Remember that Jesus is not speaking in chapter 7 to the ear religious.
! He is speaking to those who think that they are part of the kingdom of heaven, but are not citizens thereof.
He is warning those in my hearing today to not be deceived by others and in today's text to not deceive themselves.
He is warning us to escape final judgment.
By placing saving faith in his person and in his work.
He is exhorting us to find our righteousness in him and in him alone.
The one and the only one who can grant us perfect righteousness.
He has said in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 20,
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, those perceived to be the most righteous, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
And then later in chapter 5, verse 48, he says,
You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.
So how are we to have this exceeding righteousness?
How are we to be perfect?
Jesus does not leave us without the answer to those most pressing of questions.
So join me this morning as we look at our text as he continues to unfold that answer.
Matthew chapter 7, verse 21 through 29.
Beloved, this is God's word to us.
It was written for his glory and our good.
And so we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and to obey its commands.
Jesus 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.
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.
And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
And the rain fell and the rain fell and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall of it.
And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes.
I want to begin our study today by considering the builders of verses 24 through 27.
As Jesus is employing them as an analogy for what he has been teaching from verse 13 and down through verse 23.
Let's begin by looking at their similarities.
How are these two builders the same?
And then we will better be able to look at their differences together.
So first there similarities.
Jesus says in both verse 24 and in verse 26, everyone who hears these words of mine.
So both builders hear these words.
Jesus is certainly referring to the words that he has just spoken.
Those words that we have been studying for the past so many months.
But I also believe that we should understand this more broadly.
Jesus is speaking of the whole of the word of God.
This full, declarative, redemptive work that God has given to us in the scripture.
Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, verse 17 through 19.
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
This was a common way to speak of the Jewish Bible, our Old Testament.
He says, I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.
And then he goes on to say in verse 19.
Therefore, whoever relaxes on one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same.
Will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great.
In the kingdom of heaven.
So Jesus is not the abolisher, but the fulfiller of words that should be taught and obeyed.
Before Jesus is crucified, he promises that he will send the Holy Spirit to teach you all things.
And bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
That's John chapter 14, verse 26.
And then upon his resurrection, he commands his disciples to make disciples of all nations,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
Matthew 28 and verse 20.
We believe that we have that teaching in our New Testament.
So we have the Old Testament commended to us to be taught and obeyed.
And we have the New Testament commended to us to be taught and obeyed.
The Apostle Paul states in Romans chapter 10 and verse 17.
So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.
So we are to be hearers and doers of the word of Christ.
Both of the Sermon on the Mount and the broader context as well.
Both men, both builders in today's text are hearers of the word of Christ.
They are also both men who build houses.
These are figurative houses, not literal houses.
We see that also in verse 24 and in verse 26.
We should understand these houses to be lives, specifically religious lives.
These are houses built in response to hearing the words of Christ.
Both houses are built to stand.
We get no inclination in the text at all that one house was built to stand and one house was built by design to not stand.
Both houses are built to stand.
Both builders have confidence that their houses will stand.
But one man's confidence is in the Lord and the other man's confidence is in himself.
So both men hear the words of Christ.
Both men build houses based on the words of Christ.
And Jesus' exclusion of other details should lead us to understand that both houses are built in the same location.
They certainly both experience the same storm with the same materials.
We have no reason to think that the circumstances of these men's lives are any different.
That is to say, right?
They're just examples of two ways.
Narrow, difficult path and broad, easy way.
We're meant to understand that the great difference between these two men is what happens when the storm comes.
John wrote of his vision in Revelation chapter 20, verse 12 and verse 15 of the final judgment.
This is the storm here that Jesus is referring to.
I have heard verses 24 through 27 preached way too many times about standing against the storms of life.
That is not what this text is about.
The scripture has much to say about such things.
Many wonderful places we can go to find peace and comfort and tools to pick up to stand the storms of life.
That is not what this text is about.
This is about final judgment.
This is about previously in our text.
Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father on that day.
This is an eschatological text.
This is referring to that final day of judgment.
What religious house will stand and what religious house will be demolished?
That's the weight of the text that's before us.
Today.
So Revelation chapter 20, verse 12 and then verse 15.
John wrote of his vision.
This is the judgment that Jesus is talking about in our text.
This is the judgment that Jesus is talking about in our text today.
And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life.
He was thrown into the lake of fire.
This is the judgment that Jesus is talking about in our text today.
And so this is a storm that we will all experience.
Will your house stand on that great day of judgment?
And to help you think about in our text today.
And to help you think about that this morning, we should consider the differences between these two builders.
First, one builder is declared wise in verse 24.
He has wisdom.
And the other declared foolish in verse 26.
On the criteria that the wise man hears these words of mine, these words of Christ, and does them.
