Matthew 25:40 Ministries

10/15/2026

Morning Devotional at the Shelter with Pastor Matthew

October 15, 2026
Matthew 12:22–37 —

Jesus and Beelzebub

Today, Pastor Matthew led us through Matthew 12:22–37 and shared it with the kind of compassion that reminds us why Jesus came: to bring freedom, healing, and hope to people who could not help themselves.

In this passage, Jesus heals a demon-possessed man who was blind and unable to speak. He was trapped in a condition he could not escape on his own. He could not ask for help or find his way to Jesus. But Jesus saw him, went to him, and set him free.

After the healing, the people began asking whether Jesus could be the Son of David, the King they had been waiting for. But the Pharisees, the religious leaders, had a different explanation. They accused Jesus of driving out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons.

Pastor Matthew helped us see that this was not just an argument about a miracle. It was a battle over who Jesus really is and whether people would recognize the work of God when they saw it.

The Son of David and the Kingdom of God

The man Jesus healed had three serious problems: He was demon-possessed, blind, and unable to speak. He could not cry out for help, see where to go, or explain what he was suffering through.

But Jesus knew exactly where he was. The man was not only set free; he was given his life back.

Jesus went to him, and when Jesus touched his life, everything changed. The man could see. He could speak. He was no longer held captive. The people saw the miracle, and it could not be denied.

That is why they began asking, “Could this be the Son of David?”

Why did they call Him that? Because the Messiah was expected to come from David’s family line and reign as King. David had been a great warrior who fought Israel’s enemies, and the people were looking for the promised King who would come from his line.

When they saw what Jesus had done, they began to wonder whether He was that King.

They were not just amazed by the miracle. They were beginning to recognize that God’s promised King might be standing right in front of them.

But the Pharisees would not accept that possibility. Instead, they claimed Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Satan.

Pastor Matthew pointed out several reasons they might have resisted Jesus. His authority threatened their positions. They were afraid of what Rome might do if the people began proclaiming another king. Beneath all of that was a heart that did not want to surrender to what God was doing.

Sometimes people can see the truth and still refuse to accept it because it threatens what they want to hold on to.

That is a sobering thought for all of us. We should never assume that seeing a work of God automatically means we will accept it. We must also be willing to humble ourselves and receive what God is showing us.

A Kingdom Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand

Jesus knew their thoughts and answered them:

“Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.”

Jesus explained that if Satan were driving out Satan, then Satan’s kingdom would be fighting against itself. That made no sense.

Pastor Matthew emphasized how plainly Jesus answered them. Their accusation did not hold together. If Jesus were working for Satan, then Satan’s own kingdom would be destroying itself.

Jesus also asked them, in essence, by whose authority their own people drove out demons. It was a question that exposed the weakness of their argument. The Pharisees were willing to recognize spiritual authority when it seemed to support them, but they refused to recognize Jesus’ authority.

They had witnessed a man who was demon-possessed, blind, and unable to speak, and now that man could see and speak.

The miracle was right in front of them.

Even the Pharisees did not deny that something had happened. They simply refused to acknowledge the true source of Jesus’ authority.

Jesus then said:

“But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” — Matthew 12:28

This brings us back to something Pastor Matthew has been teaching us throughout the book of Matthew: the whole book is about the Kingdom of God and the King who has come to establish it.

Jesus was showing them that God’s Kingdom was breaking into their world. The Kingdom was not just an idea or something far away in the future. It was being revealed through Jesus’ compassion, authority, healing, and delivering power.

The people were seeing the authority of the promised King, but the Pharisees were looking for another explanation.

Who Is the Strong Man?

Jesus continued with the example of a strong man guarding his house. Before someone can enter his house and carry away his possessions, the strong man must first be tied up.

The discussion turned to what this means in spiritual warfare. Some deliverance ministries teach that believers bind the strong man through the authority Jesus has given them. Pastor Matthew raised the question of how we should understand that authority and whether this passage points to Jesus Himself binding Satan through His finished work on the cross.

