SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: Well, good morning.
SPEAKER_01: Glad to have you joining us this morning.
SPEAKER_01: This is our sixth or seventh Sunday morning live stream.
SPEAKER_01: I feel like I've lost count already.
SPEAKER_01: And thankfully, we are in the process of beginning to work out what it means to gather together again.
SPEAKER_01: And this morning we are live streaming only, and we will continue that again next Sunday as we seek to find that balance between being careful and being fearful.
SPEAKER_01: So we are, Lord willing, aiming to have on-site openness and welcoming people again in a couple of weeks.
SPEAKER_01: As we look forward to that time, we're trying to figure out what all of that means.
SPEAKER_01: How do we go about setting some standards in place and preparing for that day?
SPEAKER_01: So we would appreciate it if you would pray with us as we seek to set some boundaries and some standards in place for bringing everyone back together again.
SPEAKER_01: So we are live streaming today and again next Sunday, but don't forget, in between, this evening we are meeting to look at Psalm 23 together, our last study in Psalm 23.
SPEAKER_01: And then Wednesday evening is our family evening, where we have a children's element at the beginning, and then Pastor Anton in the middle.
SPEAKER_01: And I think the last time that I knew and talked to him, he was looking forward to looking at Jonah together.
SPEAKER_01: Is that still right, Anton?
SPEAKER_01: Alright, looking at Jonah on Wednesday evening, and then Jeremy will be leading our students following that.
SPEAKER_01: So don't forget those live streams are coming up again this week.
SPEAKER_01: I'd like you to take your Bible if you have it or your device and open it this morning to Matthew chapter 7.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew chapter 7.
SPEAKER_01: About 130 years ago, Charles Spurgeon began what was perhaps the greatest controversy of his life.
SPEAKER_01: Called the downgrade controversy.
SPEAKER_01: He would enter his eternal home about five years later.
SPEAKER_01: But there was an element of his world and his society that was so important that he felt as though it must be addressed.
SPEAKER_01: What was it that would be so important to spend the last five years of his life consumed with what he called this downgrade?
SPEAKER_01: Well, the word itself is a picture of exactly what he meant.
SPEAKER_01: He meant that the perception of Scripture was on a hill and it was going down.
SPEAKER_01: That the views and the support and the trust given to the inspiration and the authority of Scripture was on its way out, not just in the world at large, but in the Lord's church.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what was printed in his paper, The Sword and the Trowel, nearly 130 years ago.
SPEAKER_01: Let a man question or entertain low views of the inspiration and the authority of the Bible, and he is without chart to guide him.
SPEAKER_01: He is without anchor to hold him.
SPEAKER_01: And looking carefully over the history of the times and the movement of the times, this fact is apparent that where ministers and Christian churches have held fast to the truth that the Holy Scriptures have been given by God as an authoritative and infallible rule of faith and practice, they have never wandered very seriously out of the right way.
SPEAKER_01: But when, on the other hand, reason has been exalted above revelation, all kinds of errors and mischiefs have been the result.
SPEAKER_01: I have many concerns that the exact same thing is happening today.
SPEAKER_01: That we've returned not to a better place, but to the downgrade, to the downward progression away from a trust and a reliance upon the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: God Himself says through the psalmist that he has exalted his word above his name.
SPEAKER_01: That's significant.
SPEAKER_01: When God says, My word is so important, I want it to be known, I want it to be praised above my very name.
SPEAKER_01: What are we going to do with that?
SPEAKER_01: There are some challenges throughout the Old Testament that kind of picture this.
SPEAKER_01: One of them is at the end of Joshua, where Joshua, after reviewing some truth, says to the people of Israel, You must choose this day whom you will serve.
SPEAKER_01: He says, As for me in my house, we will serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: But one that I would like to point out to you before we get into Matthew is Deuteronomy chapter 30, beginning in verse 19.
SPEAKER_01: I know you're in Matthew.
SPEAKER_01: I'll just read this for you.
SPEAKER_01: The end of Deuteronomy, Moses is at the end of his life, having recounted all of God's law to God's people.
SPEAKER_01: So there's this long, long drawn-out expression of truth, of God's truth, of God's word.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what Moses says at the end.
SPEAKER_01: I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death.
SPEAKER_01: Blessing and curse.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him, for he is your life and your length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers.
SPEAKER_01: Choose life.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus issues a similar challenge at the end of his sermon on the mount in Matthew chapter 7.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew chapter 5, chapter 6, and chapter 7 are devoted to this sermon that Jesus gave while sitting on top of a hillside.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus concludes that entire sermon with these words.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and does them, will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
SPEAKER_01: And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like the foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.
SPEAKER_01: And when Jesus had finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Well, again, this is the conclusion of Jesus' sermon.
