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At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
Thanks for tuning in to the Sandals Church podcast. Our vision as a church is to be real with ourselves, God, and others. We're glad you're here, and we hope you enjoyed this message.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How many of you guys have noticed there is a lot going on in the news? Anybody notice that? I just wake up every day like, what went wrong today? Amen? There's a lot going on and it's easy for us as Christians to miss what's important.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Last week as a family, we did something that, unfortunately, every family has to do. We've had a family dog for twelve years. She's been a great dog. There's been moments where I wondered and questioned her salvation. Can I be honest?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:There are some days where I felt like she followed Jesus and other days it may have been the devil. But but we loved Reese, and she's been a great family dog, and she's had cancer. And so we had to make the decision to put her down last week. And I gotta tell you, man, I was a mess. I was an absolute mess.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:All my adult kids came home. They were all there. We did it in home. It was a beautiful thing. And the vet showed up, and, I went out to tell him, hey.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're not okay. You know, I just need you to be prepared. This is gonna be rough. You know, everybody's in tears. And the vet started crying.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's like, I'm so sorry. I go to your church. I've been crying the whole way here. I'm like I'm like, I need you to get it together. So after I comforted the vet, we went in.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:No. He did an amazing job. He he really was wonderful. We buried her in the backyard. He actually helped us dig.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Can you believe that? The vet helped us dig the hole because he said it wasn't deep enough. So he helped us, and we did that. But right before Reese passed, my daughter asked this question, sweetheart. She said, dad, do dogs go to heaven?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now why is she asking that? It's not really a theological question, it's a heart question. She loves this dog. She she cares for this dog. And and here's the truth.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I I don't know. And you know why I don't know? Because Jesus doesn't tell us what happens to dogs. We know where cats go. Right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're all we're all in agreement on that. I'm kidding. I know there's cat lovers. I just lost you. But but but here's the thing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to me. At the end of life, everybody has this question, what's next? So we got a lot going on Iran, Israel. We got riots in California. We we we got we got economy issues.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:There's interest rates. There there's all kinds of things to distract you from the most important question, and that is what happens when you die. Because all of us, even our pets, even our loved ones, even our parents, sometimes even our kids die. And heaven, listen to me, is easy to miss. And that's important because in our culture, we don't believe anybody misses heaven.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Everybody goes. Dogs go, cats go, even terrible awful people go. When's the last time you went to a funeral where somebody said I think he's in hell? It doesn't happen anymore. So I wanna challenge you today.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus is finishing his sermon on the mount. We're wrapping it up. He's been talking now literally teaching after teaching after teaching and this is the culmination of what he's saying. And what he's drawing us to is how do we inherit the kingdom of God which is heaven. So in order to find heaven, look at this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I want you to write this down. In order to find heaven, I have to know the way. So if everybody goes to heaven, great. Which way? Which way?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Is it up? Is it down? Where is it? Is it in this galaxy, another galaxy? Is it does it exist outside of of galaxy space and time?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Where is it? Which direction is it? K. In a couple hours I'm gonna get on a plane. What if the pilot is just a few degrees off?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Are we gonna arrive at our destination? And listen to me especially if you're young. If you're just one or two degrees off when you start your journey you're gonna be way off when you end your journey. And some of you you young Christians are like, I'm just gonna compromise a little bit. I'm just gonna change my focus just a little bit.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And by the time you get to the end of your life, you are nowhere near where you planned on going. So here's what Jesus says. Let's take a look at Matthew. Let's open our bibles. Matthew seven thirteen and fourteen.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to what Jesus says. He says, you can enter God's kingdom only through the narrow gate. So now think about this. In the ancient world, every city, every town had an entry gate. There was only one way in through the gate.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Even Jesus says when talking about hell, he refers to the gates of hell. So two thousand years ago, there was one way in and one way out in these towns. It's not like modern day where there's all roads and we can get to places by multiple destinations. There was one road. He says there's a narrow gate.