God Wants You to Get to Heaven (Matthew 7:7-14) | Louis Azuma

Speaker 2: I love basketball.

And one basketball player that I made the mistake of drafting to my

fantasy basketball team a few years ago, and I will never ever draft him

again, his name is Zion Williamson.

Zion Williamson.

And the reason I will never draft this man, even though

he looks, he looks amazing.

Doesn't he look like a superhero?

The reason I will never draft this guy again is because he never plays.

He never plays and the reason he never plays he's always

injured or he's out of shape.

Now, can you imagine this guy being out of shape?

Well, see the problem with this guy is he has all these resources available.

He's a professional athlete.

He's got dietitians.

He's got millions of dollars.

He's got coaches.

He has other players.

He has maybe retired players he could talk to and and hear from to help him learn

how to take care of his body and head in.

Do his job, which is to play basketball to the best of ability.

He has all the resources in the world, but he can't do it.

This is a stat from 2022.

He only played in 38 percent of the games he could have played it.

So almost a third of the games he should have been able to be at.

He only played in 38 percent 85, 226.

And guess what?

This year.

He's only played in 14 games, and it's been more than half the season.

So once again, he's hurt.

Last year, he finally played a lot of games, and then they got

to the playoffs, and guess what happened to his first playoff game?

He got injured, left the game, couldn't finish the game.

So he has all these resources available, right?

He has millions of dollars, he's a professional athlete, he has, the whole

New Orleans team, the whole organization wants him to be healthy, to stay in shape.

And he can't do it.

Sometimes he'll show up to training camp and he'll be 300 plus pounds, professional

athlete, all the resources in the world.

And see what I want you guys to realize is that just like Mr.

Williamson has all these resources available to him to help him

be a good basketball player, but he can't stay on the court.

You have so many resources available to you to get eternal life with God.

It's an obvious, clear way to heaven.

You have so many resources available, but so many people still miss it.

So many people still end up missing out on eternal life with God and instead go down

the path to eternal destruction away from Him, despite all the resources you have.

So today we're going to look in Matthew 7.

We're going to see that God offers you as much as He can, as

much help as He can to get you.

To heaven.

And so, the title of this sermon is, God wants you to get to heaven.

God wants you there.

He's done everything he can to get you there, but some people,

as we'll see in this passage, many people still miss out on heaven.

Not many people will go to heaven, which is sad.

Not many people will go to heaven.

That's what Jesus will tell us.

But God wants to help you get there.

Not many people will get to heaven, but God wants to help you get there.

See, in our passage, Jesus is presenting your life as a pathway.

Your life is a path, and it's leading to one of two places.

It's either gonna lead in the direction towards eternal life, or

it's gonna lead in the direction towards eternal destruction.

There's only two options.

You either follow Jesus, or you turn away from Jesus.

You either live for yourself, or you live for God.

You And see, the path to life might be unpopular or it might seem restrictive,

but really it's the happiest, the fullest, the best way to live, and that path to

life is fueled by all of God's resources.

I'll try not to smack you in the face, Lucas.

I almost did.

I'm sorry.

I'll back up a little bit.

The path to life, God is giving you all of his resources.

God has way more resources than millions of dollars.

of professional athlete resources.

God has way more available at his disposal, and he wants

to help you get to heaven.

God's power, God's goodness, they're all at your disposal if you will

reach out and grab God's hand in faith and say, God, I need your help.

I want you to lead me down the path to life.

So in this passage, we'll see four ways that God helps Christians get to heaven.

Amen.

It.

So Matthew seven, right?

We're continuing on this sermon on the Mount.

Jesus is teaching.

We're almost at the end, by the way.

So the first thing we're gonna see in verses seven and eight.

So Jesus here in, in Matthew seven, he says, ask, I should

just read this from here.

That would be helpful.

He says, ask and it will be given to you.

Seek and you'll find, knock and it will be open to you.

For everyone who asks, receives, and the one who seeks, finds, and to

the one who knocks, it will be open.

So God is talking, or Jesus here, is talking about prayer.

He's talking about how to pray, what it's like when you pray.

And what he's, he's giving you three commands, right?

Ask, seek, knock.

You've probably heard about this before.

The reality here in this passage is that if you ask, you'll get it.

If you knock It'll open, and if you seek, you'll find.

So the, what Jesus is saying is, God is available to answer your prayers.

God's ready.

He's ready to help.

He wants to help you.

So, you have the resource of prayer to access God.

You can access God.

Sure thing.

That's what Jesus is saying.

You 100 percent have access to God.

So the first way that God helps Christians get to Heaven is He says,

God promises to be available for you.

, God promises to be available for you.

And now all my points are gonna have two sections tonight.

And that's because I want you to see that there's two ways you can go.

You can go on the path to life.

You can see that God is available, he's ready, he's willing to help me.

Or you can ignore God's availability.

You can say, God, I know you want to help me, but I don't care.

You can stiff arm God and say, God, I, I know I want you.

Or I, I know you want me.

I know you want me to, to come to you and ask for help.

But I'm gonna ignore that.

I'm not gonna pray.

And that path leads to destruction.

