Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7 if you're not there. We're nearing the end of our study on the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5, 6, and 7 are all a single sermon that Jesus delivered. We've said really the most famous sermon ever preached, and it was preached on a hillside in Galilee. Matthew could hardly be giving us the entire sermon, but we said he's likely sharing the highlights here. And the whole sermon really is about kingdom living in a fallen world. How followers of Jesus Christ, the king, as his kingdom citizens are to live in a world that does not recognize his kingship. And here in chapter 7 and verse 12, which we're going to deal with today, this probably brings us to the high point of this famous sermon. It's another one of the most memorable sayings of Jesus, one of the most memorable and quoted sayings in all the Bible. And so we'll talk about that, and we're gonna talk about Jesus' discussion on prayer that precedes it, but let's begin by reading today's text. Let me ask you to stand out of respect for the reading of God's word. Let's read our text, Matthew chapter seven, verses seven through 12. Jesus said to his disciples, Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds. And to him who knocks, it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask him? In everything therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you. For this is the law and the prophets. That's the reading of God's word. You may be seated. Let's acknowledge the author of scripture and seek his help. Our Father, we are needy for you to speak to us through your word, and we ask that you would arrest our attention. We ask that you would allow us to see ourselves in the mirror of your word, where we do not We do not live what it is you're calling us to do here, Father. Please convict us, please change us. Father, we need to be a more Christ-like people. And so we're asking that you would give us a Christ-like sort of relationship with the people around us, Lord, that we would treat others the way we ought, the way you're commanding us in this high and holy sermon. And Father, where there is someone who does not have that ability to do what you're calling them to do because you have never They have never received Your Lordship. We pray that You would convict them of their need to be saved in the first place. And so, Father, we give this service to You. We look for You to help. In Jesus' name, Amen. Sorry, I've got to... Frog in my throat or something. After its release, it was among the top songs in every chart, almost every music chart across the globe. And this might surprise us because It could hardly be a more simple song, simple solo. And its message was admittedly a bit naive. And yet, it struck a chord with people all over the world. People tired of war and political strife. I'm talking about John Lennon's bestselling song, Imagine. Lennon asks us to imagine a world. With no countries, no religion to divide us, nothing to kill or die for, he invites us to imagine all the people living life in peace. And when we consider the political divide in this country that has again become more apparent this week, which of us doesn't dream of such unity and brotherhood between men? Many things divide Americans from one another, but just consider the fault lines separating political persuasions. We're so radically divided, we may find ourselves wondering, how can we even live in the same country, let alone in the same neighborhood? I've been told that recently by someone. At the same time of year, or sorry, at this time of year, More than ever, people say we need peace and we need unity. Can we imagine, just imagine all the people living life in peace? If we don't surrender to Jesus' kingship over our lives, all we are left with is just imagining. Just imagining such a world. But in this sermon, Christ has left us instruction for how to experience and to an extent, as Christians, even share. Even share this kind of a We can see a taste of His coming kingdom, a taste of heaven. It's really summarized in what is called the golden rule, because it's a basic moral principle always to be followed. And the rule is treat people the same way you want them to treat you. Charles Spurgeon says of this rule, this is rightly called the golden rule, Christ says of it that it is the law and the prophets. It is the essence of them. It is the sum and substance of the highest morality. What you would that others should do to you, do that to them. Do not let that golden rule, he said, remain merely as a record of this book, but take it out with you into your daily life. If we did act, all to others as we would that others should act to us. How different with the lives of many men become. Ours would be a happy world if this law of Christ were the law of England and the law of all nations. God send us the spirit by whom alone we shall be able to obey so high a rule. The world needs to be able to look at the church and see all the people living life in peace. And if the Church of Jesus Christ were living, the Sermon on the Mount, there is no doubt the lost world would see Christ's people showing them Christ. Showing them the fruits of living for the King of Kings. And so here's the timeless truth I want you to see out of this sermon this morning. out of this text this morning, and that is that this single rule that