← The Church of Eleven22
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Amen and amen. How we do church. Good. There you go. Hey, have you got your Bible? I hope you do. Matthew, chapter 13. You want to get your Bible out? And just so you know, every single week, this is what we do. It's not about my words. It's about the words of Jesus. It's not about me. It's all about Jesus. And so we're just unpacking His Word. So I want you to get it out. We're going to study words of Jesus. And we are in a new season. As our campus pastors have told you. As we studied through the Book of Matthew all year, we're talking about what is impossible with man is possible with God. Because if any church knows it, you know, this one, if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. That's right. That's right. Now sit up. Wake up. Look like you're excited. Cause this is gonna be awesome. Okay. Not what I say, but the truth that we unpack is gonna be incredible. Cause what's impossible for you is for you to transform you. And that's such good news. But the Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, not only can he transform you, but he wants to. And that's what we're going to dive into. Jesus in Matthew, chapter 13. We're going to pick it up in verse 44. We're right in the middle of this teaching section that he's in. He's been unpacking parables. Parable is just a story. He puts two stories side by side. He teaches a common thing that people know about so. So that we could understand a supernatural reality. It both conceals and it reveals. And what he's teaching on is the Kingdom of Heaven. So he's gonna start it out this way in 1344. Says, the kingdom of Heaven. And remember. I know you remember everything I say, so this is just a reminder. Remember last week, two of the parables that we talked about were the mustard seed and the leaven. And so the Kingdom of Heaven, it starts out really small, like a mustard seed. Like, you could barely see it at first. And you're like, is it even working? It starts out like lemon hidden in dough. You can't even see if it's working. But it's going to grow into something way bigger, way greater, way more magnificent than you could ever imagine. And that's currently true about the Kingdom of Heaven, you see, because right now, Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world. And what he's doing is he's saving souls. He's gathering men and Women unto himself. And it may not look like a big deal at first, where a couple people here there get saved, or in our case, thousands of people over the last several weeks. But it's growing and growing and growing. And as his kingdom is growing, it's like the parable that we covered last week, or maybe the week before, the parable of the wheat and the weeds, that the things that God has planted, the wheat is growing up, but it's growing up in this world alongside of the weeds and the brokenness, the lostness, the vileness of this world. These things are growing up together. But the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, is a kingdom of love and of majesty and of grace and peace for all who believe. And even though these things are growing up together, and Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world, one day when he returns, he will establish his kingdom on this planet. And then there will be no pain, there will be no crying, there will be no. No sin. But currently, what we as kingdom people have been called to do is say, not my will, but your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So we do things by the kingdom of heaven, not the kingdom of this world. And I'm just here to tell you the kingdom of heaven is better. God's way is better. That we have a better story, that the blood of Jesus speaks a better word over you. So the world says, this is how you do money, and it will deceive you. And the kingdom way is better. The world says, this is how you do sex and sexuality. And God says, no, my way is better. The world says, this is how you do power. And the kingdom says, no, no, no, no. God's way is better. And so he's going to teach us more about what the kingdom is. Because remember, his whole message is repent. That means turn away from. Don't do it the world's way. Repent. For the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So he says, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure. If you got your Bible out, underline treasure. If your neighbor doesn't have their Bible out, elbow them in the ribs. Say, what are you doing? We're doing Bible study. Can you imagine going to a basketball game with no basketball? You'd just be a dummy. So get your Bible out. I know we write it on the screen, but you can't underline my screen. And here, even if you didn't bring a Bible, get the one in front of you. An underline treasure. Cause the next time I teach this and somebody opens it, I need Them to go, ooh, treasure, that must be important. You're gonna help disciple somebody else. So treasure, he's saying the kingdom of heaven is valuable. It's like a treasure hidden in a field which a man found. And he covered it up. And then underline this in his joy, he goes. And he sells all that he has and he buys the field. Notice this. In his joy, the kingdom of heaven is not begrudging submission. The kingdom of heaven is when we see him for who he really is. And so we say, it's worth everything I have. If I have to sell everything I have and I get him, then. Then I get the good deal here. And what begins to happen is when we have eyes to see God for who he really is, when we begin to treasure him above all the temporary things of this world, then the things of this world just grow strangely dim. And so here's what else is awesome about this. This treasure wasn't obvious to everybody. This guy wasn't even necessarily looking for it. He goes, I don't know, he's working in the field. He's walking by the field and he stubs his toe on something and he moves a little bit of dirt. And what he sees is something more valuable than he currently has, and he sees it for what it is. And people will walk by all the time. They'll walk by this same treasure and not have eyes to see. The way we're gonna wrap up this section is. This is what happens to Jesus when he goes to his own hometown. The people were treating what was holy and what was sacred as. As if it was common. And what this guy's realizes when he finds this treasure, he realizes that this is better than everything else I have. So let me sell everything