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Sermon
The Gospel of Matthew

Two Ways to Live

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April 6, 2025
Matthew 7:13-20
Steven Lee
Pastor for Preaching & Vision

The Gospel

Apologetics & Truth

Courage & Boldness

Transcript

0:18It's good to be back. Thank you for those who prayed for my daughter and I as I spoke at a missions conference in Indonesia, and I'm happy to report that the Lord is on the move halfway around the world, drawing people to himself and causing the gospel to go forth to the very ends of the earth. So the Lord answered many of your prayers and enabled me to strengthen the serve and the strength that he supplied. So thank you for praying. I'm very grateful for your prayers. Last Sunday, pastor Nick, very helpfully called us to be children who trust our Father In the previous passage. We are to ask and we are to seek and we are to knock.

1:03That section ends in a sense, the main portion of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. And this morning we have the first of two sermons that look at Jesus' conclusion to this sermon and his sermon. The sermon on the Mount ends with four images presenting a choice that we can either follow God or we can go our own way. So may we have ears to hear this morning. Would you join me as I pray? Father in heaven, we need your help. We need your help to see your way as the good path. Lead us down paths of righteousness for your name sake, help us to see that your path of righteousness is lined with grace and help help us to be those who love your ways.

1:59Do this in so much more for your glory and for our joy in Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. Have you ever felt a little embarrassed by the exclusive claims of Christianity? Have you ever felt a little bit embarrassed by the exclusive claims of Christianity? Maybe you've heard someone say the following or have had this conversation, you really believe that God is going to condemn people who don't believe in Jesus. What about all those who never hear? What about all those really devout religious Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus or Mormons? What about really nice people who don't believe in Jesus at all?

2:51You think God is going to send them to hell, Believing that the Christian faith is the only way and that all others are wrong can often seem a little bit arrogant. Maybe people think you're being dismissive or disrespectful or old fashioned, or you're just plain old judgmental you, judgmental Christians always thinking you have the answers. Christianity's exclusivity can seem out of place in our pluralistic society that values tolerance and diversity. But as we'll see, Jesus was never embarrassed about the exclusive claims of Christianity. John chapter 14, verse six, I am the way and the truth and the life.

3:44No one, no one comes to the Father except through me. Those are the words of Jesus. That's a mic drop statement. If there ever was one, Jesus does not back down from saying he is the only way you will ever get to the Father. There's no other way. And that's precisely what he does. In the ending of his sermon this morning, his calling his audience to consider the exclusive claims that he has made, will you serve and obey the father or will you try to serve yourself? He's been doing that throughout this sermon. These choices have been presented to his audience. Will you follow the letter of the law thinking that you can earn the righteousness of God or will you follow the spirit and the intention of what God actually intends?

4:38Will you practice the righteousness that gets you the praise of man? Or will you practice the righteousness that God produces in his people that obtains the father's reward and commendation? Will you lay up treasures in heaven or will you lay up treasures on earth? He makes the kingdom and a a very binary choice. And his conclusion, Jesus presents four images that demand a response. He gives us two gates. You can see that in verse 13 and 14, A narrow gate that is hard but leads to life and a wide gate that is easy but leads to destruction. And then in verses 15 to 20, he gives us two trees. A good tree that will bear good fruit or a diseased tree, a bad tree that will bear bad fruit.

5:29Then there are two claims in verses 21 to 23, some who claim to know God but at the end of the day will not know him, do not obey him and will be cast aside and those who truly confess the Lord as savior. And then there are two builders in verse 24 to 27, those who build their houses on two fundamentally different foundations on the rock or on the sand. And in each of those cases, he's saying, which one are you? Which gate will you go through? Which tree are you? Which claim will you make and which builder are you this morning? And so what we're gonna do is to look at the two gates in verse 13 and 14, and then the two trees in 15 to 20.

6:17And Jesus wants us to take the pathway that leads to life this morning. He, he's graciously calling us to be these healthy trees that would bear good fruit, the fruit of righteousness that results in eternal life. And so which pathway will we take? Which tree will we be? So listen, as I read verses 13 and 14 again, here we get these two gates enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction. And those who enter by it are many for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life. And those who find it are few. In this passage, Jesus is telling us there are only two ways to live.

