WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:01.679 Well, good morning. 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:04.959 Our text is Matthew 7, 12 through 23. 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:11.599 We're going to work our way through it, passage by passage, verse by verse, and see what we can make sense of this. 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:14.240 It progresses through a few different thoughts. 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:21.120 So Matthew 7, verse 12 says, So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:23.440 For this is the law and the prophets. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:29.679 Big L law, which should be referring to Old Testament rules and regulations, specifically more Moses' law. 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:35.920 We can think old, you know, the old Ten Commandments, everything you should be and you should do. 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:39.200 And Jesus says, I'll summarize it for you. 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:40.719 Love other people. 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:46.079 And then Paul in the New Testament is always helping us make sense of Jesus. 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:57.200 And so Paul says this about any sort of spirituality by law or trying to live up to a performance or obey enough and then you'll be accepted by God. 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:02.880 Here's what Paul says about that kind of path Colatians 3, 23 and 24. 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:15.280 Now, before faith came, so before Jesus, before faith in Christ, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:24.079 So then the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:26.879 So here's how all this shakes out. 00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:29.760 The law is good and holy. 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:33.760 The problem is not the law, the problem is me. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:36.400 The problem's you. 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:41.200 The problem is that we don't live up to the holy and good law. 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:43.280 We don't live up to what we should be, right? 00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:47.439 You know that when you read the Bible, you read something, you go, well, like that's really great. 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:51.280 That's what I should do or should be, but I'm not always that. 00:01:54.319 --> 00:01:55.920 We don't always live up to it. 00:01:56.079 --> 00:02:12.400 And this is also why, in your own heart, in your own Christian experience, when all you hear is law without grace, as an overriding message, and maybe that takes form as sort of like a constant Christian to-do list. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:16.400 It could also be disguised as faith challenges. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:18.240 We like to do that in the Christian world. 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:21.840 Just keep giving you more and more faith challenges. 00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:26.240 Law always leads to exhaustion and condemnation. 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:33.039 Not because there's a problem with the law, but because we are not perfect unto it. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:42.960 So for the law, whether moral or religious or even worldly law, like what you should be in the world, there's lots of shoulds in the world, right? 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:44.639 Of what you should be. 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:47.039 Law, always. 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:53.280 Even the most current expression of Christian faith, the hypest, newest Christian experience possible. 00:02:54.560 --> 00:03:00.560 Law always accuses and kills in whatever form it arrives. 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:07.599 And so if you're ever feeling exhaustion and condemnation, the first question you should ask is: where am I living by law? 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:08.879 Where am I under law? 00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:11.199 Where am I under all the shoulds? 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:15.039 And I'm outside of the grace of Jesus. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:21.520 If you remember the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount series, we started with Matthew 5, 17. 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:27.120 Jesus saying, Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets. 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:29.919 Well, he wouldn't say that because the law is good and holy, right? 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:30.400 No, no. 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:33.840 I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:39.680 So what that means is Christ fulfills the very thing he asks you to be. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:45.919 He loves perfectly, even while our calling is to love. 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:50.560 He's the one who loves perfectly, even while we love him perfectly. 00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:58.879 So our growth in grace, our movement toward godliness is not for acceptance. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:04.639 It's not even under, if I do enough, God will finally smile toward me. 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:17.040 Our growth in grace, our movement toward godliness, our desire to love other people is because we're already accepted as his children, because of grace and because of Jesus. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:23.199 And now that makes a lot of sense heading into verses 13 and 14 about a narrow way, because that's really narrow, right? 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:27.680 It really weeded us out in all of our performance and everything we try to add on. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:31.920 But it just narrowed it straight into faith in Christ alone. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:41.199 Verses 13 and 14 enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide, and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter it by it are many. 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:46.240 For the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:54.720 So point number one is this Jesus is narrow as Jesus is God's lavish grace, ending performance-based living. 