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[0:00] Well, over the summer, we've been looking at one of the sermons that Jesus gave early on in his public ministry, which we read about in Luke chapter 6. And today we're going to hear about how Jesus brought this sermon to a close.

[0:14] And as a reminder, you're welcome to open to there in your Bible, Jesus spoke about a variety of things on this particular occasion. He talked about the great reversal that was coming for his followers, and how though they may face hardship and sorrows now, they are blessed because they will soon inherit the kingdom of God, and they will soon see all their tears replaced with joy.

[0:39] In contrast, Jesus also warned about how there was a great reversal coming for those who do not receive him, and how their times of comfort and laughter will be replaced with want and weeping.

[0:52] Jesus then talked about how his followers should respond to mistreatment from others. He taught that we are to love our enemies and not retaliate.

[1:03] Instead, we're to respond with kindness and mercy and generosity, treating others the way we would want to be treated. After all, that's how God has dealt with us, despite how we've treated him.

[1:18] And Jesus said that there's a reward in store for those who show that same kind of love to others, even when it's hard. Then we heard Jesus exhort his followers not to be judgmental and hypercritical of others.

[1:34] Instead, we're to be gracious and forgiving. First, looking at the faults in ourselves and making sure that we address those things before trying to help others with their issues.

[1:48] And then last week, we heard Jesus warn about false prophets and teachers and how to recognize them, how to discern what's inside a person by the fruit that eventually comes from their lives.

[2:02] Well, now Jesus finally brings this sermon to a close, and we're going to hear how he concludes in Luke 6, verse 46. Let me read it for us.

[2:14] Jesus says, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like.

[2:34] They are like a man building a house who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it because it was well built.

[2:51] But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.

[3:07] Probably most of us are quite familiar with these words of Jesus. They've made it into some of the songs we sing even from early childhood in the church.

[3:19] The wise man built his house upon the rock. Maybe you remember singing that when you were young. Or my daughter Sophie's favorite. Don't build your house on the sandy land.

[3:30] And then later we learned some of the old hymns. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.

[3:44] So we're very familiar with these words. And yet even though we're familiar with them, they don't easily lose their impact. They're shocking.

[3:55] They're powerful images that speak to our hearts again and again. And let's look at this first statement of Jesus here in verse 46. He says, Why do you call me Lord?

[4:07] Lord. And do not do what I say. This is the shocking part. And here in Luke's gospel, this is just an abbreviated version of what Jesus said on this occasion.

[4:21] The fuller version of this is in Matthew's gospel. But can you imagine ending a speech in this way? Or a class lesson in this way?

[4:31] Why do you call me the honored guest speaker? And don't do what I say. Or why do you call me the teacher? And don't do what I say. It's kind of jolting, isn't it?

[4:44] Jesus ends his sermon by calling out all the pretenders in his audience. It's like he's saying, there are many of you here who aren't taking me seriously right now.

[5:00] You've been following me around. You've been calling me your Lord, your Master. Just like my true followers do. And yet you're completely disregarding my words. You're doing the very things I'm telling you not to do.

[5:17] And you're neglecting to do the things that I'm instructing you to do. Even early on here in Jesus' ministry, hypocrisy was a problem.

[5:30] Religious hypocrisy. Pretending to be a follower of Jesus was a real thing. Today, we call this nominalism. It has to do with people who are Christians in name only.

[5:44] People who claim Jesus to be their Lord, their Master, their Savior, their King. And yet their claim is hollow as seen by the fruit in their lives.

[5:58] There's the connection to what Jesus said just before this. When it comes right down to it, they don't live according to Jesus' words. How they live betrays their profession of faith.

[6:12] And it's shocking because maybe there were many in the crowd that day who felt quite comfortable keeping their doubts and their skepticism to themselves.

[6:24] You know, we'll just try and blend in with the rest of them for now. But now it's like Jesus is looking them all straight in the face and saying, You can't fool me.

[6:37] What you really believe about me is plainly on display in how you live. How you respond to my words.

[6:49] And so it's pointless to try and fake it. It's pointless to pretend to be my disciple. When you're living says otherwise.

[7:02] Why do you call me Lord, Lord? And do not do what I say. A true disciple of Jesus takes Jesus' words seriously and does what Jesus says.

