Okay, well, it's good to be back. I hope everybody's had a great little break and had a nice July. We are excited about being here this morning. We're gonna do a little bit of a review on the sermon, kind of get us up to where we are. We're in chapter seven of Matthew. So we're about three quarters of the way through the sermon. So we'll get that all set up. I'm gonna go ahead and mute Stevie here. And then we'll pick it up in chapter seven. So as a review, Jesus starts off this sermon. His disciples get him all together. You know, hey, you gotta tell everybody what's going on. You gotta share with people kind of like what your basic philosophy is. You know, kind of a stump speech if you really think about what this really is. And Jesus' main, emphasis in the sermon. Really, if you think about it, it's kind of the overlying premise of this whole entire little talk, which was probably about a 20-minute talk. That's all it was. It wasn't like it was an hour like we're going to do today or something. It was about 20 minutes. That's all it is if you read it. It takes you about that long to get through the three chapters. And he starts off with what we call the beatitudes or the blessings. And he says, blessed are the poor. And then what he does is he takes this idea and then corresponds it to something heavenly. So he takes an earthly idea and then he corresponds it to something heavenly. And really that's the whole emphasis of that thesis that he puts out in the Beatitudes is the underlying premise of the whole entire sermon. Is that he's comparing what it's like to be a believer and to be trusting in the things of the earth versus trusting in the things of God and looking forward to the things that are coming. rather than the things that just are. And so, he starts it off and he says, blessed are the poor in spirit. Talking about here. He's talking about the person that's weak in spirit in some way. And then he says, but there, but they're going to have the kingdom of God. They're going to actually inherit the kingdom of God. Blessed are those that mourn, for they'll be comforted. Blessed are those that are meek, for they'll inherit the earth. So what he did is he took in each one of these, he just kind of gave you the back and forth of the things of God, the things of man, or things of man, things of God, depending on how you want to look at it. And then Luke actually adds some to this, and he says that there are some Jesus also gave some woes, and he said, woe to those who are rich, because this is all you're going to get. This is your full reward. So if you think that what it's all about is attaining as much as you possibly can here, I saw recently a fascinating little thing on the Today Show about people that literally just save and save and save and save and save, thinking that that's going to give them some kind of security. And the truth of the matter is, is that all it does is it just makes your estate more complicated when you die. That's really basically all it does. At the end of the day, if you think that you're going to be rich on earth and you're missing out on the riches of heaven, you're really missing out. And so Matthew deals with that by effectively adding a parable of sorts to it. when he talks about the person that is rich in heaven rather than, you know, he says, lay up your treasures in heaven rather than in earth. And so there's this underlying thought that Jesus does. So as a result of this idea that we need to be looking forward to where we're going, not where we are, not where we are. The problem with where you are is that where you are is what it is, but there's so much more that's coming. And the problem is that when you're always looking at where you are, you miss where you're going. You really are. I remember one of the greatest expressions I ever heard by a sports person was by Wayne Gretzky, who was the great hockey player. And he said, never go to where the puck is, always go to where the puck is going. and you get ahead of the play. And that's where really greatness comes, is this idea of getting ahead. That's what Jesus was talking about. He was saying, look, I don't want you to worry about your enemies, for example. Don't fret over your enemies. In fact, I want you to love your enemies. Because if you love your enemies, there's a possibility you may bring them into the kingdom. So don't hate your enemies. Don't seek retribution, Jesus said. Seek forgiveness. Seek restitution. Seek out to the kingdom of God, he says, and all of these things will be added unto you. And then he gets into this whole little section that we covered the last time we were together about worry, about anxiety. And if ever there was a problem of the ages. It's not a problem of our current age, but a problem of the ages. It's mental illness. People struggling over stuff and it almost always finds its root in fear. and an anxiety. Almost all of the struggles that people now, obviously there are chemical mental illness as well. I mean, that goes without saying, but I'm not talking about chemical mental illness. I'm talking about people that are struggling because they just can't cope. and depression and things like that that are non-chemical. And there's a huge problem with folks that are struggling in these areas. This is why counseling has become such a big career now. But at the end of the day, we need to realize that anxiety is about worrying about today and not looking towards where you're going, not realizing that there is a huge reward for you after this life is over. after this life is said and done. And so Jesus says, for this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life as to what you're going to eat or what you're going to drink or for your body, what you're going to put on. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? And then he gives this example of the birds of the air and how God takes care of them. They seem to do okay without any great fortune. I can tell you for a fact that my yard right now is proof positive that God takes care of the birds. We are like being inundated by the birds in my backyard. It's just crazy. And more actually my neighbor's yard than ours. But they decided to take the left side of our house, which is the right side of his house, and that's become their now nesting area. Now we have about 12 nests, I think, in there. And there's doves now, and there's crows. It's kind of almost like Alfred Hitchcock at certain times. But the beauty of this is there is a hawk. And she comes every so often, and it's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing. She can definitely disperse those guys. Anyhow, the point is that he takes care of all of these things. They don't have to worry about anything. Their anxiety is the hawk. But they don't worry about what they're going to wear, what they're going to eat, where they're going to live. They have those things and so forth. So don't be anxious then, he says, saying, what shall you eat or what shall you drink or what shall you clothe? For even the unbelievers eagerly seek these things, but your heavenly Father knows what you need. Isn't that great? He knows what you need, and He knows that, I'm sorry, He knows what you need, and He says, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all of these things will be added unto you. And therefore, don't be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow has enough care for itself. Every day has enough trouble on its own. So we have this beautiful picture that Jesus is giving about not fretting over this world, because this is not the end. You see, the difference between being a believer and the person that is not a believer is that a person that doesn't believe thinks that this is it. This is all you get. And we know this is not all you get. There is a lot more coming and so forth. So then he gets into this subject in chapter seven. Now, of course, there's no chapter breaks, but this was just Jesus giving his little talk, and now he's coming towards the end of his talk and he says, do not judge, verse one of chapter seven says, do not judge lest you be judged. That's an interesting expression because the word judge there is actually a jurist word in Greek. It's all about a judge coming down and appraising what you did. That's basically the idea there. It's like, you know, somebody actually saying, you know, this is what you did. This is the judgment and so forth. And so he says, be careful how you judge people because if you appraise people, you know, in a very earthly, they're going to appraise you the same way. And so, you know, and it really gets into this whole thing that we now call the golden rule, which he talks about in this section, which is do unto others as you would have them do unto you. My Bible now, in the version I have, says treat people or treat people the way you want to be treated. And that's really the essence of what he's talking about here when he gets into this whole issue of judgment. And so we need to encourage one another. We need to build one another up and not do this super hypercritical thing. So judge not unless you be judged is really something that I call a critical spirit. And if ever there was a problem in mankind, It is a problem of a critical spirit. Now, Jesus is not saying here that you shouldn't think, that you shouldn't appraise things, that you shouldn't know when something's good and when something's not, and when something's right or when something's wrong. And you shouldn't have to worry about standing out and saying, that's not right. And holding fast on that, that's not what he's talking about. What he's talking about is a critical spirit. That's a spirit which says, I know everything, you know nothing, pretty much. And that's really a tragedy that we find. And if you think about it, anxiety, judgmentalness, if that's a word, really are kind of birds of a feather. This idea of standing over people in judgment is really very much, the reason for it is because of anxiety, of your own fear. And very often we miss the opportunity. And so if you think about it, both of those things, being judgmental and anxiety, put a greater emphasis on the now than the later. The reason we get judgmental is because we care too much about right now. The reason we get anxious is because we care too much about right now. But I really believe that Jesus is trying to go in a whole different direction. He wants us to think about, where are we going? And so as a result, we can be very, very pliable about where we are right now. We can be very humble about where we are right now. We can be very gentle. These are all the Beatitudes, right? We can be very gentle about where we are now and so forth. We need to understand that he's not talking about a lack of discernment. He's not saying that we should just park our brains. So what I wrote was, I came up with this expression, and I really believe this is kind of the essence of what he's talking about here. Jesus wants us to be critical thinkers without a critical spirit. Say that again. Jesus wants us to be critical thinkers without a critical spirit. Now, if you don't think that's hard, you ain't paying attention. That to me is probably the greatest challenge of this section, because look at what he says. He says in verse two, for in the way that you judge, you will be judged. The way that you appraise other people, you'll be appraised. By your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. So if you're critical, people are going to be critical of you. And what's really interesting is that when you're not critical, even when people are critical to you, it's like water off a duck's back. You really, at the end of the day, it's like, okay, well, knock yourself out, buddy. Sorry you feel that way. But listen to what he says. He says, and to me, this is one of the greatest, greatest verses in all of the sermon. He says this, he says, And why do you look at the splinter, some Bibles will say speck, but literally it's a piece of wood, it's a sliver of wood, is kind of the idea in Greek. And so he says, why do you look at the splinter that is in your brother's eye, but you do not notice the log or the beam which is in your eye? Now, I want you to kind of imagine this for a second. If a person, the reason we want to wear safety goggles when we're doing woodworking is because we don't want to get wood in our eyes. I mean, that's really the whole reason we do that. But back in the day, they didn't really probably have too much in the way of safety goggles, I'm thinking, 2000 years ago. But maybe they did, I don't know. But if you're doing woodworking, which is what Jesus did, I'm sure he had an occasion to get a splinter in his eye. And when you get a, I've had this occur, by the way, I've had little specks of wood come up in, I actually had a speck, I had a piece of metal, I was working at my dad's body shop one time, and one of the guys was grinding a car, and a piece of metal came off the grinder and hit me, literally, right in the eye. And thank goodness it didn't actually do a whole lot of damage, but I will tell you, I had this little piece of metal, it was probably no more than a centimeter, But in my eye, it looked like a tree. It looked huge in my eye. And so I've always kind of related this to that experience that I had when I was just a teenager, before I was even a believer, of when I got that piece of metal in my eye, and it looked like a gigantic chunk, when in fact it was just this little teeny speck. It was just this little bit of a thing. And so he's saying here, He says, why do you look at the speck that is in, or this splinter that is in your brother's eye and not notice the log which is in your own eye? In other words, you've got the same problem going on and the truth is, in your perspective, it's even bigger. Because it's in your eye, that's why it's bigger. When you have a speck in your eye, when you have something going on in your eye, that's irritating to you, but for the person looking at you says, oh, I can get that out, no problem, it's just a little speck here, it's no big deal. But for you, that's like the end of the world, man. Get this thing out of my eye. I mean, first thing I wanted my dad to do was rush me to the hospital, which, by the way, he did not do. He just took it out of my eye. I still don't know how he did that, but he did. And that's how I know how big it is, by the way, because I actually saw it after he took it out of my eye. It was just this little thing about a centimeter. And it's like crazy. And he says, and how can you say to your brother, now notice he doesn't say here, this is to your enemy's eye, he says this is to your brother's eye. This is to the person that you really are familiar with, the person that you love, the person you care about, the person that's familial to you. So he's saying, when you look at that speck that's in your brother's eye, but you don't notice the log that's in your own eye, and how do you say to your brother, Let me take the speck out of your eye, and behold, there's a log in your own eye. By the way, there is no taking the speck out of your brother's eye until you first take the one out of your own eye. Because you can't see the speck in your brother's eye until you take the one out of your own eye. And so what is he saying here? What's the essence of what he's saying here? We need to put our position with God first. We need to deal with our own sin before we start dealing with other people's sin. We need to deal with who we are in the relationship with God rather than what everybody else is dealing with. And this is the problem that we have too often, is that we judge other people's sin and we don't pay attention to our own. We don't pay attention to the things which we're struggling with. And the truth is, everybody's struggling with something. You ever think about this? I don't care how good you think this person's doing, everybody's struggling with something. Everybody's got some kind of a speck in their eye. Somebody's got something going on. Maybe it's a familial thing. Maybe it's a personal grievance. Maybe it's a lack of reconciliation. Maybe, I don't know, man, that list is how long, right? I mean, it's endless. All the things that people could potentially be dealing with. Now, here's the deal. When you're not dealing with what he or she is dealing with, you think it's incongruent and consequential. It's just a speck. You go, man, why are you worried? Why are you worried about that, Ken? You don't need to worry about that. And it's like so little. And Ken's like, what are you talking about, man? This is like affecting my whole entire life. And really, is it? You know, you don't get it, but it is in his life. In that particular moment, this speck is a log. This speck is so huge because it's in his eye. It's what's happening to him or to her. And so our goal should be to empathize, is what Jesus is saying here, because remember, we're not talking about this being the end of the world. And how many times have you heard that expression? Oh, you know, this is not the end of the world, Ken. But you know what? When you're going through it, it sure seems like it. At the end of this message, Jesus is going to tie this whole thing up with a beautiful bow. We're going to get into that next week when we finish this. But I'm telling you, this is incredible. So now what he says is you, and he uses the word in English, it's hypocrite. In Greek, it's hypokrates. And hypokrates means to put on a mask. It means to act. It means to be someone that you're really not. They called the actors at that time hypokrates. And so it didn't have really quite the meaning that we think of today when we talk about a hypocrite. But really what he's talking about here is the person who puts on a mask. He says, so you who put on a mask, First take the log out of your own eye, and then you'll see clearly to take the log or the speck out of your brother's eye. So what he's saying is that you're just putting a mask on. You're pretending to be okay when you're not really okay. You got a problem yourself. It's a different problem, but you got a problem. And that little problem is a big problem for you, just like it's a little problem that you're seeing on this other person is a big problem for him or her. And so we have this beautiful picture here. So he's saying, you who put on a mask, you who pretend to be okay when you're really not okay. I remember years ago, there was a book written by a psychologist, his name was Dyer, I forget his first name. And it was called, I'm Okay, You're Okay. Wayne Dyer, thank you. And I remember the first time I read that book, I went, this is a crock. I'm sorry, this is ridiculous. This is ridiculous. I'm okay, you're okay. No, it really should be, I'm not okay and you're not okay. We're all messed up. Dyer's position was everybody's good, everybody's wonderful, everybody's great, everything is wonderful, the world is la-di-da. It's not wonderful all the time. Truth is, the world is beautiful. It is a wonderful world. But at the end of the day, we need to understand that from time to time, we get specks in our eye. We have things that we struggle with. And Jesus is acknowledging that. And then he says something incredible in verse six. As sort of the ending of this idea, he says, don't give what is holy to dogs. And do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces. What is he talking about here? What he's talking about is the word holy there actually means sanctified. So he's saying that which is set apart for God, the things which are the things of God, don't just waste them. Don't waste these things of God. God has given you gifts. Use those gifts is what he's talking about. Use those gifts for God's glory, not so they can be trampled on by people that don't even care. Use your gifts for God. That's what he's saying, because again, this whole emphasis in this sermon is the same. We need to be looking towards our heavenly home, not towards our earthly home. So again, we see this picture of Jesus bringing that out, but he's also talking about paying attention to who you listen to. Pay attention to who you listen to. I was listening to a podcast that Miles did that the Sloaks had turned me on to last night, and one of the things that he talked about in this discussion about discipleship was that very often we allow ourselves to be discipled by people that really have nothing to do with Jesus, have nothing to do with the Lord, and have nothing to do with God. And you have to be very careful who you become a disciple of. Because a disciple is a follower. That's really all they are. So how many people have become followers of the right wing or the left wing or the Democrats or the Republicans or the liberals or the conservatives or whatever? I mean, we can go back and forth politically, but have become especially in today's age with podcast after podcast after podcast of somebody coming out and saying, you know, I've got the answer, man. I can help you in this area and so forth. And we don't realize that we're taking that which is holy and we're just casting it away. We're paying attention to things which have nothing to do with God over the things which have everything to do with our relationship with Him. Because at the end of the day, here's what Jesus is basically saying, at the end of the day, if you think your wealth is here on earth, when you leave, there is no U-Haul at the end of your thirst. There is no added, I always love these things where they put something in the guy's casket, as though he's gonna take it with him into the second, I go, come on, people. I thought one of the greatest jokes I ever heard was this guy who, he was reading the will and the father said, I want you to put all of my money into my casket. When I die, I want you to cash out everything effectively, and I want you to put all my money into my casket when I die. So the son says, OK, no problem. I can do that. So his brother looks at it and he says, you just put an envelope in there. But that obviously is not all a dad's worth. He said, no, I wrote a check to dad for the entire value of his entire network. I figure he can cash it when he gets there. You know, it's just kind of ridiculous if you think about it. But at the end of the day, this is where we are. So don't throw that which is holy and make it despicable, is what he's saying. Utilize the things of God. Now, that does not mean that you shouldn't share your faith. That's not what he's talking about here. What he's saying is, pay attention to who you listen to. Pay attention to who you're a disciple of. because who you pay attention to, who you honor, is who you're ultimately going to emulate. I've shared this story before, but to me, one of the greatest moments of my life was when Ray Cohen, who was my mentor when I first became a believer, taught me for the first 12 years of my believing life, and when he was about to die, he asked me to teach his Bible study for him. And I did, and when we were done, he was in tears, and he said, you know, open my Bible to this section you were doing, and we had the exact same notes. It was incredible, just the exact same notes that I had just shared were actually the notes that he had in his Bible. And he said something to me, he said, at least I know I have one disciple. And that was very meaningful to me, that in this time, I realized that obviously I had been paying attention, but more importantly, he realized it, and it was encouraging to him. So now in chapter 7 and verse 7, and really through chapter 7, verse 12, he says this, he says, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you." This is actually a great verse as well, because actually I've always used this as an acronym to remind me how to pray. First you ask, second you seek, third you knock, and if you think about it, A-S-K, ask. What is it that we ask for? What is it that we seek? What is it that we're willing to knock on the door for? I can't tell you how many times I have met people and they're like struggling because, you know, they say, well, you know, God hasn't really helped me out in this area or hasn't helped me out in that area. And so I'll ask them that. I'll ask them these three questions. First, have you asked God? James says you have not because you ask not or you ask amiss. James chapter 4, verses 2 and 3. So, well, wait a minute. You have not because you ask not. Yeah, so have you asked God to help you in this area or to protect you in this area and so forth? Inevitably, the answer to that is yes, because everybody thinks they've asked God. Even though they may not have ever asked God, really, they've asked everybody but God. But, you know, we'll take that as a given. They've asked God. But the second part is really where it is. Have you sought it? Have you sought it? Have you sought God in this area? Not only have you just prayed, but have you sought it? And what that means is, it's like a person says, oh, all right. So I was asked a question the other day, I gotta share this with you, because it was just a really good question. I was asked a question the other day by a friend, and he's a relatively new person playing golf, and he said, at what point am I a golfer? At what point am I a golfer? Now, if you're like me, a person that plays golf all the time, I play at least a couple times a week, I think just by evidence, I guess that means I'm a golfer. I play golf at least twice a week. That makes me a golfer. But who can call themselves a golfer? Well, I guess a person that plays 100 times a year, that probably would qualify. Which one? You're standing on your wire. Oh, yeah. That's the problem. So at what point are you a golfer? Is it when you're good enough? That was the other thing. If I break a certain number, a score, does that make me a golfer? If I really just hate the game, does that mean I'm a golfer? If I really love the game, does that make me a golfer? You can make the same identical question about a fisher. Am I a fisherman? When can you call yourself a fisherman? Now, I think I used to be able to call myself a fisherman. I can't call myself a fisherman anymore. You know why? I don't fish anymore. Now, I know how to fish. At one time, I was probably pretty good at it because I did it all the time too, kind of the same way I play golf now. I used to fish. But at the end of the day, you can't call yourself something if you never do it. Everybody understand where I'm coming from here? You can't call yourself a golfer if you never golf. You can't call yourself a fisher person, man, woman, whatever, unless you fish. I remember about fishing, I remember asking, what's Zayac's first name, Grace? Zayac, what's Zayac's first name? Eddie, Ed Zayach, I remember asking Ed Zayach one day, by the way, Ed Zayach, in case you don't know, is the greatest fisherman on the entire planet. He just is. Okay, I'm sorry, you know, somebody's gotta be, he's it. So I remember asking Zayach one time, I said, man, how do you catch so many fish? I mean, you catch like, it seems like zillions of fish. You catch them, you know, here, there, and everywhere. It's incredible. And he says, oh, Don, that's really simple. I have bait in the water. And I went, what? He said, I have bait in the water. In other words, I always have bait in the water. I'm always fishing. I've always got bait in the water. That's why he's the greatest fisherman I know, because he's constantly got bait in the water. If you always are doing this, that qualifies you to call yourself that. Does everybody see what I'm saying? So to me, yeah, there's no question, Ed Zayach is a fisherman, okay? And there is absolutely no idea right now, Don White is not a fisherman. Why? Because I don't seek it. He seeks it. He's doing it. That's what seeking means. It means you're doing it. You're putting bait in the water. You're a fisherman. You're putting balls on the tee and you're hitting those balls. You're a golfer. I have another friend who has become obsessed with pickleball. She plays pickleball, and I'm not kidding, she plays pickleball every day. If the weather allows it, she is playing pickleball, with the exception of Sunday morning service when she goes to church, and then she's probably playing afterwards. She is a person that plays pickleball. She would call, if there is such a word, a pickleball player. I guess that would be, you know, she would definitely qualify. You know, and that's, there is a point, and that's what seeking is all about. Seeking is actually an active activity towards doing something. Everybody understand what I'm saying? It's beyond asking. You know, I can ask Michael how to play the game of golf because he's a professional golf teacher. I can ask him that. But until I actually go and start executing what he tells me to do, I'm not seeking it. Does everybody understand the difference? And Michael, you know that there's a whole lot of people come see you for lessons and they're not seeking it. Right? I mean, they're just coming and they're going through the motions or whatever, but they're not doing enough of what you tell them to do, right? And that's frustrating. And that's why they don't get better. So we need to seek, which means we need to go after it. We need to go deeper. And then, here's the beauty. You need to knock. Now, what's knocking all about? What's knocking all about? It could be persistence, but what's knocking all about? Let me in. Yeah, what it's doing is it's asking for help. knocking on the door. I go to your door to ask you for help. I go to the door to ask to be let in. It's about asking. It's about going beyond just, you know, it's literally about actively asking. It's about going out and doing something. Knocking on the door. You know, no one knows what you need until you ask them or tell them what's going on. So I can't be invited into your house if I never go and knock on the door. Even if I get an invite, it's not really anything effective until I go and actually knock on the door, right? And so that to me is... Randy, you have this smile on your face. I'm just visualizing standing at somebody's door and saying, hey, let me in, but you don't knock. But you don't knock, yeah. Yeah, you would be an intruder at that point. Right? I mean, at that point, you'd be a stalker or whatever. I mean, but knocking on the door is huge. And that's why Jesus said to the church at Laodicea, behold, I stand at the door and what? And knock. And anyone who lets me in to that, I mean, that's what we're looking for here. So, behold, I stand at the door and knock. So ask, seek, knock. It's a three-fold thing. You can't just ask, that's not enough. You can't just, by the way, you can't just seek, that's also not enough because you need to have somebody that can help you in your seeking and that's what the knocking is all about. So get the help that you need and so forth. To me, there's nothing greater, no greater fool than the person that thinks he knows everything. That is unfortunately self-evident in more ways than I'd like to admit. I mean, I can't tell you how many times as an employer I would hire people and the best person that I could hire was the person that didn't know everything. And the most difficult person to hire is the person that did know everything because they're basically unteachable at that point. So Jesus is saying, ask, and it shall be given unto you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds. And him who knocks, it shall be opened. Or what man is there among you when his son shall ask him for a loaf that he gives him a stone? That's one of those great expressions that you go, well, duh, no one would do that. But that's basically what we do when we reject people and we don't allow them to be a part and parcel of our lives. That's really what this whole section here is all about, is because we recognize that our eternal destiny is more important than our current one, then we should try to make everything about our current situation one that directs people back to God. directs people back to the things of God. And that's what he's saying here. And so he says, if then you being evil know how to do, how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly father who is in heaven, give what is good to those who ask him. Remember this is in the context of the people that say, you know, you're worrying about what you eat and what you drink and what you, you know, what you wear. And he's saying, look, all you gotta do is ask God. He's going to take care of it. It's really not that big of a challenge. And then verse 12 was, of course, that great golden rule, which says, therefore, it's kind of the conclusion of this little section. Therefore, however you want people to treat you, you shall also treat them for this is the law and the prophets. What Jesus is saying there is, and again, he's coming back to what he had said earlier in chapter five, where he says, I want you to be better than the scribes and the Pharisees. What he's saying there is, I want you to take and I want you to go further. I want you to take this, the things of the law, I want you to go further. I want you to take it further. I want you to take it deeper. I want you to take it to a reality that impacts everything. And so I want your walk with God to be deeper than just one of, well, I follow the law. No, it's more than that. You know, get to the root of what it is that's causing the challenges in relationships. Get to the root of what's causing you to struggle. Let's get to the root of it. And typically, if you're asking God, if you're really seeking out what to do and you're doing, so that seeking is all about doing, if you're actually doing something, And then, of course, you're knocking and you're asking for help all the time around you. So you're asking God, but you're also asking people. That's a knocking idea. The knocking idea is that you're actually asking for advice from people that really can give you that advice, who have gone through these things. It was interesting because as I was listening to that podcast yesterday by Miles, I don't want this to sound ugly, so I want to phrase this correctly, because I don't mean this critically at all. I was like, he's 31 years old. He's 31 years old. He has not seen everything that someone who's 65 years old has seen. He hasn't seen that yet. Now, he gets it, he understands it principally, and I'm not suggesting what he said was not correct. That's not what I want you to hear. But I sensed that there were things that a 65-year-old advisor to him could have said to him or with him to actually have even taken what he said even further. Is that making sense? But again, I don't want that to sound critical, because it's not meant to be critical at all. I don't want you to hear it that way at all. What he said was wonderful. That's not my point. But I could see where there were times when I was going, oh, Miles, but there's this other little thing you're missing here. There's just this other little thing. And only because he hasn't experienced it yet. No, he will. I guarantee it. He will. But at the end of the day, that's another thing. So there's value in people that have experience. And you should be calling on people that have experience. If I go to a golf pro, for example, I want to go to a golf pro that's got experience. I don't want to go to necessarily the guy who's just getting started. Now, the guy who's just getting started probably knows fundamentally everything that I need to know. That's not the point. There's the nuance that you get from experience. You said yourself, you've taught whatever, Revelation 30 years ago. And then you've taught it here recently, and you've listened to yourself 30 years ago, and it's like, wow. I miss so much because of life's experience, and your knowledge has grown, and your walk with God has grown, and that's what's going on always. There's no question about it. And again, as we've said many, many times, there's nothing worse than a one-year-old believer 30 times over. We need to be 30 years old in the Lord. Well, what is that talking about? It's talking about the fact that I've got vast sums of experience that I can actually call on that I can dig into the depths of those things. Does everybody see where I'm coming from on that? Again, I don't want you to hear this critically, because it's not a critical statement at all. It's just there is a value in having people around you that have been there, done that, and got the t-shirt. And that's what knocking is really all about. So asking is of God, seeking is about doing, and knocking is about really seeking advice from those that can actually give you advice that you can see here, right here on earth. And so, again, it all stems, though, on how you treat people. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. How do you treat people? Bye, John. Take care. You will, praise the Lord, hopefully. And so we see this absolutely incredible picture. I love what John chapter seven says about this thing about judgment and so on. He says, don't judge appearances, judge righteously. Really incredible statement that Jesus made. Don't judge appearances. How many times, you know, the old expression, you know, you don't judge a book by its cover. I can attest to that, because I have read some really horrible books that had some really great looking covers, okay? It goes both ways, by the way. But at the end of the day, we need to pay attention. And I love what Jesus said there. He says, don't judge appearances, judge righteously. Now, what was he talking about? The context of that was very simple. He was healing on the Sabbath. There was a guy that needed his help and he helped him. And the fact that it was the Sabbath was irrelevant to Jesus. Well, the people there were not critical thinkers. They had a critical spirit. And so what they did was they criticized Jesus for doing that and said, no, no, no, you can't do that. You can't heal this guy. Healing is a little more important, I think, than being religious, because that's really what Sabbath is all about. It's really about being religious. And so he's saying, look, don't judge on appearances just on this specific day or whatever. Be a critical thinker. And this is really an emphasis that Jesus makes throughout the entire Gospels. We're gonna see this over and over and over about Jesus saying, I want you to think critically, guys. When he would say to his disciples, I want you to think about this. I want you to go beyond what you've been taught. I want you to go beyond your bias. I want you to go beyond your prejudice, whatever. I want you to go beyond all that. And I want you to start thinking critically without a critical spirit. And if you don't think that's hard, you aren't paying attention. You really aren't. Yeah? The ask, seek, knock. Knocking also makes it personal because it's face to face. When you go see somebody and knock, you're there to see them in person. You're not calling them. You're not texting them, which is just not the same level of intimacy and being very personal. It is very personal, and at the end of the day, it's really about recognizing that you are not the end all, save all, that you know everything. Really, it's really what it's all about. You need to be willing to knock if you're six or if you're 60. It doesn't make any difference. If you could live to be 600, you'd still need to knock. Methuselah would still be knocking. At the end of the day, we need to recognize that this is what God wants. He wants us to ask Him. He wants us to seek. He wants us to do. And He does want us to ask. And then it's all about how you treat. And then there's two verses here, and we're going to end on this because I don't want to get into the last part of this just yet. I want to do all that next week. But He says something in verses 13 and 14. which are really the intro to where he's going to go at the end of his sermon. And he says, enter by the narrow gate, the skinny gate, the one that's hard to get through. At every gate in the city of Jerusalem, there were two gates. There was the big gate that everybody could go and you could get your carts through and so forth. And then there was what was called the eye of the needle. which was the little gate, the difficult gate. It sometimes required you to get on your hands and knees, actually, because it was that small. It was the emergency gate. Nobody ever went in through that gate. Nobody. Like it was only there in case the entire city was completely boarded up and we're going to let one person through at a time and so forth. And we're going to check them out. You know, it's like security. You know, that was like their form of TSA back in that, you know, at that time. And, but everybody wanted to go through the broad gate. Why? Well, you could get your, you know, you could get your carriages through the broad gate. You get your horses through the broad gate, get your, you know, whatever. but through the narrow gate, through that little gate, through that little, that's why Jesus says it is easier for a rich man to go through the eye of a needle. Or no, I'm sorry. Thank you. It's easier for the camel to go through the eye of the needle than it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. If you understand what he's talking about there, you can't get a camel through the eye. I've seen the eye of the needle, by the way. If you go to Jerusalem, it's really pretty incredible. I mean, there's this one gate that they've kind of preserved. I think it's the East Gate, actually. It's one right by the big mountain there. I guess that is the East Gate. And you can see this little thing. It was like four and a half, five feet tall. That's all it was. It was no more than about, oh, I don't know, maybe 19, 20 inches wide at the most. Cubit might have been the length of your arm. And cubit is about 20 inches. And so