The important point in Jesus’ illustration is that someone cannot plunder the strong man’s house without first dealing with the one who holds it.

Jesus was showing that He was not working for Satan. He was demonstrating authority over the powers of darkness. The coming King had entered the strong man’s territory and was showing that Satan would not have the final word.

This is good news for people who feel trapped, oppressed, or forgotten. The enemy may be strong, but he is not stronger than Jesus. The darkness may be real, but it does not have the final authority.

Jesus then gave a serious warning:

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” — Matthew 12:30

There is no neutral position when it comes to Jesus and His Kingdom. We must decide whether we will follow Him and take part in His work or stand against Him.

Jesus is not asking us to admire Him from a distance. He is calling us to belong to Him, trust Him, and join Him in gathering people into the hope and freedom of His Kingdom.

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

Jesus next warned that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would not be forgiven.

This led to an important discussion about what blasphemy means. It involves speaking evil against God, dishonoring Him, or falsely speaking about what is holy.

The Pharisees had witnessed Jesus’ work, yet they attributed it to Satan. They were calling the work of God’s Spirit the work of the devil.

Pastor Matthew explained the importance of the Holy Spirit’s work in bringing people to repentance and forgiveness. The Holy Spirit convicts us and leads us toward the truth. He does not condemn us in a way that leaves us without hope. He draws us back to God.

That is why this warning is so serious. If a person continually rejects the truth and calls the work of God evil, they are rejecting the very work through which they are being brought to repentance.

At the same time, Pastor Matthew spoke with care about this passage. It should not be treated as though every wrong word spoken about God or every past rejection of Him means a person can never be forgiven.

A person may have rejected God for years and still turn to Him in repentance. Someone may have lived far from the Lord and still come home. The door of mercy is not closed to the person who humbly turns back to God.

The warning is serious because we must not knowingly reject the truth of God’s work and call what He is doing evil. But the passage should also remind us that God is patient and compassionate, continually drawing people toward the truth.

A Tree Is Known by Its Fruit

Jesus then said:

“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.” — Matthew 12:33

This was one of the central points of today’s devotion.

The argument was over whether Jesus was doing the work of God or the work of Satan. Jesus pointed them toward the fruit.

Pastor Matthew used the example of someone being accused of stealing or lying. If someone makes accusations against another person, we should not automatically believe everything we hear. Over time, we can look at the lives of the people involved and see what their actions produce.

What kind of fruit is coming from their lives? Are they helping people, serving others, and doing good? Are they showing compassion to those who are hurting? Or are their lives marked by dishonesty, chaos, and constant accusations against others?

The same principle applies to the Pharisees. They were accusing Jesus of doing evil, yet the people could see the good He was doing. A man who had been blind, unable to speak, and demon-possessed had been healed.

Jesus’ work was bringing freedom to someone who had been suffering.

A person’s life and the fruit it produces over time can tell us a great deal more than accusations alone.

This does not mean we should ignore wrongdoing or assume that every accusation is false. It means we should look carefully at the truth and the fruit a person’s life is producing instead of accepting words without examining the evidence.

Pastor Matthew reminded us that fruit takes time to grow, but it eventually becomes visible. A person may say all the right things, but their life will eventually reveal what is truly in their heart.

This is not only a lesson for judging others. It is also a lesson for examining ourselves.

What is growing in my life? What do people experience when they are around me? Do they experience patience, kindness, truth, and mercy? Or do they experience anger, suspicion, and condemnation?

Out of the Heart, the Mouth Speaks

Jesus did not hold back when He addressed the Pharisees. He called them a brood of vipers and said:

“For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” — Matthew 12:34

A good person brings good things out of the good stored up in the heart, while an evil person brings evil things out of the evil stored up within.

Our words reveal what is going on inside us.

If our hearts are full of bitterness, anger, jealousy, or resentment, those things will eventually come out in the way we speak and treat people.

