DOCSLIB.ORG

The Gospel: Why It's Important Matthew 7:13-27

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Gospel: Why It's Important Matthew 7:13-27 Lifeblood: The One Thing You Can’t Live Without The Gospel: Why It’s Important Dr. David Platt March 30, 2008 The Gospel: Why It’s Important Matthew 7:13-27 Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. He is the final “Amen.” He is the bread of life. He is the chief cornerstone, Christ our Creator. He is our deliverer. He is our Everlasting Father. He is God. He is the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd, the Great High Priest, the Holy One, and the hope of glory. He is the great I AM. He is the image of the invisible God, the Judge of the living and the dead. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is majestic and mighty and no one compares to Him. He is the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. He is the power of God. He is the resurrection and the life. He is the supreme sacrifice, the way, the truth and the life, the very Word of God made flesh. Jesus is all of these things, and we have reduced Him to a poor, puny Savior who is just begging for you to accept Him. As if Jesus needed to be accepted by you. Jesus doesn’t need your acceptance. He is infinitely worthy of all glory in all the universe. At this moment, there are multitudes of creatures surrounding Him, one of whom whose beauty, if it was in this room, would startle us all, and they are all doing His bidding and singing His praises. He does not need your songs. He doesn’t need your prayers, your church attendance or your Bible study. He doesn’t need you at all. You need Him! You’re desperately in need of Him. You need Him for every breath you breathe. Every person in this room, the only reason you’re heart is beating at this moment is because Jesus, Himself, is giving it rhythm. Where did we get the idea that Jesus needed us to accept Him? Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to begin a series that I believe is eternally important. I am convinced that multitudes of professing Christians have been sold a lie when it comes to their eternal destinies. In our contemporary efforts to spread the gospel to as many people as possible, I believe we have so maligned and manipulated and misrepresented the very gospel we have wished to spread. We have formulated the gospel as a “plan” of salvation and forgotten the gospel as the power of God for salvation. We have paired it down to a minimalist picture, the smallest picture, and it gets smaller and smaller and smaller, into a shrink-wrapped presentation that, if one delivers it, and gets someone to say the right things back to them and even pray the right things back to them, then we pronounce them “saved” and we move on. Multitudes of professing Christians have been told that as long as they prayed that prayer or walked down the aisle and talked to that person or signed that card that their salvation is complete. The result is a host of professing Christians, including many people in this room, think they are eternally saved from their sins when the reality is, they are not. The reason is because we’ve taken the gospel, the very lifeblood, out of Christianity, and we’ve put Kool- Aid in its place. The reason we’re going to dive into this series, Lifeblood, is because what haunts me as a pastor, what keeps me awake many nights is the thought, the idea that sitting in front of me, Sunday after Sunday...not just sitting in front of me, but I, myself, could one day stand © David Platt 2008 1 before Jesus and have Him look at me or multitudes of you and say, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers.” Do you think Jesus could say that to you? Look with me, if you have a Bible, and I hope you do, to Matthew 7. This is Jesus speaking to His disciples. This is one of those instances in the Gospel where the disciples, here, are not just that inner group of twelve but the larger crowds, many of them casual listeners, some of them even convinced listeners starting to buy in to what Jesus is talking about, and they’re listening to Him speak this infamous sermon, this Sermon on the Mount, that begins in Matthew 5. We come to the end of it, the climactic conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus is speaking to His disciples. Listen to what He says to them. Matthew 7:13, Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?” Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. This is how Jesus ends the Sermon on the Mount, with a picture of a house, symbolizing one’s life, falling with a great crash. I think you would struggle to find in Scripture a more horrifying picture than what we see here, especially in verses 21 through 23. This idea that there will be people...not just people...many people, many people who will stand before Jesus and cry out, “Lord, Lord, did we not do these things...” and He will look at them and Jesus, Himself, will turn them away from heaven saying, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” What Jesus is telling us here in Matthew 7 is that it is possible to deceive ourselves in the most important issue in this life. It is possible to deceive ourselves in the one issue that determines all of our eternity. Jesus is saying that He stands at the crux of eternity, and He divides eternity. On one side, there’s a broad road that leads to destruction and death and the other side, a narrow road that leads to life. He uses these pictures: One side there’s a bad tree and another side a good tree; true faith, false faith; foundation on a rock, foundation on sand. He’s talking here about people who are spiritually deceived into © David Platt 2008 2 thinking...He’s not speaking in Matthew 7 to atheists and agnostics, pagans and heretics. He’s not speaking to the irreligious; He is speaking to the devoutly religious people of His day who were deluded into thinking that they were on a road that leads to life, when the reality is, most of them are on a road that leads to death. Do you think it’s possible for you to be deceived in the most important issue in life? You’ve seen polls before that have talked about how perhaps fifty percent of Americans claim to be “born again Christians.” Those same polls usually go on to talk about how the lifestyles of born again Christians are virtually indistinguishable from the lifestyles of those who are not born again Christians, and many people have interpreted that to say, “Well, the church is no different from the world.” I don’t think that’s a proper interpretation. I think a more accurate interpretation would be to say that these people who claim to be born again Christians and their lives are virtually indistinguishable from everyone else in the world are not born again Christians. They think they are Christians but they’re not. Do you think it’s possible to think you’re a Christian and not be a Christian? That’s exactly what Jesus is talking about here. We’ve got to realize that at the core of who we are, our sinful nature, we reject the gospel. Every single one of us, myself included, at the core of who we are. 2 Corinthians 4 says Satan, the devil himself, is blinding the minds of unbelievers, and I’m convinced that one of the ways he is blinding the minds of unbelievers is by convincing them that they are believers.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Authentic Prayer” Matthew 6:7-13, 7:7-11
    3-4-18 Pastor Tom “Authentic Prayer” Matthew 6:7-13, 7:7-11 Matthew 6:7-13 - And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ Skip ahead to Matthew 7:7-11 - Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Finally! We’ve been going through the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus is telling us everything we need to do. But this week, we finally get something out of this whole Christianity thing! He says if we just ask, seek, and knock, we will receive, find, and the door will be opened for us! So here comes the big question: What are you gonna ask for? The guy who turns water into wine, who heals the sick, raises the dead, and does a ton of other miracles says, “ask and it will be given to you.” Man, “Well, Jesus, where do I start? Car, vacation, house… I guess I should throw in world peace, too…” This actually reminds me of a commercial from a few years ago where some people got whatever they asked for.
    [Show full text]
  • Matthew 7 Resources
    Matthew 7 Resources PREVIOUS Click chart to enlarge NEXT Charts from Jensen's Survey of the NT - used by permission Another Chart from Charles Swindoll THE LIFE OF JESUS AS COVERED BY MATTHEW (shaded area) Click chart to enlarge HENRY ALFORD Matthew 7 Commentary - less Greek Matthew 7 Commentary GREGG ALLEN Matthew 7:1-5 Judge Not! Matthew 7:6 Dogs and Hogs Matthew 7:7-11 Ask! Seek!! Knock!!! Matthew 7:12 The Golden Rule Matthew 7:13-14 Two Destinies - Two Gates Matthew 7:15-20 Wolves in Sheepskins Matthew 7:21-23 Whose Jesus Never Knew Matthew 7:24-27 Building Upon the Rock Matthew 7:28-29 The Greatest Preacher JOSEPH ADDISON ALEXANDER GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW Cyril Barber - Published posthumously in 1861 and covering (in detail) only chapters 1-16, this volume contains the same richness of thought and close attention to detail that is found in Alexander's other commentaries. Matthew 5 Matthew 6 Matthew 7 MICHAEL ANDRUS - click link for audio and notes - click "Notes" for pdf Matthew 7:13-20 How to Get to Heaven Matthew 7:21-29 Once Saved, Always Saved? JACK ARNOLD Matthew 7:1-6 Judging and Discretion Matthew 7:7-12 Prayer and the Golden Rule Matthew 7:13-20 Salvation and its Fruit Matthew 7:21-29 Tests for a Genuine Christian WILLIAM BARCLAY Matthew 7 Commentary ALBERT BARNES Matthew 7 Commentary BRIAN BELL Matthew 7:1-12 - Sonship Prayers Matthew 7:13-29 - Fork in the Road Matthew 7 CHIP BELL Matthew 7:1-6 Who Are You to Judge? Matthew 7:7-11 May I Take Your Order? Matthew 7:12 How Would You Like It? Matthew 7:13-14 Most Likely to Succeed Matthew 7:15-23 Beware of Sheep Imitations Matthew 7:24-29 Location.