SPEAKER_01: We know that for a couple of reasons.
SPEAKER_01: It says in verse 28 that Jesus had finished these sayings.
SPEAKER_01: We also know it because the crowds responded, and Matthew hasn't given us the response of the crowds yet.
SPEAKER_01: This is the first time that we see the reaction that the crowds give.
SPEAKER_01: And that reminds us that we need to remember that we have two sets of listeners, of first-time hearers.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is speaking directly, if we look back at chapter 5, to his disciples, to those who have been following him in discipleship, who have said, We believe in you, we are following you.
SPEAKER_01: That's his first set of hearers.
SPEAKER_01: But then beyond that are the crowds surrounding him on the hillside that day.
SPEAKER_01: There are crowds and disciples, and it was the crowds Matthew records for us, not the disciples who were astonished at his authority.
SPEAKER_01: I know it's a little detail, but it's a significant detail.
SPEAKER_01: The crowds were astonished at his authority, and crowds are consistently distinguished from disciples in the book of Matthew.
SPEAKER_01: For example, you can look back at chapter 4 and verse 25.
SPEAKER_01: Great crowds followed him, and seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, he opened his mouth with his disciples sitting before him.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter 7, here in verse 28, is the next set mention of crowds.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter 8 and verse 18, Jesus saw a crowd around him.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter 9, verse 8, when the crowds saw it, and on and on and on throughout the Gospel of Matthew, the crowds are distinct from the disciples.
SPEAKER_01: So why does Matthew mention specifically that it was the crowds who were astonished, and not the disciples?
SPEAKER_01: And what does he mean by that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, the disciples were already on the narrow road of faithful commitment and obedience.
SPEAKER_01: They at least have some awareness of who Jesus is, some awareness of his level of authority, of his position in the universe, of his lordship and rule.
SPEAKER_01: They were already following him as their king.
SPEAKER_01: So we need to ask, what's the challenge?
SPEAKER_01: What's the verdict of the sermon to each of those groups of people?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus has concluded his sermon, beginning back in verse 13 of this chapter, all the way through the end of the chapter is his conclusion.
SPEAKER_01: And he's driving it home to a verdict that they must hear and then receive a challenge from.
SPEAKER_01: What's the verdict and what is the challenge to the disciples and to the crowds surrounding him that day?
SPEAKER_01: And just as those ancient Israelites heard God speak through Moses and through Joshua, and the disciples and the crowds heard Jesus speak, so we too must hear the verdict of this sermon that Jesus spoke and received the challenge to respond to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So what is it?
SPEAKER_01: We need to understand what Jesus is teaching here.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus in verse 29 was teaching them as one who had authority, and as a result, the crowds were astonished.
SPEAKER_01: The scholar has said that that word astonished, we put it into modern language, could be translated dumbfounded.
SPEAKER_01: Sort of sat there with their jaws dropped, open-mouthed, thinking, who is this guy?
SPEAKER_01: He's not saying things like anything we've ever heard before.
SPEAKER_01: That's because Jesus was teaching with authority.
SPEAKER_01: And that's an intended contrast.
SPEAKER_01: We might not get that in our world today, but it's an important contrast in the time that Jesus was preaching on this hillside.
SPEAKER_01: Because speaking with authority, teaching with authority was not the common method.
SPEAKER_01: Scribes, when they taught the people in the synagogues, did not claim to have authority within themselves.
SPEAKER_01: That's because they were all divided into various camps or traditions, religious Judaism traditions in Israel.
SPEAKER_01: And so they would all point back to the founders, to the originators, to the significant voices within their tradition.
SPEAKER_01: So they would go back, they would search their own sets of commentaries, what their own teachers had written.
SPEAKER_01: They would look for, almost like a judge will look for precedence in previous law cases.
SPEAKER_01: They would go back and see where can we, where can we base our authority?
SPEAKER_01: Because they didn't have authority.
SPEAKER_01: Their authority came from their tradition, from their camp within Judaism.
SPEAKER_01: So they had to quote somebody else saying, so-and-so said.
SPEAKER_01: But what does Jesus do?
SPEAKER_01: He says throughout the sermon, you've heard that it was said, but I say.
SPEAKER_01: It was unheard of.
SPEAKER_01: For Jesus to say, I am telling you this is the way it is, was unheard of.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus, this Jesus, we will see in chapter 10, verse 1, is the one who possesses authority over demons, over the spirit world, so much so that he can give that authority to others, to his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: This is the same Jesus who will say at the end of this book of Matthew, all authority has been given to me.
SPEAKER_01: All authority, whether it's in heaven or on earth, it belongs in me.
SPEAKER_01: It's been given to me, it's been granted to me.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the one in whom all authority exists.
