Do not condemn, pardon, give and it will be given to you, pressed down shaken together running over
37 Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Set free, and you will be set free.
38 “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you.”
Do not give what is holy to dogs, do not 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.
If a son asks for bread would you give him a stone; how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask
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!
35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.
One who heard and acted dug deep and laid a foundation on rock; one who did not act had a house without foundation that collapsed
48 He is like a man building a house, who dug and went deep, and laid a foundation on the rock. When a flood arose, the stream broke against that house, and could not shake it, because it was founded on the rock.
49 But he who hears, and doesn’t do, is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
Each given a gift to serve one another; speak as with oracles of God, serve with God's strength so that God may be glorified
10 As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms.
11 If anyone speaks, let it be as it were the very words of God. If anyone serves, let it be as of the strength which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message was the final installment of the Sermon on the Mount series, working through Matthew 7 in full. The pastor drew on Luke's parallel account throughout to fill out the argument, and he followed the chapter from beginning to end, showing how its pieces fit together into one coherent call.
What was said
The opening section on judging, already covered in the Luke series back in November, got a quick but pointed review. The standard you apply to others is the standard that will be applied to you, and everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle you know nothing about. Condemnation belongs to God alone, and the passage does not say leave your brother's speck alone, only that you deal honestly with yourself first before you try to help anyone else.
From there the pastor worked through the two warnings about giving what is holy to dogs and casting pearls before pigs. He read those not as a command to withhold the gospel from anyone, but as practical counsel about method and audience. A string of careful scriptural reasoning lands flat in front of people who do not share the framework to receive it. The prohibitive subjunctive Jesus uses is less a hard prohibition than a word of caution: it is not going to go well for you if you do this, so trust him on it.
The ask, seek, knock section is tied directly to what came just before it in the sermon, "seek first the kingdom of God." The lesser-to-greater argument Jesus makes is simple: if imperfect, fallen parents still manage to give their children bread instead of stones, then there is no question the Father in heaven will give good things to those who ask. Luke adds that God himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people, and the pastor named that as the motivating force behind the golden rule that follows. Treat others the way you want to be treated, Jesus says, because that is the summary of the whole Old Testament.
The narrow gate and the warning about false prophets came next. The pastor was careful to tie them together. A mob forming around a wide and popular road is not the same thing as the few finding the narrow way. False prophets are identifiable by their fruit over time, not by their claims, and the fruit of self-enrichment or group self-promotion is a reliable marker. He resisted the immediate move to read the image of trees thrown into the fire as primarily about hell, arguing that the point of the passage is what kind of tree you are, not a preview of judgment.
The passage "not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom" was read against the backdrop of Luke's version: "why do you call me Lord, Lord, and yet do not do what I say?" You can say yes or no to Jesus, but you cannot say no and still call him Lord. The people in the passage were not quiet skeptics but active workers, citing prophecy and miracles done in his name. Yet Jesus says he never knew them. The lawlessness he names in them is the mirror image of what he has been teaching all chapter: they proclaimed much but lived without mercy, without pardoning, without giving.
The sermon closed with the houses on the rock and sand. Both builders heard the same words. The difference is whether the hearer acts on them, and Luke's version specifies that the wise builder dug deep before he laid his foundation. The crowds were amazed because Jesus taught as one who had authority, not as the scribes who accumulated opinions and argued from them. The pastor ended with Psalm 119:165, which his mother used to quote slightly reworded: great peace have they which love the Lord, and nothing shall be able to offend them.
Doing a Bible study?
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in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Josh pointed out that the scrutiny we apply to others is the scrutiny that will be applied to us, and that everyone we meet is fighting a hard battle we know nothing about. How does keeping that in mind change the way you actually treat people day to day?
Jesus tells his disciples not to throw pearls before pigs or give what is holy to dogs. Pastor Josh connected this to knowing your audience when sharing truth. Have you ever shared something you held dear and had it trampled? What did you learn from that about when and how to speak?
There's nobody in the booth. But the mic is on. Can you hear me?
Okay. There you are. Your shirt's the same color as your chair, so I couldn't tell you're up there. Would you all stand with me? We're gonna sing a few hymns this morning praising God together and really in this hymn thanking him for the wonderful words of life.
Thank you for playing for us, Florine.
Of life beautiful words wonderful words wonderful words of love Christ the blessing one gives to all wonderful wonderful words of life. Jesus only savior, sanctify forever. Beautiful words, wonderful words,
Amen. I I think of often when I hear that song, I think of this in particular. In John six, actually, set one of the saddest verses in the New Testament. It's a sixty sixth verse where it says and many of them left because this was a hard teaching. It's his disciples, people who've been following a while, and then when he gave them a hard teaching, things got hard.
It says they walked away, and Jesus turned to his disciples and he spoke and he said, you're not gonna leave me too, are you? And Peter says, where else would we go? You have the words of life, and that's the truth. Where else you're gonna go? Wonderful words of life.