else I have so that I have this. And here's the problem. Listen. Everybody's gonna spend forever somewhere. You realize that? And I checked. The death rate in Jacksonville is still hovering right around 100%. So you wanna pay attention to this. Everybody's gonna spend forever somewhere. And so many of us act like we're gonna live right. This is not your forever home, man. That there will be a new heaven and a new earth one day. You can read this in Revelation 20:21. One day, like John said, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. Like a groom come for his bride. And he will establish it forever and ever. So why in the world do we spend money and time and affection and energy on this temporary existence when this ain't where we're gonna live forever? It doesn't make any sense. Like, listen, man, I travel a lot. I get the opportunity to preach the gospel all over the place. This last week, me and Gretchen and Reagan, we went to Fort Worth, Texas, all right, to preach and lead some Bible studies and stuff. And listen, man, I dig Texas. It's like the Florida of the west. All right? It's great. It's the most America, America. We have Texas, Florida. So I fit in real good. There's. And so I roll. I go to cities all the time. And can you imagine if I get off the plane and I go to Hertz and I get my rental car and they give me my little Kia. I don't know why they don't have decent cars there, but whatever. So there I am, only guy with a cowboy hat in Texas driving a Kia over there. I'm just, eh, you know, and instead of going to where I'm supposed to go to preach, can you imagine if I pull it into the auto shop with my rental Kia and I say, I need to see the owner of the place. How can I help you, sir? I'd be like, hey, I need you to pimp my ride. Yeah, I need a new paint color. You know, I need to take these cloth seats out. I want to put leather seats in. I want you to put a system in, like some 90s hip hop system where I want like my neighbor's dentures to fall out if we stop at the red light together. You know what I'm talking about? I want you to drop it a little bit. I need some rims on here. Have you seen the Fast and the Furious? That's what I want it to look like. Okay? I want a spoiler on the back. If I'm gonna drive a go kart, it might as well. I don't need it to sound like that. And the dude would be like, sir, this is a rental Kia. I'm like, I know, man. And I'm sure he would take my money, but he would probably say it seems like an awful waste of money. Cause you're gonna have it for such a short time and then just give it back to hurts. And we live in a world that spends billions of dollars a day to get us to spend all of our time, energy to treasure the shiny things of this world. Imagine what this dude's friends are thinking when he starts selling everything. He puts his house on the market. He's doing a garage sale. He's selling every he does. Facebook marketplace. I'm just gonna be honest with you. That's the shadiest thing I've ever seen in my life. What are you people thinking? What are you people thinking? You put your home address and a toaster for $9. Best case scenario, you get $9. Worst case, you're dead. That's your options. Good luck. And he begins to sell everything. And people come to him like, ted, you okay? Oh, man, I'm okay. You wanna buy my bed? You wanna buy my car? You're here. You wanna buy these boots? He sells everything. Why? Because. Cause he's not sacrificing anything. He sees what they don't see. He sees that what he will be receiving when he buys the land. See, in the first century, they didn't have banks. You couldn't take your treasure and put it in a savings loan or in a lockbox. And so what you would do is you would dig a hole, you would cover it up, and then you know where it was so when you came home, you could get it. Nobody's ever come home to this place. So he goes and he knows if he buys the land, he wins because he gets the greater treasure. Now make no bones about it. This parable is not about cash and prizes. It is not about K and gold. No, no, no, no. That our treasure is Jesus. The kingdom of heaven is where Jesus rules and reign. And what he's saying is that he is more valuable than anything in this world. Sometimes when I'm talking to people about the gospel and they're hesitant to be a Jesus follower, they will be like. They will say things like, well, there's some things I just don't want to give up. I'm like, bro, what are you talking about? Do you know what you give up to follow Jesus? You give up sin and shame and condemnation and comparison and control and anxiety and worry. You give up performance and pretending. That's what you give up. And you know what you get? You get eternal life and you get peace and you get purpose and you get forgiveness and you get the approval of the Almighty God. This is the greatest trade you'll ever make. It's like giving up hunger for a bacon wrapped filet. That's a trade that you want to make. He's saying, this is that kind of treasure. My question to you is this. Do you treasure Christ? Like, see him for who he is? Not just functional to keep you out of hell, but valuable. Do you treasure Christ? Maybe this is why Jesus says, wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And listen, man, you can feel all the feels about Jesus and get the goosebumps in here, but, ooh, I got goosebumps. I don't think that has anything to do with the work of the spirit, by the way, but whatever. But you look at your bank account and your calendar and it will scream to you what the most important thing in your life is. Do you treasure him above the temporary things of this world? That's parable one. That's a good one, though. It's happy, right? Good trade for you. Parable number two. It's kind of the same point. Somebody's going to talk about jewelry. Says again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. So he is looking for something. This is what he does. Who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and he bought it. And is basically the same point that he's looking for these pearls and he's got a collection of valuables. But when he finds the pearl of great price, he realizes this one is what I have always been looking for. And so I've happily disregard all of these others so that I could grab hold of this one. But here's the difference. I love this so much. Here's the difference. The guy that finds the treasure wasn't necessarily looking for the treasure. He just stumbled upon it. It's almost like this