SPEAKER_01: He holds all authority in his hands.
SPEAKER_01: Now let's not miss what Matthew is saying here about the response of these crowds.
SPEAKER_01: They are astonished at the authority of the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Let that sink in for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: Who is Jesus according to the Gospel of John in chapter 1?
SPEAKER_01: It says the word, the Lagos, became flesh and dwelt among us.
SPEAKER_01: This is the eternal word of God who is taking on flesh and living and teaching among us.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, that word that has ultimate authority is being felt, is being heard, is being sensed.
SPEAKER_01: Some are saying, Yes, that's it.
SPEAKER_01: I resonate with that, I'm going to follow it, I'm going to obey it.
SPEAKER_01: The rest of them are thinking, who is this guy?
SPEAKER_01: We're not told that the disciples are astounded.
SPEAKER_01: We're told that the crowds are astounded.
SPEAKER_01: The disciples were aware at some level and in some way in submission to the authority of the Word of God in the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And we are told that those who are not yet in a position of discipleship were in some way taken aback by the authority of the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: At the very least, they did not expect the Word of God in the person of Jesus Christ to speak to them with the authority of God Himself.
SPEAKER_01: And so the verdict that we sense from Jesus' sermon here, I think, is found in verses 21 to 23 that we've already covered.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to those who believed that they had access to heaven, that they were doing everything right, I will declare to them I never knew you.
SPEAKER_01: Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.
SPEAKER_01: Here is the verdict to Jesus' sermon.
SPEAKER_01: Christ alone possesses the right and the authority to exclude and to admit people into his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the sermon is all about.
SPEAKER_01: If we go back to chapter 5, beginning in verse 2 with the Beatitudes, it's all about what Jesus is doing.
SPEAKER_01: He's proclaiming his kingdom, and he's saying, anyone who wants to come in must come in by these standards.
SPEAKER_01: They must have this focus, they must have this trust in me as their king.
SPEAKER_01: They must be poor in spirit, they must be mourning over their sin.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus is now saying at the end of his sermon, listen, if you don't follow it my way, I will say to you, I never knew you.
SPEAKER_01: How can he say that if he does not have the authority to do it?
SPEAKER_01: So these crowds are hearing this and are astounded.
SPEAKER_01: They're astounded in part because of their Abrahamic lineage back in chapter 3 of Matthew and verse 9.
SPEAKER_01: John the Baptist is still preaching, and he's saying to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the rulers of the day, do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father.
SPEAKER_01: For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: And so he says, Go on bearing fruit, keeping with repentance.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, Listen, unless you repent, it doesn't matter if you're a child of Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: Later on in chapter 8 of this same book in verse 11, Jesus will say, I tell you, many will come, I'm sorry, chapter 8, verse 11, I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom, the sons of Abraham, will be thrown out.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, lineage doesn't do you any good.
SPEAKER_01: A human connection to God, a human connection to God's church doesn't do you any good.
SPEAKER_01: So what if you've grown up in church?
SPEAKER_01: So what if you've gone to Sunday school and church all of your life?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, you've gone through confirmation.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've even been baptized.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't make a difference.
SPEAKER_01: God's kingdom is under the authority of God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, I have authority to admit or to reject people from my kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: That tells us that Jesus is claiming a right and an authority that belongs only to God.
SPEAKER_01: That means he's either crazy, he's lying, or he is God.
SPEAKER_01: And so we we hear then an echo of Deuteronomy at the end of Jesus' sermon.
SPEAKER_01: A challenge issued through his sermon that we hear from Moses and Joshua, choose whom you will follow.
SPEAKER_01: If you're going to follow me and enter my kingdom, choose wisely, because there's only one way, and it's a narrow way.
SPEAKER_01: And it's only through me.
SPEAKER_01: At the end of his sermon, Jesus says, the end of the matter, the verdict, is this I am God and I am King.
SPEAKER_01: Hear me and obey me.
SPEAKER_01: Our challenge today is you better hear the Lord Jesus speak.
SPEAKER_01: And you better hear in a wise way because your choice will have consequences.
SPEAKER_01: Now, from here, I want to highlight for us four elements of this illustration that Jesus gives about these builders.
SPEAKER_01: Four elements that I hope will help us see why Jesus and why Matthew is focusing in on Jesus having authority, on the word of the living God possessing this authority.
SPEAKER_01: So I'd like you to notice with me first the patterns that identify the intention of Jesus' illustration, the patterns that identify the intention of his illustration.
SPEAKER_01: There's a pattern that we see here, and if you mark up your Bible, I would encourage you to do this.
SPEAKER_01: Going back to verse 21, you will see not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 24.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone, then, who hears the words of mine, and verse 26, everyone who hears the words of mine.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone, everyone, everyone.
