Matthew 7:21-29 | Kingdom Now: No Turning Back

When the alien Macy.

We were talking about winter camp coming up.

My mind flash back 43 years ago

on February 19th, 1983, when I was sitting at a winter camp

next to my first

ever tackle football coach named Rick.

It was also my first high school football coach,

and he was a counselor for us.

Some of us high school guys at the time.

And it was it was their

43 years ago at winter camp that I heard,

what God was trying to tell me said, I want all your life, Carl,

I don't want I don't want just the church, kid.

I want the totality of who you are.

And, I'm.

I sat there being convicted, and I sat there with my football coach,

and he prayed with me and over me,

about a commitment of my life to Christ in a very profound way,

that started to shape,

you know, my ups and my downs, the valleys and the mountains.

And so I'm excited that our kids are going to camp.

It's it's it is a fantastic opportunity that they have

to get away from everything else and unplug from everything else. And,

Lord willing, hear the voice of God.

And so thank you for your generosity.

I say all the time, you don't give to us.

You give through us.

And, we want to make sure that our counselors at the children's camp

and the junior high and high school camp don't pay anything to go.

We want to pay for them to be able

to give their weekend to counsel our kids and help lead them to Jesus.

And so thank you for your generosity.

And and, and one thing I've realized in the past 43 years

is camp has gotten more expensive.

And so we want to be able to provide for our kids.

You know, partial scholarships to be able to go.

So thank you for your continued generosity.

It's bearing good fruit.

Just by way of, some Maisy and Allie.

I didn't ask them to share with you, but I just want to make sure

that you understand that you're invited to my Bible study on Wednesday night

at 6:00, right in this place called the forge, where we

we talk about verse by verse.

We go through Scripture because we understand that,

faith is formed by the Word of God.

And so if you don't have a regular Bible study, come Wednesday night at 6:00,

and also just as a reminder, you mean, February

14th, Valentine's Day morning, men's right.

Group breakfast right here in this place.

We're going to have breakfast.

We're going to have a bunch of competition

with, opportunity to win a great big gift card

so you can take your Valentine out to dinner that night.

So if you're connected to one and you love her, come win something to treat her.

If you don't love her, don't show up.

So, ladies, you'll know if you're loved or not.

But just let us know you're coming

so we can make sure that we got breakfast provided.

So please drop us a note somehow.

Let us know, but please take advantage.

And then on the 15th, the day after, in the evening time, 6:00, Sunday

the 15th, I want to teach you how to share your faith.

There are six ways of sharing our faith in the New Testament that we see

Jesus or the disciples do, and I want to help.

One of them fits you perfectly. You just don't know it.

You know how to do it.

And so I want to share. I want to help you discover

what your style of, of of of evangelism is, honestly.

And it'll fit. Don't make sense or be easy for you.

I'm gonna show you what yours is and how to do it.

So please take advantage of that on the 15th as well.

Anyway, we're going to wrap up

Matthew seven.

I think all those announcements

from my way of delaying getting into this,

I've said before, I,

I don't get excited about teaching the sermon on the Mount

because

it's profound

and it's deep and it's convicting.

It's sobering.

It's liberating all at the same time.

But I want to be very careful

that I don't do it in a way.

That comes across as if I can do a better job

explaining what Jesus meant than Jesus could do.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

Like Jesus did a fine job

and and and.

The hesitation that I have.

Is to say, let me explain what Jesus meant.

That's a that's some sacred ground.

You understand?

That's, And so I want to make sure that I do.

This was a great deal of humility.

And and a,

with an understanding of the weight of it.

I told someone

this last week that I wish I could just skip chapters five, six,

and seven of Matthew because it's there's I don't want to do it a disservice.

And I don't want to do you a disservice by teaching it

inadequately.

But we're going to wrap up.

We're going to wrap up the sermon on the greatest sermon ever preached,

the longest single, message that Jesus ever spoke.