See, Satan would love for you to ignore God.

To turn down everything he's given you to help you get to heaven.

Now there's one thing I want you to understand.

The point's still up there, by the way, if you're still writing it.

There's one thing I want you to understand with this sermon is it's massively

important that I want you to get, okay?

Christians fail at prayer.

This point, right?

You can be a Christian and sometimes not feel like praying.

You can be a Christian and sometimes not take advantage of

all of God's resources for you.

I'm not saying you have to be perfect at this to go to heaven.

That's not what I'm saying, okay?

I'm not saying you have to be perfect to go to heaven.

Are we good?

All right, cool.

But if the constant theme of your life.

is ignoring God, not even considering the fact that you need to pray, neglecting

your need for God's help, then you are heading down a path towards destruction.

If you are trying to pray and having trouble focusing, that's very different.

Right?

You're not going to go to hell for trying to pray and needing help focusing.

That's not what I'm saying.

What I am saying is that if you are constantly ignoring God and

Putting him at arm's length and saying, God, I don't need you.

Rejecting him, saying, God, I don't want your help.

That's a dangerous spot to be in.

So, look back at our passage.

The first thing Jesus wants us to do is He wants us to ask.

Now, what, what do we mean by ask?

Well, I think there's two things that we learn about God from

looking at when Jesus says ask.

He says, one, that God wants to answer your prayers, right?

Ask, and it will be given to you.

Jesus isn't saying, you know, if you ask, God might answer your

prayers if he's in a good mood.

Maybe, you know, maybe you can argue God into answering your prayers.

Maybe.

No!

Jesus is saying God wants to answer your prayers.

He's willing to.

He's ready to.

He's happy to.

He's not saying you have to bother God into answering your prayers.

The second thing is that he's saying God promises.

This is a command and a promise.

Amen.

Ask and it will be given to you.

That's not a suggestion.

That's not a, well, if you ask in this special way with the right words,

then God will answer your prayer.

No, ask and it'll be given to you.

There's, there's a promise there.

So God wants to answer your prayers and God promises to answer your prayers.

And these are things you need to know when you're having trouble praying, right?

I think back to when I, you know, I'd always been school.

I would often try to talk my teachers into putting an extra

credit question on the test, right?

Oh, can we have extra credit on this assignment?

Oh, is there extra credit in this class?

And sometimes they're like, no, right?

So I try to talk them into it.

I'm like, oh, you know, well, what if we did, you know, on

this project, what if I did this?

Could I get extra credit?

Like, no, okay.

I would be much more bold in asking them for extra credit if I knew

they wanted to give me extra credit.

If they were like, I love giving out extra credit.

It's like my favorite thing.

The highlight of my school year is giving my students extra credit.

Then I'd be like, Hey, you should do extra credit.

Hey, can you add this on this assignment?

Hey, can you do this over here?

Because I know that they want it.

I know that they want to give it.

When you pray, know that God wants to answer.

God's disposition is, I want to answer the prayers of my people.

I want to give them things that are good for them.

And not only that, he said, he's promised you.

Imagine if your teacher said, I promise if you ask for extra

credit, I'll give it to you.

You'd ask every day, you'd ask every minute, you'd raise your hand every,

like, in and out of them all the time.

Can you have extra credit?

Can I have extra credit?

You'd do it.

Because you, you know what your teacher's like.

You know what they want to do.

You know if they, what they've said they'll do.

And you have here, in God's word, a promise that he wants to answer your

prayers and he promises to do it.

So, that's the first motivation to pray.

That shows that God is available.

Next, that word seek.

Right, ask, seek.

There's a progression.

There's three things.

This is the second one.

Seek.

Well, that means that God wants to be asked, even if he seems distant.

Alright, think of the imagery here.

You ask someone, but now you're seeking.

You're looking for them.

You're trying to find them.

God, where are you?

I don't know where you are.

Well, let me go look for you.

Right?

Think of a kid.

When you're a kid, you're looking for your parents.

You want something from them.

If you see them, you know where they are, you say, Hey, hey mom,

hey dad, can I please have this?

Hopefully you're a polite child and you say please.

But, if you don't know where they are, what do you do?

You go look for them, right?

You go upstairs, you go to their room, you say, where are my parents?

I need to ask them.

I want ice cream.

So I'm gonna go ask them.

I'm gonna go find them.

Mom, can I get ice cream, please?

God is saying, if you seek me, I'm available.

I'm ready.

You can come look for me and find me.

If you don't know where I'm at, you can come find me.

So, God is saying, look, I want you to keep on praying.

If you don't feel like I'm answering your prayers, if I don't feel

like, if you don't feel like I'm available, I want you to keep going.

Don't just pray once and stop.

So I'm sure we've all had that experience.

You prayed for something, you're like, Oh, it didn't happen.

God's not saying give up.

He's saying, no, I want you to keep asking.

And that's the second part.

He wants you to be persistent.

He even expects you to be persistent.

See, all these verbs, the way that they're written in Jesus original

language, is they're all ongoing verbs.

So you could read it as, keep on asking, keep on seeking.

They're present, ongoing verbs.

