful Hell is. Listen, church: Hell is a terrible place reserved for God’s judgment. 

We don’t know exactly where Hell is, but it is often described as being below us. Heaven is described as above us and Hell below us. Now, we don’t understand these places in the context of our physical earth. These places are beyond our physical realm. They are real and they are physical, but they are in a different realm so to speak. 

So, Heaven is above and glorious, Hell is below and terrible. It is a real place where God’s judgment is poured out on sinners. 

That’s what Hell is, but let’s learn what Hell is like:

II. What is Hell like? [on screen]

First of all, when it came to Heaven we spoke of the present He

“Spiritual Things: Heaven”

Series: Spiritual Things[on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

May 10, 2020

Introductory Comments:

There’s a show that came out on Netflix a few years ago called “Stranger Things.” The show captured a lot of the American population for several reasons, one of which was that the show dug into the paranormal, and people seem to be really interested in that. 

Similarly, when people suggest sermon ideas for pastors there are usually multiple people who suggest that the pastor teach a series on Heaven and Hell, angels and demons, spiritual warfare, and the like. People are interested in the supernatural. They are interested in spiritual things.Well, the people have spoken. People have asked me to do a series on spiritual things. Since I am a man of the people (most of the time), I’ve decided to do a series on spiritual things. I’ve dug deep into my creative capabilities and have come up with the title, “Spiritual Things.” [show slide for Spiritual Things] Over the next several weeks we will learn about Heaven, Hell, angels, demons, and spiritual warfare. 

Today, on Mother’s Day I wanted to talk about something very positive. Let’s talk about heaven today!

Before we do, let’s pray together.

(prayer)

As we get into today’s lesson we will seek to answer several questions regarding Heaven.It’s important to stop and recognize how popular a topic Heaven is. There has been so much said and so much written about Heaven that there’s no way we can address all the information about Heaven. 

Similarly, there is a lot of confusion about Heaven in our culture. Rather than address every question about Heaven, this morning we will seek to hit the main points from the Bible regarding Heaven.

So, let’s dive in. First, . . .

I. What is Heaven? [on screen]

Immediately, as we seek to answer this first question we must acknowledge that there are two answers, from the Bible, to this question. 

The Bible speaks of Heaven in two ways. At least, in the sense that we understand Heaven. We’re going to learn about what we call present Heaven and future Heaven. 

A. Present Heaven [on screen]

Present Heaven is just what it sounds like. Present Heaven refers to Heaven now. 

You might wonder, “Pastor Matt, are you saying that Heaven will be different later than it is now?” The answer to that is an emphatic yes. I’ll show you from the Bible how that is the case. 

We know that God dwells in Heaven now. This present Heaven is the place where God dwells in His glory, accompanied by His angels, the spirits of His children who have already left this earth, and with Jesus seated at His right hand. We’re going to get into these specifics in just a minute. 

You see, the truth is, for followers of Jesus, to be away from our bodies now is to be in Heaven with God now. The apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:6-8, “6 So we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” [on screen]

Similarly, Jesus spoke to the criminal on the cross who was crucified next to Him. Listen to their exchange in Luke 23:42-43, “Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ 43 And he said to him, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.’” [on screen] So, there’s not an intermediate state before Heaven. There’s no purgatory. Jesus said that this man would be with Him in Heaven today. His spirit is with Jesus in Heaven. Obviously, the man’s original body is not in Heaven because his body was buried. But the man’s spirit was in paradise with Jesus and is with Jesus today. 

So, then, what happens to our bodies?Well, that takes us to our second understanding of Heaven . . .

B. Future Heaven [on screen]

The Bible clearly teaches that there will

“Have Mercy!”

(Matthew 20:29-34)

Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

May 3, 2020

The Passage

Matthew 20:29-34

29 As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 There were two blind men sitting by the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd demanded that they keep quiet, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”

32 Jesus stopped, called them, and said, “What do you want me to do for you?”

33 “Lord,” they said to him, “open our eyes.” 34 Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they could see, and they followed him.

Introductory Comments:

Thank you, Dirck, for leading us in worship. By the way, today is Dirck’s birthday, so be sure and send him a message to let him know how much you appreciate him.

It’s a joy to worship through music. Now, let’s worship through the Word of God. 

Before we do, let’s pray together and ask God to bless us. 

(prayer)

There are two types of people in this world: those who don’t mind asking for help and those who refuse to ask for help. Some of you know what I’m talking about. There are some people who refuse to ask for help under any circumstances. They could have one leg on fire, be surrounded by rattlesnakes, while up to their chin in rising quicksand and still refuse to ask for help. Raise your hand if someone in the room with you is like that. I see a lot of hands out there (just kidding). 

Well, there are other types of people who don’t mind asking for help. In today’s passage we’re going to hear from two men who knew that they needed help and they knew that Jesus could help them. 

We’re going to see how Jesus responded to these men and how that applies to us. We’re going to discover three gifts that Jesus had for these two men and that He has for us as well. 

First, . . .

I. Jesus has mercy for you (vv. 29-31) [on screen]

Jesus and His apostles are on their way to Jerusalem, and they’ve left Jericho. As we know from our study of Matthew, where Jesus went, people gathered and followed Him. Here, there is a large crowd following Him. So, these men, although they were blind, were aware that something was going on and they were aware that Jesus was there. 

It’s important to realize that life for blind people is much different today. There are resources, organizations, and advances in today’s culture that are able to assist visually impaired people in a lot of ways. However, blind people in Jesus’ day were often unable to receive any kind of genuine help and as a result, it left them in desperate situations. 

These two men needed help and they knew that they needed help. They needed mercy from Jesus and they knew that Jesus had mercy for them. 

Let’s check out the passage. Look at verses 29-31:

29 As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 There were two blind men sitting by the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd demanded that they keep quiet, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”

These two blind men knew that Jesus was there. They couldn’t see Him, but they knew He was there from the crowds, and probably the commotion, that surrounded Him. 

In order to capture Jesus’ attention, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”

They couldn’t see Jesus, but they knew that Jesus would see them if they could capture His attention so they yelled out for Him. 

As they are yelling Him, they are declaring Him “Son of David.” This title, Son of David, is used to indicate that they know that Jesus is the Messiah. The Messiah would be the Son of David. They knew that the Messiah would be able to help people, so they cried out to Him. They were saying, “We know you are the