We're going to wrap it up this morning with the last verses of chapter seven.

If you have a Bible and brought one with you, go to Matthew chapter seven.

It's the first of the four Gospels.

We're going to look at verses 21 through 29.

The very last section of this.

But let me, let me, let me give you this big idea as we, as we,

as we go into this, into wrap it up this morning, the big idea is this

the gate is narrow,

the storm is certain,

and only one foundation is going to survive.

The gates narrow.

Not everybody finds it and gets in the.

The storm is certain. There's a storm.

You're either in a storm or you're headed into one.

The storm's coming.

There's no doubt about that.

And it's going to be more difficult.

More powerful than you can imagine.

I'm going to tell you that right now.

And there's only one foundation that's going to survive it.

I want to recap verses 13 and

14 of Matthew seven before we get into the the final section of it,

we talked about it last week, but I want to recap it and and it just

unfolded a little bit more.

Verse 13 Jesus says, enter by the narrow gate,

for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction.

And those who enter are many.

For the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life.

And those who find it are few.

He says, enter through the narrow gate.

We talked last week, and I just want to unfold this

a little bit more that the the gate

leads to the path,

and every person will go through a gate

and every person will walk a path.

And Jesus says, be mindful to enter through the narrow gate.

But he warns us, that's going to be hard.

We talked last week how the narrow gate, not like the path,

isn't necessarily difficult.

Jesus said, my yoke is easy, my burden is light.

So walking with him isn't necessarily difficult.

But getting to the gate and through the gate is hard

because it requires self-denial.

It requires his kingdom over ours.

That's a difficult choice for most people to make.

But he will say, other than the narrow gate being the way of self-denial

and kingdom first, that's our stuff, Jesus will say, and he'll define the gate.

In John ten he says, I am the gate.

Whoever enters through me will be saved.

They will come in and go out and find pasture.

So Jesus takes this gate imagery.

He said, it's a narrow gate because it's me.

Jesus claims exclusivity.

The only way to the father, the only way to be made

right with God is through Jesus and Jesus alone.

He claims exclusivity on the exclusive and only gate and to find.

And it's a very narrow way.

Listen, not all roads lead to heaven.

And sincerity

of what you believe is not enough.

Sincerity doesn't qualify

to be very sincere about a way of believing,

but just sincerely wrong

and good works don't work.

And Jesus says, I am the gate.

And if you want to go to the father,

you have to come through me and through me alone.

There's no other way.

And a lot of people will look at Christians and say, you're pretty narrow

minded.

And I would say regarding salvation, you're 100% correct, very narrow minded,

because it's through Christ alone,

through what Jesus did on the cross.

There's a lot of religions that teach a lot of things.

There's a lot of beliefs that teach a lot of things about what you must do

and the things associated with a religious belief.

And Jesus says, it's me.

And it's very narrow.

And because he claims as exclusivity, because it's so narrow,

focused on Christ alone, not many people find it

to understand.

And that's why it's hard.

But listen, the gate is narrow

because truth isn't negotiable.

He says I'm the way, the truth and the life.

Nobody comes to the father but through me.

Because I am the gate.

And for most of the world,

that's too narrow an understanding of God.

And that's why Jesus says in verse 14,

there aren't many people who find it.

Because to find

it means that I'm acknowledging that all other beliefs,

if it doesn't lead through Jesus, are in error.

No matter how good you are, no matter what you believe, no matter

the confirmation, the baptism, the good works,

there's anything other than Jesus

because of God's grace through faith.

It's a wide gate that leads to destruction.

And if that has not been your understanding of salvation,

if that has not been your understanding of the God who loves you,

I'm going to give you an opportunity later in this message

to come to the father through the son alone.

Exclusively through Christ.

Because of God's grace, you didn't earn it

through faith,

not through what you do.

There's one gate.

And the storm is coming.

The foundation

on which you build will determine

your survival.