Pastor Matthew explained that we should pay attention not only to what someone says about another person, but also to the fruit of the speaker’s own life.

Sometimes people are quick to accuse others of being liars, thieves, or troublemakers while doing the very things they condemn in someone else.

Eventually, their own actions may expose the truth.

The Pharisees were accusing Jesus of doing the devil’s work while resisting the work of God themselves. Their accusations revealed the condition of their own hearts.

But this passage also invites us to look inward with humility. Before we focus on the words of others, we should ask God to search our own hearts.

Are we speaking from love or anger? Are we trying to help or simply trying to hurt? Are we telling the truth, or are we using words to punish someone because we are wounded?

Pastor Matthew spoke with compassion because all of us have said things we regret. All of us have allowed anger to get ahead of wisdom. The answer is not to pretend we have never failed. The answer is to bring our hearts before God and allow Him to change what comes out of us.

Every Careless Word Matters

Jesus continued:

“But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.” — Matthew 12:36

And then:

“For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” — Matthew 12:37

Pastor Matthew explained that empty words are not simply words spoken while joking around or having a good time. The concern is words that are false, worthless, or spoken without regard for the truth.

Think about how easy it is to get angry and start saying things about someone that we know are not true. We may say things simply because we are upset, even though we do not really believe what we are saying.

Those words matter.

They matter because words can wound people deeply. A careless accusation can damage someone’s reputation. A cruel statement can stay in a person’s heart for years. Sometimes people forget what they said, but the person who heard it may never forget.

Jesus was warning the Pharisees that they would answer to God for the false things they were saying about Him.

The same warning applies to us. We should be careful about what comes out of our mouths, especially when we are angry or talking about someone we dislike.

Before we accuse somebody, we ought to stop and ask ourselves whether what we are saying is actually true.

We should also ask whether our words are necessary, loving, and reflective of Jesus’ heart.

This does not mean we can never speak hard truth. Jesus spoke hard truth. But He spoke it to bring people into the light, not to destroy them.

When People Oppose You for Doing God’s Work

This lesson brought us back to the last of the Beatitudes:

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” — Matthew 5:10

Jesus also said that people would speak falsely against His followers because of Him.

Pastor Matthew pointed out something important: Throughout much of Jesus’ ministry, His strongest opposition came from religious leaders, not from people who were openly struggling with sin and brokenness.

The demon-possessed man was not fighting Jesus. The people who witnessed the healing were asking whether Jesus was the promised King. It was the Pharisees who tried to discredit Him.

Why? Because Jesus was challenging their authority, their way of doing things, and their understanding of what God was doing.

When we begin doing the work of God’s Kingdom, we should not be surprised when people push back. Sometimes the strongest opposition can come from people who know religious language but resist what God is actually doing.

That does not mean every person who disagrees with us is against God. We must examine ourselves, remain humble, and make sure we are following Jesus rather than simply defending our own opinions.

But when we are doing what is right and people falsely accuse us, we do not have to spend our lives arguing with everyone.

Jesus answered the Pharisees’ accusation by showing them that their argument made no sense. He pointed to what had actually happened and exposed the truth in their reasoning.

Then He continued doing what He came to do.

That is an important lesson for us. We cannot always control what people say about us, but we can control whether we continue walking faithfully. We can keep serving. We can keep loving people. We can keep doing what God has placed in front of us.

Over time, the truth often becomes clearer. A person who continually lies, steals, and creates trouble will eventually show that pattern in other places, too. And a person who consistently serves, helps others, and does good will also produce fruit that people can see.

We cannot control what everyone says about us, but we can control how we live and how we respond.

What Can We Take Away From Today’s Devotion?

Today’s passage reminds us that doing the work of God does not mean everyone will agree with us or speak well of us.

Jesus was healing people, setting them free, and showing them the Kingdom of God, yet the religious leaders accused Him of serving Satan.