7:10There's a narrow gate and there's a wide gate. You can go the way of the world or you can go my way. But you can't sit on the fence, you can't follow me halfway. You can't play both sides. It's all or nothing. There's only two choices. This is not going into whole foods where you get a whole aisle of different peanut butters. This is Aldi, right? You get two choices. You get the off brand smooth peanut butter and the off brand crunchy peanut butter. That's it. No almond butter, no cashew butter. Jesus is saying, which will you choose? You only get two choices. A similar choice was presented to Israel in the book of Joshua.

7:51Joshua stands before the nation. And he says, choose this day who you will serve. You can either serve the gods of all the other surrounding nations, the gods of Canaan, all of these other pagan gods. You can follow their practices in their ways where you can follow Yahweh. And he says, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Now, if we slow down for a moment and wonder, why does Jesus end his sermon this way? You know, he could end with a really nice story. He could end in, in all sorts of different ways, maybe encouragement. Why does he conclude with these four images? I think it's because he's given really difficult teaching up to this point, really counter-cultural teaching about the nature of his kingdom.

8:49Uh, just just reflect a little bit with me. The kingdom of heaven is marked by mourning and, and meekness and being merciful. Jesus does not promise financial freedom, limitless power, and the ability to achieve your dreams. He doesn't say, join my Ponzi scheme, you're gonna get rich like filthy rich. What does he say? You're gonna get persecution and reviling and maligning and people are gonna utter all sorts of falsehood about you on my account. Come with me. And he says, your, your righteousness in this kingdom needs to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. And in fact, you need to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

9:34That is not exactly the most marketable message. If Jesus had employed a marketing company that'd say maybe soften some of those edges a little bit, you know, play up the joy and the blessing and the eternal life, Jesus, Jesus sermon was delivered before the large crowds and many of whom were not disciples. And so he wants them to know what's at stake. He's given them hard words and he wants them to choose. These roads either lead to destruction or to life. This is a serious and pivotal moment as they hear Jesus put before them death and life. So the first thing Jesus does is that he warns that the wide gate is easy.

10:21You see that in your text there. Verse 13, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction. That word easy could mean spacious or roomy or comfortable. It's easy to go down the pathway towards destruction. In other words, the the path, this wide path goes downhill. So it's an easy walkway, it's smooth and paved, it's inviting and it's lined with comfort and encouragement and ease. And it promises joy and pleasure, but it ultimately results in destruction. In what way is this true? Well, the wide gate is the way of the world. And Jesus says that those who enter it by it are many.

11:09So in other words, everyone who does not believe in Jesus is going down this wide way is going the way of the world. And so what's the way of the world? Well, the world says you do. You do whatever is right in your own eyes. The wide path requires no repentance because there's no such thing as sin. The wide gate just says, just be a good person. Try to hurt as few people as possible. The wide gate rejects the gospel, rejects our need for a savior. But in addition to this outright rejection of Jesus, rejection of the gospel, very often the way of the world distorts the teachings of Jesus. The wide gate masquerades falsehoods as truth.

11:57So let me highlight a number of ways there. There's things called easy believism. Just pray a prayer and you're saved, no need for ongoing repentance or obedience or waging a war against your sin. This is the attitude that says, I prayed a prayer when I was five, one saved, always saved. I don't have to obey, don't, don't judge me in how I live my life. I I'm saved. I got my ticket. It ignores that Jesus is to be our Lord. There's moralistic therapeutic deism. God just wants me to be happy and healthy and and nice. He's my therapist and he just wants me to flourish and, and so doing what I want helps me flourish most.

12:39And God would be before me, wouldn't he? This ignores Jesus' call for ongoing sanctification or there's the prosperity gospel. We looked at this last week. Nick helped draw that, drew that out. God's my genie in the bottle. He's my vending machine. He just wants me to be healthy and wealthy. I can name it and claim it. It ignores Jesus' promise of persecution and of suffering where there's universalism, everyone is going to be saved. God is too loving to send anyone to hell. He wouldn't ever condemn anybody. It's the attitude that ignores God's judgment, ignores his wrath and fundamentally does not understand his holiness.

13:23Or there's legalism if he just do the right things. If you just followed the rules like the Pharisees, if you can just get it right enough kind of stringent enough, then we will have earned our right standing with God. It's all about me and what I can do. And it ignores that even our good deeds are filthy rags and we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus alone. So the road to hell will be marked by unbelief and half truths about the gospel. The road to hell will be marked by unbelief and half truths about Christ's teaching and Christ's gospel, it will be marked by those who thought they were good enough or moral enough, they tried hard enough and it will be marked by those who go the easy way, the acceptable way, the popular way, the comfortable way.

