Is Your House Built on Christ's Words？

So, Matthew chapter 7, verse 24. Everyone then who hears these words of mine from this sermon, and obviously any word that he speaks, 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 floods came, and the winds blew, and beat against that house, and it fell. And great was the fall of it. And thus, our Lord finishes this sermon. It says, 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. So, here's what I want to do with these four verses. We want to step back. Obviously, they're a whole. Obviously, they're the last paragraph. One final, his metaphors have been different throughout here. He ends with a unique metaphor. It's a simile. He uses the word like. You know, similes compare one thing to another, using such verbiage as like, or as. That's exactly what you have here. Look at verse 24. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them, will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Verse 26. 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. Similes express likeness. That's very plain and obvious here. Something, we use similes because something in life is like something else. In fact, often we use like to describe something that is a spiritual reality, more difficult to understand, and we liken it to something that we're all familiar with and is very readily perceived by all of us. It's a wonderful way of teaching. It's illustrative. And here's the thing. Every single one of us in this room, we've heard the words of Christ. Every one of us, without exception. We've heard these words of Christ. Many of you have been here through most of this Sermon on the Mount series. And you know what? You know what Jesus is saying? How we respond to what Jesus teaches shows what we are like. That's the issue. I just ask you this. Who are you like? And it can be easy to say, well, I'm like the first man. I'm like the wise man. And you know, the thing is, we all know that that's the right answer and that's the desirable answer. It can be easy to say that we're like that. Or we can just basically take a shot in the dark and hope, well, I hope I'm like the wise man. Brethren, we don't want to guess. And we don't want to ignore this. Houses with no foundations fall. And the fall of that house is great. Great, this is no minor thing. Think about the tragedy. You know what Jesus said? What will a man give in exchange for his own soul? The truth is, I heard that one of your queens, as she lay dying, said she'd give her entire fortune, not just to trade places with somebody else, but just for so much more time to live. What will a man give in exchange? What would a man give in exchange when he's faced with judgment and he finds that his house is crumbling? Brethren, no minor thing. Great is the fall of it. Great is the loss of a soul. You think about the value of a soul. There's billions of them all around us. You think about how valuable you are to you. Your soul is to you. Life is to you. If your house falls in the end to you, there is nothing greater. There's nothing more monumental than to lose your soul. All the things that could be faced with that come at us in life, that might grieve us, that might be a travesty, that might seem like I can hardly imagine how I could live without that. If your house falls, this house that he's talking about, you know, what do we have here? We have two men. We have two houses. We have two foundations and we have two outcomes. And here's the thing, Jesus calls one of these men wise, the other foolish. And I just want us to think about this for a second. What is wise? You know, back some months ago when we did the Tuesday study, a year ago actually, when I was in the States, we went through the Proverbs and I talked then about what wisdom is. And I just want to remind you, you may have a different definition, but this is my own definition based on my own study of passages in Scripture that speak about wisdom. You can correct it, you can tweak it, you can add to it, you can do whatever you want with it, but I think you will be hard pressed to prove my definition wrong. Basically, what I believe the Scripture teaches is that wisdom is pursuing your own greatest good for the greatest amount of time. So basically, it's seeking your greatest good forever. That's what wisdom is. And just listen to this. I went in and I just grabbed out some verses, most of them from Proverbs, but listen to this. Blessed, this Proverbs 3.13, blessed is the one who finds wisdom. Now think about that. Blessed is the one who, you will be blessed if you find wisdom. You see, wisdom is very much something that is self-oriented. It's got to do with you doing the best thing for you. Now I recognize the beginning of wisdom has everything to do with the Lord, because obviously our standing with the Lord is the most critical thing about us. But brethren, listen to these verses. In Proverbs 8, you may be familiar with Proverbs 8, the whole chapter, wisdom is personified as a woman. And she speaks. And listen to how wisdom speaks. In Proverbs 8.35, whoever finds me finds life. You see, it's got to do with you. If you find wisdom, you find life, and you obtain favor from the Lord. But he who fails to find me, that's wisdom, injures himself. You see how that is? It's very self-reflective, the whole thing with being a fool or being wise. Listen to Job 22.2. Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. This is how scripture speaks over and over. Listen to this, Proverbs 9.12. If you are wise, you are wise for yourself. Often you find things in the Proverbs that are just so simple. But it's such wisdom. Listen to this. Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit. I love that. Because what does that say? Well, if you do the wise thing, you eat the fruit. I mean, this is wisdom. And you know what? The wise man makes sure there's a foundation under his house. Fact is, if you're wise, you're wise for yourself. If you're wise in the way you construct a house, then your house doesn't fall at the end. If you're foolish and you build without a foundation, it's your house that falls. Do you know if you're foolish, my house doesn't fall. If you're foolish, your house falls. That's the issue here. It's wise to be cautious. Proverbs 14, 16. One who is wise is cautious. A fool is reckless and careless. The last thing you want to be reckless about is building the house that Jesus is talking about here. So the question of the hour is this. What does the wise man do? Now listen, it ought not to be hard to figure out what the house is. The house is a Christian life. The house is the life you are building. Now you have some people that are religious and they hear the preaching, they hear Christ's words, but they don't do them. There's no foundation under that house. But you know what? They're right in the same crowd. We're building these lives that appear to be Christian. We're building these lives that appear to be heaven bound. But you remember there's a narrow way and there's a broad way and many are on the broad way. And it may seem like they're heading in the right direction. They're very religious. They're among us. They're doing many mighty works. But brethren, the thing is we all are building. You are. You know what? You came here today. Why'd you come here? Well, it's all part of the building. You're adding boards and nails. You're putting in some cupboards. This house is your life. What's underneath it? That's the real issue. You see, you can build. You can build your house basically to observation on the outside. Your house can look like somebody else's house. You understand. Our houses on the surface, they can appear very much the same. The real issue is what's underneath. You see, foundations are where you can't see. So what is the foundation? What does the wise man do here that the foolish man does not do? And you can see right away, the issue with the house is the foundation. It doesn't say anything about any different building materials or any different roof or any different cupboards or not any different way that the plumbing was done or the electricity was done. Nothing about landscaping in the yard. There's only one difference between these houses. It's underneath. It's foundation. Two men, both are builders. You see that. Both build a house for themselves. They're not building somebody else's house. They're building their own house. This is you building your own life. This is you living your own life. This is you constructing. You remember in the end, when we have to stand before the living Christ and give an account, it's for what we've done in this body. That's the house. The house is what you've done. The house is how you've lived. The house is how you've responded to His Word. These are the things here. But listen, the difference is this. The difference is the foundation beneath the house. You can imagine this. You drive past both guys' houses. They're under construction. You've driven by houses under construction and you go by. Well, they basically get their lumber from the same place. You know, both these places look about the same. They look like nice places to live. You see the construction going on. You can imagine this outward appearance. Both houses look very much the same. They both look good. They look like places you might wanna live. But you know what? There's a defect in one of these houses that is gonna cost its owner his life. And that is serious business. The question is, what's underneath it? What does the weight of that structure rest on? That's really the issue. You know what a foundation is. A foundation is what holds it. A foundation is what it puts its weight on. What's under it where nobody can see? Brethren, the foundation, and it can seem insignificant, it can seem like kind of a minor matter because it's not where it's visible. It's out of sight. But in the end, it turns out to be the most important thing of all. In fact, in the end, nothing else really matters. This is what matters. This is what Jesus is saying matters. The reality is we're not talking houses. We're talking your life. We're talking my life. We're both building Christian lives. You came in here today. I mean, why'd you come in here today? You came in here today. Undoubtedly, did anybody come here today because you're not hoping that in the end something is accomplished, some way you're helped to reach heaven in the end? Does anybody come here just to play religion? Anybody come here just because you're interested in hearing some guy talk? I doubt that. Why do we come here? I mean, if you really boil it down, what are you looking for? And brethren, every one of us, this is another day of our lives. It's another day when we're adding some structure to these houses that we're building. That's what's happening. And the question is, what's meant by the foundation? Well, listen to what Jesus says. Matthew 7, 24, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Verse 26, everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them. You see, it's when you don't, it's when you hear Christ, but you're not moved by that. To pattern your life