Sweetly echo the gospel call. Come now, fount of every blessing.
Come thou founts of every blessing tune my heart to sing thy grace Streams of mercy never ceasing. Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious on it. Sung by flaming tongues above. Sung praise his name I'm fixed upon it name of God's redeeming love either to thy love has blessed me thou hast brought me to this place.
And I know thy hand will lead me safely home by thy good grace. Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God. He to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood. Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a feather Mind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart oh take and seal it seal it for thy courts above
Y'all can have a seat. Have a few announcements to share with you. Monday nights at first b is happening tomorrow night because that's Monday night. 06:00 down the hall. Carl will be speaking from the latter half of of John 18.
So, it's up to the part of Jesus' trials. He's already been arrested in the garden and has now, going through the trials, of the passion. And so, that'll happen tomorrow night. We have chicken cordon bleu, if that matters to you, and, mashed potatoes. And it's gonna be comfort food and a good good message but it's a hard message from Jesus and his interactions with Pilate and Jewish council.
So, it'll be good. John 18 tomorrow night, meal music and a message happens at the same time as Awana, which happens in this room to begin with, and then they spread out for all of their council time and learning scripture and playing games. It's fun. So kids matter to God, and we wanna be faithful with the younger ones in this body and this community. If you would like to sign up for weekly email bulletins, you may do that yourself nowadays by going to firstbjackson.org, or you can always call the office, and we'll do what we can to help out.
But firstbjackson.org will get you a lot of information about what's coming up and you can get on that weekly bulletin. You also can get on this mailing list and you might already be on it and you're only getting part of em or not getting many of them, but I heard this morning. So this is first be in the Bible and each, morning, Monday through Friday, we're sending out first be in the Bible and we have been through Galatians and Ephesians and we're now in Philippians and I see people nodding their heads. Y'all spam filters work but are are working for what they're supposed to be working for. Mine catches this about half the time.
So, if you will take it out of your spam box, put it in your inbox and say, this is not junk. What you do individually can help everyone because what they'll the algorithm will eventually learn that we want these things. Okay. It's not spam. So that's first b in the Bible.
Brad Yates, you wanna be added or you can call the office if you wanna be added, we can do that. There is a gathering. This is called the IF gathering of twenty twenty two. It's March fourth and fifth here at First Bee. Now last year, you might remember that Lane and Norris Brown's barn down in across the county line headed towards Bondurant.
If you're if if you are a lady and you went to that, you know it was a fantastic gathering. But we're they're still gonna do that one as kind of a retreat for First Be ladies, but this one is gonna be here. So it's a women's conference at First Be. You can register at firstbjackson.org if you want to. I don't know a whole lot more about it than that, but you can expect an announcement from someone who does next week.
All right? If you want for the phone or your internet to alert you, if you'll ding that little bell up in the top of our YouTube page, it'll let you know when we go live on anything. Some of y'all caught a funeral this week that you didn't expect because we have that, option available. Is there something I'm forgetting? In the first service, there was a covenant ceremony for Brad and Natalie Yates who are very actively involved already and Josh and Leah Gibson who are already actively involved.
I hope you know em. They almost always attend the first service, but we welcome them in with a covenant ceremony, and it's good to see the body grow. Is there anything else I'm forgetting? Anything? Also, this morning and I'm looking around and seeing most of y'all are most of not all, but most of y'all are native English speakers.
But this morning, there had been I've gotten two requests this week from our Spanish speakers. We have about five families that come, and two of those families reached out. One of them, the patriarch of the family, died yesterday. And she was sitting in the front row last week and just crying her eyes out because of the lament that she can't be there with him while he's suffering. And another one who sits about the third row of the first service, her grandfather was just diagnosed with colon cancer.
And so we prayed for them. Actually prayed for them in Spanish because that's their mother tongue. Right? But I wanna pray for them even though they're not here and they'll be in English because all of y'all are hearing it that way. God almighty, I thank you for the privilege of coming to you.
Come before the throne of grace and ask, Lord, for your mercy and your grace and for you specifically to speak during a difficult time to these families, to give them your peace and your comfort and allow them to grow closer to one another and to you. In Jesus' name, I ask that for Saul and Alejandra that are here, Lord, with their family, so her brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews that are back in Mexico City, or in Mexico, in Acapulco. God almighty, I just pray that you'd comfort that family, that they would grieve well, together, and that no one would be lost or knocked off track, but they'd be drawn into a closer relationship with you. And I pray, Lord, too, that for Julieta and for Ciplale and for Ricardo, that all of them would grow closer in their family bond as they try to help and as they pray and reach out to you to heal Rod, Julieta's grandfather, Siete Lalli's dad. I pray, Lord, that that you would heal him and that we would see your glory, that Julieta in particular would see your glory.