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And then he says this, the highway to hell is broad. So there is a way that's that's broad. There's a way that's narrow and there's a way that's broad. He says the highway to hell is broad and its gate is wide open for the many who choose that way. Here's what life is about.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Which way are you choosing? He says, but the gateway to life, now look at my fingers, is very narrow. That's not what our culture says. Right? Everybody gets in.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Everybody's going to heaven. Dogs go, cats go, you go, I go. Every religion goes, atheists go, everybody goes. That's not what Jesus says. But the gateway to life is very narrow and and listen to me Christians, and oh by the way, the road is difficult.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's not just small, it's hard. And only a few ever find it. So let me ask you what are you following today? Are you following the narrow road? So there's a couple things that we can follow today.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The first thing I want you to think about is I can follow my own feelings and this is kind of the Lord of this age. Well, this is how I feel. This is what I think. This is what you know, this is how I was raised. Here's the problem with your feelings.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Proverbs fourteen twelve says this. It says there is a path before each person. Do you see it? That seems right. K.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You're not intentionally being false. You're not intentionally misleading yourself. It feels right. Like you like I I think this is the right thing to do. I think this is the right way to go.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I have some family members, they didn't raise their kids in church. Here's what they said, we're gonna let our kids find their own path. There's only one path that leads to heaven. Not the path that you find, not the path that you discover, not the path that you feel. Here's what Proverbs says, there is a path before each person.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't know what your contrary path is, but it feels right, it looks right, it seems right, but in the end it ends in death. It's the wrong path. And I wanna encourage you today, what path are you on? Look there's a lot going on in the world. But here's the thing, if you are on the right path it doesn't matter what happens in Iran, it doesn't matter what happens in Israel because what happened in your heart is what ultimately is gonna define your life and it leads to eternal life or it doesn't.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So I can follow my own feelings. How about this one? I can follow what's trending. What's everybody else think? You know what's the latest fad?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What's the fad religion? What's the fad way to believe? What's on TikTok? You know what what's what's what's gone viral? And we're watching all these people and we're we're listening to all these people and they're telling us what they think.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's the thing, Jesus is saying don't listen to them, listen to me. Matthew seventeen three, listen what he says, the highway to hell is broad and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. Now here's the thing, when I was a kid, if you sang rock and roll you knew you were going to hell, amen? A ACDC had a song. Okay.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Bunch of Australians wild people. I didn't even know they're from Australia. I thought it was an American band but they had a song called Highway to Hell. And they sang about it and they praised it and they just thought they were so cool but at least they knew where they were going. Nowadays people are on the way to hell talking about heaven.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:See it's changed. Nobody goes to hell anymore. You do whatever you want, you can become whatever you want and really what you're saying is I'm God, I decide, I go my own way and that's where our culture is. There was a time in the Bible where culture was exactly like today where everybody did what was right in their own eyes. It's actually the saddest verse in the Bible, Judges twenty one twenty five.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You wanna read a depressing book, read the last couple of chapters of Judges. It's interesting. It's called Judges when they had no judgment. It's terrible chapter. And here's what it says in Judges twenty one twenty five, in those days Israel had no king.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:All the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. You see in our culture we love democracy. Right? That's how we find and determine right and wrong. We vote on it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I want you to remember there was an election in the Bible. There were 10 servants who said we can't take the land and there were two that said we can and they went with the 10 and they disobeyed God. Sometimes democracies get it wrong. Just because it's popular doesn't mean it's right. Just because all of your friends are doing it doesn't mean it's moral.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We have to be so careful. Or I can choose, look at this, to follow Jesus. So what does Jesus say? Matthew seven fourteen. Let's look at it together.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult. Now let's pause there. Let's keep that verse up there. I want you to look at The road is narrow and very difficult. Here's what Jesus saying is, the truth is tough.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The true path is tough, but it's still the right path. And you got to make a decision. What life am I gonna live? Who am I gonna be? Because here's the thing, whatever path you're on right now leads to who you're becoming.