do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs
6 “Don’t give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls before the pigs, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
a father giving bread not a stone, fish not a snake, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things
9 Or who is there among you, who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
10 Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent?
11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Carl walked the congregation through Matthew 7, the closing chapter of the Sermon on the Mount. He moved quickly past material already covered from Luke and focused on the sections that filled in the fuller picture of what Jesus was asking his disciples to actually do.
What was said
The passage opens with the warning about judging others by a harsher standard than you apply to yourself. Carl connected this directly to the previous week's message: when you attend to your own log first, you become genuinely useful to the people around you. The self-examination Jesus calls for is not navel-gazing. It is what makes it possible to help.
From there Carl took up the line about not giving what is holy to dogs or throwing pearls before pigs. He explained that Jesus was extraordinarily selective about how and with whom he shared things, and that his disciples should be too. The point is not to withhold the gospel from anyone, but to recognize that hitting someone with verse after verse before they have any regard for the authority of Scripture tends to produce exactly the opposite of what you want. Show people what a saved life looks like, Carl said, and when they ask, be ready to give an answer.
The ask, seek, knock section followed naturally. Carl read it alongside the reminder from the week before about seeking first the kingdom of God. The two passages belong together: seek the kingdom, and then trust that your Father, who is kinder to ungrateful and evil people than we manage to be with our own children, will provide what is needed. The golden rule lands here as the summary of the entire Old Testament. Jesus says so plainly: this is the law and the prophets.
Carl then spent time on the narrow gate and the warning about false prophets. He had gone looking through hours of video during the week and said he simply could not share what he found, because it was so disheartening. His point was not to identify any one teacher but to give the congregation a reliable test: watch the fruit of a person's life long enough and you will see what kind of tree they are. Good trees and bad trees are what they are. You cannot fake the fruit indefinitely.
The Lord, Lord section came next, and Carl was careful to keep it from derailing into anxiety about personal salvation. He placed it alongside the Luke version of the same passage, which asks why someone would call Jesus Lord and then not do what he says. The answer the sermon keeps circling back to is mercy, not judgment or condemnation, not magnificent religious performance, but treating people the way you want to be treated. The people in the passage who prophesied and cast out demons in Jesus' name were never known by him. The ones who are known are the ones doing the will of the Father, which the sermon has defined clearly.
The sermon closed with the two builders. Carl noted that both men heard the same words. The difference is entirely in whether they acted on them. He tied this back to the mob versus the individual thread running through the message: a crowd can carry you along without Jesus ever being Lord of anything in your actual life. But a person who hears and acts, who lets what Jesus said permeate outward toward other people, is building on rock.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Carl talked about removing the log from your own eye before helping someone else with a speck in theirs. Where in your own life right now is it hardest to turn that kind of honest attention on yourself instead of on someone around you?
The sermon described the difference between sharing the gospel with someone who has given no authority to God's Word versus showing them what a saved life looks like and waiting until they ask. How have you seen each of those approaches play out in your own relationships?
Alright. Good morning, everybody. It is about that time to begin. And as people are trickling in, would you stand and sing with me? Here here's a a verse from Hebrews four sixteen.
It tells us how we can approach God. It says this, let's us let's then approach God's throne of grace with confidence. It says we can come before God with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Let's start by singing. This is Amazing Grace.
Alright. Who breaks the power? Who breaks the power of sin and darkness? Whose love is mighty and so much stronger than the king of glory, the king above all king, who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder, who leaves us breathless in awe and wonder, the king of glory, the king above all kings. This is amazing grace.
This is amazing grace. This is amazing unfailing and I would be set free. Oh, Jesus, I thank for all that you've done for me. Who brings our chaos back into order? Who makes the orphan a son and daughter?
The king of glory, You would lay down your life, and I would be set free. Oh, Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. And we'll sing worthy is worthy is the lamb who slay. Worthy is the king conquer the rain? Were these the midst
be
the the storm.
We're be And then also, we're in the John 18 where Jesus is on trial before Pilate. He says few things, but what he says is so profound. But know that's another worship gathering here at first b on Monday nights at 06:00, and you're invited.
It's also conversational. So Carl will go through the text, and then he'll kinda go through and share his insights, and then open it up if anybody has any other insights or even questions. It's a conversational style, which I love. After a chicken cordon bleu sounds great. Awana is happening in this room, starting off in this room tomorrow night at the same time.