treasure found him. I mean, the Bible doesn't give specifics, but he's just walking by the field or working in the field and his shovel dinks something and he's like, look what I found. And he goes and sells in everything and he gets it. This is my testimony of how I came to Christ. I wasn't looking for Christ. I was looking to work off some community service hours at camp. That's what I was doing. I wasn't like pursuing the truth of God. And then the hounds of heaven just chased me down and snatched me up out of the direction I was going. And that's some of your story that you're just going to encounter Jesus and see him for who he really is. And what you'll do is you look at him and you go, he's worth it. He's worth it. He's worth me giving my entire life to. And I am the beneficiary. But there are some of you, and you're looking, man, you're searching. Some of you are watching this online because apparently there's about a billion clips of me online. And everybody's got an opinion that's great. Opinions are like armpits. Everybody's got a couple. But you're a Stink. That's just a fact. But here's the thing. You're searching and you don't know why. You keep getting drawn in. You keep getting drawn in. You find yourself watching debates online between the Orthodox guys and the Catholic guys and the Protestant guys. And you're studying Wesley Huff. And here, good news, man. You're searching like the merchant is searching and searching. But when he finds the pearl of Great price, he goes, I've found it. I found what I'm looking for. I've got some good news. The pearl of great price is not just a possession. It's a person. And his name is Jesus. And when you find him, he is more than anything else, this world has to offer. But again, we live in a world that tries to make us settle for the temporary. This is why C.S. lewis says, if we find in ourselves a world that can never satisfy, maybe we were created for another world. He said, our problem is not that our desires are too big, our desires are too small. And God is like a dad offering us a vacation at the beach. And we're satisfied making mud pies in the slums. What are we doing? Happens all the time. Our friend Matt Chandler was here last week talking about his book Becoming Like Jesus. It's a great book. You should read it. He says, too many times we make the wrong trade. What these parables are about is trading the lesser thing for the greater thing. And too often, we trade the greater thing for the lesser thing. And the example that he gives, that every single one of us have experienced. Did you ever go to a. Anybody like Tex Mex? Nobody. It's a three hour wait to get into Taco Loo, but y' all don't like tacos. All right, all right. Come on. Anybody. Where are we, at a Baptist convention? Raise your hand. People get into this. All right, good. You love it, right? Don't you love it? I love to get skirt steak. Typically, I'll get a fajita. I order fajitas. I don't even get the stuff with it. I just want the steak and the vegetables. And what I love about that steak, when it shows up, it comes on a platter. That's like cheering for you. Like, when they lay it down, it's like, wow. And so I know I've got this delicious skirt steak in whatever juices they cook it in with the vegetables. Like, that's my jam, man. But here's the problem. Everywhere you go, what do they do? They lay down chips and salsa. Chips and salsa are fine, but it ain't skirt steak. And I am a pretty disciplined person. I have a lot of self control, except when it comes to chips and salsa at the place, man. And dude. So we were in Dallas and they bring this thing down and it's good. They had a big. There were big ones. Cause sometimes you go to a place and somebody crumbles them up and throws them in there. Like, these were huge and they were heavy. So, like, it would stand up to a good scoop. You know what I'm saying? It had just the right amount of salt on it. And I look at my wife and my daughter and I was like, all right, I need yalls help. Okay? I need you to hold me account. I'm gonna have three, and then I'm out. They did not do their job. They are not good Mac carriers for me. And so on the third bowl of chips, I'm elbow deep in fried tortilla. That's it. And I'm full before the steak gets there. What is wrong with me? And you know, it's dumb when you're at the restaurant, but it's a tragedy when you're talking about your life. You see, the merchant realizes he's getting a great deal. I'm gonna exchange what I have, which is lesser, for what I'm gonna receive, which is much, much greater. And so many times we make the wrong exchange. What we do is we exchange an abundant life for the temporary, for the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And so what these parables about are not just, do you understand how salvation works? But do you treasure him? Do you know him? Do you love him? I've told you this a million times. I just want you to love him. I don't care if you're entertained by me. I don't care, man. I just want you to know him and I want you to love him. And I don't know how to make you love what I love. I'm just here to tell you just one man's testimony is he is worth it. When you see him for who he really is and you put your trust in him, the real question is, do we actually recognize what is most valuable? Or do we walk past this eternal treasure because it doesn't look impressive enough at first glance? Here's the truth. Nothing is more valuable than the kingdom of heaven. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. The apostle Paul is going to. He's going to kind of say this. In Philippians chapter 3, after the first six verses of Philippians 3, he lays out all the things that this world had offered him his religious resume. He is a Pharisee of Pharisees, born of the right tribe, circumcised on the right day. This means he had cash, he had prizes, he had clout, he had religious authority. And then he looks at all the temporary things of this world and he says, I count it all a loss compared to the surpassing knowledge of the value of knowing Jesus. He goes on to say, I consider it rubbish. It's a very weak English translation. It literally, the Greek word is scubulon. Say scubilon. Yeah, you Baptist, you just said a bad word straight up. If you go to, like, Logos, Bible software and you click on Skubielon, the definition will be a slang term for animal dung. What term do you use? Rubbish. Maybe if you're British, like, I've stepped in rubbish. But that's why they