14:16It makes no demands and ultimately it will result in destruction. And sadly, Jesus says many, many will enter by this way. In contrast, we see the narrow gate. You see that in verse 14. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life. That word hard could also mean constrict or oppress or afflict and, and I think what Jesus is alluding to I is that this road is lined with suffering and persecution. And I think this makes a lot of sense in light of what he's talked about in his sermon already. He, he said, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. Chapter five, verse 10 or the next verse.

15:03Blessed are you and others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. That is the pathway of blessing, which seems so counter-cultural. So unlike what we actually want, I would prefer people praise me and love me and care about me. And he says, this is the path of blessing. If we look kind of beyond the Sermon on the Mount, but into Matthew's gospel as a whole, we see those same themes emerge. Oh, look with me at Matthew 10 22 or just listen. He says, you will be hated by all for my name's sake or Matthew 10 38 and whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me or Matthew 24, 9, then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death and you will be hated by all nations.

16:01For my names sake, that is quite the marketing campaign. Jesus is saying this is a difficult road. It's marked by suffering and persecution. Acts 1422 is probably a good summary of what Jesus has been teaching through many tribulations. We must enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations. We must enter the kingdom of God. So the narrow gate is marked by persecution and suffering. Jesus does not want to give a bait and switch. He's given his sermon, he's given his hard teaching, and now he's calling his people to a decision. And he says, you gotta know what's at stake. It's life and death. But this is not an easy road.

16:47Count the cost and count it. Well. This is the path that leads to life. He invites his listeners through the narrow gate on a road that is marked by hardship, but where the payoff is so, so worth it. Now does that mean that Christians will experience persecution? Yes. Yes. Two Timothy three 12 indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Now, it may not be all the time and it may not be what our brothers and sisters in other countries experience, but all of Christ's followers should expect at some level to experience persecution and reviling and maligning and marginalization on account of Jesus, maybe from family or coworkers or neighbors.

17:39This narrow gate though leads to life Throughout the sermon, Jesus has said again and again, this is the pathway of blessing and life and rewards and gladness. The payoff is going to be so good, and yet it's gonna be through suffering and persecution and trial. And Jesus teaches that few will find it and, and I think what we should keep in mind is that we should not be surprised that many will reject Jesus. Many will reject the gospel of Christ, the gift of salvation. So the the question may be, how do we know if we're going down the wide road or the narrow road? Have we gone through the wide gate or the narrow gate And, and I think this is the exact purpose of Jesus' sermon up to this point.

18:36If you go back and read the entire sermon, he's describing what his kingdom citizens look like. Are we hungering and thirsting for righteousness? Are our good work shining forth and glorifying our father? Are we seeking to obey by God's grace? And are we following his commands? Are we resisting the urge to seek the praise of man? Are we praying our Father in heaven? Hallowed be your name. Not to us, not to us, oh Lord, but to your name. Be glory and honor and praise. Are we seeking first the kingdom of heaven? Are we laying up treasures? Not on earth, but in heaven? The whole sermon up to this point has been a diagnostic question.

19:16We're to read it and say, is that what I want to be become more and more like, or I don't really like that part of your teaching, Jesus, that persecution stuff. But the golden rule, that's not too bad, but that persecution meekness, I'm gonna leave that behind. Jesus is teaching us what it looks like to be his kingdom citizens. Does this sermon describe who we are becoming? Does this sermon describe who we are and who we are increasingly becoming that? That's a hard and convicting question, isn't it? Because none of us measures up perfectly to what Jesus has put forth. But is that our trajectory?

20:06Is that where we're headed by God's grace? I think that is the very purpose of Jesus' sermon up to this point. There's two roads. One is narrow and difficult, but it leads to life. Jesus wants us to take that road, but it is the road where we have to die to ourself and we have to fight sin. And we come under the lordship of Jesus and he calls us to forgive others and to obey and to walk in his ways. But there's only one other choice. And it's the way of the world. And it's easy, it's downhill, it's smooth, it's paved, and it leads to death and destruction. Which road will we take? Which gate have we gone through?