So God expects you to be persistent.

So if you have to keep praying for something over and over, that's normal.

That's okay.

God's not failing you.

God's not ignoring you.

That's normal.

You should expect to have to pray for something over and over.

And that shows you that, hey, God still wants to answer my prayer.

He's still available.

He's still ready.

That third word in the passage, we've got knock, right?

Ask, seek, knock.

Well, what knocking implies, think of, you know, you're in

your house, you're a little kid, you're looking for your parents.

So first you got, you know where they are, so you can ask them.

And then maybe later in the day, you don't know where they are.

So now you got to go find them.

Well, now knock, you go, you know, they are, you know, they're

in their room, the doors closed.

What do you do?

Jesus says, knock, right?

Keep knocking on the door, bang on that door.

Even if God seems unavailable, he's ready.

He's a, he's actually ready to answer your prayers.

That's what Jesus is saying about God.

He's saying, even if God seems distant, you can find him.

Even if God seems.

Unavailable or like he's ignoring you like your prayers are bouncing

off the ceiling and coming back down God is ready and willing and able

to answer your prayers And also he's saying that God is still good and he

still wants to answer your prayers even when you don't see him, right?

little kids Really little kids they get scared when they can't see their

parents Right mom left the room mom's around the corner They start crying.

They freak out.

Why?

Because they think mom disappeared.

They think mom doesn't exist anymore.

We do that with God, don't we?

Oh God, I don't see you working in my life.

Oh God, I'm not really getting a lot out of my Bible read.

God, my life's not going the way I thought it would.

And then we're like, oh God doesn't exist.

God's abandoned me.

Maybe God's not real.

Maybe the Bible's not true.

We start freaking out.

Jesus is saying, look, you can knock.

You can knock on God's door.

You can keep bothering him and he wants to answer.

He wants to open the door.

He wants you to come in.

So don't feel like God is far away, disappeared around

the corner, out of your life.

Even if you have to keep praying for something over and over and over.

If you keep going in the passage,

you can see that all of this shows dependence.

It shows reliance.

It shows trust.

It's not the amount of praying you do that gets you to heaven.

Right?

We're talking about our two paths, right?

The, the amount of prayers you do, the frequency, the regularity, you

know, I use prayer mate, I do this, that doesn't get you to heaven.

But the dependence on God is what gets you to heaven.

It shows that you trust Him, you rely on Him, that you recognize that you need Him.

Praying before your meals every day.

It doesn't matter if you're not relying on God to give you those meals, if you're

taking them for granted and ignoring God.

It expresses your helplessness.

See, if you're praying like this, if you're praying over and over and

over, and you're desperate and you're constantly, actively taking God at his

word and saying, God, I know you're there.

I trust you.

I know you're good.

I want you to answer my prayers.

I know you're ready and available.

Then that expresses your reliance on him, your trust.

And that's where Jesus goes next.

But what if you ask for something bad?

A lot of us, we read this passage and we're like, great, I'm going

to pray for five million dollars.

I'm going to pray that I'm six foot four.

I'm going to pray that I'm the prettiest girl in the world.

I'm going to pray that whatever, what if you ask for something

and God doesn't give it?

What do I do?

Does Jesus lie?

He said, God's going to answer prayers.

What if I ask for something that's bad for me?

Well, Jesus thought ahead of you.

So look now at Matthew 7, 9 through 11.

So Jesus says, Or which one of you, if his son asks him for

bread, will give him a stone?

Alright, that would be me.

Or, if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?

If you then, who are evil, which that's just a passing, you know,

you heard the phrase, catching strays, Jesus Just, just caught all

of humanity on a stray right there.

If you, who are evil people, by the way, so all humans, Jesus

is saying, are evil people.

If you, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much

more will your Father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask Him?

So what kind of things does God give?

Good things.

God only gives good things.

Things that are good for you.

Things that help you.

Things that grow you.

Things that shape you into more like Jesus if you're a Christian.

So if you ask for something bad,

is God gonna give it to you?

Well this passage says no, because that would be like a father giving his son

a snake if he asked for a fish to eat.

That would be like a son giving it, or a father giving his son a

rock if he asked for some bread.

That's what God would be doing if he gave you something that was bad for you.

Right?

What if the son asked for a rock?

What if he says, Dad, I want to eat rocks for breakfast every day.

What's the dad going to do?

He's going to say, No, no son, that's not good for you.

I love you too much to give you what you want.

I, I give you good things for you.

So the second thing, The second way that God helps you get to heaven is

He only wants what's good for you.

God only gives what's good for you.

That's why when you pray, sometimes you don't get what you

prayed for, because you asked for something that wasn't good for you.

And God only gives things that are good for you.

So the alternate, right, of God only wants what's good for you,

I shouldn't doubt God's goodness.

If you doubt God's God's goodness.

It's an easy way to distrust God.

To turn away from him and his commands.

Because you say, oh God, you don't have my best interest at heart.

Your commands aren't good for me, so I'm not going to do them.

I'm not going to listen to, to your word.

I'm not going to listen to my parents or my small group leader because

I know that, I know better than them, so I'm not going to listen.