ain't tough, man. What do you say? You'd be like, oh, man, that's bull skew lawn. That's what that is. That's literally what it means. And what Paul is saying is that all the shiny things of this world, whether it's cash, prizes, power, whatever it is, that's all BS bull skibeon, as compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus. I want to ask you this question. Is he enough? Is he enough? Like, if it costs you everything that you have, but you have Jesus, what this parable is about is saying, that is more than enough. Is he enough? Like, is he more important to you than your sexuality? Or does that tell you who you are and then you're just trying to add Jesus on to your life, which you're actually in charge of? Is he more valuable to you than your money? Or are you just trying to hold onto it for yourself and then just trying to decorate your house with some Jesus trinkets? And is he more than enough when it comes to your status or your stuff, or here's a good one in case I haven't offended you enough yet. Is he more important to you than your political views and affiliation? Or is Jesus only useful when it's useful for you and your political party? Hey, man, I'm going to try to be as clear as I can be. Please don't be a conservative Christian. Be a Christian first and foremost, because Jesus is Lord, not a lobbyist. And you probably don't have to guess where I fall on these things. But the point is, Jesus is not a means to your political end. And if he is, then he is not enough for you. Is he more than enough Is Jesus more than your circumstances and situation? Because what he's offering is eternal life. Charles Spurgeon, we call him the Spurge. One of the greatest preachers of all time. Man. He tells this incredible illustration of how we get hung up in the temporary things of this world. He said, imagine you had nothing, you had very little lower middle class, you're living in England a couple hundred years ago, and you get word as telegram comes in and, and you get word that you have an inheritance, that somebody in your family, some super wealthy rich person has left you all that they have. And you haven't done anything to deserve it. But you have received a mansion, an estate, a castle, grounds, and it's all yours. All you gotta do is pack up and go. And so you take your little meager belongings and you put it in your little wagon and you begin to head towards this mansion that is your inheritance. And then you turn the last corner and there it is, you can see it. There's a mansion, there's an estate, there's a castle, there's the gates. They're your servants, all of this is yours. And then your wagon breaks down. He says, what man among us in his right mind would get out a hundred yards away from that kind of inheritance and just curse the broken down wagon? And that's the world we live in, that we have a pearl of great price and yet we're complaining about the little treasures of this world. Is he more than enough? So he gives these two parables. They're awesome. I think they're awesome. These are like carrots, like the kingdom of heaven's awesome. You should get in on it. And then now he's about to bring the stick. It's called the Parable of the Net, verse 47. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. So the way they would do nets, like we do cast nets, they did drag nets. So he'd throw these nets out, these two boats, they'd be a couple hundred yards off the shore to sea of galley. And then the boats would come in and everything caught in the net would be dragged up to the seashore, he says. And when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers, but threw away the bad. So when it comes to fish, there's good and bad, and they kept the good and they threw away the bath. So it will be at the end of the age. Please pay attention to this. Here's what he's saying every Single one of us will stand in judgment before an almighty God. And like I've already mentioned, the death rate in America is right around 100%. So you got to pay attention to this. And I'm not trying to scare you, I'm just trying to warn you of the reality. Every single one of us will stand in judgment before an almighty God. Every single one of us. And so this is important. This is what CS Lewis says, that if Jesus is not telling the truth, then it's of no importance. But if he is telling the truth, it is of eternal importance. The one thing Jesus cannot be is moderately important. Because on the day of judgment, there's only two categories. So it will be at the end of the age and the angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous. So with fish, it's good and bad. There's like a stinky catfish bad, Holy mackerel. Oh good. That kind of thing, that's for all you Baptists. Make you feel at home there, okay? But with people, there's just evil and righteous. And some of you may think, well, I'm not evil. Are you sure? Because God's. Because you might think, well, I'm good. Well, I've got horrifying news. God's standard is not good. God's standard is righteous. God's standard is perfection. You might go, where are you getting that? Jesus? Matthew, chapter five. He says, be perfect as my Father is perfect. And you go, uh oh, cause I'm not perfect. It's actually worse than you think. This lawyer comes up to Jesus and he's, alright, Doc, there's 613 commandments in the Old Testament. The lawyer's trying to trick him. Cause that's what lawyers do. He goes, ha, I'm gonna try to trap you. What's the greatest of all the commandments? And Jesus is like, I don't even have to look this up. We call it the Shema. It's in Deuteronomy, chapter 6. It says, Shema, Israel, Eloheinu Echad, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And here's the command. You shall love the Lord your God with all. All of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, all of your strength. And oh yeah, the second one's like it, love your neighbor as yourself. So if that's the standard, let's do a little purity test right now and see how evil we may or may not be. Have you loved God with awe, like all day, every day, every moment, every thought. Has there ever been a time in your life where you have given your heart to someone or something that was ungodly, ever. Have you ever looked at God and rejected him and said, forget you God. I do what I want. Ever. How about your mind? Has your mind been perfectly pure? Or have you ever had a lustful thought? Have you ever taken an image bearer of God and treated them like a commodity at