I hope we are always thankful for the provision God has made for us in this world, and so much more so for the salvation in the time of eternity, which is not a time. All right. I hope you have notes. I left some copies of last week's notes out in the foyer when you came in, if you didn't bring last week's with you. We're in Matthew chapter 5, we've come through about verse 17, and so I've left that up on the screen in front of you, Matthew 5, 17. The last, next to the last thing, no, the last thing mentioned in Schofield's note about Jesus' relationship to the law, the fulfilling of the law, Schofield's note on page 1,000 in Matthew chapter 5. And that last point was that it established, Jesus established the law of Christ. The law of Christ. He says, I'm not come to destroy the law or the prophets. I'm not come to destroy, but to fulfill. And I'd like to look at these references, at least some of them, to the law of Christ, which is a law for the church, as opposed to the law of Moses, which is not for the church. So, in Galatians 6, the notes say 6-2, but I like to look at 6-1. This is certainly for the church. The region of Galatia was made of a number of cities, and many churches were there, and Paul wrote to all of those churches. as a follow-up to his church planting work there. And in 6.1, as he's finishing up the little six-chapter letter, he gives very practical insight and command, if you will. He says, brethren, I guess he's writing to believers, don't you think? If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. When we see somebody overtaken in a fault, is our first reaction, throw him out, or get in his face, or... It says, restore. Restore such a one, and be careful about yourself, lest you also be tempted. Verse 2 says, one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. If you wanted to know how to keep the law of Christ, this is very practical. Be aware of your own state that you are, if you're spiritual, if you're trying to be obedient to God's Word and responding positively to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and you see somebody that's having a problem with that, and you know he's a believer, The command is not rebuke, the command is not avoid, the command is restore. In the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted, bury one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Now in just a few verses later, he says every man's got to bear his own burden, but here we're told to take care of one another. I'm going to deviate from the notes for a second because this is so interesting to me. That's how Paul ended Galatians. Look how James, in James chapter 5, ends his letter to believers. In the very last bit of his letter, he says this, the last few verses of his letter, brethren, again to believers, If any of you do err from the truth and one convert him, you get somebody turned around that was going the wrong way, let him know that he which converts the sinner, it's a believing sinner we're talking about here, from the error of his way will save a soul from death. Not talking about keep him from going to hell, but talking about he could just go ahead and die if he don't get turned around and hide a multitude of sins. It's the same instruction that Paul gave to the Galatians. It's two believers. It's about believers that get away from the truth and getting the word convert. If you just think turn around every time you see convert, that's not what repentance means, but it is what convert means. If one convert him and get him turned around from the error, let him know that he which turns the sinner around from the error of his way, the sinning believer from the error of his ways will save a soul from death. What do you mean? Well, sometimes when you get sinful, you get dead. There's a sin unto death. We're going to see that in just a minute. And he says, you'll hide a multitude of sins. Oh, you're going to give them back to being useful for God. That's James's version of this. And John, in his first letter, at the very end of his first letter, goes beyond saying we know we have eternal life. We know we have the petitions that we desire of God. In verse 16, he says, If any man see his brother, believers to believers, son of sin which is not unto death, what does that mean? He hasn't died yet. If he's dead, you don't have to do this. But if he's not dead yet, he shall ask and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. Pray for these people. There is a sin unto death. I do not say you should pray for it. You see somebody pull the trigger, well, you don't have to pray for them after they're gone. All unrighteousness is sin. There is sin not unto death. Isn't it fun? Paul, James, John, all three of them closed their letter with this encouragement and instruction and exhortation. And Paul says, this is how you fulfill the law of Christ. Now last week, I think we did look at John chapter 13, verse 34. We may go near that again. Let's look at chapter 15. If I can hit the button. Still John chapter 15, Jesus is still talking to his disciples after he's told them he's going to leave. He says in verse 11, these things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment. Oh, here it comes. What is it? That you love one another as I have loved you. And then he explains it. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. He's not talking about being born into his family. He's talking about being close to him, being good disciples, being his friend. Friendship with Jesus is discipleship. Being saved doesn't necessarily make a Jesus friend. He loves you, but are you going to love him? I don't know. When we look over to 1 John, chapter 2, That's this one. First John, chapter two, John is writing about what the Lord had given him as a commandment. He says, Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you've heard from the beginning. And yet he says it is a new commandment, a new commandment. I write unto you. The thing is true in him and in you. The darkness is past. The true light now shineth. Well, what's the new commandment, John? He that says he's in the light and hates his brother is in darkness even until now. Might be saved, but he's a mess. He that loveth his brother abides in the light. There's no occasion of stumbling in him. How believers behave toward one another makes them either helpful or something you stumble over and fall on your face and hurt the church. He that hateth his brother, he's in darkness and walks in darkness and doesn't know where he's going, the darkness has blinded his eyes. You say, isn't that a lost person? I don't think so. They're writing to believers about how they're supposed to behave as believers. In chapter four of the same letter, John writes this, we love him, the Lord Jesus, because he first loved us all. He loved us. He didn't wait until we were good to love us. He loved us when we were a mess. Romans 5 says, God commendeth, God showed his love toward us, God made it known, and God demonstrated his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, while we were yet a mess, Christ died for us. Christ died for us. That's the love of God. How did Jesus talk about it? John chapter 3, verse 16. You know it, don't you? John 3, 16. He said this. He said, God loved the world this way. Not God so loved the world, but God loved the world this way. I'll tell you about it. He gave his only begotten Son. That's how God loved the world. He gave his only begotten Son. How did Abraham show God and the people around that he loved, he also was in response to the command of God, gave his only begotten son to offer him as a sacrifice, Isaac. He had Ishmael, but God called Isaac his only begotten son. And that's why I think Abraham was called the friend of God. He did the same thing God did with his only begotten son. He loved the world this way that he gave him. That's not Bethlehem. That's Calvary. That's the death on the cross where Jesus cries out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? unimaginable separation. The eternal triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, it was bad enough when the boy left the house and went down to earth and became a man, but now he is under the burden and the penalty and the weight of sin on the cross in fulfillment of the plan of God And from the cross, he cries out the words of David's 22nd Psalm, my God, my God, not my father, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why did God forsake his only son? Second Corinthians chapter five, he says, this was the purpose, this was the plan. He has, all things are of God who's reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. He's given to us the ministry of reconciliation, what? There was a problem between us and God. He's let us serve this up to lost people to help them understand. Here's what the plan was, the reconciliation ministry. God was in Christ taking away the trespasses, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. So he's reconciled the world unto himself, and yet we have a word of reconciliation that we have to beg the world to receive. We're ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God. The sin has been taken out of the way. From God's side, there's nothing in the way. But it is not for all the world. It is only given His righteousness and His salvation is only given to those who are in Christ by believing in the Savior. Be you reconciled to God. It says what in the world? God has reconciled the world unto Himself and yet it says we have to beg them to be reconciled to God. And the final note of the explanation. He made Him. The Father made the Son who knew no sin. sin for us, sin on our behalf, sin in our place. He made him sin for our benefit. to give us his righteousness. It says that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. God reconciled the world to himself and yet we have to beg the world be reconciled to God. We love him because he first loved us. If a man say I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar. He that loves not his brother whom he's seen, how can he love God who hasn't seen? This commandment have we from him. that he who love God love his brother also. That's the summation about what is this law of Christ in 1 John chapter 4. It's not just Jesus and John that talk about it. We mentioned it in Paul's letter to the Galatians. It's also in Paul's letter to the Corinthians. The first letter Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he's explaining how he behaves himself. He says, to the Jews became I as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law, I act like I'm under the law, that I can gain them that are under the law. He did not flout his freedom in Christ when he's in a Jewish group. To them that are without the law, as without law. When I go to Galatia, I don't pay attention. I eat with them. an outlaw, I'm not without law to God, but I'm under the law, in the sense, he says, I'm in-lawed to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law. He says, I'm under the law, I'm in-lawed to Christ. I got there by marriage. Did you hear about the, this is a joke, I'm gonna explain, this is a joke, don't believe it. There was a group of five new novices that wanted to become full-fledged nuns in their nunnery, or whatever it's called, Abbey. and the head of the abbey, the abbess was there, and they were going to have this real nice wedding ceremony where they'd be married to Jesus. And five Hasidic men came in the back. And they sat down, all of them on the right side, and the abbess said, gentlemen, I appreciate you