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Matthew chapter twelve. The message today has a simple title, Request Denied. We'll read some passages dealing with requests that were made of our Lord, and they were all denied. I'll read in biblical order and then rearrange them according to category in the will of God as we go along. Matthew chapter twelve, look at verse thirty eight. Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we would see a sign from thee.
But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just that simple statement. We want to see a sign. There shall no sign be given. Request denied. Now, chapter twenty, Verse twenty. Then came to him the mother of the sons of Zebedee, with her sons worshiping him, and asking a certain thing of him.
And he said unto her, What wouldest thou? She said unto him, Command that these my two sons may sit, one on thy right hand and one on thy left hand, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, ye know not what you ask. Notice he doesn't say you in the singular, but ye know not what you ask. He understands that James and John put their mother up to this. Ye know not what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink? They say unto him, we're able, and so forth.
Verse twenty three. He says unto them, my cup indeed ye shall drink, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give, but it is for them for whom it hath been prepared of my Father. Please notice those words. Our Savior said, it is not mine to give. All right, let's look at Luke chapter nine huh now. Our Savior is on the way, and as he goes along, there are three aspirants that have a conversation with him.
And in verse fifty nine, concerning the second one, nine fifty nine: and he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father. But he said unto him, Leave the dead to bury their own dead, but go thou and publish abroad the kingdom of God. Request denied. Go to chapter ten, verse thirty eight. Now, as they went on their way, he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at the Lord's feet and heard his word. But Martha, Martha was tr- cumber- cumbered about much serving, and she came up to him and said, Lord, carest thou not that my sister did leave me alone to serve? Bid her therefore that she help me. For the Lord answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful, for Mary hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
The same. Chapter twelve. There are many more passages than the one I am to read to you, but I want us to see how often requests were made of our Lord. In chapter twelve, verse thirteen, and one out of the multitude said unto him, Teacher, did my brother divide the inheritance with me? But he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? Now let's look at chapter nineteen. Nineteen. Our Savior is riding into Jerusalem upon the donkey, Luke nineteen verse thirty seven.
And as he was now drawing nigh, even at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty work which they had seen, saying, Blessed is the King that cometh in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from the multitude said unto him, Teacher, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said, I tell you that if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out.
Those are enough passages to read. Let us speak to God again in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for the life that thy son lived on earth. We are certain that the book of which we've read is the book of God and not the book of man. We know that man would not insert such things, so trivial as we've read. They would make thy son to be something that he is not.
But we are thankful that thy son is shown in all his glory and in all his humiliation. We are thankful, our Father, for the way that thou dost set forth the light of the world, and we pray that that light shall shine into our heart. Let us learn from his behavior how we should behave, how men should behave themselves in the Church of God, but also, Father, should behave themselves in the world. We desire to know this, our God, that your name might not be blasphemed among the Gentiles. So from the portions we've read, illumined by thy spirit, help us, we pray, prepare the hearts of those who are listening, empower the lips of him who speaks, and we confess our sins.
Be faithful and just to forgive and cleanse, and glorify the name of thy son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. It is a good thing to know when to mind your own business, and some Christians never more. When I say mind your own business, it is not the way it sounds. Most of the time, if we hear the words, mind your own business, it is an insult, a refute, because we are meddling in an affair that does not concern us in the least.
But there was the other side as well. If God says, mind your own business, it means that we have responsibilities, and we may be neglecting that. For instance, in Colossians it says, and say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it. God said to Archippus, mind your own business. But Peter says to the elders, tend the flock of God, the flock, the people of God that have been assigned unto you. He's saying, mind your own business.
So there are times when, on our part, we are hesitant to speak to some because we say, it's no business of mine, but it is your business. And at other times, we intrude in affairs of state and affairs of Christians, and it is none of our business. And so it's good when we hear the words, mind your own business, to know just what is meant. I told you last week, and it's heartbreaking, that there was a king, one of the finest of the kings, Josiah, and Pharaoh Necho came to fight against Carchemish, and God had told Pharaoh Necho that he was to do this, and Pharaoh Necho told Josiah, and we know that what he said was correct because it said he would not listen to the words of God spoken by Pharaoh Necho.
