Let's open up our Bibles to Luke 6:46.
One thing we know for certain on this night
when America holds its breath
about who's going to be its next president,
there is One who is Lord,
and He's taken a seat on the throne
of His father David,
and He is going to rule over Jacob
and He is going to reign forever and forever.
And they call Him, "Lord."
Lord of lords.
Luke 6:46
Probably most of you are familiar with this verse.
But let's think about it.
"Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,'
and not do what I tell you?"
Now, is that obvious to everybody -
what's going on in this verse?
Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord," -
well, that's interesting.
"Lord, Lord," - we don't talk like that.
We don't say, "Kevin, Kevin."
Or "Glenn, Glenn."
"Lord, Lord."
Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord?"
Anybody have any insights into
that kind of addressing of people?
That kind of usage?
Obviously, the original here would be in Greek.
Obviously, Jesus is growing up
in a Hebrew context which was very much
influenced by Rome.
But 2,000 years ago in the Near East,
what's the significance to talking like this?
"Lord, Lord."
What does He mean?
Emphatic. You do have that idea of repetition.
And by the way, can you think of any place else
where you get a double repetition?
You can probably think of other places
where we even get that same repetition,
"Lord, Lord."
Where's another common place that shows up?
Matthew 7.
Can you think of anywhere else
where somebody is being addressed
and their name is said twice?
Martha, Martha.
Now, do we talk like that?
Is that the same?
Do you get the sense that's the same?
If somebody says, "Lord, Lord;"
if somebody says, "Martha, Martha,"
do you get the sense that it's implying
the same kind of stress?
Like, I could imagine myself saying to my wife,
"Ruby, Ruby..."
See, I say we don't address Kevin: "Kevin, Kevin."
But, in the right nuance of language,
saying it with a little bit different inflection;
saying it with different emphasis,
depending on the context,
if Kevin said something and it seemed like
Kevin was speaking in a naive fashion
or he was speaking in a way where
he should really know,
and he's coming across maybe as though he doesn't know,
if you said, "Kevin, Kevin..."
Now see, that we can understand.
That would not be foreign.
But what do you think here?
"Martha, Martha."
Familiarity?
Yeah, it does seem that way.
Put it in the context of the text that it's in.
"Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,'
and not do the things I say?"
I mean, you have to put it together
with not doing the things I say.
In other words, He's stressing
that you speak in a certain way,
but your actions don't reflect
what your lips say.
Or you think about the other places where it's used.
Where else does the "Lord, Lord," come at us?
We heard Matthew 7.
How's it used?
"Not everyone who says to Me,
'Lord, Lord...'"
And then it's used again, right?
How's it used the second time?
"In that day, many will say to Me, 'Lord, Lord...'"
Now, maybe there's an emphasis there.
Obviously: "many will say to Me in that day."
What day? Judgment day.
And what's happening to them?
They're being cast away.
This is kind of a frantic, emphatic:
"Lord! Lord!"
Can you think of anywhere else where the "Lord, Lord," is used?
(from the room)
Even there, He says, "I never knew you."
Coming back to intimacy like, "Martha, Martha."
Familiarity.
I didn't think of "Lord, Lord,"
but Jesus on the cross.
He said, "Eli, Eli..." (My God, My God...)
Two times in a row.
"Why have You forsaken Me?"
Tim: Yeah, emphasis like that we understand.
And what there is
is whether we want to connect it to
somebody implying by the way they talk,
there's a familiarity;
there's an intimacy;
there's some kind of emphasis.
That's what it seems like
that with your mouth,
you are actually acknowledging Me as Lord
in a way that is more than just kind of passing.
You are actually speaking to Me
in a way that more than just slightly
seems verbally at least to be recognizing
My Lordship.
You call Me "Lord," and you do it
with a fair degree of significance.
You do it more than just in passing.
You do it more than just lightly.
Maybe you do it repetitiously.
"...And not do what I tell you."
It's a very simple concept.
(incomplete thought)
Somebody was bringing up
Jeff Peterson's message from Sunday.
He was dealing with Charles Stanley's book.
This text just blows that whole idea
of you can be a true Christian
and just live any way you want.
You know, if you just had one moment in your life
where you believed,
and now you can live any way you want.
This text just blows it right out of the water.
Because if you couple this with Matthew 7,
you see, this by itself:
"Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,'
and not do what I tell you?"
Well, the thing is that the very same parable
that He ends up with over in Matthew 7,
He ends up with here.
And He doesn't simply say it's okay.
It's not: why do you do it?
I wish you wouldn't do it,
but after all, it will turn out okay with you
if that's what you do.
That's not what He's saying.
He is basically saying here
that if you say one thing with your lips
that seems to say that you're acknowledging Me...
We get people in the church all the time like this.
The word "Lord" comes off their lips.
