Sermon on the Mount Part 8 - Self-Deceived

Decision Time means Action

Matthew 7:21-29

(previous sermon)

Matthew 7:21-29 ESV

False Professions: ²¹ "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' ²³ And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'

Foolish Builders: ²⁴ "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. ²⁶ And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

Full Authority: ²⁸ And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, ²⁹ for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

I. INTRODUCTION

The Sermon On The Mount Comes to a Challenge

We saw last week in the previous section that Jesus warned people to get on the narrow, difficult path that had few people on it and that leads to life, and to not go by the wide, easy, well-populated path that leads to destruction. But our image of this is usually wrong.  We picture two roadsigns, one that says “To Destruction” and one that says “To Life”.  But in reality both paths say “To Life”!  Every human way and every false religion promises the same thing – utopia, happiness, rewards, peace, life.  The way of self-righteousness always promises life.  Because it is man-made it seems right to the majority of people. But “it seems right” is a poor guide to spiritual truth because we are spiritually broken.  As Solomon wrote “[Pro 14:12 ESV]   There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”  But human religion appeals to use because it bolsters our ego.  Way back in chapter 5, I proposed the three purposes of human-made religion:

1. It is the system by which we distinguish between “us” and “them”, where “us” is the “good” people and “they” are the “bad” people.
2. It is the set of special rules, that if we follow them God is made our debtor.  In other words, we “earn” our way to heaven, which then God is obligated to give us as our reward for following them, and
3. It is the framework that we can use to feel good about ourselves and whatever we choose to do in life.

As we have seen, in the body of this sermon Jesus has done two things:

1. In a masterful and powerful series of arguments and pictures He has systematically destroyed every excuse of self-righteous religion and left his listeners naked and sinful before the throne of the Holy God.  But He has not left them desolate, for
2. He has also presented a possibility of a better life from a loving heavenly Father who is waiting to provide salvation if they will just repent and turn to him for forgiveness.  All they must do is Ask, Seek, and Knock.

Now that He is drawing the message to a close, his challenge is clear, finishing the Sermon on the Mount with FOUR BINARY CHOICES:

• Narrow and Broad gates and roads (13-14)
• True and False prophets (15-20)
• True and False disciples (21-23) and
• Wise and Foolish builders (24-27)

The first two warned that we should be careful of external sources of deception – we must not follow the false way just because it seems easy and because the crowd seems to be going that way – there is NO safety in numbers!  Also we are responsible to evaluate prophets and teachers for ourselves and not be led astray by false teachers who come and tickle our ears with what we want to hear.

But Jesus saves until last his warning against the most evil, sneaky deceiver of all – our own selves.  We are the biggest deceiver of our own hearts, as today’s text warns us:

IIA.  False Profession (21-23)

Matthew 7:21-23 [ESV]   ²¹ "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' ²³ And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'

These words have often (rightly) been called the saddest words in the bible.  There is surely no more pitiful scene in all of Jesus’ teachings than this one.  One can imagine no more desolate situation than to stand face to face with Jesus, citing a lifetime of “Christian” religious deeds, and be told by Jesus “I never knew you”.  Imagine for a moment how it would be to find yourself in that position.  Eternity stands before you and the Lord Himself looks at you in the eye and says “depart from me”.

On first glance this just seems wrong. 

• “Wait a minute!” we find ourselves asking – doesn’t it say “whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved?”  Didn’t Jesus just say "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”????  Didn’t Jesus say [John 6:37b ESV] “whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”?  Is Jesus being cruel here … or dishonest … or ungrateful? 

• On the other hand, those of us who believe that the Bible clearly teaches salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, look at this and see Jesus using the language of works-theology and say “wait a minute – is salvation by faith or is it by works?  What does this mean for our treasured evangelical doctrine of salvation by faith?  How does this fit with Ephesians 2:8-9, John 3:16 – or with the entire books of Galatians and Romans for goodness’ sake??

To sort this out, and to understand Jesus’ stern warning, we need to look closely at what He said, and also at the rest of scripture.  And it is vitally important that we should do so.  This is the climax of the conclusion of the manifesto of the King!  Everything has built up to this, and without this the entire sermon will be pointless.  This is the main challenge – the place where every single member of the human race finally stands before Christ for eternal judgment.  This is the decision that Jesus is calling for in his hearers, and in all of us who have read this in all of the centuries since then.  And right after this, in the very last words of this sermon he refers to this decision as one which will lead to salvation or to eternal ruin. So what is he saying here?

The answer is found by seeing the theme of the entire sermon – we are sinners who use self-righteousness to hide ourselves from the holy wrath of God using self-deception.  And the people here encompass those He has warned through all three chapters – those who reject the law, those who trust in their following of the law, those who substitute public acclaim for God’s approval, those who are self-sufficient, those who justify themselves by comparing themselves to others, and those who in their hearts don’t come to God for his forgiveness but insist on doing it their own way.

These are all self-deceived.  And Jesus paints the ultimate picture of the self-deceived here – the religious self-deceived.  And the warning comes right out of the pages and points its warning fingers even at us, because the last people are evidently claiming to be followers of Jesus himself!  But Jesus says that while they claim to be his followers, they lack one crucial ingredient – they have no personal relationship with him.

In John chapter 10 Jesus identifies himself as “the Good Shepherd”.  The main characteristic of this true shepherd is that He knows his sheep and his sheep know Him.  But here in Matthew we have people who say that they are Christians and who have a form of religion, but their confidence is empty and their hope is vain.  What can we discern about these poor souls, so we can avoid being one of them?

1. First, we see that they say “Lord, Lord” to Jesus.  By the context it is clear that this is not just “Mr” Jesus.  They definitely claim to be followers of Christ, and they claim his name for themselves.  They even seem to be acknowledging who He is.  But their claim is empty – it is a false confession – there is no reality behind the words.  This is very important, because they have turned salvation by grace into a mere profession of a verbal formula or intellectual knowledge.  But we know that faith is not just intellectual assent – as James wrote (to self-righteous self-deceived potentially false believers also): [Jas 2:19 NASB]  “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”  Being a Christian is not just knowing some facts, or saying “I choose you!” like He was some sort of cosmic pokemon.  Calling Jesus “Lord” is an acknowledgement of who He is, especially who He is in relation to who I am!

2. These people preach in the name of Jesus.  It is not enough that a church has a bunch of crosses all over it, or that it has “Jesus” in part of its name or in its songs.  Paul warns the Galatians that they seem to be turning to a different Jesus, and even Jesus Himself warns that in the last days many would come in His name that were false messiahs and false prophets.  It is not enough to say the word Jesus.  A true believer does more.

