Law & Grace - Matthew 5:11-20 Until then

Good morning. Before we go into study of the passage here, we've got something kind of serious that we need to talk about. The screen is dark on purpose. We are about halfway through the calendar year, and we need to talk about our halftime strategy. Being halfway through, we really do need to take a serious look at it. And so this will be important for us to consider here this morning. After all, this next week, we'll start the second half of the year. And that'll be just seven days from now.

So just so you know about our halftime strategy, we're looking at Laban and Katie Matthews making a touchdown. And so that'll be something you need to make sure you know about that. We need to be able to plan on it. Craig and Jessica Johnson will be making another touchdown, just so you know to plan on that and anticipate it. And in addition to that, Jim and Leslie McCulley will be making an additional touchdown on top of that.

And that will be good. We're going to be counting on that. And Erin April Shutt will make the final touchdown. I put a question mark there because that's as far as we know. We may have some other things develop. That'll be another touchdown. So anyway, it looks like we've got a good scoring potential out there, and that'll be great. I'm still, frankly, got a little bit of a question in my mind. Can we pull off a few field goals? So anyway, that we'll have to see. But just thought you should know that as we go into the second half of the year, OK? Anyway, not sure what the field goals are, but we'll have to think about that. All right.

So meanwhile, we're going to be headed back to the Sermon on the Mount. And one of the things we, of course, said is that when people title this Sermon on the Mount, they need to learn something about what a mountain is. Here in Colorado, we have a different definition.

Sermon on the Mount took place near the shores of the Sea of Galilee. And matter of fact, instead of being near a 14er, it was more like just barely below sea level. But nonetheless, here's the northwest quarter of the Sea of Galilee, if you will. And here's the primary geographical places marked. The Mount of Beatitudes, which is the place where the Sermon on the Mount was likely given, is located here. A shot from this location that's looking down on the Sea of Galilee.

And this is another shot during the springtime when the grass is green and the fields are nice and soft and welcoming. In order to give ourselves the proper perspective in the Sermon on the Mount, which is Matthew chapters 5-7, we are proceeding through that, Jesus is speaking to the people of Israel, we alternatively have the name Jews, in the land of Israel as their long-promised Messiah, in anticipation of the coming kingdom. in which Christ will reign as the King of Israel and He will be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords over the Gentiles. Now, in case that's a little bit too wordy, let me simplify. I'm going to simplify here. Roses are red and violets are bluish. All of those listening to Jesus are Jewish. That's to keep the simple story here.

Last week we introduced what Jesus had as the first part of what's called the Sermon on the Mount, known as the Beatitudes, the Eight Blesseds, and we covered that in Matthew 5, 3 through 10. And we called it an Inclusio. Now, Inclusio is not an Italian boy's name. It is instead a poetic or written pattern that starts or ends similarly or the same. And so the blessed are and for theirs the kingdom of heaven is the bookend, so to speak, of this passage.

Now, we have a summary, a quick summary, here on the first slide in your handout. And if you're visiting with us, that little number in the corner. And it doesn't do any good for me to point to the screen here because you can't see that. It's over here, right? That little number on the corner, that's the slide on the first page. And you'll see that page number. located there.

So the quick summary there is that there's persecution, salt, light, law, and entry. Those are the five key points. Jesus first in this passage that Brad read for us speaks about how a Jew would suffer persecution for the sake of Christ but be rewarded for it. Then he tells those Jews who are listening that they are the salt and light of the world. Christ says that he didn't come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. That ranking in the coming kingdom would be determined by law-keeping now. And he sets the standard of kingdom entry as above those who are looked upon as their leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees.

We'll talk about that in a bit here. So, the first couple of verses sounds like Happy Persecution Day, right? Jesus used this first word, blessed, that he'd used in these beatitudes, beatus meaning the Latin word for blissful or happy or blessed. And he uses the theme of that eighth beatitude as the turning point to say how more, to say more about rather, how the Jew would suffer persecution for the sake of Christ.

