Discipleship in the Bible: How to Follow Yeshua the Right Way | Let's Talk Biblical | Episode 16

If you love talking about the Bible as much as I do, then I think you really enjoy this show. Welcome to Let's Talk Biblical, the podcast where we dig deep into the heart of scripture, explore timeless truths, and have real conversations about what the Bible says and how it applies to us. My name is Lex and I want to thank you for joining me on today's episode. So grab your Bible, get comfortable, and let's talk biblical. Hey guys. So today we're going to be talking about disciplehip. The church has done a really good job of making converts, but are we making disciples? Yeshua didn't say go and make church. He didn't say go and make churchgoers. He said go and make disciples. So today we're going to ask the qu uh we're going to ask the hard questions. Questions like what does it mean to be a disciple of Yeshua? How is biblical disciplehip different from modern Christianity? And why does disciplehip cost us everything? Are you a disciple of Yeshua or are you just a churchgoer? Today we're going to find out. Following Yeshua means more than believing. It means walking in obedience, imitate imitating his life and making disciples who do the same thing. So first off, I want to start by talking about the great commission. The great commission is a call to disciplehip. When Yeshua gave the great commission, he said to go and make disciples, he didn't say just go make converts. He said make disciples. But in many churches today, we've reduced that to simply reciting a sinner's prayer and joining a church. Biblically, a disciple is someone who follows a teacher. They learn from him and they imitate his way of life. A disciple sits at the feet of Yeshua, learning from his teachings and following his example. The goal of disciplehip is that we would be like Yeshua. So, I want to start off in uh Luke chapter 6 and we're going to look at verse 40. All right. Yeshua said, "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher." All right. So, if we're not becoming like Yeshua in how we think, how we talk, and how we live our lives, can we really call ourselves his disciples? Because a disciple is like his teacher. Okay? Everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. So, the goal of disciplehip is that we become like Yeshua. Now if we look at the example that the disciples gave um we see that when when they were called to follow Yeshua, they left everything. Um you know so if they were fishermen some of some of the disciples were fishermen they left their fishing nets. They dropped their nets, left their boats and followed him. Uh one was at least one was a tax collector. We know he left his um tax collector's booth, left his job and followed Yeshua. We know some of the other disciples had other jobs as well. when you look at the um what's the word the pattern or the um the example of how disciplehip worked in first century Judaism. Um, typically what would happen is a rabbi would uh call his disciples at a young age, usually around 12 or 13, sometimes younger, um, before they have entered their careers. And so he would call them at a young age and they would start training to be his disciples, meaning they would be training to become rabbis as well someday. And in doing so, they would forgo following in their family footsteps. Following uh like for example, if your if your dad was a fisherman, then you would follow in his footsteps and you would become a fisherman also and take over the family business. You would train under him and he would be he would be your disciple or he would be you you would be his disciple. And so you would learn how to to go fishing. If your dad was a carpenter, you would train under your dad as his disciple and you would become a carpenter as well. Um, and then you know some people uh if if they chose to go a different route than what their parents went, they might find a another person to disciple them. So, like for example, if your dad is dead or if your dad um didn't have a job or uh if his if his job wasn't uh something that you wanted to do, uh then you might try to find someone else to disciple under and you would train to do what they did. And so disciplehip is really kind of a internship mentorship um learning process to become like your teacher. And so um so for example, if if you wanted to become a fisherman, you would train under a fisherman and you would become an expert fisherman. If you wanted to be a carpenter, you would train under a carpenter and you would become an expert carpenter. Um and so the goal of disciplehip is so that you can become like your master. All right? And so, but what we see is the disciples, they were not 12, 13 year old boys learning from a uh a master. They were already grown adults. They which meant that they were passed up by the rabbis. They were not chosen by the rabbis to become disciples. they were uh they went into um their their father's career and they started following after um the training that their father gave them. And so they weren't trained by a rabbi to become a discip uh to become to become a rabbi. They were trained by their parents to follow in in the family business. Um, and so this this shows us something unique about these disciples and that um they were they were looked over by other rabbis. But Yeshua saw them and he said, "I want you to follow me." He didn't go to the school and pick out the top student. That's what most rabbis would do. He went out and he looked at the hearts and he saw their hearts and he chose them to follow him because of what he saw inside of them. Now um he does the same with us. He sees what's inside of us and and he says come follow me and so we follow after him. Um the disciples also would uh they would walk with him daily. They would sit at his feet daily listening to his teachings. They would spend time with him daily. Um they would do whatever he asked. And so he would sometimes send them on missions and they they would go do that, send them to go retrieve things, send them to go do tasks, and they would go do those things. But uh they committed their life to following him. they they committed their life to um being at his service, doing what he asked and listening to his teachings and learning from him and trying to be like him. And so when he healed people, they they said, "We want to heal people, too." And they learned how to heal people from from watching him heal people. When um when he taught and he he gave sermons, they would listen and they would learn how to teach and do it the way he did it. they would learn to be like him and uh so everything he did they tried to imitate they tried to emulate they tried to be like him in all those ways and that's that's really what that verse in Luke is talking about that a disciple is not above his teacher but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher okay so our goal as disciples is to become like our teacher and the way to do that is by spending time daily listening to his teachings um and spending time daily uh following his example, doing what he did. And so as we do those things, we become like Yeshua. And so now I want to talk about the demands of disciplehip. And disciplehip demands total allegiance to Yeshua. Yeshua didn't sugarcoat disciplehip. He made it very clear that following him would cost us everything. Got a hair in my mouth. Uh let's go to Luke 14 and we're going to go verse 33. So likewise, whoever you whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple. Okay. So what does it mean to forsake all that we have? The word forsake means to abandon, to renounce or to give up. Therefore, we are expected to give up and to abandon the things that we think are important and to seek the things that God says are important instead. Okay, that's what we see in the the example in the disciples. So, the fishermen, he said, "Drop your nets and come follow me." They abandoned their fishing. the thing that they saw as important, the thing that they saw as um what they needed to do, what was important to them, they abandoned that and they followed him instead. They did what he asked them to do. And so uh whoever does not forsake all that he has cannot be to my disciples. Means to forsake means to abandon, to uh to do away with, to put it down, um to give it up, to renounce it. And so we we would renounce our allegiances to other things. So um for example, if you are part of a a social club or a um a gang or a uh you know something where you have to swear allegiance to them. Uh you would have to deny your allegiance to that group. You're no longer part of that group. you have to deny your allegiance to that group and you you commit your