3. These people also claim to have supernatural power – they can “cast out demons” (again in Jesus’ name).  (Remember the sons of Sceva (Acts 19:14))  But Jesus warned in his apocalyptic discourse in chapter 24 that in the last days that these false Christs and false prophets would “arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”  The evidence of a true believer is not supernatural power against demons.

4. The final claim of these false believers is that they have worked miracles in his name.  The word here is “dynamis” which means power and is used in 1 Corinthians 12:10 & 28 for the spiritual gift of working miracles.  But miracles are not proof of salvation.

Then what do these self-deceived people lack?  Two related descriptions call out their problem, and the indication that their spiritual condition is a sad illusion:

1. Verse 23 says that Jesus never knew them – their relationship is all in their own minds.

2. Verse 23 also calls them “workers of lawlessness”.  Lawlessness is associated all over scripture with enemies of God.  In Matthew 24 Jesus describes the last days with this phrase “[Mat 24:12 ESV] 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.”  In 2 Thessalonians 2:8-9 Paul refers to the AntiChrist as “the lawless one” (elsewhere he is called “the man of sin”).  Lawlessness is rebellion against God and his rule.  (Note how lawlessness is increasing in our age).

3. Finally back in verse 21 says that the one who enters the kingdom is the one “who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”  Isn’t calling on his name, casting out demons, prophesying in his name, and doing miracles part of the Father’s will?  What is the difference?

For the answer to this we need to determine what the message of the Sermon on the Mount actually is.  Is it just an intellectual exercise to cause conviction?  Or is it a standard of how to live today?  Or is it just a picture of what heaven will be like but not binding now?  Or is it something more? 

I believe that it is all of these.  This is the embodiment of the real heart of the law.  Jesus has not made up a new religion to replace Judaism here.  In fact, if you carefully read through the Old Testament law you will find every principle Jesus spoke of laid out in full color.  No, we cannot keep the law, but it nonetheless shows the heart of God and his Holy nature.  It is a standard that should guide our behavior. As Paul says it should rejoice our hearts even as we are frustrated by our inability to perfectly keep it.  It is a picture of the goodness of our ultimate perfect state, and this sermon is a picture of what the Christian life should look like.  Jesus did not tell his listeners that hating your brother is the same sin as murder in your heart so that we could get saved and then go on hating our brother, secure in the belief that Jesus’ blood was shed for the purpose of enabling us to sin without consequence.  When Paul asked [Rom 6:1-2 ESV] “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” he himself answered “By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”  He says in Ephesians that we were chosen “[Eph 1:4 ESV] “in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” We were saved to be sinless and perfect in heaven and with the new nature and his resurrection life in us it is impossible that there would be absolutely no change.  Back in verses 16-20 He said of false prophets that we would know them by their fruits.  The same applies to us.  And, contrary to the easy-believe-ism of much of modern evangelicalism, the Bible is full of warnings about making a false profession.  In fact, though the fact that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is absolutely incontrovertible the saved are almost always described in terms of the prevalent fruit of their lives.  Consider the following passages:

Eph 5:4-5 [ESV]  ⁴ Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. ⁵ For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

1 Cor 6:9-11 [ESV]  ⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Gal  5:19-21 [ESV]  ¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹ envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Rev 22:14-15 [ESV]  ¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

This in no way negates the doctrine of salvation by grace.  But it does warn us to be sure of our own salvation.  Paul makes it clear that the real sign of salvation is that Christ is in you, and the evidence of this life is testable:

2 Corintians 13:5 [ESV]  Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

We know that James challenges his readers to show their faith without works while he will choose to demonstrate his faith by his works.  Martin Luther was so frustrated by this that he wanted to remove James from the Bible, calling it “an epistle of straw”.  But there is no contradiction here.  As some have put it “Faith alone saves, but faith that saves is not alone”.  The apostle John’s entire first epistle reads like a checklist for self examination:

I John:  

• If say we have fellowship with him but walk in darkness – we lie; (1:5-7)
• Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar (2:4-5)
• Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness (2:9-11)
• If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him (2:15-16)
• If they leave us they were never of us and are antichrists (2:17-19)
• Everyone who hates his brother… does not have eternal life abiding in him (3:15)
• Love one another … anyone who does not love does not know God.  (4:7-11)
• Anyone who says “I love God” and hates his brother is a liar (4:20-21)

In the middle of chapter three there is one of the most comprehensive statements about the balance between faith and works:

1 John 3:7-10 [ESV]  ⁷ Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. ⁸ Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. ¹⁰ By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

The more modern versions of the Bible are careful to give the flavor of the verb tenses in this passage, which gets rid of a lot of confusion that may have come from this text in the past.  The use of continuous tenses in the verbs makes it clear that John is speaking of  a pattern of life that involves continual sin so that it characterizes the life of one claiming to be a believer.  In chapter one he makes it clear that ALL CHRISTIANS STILL COMMIT SINS and need to confess it and rejoice in the propitiation paid for us by Jesus on the cross.  But if our lives are lawless we may fall into the group described by Jude in his epistle who are  [Jude 1:4] “designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality”.  These are the self-deceived.

So there is no contradiction here.  Paul says in Ephesians 2:10 that we are saved “unto good works”.  The one who says “Lord Lord!” and points to his “churchianity” but loves sin and the world is on dangerous ground and is wise to examine whether he or she is self-deceived and trying to play God for a fool.

The first lesson here, then, is the uselessness of a mere outward profession of Christianity.  The second lesson is a picture of two types of hearers:

IIB Hearers Only (24-27)

Matthew 7:24-27 ESV  ²⁴ "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. ²⁶ And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

Jesus here is possibly drawing on his own experience as a carpenter/builder and current building techniques to warn the crowd of the importance of responding to his sermon here.  As one commentator points out:

“The locale of the sermon near the Sea of Galilee finds a natural setting for this parable.  The alluvial sand ringing the seashore was hard on the surface during the hot summer months.  But a wise builder would not be fooled by surface conditions.  He would dig down sometimes ten feet below the surface sand to the bedrock and there establish the foundation for his house.  When the winter rains came, causing the Jordan River pouring into the sea to overflow its banks, houses built on the alluvial sand would have had an unstable foundation.  But houses built on bedrock would be able to withstand the floods.  Excavations in the late 1970’s in the region uncovered basalt stone bedrock that was apparently used for the foundation of a building in antiquity.”

Jesus uses this building analogy to describe two types of hearers.  The one who understands and heeds Jesus’ words is like the wise builder.  When trouble (or judgment) comes what he builds will stand firm and he will be safe.  But not so with the one who only hears.  J.C. Ryle describes him this way:

“He satisfies himself with listening and approving, but he goes no further. He flatters himself, perhaps, that all is right with his soul, because he has feelings, and convictions, and desires, of a spiritual kind. In these he rests. He never really breaks off from sin, and casts aside the spirit of the world. He never really lays hold of Christ. He never really takes up the cross. He is a hearer of truth, but nothing more.

