Spurgeon: Matthew 26:39

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Imagine tomorrow morning, you wake up, you get ready, you get in your car, and you drive to your church. You sit down in the pew. The pastor walks up to the pulpit. He opens his bible and he says, turn in your bible to Matthew chapter twenty six, verse thirty nine. Matthew, chapter twenty six, verse thirty nine. And he reads these words, and he went a little further, and he fell on his face and prayed, saying, Oh, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou will. Matthew twenty six, verse thirty nine. Matthew chapter twenty six, verse thirty nine.

1:08 And then he says, this morning, we are going to spend this time looking at Matthew twenty six thirty nine and learning about prayer. Now, at that very moment, are you excited? Are you like, oh, yes, this should be really good. This is a beautiful passage of scripture, and yes, I want to learn about prayer for Matthew twenty six thirty nine. Or do you immediately get nervous. Do you immediately get concerned that Wait a minute, where is this going? Is this a text about prayer? Is Matthew twenty six thirty nine supposed to be teaching me about prayer? Do you become at least a little bit concerned theologically? Are you a little bit concerned? Where is this going? Hermeneutically? Right? So, and he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed. Okay, that's referring to Jesus, oh my father.

1:58 If it be possible, let this cut pass for me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou willed? Reading from the King James? Is that teaching us about prayer? Is that about us? Or is that about something else? How should you even be nervous? And if I call into question what your pastor does with the text, would you be bothered with me? What if I was to call into question how one of the most famous pastors in history handled the text? Should I do that? Well, we're going to find out what's about to happen right after I say good morning everyone. It is Saturday, March the twenty second, twenty twenty five. It is currently eleven twenty two am Central time. And I am coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, yesterday I told you the story of the Pilgrim's Progress, Morning and Evening and My Utmost for His Highest. This is the trilogy. This is the three books that shaped modern devotional Christianity. Those three books shaped the way pastors preach it. It shapes the way many Christians read the scriptures.

3:24 Even if you've never read Pilgrim's Progress, even if you've never read Morning and Evening by Charles Hednspurgeon, even if you've never read My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, even if you've never really read them, you have been influenced by them because those three books change Christianity forever. And I will argue it changed Christianity for the worst. Look at from a hermeneutical perspective when it comes to biblical hermoneutics, those three books are the unholy Trinity because it got people to read the scripture and an allegorical metaphorical everything like, oh, you know, when David kills Goliath, that's me killing the giants in my life, or when I walk around the walls of Jericho I've got to This is how I bring down the walls that are holding me from moving forward in my Christian life. Whatever the case may, everything becomes a metaphor, everything becomes an an allegory, everything becomes about me, everything becomes about me, everything becomes about me, or we get into kind of a charismatic approach. That's what Oswald Chambers kind of brings to the table. These three books are again I'm not telling you not to read them, I'm not telling you not to use them. I'm telling you that you need to understand how significantly they changed Christianity, and I don't think people truly understand their impact. So we talked about that yesterday. I offered my critique, I offered my warning, and I think it was a very important discussion. Well, today we're going to We're not going to look at Pilgrim's progress. We're going to go to my Morning and

4:57 Evening by Charles Hadden Spurgeon and look to the devotional that he gave for today, March the twenty second, and it's based off Matthew twenty six, verse thirty nine. Now I need to just say this right, this needs to be stated. What we're going to do. I'm gonna play the audio of this devotional. First, we're gonna play the audio, and then we're gonna break it down harmoneutically, and then I'm gonna What I think is the biggest issue with how Spurgeon handles Matthew twenty six thirty nine, is I believe he destroys a proper law gospel distinction. I think that's the biggest issue, which is so common in the modern church, the modern evangelical fundamentalist church. They the proper distinction between law and gospel that has been obliterated in modern day Christianity. And we'll see how Spurgeon follows that same that same pattern in fact, you know you yeah, I mean, it's it's it's it's majorly problematic. But I've got to say this. I've got to say this when you hear what Spurgeon has to say about Matthew twenty six thirty nine. If if you went to church my opening illustration, if you go to church tomorrow and your pastor said, open your bible, Matthew twenty six thirty nine, we're going to be talking about prayer. And he basically taught what Spurgeon said in his devotional for today that basically basically becomes your pastor's sermon. I guarantee you you would sit there shaking your head saying amen, and then you would probably tell the pastor how great the sermon was.

