Keeping God's Word

A few weeks back, we started a new series called What Jesus Wants.

What Jesus Wants.

And what we're doing is we're studying John chapter 17.

John 17 · chapter mention

John 17 is an incredibly fascinating chapter in the Bible.

There's really nothing like it.

There's no other chapter in Scripture that's like John 17, because John 17, in its entirety, is a prayer that Jesus, God the Son, Jesus, prays to God the Father.

And it's right before he goes to the cross.

He's in the Garden of Gethsemane, he's about to be arrested.

In fact, John 18 begins with Jesus being arrested, and then he's put through a trial and ultimately crucified.

This is the prayer that Jesus prays to God the Father, knowing what's about to happen to him.

And he prays it to the Father, but it's mainly about us.

It's about his disciples, his followers.

There's nothing like it in all of Scripture.

It's God praying to God.

And it's incredibly deep and layered and rich and beautiful and amazing.

But something that's really incredible about John 17 is it it's a prayer that we can actually live out.

In other words, you can live your life in such a way that Jesus looks at your life and says, Yes, that's what I was praying for.

You can live your life in such a way that you are the living answer of John 17, which is really crazy to think about.

Like I can live and be an answer to Jesus' prayer.

If that's possible, yes, I want that.

I love Jesus.

And I fall very short of following him as I want to very often, but I love him.

And if I could live in such a way where I am the answer to this prayer, sign me up for it.

What do I need to do?

How do I need to grow?

What needs to change inside of me?

What do I need to understand to live that out?

Because there is nothing I can think of that would be a greater honor than to stand in front of Jesus one day and say, I tried to live in such a way that answered your prayer.

I mean, that's just powerful to me at least.

So we're going through John 17 and we're just examining what Jesus is asking for.

What is he asking the Father for?

What is he teaching us through this prayer in terms of how we can live our lives?

And today we're going to open up John 17, verses 6 through 14.

John 17:6–14

And here's what Jesus prays.

To the Father, he says, I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world.

They were always yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you, for I have passed on to them the message you gave me, they accepted it, and they know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me.

My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you.

All who are mine belong to you, and you've given them to me, so they bring me glory.

Now I'm departing from the world.

They are staying in this world, but I am coming to you.

Holy Father, you've given me your name.

Now protect them by the power of your name, so that they will be united just as we are.

During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me.

I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.

Now I am coming to you.

I told them many things while I was with you them in this world, so they would be filled with my joy, and I have given them your word.

I have given them your word.

We see that language, word, pop up multiple times, and that's gonna be our focus today.

What it means to be a keeper of God's word.

He says, I've given them your word.

They have accepted it, they have kept your word.

There's a little phrase that we're gonna come back to later in the message today, but if there's one like thought that I could have stick in your minds, it would be this really short phrase: soft-hearted seriousness.

Soft-hearted seriousness.

If you've been part of his hands, you know that we take God really seriously.

We don't take ourselves very seriously.

We goof off, we have a lot of fun.

Um, but there is a seriousness to how we approach God, to the priority that we give God in our lives, and that's what Jesus is calling for, that we would be people who have a soft-hearted seriousness about God's word and living by his word.

We'll come back to that a little bit later.

Now, this idea of God's word, it's something that we talk about pretty often.

In fact, Fred spoke a couple months ago and he did a message talking about this concept of the word, and I want us to kind of go back to this idea because God's word is a lot more than just a book that we have, than just words on a page.

It is that.

He has given us his word.

But when you see that phrase in Scripture, the Word, living by the Word, knowing the Word, receiving the Word, you have to understand this is a it's both a very conceptual idea and a deeply personal idea.

So I want to kind of just go through it and let's look at it conceptually and then let's get to what it means for us personally, because it's more personal than you might know.

Let's start here.

Um, God's word is a lot of things, kind of all wrapped into one.

One of those things is truth.

God's word is truth.

Now we live in a time in an era of history where truth is very often viewed and discussed as something that is relative.

So we have phrases in our culture like my truth, that's my truth.

And if you've ever said that, don't feel judged or anything like that, but like that's not a thing.

That's that's not a thing.

I got a lot of friends here who are police officers, and I've been pulled over a few times.

In fact, I got pulled over uh wow, this was like two years ago.

