Shock And Awe - [Matthew 7:28-29]

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It's a sad day in my life today. We say goodbye to an old friend in the
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Sermon on the Mount. Take your Bibles please to Matthew chapter 5, 6 and 7.
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I think this is maybe message 68 or 69 on the Sermon on the Mount, over 100 verses. And Lord willing we'll finish today,
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I'll go on vacation tomorrow so this is a good ending point. Matthew chapter 7, today we'll be looking at verses 28 and 29.
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I don't know if you get amazed very easily. We live in a culture where not much shocks us anymore.
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When you have the internet in your home and TV blaring, news is instantaneous.
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Something that happens 3 ,000 miles away can be in our home, in our homes and we've kind of seen it all.
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Nothing really shocks us, nothing amazes us that much. My question to you this morning would be, when was the last time you were struck out of your senses by something?
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When was the last time, let's push it a little bit, that someone gave a sermon or a talk or shared and you sat there and you thought, that just strikes me and I am astounded.
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I am in awe. I am amazed by what I just heard. It's a rare thing these days to sit there and say, that message knocked the wind out of me.
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I'm speechless. I don't know how to respond. We'll find out today that that's exactly how they responded to the preaching of Jesus Christ.
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As you know, just with a little wrap up, Matthew chapter 5, 6 and 7, since Augustine's day has been known as the
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Sermon on the Mount. Very obvious because it's a sermon and it was on a mountain.
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If you look at Matthew chapter 5 verses 1 and 2, Jesus saw the crowds. He went up on the mountain.
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Lots of mountaintop experiences in the Gospel of Matthew. The third temptation, on a mountain.
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The transfiguration, on a mountain. The very commission, on a mountain. And Jesus, almost with deliberation, goes up the mountain like Moses would go up to Sinai to get the
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Word of God and then deliver it. Here now, Jesus, the new prophet, the Deuteronomy 18 prophet that Moses proclaimed would come, now gives
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God's Word. Quite the parallel. And here we have this sermon where Jesus just amazes the people.
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Summarized with one word. You had to summarize the Sermon on the Mount with one word. You would summarize it with the word, righteousness.
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Here comes the new king that has been prophesied of old, and the king comes and he proclaims a kingdom of righteousness.
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Not just external righteousness like the scribes and Pharisees had, but internal as well. And I just love this sermon.
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I hate to say goodbye to it. Sadly, not everyone loves the sermon. Nikita Khrushchev, while in the
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United States, said, I tell you what the difference between Christians and me is.
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And that is if you slap me on the face, I'll hit you so hard your head will fall off.
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Quite different than Jesus' words about turning the other cheek. Not everybody likes this sermon and is amazed by it.
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Harry Elmer Barnes said, Once we make the candid examination of the actual teachings of Jesus, insofar as we know them, it must be admitted that they are not only archaic, but even destructive of any advanced civilization.
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If the teachings of Jesus as they exist were applied to contemporary society, nothing less than anarchy and the destruction of the civilized order would inevitably follow.
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But we love the Sermon on the Mount. Why? Because God has given us a heart for the words of Christ, for his apostolic messengers.
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I love this sermon. Jesus preaches the sermon, chapters 5, 6, and 7, and then the last four weeks we've seen him apply it.
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And he applies it this way, verses 13 and 14 of chapter 7. Enter. You've got to enter.
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You can't just coast in. And then he gives a second application. Remember that in verses 15 to 20 of chapter 7.
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He says, Beware. There are some false teachers that stand there and say, Don't enter. Or the false teachers say,
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Enter by the broad gate. Then Jesus gives more application. He says in verses 21 to 23,
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What? You could be self -deceived. Be careful. Many people will stand and say on Judgment Day, Lord, Lord, and we did all kinds of things.
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And they'll say, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. And then last week we saw the final warning that Jesus gives.
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It's like his sermon's over and then he gives the final application, the takeaways, the walkaways in verses 13 and following.
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Fourthly, he says in verses 24 through 27, You can't just hear and walk away.
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You have to hear and what? Obey. You have to hear and obey.
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It reminds me of a very liberal Christian theologian who had a little parable talking about Matthew chapter 7 towards the end.
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And his parable was an animal parable called Duckland. It was Sunday morning and all the ducks dutifully came to church, waddling through the doors and down the aisle into their pews where they comfortably squatted.
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When all were well settled, the hymns were sung, the duck minister waddled to his pulpit, opened the duck
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Bible and read, Ducks, you have wings. And with wings you can fly like eagles.