And the foolish man hears these words of mine, and does not do them.
So Jesus declares wise the hearer and doer of his word.
And foolish the mere hearer of his word.
James borrows language from Jesus in James chapter 1 verses 22 and following.
Where he wrote,
But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer,
he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
For he looks at himself and goes away at once, forgets what he looks like.
But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres,
being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
You see, beloved, what we do proceeds from who we are.
James is saying that if you are one who perseveres to the end and stands in the judgment,
you are a disciple of Jesus Christ and a disciple of Jesus Christ hears the words of Christ and does them.
Peter wrote in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 5 and following.
Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge and knowledge with self-control and self-control with steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness.
And godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love.
For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
And then verse 10.
Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election.
For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall.
If you find yourself doubting your salvation or find a brother or sister doubting their salvation,
do not say to them,
tell me about the day you walked the aisle.
Open the front of your Bible and look at the date that you wrote down when you made a profession of faith in Christ.
The scripture doesn't do this and neither should we.
We should say, hey, turn with me to 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 5 through 10.
And let's consider your life.
Let's stop and think.
Are these qualities yours and increasing or are they not?
Other texts do this well for us also.
The whole book of 1 John serves us in this way.
Peter in 2 Peter chapter 1 is in essence saying that you show yourself to be one who perseveres,
one who is called and elect by doing the word of Christ.
Now, I am not, nor will I ever suggest that we are saved by our works.
That is not what James or Peter are suggesting.
And neither is our Lord in his Sermon on the Mount.
But it is not just the doer of the word of Christ,
but the doer of the word of Christ who is in Christ who is saved.
We throw ourselves on his righteousness.
Our status is changed.
This is the great doctrine of regeneration.
We become new creations.
And out of our new selves, we act.
How do we know if we have a new self?
We measure how it is that we act.
Am I a doer of the word of Christ,
taking full confidence not in my doing,
but in his work on my behalf?
Take a look up the text a bit.
Matthew chapter 7 at verse 22.
On that day, many will say to me,
Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name
and cast out demons in your name
and do many mighty works in your name?
Jesus does not condemn these particular declarations
of good works.
It's difficult for us to know
by what power these men did these things.
There are some clear examples in the Scripture
of people doing works that appeared to be works of God
but were done by the hand of Satan in their lives.
I think this still exists in our day.
People do miraculous things.
They do it in the name of God,
but they're really doing it under a different power altogether.
There are many who, under their own power,
just do outwardly good-looking things.
We don't know exactly what's going on here,
but Jesus does not say,
those are not the good works that I required of you.
He doesn't condemn those particular good works.
So we can gather that the works mentioned
are in fact works of obedience.
What does Jesus tell us He will say
in that future day in verse 23?
What will be the condition of their acceptance
into His kingdom?
The works?
He says,
And then I will declare to them,
I never knew you.
Depart from me,
you workers of lawlessness.
So they did works,
but they didn't do works in Christ.
They weren't in Him.
He never knew them.
The foolish man builds a house
that he believes will stand in the last day,
but it will not
because the foolish man is not known by Jesus Christ.
This is the man who built his house on the sand,
the shifting sand of his works.
We must be so very careful at this point.
Jesus is teaching that it is altogether possible
to appear to be following Christ
with our actions.
You can have every confidence
that you are in Christ because of your works,
but this can be a self-confidence,
a self-righteousness.
You can also declare all of the right theology
and not be in Christ.
Verse 21,
Jesus says,
Not everyone who says to me,
Lord, Lord,
will enter the kingdom of heaven.
This is a statement of careful theological accuracy.
It was common in Jesus' day
to call someone Lord
as a matter of respect or of honor.
Your boss may have been called Lord.
The governor may have been called Lord.
Military generals would have been called Lord.
But to call Jesus Lord, Lord
suggests much more than mere human respect.
It suggests that it is altogether possible
to mentally ascend to the divinity of Jesus Christ
and to not place saving faith in Him.
More broadly, it means that we can have this book
so figured out,
just like the Pharisees who searched it diligently
but failed to come to Christ.
This book is a precious book.
If you've been here long at all,
you know how much I love the Scripture.
But this is a book that points us to our Creator.
We know God and we know Christ through this book.
And we can so fail to know the book
and not know the author of it.
There's a difference between knowing God
and really knowing about Him.
As a church who is in a tradition
that loves study and we should,
cares deeply about theology as we should,
wants to make sure things are just so-so as we should,
we have to be very careful
that we don't think that knowing things
makes us righteous before God.
It's knowing Christ and being known by Him
that approves us before God.
In Matthew chapter 13, verse 24 through 30,
Jesus tells the parable of the wheat and the tares,
which should be absolutely jarring to us.