And what is the end of this man's religion? It breaks down entirely under the first flood of tribulation. It fails him completely, like a summer-dried fountain, when his need is the sorest. It leaves its possessor high and dry, like a wreck on a sand bank, a scandal to the church, a by-word to the infidel, and a misery to himself. Most true is it that what costs little is worth little! A religion which costs us nothing, and consist in nothing but hearing sermons, will always prove at last to be a useless thing

The bible has always warned hearers of truth that they are in special peril.  Paul warns in Romans [2:13 ESV]  “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.”  James is even more appropriate here:  “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”  The context of this latter passage speaks plainly about what self-deception looks like:

James 1:21-27 [ESV]  ²¹ Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. ²² But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. ²⁴ For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. ²⁵ But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. ²⁶ If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. ²⁷ Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

IIC The Lord is Speaking (28-29)

The passage ends with the crowd’s reaction

Matthew 7:28-29 [ESV]   ²⁸ And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, ²⁹ for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

Since our time is short, I will only point this out.  Jesus spoke authoritatively here.  His teaching was not derivative, he did not point to a Rabbi that taught Him and gave his interpretations clout.  His clout was intrinsic to his nature – as God incarnate he was speaking not as one who interpreted the words through scholarship and proofs, but as the One who originally wrote the law and was now teaching what He had meant all along when He gave it.  And as such he spoke with authority and they recognized the difference.  How blessed the crowd there was to hear the meaning of the law from the Lawgiver Himself!  In our slang we might describe this as “drinking directly from the fire hose”.  In fact, the word “astonished” is the Greek word “ekplēssō”, which literally means “to be struck out of oneself”.  It meant “to cast off by a blow, to drive out, to strike with panic, shock, astonish,

to be struck with amazement or amazed”.  We should be no less affected by the depth and also the urgency of Jesus’ teaching.

III Conclusion

In conclusion, Jesus is calling on his listeners (and now us readers) to make a decision. This is a call to action now even as it was then.  We must examine ourselves.  We must seek His kingdom and his righteousness.  We must ask, seek, and knock.  We must strive to enter the narrow road. We are responsible before God for our own spiritual state and destiny. John MacArthur put it this way:

“Let me suggest to you there are two things you cannot do with the Sermon on the Mount.  One of them is you cannot stand back and admire it.  Jesus is not interested in bouquets for his ethics.  Jesus is not interested in folks who want to just admire the virtues of the ethical statement of the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus wants a decision about your destiny.  I believe there is a second thing you can’t do with the Sermon on the Mount and that is to push it into some prophetic tomorrow.  I don’t think Jesus is suggesting that this is for some far future era.  I think He is demanding a decision now – in this time.” 

My hope is that as we have unpacked this great sermon over the last couple of years we have seen not only how Jesus prepared the people of his day for his ministry of salvation but that we will see the heart of God and adjust our lives accordingly.  And as we examine ourselves by comparing ourselves to the infinite beauty of the holiness and goodness of God as revealed in the beatitudes and in the explanations of the law we will find areas where we need to be more Christlike, or maybe we will find ourselves needing to make sure of our calling.

Isn’t your eternal destiny worth it?  Doesn’t your love for the Lord demand it?

Sermon on the Mount Part 7 - No Safety in Numbers

You are responsible for your own destiny

Matthew 7:13-20

(previous sermon)

First admonition:  ¹³ "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. ¹⁴ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Second admonition:  ¹⁵ "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

The test:  ¹⁶ You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

I. INTRODUCTION

Social creatures

Man is a social animal.  By social, I do NOT mean “nice” or “pleasant” (though some people can be quite nice and socialble), but that we have strong social connections to each other, we form communities, and everything about us is influenced by other people.  Think of the many ways that this happens:

• Our parents and families teach us about life and society directly and by example
• Our teachers and friends in school influence us (often in opposite directions)
• Advertisements, fashion designers, Hollywood/sports stars, political polls, etc.

This is more than peer pressure, though it includes that.  Peer pressure is generally intentional, but even if someone is not trying to influence us, they still will.  This happens in society in general, and it happens in situations where we consider someone an authority.  Since Jesus is going to deal with each of these phenomena in today’s passage I would like to illustrate both, and just this week I have seen interesting examples of both. 

A hilarious example of the first one was a video that someone shared this week on Facebook showing an experiment that was done in a dentist waiting room – you may have seen it.  An unsuspecting young woman came into the office to wait for her appointment and the experiment began.  A bell was rung and all of the other people in the room (who were in on the joke) stood up for a short time and then sat down.  The girl looked at the others but they did not act as if anything was wrong.  By the second or third time that the cycle was repeated she had joined the others, perfectly mimicking their activity.  After a while each person was called into the office and she was left alone, but she still continued to stand up and sit down when the bell rang.  Now began phase two of the experiment.  As new (unsuspecting) people came into the room they also ended up mimicking her behavior, even though she did not know why the original people were doing it.  One asked her why she was doing it and she honestly replied that those before her had been doing it.  When she was finally called in to see the dentist, the newcomers ALL continued to perform the behavior, even though nobody knew why.

For a current example of false teachers we need look no further than a “do it yourself” YouTube video that some malicious prankster posted that claimed that the new IPhone’s lack of a headphone jack (which was an intentional design change) was a mistake in manufacturing.  In great detail this realistic video showed how to take a hand drill to a certain spot on the case of the phone to “fix” this problem and expose the hidden headphone jack.  Evidently the video was well done and convinced many people to drill holes in their new expensive phones, ruining them.

This phenomenon and related behaviors is often referred to as “social proof”.  We are often unaware how many of our opinions and views of the universe are influenced by the perception that “this is what everyone believes” or “this is how everybody behaves”.  People will tend to obey pedestrian rules until one jaywalker gives everybody else “permission” to run across the street by doing so.  A group of angry people become a dangerous mob when one person throws the rock that breaks the window or hurts someone.  If you pull out from behind someone on the freeway who has driven for miles at exactly five MPH under the speed limit, they will often unconsciously match your speed up to ten MPH OVER the speed limit as you try to pass them.

The behavior of an entire crowd is often under the control of the first individual who responds to a stimulus.  For instance, if someone has a heart attack and falls unconscious to the ground in the middle of a busy city sidewalk, the first person to pass the body has a huge influence over the rest of the crowd.  If they stop to help, others will be more likely to help and a group will form to provide assistance to the fallen person.  If the first person ignores the fallen person, averting their eyes and speeding up to get by quickly, the following people receive implicit “permission” to do the same and will be much more likely to leave the unfortunate person dying on the sidewalk.