God was saying to him, mind your own business, and this time it was not the business for Josiah to go out and fight the king of Egypt. But he was meddling in affairs that did not pertain to him. And this is what it says in Proverbs chapter twenty six. It says that the man that meddles in affairs with which he has nothing to do, is like the one who takes a dog by the ears, and you know the outcome if you have ever taken a dog by the ears.
So there are times when things are our business and when things are not our business. And I told you last week about requests denied by men. The Lord spoke to some, and what he requested was refused, denied. Well, this week, it is not man and the Lord in the same position, but in similar positions, because there are some things that God asks, and man has no right to refuse. He does, and God permits him to do that, but he has no right to do it.
It says God commandeth man everywhere to repent. Now man may refuse, but it's to his own harm, but he has no right other than that choice that God has given him. Whom will you have to reign over you? Whom will you that I release unto you, Jesus or Barabbas? And they made a choice. That there are some things that man does, but you think of it, and you could wish that God had taken away that right. But, in the case of the Lord Jesus, the marvel is this, that having heard the words, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth, and in John five, the Father judgeth no man, but he has committed all judgment unto the Son.
You would think then that our Savior's position is universal, that it is without exception, but our Lord knew better than that. Our Lord knew when not to meddle in other men's affairs. You say, but all creatures are Jesus' affairs. That's why I read to you, and I want you to remember what he said, because there are some who Jesus even makes a statement, they will say to him, Lord, as Peter did, when the Savior said he had to go and be crucified, Lord, be it far from thee, this shall never be unto thee. As if the Lord Jesus did not know his own business, and what business of man he was to attend to, and what business of man he was to refrain from attending to.
But the Lord Jesus knew, and I'm bringing that to your attention, first of all. When this one, and it's really funny, the Lord Jesus is going along, and there was a multitude around him, and someone just comes out of the multitude and says, Lord, did my brother divide the inheritance with me? Isn't that remarkable? He's going along, doesn't know the man at all, but this man presumes to come up to Jesus and say, look, I want you to go and tell my brother to behave this way. Bid my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Now listen to what the Lord says. He said, man, who made me a judge and a divider over you?
I would have thought certainly that he was a judge and a divider over all men, but the Lord Jesus said, no, he had not been made a judge and a divider over him in that area, in that sphere. Oh, in the coming days, that man will stand before the Lord Jesus and be judged. But in this area, the Lord Jesus said, who made me? Now, it says that God has made Christ our Savior, both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. So he is the Christ, he is the Lord.
God made him both Lord and Christ. But when this man said, did my brother divide the inheritance with me? He said, man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? Evidently, in this area, nobody had. And so the Lord minded his own business. Think of yourself now. You hear about things that are going on, people that have controversies one with another, and so you go and you say, uh, let me handle this business. It may very well be that you're to mind your own business, and that isn't your business. The Lord Jesus said, this is not my business. I'm not going to mind it.
A remarkable thing, isn't it? Now, in like manner, and this is what is so striking, that when James and John arrange for their mother to come and ask for a cherished position at our Savior's right hand and left hand. You would certainly think this, that it was Jesus' authority to say who would be there and who would not. But the Lord Jesus said, it is not mine to give.
You say, I don't like that. That's why I quoted you, and you'll find it in Mark ten as well as in Matthew, and the Lord Jesus said, it is not mine to give. Now, some of us just say, uh, I assign this and I give this. It is not your business to do it. You have no authority to. He said, it is the one that my Father has decided to give it to. So when the Savior says this, accept it. And this is why I prize the Savior so highly, not only because he's God manifest in the flesh, but because of his understanding of his role as man.
Some of us, when the Lord Jesus came from heaven, would tell him just what Satan told him. Satan said to him, aren't you the Son of God? What are you doing hungry? This is something that's far from you. Command that these stones be made bread. The Lord Jesus said, you do not understand. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Satan is trying to get him to presume upon his being the Son of God. There to be no privations to the Son of God, but the Son of God is manifest in the flesh, and he said, since I've been manifest this way, I am going to live as man.
