transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] Hey guys, thanks for checking out This Bible Teaching. Every week we release a podcast that corresponds to the sermon. It's like a little bit of a deeper dive, where we hit some things that didn't make it into the sermon, some theological concepts. We talk about things that are going on in our culture and how to think about them from a biblical perspective. We call that podcast Live Free, an episode releases every Monday that corresponds to the sermon. If you would like to check out Live Free, just go to the Lakepointe YouTube channel and look for the podcast tab there. We'll see you at Live Free now. Enjoy this Bible teaching.

Speaker 2:
[00:30] Hey, welcome today to Lakepointe. If you're new with us, we're so glad you're with us. To introduce myself, I'm Chris. And man, I just gotta tell you that this past 19 years has been a joy to be a part of what God has been up to here at Lakepointe. He has been moving and it's just getting started, y'all. The best is yet to come. I gotta tell you this, if you were here last week, I don't want you to hold that applause for a second. If you were here last week, you saw it at all of our campuses. We had our rooted graduation and there's something that's worth celebrating. We had over 2,500 folks complete their 10-week discipleship journey last week. Can we celebrate those 2,500? The man, we're proud of y'all, proud of the step you took to get deeply rooted in your faith, honestly, to meet the community of God that's around you. And you need to know this, that if you're here at Lakepointe and you have not been through Rooted yet, there's still time to get in on this semester that's coming up. So right now, take out your phone, text ROOTED to 20411. That's gonna send you a link that lets you get registered for that. That thing is starting this week, but it's not too late to get signed up. So text ROOTED to 20411 to get signed up. All right, now, hey, as we get started today, I wanted to introduce you to honestly, the folks that are most important in my life. Y'all cool if I introduce you to my family. Let's go ahead and put this picture up. This is my wife, Megan. We are celebrating 16 years of marriage this coming Friday, y'all. These are my kiddos. You can notice that we're at the happiest place on earth. And if you didn't agree with Pastor Josh when he said it wasn't that, we're gonna talk about that in just a minute, all right? So that's Megan, my wife. Let's go to that next picture. These are my kiddos. That's Cedar, my 10-year-old. That's Cora, my seven-year-old. That's Boba Fett. He's not in the family, but we enjoyed the photo with him. Let's go to that next photo. This is my little boy, Crew, y'all. I know y'all can do better than that. This is my little boy, Crew. There it is. You notice those Mickey ears on this kiddo. Hey, he's two years old, just turned two last week. Crew joined our squad two years ago through the gift of adoption, and little guy has been just a blessing to us. He's an amazing, amazing little guy. So, how many of y'all, y'all remember our pastors' feelings about Disney? Anybody in the room, you felt that? You remember that? Now, just by a show of hands, how many Disney people do we have in this room? Where you at? That's okay. You can come out. You can let us know. You can let us know. All right, I'm a self-professed Disney guy. Maybe it's because I was homeschooled my whole life, but somehow the mouse mug bit me. So Pastor Josh, you didn't know this, man. We're praying for you. Praying that you get your heart right about Disney. That we're praying that the Lord would change y'all in this, that you begin enjoying the magic we all understand. Hey, so you can only imagine, if you hadn't been at Lakepointe in a bit, Pastor Josh has let it be known that he really does not like Disneyland. Some might even say that man hates Disneyland. He hates all the magic that Mickey produces. So you can only imagine my surprise. When we were there this past January as a family, we're walking right down Main Street, USA. The castle is in the background and we turn the corner and we see this. Y'all, can I just say one of my favorite things that ChatGPT is they left his preaching table in. That brother is preaching at Disneyland. He's getting Mickey and Minnie saved y'all. And you can take that photo down before I get fired. All right, I like my job here. Hey, it really is a joy to open God's word with you today. If you have your Bible, open it up to Matthew chapter 23. We're gonna continue in our series today that we've been in called Investigating Jesus. And if you know what we've been doing the past few months we've been looking in scripture and answering the questions that you're one more, the person that's closest to you but furthest from Jesus. We're answering the questions that they might have in opposition to stepping into a relationship with Jesus. Like what are the things that set them up to go, man, I don't really know if that whole Christian thing is for me. If you haven't got a chance, go back and listen to last week's message on the end times that Pastor Josh gave. It was an incredible word that you don't wanna miss. So go back and check that out this week. But today, man, we are gonna be answering this question, what