    [Show full text]
  • Sermon on the Mount Commentaries
    Sermon on the Mount Commentaries Sermon on the Mount Study Guide: Questions and Answers Sermon on the Mount Commentary Matthew 5-7 Table of Contents Verse by Verse In Depth Commentary Conservative, Literal, Evangelical Sermon on the Mount Commentary Matthew 5:1-11 The Beatitudes Matthew 5:1 Matthew 5:2 Matthew 5:3 Matthew 5:4 Matthew 5:5 Matthew 5:6 Matthew 5:7 Matthew 5:8 Matthew 5:9 Matthew 5:10 Matthew 5:11 Matthew 5:12 Sermon on the Mount Commentary Matthew 5:13-16 Salt and Light Matthew 5:13 Matthew 5:14 Matthew 5:15 Matthew 5:16 Sermon on the Mount Commentary Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus Teaches on Righteousness Necessary to Enter The Kingdom of Heaven Matthew 5:17 Matthew 5:18 Matthew 5:19 Matthew 5:20 Sermon on the Mount Commentaries Matthew 5:21-22 Jesus Teaches on Murder and Anger Matthew 5:21 Matthew 5:22 Sermon on the Mount Commentaries Matthew 5:23-26 Jesus Teaches on Reconciliation Matthew 5:23 Matthew 5:24 Matthew 5:25 Matthew 5:26 Sermon on the Mount Commentaries Matthew 5:27-30 Jesus Teaches on Adultery Matthew 5:27 Matthew 5:28 Matthew 5:29 Matthew 5:30 Sermon on the Mount Commentaries Matthew 5:31-32 Jesus Teaches on Divorce Matthew 5:31 Matthew 5:32 Sermon on the Mount Commentaries Matthew 5:33-37 Jesus Teaches on Oaths and Vows Matthew 5:33 Matthew 5:34 Matthew 5:35 Matthew 5:36 Matthew 5:37 Sermon on the Mount Commentaries Matthew 5:38-42 Jesus Teaches on Revenge and Non-Resistance (An Eye for an Eye) Matthew 5:38 Matthew 5:39 Matthew 5:40 Matthew 5:41 Matthew 5:42 Sermon on the Mount Commentaries Matthew 5:43-48 Jesus Teaches
    [Show full text]
  • The Lord's Prayer Guide
    THE LORD’S PRAYER GUIDE PRAYING LIKE JESUS PRAYED THE LORD’S PRAYER TRADITIONAL Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen. DALLAS WILLARD’S CONTEMPORARY PARAPHRASE Dear Father always near us, may your name be treasured and loved, may your rule be completed in us- may your will be done here on earth in just the way it is done in heaven. Give us today the things we need today, and forgive us our sins and impositions on you as we are forgiving all who in any way offend us. Please don’t put us through trials, but deliver us from everything bad. Because you are the one in charge, and you have all the power, and the glory too is all yours-forever- which is just the way we want it! 2 THE LORD’S PRAYER GUIDE INTRODUCTION When the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray,” he taught them what we have come to know as The Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:1-4; see also Matthew 6:9-13). In the prayer, Jesus reveals what makes God’s heart tick. Author Darrell Johnson says, “As we pray the Lord’s Prayer we are drawn deeper and deeper into the concerns of the Triune God.”1 In scope, it encompasses God’s agenda for whole world’s destiny, not to mention his will for our lives as his people.