expense to them for your own benefit? You ever done that? You ever have evil thought? I mean, let's be honest. This is a church. No place for honesty. But just a second, don't tell anybody. Have you ever had an evil thought about somebody that you say you love? You know what I mean? Like your friend at work gets passed over for the promotion and you're like, yes, I am so sorry. But in your head, see all the nervous laughter? You too, yeah. Have you loved the Lord your God, with all of your strength, with your body, every single time? Have you ever poisoned yourself to the point where it rejected what you just put in there all night? Have you ever taken your body that was purchased by God as his temple and given it to somebody that it did not belong to? You ever done that? You ever thought too highly of yourself? You ever demanded your own way? You ever keep a scorecard on somebody so at just the right point you could bring it out and put them back in their place? Have you ever lied to make yourself look better? Have you? Me too. Too many times to count. So now does anybody want to stand up and tell Jesus how pure they are? We are impure people. We have impure thoughts, we have impure motives. We have done horrible things in the face of an almighty and perfect God. And then you might say, okay, well, but I don't think I'm righteous. I got really good news. When you read the New Testament, we talk about this all the time. When the Bible says righteous, it doesn't mean you always get it right. It means you have a right standing before a righteous king, not because of what you have done, but because you have received a free gift of what has been done for you. The theological term here is imputed righteousness. Imputed righteousness. This means that when you put your faith in Jesus, then he gives you his righteousness. I probably quote this verse more than all the other ones. 2nd Corinthians 5, 21. It says, and God made him who was without sin to be sin for us, that we would be made the righteousness of God. This is the great exchange. When you put your faith in Jesus, he takes the full penalty of your sin. And we get full credit for his perfect righteous life. And it's because he has put on his righteousness that we can rightly stand before God. Not because we deserve it, but because he earned it on our behalf. Romans, chapter four says it this way, verse three. For what does the scripture say Abraham believed or trusted? The Greek word is pistuo. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, not because he did right, but because he believed in God. Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as a do. And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. So how do you become righteous before God is. You believe that when Jesus died on the cross, somehow that counted for me. Last week I told you one of my favorite pictures of imputed righteousness. And I know you remember everything that I say In Luke chapter 15, the parable of the Prodigal, when the kid comes home, that the boy does not clean himself up to present himself as clean before his dad. He comes back smelling like a mess, and the dad runs to him and he takes his perfect righteous robe and he wraps it around him so that when anybody saw him, they didn't see the mess he's made of his life. They see the perfect clean robe of the father. My other favorite example of this is in Ephesians chapter 6. Paul is talking about putting on the full armor of God when we stand against the devil and his evil schemes. And when he gets to righteousness, the piece of armor that he chooses to use, it's called the breastplate of righteousness. He says, put on the breastplate of righteousness. And here's why I love this. You ever watch Gladiator and they put on those breastplates? Let's be honest, have you ever seen a chubby breastplate? Nah, man. Every breastplate is like perfect pecs and abs. They even got those little. Whatever these ones over here are. I don't have them. I can get them on one side if I do this, but I think that's different. But what happens is you put on that breastplate and, dude, you look jacked. And you'd be like, bro, you've been working out. Like, actually it's the breastplate and you don't even see all the jiggle situation going on underneath the breastplate. What you see is the perfect chiseled pecs and abs of the breastplate. When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, he puts on us the breastplate of righteousness. And so what God sees, when he sees us is. Is the perfection of his son, Jesus. And the reality is, most Christians believe half the gospel. If you want to hear an incredible sermon. Years ago, like, 10 years ago, we brought this Presbyterian up from South Florida named Ray Cortes slinging fire. Now, he looked like he worked at Blockbuster. He had like a blue button down tucked in some pleated khakis, but he was straight, slinging the heat of the gospel. And he said, man, hey, listen, most Christians believe half the gospel. And what they mean is this. They believe. If I were to ask a Christian, why are you going to heaven? And you would say, because Jesus died for my sins. And that's true. It's just not the whole truth. Not only did Jesus die for your sins, but he also imputed you with his righteousness. And if you only believe that Jesus died for your sins, then what? You'll begin to think it was grace that saved me. But. But I better go get to work. To sustain me. And so he shared this example. He goes, imagine you were in debt a trillion dollars. Hard to imagine, right? And you go to the bank and you come poor in spirit. You're like, I can never pay this off in 10 lifetimes. I can't pay this off. And let's just say the bank president said, because of my grace, I forgive you. Wipe your slate clean, dude. You'd be excited. But what would your condition be when you left the bank? You would be broke, and then you would have to go work to make a living. That is not the gospel. The gospel and the bank analogy is the bank president comes down, forgives your debt, adopts you as his own son, and gives you his debit card so that you have access to all that the father has. And now the reason that you go to work is just to carry on the family business, not to earn anything. And so there's two groups. There's evil and there's righteous. And he says, and so it will be at the end of the age, and the angels will come out and separate the evil from the. From the righteous. Just straight up ask yourself, which one are you? This