Podcasts about sermon on the mountain

The descendants of Abraham once again found themselves drawn to a mountain to hear the word of the Lord. But this time, the incarnate Son of God was seated before them—audibly speaking, teaching, and sharing His Torah. Words that are commonplace in Christianity today fell like nuclear bombs, transforming the hearts and minds of the sons and daughters of Abraham gathered there.

Join Charlie, a non-binary sci-fi fantasy writer, and their husband Brian, as they commemorate the transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor. This episode explores the presence of Jesus alongside Moses and Elijah, the significance of this event in Christian mysticism, and its relevance to modern believers. Through thoughtful discussions on law, prophecy, justice, and the essence of divine light, Charlie and Brian encourage listeners to find personal meaning and practical wisdom in this sacred narrative. Engage in a deeper understanding of the balance between law and prophecy and the transformative power of divine illumination.Support us on: https://ko-fi.com/cedorsettBecome a patron of the arts patreon.com/cedorsettFor Educational Resource: Wisdoms Cry https://wisdomscry.comFor all of the things we are doing at The Seraphic Grove go to Creation's Paths https://www.creationspaths.com/BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/creationspaths.comThreads https://www.threads.net/@creationspathsInstagram https://www.instagram.com/creationspaths/Transcript:  Today as we celebrate the transfiguration of Christ and imagine the divine Christ. Between Moses and Elijah on Mount Tabor. We have a lot of questions that pop up. What does this mean for us today? Why is this such an important, and I would say almost a vital part of the story?   Blessings in light to everyone out there. Hello, my name is Charlie. I am a non-binary scifi fantasy writer. Today we are celebrating. The memorial of the transfiguration of Christ. This is a story that we can find in the new Testament and is one that has inspired mystics and visionaries throughout the history of Christianity. I think, we'll find very impactful in our own discussion today. I'm joined by my wonderful husband, Brian. Good day. This is a big, deep, meaty topic. I'm glad that it's on the calendar every year, because this entire podcast could just be about this one moment and we could do seven days a week hours and hours a day and not exhaust everything that happened. If you're not familiar with the story, It's very simple. Jesus and three of his disciples Peter, John, and Andrew go up on a mountain to pray. They wake up in the middle of the night and there's a blinding light on the top of Mount Tabor. They look over and there is the fully divine Christ sitting on the mountain, talking with Moses and Elijah. And they really don't know what to do. In fact, I believe it's Peter. Who said, should we make up tents for our guests? And Jesus is like, No. But thanks for asking. it's this moment that kind of happens and passes. It seems almost an interjection into the story. What actually happened here? What is the importance of this? On a basic level the transfiguration shows us Jesus in the line of profit and law-giver. We see him with Moses the quintessential law giver, the one to whom the Torah was given. That all of the commandments were given. And we have kind of this reenactment of the events on Mount Sinai. And we have a, Elijah the quintessential profit . A profit that walked with God so much that he does not die. A great chariot swings, low picks him up and carries him away into heaven. So again, the quintessential prophet. Just a quick little side note in here, because it kind of cracks me up. Elijah is also, very much about lessons of hospitality. It just cracks me up that the first default thought was hospitality, with proposing, do we need to build a tent or set up a tent for them? Even though. non-corporeal doesn't necessarily need a tent, but hospitality first, it just cracks me up and there's always a great lesson to take in everything, that one's default thought should be hospitality just cover your bases. We have these three very important people. People who are all attributed to these three mountain experiences, we have Jesus on Mount Tabor. We have Moses from Mount Sinai. And we have a Elijah who is very connected with Mount Carmel. in fact, it's on Mount Carmel that Elijah sees God. One of the most powerful passages in all of scripture and a story, we will be referring to a lot, forever. And should probably do a full episode on at some point. God walks by and there are three things that happen. There was a mighty wind. But God was not in the wind. There was a fire and God was not in the fire. There was an earthquake and God was not in the earthquake. And then a still small voice came to Elijah. I've always found this image very powerful in that when we think of Moses on Mount Sinai. We think of this big, booming voice, right? For those of us of a certain age, we go back to a certain Charlton Heston movie. I am the Lord, your God. Right. It's very booming voice, which is very much associated with the law. Loud booming. Declarative voice. And Elijah who heard the still small voice. The quiet voice and there in between the two is Jesus the Christ in the fullness of his glory. Now we can get into some of the theological questions and stuff that come around with this moment, but, to me the most important lesson I learned from here is the Christ as the pivot point between these two things. The law which is quite literally for Moses written in stone. The 10 declarations are, as they're often said in English, the 10 commandments, literally carved into stone. And Elijah. The prophet. The justice maker, the one who engages in good trouble. The most prolific slaughterer of. People in the entire scripture, which is why people like me always speak of Elijah with great reverence. Because people who are familiar with the story of Elijah and the profits of ball. They say their prayers, they say their prayers and when elijah brings fire down on his stack and the profits of ball, don't. Elijah then pulls a sword and kills 500 profits of ball. We'll talk about that later Elijah is a bit scary and in legend becomes increasingly scary because Elijah having never died occasionally shows back up in stories. And is always there to as Brian said, judges, the hospitality of the place that he goes to. woe and to you, if Elijah finds you wanting. The profits are the voices of justice. The law is not always about justice. I think this is where we get things confused. The law is about righteousness. When we are talking about the law, we're talking about what is right and what is wrong. We're talking about ethical codes, moral codes. How you should govern yourself and how you should govern a society. That's what the law is. The law is not interested in justice. It should be the embodiment of justice. It should be written justly. But. a, human actor has to make justice happen. I like to think of the law as it's like any structure whether that's a building, a wall, a door. It exists. It gives structure and form to the environment. But it is not necessarily just, it is not necessarily right or wrong. That wall will obstruct passage and flow of air , and everything else, good or bad. But it does give structure. Continuing this trend that we've been on this month with the podcast, talking about peace and peace making. There we have Jesus in the middle. And I feel like this is the embodiment of both the law giver and the pro and the prophet. As Jesus famously said in the sermon on the mountain, not one jot or tittle. Not one little dot or a line. Which shall pass from the law until all is fulfilled. What is the law? You should love the Lord, your God with all your heart, mind, and spirit, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The law is love. But this is very rigid. It is love. Not hate, not anger, not fear. And he walks this line between the law giver. Which we see on the sermon on the Mount. And the prophet who is going about interfering with injustice. see a person about to be stoned. And he says, okay. That's what the law demands. This person be stoned. So whoever's without sin cast the first stone. Hmm. That makes you have to stop for a minute. And look at the harshness of the law. Jesus is constantly pointing at the harshness of the law. Why is there divorce according to Jesus, because of the hardness of our own heart. Because we enter into relationships that maybe we shouldn't maybe we're mean to each other and were cruel to each other. There are many, many reasons for a marriage to end, but if we were perfect embodiments of love and compassion, There would be no need for divorce. We would find the person that we loved and we would love them and we would be a perfect love and romance, novels, happy, ever. Afters would be ubiquitous for all. But that's not who we are as a species. So many of us have that hardness of heart. Relationships break and they fall apart Jesus is bringing about this new modality. This new way of acting. And that we are told not to judge. Judge not lest you be judged for you shall be judged by the same measure that you yourself apply. Ooh. This is why I personally don't care what people get up to in their personal lives. But if they're always harping about morality, and getting into everybody else's sex lives and they have a messy one themselves. I find myself talking about it. Because I don't really care what most people are doing in their privacy of their own lives. But you keep saying that you are some Paragon of justice, now I care. It's the hypocrisy that makes me care and we are judged by the standards that we apply. There is also a second part of that. This is where prophecy being able to see the divine be able to participate in those divine energies really comes to the forefront. Jesus tells us to. Not try to take the mote out of our brother's eye. Before we take the log out of our own. What's all that about. Well, the evils that we impute to others are often, not always, but often the flaws we see in ourselves. We're often projecting our own insecurities fears, inadequacies, lapses on to others. And in, so we're telling ourselves. I'll be quite honest. I talk a lot about compassion and our need for compassion because. That is not something that comes natural to me. Compassion is something I had to learn and actively practice. I would not say that I am perfect at it. When I don't believe that anybody's perfect at anything, but I have rage in me. I have anger in me. I'm not somebody who holds grudges. That's not the way that I act, but. if I am not careful in monitoring who I am and how I'm interacting with people, compassion. Isn't always the place that I operate from. I see this as a failing in myself and thus project out. We need compassion. We need confession. You see the St. John Lennon, John Lennon also had this problem and one of his most famous songs, right. All you need is love. Because, yeah, this is a fault he saw in himself that he tried to make better and tried to get better. In his case, I think it is something that he did improve on over time. It is in this as well that we can glean a useful motivational tool. It is in our nature to want to judge others for things. Using that desire. That urge. Sublimating that energy. Into and redirecting it back into yourself. To use that as energy to give yourself fuel for self-improvement. It's quite a powerful tool. Often, when driving, find myself being like, oh, this person's being a jerk or don't drive like a, expletive. I tend to get worked up by other drivers. On my better days, I take a moment. Take that breath for peace and let it go and then I also remember to take that energy that was built up in wanting to judge others, to reflect it back upon myself and realize. Why am I driving as fast as I'm driving? Why am I cutting these people off? Why did I just change lanes five times between two stoplights? It's unnecessary. It's excessive. I'm the one driving like a jerk. I'm the one cutting people off. I'm the one driving too fast. And whether I am quote unquote, driving safer, it's not for the debate at that point in time. It's a lame excuse. I need to fix myself first. Using that as motivation is helpful in fixing myself because it's stuff that I want to excuse. I like doing that. I like going fast . That's fine, but I need to use it, to stop myself from judging others. And redirect that energy so that until I'm driving calmly and sanely and not like a jerk. I cannot judge others on that. Mount Tabor really is the place where we start confronting a lot of this. a lot of early Christian mysticism is based off of this image. Here it is. As important to Christian mysticism as is Ezekiel's vision of the divine chariot is in Jewish mysticism. It is pivotal to this. And they're on. Mount Tabor. We see the Shekinah glory of God. The light shining that we are told was in the tabernacle when they were wandering through the desert. This Shekinah that filled the temple when it was initially blessed by following this light, this glory of God. The Covad . The glory. The hush mall. Of God. Is there. In their presence. It's terrifying. Because in the bright. Un yielding light. There's nowhere to hide. All of your faults are laid bare. All of your imperfections are laid bare. If you wonder why. Your favorite newscaster podcast or starts using soft light more and more and more as time goes on. its because soft light doesn't show wrinkles. The softer, the light. The less likely you are to see the effects of aging, right. Harsh light, bright light shows all imperfections. If there's the slightest wrinkle in your clothes. The harsh light will show it. And that really is. The experience. Why. The tremendous and fascinating mystery when you encounter the divine. That shakes us to our core. Is you realize there's nothing to hide. There's nowhere to hide. There's nothing. That you can cover up here. This is what the apostles are seeing. The apostles are the stand-ins for us in this moment where they're just like, Uh, Guys. Moses and Elijah are here. And Jesus has kind of glowing. There's light everywhere. It's important for us to realize there's always light. Everywhere. You glow. I glow. It's subtle. It's soft. Our eyes. Don't pick up on it. Well, because it is so faint. But one of the things that we know because of the nature of our bodies and the way the chemistry. The biology and the physics work within them. Every human clothes, just biologically Glos. We don't have to get into subtle matter. And all of the things, spiritual things here. You glow. There is a light about you. I would also agree with Yoda, luminous beings. Are we not this crude, matter. That light is always around us. And in that light, we realized that we are all intrinsically the same. We are all striving for a life that is free of sorrow. That is full of joy. That grants us a sense of fulfillment. And we might not all pick the best or even the right way to do it. But we all have that commonality that. Unifies us. In spirit and in. Reality. Staring at this immage and I highly recommend. You just take some time in meditation. And just imagine it for yourself. You can use a picture. If that helps you find your favorite painting. There are millions of them probably. Scenario, because it is such a famous moment from the gospels. Or just allow your imagination to be what it is. Let Moses look like, whatever you want Moses to look like. let Elijah looked like whatever you want Elijah to look like. Let Jesus look like whatever you want Jesus to look like. Let the mountain. Look like what. Whatever you want it to look like you don't need to go. Find Mt. Tabor on Google earth and see what the actual landscape looks like. Just let yourself be in the moment. What arises for you? What does this look like to you? And how do you feel. In that light in that place. As this great. Illumination this base. Illumination is flowing up. Where the one life is erupting like a fountain into the world. Reminding us that the true path. That we walk. Is not. The righteous path of the law. The justice making path of the prophet. It's that path in the middle. It is that middle way. That place in between where we have to not only remember the letter of the law, but the spirit. What is the justice that needs to be done here. What is the goodness that needs to be done here? What is the truth that needs to be done here? We're not always looking for. That booming. Loud Cecil B DeMille. Voice of God. Booming from the heaven. Which by the way, if you really want to see how good he was at. Making that happen. He actually made a silent film version of the 10 commandments before he made the Charlton Heston, Yule Brenner one. It's a silent film. And. You will actually understand a line from the Torah very profoundly. And it says that their eyes heard. They saw the voice of God. Because there's no sound. It's a silent film. But he does such a good job in conveying the imagery there. You can hear the thunder. You can hear the lightning, you can hear the booming voice. Which is a. Sign of just how good he was as a filmmaker. This is a moment. Foundational. To our mysticism. To our. When I use the bad R word. Religion. Remember I use religion in the Roman sense of the term. It's religio it is. The link. What links us back. What links us again? What links us together? In this moment, we see the tradition. We see Moses, we see Elijah, we see the Christ. We see the future. Here's Peter, John and James. We see the future. The future of the past and the present all together in one place. We're forced to start asking ourselves. What is our future? What is our past. What. Traditions are we going to hold on to, this is really the power of the profits. The profits are the pruning sheers of faith. When you actually look at the Hebrew prophets. Right. You read the law of Moses. The law of Moses is very clear. We use this knife to kill this animal and use this ladle to put this blood on this, alter it. I mean, step by step instructions on how sacrifice works. And then we get to the profits. And through the mouth of the profits. Hear the voice of the Lord. I do not want to or sacrifice. I want your love. That is a pruning shear. Being taken. To the faith. That is a pretty sure being taken to the law. The law is very clear. On this day, we bring these animals to this place to do these things. From Blom Blom Blom Blom. For me, it was one of the greatest revelations. When. Going through different traditions and looking at. Everything it was recognizing. There's the core. There are those. Few things and it should be very few things that are essential. It's like in life. You have to eat. You have to drink water. You have to breathe. There are those essential things. Those are the things that you allow to be your law. But everything else. Is personal practice. That is the prophetic element. That is, the justice making element. And it's recognizing that is. Personal. And you can share the other trappings with others. Through the different traditions that link you back. It's not essential. It doesn't matter. The ladle you use is not core. Sacrifice. It's not core. It's the love. That's core that needs to be in all of it. But the rest. And then the profits helped. to. prune that. And help to put into context. That, oh, this is not essential. As we said at the very beginning, what was the law that Jesus gave. Oh, master. What is the greatest commandment? You will love God. With all your heart. Mind and being. And you love your neighbor as yourself. And there it is. How the hell can you love somebody else? If you don't love yourself, there you go, it's also very profound. Very true. It's very true. That is the core of everything that we're doing. And. When you ask yourself, how do you love God with all your heart, mind, and spirit again god is our aliveness. We are called to live. God. God is our aliveness. Inner radiance. Love being alive. Love you are aliveness live. To the best of your ability and you are. Showing that love and affection for God. That is what we really see here. This just fount of life. Pouring forth on mountain table. We bask in the radiance of that tabernac light. And this is something that a lot of Christian . mistics. Talk about. And if you've ever experienced this in meditation, it is such a profound experience that. Occasionally there you are. You're sitting with your eyes closed and deep meditation. And you just find yourself surrounded by light. It's just there. It didn't suddenly appear. It was always there. You just didn't see it. We distract ourselves so much. And I think one of the more interesting things is we see this conversation. In the gospels between Jesus Moses and Elijah. I want to bring that challenging moment up here. was that really a one-time thing. or is everything that Jesus did a conversation between him, Moses and Elijah. Between him the law and the profits. Was just that just one moment? Where everything was just right enough that the veil slipped. And people could see. That discourse happening. Because from my point of view yeah. This is just that moment where it was visible. Not a unique moment in time. I think you can see that discourse on. The Mount of olives later in the story, and you can see it on the sermon on the Mount earlier in the story. You can see it all the way through. You can see it. In Jesus, when he is assaulted by the man possessed by many demons. And Elijah. Comes out in him and he wrestles him to the ground. And cast the demons out. It's in the moment. Of the fishes and the love just before the fishes and the loaves. When the community has brought the problem before Christ. And Jesus has that moment. the law says, cast them out. You can weed that, that crowd down really easily. justice says, hospitality says, feed them all. Or feed. As many as you can. So as we sit here, Remembering. The transfiguration. This moment where we get to see this glimpse of the divine Christ, the cosmic Christ. The one who Paul tells us. Holds the cosmos together. Hold that vision in our minds. Really ask ourselves how we can participate with it. How we can find more moments of that divine light. And how we can. Walk this path between the law and the prophets. More fully. In our daily lives. I hope you've gotten something out of this. I hope that. Something we have said has moved something in you and we would love to hear for you. You can reach out to us through our community over at sub stack. Just go to https://www.creationspaths.com/. And click on the chat tab. You can leave your questions, comments, and anything. There. You can also comment on this post over there and keep the comments over there. However you want to do it. You can also reach out to me. I am https://bsky.app/profile/creationspaths.com on blue sky and https://www.threads.net/@creationspaths. Over on threads and Instagram. But we'd love to talk to you. About this. And answer any questions you might have. If there's any way that you can help support us and keep us doing what we're doing. You can join our community over at https://www.creationspaths.com/ for all of our paid members, there are classes coming. That will be first behind. The paywall so that we can make sure that we're giving special attention. To those who are taking them and make sure we're asking, answering any questions that are asked. And everything, but they will go out to the wider community later. So don't worry about it. If you don't have the money. Right now. Don't hurt yourself. Never hurt yourself. In giving to us or anybody else. They're going to go wide afterwards. We're just going to start. With the paid audience and then spread out from there. And if you're hungry for knowledge. There is https://wisdomscry.Com. Which has a lot of wonderful information and articles on a wide, incredibly wide variety of topics. And an ever-growing treasure trove of knowledge and information. , as more and more articles go up regularly. thank you so much for being here. And has always made the blessings and light of God ever shine upon you. That you may find the path that you should walk. Amen. Amen. Get full access to Creation's Paths at www.creationspaths.com/subscribe

A new MP3 sermon from Mt. Carmel Baptist Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Jesus Solution for Anxiety Subtitle: Sermon on the Mountain Speaker: Jared Ebert Broadcaster: Mt. Carmel Baptist Church Event: Sunday - AM Date: 7/21/2024 Bible: Matthew 6:25-34 Length: 38 min.

A new MP3 sermon from Mt. Carmel Baptist Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Jesus Solution for Anxiety Subtitle: Sermon on the Mountain Speaker: Jared Ebert Broadcaster: Mt. Carmel Baptist Church Event: Sunday - AM Date: 7/21/2024 Bible: Matthew 6:25-34 Length: 38 min.

A new MP3 sermon from Mt. Carmel Baptist Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Lay up treasures in Heaven Subtitle: Sermon on the Mountain Speaker: Cameron Courtney Broadcaster: Mt. Carmel Baptist Church Event: Sunday - AM Date: 7/14/2024 Bible: Matthew 6:19-24 Length: 49 min.

A new MP3 sermon from Mt. Carmel Baptist Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: How to Avoid Being a Liar Subtitle: Sermon on the Mountain Speaker: Jared Ebert Broadcaster: Mt. Carmel Baptist Church Event: Sunday Service Date: 6/9/2024 Bible: Matthew 5:33-37 Length: 41 min.

A new MP3 sermon from Mt. Carmel Baptist Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Biblical Divorce and Remarriage Subtitle: Sermon on the Mountain Speaker: Jared Ebert Broadcaster: Mt. Carmel Baptist Church Event: Sunday - AM Date: 6/2/2024 Bible: Matthew 5:31-32 Length: 39 min.

A new MP3 sermon from Mt. Carmel Baptist Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Adultery of the Heart Subtitle: Sermon on the Mountain Speaker: Cameron Courtney Broadcaster: Mt. Carmel Baptist Church Event: Sunday - AM Date: 5/26/2024 Bible: Matthew 5:27-30 Length: 44 min.

Sermon on the Mountain introduction. Matthew Ch. 5, 6, 7

Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, the crowds are astounded because he taught with such “authority.

In Matthew 5, Jesus taught multitudes of followers through his sermon on the mountain. There he said, "Blessed Are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted." Pastor John speaks about grief and mourning, and the outcomes of such an experience. September 17 2023 Music: CCLI License 20576625 - Day By Day | Andrew L. Skoog, Karolina Wilhelmina Sandell-Berg, Ken Barker, Oskar Ahnfelt, Word Music Group | Copyright Public Domain

In this episode of Religion Today, host Martin Tanner shares his own translation of Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount" in modern, contemporary English and explains in additional detail, the meaning of its contents.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In his sermon on the mountain, Jesus told his followers to not let their lights be hidden, but to always let them shine. Using this passage as his background, Matthew Balentine discusses six distractions that we (especially our new high school graduates) can allow to put our lights out and then three things we can do to turn our lights on again. ***** Please join us in person at the Ninth Avenue Church of Christ, located in Haleyville, Alabama. You are also invited to join us through social media:  Like us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ninthavenuechurch)  Follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ninthavechurch)  Follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/ninthavenuechurch) The song "The Ode to Joy" is used pursuant to a license issued by Envato Elements.

Why did Jesus scale a mountain in order to give this sermon, and what is the significance of mountains in the Bible? This episode introduces the Sermon on the Mount by placing it within the context of God's teaching upon the various mountains in scripture. It also discusses how we should approach this teaching as students drawing near to the very author of human life. Connect with us at:Facebook:  @ThisWeBelievepodcastTwitter: @We_Believe_PodE-mail: Thiswebelievepodcast@gmail.com

