SPEAKER_00: Today's reading is from Matthew chapter thirteen, verses uh twenty-four to uh thirty and then thirty-six to forty-three.
SPEAKER_00: So starting at twenty-four.
SPEAKER_00: He put another parable before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
SPEAKER_00: But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.
SPEAKER_00: So when the plants came up and bore grain, the weeds appeared also.
SPEAKER_00: And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
SPEAKER_00: How then does it have weeds?
SPEAKER_00: He said to them, An enemy has done this.
SPEAKER_00: So the servant said to him, Then you do Then do you want us to go and gather them?
SPEAKER_00: But he said, No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.
SPEAKER_00: Let both grow together until the harvest.
SPEAKER_00: And at harvest time I will tell the reapers, gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.
SPEAKER_00: And then down to verse 36.
SPEAKER_00: Then he left the crowd and went into the house, and his disciples came to them, saying, Listen to us, explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.
SPEAKER_00: He answered, The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
SPEAKER_00: The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.
SPEAKER_00: The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
SPEAKER_00: Just as the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
SPEAKER_00: The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out the kingdom, all causes of sin and all lawbreakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace.
SPEAKER_00: In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, and the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father.
SPEAKER_00: He who has ears, let him hear.
SPEAKER_02: Today is our second parable in this series of going through these parables.
SPEAKER_02: And as you will notice, and as I've just even said, that our text is split between a story and an explanation.
SPEAKER_02: And maybe it can be helpful for us to think about it like a map.
SPEAKER_02: You might not be into maps, that's okay, don't worry.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, someone like Lizzie, Lizzie's not here today, she loves maps, so she would have been excited, but she misses out.
SPEAKER_02: Um, but the thing you need to know about maps is when you look at them, when you study them, there's different symbols that you will notice on them.
SPEAKER_02: And you will wonder what they mean.
SPEAKER_02: But on a map, there is also a thing called a key.
SPEAKER_02: And the key simply lists those symbols and lets you know what they actually stand for, what they mean.
SPEAKER_02: And here, that is exactly what Jesus is doing.
SPEAKER_02: He gives a story, and then he gives us the key to be able to understand the meaning of what has been said.
SPEAKER_02: Because instead of seeing verse 24 to 30 as flowing into 36 to 43, or even side by side, we need to actually see them as overlapping.
SPEAKER_02: That actually, beneath this story, there is great depth to what Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_02: And we need to draw from that to be able to understand what he means through these verses in verse 24 to 30.
SPEAKER_02: So let me pray for us as we consider what the Lord God has to say to us through his word by his spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Let me pray.
SPEAKER_02: Loving Father, I thank you so much that we get to come here, that we get to have this moment, have this time with one another before you.
SPEAKER_02: And I just pray that as we come now, that you would do what only you can do, that you would give us eyes to see and ears to hear, that you would give us a true sense of your glory, that we might know and love you, that we might rejoice in the truth of your gospel, either for the first time or once again.
SPEAKER_02: That you might do this through your spirit.
SPEAKER_02: In your beautiful name I pray.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: As many of you know, uh, we welcomed Erin into our family.
SPEAKER_02: She's kind of getting to that size where she looks like she's probably eaten another baby.
SPEAKER_02: Um, but she's a wonderful gift, she's a joy.
SPEAKER_02: We love her, we are so grateful to the Lord for her.
SPEAKER_02: It's an immense privilege for me to be the father of both Ezra and Erin.
SPEAKER_02: No one else gets to do that.
SPEAKER_02: Only me.
SPEAKER_02: I get to be their father.
SPEAKER_02: And there's moments where I just feel so overwhelmed with gratitude, with joy to the Lord for the blessings of my family.
SPEAKER_02: I don't deserve any of it.
SPEAKER_02: It is such a privilege.
SPEAKER_02: But I would love to say, I would love to stand here and be like, that's what it's like being a parent.
SPEAKER_02: Joy upon joy.
