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- [00:01]
Pastor Joby Martin
Welcome to Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And we're praying this message helps you deepen your relationship with him. Now let's dive in.
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Brit
All right, welcome back to the Deepen podcast. Judgment Week. I think maybe one of the.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
All right.
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Brit
I mean, it's not wrong.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
It's not wrong. That is what Jesus talks about.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Remember those Halloween things that churches do called the Judgment House?
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Judgment House, bro.
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Brit
I don't know about that.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
You didn't know? Yeah, I didn't take our youth group to that when she. Yeah.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Oh, man.
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Brit
Church probably went to Halloween horn nights.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Yeah. So, you know, like, people rent out retail shop centers around and do, like, haunted houses. Well, back in the, like, 80s and 90s, there was a church version of that called Judgment Houses. And churches would set up their gyms and their buildings and their Sunday school classrooms just like a haunted house. But it would all be built around,
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
like, the Great White.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
The Great White Throne. Judgment and hell and torment and all.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
There'd be, like, a car wreck, airline crash, school shootings. Be dead people and me. And then the. And then hell would be like the last room. And then after that, they'd share the gospel.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Yeah.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
It was you.
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Brit
Do you feel like it was successful?
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Ah, people got. Some people met Jesus. I. I would put this in the category. I think the intentions were probably headed in the right direction that hell is real, and if I could give you a snapshot of what it actually was, then you would come running to Jesus. So. But. And then I. I would put this in the category where Paul is like, if the gospel is preached, let's. Let's give a lot of latitude. There's.
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Brit
Right.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Yeah. Jude says. Jude says. And save others by snatching them out of the fire.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Yeah, this was a snatching, not a wooing.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
That's exactly right. I put it in that category.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
This was not in the. I have become all things to all men that I might winsomely save some or wild. No, no. This was aggressive.
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Brit
I recently heard Jen Wilkin on a podcast. They asked her what is, like, what you look back on as one of the cringiest decisions you ever did in ministry, like at an event or something. I imagine maybe this could fall in someone's purview of like, I can't believe you did that.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
No judgment here. Yeah.
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Brit
Okay. Speaking of judgment. So I didn't fact check this, but I feel like the quote, only God can judge me has Gotta be one of the most tattooed phrases ever, you know, like, it's kinda like the pinnacle, like only God can judge me. Well, we kind of flipped that on its head a bit this week as we study the Scripture. Why is that verse misquoted so often and why is that not a verse to use for immoral excusability?
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Yes, the worst way to live your life ever is to think whatever I do is only between the Lord and I, because we were created as image bearers of God. God in and of himself lives in a perfect community and he's called us to live in community. And really cover to cover in the Bible, we are given to each other and for each other for the glory of God. And a part of God's great gift to us is friends, brothers and sisters, other believers that judge us before we stand in judgment before God so that pre Great White Throne judgment we have the ability and the opportunity to repent, confess and do different things. And so it's a. The dumbest. It's really dumb.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Yeah, it's just not what the Bible says. And it's certainly not what Matthew 7 says, what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. So it's certainly taken out of context. But you also do have to do the work between judgment that believers will face, which they will. So to say only God will judge
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
me is to say for eternity. Yes, that it's true, but like heaven and hell true, but in your life.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Right. There's certainly more to it than that. And it's not to say only the phrase is actually only God can judge me. But if you took out the word only and can and put in God will judge me, then you're correct. You know, you know what I mean. And, and so I do think, you know, we spent some time on this. But there's difference between the judgment that unbelievers will face, which I think is an important note for believers in that we don't un. People who are not followers of Jesus. Unbelievers are already under judgment. And so therefore I don't need to pile on more judgment. My heart breaks for them. I want them to experience the freedom that there is now, therefore no condemnation in Christ Jesus. You know, this is the way Paul writes about his brothers who are unbelievers. It's just like, like it, like it breaks my heart that there are people who don't yet believe the gospel and have not yet received the freedom of grace and so like, but they're already under judgment. And so as Christians, we don't Pile on judgment on an unbelieving world. And there is also another judgment that Christians will face. And so I think there's a judgment Christian Christians won't face and that unbelievers will face. Right. This is Jesus talks about the sheep and the goats, the where he he people who are judged as having rejected and rebelled against God only and ever and never repented of their sins. And they will be given over into the eternal reality of that. Ultimately it's God giving them what they always wanted, which is life in eternity without him. That is the final judgment. And then believers won't face that. This is the beautiful thing of the gospel. And Pastor Joby's taught us this. Well, he and I both grew up and we only were taught half the gospel. Well, I was taught. I was only taught he didn't really go to church, but. So the half the gospel was you're a sinner and you need to be saved. Totally. I am a sinner and I need to be saved. And a part of that being saved is that I won't face the, the I won't face judgment as an unbeliever. Praise God. The other half of the gospel is that. But I was taught that you believe that. And then it's like, now go get to work. Right, you go get to work. Nobody explicitly said go earn this gift that you've been given, but it was certainly implied, not earn. Nobody would ever use that word. But it was like, now it's time to get to work and to try to pay back what you've been given. And the scales on that are just so wonky and broken. And that's just not the whole gospel. The whole gospel is that Jesus took all of the bad of my past, present and future and he gave me all of his good for the past, present and future. And so I will only ever be judged in the eternal sense as having been covered in the righteousness and the perfect work of Jesus Christ. That's just how God sees me. It's the credited righteousness totally and holy. And so you know the Bible verses. There is therefore now no condemnation. All of these things apply eternally speaking that Jesus was the full and final payment for our sin. Therefore we are clean given a bill of righteousness for the rest of forever. So I'll never stand in judgment for my sins because Jesus did.