And this little clickity clicker is not clicking like I think it ought to, but but there you go. Awana is happening, and we're filling, hopefully, filling the kids' minds with the things of God by sharing scriptures and having to memorize the scriptures, and then allowing them to internalize it so he can reach their heart because kids do matter to God and it's clicking now. So, if you would like to get our weekly Emails, it used to be that we handed out a little paper bulletin at the door every week and that may come back at some time in the future but what we're doing nowadays is we have the bulletins online, and you can sign up for them yourself at firstbeachaxson.org. It's pretty easy to do. And recently, we have started this is probably three weeks ago.
We started doing this thing. And mine, I get about half of them through my normal inbox. If you're having trouble and you think, I only get those every once in a while, I get about half of them. The others go into my spam, who knows what filter, and I have to go back and look for them. But I yes, Brett?
There are things we can do individually to help everyone else? Yes. Wonderful. Okay. That might fit the sermon today.
Thank you very much for handling that. I appreciate it. The If gathering. If gathering. 2022.
Looks like March fourth and fifth. There's a women's conference. It's gonna be here at First Bee. This was something that I heard from a lot of ladies last year. They did this down at Lane and Norris' place down a county away from here.
But this is gonna be here this time. So firstbjackson.org. It's $10, and that's all the information I know about it, if gathering. It's wonderful. Next week, we'll probably have a more ample understanding.
I'll get somebody else to do the announcement. If you want for the bell to ding when something's happening online here from First Be, you can dink click that little bell up at the top of our YouTube page. And it feels like there's something else that I'm missing, something big. Does anybody know what it is? I don't wanna put you on the spot, but no?
I would like to pray. So I've had a couple of requests this week, and so I would like to pray for two different families that are here in our midst a lot of the time. Both of them happen to be their mother tongue is in Spanish. So I'm actually gonna pray in Spanish. If y'all pray with me, I'd appreciate
Lord God almighty. We thank you that we can call on you. When times are hard and seem desperate and sad. Lord, we can summon you. Thank you, Lord, that we have a solid foundation in you.
We have here with us two families that are suffering the pain pain of separation from their loved ones during difficult times. I want to pray specifically for Alejandra's family who just lost a patriarch of their family.
Armando Sanchez
died yesterday leaving behind Eva, his wife, and Alejandra, his daughter, our friend. Along with other sons and daughters and grandchildren. Be with them and comfort them, Lord. Help them through the pain for your mercy, Lord. Please, Lord, comfort them.
Juliet Anaya. Also wanna pray for Julietas, Anaya's grandfather. Father.
After
receiving a diagnosis of colon cancer Where they live in
Mexico City.
Mexico City. We pray, Lord, that he will be strong in the midst of the illness and that he and his wife may turn to each other and draw closer to you. In the name of Jesus, Lord.
Cancer.
We ask that you heal Rod of this cancer. Amen.
Cancer.
In the name of Jesus, Lord, we ask that you heal Rod of this cancer. We ask that you deepen our common faith in you through difficult times. Amen. We long to see your glory. In the name of Jesus, we humbly ask for your help.
Amen. Amen. Y'all could stand with us and sing if you would. Taste and see that the Lord is good.
But really, this song is so good and so fitting. After what we have just prayed and we pray for this family, it's I sought the Lord. This is a psalm. We're singing it, but it's also a psalm. It's written.
I sought the Lord, and he answered me and he delivered me from every man.
I saw the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from every fear. Those who look on him are radiant. I'll never be ashamed. I'll never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard me and saved me from my enemies.
The son of God surrounds his saints. He will deliver them. He will deliver them. Magnify the Lord with me. Come Come exalt his name forever.
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Let us bless the Lord. Let us bless the Lord every day and night, never ending praise. May our incense rise, and let us bless the Lord. Every day night, never ending praise.
May our incense rise and let us bless the Lord every day,
Oh, Lord, what stood out to me as we're singing that song is let's glorify you together together. You said to make you prayed in John 17 to make them one as you, Jesus, and the father are one. Lord, would you bring us together? God, would you draw us close to to to one another and to you? Would there be unity here, God?
Would you break down walls and barriers? Pray in Jesus name. Amen. God, it's not just our our song, but our prayer as well. You are sovereign.
You are great. You hold all things in your hands. God, be our vision as we seek you, as we look to you. God, guide, direct our steps. In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Are your savior. Beautiful savior you have brought me here. You've pulled me from the ashes and have broken every curse. This seed redeemer you have set is godly. Lord, I can't help but see.