[7:17] A true disciple of Jesus takes Jesus' words seriously and does what Jesus says.

[7:30] Or to say it another way, if Jesus really is your Lord, your Master, then you will do what He says. Jesus then brings this point to a close with one final illustration.

[7:49] As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock.

[8:03] When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it. Because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.

[8:21] The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed. And its destruction was complete. So there's essentially two responses that we can have to Jesus' words.

[8:37] His words in this sermon and all His other words as well. There are two responses. We can hear them and put them into practice. Or we can hear them and not put them into practice.

[8:52] And Jesus gives an analogy for each. He says, The person who hears my words and puts them into practice, that man's like a man who in building his house dug down deep and laid a foundation on rock.

[9:10] But the person who hears my words and does not put them into practice, says Jesus, is like a man who in building his house doesn't even bother to build it on a foundation.

[9:23] Just builds it right on the ground. No footing, no piles, no bedrock, nothing. Just stands up the walls, nails them together right there on the ground.

[9:34] Matthew, in his gospel, even records Jesus as saying, what kind of ground? Sand or loose dirt kind of ground. Also in Matthew's gospel, Jesus very explicitly describes the character behind this decision.

[9:51] He says, One of these decisions is wise and one of these decisions is foolish. And I think it's obvious which is which. But you know, initially, there may seem to be no consequence.

[10:06] Both men have a house to live in. Once it's finished, the foundation is not really that visible except to people who like to look for those things.

[10:17] The foolish man may even congratulate himself since he didn't have to go to as much trouble or expense or time to do all that digging and foundation stuff.

[10:29] I was thinking back to Jesus' days. Like, they didn't have backhoes then. This was by hand. They would do this digging. So initially, there may seem to be no consequence.

[10:44] In fact, it may even be that the foolish man is ahead. But then comes the flood. This is where the difference in the two houses is seen.

[10:56] And the language Jesus uses to describe the flood is quite vivid. This is a picture of a river overflowing its banks and a part of that river crashing or breaking against the house.

[11:11] The video footage we're about to see comes from the flood that happened just this summer on July 4th in Texas. and this video is sped up as you'll see on screen but it shows what happened in just 10 minutes to one of the roads.

[11:39] 10 minutes. That's a lot of water. Here's a second clip showing some of the effects. That's a house colliding with a bridge.

[11:58] It's like this for miles and miles and miles. Can you kill the audio on it, Rob?

[12:15] So utter devastation. An estimated 38,000 homes damaged and 138 people have been found dead and sadly there were many children among them.

[12:33] Here's a man standing in what's left of his living room. You can see some of his roof and the walls of his house on the ground behind him. hear these words of Jesus.

[12:47] The one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house it collapsed and its destruction was complete.

[13:04] Jesus is saying that this is the situation this will be the situation for the person who hears my words and doesn't take them seriously. Fortunately for this man he wasn't in his house sleeping when it collapsed.

[13:21] But this is a picture of complete loss. Total destruction. And that says Jesus is what awaits those who disregard my words.

[13:35] Those who do not act on them. up until this point in the analogy Jesus has been quite clear of what the elements of this analogy refer to.

[13:49] The building of the foundation refers to hearing his words and putting them into practice. Not building the foundation refers to not putting the words of Jesus into practice.

[14:01] But what does the flood represent? what does the torrential flood that comes crashing against the house represent? Jesus leaves it up to us to figure it out.

[14:17] But I think he knows that we know what it represents. The torrential flood represents God's judgment which is coming for all of us.

[14:30] And it's not because God is vindictive or unkind that his judgment is coming but because of our rebellion our wickedness our sins.

[14:43] The Bible tells us that God is bringing this catastrophic flood of judgment at the end because he is good and because he is just and because we really do deserve it.

[14:59] It will be the ultimate disaster that sweeps us all away and completely ruins us unless unless we have heard and truly believed and put into practice the words of Jesus.

[15:17] He is the salvation that we need. He is the rescue. If we hear his words and do as he says we will be saved.

[15:31] And when the flood of God's judgment comes this is going to be the outcome for us instead says Jesus. Those who hear my words and put them into practice are like a man building a house who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock.

[15:46] When a flood came the torrent struck that house but could not shake it because it was well built. The torrent struck but could not shake it.