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And the path that leads to Jesus means you are becoming like Jesus and the path that you decide for yourself means you are becoming something other than Jesus. But the gateway to life is very difficult and narrow. Think about how that different how different that is from what culture says, from what people believe. Everybody's good. Nobody's worried about going to heaven or hell anymore, but Jesus is worried about it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's why he came. That's why he came for you to let you know that there are two paths in eternal life. One leads to heaven and the other leads to hell. And he wants to make sure you're on the right path. But the gateway to is difficult and look at this and only a few ever find it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Let me ask you, what path are you on? Now that's offensive today. Right? Well, there's a lot of ways. Let me just ask you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How many survivors were on that plane crash in India? Does anybody know? One. One. Do you know what he found?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The exit. That's what he found. And what do you think he took with him? You think he was trying to get his bags? You think he was trying to keep his stuff?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:No. No. No. He found the exit sign. He found the one way off that plane and he's the survivor.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to me. That's the way it's gonna be at end times. There's gonna be a lot of people talking about all these exit signs, there was one way. There was one way and listen to me Christians, don't you dare apologize because you know where the exit is. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Stop apologizing. And he got off that plane and he was saved. Listen to what Jesus says John fourteen six. Jesus told them, I'm the way, I'm the truth and the life. So so what is the path?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The path is Jesus. He says, I'm the way. Follow me. Look at me. And oh, by the way, did Jesus have an easy life?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Was everything in Jesus' life easy? No. It was very very difficult and he says come and follow me. And he's saying look at me, look at how I live. He says I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life and no one no one no one can come to the father except through me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Think about that every single human being who ever lived. Buddhist, Muslim, atheist, religions that have been forgotten and were not written down. When they stand on the day of judgment, they will stand before Jesus. He's the only way in. It's the only way.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So what do we do? In order to find heaven, this is really really important. Look this. I can't get delusion because of false teachers. Man, if your faith is in a leader your faith is not in Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I gotta tell you there have been people that have blessed my life, inspired my life, grown my faith and they have fall they have fallen away. I cannot tell you how many times I've been hurt by a hero of my faith. But you wanna know why I'm still a Christian? Because my faith isn't in them, my faith is in him. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I wanna challenge you. So many of you guys, you get hurt in church, you get upset at church, somebody does something to church and you lose your faith. Jesus is telling you, you gotta be careful. Matthew seven fifteen through 20. Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Wouldn't that be nice if evil people just raise their hands? I I I think it'd be great. I'm evil, I'm going to hurt you. Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are really vicious wolves. You know what a wolf is?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Not your friend. I had a friend of mine in college, he he adopted a wolf. How how do you think that ended? How do you think that story ends? It's not well.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's not well. And he's like, that wolf likes me. I said, that wolf wants to eat you. I remember I I I came over the first time and it was in his backyard and that wolf was just doing this. He's like, oh, he wants to pet you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:No. No. No. I'm not putting my hand out there. Wolves want one thing to rip you to shreds.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You're like, pastor Matt, how how do we know when someone's a wolf? Listen to what Jesus says. You can identify them. Let's go back real quick. You can identify them by their fruit.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Well, pastor Matt, what does that mean? By the way they act. Stop listening to what people say and start listening to or watching to how they behave. Jesus says, can you pick grapes from a thorn bush? You're like, I'm not a farmer.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't know. Or can you get a fig from a thistle? I don't know. I didn't grow up in Alabama. You know what I'm saying?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But according to Jesus, you can't. You can't. You're like, I thought fruit came from sprouts. No. It comes from trees.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:A good tree, Jesus says, produces good fruit and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can't produce bad fruit and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. Look at this. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus says, listen to this. You can identify a tree by its fruit and so you can identify people by their actions. When people show you who they are, believe them. Believe them. So how do you know when someone's a false teacher, man?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I I wish someone would have would have shared with this with me early on. Not everybody who serves God, preaches for God, claims God is for God. K. Just because they wear a really cool uniform doesn't mean they're on God's team. You know what I'm saying?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like if you go to a football game and you see some out of shape fifty year old and you say, he must play for the 49ers. No. He does not. Okay. He he could not run across the field.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? He's just wearing the jersey. He's not on the team. So if you've been hurt by by a priest, by a pastor, by someone just they were just wearing a jersey. They weren't on the team.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay. So false teachers, look at this, are more interested in using you than serving you. Okay. Let me tell you something. It is it is a blessing to be your pastor and to be able to serve you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:About ten years ago, I went to India and it was Sunday morning and so I got up and I went to a church I'd I'd heard a lot about. And I'd only heard good things. The church was growing and people were being saved and it was one of the fastest growing churches in Mumbai. And so I wanted to see it and when I got there, it wasn't anything like I heard. The church was a mess.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The sermon wasn't that great. The pastor was confused. His sermons all over the place. I was little confused. So afterwards I was like, hey, what's going on?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's like, I'm he said, I'm not the teaching pastor. He's like, I'm the worship pastor. I was like, why are you preaching? Where's the preaching pastor? He said, oh, we had to ask him to leave.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This guy started preaching. It started growing and went to his head. Do you know he wouldn't even come in the service? He would sit in his car until it was time to preach and people would carry his bible like a magic book and set it down. And then he would preach and as soon as the sermon was over he would run away from the people.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He said it got so bad we had asked him to leave, but a lot of people were confused and they left with him. And it broke my heart. Look, you shouldn't have a church where the pastor can't be in the lobby, can't be shaking hands, can't be talking to people. And I don't always like being in the lobby because you guys ask some crazy questions. Some of you are really close talkers, you spit in my face.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:One time, I kid you not, one time this lady was yelling at me, I asked her to lower her voice, she put me in a headlock. And the security team was like, what do we do? I'm like, get her off me. I'm not gonna say who the security officer was but it sounded a lot like Ian Price. I'm not so I'm just gonna say, it was a lot like his name.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I love you, Ian. So listen to me. When position and power goes to a Christian leader's head, when it goes to their heads, Jesus is no longer in control of their hearts. And some of you are so disillusioned. You say, you know, I I'm gonna lose my faith because my pastor, my teacher, my my author, the person that I love, the person that I follow on TikTok, they lost their faith and so I'm gonna lose mine.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to me. False teachers are mentioned several times in the Bible. God is trying to warn you. Don't put your faith in a teacher, put your faith in Jesus. Acts twenty twenty nine.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is in the book of Acts. Paul says, I know that false teachers like what? See it? Like vicious wolves will come in among you after I leave not sparing the flock. What do wolves do?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They eat the flock. They don't lead the flock. Some of you young people we got our young leaders here today in the studio, maybe you're watching from a campus and maybe you're considering a calling to ministry. Let me tell you when you should become a pastor. When you have fought it, run from it after God has chased you, wore you down and there is nothing left that you can do but to surrender to it because ministry is not a life of luxury.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It is a life of service. And if you are not here to serve, then you are not here to minister. And unfortunately, many of you have been hurt by people who are drawn to the prestige of it. And let me say this, some of you wanna get into ministry to get closer to God, it didn't work that way. Ministry does not cover sins, ministry exposes sins.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So be careful before you leave. James says this, not many of you should leave because you will face a stricter judgment. On the day of judgment, you guys get the fast track. You know where I'm gonna be? In the long line with all the other preachers.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So listen to this, I want you to write this down. A false teachers lack of faith does not give you permission to lose yours. Some of you say pastor Mal love Jesus so much. I can't I can't imagine ever not loving Jesus. Well, wait until one of your leaders falls.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Wait until one of your leader fails. Wait until one of your leaders hurts you, wounds you, betrays you, stabs you in the back. Listen to me, you don't until you have overcome your Judas. Think about that. Even Jesus had a Judas.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So don't focus on pastors, teachers, preachers, people, friends, family members that one time were all about God and now they have nothing to do with God. Second Peter two twelve says this, these false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct born to be caught and what destroyed. They scoff at things they do not understand and like animals they will be destroyed. God's gonna deal with them. Here's the thing, don't make him deal with you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Don't make him deal with you. I wanna encourage you, man. There's been so many times in my life where where I have followed pastors. I've been blessed by them. I've been taught by them.