SPEAKER_01: But each of the everyones is different, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: First it starts out with everyone who says to me, then it's everyone then who hears.
SPEAKER_01: And then it's everyone who hears but does not do.
SPEAKER_01: So let's start first in verse twenty one.
SPEAKER_01: Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: This is pointing back to the false shepherds of verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: Some false shepherds are simply not identifiable in this lifetime.
SPEAKER_01: They look good, they look like proper shepherds because they're clothed like shepherds would be, they sound like shepherds would sound.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes, even though we might be extremely discerning, still they are so crafty that we can't identify them.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus will eventually expose them.
SPEAKER_01: All false shepherds will be exposed when they stand before the Lord Jesus, no matter what excuse they give.
SPEAKER_01: Whether the excuse is, Lord, I know you, or whether the excuse is, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?
SPEAKER_01: Or whether the excuse is, Lord, look what we've done in your name.
SPEAKER_01: Those who seek entrance into the Lord's kingdom by means of sincere devotion, but without authentic faith, will never experience the joy of the king.
SPEAKER_01: They won't.
SPEAKER_01: There's an emphasis here on doing.
SPEAKER_01: We saw that back in the bearing of fruit.
SPEAKER_01: That's the same word.
SPEAKER_01: Bearing fruit is the same as does the will of my father in verse 21 and do the mighty works in verse 22.
SPEAKER_01: And the one who does or does not do the works of the Father in the illustration that we're looking at this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Only genuine faith can produce good fruit.
SPEAKER_01: Now remember, there's several kinds of fruit.
SPEAKER_01: There's good fruit and there's rotten fruit on the extremes, right?
SPEAKER_01: And then there's the fruit in the middle that says, this looks really, really good.
SPEAKER_01: It looks ripe, it looks healthy, but in the middle there's a worm.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: It looks good.
SPEAKER_01: But there's something on the inside that says, I don't want to have that.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes, sometimes we won't see the worm until the people stand before Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: But we need to remember also that a genuine disciple who bears good fruit is still a sinful person, right?
SPEAKER_01: We all sin.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes, moment by moment, we sin.
SPEAKER_01: And while God is working within us through his spirit to produce good fruit, we can still produce rotten fruit or wormy fruit when we're working through our own strength.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus says, you have to have genuine faith.
SPEAKER_01: Genuine faith will be worked out in genuine, real, healthy fruit.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone who doesn't fit that category will hear the words, I never knew you.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 24.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone then.
SPEAKER_01: That word then tells us he's concluding something.
SPEAKER_01: He's summarizing something.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, I've said all of this, now let me tell you what that means.
SPEAKER_01: And in telling us what he means, he gives us a picture, an image.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them.
SPEAKER_01: He says, here's the healthy fruit.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the good fruit.
SPEAKER_01: This word then is key because it identifies the intention of Jesus' illustration of the builders.
SPEAKER_01: Why does he tell this story?
SPEAKER_01: What is his intent?
SPEAKER_01: His intent is to demonstrate for us in an image that genuine faith in Jesus, genuine faith in the king, is shown by obedience to the king's word.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone who hears the words and does them is like this.
SPEAKER_01: A wise man who built his house on a rock.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus is making some divine claims here.
SPEAKER_01: He determines, he alone determines who has genuine faith to be granted entrance into his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And his word is so authoritative that it must be obeyed by those who have genuine faith.
SPEAKER_01: Our third everyone is in verse 26.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them.
SPEAKER_01: Everything is really the same with the wise man except obedience to the word and the result of that obedience.
SPEAKER_01: Not everyone, everyone then, and everyone who.
SPEAKER_01: That's a pattern that helps us see that Jesus is honing in on this idea, this concept of genuine faith producing genuine fruit.
SPEAKER_01: And that is characteristic of all who have entrance into his kingdom, of all who have found the narrow road.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'd like you to notice with me the reminders of the authority of Jesus' word.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, the crowds are astonished because he's teaching as one who has authority.
SPEAKER_01: What reminders do we have in this passage of the authority of the word of God?
SPEAKER_01: Well, if we go back to verses 13 and 14, again, this is the conclusion, so it's appropriate to go back to this.
SPEAKER_01: Our immediate context here is the whole conclusion of the sermon.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 13 through the end of the chapter.
SPEAKER_01: And if we go back to that point in verse 13, we see that Jesus' word established the narrow way as the way.
SPEAKER_01: He's the one who says, This is the way.
SPEAKER_01: That's authority.
SPEAKER_01: If we look in verse 15, we will see that the word of Jesus gives a warning to be heeded.
SPEAKER_01: A warning that in the end will determine a destiny.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus himself, his word, determines eternity.
SPEAKER_01: These false shepherds will hear Jesus say.