In Jesus' name, Lord, I pray that as we lift Jesus up, you would draw all men to you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Would you stand with me and we'll sing my Jesus, I love I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow, and I get to wear a glittering crown. Wow.
What an exchange. CS Lewis said, and I'm paraphrasing that God became one of the sons of men so that the sons of men might become a son of God. Ain't that beautiful? Day by day.
Day and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my trials here, trusting in my father's wise bestowment I've no cause for worry or for fear he whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Just do an instrumental for a minute. We'll catch up.
So to trust your promises, oh Lord, that I lose my faith sweet consolation altered me within your holy word. Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meet him, even to father's hand, one by one,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting till I reach the promised land. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I wanna ask you if you would pray with me again for the offering this morning, for operatory time. God, I thank you that you give us an opportunity, to give back a portion of what you've given because we trust you, because we know you, because we want to see your good gospel advance.
Would you use this body of believers, this little local church as a part of your plan a, the church triumphant, the church throughout all ages, all who have put their trust in you, Lord, to see the gospel advance. Would you keep on doing what you do, Lord? And would you empower us to do what you expect us to do? In Jesus' name, may we be gracious, merciful, loving, and always have your wonderful words of life inspiring us and what we do and being willing to share them. Amen.
I'm thankful to be here. We are thankful to be here praising God. So somewhere in December, had a little vision or thoughts. Right? So it came something to my mind that I would like to find some songs that we know from Romania that we can sing here during this, 2022.
But my desire is that when we're gonna go back to Romania one day, when Lord decides, that you guys would continue to sing this song. So we're gonna provide lyrics for Blake at one point. We love the church that will continue these songs. This song, it's very dear to me. It says, come to the savior, make no delay.
Here in his word, he has shown us the way. Oh, as I as I mentioned many time when I was in Romania, was used to lead the worship, and I got the privilege to choose the songs that I loved. And this one was on my list all the time. Amen.
I wouldn't mind singing that one again. That's good. Really good. I've been I've been kinda excited all week about the the message this week. We we have been in the Sermon on the Mount for quite some time now.
So, I've been in it in Matthew for week after week but we had Christmas in between. We had Luke's version of Sermon on the Mount before that but we're up to Matthew seven right now and in Matthew seven, it's the close. The whole chapter, we're gonna do the whole chapter today but we have covered this already in Luke. So, I'll point it out where Matthew is saying virtually almost exactly the same thing and then there are other places where it's a similar theme but it's a different way of looking at it. So, I might pick some of Luke up and kinda fold it back into Matthew here.
I also wanted to say, we're going forward in the harmony of the gospels approach from here. So, next week in Matthew eight, if it's mentioned anywhere else, we'll mention that all three of em next week, the way we were doing before we got to the sermon on the mount but I've been kind of excited this week for this one. Now, the first five verses, we've already covered in Luke. So, I'm gonna read them but we've already covered them. So, I preached in more detail on November 28.
I'll remind you that in minute. So, if you wanna go back, you can see it. Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way that you judge, you will be judged. So think about that.
The scrutiny that you apply to other people is the scrutiny that will be applied to you. That's saying something. If, you are gracious and merciful, God will be gracious and merciful. Actually, it goes on to say, by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that's in your brother's eye, but you don't notice the log that's in your own eye, the plank?
Or how can you say to your brother, let me take that speck out of your eye and look, the log's in your own eye. You hypocrite. Same thing Luke says. First, take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. It doesn't say don't take your speck out of your brother's eye.
It just says that first, you have to look inward before you'd be helpful to anybody else. First, go to God. Have that great physician pull that plank out of your eye before you go trying to help. We heard about that. Gospel of Luke, November twenty eighth last year.
And this is what it says. Do not judge. You will not be judged. Exactly the same words. For by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return.
It does get an additional treatment in Luke. And so it's the same sermon. If I were to ask y'all thirty minutes after this sermon is over, what was the sermon about? And I ask any two of you, you'd have a slightly different answer. Right?
You would remember different things. You'd have different points that stood out to you. Well, Luke has a couple more. Do not condemn and you won't be condemned. Pardon and you'll be pardoned.
Give and it will be given to you. If you go up just a little further, it says, give to whoever asks of you. So give and it will be given to you. They'll pour it into your lap in a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. That is an addition in Luke, which is absolutely scriptural and true, but we'll come back to that.
It's gonna come up later. The whole speck and moat was covered in luke, virtually identical. There's not a lot of difference between those two. Some phraseology, but it's the same message. And we heard that on November 28.
If you wanna go back, you can. This is the only thing, and I already covered it, for in the way that you judge, in the manner that you yourself judge, you will be judged. Recognize that. God has ultimate and absolute truth. He is ultimate and absolute truth.
And we all miss some portion of him. And the way that we look to others have have you ever heard the saying that everybody you meet is fighting a hard battle? It's good. It's good to remember that. Everybody that you meet is fighting a hard battle.
