Matthew 7 | Kingdom Now: The Danger of Self-Deception

Matthew five, six and seven.

We call this sermon on the Mount.

It's the longest continuous message

we have recorded of Jesus.

And to teach it is,

a daunting task.

It comes with a great deal of fear and trepidation.

So I appreciate Dennis's prayer,

that God would help me as I teach this.

You need God to help me teach this.

It seems almost,

arrogant

to think that someone could elaborate and explain

Jesus's words better than Jesus's words.

And I wish

that I didn't have to teach through

Matthew five six and seven because,

how does an ignorant person

try to explain better what Jesus said himself?

It just doesn't make sense to me.

And so I, I've really struggled, especially this week

in preparation for today, because Matthew seven

is one of those chapters that most people have heard a lot of.

What's in chapter seven,

but most people do understand it.

And so for me to try to explain what Jesus intended

to say is, is,

it's just I can't.

Part of me just shudders to think that one day I'm going to have to stand

before Jesus and give an account for how I explained what he said.

That's not a position

I want to be in, but here we go.

Let me say this right up front about chapter seven.

You're going to recognize a lot of what Jesus said.

In this chapter, you're going to recognize a lot of it. But,

I think there's a greater understanding we can have to it

than probably what we have at this point.

Let me say this also, that Jesus is less concerned

about the claims we make, more about what we produce.

Lip service is cheap.

And so Jesus is going to deal with that.

And the most dangerous place that you and I can be spiritually

is close to Jesus, but not actually following him.

Let me say that again.

The most dangerous place that we can be

spiritually is to be close to Jesus, but not following.

And by the end of today,

some of us are probably going to feel pretty uncomfortable.

And that is probably because the Holy Spirit is doing his work.

And that's good.

As long as it leads us to confession, repentance,

and communion with Christ.

And so I don't usually put

all the all the verses on the screen,

because I expect you to have a Bible and bring one with you.

And I still expect that.

But this morning I'm going to put the verses up there because

because, you need to see it.

And we all need to be saying the same words.

And so Matthew seven, let's just get

and we're not going to go through a whole chapter.

We'll get through a lot of it.

Matthew seven verses one and two.

Judge not or YouTube, just any of you heard that before?

Haven't we had that said to you before?

Have you ever said that before?

Judge not this.

You be judged,

right?

Most people have heard that verse.

Now, in fact, this is probably the thing that Jesus said

that is most popular of all the things that he said,

though, most people don't understand what it means,

for in the same way you judge others,

you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Judge not.

The word judge that Jesus uses.

Here's a Greek word carino,

which can mean one of two things condemnation

or inspection.

Most people, when they hear the word judge not,

they only view it in the terms of condemnation.

So judge not, lest you be judged,

but depending on the context, it means either condemnation or inspection.

Slash identification.

We have to be able and we.

And it's a necessity for people to judge

for inspection.

Parents, if you have a daughter

and you get wind of some little boy sniffing around your daughter,

you better judge that boy by inspection.

Do you understand?

Do you understand? No.

There better be a lot of judgment going on as far as inspection and identification.

You need to identify what's the character of this young man.

You need to inspect.

What's the character in the course of his life?

How's he treated? Other.

How's he treat his mom?

The way he treats his mom has gone to treat your little girl.

You can't just sit back and say, well, judge not, lest she be judged.

That's stupid.

You understand?

That's really.

You got five girls. Four girls?

That's a big yes out of yes.

The most judgmental man in this church right there.

And you should be.

You should be.

But it's confusing

because none of us want to be judgmental, right?

But we all need to be discerning.

So Jesus is talking about.

But even when you read Scripture, you read stuff like, you know, in John 317

after John 316, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,

that whoever believe in him not have not perish, but have eternal life.

And then John 17 says, for I did not come to judge the world.

However,

two chapters later in John 939, he says,

I have come for judgment.

Was Jesus confused?

Not at all.

He said, look, I didn't come to condemn the world.

I came to save it.