coming to show respect to our ceremony here, but how do you think of this? What is this for you? They said, we are a part of the groom's family. Okay, Jay, was that all right? Grooms family, friends of the groom. There's one more passage besides Paul's and it's again another different writer not John not Paul not Jesus but James in James chapter 2 in verse 8 James 2 8 he says if you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself you do well James refers to this law of Christ as the royal law and he refers to the portion in the law of Moses that kind of reflects Jesus which is why John said it's a new commandment, but it's not a new commandment, it's the same commandment that you've had from the beginning. When they asked him, Jesus, which is the great commandment of the law, speaking of the law of Moses, I've been in churches that say the great commandment is thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. That's not the great commandment, that's the second commandment. The great commandment is thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul, with all thy might. I sometimes confuse the order of the adjectives. And the second, Jesus said, is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. James said that's a good thing to pay attention to. Why did he have to say that? Because he's describing what people do in his church. Don't have the faith of Jesus, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. Here comes a rich man, got a gold ring, good clothes. I'm pretending it's me, I'm not. And there comes a poor man in vile raiment. There's a homeless dude off the corner and he comes in. And you have respect to him that wears the gay clothing and say to him, sit thou here, good place, we got nice padded pew, to the poor man, stand over there, sit here under my footstool. When I, I've taught for some five years in Montgomery, I was in a Christian school ministry, but we had a man in who was known as one of the great resident evangelists in the city. He happened to be the Methodist minister. And he came and spoke in our chapel one time, and he said, I went to a big Baptist church out on the highway to the east because they wanted me to speak there. And before the service started, I saw at the back of the church these well-dressed gentlemen stopping a homeless man from coming in. And I rushed back to them and I said, sir, we have a special place for you. Would you come down here? And he gave him a good seat right near the front, took care of him and made him welcome. That's what you're supposed to do. A little kid said to his dad, I like that Baptist church because all the demons sit in front and the pastor gets up and preaches. Not making fun of the Baptist, just making fun. Don't say to the poor guy, sit over there, sit under my footstool. You become partial in yourselves, you become judges with evil thoughts. God's chosen the poor and the rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom and he's promised to them that love him. Don't you think James heard Jesus' sermon on the mount? Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You, he says, have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seat? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called? If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you love your neighbor as yourself, you do well. If you have respect of persons, you commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors. And if you try keeping the whole law and offend in one point, you're guilty in all. James uses the law to remind the bad behaving believers in his church, stop it. Stop behaving badly. The royal law, the law of Christ. We're going to go on now to Matthew chapter 5 and another topic that comes up. On the same verse, think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets, I'm not come to destroy but to fulfill. And then he says, for verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. With our ignorance of the Hebrew language about which Jesus was speaking here, we might not figure this out. You say a jot, that's like a little notepad or something, I don't know. A tittle, I have no idea. Well, the smallest of the Hebrew letters is a yod. sometimes said jod or jot in English, anglicized spelling. It's referring to that letter. If a normal Hebrew letter was the size of this hymn book, a yod is just a little top corner of it. I may have done that backwards, I can't see from here. But it's just about a quarter-sized letter. It doesn't matter if I did it backwards. Hebrew goes backwards anyway. From right to left. How do you imagine that? That's the jot. And the tittle, if you look at any piece of print, unless it's in a sans serif kind of font, Any normal font has these little sticky out corners at the bottom and top of capital letters and some of the, like the little cross on the T or the little points that stick out, those are tittles. They're just a little thing that sticks out. And in Hebrew letters, some of them are very, very much alike. There's one that goes up and over and down, and there's another one that goes up and over and down and has a little thing at the bottom. That's a tittle. It's the difference between one letter and another. They're the tiniest little portions of the alphabet in Hebrew. And Jesus said, not even the tiniest little portion will pass from the law till all be fulfilled. That's what he was emphasizing there. Let's look at some of the other things that were said. At the end of Matthew at 2435 he said, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. I heard I think I heard Ronald Reagan say this, that when he visited Berlin when the wall was still up and he gave that famous, Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall, that from where he was he could look, he was right by the wall and he looked back toward West Berlin and on the side of a large building in large letters in German it said, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away, Jesus Christ. And he said that was put there by somebody to give hope to the people behind the wall in East Berlin that could not freely worship because of the communist rule. In Isaiah chapter 51, there's some more information about the permanence, the permanence of the Word of God. Isaiah 51 verse 6, the prophet writes this, lift up your eyes to the heavens and look upon the earth beneath. For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner. But my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not. be abolished. It's nice when God wants to talk about how permanent something is. He doesn't say it's going to last as long as your house or your car or your joints. My joints are not lasting as well as I wish they would. Revelation chapter 20 at the other end of the world, Revelation chapter 20 in verse 11 we have this note I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was no place for them. God doesn't say my word will last as long as heaven and earth. They're going to go away. But he does say it'll last forever. In Psalm 119, verse 89, this amazing Psalm. There's 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet and 8 times 22 is 176. I did that ahead of time. But every set of 8 verses in Psalm 119 starts with one of those consonants of the Hebrew alphabet in the alphabetical order. And this is the beginning of the Lamed section. Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven. Verse 90, thy faithfulness is unto all generations. Thou hast established the earth and it abideth. One more in Psalm 119, it's so rich, we'd like to look at all of it again, but verse 152, concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them forever. Return to Isaiah for another note here. There's Isaiah. Isaiah 40 verse 8. The grass withers, The flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. The word of our God shall stand forever. Peter referred to that in 1 Peter 2, 5. He said the same thing. 1 Peter 2, this old ignorant fisherman, not 1 Peter 2, 5. That's not right. Maybe it's second Peter. Maybe I'm just altogether off. Nope. Maybe first Peter. Maybe I'm just going to go on and don't know where it is. Okay, we're going to leave that reference alone because I don't know what it was supposed to be. There's another section now we come to in Matthew chapter 5 after talking about the permanence of the law of God. Jesus talks about how to come higher or how to be brought down lower in his kingdom, in his sight. Not how to be saved or lost, but promotion or demotion in God's kingdom. In verse 19, he says this, whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Great. I'd look at 1 Timothy chapter 6. As a thought on this matter, verses 3 and 4, Paul writes at the end of his first letter to Timothy, he says, If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing but doubting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness, and such withdraw thyself." He lists a whole bunch of obviously bad things, but he only gets specific about one. What's that? Supposing that gain is godliness. You can go through the world and many of the people you'll come to that think they know what it is to be successful and prosperous, they'll measure it by how much they've made or by their profit, their bank account, their portfolio, supposing that gain is godliness. Paul uses that specific to say that's what the false teachers are going to be like. They're wrong. They're proud. They don't know anything. They're doting about Christ. And the ones that suppose that gain is godliness, you should get away from them. At verse 6 he says, Godliness with contentment is great gain. And then he makes a practical explanation. We brought nothing into this world. It is certain we can carry nothing out. You ever see a hearse go by with a U-Haul trailer on the back of it? I just don't think it happens. maybe repeating myself, but I heard a story about a wealthy man in Texas that had a gold-plated Cadillac and a gold-plated big old cowboy hat, loved a cigar, and then he died. And instead of a hearse, he said, I want you to put me in my Cadillac, prop me up behind the steering wheel, put a cigar in my mouth, my hat on my head, and tow me to the cemetery that way. So he's being towed through the middle of town in his Cadillac showing off how well he did and there's an old drunk comes staggering out of a bar and leans up against the lamppost and looks out there and sees him go by and he said, man, that's living. And somehow that just makes me smile a little bit, but that's not living. That's not living. It is certain we can carry nothing out. So while you're alive, having food and raiment, let us be there with content. Those who devise to be rich, those whose determination and will and desire is to be rich, they fall into temptation and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. It's a bad target to shoot at. You're liable to hit it, and then you'll be in trouble. The love of money, it's a root of all evil. They've erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. What a warning against this idea that gain is godliness. And he says to Timothy, he says, from such withdraw thyself. Just whoa, step back, don't be part of that. On the positive side, At the end of his instruction to the disciples after he'd lived his life, gone to the cross, risen again, and met with them after his resurrection, right after the Great Commission, he says, go ye therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. No, that's not where it ends. It ends with this. Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. You know, it didn't even start with that. It started in verse 18. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. And then Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. I think we win. If you watched ball games yesterday, you know one team came out ahead of the other one because they had more stuff, actually, because the score was in their favor when the game ended. That's how you can tell who's going to win, who's got the most points. Jesus says, I got all the points, and I'm with you. And that's a good thing. That's a good thing. First Timothy chapter four, turning to the last page of the notes. First Timothy chapter four, that was not it. Oh well, I'll just go over here and do it. First Timothy four, verse 11. These things command and teach. He just makes it about, Timothy, you're a young fella. You need to be commanding, you need to teach, and you need to command. Earlier in the chapter he says, if you put the brethren in remembrance of these things, you're a good servant, a good slave of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and good doctrine. Leave out the profane and old wives' tables and funny jokes about the guy with the gold-plated Cadillac, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. Bodily exercise is good for little, it's okay. Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and that which is to come. You know it's important as you get older especially to get some exercise and to eat right, but there was that elderly couple that eventually passed away together and in front of St. Peter in heaven, well they don't have St. Peter in heaven, but they were getting a tour around heaven and Oh, it's wonderful. There's rewards and there's pleasures and the streets are gold. Just everything's so good. And the old guy looks at his wife and he says, if it weren't for your bran muffins, we'd have been here decades ago. Anyway, promise of the life that now is and that which is to come. Godliness rewards, not just now, but in eternity. This is why we labor and suffer reproach. He's the Savior of all men, but especially of them that believe. Command those things and teach. Don't let anybody despise thy youth. Be thou an example of the believers in word, in your manner of life, not your words, your manner of life. Word first, manner of life. Charity, spirit, faith, purity. Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. It's just a good instruction. He gives the same kind of instruction to Titus, the other young man he put in charge of a group of churches. He said, make elders everywhere there, guys. He said, these things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise you. The last business we'll look at in Matthew 5 today is in verse 20. where Jesus uses the Pharisees as an example of righteousness. Sometimes we see movies or read books and get an impression about Pharisees that, man, they were bad, they were mean, they were evil, they interrupted Jesus, they tried to get him killed and they did. And all that's true, but they were not bad. They were very, very righteous. They kept the law. They kept all the laws that they'd made up about the law. They kept the laws about the laws that they'd made up about the laws. They kept the traditions. And when Jesus refers to people that are going to be in the kingdom of heaven, he says that your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now, he went right on in the speech here, but Can you imagine what it would be like to be in that crowd and hear somebody say, somebody which you believe has authority say, you've got to be better than the very best that's ever been. He's saying they have to be perfect. He's saying they have to be perfect. There's another account, we won't go there today. I like Mark's version of it, but it's in several of the Gospels about a rich young ruler that came to Jesus and said, good master, what good thing can I do that I can inherit eternal life? And Jesus said, why'd you call me good? The only one good one is God. And the guy basically said, okay, so I won't call you good anymore. He missed the point. But Jesus lists off the commandments. Remember, this is a rich fella, young fella. And the guy says, yeah, I've done all that. I've done all that from my youth. Now, if I'd been there, I'd have gotten mad at him. But Jesus, it says he looked at him, and he loved him, and said, one thing thou lackest. And then he reels off a list of things. What was the one thing that he lacked, the thing that he started with? Who's Jesus? He lacked perfection. And the guy went away sad because Jesus told him to sell all that he had and give it to the poor and follow him. And he was indigent. He was a homeless person. The son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he wants this guy to follow him. He'd already told the other disciples, take up your cross and follow you. That is not an invitation to go sit on the couch with me. That's to go to death with me. And the guy went away sad because it says he had great possessions. And Jesus then remarked to the disciples how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And they said, what? Because like everybody else in their culture, having wealth was a sign that God was prospering you and blessing you. And they said, how hard it is for them that trust in riches to enter the kingdom of heaven. And one of them said, who can be saved? If that's wrong, who can be saved? And he said, with men it's impossible, but with God all things are possible. That's the truth. Salvation for men is impossible. We can't be as righteous as God is, but he who knew no sin, and he made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Romans 1 16 says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. And then it says, for in it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. What do we see