Words of Jesus Podcast - Judgment Comes Out Of Our Own Mouths

Episode Date: September 13, 2024

What we do matters. The consequences of the free will of mankind extends beyond this life. We are required to love, to forgive, to judge righteous judgment. Out of our own mouths comes our judgment. We must act in faith, nothing wavering, as did Abraham. The Abrahamic covenant is the link to the coming of Christ, i.e. the completion of the work. We are required to occupy till our Lord returns. ***89: Jesus Accepted By Zacchaeus, Chief Publican Of JerichoLuke 19:1-10As Jesus and the multitude following him passed through Jericho on their way to Jerusalem, a rich man, Zacchaeus, a leading publican of Jericho, sought to see Jesus. He was unable to get near him because of the vast throng, and he could not see over the heads of the crowd because he was short of stature. Therefore Zacchaeus ran ahead and climbed into a sycamore tree near which Jesus would walk. Jesus looked up, saw Zacchaeus, and said to him:            “Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house.”            Zacchaeus descended and received Jesus with joy.            The multitude murmured that he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.            Zacchaeus said to Jesus:             “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.”            Jesus answered Zacchaeus, saying:            “This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”***90: The Parable Of The TalentsMatthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:11-28After this Jesus told a parable because he was near to Jerusalem and because many thought that the kingdom of God should appear immediately. He said:            “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, ‘Occupy till I come.’ But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’ And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man hath gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, ‘Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.’ And he said unto him, ‘Well, thou good servant. Because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.’ And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.’ And he said likewise to him, ‘Be thou also over five cities.’ And another came, saying, ‘Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin; for I feared thee, because thou art an austere man. Thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou did not sow.’ And he saith unto him, ‘Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow. Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?” And he said unto them that stood by, ‘Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.’ For I say unto you that unto everyone which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away

Think Red Ink Ministries presents the Words of Jesus series with Don C. Harris. Hello my friend, welcome to the Words of Jesus program. I'm Don Harris, your host, and we just finished our story in chapter 88, moving to chapter 89 now. Two stories back to back of just common men out there. These aren't necessarily big shot religious men. They're not people involved in politics or whatever. These are just regular old people that have needs. And because they were in that day when Jesus was walking through Jerusalem and in this particular case Jericho they through their confession of faith that Jesus was indeed who he said he was they received

great things from the Lord I don't know if you think you can do this but I think a lot of people feel like they can believe in Jesus and not necessarily believe that he was who he said he was you think he's a great. You think he's a great prophet? You think he's a wonderful, wise man? How wise is it to say you're the son of God and not be the son of God? It's pretty stupid, isn't it? How can he be wise and say he's the son of God? Well, he's a good and wise teacher.

Not if he's deceiving people. He's not good, nor is he wise. Please don't, you know, try to cushion the blow, if you will, or to make it easier to believe in Jesus by discounting his miracles discounting he was who he said he was well i believe in jesus but you know he never really claimed to be the messiah well you know what you just told me you just told me you've never read the bible you know uh well don don't you say No, I said he never claimed to be God.

I mean, that's clear in the scriptures, or at least it's obvious by its absence. But, you know, yes, he claimed to be the Messiah. Yes, he claimed to be the Son of God. And frankly, you want to tell me that you believe in Jesus and you don't believe that he was necessarily the son of God, or you don't believe that he was necessarily divine? Friend, you're so far from this. I mean, I don't know that you're any closer at all than the man who

doesn't care at all. You can't do this. You can't editorialize Jesus. You have to believe that he is who he says he is. Let's read a story about a man who did. Chapter 89, Jesus accepted by Zacchaeus, a chief publican of Jericho. Publican. What is a publican? Well, I'm afraid that when we're dealing with a publican, we're dealing with somebody who has trouble with their allegiances to the Jewish faith and Israel and these kind of things. And it's kind of a split allegiance with Rome and

it's just a hodgepodge of believing a whole bunch of stuff. And they were not really appreciated. As a matter of fact they were ostracized in Jewish culture. As Jesus and the multitude following him passed through Jericho on their way to Jerusalem, a rich man, Zacchaeus, a leading publican of Jericho, sought to see Jesus. He was unable to get near him because of the vast, vast throng, and he could not see over the heads of the crowd because he was short of stature. Therefore, Zacchaeus ran ahead and climbed into a sycamore tree near which Jesus would walk.