If you stand condemned just because you've rejected me,

but I have come for judgment,

because I will judge the fruit of your life.

And so there is no contradiction.

We just have to understand what Jesus is saying in Matthew

seven about judging.

Think about like this.

A doctor judges

and looks for symptoms that he might heal.

Judge looks for evidence that he might condemn.

And Jesus is saying you are not the judge and the jury.

You do not condemn.

But other later in this very book, Jesus will look at the

the scribes and the religious people and say, you're a bunch of snakes.

Was he judging?

100% he was.

He was identifying.

There was identification there.

There was discernment.

There.

Now, whether they condemn before

the father was up to them and what they did with Jesus,

but it was absolutely judging for identification.

And so he's

not saying don't judge for identification.

He's saying don't judge for condemnation.

Do you follow? Yes.

So the Bible wills will say that those of us who claim the name of Christ

should expect and anticipate that others who claim the name of Christ

have the right and the responsibility to judge the fruit of my life.

And if I claim the name of Jesus and you claim the name of Jesus,

I have the right and responsibility to judge the fruit of your life.

To get it? Yes.

Okay.

So the Bible says no to condemnation,

but yes to inspection.

We have to judge

in discernment for identification,

but not for condemnation.

For the measure

that you used to judge, you will be judged.

Judged by whom?

By God?

Yeah.

By other people?

Yeah.

The rabbis used to teach this.

That God has two hands.

A hand of justice. In hand of mercy.

And so which hand do you want leveled against you?

Mercy.

So you better level your hand of mercy against others, not judgment

as in condemnation,

even when it's a judgment of identification, is still merciful.

You follow? Yes.

Here's the.

Here's our problem.

We judge others based on their actions.

We judge ourselves based on our intentions.

And we want mercy for us, but judgment for others.

We do

drive down a highway.

Let someone cut you off and speed past you.

And like, wears a cup when you need one.

But the moment you're kneeling, you're like,

oh please Lord, no sirens, no sirens, right?

The measure you use to be used against you,

I think in the Old Testament, the story in the book of Esther,

of Mordecai and name.

And Mordecai was a Jew.

Naaman was not a name.

And wanted to kill Mordecai, and then thereby the rest of the Jews.

And so Mordecai our Naaman built this huge, huge gallows to hang,

hanging Mordecai on in front of everybody.

And God flipped the script,

and Naaman was hung on the gallows that he intended for Mordecai.

You'll be judged by the same manner you judge.

I was thinking the Old Testament.

The King is name is out tonight.

Back, and he was captured.

And the Bible says that his captors cut off his his thumbs and his big toes.

You know why?

Because you can't hold a sword with no thumbs.

And they're not very mobile with no toes.

And his response to that sentence was this

I understand

because of 70 kings, I've cut off their thumbs

and big toes and had them eat the crumbs under my table.

This is God's repayment.

The manner you judge will be used to judge.

So make sure it's with mercy.

Be discerning.

Judge. Fruit. Don't condemn.

But even the fruit inspection.

Make sure it's merciful.

Do you follow? Yes.

And then Jesus goes on, and and and he.

And he says this in verses three, four and five.

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye

and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

Have you ever heard that? They're looking at him.

Yeah.

How can you say to your brother, let me take the plank out of your eye

all the time.

There's a plank in your own. Or take the speck of your eye all the time.

There's a plank in your own eye. You hypocrite!

First take the plank out of your own eye.

Then you'll see clearly to remove the spec from your brother's eye.

Now, Jesus knows this kind of pressing in a little bit

with this whole judgment thing.

And so, so this little passage

here, this is Hebrew humor.

This is funny.

Hebrew Hebrew humor is exaggeration.

So when Jesus is talking about a piece of sawdust and a plank, that's exaggeration.

So it's like, look, a little.

Like there's this guy, right?

He's got a big two by four in his face,

and it's just like, oh, dude, you're so funny.

That's like, he he knows. Is he?

Yeah. Like, you got to give people time to breathe, everyone.