20:50This leads to the next metaphor. In verses 15 to 22. Trees fall along as I read, 15 to 20 beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but are inwardly ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the disease tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a disease tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. So verse 15, we get our second imperative here.

21:36Second command beware. There's these false prophets that have an appearance of looking good, but inside they're just there to devour the sheep. So Jesus disciples are to be watchful for foxes in the henhouse. False prophets are known for what? Well, for speaking falsehoods, they give the wrong message. They say peace. Peace. When there is no peace, they instruct God's people to go the wrong way. That narrow gate, that that's too hard, take the wide road instead, God isn't gonna condemn anyone. Jesus doesn't indicate who these false prophets are or what exactly they're teaching. I think it's left intentionally vague to have broad application.

22:23A false prophet is anyone who misrepresents God. It's anyone who misrepresents God or distorts Jesus' teaching. And these false prophets misrepresent the gospel. They oppose God's message and his messengers, they disguise themselves in sheep's clothing, which means that these false prophets are going to look really attractive. Uh, they're gonna have the right credentials. They're gonna be able to recite the right creeds right along with us. They're gonna claim special wisdom, but they will cleverly and subtly reinterpret the true meaning of scripture. They will preach just enough right stuff and then twist it to draw people astray off of the narrow road onto the wide road.

23:11False teachers will show their true colors by their fruit. That's what Jesus is saying. And, and, and so you can look at their lives. Do they submit to the leaders of their local church or to their fellow elders? And do they exert their authority and double down on being right? Or do they humbly submit to those around them? Uh, does their marriage or family reveal godliness or do they just put on a show When people are watching, are they in relationship with others where they're known and loved and where people can actually see what their life is like? Or do they stand aloof claiming to be special messengers from God?

23:51Do they mainly are, are they mainly concerned with growing their following or feeding Christ's sheep? The, the word fruit here in the New Testament is often used of describing not just what people do, but it's the totality of their life. Everything that is produced in and from them, it includes how they speak and they act. And so one can put on a convincing facade for just a while, but if you look at their private lives, if you lift up the hood, you're going to see that it's rotten and decayed from the inside. And so Jesus' rhetorical question, are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

24:30Of course not. While a thornbush can produce berries that look good from afar, it's ultimately bitter. It's inedible and it's even toxic. And so it is with false prophets. Jesus says in verse 17, every healthy tree bears good fruit. It can't help but do so, but the disease tree bears bad fruit. It's in its very nature. So the proof of true righteousness is going to be seen both now and in eternity. It's gonna be laid bare on judgment day. The trees that do not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the judgment fires. So every tree will be known by its fruit. Verse 18 says, A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit.

25:21So that means that sound doctrine and a holy life will always set itself apart from false prophets. Borrowing from John's Gospel, John chapter 15, Jesus speaks of abiding in Christ, abiding in the vine. And when we abide in Jesus, we will produce good fruit. It's just we can't help it. It's just the nature of what it means to abide in Jesus. If Jesus is at the very center of our lives, he's at the root of who we are, we will produce good fruit. That's what he's saying here. And I think this fruit is the fruits of the spirit that we see in Galatians five. It's also the fruit of righteousness that Jesus has been calling for throughout this sermon.

26:08Without this righteousness, no one will see the father. But if you're in Christ, you will produce this righteousness. It's not just up to you to try hard to produce this fruit, but abide in Jesus and it will be produced in you. So what Jesus is doing here is he's challenging his disciples to beware of charlatans that would masquerade within the body. It could certainly be leaders, but it could also just be people within the church who have influence, whose lives don't match the message or the teaching of the scriptures, or to be berean who search the scriptures who are aware of those who would otherwise undermine Jesus' teaching.

26:53But what we're also to do is to examine and watch ourselves as well. Are we walking in the way of Christ's kingdom? Are we those who are united to Christ, who are producing the good fruit of righteousness? Or do we look at our lives and we see that we get really angry, we get jealous. We're we're struggling with lust and there's no heart for the people around me in the church or in my family. Like what's the fruit that's being produced in and through us we're to examine and to watch ourselves. In one Timothy six, Paul writes to Timothy and he says, watch out for these false teachers. And how does he describe them?

