Matthew 10:16-26

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. ¹⁷ But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. ¹⁸ You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. ¹⁹ But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; ²⁰ for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

²¹ Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. ²² And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. ²³ When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. ²⁴ A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. ²⁵ It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! ²⁶ Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.”

We live in dangerous times. It is becoming more and more dangerous to be a free thinker, and especially if you are a free thinker and a Christian, the dangers are mounting. In the chapter that this text is taken from, Jesus selects his 12 apostles and sends them out to the people of Israel to tell them the Good News, the Gospel, the Messiah has come. But Jesus does not send them out blindly and unprepared. He warns them that the vast majority of the people they are going to are wolves; they normally kill sheep. But in this case, it is the sheep’s job to rescue the wolves from an eternity in Hell. It is the sheep’s job to tell the wolf how to be a sheep. It is the sheep’s job to tell the wolf about the salvation that takes it from being the predator to being the prey.

Wow, what a daunting task! When we get that, it can help us to understand why it takes a work of the Holy Spirit to transform someone. All we do is tell the truth; the Holy Spirit helps them see it. If He does not, then the Gospel sounds like nonsense. What person in their right mind wants to be the sheep when they can be the wolf? Only the Holy Spirit can make this make sense.

We live in a difficult time where truth is very subjective, or at least people say that – ‘What is true for you may not be true for me.’ They are convinced that they have their own truth and that we all have to accept it. This conditioning started a long time ago. The idea of questioning clearly stated truths, as Satan did in the Garden with Eve, has laid the foundation to where we can hear what we know to be a lie, and we say nothing. Maybe that is their truth, even if we know it is a lie, and we base our lives on people’s feelings rather than truth. Then we get mad at the truth-tellers; they are mean, and they don’t really love like Jesus, we say.

Yet Jesus was the bluntest truth-teller to ever walk the planet. He confronted truth over feelings all the time and stated the truth no matter who was offended, even His own disciples. He taught them that truth was more important than life and wealth; it was more important than fame and freedom. Truth is important because God is truth; He is the absolute standard of truth, and if we tolerate lies, we put man’s word ahead of God’s.

Romans 3:4-8 “Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: ‘That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged.’ ⁵ But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) ⁶ Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world? ⁷ For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? ⁸ And why not say, ‘Let us do evil that good may come’? —as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.”

When we get to this in the book of Romans, Paul is a seasoned missionary; he has encountered false religion and false logic everywhere. He has to come to grips with the falsehoods of the Pharisaical life he was living when Jesus met him. When Jesus met him, Paul was a wolf going to kill the sheep, Jesus’ sheep. But when he met Jesus, he stopped being a wolf and became a sheep. He then spent the rest of his life being chased by wolves, his former peers and others. But Paul never regretted being a sheep. Paul was adamant that God’s words were and are true and that any of man’s words that contradict God’s words are lies.

In the past 18 months or so, we have seen how easy it is for lies to take hold of the whole world. Let me deal with a few things. COVID is a real disease; no one in their right mind questions that. We are learning more and more that there is a good chance it was man-made, a sad state of affairs; but as they say, ‘it is what it is.’ We have had very, very conflicting messages about the disease, the treatments, the vaccines, and the effect of these vaccines. We have had conflicting messages about the wearing of masks and even distancing.

I have a dear friend that will not let his son go into another person’s home. Apparently, the disease does not go out; it is a homebody. We have been encouraged, then bribed, and now threatened about the vaccines, and there are serious conflicting reports about the protection that they give. Over the past 18 months, these conflicting reports have caused serious economic issues; our governments have used the COVID mess to spend like a drunken sailor on shore leave. They have amassed debts that our great-grandchildren will be paying. The ruling elite have grown richer and the masses poorer by far. We bankrupted ‘mom and pop’ stores and grew the profits of the mega-stores. This was deliberate and calculated. They need dependent people whose only relief is from the government.

Over the past 18 months, truth has been censored, and anyone who dares asks what or why or how is dangerous and trying to kill everyone. We are not. People are dying both with and without COVID, both with and without the vaccines, and we are not allowed to ask any questions. Let me be clear; if you want to get the vaccine, then do so. I will take you to the place to get one or two, or the booster shot or shots. But no one should be forced to take a vaccine that is highly suspect as to its ability to work. But what I want to really get at is the idea of truth.

Jesus warned the men he sent out that truth would be the dividing factor in their lives. The truth would cause serious division in their lives and, in particular, their families. Their enemies will be right in their own homes.

Matthew 10:21-22 “Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. ²² And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.”

When people have become accustomed to living by lies, and the lies are not allowed to be challenged, like the ‘fact’ checkers and all the trouble people get in for asking logical questions, then people begin to turn on each other. In this pandemic, I have seen families destroyed, neighbors have called the police on their fellow neighbors, and friends have been separated. Churches have split over meeting or not meeting, masks or no mask, singing or no singing.