And we don't know what it is. But if we look at them and say, they shouldn't act that way. Well, neither should I. You know, just given the circumstance. For in the way that you judge, you'll be judged.
I think that that is one of the major focus. It's one of the probably the major focus of this passage, but it goes further than that because it gets at what we can do individually that will make a big difference for other people. Matthew seven six, do not give what is holy to dogs. Oh, boy. The commentators go all kinds of different directions on this one.
Do not give what is holy to dogs. Some of them bring up in the Old Testament where there's consecrated food, there's consecrated meat, and you shouldn't give that to dog. You should only give roadkill and battle spoil to the dogs. You shouldn't do anything that is consecrated or holy to dogs. Well, yeah, maybe.
But that's probably where Jesus draws a reference from. People look at it and say, well, dogs is always Gentiles. It's always those outside of the father, the father's family. So, it's the dogs are outsiders. Don't give what is holy to the dogs.
I can tell you what it's not. It is definitely not. Don't spread the gospel to the nations because Matthew is the book of spread the gospel to the nations. When he says to his disciples, do not give what is holy to dogs. Why not?
Because dogs don't appreciate the difference at all. Actually, let me go further. It's a prohibitive subjunctive for you grammar nerds. Okay? It's not an imperative, but it does have imperatival force.
Okay? A prohibitive subjunctive, what would be it's like, listen, it's not gonna go well for you if you do this, so don't do it. That's a gentle way of saying don't do it. You know? It's a little gentler than an imperative.
And Jesus doesn't mind using imperatives. He's just saying, trust me on this. Jesus well, do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs. Now this one, the pearls before swine. Pearls are valuable.
They are valuable. They're rare and they're valuable. In this day and age back then, first century, the rabbis, there had been the intertestamental silence. So for four hundred and something years, four hundred years about, they had been taking the Old Testament scriptures, and they had been putting together, piecing together what we would call cherry picking. They've been picking a little valuable nugget here and a little valuable piece here, and the rabbis would use what they called a string of pearls method of theology.
And occasionally, Jesus does this, but he's not cherry picking because he knows what they mean. Right? But if you are trying to prove your point in a scholarly debate, you're likely to see the things you agree with and pick those little pearls out and string them all together and say, because of this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this, I believe so and so. Well, all of those things can be true, and you could have chosen them in context or out, but that's your string of pearls. And if you take that string of pearls and you throw it in with a bunch of pigs, pigs, unclean animals, these are not folks that are within the body.
Now I say, we have lots of different things that after two thousand years have not been solved. The sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man and some of these major kind of things that are dividing denominations and believers that divide people apart rather than keep them in the tension and the unity of the body of Christ, they will each side will string together their pearls and string them together. And within the family, I think it's understandable. We're seeking to bring truth to one another. You don't get too set in your ways in a mob though.
Okay? Don't do that. If you're discussing the finer points of Calvinism and Armenianism in this body where people kinda know the definitions, the terms to an extent, it's better than if you're out in the community and you just start trying to say, well, God's absolutely sovereign. Everything he wants to happen is gonna happen and everything if you start preaching that and based on all these verses, what are they gonna do? Actually, this says this prohibitive subjunctive.
Yeah. Same thing. So they'll trample them under their feet. Pigs don't know what pearls are. They don't care.
They don't see the value in your argument. If I go to any church that it says we're Bible believing gospel centered church and I start sharing a message with them and I base it on something that they consider to be authoritative and valuable, I can make that argument. I can make that that plea and hopefully, maybe persuade someone to fall into the into the line with what God would have for them. But if I just go out in the, I don't know, big football game, there's one of those today. Right?
Somebody's holding up a sign. It's got all these verses on it. It's like, oh, Roman Road, 32362310. This is the way. This is the way.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and life. They don't really understand what's going on. Now I'm not saying don't carry your poster. I'm not saying definitely don't do it, but Jesus is saying, if this is your main way of doing things, they're just gonna trample that underfoot. That doesn't mean anything to them.
And they, the pigs, this is a Hebraic way of doing things. Even Greeks picked it up too, but there's a chiasm where you start with one thing that you're gonna end with, and then you go next. So this is an ABBA chiasm. The pigs are the ones who will trample the pearls under their feet because they do not recognize their intrinsic value, and the dogs are the one that will turn and tear you to pieces. They're outsiders.
They don't understand what holiness is. How can we expect people who don't know Jesus to act like they do? It's hard enough for the ones who do know Jesus to act like they do. So don't give what's holy to dogs. Don't throw your pearls before pigs.
He's speaking to disciples, and this is kind of highlighting the chiasm there. Do not give what is holy to dogs. Don't throw your pearls before pigs, or those pigs will just trample them under their feet, and it's something that you hold dear, and they just don't care. Carl said this morning, don't wrestle with pig because the pig likes it, and you're just gonna get hurt. Yeah.
