Climbing into the Kingdom | Summer On The Mount | Trinity Sermons

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity

Sermons. This week we are beginning a brand new

teaching series called Summer on the Mount and

we are going to spend the rest of the summer

looking at Jesus' sermon on the Mount, arguably

one of the most important teachings of Jesus

in the Bible. And this teaching begins with a

ladder. a ladder that shows us how we climb into

the kingdom of God and what the kingdom of God

is like as we are getting into it. So tune in

as Rob takes us through each of those steps and

we climb a little higher to investigate what

the kingdom of God is really like and why it

matters for us today. Today's reading is from

the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5 verses 1 to 12.

Matthew 5:1–12

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on

a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came

to him and he began to teach them. He said, blessed

are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom

of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they

will be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they

will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who

hunger and thirst for righteousness for they

will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for

they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure

in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are

the peacemakers, for they will be called children

of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted

because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom

of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult

you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds

of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and

be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.

For in the same way, they persecuted the prophets

who were before you. The word of the Lord. Well,

listen, Martin Luther King had his I Have a Dream

speech. Abraham Lincoln had the Gettysburg address.

Winston Churchill had all those wartime speeches.

We will fight them on the beaches. We will do

this. We will do that. Several times throughout

history in the last centuries, these important

speeches have happened at momentous moments that

have really changed the world. But today, we

are going to look at. Well, not today. This summer,

we're going to look at the one speech, the one

delivery that changed the world. And the funny

thing was about this one we're looking at is

actually it happened on a very ordinary day in

an ordinary place in front of an ordinary group

of people without very much fanfare at all, it's

called The Sermon on the Mount. And this summer,

we're going to be looking at it. We're calling

this series The Summer on the Mount. And believe

me, thousands and thousands of books have been

written about The Sermon on the Mount. Millions

of sermons have surely been preached on The Sermon

on the Mount. Counting today, it's like a million

and one. And it's called The Sermon on the Mount,

right? But actually, it never calls itself The

Sermon on the Mount. I think John Mark Comer.

has a really good definition for what it is Jesus

does there. It's Jesus' manifesto for a whole

new way to be human. in the in -breaking reality

of the kingdom of God. The Sermon on the Mount,

you guys, is found in your Bibles. It's only

three chapters long, Matthew 5, 6, and 7. It's

only 100 verses long. And yet those 100 verses

have changed the world more than any of the other

speeches that were ever given. Today we're going

to just begin to look at that great speech, that

great sermon. But before we do it, we've got

to just set the scene. And we've got to say,

OK, where did this take place? Who was listening

to it? What was going on? And that's where Matthew

Matthew 5:1

5, verses 1 and 2 begins. It says that when Jesus

saw the crowds, he went up onto a mountainside.

He sat down. And his disciples came to him and

began to teach them. By the way, the whole passage

we read this morning is on the back of the sermon

notes that you received this morning. But if

you look at this, there's four things I want

to point out to you right away. First of all,

the place. Where did this take place? It tells

us Jesus went up onto a mountain side to deliver

this address. Now, ancient people have always

felt that mountains represented this point, this

place, where heaven and earth kind of connected

with each other. It's this place where the creator

meets the creation. But when you think of the

mount, the Sermon on the Mount, do not think

of these Swiss Alps or do not think of the Rocky

Mountains. Think of a little like rocky outcropping,

the kind of place where if Jesus went up there,

then people could see him better. And it created

a place where they could hear him better as well.

But the reason. Jesus chose a mountain was not

because of the acoustics. I think the real reason

Jesus chose a mountain was because of an important

connection he wanted to make. You see, thousands

of years before that, Moses, the great Moses

also climbed up onto a mountain to receive the

Ten Commandments from God and brought those down

to God's people. So you know what Jesus is saying

in this little Sermon on the Mount thing? He's

saying, hey, everybody, look at me. I'm like

the new Moses. I'm going up a new mountain. And

I'm going to give you some new teaching on how

to be the brand new people of God. So that is

the first thing we know about the place, very

carefully chosen place. The second thing is the

people. Who weren't there that day to hear this

amazing sermon? Well, for sure his disciples

were there. What we just read, it said his disciples

were there, and they were probably sitting in

the front row, taking notes the whole time. But

it wasn't just his disciples. It says there were

crowds there. Who was in the crowds? Well, go

back just before the Sermon on the Mount to Matthew

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4, and you can see the people who were

hanging out with Jesus that day. It says, Crowds

of people came bringing the sick and the suffering

and the lame and the paralyzed so that Jesus

might heal them. Guys, what I'm saying is that's

very ordinary people. These were not the elite.