They read Scripture, they sing the songs,
they speak to other Christians,
they speak the Christian lingo.
And so the word "Lord" comes off their lips
with a fair degree of familiarity.
More than the lost guy out there.
you get people in the church.
And it's coming off their lips.
But what's the problem?
You look at their life.
(incomplete thought)
What Jesus is saying is this:
It's right you call Me "Lord."
I am Lord.
But because I am Lord,
that means I have a right to tell you what to do.
And if you call Me Lord
and don't do what I tell you to do,
you basically are denying what you say
by your lips with your life.
You're denying it.
And He doesn't say:
Oh, but in the end, it's eternal security,
and if you believed once, it's all okay,
so don't worry about it.
See, He doesn't go there.
Basically where He goes is to a parable
where He makes it crystal clear.
"Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words
and does them, I will show you what he is like."
See, this has everything to do with His Lordship.
"He is like a man building a house who dug deep,
laid the foundation on the rock,
and when a flood arose, the stream broke against the house.
It could not shake it, because it had been well built."
This is a man's religion.
Well built.
What does it look like?
He believes on the Lord.
He calls Him Lord.
He believes He is Lord.
And that belief doesn't just come off of his lips,
it's reflected in a life.
"But the ones who hears..."
See, this is the person in v. 46.
"...he hears and does not do them."
He even admits Christ is Lord,
but then he lives contrary to what he
seems to say by his lips.
He doesn't do what Jesus says.
"The one who hears..." Jesus Christ
and does not do what Christ as Lord says,
"this man is like the man who built
a house on the ground without a foundation
and the stream broke against it.
Immediately it fell and the ruin of the house was great."
Like I say, when you compare this to Matthew 7,
what we see is Matthew 7
parks all this in the context of judgment day.
So we see exactly what storm He's talking about.
So, let's think for a second.
Can you think of any other places in Scripture
that make that connection
between being a genuine child of God
and what Jesus says or what the Word says?
The absolute necessity of a life
that conforms to Christ's commandments
or Christ's Word or the Word of God
or the Scriptures,
if indeed we are genuinely Christians?
Can you think of other verses?
This is one. This is certainly one.
"Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord?'"
And let that ring in your own ears.
Think with me.
You can change it a bit.
"You call Me, 'Lord, Lord.'"
I do. I call Him Lord.
I acknowledge Him as Lord.
I pray to Him as Lord.
That names comes off my lips
all the time now that I'm saved.
And I'm sure many of you in this room
would say the same.
That name comes off your lips.
But now, ask yourself,
do you live in light of that?
Do you really believe it?
See, that's the issue.
If you say it, you're seeming to indicate
you believe it.
But the real proof, Jesus is saying,
of whether you believe He's Lord
isn't by good talk.
It's by the walk.
And so, where are we at in that?
Where are we at?
"Lord..."
How am I in tune to that word?
How is it impacting my life right now?
I mean, today even thinking about this,
I remember - many of you may remember
Matt Haney preached.
More than once I remember him telling the story.
I forget where he got it from.
Maybe it was a Ravenhill story that he came across.
But you may remember,
the guy was in the service
and the preacher began to preach,
and he didn't get very far into the message
and this guy got up and went out.
He was preaching a series of meetings.
And the next night, the guy began preaching.
The guy got up and walked out.
Third night, began preaching,
the guy got up and walked out.
And finally the guy said to him,
"what's going on with you?"
And he said you would start preaching
and I would be convicted of something
that I needed to take care of in my life,
and I figured there's no reason to sit here any longer.
I need to go take care of that.
And I always remember that,
because to my reckoning,
that was a true story.
Does the Word of God impact us like that still?
Can you think of other verses
where we get that kind of emphasis
that the Word of God
is not just a matter of hearing?
James 1.
Yeah, let's look at that one.
(incomplete thought)
James 1:22 says,
"But be doers..." now notice this one,
"...be doers of the Word,
and not hearers only
deceiving yourselves."
That's the same truth.
These people that build their house on the sand,
they're deceiving themselves.
Because they're building.
They're those people in Matthew 7.
They did many mighty works in His name.
They're deceiving themselves.
But what does Jesus call those people in Matthew 7?
"Workers of lawlessness."
Which means, they were living their life
without any conformity to the spoken,
expressed will of God.
Now, in times past, God spoke to us
by way of the prophets, but in these last days,
God has spoken to us by way of His Son.
It's His Son who has come to give us
the expressed will of God.
Can anybody think of any other verses
that seem to reflect this truth?
1 John 2:4.
"Whoever says, 'I know Him...'"
Now this is interesting because it's again,
some of these compare hearing to doing.
And some of these compare
saying to doing.
Like, "you call Me, 'Lord, Lord;'
you don't do what I say."
Here it's the familiarity is "I know Him."
