WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.120 Those of you who know me even a little bit will know that AFL is one of my passions and 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:12.359 in particular you will also know that I support three teams. I support the West Coast Eagles, 00:00:12.759 --> 00:00:17.440 I support the GWS Giants and I support whoever is playing against the Sydney Swans. 00:00:18.339 --> 00:00:22.219 This has been at times a joyful experience and at other times somewhat painful. 00:00:22.859 --> 00:00:27.679 There was the year that the Swans beat the Eagles in the grand final, it's not one I like to talk 00:00:27.679 --> 00:00:33.420 about but I thought I'd share with you a little bit about why I have this distaste for Swans 00:00:33.420 --> 00:00:42.240 as a team and for Swans fans and it can be summarised in one word, bandwagon. Basically, 00:00:42.439 --> 00:00:49.179 my problem with the Sydney Swans fans is that people only support the Swans when they're winning. 00:00:50.219 --> 00:00:56.179 I remember as a young kid going to watch the Swans play, this was during the longest 00:00:56.179 --> 00:01:04.079 premiership drought in AFL history. They hadn't won a game in over two years and there was less 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:10.859 than 2,000 people in the entire stadium but in the last few years they have managed to win once or twice 00:01:10.859 --> 00:01:17.579 and suddenly there is a lot more red or white to be found around Sydney and I just feel like if 00:01:17.579 --> 00:01:22.780 you're going to be a supporter, you have to take the bad with the good. You've got to actually earn 00:01:22.780 --> 00:01:26.879 the good, you've got to earn the wins and the right to brag. Now, I know that there are some exceptions, 00:01:27.799 --> 00:01:34.240 Rachel, I'm going to single you out as one of those exceptions, but your recruiting drive is 00:01:34.240 --> 00:01:37.620 single-handedly responsible for a significant portion of the bandwagon. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:46.740 I have an issue with fair weather followers. I have an issue with people who sign up and wear the 00:01:46.739 --> 00:01:54.019 jersey and wear the scarf only when things are going well. And that's kind of where Jesus ends up in 00:01:54.019 --> 00:01:59.099 this passage, not dealing with swan supporters necessarily, but dealing with fair weather 00:01:59.099 --> 00:02:05.739 followers. You remember that Jesus begins this sermon surrounded by a crowd, sitting on a mountain, 00:02:05.859 --> 00:02:11.060 talking to his disciples with a multitude eagerly listening in. And why are they listening in? 00:02:11.060 --> 00:02:17.860 Because they've seen the miracles. Because Jesus speaks impressively. Because it's a good show. 00:02:18.580 --> 00:02:25.500 And Jesus is looking at this crowd full of pseudo-followers, full of fair weather followers, 00:02:26.500 --> 00:02:34.659 and having explained that the narrow road, the kingdom of heaven, takes more than fair weather, 00:02:34.659 --> 00:02:47.780 he finishes with a very serious and scary warning. By basically putting on the table that many people 00:02:47.780 --> 00:02:54.560 who look like the genuine article when it comes to following Jesus will actually prove not to be. 00:02:56.019 --> 00:03:01.439 This is his final word after three chapters of unpacking what we should do, how we should treat 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:09.620 other people, our purity, how we should worship. He finishes with the warning, some who look genuine 00:03:09.620 --> 00:03:17.139 will actually prove not to be. It's the scary word of verse 23 in chapter 7, 00:03:17.699 --> 00:03:26.539 then I'll tell them plainly, I never knew you, away from me you evildoers. And I can speak from my own 00:03:26.539 --> 00:03:33.919 life and I'm sure that sadly many of us can, refer to people who have been in church, who have been in 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:40.639 youth group, maybe who have even served in ministry alongside us, who as life got more difficult, as the 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:48.639 demands of following Jesus seem to increase, their commitments seem to decrease. And