These were not academics who came to hear Professor

Jesus extol the virtues of the kingdom of God.

These were people like you and me, just everyday

people. That's who the people were. Thirdly,

though, let's talk about Jesus' posture. It tells

us that, for some reason, when Jesus went up

the mountain, that he then sat down. Oh, it's

a long way down. Sat down to give this sermon.

That may seem weird to you, but actually, in

the ancient world, that's what you did when you're

about to give a sermon. That's what a teacher

would do. That's even what a rabbi would do in

the synagogue before they gave their sermon.

They would sit down. It was a posture of a teacher.

which lets you know something else too. This

sermon that Jesus gave, it was not like off the

cuff. He wasn't just like, oh, shooting from

the hip. Hey, here's some ideas. No, he had prepared

this. It was polished. It was a rehearsed thing.

Jesus had probably given this sermon several

times before, and he'd probably give it several

times afterwards as well. Finally, the purpose.

What was the point of this sermon? Well, I already

hinted at this. This sermon was all about the

kingdom of God. Or, as you'll read this morning,

it said the kingdom of heaven. Just a quick note

about that. Matthew. doesn't like to use the

word kingdom of God. He always uses kingdom of

heaven. Why is that? It's because Matthew was

writing to a Jewish audience. And you might know

this, but the Jewish people out of respect do

not say God's name. They don't go around saying

God. They always would say something else. And

so as Matthew writes to them, he's not going

to call it the kingdom of God. He's going to

call it the kingdom of heaven. But you have to

understand the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom

of God mean exactly the same thing. But the whole

point of this sermon, this is important, is to

Help us understand what does it look like to

live in the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of

God. Now right away, some of you are here today

and you're like, OK, Rob, you've officially lost

me because I don't even understand what that

means. Kingdom of heaven, kingdom of God. It

sounds archaic. Here's all you need to know.

The kingdom of God is anywhere, any place, any

time where God is in charge. where what God wants

to happen is actually happening. Now, the kingdom

of God actually existed and kind of came into

being 2 ,000 years ago when Jesus started walking

around on Earth, healing people. Boom, the kingdom

of God. Teaching people. Boom, look, the kingdom

of God. It's popping up here and there. It was

like Jesus' ministry, like popcorn. The kingdom

of God kept popping up here and there and everywhere.

So it was present in history. But the kingdom

of God is also something that is present right

here, right now. It is visible even in this church,

even in our city. Again, whenever people's lives

are being transformed, whenever people are encountering

the powerful presence of God, then the kingdom

of God is among us even now, right? God is in

charge. in when these things happen. But it's

also fair to say, it's also true to say, that

the kingdom of God has not fully come. It's growing,

often in secret and unseen ways. It's growing.

But one day, God will rule. In every nation,

God will rule. And in every heart, God will rule.

One day, this partial kingdom will become a total

kingdom. We're just not there yet. So what you

could do is you could put it this way. The kingdom

has come. It is coming and it will come in full.

It's already here in part, but one day, my friends,

it will be here in power. So the question is

in the meantime, how do we live? That's what

the sermon on the Mount is all about. And today

we're just going to look at the opening of that

sermon, but you guys know openings are pretty

important. As a preacher who does sermons fairly

regularly, I know that openings are really important.

The way you open your sermon either makes people

pay attention or not, makes people listen, oh,

I want to hear more or not, causes them to ask

some questions or not. And I have to tell you,

Jesus starts the Sermon on the Mount. I mean,

it's a master class how he does this. He does

it in such a gripping and memorable way that

people have never forgotten it. And for the past

2000 years, they've been saying it over and over

again, singing it over and over again, reciting

the beginning of his sermon. And that is because

the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount is commonly

called the Beatitudes. The be attitudes blessed

are the blessed are the blessed are but I think

the real reason it's so gripping is that what

Jesus is doing at the beginning of his sermon

is he's giving us a ladder a ladder What do you

mean ladder Rob? I'll tell you what I mean You

know, in olden days or even today, if you go

into some farmers fields in Europe or, you know,

in the beautiful countryside, what you'll see

is fences all over the place because people keep

their animals out there and they don't want their

animals to go outside the fences. But human beings

want to go over these fences. And so what they

do is they'll put ladders like this so that so

that a farmer can come and go from one field

to the next. But the animals can't go from one

field to the next. Right. This is. really important,

because I want you to understand. The Beatitudes

are a ladder that gets you not from one field

to the next, but it gets you from one world to

another world. The Beatitudes are a ladder that

get you from one way of living to another way

of life. Listen to me on this. The Beatitudes

are an eight runged ladder. that show you how

to get from the life you are living right now

to the life on the other side, which is the life

of the kingdom of God. That is why Jesus puts

the Beatitudes right at the start of the Sermon

on the Mount, because what he's saying is this.