this idea that that you could get a camel through that little opening is impossible. It's not gonna happen, obviously. But that's what he's saying. So he says, enter through the skinny gate, through the eye gate. For the gate, the gate, the main gate is wide and the way is broad. And I love this. The way is broad that leads to, in the English word that my Bible says is destruction. That particular word is pretty incredible. It's the word apoleia. Apoleia. A means without. Poleia in Greek means without value, without quality. So that's what Apollia means. Apollia means quality. It means good. It means something that's healthy. This is without health, or without quality, or without value. So if you go through the life gate, the one that you have to go one at a time, you know, we enter into the kingdom of God one at a time. You ever think about that? We don't enter as a group. You go through the broad gate as a group. But you don't go through the narrow gate as a group. You go one at a time. God deals with every single one of us one at a time. Every single one of us became a believer at the time that that person was supposed to be saved. And you can be married. Sandy and Ken became believers at different times. Would they have liked to have done it together? Maybe, but that's not the way it was. One became a believer and then the other became a believer. Grace and I did not become believers at the same time. She became a believer, I became a believer. And the fact is that you can analyze this on any scope. Everybody has their time, their moment to go through the gate one at a time. And that's really what he's saying here. But those people that go through the broad gate, where everybody goes through in mass and so forth, that's of no value. That's apoleia. That leads to, again, remember with the context of this whole entire thing, it's about getting to heaven. It's about getting to a place where you recognize that that's more important than this world. But if you go through the broad gate, you're not gonna get there. Because you haven't had that individual experience with Jesus. You haven't had that individual experience with God. And that's what he's saying here. And he says, for the gate is small and the way is narrow, that leads to life. and few are those who find it. That's what we seek. That's what we seek. That individual relationship with God that comes through that one at a time experience through the narrow gate. So this whole idea here that he's bringing out of don't judge lest you be judged, don't be anxious because there's no need to be anxious. All of these things that he's bringing all leads to one thing is, and that is, do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, period. That's all he's asking. Do you have a personal relationship with God? Now Jesus, of course, is not gonna say Jesus Christ at that time because he hadn't died yet. But at the end of the day, do you have a relationship with God? Have you come to that place where you individually have asked, where you individually are seeking, where you individually are knocking? It's not a group thing. Church is not a group experiment. It is an individual relationship with God that is dependent upon you saying, I want Him in my life. I want to go through that gate. Is it easy? No. Is it difficult? Is it different? Yes. It's different. Because nobody, as I told you, nobody goes through the little gate. Nobody. Unless the big gate is locked. That's the only time. And here's what, here's what is incredible to me. You analyze when you came to Jesus and you turned your life over to him is because at that point you realized you had no other hope but him. You had no other way to go. It reminds me of that movie, The Officer and the Gentleman, where he says, you need to give me your, what they call their D.O.R., drop and request. You need to give me your D.O.R., you need to give me your D.O.R., you need to give me your D.O.R., you need to drop out, you need to quit. And he goes, he goes, I am not gonna quit, I am not gonna quit. Why aren't you gonna quit? I got no place else to go. I got no place else to go. It's at that point that you realize you need to go through the narrow gate. You need to go through that one at a time gate. You need to go through that gate that says, I want Jesus and I want God in my life. And we look at the import of this and we can't under emphasize it. That this is a individual sport. This is not a team sport. This is one person, saying I'm going to give my life to Jesus or I'm not. and there are consequences for both. So next week we're gonna pick it up in verse 15, because that point he starts and he goes and he says, you gotta be paying attention to who disciples you. And we're gonna talk about that because it leads to this whole question that he brings up at the end of not everybody that says to me, Lord, Lord is gonna enter the kingdom of heaven. So this is what this is all about. This whole sermon's about, are you ready to enter? Are you coming into the kingdom? Are you coming with me? That's what the whole sermon's about. And it really ends up with this beautiful picture of two foundations and so on. So that's for next week. We're going to get there. It'll be good. We'll finish the sermon up next week and then we'll get to bigger and more things. So not better things, just more things. We thank you so much for coming. So let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for allowing us to study it. We thank you, Lord, that our ultimate direction and our goal is to go through the narrow gate, to go through that place where we have said individually that we want to have a residence in the new Jerusalem, a residence with you. And I am so thankful, Lord, that you stand there and you allow us to ask you. You encourage us to seek you. and you encourage us to knock and to seek out help and advice and direction. And God, just pray that we would do that today and each day as we thank you for Jesus and we pray in his name, amen.