6:24 After you probably would take notes. You probably would share those notes with other people, and you would say it was an amazing sermon, a great sermon on prayer. And probably ninety nine percent of people would say it's amazing, it's awesome, it's great. But I'm going to be the one percent here that's gonna say I think this it's a theological mess, it's a hermoneutical mess. And I know that's no one's going to agree. I understand you're not going to agree, but which just demonstrates how these three books ultimately change Christianity, and when you call it into question now you're viewed as the one that's wrong. You have to read, you have to basically read and handle scripture the way John Bunyan Spurgeon and Oswald Chambers says to handle scripture, because anything contrary to that now is so alien and foreign to the modern Christian mind. They don't know how, they don't know how to read it any differently than the way basically Bunyan, Spurgeon and Oswald Chambers established how we handle scripture. And I'm saying no, no, no, they don't determine how I read scripture. They I don't care about their influence. I should. The way I learned how to read scripture is based off basic rules of reading, reading, comprehension.

7:41 You know, hermeneutics, exegetical understanding of the Texas, avoiding is of Jesus, all the things that we Everyone talks about these things, but they don't really follow through in practice. So are you ready to hear how Spurgeon handled Matthew twenty six thirty nine and his devotional Morning and Evening. If you have a copy of Morning and Evening, you can look it up for yourself if you if you don't have a copy, just do a search online for Morning and Evening by Charles Haddon Spurgeon and you'll find today's entry, right, I mean, it'll take you just a couple of seconds to find it if you Yeah, you can. If you're on the sermon Audio website, you can type you go to the devotional tab. You should be able to see it. It's pretty simple, pretty easy and to find.

8:24 It's not difficult. The book is everywhere, and that's that's because it's one probably one of the most devotional, most influential devotionals in history in many ways. So are you ready? Here we go. We're gonna listen to it. It's gonna go by fast, right. These audio these audio these audio editions of Spurgeons in the Morning and Evening. They're very short. They just read it. There's no there's I mean, it's just it's done. So it's gonna go by quick. Listen. I guarantee you're gonna be like, what is wrong with this? And I understand. I understand you're gonna think I'm being picky, but I'm not. I think there's clear hermeneutical and phiological issues.

9:05 Here we go, Thesaalmus said, when I awake, I am still with thee for the child of God. Seeking the presence of the Lord is essential as each day begins. To help you in starting this day with God, we offer a brief devotional meditation from Morning and Evening, a collection from the pen of one of the greatest preachers of all time, Charles Hadden Spurgeon. This morning's text is found in Matthew, Chapter twenty six, verse thirty nine. And I went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed. There are several instructive features in our Saviour's prayer in his hour of trial. It was lonely prayer he withdrew even from his three favored disciples. Believer, be much in solitary prayer, especially in times of trial. Family prayer, social prayer, prayer in the church will not suffice. These are very precious. Thus the best beaten spice will smoke in your censer, in your private devotions, where no ear hears but God's. It was humble prayer. Lukes as he knelt,

10:40 But another evangelist says, he fell on his face. Where then must be thy place, Thou, humble servant of the Great Master? What dust and ashes should cover thy head? Humility gives us a good foothold in prayer. There is no hope of prevalence with God unless we abase ourselves that He may exalt us in due time. It was filial prayer, Abba, Father, you will find it a stronghold in the day of trial to plead your adoption. You have no rights as a subject. You have forfeited them. By your treason. But nothing can forfeit a child's right to a father's protection. Be not afraid to say, my father hear my cry. Observe that it was persevering prayer he prayed three times. Cease, not until you prevail. Be as the importunate widow whose continual coming earned what her first supplication could not win. Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. Lastly, it was the prayer of resignation. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt yield and God yields. Let it be as God wills, and God will determine for the best. Thou content to leave thy prayer in His hands, who knows when to give and how to give, and what to give and what to withhold. So pleading earnestly, importunately, yet with humility