What a mess! But we can see how easy and how quickly people will turn on each other. People will shame you and call the authorities on you. Your own people, and they do it in the name of safety – ‘We are just trying the keep everyone safe. If you don’t want to do it for yourself, then do it for the children, do it for the elderly, find an excuse, but just follow along and obey. Stop thinking, stop asking questions, and stop making obvious observations.’

Once again, if you want to follow along, I will not bug you. I wear a mask so as not to cause too much panic in the people around me. Most of the people I hang out with do the same. They are not convinced of the validity of the masks; it is just easier to wear one than being confronted by hysterical people, and it has happened to me more than once.

What we have learned is that it does not take much for your loved ones in both your human and spiritual families to turn on you if you don’t follow suit. Now, as we get closer and closer to the return of Jesus, the idea of truth will become more and more fluid, and the idea that Jesus is the Only Way will become hated more and more. Soon, as Jesus said, the most dangerous people in your lives and mine will be in our home and church families.

Sadly, we are seeing an exodus from the truth of God. Many Christian ‘celebrities’ are wishy-washy about the whole transgendered issues, the homosexual issues, and many other areas where the Bible makes clear statements. They are making it harder and harder to state the truth. It is not loving to tell lies. It is hateful. Love requires the truth. But we are being told that love requires us to lie, tolerate lies, and be a party to lies. Jesus would have been hated and killed; oh wait, that is just what happened, and He tells us at the end of our text that we should expect the same treatment if we speak the truth.

Lastly, we can see how they will get the whole world to take the mark of the beast. NO, the COVID vaccine is not the mark, but we can see the framework. People are so desperate to get back to ‘normal,’ they will do anything, including taking a vaccine that has a lot of questions around it. By the time people get to Revelation 13, and they are hungry, thirsty, and desperate, they will gladly take the mark so they can buy and sell. But the truth people, those that know Jesus, will say no, normal is not worth the lie, and there will be a line drawn in the sand. The government will threaten death or take the mark. We are not there yet, but we can see how it can be done.

The world is setting up for the return of Jesus. The framework is in place for the Messiah to return and rule the world from Jerusalem. Are you ready? Are you saved? Have you trusted Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection and your only salvation? God will not accept anyone who is not saved by Jesus. That is the truth.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch

Online: https://www.mississaugamissionarybaptistchurch.com/ (under construction)

Email: missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

2 Corinthians 2:12-17

“Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened to me by the Lord, ¹³ I had no rest in my spirit, because I did not find Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I departed for Macedonia. ¹⁴ Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. ¹⁵ For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. ¹⁶ To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? ¹⁷ For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.”

Over the past 6 weeks, we have taken a journey through the Old and New Testament to show the majesty of our great God and King. He is the Sovereign that reigns over the affairs of all people, and none more so than His people, we the redeemed in Jesus. We who are His children (1 John 3:1) and are secure in Jesus, no longer slaves but friends of our Master and Saviour (John 15:15). God is ALWAYS, according to our text in 2 Corinthians 2, leading us in Triumph.

This Triumph was a procession that was given most often for returning Generals who had won some decisive battle for the Roman Empire. The whole city would cry out and form a welcoming party for him and his soldiers. The defeated enemy would be marched into the capital and displayed, the spoils of war displayed, and then at the end of the procession, the General often carried would enter the city to the cries of his name. It was a spectacle. It was loud, and for many Generals, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Over the past few weeks, we have seen how God can bring Triumph from any circumstance and situation no matter how that matter started; God is in control and able to bring great victory.

We explored the life of Joseph, who was sold as a slave by his brothers. They first wanted to murder him, but God intervened and rescued him, so to speak. Joseph endured more trouble than most of us have, and yet he could see that God was superintending everything for His glory, and in the meantime, preserving Joseph.

Job was in the crosshairs of Satan for what seems like a long period of time. He lost family, wealth, health, and there was even a dispute with his wife that was thrown at him. Then he came face to face with friends who accused him of being a horrible man. Yet, God was on his side, and in the end, Job received children back, twice the wealth, and an apology from his friends.

Later, we looked at Samson and discovered that he was his worst enemy. He was a womanizer, a man who put himself in precariously dangerous situations, and eventually, a man who had to learn the hard way that God is not one to tolerate pride; and so, Samson lost his strength for a season. But God still used him to deliver the nation of Israel from the Philistines, and then God spoke well of him in Hebrews 11:32.

Last week we looked at Jesus, persecuted by the religious folks, betrayed by his friend, and denied by one of his close friends; yet, He died to save the world, and we have not been the same since.

Today, we will look at what God can do with you and me. We, like these other men, are just that – men and women in Jesus, children of God, set here for His purposes and His glory.

In our text, Paul goes on to tells us that we are a ‘fragrance’ that is diffused for His knowledge. This fragrance was a reference to the incense that was often a part of the Triumph procession. It covered the whole parade, the smell letting everyone know what was going on. Smell, we are told, is one of the most important senses for memory. A smell can trigger a memory even as far back as our childhood.