SPEAKER_01: They will hear the word of God say to them, Depart from me, get away from me.
SPEAKER_01: I never knew you.
SPEAKER_01: His word determines eternity.
SPEAKER_01: His word in verses 24, 25, 26, and 27 demands obedience.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever does them, whoever hears them and does them, whoever hears them and does not do them.
SPEAKER_01: His word demands obedience.
SPEAKER_01: And his word generates astonishment among those not expecting his authority.
SPEAKER_01: There are reminders here all along that Jesus has authority.
SPEAKER_01: My friends, we have we have to sit there for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: The word of God bears an unequal authority.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's the word of the King.
SPEAKER_01: The divine King, God, the Son.
SPEAKER_01: And at the beginning of his ministry, here with his first lengthy sermon, the response, the reaction was astonishment at his authority, at the words that bear his authority, at his teaching, what comes out of his mouth.
SPEAKER_01: It has authority.
SPEAKER_01: We have to notice that the emphasis Matthew is making at the end of his sermon is on the authority of the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: That's going to become very significant as we go throughout the rest of this book.
SPEAKER_01: But I'd like you to notice with me the third element, and that is notice the illustration of these builders emphasizes differing responses to the call of discipleship.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus tells a story about a wise man and a foolish man.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, they build a house.
SPEAKER_01: But the emphasis is on the result.
SPEAKER_01: It's on the result of the one who heard and obeyed versus the one who heard and did not obey.
SPEAKER_01: But let's remember the context of the sermon.
SPEAKER_01: If we go all the way back to chapter 5, we are reminded with the Beatitudes in chapter 5, verse 2, verse 3, and so on, that Jesus is talking as the King, granting access to his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And he tells us that if we want access to his kingdom, we must come as poor spiritual beggars to the king, beggars who have nothing to offer him but our sin and our brokenness.
SPEAKER_01: We must come as poor beggars to the king, seeking his righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: And it's those who will gain the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: It's those who will be comforted, it's those who hunger and thirst for his righteousness who will be satisfied, because the righteousness of the Pharisees is not sufficient, is it?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 20 of chapter 5, Jesus said, Unless your righteousness exceeds, goes beyond that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you'll never get in.
SPEAKER_01: But blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is, they have obtained the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Those who come to the King, Jesus, in humble faith, and who follow him in obedience are now pictured as wise builders.
SPEAKER_01: The wise builder describes those who are hearers and doers.
SPEAKER_01: They hear the word of God, they've heard Jesus' teaching, and now they go and they construct a home on a solid foundation.
SPEAKER_01: We see this image here sort of as a completed action.
SPEAKER_01: They hear and they obey, and the obedience is they've built a house.
SPEAKER_01: Just any old house.
SPEAKER_01: They built a house and they built it on a rock.
SPEAKER_01: And the storm comes.
SPEAKER_01: The rain fell.
SPEAKER_01: And we might be able to just magnify this and just say that the image that Jesus is intending here is it's not just any storm, but a hundred-year storm.
SPEAKER_01: Storm that just beat on the house.
SPEAKER_01: The rain just plummeted.
SPEAKER_01: And the flood waters just rose up and crashed against the side of the house, and the winds blew and beat on the house.
SPEAKER_01: And the result of this test, the result of this trial, is that the house did not fall because it was founded upon an immovable foundation.
SPEAKER_01: It was founded on the rock.
SPEAKER_01: The house, the life of those whose foundation is established on faith in Christ and faithful obedience flowing out of that faith, they hold firm when the trials and the tests of life crash against them.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, the house may sway a bit.
SPEAKER_01: It may creak from the wind seeking to blow it to bits.
SPEAKER_01: But when the storm passes by, the house remains.
SPEAKER_01: These builders, the wise builders, are the same people described by the Beatitudes.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus has returned to the beginning and sort of summarizing everything along the way.
SPEAKER_01: He said, the wise builders are the ones who start in humility and humble faith coming to me for righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: And that righteousness lives itself out in obedience to me.
SPEAKER_01: And that faith and lived out obedience looks like wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: Wisdom that sustains a person through the trials and the tests of life.
SPEAKER_01: And they will ultimately stand firm before Christ, the judge, when the test of eternity arrives, not because of his or her own strength or obedience, but because of the right foundation.
SPEAKER_01: You see, everyone will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, the false prophets, the false shepherds, and those who have been granted access to the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Some will be told, Go, leave me.
SPEAKER_01: And others will be told, Enter into the joy of your master.
SPEAKER_01: Those who come to the king as curious listeners, but who do not follow in obedience are pictured as foolish builders.
SPEAKER_01: I enjoy the way that Matthew wrote this.
SPEAKER_01: It's moros.
SPEAKER_01: A foolish builder is a moron.