12:13 and resignation, thou shalt surely prevail. This meditation was taken from Morning and Evening by C. H. Spurgeon. Now I'm telling you you probably if you were going to church and the pastor gave you those five points, you probably would have written them down. You would have probably thinked, oh, that's great. If you were a young pastor or Sunday school teacher. You mean, like, whoa, those are five good points, right, solitary prayer, humble prayer, filial prayer, preserving prayer, resigned prayer. Okay, those are five points. I've got my outline. This is good. Right. That's something you could write down in your journal. That's something you could you could write down in your notes. I mean that gives you something to grab onto. But did anyone notice what what the possible issue is here? Now? If I was if I was in Hermeneuticts class, if I was at church, if I was in a Sunday school class teaching, if I was in a Bible college teaching, I would I would be like, all right, class, what is the issue?

13:13 And if nobody knew, I would be like, Okay, guys, here's what I'm going to do. I'm gonna leave. I'm gonna go down the hallway. I'm gonna get me something to eat and drink, and then I'm gonna come back. You guys talk amongst yourselves and come to an agreement of what the problem is. So then I would leave, come back. What's the problem. I will argue that probably ninety nine percent of the people will never get what the problem is. But did you notice what occurred? This is a passage about what Jesus was doing, and it turned into now a teaching about what we should do. And if you don't get what the issue is, well then we'll have to work together to see if we can find But it makes a passage about what Jesus did and to a passage about what we should do.

13:59 And that is a ajor theological concern. All right, So what I did is I handed it to artificial intelligence. I'm like, okay, artificial intelligence, tell me what we should do with this. So this is what AI did, Right, Ai said, let's explore today's devotional from morning and evening. Let's walk through a hermeneutical critique of morning and evening entry from March to twenty second morning, which reflects on and he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed Matthew twenty six thirty nine. This passage is drawn from Jesus agonizing prayer and get sent him in he shortly before his betrayal and crucifixion. Right, so AI is like, okay, let's I'm going to offer you a hermeneutical critique. It sets up the stage right Matthew twenty six thirty nine. Now, please note Spurgeon didn't even go through the whole verse. He took only part of it, which is typical with morning and evening, and again Christians doesn't seem to bother Christians that he does this. But he only took part of the verse, doesn't even take well, I guess maybe ultimately he takes the whole thing. He only quotes and he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed. Say, but I mean the whole He kind of pulls from that last part, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. So but he got only read part of it. But okay, still he does that all the time. He'll take just a phrase, but okay, there's the whole verse. So I guess in some ways he does pull his points from it. Artificial intelligence only quotes and he went a little further and

15:29 fell on his face and prayed, because that's what's quoted in the actual devotional. Then AI provides some context. This passage is drawn from Jesus agonizing prayer and gets semine shortly before his prayer and crucifixion. All right, so it sets it up. So then Ai provides a summary of Spurgeon's entry. Spurgeon draws five lessons from Jesus prayer. All right, I've already repeated them. You heard Spurgeon give them, or you heard the audio of Spurgeon's devotional. Read what Spurgeon said. So you had the five there, and then I'll give you the five again. Go ahead and write these down. Spurgeon draws five lessons from Jesus prayer. One solitary prayer, Jesus withdrew from others. Number two, humble prayer, Jesus fell on his face. Number three filial prayer, Jesus prayed all a father. Four preserving prayer. Jesus prayed three times. No, it doesn't go through and explain, of course, then the devotional doesn't make the references back to where it was three times. But okay. Number five resigned prayer. Jesus says, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Each element then is turned into a spiritual practice or principle for the believer during times of personal trial. Now, this text is not about you doing you in a time of personal trial. This text is not about you praying. This text is not about me praying. This text has nothing to do. It's about Jesus' struggling in prayer, and he

17:02 struggling with something very very very important, all right, because if you remember here, right, if you go all the way back, if you go to verse thirty eight, then saith he unto them, to his disciples, we go to verse thirty six. He comes to the place casemone, and he said, unto the disciples, sit you here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and again to begin to be sorrowful and very heavy, and he said, unto them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. Terry yee here and watch with me. Then he goes and prays, and then he comes back and they're sleeping, and he's like, what could you not watch with me? So he says, watch and pray, and then look at verse forty two. Oh, my father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done. The real key issue in this prayer is about this cup, about this drinking of the cup, or Lord take this cup from me. That that's really the thiological key here.