Look, everybody, in this sermon, I'm about to

show you how to live your life according to God's

reign and rule over there. It's going to be amazing.

You're going to love it. But he says, but before

I can talk to you about that, I've actually got

to talk to you about how to get into that kingdom.

There's no point trying to live that way of life

out here. You have to first gain entrance into

the kingdom of God. And I actually believe that

the first four Beatitudes are the first four

steps that take us out of this place toward the

kingdom. And then the next four Beatitudes We

swing our leg over here. I'm not going to do

it. I'm not going to do it. The next four take

us down into this kingdom of God that is there

and ready for us at any time we can make this

journey. In fact, I made a little rhyme to help

us understand this idea, right? Four to get out,

four to get in, then the rest of the sermon can

begin. All right? Why don't you say that with

me? four to get out, four to get in, then the

rest of the sermon can begin. Now, before I go

further, I gotta tell you, not everybody agrees

with the take on the Beatitudes I'm about to

go through. And fair, but I have to tell you

over the last two or three weeks in the readings

and the stuff I've listened to, I believe this

is a really effective way to understand what

these Beatitudes are all about. They are a ladder

into the kingdom of God. And it's also not a

new idea. Because for the longest time, ancients

have used this idea of a ladder as an example

of how to live the spiritual life. I found this

old icon. If you check it out, on the bottom

is the desert. And at the top is Jesus in heaven.

And people are working their way up this ladder.

That's the spiritual life. People in faith and

obedience are walking up the ladder toward Jesus.

Now you'll notice, see those little scary demons

with spears and arrows? Pew! They're shooting

people off the ladder. And yes, some people,

as they go through that spiritual journey, they're

succumbing to temptation. And they're falling

down. And then what do they have to do? They

have to start all over again and start climbing

again. Listen, there's so many problems with

this picture. I don't want you to go home with

this picture in your mind. I want you to have

this picture in your mind. But the one really

important thing this is telling us is this. The

Beatitudes are not describing eight different

kinds of people. This is just one kind of person,

right? You don't divide the Beatitudes up and

say, you know, I kind of feel like I like, you

know, blessed are the merciful, but I don't like

blessed are those who mourn. Or you don't say,

hey, I'll take blessed are the peacemakers, and

you can have blessed are the pure in heart. That

is not how it works, right? Everyone has to climb

every step. All these steps are just aspects

of how to get into and live in God's kingdom.

Martin Lloyd Jones, old, old Welsh preacher,

he said this, there is beyond any question a

very definite order in these Beatitudes. Our

Lord doesn't place them in their respective positions

haphazardly or accidentally. There is what we

may describe as a spiritual, logical sequence

to be found here. I like this metaphor for another

reason, and that's because of this word, macarius.

Say that with me, macarius. Yes, that is the

word that gets translated as blessed, but I will

tell you there's huge controversy on how to translate

macarius. There actually is really no really

good English equivalent. Many do say, oh, it

means blessed. Blessed are the poor, blessed

are the meek, but listen, since when is being

poor blessed? Other people translate it as happy.

Well, happy are the poor and hard. Happy are

those who mourn, but since when are people happy

to be mourning the death of a loved one, right?

And some have even translated Macarius into congratulations,

like congrats to the persecuted or stuff like

that. It's hard. There is actually, I don't think

one word that makes the connection in English,

but there are some phrases that I think are very,

very, very helpful. I think the better way to

capture the essence of Makarios is this. It means

something like you're on the right track or you're

going in the right direction. Sin means you're

going the wrong direction. Sin means you're falling

off the ladder. But Makarios, no, Makarios means

you're not lost. Don't worry. You're on the path

God intended for you. And so rather than say

blessed are the meek or happy are the meek, why

not say To those who are meek, you're on the

right track. To those who are pure in heart,

that's the path God has in mind for you. For

those who are hungering for righteousness, you're

climbing in the right direction. Keep on going.