So for Israelites who proclaim Jesus to be the Messiah, and the King of Israel, and for those in the church who proclaim Christ to be deity and Savior, persecution awaits. It's interesting, two different groups, similar claims, both of them about Christ. Each one receives persecution.

2 Timothy 3.12, Paul writes to Timothy, it is indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. So not just proclaiming, but living. as Christ spoke of, gets persecution. That's what's received.

Now, so should we wring our hands and fret over the prospect of persecution? At least so far in this country, we've largely escaped a great deal of it. That could be changing. Should we wring our hands about it? Should we worry? Jesus says no. He says, no, that's not something to worry about. As a matter of fact, it's something to be happy about. Amazing, isn't it? Why? Because God's going to reward it. You see, it isn't just a grin and bear it kind of approach, but a realizing that God in the big picture will reward the believer who is persecuted. But we have a question in front of us here as we look through this passage.

The question is this, do you like things that taste really salty? He says next that you are the salt of the earth, as he speaks to this group that are gathered there on the upper shores of Sea of Galilee. This Latin word from which we get our word salary, which means salt money. It was the currency among many people. You could break off a chunk of salt or give a certain weight of salt and use it as currency. Salt was valued, of course, and that's the only way we could use it as money, or at least give it that sense. It would be used for seasoning, seasoning food similar to what we do in our time. It would be used as a preservative. Well, let's talk about how.

Here on the shores of Galilee, where fishing was a large industry, One of the things that they would do is when they'd bring the fish in, and of course, the Jewish fishermen had a task before they did anything with the fish. The fish had to have fins and scales in order to sell it to the Jews. The ones that did not have fins and scales, for example, an eel, a crab, those had to either go back or be sold to the Gentiles.

But you'd take the fish and you'd lay it out there on the rocks. and parts of the Sea of Galilee have a rocky shore, lay it out on the rocks, put down a layer of salt on top of it, and put down then another layer of fish and then salt, thereby letting the fish dry, but dry salty. This is why at another passage Jesus would have the fish and the loaves, and how would he break up the fish? Not fresh fish, they don't break up that easily, right? Not fresh fish, but these dried salted fish.

That's what they would use. So the salt would be used for that purpose, among others, as an antiseptic. Not because they understood anything about bacteria and things of that sort, but because they realized, well, if I put salt on it, that seems to help. Hurts like crazy, but it helps. And so they would use it for that purpose as well. So they would be adding flavor. There would be a preserving value. There would be a value of bringing health that would be a part of the ministry of the Jews into the world.

One of the ways that they would use the salt as an antiseptic is as when Jesus was born, they would take a mixture of olive oil, and salt and rub it all over the baby before they wrapped the baby in swaddling clothes. Salty rocks were used for all these purposes, except for the swaddling clothes. They would take salty rocks, sometimes larger, sometimes smaller, but once the rocks had had all the salt leached out of them, then they would throw the rocks into the roadway. because then it would be a good place to keep the roadway from getting muddy. And you wouldn't want to throw it into the crops because the crops, well, they'd still get a little bit of salt. So that's why Jesus talked about when the salt is no longer salty, that you'd throw it into the roadway, leached out by repeated use. And now the Jews were to have a good influence, a seasoning influence, a preserving influence, an antiseptic influence on the rest of the world, the Gentile nations.

It turns out that there is a similar application for us in the church. Here's Galatians 6, 8 through 10. The one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good for all people, even those of the world. Do good to all people, and especially those who are of the household of the faith, those who are believers.

He says in verse 14 that these people will be the light of the world. They are to be the light of the world. Why would he get that term? Where would that idea come from? Well, God had Isaiah write these words about the people and land of Israel in this coming kingdom. And he wrote it this way in Isaiah chapter 60, verses 1 through 3.