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You can soar into the sky. Use your wings. It was a marvelous, elevating duck scripture.
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And thus all the ducks... I've got to finish now.
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From this response, I don't want to finish. But I will. It was a marvelous, elevating duck scripture.
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And thus all the ducks quacked their assent with a hearty amen. And now we won't laugh.
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And then they plopped down from their pews and waddled. In other words, to do nothing about the sermon.
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Jesus says at the very end, as the Father has already said to me on the Mount Transfiguration, this is my beloved
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Son. Listen to Him. We've got to listen to the words of Jesus and obey them.
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Certainly by the grace of God. Certainly by the Spirit's power. But Jesus says, you must believe.
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Now we come to chapter 7 verses 28. Let's read it together or I'll read it. You follow along. Matthew 7, 28.
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If you have a Bible with Jesus' words in red, you notice these aren't red anymore. The sermon's over.
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But Matthew, underneath the inspiration of the Spirit of God, tells us the reaction to Jesus' sermon.
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When Jesus had finished these words, what words are those? The Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7.
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The crowds were amazed at His teaching. They were struck in their mind, is what the
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Greek says. They were dumbfounded. They were amazed. They were astonished. They were struck out of their senses.
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And I'm going to teach you a new Greek word today, so we can have the same kind of idea of what was going on.
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Never did a man speak like this. And the response was astonishment. The Greek word for astonishment is ekplaso.
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Ekplaso. And to get you to memorize it, and to get you to remember it, I'm going to say it's close to another word, and that other word is espresso.
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Ekplaso, espresso. If you can't remember the Greek word ekplaso, then remember espresso.
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It's this astonishment. And by the way, the Greek text is, it was an ongoing, it's imperfect tense for those of you that have studied the language.
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It was over and over and over and over. The implication is, as Jesus would give a point in chapter 5, they were dumbstruck.
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He'd give a point in chapter 6, they were bewildered. You can almost tell there's this buzz of that look on their face when they just think,
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I've never heard anything like this in my life. Astonishment. Sometimes the
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Bible punctuates itself with astonishment. How about this? You'll remember this.
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Romans 11 .33. O -H.
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The depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and how unfathomable
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His ways. It means to expel by a blow.
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It's like getting hit in the gut. Have you ever got hit in the stomach right up here? You just...
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The figurative response to Jesus' words were... Who talks like that?
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By the way, the English word for astonish means to strike with thunder. That's a great picture of what happened when people heard
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Jesus preach. Thirteen times in the New Testament, this word is used to describe the reaction of people who listen to Jesus.
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Overwhelmed. Matthew 13 .54. Don't turn there, just listen. And coming to His hometown,
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He began teaching them in their synagogue so that they became ekpleso and said, where did this man get the wisdom and these miracles?
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Matthew 19 .25. When the disciples heard this, talking about the eye of the camel.
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Eye of the camel. That would have been an interesting ekspleso. The eye of a needle and the camel going through it.
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They were very astonished. Ekpleso and said, who then could be saved? And the last use in Matthew is found in chapter 22, verse 33.
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When the multitudes heard this, where He's talking about, I am the God of Abraham. I am the
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God of Jacob. I am the God of Isaac. He is not the God of the dead, but the living Jesus. They were ekpleso at His teaching.
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Here's a good set of words with a dash in between. Spellbound. They were spellbound.
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And it's not a momentary deal. Driven out of their senses by sudden shock.
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So here's what I'd like to do today. Let me remind you of some of the reasons why you should be shocked at the teachings of Jesus Christ.
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So we respond to Revelation. The first reason, or the first point, if you will, for this outline.
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I have five, but I probably won't get through them all. So just to say that up front, we'll see what happens.
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The first reason why you should be ekpleso'd at the teaching of Jesus is you should be amazed at His authority.
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The way He taught with authority. And by the way, that's what the text says. Look at verse 29. You should be amazed at the preaching of Jesus because He preached with authority.
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Verse 29, for He was teaching them as one having authority and not as their scribes. He didn't come along and say the
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Bible says, the rabbis said, the rabbi who quoted so -and -so rabbi who quoted so -and -so scribe who quoted so -and -so
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Sadducee who quoted so -and -so Pharisee. He spoke in first person.
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I don't even find a thus saith the Lord in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Do you? Some speak by authority.
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Jesus speaks with authority. You know the difference? Of course you do. By the way, if I ever give you a quote,
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Arthur Pink said, John MacArthur said, why do I do that? Because I want to show you that I'm well read?
