WEBVTT 00:00:32.670 --> 00:00:39.629 Would you please open your Bibles to Luke chapter 6, and we're going to be looking at verses 39 through 49 today. 00:00:39.869 --> 00:00:42.269 Luke 6, 39 through 49. 00:00:44.189 --> 00:00:46.670 Never trust a skinny chef. 00:00:48.030 --> 00:00:49.629 You've heard that before, right? 00:00:50.670 --> 00:01:06.750 And it may not be 100% fair, but the idea is that the skinny chef has obviously not availed himself of the fruits of his trade enough to really know how to feed other people. 00:01:07.789 --> 00:01:19.469 Now, in today's sermon, we are going to see a contrast between two types of teacher and the respective students that those teachers produce. 00:01:19.710 --> 00:01:22.829 And one type is like the skinny chef. 00:01:22.990 --> 00:01:32.349 They can talk the talk, they can even prepare meals that look absolutely amazing, but the food tastes like garbage. 00:01:32.509 --> 00:01:36.030 And it's guaranteed to make everyone who eats it sick. 00:01:36.669 --> 00:01:40.750 Now the other type of chef is like Auguste Gusteau. 00:01:41.229 --> 00:01:42.349 You know who I'm talking about? 00:01:42.509 --> 00:01:43.229 Somebody does. 00:01:44.270 --> 00:01:44.590 Kids? 00:01:44.669 --> 00:01:45.870 Thank you, Ratatouille. 00:01:46.430 --> 00:01:48.270 The old guy in the front. 00:01:49.150 --> 00:01:50.590 Auguste Gousteau. 00:01:50.669 --> 00:01:51.870 But anyone can cook. 00:01:52.030 --> 00:01:53.389 I mean, come on, that guy. 00:01:53.550 --> 00:01:55.469 The chef from Ratatouille, right? 00:01:55.629 --> 00:01:56.669 He knows his way. 00:01:57.949 --> 00:01:58.430 This one. 00:01:58.590 --> 00:02:00.270 He knows his way around the kitchen. 00:02:00.349 --> 00:02:14.909 And if his students pay attention to him, if they sit at his table, if they're apprenticed by him, they will not only be fed the most delicious food anyone has ever imagined, they will be prepared to feed others the same. 00:02:15.229 --> 00:02:19.949 So to put a word on it, the thing we're talking about today is discipleship. 00:02:20.270 --> 00:02:42.750 We're talking about putting our trust in Jesus as our teacher and Lord, being trained up by Him and applying His truth to our own lives and the lives of our fellow classmates, so that when life comes at us, when it hits us, we can stand together for God's glory and for all our good. 00:02:43.310 --> 00:02:49.629 So with that said, I invite you to rise as I read today's sermon passage, Luke 6, 39 through 49. 00:02:51.549 --> 00:02:53.870 Jesus also told them a parable. 00:02:54.429 --> 00:02:56.989 Can a blind man lead a blind man? 00:02:57.310 --> 00:02:59.469 Will they not both fall into a pit? 00:02:59.949 --> 00:03:05.069 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher. 00:03:05.310 --> 00:03:07.549 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye? 00:03:07.629 --> 00:03:10.509 But do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 00:03:10.750 --> 00:03:19.709 How can you say to your brother, or brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? 00:03:20.030 --> 00:03:21.229 You hypocrite. 00:03:21.469 --> 00:03:27.709 First take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye. 00:03:28.030 --> 00:03:32.829 For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit. 00:03:33.069 --> 00:03:35.549 For each tree is known by its own fruit. 00:03:35.870 --> 00:03:41.389 For figs are not gathered from throrn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 00:03:41.629 --> 00:03:48.829 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil. 00:03:49.150 --> 00:03:52.829 For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. 00:03:53.789 --> 00:03:58.030 Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you? 00:03:58.349 --> 00:04:03.389 Every one who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like. 00:04:03.629 --> 00:04:08.349 He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. 00:04:08.509 --> 00:04:14.750 And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 00:04:14.989 --> 00:04:21.550 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. 00:04:21.790 --> 00:04:28.030 When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great. 00:04:28.430 --> 00:04:33.069 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. 00:04:33.310 --> 00:04:40.990 Father, send your Holy Spirit now, we pray, to help us to understand what you have revealed here and to apply it rightly to our lives. 00:04:41.150 --> 00:04:42.910 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:04:43.230 --> 00:04:43.870 Amen. 00:04:44.670 --> 00:04:46.110 You may be seated. 00:04:48.030 --> 00:04:53.550 So today we are in the third and final part of Jesus' sermon on the plane. 00:04:53.710 --> 00:04:57.870 And like I said a minute ago, the focus is very much on discipleship. 00:04:58.030 --> 00:05:01.150 Of course, the entire sermon has been about discipleship. 00:05:01.390 --> 00:05:14.350 But in this last part, Jesus really presses in and challenges us to be the right kind of disciple, which means apprenticing ourselves to the right teacher. 00:05:14.590 --> 00:05:24.830 What we're going to learn this morning is that genuine disciples build their life on Jesus and consistently apply his word to their own and to each other's hearts. 00:05:25.310 --> 00:05:26.590 So we'll dive right in. 00:05:26.750 --> 00:05:33.310 Verse 39, Luke transitions us from Jesus' teaching on judgmentalism to a parable. 