That's an easy way to end up in hell.

Distrusting God's goodness.

Saying, God, I know better than you.

I know it's better, what's best for me.

I don't think you have my best interests at heart.

God, your commands are for lame people.

Your commands are boring.

Your commands aren't good for me.

That's an easy way to end up in hell because you end up distrusting God,

distancing yourself from him and going further down the path towards destruction.

So God only wants what's good for you.

He only has your best interests at heart.

So don't doubt God's goodness.

And of course, As I said before, if you occasionally doubt God's goodness,

and you struggle with it, and you have a battle with your doubt, it

doesn't mean you're going to hell.

Okay, make that very clear.

You are not going to hell if you occasionally doubt God.

Yes, we're all good on that?

Special PJ would say north south.

All right.

So, occasional doubts.

does not mean you're going to hell.

But if your life is characterized by rejection of God's word,

saying, God, that's, I don't, I don't want your commands.

They're not good for me.

God, I don't want what you have to say.

I don't want your desire for my life.

I don't want your worldview.

I don't want to believe what, what you say.

I don't take you at your word.

Well, then that character and that pattern of thought will lead you away

from God and to eternal destruction.

So, God only wants good things for us, so he never gives us anything bad for us.

And that's when you need to remind yourself, when you feel like you

got something bad from God, right?

So a lot of kids, when their dad gives them bread, they're

like, No, dad, I want sugar.

Right?

You feel like, man, my dad's not giving me what I want.

Well, your dad's giving you something good for you.

Because he loves you.

And even if it's not what you want, it's Better for you than what you want.

We talked about this two weeks ago when we talked about anxiety.

James 4

Has an interesting take on prayer.

He says you don't have because you don't ask so if you're like man I wish I had

this but James is like hey pray for it.

That's your fault.

You don't have that's convicting, right?

You don't have it because you didn't pray for it.

If you still don't have it, even though you've asked well, guess what?

It's because you asked it wrongly Because you were being selfish.

See that?

Your passions, your desires, your kingdom.

That's why you asked and did that.

That's why your prayer didn't work.

Because it wasn't for God, it was for you.

That's what James is saying.

When God doesn't answer the, the prayers the way you, you want them to be answered,

you should ask that, that question of why.

Is this, is this for me?

Or is this for God?

You should also ask the question, when God doesn't answer the prayer I want the way I

want, Is it maybe because he has something better in mind than what I'm asking for?

Raise your hand if you're smarter than God

So if you didn't get what you wanted from God Maybe it's because God's smarter than

you and God's like, hey, you know what?

I know that if I give them that that would be bad for them or maybe

he just is like, you know what?

That's not bad, but I have something even better.

I Have something way better for you Right?

I don't want you to eat the snacks at 3 p.

m.

because we're going to Hutchins at 5 p.

m.

Right?

Maybe that's what God has in mind, but you're like, it's 3 p.

m.

God, and I'm hungry.

I want my snacks.

God's like, you're gonna ruin the amazing thing I have for you later.

That also could be the case.

So maybe it would be better for you not to give you what you want.

So when you're praying for something, you're like, no, it's not happening.

Well, maybe God's like, hey, I got something better for you.

So.

Chill out.

It's okay.

Trust me.

Right?

Or maybe, here's a thought, it would be better for you to keep on asking.

Maybe it would be better for you to keep asking because you'll be a better person

by the end of the time you're done asking.

You'll be more patient.

You'll be more kind.

You'll be more loving.

You'll trust God more.

You'll have a better story of God's faithfulness.

Maybe that's why God lets you keep asking.

Because you asking changes you.

It shapes you.

It grows your dependence on God.

It grows you into a more content person.

And those things are even more valuable, maybe, than the thing

you're asking for in the first place.

So, sometimes the period of asking shapes you and it makes you better.

So now you get the thing you want later, and you're a more

Christ like person as a result.

You're a more joyful person, you're a more peaceful person, you're a

more kind person, a gentle person.

And that lasts forever.

So.

So, don't doubt God's goodness because you remember that God

only wants what's good for you.

So, if I have all of God's resources at my disposal, right,

God's available, I can ask Him.

I can look for Him, and I can bother Him when I can't find Him.

And He, so I'll have all His resources at my disposal.

He's intensely committed to my good.

God is a loving Father.

He wants what's best for Can't I just then be selfish and do whatever I want?

God's my, you know, I can be a spoiled kid, rich dad, do whatever I want, right?

Well, look where Jesus goes next.

Matthew 7, 12.

Jesus is so smart.

He's put all of these things together, right, as we're asking them.

So, verse 12.

I'll put it on the screen so you can see it.

That'll help.

So, that whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them,

for this is the law and the prophets.

Now see that word, so, at the beginning?

That's the most important word in this sentence.

That word, so, connects this to what we were just talking about.

Means therefore.

So you can pray, you have unhindered access to God.

You can pray, you can ask, you can seek, you can knock, and you

know that God's a loving Father.

He gives you what's good for you.

Therefore, whatever you wish others would do to you, do to them.

So because you know, God's going to take care of you and

God's going to be good to you.