In verses

21 through 27, he wraps up this incredible sermon.

And it's not let me tell you this right now.

It's not a it's not a rah rah wrap up.

He doesn't have people jumping up and down going, yeah, this is awesome.

Jesus. You're great.

And nobody high fiving each other as you walk out.

He's going to wrap up this message with a profound and deep

call to commitment.

And Jesus is going to basically, he's going to ask this question.

He's going to ask, is your faith real or is your confession of faith

just noise?

And so let me read

for you verses 21, 22 and 23.

This is a terrifying passage.

Not everyone who says to me, Lord,

Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven,

but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven.

On that day

many will say to me, Lord, Lord,

did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name,

and do many mighty works in your name?

And I will declare to them,

I never knew you.

Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

It's terrifying.

When Jesus uses these words,

you'll say to me, Lord, Lord.

That's master slave verbiage.

In order for there to be a Lord.

That's the word master.

And the only way someone's a master is if the master has slaves.

And so the verbiage is right.

You're the master.

I'm your slave.

Or you say, go, I'll go.

What you say do all do.

The verbiage is right.

And what he's saying is those who have the right verbiage

still might not get in.

Not because they don't say the right words, but because

Jesus, the Son of God, doesn't know them.

It's terrifying.

Just because I say I believe in Jesus, that is important.

But by itself, Jesus says, apparently that's not enough.

Just because I claim you're the master doesn't

necessarily mean that I have a relationship with him.

And this is Jesus's warning to those who would claim

Christian superficially, but whose spiritual life

and spiritual habits have no impact on their daily life.

It's those who claim to be religious, who claim to know God.

But their daily lives

look no different than anybody who doesn't.

A superficial confession

I was just talking

with a man this week.

And he's

he's dying of cancer, and he knows it.

And someone asked me, they said, hey, I want you to get them baptized.

And I told, I told this guy, baptism isn't going to do

you any good.

You're only hope

is to accept Jesus as your Savior,

to accept what he did on the cross so your sin could be forgiven,

and all of the nastiness of your past can be forgiven.

And to come to the father through with this idea that your only hope

for what you're facing, eternity.

He said, I mean, I yeah, okay.

But I got a lot of people praying for me and said,

I don't care who you have, praying for you.

Their prayers for you

aren't going to do you any good.

Until you realize that Jesus

is your only hope of forgiveness and salvation, it's a very narrow way.

Do you understand?

I don't see him here, he said.

Who's going to come to church either the the, the 930, the 11:00 service.

So I'm praying.

You sure y'all pray that he'll show up at 11:00?

Amen.

Jesus

says on that day your words aren't going to end.

On that day.

Your words, even your acts, are going to do what Daisy talking about on that day.

It's talking about day of judgment

and so on that day when you and I stand

before God and have to give an an account of our lives.

When we have to stand

before God, and when God says, why, why, why do you get to come and share

in your master's happiness for all eternity? On that day,

every one of us will stand before God and give him an account of our lives.

What we've said, what we've done, what we've thought.

An account of our faith on account of how we respond to what God,

what to what we know that God has told us on that day.

He says on that day

many will say to me, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in her name and cast out

demons today?

Don't we do mighty, mighty, many mighty works in your name.

Charles Spurgeon

spoke many messages.

One was about this and I want to share with you part

of what Charles Spurgeon said about this passage.

He says, what's your primary object in life?

What's your objective in life?

And will you think that much of it

on that day, as you do right now?

Will you think of it on that day

as such a wise pursuit as you think of it now?

You can defend your decisions now,

but will you be able to defend your decisions on that day?

Their objection

is, didn't we do all of this in your name?

And Jesus doesn't

doubt their claims to miracles.

He doesn't refute that they did these great things in the name of Jesus.

But apparently Jesus is telling us that miracles

prove nothing.

Don't get overwhelmed by signs and wonders,

though.

They did them in Jesus's name.