around it, there's no foundation. Now listen, don't misinterpret this. Obedience is not the foundation. Brethren, your obedience is a pretty shaky foundation at best. That's not solid enough. Brethren, the foundation here is just what he's talking about. It's the word of God. Brethren, it's the word of Christ. It's the word of Christ that we're to obey. That's the rock. Now listen, the issue is this. Do you build your house on what Jesus says? And see, this is where the, do you actually rest the structure of your life on Jesus' words? Does that give the support? Does that give the stability? Does that give the rock underneath which there's this firm foundation? I ask you this. When Jesus speaks, what happens to you? What happens? Brethren, just think about some verses. Simon Peter answered him, "'Lord, to whom shall we go? "'You have the words of eternal life.'" Now listen, I can come to a verse and Jesus says, we need to be a people that forgive. And if you don't forgive, your Father in heaven won't forgive you. He says that we need to be a people who give to those that ask. He said, you can't serve two masters. You can't serve God and money. He says, store your money up in heaven. He tells us, he basically comes along and he says, do unto others what you want them to do to you. He says, you need to love your enemies. You need to pray for those who despitefully use you. You know, you can come across, he says, concerning lust, gouge the eye out. You're not supposed to harbor bitterness, resentment. You're supposed to be peacemakers. You know what? You can look at these things and you can feel, wow, these things are pretty heavy. But do you feel like Peter feels? Do you know what? No matter how hard anything Jesus says actually is, I recognize this. I plant my weight on Him and His Word. You know why? Because I know He is the words of eternal life. See, I have that confidence that no matter how hard it is, whatever He tells me to do, I recognize this. He's the Savior. He's the Lord. He's King. He came into the world to save sinners. He's got the words of life. And brethren, I'm gonna plant my house there. I'm gonna build my house on that. If He said something in His Word, it doesn't matter how hard it may seem. It doesn't matter even how impossible it may feel to me to carry out. The reality is this is the One who came. This is the One who is the life. This is the One who is the eternal life. And this is the One that has the words of life. Scripture says it's the Spirit who gives life. The flesh is no help at all. The words that I've spoken to you are Spirit and life. So you know what? When He speaks, I wanna listen. When He speaks, I want that to affect my life. When He says something, you know, brethren, when He says something about, He doesn't just not want us murdering each other. He doesn't want us hating. He doesn't want us calling each other name, calling each other fool. He wants us to resolve matters, leave our gift at the altar, and go make things right if they're not right. He wants it to be a praying people, a fasting people, a giving people. Brethren, when you come across these things, I recognize this. He came to show us the life that God delights in. Am I gonna recoil from that? Am I gonna hate that? Brethren, this is where the rock is. Paul, the apostle Paul said this. He speaks of Christ Jesus, our hope. I don't know about you, but I don't have any other hope than in Christ. And when He speaks, that's where my hope is. My hope is, brethren, we heard this recently. She will bear a son and you shall call His name Jesus for He will save His people from their sins. I recognize this. The one who speaks, that's Jesus. They called His name Jesus for a reason. He's gonna save His people from their sins. You know what sin is? Sin is nonconformity to the standard that He sets forth. I recognize this. He came to save me. And so, you know what? When He tells me to do something, even if it's something hard, I recognize this. He saved me from going any other way than that way. It is a hard way. That's why there's so few on it. That's what He said. Enter in at the straight gate. The way is narrow, folks. The way to life is narrow. That's what He says. Why? Because it is the way of His voice. He alone, Christ, is the door. Christ is the way. And there's no other way to the Father than that. It's a very narrow way. And His voice, His voice. Brethren, you know what Scripture says? Though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. I don't know about you, but He can say some pretty hard things, but I recognize this. I feel absolute joy in knowing this one has taken my sin upon Him. This one is going to save me to the uttermost. This one is never gonna abandon me. He's never gonna leave me. He's never gonna forsake me. He promises to intercede for me. He promises to be a help to me. He promises to save me. And so, I recognize this. When His voice comes at me, I can look at it and I can say, yeah, that area is an all-out battle. There's no doubt. Abandoning, you know, one of the things He said, we've mentioned it here, unless you forsake all that you have, you can't be My disciple. Yeah, that's a pretty hard saying. Count the cost, He said. He said to follow Him. He said to carry the cross. Cross is an instrument of death. You've got to die to You. It's not easy? No, that's not easy to prideful people, people stuck on themselves. That's what characterizes sin. We want to go our own way, not God's way. We transgress God's ways. We transgress His laws. We don't like that way natively. But see, brethren, what we recognize is this. He came to save His people from their sins. He came to unleash power into our lives, to change us, to help us, that we might walk the way we're supposed to walk. Brethren, He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, just think about this, He died on that tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, by His wounds you have been healed. When I hear Him speak, it's the voice of one who shed His blood and came to shed that blood to heal my wounds. And my wounds are any place where I have a departure from what the will of God is. Jesus came to tell us the way that pleases the Lord, the way that is pleasing to Him. You know, when you read scripture, you come across things like this. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I'm gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. Listen, if you read the Sermon on the Mount and you don't find rest for your souls, it's because your house is not resting on the right foundation. If you simply read the Sermon on the Mount, you've been convinced you've got to save yourself, that is not a restful place to be. To rest is this. Lord, you've given some hard words. You've given a standard here, be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. Wow, that's up there. But see, I can come and I recognize, okay, He's gentle. He said, learn of me. I recognize I can come to Him. And you might wanna just say no to this. Anybody who ever asked Him for help, He helped them. Can you think of any single example? When I come across these, it's like, Lord, your name is Jesus. You promised to save me from my sin. You died on that tree that I might live to righteousness, die to unrighteousness, die to sin. Lord, I'm trusting you. If you tell me that this is the way you want me to walk, then I'm trusting that you're gonna help me do that. Brethren, the new King James rendering of 1 Peter 2.7, therefore to you who believe, He is precious. You know what you find in the Song of Solomon? His lips are lilies, dripping liquid myrrh. This is speaking of Christ and the way His lips, His speech, do you find it that way? Brethren, His words are life. The Song of Solomon, I am my beloved's and His desire is for me. You know what, when I hear these words, think about this, His desire is for me. And what He's really doing and telling us in this Sermon on the Mount is I am seeking. You see this in Ephesians 5. He came to beautify a bride for Himself. When He calls us to this standard of living, do you recognize it for what it is? This is not a slave master cracking a whip at you. This is one who shed his own blood and he's saying, my desire is for you. And the beauty that I find in you, it's not physical beauty. The beauty I find in you is conformity to my will, to my Father's will. That's what He finds to be beautiful. That's where His desire rests. Or we read in the Song of Solomon again, my beloved speaks and says to me, arise my love, my beautiful one, and come away. See, I recognize this. When I'm seeking in the strength of Christ to work this out in my life, when He speaks and rather than feeling like, oh, that's hopeless, that's just an impossible standard. I hate when He talks like that. I just wish Tim would get done with this series. This whole thing sounds so morbid and so harsh. Well, brethren, if we're gonna build our houses, our structures on Christ and His words, you need to recognize we're talking about, we're talking about one who to God's people is precious. We're talking about one who is beautiful. We're talking about one whose lips drip with myrrh and life. We're talking about one who when He speaks, this is spirit and life. We're talking about one who speaks about just what it is that God finds attractive in His people. God finds righteousness attractive. Sin is an abhorrence to Him. Even when it's found in His own children, it is ugly, it is dirty, it's vile. It's the beauty of holiness that Christ finds so attractive. You see, of two men, two men, they hear Christ speak. Both men, they sit under the preaching because they're both hearing His words. Both men have Bibles. Both men claim to be Christian. That's the house. But both men don't build upon what they hear. They seem to hear the same preaching, but the problem is, I mean, they might claim to believe the same doctrine, adhere to the same doctrinal statement, walk among the same people, but there's this vital difference. It's a different, obviously, it's not obvious on the surface, but a catastrophic element is missing from one of these men's houses. Brethren, when you hear Christ speak, do you feel this deep joy? Do you feel safety there? Do you feel love? Christ said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. And John says they're not grievous. Why? Because this takes us back to the beatitudes at the beginning. Why? Because He works in our heart, causes us to hunger and thirst after what's beautiful, what's holy. What's right. Brethren, is there a beauty in His words? Is there life in His words? Do you see a glory? Is there a compulsion? Are you compelled? Because you recognize the love that He had for you and the price that it took. Do you find a stability in His words? Brethren, if we look closely at the person who has no foundation in this analogy here, in this simile, you try to analyze this guy. What's he like? What is this person who has nothing strong and immovable underneath his life? Well, it's as he builds it. The reality is this. He's not put his whole weight. You see, this is the thing about a foundation. It's that which you put