Jesus gives in verse 12, this single rule summarizes what is a truly Christian treatment of others. This one rule gives us a snapshot of how Christians are to treat others. And to appreciate this, our study will involve a two-step process. First, I want us to notice Jesus' preface to the golden rule. Jesus prefaced to the golden rule. Look at verse 12, first of all, where Jesus states the golden rule itself. And notice how the verse begins. Therefore, he says, in everything, therefore, treat other people the same way you want them to treat you. Jesus is telling you that the golden rule is logically predicated on something he said before. Therefore, what is the logical basis for this golden rule? Well, from what I can tell, most commentators believe Jesus is connecting the sermon to everything he said before. The entire sermon, in a sense, builds to this point, builds to this rule. We might even say verse 12 is the high point of the Sermon on the Mount, and three reasons suggest that. First, it begins with the word therefore, as we've said, which indicates it's said in light of what has come before. Secondly, verse 12 uses a summary formula. Jesus says, in everything therefore. This is clearly a sweeping, all-encompassing sort of commandment to come. And thirdly, verse 12 recapitulates this summary phrase, for this is the law and the prophets. Jesus has used this phrase back in chapter five, verse 17, which leads many commentators to believe he is here in verse 12, chapter seven, verse 12, bookending the main body of his sermon with this phrase. Here is the essence of the law of God and can all be summed up in this law, this single law. Now, what's the significance of knowing that this rule is the high point of this sermon? Well, we need to understand we cannot simply lift the golden rule out of the sermon and live it any way we want, as if it were a nice moral platitude that just anyone could live by without respect for whatever else Jesus has said here. By saying that the golden rule is the law and the prophets, Jesus is tying this rule to the rest of his sermon, even tying it to the radical righteousness that he has already described. And this matters because we live in a society that wants the golden rule without God. they will say, look, this rule says nothing about God. It says we must treat others the way we want to be treated, and that this, the fulfillment of the law, and so therefore we can live this way without involving God. And this is just the way our secular society, like a parasite, seeks to suck the blood out of religions, leaving only the bones. But you can't do that with Christianity. At least Jesus hasn't left that option He hasn't left us the option of practicing the golden rule without God. This rule comes to us on the heels of everything Jesus has said about practicing the most radical, counter-cultural, Christian sort of righteousness. And what is righteousness? It is that which pleases God. So you cannot fulfill this law without God. without pleasing God. And it's impossible in our own strength to fulfill this law. We need a righteousness, a passion, a power that is sourced in God. Only then can we ever hope to come to this rule with a hope of keeping it. Also in Matthew chapter 22, later on in this very same gospel, when Jesus is asked, which is the greatest commandment, he replies, love God with all of your being, and the second commandment is like the first, love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus tied loving God and loving your fellow man. Loving God and your fellow man, you can't do the one apart from the other. While this sermon is certainly You could say this rule is certainly the high point of Jesus' sermon and his entire sermon has been leading up to this point. Don't forget how chapter 7 began. It should be clear that chapter 7 verses 1 through 6 anticipate this rule. The golden rule is connected to what Jesus has immediately said in the beginning of chapter 7. Chapter 7 began with Jesus tempering our attitude toward others and he says how you judge others will come back to you. That's right. You better be thinking about how you would like to be treated because guess what? What goes around comes around. You should not be judging others in a way you yourself don't want to be judged. And clearly this anticipates the golden rule in verse 12. Now any transition from verse six to verse seven in this chapter might seem like a bit of a stretch. The subject matter seems somewhat unrelated. At least some commentators don't see how verses seven through 11 here really fit where they fall in the entire scheme of the sermon and right before the golden rule. But I believe what Jesus is doing here really is discussing our attitudes to others in verses one through six. That's what he's done. then moving on to discuss our attitude to God in verses 7 through 11. And if this transition is not clear enough, remember Matthew's not giving us the entire sermon verbatim, he's giving us the highlights. But I believe it's unfortunate also that this connection is ignored because it's an essential preface to the Golden Rule. Verses 7 through 11 here provide moral incentive for the Golden Rule in verse 12. Obviously, these verses describe prayer. They're very famous. Ask and it shall be given unto you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be opened unto you. We know that's talking about