This was a great moment, one of my top moments in life.

Um I was on the phone with someone from his hands, and all of a sudden I see a light behind me, and I'm like, oh, hold on, I'm getting pulled over.

So I pull over into IHOP across the street.

It was great, great day.

And uh, and I just owned it.

I just owned it, and there's people like waiting outside at IHOP, and one of them recognized me.

I'm like, hey, you know, I'm on the phone with someone who goes to his hands, hey, there you are.

And then the police officer pulls up and he rolls one and goes, Hey, Justin from his hands.

I'm like, yeah, here we go.

Everybody, as many people as possible, my tags are expired.

Um, and actually, I just thought of this.

They are right now as I say this too.

So um, some of you just reacted like I committed a major crime.

Okay, just forgot to get them renewed.

I'll do that.

I'll do that.

So, friends who are officers, let's just, you know what?

Do what you want to do.

Fine, I'll take the consequence.

I'm not asking for help.

But uh, but I I've been pulled over a few times, situations like that, or maybe speeding a little bit.

Try the whole my truth thing on a police officer.

See how that goes.

You know, if an officer says your tags are expired, well, my truth is that they are not.

Right?

If the officer says that you were going ten over, you can say, well, that's your truth, officer.

My truth is that I was going exactly the speed limit.

And just see how far that gets you, right?

No, we can say my opinion, my perspective, my view, my worldview, even, my concept, but truth is something far deeper than what we perceive.

And there is a truth that is so foundational that nothing can cut through it.

And that is the truth of God.

It's the truth of his word.

Whatever God says is true.

Whatever he says is true.

And so that's why we have scripture like Hebrews chapter 4, verses 12 and 13, that says, For the word of God is alive and powerful.

Hebrews 4:12

We'll come back to that in a minute.

It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword.

Cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow, it exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God.

Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.

There is a truth that God has.

There's a truth that God is, that his word is, and it doesn't matter what our perspectives are, what our opinions are, what our view might be, it doesn't matter what our truth is, the truth is whatever God says that it is, and that truth, it cuts through everything.

That truth exposes everything.

Every idea, every thought, every belief, the truth of God can cut through that and show us what is actually true and what isn't true.

We need truth in our world, and God's word is truth.

But it's not just truth, it's also power.

I mean, God's word is power, it's power on a whole bunch of levels, it's creative power.

We read in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 3, that we understand by faith that the world has been created by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things that are visible.

Hebrews 11:3

God created the world by his word.

God spoke the world into existence.

I don't know how powerful your words are.

Um let me explain how powerful mine are.

So, like, my words are so powerful that at home I can look at, let's take my two youngest sons, for example, and I can say, clean your room.

I say those words, and here's what happens they don't clean their room.

Um I say, clean your room, and they say why, and then I explain why.

And then I get firm and I'm like, hey, I'm not, I don't have to tell you why.

I'm the dad, clean your room.

And then I come back and a little while later and it's still not clean.

And I'm like, clean your room, and they say, We did.

And I go, No, you didn't, because I'm looking at this, what is that?

And they're like, oh, we didn't see that.

And so then I tell them to clean their room again, and then they go, ah, and they complain, and then they'll say, Can we finish the game we're playing first?

And I'm like, No, you can't finish the game you're playing first, clean your room.

And then, like a day or two days later, their room is clean.

That's how powerful my words are.

Understand?

I can say something, and if I say it multiple times at varying levels of volume and intensity, it can happen two to three days later.

So, you know, that's pretty cool.

God said, God said, let there be light, and there was light.

Why?

Because he said so.

And and light did not go, oh, do I have to?

How bright do you want me to be?

Like, can I can I do it later?

Like, it just it just done.

God spoke the world into existence.

We see that same creative power and even healing power in the words of Jesus.

For example, in Luke chapter 7, it says in verses 6 through 10 that Jesus went with them before they had arrived at the house.

Luke 7 · chapter mention

He's on his way to heal someone.

The officer sent some friends to say, Lord, don't trouble yourself by coming to my home.

I'm not worthy of such an honor.

I'm not even worthy to come and meet you.

Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed.

I know this because I'm under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers.

I only need to say go and they go or come and they come.

So very different authority than I have, I guess.

Um and if I say to my slaves, do this, they do it.

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed.

Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, I tell you, I haven't seen faith like this in all of Israel.

And when the officer's friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed.

Jesus spoke, and a man miles away was healed.

That is the power of God's word.

It is truth, it is power.

But it's it's even more than that.

God's word is alive.

It's alive.

John chapter 1 says that in the beginning the word already existed.

John 1 · chapter mention

The word was with God, and the word was God.

He existed in the beginning with God.

God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.

The word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.

It goes on in verse 14 to say, The Word became human and made his home among us.

He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness, and we've seen his glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son.

Jesus is the Word of God made flesh.

It's a crazy idea.

Now, this would have been really impactful to the people that were first hearing this, the Greek people that John wrote his letter to.

They had this idea, and in their language, it's this word logos, and that's actually the word that we translate into English, word.

And what you have to understand about the Greek people is they had this concept of logos, and they understood there's got to be some governing truth.

There's got to be some mind that's making everything in the world work together.

Even though they had the Greek gods, you know, Zeus and Aphrodite and all of those, they worship those gods, but they also knew that so much of that was myth.

And they just had this understanding there has to be some overarching mind and intelligence that is ordering this universe because everything is so orderly and structured and beautiful.

And they were right.

They were right.

So John writes to them, he says, Hey, you're right.

There is a logos, there is a word that governs everything, but it's not some impersonal force, it's not like gravity.

It's alive, it's it's knowable.

In fact, that word, that logos, became one of us, and that's Jesus.

So the word of God is alive.

Jesus is the living word.

That's an incredible concept.

The word of God is active, it's active.

It's not just something that was written on pages years ago and now it's done, and we can go and read it and think about it.

No, no, the word of God is active.

And the ancient people of Israel, they understood this very, very well.

That's why so much of their culture was about blessings and curses.

They believe that if you say something, especially if something is spoken with authority from someone who has authority, that word, it it goes.

It's alive in and of itself, it's active.

And we experience this today.

So many of us have had someone that maybe said something to us years ago, and to this day it still plays in our minds, it still affects us, it still shapes us.

Maybe what they said was great, and it sort of lifted you up, and you saw yourself as better or more than you had before, and you're kind of living up to that word to this day, or maybe it was the opposite.

Someone said something to you, it brought you low, it was discouraging, it was shameful, and you're still fighting that to this day.

We have that understanding, but they had this on an entirely different level.

So, for example, in the Old Testament, in Genesis 27, there's this story of Jacob and Esau, their two brothers, and they're kind of fighting for the blessing of their father Isaac.

In their culture, the oldest brother is who would receive the blessing, but they were twins.

So you can only imagine the fights that happened because Esau was technically the oldest, but by like a few seconds, only one of them could get their father's blessing, though.

Now, Isaac was blind, and so Jacob has this idea.

He knows that his father is about to give Esau the blessing.

And so Jacob sends, or rather, Isaac sends Esau out to go hunt, and he says, Hey, when you get back, I'm gonna give you the blessing.

And Jacob takes his chance.

And because his father is blind, he puts on Esau's clothes, so he smells like Esau.

Esau was really hairy, so he even puts some like extra hair on his arms.

He was committed.

Uh he did his best Esau impersonation.

I'm sure many of us can do a good impression of our brothers and sisters.

And he tricks his father.

Isaac buys it.

And so Isaac gives him the blessing.

We read this in Genesis 27.

This is the blessing that Isaac gives him, thinking it's Esau.

From the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth, may God always give you abundant harvests of grain and bountiful new wine.

May many nations become your servants, and may they bow down to you.

May you be the master over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you.

All who curse you will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed.

And as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and almost before Jacob had left his father, Esau returned from his hunt.

Esau prepared a delicious meal, brought it to his father, and he said, Sit up, my father, eat my wild game, so you can give me your blessing.

But Isaac asked him, Who are you?

Esau replied, It's your son, your firstborn son, Esau.

And Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably and said, Then who just served me wild game?

I've already eaten it.

And I blessed him just before you came.

And yes, that blessing must stand.

When Esau heard his father's words, he let out a bitter cry.

Bless me too, he begged.

But Isaac said, Your brother was here and he tricked me.

He's taken away your blessing.

Now, in our understanding, we might say, Isaac, just bless him.