But then you don't keep His commandments.
"Whoever says 'I know Him'
but does not keep His commandments
is a liar and the truth is not in him."
Can I give you one that is definitely
open for discussion and debate
at another time,
but a text that I personally believe
expresses exactly the same truth,
and when taken in context,
I think you can see that I'm speaking the truth.
And I'm speaking namely of Romans 2:13.
Look at it.
I know that there are some
theological voices out there
that basically would say
that there are actually no doers of the law.
And so, this is basically saying,
like the Old Testament commandments:
do this and live.
I don't believe at all that this is what is being said here.
I believe that what we have here
is exactly the same thing
that is being spoken about -
let's put this in context (verse 13).
Notice v. 6,
"God is going to render to each one
according to his works."
I want you to see what's actually in context here.
It's the judgment.
And we're being judged according to our works.
It's not talking about justification.
This is not speaking about
an imputed righteousness
apart from our works.
It's not speaking about that.
Notice what it's speaking about.
It's speaking about judgment day
and the fact that we're going to be judged according to our works.
"To those who by patience..."
Now, it's not talking about just those
who rest in Christ by faith.
You see, faith always works through love,
and that's the issue.
Judgment day is always based on works.
Why? Because works show
whether the faith was true or not.
And basically what you see here is that.
Patience in well-doing;
they're seeking for glory,
honor, immortality.
And to those people who are seeking that,
He gives eternal life.
Those who are self-seeking,
do not obey the truth, obey unrighteousness -
there's wrath and fury.
Tribulation, distress for every human being
who does evil - the Jew first, also the Greek.
Glory, honor, and peace for everyone
who does good - the Jew first, and also the Greek.
They do good.
He's not speaking hypothetically
about somebody could get to heaven
if they kept the law perfectly.
That's not what he's talking about.
He's talking about the righteous life
of true Christians.
God shows no partiality.
And see, v. 12, "For..."
It starts with a conjunction.
He's not changing topic here.
He's not going in a different direction.
"All who have sinned without the law,
also perish without the law."
Anyways, you get to v. 13,
"It's not the hearers of the law
who are righteous before God,
but the doers of the law
who will be justified."
And I believe that that's the same way.
Scripture uses that term "justified"
in that way concerning judgment day.
Think of our words, right?
The words that we speak?
What does Scripture say about
how we're going to be justified by our words?
What is it? Matthew 12?
Basically, we're told that.
We're going to be justified by our words.
What you find in Matthew 25
is although the term "justified" is not there,
clearly we are justified by our works
when we come to stand before God
on judgment day.
Because the books are opened
and it's our works that are examined,
and it's on that basis
that we are justified or condemned.
We're not speaking about
the imputed merits of Christ.
Obviously we recognize the doctrine of justification,
the importance of that.
But this appears to be in the context
of people who are actually keeping the law.
In fact, if you continue to go down
through Romans 2 and you get to the end,
you see that he actually begins
to talk about the nature of a true Jew
and what true circumcision is.
And in v. 26, he says, "if a man who is uncircumcised
keeps the precepts of the law,
will not his uncircumcision
be regarded as circumcision?"
Again, he's not being hypothetical.
He actually is going to tell us here.
He's speaking about a true Jew.
One who is a true Jew inwardly
as circumcision is a matter of the heart.
And so he's speaking very practically through these verses.
But, anyway, another place I was thinking of.
Look at John 8.
John 8:31.
If you go back to 8:30,
Jesus has been speaking here
and it says, "As He was saying these things,
many believed in Him."
(incomplete thought)
People can believe that He's Lord.
And so much so, they call Him, "Lord, Lord."
But see, He goes further. He says this,
"Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him,
'If you abide in My Word,
you are truly My disciples.'"
To abide in His Word,
that means to stay there; to live in them.
They characterize your life.
It's only then that you prove
to truly be His disciple
and you will know the truth,
and the truth will set you free.
So we see this reality.
Now listen,
"Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,'
and not do the things I say?"
Jesus is our Redeemer.
He's our Savior.
He's our Sacrifice.
But Jesus is our Teacher,
our Master,
our Rabbi.
He's our Lord.
And He came to teach us, to instruct us,
to command us...
and I want to ask you this.
I want you to tell me.
Think about Jesus' words -
the words that He spoke to us.
"Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,'
and do not do the things I say?"
Ok, let's think about the things He says.
Think about the things He says.
What's He implying?
That the things He says
are things that we have a responsibility to do.
And that as true Christians,
one of the chief characteristics
is how we respond to what He says.
It has impact. It has power.
It used to not.
We used to be at enmity with God,
and the commandments of God
were something that we chafed against.
But the true characteristic of the Christian
is that our lives become impacted
by what He says.
We don't live any longer
as though those things don't matter.
As though I can just blow those off.
They hold weight. They hold sway.