SPEAKER_02: There is no oh, it's just blessing upon blessing.
SPEAKER_02: But it's not.
SPEAKER_02: The reality is, though our children are amazing, they like any, unlike any other human being, can push you in ways that you didn't even know you could be pushed.
SPEAKER_02: And we wonder in those moments, why?
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Why did we do this to ourselves?
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Or at least I do.
SPEAKER_02: Ezra, I love him.
SPEAKER_02: He's great, he's an amazing kid, but man, can he be defiant.
SPEAKER_02: We're there, we go upstairs.
SPEAKER_02: Ezra, come up the stairs.
SPEAKER_02: No, Ezra, you need to come up the stairs.
SPEAKER_02: No stairs.
SPEAKER_02: Ezra, you're gonna wet yourself unless you come up the stairs.
SPEAKER_02: No wee wee.
SPEAKER_02: He just digs in time and time again, and you feel like you're going crazy.
SPEAKER_02: But the fact is, Ezra can be as defiant as he wants.
SPEAKER_02: He can cry, he can fling himself on the ground, exclaiming no, but he won't actually get his way.
SPEAKER_02: He can't get his way.
SPEAKER_02: No matter how much he shouts, no matter how much he protests, that doesn't matter because ultimately it's not just of his capabilities are limited.
SPEAKER_02: But the fact is, more importantly, his authority is limited.
SPEAKER_02: He is under our authority, he's under our care.
SPEAKER_02: He can scream and shout, but that doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_02: It can be funny at times to see Ezra fighting against our authority.
SPEAKER_02: But the truth is he is under our authority, and the truth is that in fact we are all under authority.
SPEAKER_02: And I think this is something we need to see here.
SPEAKER_02: Whether you want to admit it or not, whether you want to accept it or fight it, the fact is, what we find in our passage today is a proclamation of the one who holds all authority.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, in this very short yet decisive story, expresses his complete authority.
SPEAKER_02: For Matthew in this gospel, this is a theme that runs throughout, showing Jesus in this way.
SPEAKER_02: To proclaim to those in his day and in our day, all authority in heaven and earth are his.
SPEAKER_02: That is what we even said, what I even said earlier from the end of Matthew's gospel.
SPEAKER_02: The words that Jesus proclaims of himself, all authority in heaven and in earth, have been given to me.
SPEAKER_02: Not some authority, not most authority, all authority.
SPEAKER_02: This parable is exposing to you and me the view of God over all things.
SPEAKER_02: That to him, he's not unsure of what is gone and what is coming, but rather he is the one who is the beginning and the end.
SPEAKER_02: He is the one who is over it all.
SPEAKER_02: The cry of Jesus here, the cry we need to hear is to see him rightly.
SPEAKER_02: As he proclaims, He who has ears, let him hear.
SPEAKER_02: So simply in our time, I want us to see Jesus together.
SPEAKER_02: The one who has authority to save, the one who has authority to rule, and the one who has authority to judge.
SPEAKER_02: The one who has authority to save.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus once again engages the crowd right at the beginning.
SPEAKER_02: He put another parable before them, and it is clear what he's doing.
SPEAKER_02: He states it in these opening few verses.
SPEAKER_02: He's encouraging them to understand what the kingdom of heaven is like.
SPEAKER_02: Matthew, throughout the gospel, is drawing our attention to how Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_02: It is a gospel that is packed with references from the Old Testament, pointing towards Jesus Himself.
SPEAKER_02: And as Jesus seeks to explain the kingdom, he in this moment is proclaiming what he is about.
SPEAKER_02: If you would look back at Matthew 4, you'd see Jesus declaring, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
SPEAKER_02: What we need to see is the kingdom comes and the king comes with his kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: And as Jesus speaks, he declares for you and I to know that he is the king and his kingdom is at hand.
SPEAKER_02: He has established his kingdom, and nothing is gonna stop that.
SPEAKER_02: Nothing can get in the way of it.
SPEAKER_02: The picture we first see in this narrative is a farmer sowing seed.
SPEAKER_02: But we know that the one who is sowing is the Son of Man, Jesus Christ Himself.
SPEAKER_02: And what he sows is good seed.
SPEAKER_02: The work of his hand is men, women, young people, children who are children in his kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: That is what Jesus' work produces.
SPEAKER_02: People of faith.
SPEAKER_02: Because to per to be part of his kingdom is only possible because of him.
SPEAKER_02: When we miss that, when we when we misplace our trust, when we misunderstand the way of salvation, we're in serious trouble.
SPEAKER_02: There is a story that I've shared before, but I find it to be just so helpful.
SPEAKER_02: It was from a pastor who was on a trip in a different country, and he explained a conversation he was in.
SPEAKER_02: That he was in this country and he heard these two men and they were discussing faith and they believed different things.
SPEAKER_02: They had different perspectives in terms of what they believed.
SPEAKER_02: But after a while, he decided to step in and join the conversation.
SPEAKER_02: And he said to them, It sounds like you are kind of talking about your faiths as if we're all at the bottom of the mountain.
SPEAKER_02: And God is at the top of the mountain.
SPEAKER_02: And we are just all making our way up to God.
SPEAKER_02: You go that way and I go that way, but at the end of the day, we'll all end up on the top of the mountain.
SPEAKER_02: It is just as if we are going up via different routes.
SPEAKER_02: And the men respond and be like, Yes, that's it.
SPEAKER_02: That's exactly it.
SPEAKER_02: Yet what we see here in this passage, what Jesus' words proclaim, is that we need to realize there is only one way of salvation.
SPEAKER_02: There is not your way and their way, because we do not get to determine the means of salvation, but rather Jesus Himself, as the author of salvation, has determined the way of salvation.
SPEAKER_02: It is not us working our way up a mountain to God, but rather God has made his way down to us.
SPEAKER_02: Taking on the form of a baby, born into poverty, coming and making himself known, coming and declaring to you and I, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
SPEAKER_02: No one comes to the Father except through me.
SPEAKER_02: Words that are definitive.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know how you feel about what Jesus is declaring here, but I believe the purpose in all of this is to root our confidence in Him.
SPEAKER_02: To help you to raise your eyes up and look to Him and not to yourself.
SPEAKER_02: To realize and understand that your salvation is not based upon your performance.
SPEAKER_02: It never has and it never will be.
SPEAKER_02: To grasp you cannot and will not be good enough.
SPEAKER_02: To appreciate the freedom of not having to strive for acceptance.
SPEAKER_02: We all struggle with that.
SPEAKER_02: To fall upon his grace toward you, to stand in awe of the one who saves you.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, yes, I know Jesus saved me, but man, I just need to work, I need to strive, I need to work up that.
SPEAKER_02: And I think moments where we muck up reveal this the most.
SPEAKER_02: When you muck up, what is your response?
SPEAKER_02: What is your reaction?
SPEAKER_02: You fall into some kind of sin.
SPEAKER_02: And in our heads, what I think we do is we create a spiritual point system.
SPEAKER_02: I was doing so well, racking up those points.
SPEAKER_02: Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
SPEAKER_02: And we think, oh man, I was doing great.
SPEAKER_02: I had so many in the bank.
SPEAKER_02: I was consistent in church.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't really slip into any sin lately, any serious sin.
SPEAKER_02: I've been consistent somewhat in the word and prayer.
SPEAKER_02: And now I'm mucked up.
SPEAKER_02: And I need to just work my way up.
SPEAKER_02: I need to rack up those points again to get me back to where I was.
SPEAKER_02: Brother, sister in Christ, we need to see in every moment the one who truly saves.
SPEAKER_02: We don't go to strive our way back up, we go once again to Him.
SPEAKER_02: That His salvation is not something we move past, but it is His salvation that continues to redeem us, continues to sanctify us, to shape us into His image, His likeness.
SPEAKER_02: It's so easy to begin to add to Jesus' salvific work for us.
SPEAKER_02: But the call of Jesus is to rest, not to work.
SPEAKER_02: The call of Jesus is to receive, not to give.
SPEAKER_02: The call of Jesus is to rejoice, not to wallow.
SPEAKER_02: If you're here and you don't know Jesus as Lord and Savior, maybe you've been told that it is about being a certain way, about being good, that you just need to be good.
SPEAKER_02: You need to act a certain way.
SPEAKER_02: The truth of the gospel is that Jesus does not wait for us.
SPEAKER_02: Because if he did, he'd be waiting a long, long, long time.
SPEAKER_02: Because we are not good enough.
SPEAKER_02: We never have been, never will be.
SPEAKER_02: But God shows his love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus calls you, calls me to come to him.
SPEAKER_02: Repentance and faith, accepting your need of him, accepting you don't have all the answers.
SPEAKER_02: Do not turn from the one who saves.
SPEAKER_02: Do not make excuses but hear his call.
SPEAKER_02: This is what we celebrate in baptism.
SPEAKER_02: This is why it's so good.
SPEAKER_02: This is why we rejoice, rejoicing in the life he gives, that he is enough, rejoicing that sin and death are done, are dealt with.
SPEAKER_02: Find that hard, basically.
SPEAKER_02: That wasn't said very clearly, but you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_02: It's hard to appreciate it, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Because we're not all farmers, you know, we're not farmers like Jenny.
SPEAKER_02: We're not farmers like Andrew, even though he's the most unfarmer type guy I know, and Jenny only cares about cows.
SPEAKER_02: But it is clear how bad this situation is.
SPEAKER_02: That if you're a farmer and you're sowing good seed, being diligent, working hard, it would have been heartbreaking.
SPEAKER_02: That someone's planted weeds after all the work, after all the effort.
SPEAKER_02: But as we know, this is a picture of the world.
SPEAKER_02: The field is the world.
SPEAKER_02: This is speaking to us, to our very existence.
SPEAKER_02: That we are not just separated from those who hate and reject Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: But we live, we work, we socialize with non-Christians all the time.
SPEAKER_02: Today you might be here and you're not a believer, and we're so thankful you are with us.
SPEAKER_02: What I think is key for us to know and understand is that Jesus makes clear the source of sin and evil here.
SPEAKER_02: As Christians, we need to be so careful that we do not attribute any evil, any bad to God.
SPEAKER_02: What we find here is the truth that Jesus rules the world.
SPEAKER_02: But what he declares about his field is that it is the enemy who kills and destroys.
SPEAKER_02: It is the enemy who brings evil and sin.
SPEAKER_02: The devil himself, the enemy is the one who longs for people to hate Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: He longs for you to reject Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: He desires you to live a life that is just self-seeking.
SPEAKER_02: It's so easy for us to blame God at times for sin.
SPEAKER_02: Blame God for the evil that is in our world.
SPEAKER_02: But the Bible is clear that He rules over it, and yet He is not the source of any evil or any sin.
SPEAKER_02: All sin, all evil is hated by God and hated far more than you hate it.
SPEAKER_02: He hates it.
SPEAKER_02: Why is his judgment so serious?
SPEAKER_02: Because of his hatred of everything that is evil and broken and wrong.
SPEAKER_02: As we sit here, we need to know that we have all experienced the impact of this sin.
SPEAKER_02: We all experience it, and James 1 is clear in how we should see our own sin.
SPEAKER_02: Let no one say, when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God.
SPEAKER_02: For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one, but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
SPEAKER_02: Then desire it is ha when and when l then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
SPEAKER_02: So important for us to consider these words.
SPEAKER_02: To grasp, to realize how sin works, how sin operates.
SPEAKER_02: That temptation is tempting because it is driving at your desires at your affections.
SPEAKER_02: It wouldn't be temptation if it was saying do something you hate.