Question: If one person had thrown a stone after Jesus’ challenge in John 8, what would have been the outcome?  But what happened?  Jesus understood well how mobs function and his challenge was very wise.  It was addressed to the person who would throw the first stone: “[John 8:7 ESV] And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."  He did not need to address any other person, only that potential “first” person.  And what was the response?  “[John 8:9 ESV] But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.”  Note that the oldest (and wisest and perhaps least hot-headed) did the action first.  Only after that did the younger ones follow the behavior, dropping their stones and giving up. 

In the opposite direction we see the crown that had been lauding Jesus as their King change their tune when they heard the Chief Priests crying “Crucify Him!”  Soon the entire crowd was following suit. 

We are social creatures, we humans.  And we will always tend to follow the crowd, UNLESS WE MAKE A PRINCIPLED DECISION NOT TO.  Over and over through history we see societies go from peaceful and loving to inhuman and barbaric and filled with mass-murder.  Usually it is a select few truly “evil” people who are leading the society down the wrong path but it is not long before the “average Joe” is ready to kill his neighbor or burn down the city, because it is VERY HARD to go against the flow.  Even the so-called “rebels” in our society act like their favorite music star and dress EXACTLY like all of the other “rebels”.  So much for individuality!  In fact, there is usually no more conformist crowd than a group of “rebels”.

Social creatures

So as Jesus is coming to the end of this magnificent “Sermon on the Mount” He is going to now bring it to a VERY FINE POINT.  He has pointed out that all of our ideas of what constitutes a “good person” are extremely deficient, and that we are all in need of a Savior if we want to avoid the wrath of God.  He has demolished almost all of the types of excuses that self-reliant and self-righteous humankind raises against the claims of God against us, like “I’m a good person, I am nice to my friends (but look out you enemies)” (love your enemies, endure abuse in love), “The Bible is obsolete” (not one jot or tittle, etc.), “I keep the Ten Commandments” (you don’t even understand what they mean, there is morality behind them that shows you as guilty), “Ask anyone and they will say I am a good guy – my public works are awesome!” (hypocrite – God is your only audience and He is not happy), “I am self sufficient” (seek his kingdom and his righteousness, He does the rest), “I’m better than that guy” (don’t judge others, look at yourself), and “I don’t need anyone, besides God doesn’t care” (ASK, SEEK, KNOCK, God WILL answer!)

Now he deals with two of the most pernicious excuses of all.  Why are they the most dangerous?  Because they are passive.  The others are excuses that we come up with, but these two are what happen when we don’t even bother to think about it.  There is a joke that goes like this: One person asks another “What is worse, ignorance and apathy?”.  The second answers “I don’t know and I don’t care.”  But the one thing that we should care about is our soul!  Jesus himself said this haunting question:

Mark 8:36 [ESV]  “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

Yet the great majority of humanity goes through life assuming that “it will all work out”.  “Maybe I’ll look into religion some day.”  “Maybe there’s a God, but I’m not sure, so I am just gonna live my life and not worry about it.”  My question to them is – is there ANY other area of life that you would treat that way?  “Yeah, this plan may or may not be poisonous, so I’ll go ahead and eat it.”  “Yeah, my boss didn’t explicitly say that I needed to show up at work every single day  did he?”  “No need to fill out job applications or learn a trade – I’m sure someone will just give me money, right?  I just can’t believe that life would be so unfair as to require me to work for a living.”  In all these cases the answer is of course not!  But for some reason, the state and destiny of our eternal soul is something that we don’t care about.  It’s just too much thought – it would require research – it would require us to make a choice.  It’s TOO HARD.  Jesus says, “ASK, SEEK, KNOCK”. 

Jesus saves his strongest warnings for the end of his sermon, and though our modern society is making a huge deal about being “non-binary” right now, Jesus finishes the Sermon on the Mount with FOUR BINARY CHOICES:

• Narrow and Broad gates and roads (13-14)
• True and False prophets (15-20)
• True and False disciples (21-23) and
• Wise and Foolish builders (24-27)

Let’s look at the first one:

IIA.  Don’t Follow the Crowd (13-14)

Matthew 7:13-14 ESV  ¹³ "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. ¹⁴ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Jesus gives us an imperative command: “Enter”.  MacArthur points out that the word is in an aorist imperative tense which demands a definite and specific action.  I think that this is what we were “asking, seeking, and knocking” about in verse 7. Before we go any further, I want to make one thing extremely clear.  Jesus puts the entire human responsibility for your salvation on YOU.  Yes, He does all of the work of our redemption, and yes, He is sovereign in all things.  But in his sovereign choice He commands, through the Son, that you need to actually care about the state of your own soul.  What will you do?  Will you just sit through your entire life doing nothing about it, hoping that someone else will do it for you?  Seriously, why should someone care about whether you go to heaven if you can’t be bothered to even ask about it?  But if you DO care, coming to the Savior in repentance and need, He will answer, He will be found, He will open the door!

There is a short list of common parental sayings that we have all heard.  When we were kids we vowed that we would never use them on our kids, and when we became parents WE USED EVERY ONE OF THEM.  Admit it!  Things like “If you keep making that face, it’ll freeze that way.”, “Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.” (my personal vowed one), “Because I said so, that’s why!”, “When you have kids, I hope they’re just like you.”, “As long as you’re under my roof, you live by my rules.”  But perhaps the most celebrated one is: “If all of your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?”  (How many people here answered that question “yes” at least once just to be a smart-alec?  How many regretted doing that?)  This is said in response to “but all my friends are doing it!” Well, Jesus basically uses this one in the following verses:

The problem is this.  We think that we can actually talk to our  heavenly Father and tell Him “but everyone else is doing it!”.  As the saying goes, there is safety in numbers.  We know that misery loves company, but that is not the only thing that loves company.  SIN loves company also, and nothing covers a guilty conscience than finding someone else doing the same thing as us. But this excuse will be rejected.  God is not judging us by how well we follow the crowd, and He never adjusts his holiness or righteousness to match whatever “new morality” that we invent for ourselves, now matter how popular it is with us.

To all this, Jesus tells us that there are only two choices – not thousands, not hundreds, not even three.  There is not a group of ten good ways and ten bad ways.  Just one good way and one bad one.  The typical human response to this is “but that’s narrow!”.  Interestingly, Jesus agrees with that.  Evidently the way is narrow by nature and by design. Not only is the right way (and gate) narrow, it is also hard and it is difficult to find.  But that is the road that leads to life.  In contrast, the way and gate that leads to destruction is wide, popular, easy going, and simple to find.