Like, be like, Ah, hey God, do over.

I got tricked.

And you would think that, come on, like, surely Isaac could say, Oh my gosh, I can't believe your brother's in a lot of trouble.

God, take that blessing away from him.

New blessing.

Let's go.

But his understanding of this was so different than our own, he says, No, no, I've already done it.

I've said it.

That word is out of me.

That word is now active, it is doing something, and that blessing for Jacob proved true.

Jacob's life was incredibly blessed.

There's a power in a word.

And that can be true of us as people, but with God, it's an entirely different thing.

When God speaks, when God says something, it is active.

It never stops.

It never stops being true.

It never stops being powerful.

It never stops being something that can shape us and change us.

His word is active.

One more.

Not that there's only one more.

We could talk about this for the entirety of our time.

But God's word is final.

God has the final say.

Think about that.

Some of us may have structures at work or at home where someone has the final say.

Someone can speak up and say, that's it, this is what we're doing.

Yeah, God has that with all of history.

So in Revelation, Jesus is depicted and he's seen and it's incredible imagery, and a lot of it's symbolic, it's really powerful.

But one of the things it describes Jesus is having is a double-edged sword coming out of his mouth.

Now, you have to understand when the scriptures are being written, the assumption, especially in Revelation, is that you know the word.

And we already read a scripture where it describes something as a double-edged sword, and that is the word of God.

So it's not a literal double-edged sword coming out of Jesus' mouth.

This is this is his words, what he says.

And it's this double-edged sword, which we know can divide everything.

It shows things for what they are, and we read in Revelation chapter 19, verse 15, From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations.

Revelation 19:15

It's really intense.

Essentially, it's talking about the end when Jesus returns and how, and by the way, shout out, um, Megan is teaching a class tomorrow night on prophecies about the return of Jesus that are found in the Jewish feasts.

Really deep-cut stuff, like really intense.

Um, super cool.

Sign up for that.

Like, you'll be blessed by that for sure.

There's a lot of scripture about the return of Jesus.

So, what it's saying there is at the end, Jesus returns and and he doesn't, this is gonna shock you, he doesn't make all the nations of the world America.

A lot of people think that that's what's gonna happen.

That Jesus comes and he goes, Everyone's America now.

No.

No, he doesn't.

He doesn't convert everyone to a certain political party, doesn't convert the world to America or Israel or any nation.

He actually comes and he does away with all of this stuff, like all the political stuff, all the nations.

That's it.

And he sets up something brand new, something eternal, and we need that to happen.

I think we can look at the world and go, yeah, what's best is if God started from scratch, so to speak.

So Jesus comes and what it's saying is that his judgment is final.

So there's really no arguing with God.

We can try, many have.

It's just a losing argument every time, but when God says something, it's it's not just true, it is final.

There is authority there.

So when we look at this concept conceptually, the word of God.

Because Jesus prayed to the Father, they have received your word, they have kept your word.

What does that mean?

We're talking about the truth, the power, the living embodiment in Jesus of God's word.

It's active, it's alive, and it is final, it has authority.

That is the word of God.

And we are called to be people who receive it and who keep it.

Now, on one hand, we can just talk about like the word of God is in the Bible, scripture.

The words that we have, which are the revelation of God.

That's why scripture is so important, guys.

I mean, it is the revealed truth of God.

There are things about the world that you can observe, and there are certain things that only God can reveal, and in scripture we have those things.

Listen to this quote: it says that people are always coming up with strange teachings, new ideas, and trendy theories, and they spread so easily.

If we're not firmly grounded in what the Bible actually says, it's easy to get confused or even swept away by them.

Sadly, most of us don't know scripture well enough to test these ideas against it and see whether they're true or not.

The funny thing is, this is this sound like a quote that's very pertinent to the world in which we live, the time in which we live, all kinds of crazy ideas out there and crazy theories, and you know, people trying to get you to believe all kinds of things, and if you don't know scripture, how do you even discern it?

At least to me, that sounds very relevant to the world that we live in, but this quote was actually written 200 years ago.

That's like a modern version of it.

Here's the original quote in 200 years ago language.

What strange doctrines we hear of, what new notions, what newfangled theories are everywhere being circulated.

We have no security against being entangled and carried away by them.