00:05:33.550 --> 00:05:45.629 And when we see that word parable, we often think of something like a fable or an allegory, which Jesus does, and he'll even do here, but the term can actually apply to a broad range of sayings. 00:05:45.790 --> 00:05:51.470 And in verse 9, the parable is a proverb posed in the form of a question. 00:05:51.790 --> 00:05:54.590 Can a blind man lead a blind man? 00:05:54.830 --> 00:05:58.350 Will they both, will they not both fall into a pit? 00:05:58.830 --> 00:06:08.350 In other words, if you need direction, if you're trying to get somewhere, ask someone who knows how to get you where you're going. 00:06:08.510 --> 00:06:13.230 Otherwise, you'll end up every bit as lost as them, or even worse. 00:06:13.790 --> 00:06:23.710 Now, that's a good general principle, but Jesus shares it intentionally, knowing that the specter of the Pharisees hangs over him. 00:06:23.950 --> 00:06:31.069 Remember, the incident that precipitated this sermon on the plain was the Pharisees' rejection of Jesus. 00:06:31.230 --> 00:06:37.310 And when they rejected Jesus, they rejected God and they forfeited their place as leaders of God's people. 00:06:37.470 --> 00:06:43.790 And so Jesus is challenging, see, Jesus is presenting himself as the only viable alternative, right? 00:06:43.870 --> 00:06:45.390 And he is challenging his people. 00:06:45.470 --> 00:06:47.230 He's challenging his audience. 00:06:47.470 --> 00:06:49.069 Who are you gonna follow? 00:06:49.310 --> 00:06:54.430 Are you gonna follow the blind Pharisees over the cliff and into the bottomless pit? 00:06:54.830 --> 00:06:56.830 Or are you gonna follow me? 00:06:57.150 --> 00:06:59.390 And of course, that's the obvious right answer. 00:06:59.629 --> 00:07:02.110 We need to follow Jesus. 00:07:02.590 --> 00:07:10.590 In verse 40, Jesus shifts the concept ever so slightly from that of leadership to discipleship. 00:07:10.750 --> 00:07:12.990 And he does it in order to make the same point. 00:07:13.150 --> 00:07:19.069 He says, a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. 00:07:19.310 --> 00:07:22.270 And that might sound a little bit strange to us, right? 00:07:22.510 --> 00:07:31.629 Because our idea of the student-teacher relationship is very much built on a model of technique and skills acquisition. 00:07:32.030 --> 00:07:38.030 We generally look to our teachers to give us specialized knowledge about narrow sets of topics. 00:07:38.189 --> 00:07:44.510 And so we have history teachers, we have English teachers, we have gym teachers, and so on. 00:07:44.910 --> 00:07:56.350 But in Jesus' day, the teacher-student relationship was less like the kid sitting in the classroom and more like the apprentice sitting at his master's feet. 00:07:56.670 --> 00:08:06.750 So the the purpose of education in Jesus' day was not merely to prepare you for a job, it was to prepare you for life. 00:08:07.390 --> 00:08:19.710 And so an apprentice, or sorry, a disciple apprenticed himself to a teacher and quite literally followed that teacher around as he showed and told his student what to know and who to be. 00:08:19.870 --> 00:08:24.670 And in that process, the student became like his teacher. 00:08:25.310 --> 00:08:30.830 See, that's at its core, at its core, that is what discipleship is. 00:08:31.069 --> 00:08:35.950 To be a disciple is to follow and to become like your teacher. 00:08:36.189 --> 00:08:38.189 And in the church, we all play a part in that. 00:08:38.350 --> 00:08:41.230 We all play a role in making disciples. 00:08:41.309 --> 00:08:44.350 Some do it more directly, some more indirectly. 00:08:44.590 --> 00:08:52.110 But that ultimate teacher, whatever we do in terms of disciple-making activity, we don't disciple people to ourselves. 00:08:52.269 --> 00:08:55.149 Their ultimate teacher is Jesus. 00:08:55.389 --> 00:08:56.269 He is the master. 00:08:56.429 --> 00:09:00.669 He's the one that we're all trying to help each other become more like. 00:09:01.710 --> 00:09:05.709 Now again, Jesus is speaking in the shadow of the Pharisees here. 00:09:06.029 --> 00:09:15.309 So his words are an invitation for us to follow him, routed through a warning not to follow them. 00:09:16.349 --> 00:09:24.269 If you make the wrong choice, he's saying, if you apprentice yourself to the Pharisees, then you will end up just like your teacher. 00:09:24.509 --> 00:09:32.589 Spiritually cold, insensitive to the work of God, judgmental, and hypocritical. 00:09:33.230 --> 00:09:39.309 And it's that last word, hypocrisy, that Jesus chooses to unpack in verses 41 through 42. 00:09:39.549 --> 00:09:44.349 The image here is this very familiar one, even for people who haven't read much of the Bible in their lives. 00:09:44.669 --> 00:09:46.589 Here's the gist uh the gist. 00:09:46.829 --> 00:09:52.189 You notice a speck in your brother's eye, but you don't notice the log in your own. 00:09:52.349 --> 00:09:57.870 And so you go and you try to remove the speck from your brother's eye, but you don't take care of your own. 00:09:58.189 --> 00:10:00.269 You try to fix him without fixing yourself. 00:10:00.429 --> 00:10:05.389 And not only does that make you a hypocrite, it makes you ineffective. 00:10:05.870 --> 00:10:11.149 Because how can you get the speck out of someone's eyes if you're trying to look past the log in your own? 00:10:12.349 --> 00:10:13.549 Notice something. 