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Yeah. The Ray Cortes bank illustration is the best I've heard that if you had whatever a trillion dollars in debt went to the bank said, I'm sorry, I can't pay it and you were forgiven of that debt. You, you would walk out of the bank, what very grateful and broke. And then you would need to get to work to earn a living for the rest of your life. That is how most people teach the gospel. It's not the gospel. The gospel would be, you go to the bank, you're broke, they forgive you of your debt. Then the bank president comes down, adopt you as his own son and gives you his bank card and says, all that I have is yours. Now anybody with a normal brain gets to work because now you're a part of the family. And, and that is just the right reaction to receiving the gospel. I mean, everybody loves from John 3, 16, 17, but they but rarely keep quoting what Jesus said. I mean, we all know, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. Check. Love that. For God did not send his Son to the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through it. Love that. And then whosoever believes in him is not condemned, still love it. But whoever does not believe is condemned already because he is not believed in the name of the only Son of God. So condemnation is the normative state of the believer apart or of the person apart from believing in Jesus. And then I think one of the things you're saying is sometimes what we do as Christians when we're so judgy against the world is I don't know why we expect non believers to act like believers. You know, it's the weirdest thing. I think this goes back to like Matthew 18 When Jesus is talking about forgiveness and he's like, you know, there's a multi step process, but if that person will not repent, then you treat them as a tax collector and a gentile. And what that means is then you have a gospel expectation for them. You have more of an evangelism posture towards them than a sanctification posture towards them because they're not believers. So they're going to act like the Lord of the Air is their Lord, their flesh is their Lord. And so that really differentiates in, in this whole judgment conversation.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
I think that's really important, especially in regards to like first degree relationships in your family and people that you work with. It's like, are they a believer or not a believer? And if they're not a believer, then the conversation, the posture, a version of the patience is just your whole approach to it has to be completely different than if they are a believer. The conversations are just different. And so, yeah, I mean, I think the. So there's a judgment Christians won't face in the same way.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Yeah, it's like, com to complete it. It's like Christians won't face this judgment because Jesus already did.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Amen all.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Like, God will judge sin of every single individual who has ever been conceived. And when he looks at ours, though, this isn't exactly the way it happens. But it's like if we were in the courtroom and Jesus is like, I paid for that one. Like, okay, cool. Then you're going to a different room. And the Book of Revelation talks about the Lamb's Book of Life, which is about eternity with him or eternity separated with him. And then there's other books that are opened. And I think this is what, like when Jesus says, you will be held accountable for every word that you've spoken. Well, that's not a matter of salvation. But there, there's some degree. Degree in heaven that is different or in eternity. Because in actuality, like we learned from Pastor Adam two months ago that we're. We're not actually all going to heaven forever. Heaven's like a holding pattern for the new heavens and the new earth. But yeah.
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Brit
So if someone says the statement, but who am I to judge? Is that right or wrong?
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
What if they would answer their own question? If they mean I can't judge, then you should ask yourself, we'll answer that. Like, I have to do all sorts of discernment as the lead pastor of this church, or as a dad or as a husband. So are you in a place of authority? Has God given you stewardship in the lives of other people? Then to answer that question, you have been given a position of authority to steward, help steward other people's lives towards a relationship with Jesus. That's who you are. So you can say you're the mom. Now, if, like, go back to the Judgment House thing. If a church in town is doing a thing, and I am not an elder at that church, a pastor at that church, I may have opinions, but it is best for me to keep them to myself unless I get fully informed on the thing. And a lot of times what's happened like crazy today, people call them entire ministries and all they're really doing is judging the heart motives of what other churches are doing.
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Brit
Yeah.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
And it's one thing to guard the flock against heresy and test every spirit for sure. It's another thing to go heresy hunting because you think you've got it all figured out and you sit and you try to sit in judgment over other people, churches, etc. Like I saw the craziest thing, man. Reagan and I were at Passion, had an incredible time, just the best. It was so great. And there were people like bullhorn preaching, picketing after every session and, and you're, and you know, and dude, it's all 20 year olds, they're just out there just, it's like wrestling a pig, man. Everybody gets dirty and the pig loves it and they're the pig and, and you're like, what are y' all doing? You know, and like trying to pick apart every sermon that somebody just gave. And these listen, I sat in everyone and my judgment was these are all the preachers were, are just God fearing, highly anointed, Bible preaching, Jesus loving, gospel centered human beings. And that's all I heard. And yet there's this group of, you know, they're always young, they're always 20 somethings and sitting in judgment over Pastor Louie Giglo and the whole Passion team because they didn't think they were doing it right. That, that's not, that is more what Jesus is talking about in Matthew. So what are you doing?
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Yeah, so wisdom, discernment, those things fall into one category. Judging other people. Judging other people is different than value assessment or wisdom assessment. Situationally Jesus is talking about judging people's hearts, judging people's motives. We judge by appearances. God does not do that. God judges the heart. And so Jesus is getting down. What's interesting about this part of the sermon, Jesus sermon is Matthew 6. We just get done with Matthew 6 to Jesus, this is all just one sermon. And he gave it many, many times. We don't know how many times, but he gave it many times. And so he talks about greed and if you're greedy you will be anxious, end dot period. And then immediately he tacks on as it is, as so it is with judgment too. And so if you're judgy, you're going to be joyless. You just are. Because that's what the entire Sermon on the Mount. You could even go as far to say the entire ministry of Jesus. And the point of the Gospel is how inextricably connected human joy is to God's glory. And so this is a fight for joy now and forever. And Jesus is saying the reason you're joyless is because you're not generous in Jesus name. He's saying the reason you're joyless is because you're so judgmental. And you know, there is no denying that the judgmental spirit or the judgmental heart is completely connected to the mental health desert of our modern culture. It just is. Think about how much joy is lost in. I can think about how much joy is lost in my life when I fall into comparison, which is just a different way to say judgmentalism, you know. And, you know, there are some things that are just based on our own psychological bias that are just easier to be judgy about. Like, some people are really obsessed with physical fitness. And so if they see people who don't fall into their category, they just judge them in their heart. They immediately assume upon that person things like lazy or things like, you know, whatever, and. But they don't know. That person might have all kinds of, like, medical conditions going on. They might have all kinds of contributing
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
factors, might actually be in the greatest shape of their life. Exactly what Nate Burgazzi said. He's like, I don't work out. I just tell people I used to weigh 400 pounds. They're like, oh my, you look great. I do if I used to weigh 400 pounds. But. But it's super funny as that is. Perspective is for real.