SPEAKER_02: Obviously, it wouldn't be.
SPEAKER_02: We all know that to be true, but the fact Is it pulls strong in our very hearts.
SPEAKER_02: And the lie that tells you if you do this, you will be happy.
SPEAKER_02: Even when you know it is wrong, even when you know it is sinful, if you do this, you will feel good.
SPEAKER_02: If you do this, you will feel satisfied.
SPEAKER_02: That is what sin does.
SPEAKER_02: And the truth is, all sin leads to death.
SPEAKER_02: Sin always promises so much yet delivers so little.
SPEAKER_02: You might have a moment of happiness, a moment of joy.
SPEAKER_02: You might.
SPEAKER_02: But understand you will certainly always experience spiritual death.
SPEAKER_02: The emptiness that comes, the numbness towards God, the distance from Him, the guilt and shame.
SPEAKER_02: Realizing, was it really worth it?
SPEAKER_02: Brother, sister, we need to be clear in the joy and freedom of our salvation, but we need to be clear in the dangers of sin.
SPEAKER_02: Because as we consider this passage, we need to understand we do not view the field like the master.
SPEAKER_02: He is the one who sees the good seed and the weeds.
SPEAKER_02: We don't.
SPEAKER_02: Our salvation is therefore something we need to realize day by day.
SPEAKER_02: Paul clearly speaks about this in Philippians.
SPEAKER_02: I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: He does not take lightly the gift that he has received.
SPEAKER_02: The gift of salvation, the joy of his salvation is the very motivation that pursues him to pursue Christ.
SPEAKER_02: That he was like, no, that is what I need, that is what I need.
SPEAKER_02: I am going after that, after him.
SPEAKER_02: I am pressing toward the goal.
SPEAKER_02: If we are people who know God's grace towards us, then our lives will be shaped by him.
SPEAKER_02: Then we will see that there is no better joy in this life than him, than knowing and loving and living for him, resting in him in the most difficult seasons of life, knowing he truly does rule over it all.
SPEAKER_02: As his servants are worried, as his servants are unsure, he knows exactly what has happened and what to do.
SPEAKER_02: Look at 28.
SPEAKER_02: He said to them, An enemy has done this.
SPEAKER_02: So the servant said to him, Then do we you want us to go and gather them?
SPEAKER_02: But he said, No, lest in gathering the weeds you up you root up the wheat along with them.
SPEAKER_02: You can imagine the shock, the panic of these servants as they see, as they're wondering what happened, how has this happened, running, wondering what they should do, worried and concerned for their master, worried and concerned about his reaction, and yet the master for Jesus Christ Himself, it is not a surprise.
SPEAKER_02: He's not shocked by it.
SPEAKER_02: He knows exactly what's happened.
SPEAKER_02: We need to see him for who he is.
SPEAKER_02: We can experience so much pain in this life.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what you've gone through, but I know that you've experienced pain.
SPEAKER_02: Hurt, brokenness.
SPEAKER_02: Right now you might be feeling the weight of that.
SPEAKER_02: Feeling the brokenness in yourself, feeling the brokenness around you.
SPEAKER_02: Brother, sister in Christ, we need to learn and see and know the one who rules over it all.
SPEAKER_02: We may not understand completely, we may not fully understand why, but we can rest in him to truly appreciate that Jesus has not been caught by surprise.
SPEAKER_02: To see you and to know that he sees you and knows you in this moment.
SPEAKER_02: Though as hard as it is, though as painful as it is, it is going to be but a moment.
SPEAKER_02: It might not feel that way, but it is.
SPEAKER_02: When you lean and rest on him, he will lead you, he will be sufficient for you.
SPEAKER_02: Our Savior is not incompetent in his ruling and reigning, but he does it perfectly.
SPEAKER_02: And there will be a day when we will know that to be fully true.
SPEAKER_02: Hear how he comforts us in Hebrews 4.
SPEAKER_02: Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with us in our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin.