Now, you don't have to worry about yourself anymore.

God has freed you up to go follow him, to go love others, to give yourself away

for the good of other people, because you can trust him to take care of you.

You see that God wants to help you obey him.

You see that God's not like, all right, I really need you to love others.

So do your best.

Have fun.

Ready, set, go.

That's not what God's doing.

God's saying, look, I'll take care of all the stuff so you

can go out and love others.

But when you, when, when you're loving others, I'll take care of you.

I'll supply you.

I'll be good to you.

I'm available to help you love others.

I'll give you everything you need while you're doing that.

But that's where you're, that's where I want your focus to be.

But God wants to help you.

God's not sitting there being like, Oh, do my, do my commands.

You're on your own.

And see, this is all the, this is the law and the prophets.

Jesus is saying the whole Bible is about loving others.

Isn't that crazy?

If someone asked you what's the whole Bible about, you'd

probably say loving God.

Jesus is saying it's about loving others.

We're going to look at what in the world that means.

But our, I should have had this, this would have helped so much

to explain what I just explained.

Wouldn't that have been so helpful?

I'll That's why they have the thing where like you can see the next

slide, you know, but rookie move.

Okay, point three, God equips you to follow Him.

So, don't disregard God's wisdom.

God equips you to follow Him.

God is saying, look, I will take care of you.

I will supply all your needs so that you can go love other people.

I want you to do the law and the prophets.

I want you to love people, which is actually what my whole Bible's been about.

So, trust God.

God knows what's best for you.

You know, if the whole Bible comes down to loving other

people, maybe that's a good idea.

Maybe I should do that.

That's, that's what we're saying here.

Don't disregard God's wisdom.

God is saying, my law is the best way to live.

See, looking down on law, on God, and not taking what he says seriously, and

thinking you know a better way to live, that's another easy way to go to hell.

If you're saying, you know what God, I know you want me to love other people,

but I think I should do life this way.

If you're saying, God, I know that, you know, all of history has kind of like,

you know, you've orchestrated it and you made me and you know how I work and you

know what's good for me, but I don't know.

I don't feel like loving other people.

That's disregarding God's wisdom.

That's what you're doing when you're saying, God, I know better than you.

I don't want to do your commands.

Not thinking that you know a better way to live than God.

It's also not very unique.

I'm sure millions of people have done that and they would all tell you They were

wrong So god equips you to follow him.

So don't disregard his wisdom Well first thing we can learn from verse 12

here is that god thinks other centered living is essential to following him

Remember, this is all the law and the prophets If you're not loving other

people if you're not focused on loving other people then You're disobeying

Everything That's what Jesus is saying.

You're breaking all the law.

You're disregarding the whole bible if you're not loving other people.

And see this, this idea, it's looking for what's best for others, right?

It's not just, oh, I won't bother you.

It's, oh, I'm looking for what's best for you.

I'm actively engaged in loving you and thinking about how I can do this.

Now, one more thing, pause.

You don't love other people to gain favor with God.

Or to gain good standing with God, right?

If you're loving other people, it doesn't make you more acceptable to God.

If you're really good at caring for people, it doesn't make you

more acceptable to God, okay?

Or if you're having a hard time loving someone, does that mean

you're going to go to hell?

No, right?

Struggling to obey God, but pushing through, persevering,

trying, is very different than saying, God, your law is stupid.

I don't want that.

That's a, there's two very different things.

So,

this passage here also assumes that God knows the best way to love others.

That God, because think about what we just read.

All the law and the prophets mean, like, loving other people.

So that means that God's word is how you, shows you how to love other people.

Did you catch that?

This is all a law in the prophets.

What is?

Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you.

Right?

So, God made up how to love other people.

That's God's idea.

God explains how to do that in his word.

So God shows us how to love other people.

Not us.

We don't get to say, You know what God, I think we should love other people

by not sharing the gospel with them.

We should never tell them That, that they need Jesus.

That would be way more loving, God.

God's like, no, that's, that's not loving.

That's actually really hateful.

To withhold salvation from someone because you're scared to share the gospel, right?

So, here's the thing.

You might have heard about something called the Platinum Rule.

We just talked about, right, the Golden Rule.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

You might have heard something called the Platinum Rule.

So the Golden Rule, treat others as you would want to be treated.

The Platinum Rule, which is really cool and trendy now, Is treat

others as they want to be treated.

Isn't that better?

Isn't that more focused on them?

It's not treat others how you want to be treated.

It's focused, it's focused on them.

It's how do they want to treat?

What do they want?

I want to do that, right?

Because if you're treating others how you want to be treated, and you really

like chocolate, but they're allergic to chocolate, and you get them a

chocolate dessert, that's not loving.

Because you weren't considerate, and you weren't kind, right?

You're like, okay, that's got a point.

We got a point there.

I need to know other people and do what they want, okay?

There's a point to that, but here's the problem with, with the Platinum Rule.

So, See, I can even come up with a fancy heading and everything.

Jesus is smarter than everybody.

Whoa, breaking news.

So the Golden Rule is better than the Platinum Rule because what's

the Platinum Rule really saying?

