You Will All Be Offended Because of Me

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Who is this talking about? Is it talking about the apostles and the rest of the
disciples? It is talking about all of us! You will all be offended because of me.
If you never come to that, you don't know Jesus Christ. Part of the
Revelation of Jesus Christ is that you lose your first love.

Am I encouraging you all to go out and sin? No, I did not. I am telling you
that's what will happen to those who are in Christ Jesus in the mature,
complete level. All Christians come to Christ as Corinthians. They are behind
in no gift, they are called in Christ, sanctified, called to be saints. But, you
can't speak to them as unto spiritual, you have to speak to them as unto
carnal. If you are still saying 'I'm a (any denomination or doctrine you may
follow other than Christ),' you are a carnal Christian. Christ was not a
denomination, Christ was Christ and that's what we are. We are Christ.

We are coming down to the crucifixion of Christ. This chapter is about his
apprehension by his enemies and the events leading up to it, the last supper,
et al. He has said what he has to say. All the parables have been spoken and
he has finished all these sayings.

Matthew 26:1-2 And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he
said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the
passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.

You see how the Bible talks? It is not going to be, it's done. He's betrayed.
God calls those things that are not as though they were. That's the way the
Bible reads all the way through in reality. He is making man in his image.
Man isn't made in God's image. If he were, why would he need to be
conformed in the image of Christ in the New Testament? He's being
conformed. It should read, 'Let us be making man in our image' and that's
exactly what God is doing.

Matthew 26:3-4 Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the
elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called
Caiaphas, And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him.

Why do we read about the crucifixion of Christ? So that we know what

history is all about and we know what happened to Christ? We need to know
that, like the law of Moses, you can't know who Jesus Christ is without
knowing that there is an Old Testament. The law is our schoolmaster to bring
 us to Christ, to know what sin is. Why are we told that Christ has to be
killed? So that we know what we have to do. What he has to do in us. That's
what it's all about.

1 John 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect [complete], that we may have boldness
in the day of judgment [now for the elect]: because as he is, so are we in
this world.

You want to know what judgment day is like? If you are in the house of God
(1 Peter 4:17), you are in judgment day.

Was Christ crucified? We must be crucified.

It is impossible for the carnal mind to take hold of the things of the Spirit.
Paul says:

Romans 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto

sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of
the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Our spiritual life depends on our spiritual understanding. We have got to be

crucified with Christ. That's what we are, right now, living in this world,
crucified with Christ. I hope you can understand that. Crucifixion is a slow
process. You don't die instantly, it is a process. You go through it, as long as
you are in the flesh. You are struggling to die to that flesh. Then you are
raised with him.

I have a commentary on what we have just read, consulting to kill him:

John 8:30-31 As he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to
those Jews which believed on him [the Christian church, the people who
believe on Christ], If ye continue [abide] in my word, then are ye my
disciples indeed;

There's a world of difference between being a disciple and being a disciple,

indeed. The whole Christian world with its billion, plus, Christians are
disciples of Christ.

John 8:32-34 And [if you abide in my word] ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were
 never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth
sin is the servant of sin.

That is something ministers do not preach on. Nobody preaches on not

sinning. The assumption in the Christian church is that you can't help it, you
are flesh and blood, you have to sin. They all point to Romans 7, but they
forget about Romans 6 and 8.

Romans 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the
law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

But you have Romans 6, four times, saying, 'being therefore made free
from sin.'

Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law,
but under grace.

Grace does not put up with that stuff. The grace of God chastens us to
forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts, to live Godly lives in this present evil
age. No, sin does not have dominion over you. You are free from sin. That's
the teaching of God word, if you can receive it. Anything else is less than the
truth.

John 8:35-36 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth
ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free [from sin], ye shall be free
indeed.

John 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed [Jews who believe on Christ]; but ye
seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

They are killing him. Every time you kill another human, you are killing Jesus
Christ.

John 8:38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye
have seen with your father.