00:10:13.629 --> 00:10:20.750 Uh Jesus doesn't have any problem here with us trying to get the speck out of our brother or sister's eye. 00:10:20.990 --> 00:10:22.909 That's a perfectly fine thing to do. 00:10:23.069 --> 00:10:25.069 In fact, it's a good thing to do. 00:10:25.389 --> 00:10:32.269 If you see a brother or a sister with something in their eye, the right thing to do is to help them. 00:10:32.669 --> 00:10:37.230 And of course, we know that Jesus here isn't talking about specks and laws. 00:10:37.469 --> 00:10:39.549 He's talking about sin and vice. 00:10:39.789 --> 00:10:47.789 That speck, whatever it might be, is some character flaw in our brother, some sin that needs to be dealt with, some vice that needs to be rooted out. 00:10:47.949 --> 00:10:54.029 And the log is the even greater flaw in us that we can't see because it's our flaw. 00:10:54.189 --> 00:10:56.029 It's in our blind spot. 00:10:56.589 --> 00:11:02.429 So, in part here, Jesus is telling us to deal with the judgmentalism that we talked about last week. 00:11:02.589 --> 00:11:12.909 But he's also talking about the hypocrisy, the lack of self-awareness that keeps us from serving the higher cause of truth. 00:11:13.069 --> 00:11:15.389 And again, this is the Pharisees' problem. 00:11:15.709 --> 00:11:21.789 They're coming after Jesus over all these fine points of their man-made law. 00:11:21.949 --> 00:11:24.189 He's not hanging out with the right people. 00:11:24.429 --> 00:11:27.789 He's healing people on the Sabbath, which they count as work. 00:11:28.029 --> 00:11:30.990 He's not following their Pharisaical tradition. 00:11:31.149 --> 00:11:33.149 He's breaking all the rules. 00:11:33.389 --> 00:11:38.669 Now, of course, these aren't real specks in Jesus' eye because he's violating the laws of men. 00:11:38.750 --> 00:11:40.589 He's not violating the law of God. 00:11:40.750 --> 00:11:41.629 He's sinless. 00:11:41.789 --> 00:11:42.909 He has no specks. 00:11:43.069 --> 00:11:54.349 But even if we could call them specks, they are nothing compared to the full-on lumberyard that the Pharisees are trying to look through as they deal with Jesus. 00:11:54.589 --> 00:12:06.750 They completely overlook their pride in themselves, their contempt for the weak and the wayward, their blindness to the word of God, their faithlessness to accept the fulfillment of God's promises. 00:12:07.309 --> 00:12:11.549 So, really, are these the guys that we want trying to correct our vision? 00:12:11.870 --> 00:12:14.909 Do we really want to take orders from these blind guys? 00:12:15.149 --> 00:12:18.750 Do we want to apprentice ourselves to their teaching? 00:12:18.909 --> 00:12:21.309 That's what Jesus is asking his audience here. 00:12:21.389 --> 00:12:23.389 And the answer, of course, is no. 00:12:24.750 --> 00:12:29.149 We don't want to follow them, we want to follow him. 00:12:30.029 --> 00:12:38.429 And in saying these things, Jesus tells his audience, and he tells us too, not just who to follow, but how to follow. 00:12:38.750 --> 00:12:48.909 Because just as he corrects our spiritual vision, he actually calls us to play a part in helping others to see more clearly as well. 00:12:49.629 --> 00:12:51.230 As a pastor, right? 00:12:52.110 --> 00:12:59.789 Part of my job, the majority of my job, I'm supposed to be something of a spiritual ophthalmologist. 00:13:00.429 --> 00:13:11.389 Whether it's from up here, or it's in my office, or it's in your living room, or wherever it might be, I'm supposed to open the Bible and with God's help remove the specks from people's eyes. 00:13:11.709 --> 00:13:15.870 And I cannot do that if my eyes are full of logs. 00:13:16.269 --> 00:13:23.309 I can't help you deal with the sin in your life if I am walking in a secret darkness all my own. 00:13:23.549 --> 00:13:32.429 Or if I am utterly unaware of some sin, some flaw, some vice that is clouding my own heart and mind. 00:13:32.750 --> 00:13:34.110 I can't do it. 00:13:34.429 --> 00:13:39.469 But Jesus' words here, they're not just for professional Christians like me. 00:13:39.789 --> 00:13:48.189 They're actually for all of us, every single one of us, every disciple of Jesus is called to be a speck remover. 00:13:48.509 --> 00:13:51.789 That's part of the gig when we sign up to follow Jesus. 00:13:51.949 --> 00:13:53.789 And it's all over the New Testament. 00:13:54.110 --> 00:14:02.189 Colossians 3.16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. 00:14:02.589 --> 00:14:11.069 Hebrews 3.13, exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 00:14:11.389 --> 00:14:20.589 Galatians 6.1, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. 00:14:20.750 --> 00:14:36.429 And so, whatever shape it takes, whether it's admonition, exhortation, restoration, whatever, this is the duty that we owe our brothers and sisters to help each other see more clearly. 00:14:37.309 --> 00:14:39.949 I've been using the word brother and sister a lot. 00:14:40.110 --> 00:14:43.949 That's because the word brother shows up three times in this passage. 00:14:44.189 --> 00:14:45.709 You know why it shows up. 00:14:45.949 --> 00:14:50.349 It shows up because this is family business. 00:14:50.669 --> 00:14:52.829 This is what healthy families do. 00:14:52.990 --> 00:14:54.669 We help each other see. 00:14:55.069 --> 00:15:01.549 I mean, could you just imagine if you had a blind child in your home and nobody ever helped that child? 00:15:01.709 --> 00:15:06.509 You just let her bumble about the house crashing into things and knocking over furniture. 00:15:06.829 --> 00:15:07.709 It'd be cruel. 00:15:07.789 --> 00:15:08.589 That'd be ridiculous. 