The gate is narrow, or small.  Commentators liken it to a turnstile.  We enter with no works of our own, no baggage, completely naked.  MacArthur says “The narrow gate means that those who enter do so stripped of all they posess, rather than adding Jesus to their accumulated treasures.  Salvation is the exchange of all that we are for all that he is.  And as He did for Job, the Lord will give back much more.”  After Jesus had spoken to the rich young ruler and the young man had gone away sad, preferring to keep his self-righteousness (and his money) the following interchange happened between Jesus and his disciples:  

Mark 10:23-27 [NASB]  ²³ And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, "How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!" ²⁴ The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." ²⁶ They were even more astonished and said to Him, "Then who can be saved?" ²⁷ Looking at them, Jesus said, "With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God."

Many people have made the incorrect inference here from Jesus’ lament and have come to the conclusion that poor people are more likely to go to heaven and that rich people are somehow more evil people.  But Jesus was not talking about poor people here – he was lamenting the specific case that he had just dealt with.  This is just one example of the type of thing that shields people from true repentance.  Even if we are not rich, we tend to think that if something bad happens to someone in this life it must be because they did something wrong.  In our own lives, if we are healthy and well-to-do we tend to think that we are pretty good people and not to care about our souls.  What Jesus said is true about everybody – even me and you.  It is harder for ANYBODY to enter then kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.   But the answer to “then who can be saved” is not dependent on our abilities, but on God, with whom all things are possible.  Can the way to heaven get more narrow than this?

John 14:6 [ESV]   Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

This sounds like a pretty tiny gate to me!  In contrast to this, the gate leading to destruction is wide, or flat.  It is as wide as the street – it is not really a gate at all.  It takes no effort, no sacrifice.

But not only is the gate to life small, the way is hard. The word hard is the Greek word thlibō, which is used for the crushing of grapes.  It speaks of pressure.  This does not mean that we get to heaven by doing works.  But the easy way that leads to destruction is the natural way – it is the default path.  It is a wide downward moving escalator and if we do not look for the path to life we will all inexorably end up at the default destination.

So there are two gates and two paths with two destinations.  Ours is to choose.  Ours is to ask. Ours is to seek.  Ours is to knock.

Perhaps the most perplexing part of Jesus’ teaching here is the idea that there are a lot of people on the way to destruction and very few on the narrow path.   There is perhaps no clearer teaching in scripture that we must not live in some blind hope that we can ignore our extreme peril if we do not come to Christ for salvation.  Jesus is very clear that the majority of the human race is headed for destruction.  We should not get too much into ratios and numbers.  Jesus is building his church.  Even in Revelation we read of huge multitudes being saved.  But Jesus’ plea here is “but you – please care about your own spiritual state.  Don’t be like the crowds.  They are headed for destruction, but the path is ready for you if you will but seek it out. Don’t sit there, fat dumb and happy until it is too late.  Ultimately you will be the one to choose hell, but that choice is a passive one.  Don’t wait.

One more thought: A popular meme for years (and for many hundreds of years before there was an internet) goes like this: “When I die I want to go to hell, because that's where all my friends are.”  When Jesus described hell he called it the “outer darkness”, and spoke of pain and regret.  He spoke of it as irreversible. Paul describes it as suffering “the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,” [2Thess 1:9 ESV]  There will be no parties, no re-unions there – that will be reserved for heaven.

IIB Don’t Follow Bad Teachers (15)

The next warning from Jesus is in verse 15:

Matthew 7:15  ESV "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

The entire Bible contains constant warnings to guard against false teachers and false prophets – people who (as God says through Moses)  “ presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods”.  As we ask, seek, and knock, and enter the narrow way it is not just the general crowds that will lead us down the wrong path.  It was God who appointed prophets and teachers in the Old Testament times and who appointed Apostles, prophets, preachers and teachers in the New Testament also.  Those people are necessary for our spiritual well-being and are ordained in their ministry by God, but that does not absolve us from responsibility for discernment on our part.  They fulfill a purpose by speaking to us in God’s name and giving to us the good things of God to build us up.  But Jesus warned us that not only would there be false prophets but even false Christs! 

Matthew 24:24-25 [ESV]  ²⁴ For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ See, I have told you beforehand.

The danger is twofold – it is dangerous to handle the word of God flippantly as we see when James warns us [James 3:1 ESV] “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”  But most of the responsibility is on the listeners.  Paul told the Galatians that even if Paul himself came and preached a different Christ to them they should consider him accursed.  When Paul gave the gospel to the Jews at Berea Luke writes “[Act 17:11 ESV] Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”  None of us are going to be excused by the Lord if we say “but that’s what my pastor told me”.  The problem is that false teachers look like sheep.  Or they look like shepherds, who traditionally wore outfits made of wool (sheep’s clothing).  Either way it is going to take more than a “yep, he looks like a pastor”.  How can we test to see if we are being led by a false prophet to the wide way toward destruction?  By PAYING ATTENTION!

The word translated “beware” at the beginning of verse 15 is the Greek word prosechō, which means to attend to, to turn the mind to, to be attentive, to apply one’s self to, to devote thought and effort to.  This is not passive listening with a dumb smile on your face and spending the rest of your time saying “my teacher says” or “my pastor says” to every question and as the answer to every argument.  I can’t speak for pastor Glen but I imagine that he would be as horrified as I was if I heard someone quoting me as an authority.  My goal in teaching (and in my occasional preaching) is to bring you to God and be strong in the word in your own right.  Why?  Paul expressed it this way to Timothy:

1 Timothy 1:3b-7 [NASB]  ³ … remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, ⁴ nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. ⁵ But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. ⁶ For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, ⁷ wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.

IIC The Test (16-20)

So how do we tell a good shepherd from a bad one – a true prophet from a false one?  Paul gives the standard in the rest of this passage:

Matthew 7:16-20 [ESV]   ¹⁶ You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

The standard of true or false prophets is their fruit.  Fruit is the product of the plant – the reason that a farmer plants a crop in the first place.  Remember that Jesus compared the kingdom to a field where a farmer (representing God) had planted wheat but where an enemy (representing the devil) had gone and sown tares among the wheat.  The problem is that tares and wheat plants look pretty much the same.  When harvest time approached, however, the differences between the plants became evident – wheat plants produced wheat and tares did not – and the tares ended up in the fire and the wheat was harvested and provided benefit to the farmer.