allegiance to Yeshua only. Okay? Um so you know for example if if if there was a gang member who decided to get saved and follow Yeshua be his disciples he could no longer be a gang member. He has to renounce being part of that gang and he becomes a disciple of Yeshua instead because that gang is going to require his allegiance. they're going to require his commitment to them. And Yeshua wants your total commitment. You can't have divided commitment. You can't be partially committed to him and partially committed to something else. You have to be fully committed to him. And um and so we give up anything that we that we see as important in this life, whether it be commitments, whether it be uh finances, whether it be um trips or jobs or people or things um things that we hold dear, things that we um put a lot of trust in or put a lot of weight in, things that we see as important. We're supposed to renounce those things and follow him. Meaning that he becomes number one in our life. He is most important in our life. He is more important than everything else and everything else is second place to him. He takes the number one place in our life and everything else is secondary. Okay? And we see this also um in Matthew 16 and uh let's go to verse 19. Uh wait, no, I'm sorry. Matthew 6, I looked at it wrong. Okay. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Okay, so um he's telling us not to store up treasures on earth. This is part of that um denying yourself, denying uh you know, abandoning, forsaking those things which you see as important. um we're not to store up treasures on earth. So earthly things um things that that we find value in, things that we see value in. And we see uh you know within the this movement and within the world we live in today there's a lot of people who are stockpiling and uh they call themselves preers and they they they see this idea of well I've got to stockpile all these things cuz I'm going to need them. So I need to save up gold and I need to save up money and I need to save up valuable things that I can trade and barter. I need to stock up food. Um, I need to have, you know, all these big bins full of food for, you know, so I can somehow last the tribulation. But he says, "Don't stir store for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy where thieves break in a steel." Um, I'm going to tell you from experience. In 2013, we we kind of got on the prepper wagon and we decided, hey, we need to we need to prep, too. We had a lot of people around us who were talking about it and and uh we were convinced, hey, you know, I need to be a prepper. I need to to to to stock up on these things so that I can be ready when the tribulation happens and uh I'm not caught off guard and and I you know I have plenty of food and I have things to barter and and I have um you know ways to sustain myself basically. And what happened is we had buckets of food. We had beans and rice and and various things that were supposed to last a long time. food that was supposed to uh last for years and years and years. Um, and mice got in and they chewed a hole through the plastic bucket and got into our food and so we had to throw all the food away because it was ruined. It, you know, it's full of rice uh mouse poop and and you know, it was just like, "Oh, we can't eat this now. It's been defiled." um we uh we we didn't really have the ability to store up like gold and silver and and money and stuff like that. Um but you know, we tried to to at least stock stock up on some food, but the food went bad. The food was ruined and so we had to toss it out. Um, and so you know this idea that storing up treasures on earth, we were storing up treasures on earth is what we were doing. And just as Yeshua said, it it moth and rust destroy it. Uh, thieves breaking to steal it. The mice uh I guess you consider the mice a thief. Um, or you know, it it's kind of like the moth that it just got in there and destroyed it. Um, and so we learned our lesson. We learned that, well, maybe we're not supposed to be stockpiling this stuff. Um, and so we don't we don't stockpile uh large amounts of food anymore because we we learned our lesson that that's not that's not what we're supposed to be doing. Um, let's see. Okay. Luke 14. Verse 26, Yeshua said, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." Okay, so Yeshua says we need to forsake our parents and our siblings as well, not just forsake oursel. Um, but we're supposed to forsake our parents, our wife, our our children, our siblings. Um, forsake all that we have. Okay, this is back to that first thing. Forsake all that you have. And it's hard saying this. This is a really hard saying, but the idea is that our loyalty is to Yeshua above everything else. Okay? We we obey Yeshua before we obey our parents. We spend time with Yeshua before we spend time with our wife or our friends or our children. Before we spend time with our family, we spend time with Yeshua first. Our priority in life is Yeshua first. And our commitment is total commitment to him alone. No divided loyalty. Okay, that's that's the idea that he's trying to get through to us. And then um verse 27, and whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Okay, so this isn't comfortable. Um this is radical obedience. It means denying yourself daily. Okay, taking up your cross daily. This is about crucifying your flesh. Okay, that's that's what taking up your cross is about. It's about crucifying yourself, crucifying your flesh, dying to yourself, dying to your own needs, dying to the things that you want, the things you desire, and seeking him first. Okay? We we deny oursel. We take up our cross. We die to oursel and then we follow him. That's what it means to be a disciple. We die to our own desires and we follow his desire. We die to our own will and we follow his will. We die to our own ambitions and we seek his ambitions. Okay? We do the things that please him, not the things that please oursel. That's uh that's what he's calling us to do. That's the cost of disciplehip. Okay? And now let's look at Luke 9 and we're going to go to verse 23. Then he said to them, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me." Okay, so here's another example of taking up your cross daily and following him. Okay, this isn't this isn't just um following him in martyrdom, okay? This isn't just saying I'm going to I'm going to die for you. I'm I'm willing to give my life for you and going and dying once as a martyr. That's not what he's describing here. He's saying taking up your cross daily. And so, this is a daily denial of self. This isn't just a one-time uh dying for your faith in Yeshua. You know, somebody puts a gun to your head and says, "Uh, deny Yeshua or die." And you say, "I will never deny Yeshua." And they shoot you. That's not what he's talking about. It's not uh like the the the disciples, the apostles who were martyed for their faith. Some of them um hung on crosses. Some of them uh tortured in uh arenas. Uh some of them fighting, you know, being killed and mauled by lions and bears. Some of them being burnt alive at the stake. Some of them being tarred and feathered. Uh that's not what he's describing. He's not saying uh you need to be willing to die for me. um if you know if it comes to it be willing to be a martyr which is part of disciplehip but that's not what he's describing here. What he's describing here is taking up your cross daily meaning you're dying to yourself daily. You're dying to your own desires daily. You're dy dying to your own flesh daily. You're crucifying your flesh daily and saying I'm not going to uh I'm not going to feed my flesh. I'm going to feed my spirit. I'm not going to live according to the flesh. I'm going to live according to the spirit. I'm not going to follow the desires of the flesh. I'm going to follow the desires of the spirit. Okay? You're abandoning worldly comforts and priorities. Okay? You're abandoning your own priorities and your own comforts in order to follow him and do what is pleasing to him. That's what he's that's what he's asking us to do. That's the cost of disciplehip. Okay. Um Matthew Chapter 6 and verse 33. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Okay? But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Okay? So, he's talking about um worrying. And if you know, if we go up a little earlier, he says, "Don't worry." Um let's see, let's start in verse uh let's start verse 24. No one can serve two masters, for he will either hate one and love the other, or he will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot b serve God and mammon. You can't serve God and money. Okay. And this is important for us to understand that we're we're not here to serve money. We're not here to work for money. We're not here to um seek money. We're not here to chase after money. We're here to chase after God. We're here to chase after Yeshua. We're here to follow him to seek him. Okay? If we're seeking money, then we're not seeking Yeshua. We have to be seeking Yeshua. Now, I I'm not saying don't work, don't have a job, because the Bible says he who doesn't work doesn't eat. So, we need to work. We need to have jobs. We need to provide for our family. Bible says if you don't provide for your family, uh, then you're worse than a heathen. Okay? So, we need to provide for our family. That's not what Yeshua is saying. Okay? He's he's talking about what is your motivation? Is your motivation to seek riches or is your motivation to seek the Lord and the kingdom of the Lord and the things of the Lord? seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and those other things will be be added to you. Okay, he goes on and he says, "Therefore, what I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you'll put on. It is not life more than food and the body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to a stature? So why do you worry about your clothing? Consider the liies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God clothe the grass of the field, which is today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? Oh you of little faith. Therefore do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knows what you need, that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Okay? Don't seek after the things. Don't seek after the the food. Don't seek after the clothing. Don't seek after the riches. Don't seek after those things. Seek the Lord and he knows your needs and he will provide for your needs. That's what Yeshua is saying. And so he he's saying to trust him. We've got to trust him to provide for us. He is our provider. So when we seek him first, we know that he's going to provide for us. He's going to take care of our needs. He's going to pay the bills. He's going to put food on the table. He's going to put clothing on our backs. He's going to provide for us. Okay? But we have to seek him, not the things of this world. It doesn't mean you can't have the things of this world. That's not what he's saying. He's saying don't seek the things of this world. Don't chase after them. Don't make that your your ambition, your goal, your priority. Okay? Seeking after him is our goal. That's our priority. That's our ambition. That's our uh the most important thing for us is to seek after him, to chase after him, to follow him. Following Yeshua means abandoning our will to follow his will. It means forsaking our desires to obey his commandments. It means we don't choose for ourselves. We let him choose for us. We we're just servants and he's our master. So we do everything he tells us. This is what it means to deny ourselves and follow him. We crucify our flesh. We crucify our desire for sin and our selfish ambitions so that we can walk in new life that he's that that he has designed for us. Okay? We crucify our flesh so that we can walk in the new life that he created for us. Now, let's look at Matthew 19 and uh we'll go to verse 21. Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me." Okay, so we're not called to um store up. We're not called to hoard up treasure. We're we're supposed to um we're supposed to help those in need. We're not supposed to to hoard it for ourselves. We're supposed to provide for others and and give to others. And so he's saying, you know, sell what you have and give it to the poor. Okay? Stop hoarding all this stuff for yourself. Don't be a hoarder. Don't be someone who is is hanging on to worldly possessions. Okay? Hanging on to worldly possessions. You're trusting in your possessions. Okay. He's saying stop trusting in those possessions. Let let them go. The the the um antique collection that you prize, let go of it. The um you know, the the the silver and gold that you've been stockpiling, let go of it. The uh the food that you've been stockpiling, let go of it. the the things that you've been trying to cling to, thinking that that's going to save you, thinking that that somehow will provide for you, that somehow will keep you safe. Um, he says, "Let go of those things. Don't don't seek after worldly possessions. Don't seek after worldly treasure. Don't seek after uh worldly comfort. Don't seek after the things that you think you need um to make it through this life. seek after him. And so, uh, that's that's the cost of disciplehip. Get rid of those things, give them to the poor, help those in need, and seek the Lord. Um, you know, maybe you have a DVD collection that you've been hanging on to. It's not important, but you it's important to you. uh or a CD collection or uh a book collection or um you know, whatever it is, you know, there's maybe there's something that you've been hanging on to for some reason or another. You you've made it important in your life. It it it kind of in in some ways is an idol in your life. Um those things you need to let go of. Put them down. Um, stop stop seeking earthly treasure and seek treasure in heaven. Okay? We're not called to admire Yeshua. We're called to follow him. Okay? Many people um Christianity, they they just, oh, they really admire Yeshua. They look up to him. They they, you know, they they think highly of him, maybe even worship him. Um, but they're not following him. They're they they they exalt him. They put him on a pedestal. They worship him. They they you know they they think he's awesome. They love him, but they're not following him. Okay, we we see this all the time. Um there are lots of people in the world who uh they they are believers. They believe in Yeshua. They worship Yeshua. They they um think highly of Yeshua. They admire him, but they're not following him. We're called to follow him, to follow his example, to follow his teachings, to follow his way of life, to live the way he lived, and and to obey what he says for us to do. Okay? And so, uh, now I want to talk about the role that the scriptures and and and specifically the the [Music] Torah, the role that the scriptures and the Torah have in the life of a disciple because disciplehip is about walking in obedience to the word of God just like Yeshua did. And so, we see his example. He said, "I didn't come to do my will. I came to do the will of my father." Um and and we see that he fulfilled scriptures all the time. It says and thus he fulfilled the scripture. He was always doing things to fulfill scripture. He was walking in obedience to the scripture. The Bible says he was perfect and he never sinned. Not once in his entire life did he sin. He he lived a completely sinless life, which means he kept all the commandments. He didn't break a single commandment. Um, and what's what's crazy is in church today, we have people saying that um we're not supposed to obey the commandments. That we're um that, you know, that they they reject the commandments and they say, "No, that's not for us. We're not supposed to do that. We're not supposed to um live according to God's word." That that doesn't make sense to me. How why why did God give us his word if we aren't supposed to live according to it? I don't understand that. First John, let's let's look at first John. Uh 1 John chapter 2 and we're going to look at verse six. He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. Okay. So, if we um claim to follow Yeshua, if we claim to abide in Yeshua, we're supposed to walk the way he walked. We're supposed to um live the way he lived. Okay? And how did Yeshua walk? He lived in full obedience to the Torah. He wasn't living in rebellion against it. um you know and so so when you compare his life to what the church is teaching today in many churches it doesn't line up. Yeshua walked according to the according to the Torah walked according to the scriptures but yet people today are saying we're not supposed to do that. We're not supposed to live according to the scriptures. Well, we're supposed to walk the way Yeshua walked. Um how can you teach contrary to what he taught? How can you live contrary to what he lived? How can he walk in rebellion against the Torah when he when he was walking in obedience to the Torah? Um, and you know, when you think about it, the Bible says he is the word of God incarnate. He is the word of God and the word became flesh. And so, if you're not walking according to the word of God, then how can you say you're you're following Yeshua? Because he is the word of God. Okay? So it doesn't make sense u to say that you're following Yeshua if you're living in rebellion against the scriptures. True disciplehip