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No. Lots of times I do it because people can say things better than I can. But often I say it because if you don't believe me, there's an authority that you might recognize.
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Oh, John Calvin said this, Tozer said that. At least it's not Abendroth's weird idea. Other scholars say the same thing.
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But Jesus isn't doing that. He doesn't need to quote an external source. Rabbi Shammai said such and such.
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Because Jesus is authority incarnate. He preaches with authority. And show me someone who preaches with authority, and I'll show you someone that preaches such a message that people respond with conviction.
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Stott always told about those preachers these days that are like Chinese jugglers. You have one person kind of stand against the wall like that, and the art of the
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Chinese knife thrower is how far he can come to you, throwing the knife straight at your head, and then miss.
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All around your body, so when you step away you see the silhouette of the person. And Stott said some preachers are so like that, they preach without authority.
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They preach around the person and never preach right to the conscience. You don't want to preach like some
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Chinese knife juggler. Jesus didn't preach that way. These people were used to the fodder of dry, boring, sharing kind of talks, and here
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Jesus comes, and He demands a verdict, and they're shocked. No more dry, boring kind of sermons, quoting rabbi after quoting rabbi, footnote after bibliography.
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No. He speaks with power, with conviction. And by the way, true or false,
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Jesus didn't go to seminary. Jesus didn't have Hebrew language school. Jesus did what
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His Father did, and He was called a what? A carpenter. Here is the carpenter. But He's the divine
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God Himself. He's the divine lawgiver. And by comparison, these other preachers that they had heard were sniveling, driveling, boring teachers who had no authority.
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If you teach a Sunday school, by the way, if you teach a Bible study, if you preach from the pulpit, if you teach at VBS, I think it might be good if we would preach with authority and teach with authority as well.
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Or why teach at all? This kind of preaching would get most pastors kicked out of most churches today.
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I don't mean this kind, me. I mean this kind, Jesus. Because people want to kind of share.
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Who are you? One person standing there telling us all these things. We like to have a conversation.
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Can you hear this around Jesus' words? They were dumbstruck. Maybe they wanted Socratic method of learning.
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Maybe they wanted a conversation. Maybe they wanted that, but that's not what Jesus gave them because He thundered forth the
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Word of God with authority, which means with conviction. Today when you preach at people, they're like, well, who do you think you are?
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Don't throw stones in glass houses. Let's have chats, quiet talks, sharing, storytelling, some skits.
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I've read of mime ministry. We'd hate to have a mime ministry. That wouldn't last very long.
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You step on a mime, that was the end of the ministry. But I'm talking about maybe some churches need a mime ministry.
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But mime ministries? Show me a church with mime ministry and I'll show you a church that doesn't think
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Jesus' teaching with the apostles has any authority at all. Our sufficiency. I've heard of churches with poker ministries.
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Jesus preaches with authority. Robert Truller Jr.
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just said for his new church, I'll probably have five to ten minute messages throughout the program.
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But it won't be sitting down with three points in a poem. People are interested in other ways to communicate the message, such as interviews as opposed to a talking head.
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You ought to be amazed that Jesus preached with authority and conviction followed. I'm not amazed by other kind of ten minute story preaching.
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Number two, be amazed at Jesus' insistence that before salvation is offered, sin must be owned.
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Now the first one, be amazed that Jesus preached with authority, is right from the text, 729. These are now derived from the
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Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere. First one straight from the text. But there are other times people were amazed at Jesus' teaching and other ways you ought to be amazed at the preaching of Jesus.
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By the way, this presupposes that you have begun my summer homework assignment to you. What was my summer homework assignment?
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Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John so you can see the words of Jesus so you might respond to them.
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Be amazed that Jesus' insistence that before salvation is offered, sin must be owned.
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Reformers used to say guilt, grace, gratitude. That order. Creation, fall, redemption.
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Go back to Matthew 5 .3 and look at how Jesus starts the sermon. You want to be amazed at something?
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Nobody starts a sermon like this. Except Jesus. People kind of say, well
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I've got to warm up the crowd a little bit. First impressions. It takes, you know, I'm going to try to get everybody to kind of like me and then
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I'll lay the hammer down later. There's a lot of different strategies. But I am amazed.
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I am applessoed that Jesus doesn't start with, hey we're all in this together.
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Kind of all sharing. He comes and the first thing He talks about is what? Sin. It has to be addressed.
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Show me someone that knows the depths of sin. I'll show you someone that greatly appreciates the salvation that Christ provides.