Apparently they had no loving relationship and fellowship

with Jesus.

The name of Jesus has great authority, but even those

who don't have a relationship with him obviously.

So they hear Jesus's words depart from me.

I never knew you.

See, in

the end, the basis of a salvation is this.

And I don't want you to miss this.

It's both knowing Jesus and being known

by Jesus.

According to what Jesus is saying

in Matthew seven, this is the basis for our salvation.

Jesus didn't say, oh, I know your works.

You're good.

He says, I needed to know you.

In essence, he's saying,

you may have claim to know me, but I never

knew you.

It's not that these people lost their salvation.

Apparently, they never had salvation to begin with.

And so the question has got to be,

how do I make sure that I know Jesus and am known by Jesus?

Isn't that the question?

We say it all the time.

I hope it sinks in.

It's about a relationship, not religion.

It's just not about what you believe.

It's about a

relationship that you've entered into.

Where you know Jesus, certainly,

but he also knows you and what Jesus is saying here.

So we have to be very careful that we're just not people who claim to know Christ.

Yeah, I believe in God.

Yeah.

No, I know, I know, yeah, but does he know you?

There's a there's a there's a level of intimacy that Jesus

is addressing here that not everybody who claims to know

Jesus possesses.

See, a heart

that knows Jesus and is known by Jesus is a heart

both that is open and receives Jesus and then opens itself

to Jesus.

Receiving him by faith

and revealing yourself to him

in relationship.

Where the confession is, I believe, Jesus, that you're the only way to heaven,

that you died on the cross, that you rose from the grave,

and that you shed your blood for the forgiveness of my sin.

Absolutely.

I know you and I accept you, and likewise Jesus.

This is all of me.

And I'm giving all of me to.

I want you to know me, not just know about me

in the sovereign mind of God, but to know me personally.

That you know my inner.

You know who I am.

You know my tendencies, you know my failures.

I have let you into my life and you know all the deep, dark resources,

just not in a knowledge sense, but in a personal sense that I let you into me

in every part of me and every part of me responds to this relationship with you,

and I let you transform the inner stuff in me, just not my outward behavior.

Do you understand?

It's knowing Jesus and Him knowing me.

It's the difference

between I know someone and I write them text messages or letters

and the intimacy of a marriage where

husband and wife know each other.

And apparently Jesus is saying, until there's that intimacy,

I don't know you because you haven't let me in.

You believe in me.

You say you accept me, but you don't haven't let me in.

So depart from me.

You may know me, but I don't know you.

You understand?

And so to that end.

I want to give you an opportunity right now.

Not just to confess that you know Jesus,

but to let Jesus know you.

There's no magical body position for prayer,

but because many of us are like little black

lab puppies that just, oh.

When we pray,

we close our eyes because it helps us not to be distracted.

And so I'm going to invite you in this moment just to close your eyes

so you're not distracted.

And you do your own

spiritual self-assessment.

Do you know Jesus?

And have you invited allowed him access

so that he knows you?

I encourage you in this moment simply

confession of faith. Jesus.

Thank you that you I believe that you died on the cross

so my sins could be forgiven.

You shed your blood so my sin could be forgiven.

I accept what you've done, and I appropriate your blood over my life

for the forgiveness of my sin.

What I know of you, I accept,

and I ask you to lead my life.

And then.

And, Jesus, I want you to know me

not in the grand, omniscient way,

but in the personal way,

where every nook and cranny and dark place

where everything that I've held on myself.

I invite you into.

And I give you authority

into every one of those places of my life.

Clean.

Make new

rule over.

I am yours and you are mine.

And every part of my life.

Your name I pray.

Amen.

Friends,

my prayer is that none of you leave this place

without knowing Christ and Him knowing you.

And if you prayed that prayer, please,

I'm telling you.

Let me know.

Let us know.

I want to walk with you through this relationship, into this relationship.

Don't walk out of here without telling one of us.