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic BostonChurch. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston ordonate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com. We are continuing oursermon series today called Committed. We've been talking about the essentialhabits of an abundant life and what we've been saying over and over throughoutthis series is that we are taking a look at some of the essential,nonnegotiable and just super practical commitments that every Christian needsto make in order to grow in their faith and persevere through life and toexperience and to enjoy the abundant life that Jesus Christ came to give. And if you were here last week, our teens director, Tyler, did an awesome job talking about our commitment to Scripture and I hope that that sermon just left you with a greater appreciation, a greater trust, a greater hunger and appetite for God's word. It's amazing that we worship a god who speaks, a god who has chosen to reveal Himself to us as His creation and we should never take that for granted, right? If God has something to say, we want to hear it. We want to listen. And it is awesome to think that we have access to the word of God recorded for us in Scripture. We worship a god who speaks. We also worship a god who listens. And this is what we are going to be talking about today as we look at the topics, the commitments of fasting and prayer. Like so many of the things that we've talked about in this series, this is not something we do, it is something we commit to, that fasting and prayer, they're not going to happen by accident, they're not going to happen on their own, that these are things that like the early church we need to devote ourselves to doing. And for some of us, maybe that feels like hard work. I don't know about you, but sometimes prayer could begin to feel like a grind. It could feel like something that you have to do or something that you're supposed to do when really we should view prayer as something that we get to do. And as we learn to do these things properly, even if at times they might feel like a grind, they might feel like a drudgery, they should become our delight, that as we practice them persistently, we find in them a great reward. And I use that word because that's the word that we're going to see Jesus used over and over in our text today when He talks about fasting in prayer. He keeps using this word reward. And so is that a word that you use? Is that a word that you think about when you think about fasting, when you think about prayer? Before we begin this morning, I want you to do something for me right now. I just want you to mentally do a quick evaluation of your prayer life. Rate yourself, scale of one to 10, 10 is everything's great, you've got an abundant, flourishing, vibrant, rewarding prayer life. One is it's dry, it's a grind, barely existence. Your prayer life is on a life support. Does prayer feel like a requirement, like a drudgery, like something that you have to do or does it feel like a reward? Does it feel like a delight, something that you get to do? Wherever you just rated yourself, none of us are a 10, we've all have room to grow and so my hope today is that we can all go up in our rating together. And so if you just said, "Well, I feel like I'm a two or a three," well, what would it take to get from a three to like a seven or to get from a five to a nine? What would it take for us to all grow to have a prayer life that's more like that of Christ Jesus? And lucky for us, this is something that Jesus' disciples wondered as well and they at times would ask Jesus, "Hey, Jesus, can you teach us how to pray?" And He did. On multiple occasions, Jesus taught His disciples how to pray and one of those is the text that we're going to be looking at this morning. It's Matthew chapter six, verse five through 21. This is a part of the sermon on the Mount. And Jesus spends a considerable amount of time teaching His disciples about this topic of fasting and prayer. So we're going to walk through this text together. It's a bit of a long text and we're going to just go through it section by section. And as we do, I want us to look at five commitments that are going to help us to avoid some of the pitfalls of prayer and fasting that we could potentially fall into, but also to just have an increasingly vibrant, abundant, powerful and rewarding prayer life that God wants us to have. So if you have your Bibles, we are in Matthew chapter six, beginning in verse five. The words are also going to be up here on the screen. This is what Jesus said, "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray and stand in the synagogues and on the street corners that they may be seen by others. And truly, I say to you, they've received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who's in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray then like this, 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.' For if you forgive others their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They just figure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they've received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where mouth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." This is the reading of God's holy word for us this morning. Would you please join me in prayer for our sermon today? God, we pray that we would learn to treasure You as we ought. And God, we pray that You would forgive us for not praying as we ought. Lord, You warned Your disciples in the garden to watch and to pray that they might not enter into temptation for the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is so weak. And God, we confess our weakness to You and we praise You that Your strength, Your power is made perfect in our weakness, that Your grace is greater than our failures. And so Lord, we ask today that You would to teach us to pray as we ought, teach us to live continually in Your presence, experiencing the blessing of knowing that You are always with us and You always hear us, that we can come and we can talk to You at any time. Teach us what it means to be anxious about nothing but to pray about everything because we know that You are with us, You see us, You hear us, You love us and You are able to provide for our every need. Lord, You are the God who hears and I pray that we would marvel at that reality today and we give You thanks and glory for it now, in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well, before teaching His disciples how to pray, Jesus first we see, He teaches them how not to pray and He gives them two examples. He says, "On the one hand, don't go and don't pray like the hypocrites. Don't pray like the Pharisees, the religious people." And on the other hand, He says, "Don't pray like the Gentiles, like the lawless pagans either." And so let's start with the religious people that with the Pharisees in verse five, Jesus says, "When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray and stand in the synagogues and not at the street corners that they may be seen by others. And truly, I say to you, they've received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Now, first of all, we need to understand Jesus isn't condemning public prayer. He's not saying that there's never an appropriate time for Christians to pray in public with one another. Corporately, we see it in the New Testament that that is something that the early church was devoted to doing, that it is a good thing for God's people to come and to pray together publicly. But what Jesus is telling us and what we all need to be cautious of is this, that if we find in ourselves that we can go to church and pray with other Christians or we can go to community group and we've got a lot of things to say to God and we can pray with lofty words and eloquence and everything sounds very polished, but then we go home. And when we're alone with God in secret, we've got nothing to talk about, well, He says that's a problem. That's a symptom of a pretty serious illness in the diagnosis that he gives is hypocrisy. I think of it like this. I don't know if you've ever been over at a friend's house like hanging out and then somebody you don't know, one of their friends comes in and joins you. Maybe it's a coworker or neighbor or something like that. And at first, everything's great. You're having a good time, hanging out. The conversation is going well and everybody seems friendly and then your friend gets up and leaves the room and now you're trapped in this awkward deafening silence. And a moment ago, we thought, "I thought we were all friends, but now that they're gone, I realize that was an illusion. You are not my friend. I don't even know you. You're a stranger and we've got nothing to say to each other." Well, don't be like that with God. If you are like that with God, that is a cause for concern. If you find it easy to talk to God when other people, other Christians are around, but you can't talk to Him in private, oh, maybe you've fallen into the same pit as the Pharisees and maybe you've figured out how to look really religious and sound really spiritual when other people are around, but there's no real relationship there with God. He says, "Don't fall into that pit. If the pathway to prayer is this narrow road, you've got this dangerous ditch on the one side that the Pharisees fell into," but he says, "But there's also this other ditch on the other side that the Gentiles fall into. So he says, "Don't be like the pagans either," and this is what He talks about in verse seven. He says, when you pray, "Don't just heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words." He says, "Don't be like them as your Father knows what you need even before you ask." See, unlike the Jews who were monotheistic, they believed in one God rightly, the Gentiles believed in a pantheon of gods and their relationship to these gods was not particularly healthy. The gods were seemingly mostly motivated by their own selfish self-interest. And so the people envisioned their gods as these kind of powerful but moody beings and they needed to be appeased. They needed to be persuaded, even maybe bribed in order to care about the plights of mortal people. And their hope was that if they used the right words, if they prayed to the right god with the right words, in the right place, at the right temple with the right idols and the right sacrifices, well, maybe they could get somebody's attention out there. And so they would babble and they would heap up all of these words, as Jesus said, because they were just trying to cover all of their bases like, "If I just do this enough, maybe something will happen. Just throw a plethora of prayers out into the cosmos and hope that maybe somebody out there is listening." And Jesus says, "Don't be like that. Don't be like the Gentiles. The Gentiles weren't just a little-stitious, they're more than a little-stitious. They were superstitious. He says, "Don't be superstitious about prayer. It's not some magic incantation that you need to figure out. Prayer is not a way to tap into some higher power or manipulate some spiritual system. Prayer is just simply a conversation with God. And God is not a system. He is not a power. He is a person." And so I said we'd look at five commitments of a rewarding prayer life. And the first one is that, before anything else, we need to commit to this. We need to pray to God with God as a person. And I use the word with. We often talk about praying to God. Not necessarily anything wrong with that, but I'm using the word with here intentionally for two different reasons. First of all is because the Gentiles prayed to their gods, but they can never really be sure if the gods were listening to them. They could never be sure if anybody out there was hearing that they send their prayers off like an email and who knows? Maybe it just wound up in someone's spam folder. Maybe it just got deleted right away. They could never be sure. But we don't pray like that, that when we pray to God, we pray to a god that we know we have confidence, we have assurance that He is with us, that God is all knowing, all seeing. He is omniscient, omnipresent and all powerful. He always hears all the prayers of His people. And eight times in this passage, Jesus refers to God in a very specific way that shows the intimate relationship that we are to have with Him. He refers to Him as our Father. I mentioned earlier that this passage, it comes from the Sermon of the Mount, and later on in the same sermon, Jesus comes back to this topic of prayer in Matthew chapter seven and He's talking about the relationship of us praying to God as a father. And in verse seven, he says this. He says, "Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you. For everyone who asks, receives and he who seeks finds and to Him who knocks the door will be opened." And he says, "Or which one of you, if his son asks for bread, we give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, would give him a serpent? If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, well, then how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him?" I don't know about your dad's situation. Some of you had very good dads, maybe some of you didn't. The point that Jesus is making here though is that even the very best of earthly fathers seems evil when compared to the goodness, the kindness, the grace of our God, our Heavenly Father." And God wants us to know Him as a good Father, as a father who is so good, so loving, so attentive that He not only sees us, He knows what we need even before we ask Him," Jesus says. And Jesus calls God our Father. We need to relate to God as our Father. He also calls Him our Heavenly Father, that we can approach God with the affection and the intimacy of a father, but we must also approach Him with the reverence and the honor and the respect due to a Heavenly Father that our God as a father is perfect in His goodness. He's also perfect in His holiness. He teaches us to pray, "Our Father who arts in heaven, hallowed be Thy name." And so what does it mean to say that God is holy? It means that He is morally perfect in every way. He is completely pure without compromise, without contradiction. He is utterly distinct and set apart with no rival, with no equal for His glory, for His righteousness. And actually when you look at Scripture, what you see is that God is so holy, he is so righteous that anything unrighteous is unable to even stand before His presence, that even the angels of heaven, and when Isaiah has his vision, that they cover their faces before the holiness of God, that God is so righteous that anything containing even an ounce of sin, even the smallest imperfection, it would be destroyed before His holy presence as quickly as a shadow under the direct exposure of the sun. Hebrews 12:28 says, "Therefore, let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence in awe, for our God is a consuming fire." Well, this is true. How can we, as sinful people, hope to stand before a Holy God in prayer? Well, I mentioned earlier, there's two reasons that we need to not just pray to God but with God. And the first is simply that God is with us as a father, but the second is that we cannot pray to God without God helping us to pray to God, that we cannot come before the Father without the power of the Holy Spirit, without the righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is what I mean, when we pray to the Father, we do so in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus Christ and we're able to, therefore, come boldly before the throne of God and stand before His righteousness, not because we're righteous. If we did that, we would die, but we are able to stand before His presence because, and only because, we have been covered by the righteous blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, that by grace through faith, the righteousness of Christ has been accredited to us. It covers us and we are able to stand before the Holy Father now and not just live, but to actually be loved, actually be welcomed into ... He looks at us and He sees us in the perfection of Jesus and welcomes us into His presence. And this is what it means to pray to God. It's really profound when you think about it. It is a Trinitarian experience, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit allowing us to come and experience just the awesome transcendent reality that our prayers can be heard by a Holy God. And that as they are and as we do, we realize that this Holy God is also our loving Father. And so commit to that, commit to having that mindset as you approach God, that you are speaking with God for the person that He is, both loving and holy, perfect in His holiness. Secondly, commit to pray with a plan. Jesus says in verse nine, He says, "Pray them like this." He's like, "I'm going to teach you. This is how you should pray. 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven and give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil.'" I think one of the reasons that Christians maybe don't pray as often as they should is because they lack that vision of God and who He is and the person of God that they are communicating with. I think if we had that mindset and we realize what an awesome privilege that is, we would pray more. But I think another reason that a lot of Christians maybe struggle with prayer is that they don't have a practical plan. And so really quick, I just want to look at four super practical things that if you're not doing them already, I would say start doing them and you'll find I think that these are going to help you with your prayer life because Jesus doesn't just say, "If you pray." There is a sense in which we are continually living in the presence of God, praying without ceasing. As we go about our day, we should have this mindset that God is with us. We are talking to Him throughout our day, that we have access to Him at any time, but then we should also plan specific times where we are going to sit down and focus and spend time with God in prayer. And that's not going to happen on its own. You need to have a plan. So first of all, you need to determine a time and a place. If you're a busy person, I don't know if there's busy people that live here in Boston, but if there are, you might need to put this on your calendar. You might need to schedule it. You need to plan ahead and say, "At this time of day, I'm going to stop what I'm doing and I am going to pray and I'm going to have a time, I'm also going to have a place." Where are you going to do it? When are you going? For me, personally, I literally go into my bedroom, I go into to our closet and I close the door. And especially if you got kids, sometimes that's the only way you're going to get any kind of privacy. And I close the door and I pray. And I pray out loud. I don't know why. I started doing this at some point and it helps me to stay focused. It helps my mind not to wander and I'm having a conversation with God, so why wouldn't I pray out loud? Hebrews 5:7 says, "In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplication with loud cries and tears and to Him who was able to save Him from death and He was heard because of His reverence." I don't think that there's anything wrong with praying silently to God, but if you haven't tried praying out loud, I would say it's helpful for me, maybe it will be helpful for you, but the main point is determine a time and a place. Be intentional about it and make it happen. Secondly, use a template. It's not cheating to go into your prayer time with a plan of the kind of things that you're going to pray about. And I know there's a lot of different templates out there and maybe you've used a variety of them throughout your life. One that's really popular that I've heard about is the ACTS model, like the Book of Acts, and they turned it into an acronym, adoration Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. And so that's great. That's a good model. You begin adoration. You just spend some time praising God for His attributes like offering Him worship for who He is. A confession, you lead into a time of repentance where you're asking God for forgiveness and confessing your sins to Him. And Thanksgiving, you thank God for His mercy, for His grace, for all of His provision in your life. And then supplication, you bring your requests to God. You lay your heart before Him and you bring Him all your worries, all your concerns, all of your anxieties. Philippians 4:5-7 says, "Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand, so therefore, do not be anxious about anything but in everything. By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." So that's one model that people like to use and that's great. Me personally, I like to use the Lord's Prayer that we just read. The Lord's Prayer is a beautiful prayer on its own. You should memorize it. As Tyler said last week, you should internalize it. And I don't think that Jesus gave us this prayer to just memorize and then just like mindlessly recite over and over. I think He gave us this prayer as a good template, as a good model of the kind of things that the Father loves and wants to hear from us about. And so that's what I do. I pray through the Lord's Prayer and then I go back through it line by line, theme by theme and get more specific in my prayer time with God. Just personally, I find that really helpful. And then along with that, number three, is keeping a list. And so you've got your template. You keep a list. For me, I just do this in the little notepad app on my phone. Got it with me wherever I go. I got a list of general things that I'm praying about all the time. I pray for my wife, for my marriage, for my kids. I pray for Mosaic. I pray for the pastors, the staff, the community groups, the members of the church. And then as specific things come up in my life and the church's life and the life of people in our community group or whatever, I just add those to that list. Got it with me wherever I go. You do these things, pretty soon you find out you've got plenty of things to pray about that you need to be praying about with God. And fourthly, and this is really important, as you do this, as you make it a priority, you've got your plan, your template, you've got your list of things you're praying about, I record and remember. Sometimes you got to write things down that you're praying about, so that your future self is going to be able to look back and see and remember God's faithfulness throughout that time in your life. And I could give countless examples of this from my life, from members of our community group, but I think this is a good thing to do. Psalm 77 says, "Then I said I will appeal to this. I'll appeal to the year of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the deeds of the Lord. Yes, I will remember Your wonders of old. I will ponder all of Your work and meditate on Your mighty deeds. Your way, O, God is holy. What god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders. You have made known Your might among the peoples." As Christians, we believe this, we know this to be true, that our God is a god who always hears and who always answers all of the prayers of all His people. Nothing gets by Him, nothing gets unnoticed, nothing slips past Him. He always answers our prayers. Now, that doesn't mean that He's always going to say yes to our prayers. He doesn't always answer yes, but He is always going to answer best. He's always going to give us what is most and needed most glorifying to Him. And so when He does, don't just forget it and move on. How many times have you maybe prayed for something and then it happens and you're like, "Oh, probably a coincidence. No." No, don't just move on. Write that down, record it, remember it so that the next time you're praying about something, you can rely on it, so that you can look back because there's going to be some points in your future whereas the psalmist said you're going to need to remember the deeds of the Lord so that you can face the fears in your future with the blessed reminders of God's faithfulness in your past, so that you can then stand firm there in the present. Not because you're strong, but because you know that God is faithful, that He is with you, that He has upheld you and that His hand is upon you. First Peter 5:68 says, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that the proper time, He may exalt you, casting all of your anxieties on Him because He cares for you." So commit to pray with a plan. Number three, we see in this passage is we need to commit to pray with purity. Jesus says in His prayer, "Forgive us our debts as we've also forgiven our debtors and not and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," and then he stops and he gives some commentary on this. And in verse 14, he says, "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours." And now we got to be clear, Jesus is not teaching a model of works-based righteousness here. He's not talking about forgiveness in the context of our justification. We cannot save ourselves by forgiving others. We cannot lose our salvation by failing to forgive others. Jesus, that's not what He's talking about here, but what Jesus is talking about here is He's talking about forgiveness in the context of prayer and in the context of our relationship with God, and therefore, also our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And the warning here is that things are not going to be right and good between you and God the Father if things are not right and good between you and your brothers and sisters in Christ. If you are holding a grudge, if you're holding onto anger, resentment, bitterness, you're refusing to forgive somebody. So don't be surprised then if your prayers are hindered. I guess as a father, I picture it like this. Remember Jesus, He shared that parable, "Hey, if your kid comes and asks for something to eat, you're not going to give them a stone." No, of course not. Why would a good parent withhold something good that their child needed? But let's back up and add some context to that. If your kid came to you and said, "Hey, dad, can I have some dinner?" but on the way to the dinner table, they pushed their sister and suplexed their little brother off of the couch and then they're standing there before you. It's like, "Well, hold on a minute. We got to talk. Yeah, we can talk about food. We can talk about dinner. We got bigger things to talk about like why you just smashed your little brother's face into the coffee table." You get the point. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mountain, just the chapter before this, in chapter five, verse 23, "If you're offering your gift at the altar and there remember your brother has something against you," he says, "leave your gift there and go. First be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift." This is how important, even if you're in the middle of worship, you're preparing to offer your gift at the altar, you're in the middle of praise and you're in middle of praise is stopped, first go be reconciled, then come and offer your gift. In Psalm 66, the psalmist said, "I cried to Him with my mouth and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened and He has attended to the voice of my prayers." The Apostle Peter talks about this in his first letter, both in chapter three, verse seven and in chapter four, verse seven, Peter says this. First, he speaks to the husbands. He says, "Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that," what? "So that your prayers may not be hindered." He says, "Husbands, if you want your prayers to not be hindered, well, then you would better be treating God's daughter with the honor, with the tenderness, with the consideration that she deserves." And then in the next chapter, he speaks more generally to all Christians and he says in chapter four, verse seven, "To the end of all things is at hand, therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded again for the sake of your prayers." Now, earlier when I asked you to rate yourself, your prayer life, if you were finding, if you were saying, "Ah, that's not so good. I'm like a two. I'm maybe a three," you need to maybe stop and ask yourself, "Could this be the reason why? Have I been cherishing iniquity in my heart? Have I been harboring sin, resentment? Have I been holding a grudge? Is there someone that I have been refusing to forgive or is there someone that I need to go to and ask for forgiveness?" Because when you got stuff like this in your life, the last thing that you're going to want to do is go and talk to God in prayer because you know that God knows, and you know that God's not going to let it go. He's going to press you on it. He's going to tell you, "You need to go and you need to deal with this right away." And so you begin to avoid God or you begin to put up a front to mask things, but you know that he sees straight through all of that. So if you're struggling with prayer, be honest. Ask yourself. Are you just going through the motions? Are you avoiding God and could the reason be that there is sin in your life that you know need to deal with, that you've been avoiding? The only way that you're going to dig yourself out of that ditch is to just stop hiding, stop running from God, stop putting up a front, wearing a mask. You just got to go to the Father in faith. You got to go to the Father. You got to just trust. You got to trust that God is going to be more satisfying than whatever sin, whatever iniquity you may have been cherishing in your heart. You got to trust that His way is going to be better than your way, that when you go to Him and you turn and you humble yourself and repent, He's not going to push you away, that He is going to welcome you back with open arms. But we need to commit to pray with purity, without hypocrisy, so that our prayers may not be hindered. Number four, Jesus begins talking about fasting. So committed to pray with fasting. Verse 16 says, "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. And truly, I say to you, they've received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Prayer and fasting, oftentimes, we talk about hand in hand. Unlike prayer, fasting is not something we do continually, unceasingly for practical reasons. You will eventually die of starvation if you try to do that. Fasting is a more occasional practice, but just like prayer, Jesus doesn't say, "Hey, if you fast." He says, "When you fast," he expects, he assumes that His disciples are going to fast and the question is not then, "Should we fast." The question is "When we fast, how should we fast? What should be the posture? What should be the motivation of our fasting?" The Pharisees were experts at fasting and many of them fasted multiple times a week. And they made a big show about it as they did and Jesus called them hypocrites for it because they fasted for attention. They fasted for clout, that the fasting of the Pharisees, it was really just another way for them to spiritually manipulate the people around them. They wanted to appear so strong and so self-disciplined and so holy and righteous and committed and spiritual that nobody would begin to question them or their authority. And so on the outside, everybody looked up to them. They looked so godly, they looked so devout, but Jesus saw right through them. He saw that they were really twisted and sick. And that's not like something I think many people encounter in our culture today. There's not like these religious, spiritual elites going around bragging about their fasting, but it's interesting that fasting has made a resurgence in our culture recently. Not so much for spiritual reasons, but for health and wellness reasons because there are. There's a lot of health benefits to fasting if you do it properly. And I'm not going to say anything too much about that in general. As long as you are honest about your motivations and as long as you're not trying to impress, show off, as you can stay humble, there's nothing wrong with a person fasting for health or wellness reasons. Now, there are a lot of benefits to it. There is, however, something deeply wrong for doing that, for fasting for those reasons by trying to make everybody else think that you're doing it because you're so super spiritual. And this is what ... God's not dumb. He knows you. He knows the motivations of your heart. He knows if you're fasting for Him or if you're fastening to get abs, right? If you're fasting for God or if you're fasting for like a god-bod, you're not going to pull one over on Him. And what does it profit a man if he gets washboard abs and loses his soul? We're all going to have shredded abs in heaven and that's great. There's nothing wrong with trying to pursue that right now, but be honest with yourself. If you're fasting for those reasons and fasting becomes a part of that process, just be honest about those motivations. Don't be a hypocrite, right? Don't do one thing and say something else. Don't try to create this image of yourself before others. Don't fast for attention. Don't fast to flex your spiritual maturity on the one hand and don't fast to flex your physical self-discipline on the other, trying to make people think that you're great, that you're strong because fasting is not about strength. Fasting, it's not about influence, it's not about clout. That's what the Pharisees got wrong. True fasting is about weakness. It's about brokenness. It's about repentance. It's about reliance on God. It's about awakening yourself physically to the reality of just how weak and dependent on God you really are. So when you fast, and Jesus assumes that you will fast, when you fast, the purpose is to humble yourself spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. And as you do that, the goal is you're just pulling the curtain back on reality enough to see things as they really are, to see how really utterly weak and dependent on God you are. And when you're doing that properly, you're really not going to care if anyone else even notices because your true motivation is you're wanting that intimacy, that closeness, that reliance on God. Matthew 4:1-4, "Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry and the tempter came to Him and said, 'If you're the Son of God, well, then command these stones to become loaves of bread.' But he answered Him, 'It is written. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" And if you haven't fasted before or if you haven't fasted recently, I would encourage you to make it a commitment to do so soon, but as you do this, this should be your prayer. You should be praying, "God used this time to humble me, to bring me to a place, to help me feel and experience the reality that I am more dependent on You, on Your Spirit, on Your word than I am on the food that my physical body is hungering for right now." Because in reality, that is what is true. And so commit to pray with fasting. Let that become part of your spiritual life. And Jesus says, "In doing so, your Heavenly Father will reward you." Number five, looking at today, is to commit to pray with perspective. Jesus concludes, he goes on, he says, "So therefore, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there, your heart will be also." Now, I included this last passage here because I think a lot of times we don't think about this in the context of prayer and fasting, but that's the context in which Jesus delivered it. This is a transitional part of Jesus' sermon. And so on the one hand, He's talking about literal treasures. He's talking about possessions and material things, but it's clear that He's talking about more than that. He's talking about immaterial things as well. He's talking about the Pharisees, the religious people who were in their practices storing up for themselves treasures on earth and really missing the point of what they were pursuing. Now, the Pharisees were very devoted. They were devoted to memorizing Scripture. They were devoted to giving to the poor. They were devoted to fasting and prayer, but as we saw, their devotion was motivated by the wrong things. Their devotion was motivated by love for attention, love for authority. They were treasuring their image in their influence. They were storing up these treasures on earth, and in the process, they were selling their souls for things they couldn't keep. Now, the painful irony is that these treasures that they were holding onto, they were really becoming to them like millstones tied around their necks, sinking into the sea, pulling them further and further away from God the Father. And meanwhile, the greatest treasure of all, the treasure that they actually needed, the treasurer that the Father had given was standing right there in front of them, Jesus, the Son of God, the treasure of heaven, our mediator, the one, the only one who could bring them back into the presence of the Father, was standing right in front of them. They couldn't even see it. They were blinded by their self-righteousness. And Jesus told His disciples in John 14:6-7, He said to them, He says, "I am the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Me." And then He said, "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. And from now on, you do know Him and you have seen Him." This is what the Pharisees couldn't see, that when you know Jesus, you know the Father, that when you know the Father, you're going to treasure the Father because as you seek this Father, you find the Father that treasures you. You find the Father that gave His greatest treasure to seek you, to find you and to bring you back home. He gave up His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ, so that you could be saved. This is why Paul in Romans 8:31, he says, "Well, then what shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?" Do you have that perspective when you pray to the Father? You are praying to the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, holy and sovereign and He loves you like a father that would give His greatest treasure to have you be reconciled to Him. I decided not to write a conclusion to the sermon today. It felt almost silly to stand up here and talk to you anymore about prayer when we could just spend these last few moments together talking to God together in prayer. And so we are going to do something a little bit different. I'm going to be throwing you a curveball right now, so brace yourselves for it. For the next several minutes, we are going to just be spending time together in prayer. If this like weirds you out, if you've never done anything like this before, don't be nervous. I will give you a pass if you are really uncomfortable praying with other people. You can stay by yourself in your seat and pray silently, but I would encourage you to just step out of that comfort zone this morning. And I want us to just kind of circle up in groups of five, six, seven, eight people and spend a few minutes praying together. And if you've never done this before, don't freak out. You don't need to sound polished, you don't need to sound eloquent. God doesn't care about that. Just relax. It's having a conversation together with our Heavenly Father. And so nobody's going to judge you, don't freak out and we're just going to get together. And as we do, this is what I want you to do. First of all, if you have something in your life that you need prayer for, share that with the people that you're praying with, but then really just spend some time praying for one another, pray for our church and pray for the things that Jesus taught us to pray. The words of the Lord's Prayer are going to be up here on the screen and just meditate on them and pray for these things. And when you look at this, Jesus, He's telling us, He's like, "I want you to pray to Me about the most seemingly insignificant and mundane things, your daily bread. There's nothing too small. Just bring it to Me." And on the other hand, He's telling us, "I want you to also pray for the biggest, most transcendent things that you can even think about. Pray for that God's kingdom would come and that His will would be done here on earth as it is in heaven. Pray about these things together." And so I'm going to close us in prayer. We're going to just split up with some people around you, get into some groups. We're going to spend some time praying together. After a while, the band will come up back up here and lead us and worship. But if you're with us, let's pray and then we'll continue in prayer together. Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. But as I said earlier, I pray that You would teach us to treasure You as we ought and to understand the price that You paid so that we could have a relationship with You, that we could stand before You and know that our prayers are being heard. God, I know that there are people here in this room that have things going on in their lives right now and I know that there are things going on in our world right now that are so big and so complex that they seem hopeless apart from a mighty movement of You, of You working miracles, working wonders among us. And God, we praise You that You are the God who can do just that, that you are the sovereign God of all the universe and You hear us right now. And so, Lord, I pray that You would help us to become a people of prayer. Help us to be a church that knows You and loves You and deeply relies on You as we come together right now. Lord, we do so in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our advocate, our mediator, our good shepherd, our great high priest. We come to You in the name of the One who has overcome Satan, sin and death, is now seated at Your right hand, ruling and reigning from His throne in heaven. Jesus, we pray that You would pour Your Spirit out upon Your church, that You would bring us now into the presence of our Heavenly Father and do so knowing that You are able to do abundantly more than we could ask or even think according to the power that has worked within us. And so Lord, to You be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic BostonChurch. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston ordonate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com. We are continuing oursermon series today called Committed. We've been talking about the essentialhabits of an abundant life and what we've been saying over and over throughoutthis series is that we are taking a look at some of the essential,nonnegotiable and just super practical commitments that every Christian needsto make in order to grow in their faith and persevere through life and toexperience and to enjoy the abundant life that Jesus Christ came to give. And if you were here last week, our teens director, Tyler, did an awesome job talking about our commitment to Scripture and I hope that that sermon just left you with a greater appreciation, a greater trust, a greater hunger and appetite for God's word. It's amazing that we worship a god who speaks, a god who has chosen to reveal Himself to us as His creation and we should never take that for granted, right? If God has something to say, we want to hear it. We want to listen. And it is awesome to think that we have access to the word of God recorded for us in Scripture. We worship a god who speaks. We also worship a god who listens. And this is what we are going to be talking about today as we look at the topics, the commitments of fasting and prayer. Like so many of the things that we've talked about in this series, this is not something we do, it is something we commit to, that fasting and prayer, they're not going to happen by accident, they're not going to happen on their own, that these are things that like the early church we need to devote ourselves to doing. And for some of us, maybe that feels like hard work. I don't know about you, but sometimes prayer could begin to feel like a grind. It could feel like something that you have to do or something that you're supposed to do when really we should view prayer as something that we get to do. And as we learn to do these things properly, even if at times they might feel like a grind, they might feel like a drudgery, they should become our delight, that as we practice them persistently, we find in them a great reward. And I use that word because that's the word that we're going to see Jesus used over and over in our text today when He talks about fasting in prayer. He keeps using this word reward. And so is that a word that you use? Is that a word that you think about when you think about fasting, when you think about prayer? Before we begin this morning, I want you to do something for me right now. I just want you to mentally do a quick evaluation of your prayer life. Rate yourself, scale of one to 10, 10 is everything's great, you've got an abundant, flourishing, vibrant, rewarding prayer life. One is it's dry, it's a grind, barely existence. Your prayer life is on a life support. Does prayer feel like a requirement, like a drudgery, like something that you have to do or does it feel like a reward? Does it feel like a delight, something that you get to do? Wherever you just rated yourself, none of us are a 10, we've all have room to grow and so my hope today is that we can all go up in our rating together. And so if you just said, "Well, I feel like I'm a two or a three," well, what would it take to get from a three to like a seven or to get from a five to a nine? What would it take for us to all grow to have a prayer life that's more like that of Christ Jesus? And lucky for us, this is something that Jesus' disciples wondered as well and they at times would ask Jesus, "Hey, Jesus, can you teach us how to pray?" And He did. On multiple occasions, Jesus taught His disciples how to pray and one of those is the text that we're going to be looking at this morning. It's Matthew chapter six, verse five through 21. This is a part of the sermon on the Mount. And Jesus spends a considerable amount of time teaching His disciples about this topic of fasting and prayer. So we're going to walk through this text together. It's a bit of a long text and we're going to just go through it section by section. And as we do, I want us to look at five commitments that are going to help us to avoid some of the pitfalls of prayer and fasting that we could potentially fall into, but also to just have an increasingly vibrant, abundant, powerful and rewarding prayer life that God wants us to have. So if you have your Bibles, we are in Matthew chapter six, beginning in verse five. The words are also going to be up here on the screen. This is what Jesus said, "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray and stand in the synagogues and on the street corners that they may be seen by others. And truly, I say to you, they've received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who's in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray then like this, 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.' For if you forgive others their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They just figure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they've received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where mouth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." This is the reading of God's holy word for us this morning. Would you please join me in prayer for our sermon today? God, we pray that we would learn to treasure You as we ought. And God, we pray that You would forgive us for not praying as we ought. Lord, You warned Your disciples in the garden to watch and to pray that they might not enter into temptation for the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is so weak. And God, we confess our weakness to You and we praise You that Your strength, Your power is made perfect in our weakness, that Your grace is greater than our failures. And so Lord, we ask today that You would to teach us to pray as we ought, teach us to live continually in Your presence, experiencing the blessing of knowing that You are always with us and You always hear us, that we can come and we can talk to You at any time. Teach us what it means to be anxious about nothing but to pray about everything because we know that You are with us, You see us, You hear us, You love us and You are able to provide for our every need. Lord, You are the God who hears and I pray that we would marvel at that reality today and we give You thanks and glory for it now, in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well, before teaching His disciples how to pray, Jesus first we see, He teaches them how not to pray and He gives them two examples. He says, "On the one hand, don't go and don't pray like the hypocrites. Don't pray like the Pharisees, the religious people." And on the other hand, He says, "Don't pray like the Gentiles, like the lawless pagans either." And so let's start with the religious people that with the Pharisees in verse five, Jesus says, "When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray and stand in the synagogues and not at the street corners that they may be seen by others. And truly, I say to you, they've received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Now, first of all, we need to understand Jesus isn't condemning public prayer. He's not saying that there's never an appropriate time for Christians to pray in public with one another. Corporately, we see it in the New Testament that that is something that the early church was devoted to doing, that it is a good thing for God's people to come and to pray together publicly. But what Jesus is telling us and what we all need to be cautious of is this, that if we find in ourselves that we can go to church and pray with other Christians or we can go to community group and we've got a lot of things to say to God and we can pray with lofty words and eloquence and everything sounds very polished, but then we go home. And when we're alone with God in secret, we've got nothing to talk about, well, He says that's a problem. That's a symptom of a pretty serious illness in the diagnosis that he gives is hypocrisy. I think of it like this. I don't know if you've ever been over at a friend's house like hanging out and then somebody you don't know, one of their friends comes in and joins you. Maybe it's a coworker or neighbor or something like that. And at first, everything's great. You're having a good time, hanging out. The conversation is going well and everybody seems friendly and then your friend gets up and leaves the room and now you're trapped in this awkward deafening silence. And a moment ago, we thought, "I thought we were all friends, but now that they're gone, I realize that was an illusion. You are not my friend. I don't even know you. You're a stranger and we've got nothing to say to each other." Well, don't be like that with God. If you are like that with God, that is a cause for concern. If you find it easy to talk to God when other people, other Christians are around, but you can't talk to Him in private, oh, maybe you've fallen into the same pit as the Pharisees and maybe you've figured out how to look really religious and sound really spiritual when other people are around, but there's no real relationship there with God. He says, "Don't fall into that pit. If the pathway to prayer is this narrow road, you've got this dangerous ditch on the one side that the Pharisees fell into," but he says, "But there's also this other ditch on the other side that the Gentiles fall into. So he says, "Don't be like the pagans either," and this is what He talks about in verse seven. He says, when you pray, "Don't just heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words." He says, "Don't be like them as your Father knows what you need even before you ask." See, unlike the Jews who were monotheistic, they believed in one God rightly, the Gentiles believed in a pantheon of gods and their relationship to these gods was not particularly healthy. The gods were seemingly mostly motivated by their own selfish self-interest. And so the people envisioned their gods as these kind of powerful but moody beings and they needed to be appeased. They needed to be persuaded, even maybe bribed in order to care about the plights of mortal people. And their hope was that if they used the right words, if they prayed to the right god with the right words, in the right place, at the right temple with the right idols and the right sacrifices, well, maybe they could get somebody's attention out there. And so they would babble and they would heap up all of these words, as Jesus said, because they were just trying to cover all of their bases like, "If I just do this enough, maybe something will happen. Just throw a plethora of prayers out into the cosmos and hope that maybe somebody out there is listening." And Jesus says, "Don't be like that. Don't be like the Gentiles. The Gentiles weren't just a little-stitious, they're more than a little-stitious. They were superstitious. He says, "Don't be superstitious about prayer. It's not some magic incantation that you need to figure out. Prayer is not a way to tap into some higher power or manipulate some spiritual system. Prayer is just simply a conversation with God. And God is not a system. He is not a power. He is a person." And so I said we'd look at five commitments of a rewarding prayer life. And the first one is that, before anything else, we need to commit to this. We need to pray to God with God as a person. And I use the word with. We often talk about praying to God. Not necessarily anything wrong with that, but I'm using the word with here intentionally for two different reasons. First of all is because the Gentiles prayed to their gods, but they can never really be sure if the gods were listening to them. They could never be sure if anybody out there was hearing that they send their prayers off like an email and who knows? Maybe it just wound up in someone's spam folder. Maybe it just got deleted right away. They could never be sure. But we don't pray like that, that when we pray to God, we pray to a god that we know we have confidence, we have assurance that He is with us, that God is all knowing, all seeing. He is omniscient, omnipresent and all powerful. He always hears all the prayers of His people. And eight times in this passage, Jesus refers to God in a very specific way that shows the intimate relationship that we are to have with Him. He refers to Him as our Father. I mentioned earlier that this passage, it comes from the Sermon of the Mount, and later on in the same sermon, Jesus comes back to this topic of prayer in Matthew chapter seven and He's talking about the relationship of us praying to God as a father. And in verse seven, he says this. He says, "Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you. For everyone who asks, receives and he who seeks finds and to Him who knocks the door will be opened." And he says, "Or which one of you, if his son asks for bread, we give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, would give him a serpent? If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, well, then how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him?" I don't know about your dad's situation. Some of you had very good dads, maybe some of you didn't. The point that Jesus is making here though is that even the very best of earthly fathers seems evil when compared to the goodness, the kindness, the grace of our God, our Heavenly Father." And God wants us to know Him as a good Father, as a father who is so good, so loving, so attentive that He not only sees us, He knows what we need even before we ask Him," Jesus says. And Jesus calls God our Father. We need to relate to God as our Father. He also calls Him our Heavenly Father, that we can approach God with the affection and the intimacy of a father, but we must also approach Him with the reverence and the honor and the respect due to a Heavenly Father that our God as a father is perfect in His goodness. He's also perfect in His holiness. He teaches us to pray, "Our Father who arts in heaven, hallowed be Thy name." And so what does it mean to say that God is holy? It means that He is morally perfect in every way. He is completely pure without compromise, without contradiction. He is utterly distinct and set apart with no rival, with no equal for His glory, for His righteousness. And actually when you look at Scripture, what you see is that God is so holy, he is so righteous that anything unrighteous is unable to even stand before His presence, that even the angels of heaven, and when Isaiah has his vision, that they cover their faces before the holiness of God, that God is so righteous that anything containing even an ounce of sin, even the smallest imperfection, it would be destroyed before His holy presence as quickly as a shadow under the direct exposure of the sun. Hebrews 12:28 says, "Therefore, let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence in awe, for our God is a consuming fire." Well, this is true. How can we, as sinful people, hope to stand before a Holy God in prayer? Well, I mentioned earlier, there's two reasons that we need to not just pray to God but with God. And the first is simply that God is with us as a father, but the second is that we cannot pray to God without God helping us to pray to God, that we cannot come before the Father without the power of the Holy Spirit, without the righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is what I mean, when we pray to the Father, we do so in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus Christ and we're able to, therefore, come boldly before the throne of God and stand before His righteousness, not because we're righteous. If we did that, we would die, but we are able to stand before His presence because, and only because, we have been covered by the righteous blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, that by grace through faith, the righteousness of Christ has been accredited to us. It covers us and we are able to stand before the Holy Father now and not just live, but to actually be loved, actually be welcomed into ... He looks at us and He sees us in the perfection of Jesus and welcomes us into His presence. And this is what it means to pray to God. It's really profound when you think about it. It is a Trinitarian experience, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit allowing us to come and experience just the awesome transcendent reality that our prayers can be heard by a Holy God. And that as they are and as we do, we realize that this Holy God is also our loving Father. And so commit to that, commit to having that mindset as you approach God, that you are speaking with God for the person that He is, both loving and holy, perfect in His holiness. Secondly, commit to pray with a plan. Jesus says in verse nine, He says, "Pray them like this." He's like, "I'm going to teach you. This is how you should pray. 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven and give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil.'" I think one of the reasons that Christians maybe don't pray as often as they should is because they lack that vision of God and who He is and the person of God that they are communicating with. I think if we had that mindset and we realize what an awesome privilege that is, we would pray more. But I think another reason that a lot of Christians maybe struggle with prayer is that they don't have a practical plan. And so really quick, I just want to look at four super practical things that if you're not doing them already, I would say start doing them and you'll find I think that these are going to help you with your prayer life because Jesus doesn't just say, "If you pray." There is a sense in which we are continually living in the presence of God, praying without ceasing. As we go about our day, we should have this mindset that God is with us. We are talking to Him throughout our day, that we have access to Him at any time, but then we should also plan specific times where we are going to sit down and focus and spend time with God in prayer. And that's not going to happen on its own. You need to have a plan. So first of all, you need to determine a time and a place. If you're a busy person, I don't know if there's busy people that live here in Boston, but if there are, you might need to put this on your calendar. You might need to schedule it. You need to plan ahead and say, "At this time of day, I'm going to stop what I'm doing and I am going to pray and I'm going to have a time, I'm also going to have a place." Where are you going to do it? When are you going? For me, personally, I literally go into my bedroom, I go into to our closet and I close the door. And especially if you got kids, sometimes that's the only way you're going to get any kind of privacy. And I close the door and I pray. And I pray out loud. I don't know why. I started doing this at some point and it helps me to stay focused. It helps my mind not to wander and I'm having a conversation with God, so why wouldn't I pray out loud? Hebrews 5:7 says, "In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplication with loud cries and tears and to Him who was able to save Him from death and He was heard because of His reverence." I don't think that there's anything wrong with praying silently to God, but if you haven't tried praying out loud, I would say it's helpful for me, maybe it will be helpful for you, but the main point is determine a time and a place. Be intentional about it and make it happen. Secondly, use a template. It's not cheating to go into your prayer time with a plan of the kind of things that you're going to pray about. And I know there's a lot of different templates out there and maybe you've used a variety of them throughout your life. One that's really popular that I've heard about is the ACTS model, like the Book of Acts, and they turned it into an acronym, adoration Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. And so that's great. That's a good model. You begin adoration. You just spend some time praising God for His attributes like offering Him worship for who He is. A confession, you lead into a time of repentance where you're asking God for forgiveness and confessing your sins to Him. And Thanksgiving, you thank God for His mercy, for His grace, for all of His provision in your life. And then supplication, you bring your requests to God. You lay your heart before Him and you bring Him all your worries, all your concerns, all of your anxieties. Philippians 4:5-7 says, "Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand, so therefore, do not be anxious about anything but in everything. By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." So that's one model that people like to use and that's great. Me personally, I like to use the Lord's Prayer that we just read. The Lord's Prayer is a beautiful prayer on its own. You should memorize it. As Tyler said last week, you should internalize it. And I don't think that Jesus gave us this prayer to just memorize and then just like mindlessly recite over and over. I think He gave us this prayer as a good template, as a good model of the kind of things that the Father loves and wants to hear from us about. And so that's what I do. I pray through the Lord's Prayer and then I go back through it line by line, theme by theme and get more specific in my prayer time with God. Just personally, I find that really helpful. And then along with that, number three, is keeping a list. And so you've got your template. You keep a list. For me, I just do this in the little notepad app on my phone. Got it with me wherever I go. I got a list of general things that I'm praying about all the time. I pray for my wife, for my marriage, for my kids. I pray for Mosaic. I pray for the pastors, the staff, the community groups, the members of the church. And then as specific things come up in my life and the church's life and the life of people in our community group or whatever, I just add those to that list. Got it with me wherever I go. You do these things, pretty soon you find out you've got plenty of things to pray about that you need to be praying about with God. And fourthly, and this is really important, as you do this, as you make it a priority, you've got your plan, your template, you've got your list of things you're praying about, I record and remember. Sometimes you got to write things down that you're praying about, so that your future self is going to be able to look back and see and remember God's faithfulness throughout that time in your life. And I could give countless examples of this from my life, from members of our community group, but I think this is a good thing to do. Psalm 77 says, "Then I said I will appeal to this. I'll appeal to the year of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the deeds of the Lord. Yes, I will remember Your wonders of old. I will ponder all of Your work and meditate on Your mighty deeds. Your way, O, God is holy. What god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders. You have made known Your might among the peoples." As Christians, we believe this, we know this to be true, that our God is a god who always hears and who always answers all of the prayers of all His people. Nothing gets by Him, nothing gets unnoticed, nothing slips past Him. He always answers our prayers. Now, that doesn't mean that He's always going to say yes to our prayers. He doesn't always answer yes, but He is always going to answer best. He's always going to give us what is most and needed most glorifying to Him. And so when He does, don't just forget it and move on. How many times have you maybe prayed for something and then it happens and you're like, "Oh, probably a coincidence. No." No, don't just move on. Write that down, record it, remember it so that the next time you're praying about something, you can rely on it, so that you can look back because there's going to be some points in your future whereas the psalmist said you're going to need to remember the deeds of the Lord so that you can face the fears in your future with the blessed reminders of God's faithfulness in your past, so that you can then stand firm there in the present. Not because you're strong, but because you know that God is faithful, that He is with you, that He has upheld you and that His hand is upon you. First Peter 5:68 says, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that the proper time, He may exalt you, casting all of your anxieties on Him because He cares for you." So commit to pray with a plan. Number three, we see in this passage is we need to commit to pray with purity. Jesus says in His prayer, "Forgive us our debts as we've also forgiven our debtors and not and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," and then he stops and he gives some commentary on this. And in verse 14, he says, "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours." And now we got to be clear, Jesus is not teaching a model of works-based righteousness here. He's not talking about forgiveness in the context of our justification. We cannot save ourselves by forgiving others. We cannot lose our salvation by failing to forgive others. Jesus, that's not what He's talking about here, but what Jesus is talking about here is He's talking about forgiveness in the context of prayer and in the context of our relationship with God, and therefore, also our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And the warning here is that things are not going to be right and good between you and God the Father if things are not right and good between you and your brothers and sisters in Christ. If you are holding a grudge, if you're holding onto anger, resentment, bitterness, you're refusing to forgive somebody. So don't be surprised then if your prayers are hindered. I guess as a father, I picture it like this. Remember Jesus, He shared that parable, "Hey, if your kid comes and asks for something to eat, you're not going to give them a stone." No, of course not. Why would a good parent withhold something good that their child needed? But let's back up and add some context to that. If your kid came to you and said, "Hey, dad, can I have some dinner?" but on the way to the dinner table, they pushed their sister and suplexed their little brother off of the couch and then they're standing there before you. It's like, "Well, hold on a minute. We got to talk. Yeah, we can talk about food. We can talk about dinner. We got bigger things to talk about like why you just smashed your little brother's face into the coffee table." You get the point. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mountain, just the chapter before this, in chapter five, verse 23, "If you're offering your gift at the altar and there remember your brother has something against you," he says, "leave your gift there and go. First be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift." This is how important, even if you're in the middle of worship, you're preparing to offer your gift at the altar, you're in the middle of praise and you're in middle of praise is stopped, first go be reconciled, then come and offer your gift. In Psalm 66, the psalmist said, "I cried to Him with my mouth and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened and He has attended to the voice of my prayers." The Apostle Peter talks about this in his first letter, both in chapter three, verse seven and in chapter four, verse seven, Peter says this. First, he speaks to the husbands. He says, "Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that," what? "So that your prayers may not be hindered." He says, "Husbands, if you want your prayers to not be hindered, well, then you would better be treating God's daughter with the honor, with the tenderness, with the consideration that she deserves." And then in the next chapter, he speaks more generally to all Christians and he says in chapter four, verse seven, "To the end of all things is at hand, therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded again for the sake of your prayers." Now, earlier when I asked you to rate yourself, your prayer life, if you were finding, if you were saying, "Ah, that's not so good. I'm like a two. I'm maybe a three," you need to maybe stop and ask yourself, "Could this be the reason why? Have I been cherishing iniquity in my heart? Have I been harboring sin, resentment? Have I been holding a grudge? Is there someone that I have been refusing to forgive or is there someone that I need to go to and ask for forgiveness?" Because when you got stuff like this in your life, the last thing that you're going to want to do is go and talk to God in prayer because you know that God knows, and you know that God's not going to let it go. He's going to press you on it. He's going to tell you, "You need to go and you need to deal with this right away." And so you begin to avoid God or you begin to put up a front to mask things, but you know that he sees straight through all of that. So if you're struggling with prayer, be honest. Ask yourself. Are you just going through the motions? Are you avoiding God and could the reason be that there is sin in your life that you know need to deal with, that you've been avoiding? The only way that you're going to dig yourself out of that ditch is to just stop hiding, stop running from God, stop putting up a front, wearing a mask. You just got to go to the Father in faith. You got to go to the Father. You got to just trust. You got to trust that God is going to be more satisfying than whatever sin, whatever iniquity you may have been cherishing in your heart. You got to trust that His way is going to be better than your way, that when you go to Him and you turn and you humble yourself and repent, He's not going to push you away, that He is going to welcome you back with open arms. But we need to commit to pray with purity, without hypocrisy, so that our prayers may not be hindered. Number four, Jesus begins talking about fasting. So committed to pray with fasting. Verse 16 says, "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. And truly, I say to you, they've received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Prayer and fasting, oftentimes, we talk about hand in hand. Unlike prayer, fasting is not something we do continually, unceasingly for practical reasons. You will eventually die of starvation if you try to do that. Fasting is a more occasional practice, but just like prayer, Jesus doesn't say, "Hey, if you fast." He says, "When you fast," he expects, he assumes that His disciples are going to fast and the question is not then, "Should we fast." The question is "When we fast, how should we fast? What should be the posture? What should be the motivation of our fasting?" The Pharisees were experts at fasting and many of them fasted multiple times a week. And they made a big show about it as they did and Jesus called them hypocrites for it because they fasted for attention. They fasted for clout, that the fasting of the Pharisees, it was really just another way for them to spiritually manipulate the people around them. They wanted to appear so strong and so self-disciplined and so holy and righteous and committed and spiritual that nobody would begin to question them or their authority. And so on the outside, everybody looked up to them. They looked so godly, they looked so devout, but Jesus saw right through them. He saw that they were really twisted and sick. And that's not like something I think many people encounter in our culture today. There's not like these religious, spiritual elites going around bragging about their fasting, but it's interesting that fasting has made a resurgence in our culture recently. Not so much for spiritual reasons, but for health and wellness reasons because there are. There's a lot of health benefits to fasting if you do it properly. And I'm not going to say anything too much about that in general. As long as you are honest about your motivations and as long as you're not trying to impress, show off, as you can stay humble, there's nothing wrong with a person fasting for health or wellness reasons. Now, there are a lot of benefits to it. There is, however, something deeply wrong for doing that, for fasting for those reasons by trying to make everybody else think that you're doing it because you're so super spiritual. And this is what ... God's not dumb. He knows you. He knows the motivations of your heart. He knows if you're fasting for Him or if you're fastening to get abs, right? If you're fasting for God or if you're fasting for like a god-bod, you're not going to pull one over on Him. And what does it profit a man if he gets washboard abs and loses his soul? We're all going to have shredded abs in heaven and that's great. There's nothing wrong with trying to pursue that right now, but be honest with yourself. If you're fasting for those reasons and fasting becomes a part of that process, just be honest about those motivations. Don't be a hypocrite, right? Don't do one thing and say something else. Don't try to create this image of yourself before others. Don't fast for attention. Don't fast to flex your spiritual maturity on the one hand and don't fast to flex your physical self-discipline on the other, trying to make people think that you're great, that you're strong because fasting is not about strength. Fasting, it's not about influence, it's not about clout. That's what the Pharisees got wrong. True fasting is about weakness. It's about brokenness. It's about repentance. It's about reliance on God. It's about awakening yourself physically to the reality of just how weak and dependent on God you really are. So when you fast, and Jesus assumes that you will fast, when you fast, the purpose is to humble yourself spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. And as you do that, the goal is you're just pulling the curtain back on reality enough to see things as they really are, to see how really utterly weak and dependent on God you are. And when you're doing that properly, you're really not going to care if anyone else even notices because your true motivation is you're wanting that intimacy, that closeness, that reliance on God. Matthew 4:1-4, "Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry and the tempter came to Him and said, 'If you're the Son of God, well, then command these stones to become loaves of bread.' But he answered Him, 'It is written. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" And if you haven't fasted before or if you haven't fasted recently, I would encourage you to make it a commitment to do so soon, but as you do this, this should be your prayer. You should be praying, "God used this time to humble me, to bring me to a place, to help me feel and experience the reality that I am more dependent on You, on Your Spirit, on Your word than I am on the food that my physical body is hungering for right now." Because in reality, that is what is true. And so commit to pray with fasting. Let that become part of your spiritual life. And Jesus says, "In doing so, your Heavenly Father will reward you." Number five, looking at today, is to commit to pray with perspective. Jesus concludes, he goes on, he says, "So therefore, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there, your heart will be also." Now, I included this last passage here because I think a lot of times we don't think about this in the context of prayer and fasting, but that's the context in which Jesus delivered it. This is a transitional part of Jesus' sermon. And so on the one hand, He's talking about literal treasures. He's talking about possessions and material things, but it's clear that He's talking about more than that. He's talking about immaterial things as well. He's talking about the Pharisees, the religious people who were in their practices storing up for themselves treasures on earth and really missing the point of what they were pursuing. Now, the Pharisees were very devoted. They were devoted to memorizing Scripture. They were devoted to giving to the poor. They were devoted to fasting and prayer, but as we saw, their devotion was motivated by the wrong things. Their devotion was motivated by love for attention, love for authority. They were treasuring their image in their influence. They were storing up these treasures on earth, and in the process, they were selling their souls for things they couldn't keep. Now, the painful irony is that these treasures that they were holding onto, they were really becoming to them like millstones tied around their necks, sinking into the sea, pulling them further and further away from God the Father. And meanwhile, the greatest treasure of all, the treasure that they actually needed, the treasurer that the Father had given was standing right there in front of them, Jesus, the Son of God, the treasure of heaven, our mediator, the one, the only one who could bring them back into the presence of the Father, was standing right in front of them. They couldn't even see it. They were blinded by their self-righteousness. And Jesus told His disciples in John 14:6-7, He said to them, He says, "I am the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Me." And then He said, "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. And from now on, you do know Him and you have seen Him." This is what the Pharisees couldn't see, that when you know Jesus, you know the Father, that when you know the Father, you're going to treasure the Father because as you seek this Father, you find the Father that treasures you. You find the Father that gave His greatest treasure to seek you, to find you and to bring you back home. He gave up His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ, so that you could be saved. This is why Paul in Romans 8:31, he says, "Well, then what shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?" Do you have that perspective when you pray to the Father? You are praying to the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, holy and sovereign and He loves you like a father that would give His greatest treasure to have you be reconciled to Him. I decided not to write a conclusion to the sermon today. It felt almost silly to stand up here and talk to you anymore about prayer when we could just spend these last few moments together talking to God together in prayer. And so we are going to do something a little bit different. I'm going to be throwing you a curveball right now, so brace yourselves for it. For the next several minutes, we are going to just be spending time together in prayer. If this like weirds you out, if you've never done anything like this before, don't be nervous. I will give you a pass if you are really uncomfortable praying with other people. You can stay by yourself in your seat and pray silently, but I would encourage you to just step out of that comfort zone this morning. And I want us to just kind of circle up in groups of five, six, seven, eight people and spend a few minutes praying together. And if you've never done this before, don't freak out. You don't need to sound polished, you don't need to sound eloquent. God doesn't care about that. Just relax. It's having a conversation together with our Heavenly Father. And so nobody's going to judge you, don't freak out and we're just going to get together. And as we do, this is what I want you to do. First of all, if you have something in your life that you need prayer for, share that with the people that you're praying with, but then really just spend some time praying for one another, pray for our church and pray for the things that Jesus taught us to pray. The words of the Lord's Prayer are going to be up here on the screen and just meditate on them and pray for these things. And when you look at this, Jesus, He's telling us, He's like, "I want you to pray to Me about the most seemingly insignificant and mundane things, your daily bread. There's nothing too small. Just bring it to Me." And on the other hand, He's telling us, "I want you to also pray for the biggest, most transcendent things that you can even think about. Pray for that God's kingdom would come and that His will would be done here on earth as it is in heaven. Pray about these things together." And so I'm going to close us in prayer. We're going to just split up with some people around you, get into some groups. We're going to spend some time praying together. After a while, the band will come up back up here and lead us and worship. But if you're with us, let's pray and then we'll continue in prayer together. Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. But as I said earlier, I pray that You would teach us to treasure You as we ought and to understand the price that You paid so that we could have a relationship with You, that we could stand before You and know that our prayers are being heard. God, I know that there are people here in this room that have things going on in their lives right now and I know that there are things going on in our world right now that are so big and so complex that they seem hopeless apart from a mighty movement of You, of You working miracles, working wonders among us. And God, we praise You that You are the God who can do just that, that you are the sovereign God of all the universe and You hear us right now. And so, Lord, I pray that You would help us to become a people of prayer. Help us to be a church that knows You and loves You and deeply relies on You as we come together right now. Lord, we do so in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our advocate, our mediator, our good shepherd, our great high priest. We come to You in the name of the One who has overcome Satan, sin and death, is now seated at Your right hand, ruling and reigning from His throne in heaven. Jesus, we pray that You would pour Your Spirit out upon Your church, that You would bring us now into the presence of our Heavenly Father and do so knowing that You are able to do abundantly more than we could ask or even think according to the power that has worked within us. And so Lord, to You be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Welcome to Freedom Friday w/guest Dr. Steve Turley, join us as we discuss the attempted cancel culture attack on Steve's new Documentary "The Rise of the American Patriot.  How a Remnant church stepped up and saved the premier and why its important to stand with others in times of censorship.https://www.turleytalks.com/https://www.facebook.com/turleytalks/https://twitter.com/DrTurleyTalkshttps://www.instagram.com/turleytalks/https://rumble.com/c/DrSteveTurleyhttps://insidersclub.turleytalks.com/welcome  Welcome to freedom Fridays. This is Dr. Steve Turley. And he is a well, you're an author, you're a movie maker, you have a podcast, you've got a YouTube channel, if you've if you've been on YouTube, I mean, which I haven't you see this guy, and I love. I love your demeanor, your care, your kind of your, your style of commentary, because it's very, it's funny, it's light hearted, you know, because we're looking at some dark subjects. And you bring such a good, just uplifting and entertaining way of looking at some of these things. So I appreciate you coming on the program. Steve  6:17  Oh, thanks, Gary. It's it's, it's my honor, we were just talking earlier, you know, you are in a bluer area and a very, very red state. So I'm in a very, very blue state. And so I guess on the little red dot and that blue state. So we have, we see we see comparable challenges in our own backyards. And I think we can encourage each other a lot through it. Gary Duncan  6:41  Yeah, thank you. Let's talk about your new document that you just came out on the 15th, I believe. And I'll read a little bit about some pushback you got as soon as it came out before it came out. Your your documentary is called the return of the American patriot. Because you're the page you're the professor, patriot, right? Patriot, Professor, Steve  7:00  Patriot professor, that's Gary Duncan  7:02  you, I was thinking, if I had you as a professor, when I was in college, I probably would have stayed awake during history class. Because I mean, your the way you bring about the news and and things that are happening in our culture and in the church and things like that, is it just keeps you it keeps you focused, but entertained enough to to not walk away really ticked off. You know what I'm saying? And you bring a great perspective to it. So talk a little bit about the documentary you've got out, and you're kind of some of the things you've run against, you know, producing Oh, Steve  7:41  yeah, well, so this movie really tries to present that our 20 minute documentary, that kind of hopeful optimism that Ronald Reagan gave to us any great movement is going to have to be optimistic at its very core also ends up eating itself and dies or just look at woke leftism, and just the resentment that killing their movement. Yeah, this returning the American patriot is actually a it's a, it's a documentary on the rise of the Pennsylvania Magga movement. It really is the story of how ordinary Americans who never before involved in politics rose up in mass and mobilized to successfully take on unconstitutional COVID mandates, election integrity issues, woke school boards all across their state. It's a very inspirational story of the people effectively pushing back against the permanent political class. And you would think that anyone who openly supported democracy would be interested in a film like this, you know, it's as democratic as it gets. But little did we know that the very drama we captured on film would actually play itself out in real time for the premiere we had. We had scheduled a live premiere on July 16th, at a local IMAX theater in Lancaster, Pennsylvania called Penn cinemas and they had a 400 seat capacity. We opened up the tickets and we sold out literally in hours. We sold out in 24 hours, those 400 tickets. And then we learned just days before the premiere that a group of woke activists called Stand Up Lancaster cry bullied the movie theater to cancel our premiere. Remember, these are people who actually believe you can work try to wrap your mind around this. These are people actually believe that censorship is a form of free speech. They literally believe that right? They defend big tech and all sorts of censoring us because they say that's their right to their own freedom of speech. That's their Gary Duncan  9:58  free speech. Ah, that's their nobody else's. Steve  10:02  Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Well, sad. Right? Exactly. Again, it's a square circle. It's just, it's beyond absurd. They cry bullied this movie theater to canceled premiere and unfortunately the owner of the theater was a coward and he caved and canceled our contract just days before the scheduled viewing. So there we were without a venue for tickets sold. No venue. So we went to another venue. And it was the Wyndham hotel in Lancaster. And they gave us a contract to rent out their theater venue there. They had hosted the republican party a few months prior to that the state Republican Party, so we thought we were pretty safe with them. And they there was they had an 800 seat capacity. So we doubled our ticket sales again. So it was really like, Oh, this is great. This is awesome. And then the same thing happened. They were they were they weren't just cried bullied, I was told there was even threats of mob violence if they didn't shut us down. And and so there we were two venues canceled. We were being mocked and ridiculed by the local Lancaster paper, which is a total left wing rag. It's the most Whoa, it's called LNP. It is pathetic, their board of editors actually came out and defended these practices. So again, now we have a medium major media outlet local media outlet defending censorship. It's absolutely astonishing. And keep in mind, Gary, keep in mind for a movie no one had ever even seen. This, this was this was the most dangerous movie, no one saw. I mean, literally no one. I hadn't even sat through the whole thing by this time, right? They were getting my staff was gonna surprise me with the whole edited version. So there we were no venue. And that is and this is why I'm so honored to talk with you. That is when the pastors of Christ Community Church and Camphill godly men stepped in, they have a 1200 seat auditorium, replete with a full movie theater quality sound system, massive movie theater size screen, and they offered it to us and their 1200 seat auditorium. We ended up selling all 1200 tickets. Okay, so we went from 400 to 1200. Talk about three fold increase, right? Yeah, God Gary Duncan  12:28  had better plans for you than you thought it and Steve  12:31  that there's no way we could have planned this. We would never have planned our brains don't think that way. Let's plan for a 1200 seat, you know, Premier with Doug Mastriano there and all that sort of stuff, kind of stuff who's running for governor there? They offered to us and the moment these leftists heard about that, they started threatening the church. Okay. Again, this tells you who these people really are. They started threatening the church they were going to contact the IRS which they did. Again, there was an the same media outlets did the exact same thing. You know, violating separation between church and state bringing Doug Mastriani was campaigning for Governor there in person and blah, blah, blah, violating the Johnson Amendment all this nonsense. And and so when it ended up having all of this you know, proverbial dung hitting the fan. Even the lawyer of the church told the pastors you need to drop this, right, because lawyers are risk averse. That's what do you need to drop this? We're getting, we don't want the IRS breathing down our neck and so forth. Those two pastors stood firm. They told their lawyer take a hike. We're standing for liberty and truth. And, and, and they hosted us. We came in 1200 People Doug mastriano, huge premiere, it was absolutely amazing. Electric standing ovation at the end. And in the end, Gary, in the end, seven protesters showed up they weren't even allowed on to the vicinity. They had to hang out on the street across from the church seven protesters with their little arts and crafts, you know, signs document separation between church and state. I think even one guy said I worship Satan something ridiculous right? And, and just to show you that God, God does have a very wonderful sense of humor for his children. Gary, it was raining. So they had to stand out there in the rain, with their masks on looking repulsively ridiculous as people who love faith, family and freedom were all gathered together in an astonishing fellowship. It was absolutely beautiful. You know, Doug master on game got up gave a very great It's just and, and beautiful talk. And it was an amazing testimony to what patriots can do when we all stick together. Gary Duncan  15:09  Wow, that's awesome. As you were talking about that I was getting this picture of this little, tiny weeny little mouse and this huge elephant. And, and it gives me encouragement because I've really focused a lot on where's the church, and I could see how the left and the small 1% or half a percent of a population controls the whole country and my church. And so we really that's encouraging to hear. And and it's who's the church again, is you need to you need to give that name out again, because the people that hosted you and those pastors because they really that's a there and a thing goes for that. Yeah, Steve  15:51  absolutely. Christ Community Church in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, Camp Hill, two words, Pennsylvania, Gary Duncan  15:58  they if you're looking for a church in that in that city, then this is the one to go to, because they that's what you that, to me, that's Ephesians six, you know, when you stand and they're willing to stand against all odds, and that's, that's awesome. Steve  16:13  And just just to drive this home, the pastor when he got up to give the prayer before the whole event, invited everyone of course, if you're looking for churches to come here, and by the way, next week, we're showing another movie 2000 mules. So these guys, are they these guys are the real deal. Gary Duncan  16:32  They are the remnant church. Steve  16:34  They are so bold, it's beautiful. Gary Duncan  16:38  That that is great. What would you so that was the one way churches and the community to you know, leadership in church could get involved? Get your get your documentary and have it hosted at their church? I mean, are you are you pursuing that at all or looking? Steve  17:00  Oh, yeah, no, we've had we had the documentary going around all over the place now at this point. So it just last Thursday. It went live live streaming. So now you can actually stream it live. If you go to the return of the American patriot.com You can get your own copy. And, and absolutely, I think we even have a situation. We have a protocol from where you can you can show it in a mass viewing. Okay. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Gary Duncan  17:31  And I'll put the links in the show notes and all that for a site and all that. What's tell us a little bit about some of the stories or the things that are in the movie are a couple of them just kind of thesis. Steve  17:43  Yeah, well so what it centers on so Pennsylvania is interesting because it is probably the single most Rhino infested state in the nation a lot of people don't know that so when we think of like you know, Republicans in name only write your Neo cons just just PETE Yeah their note well I prefer Diablo Democrat and all but label or you know if they're part of the unit party the Lindsey Graham's the Mitt Romney's the middle Lincoln project, right to Lincoln Lane candy project. Exactly. Liz Cheney. They're there. They're part of the permanent political class. It's radically secularized, radically globalist that hates our culture's customs traditions, hate family, faith, family and freedom. Those things get in the way of their their globalist projects and so forth Gary Duncan  18:34  are wolves in sheep's clothing. Steve  18:36  They really are because they because they campaign is patriots but then they Governor governor's permanent political class members. And when we tend to think of states like that, I mean up until recently, we tend to think of some a place like Arizona where you know, John McCain had such an inordinate effect effects and influence well that's gone now Carrie Lake and Blake masters and Mark Finch him have all crushed that it's now Maga country and Carrie Lake is going to win by the way she's definitely on track and I think like masters gonna have no mark Finch up to he's almost 10 over his opponent. So the these people he's going for Secretary of State so the, you know, you tend to think that these people these rhinos are in places like Arizona or even most recently, like Utah with Mitt Romney and their crazy Governor given his pronouns out and all this sort of nonsense. Okay, keep in mind these are Republicans, but but Pennsylvania is actually the worst Pennsylvania the Republican Party is no different, literally than the Democratic Party when Doug Mastriano one who's a dear Christian brother, amaze me. He's He's literally now the poster boy for Christian nationalism, as they call it today. The big boogeyman we could talk about that, which is a lot of fun, you know, but nevertheless, he, when he got the nomination was almost 50% of the vote with a Guys in that race for the Republican nomination, the top five Republicans in the Senate, his suppose it colleagues, he's a state senator, they all turned around and endorsed the Democrat Josh Shapiro. And keep in mind, Gary, Josh Shapiro is all for unfettered abortion. Right. He's all for, you know transgenderism is all for CRT in our, in our classrooms. I mean, this is full blown woke nonsense and Republicans are endorsing it. This movie is all about moms and dads and grandparents and people who've never been involved at Amish Pennsylvania dodge, all rising up together, mobilizing and organizing and taking back the Republican Party with Doug Mastriano has nomination being sort of the crown jewel of this project, taking back the Republican Party away from these rhinos, these Diablos and giving it back to the people so that the values of faith, family and freedom become the values of the party they want all they want. In the end. It's a process, the technical processes known as re territorialization. Yeah, it's a fancy schmancy word. But what it just simply means what we're seeing today, and this is what I think Christian nationalism actually is. It's if globalism, de territorial losses of globalism, dis embeds and dislodge his political life away from the local and to the trans local to this managerial class that oversees the entire political and economic complex, if globalism, D territory alized his political involvement, what the what the collapse of globalism is basically is a re territorial loss. And it's bringing politics back to the people back to the local back to the county and the community. And what you're seeing in Pennsylvania in particular, but you're seeing it all over Pennsylvania is a microcosm, what you're seeing is these communities, all organizing all across their counties to create a single party, that is once again, upholding the values, interests, concerns of those who love faith, family and freedom. That's all they want. They just want their leaders to represent their values rather than despise them. And that's the movie takes you through the journey of how they did that through the COVID mandate and sanity through the CRT and sanity and through the election. You know, shenanigans in 2020. Gary Duncan  22:43  With would this be sound like a great movie that I need to show in our Davidson County Republican Party group to see how it's done? Because, you know, as we talked earlier, I was I'm in a red state, you know, super majority of Republicans in the state. But in my county, which is the state capital of the Davidson County, which were the state capitalism. It's full blown blue, communist. I mean, those school board is full on communist liberal. I mean, they voted down the Nash, the Republican National Committee come into town for the convention. Yeah, we're, we're, we're going to be paying for people to go across our state employees to go across the state lines to get abortions. I mean, it's just bizarre. And, you know, how do how does a small well, not a small county, but the main county in the state had, how do we fight against this? I mean, were those small, local areas, were they blue? Or were they more red, and people just came together? I know, it's a groundswell of grassroots effort. Steve  23:54  It is so Pennsylvania's can be a little different, because Pennsylvania, so if anything, like we're talking about earlier that the the Republican Party is a bit complacent in Tennessee from from what I'm hearing, or to say, whereas whereas in Pennsylvania, that complacency, characterized the last three decades, and and now there's kind of a reawakening going on. And, yeah, it applying it to your particular locality would be interesting that that's going to involve, I think, some some, you know, creative inventiveness on your part. How do you awaken the population, your own locality, one thing that seems to be doing it and this there's a section in this movie that touches on it, one thing that seems to be doing it is wokeness wokeness is freaking out, even the left. That's something we've got some studies on that now. So we're finding that anything woke will actually tend to split the left. So think of people like Bill Maher, or peers Morgan or a Dave Rubin, either even even even a Jordan Peterson would have said he would have been considered center left. Five years ago, you would have considered himself center left five years ago. They, they they abhor wokeness every bit as much as any conservative wokeness is, is a pourraient to most people. And so the more we push culture wars, and this is what Mastriano is doing. It's what Glenn Younkin did. So well so ingeniously in, in Virginia, back in the 2021 election, where he's pushing CRT CRT soon, and he made Terry McAuliffe actually defend teachers, unions, school boards, and CRT and that split the last half of Macola Fs constituents went back, I don't want that. Whereas the other half were ravenously, eating it up like zombies, you know, eating up a body or something like that. So that's one side of it. But the other side of it is as it's splitting and laugh, woke issues, unite the right woke issue for and again, for lack of better terms left and right, right. But it unites the right unites the Republicans. In other words, if you ask Democrats, do you support this work issue? 50% Say yes. 50% say no, you ask Republicans to support this work is you 100% basically say, No. So Republicans are more likely to come out and vote against a woke issue than Democrats are to come out and vote for it. So pushing the culture wars, from the vantage point of the woke left exposing the woke left, that seems to have a very powerful animating capacity. Gary Duncan  26:48  So how going back to churches again, because that's my thing is Yeah, is because they've got the biggest voice, because they've got people in front of them. And what you just said there is pushing the culture because the church should be the one that changes culture, not the culture, change the church, of course, and we need those pastors and those leaders that will take that very thing and push that narrative of the culture in a biblical way that educates and motivates the people sitting in the pews. And, and I'm not seeing that I'm starting to see a lot around the country happen. And I'm seeing one or two or three maybe churches here in town that do that. But it's not, I don't see it as and that's why I like you, because you're very positive. I'm usually a positive guy. But after 2020, I just went downhill. Yeah, positiveness. Because it saw assault. 2020 is is the dividing point within the church of woke and realism. There because we're in a spiritual war, we're in our spiritual war that I don't think people really get. It's a biblical revelational. In times spiritual war, we've always been in war. But this one takes a different to me, this one takes on a different connotation, because what we're doing to the children, what we're allowing to be done to the children in the name of not offending other people, you know, with masks and all the stuff and then the wokeness in the schools. And I've been to several school board meetings, and I think I've yet to see a pastor stand up, and shame and, and, and preach to the school boards, right about what they're doing. I've seen regular people. And I think that it has to actually some a lot of the movement is coming from the people sitting in the pews that are sick and tired. Yes, what's going on? And there's nothing in the pulpit that says, This is how we deal with transgenderism. This is how we deal with because they don't want to get yelled at. They don't want to leave the church because we had a church split. Pastor left, but he's a very, I'm telling you, Steve burger. I mean, if you ever heard him, right, he's on fire about what we should be doing. Ryan. Steve  29:13  It is it is. It is a a very chilling testimony, that the person who has done more for Christianity and has just recently delivered, perhaps the single best message to the church is from a Canadian psychologist who doesn't even go to church. Gary Duncan  29:35  Jordan Peterson? Oh, yes. Okay. Okay. Right. Steve  29:38  Right. I mean, that's it. That's a testimony to either Well, I should say it's a judgment. I mean, that's, I mean, if you think about how, what he has been able to say, I mean, I don't know if you saw his message to Christian churches. I like to Well, yeah, it's very good. It's very good. I've got on my channel. I did a little commentary. on it, but it was absolutely brilliant. Woke I mean, he he made he didn't he didn't mince words, woke ism is a crippled religion. It is an it is a it is a pernicious violent ideology that wants to erase the church. And so the only way the church is going to push back against woke ism is by not being woke. But being the opposite. And and you cannot be more opposite woke than to speak into the hearts and minds of the men of your congregation. You've got to speak to the men. And you've got to let men all over the nation know that if they want to be men. And if they want a place where they're allowed to be men without being disparaged. The only place is the Christian church. That's when you see revival. When you see men come because you know the old saying if you if you when children and your evangelistic efforts if you win children, you win children, okay? If you if you if you win, wives, you know, you win wives, but if you win, husbands, you win the husbands, you win the wives and you win the children, there's a right there's, there's an order to which God created the world a creational order. And woke ism is just throwing it all into utter chaos, as did Satan and Genesis chapter three, the serpent, turn the world upside down, right? It's supposed to be God, man, woman animals, and we're just not in that, that kind of order. And Satan that the serpent turns around and makes it animal woman man and God's not even there. Right. So that's the great inversion that we've seen. So woke ism is very, it's just, it's just in line with that. So what we entered understand what's really going on big picture seems to me is that for the last 100 years or so that's those were when the seeds were being sold sown, but it really came to fore in the 1940s, as I understand it. Before 1940, the Supreme Court saw religion as a public good, as did all of our founding fathers. They all believed in what's called an accommodationist conception of religion. And the accommodations, conceptual religion is church and state work together in partnership for the betterment of human society, to create a republic of virtue of free men, because they knew the founding fathers knew that the only way we could be free, is if we were self governing, but the only way we could be self governing is if we had if we we tapped into a virtue tradition of some kind. And for them, of course, 98% of them that's going to be Christian and formed fruits of the Spirit, you name it, right Sermon on the Mountain, like 10 commandments, but the only way you can really tap into a faith tradition genuinely, is if you're free. Right? So and the only way you're ultimately free, is if you're if you're cultivating some kind of virtue, but the only way you're cultivating virtue is by tapping into some kind of faith. And the only way you're tapping to real true faith is through freedom which grows virtue which God has faith with God is free. That's called the Golden Triangle of freedom. And so they understood the church is indispensable to a free people. You have to have a sacred vision of the good to which we can all aspire, in order for us to be a people living in Liberty walking in Liberty, right? The Galatians passage barks a lot. For liberty, you have been set free. After 1940 For whatever reason, it's hard to pinpoint why but obviously, it seems to be something in the legal the law schools in the universities, the Supreme Court started instituting a separation test doctrine between church and state. So while the accommodations doctrine always made a clear distinction between church and state, the state's not the church, the church, not the state, Christ's humanity and divinity, right. They're not commingled in the lie. By Gary Duncan  34:24  grant. That's why they came to America, one of the reasons they got away from England, Steve  34:28  because it was a state church. Exactly. Right. Exactly. Right. So so the church and the state are different, and yet they work together. And that's what made our experiments so powerful, so amazing, because freedom is what holds it all together, in that sense. And so then, after 1940, the Supreme Court started instituting more of a separations for you and we know that because they started quoting from a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote rode to the Danbury, Baptists, Danbury, Connecticut, I'm not born not too far away from there, where he used this phrase against, not even in the Constitution, Jefferson didn't even write the constitution is not even in the Constitution, you know the phrase, the separation between church and state. And before 1940. That phrase was only used as I understand about a handful of times in Supreme Court decisions and deliberations in the light after 1940. It's been used 1000s of times. So something happened there. And what that did in effect is it drove the church from the public square, and consigned it solely into the private sphere of life care. You see it in our urban planning, you know, think of your New England Commonwealth, what was the most prominent building on the town green, the steeple, the church, absolutes, the church, you go into the medieval towns of Europe, the most prominent building that you see in the center of this beautiful medieval city, it's the church, right, and the castle is right across from often in the shadow of the church. So in our urban planning, we can see the the role the place that the church played in a flourishing human society today in modern urban planning, where's the church? Gary Duncan  36:25  Not it's beside the coffee shop, Steve  36:28  you got it. That's it, you got it. It's in the place of consumption, and consumerism. So you've got your, you've got your pizza hut, you know, you've got your dry cleaners, and you've got first Methodist, you've got it, it's push, it's pushed into the periphery, the private sphere of life. And here's how we tie it all together, Gary, there is no way that the church can proclaim truth, social truth, cultural truth, in that position, any more than Pizza Hut can. That's what happened to us. We got privatize, we were talking about it. Earlier in the break. You said it perfectly belonged to the church today, in most people's minds, even inside the church, thank God for the Holy Spirit, converting our hearts. But even inside the church, our social conditions have trained us to believe that being part of the church is being part of a club. It's being part of you might as well be part of weightwatchers right or what our yoga club or whatever it is, it has no objective moral truth to its proclamation anymore. So it's now ridiculed and laughed at and dismissed, and the like, what pastors are going to have to rediscover. And by the way, the Maga movement is right there to help them with this. What they're going to have to rediscover is a voice that can speak publicly. Again, this is not personal, private truth. Christ is truth, the law galls holds the universe together. And when we proclaim God's truth, that's true for everyone, regardless of whether you believe it or not, because that's public and a private, I get it personal, private, Subjective Truth. That's your deal. That's my deal. You like pistachio? I like chocolate. No problem, I got it. But when you're dealing with public, social life, truth is objective. It applies to all not just some, it's objective. It's not just subjective, it's obligatory. It's not just optional. Now, of course, we're free to respond. But that freedom of response is predicated on the objectivity of that truth. And that's what our pastors have to rediscover, when they rediscover it. They were discovered this that we're on fire. Gary Duncan  38:50  Yeah, I think, like you're saying, we've lost the identity or am I'm really about waking up the leadership, because the leaders are what leads the people, not the people lead the leader, but that's kind of where it's going. But we've lost our identity and our authority in our power. I mean, I'm reading the Bible, and it's saying, you know, these signs shall follow those who believe you will cast out demons you will heal the sick, right? speak in new tongues, and I'm looking around I'm going well, when's the last time I cast out a demon? Or anybody's cast out a demon and healed the sick and it's like, that's our heritage. God gave us through the Holy Spirit these abilities when he chooses to do those things. And if if leadership is not telling us and helping us, it's because that's the purpose. The purpose of these gifts are to edify the church so we can go out and do these things. And it just it just and that's why 2020 blew me away so bad is because the deception that came about And it's like, who are we anymore? And no wonder young people in the Millennials don't want to get involved in a church unless it's happy clappy and coffee and smoke machines and fog machines and all that kind of stuff. You know, it's a country club again. So and the one thing I'm, and here's my negative, so help me out here. I think when we get to the when we do wake up the left, and the evil that's behind the globalists and all the things, they're not going to let it go too long. I mean, you're talking about, it's getting time to where we're going to sacrifice more than just our good name, our lives, our livelihood, there's people out there now doing that and praise God to those that are standing and fighting. But I think that what the the leadership of the church needs to really get ready, is to gird up, because I see the coming age of the church not being happy clappy, but it's gonna be persecuted beyond belief where we're at coming. You see what they did in 2020? What's What are they willing to do if they're willing to kill children? And they're willing to euthanize the older and they're willing to, to propagate a bio weapon across the whole world? What are they willing to do? Ya know, it's scary when the church does stand up, what are they willing to do and we got to be ready for it. We got to know how to fight back. And that's my whole thing. We're not fighting. We've raised a bunch of in the last 50 years, we've raised a bunch of chocolate soldiers. You're in the first moment of any heat, we melt like, like little statues of a bunny rabbit. Steve  41:42  But that's what privatized faith does it right. It has it has no backbone, you know, it's like, you know, you renounce pistachio ice cream, I'm gonna punch you okay, I pronounced that. Right. That's that. That's what privatize faith does? It is it is. There's no I mean, when Alexander Solzhenitsyn came over to the United States, and gave his Harvard address in 1979, that amazing address called the world split apart. One of the first things he did it, I mean, everybody thought he was gonna go rah, rah West, he actually said no, Soviet Union is pretty horrible, pretty terrible. But the West is just a secular, it's just as atheistic and you're gonna go in the same direction, you're just you're doing it with four car garages, you know, you make it a little bit more tolerable. And he said, the one thing he noticed about the West, the principal characteristic that caught his eyes, we've lost courage. And in the classical world, the Four Virtues, wisdom, moderation, justice, and courage of those four, and that, you know, corresponds to the four elements of the cosmos. Right, that's all held together by the law girl. So we've got our four gospels, right, that all held together by Christ, the logos themselves, and then we have the additional faith, hope and love virtues and all that sort of stuff. It's all part of this amazing world, this identity would belong to 2000 years old, and even stretching before that with these, these pagan traditions that end up getting transfigured and, and by Christ himself. I mean, Solzhenitsyn pointed out, you know, of those Four Virtues, all the ancients recognize courage was the most important one, because without courage, you don't have the fortitude to defend the other three. Without courage, you can't defend, in this case, faith, hope and love. You can't defend it. You can't defend faith, family and freedom requires. It requires courage. So I think, look, I think the good news in this is, again, you look around the world and what's happened. You had 70 years of Soviet communism ravaged land. That was the jewel of Byzantium. Okay, so you're talking Czarist Russia, 60,000, ornate, gorgeous churches. Some of the biog some of the historical biographies you'll read, I mean, they weren't incredibly Pieta stick people, extraordinarily so Bolsheviks come in, and literally ravaged it so that by the end of that 70 year period, interesting, interesting number of by the way, at the end of that 70 year period, there were only 2000 functioning churches left they were gone, that it was going through 1000 monasteries during the Czar's period. Not a single monastery was an operation when the when the Soviet Union fell. And by the way, keep in mind, keep in mind, the very day the Soviet Union officially fell the most atheistic regime on the planet. Of course, it was December 25. It was Christmas Day, right. So a new birth happened because now here we are 30 years later. And by the way, this is this is true for much of eastern Europe as a whole 30 years later, a Russia is now approaching upwards of five 50,000 churches, they are on track by the year 2050, to be in full restoration of that czarist orthodox glory and the book by John Burgess, a theological historian at Pittsburgh seminary, where he went out to study the role of Christianity in Russia right now, what happened in Russia, in effect was communism got replaced by orthodoxy. So the vacuum that communism left was filled by going back to their identity by going back to their civilization, their cultures, a customs, and traditions. So for right or wrong, all that sort of stuff, you're not getting it all that what we have to understand is, that was after 70 years of the single most incessant atheistic regime on the planet that was literally killing millions upon millions upon millions of people. And here we are 30 years after it's collapsed. And the church is on fire. They're like never before there was a 2012 study done by the journal for the scientific study of religion. And they they had a marker of religious revivals, they had about seven different gauges for determining the level of religious revival. And they concluded there's no way around it. Christianity is on fire. So is Soviet Union falls and 1992. Only about 3019 91 Sorry, 30% of the population because themselves Christian, today. 70% does, it's hot. It's cool to be a Christian, and we're like we were talking about earlier today, what they were able to do is they were able to rediscover it and re weave Christianity into their culture into their, into their life. We they could do that with with, you know, their Russian Orthodox resources. And imagine what we can do with our evangelical resources. The way we can reawaken the church and weave it into every aspect of life. So yeah, it's gonna be dark. No question. Yeah, there's a Friday upon us. But you know what day follows Friday. Darkness of Friday is always followed by Sunday. Always. That's the Christian gospel all ways guaranteed. And when we have that faith, when we have that confidence, we cannot be intimidated. And when we cannot be intimidated, we like an axe, we begin turning the world upside down. Gary Duncan  47:40  Oh, great. I feel better already. No, that's good. That's good. I know you gotta run. One last question. We're gonna take it. See real quick. I'll edit this out. Sure. Okay. And you may have already answered but so where do you see us going from here in our culture? I know you're involved with reawakening tour. You've been involved with that. So with the church, do you? Where do you Well, let me ask you this. Where do you see England going? Now that we've got this new monarchy? That Well, Queen Elizabeth, she died? Okay. Sure. Sure. 70 years in reign? That's an interesting historical marker right there. Steve  48:35  Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Which? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Cuz in many ways, she really was the last monarch of Christendom, of real genuine Christian emerge, she was, she was anointed, she was literally anointed with the Holy oil as Queen back in her and throne, their coronation 1953 It was the same coronation ceremony that goes all the way back to the 10th century to their very first king. And, and she did she I think she she held that position brilliantly, as only she could is sort of the last, you know, Elizabeth and member of the Elizabethan era, as it were, where we go from here is very difficult to see because England has again like we do they have a choice and but England? Well, no, it's going to be the same to be the same. In many respects. The choice is, are you going to continue down this futile road of flippant leftist skepticism and doubt and secularism? Or are you going to rediscover in many ways, like Her funeral was a call to do? And this by the way goes for Anglican clergy, who were probably even worse than most lay people on this woke nonsense stuff. I know I went to school with them. in Durham University, are they going to re embrace truth as understood in 2000 years of the Christian tradition unbroken? Or are they going to go the way of secular leftist liberalism? If they go back to truth that is going to be the most unifying, powerful, socially revivifying choice they could possibly make. If they go down the road of secular flippant you know, liberalism, the UK will dismember you can write that down. The UK will dismember it will fall and we're talking was we're talking first all of its abroad territories, you know, in the, in the, in the Caribbean area and so forth and Pacific and it's, it's going to dismember there and then you'll start to see the Scottish referendums come out, you're gonna start seeing United Ireland movements come out like never before, you're gonna start seeing Welsh nationalism come out, like you're gonna see English nationalism come out like never before we start breaking apart what it'll break apart and and it'll start tribal laws, and there's no way and I think we're going that's inevitably what's gonna happen with us. Because that's, we're already there. The 35 nations have been added to the world map since 1991. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, we're already there. Write a text that today is more popular than it's ever been, right, the Texas independence movement. I mean, it doesn't matter what we're looking at. Everywhere we look whether it's the breakaway republics and Donetsk and Lugansk, in the, in the Donbass region in Ukraine, whether it's Transnistria Transnistria, is a breakaway Republic from Moldova that wants to hook up back with with Russia, or Burundi and Rwanda or Slovakia and the Czech Republic, the two Sudan's, you name it everywhere we look, the world is breaking up. And the question is, what can hold it together? What holds the nation together and you said, you use the word culture, and the church being at the center of culture, we have to remember what the word is at the heart of the word culture. And that's the Latin cult cult us. We're not talking about people knocking on your doors, giving you tracks and I had to lead us to worship or something like that. Right? Right. We're talking the old old word cultist, meaning worship, the place of worship, your culture always comes out of, it flows out of the font of what you worship. And if we are going to worship, if we're gonna go back to worship God, in the way that has sustained Western civilization now, for 2000 years, we're gonna have another 2000 years, no problem, if we're gonna go and embrace this brave new world, things will break up. There's no way the brave new world of secular liberalism, gloves, and so forth is going to shatter, it's going to collapse. And we're going to break up into all of our own different regional loyalties or, or ideological loyalties or religious worlds, whatever it is, or increasing like BLM and so forth. Racial loyalties, we're going to try belies breakup and there's nothing that will stop that apart from returning to our Christian faith, the Christian faith alone will hold the UK together, the Christian faith alone will hold the United States together, I am very optimistic about the United States. I have to be honest, I'm not particularly optimistic with the UK. Gary Duncan  53:49  So the church is the glue that holds it all together, our Christian faith, and so that if we can regain our identity, which I think that's kind of the grassroots the move that that's coming along is regaining our roots in our belief, and in America, the church, and what are our power and authority is in the culture, I think you're right, if we can regain that back and take it back from the darkness, we do still have some time we are the salt and the law. And so ultimately, that's, that's our job is to, to, to push back evil, and to you know, continue to have freedom in this country. So the return of the American patriot, your documentary, that's a good place to start to getting encouraged and I'm gonna get a hold of that and watch it and get encouraged to to just stand and fight and like Ephesians six says to stand and that's what we're doing and I appreciate you very much for what you're doing and, and all the work that you're doing through YouTube and just getting the word out because every little bit counts. You know, and you're doing a big part. So I want to encourage the little guys out there as well. You know if you've got a voice to stand and fight against this, do it. But Dr. Steve Turley appreciate your time very much. And thank you so much for, for what you're doing in our culture. Steve  55:20  Thank you, Garrett. God bless you. God bless everything you're doing God bless Tennessee in that little blue pot a little blue patcher in the Nashville area. Little God bless and you are you're doing God's work and calling the church his people and particularly the leaders to embrace who we've been called to be. We are We are more than conquerors through Him who called us Yeah, Gary Duncan  55:44  very good. Thank you so much. You appreciate God bless. Appreciate it very much. It was pleasure meet you. Steve  55:51  Oh, right back at you, man. Yeah, right back. atcha Yeah, I saw I saw the probe. Transcribed by https://otter.ai 