means submitting to God's instructions, not rejecting them. Okay? And let's go back again to Luke 6 and uh verse 40. Oh, pull it up. A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. Okay, so we're supposed to follow his example. We're supposed to walk as he walked. We're supposed to be like our teacher. Our goal and desire as disciples should be to be like Yeshua. That that should be our desire as disciples is to be like him. Okay, we know that Yeshua never sinned. Um, and we know that he obeyed the scriptures perfectly. Yeshua kept the Sabbath. Okay, and so do his disciples. That's something we've got to wrap our minds around. Yeshua kept the Sabbath and so do his disciples. If you're not keeping the Sabbath, then you're not one of his disciples. Okay? You may you may follow or you may you may worship Yeshua. You may um be a believer in Yeshua um but you're not following his example. Okay? You're not being a disciple because you're not keeping the Sabbath. He kept the Sabbath. Yeshua kept the feast days. Okay? We have record through throughout all the gospels. Yeshua kept Passover. Yeshua kept the feast of tabernacles. Um Yeshua kept the feast days. We see this throughout the the Gospels. And so do his disciples. Okay? If if you're one of his disciples, you will keep the feast days just the way Yeshua kept them. At at Passover, Yeshua said, "This is my body broken for you. Do this in remeance of me." He's expecting his disciples to keep Passover every year in his memory. If you're not keeping Passover, if you're not keeping the feast days, how how can you say you're his disciple? It doesn't make sense. You're not following his example. You're not following him. You're not doing what he did. You're not doing what he taught. You're just You may believe in him. You may worship him, but you're not following him. All right? Um Yeshua taught and kept the Torah, and so do his disciples. We see over and over again, Yeshua was teaching Torah, and he was teaching what the Bible says. He was teaching the commandments. He was teaching obedience to the Torah. He walked in obedience to the Torah and he taught his disciples to walk in obedience to the Torah. If we're not following his example by keeping the Torah, then how can we say we're his disciples? Isaiah, I want to jump over to Isaiah now. Isaiah chapter 8 and uh verse 16. Excuse me. Says, "Bind up the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples." Okay? Seal the Torah. Seal the law among my disciples. His disciples are those who who have the law. They hang on to the law. They protect the law. They they keep the law. That's what his disciples do. Okay. And Yeshua instructs his disciples to obey his commandments. John 14 and uh verse 15, he says, "If you love me, keep my commandments." All right. Now, there's a lot of people who who say, "Well, Yeshua's commandments are just the the words in red written in the Gospels." No, there's there's a lot more than that. We understand that Yeshua is God incarnate, right? If you believe that Yeshua is God incarnate, then you have to believe that his words extend from Genesis to Revelation. The John John 1 says he's the word of God and the word created all things. The word was with God. The word was God. The word created all things and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Okay? If Yeshua is the word of God and he created all things, which means he is the one who spoke the Torah to Moses. Okay? If he is the word of God who created all things, he is the one who met with Moses and gave Moses the commandments. Okay? So, um and if he's the word of God, then then he is the the living scriptures. It it's he is the scriptures incarnate, right? He is God incarnate. He is the word of God incarnate. He he is the he's he's the living scriptures is really what you can see about him. And so if you want to follow him and obey him, you need to obey his word. He is the word and you obey his word from Genesis to Revelation. You need to obey what he said. He is the creator of all things. And that means he's the one who gave the commandments to Moses, which means he gave us he's the one that uh he he gave us all the commandments. And so when he says, "If you love me, keep my commandments." He's speaking of the whole Bible. He's speaking of everything from Genesis to Revelation. That's his commandments. We're supposed to do what he says in his word. Okay. Um all the commandments in the Bible are Yeshua's commandments. All right. So now, um I want to I want to go into uh I want to talk about the fact that disciples make disciples. Okay. Yeshua said, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, son, and holy spirit." Right? Disciples make disciples. He told his disciples to go and make disciples. Okay? Disciplehip isn't just about learning. It's about reproducing. If we're truly his disciples, we should be making other disciples. All right? Um, Matthew uh Matthew chapter 4 and verse 19. Then he said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." They immediately left their nets and followed him. Okay? He said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." If we aren't fishing for men, can we call ourselves his disciples? Okay, that's that's what a disciple does. A disciple fishes for men. They they go out and they try to bring in more men. They try to catch more men to become disciples. They try to gather in more disciples. Okay? They go and make disciples. If we aren't fishing for men, if we aren't making more disciples, we can't call ourselves his disciples. Okay, Matthew 28:19. Okay, this is the great commission. He says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." So you're making disciples and teaching them to obey his commandments. Right? This is this is a mandate. This is a commission. This is what we are supposed to be doing. This is what he has called us to do. This is what he has commissioned us to do. What he has sent us to do. This is our duty. This is our task. This is what it means to follow him is to make disciples. And so we have to do it. We if we're not making disciples, we're not his disciple. If we're not fishing for men, we are not his disciple. We're not called to keep the truth to ourselves. We're called to share it with others. Okay? If your faith isn't impacting others, it's time to ask yourself the question, am I truly living as a disciple or am I just a believer? Okay? And I've I've contrasted those several times in here. There's a lot of people who are believers, but they're not disciples. They're not following him. They believe in him, but they're not following him. Which one are you? Are you a disciple? Are you just a believer? The cost and reward of disciplehip. Okay. The disciplehip comes with a cost. Disciplehip will cost you your comfort. It will cost you your convenience. And it will cost you your commitment. You're not you're not here to be comfortable. You're not here to have worldly conveniences. And you can't share your commitment with anyone else. You need to be committed to him. Okay? Your commitment needs to be to Yeshua and him alone. If your commitment is divided, you're serving two masters. You can't serve him and something else. Okay? You need to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him. You need to uh forsake the things of this world and follow him. You need to store up treasures in heaven, not on earth. Okay? You need to obey his commandments, walk in his instructions. You are his servant and he is your master. That means you call him Lord and you obey his commandments. You follow him. You you serve him. You do what he asks. Okay? It's it's the again the idea of a um an apprentice working under a master. If your master tells you to do something, you do it. If he shows you how to do something, you do it the way he did it. You try to follow his example as best as you possibly can. Okay? And you you practice at it to get better. You want to be just like him. Okay? So, again, if you're a carpenter, you you want to learn how to um you know, how how to to do trim and molding. you you watch your your master doing cutting the trim and the molding so that you know how to describe that trim and that molding so that it fits together perfectly. Okay. Um you don't you don't just, you know, just kind of cut a 45 and stick it together and put some caul in the corner. That's that's not a master carpenter. That's that's a do-it-yourself kind of thing. A master carpenter, you know, is very precise. They, you know, they outline the trim and they they match up together and they they they take a a a little scribing saw and they they scribe it out really carefully so that it fits together snugly and perfectly. So, you don't need coaul. It fits perfectly. Okay, that's