You're all where you're pressing in a whole bunch, you know?

And so this is humor. I bet you didn't know that. That this is humor,

but it's poignant

because it's so look. So.

So while you are judging for inspection, realize

that however you're doing that, you probably have something in your own life

that's probably bigger than you got it.

So lawyer.

Looks like you got something in your eye.

Let me help you out with that.

I don't think that'd be ridiculous.

It's like.

Look, look, look, look, let me.

My depth perception is all lost,

so I don't exactly know how close I am, but.

But seriously, it looks like you got a little something.

Okay.

Does that make any sense at all?

No. No.

So can I.

Can I just can I can I help you with that?

What you got going on

just was like, why do you do this?

Like, I realize that you're inspecting, but you gotta realize

that you got something

right.

The interesting thing that the

the plank in the spect, it's the same.

It's the same substance in Greek.

So whatever I see in you, I got the same substance

in me.

And so we got to be real careful about the judging thing.

Not that we don't.

We have a responsibility to.

But. But this whole thing resides on self-reflection.

First.

Like, I got to take care of my stuff,

like, like, don't don't start inspecting my relationships

with people when you can't even keep your own family.

You understand,

like the.

So be discerning, but deal with your own stuff.

First is what he's saying.

And then and and then verse six.

And it just seems to come out of nowhere.

Don't give dogs what is sacred.

Don't throw your pearls to the pigs.

If you do them a trample under,

they may trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.

Then there seem to come out of left field like.

Like you're okay.

Hold on.

You're talking about judging and inspecting and condemning

and plank and speck and now dogs and pigs.

What are you.

Because we don't understand the.

And we don't understand the context of the sermon Jesus has spent

in, in the way it's recorded for us, like two chapters

talking about the Kingdom of God.

What are we relationship is

that it's just not religious behavior and duty.

There's a

there's there's an internal transformation because of the mercy

and grace of God, because of what Jesus has done on the cross.

Like he's invited us into this and commanded us.

And it's beautiful and it's it's perfect, and it revives the soul and.

And then he says, so

don't give to dogs what's holy and throw pearls to pigs.

All they're going to do is trample on it

and nasty it up, and then they're just going to turn on you.

We we have to understand what he's saying.

Pigs don't care about pearls.

Everything that Jesus has been talking right here, it's.

This is like pearls of the kingdom.

This is precious stuff.

This is something that has to be treasured.

He says you don't give that to those who are only going to berate

it, defame it, ridicule it, and trample on it.

They're pigs who have no concern for pearls.

That's tough.

And there's no conversation that you can have

that would convince a pig of the value of pearls.

That's what he's saying.

So does that mean we don't talk about the kingdom of God?

That people that don't believe.

No, not at all.

We preach to all people.

Matthew 1615

but also we understand the principle of Scripture of Matthew 1014.

If they don't listen to you, Jesus told his disciples,

shake the dust off your feet and move on, because they want nothing

to do with the kingdom.

So don't waste your time.

Unfortunately, there are so many well-meaning

Christians that get involved in the online debates

and forums and this and that and this and that and arguing people about stuff.

It just is so worthless

because there are some people and some segments of our culture

that want nothing

to do with the truth of the gospel, with God's mercy and his grace.

And all they want to do is condemn it and ridicule it and defame it and dirty it.

And Jesus says, there will be people like that.

Don't take the pearls of the kingdom and.

Move on to people who are receptive.

That's what you're saying.

It's that tough to hear.

And so we have to be very discerning.

But we got to understand that, that that

these idioms were used in other places of Scripture, too.

And I don't think I have the passages listed, but in Proverbs

2611, let me just read it for you.

Proverbs 2611.

Parviz 2611 says this.

Like a dog

that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.

Doesn't matter how many pearls you give him,

he's going to go back to his own vomit.

Second Peter 222 is another one.

Second Peter 222.

Second Peter 222 says this.

When the truth

when the truth for what the true proverb says has happened to them.

So you're saying the farmer said, and this happened to him.