Now, the Christians are determined to have him to live as God. The Lord Jesus is determined to live as man, and I've challenged people so many times, and they become infuriated. I say, show me anywhere that our Savior ever, of his own deity, wrought a miracle or acted when he was on earth. And they have tried, and the closest is this. I remember one time a man said this. The Lord Jesus said, I have power to lay down my life and take it again. Finish the verse. This commandment received I of my Father.
Of course he did. So the miracles that he committed, he did it himself. It says he went about doing good, healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. It says God anointed him with power. The spirit of the Lord is upon me. Even though he was God manifest in the flesh, it was God empowering him to do these things. And therefore, the Lord Jesus knew what he was to do, when he was to do it, and people were always trying to mind our Savior's business. I think of his own brothers, even though he is the oldest, he has half brothers.
And in John chapter seven they say, what kind of procedure do you have? Are you trying to manifest yourself to the world, and you're not even going up to the feast? I, this is illogical. Go up to the feast and manifest yourself. And the Lord Jesus said, my time is not yet come. Your time is always. People trying to mind the business of the Lord Jesus, and he knew precisely what he was to do and what he was not to do. And I think of this. A great while before today, our Savior went out and was alone, and he was praying.
And the disciples wake up and they said, where is he? And so they go out and find him finally. And they said, why everybody wants to hear you. And the Lord Jesus said, they're not going to hear me. He said, we're going to another town. I have to go there. The Lord Jesus was the only one who knew his business. When he was twelve years old, that's when he first spoke about it. His parents said, son, why have you grieved your father and me? We softly sorrowing. And the Lord Jesus said, what? Wished ye not that I must be about my father's business? The Lord Jesus knew what his father's business was, where he should be and where he should not be, when he should be praying, and when he should speak to a town, and when he should refrain from speaking to a town.
The Lord Jesus knew how to mind his own business. And the marvel is this, that there are so many requests denied by our Lord, because I've been telling you in past weeks of all the requests that were granted of the Lord. Think, a leper comes to the Lord Jesus and says, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. The Lord said, I will, be thou made clean. Blind men come to the Savior and say, Lord, we want to receive our sight. He said, receive thy sight. The father says, my son is lunatic. I want you to help him.
The Lord said, I will help him. The Syrophoenician woman, my daughter, and finally he said, woman, great is thy faith, go thy way. People constantly coming to the Lord Jesus asking for things, request granted, granted. But there are times when I would certainly think that what they asked for was legitimate, but the Lord Jesus said, no, what you're asking for is out of order, request denied. Now, let me tell you about two of them that are similar, because they were both desired by those that were not believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet they were members of the nation of Israel.
Suppose someone came to you wanting to know more about God, to be confirmed in his soul that what you're saying is from God, and before he did and believed what you said, he wanted to make sure that this was from God. Would you deny it? You say, I know I would do everything in my power to assure him. And that is the difference between us and the Lord. Here are the children of Israel coming to their Savior, and they say, Teacher, we would see a sign of thee. Now, certainly, here are people that are interested in God, the truth, confirmation that, that God is working in the life of our Savior.
We would see a sign from thee. The Lord Jesus said, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given it, saith the sign of Jonah the prophet. You say, such a strange thing, when the Lord was denying them light that could have sent them to heaven. Absolutely not. The Lord Jesus was refusing to give more light to those that had an abundance of light. Do you not realize that God has determined how much a man should hear and see and be illumined, and he's not going to give any more light than that which is necessary for a man's heart to be converted.
And the Lord Jesus knows that. And so now they say, we want to see a sign from thee. It is like that same kind of person that came to him in John chapter six. The Lord Jesus had fed five thousand and then he had departed from them, and they were looking everywhere for him. And they said, why, we've been looking for you. And the Savior said, you seek me not because of the signs that you saw, but because of the loaves, the food you ate and were filled. The Lord Jesus saw through them completely, and he said, this is what is to be done.