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Look at how He starts Matthew 5 .3. I'm shocked by this. I'm dumbfounded. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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Jesus starts off at the very beginning and says, blessed, not the poor financially, but blessed are those who are spiritually in rags, spiritually have their ribs showing, and spiritually are beggars, crouching down, will not lift their eye to even look up to the person who's giving them the money and saying,
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I am spiritually bankrupt. Who preaches like that? People preach today,
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I've got to somehow get your self -esteem up. That's not how Jesus preaches.
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That doesn't amaze me. Jesus says, here are the blessed, approved ones by God.
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Those that know they have no spiritual worth. That is amazing.
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They know chapter 11 is written over their spiritual bank account. They know nothing in them is good.
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And Jesus is saying this with the backdrop of all the Pharisees. No righteousness, no religion, but a personal acknowledgement of spiritual bankruptcy.
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Who talks this way anymore? Maybe that's why we're not that amazed.
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No hedging, no bargaining chips. No God, if you do this, then
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I'll do that. But it is, I don't believe in myself, I can't trust in myself. I'm a sinner, and God, I'm coming to you, and if it's not based on your own good pleasure to give me righteousness,
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I can't get it on my own. Lloyd -Jones says, a complete absence of pride, a complete absence of self -assurance, and of self -reliance.
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Jesus doesn't start the sermon with, God loves you. He doesn't start the sermon with, God's crazy about you.
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He doesn't start the sermon with, God unconditionally loves you. Did you remember what Dan said? Dan said he heard that when he was a drug addict.
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Why change if God loves me now? Great! Jesus says, we're going to deal with sin first.
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No resources to pay a monumental debt. And you think, he'll let us up for relief, verse 4.
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Here comes the comforting part. Here comes the kind of part that we yearn for.
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But I'm amazed. I'm eclipsed because he doesn't stop.
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He doesn't let up. He doesn't let you up for air. Remember when I used to dunk my sister and my younger brother, and you knew there's a spot you have to let them up if you were holding them underwater because you can kind of see the bubbles and you can see their eyes through the water like, it's time to let me up.
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Let me up! I need some breath. Here Jesus comes on the scene and you'd think he'd say,
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Father Abraham had many sons. You're covenant people. You're fine.
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You've got people who study the Bible all day. You're good to go. And he said, you want to be approved by God?
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Blessed are the poor in spirit. And verse 4, I am amazed that Jesus is preaching because he says, secondly, blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.
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In a world that yucks it up, laughs it up, entertainment, people are lusting for hedonism.
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Pack up your troubles. Drown out your troubles. Pleasure people. Pleasure crazy people.
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It's like the American dream. Who wants some kind of mourner? D. A.
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Carson said, the mourners, we just throw a wet blanket on them. They just spoil our fun. Happy are the unhappy.
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Blessed are the far cry from laughing ministry revivals, don't you think?
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What's the mourning over? The mourning is over an acknowledgement of personal sin.
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I'm mourning because I know I've broken God's righteous commands. I'm grieving. There are nine words for the
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Greek word mourn, and this is the most extreme. This is the most extreme, and it's used for the mourning that people have when you are burying a loved one.
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Crying. Howling. It's the kind of mourning that you say,
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I don't really want to cry right now, but I can't stop. I remember when
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Cheryl Farrar's mother died, Virginia Rowe, and I went to the funeral, and I would look over at Cheryl, and I just had buried my own mom four months before.
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I couldn't stop crying as I looked at Cheryl. This is the kind of grief that takes possession over your whole body, and you just bawl.
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Jesus amazes me. I hope He amazes you, because He doesn't come along and give people the wrong diagnosis, because then the solution would be wrong, but He says the issue is sin.
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Remember the rich young ruler, he runs up to Jesus, he kneels down before Jesus, and what does Jesus say? Great, you want eternal life?
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I give it to you. No, He says you call me good, but there's only one person who's good, and that's me, and if I'm good, and I'm God, that means you're not good, and you're not
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God, and that means you're a sinner, and then He gives him the law, because He wants to realize that he needs salvation.
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That sinner did not run up to Him like Peter did when Peter ran to Jesus and said, depart from me,
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I'm a sinful man, O Lord. You want to be great at VBS?
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You want to honor the Lord when it comes to home Bible study, Sunday school, preaching from the pulpit? Would you preach every time about sin?
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And then maybe the Lord will let you have experiences like Wesley did to the miners of Kingswood, who were so touched by the message, and they were so mourning over the message that the tears made
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Runnels be exposed on their face that was so full of soot and grime, as they were miners.