In the same way, a false prophet does not produce the fruit that a true prophet does.  Jesus described himself as the Good Shepherd in John chapter 10 and contrasted the true shepherd with the false one.  The true shepherd cared for and knew the sheep and the sheep knew him.  The false shepherd snuck in over the wall to rob and steal and kill.  In the New Testament the following characteristics of false teachers & prophets include:

• They lead people astray, secretly bringing in destructive heresies  (2 Peter 1)
• They can even use signs and wonders to try to lead people astray  (Matt 24)
• They deny the Master who bought them (2 Peter 1)
• They deny biblical doctrines about Christ including his humanity and resurrection (1 John 4)
• The world listens to them (1 John 4)
• They disguise themselves as apostles of Christ but are not servants of righteousness but enslave people in sin (2 Cor 11)
• They bring in legalism in contradiction to our liberty in Christ (Gal 2)
• They preach a different Christ (Gal 1)
• They follow sensuality (2 Peter 1)
• They do not abide in Christ’s teaching (2 John)
• They pervert the grace of God into sensuality, love money, feed themselves, divide the church, grumble, boast, show favoritism, seek their own advantage, indulge in sexual immorality, and “deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude)
• They are lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, unholy, slanderous, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power, and who evidently often go after weaker women in the church for sensual purposes.

The thing about false teachers/preachers is that they would have no power unless people listen to them uncritically and let them in.  John warns us not to take them in and give them a platform.  But the reality is as Paul warned Timothy

2 Timothy 4:3-4 [ESV]  ³ For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, ⁴ and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

IIC STRIVE! – The Responsibility is YOURS  (Luke 13:24)

So the upshot of all of this is: the responsibility for your soul – for your eternal destiny – is yours.  Many, many people stay for their whole lives on the wide road that leads to destruction.  Jesus’ warning was very clear.  This road is the default road of all humanity.  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.  Jesus told Nicodemus

John 3:17-19 [ESV] ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

To those who think that this seems wrong – that surely this does not mean what it seems to say we can turn to the book of Luke where Jesus also spoke about entering by the narrow door.  There, however, it was in answer to that very question.  A person came up to Jesus and specifically asked Him "Lord, will those who are saved be few?" [13:23] to which Jesus replied this way:

Luke 13:24-30 [ESV]  ²⁴ "Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. ²⁵ When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us,' then he will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.' ²⁶ Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.' ²⁷ But he will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!' ²⁸ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. ²⁹ And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. ³⁰ And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last."

In verse 24 Jesus changes his wording slightly from what He had said in the SOTM.  There he said “Enter” as an imperative.  Here in Luke He was more emphatic, where the main verb is here translated “Strive” to enter.  Strive is the Greek word agōnizomai, which means to contend with zeal, to struggle.  It was used of those who competed in gymnastic games or entered a contest and is the word from which we get the English word “agonize”. (Think of the opening to the ABC Wide World of Sports back in the 70’s with the words of Jim McKay – “the thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat... the human drama of athletic competition”).  Jesus’ message is clear – Please Care about Your Salvation!  It is literally the most important thing in your life!

III Conclusion

Jesus is drawing his masterful sermon to a close.  He has shaken up the crowd by attacking their false sense of security caused by their self-righteousness.  He will spend the next three years comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.  We need to do the same – the stakes are too high to do otherwise.  And yet, with every warning there is always the presentation of a loving Father who is reaching out with the solution.  With every crushing blow to their false security the ultimate eternal security of salvation is offered freely.

Here at the end two destinies are compared.  Two paths, two gates, two destinies.  There are two types of prophets with two types of fruit.  Next week we will see two types of professions and two responses to Jesus’ message.

But in these verses we have seen clearly that the most deadly thing we can do is to not care.  To be ignorant and apathetic is the ultimate personal disaster.  One from which there is no escape.  But Jesus came to seek and to save those who were lost.  Can we do anything but to reach up to take the hand that is offered to us?

Or is it just not worth our time?  That is a tragedy indeed.

(next sermon)

Sermon on the Mount Part 6 - Run to the Lord!

Being a true seeker

Matthew 7:7-12

(previous sermon)

Matthew 7:12  "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

I. INTRODUCTION

Love Your Neighbor As Yourself

While Jesus usually did not get along with the Pharisees (an understatement) there was one time that He earned their favor and an interesting interchange followed.  Jesus had been challenged by the Sadducees (who did not believe in the resurrection of believers) with a stupid question about the afterlife.  He smashed their argument so succinctly and powerfully that they found themselves clapping at the response, and this conversation followed:

Mark 12:28-34 NASB

Question:  ²⁸ One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, "What commandment is the foremost of all?"

First Answer: ²⁹ Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; ³⁰ AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.'

Second Answer:  ³¹ "The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

Response:  ³² The scribe said to Him, "Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; ³³ AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

Agreement:  ³⁴ When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.

While this did not repair the relationship between them (they would be calling for his death in a very short time) it stands out as a moment of honest agreement between the religious leaders and Jesus because they knew it to be true.  Yet they did not do this.  In another place, Jesus answered a question from a man about how to inherit eternal life and after Jesus told him to keep these two commandments (in other words, the whole law and the reason behind it) he immediately asked “who is my neighbor?”, which Mark tells us that he did because he “wish[ed] to justify himself”.  What did Jesus do?  He told the parable of the Good Samaritan, challenging the man that “love your neighbor” included full service to an ethnic group that he would have hated and refused to deal with. 

This is the same kind of thing that He did with the ‘rich young ruler’ who asked him the same question, although in that case he challenged him to give away the wealth that he loved and trusted in and follow Him instead, which he refused to do.  This is, of course, the whole point of the exercise – to get people to where they need to be to recognize the mission that Jesus had come to do.  From the first blood sacrifices in Genesis to Isaac’s question to his father Abraham (“where is the lamb” “God will provide it”) to the Mosaic law with its priests and altars, the lamb that God would provide who would effect the ultimate propitiation of God’s wrath against our sin had been eagerly awaited. 

When John the Baptist saw Jesus and said “[John 1:29b ESV] "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” that moment had finally come.  But who would receive that lamb, of whom John wrote in his gospel “[John 1:12 ESV] But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”.  The people to whom John the Baptist made his announcement were those people who had come to him at the Jordan to be baptized in repentance from their sins.  To the self-righteous religious leaders who came to “watch” John had said [Mat 3:7b SV] "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” 

As we said last week, the gospel good news is free to anyone who realizes that they need it, and there is the rub, because self-righteousness chokes out the convicting work that the Holy Spirit does in every heart to lead us to Christ, the Lamb of God, so that our sins can be washed away and forgiven.  Who is saved?  Paul wrote it simply in Romans 10:13  “For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."”

IIA. CALL UPON THE LORD – HE WILL ANSWER  (7-8)

If we quickly remember the context here, Jesus had just warned his hearers not to judge others before they examined themselves.  Like the two men in his parable who went to the temple to pray, they were not going to be justified if they came into God’s presence boasting about how they were not as bad as that guy over there and citing their many righteous accomplishments.  Instead, we are to be as the tax collector was in the parable (that Jesus said went away justified before God) who stood far off, afraid to even lift his eyes to heaven, and begged for God to give him mercy because he was a sinner.  We must be like John Newton, the author of “Amazing Grace”,  who wrote in his old age “Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.” 