Look at number one.

Before you start writing, just look, okay?

Pause the writing and just look.

The Platinum Rule is really just saying give people whatever they

want, even if it's bad for them.

Because, what if you applied the Platinum Rule to parenting?

Treat others how they want to be treated.

I don't think any kids would survive.

Like, at all.

Treat the kids how they want to be treated.

That's not happening.

Right?

Remember two weeks ago we talked about Levi and Angelo and Levi's jacket.

Levi didn't want his jacket.

But Levi didn't know that if he didn't have a jacket he was going to die of

pneumonia because he's going to get cold,

right?

So the Platinum Rule is really just saying, give people what they

want, even if it's bad for them.

Just affirm whatever desires they have.

That's really bad.

Because what if I want something that's bad for me?

See, aren't you glad that God doesn't always give you what you want?

Because we're all broken.

We all want sin sometimes.

We all want poison.

It looks good on the outside, and then we drink it and die, right?

That's sin.

So, the Platinum Rule really isn't loving.

The Golden Rule asks you to put yourself in their shoes, because

you would want them to put them in your shoes, wouldn't you?

Right?

If, it would, our chocolate illustration, right, you have to go, I really like

chocolate, and you're allergic to chocolate, but I'm like, I love chocolate,

I bet Pastrata would love chocolate for his birthday next Wednesday.

So I would be like, Oh, I'll get Pastor Rod a bunch of chocolate.

And let's say Pastor Rod is very unfortunate and has a very large cross

to bear and he's allergic to chocolate.

And he can't taste chocolate until he gets to heaven, when everything's chocolate.

Just kidding.

Um, but it would be unloving for me to get Pastor Rod chocolate if

he's allergic to chocolate, right?

Yes, because that would be torture.

But, if I really thought about it, if I really treated Pastor Rod how I

would want to be treated, I wouldn't.

If I was Pasterado and I was allergic to chocolate, I would want Lewis

to find out that Pasterado was allergic to chocolate and get him

something not chocolate, right?

So see how the Golden Rule still is actually better?

Because if you treat them how you want to be treated, you're going

to treat them with everything that the Platinum Rule says is better

than the Golden Rule, right?

Look here at Philippians 2, 3.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, that means to seem better

than you are, but in humility, this will say count, like, count, like,

um, the Sesame Street guy, right?

One.

Ah, ah.

Okay.

Um, but in humility, count others more significant than yourself.

And then it goes on to say, don't look out for your own interests, but

look out for the interests of others.

So really the golden rule is still more other centered than the platinum rule.

Because you're saying, okay, how would I want to be treated?

I would want that, I would want someone to be thoughtful.

I'd want them to think about my desires.

I'd want them to give me something that's good for me, even if I don't like it.

I would want them to help me.

I wouldn't want them to just put up a facade and say that

everything in my life is okay.

Pastor Rod told me something once when I was in high school.

He said, A good friend stabs you in the front.

There's something wrong with you.

You want your friend to tell you.

You want your friend to be like, Oh, well, I don't want to offend them.

So I'm not going to tell him.

That, you know, they're a really unkind person.

Would you want your friend to tell you that and and help and help you grow with?

Yeah, you would.

So the golden rule is actually way more loving than the platinum rule,

and Jesus is a genius even if people are trying not to believe that.

So God knows the best way to love others.

Right?

The Golden Rule is better than the Platinum Rule.

The Platinum Rule is just catering to whatever people desire.

So, the next thing, number three down there, God must be loved

first in order to love others well.

Because, right, loving others is the law and the promise.

Well, if you ask someone, what's the whole Bible about, they would say, loving God.

Yes, that is true.

It is about loving God.

That means that loving God, right?

What did Jesus say?

What's the best commandment?

What's the greatest commandment?

Love God with everything you've got.

Right?

Well, that's the best way to love others.

Because if the whole Bible is about, like, the greatest commandment is about love

God with everything you've got, and the whole Bible is also about loving others

as you would want to be loved, well, then that means that loving God with everything

you've got is the best way to love others.

See that?

Because it's the same thing.

The Bible can't be, the main point of the Bible can't be two things, right?

So that means loving God with everything you've got is the best way to love others.

So you love others best when you love God most.

When I got married, the first vow I promised my wife was that I would

pursue Jesus more than I pursued her.

I would love Jesus more than I loved her.

Because if I love her more than I love Jesus, guess what she's is?

She's an idol.

And she's not supposed to be an idol because that's bad for her.

If my life's about her, that's bad for her.

But if my life's about Jesus, that's good for her.

So you love other people best when you love God most.

And, this is the genius of what Jesus is saying, the deeper your relationship

with God, the more like God you become.

And then you become more like a loving father from verses

Verses 8, 9, or 9, 10, and 11.

I haven't taken math in like 6 years.

Um, verses 9, 10, 11.

The loving father who gives good things.

Because you have a closer relationship with God.

So now you love other people more like God loves them.

So now you're even better for them.

So you see how loving God more makes you more like God, which actually makes

you better at loving other people.

So the best way to love God, Or the best way to love others is to love

God, because then you become more like the loving Father that God is.