00:15:08.750 --> 00:15:14.189 It wouldn't even enter into our minds to abandon a child to their own blindness. 00:15:14.990 --> 00:15:21.309 A healthy family does not leave its members to stumble about in the dark. 00:15:21.549 --> 00:15:26.110 No, a healthy family surrounds that member in love. 00:15:26.429 --> 00:15:34.669 They take her by the arm, they help her get where she needs to go for her good and for the sake of the entire family. 00:15:35.549 --> 00:15:41.629 See, this is the privilege, this is the responsibility of anyone who claims to be a disciple of Christ. 00:15:41.789 --> 00:15:45.389 And Jesus doesn't call us to lay that responsibility down. 00:15:45.549 --> 00:15:52.589 No, he calls us to lay down the hypocrisy that would keep us from serving one another in this way. 00:15:53.309 --> 00:16:21.709 He calls us again and again and again to come before the throne of grace, to plead with him for mercy and grace to help us in our time of need, to remove the logs from our eyes, so that when we go to our brother, when we go to our sister, we can have the peace of mind, we can have the clarity of sight that we need in order to share what they need to hear in a way that can be received without judgment and with all love. 00:16:22.909 --> 00:16:26.750 That's what discipleship looks like in a healthy church. 00:16:27.069 --> 00:16:31.069 We each as individuals apprentice ourselves to Jesus. 00:16:31.309 --> 00:16:40.750 And as a body of disciples, we come together to teach, to admonish, to exhort, to encourage one another to more fully reflect our master. 00:16:41.709 --> 00:16:48.269 Now, there is a decidedly cultish way in which we might try to do that. 00:16:48.589 --> 00:16:53.789 We could make lists, we can fill those lists with all kinds of rules. 00:16:54.029 --> 00:17:03.870 Rules about what you can wear, what you can say, what kind of music you can live, listen to, who you can spend your time with, and so on. 00:17:04.029 --> 00:17:09.630 We could do all that, and in the process, we would become just like the Pharisees. 00:17:10.110 --> 00:17:11.549 Righteous on the outside. 00:17:11.630 --> 00:17:16.670 We put on a heck of a show, but utterly wicked on the inside. 00:17:17.390 --> 00:17:27.230 And so Jesus comes at us with another word picture in verses 43 through 45 that quite literally gets us to the heart of the matter when it comes to discipleship. 00:17:27.549 --> 00:17:31.069 This is another familiar picture from Jesus' ministry. 00:17:31.150 --> 00:17:44.029 And we could summarize it like this: in the same way that you can judge the type and quality of a tree by its fruit, you can judge the type and quality of a person by what comes out of their heart. 00:17:44.509 --> 00:17:52.990 Now, of course, Jesus here isn't talking literally about the muscular blood pump that sits behind all of our sternums or sterna. 00:17:53.789 --> 00:18:00.430 He's talking figuratively about the heart as the seat, as the sum, as the center of the human person. 00:18:01.230 --> 00:18:05.470 In our modern age, we tend to think of the brain as the center of our being. 00:18:05.549 --> 00:18:12.349 We tend to think of ourselves as brains on sticks who just walk rationally through the world, making rational decisions about everything we do. 00:18:12.430 --> 00:18:17.230 But in Scripture, that honor belongs to the heart. 00:18:17.470 --> 00:18:20.829 That actually is the right way of thinking about the human person. 00:18:21.230 --> 00:18:29.230 We feel with our hearts, we think with our hearts, we speak from our hearts, we act of our hearts, we even believe from the heart. 00:18:29.389 --> 00:18:32.029 These are all things that the Bible explicitly says. 00:18:32.269 --> 00:18:40.109 Even when we think we're being rational, we're usually making an emotional decision and finding reasons to justify the decision we already made. 00:18:40.670 --> 00:18:42.589 We are centered on the heart. 00:18:42.909 --> 00:18:44.829 The heart is what makes us who we are. 00:18:44.990 --> 00:18:52.029 That's why Proverbs 4.23 says, keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. 00:18:52.430 --> 00:19:01.389 If the heart is poisoned, then you might be the smartest person in the world, but everything you think, everything you say, everything you do will be tainted. 00:19:01.710 --> 00:19:07.149 If the heart is diseased, then its words and its works will be rotten. 00:19:08.109 --> 00:19:29.710 But if the heart is good, if God has taken the old stony heart that animated us in our sin and rebellion, and he has replaced it with a heart of flesh that's eager to receive the Holy Spirit and to respond to him in love, then that new fleshy heart will overflow with the fruits of genuine faith. 00:19:30.269 --> 00:19:36.109 Once again, the Pharisees, they are exhibit of the rotten tree and of the stony heart. 00:19:36.269 --> 00:19:45.389 For all their outward religiosity, the bitter fruits of unbelief demonstrate themselves, they they show who they really are. 00:19:45.869 --> 00:19:51.309 Jesus names it in Matthew 23, especially in verses 25 through 26. 00:19:51.389 --> 00:19:56.029 He says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. 00:19:56.349 --> 00:20:02.190 For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 00:20:02.430 --> 00:20:09.869 You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. 