18:12 This is not about just going through a personal trial that No, this is about Jesus having to drink the cup. What is this cup? Right? What is this cup the wrath of God? Is this Jesus now struggling somewhat in his humanity, understanding that he's now got to partake of the wrath of his father? Is he now asking for this cup? But he's like, nevertheless, your will be done. This is not about personal trials or difficulties, or you're having a hard time in your marriage, or you're having a hard time with your kids. This is about something far different, and not only that it's essential to the gospel understanding here. So AI artificial intelligence says, here's a hermonutical critique of this section, right, So I just wanted it to analyze it. Immediately AI goes into critiquing it, and AI says, contextual displacement the original context. Jesus is in Gysemine, preparing to bear the wrath of God and accomplish redemption through his death. Do you hear that? Even AI realizes, no, wait, this prayer here is about him struggling with you. He's about to bear the wrath of the Father. That's what it's about. This cup. The cup symbolizes the wrath of God. That's what it's about, all right.

19:35 This is not about personal struggles. This is what AI says. This is a unique and unrepeatable moment in redemptive history. Spurgeon lifts this verse completely out of context and turns it in a model for how the believer should pray during personal difficulty. Well, there may be a secondary application to prayer. The text is not into and to provide a model. It is a window into the inner struggle of the Redeemer as he prepares to die for the sins of the world. Even Ai realizes this is a problem. Ai knows this is a problem. You should know it's a problem. Everyone should know it's a problem. But nobody knows it's a problem because Spurgeon so changed the way we read scripture. This preach is so good. This would be great for a morning devotional lesson. People would love this, people would would eat this up. The only problem is it's not it's it's it's complete contextual displacement. Ai goes on to offer a second problem. From Christ centered to me centered, From Christ centered to me centered, how did we end up in this text. You even heard when that we're reading Spurgeon's devotional all of a sudden it comes about, you know. And he went a little further, This is about solitary prayer. You need solitary prayer as a Christian. Other prayer is great, but you need solitary prayer.

21:04 Where did that come from? Well, how did I end up in the text? How did you end up in the text. We're not in the text, so Ai says, it goes from Christ centered to me centered. The passage shows Christ obedience to the Father, wrestling with the reality of the cup of wrath. And then we could look at Matthew twenty six thirty nine, Mark fourteen thirty six and Luke twenty two forty two for well, do let's just look at them, all right, we've looked at Matthew twenty six thirty nine. Let's go to Mark fourteen thirty six, Mark fourteen thirty six, just so we can have some textual reference. Here we go Mark fourteen thirty six, just so that there's no confusion. And he said, abba Father, all things are possible unto THEE take away this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt take away the cup. It's all about the cup.

21:59 Lukey two forty two, Luke twenty two forty two, Luke twenty two forty two, twenty two saying, Father, if thou be willing remove this cup from me, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. This is a prayer about the removal of the cup. It's not about your problems. It's not nothing to do with you other than what Christ is doing for you. But we'll get into that later. So the passage shows Christ obedience to the Father, wrestling with the reality of the cup of wrath again Matthew twenty six thirty nine, Mark fourteen thirty six, and Luke twenty two forty two. Spurgeon's reflection subtly shifts the focus from Christ's mission to our method of prayer. All of a sudden, It's like Spurgeon turns this into here's here's the method of prayer. This is not teaching the method of prayer. This text has nothing to do with that.

