The Big Read – Daily Read

Read Matthew 8-9

Matthew 8

v1-4: The healing of the leper is proof that Christ can save his people from their sins. “Sin is the leprosy of the soul; it excludes us from fellowship with God, and if we want to be restored to that fellowship, we must be cleansed from this leprosy, and this should be our great concern.”

v5-13: When we humbly confess our sins and spiritual needs to Jesus we can expect to receive a favourable answer from Him like the centurion did. Isn’t this an encouragement to come to Christ for mercy?

v14-17: We are saved by Christ to serve Christ. “It is right that those whom Christ has healed should minister to him as his humble servants all their lives.”

v18-22: Before anyone begins to follow Jesus, they should sit down and count the cost so that they are aware of what they are committing to.

v23-27: The cry of the disciples was “Lord, save us.” They believed that Jesus could save them and they begged Him to. Christ came into the world to save, but it is only those who call on the name of the Lord that will be saved.

v28-34: The demons know, believe, and confess that Jesus is the Son of God. They know who Jesus is but hate Him and refuse to submit to His rule. “It is not knowledge but love that distinguishes saints from devils.”

Matthew 9

v1-8: If Jesus has the power to give eternal life, He also has the power to forgive sins. If we are to reach heaven the great barrier of our guilt must be removed.

v9-13: Christ is found by those who do not seek Him. Matthew was not looking for Christ, but He was found by Him. Jesus spoke first. He said “Follow me,” and “the same divine almighty power accompanied this word to convert Matthew that accompanied the words, “Arise and walk,” to heal the paralytic.”  Those whom Christ is seeking will arise and follow Him at His call.

v14-17: The other Gospel writers record how the Pharisees joined with the disciples of John in accusing Jesus about what He and His disciples were doing. “It is nothing new for evildoers to set good people at each other’s throats; if the people of God differ in their attitudes, scheming adversaries will seize the opportunity to sow seeds of discord and make them angry with one another.”  Be on guard against this.

v18-26: The little girl really was dead, but not so to Christ who had already “determined to make her death merely a sleep.” This is true for all who die in the Lord. For them, death is a sleep, and “on the morning of the resurrection, when they will awake refreshed, to a new life, to be richly dressed and crowned; they will awake to sleep no more.”  This the hope that Christ gives to us who believe.

v27-34: Faith comes by hearing. These two men could not see Jesus or His miracles, yet they believe He can heal them. We cannot see Him either, and yet we trust that He can save us based on what we have heard about Him.

v35-38: Sheep need shepherds. Everyone who loves Christ will want to pray that He will raise up more faithful, wise, and hardworking labourers to be used by Him in the salvation of sinners and the strengthening of saints. When there is lack of good workers, we should pray more.

Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

(Photo: Brad Neathery)

The Big Read – Daily Read

Read Matthew 7

Matthew 7

v1-6: “We must not judge rashly or pass a judgment on our brother or sister that has no basis but is only the product of our own jealousy and ill nature. We must not assume the worst of people or infer from their words and actions things that cannot be supported. We must not judge uncharitably, unmercifully, or with a spirit of revenge and a desire to cause trouble. We must not judge a person’s state by a single act, nor judge what they are in themselves by what they are to us, because in our own cause we tend to show favouritism. We must not judge the hearts of others, or their intentions, for it is God’s prerogative to try the heart, and we must not step onto his throne.”

v7-12: When we pray, we are to ask as a beggar asks for gifts by bringing our needs and burdens to God; we are to seek as if we were looking for something valuable that we have lost, with effort; and we are to knock as a person who is knocking on the door of a house they want to enter, with boldness. Pray. Pray often. Pray. And then pray again.

v13-14: There are only two ways. The way to heaven and the way to hell. We are walking along one of those ways. There is no middle of the road. When the final separation of people into the godly and the ungodly comes, it will last for all eternity.

v15-20: How do we spot false teachers? By the fruits of their persons (their words and actions) – “If you want to know whether they are true or false, look at how they live”; and by the fruits of their teaching (the practices of those who follow their lead) – true teaching will lead to “godliness, humility, holiness, and love.”

v21-23: The will of the Father that we are to do, is to “believe in Christ, repent of our sin, live a holy life, and love one another.”

v24-29: Listening to Christ’s words is more than hearing them, it is obeying them. This is something that each of us should be concerned about doing whenever hear Him “speak from heaven through His word and Spirit, through ministers and through providences.”

Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

(Photo: Brad Neathery)

The Big Read – Daily Read

Read Matthew 6

Matthew 6

v1-4: Giving is a duty of all Christians, but we must not give for show, so that people would have a higher opinion of us. “When we take the least notice of our good deeds ourselves, God takes most notice of them.”

v5-8: God knows our needs better than we do. “If He does not give His people what they ask, it is because He knows they do not need it and that it is not for their good; He is a better judge of that than we ourselves.” We are to depend on God, not dictate to Him.

v9-18: Jesus helps us in our weakness by giving us words to pray in this prayer “composed by Him and appointed by Him.” This normal pattern and way of prayer “teaches us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then to hope that other things shall be added.”

v19-24: We all have something that we make our treasure, which we set our heart on and depend on for the future. Christ “warns us against making the things that are seen, which are temporal, our best things and locating our happiness in them.” Instead, we should aim at the kingdom of heaven; to press on toward it; to be diligent about making sure it is ours; to be determined not to fall short of it; and to put heaven and heavenly blessings before the world and all worldly delights.

v25-34: You are precious to God. To the birds of the air, He is their Maker and Lord, their Owner and Master, but to you, He is also your Father. Your Heavenly Father has all the resources to supply your needs. He already knows what they are, but He wants to know them from you and you to trust that He will provide them.

Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

(Photo: Brad Neathery)

The Big Read – Daily Read

Read Matthew 5

Matthew 5

v1-12: In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is showing us what it means to repent. He directs the sermon to His disciples who were there because they loved Him and wanted to learn from Him, whereas the crowd was there only to be healed. However, His teaching was in the hearing of the multitude and Jesus took this opportunity to instruct them about what good they should do and what evil they should hate. Each beatitudes that Christ speaks both shows the characteristics of those who are truly happy, and what is promised to them that will make them truly happy.

v13-16: Christ tells His disciples that as well as being fishers of men, they will be the salt of the earth and lights of the world. Those who have learned the teaching of the Gospel are to teach it to others, not forgetting that “the holy, regular, exemplary lives of the saints may do much toward converting sinners; those who are unfamiliar with the faith may be led to know what it is by this means. Examples of godly lives speak volumes and teach people.”

v17-20: Jesus came to obey the commands of the Law in all respects. He shows that to use the Scriptures of the Old Testament as your rule is the right thing to do because “the rule that Christ came to establish corresponded exactly with the Scriptures of the Old Testament.” He commands “nothing now that was forbidden either by the law of nature or by the moral law, nor does he forbid anything that those laws had commanded.” We need go beyond the righteousness of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law or we will fall short of heaven, which is why we need the righteousness of Christ.

v21-48: The big error that the Jewish teachers made, was focusing on the letter of the law, without ever looking into its spiritual meaning. Christ explains the meaning of the law in these particular instances to show its breadth, strictness, and spiritual nature, in order to make clear what its true intent and full extent is. In these six examples Jesus makes it clear that the righteousness of the Pharisees did not go deep enough and did not fully reflect what God is like. “It is the duty of Christians to seek, aim at, and press toward a perfection in grace and holiness. We must seek to conform to the example of our Heavenly Father.”

Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

(Photo: Brad Neathery)

The Big Read – Daily Read

Read Matthew 3-4

Matthew 3

v1-12: If we want to receive peace and pardon from God, we need to repent of our sin. “It is only those who are brought with sorrow and shame to acknowledge their own guilt who are ready to receive Jesus Christ as their Righteousness.” Repentance of sin will always be accompanied by a determination with God’s help not to return to sin.

v13-17: How the Father must love us. He gave His Son, the one whom He loved, whom He delights in, to suffer and die for those who were objects of His wrath. As the Father declared from heaven that Jesus is His beloved Son that He is well pleased with, so we are to agree with Him by saying that “He is our beloved Saviour, in whom we are well pleased.”

Matthew 4

v1-11: The aim of Satan in tempting Christ was to get Him to sin against God so that He would not be able to be the sacrifice for sins of His people. The way Satan sought to do this was by trying to get Christ “to despair of His Father’s goodness, to presume on His Father’s power, and to seize His Father’s honour and give it to Satan.” The aim of Satan in tempting Christians is to get us to sin against God and end our relationship with Him by encouraging us to give up our “dependence on Him, [our] duty toward Him, and [our] fellowship with Him.” When we are tempted to sin we are to resist and repel with ‘It is written’ which means we need to know what God’s Word says.

v12-25: Jesus is the One who calls us and equips us to be fishers of men for Him. To be fishers of men we need, like fisherman need, to both fish by telling people God’s Word, and mend nets by studying the God’s Word. “Mending [our] nets is, in its time, as necessary work as fishing.”

Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

(Photo: Brad Neathery)

The Big Read – Daily Read

Read Matthew 1-2

Introduction

Matthew’s Gospel is his account of good news. Is there news better than what he writes about? The news of Christ’s coming into the world to save sinners.

Matthew 1

v1-17: In the Old Testament, God promised blessing to Abraham and his seed and dominion to David and his son.  The genealogy proves that Jesus is that son of David and seed of Abraham.  If we are to receive blessing from Abraham’s seed we need to be faithful to David’s son.

v18-25: Jesus’ conception needed to be extraordinary so that He would have our human nature but escape our corruption.  Christ’s incarnation is a truth “to be adored, not meddled with.“

Matthew 2

v1-12: “The Gentiles knew the time of [Christ’s] birth from a star; the Jews knew its place from the Scriptures.”  By sharing what they knew, the Magi and the Chief Priests both grew in their knowledge of Christ, but it was only the Magi who showed themselves to be wise by using the information they had to find Him.  It is good to share what we know of Jesus with each other in order that we might both grow in our knowledge of and love for Him.

v13-23: This is not the first time a ‘Joseph’ leaves Canaan for Egypt.  God took the first Joseph there to save Israel from whom the Christ would come.  God took the second Joseph there to save the true Israel who is Christ.  Without the two Joseph’s going to Egypt, Jesus would not be able to save many lives.

Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

(Photo: Brad Neathery)