SPEAKER_02: Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, to find grace and help in time of need.
SPEAKER_02: Those are some of the verses in Scripture that I cherish, that I need to hold on to.
SPEAKER_02: This is who you need, the Son of God, the one who has chosen to experience the worst and darkest day in human history, the one who calls and says to you to come.
SPEAKER_02: Come as you are, come broken, come weak, come in need.
SPEAKER_02: Come and find yourself, my mercy toward you, mercy that pours out grace upon you in time of need.
SPEAKER_02: That you will truly know his grace is sufficient for you.
SPEAKER_02: He will meet you in that place.
SPEAKER_02: What confidence we have, brother, sister.
SPEAKER_02: Not because of who we are, not because we're anything special, but because of who he is, the one who has authority to rule.
SPEAKER_02: In the text, we see how central Jesus knowledge is, his understanding of what everything is doing and what everything, all that is happening.
SPEAKER_02: As the one who has authority to judge.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 30, let both grow together until harvest.
SPEAKER_02: When we consider the timings of God, we need to realize we are created beings.
SPEAKER_02: He knows what he is doing.
SPEAKER_02: He knows his timings.
SPEAKER_02: The fact is actually his timing reveals his grace toward us.
SPEAKER_02: 2 Peter 3 says, The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises as some count slowness, but is patient toward us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
SPEAKER_02: As Jesus proclaims in this passage, the coming judgment, we need to understand that the time that is given is because he is patient toward us.
SPEAKER_02: The time he gives is a heart that longs to see those who are his to not be destroyed, but to come to him.
SPEAKER_02: To come and experience his grace for themselves.
SPEAKER_02: As his people, we need to understand there is a harvest coming.
SPEAKER_02: Do you actually have that in your mind?
SPEAKER_02: A day of judgment in which the true judge will display and proclaim his authority over all.
SPEAKER_02: We need to realize the call upon our lives.
SPEAKER_02: We are not just bystanders.
SPEAKER_02: If you love and profess faith in Jesus Christ, you are not a bystander.
SPEAKER_02: But rather participants.
SPEAKER_02: The call to all believers in light of his coming is to proclaim the gospel to the lost.
SPEAKER_02: To pray that they would be good seed.
SPEAKER_02: That our God, our gracious God, would use our efforts for their good and his glory, that he would bring them to himself.
SPEAKER_02: Because judgment is real.
SPEAKER_02: It is not something to be joked about, it is not something to be treated lightly.
SPEAKER_02: You might wonder what is at the core of church planting.
SPEAKER_02: Why do we do it?
SPEAKER_02: This is why.
SPEAKER_02: Because the truth is when I walk down my street with a hundred houses, the fact is, most of those people do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_02: Most of them have never heard the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: When I go to the local Costa where I sometimes go to work, those who serve me coffee, they do not know Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Those who I sit around do not know Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: When I think about Church Town specifically with over 10,000 people, when I think about the surrounding communities that link to church town over a hundred thousand people, probably the majority of them do not know Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And if you are here and you know Jesus and you know this, what should that do for us?
SPEAKER_02: Brother or sister in Christ, this should not sit comfortably with us.
SPEAKER_02: Our hearts should break.
SPEAKER_02: It should cause us to go to our knees and pray, to do anything we could to seek, to see others come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior because it is so serious.
SPEAKER_02: This is not just a game, these are people's souls.
SPEAKER_02: Because the day is coming when all will stand before the judge.
SPEAKER_02: The day is coming when justice will reign.
SPEAKER_02: And we should never take our eyes off that day.
SPEAKER_02: If we are people shaped by our Savior, then we will be like him.
SPEAKER_02: Consider Jesus as he responds, as he gazes over Jerusalem and he weeps.
SPEAKER_02: Why does he weep?
SPEAKER_02: He weeps for their souls.
SPEAKER_02: How lost they are.
SPEAKER_02: Consider Jesus on the cross as he's beaten, ridiculed, mocked, killed.
