Freely Pt 3 Matthew 10:16-23

Matthew 10:16-23 Hated by All

For those of you who began with us in Matthew, we’ve been examining this Gospel for a year now. And what a blessed ride its been. Jesus is preparing to send the disciples to do what he does and spread the message of repentance & the kingdom, because the King is going to announce Himself sooner than they think. But not nearly in the way they thought.

Matthew 10:16–23 “ “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. 17 But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. 18 You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. 21 “Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 22 And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”

16 Behold 17-20 Hour to Speak, 21-23 Hated by All

Behold

Matthew 10:16 “ “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

Behold: idou: behold; look; see, pay attention. See what i am saying to you and don't misapply this, when he says they are sheep in the midst of wolves, its in terms of how much real danger there is, but at the same time, how God will be with them.

Just a note: The verbiage used in this section really seems prophetic like, this is what will happen and continue to happen.

Wise as Serpents and harmless as doves is defined in the verses following contextually.

This isn't saying they need to use snake style bible-fu, but look like cute fluffy, adorbs sheep. they/We come, sheep to sheep (Israel His flock) with a message from the shepherd. And like david spoke of in 1Samuel, predators come after sheep. And they are not kind about it. And like David, we look to the shepherd for deliverance.

All of us are sheep - but we lived following the evil shepherd, a wolf. Pray that they hear the word.

Serpent? Jesus using the metaphor is plain, snakes blend, hide and are very good at it. Walking in the woods as a kid I literally was following a friend who stepped on a copperhead and it poised to strike which is why i didn't step on it. While walking in the creek, a water moccasin followed me trying to bite (i thought it was a stick floating behind me).

Harmless: akeraioi: pure; innocent - we sit in flocks of doves, throwing the them bread. Unless you watch the Birds, we really don’t tend to run in panic from them.

We take a message, to the sheep, the birds, the wolves and all. We want to see them all healed but we need to remember, they are still in love with sin. John 3:19 “ And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” How this looks:

Hour to Speak

Matthew 10:17–18 “ But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. (all will hate you 22) 18 You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.”

Men = wolves, the synagogues. Throughout Acts (Acts 16:20–24) and even into revelation we see synagogues (council/leaders) violently going after the church/preachers (Revelation 2:9).

This wasn't just the Jews but also the state (Rome) going after them. its the system of the God of this world. Eventually as more and more gentiles joined christians became more and more persecuted, because the power structure began to lose money even because so many turned to Christ.

Paul was brought before Kings and even Caesar.

Not because they pandered to the sinful lives of men and encouraged cultural pluralism. They were brought with beatings, scourgings, chains and bars. This is the cause of Christ.

But even if the disciples were only going to the Jews, it was all a testimony to those who witnessed the incredible things that Christs disciples performed.

What’s even more incredible that God would do this through them or us.

Matthew 10:19–20 “ But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”

Deliver you up: Much of what he describes happened after the resurrection. These wolves will seek to destroy you. The essence of NT prophecy no matter what, is fulfilling what Christ has commanded us to do. You see what they said in the gospels, Acts and the letters from Paul and others. Its not a wonder what God wants me to say thing. How you say it might be different but gotta say it.

Believe, repent, receive. All the sharing come down to the essentials that Paul shared with the Elite scholars & leaders of Athens regarding their paganism and philosophies, Acts 17:30–31 “ Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”” The death and resurrection of Christ is the matter for Jew or Gentile.

Spirit of your father. This isn't a different HS, its just another of His titles. Like Spirit of Abe, Issac, Jacob. This can also be referring to the fact that Jesus teaches them to see God as their father.

So many people say, God told me or the Spirit says, then proceeds to share blasphemy.

Rather, we could say the same thing (God said) and just read/preach the scriptures! We would also always be 100% accurate. And be (f)actual prophets! Think about how everything Jesus taught, could be found in the OT? Amazing.

John 14:26 “ 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 things that I said to you.” Jesus said this to the Apostles to us. So now we benefit from this because we have this completed Word that gives us required knowledge.

Then, Jesus, continues His prophetic word;

Hated by All

Matthew 10:21–23 “ “Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 22 And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”

Many families (even today amongst many communities) turn in those that gives their lives to Christ, at times even killing those family members themselves. It happens but for the jewish community, becoming a christian isn’t leaving judaism, its completing it/them. But they regard it as other than Law, which is beloved and rightly so, but it all points to Christ.

however, there is no report in the gospels of this happening to the disciples. So the sense of now and future is definitely present in Christs instruction here.

For the disciples they could lose business, trade, family, even access to synagogues. in John 9 (turn), jesus healed a man born blind, considered impossible, but thats what He did. When questioned by the pharisees the family of the man were scared of being ousted. John 9:20–23 “ His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”” as an aside, we can not see the pharisees trying to undermine jesus. John 9:24–25 “ So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.” 25 He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.””

Being hated by all is a reality that we can’t deny.

It in the present tense, and plural. In Texas we would say, “Y’all will never stop being hated by everybody.” We reveal to the world that its in sin. We don’t convict but man, mr Holy Spirit don’t hold back! When we share the gospel with people, its violent. When folks are giving their lives to christ, they are being crucified, they are dying to themselves, coming to new life in Christ. Born again.

v23b, Matthew 10:23b “ For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” 1. If persecuted, they can leave. You don’t have to remain in a place that persecution is happening. 2. I think this is a now and future because Jesus would bring them all back to go to the cross.

The thing for me, is that the Son of Man coming is definitely referring to Daniel’s prophecy of Messiah and the millenium (thousand year reign of Christ that comes after the great Tribulation).

But its also the revelation of the Messiah to Israel, and the savior to the world. This section definitely sounds like a prelude to Matthew 24:14 “ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

Application: Facing all these things, the disciples still go. They are realizing that they are going to the cross. He is teaching them what He would say in Matthew 10:37–39 “ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Do you see the cross yet? Have you found life yet? Do you want it, because you can have it. Jesus said in John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” come to Him now. Through Him now, in Him is all of our salvation. Come to life. Come to Jesus. Repent, the King is before you. If you know Him, Repent. If you don’t know Him, repent. If you believe you are ok, repent. If you can’t do it, repent. If you think you can do it, repent. Come to the cross.