that's what a master carpenter does. A do-it-yourself guy just cuts 45s and throws some coaul in the corner and calls it good. Okay, you're here to train under your master and to become a master like he is. You're you're to follow his example. You're to do what he did, how he did it, and you're to practice so that you can become like him. Okay? Um we need to stop playing church and we need to start walking as true disciples of Yeshua. All right? So my question to you is, will you follow him? That's the the question he asked his disciples is follow me. Come follow me. And so you need to make a choice. Are you going to follow him or are you going to keep going down the trail that you're going down? Are you going to keep just seeking your own way, seeking your own things, um doing things your way, or are you going to start seeking him and following him? All right, let's go ahead and get into some uh some questions. All right, so post your questions and put the word question in all caps and I'll be I'll be skimming for your questions and and see what I can find. And uh all right, here we go. Hey friends, if you've been enjoying the show and you want to help keep the conversation going, then we'd love your support. Let's Talk Biblical is a listener supported podcast and we couldn't do this without you. Your support helps keep this show running. For more information about how you can support this ministry, visit unlearnthe.com. And thank you so much for being a part of Let's Talk Biblical. Now that we've explored the depths of today's topic, it's time to hear from you. Welcome to the Q&A portion of the show where you can ask questions about today's topic. So, post your questions in the chat and let's talk biblical. All right, so the first question we have here today is from Thinking Kingdom Thoughts and Tracy asks, "How does Matthew 6:19 compared to the 10 brides with the oil?" Okay, so let's look at Matthew 6 19. And it's one we just read a minute ago, but I want to go and pull it up again. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. Okay, now the question is about the 10 brides with the oil. So we have five brides um who had oil and five brides who had who who didn't have oil. And let me um there are the the the 10 virgins, right? see if I can find that verse real quick. All right, it's Matthew 25. So, let's go ahead and pull that up. And uh going to start verse one. Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard, "Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him." Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." But the wise answered, saying, "No, lest there should not be enough oil for us and you, but go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves." And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut. Afterward, the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Assuredly I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. Okay, so this this parable, it talks about having oil for your lamp. Um, but it's a parable. And so we've got to remember that parables um they are teaching basically the idea of a parable is it teaches one thing. Um they don't have it's not like a true allegory where multiple things in the story have multiple meanings. Um the the point of a parable is typically to teach one thing. And so there's one one overarching theme of the parable. And um you've got to be careful about drawing too many um conclusions and and making too many allegorories out of it. And so um the point of this is that uh we're supposed to be ready for the groom when he comes. Okay? So it's it's not about um stocking up on lamp oil. Okay? That's not what he's trying to teach us. He's not telling us, "Hey, you need to stock up on lamp oil cuz you're going to need lamp oil." That's not that's not what he's trying to teach us. Um, and I've heard people try to um make connections with the oil and say, "Well, the oil represents the Holy Spirit or the oil represents uh, you know, this or the oil represents that." And they they try to make different connections and try to to to explain what the oil means. And I don't think the oil is the point of the story. I think the point of the story is that we're supposed to be prepared for his return. Um being ready and watching and waiting for his return. Um having what we need so that when he returns, we are ready to go in. And it's not about having earthly things. Um and so it's it's us being prepared. It's about our heart being prepared, about our mind being prepared, about our uh about us being ready. Um, and so, uh, you know, I don't think there's really a comparison between, uh, Matthew 6:19, uh, with the the oil. I don't think that it really is is meant to be a a comparison. I don't think there's anything there to compare really. Um, because again, Matthew 6:19 is is about not storing up treasures on earth, but storing up treasures in heaven. And um you know I guess I mean you could possibly say that the uh the virgins who had the oil had stored up treasures in heaven maybe. Um but the virgins who didn't have the oil didn't store up treasures in heaven. Um I guess you can make that comparison possibly. Um but I don't think that's the point of the parable. So uh but he he's not trying to tell us to store up things on earth. All right. Josie says, "How should men versus women's disciplehip look within the church in your opinion?" Um, I I don't know that there's a lot of difference between men's disciplehip and women's disciplehip really. Um, other than maybe some of the themes that might apply to women that don't apply to men and some of the themes that apply to men that don't apply to women possibly. Um but they're they're very I mean it should be very similar. You have um the idea of disciplehip and let me um let me actually show you this. I wrote a book. It's called Victorious uh men's disciplehip guide. And so it's it's a disciplehip book for men. But I've had a lot of women who've read this book and they said it was great and they they got a lot out of it. Um, even though the themes of this book are geared more towards men, I I think women can benefit from it just as much as men. And so it's broken up into um uh 10 weeks. And so week one is just about disciplehip. What is disciplehip? And each day there is a um a a daily reading assignment and a um here we go. So there's a memory verse memory verse and a devotional and you have daily reading assignments that you're supposed to read uh from your Bible. And then there is a a journal entry and this is is so you can track your your own progress basically. And so you you journal in here whatever is on your mind, whatever you feel like. Just write whatever you want. You can write prayer requests. You can write answers to prayer. You can write what you know what God may be talking to you about through the the reading today. Uh write about what's going on in your life, struggles you have, whatever you want to write about. Um and you have uh reading assignments and fasting assignments and prayer assignments throughout the week. And so every day you're supposed to read and pray. Um, and every week you have uh, you know, certain fasting assignments. And all of these things are are to try to help um, help you grow. And so I'm just going to read uh, a little bit out of the the preface here. Says we should be making disciples of Yeshua, not disciples of ourselves. Okay? So to explain that, what I mean is we're supposed to be following him, not following each other. So I I shouldn't be making disciples of Lex. That's not my goal. I'm not not to make disciples of Lex. I'm supposed to make disciples of Yeshua. And so my goal is to point you to him. My goal is to to get you to look at him, to follow him, to obey him, to walk like he walked, uh to to learn and study his teachings, to to follow his his example. That's that's my goal is to make you a disciple of Yeshua, not to make you a disciple of Lex. Okay? Um being disciple requires you spending time with Yeshua daily. Okay. Uh, this involves developing certain disciplines in your life such as prayer, fasting, meditating on the word, and self-control. This book is designed to help you become a better disciple of Yeshua by teaching you the disciplines needed to grow in your walk with the Lord. Okay? So, the the purpose of this book is to help you develop spiritual disciplines in your life. Okay? Okay. So, those disciplines are daily reading your Bible, daily prayer, uh weekly fasting, and um learning how to meditate on the word, learning how to memorize scripture, learning how to think about it throughout the day and meditate on it all day long. Um those are uh disciplines that you need in order to be a disciple. So, the goal of this book is