Arise, shine, he wrote. For your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you, in deep darkness the peoples, where you see people, the people, that's Israel. Peoples, plural, that's the Gentiles. But the Lord will rise upon you, that is, you Israel, and his glory will appear upon you. And nations, that's Gentiles, in the Greek Old Testament, that would be ethnos, the ethnic ones, where we get our word ethnicity. will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising. In the coming kingdom, the Gentiles will turn to the Jews as the world's priests, so to speak, who will be the one to lead them and introduce them to the Messiah. The Jews, Israel, the Hebrews will be the light of the world. And he says, I'm pronouncing you that now in anticipation of the coming kingdom.

Now, we in the body of Christ are also called light. We are light in Christ who is the light, and that's key, in Christ. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them, for you were formerly darkness, you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. It is in our position in Christ It is being in Christ that makes us light in the Lord because He is the light. Christ said, Gospel of John, I am the light of the world. We have been placed in Him who is the light of the world. Walk as children of light. Now principle, this is not in your handout, so feel free to take a note there.

To be a child of or a son of in biblical terms, and you can take this everywhere that you see it, If it isn't referring to a literal, physical descendant, it means to be like in character and close in relationship. Like in character and close in relationship. For example, at the end of verse 6, sons of disobedience, it means to be like in character, to have disobedience as a character, and close in relationship to disobedience. Farther down as children of light means we are like in character to Christ who is the light and close in relationship. As a believer, are you close in relationship to Christ? The answer is yes, right? Like in character, you are being made to be like him. That's the process that God has in place. So we too are light.

Now, how about the city on a hill? What does he mean by this city on a hill in this passage? City on a hill, not quite like this. That's not it. Any volunteers, by the way, for this? Maybe not. It doesn't mean quite like this either. They did, however, have cities on a hill. in biblical times, actually a number of contexts. Well, let's take a look at one of them.

Here at the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee would be this so-called Mount, below sea level, but a Mount of Beatitudes, the place where the Sherman on the Mount that we're reading and studying now was given. The Sea of Galilee, if you've ever been to Lake Tahoe, is approximately the same shape as Lake Tahoe and about two-thirds the size. However, Lake Tahoe is over 6,000 feet high. This is below sea level, about 600 feet. So there's quite a difference there. Here's the Mount of Beatitudes at the northwest part of the Sea of Galilee.

And here, right across the lake, is Hippos Sucida. And we can see a picture of it here. As a matter of fact, as you look at this hill, the city on the hill that is there across the lake, you can see off in the distance the place where the Sermon on the Mount was given. So as Jesus was giving this message, this Sermon on the Mount, here was the city on the hill right across the Sea of Galilee and visible to them. I got one picture off in the corner from a boat out in the middle where you could see the city that's sitting on a hill. It is a city basically with two names, Hippos and Susita. And here is a larger shot of the same area. Some of the excavation has been taking place on there in the area below it there. And so you can see some of the old buildings that were there when Christ spoke. Now, he talks about you are the light of the world.

Lamps typically in those days burned olive oil and of course there was the entire process of how do we get the oil out of these olives. They burned olive oil. It was considered a primary duty of the woman of the household to keep the lamp supplied with oil and lit. That was her Her great task is to keep that supplied with oil and lit. It was considered a great dereliction of duty for her to let the lamp run out of oil or to go out. That was her job. She was to keep it lit all the time, even at night.

And so it would be put up on a stand. And at no time was the lamp placed under a basket or cover, but was placed on a shelf or a stand where it would shed its light. Now, you might be wondering what this big black blob is in the middle of there. That's a picture. That's a picture of a lamp at night with a cover over it. See? Oh, well. Okay. I tried. So, you don't put a cover over it, do you? Right? The idea with the lamp is that you let it shed its light. And so, the typical thing would be not to put a cover over it, but to put it up on a stand. to put it where everyone could see it.