    [Show full text]
  • Matthew 7:1-6
    TABLE STUDY QUESTIONS | MATTHEW 7:1-6 1. Introduce yourselves. Read Matthew 7:1-6 aloud. How does this pAssAge ConneCt with Matthew 5:5 And MAtthew 6:12? In whAt wAys hAve you CAught yourseLf moving towArd judging others insteAd of Loving others? ***Keep in mind the definition of “judge” As Jesus uses it here in MAtthew 7:1*** ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ 2. It can be difficult to discern the exact moment we begin to judge someone versus exercising wise discernment, which the Bible also commands us to do. ReAd these pAssAges ALoud And discuss how they heLp us understAnd what Jesus is sAying in this week’s pAssAge. It might be heLpfuL to divide the passAges up And have everyone read one passAge and try to summarize it in their own words. a. Matthew 7:15-20, espeCiALLy v. 20. b. 1 CorinthiAns 5:9-13 c. James 4:11-12 ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________
    [Show full text]
  • Lesson 7 - Matthew 3
    Lesson 7 - Matthew 3 THE BOOK OF MATTHEW Lesson 7, Chapter 3 Continued If we were to do a deep comparison between the 4 Gospel accounts that open the New Testament, it would become evident that each Gospel writer approaches the matter of the advent, life, death, and resurrection of the Messiah with his own unique mindset and perspective, and that he has a specific purpose and audience for his Gospel in mind. For instance Mark expresses zero interest in Yeshua's background as a youth, and only speaks about Him starting with the day Christ's ministry begins. He also outlines Christ's life and actions in an orderly but rather abrupt way that in my opinion reads like a biography. Luke is trying to please his customer and patron, Theophilos. We don't know who Theophilos was, but his was a Roman gentile name. Luke doesn't seem to expect Theophilos to know much about Jewish Tradition or history and so takes the time to explain certain things Matthew wouldn't have because Matthew was a Jew writing to other Jews and so most Jewish concepts needed no clarification. John also expected his readers to be mostly Jewish and thus familiar with Jewish Tradition and the Holy Scriptures. Therefore the opening sentence of his Gospel speaks of the uniquely Hebrew concept of "The Word" without further explanation. Most Jews would know what the term "The Word" was pointing to, but the vast majority of gentile Believers would not. "The Word" was familiar among Jews; it was the Hebrew notion of the Memra.
    [Show full text]
  • Jesus and the Mystery of the Beatitudes
    Jesus and the Mystery of the Beatitudes Michael Patrick Barber / Augustine Institute Graduate School of Theology Website: www.TheSacredPage.com / Twitter: @MichaelPBarber Ineffable Creator, you are proclaimed the true font of light and wisdom, and the primal origin raised high beyond all things. Pour forth a ray of your brightness into the darkened places of my mind; disperse from my soul the twofold darkness into which I was born: sin and ignorance. You make eloquent the tongues of infants. Refine my speech and pour forth upon my lips the goodness of your blessing. Grant to me keenness of mind, capacity to remember, skill in learning, subtlety to interpret, and eloquence in speech. May you guide the beginning of my work, direct its progress, and bring it to completion. You who are true God and true Man, who live and reign, world without end. Amen. (Prayer Before Study of St. Thomas Aquinas) The Sermon on the Mount “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:24–26)1 “I think that whoever meditates in earnest love upon the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, found in St.
    [Show full text]
  • Beatitudes: Lucky Are the Unlucky
    Beatitudes: Lucky Are the Unlucky Adapted from the study guide for The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey The Sermon on the Mount haunted by 1. Dangled Promises. The Beatitudes are not adolescence. I would read a book like Charles merely Jesus’ nice words of consolation to Sheldon’s In His Steps, solemnly vow to act “as Jesus the unfortunates. It is a plain fact of history would act,” and turn to Matthew 5-7 for guidance. that for convicts in the Soviet Gulag, and What to make of such advice? Should I offer myself to slaves in America, and Christians in Roman be pummeled by the motorcycle-riding “hoods” in cages awaiting their turn with the wild school? Tear out my tongue after speaking a harsh beasts, the promise of reward was a source word to my brother? of hope. It keeps you alive. It allows you to Now that I am an adult, the crisis of the Sermon believe in a just God after all. on the Mount still has not gone away. Though I have 2. The Great Reversal. I have also come to tried at times to dismiss it as rhetorical excess, the believe that the Beatitudes describe the more I study Jesus, the more I realize that the present as well as the future. They neatly statements contained here lie at the heart of Jesus’ contrast how to succeed in the kingdom of message. If I fail to understand his teaching, I fail to heaven with how to succeed in the kingdom understand him.