22:57 So Ai says, here's the problem it displays is the central theiological point, Christ as the suffering substitute. By using the text to derive devotional techniques or personal encouragement. That's what it's doing. By using the text to derive devotional techniques or personal encouragement, it displaces the central philological point. This is about Christ as the suffering substitute, not about you praying better. Number three. It's a confusion of unique versus imitat inmatailable moments, or I should say this, it's a confusion of a unique moment versus something that can be imitated there that I can state it better that way, AI says. Jesus praying in Gossemite is not presented in the Gospel as a model for believers, but as a sacred, redemptive turning point in his mission. Spurgeon implies that we should learn to imitate Jesus behavior, perseverance, humility, and resignation from this moment. The problem not all actions of examples for imitation, some are exclusive to his offices mediator. To apply this text as a guide for everyday prayer habits risk flattening redemptive history and the timeless spiritual tips. AI obviously does not like this. AI does not like this in any way shape perform the way Spurgeon handles it, because it's not handling the text correctly, and it's the idea that we can be, that we can do what Jesus did. You can't do what Jesus did. It was

24:27 a sinless son of God. You are a sinner. You're never going to be submitted to the will of the Father anywhere close to perfect. You're gonna always be in disobedience. We've talked about this a million times. So it confuses a unique moment and turns it into something you can imitate, something you can do. But it's not about what you can do. It's about what Christ did. Number four philological oversimplification Spurgeon's line yield and God yields. Did anyone hear that when when we listen to that yield and God yields? Do you remember that from the devotional? Yeah? In fact, let me pull up the actual printed copy. Let me pull up the printed copy of it. Okay, let me if I can, if I can find it here, Yes, the last this is the last paragraph. Lastly, it was the prayer of resignation. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt yield and God yields. Yield and God yields.

25:37 That's literally in the devotional. Did did anyone catch that. Did anyone have a problem with that? AI says Spurgeon's line yield and God yields is poetically beautiful, but it is still logically ambiguous, perhaps even misleading. Now AI is trying to be nice that it's misleading, that it's ambiguous, and at worse, you know, misleading. I think misleading is as far, probably more accurate. It implies that God's actions depends on human submission of you. That can lean towards a transactional theology. Hey, if you yield, God will yield. If you will see if you're in prayer, God will yield in a sense to your prayer if you yield to him. Well, first of all, that seems to imply that I can perfectly yield. I'm never gonna be perfectly yielded to God because I have a sinful nature that will never yield to God. It will always be an opposition.

26:32 I can never yield to say a simple command like be holy as God is holy, because I never can do that. I can go on and on and on and on and on. I'm never truly yielding to God. So even if I try to claim that, well, I'm yielding to God, in this situation. Am I yielding to this God simply in my words that I say in prayer? Or am I truly yielded internally? Maybe my my yielding appears externally, but internally I'm probably not that yielded. So that just just becomes. But the idea is, hey, if you want God to yield to your prayer, you yield to him and he will yield to you. What that's transactional theology. AI goes on to say in Theksemine account, Jesus yields but still drinks the cup. God's will does not yield to Christ's desire to avoid suffering. Instead, Christ submits to it. This quote risk obscuring that point. I cannot Spurgeon literally says yield and God will yield. Jesus prayed for the cup to be removed. God did not yield.

27:34 He drank the cup. So literally that doesn't even make any sense. Again, and AI points this out and the Gosemine account, Jesus yields but still drinks the cup. God's will does not yield to Christ's desire to avoid suffering. Instead, Christ submits to it. This quote risk obscuring that point, and the idea would be. And if you take this to us logical conclusion of what Spurgeon is saying, yield and God will yield. Well, right now, it's a Saturday morning. I bet you there's some family and some hospital right now. And in fact, if you've ever been to a children's hospital, there's some parents right now in a room with their child who's had a terminal disease for five six years of their life. The child is like six or seven years old. Finally the terminal disease is caught up. That child's probably going to die today. Those parents have been trying to yield to God for five years. They've yielded, and they've yielded, and they've yielded, and yet God will not yield because their child's going to die. So stop telling me that if I yield, God will yield. Jesus yielded to the will of the Father, but yet he still had to drink the cup. Paul yielded to God and say, okay, I would like you to remove this thorn.

28:54 Well he didn't remove the thorn. But hey, it's Spurgeon. I'm not allowed to criticize this. No, no, no, no, this is good prayer teaching. I guess another problem devotional richness, hermeneutical thinness. AI is trying to be nice. Spurgeon's meditation is filled with warm, rich exhortations, and AI points out three of them, be much in solitary prayer, cease not until you prevail, continue in prayer. These are good pastoral encouragements in general. The problem is these truths are not necessarily wrong, but the text doesn't teach them. They're read into the passage rather than drawn from it. I cannot say, hey, Spurgeon takes concepts of prayer for personal prayer, reads it into a text that has nothing that is not teaching these concepts. They're being read into it. That's is said Jesus.