If we're not established in the Word of God, alas, there are but few amongst us sufficiently acquainted with the Word of God to be able to bring to the test of its standard the manifold heresies that are abroad.

Cooler language, 200 years ago.

But the same idea.

Doesn't matter if it's today, 100 years ago, 200 years ago, a thousand years ago, 200 years from now, there's always going to be lies.

There's always going to be views in the world that are so far from the truth of God, they are so far from reality, but they're clever and they're interesting because they're new.

And we're always tempted to buy into those and get swept away by them.

But if we know the word of God, we have we have that double-edged sword.

And it cuts through all the stuff, all the junk, and it reveals what is true and what is not.

We've got to know it.

So, yes, living by the word, keeping the word means you've got to know scripture.

You do, and it's tough because for some of us, we're like, man, I I don't have time.

I've never, I don't understand it.

I know all those things.

But I will say, we've never lived in a time, no one has ever lived in a time where scripture is more easily accessible.

I mean, you've got every translation available on a phone.

You can play it when you drive your car.

You can just soak it in, listen to it.

There's commentary out there, all kinds of places.

And I just, I cannot encourage you enough.

I can't implore with you enough to be in the word, to read it, to know it.

This is what David wrote in Psalm 19, Psalm 119, rather 11.

He said, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

I've hidden your word in my heart.

I know it.

I've studied it.

It's in me.

We've got to know his word.

But this is where I really want us to land.

Okay, so so far, just recap.

Jesus prays.

They have received your word and they've kept it.

Well, what is the word?

It's all those things we talked about.

The truth, the power, the person of Jesus.

It's alive, it's active, it's final, it has authority.

That's the word.

And we have it recorded for us in written form through scripture, through the Bible.

We can study it, we can know it, we can hide its words in our heart.

And that sort of gets us to where I want us to finish because there is a depth of how personal the word of God can be.

That through Jesus and specifically through the Holy Spirit that He's left for us, can put the Word of God in such a deep place in us that nothing could ever take it away.

Before Jesus came, the prophet Jeremiah wrote this in Jeremiah 31, 33.

He said that one day there's going to be a new covenant, a new understanding between God and people.

They were living under this old covenant that we call the law.

Basically, the way that you related to God was you followed the rules.

But that was never meant to be the final way that we approach God.

That was a actually Paul talked about it like a school teacher that's trying to get us to a certain level, but one day God was going to do something new.

And so God says in Jeremiah 31, this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days, and that that encompasses all who would follow God.

I will put my instructions, we might say laws or word, deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts.

I will be their God, and they will be my people.

I will be their God, they will be my people.

I will write them on their hearts.

I don't know what you picture when you hear that phrase, write on the heart.

And I gotta give a shout out to my wife because she studies scripture, she studies history, and I am very often, it's like I feel guilty because I'm sitting next to someone every day talking about this stuff, and she has a lot of cool opinions.

And this week she was like, Oh, do you do you know how the Babylonians, because Jeremiah was writing during the time of the Babylonians, they conquered Israel.

She's like, Do you know how the Babylonians wrote things?

Like what people would have perhaps pictured when they viewed something being written on the heart.

And I was like, Yeah, of course I know, totally.

Yeah, but why don't you just remind me just in case?

Like, I want to make sure that you know what I know.

You know, no, I just said, I knew that.

I said, No, I don't.

She goes, Oh, it's this kind of writing called cuneiform writing.

Cuneiform, and and here's what it looks like.

Um got a few images of cuneiform writing.

This is ancient Babylonian writings.

Okay, it wasn't written on paper.

The Hebrews, uh, the Israelites, they wrote on scrolls, but they weren't the dominant culture at the time.

These guys were taking over, and this is what they wrote on.

This is cuneiform writing, and basically what they would do is they would take a tablet of soft clay and they would press, deeply press these characters into the clay.

And so it's not something that's on top of paper, so to speak, it's impressed within the material.

And then when that hardens, that never goes away.

That doesn't fade, that that's that's permanent.

And so it's interesting when you think about what were the people thinking of when they they pictured God writing his word on your your heart.

Perhaps they're thinking of a pen and and whatnot, or perhaps they're thinking of this deep impration that God is impressing so deeply within you his truth and his word that it's permanent.

That it's it's like part of you.

And the only way that's possible is if you have a soft heart.