00:20:10.670 --> 00:20:14.269 And so again, Jesus does not want to follow them. 00:20:14.509 --> 00:20:22.430 He wants us to follow him, whose pure heart is ever displayed through his abundantly fruitful words and works. 00:20:22.589 --> 00:20:26.430 And as we bec as we follow him, we become like him. 00:20:26.990 --> 00:20:37.389 Not because we followed some program of behavior modification, but because he changes us from the inside out. 00:20:38.109 --> 00:20:40.349 See, we often get this backward. 00:20:40.990 --> 00:20:43.950 We focus more on the fruit than we do the root. 00:20:44.109 --> 00:20:48.829 We we try to change behavior without dealing with the matters of the heart. 00:20:49.069 --> 00:20:56.509 I mean, parents, we do this all the time when we want our kids to behave and we don't have the time to actually talk to them. 00:20:56.670 --> 00:20:59.149 Or at least we think we don't have the time. 00:20:59.309 --> 00:21:10.269 And we simply tell them what to do or not to do, and we back it up with the threat of punishment, hoping that eventually the right behavior will stick and the wrong behavior will go away. 00:21:11.149 --> 00:21:12.589 It kind of works. 00:21:12.990 --> 00:21:13.389 Right? 00:21:13.549 --> 00:21:14.909 Which is why we do it. 00:21:15.149 --> 00:21:20.589 But it only deals with the fruit. 00:21:20.990 --> 00:21:23.309 It doesn't deal with the root. 00:21:23.869 --> 00:21:28.750 It teaches our kids how to play the game and how to stay out of trouble. 00:21:29.069 --> 00:21:32.589 But it doesn't teach them to be the right kind of people. 00:21:33.069 --> 00:21:36.269 So, kids, listen, not just my kids, but all the kids. 00:21:36.509 --> 00:21:40.750 When your parents discipline you, it's not just because you got on our nerves. 00:21:40.990 --> 00:21:46.269 I mean, you probably did, but it's not just because you got on our nerves, it's because we love you. 00:21:46.589 --> 00:21:53.470 It's because we want you to look more like Jesus and not to become little Pharisees. 00:21:54.509 --> 00:21:58.909 And of course, all these things, they don't just apply to parents. 00:21:59.389 --> 00:22:05.069 We all tend to default to this kind of approach when we do spec removal. 00:22:05.629 --> 00:22:11.389 Like when someone says to you, hey, I'm really struggling with pornography. 00:22:12.430 --> 00:22:13.629 What do you tell them to do? 00:22:13.710 --> 00:22:15.230 What do we tell them to do? 00:22:15.629 --> 00:22:25.470 Get an accountability partner, install covenant eyes on your devices, make some rules, no screens in the bedrooms, no screens after nine, or whatever it might be. 00:22:25.789 --> 00:22:31.629 We give them a bunch of things to do or not to do, which are wise things, which are helpful things. 00:22:31.950 --> 00:22:37.789 Things which are things they probably need to do, but how often do we actually go after the heart? 00:22:38.829 --> 00:22:41.789 Tell me what's going on in your life right now. 00:22:42.190 --> 00:22:44.349 What's been on your mind? 00:22:44.750 --> 00:22:47.789 What are you looking for when you open up your web browser? 00:22:47.950 --> 00:22:49.789 What pain are you trying to numb? 00:22:49.950 --> 00:22:51.549 What stress are you trying to relieve? 00:22:51.710 --> 00:22:54.349 What desire are you looking to fulfill? 00:22:54.670 --> 00:22:56.029 Where's Jesus in this? 00:22:56.190 --> 00:23:00.190 What do your prayers sound like when that temptation comes? 00:23:00.909 --> 00:23:04.349 See, these are all questions of the heart. 00:23:04.670 --> 00:23:12.990 And they're questions that we have to ask when we're looking to remove the speck from our brother or sister's eyes. 00:23:13.710 --> 00:23:21.710 But of course, because we need to get the logs out of our own eyes, they're actually questions that we need to ask ourselves first. 00:23:23.230 --> 00:23:27.470 The Puritan John Owen, he wrote a lot of great books. 00:23:27.789 --> 00:23:33.309 One of his most helpful and most important books is on the mortification of sin in believers. 00:23:33.549 --> 00:23:36.190 Mortification is a big old archaic word. 00:23:36.269 --> 00:23:37.069 We don't use it often. 00:23:37.230 --> 00:23:39.950 It basically just means to put something to death. 00:23:40.190 --> 00:23:51.389 And Owen says that if we really want to put our sin to death, we have to target the heart and not merely the behavior that flows from it. 00:23:51.629 --> 00:24:06.909 Because if you modify external actions without dealing with internal desires, if you try to fix the fruit without healing the roots, then your sin will only tighten its grip on your heart, and the fruit will get that much more rotten. 00:24:06.990 --> 00:24:09.710 You'll be that much more ensnared in it. 00:24:09.950 --> 00:24:14.750 And so here's a simple sketch of how Owen says we can put our sin to death. 00:24:15.069 --> 00:24:18.349 First, dissect your own heart. 00:24:18.670 --> 00:24:19.789 Dissect your heart. 00:24:19.950 --> 00:24:22.269 Become a student of your internal life. 00:24:22.430 --> 00:24:25.389 Identify the sins that plague you specifically. 00:24:25.629 --> 00:24:26.990 Look at your own temperament. 00:24:27.149 --> 00:24:28.509 Look at your circumstances. 00:24:28.670 --> 00:24:38.349 Look at your environmental triggers, the compliments that tempt you to pride, the aggravations that tempt you to anger, the images that tempt you to lust. 00:24:38.670 --> 00:24:50.109 Understand your triggers so that you can either avoid them, or if that's not an option, you can pray yourself up and put yourself on guard before they get the drop on you. 00:24:50.750 --> 00:24:54.829 Second, load your conscience with the guilt of sin. 00:24:55.309 --> 00:24:56.670 Load your conscience. 