29:55 That's not exit Jesus. We're supposed to pull from the text. The text is about what Jesus did. It's not now giving me. Hey guys, okay, you know you go to church. What did you learn this morning? Well, I learned in Matthew twenty six thirty nine about how I'm supposed to pray. Well, no, no, no, you didn't learn that from Matthew twenty six thirty nine, because Matthew twenty six thirty nine is not teaching you anything about how to pray. It's not giving you a list. It's not giving you points. You're not supposed to go home and say I've got to do better, I got to pray better. No, it's about what Jesus did for you. You should be going home relaxed and content and happy because of you heard about what Jesus did for you.

30:35 But no, no, no, no, what Jesus did for you is turned into what you must do now. To be fair, this devotional Matthew twenty six thirty nine by Charles haddensburgs and does have some strengths. It comes across as being spiritually rich and devotionally warm. I think we can agree with that. Some may say it encourages humility and perseverance and prayer. You can't necessarily say that's a bad thing. It exalts personal surrender, It uses poetic, memorable language, and it offers useful prayer habits. But here's the weakness. It ignores the actual context of the passage. It treats jesus unique suffering as some kind of a spiritual model. It moves the text from a Christ's centered to a me centered at risk confusing God's will and human will and prayer.

31:28 It assumes imitation where the text intends revelation. Those are the issues now. AI goes on to say, spurgeons March. The twenty second Morning entry offers heartfelt encouragement and helpful reflection on prayer, but hermeneutically, it turns one of the most sacred, philologically weighted moments and scripture into a how to lessen on prayer habits bypassing its crystological gravity. The Casemite scene is not primarily about how we should pray and suffering. It is about how Christ submitted to God's will in order to suffer for us. To make it a devotional guide risk replacing the objective work of the savior with the subjective striving of the believer. Oh that's a beautiful quote from AI. Right, to make it a devotional guide risk replacing the objective work of the Savior with the subjective striving of the believer. So then I was like, I I agree with all of that, but I thought the problem was even deeper than that, And AI did not touch And what I thought the deepest problem was all of those problems. I completely agree with AI.

32:50 I completely agree with everything AI says there. AI tries to be nice. I think it's majorly problematic. So I think there's a major problem with the devotion. Now, let me make it very clear. There'd have been a time in my Christian life I would have been writing those notes down boom, and I would have been like, give me an opportunity to preach, give me come on, come on, give me an up. And I would have turned it into my own. I would have changed some of the wording around. I would have added some points. I would have done some cross referencing, and boom. I would have said, today, we're going to talk about prayer. I would have went in and we don't do this, and we don't do this, and we don't do this, and we don't do this, and you need to do better and I need to do better, and we need to pray better. And how is your prayer life? And have you been praying this way? And what is wrong with your prayer? You need to come forward and get right with God and confess that our prayer life has been as miserable and we are weak and we are sinning, and how horribly we pray. Oh.

33:40 I would have went to town on it. Now, once I started learning how to actually handle the text of Scripture, I started realizing, hmm, may have been a good sermon, but it would have actually led people away from the understanding of the text, and Spurgeon actually leads people away from what is actually beautiful about Matthew twenty six thirty nine. So I had to challenge Ai, or not to really challenge Ai, I had to say, hey, Ai, I think there's a deeper problem. So I said this. Even though the devotional sounds very spiritual, and many may even argue the points are biblical, isn't it very problematic that it takes a passage about what Christ is doing for us Gospel and turns it into a lesson about what I am to do law. Now, remember, anytime you read a passage of Scripture and it shows you what Jesus is doing for you, that is gospel. You can't take a passage about what Jesus is doing for you and then flip it around and make it about what I'm supposed to do, because now you're taking a Gospel passage and turning it into law. When it says what Jesus is doing, that is gospel. If I said that's law. Let me state that correctly, because I think I stated it in it correctly. Whenever you read a passage about what Jesus has done for you, that is gospel. Whenever you read

35:11 a passage about what you are supposed to do, that is law. So when we read what Jesus is doing in Matthew twenty six thirty nine, that is gospel. Spurgeon came along and took a gospel passage and turned it into law by saying, here's what we're supposed to do. It's not a law passage. In fact, you begin to corrupt the Gospel by doing that. So AI says you have hit on the core philological and hermoneutical problem with great clarity. It takes a passage about what Christ is doing for us gospel and turns it into a lesson about what we are to do law. And again I apologize if I got those backwards. By no means to do.