You're entering the kingdom of God. That, I think,

is the better reading of Makarios. So let's climb

this ladder this morning in the time we've got

left. Let's ask the question. How do we enter

into that kingdom? And once we're into that kingdom,

how do we live? Four to get out, four to get

in. But I just don't want people to walk away

today thinking, oh, that was a very interesting

take. Oh, how novel or how creative to have a

ladder. I've never thought of it that way, but

that's not what ladders are for. Ladders are

invitations. I mean, don't you want to climb

every ladder you see? Right? You see a ladder?

Ooh, I want to climb that ladder. Let's see where

it goes. That's how I want you to think about

today's sermon. Today's sermon is an invitation

for you to climb this ladder or keep climbing

this ladder into a life with Jesus. Ask yourself,

even before I go any further, have you started

climbing this ladder? Are you somewhere on the

climb? Have you crossed over the top to the other

side? Right? Are you ready to leave this world?

and live in the next world? Let's start. Here

we go. I'm going to whip through this, by the

way. The latter begins with step one. Blessed

are the poor in spirit. And guys, I want to tell

you, I think this first step is all about admitting.

It is about admitting you are poor in spirit.

It's admitting the poverty of your spirit. The

first thing you have to do to enter the kingdom

is you have to say, I got nothing. Spiritually,

I am completely bankrupt. Spiritually speaking,

I've got nothing in my bank account. I've got

nothing in and of myself to earn my way into

that kingdom. My balance is zero. That's your

starting point, to acknowledge you got nothing.

And I don't know how many of you are familiar

with Alcoholics Anonymous, but they have a 12

-step program. And their very first step is the

same idea. We admitted we were powerless. and

that our lives had become unmanageable. You cannot

enter the kingdom of God apart from this first

step. You can't take a bottle that's half full

of old wine and fill it with new wine and expect

it to taste good. You've got to bring it back.

You've got to empty it out. And only then can

you fill it with the new wine of the kingdom.

Only once you've emptied yourself out, only when

you've totally emptied yourself of your pride

can you begin to live the kingdom life. Otherwise,

you will fail miserably. You might say, oh, I

got it. I can handle it. I can live over there.

No, you can't. You can't. In order to climb in,

you have to admit you cannot do it. That's step

one. How do you like that? Step one. Here's step

two. Blessed are those who mourn. Now, let's

think about this one. Is Jesus saying blessed

are those? Happy are those who've lost loved

ones? No. He's talking, spiritually speaking,

about a spiritual kind of mourning. your own

brokenness. Mourning your own sins, mourning

the train wreck of your life, mourning the fact

of all the mistakes that you've made. We call

this repenting, by the way. It's this sorrow

that comes when you actually look at the things

you've done and what's going on inside of you.

And you just acknowledge that, and you name that.

But more than that, you turn away from it. You

say, I'm done with that way of life. I repent

of my sins. Not just I feel bad about them, but

I am leaving them behind. Jesus is calling us

to a kind of mourning that leads to this life,

right? Paul said, Christ Jesus came into the

world to save sinners, of which I am the worst.

Guys, I am the worst sinner. That is step two.

Step one is saying I got nothing. Step two is

saying even what I do got is pretty gross and

miserable, if I'm honest with you, okay? Sin

has separated us from God. We have to acknowledge

our sin, that's step two. Now step three, blessed

are the meek, right? Now if step one was blessed

to the poor in spirit, step two is blessed to

those who, blessed are the meek, essentially

means this. You gotta humble yourself. Before

you go any further toward the kingdom, stop thinking

of yourself so much. Gosh, you're always thinking

of yourself, whether it's thinking of how great

you are, or whether it's thinking of how pathetic

you are, whether it's thinking of how successful

you are, or whether it's thinking of what a failure

you are. You're constantly thinking of yourself.

Meek people are done with that. They stop thinking

of themselves. They take their eyes off of themselves,

and they focus their eyes instead on God. Again,

Martyn Lloyd -Jones says, we spend our whole

of our lives watching ourselves. But when a man

becomes meek, when a man hits step three, gosh,

I don't think I really want to go much higher

than this. But when a man hits step three, they

have finally said, you know what? I'm taking

my eyes off my life. I got to refocus my eyes

and my attention on God Himself. Okay? So that

brings us through the first three Beatitudes.