00:24:56.909 --> 00:24:58.190 Sin is a liar. 00:24:58.509 --> 00:25:02.109 Sin makes promises it can't keep, and its end is never life. 00:25:02.269 --> 00:25:03.549 Its end is death. 00:25:03.710 --> 00:25:05.710 And so don't take sin lightly. 00:25:05.950 --> 00:25:07.309 Don't make nice with it. 00:25:07.389 --> 00:25:09.389 Don't brush it off, it's no big deal. 00:25:09.549 --> 00:25:12.829 No, remind yourself of how dark it is, how deadly it is. 00:25:12.990 --> 00:25:15.710 Remind yourself of the guilt that every sin incurs. 00:25:16.029 --> 00:25:22.589 Remind yourself of the danger it poses, how it hardens the heart, how it destroys peace, how it invites discipline. 00:25:22.750 --> 00:25:25.069 Remind yourself of how evil it is. 00:25:25.309 --> 00:25:31.629 Load your conscience with the guilt of sin so that it becomes a stench in your nostrils. 00:25:32.029 --> 00:25:35.230 Third, crush sin at its first motions. 00:25:35.470 --> 00:25:36.190 Crush sin. 00:25:36.349 --> 00:25:40.909 When sin rears its ugly head, hammer it down like a whack-a-mole. 00:25:41.549 --> 00:25:43.069 Don't look at it. 00:25:43.389 --> 00:25:45.069 Don't flirt with it. 00:25:45.309 --> 00:25:46.829 Don't consider it. 00:25:47.149 --> 00:25:57.149 Owen says that the moment we begin to entertain our sinful desires or even to negotiate with them, we've given sin the ground. 00:25:57.389 --> 00:26:01.710 And so we have to be diligent to shut it down before it creeps in. 00:26:02.029 --> 00:26:05.389 Fourth, cultivate a longing for deliverance. 00:26:05.629 --> 00:26:07.230 Cultivate a longing. 00:26:07.629 --> 00:26:16.109 We have to learn to hate our sin so much that we earnestly desire to be freed from it. 00:26:16.349 --> 00:26:19.629 And this is more of a head-level acknowledgement that sin is bad. 00:26:19.869 --> 00:26:26.430 This is a heart-level sense of how sin binds us up and keeps us from drawing near to God. 00:26:26.829 --> 00:26:40.430 If we do not genuinely long to be freed from our lingering bondage to sin, then it doesn't matter what practical steps we will take, we will inevitably fall prey to our sinful desires. 00:26:40.670 --> 00:26:45.869 And finally, number five, apply the cross of Christ to the heart by faith. 00:26:46.190 --> 00:26:47.950 Apply the cross. 00:26:48.430 --> 00:26:52.190 The heart cannot be purified by our own willpower. 00:26:52.430 --> 00:26:56.269 We cannot legalistically strive our way toward purity. 00:26:56.589 --> 00:27:03.470 Mortification, the putting to death of sin, is ultimately the work of God's Spirit. 00:27:03.789 --> 00:27:09.789 And so the weapons of our warfare are not apps and accountability groups, as helpful as those things might be. 00:27:10.029 --> 00:27:13.629 Our weapon is ultimately the cross of Christ. 00:27:13.950 --> 00:27:20.589 We have to bring our sin-infected hearts to Jesus the moment sin encroaches. 00:27:20.909 --> 00:27:28.750 We have to be reminded that we are forgiven and just how much that forgiveness cost in the blood of God's only Son. 00:27:29.309 --> 00:27:49.069 We also need to remember that Jesus, He just as He canceled the record of rights and wrongs that stood against us, He's also shed abroad His Holy Spirit so that we can be freed, not just from the legal claim that sin holds against us, but from the power it it wields against our souls. 00:27:49.470 --> 00:28:07.309 And as we do that, as we dissect our hearts, as we load our conscience with the guilt of sin, as we crush sin at its first motions, as we cultivate a longing to be delivered, as we apply the cross of Christ to our hearts, the Spirit will renew us from within. 00:28:07.629 --> 00:28:16.589 The Spirit will cultivate in us a desire to say yes to the things that God loves and to say no to the things that God hates. 00:28:17.069 --> 00:28:22.670 He will purify the root so that we can bear good fruit. 00:28:23.389 --> 00:28:27.389 And we will become like our teacher. 00:28:29.230 --> 00:28:40.190 Now, in order for that to happen, we cannot merely listen to the words of Jesus as if he were just some kind of lecturer with an interesting paper to present to us. 00:28:40.430 --> 00:28:44.990 No, we have to hear his words and we have to do what he says. 00:28:45.230 --> 00:28:48.909 That's the fundamental point of verses 46 through 49. 00:28:49.069 --> 00:28:53.789 And again, Jesus makes that point by way of another very well-known parable. 00:28:54.029 --> 00:29:05.069 To summarize again, the one who accepts Jesus as their Lord, who both hears and does what he says, is like the man who digs deep and builds his house on the rock. 00:29:05.309 --> 00:29:12.029 When the flood comes, the house stands because it's been well built and built on the solid ground. 00:29:12.349 --> 00:29:21.230 But the one who functionally denies Jesus' authority by hearing his words and not doing them, he's like the man who builds his house on the dirt. 00:29:21.470 --> 00:29:25.470 And when the floodwaters come, that dirt washes away. 00:29:25.629 --> 00:29:28.430 And he's left with nothing but a heap of ruins. 00:29:29.710 --> 00:29:36.829 Like everything we've seen so far this morning, this is one of those parables that doesn't really need much explanation. 00:29:37.069 --> 00:29:39.230 But I have to justify my existence. 00:29:39.549 --> 00:29:42.670 So a kid. 00:30:17.629 --> 00:30:19.789 Again and again and again. 