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Brit
Yeah, it's good.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
It's a real thing.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
I think a big part of what Jesus is saying here when he says judge not that you not be judged, for with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged with the same measure. It'll be measured to you. So you mentioned this earlier, but I think we need to dig into it. We judge what we see, we judge activity, but we want to be judged by motive and intent. Right. But we rarely judge other people. Actually, we judge their motive and intent. Like somebody pulls out in front of you and you get. I get. So, like, what are you doing? But when I pull out in front of somebody and they get mad at me, I'm like, whoa, I didn't mean to. And it's like a little microcosm of how we can live. And it. It will rob you of everything, particularly if you judge motive, because you don't know, man. You actually don't know what's going on. And it's kind of back to again to the judgment house thing. If I judge the motive of a church because they decide to do a ministry that I might not necessarily put our efforts towards, man, woe to the person that judges the motive behind that without knowing the people that did it. And I heard a guy say, long time ago, man, the. The further away you are from something, the simpler the solution seems. And I'm just going to tell you, the Internet is A long way away from reality.
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Brit
Yeah.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
And so everybody sits behind their phone and their keyboard and just heaps judgment upon all kind. I mean, I got an email this week about why am I not preaching on a certain topic enough on Islam, enough. I'm like, well, I mean, why? There's. There's a thousand things I could be preaching about. I'm preaching the Bible, you know what I mean? But. And that's what's happening. Somebody's judging my, my motivation. Because right now in their feedback, that's like the top of like, I could tell you exactly what their algorithms are if that's what they're, you know, what's on top of mine. And I'm going to say it's important. It's very. All the things are important. But so are all the Christians getting killed in Nigeria right now. That's important. So are all the kids being human trafficked. That's important. So are all the kids starving around the world. That's important. And so for anybody to judge somebody's intent because of what they are or not covering right now, this is what Jesus is saying, be really careful. Which by the time you get to the golden rule, you could apply it to the judgment thing. How about if you judge people the way you wanted to be judged? And if you like First Corinthians 13 on this about what love is, dude, love is love always hopes, love always trusts. This is that idea that we talk about on staff a lot that we borrowed from another church, is that when there's a gap between what you expect and experience, you get to decide what to put in there. You can either choose to trust or you can assume suspicion. And when you assume the worst, it never goes good. And to your point, Brit, it actually kills you. It kills you. Like you think you're some sort of, you know, righteous crusader for trying to keep all the hearts aligned with pure thoughts and motives. And you're the one eating rat poison because you're just judgy all the time towards everybody.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
It is a joy robbing abyss.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Yeah.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
You know, in your relationships, I mean, just think about the list you run through. It's like, so one, to be judgmental is to say I'm opinionated. Because all of your judgments are pretty much rooted in your opinion and your own psychological bias. And that's what it is, is an opinion that is subjective to your preferences. And we all have these like, subconscious filters based on our worldview that all information we're accessing every day is passing through. And then we're Doing this so fast and the heart is so wicked. You know, that's part of what being a follower of Jesus is. And I think it's an important note, is that certainly Jesus came to change your legal status before God in terms of judgment. Amen. He came to set you free from the punishment and the penalty of sin. Amen. He came to set you free from the grip that sin has on. On you, I. E. He's changing the way that you think. That's what repent means, is think different. You know what I mean? And so he's constantly, by the power of the Spirit of God, rewiring how we think. And so we want all of these filters and worldviews. We don't want to be found justified in our own opinion. That's actually not what you want. What you want is to be as objective as you possibly can according to God's truth and seeing and believing the way that Jesus did. That's what the whole. He's rewiring our brains into his thought process.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
And if you look at Jesus interaction, he actually did know the heart condition of every man. He did know the intent. So now reading through every interaction that he has, understanding that he's not just judging the outside. He knows what the Pharisees are feeling when they think, who does he think he is to say he can forgive sin? He also knows the heart condition of the woman caught in the act of adultery. You know, and so, man, everybody believes in truth and grace. And we want grace for us and truth for you. You know, and when we are on the other side of judgment, man, we want grace.
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Brit
Yeah.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
But when we are on the judgment side of judgment, we want truth. And, and if you apply the Golden Rule to that, it's like Jesus says, well, how.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Just.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
How about just hold up the mirror for a second. And how would you like to be treated, judged, thought about in this circumstance and situation?
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Yeah, I mean, go ahead.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Sorry.
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Brit
How do you know? You know, the person listening might think, they wouldn't say, well, I'm not a judgmental person, but they actually might be. As it plays out. How would someone diagnose if maybe they struggle with judgment?
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Well, this is where community matters so much. So we all should be judgmental people in certain communities. And, and we should dial that way back in other communities, if that makes sense. So when I have invited many people to judge me on purpose, these are. These are men. One woman and a bunch of men that I love dearly value their opinion, and they know me. And so when you're in those relationships, you do want to have that turned up. This is what Paul says in First Corinthians 5, like, hey, aren't we supposed to be looking at other brothers and sisters in the church and helping us encourage one another, spur one another along to life and godliness? Yes. So that, that plays a big role in it. I think another thing is it's one thing to have thoughts in your mind. I have many opinions about, Honestly, the thing you said about fitness, that's a thing in my mind. It hits me and I just think, I mean, I do. Which is not good. The question is, then what do you do about that? Do you say something or do you just swallow some negative thoughts? Sometimes, you know, you just, hey, Lord, will you take, will you take captive that thought? Because I don't think I'm treating another image bear the way you would treat them, you know, so that has a lot to do with it, honestly. Another way is this is where community matters. I dare you to ask somebody that loves you enough to be honest, am I judgy? Because they know. They know. And if they don't feel like they can tell you, there's your answer already. But it's a thing. It's kind of like greed. You mentioned greed before. Very few people identify greed in the mirror. Same with judgment. Would you think, well, yeah, but I'm right.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
That's exactly right.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
The greed and judgmentalism. It is no happenstance that Jesus connects them here, me included. Generally speaking, everybody I know would not say I'm a greedy person. Yet pretty much everybody has got greed in there and judgmentalisms the same way. I mean, some diagnostics are. If you could, if you could be self aware, could you honestly answer, do I have a hard time seeing past other people's flaws? What's amazing about that one is that I, I'm pre.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
I.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Your flaws are based on my assessment.