Continue to join Pastor Jeff as he teaches about the Sermon on the Mountain, and the 10 Commandments God gave us in our series BACK ON TRACK, FOCUS ON GOD, LIVE LIKE JESUS. Matthew 5:5-6 are our verses for today.

Contemporary Worship Service - Scripture Reading: Matthew 17:14-20

Hear now the word of the Lord from Matthew 5:38-42. 38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. Matthew 5:38-42 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. On January 7th, 1865, a man named Asa McCoy was murdered by a group of Confederate home guards called the Logan Wildcats. Asa had returned from fighting in the Civil War. He fought for the Union in the 45th Kentucky Infantry, and when he came home, he was murdered by Confederate sympathizers. One of the chief suspects for Asa McCoy's death was a man named William Anderson Hatfield. He was immediately suspected of this crime. However, later it came to see that, in fact, he hadn't committed it because he had been home sick at the time. But that started the beginning of some bad blood between the Hatfield's and McCoys. A little over a decade later, in 1878, there was another issue. This time not over a murder, over something small. It was a disputed property right over a hog. A man named Bill Staton, who had relations to both families, the Hatfields and McCoys, he gave testimony that ultimately led the judge to award ownership of the hog to the Hatfield family. Well, now the McCoys felt that, well, they had someone murdered, and maybe it was that Hatfield guy. They lost a hog to these Hatfields. So two of the McCoy brothers rose up to murder Bill Staton as retaliation for what they perceive was to be gross injustice. Well, from there, things spiraled out of control. One thing led to another. One side's retaliation led the other side to retaliate even more back and forth the violence went, until this became an absolutely legendary feud where over a dozen people on both sides were killed. If you look at a story like that, a legendary story, the Hatfields and McCoys. By the way, they eventually did make some sort of peace in 1979, members from both of those families came together for a weeklong special of the television show Family Feud. So every day they had five of these episodes and these two family members did it. However, when the Hatfields won more money, the show wisely gave the McCoys an equal amount so that they wouldn't cause increase to the issues there. You look at the story of how that turned out in the 19th century, the back and forth, the murdering, the tit for tat, the eye for an eye, the revenge, the retaliation. Then two questions arise. You think, why didn't someone stop it earlier? Why didn't someone stand up and say, enough is enough? This is only causing more bloodshed, more violence, more sorrow. We've got to stop this before it gets more out of control. The second thing I think we also have to ask is, even if we're not murdering people over hog rights, isn't it true that my own heart wants to get even? Isn't it true that I want justice for all the ways in which I feel like people have aggrieved me, have wronged me? I want to get even. I want to get my eye for an eye. I want to get my pound of flesh. How often do we feel that way in our hearts as we relate to the world? Well as Jesus teaches about this law, an eye for an eye. He's showing us two things. First of all, he is showing us that that this sense in attitude and spirit of retaliation, that we approach almost everything in life, all of our relationships in life, Jesus wants us to see just how much suffering it causes. Not only the suffering that we inflict upon other people, but the suffering in our own souls. The second thing that Jesus wants us to see is that to put an end to all of this, he had to come to suffer for sinners. That's our big idea today that Jesus came to suffer for sinners. The solution to this problem, what is going to put an end to all of these endless bouts of retaliation, is that Jesus came to suffer for sinners. As we study this Texas morning, we'll look at two parts. The first part I'll call dispassionate suffering, and there's a reason I'm using that term, dispassionate suffering. We'll talk about that when we're going to try to unpack what exactly Jesus is teaching us here. What's the principle that he's trying to communicate? Then second, we're going to look at affectionate love, affectionate love. You may have a definition for what that means in your mind, put that out of your mind. We're going to look to biblical definitions for passions and affections as we're going to talk about this this morning. Affectionate love where we're going to look at the illustrations that Jesus gives about how we are then to conduct our lives. The first point we'll take a little bit longer as we try to unpack what Jesus is saying here, because we need to see it. It's very important for our lives. 1. Dispassionate Suffering 2. Affectionate Love. Dispassionate Suffering So coming into this first point, dispassionate suffering. Jesus here in verse 38 says, "You have heard that it was said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." Jesus is quoting here what many people, whether they're looking at the Bible or really a lot of ancient laws, a lot of ancient civilizations had this kind of a law. It's called Lex Talionis, which is a Latin term. That simply means the law of retaliation, a law of retaliation, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. We see this all over the Old Testament, Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21. Each time, as Jesus has taught about different aspects of the Old Testament law, we always have to ask ourselves, how is Jesus quoting this? In what sense is He quoting this? What does He want us to get from this quotation and what is Jesus teaching us about this legal principle from the Old Testament law. We have seen a few occasions where Jesus has quoted the law to show that there has been an unlawful narrowing of the scope of the law. So when he talked about murder, he said, you can't simply narrow that to say that only physical murder is forbidden by the law. The law against murder, the Sixth Commandment, addresses how our hearts feel. If anger rises up against us, Jesus says you were already guilty of violating the Sixth Commandment. In terms of adultery, Jesus says, you can't just limit that, narrow that to physical adultery. If lust arises in your heart toward someone who is not your spouse, you have already committed a sin of adultery in your heart. You have violated the Seventh Commandment. Last week when we looked at oaths and vows. You cannot narrow the terms of what God says about our oaths and vows to say that you're only bound to your word if you have explicitly invoked the name of God. That's what the Pharisees were teaching. Jesus says, we are, to be honest in all of our dealings with the people around us. Sometimes Jesus is quoting unlawful narrowing of the law, but sometimes He is then also quoting an expansion an unlawful expansion of the law. So, for example, in his teaching on divorce, he quoted Deuteronomy 24:1, which said that if a man wants to divorce his wife because there is some indecency found in her, and Jesus says the one who divorced his wife for the sake of sexual immorality, that's one thing, there Deuteronomy 24:1 pertains. You have to offer a certificate of divorce to finalize that divorce. Jesus says what the Pharisees had done is to expand that, to say, well, really, just a certificate is what's important. Any reason at all you might have for wanting to divorce your spouse? That's fine. Just so long as you submit the correct paperwork. It's an unlawful expansion of what the law taught. Well, here we are coming to another unlawful expansion of what the law taught. You see, when we look at the law for an eye for an eye, Jesus is reminding us that there was a very specific scope, a very specific scope for the eye, for an eye, a law of retaliation. Namely, the scope was for public justice. This was a law for public justice. The idea was if you put out the eye of my friend and I'm angry about that and I want justice. I see that, in fact, the retaliation is administered in public by the civil magistrate who is charged with keeping the peace, keeping justice, administers the same kind of punishment to the one who has done this to my friend. That should, I may still be angry about it, but that should settle my desire for wanting to seek justice privately. It limits vengeance. I see that justice has been done and I don't have to do anything. Furthermore, this limits the kind of punishments that could happen if you were the one accused of a crime. If you stole a loaf of bread, you could not have your hand chopped off. If you put out someone's eye, you could not be put to death for it. There was a limitation on how far justice could go, and that was utterly honest. An eye for an eye. Which means that sometimes you may see the bumper sticker or something that says an eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind. Understand, that's absolutely not what eye for an eye taught. It was putting a strict limitation on the public justice that could be administered. That misunderstands the whole point of the law. The Pharisees misunderstood the law in another way. They were trying to expand the scope of eye for an eye out of the public sphere, the public sector of justice. They were trying to expand this to even our private lives, that if you do this to me, I get to do that to you. You aggrieve me in some way, you hurt me in some way, I get to bring that right back to you. Eye for an eye, there it is in the Bible. What Jesus is pointing out, and he's drawing on the whole of the Old Testament law, is that private vengeance, private vendettas were, in fact strictly forbidden by the law. You may know that the second commandment, when Jesus says, "The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. The second is like it, you should love your neighbor as yourself." You may know that comes the second commandment, loving your neighbor as yourself comes from Leviticus 19:18. That's only the second half of the verse. The first half of the verse says this, "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself." It was forbidden explicitly in the law to take out these private tit for tats, eye for eye, going to get my pound of flesh retaliation against other people in your private matters. Now, if someone actually causes severe, significant bodily harm, well, the public courts could administer that justice, but you are forbidden from kind of pursuing your own private individual justice. So to oppose this unlawful expansion of the law. Jesus said in verse 39, says something that's very hard. He says, "But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." How do we interpret this? This is such a hard word. Now, in all of this, we have to keep in mind something that Jesus said at the very beginning of his teaching on the law back in verse 17 that started this section. Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them." Jesus is not saying, Oh, that eye for and eye thing, that was terrible, you should have never been doing that, put that away. He's not saying that at all. He came to fulfill the law, not to abolish the law. So however we understand what Jesus is saying in verse 39, we have to understand He is not criticizing the law. He is criticizing the wrong interpretation of the law, namely that unlawful expansion of the law to our private lives. So if we understand this, the law of retaliation was for public justice, then the first principle we see is that Jesus is not talking about, again, those public justice matters. He's teaching privately, how do I respond when I am hurt, when I am aggrieved, when I am wronged in some way? What's the private, internal, spiritual response that rises up in me? The second principle we need to see is that even in our private lives, our private matters, we need to understand that Jesus is not talking about saying that self-defense, lawful self-defense, is somehow wrong. Because even the law acknowledged necessary defense. It is a lawful thing to defend your life or the life of others. We see this in Westminster Larger Catechism 136, necessary defense is not prohibited by the law, but it's actually encouraged by the Sixth Commandment to take the lives of others seriously. To take the Sixth Commandment against murder seriously is to protect your own life and the life of others. So in Exodus 22:2, the law explicitly stated that if a thief breaks into your house and that thief dies as you are protecting yourself and your family, that's not murder. In fact, there is a duty to defend yourself and your family in such a situation. It's not murder, it's actually a duty commanded to defend yourself and the life of others. So that's the second principle. Jesus isn't talking here about self-defense so much, against bodily harm to you or to someone else. So what then does he mean when he talks about if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also? Well, you have to really understand what Jesus is saying, and he's talking about being struck on the right cheek. If your right hand and most people are if you swing like this to try to maximize the pain that you would cause to somebody or punch somebody with your right hand, you're going to strike that person on the left side. Destruction one in the right side, you would have to actually back-handedly slap that person. That's important because a backhanded slap is not calculated so much to inflict bodily injury as it is to give someone a severe insult. The rabbi has talked extensively about the greater insult that this would be in the particular damages that you could sue for if someone gave you this kind of a backhanded, very shame inducing, kind of a slap. So what Jesus is talking about is saying when someone, not so much talking about injuries, he is talking about insults. When someone insults you, how do you respond? Jesus says the fullness of the law requires you in your own private dealings, in the ways that someone insults you. You were required to respond with such great peace that you're ready to turn the other cheek and be slapped there as well. Now, how do we understand this? What's he getting at? Well, to understand what Jesus is talking about, we have to recover the biblical teaching of the passions of our souls. This is something that older Christians talked about a lot. This has been largely forgotten in the last couple of hundred years. We don't talk often about the passions of the soul, but it's a very biblical concept. Now, often when we think about passion, we still use the word, we usually use it in the realm of sexual desire. Put that idea out of your mind. There are places where passion refers to that kind of a thing, but not in the way that we think about it. Here's the biblical definition of the passions of the soul, "The passions of the soul are reactions to the world around us that are characterized by spiritual suffering." When the Bible talks about the passions of our soul, these are reactions to the world around us that are characterized by spiritual suffering. Not primarily bodily suffering, although that can induce sort of these passions to rise up in us. But the passions of the soul are reactions as we evaluate the world around us that are characterized by spiritual suffering. So when we look at the world around us, when the world inflicts itself upon us, what then arises in us, these passions where we want justice. We may want money, we may want peace, we may want sex, we may want power, we may want love. Because we don't have the things that we want, especially the things that we sinfully want, we suffer. These things that rise in us are called the passions of the soul. Now we see this, for example, in Romans 1:26, we read about the dishonorable passions of homosexual sexual desires. Then in 1 Thessalonians 4:5, we talk about the talks about the passions of lust, just general lust. These are passions arriving arising in our soul. Then in Colossians 3:5, the word for passions appears in a list of different desires rising up in our heart, impure evil desires. Some of them are sexual, but some of them involve desires like greed or covetousness. Probably the clearest place where we see the Bible defined passions, and this is where I'm getting my definition, is James 4:1-2, where James says, "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and you quarrel." There's this war of our passions inside of us that are constantly raging, seething, desiring. When we don't have that, we are experiencing intense spiritual suffering that is constantly leading us to lash out, to try to correct and react to the suffering in our hearts. That's what Jesus is talking about. If you were dealt this blow, this blow not so much to your body as to your ego, what arises in you? Is not that blood comes spurting out from this, it's that your heart rages up in desire to want to get an eye for an eye. How am I going to get back at this person who has done this to me? Now, what we need to be very clear about is that the Bible also teaches, by contrast, that God does not have passions. God is without passions. The Westminster Confession of Faith two paragraph one says, "God is without body parts or passions." We get that directly from the Bible and Acts 14:15, the ESV, when Paul and Barnabas are in Lystra and they're ministering and performing miracles, the people begin to think and Lystra that Paul and Barnabas are gods. So they start sacrificing to them. And, and Paul and Barnabas says, No, no, no, don't do this. The ESV has, "We are men of like nature with you", but very literally that we are men of like passions with you. In other words, you know that we're humans because we share the same kind of passions in you, this spiritual suffering. But if we were gods, the implication is then we wouldn't have that God is without passions. Christ, however, you've probably heard of the idea of the Passion of Christ. Christ had a passion. He suffered. Why? Well, because he took a human nature upon himself, precisely so that he could suffer. Now most of the passions that are seething and raging and our soul trying to get whatever we can, most of our passions are sinful passions. They're corrupted by sin that's always wanting, always greedy, always grabbing after something and is angry whenever we don't get what we want, especially justice like what Jesus is talking about in this passage. But Christ, when he experienced his passions, he did so innocently. So, for example, we read about Christ's passion at his temptation. That Christ suffered when he was tempted. When we experience temptation, our hearts are enticed by the passions that are lurching and desiring whatever we're tempted by, but Christ only experienced temptation as suffering. As suffering for the weight of what He had to undergo in human flesh. Then particularly, this word arises to talk about the suffering of Christ at the cross. There the suffering of Christ was not so much bodily suffering as much as bodily suffering He did experience. The passion of Christ primarily refers to the spiritual suffering of Christ's anguish as he bore up under the weight of God's wrath. God is without passions. Christ had passions because he took a human nature to suffer under these things and yet he suffered innocently. But the passions of our soul are raging and seething and lusting and desiring toward what we cannot have and we're angry about it. So when we're humiliated, when we're afraid, when we're hurt, when we're betrayed, when we're envious, when we're sad, when we're lonely, when we're anxious, when we are ashamed. This passion of anger rises in us and wants to get even. I want an eye for an eye. I want to do to you what you have done to me. I want you to suffer in the way that I am suffering according to this. You may think about the way that we sometimes describe crimes that are committed in the heat of this kind of anger, a crime of passion. There's that older sense of the word. It's not something that's premeditated, it's something that happens on the spur of the moment, because these passions that react according to the suffering of our souls. Understand God doesn't respond to us that way. God doesn't have a temper. In Exodus 34:6, we read that God is, "Slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love." Again, God's temper isn't just lashing out at us when he has a bad day. That never happens with God. He faces infinite insult from us. Certainly, we can't injure God. We can't injure God. But we do hurdle all kinds of insults at Him and God bears up under all of this. But he doesn't suffer it. We read, in fact, in Malachi 3:6, and this is essential for our ongoing existence, "The Lord says, 'For I, the Lord do not change, therefore, you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed." Because God is the eternally existing one. He is self-existent, he is self-sustaining. He possesses all things. There is nothing that he lacks. He does not change. Therefore, God doesn't react from his suffering in the way do we do to try to get even. When God's wrath comes. It comes as perfect, pure, and exact justice. Not because God flies off the handle or loses his temper. God, however, while he doesn't have passions, theologians talk about what God does instead. The Bible is filled with words and phrases that describe to us the feelings that God has. God certainly has feelings, but not the feelings that come from the passions, from some suffering in his soul that he's trying to correct. God doesn't have that. God's feelings come from His affections. Affections are very different than passions. The affections arise as not a reaction, but a proactive, deliberate, conscious choice of the will to set your love on something. It's not like a child grasping at something I want and can't have. It's God setting his love on his people from before the foundation of the earth, according to his wisdom, according to his knowledge, according to his goodness, according to his kindness. For his own glory, God proactively sets his affections on us so that whenever He bears up under insults, it's always his affections. It's always the love that he has extended toward us in Christ Jesus that is what spills out onto His people. God is patient and caring toward us, even when we sin. Even for those who reject God, God's patience comes and giving them extended time. His kindness and patience is meant to lead people to repentance. God takes all our abuse and yet continues to love us and to show us His kindness. Jesus says, this is how we must act. The law requires that in our private dealings, we're not just simply reacting. We're not just simply letting it all hang out and telling you exactly what's on my mind. Rather dealing so kindly and patiently with one another. So that even when someone gives us this backhanded, shame inducing slap, our hearts are so guided by our affections and love for one another, so we're just ready to turn the other cheek. We're ready to go again because I love you so much. That's the way that God responds to us. Now, I've said a lot about theology, a lot about what the Bible text says about the ways in which our souls operate and how God's souls operate. Let me boil this down to an illustration, I think a fairly simple illustration to understand. I'm a parent. We've had a lot of little children in our home, especially little babies. One of the things I didn't know about little babies is that their fingernails grow, too. So you're holding this tiny, cute, adorable little baby, and they just reach up and just smile at you as they rake your face. Now, when that happens and these are just sharp to beat the band, right? When that happens and they just slash you, you have sort of two emotions as a parent. I mean, like if someone else had done this, oh, man, you're ready to go. Let's roll. Let's rumble. Right? This is a little child whom your affections are set on. So you recognize I can't fly off the handle at this baby. This baby has no idea what's just happened. Now I once saw this, I saw video of this. I saw an older father dealing with his grown son. A grown son who had severe mental and physical disabilities. So much so that when the son became excited about something, he would become fairly physically aggressive with his father. Not just a baby that you can sort of control where they put their hands, but a grown child where it was actually fairly difficult to do this, a grown man. As I saw this video of this father interacting with the son whom clearly, he had had a thousand such interactions over the course of this child's life, his son's life. I saw the father stop his son from hurting him, stop his son from hitting him. But you could see on his face there wasn't a trace of anger. There wasn't a trace of, how dare you? There wasn't a trace of, I'm going to show you. His eyes were locked on his son with perfect love. With perfect, dispassionate suffering. He loved his son, his affections were poured on his son, and he kept dealing with his son according to his love. This is what the Bible requires of us. So to summarize this, when we suffer physically or spiritually, the law requires that we not respond from our passions, from that anger that rises up to say, I want to get even. Our actions and even our attitudes must be guided not by the raging passions inside of us, but by our deliberate conscious, shaped according to the Word of the Lord, affections. Affections where God trains us to respond to others as He responds to us. So our Larger Catechism Question 135 says that the sixth commandment against murder requires us to subdue all passions. In 136 Larger Catechism Question 136 we read that one of the things that the Sixth Commandment forbids is all excessive passions. Again, older Christians talk this way. We need to recover this teaching of what's happening in our soul, how to account for those feelings. Affectionate Love So Jesus, to make it plain, gives us three more applications. We'll go through these fairly quickly, in the second section of Affectionate Love. What does it look like for our affections to subdue our passions? Again, affectionate love, we're not talking about someone being cuddly. We're talking about these affections, subduing our excessive passions so that it's not our passions lashing out. It's rather our actions are guided by our affections, deliberate according to what God does toward us. So verse 40, Jesus says, "And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well." Now, Jesus is not teaching us to enable all evil behavior. He's not teaching us to encourage theft and extortion. It is not loving to give a con artist everything that he asks for. Rather, Jesus is driving at the disposition of your heart. So often when we have people who are needy, our tendency is to withdraw, to get a little bit farther away, to see them on the other side of the room and go to the other side, not wanting to be caught in a situation. Jesus says, your heart always shaped by this affection for the other person, where you are ready to continue to give and to give and to give. Not unwisely, but to give to meet needs. Verse 41, Jesus gives us another illustration, "If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles." The Romans could requisition people to do this kind of thing. The same language shows up at the cross when Simon of Cyrene is requisitioned, compelled to carry Jesus's cross. Now, none of us like to be requisitioned. We don't like to be bossed around. Simon probably didn't want to carry Jesus's cross. We don't want to be drafted into the military. We don't want to be drafted into jury duty. We don't want to be drafted for anything. But Jesus says that when we are drafted, our hearts should not be begrudging and hard. We should be ready to serve with attitudes that accompany that. Verse 42, Jesus goes on and says, "Give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you." Again, the heart is the main target. There are times when helping hurts. Giving to people who are con artists, that's not always a good thing. We want to help people in the fullest sense of this and not just in superficial ways that actually hurt. What Jesus is saying, is we are called to be generous, not foolish, but generous in all the ways that we give. The question is, what is the disposition of my heart when someone asks for something? As a parent, it is right for me to withhold something from my children that would harm them. Dad, can I have a loaded gun? Absolutely not. It is wrong, however, that if my children ask for bread, I would give them a stone instead. Even if I've had a bad day, even if I've had it up to here with them, it's wrong for me to give them a stone. A good father gives his bread to his children. It was right, for example, when Moses railed at the Israelites when they had sinned with the golden calf. Because you can see his heart immediately after interceding with God that if you will not go among us, Lord, blot me out of your name of the book of life. That's the heart that hates sin, but loves the sinner. It was wrong, however, when Moses railed at the Israelites when they were thirsty, even though they had grumbled at him, even though he'd had it up to here with them, even though I personally have sinned a thousand times in the same way, it was wrong for Moses and it's wrong for me. You know, as a child. I remember going to a pancake restaurant. I remember going to a pancake restaurant with my grandparents. And I remember I ate too many pancakes as children do. And I remember I threw up right there in the dining area, right in the middle of all these people. Even as a child, I knew that the waitress now had a horrible task. Even as a child, I remember thinking, oh, I don't know how much she's paid, but it can't be enough to clean up the horror of what I've just done. I've ruined her night. I remember being afraid of this. To this day I remember her kindness. She didn't see that me. She very kindly and gently said, it's all right. I'll take care of it. Now, I don't know that I totally understood this until as a parent, when you deal with this sort of thing. we have a son who threw up just last night. That's why not all of our family can be here today, sadly. But right after this, my son kept saying, "I'm so sorry, I'm terribly sorry, I'm terribly sorry", which I don't know if he's British or what, but I'm terribly sorry. It was really funny how he phrased it. My wife and I, as much as we're like, oh, this is disgusting and we have to clean this up now, both of us are like, don't worry, don't be apologizing. You're sick, we want to help you. That's the kind of thing that God is requiring. That even when someone hurts us, even when someone puts us in a bad situation, it's a heart that's not seeking to get revenge. It's a heart that loves and seeks to do right and to be gentle with the other person. Application You know, as we consider this text or application throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus continues to shine his pure light into the darkest, yet most hidden corners of our heart. No one can see as my passions rage inside me but God. So Jesus takes his word and shines it into my heart, he continues to do so here. Who among us has not felt rage over insults that cut far deeper than the actual injuries we receive? How could we possibly redouble affection for those who have insulted us in such deep ways? Where's the justice in turning the other cheek? At every turn in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has led us to despair over our sin. Not so that we despair altogether. Jesus wants us to see how impossible it is in our own sinful selfish hearts to do what God demands so that we will be driven, because we have nowhere else to go, but to the foot of the cross. Because who can control the corrupt motions of our hearts? I can't. You can't. But Jesus can. The Holy Spirit can. Christ promises forgiveness and righteousness to those who repent from their sins. Even when I can't fix it, but to turn from this and look to the Lord and ask for him to save me. Once again, as we deal with this text, throughout the Sermon on the Mountain, I tried to show that Jesus is not just teaching here things for us to do. He is showing us a part of what he has come to do. Jesus came to suffer for sinners. Jesus is indeed the one who turns the other cheek. Isaiah 50:6 says, "I gave my back to those who strike and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting." In Isaiah 53:7, we read, "He (Jesus) was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that has led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before it shears, is silent, so he opened, not his mouth." Then in the New Testament as Peter is reflecting on this, both on what Jesus has done and how we should respond. He writes this in 1 Peter 2:19-25, where the word passion shows up four times to talk about how we should suffer. It's the word suffer. Peter writes, For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 1 Peter 2:19-25, ESV Who can forgive our sins of passion and our outbursts of retaliation? Who can cleanse our hearts from the corruption of sin that stirs and seethes and boils and rages in response to our suffering? Only the Lord Jesus Christ, only the one who perfectly obeyed with perfect love and perfect peace toward those who hurt him. Even praying, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, as the Roman soldiers were nailing him to the cross. He did this, offering himself as the perfect sacrifice for you and for me. To forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from deep within. As we've talked about, this gives us clarity in our day to day strategy for mortifying, putting to death our sin. When you feel these passions rise up in you turn to Jesus, say, Jesus, there's that anger, there's that lust, there's that corruption of wanting whatever it is that I want and can't have. I hate it. Lord, I hate it. I turn from it. I ask you to forgive me and to cleanse me. Give me a right spirit, Father. I pray. Tell them all this, pray this. Stop where you are and pray right then and turn from the sin that's raging in your heart before it spills out to cause even more suffering. We will never rid ourselves of this corruption in this life. We are certainly waiting for the life to come when we will be perfectly glorified and rid of this corruption. But God does promise real forgiveness now. More than this, God promises real growth, real cleansing, real sanctification. To transform us into people who are increasingly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, who did not revile in return, did not threaten, but instead continue to trust himself to the one who judges justly. That's the image of our Savior, and that's what God commands for us. There's no hope outside this gospel. There's no hope outside the fact that Jesus came to suffer for sinners. Look to him and be saved. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would give us Christ. That you would cleanse us from the inside out by the blood of Jesus, applied to us by your Holy Spirit, sent from Heaven. To cleanse the corruptions of our soul. To forgive us from our sins. To make us increasingly more like Christ. Oh, we pray, conform us to Christ image until the day when He comes and we shall be like Him, for we shall see him as he is in all of His splendor and glory. It's in Christ name we pray. Amen.