so Jesus finishes 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:54.879 with the story of the two builders in verse 24, and he wants us to understand the difference between 00:03:54.879 --> 00:04:02.539 being fake and genuine. It's very, very simple. You ready? The difference between being fake, 00:04:02.680 --> 00:04:11.379 between being a fair weather follower of Jesus, and being a genuine Christian, is doing. That's what 00:04:11.379 --> 00:04:18.959 he says. Verse 24, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:24.540 who built his house on the rock. They're the genuine article. Or verse 26, everyone who hears these words of 00:04:24.540 --> 00:04:32.400 mine and does not put them into practice is a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The difference 00:04:32.400 --> 00:04:37.820 between the one who goes the distance and the one who is just showing up while things are going well, is 00:04:37.820 --> 00:04:46.340 doing. Hearing is only the start. It's a good start and it's an important start, but it's only a start. If we 00:04:46.340 --> 00:04:53.660 stop there, we haven't achieved anything. I wonder if sometimes you find yourself tempted to feel a little 00:04:53.660 --> 00:05:00.100 sense of pride because you sat in church and listened to a sermon today. Well, at least some of it. It was long. 00:05:01.160 --> 00:05:06.780 Or maybe you read your Bible this morning and you go into the day feeling very proud of the fact that God's Word 00:05:06.780 --> 00:05:14.360 was speaking to you this morning and you heard it. Jesus' message is, hearing is good. It's essential. Without 00:05:14.360 --> 00:05:20.800 hearing, you've got no hope, but hearing is only the beginning. When I was younger, I used to go surfing with my 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:27.680 brothers and my dad and often you would hear an alarm come out from the surf club letting us know that 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:31.540 A, there's sharks in the water and B, if we want to be safe, it's time to come into the beach. 00:05:32.280 --> 00:05:39.540 Hearing that alarm is an essential step to me being safe, but it's not the whole thing. If I just hear 00:05:39.540 --> 00:05:44.759 the alarm but don't do anything about it, all that alarm does is tell me that I'm about to get eaten. 00:05:44.759 --> 00:05:51.099 Hearing is an essential step, but it's just the beginning. I need to do, I need to act, I need to 00:05:51.099 --> 00:06:00.039 practice what I hear. So it sounds simple enough, this passage. It sounds like we could finish the 00:06:00.039 --> 00:06:04.000 sermon now and everyone could go home, okay, I've got to do what I hear, tick, easy, ready to go. 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:12.599 But there is an awkwardness because the thing that Jesus just said throws a spanner in the works. 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:14.400 Look back with me at verse 21. 00:06:14.399 --> 00:06:21.759 Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:27.339 will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy 00:06:27.339 --> 00:06:33.679 in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, 00:06:33.919 --> 00:06:37.159 I never knew you. Away from me, evildoers. 00:06:37.160 --> 00:06:48.380 Apparently, all we have to do to be genuine is do, is put into practice, is action. But those couple 00:06:48.380 --> 00:06:55.280 of verses before tell us that it's not just any actions that are going to be okay. Because the 00:06:55.280 --> 00:07:03.560 message of this whole sermon has been that you can do good things badly. You can do good things in a 00:07:03.560 --> 00:07:11.280 wrong way. In chapter 5, Jesus unpacks the commandments that these people have heard, 00:07:11.459 --> 00:07:20.079 the boxes that they are ticking. But he says, even as you tick the box, you don't actually honour me. 00:07:20.980 --> 00:07:26.660 He says, you have found a way to turn obeying commandments into doing the bare minimum and 00:07:26.660 --> 00:07:31.620 treating me like I'm this oppressive overlord. In chapter 6, we went through religious acts. 00:07:31.620 --> 00:07:36.720 In chapter 6, he talked about religious acts. He talked about prayer. He talked about giving. 