- [25:11]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
And so it really, that one really puts you at the center. Because what usually happens is I think it goes Back to James 4:1. When you don't give me what I want, that's when the judgment comes. So you may have all sort of personal mom flaws that I don't see, but I don't care. I mean, I care, you know, but I don't care. But as long as you do a good job here and I get out of you what I want, you are of high value. But the moment those sort of personal inconsistencies impact me and when I need, then all of a sudden you go into the. You have been judged and you're dead to me category.
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Brit
Yeah. It's interesting.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Yeah. So do I have trouble seeing past other people's flaws? Do I generally just not like people that aren't like me? And I don't think I would ever just say explicitly out loud I don't like them, but I have built my entire world around it not being invaded from people who aren't like me and reinforcements my me to myself. Now, this is some real mental health stuff. You got to get your, like, thinking cap on. Do you feel everyone or some people are always against you? This is the judgmental spirit. In order to have the idea of judgment, ultimately, is that somebody's right and somebody's wrong. And in that, the balance of those scales, there's a victim, and every victim needs an enemy. And so there's always a protagonist or. And an antagonist. And. And so that's just a terrible way to live. But it goes really, really deep. It's like you keep going. It's like, do we. Do you struggle with uncertainty? You know that back to the don't be anxious about tomorrow thing. This is why they're so connected that. Do you struggle with uncertainty? Why do we struggle with uncertainty so much when we all know that it's an absolute. Control is an absolute delusion? You're sitting on a rock spinning a thousand miles an hour in the middle of open space that is somehow rotating around a huge gas ball of fire called the sun, that if at any point the sun moved 200 miles closer or the moon moved 200 miles further away, you're dead. I mean, dead dead. You don't have any control. You know what I mean? So control is this absolute illusion, but we're so addicted to it. Me, too. You know, we jump quickly to conclusions. To your point earlier about everything's simple from a distance. We talk about that all the time in leadership. It's true. You and I were riding, going somewhere in Orlando or something. You were preaching to something, and I was riding with you. And we were on i4, and we were kind of pulling into Orlando, and it was the part of i4 they had been doing work on for years and years and years. And I'm like, what the heck? You know, I'm like, how long does it take? And you just kind of looked at me and we're like, have you ever built a road? I was like, no. And then, funny, the road that I live on here, San Pablo Road, it was under construction for, like, two years, and so I had to drive it every Day for two years. And honestly, sometimes it was frustrating because you're like stuck in the long. But honestly, the whole thing was just massively impressive because I'd never seen what it takes to actually build a road. They're having to pull in these like one ton pieces of steel to bury them under a road to reinforce three
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
lanes without ever shutting it down.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Without ever shutting it down. I mean, just the complicated. And so that's a really good one is like you can just jump to conclusions ultimately because it doesn't fit into your preferences.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Well, part of the reason I said that is because one of our now elders was on the transportation committee of for the state of Florida. So one day he comes up to me and say, hey man, can you give me a break on the 295 stuff? Yelling like, say more. And what happened as I got a little peek into like what he's going through, you know, and he's like, I get it, it's funny. But one of the things that I am painfully aware of is I have an incredibly limited amount of time, energy and resources. So if and when I do okay on this one, it's because I try to be very aware of the sphere of influence that God has given to me. And I don't want to get outside of that because I just don't have time for it. And that even includes things going on in this church. Man, I am responsible for it all and I'm happy to take responsibility. And one day I'll stand before the Lord and give an account. That does not mean that my efforts and energy have to go to everything going on in this place. Dude, if I just responded to did you know this was happening? That I disagree with, that is outright wrong. Where we've missed the mark. I would never have time to write a sermon. You know, and sometimes Gretchen will be like, did you know? And I'm like, babe, that's not even on my top hundred things to do this year list. Now we have very capable people and it's in their sphere of influence to handle those things. And that's where trust, if you truly trust people, will overshadow judgment to the extent that you can just let some things go and just choose to believe the best about what's going to happen. And you have to.
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Unnamed Male Speaker 1
It's interesting because we live in a culture we're all, I would argue most of us are naturally bent this way. Not everybody. Some people, it's like some people just don't struggle with anxiety. Some people are just trusting people. Like they're just happy, bubbly, trusting people. Most of us are generally suspicious. And we live in a culture that is incredibly suspicious, especially of. You see this with, in the world we live right now, people are very suspicious of anything that is institutional or organized or large. And. And you also see that because people are suspicious and can't they. They just can't seem to accept that there, there are shadows that they can never enjoy the good and the benefit of it. Does that make sense? It's like I'm so angry about the condition of just, just take America that I'm. I've lost all my joy in what it means to be an American.
- [31:23]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Yeah, I think, you know, you know, in Jordan Peterson's 12 rules or whatever in his first one, clean your room. And the thing there is, especially with. We have access to everything at all times now. People have these. I talked about this a lot in San Firm and Alec men and what it means to, like, guard your family. We have all of these opinions right now about Islam and Gaza and the southern border and immigration and. Okay. Right. And yet we're not actually directing our attention and focus on our little world at our own address. You know, like, we're not, we're not providing for our kids the way we ought to. We're not pursuing our wife the way we ought to. But you sit on your couch all night and watch cable news and your news feed, but you got opinions about how to fix Gaza. Okay, that's adorable. How about first clean your room? Like, get your world in order. Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't have opinions on those things for sure. But if all of your opinion is about what's happening all around the world, and you're not, you haven't cultivated the little world that God has actually given you dominion over right here, then you have a misalignment of priorities and that. That matters a lot.
- [32:37]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Yeah, there's a big difference in having an opinion and caring. Like, I can have an opinion on a lot of things, but I don't really care if I'm not getting myself involved in a, in a positive way toward a solution. You know what I mean? And posting on social media ain't getting involved in my opinion. And so, I mean, maybe there's a category where it is, but it's rare.
- [32:58]
Brit
Yeah.
- [32:59]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
But I think in this one, Jesus goes to the. That's a good. He actually gives a really specific example. He's like, why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye? Right. Do you not Notice that there's a log in your own eye. And it's interesting that he connects it to the eye because the eye is also, in the Bible used many, that it's the gateway into the soul.
- [33:21]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Right.