They said, show us a sign. He had just had five loaves and two fishes and fed five thousand people. And when he showed them that sign, their confession was this, this is of the truth, the prophet that cometh into the world. The sign has been shown, and now they say, uh, show us a sign that we should do what you say. And the Lord Jesus said, you're not getting another sign. If it is something that is needed, genuinely needed to convert a soul, God will provide it. But if it is something redundant, the Lord Jesus absolutely refuses. Now, in like manner, are we not to give honor to who honor is due?
You say yes. Are we not to be obedient to kings and all that are in high places? You say yes? But in Luke chapter nineteen, our Savior is brought to Herod, and Herod is delighted. For a long time, I've wanted to see a miracle from Jesus, and so he has him brought into his presence, and he wants to see a miracle, and the Lord Jesus does not answer him one word. So, here are Jews that want to see a miracle, and here is a, an enemy, a king that wants to see a miracle, and the Lord Jesus does absolutely nothing for them, because it is not his business to go around performing miracles for the pleasure and satisfaction of carnal, hardened hearts, and these signs will do nothing more but harden the heart yet more that already had refused the light of God.
Because when a man is truly seeking, God speaks to that man, and he readily receives the truth of God. In John one, Nathaniel is told that the Messiah has come on the scene, Jesus of Nazareth. He says, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? And Philip said, you come and see. And the Savior said, behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile. And Nathaniel said, when snowed thou me? And he said, before Philip called thee, whom you were under the fig tree, I saw thee.
He said, Rabbi, he says, you're the Son of God, you're the King of Israel. Do you see the contrast between Nathaniel and the others? The slightest glimmer of light given by the Savior. All he said was, I saw thee. His soul was searched, and he knew that this man was of God, and he acknowledged him as the Son of God, the King of Israel. And others, not something secretly that had gone on in the heart, but they outwardly saw a miracle that no one, unless he was sent from God, could perform, the feeding of the five thousand. And then, when they see him again, and the Lord Jesus tells them what to do to get life from God, they say, show us a sign.
He says, no sign is going to be given. So, there are requests that are denied, and the Lord Jesus knows when to deny, even those that are seeking, apparently, light from God. He says, you're not going to get any more light. And here is what Christians fail to understand as well, that you're not always to be giving light to people that ask, because our Savior said, you are not to give that which is holy unto the dogs, and you are not to cast your pearls before swine. You say, but he said to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Again, it is written, give not that which is holy unto the dogs, and cast not your pearls before swine. And you see it practiced again and again, that principle in the Old Testament as well as in the New. A prophet goes and he speaks to a king and warns him, tells him the mind of God, and the king rejects him. And the prophet says, I see by this that God has determined to destroy you. You're hearing nothing more from me, nothing holy to the dog, not casting any pearls before swine. And the Holy Spirit's the same way.
It says, grieve not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is revealing things of Christ, and you grieve the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God will not tell you any more of the precious thing, Christ. And the Lord Jesus knows what his business is. He knows when to give a sign and when to withhold a sign. And what is so beautiful is that our Savior knows how to speak a word in season to him that is living. That is our Savior. Now, at the same time, our Savior knows when to avoid the trivial affairs and entanglements of this world with men.
There are some who would be satisfied to get anybody with authority to come and plead their cause. And so here, and what is so interesting is this, since this man wants his brother to divide the inheritance with him, I assume that his father had died, and now he wants Jesus to settle up this affair in his favor and have the inheritance divided. Now, I read you in Luke nine that in this same instance, a father has died. Some say he's alive, and he wants him to live out his life and die and then bury him, but he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
And so here is a father that is dead, and the son says, let me go bury my father. And the Lord says, no. And here is one who says, my father has died, and my brother has gotten all the inheritance, and I want you to divide the inheritance with me. The Lord says, no. So in the affairs of life, the Savior knows what can entangle us and what can destroy us. As Peter says, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. And here is a fleshly lust. How do I know? Because the Lord Jesus, when he said to the, to the person, he said, man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?
He spoke this parable. He said, take heed and beware of all covetousness, for a man's life consisted not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. He saw that this desire for a part of the inheritance was covetousness on the part of this man, and the Lord Jesus refused to get involved in it. But I venture to say this, that if somebody came over to your house and they told you about, uh, someone that had died and, and part of the inheritance was given to this one and that one, and they were left out, uh, don't you think that I should have gotten some? You would enter right into it. Oh yes, you should have got that money. Oh yes. You see, you're meddling in somebody's business and in affairs that you have nothing to do with.