00:07:36.920 --> 00:07:41.959 He talked about fasting. And he explained that you can actually do those things in a way that 00:07:41.959 --> 00:07:51.360 doesn't honour God. And then in verse 22, we see that you can even do miracles in a way that doesn't 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:59.800 honour God. I mean, did you catch that? It's easy to skip past that verse. But verse 22 says that 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:04.639 they prophesied in his name, they drove out demons, they performed many miracles. There's no reason for 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:09.139 us to believe that what actually happened was they thought they did that, but it wasn't true. 00:08:11.780 --> 00:08:19.040 Apparently, they did miracles. Yet still, Jesus turns to them and says, away from me, 00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:26.420 I never knew you. So on one hand, the difference between being fake and being genuine is doing. 00:08:27.220 --> 00:08:33.580 But on the other hand, we need to be more specific because you can do the things that are in this 00:08:33.580 --> 00:08:39.000 sermon in the wrong way. So look closely at verse 24. 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:49.299 Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who 00:08:49.299 --> 00:08:57.220 built his house on the rock. Jesus is being really specific here. These words are the thing that matter. 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:03.440 These words are the things that we need to put into practice. These words are his way of referring 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:08.559 back to everything that he has said in the last few chapters. And that gives us a clue that this 00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:13.059 sermon is not a list of things that you need to do and a list of things that you mustn't do. 00:09:13.739 --> 00:09:23.539 This sermon is one message from Jesus about life in the kingdom. This sermon is not a list of rules. 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:27.539 This sermon is a gospel message from Jesus. 00:09:28.819 --> 00:09:34.859 Jesus is explaining what it means to follow him. This whole sermon, even when he says, 00:09:34.860 --> 00:09:40.519 you've heard it said, but now I'm raising the bar. This whole sermon is a message of grace. 00:09:41.080 --> 00:09:44.519 It's a message of forgiveness. It's a message of God's love. 00:09:45.860 --> 00:09:49.980 It's there. We get clues the whole way through. The beginning of the sermon, chapter 5, verse 3. 00:09:50.100 --> 00:09:52.759 Flip back there with me. The sermon begins, 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:57.460 blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:09:57.460 --> 00:10:03.960 The essential starting point for this life that Jesus is describing is poverty of spirit, 00:10:04.379 --> 00:10:10.120 is an awareness that we're not good enough. As we go through, there's this clue that this life in 00:10:10.120 --> 00:10:17.139 the kingdom is about more than just obedience. There's the invitation for us to think of God as 00:10:17.139 --> 00:10:25.180 our Father. We're invited to pray to him as our Father in heaven. There's this incredible gospel 00:10:25.179 --> 00:10:27.599 message. Look at chapter 5, verse 43. 00:10:28.500 --> 00:10:32.979 You have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemies. But I tell you, 00:10:33.099 --> 00:10:38.699 love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. 00:10:39.179 --> 00:10:45.059 He causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 00:10:45.699 --> 00:10:52.559 The whole way through, Jesus, as he lifts the bar for obedience, keeps pointing to a God who loves 00:10:52.559 --> 00:11:00.219 people who don't deserve it. The message of this sermon is grace. It's that God loves you in spite 00:11:00.219 --> 00:11:06.339 of your failure. And maybe the most significant one, in chapter 5, verse 17, Jesus says, 00:11:06.439 --> 00:11:11.639 do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, 00:11:11.879 --> 00:11:20.819 but to fulfill them. That includes the law that demands a sacrifice for sin. They might not have 00:11:20.820 --> 00:11:26.960 