is the most important question you'll ever ask in your life, man. It's more important. Where you gonna live? Where you gonna go to school? Where your kids gonna go to school? Are you in the sight of God? Will you be in the evil line or the righteous line? And the angel will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. And in that place There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. That's hell. And I know some of you might be like, here we are again, just talking about hell. Is he talking about hell? If you mean by Jesus, yeah. He talks about it a lot. Two of your favorite topics are his top two favorite things to talk about. Money and hell. And the only reason I talk about it is because I'm the mailman, dude. I'm nothing but a carrier pigeon. I don't get to write it, I don't get to edit it. I just got to deliver it. And I'm just telling you, the only reason I do it is because I don't want you to go. And I know. And if you're a little bit of defensive right now, no problem. And you say. You mean you believe that if I don't believe in God, he's gonna send me to hell? Yeah. Yeah. But here's what's crazy. You don't have to go. You don't have to go, like, right this second. You don't have to go, like, right this second. Not based on anything you do, but if you just repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, like, that is the direction of your life. And if you would just stop and turn around and just repent, say, I'm sorry. I trust you. Not what I can do, but what you can do. Then you have found the treasure. You have found the pearl of great price. That Jesus has done everything that it takes for. For you to have eternal life. All you have to do is believe. And for whoever believes, you receive the right to become a child of God. It's the greatest news ever, man. And so if you're a Christian, I got some great news for you. I got great news. This is as close to hell as we're ever gonna be. Isn't that good? Cause when we get there, there's no more pain. There's no more crying. There's no more sin. There's no more competition. There's no more comparing. There's no more performing. There's no more pretending. When we get there, nobody's hurt, nobody's starving, nobody's broken. There is no cancer. When we get there, we will see things fully and clearly. We will all know that Miles Jack was not down and we should have won the Super Bowl. We will know it all. If you're not a Christian, I have some terrible news. This is as close to heaven as you'll ever be, because we live under God's common grace. So whether you believe or not, He Gives us air to breathe and families to love and hobbies to enjoy and work to participate in. But apart from him, everything good and lovely and holy and pure will not be available to you. And there will be weeping and, and gnashing of teeth. And I just want you to choose him. And then he keeps going. Verse 51. He looks at the disciples. He just did seven parables, the number of completion. This makes me laugh. It won't make you laugh, but it just makes me choke it in myself. He goes, have you understood these things? And I go, yep. And here's why it makes me laugh. Because so many times, like, it's great, right? We're like, all right, we're making progress. The disciples are catching on. But what made me laugh is I normally look down my nose at the disciples a little bit because what seems so plain, they're like, what do you mean? And then the next thing he said, I'm reading it in the woods and I have no idea what he's talking about. I'm like, the dumb disciples know. And I have to go ask commentators, here's what he says. He's like, you guys know what I'm talking about. They're like, uh huh. Verse 52. And he said to them, therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who brings out of his treasure which what is new and what is old? I was like, what? And it just whooped right over my head. So I had to thank goodness that there's people you can go to and ask these questions and study. And so listen, man, I don't know it all either. I gotta do what we all gotta do. I gotta go dig in and study and see what people smarter than me say, which is really not hard to find. So that's good too. And so here's what I began to understand that's happening here. First and foremost, the scribe is anybody that studies the Scriptures. And when you're a scribe of the kingdom of heaven and you begin to dig into the word, there's a couple of angles here. One of the angles is you ain't ever gonna get to the bottom of it. Like, you begin to read things that are old to you, they're familiar to you. But as you dive in, what you realize is that there are new treasures in some familiar passages. Why? Because this ain't a history book, man. This book is living and active. This isn't an old book, it's a timeless book. It doesn't just tell you what happened it tells you what's always happening. And you're not just reading it, it's reading you also, when he's talking about treasures, he's talking about the old treasures are found in the old covenant, and there are treasures in the Old Testament. Please, whatever you do, don't unhitch from the Old Testament. That's a terrible idea. Jesus said, I didn't come to do away with the law, but to fulfill it. And everything in the old treasures of the Old Testament are pointing forward to the coming of the king. And then everything. The treasures of the New Testament are always pointing back to the effects of the coming of the king. And he says, and don't keep this to yourself. When somebody shows up to the house, the master of the house doesn't just learn these things and hold onto them. He's like, let me show you some of this. And he brings out the old treasures and the new treasures. That's what he's saying, which sets this up great. Because a lot of times people look at some story that they've known for a long time, and they think, oh, I know what this means. And when you do that, you're not open to begin to understand what the spirit of God wants you to understand. And that's what's gonna happen next. As we close this thing up, Jesus is gonna go to his hometown. And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there. And coming to his own hometown, he. He lived in Nazareth. It was like the Dylan of the Middle East. When people found out he was from there, they're like, can anything good come from Nazareth? People ask that about where I'm from. My daddy used to say, the best thing come out of Dillon, South Carolina, is I95. That's a