It would either have a separate stand that would be a piece of furniture. And sometimes the stands, just like the lamp, were made of clay. Sometimes they were made of metal. That would be a more expensive item in those days. Sometimes they were simply put on a shelf that was built into the wall. And the area near the Sermon on the Mount, one of the nearby cities, is a Capernaum. And they built the walls out of a dark rock, a basalt. And so having a lamp wouldn't supply a lot of light, but you'd have that lamp up against a dark wall.

Now, we do have a question here, so one for us to consider. our light, our spiritual light, which is truth, which is righteousness, is the spiritual light to be open and evident, like the lamp, or as Jesus talks about later on in the Sermon on the Mount, are we to keep it quiet? Remember he says, you know, you don't go around doing things out in the open because you need to go pray in secret. So the question is, are we supposed to be out in the open or secret? Which one? Which one is it? Uh-oh. Uh-oh. What's the answer? Well, let's figure this out.

Spiritual light was to be visible to others for God's glory and not the glory of man. So spiritual light, if it is truth and righteousness lived out before other people, is a good thing if God is the one who gets the glory. If, on the other hand, things are done so that the person is glorified, that's not a good thing. And so what you'll see in the Sermon on the Mount is both of these expressed. What we're seeing here about the lamp and putting it up on a lampstand and like a city on a hill, not hidden. This is for righteousness and truth that gets lived out in front of other people so God's glorified. Later on, we're going to see other things where he says, do it in secret.

Why? Because you don't want to do things so that a person gets glory. It's not like, look at me, how holy I am, right? Look at me, see how great I am. No, God is the one who is to get the glory. And so the reason we're going to see both open and evident, like in this passage, and private and secret in the same message, in the same Sermon on the Mount, is because one points to God getting the glory. The other points to man getting the glory. And he says, you don't want that to be the case. Okay.

Now, what Jesus came to do may turn out as a surprise to you. Among the people of Israel, Jesus came to keep the law of Moses. That's not all he came for, but he came to keep the law of Moses and to uphold it and to keep the law pure from the corruption of Jewish traditions. That is why the next two Sundays, as we look at the next part in the Sermon on the Mount, he's going to say, you have heard that it was said, but I tell you.

And we're going to hear things like, hate your enemies. And he's going to correct that. Why? Because that's not what the Bible teaches. In fact, not even the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees taught hate your enemies, as we'll soon see. He wanted to keep the law pure from the corruption of the Jewish traditions.

So that's a part of what he came and a part of what he's speaking about in this message, the Sermon on the Mount, talking about these things. Among us in the church, Christ's death accomplished are dying to the Law of Moses. Isn't that interesting? To the Jews, here in the Sermon on the Mount, He's going to tell them, keep the Law of Moses. He's going to tell them, don't corrupt it. He says, I didn't come to change anything. I didn't come to abolish it. What?

And then He turns around and dies on the cross so that we would die in relationship to the Law. That's what it means by die to. Did the Law die? No. We died with Him, Romans 6, Romans 7, Galatians 2, 19 and 20, we died with Him for the purpose that among other things we would die in relationship to the law, be separated from the law. Because God wanted to arrange for us to glorify Him apart from the law. The Jews will glorify God by means of the law. We, however, are designed and designated to glorify God apart from the law.

Galatians 2.19 and 20 says that righteousness is accomplished. The righteousness which the law seeks to accomplish is done in our lives, not by us trying to conform to the law and live out the law, but by Christ's life and his righteousness living through us. It's his life, not our law keeping. Christ says that he came to fulfill, to fulfill the law, and it says the law or the prophets.

The Jews would say if they said the law and or or the prophets, they meant the law, which is the first five books of the Bible. The law is the books of Moses, Genesis to Deuteronomy. all the way to the prophets who are the last books of the Bible and all the books in between. It's like the first and the last includes the beginning and the end and everything in the middle. We would use the term A to Z. We list A, we list Z, we mean those and everything in between.