00:30:19.950 --> 00:30:35.069 What Jesus is saying here is that discipleship, following Jesus, applying his truth to our own and others' hearts, seeking to be transformed continually, doing the word that we've heard, discipleship is not a one-and-done kind of thing. 00:30:35.309 --> 00:30:38.430 Discipleship is an ongoing process. 00:30:38.589 --> 00:30:43.470 As Eugene Peterson would say, it is a long obedience in the same direction. 00:30:44.269 --> 00:30:51.470 And so the genuine disciple is not one who says, I decided to follow Jesus that one time at camp when I was 16. 00:30:51.789 --> 00:30:56.190 No, the genuine disciple is the one who says, I am following Jesus. 00:30:56.509 --> 00:30:58.269 I am hearing his words. 00:30:58.509 --> 00:31:00.829 I am doing what he says. 00:31:01.069 --> 00:31:08.349 I am striving by all the means that God has provided me to be more like Jesus. 00:31:08.829 --> 00:31:21.869 By God's grace, we are building our lives on him, brick by brick, so that when the floodwaters of life in a fallen world break against us, our foundation will not crumble. 00:31:22.269 --> 00:31:44.430 When the job disappears, when the bills pile up, when the test results come back, when we get the call at three o'clock in the morning, when she tells you she doesn't love you anymore, when he tells you he's leaving, the storms will come in life. 00:31:45.309 --> 00:31:49.629 The waters will rise and they will crash against our walls. 00:31:49.789 --> 00:31:51.309 That is inevitable. 00:31:51.549 --> 00:31:54.829 If it hasn't happened to you yet, it will just wait. 00:31:54.990 --> 00:32:01.789 And the only way to stand in the midst of those rising waters is to build our lives on Jesus. 00:32:02.670 --> 00:32:12.269 The only way to make it through this life alive is to apprentice ourselves to the teacher so that we can become like him by grace. 00:32:13.389 --> 00:32:15.230 Placing your trust in Jesus. 00:32:15.549 --> 00:32:20.269 This is the necessary first step to the kind of discipleship we're talking about. 00:32:20.430 --> 00:32:26.909 You cannot claim to follow Jesus as your teacher without submitting your life to him as your Lord. 00:32:26.990 --> 00:32:28.349 You just can't. 00:32:29.309 --> 00:32:31.470 But that's only the first step. 00:32:31.789 --> 00:32:46.589 By faith, we are called to put our trust in him again and again and again, to listen to his words in the reading and the preaching of Scripture, to do whatever he calls us to do, step by step by step. 00:32:46.909 --> 00:32:52.029 And as we do that, the great blessing is that we don't walk that path alone. 00:32:52.349 --> 00:32:58.109 We walk that path together in the context of the church. 00:32:58.670 --> 00:33:08.589 In the Great Commission, Jesus entrusted the task of making disciples, not just to the particular people who happen to be good at meeting with people one-on-one. 00:33:09.149 --> 00:33:15.149 No, Jesus gave the task of making disciples to the church. 00:33:21.470 --> 00:33:29.789 So we, not just me up here in this pulpit, we are on a mission from God to make disciples. 00:33:30.430 --> 00:33:57.149 And so when you volunteer in the nursery, when you speak up in Sunday school, when you take someone out to coffee, when you write someone an encouraging note or text message, when you show up for the small group Bible study, when you with grace, love, and humility reach for the speck in my eye, you participate in the great mission that Jesus has given us to make disciples. 00:33:57.869 --> 00:34:02.029 And so I encourage you, be discipled by Jesus. 00:34:02.269 --> 00:34:05.950 Spend time with him in Bible reading and prayer. 00:34:06.269 --> 00:34:08.990 Avail yourself of the ordinary means of grace. 00:34:09.150 --> 00:34:16.590 Drink deeply from the well of his truth and take advantage of every opportunity that we give you to do that in this church. 00:34:16.829 --> 00:34:21.470 But don't just be discipled, make disciples. 00:34:22.110 --> 00:34:24.670 Don't just take, give. 00:34:25.470 --> 00:34:29.309 Don't just receive the gifts of a renewed and sanctified heart. 00:34:29.550 --> 00:34:35.150 Let others partake in the abundance of what God is cultivating in and through you. 00:34:35.550 --> 00:34:39.070 Don't just sit at Jesus' table and eat. 00:34:39.470 --> 00:34:41.309 Feed one another. 00:34:41.630 --> 00:34:44.829 That's what it looks like to be a genuine disciple. 00:34:45.150 --> 00:34:55.789 And when we follow Jesus in that way, we will become like our teacher individually and as a body of believers. 00:34:56.029 --> 00:35:01.070 People will know us by the one who has loved us and we have loved in return. 00:35:01.230 --> 00:35:07.070 And people will know our church as the place where you could come to know Jesus. 00:35:07.550 --> 00:35:12.909 Follow him, be apprenticed to him, and become like him. 00:35:13.710 --> 00:35:15.550 There is no greater reward. 00:35:15.869 --> 00:35:18.590 There is no higher goal for the church. 00:35:18.829 --> 00:35:22.110 There is no other end toward which that is a means. 00:35:22.269 --> 00:35:23.949 That's what we're doing here. 00:35:24.509 --> 00:35:30.829 And if you don't want that, if you don't want to be like Jesus, I'm sorry, you're not going to be comfortable here. 00:35:31.949 --> 00:35:33.630 Let's be like Jesus. 00:35:33.869 --> 00:35:36.269 Let's help each other be like Jesus. 