1 (2s): Welcome harvest 2 (3s): Church. Welcome this morning. Stand and worship with us. 1 (1m 48s): . 1 (3m 4s): I am who you say you are for me? Not against me. I am who you say hi. I am chosen show. Who's not foresee. Can you say you love for me? 1 (3m 43s): Not against me. I am who you say you love for the kids? 1 (4m 3s): 4 (4m 54s): Good morning, everybody. Go ahead and have a seat on no. Okay. Hold on a second. I'm good. I'm good. Okay. I was on, but I wasn't on whatever that means. So good morning. Welcome. Love to have you all gathered together today, a beautiful day out. So want to welcome you, those of you in the sanctuary, also in the loft and the patio, and those are tuning in online. So my name is Ron and I have a few pieces of information you might be interested in. So the first of which is today is, is what we call family Sunday. So the fourth, Sunday of each month, what we do is we encourage families to worship together. 4 (5m 36s): And so if you have kids that are first grade and up, they don't have class today. They're they're in with mom and dad with a family. And if you have kids younger than first grade, if you want to keep them with you in church, that's totally fine. We encourage that. But if you want to take them to class, we do have class for the little ones. So you'll feel, feel free to do that. Also on family Sunday, it's popular because we have donuts. So I head up the driveway, right near the info center. You're going to find a bunch of donuts, feel free to help yourself. There's coffee up there, and just a fun time to gather together and have coffee and donuts. But more importantly, today, we also have communion. And so towards the end of Steve's message, he will be inviting us to partake of communion and have communion together as, as the family of God. 4 (6m 22s): So we can look forward to that. If you're new to harvest church, we want to welcome you super happy to have you with us today. And if you have, if you'd like any information you need about harvest church, you can head up the driveway to the info center. There's some folks who would love to talk to you about what's going on here. Or if you prefer, you can go onto our website or our church app, and you can find out what's going on that way as well. So what we do three or four, three times a year, we have life groups that we start up. I should know this, right? If I'm making the album is I should know about this. So what we have is, is a new flyer. We put together about the different life groups that are coming up quickly. 4 (7m 2s): It beginning in may. So a life group is simply a small group of folks that gathered together in somebody's home may be here on campus, smaller venues during the week. And we w we really encourage everybody to get involved in a life group, a small group, because that's where you really get connected with people. And you really get into the, you know, the life of the church and make relationships and all that kind of good step. So feel free to pick one of these up there, up again at the info center, but just to let you know, we've got groups going on in a row grand day, we've got groups in Grover beach and a Pomo. We've got a couple of different men's groups that are happening. A bunch of women's groups that are happening as well. Probably the most important group of all. We've got a prayer group that meets on Thursday mornings would encourage you to be a part of that. 4 (7m 45s): There's a singles Bible study, and there is what we call recreational groups. So this is the good yarn club. So they get together and have fellowship and, and knit things, which is super fun. So check that out. Okay. What else is going on? So I want to update everybody on the worship center. That's just down the street at 1 0 2 branch. Okay. So here's, what's going on. We're getting close to Mo moving into the worship center. We will. I'm going to say we're definitely going to be in there in may. We're not exactly sure which Sunday in may, but we're, we're fairly positive about that final preparations are, are being made and getting, you know, getting the final permit on everything permission to occupy it. 4 (8m 26s): So we're gonna announce it in the future, the exact date, as soon as these things come together. So we're going to be shuffling around some different things. And with, with things like this comes some change. Okay. So sometimes change is a little difficult to, you know, get, get, get a handle on. Most of us don't really like change, but here's what's happening. Okay. So the new worship center is going to be called the east campus because it's east, this, this campus is going to be called west campus. And so here's a couple of other things. So the worship center is at 1 0 2. So whenever we talk about the worship center, that's what we're talking about. The east campus at 1 0 2 and over there, it's also, they're also going to have an outdoor courtyard venue where we're going to have coffee there. 4 (9m 12s): We're going to have some seating out there, some TVs to watch what's going on inside. It's a really cool garden area. If you hadn't had a chance to check it out. And also in the new worship center, we're going to have a nursery with his birth through two years. And we're going to have a mother's room over there as well. So at the west campus, we are actually changing the name of the sanctuary to our chapel. So we're going to have a chapel livestream happening here, right here in this venue. So if you prefer to hang out here, you're welcome to do so at the, the chapel live stream. So the, the kids' worship center is going to be moving into the loft. 4 (9m 54s): So again, the lock, which is right behind me is give me the new kids' worship center and kids classes, ages three, and up as well as youth classes are going to stay put right where they are currently. So that's, what's happening. As soon as we get to our, our new space. And as we open up the new worship center, we're going to need a lot more volunteers for various things that are happening because we're growing. So, for example, if you would like to get involved in, in the coffee ministry, greeting ministry, safety team, worship, team tech, team, kids, team, youth team, and many, many other things are going on. So what, when we get there, we're gonna have a better idea of all the things that we need to fill. So what you will find is if you get involved in a ministry team at church, it's super fun. 4 (10m 41s): You're going to get to know a lot of new people and, and it's a way to serve the Lord. So it encouraged you to get involved again, to, to volunteer for any of those things. You can go on our website and click on the connect tab, and that's what we're going to do. All right. So last Sunday, what happened last Sunday? Oh, that's right Eastern the park. We have a little clip. We want to share with you so you can see what, what went on last Sunday. Okay. You ready? Okay. 5 (13m 19s): And I invite you to stand in. As we continue to worship, we're going to introduce a new song this morning. It's called strong God. It's taken from verses in Psalm 68. And those verses are father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home. He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. This has God in his holy place, 1 (13m 52s): Father to the fatherless 5 (13m 56s): Defender 1 (13m 57s): Of the weak Freedom for the prison. We see this is God in his holy 7 (20m 45s): God, you are surely great. And we're humbled your presence here today. Lord is so as we've gathered to pray, and as we've gathered to worship God, we've gathered for you to remember you, to worship you, to be in your presence. Lord God, as the family of God, we want to be with you, Lord God, we want to be in your presence, Lord God. And as we teach your word today, Lord, we want to take it in and believe it. So Lord God give us faith where we lack faith, give us clarity where we lack clarity, give us the help that we need. Lord God, to believe you, Lord, to believe your promises, to walk in those promises, Lord God, that our lives would be actually changed and transformed as a result of your word, your promises, your guidance, your direction. 7 (21m 36s): So Lord lead us. We pray. We humble ourselves before you today. We say, we need you. We say, we love you. We, so we say, we're so thankful, Lord God, that you've adopted us into your family. We think we're thankful that your grace is sufficient. Lord God. And so I pray that your grace would be extended all over this campus Lord, for whoever needs it, especially this morning, Lord, we all need it. But there are those who especially need just to an extra dose of your grace, Lord God, a truth to saturate their hearts and lives. Lord God. And so for those who are doubting fearful, unbelieving, Lord, we pray that you would reveal yourself in powerful and significant ways. 7 (22m 16s): God, that there would just be a move of God in each of our lives today, Lord all over this campus. And God, we just want to say thank you for our new worship center for what you're doing there. Lord, it's been a, it's been a long time in the, in the, in the making Lord, God, we're so thankful Lord for the way you've are bringing that to fruition and making that possible for us. Lord, we just continue to give that to you, God, for the expansion of your kingdom Lord. So we just want to honor you with that space. So be glorified Lord. Thank you for this time in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Turning green. Somebody will come right back. 7 (23m 44s): I got a feeling it's going to get 8 (23m 45s): Rowdy. 7 (24m 13s): Alrighty, come on in and grab your chair. How's everyone I'm blessed and no less is what I keep hearing. Hey, I'm so grateful for every person who came out last week to help us get that space set up. But when we were setting up the chairs and when we were cleaning up the chairs, I didn't think we would ever end. I mean, those chairs just continued. They were, they were just a ton of them. I'm not sure how many we had set up. It was almost 900. And so it was really, really good. And then the sound and audio video stuff. It's all, man. It all just came together. We were having so many technical challenges on Saturday. 7 (24m 55s): It was ridiculous. We didn't, we weren't sure what was going to happen, but, but our team got it together and I need a bigger podium is what I need. I've got all this stuff. Can we work on that? Like a four by just getting so thanks for that to everyone. Yeah. Great turnout. It was so good to be back at the, at the park. After two years through COVID of not being able to be out there. It was, I mean, we had a great time last year at our back lot back here, but we just love being in that park. Love the opportunity to be salt and light and in the neighborhood there in our community. And so we're just really, really grateful for that. 7 (25m 38s): And we're going to be in Hebrews 13 today kind of wrapping up in the next few weeks, our study through Hebrews. And we're just going to continue to March right through the rest of the new Testament. And so we'll be teaching through revelation here in a few months and I think it'll be really, it's really good timing, I think to get into a study through revelation and so wanted to let you know that that is coming. I, I taught last through revelation 15 years ago in that crazy. Yeah. I was looking at my old notes and I thought, man, it's been 15 years since I've taught through that. So a lot has changed in our world and last 15 years. So it's time for an update and the word of God never changes, but our culture, our circumstances certainly change don't they speaking of change, my son Curtis got engaged yesterday, go ahead and stand up. 7 (26m 30s): Curtis Curtis St. Clark. So we just did a wedding for Steven and Amanda a few months ago and our cup two and a half, three months ago or whatever it's been now. And, and so now we get to plan for another one. So the more the merrier. And so we're excited about that. So congratulations to you too. And you guys want to just get married now you want to just go, I happen to know somebody you can make that happen for you. So it would be zebra. I know, right? Get things done. What are the cupcakes say to the frosting? 7 (27m 13s): I'd be muffin without you. There we go. Told you, I'd tell you a joke on family Sunday. Hey, a lot of us, thousands of people throughout the state went up to Sacramento last Monday and Tuesday to, to lobby against assembly bill 2, 2, 2, 3. And I mean, it was just a huge outpouring of people throughout the states who showed up and, and people from other states. And so sadly the assembly health committee passed AB T T two three last week. 7 (27m 55s): So the bill will go next to the assembly appropriations committee before making its way to the assembly floor. So continue to pray, just continue to pray. It's re if you've done any research at all, you know that this assembly bill is, is heinous and it's, it's so grieves the heart of God to see this type of legislation making its way through and into, into, into law. I mean, it's not just California, there's other states who are trying to do the same thing. So anyway, take a look at it. We don't often talk about political things, but this is not just a political thing. It's a political thing, but it's a moral thing first and foremost. 7 (28m 36s): And so that when we're talking about moral things that contradict the word of God and God's direction for our lives, then we talk about it and we encourage action. So do some research, pray, pray, pray that this thing gets stopped in its tracks. And so we're going to just pray right now for that. And then we'll get into Hebrews 13, one through seven Lord. We do pray, God, God, we ask Lord God for it's just a supernatural intervention here, Lord God that she would stop this bill, this proposed bill or God that it would not become law. 7 (29m 17s): Lord God, that you would not allow it to become law. That born babies would not be allowed to legally be killed in our state Lord God. And as goes California as goes the nation. So it goes the nation, Lord God. And so we pray God that this would be stopped here. And then it would be a message to the rest of the nation that we, we don't, we don't want to stand for this kind of stuff and we will not stand for this kind of stuff. So Lord, I pray that the, the, the people of our nation be aware of what's going on, that these, this type of legislation is being moved forward. Lord, I pray that we would be alert. 7 (29m 58s): That'd be that we'd be wise to what's going on in our world and that we would be prayerful and lobby against things like this. It's our, our responsibility Lord. And so I pray God that we would take serious this responsibility, remember to pray and trust you, Lord God. So speak to those who will be deciding in this next step, Lord, God, speak to their hearts. Thank you Lord, for the opportunity to pray and to petition and to lobby against things like this, help us. We pray Lord in Jesus name. Amen. So last Tuesday we were walking through the buildings. We were out in front of the Capitol, on the lawn there. 7 (30m 40s): And then we were walking through and being able to, which we were trying to lobby the people who are a part of the part of the assembly health committee. And they wouldn't even open the doors for us. We would go knock on their door and they would say, Hey, we're not taking guests at the moment. And so just dozens and dozens of people would just pray outside of their doors in the hallways. And so we went to each office and just prayed and petitioned by God's grace, that, that things would change here. And so let's continue to do that and that we wrestle not against flesh and blood enemies, but we're in a spiritual battle. 7 (31m 23s): And so let's continue to fight against things like AB 2, 2, 2, 3. Amen. Hey, we're in Hebrews chapter 13, we're going to be looking at verses one through seven, the title of the message today, practical faith living. So it will be in Hebrews chapter three verses one through seven. The book of Hebrews is all about challenging your religious activity and tradition so that genuine faith life can be experienced and lived. And I think we need to do that all throughout the course of our lives. We need to be challenging religious activity, things that seem good, but are actually a hindrance to our intimate walk and commitment to Jesus Christ. 7 (32m 8s): So the book of Hebrews is all about challenging religious activity. It was written to Jews. This, we don't know who the author of Hebrews is, but it was written to Jews who had made a decision to trust Jesus as their Messiah. And they were breaking away from a religious tradition, a tradition of lots of works and that sort of thing. And so this book is written to this group of people, giving them practical insight. These are the things as we wrap up Hebrews, this, these are the things that we should be doing. These are the things that should mark the lives of believers, the lives of people in God's church. 7 (32m 53s): So Hebrews three 13 brings to light, very practical things that mark the life of a follower of Jesus Christ. And so as we look at the first seven verses of Hebrews 13, we find seven points that define for us practical faith, living seven points in seven verses. And so it's going to take us about three weeks to get through Hebrews 13. And, and then we'll, we'll just jump right in with number one, practical, faith, living, number one, love each other. We see that throughout the scripture that God has called us to love each other. We see that in Hebrews 13, one says, keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. 7 (33m 36s): And so the author saying, Hey, keep this up. You're doing it. The marks of a godly person is that we would continue to love one another. So love each other. The transliteration of the Greek word for love here is Philadelphia. The city of Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love, right? If you've ever been to Philadelphia, you have, I'd never been there, but I've, I've heard that it's not necessarily living up to its name. I don't know, but in 1994 at Gallup poll named Philadelphia, America's most hostile place. So maybe there's some truth to what I'm hearing. 7 (34m 17s): So good intentions only take us so far. So the founders of that city had great intentions. Let's call this place, Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love with the expectation that the goal that this place would be marked by brotherly love. And instead though it's become hostile and one of Philadelphia America's most hostile plays. So good intentions only take you so far. Have you experienced that? Like I'm gonna do better. I'm going to love this person better. And then we fall short, listen, we can't love people effectively unless we're filled with the grace of God, the presence of God and the power of God, because some people are just very difficult to love, but by God's grace, he gives us the ability and even the desire he refreshes our hearts and minds so that we actually have the desire to love people who are on lovely. 7 (35m 11s): How do we love each other? Romans 12, 10 says this love each other with genuine affection. So now we're kind of getting some action points here, genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other. So we're to love one another with genuine affection honoring each other. I would just reading in first Samuel this morning, and I was reading about the relationship between Jonathan, the King's son and David, the newly anointed king, who was yet to take the throne. But as we read through first Samuel, we see the, the, the love relationship that David and Jonathan had. 7 (35m 57s): There was, there was a sacrificial commitment to one, another to protect one another. And you can see how Jonathan over and over again, protected David from Saul's wrath. Saul was jealous of David and Saul was envious of David saw was, was, was angry at David. And so over and over again, Saul was trying to kill David and Jonathan would step up over and over again to protect him. He had, he had genuine love and affection for David and he honored him. And so there's, there's great examples in the scripture and there's great examples in our own lives. Maybe where people have loved us with genuine affection. 7 (36m 40s): And with honor, I can think back in my life about different people who have loved me. So well, my wife, for sure, being one of them for the last 32 years, she just loved me really, really well, genuine affection and honor. And I really do think that's part of like the recipe for longevity in marriage is that we would love and honor one another, a genuine affection can only come from a genuine heart. And so we need to regularly ask the Lord, God, what's going on with my heart. Why, why am I having a hard time loving this person? Maybe it's your spouse. You're having a hard time loving you. 7 (37m 21s): Say, Lord, what's going on with my heart because we can't love when we can fake it, but we can only love people with genuine affection. And honor, when we have a pure hearts, when our hearts are in the right place, we've, we've got to guard our hearts and make sure that we've confessed sin, that we've forgiven, that we're walking in purity and honor before the Lord so that we can lovingly serve others and love others with a genuine affection and honor. So genuine affection can only come from a genuine heart. And honor only comes from a humble heart. So we need to check ourselves. What's the condition of our heart. 7 (38m 2s): Are we being, are we being humble? Are we pure in our heart? Or are we do we have guile and unforgiveness and hatred in our heart brother and sister Lee love can only happen when we choose to extend grace from a genuine and humble heart. So part of doing what anything God has called us to do, what it requires that we're empowered by God, but that we always extend grace. If we think about our relationship with God, what is he always doing with us? I don't know about you, but he's always, always grace to me, right? I mean, I think about the person who loves me more than anybody who has the capacity to love me more than anybody that's God. 7 (38m 45s): And he knows all of my failures and shortcomings, but he genuinely loves me. And he genuinely loves you with affection. And he honors us in that relationship by loving us unconditionally. So in order for us to love, like, God loves us to love others. Like God loves us. We need to, we need to be constantly extending grace to the people in our lives. If you've been alive for any amount of time, you know that you need to extend grace to people constantly in work relationships and marriage, relationships and sibling relationships. And in every relationship, there's going to be opportunity for you to be offended or for you to offend others. 7 (39m 30s): And so there needs to be that constant extension of grace, constant extension of grace meets you. You to me, we, to each other, we just constantly extend grace. The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians four 13 for I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. So maybe you're here today. And you're like, this is like a really impossible thing. There's this person in my life that I just don't like at all. I don't respect this person. I don't like this person. This person gets under my skin every time I see him or her. And so Lord, I don't know how all things are possible. When we submit our hearts to the Lord, we can love people. 7 (40m 11s): I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. God will give you the strength to forgive great story. When the first missionaries arrived in Alberta, Canada, a young chief of the Cree Indians named Masco opportun, savaged, savagely, opposed them. But he later responded to the gospel and accepted Christ shortly afterward. A member of the Blackfoot tribe killed his father mascot. Batoon rode into the village where the murderer lived and demanded that he be brought before him confronting the guilty man. 7 (40m 51s): He said, you have killed my father. So now you must be my father. You shall ride my best horse and wear my best clothes in utter amazement and remorse his enemy exclaimed. My son. Now you have killed me. He meant, of course, that the hates in his own heart had been completely erased by the forgiveness and kindness of the Indian chief. This is the power of the gospel. When we've been touched by the grace of God, we, we find capacity. 7 (41m 33s): Expend extend that same grace to others. Even those who have done us rate great harm. God's grace, as we're filled with the spirit of God and the word of God, the truth that God gives us the capacity to extend grace to others in Luke 10 27, the most important commandment says this. You must love the Lord, your God with all your hearts, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind and love your neighbor as your self over and over again. We see this in the scripture. We see that God calls us to love others. The world. We will know that we are his disciples by our love one for another. 7 (42m 17s): So the love that we're exposed to be feeling for one another and extending to one another is constantly under attack. The enemy wants us to be at odds with one another, because then we're not properly representing the person of the Lord. Jesus Christ. Jesus was gracious in all that. He did. He extended grace and love to everybody. Even to those who executed him on the cross. Jesus tells us in his sermon on the mountain, Matthew 5 21 through 24, he says, you have heard that our ancestors were told you must not murder. 7 (42m 59s): If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment. But I say, if you were even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment. If you call someone an idiot, you're in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell. So if you verse 23 are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the temple. And you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar, go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and off your sacrifice to God. You think God is serious about what he's talking about in his word. He's very serious. 7 (43m 40s): He modeled it for us. He communicates it and the old and the new Testament, he's very serious that we would love one another. So that means we've got to constantly be forgiving, extending grace like 70 times seven. That means essentially that there's no limit to the number of times that we will extend grace and forgiveness. Number one, love each other. Number two, love strangers. So now we're getting a little more specific, loves strangers. We see that in verse two, don't forget to show hospitality to strangers for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. That's kind of a neat thought, huh? Well, some, some of us have entertained angels without realizing it. 7 (44m 22s): Have you ever wondered about that in your own life? Like, was that an angel? I wonder like, was that a messenger of God that I just entertained? Like, I didn't know who that person was and I haven't seen him since. I wonder if that was an angel of the Lord, that text refers to what happened to Abraham to lot and to Gideon in the old Testament, Genesis 18 Genesis, 19 judges, six and 13, they all entertained angels unaware. They were ministering to angels as they reached out with love to these strangers. One of the best pictures of a person loving a stranger, seen of the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10 when Jesus was asked and who is my neighbor? 7 (45m 13s): So that's the question. I'm like, okay, if I'm supposed to love my neighbor, then who is my neighbor? Right? We're always looking for loopholes, right? Luke 10 30 says this Jesus replied with a story. A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and left him half dead beside the road by chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed by him. Also a temple assistant Levi gets walked over and looked at him, lying there, but he also passed by on the other side of the road, then a despised Samaritan. 7 (46m 1s): So Samaritans were half blood, half blood use. They were, they were a mixed race and they were despised by the Jewish people. Then despise Samaritan came along. And when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with all of oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an end where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, two silver coins to denari were essentially the wage for two late to two days of labor in the day. So he had an two days of work of pay to continue to take care of him, take care of this, man. 7 (46m 46s): If this bill runs higher than this, I'll pay you the next time I'm here. So this despised Samaritan served this stranger paid for his well and made sure that he was going to be taking care of until he was completely healthy. Now, which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits? Jesus asked the man replied the one who showed him mercy. Then Jesus said, yes. Now go and do the same. So we have an opportunity to, in a practical way, love those who we don't know as we see people in need. 7 (47m 33s): Now we can't help everybody in need, but we do have the responsibility to help people in need. So we need to pray as we know of people in need and say, Lord, what is my role here? What is my place with this person? How can I serve this person? How am I supposed to serve this person? And as the Lord leads, you, you can minister to that person, but we've got to be prayerful, listening, responsive obedience so that we can do the things that God has called us to do. So there are going to be people in your life that are going to require your love. People that you don't know, maybe people don't like, but God has given you an assignment responsibility to serve them. 7 (48m 21s): Being essentially Jesus with skin on practical, faith living involves loving strangers, but also number three, loving the forgotten, loving the forgotten verse three says, remember those in prison as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated as if you felt their pain in your own body. Often we think about people who are incarcerated. We think, well, they deserve to be there. Well, we, if the truth were told, if we all got busted for things that we have done throughout the course of our life, then we would probably be in there as well. 7 (49m 3s): Truth, be told we've gotten away with a lot of stuff over the course of our lives and found out we might all be in that same place. I often say that apart from Jesus, that I rather either be dead in prison or addicted to something. I mean, apart from Jesus that's, that would be my lot. I just know myself way too well. And I know my life before Jesus came in, remember those in prison. One of my first ministries was to those who were incarcerated. And so we had ministries at the county jail. We had three services on Sunday morning. We had a service for the men's side of the jail and then a service for the women's side of the jail. 7 (49m 43s): And then we'd go over to the honor farm and we would have a service over there. So Sunday mornings, we have three services over there and it was a pleasure to minister and to serve those who are incarcerated. And in my early sales life, as an outside sales rep for a company might part of my territory included me service going into and serving those in prisons. And so I would go in to, I think I had six or seven or eight prisons that I would go into on a regular basis. And what I realized with a few exceptions, most of the people that I was seeing in these prisons, they, they had just made mistakes and they serving their time. 7 (50m 29s): And the truth is they were, they were worthy of love. They were worthy of respect and what I treated them with love and respect that was returned to me. And now I know that's not the case across the board, but overwhelmingly. So that was the case. It's only went to San Quentin prison. San Quentin prison was an altogether different scenario. I walked in that place and it was dark and cold and scary. It was scary. I went in there. I spent about half a day at San Quentin prison once and I decided never to step foot in his hand, Quentin prison. 7 (51m 9s): Again, it was a scary place for me. I didn't want to go back and it was my choice to go in or not. And so I decided not to. So I continued to serve the other prisons, but at San Quentin, I decided to stay away. Now I've heard it's gotten easier at San Quentin, but all the same, I steer steer clear. So we need to remember those in prison. Sometimes we, we think, well, they're not, you know, they're, they're incarcerated. We have an incredible opportunity. Mike and Sharon do tra take their curriculum into prisons and jails all over the country. And they're having a huge impact inside the walls of jails. Now, people who are there, most likely they deserve to be there. 7 (51m 49s): They're not all innocent. Like they would probably say, but we need to take the opportunity to serve people who are forgotten. And remember, remember also those being mistreated as if you felt their pain in your own body, we need to with empathy, remember those who are being mistreated. And so that's why we stand up for bills against bills like AB 2, 2, 2, 3. We believe in life. And we believe that those who are born and the unborn deserve life. And so AB 2, 2, 2, 3 is just another step that eliminates life in our nation. 7 (52m 39s): We need to remember those who are forgotten. There's a young man in our community. He's a homeless guy and he we've known him for years and he doesn't work around the church from time to time. And we've helped him from time to time. And he came to me recently and he said, Hey, I'm trying to get my life back in order. Would you help me get to teen challenge? And so I said, absolutely, we'll get, we'll help you get to teen challenge. And so we gave him a train ticket to get over to Shafter, and we helped him to get there. And we it's important that we are for people who are trying to get their lives back in order. 7 (53m 20s): And so he wanted to go to this Christian program and get his life back in order. So we sent him over there earlier this month and I've been praying for him. And then I got a text from him yesterday. He said, I got kicked out for fighting. So he's out. But that doesn't mean we stop trying. I mean, often we'll try stuff. And in our estimation, from our perspective, it looks like it failed, but it's just maybe another step in the journey that people are taking. And we need to continue to give grace and extend mercy. So he asked me for a train ticket back to the coast and I told him, you are on your own. 7 (54m 4s): He got kicked out. So now the rubber meets the road and he's got to figure out his own path forward. And so we'll figure out, we gotta figure out with good boundaries and good grace, how to serve people, but not enable people. So there's a lot there. We could probably talk about it for a very, very long, a long time. So number three, love the forgotten. Number four, love your spouse. That's actually in the Bible of your spouse, mess something we should just do naturally. Right? We should just love our spouse. We get engaged because we're in love. We get, we want to spend the rest of our lives together because we're in love. And so why is it so hard for us to love our spouse? 7 (54m 44s): Well, typically people coming together to get married are completely opposite of for whatever reason opposites attract. And so there begins to be a rub. Maybe you've never experienced it. And then in your own marriage, but there can be a rub sometimes in marriage, right? I mean, you guys are brand new, married if you guys experienced any rub. Never. Okay, good. So Amanda saying yes. Even saying no. So there's going to be a rub. Whether you've been married for two days or 20 years or 40 years, there's always going to be some kind of an opportunity to love our spouse. When there's a disagreement verse four says, give honor to marriage and remain faithful to one another in marriage. 7 (55m 30s): God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery. So how do we love our spouse? Well, we give them honor. We honor them find different ways to honor your spouse. What is your spouse enjoy? What is your spouse? Not enjoy. Figure out those things, answer those questions and then honor them when the way that you live in relationship with them, speak with respects, with tenderness, with kindness, I've heard some men talk to their end vice-a-versa spot, talk to their spouse and very damning and hurtful dishonoring ways. 7 (56m 17s): And so those things need to be, we need to pay attention. Sometimes we can get comfortable in our relationships and we get sloppy about the way we communicate. We get insensitive about the needs of our spouse. And for as long as we're married, we need to be working on honoring one another. Speaking with tenderness, with respect, with kindness, with humility, and just watch what the Lord will do to heal up. Whatever's going on in your marriage remain faithful. So someone's heard this quote recently when a man says yes to a particular woman, he is saying no to every other woman out there. 7 (57m 5s): And that's true for women, either women too. When, when a woman says yes to a particular man, that means she is saying no to every other man out there. So that's part of the deal. We, we honor one another by loving one another and saying, faithful remaining, faithful to one another. Then you make your spouse, your priority, make your spouse your priority. Often in life, everything else becomes priority. The kids that becomes priority. But what happens when your kids grow up? Like your kids are all grown up and maybe you spent the last 20 years making your kids your priority. And then now you're just kind of stuck. 7 (57m 46s): Just the two of you, right? Like now what do we do with each other? Right. Often people get divorced after their kids are raised because they've spent the last 20 years making their S their kids a priority and really everything else, a priority. And so when it's just the two of them in the house, it's, it's like, what do we do with each other? I couldn't wait for my kids to get out of house. It just, the two of us, you know, my wife and I, we, we just, I love my kids, but at 18 it's time for them to go, right. We raised them to be independence. Self-sufficient relying on God, loving Jesus and getting out of the house. 7 (58m 27s): Like they can show up anytime they wanted, they need food or laundry done while they have to do their own laundry. But if they need, they can rate my cupboards. If they need money, I'll give them whatever I have, but they need to be out. Right. Because I just, I want to hang out with my bride. We got, we got married in 11 months and three weeks later we had Caitlin, right? So like, there's no honeymoon period. Like she got pregnant immediately. And then 14, 15 months later, Steven was born. And then like 16 months later, Curtis was born. And like two years later, Leslie was born. So I'm like, Hey, I've done my duty. 7 (59m 7s): Right. Lights out. Time to go. And so no Jolene and I can walk around the house naked. It's wonderful. She would never do that. Me on the other hand, I might buy the house is right. So let's enjoy. Let's enjoy what God has given to us. I forgot his family Sunday, but sorry. Lastly, my daughter's dying over there. He's like, we need to love our spouse. And like, like I, I believe, and like after decades of marriage, that the spark can still be there and be magical and wonderful. 7 (59m 52s): And it needs to be there. It needs to absolutely be there. And if it's not there, work on it, get it back, begin to date your spouse again. All right. Let's take a look at things that hinder our ability to love love of money will hinder our ability to love others. So number five, don't love money. Money is a terrible thing to love. It's it's a one way street. I verse five says don't love money. Be satisfied with what you have for God has said, I will never fail you. I will never abandon you. 7 (1h 0m 34s): When money is a person's focus. Inevitably God loses first place in that person's life. And when God loses first place in a person's life, everything else begins to diminish as well. Loving money is the ultimate selfish thing. I mean, it's, it's about making sure that I have what I need, that I have my safety, my provision. I have everything that I need. And so it's all about me and my money. And, and so then we're not allowing God to be on the throne of our lives. We're not honoring our spouse and others and loving others with our resources because it's all selfishly belongs to me. 7 (1h 1m 20s): The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. It's the root of all kinds of evil. So don't love your money, money. This prob I think he's a proverb says, man, it's just like, takes on wings like an Eagle and just flies away. It's just, it's temporary. You can't take it with you. It doesn't bring lasting satisfaction. It's not helpful for most things in life. I mean, we can be thankful that, you know, we've got homes and food and things like that, that things that money buy, but man money can never be our priority. Our driving force, the kingdom of God has to be our driving force, doing what God has called us to do in the scripture. That needs to be our driving force, getting up every morning and making sure that Jesus is the Lord Lord of our lives. 7 (1h 2m 5s): That needs to be our driving force. Matthew 6 24, no one can serve two masters for you will hate one and love the other. You will devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money. Love of money is the root of all kinds of evil money can be a blessing when handled properly. And it can be a curse. I've watched so many families over the course of my life and ministry get blown up over, over money. 7 (1h 2m 45s): Inheritances. They divide families, squabbling over possessions. I'm just, I, I, I'm sick to my stomach of the stories that I hear when money gets introduced into a family and there begins the squabble. It's like, oh, we love each other until money shows up and you're not getting mine, man. I tell ya, I I've been so blessed by my, my brother in Denver. He's my half-brother. So my dad passed away six months ago or eight months ago. It's been awhile now, number of months and six months before that, my dad's second wife passed away. 7 (1h 3m 30s): My step-mom. And so my brother who lives in Denver, where my dad lived is handling the estate. And he's been so completely gracious with the way he's handled everything. I, I just tell him all the time I'm so Shane I'm so thankful for the way that you're handling all of this, because the last thing we want is for our family to be blown up because of a few bucks, right? It's not worth it. Relationships. We, we need one another. Am I done with time? How far over am I? I still got like 14 points left. Here we go. 7 (1h 4m 10s): I got five minutes. Thank you very much, Amanda. Here we go. So don't let the love of money. Dictate whom you will love the antidote for the love of money is contentment. Contentment. Godliness with contentment is great. Gain our culture. We don't understand contentment. We see the next new shiny thing. We want it. We, we, we need to have that next thing and I'm can be just as guilty as the rest. So we need to learn to find this place of contentment. Verse five. Again, for God has said, I will never fail you. I will never abandon you. 7 (1h 4m 51s): So that's where our focus, our hope our priority is has God. He, he will never fail you. He will never abandoned. You'd often were hoarding money or save, hold on to stuff because we're afraid of the future and the world's a crazy place. And so we're afraid. And boy, if, if, if we just honor the Lord seek first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness, everything else will be added on to us. Someone said, if you fear God, you've got nothing else to fear, right? Like fearing God means to obey him, to honor him to do what he's called us to do. We put that kind of priority in our lives. Everything else will be taken care of. 7 (1h 5m 30s): Everything else will be taken care of. Another hindrance to love is fear. Don't live in fear, verse six. So we can say with confidence and we'll wrap this up quick. The Lord is my helper. So I will have no fear what can mere people do to me. So the writer of Hebrews is writing to people who are under persecution, Jewish people who have said I'm breaking away from Judaism to honor Christ to enter into this covenant relationship with the Lord. Jesus Christ. I recognize that Jesus is the Messiah. Well, this was a threat to the church, the Jewish church. 7 (1h 6m 14s): This was a threat to the church. And so there was persecution, the Orthodox religious use of the days, guys like Saul of Tarsus before his conversion were persecuting the church, pressuring the people to follow the laws of Moses. And so they were feeling fear. And so the writer is saying, Hey, you've got nothing to fear in light of eternity, which is where we're going to be spending. Most of our time. This, this life here is a blip on the screen of eternity. It's just a blip. It's an important blip. Jesus died for this blip that we might live for him, that we might take as many people with us to heaven as possible. 7 (1h 6m 57s): So it's an important blip, but, but it's not the whole thing. We'll spend eternity with the Lord or not depending on how and what we choose in this life. 9 (1h 7m 11s): Ah, 7 (1h 7m 12s): What can I skip here? This is good. An adverse or number seven, practical faith living number seven verse seven says, remember your leaders who taught you the word of God, think of all the good that has come from their lives and follow the example of their faith. So how do we, how do we love our leaders? We've all got leaders. I've got to leaders, you've got leaders, we've all got leaders. And so we have this responsibility. I submit to my elders. I submit to their leadership in my life. 7 (1h 7m 54s): We all have people that we must submit to because we all have leaders in our lives. So how do we, how do we love our leaders? I w I would say guard against criticism. It's easy to get critical of leaders. Often. We don't understand what our leaders are going through. The decisions that they're facing, the expectations that are upon. So if we can just be careful to extend grace and avoid criticism, and if we can pray for our leaders, that's governmental leaders, that's church leaders. We need to pray, pray, pray for our leaders. Often I'll ask the church. Will you remember to pray for our elders, our staff, our, our church. 7 (1h 8m 34s): Would you remember to pray for me specifically when we praying for people praying for the operative word, they're praying for people, not against people like Lord help his car to crash into that telephone pole. That's not praying for that's bringing again. So don't pray for Lord that they would be blessed and walking in grace and experiencing your clarity. That's what we need to be praying for. People decide to extend grace, understand our human limitations. I think we need to be able to look back at the, of our lives and be able to speak well of people that have led us currently and in the past. And if there's things sticking in our crawl a little bit about past leaders, we need to pray for them and watch the Lord change our hearts. 7 (1h 9m 16s): And then we begin to see their human limitations and begin to see the things that they were up against. And we can extend grace so that we're living in harmony with those who are in leadership over us. I don't think we can honor our earthly leaders very well. Let me, how do I say this? I think we really are. We begin to honor our earthly leaders really well when we figured out how to honor our heavenly leader. When we figured out how to honor the Lord, there's just something that of a work of God in our lives that allows us to honor our leaders and really everybody in our lives. So love each other. Love strangers, love the forgotten and love your spouse. Don't love money. Don't live in fear and love your leaders. Hey, let's take communion. 7 (1h 9m 57s): So thankful for communion. I, once a month, we remember what the Lord has done, and hopefully often more often than that, but especially once a month on family Sunday, we remember. And even as I flipped my elements, I'm like, that was the wrong thing to do. So I don't mean to take it. Forgive me for that. I it's really, we need to honor what God has given us in this active worship that we would honor the Lord. So I'm going to read first Corinthians 1123. 7 (1h 10m 39s): And then as I get ready to read that, just get your hearts, pray that you get your hearts in the right place. And that be a time of confession, time of humility, time of brokenness and contrition that we would go humbly before the throne of grace and say, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for salvation for new life and forgiveness for I pass on to you. What I receive from the Lord himself, this first grand thing is 1123 on the night when he was betrayed, the Lord, Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. 7 (1h 11m 22s): Then he broke it in pieces and said, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me. It's taken away from Got I'm filled with joy, and I'm also perplex. Lord. I I'm grateful that you Allowed your body to be nailed to a cross. Allow your board, your blood to be poured out for my sins. Lord God, I'm perplexed. Lord God that you would love us me enough to do that. Lord, I, I, I don't have the capacity to understand why you would do that Florida, But thank you. 7 (1h 12m 10s): Thank you Lord. For your grace. It is sufficient Verse 25 in the same way. He took the cup of wine after supper saying this cup is the new covenant between God and his people and agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me. As often as you drink it for every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes again. Let's go ahead and take the cup. Thank you, Lord. 7 (1h 12m 51s): Thank you for your blood. Thank you that you poured out your blood for my sins. You took the wrath of God that belonged to me upon yourself. And you gave me an exchange. Your righteousness. You gave us an exchange, your righteousness. If you're here today and you need the righteousness of God in your life. If you need God to take that weight of burden from sins and mistakes and failures and shortcomings, if you need God to lift those things off you and you want to enter into a relationship with God, a saving a life, changing, born again, relationship with God you say, Lord, I, I need you to lift this burden of sin. 7 (1h 13m 32s): I need you to forgive me. I repent. I change my mind about the way that I've been living and I'm going to turn and live for you. I'm going to turn and follow you. I want you to be the Lord and the leader of my life. I will submit to you in all things. I will follow you in all things. And I will love you always Lord by your grace. So Lord come into my life, forgive my sin and help me to follow you all the rest of the days of my life. And as you do that, you, you began, you began a journey of being a follower of the Lord. Jesus Christ. It's not about getting sins forgiven. 7 (1h 14m 14s): And then you move on. It's about submitting your life to Jesus and following God, the rest of your life into eternity forever and ever. Amen. It's about allowing God to transition your life from what it was to new life in him. To allow you to be born again into the kingdom of God, adopted into his family. So Lord, this is a life altering transaction that we're believing you for, help us to walk in that life-changing way. We pray this way that you have designed for us. We love you Lord in Jesus name. 7 (1h 14m 54s): Amen. Let's go out and stand up and worship. 1 (1h 15m 22s): You give you a green light to the job 0 (1h 15m 34s): You 1 (1h 15m 35s): Restore and every house that is . It's your breath in? praise. Praise. It's your breath. You bring right John? 1 (1h 16m 33s): Oh, hi. That is Oh, the wish shout shoe tricks cry. 1 (1h 18m 20s): These bones 2 (1h 19m 51s): Lord. You are great. You are awesome. And mighty, we praise you this morning as we go about the rest of our week. Lord, we just pray that you'd be filling us with your holy spirit so that we can shine light to the rest of the world. And everybody we come in contact with. We can glorify you in everything that we do in Jesus name. Amen.