The dog returned to its own vomit, and the sour,

after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.

There are dogs and pigs that all they want to do

is defame and dirty up the pearl of the gospel.

The mercy and grace of God and just say, don't.

Don't.

Unfortunately, they have

chosen for themselves the way of destruction.

Someone said this.

Don't ever fight with a pig in the mud

because you both will get dirty, but only the pig will

enjoy it.

You know

how much grief we could save ourselves,

how much peace we would gain if we quit

fighting with pigs in the mud.

Let's move on.

Seven. Eight.

Nine. Ten. 11. 12.

Ask and it will be given to you.

Seek and you will find.

Knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks.

Receives the one who seeks finds.

And the one who knocks the door will be open.

Which of you, if your son asked for

bread, would give him a stone?

It's ridiculous.

Or if you ask for a fish or give him a snake.

If you.

Even though you're evil,

know how to give good gifts to your children.

How much more I love that three word phrase.

How much more you need to underline that circle and highlight

how much more God is the God of how much more.

If you're this good, how much more good is God?

It's a beautiful little three lane, three word phrase.

How much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him

so in everything.

Do to others what you would have them do for you.

For this sums up the law of prophets.

This is everything there is.

How many of you have heard this idea of ask and you receive, seek.

You know find. Knock. There will be opened. Yeah.

Here's here's what Jesus is talking about.

Prayer.

And it's interesting to me

in the sermon on the Mount, Jesus has already dealt with prayer

when he taught his disciples to pray.

Then he came back to prayer a couple verses after that.

Now, for a third time, he deals with the topic of prayer. Why?

Because prayer is vital.

He says, I want you to understand and do this.

So when you pray, ask, seek, and knock.

Those three are verbs and they're commands that come with a promise.

But they're

they are

present, active, imperative verbs, which means they're ongoing.

They don't stop.

It's not one and done. Well, I already asked.

It's continuing.

Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking.

And those three commands come with a promise.

Each one of them.

Keep asking and you'll receive.

Keep seeking and you'll find. But watch this.

Keep knocking

and you'll have the presence of God.

It's not just about receiving.

When you knock on the door and it's open now you're in the presence of.

Does that make sense?

Yeah.

So there's teaching on prayer is both persistent and progressive.

And there's a, there's there's an increasing there's

an increasing passion that comes with it with with each

hour seek and knock this the passion behind each

the the investment of each gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

Like if I'm thirsty, I'm thinking in.

Can someone get me lots of water?

Then the well, I asked,

but then when I get really thirsty I'm like, okay, wait, I gotta get one myself.

Like, where is the where's the water thing?

I gotta, I gotta find this thing. I'm so.

And that doesn't work.

Then I'm like, I'm like, oh, well, Heather's in charge of the water thing.

Heather's back in the room.

Heather, give me some water.

Now. There's presence.

Do you understand?

And so there's teaching on.

Prayer is ongoing, and it's progressive.

And the reason why Jesus ends with knock on the door is because of the doors.

What?

Shut?

And what Jesus is saying is, look, there's going to be some times

when the door is shut,

keep knocking,

you're going to come upon some closed doors,

keep knocking.

Why would Jesus?

Earlier, Jesus told us that the father already knows our need.

Why wouldn't he just give us what we need?

Have you ever thought that?

Well, God, if you know, why don't you just do it?

He doesn't.

He says, I want you to keep asking, and I want you to keep saying.

And I want you to keep knocking. Here's why.

Continual prayer is not to convince God of something or to earn God's

hand is to keep us in a position of continually reliance upon him

and continued expectation

that the hand of a loving father is going to move on our behalf.

If God just gave us all we needed

without us seeking him, we would never

seek him.

He says, listen, I know, I know who you people are.

I know how you are.

The only way I get your attention

is to keep you in dependance on me.

See, our job is to understand what is good

so that we ask, seek and knock for that which is good.

And so the twofold purpose of prayer. One.

Increase our understanding of what God calls good God.