prayer. But there's more to these verses than prayer. than just Jesus talking about prayer. As Jesus describes what should be our attitude to God in prayer, he's also describing what is God's attitude to us. Fatherly love. Fatherly love. Maybe someone's thinking, Pastor, I don't see the word love occur a single time in these verses. Could Jesus be fundamentally describing love without using the word, ironically, We talk about the golden rule. Golden and rule aren't found anywhere in verse 12 either. All right. But here's an important lesson for us. And I need you to follow me here. Love is not a word. It's an action and an attitude. True love gives. We give because we care. And here, Jesus' encouragement to pray, asking, seeking, knocking, is all premised on the fact that God cares about His children, and because He cares, He's a Father who gives what is good to His children. He's a Father who loves us. That's the whole reason we can come to Him in prayer. So while verses 7-11 continue driving us toward the golden rule, I want to draw your attention to three principles, precious principles, about a Christian's relationship with God here. They all have to do with prayer. First, you can always approach God. You can always approach God. That's verses seven and eight. Verse seven, Jesus said, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened unto you. Jesus is saying you can come to God about anything because, he will go on to explain, he's your father. It's because of who he is and because of your relationship with him as his child, you can go to him about anything. Now maybe you had a father or a mother that you could approach at most times, but then there were those times, you know, where you just didn't, or you just knew not to. You knew like, this is not a good time to ask dad about that money. Oh, this is not a good time to tell dad about the car. This is not a good time to tell mom what happened at school today. And you just know this is not a time to approach them. They've got that mood, right? And we know when and how to stay away. At times, we may get the same idea from our spouse or from your boss at work. And you know that door is closed. And when that door is closed, you don't dare interrupt. And it doesn't matter how much or how important whatever it is that's on your mind is to you. It has to wait. But here Jesus calls us to approach God any time because he assures us, verse eight, everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. He may be running the universe, but he's never too busy for you. He may be the king of all creation, but he's not gonna say to you, I'm sorry, Too important, too important to listen to you, too important to make time to hear from you. You can always approach God, and you can do so expectantly. But here's another principle from these verses. God wants you to persist in prayer. The verbs ask, seek, and knock are all present tense imperatives that suggest Jesus is saying, keep asking, keep praying. Seeking, keep knocking. Don't give up Christian. Maybe you've been praying for something. You believe this is God's will and you're praying, but you haven't seen God answer in the way that you're expecting. That's all right. Be persistent. Jesus said, men ought always to pray and not to faint. Children can teach us a lot about persistence. Children sometimes show remarkable persistence, you know what I'm saying? It was Monday morning, and I had written most of a 20-page assignment for a seminary course I'm taking. And that's when my computer suddenly crashed and ate my homework. That's right. The dog didn't do it. The computer ate my homework. And you know what? It does happen. Apparently, in the 21st century, this sort of thing can still happen. I'm freaking out over all I'm going to do, how I'm going to make up for all this lost time and work when there's a faint knock on my door. And, you know, I can sometimes tell, I can tell who it is, which of the kids, by how they knock. And I knew it was little three-year-old Sophia. And she and I had scheduled for that Monday, a daddy date over lunch. I was suddenly hoping she might kind of forget about it, give me a little time to work on things I needed to get done. But she didn't forget. She said, Daddy, I'm ready for my daddy date. Daddy, I'm ready for my daddy date. So I said, OK, come in. And I thought that maybe she might stay put a while in the room, and I could small talk with her while I furvishly worked on my paper a bit more. But she persisted. When are we going to go, daddy? Daddy, I'm so excited. Daddy, I love you. And I'm not kidding. She just continued to speak and work away at my heart. And what could I do? We had a good time. We had a good time. We did go. But my point is. The persistence we see in a little child is what we need many times. We need the persistence of a little child that will not be deterred. That is not hesitant to continue to ask and continue to seek and to knock until the answer comes. And this is not because God is stressing out like I was and is delaying to answer. but because he loves to see that our faith in him cannot be dissuaded. God wants you to know, God wants to see in you that you have the persistence of a Jacob who says, I will not let you go, Lord, until you bless me. You are my life. You are my hope. I need you. Where else can I go? A faith that cannot be dissuaded. A third principle, from these