about all the hypocrites? Like what about the people that claim to follow Jesus, but their actions look so, so different? What about the pastors that fall? Man, what do I do if I'm supposed to be following Jesus? How do I handle this world out there that claims to follow Jesus, yet their life looks really different? See, we live in a world where a lot of things look different on the outside than what they truly are on the inside. I'm gonna prove this to you. Hey, at all of our campuses right now, I need you to raise a hand if you have a drawer in your house that it's got receipts, it's got chip clips, it's got your child's first tooth that they lost. We call that the junk drawer. If you got a junk drawer, raise a hand right now at all of our campuses. Keep them up, don't let them go down yet. Now, keep a hand raising. If you have graduated from having a junk drawer, that you got an entire junk closet. You know the closet I'm talking about, that you're cramming things in it, you're shutting the door and you're telling the toddler, if you want to survive, do not open this door, right? Raise your hand up if you got a junk closet. Now, I'm gonna let you put your hands down so you're not incriminating yourself. If you've graduated from having a junk closet to having an entire junk room or junk garage, some of you, you're raising your hand, you're like, guilty, man, guilty. I told you not to raise your hands. I'm not gonna tell you which one I am, but I will just say I hadn't parked my car in my garage for over 10 years right now. Now, I don't know how many of you are like us that whenever we have people coming over, friends, relatives, the neighbors' kids are coming over, we get the kids together and we go, under no circumstances do you open this one room of our house, and if you do, you're grounded forever. Anybody ever been there? And if you wanna know if sin nature's real, what's the first room that the whole party ends up gravitating to? The one room you told them not to go to, right? The junk room is exposed. That we all have things in our life that the outside looks real different than what's on the inside, and for a lot of us, man, we don't really want to let those things be exposed. You can tell that story in your own life by the cars that you drive and you've gone into debt to afford. The credit cards that are maxed out for the perfect Instagramable vacation, the house you bought to present a certain image, the junk drawer you pray nobody gets to see inside of, that I just wonder, man, is there something in it that's inside of us, that our nature is to present something glossy and put together, but what's really at work is something different? See, today, this problem isn't a problem, it's just about what's happening in our current day. It's a problem that took place some 2,000 years ago. And the scripture that we're gonna dive into is Jesus calling this very thing out in the men that were a part of what we call the Pharisees and the Sadducees. These were the religious leaders of their day. These were the guys that were polished. They had it all put together or so they thought. These were the guys that knew the Torah well. They knew the law well. They were the ones instructing others on what it looks like to follow this God that they were all serving. Yet something was wrong with their insides. See, today, what I think we're gonna understand is at the core of this message, that there are people who claim to be Team Jesus and leaders in Team Jesus, but not everyone who claims it is actually in it. That not everyone who claims to be a leader in Team Jesus is Team Jesus. Now, to set the stage of where this passage takes place. This takes place on the path to Calvary. That it's Tuesday of Holy Week, and the scholars believe when this confrontation takes place. So if you know the story of what's gonna happen, on Friday we have the Last Supper, we have the Crucifixion that weekend, we have the Resurrection, praise Jesus, it's why we're here today. But this is Tuesday on the week that Christ knows is coming. And he doesn't shy away from that fact. He doesn't shy away from calling out these men and calling out the sins that they see. And that's what we're gonna begin to see today in Matthew chapter 23, because not everyone who claims to be a leader on Team Jesus is actually on Team Jesus. Matthew chapter 23 verse one, then Jesus said to the crowds and his disciples, the teacher of the law and the Pharisees, they sit in Moses' seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. Now, I gotta think the Pharisees, they've already had multiple confrontations with Jesus up to this point. I gotta think they hear him say this and go, finally, finally this man sees who we are. Finally, he understands our position. Finally, he understands that we're the ones we should be listening to. But then Jesus drops this bomb. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy cumbersome loads and put them on other people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is for people to see. They make their phylacteries wide and the tassel on their garments long. They love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues. They love to be greeted with respect in the marketplace and to be called a rabbi by others. Now, for you Bible scholars out there, that word phylacteries, what it was is a small leather box. And if you go to Jerusalem today, you'll still see devout Jews wearing this around, especially on the days of prayer. And what it was was a small leather box that they would wear one strap to their forehead and one strap to their arm. And inside this box would be little small scrolls with pieces of the Torah written on it. And it was to have a literal example of what a scripture set up to continue to have God's word with on your mind and on your heart. So these men would wear these boxes around as a part of their devotion. But what the Pharisees did is Jesus says, you widen your phylacteries. That I'm almost picturing it like they've got an Amazon box strapped to their forehead. It's like a toddler when they're first just learning to walk that their head's too big for it. And they're walking around town to prove how holy these guys are. That I can imagine on their t-shirts it says, I like big boxes and I cannot lie. That these men bloated the boxes that held scripture while shrinking the place that scripture held in their lives. Their goal was a displayed faith, not a devoted one. We keep reading in verse eight. But you are not called rabbi, for you have one teacher and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth father, for you have one father and he is in heaven. Nor are you called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant, for those who exalt themselves will be humbled, but those who humble themselves will be exalted. You see what Jesus is doing is he's flipping the narrative on what power has been. They say no longer will your position or your prestige be the thing that gets you exalted. No, no, no, no. The one who serves, that's the one who will be exalted in my kingdom. See this problem of leaders who claim to be Team Jesus, but don't actually represent him, it's not a new problem. The Bible actually has a category for the people who are on Team Satan, but who masquerade on Team Jesus. The Bible calls them false teachers, wolves in sheep's clothes. They have a goal of deceiving the people of God to follow a perverse way. And can I just be honest with you? Those are the pastors and those are the leaders out there that get the clicks and that get the headlines. They're the ones that CNN writes the story about that a lot of us, we begin to believe a narrative that honestly I think is untrue that the majority of pastors are like that. That I think if we're not careful, we can allow the world around us to tell a story about pastors that's simply not true. Can I tell you this? I've been a pastor now 19 years, and there is something really unique right now that's happening, that I'll be sitting on a plane or sitting in a coffee shop and somebody will go, oh man, you know, we'll have a small talk conversation. What do you do? Oh, I'm a doctor. Oh, what do you do? I'm a pastor. And it's like a stone wall goes up. And what I'm afraid of is that we begin to buy into this lie that the majority of pastors are the way that the headlines represent. And can I just be honest with you? Like in 20 years of ministry, the majority of men that I have known that have had the title of pastor, they have been people who love Jesus and are aimed at the mission of God, helping the people of God achieve the mission of God. Can I tell you this? That 19 years of ministry here at Lakepointe this year, and for the first 13 years of this, I was under the incredible honor of a senior pastor that I got to lead under a senior pastor named Pastor Steve Stroop, the founding pastor of Lakepointe. Yeah, we can applaud him. Pastor Steve was an incredible leader. He still is. He has a family. He's now in his later years. He has a family that absolutely adores him. He has a wife that's still in love with him. He is still serving his bride every single day. He is now using his life after 40 some odd faithful years of ministry here at Lakepointe. He's using his life to develop other pastors to be great dads and great husbands and great pastors. That that man has a lifelong legacy. Can I tell you this? That the past six, seven years now with Pastor Josh, I have had a front row seat into the life of that man. And the man that you see on this platform, on this pulpit is ever bit as good off the platform as he is right here. I've seen his kids who are a joy to be around. I've seen a marriage that's flourishing like him and Jana's relationship. And the way that they seek after Jesus is honestly something every marriage in this house should look at. Because he's a man that loves Jesus. But here's what I know. That in a day where there are those who masquerade as Team Jesus that aren't, man, when we know that we have a pastor who is anointed and is a part of the right mission of God, he is one that we should be celebrating. So here's what I want us to do right now is that I understand this, that Pastor Josh jumps into some bold situations at times. He's courageous jumping into the fire. He needs to know that he has an entire church that has his back. So can we let him know that right now, Lakepointe? Man, we honor you, Pastor Josh. We honor the calling God's placed on your life. I think it has to beg this question. Like, how can you know? How can you know if the men that we're following