This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you're familiar with the part I was given in God's plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief. As you read over what I have written to you, you'll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God's Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I've been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board. (Ephesians 3:1-6 MSG)

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In part 8 (click here to read part 8), we contrasted how the simple see the obvious and respond in faith while the presumptuous religious leaders seek only to suppress the truth by putting pressure on others. Here we will look at the limitations of man-made knowledge independent from God.

[I]. Not only did the Pharisees not submit to the wisdom of God amongst them, they pitted themselves against Him.

1. "That's when the Pharisees plotted a way to trap him into saying something damaging. They sent their disciples, with a few of Herod's followers mixed in, to ask, "Teacher, we know you have integrity, teach the way of God accurately, are indifferent to popular opinion, and don't pander to your students. So tell us honestly: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" Jesus knew they were up to no good. He said, "Why are you playing these games with me? Why are you trying to trap me? Do you have a coin? Let me see it." They handed him a silver piece. "This engraving--who does it look like? And whose name is on it?" They said, "Caesar." "Then give Caesar what is his, and give God what is his." The Pharisees were speechless. They went off shaking their heads." (Matthew 22:15-22 MSG)

[II]. Having silenced one sect, still they did not concede and believe, then another one came to psyche Him out.

1. "That same day, Sadducees approached him. This is the party that denies any possibility of resurrection. They asked, "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies childless, his brother is obligated to marry his widow and get her with child. Here's a case where there were seven brothers. The first brother married and died, leaving no child, and his wife passed to his brother. The second brother also left her childless, then the third--and on and on, all seven. Eventually the wife died. Now here's our question: At the resurrection, whose wife is she? She was a wife to each of them." (Matthew 22:23-28 MSG)

[III]. Christ indicted those who claim to teach people these very same scriptures, exposing the fact that despite reading them they didn’t understand it as God intended, not having relationship with God but themselves.

1. "Jesus answered, "You're off base on two counts: You don't know your Bibles, and you don't know how God works. At the resurrection we're beyond marriage. As with the angels, all our ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God. And regarding your speculation on whether the dead are raised or not, don't you read your Bibles? The grammar is clear: God says, 'I am--not was--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.' The living God defines himself not as the God of dead men, but of the living." Hearing this exchange the crowd was much impressed." (Matthew 22:29-33 MSG)

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Full of zeal for the unknown god

Driven by a passion to destroy

Cannot tolerate anyone

Who dares to serve another

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All contrary mouths must be stopped

No matter the cost or the laws broken

To ensure we silence their voices

In allegiance to the unknown god

---

Cannot stand these heretics

Who trouble our long held beliefs

Claiming to show up its insufficiencies

They must be stopped

In honour of the unknown god

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Serving a god they have never known

By stealth serving the god of this world

The god of pride, the god of self

The god of hatred and intolerance

The god of victimisation and injustice

The god of fear and insecurity

The god of manipulation and control

The god of lies and deception

The god who can't stand the truth

Trying all he can to stamp out it's light

Lest it expose the darkness under which he hides

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Two thousand years ago

To the cross He went

Dying just to know you

So full of unrequited love

Willingly gave Himself

To live His life in you

Through inseparable union that time cannot annul

Having all eternity to know as you are known

By the God known by His love

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[IV]. Having silenced yet another group, the circus continued. They were all lining up to outwit the very wisdom of God Himself. He revealed to them that love was the context from which everything God does and intends originates. This was where they were missing it. The only love they knew was self-love at all costs, as they sought to ensnare and kill Jesus.

1. "When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: "Teacher, which command in God's Law is the most important?" Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them." (Matthew 22:34-40 MSG)

2. "The high priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Jewish ruling body. "What do we do now?" they asked. "This man keeps on doing things, creating God-signs. If we let him go on, pretty soon everyone will be believing in him and the Romans will come and remove what little power and privilege we still have." Then one of them--it was Caiaphas, the designated Chief Priest that year--spoke up, "Don't you know anything? Can't you see that it's to our advantage that one man dies for the people rather than the whole nation be destroyed?" He didn't say this of his own accord, but as Chief Priest that year he unwittingly prophesied that Jesus was about to die sacrificially for the nation, and not only for the nation but so that all God's exile-scattered children might be gathered together into one people. From that day on, they plotted to kill him." (John 11:47-53 MSG)

3. "But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who knows God understands us and listens. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not listen to us. This is another test for telling the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception. My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love--so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about--not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God. My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us--perfect love!" (1 John 4:6-12 MSG)

[V]. Jesus decided to press the point of their ignorance of the true revelation of God's word, with a question of His own. He proved man-made concocted religious knowledge is no match for the true revelation of God, yet they refuse to concede and believe.

1. "As the Pharisees were regrouping, Jesus caught them off balance with his own test question: "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said, "David's son." Jesus replied, "Well, if the Christ is David's son, how do you explain that David, under inspiration, named Christ his 'Master'? God said to my Master, "Sit here at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool." "Now if David calls him 'Master,' how can he at the same time be his son?" That stumped them, literalists that they were. Unwilling to risk losing face again in one of these public verbal exchanges, they quit asking questions for good." (Matthew 22:41-46 MSG)

2. "Start with GOD--the first step in learning is bowing down to GOD; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning." (Proverbs 1:7 MSG)

3. "Give to a wise one, and he will be still wiser; teach a just one, and he will increase in learning. The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." (Proverbs 9:9-10 MKJV)

4. "Fear-of-GOD is a school in skilled living-- first you learn humility, then you experience glory." (Proverbs 15:33 MSG)

(To be continued..)

Every Blessing

Breadoflife 

click here to read part 10

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