35:59 I want to mess that up. I want to be crystal clear on that. Matthew twenty six thirty nine is telling us what Jesus did. That is a gospel passage. It's not a law passage. It's not about what I'm supposed to do. This is not just a minor interpretive slip. It reveals a serious confusion between law and gospel, and it reflects a widespread devotional instinct and modern day Christianity. Modern day Christianity loves to do this. It turns everything into a law based passage. Do this, do this, read your Bible more to give more money, go to church, do this, witness more, do do do this, this, do this because everything has to be a practical lesson in what we're supposed to do. But when you go to a gospel passage that's telling you what Jesus did and you flip that around and make it about what I'm supposed to do, that is insidious. That is a corruption of the gospel. And that is majorly problematic. And I don't care who does it. I don't care what philological team they're on. It needs to be called out again.

37:07 Ai says, this is not a minor interpretive slip. It reveals a serious confusion between long and gospel, and it reflects a widespread devotional instinct in modern day Christianity. And so then I asked, Ai, Okay, why is this a serious problem? Give me the reasons why Number one, it shifts the focus from christ work to my work. The Gasemine account is about Jesus, the sindless son, submitting to the Father's will to drink the cup of wrath. It is a part of a gospel narrative Christ standing in our place, preparing to bear judgment so that we do not have to. Turning it into a lesson on how you should pray under trial moves the spotlight from his substitution to your effort, work, my attempt, my discipline. That's not about that. So it shifts the focus from Christ's work to ours. Number two, it turns gospel into law.

38:14 Instead of hearing the text as good news, Look what Jesus endured for you, the reader hears it as a command. You should pray like this, you should submit like this, you should preserve like this. That is law what you must do. You've taken a gospel passage. Look what Jesus did for you. Jesus did this. He submitted to the will of the Father. Because you can't submit to the will of the Father. He perseveres in prayer because we fail to persevere in prayer. He spends time in solitary time alone with God. Because we fail to do so he does it for you. He's your intercessor, he's your sacrifice, he's your advocate, he's your propitiation. This is all about what Jesus does for you. This is how do you flip that around and make it about what I'm supposed to do? You leave a sermon on Matthew twenty six thirty nine, going, I need to pray more. I need to pray more. I need to do more. Well, then you didn't go to church to hear the gospel. You heard the church to be given an absolute corrupt version of the gospel because I take gospel and turn it into law. And when the law this is very important, this is what Ai says. And when the law is drawn from a gospel moment, it actually robs the text of its power to comfort and places the burden back on the reader. When you hear Matthew twenty six thirty nine,

39:45 that should remove your burden because you're seeing what Jesus did for you that you will fail to do because we are sinners. So number one, it shifts the focus from Christ's work to ours. Number two, it turns the gospel into law. Number three, it creates devotion that sounds spiritual but centers the self. The devotional sounds reverent, sincere, and even worshipful, but ultimately it says, here's how you should behave in your suffering. Here's how you should pray. Here's what you should do. You need to do this. You need to do more of this, you need to do less of this. Instead of look at the one who suffered for you. It becomes a sanctified form of moralism, where the main use of scripture is to extract spiritual principles for daily life, rather than to reveal to you the finished work of Christ. Number four. It can leave the reader burdened instead of free. Imagine a suffering believer reading this entry. Instead of being comforted that Christ understands their anguish and bore their burden, they may feel like, I don't pray like that, I don't have that level of resignation. I must be felling spiritually. This devotional quietly shifts the weight of the passage onto the reader's shoulders, which is the opposite of what the passage is meant to do. So then I asked Ai for a chart, and AI made me a nice little chart. The right use gospel Christ praise and Gussemite to submit to the

41:19 Father and save us. The problematic use law. You should pray like Christ in your trials. That's not what the text is about. And you just took a Gospel passage and turn it into law number two of right use. Behold your substitute sweating blood for your redemption. That's the right use. That's gospel. Here's the problem use, or the problematic use of the law. Learn to be humble and submit like Jesus. That's not what the text is about. Right use. This is a unique moment and redemptive history. Problematic use. This is a model for your daily devotional practice.