verses is that God cares for his children in so much he is committed to providing for his children what they need. God will always provide for his children what they need. He's committed to them. This is ultimately what Jesus is driving at when he says in verse 9, What man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father, who is in heaven, give what is good to those who ask him? Jesus has already said in chapter six that our heavenly Father cares for us, and His care for us is a reason to trust Him and to pray to Him. And here Jesus reinforces the idea. God is a Father, He wants you to know. He is a Father to His people. And if we, sinful parents, selfish, imperfect, moody, all of that, If we sinful parents are committed to giving our children what they need, how much more will our perfect, infinitely merciful Father give what we need? He will give everything we need. To be clear, Jesus isn't saying God will give us everything we ask for, everything that is we desire, but everything we need. Too often, like children, we want to fill up on sweets, sugary sweets. Those things that are really good going down but is going to cause problems. It's not gonna be good for you. It's not gonna work out in the end and God knows it. And although you're really sure that you know what you need, you don't define your needs because you don't have the big picture of your life like God does. And he knows how everything he brings into your life is going to work out. He knows what is optimal for the health and well-being, that is the spiritual, eternal well-being of his children. And God is committed to that. He is committed to optimizing your spiritual health. He wants to give you what you need. Now, maybe someone here is even upset at God because he's not giving you what you're praying for, what it is you desire and you feel. That God has given you something that is not good for you, or that he's withholding from you something that is good, that you need at this time. But our Father knows that sometimes what you want will destroy you. That if you could have your way, it would destroy you. It would bring about eternal regret. God knows the kind of success and beauty and pleasure and ease and money and so on. All those things he knows can destroy you at some point, in some sense, in some way. And he knows your limits. He knows your weaknesses. And he's not going to give you. He loves you too much to give you everything you want. But he will give you what he knows you need. Thank God the way He is committed to His children. And thank God He does not treat us the way we treat Him. He treats His children with love by doing what is best for us. What if God treated us the way we treat Him? That would not be a good, that would not be a good deal. God loves you, which is to say, in a selfless way, which is to say, you can then go to him in prayer. This is why you can ask, seek, knock, and you don't have to worry about bothering him. You don't have to worry about whether you have enough credits in your bank. You know, you've leveled up to earn God's favor. God loves his children. You don't ever have to worry about being mistreated by him. Oh, God will chastise his children. But you don't have to worry about God ever just unfairly dealing with you. Because he loves you. That's why you can trust him. He loves his children. That's why you can pray to him. He loves his children. And Jesus' statements in verses 7 through 11 are all predicated then on this reality. the father's love for his children. This brings us now to the golden rule itself. We've been looking at the preface to the golden rule, Jesus' preface to the golden rule. Now I want us to consider Jesus' proclamation of the golden rule. Verse 12, Jesus said, in everything therefore, treat people the way you want them to treat you, for this is the law and the prophets. in light of everything I've said, in light of the way you can come to the Father about anything, and He's committed to giving you what is good for you, regardless of how you treat Him. Therefore, in light of all this, in everything you do, treat other people the way you want them to treat you. And given this rule's importance, it's not surprising that the enemy has created a lot of confusion around this simple rule. So we first need to nail down the true meaning of this rule. People too often confuse the golden rule with cheap counterfeits. And so they claim things like the golden rule isn't unique to Jesus and the Bible, but when you look at the examples that they share, they're all flawed comparisons to one degree or another. Aristotle once said, we should behave to friends as we would have friends to behave to us. So some would say, there you go. Jesus only said what Aristotle already said. And I'll live by that rule. I'm going to behave to my friends the way I want my friends. Well, wait, hold on. Aristotle was talking about how people treat friends. Not how we treat all people, just our friends. Jesus commands us in the sermon to love our enemies. That includes all people then, even the ones you don't want to include. There's a difference here. And by the way, Aristotle, his rule is only toward friends because he affirmed his belief in the superiority of free men over slaves and women. So this rule wouldn't really work consistently in his worldview anyway. But close to the time of Christ, there was a man that was once asked, there