He did not pretend their accusations were true, and He did not simply ignore the falsehood. He answered them with the truth. But He also showed that their own words and the fruit of their lives exposed the problem.

Pastor Matthew reminded us that Jesus saw the suffering man before anyone else seemed to care. Jesus did not turn away from him because his condition was difficult. He did not ask whether the man deserved help. He simply brought healing and freedom.

That is the heart of Jesus.

So we need to ask ourselves some honest questions:

* What kind of fruit is my life producing?
* Do my words line up with the truth?
* Am I quick to accuse others while overlooking my own faults?
* When somebody speaks against me, can I answer honestly and then keep doing what God has called me to do?
* Am I more concerned with defending my position or serving the Lord?
* Do I have compassion for people who are hurting, trapped, or unable to help themselves?
* Am I willing to let Jesus change what is inside me so that good fruit can come out of my life?

We all need to take these questions seriously.

But we should not leave this passage feeling only condemned. We should also leave with hope. The same Jesus who delivered that man is still able to bring freedom today. The same Jesus who saw someone others may have overlooked still sees people who are hurting. He still meets people in their darkness and brings them into the light.

The main lesson is this: Don’t let false accusations pull you away from the work God has called you to do. Speak the truth when you need to, watch your own words, examine the fruit of your life, and keep following Jesus.

Our words matter. Our hearts matter. The fruit of our lives matters.

And the people who are hurting matter to God.

One day, we will all give an account to God. Until then, let us walk humbly, speak truthfully, show compassion, and keep serving the King who came to bring freedom to the captives.

Let us make sure that the life we live and the words we speak point people toward Jesus and His Kingdom.

10/12/2026

AM I MY BROTHER’S KEEPER? I SURE OUGHT TO BE!

I’ve been thinking about what it means to love people the way Jesus loves us. He went to those others avoided, saw the broken and hurting, and made people feel that they mattered.

When Jesus healed the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years, He called her “Daughter” (Matthew 9:22, NIV). She wasn’t just another face in the crowd. He stopped for her, saw her, and cared about her. That’s the kind of love we’re called to show: personal, compassionate, and willing to remind people that they matter to us and to God.

But we also need to remember this:

Jesus didn’t come merely to make our lives better. He came to save us from our sins!

Matthew 1:21 tells us that Jesus would save His people from their sins, and John 3:17 says God sent His Son to save the world through Him. Jesus came to forgive us, set us free, and restore our relationship with God—not to enable us to remain trapped in the very things He came to rescue us from.

When Jesus spoke to the woman caught in adultery, He said, “Then neither do I condemn you,” and then, “Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:11, NIV). He offered grace, but He also called her to change.

That’s where we sometimes miss it. We may say we love someone, but if we watch them destroy their lives and remain silent because we’re afraid of hurting their feelings, what kind of love is that? At some point, silence can look like approval.

Loving people doesn’t mean judging them or acting superior. I have plenty of shortcomings of my own. But love does mean caring enough to tell the truth, have difficult conversations, set healthy boundaries, and lovingly correct someone when necessary.

Galatians 6:1 tells us to restore those who fall gently. The goal isn’t to tear people down; it’s to help them get back up and point them toward Jesus.

That brings us to God’s question to Cain in Genesis 4:9:

“Am I my brother’s keeper?”

I can’t speak for everyone else, but I sure ought to be!

If God has placed people in my life to lead, help, or walk beside, then I should care about what happens to them. I shouldn’t be more concerned with keeping everyone comfortable than with helping them move toward what is right.

Sometimes we Christians get comfortable sitting on the bench. It’s safer there—we avoid mistakes, conflict, and discomfort. But we can’t help anyone if we’re never willing to get in the game.

This is especially important for pastors, ministry leaders, shelter leaders, and anyone God has given influence over others. Leadership isn’t just having a title or telling people what to do; it’s accepting responsibility for our influence.