I have been asking, seeking and knocking and nothing.

What else is behind this that you have

determined is good for me that I don't understand yet.

The second thing behind prayer is

to cultivate our desire for what is good.

See the natural mind.

It doesn't understand this.

We don't get this on our own.

We think we know what's good and we ask, seeking not for that.

We have to understand what God has determined.

That's good.

And ask. Seek not for that.

How do you do it?

Well, thank you for asking.

Romans 12

I appeal to you.

Therefore, in light of all that God has done, his mercy, in his grace

by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as living

sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual act of worship.

Father,

I worship you by placing my life and my agenda

and my prayer requests on the altar.

I give myself on the altar

and that means I sacrifice it all.

Everything that I am, every desire, every hope, every dream is on the altar.

Sacrifice to you.

I worship you.

Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Father, I thought I knew, and I think I still know

what's best, and that's my request.

But I want you to renew my mind.

So my thoughts are your thoughts.

That by the testing you may discern what is.

The will of God is good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Father, I place myself on the altar my hopes, my dreams, my prayer requests.

I don't want to have my own mind about this.

I want to have your mind about this.

And as I sacrifice myself and my prayers and my, my, my hopes

and my dreams and my agenda, tell me what your good, pleasing and perfect will is.

That's what I want to pray for.

Renew my mind.

You follow.

And the only way that happens is by our continual

asking, seeking and knocking.

Not just for his answer, but for his presence.

Revelation 320 Jesus kind of reverses it.

I stand at the door knocking.

If you open the door, all come in

because this is the presence with you that I want.

That should be the source of our prayers.

I'm knocking, knocking, knocking.

Not just because I want your hand in a response, because I want your presence.

See, part of living by

faith is submitting that God's plan is best

and that he is sovereign.

One of the most important prayers that you and I can pray here it is.

Teach me to love you above all else

and cause me to want what you want.

It's a biblical prayer.

Teach me to love you above all else.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, street.

Cause me to want what you want.

Your will be done.

Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

One of the most important prayers anybody could pray right there.

Sometimes what God wants

is pleasant, right and good,

and sometimes what God wants is difficult.

And the question is, can we still pray your kingdom come,

your will be done was difficult.

I was thinking how to boil this down a little.

Phrases. So this is what I came up with.

God's best is greater than your request.

That's pretty good, That's pretty good.

I got another one.

God's best.

Beat your request.

That's pretty good. Do

I got another one?

If you need a yes to have peace.

You don't trust God yet? Ooh.

That one's done. Bit.

I got another one.

You don't need God to agree.

You need God to lead.

That's the best one.

And he says, verse 12.

So whatever you wish others to do for,

so whatever you wish that others would do for you, do also to them.

For this is law and the prophets.

This is not new to Jesus.

This phrase,

the idea of

this phrase, every world religion before Jesus and after

has had this same exact phrase, phrasing before Jesus.

But it was different.

The idea was different, but it was different.

Every world religion don't care what religion you talk about Hinduism,

Buddhism, Islam, Zoroastrianism like it doesn't matter.

They all had this, this idea, but every one of them was in the negative.

What you don't want someone to do if you don't do this, someone else,

the every, every religion,

what you don't want done to you don't do.

Here's the problem with that.

That means I don't have to do nothing to nobody.

That's horrible.

So Jesus comes along.

He says, you might have heard, don't do to someone what you don't want done to you.

This is actually taught by Hillel, one of the greatest Jewish rabbis ever.

Jesus comes along and says, that's not what it's about.

What you want done to you, do to others.

He made it active.

Do you understand?

He made it active.

He meant engaging.

Now I understand we all get a little bit hurt and and frustrated in our feelings.

Hurt a little bit, like nobody ever and just said, what do I do for others?

Because he just said, the manner you do for others will be done to you.

Dinner stand.

It's revolutionary.

But nobody ever thought that before.

Verses 1314 I realize where I am and I want to get to verse 20.

We got seven minutes.

Enter through the narrow gate for why does the gate and broad is the road

that leads to destruction and many enter through it.