And this actually lines up with a bunch of other scriptures.

Ezekiel said in chapter 36, verses 26 and 27, God says, A day is coming when I will take out your stony, stubborn heart, and I'll give you a tender, responsive heart.

He says, I will put my spirit within you so that you'll be able to obey my commandments.

There's this idea of God putting his spirit, putting his word and his truth so deeply in our hearts that it's like impressed upon us.

That it's just part of who we are.

It's not something we think about, we hear, and then we go do or we don't do.

It's it's part of who we are.

And that I believe is what Jesus is saying when he talks about his disciples and us by extension.

He says, they have received your word, that they've accepted it.

They let it in soft-hearted and they've kept it.

They're living it.

Not perfectly, none of us are, but they're living it.

What it would be like for us to say, God, I have received your word and I've kept it.

I want to be really clear.

I'm not talking about salvation.

We've got seven people or so getting baptized, six, seven people getting baptized here in just a few minutes.

Sorry.

I'm so sorry.

It's now ingrained, my kids do it so much that I can't stop.

And the number, and it's amazing how often I say six or seven on a rate.

Like this morning, we have six or seven people getting baptized.

That was literally what I had in the notes.

It's six or seven people, and I can't stop doing that.

It's a thing.

All right, if you don't know what I'm talking about, just high school students.

I'm sorry.

Um it's pretty cringe.

Uh all right, I'll stop.

I'll stop.

No cap.

I promise.

I'll stop.

It's all good.

Bet.

Bet.

Okay.

I don't even know where I was.

Um, no, I do.

So salvation, let's go back.

Salvation.

We take God seriously, but not ourselves.

No, salvation, this is not something that we achieve by keeping God's word.

Salvation is a gift.

We don't obey God in order to receive salvation.

That's not what this is, right?

When we recognize that we're sinners and we're broken and something inside of us needs saved, rescued, we surrender our lives to God and we receive and accept the forgiveness that He won for us on the cross.

That is salvation.

But just like it says in Ezekiel, that he puts his spirit in us so that we can obey him, so that we can do what he's called us to do, so that we can be people who, like Jesus would say, rather than just be hearers of the word, we are doers of the word.

Jesus actually said, Blessed is the person who does what the word of God says.

So we're saved because we accept his forgiveness and mercy, but then from there, where do we go?

Well, we live out a life of obedience.

We rely on the Holy Spirit to teach us how to live, and through humility, we allow our hearts to be softened to the point that His word is pressed into us.

It's part of us, His truth, his power, all of that, and we live it out.

And go back to that phrase I put up at the beginning of the message: soft-hearted seriousness.

We're soft-hearted.

And we're serious about obeying God.

Now, we'll wrap this up.

In fact, worship team, you guys can make your way out.

Um there is a form of obedience that can actually make you hard.

There's a form of obedience that can actually create a hard heart.

Jesus references this in Matthew chapter 23.

Matthew 23 · chapter mention

He says, What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees, hypocrites, you're careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law, justice, mercy, and faith.

Yes, you should tithe, but do not neglect the more important things.

Blind guides, you strain your water so you won't accidentally swallow a gnat.

A gnat was the smallest of the unclean animals listed in Scripture, but then you swallow a camel.

A camel was the largest of the unclean animals.

He says, You're trying so hard to follow all the rules and do it all just right that you've missed the big picture.

And yes, technically you're obeying God, but your hearts are so far from him.

So it's possible that we can be obedient, but in a way that's kind of haughty and arrogant and makes us feel prideful, and we can actually have a hard heart, even though we are technically doing the things that God has told us to do.

And we've all probably experienced that.

We've all met with someone who's really good at doing the things, but there's just not the love and the mercy and the grace of God that's active in their life.

So we can't be people who receive the word and keep the word if we have a hard heart.

So we have to have humility.

We just have to have humility.

We have to clothe ourselves in humility.

Sometimes humility comes naturally for people, sometimes it takes a lot of intentionality.

The Bible says that knowledge puffs up.

Sometimes just by learning, you can become less humble.

And so you have to intentionally soften your heart.

What things can you do on a day-to-day basis that just humble you?

That humble you.

Do that.

I'll tell you a few things that help me is find people that you respect and look up to and put yourself underneath them.