Similar thing here. Jesus came not to set those aside, but to fulfill them. What does that mean? Christ fulfilled the Law and the Prophets by living righteously in full accordance with the 613 Laws of Moses, at least those that apply. And really, really big ones, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not murder, right? And little tiny ones, like don't eat an apple with a worm in it.

He fulfilled all of the laws of Moses that applied, and that included cleaning out the temple, and that included healing on the Sabbath. The corruption was that the Jews kept telling him, you may not heal on the Sabbath. He says, oh yes, I can. As a matter of fact, I ought to. He complied with all 613 laws of Moses, but not the traditions that the Jews had accumulated, and he deliberately healed on the Sabbath more than once. Why? Because they said, no, you can't do that. And he said, that is wrong. I most certainly not only can, but ought to.

So he fulfilled all of the 613 laws of Moses. He also fulfilled all that was prophesied about him in the Law and the Prophets. when he met with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, he laid out for them all the ways in which he had fulfilled everything that was prophesied about him in the Law and the Prophets. He fulfilled all that the Law and the Prophets and everything in between said was going to take place, and that's what he explained to them as they walked along the road there.

Christ died the death for all of us, that the law requires of all the lawbreakers as the prophet said he would do. He died the death that you and I deserved. He died instead of me. He died instead of you. He fulfilled the law by taking upon himself the death that you and I deserve to pay. He fulfilled the law most certainly in that way.

His death also ratified Israel's new covenant. Remember the covenants in the Old Testament, the covenant made with Abraham, it was accompanied by what? An animal sacrifice. The covenant that God made with Noah when he got off the ark was accompanied by an animal sacrifice. So when God made a covenant there must be a blood sacrifice to ratify the covenant. So what did he do on the cross? He ratified with his own body and blood the covenant made with Israel. What was that covenant?

That covenant says that in the coming kingdom The Holy Spirit will live in every single Jew all the time so that they will know, no rabbis, they will know the law by heart. And by heart I don't mean, you know, just knowing it, having recited it. The Holy Spirit will bring them the knowledge of the entire law and they will live it out by the Holy Spirit's indwelling.

That's the New Covenant. Christ's death on the cross ratified the New Covenant with Israel to be lived out and fulfilled in this coming kingdom. But that's not all. We have the second slide, but the same title. Additionally, Christ will fulfill everything that the Law and the Prophets said that he will fulfill in his second coming, yet to occur, but possibly as soon as seven years from now. and reigning in the coming kingdom as the King of Israel and as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords over all the Gentiles. Every prophecy about Him will be fulfilled until the day that heaven and the earth passes away. Every one.

It turns out that the Bible actually has about 10,000 prophecies. If you look at all the little details and count them, about 10,000. About 5,000 of them have already been fulfilled. So that means that there are about 5,000 yet to be fulfilled. And so that's one reason why the Law and the Prophets cannot be annulled and canceled out and abolished. You have 5,000 prophecies that still have yet to be fulfilled.

That's future, and it may be fulfilled as soon as 1,007 years from now. It could all be done and wrapped up. This end of heaven and earth that Christ spoke about here could be done as soon as that 1,007 year time period. The heavens and the earth could pass away. All come apart at the seams.

He talks about not the smallest stroke or letter That's what it says in the New American Standard Version of the Bible. King James has one jot or tittle, not the slightest bit. What did he mean by that? Of the Hebrew alphabet, the smallest letter is a yod. So carried over into the English, one jot. Not the smallest letter. And the other part, the kot or the tittle, is the smallest little stroke when you're making the letters in the Hebrew alphabet and they would show up as a little hook the smallest little stroke he says not one letter not one little tiny part of a letter will pass away and this tells us a few different things one is Christ didn't come to wipe out the law for the Jews they need every little bit of it but all of the Old Testament is intentional because that's what he was speaking of the New Testament wasn't written by this time But one more thing, and that's that everything that is in there down to the last letter and mark is exactly what God had in mind for you and for me to know, and for them to know.

