Adapted from Pastor Min Chung’s Sermon “How Then Shall We Live After a Great Sermon?” Matthew 7:7-23
Preached on October 25, 2002 at Covenant Fellowship Church


Praise God for another great OIL! As with any spiritual highs, there are always difficulties to be faced afterward. Here are a few reasons why people might have a difficult time after OIL:

Time. You’ve been gone a long time to participate in OIL, especially for those of you who drove a long distance to attend. As you get back, you may feel swamped. In the overwhelming busyness of trying to catch up at work, school, etc. you may start to skip your time in prayer and the Word, which in turn makes life very difficult.

Empty feelings. Those who’ve partied in the past might know what this feels like. The post-party syndrome. You are back to your normal life with normal speakers and normal church services. When I was a youth pastor, I would take a band with me to a church retreat that normally had neither a band nor a pastor. After the retreat, the students that we were leaving would express such emptiness.

Unmet expectations. Perhaps you were really charged up at OIL, but put your guard down afterward. You begin to ask yourself things like, “Does Christianity really work? Does God really love me?” At OIL you might’ve thought, “I’m so blessed. I feel charged up for a year. Now, I don’t have to do Q.T. for a year. I prayed more this week than any time in my whole life. I’m all prayed up now.” In this way, you might have put your guard down. Perhaps some of you became proud, because you felt that you had a spiritual experience.

Misunderstanding the purpose of OIL. You came to OIL thinking that the goal was to feel “blessed”. But the end of OIL is not merely that, but it is to be strengthened to fight the spiritual battle every day. We are blessed to keep depending on the Lord, to seek His daily grace. That’s the goal. Not just getting “blessed” at the moment.

Spiritual attack. After blessed times, Satan always works, so there might be some spiritual attack from the Enemy. This may happen because you may be a little brighter, saltier, and more potent than before.

During OIL, we heard some good sermons, but here we have one of the greatest sermons preached by Jesus (Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7). Through his words we can see how we must live after OIL. In a word, you must persevere.

1. Persevere in Praying.

Jesus says that we should “ask seek and knock” because we are praying to the heavenly Father. Since earthly fathers who are evil give good gifts to their children, how much more our Heavenly Father! It should give us confidence to keep praying.

The purpose of prayer is not to receive anything we want for our pleasure, but to receive everything we need for His glory. What was it that Jesus just preached? Don’t worry, keep fasting, pray to the Lord, don’t judge others, etc. He’s saying, “Do you see the discrepancy between what is preached and your life? If so, then pray and I will help you to change to be kingdom citizens. Even without an emotional high, keep on knocking, seeking, and asking. You will receive when you ask in diligence.”

“Ask, seek, and knock” in the Greek tense is in the present continuous. It really means “keep on asking.” Have perseverance in asking. Don’t knock just once, but until somebody comes out. Why? Because we are not ready to receive at times. As we keep asking, we become more humble, closer to the heart of God. When we are ready, He answers our prayers in His perfect timing and in His perfect way. He is our heavenly Father who loves and cares for us, who knows what will bring maximum glory to God and the maximum joy to His children. Therefore, we can pray with confidence about anything the Bible says we should. Just hold onto those promises of the Word, and keep praying.

2. Persevere in Committing

Verse 13 says, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” There are two gates. The wide gate is the one that many enter through, which is popular and leads to destruction. But then there’s the small gate. “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” This is not popular. What is Jesus talking about here? It’s talking about a choice you have to make. Further, after you make the choice to enter the small gate, you must keep persevering and re-committing. The gate is your choice; the road is your commitment.

The emphasis of the narrow road is difficulty and hardship. Jesus Christ is declaring a kingdom message to His people. “If you really want to follow me, you need to choose the small gate and keep on walking this difficult path. In order for you to walk this path, you must deny yourself.” This passage is a warning against apathy, to people who want to live an easy Christian life. The Christian life takes diligence, work, passion, and true love. It’ll be hard, but that path leads to life, because Christ walked it. At the end of that road, the Lord Jesus Christ will be waiting for you. Will you keep walking or will you quit?

Remember this very important point. Commitment is not about keeping the commitment but growing through the commitment. For example, if I commit to have quiet time everyday and keep that commitment for a month but go through a dry time where I stop, I still had a month of quiet times I normally wouldn’t have had. When we fail in our commitments, what do we do? Make another commitment. We can go to Jesus again and again and again and again …

On TV, they were showing the “10 greatest moments in baseball history”. The #1 moment was when Cal Ripken Jr. played his 3121st game in a row. My son was watching with me, and he asked “Why is that the greatest moment in baseball history?” The question made sense. There’s nothing spectacular about playing 3121 games until you consider what that means. That’s 17 years of playing without missing a single game with all kinds of bruises, bumps, aches, fatigue, and body aches. How much more we should be faithful to the Lord! Keep on walking every single day. Even the world values such consistency and faithfulness. How can we be faithful after choosing to enter the narrow gate? The key is the previous point. Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking, and keep on crying out to the Lord. As you keep on knocking, the heavenly Father will give you daily strength so you can be faithful through the years of your life, until you reach the end of the road into the Father’s arms.

3. Persevere in Discerning

V. 15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” You can tell who these false teachers are by their fruit: “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”

Fruit can be personal and ministerial. Personal in terms of character; ministerial in terms of influence on others. You can listen to their (and your) doctrine, observe their (and your) impact on others, and what fruit it produces in other people’s lives.