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I've been inspired by them. And then all of a sudden something comes out and they've never been who they were who they who they claim to be. And let me tell you, it has wounded me. It has hurt me. Man, there's been nights where I've cried because people have written books, preached sermons.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, one of the pastors that was the most important to me when we started this church. I'm telling you, he spoke listen to me, he spoke and God spoke. God can use broken vessels to speak. He spoke through him. That guy isn't even believer more.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He he he doesn't even go to church anymore. But he still touched my life and God still used him to reach me. I didn't follow him, followed Jesus. So I wanna encourage you guys. I have no plan on falling or failing or blowing up my life.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But man, I've seen people older than me do it. Here's the thing, God forbid I ever fall, I ever fail. It doesn't mean Jesus isn't true, it just means I was a liar. Okay. Don't lose your faith because a leader lost theirs.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Don't do it. So in order to find heaven, look at this, I have to really know Jesus. Last week, man, it's always amazing. I preach these sermons and it's always amazing like what you guys hear. Sometimes I'm like, I don't know who you were listening to but it wasn't me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And sometimes I say things that I don't remember. Amen? Okay. Let's not Don't amen that. But last week I preached my heart out and you know you guys were unchanged by it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But I cannot tell you my my my Instagram is just full of this question. People stop me in this Everybody, I preached my whole heart out, talked all about Jesus. We preached on Jesus, and here's what everyone wants to know. What was the four year old's question? Nobody cares about Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Nobody cares about church. Nobody wants prayer. They all wanna know what did the four year old say. Well, I'm gonna tell you this week. I was talking last week for those of you who weren't in church last week.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I was talking about, you know, when I I first graduated seminary, I felt like I knew a ton about God. I was ready to answer all of your questions. And there was a family that came up and they had a four year old. And this four year old asked me a question I'd never thought about. I missed it it never crossed my mind.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I was so stumped. I said, I don't know I gotta think about it and I gotta pray about it. But here was the four year old's question. The four year old said, pastor Matt, when I pray and talk to God, why doesn't he talk back? And I was like, I got nothing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I got nothing. And it wrecked me. And I thought about it and I prayed about it and I'd never thought about it. You know, I I had prayed since I was a little kid and I'd never ever thought about, okay. And we say this, right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Prayers of conversation. So conversations have how many people talking? Two. So I was like, okay, Lord, what's going on? And I was stumped.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I didn't know this but somebody at our church had set up a one and one with me and a couple of our leaders with a an author and his name is Dallas Willard. He's no longer with us. He's in heaven. And can we give an amen? He finished faithful.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:No conspiracies. Nothing happened. He he finished, man, loving Jesus. That's how I wanna go out. And so he was a professor at USC, a professor of philosophy, but also a pastor, also a theologian.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He wrote a couple of books. Let me just mention them to you. He wrote divine conspiracy. Anybody read that one? You wanna be confused?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Read that one. So good. Some of you guys are undisciplined. He wrote spirit of the disciplines. He wrote my favorite book renovation of the heart.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay. And let me tell you something. The first time I read it, I got nothing. I had to read it again because I didn't get anything. Remember, I'm dyslexic and I have a d d.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So I had to go back and read it. But do you know he also wrote a book called Hearing From God? And so man, what what a better person? And I said I said, professor Willard, I wasn't gonna call him Dallas. You know what I'm saying?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I just felt wrong. I said professor Willard, and he's like, please call me Dallas. I'm like, no. Professor Willard, I said, got stumped by a four year old's question. He goes, they always get us, don't they?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I was like, they got you too? He said, what's your question? And I shared with him what the four year old asked. He said, great question. Great question.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And listen to me parents, when your kids have questions about God, encourage those. You wanna know what God is not afraid of? Questions. Okay. We're not hiding anything.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're not making anything up. Jesus is the truth. And you know what the truth is never afraid of? Questions. Let them ask questions.