SPEAKER_01: He builds on the sand.
SPEAKER_01: And the idea here is that, yeah, he doesn't work real hard on the foundation.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't work to see where I should build and how should I set the house up so it lasts a long time.
SPEAKER_01: But he sincerely believes that he's doing the right thing.
SPEAKER_01: He's heard the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: He's heard Jesus' teaching.
SPEAKER_01: But his lack of obedience shows that he does not follow Christ in genuine faith.
SPEAKER_01: You know, for all practical purposes, this house of the foolish person looks the same as the other house.
SPEAKER_01: The foundation, though, isn't visible.
SPEAKER_01: This follows then in the idea that the theme of the fruit of the false shepherds not being visible.
SPEAKER_01: You can't necessarily see that rotten fruit, that wormy fruit that false shepherds feed you with.
SPEAKER_01: In the same way, you can't necessarily see the foundation that the foolish people build on.
SPEAKER_01: As much as we can tell, the foolish person looks just like the wise person during the building of the house.
SPEAKER_01: The foolish builder hears the same word of God and seeks to build a similar house to the wise man.
SPEAKER_01: Everything seems to be proper and good.
SPEAKER_01: Their labor is the same, their diligence is the same, their dedication may be the same.
SPEAKER_01: And then the storm comes.
SPEAKER_01: The rain falls.
SPEAKER_01: The floods rise.
SPEAKER_01: And the winds blow and beat on the house.
SPEAKER_01: Everything is the same as the wise builder.
SPEAKER_01: They face the same trial, they face the same test.
SPEAKER_01: We might say that they've all read the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: The wise man read the Bible and the foolish man read the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: They both went to the same church.
SPEAKER_01: They both listened to the same sermons.
SPEAKER_01: They read Christian books.
SPEAKER_01: But remember, the issue is not whether they've heard the word.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: That's what Matthew emphasizes here.
SPEAKER_01: They both have heard the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: The issue is whether they do his words.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes only the power of the storm will reveal the difference.
SPEAKER_01: The house on the rock stands, but the house on the sand collapses in a gigantic implosion.
SPEAKER_01: The winds blow in the walls, the rush of the waves carry away the bits of the building.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: They heard the word of God, but did not consider it authoritative enough to obey.
SPEAKER_01: That's why.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they just explained it away as the ramblings of a of a deluded man who thought more of himself than he should have.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they they explained it that Jesus didn't really just, he didn't understand their life.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they explained it away as the ramblings of a lunatic.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they just didn't believe him.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they said, oh, that doesn't apply to my life.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they just didn't believe that the narrow way was the only way.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they thought that Jesus' way was too hard.
SPEAKER_01: But in the end, the fool was just like the false shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: Everything they built up was washed away.
SPEAKER_01: Several decades ago, there was a television news report that was surveying the destruction in southern Florida after Hurricane Andrew.
SPEAKER_01: And in one scene of this news report, it was just devastation everywhere, just houses destroyed.
SPEAKER_01: Just a strip of them, all up and down along the coast.
SPEAKER_01: And then all of a sudden, you see this image and this news report of a house standing.
SPEAKER_01: And out in front of the house is the house's owner, the home's owner, clearing up debris from his front yard.
SPEAKER_01: So the reporter went up and asked him and said, Sir, why is your house the only one standing?
SPEAKER_01: And the man said, I built this house myself.
SPEAKER_01: I built it according to the Florida State Building Code.
SPEAKER_01: So when the code called for two by six roof trusses, I used two by six roof trusses.
SPEAKER_01: I was told that a house built according to code could withstand a hurricane.
SPEAKER_01: I did, and it did.
SPEAKER_01: I suppose no one else around here followed the code.
SPEAKER_01: That's illustrative of Jesus' sermon.
SPEAKER_01: In essence, he said, here's the code for building your life for eternity.
SPEAKER_01: If you follow the code, you will one day face me, and I will say to you, Welcome, enjoy your master's joy.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't follow the code, your house is gonna crash.
SPEAKER_01: And you will hear me say, I never knew you.
SPEAKER_01: Now notice with me finally the lessons in this account.
SPEAKER_01: And we begin with the fact that there are certain identifying marks of discipleship.
SPEAKER_01: There are certain identifying remarks or marks of genuine discipleship.
SPEAKER_01: Now we could go throughout the pages of Scripture and say, this is a mark, and this is a mark, and this is a mark, and this is a mark.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus really only speaks of two in this conclusion to his sermon.
SPEAKER_01: The major one is fruit.
SPEAKER_01: The fruit of obedience to the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: Do I submit my life to the absolute authority of the word of God, seeking his help, the king's help, to live it out in obedience?
SPEAKER_01: Do I do That?
SPEAKER_01: Do I consider the Word of God to be absolutely authoritative for my life and seek his help to live it out?
SPEAKER_01: That is the fruit of obedience.
SPEAKER_01: It is genuine fruit, it is real fruit.
SPEAKER_01: Of course, there's also the fruit of leading others to walk in obedience to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what's implied by the false shepherds back in verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: Do I trust in the absolute authority of the word of my king so that others who listen to me, who hear me talk, are drawn away from the deception of sincerity and towards humble submission to the word of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Now we know, of course, that there's a list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5, right?
SPEAKER_01: All of that flows out of the fruit of obedience.
SPEAKER_01: So we see a lesson that there are certain identifying marks of genuine discipleship.
SPEAKER_01: There are also, though, clear eternal ends of all people.
SPEAKER_01: There's destruction and there's life and blessing in the presence of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: There's life and blessing and joy in the presence of the king, and then there's being cast out of the king's blessed presence to be in the presence of demons for all of eternity.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we see a lot of sincerity in this conclusion to Jesus' sermon.
SPEAKER_01: Beginning in verse 21.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: You can just imagine these people running up and giving Jesus a big old hug.
SPEAKER_01: Not in the days of coronavirus, of course, but ultimately.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, I'm so glad to see you.
SPEAKER_01: And he sort of pushes them away and says, Who are you?
SPEAKER_01: Sincerity of religion without genuine faith is bad fruit.
SPEAKER_01: The end of which is away from the joy of the king.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, look, look, look what we've done in your name.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 22.
SPEAKER_01: Look at all the things we've done, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Sincerity through devotion to religious pursuits without genuine faith is bad fruit.
SPEAKER_01: The end of which is away from the joy of the king.
SPEAKER_01: Sincerity of outward obedience in building the house.
SPEAKER_01: Sincerity of outward obedience without genuine faith or genuine obedience leads to eternal collapse, the loss of everything that has been labored for.
SPEAKER_01: The foolishness of sincerity alone will lead to disaster unlike anything ever known.
SPEAKER_01: You might conclude that sincerity is deadly.
SPEAKER_01: It's deadly because it deceives.
SPEAKER_01: It deceives you into thinking that you're doing things right.
SPEAKER_01: The Pharisees were sincere.
SPEAKER_01: They were sincere in their devotion to God.
SPEAKER_01: They were sincere in their devotion to obedience to God.
SPEAKER_01: They were sincere in following Scripture to be wise.
SPEAKER_01: The crowds were sincere in their desire to follow God.
SPEAKER_01: But any system of faith, any system of religion not established in Christ alone will lead to eternal destruction.
SPEAKER_01: So the question that Jesus posed that day was very quite simple.
SPEAKER_01: Will you follow me in faith, believing that I am the promised king, and will you follow in obedience to my word?
SPEAKER_01: Will you do that?
SPEAKER_01: And that then leads us to a single convicting challenge.
SPEAKER_01: How will I respond myself to the authority of the word of God?
SPEAKER_01: How will I respond to the authority of the word of God?
SPEAKER_01: The foolish builders work hard.
SPEAKER_01: They're diligent.
SPEAKER_01: They complete the house, right?
SPEAKER_01: They're honest and sincere, but nevertheless, they are foolish.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Why are they foolish?
SPEAKER_01: They are foolish because they reject the wisdom of the clear word of God and the necessity of obeying it.
SPEAKER_01: In their sincerity, the foolish see their own wisdom as a solid foundation.
SPEAKER_01: They say, I have what I need, I know what I need, I can build on this.
SPEAKER_01: And so they rest on what feels right or what seems right in their own minds.
SPEAKER_01: If you want an example of what that looks like, read the book of Judges.
SPEAKER_01: They sincerely believe that their building, their constructed home will survive the turbulence of the unknown.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know why so many just lose it in times of testing and severe trial?
SPEAKER_01: Now you do.
SPEAKER_01: In their sincerity, the foolish fail to see the end.
SPEAKER_01: They fail to see the end result of their building on their own wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: And the end result of rejecting the word of Christ the King.
SPEAKER_01: In their sincerity, they fail to see the danger of not acknowledging the authority of the Word of Christ through faithful obedience.
SPEAKER_01: In their sincerity, they decided to do it their way.
SPEAKER_01: Once you have heard the Word of God, once you have heard the Word of Jesus, are you going to stop your construction on the sand and start anew on the rock?
SPEAKER_01: It's more difficult than it sounds.
SPEAKER_01: It's like the narrow way.
SPEAKER_01: See, the more time that we have spent building on the sand, the harder it is going to be to consider that building that I've spent my life on constructing is now condemned.
SPEAKER_01: And I need to start over.