00:04:55.920 --> 00:05:09.680 Now, performance-based living, we can pick up that quickly in religious life, moral life in the world, and even escapism and licentiousness is a reaction to the fact that you just know you can't even be on, begin to do that. 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:11.600 And so you react to that. 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:14.399 That's a wide way. 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:18.879 It means broad or roomy. 00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:21.199 It's a way without boundaries or morality. 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:22.480 It's all subjective. 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:25.600 It would be easy just to say, oh, that's for all the non-religious people. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:28.720 Like those really worldly, horrible, you know, those people, right? 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:30.000 Like them, right? 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:35.839 But Jesus reserves his most harsh criticisms constantly for religious people. 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:41.439 Because merit-based living, that's a wide way. 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:49.920 It gives you plenty of room to keep control, keep all your self-righteousness, all your pride, to be your own savior. 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:51.439 Call your own shots. 00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:58.639 Years ago, my sister and brother-in-law, they went on a free weekend to a condo complex at the beach. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:05:59.920 I mean, can you believe it? 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:03.519 They got a phone call that they got a free weekend at the beach, right? 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:04.480 Have you ever gotten that? 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:05.839 You got the mailing or the phone call. 00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:09.839 I walked by a guy at Cabela's a few weeks ago and he offered me a free fishing trip. 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:10.639 I walked right by him. 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:11.600 I just went straight by. 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:13.040 Didn't even look at him. 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:14.879 Like, nope, not even gonna look at you. 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:15.839 Free fishing trip. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:16.480 I want to pay. 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:19.279 I want to pay in full, not looking at you. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:21.120 My sister, she wins this. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:22.560 They win this free weekend. 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:23.519 Can you believe it? 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:25.439 A free weekend at the beach. 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:26.800 What are the chances? 00:06:26.959 --> 00:06:29.759 All they had to do was attend a one-hour seminar. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:31.759 That's all they had to do. 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:38.560 They were newly married and they were poor, so they're like, hey, we'll do, we'll attend, we'll go to that. 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:41.439 Like that sounds like a good deal. 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:53.279 So they get there and everything was free, and the condo was great, and the beach was great, they're riding on the beach, and they weren't bothered by anybody, just welcomed, just accepted, lavish. 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:55.600 Then came the simple arm. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:01.120 One hour became two hours, you know, the more resistant they were. 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:08.480 And then the pressure turned up, like that really nice, loving, welcoming, accepting guy, all of a sudden the pressure turned up, right? 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:09.680 And the guilt kicked in. 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:13.920 Like you took this free beach trip and you won't even consider this. 00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:18.560 You're gonna live in regret the rest of your life. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:25.360 You're like, you're gonna get to 50 or 60, you're gonna look back and realize how many beach trips you could have had for such a good deal. 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:29.680 You're gonna have such regret on this deal that I have for you, right? 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:32.959 And they felt all that, but they're resisting it, and they're resisting it. 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:35.680 So the sales guy he he switches his tactics. 00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:41.439 And my sister comes home with an overly paid for set of pots and pans out of the beach trip. 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:42.879 That's what she ended up with. 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:48.560 Now here's the lesson: don't overly pay for pots and pans at a free beach trip. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:49.279 That's number one. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:50.959 And here's the second one. 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:55.839 They were fully welcomed, accepted in grace. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:58.319 And then the switch happened. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:11.519 Maybe you've been in church, maybe you've been at like a retreat and you're seeing about God's lavish love for you, and I mean this unbelievable grace, and he is so faithful, and you're secure in him, and then you're like this. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:13.759 Ah, I love this faith, right? 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:18.639 And preacher guy gets up and he's good and he can preach and he's smooth. 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:20.319 And he loves Jesus. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:21.759 He loves Jesus. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:27.839 And then it happens, and it was so smooth, you you barely notice it, but you feel it. 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:29.279 You feel it. 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:31.680 And he lays the shame on you. 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:35.840 Look what, look what Jesus did for you. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:37.519 Can't you even? 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:42.000 You're gonna stand before God in heaven. 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:44.159 You're gonna have so much regret. 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:45.519 Well, that's not even possible. 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:48.960 Heaven's void of tears, void of fear. 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:54.159 Either Jesus is absolutely sufficient for all sin, or he's not. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:58.320 And in that place of judgment in front of God, it'll be like, oh, the judgment. 00:08:58.399 --> 00:08:59.759 Yeah, I got the judgment handled. 00:08:59.919 --> 00:09:01.759 Like you handled it for me. 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:03.600 There's no regret. 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:06.720 It's just wrong. 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:12.480 It's a return to law, it's a motivation for godliness by guilt. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:15.440 It's the use of the law. 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:19.360 It's a refusal to say that Jesus did fulfill the law. 00:09:21.039 --> 00:09:25.679 And all that grace and that love and that faithfulness that you were singing about, right? 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:30.720 And maybe you felt it because you were in that environment, you've been singing about it, singing about it, singing about it, right? 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:32.720 It's functionally gone. 00:09:34.879 --> 00:09:42.799 And what is left is an undercurrent of performance Christianity that has questions like, well, how secure really is my heart with him? 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:48.320 How much do I really need to add to Christ's work for me? 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:50.240 Like how much? 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:50.960 Like a little bit? 00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:51.919 Like a little bit every day? 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:53.759 Or like, you know, like or a lot? 00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:54.480 You know? 00:09:55.840 --> 00:10:00.320 What do I need to do today to cause God to accept and delight in me again? 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:06.159 It's hidden all over religious life. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:09.440 It's hidden all over Christian experience. 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:13.600 It is as much the wide way as licentiousness. 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:16.080 It is lawless. 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:23.200 Because it's just up to your subjectivity of how good you think you are, how much you can be your own savior. 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:29.120 The law demands obedience to be accepted. 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:32.240 I'm accepted by God because I obey. 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:38.480 But the gospel empowers obedience because you're already accepted. 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:43.519 And the sentence switches around I obey because I'm already accepted. 00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:51.679 French theologian Theodore Biza said this hundreds of years ago during the Protestant Reformation. 00:10:53.600 --> 00:11:05.039 Ignorance of this distinction between law and gospel is one of the principal sources of the abuses which corrupted and still corrupts Christianity. 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:10.080 C.F.W. 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:13.840 Walther, he helps us clarify that even more. 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:20.879 The gospel does not require anything good that man must furnish. 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:29.440 Not a good heart, not a good disposition, no improvement of his condition, no godliness, no love either of God or men. 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:33.679 It issues no order, but changes a man. 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:39.759 It plants love into his heart and makes him capable of all good works. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.399 It demands nothing, but it gives all. 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:49.519 Should this fact not make us leap for joy? 00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:55.039 See, this second way, the narrow way, is incredibly narrow. 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:55.600 Right? 00:11:55.679 --> 00:12:09.279 I mean, you gotta let go of all that escapism, that lawlessness, licentiousness, trying to justify your life by enough pleasure, and you gotta let go of all that moralism and legalism and life by law, if only I'm good enough. 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:10.159 You gotta let go of both. 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:11.120 I mean, that's really narrow. 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:13.279 It becomes more narrow, doesn't it? 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:21.120 You get squeezed into faith that he is enough, Jesus is enough. 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:23.600 I don't have to add any work to his work. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:28.720 The text says that he is the gate and the way is narrow. 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:36.399 So it's a narrowing of ourselves, meaning we're squeezed to death to find greater life. 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:42.799 Point number two is this narrowness is dying to self as to find life in Christ. 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:45.039 That's narrowness. 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:50.480 Tim Keller describes it this way as he talks about Matthew 7. 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:54.240 The narrowness leads to spaciousness. 00:12:55.200 --> 00:13:01.200 See, it's not narrowness, and then it's like, ah, lesser life, lesser life, you know, but bored Christian life. 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:01.759 No, no, no. 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:06.639 The narrowness opens up a greater freedom where your heart is being healed. 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:10.240 You get to move toward godliness, move toward loving people. 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:19.360 Another great theologian, the Dixie chicks, they say she needs wide open spaces. 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:23.440 Room to make her big mistakes. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:24.080 Right? 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:25.440 I know you're singing that. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:28.080 You know, you're like, you know, Christ is so good. 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:29.840 But that's what it does. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:35.679 That's what the narrow way serves us a spaciousness, a wide open space in him. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:38.879 Because we're imperfect. 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:47.440 And Jesus is saying, be narrowed now, be crushed now, and God's grace be done, be narrowed in Jesus. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:49.840 All right, a few more verses. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:55.919 Verse 15 beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 00:13:56.159 --> 00:13:58.399 You will recognize them by their fruits. 00:13:58.639 --> 00:14:01.919 Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:06.639 So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:10.639 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:14.000 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:17.200 Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:20.799 So Jesus is teaching, not all good teachers are good teachers. 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:27.039 And he gives us two images to think about this: to filter, to be wise. 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:28.879 Number one is wolves. 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:31.279 He says, a false teacher can be like a wolf. 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:34.639 Just want to devour the hearts of people. 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:37.840 And then in order to say, well, how would you recognize a wolf? 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:38.559 They're disguised. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:40.879 He said, Well, let's talk about a tree. 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:42.320 That's the second image. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:45.600 To test a teacher, we can think about a healthy tree. 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:49.679 In time, a healthy tree bears fruits. 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:51.279 It shows its fruit. 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:56.240 So the question, which of course makes me very uncomfortable as the teacher in this setting, right? 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:57.440 Here's the question. 00:14:57.759 --> 00:15:06.799 Over time, does the teacher's life reveal faithfulness, Christ-centeredness, and Christ-likeness? 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:11.039 Do we see Christ's meekness and gentleness in the teacher? 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:12.960 Some measure of it. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:15.360 Or do we see ambition? 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:17.600 Manipulation. 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:21.679 Jealousy, impurity, hypocrisy? 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:24.639 There's the filter for us. 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:26.159 Last section. 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:28.399 Verse 21, Matthew 7, 21. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:34.559 Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:40.399 On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:46.879 And cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name, and then I will declare to them, I never knew you. 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:49.360 Depart from me, you're workers of lawlessness. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:52.320 So that word destruction in verse 13, that's a strong word. 00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:54.639 It means to be damned or wasted. 00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:58.879 So Jesus is saying, take a moment. 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:01.039 Take a moment. 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:03.840 Reflect in what you really rest in. 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:06.240 Where your faith is really placed. 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:08.720 Where do you find faith? 00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:10.639 Where are you placing it? 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:12.879 Where are you expecting to find? 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:15.759 How are you expecting to find eternal life? 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:25.600 Is my faith in him alone for forgiveness of sin, for right standing, for justification as a person, for eternal standing, for my righteousness, or is it in me? 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:29.440 Am I working that out in the world? 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:31.600 Or am I working that out in religion? 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:36.480 Or is it by grace through faith in Jesus? 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:42.399 This summer I had a day to myself in Grand Teton National Park. 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:49.120 And so coming off the valley floor there in Grand Teton, there are all these canyons that cut into the Teton Range. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:17:04.799 And each of these canyons has a different hike, and you can hike up these canyons, and slowly those heights work you up higher and higher into the range, and eventually you get up high, and you get up kind of past the initial range, and you're back in it, and this opens up in these beautiful, beautiful basins. 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:07.200 So one morning I wake up early. 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:08.720 This is a morning I had to myself. 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:12.079 I was by myself, and I start in on a hike called Death Canyon. 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:14.160 So here's the height called Death Canyon. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:23.200 You hike around this lake and you hike up through this really tight canyon, and it works its way high up in there and back behind all those peaks. 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:26.400 So I'm by myself on a hike named Death Canyon. 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:28.720 Nobody in the world really knows where I'm at at the time. 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:38.480 So sure enough, right away on that height's name, Death Canyon, 100 yards into the hike, there's a bear off to my left, 20 yards, and you know I love a bear, right? 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:43.039 Like we celebrate that bear week in our church, and we we got a lot of bear stuff going on. 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:46.480 But I like a bear at about like a quarter of a mile. 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:48.400 Like that's that's where I like a bear. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:49.200 I don't like a bear. 00:17:49.680 --> 00:17:50.400 I'm geared up. 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:59.680 I got the pack on, I got my trekking poles, you know, and I got hat, camelback, bear spray, like on the I'm not bear spray here, bear spray's here. 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:02.880 That look, I saw one guy doing it, and I was like, that's so much tougher. 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:05.759 Like, I'm sure that's how I came to that conclusion to put it there. 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:09.839 I was down here for a while, and I was, and then I saw him, I was like, oh, that looks that looks cool. 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:11.359 So I wear it there. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:14.799 So I'm geared up, but 20 yards is a lot, you know. 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:17.759 That's it, uh, you know, so but Death Canyon. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:20.640 I do think it's perfectly named. 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:22.400 I'm not sure why it's named that. 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:23.920 Maybe the Tight Canyon walls. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:25.440 I think that's why. 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:29.359 Because as you hike, the canyon tightens in on you. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:32.480 You're you're you're squeezed, you're tightened. 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:41.200 And then as you hike up this creek and the canyon tightens in on you, you you eventually get up and you clear and you get up into this high basin. 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:42.880 It's just beautiful, opens up. 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:45.279 After you're squeezed, it opens up. 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:51.440 Here's a picture of where I had lunch that day. 00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:55.519 I sat down and had lunch right along the creek. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:59.839 And I sat there, there's hundreds of butterflies everywhere. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:01.920 I mean, there were so many butterflies at one point. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:08.000 I looked at my brownie and was wondering like if I had something, somebody put something in the brownie. 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:10.880 Because there were so many butterflies. 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:12.319 I was like, this a lot. 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:19.279 And I was by myself, you know, so it was like not like 50 butterflies, I mean it was a lot of butterflies. 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:26.079 If you hike up further, if you just keep hiking, here's the last picture. 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:27.599 This is even further up. 00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:31.279 It's even further up, it gets even more spacious and open. 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:34.880 It's just such a beautiful image for us of the narrow way. 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:42.960 Being squeezed to death as to be welcomed into a beautiful spaciousness. 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:47.119 Where finally you can just say, like, I'm I'm done. 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:51.359 Like I'm done trying to earn forgiveness, I'm done being motivated by guilt. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:54.880 I'm done trying to pay for my sin by my work. 00:19:55.920 --> 00:20:00.720 I'm done trying to justify my existence with my production or how I look or people's approval. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:05.279 I'm done, I'm crushed, I'm I'm narrowed into Jesus. 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:10.000 And it's then we find this spaciousness inside of him, a freedom. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:14.799 That we have identity that's secure as God's children. 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:17.279 And we don't have to be motivated by guilt. 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:19.039 I mean, we're not gonna be perfect. 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:22.720 I mean, we'll feel guilty and we confess it, we fall back, you know, we confess. 00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:27.680 But we're motivated out of a secure belovedness that we have. 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:31.440 And none of it's about like a righteousness report that we're gonna give to God. 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:34.480 The whole report is gonna be, yeah, I I knew him. 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:36.160 I know him. 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:39.279 And he said he fulfills the law. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:45.039 And all of my life has been motivated by the grace that is enough to pray for me. 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:46.400 Let's pray together. 00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:51.680 God, thank you that the way in which we are motivated is not by more guilt. 00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:54.799 But you fulfilled the law. 00:20:55.119 --> 00:21:03.599 And the law held us captive, and the law guides us, and it is holy and good, but oh, how we need to fall into you, the one who is sufficient unto the law. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:07.200 And we are relieved from performance. 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:23.680 And we are relieved into a life of grace, where we are saved by grace, and we are empowered by your gospel that teaches us to say no to ungodliness and teaches us what it means to love people. 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:33.839 Help our hearts continue to heal in you and continue to grow to be the people that you call us to be, as your beloved children. 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:35.680 Secure in Jesus' sake. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:36.480 Amen.