And notice all three of those are about emptying,

right? Poverty, mourning, meekness. Now that

brings us to the next one, which I would say

is actually the most important step on the whole

journey. And that is you go from emptying to

desiring. So let's say you get up this high.

It's almost like you can look over now into the

kingdom and you can see, oh my gosh. That is

the kind of life I want. I'm hungry for that

life. I'm thirsty for that life. I'm longing

for the world to look that way. I wish I could

be made right. I wish the world could be made

right. If you feel that way, then guess what?

You're on step four. You are ready. You are hungry.

You are thirsty to be made new. You are thirsty

for the world to be made new. And if you guys.

When that happens, you are so close to the kingdom.

You are so close to the kingdom. But the only

way to actually swing your leg over to the other

side and cross the threshold and enter into the

kingdom of God, you cannot do that part on your

own. You have to instead trust what Jesus has

done for you. You see, God made Jesus, who had

no sin, to be sin for us so that we might become

the righteousness of God. You're hungry and thirsty

for righteousness. You can't get it yourself.

But Jesus has a righteousness that he's willing

to give you because he already lived the life

you should have lived. He died the death that

you should have died. And now all you got to

do to cross over to the other side is to put

your faith and your trust in Jesus. And what

he's done for you on the cross, he laid down

his life for you. This is the biggest step, people.

It's also the most risky step, because at the

top of the ladder, it's very teetery, right?

And you're putting your trust in someone else.

You're putting your trust in Jesus. Hey, are

you there today? Are you right there at the top?

And you're hungry for a new life. You're hungry

for a new world. And you can almost taste it.

But you're just nervous to put your trust in

Jesus. Guys, that's the step. That's step four.

Do it. Make that decision. Repenting, yes. Humbling,

yes. Desiring and trusting Christ, that is the

step. Once you've done that, guess what? Welcome.

to the kingdom of God. I can't turn this ladder

around because it doesn't have steps on the other

side. But imagine you crossed over. And now look,

you've come over the top. You're in the kingdom

of God. Welcome to this new life, this new world

that God has created for you. And once you are

over here, guys, that is when the real transformation,

the real change in your life begins to happen.

And one of the first things that you're going

to notice starts to happen. Again, now I'm up

here and I'm going to descend. One of the first

things that's going to happen is your relationships

are going to start to be transformed. They're

going to start to be made new. Because what happened

was you just realized, man, God was so merciful

and gracious to me. He forgave me and showed

such compassion to me. That's the only way I

got over here. So now that I'm in this world,

you can bet I'm going to be merciful and compassionate

to others. Because I know what it felt like.

I know how much God had given me in His mercy

that I want to extend. that mercy to others.

I would say this. If you are over here on kind

of on step five, and you're having a hard time

being compassionate and merciful to other people,

it's probably because you didn't actually grasp

really well the compassion and mercy that God

extended to you. Because if you grasp that, you

would be a much more merciful, caring, patient

person with other people, people who are merciful.

are compassionate. And they don't just feel mercy.

They help others. They act it out, right? They

show practical help to people who need it, even

people who they don't particularly like or people

who they don't think deserve it. You didn't deserve

it. So you will gladly show that mercy to others.

Guys, that is a huge step five. You cannot go

any further into the kingdom until you get that

step. Look at this. We cannot climb further up

the ladder. or down the ladder, unless we begin

to take others with us, mercy interrupts our

climb and turns us outward. Kingdom people, they

forgive, they don't retaliate. Kingdom people

help, they don't withhold help. Kingdom people

love, even when it costs them. That's the world

you're walking into, right? Keep on going. Keep

on going. Step six now. Jesus says, blessed are

the pure in heart for they shall see God. Guys,

I just want to say, I think the best way to understand

this particular step is to understand the word

pure. Pure is opposed to divided. A divided heart

is what many of us struggle with and many of

us struggled with over here on this side in the

old world. We were two different people. We were

one person on Sunday and we were another person

on Monday. We were one person when we came to

church, but we were another person when we went

to school. Our hearts were split. We were divided,

right? But as we step down closer and further

into the kingdom of God, our heart has to start

coming together. The person we are over here

has to be the person we are over here. our friends

has to be the same person that we are when we're

gathering together in worship in church. Single

-mindedness, a single heart. Tim Keller, the

late Tim Keller, he puts it this way. He says,

a pure heart means your faith isn't just an act.

You're not just putting on a performance. It's

actually who you are, especially when no one

is watching. No masks anymore. You're not pretending.