Some smells bring back good memories, and others, bad memories. In the Triumph procession, the fragrance of the incense would mean different things to different people. If you were the victor, that General and his army, the fragrance was one of joy, promotion, victory, recognition, seeing one’s family after a long war, the end of the fighting, and many other good memories. But, if you were the defeated army, this same fragrance meant loss, death, the end, horror, and pain. The same fragrance, yet two very different memories and ends. Paul explores this about our lives when he talks about the fragrance of our life in Jesus.

• The Fragrance of Our Lives to the saved, verses 15-16

How do you smell? What does the scent of your life leave as a memory for the people around you? Paul tells us that our lives should leave the scent of life to those that are saved and a scent of death to the lost. Our lives should build up the saved and convict the lost. Our lives should be a sweet savor, a sweet smell to those that know Jesus. We should be kind and loving to each other, serving and honoring each other. We should serve each other as Jesus served us, and we should be merciful and gracious as He is to us. We should be courteous and gentle, understanding and simply uplifting to all around us, especially to our family in Jesus (Galatians 6:10).

All too often, we do not treat each other with love. We can discourage our very brothers and sisters from following Jesus because we are mean and unloving to them. We destroy and hurt; we cut and consume each other rather than honor and lift each other up. We point out other’s failures to make ourselves look good, and we secretly hate the ones that Jesus called His own. This is not the fragrance that we need to leave, and it is not the fragrance of Triumph in Jesus.

Joseph left a fragrance from his life that lasted over 400 years of direct benefits to the Jews in Egypt, and it continues some 4000+ years later to be a sweet fragrance of God’s Triumph over human nastiness.

Job is still the standard of faithful endurance to this day. His influence thousands of years later is still a fragrance of God’s faithfulness and God’s loyalty.

Samson reminds men like me that God is greater than my own failures and that God can use fallen men who humble themselves before Him. His fragrance of God’s greatness is still being made into movies today in 2021.

Of course, no one left a sweeter fragrance than Jesus – a fragrance of love, compassion, kindness, meekness, and grace. No matter what the world says, there is no comparison; He is still the standard of love and sacrifice. His fragrance has changed millions if not billions of lives around the world for the last 2,000 years and will affect billions more for eternity.

We should be a sweet fragrance to each other, a fragrance of help and encouragement, a fragrance of love and forgiveness, a fragrance of joy and peace, a fragrance of mercy and grace, a fragrance of prayer and consideration, a fragrance of refuge and compassion. How do you smell to your brother and sisters in the Lord? Does your fragrance bring back loving memories, or do they bring back horrible memories?

• The Fragrance of our lives to the lost, verses 15-16

How do you smell to the lost of this world? All too often, the smell that Christians leave is not a nice smell to the saved, and it is a repugnant smell to the world. Make no mistake; Satan makes sure that the lost know how we should behave. They can see our hatred and indifference, they can see our hypocrisy, and they can see our fruitless lives.

How we should smell is that of conviction. When the lost of this world interact with us or see us interact with others, it should make them wonder why we are the way we are?

Just a few weeks ago, I was in a fast-food restaurant, and when I was done, the lady behind the counter says to me, ‘Sir, I wish all of our customers were as courteous as you; I like it when you come in.’ All I said was please, thank you, called her ma’am, and smiled. I am not tooting my horn; what I am telling you is that it does not take much effort to make a difference in someone’s life. Do people look forward to seeing you or seeing you leave?

We should interact with the lost in such a way that it convicts them about their relationship to and with Jesus. We should be a fragrance of judgment to them. We let them know that we live the way we do because of who we are in Christ. We let them know that there is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. There is a difference between the children/friends of God and the children of the world. They should want to cross over or regret not making the trip. How do you and I smell to the lost? Do we leave them wanting and missing Jesus?

• The Fragrance is not for sale, verse 17

You can’t buy the fragrance of Christ in your life. You have to get it from God, and it is only for those in Jesus. Our victory is only in Jesus. There is too much money-making in what is promoted as the ministry of the Kingdom here on earth. The Gospel is free to us; it was expensive for God and Jesus. The fruit of the Spirit is free to those in Jesus. The image of Christ in us is formed by the Holy Spirit freely as we surrender to Him. But there are too many that seek to monetize the Gospel. Stop it.

The scriptures allow a pastor to be paid and paid well if a church can afford it. The Old Testament priests were well cared for financially. But if money is the only reason you minister, you are not ministering. And if everything you do has a price on it, then you should be careful. Those of us that are called in the ministry need to be careful not to make money the end all and be all of it. It is not. For many of us, myself included, we live very well here in North America. Don’t sell to people what God gives them, or at least offer them freely. Let us not make merchandise of God’s Gospel, God’s Triumph, and God’s grace.

I pray that – like Joseph, Job, Samson, Jesus and countless others that let God be God in their lives, who trusted Him in the darkest times and glorified Him in the victories – we will leave a fragrance of His love, kindness, mercy, grace, peace, service, salvation and faithfulness long after we are gone from this mortal coil.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch

Online: https://www.mississaugamissionarybaptistchurch.com/ (under construction)

Email: missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca