🎵Music🎵
Alright, please find your seats and grab your hymnals. Find your seats and grab your hymnals. Welcome to the afternoon service.
I hope you all had a good time with the baptism and the celebrations regarding that. Amen. Alright, let's turn to hymn number 156.
Hymn number 156, let's sing it to Jesus Christ. Jesus is the sweetest name I know. 156. You can stay seated. 156. Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
🎵Music🎵
🎵There have been names that I have loved to hear🎵
🎵But never has there been a name so dear🎵
🎵To this heart of mine as the name divine🎵
🎵The precious, precious name of Jesus🎵
🎵Jesus is the sweetest name I know🎵
🎵And he's just the same as his lovely name🎵
🎵And that's the reason why I love him so🎵
🎵Oh, Jesus is the sweetest name I know🎵
🎵There is no name enough for heaven above🎵
🎵That we should give such honour and such love🎵
🎵As the blessed name that us all acclaim🎵
🎵That wondrous, glorious name of Jesus🎵
🎵Jesus is the sweetest name I know🎵
🎵And he's just the same as his lovely name🎵
🎵And that's the reason why I love him so🎵
🎵Oh, Jesus is the sweetest name I know🎵
🎵And some day I shall see him face to face🎵
🎵To thank and praise him for his wondrous grace🎵
🎵Which he gave to me when he made me free🎵
🎵The blessed son of God called Jesus🎵
🎵Jesus is the sweetest name I know🎵
🎵And he's just the same as his lovely name🎵
🎵And that's the reason why I love him so🎵
🎵Oh, Jesus is the sweetest name I know🎵
Heavenly Father, Lord, we want to thank you so much for the baptisms that we could have between the services and that public declaration, Lord, that pleases you.
And it pleases this church, Lord, to know that there are those that are seeking to walk in your ways and to live according to the commandments that you've given us, Lord.
So I just pray that you'd bless those that were baptized and equip them, Lord, to live the life that pleases you.
And Lord, we just do think of the name of Jesus, the sweetest name we know.
We thank you so much that we're saved by that wonderful name and by the work that is done for us on the cross.
Lord, thank you for salvation. Thank you for making us part of the family and for the promise of having heaven as our home for all eternity.
We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Alright, 390 please. 390. Have I done my best for Jesus. 390. Have I done my best for Jesus.
I wonder have I done my best for Jesus. Who died upon the full tree. To think of his great sacrifice at boundary.
I know, I know that's that's the best for me. How many are the lost that I have hidden. How many are the chained I've got to free.
I wonder have I done my best for Jesus. When he has done so much for me. The hours that I've wasted are so many.
The hours I've spent for Christ so few. Because of all my lack of love for Jesus. I wonder if his heart is breaking too.
How many are the lost that I have lifted. How many are the chained I've got to free. I wonder have I done my best for Jesus. When he has done so much for me.
I wonder have I paid enough for others. Or have I let them die alone. I might have helped the wanderer to the Savior. The seed of precious life I might have sown.
How many are the lost that I have lifted. How many are the chained I've got to free. I wonder have I done my best for Jesus. When he has done so much for me.
How many are the lost that I have lifted. How many are the chained I've got to free. I wonder have I done so much for Jesus. When he has done so much for me.
How many are the lost that I have lifted. How many are the chained I've got to free. I wonder have I done my best for Jesus. When he has done so much for me.
3, 1, 2. Open my eyes that I may see. 3, 1, 2.
Open my eyes that I may see. 3, 1, 2.
Open my eyes that I may see.
Voices of joy thou saidest me.
And on the way God call on my ear.
Everything close shall disappear.
Silently now I wait for Thee.
Pray in my heart what I will to see.
Open my ears the open news.
Will you let me by?
Open my mouth and let me be.
Let me prove to Thee every day.
Over Your heart and let me be then.
Love with my children, lust to share.
Silently now I wait for Thee.
Pray in my heart what I will to see.
Open my heart the open news.
See what is mine.
Thank you so much for coming up for the reading.
Matthew chapter 5.
And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain.
And when he was set, his disciples came unto him.
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you,
and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven,
for so persecuted are they the prophets which were before you.
Yea, the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost its savour,
wherewith shall it be salted?
It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out,
and to be trotted under foot of men.
Yea, the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill, cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel,
but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see all good works,
and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets.
I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth shall pass,
one job or one tittle shall in no wise pass on the law,
till all be fulfilled.
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 him,
the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
For 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.
Ye have heard that it was said of them by all time,
Thou shall not kill, and whosoever shall kill,
shall be in danger of the judgment.
But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause,
shall be in danger of the judgment.
And whosoever shall say unto his brother,
Raker, shall be in danger of the council.
But whosoever shall say, thou fool,
shall be in danger of hellfire.
Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar,
and there rememberth that thy brother hath ought against thee,
please there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way.
First be reconciled to thy brother,
and then come and offer thy gift.
Agree with thine adversary quickly,
while thou art in the way with him,
lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge,
and the judge deliver thee to the officer,
and thou be cast into prison.
Very I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come at thence,
till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Ye have heard that it was said of them by all time,
But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman,
till last after, hath committed adultery with her,
already in his heart.
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out,
and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee,
that one of thy members should perish,
and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off,
and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee,
that one of thy members should perish,
and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
It hath been said, whoever shall put away his wife,
let him give her a writing of divorcement.
But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife,
saving for the cause of fornication,
callseth her to commit adultery,
and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced,
comitteth adultery.
Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of all time,
Thou shalt not forswear thyself,
or shalt perform unto the Lord thine earths.
But I say unto you, swear not at all,
neither by heaven, for it is God's throne.
Nor by the earth, for it is his footstool.
Neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king.
Neither shalt not swear by thy head,
because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
But let your communication be yea, yea, nay, nay,
for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
Ye have heard that it hath been said,
an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil,
but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek,
turn to him the other also.
If any man will soothe thee at the law,
and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile,
go with him twain.
Give to him that asketh thee,
and from him that would borrow thee, turn thou not away.
Ye have heard that it hath been said,
thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, love your enemies,
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you,
and persecute you.
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven,
for he maketh his Son to rise on the evil and on the good,
and send a throne on the just and on the unjust.
For if you love them which love you,
what reward do you have you?
Do not even the publicans the same?
And if you salute your brethren only,
what do you have more than others?
Do not even the publicans also?
Be therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Let's pray.
Dear Lord, thank you that we could witness the baptisms,
and pray that if you feel my doubt with the Holy Ghost,
that we can all learn something.
Jesus and I pray. Amen.
Amen.
Ah, Matthew chapter 5.
What a high standard when you listen,
you were paying attention to the words that were being read there,
and these are the words of Jesus Christ.
It's such a high standard.
The Christian life, living a Christian life,
the way that Christ wants us to live,
it's very tough.
I mean, I was just listening to the words,
and some of those things are like,
ah, I don't really want to do that.
Like, if someone were to, you know, hit me on the cheek,
it'd be very hard for me to just turn the other cheek.
And so as we're going through this chapter,
I'm sure there are parts that for you are like,
wow, that's very tough.
That's very hard to do.
And I do want to take one thought out of this.
Well, let's read it first.
In Matthew chapter 5, verse 141, it says,
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile,
go with him twain.
Okay?
Now, this verse, we take, as English speakers,
we have an idiom that comes from this verse,
go the extra mile, go the extra mile.
And so the title of the sermon this afternoon
is English Idioms Influenced by the Bible, Part 4.
Part 4.
I'm hoping that we can just finish up the series this afternoon.
But the first one that we're looking at here is
go the extra mile.
You might say, hey, if someone wants me to go a mile,
then why do I have to go with him another mile?
Okay?
But we see a very interesting principle.
And again, Matthew chapter 5 is such a high standard
of Christian living.
I have no doubt some of you guys have fallen short
of that standard that we're seeing there in Matthew 5.
Let's keep going to verse number 42.
Let's get some further thoughts.
It says, Give to him that asketh thee,
and from him that would borrow of thee,
turn not thou away.
So if someone has a need, you know,
and you can fulfil that need, don't turn away.
Go and fulfil that need.
You know, what we're learning here about go the extra mile.
When we think about that term in our modern day vernacular,
we're talking about doing more than is required to do.
Right?
Well, I could go a mile, and I'm being asked to go two miles.
I'll do the two miles.
Right?
You might say, hey, boss comes up to you,
hey, can you work some overtime?
Can you do the extra mile?
Go, Jesus Christ says go the extra mile.
I guess I'll have to.
Right?
If the work's not getting done,
and it's vital for the business,
I may very well need to go that extra mile.
To do more than is required to do is commonly the thoughts
that we have today when we use that idiom.
But you know, this is not the same as the Bible.
Like, okay, yeah, we get the phrase from the Bible.
If whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go even twain.
But what Christ's saying here,
this is not more than is required to do.
This is what is expected from you as a Christian.
This is what you should be aiming for.
Like, if you go the extra mile, you shouldn't be going,
well, I did more than I was expected to do.
No, you did exactly what Jesus Christ asked you to do.
That's why it's a very high standard.
And we know that when it comes to our Christian life,
it is not easy.
But what we learn here by combining verse number 41
and verse number 42 together,
we see the principle that Christ is teaching us,
to be generous.
Right?
If someone has need of you, be generous.
Be willing to do more than even what they're asking you to do.
Hey, you might have to be patient.
You know, going an extra mile requires time.
It requires time that is my time.
All right?
No, you've got to, you know,
the Lord's asking us to be patient with other people.
Kind toward all, right?
He says, and whosoever shall compel thee.
It doesn't say, hey,
if your brother in the Lord compels thee.
You know, if your next-door neighbour compels thee.
If your mother or father compels thee.
It says, and whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile,
go with him twain.
You know, this is the expectation that Christ has
that we are to live this very generous, patient, kind life
toward whosoever requires our assistance.
High standard.
Very high standard.
But that's what's being asked of us, okay?
Now, obviously, this is not teaching us
to just be this complete pushover, okay?
Like, it says there, verse number 42.
Give to him that asketh thee.
All right, so if someone comes up to me,
knocks on my door.
All right, I've got a large family, right?
And it's some, you know, some bum
that refuses to labour, refuses to take care of himself.
Go, hey, Pastor Kevin, I heard your sermon on Sunday.
So I'm gonna ask of you,
can you please leave the house and let me live there?
Like, you and your family just get out of there
and let me live there.
Is that what's required for me to do?
Well, he's asked of me, you know.
Is that what I'm required?
No, because, you know, we have to balance life.
Part of my requirement as well is to look after my family
to make sure my family needs are being taken care of.
So I can't fulfil one thing that the guy's asking me
and then I'm not fulfilling the other side
of the other commandments that's been asked of a man
to make sure they take care of the family,
provide, et cetera, et cetera.
You know, obviously we need to find the right balance in here
and of course the thought here is
if you have the ability,
if you have it within you to go that extra mile,
if you have it within you to give that which was asked of,
then do it.
It says, and from him that would borrow of thee,
turn not thou away.
If someone needs to borrow an item from you,
maybe borrow finances from you potentially,
you know, and you have that ability,
you have it there, you know,
then obviously you should be going, you know what?
Christ asked me, this is what I need to do.
I need to step out.
Of course, I have other responsibilities.
I'm going to make sure I don't neglect my other responsibilities
but if this situation turns up,
this is what's required me to do.
And as I said to you, it's not easy.
It's not, it's a high standard.
I think we all would struggle, okay.
You say, what advantage do I have by being kind and generous?
I mean, I'm going to be trampled all over, right, pastor, you know.
I mean, do I just keep giving of myself
even though people take advantage of me?
It's pretty much what this is teaching us.
But let's drop down to verse number 46.
Let's understand what's going on here.
Matthew 5, 46.
It says, for if ye love them which love you,
what reward have ye, do not even the publicans the same?
See, Christ is asking us to love them, you know,
that don't necessarily love you back.
Do good to those that aren't necessarily going to love you back.
Be generous, be kind to everybody that you come across
because Christ says there is a reward, right.
What reward?
If ye love them which love you, what reward have ye?
Okay, you know, if you just do the things that you,
to people that you kindly care for and love for,
obviously the reward is not going to be as large
as someone that is just anybody else
that you're dealing with, you know.
And one of the hard things about Matthew 5 is
you're going to say, but it's not just.
I mean, to live by this standard.
If someone wants my coat, you know,
that I should just hand it over.
If someone wants to borrow it and I have the ability,
I should just be able to do that for other people.
It just doesn't seem fair, doesn't seem right.
But don't forget when Christ comes back
and rewards his servants, it's all going to be just.
It's all going to be fair.
God's going to balance the books, you know,
everything that we've sacrificed for the cause of Christ.
And yes, doing, living by this standard
is sacrificing of yourself, your time, your energy,
you know, your patience.
You're giving that to Christ and Christ will reward you.
Look at verse 148.
This is how high the standard is of living.
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father
which is in heaven is perfect.
Whoa.
I mean, you know, the whole Matthew chapter 5
is high standard and then it's like,
actually the standard is the perfection of the Father.
And that's why we're never going to reach it.
We're never going to get there, right, in this life anyway.
But Christ is asking us to push forward, right,
to set the Father as our standard.
He's perfect in heaven.
He's got such great love that he's willing to sacrifice his Son.
What are you willing to sacrifice for others?
How generous are you willing to be
when the Father was so generous to offer his Son?
Wow, what a standard.
And so that's the first idiom that we're looking at, right?
Go the extra mile.
Please come with me to Matthew 7.
Matthew 7.
Matthew 7 and verse number 6.
Let's look at the next idiom.
Matthew chapter 7 and verse number 6.
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,
neither cast thee your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them under their feet,
and turn again and rend you.
The idiom that comes from this verse is, of course,
don't cast your pearls before swine.
Swine are pigs.
All right, pearls are valuable, okay?
You've got some nice jewelry.
You know, you're just going to give that over to the pigs.
No, the pigs don't appreciate.
They don't value it.
They're going to trample all over it.
The way we use it in our modern vernacular
is something very similar to the Bible.
Basically, the way we use it today is,
you know, don't offer something valuable to someone
who won't appreciate it.
Don't offer something valuable to someone
who won't appreciate it, okay?
When we have that verse there in verse number 6,
give not that which is holy unto the dogs.
You know, I guess if I were to take that verse alone,
I would kind of think about the things that are holy,
of course, when Christ was walking this earth,
and I'd be thinking of the things of the temple.
We know that the bread was holy,
and all the things that are obtained to run in the church,
you know, and the Levites, the priests,
they were to live off the offering,
they were to live off these holy things,
and then the authorities, well,
let's just take that away from the Levites,
and let's just give that and cast it to the dogs.
And dogs aren't going to appreciate the things that are holy,
but that's not actually the context of this passage.
Let's have a look at the context.
If we just backtrack to verse number 5,
okay, we won't read the whole thing,
but it's about two individuals where one has a mote in his eye,
another has a beam out of his own eye,
and it's about hypocrites.
And look at verse number 5, it says,
Thou hypocrites, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye,
by the way, a beam is like a piece of wood for building,
like if you're building a house,
you know, like a huge plank of wood, right?
Cast out the beam out of thine own eye,
and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thine brother's eye.
A mote is something small, like a little speck that's in their eye.
Take out your beam first,
and then you can help your brother with a little mote that he's got in his eye.
And then we get to verse number 6,
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs.
All right, so if you know what verses 1 to 5 is all about,
Christ has given us this illustration,
you know, being careful about being hypocrites,
making sure that, hey, you don't tell someone to quit smoking
when you yourself are smoking, right?
You know, we've got to be careful about the kind of counsel and advice
that we give people, because if you're the one,
if you're one that's struggling with the same thing,
you're not the right person to give direction and counsel to someone else,
otherwise Christ will call you a hypocrite, okay?
Hypocrite. Now, okay, I've taken the beam out of my own eye, all right.
I can see clearly the mote in my brother's eye,
so I'm going to go and tell him, I'm going to go and advise him,
hey, brother, you need to do X, Y, and Z, whatever it is, okay?
I see issues, brother, with your family.
Listen, you need to, you know, love your wife
and take care of your children, take responsibility
and make sure, you know, you're the man of the house
and God's going to hold you accountable.
So I'm going to step in, brother, and give you all this.
You might want to do that potentially, I don't know, right?
But isn't it true that sometimes when you give counsel to people,
they reject it or they get offended by that counsel?
Like who are you to tell me, even after you've taken the beam out of your own eye,
because I'm sure we've all got beams in our own eyes, okay?
But even when you can see clearly and you can give good counsel,
sometimes people might reject that, okay?
Well, hey, if they reject it, give not that which is holy unto the dogs.
If they can't value your advice and your opinion, okay,
leave them alone, okay?
You don't have to go and argue with them and, you know, pressure them.
Look, if someone's not willing to take on your advice, leave them alone.
They're accountable to God for the decisions they make in life.
That's how I feel about being a pastor.
You know, my goal, and look, I've got plenty of beams in my eye.
You know, that's why I don't come preaching my wisdom or anything like that.
I want to just preach God's word because God has no beams in his eye, okay?
We're just preaching his word, all right?
It affects you, it affects me, okay, equally,
because we all have things that we're not right with, all right?
But at the end of the day, I can't force you, all right?
I'm here to teach you God's word and then you decide
when you're living your own personal life and you're at home,
it's your decision to say, hey, we're going to do what we learned at church.
Or I'm not going to do what I learned at church, okay?
But that's down to you. I can't press you.
I can't just go and demand that you do something that I ask of you
from preaching God's word, okay?
That is your own time.
My goal is to give that which is holy.
I don't view you guys as dogs.
I hope that which is holy coming out from God's word
will actually feed you and nourish you,
give you something to think about, appreciate your salvation,
appreciate your Lord, appreciate why you're still here on this earth,
to reach people for the kingdom of God.
But at the end of the day, brethren, I can't force you, okay?
Neither cast you your pearls before swine.
And, you know, this isn't just about church.
This can be about any advice.
Just own your own good advice that you've learned.
Maybe you've learned some good ways to take care of finances
and, you know, to save up money really well.
You've made good decisions in life financially.
You try to help someone else and they refuse it.
All right, you know, don't cast your pearls before swine.
This also applies to door-to-door soul winning.
When you go and knock a door, someone says, hey, I'm not interested.
All right, don't cast your pearls.
Yes, the gospel is precious.
Yes, it's valuable.
But if someone says, look, I don't want to hear it.
I'm not interested.
You know, don't put your foot in the door and say, look,
you've got to hear this anyway.
Don't waste your time.
Go to the next door.
Find the next person that's going to value the message that you're trying to give.
Or you're going to get stuck with the swine and the dogs.
It will never reach a person waiting to hear the gospel.
Okay, so don't cast your pearls before swine.
Now, there is another thought that I want to take out of this,
just another passage that I want to explain.
I find some people don't understand this passage, but it's the same principle.
If you can keep your finger in Matthew, because we are going to come back to Matthew,
come with me to Revelation 22, the last chapter of the Bible.
Revelation 22 and verse number 11.
Revelation 22, verse 11.
The Bible reads, he that is unjust, make him just?
No.
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still.
And he which is filthy, clean him up?
No.
Let him be filthy still.
And he that is righteous, hopefully that's you and me,
if we're righteous of Christ for sure, living righteously, let him be righteous still.
And he that is holy, let him be holy still.
Listen, it's not our job to clean this world up.
It's not our job to, I don't know, to get into politics and just enforce the laws of God,
as much as I'd love to do that, but that's not really our job.
If people want to be filthy, let them be filthy still.
If people want to be unjust, let them be unjust still.
You don't have to cast your pearls before swine.
And look, this is the same principle.
If someone does not want to get saved, what are you going to do?
You know, you've done what you can to preach in the gospel.
You know, one thing I think, you know, we all have loved ones and friends that are unsaved,
that we care about, we love, we want them saved, so we go to them, we give them the gospel,
and look, they say, look, it's not for me, or something like that.
You know, yeah, that's good for you, but it's not for me.
Look, just let them be unjust still.
Let them be filthy still. Okay?
Don't try to force it into them, because they might just outright reject the Lord God,
because of the way you're trying to force yourself upon them.
Okay? Give them time.
I have testimonies of people that have given the gospel that weren't interested.
You give time, a bit of time, kind of bring it up once in a while,
just a little bit here there, a little bit there, a little bit there,
and eventually they turn around and say, hey, can you just explain it again?
They hear it, they get saved.
Okay? Well, now that person has decided to be righteous.
Now that person has decided to be holy. Okay? Good.
Alright? But I just want to show you, it's not our job to turn,
to make people morally upright, and live good, clean lives.
If people want to be unjust, let them be unjust.
Okay? Our job is to give the gospel.
Okay? Our job is to, you know, impute the, you know, be a mediator, in a sense,
impute the righteousness of Christ upon those that would need to hear the gospel.
So let's do that.
Okay? We can't fix the righteousness of man,
but we can help that man take on the righteousness of Jesus Christ by preaching them the gospel.
Matthew chapter 7, please.
Back to Matthew chapter 7 and verse number 13.
Oh man, I better hurry up.
Maybe there will be a part 5. We'll see how we go.
Matthew chapter 7, verse number 13.
Another idiom that you hear is, you know, you might hear this about, let's say,
a young guy that's gone, you know, has done some criminal things,
maybe he's gone to jail, maybe they've been taking drugs and alcohol,
and they've been destroying their lives, and now they're kind of, you know,
they're kind of fixing themselves up, and you say,
hey, you know, he's now on the straight and narrow.
Right? You know, keep this person on the straight and narrow.
And the way we use it today, today's vernacular, or today's idiom,
is we're saying that, you know, that individual is living a life now that is honest and morally upright.
Okay? A life, right?
You say, that person's on the straight and narrow now.
Saying, well, he's living a good, moral, upright life now.
He's not, you know, he's grown out of all those immature and stupid things that they used to do,
now they're on the straight and narrow.
That is completely different.
Completely different to what the Bible teaches us on this issue.
Matthew 7, verse number 13.
Enter ye at the straight gate.
And notice straight there is not s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t, it's s-t-r-a-i-t, which means narrow.
Enter ye at the straight gate, for wide is the gate,
and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be that go in thereat.
So sad, many.
Most people are going to go through that wide gate, that broad way that leads to destruction,
that leads to hell.
Verse number 14.
Because straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life.
How sad.
And few there be that find it.
You know, why aren't we like a 10,000 member church right now?
The few there be that find it.
Very few.
Okay.
This is just the reality.
Now as much as I would like to call even those that claim to be Christians saved,
the vast majority are not.
And I'll explain to you why in a moment as we keep going through this.
Now this is the context.
Verse number 15.
Let's keep going there.
Jesus Christ then says,
Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
That's what we get to be careful of.
So when we think about straight is the gate and narrow is the way, okay.
That is the way of salvation.
Jesus Christ said, I am the way, the truth and the life.
No man comforts the Father, but by me.
So the straight and narrow way is Jesus Christ.
It's not just living a morally upright life.
You know, if you're on the straight and narrow,
I don't care if you're living a morally upright life.
I care if you're on the straight and narrow of salvation, Jesus Christ.
Faith on him alone.
That's what it really means.
But you know, the way we use it today strips it away completely
from being the way of salvation.
Now if we talk about what is that broad way?
What is that way?
The wide gate.
What is the broad way that leadeth to destruction?
Well we saw that as Christ continued,
he's warning us of false prophets.
Yeah.
Now if we just drop down to verse number 21,
this is why you cannot just say,
okay, that person said he's a Christian, therefore he's saved.
What was that football player that got in trouble
for speaking against the homosexuals?
Israel Folau.
Hey, I like his view on homosexuality.
I agree with him.
I agree that it's a sin.
It's more than a sin.
It's pretty wicked, extremely wicked.
Okay.
Reprobates.
But is he saved?
No.
He believes a false gospel.
He believes a workspace gospel.
Okay.
But people hold him up like a Christian.
They think he's a believer.
Look, we've got to be careful.
We've got to be smart.
Not everybody that just says Jesus
or is under a Christian church to some extent is saved.
This, look, the broad way is not just,
in fact, we look at this very clearly, okay.
Like, okay, Buddhism is the broad way.
Of course it is.
Islam is the broad way.
Of course it is.
Roman Catholicism is the broad way.
Of course it is.
Okay.
But there is a broad way within Christianity.
Okay.
Let's see it in verse number 21.
Not everyone that's safe unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Some people, Lord, yes, Jesus is my Lord.
Yes, I made him the Lord of my life.
People say that, right?
Well, have you put your faith on his death,
fair resurrection?
Are you trusting his sacrifice and him alone?
You don't have to make him your Lord.
He is the Lord.
Okay.
He is the Lord.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Salvation is acknowledging who he is,
the Lord who died for me.
The broad way, but the people say, Lord, Lord.
Let's keep going.
What are they saying?
What are they trusting in?
Verse number 22.
Many will say to me in the day, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in thy name?
Hey, these are preachers.
They preach in the word.
We've prophesied in your name, Lord.
And in thy name have cast out devils.
I don't believe they cast out devils.
They're saying they cast out devils.
And in thy name have done many wonderful works.
See, many that call themselves Christians today,
Lord, Lord, hallelujah, praise the Lord,
but they're trusting in their many wonderful works.
That's the broad way.
You know, it's not just a religion.
Every religion that is not biblical Christianity
is based on works.
What does Jesus Christ say about their many wonderful works?
Verse number 23.
And then I will profess unto them,
I never knew you.
Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Wonderful works.
It's filthy rags is what it is
in the light of God.
See, the broad way is a works-based gospel.
It's why I'm so passionate about making sure
we don't mix works.
Okay, it's faith on Christ alone.
It always has been.
It's a free gift.
It's not based on your performance.
It's why I get so angry
even within independent Baptist churches when I hear,
oh, you've got to turn from your sins.
To be saved?
No, no man can do that.
Who can do that?
Even saved people know they still struggle with sin.
If the standard was turned from your sins to be saved,
then nobody is saved.
It's works is what it is.
Wonderful works.
Many say, Lord, Lord.
Man.
But that's the broad way.
Okay, that's the way that leads to destruction.
And the people that preach works.
I don't care if they're standing behind a pulpit.
I don't care if it's an independent,
fundamental Baptist church.
If the pastor is preaching works,
he's a false prophet.
He's a false prophet.
Verse number 15.
Beware of false prophets
which come to you in sheep's clothing.
They look like an independent fundamental Baptist,
Bible college,
knows all the networks,
knows all the people,
knows all the right people.
They're in sheep's clothing.
You can't tell.
It's not easy.
Eventually, they reveal themselves.
How do you know?
Because they're preaching a workspace gospel.
That's the broad way that leads to destruction.
And we're going to make sure,
man, if we're just going to be right on one doctrine,
it better be salvation.
I've said it so many times.
I'd rather be wrong on everything else
but right on salvation
than wrong on salvation and right about everything else.
But I'd rather be right about everything,
including everything.
That's even better.
Okay, but that's the number one doctrine.
That's the one that saves your soul.
We have to get this right.
Come with me to Matthew chapter 12.
Matthew chapter 12 verse number 25.
The next one that we're looking at is
the idiom of a house divided.
A house divided.
And the way it's used today is
I remember this being used in a company that I worked for
but it's talking about a group or an organisation
that will be weakened by internal conflicts.
So if you're trying to run a business
and all your employees are fighting,
they don't get along,
they don't know what their responsibilities are,
you've got lazy people,
I'll be able to pick up the slack,
it's going to be a house divided.
It's not going to be effective.
It's not going to achieve the goals that the business has.
Now, where does this come from?
It comes from Matthew chapter 12 verse 25.
I won't give you the full context
but Jesus Christ casts out a devil.
Alright, he performs a miracle.
People are rejoicing,
except of course for the scribes and Pharisees
and all these people.
In verse number 25,
because then they say,
oh, he does it by the power of the devil.
The reason he's able to cast out these devils,
he must have the authority of the devil,
he must have the authority of Satan to do such a thing.
And then Jesus Christ says in verse number 25,
and Jesus knew their thoughts.
Actually, they didn't say it.
They just thought it.
And Jesus knew it.
What did they say, right?
Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them,
every kingdom divided against itself
is brought to desolation
and every city or house divided against itself
shall not stand.
Christ is saying,
I'm not using the power of the devil
to cast out the devil.
Otherwise that house,
that kingdom will not stand.
Verse number 26,
and if Satan casts out Satan,
he is divided against himself.
How shall then his kingdom stand?
Satan, brethren, has a kingdom.
He is the God of this world.
Satan's organized, okay?
His house is not divided.
They know exactly how to pervert the minds of people.
He knows exactly how to muddy the waters of salvation.
He knows exactly how to zap the zeal out of God's people.
He knows exactly how to discourage you
so you're not walking with the Lord.
The devil knows.
There's a kingdom out there,
a spiritual kingdom that we can't see,
but it's working against you.
Christ is making a point
that that kingdom is not divided.
They're a very unified force, okay?
Satan is not casting out Satan, okay?
There's no arguments within the kingdom of Satan.
Then he says in verse number 27,
if I buy Beelzebub, cast out devils,
Beelzebub is another name for Satan,
by whom do your children cast them out?
Therefore they shall be your judges.
Then he says this in verse number 28,
but if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God,
then the kingdom of God is come unto you.
See, Jesus Christ spoke about the kingdom of Satan.
It's united,
but now he's speaking about the kingdom of God, okay?
He says if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God,
then the kingdom of God is come unto you.
The kingdom of his Father is come unto you.
He's casting out by the power of the Holy Spirit.
You know, instead of trying the nature of God,
Christ is the one performing these works.
He says, look, the kingdom of God is not divided either, okay?
He's doing it by the power of the Holy Spirit,
and this is the kingdom of God, okay?
Do you know how we say that Christ has his own will?
You know, the Spirit has his will,
the Father has a will,
but it is not a divided will, okay?
Jesus Christ said not my will be done,
but thy will be done.
Christ always made sure his will lined up with the Father's will.
The kingdom of God is not a divided kingdom.
And if you're saved, you're part of that kingdom.
You've entered into that kingdom.
So important that we have unity, though,
with other brothers and sisters in the Lord,
and really important that we have,
because, you know, we don't want to house divided.
This is the Lord's house here in New Life Baptist Church.
You know, we're not always going to get along.
We're not always going to see eye to eye with things, okay?
But we need to be striving for unity.
You know, the greatest way to have unity is to have love,
because out of love comes the patience
and, you know, the temperance and, you know,
we understand that people are a little bit different.
They'll see things a little differently.
You know, we need unity in our church, okay?
And again, I'm not saying you have to believe
everything exactly the same like I believe, right?
And you need to make sure you have breakfast
exactly the way that I have breakfast.
That's not what I'm talking about.
Unity in God's Word, let's have unity there.
Let's have unity in our commission, our great commission, okay?
Seeing souls saved, baptisms,
teaching to observe all things,
that'll bring unity into our church.
We'd be more effective.
The more united we are, the more effective we can be
for the Kingdom of God.
You know what, I'm looking for unity even amongst
other brothers and sisters that aren't part of this church,
that might not agree necessarily with us in certain doctrines,
but if I can see that, hey, you're saved,
my brother in the Lord, you've trusted Christ,
you know, hey, we can go soul-winning together.
You know, we can share in fellowship one with another,
I'm looking for unity when it comes to God's Kingdom,
you know, so just keep this in mind, you know,
if we want our church to be effective,
you know, and you start to, you know,
ruffle each other's feathers a little bit
because we are human beings, you know,
please just remember, if we have a divided church,
we're not going to be effective.
If Satan can have unity in his Kingdom, can't we?
Can't we have unity in our church?
A love for one another, you know,
appreciating each other in their service for the Lord.
That's the goal.
Come with me to Matthew chapter 15.
Matthew chapter 15, verse number 12.
Matthew 15, verse number 12.
Then came his disciples and said unto him,
knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended
after they heard this saying?
Ah, who cares?
Jesus Christ is preaching.
Jesus, you offended the Pharisees.
This is why I don't care about offending you
as long as I'm preaching God's Word, okay?
Because God's Word go into offend sometimes, all right?
What does Jesus Christ say?
Verse number 13.
But he answered and said,
every plant which my heavenly Father have not planted
shall be rooted up.
Let them alone.
They be blind leaders of the blind
and if the blind lead the blind,
both shall fall into the ditch.
The blind lead the blind.
Isn't that an idiom that we still use today?
The blind lead the blind.
The way we use it today is that
it's about an ignorant person,
a person lacking knowledge,
trying to get advice or help
from another person that lacks knowledge.
We say, that guy's blind is leading the blind right there.
Right?
Well, Jesus Christ was speaking about
these Pharisees that were offended by the teaching of Christ.
He says they're blind.
Okay?
But notice again, it says in verse number 14,
let them alone.
Like the same thing,
don't cast repose before swine.
Like it's not,
I'm not on this mission
to debunk every false prophet
and every religion
and every false teacher
on the sunshine coast.
Let them alone.
They're blind
and if their blind followers want to follow the blind,
the blind leader,
then let them both fall into the ditch.
Okay?
Again, our goal
is to go and just preach the gospel,
see as many people saved as we can.
All right?
We're not trying to force ourselves.
Hey, at the same time,
I'm going to preach openly what God's word says,
if people get offended,
so be it.
But if the blind want to follow the blind to the ditch,
well,
he that is filthy,
let him be filthy still.
Right?
It's the same principle.
Okay?
It's the same,
very same principle,
but I was just trying to show you,
it's the idiom there.
The blind leader of the blind comes from this passage.
Come with me to Matthew chapter 20.
Speed up a little bit.
Matthew chapter 20 and verse number six.