SPEAKER_01: But see, here's exactly the point.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus is saying exactly what he said at the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Unless you realize that your house is condemned and your foundation is sand and you're headed towards the road of destruction, unless you realize that you will not be poor in spirit and receive the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Because until that happens, you're going to be relying on your own wisdom, your own foundation.
SPEAKER_01: Only the poor in spirit see the wisdom of fully resting in the authority of the word of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And so they hunger and thirst for his righteousness, which generates faith in obedience to his word.
SPEAKER_01: And that is the defining difference between the wise and the foolish.
SPEAKER_01: Hearing the word of Jesus and obeying, hearing the word of God and not obeying.
SPEAKER_01: Genuine, faith-driven hearing of the word of God implies trust in its authority and full reliance upon its sufficiency that then motivates our obedience.
SPEAKER_01: And so we then follow the Lord Jesus down that narrow road, that hard road in discipleship.
SPEAKER_01: And as we do so, it's as though we're building an eternal house, piece upon piece, as it were, upon the rock of our faith, following the building codes of the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: The wise trust in His wisdom rather than their own, not trusting in themselves, but in the authority of His Word.
SPEAKER_01: They see somehow the turbulence of the unknown, and so they build with wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: They know because of the Word of God what will endure, and they pursue it.
SPEAKER_01: And so with eyes of faith, they look down the road and they see the end.
SPEAKER_01: They see that there is destruction appointed on the wide road, and that there is life and joy on the narrow road.
SPEAKER_01: That is the narrow way, the good fruit, and the wise builder.
SPEAKER_01: They submit then to the authority of the Word of Christ their King.
SPEAKER_01: While those who are merely astonished at the authority claimed by the Word of God walk away on the wide road to destruction.
SPEAKER_01: The false shepherd, the the wide way, and the foolish builder all evidence a low view of the Word of God that leads to a faulty obedience.
SPEAKER_01: They elevate experience over meaning, they exper they elevate sincerity over obedience and convincing themselves throughout all of it that they are in reality pleasing God.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus will say, I never knew you.
SPEAKER_01: Build then.
SPEAKER_01: As the wise.
SPEAKER_01: Did you know that there is good evidence that points to Jesus being the embodiment of the wisdom of Proverbs?
SPEAKER_01: There's good evidence that says that Solomon, when he wrote about wisdom in the book of Proverbs, that that is ultimately and perfectly fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, for example, to Proverbs chapter 1, beginning in verse 32.
SPEAKER_01: The simple, that's another word in Proverbs to refer to the foolish, the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them.
SPEAKER_01: But whoever listens to me, to wisdom, will dwell secure and be at ease without dread of disaster.
SPEAKER_01: That's exactly what Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_01: And the wise builder and the foolish builder.
SPEAKER_01: There's a great illustration of all of this in the land of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: The largest man-made harbor in all of history is off the coast of Caesarea in Israel.
SPEAKER_01: It was colossal in really every sense of the word.
SPEAKER_01: Experts are still unlocking some of the secrets to its construction now, thousands of years later.
SPEAKER_01: One of the wonders that has puzzled them for a long, long time is how engineers 2,000 years ago made concrete that set underwater.
SPEAKER_01: There's not much to see of the harbor today.
SPEAKER_01: That great construction by man's hands is now covered under 25 feet of Mediterranean seawater.
SPEAKER_01: Experts obviously tried to figure out why that is.
SPEAKER_01: And so throughout the years, their unsurpassed work has been gradually taken over by the sea.
SPEAKER_01: I like the way that John Stott summarizes this.
SPEAKER_01: He says the question is not whether we say nice, polite, orthodox, enthusiastic things to or about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Question is not whether we hear his words, listening, studying, pondering, and memorizing until our minds are stuffed with his teaching.
SPEAKER_01: But whether we do what we say and do what we know.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, whether the lordship of Jesus, which we profess, is one of our life's major realities.
SPEAKER_01: Is the lordship of Christ, hearing his words and doing them, a reality in your life?
SPEAKER_01: Or as Jesus Himself said in John 14, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word.
SPEAKER_01: And my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
SPEAKER_01: But whoever does not love me does not keep my words.
SPEAKER_01: And the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: May we love your word.
SPEAKER_01: Give us a sense of awe for your word that comes from its authority, grounded in God Himself.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to see your word as imperative for our lives.
SPEAKER_01: To rest in it, to trust in it alone.
SPEAKER_01: Not our own thinking, not our own our own wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: But enable us to see it in such a way as to build upon a rock.
SPEAKER_01: The foundation of our faith in you that lives itself out in obedience.
SPEAKER_01: And in the end, we will see that that rock was not us.
SPEAKER_01: But the rock was Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Bless us with faith to believe, and with obedience to live out that faith.
SPEAKER_01: In your name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.