fact. All right? And coming to his hometown, he taught them in their synagogues so that they were astonished and said, where did this man get his wisdom and these mighty works? Pay attention to this. They are blown away by the teaching. They are blown away by the stories of the miracles and what they have seen with their own eyes. But the stubbornness of what they think they know is the problem. And then they go, is this not the carpenter son? Isn't his mom Mary? They're like, this can't be the Messiah. I mean, I know he walked on water and he brought this dead girl back, but I coached him in T ball. I don't think this is him. And do you see what a problem this is? This happens all the time in the information age right now. You hear one Comment from a comedian on a podcast, and you think you're an expert in Christianity, which people have been studying for 2000 years. Do you see how dumb that is? You know how much information we have access to and how dumb we are? If you also notice that the same people, they were experts on race relations, became experts on vaccines, then they became experts on Russia and Ukraine, and now they're experts on geopolitical unrest in the Middle East. It's amazing, isn't it? Like, you are so smart. It's a shame you're not the king of the universe. All right, so what I'm warning us on is don't let what you think you know about something blind your eyes to what's right in front of you. Here's what's hard about the people in Nazareth. They grew up with Jesus and they didn't believe in Jesus. And sometimes you could grow up in church and you can get inoculated with the gospel. Like just enough gospel that you don't see it for what it actually is. Cause you think you know what it means. And yet the undeniable is standing right in front of you. And I'm going to give you an example. And I'm not trying to just pick on one denomination, except I'm going to. Ready? Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? Are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us to my Catholic friends, I'm not trying to pick on you. I love you so much. Honestly. Of all of our 1122ers, our Catholic, you're the best ones. You're the nicest ones. You're just so excited. You don't have to get up and stand up and sit down and eat. You're so pumped, you know, and you say it all the time. Every Catholic person that I meet comes to 1122, they're like, I've never learned the Bible so much since I've been here. Okay? Here's how the tradition of man can nullify the word of God. That's Mark 10. The Bible right here in chapter 13 in black and white, just simply says, isn't that Mary and Joseph's boy? And here are his brothers and sisters, which means what? Mary and Joseph made babies. That's what the Bible says. And so I know you grew up. Cause this little group of people several hundred years ago with very fine robes and cool hats and all kind of things, they got together and they began to make up something that was not in the book and what I want to make sure any of us do. And I could pick on us all Southern Baptist or hyper charismatics or whatever that you began to believe. Basically a fairy tale of people over the very word of God that is right in front of you. And all we are going to do at 11:22 is we are going to go to the source, which is right in front of our eyes, the word of God. And so he says are he's not the sons of Mary and Joseph or he calls him the Carpenter. Are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas and are not as sisters with us. And then they say, where then did this man get all these things? And this is what's crazy. They took offense at him that their tradition was like what they thought. In their mind, they were offended. This is crazy. They should have been throwing a party because their hometown boy is the serpent crusher. Their hometown boy is the savior, the Messiah. And instead of throwing a party, they're throwing a fit because he doesn't fit into their religious construct. You ever go to Fernandina and as you're pulling in, Fernandina Wildlife Camp is talking to you and you're pulling in, there's that big sign. What does it say? The home of Derrick Henry. He played for Alabama. Nobody's perfect. Then he went to the Colts or the Titans and beat the mess out of us. So nobody's like to talk about him, but he was one of the greatest running backs. Like he. He won the Heisman. So what does the hometown do when you drive by? They claim it. They're like, that's our guy. He came from here. This is what Nazareth ought to be doing. But they miss it because of their stubbornness. What they think they know blinds them from what is right in front of their eyes. And this is why Jesus says a prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown and in his own household. This is the curse of proximity. And it's dangerous and damning. This is why I say it, folks. It's hard for church people to get saved, man. If you're an addict and you know it, Congratulations. The kingdom of God's at hand. Because you know you're in need. You're going through a nasty divorce and you're spiritually bankrupt. Congratulations. Not only divorce, but you realize I ain't got this. I need Jesus. When you're busted up and broken, congratulations, you're poor in spirit. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. When you think you got it all together cause you grew up in Church, it's the most dangerous place in the world you could be. Cause what you need to be saved is need. And there's so many people in and around Jacksonville. And you grew up with Jesus in Sunday school and VBS and camps and flannelgraph and veggietales, but you don't know him. You know about him. You can tell me the stories, but you've never come to that place where you've recognized the treasure. And you said, I'm willing to lay my whole life down. And, and I see that as worth it in my joy. I just want to give my life to Him. Do you know him? And then one of the saddest verses in the whole Bible, look at 58. And he did not do many mighty works there. It's not cause he didn't like them. He didn't look at them and be like Nazareth, y' all sorry. No, no. Because of their unbelief. Let me say two things that are simultaneously true. Here's what's true. Number one. God is sovereign. Period, end dot. He is sovereign. He does what he wants, with who he wants, when he wants. And he doesn't have to take a vote or a poll on it to see if anybody's going to like it. So if he wanted to light up Nazareth with 10,000 miracles, he could have done