Let me suggest three ways to check the quality of fruit in one’s life:

What’s in the heart is shown when faced with hard times. That’s the point of the wise and foolish builders in vv. 24-27. Two houses may look exactly the same above the ground but only one house has a foundation. When do you know? When there is a storm.

Are you really connected to Christ? A false teacher will be revealed when hardship comes his way. Do they overcome with faith or do they fall? Question: Is character made in hard times, or revealed in hard times? I think both. It’s made in hard times as we depend on the Lord and He strengthens our faith to go on. But at the same time, when a person takes hardships in the right way, and grows through it, it reveals the faith already existent in the heart.

What’s in the heart is shown when you don’t get what you want. We can look so good when we get what we want, but when we do not get what we want – approval, respect, love, or living to our standard – are we still like Christ? There are two passages to check yourself with: Galatians 5:22-23, the passage on the fruit of the Spirit, and 1 Corinthians 13, the chapter on love. Through the Galatians passage, we can ask ourselves if we are demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit when we don’t get what we want. Do we have love and joy not only in good times but also in the difficult times? Is your joy dependent on circumstances? Can you love others independent of who they are? If you have really changed to become love, there will be no inconsistency, and you can love no matter what, whether the person before you is loveable or not. Are you patient with people? Do you have kindness, gentleness, goodness, etc? Can you still be faithful when you feel spiritually dry?

What’s in the heart is shown when you see your sins. Of course, sin reveals our addictions, but what we do when we sin also shows what we are made of. After you sin, do you go to the Lord, receive forgiveness, and have faith so you can overcome and grow through it? Or do you lack faith, quit, and keep sinning more? 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Do you believe that the Holy Spirit is faithful? When you sin, when you fail, do you go to the Lord? That’s why we are what we commit ourselves to. That was the difference between Peter and Judas. It was a difference of the two trees. Peter went to the cross to be forgiven. Judas went to the gallows to hang himself. If you’re humble, you will go to the cross when you have sinned. There you acknowledge your sin and become humble before the Lord. You believe that when you confess your sins, Christ will cleanse your sins and purify you from all unrighteousness. What did Judas do? He quit. Why? He had no faith. Sometimes you may not quit, but you give excuses, and not acknowledge your sin and cover yourself. If you don’t go to the cross, you are self-dependent. You blame, cover, or quit. Those are the kind of teachers who cannot acknowledge their own sins and advocate the narrow path. 2 Corinthians 7:10, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation” It produces the fruit of earnestness and eagerness to clear our hearts. As a Christian, if you really have faith in your heart, you will go to the Lord even after you fall, with eagerness to cleanse yourself. It will produce earnestness, hunger, alarm, longing, and concern for others. That’s why you can advocate that narrow path. If you are that kind of person you will lead others to Christ.

4.Persevere  in Pleasing

In verses 21-22, it seems that many looked like Christians, yet were not true Christians. “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?” He does not deny their prophecy, or the fact that they were powerful enough to drive out demons. But instead he says, “Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” It’s a pretty scary passage. Even if you have religious orthodoxy you may still not be a Christian. Also, “Lord” is a personal address of knowing Christ. They even prophesied, which is giving the message of God to the people, yet they really weren’t in the Lord. A person could even have had religious experiences even receiving the power of God to drive out demons, yet still did not have a heart-to-heart relationship with Christ. In v. 23, even though someone may have done all these things, Jesus says, “I never knew you.” The key is you need to know Christ. A heart-to-heart relationship. Otherwise, all the good deeds are useless. Casting out demons, prophesying, and performing miracles are these things evil? Yes, if you’re not doing it for God, but for your own exaltation.

So who is the Christian? V. 21, “”Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Three key words. First, the word “will” includes not only doing things, but having love for the Lord. It’s having the heart and the desire of Father God. To do His will, we need to have the desire of God planted in our hearts. It means that we love to please the Father. We love Him and He knows us. In everything we do, we have a motive to please Him. Also, it says, “my” Father. Matthew 6:9 says, “”This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,” In vv. 9-12, He says He’s our heavenly Father who gives us fish and bread, not snakes and stones. That means we are sons and daughters of our heavenly Father because of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit has come into our hearts, and we have the spiritual DNA planted in us. Just like my sons and daughters have my DNA planted in them, so as sons and daughters of Christ, we have the spiritual DNA of our heavenly Father in us, which is enablement to do the will of God. As we keep praying, He gives us continual enablement. He will strengthen and empower us to continuously do the will of the Father.

Lastly, “doing” is not just doing things, but expressing our love for the Lord as a child of the king. It means doing it for the glory of the Father, with the desire of our hearts. “Only he who does the will (desire) of my heavenly Father (because we are His children)”

What is the greatest punishment in this passage, when you look at v. 23, “Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” Being away from Christ is the greatest punishment. Is that the greatest punishment for you? That God is not pleased with you? Or is it that men do not approve of you, or you don’t approve of yourself? Do you want to please God first and foremost in your heart?

Jesus is telling us after a great OIL, to keep crying out to the Lord, keep on persevering in prayer, keep on walking on the narrow path, keep on bearing fruit, and keep on pleasing the Lord. If you do that, you are building the house on the rock and building the kingdom of God.

Dr. Min J. Chung is the senior pastor of Covenant Fellowship Church in Champaign, IL in the heart of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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