So the immediately preceding verses call on us to judge ourselves – as God sees us, decimating the excuse “God will let me into heaven because I am not a bad person – compared to those jerks over there”.  Previously in this sermon he knocked over many other excuses people use to justify themselves, including

• “I am pretty nice to people – I conform to most of our society’s rules for good behavior” (answered in the beatitudes – the “blessed are” verses that lay out a standard much different from the world for correct kingdom living),
• “I can throw out those old testament rules now that we live in a more enlightened age.  We are smart enough now to make up new moralities.” to which Jesus said that all of the law would be fulfilled down to the smallest mark.
• “I keep all of the Ten Commandments!”, to which Jesus pointed out the heart attitudes behind the sins and showed how we were all guilty sinners: hate = murder, lust = adultery, etc.
• “I am well-respected in the community.  Just ask anyone, they will vouch for my piety!”  to which Jesus said to do your religious deeds in secret, for an audience of One.  If you seek public acclaim that will be your only reward.
• “I am self-reliant and productive.  I can take care of myself.”  To which Jesus calls on us to seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness and to trust Him.  In this section Jesus starts to really point to the real solution to our problem and makes it clear that his Father knows exactly what we need and wants to provide it for us – he gives us grace for each day IF we will accept it.
• Finally Jesus warns against using judgment against others to deflect our consciences from condemning US for our sins.  He taught that self-examination and repentance, if neglected, will leave us all condemned for eternity.  While we think we are being clever by pointing out the faults in others, we are actually showing that we know all about right and wrong and we could be sent to hell just on our standards, because nobody even keeps the rules that they apply to other people!
• Finally, in verse 12 Jesus goes right to the heart of the law, and in the apex of the sermon he summarizes his entire sermon in one verse – the “Golden Rule”.  The ultimate standard of human behavior, the summary of all of the intent of the law, and the final nail in the coffin of sinning, unrepentant mankind, because it is impossible to follow.

So where does that leave us?  It leaves us (and his first-century hearers) with no excuses and with an impossible wall to climb.  But we must understand here that Jesus is NOT being cruel.  He is like a surgeon, diagnosing the illness.  Fortunately the cure is simple and easy, as Paul had said in Romans 10:13.  Jesus put it this way:

Matthew 7:7 ESV   "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

The answer is to ask.  Call upon the Lord.  Not like the Pharisee in the parable, but like the tax collector.  God will not be fooled by a good show, by our credentials, by our own self-kept list of our good deeds.  He remembers our good and bad deeds, but he is NOT keeping a balance sheet to see which way the balance leans.  As He said to Ezekiel [18:4 ESV] "Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins shall die.”  Through Paul he wrote [Rom 3:22b-23 ESV]  “²² …For there is no distinction: ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”. 

Therein lies our hope and our peril.  It seems so easy that we can easily fall into the trap of thinking that it is a trivial thing. I had loved one tell me years ago that he was going to “get around to that religion stuff” when he was old.  Fortunately he is still alive, but I am concerned for his soul – he now belongs to an organization that includes Jesus as just one way to heaven and emphasizes good works but does not preach the gospel.  Jesus has a stern warning for him in this sermon, but if he trusts in this organization and does not call upon the Lord then he could miss out.  Not from being a bad man humanly speaking but from having the same problem that Jesus’ hearers had.  So Jesus emphasizes the importance of being a true seeker with three verbs of ascending effort: ASK, SEEK, KNOCK. 

All three verbs speak of prayer, but each one is more intense and show more personal involvement.  It is one thing to make a simple request, but that can be flippant.  If we really want something we will make it our life’s work to get it.  We will LOOK for it, we will leave no stone unturned!  But more than that, we will not just ask but go to the door where it is and knock wholeheartedly.  In movies where someone is being followed by an enemy and comes to a house where they can have safety, how do they approach the door?  Do they text the owner of the house and say “maybe I would like to come to your house”?  Do they stay away from the house wishing they knew the address?  Do they timidly tap on the door for a second and give up?  Of course not!  They run to the house, aware of the danger behind them, and pound on the door, with bloody knuckles if necessary, until they are inside and the door is closed behind them.  And what movie villain or monster is worse than the wrath of God and eternal hell?   “Ask, seek and knock” pictures a soul that realizes its debt of sin and peril of judgment and comes to God, taking ahold of Him and saying “I will not go until you bless me!”  It is not the picture of someone who went to a meeting because they were invited by a friend and “prayed a prayer” with someone because of peer pressure that did not understand why they were there and did not really care about their standing before God.  We seek something because we want it – we knock because we want to get in!  We ask because we believe that the One of whom we make the request has what we need.

Fortunately we are not making our requests to someone who might refuse us or who does not care.  That possibility is demolished in verse 8:

Matthew 7:8 ESV  ^“For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

How many people does Jesus say will get a positive answer from God if they Ask, Seek, and Knock?  EVERYBODY.  That is the wonderful thing about grace – since NOBODY deserves it there can be no standard for refusing it.  If we had to be good enough for grace to get it, it wouldn’t be grace! 

It is terribly important to explain this when we speak the gospel to people.  We are completely lost in sin along with the entire human race.  But the solution is available by God’s infinite grace to everybody who will call upon the Lord.  But it IS important to take the initiative and ask, seek, and knock.  Waiting until later is not only foolish but an insult to God and his amazing grace.  “I’ll get around to God later” will definitely go down in history as the most devastating “famous last words” of all.  As Paul warned in Galatians: [Gal 6:7 ESV]  “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”  Jesus told the parable of the businessman who was busy making plans to expand his business when his number came up and God said to him “[Luke 12:20 ESV] “… 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'”   Over and over in scripture Jesus compared the news of the kingdom as more valuable than anything – the “pearl of great price” that someone found and sold all that he had to get the field that contained the pearl.  In the SOTM he previously has portrayed repentance as more important that keeping eyes or limbs.

But it is therefore even more reassuring to know that when we really seek and knock, the answer will always be YES.  To all other prayers God may do the best for us by answering yes, no, or later. But the answer for a soul who calls on the name of the Lord in repentance, asking, seeking, and knocking for salvation, will always be yes.  Have you come to Jesus, aware of your sinfulness before God and asking for salvation?  Or is it something you faked to get someone off of your back or just something that “everyone else did”?  Are you trusting in a religious feeling, or in the promises of God?  Feelings change – they are infinitely changeable and unreliable.  God’s promises are sure – Paul wrote [2 Cor 6:2b ESV] “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

Why indeed would anyone not ask, seek and knock, then?  Verse 8 implies it.  Our sinful hearts do not want to come to God.  Down deep we doubt that He is really good, or that He keeps his promises.  So Jesus continues with a beautiful illustration:

IIB. GOD IS GOOD! (Unlike us)  (9-11)

Matthew 7:9-11 ESV  ⁹ Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?  ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?  ¹¹ If you then, 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!  