understood it at the time, but Jesus is pointing to the fact that he will die so that they can be 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:32.700 forgiven. He will die so that they can know what this life in the kingdom is like, so they can know 00:11:32.700 --> 00:11:40.140 about that blessed life that we looked at a couple of weeks ago. Jesus' message at the end of the Sermon 00:11:40.140 --> 00:11:48.420 on the Mount is this, putting the gospel into practice is what matters. It's not about walking away 00:11:48.419 --> 00:11:54.620 from this series with a list of things to do and not do. It is about the gospel, the whole message, 00:11:55.000 --> 00:12:02.360 which means more than you think it does. Let me say that again. Putting the gospel into practice means 00:12:02.360 --> 00:12:09.919 more than you think it does. It means, at very least, knowing Jesus. I mean, did you catch the clue for us 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:16.219 there? Back in chapter 7, having sent these people away who perform miracles, why does he send them 00:12:16.219 --> 00:12:27.319 away? His words are, I never knew you. Life in the kingdom is, first of all, about knowing Jesus. 00:12:28.079 --> 00:12:35.360 It's about knowing the King and being known by the King. It includes being forgiven. It includes being 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:43.460 obedient, but first and foremost, it is about the relationship that God has made possible through 00:12:43.460 --> 00:12:53.580 Jesus. But more than that, putting the gospel into practice isn't just the beginning. Putting the 00:12:53.580 --> 00:12:58.240 gospel into practice isn't just about being forgiven because of Jesus' death on the cross so that we can 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:05.320 begin this life. And then we leave the gospel and we move on to the next bit. The gospel is always. 00:13:06.620 --> 00:13:13.100 Jesus is always. That's why we come back to this at the end of all these rules which are still there 00:13:13.100 --> 00:13:18.639 and which still matter because the gospel is the essential bit. The message of the story of the two 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:25.560 builders is that the minute you forget the gospel, it doesn't actually matter how well you build from 00:13:25.559 --> 00:13:31.119 that point on. It doesn't matter how hard you try to obey Jesus. It doesn't matter how much effort you 00:13:31.119 --> 00:13:37.579 put into being holy. If you forget the gospel, the foundation is gone and your house, your life, will 00:13:37.579 --> 00:13:44.519 collapse. The gospel is more than the starting point. It's the beginning. It's the middle. It's the end. 00:13:44.619 --> 00:13:51.419 It's the everything. And the danger for us when we read something like the Sermon on the Mount with all 00:13:51.419 --> 00:13:58.199 these rules that are in there is that we get scared of the commands because we look at them as a standard 00:13:58.199 --> 00:14:04.120 that we can't actually reach. They're like an ideal and all that we get from them is this sense of guilt. 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:11.240 And so we just try and pretend they're not there. We try and dismiss them as unimportant. We try and 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:17.519 rush to the bit where God says he loves us and where God says we're forgiven. But the problem with that 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:23.579 and the problem with the way that the Pharisees obeyed the law in Jesus' day and the problem with 00:14:23.579 --> 00:14:31.199 the miracle workers in verse 21 and even the problem with us is that sometimes we look at these 00:14:31.199 --> 00:14:36.399 laws, no matter how many times we've heard the gospel, we open the Bible and we look at these laws as a 00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:43.179 means of being good enough for God. We feel a weight because we think if God is going to love me, 00:14:43.179 --> 00:14:49.799 I need to meet the standard that is in these pages. Yeah, I know Jesus forgave me. That's how I started 00:14:49.799 --> 00:14:54.659 out. But now that I'm a Christian, if I don't live up to this standard, I'm going