- [33:22]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
And ultimately what he's saying is that there's something coming out of your brain that is in your way and you can't even see it. And not only can't you see it, you don't want to see it because it means you actually have to deal with you and you have to admit weakness and you have to admit sinfulness and you have to admit need. And so he's, he's certainly talking about a thinking thing. And he says, how can you say to your brother, let me take that speck out of your eye when there's a log in your own eye, you hypocrite. First take the log out of your own eye and then you'll clearly to see, to take the speck out of your brother's eye. And then he says this verse, which I don't think I've ever heard, I've heard mentioned in sermons, but I don't know that I've ever heard anybody actually preach on. Do not give to dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. In context, it seems to me, in the context of greedy judgmentalism and where he's going next, which is prayer, it seems to me that what he's saying is all your opinions and all your efforts and all your frustrations and all your unmet expectations and all that joy robbing energy and emotional effort that you call your life, you actually can't argue people into joy. You can't argue them into joy.
- [34:49]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
So especially dogs and pigs because they are unclean, outside of the covenant of God. So it goes back to the first thing we talked about is are we talking to a believer or an unbeliever?
- [35:03]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Yeah, I think that's it is you can't argue people into joy. You can't talk people into happy or
- [35:08]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
heaven or heaven if the spirit doesn't woo them. I can tell you, man, the number I talk to lots and lots and lots of people, if you cut me, I bleed. Evangelism, it's just, I don't know how to explain it, but whatever. And when I, if I'm talking to somebody about, hey man, we're not just bad, we're sinners, and they're like. And I even do the like, okay, well, ten Commandments, we're gonna go ten Commandments. So let's just go, have you ever lied, cheated, stolen, you know, and. And then raise the bar on the way. Jesus defined those things. And if they're still like, nah, then I'm like, cool, because it's pearls before swine at this point.
- [35:42]
Brit
Yeah.
- [35:42]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
If they aren't convicted that they are outside of God, there's nothing I can do to convict them. If they don't realize they're a sinner in need of a savior, there's nothing I can do. When the spirit of God convicts the human heart to realize, oh, something isn't right. Now we're perfectly positioned for the Spirit of God to do his work in their life and for the good news to enter that need. There's a bit of that there. So the Christians yelling at dogs and pigs all the time is a real. I mean, it's something.
- [36:17]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Yeah. And I think that the eternal condition of the soul in regards to human salvation is certainly the most important and first conversation only and always. But I also think he's. I think in addition to that, he's also talking about, like, when people have a judgmental heart. Christian, not Christian. When they are greedy, when the. It's really hard to just talk them out of that. Something outside of them has got to break them. It's got to change them. And I just don't have the power to change anybody. I certainly am compelled by the love of Christ to share the truth, to share my testimony, to encourage, to exhort. These are really positive things, Right. To condemn, not given to me, but to encourage and exhort. Absolutely. But I can't change anybody. However, God can. And that's why I think He Ch. He doesn't. The next part of his sermon is, you can't change people and pray like crazy because God can.
- [37:24]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Right?
- [37:25]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Pray like crazy because.
- [37:27]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
But in like, after he says, you hypocrites, and he's talking about the log and the spec. Very few, when people do the log and spec thing, they don't keep going at the end of it. Jesus does say, you're supposed to help take the speck out of your brother's eye. In this context, this means that we are supposed to encourage, exhort, hold one another accountable. Judge, we just have to hold the mirror up first for. And a lot of that just has to do with our own heart. Like, we have to also be open to other people taking out the log in our eye, you know?
- [38:02]
Brit
Yeah.
- [38:03]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
But there's a big.
- [38:03]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
So that. So that you will see clearly why. So that you can be helpful to your brother.
- [38:11]
Brit
Yeah. I think one group of people that we struggle a lot with judgment is moms and maybe dads too. But I'm going to speak for moms, and I think it's because there are
- [38:23]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
dads mostly just judge moms.
- [38:25]
Brit
Yeah, that's better. But we're so quick to judge other parenting.
- [38:32]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Yeah, women have the, I mean, it's
- [38:35]
Brit
crazy, especially the chop of comparison like you, you mentioned. But I think with parenting there are a thousand ways to cut the cake and your kids are going to turn out pretty good. I think there's only a handful that you really screw them up. But we get so caught up in the nuances between what you're doing, what I'm doing. And I've seen now just, you know, I'm still in my early years of momhood, but just in the four years that I've been a mom, it can be really, it's a suffocating. If you get too deep into it, it's a little suffocating because you're right, it's joyless. Instead of like, you know what? You're gonna parent the way you parent. And I'm not there yet. So like, maybe I'll do that, you know. And you talk about this all the time like people who don't have kids who judge people with small kids and then people with small kids who judge people with teenagers. Like, I'll never do that kind of thing. But it's definitely an area that I'm convicted of as we're talking of, man, how quick I am to look at somebody else's parenting specifically. And that can be a real pitfall. And I might not even be aware that that's really falling in the realm of judgmentalism.
- [39:40]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Yeah, man. When I was in probably, probably my late 20s, early 30s, Anna Catherine was just born, who's my oldest, she was just born. She's probably a year old. I'm on a mission trip with this elderly couple that went to our church and they went on all these mission trips with me. I loved them very much. I still love them very much. She's passing, gone on to be with Jesus. But these people were really influential in my life. They had grown up kids and one, they had two daughters. One of them was just honestly a train wreck. I mean, her entire life was a train wreck. She had a kid, he was a train wreck. I mean, he's like 8 years old and they got him like on all kinds of heavy lithium type medications and sending him to these wilderness camps. For behavioral. And the whole thing was just really hard. And they're sharing this, sharing this with me over a series of days and Anna Catherine, maybe one. And versus just listening and praying and, like, being there and being a presence. I said, hey, Ola, have you ever considered. And started trying to offer, like, parenting advice? And the man just kind of looked back at me and he was super humble, but he just kind of looked back at me and he just put his hand on my shoulder and he was like, you got it all figured out, don't you, bud? And it was very convicting for me. And I immediately was like, man, I'm so sorry. It was very convicting for me because it's like, what do I know? I don't know anything. But I am kind of standing by putting myself in this superior, inferior position by thinking I have a clue as to what the road is that you've walked. And I think parenting is a real easy one. Like when you. When you're small, you don't. When you're. When you don't. When you're first married and you don't have kids and you're in a restaurant and the baby's crying, or you're at church and there's a baby crying and you're like, all you think is, man, what an inconvenience. And like, why do they even leave the house? Who are these people? Get control of your kids. You know what I mean? They're honestly so quick to judge, you know?