Fourthly, God thinks other centered living is essential for your happiness.

God thinks other centered living is essential.

You won't be happy unless you love other people and count their interests

as more significant than yourselves.

You will not be happy, unless you love other people more than yourself.

That's what Jesus is saying.

How did we get there?

Well, remember what Jesus has said this whole sermon is about.

Remember how Jesus started this sermon?

He started with blessing, right?

Sermon on the Mount.

He's the new Moses coming down the mountain with, instead of Ten

Commandments, he's got Beatitudes.

He has blessing.

And so he's saying that, and then he goes on, he talks about the law, right?

He says, You've heard it said, but I say to you.

So he's got a better law.

The true intention of the law.

Of God's law and prophets.

He's saying, Here it is, and it brings blessing.

Because it's from the heart.

Amen.

And so the blessed life that Jesus has been describing, this whole

sermon, about being pure, about not being angry, about laying up

treasures in heaven, about not being anxious, that's part of loving others.

So loving others is essential for your happiness.

Now, again, if you're struggling to love others, but you're trying, Does

that mean you're gonna go to hell?

No, right?

But, loving others is an extension of your reliance on the Lord.

You aren't obeying to get to heaven.

Obeying doesn't get you closer to, to heaven.

You're obeying out of trust.

That your good loving father has your best interest in mind.

Because remember, the reason we love is because we know

that God is providing for us.

And so that overflows into a love for others.

So when Jesus says, The whole law and prophets is summed up in

love your neighbor as yourself.

He's saying that living for the good of others is the best way to live.

So he's presenting his disciples with the heart of God's law.

Which, as we've seen, is the path to life, to joy, to peace, to security.

So the law, loving others, is the path to life.

Now the last two verses in this passage start a new section

in the Sermon on the Mount.

The final section.

In this section, Jesus is going to give you two choices.

He gives, in these two verses, you'll see he gives two paths.

And then next week we'll see that he gives you two prophets.

Or two kinds of, of tree, if you will.

Different kinds of fruit.

And then he'll give you two foundations to build your life on.

Jesus is giving you a choice.

Look with me at Matthew 7, 13 and 14.

Enter by the narrow gate.

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

And those who enter by it are many.

Amen.

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

and those who find it are few.

So there's two options here, right?

You see that?

Verse 13.

There's a wide, easy way, and there's a narrow, hard way.

The difference is where they go.

Now I want you to see, not just the seriousness of this, I do want you to

see that, but I also want you to see that God is helping you pick the right one.

Cause he's making it really obvious which one you should pick.

One of them, destruction.

One of them, life.

So God is offering you life.

He's offering you joy and peace and security and, and embraced by him.

So he's helping you get to heaven by offering you the reward.

He's saying, look, if you live this way, this will happen.

If you live this way, this will happen.

So point four.

That should be a plural offers.

God offers the path to eternal life.

So don't reject God's salvation.

God offers the path to eternal life.

So don't reject God's salvation.

See, God is helping you get to heaven by offering you a choice and he's making it

really obvious which way you should go.

Something that this passage makes really clear is that it's really easy

and it's really common to go to hell.

Like the way is, the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction

and those who enter by it are many.

A lot of people go to hell.

It's not uncommon to go to hell.

And that's because living for anything but Jesus.

We'll send you to hell.

Remember, three weeks ago, we talked about your master and your treasure.

If those things are anything but God, if you're the most important thing in

your life, the most precious thing to you, and the one you build your life

around, the one you're, the direction you're pursuing with your life, your

master, are anything but Jesus, that definitely will send you to hell.

Now, if you are tempted to value other things but Jesus, and you value other

things a lot, or you serve things, and you love things, and you're devoted to other

things, and maybe they're competing with Jesus, but at the end of the day, maybe

it's hard, maybe you give in sometimes, but you choose Jesus, Jesus is your

treasure, does that send you to hell?

No, right?

So struggling does not send you to hell.

Rejecting sends you to hell.

Turning away, saying, God, I don't, I don't find you appealing.

I don't want to be with you.

I don't love you.

You're not important.

You're not valuable.

That's rejecting God.

And that's what sends you to hell.

And so when you're tempted, when you are tempted, you're

wavering between the two paths.

When you're struggling, God wants to help you.

He doesn't want to say, Oh, figure it out.

Deal with it.

No, he wants to help you.

So what does he do?

He, he gives you the reward.

He says, you can have eternal life.

It's easy to get distracted by the world or to give your

heart to, to other treasures.

But when you're tempted to be distracted, remember your reward.

Remember where this will take me, right?

Take a step back and think about, man, if I click on these things,

where are they going to take me?

If I say those words, where does that lead me?

If I look at those things, where will that lead me?

If I treat this person that way, what is that, what is

that pulling my heart towards?

Remember the reward.

Take a step back and ask yourself, Where does this lead?

Where does this go?

See, God, He motivates us.

He motivates our exclusive allegiance with eternal life.

Because And maybe you've never thought about it this way, but following

Jesus leads to the greatest amount of joy for the longest amount of time.