to somehow fall off. 00:14:54.739 --> 00:15:00.939 I'm going to somehow miss out. I'm going to somehow be those people who are sent away. But there is 00:15:00.939 --> 00:15:08.279 nothing wrong with the laws in these pages. Jesus is speaking them. Jesus is telling us that they still 00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:19.879 matter for our lives, but our motivation for obeying them is what matters. If our reason for obeying the 00:15:19.879 --> 00:15:27.299 laws that we read in Scripture is hoping that somehow we can earn God's love, then what we actually do 00:15:27.299 --> 00:15:36.600 is reject Jesus. If the instructions that you read in these pages make you feel a weight because you feel 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:43.180 like you need to hit a point or a mark before God will love you, then what you're saying is, 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:53.639 somehow I can do it by myself. It might be a difficult task, but somehow I can do it and therefore I don't 00:15:53.639 --> 00:16:01.259 need Jesus. And no matter how long you've been around church, no matter how many times you've heard 00:16:01.259 --> 00:16:07.299 the gospel, it is a temptation for us to slip back having been forgiven into the kind of obedience 00:16:07.299 --> 00:16:14.299 that feels like we need to do this if God is going to love us. And when we do that, we change these rules 00:16:14.299 --> 00:16:20.000 and make them into something that they were never supposed to be. We hear the gospel, but we don't 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:25.939 actually put it into practice. Now the scary thing as we've worked through this sermon is that people 00:16:25.940 --> 00:16:30.420 who are on the narrow road, people who have built their house on the rock and people who have built 00:16:30.420 --> 00:16:36.340 their house on the sand or who are traveling on the broad road might look very similar. They might 00:16:36.340 --> 00:16:41.380 even be doing similar things. I mean, we know for a fact that there was miracle workers on the wide 00:16:41.380 --> 00:16:47.580 road. There are miracle workers who built their house on the sand. It might be that both are praying, 00:16:47.700 --> 00:16:52.780 it might be that both are trying not to murder, trying not to be angry, but the difference is 00:16:52.779 --> 00:16:59.759 the relationship between what they are doing, between their obedience and Jesus. 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:08.619 One person sees their obedience as taking the place of Jesus and the other person sees their 00:17:08.619 --> 00:17:19.680 obedience as a response to Jesus. If there is obedience but no forgiveness, there is nothing. 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:28.240 Obedience without forgiveness is useless. But there is a balance warning for us. This isn't a 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:33.820 get out of jail free card. This isn't put up your feet because you've been forgiven. This isn't Jesus 00:17:33.820 --> 00:17:37.039 putting a little clause on the end of the sermon going, I know you're feeling pressure, but don't 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:41.580 worry about it, you're forgiven, so it doesn't matter. This isn't instruction to pull out the hammock. 00:17:42.680 --> 00:17:46.460 To say that the gospel matters doesn't mean that we don't have to do anything. 00:17:46.460 --> 00:17:51.120 It doesn't mean that all of this sermon was a big waste of time because really all Jesus needed 00:17:51.120 --> 00:17:56.500 to say was, I died, I'm alive and you're forgiven. That would be missing the point of the gospel. 00:17:57.160 --> 00:18:03.420 That would be missing the point of grace. Just as obedience without forgiveness is useless, 00:18:05.319 --> 00:18:08.380 forgiveness without obedience is incomplete. 00:18:08.380 --> 00:18:17.060 The gospel message is one that calls us to a new kind of obedience, not to no obedience at all. 