[16:01] So there is a way to pass through the coming flood of God's righteous judgment. We will not be disturbed moved or shaken by it.

[16:13] We will be completely spared of its devastation so long as we are well founded having truly believed and taken seriously the words of Jesus.

[16:27] And we might wonder how do we know if we are truly believing the words of Jesus? How do we know if we are taking Jesus' words seriously? Well we know that we do if we put his words into practice and do them.

[16:46] If we do what he says that reveals whether he is truly our Lord truly our master. Very simply Jesus shows us our choice.

[17:03] Hear his words and put them into practice or hear his words and ignore them. Don't put them into practice. One choice is wise and leads to life.

[17:15] The other is foolish says Jesus and leads to disaster. And so I want to ask you very simply this morning have you made the wise choice? Have you made the wise choice?

[17:32] Have you come to Jesus not just to hear his words but have you embraced his words? Are you putting them into practice in your life?

[17:46] If you haven't made this wise choice yet then I want to urge you make it make it today we don't know how long each of us has before we take our last breath and that's it make the wise choice today begin to put into practice and obey the words of Jesus that is true faith anything less than that is pointless pretending now I know that many of you here have made the wise choice already that makes me rejoice inside you have believed in Jesus you have owned him as your Lord and you are trying to put his words into practice and so if that's you this morning and I think you know if it is take comfort rest secure the coming devastation will not shake you

[18:56] Christ took the punishment that we deserve on himself so that we could be spared and if we belong to Christ we are safe forever what a comfort that being true we should not let the salvation which we now have become an excuse to do less of what Jesus has told us to do these are the words that really stuck in my heart and mind this week here's my words and puts them into practice if Jesus really is our Lord and our master our king the one we pledged allegiance to then we should make it the very mission of our lives to put his words into practice more and more every day to learn what he has said by reading it in our

[20:03] Bibles and to carry out his commands and instructions as best and as much as we can and not just these instructions here in this one sermon but all of his instructions all of his commands which we find throughout the rest of the pages of this book this is what it really means to believe in Jesus and to be a follower of Jesus and so I want to ask you is that your mindset to go after a deeper understanding of Jesus words and more to go after a fuller obedience to Jesus words this is priority number one for all of Jesus disciples this is priority for the disciples he was speaking to back then in the crowd and this is his number one priority for us today who call him Lord let's do what he says let's not sit back and coast along content with what we've already done the

[21:12] Lord has us here each day on this earth for a reason and it's to do what he says to bear much fruit for his glory to do the works which he prepared which God prepared in advance for us to do maybe you're a true Christian but have fallen into complacency or apathy if that's you this morning let these words wake you up we have words of Jesus to put into practice to do the race is not over yet let's throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and run with perseverance this race that's marked out for us fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith

[22:14] Jesus has given us a clear mission go and make disciples of all nations let's not forget the mission the mission is not to get the job we're most interested in or the house that we've always wanted or the vehicle that we really like the mission is not to dial up the comforts and the pleasures and spend as much time as possible in sport or hobby or recreation the mission is not to get the ideal picture perfect family whatever that is in our definition it's to spend our days living for Christ doing what he says is that your priority number one I think to those words of Paul the apostle Paul to live!

[23:12] is Christ he said and to die that's gain because then I get to be with him but if I'm to go on living in the body he said this will mean fruitful labor for me the kind of labor that sees more people come to hear about Jesus and follow him as we think about this whole analogy of the house and the flood I'm reminded that we shouldn't just be focused on our own house but that there are still others in this world who haven't heard of Jesus Jesus is on a rescue mission and if we're enjoined to him because he is our Lord then that puts us on that same mission with him we don't want to see anybody get swept away by the torrent that's coming at the end so I just want to ask you is that your priority today your number one priority to do what the

[24:16]  Lord says let's pray Lord Jesus thank you for these words which you spoke long ago and which still are powerful today in our lives you know the things that are holding us back the things that are distracting us the things that are keeping us from following you with all our heart and I pray that you would set us free from those things and that you would unleash us with your power to do the things you said that may look different for different people in this room in our church but we want to be used by you we want to serve you and one day you're going to bust through the clouds and we want to be found doing what you have given us to do stir that fire in our hearts if we've lost it keep it burning if we haven't we commit ourselves to you for your glory amen