But small is the gate, and narrow is the road that leads to life,

and only a few find it.

That is what you're saying. The goal is not the gate.

The goal is the path.

The gate gets us to the path.

The path is the way of life

and the way of life

that leads to life is a narrow gate,

and the way to the path that is destructive is a wide gate.

But here it's not about.

It's not about the narrow road is a hard road

to walk.

And the and it's the, it's the that's the hard road of obedience.

And the wide road is the easy road of disobedience.

That's not what he's saying in the context of the sermon on the Mount.

What he's saying is that religious observance,

without the intent of an act of love, is the wide road that will destroy you.

Because it's nothing about religious other than religious activity.

So when he said, listen, we need to understand this.

Following Jesus is not difficult.

If you've made it difficult, you're doing it wrong.

I don't know how to say it.

It's not difficult.

Jesus says himself in Matthew 11, my yoke is easy.

My burden is light.

He didn't say, I want you to follow me because it's going to be grueling.

It's not what he said.

He said to follow him.

My yoke, my burden, it's light.

Now listen, getting to that point through the narrow gate is hard,

but the path is not hard.

But getting to that gate is.

And so when Jesus uses that word hard, it's a Greek word called flee, bow.

And it means narrow, or the gate

of affliction or the gate of trouble.

So to get through the narrow gate

that leads to the narrow path of life that is light and easy,

you go through the difficult, hard gate of affliction and trouble.

It's going to be costly to say yes to Jesus and no to everybody else,

and everything else.

And it's going to be.

That's going to be hard to turn your back on yourself

and put yourself on the altar to take up your cross every day.

The gate

might be and it is a gate up, and it's just not narrow.

It's affliction and trouble.

Jesus said, in this world you will have trouble, but take heart.

I have overcome the world.

And so it's hard to choose this gate.

But when we walk with Jesus, we walk as an overcomer,

which is not burdensome.

This is that wide path,

that wide road is when you choose for yourself,

even religiously, what is important and not important.

When you choose for yourself what commands you will obey

and what commands you will ignore,

and that will lead you to destruction.

The narrow road

is the intentional prayer and meditation

and scripture reading and obedience.

When you desire God in His Spirit to penetrate your heart.

And only a few find it.

15 through 20.

Beware of false prophets who come to you

in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

You'll recognize them by their fruits.

That's judgment.

Remember, don't judge us.

You'll be judged by the same energy. You judge. You'll be judged.

Jesus is judging

not for condemnation, but for.

Inspection.

Don't. Don't forget this stuff. Now

there you're recognized by the fruit.

Our grapes gather from thorn bushes or face from thistles.

So every healthy tree bears good fruit.

But the disease tree bears bad fruit.

A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit,

nor can a disease tree bear good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Judgment

for identification.

I want you to realize something.

You'll recognize them by their fruit.

We must judge for identification

and discernment

by looking at the fruit of what the life has produced.

And every word and every action that comes from

our lives is fruit from our heart.

And Jesus says, A good tree will not produce bad fruit.

That battery cannot produce good fruit.

And so you inspect

and judge the fruit of the life.

And if it's bad fruit, guess what?

There's bad root.

And if there's good fruit, guess what?

There's good fruit.

And when we repent of sin and receive

Jesus, he gives us the Holy Spirit and changes our hearts.

Second Corinthians 517

and then gradually

we begin to produce good fruit.

Galatians 522 and 23.

How do you know what good fruit is?

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, joy,

and self-control. The fruit of the spirit.

Those are inward

characteristics that show themselves outwardly.

Ephesians two.

You were created in advance to do good works that God created

for you to do in advance. So.

So there is good work that we're supposed to produce

because of a change of a heart

to produce fruit in line that is, that is in tune

with God, is to walk the narrow path.

Because when my heart changes, my fruit changes.

You understand?

Yeah.

There are some religious groups that teach that people have to be baptized,

confirmed, have Holy communion, confession, confirmation,

all that stuff has ways to ensure that there

they go to heaven and they're right before God.