Mind your own business. And the Lord Jesus said to his son, mind your own business. And this man came and said, bid my brother to divide the inheritance with me. And the Lord Jesus said, I'm going to mind my own business. This is not my business. I'm having nothing to do with it. Now, if we as Christians only knew, if we could speak as plainly and as frankly and as truthfully as our Lord did when someone comes up and makes a request like that of us, could we say to them, man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? But we won't speak that way, but we should.
We should speak so plainly. In like manner, when a friend comes and says, my sister is not helping me the way she should, you tell her to come and help me. If we could just say, you are all encumbered, and you are anxious, and I'm not going to do the thing that you ask. You see, the Lord knew when to engage in the affairs of man and when to refrain. Let me give you an example that is different, that is a problem that's going on, and you should mind this business. In Philippians, there is a controversy going on between two women, Euodia and Syntyche.
And God's word says, yea, true yokefellow, help these women. Now that's the time I would say, Lord, I want to mind my own business. I don't want to get involved in this. But there are times when minding your own business is to go to these two ladies and try to get them reconciled. In like manner, if there was a controversy in the assembly, it says in First Corinthians chapter six, what can there not be found one wise man among you who can render a decision. And this is the sad thing, that there are times when our business is to go and give assistance to women like those in Philippians four, and there are times when we are to mind our own business and keep our mouth shut.
And the beauty of it was this, that the Lord Jesus knew when to speak and when to remain. What authority God had given him to do, and what authority God had not given him to do. And so at times we presume that we have authority to do things that we do not have authority to do. But this, and I want to encourage you in this respect, that if you go up to a man that needs Christ, and you say, friend, I want to tell you the best news in the world, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and he loves you, and he loves me, and he wants you to trust him as savior.
If that man says, mind your own business, you can say to him, friend, I am minding my own business. There may be that it is not with discernment and wisdom that you go and speak with that man. But the Apostle Paul could say, my hands are pure from the blood of all men. And I assure you that as we have opportunity, it says, let us do good unto all men, and as we have opportunity, if we are with someone like that woman at the well of Samaria, it is our business to tell that woman about the water of life.
If someone like Nicodemus comes to us, it is our business to say, you must be born again. But there are times, as when the Apostle Paul spoke, and it said that those to whom he spoke, they, they were hardened and they blasphemed. The Apostle Paul said, I'm through with you. I'm going to the Gentiles. They will receive the truth of God. So our Savior, in his wisdom, knew when to meddle and when to refrain from meddling. And at times, and this is what is so beautiful, without being invited, he went up to this man in John chapter five and he said, would you be made whole?
What are you doing? This man, the Lord Jesus knew when to approach a man without being asked. When this one is being let down through the roof, he says, son, thy sins be forgiven thee. That is the beauty about our Savior and in his wisdom. That is why I thrill to read his life, not only the fact that he is God, but he's God manifest in the flesh, and the beautiful way that he behaves as a man. His wisdom, walk in wisdom toward them that are without, and our Lord did, and he knew when to rebuke sharply, and he knew when to speak tenderly. He knew when to render assistance. So, as we go through life, there are going to be requests made of us.
Let us know when to say request granted, and as our Savior, request denied. Time is gone. Let us pray. Now, Father, we are glad that your son knows what he should give us and what he should not give us. Let us know that often we have asked him for things, and he's refused to give them to us because he knew best. We would contradict this and complain and criticize him, but our Father, thy Son doeth all things well. So we thank you that we've learned from the way that he behaved towards men, that he knows what is his business and what is not his business, and he knows what is his Father's business, and he must be about his Father.
We thank you for the excellency of the life of Jesus Christ, our Lord. So teach us, and let us as art of us take heed to the ministry which thou hast given us in the Lord, that we fulfill it. And then, our Father, let us know when to refrain from meddling in things with which we have nothing to do. Give us wisdom, we pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.