to teach you those disciplines. Okay. Um, each week you will have instructions about prayer, fasting, and Bible reading. These will change each week. So, pay attention to the assignment and work to develop these disciplines in your life. Each week they increase. Um, they they start small and easy and and they grow and they get bigger and they get more challenging and they uh some of them may be too hard for you to do honestly. Um, the the this book is intended to challenge you and if it's too hard for you, then do your best. Um, but I it's not impossible. It's not impossible to do every assignment in this book. Um, it's challenging and it will definitely challenge you, but um, this this will be fine for men or women. Um, each day you will be given a memory verse to meditate on throughout the day. Memorize these verses and think about them all day long. You also be given a devotional thought to go along with each memory verse. At the end of each day, you're expected to write a journal entry about your walk with the Lord. for that day. You can also write down any prayer requests or answer prayers that you had uh that day. It's important to help you keep track of your own progress. You will be asked to report if you completed your prayer reading and fasting assignments. Um if you only had part of the assignment, then circle no because it was not completed. This is about developing discipline. So partial credit is not an option. Okay. Um this is a very strict disciplehip program. Um, and if you're if you're not serious about disciplehip, then um my book may be may be too too difficult for you. I would I would recommend you um maybe don't try it if it if if you don't think you can commit to it. Um but uh again, this is it's about developing discipline. And so if if you are interested um in in learning more about disciplehip and and learning how you can become more of a disciple, if you're wanting to work on discipline in your life, work on um developing those disciplines, you know, check this out. It's on Amazon. Um I don't know how much it is. It's pretty cheap. I I I I don't even remember what I have it marked at. Um and you know, if you if you want a copy and you can't afford it on Amazon, send you know, let me know. and and I'll send you a copy. Um because, you know, I want you to have it. I It's not like I'm getting rich off this. Um you know, I'm not I'm not making lots of money off book sales. Um I think, you know, my book sales each year a couple hundred a year. I I'm not getting rich off book sales. Um so, uh you know, if you if you really want a copy, um I'll I'll figure out a way to get you a copy. Okay? But if if you want to if you want to do disciplehip, I that's why I wrote the book. I wrote the book so that uh people who want to be discipled can have a way to do it. And if you don't have somebody to coach you, somebody to um to try to to do a hands-on disciplehip with you and to try to to help you learn those things, um it's a way to to to have um have a guide. And so, you know, I I I grew up I wanted somebody to disciple me. I want I I went to my youth pastor and I asked him if he would disciple me. He didn't have time. Went to my senior pastor, asked him to disciple me. He didn't have time. And uh I actually went to several different pastors of different churches over the years because over over the years we went to different churches and I'd go to different pastors and I'd ask them to disciple me and they didn't have time. They didn't want to do it. they were too busy. And so, and I understand that. I I I definitely understand the busyiness of being a pastor. It is very busy. Um, so I get it. I get why um they didn't have time. But, um, I wanted to be able to do something uh to help people. And, you know, I can't obviously I can't disciple every one of you one-on-one. Um, I don't have time to disciple every single one of you oneonone. Um, you know, there's I've got you I don't know how many people couple hundred people watching live right now and um you know and then by the you know by the the end of the day tomorrow there maybe I think usually about 12 to 15,000 or 15 12- 1500 people who have watched this um and then you know people who listen to it on on the uh the audio on uh the different um podcast platforms and So, I don't have time to to do one-on-one disciplehip with thousands of people. That that's unpra it's not practical. But, um, I wrote a book that will help. This is what I would do if if it was you and me oneonone. This is what I would I would teach you. This is what I would do to help you become a disciple is walk you through this program. And, um, so if that's something you're interested in, uh, check it out. I've got on my website. If you go to unlearnthelies.com, um let me pull that up for you here. If you go to unlearnthe.com and you go down to the bottom, there's resources and I've got uh book resources here. I've got the immortal book, I've got victorious book, and I've got the Passover book. So, victorious is the book we're talking about. you go here and it's got information on how you can buy it on Amazon. And so there's a button right there to take you to the Amazon page and you can buy it right there. Um and then you know I also have uh Immortal. This is the first book I wrote. Um this is actually a second edition of that book and um but it's it's about heaven, hell, and the resurrection. So if that's something that's interesting to you, uh I have links for Amazon there as well. have a hard cover, paperback, Kindle, and audio book. Um, if that's something you're interested in. But again, I'm not I'm not making money off of book sales. I'm not getting rich off book sales. I'm uh I put this out to, um, these are resources to help you. And so, um, you know, I get a couple dollars per book. I think I I've got the the the pricing threshold set pretty low. And so, um, I make $2 or three dollars per book. Um, and the rest of that cost is the the printing and and cost, you know, the cost of of getting the book printed. And so, you know, whatever that amounts to. Um, but I I I I just want to help and I I'm hoping that these resources help. And if that's something that might be helpful to you, then check it out. If not, then don't worry about it. All right. Ethan says, "Uh, does Malachi 4:3 override the verse that there'll be weeping and nashing of teeth? I want to know definitively that hell isn't located at the center of the earth." Okay. Uh Malachi 4:3, "You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this, says the Lord of hosts." All right. So, um this is this is talking about something different than the weeping and nashing of teeth is talking about. And so that's uh something that I think people need to to understand is it's not that one is overriding the other or one is con contradicting the other. They're actually talking about two different things. So, right here, he says, "You're going to trample on the wicked." Okay? You're going to the wicked are going to be ashes under your feet. The wicked are going to be um destroyed. Okay? The weeping and nashing of teeth is talking about those who are cast out of the kingdom. Uh let me let me just pull that up for you. Matthew 8:12 um and Matthew 22:13 are the two places. So, Matthew 8 verse 12, but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and a nashing of teeth. Okay, now let's let's look at the context of this. Let's go up a little further. Um, so we have the centurion and the centurion is asking Yeshua to come heal his servant. And he says, "I'm not worthy that you should come under my roof, but speak the word and my servant will be healed." Um, and Yeshua marveled at this man. You know, he says, "I'm a man under authority." And I say, "Go and he goes, and I say come and he comes." And when Yeshua heard it, he marveled and said to those who followed, "Surely say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel. And I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. They'll be weeping and nashing of teeth. Okay? So, what he's describing here is not the wicked, is not the unbelievers. It's not um the those who who take the mark of the antichrist and follow the antichrist and worship the beast and and those who are committing idolatry and and all kinds of perversions and evil. That's not what he's describing. He's not describing the wicked. He's describing the sons of the kingdom. And he's saying that u they're not going to be sitting with Abraham. You know, he says that um let's see where is it at? Many will come and sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast into outer darkness. So he's saying this gentile who has faith like Abraham, he's going to be in the kingdom. But then there are those who are