But I want to ask you this:
"The things I say" -
think about that - "the things I say."
What things did He say?
In all the things that Jesus taught us
and He expects us to conform our lives to,
what things did He speak to broadly?
In our lives, what did Jesus speak to?
What did He tell us about?
What did He command us about?
What did He give us instruction about?
Direction about?
What did He say to us?
In what areas of life?
I want to be specific.
General, but generally specific.
(from the room) Sin.
Tim: Sin?
If you're going to say it,
you've got to be able to tell me what He said about it.
(from the room) To forsake it and follow Him.
Tim: How did He say that?
Now think about this.
He told different people:
"Go and sin no more."
Does He tell us that?
Would He tell those people that
and that doesn't apply to us?
Or does that apply to us?
I mean, you would hardly think
that it's something He's requiring of them
and not of us.
How do you read that when He says that to people?
"Go and sin no more,
lest a worse thing happen to you."
How do you read that?
What do you make out of that?
Is that the way He talks to Christians?
Is that the way He talks to lost people?
Is that the way He talks to
somebody He's just healed
that may not be regenerated?
Is that His word to everybody?
I'll tell you my personal thought on that
is that it's basically like what He says in Luke 6.
"Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,'
and do not do the things I say?"
In other words, go forth
and do the things I say.
And the things I say never include sin.
You depart from sin.
If you say you know Him,
you keep His commandments.
That doesn't mean that we don't have
an Advocate with the Father.
(incomplete thought)
I think the idea there
when He talks about going forth
and sinning no more
is much like John speaks.
How does John speak?
It sounds very dogmatic.
It sounds very absolute when it comes to sin.
(from the room)
Well, the woman, when she's caught in adultery,
that's an example.
Tim: I'm talking about 1 John.
See, in our ESV, it talks about practicing sin,
but if you go back and you read
the King James Version,
it's like what?
(unintelligible)
Right.
It's like, "if you're born of God,
you don't commit sin."
And you read that and it's "what?"
Well, the ESV puts "practice sin,"
and I think we all feel really comfortable with that
because the reality is 1 John is the very letter
where John concedes that if we do fall into sin,
it's not a hopeless situation.
There's a place for confession
and we have an Advocate.
But I think what He's doing
is He's basically pressing these people
to a characterization of life.
Why? Well, think with me.
He speaks in that great
Sermon on the Mount.
He starts it out by talking about
the character of the people
that make up His kingdom.
(incomplete thought)
He ends it up with basically
a parallel passage to what we're finding here in Luke 6.
And He ends it up with that parable
about building the house on a rock
versus the sand.
And not everybody that says to me,
"Lord, Lord," is going to inherit the kingdom.
Those that do the will of My Father.
Even there - those that do the will of My Father.
Do they do the will of the Father all the time?
I think the thing that's very encouraging
about Scripture - several things
very encouraging -
if you think about those disciples,
John 17 is very encouraging.
"They have kept Your Word."
I look at these guys.
Look, you might think, oh boy,
if He said that 24 hours after Pentecost
when these guys are shining, glowing,
they've got the flames of fire on their heads,
they've spoken and 3,000 are saved
and you think wow, the church is so glorious,
and Peter's been transformed.
No. Jesus says this
right before Peter denies Him.
After these guys have been arguing
about who is going to be the greatest.
And He says, "they've kept Your Word."
And then when you come to that 11th chapter of Hebrews,
and you read about: "by faith," "by faith," "by faith..."
And if you go back and look at the accounts of some of these people,
they had a lot of blemishes in their life.
What's so encouraging is
our sin is under the blood.
You get these different accounts.
Yes, it's true. God's people
have their sins revealed in Scripture.
But you get these certain accounts
where it says though God just covers them over.
But, okay, so He speaks to sin in our life.
That's real broad.
What else does He speak to?
Our possessions.
He speaks to our money.
He speaks to how we give.
What else does He speak to?
Our relations.
(incomplete thought)
Luke 9, you've got these two
very specific incidents of apparently
young men who want to be His disciples
and one wants to go home and say goodbye.
One wants to go home and bury his father.
He talks about He didn't come
to bring peace, but a sword,
and He's talking very specifically
about the family.
He talks there in Matthew 10
and Luke 14 about loving
mother or father, husband or wife,
son or daughter.
He talks about our relationships.
He talks about the necessity
of loving Him more than anybody else.
What else does He speak to?
Well, I think about Matthew 15.
He speaks about the fact
that He expects that we would
honor our parents.
Even though there's going to be a sword in the family.
He speaks as though He would have us
honor our parents.
What else does He speak to?
He talks about prayer.
"Lord, teach us to pray."
And He did.
You think even in the Sermon on the Mount,
He talks about prayer.
He doesn't want us like the hypocrites.