your weight on. Can you lean on that? Can you rest on what he says? The person that has no foundation, they don't do that. They hear the teaching, but they don't rest their weight on the foundation. And you know why? A lot of times you're afraid. They're afraid to put their weight on that foundation. They're either afraid it won't hold them, or they're afraid that Christ will require something that they just simply don't wanna give up. They're afraid that in His words, it'll take away their idol. It'll take away their independence. It'll take away their pride. It'll take away self. They don't wanna give it up. Some sin that they know that voice is going to say, I want that. Go sell all that you have and give to the poor and you come follow me. You'll have treasure in heaven. See, now I'm not resting my weight there. That voice may tell me to do something that I don't wanna do. That's the issue here. This person with no foundation, he hears the teaching, but the sand, the sand is appealing. What's the sand? Well, the sand is your own opinion. It's your own way. It's your own religion. You may call Jesus Lord. We saw in the last portion of this seventh chapter, that's exactly what a whole lot of people do. You may use Christian terminology. That's never the issue. That's not it. You know what this person does? This person lives, they say verbally, Jesus is Lord, but when you look at their life, they live as though they are Lord. They do their own thing. Yeah, he's trying to build a Christian house, but his life revolves around himself. You see, he won't come right out and build an atheist house or a Hindu house, because he is convinced that Jesus, he's convinced that God, Jesus Christ, have something to offer, and typically that's an escape from hell. You see, there are certain blessings that this God has to offer, so they sign up for that. They want to build a house that seems to resemble that. This person is anxious to avoid hell, there's no question. They want God's blessing. But they don't really want God. And they don't find Christ in his words altogether lovely, altogether precious, altogether desirable, altogether their only hope, altogether life. They're not compelled by love. You see, the thing is, when you sense Christ paid it all, I mean, think about Paul in Galatians 2. He loved me, and he gave himself for me. You start hearing that, and it's like, when somebody has an over-the-top love for you, they paid a price for you that it's so staggering, you can't comprehend it. And they say, look how much I love you. Now listen, this is the path that I'm calling you to walk. And it's a path that is most glorifying to God. It's a path that is I beautify you to be my bride. This is what I find so beautiful in you. This is what I came to do. I came to save you from that ugliness, your rebellion, your own way, your pride. The man with no foundation, he's not compelled by a love for Christ. Or what the beatitude says, blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness. You see, I can look at this standard that's given to us, and I recognize being perfect as my father is perfect. Giving like he gives, being pure like he's pure, having my affections in the right place. Brethren, that is desirable. I long for heaven because I wanna be without sin. I wanna get to where I'm not plagued by it, where I'm not even pulled by it. Brethren, people that have a hunger and thirst after that. But you know, the guy with no foundation, he doesn't feel that. Jesus' words chafe at him. He wants to find excuses. She wants to find, she's not happy with it. People like this, they don't allow the fullness of the word. You see, Jesus says, those who hear my word and do it over against those who hear my word and don't do it. The person with no foundation, they're pickers and choosers. Well, they like certain parts of God's word, but they don't wanna hear other parts. It's too hard, I can't understand it. And you know, a lot of times, the reason people can't understand it is because their pride won't allow them to understand it. It's very understandable. Pride blinds eyes to see what... You see, picker and chooser. You favor your own opinions. He isn't most concerned that the triune God be worshiped and honored. That doesn't really matter. It's, you just wanna get out of hell in the end. This person is extremely skillful in justifying why he's right in often not taking Jesus literally and at face value in the things that he says. He often comforts himself with the fact, well, lots of other houses don't have foundations. And he comforts himself with the thoughts that the sand has worked quite well thus far. And if you ever begin to question or challenge his foundations, he may say, yeah, from time to time, those foundations bother me too. But typically, you know what he'll do? He'll go to looking at the cupboards, looking at the roof, looking at the walls, looking at the plumbing, looking at the electrical. It's the foundation that's the issue. Brethren, what we have here is the sermon is a test. That's really what, for Jesus to end this sermon with this, if you hear my words and you do that. You see, that's a person that's rested their weight there. Yes, Lord, I hear you. This is a tough sermon. It's, I mean, it's a righteous standard that I think every one of us would just admit. This is, do you wanna know if you're the wise man or the foolish man? Well, it ought to be obvious. Jesus telling us the sermon is this sermon. All that he speaks, but this sermon is what's in context. What does Jesus mean by hearing his words