was a man who, I should say, once asked the Rabbi Hillel if he could summarize the entire law while he stood on one leg. Rabbi Hillel lived into the first century, at the time when Christ would have been walking the earth as a young child. And Rabbi Halil answered the man this way, as this man allegedly stood on one leg, and he said, that which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow, that is the whole law, the rest is commentary. Nice summation of the law, it would say, so it would seem. Again, the world says, oh, there you have it. The golden rule, that's where Jesus got it from, right? But again, no, that's not the golden rule. Jesus' golden rule is stated in the positive where you have to do to others as you would be done by. Hillel's summation of the law was purely negative, purely a matter of what not to do. He said, what you don't want other people to do to you, you don't do it to them. And I think we could sum that up more eloquently just to say, thou shalt not be a jerk. Don't be a jerk. Because you don't want other people to be a jerk toward you, all right? That, properly speaking, this is the silver rule. That pretty much sums it up. Not the golden rule. And many others, including Confucius and Buddha, many others have said much the same thing. I do wonder if Buddha didn't favor this rule because, you know, after all, you can fulfill it all the while sitting on your rear end. But, you know, in all seriousness, if you were stranded on the side of the road, I could fulfill Buddha, Confucius, Hillel's rule. I could obey the silver rule by, you know, just not uttering profanities at you as I drove by or trying to run you over in my car, okay? I could fulfill the golden rule because I wouldn't want you to do those things to me. But I could do that all without stopping ever to help you and give you what you need. As long as I didn't, you know, be a jerk towards you, I just kind of left you alone, I would be fulfilling the silver rule. And so the world loves this commandment because it's quite doable not to be a jerk. I mean, at least at most times, you know. But on the other hand, if I saw you stranded on the road, Jesus' rule would compel me to stop. and give you the help you need, like the Good Samaritan, right? In Luke chapter 10. I would need to do whatever I could because I would be caring for you in a way that I wished you would care for me and my need. Now, Jesus is advancing a commandment God gave his people back in Leviticus 1934 about loving your neighbor, loving your neighbor as you love yourself. loving a stranger as you love yourself. But no one in history proclaimed these rules with the authority that Christ did. Jesus here makes the golden rule mandatory for all his disciples, even a universal standard for how we are to treat others. Another confusion to clear up here is that we tend to view the golden rule as if it were a promise that others will treat us in the way that we treat them. Reciprocity, Confucius was all about that. Reciprocity, we treat others well, guess what? The world's gonna be better because they're gonna treat me the way I wanna be treated. Well, at least we'd like to think it would work out that way. But the golden rule remains binding regardless of how anyone responds. Notice Jesus isn't suggesting his disciples treat others this way. He's giving a command. In fact, our translation doesn't bring this out, but in the Greek, it's clear. Jesus stresses the fact in everything. Therefore, you. You, that is not the world, but you, my followers and everything, therefore, you, my followers. Treat my people do right. Treat people. the same way you want them to treat you. Jesus, in other words, is not talking about everybody else. He is talking to his disciples. And he's already told us in chapter five, you can expect, if you're one of my disciples, to suffer for my sake. We will suffer for righteousness sake. In fact, in Luke 6, 35, Jesus told us to love our enemies and do good, and to give expecting nothing in return. So if you're like looking at the golden rule as some kind of a law of reciprocity, you are in for a world of hurt and disappointment. It doesn't work that way. Now, it does make the world a better place. It will make the world a better place. But it's not a guarantee people are going to treat you the way you're treating them. The golden rule is treating others the way you want to be treated. No strings attached. All right, so we've got a handle on what the rule means, but notice next the true scope of this rule. Jesus says, in everything therefore. This rule pertains to every area of life, and I'll just mention a few examples. We need to be applying this rule in our homes. Husbands, you need to be treating your wives as you want them to treat you. Wives, you need to be treating your husbands as you want them to treat you. There should be a mutual loyalty. Husbands, we must be just as faithful to our wives, as committed in body, mind, soul, all that to our wives as we want them to be committed to us. And wives, same things to you. Children, You ought to be committed to your parents, right? And especially those of us of adult children, right? We should be committed to caring for our parents. We should be committed to caring for the elderly, just as one day we would hope somebody would take thought for and care for us. Hmm. Parents, we need to give our children all