And I want you to turn there with me.
Matthew chapter 13, just a few pages.
This parable, I think, stands beside the parable of the soils.
So the parable of the soils,
we see there's four different soils
and we're sowing, the word is being sown
and it gets accepted in various ways,
ways that we can observe now.
But this is the one that stands eschatologically next to it.
Well, what about the end?
That's what Jesus says.
The kingdom of heaven may be compared
to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
But while his men were sleeping,
his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat
and went away.
So when the plants came up and bore grain,
then the weeds appeared also.
And the servants of the master of the house
came and said to him,
Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
How then does it have weeds?
He said to them,
An enemy has done this.
So the servant said to him,
Then do you want us to go and gather them?
But he said,
No, less than gathering the weeds,
you root up the wheat along with them.
Let both grow together until the harvest.
And at harvest time,
I will tell the reapers,
Gather the weeds first
and bind them in bundles to be burned,
but gather the wheat into my barn.
There was a common weed of the day called a tare.
And it looked exactly like wheat
until it was time for the wheat to bear fruit.
Until it went to grain.
And the tares did not go to grain in the same way.
And so it is very possible what Jesus is saying
is that we can look around
and we can all look the same.
Good seed sowed in good soil.
And yet amongst us,
There are people who are confident in what they know
and in what they do
who are not in Christ.
Will not bear the fruit of righteousness.
Isn't that jarring?
It is to me.
And it should cause us to put our hands
to the labor of discipleship.
Helping each other follow Christ.
Helping each other be confident
of our calling and election.
Growing up in righteousness.
Right?
Lest at the end
we be shown to be a tare.
A weed that is gathered
and thrown into the fire.
We can be theologically astute
and zealous for good works
and have Jesus declare to us
on the final day of judgment,
I never knew you.
Depart from me,
you workers of lawlessness.
Unless the foundation of our lives
is built on the rock.
What is this rock?
It's Jesus Himself.
His person and His completed work.
Just as Peter declares that,
just after, excuse me,
Jesus declares that Jesus is the Christ.
In Matthew 16, verse 18,
Jesus says,
And I tell you,
you are Peter,
and on this rock
I will build my church,
and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it.
Right?
I want to think,
although it probably didn't happen
for them at this time,
but I want to think
that the disciples' brains
just exploded
because they connected back
to the Sermon on the Mount.
The rock!
And they went,
listen to Him,
His metaphors are consistent,
it's fantastic.
Jesus is the rock
on which our lives
must be built
if we're to stand
in final judgment.
In Matthew chapter 7,
Jesus is the narrow gate
that must be found
and entered,
and He is the rock
on which our houses
must be built
if we are to stand.
The surface of the land
of Jesus' home
was largely,
and still is,
sand,
and the substrate,
the underlayer,
of the land of Jesus' home,
still is,
was largely sand.
So in order to build
a solid home,
builders of His day
would have to dig down
through the sand
to find the bedrock.
They would have to go
and search for it
and do this work
of clearing out
the shifting land
to find the solid land
on which to build.
It is with this reality
in mind
that Jesus says
the wise man
built his house
on the rock.
They understand
this analogy.
If you've built a house
or you're building a house,
we know
that we have to build
our foundations
below the frost line.
Otherwise,
our foundations
will crack.
If you haven't,
you have no idea
what I'm talking about.
In Georgia,
it's not very deep.
Our foundations
don't go very deep
in Georgia
because the frost
doesn't go very deep
in Georgia.
In other places,
boy,
do you have to
dig a foundation
to make sure
your house's foundation
doesn't crack.
So it's into this context
that Jesus is speaking.
They all know exactly
what he's talking about.
How a house
on the rock
is stable
and a house
on the sand
is not.
Jesus
is the rock.
We cannot build
religious lives
with any measure
of self-confidence,
any measure
of self-confidence,
but rather
with confidence
in Jesus.
It is with a confidence
in his completed work
that we work
and evidence
our confidence.
It's because of
who he makes us
that we work.
Spurgeon once said,
faith and works
are bound up
in the same bundle.
He that obeys God
trusts God
and he that trusts God
obeys God.
He that is without faith
is without works
and he that is without works
is without faith.
And Jesus says
in John chapter 14
verse 15,
if you love me,
you will keep
my commandments.
So there is a wise builder
and a foolish builder.
Both experienced
the same storm
in the final judgment.
And how did they fare
in that storm?
The wise man's house
did not fall
because it had been
founded on the rock.
Verse 25.
The foolish man's house
fell
and great
was the fall of it.
We are builders,
all of us.
Will your house
stand in the judgment
or will it experience
a great fall?
Not many preachers
these days
like to speak
of judgment.