One of those was the prayer landers. Let us pray over you.

The just.

Just confirming your decision.

It's too important.

To understand.

As Jesus goes on and wraps up this this sermon

in verses

24 through 27, he tells this parable

parables Jesus used because they're profound.

They're profound stories

that teach the unchanging, the unchanging truth

of the kingdom of God and citizens of the Kingdom.

And the reason Jesus taught him parables.

He tells us why in Mark chapter four,

when he was alone, those around,

those around him with the 12 disciples, they asked about these parables

because he's talking to parables all the time.

And he said to them, to you,

you know me, and I know you.

We have this deep, intimate relationship with each other.

To you.

You've been given the secret of the kingdom of God.

That's why I'm talking to you.

Parables. You get it?

The parables are telling you the secrets of the kingdom of God.

But to those on the outside,

they may say they know me, but I don't know them.

They're on the outside.

Everything's in parables, so they may indeed see,

but not perceive, and indeed hear, but not understand.

Otherwise they would turn to be forgiven.

I wish they would turn to be forgiven, but they won't. Why?

Because they they perceive, but they don't see it.

They hear but they don't understand it.

They're on the outside.

Don't get it.

And so I teach the secrets of the kingdom for those who get it,

who are not going to trample on it and defame it.

That's what he just said, a few verses earlier about throwing

a pearls to the dogs and pigs.

He said the pearls of the kingdom, the mercy and grace of God,

the kingdom of God, the love of God, the forgiveness.

That's right.

That's that's beautiful.

And you give that they're just going to trample on it and defame it.

And so I'm going to speak in parables that those who get it

will get the secrets of the kingdom of God and those who don't.

All they're going to do is trample on anyway,

because they see if they don't perceive it, they hear, but they don't.

They don't understand.

It's interesting to me that as part of this group was Judas

and Jesus spoke in parables.

And one reason, because I think he knew Judas was just going to trample

on to fame, on the mercy and grace and forgiveness of God.

He saw it.

He just didn't understand it.

And so he tells this parable, and this is what he says in this parable.

Everyone who hears these words of mine, everyone who's heard what I've said,

we're in that camp.

We've all

heard the words that he said in these three chapters.

Every one of us who's heard these words of mine

and does them, will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock.

And the rain fell, and the floods came,

and the wind blew and beat on that house.

But it did not fall. Why?

Because it was founded on the rock.

And everyone

who hears these words of mine, just like we have

and does not do them, will be like a foolish man

who built his house on the sand, not the rock.

And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds

blew and beat against that house, and it fell.

And great was the fall of it.

There's one gate,

storms coming,

and only one foundation is going to survive. It.

When Jesus tells this parable, I want you understand what he's saying.

He's saying there's three truths here that we're all building.

We're all building our lives.

That's that's the that's the that's the house.

We're all building our lives.

Storms are coming,

without a doubt.

Some of you are in it.

Some of us are headed into it.

That's just.

That's just the truth of life and the success of what I build.

The success of what you build will be determined

by the foundation on which it's built.

You know, it's interesting in this, in this, in this parable

that Jesus tells, every building looks the same from the outside.

We all look the same.

The foundation is the most important part

of the of the structure, and it's unseen.

And though

it's unseen, the found every foundation is proven.

When the storm hits.

Though we all look the same.

We all go through the same stuff.

Nobody sees the foundation until the storm hits.

And then it's apparent to

see with the building.

The facade is for show,

but the foundation determines the future.

And there are some lives who have built

nothing but a facade.

And so when the storm comes,

destruction and great is that destruction.

When Jesus used this, this, this analogy of the storm,

the storms in this day was the greatest experience of power

that they knew.

Because they didn't have nuclear stuff

then they didn't have the fossil fuel stuff.

They so it's like the storms are the ultimate in power.

And Jesus says, what is that?

That type of forces coming against your life?