This week, Maplewood talks about the necessity of prayer in our lives, not because the church says it is important, but because Jesus say sit is vital to our growth. Now more than ever, the people of God need to be laying down deep roots through prayer. Pastor Joe teaches from Matthew 6 as we continue our study of the Sermon on the Mountain.

Join SU President, Gail Martin and guest Dr. Tony Hart, president at Grand Old Gospel Fellowship, as they discuss a new week's readings in Matthew. You can subscribe to the daily Bible reading God, Encounter with God, via print, email or online at www.ScriptureUnion.org Featured Guest: Dr. Tony Hart Tony Hart is the President of GOGF Ministries and is the primary bible teacher on ‘The Grand Old Gospel Hour' radio program. He has authored two books, “Winning Is Everything” and “Two Tablets for Your Marriage”. He also has been the Senior Pastor of Montco Bible Fellowship since 1992. He married Carol, his partner in ministry and the love of his life in 1977. They have four children, a daughter and 3 sons, and 5 grandchildren. He has earned a B.S. in Bible from Philadelphia Biblical University, a Masters of Divinity and a Doctorate of Ministry from Biblical Theological Seminary in Hatfield, PA. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/scriptureunionusa/support

The Gospel of Matthew - The Kingdom of Heaven Passage: Matthew 5:1 Date: 11/7/21 Pastor AJ Swanson

As Christians we are prone to veering into ditches. We focus on befriending the lost, but end up losing our Christian distinctiveness. So we start pursuing personal holiness, but in doing so cut off contact with the world. In his sermon on the mountain, Jesus lines our path with two rumble strips: (1) you are the salt of the earth, and (2) you are the light of the world. Together these rumble strips corral us into the radical centre--we are to be utterly separate, in close proximity to the world. Scriptures Referenced: Mat 5:13-15; Joh 1:5, 8:12; Titus 2:14 Visit PracticologyPodcast.com for more episodes.Follow the Practicology Podcast on Twitter and Facebook.

Hello and welcome to this episode of Agape Fellowship; here we learn God's word verse by verse. We are in Matthew 6. In the last episode, we learnt how to give and pray in a manner that pleases God.  Today, we learn from verse 9, how Jesus Himself teaches us to pray in the right manner.   Jesus continues His awesome sermon on the mountain. Addressing God as Father and Jesus our brother brings us close to our Maker. Jesus teaches us to honour God and trust Him for daily needs; teaches us about forgiveness and keeping from temptations. Though Heaven and earth belong to Him, we can approach Him through prayer. 

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Welcome to Mosaic Church. My name is Jan, I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic along with Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy, I bet you didn't know that Pastor Shane can sing, he can. Some people get all the talents. If you're new, we'd love to connect with you. We do that through the connection card and the worship guide, you can fill it out. The physical copy, you give them the back of the Welcome Center, and if you just leave it there, we'll get in touch with you over the course of the week. We also send a little gift in the mail, and if you're like, "Oh, a gift, what is it?" Well, there's only one way to find out. With that said, would you please pray with me with over the preaching God's Holy Word.Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a good Father and we are so proud of you. We boast in you that you are our God that you revealed yourself to us. You gave us the gift of revelation, you gave us the gift of faith, you gave us the gift of regeneration. You give us the gift of anointing, the same anointing that Christ had, we are anointed by the power of the Spirit and our hearts are sealed, within our hearts is a guarantee that we are yours, and we're so proud that we get to know you, and we're so proud that we get to serve you, that we get to be used by you, we thank you for that.Jesus, we thank you that you lived that perfect life of love toward God, toward people and then you present your life as a living sacrifice for us, you died in our stead, in our place. Bearing the wrath of God that we deserve and you rose from the dead on the third day, and we're so proud of you. You are our Lord and our older brother, we're so proud that we get to know you thank you for saving us. Holy Spirit, we're so proud that we get to know you, we're so proud that you are in us, that you are filling us, that you fill this church, that you're building, this church we're so proud of your work here in a really difficult area, and we pray continue to work, continue to use us.Lord, we are proud of one another. We're proud of the work you're doing in one another. There's a mutual up building that's happening, and we're so thankful for it. I thank you for this body of believers and I thank you for joining many more to yourself uses here in the city to continue to build your kingdom all to the glory of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit and pray this in Jesus name. Amen.Title of the sermon is I'm proud of you. Do you grow up in a household where you were told by your parents, verbatim out loud using these words, I'm proud of you. I'm so proud of you. I did not. I know my parents are proud of me. I can see it in their eyes and both my mom and dad but they didn't use that language, partially because of Slavic background. It's like if you do good, you're supposed to do good congratulations. Then partially I think there were theological reasons, why? Because pride is a sin, it's the mother of all sins. It's the sin that made Satan, Satan. God hates pride. So many of us have a hard time of saying anything that begins with the words I'm proud, et cetera.So should parents tell their kids that they're proud of them? Yes, resoundingly yes. When you see your children growing, when you see them maturing, when you see them growing in the Lord, you're supposed to say, "Praise God, that I get to be your parent. Praise God, for God's work in you. I see how he shaping you into the image of Christ. I see how he's changing your heart, to love God and to love people. We see the Lord at work in your life, and we thank him for what he's doing." God the Father gives us the example. He looks at his son and the day that Jesus is baptized, and he says, as he's anointed by the power of the Spirit, he said, "This is my son, that's my Son, in whom I am well pleased."So we shouldn't be proud of our God, we should be proud of our Heavenly Father, we should boast in the Lord. God, we're proud of you, God, thank you for the work that you're doing in this church, the work you're doing in these people, and we're proud of the service of God's people. We should be, we should be able to say to one another, "Hey, I'm proud. I see the work that God is doing. I see how you've grown. I see how you serve. I see how you give generously. I see the gifts of the Spirit that you're exercising for God's good. I see that." There's no tension there. We agree with that. But can you say, "I'm proud of the work that I have done for the Lord by the power of the Lord." If you preface this with in the Lord, in Christ Jesus, by the power of the Spirit, I'm proud of the life I've lived. I'm proud of what I've accomplished. Can say that? There's a tension there, it's a little uncomfortable. That's the tension we're dealing with today.In Second Corinthians chapter one, verse 12, and then through chapter two, verse four, would you look at the text with me? "For our boast is in this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity, and Godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom, but by the grace of God and supremely so toward you. For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and acknowledge and I hope you will fully acknowledge, just as you did partially acknowledge us that on the day of our Lord Jesus, you will boast of us, as we will boast of you, because I was sure of this. I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea.Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say yes, yes and no, no at the same time? Surely, if God is faithful, our word to you has not been yes and no. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ when we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not yes and no, but in him, it is always yes for all the promises of God find their yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God for His glory, and it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.But I called God to witness against me, it was despair you that I refrain from coming again to Corinth, not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith. For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you, for if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart, and with many dears not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you."This is the reading of God's Holy and infallible, authoritative word may write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points to frame up our time together boast about God's grace in you, boast about God's work through you, and then boast about God's love in you. First boast about God's grace in you. He begins verse 12 by saying, "Our boast is this. This is what we are proud of." What are you saying, Paul? We are proud of this, the testimony of our conscience that we behaved in the world with simplicity. The original is hagios holiness. Meaning I focused, I oriented my whole life around what's most important, which is God has glory, loving people proclaiming the gospel, building the church. That's a life of holiness. He calls it simplicity. He didn't clutter anything around.So if you missed the love Jesus simple sermon series go back. But we say love Jesus simple and by simple we don't mean simplistic, simple, we mean we focus on what's most important. That's how St. Paul built his life, simplicity, holiness. That's his external behavior, simplicity. We behave with simplicity and Godly sincerity. Not by earthly wisdom, but by the grace of God and supremely so toward you. Boasting is a major theme in Second Corinthians, the word group, the verb or the noun is used 29 times significantly more than any other letter of Paul. Why is he bringing in languages of boasting partially because he's defending himself against false teachers that have entered the church, and what he's doing is he's comparing and contrasting, they're boasting in the wrong way about the wrong things. He is showing that you can boast, there is a right way to boast, a holy boasting, a humble confidence, and he does it in his own personal example.There's lots of lessons to draw from the text. So when I sit down when I'm preparing a sermon, I get a text like this. I'm like, "You can go a million different ways." You can talk about conflict resolution, proper management of disputes between Christians and people in general speaking hard truth and tender love. I had a writing teacher I remember in high school English, and this is what she used to say, "If you write a paragraph, it can only have one idea. That's it. That paragraph needs to support the one idea of the chapter and your book should have this, whatever. There's one idea." Then I go to homiletics class in seminary, and they're like, "Your sermon should have one idea. One big idea, what's the big idea?"Then I started studying scripture, and I read Jesus and Jesus sermons have many more than one idea. The sermon on the mountain has about 80,000 different ideas, and then I read St. Paul and St. Paul is like, every sentence could be like 12 sermons, it just weaves things. I think they just had a shortage of parchment of paper, and he's like, "How many pages we got today?" They're like, "We have six." He's like, "All right, we're making the most of it." That's how he writes. So there's a million ways you can go, but I think there's something here that's the undercurrent of the text, and it's and I choose to focus on this because it's so rare in Christians. It's so clear in the Scripture, but it's not found often in the practice of believers.What you see here is something difficult to acquire, at least in the truly biblical form, something many of us are suspicious of even averse to it's a confident assertion that I did the right thing, a confident assertion that I believe the right thing. A confident assertion that I have true knowledge I have, it's mine, and I act accordingly. It's a confident assertion that I have been faithful. You look back at your life and you say, "I have been faithful." Why is this so hard to grasp? Why is there such a tension because we know sola gratia, that we're saved by grace alone, only grace. We are dead in our sins is Jesus Christ that saved us. He gives us the gift of faith. He gives us the gift of sight of sanctification, he gives us the gift of justification, and ultimately glorification, he gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Everything he does, in and through us he does by the power of the Spirit. Yes, we know that.We believe in total depravity. We believe that there's a comprehensiveness of sin. So seems somehow inappropriate, even blasphemous to say, "Well, there is virtue in us. There is a goodness in us. We did good and we were right." I was having this conversation with my wife, she's like, "What are you preaching?" I was like, "I'm preaching on the fact that in the Lord, I'm proud of the work that I've done for him." She was like, "You can't say that?" I was like, "Why not?" Paul says it. She says, "You're not Paul. He's an apostle, his name's in the Bible, he wrote half the New Testament, you're not in there." I was like, "Ah, but my name is written the book of life bruh." That's what I said to her. These are the conversations that we have. So what do we do here?If Paul like he's as close to an angel, as anyone gets uncommon, devotion, uncommon testimony, God, Jesus Christ in the flesh, resurrected appears before and that's how he got saved, and he must have had an extra dose of the Holy Spirit that we don't have access to. So he live the holy life all the way from the Damascus road to the prison in Rome where he died. Since he is not like us we can't draw any lessons from him and his life, right? I would argue no. Paul isn't the only one in the Bible that boasts of his character, of his conduct. He's not the only one that says, "In good conscience, God is my witness, I did the right thing. I lived a life of integrity." Psalm 26, one through three. "Vindicate me oh Lord for I have walked in my integrity. I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Prove me, oh Lord, and try me, test my heart and my mind, for your steadfast love is before my eyes and I walk in your faithfulness."Or Nehemiah who sacrifices so much to go rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Toward the end of his career, he says, "Remember me, oh my God concerning this, do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service." Nehemiah isn't that a little boastful? Well, scripture does teach we are to give honor where honor is due, and everything we do, eat or drink we do to the glory of God. In a sense, if God does work in you, if God changes you, if God uses you, for you to not give God honor for that work that he's doing in and through you is to deflect from the glory of God.I'll just give you an illustration and I'm going to deal with a couple caveats. Illustration. In my household, we have four daughters, my wife and I were bilingual. So we decided we're gonna raise our kids to know two languages. My job with them is to teach them how to read in English before they're taught that in school, her job is to teach them how to read in Russian, her job significantly harder. I chose these. I'm sitting with my third daughter yesterday and we started probably three and a half, four and now she's six and we've done some good work. She read a whole book yesterday, 27 pages about a little otter that went to a zoo, it was so sweet. Then at the end, he went to the gift shop and he bought stuff. It's a marketing ploy by the zoo, that's what that is. She read the whole thing, she read the whole thing, I helped her with a couple of hard words, she read the whole thing. At the end, I'm like, "Baby girl, I'm so proud of you. You can read. You did a tremendous job." Which is fine. It's great.Now, if she gets up but she's like, you know what? I'm proud of me, that I taught myself how to read. I'm going to take issue with that because I've invested hundreds of hours, and I'm talking about hard hours. After you work a full day and in the evening hours before I put you to bed out, I am brain dead right now, when I'm giving you an hour of my time, I've given you the hundreds of those hours. Baby girl, if it wasn't for me, you'd be an ESL. There's this combination, we did it together, you did it by my help. In the Christian life it's the same thing, that God is sovereign, we're responsible. He is the one that empowers us. He's the one that gives us every single breath that we have. He gives us the Holy Spirit, but you have to work. Scripture says, "You're only saved by grace through faith, faith itself is a gift of faith without works is dead."So you have to be able, at some point, if someone asks you, "Show me your works. Show me why you're a Christian." You have to be able to say, "By God's grace, I have done X, Y and Z. By God's grace." St. Paul says in First Corinthians 15, he said, "It's by the grace of God, I am what I am, and God's grace has not been in vain in me, because I've taken his grace and I've worked harder than any of the other apostles, it wasn't me it was God's grace in me." So if we are to not take God's grace in me, we are supposed to work, and then you have to be able to show a portfolio of the work that you have done by God's grace for God's glory.Caveats. Whenever you deal with something that has as much tension as this, you got to deal with a little caveat. Caveat number one, simple isn't claiming sinlessness. When he's saying, "I live the life of holiness." He's not saying I've been completely sinless, a lot of us use holiness as a synonym for sinlessness. It's not true, holy means you've been set apart, your life has been set apart. St. Paul is brutally honest, Roman seven, verses 14 through 25, brutally honest about his own sinful nature, demoralizing sinful nature. But there's so often that he doesn't do the things he wants to do and the things he doesn't want to do, that's the stuff that he does. He wrote Romans during his three month stay in Corinth, the very visit that he's promising to make.So if you would ask him as he's in Corinth, as he's writing, Romans, "Hey, St. Paul, when you were in Corinth, and you wrote Romans, are you saying that you had never committed a sin of thought, of deed, of word ever in relation to the church in Corinth or in relation to other churches?" He'd say, "My goodness, no." I'd never done a sinless thing in my life. I'm certainly not saying I'm sinless. No one is sinless, except for Jesus Christ, that's a caveat. Caveat two is, in claiming innocence, holiness, faithfulness here. He's saying he did everything in the power of Christ. So he's not taking credit for his own achievement, he's recognizing the achievement that God has done through him, that's what boasting in the Lord means.So he's saying, "Look at what the Lord has done in and through me of all people." This certain kind of pride is entirely appropriate, a certain kind of satisfaction and doing the right thing, being the right person in the Lord. Jeremiah nine, 23, 24. Something St. Paul quotes all the time. "Thus says the Lord, let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast in his mind. Let not the rich man boast in his riches, let him who boast, boast in this that he understands and knows me that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight declares the Lord."Can you do it? Can you stand up and say, "You know what? I am proud that I know God. I am proud that I understand God. Not because I came to this understanding in of myself, God revealed to me. So I am proud that I know the truth." There's too many Christians today who vastly right there. I know Jesus said He's the only way but a lot of people said that there's another way to God, and because we don't have that firm conviction where we say, "You know what? This is truth, and I'm proud that I know this truth. I get to know this truth, and I'm going to proclaim this truth, so that others get to know God." First Corinthians one, 30 through 31, "And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification, and redemption so that as it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord Christ is in us by the power of the Spirit, and we are in Christ. So everything good in us comes from Christ."There's a wisdom that we have access to, there's a sanctification, there's a righteousness, there's a redemption that we have access to, and we both, God I am so proud that you will let me be in Christ. God, I'm so proud that you give me access to this treasure house of wisdom. God, I'm so proud, I'm boasting in the Lord. Second Corinthians 10, 17 through 18, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord for it is not the one who commands himself who was approved, but the one whom the Lord commands." So he's saying we should boast in the fact that God approves of me. God approves of me not because of what I've done, because of Christ has done and because of Christ has done he fills me with the spirit now he does things through me.Second Corinthians 1:12, he makes it clear, it's only by God's grace. This is our boast. "We behave in the world with simplicity, Godly, sincerity, not by earthly wisdom, but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you." So who gets all the glory? God does. But there still is a recognition that God you did this in and through me, and you're using me. God, you chose to use me, you chose the four year grace into me. Caveat number three is, Paul's claim to holiness or innocence in matters of dispute, and that's what he's doing. Is not to deny that his personality might have rubbed people in the wrong way, and this is true. It's true that we find some people easier to love than others. Some people just have a more congenial personality, just more personable. Maybe just they have more people skills, or maybe they have a nice smile, and you're like, "You're a nice person. I already like you." You haven't said anything.A lot of the time just from appearance, you look like a nice person. St. Paul did not. How do I know he didn't look like a nice person? Extra biblical historians tell us and then we get some of this book of Acts where he goes into towns with Barnabas, and everyone's like Barnabas is the head guy, right? Because he's good looking and Paul can't be the head guy, he's not very good looking. Because extra biblical historians, they tell us that he was short, he was pudgy, and he had a unibrow. You can Google it. This is true. I'm telling you, if you have a unibrow in the middle of school, that shapes your personality in a way.So he in of himself until he started talking people don't, they were like, "What do we supposed to mean?" Then he does start talking, and he was the smartest person in any room that he walked into it with. That's why it took Jesus to stop him on the road to Damascus and be like, "Hey, bro you're mine." Because Jesus was the first person he ever met that was smarter than him. St. Paul had this personality where finally, if you convinced me that this is the truth, and Jesus did, now he has this mission, a sense of mission of just a force of zeal in him that whenever he walk into any room, and he's teaching people feel like they're drinking from a fire hydrant.He had two speeds, one in relation to people, he listens and then he dominates. That was his personality. That was his character. So we can't always say that St. Paul is likable. He's not talking about likability, Paul and Peter were the same in this, John was a little more likeable. But if you read church history, virtually every great Christian whose name you know, who's actually accomplished things to get into church history, they rubbed people the wrong way, they rubbed good people the wrong way. John Knox, John Calvin, Martin Luther, they exasperated people with their personalities. Jerome Francis Schaefer. No one has ever met someone that everyone finds endearing, there aren't people like that. Paul isn't speaking about personal likability, he's speaking about his conduct as a minister of the gospel, he's speaking about his character as a Christian.We can't always say, "Hey, we live blameless lives." Like Paul here says, but we are to strive for blameless and holy and life of sincerity. When we find ourselves that we're not living a life of honor, we're living a life of shame. We have to repent at those times when we fail, David was faithful, and he was righteous until he wasn't. But God calls him a man after my own heart because he repented of his sin. So St. Paul isn't talking about personality, he's talking about care. He's talking about life, he's talking about integrity, and if you have the grace of God, it should make a difference in your life. If you're a Christian, it should make a difference in your life.People should be able to see that difference, that you're a person of integrity, you're a person of honor, you're a person of patience, honesty, commitment to truth, love, kindness. Yeah, we are to remain humble. It's only God. It's only by the grace of God, but he does make a difference. We can and should be able to boast about the difference that he's made. Praise God am not the person I used to be. Praise God, that He did save me, because I know the trajectory that my life would be on. Praise God, that He saved me, that he loves me, he fills my heart with love. Now you can look back and say, "Yeah, we've done great things for the Lord." If you are a Christian, you should be a better person than a non Christian. You should be, and you should be growing there. Why? Because you have the power of God within you. You have the grace of God, you have the anointing of God, but who made you to defer? It was God. So by all means, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. So let us boast.Second Corinthians one, 13 through 14, "For we're not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand, just as you did partially understand us, that on the day of our Lord Jesus, you will boast of us as we will boast of you." St. Paul says, "This should be a mutual boasting." I'm proud that I get to serve you and you should be proud that you get to serve me, this is a mutual boast. So you know what? After church, I want you to go up to people that you know well and say, "I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you, I see the work of God in you. I'm proud of you for your service. I'm proud of you for your generosity. I'm proud of you that you're following the law. I'm proud of your faithfulness."There's that mutual ability, I even test it out with my wife today. I said, "I'm proud of you baby." She said, "For what?" I said, "You want the details?" She's like, "Yeah." Do you want the details? Girls want the details. You give them the details. I'm proud of you, I'm not going to tell you stuff. But I was like, "You, 15 years you've been putting up with me, I'm proud of you. Good job. That's not easy." Second point is boast about God's work through you. Through you, that's verse 15. "Because I was sure of this. I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea."So I mentioned this last week, St. Paul planted the church, then he goes to Ephesus, in Ephesus, he hears that the church isn't doing well. So then he comes back, and that's what's called a painful visit. He talks about it, and it was so painful, because he saw these people that he loved dearly, they shared the gospel with. He saw that they were saved, now they're living in sin, open sin, and actually boasting in the fact that because they're Christians, because they're saved by grace through faith, they can sin as much as they want, because God's job is to forgive and our job is to sin. So St. Paul goes there and he says, "That's not how it works." It was a painful visit, brings discipline. Then he leaves and he writes, First Corinthians. First Corinthians is a hard letter hard words, to soften hearts.What he's saying here is like, "Look, I promised to you that I was going to come a second time, make two visits after that, but I'm going to hold off. I'm going to hold off because I'm going to let God's Spirit take God's scripture, First Corinthians, and apply it so that you have time to put your house in order so my next visit isn't painful." Verse 17, Second Corinthians 1:17 says, "Was I vacillating? When I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say yes, yes and no, no, at the same time." So he promised in the beginning, he's going to make two visits, and then he says, "You know what? If I make that first initial visit, it's going to be painful again.So you know what? I'm going to take that one out, I'm going to give them some time and then I'm going to make a visit that's longer." He talks about that in First Corinthians 16, and because he did that, because he said, he's going to make two visit but then changed his mind, his enemies came in. They're like, "This guy vacillates, therefore we can't trust him." What St. Paul says is, "Look, when I say yes, I mean, yes and when I say no, I mean, no. But sometimes the Lord changes plans. I wanted to come, that was my initial plan." But then the Holy Spirit said, "Give them time. Give him some time." So that's what he says, verse 18, "As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been yes and no." He says, "I'm not being double minded, I'm not double speaking. This isn't a duplicity. I'm not like a politician says whatever you need to say for you to get the vote."He says, "I am honest, a man of integrity, my conscience proves and God testifies that everything I did, I did with holiness, and I did for God, but I did want to come, I didn't want to come and give you a second dose of grace and I will." From that what I glean is, this is a man that understood whatever room he walked into, he is a representative of God. Whatever room he walks into, he knows he's here to serve people. He's here to encourage, he's here to edify, and when he's in the room he gives people doses of grace. That's something that we need to aspire to, that God wants to work through us. In Second Corinthians one, 19 through 20, he talks about God's power, in ministry for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you Silvanus and Timothy, and I was not yes and no, but in him, it's always yes for all the promises of God find their yes in him. That is why it is through him we utter our amen to God for His glory.He said, "We preach Christ too, how can you question our character, our integrity, when you clearly saw your life transform when we proclaim the gospel?" St. Paul knew that this is the way that God works. God chooses to save people through, and this is 99% of the time, sometimes he saves people through visions and dreams, et cetera, but most of the time it's through a human representative. That the representative is filled with the words of God and the representative when he proclaims the gospel of God, the gospel of God as a power, of God unto salvation for anyone who believes and when St. Paul proclaim the gospel to them, the Holy Spirit save them, and then he leaves and these people that come in and say, "We can't trust Paul." St. Paul here is saying, "You can't trust me. If you can't trust me here, how can you trust me that I preach the truth to you? Oh, you can trust me that I preach the truth to you, because your life changed, therefore give me the benefit of the doubt. We preach Christ, and Christ is the one who is the ultimate amen for the glory of God. He is the ultimate truth. In Him all the promises of God from the Old Testament find their yes."Then verse 21 and 22, it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. So he continues this motif of God uses us, but not just me, he say, he uses the word language us, put together. Here we see the Trinity, we see God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. God the Father establishes us with you in Christ. God is the one that establishes our faith with Christ. Christ is the one through whom we're saved, and he anoints us, in here, this is a wordplay. Christ is Christon in the Greek, anointed is Christos. So Jesus is called the Christ because Christ means the anointed one.So a lot of people are like, "Oh, Jesus is his first name, Christ is his last name." Hello, Mr. Christ. No, Christ is a title, is the Messiah. He says, "In the same way that God establishes us with you in Christ, in the same way that Jesus was anointed, God anoints us." Every single Christian God anoints us, how? He also put his seal on us, like on a letter, there's a seal, he puts a seal on us and given us in His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. So every single Christian is established by God in Christ anointed, just like Christ was with the power of the Holy Spirit.Jesus Christ, when he started his ministry sat down in a synagogue and he took the scroll of Isaiah in Luke 4:18. He says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me." A lot of us, a lot of Christians, we're afraid to use the language of anointing because we've seen some Christians or some churches abuse this anointing. But Scripture is clear, there is such a thing as anointing that when God saves you, he also seals you with the Spirit and He anoints you, anoint you for what? Anoints you to be set apart and powered to serve God and you're authorized to act on his behalf.So when God does use you, you're the boast in the fact that God uses you, and if God doesn't use you, as a Christian, you got to say, "Why not? Is there sin in the way? Have I been suppressing the Holy Spirit, grieving the Holy Spirit? Have I been searing my conscious? Is there sin in the way? From the Holy Spirit flowing, the anointing being used by God. I want to give you that vision, I want to give you a vision that you are a minister of God. I don't know maybe we'll get to here at some point, but I wanted us to come up with these T-shirts where it says Mosaic Boston, on the back it says staff. Every single person this is your T-shirt, that you're the staff, you're the ministers of this church, every single Christian you have anointing from the Holy Spirit, use that anointing, use that power of God.So if you're a Christian you are to be being changed, bad grammar but tremendous theology. You have to be changing and you have to be being used by God because you're anointed. Every single person, there has to be transformation, change in your life that affects change in the lives of other people. If you don't want to change, if you just want a church that you go to as a check mark so when mom and dad who are back in some other state, another state. Mom and dad, yeah, I went to church. If that's the only reason you're here, or because you just want to meet someone or you just want some friends. If that's the only reason you're here and you don't want to change, I'd recommend you don't come to this church. Because at this church people change by the power of God, the Holy Spirit changes people in the Holy Scriptures are read.I was studying how Jesus marketed I was like, "How did Jesus start the greatest human movement in the history of the world?" I was like what were his marketing tactics. Jesus would do this crazy thing where He heals someone He's like, "Don't tell anyone." Bro, everyone I know, everyone that knows me knows I had seven demons in me. I was filled with demons, you did an exorcism. If show up at a party and my friends are like, "Why happened to you?" "I can't tell you." "You can't say?" You used to be blind and you're not, what happened? So it was tremendous marketing, "He told you not to tell anyone, what? Who is that guy?"So I was like, "Why don't we do that in Mosaic?" Text time we do tea ads and not just love Jesus simple, where it's like Mosaic Boston, don't come here. Not the church for you, go somewhere else, unless you want to be changed. Unless you want to be changed, unless you want your life to change, unless you want your life to be reoriented around what matters most, which is the ministry of the gospel to the glory of God. This is what I tell people when they move here, and I say this because at the beginning of the year, fall, I already know everyone's church shopping. So if your church shopping, this is a message for you. Let me just explain what the city does to your faith. Let me just explain, I've been here for 12 years, I have seen this over and over.When you come in, you're like, "I think I'm a Christian." You're going to go one or two ways. You're either going to become a Navy SEAL Christian, like you are elite, or you become unitarian. It's one of the other there's nothing in the middle. Why? Because the city has a spirit. If you're sensitive to the demonic realm, the spiritual realm, you know. I go out to like New Hampshire, and I go up to other parts of the country and like, there's just an openness and your soul and your spirit, and then I come back here and as the plane's am like, "Oh, no. Oh, not this again." You just you're entering, this is a battlefield. So I office in my basement, and the water just gets in. So I got these two dehumidifiers, and twice a day, you walk into the room, you don't smell it, it's not musty, it's just normal room.Twice a day, the dehumidifier gets filled up, both of them get filled up, and I got dumped it out. It's manual work every time, there's no way to automatize and I'm telling you, it's kind of like that, Boston's like that. There's a spirit and you need a spiritual dehumidifier of getting the gunk out of your soul, and that's what ministry is. That's what the gospel is. That's what Scripture is. That's what the church is, that's what your community group is. But you need to understand that that's happening. If you are going to be effective, you need to stay close to the Scriptures, stay close to the Lord and to His church. You've been anointed, you've been sealed, there's a guarantee that you are His.Verse 23, "Would I called God to witness against me? It was to spare you that I refrained from coming again, to Corinth and not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy for you stand firm in your faith." St. Paul says, "I could have come." This what the false teachers are saying, he's not trustworthy because he didn't come when he said he didn't come. He said, "I didn't come on purpose, because I already did one painful visit, I don't want to do another painful visit. I'm going to let God's word do its work." St. Paul is saying, "You think it's fun for me to come in and tell people of their sin? That's not fun."It's like any parent knows, it's not fun to discipline your kids, when they do something where they clearly disobey, where they clearly rebel against you. That's not fun. I don't want to discipline my kids. All I want to do is love my kids. But if all you do is say yes to whatever your kids want, you don't really love them, you don't really care. You don't want to deal with the emotional baggage that comes with actually doing the discipline. St. Paul says, "I had a reason for not coming." Because I don't want to just come with a whip. I don't want to lord it over your faith, because I'm not your lord. You have one Lord, Jesus Christ, and there are times where there's no one in the room except for you. No one knows what you're doing. No one knows what you're thinking. No one knows the decisions you're making except for your Lord.If you're going to grow in the faith, you need this awareness that the Lord is with me, that I am doing what I'm doing, I'm making the decisions that I'm making to live a life of holiness, simplicity and sincerity because I love the Lord. Because he told me to do this, and I want to do what He tells me to do, because I know He wants the best thing for me. St. Paul says, "I don't want to lord it over you." The same way pastors, we're not your Lord. I'm a pastor, meaning I'm a servant, meaning I'm here to serve. I'm here to help. So we're here to equip you for the work of the ministry, but you must have a ministry. You must have a ministry.... We ran out of batteries? Oh, we're back. Praise God. We rebuke the demons that are in the sound systems, the demons.We do everything, we check everything. Now, you have spiritual gifts, you have anointing, you have the Holy Spirit, use that. You don't need my permission to be a Christian. You don't need my permission to start Bible study. You don't need my permission to do evangelism, to throw parties for your unbelievers where share the gospel. You don't need our permission. You have the Holy Spirit, you have a lord. So do the work that God has called you to do. If you have the gift of prayer, pray. If you have the gift of healing, heal. If you have the gift of prophecy, prophesy. If you have the gift of proclaiming God, the gift of evangelism, evangelize, that's what we need. That's what St. Paul says, "Stand firm in the faith."Then finally boast about God's love in you. In chapter two, verse one and two, it's the same train of thought. So the chapter of vision, if you didn't know this, the chapter divisions, the big number's the chapter, the small number's the verse. That's not inspired by the Holy Spirit that was added later by the church in order to make it easier to find text, but this chapter division, it breaks up the train of thought, and that's why we're going to continue into verses one through four. Second Corinthians two, one through two, "For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you, for if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad, but the one whom I have pained?" He says, "I didn't want to come with discipline again, because when you're in pain, I'm in pain, when you're glad I'm glad, when you're rejoiced, I rejoice."How can he say that? He says that because his heart is wrapped up with their heart. Their sorrow, his sorrow, and he wants to avoid increasing it. He continues this in verse three, "And I wrote as I did so that when I came, I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice for I felt sure of all of you that my joy would be the joy of you all, for I wrote to you out of much affliction, and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you."He's talking to people that caused him affliction, he's talking to people that caused them anguish, because he gave birth to this church so to speak. He planted this church, these are his spiritual children, and then he sees them rebelling from God and from truth. Then he writes them a hard letter in First Corinthians and he wrote it with tears. When's the last time you wept over someone else's soul? That's what he's doing. Why? Abundant love. He's like, "I have so much love in my heart for you, overflowing. That's what says in the original, I have overflowing love for you, and you're like, "Then why are you writing First Corinthians to us?" He's like, "Because I love you, and so I'm going to tell you the truth." This is where it's helpful to understand what biblical love is. Biblical love isn't just sentiment, it's like, "Oh, I love you, you're so sweet.No, biblical love is a choice, it's an act of the will, that leads to sacrifice. That's what biblical love is. So St. Paul is writing to these people and writing to the church, and the church, by the way, had a lot of people already that he didn't know. So sometimes it's hard for me to get up and say, "Mosaic Boston, I love you. I have abundant love in my heart for you." It's hard for you to understand that because I look like this, but St. Paul had a unibrow. So it's okay. Give him the benefit of the doubt, give me the benefit of the doubt. He loved them even though he didn't know a lot of them. What kind of love is that? What kind of love is that? It's supernatural love.He's not saying I have abundant love in my heart, because I'm such a loving person. I'm not a loving person. People aren't the love, and people hurt me and people stab me. But I love them anyway. St. Paul, where did you get this kind of love? What kind of love is this? That you can love the people who are stabbing you in the back. He's like, "I got that love from Jesus Christ." Who on the cross as he's being crucified says, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Father, forgive them, forgive them for crucifying me." Pouring out his love on his enemies. So when you come to God and you realize that Jesus Christ died for your sins, that's what it took to save you because he loves you. He loved you not because you were lovely, or because you were loving, he loved you because he's loving, and he loved us when we weren't lovely, so that we can now be transformed by his love.So Jesus, you died for me, my sins were crucifying you, and you did that willingly? What kind of love is that? That melts your heart and you're like, "Now, okay, fine, fine. I can love people, even people in Boston. I can love them too." By the power of God, it's not me. It's not me. It's not you. It's the power of God so we can rejoice in that. God gave me this love, that God filled my heart with this kind of love, and we can boast about God's love in us. This, by the way is what made St. Paul's so effective. He truly loved God with all his heart, soul, strength and mind, with everything. Then if you love God, and he's like, "All right, if I love God and I have to keep his commandments.So I'm going to keep His commandments to the best of my ability, repent when I couldn't, by the power of spirit I'm going to do that. Well, what are his commandments?" One of his commandments is going to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to everybody. So I'm going to do that, and it's going to be hard, and there's going to be consequences for doing that. But I'm going to do that because the God whom I love, who love me, told me to do that, and I also love people. When this combination of like I'm doing because I'm filled with God's love, and I'm doing it because I love people, that right there is what changed the world, that's what grew Christian, that's what's going to transform the city, and that's what's going to grow the kingdom of God here where we are.I'll close with Romans 15, 17 through 21. Because when St. Paul on his second visit does go to Corinth, that's what he wrote, Romans, he starts like this, he says, "In Christ Jesus then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, to bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem, and all the way around to Illyricum, I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ. Thus, I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, less I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, those who have never been told of him will see and those who have never heard will understand."As we transition to Holy Communion, we celebrate communion on the first Sunday of every month. The question before us before we partake is can you honestly say that you have a clear conscience? Can you like St. Paul say I have a clear conscience? "I have a clear conscience." Second Corinthians 1:12 that's what he says. Our boast is this the testimony of our conscience that we behaved in the world with simplicity and Godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom, but by the grace of God and supremely so toward you. First Timothy 1:5, "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." First Timothy 3:9, "They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience." Second Timothy 1:3, "I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly my prayers, night and day." Second Timothy 1:3, "I thank God whom I serve as..." I did that twice, all right, there you go, because it's doubly important. That's how important it is.What do you do when your conscience isn't clear? You examine, you own it. Lord, I know my conscience is unclear, so I repent of my sin. I repent of my sin, I thank you for Jesus sacrifice, I call upon the name of Lord. The very second you repent, God forgives you. He forgives you of your sin, He cleanses, the blood of Jesus cleanses your conscience. So that's how we approach Holy Communion. First Corinthians 11:28, "Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup." Examine yourself. For whom his Holy Communion it's for repentant Christians.So if you're not a Christian, if you've never repented of your sin, if you've never believed in Jesus Christ, cried out to him, called upon the name of Lord, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service it'll do nothing for you, or repent of your sin and become a Christian today. We welcome you to do that, and then you are welcome partake. If you are a Christian, who is living in unrepentant sin, if there's clear sin in your life, repent of it today, and you welcome partake. If not, we ask that you refrain as well.That said, would you please pray with me over Holy Communion. Heavenly Father, thank you for the Holy Scriptures. They don't just teach us about you, they don't just enlighten our minds and illuminate our hearts but they also nourish our souls, and make us the people who desire by the power of the Spirit to fight the good fight of faith and live lives of a clean conscience. So we can be used by you. So the Holy Spirit courses through us, so the Holy Spirit give grace to whomever we encounter and continue to use us to do that. Lord, we do repent of sin. We repent of pride where we attribute your work to ourselves, we repent of that.We're so proud that you call us your own, that you save us and that you forgive us of sin and continue to anoint and empower us. Bless our time in the Holy Communion, Jesus we thank you for your suffering. We thank you that you died on the cross on our behalf in our place to save us. We thank you for that. We thank you that you humbled yourself, the great God of the universe, to save us. Bless our time in the Holy Communion we pray this in Jesus name, amen. The way we do it is you take this little cup, you take the first lid off, you take the bread and then you take the second lid off.The night that Jesus Christ was betrayed he took the bread and after breaking He said, "This is my body broken for you, take eat and do this in remembrance of me." Then proceed to take the company said, "This cup is the cup of New Covenant, my blood was poured out for the sins of many, take drink and do this in remembrance of me." Jesus, we do remember your sacrifice in the cross, and we do remember your resurrection and we do remember your ascension, and before you ascended you promised to send us the Holy Spirit.Holy Spirit we thank you that you have come, that you are in our hearts, that you have sealed us and the Holy Spirit continue to empower us, bear fruit through us. We thank you that you forgive us when we sin and we thank you that you forgive us when we repent of having grieved you, having suppressed you. I pray Holy Spirit continue to use us to build the Church of God, I pray this in Christ's name. Amen.Would you please stand and join us as we continue...