in the gospel? Not how I can be good, But how God is perfectly holy and righteous and only in Him can I be approved to be in His presence. Your righteousness, except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. You shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. And the notes I made reference to Mark 10.27, I think I just kind of quoted it, but I don't know. Let's look. 10.27 of Mark. Who then can be saved? He said, with men it's impossible, but not with God, for with God all things are possible. One of the things Jesus said just before that, he said, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God? It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. Sometimes you'll hear some Bible teacher try to show you how much he knows and say that in the city gates over there there's great big gates that they open up wide during the time of commerce and so camels can go in freely and all. But when those gates are shut there's a little bitty gate down at the bottom called a posturne gate and they called it the eye of the needle. And if you really worked at it and got a camel down on his knees and basically with nothing on his back he could scooch him through there. That's not what Jesus said. Jesus said it's impossible. It wasn't talking about scooching through a little hard place. It's not hard to be saved, it's impossible to be saved. The word used here for a needle is a surgical needle, a needle that you use to sew up a wound. And you know, you can't get a camel through one of those. It's hard enough to get one of those through a camel, but you can't get a camel through one of those. John chapter 3, Jesus made it hard too. He made it hard. He made it impossible. to Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee. You couldn't tell him he had to be more righteous than a Pharisee, because he was a Pharisee. He says, I say unto thee, accept a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus said, of course I know you're talking spiritual truth there. I'd be happy to just believe in you. No, he didn't. He said, what? You're talking stupid talk. How can a man be born when he is old? He started off buttering Jesus up. We know that thou art a teacher come from God. No man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. And Jesus said, you got to be born again. And he said, you're stupid. Jesus said, I'm telling you the truth. I'm telling you the truth. I'm the one telling you the truth. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, you must be born again. It's a spiritual thing. The wind, same word translated spirit, the wind bloweth where it listeth. It's translated wind and breath and spirit. You hear the sound of it. We don't want to hear the sound of the wind anymore this year. It's fine. Had enough sound of wind here in Tampa. Canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth unless you look at the radar. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. This is something God does. How can these things be? Do you know when he questioned Jesus in verse 4, his attitude was, you're stupid. But when he asks a similar question in verse 9, his attitude is different. His attitude is, I'd like to sit here and understand this. Would you please explain it? And Jesus explains it, and we get to John 3, 16, by that road. The last note on the notes is 2 Corinthians 5.21. We've already been through it a couple times today, but that's the truth of it all. The gospel, the ministry of reconciliation, bringing man back to God. Man is all lost by birth. We inherit our father's sins. You say, my dad's a pretty good guy. Yeah, well, his great, great, great, great, great, great granddaddy's name was Adam. And Adam did what God told him not to do. And by that act of sin, Adam became a sinner. All the rest of us don't have to do anything to become a sinner. We're born with Adam's sinful nature. It says that Adam, by God, was created in God's image. But then he was tarnished by sin. And in chapter 5 of Genesis, it says all the people born after Adam were in his image, which is the image of God, except it's tarnished and it's ruined and it's broken. Do you ever use real silver, silverware, or silver plate, either sterling or silver plate, some of that, and you use it and you don't clean it right afterwards? And you look at it a month or two later, and the silver color is now black and brown and green and purple and ugly and yellow. A fork is still a fork, a knife is still a knife, but it's tarnished, and it's ruined, and it's not as nice, and you don't want to stick it in your mouth. Adam is still the image of God, but he's tarnished and ruined, and we inherit our nature from him. We also have the guilt that he got, the guilt of the sin that he did. And we do our own sins, too. It's not like that's the only reason we're sinners. I know Blake does, and Josh probably knows that, too, for whatever reason. But God solved the sin problem once and for all by making his son, who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And Jesus' words of invitation are, whosoever believeth in him do not perish, but have everlasting life. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we do pray that we'll be moved and motivated and pushed ahead in our Christian life by the words Jesus taught in this message in Matthew chapter 5. And we'll realize from the rest of the New Testament the parts of this that are especially ours to do, to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. And we pray that we will take seriously the ministry of reconciliation that God has committed to us, that we would in Christ's place, in his stead, beg the world be you reconciled to God. Encourage us as we thank you for our bounty this day and go out into the world again afterwards. In Jesus' name, amen. God bless.