Psalm 1611 says, At God's right hand are pleasures forevermore.

The greatest amount of joy for the longest amount of time.

That's a good enough reason to follow God.

I hope.

Following Jesus is about, it's about trusting Him to be your

only hope, your only treasure.

Your only Savior.

And you're motivated to do that by God's offer of life.

This is going to be best for you in the end.

So walk the narrow path.

Enter the narrow gate.

See, this sermon, it puts two paths in front of you.

One of them is easy and common, and many people are going down it.

It doesn't take much work.

I heard one pastor talk about it like the lazy river at the water You just

float on down, following everyone else.

But see, there's actually a bunch of different ways you can go down this path.

It's wide.

There's a bunch of different ways you can do it.

You can make it a big party.

You can say, Oh, I, I love disobeying God.

It's so fun.

It's so much better than being a boring church person and be proud, right?

That I'm those lame people who read the Bible.

You can do it spitefully because you feel like the other path is

restrictive and legalistic and boring.

Right?

You can say, oh, I don't like parents rules.

I don't like God's rules.

He's so, so mean.

He's so hateful.

He does that.

He says that.

Or you can do it because you think God lets you down.

God, He didn't answer my prayers.

He burned me.

You know, my family's a mess.

It's God's fault.

You can do that.

That's one way down this wide path.

You can also go down this path morally, nicely, religiously, even.

You can do it serving at church, reading the Bible to make yourself

feel good enough to go to heaven.

You can be a Pharisee and rely on your churchianity to save you.

You can even go down this path without really noticing that you're on it.

And just float your way down and fill your life with distractions and

games and fun and VR headsets and TikTok reels and float your way down.

This path will kill you.

It will leave you unsatisfied, empty, bitter, hurt, and regretting

that you wasted your life and you turned away from God.

It will bring you under the wrath of God, burning forever

in hell, that's destruction.

Because nothing good you did, or religious you did, or fun you did,

could cleanse you of your sin.

It isn't hard to go down this path.

All you have to do is ignore God, doubt God, look down on God, and reject God.

And if you keep doing those things the rest of your life,

that's the path you're down.

The more persistently you do that, the further down this path you'll go.

And see, the other path, the narrow path, it's not much to look at.

There's only one way to go down it.

It's very counterintuitive, right?

It's forgetting yourself, taking up your cross, being unpopular, taking Jesus at

His word even when you don't really care.

I don't get it, but as you go down the path, you'll

realize how much better it is.

Even before you reach the end of it, you'll see why other people,

like your parents and your leaders, took this choice so seriously.

Because as you learn to trust Jesus, to live for the good of others,

to depend on God, to keep seeking His wisdom, you realize that this

path is the best way to live.

Amen.

Because you have a good and loving wise father leading you down.

It brings comfort, it brings peace, security, even in hard seasons.

It gives you joy and love that lasts way longer than anything on the other path.

And that's because this path fills you up, even though you're emptying yourself.

You're giving yourself away, but you're coming back full.

And that's because as you walk the narrow road, you realize that this path

isn't as much about the path, and it's more about who you're walking with.

You understand that the person you get to know on this path is Jesus.

And the longer you're with Jesus, the more convinced you are that being with

him is the best place that you can be.

What I would hate for you to walk away from this sermon thinking.

is that the narrow way is a lifestyle to earn you a spot in heaven.

Please don't believe this.

This will kill you.

The narrow way, the narrow road is not being religious enough to

go to heaven or doing what God says and following the rules good

enough so you can make it to heaven.

That's not what I want you to believe.

See, the way you live on the path, the lifestyle of the path, is

only an expression of your trust in Jesus to get you to heaven.

Jesus is the one who gets you to heaven.

The things you do on the way are an expression of your dependence

on him to get you there.

See, the narrow way is trusting Jesus to get you to heaven.

That's what it is.

It's not doing things.

It's not obeying God, it's not listening to your small group leader and all that.

The narrow way is trusting Jesus, depending on Him.

Jesus is the narrow gate.

Enter by the narrow gate.

What is it?

It's Jesus!

He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

Trust me, depend on me.

You can never be Christian enough, religious enough, loving enough,

anything enough to get to heaven.

Amen.

God wants to bring you there, and He's the one who'll do it,

and He does it by trust in Jesus.

Dependence on Him.

Saying, Jesus, your righteousness qualifies me

for heaven, not anything I do.

That's the narrow way.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you that you want us to be in heaven, that you love us

so much that That you do everything you can to make sure that we know

that we have two options.

We can either reject you and turn away from you and go to our own

destruction, or we can turn to you and rely on you and follow you to life.

So I pray tonight that you help us all to trust you more.

Maybe some of us for the first time.

I pray that you help you.

These students to realize that you want them to be in heaven, and you've

given them everything they need to get there because ultimately, yes,

you've given them so many good things, but you've given them yourself.

You've made yourself available for us if we call on you in faith.

So I pray tonight that you hope our small group time to be about you.

Help us to focus, help us to be respectful and kind and thoughtful.

And I pray that we walk away trusting Jesus more than we walked in.

I pray this in Jesus name.

Amen.