Christ is teaching us a parable
of a husband man
looking for workers
and he gets workers in the morning,
gets workers later on in the day, in the afternoon,
and then late in the evening,
he gets workers to work an hour.
And so then Matthew 20 verse six.
And about the eleventh hour,
he went out.
So the idiom is at the eleventh hour.
Have you ever heard that before?
At the eleventh hour.
You know,
and the way we use it is,
you know,
referring to the last possible moments
where it's almost too late.
I don't know.
You might say,
how could we use this today?
You know,
I'll give you a very quick,
just quick one,
just because it came to my head.
It's my anniversary coming up this week.
All right?
But I almost broke up with my wife,
well,
she was a Christian at the time
because she wasn't saved.
I was trying to give her the gospel.
She was Roman Catholic.
She wasn't getting saved.
And I said,
Lord,
it's not right for me to be dating a non-Christian.
So I'm going to break off this relationship,
but,
and I'm young,
so I'm kind of stupid.
I don't know what I'm praying about.
So Lord,
if she calls me tomorrow
and we didn't have phones back then,
mobile phones,
it's all landline,
okay,
she calls me tomorrow,
not asking me to hang out or whatever,
but she calls me about the Bible,
trying to understand the Bible more,
understand salvation,
then I won't break it off just yet.
And I said,
Lord,
it's gotta be before 12 o'clock though.
Literally.
I'm just young and stupid.
I don't know what I'm,
I don't recommend anyone pray that prayer.
It's just,
maybe God just realised my ignorance
and,
you know,
young,
you know,
young love or whatever.
But I was trying to do what is right.
I was just,
you know,
had the right intentions.
And yeah,
I remember just waking up early trying,
okay,
is Christina going to call me today?
It wasn't an experience to call me.
And then it's like eight,
nine,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16,
17,
18,
19,
20,
21,
22,
23,
24,
25,
26,
27,
28,
29,
30,
31,
32,
33,
34,
35,
36,
37,
38,
39,
40,
41,
42,
43,
44,
45,
46,
50,
51,
52,
53,
54,
55,
56,
57,
58,
59,
60,
61,
62,
63,
64,
65,
66,
67,
68,
69,
70,
71,
72,
73,
74,
75,
76,
77,
78,
79,
70,
71,
72,
73,
74,
75,
76,
77,
78,
79,
70,
71,
72,
73,
66,
77,
78,
79,
78,
87,
79,
78,
79,
70,
78,
79,
80,
89,
80,
90,
81,
82,
83,
94,
95,
96,
97,
98,
99,
100,
because you've got all the days of your life
to serve the Lord,
but some of you got saved later in life.
Some of you got saved at the 11th hour, okay?
You say, well, I've wasted my life.
You know, I wish I got saved younger,
and maybe you wish that, yes, to be nice.
Hey, but you didn't know any better.
You got saved in your later in life.
You don't have much left to give, maybe.
Maybe not many years of life.
Okay, maybe you got saved,
and you've got major sicknesses in your body,
and you just can't do as much as you wish you could do.
Well, how about you just take everything you've got left
and just serve the Lord for that final hour,
and He'll reward you just as much as anybody else
that got saved later in life, earlier in life, sorry,
and served the Lord all the days of their life.
You see, you just give God everything you've got,
and you'll earn one day's wage, full day's wage.
It's never too late is the message.
It's never too late to serve the Lord.
It's never too late.
Don't say, I'm just too old now.
That's for the young people.
No, it's for you.
If you're at the 11th hour in your life,
hey, give God everything you've got left, okay,
and then let Him reward you when He returns.
It's never too late, never too late to serve the Lord.
All right, Matthew chapter 26, Matthew chapter 26.
We're looking here before Christ's arrest
when He went to the Garden of Gethsemane
and betrayed by Judas Iscariot.
But Matthew chapter 26, verse 47,
and while he yet spake, lo Judas, one of the twelve,
came, and with him a great multitude,
with swords and staves, from the chief priests
and elders of the people.
Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign,
saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss,
the same is he, hold him fast.
And forthwith he came to Jesus,
and said, Hail, Master, and kissed him.
And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come?
Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.
The idiom that we get out of this passage here,
when he kissed him, is the kiss of death.
Have you heard that before?
You know, he's been given the kiss of death.
You know, the thought behind that idiom is that
something certain is about to fail.
Say, oh, to receive the kiss of death,
it's not going to work out, it's going to fail.
But you know what, the way we use it,
some people use it today, it's not that far different
from what we saw here, we just carry it in Jesus Christ.
You know, it is common within the Mafia
to receive the kiss of death.
If you receive the kiss of death,
you're going to be executed.
That's a well-known understanding, right?
You know, if you get, oh, you know, come here,
big kiss on your cheek,
that's not like, oh man, he must love me.
That's it, you're finished.
You know, you've been given the sign of,
you've been marked for execution.
That's exactly what Jesus carried there, right?
He marked Jesus Christ, the one that I kissed,
so you know exactly who Jesus Christ is.
Kiss him on the cheek.
You know, he calls him master.
What a betrayer.
And then they came and arrested Jesus Christ,
the kiss of death.
That's where it comes from.
Let's continue then, verse number 50.
Let's read it again, verse number 50.
And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come?
Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.
And behold, one of them which were with Jesus,
we know this is Peter in another epistle,
stretched out his hand, sorry, in another gospel,
stretched out his hand, and drew his sword,
and struck a servant of the high priests,
and smelt off his ear.
Then said Jesus unto him,
put up again thy sword into his place,
for all they that take the sword,
shall perish with the sword.
And that's where we get our next idiom.
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
You've heard that one?
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
And the thought that we use today,
and again, it's similar to what Christ taught here,
is that what goes around, comes around.
You know, I guess the word might refer to that as karma.
You know, we don't believe in karma, obviously.
But it's what the biblical principle of,
you reap what you sow.
You know what, if you're gonna be living,
if you're someone that's going to live by violence,
then you're going to receive violence in return.
Okay, you reap what you sow.
And it's exactly the same thing
that Christ is teaching Peter here.
Look, you know, if you're gonna be the one
going on the attack like this,
then you're going, this is how you're gonna perish Peter.
Okay, and the thing about this whole thing is,
you might think Peter's justified,
but Jesus Christ has finished
having the Lord's table with them.
The Last Supper, explaining his death,
explaining that he's gonna be arrested,
explaining that he's gonna be betrayed.
And this is all expected, this is all gonna happen.
And then when it actually happens,
Peter responds in this way.
Obviously, he did not take time to absorb the teaching there.
And he takes out the sword and strikes,
and strikes off the ear of the servants of the high priest.
But the question is, is the Lord against self-defense?
Is he against self-defense?
Of course he's not, okay?
In fact, Jesus is the one that taught them
to buy the sword, okay?
And I'll just quickly read to you, Luke 22, verse 36.
Then said he unto them, these are the words of Jesus.
This is Luke 22, 36.
But now, he that have a purse, let him take it.
And likewise his scrip, and he that have no sword,
let him sell his garment and buy one.
Okay, so Jesus Christ, you know, real quickly,
he sends out his disciples, says,
look, you don't need to take anything with you.
You're gonna be provided for when you go out
and you preach your gospel.
They've come back, they said, yep,
we were able to cast out devils.
You know, we preach the gospel, et cetera, et cetera.
And then he says, but now, now it's changed.
Now you need to take a sword.
Now you need to take a purse.
You need to take your,
you need to make sure that you've got everything in order
before you go out and work in ministry for the Lord.
But you see, Jesus Christ told them to buy a sword.
Why would you need a sword?
You know, it's for self-defense.
Jesus Christ is not against self-defense.
But you see, what Peter did was not self-defense.
He went on the attack.
Jesus Christ said, no, this is gonna happen.
I need to be arrested, I need to be taken away.
I need to be betrayed, I need to be put to death, okay?
But Peter obviously took the sword, not in self-defense,
but he went and attacked that servant.
So I just wanna make sure that's clear in your minds.
All right, Matthew 27, 22.
Matthew 27, 22.
Now we have Jesus Christ arrested,
brought before Pilate, Pilate safe, verse number 22.
Pilate safe unto them.
What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ?
They all say unto him, let him be crucified.
And the governor said, so Pilate is the governor,
Pilate's in charge, that's what I wanna talk about.
Pilate has authority in this situation.
Here's the government, he's part of the Roman Empire.
And the governor said, why, what evil hath he done?
But they cried out them all, saying, let him be crucified.
When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing,
but that rather atonement was made,
he took water and washed his hands before the multitude,
saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person.
See ye to it.
So he washes his hands, he goes, nah, I'm innocent.
All right, this is where we get the idiom,
I wash my hands off it.
Because that's not my responsibility.
I wash my hands out of this situation, right?
The way we use it today is to refuse,
and again, it's the same thing here,
refuse to take responsibility of a problem.
You know, that's my, it belongs to me,
but I just refuse to take responsibility.
I wash my hands of that.
Okay, I've got nothing you guys do,
whatever you want with us, I'll take no responsibility.
But Pilate is the one that gave the direction to go,
see ye to it, go and crucify him is what he's saying.
But he washes his hands, thinking, nah, man,
because he knows Jesus Christ is innocent.
He knows that Christ does not deserve this death,
but he washes his hands off it.
In verse 25, then answered all the people and said,
his blood be on us and on our children.
Man, what words for the Jews to say.
His blood, hey, we'll take responsibility, Pilate.
We'll take responsibility.
We'll take accountability for the blood of Christ
and on our children, and well, okay?
But what we learn here is that Pilate is a weak leader.
He's in charge, okay?
He's in charge.
That, the governing lands that it will,
the region that he's looking after,
that's in his hands.
If he finds Jesus innocent, Jesus is innocent.
He does not deserve to be crucified.
But he goes, oh, I'll just wash my hands off this.
Okay, crucified.
That's a leader not taking charge,
not taking accountability for what has been given to him.
Okay, so, you know, I wash my hands off it.
Let's not be those kinds of people.
If you have responsibility, you know, fathers,
you're the head of your wife, you're the head of your home.
You can't turn around and say,
oh, my kids are doing X, Y, and Z.
I don't approve, so I just wash my hands off it.
You know, mom should have told him.
You're in charge.
Don't be like Pilate.
Don't give the responsibility over to others.
The Jews said, hey, the blood be upon us.
No, you know, when it comes to the family,
it's not the kids, it's not on the kids' shoulders
to bear that authority.
It's on dad, okay?
You're the head of the home.
Maybe you have other responsibilities in the workplace.
You have a lot of responsibilities
that God has given you, whatever it is.
Don't wash your hands off it, okay?
If you've been given authority over it,
you've got to take accountability.
You know, with authority must also come accountability.
Some people want the authority,
they don't want the accountability, okay?
But we've got to have both.
They both come together, okay?
Let's go to Luke chapter eight, Luke chapter eight.
Luke chapter eight, verse number four.
I'm gonna be very quick now.
We're looking at the parable of the sower,
you know, where the seed is the word of God,
and the sower goes out and sows the word of God.
Well, some of that seed is going to fall on the wayside.
In fact, that is the idiom that, you know,
you might say, well, it's fallen by the wayside.
The way we use it today as an idiom is that we'll say,
you know, we failed to finish an activity.
We failed to finish a project.
It's fallen by the wayside.
I don't know, let's say, men, sometimes we do this.
We start a project that we're gonna get done, all right?
And then it just doesn't get done.
And so the saying might be,
it's fallen by the wayside.
And it's kind of like, again, it's like a joke.
Ah, it's fallen by the wayside.
But really, it's not a joke.
Like the way it's used in the Bible, right?
Luke chapter eight, verse number four.
It says, and when much people were gathered together
and would come to him out of every city,
he spake a parable, a sower went out to sow his seed,
and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, there it is.
And he was trodden down,
and the fowls of the air devoured it.
All right, we're not gonna read the whole thing.
But drop down to verse number 11.
Then Christ explains the parable.
Now the parable is this.
The seed is the word of God.
So the sowing is a preacher preaching the word of God, okay?
Verse number 12.
Those by the wayside are they that hear,
then cometh the devil,
and taketh away the word out of their hearts,
lest they should, look at this again,
believe and be saved.
I'm gonna emphasize this all the time.
What saves you?
Believe that they should believe and be saved.
You give the word, you give the gospel,
Jesus Christ died for you.
If they were to believe and trust on Christ, they're saved.
So they hear it.
This might be when you go soul winning.
You preach the gospel to someone.
Say, hey, why don't you make the decision right now
and let's call upon the Lord
and tell him that you're trusting him alone
and that you want to be saved.
And they say, well, I need to think about it a little bit.
I like what you've said.
I've heard what you said.
I get it, but I need time to think about it.
It's both good and bad.
It's good in the sense that at least they've received.
They've heard it
because a lot of people don't want to hear it.
At least they've heard it.
But the danger, there's a major danger there.
It could be see that field by the wayside
because then cometh the devil.
The devil loves it.
Oh, let me think about it.
That's what the devil loves
because then the devil's going to go to that person
and try to remove those words out of their hearts
lest they believe the gospel.
Serious, actually.
And if seed falls by the wayside, it's a serious thing.
You know, when someone says to me,
I need time to think about it.
Don't forget, the Bible also says,
compel them to come in, in another parable,
about the wedding ceremony,
to invite guests to the wedding, to the feast
and compel them to come in.
Compel means put a bit of pressure on.
You know, someone says, hey, I need time to think about it.
Say, look, you're not guaranteed
to even see the end of the day.
You might pass away tomorrow.
You don't know.
Why don't you make the decision today?
What's stopping you from making that decision?
I like to put a little bit of pressure.
Say, hey, you might just forget completely
what I've explained to you.
You know, how about now?
It's fresh in your mind.
You understand it.
It's a free gift.
There's no strings attached.
And then sometimes when you give a little pressure,
they're like, yeah, you know what?
I should do that.
Yeah, you're right.
And that's good.
But again, if someone says, yeah, you know what?
No, I don't know what.
Okay.
If he wants to be filthy, let them be filthy still.
Okay, but you've compelled them.
You've tried your best.
You've put a bit of pressure on, okay?
But unfortunately sometimes, and hopefully it's not always,
sometimes it falls by the wayside.
But we also have other stories where, hey,
some may water and some may reap.
You know, someone does all the hard work,
preaching the gospel.
All right, and then another comes along, you know,
follows up, you know, preaches it again.
And they hear it again.
It all gets, yeah, you know what?
Now I'm ready.
That happens also.
Praise God for that situation.
But fallen by the wayside,
that's the idiom that comes from this parable.
Okay, 2 Corinthians chapter 12.
This is the last one.
2 Corinthians chapter 12 in verse number seven.
Thank you for your patience.
2 Corinthians chapter 12 in verse number seven.
This is a good one to end on.
I believe, well, let's read it.
Verse number seven.
Paul says very interesting words here.
Unless I should be exalted above measure,
he goes, in order for me not to be filled with pride
and be exalted above measure, right?
See, Paul knows he can have a problem with pride
if he allows it to just fester in his life.
So he says, unless I should be exalted above measure,
through the abundance of the revelations,
because he's got so much knowledge,
God has given him so much, he can puff him up.
He goes, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh,
a messenger of Satan to buffet me,
lest I should be exalted above measure.
He says it twice.
You know, this thorn in the flesh that I have
is to keep me humble.
And of course, the idiom that we have today
is a thorn in your side, thorn in the flesh.
Thorn in your side is how we use it.
And the idiom means that the thorn in your side
is a personal thing that repeatedly annoys someone
and causes problems.
Something that is repeatedly just annoying you.
You say, that's a thorn in my side.
Paul says, man, I've been given
a thorn in the flesh by God.
Hey, he's given me all these revelations
and given me great knowledge,
but God knows with all that knowledge,
I'll get puffed up, so he's given me a thorn as well.
It's keep me humble.
Say, what is that thorn in the flesh?
I believe it's a sickness,
because then he says in verse number eight,
for this thing I besought the Lord thrice
that he might depart from me.
So there are three times he went to the Lord,
Lord, please remove the thorn,
remove the thorn, remove the thorn.
God never answers the prayer.
Then he realizes, oh, I must need the thorn.
Okay, verse number nine.
And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee,
for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
So this thorn in his side is making him weak.
And then he says this, most gladly therefore
will I glory in my infirmities.
That's sickness.
He said, then I'll just glory in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
So I believe the thorn in the flesh,
just by looking at that there together,
is that it was an infirmity in his life, okay?
But then he goes to verse number 10 and he expands on this,
because some of you might be in good health.
Some of you might not have any infirmities as it were,
you know, that other people suffer with.
So he says in verse number 10,
therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities.
He goes, yeah, this thorn in my flesh,
I take pleasure in it, in reproaches, in necessities.
The reason I have to work another job, brethren,
is there are necessities to take care of.
Am I gonna whine about it?
Hey, it could be a thorn in the flesh, okay?
I'm gonna take pleasure in it.
Pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, you have people that hate you,
people that are trying to cause you harm,
that could be a thorn in the flesh that God's given you.
You say, Lord, remove this persecution from me.
The Lord goes, actually, you need it.
Glory in it, in the stresses, stress, worries,
for Christ's sake, then he says this,
for when I am weak, then am I strong.
He goes, this thorn weakens me,
but actually, now that I'm weak, now I am strong,
because in weakness, now we depend on the strength of God
to get through day by day,
and God's strength in our life, of course,
much stronger than our own flesh.
You know, it meets our every need.
So instead of desiring for every thorn in the flesh
to be removed, look at it from a positive perspective.
Yeah, let's pray about it, let's pray about it twice,
let's pray about it thrice, okay?
But if the Lord's, if you come to realize,
you know what, I need this thorn.
I was talking to a lady once, such a sad story,
I won't go into it, so much, so much heartache,
and I said, I'm so sorry that you've had to go through that.
She goes, don't be sorry,
that's what led me to get saved.
Like all this hardship is what broke me to go,
Lord, where are you, God, where are you, help me.
And then she heard the gospel and trusted Christ.
She goes, if it wasn't for all these problems,
all this heartache, all this damage in my life,
I probably would never get saved.
God sometimes allows these things, right?
So we don't have to be so quick
to remove every thorn in our flesh.
Look at it from a positive perspective, all right?
So we see something here.
The Lord allows that thorn in the flesh, number one,
sometimes to keep you humble,
but number two, most importantly,
to be made strong in Christ.
Made stronger than you've ever been.
Not strong in this flesh, all right, let the flesh be weak.
But if I rely on the Lord, the inner man,
that new man can be stronger
than it's ever been in Christ Jesus.
All right, idioms in light,
English idioms influenced by the Bible, part four.
I'm glad, I'm done.
I'm done, we'll start a new series next week.
All right, let's pray.
Heavenly Father, God, thank you for the power of your word.
Thank you for the Bible,
the King James Bible that you've given us,
and Lord, just how precious it is to understand
how much it has influenced our language.
And sometimes, Lord, the way we use this day,
it does line up with the Bible.
Sometimes it's completely different.
But Lord, help us just to appreciate our language.
Help us to appreciate that you've given us a word
that is perfect, that has influenced it.
And Lord, it's always good to just go back to your word
and really understand what you meant by these idioms
that we learned there.
So, Lord, thank you for the understanding,
thank you for the wisdom,
and Lord, thank you for everything
that you've given us in our flesh.
We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.
All right, please take your hymnals.
137.
137, if you've got a thorn in the flesh
that's giving you annoyance,
then let's take this.
In times like this, we need a Savior.
In times like this, we need an anchor.
We need the Lord to be our strength.
One, three, seven.
In times like these.
One, three, seven.
One rock, this rock is Jesus.
Yes, He's the one.
This rock is Jesus, the only one.
Be very sure, be very sure.
Your anchor holds and grips the solid rock.
In times like this, you need the Bible.
In times like this, oh, be not idle.
Be very sure, be very sure.
Your anchor holds and grips the solid rock.
This rock is Jesus.
Yes, He's the one.
This rock is Jesus, the only one.
Be very sure, be very sure.
Your anchor holds and grips the solid rock.
In times like these, I have a Savior.
In times like these, I have an anchor.
I'm very sure, I'm very sure.
My anchor holds and grips the solid rock.
This rock is Jesus.
Yes, He's the one.
This rock is Jesus, the only one.
I'm very sure, I'm very sure.
My anchor holds and grips the solid rock.
Thanks for watching.