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Good morning. Welcome to Mosaic Church. My name is Jan. I'm one of the pastors here along with Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy, and if you're new or visiting, we'd love to connect with you. Do that through the connection card, either the physical copy that you can get at the door, or the virtual one that you can get at the website or in our app.That said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's Word? Heavenly Father, we thank you that you sent Jesus Christ, the Divine Word of God, the law God through whom you created absolutely everything in Jesus, you came. And you lived a perfect life, a life of perfection as decreed by God the Father. And you did that in order to present yourself as a substitute, as a sacrifice for our sin, for our lack of perfection, or even a lack of desire to pursue moral perfection. And Jesus, we thank you for the sermon on the mountain, which you show us the way into the kingdom of God is not through anything that we do. It's not through pretending to be righteous. It's through repentance of the fact that we are not righteous. That's how we enter.And then you do call us to the same standard of perfection. And we do understand that there's a gap between our performance and your standard of perfection. And we have two options with that gap of what to do. Either we can pretend that we have met that gap with our own righteousness, or we repent and keep going. Let us be at people who, like Saint Paul said, "Not that I'm already perfect or have attained perfection, but forgetting what lies behind, pursuing what lies ahead, I press on to seek the goal of the upper call of Christ, of God in Christ Jesus."Holy Spirit, come in to this place and show us how to fight hypocrisy on a daily basis by rooting our identity in you. We are accepted because of the sacrifice of Christ. We are yours. You know every single one of our sins, past, present, and future. And Jesus, you died on the cross for those sins. Everything was exposed there on the cross. Therefore, there's no need to cover up our sin, our lack of righteousness. There's no need to pretend. We can come to you, we can repent, and we can receive grace to keep going. And I pray that you bless our time with the holy word today and we pray this in Christ Jesus' name. Amen.Today, we are dealing with everyone's favorite topic of hypocrisy. We love hypocrisy, especially anyone else's hypocrisy. We love pointing out other people's hypocrisy, and we have lived through a day and age where hypocrisy has been evident. There's a spotlight on hypocrisy in all kinds of realms. I'll start with the easiest one of politics. The politicians who say put your masks on, they got the mask on, camera turns off, mask is off. Politicians who say, "No, you can't get your haircut. No haircuts for you, haircut only for me. Salon opens up just for me." Politicians who say, "No indoor dining except for me and my 15 closest friends and without social distancing." Politicians who say, "No travel, you can't travel, no vacations for any of you." And then they come back from Mexico with a nice tan.We see that in politicians. We see that in leaders in academic and all kinds. I think the most dangerous kind of hypocrisy is that of spiritual hypocrisy. Why? Because it has the greatest consequences, eternal consequences, not just for ourselves, but also for our testimony to others. When people see that we proclaim Christ with our mouth, but our lives are far from that profession of faith, it shakes people to the core.So one of the things I want to talk about today is how Jesus talks about hypocrisy. He doesn't talk about hypocrisy of do as I say, not as I do. That's the hypocrisy that we see in politics and in all kinds of realms. Jesus isn't talking about the hypocrisy of do as I say, but not as I do. He's not talking about that. He's talking about the hypocrisy of this is what I do. But in my heart, things are very different. It's not a disconnect between what we say and what we do. It's a disconnect between what we do and what we really want to do. It's a disconnect between what we do with our hands and what we do in our hearts. And Pastor Shane preached a masterful sermon last week landing, closing off Matthew five. But Jesus drops a bomb in Matthew 5:48 with this conclusion. He says, "Therefore you must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."So as children of God the Father, we have to emulate God the Father, who is absolutely perfect. He's holy, we are to grow in holiness. The goal is perfection. We're always to be pursuing perfection, full tilt, not that we'll ever attain it. But we always need to be aspiring to it. Obviously, we'll never achieve it. But there has to be growth, there has to be forward momentum. But the challenge is, what do we do with the gap, with the missing piece between our reality and the reality that God calls us to? Our reality, where we are now in our walk with the Lord and the perfection that God calls us to? What do we do with this gap, with this missing piece?Do we pretend that it isn't there? That's what Jesus is addressing today. Do you pretend to be better than you are? And do we cover it up with a mask of hypocrisy? And all of us do this to an extent. No one shows everybody just how sinful we are. It's too scary. We don't reveal our greatest struggles to everyone, but we should reveal them to God. And we should reveal them to ourselves. And that's where true transformation happens. You have a choice of what to do with that missing piece. You can either pretend that it's not there or you can repent and be honest with yourself and be honest with God.C.S. Lewis, talking about prayer, he said this. He said, "May it be the real I who speaks. May it be the real thou I speak to." It's about being real with God. And that's how we fight religion works righteousness. There's a difference between religious righteousness and real righteousness. Religious righteousness focuses primarily on behavior. Just change your behavior. Just fix how you act. Real righteousness is all about the transformation of the heart. It's about embracing that what God is calling us to in the heart, God I love you, and I love your standards and I want to pursue moral perfection and I know I can't do it enough myself. Forgive me, give me grace, give me the power of the Holy Spirit. And that's what transforms you from being religious to being a real follower of the Lord.Religion is all about what you do. Real Christianity is why you do it. Purify the why, and the what will take care of itself. And this is how we develop true spiritual character, not just grow, and being and playing the role of spiritual characters. So today, we're in Matthew six, one through 18. I'm going to read the whole text here to set up our time, and we'll dig right in. Matthew six, one through 18."Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. That's when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. So that your giving may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray at the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their award. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father, who is in secret. Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them. For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray then like this. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you."This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points just to frame up our time. First, we look at hypocritical mercy, prayer and fasting. Then we'll look at authentic mercy, prayer and fasting. And then we'll dig into the motivation for authenticity.First of all, hypocritical mercy, prayer and fasting. So Jesus demands perfection. It's hard to pursue perfection so instead of pleasing God the Father, in pursuing perfection, we often settle in pleasing not God the Father, but the people around us. So that's why verse 48, 5:48, Jesus says, "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." Command, and then the very next verse, he says, "Be careful to not practice your righteousness in front of people." Be perfect. Be careful. Why? Because Jesus is fully aware of our propensity, our heart's propensity for self deception.So this is verse one, "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. For then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you." This can be metaphorical or literal. The Pharisees would actually hire musicians to go on ahead of them to say, "We're handing out money. So everyone meet us at the crossroads intersection.", in order to draw attention to themselves, "As the hypocrites do in the synagogues, in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly I say to you, they've received their award."Verse five about prayer, they're praying in the street corners and synagogues, "That they may be seen by others." So their primary prayer life is public that they may be seen. How do you know that you are a hypocrite in prayer? You know you're a hypocrite in prayer when perhaps that community or with a group of other Christians, you pray to God, but when you are with God one on one, you have nothing to say. And you're bored with God. God has become a friend of a friend. When there's someone else there who knows God better, you can connect with God. But when you're on your own, you don't have a living relationship with Him. It gets kind of awkward, you have nothing to say. It's hypocrisy there.Verse 16 talks about fasting. "When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others." So their goal, hypocritical spirituality, hypocritical piety is to please people. And here we are faced with a question. Honestly, what is more valuable to you, people's opinion of you, or God's opinion of you? People's approval and acceptance of you, or God's approval and acceptance of you? Do you fear people more than God? Fear of people, fear of God, the age old question.And this is really important, because we crave attention, acceptance, approval. We are approval junkies, so to speak. We do things for the proverbial slap on the back. So people notice, and people give you encouragement, kudos, good job. And how does this apply? So my wife and I were talking about how does this apply in real life, because no one's walking around and praying on streets. No one's walking around with a trumpet and saying, "Hey, come to this intersection, and we'll give money." No one's really doing that.Well, one of the places this hypocrisy really applies is within the church community itself. And that's what Jesus, the Pharisees were in that religious community. And that's kind of where to play. And how does this work out in real life? I'll just give you a few examples. When a guy sees a really great Christian girl who loves the Lord, and he wants to pursue her in dating or courting or dating or marriage, whatever, and all of a sudden, now he's in community group. Now he is serving. Now he's carrying his Bible around with him. Now he's memorizing Bible verses. Now he's really worshiping. Now he's really getting into loving God. It's great if that's real and vice versa. It could be a gal pursuing, getting attention.Sometimes it's husbands and wives, you want to score points with your spouse. And you do that with morning devotion and coffee, "Baby, I made you coffee. And by the way, I'm reading scripture." And all of a sudden, she's like, "My spouse is so spiritual." It could work that way. Children and parents, parents with children, we want our kids to think that we are sometimes better Christians than we really are. So we pretend around them and kids definitely, with parents, if you grew up in a Christian house, you know exactly how you need to act with your parents in a way for them to get off your back with your with your Christianity, so that you can do what you really want.I've seen this play out and I was like this is my favorite thing. It's not my favorite thing. But I see it too often. It's comical to me. Every September, every September, some college student comes up to me to introduce themselves, and they make an effort for me to remember their names. And I'm like, "That's weird. Never met you before. Cool." The very next Sunday is parents' weekend. Their parents fly up from Texas, from Georgia, and then they bring their parents to me, "Hi, Pastor Jan." And I'm like, my first two years of ministry, I had no idea what's going on. And then after that, I never see him again. I was getting played. I was getting played by hypocritical Christian college students.So does this apply to us? Yes, yes. Why? Because we want people to think good, it feels good for people to think that we are good. It feels good for people to think that we are doing the right things. And like there, then you would ask why the desire to do good. Why the desire to be approved of doing good because there's a moral compass in every single one of our hearts, and we know that it's better to be good than bad. And for many non Christians, this right here, people's approval is also a hang up for two ways. First, you say as a non Christian, why do I need the gospel? Everyone around me thinks I'm a good person. I'm already a good person, because I have the approval of the people around me. And here, what Jesus is getting at is the approval of the people around you doesn't matter as much as the approval of God.What does God think of you? What's the point of getting approval from fallen people who have lowered the standards of God? Or sometimes with unbelievers, you're interested in the Gospel, you understand your need for grace, you understand your need for God in your life, you understand your need for repentance, but you understand also that if you devote yourself to God, if you become a Christian, you will lose the approval and acceptance of the people in your life, perhaps the people in your office or your family or your community.John 12:42-43. "Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him but for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it so that they would not be pulled out of the synagogue for they love the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God." This ravenous hunger for the approval and praise of people was the besetting sin of the Pharisees, and often it's the besetting sin of ourselves. We crave the approval of people. John 5:44, "How can you believe when you receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?"Jesus here says several times do not do as the hypocrites do, but he doesn't just say it like that. He says, "Do not be like the hypocrites.", verse five, in verse eight, "You must not be like the hypocrites, do not be like them." Now he's getting not just at action but at identity. He's not just saying, "Do not do what the hypocrites do." He's saying, "Do not be like the hypocrites." He's getting at identity. What were the hypocrites rooting their identity in? What were they? They were rooting their identity in what people thought of them. Look at them, they pray so well. Look at them, they give. They're so generous. Look at them, they fast. They're so self controlled. They're so righteous. They're so godly. Their identity was being rooted in the approval of people. And Jesus says, "Do not be like them. Don't root your identity in people's approval. Root your identity in God's approval."What is a hypocrite? Basically, in Greek, the word means actor, acting consciously or unconsciously, where the outside contradicts the inside. And you're so much better on the outside. The facade is so much nicer than the inside. Hypocrisy and this is what I'll just say because a lot of people are like, "Christians are all hypocrites. I don't go to church because there's too many hypocrites there." And my answer to that is join the club. There's plenty of room. Welcome. We're all hypocrites. So in one sense, we all struggle with it.So what is hypocrisy? Hypocrisy is not failing to live up to standards that you set or that God sets. That's not hypocrisy. That's human frailty. We're all sinners. We're all broken. And we are to pursue perfection through repentance. So hypocrisy isn't failing to live up to the standards that you aspire to. It's pretending to meet them, while failing to embrace them with your heart. It's pretending to meet the standards of God, "Yes, I've arrived or yes, I'm pursuing these standards." But deep in your heart, you're not. Deep in your heart, you're pursuing other things. And we talked about this in terms of imagination. Well, God doesn't captivate your imagination, something else does. So in your heart, you can be a wicked sinner pursuing wicked things. But on the outside, you look like everything's wonderful.That's the hypocrisy Jesus is talking about. It's not the gap between what we say and what we do. It's the gap between what we do and what we love. That's what Jesus is getting at. The other thing I want to point out here is three times Jesus says when you, when you give to the needy, when you pray, when you fast. He's not saying if but when, meaning this is expected. This is expected of the Jews at the time, that was basic Judaic piety. It's actually Muslim piety, five of the pillars, these three are three of the five, including the other two are visiting Mecca, pilgrimage to Mecca and reciting the creed. So people of all religions, people of all religions and nations and creeds, we know that it's good to be generous, it's good to help the needy, and it's good to pray and it's good to fast.The assumption is we do these things. We know these things are good. And most people want to be generous and want to be known for giving. Most people pray. Very few people I've ever met who say, "I have never prayed." Even as an unbeliever, there are those situations that you get into when you're vulnerable, when you feel weak, when you feel helpless, that the natural cry of your heart, something just inside calls out to the supernatural, we can't but pray. And this is our heart's witness to the existence of God. And many people even today fast. Fasting has been a fad as of late. People talk about intermittent fasting, extended fasting, fasting from social media, fasting from entertainment, fasting from alcohol, sober October. So these things are part and parcel of our lives.So Jesus says when, we do these things, there's a way to do it that's right. And there's a way to do it to feed your ego. And Jesus said, when you do it for the approval of people, you have received your award, you get what you're after, but that's all you get. He's saying there's two rewards. There's rewards that you get from people and there's a reward that you get from God, approval from people and delight of God.So this brings us to the second point, authentic mercy, prayer and fasting. Authentic giving or mercy in verse three says, "When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. So that your giving maybe in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." One of the things that comes to mind immediately is if you've been attentively reading the Sermon on the Mount, you'll all automatically you ask, "Well, how do I reconcile this with what it says in Matthew 5:14 through 16, where Jesus says, 'You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a mat, a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.'"?So on the one hand, Jesus is saying you need to do good work so people see them so they glorify God. On the other hand, he's saying there are things that you need to do so people do not see, so they do not glorify you, but they glorify God. So what's he saying? A.B. Bruce puts it like this, "We are to show when tempted to hide and hide when tempted to show." Jesus has a separation between our good works and our personal piety, our personal devotion to God. Our good works, that can't but be public. Our spiritual disciplines must be in secret and the end goal is the glory of God. Why giving and prayer and fasting in secret? Because that right there is something that glorifies God when no one else sees it. What about our good words? Well, when people see the good works, they glorify God. So the end goal is the glory of God. Our good works have to be visible, but never for the sake of making it visible.The phrase, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, it's an overwhelming metaphor. If you help someone with your right hand, your left hand, in some sense, doesn't know what it's doing. It's not just about not telling others. It's almost like not telling yourself. If you give to someone, and then you don't even think about it. You don't glow over the fact that you help this person, there's a state of unself consciousness, like you don't give with the hand and not with the heart. And Jesus is saying, be careful, because your heart is so porous, that you turn mercy into vanity.So there is a sense in which we set up how much we can give in our generosity and you can budget this out. But there's also a sense where you don't count it. You don't count how much you've given to others in the name of Jesus Christ. There's a sense where that number is never in your mind because you understand that that wasn't even yours to begin with. Matthew 6:6, And when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father, who is in secret." Is Jesus denouncing public prayer? No, of course not. What he is saying, he is denouncing public prayer when you don't have private prayer. When the only time you pray publicly, when you pray is publicly. In secret before God one on one, that's the essence of prayer.Psalm 27, seven through nine, "Hear o Lord, when I cry aloud. Be gracious to me, answer me. You have said, 'Seek my face.' My heart says to you, 'Your face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not your face from me.'" So there is to be a place for private prayer in your life, where on a daily basis, you have a place you go to in secret, and he talks about closing a door. So it's a space that you devote to. It's almost like an altar on a daily basis. Lord, this is the place I'm going to meet with you. And when you pray, he says in verse seven, "When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him."He says don't just repeat over and over and over simple prayer. In different Christian traditions in the Russian Orthodox tradition and many Catholic traditions, it's all about repetition. It's all about what you say, how many times you say it. This is how you show God your devotion. And Jesus says no, no, no. It's a conversation. It's a relationship with God the Father. You talk to me, you bare your heart before me. You can't strong arm God into doing what you want by sheer volume. Sheer volume of words isn't a critical factor. Jesus, sometimes he pray with brevity, we just pray quick little prayer. Sometimes he'd spent a whole night in prayer.So it's not about that. It's just about not thinking that we can force God without repetition. Ecclesiastes 5:2, "Do not be rash with your mouth nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on Earth. Therefore, let your words be few." So the volume of words isn't important but the sustained prayer is important. So Luke 18, Jesus gives a parable of a widow that goes to a judge and she's begging for justice, begging for justice, and the judge only because of her impudence, her sustained coming to him, he gives to her.So when we long for something, when it's on our heart to ask God for something, we are to ask and ask and ask, the emphasis on the sustained coming to God, not necessarily on the repetition. And that's Luke 18:1, "He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray not lose heart." So how are we to pray? How are we to have a private prayer life? Jesus gives us not the prayer that we should pray, but the template by which we should pray.That's why he says in verse nine, "Pray then like this.", not specifically pray this. And a lot of traditions have really misunderstood this text. They think if I just pray this over and over and over on a daily basis, multiple times a day, God's going to do what God wants, what he wants me to do, that's not what's going on. He says, this is the template and the template goes like this, our Father in heaven. And I just want you to see the emphasis on the second person plural, first person, the second person, plural is you together, our Father, he's not saying my Father, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day.So before we get to our needs, what are we focusing on? God. We're focusing on God, Jesus Christ, but tell me this, why did Jesus Christ pray as often as he did? He's God incarnate. He can give himself anything. He can create miracles and meet all of his needs. Why did Jesus Christ pray? What did Jesus Jesus Christ get from prayer that he couldn't give himself? You know what he got? He got time with God the Father. That's why we pray. And this is what fights the hypocrisy in the inside, where you get on your knees before God, you said, "God, you know all things, you know all of my struggles, you know all of my needs. And before I talk about my needs, I need to focus my attention on you. You are my father, you are our father, the community's father, hallowed be your name. May your name be holy, may your transcendent name be holy."And you're also personal because your father, may your kingdom come. Not my kingdom, but your kingdom. May your will be done. Before I talk about my needs, I'm going to talk about your will being done on earth as it is in heaven. And then we get to our needs. Give us this day our daily bread. You're not just praying for your own needs. It's God, everyone in the community of faith. Give us this day our daily bread, not give me bread for tomorrow or next week or for a month, just today. Give us this bread for the day.And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. There's this connection between forgive us because we've forgiven and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Lord, I can't overcome temptation on my own, I can't overcome temptation from evil, help me. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespass.This text could be misread, to say the only way that you can have your sins forgiven is to make sure that you have forgiven everybody, as if forgiving others is the price of being heard. And I've been in churches where that's what's been preached. But that doesn't fit in the context of the sermon of the Mount. That doesn't fit in the context of the gospel of Matthew, or the context of all of Scripture. He's not saying you have to do this for God, for God to do something for you. He's saying, asking for forgiveness for yourself, while not forgiving those who have sinned against you, is the pinnacle of hypocrisy.So if you ask for forgiveness, just know God's expecting that you forgive those who have sinned against you. And he brings us in in the prayer life because he understands that if we don't deal with other people's sin against us, that that is going to absolutely destroy us from the inside. And then he gets to fasting, true, authentic fasting, Matthew 6:17 through 18. When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in heaven.Jesus assumes that his disciples will fast, that this will be a regular cadence of our spiritual walk. The Pharisees fasted, we know from Luke 18:12, twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays. Most likely it was sun up to sundown, that was their fast, so most likely skipping two meals, like a 20 hour, 24 hour fast, and the Pharisees fast. When they fasted, they had glum expression, they looked miserable, they went unwashed, unkempt, they would even sprinkle ashes on themselves to be seen by others.And by the way, if you know someone that fasts on a regular basis and does extended fasting, it's kind of impressive. Wow, you have control over it, you can skip a meal, you can skip two meals, you can do a full day without food. That's really impressive stuff. And the Pharisees would use this to build up social capital in the community where they would let people know so today, it would be like posting on social media. There's all kinds of fasting apps that shows how to start and stop and you can put all your measurements in there and people share on social media, "Oh, I just finished a five day fast." And everyone gives them kudos. That's basically what the Pharisees were doing.And they had received their reward. But that doesn't mean, because they were doing it wrong. Jesus does not say therefore never fast. He still expects that his disciples fast on a regular basis. John the baptizer fasted regularly even often. And the disciples of Jesus did not, while Jesus was there, but it was expected when he left, Matthew 9"14 through 15. "Then the disciples of John came to him saying, why do we and the Pharisees fast but your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast."Jesus does expect that his followers fast and fast on a regular basis. Jesus started his ministry by fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. He did that supernatural by the power of the Holy Spirit. But there is an expectation for us to fast and Jesus fasted for 40 days. So it's a struggle, even with the idea of fasting for 40 hours. Jesus is expecting this as part of our life. First of all, you do need to meet with your medical professionals, your doctors to see how and if. And it's not just with food, what is fasting? Strictly speaking, it's a total abstention of food, but it can be legitimately extended to other things.And what's the point? The point of it is the nice self, humbled before God, and where we pursue God in that state of humility. Psalm 35:13, "But I, when they were sick, I wore sackcloth, I afflicted myself with fasting. I prayed with head bowed on my chest." Sometimes in Scripture, fasting is connected with repentance, where you are repentant over sin and you are humbling yourself with God and you bring in fasting to deepen that humility. Nehemiah did that with all of the people. He gathered all the people and with fasting and sackcloth, they stood and confessed their sins.When Jonah goes to preach in Nineveh, they repented Jonah's preaching and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth. Daniel sought God by prayer and supplication, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes and prayed to the Lord is God and made confession for the sins of people. Remember Paul, when Paul meets Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, for three days and three nights, he doesn't eat because he is in such repentance over the fact that he pursued Christians and killed Christians, persecuted Christians.Sometimes fasting is used to ask the Lord for future mercy, or blessing or guidance. God in this season, I don't know what to do. Where are you leading me? Where are you guiding me? And we see that Moses fasted on Mount Sinai immediately after the covenant was renewed. We see Queen Esther, before she took her life into her hands to go before the king, she asked Mordecai and the people that Mordecai knew, the people of God too fast on behalf of her. Ezra proclaimed a fast before leading the exiles back to Jerusalem, but he says that we may humble ourselves before our God and seek from him a straightway.So if you're in a season where you are pursuing God's direction, fasting is always recommended with prayer. In the early church, the church of Antioch before Paul and Barnabas were sent out, they fasted. Paul and Barnabas before appointing elders in every church, they prayed and fasted. And fasting is also used for self discipline, because saying no to eating one appetite gives you power to say no to other appetites.I've noticed this in my own life and perhaps you have as well. When I have self discipline in one area of life, it translates to self discipline in other areas of life. When self discipline increases here, it increases everywhere else. I Corinthians 9:24 to 27, "Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified."So practically speaking how to incorporate fasting in your life, if you've never done it, you got to do, you got to ease into it. Perhaps push back a meal in the morning, push back breakfast, ease into it or or cut out a certain category of foods, et cetera. I can give you all the practicalities of it. I went through a season where I wanted to learn everything I could on fasting. I read every single book on fasting that I could find. I think it was over like 100 books that I read through. The way I read is I go in, I find out the 40 pages that got the book published and I'm done. I'm out. Next book. And that's the way you should read as well.And so I know at this part of the sermon, I'm like I can get into the way I fast. But Jesus said this part of your life have to be secret. So I'm not going to. We can talk about that in secret. And then when you say that, then that brings attention to yourself. So I still struggle with this part. But yeah, in secret, I'm not going to tell you everything because I want my reward in heaven, not from you. Thank you very much.Point three, motivation for authenticity. Where do we get the motivation? We have to figure out what's the motivation for authenticity. We have to figure out what is the motivation for hypocrisy. If you can isolate the cause, then we can easily find the remedy Why is the hypocrite? What's the hypocrite motivated by? What is the hypocrite obsessed with? Acceptance from people. And if you get acceptance from people, that's not really what you're going for. What you are really obsessed about isn't just the acceptance of people as much as how that feels inside for yourself.So really, you're not motivated by pleasing other people as much as pleasing self. So if you're motivated by pleasing self, and that's why you pray, that's why you give, that's why you fast, that's what leads to hypocrisy. Because getting pleasure from people is much easier than getting delight of God, much easier. Because all you got to do is fake it.So it comes down to what you love most. Do you love most self or God? Ultimately, the only reason that people please others is to find pleasure for self. Why? Because we're insecure. We're self conscious. We need someone else to tell us that we are good, because we know deep inside we are not. We need someone else to tell us that we are righteous because we know deep inside we are not righteous, that there are sins that we cannot expose. So what's the remedy? The remedy is to find your security in God, find your remedy in God, find your acceptance and approval in God. Be secure in the fact that you're loved by God the Father. How can I be sure that I'm loved by God the Father? Look at what God the Father gave for you.It starts with giving to the needy. Well, God gave to the needy us. He gave his beloved Son. Why would God give his beloved son for God so loved the world, that he gave his beloved Son, for whosoever believes in Him should not die but have eternal life. God gave his greatest treasure for us, because he knew that we were good, because he saw that we are righteous.No. Jesus Christ came and died for sinners. And Jesus Christ on the cross, died for every single one of your sins past, present, and future. Therefore, it doesn't even make sense for us to hide our sin from God. Because as a Christian, your sins have been paid for on the cross, absolutely exposed by God, the Father on the cross, as Jesus Christ is bearing God's wrath for those sins. So there's absolutely no need to hide. And we know that when we come to Him, we repent of the sins, not pretending to be righteous, he forgives us of all of our sin, and gives us the power to live a transformed life.And this is where the transformation happens. When you understand how much God has loved you, then your heart begins to grow in love for God. And that's where the true essence modification happens, not just behavior modification, Matthew 6:4 through 5, "So that your giving may be in secret and your Father who is in secret will reward you and when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love." That right there, that's the heart of the hypocrisy. And when you understand what the heart of hypocrisy is, then you begin to understand what the heart of authenticity can be. "For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they've received their award."They love getting attention from people, because they loved the pleasure it brought to self. Matthew 23:5 through 7, "And they do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and fringes long. And they love the places of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplace and being called Rabbi by others." They loved it. So we struggle with hypocrisy. This is why we all struggle with this. Because we all struggle with self love. We all struggle with pride.And this is what sin is. Sin is loving anything more than God. So how do we fight the hypocrisy? You fight the hypocrisy with love of God, and you grow in love of God by growing and understanding how much God loves you. And the other way that you practically grow in the self discipline, the spiritual disciplines, of giving, of prayer and of fasting is the phrase that we see in all three of these sections. Verse four, "So that your giving maybe in secret and your Father who sees." That's Matthew 6:4, "And your Father who sees." Matthew 6:6, same thing. "And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." And then verse 18, "Your Father who sees in secret will reward you."Every single child, every single child deep inside, what do they long for? They long for the undivided attention of their father, of their parents. "Daddy, look at me, look at me, look what I can do." And I remember as a kid I was meditating on this this week. When I played sports, my dad never came to any of my events because I played baseball and he's like baseball stupid. He's a Russian Soviet guy. He's like, "I don't know baseball. It's not even sport." That's the only reason I was tremendous is baseball. That's why they called me the crushing Russian. And I remember the only reason I wrestled, and wrestling is just a dumb sport, I never really enjoyed it. My dad thought it was this manly sport. That's the only reason I did it. And my greatest performance is when my dad would show up and just watch.And there's something about making sacrifices for the delight of your father, and just his undivided attention is reward enough, how much more so when our Heavenly Father, he sees our sacrifices that no one sees. He sees our sacrifices of giving to others, of taking from self and giving to, God the Father sees it, and there is a reward. What is the reward? We're not told. What's the reward for prayer? We're not told. What's the reward for fasting? We're not told, well, I think God seeing is reward enough. God sees and He draws you closer to Himself.Why did Jesus pray? Because he got more of the Father. Why did Jesus give? Because he got the delight of the Father, "This is my Son, in whom I'm well pleased." Why did Jesus fast to get the delight of the Father? Jesus prayed, gave fast for an audience of one. How can we give? We can give because Jesus Christ, he who was rich became poor so that we might become rich in him. How do we know that our prayers are heard because Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, prayed a prayer that was rejected. :et this cup pass from me, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Christ says on the cross, his prayer was rejected. He was rejected from the presence of God as He bore the sins, our sins upon himself so that our prayers can be heard. How can I fast? Because I have a treasure greater than food, I have the bread of life.And the Pharisees focused on the letter of the law, which only led to outside righteousness. Jesus focused on the heart of the law, which can only be met from the heart. And this is where we need Jesus Christ. We need Jesus Christ to give us a brand new heart. A lot of people today justify their sin by saying, "I was born this way." Jesus Christ comes and he says, "Yeah, everyone needs to be born again. We're all sinners, we all need a heart transplant. We all need our heart of stone taken out and replaced with the heart of flesh. And that's done by humbling yourself before Jesus Christ, coming to him and saying, "Jesus, I am a hypocrite. Jesus, I'm not righteous. Jesus, I'm not perfect. Jesus, forgive me of my sins, and give me the power of the Holy Spirit to live the life that you have called me to live."I'll close with Psalm 139:1 through 2, and then 7 through 12, one of my favorite Psalms, in which the psalmist talks about and meditates on the fact that God is everywhere, and the God sees, and that should be motivation enough for us to repent of sin, and then grow in authentic following of him. Psalm 139:1 through 2, "Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up, and you discern my thoughts from afar. Where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night, even the darkness is not dark to you. And the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you."Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for the reminder that there's nowhere we can go where you are not. Your presence is always before us. And I pray that that motivates us to turn from sin and turn to you, and on a daily basis to pursue perfection as you were perfect and not do it in a way where we pretend we're better than we are. But to do it in a way where we repent when we fall short of the standard of perfection, and then get up and continue following you.We thank you for the gospel of Jesus Christ. We thank you that you forgive us of all of our sins, when we turn from sin and turn to Christ, and continue to make us people that do pursue the spiritual distance of giving makes us generous people, pursue time of prayer with you, because there's nothing more rewarding than spending time with God the Father, and to fast from things that pull us away from you, and to discipline ourselves so that our flesh doesn't take over, and that we continue to walk by the power of the Holy Spirit. And we thank you and we pray all this in Christ's holy name. Amen.

Sermon on the Mountain

The episode is not dealing with lawbreaking in general, but breaking the law of God is a much more serious offense. Hear what Jesus talked about when He preached on the sermon on the mountain. Original Recording June 8th, 2017 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thegospelofrepentance/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thegospelofrepentance/support

In his sermon on the mountain about life in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus challenges his disciples to consider their relationships with other people—especially the people who are easy to judge. But what is never in question is God's relationship to us: covenant-maker, merciful, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.Pastor Ben Masters preached "Other People" on February 9, 2020, at Hector Presbyterian Church.Scripture readings: Deuteronomy 11:18-21, 26-28 and Matthew 5:21-37Download the sermon transcript.

Teaching about the ways of Christian life leads to baptism and flows from it. Jesus continues to instruct disciples in his sermon on the mountain about life in the kingdom of heaven, calling them (and us) salt and light for the world.Pastor Ben Masters preached "You Are Salt" on February 2, 2020, at Hector Presbyterian Church.Scripture readings: Isaiah 49:1-6 & Matthew 5:13-20.Download the sermon transcript.

Why are you so angry-- What gives you the right-- Is there righteous anger-- Plainly, most anger is just pride and vanity writ large but Jesus in the Sermon on the Mountain confronts our merely natural propensity to justify our angry souls.--The Law According To Jesus- Pt. 2 -How To Get Away With Murder-

Why are you so angry-- What gives you the right-- Is there righteous anger-- Plainly, most anger is just pride and vanity writ large but Jesus in the Sermon on the Mountain confronts our merely natural propensity to justify our angry souls.--The Law According To Jesus- Pt. 2 -How To Get Away With Murder-

Why are you so angry? What gives you the right? Is there righteous anger? Plainly, most anger is just pride and vanity writ large but Jesus in the Sermon on the Mountain confronts our merely natural propensity to justify our angry souls.The Law According To Jesus: Pt. 2 "How To Get Away With Murder"

Why are you so angry? What gives you the right? Is there righteous anger? Plainly, most anger is just pride and vanity writ large but Jesus in the Sermon on the Mountain confronts our merely natural propensity to justify our angry souls.The Law According To Jesus: Pt. 2 "How To Get Away With Murder"

The world today is desperately looking for justice. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mountain gave us three beatitudes that give us guidance on how to live justly in a broken world.