are legit? How can you know if they are truly the leaders God has appointed, or if they are wolves in sheep's clothing? I think there's a couple of ways we can know this. Number one, I think you can follow the fruit. Like, does their life represent Jesus in the way that the fruits of the spirit come out of them, the fruits of the spirit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, selflessness, self-control, all of these things. Like, are the fruits of the spirit coming out of the pastors that you're following? Second is this, you can test them by scripture. Did you know that every single time you step into Lakepointe and someone opens the word of God, there's a reason we ask you to open it with us, that you're holding us accountable, that what we are giving you is the same Bible that you're reading, that you can test it by scripture, and you can know that when you begin to hide God's word in your heart, you begin to know when people are giving bold, courageous truths, or they're just giving you things that tickle the ear, but don't lead you deeper into the heart of God. Can we thank God that right now we have a pastor that is all in on the word of God, y'all? We're grateful for you, pastor. So we get in the sermon there and go, all right, man, we got that. We like that there's a whole lot said to the religious leaders, but I don't think that was Jesus' only intent in Matthew 23. That I do think the narrative begins to ask a question of us. You see, this word hypocrite comes from the Greek word that means actor, that they would wear a mask and they would play a role that wasn't them. And can I shoot you straight, that as I read this next set of scripture, it wasn't just about the religious leaders I think Jesus was writing to, I think it begs a question of us as Christ followers, that do you have a displayed faith or do you have a devoted one? The Pharisees were really good at a displayed faith, but their devotion was lacking. Let's keep reading in verse 13. See, Jesus turns the temperature up on his calling out of the Pharisees, and these are often referred to as the seven woes to the Pharisees. He says, woe to you, you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourself do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you've succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. Like, this is not Jesus' light. This is not Jesus from the children's storybooks where he's petting the little sheep. This is Jesus going, you're messing with the people that I came to save, and I'm not okay with it. We keep on reading, verse 16. Woe to you, you blind guides. You say, if anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing. But anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath. But you blind fools, which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred? Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You give a tenth of your spices, mint, dill, cumin, but you have neglected the more important matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. You blind guides, you strain out a gnat, but you swallow a camel. Now, in 2026, if I were to say to you as a point of confrontation, you strain a gnat, but you swallow a camel. You probably would not be too offended by that. But let me explain a little bit of the Jewish ritual that Jesus is calling out. You see, in those days, there were ceremonially unclean animals. And the gnat was considered one of the smallest ceremonial unclean animals. The camel of their day was considered one of the largest. And so what the Pharisees would do to make sure that they had not broken any law is anytime they would take a sip of their wine, they would first take the wine and they would take a piece of cheesecloth and put it over a second cup and they would pour their wine through to make sure that there was no single gnat that had slipped its way into their wine, therefore breaking their covenant. And what Jesus is saying is like, hey listen, you're worried about the gnat, but you're serving an all-you-can-eat buffet of camel right now. You're focusing on the small things, but you're missing the majors in this thing. See, if we were gonna sum up these first four woes, I think this is how it would have gotten summed up. That first off, Pharisees, you block people from God. Second, you lead people away from God. Third, you twist the truth to serve you. And fourth, you assess over small rules, ignoring the bigger issues. This first set of woes was really about how the Pharisees' hypocrisy was affecting others around them. And can I just be honest with you? At times, as followers of Jesus, we can fall into the same trap. That our hypocrisy can affect others coming to faith. And sometimes it takes a form that we think is holy. Anybody ever been in that group setting where the prayer request actually becomes the gossip train? You ever been a part of that? It's like the prayer request becomes this. Lord, please be with Jennifer. She's wearing a dress that is just far too revealing. And I heard, Lord, that she's been cussing while drinking too many white claws in front of her kids. Lord, be with her family. I heard that they watch The Bachelor, Lord. I heard they watch it. And Lord, thank you that our family only watches The Chosen on repeat. Thank you for that, Lord. We