42:01 You are comforted by what Christ endured on your behalf. The problematic use of the law. You are exhorted to follow his example and feel guilty if you don't. So, I asked Ai. So what's your conclusion that this devotional is a philologically serious problem This type of devotional approach approach is deeply problematic because it confuses law and gospel. It reduces Christ's unique saving work to a moral instruction. It turns a redemptive event into a burden, and it sounds spiritual but subtly recenters the text on self effort.

42:41 What begins as a devotional warmth can become doctrinally confusion, and what should bring rest to the soul ends demanding more striving. This is why the devotional genre must be examined carefully, especially when it forms the primary way many Christians interact with scripture. The devotional idea has destroyed biblical hermeneutics. The devotional idea has destroyed modern day preaching, and the devote Not only does the sermon idea need to be destroyed, so we stop preaching sermons and we actually teach the text.

43:22 The devotional world needs to be burnt to the ever living ground so that there's nothing left. Because this is what happens. And that's one of the most famous devotions in modern history. That is the Morning Entry for March the twenty second by Charles Hadden, the Spurgeon, and the thing is a hermeneutical, philological disaster. And by saying that everyone's going to get mad at me, and that's okay, you could you are in the majority. Ninety nine percent of the people will agree with you. That's okay. I got no problem standing by myself on this. That is an absolute obliteration of the proper distinction between law and gospel.

44:09 Everyone needs to learn. When you read a passage that shows you what Jesus is doing for you, that is gospel. When it says God did this or Jesus did this, that is gospel. That is supposed to be sweet. That's supposed to be refreshing. It's supposed to be freeing. It's supposed to be comforting. It's supposed to take the burden off your back. Jesus did this for me because I can't do it. When it says what you're supposed to do, that's law, that's supposed to condemn you. That's supposed to show you you can't do it, and then you're supposed to run to Christ. To the gospel. Law condemns law reveals your inability. Law is not something you can do.

44:54 Laws is giving you something you can't do, So you have to run back to Christ the sweetness of the gospel of what Jesus did for you. Pray without ceasing. Jesus prayed without ceasing. Do this, Jesus everything that I am told to do. Jesus did submit to the Father. Jesus did not my will but his way. Jesus did it for me, because I will never do it perfectly. But every sermon turns this into what we're supposed to do, which is an obliteration. Not only is that a hermoneutically inaccurate because it's not about us, it destroys the proper distinction between law and gospel. Now I know everything I just said. Probably it sounds like I'm speaking a foreign language. Probably sounds like that I come from a different planet, because you've never heard anything like this, because it's so opposite to modern day Christianity. But I'm telling you, we've got to get back to this proper understanding. All right, I'll stop there. That was today's entry for Morning and Evening by Charles Heddenspurgeon. Again, you should have a copy of it. If it was up to me, I would, if I was teaching hermautics class, I would say the three books you need is Pilgrim's Progress, Morning and Evening by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and My Utmost ver As Highest by Oswald Chambers. Because these three books are going to be the books that we're going to look at to see how not to do proper biblical hermeneutics. And these three books have been the most influential books that in modern day Christian Christianity, and far more influential than anyone

46:24 even wants to admit. And they're all hermoneutically a mess, and in this case a philological mess, because it destroyed the proper distinction between long and gospel, and which is what church after church does. Thanks for listening, everyone, Have a great Saturday. It's now Saturday afternoon. Make the most of your time. Before you know it, Saturday will be Sunday, and then before you know it, Sunday will be Monday, and then Monday will be Tuesday, and then while another year is over, and then well then you die, all right, So make the most of our time because we have a very limited amount of it. Thanks for listening everyone, of a great day. God bless