He talks about even some of the basic makeup
of what's important in prayer.
"Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come...
Thy will be done."
He's giving us aspects of what
He considers to be essential components
of prayer.
He talks about how to do it.
He talks about the importunity of it.
He talks about the promise -
think about the promises that are given us
concerning prayer in John 14, 15, 16.
"If you abide in Me, and My Word abides in you."
Now that comes back to this.
Right?
If My Word abides in you,
you shall ask what you will
and it shall be done unto you.
He talks about the fact
that He wouldn't need to ask the Father for us,
because the Father loves us.
He talks about praying in His name.
He talks about praying
so that the Father be glorified in the Son.
He talks about praying that our joy be full.
What else does He speak to in our life?
Loving others.
He definitely speaks about love.
He speaks about loving the brethren.
He speaks about loving our enemies.
He speaks about giving and lending.
He speaks about not being like lost people
who love their relatives,
but actually loving those
who are unrighteous and unthankful.
What else does He speak to?
Acknowleding Him before men.
Yeah.
How we identify Him
in the face of the public;
in the face of family;
in the face of the onlooking world.
How do we speak for Him?
Do we own Him?
Do we declare Him?
What else does He speak to?
(from the room) Evangelization, the Great Commission.
Tim: The Great Commission.
He told us what one of the key
responsibilities of the church is going to be.
And tells us - commands us to go.
Promises us He'll be with us.
What else does He speak to?
Forgiveness.
That's a huge thing.
Right there in the prayer
where He's teaching us how to pray.
He's teaching us to forgive men
their trespasses (incomplete thought).
He's teaching us to ask
that our trespasses be forgiven us
even as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And of course, you remember Matthew 18.
You have the parable there.
Matthew 18 so often known
for how we deal with sin in the church,
but there you have that parable
about the necessity to forgive.
(from the room)
Keep oneself unstained from the world.
Tim: Keep oneself unstained from the world.
What text specifically do you have in mind?
I'm thinking about Jesus' specific words.
I obviously know James and Paul.
We don't want to downplay those guys,
but let's try to think of
where He specifically spoke to.
Fasting.
He spoke not only to prayer,
He spoke to fasting.
How you do it - not like the hypocrites do it.
He wants us to wash our faces.
In other words, He wants us to have
a private walk with the Lord,
with the Father.
Just between us and Him.
What else did He speak to?
Abiding. Abiding in Him.
(from the room) Spiritual realities?
Tim: How so?
(from the room)
Parable of the Sowers
Tim: He definitely spoke to
the different responses that would be
had to the Gospel.
He takes us behind the scenes.
He shows us the kingdom.
He shows us the outworking.
He shows us the devil sowing seed
in the midst of all the wheat.
He shows us these pictures.
He takes us behind the veil so to speak.
And He shows us what is unfolding.
He shows us that not everybody that starts out real
finishes well.
He shows us that there are pleasures
and entanglements and thorns in this world
that cause us to not become fruitful.
He speaks to our words, does He not?
Matthew 12?
(incomplete thought)
We are going to stand
and have to give an account
for every idle word we've spoken.
He speaks to marriage.
He says don't let man separate
what God has joined together.
He speaks to lust.
He says gouge out eyes
and chop off hands.
He speaks to life.
What we give our lives to.
He speaks about seeking first the kingdom.
He speaks to the heart.
How often did He deal with the heart?
Their heart is not with Me.
The heart - where the treasure is.
That is where the heart is.
He speaks to what's going on inside a man.
Don't be a hypocrite.
Don't act like the hypocrites.
Your righteousness needs to exceed
that of the hypocrites.
That is all external.
He's looking for the reality.
He goes inside.
He gives us those beatitudes.
And He says this is what characterizes My kingdom;
My people. What are they like?
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
What's next?
What does He say next?
In the beatitudes.
Blessed are the mourners.
Blessed are the meek.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
after righteousness.
He goes inside.
And He says you're salt and you're light.
He speaks to persecution.
Blessed are the persecuted.
For His name's sake.
For the Gospel's sake.
What else does He speak to?
He speaks to the Holy Spirit.
Promises concerning the Holy Spirit.
The promised Holy Spirit.
The Comforter is coming. He's not going to leave us orphans.
What else did He speak to?
He spoke to how the world's going to treat us.
And He spoke to them about the fact
that they're going to be put out of the synagogues
and people are going to kill them thinking that they're doing God's service.
What else did He speak to?
Judgment.
Well, He does. He gives us those pictures of judgment
and what it's going to be like on that day.
Repeated parables concerning the judgment
and what it's like.
Picture after picture.
You've got this net.
You've got pictures of these servants.
You've got pictures of when the King
takes His seat and all the nations
are gathered together.
He gives us all these pictures
and these parables and these accounts
where He shows this great coming
day of judgment.