Like ask them questions, learn from them.

Do that.

That helps humble you.

Find people that you can just serve and for no other reason, just serve them.

And that's humility.

Do that.

You have to have a humble heart, clothe yourselves in humility.

But then the second part, just as important, you have to obey God.

You have to obey Him.

You have to do what He says.

It's possible to be a person who's humble.

You have a soft heart, you don't view yourself as too important, you're not arrogant, but then you just don't take God's word seriously enough to do what it says.

And so, yes, you're humble, but you don't step up and actually live it out.

And we have to.

We have to.

In fact, uh, Matt, do me a favor, don't play anything right now because it'll be weird with uh with what I'm gonna show on screen.

I'm gonna show a picture of sushi.

I know that's strange.

Sushi isn't spiritual.

And maybe, maybe it's just because uh lunch is like in 15 or 20 minutes, and so it's on my brain, but hear me out for a second.

Obedience to God.

You have a soft heart, you're humble, right?

So that God can press his truth, his word into your heart, but then what?

You have to obey it.

You have to obey it.

Here's why.

The stakes are really high when it comes to obedience with God, and the reward is so great.

The stakes are high, and the reward is is great.

Okay, so this is a picture of sushi.

How many of you are sushi people?

How many of you are never will I ever?

There's nothing you can do.

Sushi is an abomination, it is evil, it is disgusting.

Okay?

All right.

Sushi people, let me see you raise your hands again.

Yeah.

All right.

I didn't used to be a sushi person, but I became one.

I was converted in uh 2010 or so.

I got converted to sushi.

Um that plate of sushi right there starts at about$300.

Uh, you can only hold on, I mean, I know.

I've never had it, don't worry.

Uh you can only get it in Japan, and it's a very specific kind of sushi.

It's called fugu.

Lovely name.

Um this is what it comes from.

I'll show you the type of fish that this comes from.

Yeah.

It's a puffer fish.

Yeah, let's go back to the sushi.

That's ugly.

The other one, that's beautiful.

All right.

Here's the way this works talking about high stakes and high reward.

And I want to I really want to know a show of hands here in a second, like how many of you would do this.

So um, that is the most expensive sushi you can buy in the world.

In fact, the rarest puffer fish, uh, they go for about$500 per fish.

So that that's it starts at$300.

You can spend$1,000 on one plate of sushi.

Here's the deal.

Apparently, pufferfish is the most savory taste on the planet.

So you have all these different types of tastes, right?

You've got sweet, sour, bitter.

If you've watched a cooking show, you know the Japanese word for savory.

It's umami, right?

If you've ever seen a cooking show, umami means savory.

It's like meat, steak, you know, salmon, something like that.

Well, there's no flavor on the earth, according to the culinary experts of the world, there has never been a flavor on earth that is more savory than pufferfish.

It is the single most savory flavor on the planet.

The problem is pufferfish are poisonous.

Um, they have a toxin that's on their skin and in all of their organs that is a thousand times more potent than cyanide.

And if you know anything about cyanide, super poisonous.

So if you're just to catch a pufferfish and eat it, you would die.

No question.

You're dead.

So to prepare pufferfish takes about six years of training.

And what they have to do is remove all the skin first, and then as they as they slice the fish, you can't puncture any of the organs.

If you do, toxins release into it, the entire thing becomes it gets contaminated.

Every year, a few people die eating fugu in Japan, every year.

But if it's prepared properly, it is the most savory taste on planet Earth.

So here's my question.

If you were in Japan and you had a chance, and let's even say you don't have to pay for it, someone's gonna pay for it, and they're going the thousand dollar version, it is it is at the absolute most exclusive, and I've actually looked up where the place is, like the most exclusive fugu restaurant in Japan, the man who runs it, he is known as the master, the single master of puffer fish.

If he didn't do it right, you're in trouble.

But if he did, you were in for apparently the most savory taste of anything on the planet.

How many of you sushi people, show of hands?

How many of you would put that in your mouth?

Yeah, I am so with you.

I'm like, come on.

Now, some of you might be like, hey, what's the second most savory flavor on the earth?

And if that's not poisonous, I'll go there.

But then even if you do that, you're like, there's something better than this.

Like, I love like filet mignon, filet, come on.

If it's better than filet, it just might kill me.