    [Show full text]
  • Matthew 7:7–11)
    You Can Trust God (Matthew 7:7–11) rayer—no subject is more precious or more help] that ever fell upon human ears.”5 I have needed. John Wallace (1802–1870), a Scot- titled this lesson “You Can Trust God.” tish clergyman, wrote, “[Prayer] moves the PHand which moves the world.”1 The British poet TO ANSWER YOUR PRAYERS Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892) said, “More things (7:7, 8) are wrought by prayer than this world dreams 2 First, the passage teaches that you can trust of.” US President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), God to answer your prayers. Jesus said, “Ask, and referring to the dark days of the US Civil War, it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; said, “I have been driven many times to my knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had 3 who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and nowhere else to go.” to him who knocks it will be opened” (vv. 7, 8). In previous lessons on the Sermon on the Mount, we have received instruction and encour- Persistent Petitions agement regarding prayer. In Matthew 6:5–8, we The key words in verses 7 and 8 are “ask,” learned how not to pray: We are not to pray “to be “seek,” and “knock.” The word “ask” expresses seen by men.” In 6:9–15, we learned how to pray as desire. Phillip Brooks defined prayer as “a wish we studied “The Model Prayer.” Now, in 7:7–11, turned God-ward.”6 “Ask” also indicates de- we will be told what to expect when we pray.
    [Show full text]
  • Matthew 7 Fr
    Matthew 7 Fr. Andrew's Bible Study notes on Matthew 7. MATTHEW CHAPTER 7 Matthew 7:1-11 7: 1 “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. 2 For the way you judge others is how you will be judged — the measure with which you measure out will be used to measure to you. 3 Why do you see the splinter in your brother’s eye but not notice the log in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ when you have the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite! First, take the log out of your own eye; then you will see clearly, so that you can remove the splinter from your brother’s eye! 6 “Don’t give to dogs what is holy, and don’t throw your pearls to the pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, then turn and attack you. 7 “Keep asking, and it will be given to you; keep seeking, and you will find; keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who keeps asking receives; he who keeps seeking finds; and to him who keeps knocking, the door will be opened. 9 Is there anyone here who, if his son asks him for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone? 10 or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 So if you, even though you are bad, know how to give your children gifts that are good, how much more will your Father in heaven keep giving good things to those who keep asking him! CJB Note: In this first verse of this chapter we are dealing with what we term the usage of negatives that is found in the New Testament.
    [Show full text]
  • Golden Rules – Matthew 7:1-12 April 2, 2006 Monday – Judge Not
    Golden Rules – Matthew 7:1-12 April 2, 2006 "‘Obedience’ means more than obeying an arbitrary rule; . breaking the rule and breaking your connection with truth and wholeness are part of the same process.” -Tal Cohen. Rules for how we treat others are often called morals. But in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is talking about much more than morality. Jesus’ sermon continually directs us into a connection with our heavenly Father, and anyone who sees Jesus as merely providing sound moral guidance, is missing the point. We should listen to Him not because we find that what he says is true, but because of who he is. As C. S. Lewis points out in “Mere Christianity:” "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about [Jesus]: ‘I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.
    [Show full text]
  • Gospel of Matthew 101
    GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 101 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Most books of the Bible don’t come with standard bylines, and the Gospel of Matthew is no exception. While early Christian tradition attributes authorship of this gospel to Matthew, one of Jesus’ disciples, many modern scholars dispute the notion. Instead, scholars contend the author of Matthew was likely a Jewish man writing around 80 CE who drew upon the Gospel of Mark (including 600 of Mark’s 661 verses) but also expanded the narrative. Even if the Apostle Matthew is not the writer of the gospel, his story gives us insight into the life and ministry of Jesus. Matthew, also known as Levi, is a tax collector, a role viewed with disdain. By selecting Matthew as a disciple, Jesus shows again by example that all people are beloved children of God, that all are worthy of love, forgiveness, and redemption. While Matthew appears in all four gospels and in the Book of Acts, we know very little about the rest of his life or how he died, only that he was a faithful companion and disciple of Jesus. ABOUT THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW The Gospel of Matthew is one of the three synoptic gospels, along with Mark and Luke. These three gospels share many of the same stories and sometimes the same words. Despite some similarities, Matthew expands on key teachings of Jesus and features a number of parables and stories not found in the other gospels. For instance, it’s only in Matthew that we hear about the Magi making their trek across the desert with gifts for baby Jesus.
    [Show full text]