00:35:36.590 --> 00:35:39.389 Everything else needs to be a means toward that end. 00:35:40.110 --> 00:35:41.389 Let's pray. 00:35:45.309 --> 00:35:47.789 Lord, you have given us a great commission. 00:35:48.509 --> 00:35:50.909 You have given us a great task. 00:35:51.309 --> 00:36:00.190 And we thank you, Father, for the deep and abiding reality that if it were up to us trying to make people look like Jesus, we would fail every time. 00:36:00.429 --> 00:36:04.429 But you have given us everything we need for life and godliness. 00:36:04.509 --> 00:36:08.909 You have given us your word, you have given us your spirit, you have shown us the way. 00:36:09.230 --> 00:36:19.630 And Lord, you have given us a promise that you will work in us, you will work through us, you will work with us, you will work even in spite of us in order to accomplish your perfect will. 00:36:20.269 --> 00:36:23.150 So, Lord, we long to see your will be done here. 00:36:23.309 --> 00:36:29.070 And we long to be the instruments you use in order to form others in Christ's likeness. 00:36:29.389 --> 00:36:34.269 We want to be the kind of place where we could grow to maturity together in Christ. 00:36:34.509 --> 00:36:49.150 Not for the sake of being mature or for the sake of being the kind of Christian that other Christians uh hold up as exemplary, as good and right as that might be, but Lord, for the sake of knowing our Lord and making him known. 00:36:49.389 --> 00:36:51.230 We need your spirit for this. 00:36:51.389 --> 00:36:54.750 We need your grace because we are often so distracted. 00:36:55.309 --> 00:37:07.789 Lord, fix our eyes on Jesus and help us together to correct each other's sight so that we might all fix our eyes on him as one. 00:37:08.269 --> 00:37:09.869 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:37:10.190 --> 00:37:10.829 Amen. 00:37:20.590 --> 00:37:22.829 You guys can flip a coin real quick. 00:37:23.309 --> 00:37:31.230 This table is the place where Jesus has invited us to come and sit with him. 00:37:31.949 --> 00:37:37.469 Remember what I said about apprenticeship earlier about the teacher-student relationship. 00:37:37.710 --> 00:37:49.070 It's not just that Jesus teaches us stuff from his word, it's that Jesus invites us to partake of and share in himself as the word. 00:37:50.190 --> 00:38:01.230 And so, as Robert LeBruce, an old Scottish theologian, said, it's not that we get a better word in the supper, but we get the word better. 00:38:01.710 --> 00:38:07.309 Jesus communicates himself to us in a way that isn't merely rational. 00:38:07.789 --> 00:38:12.029 It's emotional, it's personal, it's tactile. 00:38:12.269 --> 00:38:20.110 You come to the table, and these elements, we don't believe, like the Catholic Church, that they actually become the body and blood of Christ. 00:38:20.349 --> 00:38:32.429 But we do believe that by the power of the Holy Spirit, God uses them in order to impress upon us the reality of our union with the crucified body and blood of Jesus. 00:38:32.909 --> 00:38:41.469 So he may not be in the bread and the wine, but as we partake of these things, we are reminded that we are in him. 00:38:42.190 --> 00:38:56.349 So if you have put your faith in Jesus, if you have been baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, if you have joined yourself to a body of believers where you can be discipled and you can disciple in return, then come to the table. 00:38:56.509 --> 00:38:59.389 This is Jesus' table, it's not Hickory Grove's table. 00:38:59.630 --> 00:39:11.389 But if you haven't done that yet, if you're not sure about Jesus, or if you're still kind of on the outskirts, or maybe there's some sin in your life that you're nursing and it's keeping Jesus at an arm's length. 00:39:11.550 --> 00:39:13.710 Scripture says, hold on a second. 00:39:13.949 --> 00:39:17.789 Deal with that, and then you can come to this table. 00:39:18.110 --> 00:39:22.829 And so if you have something like that going on in your life, there's no shame. 00:39:23.150 --> 00:39:23.789 Bring it. 00:39:23.869 --> 00:39:24.829 Let's talk about it. 00:39:24.909 --> 00:39:28.989 Let's work through it because we would love for you to be able to come to this table next week. 00:39:29.230 --> 00:39:30.349 I'm gonna pray now. 00:39:30.429 --> 00:39:34.750 I'm gonna ask the Lord to prepare all of our hearts for this meal. 00:39:34.909 --> 00:39:37.550 After I pray, you'll come forward and receive the elements. 00:39:37.630 --> 00:39:40.190 After everybody's been served, we'll partake together. 00:39:40.509 --> 00:39:43.389 Father, thank you again for this meal. 00:39:43.630 --> 00:39:46.110 Thank you for the great gift it is to us. 00:39:46.349 --> 00:39:51.150 Thank you for the realities that it impresses deep within our bodies and our souls. 00:39:51.469 --> 00:39:55.789 Lord, remind us of the communion that we have with Christ here. 00:39:56.590 --> 00:40:00.429 That because we are in Him, we will become like Him. 00:40:00.670 --> 00:40:16.909 And although we have all kinds of reasons to doubt, all sorts of obstacles that stand in our way, all sorts of storms that distract us and cause insecurity and anxiety to creep in. 00:40:17.389 --> 00:40:25.309 Use these elements now to remind us that our hope is as sure as the bread and wine we hold in our hands. 00:40:25.550 --> 00:40:30.989 For our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus and His righteousness. 00:40:31.309 --> 00:40:32.909 It's in his name that we pray. 00:40:33.150 --> 00:40:33.550 Amen.