and doing them? He's talking about hearing this sermon and building your life on it. Not parts of it, but the whole. And so something comes along like this. Jesus said in this sermon, everyone who's angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to counsel. Whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. What does it mean to throw your whole weight on that? Well, you know what? Scripture describes a person who's a forgetful hearer. They just hear and they go off. Brethren, we need to stop and we need to take this in. How I relate to others, how I speak about others, whether there's hatred in my heart, this really matters. Whether there's peace and I'm being a peacemaker. Am I, do I honor people? And brethren, you need to think on this and you need to pray through this. How do you put your whole weight on it? Lord, I hear your words. I wanna learn from you. You said, learn of me. I wanna learn from you. How did you speak about others? Sometimes you spoke pretty strong to those Pharisees. Yep, and sometimes it's right to speak strong. So I wanna learn from him. I wanna learn from you. And you pray. If you're gonna lean on him and his words, you're pleading with him, Lord, help me. Search me like David cried. Search me, know me. Lord, where am I wrong in this place? I wanna be right. This is how you put your weight on this. Or he says this, if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off, throw it away. It's better for you to lose one of your members than to your whole body going to hell. You see, you hear something like this. Listen, when you're going through this, I would just ask you, where do you find yourself fail the most? Where do you fail the most? What is it that most needs to be amputated out of your life? And you don't just brush it off, be like Samson and you shake yourself. You just go out of here like lost people after a funeral that just wanna shake themselves so they don't have to think about death. Where do you fail most? I mean, under the holy all seeing eyes of God. Where's your greatest weakness? Where's your greatest sin? Where's your greatest failure, your defect? Where are you most defiled? Brethren, we don't wanna ignore it. You see, I can come to the one who speaks these words and put my whole weight on it. Lord, you died on that tree to heal my wounds. And this is a festering wound in my life. I need help. And you see what it does? Takes you right back to the beginning of this whole sermon. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. Takes you right back there. That's leaning and resting on it. Brethren, if you rightly understand in these words, it ought to be fueling in you the beatitudes to chase you right back there. Lord, you know my own weakness. You know what I'm made of. Lord, I see this standard. I see this is what you call me to. Brethren, this is how you put your weight on it. And every day, you're not forgetful. Every day, you're going back to him. Every day, you're crying out to him. Every day, you recognize your poverty in spirit. Every day, you're mourning over your failures, but there is a hunger and thirst after righteousness. And by his grace, you actually make strides in this direction. And you're seeking to amputate. Lord, I know this is an area of defect in my life, and I am going to plant myself on your words. You want my life like this, and so Lord, trusting you, looking to you, helping me, not forsaking me, not leaving me. Lord, I'm going to step out like Peter out of the boat. I'm going to try to walk on this water. I have my doubts whether it's going to hold me, but Lord, I don't doubt you. I have the water, that causes me question, but Lord, you, your name is Jesus. You came to save your people from their sins. I'm putting my weight on this. Lord, I got this thing I need to amputate, and it has not come off easy. I've tried to slice on that thing. I've put the hacksaw to it, but it's not coming off easy. I need your help, Lord. And you work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, and he causes. Brethren, the scripture is very plain. God is at work within us. God causes his people to be willing in the day of his power. We need God to help. We need God to be there. We need Jesus to be every bit his name, and to live according to his name. Brethren, throughout, and I'll tell you this, throughout this sermon, you may have caught it. If you simply look for every place in this sermon where hell is threatened, it's a lot. Jesus threatens it in so many different ways. But brethren, you have to hear it for what it is. He's saying in every one of these, if me and my words to you are not the foundation, then your house is gonna fall down. Just think with me. You're the salt of the earth. Was there a threat of hell? Yeah. If the salt loses its saltiness, it's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. If you don't hear hell there, then you're not listening carefully enough. Jesus says this, I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. That's the same threat. How about again? Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you're going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard. This is anybody that has a problem with you. The person that you were supposed to leave your gift at the altar and go make right. If you don't do that and you don't make this thing right, it says in the end of this, you'll be put in prison. And I say to you, you will never get out until you've paid the very last penny. Now, again, if you don't have ears to hear, listen to it again in more plain. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away, it's better for you to lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. Or again, if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses. You see, Jesus keeps saying this all the way through this sermon, over and over and over. If you really recognize how many times he threatens hell in this, he does it in a lot of different terminology. And all this comes down to a massive culmination in chapter seven, where he says first in verses 13 and 14, that there is a broad way that leads to destruction. There it is. And then he says it again, there's two types of trees. You've got good trees and bad trees, good fruit and bad fruit. And if you've got the bad fruit, you're gonna be cut down that tree and thrown into the fire. And you keep going, he's got this group that comes before him and they don't do the will of the Father. And he tells them, depart from me, I never knew you. And then you come right down to this last analogy that we have here. And what do you have? Great was the fall of it. Brethren, I can't speak for you. Ruby and I said going home last week, we said, we both trembled. We felt fear after the message last week. But you know what? These threats ought not to fill us with despair. They ought to press us right back to the very beginning of this sermon. To where I feel an overwhelming sense of my poverty of spirit. That's it. Lord, I need you. See, this is faith. This is trusting him. Lord, I hear your words and I long to be like that. And Lord, I'm gonna strive. Lord, I know my own power and I know my own weakness, but Lord, I'm not going down this narrow path because I think I've got strength to walk it. There's only one reason I'm going down this path is because I'm trusting you are gonna get me to the end. And that's, brethren, this is where we're at. This is where we can test ourselves. How do we respond to this? Brethren, ask yourselves how you feel. There's no question with all these threats, Jesus wants us to fear. He wants us to feel that this is life and death importance. But I believe he does this because he knows how many are deceived. I mean, brethren, think about this. If I asked you, how many of you believe you're Christians? Well, I'd get hands come up all over. Let's imagine we did that. I said, tell me if you think you're a Christian and everybody in the room that thinks they're one, they raise their hand. Imagine if suddenly God opened my eyes to see into the spiritual realm and every one of you, it's like I had a filter before my eyes and every one of you that had just raised your hands that wasn't real, suddenly looking through my eyes, I saw you red. And suddenly that filter was given to me and I saw one of you. One of you fit this foundationless builder. And I saw that. My eyes were open to it. I could see it. Brethren, I'll tell you, if all of a sudden I became more impassioned and more heated, would that be because I was being cruel or would that actually be a kindness? Brethren, do you realize what Jesus has been doing all the way through here? He's been saying, if you don't take what I've just said, there will be no foundation and your house will fall. But can you imagine if suddenly I'm looking through this filter and out of all of you that raised your hands, 10 of you were deceived, 12 of you were deceived. See, Jesus knows this when he says, many are on the broad road. He knows the numbers. That's where his warnings stem from. These are warnings of kindness. What they're doing is they're warnings that call us to come out into the light. Come out. They're not harsh. They're not cruel. But you come out of the darkness. You come out. Come out. You have no foundation. Come out into the light and confess it all to the Lord. Bring it out there. Yeah. Brethren, what we have to ask ourselves is this. When you feel that Jesus says, look, I say to you, you didn't look at a woman and lust after her. You committed adultery in your heart. You tear that eye out, you gouge it out, or you go to hell. I mean, when you hear that, I mean, I recognize you can feel like, well, those are strong words. They are. You feel like there's a, that's not, I mean, you just go to hell. Do you want them to soften it somehow? That's the reality. And a lot of people hear those words and they don't do them. And I just ask you this. What do you feel when you hear the sermon on the mount? Do you feel angry? Do you feel like you dislike it? Do you feel it's over the top? Do you feel it's unreasonable? Do you feel like it just, this just makes salvation impossible? Is that how you feel? Brethren, if that's how you feel, it's because you don't have any foundation. You see, our foundation holds us up. When we look at this, these words, there's security under us. There's a stability there. We recognize from whose lips these words come. If this just makes you feel everything is hopeless, it makes you feel agitated, it makes you feel annoyed. Tim, would you just get done preaching that and go on to something else? Or do you feel that Jesus' words just all the more conform you to the beatitudes? Do His words just make you feel utterly unworthy? Weak? Do they produce in you that poverty of spirit and that mourning and that meekness? I mean, do you feel that hunger kick in? Do you feel that still behind this, there's one who is gentle, who says, learn of me? One whose name is Jesus who says, look, I came to save you from being unlike this sermon. I came to save you from that which makes you ugly. I came to make you a holy people. I came to make you