sons of the kingdom, those who should be in the kingdom, those who are um born into it, so to speak, right? They they've been raised up in church. They've been raised up following uh their whole life, but they don't have the faith. He says they're going to be cast out into outer darkness. There's going to be weeping and nashing of teeth. Okay? And then he says go, you know, he tells the centurion, "Go your way. Uh as you believed it, it'll be done for you." So this is in the context of this believing centurion having faith, this gentile centurion having faith. Um and he's he's contrasting that with those who who don't have that same kind of faith. Okay. Then the other one is Matthew 22:13. And Matthew 22:13 says um then the king said to his servants bind them hand and foot take them away and cast them in outer darkness. There will be weeping and nashing of teeth. Okay. So now this one is about is a parable about a wedding. And so let's go um let's start in oh let's start up here start verse verse one uh Jesus answered and spoke to them in parables and said the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for a son. Okay. So, we have the kingdom of God and his son is going to be taking a bride. Yeshua is going to have a bride. And he sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding and they were not willing to come. Okay? So, he sent out invitations to people who were invited, those who were supposed to come, those who were called, those who were chosen, and they didn't want to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, "Tell those who are invited. See, I prepared my dinner, my oxen, and my fattened calf are killed, and all things are ready to come to the wedding." Okay? Uh but they made light of it and went their ways. One to his farm, another to his business. So, they were not true disciples. Uh they weren't following him. They weren't doing what pleased him. They were doing what they wanted to do. And the rest seized their servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. Okay? Okay. So, some of them were even acting horribly. But when the king heard about it, he was furious and he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Okay? So, uh he destroyed the wicked, right? Those who rebuked him, rejected him. Uh those who didn't want to have anything to do with him, those who weren't following him, those who went their own way, wanted nothing to do with him, he destroyed them. and those who were, you know, wicked and and killed their servants, they did wickedness. It says he destroyed them. So those are that's the destruction of the wicked. And then he said to his servants, "The wedding is ready. But those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore, go into the highways and as many as you find, invite to the wedding." So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. Okay, this man was not ready. He was not prepared. He was not dressed for the wedding. And he said to him, "Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?" And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, "Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him in outer darkness. There'll be weeping and nashing of teeth." Okay. So, this is this is a person who survived the destruction of the wicked and the kingdom comes, but he's not prepared to be part of the wedding. Okay, this is this is somebody who made it through the destruction of the wicked. So, he was not part of the wicked. He was not part of the the destruction of uh the ungodly. He made it to the wedding banquet. He made it to the the wedding feast, but he wasn't prepared. He he didn't have his garments on. He wasn't clean. Now, Revelation um let's see what verse I want to go to. Uh let's actually let's go to Matthew 24. Um here's another one about the weeping and nashing of teeth. Matthew 24 and verse 51. Okay. And he will cut him into and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and nashing of teeth. Okay. So let's what is this about? Let's go up and read the context. Um okay. So he starts he says therefore be ready for the son of man is coming an hour you do not expect. So he's telling us to be prepared. Be ready. who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his master made rule over his household to give him food in due season. Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing. Okay, so he's talking about uh us, right? We're supposed to be servants of the master and he's away and when he returns he wants to find us doing his work. Assuredly I say to you that he will make him ruler of all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, "My master is delaying his coming," and he beats his fellow servants and uh and drink with the drunkards, he begins to beat his fellow servants eat and drink with the drunkards. Uh the master of the servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour he is not aware of and will cut him in and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and nashing of teeth. Okay. So, here we see the hypocrites are those who are part of the weeping and nashing of teeth. Okay. They say they follow him, but he says, "I don't know you. You're you're out of my kingdom." And you know, we can see the same thing with the the the 10 virgins, right? Five go in and five are kicked out. Why? Well, the five who go in, they were prepared. They were ready. The five who were left out, they weren't ready. Here we see the the servant who's faithful is ready and watching. But the servants who are not faithful, they, you know, they're out partying and they're doing their own thing. They're not they're not ready for his return. And so he calls them hypocrites. Um let's look at another one. Uh Matthew 25:30. So here we have the next chapter. um and cast that unprofitable servant into outer darkness. There'll be weeping and ashing of teeth. So what's the context of this one? Um this is the talents, right? So we have um let's go up. The kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. and to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one teach according to his own ability. And immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went uh and traded them uh went and traded with them, and he made another five talents. And likewise, he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his lord's money. After a long time, the lord of those servants came and settled the accounts with them. So he would receive five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, "Lord, you delivered me five talents. Look, I have gained five more talents besides them." His lord said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord." He who he also who had received two talents came and said,"Lord, you delivered me two talents. And look, I have gained two more talents besides them." His lord said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord." Then he who received one talent came and said, "Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not swn and gathering where you have not scattered seed." And I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Look here uh there you have what is yours. But his lord answered and said to him, you wicked and lazy you wicked lazy servant. You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money in the bankers and and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has 10 talents. For everyone who has more will be given and to he uh he he will have an abundance but from him who does not have even what he has will be taken away and cast that unprofitable servant into outer darkness. There will be weeping and nashing of teeth. Okay, so this is an unprofitable servant. He's a servant of Yeshua, but he is not a profitable servant. He's not doing what he's supposed to be doing. He's not working for the Lord. He's not he's not a disciple. Okay. He's he's doing his own thing, doing it his own way. He's not following the Lord, and he's considered an unprofitable servant. He's a he's considered a wicked servant, and he's cast into outer darkness where there's weeping and nashing of teeth. Okay? Um and Luke 13 is is a repeat of of one of those other ones. So, um, Revelation and I think it's Revelation 30. It's not pulling up. Why is it not pulling up? I may have to just pull it up a different way. Oh, no. That's why it's not 30, it's 20. Okay, let's try this again. Oh, there's not a Revelation 30. Okay. Um, all right. So, let's just start in verse one. Then an angel, I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. They laid hold the dragon, that serpent of old who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him in the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should not deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things, he must be released for a short time. And I saw thrones, and they who sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast, nor his image, and had not received the mark on their hands or foreheads. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Okay? So the first resurrection, they lived and reigned with Christ for thousand years. But the rest of the dead do not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Okay? So the first resurrection is those who uh resurrect first. They're part of Yeshua. They're at the beginning of that thousand-y year reign. They live with him for thousand years. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection over such the second death has no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him for a thousand years. Now when the thousand years were have expired, Satan will be released from his prison, and he will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle those whose numbers the sand of the sea. So who is he tempting? He's not tempting those who are part of the resurrection. Um that's not who he's tempting though. They are reigning and ruling with Christ in his kingdom. He's tempting those of the nations. Who is that? We we saw in Revelation 19 that the beast um was destroyed, right? Let's see. Find that verse for you real quick. [Music] Um now so I heaven opened and behold a white horse and he was who sat on what's called faithful and true and righteousness. He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire and his head were crowns and he had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God. Okay, so this is describing Yeshua. And the armies in heaven clothed in fine land and white and clean followed him on white horses. Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword which he should strike the nations. And he himself will rule him with a rod of iron. He himself treads the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds of the fly in the midst of the heaven, "Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses, and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great. And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army. Then the beast was captured and with him the false prophet who worked signs in the presence by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast live and like a fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of him who sat on the horse. and all the birds were filled with their flesh. Okay, so we see those who take the mark of the beast, those who follow the antichrist. They are going to be slain and destroyed and the birds are going to eat them. They're they're all going to be killed. So, who is alive during the thousand-y year reign? Obviously, they didn't take the mark of the beast because those who took the mark of the beast are destroyed. They're killed right here. Revelation 19:21. Those who took the mark of the beast are killed. Revelation 20 says that the the saints reign on earth for thousand years. Who are they reigning over? And then after the thousand years expires, Satan goes and tempts the nations. Well, who's in the nations? There's people alive on the earth during the thousand years who are not part of the resurrected saints. They're not part of that kingdom. Okay. Who are they? My theory is, excuse me, my theory is that they are they didn't take the mark of the beast because they um they're believers, but they're not part of the kingdom because they're not um they're not truly following him the way they're supposed to. They're not walking the narrow path. They're not um keeping his commandments. They are um they're not committed. They're not following him. They're not his disciples. Um and so that's who's in the nations is Christians, I think, who are not um who are not counted worthy to be part of the kingdom. and probably Jews also who who didn't take the mark. Okay? Christians and Jews who were not part of the kingdom, who didn't who didn't belong to Yeshua. They didn't take the mark of the beast. They didn't follow the beast, but they they didn't belong to Yeshua. And so, they're out among the nations. They're not reigning and ruling with Yeshua in his kingdom. And then when Satan is released for thousand years, they're the they're the ones who are going to be tempted. And why are they tempted? Because they've been weeping and nashing their teeth. They've been cast out of the kingdom where there's weeping and nashing of teeth. Why are they weeping? Because they're sad that they didn't get into the kingdom. They're crying because they're sad. They're weeping because they're sad. They were called hypocrites. They were called sons of the kingdom. Right? In those verses we looked at in Matthew, they were called sons of the kingdom and they were called hypocrites. They they didn't have the faith of the centurion. And so they they don't get to sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom. They're outside of the kingdom, still alive, weeping and nashing their teeth, wishing they were in the kingdom, wishing they had made better choices, wishing they had followed the Lord the words the way they were supposed to, wishing they were the good servant, not the wicked servant. Okay? So you look at all those scriptures combined, and that's that's the story we see. They were servants of the the Lord, but they didn't come into the kingdom because they weren't worthy. They were the virgins who didn't they weren't prepared. They were the wedding guest who didn't have his clothes clean. They were the the hypocrites. They were the sons of the kingdom who didn't have the faith. Okay? That's who's outside the kingdom. That's who is weeping and nashing their teeth. They're weeping because they're sad. They're nashing their teeth because they're angry. And so when the thousand years expired and Satan comes and tempts the nations again, he's tempting those people. Those people who wanted to be in the kingdom, but didn't make they didn't make the cut. And so they've been weeping and nashing their teeth for a thousand years, wishing that they were in the kingdom, wishing they were part of that first resurrection. And Satan comes along and tempts them. And so many of them follow him. Many of them rebel and rise up against Yeshua. They've been under his reign and rule for a thousand years, but they're upset because they were outside the kingdom. And so when Satan comes along to tempt them, many of them will join him in rebellion. And then fire and brimstone will rain down from heaven on them. Right. And so let's go look at that. Now the thousand years have expired. Satan will be released from his prison and he will go to see the nations which are in the four corners of the earth Gog and Beog to gather them together to battle whose number is the sand of the sea. They went on the breath and uh they went upon the breath of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. They'll be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and he him who sat on it whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them. So now we have the great white throne judgment. Okay. So who is the nations? Who is outside the kingdom during the thousand-y year reign? I think it's Jews and Christians who didn't take the mark. Maybe there may be other people who didn't take the mark too. But why are they weeping and nashing their teeth? Because they thought they were sons of the kingdom. They thought they were going to be in the kingdom. They thought they were following him. They thought they were saved. So, they're sad and they're weeping and nashing their teeth because they didn't make it. Okay? And so, this should be um the weeping and nashing of teeth is is for us to sober us up and to make us realize um that, you know, even though we're not destroyed with the wicked, we could still be cast out of the kingdom. Okay? So just because you're not destroyed with the wicked doesn't mean you're going to be in the kingdom during the thousand year reign. Uh okay. So let's go. Let me tell you about next week. So next week we're going to be talking about the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit? What is his role in the life of a believer? and why is it so important that we have the Holy Spirit in our lives. So, make sure you come back next week and uh I think it's going to be a really great discussion. All right, we'll see you then. Thank you for joining me on Let's Talk Biblical. If you enjoyed this episode, then share it with your friends and keep the conversation going. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss anything and I look forward to chatting with you again next week. Until next time, keep talking biblical. Shalom.