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Number three, the third reason to be amazed. I think, number one, you should be amazed at the authority of Jesus.
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Number two, be amazed that He dealt with sin first. Number three, be amazed that He stressed repentance.
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Be amazed that He stressed repentance. Turn with me, if you would, to Luke chapter 13.
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Luke chapter 13. This week, Ed McMahon died. This week,
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Farrah Fawcett died. And this week, of course, you all know, Michael Jackson died. What is the lesson for you?
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What's the lesson when these three people died? Answer? The wrong lesson is, celebrities die in three.
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That's the wrong lesson. Here's the lesson.
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According to Jesus, and I think you're going to be amazed. Here's the lesson.
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You're next. Get ready. That strikes me as odd, doesn't it, to you?
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That strikes me as something different than I would do. I think
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I would want to comfort, come alongside, and certainly Jesus many times did comfort. He is comfort incarnate.
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But when it comes to the eternal souls of men and women, the answer to a death, the thinking that goes along with, oh, somebody died, how should
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I think of this? The answer is, I could be next. And by the way, if it's not today, it's another day, but we all, short of the
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Lord's return, will die. Look at Luke 13. I'll show you the illustration. I'll show you the example.
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And it kicks me in the gut. It's like, who preaches like this? The Prince of Preachers is the most wonderful preacher.
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I think if Jesus talked about repentance, the underlying theme is, I want you to preach repentance at Bible study everywhere else you go, including evangelism.
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Luke 13. 1. Now on the same occasion, there were some present who reported to him about the Galileans whose blood
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Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. Here this horrible man, Pilate, has some henchmen to go in and murder some of the people in the temple.
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There's already blood in the temple with the sacrifices. Now the slain, executed people's blood is mingled with this blood.
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Soldiers of Pilate do this. And they say to Jesus, I mean, everybody knew about this back then.
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Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners, verse 2, than all the other Galileans because they suffered this fate?
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We know that if you're a bad sinner, then our theology says you're going to really get it. And so, they really got it.
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They must really be bad. That's how they were thinking. And what does
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Jesus say? Oh, that's horrible theology like Job's comforters. Don't fall into that trap of teaching people bad theology.
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Jesus didn't do any of that. What does He say? Verse 3, I tell you, no.
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But unless you repent, you will also likewise perish.
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Everyone's in danger. Heart attack, car wreck, plane wreck, choke on food, you're going to die.
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Verse 4, do you suppose that those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?
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I tell you, no. But unless you, you can feel that long
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Nathan -like finger coming out. Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
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I can't help but think about the tower, the twin towers that fell. 9 -11 -2001. How many people died?
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6 ,000. Yet 6 ,000 people die every day. Is it a tragedy?
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Of course. But Jesus wants us to get ready for that eternal that judgment day.
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I'm shocked he says this. This is kind of a red alert for the soul. Repent.
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Here's what Jesus says. Are you prepared? Who preaches like that?
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Our life is such a vapor. We all die and then judgment. Shame on those who just pat people on the proverbial forehead and say, everything's going to be good.
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Everything's going to work out alright. There's a movement now going on in churches where hell isn't to be talked about.
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Let's have a five year moratorium on talking about homosexuality as sinful. It's not what
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Jesus did. Dozer said, we dare not settle down to try to live as if things were normal. Nothing is normal while sin and lust and death roam the world pouncing upon one and another till the whole population has been destroyed.
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We have to preach repentance. When Jesus preached it, people were shocked. I think they'll do the same thing to you.
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Ezekiel, repent and turn away from all your transgressions. John the Baptist, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.
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The twelve disciples sent out by Jesus were preaching that men should repent. Peter after Christ's ascension, repent and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Christ Jesus.
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Paul preached repentance and you are to preach repentance.
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Repentance for the forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning with Jerusalem. Luke 24 47
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When you preach the gospel, I think you should say repent and believe. Circumcise yourselves to the
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Lord. Wash your heart from the wickedness. Break up, follow ground, turn, whatever words you want to use. Number four, be amazed at Jesus' full disclosure of the risk associated with following him.
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He didn't really kind of do this. I'll tell you this is an easy thing and then it was a bait and switch. Be amazed at Jesus' full disclosure of the risk associated with following him.
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We should be amazed and my goal here today is these are some amazing things that Jesus did and I think we could learn as well from him.
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Let's turn to Luke chapter 14 please. From Luke 13 to Luke 14. Again, the only one from Matthew 7 is found in the authority but I wanted to spill over a little bit more.