it if he wanted to. God is sovereign and does not need our permission. That is true. Something else that is also true. If you read through the text. Oftentimes God decided to partner with people's faith for the miraculous to come. You know who the kingdom of heaven belongs to? Anybody that wants it. That's it. Over and over and over. We're going to see. In all four gospels you'll see Jesus say things like, go in peace. Your faith has made you well. And the good news is it don't have to be a lot of faith. It could be a tiny little bit of mustard seed size faith and Jesus will be like, that's plenty. Because it's not the amount of your faith, it is the object of your faith. And I'm going to tell you what. 1122. I want him to do many mighty works here. I want him to keep saving marriages. I want him to keep drawing prodigals back home. I want to keep watching him break the chains of addiction and cast out depression and cast out anxiety. I want him to shut up the voice of the devil and telling people that you should end it, you should not end it. He's got a purpose and a Plan for you. And I want to continuously see him drag men and women up out of the kingdom of darkness and plant them into the kingdom of his marvelous light. And I want to stand on the beach with 2,552 people for the rest of my life and watch them declare Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. So please don't let what you think you know blind you from experiencing Jesus. So faith is not a feeling. It's not what it is. Faith is acting as if you actually believe that he is who he says he is, and he always keeps his promises. I talk about it all the time. Acts, chapter three. Peter and John are going to church. They're going to the temple to pray. There's this guy begging for money. He's so smart because he knows they're on their way to prayer. And you know how it goes. You're on your way to prayer and you got a big interview, like, maybe if I slap this guy $5, God will hear me better. And so they're like, hey, man, do you have alms? And Peter speaks up and he goes, silver and gold, have I not. That's Greek for I'm in ministry. I got no money, but what I have, I give unto you. And then here's what he says, in the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk. But guess what? He didn't get up and walk. Not when he said it. The next verse says, and Peter reached out his hand. That's faith. That's acting as if you actually believe that Jesus is who he says he is, and he always keeps his promises. And the Bible says, then the man's ankles and feet were healed and he jumped up and he ran into worship with him. I wonder how many miracles are still sitting on the sidewalk because of our lack of faith. And you know what the first step is? The first step of faith. Whether you're looking or today, it just surprised you, saying, I'm going to put my faith in you, that I see you as the treasure that you actually are, greater than anything this world has to offer. That when that big dragnet at the end of the age gathers and I stand before you, that I will be counted as righteous. Not because I got it right, because simply I repented and I believed in you. And when I did that you gave me, credited me with your righteousness. That's what it means to be saved. That's what it means to put your faith or trust in Jesus. Not that you gotta get it cleaned up first, but that you, when Jesus pushes up on his Nail, pierced feet and says it is finished. You believe or you trust. Somehow that counted for me. And it's as simple as this that you would just admit it. I'm a sinner in need of a savior like I see it. I've been chasing after the things of this world and it just ain't doing it. I've tried to be good, but if I'm honest, I've got some evil intentions, an evil mind, an evil heart. I do things I don't even want to do. What is wrong with you? Me. And then you hear for the first day you've seen the treasure that there's an invitation of Jesus just says come to me. Come to me. And if you believe, you receive the right to become a child of God. And for the first time you go, I believe. And then if that's you, what the Bible says to do is call or confess, call on the name of the Lord and you will be saved. Not might be not hope to be, not probably, but you will be saved. And so today I want you to not deny what God is speaking to the deepest places of your heart. And if you know today is the day to put your faith in Jesus, I'm going to give you the chance to do it right now. Would you bow your head? Would you close your eyes and if you're like that's me, I'm ready to admit it. I'm a sinner. I need a savior. I believe that somehow when Jesus died on the cross, that counted for me. And in this moment right now, you were ready to call on the name of the Lord. I would invite you to lift your hand as high as you can and you just say whatever words you want. These are good. Lord Jesus, save me. And the Bible says that he will 100% of the time cause he's a promise keeping God. And he said all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Our good and gracious heavenly father God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us. Lord, I pray that we would war against the curse of proximity. We would would never take you for granted. God, I pray that we would see you for who you are. God I pray that we would see your kingdom for the treasure that it is the pearl of great price. And God I thank you that the pearl is not a possession, it's a person. It's you Lord Jesus. And Lord I thank you that you have poured out your grace on your people this day. And so we pray this and the only name that gets you an audience in heaven we pray this in the good strong name of Jesus Christ our Lord and savior and all God's people said amen Church we would invite you to stand we respond to the gospel Listen man the service ain't over we gonna sing we're gonna sing and if you're saved tell your face and we ought to sing like saved people we're gonna make much of Jesus we're gonna talk about the reality that we can face tomorrow because he lives and then we're going to bring our tithes and our offerings we're going to say Jesus as an act of worship we treasure you first by bringing our first and our best campus pastors explain how to do that and we're going to pray and some of you some of you are getting dragged away by this world and you need to sprint down here and get on your face and say lord Jesus I need you so let us sing let us bring let us pray let's respond God sent his.