Faithful you are. Faithful you are. All your promises are a yes and a day. All your promises are a yes and a man. And I will rest in your promises.
My confidence is your faithfulness. I will rest in your promises. My confidence is your faithfulness. All your promises are missing. All your promises are missing.
You can have a seat here for a moment. This is a worship through giving part of the service. Invite the ushers to come on forward and also ways to give online too. But first Corinthians, Paul gives thanks for the church, and he says, I thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you. Through him, God has enriched your church in every good way.
And I feel very, very similar to that this morning, that God has enriched our church in every way because of the gifts that he has given this body. Ray, would you pray?
Yes. Lord, thank you for the gifts that you have given this body. I think of first Peter four seven through 10. Specifically, where it gets to 10 and says, just as each one of you has been given a gift, You are to be using it to represent to the world the manifest glory of God. Lord God Almighty, the gifts that you have given, I pray Lord that we'd be using them speaking, that we would speak as though we're speaking the very oracles of God.
And if it is for service, Lord, I pray that you'd give us the strength and the direction and do what you intend for us to do, not what we want to do necessarily. But Lord God almighty, I pray that you would draw us into deeper dependence on you. The prayer request this week, lord, have been a a burden but not in a an awful way. It's been recognizing that we are so weak and so in some ways, Lord, insignificant. But filled with your spirit, we can have great power.
And you, Lord, can work. You're a great physician, Lord, and you're healing people. You're delivering people. Each of us, Lord, you're drawing us to yourself. I pray that we would align, Lord, our will to yours through the process of humility, that you would allow us, Lord, the strength to walk forward in confidence knowing that you are the giver of every good and perfect gift.
Lord, we're handing back some of what you blessed us with right now. Trusting that you will carry your gospel forward. I pray lord that you'll do it through your obedient servants. Your will that in your way, lord. Not lack your supply.
In Jesus name, amen.
We have only one life and soon will pass. And only one's done. Oh, Christ will rise. Jesus, you can use me, Lord. Riches in houses, cars We say, yes, Lord.
We say, yes, Lord. We say yes, Lord. You can use me, we say yes Lord you can use me Lord
Children's Church is happening downstairs. I'm getting a little feedback. Sorry. I'm looking around for people. I'm looking for an individual.
Josh and Leah, do I see them? Nope. Alright. Never mind. I heard it.
Who's that? Never mind. It wasn't you. Alright. I am I've been excited about the passage all week this week.
I know the Sermon on the Mount is a daunting thing, and we have been in for some time now. I mean, we started the Sermon on the Mount in Luke in November. And so we have been through it all the way through in Luke in just three weeks because he doesn't spend as much time on it as Matthew does. It's been three chapters of Matthew, Christmas thrown in there. It's been a while.
But Matthew seven gets down to this is Jesus' closing for the Sermon on the Mount. Everything that he's been teaching is kinda summed up right in this chapter and there's a lot. But since Luke has mentioned it before and I've mentioned what Luke said before, I'm going to hurry through a couple of pieces that we've heard before and I'm going to get to some of the other meaty stuff. It starts off like this in Matthew seven. Do not judge so that you will not be judged.
We've heard that before in Luke. For in the way that you judge, you will be judged, and by your standard of measure, it'll be measured to you. So we've heard that by your standard of measure, it'll be measured to you, and we've heard kind of that second phrase, that's the only thing in this slide we haven't heard before. Why do you look at the speck that's in your brother's eye, but don't notice the log that's in your own? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take that speck out of your eye and look, the log is in your own eye.
You hypocrite. First, take the log out of your own eye and then you'll see clearly take a speck out of your brother's eye. This follows last week's message which is seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. If you focus on your own stuff, it'll be really helpful in helping other people. You can do something individually that will help a lot of other people.
And it's turning into yourself and looking yourself as James says, as though in a mirror and really seeing life. And God will help you remove that log from your own eye and then you can help your brothers and sisters around you. We did mention this in the gospel of Luke, November 28. I looked back to see if you want to go back and look on the website, you can find it. They're they're there.
Luke says, do not judge and you won't be judged by your standard of measure. It'll be measured unto you in return. He adds some in there. We'll come back to this because this will come back up in the midst of the sermon. It's the same sermon.