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:24.660 I remember when I was growing up playing football, I was around 11 or 12 and I had aspirations that 00:18:24.660 --> 00:18:30.620 one day I would play for a team that wasn't Sydney. And I remember that the first step in this process 00:18:30.620 --> 00:18:34.860 was getting out of the team that I played for on the weekend, my club side, into the representative 00:18:34.859 --> 00:18:41.419 squad. And what I had to do to do that was go to tryouts. And it always amazed me how the second 00:18:41.419 --> 00:18:46.919 you surround a group of 11-year-olds with men and clipboards judging whether or not you're in or out, 00:18:47.319 --> 00:18:53.539 how quickly the standard dropped. The pressure of somebody else deciding whether or not I got to 00:18:53.539 --> 00:18:59.419 meet this goal of playing in the representative game, of being a Sydney representative, would just 00:18:59.420 --> 00:19:04.940 completely make me unable to do things that I could normally do. Suddenly I couldn't catch a ball. 00:19:05.460 --> 00:19:11.880 Suddenly I was tired after running 15 metres. Suddenly trying to kick a goal was just beyond me. 00:19:13.340 --> 00:19:21.340 But then, once you're in the team, it's like you're totally relaxed again. It's not that you stopped 00:19:21.340 --> 00:19:26.700 playing football. It's not that you stopped doing the things from before. But now you're doing them 00:19:26.700 --> 00:19:31.039 for the enjoyment in anticipation of the game that you were trying to get to all along. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:37.840 The kind of obedience that Jesus is calling us to in this Sermon on the Mount is an obedience that 00:19:37.840 --> 00:19:46.140 is growing, that is increasing. But it's no longer an obedience that dictates whether or not we are on 00:19:46.140 --> 00:19:51.700 Jesus' team. It's no longer the line that decides whether we're in the kingdom or out of the kingdom. 00:19:51.700 --> 00:19:58.580 It's now the life that he has given us in anticipation of the eternal life that he has prepared for us. 00:19:58.680 --> 00:20:03.500 Where finally we will get all of these things right and live all of them the way that we are supposed to. 00:20:04.360 --> 00:20:09.900 Jesus has lifted the burden for us, but obedience still matters. 00:20:11.259 --> 00:20:15.460 Because grace is not just the means by which you start the narrow road. 00:20:15.460 --> 00:20:20.799 It's also the thing that empowers you to live your life as a follower of Jesus. 00:20:22.420 --> 00:20:25.759 Look quickly at chapter 5 with me, where we started two weeks ago. 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:29.079 The Beatitudes begin with our need for grace. 00:20:29.980 --> 00:20:33.259 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:20:34.259 --> 00:20:36.620 But very quickly we find in verse 6, 00:20:36.619 --> 00:20:50.819 Grace both offers us unconditional forgiveness and releases us to start running and obeying more 00:20:50.819 --> 00:20:57.439 with greater intensity, with deeper love, with more motivation, with more freedom. 00:20:59.079 --> 00:21:01.119 Grace doesn't release us from the law. 00:21:01.679 --> 00:21:03.339 Jesus says, I've come to fulfill it. 00:21:04.159 --> 00:21:05.539 Grace doesn't take the law away. 00:21:05.539 --> 00:21:10.740 What it does is it empowers us to use the law the way it's supposed to work. 00:21:12.139 --> 00:21:16.240 Not as something to give us guilt, not as something to intimidate us, 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:22.200 but as a model for life in the kingdom. 00:21:23.659 --> 00:21:30.539 As a model of what we are being called to on that final day when Jesus our King will arrive and right every wrong. 00:21:30.539 --> 00:21:36.139 Grace gives us a way of dealing with the fact that we fail and fall short. 00:21:37.139 --> 00:21:39.920 It gives us a way of coping with guilt that isn't hopeless. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:46.779 Now when we look at this instruction not to be angry or not to look at another man's wife lustfully, 00:21:47.620 --> 00:21:51.640 instead of wallowing in self-pity because we've stuffed that up 15 times in the day, 00:21:52.340 --> 00:21:58.060 we're driven to the cross, to Jesus, to the confidence we have. 00:21:58.059 --> 00:22:06.819 Because in the cross we find forgiveness and we find that desire to want to live life in God's kingdom. 