- [41:37]
Brit
Now I'm like, trying to make eye contact with the mom whose baby's crying. Like, you're doing really great. Where before I had kids, I was like, oh, it's so annoying. And baby's crying because you just. Well, yeah, maybe once you're not in it. But even being in it, even friends and we have kids the same age, like, how quick can I be to start passing judgment on decisions that they're making regarding whatever it is, school, sleep, food, whatever it is. When it's like, well, you know, I gotta. If I just spent all that time thinking about that, if I spent that time on my kids in my house, how much more fruitful would that be? You know?
- [42:12]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Yeah. I also think the opposite of judgment is praying for people. Instead of thinking about them with you as the judge, what if you went to the judge on behalf of them?
- [42:23]
Brit
Yeah.
- [42:24]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Just saying, lord bless, Lord help, and not praying about them. That's different. Like, God, would you just change these people to do life the way I would do it? That's not. You're not actually.
- [42:33]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Right.
- [42:33]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
You're praying about them for you, but the. To go before the king on their behalf.
- [42:39]
Brit
Yeah.
- [42:39]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
And ask and seek and knock. Because those ask and knock verses, we make them all about us so fast. So fast.
- [42:47]
Brit
Yep. Our dreams, our hopes.
- [42:49]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Right? Yeah, right, right.
- [42:51]
Brit
Yeah.
- [42:51]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
I mean, he just gets done saying, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. And he, you know, says, don't throw your pearls before swine. And then he just goes right into asking. It will be giving to you, to you. And so he's clearly connecting that to praying for other people and having clear eyes to see what God's trying to do in somebody else's life and jumping in on that. So it's certainly about other people.
- [43:18]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Yeah. And he's like, listen, man, you're looking for this thing, this deep, abiding thing, and that's what you're anxious about. And you think you're going to be able to find that thing in stuff, so don't do that. And then you're gonna. Then you think you're gonna be able to find that thing in the activity of other people. So don't do that. What you're actually looking for can just be found in me. So come to me. And that's. This is what you've been looking for. You see, one of the. We'll talk about this a ton as we study the entire Sermon on the Mount. One of the major flaws in most people, a lot of evangelicals reading of the Sermon on the Mount, is they think it's just a replacement for the law given to Moses on Mount Sinai. And it's just a different law. And the way you know what something a sermon is about, just see how it starts and how it ends. And so it's just gospel, gospel. So the Beatitudes are the gospel. And then build your house on the rock is the gospel. Gospel, gospel. Everything else in the middle is the implications of the gospel. You're actually supposed to read this and be like, well, crap, I can't do any. I can't do this. That's what you're supposed to. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, you're supposed to be poor in spirit and think, well, if. If this is the standard of kingdom living, I'm screwed. Jesus goes, bingo. But if you surrender to me, all of these things are available. Me through you, not you, trying harder.
- [44:46]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
I think part of what you brought up about the. The moms. I live in a house with three women and two Female dogs. And so I'm surrounded by. And honestly, my family's awesome, my wife's incredible. All the things I can only say positive things. One thing I do know that is an objective and experiential fact is that she and other. The other ladies in my house and ladies that I work with is that there is a really loud inner critic. And that often judgmentalism is a subconscious attempt to try to dampen or quiet down that inner critic. And it's like if I can just think about somebody else for a minute, then it'll take this. These negative feelings that I have about myself that are coming from. And that's not something that I necessarily can empathize with, but I know it's a real thing.
- [45:44]
Brit
Yeah.
- [45:45]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
And it's. And that inner critic is really, really, really quick to form balances of justice and what the world you begin to live through is. You know, I just want to help make the way you would. The positive way you would say it is I just want to help. But my definition of help is I want to make everything better. The implication there is that by me trying to make everything better, it means that I need to make you better. The challenge with this, even from at times when it's a pure motive, the challenge with this is being on the other side of it is that unsolicited feedback almost always received as criticism. So while you're out trying to make the world better, living on the other side of you feels very critical and judged.
- [46:35]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Yeah, like what you said though, about when you can get you out of the middle of it. I mean, you know, we could just brag on our spouses all day. I mean, Grant is awesome, man, but. But the things that make you awesome also have some pretty big shadows, right? So she has really high discernment. She really does. She's a. She's. She has these, I don't know, supernatural spirit led understandings of people. And she's usually right. She has a really high like justice meter. She has a really high righteous, like there's just things that are right, things that are wrong. You do what's right, you don't do what's wrong. Okay. And she is a loyalist. So her mama bear protection of the people around her. Really, really high. All of those things, especially when we had little kids, led to very high worry about things that aren't even. That may or may not happen. Very high anxiety. What if it goes bad? What if I'm doing wrong? Yada yada. Okay. Now I see her a decade or so later, 20 years later, and she leads this disciple group of like, it's like 25 moms all with little kids and now with a little bit of experience in the rear view, what they see is the biggest crisis ever. She's like, it's gonna be fine, it's gonna be fine. And it's amazing though, because she's not at the middle of it now. Now she's just there to just help out these worried moms and her trust levels through the roof. And I think the reason is because she's not looking at the mirror going, where did I screw up? She's actually got positives and negatives in her past. And it's kind of what you were saying before. She can look. And we had a 20 year old and a 16 year old. Things are going pretty good. And she can look at these moms of three and four year olds like, it's going to be okay if they don't eat the green beans or whatever. If they scream a lot, it's going to be okay. If they don't. Can't sit in their seat in preschool. Trust us, it's going to be fine.
- [48:27]
Brit
Well, and she even talked about when we did your family podcast for Christmas. One thing I took away that I can't stop thinking about is how there are certain choices with Reagan choosing to be homeschooled and JP not going to a traditional four year college, like things ten years ago would have crushed her and now she feels so much peace about it. And so to see that trajectory of how God grows that in you, like that inner peace versus like the comparison and the insecurity and is really encouraging to me at this stage where yeah. Like some of the things that happen with little kids, like it can feel so big. But then to see down the road, like, okay, that's what I want to get to like even if. And it comes down. And she talked about like to control and trust, which is what we're saying kind of blankets this whole thing is do I trust God? At the end of the day, it's
- [49:16]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
a crazy thing to think about how much responsibility of stewardship we have in the spheres God has given us and how little to no control over those spheres that we have.
- [49:29]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
It's exactly right.
- [49:30]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
It's crazy. Right? So we will be held responsible. Like we'll stand before the Lord and give an account for our marriages, our.
- [49:37]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
For every good work and every deed, every word.
- [49:40]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
And we have no control over what your kids do. Yeah, exactly. You know what I mean? But all the responsibility for to do everything you can do to train them up in the way they should go. That's the key, is you got to train them up in the way they should go, not the way you want them to go. Yeah, but I mean, I've. Yeah. If you would have told me five years ago, did I have a homeschool kid and a kid not going to college, I'd be like, who are you talking about? Not at my house. Let me tell you what we do. You know, we get academic scholarships to college. That's what we do. We. You know what I mean? Like, but whatever, dude. That's not the path the Lord has. And I'm. I couldn't be more pumped for my kids.
- [50:15]
Brit
Yeah. Yeah. And this applies. I mean, we're talking about parenting, but it really does apply in every sphere of life. Like, we bring in all of our preferences and all of our thoughts and into every environment that we walk into.
- [50:27]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
I think, I think one of the lead. A lead foot of judgmentalism is we just get grace amnesia. I mean, we think we brought merit to our salvation. You look at some homeless guy just obviously drugged out, and you're like, what that guy. Series of decisions led him here. As opposed. And then implicitly what you're thinking is, but not me. Look at me and look what I did to get me here. As opposed to yet but by the grace of God, there go I. Yeah, that is a really good heart posture to have with every single time you feel that little judgment thing in you. If you could think the word grace. Because the moment you think you bring merit, you are that is righteous. These before the Lord that he treats his filthy rags. That's what that is.
- [51:18]
Brit
Yeah.
- [51:18]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Like God, you owe me.
- [51:21]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
I think inviting people into the whole. You know what Pastor Joby said about being able to see clearly if you're willing to do the work of confession and repentance and trying to be self aware to the point of being self forgetful, which is the goal. Being Self aware and self consumed is not the goal. Being self aware so that you can be self forgetful so that you can offer yourself to be help, to be helpful to others and to do the work of the Lord. Like these are the goal, you know, like in our. In our marriage. Talking about the. The voice of the inner critic. One of the things that we've really grown in and matured in is our ability to communicate with each other without walls of defenses. And you know, I can say because I do believe genuinely that my wife is trying to help me I can say, hey, I know you're trying to help. That said, help me understand, or it doesn't feel like that right now. And she's grown so much that she's like, okay, I get it. Let me rephrase or rethink or reshape or like, let's talk it out to figure out what we're actually talking about here versus getting, like, uber passive aggressive. And everybody's just trying to. You defend and then she defends, and then you defend and she defends, and then you're. Then you don't even remember what was the original genesis of the conflict. And all it is is this mountain of insecurity and suspicion. And we're just trading insecurity and suspicion back and forth, which these things are not. These are flesh things. These are not the work of the spirit in my life. And so I think that there is a place that you can live from, maybe not all day, every day, but often where you can see clearly. Not perfectly, but you can see clearly. And you can live, I think, with a clear conscience before the Lord and before the people that God's put in your life to be as helpful as you can. And I think that's where the golden rule thing comes in of, like, do. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. You know, and what the crazy thing about what Jesus says there is, so whatever you wish that others would do to you, which is, don't you want people praying for you? That's what Jesus is saying. Like, don't you hope that. I love that when people come up and they're like, hey, I just want
- [53:43]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
you to know me too.
- [53:44]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Praying for your ministry. And I'm like, we. I covet those prayers. Thank you. And for. This is the law and the prophets. Right? How about that for a line?
- [53:54]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Yeah, you don't even need the Ten Commandments if you just do this.
- [53:56]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Yeah, I mean, dude, I.
- [53:59]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Back to the marriage thing, man. Nobody talks about how important the art of negotiation in a marriage is. And if you automatically think negotiation is about getting what you want, then you're screwed with the whole thing.
- [54:11]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
That's right.
- [54:11]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
But can we actually talk about the thing? And can we. And this is just a pro tip for married people. And I'm going to make a generalization because generalizations are generally true. All right? If wives would just say what they actually want, it would just go way better. You know? Instead it's kind of like creating this philosophical, like, category of, hey, have you ever thought, you know, if you just tell Your husband? Would you clean the garage? It would mean a lot to me. And then husbands, if you would try to share how you actually feel, sometimes it would go good. And then you're like, I tried that once two years ago, and it didn't do good. Well, the reason is because you tried it once two years ago. And so you might have to recreate this environment now where you can, like, you do have feelings. You know you do. And they're more than just all words that start with H. And if you begin to expose a little bit of that, it would help you. Song of Solomon says, catch us little foxes in our garden. The moment you realize that me and you are on the same side, and the problem is the fox in the garden of our marriage now you are rightly positioned to negotiate about what's actually going on. What you're talking about, Brit, is when it's me versus you and there's a fox in the middle, and we're both trying to kill it, but we're actually hitting each other, we're screwed. A very small example. One time, it was kind of. We were. We had just planted the church, and my schedule was just going in a crazy direction. I'm like, all right, babe, I can either be here in the mornings or the evenings, but I can't be here both. So I need you to decide. She's like, I don't even want you here in the morning. I'm like, what? For years, I have been sacrificing to be the good dad and be here in the morning, but I would much rather get up early and be at work and be home in the evening. She's like, you screw everything up in the morning. When you're out of town, everything's great. But when you're here, here comes fun dad, and we're late for school, and people got syrup on them, and it's not good. And I was like, if we would have had that conversation two years before, do you know how much pain and strife it would have saved? But we were always kind of tiptoeing around, like, when it was a good time to talk. You don't want to talk because you don't want to make it a bad time, you know? And you couldn't just say what you wanted and just share the feelings that were actually going on.
- [56:21]
Brit
It's very relatable.
- [56:23]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
It just takes humility.
- [56:25]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Correct.
- [56:25]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
And it takes both parties.
- [56:27]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Correct. Yeah.