Um stupid example, I know.

Sorry, because you know, lunch.

But sometimes there's things in life where the stakes are really high, but the reward is really great.

And that's always the way it is on a way more serious level when it comes to following Jesus and actually following his word.

The stakes are high, they always have.

And when Adam and Eve were in the garden, the stakes were high.

If they obeyed God and did what he said, if they followed God's word, they would have life and abundance like we can't imagine.

But if they chose their own way, death.

And we know how that story goes.

King Saul in the Old Testament, he was told that his kingdom would stand forever, that his children and their descendants would sit on his throne.

All he had to do was obey the word of God, but he didn't do that.

Instead, like Adam and Eve, he took his own path.

And it was disastrous for him.

Time and time again, we see this in scripture.

People are given a choice.

Follow God, and there's life.

In fact, Moses says this to the people of Israel before they they go to the promised land.

He says, before you are two choices.

Choose life that you might live.

When it comes to obeying the word of God, the stakes are high, but the reward is great.

We have a God who is rich in mercy and love and forgiveness, and yes, we make mistakes.

But I'm just saying, what if we as people took following him that seriously?

What if we had a soft heart, had the humility to say, Lord, I need your word, I need your truth, forget my truth, forget whatever the teachings of this world are.

I want your truth, press it deeply in my heart, let it penetrate so it becomes part of me.

And then, Lord, I want to obey you.

I want to do what you say, I want to take your word seriously, I want to live in such a way that I'm obeying it in my life.

If we would just do that, it's it's easier said than done.

Man, are the rewards great to live a life truly defined by the word of God?

It's a powerful life.

What would it be like if we spent all of our energy, instead of ever trying to wiggle out of God's word and saying, well, okay, I know it says this, but if you think about it this way, technically I think I can live this way, and this doesn't really count.

Instead of doing that and trying to figure out what applies to us and what doesn't, what if we were just like, Lord, if you say it, I'll do it?

Or if you call me to do this, I'll do it.

If you call me to serve, I'll serve.

If you call me to give, I'll give.

If you call me to go, I'll go.

A soft heart, fully surrendered to God, deeply committed to obeying God.

Unfortunately, it's rare, but man isn't powerful.

Jesus was able to pray about his disciples.

They have received your word, they were soft-hearted enough to receive, and they have kept your word.

Now they would fail, like immediately in the story, but ultimately they would persevere.

And they would take the message of Jesus and the word of God, they would take it to the corners of the earth at their time.

And here we are as a result.

What would it be like if we could say as people, I have heard and I have kept, I have received, I have accepted your word, I've let it be placed deeply in my heart, and Lord, I will do what you say.

I will follow your instructions as if my life depended on it.

I will follow your instructions, I will do it all right because the stakes are high, but the reward is so great, and Lord, I want to live that life.

I mean, just out of curiosity, how many of us are like, sign me up for that?

It's it's not easy.

Very few people do it, but you're able through the power of the Holy Spirit within you, and it'll change the world.

I'm serious, it'll it'll change your world, it'll change your friends, it'll change your family, it'll change the people that you work with.

Not everybody will like it, some people will hate it, but it will change things, it'll change you.

And there's no telling what God will do with it.

Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for this day.

Thank you, Lord, that you've given us your word.

Lord, you've given us your word, your truth, your power, your presence.

Alive and active with authority.

You've given us your word.

What a gift, Lord.

And Lord, we want to read it, we want to study it, we want to open up the pages and take it in, become students of your word, but even more deeply, Lord, we're asking that that you would press your word firmly into our hearts.

Lord, that we would be soft-hearted.

And if any of us aren't, Lord, if we've been hardened by all kinds of things in life, I pray right now that you would soften our hearts, help us be clothed in humility so that we can receive your word and let it press as deeply into us as possible, Father God.

And then from there, Lord, we pray that you give us the ability, like the disciples, to keep it, to live by it, to be committed, Lord, that even when we fail, even when we struggle, we get back up and we keep pressing on, we keep going forward, we keep living in obedience to who you've called us to be and what you've called us to do, because the stakes are high and the reward is great.

Our world needs your truth, it needs your word, and if we're not the ones who bring it, who will?

So give us the courage and the boldness to do that, Lord, and we pray this in your name Jesus.

Amen.