Jesus looked up and saw Zacchaeus and said to him, Zacchaeus, make hasten and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. Now, here we have less of a confession of faith, but what we are dealing with here is revelation from the father what made jesus look up you think he was just rustling around in the tree up there or he was wearing bright colored clothing or what do you think making it made him look up well you know there's a common understanding that Jesus could read minds, that he could see into people's thoughts,

and that he was all-knowing and omniscient, and he knew all this stuff. But Jesus, he denied a lot of that and said, no, not really. My Father tells me what I need to know, and I act on what my Father tells me. Somehow the Father, I mean i i believe i don't have scripture to say that this is exactly what happened but i certainly have the whole life of jesus to fall back on and that is that um the father says, when you get down the road down there,

you're going to see a sycamore tree. A little guy just climbed up in there, and he wants to see you. And I don't know that he explained everything to Jesus. I don't know what he said to him. Frankly, I don't know if he said this, but I don't have any trouble believing it. That Jesus didn't, he didn't necessarily catch Jesus' eye, but that the Father probably told Jesus,

all right, you see this guy? He's got some things he wants to talk to you about. And you know what? Nobody likes him, but he's a righteous man he's got he's got some good works on his side and so i want you to spend some time with him let's see if we can make him complete let's see if we can add to his works righteousness and regeneration so jesus looks up and says zacchaeus get down here and i mean now that's what make haste means for today i must abide at thy house zacchaeus descended and received jesus with joy the multitude murmured that he had gone to be a guest with a man that was a sinner. Must have been church

people there, huh? And they didn't like Zacchaeus. They loved Jesus, but they didn't like Zacchaeus. And so Zacchaeus said to Jesus, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I've taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. You know, just like the Old Testament tells me to do, here's a fellow whose life is actually run by the laws in the Old Testament.

Good for you, Zacchaeus. Wow, why are you doing that? Obviously, he wants peace with God. Obviously, he believes in the God of the Old Testament. He believes in Jehovah. And he knew of the prophecies that one day that he was going to, that the Lord was going to send to the earth a man that would be the son of man and the son of God inside one person and the and it's going to be known because he's going to have healing in his wings he's going to have miracles on the ends of his fingers he's going to have wisdom on his lips man this guy's fit in the description I got

to see who this guy is so Zacchaeus says I think I'm going to go and see if I can see him. Well, when he got there, of course, the crowd was so big and he was so short, he was never going to see him. But he could see that he was coming this way. So he plotted a place for him to climb to a higher altitude and just wait for Jesus to pass by. I kind of admire the planning of this guy. I really do. There are some people that ran toward Jesus. There's some people that called across the desert to him. There are some people that

met him incidentally. There are some people that Jesus walked up to and them being blind, not even knew who he was. But Zacchaeus says, I got a plan. I got a plan. My intention is to meet this guy. I want to meet him. It was obvious that Zacchaeus had planned all this and he wanted to make this happen. But wow, he's going to stay at my house? Now that he didn't plan on. But Jesus was going to make this, you know, a very special thing for Zacchaeus.

And that was, you know, not only am I recognizing you I have intention on staying at your house now there's a lot of there's a lot to all this that I mean there's other scriptures there's other stories where they say that Jesus has gone to be the guest of a man that is a sinner. He's having dinner with you know he's eating and drinking with sinners and they despise this about him. He saw another opportunity to do it again. You know I don't know was he provoking them? I don't want to think he was provoking them? I don't want to think he was provoking them,

but nonetheless, he did. He did add to the mix that I'm going to go be a guest at your house. Jesus made a pronouncement. I believe that by this time they had entered his house. I don't know that this sycamore tree wasn't right outside Zacchaeus' house. I don't know. But the way this is written, what Jesus had to say,