It's a most unpleasant thing,
isn't it,
to talk about
the eternal state
of souls
who aren't found
in Jesus Christ.
I suggest
that that's happening
so prevalently
in our day
because
they are far too
concerned with
pleasing their listeners
and want people
to come
and feel good
about coming
to church.
And as
Thomas Watson,
a Puritan preacher,
said,
this is on your bulletin,
guilty men
do not love
to hear
of the day
of judgment.
Which would be
to suggest
that those
who are found
in Christ
do.
That final day
where we will be
given to the kingdom
of God
in our entirety.
But I have to tell you,
church,
my concern this morning
is not that you
be pleased with me.
I don't really care
if it means
that your soul
is headed
towards destruction.
If your soul
be not saved,
why does it matter
if you like me?
I want you instead
this morning
to have an unshakable
confidence
that your house
is built
upon the rock
because that final
storm is
coming.
The scripture
promises it
to us.
The writer of Hebrews
says in Hebrews 9
and verse 27,
it is appointed
for man
to die
once
and after
that
comes
judgment.
This is a sure
thing.
If you are not
found in Christ
on that day
of judgment,
it is a very
frightful
thing.
You ought to
tremble
at the idea
that there will be
a final judgment
for you
and that you
could be
separated from God
forever.
Jesus said
in Luke 13
verse 28
that the place
those cast
from the Lord's
presence
will be full
of weeping
and the gnashing
of teeth.
It is a lake
of fire,
a place
of torment
for those
who are enemies
of our most
holy God.
Flee
from the wrath
of God
to God
in Christ.
Place your faith
in Jesus.
the same
way,
I think
that Ray
Comfort
uses this
analogy a lot,
the same
way that
a parachuter,
a parachutist,
I think is the
right term,
trusts in a
parachute.
The other
day I
flew a
pretend plane
in our living
room and
had my boys
putting on
backpacks and
jumping off
the couch
to talk about
what it means
to believe
in Jesus.
To trust
that He
will catch
you at the
end.
That you
will be found
in Him
and His
righteousness
will be
yours.
And the
penalty for
your sin
was paid
by Him
on the
cross
to believe
in that
way that
you would
toss yourself
out of
the plane.
Flee
from the
wrath of
God
to God
in Christ.
Enter by
the narrow
gate.
Do not
be deceived
by others
or deceive
yourselves.
It is
confident
faith
in the
person and
work of
Christ.
evidenced
by
obedience
that will
see us
through the
judgment
of God
and into
His
blessed
presence
forever.
Matthew
concludes
his record
of Jesus'
sermon
by writing,
And when
Jesus finished
these sayings,
the crowds
were astonished
at His
teaching,
for He
is teaching
them as
one who
had authority
and not
as their
scribes.
They were
amazed.
They were
dumbfounded.
This was a
big teaching
that they
had heard.
No one
had spoken
such strong
declarations
about the
kingdom of
God as
Jesus had.
No one
had corrected
the common
misunderstandings
of the law
as Jesus
had.
No one
had placed
such high
standards of
righteousness
and then
declared
themselves
the righteous
answer
as Jesus
had.
No one
had so
warned
against
false
prophets
and
false
believers
as
Jesus
had.
Jesus'
listeners
were amazed
at the
authority
that He
spoke with.
But Jesus'
listeners
in His
day
and in
ours
need more
than
amazement.
We need
belief.
There were
many in
Jesus'
hearing
in His
day,
and there
have been
many since
that have
read and
have studied
and have
poured over
the Sermon
on the
Mount and
are amazed
by its
teaching.
There are
many in
our day
that pick
it up
as a
good
moralistic
guide for
life.
We
shouldn't
just be
amazed
at His
words.
We need
to believe
in His
words
and do
them.
We need
to be
like the
Peter of
John
chapter 6
after
Jesus
had said
many
difficult
things.
He said
all kinds
of stuff
about eating
His
flesh
and drinking
His
blood
and people
are getting
a little
bit weirded
out
by Jesus.
Many
abandoned.
The
disciples
left in
droves.
And
Jesus
says,
what the
text says,
verse 66,
after this
many of the
disciples turned
back and no
longer walked
with Him.
So Jesus
said to
the twelve,
do you
want to
go away
as well?
Simon
Peter answered
Him,
Lord,
this is who
we want
to be.
This is who
we want
to be.
The
Peter of
John
chapter 6,
Lord,
to whom
shall we
go?
You
have the
words of
eternal
life and
we have
believed
and have
come to
know that
you are
the Holy
One of
God.
May we
be those
who
declare
Jesus
as the
Holy One
of God,
the Christ,
the narrow
gate and
the rock.
And may we
enter by
Him and
build our
houses on
Him into
the eternal
rest of
God.
Let's pray
together.