"Well done, good and faithful servant.
Enter into the joy..."
And these are on the outside.
What were they saying?
Did they say, "Lord, Lord," there too?
They're going to say we ate and drank in your streets.
What else did He speak to?
(from the room)
He said to watch and be ready for His return.
Tim: Oh, He warned that.
He warned: you don't know when I'm coming.
He warned that we need to be ready all the time.
He warned that if you're the servant
who gets lazy,
and you begin to slack off,
He's going to come and He's going to catch you.
He's going to come like a thief
and He's going to catch you unawares.
And He said what I say to you, I say to all:
you watch.
Be watchful.
Be ready.
Listen, Jonathan Edwards,
when he was putting together his whole list
of the things that he wanted to make certain
that he gave himself to in his life,
when he talks about not wanting to do
anything that he would not want to do
if he knew that Christ was going to return
one hour from now or 24 hours from now.
Listen, he wasn't the one that invented
that kind of thinking.
Jesus was the one that told His people:
you need to be ready.
And you need to live like I can come anytime
because the reality is you don't know when I'm coming.
What else did He address?
The Lord's Supper.
He definitely introduced that to us
and He said that we are to do that
until He comes.
We're to do that in remembrance of Him.
He definitely spoke to that.
What else does He speak to?
The what?
He did speak to rewards.
How so?
(unintelligible)
Tim: He spoke about laying up treasure in heaven.
I mean, think, think.
"Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things I say?"
What does He say?
Chop off hands. Cut off feet.
Honor your parents.
Love Me more than your parents.
Love Me more than husband, wife,
girlfriend, boyfriend, sons, or daughters.
Store up treasure in heaven.
Don't lay up your treasure here.
He spoke to having dinners.
Don't take the chief seat.
Take the least seat and get moved up.
When you have a dinner,
don't invite all your family and friends.
Invite those who can't pay you back.
He spoke to money.
Widow comes along,
throws in her last two coins.
She put in more than all the rest.
He watched people give.
He was standing there watching the way people give.
He watched how people took seats.
He watched people.
He watched how people spoke.
Speaking to some He said:
you can't speak well.
Why? Because again, it comes back to the heart.
The heart shows where your treasure is.
Or where your treasure is shows
the matter of the heart.
What your words say
show what's going on in the heart.
What basically is coming on the outside
is an expression of the heart.
Jesus said, "Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,'
and do not do...?
How much are we being impressed by what He says to do?
Listen, He speaks to so many different aspects
of our life.
Possessions.
Luke 12? He tells us to sell your possessions
and give to the poor.
He took the towel and girded Himself
and He washed their feet.
And He said, "I've given you an example."
He spoke to fear.
"Fear not."
Or, "I'll tell you who to fear."
Fear not them. Fear Him.
Don't fear those who can kill the body.
Fear Him who can throw you into hell.
Really? As children of God, that's what we should fear?
That's what Jesus said to fear.
That's a fearful thing.
And a lot of people, according to Matthew 7,
are going to be thrown into hell
who don't think God would throw them into hell.
But see, it comes back to this very thing.
How much are Jesus' words impacting your life?
You know what?
A lot of people like to explain those words away.
They're going to explain them away
and they're going to wake up in hell one day.
I'm not saying that all the things that Jesus said
don't have to be thought about
in how they impact our life.
Look, when Jesus says when you have a dinner,
don't invite these folks; invite these folks -
does that mean that I can never invite my family?
Well, even Jesus, when He went to dinners -
He went to a wedding with His disciples.
He attended dinners with His disciples.
(incomplete thought)
He's going to throw one in the end,
and He's going to have all of His people there.
You see times when
undoubtedly where He and His disciples
were fed at the house of Lazarus and Mary and Martha.
And we need to recognize that if we're going to love our parents,
we certainly aren't going to keep them away
at Thanksgiving or whatever.
But who are you going to invite over at Thanksgiving?
The reality is Jesus' words should be
impacting our lives.
What are you doing with your money?
Do His words impact your life?
What are you doing with your possessions?
Do His words impact your life?
Have you ever sold anything so that
you could give to those in need?
Do His words impact your life?
Is there some way to wash feet today?
Is that impacting your life?
We should be asking ourselves.
We should not just be going along through life
not wanting to proactively sin.
Scripture isn't just about what we don't do.
(incomplete thought)
If you think about Matthew 25.
When Jesus gets to separating the nations,
He doesn't look to those on His right
and say guys, I am so glad you didn't steal.
I am so glad you didn't commit adultery
with the lady down the street.
I'm so glad that you didn't...
That's not what He does.
He says I was hungry and you fed Me.
See, we need to be proactive.
Christ's commandments are not, by and large,
what you don't do.
Yes, there is some of that undoubtedly.
But so much of His commands -
think about the commands concerning
the Gospel, the Great Commission.