27:36He says, they have a unhealthy craving for controversy. They're constantly engaged in quarreling. They have evil suspicions. There's constant friction in their life. It's not just that they come right out and speak heresy, they might do that as well. Uh, but the things that he describes, controversy, quarreling, suspicion and friction. Does that characterize our relationships or deemus? He was in love with the present world. So are we at risk this morning, brothers and sisters of an evil unbelieving heart that is going to lead us to fall away from the living God? Jesus' sermon is calling us to examine ourselves.

28:22Don't be found as that unhealthy, diseased rotten tree take stock of your life. Are we waging war against the deceitfulness of sin? The stakes are high and eternity hangs in the balance. One gate leads to life and another to destruction. So he's calling for this decisive decision to walk in the way of their kingdom. Jesus is not giving a list of suggestions in, in this sermon to say, here's a way to have a better life. If you just take the golden rule, it's just gonna give you less problems in the world. Just do those things. He's saying, there's only two ways to live. You either go my way or you go the way of the world, but there's no middle ground.

29:08And you have to choose, will you surrender your entire life to me and to my ways? You can take my commands, but it's all or nothing. We must surrender our entire lives to Christ and let him sit on the throne of our lives. And that's what he's done throughout the sermon. You can't keep back your money. You can't keep back unforgiveness. You can't keep back little parts of your life and say, well, I'll follow Jesus, but not this area of my life. He says, I want it all. Amen. And I know in the gathering this large that there are many this morning who are not walking with Jesus. This may be young people who think I'll just keep one foot in the world and and one foot at church and kind of straddle the fence until I figure it out that that was me as a kid.

30:01Like maybe I'll follow Jesus. It seems awfully costly and maybe a spouse who has attended for years or even decades, but there is no faith. If you lift up the hood, there's no engine there for others. You've picked up enough phrases and terms to play along. You speak pretty good christianese. And yet, you know, deep down you're pretending week after week, I, I've had those conversations with those people here in our church still. Others are becoming false prophets. You've become to depart from the teachings of Jesus. You made the peripheral things the center thing. So you're dabbling in conspiracies and liberalism, secular humanism and new age mysticism or relativism or still others.

30:55You're saying, well, I'm just gonna hold out. I'll wait till my deathbed and then I'll make a decision. The message is for you this morning. Do not delay. Enter by this narrow gate. Jesus is calling his audience to face up to what that decision is before them. Go to Jesus. Repent and believe. It's not enough to hear the sermon on the mount. It's not enough to think that Jesus has some bits of wisdom in the Sermon on the Mount. It's not enough just to say, I'll pick and choose parts of the Sermon on the Mount to integrate into my life so that I have a better life and have better relationships. Jesus is saying, you must have complete and total devotion to me and me alone, full surrender, full submission to his commands.

31:48Is there any part of our lives that we're holding back and saying, I'll give you everything else, but not this. I I'll give you everything else, but don't touch my 401k. Don't touch my desire for a family or children or marriage. Don't touch my whatever it is. Fill in the blank. Jesus demands total submission to his, his kingdom, his word to him. He calls us to respond with faith and repentance. Today can be the day of salvation. So for those who are not trusting in Jesus, oh, oh, we're calling you to respond in faith and repentance. Go to Jesus.

32:40The main point of this first part of Jesus' conclusion is that there's only two ways to live. There's only two gates. They lead to two different rows. There's only two types of trees. You can either be a healthy tree or a diseased tree, but you can't straddle the fence. You can't have one foot in both worlds. You can't serve God on Sundays and serve yourself during the week. Jesus says in Matthew 1230, whoever is not with me is against me. It's crystal clear. There are only two ways. You cannot remain neutral. You can't be Switzerland, which will you choose. This narrow path is marked by hardship, but it leads to life.

33:25You will bear the fruit of faith and possess this righteousness that leads to eternal life. And the wide path is marked by comfort and ease and leads to destruction. So the main application of this text this morning is to go to Jesus in repentance and faith. But in a gathering like ours where I know many of you are believers, many of us are believers here, how might we apply this text? Is there anything that we can sort of say, this is what it looks like? Well, if we've already entered through this narrow gate by God's grace and we're growing trees that bear good fruit, uh, I want to give two applications for us this morning.