No performance anymore. You're coming down into

this world. You've got to be real. Your heart

has got to be pure. That's why, when we come

down into this world, we start practicing things

like prayer. and Bible reading, and Sabbath,

and solitude, because all those practices are

focusing our heart, focusing our heart on one

thing and one thing alone, and that is God. That's

why it says the pure of heart will see God, not

because we're going to see God in heaven, but

because the more we have a single -minded and

single focus in our prayer and devotion, we're

going to see God in prayer. We're going to see

God in worship. Guys, we're almost there. We're

almost there. Two steps to go. Blessed are the

peacemakers. Peacemaking is all about reconciliation.

Simply put, in the kingdom, you know that you

have been reconciled to God by the sacrifice

of Jesus. So therefore, in the kingdom, you are

going to join God in that reconciling work by

healing. bringing wholeness, building bridges,

not building more fences. In fact, I don't think

that in the kingdom of God there are any fences.

I think this is the last fence. And once you're

in here, it's all about building bridges, not

putting up walls. Peacemaking is the work of

those who are no longer at war with themselves.

We've been reconciled with God. And so now we

can help others find that same peace. Kingdom,

peacemakers pursue reconciliation, not revenge.

They forgive, even when it's really hard to forgive.

You guys know about that. They pray for their

enemies. They work toward justice. This is step

seven. You're really getting into what this world

is like and what it means to live in the kingdom.

But there's one more step. And this is one that

you might think doesn't make any sense. Because

you might have thought, oh, by the time we land

over here, the last step, surely the last one

will be about peace and comfort and joy and victory.

But instead, Jesus makes the final step off the

ladder about what? Suffering and persecution?

Why? Here's why. Because the more you become

like Jesus, the more you're going to attract

the kind of opposition. that he did. Martin Lloyd

-Jones, again, puts it this way. Persecution

is the ultimate test. It tells you whether you're

truly living in the kingdom or whether you're

still clinging to that world over there. You

see, the world over here is so different than

the world over here, that if you're actually

going to live this way, people over there aren't

going to be happy about it. And that you can

expect resistance, but remain faithful, even

if it costs you. So there you go, guys. Four

to get in. No, I said it wrong. Four to get out,

four to get in, and the rest of the sermon can

begin. We just climbed our way, right? Again,

this isn't an academic exercise. This is a ladder.

Where are you on the ladder? Have you taken step

one? Have you admitted your need? Have you taken

step two? Have you confessed? your sin and the

brokenness in your life? Or are you ready to

take the big step four, to swing your leg across

to the other side, to actually trust your life

to Jesus and the work that he did for you on

the cross to give you the righteousness that

you need? Are you ready to cross over? Maybe,

actually, you already have crossed over. Some

of you, you've been on this side of the ladder

for a long time now, but you're struggling with

showing mercy. Or you're struggling with your

devotions, your prayer life. Or you're still

struggling with reconciling. Or maybe it's the

persecution that's really getting to you. It's

really hard for you to stand firm, even when

it costs you. So whether you're at the first

rung of the ladder, whether you're over here

on the first rung, or whether you're over here

coming off the sixth or seventh rung, that's

OK. Maybe you're halfway up and you're just holding

on for dear life. Whatever. What matters is that

you respond to the invitation. Jesus has come.

Come, climb the ladder. Come into the kingdom.

And if you do, you're going to find something

very interesting. Jesus already climbed this

ladder. I mean, think about it. Jesus totally

emptied himself. Jesus mourned. Jesus was meek.

Jesus hungered for righteousness. Jesus was merciful.

Was there ever anyone who was more pure in heart

than Jesus? Anyone who ever sought peacemaking

more than Jesus? And of course, Jesus himself

was persecuted. He was beaten. He was mocked.

He was crucified for the kingdom. Jesus has already

climbed this ladder. And this ladder is his biography,

right? This is his life. But because he climbed

it, he's made it secure for us. And that means

we don't need to be afraid to climb. He will

climb with us. Jesus is the reason you can take

your next step. So, step onto the ladder, everybody.

Wherever you are, first rung, halfway up, clinging

for dear life, take the next step. Jesus has

gone before you. The Holy Spirit's gonna go with

you. And the Father is waiting at every rung

with His grace. And once you've entered the kingdom,

well, that's when the real adventure begins.

Thanks be to God. Amen. Thank you for tuning

in to this week's episode of Trinity Sermons.

This sermon was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville

in Mississauga, Ontario on July 6th, 2025.