There are plenty of people who wanna argue with you over divine truth. And until you are able to get to a place of settled conviction that God will show me the way to live my life, that they'll begin to ask me about it. Does that make sense? Be ready for the moment and be ready to give a defense for the hope that's in you. Don't give what's holy to dogs because they'll turn and tear you to pieces.
So speaking to his disciples, I keep pointing that out because the Sermon on the Mount, we just think of it as the biggest mass rally you've ever seen, and it was probably not that big, and it was primarily his disciples. There were other people there. There were some pharisees there. There were some foreigners there. There were a lot of people there, but he was speaking primarily to his disciples.
Ask, he says. Remember last week was seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything else God will take care of, he'll add to you? Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. So if we're seeking first the kingdom of God, we'll find it.
Yes. Knock and it will be open to you. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. Think about that. God is my sovereign.
I'm not talking about sovereignty of God versus responsibility of man. But if I take my responsibility and I say, I am a citizen of heaven and I'm a subject of the king of heaven, what would you have me do, oh king? And he will supply all I need to be able to do whatever that is. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. Any righteousness that we have is a derived righteousness because self righteousness is not righteousness.
All these things will be provided to you. God will take care of us. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and the one who to the one who knocks, it will be opened. You have knocked because you ask not. Right?
Or Jesus starts giving some examples. What person is there among you disciples who, when his son asked him for a loaf of bread, would give him a stone? We wanna take care of our kids. We all wanna take care of our kids. And he's speaking to disciples.
He says, which one among you? If his son asks for a loaf of bread, we'll give him a stone. And then he goes for a second example, or if your son asks for a fish, would you wouldn't give him a snake, would you? Or he wouldn't give him a snake, will he? No.
I mean, we know that fish and bread are what they need, not stones and snakes. And then Jesus, holy Jesus, says it just like it is. So if you, disciples, despite being evil, because there aren't any other type of people. We are by birth evil. Now we can be transformed, but he's saying, y'all know this stuff.
You know how to give good gifts. So if you, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, and that's what we wanna do, how much more will your father who's in heaven give good things to those who ask him? This is a lesser to the greater argument. It's a very Jewish way of teaching too. It's like, if this is true, then this is true too.
If your earthly fathers and mothers know how to do this, then don't you think your heavenly father would know? Doesn't he have a more ample supply? Yeah. How much more will your heavenly father who's in heaven give good things to those who ask of him? And then I'll I'll go back to Luke and pick this up.
For he himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people. That's good to know, isn't it? When he says give and when he says pardon and when he says be merciful and be gracious and don't condemn and when he says give to whoever asks of you, it's helpful to have a motivation behind that and go, you know what? Because God himself is good and kind to ungrateful and evil people. Honestly, there aren't any other kind of people.
They don't start out that way. You get to be grateful. You can get to be something other than evil, but it's by submitting to God's kindness and his goodness, recognizing and receiving his grace. In everything, therefore, in everything, Jesus says, therefore, because of that, just treat people the same way you want them to treat you. The golden rule.
Treat people the way you want them to treat you, and that's all people and everything. That's all people. It's not just believers, not just believers at this little local church. Oh, I I don't have time to go into this, but I remember church softball when I was little. I thought, how in the world could those people even be saved?
Because they were on the other team. West End Baptist Church. I hated the pitcher from West End Baptist Church, and it was our same association. In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you. Just do that.
Take that's not hard to understand. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. We covered it in Luke. Actually, right here, it goes on and says, for this, the golden rule, this is the law and the prophets. It's a summary of the whole Old Testament.
I sometimes kinda dread having to finish the New Testament and feel like I have to go to the Old Testament because there's so much grace and mercy, and Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is Old Testament revealed, and I look at it and I just love the way he sums it up. The golden rule, treat others the way you want to be treated. That's why you have all these books of history and law. Actually, you look at the law, most of it is how we can get along. That's the way it is.
Treat people the way you wanna be treated for this is the law and the prophets. Enter, disciple. You who have bowed the knee, accepted humbly the gift that God has given. Y'all enter through the narrow gate. Individually, 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. Now I've got several little things to go here. One of them was a guy who was in the Navy for a long time after the service came up and he said about meetings and gatherings and group think and committee, he said, Because no one of us is as dumb as all of us. Do you understand what I'm talking about right there? You can get in a group of people and you can make a mob that decides wrong over and over and over again.
When we were in school, when I was in college the first time around as an art major, Tanya and I eloped, we moved to Italy the next day to study art together. And when we got there, Aurelia Getzi was our Italian host hostess, and she was there and she was discussing with all of us in orientation. You are in Rome, the eternal city. This is my home. I have lived here my whole life.
She said, there are things that happen here of which you have no ideas. You don't know what's happening. She said, If you're on the street and you're looking around and you're paying attention to the beauty of the moment or the architecture of the food and you see a mob beginning to form, go as quickly as you can in the opposite direction because you have no idea what they're doing, what they're protesting. And she said, it is my job to, as best I can, retrieve you from jail. I do not want to have to retrieve you from jail.