Two different reports of the same sermon. I guarantee you, if I ask two of y'all after this one's over, what it was about? Y'all are going have slightly different answers. So, we'll come back to that slide later on. Everything in this slide has been covered by Matthew just then.
We covered it. November 28. If you want go back, you can listen it. So listen fast, we got a lot to get through. For in the way that you judge, you will be judged.
If you look at somebody and you have just horrible scrutiny over every single little thing about that person, that is the way that you'll be judged, the way that you judge. The standard of measure kind of covers that, but in the same way that you judge. If you're blind to what you are like and you see fault in everyone else, that's a bad spot to be in. If you go just above this in Matthew six, two weeks ago, I think, or a few weeks ago, whenever that was. I was in Costa Rica two weeks ago.
Wasn't then? It says that if you're judging that way, it's it's bad. It's just not good. It's just not good. For in the way that you judge, you will be judged.
Consider that. If you are gracious and you are merciful to people. I'm not saying that you compromise yourself on sin. I'm saying that when you look at other people, you know that everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle, and have some grace, have some compassion. And that's what God will have with you, grace and compassion.
Do not give what is holy to dogs. Oh my goodness. Do not give what is holy to dogs. There are so many different ways that this verse has been translated over the years. We know that what it's not.
Typically, Gentiles were called dogs by the Jews. That's a normal thing. Most people know that. They were outsiders and curs, you know, but it's certainly not don't spread the gospel among the heathen. It's definitely not that.
We know that because of the whole teaching of Jesus, the whole life of Jesus, and the whole book of Matthew. That's the go ye therefore book. Right? So it's not that. Don't give what is holy to dogs.
Dogs don't understand that. And it says, that's a prohibitive subjunctive for the grammar nerds in the room, sorry. It's not exactly an imperative. It is saying, don't do this, but it's saying, really, you can do this, but please don't do this. It's a pleading will, a prohibitive subjunctive.
Don't give what is holy to dogs and don't throw your pearls before pigs. Jesus was selective about his message, very selective about his message. And when he shared what he shared was very important. He did have some harsh words, but his harsh words were for the religious people. That's uncomfortable as the preacher of a Baptist church.
Do not throw your pearls before pigs. Now, one of the ways that the rabbis would argue among themselves is they had the string of pearls, and they called it a string of pearls because they had a little nugget of wisdom that they would put next to another little nugget of wisdom next to another little nugget of wisdom, and they were what I call cherry picking verses to prove their point. Now, do we do that? Oh my goodness. Have you been on the Internet lately?
We always cherry pick points. It doesn't matter if it's in the constitution or if it's in the Bible. If something agrees with us, we're more likely to memorize it and then present that. But he's saying, don't throw your pearls. Like, if we go out into the world, if we go out just into this community and we start hitting verse after verse and we start sharing immediately the Roman road.
It's true. Don't get me wrong. It's true. But if if the other person has given no authority whatsoever to the word of God, It's still authoritative over them, but they don't understand it. They don't get that.
Romans three twenty three, Romans six twenty three, Romans 10. Yeah. Those are all true and good. And from a perspective of having been saved, it makes perfect sense to me, actually. Not exactly.
I still don't understand how God could do that. Merciful, gracious, loving, caring. He is kind to ungrateful and evil people because there aren't any other kind of people. Do not give what is holy to dogs because they just won't understand. And don't throw your pearls before pigs.
All of your scholarly debate is might be fun among yourselves. But when you start sharing it with people that just don't get it, the unclean pigs, the unclean, the ones who have not been washed in the blood of the lamb, they're not going get it. And so it has another prohibitive subjunctive. You can do it, but it ain't gonna be good for you. Don't give what's holy to dogs and don't throw your pearls before pigs or they will trample them under their feet.
They just keep right on with the same argument, not recognizing the wisdom that you have just shared, even if though it is wisdom and it is valuable. And then he says, that's the they as the pigs right there. This is a Hebraic chiasm where they start off with one thing and end with it, and then in the middle, they do this. So the they is the pigs. They'll trample them under their feet, not even recognizing that they are pearls indeed, and then those dogs will turn and tear you to pieces because you gave them something that they didn't understand at all.
So there it is. Remember that he's speaking to disciples. This is probably a nugget. We can use jargon. You've probably seen little videos of people using crazy complicated jargon and trying to explain something to the layman, and you just watch for a minute, your eyes crossed, you think, I don't get this.
I don't understand this. He's saying, recognize who your audience is. He's speaking to disciples. Don't give what's holy to dogs. Don't throw pearls of pigs or they'll trample them under their feet.
There's the chiasm there. The pigs will trample them under their feet, not recognize it. The dogs will actually just turn and tear you to pieces because they don't recognize what is holy or clean. So that's it. That's it.
That one that will take you a while to meditate on that. I think we're conditioned to say, this is true, and I love those people whether they do what I want them to do or not. I'm gonna tell them exactly what I need
to tell them right now.
I'll tell them everything they need to get saved today. Show them show them what saved people act like. And then when they ask you, be ready to give a defense for the hope that is in you. It is a joyful life. It is a joyful life.
Properly understood, you are free and light in your whole walk, you want everybody to know, but you can't force feed this stuff to people. They'll trample under the feet and turn and tear you to pieces. Ask and it will get be given to you. Seek and you will find. Last week, we had seek ye first the kingdom of God and then Jesus follows that up with seek it and you will find it.
Amen. Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you'll find, knock and it will be open to you, seek first his kingdom. Seek first his kingdom where he is the sovereign and you are the subject and you say, sovereign king, what would you have me do? And he will empower you to do whatever it is he has for you to do. For everyone who asks, receives, and the one who seeks, finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.
Or what person is there among you who, when his son, a family member, asks for a loaf of bread, would give him a stone? It's a pretty bad dude if he does that. Right? That's not a good guy. But it's pretty common that if that people wanna take care of their kids.
All people, pretty much, wanna take care of their kids. There are some exceptions, but what person is there among you, disciples, who, when his son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone? We won't do the best by our kids. Or if his son asks for a fish, would he not he wouldn't give him a snake, something dangerous for him, would he? No.
So if you, being evil, listen to Jesus, he just says it like it is. So if you, all of you, all of us, all of us as disciples even, if you, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, and for the most part, I think we do. We recognize that bread is better than stones and fish are better than snakes. If you, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, then how much more? Lesser to the greater, Typical rabbinical style of argument.
Lesser is, if you can do this, then think about what your heavenly father can do. How much more will your heavenly father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask of him? We pray, I think of Psalm 86. Lord, I call out to you in my day of trouble because you answer me. That's why.
Ask, seek, knock, for he himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people. And sometimes we think, I didn't even say thank you for that, Lord. Breaks my heart. Common grace of God. He's just a gracious God.
He really is. He himself is kind, ungrateful, and even even evil people. In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you. Oh, the golden rule. We covered in Luke.
We covered again today. I I was listening to the radio yesterday, and I I like all kinds of music. You Y'all know the rascals, the group, the rascals from the sixties? The young rascals, because the record company made them call themselves that, to not interfere with the harmonica band. But the rascals sang, people gotta be free.
You know that song? You know that song? It's got horns and all kinds of stuff in it. There's one line in it that says, How are we going to solve it? How are we going to solve it?
What's the problem? How are we going to solve it? I printed out the page and left it on the copier, so let me look this up. How are we going to solve it? I can't understand it so simple to me.
People everywhere just gotta be free. If there's a man who is down and needs a helping hand, all it takes is you to understand and to pull him through, uh-huh, that seems to me we gotta solve it individually. We gotta solve this individually. In everything, therefore, you be treating people the same way you want them to treat you. The song actually goes on and says, we gotta solve it individually.
I'll do unto you what you do to me. It's not I'll do to you what you do to me. That song is that much wrong. Carl said the platinum rule this morning is treat people not the way you want them to treat you, but treat them the way they wanna be treated. I think that's not biblical.
There are a lot of people who wanna be left alone that need someone else. Treat them the way you wanna be treated. If I air from this good old gospel way, I expect you all to tell me. I expect you to. You're my family.
I expect you to tell me. If I get off the good old gospel way in everything, therefore, treat people the same way that you want them to treat you. And then Jesus goes beyond this and says, for this is the law and the prophets. He sums up the whole Old Testament. The law and the prophets.
All of those books of history, all books of law, all the prophets, he sums it all up and says, treat people the way you want to be treated. Do unto others. The way you want them to do to you. This is the law and the prophets. So there it is.
In everything, therefore, everything, whatever the situation. Golden rule. Think about that. Enter through the narrow gate. Boy, I talk a lot about the ditches on either side of the road, but this one's talking about wide gates and narrow gate and a bunch of wide gates.
Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. When I said individually, one of the reasons I think about that is because individually, people can be pretty smart. But when you get people in a big group, mobs are not smart. Do you agree? When we studied abroad in Italy, Tanya and I did, we eloped and we moved to Italy the next day.
And while we were there, Aurelia Getsi was our host Italian lady. If someone were to get, I don't know, stuck in jail, she was the one to bail them out. Right? We were on an art program with a bunch of art students. That came in handy for a lot of them.
So Aurelia told us at the beginning of the time there. She said, You are in Rome, the eternal city. This is a place that you don't understand. You don't know what's going on. You don't know what it's about.
And if you see a mob forming, go as quickly as you can in the opposite direction. You will get caught up and it will make my job harder, and you will not be the better for having joined the mob. I think that's good advice, period. Solve it individually. If we can look at ourselves in the light of the Sermon on the Mount, God offers a lot of hope.
You don't have to be anxious if you're seeking first the kingdom of God. There's no reason for it. He's your almighty God and he's the provider and he can handle it. Enter through the narrow gate. Trust in him.
Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. Remember the proverb, there's a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it's a way of destruction. There are many who enter through that wide gate, for the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life. And if you think about Jesus on that Via Dolorosa, the painful road, walking towards the cross, that's a pretty constricted narrow path. He was the only one that could do that, but he did exactly what God wanted of him.
And we can, by the power of his spirit and a humility towards him, be walking the path towards that narrow gate. For the gate is narrow the way it's constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Wow. That's sad, but it's true. There are few who find it.
Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. I looked through hours of video this week of different types of what I think are false prophets, and I I just can't share them with you. It breaks my heart. It's out there. There are all kinds of ideologies and there are all kinds of theologies that are self centered gobbledygook, enriching the speaker in many occasions, enriching the mob in other occasions.
Beware of the false prophets, the ones coming to you in sheep's clothing. They're inwardly ravenous wolves, and you'll know them. You'll know them. You can spot them. You'll know them by their fruits.
You'll know them by what they actually do. Grapes aren't gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? Nope. Can't argue with that. So every good tree bears good fruit and the bad tree bears bad fruit.
And if you watch somebody long enough, you'll see the fruit of their life. Is it good or is it bad? Is it poison or is it nourishing? A good tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. They just are what they are.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, and every time we get here and every sermon I've ever heard about this, we immediately start talking about hell. I'm gonna step back from it not because I don't believe in hell, but I don't think that's the major purpose of this passage. Okay? I don't think it is in this passage. Every tree that doesn't does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
It's useless. If if you're not bearing fruit, and we can use the fruits of the spirit, we can use the the people who are coming closer as the missionary came in a while back from a negative 10 to a positive 10. The people who are coming closer to God by virtue of the life that you're living and the words of wisdom that you have when they can take them. Every tree that doesn't bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you'll know them by their fruits.
It's talking about God's eventual and ultimate justice. And I think a lot of people when they hear this, they immediately start thinking about, what have I got? Have I got fruit? If I've got fruit, I don't have any fruit. I don't have any fruit, I'm going to hell.
And it derails the whole passage. He's speaking to disciples. People have already trusted him. You can trust Jesus. He's gonna be alright.
He is gonna bring you through. He can present you blameless. Don't get concerned about that, but have blessing to
then the And then the
will be of in into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus. And then if you look at that and go, oh my goodness, I say, Lord, Lord. That might not be me. That might be me.
That might be me. And you immediately get afraid for yourself immediately. I think you missed the point again. So in Luke, Lord, Lord, it comes up this way. Like I said, if I ask two of you what the sermon's about, you're gonna give me two slightly different answers.
In Matthew, it's this, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven. And Luke says, now why is it that you call me Lord, Lord, and yet you don't do what I say? We just sang I don't know what you call that praise choruses song that says, I say yes, Lord. We say yes, Lord. Well, you can only say either yes, Lord, or no.
You can't say, no, Lord. Right? If you're saying no, you're saying, you're not my Lord. I'm not trusting you. I don't believe you, and I'm not gonna do what you say because I think I know better.
You can say, Yes, Lord, but you can't say, No, Lord. Now, why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and yet you don't do what I say? Matthew, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven will enter. He will. That's guaranteed.
This is what is going to happen. If you've trusted in God and Christ is your Lord, you will be doing his will and you will enter in. If we keep going forward and we think about that actually, I'm gonna go back to Luke for a minute. Now, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and yet you don't do what I say? What is it that he's asking us to do exactly?
Be merciful. Do not judge. Do not condemn. Pardon. Give.
For by your standard measure will be measured to you in return. That's what the Lord is saying to do. That's what he said in this passage. That's what he said in Luke. I'm combining the two so we get a better picture of what the Sermon on the Mount is about.
Many will say to me, Matthew says again, on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not prophesy? Prophecy is either foretelling the future or foretelling God's word. Either one. Okay?
So I could paraphrase this and say, didn't we say we had a message from you? Didn't we? Jesus, say to everybody that we had a message from you? Didn't we didn't we get them told, lord? Oh my goodness.
I got a joke. Let me take a little heat off of you right here. So, there's a guy and he goes in, new pastor of a little town and he it's it's kind of southern, sorry. And he goes in, new pastor in town. He starts preaching.
He's pretty good student of the word and he presents it with enthusiasm and passion and afterwards, there, he does the closing prairies, walks to the back, he stands there shaking hands on the way out, pretty traditional thing to do and one of the guys walks by and said, woo woo. Preacher. Man, you got em told. You got em told. Does that does that make sense?
I need to translate that. You got em told today, lord. You got em told, boy. You know, like that. So, it kinda got off with him a little bit that the guy said, you got them told and so next week, he comes in and he sharpens his sword a little bit, you know, and he going and he's pointing towards pride and spiritual blindness and he keeps on going.
The guy comes back and says, woah, man. You got em told. And then, the next week, there's a flu that breaks out in town and there's a big football game. Oh, there is a big football game today too. And so, nobody shows up for church except for that one guy.
The preacher has already sharpened up and he's gathering his pearls and he's getting ready to just bless this guy out. And so he tells him pretty good exactly how it is. All scriptural, no doubt about it, able to
We're going going do going be
that. Invitation hymn of invitation and response and any of you that want to come walk the aisle can just come on do that. He sang seven verses. The guy didn't move an inch. He gets up, closing prayer, pastor, goes back to the back door.
He's ready. Prayerful. He stands there as a guy walks by. He said, I tell you what, preacher, if they'd have been here, you'd have them told. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, didn't we say we had a message from you?
And many will say to me, and in your name, didn't we cast out demons? Didn't we do magnificent things, Lord? I was there. I saw the guy. We did it, Lord.
Didn't we? Didn't we do that? Didn't we conquer the forces of the devil? And in your name, didn't we perform many miracles? Weren't our lives magnificent in your name, Lord?
Weren't we just magnificent for you? Oh, man. This is what God is saying do. It's not hard to understand. It's hard to do.
It's hard to look at somebody that you know is sinful and wrong and be merciful to them. It's hard to look at somebody that you think they shouldn't live that way, they shouldn't act that way, and judge them and say, they are not worthy of my love or my protection or my advocacy. They're not worthy. There's only one who can condemn, and you ain't him, neither am I. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
Pardon, forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give. Oh my goodness. In that same passage it says, give to everyone who asks of you. Oh, no qualifications really, Lord?
Give and it will be given to you. They'll pour it into your lap with good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over for by your standard measure, it'll be measured to you in return. And then I'll declare to those who said they had a message for me and did all these magnificent things. And then I'll declare to them, I never knew you. Leave me, you who practice lawlessness lawlessness.
This is a verse my mom used to quote to me all the time. Actually, she misquoted it, but it's fine. I think it's okay. She always said, great peace have they that love the Lord such that nothing will be able to offend them. Ain't that good?
That's a truth whether it's scripture or not exactly. Cause Jesus came to fulfill the law and what the scripture says right in the middle of the Bible. If you open your Bible up smack dab in the middle, Psalm one nineteen would be right there. It says, great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. All of the modern translations say nothing can make them stumble because their house is built on the rock.
Oh, we'll get into that in just a minute too. In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want to be treated, carefully, lovingly, mercifully, graciously. That's the whole of the Old Testament. And I am looking at coming upon the end of the New Testament and thinking, I got to preach the Old Testament. I think I'm gonna preach this summary over and over again.
No. I'll eventually get to the Old Testament. In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you for this is the law and the prophets. This is why I gave you that book. Lawlessness.