00:22:06.819 --> 00:22:12.059 When we look at Jesus we are given the motivation to obey, 00:22:12.740 --> 00:22:17.899 to live the life that he has designed, to get the blessing that he has built into our obedience. 00:22:19.099 --> 00:22:24.399 See what Jesus is arguing for throughout this sermon is the difference between two kinds of obedience. 00:22:25.099 --> 00:22:27.819 He's not actually talking about obedience and disobedience. 00:22:27.819 --> 00:22:33.599 There's the obedience that is trying to be good enough for God which rejects the gospel. 00:22:34.519 --> 00:22:44.839 And there is the obedience which is fiercer and deeper and greater in light of the forgiveness that we have been shown 00:22:44.839 --> 00:22:47.740 and the grace that we have received in Jesus. 00:22:48.379 --> 00:22:53.500 The difference between these two kinds of obedience is the relationship with Jesus. 00:22:53.500 --> 00:22:58.480 They might actually look very similar to the outsider. 00:22:59.480 --> 00:23:03.660 But according to this passage Jesus says eventually it will be obvious. 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:07.579 When the storms come, when Jesus returns, 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:11.940 those who know Jesus will be welcomed into his kingdom. 00:23:13.079 --> 00:23:16.279 Those who are still carrying the burden of trying to be good enough 00:23:16.279 --> 00:23:19.859 will be sent away to their fearful fate. 00:23:23.500 --> 00:23:26.680 So what does it look like for us to live out this kind of obedience? 00:23:28.119 --> 00:23:30.920 Well it looks like using whatever God has given you. 00:23:32.059 --> 00:23:37.160 If last week you were convicted and challenged about the temptation to be hypocritical 00:23:37.160 --> 00:23:39.339 in the way that you do your religious acts, 00:23:40.019 --> 00:23:42.319 if you attempted to pray to impress people, 00:23:42.779 --> 00:23:45.700 if you attempted to show off about your personal devotion, 00:23:46.099 --> 00:23:47.559 to show off about your generosity, 00:23:49.099 --> 00:23:50.200 then open the Bible. 00:23:50.200 --> 00:23:54.759 Memorise verses that convict you that God is the only one worth living for. 00:23:55.279 --> 00:23:59.080 Gather a Christian brother or sister that God has provided to hold you accountable. 00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:00.799 Pray. 00:24:01.720 --> 00:24:03.259 Ask God to change your heart. 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:06.039 Do whatever it takes. 00:24:07.120 --> 00:24:09.920 Because obedience matters when we're forgiven. 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:12.900 It doesn't make us forgiven, 00:24:13.580 --> 00:24:17.000 but forgiveness without obedience is incomplete. 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:17.400 Complete. 00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:23.559 This sermon begins with a need for us to be poor in spirit. 00:24:24.839 --> 00:24:26.460 To depend on Jesus. 00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:33.299 And this sermon ends with a reminder that we need to stay poor in spirit. 00:24:33.299 --> 00:24:37.980 That it is the gospel at the beginning, 00:24:38.339 --> 00:24:39.819 it is the gospel in the middle, 00:24:39.940 --> 00:24:42.599 and it is the gospel until Jesus comes back. 00:24:42.980 --> 00:24:45.579 We need Jesus to stay front and center 00:24:45.579 --> 00:24:48.579 when we fail and when we try to obey. 00:24:49.379 --> 00:24:53.099 Because that protects us from that burdensome kind of obedience. 00:24:53.099 --> 00:24:58.240 I want to finish off by looking again at verse 24. 00:25:00.639 --> 00:25:01.679 In chapter 7. 00:25:02.939 --> 00:25:07.319 Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice 00:25:07.319 --> 00:25:09.959 is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 00:25:10.619 --> 00:25:12.919 The rain came down, the streams rose, 00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:15.619 and the winds blew and beat against that house. 