She did for a couple of the folks, but but it it's good advice. When a mob is beginning to form, that's not a good thing. Okay? It's not a good thing. It doesn't matter what they call it.
It's not a good thing. So you are responsible individually to the Lord for what he directs you to do with his word. And he will tell us. He'll tell us. If you seek first the kingdom of God, he'll show you.
Ask, seek, knock. He'll show you. But he says specifically, enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide, the way is broad that leads to destruction. There are many who enter through it for the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life. Think about Jesus and we're since we're talking about John 18 on Monday night and 19 too, think about that painful road, the Via Dolorosa.
It was exactly what God wanted for Jesus to do, empowered by his spirit after having lived a perfect life. His way got to be more and more and more narrow to where he was walking that. And because he walked that road, his name's above every other name, and we have the chance to follow behind him. There's something specifically that God has for every single one of his followers. Just as each one of you has been given a gift, we are to be using it to serve one another as the manifold grace of God.
If it's speaking, speak as though you have the very oracles of God in your mouth, in your mind, in your heart flowing through you. And if you were to serve, then serve with the strength and for the purpose that God has called you so that in all things God may be glorified. That's first Peter four ten eleven. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it. If you see a mob foreman, no matter what they call themselves, it's probably not the few that have found it.
That's hard. That's hard teaching. The gate is narrow. The way is constricted that leads to life. There are few who find it.
Beware of the false prophets. They exist. This week, I watched hours and hours of little clips. I was trying to decide honestly, which one of these can I use to illustrate a false prophet? And there were pastors that are currently preaching today, and I just couldn't do that.
I couldn't make myself share one of those things. But, boy, there's plenty of false teaching out there. Prosperity gospel is some of it, but not all of it. There's a legalistic side of things that is pretty pretty horrendous too. And there are lots of different ways to go wrong, but there's one narrow way to go right, and it is falling behind Christ Jesus.
Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. They're seeking to enrich themselves or their group. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? Well, no.
Of course not. So if you watch a plant grow, you know what it is by its fruit. If you watch people, you will see the fruit in their lives. You'll know them by the fruit. So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
And a good tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. They just are what they are. Christ can certainly transform and make good tree out of a bad tree. Yes. He can.
But you're gonna know what somebody is by the fruit that they produce. Right here, almost every sermon I've ever heard on this passage immediately goes to hell. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that.
Oh my
goodness. Sorry. Sorry. I'm I got loose lips this morning. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
So immediately when we see fire, we think, oh, hell. This is about hell. It's about hell. Well, I think the point is it's a good tree or a bad tree. Good trees are good for fruit.
And bad trees, you just cut them down and get rid of them. Does that make sense? You don't need those. You just burn them to warm the bread. You you just throw those into the fire.
They're they're good for something, but they're not good for fruit. And so don't try not to go there yet. It's a bigger it's a bigger portion of scripture. And I think once our mind starts thinking on hell, the devil will start to use that and he leverages it, and it's not a good thing right here. No.
I believe in hell. Don't get me wrong. But just right here, I don't think that's the point of the passage. So then you'll know them by their fruits. He goes back and says, it's about the fruit.
And then he gets to this, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Now right here, because you're already usually thinking about hell, you start thinking, I hope that's not me. I hope that's not me. It says, Lord, Lord. I I say, Lord, Lord.
Well, let's go back to Luke and pick up what Luke says. It's it's the same. Lord, Lord is the same. So in Luke, same place in the Sermon on the Mount in Luke, he says, now why is it that you call me Lord, Lord, and yet you don't do what I say? Think think about that because you can either say, yes, Lord, or you can say no, but you can't say no, Lord.
Right? If he's your Lord and he asks you to do something, you do it. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and yet you don't do what I say? If we pick it up from Matthew from right there, it's not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father, what's the will of the father? He made a way for you to be saved.
He made a way for you to be sanctified. He has made a way, and he's given clear instruction in this very sermon for what you need to do to follow out the will of God. Seek first the kingdom of God. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom, but the one who does the will of my father who's in heaven will absolutely enter. There's no doubt about this.
The one who's trusted in Christ will bear good fruit and will enter. And the kingdom of heaven is in the now, by the way. You can have a relationship that produces fruit with God and know that you're part of the kingdom of heaven. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and yet you don't do what I say? Now the rest of this passage for me was really helpful this week.
This is what he's asking us to do. It it's more ample in Luke. That's why I use Luke, but it's the same in Matthew two. Be merciful just as your heavenly father is merciful. He's good to un to he's good and kind to ungrateful and evil people.
Do not judge them. It is so so easy to look and say, Those people are not living the way that they should live. Therefore, I will not give them anything, not the time of day, not any material help, and I can't believe that they would even ask. That's terrible. Be merciful.