Jesus appeals to their own experience in life.  If we doubt God’s willingness to answer prayer we will grow discouraged and not ask.  Hebrews 11:6 tells us “…without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Is there anything in which this is more important than in our salvation?  Imagine standing at a window in a burning building, with an inferno behind you and a room about to collapse on you.  You look out and see many firemen standing below the window, holding a life net and yelling at us to jump to safety.  What will happen to us if we tell them “I don’t think I like the look of you guys.  How do I know you have really come to save me?  I think I’ll just stay here, thank you.”?  We will die for nothing.

In these verses Jesus asks the parents in the crowd to evaluate themselves.  If the child that they loved came to them with hunger and asked for break, would you give him a rock that looked like break but would not give him nourishment but would instead cause harm?  Of course not!  The second question is more subtle.  He is not speaking of giving the child a live snake, but instead he is talking of substituting a cooked reptile for a cooked fish, which for the Jews He was speaking would mean that the father’s actions would defile the child and make him ceremonially unclean. In Luke 11:12 there is another question given: “or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?”.  There are scorpions in the middle east which actually look like eggs when they roll themselves up to sleep.  This gift would be a really dirty trick and could cause pain and even death.  In all these cases Jesus appeals to their basic sense of decency and then he applies some theology before posing his question to them.  The steps (implicit and explicit) of the argument Jesus makes are these:

• You are fallen and sinful.  Jesus uses the term “evil” (which is applied to the entire human race here)
• God the Father, AS YOU YOURSELVES KNOW, is not evil.
• If even you (the evil ones) care for your children and do not wish to harm them, why would God do any less?

We must keep in mind that Jesus is NOT being condemning here.  The focus is not on their evil but on the assured love and goodness of God the Father!

IIC The Sermon Summarized (12)

The rest of this sermon (through the end of chapter 7) is going to tie up all of the thoughts and make a final plea for his audience to consider the state of their own souls and the goodness of God and to make sure of their eternal destiny.  He will continue to warn them about their peril and the need to be serious about our salvation. The first step is going to complete the part of the sermon that deals with our moral need for forgiveness.  Since he has defended the law, explained the law, pointed out who the law should be obeyed for, and the character of the lawgiver, he now summarizes the law in one of the most succinct, beautiful and comprehensive sentences in all of scripture!  The Golden Rule:

Matthew 7:12 ESV   "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

As you remember we started the sermon with Jesus’ summation of the law, which was to love God but also to “love your neighbor”.  Even the Pharisees agreed that this was the summation of the law.  The former is from Deuteronomy 6 and is part of the most revered central tenets of Judaism.  The latter is a quote from

Leviticus 19:17-18 ESV  ¹⁷ "You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. ¹⁸ You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

That old testament phrase exactly summarizes the interpersonal aspects of the entire law.  Paul wrote

Romans 13:8-10 ESV   ⁸ Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹ For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." ¹⁰ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Gal 5:13-14 ESV  ¹³ For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. ¹⁴ For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

James wrote (when speaking of showing partiality in church):

James 2:1-13 ESV  ⁸ If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well.

The much beloved Golden Rule given by Jesus here lays down the entire standard of the heart of the law.  If we love God and love our neighbor we will fulfill the Golden Rule exactly.  The amazing thing about the Golden Rule is its simplicity!  It does not require great spiritual insight to grasp the concepts, as evidenced by the widespread existence of similar statements and creeds.

• The Rabbi Hillel said “What is hateful to yourself do not to someone else.” He reportedly then said “That is the whole Torah.  The rest is commentary.”
• The book of Tobit (in the apocrypha) says “What thou thyself hatest, to no man do”
• Confucius taught “what you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others”
• An ancient Greek king Nicocles wrote “Do not do to others the things which make you angry when you experience them at the hands of other people”.
• The Greek philosopher Epictetus said “what you avoid suffering yourself, do not afflict on others”

One thing that you may notice is that all of these examples are negative. The say NOT to do things to others that you DON’T like to be done to you.  With very few exceptions, all versions of the Golden Rule given before Jesus spoke this command are in the negative.  But Jesus “raised the ante” with this statement.  It is not enough to be passively considerate.  Jesus turns the whole thing around and makes it positive – He commands us to be proactive.  In one fell swoop Jesus tells his listeners that the world’s standard of “not doing harm” to others falls far short of God’s standard.  Jesus is setting the bar very high indeed.

Our biggest problem in the end is selfishness.  The Golden Rule always seeks the good and happiness of others.  It is not enough to project your annoyances on others and not do those things.  This new standard calls for projecting your wants on others and SERVING THEM SELFLESSLY.  THAT, Jesus says, is the real essence of the law.

Two questions come to mind:

• Is it possible to have any higher standard than that for our relationships to our “neighbors”?
• Is it possible to fulfill this standard in our flesh or is this basically the ultimate proof of our need for salvation?

Obviously this one sentence summarizes the entire sermon up to this point.  His audience, which had probably been rendered speechless by the beatitudes at the beginning (because they were so contrary to regular human wisdom in some cases) have been alternately cajoled out of their self-righteous excuses on one hand and assured of the loving fathership of God on the other hand.  Now Jesus has presented them with the final statements: This is the full essence of the law, you cannot and have not kept up with it and you need a Savior.  But God is ready with Grace and Mercy.  Will you come to Him?  Will you trust Him?

III. Conclusion

This is the question of this sermon.  Jesus has set the tone for his entire earthly ministry in one sermon.  It is many things:

• It is a beautiful picture of what kingdom living looks like – what heaven will be like.
• It is a guide for righteous behavior, a challenge to obey.
• It is a picture of the moral heart of the law and the heart of God.
• It is a fatal challenge to self-righteousness – a proof that we all need to repent before God and seek his mercy.
• And it is the manifesto of the King of Kings.  Those who have “ears to hear” will hear it and run to Jesus, the lamb who takes away the sin of the world.  The one who came to seek and to save the lost, if the lost would just realize their lostness and throw away all of the excuses for coming.  It is a picture of the loving God reaching out and providing a great salvation to anyone who will ask for it.

• And it is a call to act NOW. 

• To Ask

• To SEEK

• And to KNOCK

Please trust the Lord.  He is better than any earthly parent – if we ask for good from Him he will give it.  I have no doubt that this is primarily about salvation.  In the Luke version Jesus is quoted this way:

Luke 11:13 ESV    If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

If you ask, he will save you.  That is his promise!

(next sermon)