- [56:28]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
And so, you know, for years and years, my wife and I, we never really had a need to communicate all that much. Because we just loved each other, got married, we were young married, you know, you're still kind of doing your own thing, but you're living in a house together. And as long as you don't, you know the, like, here's the top five don'ts. Don't do those, you'll be okay, right? And then, but then you have a kid, or at least for us, we had a kid and things got real. Things started getting real complicated and our communication started to fail and, and we were just surviving both the reality of having a child and having to depend on each other in a way that was massively uncomfortable. And all of our styles and preferences and thoughts about parenting, we had never really communicated because we didn't have a need. So anyway, it just got real, real complicated. And so we went on a many years journey of honestly just finding each other, not judging one another. Because that's what we were doing is we were bringing our preconceived judgments and all of our expectations, laying them on the other. And here's where one of the breakthroughs for us is when we realized that it wasn't the other's job to make me happy. Like Jen's purpose on the planet is not to make me happy. It's unfair of me to put the burden of my happiness on her and she can't carry that weight. Call it joy, call it happy, call it whatever. And so when we began to realize, wait, this person is not here to make me feel positive emotions about myself only and ever, we began to really see each other rightly, and it began to breed humility in us in that I don't, I don't want from you my happiness. Okay, so what is there now? I just want for you. And so wanting for you is like at the floor of humility. And when I want for you, that's a long diatribe to get to when we sit down to have that conversation about, it's just better if you're just not here in the mornings. I have no, even if I do have instincts to be defensive because it stings a little bit, I know that that defensiveness is not merited and it's not wanted and vice versa. Talking about the, the loud voice of the inner critic to a woman. I know there's times in our marriage where my wife, I'll be sharing information with my wife and she's having to like, mentally grind through the voice of that inner critic, because I'm just stating, hey, what if we. Or would it be better if we. And what she's hearing is it's not good enough. You're letting. You're failing. You're. Now she's matured enough to know that that's the inner critic, that the devil loves that. And he'll try to turn that voice up, but it takes a long time. But the point being, you don't have to live slave to your own missed expectations, to your own spirit of judgmentalism, to your own. You know what I mean? Like, you don't have to live under the oppression of that. You can live free from that. And that's only done through the gospel and through the hard work of humility unto holiness.
- [59:46]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
So the real problem with handing your keys of happiness to somebody is you never hand them to just somebody. If you are looking for happy by handing the keys of your happiness, here's what happens. If you were looking to Jen, you're not actually just looking to Jen. You're also looking to me because I'm your boss. And you're looking to Ally because she works for you. And you're looking at this whole congregation, and you're looking into the Bulldogs and the Jags, and you're looking to your homeowners association, whatever it is. So even sometimes when Jen operated at Perfect for several days in a row, and then she doesn't make you happy because something. The Jags lose, the Bulldogs lose, I'm a jerk. Whatever it is somebody out there that she has no control over. And so it is. There's no way in the world that's ever going to work. You got to snatch all those back and hand them to Jesus and say, I need to find my joy in you, you alone. And then it reorients, just like you're saying, it reorients your relationship with all those other people now.
- [60:49]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Yeah. Wow.
- [60:49]
Brit
It's good. All right. Any final encouragement before we pray out?
- [60:54]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
I think the end of the. This part of the text that we're studying is a pretty famous verse. It says, enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy. That leads to destruction. 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. I think that certainly has an eternal implications, and that is the way that we normally hear it and even talk about it. Like Jesus, the road to heaven is narrow in that it goes through an exclusive door. And his name is Jesus, and he actually calls himself the door. And so he says, I am the way. There's only one way to Write relationship with God in eternity in heaven, which is through faith in Jesus Christ. So that gate is certainly narrow. There is also only one way to joy in this life. There's only one way. And to be free of the inner work of the flesh and sin, and to be free of the external realities and consequences of sin, there's only one way. And I think he's talking as much about our life now in the context of this sermon as he is talking about our eternal life. Or a different way to say it is that when we surrender our life to Jesus, our eternal life begins in that moment. We're not waiting for eternal life to start. Eternal life takes us as soon as Jesus takes us. And so. But the way is hard. That leads to life. That's a fascinating thing for the author of life to say. The way is hard, not impossible. I don't think. I think it's what you say all the time, that surrendering to Jesus is free. Following Jesus is challenging because we live in a world and we have an enemy that is. Is designed the complete opposite. So it's a hard way to live.
- [63:00]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Yeah. If you lay this over John chapter 10, you'll see it right. Jesus wants us to hear his voice, follow him, and that leads to abundant life. It's almost. I have this image in my mind, like this very narrow ridge that you're on following after Jesus even after you're a believer. And everything in the world is trying to steal, kill, and destroy. It's only wolves and hirelings that are like, no, no, come down this way and every step in that direction. This isn't just right and wrong. This is life and death. And everything is trying to tear away that abundant life. Everything is only trying to steal, kill, and destroy. It's not like option 1B is pretty good, just not as good. No, no, no. It's death and destruction, and that's the world we live in. And yet Jesus is saying, follow me for eternity for sure. But eternity begins when you get saved right now. And. And the abundant life is not an abundance of stuff. It's that you get him and he is more than enough.
- [63:58]
Brit
That's good. Pastor Britt, will you pray for us?
- [64:00]
Unnamed Male Speaker 1
Father, we love you. We thank you for your gospel, Jesus. We thank you for your words that we get to study, and it changes the way we think. And I pray that you would just help me. Help us. Anyone listening? Father, that you would just change our thinking in the areas where it needs to be changed to be more like you. That teach us to live from a place of repentance and surrender. Lord, I pray that you would help us to be free of judgmentalism of the spirit of comparison God, that we would be able to live from a place of humility and really be for other people. And Lord, I pray that you would stir us up in our prayer lives that we would just have a hunger for prayer and that we would pray for people, not just about them. And God that knowing that you're a good father who wants to give good gifts to your kids and just give us the perseverance spirit to ask, to seek and to knock in Jesus name.
- [64:57]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Amen.
- [64:57]
Brit
Amen.
- [64:58]
Unnamed Male Speaker 2
Thank you for listening to the podcast the End. You nailed it.
- [65:05]
Pastor Joby Martin
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