the patience, care, and attention, and instruction we would wish that we would be given. not just resorting to, well, when I was your age, this is how it was for me. That's not the golden rule, right? That's not the golden rule. When someone wrongs us, whether they're a Democrat or Republican, whatever their viewpoint, however different they are, however likable or unlikable, we need to give all the patience, mercy, and forgiveness toward them as we would hope to receive. We need to look at others in the church. The needs of other people in the church. Maybe you don't know somebody here. I don't really know him. I don't really know her. Doesn't matter. How would you want somebody to respond to your needs if they learned about him? Would you want somebody to take an interest in helping you? We need to help others in the way we would like to receive help if we were in that situation. The rule applies to how we do business with others. Applications are endless, but we shouldn't be out to lowball anyone. Christians should not be out to lowball anyone. We don't want to anybody doing that to us. We should be honest with others. We should not want them to deceive. I mean, we shouldn't deceive anybody else. We wouldn't want anybody to be deceitful with us. And of course, if we would only follow the golden rule, we'd have no more need of a police force or security screenings or locks or jails or lawsuits and wars. We'd have no murder, stealing, fornication, no slavery. All these things exist because, of course, people don't follow what Jesus has here said. William Wilberforce understood this. He understood that slavery was a flagrant violation of the Golden Rule, as did all abolitionists. Abraham Lincoln applied the Golden Rule against slavery, saying, if I would not be a slave, I would not be a master. If I would not be a slave, I would not be a master. You know what the problem is with slavery? It's people don't follow the golden rule of Jesus, do they? They don't treat others the way they would like to be treated in that situation. The applications are endless again, but I think evangelism must be the ultimate application because all of us hope to experience God's eternal salvation. Every true Christian that is. Well, what then is our hope for others? What's our hope for others? How are we helping others? We might put it this way. If you were without Christ and your Christian neighbor, your Christian colleague, coworker, whatever, only reached out to you in the way you reach out to them. How hopeful would be your conversion? What kind of efforts would be made? That's a convicting thought. The golden rule applies to everything. Jesus said, in everything. So just take some time this afternoon and think about ways that you can apply the words of Jesus. The scope is truly immense. Jesus says, in everything, treat others the same way you want them to treat you. And after giving this commandment, Jesus next explains the true significance of the rule. Why does he give this rule? He says, for this is the law and the prophets. which is to say, this law fulfills the entirety of scripture. Jesus wants you to recognize the exceeding riches of this rule. It's so rich as to satisfy all of God's moral requirements. And this is because this law demands from us the kind of love that's necessary for doing all God's holy will. Again, when Jesus was asked, what's the greatest commandment? He said, love God with all your being. And the second is like the first, love your neighbor, as yourself. And he said then, in Matthew 22, on these two laws hang all the law and the prophets. What did Jesus mean? He means love to God and love to others are inseparable. You can't truly love God without loving the people he's made. First John 4.20 says, if someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. And at the same time, you can't properly love people until you properly love the God who made people and gives them their value and defines what love and goodness is. But Jesus is saying all of the law is bound up in this then. Treating other people the way you treat yourself because you could never do that without loving God properly. It's all bound up. It's all so simple here. And anybody here appreciate a teacher who just made things simple for you, right? I like teachers who make things simple. Well, that's what Jesus is doing. He's saying, you got a lot of laws, but let me show you how simple this is. Treat other people the way you want them to treat you. That's a good teacher. Jesus is a good teacher. He simplifies the entire law in a single statement here. But while this dramatically simplifies our understanding of the law, let's just be honest, Jesus' golden rule doesn't simplify our obedience of the law. And that's what it all comes down to, isn't it? I mean, how on earth can we obey this rule? What's gonna be different when we leave this place? Just that we remembered, oh yeah, the Golden Rule's important, or are we gonna live it, right? So we need to consider, lastly, the obeying of this rule. The comedian Brian Reagan has done a standup where he asks, ever look at a Pop-Tarts box? And he says, you notice, They have instructions on those things. They have instructions on a Pop-Tarts box. He says, could there be a simpler food item? Like if the directions weren't on there, what would somebody do? Would they just stare at the foil package and say, how do