beautiful. And I did this at great price. I said, I gave myself for you. My relationship everlastingly with my father was quite pleasant, very enjoyable, very close, very sweet. I left the halls of heaven and my father himself loves you. And he did not spare me in order that the satisfactory price may be paid for your sins. And you think if I'm willing to come and do that, I've given you these words. You throw yourself on top of them. They are words of life. You don't wanna ignore these. Don't turn your back on them. My name is Jesus. I came to save you. I'm gonna be there. I'm not gonna forsake you. You get on that narrow way that leads to life. I'm gonna walk with you every single step of the way. I'm never gonna leave you for a moment. I'm gonna help you. There'll be dark seasons. Yes, there's pain on this road, but I suffered it ahead of you. I'll walk with you. I'll be there. Brethren, I mean, you know what he says here? He says, do your good works before men. He says, be light. Do you long for that? I mean, do you long that God be honored, that Christ be honored? You go down to the city center, some of you yesterday. I mean, do you long to have Jesus Christ praised? Some of these people fall down and give up their darkness. Brethren, Jesus wants us to build our lives on his words. That's the issue here. And either you do or you don't. When he speaks, either this is life or, well, it's nice. It's religious talk. It's whatever. Brethren, when they called his name Jesus, and he says, I'm gonna save them from their sins, you do recognize. Some people like to just say, well, yeah, he saves us from the guilt of sin. He saves us, he forgives us. That's true. But if you stop there, then you've missed the fullness of what the name Jesus means. Jesus actually came to remove all the wrinkles, all the spots, all the blemishes. That's what Scripture says. And he's gonna present the people that have foundations people that rest on what he says. He's gonna present that person to himself. Usually, like a father presents the daughter to the groom. Why is Jesus going to present us to himself? Well, because he's the bridegroom, but he's also Jesus, whose name means that he saves his people from their sin. So he's the purifier and the groom. That's why he presents. He scrubs us, he cleans us, and he marries us. That's the picture that you have. So if you think these words come from somebody who's being cruel and harsh, just trying to make you feel despair, you've missed it. You've missed the one who speaks these words. Brethren, we can say, Lord, command whatever you will. Just, Lord, please help me. Because I, but I can't do these things you tell me to do unless you help me do them. So command whatever you will. I'm gonna trust you. You see, faith says, okay, let's go this path. He's called me to gouge out the eye. Well, what eye needs to be most gouged out in my life? Do some soul searching. Lord, I know my life is not perfectly satisfying to him right here. I know that one of the most glaring blotches on my life is over here. Okay, Lord, I hear these words. Your name is Jesus. I'm trusting that. Lord, I'm gonna strive. And then what do you do? You do what the Sermon on the Mount says. And you pray. And you keep praying. And you seek. And you keep seeking. And you knock. And you keep knocking. And it says, everyone that asks shall receive. And everybody that seeks will find. Everybody that knocks, it will be opened unto them. What do you think you're, I mean, one of the huge things that you're asking and seeking and knocking about is this very thing. I mean, for you to be the person that's gonna love your enemies, that's gonna live a life habitually doing unto others what you know they want done unto them. For you to constantly be in the place where you pray for those who despitefully use you. For you to be the initiator and the aggressor and trying to heal wounds among each other. To be a forgiving person. Oh, it is so easy to be resentful and bitter. So easy to be a liar. So easy to not be truthful. So easy to be lustful. So easy to be rotten. So easy to be selfish, proud. And he said he'll save his people from their sins. Do you really believe that? If you believe that, throw your whole weight on it. That's the reality, throw your weight on it. Father, I pray that as we finish this sermon, all these words, the words of life, spirit and life, we recognize that came from the Savior sent into this world to pursue sinners. Lord, we recognize that we are your workmanship. We pray, Lord, work on us, work on us. Lord, help us to run well, to live well, to love well. Lord, increase our faith in who you are and your ability to save. Lord, I pray this in your name. You said that if we prayed anything in your name, you would do it. And so we ask you, Lord, make us holy. Make us pure. Help us to be that bride that will be altogether lovely in the day when you come to marry us. We know that we are betrothed. Virgins, betrothed is the picture in scripture. Lord, we trust you. We trust that your blood has effectual power. We trust that what you accomplished on that cross has made it possible for us to die to sin and live unto righteousness. We pray, stamp your own image deeply upon us. We know that we have been predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. We pray that that image would readily, speedily be taking form upon us. Help us, Lord, to grow into that same image from one degree of glory to the next. We thank you for this sermon, for these words. We thank you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.