But other than those obligated religious practices,

their own personal lives look nothing different than culture.

You judge the fruit.

The fact is, every one of us stumbles.

And we go through seasons of not bearing any fruit.

I get I've been there.

I've had those seasons far too many.

But first, John three, four through ten makes it very clear that those who know

God don't continue in a lifestyle of bad fruit.

Might have a season or so, but there's repentance.

Confession by the mercy and grace of God.

The most frightful verse

in that section of verse 19, every tree that does not bear

good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Apparently a life of no fruit is the same as a life of bad

fruit.

Being right with God

is the work that God does in us through Jesus by faith.

Because of his grace.

And then we do

the work to cultivate good works

that show that my life and my heart have been changed.

So if you're in a lifestyle of bad fruit right now,

repent.

Allow God to change your heart

and enter into this through the narrow gate

of self-denial.

And if you're in a lifestyle of no fruit,

repent

and consider what fertilizer is.

Fertilize in your heart and get better fertilizer.

You wrap up with this I got two questions.

Two questions that kind of pull this whole thing,

this first 20 versus a seven together, two questions, two application questions.

You ready?

If only one of you is ready I got to start this all over again.

We're going to be we're going to miss a football game.

You ready?

Yeah. Like you on with it.

Two questions.

What sin am I quick to point out in others

that I'm slow to repent of myself?

If my life were a tree, what fruit would people

actually be able to taste?

Matthew seven one through 20 application.

Right there.

Jesus did not say that

we would be known by our opinions or our social media posts,

he said.

We would be known by our fruit.

The most dangerous place for us to be

is outside the kingdom, but

convinced we're inside it

while living an unchanged life.

You finish with this.

Self-deception is the most dangerous sin

in this room right now.

Don't you pray with me, father.

Thank you.

Thank you that you love us so much

that you sent your son to die for us.

That we don't have to die eternally.

And thank you that you love us so much.

You've told us the truth.

And Holy Spirit, I pray that you would

convict us,

and that in conviction, father,

that we would repent.

That we would be too quick

to recognize the sin in our own life and repent of that and in repentance.

Give us all that your grace would allow. God.

Thank you.

Give us the desire to produce good fruit, love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,

and to do the good work that you created for us to do.

That people would taste of our lives.

That which is sweet and Bountiful and beautiful.

Friends, I want to suggest this prayer to you.

It's real simple.

I would suggest this for you.

For me. God, here I give myself to you.

I choose to walk the narrow road,

rework my heart,

help me produce good fruit.

Would you be brave enough

to pray that prayer?

God, I give myself to you.

I choose to walk the narrow road.

Rework my heart

and help me produce good fruit.

Father, that's our prayer.

And for those of us who pray that, grant it

for asking.

We're seeking or knocking.

Granted, in your name I pray.

Amen.

Man, I'm so proud of you.

I'm so proud of you.

You have you have abided by very inadequate

teaching through this whole series.

Thank you.

You've heard some tough stuff from the Lord's word.

It's healthy for us.

It's good as long as we apply it.

We're not done, though.

We got a little bit more in Matthew seven to go through.

And let me tell you,

it's going to get terrifying next week.

It's going to get terrifying because Jesus is going to say this.

Not everyone who calls him Lord really know him.

And he's going to say, for some of you who have called on me

as Lord, I'm going to tell you to get out because I don't know you.

It's terrifying.

And we're going to look at this idea when faith is tested by pressure

and suffering and loss, does

it stand or does it fall?

And Jesus is going to ask us,

is your faith really built a last?

And that's how he's going to wrap up the sermon on the Mount.

And it's beautiful and it's hard

and it's terrifying and it's gorgeous and it's full of mercy and grace.

And so let's wrap it up next week.

You understand

I love you. I'm proud of you.

Let's sing one more song.

If any of you want to pray with anybody,

please look for those with those prayer lanyards.

They'd be happy to pray with you. Let's sing.