That's the end of my commentary on those seeking to kill Christ. Let's go on

in verse 5 of Matthew 26:

Matthew 26:5 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the
people.
 What's the point here? Why an uproar among the people? Because, as much
as these (Jews that seek to kill him) did not like his doctrine, they
appreciated the free meals and all those healings. The ability to heal people
will bring a lot of people to you. Even false ministers who claim to be
healers, they get throngs of people coming to them. Just think how much
more so that would be if these guys really were healers and every time they
touched someone they were healed.

Matthew 26:6-8 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,
There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious
ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. But when his
disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?

Now, you know, as He is so are we in this world. Keep that statement

together in your mind for every verse you read in God's word. It all comes
back to that. If you have your heart on things above, you are going to be
looked on as wasting your substance, wasting everything you say and do.
People are going to look on you as a fool because you put your thoughts and
affections on Christ instead of on things on this earth.

What purpose is this waste of saying love your neighbor? What purpose is
this waste of clinging to the doctrine of Jesus Christ? People do not like to
see you honoring Jesus Christ. Talk about it, have him into your house for
dinner, but don't do what he says.

Simon is a Pharisee who has apparently been healed by Jesus. They call him
Simon the leper. Leprosy is an incurable disease, so you don't have to be too
smart to figure out that this guy has been healed by Christ. The people he
healed and fed wanted him dead.

Matthew 26:9-12 For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the
poor. When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the
woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor
always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured
this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.

She was honoring Christ. She did not care what anyone thought, she was
past that. This woman was a sinner, Simon says in another gospel.

Matthew 26:13 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in
the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for
a memorial of her.
Who is this woman? What does she stand for? She's a woman, so she stands
for those who are faithful to Christ, Christ's real bride. Christ has 2 wives in
scriptural terminology, he has a bond wife and a free wife. The children of
the bond wife are in bondage, the church, still subject to sin. The children of
the free wife are free from sin. This woman is the free wife. She stands for
those who don't care what the world think.

The biggest obstacle that any of you will ever have to overcome to get
started in your walk in the doctrine of Jesus Christ is to admit and face the
fact that the Christian world does not have the doctrine of Jesus Christ. You
say to yourself, how can it be that all of these churches are wrong? Who do
we think we are that we understand what they don't? If you are looking for
numbers, you are never going to see Jesus Christ, because he is not a
number. He is a person, he has a doctrine and a personality. If you don't
come to see that person, and see that he is not the Jesus Christ you have
been hearing about all your life, you are never going to know him. You have
to see that the Jesus Christ of God's word is not the Jesus Christ you hear
about in church. It is another Jesus.

This woman was sobbing in total gratitude for what she has been given,
which is Christ in her. This is in type and shadow. She recognizes him for
what he is, even if Pentecost hasn't come yet and the Holy Spirit hasn't been
given. These things are given us as a type and a shadow.

The whole ministry of Christ is a type and a shadow. His healing are not
what we are supposed to be looking for today. If they are, he lied, because
he said, these things and greater will you do because there is nobody since
Christ who has ever done as much as he did. Nobody. But, he didn't lie. We
are doing those things and greater because when we heal someone and
raise them from the dead, they are never going to die. People Christ raised
from the dead, they died again. Lazarus died. All the people that were raised
from the dead in the Old Testament, they all died in faith not having received
the promises. Hebrews 11 names them, Enoch is one of them.

When Christ comes into anyone, since his resurrection, that person will be in
the first resurrection and will never know death. Death has to do with
spiritually being dead. It has nothing to do with the flesh. Flesh is dying.

This was too much for Judas. He was tired of this man who gave everything
away and wasn't interested in a physical kingdom. Judas is not an exception
to the rule, Judas is the rule. He has the attitude of all Christians. They turn
their back on everything Christ stands for and say, I'm going to do it my
way.
Matthew 26:14-15 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief
priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him
unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.

Same scenario with Joseph and his brothers, selling him for 20 pieces of
silver, by his brothers.

Matthew 26:16-18 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him. Now the
first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying
unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? And
he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith,
My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.

Jesus had set this all up in advance. He was not catching this guy off guard.

Matthew 26:19-22 And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made
ready the passover. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the
twelve. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you
shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of
them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?

Jesus knows what he's talking about. He just says one of you will betray me.
There was one of them that didn't say, is it I.

I get this question all the time: I'm afraid I've committed the unpardonable
sin. If you are afraid you've committed the unpardonable sin, you haven't
committed it. You are these 12 apostles wondering if you have, but you
haven't. If you have committed the unpardonable sin, you don't think you
need forgiveness for anything. That's what the unpardonable sin is, is
thinking you've go the six basic doctrines down and that's all there is to it.
That's the unpardonable sin. That's not even a biblical phrase, there is
nothing unpardonable. It just says that it is impossible to renew someone to
repentance who does not think they need it. The 99 sheep are guilty of the
unpardonable sin. Who in Adam doesn't need repentance?

Matthew 26:23-24 And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in
the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of man goeth as it is written of
him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had
been good for that man if he had not been born.

Let's go back to Matthew 22:11. This is the marriage supper.

Matthew 22:11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man
which had not on a wedding garment:
 This is not just someone who is in the church and come out of Babylon. This
is someone who is very close to Christ and actually knows a lot about Christ.
This is Judas here.

Matthew 22:12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having
a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

Matthew 26:25 Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I?
He said unto him, Thou hast said.

Judas knew that he had already agreed with. Christ said to him, you said it.

Matthew 26:26-31 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and
brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye
all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many
[everyone in Adam] for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not
drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new
with you in my Father's kingdom. And when they had sung an hymn, they
went out into the mount of Olives. Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall
be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the
shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

We see in the book of Revelation, it says that God's church loses its first
love. He says that the Ephesus, the very first church. We are told that you
have got to keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book. It doesn't say you
keep the good sayings of the prophecy of this book. There aren't any good
sayings in it. It is all bad [for the flesh]. You have to experience the bad. He
that has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.

There is some good. It's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It's not
the tree of total debauchery. It is good and evil. God created that tree along
with a crooked serpent and he said that it was very good. Good for what?
Good to do what he is doing on plan A.

Matthew 26:32 But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.

We have got to experience that along with the churches of Revelation. The
churches of Revelation are a part of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. That's
what all who are in Christ do. That's their part in the sayings of the prophecy
of this book.

Matthew 26:33-35 Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be
offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him,
 Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny
me thrice. Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not
deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.

They all fled that very night and Peter denied him 3 times. Everything was
right on plan A. It didn't take Christ by surprise. Let's read what happened in
the other gospels.

Mark 14:65-72 And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet
him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the
palms of their hands. And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh
one of the maids of the high priest: And when she saw Peter warming
himself, she looked upon him, and said, And thou also wast with Jesus of
Nazareth. But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou
sayest. And he went out into the porch; and the cock crew. And a maid saw
him again, and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them. And
he denied it again. And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter,
Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilaean, and thy speech
agreeth thereto. But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this
man of whom ye speak. And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called
to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou
shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.

Matthew says before the cock crows, period, he didn't say how many times.
Does Matthew disagree with Mark? No. The cock crowed and Peter denied
Christ and that's all that's called for. Mark adds detail that Matthew didn't
add. Let's see how Luke puts it.

Luke 22:54 Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest's
house. And Peter followed afar off.

All of you will be offended. Don't think that you are not going to have this
very thing to experience. Think about it, prepare yourself for it, be ready,
because it will happen. Many of us, I hope, have already been through this.
We have already denied Christ and repented of it. We have come to the point
that we don't care any more. Peter, in just a few days at the day of
Pentecost, is going to be a changed man. He couldn't care less what they do
to him. They say don't preach in the temple, he says, I'm sorry I've got to
obey God rather than men. Do you worry about the world or do you worry
about God?

Luke 22:55-62 And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set
down together, Peter sat down among them. But a certain maid beheld him
as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was
 also with him. And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not. And
after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And
Peter said, Man, I am not. And about the space of one hour after another
confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him: for he
is a Galilaean. And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And
immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. And the Lord turned, and
looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had
said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter
went out, and wept bitterly.

You will experience this. Every time you do what you know you shouldn't do.
When you cave in to the desire to be part of the world. When you can't
conceive that all these Pharisees and the high priest, himself, is wrong, you
are denying Christ. You will come to see that and you will weep bitterly for it.
Then you will know that many are called and few are chosen.

Peter had said that he was going to stand for Christ regardless, he was not
going to deny his Lord, and he did. In his confidence in his flesh, he was
blind as a bat. When you think that you know what you are going to do, you
have sealed your fate spiritually, because you don't have it in you to execute
anything. What you need to say is, the Lord willing, I will do.

We need to recognize our blindness before God can open our eyes to see. If
we don't recognize that we are blind, how can we be healed. We won't be
asking to be healed.

John 9:6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the
spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,

Why did he anoint the blind man's eyes with clay? Because, it is our clay that
blinds us. Jesus put it on this man's eyes and showed him that the flesh
cannot see anything. Only the spirit is capable of vision and sight.

John 9:39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which
see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

I've said it before and I will say it again before I quit saying it. The whole
world sees the first part of that verse and no one sees the last part. They
don't see that all the churches have to come to see their blindness before
they can be given sight. Saul of Tarsus was a very good church member. He
was blameless in the law. He had to live 3 days and 3 nights with a physical
shadow of what we must all go through. It was only after he was made blind
that God gave him the ability to see the things of the spirit.
 In Exodus, Moses is making excuses for not wanting to deliver Israel out of
Egypt.

Exodus 4:10-11 And Moses said unto the LORD, O my LORD, I am not eloquent,
neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am
slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the LORD said unto him, Who
hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing,
or the blind? have not I the LORD?

God admits, right there, that he's the one who makes people blind and deaf,
gives them hearing and takes away their hearing. He does it all.

John's [the Baptist] disciples had a message from John. They wanted to
know, are you really the Messiah? John was looking for the kingdom to be
established too. Nobody could see this spiritual kingdom. The spirit hadn't
been given. You can't understand the things of the spirit without the spirit.
John did not have the Holy Spirit. The truth came by Jesus Christ.

Christ sends a message back, you tell John that the blind receive their sight,
the lame walk, the leper's are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised
and the poor have the gospel preached to them. That's how you know that
Christ is who he says he is.

What did we just read? What did you just see and hear? Did you see what all
the churches are looking for? Coming behind in no gift and are you yet
carnal. Christ's life did not convert one person. Didn't he say, thy sins be
forgiven thee? Yes, the death of Christ forgave all the sins of the whole world
of all time. But, no one was converted until the day of Pentecost. Christ told
Peter, after his resurrection at the side of the lake when he had the fish
waiting for them, when you are converted [50 days hence], I want you to
feed my sheep. None of the apostles were converted until the day of
Pentecost.

John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do
shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go
unto my Father.

What's greater than what Christ did? What's greater than that if it's not the
spiritual blind receiving their sight, the spiritually lame learning how to walk
in Christ, the spiritual lepers who are incurably diseased with sin being
cleansed, and the spiritually deaf being able to hear the words of God and
the spiritually dead being raised. That's what's greater. Incomparably greater
than having a physical hand restored, just to have to die.
John 9:39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which
see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

If Matthew 11:5 is to be understood physically, how is John 9:39 supposed

to be understood? When did Christ ever take people's sight away from them?
He came for that reason. This is all spiritual language. What Christ is saying
is what he said to the Pharisees when they asked him, are you saying we are
blind? He said, as long as you say we see [don't need repentance], your sin
remains. You have to be the prodigal, to be a carnal Corinthian, see yourself
that way. Then you see yourself as a blind person.

You see why I have entitled this as I have. You will all be offended because
of me. There is not one person in the room that doesn't need to see
ourselves in the sense that we have offended Christ. Christ's sheep know his
voice. They know the voice of a stranger, too. It's not something they guess
about, it's not something they doubt. Do you know the voice of Christ? Of a
stranger?

If you see yourself as having been offended because of Christ, then you
know the voice of your Shepherd.