You think about the commands concerning salt and light.
What we're told is we're to do our works,
good works, before the onlooking world.
To the glory of our Father.
We're to seek first the kingdom.
We're to lay up treasure in heaven.
We're to live lives not just where
we're constantly trying to not do.
That's not the life we're called to.
It's, okay, how can I wash feet today?
Even though culturally that's not a thing.
We don't walk around in bare feet
in sandals on dusty roads.
We don't typically have dirt floors in our house.
Our feet stay relatively clean.
But the whole idea was
that was a menial task
that a slave would have done.
And our Lord did it.
And He said I'm leaving you an example.
So, you call Me "Lord, Lord,"
do you do what I say?
I gave you instruction
that encompasses a life.
He who doesn't forsake all that He has
is not worthy of Me.
He can't be My disciple.
He who loves somebody else more than Me,
He can't be My disciple.
He who doesn't take up his cross daily
and die can't be My disciple.
I mean, are we dying?
Think about it. What's dying?
Dying isn't physical death there.
What is dying?
It could lead to that,
but dying is basically when my wants,
wishes, agendas, goals
come face to face with those
that I know that He wants from me.
That's where we die.
Where we lay down our own ambitions
and where there's a submission to His will.
And see, so often, brethren,
so often we want mystical leadership.
We can feel like: Oh, Lord, we want You
to tell us what to do over here.
I'll tell you, if we would concern ourselves
with the myriad of things that He has spoken to,
and we would apply ourselves there,
we would be well on our way
to doing the will of God.
So often we want God to subjectively
lead us or point us or guide us,
and the reality is Jesus doesn't say:
get frozen, get locked up,
because you don't have some kind of
mysterious, subjective leadership.
He basically speaks very plainly repeatedly
about His commandments,
His Word;
about what He's speaking;
about the fact He's Lord.
Why do you not do what I say?
So, the whole point of tonight is:
think about what He says.
Why do you not do them?
Okay, let's be about them.
Let's do them.
Let's proactively set ourselves
about striving to do it.
So many people like to sit back and argue.
Luke 6. What a place to say:
Oh, but I don't know what this means?
Luke 6:27, "I say to you who hear,
love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you,
pray for those who abuse you.
To one who strikes you on the cheek,
offer the other also."
What does that mean?
Does that mean I be like the Amish
and let the people come in my house
and steal all my furniture?
Does that mean I let the people come in
and rape my wife if that's what they want to do?
So often people get into arguments
about these things where they're so concerned
about what they don't mean.
Why?
Because they just feel like
these things are almost absurd.
"Give to everyone who begs from you,
and from one who takes away your goods,
do not demand them back." Really?
Don't demand them back?
Somebody takes away my goods?
I shouldn't call the police on the thief?
"As you wish that others would do to you,
do so to them.
If you love those who love you,
what benefit is that to you?
For even sinners love those who love them.
If you do good to those who do good to you,
what benefit is that to you? Even sinners do the same.
If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount.
Love your enemies.
Do good and lend expecting nothing in return.
Your reward will be great."
Oh yeah, we could spend all day long
arguing about what it doesn't mean,
what it doesn't mean, what it doesn't mean...
You know, there's a lot of people
who want to argue about what it doesn't mean
who don't do anything that even resembles it.
The best thing to do is to be striving
to reach further and further and further,
and as we're willing to delve into these,
we can pray:
Father, if there are boundaries;
if there are exceptions;
if like Scripture often does speak extremely dogmatic
when there's obviously times when
we have to apply wisdom
and other biblical principals -
(incomplete thought)
There is a time when there are certain people
who are not willing to work,
that they shouldn't eat.
And so, if you've got a brother
who's not willing to work
and he asks - there's a time
when somebody asks for something
that you shouldn't give something
because it's actually more loving.
There is a place to let love dictate.
But usually people don't want to argue
about these things because they're
trying to figure out how to love more.
They typically want to argue about these things
because they're stingy, covetous,
and they want excuses for continuing to be so.
If Jesus said, "love your enemies,"
then you know what?
We as people ought to be thinking about
the people that we're persecuted most by;
that create the greatest difficulties in our life,
and we ought to be actively praying for them.
We ought to be actively seeking to do good for them.
(incomplete thought)
Doesn't that reflect what the truth is here?
Rather than getting in our debates
about what it doesn't mean.
In all these things,
we ought to hear Him,
because listen, He's Lord.
He's wise.
He's given us the things
that are going to make us like Him,
and that are going to please the Father.
He's given us the standard of righteousness.
And so, we ought to be venturing out.
Here Thanksgiving's coming up.
The holiday's are coming up.
Listen, even in the church,
whether you want to observe Thanksgiving
or observe Christmas or observe New Years,
you know this,
it's typically a time when people get together,
family and friends get together.