Don't judge. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Do not condemn. Oh my goodness. There is only one who can condemn.
Do you agree with me? You ain't him. Right? I ain't either. Be merciful.
Don't judge. Don't condemn, and you will not be condemned. Pardon, and you will be pardoned. Oh, boy. In Matthew, the Lord's prayer is just above this.
Forgive us just as we forgive those who trespass against us. Give and it will be given to you. They'll pour it down into your lap, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over for by your standard of measure will be measured to you in return. That is the what Christ is asking of us. But listen to what this says.
Many will say to me on that day, and he repeats, the Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Now to prophesy is to foretell what is coming in the future by the word of the Lord. The prophets did that all the time. But to prophesize all to to proclaim thus saith the Lord. He has already said this in his word, and here it is.
Consider this, many will say to me, Jesus, on that day, lord, lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Lord, didn't we say that we had a message from you? There are all kinds of disparate theologies all over the map, and all of them think they've got the way. Right? I'm talking theologies in within Christendom, within the body, And all of them say we've got the way.
Didn't we prophecy? Didn't we say we had a message from you, Lord? Next one is actually, I'm gonna told a joke here in the first service. Y'all are y'all are pretty tight here. This is a tough spot.
So there my I talked to my brother this week. He reminded me of jokes. So we we have a preacher. He's a southern preacher. He comes in to Newtown, and, you know, they trade out preachers every once in a while.
And so they they comes in and he's presenting and he's doing a good job. He's handling the word well and he's presenting grace, mercy, and truth, not making any kind of excuse for sin but he's just giving it to him straight and then, during the invitation, nobody comes forward but he goes on during the closing prayer back to the back door and shaking hands with people on the way out and there's one guy comes up and he says, whoo wee. Preacher, my goodness. You got them told. You got them told.
And it kinda got off with the preacher that he said, you got them told. He wasn't taking anything for himself. You know? You got him told. You got him told.
So the next week, he sharpens his sermon up a little bit and he's preaching about spiritual blindness and pride. And he preaches and preaches and preaches and when he gets through, goes back to the back door, then closing prayer. Guy comes by and says, man, preacher, you got em told. I mean, you got em told. Wow.
That was some use of the sword right there. So, the next week comes along. It's a big football game that Sunday and a flu in town, small town and so, he comes, preacher comes for church and the only guy that shows up is that guy and boy, he's been prepping all week long for this guy, you know, and he didn't know he'd be the only one but when he shows up, he sees it as divine providence. He leans on the pulpit and he really rares back. Hellfire and brimstone for those who don't recognize themselves and just keeps on giving it to him, you know.
And then after a full forty five minute sermon and seven verses of just as I am, he prays and he walks to the back and that one guy comes by and he says, you know what, preacher? If they'd have been here, you'd have got them told. And in your name, Lord, didn't we cast out demons in your name? Weren't we weren't we conquering the forces of the devil? Weren't we doing that?
In your name, your authority, weren't we conquering the whole forces of the mighty army of the devil? And then the last little portion, Lord, Lord, did we not, in your name, perform many miracles? Lord, weren't we magnificent for you? Didn't we just do it? Didn't we take over and do mighty and amazing things?
You said greater things we'd do, and we did them. Weren't we magnificent for you? And this is what the Lord is saying do. He's saying, be merciful. It's easy to understand, but it's hard to do.
Don't judge. Don't condemn. Do pardon. Give. And like I said, above that, it says give to whoever ask of you.
Then I'll declare Jesus says to them, he's speaking to his disciples. His disciples are hearing his voice. I'll say to those people who are convinced of their own goodness. And then I'll declare to them, I never knew you. Leave me.
You who practice lawlessness. Lawlessness. My mom used to quote a verse to me all the time. Actually, she kinda misquoted it a little bit. I I I like her version because it's the truth and there's no doubt about it, but this is Old Testament.
Like I said, Old Testament is New Testament concealed. So great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. Isn't that a great thing? Wouldn't you like to have that kind of trust in the sovereign rule of your savior and king that you had a peace which would not be offended. Nothing would stick.
Nothing nothing would cause you that kind of offense. My mom always said, and I like this, like I said better, great peace have they which love the Lord because he fulfilled the law. Right? He fulfilled the law. This is a more ample understanding too.
Great peace have they that love the Lord and nothing shall be able to offend them. I I like that. To internalize that and go, you know, I'm standing on a strong foundation. No matter what blows at me, I'm I'm good. Jesus has made me good.
Jesus will settle me if I get knocked down. He'll pick me back up. Great peace hath the they which love thy law, oh Lord. It's right in the middle of your Bible. If you open up the Bible exactly in the middle, that's probably gonna be real close to the middle.
So in everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you. For this is the law and the prophets. If you're living out the golden rule, that is the point of the Old Testament. It also pointed us to our need for a savior. We can't just do this because we can't do this without Christ.