Pastor Andy Davis preaches on Galatians 5:22-26 and how we can distinguish between sinful acts of the flesh and holy acts of the Spirit. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - Some time ago, my family and I had the opportunity to go to Monticello which is Thomas Jefferson's home, it's up on a small mountain in Central Virginia. And we had the chance to walk through the amazing grounds there, the gardens that are there. And he was many things, of course: A politician, a philosopher, inventor, but I think he would say above all things he was a farmer, and I would say, a scientist farmer. And he liked to study how things grew in the soil there on top of that mountain in Monticello. And if you walk through the ground, some other grounds keepers have come in the spirit of that same desire to have the most lavish display of flowers, and fruits and vegetables, and trees you could have. Only thing that could be improved is if it will all be done to the glory of God. Amen? Out of faith in Jesus Christ. But I was there in that spirit, and I was so delighted to see these flowers and just to smell the fragrant air of all of these flowering things, to see the rare wildflowers, and to smell the roses, and to see the tulips, and to see all of that. I was especially mindful of the fact (speaking just for myself, not for my wife), that I can't grow anything. I tend to kill things. I don't mean to, but we have no green thumb. I guess, we have a brown thumb. I don't know, maybe that's the opposite of a green thumb. But he apparently was just exceptionally skillful at growing things, and then fruits, incredible fruits, 150 different varieties of 31 temperate species of fruits. All different kinds of things: Plums, and pears, and grapes, and apricots, and Spanish almonds, and all of it there for the picking. And then vegetables, amazing vegetables; 250 varieties of more than 70 different species of vegetables. And he studied how they would flourish, and what they were, and what different combinations of fertilizers, and watering and all of that. What Kind of Fruit is on Display in Your Life? Monticello is a rich treasure of growing things, but it made me think about my soul and the passage that we're looking at today, the Fruit of the Spirit. What kind of fruit is there in my life? If you could take a walk through my life as we go through that kind of circuitous path there at Monticello and you look around. If you were to do that in my life, what would you see? What is the fruit of your Christianity? What is going on in your life? In John chapter 15, Jesus used an agricultural analogy saying, "I am the true vine and my father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." And then he said, "Abide [or dwell or remain, live] in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. And neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me. [said Jesus] "I am the vine, you were the branches. If someone remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing." Jesus taught the same thing in The Sermon on the Mount. He said that we will most certainly in him bear fruit, and the kind of fruit we bear shows who we are and what we are like. He said in the Sermon on the Mountain, (Matthew 7:16-20)"By their fruit you will recognize them. Every good tree bears good fruit but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire thus by their fruit, you will recognize them." And many such passages, as well. I ask you this, I'm asking myself, what kind of fruit is there in your life? Now, the problem for us is that the answer must be inconsistent. There is, in every Christian, good fruit but also bad fruit. James talks about this in James 3:9-12. He says, "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it, we curse men who have been made in his likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives or a grape vine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water." And yet we acknowledge, as divided beings, as those who struggle with the flesh, but we are also indwelt by the Spirit that we see out of the same life come both things that we give glory to God for in praise and for in those things that we are ashamed of and wish we would never do. Now in Galatians 5, we see a very clear description of this whole problem, the war between the flesh and the Spirit that goes on inside each one of us. Galatians 5 gives a lengthy list of the works of the flesh and contrasts it with the fruit of the Spirit. The ongoing work of the indwelling Holy Spirit of Christ is to conform us from the inside out to Jesus Christ, so that we would actually be like Christ in every respect. The Fruit of the Spirit that I'm going to look at today is one of the most famous passages in the New Testament. In the book of Galatians, it is the goal of sanctification. It is what God is working in us. It is the goal of the Spirit-filled life at every moment. I believe the Fruit of the Spirit is a good checklist for yourself at every moment. Just take a snapshot of yourself at any moment throughout this upcoming week. Could be Tuesday morning, it could be Wednesday afternoon, it could be Thursday night, doesn't matter, just snapshot. When I was a student in college, there was this incredible exhibit done by this guy named Harold Edgerton, and he was a pioneer in Strobe Photography. And he took high-speed photographs of instance and time. They hadn't been able to be captured before his research in strobe photography, so there'd be pictures of like an apple with a bullet going through it. I don't know why you'd want to shoot an apple. But there it is, there's the bullet going through and you see the entry and the exit, and just the tip of the bullet coming out, he's able to capture that. Or a drop of milk dropping and it looks like this incredible crown coming all these amazing strobe photography. The picture of a pin going in a big balloon, in just an instant, after it begins to pop and you see the rip in the balloon and it's curt but you can still see the rest of the balloon's still there. Amazing pictures. Take a snapshot of yourself this week and ask yourself this question, "Am I, right now, characterized by the fruit of the Spirit?" Would my wife, would my husband, would my good friend, would my roommate say, "Yeah, I would say, that you are right now characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, that's who you are. And if our content of the answer honestly is no, then you need to repent. And don't blame your spouse, don't blame your roommate, don't blame the circumstances, understand that the Holy Spirit can and does produce this fruit in you, irrespective of your circumstances. This should characterize you every moment of your life. That's what we going to talk about today. I. What Kind of Life Leads to Heaven? We're looking right here in the middle of Galatians 5. We've been asking this question, what kind of life leads to heaven? Let's just step back and look at the book of Galatians as a whole. Galatians was a letter written by the Apostle Paul to a group of churches that he planted in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey, and he was there and he preached the gospel of faith in Jesus Christ. He did a good job preaching the gospel. Some people repented and believed, and some churches were planted. And after he worked with them for a while, he left. And soon after he left, some other false teachers came in, who we called Judaizers. They're not called that in the book of Galatians but that's who they were. They were Jewish people who professed to faith in Christ but said, faith in Christ is not enough. You need to add to it the works of the law. You've got to add to it Jewish law, the laws of Moses. The combination of faith in Christ plus the law of Moses equals salvation. Well, Paul heard about this and said, this is devastating, this is no gospel at all, this is false teaching. And he wrote the book of Galatians back to these churches to teach them. As he says in Galatians 2:16, "A person is not justified by observing the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. We too have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law, no one will be justified." Justification is the beginning of the Christian life. When you hear the gospel, you hear about Almighty God sending his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, did signs and wonders but especially died as a substitute on the cross for our sins. We were guilty under the law of God. God knew we deserved condemnation, he knew we deserve wrath but instead of pouring it on us, he poured it out on his son Jesus as our substitute. But God raised him from the dead on the third day, showing that that sacrifice have been accepted. And if you repent and believe, you can have forgiveness of sins and eternal life; that's the gospel. If you hear that and believe it, believe it to be true, the instant that you hear and believe, you are justified. What does that mean? Forgiven of all your sins. The righteousness of Christ is credited to your account, you're infinitely perfectly wealthy in righteousness. God sees you as having been perfectly obedient to his law, and in that righteousness, you will stand on judgement day, forgiven, blameless, and unafraid. And in that righteousness, he will welcome you into heaven. That's justification. That happens instantaneously at the beginning of the Christian life and nothing can change it. But the Christian life doesn't end at justification. After that comes the process, the journey of sanctification. And the rules of the game are a little bit different on sanctification. Whereas, our works are not welcome in justification, we must work out our salvation day by day in sanctification. Little by little, we have to fight the good fight of faith, we have to put sin to death by the power of the Spirit. We have to learn to grow in certain areas, and that's sanctification. It's hard. And that's a big part of why we do church, it's a big part of why you come and listen to preaching; to help yourself grow in Christ, become more like Christ, that's sanctification. And then at the end, and I've been talking to some people recently who are yearning for that day of glorification. Amen. At last, you'll be free from the struggle, you'll be delivered from all pain, you'll be delivered from all sin, and you will go and be in the presence of Almighty God forever. This happens generally in two stages. First, at death, if the Lord hasn't returned yet. If you're not part of that final generation, you will be separated from the body and you'll be ushered right into the presence of God, and you'll go worship him and you'll be free forever from sin. But you won't have your resurrection body yet, not yet. You'll be absent from the body, present with the Lord. And then, at the end of all things, the second coming of Christ, then He will raise the righteous and the wicked, and you will receive the gift of a resurrection body, and there in that body, you will praise God forever. That's the whole salvation plan. Now you, if you're a believer in Christ, you're in the middle of the sanctification journey. The book of Galatians is written to help you. Now, one of the most common accusations about the grace, the salvation by grace message that you are justified apart from your work, has nothing to do with your works. Like the thief on the cross, his hands and feet nailed, he can't do anything, go anywhere but he can still go to heaven. What did he do to earn his salvation? Nothing. It was given to him as a gift. People say, "Well then, that means you can live however you want." It's complete lawlessness and then because you're saved, you can go to heaven? Well, people who talk like that don't really understand salvation. They don't understand what the Holy Spirit does in a believer when he comes into your life. The moment that you're justified by faith, you receive the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Then he, Almighty God, God the Spirit, begins to take over, and begins to change things in your life. If you look at the immediate context, he's talking about the Spirit-filled life. Look at verse 16. He said, "So I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the lust of the flesh." That's the Spirit-filled life, the command, "walk by the Spirit" is there, that is, live your daily life in constant dependence, active dependence by faith on the Spirit's power. Walk step by step through your day by the power of the Spirit, and if so you will not gratify the lust of the flesh. Then he explains the warfare in verse 17, "For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They're at enmity or at odds or in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want." We are divided beings, as we've talked about, schizophrenic, somewhat insane, if we can use that language, somewhat crazy. The very thing we hate, we do. The very thing we yearn to do, we do not do; that's the nature of the battle. The Holy Spirit is in us causing us to put to death the deeds of the flesh. He says in verse 18, "If you were led by the Spirit, you are not under law." The Christian life is a life of being led by the Spirit not dominated by the law. And so, we then wage war, God's way by the power of the Spirit. In Romans 8:13-14, it says, "If you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit, you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God." What I get out of that is that every day, the Holy Spirit rouses us and gets us ready, dresses us for battle; battle against the world of flesh and the devil, and that's the nature of our sanctification battle. "The Christian life is a life of being led by the Spirit not dominated by the law." Now, we come to the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is the best possible life that you can live on earth. If you have these qualities constantly, consistently, I assert, you cannot live a better life than this, no matter how devastatingly bad your circumstances may be. There are many examples of this. In the book of Acts, take for example Stephen. Stephen was being stoned to death. His enemies were raging at him, blocking their ears, foaming at the mouth, clearly were going to kill him, were in the process of killing him. But do you remember how Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit? And he looked up to heaven and he saw Jesus, standing at the right hand of God, ready to welcome him. And he said, "Father, don't lay this sin against their charge." He's so filled with joy, filled... I think, he was already in heaven while he's still dying on earth. And he was just living a supernatural life in the midst of really terrible circumstances. Or take, of course, Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail preaching the gospel after driving a demon out of a girl. The Philippians/Romans arrest them. They beat them publicly, bloodying them, shaming them, and throwing them in jail, and their feet are fastened in the stocks. They have had nothing to eat, nothing to drink, they're wounded, they're hurting, and they might even be executed the next day, and there they're praising and singing songs to Jesus. And all the other prisoners are listening to them. Or consider Paul on the deck of a heaving ship in the midst of a hurricane goes on for days and days. And they don't see any... They don't even know if it's night or day, it's so dark. And they haven't eaten anything in days. And Paul is so filled with courage and boldness, and concern for others, and trust in God, he's just characterized by the fruit of the Spirit. That's the best possible life you can live. And I would say, this is the life the world wants but it can never get. It's trying to get these things by the wrong means, circumventing God, turning away from Christ, not looking at any of the spiritual things, going after material possessions, going after worldly success. They think they're going to find the fruit of the Spirit. They wouldn't call it that but they're looking for love, they're looking for joy and peace, they're looking for satisfaction in this world. By these worldly means, they're not going to find it. I know an individual. I don't know him personally but I know of him, who is incredibly successful in his... He was an athlete and incredibly successful. Everything he was doing, he was living at seemed the perfect life, had a mansion in which he could see the sunrise and the sunset over water. He had his own private island, an astonishing mansion, a beautiful wife, cute kids, success in everything he endeavored to do. But the whole thing was a facade because inside, he was seething with the lust of the flesh, seething with discontent, prone to fits of rage, and threw it all away. And now, his life is a shell of what it used to be. I would contend that individual needs Christ. Amen. He needs to repent and believe in Jesus. But how many non-Christians would look before all of those events and say, "Now, there's the life I want to live." And I can imagine anyone, if they really believe this offer, the devil is here offering you that kind of life, all the wealth you could want, all the success you could want in the world, the house you could want, the family life you want. All of that but you can't have the following things: You cannot have love, you can have no joy, and no peace, and would you do it? I can't imagine anyone saying, "Yeah, I'm willing to trade away all of my happiness, and all of my love, everything, so I could have these physical things." But they don't believe it's true and they think that I can have both. I can have that worldly life and I can have all that and skip God but I can still be happy, and that's not possible. I would contend, if you have all of the wealth in the world and do not have the fruit of the Spirit, you have nothing. Conversely, if you have the fruit of the Spirit and you're being beaten, or persecuted, or rejected, you have everything. "If you have all of the wealth in the world and do not have the fruit of the Spirit, you have nothing. Conversely, if you have the fruit of the Spirit and you're being beaten, or persecuted, or rejected, you have everything" Friends, this is the best life there is. There is no utopia, there's no perfect society that will ever be in this world. But an individual can be so captivated by Christ, so captivated by the gospel, and so filled with the Spirit that they're living their own private paradise in the midst of very trying circumstances. And that's what the Spirit is offering to you. Now, we're right in the middle of a section, the passage we began today, began with the word "But", so you should always be suspicious of verses that begin with 'therefore', or 'but' and say, we are parachuting right in the middle, what are we looking at? II. Review: The Works of the Flesh (verses 19-21) We're in the middle of a section which is contrasting the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit. And we did the works of the flesh last week. Verse 19, it says, "The acts or works of the flesh are obvious. Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, adultery and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the likes." We talked about that in detail last week, I'm not going to go over it in detail but just by way of reminder. The sin list is a diagnosis of the human heart, it's a diagnosis of the human life. We saw four groupings last week: Sins of sensuality, sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery. Sins of religion, such as sorcery and idolatry. Sins of relationships, such as enmity, strife, jealously, fits of rage, selfish ambitions, dissension, factions, and envy; eight of them. And then, sins of dissipated living or lack of self-control, so that's drunkenness and orgies. We said last time this list is not exhaustive, he said, "and such like" or "things like that." There are many other things besides these 15 that are listed but this is the life of the flesh. And he then gives verse 21 a terrifying warning. He said, "I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God." The bottom line is that the life of the Spirit kills the acts of the flesh; that's what the Spirit does. Negatively, in sanctification, these are the very things the Holy Spirit is putting to death. Now, we get to the positive aspect of the life of the Spirit or sanctification, that is what positive things does the Spirit produce, and that's this list in verse 22-23, "But by contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." These things laid side by side are in clear contrast with each other. The flesh loves those evil works and hates the fruit of the Spirit. Conversely, the Spirit hates the works of the flesh and loves to produce the fruit of the Spirit; these are the dichotomy of the Christian life versus the life of the flesh. III. The Fruit of the Spirit (verses 22-23) Notice also the plural versus the singular. We have the works of the flesh; plural. See that? “works.” Versus the fruit of the Spirit; singular. That's a subtle difference but I think it's worth talking about. First, the works of the flesh are spoken of as plural. They are varied and this is what I said last week, not every sinner does all of these things. It is quite possible for some sinners outside of Christ, living lives of wicked rebellion against God but avoiding certain patterns of sin that they would never do. Some extremely prideful, ambitious, vindictive power mongers in the world never touch a drop of alcohol, they never get drunk. Hitler in particular was noteworthy for being exceptionally prudish about sexual things, and extremely disciplined in his eating and drinking habits. But he was clearly prone to fits of violent rage. The works of the flesh are varied and you're not necessarily going to have all of them. Conversely, the Spirit produces all of these things in every Christian, seeking to produce them all the time. To some degree, it's just one work of the Spirit flowering out in all of these character traits. All of these things are unfolding. It's almost like white light hitting a prism and then just going out into the spectrum, the rainbow of colors, but it's the same one white light that's coming in. The fruit of the Spirit flowers out in all of these beautiful attributes. The Spirit would never say, "Okay, tell you what, let's look at this list and we're going to divide it up. And in 2014, we're going to work on the first two, forget the rest. And then next year, every year, we're going to add two more until we get the whole list." Look, it's not a coin collection, alright? We're not trying to assemble these things. This is something that the Lord is wanting to produce in us all the time. It's a beautiful flowering of the Spirit's work. Spirit is working to conform us at every moment to Jesus Christ in every area. Furthermore, the works of the flesh…The person who does them can say “these are mine, I did them.” But the fruit of the Spirit is something we really honestly could give all glory to God for producing in us. Amen. You can look at that and say, "I am right now surprisingly characterized by love, joy, peace, and patience. I know, in other times, I would be very frustrated right now, and very irritable, and very impatient, and very mean, but instead, the Lord has got a hold of me and he is working this and to God be the glory." And so, we really can give the Holy Spirit full glory for these attributes when we see them in us. Now, non-Christians can ape or imitate some of the fruit of the Spirit from time of time but they're intrinsically radically different between a Christian and non-Christians. Some people may have a natural disposition toward gentleness and quietness, but that doesn't mean it's the fruit of the Spirit, they may lack boldness to confront evil. Maybe, they're just quiet, mousy, sheep-like people but they're not Christians. Okay. Others may naturally be happy people, always whistling a tune, but their happiness is based on earthly circumstances and sometimes they might not be genuinely happy but just only appearing happy. Christian joy goes infinitely deeper. The Spirit works all of these attributes in Christians to the depth of our being and increases them gradually more and more over a period of time. Be patient and yearn for them. Set this list in front of you and pray over it and say, "Lord produce this in me. I yearn 10 years from now to be more characterized by this list than I am right now. Ten years from now, oh Lord, I want to be more patient than I am now." Someone once said that you never want to pray for God to work patience in you. You know how He works patience in you, right? He's going to bring afflictions and troubles in your life and say, "Okay, see how impatient you are?" That's the journey on working patience but you should yearn for them. You should say, "I want 10 years from now to be much more characterized by all of these things than I am now." What I want to do is go through them just word by word and just talk about them briefly. Obviously, each one of these, we can preach a full sermon on. But I want to just give some descriptions, so we can understand them, and of course, it begins with love. The fruit of the Spirit is love. This is the greatest of all human attributes or character traits. Says in 1 Corinthians 13:13, "And now, these three remain: Faith, hope, and love but the greatest of these is love." Says in Colossians 3:14, "Over all of these virtues, put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity." Love as we know is the perfect summation of God's law. The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Love sums up God's law. In one sense, we could say, love is all you really need. But God has still, through the Apostle Paul, given us the other words too. Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, general self-control, those things describe and unfold what that love is like. I think the whole list is needed. Fruit of the Spirit: Love What is love? Love is a disposition of the soul, a heart attraction towards something. You are attracted. The heart, the human heart has the ability like a magnet to be attracted to or repulsed from anything in the universe. When we are converted, we are suddenly, supernaturally, by the power of God, transformed, rearranged, so that we are now attracted to God above all things, and to Christ, and to the word of God, and all of these things. And now, we hate sin, and evil, and darkness. That's been the re-orientation that has happened in us. It's the attraction of the heart toward something or someone. Now, I would say, biblical love, just practically ethically, biblical love is heart attraction for a person leading to sacrificial action. Attraction leading to action, those two together, that's what love is. Without the one or the other, it isn't Biblical love. Our hearts are drawn toward an individual. We want what's best for them, we are yearning for them to know the joy of salvation even if they're prosecuting us like Stephen. We are yearning that they not be condemned for that sin but we want them to be in heaven, so we're drawn out to the person even if they're our enemies. We want what's right for them and then we're willing to make sacrificial actions for them. Without the heart attraction, it isn't love. If you give all you possess to the poor and you surrender your body to the flames but do it in an unloving manner, if you don't have a heart attraction toward the person, you gain nothing. But conversely, it says in 1 John 3, "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." Biblical love work by the Spirit is my heart is knit together with another person, and then I am moved to sacrifice time, or energy, or money, or something to help them. That's what Biblical love is. "When we are converted, we are suddenly,..., transformed, rearranged, so that we are now attracted to God above all things, and to Christ, and to the word of God, and all of these things. And now, we hate sin, and evil, and darkness." Love is the chief work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the Christian, and that's what distinguishes us from demons, alright? Demons know all kinds of things about God but they don't love God, right? They've got all the theology down, they know the Bible, they've got it memorized, but they shudder. Demons shudder, and they hate God. We don't shudder. We love God, we delight in him, we yearn for him, and in the same way, delight in other Christians. It says in 1 John 4:21, "Whoever loves God must also love his brother." And we love also righteousness and hate wickedness. We love God's word, we love the truth. We love to hear about people being converted. Amen. We love to hear stories of gospel success. This is the fruit of the Spirit, love. Fruit of the Spirit: Joy Secondly, joy. Joy is an emotion, a feeling of happiness. Now, some of you are going to come and say, "Now, pastor, there's a big difference between joy and happiness." We've been through this before, joy and happiness, the difference between the two. I don't know how you can feel the difference in the feelings between joy and happiness. What I want to say is, the whole thing is, what's the basis of the happy feeling? If the basis of the happy feeling is something worldly and temporal, then it's just a temporary joy, like all non-Christians feel, and there's nothing wrong with it. The happiness that comes from eating food that you like or seeing beautiful scenery, or something that happens in your life that you're happy about, etcetera, those things are valid feelings. Now, we as Christians can give thanks to God for them and then they become acts of worship. For us, we have infinite and eternal reasons to be happy. We have eternal reasons for joy and that's something that the Holy Spirit works in us. Joy is a deep-seated happiness in God and in the things of God, the promises of God, the achievements of God, the truth of God. It makes us happy. It's an experience of pleasure, experience of delight. And I think it's mixed in with peace and no anxiety. It's just a peaceful happiness. Christian joy is infinitely better than worldly joy because it's focused on better things, on better promises. We feel joy in God's reign over the earth, and over Christ's resurrection victory. We feel joy over the salvation of other people through the Gospel. Jesus is the ultimate joy giver, isn't he? I traced through the Gospel of Luke and just saw all the different ways that I could find that Jesus produced joy in people. It started when Jesus had first been conceived. Just six months after his cousin John was conceived in his mother Elizabeth, and Jesus' mother Mary went to Elizabeth, you remember? And Mary greeted Elizabeth, and John the Baptist leapt for joy in his mother's womb just to be in the presence of the recently conceived Jesus. Jesus is the joy giver. And then, Mary herself cries out at that time, "My soul glorifies the Lord and my Spirit, what, rejoices in God my Savior." Jesus is the joy giver. And then, the angel comes the night Jesus is born and he announces to the shepherds out in the dark in hillside. He says, the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the City of David, a savior has been born for you, he is Christ the Lord." Great joy for all the people. Jesus' teaching on persecution even he said, "When they persecute you, rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way, they persecuted the prophets before you." You should leap for joy. And then, the 72 get sent out on mission and they come back after they've done all the supernatural work. And the 72 returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." They're just so happy at what God is doing by the name of Jesus. And Jesus replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." And then he said, "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and overcome all the power of the enemy, nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the demons are subject to you but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Rejoice that your name is written in heaven. And then, at that time, Jesus full of joy through the Holy Spirit said, "I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth." Jesus was teaching in John 15 about how God the Father rejoices over the salvation of a single sinner. He talked about how the shepherd found one sheep that wandered off and brought it back and he was filled with joy at that. And He said, "I tell you, in the same way, there's more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent." But no joy was like the joy that Jesus gave at the resurrection. How sweet was that? Remember when Jesus was raised from the dead and they had heard stories about the empty tomb, stories that the women had brought back and all of that, and then finally, he appears before them. And they can't understand what's happening. And it says, "When they still did not believe it," listen, "because of joy and amazement," that's the ultimate example in the Bible of something too good to be true but is too good not to be true. I mean, He has risen from the dead. And he said, "Do you have anything to eat here?" And he eats some and he said, "Look, a Spirit or a ghost doesn't have flesh and bones as you see I have." And then, when he was ascended into heaven at the end of the gospel, while he is blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven, then they rejoiced and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, says one gospel. You can go through the other 65 books of the Bible and find how God brings joy. But how sweet is that Jesus, the Holy Spirit draws your heart close to a contemplation of Christ and fills you with joy. Joy is a celebration, a deep-seated happiness, and it's going to characterize our eternity in heaven. It's happiness. It's like when your team wins a championship, only better. It's when you graduate, only it's better than that. It's when you meet the love of your life and you actually get married but it's better than that. It's when the two of you welcome your firstborn into your family but it's better than that. It's better than any earthly thing you can ever experience but it's like it. All of those little pockets of happiness, put them all in one big pool and drink from it and you haven't touched anything yet compared to what your heavenly joy is going to be like. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. Now, I think Christians should be characterized by joy. Don't say to me, "I'm joyful but I'm just not very happy today." That doesn't make any sense to me. If you can parse out the difference between joy and happiness, come and tell me, but I don't understand somebody who's telling me, they're joyful but they're just not very happy today. We can have an incredible experience of joy even in the midst of deep suffering, sorrowful sometimes, yes, but always rejoicing. Fruit of the Spirit: Peace Thirdly, peace. What is peace? It's the sense of peace and tranquility because we are in a right relationship with God. Having been justified with God, justified by faith, we have peace with God. God is not at war with you anymore. God's not your enemy, He's at peace with you and therefore, we can have an experience, a feeling of peacefulness in our lives. This is the fruit of the Spirit. The Spirit can give you peacefulness. It says in Philippians 4, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." That's peacefulness, a feeling of tranquility based on your faith and your knowing that the God who loves you, your Father who has adopted you, is sitting on a sovereign throne over the universe, and all is well with your world. And you don't need to be afraid of anything, you don't need to be anxious, you don't need to be afraid of anything. The peace of the Holy Spirit, it's a gift, a fruit of the Spirit. And it extends to peacefulness with other people. You're just peaceful with other people. You feel a feeling of peace with them. You're not squabbling with them. Remember the acts of the flesh: Discord, jealousy, fits of Rage, those kind, that's not happening. In a healthy Christian relationship, in a healthy Church, it's characterized by peacefulness, not by strife and conflict. Fruit of the Spirit: Patience Fourthly, patience, also translated long-suffering. Why would I want that? Because in this world, you will have trouble, dear friends. In this world, you will have trouble. God must use afflictions to shape you and train you. You must have pain, and without that pain, you can't grow. Pain is temporary, it's not going to be in heaven, but it's useful now, and so you need long-suffering. Greek word is Macrothumia. Long-suffering, you're waiting for a long time, humble and patient, and waiting for God to bring about what you're asking him. You're praying to him and you're crying out to him for alleviation of the pain that you're going through, but you're waiting humble under his hand. You're waiting for him to answer your prayers. You're not chafing, you're not murmuring, you're not questioning him, instead you're waiting patiently. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit, you're waiting on him. Fruit of the Spirit: Kindness & Goodness Fifthly, we have kindness. Kindness is a trait of active goodness, mingled with gentleness, there's definitely overlap in these traits. Kindness is sweet, and humble, and quiet, and loving, and good. And if you don't know what kindness is, and goodness is, my daughter was talking to me this week about goodness. What does that mean, the fruit of the Spirit is goodness? What is that? And the only way I could really answer that is say, look at Jesus, look how he was. Remember the leper that came up to him? And said, "Lord if you're willing, you can make me clean." And Jesus says with this just kindness and tenderness, says, "I am willing. Be clean." And he reaches out and touches him. That's goodness. It's just flowing from the goodness and the love of God. Remember how Moses, set up in the mountain, and said, "Now, show me your glory." And God said, "I will cause all of my goodness to pass in front of you." That kindness and goodness, that's just of the nature, the essence of God. I think about the widow at Nain, whose only son had died. And Jesus comes while the funeral procession is carrying this now deceased young man out. And Jesus stops the procession and goes up to the woman and says, "don't cry." That's kindness. We're living in an increasingly unkind culture. Have you noticed that? It's just amazing the unkindness. The sharp words, the harsh words, the prideful things, that should not characterize us. Kindness and goodness, rather, should characterize us. Fruit of the Spirit: Faithfulness Seventh, we have faith or faithfulness. Some translators go one way, some another. The fruit of the Spirit is faith. The ability to trust in God to believe him for his promises. That's possible, but I think it's more likely. The fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness on your part, that you'll be a person who keeps his or her promises. That you are committed to what you're committed to. You're going to let your yes be yes and your no, no. You are trustworthy in the Christian life. Fruit of the Spirit: Gentleness Gentleness, gentleness like kindness, like goodness, the sweet attribute of meekness, and humility, and mildness, it's based on humility. There's a gentleness like a spring breeze is blowing on your face. There's a gentleness to a Spirit-filled Christian. They're not harsh and astringent. They're not angry sounding, they're gentle. There's a gentleness like Jesus said, "A bruised reed he will not break, in a smoldering wick, he will not snuff out." He's so gentle with bruised sinners, and He's able to deal gently with us. He says, "Come unto me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am [What does he say?] gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls." The Holy Spirit can make you gentle, truly gentle. Fruit of the Spirit: Self-Control And then finally, self-control. The last two acts of the flesh were drunkenness and orgies, lack of self-control in those areas. The last fruit of the Spirit mentioned here is self-control. With self-control, a person knows when to stop, they know when to stop. They don't talk too much, they don't eat too much, they don't sleep too much, they don't get addicted to the honey of life. They eat a little honey because it's sweet, but they don't eat so much, they vomit. They know when to stop, there's self-controlled people by the power of the Spirit. They're living orderly balanced lives by the power of the Spirit. Now, the power of the fruit of the Spirit is a cumulative effect. He's producing all of these in us. The love that is joyful and also peaceful, while at the same time patient, kind toward others, good to the core of its being, faithful to all promises, gentle like a mild summer breeze, and self-controlled in the face of a world of temptations. And these qualities, these character traits in us, grow and grow as we walk by the Spirit. So 10, 20, 30 years down the line, you are more consistently characterized by these attributes. Now, Paul says in verse 23, "Against such things, there is no law." You could say at one translation would be, these things aren't illegal. Which is really humorous, when you think about, how could these things be illegal? But you think, where Christianity is illegal and all that, there are brothers and sisters that are living out this kind of life and that's not illegal. But I think, more it's the law doesn't forbid these things. We're saying to the Galatians, you, who are trying to live by the law, guess what? The law is not against these things, but the law can't produce them. The law can't make these things happen to you, the Spirit can. Hallelujah! The Spirit has the power to produce these things in us. IV. The Changed Status: We Live by the Spirit, Have Crucified the Flesh (verses 24-25) Now, we have a changed status. Look at verses 24-25, we live by the Spirit and we have crucified the flesh. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires, and we live by the Spirit. We've made a decisive break, we are done with the old nature. Sin has no mastery over us. We are in a whole new relationship with God, and we have the power now to live by the Spirit and not do these deeds of the flesh. "We are in a whole new relationship with God, and we have the power now to live by the Spirit and not do these deeds of the flesh." V. The Final Exhortation: Walk by the Spirit in Community (verses 25-26) He gives them a final exhortation, verse 25-26, "Since we lived by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited or arrogant, provoking and envying one another." The Holy Spirit is drumming out a beat in your life. And he's your drill instructor, and you need to get in behind him and march with him. And He's going to be telling you left, right, left, right. We're walking by the Spirit like it says in verse 16. Since we're walking by the Spirit, let us keep in step with what the Spirit says. In Isaiah, it says in Isaiah 30:21, "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it." And the Spirit is going to direct you how to live this kind of life that pleases God. And at the center of this is harmonious Christian community. Let's not be arrogant. Don't ever look at another person in this church and feel boastful or arrogant toward them. Don't ever be conceited toward this other person, ever. You are a sinner saved by Grace, so don't be arrogant and don't be conceited, and don't envy another person. Don't look and say, "I wish I had what she had. I wish I have what he had". Don't do that and don't provoke each other, as they were doing. Instead, let's live a life of love together in community. VI. Applications Just want to finish by giving a couple of exhortation. The whole sermon really has been application. But I want to begin this final word to you in this chapter, by pleading with you to come to Christ. I don't know where you're at, I don't know all of you. All I know is, I want all of you to be in heaven with me. I want you to be in heaven celebrating God's grace in your life. And I don't know if you're a believer. If I know you well and I've seen you walk, I know you're a Christian. But there's a lot of people I don't even recognize here. Can I plead with you, don't leave this place unconverted. You've heard the Gospel from me several times this morning. Look to Christ crucified and resurrected. Trust in Him for the forgiveness of your sins. You can't live this Christian life without believing in Jesus. This is all of it after justification. But having been justified, now I am speaking to you Christians, set the fruit of the Spirit in front of you constantly as a matter for prayer. Say, "God, produce in me by the Spirit these attributes." Husbands, look at this list and say, if you have the courage to say to your wife, "Honey, would you say that this consistently characterizes me?" It may be that she'll tell you the truth. And maybe you need to grow and say, and I don't think she'd like anything better than for you to say, "I want to be a year from now much more consistently characterized by the fruit of the Spirit than I am. Would you pray for that for me?" "Oh I'd be glad to. I'd be delighted to pray for that for you." But she should humbly ask the same question of you. Would you say that these characterizes me? You are given to each other in marriage to help each other grow in grace in the knowledge of Christ, so help each other. And do that in the fellowship, brothers with brothers, sisters with sisters in Christ. Help each other. Set this in front of you and use it as a diagnostic free stream. If something is going on at work, just run through the Fruit of the Spirit, and see if it describes you. And if the answer is no, don't blame your boss. It's not your boss fault. Repent and say, "Lord, I have strayed from this, this is not who I want to be. Bring me back. Forgive me, forgive me from my anger, my pride, my irritability. Make me a godly man, make me a godly woman." Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the time that we've had to study this incredible text. I pray that you would enrich our lives now. Empower us, help us to be characterized by the fruit of the Spirit. I pray these people walk through the winding path of our lives as we did at Monticello, that people would be able to smell the aroma of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives and praise God for how we're living, in Jesus name, Amen.

This podcast features an article from the June 2011 Hermetism issue of the Rosicrucian Digest. The Secret Sermon on the Mountain is the thirteenth tractate of the Corpus Hermeticum in the collection that has come to us through fifteenth century Constantinople. It is a dialogue between Hermes and his child Tat regarding mystical rebirth. The tractate concludes […]

Introduction One of the most poignant, powerful, and memorable expressions in the prophets is in Amos 4:12, "And now, O Israel, prepare to meet your God." Something about that just bring goosebumps. “Prepare to meet your God.” Just the word “prepare.” Get ready to meet God. Later in Matthew 25, we're going to find out that Jesus is going to invite the sheep into a kingdom He's prepared for them since the creation of the world. But we're told in this parable, the parable of the virgins, to prepare to meet our God. Jesus is going to return some day. He's going to come back in his Father's glory, He's going to come at the head of a fearsome angelic army. If there's something you need to do to get ready for that, can I urge you to do it today? I said, today, do it today because God has ordained something called “today” and a sedative part, by which we can get ready for the return of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 47, "Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: 'Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.'" Today, dear friends. Today, it's all we ever have to obey God and get ready for eternity. Today. Simply put, we can't obey God yesterday. I've said this before, but it's still true, we cannot obey God yesterday, but we can learn from yesterday, so that we can obey God today. We can learn its lessons and not just our own yesterday's, but the yesterday's of others recorded in the Bible; we can learn from the past. Yesterday is gone forever. Logged in the record books of God. We can look back and gain a heart of wisdom, I think, but all of it is for today. Similarly, we cannot obey God tomorrow. We can't ever get there. It's like that rabbit in front of the greyhounds and they chase it around the track and it never comes, because by the time it comes, it's changed its name and it's called today. We can anticipate tomorrow; we should make plans like the ant in summer lay up stores with a heart of wisdom for the future, but we can't ever get there. We can certainly make tomorrow easier by how we obey today when it finally becomes today, but our lives are made up of a series of todays. Shakespeare's Macbeth, lamenting his wife's death, speaking about the dreariness of life, passing this way, said in this famous expression, "To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time. All our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle. Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing." He sounds depressed, doesn't he? But it's not about tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow. It's about today, and today and today. So today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart. It all comes down to what you do with today. If you have something you need to do to get ready for the second coming of Christ, can I urge you to do it today? For getting ready for eternity, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back, the time of preparation will be over. What you have, then you will have, and nothing more. What you don't have, you will never have. The time for acquiring it is over. The opportunity will have ended. The Parable of the Ten Virgins Now in our parable, we have ten virgins who hope to participate in a spectacular wedding procession. They want to be part of it when the bride comes. Perhaps they've all dressed up for the occasion. Perhaps they've done their hair, procured their lamps for the torchlight procession. But five of these virgins, they're foolish, and five of them are wise. The foolish ones have not fully prepared. They're only partially prepared for the wedding procession. As a result, because of that partial preparation, they are excluded from the wedding procession and from the wedding banquet. What do you need to do today to be fully prepared for the second coming of Christ for eternity? Are you ready to face the Lord Jesus today? Are you ready to face him right now? What is the best way today for you to prepare for that glorious return? The parable of the ten virgins is given to help us to think ahead by faith for what we will need in that day. We always want to be looking at the main lesson of a parable. The main lesson of this parable is the need for constant vigilance through preparation. We get ready. We get ready and we're vigilant. We're watching. Look at Verse 13, "Therefore keep watch, be alert, because you do not know the day or the hour." Christ has repeatedly made plain, we don't know the exact time, the day or the hour of his return and of the end of the age. My sermon title, I think, says it all. Partially prepared will be eternally excluded. If you're only partially ready, then you will be shut out. As we come to this parable, I can tell you right now, it has a long history of allegorical interpretation, so we're going to have some fun with that today. I probably may be accused of allegory at the end when I try to apply it. When I actually try to make a difference in your life by connecting elements of it to your life, you may accuse me of allegory. I'll give you a sample of some allegory later on, you'll be able to judge whether I'm doing that too. But if I do it, so be it, I just want you to be ready for the second coming of Christ. I want you to get ready. What is an allegorical interpretation? It's basically works like this: every element in the parable has its own symbolic spiritual interpretation. It's like The Emperor's New Clothes kind of thing, that's the way allegory tends to work. We're going to do something different with that, and I'll get into more of those details later. The key with this parable is to get the main point, and I think that's always the most important thing with a parable. The parable is about ten virgins, five of them are wise, five of them foolish. The focus is on what makes the wise ones wise, and what makes those foolish virgins foolish, and what is the final outcome of all of it. The wise virgins were wise because they were ready when the bridegroom came, and because they were ready, they were able to enter into the banquet. They didn't miss it. The foolish ones were foolish because they weren't ready when the bridegroom came, and therefore they were not able to enter into the wedding banquet. The lesson is plain. We need to be ready now for the second coming of Christ. The bridegroom is Christ, his coming is the second coming of Christ. Jesus is urging us to get ready now and do whatever we need now to be ready for that second coming. The best thing I can do right now is to make a simple and immediate application to any that are here that have not trusted in Christ. You're not ready to face Jesus, you're not ready to meet your Maker, you're not ready to meet your God, because if you stand before him without Christ, He will show you the record book of your life, and everything in it will be sin because apart from faith, it's impossible to please God. There are no good works. I'm urging you to get ready for the second coming of Christ, to prepare by trusting in Christ, looking to Christ crucified, who shed his blood on the cross for sinners like you and me. That if we just simply trust in him, we will be completely ready for the second coming of Christ. The Biblical Context of the 10 Virgins Parable That's the best thing you can do with this message, and I'm going to return to it again without apology at the end of the sermon. Let's set this parable in its context, first of all, just its biblical context, and then I'm going to give you a cultural context, so we can understand the wedding images. First, the biblical context. Matthew 24 and 25 really go together as a match set. These two chapters are all about the second coming of Christ and events surrounding it. Going back at the beginning of Matthew 24, the disciples have been distressed by Jesus' prediction of the destruction of the temple, and by implication, of all of Jerusalem. They went to Jesus privately on the Mount of Olives and said, "Tell us, when will this happen? And what would be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" Jesus in effect spends two chapters answering that question. It's called the Olivet Discourse because it's a conversation Jesus has with his apostles on the Mount of Olives. In Matthew 24:4-14, Jesus describes in general terms, the events on Earth between the first and second coming of Christ. As things progress there, he speaks of wars and rumors of wars, of famines and earthquakes in various places, of the convulsions of a sin-sick world. He speaks of the special and vicious persecution of the church. Those that are standing up for Christ, they're going to have an especially difficult time. He speaks therefore, in connection with that, of the consistent and escalating apostasy of those who only claim to be Christians, but really aren't. When trouble or persecution comes because of the Word, they quickly fall away, and that's going to get worse and worse as time goes on. Therefore He gives an exhortation, I think very relevant even to the parable we're looking at today: “He who stands firm to the end will be saved." If God has lit a fire in you, it needs to keep burning right to the end. Dear friends, if I can just give you assurance, if he lit that fire, it will keep burning right to the end. I want to give you a word of encouragement while I also give you a word of exhortation, both sides are needful. He who stands firm to the end will be saved. This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Then He described the general flow of church history, of world history between the first and second comings of Christ. The Second Coming Jesus gets very specific, I think both about the events that surround the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and the Second Coming events that are specific to the Second Coming in the days and years right before the Second Coming. He speaks of the abomination of desolation referred to in the Prophet Daniel and I think as I made the case that that relates both to the destruction of Jerusalem and the reign of antichrist right before the second coming of Christ. And then he goes and describes in great detail the actual second coming in Verses 26 through 31 of Matthew 24. In Verse 29, he says, "Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be dark, and the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. And at that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming." That's the Second Coming right there. "They will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of the sky with power and great glory." Then the Rapture is described at that point, He sends out his angels and they gather the elect from one end of the heavens to the other. Jesus then highlights the suddenness and unexpectedness of his Coming, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father," He says, "As it was in the days of Noah, so it's going to be at the coming of the Son of Man." Life is going to go on, the life that people are aware of. They're going to say, "Where is this Coming He promised? Everything's going on as it always has." But that's the way it was in the days of the flood. People didn't know what was coming. They should have known, they should have listened to Noah's preaching, but they didn't. They weren't ready. When the flood came and swept them all away, that's the first they knew of it, and they were not ready. So we are not certain, and so we, therefore, must be prepared. He ends Matthew 24 with two parables that we looked at last week. — the parable of the thief in the night and the house owner, who, if he had known when the thief was coming, he would have gotten ready and not let his house be broken into. So you also need to be ready, you need to be prepared for the Second Coming because you don't know when it's going to come. Then he gives the parable of the chief steward in a household, a servant who's over the other servants, whose job it is to give them their food at the proper time. He says, "It's going to be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. He's going to put him in charge of all his possessions but if that servant is faithless, if he's wicked," and says, "You know, my master's staying away a long time, and he begins to beat his fellow servants and eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant," he says, “He's going to come at a time when he's not expecting him, a day he's not aware of, and he's going to cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites where there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Both of those parables tell us, be ready, be faithful. Be watchful, be faithful. Frankly, I think that's exactly what's going on in the parable of the ten virgins as well. Be watchful, be faithful. Do what you need to do now to get ready, and then be watchful. Be watchful all the time. That's the Biblical context. The Cultural Context of the 10 Virgins Parable What's the cultural context of this parable of the ten virgins? A Jewish marriage consisted generally of three parts, the first stage was the engagement, generally between the parents of the bride and the bridegroom. They would draw up a contract of an arranged marriage where, generally, the couple had no little or no direct involvement. The second stage was a betrothal ceremony. The bride and groom and exchange vows in the presence of family and friends. At that point, they were considered legally married. The relationship could only be broken by formal divorce proceedings. If the husband happened to die after the betrothal ceremony, but before the wedding feast, the woman would be considered a widow, even though their marriage had never been consummated. During this time which could be several months up to a year, the soon-to-be bridegroom would get his house ready, get his trade in order so that he could support his wife and family. That was the second stage. The third stage was the wedding feast or the wedding banquet. During the feast, the entire community would become involved, the festivity could last as long as a week. It started with the groom coming with his groomsmen to the bride's house. She would be waiting with her bridesmaids, and there would be a procession through the streets of the city, usually at night, so they would need these torches that are mentioned here. Most everybody would be invited, and so people were coming, and it would be a big festive procession. They would go to the place where the feast was and they would have that feast time, and at a certain point, when the time of feasting had reached its conclusion, a close friend of the groom would take the bride's hand and the groom's hand and put it together, and then they would go off and be alone really for the first time. The marriage would be consummated, and from then on, they would live together as husband and wife in the house that the bridegroom had prepared. You can see then in the context of this parable, the third stage, the beginning of that third stage, coming to the wedding banquet is the context for the parable that Jesus tells. Let's look at the details of this parable without any overt allegory. We’ll go through and just look at the details. I do want to apply, but I don't want to allegorize, so let's do what we can with it. First you have the virgins. Throughout medieval Roman Catholic history, they were always big on virginity, abstaining from marriage. It's very much an ideal, after Augustine especially, to avoid marriage, so priests and nuns and bishops and all that were celibate. They would use this and speak a lot about virginity, but I don't think that's what this parable is talking about. These were just young women who would have been the bridesmaids for the bride, and I think that we want to focus on that rather than specifically on the virginity aspect. The girls fall into two categories, five in each group, five of them wise and five foolish. Augustine said that the number five signifies the five senses. You're ready for some allegory? This is what it sounds like. Augustine says, "Every soul in the body is therefore denoted by the number five because it makes use of the five senses. For there is nothing of which we have perception by the body, but by the five folded gates, either by the sight, or the hearing, or the smelling, or the tasting, or the touching. Whoso then abstains from unlawful seeing, from unlawful hearing, unlawful smelling, unlawful tasting, and unlawful touching, by reason of his incorruption has gotten the name of virgin." That's a sample of allegory. I actually enjoy reading allegories, they're really imaginative and fun. But at any rate, why don't we just say it's just five of each so that we have a sense that the numbers are divided generally, and what's more significant, in my opinion, than the number five, is the descriptions of each of these groups, five of them are wise and five of them are foolish. That's really what's more important. Wisdom vs. Foolishness Frankly, Matthew is very interested with the issues of wisdom and foolishness. Matthew as a gospel writer uses more than half of the Greek expressions for wisdom in the New Testament. He is the number one wisdom writer in the New Testament. He loves to talk about wise. Jesus says, "Who then is the faithful and wise servant,” etcetera, and Matthew records these samples of wisdom. He uses more than half of the terms for foolishness in the Greek in the New Testament. A prime example of this we find at the end of the Sermon on the Mountain, when Jesus says, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Then you've got the foolish builder who builds his house on the sand. I I had time, I'd go into the remarkable parallels between the wise and foolish builders and the wise and foolish virgins in this story, it has to do with foresight. But we've got these two categories, wise and foolish. Five in each group. They're both young women, they're both waiting for the bridegroom to appear. They each have torches for the procession. The torches would have had wicks with some oil in them so that they could burn, but also oil reservoirs or receptacles that could draw or suck the oil in, somewhat like a hurricane lamp. They'd be mounted up on wooden poles so they could be carried high in the procession and light the darkened streets of the city. The wicks would have some oil in them and could burn for a little while, but couldn't continue any length of time. The whole system, of course, worked only if you had that reservoir of oil filled, and then it could burn for a good long while for the time of the procession. The essence of the foolishness seems to have been, clearly in Jesus' parable, lack of foresight. Look at Verse 3, "The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them." They had the torches, but they didn't take oil. They didn't think through what they would actually need when the bridegroom came. They had the external accoutrements. They looked like they were ready to go in the procession, but they really weren't. Hendrickson said they were careless, they were not forward-looking, they were guilty of inexcusable and senseless neglect. Conversely, the essence of wisdom here is foresight. What will we need to take part in the procession and get into the wedding banquet? Verse 5, "The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps." We're going to need not just our lamps, but we need a jar of oil, so they thought it through. Next in the parable comes the delay and the slumber. "The bridegroom was a long time in coming," it says, "And they all became drowsy and fell asleep." Once again, I think we have here pretty clear evidence Jesus is giving not only the apostles, but through them the whole church, that he's going to be a long time in coming. He's preparing the church for a long delay between the First and Second Coming of Christ. Do you see the wisdom of God in setting up the New Testament, and all of the conversations and verses about the Second Coming in which every generation of Christian has thought that the Lord would return in their lifetime? Perhaps even now. Do you see the wisdom of God in that, without him in any sense being a liar? He is, I think, hinting in the parable, "It's going to be a long time between the First and Second Comings,” and so it has been. They all become drowsy and fall asleep. What does this signify? I don't really know, I actually think we shouldn't make much of it. Clearly, both the wise and the foolish are asleep, so it really is immaterial, it's not important to the story. Some commentators say it refers to death, everybody is going to die. Maybe, maybe not. I know in the New Testament frequently death is like slumber. It could be. Then we have the coming of the bridegroom. At midnight, the cry rings out, "Here's the bridegroom, come out to meet him." The key moment that they were all focused on and looking ahead to, at least the five wise ones, has come at last. The bridegroom is coming. Can there be any doubt, as I've already said, the bridegroom and the coming of the bridegroom is Jesus Christ and the Second Coming? The midnight cry is likened to the cry of the archangel, and the trumpet call of God. "Here he comes, he's here." They all wake up and get busy, and they trim their lamps. Verse 7, "All the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps." Verse 8, "The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil. Our lamps are going out.'" The tragic lack of foresight is exposed by the coming of the bridegroom. They hadn't thought about it until then, but at that moment, they're going to see clearly what they needed, and their foolishness is exposed. They say to the wise in Verse 8, "Give us some of your oil. Our lamps are going out." Their wicks are beginning to sputter and fizzle, and they immediately realize why: They don't have a supply of oil. They turn to the others and say, "Give us some of yours." One of the keys of the parable, is that they can't share the oil. My oil is mine and your oil needs to be yours. There's some things I just can't do for you. I don't think the wise virgins were being unkind or sassy, saying, "Go find somebody who may be awake at midnight who can sell you some oil." In effect, they're saying, "Look, I care, but there's nothing I can do to help you. If I give you my oil, then I will be transferred into the foolish category, and you'll be one of the wise virgins. I can't do it. I've got enough oil for the procession, you've got to get your own." Now, what is this oil? It seems to be quite the point, isn't it? Is it time for allegory? Tell us what the oil is. Somebody told me with absolute definitiveness, "It's good works. No doubt about it." Maybe so. Note the endless diversity of opinion as to the emblematic significance of the oil, every interpreter has his own conjecture. A.B. Bruce put it this way. The oil is faith, the oil is love, the oil is giving to the poor and needy. The oil is desire for the praise of God rather than for the praise of men. Good works in general. The Holy Spirit.” We'll come back to that one. Diligence in the culture of grace. Religious joy. In short, it's anything you please. Each conjecture is purely arbitrary, one is as legitimate as the other, and the multiplicity of opinions justifies the inference that they are all alike illegitimate. I don't know that I totally agree with him, but he does bring up a valid point. How do you know which it is? In my opinion, I don't think it really much matters. Why don't we study the whole of Scripture and find out what we need to have in place when the Lord returns? Whatever it is you think you'll need, get it now. I would urge you to think that way. A.B. Bruce thinks the big problem wasn't the lack of oil, it was that the foolish virgins left and didn't enter when it was time. Interesting theory, I don't know that I agree. But at any rate, that's what they do next, isn't it? Look at Verse 10, "While they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived, the virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet and the door was shut." So they go out to find the oil. Were they successful? I have no idea. They drop out of the story for a little while. They come back in at a key moment, but I have no idea whether they came back. "Look, we've got a bunch of oil now." Apparently it's irrelevant whether they're actually able to find somebody to sell them some oil. In any case, the time for that wasn't then. Do you get that sense? That was not the time to be going and buying the oil. They should have had it when the bridegroom came. That was the time for greeting the bridegroom. So when they return, they are excluded from the feast. Verse 11 and 12, "Later the others also came, 'Sir, sir,' they said, 'Open the door for us.'" "Sir, sir" is the NIV translation for "Lord, Lord." I think it's appropriate to sticking within the parable, but isn't that striking, "Lord, Lord"? "Not everyone who says to me, Lord Lord, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do the will of my father who's in Heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doers." In this parable, he replies, "I tell you the truth, I don't know you, and you're not getting in." That door shutting, doesn't it have a ring of finality to it? Don't you just hear it ringing down over time? It's like the shutting of the door into the ark. If you're on the outside, you're dead, you're a dead man, a dead woman, the time for entering is over. Notice also in the story in Genesis who it is that shut that door. It was God who shut it, not Noah. God knows when the time is over, when the day of salvation will have ended. He knows. While the door is open, we can come in, but after the door is shut, it's done, it's finished. Application That's the parable in detail. What lessons can we draw from this parable? First of all, nominal Christianity will not save you. Nominal Christianity will be worthless on the Day of Judgment. All around the world, there is a plague on the Church called nominal Christianity or nominal Christians. These are people that have an outward form of Christianity, but there's no reality, there's no power behind it. They can talk the language of the Church, they can act like Christians, they are moral, they appear quite pious on the outside, but they are lost on the inside. Let's take Europe, for example, after Constantine's conversion. I hope it was genuine. In 312, after that, church and state were wedded together in a very dangerous and unhealthy way. Soon after that, kings started to think about advancing the kingdom by conquest, just like they'd always done. You have Clovis, the King of the Franks, being baptized and immediately the next day, 3000 of his soldiers were baptized. What a great revival, equal to the days of Pentecost. Amazing. Then he goes and he wins military victory after military victory, and just spreads the Gospel everywhere, and lots and lots of people are being baptized. Look, if you're given the choice of convert or die, what are you going to do? He's spreading nominal Christianity. Charlemagne, who I think by other accounts was a godly king and sought to advance genuine Christian instruction, fell into the same trap. When he's fighting some of these Germanic tribes, he'd go and conquer them and give them an option, "Be baptized or perish." So nominal Christianity was spreading throughout so-called Christendom everywhere. Infant baptism came in at a certain point, I think, and kind of settled that into these churches, and state-run churches just guaranteed a bunch of nominalism. After the Reformation, every prince who was in charge of his own region got to say what everyone in his region was, if the prince was Catholic, everybody was Catholic, and if the prince was Lutheran and everybody was Lutheran. So you have in Italy, nominal Roman Catholics, you have in England, nominal Anglicans, in Scandinavia and Germany, you have nominal Lutherans, in eastern countries, you have nominal orthodox people, nominalism everywhere. But it's not just out there, is it, dear friends? No, it's here in America, too. There are nominal Baptists that go through the name and the outward appearance of what it takes to be a Baptist. It takes a little bit more than an infant baptizing kind of nation-state, but if you can go through that route, you can profess Christ, convince a pastor, get water baptized, you can be a nominal Christian. The Baptist churches are filled with them. And not just Baptists, but Presbyterians, it's everywhere. Paul, I think, comments on this whole issue in 2 Timothy 3:5, when he speaks of those who have a form of godliness but deny its power. Oh, dear friends, what is the power of godliness? You need to have a burning desire for godliness inside. You need to have the fire of true Christianity burning inside you, and not just a form or an outward show. It will do you no good. Like the foolish virgins, they meet the outward profile of a virgin about to take part in the procession. They've got the dress, they've got the torch, they've got maybe their hair done, they look like all the others, they're just there, they're all in the same place, they're all mingled together, but they don't have what's really needed to take part in the procession. They have the outward show, but not the inward reality. They're going through the motions. The wise virgins represent those who have the outward forms of the Christian life, but there's a genuine life in them: Bible reading, prayer, Christian conversation, church attendance, spiritual gift ministry, care for the poor and needy, involvement in missions. For the wise virgins, this is a true principle of grace acting out through their physical bodies and their physical lives. Christ is in all of it. He's alive in their actions, he's alive in their Bible reading, he's alive in their prayer lives. When they reach out to the poor and needy, it as though Jesus Christ himself were reaching out. There's just a living principle in the wise virgins. But there's just a deadness to the foolishness here. There's no life in the external show, it's not genuine. So therefore, get the real thing. How's that? The real life of God in your soul. Be alive to God through Jesus Christ. Be alive to God through faith in Christ. Today is the day of salvation. It says in 2 Corinthians 6:2, "In the time of my favor, I heard you. In the day of salvation, I helped you. I tell you, now is the time of God's favor." This, today is the day of salvation. Jesus Christ shed his blood for sinners like you and me. He died on the cross, not for his own sins, for he had none, he was the sinless lamb of God, but he died in our place. If you look to him in faith, you'll be forgiven of all of your sins. If you look to him in faith, he will give you the indwelling Holy Spirit, and that indwelling Holy Spirit will come as an operative power and force in your life and change everything. You will become a new creation in Christ, and you'll live a different life, You'll live the internal journey of holiness. You're going to grow more and more like Christ. You're going to be on that external journey of caring whether other people come to Christ too, and seeing the advance of the Gospel. Today is the day of salvation, and friends, today is also the day of preparation. It's not just for justification that He's given us today. If you're genuinely Christian, maybe you've been so for decades, you were justified decades ago, but you've had a lot of todays since then. What were they for? Were they not for doing the good works that God had prepared in advance for you to do? Isn't that what they're for, that you would be active in doing what God wants you to do every day? Faith by itself, if it's not accompanied by works is dead [James 2:17]. Why is that word spoken to us? So that we would have a living faith that produces the good works God has ordained for us to do. Today is the day to do the ministries God's prepared for you to do today. Today is the day for you to use your spiritual gifts in the church. Today is the day for you to lead people to Christ as the Lord gives you opportunity. In Mack Stiles’ ministry, he takes people like me and maybe like you who don't really enjoy evangelism and struggle with it and all of that, and teach us what kind of people we ought to be, not so much a technique we ought to acquire. Isn't that wonderful? If you get a chance to come listen to him tonight, please do it. But what a blessing that is. But today's the day, today is the day for you to disciple your children, speak the words of heaven to them. This is against procrastination. Do you get that sense? For the second straight week, we've got a strong message here against procrastination. Don't put off going and buying the oil. If you need something, go get it today. Allegory alert, allegory alert. The oil of the Holy Spirit. Look, the whole problem with allegories is for the allegorist to tell you, "This is what it is, and if you don't see it, you're not as holy as I am." I'm not saying that. Let's somewhat step aside from the parable a bit and talk about the oil of the Holy Spirit because it is the Holy Spirit, the indwelling Spirit, that gives the fire to the Christian life and sustains it day after day after day. I think about the image in Zechariah 4 of a seven-fold lantern that's burning, a golden lamp stand with oil flowing through pipes to keep the lamps burning. The lesson of that image of the burning oil lamp was given in Zechariah 4:6. "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: 'Not by power, nor by might, but by my Spirit, says the Lord.'" What that's saying is, "Don't try to drum up your own strength and your own power. You can't do it. But by the Spirit, your fire will keep on burning." What does this says to me? It's a lesson of perseverance. He who stands firm to the end will be saved. Didn't the foolish virgins say, "Our lamps are going out"? They were lit, but then they went out. I don't believe anyone can lose their salvation, I'm not pressing that detail. I'm just saying those that continue to burn are truly saved, because there's a reservoir of grace, a reservoir flowing to you. If you're genuinely a Christian, if you're a child, a son or daughter of the living God, he who lit the fire in you will keep it burning until the day of Christ Jesus. He's going to feed you what you need. Do you feel like you're flickering sometimes? I do. Like the fire is about to go out. Think of this in Matthew 12, "A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out until he leads justice to victory. In his name, the nations will put their hope." Put your trust in Jesus. If you feel like you're drifting from Jesus, come back and say, "Lord, give me that Holy Spirit again. Empower me. Fill me. Forgive me for my sins. I'm sorry for the way I've been living. I want to be close to you, Jesus. Fill me again." And He will, as it says in Psalm 23, restore your soul. Do you need your soul restored? I need a reservoir and I need it flowing. Let me close with this illustration I've used before, but it fits so perfectly. It's from Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. He's at the interpreter's house.The interpreter or a pastor, I think, is showing Christian, a standard Christian on the journey from the City of Destruction to heaven, the Celestial City, the things he'll need for his journey. There are different vignettes, different allegories or parables really, and one of them is of a fire burning against a wall. There's this hearth that’s burning, and there are men on two sides of the wall. The man on the left side is pouring water into the fire to try to put it out, but the man behind the wall is feeding oil in the bottom, keeping the fire burning. So Christian says to Interpreter, "What means this?" He said the fire is the work of grace in the Christian's heart. The man trying to pour water on the fire to put it out is the devil. The one behind the wall feeding oil into the bottom is Christ feeding grace to keep the work of grace alive in the Christian soul. No matter what the man with the water can do, he can't put that fire out because the oil is flowing in that Jesus is putting in. Why is he behind the wall? Because it is not always obvious to the Christian how Jesus is sustaining your faith and your grace, but if you're truly a child of God, He's feeding the oil in. He's the endless reservoir. You get connected to Christ through genuine repentance and faith, He'll keep you alive until he returns.