Here's what he's saying,

that every one of us is going to face some type of storm against us.

That is going to be far beyond our power to handle.

We won't be able to handle it.

The power of the storms are going to be so great

that it's going to be so far beyond our power to to endure.

That is going to shake us to the very foundation

of what our life and faith is built on.

And if it's built on any other thing, then Jesus himself.

It's a sandy foundation and great will be the fall.

Sea. When the storm shifts,

we don't rise to the level of the storm.

We default

to the foundation.

Most of us think when the storm hits like

God won't give me anything more than I can handle.

That's a lie from the devil.

He absolutely will give you more than you can handle.

He won't allow you to be tempted more than what you can handle,

but he will absolutely allow you to have more than what you can bear. Why?

To test the found. To not test.

To reveal the foundation.

And most of us think, well, when that time

comes, I'll just, you know, I'll be able to handle it all.

I want to know you won't because we don't rise to the level of the storm.

We sink.

Our default is the foundation.

Think about this as a parent.

I mean, just imagine you had a child and you're like, hey, boy,

go clean up your room. It's a pigsty.

And your son says, I hear you

all right.

Walked away.

Our hour and a half comes back.

You say, son, clean up your own.

No. And clean up.

But I heard what you said.

And I have paid attention to your words so much.

I even memorized what you said.

And your words were so important to me.

I just memorize them, but I translate them.

I could tell you what you said in Greek. Isn't that impressive?

What are you going to say as a parent?

Right?

I don't care, idiot.

I didn't ask you to

like, like go clean.

Do what I said.

And so many people.

Lord, Lord,

I heard what you said.

I even memorized some of it.

I studied it.

I don't you didn't.

You didn't do it.

Great.

Is the four.

Many will think I'm.

I'm coming to church.

I'm learning what you said that that's good.

And that's a start.

But that ain't the end game.

James 122.

Don't be.

Here's of the word and only and deceive yourselves.

Do what it says.

We have to get to the

to the place where we do believe,

so that we will belong to the family of God 100%.

But after belonging to the family of God, just because we say the words Lord, Lord,

then we become by the doing of the word

a transformed person,

a transformed husband, a transformed wife, a transformed

son, daughter, student work, a transformed.

And as you were transformed, we give what we have all our resource

to the work of the Kingdom.

When we go on mission with God.

And that's how Jesus wraps up this

sermon.

And the results of it are profound.

Look at what it says.

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching

for was teaching them as one who had authority and not as the scribes.

What was so amazing about this method?

What was so authoritative about this?

Let me tell you, the other rabbis and teachers,

all they did was simply quote other rabbis and teachers.

They didn't stand on their own authority.

They stood on this sort of what everybody had already said before them.

Jesus spoke from his own authority, with his own inherent power and authority.

Here's here's his point.

Whenever God's Word,

this God's Word is authoritative

in and of itself.

It doesn't need anything to authenticate it.

It doesn't need any.

It doesn't need to borrow the power from the anything else

to be authoritative and powerful.

This is it.

And Jesus spoke with the authority of the Word of God.

He didn't have to quote anybody.

He was the Word of God.

And as he taught

with this type of authority, they had never heard such doctrine before.

They had never heard says truth about the kingdom of God

and what was required of the citizens of the kingdom of God.

See, whenever God's Word is presented with

with its own inherent power and authority, it is amazing.

We don't have to fancy it up.

We don't have to preach and teach for sound bites.

We don't have to try to amaze people with it.

It is amazing in and of itself.

God's word is amazing in and of itself,

and when we do it, we experience the amazing Kingdom of God

and it's astounding.

His whole

Jesus boils down this whole thing with authority.

He asked the question,

have you decided to follow me?

Not with lip service,

not with what you claim,

but with unquestioned devotion

and obedience.

I asked Jeff and Ali to sing this song

for us and with us.

At the end of this message, I'm. Invite them up.

And I chose this song

because I think it drives home

what Jesus is demanding of us.