SPEAKER_02: Father, forgive them.
SPEAKER_02: Where is your heart, brother or sister in Christ?
SPEAKER_02: Do you feel the urgency?
SPEAKER_02: I've just as I've been preparing, I just the overwhelming sense of how many people do not know him.
SPEAKER_02: We should be gripped by compassion for the lost.
SPEAKER_02: Let our hearts not become dull toward them.
SPEAKER_02: Do not allow yourself to just check out, to think, no, no, no, to share the gospel is for someone else other than me.
SPEAKER_02: That is so scary.
SPEAKER_02: And it can be scary.
SPEAKER_02: Don't get me wrong, I get it.
SPEAKER_02: It can be fearful, it can be scary to just, you know what, I just I'm just gonna do it.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna share.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna tell them about Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I get that.
SPEAKER_02: But firstly, know that you are never alone.
SPEAKER_02: The Spirit of the living God dwells within you.
SPEAKER_02: He is with you.
SPEAKER_02: Secondly, know that his call toward you is faithfulness, not gifting.
SPEAKER_02: You might think, oh, I'm not like John Paul over there, whoever John Paul is.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not as gifted as them.
SPEAKER_02: I don't just I'm not as natural as them.
SPEAKER_02: God has shaped you in a unique way for his purposes, for his glory, he doesn't want you to be like them.
SPEAKER_02: Be faithful where he has you.
SPEAKER_02: Love the people who are around you, care for them, seek opportunities to speak of Christ to them.
SPEAKER_02: Thirdly, know how serious this is.
SPEAKER_02: If you saw people in a burning building, if the floor above was on fire and you saw them and they didn't have a clue, what would you do?
SPEAKER_02: How would you respond?
SPEAKER_02: Would you not do everything you could to get them out of that building, to proclaim, to shout, to encourage them out?
SPEAKER_02: How much more when these people are facing an eternal existence without Christ, eternal suffering, because that is the seriousness of what Jesus is proclaiming here.
SPEAKER_02: I can feel so incompetent at times.
SPEAKER_02: I really do.
SPEAKER_02: So lacking when I consider the desperate need in this country, in this land.
SPEAKER_02: Millions of people who do not know Jesus, and I love Jesus, and I love these people.
SPEAKER_02: But the goodness is it's not about me, it is about him.
SPEAKER_02: He is the one who is moving and working, he is the one who chooses to use the insignificant, who chooses to show himself in our weaknesses, knowing exactly what he is doing.
SPEAKER_02: This text is centering us upon Jesus Himself.
SPEAKER_02: It is helping us to know that as we love him, as we seek to honor him, we can be filled with confidence in him.
SPEAKER_02: Knowing he is the one who saves, knowing he is the one who rules, he is the one who will judge.
SPEAKER_02: We don't need to fear, we don't need to doubt.
SPEAKER_02: We look to him.
SPEAKER_02: Knowing the day is arriving in which we will all stand before him.
SPEAKER_02: The day is arriving in which we will fully be completely transformed.
SPEAKER_02: The work will be complete, and we will shine like the sun in the kingdom of our father.
SPEAKER_02: On that day, can you just imagine?
SPEAKER_02: You're here right now, but can you just imagine?
SPEAKER_02: Just looking around, seeing one another.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, you're here, woo! You're here, amazing.
SPEAKER_02: You're here.
SPEAKER_02: How did they get here?
SPEAKER_02: On that day, just looking around.
SPEAKER_02: How?
SPEAKER_02: How are we here?
SPEAKER_02: How did we make it to this day, this moment?
SPEAKER_02: How has any of this happened?
SPEAKER_02: Not because we are good, not because we did anything to earn it, but because he did it all for us.
SPEAKER_02: I long for that day.
SPEAKER_02: May we not take our eyes off the one who is calling us home.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to this week's sermon.
SPEAKER_01: If you found this helpful or want to know more about City Church Dublin, please visit our website found at the link below.