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I love to preach. I love to study the preacher of preachers. Be amazed at Jesus' full disclosure of the risk associated with following him.
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Luke 14 28 A fascinating wonderful passage of building.
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Now let's look at it. Luke 14 28 For which one of you when he wants to build a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?
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Implied in the question is nobody does something that's that silly. Otherwise there are ramifications.
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When he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him saying this man began to build and was not able to finish.
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Go to any third world country and you see foundations and structures that aren't all the way finished.
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They begin to build and they don't finish it. And if you were to meet the builder, you wouldn't go kudos, great job, way to go.
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Jesus says you want to follow me? You better get out your Excel spreadsheet and do the calculations to see if it is worth it.
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Because if your hope is anything less than the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, it is not going to be worth it because it's going to cost you everything.
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Jesus says basically calculate the cost because when it comes to following me, you have a white flag to put up for unconditional surrender.
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That's the only option. The other option is anything less than putting your arm up with a white flag is putting your arm up with some kind of weapon pointed at Jesus.
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Jesus says count the cost because you don't get to continue to like yourself.
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You don't get your own privileges. Oh, Jesus might grant you the continuation of your marriage and your relationship with your kids and your job at work, but he may just take it and you better be willing to lose it all.
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White flag or weapon, make your choice. You better get your spreadsheet out and figure it out a little bit.
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You can't just go oh, I think so. If I use the language of the street, here's the lesson
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Jesus is using. Look before you leap. You better just take a look over that edge because it's a long way down.
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And if you don't look before you leap, people will ridicule you. You'll be laughing stock.
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Oh, I'll start to follow Jesus and then it's not worth it. What do
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I do? Can I remain neutral? Verse 31. I'm amazed.
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I'm dumbstruck. Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with 10 ,000 men to encounter the one coming against him with 20 ,000?
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Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
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If the first lesson is look before you leap, the second one is something very close.
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You must leap. Look before you leap, but you can't remain neutral.
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And now says Jesus, you've got to go for it. The sinner must act. And I'm amazed that Jesus just, you know,
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I'm so amazed that unless God's working in someone's life, nobody could be saved. Oh, I guess that's the way it's supposed to be.
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No decision is a decision. Jump in the right direction.
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And then he says in verse 33, so then none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
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Let me tell you this. Someone said this to me a long time ago, and I think it's true. When was the last time after you gave the gospel to someone you challenged them to count the cost and tried to talk them out of it?
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To say, you know what, I just told you these are the parameters for eternal life, forgiveness of sins, substitutionary atonement, physical resurrection, belief in Christ Jesus means turning away from yourself and believing in him, eternal life with God incarnate in heaven.
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But then how many of us when it comes to evangelism says, now, I've told you that and that's all true. And it's worth it all.
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But you better look before you leap. And you better leap in the right direction. Who tries to talk people out of it anymore?
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We're so worried about some kind of getting a tick mark in our Bible. I've led 14 .5 people to the
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Lord. See my Bible? I have news for you. I have no tick marks in this Bible because I don't lead anybody to anything.
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Oh, I might preach the gospel and God might be pleased to use sinful people. But how about preaching the gospel and not giving them a truncated message that says, he's a savior, he's got hell insurance, he loves you, he wants to give you a full life.
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You come to Jesus and your marriage is going to be great, your kids are going to be great, everything is going to be great, your sports team is going to win, he's crazy about you.
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So people do. Come to Jesus and have your marriage be wonderful. Jesus says, you come to me.
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By the way, that kind of preaching doesn't make anybody sit there and go, I'm struck out of my mind.
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Who does this? The Pharisees don't, the Sadducees don't, TBN people don't, God Channel doesn't, nobody does this.
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Where is it? But preaching that says, it's all or nothing, look before you leap, it'll make you go, that's right.
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I don't know what kid just did that or if that was John Makarowski. At least
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Makarowski is listening to the message. Lastly, number five.
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Be amazed at Jesus' proclamation of God's free and sovereign grace.
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Be amazed at Jesus' proclamation of God's free and sovereign grace. Number one, be amazed at his authority.
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Number two, be amazed that he deals with sin. Three, amazed that he stresses repentance.
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Four, total disclosure. And number five, his proclamation of God's free and sovereign grace.
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No one says, oh, I'm amazed to find out that God helps those who help themselves.
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Who said that, by the way? Well, I just said it, but it's from Gandhi. Nobody's amazed because that's the
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American work ethic. That's the western work ethic. That's the eastern sinful work ethic where we all say, we just try, we cooperate.