00:25:16.119 --> 00:25:19.039 Yet it did not fall, 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:22.720 because it had its foundation on the rock. 00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:27.500 When you hear the message of the gospel, 00:25:28.319 --> 00:25:31.319 when you hear that Jesus loves you even though you don't deserve it, 00:25:31.480 --> 00:25:34.059 when you hear that Jesus died for you so you could be forgiven, 00:25:34.440 --> 00:25:39.500 when you hear that Jesus rose and has designed this incredible life in the kingdom for you, 00:25:39.879 --> 00:25:41.940 and you live in wholehearted obedience, 00:25:41.940 --> 00:25:45.160 then that word is for you. 00:25:46.700 --> 00:25:48.519 Whatever storms may come, 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:49.740 whatever struggles, 00:25:49.900 --> 00:25:50.779 whatever persecution, 00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:51.620 whatever guilt, 00:25:51.740 --> 00:25:52.580 whatever obstacles, 00:25:53.320 --> 00:25:54.720 you will not fall. 00:25:55.980 --> 00:25:57.759 You will not be moved. 00:25:58.420 --> 00:26:00.100 That is the message of the gospel. 00:26:01.140 --> 00:26:03.320 We have an unshakable hope 00:26:03.320 --> 00:26:05.200 that even when we fail, 00:26:05.720 --> 00:26:07.460 God's love cannot be broken. 00:26:07.460 --> 00:26:11.920 To those of us 00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:13.880 who are burdened by the weight 00:26:13.880 --> 00:26:16.079 of what Jesus demands from us in these chapters, 00:26:16.740 --> 00:26:19.259 who feel hopeless and inadequate, 00:26:21.259 --> 00:26:22.819 hear the promise of the gospel. 00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:26.840 Blessed are the poor in spirit, 00:26:27.480 --> 00:26:29.180 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:26:29.180 --> 00:26:33.240 And put that into practice 00:26:33.240 --> 00:26:35.920 by embracing a new, 00:26:36.340 --> 00:26:37.820 joyful kind of obedience. 00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:43.340 And for those of us who are more tempted to relax 00:26:43.340 --> 00:26:44.660 in light of the gospel, 00:26:45.420 --> 00:26:46.680 tempted to put our feet up, 00:26:47.940 --> 00:26:49.080 hear the words of Jesus, 00:26:50.320 --> 00:26:53.580 blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 00:26:54.340 --> 00:26:55.519 for they will be filled. 00:26:56.960 --> 00:26:58.480 And put it into practice. 00:26:59.180 --> 00:27:02.500 With a deeper desire for obedience, 00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:05.180 even in those who feel the weight 00:27:05.180 --> 00:27:06.360 of their eternal destiny. 00:27:07.980 --> 00:27:09.880 Because our God is worth it. 00:27:10.759 --> 00:27:13.820 And because His love demands nothing less. 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:16.400 Let's pray. 00:27:24.940 --> 00:27:27.680 Father God, we want to thank you so much 00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:29.940 for the message. 00:27:31.820 --> 00:27:33.320 We want to thank you for 00:27:33.320 --> 00:27:36.080 the life that you have designed for us. 00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:38.279 We want to acknowledge that 00:27:38.279 --> 00:27:39.779 so quickly 00:27:39.779 --> 00:27:41.660 we forget your love. 00:27:42.380 --> 00:27:43.779 We forget your grace. 00:27:44.680 --> 00:27:46.700 We forget all that you have done for us. 00:27:48.360 --> 00:27:50.360 We want to admit that so quickly 00:27:50.360 --> 00:27:51.880 when we remember, 00:27:52.360 --> 00:27:53.340 we get lazy. 00:27:53.339 --> 00:27:59.059 Father, forgive us for both of these errors. 00:28:01.159 --> 00:28:03.199 Instead, God, fill us with the peace 00:28:03.199 --> 00:28:06.419 that comes from knowing that our Savior is risen 00:28:06.420 --> 00:28:10.019 and that our forgiveness is eternal. 00:28:10.019 --> 00:28:15.080 Fill us with the hunger and thirst that Jesus describes here, 00:28:15.160 --> 00:28:17.160 that we might grow in righteousness, 00:28:17.800 --> 00:28:20.140 that we might grow in our obedience to you. 00:28:21.259 --> 00:28:24.340 May we fight for our purity and for our holiness 00:28:24.339 --> 00:28:28.619 in anticipation of the eternity 00:28:28.619 --> 00:28:31.279 that you have prepared for those who love you. 00:28:32.740 --> 00:28:34.899 Thank you for our unshakable hope. 00:28:35.939 --> 00:28:37.659 Thank you for Jesus, our Savior. 00:28:37.659 --> 00:28:39.539 Amen.