And especially, if we're to do good
especially to the household of God,
but to all people, we really need to be thinking.
Here's a time when especially those
who are single,
it can be a real time of loneliness.
But see, a lot of you are single.
The last thing you want to do is say,
oh, woe is me.
I need other people to love me.
But you ought to be just as proactive
in figuring out how to be creative
in ways to love other people.
It can be so easy to say,
oh, well, I'm the guy or I'm the girl
that's in the position that really needs
other people to reach out to me.
You ought to be in a position
where you're seeking to reach out to others.
That doesn't mean that other people
should not be in turn seeking to reach out,
but there's all manner of opportunity.
Look, the truth is
that, like the Leiter's just sent me
a link to a documentary that they did
on the Dutch Underground during World War II.
And the 120,000 or so - what's that?
(from the room) 200,000 Dutch.
It was about a hundred thousand Jews,
and then a hundred thousand of the underground.
So it was 200,000 who were killed.
And I watched this documentary last night.
There's so much evil in this world.
There's so much hate in this world.
There's so much cruelty in this world.
And here you have Jesus telling us:
Don't lay up treasure in heaven.
Sell your possessions. Give.
Love. Love those who hate.
Do good. Bless, don't curse.
Go into this world. Be light.
Don't deny Me.
Love Me more than anything else.
Honor your parents, yes.
Endure the sword.
Endure to the end.
But you go out in this world,
and you love like I loved you.
Resemble your Father.
He's merciful to the unjust
and to the unthankful.
You go imitate that.
You imitate Him in that in this dark world;
in this domain of Satan out here.
You go out and be light.
You go out and take the Gospel.
You go out and reach the nations.
Last thing we want to do
is hide that candlestick under a bushel basket.
Our time is short.
We are the light. We are the salt.
There's nobody else that is.
There's nobody else that has
the transformed hearts.
There's nobody else that has Christ
being inscribed into the very nature
and fabric of their being than us.
There's nobody else who calls Him Lord,
and then follows what He does
and what He says, but us.
There's nobody else who's empowered to do that;
empowered by His Spirit to do that but us.
And He expects us
not to shrug off His words.
He expects us to take His words
as the most important
guiding light for our life.
That's obvious.
"Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord?'
and do not do the things I say?"
I just want to impress upon us.
Just laying our lives on the altar,
that's really what it's all about.
We use that kind of figure -
being in submission,
or being in subjection to Him.
This is what it comes down to.
Does His Word hold sway in my life?
And we should be often in the Gospels,
and we should be hearing those words.
And we should never read over them
in some careless fashion
without actually hearing them.
(incomplete thought)
Obviously, Paul is just as much the Word of God.
All of Scripture is equally inspired.
I'm not calling out His words in any special way
other than this:
you recognize that the epistles basically
draw off the truth that we have
in those four Gospels.
Those four Gospels are the life of Christ
set before us.
We hear from His own voice,
our Lord giving us His words.
We ought to be often there
in one of those Gospels.
We need to be hearing those words.
We need to be testing our lives by them
all the time.
Coming back.
Confessing where we fall short.
Asking for grace.
And really, being like the guy
that came to the services.
The preacher began to preach
and he got up and went out.
I mean, when we go to reading
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,
we ought to read
and there ought to be ever increasing conformity.
And if something's not right,
it ought to stop us in our tracks
and we ought to deal with it.
Every time we're reading in the Word of God,
we should be reading so as to see
God's glory;
to see our Lord Jesus Christ.
We should read so that we can believe.
We should read for the sake of conformity
to the standard that's being set before us
and where my life is.
None of our lives are perfectly where
they ought to be in conformity to this Word.
Okay, brethren.
Let's pray.
We do call you, "Lord, Lord."
And I trust that many in this room
do Your will.
Lord, we hear what You tell us.
We hear what You say.
Lord, I pray that we would truly have ears to hear,
grace to help.
I think of the KJV rendering there
in the Song of Solomon:
Lord, draw us and we will run after Thee.
But Lord, You gave much promise.
You promised that You wouldn't leave us orphans.
You promised You'd come to us.
Lord, I pray, help us,
convict us, give us ears to hear.
Lord, we pray that the Word
would resound in our ears,
tug at our hearts,
work in our consciences,
be ever a guide, move us,
impact us, bend us,
provoke us to greater and greater good works.
Lord, may it be like a great gust of wind,
like a tidal surge in the water.
May it pull; may it draw;
may it move; may it be like the things
that You say: like a sword,
like a hammer,
living.
Lord, I pray that it would be
like the thunder
and like a still, small voice.
But however it comes,
that Lord, it would sway us.
It would cause reaction.
It would cause conformity.
Lord, we pray that we would see this increasingly.
I pray in Christ's name,
Amen.