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It's God and me. When I get to heaven, it's high five God, we did it. My brother would say. But grace is amazing because God doesn't say, you contribute one percent and I'll do the rest.
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You take the first step and I'll come over here. I'm waiting for you. Jesus is standing at the door and knocking and he's a gentleman
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Jesus and he would never kind of knock your house down. Who is amazed at that teaching?
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I'm not amazed at that teaching. It's all around there, but it doesn't amaze me. It doesn't astonish me.
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That's just how the world thinks of grace. People think grace is owed them. They think of unconditional election and their first response is, well, what if God didn't choose me?
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Friends, that is always and forever the wrong way to think about grace. That doesn't think about grace properly.
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It misunderstands grace. It shows it in your heart. You don't understand what the free, sovereign grace of God even is.
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Now, certainly, immature people in Christ and new Christians are grasping things. I'm not slamming them.
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Ignorance is fine for the immature, but immaturity isn't good when you've been a
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Christian for five and ten and fifteen years. Even back in Matthew chapter 5, approved by God are the poor in spirit.
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Approved by God are those who mourn. Approved by God are those who are gentle. It's the absolute grace of God.
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Turn with me to Matthew chapter 20. We're going to have to end here. I want to show you the utter, sovereign, naked, alien grace of God.
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It's crucial. It is the message of Christianity.
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And for this cooperating kind of get -together, God does His part, you do yours, meet in the middle,
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God's given pervenient grace to everyone, God's given common, sufficient grace for everyone, and now He's waiting for you to do your part.
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That doesn't shock. That doesn't awe. That doesn't astound. That doesn't make me go... But this passage right here in Matthew 20, it makes me say
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I can't think of hardly any other passage that's like this.
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That as we watch Jesus correct these people,
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I think you'll feel the correction in your own heart to remind even the most mature
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Christian here that we need to be reminded about the sovereignty of grace. It's implied in the name, grace is sovereign, but now we've so gone away from grace, we have to say it's sovereign grace.
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Grace is always sovereign, but now we need to be reminded that it's sovereign grace, and here is this passage that is at Plesso.
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In the context of salvation, dealing with the rich young ruler in chapter 19, Jesus says in chapter 20, verse 1 of Matthew, buckle your seatbelts, for the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
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Typically you'd do that 6 a .m. to 6 p .m. I'll be going to San Francisco tomorrow and I'll drive by Home Depot's and there will be hundreds of people out there every day, day workers trying to get a job, day laborers.
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Verse 2, when he had agreed with the laborers for Denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.
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It's early in the day, it's a full day's work, it's full good day's pay, normal.
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They wanted to work, they're desperate for work. Here's God, don't forget, talking about this landowner who says,
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I pick you, but it means I don't pick you, don't ever forget that. Picking some, not picking others. When he agreed with the laborers for Denarius, he sent them into the vineyard.
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Verse 3, and when he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, or in the
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Agora, start the day at 6, that's 0 hundred for the thinking back in those days, now it's 3 hours later, it's 9 am, some people standing around, they didn't get hired by someone else.
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Said to those, verse 4, you go too into the vineyard, and whatever is right, I'll give you. And so they went.
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Had to trust him. Take his word, he'd do the right thing. Whatever's right,
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I'll do. I'll be righteous. He went again about the 6th, noon, and the 9th, 3 in the afternoon, and did the same thing.
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No reason given, maybe extra work, doesn't matter, that's not the point. And about the 11th hour, 5 pm, they only worked till 6, he went out, found others standing, and said to them, why have you been standing here, idle all day long?
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These people are desperate, they've got to get some food for their family, and some money, they'll do anything. Verse 7, because no one hired us.
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You too go into the vineyard. Don't milk
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Mrs. And when evening had come, the Kurios, owner, lord of the vineyard said to his foreman, call the laborers, pay them their wages.
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Okay. No harm, no foul. Pay their wages. Okay, everything's going along well.
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So far I haven't really thought... Bless so. I almost spit, actually.
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I almost, just huge spit came out. Beginning, he'd say with the first, and then the last,
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I wouldn't be shocked. Beginning with the last group, here we see what's going on.
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Here we get a little inkling. Pay them their wages. They had to pay at the end of the day, that was according to Mosaic law,
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Deuteronomy 24. And Jesus, the master storyteller, is about ready for the ek pleso moment.
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By the way, if you'd say, send the people who came at 6am privately, keep all the others over here, we'll pay them and send them on their way.
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Privately, those at 9 o 'clock were hired, the landowner will take care of them, but that's not how he did it.
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Send them all. When those hired about the 11th hour came, each one received a denarius.
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Hallelujah. I'm supposed to work for a denarius. He hired people to work all day for denarius.
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These people must be thinking, I got a denarius to work one hour. Wouldn't you be happy? One hour.
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Now, if you've been working for three hours, what's your mind doing right now?
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The abacus of your mind is going, wow, three days work. What if you've been there since noon?
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Six days work. What if you've been there since nine? I'm going to Tahiti. I mean, you're thinking, this is,
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I guess I couldn't go. You're thinking this, and if you showed up at 6am, you're thinking, I get 12 days work.
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And you are just sitting there cracking your knuckles going, I'm stylish. This is excellent.
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Seems logical. Seems, but it doesn't factor in grace.
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The first had been paid. Sent away. No murmuring. The last had been paid.
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Sent away. No murmuring. But they're all together here. So everyone can understand as Jesus drives this home like a nail gun.
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When those hired first came, verse 10, they thought they would receive.
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They also received each one a denarius. And when they received it, they grumbled at the landowner.
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Grumbling in progress. Over and over. Complaining. Whispering. Muttering. Who can tolerate this treatment?
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Call the unions. I'm calling
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J -Seculo live. If Johnny Cochran was alive, I'm calling him too. This is unfair.
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I'm displeased. I'm disappointed. Verse 12, saying these last men have worked only one hour. And you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.
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But he answered and said to them, that's the last click.
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He's listening, isn't he? But he answered and said to them, friend,
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I'm doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? You want fairness?
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I gave fairness. You want justice? I gave justice. I was good just to pick you and not pick someone else.
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Take what is yours, verse 14, and go your way. But I wish to give this last man the same as you.
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It is my prerogative to grant sovereign grace. And when I want to be generous, I get to be generous.
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We eat, sleep, and live in a works righteousness system. We are like the proverbial goldfish in the bowl of works righteousness.
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And when grace comes along, we flinch and we don't like it. How can that be? They get grace and sovereign grace.
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How can Jeffrey Dahmer get saved on his deathbed? If it was a real conversion, you mean
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Jeffrey Dahmer is going to be in heaven? And if Mother Teresa believed what she believed when she died and Mother Teresa is not going to make it because she is trusting in works, something is not right.
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And you know what is not right? Our view of grace. We don't understand grace.
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We can't even really sing if we are not careful. What is so amazing about grace? Amazing grace?
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We don't sing that because it is God and me together. Verse 15,
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Jesus gives two questions shot across their bow as they leave.
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Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Is it not?
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Or is your eye envious because I am generous? Is your eye, do you have an evil eye, an envious eye, a jealous eye?
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The last shall be first and the first shall be last. The spiritual point is this.
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God with His sovereign grace grants generous salvation to all believers.
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Completely and according to the riches of His grace. Whether you are saved early in life or late, whether you are a social rascal or some pastor's kid, whether you are weak, mature, strong, first century, 21st century,
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American, Indian, Jew, Gentile, rich, poor, child, elderly, slave, free, missionary, every
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Christian by the sovereign hand of God receives the crown of life and the crown of righteousness. And anything less than thinking about grace will try to think about what we owe, are owed by God and then the shock and the awe is gone.
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The sovereign grace of God, picking and choosing, doing what
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He pleases. Matthew 8, 1 says when Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed
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Him. Homework remains the same. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
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And ask God to let you be amazed as if you are reading the Scriptures for the first time again.
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Let's pray. Thank you Father for this day. We thank You that You sent Your Son. We thank
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You that we are free people. Free in Christ. Free from the slavery to Satan.
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Free from the shackles of sin that forces us to do things. And Lord we are looking forward to that day of heaven where sin is completely gone.
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And Lord I just pray today that the congregation might be encouraged to remember that they serve a great
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Savior who was the greatest preacher ever and who when He preached shocked people and gave them astonishment.
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And Lord to whatever degree it is possible to follow Your Son as a church and to whatever degree it is right, help us to preach like Jesus did.
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With authority, with grace, talking about sin, talking about grace.
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Lord we would love to see You work through a people like us as we try to emulate Christ in His preaching.
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I thank You Lord for Your faithfulness over the past probably two to three years as we've looked on the Sermon on the Mount. I pray that You'd make us all different as we get to know about a righteous
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King who demands righteousness and then provides Himself righteousness. Thank You that He's been raised from the dead in Jesus' name.