And that's something we can take great confidence in. What the Lord has given us isn't some accident of history. You have, perhaps in your hands, at least quite likely in the pew, rack in front of you, you have a modern translation of an ancient document and it's a document that God had intentionally revealed and no part of it is accidental. It is all intentional.

Something else that Jesus just said here is it will not be wiped out. It will be around and will be fulfilled until the very last second of this present heavens and earth. In verses 17 through 20, he talks about some ranking and entry issues. Verse 19 provides a relative ranking in the kingdom based on one's law teaching and compliance. For the Jews, that is to be the case.

He says, don't go around slicing off different parts of it. By the way, that's what happens in churches all the time. People like to slice and take their certain parts. You'll have a pastor who says, be sure you tithe. Right? Funny, I think that affects his pocketbook. But anyway, be sure you tithe. But he doesn't tell you about the part right before that that says that he shouldn't go to Red Lobster for lunch. Because they eat food there in the passage right before tithing that you shouldn't be eating if you believe in tithing. Right?

The law has all sorts of requirements, 613 individual laws to be exact. And every single one of them is important for the Jew looking forward to the coming kingdom. And ranking in that kingdom will be based on keeping attention to and paying attention to every single one of those laws, all 613 of them. Verse 20 provides the standard of righteousness by the law of Moses that exceeds that of the Pharisees and their associates, the scribes. It says, unless your righteousness is greater than these, you won't what?

Enter. Now this is something that when the people heard this, they were shocked. What? The Pharisees and the scribes were the culture heroes. These guys were the standard, the best of the best when it comes to law-keeping, or so everybody thought. And Jesus shocked them when He said this, You've got to be a whole lot better than that if you ever hope to enter the kingdom. Ahhh! Panic! Right? Panic! What? I've got to be better than that? Yeah.

Christ here represent a shocking revelation. Not just do you have to have a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, one more, not every Jew would enter the coming kingdom. You see, they had a tradition that Abraham would stand at the gate of hell and make sure no Jew ever went in. So Jesus made two shocking statements at once. One is, I've got to be more righteous than the scribes and the Pharisees. And to the rest of the Jews, they are like the mark of righteousness. They are the standard. They are the culture heroes. Of course, they're as righteous as you can get.

And he says, you've got to do better than that. That blew him out of the water. But what really blew him out was this is the first time he said something that he's going to continue to harp on throughout the rest of the book of Matthew and actually the rest of the Gospels. And that's that, look, just because you're descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob doesn't mean you're getting into the kingdom. You'd better focus on entry and what it takes to get in. And that, to them, was a shock. This statement was stunning. They were mind-blown at this.

Here's Matthew 5.20, the warning you won't enter. And by the way, he often put it that way. Unless you do this, you won't enter. The negative statement. Blew their circuits. And the scribes and the Pharisees, if there happened to be any there, were even more blown out. No doubt. In chapter 7, still in the Sermon on the Mount, he will say, enter through the narrow gate. There's a wide gate and that doesn't get there. Enter through the narrow one. The gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life. Few who find it.

What? I mean, we're all Jewish. We're going to get into the kingdom, right? No. Focus on entry. You need to know what that means. Matthew 7, 21 and 23 that we'll also be looking at says something similar. Lord, Lord, we did this in your name. He said, I never knew you.

You're not getting in. Further on in Matthew 18, first three verses, unless you become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. What? Children, they haven't even had time to learn all 613 laws yet. Can't even be a rabbi, not even close. He says, I'm sorry. That's the way it is. So we'll take a look at that. Here's the next chapter, Matthew 19. Jesus said to his disciples, truly, I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. What?

Now, aside from the scribes and the Pharisees being culture heroes, the Jewish understanding was from Deuteronomy 28 and other parts of the Old Testament law, if I obey the law, then I'm blessed physically. And therefore, the rich man, since he's blessed physically, must be righteous. That was their logic.