sounds to me like he was in the house when he said it. This day salvation has come to this house for as much as he also is a son of Abraham. For the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Friend, we've talked about the Abrahamic covenant over and over. I've tried to explain that the Abrahamic covenant is the covenant of salvation under which, by the way, we are saved today. You know, the whole dispensation thing be damned. This is what

the scriptures actually say, that it is the covenant with Abraham that extends to Christ, that when you are in Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. It doesn't take a whole lot of sense to see that Jesus Christ and Abraham are connected. You remember when the woman that was bent over in the middle, and he laid hands on her and healed her, and the Jews were all upset about it, he's done this on the sabbath day and he said you know you you let your your ox out of the ditch on the sabbath day and ought not this woman who's been bowed in the midst lo these many years who also is a daughter of abraham

be loose from her infirmity on the Sabbath day? You're going to, you'll never find in here anybody enjoying some meritorious status because they're a child of Israel or a child of Jacob, the 12 tribes of Israel. I'm not discounting them as God's people, as the occupants of Israel in those days. But boy, to be a seed of Abraham seems to have some kind of value to it. It does. The promise was made to Abraham. There are many people who talk about Israel, if you bless Israel, then God will bless you. If you curse Israel, God will curse you. Do you know the scriptures actually say that that promise was made to Abraham, not Jacob.

That promise, and I realize that Jacob is in the lineage and the children of Jacob or Israel are what we understand to be the children of Israel. I understand all that. However that promise was made to Abraham. Paul talks about this. Boy I wish we could just scoot over there into some of these black words because I'd love to show you

where Paul says, And he said not unto thy seeds, which are many, but unto thy seed, which is Christ. Zacchaeus came to Abraham through Christ. Do you see this? when you're in christ then are you abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise you're always going to find the the

the salvation plan the redemption of men on the earth, it all comes through Abraham. It is the Abrahamic covenant that was renewed. It is the Brit Hadashah. It is the new covenant, the renewed covenant with Abraham, under which Jesus ministers and ministered on the earth. You're going to see this over and over again. And once you become familiar with this, I think you'll start to see that we are in Abraham. Remember John the Baptist says, you know, that, you know, you guys are in trouble. And they said, and say not among yourselves that we are the seed of Abraham. God's able to raise these stones up to be seed of Abraham.

Jesus says, you say that you're the children of Abraham. You're not the children of Abraham. you're not the children of abraham if you were the children of abraham you'd know who i was how did jesus make that link how did he jump over the law jump over moses jump over everything to say this is the channel that we go through this is the channel here how did how did he feel comfortable in doing that well because he knows the way this stuff works and we should too i'd love to camp here for a while and talk about this uh you know paul made great effort to get us to understand that he's renewed that covenant with abraham

not with the blood of bulls and goats not with the blood of the of the of the flayed animals that day that abraham made this covenant with with god but with his own with his own blood that's why circumcision ran from abraham to christ that's why it's recorded that Christ went into the temple on the eighth day to be circumcised. It was that that was the covenant between Abraham and his seed, which is Christ. Too much theology? Is your head spinning? It need not. You can understand these kinds of things.

God chose Abraham to be the father, our father of faith. And when we have faith in Christ, then are we the children of Abraham. All right. Chapter 90, the parable of the talents. This is one of these uh parables that if you read it uh it's just kind of obvious what it's saying uh after this jesus told the pair

told a parable because he was near to jerusalem and because many thought that the kingdom of god should appear immediately wow that's that's what they believe today, isn't it? All right, he tells the story. A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. And he called his 10 servants and delivered them 10 pounds. And he said unto them, Occupy till I come. But his citizens hated him, and sent a message

after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful in very little, have thou authority over ten cities. And the second came, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.

And he said likewise to him, Be thou over five cities. And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept, laid in a napkin. For I feared thee because thou art an austere, stingy man. Thou takest up, thou layest not down, and reapest that thou did not sow. And he said unto him, I don't know. How am I going to get this into your spirit so that this is indelibly a part of your thinking

for the rest of your natural life? I don't know how I'm going to do that. But that's what I want to do. I want you to look at this fellow that took the pound and gained 10 pounds. Lord, look, he was proud of himself. And he expected the Lord to be proud of him. And the Lord was proud of him. The one who gained five pounds. Lord, look what I've done. Your pound

has gained 10 pounds. And the Lord was proud of him for that. Here's a man who was given a pound and he laid it up. He took it and put it in a napkin and folded it up and hid it away. And why? He didn't believe Jesus was who he said he was. He didn't believe that Jesus was who he claimed to be. He did not know the Lord at all. He felt like that the Lord was an austere man, a stingy man.

And he took what didn't belong to him, and he expected us to fall in line and to walk in lockstep and to do this and do that, and he saw God as a tyrant. Now, you say, well, God's not a tyrant. Not so fast. God is good to those who worship him as good. Jesus said, there's none good but God. But I want you to hear this next thing that Jesus says because, friend, I think this is just a piece of information that has just been lost over time or nobody talks about this. But listen to what this man said when he says,

why did you put my money away and not invest it and not do anything with it? Why did you take your life and do nothing with it? Because it doesn't pay to serve you. I know you. You're a tightwad. You take what doesn't belong to you. You run roughshod over the population. You know, you kill little babies and you kill little dogs.

You know, whatever disgust he had for God, it was obviously coming out here. But his opinion about God, does it matter? Is God that way? Well, you may not feel like he's that way, but he's going to be that way to this guy. Really? Yes, really.

He says, you reap where you don't sow? Jesus said unto him, out of thine own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. Out of your own mouth? What does that mean? I thought God is going to judge us under some set of hard and fast rules. Don't you believe it? Don't you believe it?

Yeah, you're going to give an account of your obedience toward the Ten Commandments. Yeah, you're going to give an account of how you accepted Jesus Christ in his priestly fashion and in his priestly office. But you know, that's not the only two items in the Ark of the mercy seat that God sits on when he judges you. There's something else in there. There's a bowl of manna in there. And this is

what you would receive, what you did receive. You know what? You're going to be judged by how you feel about Him, not how He feels about you. Out of your own mouth

I will judge you. You better be very, very careful how austere and how exacting and how cruel you think god is because you're actually developing for your future the god that will judge you friend i believe this i believe this like i believe i'm sitting here, you're going to face the God you've created in your own mind. You'd better make sure that your faith makes sense, that logic is a part of your thinking,

that honesty is a part of your life. You better make sure because the God you're creating in your head is going to judge you one day. And he says, out of your own mouth i'll judge you you knew that i was an austere man taken up that i laid not down and reaping what i did not sow wherefore then thou gavest thou my money unto the bank gavest thou not my money to the bank that at my coming i might at least have my own with interest? And he said unto them that stood by,

Take from him that pound, and give it to him that has ten pounds. For I say unto you, that every one which hath shall be given, and from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be given and from him that hath not even that which he has shall be taken away from him but those but those mine enemies which would not that i should reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me oh my goodness wow, is this the little fair-haired Jesus, the little guy with a sheep under one arm

and a staff in the other, with a silly little grin on his face, the little long-haired Jesus that loves everybody? This is your judge. You realize that the Father, you might think you're going to stand before the Father God on Judgment Day, but you won't. You won't. You're going to stand before this man. And it's going to really matter on that day, the kind of man that you have made him into in your own mind, the kind of God you

have made him into. Out of your own mouth, I will judge you. Friend, these things are very, very serious. Your judgment is very serious. And as far as I can see, and from what I read here, your judgment is in your hands. It's in your hands. Almost not even in his. So we need to be very, very careful about what we say and what we believe about Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who came to this earth not to condemn you, for the world's condemned already. He came to seek and to save that which is lost.

That's me. All right. Thank you so much for being a part of the show. I'd love to hear from you if you'd like to write to me. Write to me, Don, at thinkredink.com with your questions or comments. All right, until I see you again, thank you so much for being a part. Think Red Ink, my friend. ¶¶ you've been listening to don c harris of Think Red Ink Ministries. Email don at thinkredink.com. That's thinkredink.com. Join us again for the next episode in the Words of Jesus series. you