You dont necessarily have to be somebody who follows the stock market or Wall Street to be aware of what happened in our country in the 90s, early 2000. A company named Enron really took off-an energy company that thought outside the box. They diversified the kinds of energy they dealt with. They would use innovative ways to draw investors into the market, really capitalizing on the internet as no other company had done. They made billions of dollars and thousands for their investors. Their stock climbed and had a great rate of return, so they became this paradigm for how to do business in the 90s. In fact, Fortune Magazine-six years in the running-said they were the most innovative company in America. Then, in 2001, the empire came crashing down. It turns out they were not a rich, successful company at all. What they were doing was hiding money in offshore companies, hiding their losses. Then, a reputable accounting firm, Arthur Anderson, was working with them. They were presenting books to the public and to their investors that were inaccurate. They were actually hurting. They then began to encourage their investors to buy stock, their company employees to buy stock, while they-the big wigs, the executives, were selling theirs because they knew of the impending disaster. So this entire insider trading went on while they sold their stock. Then, of course, the company went bankrupt. The stock plummeted to about a dollar a share. People lost their entire life savings. It was not insured. Retirement was gone; college funds were gone, everything. To this day, theyre still fighting to get some of the money back. There have been indictments; some people went to prison. There has been some justice that was merited out, but it was a wake up call to the business world, to investors. It was an example of what greed will do and what selfishness will do-that someone would put their own family and their own needs ahead of an entire company. They really could have cared less [about] the working man who kept the company going. They ruined his entire retirement. As long as they were fat and sassy, they were okay. It was just a sad story. Thats a true story; however, what Im going to say to you right now is not a true story. This is fictitious, but I want you to imagine what if there had been a congressional hearing. Enron executives came, those who had thought up the scheme and carried it out came, and then those who were the investors-the innocent parties, the victims-also came before Congress. Testimony was heard for days and weeks. Finally, the gavel was hit on the table, and the one who ruled over the meeting said, We find that Enron is guilty. We are going to pursue legal action. There are going to be indictments, and people are going to go to prison. We want you to know that youve done wrong. There is coming a day of reckoning. Youre living high in the land now, but there will come a day when youre going to pay the fiddler. You people who have lost everything, we promise you-we guarantee you-youll get back everything youve lost. Were going to give you back interest too. Your sorrow is going to turn to joy when you get that fat check in the mail. Youre going to have a happy ending because were going to see to it that you do. If you had been in that room that day-if this had taken place-those same words would have been both good news and bad news, depending on what side of the fence you were on. If you were one of the investors, that would have been really good news. If you were one of the swindlers, that would have been really bad news. Its a wake-up call that accountability is coming. Jesus in Luke 6 is going to say some words that for some are really good news and for others are a wake-up call. There is an accountability-there is a reckoning-coming. This is called The Sermon on the Plain. It sounds like The Sermon on the Mountain a little bit because it talks about the Beatitudes; but if you compare the two, the Beatitudes in Matthew are different than the ones in Luke. Instead of preaching from a mountain, Hes on a plain. This is called the Sermon on the Plain, and its the first time Jesus and the 12 Apostles are together as a team. Prior to this Jesus has either been by Himself or with a few, but now He goes into a mountain and prays all night on the mountain. He comes down and He chooses twelve. He appoints them as His Apostles. Then they begin as the team of Jesus and the 12 Apostles for the first time right here. So this is the first teaching out of the blocks as that team that were so familiar with. In Verse 17 (of Luke 6, page 1020 of pew Bibles), He went down with them and stood on a level place… Thus, the Sermon on Plain. A large crowd of His Disciples was there and a great number of people all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch Him, because power was coming from Him and healing them all. So, this is a hurting group; this is a needy group that has assembled to meet Jesus. (Continuing on page 1021, Verse 20), Looking at His Disciples, He said: Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in Heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets. When we talked about these Beatitudes, the first thing we need to talk about is what this word blessed means because He uses it four times. Its a significant word. Its saying something they are, and we need to understand what it is. As often times is the case, in the original languages, there are several words that translate into our language as a common word. Love, for instance: we read the word love, but if you look in the Greek, it could be a different word. It could be Phileo; it could be Agape. It could be Eros. The same thing is true with this word, bless. There are two dominant words in the Greek for the word blessed. They mean two different things. When its translated into our language, it simply says blessed or blessing. Its the same word for us, but its really a different word that was used. The first word, and the most common-when we think of a blessing-is Eulogeo. That means to pronounce a blessing, to be blessed. Its a verb; its an action. That word was used when Jesus broke bread. He blessed the bread and broke it. It was used when He came into Israel, and they said, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. It was used when Mary went to Elizabeth, and she said, Blessed are you among women and blessed is your womb. That was the word. It meant divine favor, a verb of action-a blessing of somebody. Thats not the word He uses here. Thats the word we would think He would use, but Hes actually not using that word. Hes using a different word. Hes using the word happy. Now, its accurately translated as blessed. Thats an accurate translation, but it is an adjective, not a verb. It is talking about a state of mind, a state of being-an emotion. Jesus says, Happy are you. Ive heard this taught many times through the years that we shouldnt use the word happy or we shouldnt be happy. We instead want to have joy. Have you heard that? A few of us have heard that. Its not necessarily a bad teaching, but we should not teach happiness as thought its taboo either or some sort of Christian swear word we should avoid, Dont say happy. Thats based on circumstances. This word happy [is used for] circumstances, so if its happiness, that changes with circumstances and emotion. Joy, thats a constant regardless of the circumstances. Its true, but here Jesus said, Be happy or have happiness, so it cant be a bad thing, right? I have a friend who has Christian swear words. His name is Greg Speck. Hes a youth minister. If he hits his thumb with a hammer, hell say dance! or cigarettes! He even invented a word called ginortenfortz. He likes to play basketball, and he fouled somebody. He got mad at the ref and said, I got ginortenfortz. The ref said, What did you say? Ginortenfortz. Oh, okay? I guess. So thats what I think of when I think of the word happy. Oh, dont say that! like its some sort of bad word. Its okay to be happy, Jesus says. Its okay to have the emotion of happiness because in this situation, that emotion is based upon facts that do not change. Theyre based upon a God who does not change. He says, If this is your mindset, you will have the emotion of happiness. This is translated here, accurately, blessed. It is another word for the word blessed, not the one we would normally think of, but accurate nonetheless. Whats interesting is who He says is blessed. Youd think the people who are blessed would be the people who are rich, well-fed, happy, and well-liked. Jesus says, Blessed are the poor; blessed are those who weep; blessed are those who are hungry; blessed are those who are hated. How in the world can that be? Well talk about it in just a few moments, but what I want you to get right now is a different mindset because Jesus is teaching a radical thing here. Jesus is teaching a different mentality, a different way to see the world-a different way to look at the world. Since it is the weekend of Memorial Day, we remember our soldiers and the Military who fought and died for our country, for our freedom. Were going to take a look at an elite group right now of people who pit their lives on the line for humanity. Lets take a look at this, and then well talk about their mindset. This is from the movie, The Guardian. They didnt get paid much money, and there was a very good chance they would die at sea-slowly, cold and alone. Where do we sign up? Theyre saying sign me up because they see the cause. They see a bigger picture. Theyre living for something greater than themselves. Jesus, here, is going to deal with the hurting. Hes going to get them to see that something greater than themselves is at stake here. Notice who Jesus is talking to because thats really the key. If you dont catch whom He is talking to here, then you might read these words and think, Oh, its good to be poor. Oh, its good to be hungry. Its good to cry. Its good to be hated and rejected. Thats not what He was saying at all. Notice in Verse 20, He says, Looking at His disciples, He said… Who was He speaking to here? His followers. The first thing I notice when I read this passage is it communicates to me that even followers of Jesus will struggle in life. Even followers of Christ will experience hardship and loss. Its diverse too, isnt it? Its talking about the poor, financial hardship; he talks about those who are sad-emotional hardship; those who are hungry-physical hardship; those who are hated and rejected-mental hardship. Followers of Christ will suffer. There is a group or a school of thought that is called the Prosperity Gospel. They teach you that if you are a person of faith, youll never suffer or never go through loss. Everything is always going to be great. Everything you touch will turn to gold. Youll always be healed, and everything is always going to be wonderful and rosy in your life. Who lives that kind of life for long? Jesus and the Disciples certainly didnt live that kind of a life. Who am I to think that I should live that kind of a life? Thats not what God promises in His Word. God says, Reality check here. This life can be hard, and you will experience some struggles, but Jesus also says in this passage, God has the last word. He says, Just as sure right now as youre hurting, yours is the Kingdom of God. Just as real right now as youre suffering, you should rejoice because you belong to Me, and great is your reward in Heaven. Jesus says, Number 2: God has the last word. God is in charge. He says, Thirdly, what you see is not the end of the story. There is a bigger picture here. There is something we are working for, and in, and with, and that is the Kingdom of God, and it is eternal. There is going to be partial fulfillment of these Beatitudes here, but there is going to be ultimate fulfillment in Heaven. Jesus says, Thirdly, have a Kingdom mindset. See the big picture. Recognize, just as we saw the Coast Guard here: Yeah, youre not going to be paid much money here; yeah, youre putting your life at risk, but see the big picture. You are working to save lives. What a great cause that is! Jesus is saying, Understand the big picture. See the kingdom in the midst of your suffering! It reminds me of the passage we looked at weeks ago; maybe it was the Clinker Brick series. Remember what an irritant the Apostles were to the Sanhedrin, the men who wanted to shut them up? Remember Peter and John on their way to Solomons Colonnade? Thats where the early church used to meet. They didnt just meet in homes; they also met in a large group. They met in Solomons porch in the temple. They would meet there, and miracles would take place. Preaching would take place. Salvation would happen. They called them in and said, Stop preaching in that name. They didnt. They went back out and continued to do it, and more miracles took place. They called them in a second time, put them in jail and said, Youre going to have a trial tomorrow. Youre in trouble. During the night, and angel came and released them from prison. They left. The guards came in the morning. Peter and John were gone. A meeting was assembled, and they said, What are we going to do? Theyre gone! A guy looks out the window and says, Dont worry. Theyre back at it again! Right there they are. They go and get them a third time and bring them in. This time, they beat them. They flogged them. They stripped them of their robes, they took out a whip, and they beat their flesh. What does the Bible say they do on their way back? Do they get mad? Do they cuss? They dance! I cant believe this happened to me! Is that what it means to be a Christian? Are they crying? No, the Bible says in Acts 5, theyre rejoicing! Theyre happy! Why? Because they had been considered worthy to suffer for His name. Thats what Jesus is talking about here. Yeah, you will go through hardship, but God has the last word. God is in control, and its important that you see the Kingdom-you see the whole picture and know what God is up to. [You shouldnt think only] of what is here on earth, not just whats temporary, but look at life through the lens of eternity. Before we move on to these four woes here, before Jesus changes gears, I want us to watch a unique media. This media is more something we read, meditate and reflect on. It is really a summation of what weve been talking about, so just kind of let this soak in. Just have a mediation time here, and then well continue in Luke here in just a moment. Lets go ahead and show that. Now, were going to have Jesus talking to the Enron folks, the fatcats. Remember there are two kinds of people who are there that day. There are the Disciples, and there is the crowd-the onlookers, the curious. Many of them have lifestyles that definitely dont please the Lord. If you were there that day, you would know when He was talking to you. You knew when He was talking to His followers, and you knew when He was speaking to those who were not [His followers]. These four woes are not meant to be this is just the way it is. This is fate. This is your end. These are meant to be warnings. These are meant to be wake-up calls to do an about face with their lives. Verse 24 (still in Luke 6, page 1021), But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets. If you dont understand the context, you might think Jesus is saying, Bad to have money, bad to have food, bad to be happy, and bad to be well liked. But what Jesus is talking about here is a consumer mentality. Hes talking about a person who is self-absorbed. Theyre not thinking about the Kingdom; theyre not thinking about others. Theyre thinking only of themselves. Its like the Enron executives who could have cared less what happened to the rest of the people, investors, as long as they had their wealth. That was all that mattered. So Jesus speaks to that consumer mentality, that me-ism that puts self first. That is certainly our culture. We live in a very self-centered culture, and Madison Avenue plays to that. Its easy to do because thats our bend. There is not a lot of ba-ba sharing going on in that nursery. There arent a lot of babies going, Oh, are you hungry? Did you not have breakfast? Heres mine. Did you like this toy? Sure, Im done playing with it. You play with it for a while. Thats not taking place back there. Its every baby for him or herself. Its a baby-eat-baby mentality. We have to teach how to share and teach how to give because it doesnt come naturally to us. Jesus is speaking to these people who have never grown up. All they care about is their own belly, their own popularity, their own name and fame. He says, You know what? There is coming a wake-up call for you. Anybody who trusts in riches, anybody who trusts in themselves, anybody who trusts in this life alone-everybody who does that has a wake-up call. One day, their fatcat lifestyles are going to be over. Theyre going to recognize that there is accountability. Theyre going to recognize there is responsibility. Theyre going to know there is a God that they answer to. Their joy is going to turn to sorrow. Anytime you get a wake-up call like that, its a hard thing, but hopefully its a good think for people. I know when I think of somebody who is selfless, somebody who could care less about the spotlight, somebody who basically lives only for the joy of others and gives all their possessions away, I dont know about you, but I always think of Paris Hilton (congregation laughing). In case you havent been following the news, this socialite, this heiress, was on probation with the law. While she was on probation, she received a DUI. She went before the judge, and of course, her defense was Im Paris Hilton. That was basically it. You know who my dad is. You know who I am, so give me a fine. Ill pay it, and Ill go home. The judge had the audacity to uphold the law and sentence her to jail, which I think she starts serving very soon here. They appealed to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, to set her free. The mother protested, This is unfair. She protested. The judge basically said, I dont care who you are, and I dont care who your father is. I dont care how much money you have. You drove while intoxicated. You were on probation. You violated the law, and heres what you get. Youre going to go to jail. That was a wake-up call. There were tears and mourning. The judge said, Youre accountable. Youre a citizen like everybody else. When somebody else does what you did, they go to jail, and so will you. Jesus gives a wake-up call here. A lot of these people remembered Matthew or Levi. He just comes to the Lord, and he invites his friends over. I bet you some of those people are there, some of these fatcat tax collectors. Jesus gives them a wake-up call and says, Listen! You have a responsibility! Theres something called the Kingdom of God. Right now youre living for the kingdom of self. You think you have the world by the tail, but youre going to find out that tail is attached to a tiger, and it will devour you. Woe to you who are well fed. Woe to you who are popular. Woe to you. Wake-up call time. Jesus still preaches this sermon. Did you know that? He preached it this morning, the Sermon on the Plain. Its still being preached. Every time somebody reads these words, Jesus is preaching this sermon. Guess who is listening? The same two groups of people: the Disciples and the crowd. It still encourages the Disciples, and it still challenges the crowd. You know who it also challenges? It also challenges the Disciples because sometimes you and I forget what it means to be a Christian. This passage causes us to reevaluate our faith. For some of us, our Christianity basically means we know the right answers. When somebody asks us a theological question, we know the answer. We maybe can even turn to the right page and quote it. Our Christianity is our knowledge. For some of us, our Christianity is defined by this: that we come together once a week and huddle up-either on a Saturday or Sunday morning. We sing some songs. We pray. We hear the Word, and we go home. This is our essence of our Christianity. So we say, What does it mean to be a Christian? Well, you go to church. Well, this is an important aspect of our faith, but its simply an aspect. What Jesus called the church to be and do was to be world changers. Remember in the Sermon on the Mount? It was kind of like the sister sermon of this in Matthew 5? He said, Youre salt. Youre light. Let your light shine before men. Salt gets on what it is called to preserve. Were called to be in the world. We get out of the salt shaker and get in the world. We come here and get equipped and prepared to go out and be ministers. We have the Kingdom responsibilities beyond sitting in a church for an hour on Sunday. So, I start to evaluate my life. I think of our church. I think of the good things we do, but is it enough? Could we-and should we-do more? Lets pray together: Father, we just come before You now, and were simply asking for wisdom. I pray for wisdom for myself and wisdom for our leaders, our elders, our trustees as we make decisions. We dont want to go ahead of You, neither do we want to go behind You, neither do we want to inhabit-in fact we cant. Your purposes will be accomplished. I pray that You would clearly lead this church, that we would know Your purposes and walk in them. God, we just ask You for Your will. Father, as we reflect upon this Scripture, we think of this sermon, which is still very much being preached to the same two groups. To the believers who are struggling, You still speak encouragement. You still say to Your Disciples, yes, in this world you have troubles. You have struggles, loss and hardship, but God has the last word. You still encourage us to be Kingdom-minded, Kingdom-focused, not just on what is temporary-what is seen. Father, You still speak to the other group, to the fatcats-rich, sassy, and lazy. In America, in the eyes of the world, were those fatcats. We have a consumer mentality, a me-first mentality. Lord, I pray that it would not be so in the church. I pray that in the church, we would be about the Kingdom, using our gifts, our passions, our talents, for the good of the Kingdom and for the good of humanity. I pray that we would live for a cause greater than ourselves. That cause is the Kingdom of God. Lord, if there are any who feel like they fall under that second charge, the woe, I pray that Your Holy Spirit would give them a wake-up call, let them know and speak to their hearts. I pray that they would change. I pray they would repent and follow after Your Kingdom. Thank You for teaching us this morning, for challenging us, for leading, guiding, and for providing. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Surveying the Terrain Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5. We're going to be continuing our series this morning in Matthew's gospel, and we reach the Sermon on the Mount. We are not going to exhaust all the truth that there is in the Sermon on the Mount. I've been thinking about it carefully for 13 years, and I still have not exhausted all that God wants to do in my life through these three chapters. This is powerful stuff, folks. It's the kind of stuff that'll change you from within. And that's been my prayer all week, that the Sermon on the Mount, as we begin to preach through it and begin to consider today, will change First Baptist Church from inside. All my life, I've been attracted to mountains. There's something about mountains that just excites me. When I was a child, I used to climb in the White Mountains in New Hampshire with my dad. It was one of our outings that we would make every year. We'd climb up Mount Washington or Mount Adams, and my favorite part would be late in the day. We'd have pitched our tent just below the tree line, and we'd go above the tree line and look down, and see all the surrounding countryside. We'd see the Kancamagus Highway, and we'd see the river that flows down through there. If it was fall, you could see rolling hills of oranges and reds. You could see the sunset. Because what you get for all your labor as you're climbing up the mountain is you get perspective. You're able to look down and see things that otherwise you would never be able to see. Jesus invites us now, as his disciples, to come up on the mountain with Him and get perspective. But, it's not on the terrain that surrounds us. It's on the terrain of the human character. What does God love in a human heart? That's what we get out of the Sermon on the Mountain. That's what we're going to see. A Challenging Passage The Sermon on the Mount has challenged Christians for generations, for hundreds of years. I remember reading recently about King Henry VIII's personal physician, Thomas Linacre. He decided that he was going to change his profession. He was not going to be the personal physician of the king anymore, so he gave up his position in court and he began training for the ministry. He was ordained in 1520, and he began reading the New Testament in Greek. He was a scholar. He read it carefully for the first time. He'd never seen it before. But when he came to these three chapters, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, he became so challenged, so frustrated, that he tossed the Book away and said, "If this is the Gospel, then none of us are Christians." That was the conclusion he came to. Four hundred years later, another physician to the King of England, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a man who turned his back on his ministry as a physician and went into the ministry as a preacher of the Word, one of the greatest preachers God has ever put on this planet, came to a similar conclusion. He said, "The Sermon on the Mount crushes me to the ground again and again. But after the crushing is over, it raises me up." That's the beauty, the perfection, the power, of the Sermon on the Mount. Our Need When I was first starting as an engineer, I worked in something called a "wet metallization lab." Now, some of you perhaps aren't familiar with that. I wasn't that familiar with it. Still, really, I'm not that familiar with it, but I know it's used in making semiconductors. What it does is it coats things with gold or with some other metal a little bit at a time, a layer at a time. Well, the woman who was the technician asked me if I had anything that I wanted coated with gold. At the time, I had a medallion I wore around my neck, and I said, "Here, can you coat this?" She said, "Sure.” She put it in there, it was in there for a little while, and it came out glistening, shining with gold. It was just beautiful. And I said, "Wow, I really thank you for doing that. Are you sure this is okay? I mean, this is kind of expensive." She says, "Not as expensive as you think." Over the next week, I saw what she meant, as almost all the gold had rubbed off on my shirt or on my chest. It was all gone. Then I realized I didn't owe her that great a debt of gratitude. As I look at Christianity today in America, I feel like it's like that, a thin layer of gold over unregenerate hearts, people who have never been changed by the Gospel. I think there's all kinds of polls that say, I don't know how many people, 80% claim to be born-again, and yet we see this decaying spiral in our society. How is it possible? I think these three chapters hold some of the answer for us. These three chapters. Prophet, Priest, and King In the Old Testament times, there were three important people who challenged Israel to lead godly lives. The three people were the Prophet, the Priest, and the King. Taking them backwards, Matthew has been at pains from the beginning of this gospel to present Jesus as the King of Israel. You remember in Matthew chapter 1, he begins with the genealogy which proves that Jesus Christ fulfills the prophecies and that He is the King who was prophesied. He is our King. As believers in Jesus Christ, we focus (rightly so) on Jesus' ministry as our Priest. He offered His body as a sacrifice on the cross, poured out His lifeblood to take away our sin, to stand in the way of God's wrath so that we might not have to suffer judgment. On the third day, he was raised again. He presented His blood, spiritually, as our atoning sacrifice. Jesus is our priest. But I think of the three, we neglect the ministry of Jesus as our Prophet. We don't think carefully about the words He spoke and how they are meant to transform our lives. We don't listen to His sermons. We ought to let Jesus preach to us. We ought to let Him talk to us and tell us what we are to think, how we are to feel, and on what basis we're going to be judged. You get nowhere, in all the gospels, a larger chunk of Jesus preaching than you do here in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Greatest Preacher of All Time We have received a heritage of great preaching, haven't we? In the 20th century, we look to Billy Graham, Southern Baptist preacher. He's spoken through technology, through satellites, through air travel, to more people than any preacher in the history of the church. In the 19th century, there was Charles Spurgeon who, before he was 20 years old, was preaching to tens of thousands in London and transforming lives all over that country. In the 18th century, we saw George Whitfield who, as I'd talked to the new members class about earlier, crossed the Atlantic Ocean 13 times in a sailing vessel. Can you believe that? He took his life into his hands to preach the Gospel on both sides of the Atlantic. He was the human instrument of bringing in the great awakening. One of the greatest preachers of all time. In the 17th century, we saw a Baptist preacher named John Bunyan who wrote Pilgrim's Progress, the book that has been translated out of English into other languages more than any other book in the history of the English language. John Bunyan, a powerful preacher, was just a simple man. One of the most important period theologians in the time, John Owen, was talking to the king about John Bunyan. John Bunyan was just a blue-collar worker, everyday guy, great preacher. The king said, "Ah, he's just a tinker, he just works with his hands,” and the godly John Owen said, "Would it please the king, I would tell you this. I would trade all my learning for just a fraction of that man's power in the pulpit." That was John Bunyan. In the 16th century, we saw Martin Luther, who transformed all of history by his preaching. I tell you that there is a preacher here today who is greater than Billy Graham, greater than Charles Spurgeon, greater than George Whitfield, greater than John Bunyan, greater than Martin Luther, or all of them put together, and that is Jesus Christ, the greatest preacher of all time. I get the image here of King Solomon in all his royal robes. Can you picture Solomon coming into his kingly court? And there'll be people from all different lands who had come to hear his wisdom. Solomon's reputation had gotten around. He could answer any question you put to him. Questions about botany or about different kinds of animals, about science and technology. He could answer anything because of the special gift of wisdom that God had given him. So imagine Solomon coming in at the appointed hour, turning around, sitting down on his throne and holding court. Then the Queen of the South coming and testing him with difficult questions, and she was astonished at his wisdom. Jesus talked about that story, do you remember? He said, "The Queen of the South... came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here," (Matthew 12:42) referring to Himself. Jesus was the greatest preacher that ever lived. There's a story of Jesus' enemies. They sent some temple police to go arrest him. Do you remember the story in John 7? So the temple police went to call Him in. They were under orders. They were going to arrest Him and they were going to try Jesus for blasphemy. They went and listened for a while, and they came back empty-handed. Do you know why? They said, "Why didn't you bring Him in?" They answered, "No one ever spoke the way this man does." (John 7:45-46) It's still true today. Jesus is the greatest preacher that ever lived. We need to listen to the Sermon on the Mount as from the greatest preacher who ever lived, God's messenger, God's prophet. “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son... The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.” (Hebrews 1:1-3) He is the one who's going to preach to us today. And we need to listen to that message. Importance of the Sermon on the Mount I think never before, in all church history, have we needed to listen to the Sermon on the Mount as we do today. Why? It's because of that thin veneer that I see in my heart and in Christianity as a whole. I don't want that kind of faith in Christ. I want one that reaches deep to my heart, don't you? Don't you want a genuine faith in Jesus Christ? Listen to the Sermon on the Mount. Listen to what He has to say. The Sermon on the Mount drives us to Jesus Christ for the new birth. It points us to the need that we have for faith in Jesus Christ more than any other passage of Scripture. When you go through the precepts of the Sermon on the Mount, if you make it through unscathed, then I fear for your soul. If you get through and you say, "Check, check, I can do that, check, yep, that's me," right on down the line, then I fear for your soul. You're self-deluded. I remember, I used to do telephone evangelism up in Massachusetts. That's in lieu of door-to-door. They don't like you going door-to-door in Massachusetts, but they'll tell you anything over the phone. They'll tell you their marriage struggles, they'll tell you anything, because it's somewhat impersonal and a little bit safe. I used to talk to people about faith in Christ, and this one woman told me, "I just try to live by the Sermon on the Mount." I said, "How are you doing?" She said, "Very well." I said, "Have you read the Sermon on the Mount?" She said, "Oh, yes." Matthew 5:48 says, "You... must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect." Hmm. Check? Do you meet that test? Are you perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect? Well, no one's perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect. Amen. The Beginning Let's go back to the beginning. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." (Matthew 5:3) Do you want to come into the Kingdom of Heaven? You don't come in as a rich man; you come in as a beggar. You come in saying, "I can't do this. This isn't me." That's how it all starts. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." And then you begin to mourn. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." (Matthew 5:4) Why are you mourning? You're mourning because of sin. You're broken over it. It's not so much that God is going to comfort you in the loss of a loved one. He does that, but that's not what this is about. This is about mourning over sin. It's mourning because you're poor in spirit. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in spirit, pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you, when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the light and the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It's no longer good for anything except being thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people put a lamp under a bowl after they light it, instead they put it up on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father, who is in Heaven." (Matthew 5:4-16) Flying Over I recited the entire Sermon on the Mount to myself this week, and do you know how long it is? It's 13 minutes and 20 seconds. I was thinking about preaching the whole thing to you this morning. You'd say, "Well, we didn't get any preaching." Oh, you got preaching from the greatest preacher who ever lived. But I'm not going do that. Instead, I'm going to give you a helicopter view. I'm going to fly over these three chapters. We're going to look at the whole forest, and then we're going to go back and start looking, over the next few weeks, at the individual trees. If you don't see the whole forest, you're going to miss the trees. You're going to get blown away by "turn the other cheek," (Matthew 5:39) or "if someone sues you and wants to take your tunic, let them have your cloak as well." (Matthew 5:40) You're going to say, "I can't do that." Well, you have to start at the beginning and go through. This sermon is put together perfectly by the greatest preacher who ever lived. So we're going to fly over it. I saw an IMAX movie once about the space shuttles that flew around the Earth, and it was a one-hour trip over the entire globe. Walter Cronkite was talking as we moved, and so you get this bird's-eye view of the entire thing. That's what I would kind of like to do this morning with the Sermon on the Mount. True Happiness The Sermon on the Mount drives us to Christ, and it also shows us the pattern, God's pattern, for true happiness. Do you know that people all over the country, all over the world, are looking for happiness? What's really sad, what's really challenging, is that they are seeking for it in ways that are destined to make them miserable. This is God's path to happiness. You want to know what happiness is all about? It's right here. The last Old Testament prophet was Malachi. We talked about him when we talked about John the Baptist, do you remember? Malachi is set at the very end of the Old Testament. If you were to flip back there, just a few pages, just turn until you get to... On my Bible, I have this little page, this big white space here that says "New Testament," it means "new covenant," God's new way of dealing with us. Turn back one more page. What is the last word of the old covenant? "Curse." Oh. The last word that God has to speak to us in the old covenant is "curse." "Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." (Malachi 4:6, KJV) That's God's curse on anyone who will not obey and follow the old covenant. What is Jesus' first word in the Sermon on the Mount? Matthew chapter 5. What is it? "Blessed"! Blessed! "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." (Matthew 5:1) This is the new covenant. The old covenant brought threatenings. It brought Mount Sinai. It brought lightning, and thunder, and storm, and terror. The new covenant under the preaching of Jesus, under the blood of Christ, is a covenant of grace, and it brings blessing. If you'll just admit that you need the blessing, if you'll just say, "I'm a beggar and I need it. I want it. Please give it to me." That's what it's all about. The first verse holds the key to the whole thing. Be a spiritual beggar. All the way through the three chapters, you'll understand what God's doing here. Keep saying, "I can't do this. Do it in me, Jesus." That's what it's all about. That's how the Sermon on the Mount works. It's God's pattern for true happiness and success. It’s also a power and a pattern for witnessing for the church. It's a resource for witnessing, for sharing our faith. I think the church has problems leading people to Christ now, specifically because we're too much like the world. I really believe that our power for witnessing and transforming the world comes as we make a separation between us and the world. We begin to think differently. We love different things. We have our eyes set on different goals. We're just different. And the further away we get from that, the stronger the pull comes on some people that God has prepared in the world, to leave that and come over to the church to see what's going on. "How can it possibly be that they live this kind of a life?" There's a yearning, a hungering, and a thirsting that's created by people who live apart and who live differently from the world. The Sermon on the Mount holds the key. Shattering Self-reliance Not only that, but the Sermon on the Mount penetrates people's outer crust if they would just listen to it, if they would just accept what Jesus is saying, that this really, truly is God's standard for judgment. You must be every bit as perfect, morally, as God is to go to Heaven. And if you're trying to get there on your own righteousness, you will never make it. It's a resource for witnessing. It shows us what we must preach to people to shatter that self-reliance. I love natural history, and as I've been reading, the greatest natural enemy of the king cobra is the mongoose. Do you know what a mongoose is? It's just this little thing that runs around the king cobra, and at a key moment it jumps out and breaks the king cobra's neck. Can you believe that? I thought maybe it's immune to the cobra's venom, but it's not. It just knows how to fight it. That's the mongoose. What is the natural enemy to a good cotton harvest? That's the boll weevil. Any of you who know anything about cotton know about the boll weevil. The greatest natural enemy to your soul in the struggle with sin is self-righteousness, and the Sermon on the Mount shatters self-righteousness, because it needs to be shattered. That's what the Sermon on the Mount does. Pleasing God And finally, it is the pattern for pleasing God. If you want to know how to please God, read the Sermon on the Mount. This is pleasing to God. Now, for any of you who go through this and think, "I don't need to do this. This is not important," all you need to do is go to the very end, chapter 7, where Jesus says, "Everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rains came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rains came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." (Matthew 7:24-27) I don't see an exemption clause in there, do you? I don't see your escape clause out there. Do you find one? "Oh, I don't need to do this." You have a choice. This is a key moment for you. Do you know that you're hearing the Sermon on the Mount right now? You're hearing the words of Jesus. Now you're in trouble. You have a choice: You either put them into practice or you don't. If you put them into practice, you're like a wise man building his house on the rock. If you don't, it's all going to come crashing down. You're hearing the words of Jesus. You've got to put them into practice. That's what Jesus said. Revival I think as we go through the Sermon on the Mount and as we study it, we're going to see God doing transforming things at First Baptist Church. It's my hope that it could bring about a tremendous revival. I've been praying openly that God would draw us together for prayer, and that there would be such a spirit of brokenness over sin, such a grief over sin, that there's an outpouring of the Spirit and a sense of the comfort that only Jesus can give. That's where the revival starts. That's when we see people getting saved. It starts with us, and it starts with us understanding these three chapters. Not Social Gospel Now there have been faulty approaches to the Sermon on the Mount in the past. About 100 years ago, one of them was very popular, it was called the "social gospel." The idea there was that we could bring in the precepts of the Sermon on the Mount through our own efforts, through legislation, through reaching out to the poor. We could abolish war. The problem with that is that two things happened in the 20th century: World War I and World War II. At the end of World War I and World War II, that illusion that we could bring in the kingdom through our own efforts was shattered by the depths of human depravity that we saw in those wars. Social gospel is out. Not the Law Intensified Some people say that the Sermon on the Mount is just the law of Moses intensified. You take that old covenant and just kind of turn it up a few notches, and that's what you're getting in the Sermon on the Mount. "You have heard that it was said... “You shall not murder…”, but I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother… will be in danger of the fire of hell." (Matthew 5:21-22) That's what Jesus says. So it's just a Sermon on the Mount turned up a bit. "You have heard that it was said “Do not commit adultery”, but I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully, has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:27-28) It's just the law of Moses intensified. The only problem with that way of looking at the Sermon on the Mount is that it totally neglects the beatitudes, the blessings that come through being poor in spirit. There is no blessing like this in the law of Moses. The law of Moses does not encourage us to come bankrupt to God and say, "I can't do it," but that's what the beatitudes do, the blessings that come from understanding your own spiritual emptiness. So this is not just the law of Moses all over again. It's something different. Not for Someone Else - It's for Us The dispensational view is found in the Scofield Study Bible and in other places. That's the idea that basically when you're reading the Sermon on the Mount, you're reading somebody else's mail. It wasn't meant for you. It's meant for the Jews. There are various arguments put forth, but the basic idea is that God sent Jesus to be the King of the Jews. He meant to set up a kingdom on earth, and these were the principles that He was going to run His kingdom by. They rejected Jesus as their king, and so God had to go to plan B. We, the Gentiles, are plan B. How do you feel about being plan B? [chuckle] Well, that's actually very faulty because God has had one salvation plan throughout all of history, and He's working out that plan. Furthermore, there's not a single ethical principle that you find in the Sermon on the Mount that you will not also find in Paul's writings, or in Peter's, or in John's. So if you throw out the Sermon on the Mount, you might as well throw out the whole New Testament. The Sermon on the Mount is meant for us. Requires Attention The fourth view is one that I call the "shallow evangelical view." That the law... I mean, the Sermon on the Mount was meant to drive us to Christ, and that's it. And once we come to faith in Christ, we really don't need to pay much attention anymore to the Sermon on the Mount. We know we need a savior, we don't really need to come back and figure out what Jesus meant by these various things. That's the shallow evangelical view. When was the last time you read these three chapters and said, "God, change my life. Make me live like this. I want to live like this"? Well, that's what Jesus Christ has come to do. The problem with that way of looking at the Sermon on the Mount is that it neglects what Paul says in Romans 8:4, "in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit." What happens is we come to the law, we come to the Sermon on the Mount, we're shattered by it. We come to Christ, we are saved by faith in Christ alone, not through our own works, but what then does God do? He picks us up by the Spirit and moves us back to the law and says, "Now live this out by the Spirit. Not to earn your salvation, but because this is the kind of life that pleases Me." The shallow evangelical view will not do. This, brothers and sisters, is how Christians are expected to live. This is how Christians are enabled to live. It is how Christians are empowered to live by the Holy Spirit. This is what God wants to do in each and every one of you, and in my life, too. This is what Jesus bought for you when He died on the cross: godly character that conforms to these three chapters. Don't you want it? Don't you hunger and thirst for this? I do. I want to look at myself and see these things growing. I want to see these attitudes changing from within by the power of the Spirit. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness, that's what it's all about. An Outline Nw what I'd like to do is I'd like take you on a general overview. I've given you an outline in your books there, in your pamphlets, and what I'm going to do here is I'm going to give you a general division of how the Sermon on the Mount looks to me. We're going to be going through this over the next period of time, but this is what you can expect when you see it. We start out with the beatitudes, and up through verse 16 in chapter 5, with what we could call "norms of kingdom life." Jesus is speaking to his disciples about kingdom life, and He's telling us what the character of a Christian is going to be. If you're not a Christian, you can't live out the Sermon on the Mount. So He first draws you through the beatitudes to show you what it means, truly, to be a heart Christian. If you take all these three chapters, all that Jesus says, you can sum it up into two words, heart-righteousness. Heart-righteousness, the righteousness that comes from within. That's what the beatitudes do, they show you what has to happen in you to produce heart-righteousness. In verses 11 and 12 of chapter 5, we get the reaction in the world: "Blessed are you, when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you." If you live out a life of heart-righteousness, you are going to be persecuted. Guaranteed. We'll get to that more in-depth when we come to it. Heart-righteousness leads to a persecution reaction. But then in verse 13 through 16, it talks about the fact that we are salt of the earth, we are light of the world. This talks about a Christian's responsibility in society. We are supposed to have an illuminating effect on society by being light of the world. We're supposed to have a preserving, purifying effect on society the way salt did on meat. We are the salt of the earth. That's what we're supposed to be. So that's the general expectation, norms of kingdom life. Then after that, from verse 17 of chapter 5 up through the end of the Sermon on the Mount, He talks about particulars, almost case studies, of kingdom life. The rest of chapter 5, He's talking about the kingdom of God in the Old Testament. He brings you through various aspects of the Old Testament, the law of Moses. We could call this "heart-righteousness to neighbor," because you know that the entire law is summed up in a single command. "Love your neighbor as yourself," (Leviticus 19:18) right? Jesus takes us through heart-righteousness to neighbors. Not surface-righteousness; something coming from the heart. I've been saying "heart" over and over. What is the heart? I told you this on Wednesday evening, those of you who were there. Heart is that part of you which thinks, that part of you which feels, and that part of you which decides. I'll say that again. The heart is that part of you which knows, that part of you which feels, and that part of you which decides. It's who you really are inside. God wants it to be righteous. He wants you to know in a righteous way, He wants you to feel and be passionate in a righteous way, He wants you to make choices of your will according to righteousness. He wants heart-righteousness. That's what the whole Sermon on the Mount is about. An internal righteousness, because there is an invisible God who watches everything in your life. That's the Sermon on the Mount. So He's going to take you through the law of Moses. First, in chapter 5 verse 17 through 20, He's going to talk about a proper view of the law of Moses. "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law of the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them." "I want to see them lived out," says Jesus. "They're going to be lived out in Me fulfilling prophecy, but then they're going to be lived out in you, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." Then He's going to talk about anger. "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not murder,' but I say don't even be angry." Then He's going to talk about marital faithfulness. "You've heard that it was said, 'Don't commit adultery.' I say even more than that, don't even lust. I'm staring at your heart all the time, I see it all." And then He talks about marital commitment. "You've heard that it was said this and that about divorce, but I tell you this," and He deals with divorce. He talks about oaths. He talks about the way you talk. "Don't make a promise with a big oath; just let your yes be yes and your no, no. Be a person of integrity when you speak", says Jesus. He even drives it to the nth degree when He says that we should deal with our enemies with integrity. We should deal with our enemies as people who are poor in spirit. People who are broken before God aren't prideful before enemies. We know what it's like to feel like an enemy of God. We were enemies of God. So we're humble, and we're not going to strike back. When somebody hits us on the right cheek, we want to hit him back, don't we? Harder! Make sure they don't hit us again, right? Jesus said, "Turn the other cheek." The person who is able to do this is somebody who's poor in spirit. Somebody who's broken over sin and says, "I know why you hit me, I understand. But God still has a love that can conquer that sin." It all gets summed up in verse 48. "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Write that one down and put it next to your computer. Write that one down and put in your kitchen. "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." If you're ever tempted to feel self-righteous, just look at that verse. It will finish that, hopefully, for good. That is God's standard. In chapter 6, He goes to the root of the matter in terms of our personal relationship with God, heart-righteousness before God. Here, we’ll talk about religion. What is religion? In the '60s and '70s, there was kind of a backlash against religion. “It's not a religion, it's a relationship.” Remember that? And so, religion was kind of pushed aside. But religion is just the outward actions of your inner faith. It's the way you live out what you believe. And so here, Jesus talks about the way you give money, for example. Don't give it in a big, showy way. Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men to be seen by them. Do it secretly so that only God can see. That's heart-righteousness. A life lived out in front of an invisible God who sees all the secrets of your heart and who will judge your heart on Judgment Day. "So don't do it for show; do it because I'm watching you." And when you pray, don't do it in an open, showy way; go in and close the door and pray to your Father unseen. "I want faith. I want a people that understands that I see you all the time. I want prayers that come from the heart. That's the kind of prayer I want." And he talks about fasting. "When you fast, don't make a big show of it. Do it for inner purity so that I see you. I will reward you," He says. "Don't live for treasures here on Earth. Don't live for esteem from other people, for pride. Don't live for financial rewards, or positions, or anything in this world. Live for the next world. Pass all those things on to Me, I'll take care of them. Store up for yourselves treasure in Heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." "Store up treasures," says Jesus, "but don't do it here in this world. Pass it on to Me and I'll take good care of it. I'll hold it fast for you." And all of that produces a freedom in this world. Freedom from anxiety, freedom from concern about your life, what you'll eat and drink, and about your body, what you will wear. Your life is more important than food in your body, more important than clothes. It frees you up from those things. You're not concerned about yourself anymore. You have a heavenly Father who's taking care of all your needs. He'll give you everything you need. You are free now to "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all of these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:33) Freedom in this world, because you live this kind of life. Don't you want it? Aren't you tired of covetousness? Aren't you tired of anxiety over material things? The Sermon on the Mount holds the key. Then in chapter 7, He talks about living in view of the coming final day. There is a day coming called "the Day of Judgment." "Do not judge," said Jesus, "or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Matthew 7:1-2) There's a Day of Judgment coming. Isn't that what the two houses is all about? What do you think the rain is? "The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house," (Matthew 7:25) that's Judgment Day, folks. That's when everything gets tested, and we'll see how strong it is. What kind of life did we live? Did we live a life that glorified God? Did we live a life that built for eternity? Or did we live a life that just collapses on Judgment Day? It evaporates, it has no eternal value. So all of chapter 7 is about living in view of that final assessment. A heart-righteousness that prepares for that final day. And so Jesus talks in verse 13 and 14 about two roads, one leading to Heaven and the other to Hell. "Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it, but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." "Be one of the few. Find that road that leads to life," says Jesus. Two roads. And He talks also about two trees. There are guides along those roads, aren't there? They're going to point the way. There are false teachers out there, aren't there? "By their fruit you will recognize them." (Matthew 7:16, 20) Look at the fruit of your teachers. Try to see if they really are pointing you to God or if they're not. And then He talks about two claims. "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord,'" (Matthew 7:22) that's a claim, "You're my Lord Jesus." "Am I? Away from me, I never knew you, you evil doer," says Jesus. Two claims. Make sure your claim is valid. Make sure you really know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. And then finally, as we've said, two houses. One of them stands, and one of them doesn't. Everybody is building something. Is what you're building going to last through that test, or is it not? That's what you have to ask yourself. The Sermon on the Mount points the way where the things you do will last for eternity. Go all the way back to the beginning: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." (Matthew 5:3) Application I've been speaking to a mixed group. I don't know your spiritual background, I don't know if you really are born-again. If you are not certain that you have given your life to Jesus Christ, come today and give your life to Him. Be a spiritual beggar, say, "I look at myself and I don't match this standard. I can't stand up on Judgment Day to this kind of standard. And I believe that this is the kind of standard that will be used on Judgment Day. I can't do it, Jesus." If you can say that honestly from your heart and you've never said it to Jesus before from your heart, today for you can be the day of salvation. Come forward and talk to me, and I'll pray with you, and we'll talk to you about what it means to enter through the narrow gate, to walk along the road that leads to life, not to destruction. If you have given your life to Jesus Christ, I'm asking, I'm urging, I'm begging you, to turn your mind back to these three chapters. Line your life up against it and say, "God, make me hungry and thirsty for righteousness. Make me pure in heart. I want to see You, Jesus. And I want everything I do to last for eternity. Use these three chapters in me, Lord, to transform my life."