I get that goodness in me? But the Bible says, God is love. And when we see the amazing love of God poured out for us on the cross and becoming real to us at salvation and being daily showered upon us by our good Heavenly Father, we also at times, looking at the love of God, find ourselves asking, how do we get that goodness in us? How do we get the goodness, the love of God in me? Well, If you're wondering that, 1 John 4, 7, and 8 teaches us that because God is love spilling over in one sense, His love already abides in us. If you know the Lord Jesus, His love already abides in you so that you and me, we can fulfill this commandment because we can be filled with love overflowing to others. Now, when this love is not evident, it's not spilling out of our lives, what do we do? God says that, you know, if we receive Christ, right, if we're one of His children, His love will be abiding in us. What if I don't see that happening? Am I not a child of God? Well, not necessarily. But when love is not spilling out of our lives, Jesus is here giving us the key for how to be filled with God's love. Back in verses 7 through 11. Ask, seek, knock. And if you think that's a bit of a stretch, just consider how the sermon began. Back in chapter five, verse three, blessed are the poor in spirit, the spiritually impoverished, those that have nothing. They're not coming to God with anything impressive. They're coming to God empty, empty-handed. Lord, fill me. They're now in a position, they're blessed, because they're in a position to ask, seek, and knock for God's amazing grace. And God will fill them. He will give it to them because he will give them what they need. It's no different when we look at another person and we think, I can't love that person. I could never love him. I could never love her. And how many of us have had that experience? But you know what that means? If the love of God abides in you, you better be asking, seeking, knocking for the Lord Jesus Christ to fill you, for our Heavenly Father to shower you and spill His love out of your life. You could never love that person as yourself, that's true, unless you get on your face before God and begin seeking Him to pour out on you a greater measure of love. Admit to God, I can't do it. Father, I can't do it, and then ask the Almighty to fill you with His divine love. And keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. That's the verbiage there in the Greek. Continue, persist that God might fill you with this love spilling over until he does. C.S. Lewis writes this, do not waste your time bothering whether you do love your neighbor. Act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you love someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good in turn, you will find yourself disliking him less. In other words, what Lewis is after is a biblical reality that we are not to wait for feelings of love. Love is not a feeling, it is an action. Give, act, get to work. Christ has served you. Christ has given everything for you. And so rather than waiting for a feeling, we are to step out in good faith and act according to what we know is right. And if you do this, seeking God's help, he'll fill you with his love. This single rule that Jesus has given us here summarizes a Christian treatment of others. Second Timothy, 3, 1-5 says, but realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power. That's the world you live in. That's our world. But Christian, it is into this world that at such a time as this God has placed you. And He wants you to bring a bit of heaven to earth because His Spirit is in you. His love is in you. If you receive Jesus Christ, He wants you to bring that bit of heaven to earth, the Lord Jesus Christ and His love and His beauty and glory and all that goodness And he wants you to show that to others. Christian, how's your love life this morning? Is it active? Is it evident? Is it persistent and consistent? And if you're here today and you've not surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, and you're still trying to cling to faith in your own goodness and ability to serve others and impress God by your own goodness and all that to get into heaven, then you are in for a major eternal disappointment. Because the only standard that will impress God is absolute perfection. You need to let go of your righteousness and by faith lay hold of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And so if you have any questions about that, would like to talk to us about that, please let us know before you leave. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this precious, eternal, amazing rule that you have left us that does simplify so much of our understanding. And yet when we come to it, we confess that this is extremely difficult. Oh, how difficult. In fact, it's impossible. Lord, we confess it. We cannot do it. Lord, we need you. We need your help. But how dare we just whine and complain and walk away from this rule defeated and full of doubt and cynicism when you have told us in your word that you have given us your spirit. You sent your son to lay down his life for us, to change us, to fill us with this kind of love. And you called us to do this because faithful are you who calls us, who also will do it. So God, help us to see this being acted out in our life. And we do trust that we will be a part of making this world a better place.