Are the people we lead growing? Are they becoming stronger, making better choices, and moving forward in their walk with God? We can’t make anyone change, and each person is responsible for their own choices. But we can love, teach, encourage, correct when necessary, and point people toward the One who changes hearts.

We must do this with humility. I’m not talking about throwing the Bible at people. I’m talking about building relationships, walking beside them, and caring enough to speak the truth in love.

Jesus didn’t give up on people because they were a mess. He reached out, showed grace, and called them to something better. Shouldn’t we do the same?

Love isn’t always telling people what they want to hear. Sometimes love is caring enough to tell them what they need to hear.

I’m not pointing fingers. I’m looking at myself, too. I don’t want to be so afraid of making someone uncomfortable that I fail to help when God has given me the opportunity. I want people to know they are loved and that they matter, but I also want them to know there is freedom in Jesus. Their past doesn’t have to define their future, and they don’t have to remain trapped in what is destroying them.

Jesus came to save us from our sins, not to enable us to keep living in them. His grace meets us where we are and leads us toward the freedom and new life He offers.

So yes, I am my brother’s keeper. I ought to be. Let’s love people where they are, while loving them enough to point them toward Jesus and the life He has for them. Let that love show up in how we live, lead, and care for those God places in front of us.

🙏 Lord, help us love people with Your heart. Give us compassion for the broken, courage to speak the truth, and humility to remember that we need Your grace, too. Help us get off the bench and get in the game. Keep us from being so afraid of offending someone that we forget to care about what happens to them. Amen.

Note: This devotional was inspired by a Facebook post I came across. I’ve added my own thoughts and Scripture to the message.

10/09/2026

10/06/2026

Morning Devotional at Matthew 25:40 shelter with Pastor Matthew

Matthew 9:18–38

Today we continued in Matthew 9, and one thing keeps standing out: Jesus is King over it all.

He has power over sin. He has power over sickness. He has power over demons. He even has power over death.

But there is something else we see in these stories. Every one of these people had to come to a place where they knew they had a problem they could not fix themselves.

That is where it starts.

We have to recognize that something is wrong. Then we have to mourn over it. We have to actually hurt over the fact that this thing is in our life and we don’t want it there anymore. Then we humble ourselves and come to Jesus and say, “Lord, I can’t fix this. I need You.”

Jesus didn’t come just to make our old life a little better. He came to save us from our sins.

Our sin doesn’t just hurt us. It hurts our families. It hurts our children. It hurts our relationships, our finances, our health, our minds, and the people around us who depend on us.

That’s why Jesus came. Not just to help us manage our sin, but to deal with it.

The religious people in this chapter were worried about rules. Jesus was talking about transformation. You can’t put a new patch on an old garment and you can’t put new w**e into old w**eskins. Jesus wasn’t coming to patch up the old life. He was bringing a new life.

Then we see the synagogue leader. His daughter had died. All the rules he had followed couldn’t do anything about that. He had finally come up against a problem that he couldn’t fix.

So what did he do?

He humbled himself and went to Jesus.

Then we see the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had tried everything. She had suffered for years and had become an outcast. But she believed Jesus could help her. She reached out and touched His garment, and she was healed.

Then Jesus went into the house where the little girl had died. Everybody was crying because they believed it was over.

But Jesus took her by the hand, and she got up.

Then two blind men came to Him. Jesus asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

They said yes.

And He healed them.

Then a demon-possessed man who couldn’t even speak was brought to Jesus. He couldn’t come on his own, but somebody brought him. Jesus delivered him too.

Do you see the pattern?

Different people. Different problems. Different circumstances.

But they all needed the same thing.

Jesus.

Some could come to Him on their own. Some needed somebody else to bring them. But Jesus was the answer every time.

And that’s still true today.

Maybe you’ve had the same problem for twelve years. Maybe you’ve tried everything you know to try. Maybe you’ve made a mess of your life and don’t know how to fix it. Maybe you’ve gotten so deep into something that you don’t even know how to get yourself out.