bless your name. Hey, listen, if you're a part of that life group, you need to get out of it. Text rooted to 20411 right now. You gotta find your new squad. Lakepointe, we're here for you today. Isn't it easy, though, to allow ourselves down this path that we forget what we're dealing with on our own and we only focus on what's happening out there? I read this story this week. It's a funny story about two pastors from the 1800s, a pastor named DL. Moody and a pastor named Charles Spurgeon. Charles Spurgeon was known as a lover of cigars. And so this man, he always had a stogie in his mouth. That was just his thing. DL. Moody was known as a lover of food. And these two men had never met one another, but DL. Moody decided he needed to change that. They were both doing great work for the gospel all over the world. So DL. Moody flew to meet Charles Spurgeon. We got to his house, he knocked on the door. Spurgeon answers the door with a stogie in his mouth. DL. Moody says, man, how offensive. How could a man of God smoke that disgusting thing that's hanging out of your mouth? Spurgeon reaches down and pats Moody on the belly, and he says, listen, I'll put my cigar down when you put your fork down. Yeah, how about that? Now, this is not an indication of what we think about cigars, but for some of us, we got to put that fork down, y'all. Let's be real, all right? How easy is it to have hidden hypocrisy that cheapens grace, that cheapens God's forgiveness? And see, the trouble of this is, is it can begin to create this mentality in us that people are too far gone from God's love. That the people you interact with, that we begin to have this philosophy in our mind, it's like, man, their sin is too great. There's no way that God can save that one. Their sins are major, not the minor's like what we've done. Their sins, they're great. And can I just say this, Lakepointe, I want you to look around in every auditorium that you're in, look at the people that are around you. These auditoriums are full of people who were too far gone, but Jesus said, no, not on my watch. No, not on my watch. That I came to seek and to save those who the world thought were too far gone, I came for them. And I think that's part of the reason that Jesus has such a problem with the Pharisees is that he came to seek and to save the lost. And the Pharisees said, man, they can't get there unless they are put together like us. And Jesus goes, man, I can see your insides. Verse 25, we keep reading. Woe to you, teachers of the law, you hypocrites. You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they're full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisees. First, clean the inside of the cup and then the outside will also be clean. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You're like whitewashed tombs. You look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way on the outside, you appear to people as righteous, but on the inside, you're full of hypocrisy and wickedness. If we were gonna add to our list of the woes, they cared more about the outside than the inside. They looked alive, but on the inside, they were spiritually dead. Recently, Megan and I, we were cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. We have a small house that you can hear kind of everything that's going on in the house. So we're sitting in the kitchen, and I can hear the big kids playing in the living room. They're having a good time. And then I said to Megan, I said, hey, do you hear crew? And if you know this, if you're a parent of a toddler, anytime the toddler goes silent, something's going on. And so she's like, no, I don't hear crew. I said, let's go figure out where this kid is. So we walked back to our bathroom, and we walk up on my little guy, and he's got his duster that's like a little stick with a little furry thing on top. It's soaking wet. We look around, and he has been mopping the floors of the entire bathroom. Nice, he's helping clean up. This is great. Well, we begin to look around the bathroom, and the tub is bone dry. The sink hadn't been turned on. The shower, dry as could be, but that toilet lid, it's wide open. Little man has been taking his duster. He's been dipping and scrubbing and dipping, and the whole bathroom is flooded with water from my son cleaning up with that toilet water. And can I just say this to you? That man, if you've been trying to fix your own sins by self-righteousness, you have been cleaning the floor with toilet water. That there is nothing that we can do on our own to get right before Jesus. It's why he came, so that he could give life to you. And that's why the Pharisees were so messed up, that one of the biggest threats to Christianity is not atheism. It's fake Christianity. A gospel with no repentance, a faith with no obedience, a church with no truth. You're trying to clean up the mess that sin made with toilet water, and the only thing that can save is Jesus Christ. We keep reading in verse 29. Woe to you, you teachers of the law, you hypocrites. You build tombs for the prophets, and you decorate the graves of the righteous, and you say, if we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in the shedding of the blood of the prophets. So you testify against yourself that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead then, and complete what your ancestors started. You see, these men honored the past, but they rejected Jesus. He says, you snakes, you brood of vipers, how will you escape being condemned to hell? And you read the script, and you're like, that a boy, Jesus, go get him. Go get him. But I think in the end, Jesus did not just say the things that he just said to identify hypocrites. I think he said it so that he could confront hypocrisy in all of us. And so I wonder what it would look like. If these are the seven woes, I go ahead and put that up. If these are the seven woes of hypocrisy, then I wonder what it would look like to shift to the seven marks of a devoted faith. You see, the Pharisees blocked people from God. But as a follower of Jesus, your life is a living example of Jesus. Not just on Saturday and Sunday. It's at work, it's at home. Can I just pause for a moment here? That if you are living a different lifestyle here when you walk in the doors of Lakepointe than what's going on behind closed doors, you are half a second away from your kids leaving the faith in their 20s. That our kids are dying for an authentic relationship with Jesus to be shown 100% of the time. That doesn't mean perfection. That means people who are authentically real to go, man, I'm just a beggar in need of grace as well. So if you're living something different, we've got to begin living our life as an example of Jesus 24-7. Pharisees, they lead people away from God. As a follower of Jesus, as one who's not going to be called a hypocrite, you lead others to Jesus. This idea of one more has got to matter to you. We've got to begin acting and living like heaven and hell are real. And perhaps Jesus has put you in the sphere of influence he's put you in. For the people that are far from him, that you intersect every single day to be led to him by you, we've got to begin leading others to Jesus. Pharisees, they twist the truth to serve themselves. You let God's word drive you to serve others. Jesus said it, the greatest among you will serve. It starts at home, but it doesn't end there. That if you've not found a place to serve, even in this church right now, take out your phone, text the word serve to the number 20411. Find a spot that you're doing something bigger than just you. Can I tell you this? It's hard to get called a hypocrite when you're rocking a baby in the nursery with spit up all over your shoulder. Awfully hard. But man, there are people every single weekend who have taken the call to serve Christ's body here and the gospel is moving forward because of them. Pharisees, they obsess over the small rules, ignoring the big issues. But as a follower of Jesus, you recognize God's power to forgive all sins. That if you have something in your life that consistently nullifies the gospel, own it, offer it, don't just keep sitting in it. You need to get help in that. The Pharisees, they cared more about the outside than the inside. So as a follower of Jesus, your life is marked by humility. Spiritual pride kills the work of Jesus in you. If you're walking through that, you need to get a group, you need to get accountability, you need to open up your life to correction. Spiritual pride will kill you. Pharisees looked alive, but they were spiritually dead. As a follower of Jesus, you're spiritually alive because of God's great grace. You recognize that the life you have is not because of your own works, but the goodness of God is coming down from heaven to you and allowing the life that you have today. We've got to begin to see that we are alive and spiritually alive because of God's great grace. See, the Pharisees, they rejected Jesus. But you, as a follower of Jesus, you trust Jesus as Lord. And like, when I see these seven, they all rest on number seven, beginning in your life. That trusting Jesus as Lord, it doesn't make us perfect, but what it does is it makes us honest. And the difference between hypocrisy and honesty is this. When we mess up, do we cover it up, or do we take it to Jesus? Do we bring it to God and go, God, I am just in need of help. What's your first reaction? Covering it or exposing it to God so that he can begin to do the work in you? See, Jesus valued transparency over perfection. You think about the people he surrounded himself with. His inner circle wasn't a bunch of dudes and robes with phylacteries on their head. It was the tax collectors. It was the fishermen. It was the people that the world would see as those who were down and out. It was who he chose to change the world with. And I want you to hear this. That God chose you despite your failures. So the tone changes on the back end of Matthew 23. That for the first half of this scripture, Jesus has been going after him. Confrontation, exposure. But then you sense that Jesus' heart begins to break for the men that he is asking to repent. Verse 37, he says this. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets in stone, those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. This is a tone shift. From warning and exposure to a broken heart, a love that Jesus had even for these men that he knew would betray him. You think about it. He's sitting around and looking at these men who he knows the path that they have set him on. He knows the path that he set himself on. A path to provide forgiveness of sins. And he's looking at them with their exaggerated boxes and their oversized tassels and their hardened hearts. These men that in their mind had it all together and Christ's heart begins to break for them. See, I want you to get this. That Christ's correction is never disconnected from his love for you. That Christ's correction, it's never disconnected from his love for you. It's like Jesus is looking at these men going, man, you're trying it all. You're trying to present yourself as holy. You're trying to present yourself as put together. But I see the insides that are a mess. The things you're trying, they are not working. It's why I came to give the abundance of life I came to give. And in all your mess and in all your brokenness, I still choose the cross. Through the same people he is confronting that day will be the ones that he is providing salvation for if they just accept him in just a few short days. I told you earlier that our little buddy crew, we adopted him two years ago. And you ask any adoptive parents what one of the hardest spots along the adoption journey is, is that in the middle of it, you're starting off with this huge set of paperwork. But one of the questionnaires is what are you willing to accept? The baggage that's going to come with this child. What are you willing to accept about who they are, what they come from? And so some of them are easy, you know, gender, ethnicity. Some of them are really easy to go, yeah, that's no problem. But then they send us some harder ones. What abnormalities would you accept? What situations, some pretty horrific ones that they came out of, are you willing to accept? What birth defects? All the things you begin to say, what are the things that we would be willing to say yes to, to take a child in? And so I remember sitting with my wife and we're filling out this list, and there were a couple of them that were really hard. I'm like, Megan, I don't know. I mean, I don't know if we can handle some of these things that you're saying yes to, some of the things you feel like we should. She says, Chris, if we won't, who will? And I remember it was just a moment that my wife spoke to my heart. I was like, man, we got to open our doors to this baby. So think about this, that the scripture talks about you and I, those who know Jesus as adopted children of God. And I just imagine that somewhere in the heavenlies, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and God are sitting up there, the Trinity all sitting together going, man, we know the cross is going to be good for a lot, but what all should it be good for? Oh, should it be good for the thief? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The thief, yep, they were there. What about liars? Yep, yep, liars. What about cheaters? Yep, the cross is going to cover that. What about the low and the out? Yep, the cross is for that. What about the high and the mighty? Oh, yep, the cross is for that. And I can imagine that they scrawled the list with an infinite possibilities of things that would keep us from him. And on the bottom of the list, there's a button that says select all and they go boom. Yeah, no matter the sin, no matter what you struggled with, the cross is for you. This is what adoption into sonship from the father offers is a path to be restored in a relationship to the God of this universe. So you need to know this, that you may have been walking in here today with some holdups and some hangups about a Christian that didn't act like Jesus or a pastor that you read a news story about. And I need you to know this, that if that's you today, bring it to the cross. You may be a Christian today, who may as I begin unpacking who the Pharisees are, you're like, check, check. That's me, man. I got a self-righteousness issue. Can I just say this? Bring it to the cross. That at the foot of the cross, there's a common denominator that we're all in need of the grace that Jesus came and He gave His life for, and that grace is available for you today. So right after our service is over at all of our campuses, if you need to talk with somebody about what it means to follow Him, there's gonna be groups at this campus at Rockwall, underneath the crosses, at every other campus, they're gonna be along the front. I would love to talk with you about what it means to follow Jesus. But can we thank Him right now for His great grace that many of us have received? Father, we thank You that You're not done with our stories. Gotta thank You that there's no story that's too far gone. And Lord, I pray, just as a church, as a people of Lakepointe, Lord, would You give us the boldness to be okay not being okay? The ability to let our lives be an authentic representation of someone who You've changed and are changing, that You're not done with any of us. So Lord, I pray we wouldn't feel the need to put on a face. That we wouldn't feel the need to be something we're not, that we could be the authentic version of us that is actively being changed by You, Jesus. That we know only goodness comes because of Your hand. And so Lord, I just ask for that in this room right now. Lord, would You convict hearts where it's not like You? Would You move us closer to Your Son? It's in Jesus' name that I pray. Amen.