Therefore and isn't it funny that legalists are practicing lawlessness? Therefore, therefore, Nick has done a great pipe cleaner video about this. It will not play on our system. I don't really know why. So there's a two minute one minute fifty nine second video.
If you'll talk to Nick, he'll probably send it to you. Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine, Jesus says, and acts on them. It's not enough just to hear it. You gotta be acting on it. Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
There is a solid foundation. It's Jesus. Firm foundation. The rain fell and floods came, the winds blew, slammed against that house, and yet it did not fall for it had been founded on the rock. We talked about this on November 28, I think.
Everyone who comes to me, hears my word and acts on them. I'll show you who he's like. He's like a man building a house. This is Luke. Same thing.
And Matthew, back to this, and everyone who hears these words of mine, and you all have heard these words of his. I'm trying to stick as close to him as I can. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them, that's foolish. It would be like a foolish man who built his house in the sand and rain fell and floods came and winds blew and slammed against the house and it fell, and its collapse was great. If you're going along with a mob, letting them think for you, you're probably not going along with Jesus and allowing his spirit to permeate who you are.
Luke says exactly the same thing. The one who's heard and has not acted is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation and the river burst against it and immediately it collapsed. And the ruin of that house was great. This is the last little bit right here. When Jesus had finished these words, Sermon on the Mount, best sermon ever preached.
When he finished preaching, the crowds were amazed at his teaching. Not hard to understand. It's hard to do. When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at his teaching for he was teaching them as one who had authority. He did have the authority.
He actually has shared that authority with each individual believer who has trusted in him to carry forth his words. He has. He was teaching them as one who had authority. Keep close to what he said. And it says this, and not as their scribes.
Their scribes would have polite, maybe not. Political and theological debate within the synagogue about who's right and they shared their pearls with one another arguing, I've got the most biblical point. I've got the most biblical point. I've got the most and therefore, they didn't have any authority. Jesus did and he shared it with them, and it was evident because of the life that he lived and would live on up to the cross.
We're only up to chapter eight in Matthew and six and maybe seven in Luke. We're gonna keep going forward, the harmony of the gospel style approach from here, but let this one sit in your lap. It's been sitting in my lap for several weeks, and it's helpful. It's really helpful to let go of some stuff and to grab on to what Jesus is saying. Just practice mercy.
Just practice grace. Practice it. Live in my grace and allow it to permeate and go right through you to other people. Is there anything else up there? Yes.
Covenant ceremony. Brad and Natalie, would y'all come forward? And Josh and Lee, would y'all come forward? Do y'all have the kids? Do you wanna run get them?
No. We'll wait till they're 16. Yep. Actually, that was an inside joke because technically, to be a member, you gotta be 16, alright? Even if you come forward.
Thank you, buddy. No. If any of y'all want to though, if you have not been baptized and you believe in Jesus, the pool is full up here. We're doing a baptism this afternoon for a family. These are the Yates and the Gibsons, Josh and Leah and Brad and Natalie, and both of them are part of the body of Christ in this valley and have been for some time.
But they are coming, and they've been coming here to first be for some time too, and they're all serving the body of Christ. I don't have a prepared script because I don't think I wasn't paying attention, honestly. That's why. Will y'all do the best you can do to follow after Christ in the midst of this body, helping anyone who would ask and taking care of this body and community and allowing them to take care of you. Would you do that?
Amen. Amen. Y'all done everything else. And now, would y'all take care of them and allow them to take care of you? Hey, would you stand with me?
We're going to sing. You all don't have to stand up here to sing if you don't sing. I love all of you all. Thank you. Do you want to say anything?
There's a microphone. That's what that was for. You all want say anything or have you said it? Yeah. It's probably true.
Come on. Come on. Oh, that's fun. Oh, God is so good. I'm gonna whimper my way through the last
the wind ceaseless praise. Let them the wind ceaseless praise. Take my hands and
So I have a blessing for you, but but I meant that in the best way possible. Brad is a very communicative guy and he communicates his heart. He communicates he is very administrative. I am terribly not. And my wife, I'm the administrator in our family.
Can you believe that? That's something. So relational we are and he is too, but he communicates so so well. Sorry about that. Great peace have they which love thy law.
Lord, may we live in the presence of God. Practicing on earth as it is in heaven. Your law, what you would have for us to do, lord. Great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them. Lord, thank you.
Amen. Amen. Please grab Brad and Natalie and Josh and Leah and welcome em into the body officially.