Jesus is still bigger than the problem.

One of the men in the shelter shared his testimony, saying that he had spent years trying to fix himself. He went to God over and over again, asking Him to take his addiction away. He tried to do it on his own, but he couldn’t.

Eventually, he came to a point where he knew he was broken and that he wasn’t the answer to his own problem.

So he cried out to Jesus.

He said he didn’t know exactly when everything changed, but he knew where he went when he needed the change.

He went to Jesus.

That’s where it starts.

You can’t get help for a problem you refuse to admit you have. You won’t ask Jesus to heal something you don’t believe needs to be healed.

So the first step is recognizing, “This is a problem. I don’t want this in my life anymore. I can’t fix it myself.”

Then humble yourself and go to Jesus.

Don’t just ask Him to help you manage it. Ask Him to change you.

The Bible doesn’t say that Jesus came to save us from hell. It says that He came to save us from our sins. Hell is a consequence of sin, but Jesus came to save us from the sin itself.

He came to save us from our sins today.

There is no problem too big for Him. No situation too far gone. No addiction too strong. No sickness too long. No darkness too deep.

Jesus is King over it all.

So remember the first.

You have a problem and that you’re broken inside you can’t fix or change it but you know who can.

Jesus.

10/05/2026

Morning Devotional at the Shelter with Pastor Matthew

Matthew 9:14 — Fasting

Jesus went about building the kingdom of God according to His teachings. The first thing we must understand about entering the kingdom of God is poverty of spirit.

Jesus kept going to the people everyone else had pushed aside—the tax collectors, the demon-possessed, the l***rs, Roman soldiers, and people society had already decided weren’t worth much.

These weren’t the people standing at the front of the line. They were the people everyone looked down on—the people others didn’t want to sit beside, touch, or even be associated with.

And that’s who Jesus kept going to.

He didn’t wait for them to clean themselves up before He went to them. He didn’t say, “Get your life straight, learn all the rules, and then come find Me.”

He went to them right where they were.

He went to the people everyone else had written off.

He wasn’t afraid to sit with them, touch the l***r, or go into the tax collector’s house. The people everyone else wanted to avoid were the people Jesus was reaching.

That’s important because this is how Jesus was building the kingdom of God. He wasn’t building it by finding people who already had everything together. He was reaching the people who needed Him.

And that’s still the heart of the kingdom today.

We have to be careful that we don’t become the people standing at the front of the line, looking down on everyone who is still struggling at the back.

Jesus went looking for the lost, the broken, and the people nobody else wanted. That’s exactly where we should be looking too.

Jesus had just shown His power over the demon world, the storm and the sea, and sickness. Then He showed that He had authority to forgive sins. When they questioned Him about that, He gave them physical proof of something they could not see. He told the man to rise, take up his mat, and walk so they would know that the Son of Man had authority to forgive sins.

Then Jesus went to another outcast—Matthew the tax collector. He went into Matthew’s house and sat with sinners. The religious people didn’t like it, but Jesus was calling sinners to repentance.

Then John’s disciples came to Jesus and asked:

“How is it that the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”

They were focused on the rules.

They were asking, “Why aren’t You following the rules?”

This is where we have to understand the difference between rules-based religion and a heart transformed by God.

It is easy for us to do the same thing today. We can become more concerned about what somebody is wearing, whether they have a hat on, whether they came to church late, whether they’re reading their Bible from an app on their phone, or whether they’re doing something else we think they should be doing.

We can become more concerned about what rule somebody is breaking than whether God is transforming their heart.

Jesus answered them:

“How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”

Jesus is the bridegroom. He is the coming King God’s people had been waiting for. John the Baptist’s entire ministry pointed people to Jesus.

John said that someone greater than him was coming. He said he wasn’t even worthy to untie His sandals. He pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

So now the One John had been announcing was standing right there with them.

This wasn’t the time to mourn. The King had come. The bridegroom was there. This was a time for celebration.