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And if you don't know, you don't know. Don't lie about it in Jesus name. Just say what I say, I don't know. But I'm gonna pray about it and I'll find out and I'll get back to you. And here's what Dallas Willard said to me, I'll I'll never forget this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's eating a Snickers bar and I was judging him, you know. He should know better. Remember we're not supposed to judge. He was sitting back eating a Snickers bar, actually he ate two. Still bothers me to this day.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But he's after he finished the first Snickers bar, he sat back in his chair and he said, well, I guess the answer to that question is prayer is not about you hearing from God. Prayer is about God hearing from his children. And I was like, why didn't I think of that? Why didn't I think of that? And here's the thing is, at that time in my life, I hadn't heard God speak to me, but I have.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And you want you wanna know why that is? It's not because God changed, it's because I changed. I matured, I grew and I got to know him. And so as we wrap up this sermon on the narrow gate, I want you to listen very carefully to what Jesus says. Because there are so many of you and I hear this all the time.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I can't tell you how many times I do a funeral and somebody says when they were a kid, they went forward. They got baptized. They gave their life to Christ at a harvest crusade, but they never followed Jesus. There was no fruit or evidence of Jesus in their life. They never changed.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to me. A prayer doesn't save you. Getting baptized doesn't save you. There's only one person who can save you and his name is Jesus and I want you to listen to what he says. Okay.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:These are some of the scariest verses in the Bible. Matthew seven twenty one to 23. Not everyone who calls out to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. Wait, wait, wait. I thought Roman said all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yes. But did you really call? Or did you just raise your hand? Or did you just get wet? Or did you just walk forward?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He says not everyone who calls out to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. What that means is not everybody who thinks they're saved is saved. Only those who actually do the will of my father in heaven. Now let's stop there. He's not saying we're saved by works.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:James wrestles with this in the book of James. And here's what James says, look, you say you're saved by faith. He says, me too, but my faith is revealed by my life. It's revealed by my life. Listen what he says, only those who actually do the will of my father in heaven will enter.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:On judgment day, he says many will say to me, Lord, Lord, look at this. We prophesied in your name. We cast out demons in your name and we perform many miracles in your name. But Jesus says, but I will reply. I never knew you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God's laws. Man, this week, I've had a lot of hate mail in my Instagram and you know, there is a lot of anger in our culture right now. And I got some really nasty things and and one of them really really bothered me. Things don't bother that's what my wife said.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:She said, I'm surprised that bothers you. And it was somebody attacking me for the color of my skin and the color of my eyes. I'd never had someone attack my eye color. And that's just like, hey, that's too far, man. Leave the blue eyes alone.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But but here's what my wife reminded me as I was processing just these really hurtful things. She said, do they know you? I said, well, I don't know them. And she said, then they don't know you. If if you don't know them, they don't know you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:She said, let it go. And here's the thing, we live in a culture that's convinced by words. Listen to me, Jesus is convinced by relationship. Look, post whatever you want about Jesus Christ on Instagram, doesn't mean you're saved. You and your little bible studies, just me and Jesus alone again.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah, and all your followers. But here's what Jesus is saying. He's saying at the end of time, here's what's getting you into heaven. Do we know each other? And then he's gonna help us, right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Well, how do I know if I know him? He's gonna say, I know you know me if you did the will of my father. You were changed by me. You reflect me. You see the narrow road means we become like him because we know him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're not saved because of our works, we're saved because of our faith. But if our faith is real it changes us. James two nineteen, you say you have faith for you believe there is one God. Right? I meet people all the time.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Well, I believe in God. Well, do go to church? No. Do you serve God? No.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Do you give to God? No. Do you pray to God? No. But I believe.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Great. You say you have faith to believe there is one God. Good for you is the Bible. Good for you. Even the demons believe this and they tremble.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Ain't that crazy? You believe in God? Great. You're like the devil. He believes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Ain't that crazy? The devil's a believer. You know what he isn't? He's not a follower. John seventeen three.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We talk a lot about the Lord's prayer. Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. That's not his prayer, that's our prayer. John 17 is actually the Lord's prayer. This is his prayer for us to God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to what Jesus prays for us when he prays to God on our behalf. John seventeen three. And this is the way to have eternal life. This is his prayer. To know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How are we saved? We're not saved by saying words. We're not saved by raising our hands. We're not saved by getting wet in a baptismal pool. We are saved because we know Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's the thing, I want you to think about this. If you came to my house and knocked on my door and said you wanted to live with me forever. I'm not talking about a weekend, amen. You're saying I wanna live with you forever. The only people that I'm gonna let do that are family.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When you stand before God and you stand at the gate and you knock on the gates of heaven, the only people that get in are family. Are you a child of God? Do you know God and does God know you? So we're gonna end this service today. And this is an important moment.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because for some of you guys, you've been messing around for far too long. You've been playing church, you've been pretending to be a follower of Jesus, but you know in your heart of hearts, you have not surrendered to him. Listen to me very carefully. Saying yes to Jesus means that you are willing and ready to say no to yourself. And so much of the modern church and the fake Christians is God would never ask us to say no to ourselves.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They have not read this book. Do you know what the 10 commandments all begin with the same word? No. No. No.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's like we're two year olds. God's like, no. Don't touch that idol. God tells us no because he wants us to find the right yes. And the right yes is to him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So I just wanna encourage you right now. I would imagine this verse is a little scary for all of us and I think it should be. The Apostle Paul says this, that we should work out our our faith with fear and trembling. So even if we're believers, this should be a moment where we say, Lord, I want my faith to be real. Where we re examine our life and we surrender to him once again.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But for some of you, you've never surrendered. You've never given your life to Jesus. And all I'm gonna ask you to do is raise your hand and I'm gonna pray over you. But again, this doesn't save you. My prayer doesn't save you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What saves you is you're like, I'm inviting you to be the Lord of my life. I'm inviting you into my heart. I want to know you and I want you to know me. I wanna be family. That's what it means.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So let's bow our heads and close our eyes and we'll start with believers. And if you're believers, if you just lift up both hands and let's just let's all be honest. God, we we do not serve you the way that we should. We do not prioritize you the way that we should. So Lord we just ask right now with believers with both hands lifted.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God, we ask that you would convict us. Let us be people that live the truth that truly know you. God, I want every single person in this room on the day of judgment to never hear these words, depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. I want every single person in this room at every campus listening online.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I want them all to hear these words, well done, good and faithful servant. That's what I want them to hear. But Lord Jesus, we know there are some of us in here that we've never surrendered our life to you. We've lived our lives for ourselves. We are our own Lord.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We are our own God and we have gone our own way. And God right now, right here, we are ready to change paths. We are we are ready to quit following the crowd and we are ready to follow you. To love you, to know you and obey you. If that is you, just want you to raise one hand up.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Put your hand up as high as you can and say, Lord Jesus, I wanna be saved. I wanna know you and I want you to know me. I'm tired of walking this wide path that leads to hell and I am ready to walk the narrow road that leads to life. If you cry out to God right now and you mean those words and you mean save me, he will save you. But you have to be ready and willing to walk a different path.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You cannot stay on the road to hell and ask Jesus to save you to the path of heaven. You must change roads. Father, convict us all. The seriousness of eternity. The seriousness of those who go to heaven and those who go to hell and let us wrestle with the truth that we all can only be saved by knowing you Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You are the way, you are the truth and you are the life. Save us, we pray, in Jesus name, and all God's people said, amen.
Christina Crowley:We wanna just thank you for joining us today. And if this message has impacted you, if any of the content that we create at Sandals Church has helped shape you and change you in your relationship with Jesus, we wanna invite you to partner with us so that we can help spread this around the world with the hope of Jesus. So you could just go to sandalschurch.com/support. Thanks again for joining us. Have a great day.
Morgan Teruel:Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you want more content from this series, we have a YouTube playlist linked in the description. And if you want more information about who we are and what we do, you can go to sandalschurch.com.