34:04The first is this. Let's help each other on the narrow road. Let's help each other on the narrow road. The narrow gate leads to the narrow path that will occasion suffering and persecution and disappointment and struggle and hardship and trials and sorrows. And so in the pilgrim's progress, Christian is weighed down by his burden and he gets to the slough of despond and he falls in and he's stuck and he's wallowing and he can't get out. And he tries and he sinks deeper and he is like, uh, it's beginning to lose hope. And what happens, help comes along, lifts him up and says, give me your hand.

34:44And he pulls him out and he puts him on solid ground. We all need a help in our lives, and we all are called to be a help in the lives of others. Hebrews 10, 24 and 25 puts it this way, let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of son, but encouraging one another and all the more as we see the day drawing near don't grow weary in doing good brothers and sisters. It can be so easy. I I'm constantly giving and giving and I don't feel like anyone's reciprocating. And we begin to grow hardened. And we, as we walk this road, Jesus calls us to help one another, to stir up one another, to sharpen each other, to admonish each other if we're going off the narrow path.

35:40And so are you doing that for others? Consider these questions. Do you have others who can do that for you, to encourage you to help you? Who is going to walk with you when you're going through deep waters? Do you have people who you trust who you'll receive a rebuke from? People might rebuke you, but will you receive that rebuke? Are there those people in your life? Are you inviting people into your life when you're feeling weighed down and discouraged? Do you have people in your life who will call you out when you're growing lukewarm in your faith? Do you have people who will pray for you? If you don't, let me encourage you to begin to make those relationships and talk to Josh Bremmer, man, pastor Josh, and, and find a small group or find some community here at the church.

36:28We do not exist in isolation. One practice I think that we can cultivate is to call out evidences of grace in one another when we see it to, to identify, be really good identifiers of godly fruit in the lives of others. Uh, I think it looks a little bit like this where, where we are in relationship with others and we say, brother, I see God at work in you. I I see a newfound love for the lost in your life. I can hear it in your prayers. I see you trying to love your spouse. I know that's a hard marriage, but I see you, I see intentionality with your children. You're trying to lead or or sister, I I see that you're walking with steadfastness through great trial and suffering.

37:13I see you trusting the Lord with the, the deepest parts of your soul and you're holding those with an open hand. Are are we good at calling out evidences of grace in one another? Uh, I think we, we ought to be that type of church where we just are, are constantly lavishing that level of, of celebration and praise in the lives of others. Like brother, sister, I see God at work in you. You may not see it, but oh man, there's this beautiful ripe apple on your tree. And I'm seeing these fruits of faith. Let's call out evidences of grace in one another. The second application is that we are to warn each other of false prophets.

37:58Warn one another of false prophets. We're not all influenced by the same people and false prophets in our world. False teachers are everywhere. They touch you through the books they write, the posts they put out, the podcasts you listen to, and every aspect of media you take in. And so we are to beware. We are to beware of the lures and lies of the world. And we need to warn each other of falsehood. And we need to remind each other of the foundational truths that we have in Christ Jesus. Uh, Paul writes to Timothy in one Timothy two, who, who's this mature believer that he said over this church.

38:33And he says, remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead, the offspring of David as preached in my gospel. Why does Paul tell Timothy a fellow believer to remember Jesus Christ? He he's a believer already. Well, it's because we're all prone to forget and to wander. And so false teachers seek to pull you to the right or to the left. Here's this new way of how to read the Bible. Here's this more tolerant way of Jesus that I, that I've newly discovered. Here's this more compassionate way to think and to feel and to believe. We're to beware and to warn one another, we're to examine ourselves and to look at the fruit that our lives are bearing.

39:13Are we abiding in Christ and bearing the fruit of faith and righteousness? And thankfully, the good news in all of this is that Jesus does not demand that we make ourselves perfect in our own strength. We enter through Jesus into this kingdom. All of our hope is bound up in him. In Hebrews 12, he says that he's the author and the perfecter of our faith. He's the one who starts it and he's the one who finishes it. That is really good news. Keep walking forward. Don't turn backwards. Go the way of Jesus. Keep your eyes fixed on him and keep walking in his ways. And we will, by nature produce the righteousness that pleases God, that blesses others and gives us entrance into his kingdom.

40:17So abide in Christ and you will bear much good fruit. May we be those who all can say in the very depths of our soul, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Let's pray. Father, that is our heart's desire this morning that we would trust you, that we would walk in your ways and that we would never depart from you. So do that for our joy and for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.

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Sermon Text

Matthew 7:13-20

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