Treat people the same way you want them to treat you for this is the law and the prophets. And it's interesting to me that whenever Jesus had harsh words, it was always for the religious people. I've been looking to see if I could find a place where he rebuked someone that was not a religious person, and I don't think I found one. I mean, he he doesn't say that their sin is good. Don't get me wrong.
He does say go and sin no more, but that's not a harsh rebuke. The harsh rebuke is brood of vipers. You know, that's a harsh rebuke. Your dead man's tombs, whitewashed on the outside but full of dead man's bones. My goodness.
Isn't it funny that the legalists are the ones who are practicing lawlessness? Wow. Therefore, because of that, therefore, Nick has Nick Stearns, works in the office, and he was a filmmaker for a long time. He had a student video of a pipe cleaner. There were two pipe cleaner men, and they had this house built on a rock and a house built on sand, and it's fantastic.
It's a minute and fifty nine seconds long. We can't make that thing play. So if if y'all want it, talk to Nick directly. Okay? But he had this cool little video.
Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them puts them into practice. Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and slammed against that house, and yet it did not fall for it had been founded on the rock. Amen. Luke tells us the same thing, almost exactly the same words.
Whoever hears my words and acts on them. It's like he dug deep, laid a foundation on the rock, and it was well built. And then we get the converse here, and everyone who hears these words mine and does not act on them, does not put them into practice, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew, slammed against that house and it fell, and its collapse was great. Luke tells us the same thing. But the one who's heard and has not acted accordingly is like a man who had a house on the ground without a foundation because that's what a sand foundation is.
It's shifting. The river burst against it and immediately collapsed, and ruin of that house was great. And this is last two verses, last three slides is like this. And when Jesus had finished greatest sermon ever preached, sermon on the Mount. When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at his teaching.
It it it's amazing if you look at it in its whole, either in Luke or in Matthew. If you look at it in its whole and you just go, that is mind blowing, and it would alter life if I live this out every day. Right? It would alter life not just for me, but for everybody in my sphere. When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at his teaching for he was teaching them as one who had authority.
He had all the authority in heaven and earth, and he was teaching them and giving them examples they could understand, letting them think for themselves. He was there presenting it for the ones who showed up. He was teaching them as one who had authority because he had authority. The thing is, y'all have been given authority. As believers in Jesus, he says in the same way that the father sent me with all the authority, I'm sending you in that same way.
And you have the authority. There are some things that he says don't do, but you've got the authority. If you've got the word, you your authority is right here. I try to stick as close as I can to what it says because I don't want I don't have any authority on my own. This does.
For he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scraps. Think about that. So we can be scribes. We can be. We can be scholars and scribes where we examine the whole of scripture, and I think you should.
But you examine the whole of scripture and become convinced of your own opinion, and you start arguing with a brother or sister in Christ, and you get into a fight, that looks just like the world because the world fights all the time. Right? If I look at it and I think, I need to do this, Lord. Help me to be merciful. Help me not to condemn.
Help me not to judge. Help me, Lord. And then I live that out. There will be people saying, you are so gentle and so helpful and don't condemn anybody. Do you just think there's no such thing as sin?
Oh, they're sin for sure. Well, what's the deal with that? I mean, this is the standard right here. I live by this and try to anyway. Fail, you know.
But Jesus was speaking as one who had authority. We can live out of his authority and do it in a way that's not like these argumentative scribes that are constantly throwing grenades back and forth trying to be right. Just trying to be righteous. It's easy to point out someone else's flaws. Jesus is saying, Look for your own.
I'll help you with them. Then you can help other people. Is that it, Blake? Yes, sir. Okay.
Florian, would you come forward? And we'll sing where he leads me, I will follow. And this might be I mean, it's a it's a narrow gate, but this might be different looking for all of you. You know, some of y'all teachers, and some of y'all are students, and some of y'all are mentors for other people, and some of y'all are need mentoring, honestly. Where he leads me, I will follow.
Would you stand with me and we'll sing that? I'm not going to sneak to the back today and stand and shake hands.
I can hear my savior calling. I can hear my savior calling. I can hear my savior calling. Take that cross and follow follow me. Where he leads me, I will follow.
Where he leads me, I will follow. Where he leads me, I will follow. I'll go with him, with him all the way. And glory. He will give me grace and glory.
He will give me grace and glory. And go with me with me I'll he leads me, I will go with him, with him all the way. Amen.
And for the benediction, I think we're gonna pick up that Psalm one nineteen one sixty five. Great peace have they which love thy law. The law shows us our lack and we've got a savior. Great peace have they that love the Lord and nothing shall offend them. Nothing shall be able to offend them.
Nothing shall be able to make them stumble. Lord, may we go forward today in the confidence that your authority gives to live out a life that refuses to be offended and constantly seeks to help. In Jesus' name, amen.