It’s like deciding that Thanksgiving Day, when your whole family is gathered around the table, is the day you’re going to fast. That’s not the time for fasting. The King is here.

But Jesus didn’t stop there. He went on to say:

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment.”

If you take something brand new and sew it onto an old, worn-out garment, it isn’t going to work. When the new piece shrinks, it will tear the old garment even worse.

Then He said:

“Neither do people pour new w**e into old w**eskins.”

If you pour new w**e into an old w**eskin, the w**eskin will burst and the w**e will be lost.

At first, it sounds like Jesus has completely changed the subject.

They asked Him, “Why aren’t Your disciples fasting?”

And He starts talking about clothes and w**eskins.

You might look at Jesus and say, “What does that have to do with my question?”

But you have to look at the context and the cotext. Jesus is answering their question. He’s talking about the kingdom of God and how the kingdom is built.

Jesus is bringing something new. You cannot take an old, rules-based system and simply add a little grace to it.

You can’t take the new covenant of Christ and try to make it work by enforcing rules as a way to transform people’s hearts.

That doesn’t mean the law has been done away with. Jesus never said that. The law is still the law.

The law can serve as a guardian or a tutor. There are times when rules are necessary, especially when doing what is right has not yet become part of a person’s heart. The law can serve as a guardian until the heart is changed. Then that person follows God’s ways because God has transformed them from the inside out.

If somebody comes into this place smoking crack in the middle of the building, we’re not going to say, “Well, we’re just waiting for God to transform your heart.”

No. You’re not going to smoke crack in here. You’re going to have to leave.

Some rules are necessary to protect people, the ministry, and society.

If somebody is hurting someone else, rules are in place to stop and control that situation.

That’s where we have to learn how to balance grace and rules. There is no formula that works exactly the same for everybody. Everyone is different.

Jesus wasn’t saying, “Don’t do good things.”

He was saying that you can’t take one little good thing and add it to an unchanged life, expecting that person to become a new person.

You can’t take somebody whose whole life is messed up and say, “You just need to stop drinking.”

Okay, they stop drinking. But that doesn’t mean their heart has changed.

You can’t take one rule and put a patch over one hole in somebody’s life.

The whole person needs transformation.

That’s why Jesus said:

“They pour new w**e into new w**eskins, and both are preserved.”

You need to become a new person.

You need a heart that has been changed by God.

If you take somebody who is lost and simply teach them a couple of rules, you may get them to sit still in church. You may get them to dress a certain way. You may get them to stop getting up every two minutes. But are they really different?

Maybe they’re only doing those things because they don’t want to get in trouble.

What Jesus is talking about is a completely different motivation.

When God transforms a person’s heart, that person begins to do these things because they love God.

They don’t just fast because somebody told them they have to fast.

They don’t just follow rules because they’re afraid of getting in trouble.

They love God with all their heart, soul, strength, and mind.

And because they love God, their lives begin to change.

The new person will fast.

The new person will follow God’s ways.

The new person will sit respectfully in church.

The new person will begin to hunger for the things of God and seek Him, whether they are reading a physical Bible or using the Bible app on their phone.

The new person will begin doing these things because God has changed their heart.

That’s the difference.

It’s not always about whether somebody is doing the right thing. It’s about why they’re doing it.

Are they doing it because of rules?

Or are they doing it because the love of God has changed their heart?

Jesus was going to the outcasts, the tax collectors, the demon-possessed, the least, the last, and the lost.

And instead of bringing them a list of rules, He invited them to sit with Him.

Sit with Jesus.

Be with Jesus.

Celebrate with Jesus.

And as you sit with Jesus and spend time with Him, transformation comes.

They were bringing rules rather than transformation.

Jesus was bringing transformation by changing people’s hearts.

**The goal isn’t simply to make people follow the rules. The goal is for Jesus to change their hearts, which will lead them to follow the rules. **

Amen.