At the end of his sermon.

This song is derived from the words that were spoken

during this event, and I'm going to tell you about

how these words weren't spoken as a song.

They were spoken as a declaration,

and someone

later came on and made these words a song.

During the Welsh revival

back in the turn of the century, early in 1900s,

God's Spirit broke out in such profound ways

amongst people that were called, they calling them to repentance

and calling them to give all their lives to the service of the kingdom.

And out of the results of the Welsh revival, all these, these men and women

decided, God, I'm going to give my life to you on the mission field.

And many of them their hearts were drawn to the area in North India

that had not heard the gospel yet.

And some of these missionaries were called

by God to go to the Goro tribe in North India.

They were a headhunter tribe, and their culture was such that

when they would conquer people, they would cut off their heads

and hang their heads around the village

as symbols of their of their power and their might.

And so these missionaries went to the Galle tribe,

and they eventually gained the opportunity to talk to them about what

the God who had changed their life in the person of Jesus.

And it was during those conversations that one man

named NOK Singh accepted Christ,

and through him his wife and his two sons became Christ followers.

And they were so overwhelmed with the message of the gospel

and the truth of Jesus's life.

Death is resurrection to be made new.

They start to evangelize until everybody else in their tribe of the

the Galle Headhunters about Jesus

and the story of Jesus started to spread

and it got to the the, the leader of the tribe and he was irate.

They were evil, they were demonic.

They had all this other religious beliefs, and they did not want the message

of Jesus, this one savior, to override all their belief system.

And so

the leader of the tribe

got knocked sing and his wife and his two sons,

and brought him before the tribal council in the center of the of the tribe,

and said, you must cease and stop talking about Jesus.

And if you don't,

we'll kill you.

And in response

not, Singh said these words,

I have decided to follow Jesus.

No turning back.

And at that the chief gave the orders to the archers, and they drew back

their their bows, and they shot both of his sons before his eyes,

and his sons fell down dead in the dirt.

He says, you must stop preaching.

Jesus and not saying, look down.

The story of history tells us he looked down at his sons in the dirt,

and he looked up at the tribal leader.

He said,

though none will follow.

Though none go with me.

Still I will follow.

No turning back.

And at that the king, being irate, commanded.

The archers pull back arrows and shoot his wife.

And they did,

and she fell down dead next to her sons,

and not.

Singh looked at his wife and his two sons, and then looked at the tribal leader.

And he said these words, the cross before me,

the world behind me.

No turning back.

And at that the tribal leader

commanded the archers to put arrows in his body.

And they did,

and he perished.

And in a moment of wonderment, the the story of history tells us that

the King looked at NOK Singh and his wife and his two sons, and said, who would?

Who would believe in

in such a man so much that they would lay down their lives like this?

This, and the start of this process in the leader.

To investigate Jesus.

And he came to faith,

and through his faith the entire village

accepted Christ.

Because one man.

Said, I have decided to follow Jesus.

No turning back,

though none go with me. Still I will follow.

No turning back

the cross before me, the world behind me.

No turning back.

And so Jesus has asked us,

will you follow?

Not with lip service.

But every part of your life.

Will you follow?

To narrow gate.

Only if you find it will you be one.

As we sing this song,

I'm not going to ask you to stand it.

We're not going to close this service with a roar roar thing.

It is. This isn't rah rah.

This is.

Lord, I need to do business in my own heart.

And so as we sing this song, I'm

not going to ask you to stand up until

if and until you can sing these words

as your declaration.

I don't want you to stand and sing

the song as we wrap up the service.

If you choose.

To sing the song,

these words as a declaration.

Then you stand up as your declarative statement.

And again, please, I want to implore you in the name of Jesus,

if you've made a decision to follow him, tell us.

Tell some of these prayer people.

Let us pray over you if you need prayer for something,

don't leave this place without going to God with somebody.

I've decided.