So it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. If he's righteous and that's why God's blessed him, do I have any hope? Because all the people listening, almost guaranteed, were poor. Again, I say to you, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. What? Jesus would say shocking things to them.

You've got to be better than these guys that you worship as culture heroes, the standard of righteousness the scribes and the Pharisees. And you've got to be better than these rich people who they assume have been blessed because they've obeyed God and therefore God's blessed them physically. He says you've got to be more righteous than that. And for the rich man who they would think he is at the top of the righteousness ladder, he said you want to be ahead of that guy.

Matthew 21. He tells them in Matthew 21, he says, I say to you, the tax collectors and prostitutes will get in the kingdom of God before you, you Jewish leaders, you standards of righteousness. Here's Matthew 23, two chapters later. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people, for you do not enter in yourselves And you do not allow those who are entering to go in. Wow. So we've got these passages to look ahead to in our weeks and months ahead as we continue our study through the book of Matthew. But I have a question for you.

Jesus in these passages we just looked at talked about entry into this coming kingdom. That's a kingdom here on this present earth in which Christ will reign. And yes, we will be there. All of us here who are believers today will be there in resurrected bodies and not otherwise. But how does one enter heaven now? How does one get there? Is it a matter of striving to enter the narrow gate?

Is that the issue? Is it that the good in my life has to outweigh the bad. Is that going to do it? Is that going to cut it? And by the way, who gets to judge what's good and what's bad and how much that weighs? Is it I'm climbing a ladder? I'm climbing a ladder to heaven and I got to just keep on going and I've learned the secret. of getting into heaven by climbing the ladder. And the secret is this, keep going and don't slip. Right? Is that the way it works? Is that how I get into heaven? I keep climbing the ladder and I keep going and I don't slip. Because if you slip, it's a long way down. Right? That's no good. Is it that I just hope it turns out okay? You know? Didn't come out so good, but it was a lot of fun on the way down. What a rush, right?

Is it that I finally figured out the login name and the password? So when I get to Heaven's Gate, I can enter it and I'm in like Flint, right? Is that the way it works? Man, I'm looking through the Bible, I can't find the login name and the password. But I've got a problem, right? No, it's grace. And I'm not talking about the gal that's back in the Sunday school.

Ephesians 2.8 and 9 puts it this way, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

You can forget about the latter. You don't need to worry about the login name and the password. You don't have to do some wild dive down some steep road and off on a pier. None of those. You don't have to worry about trying to make the good outdo the bad. No, none of those.

It's by grace that you're saved through faith. All you can do is believe. There's nothing else to enhance it. There's nothing else to add to it. There's nothing else on the list. For by grace you have been saved, that not of yourself. What's not of yourself? The grace? Yeah, certainly. Actually, the grammar here says it's the saved part. For by grace you have been saved. That salvation is not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. The whole thing about Christ dying on the cross and Him taking the death that you and I deserve upon Himself That's his doing. He pulled it off. He made the option available as a means to be saved. It's not a result of works.

It's not the good and the bad and climbing the ladder and any of those. It's not figuring out the login name and the password so that no one could boast. I found the login name. I got the password. No, it's none of that. I climbed the ladder and I never slipped.

It's not that either. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself. It is a grace gift of God, pure and simple, nothing else. Not your merit, not mine. Isn't that great? Let's thank him for it. Lord, as we do look at this, we see Jesus presenting things before these Israelites, and everything he has to say is true. And there's a lot of it that compares for us, and yet there are some things that differ. And we pray that we would have insight into these things.

We thank you that indeed our entrance into heaven is not something that's a matter of our efforts. It's not a measure up. It's not a matter of keep going and don't slip. But it is in fact a matter of your most startlingly amazing grace. We thank you for it. We thank you for what you've revealed and what you've shown to us here today. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen.