The Wise and the Foolish Builder

Join me if you will hear in chapter seven the Book of Matthew, verse twenty four Matthew, Chapter seven and verse twenty four for the end of the Sermon on the Mount. And we read, 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. Then that last line, one sentence, two verses. 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 like that Jesus finishes his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, and they're astonished, astonished. I tell you why, because of his wonderful oratory skills, or his incredible use of rhetoric. No one word authority, authority. They hadn't heard teaching like this because of its authority. It's rather common, and unfortunately very sad that when many people in our day talk about this passage of Scripture and Jesus amazing the crowds with his teaching, and I say this and quote this to you from one pastor of a very large church here in the great state of Texas, who has said that Jesus was the ultimate entertainer and that our sermons need to be entertaining, just like Jesus' sermons were entertaining, because the fact of the matter is the crowds were astonished by the teaching of Jesus because they were so entertaining. Again, pastor right here in the state of Texas, very large megachurch says, what the crowd is saying here is that they had never been so enthralled and never so entertained by a sermon in their entire lives, and so we need to be like Jesus and be entertaining in our presentations. A couple of small problems with that problem. Number one, Jesus was anything but entertaining. Usually when he finished teaching. People wanted to kill him, not applaud him. Secondly, the text tells us very clearly why they were astonished, not because of the entertainment value, but because of the authority in the message. So here's the question, what's so astonishing about the teaching of Jesus? Not just in this day? Because I would argue that the teaching of Jesus, properly understood is and ought to be as astonishing in our day as it was in his day. But the question is why why was the teaching of Jesus so astonishing in his day? And why should the teacher king of Jesus continue to be as astonishing, if not more so, in the day and the age in which we live. I'm so glad you asked that question. There are at least four reasons why. The first is this, the teaching of Jesus is astonishing because it offers authority to a world of autonomy. It offers authority to a world of autonomy. I understand something. Jesus makes it very clear in all four of these illustrations that he uses that there are but two ways if we were going to put it, to put it in the vernacular, to put it in our language and our understanding. Jesus basically teaches, it's my way or the highway. Amen. There's only two ways. There are only two religious There is true religion, the true religion of Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ and as practiced by his followers on the narrow gait hard road with few companions that lead to life. That's the one. The other religion is everything else. It doesn't matter how you distinguish the other religions. There is the one true religion of Christianity, and then there is everything else. We can classify everything else any way we want to. We can look at them as you know, monotheistic or polytheistic or pantheistic, or we can divide them up in all sorts of you know, scientific ways, if we so desire, And that may be informative, but only to the extent that when we do so, we are talking about the kinds of errors inherent in each religion. But they all fall into the same category wrong false, not the right one. There is Christ and the religion of Christianity, and there is everything else. Some of those other things are close approximations to Christianity. Others of them are as far away as the East is from the west. But in the final analysis, it doesn't matter how much you miss by, It just matters that you miss. So Jesus offers authority in the midst of a culture of autonomy, because ultimately, what man has done throughout the ages is find various religions that suit his desires, find various religions that make him comfortable, find various religions that cohere with what he has determined is his worldview, his life view, and his understanding of ultimate reality. Listen to these words. Restany writes this and his book Vote Against Maturity. He says, because man was created by God, man cannot escape God's creating purpose. Even in his rebellion and in all his revolutionary activity, man manifests God's purposes, however much he may deform them. Since man was created to glorify God and enjoy him forever, man cannot escape being a religious creature. In the state of depravity, however, man seeks a religion apart from God and in hostility to him. In his state of depravity, man seeks a religion apart from God, and ultimately, as a result thereof, man seeks a religion in hostility to God. So Jesus here erects the one true religion, and man basically says to Christ in various forms, Jesus, you did a really good job. And some of that's really nice. I may even use some of it. But what I'm going to do is erect over here something that I find more appealing, more appeasing, and more satisfying than what you have established. That, my friends, is rebellion, no matter how you slice it, even if you take the religion of Christianity and try to add to it, like the Pharisees did by basically adding to the law of Moses. Moses, you did a really good job, and we're glad that you did that with the law, and it's really good. However, we are going to add to it some things that we believe will make us more righteous than the lawgiver who gave us the very law himself. We believe we can do better. We believe we can go beyond, We believe we can improve this. That's still sin, and it's still rebellion. Man in a state of depravity can do nothing else. What do I mean by Jesus offering authority? Listen to what he says in verse twenty four, and in verse twenty seven, everyone who hears these words of mine. He repeats it again in verse twenty seven, everyone who hears these words of mind, these words of mind, by the way, that's what separates him from the scribes. The scribes are saying, well, Moses wrote, and here's what Moses meant. The scribes say, Jeremiah wrote, and here's what Jeremiah meant. The scribes may say David wrote, and here's what David meant, and so on and so forth. Jesus, however, was not standing up before the crowd exegeating texts. He was not standing up before the crowd saying, let me give you a better understanding of what Moses meant in this passage of scripture. Let me give you a better understanding of what Daniel was trying to say. Here. No, Jesus stood up and basically said, I am God, and here's what I say. That's the authority with which he taught. That's why all other attempts at religion are ultimately rebellion, because they are rebelling against the god Man who has revealed himself in flesh and said this is the truth. More importantly, he says, and John fourteen, I am the Way, the Truth, the Life. No one, no one comes to the Father except through me. The teaching of Jesus offers authority to a world bent on autonomy, a world that wants to right the rules itself, a world that believes it has figured out the way the universe works, and as such can have a more sophisticated approach to ultimate reality than the man who spoke the world into existence, Jesus, the god man. That's the problem with all of man's religion. It is ultimately rebellion against the authority of Almighty God himself. This was the difference. This is why that God was astonished, Not that it was entertaining for Jesus to say, everyone who hears these words of mine, he didn't even say, notice, folks, he didn't even say these words of my father. He says, everyone who hears these words of mine, my words, these words coming out of my mouth, your life, and whether it's righteous or whether it's not. Your future, and whether at least a life everlasting or destruction is dependent. Ultimately, Jesus says, on what you do with my words that come out of my mouth? Because I am God. That's why the teaching of Jesus was astonishing in his day, and that's why the teaching of Jesus is astonishing in our day. It is non negotiable. It is authoritarian to the utmost. It is man wrapped in flesh who says, Oh, by the way, I am God. What I say goes. Don't add to it, don't take away from it. Just obey, obey me, Obey what I say, Obey what I just told you, And if you don't, you will die, and not just a physical death. But we'll get to that in a moment. When it comes to the deity of Christ. I want you to remember this. Just just hold onto this for a moment, Okay, grab this for a moment. It's going to become very important when we get to the last part of this message. I want you to remember the ones, Okay, the ones. Jesus is the one. Remember the ones. Hold on to one. We have one true God, that God has revealed himself in three persons. Okay, So the are three phrases that we find the one, the Deity of Christ. These three places I want you to know. I want you to memorize. We'll look at him John chapter one, Colossians chapter one, and First John chapter one. These are the key Christology passages John chapter one, Colossians chapter one, and First John chapter one. If you want to look at the deity of Christ, turn with me, if you will to the right. Let's look at these three. First, let's look at John chapter one, John chapter one. Beginning of verse one, in the big beginning was the Word. And the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made. That was made in him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Go down with me if you will to verse fourteen. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth. So who's the word there? Jesus. And the beginning was the word. The word was with God. The word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Through him all things were made. So here he is not only is he God, but he's the creator of the universe. There in John chapter one. Turned with me to the right again, and let's look at Colossians chapter one, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Colossians chapter one, and started verse thirteen. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is who we're talking about here, the Sun. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether the thrones or dominions, or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body the Church. He is the beginning, the first from the dead, that in everything he might be pre eminent. Not only is he the creator of all things, but we see here in Colossians he's also the sustainer of all things, and the one for whom all things exist. Finally, First John chapter one, let's keep turning that to the right. First John chapter one. We looked at this when we talked through First John. But let's go here again and read it just to refresh our understanding of Christology. First John chapter one, Remember John one, Colossians one, First John one, remember the ones. These are the key christological passages when you're talking about who Jesus is. These are the only places that you go to find out who Christ is. But these are the cardinal path messages that give us more doctrinal and theological understanding about the deity of Christ than just about anywhere else. First John Chapter one. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands. Concerning the Word of life, the life was made manifest, and we have seen it and testified to it, and proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. That which we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that your joy may be made complete. Now we have evidence of this God Man who has been seen and heard, and touched and handled and manifested to his apostles, who give us the teaching about who Christ is. So what's astonishing about the gospel message? What's astonishing about the teaching of Jesus Christ is that it offers the ultimate authority to a world of autonomy and says basically, these are the words of God, and they are therefore unalterable by you or anyone else. Which is why Paul says in Galatians, if we, or an angel or anyone else should come to you preaching another gospel, let them be accursed. There is no other gospel. Yeah, but I saw an angelic being, Joseph Smith would say, Paul says, let that angel moroney be accursed, even if you saw an appearance of what you thought was the apostle Paul himself, Paul says in Galatians one, letting me be a cursed if I bring you another gospel. There is no other gospel. It is the religion of Christianity has delivered to us by Christ, has passed down to us by the apostles, or it is false, that's it. Secondly, the teaching of Jesus offers absolutes in a world of relativism. This is know what he says in verse twenty four. Look at it again here in our passage, Matthew seven. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them Verse twenty seven, everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them. Not. Here's what could happen you decided to hear my words and do them. And here's what might happen to you if you decide to hear these words of mine and not do them. In other words, here's the way people try to reason this. Jesus was a very good man, and a very good teacher, and a very good prophet, and he taught some things that were wonderful, and we ought to incorporate those things that Jesus taught into our lives because they could be very beneficial to us. That's not what Jesus teaches. Jesus says, there's what I teach and everything else. There's obedience to what I teach and the lack thereof, and everyone falls into one category or the other. Everyone There is no piecemeal. It doesn't work that way. It is either you are hearing what I teach and obeying what I teach, and therefore the house will stand. This is absolute, not in most instances, the house will stand no. And again, think about what Jesus is teaching here. It's a parable, Jesus says, and again, here's what's dangerous about parables, because oftentimes we try to allegorize parables. And basically, what some people will do and teaching this very passive scripture is say, what you need to do is take the principles of the Bible, and if you build your life on the principles of the Bible, or if you build your business on the principles of the Bible, you'll be better off than if you hadn't built your house, your life, your business on the principles of the Bible. Folks, this is not just about holding on to the principles of the Bible because they happen to work that falls woefully short. There are a lot of Christians out there who are, for example, writing business books and basically what they're doing is stripping the Gospel of all of its authority, stripping the Gospel of all of its powers. And they're saying, here, I have mined the scriptures for these principles. Take these principles and apply these principles, because these principles are a means to an end. The end, of course, is better business for you and more money for you. Jesus says, I'm not about you making more money in your business. I'm not about you having a happier life. What I'm about is I am the truth. What I'm saying is the truth. You live by the truth, and you will survive. If you don't, you won't survive. I am not here speaking about better business, because newsflash, there are people who believe the Gospel who build their life on the teaching of Jesus Christ and are so broke they can't pay attention, let alone their bills. There are people who have built their businesses on the true principles of Scripture and gone utterly bankrupt. That's not what this parable is about. It's not we miss it completely when we turn this parable, rip it kicking and screaming out of context and make this just about well, if you go to the Book of Proverbs and yank those principles out there and apply those principles, then your business is going for Trust me, there are plenty of people who've applied those principles and their businesses didn't flourish. Or you hear about the soldier, and we were in combat and our unit memorized some I've heard this testimony before. We were in combat and our unit memorized Psalm seventy one. Are Psalm ninety one, you know, thousand and eight years ten thousand at your right hand and will not come near you. We memorize Psalm ninety one, and we went through the whole war and didn't lose a single man in our unit. Well, that sounds really good. Here's the problem. Do you think they're the only people who memorize Palm ninety one when they were in the war. And do you believe that everyone who memorized Psalm ninety one didn't die? Help you if you believe that, folks, that's That's not the way Christianity works. It's not. There are people who believe everything right and do everything right. Again, we're talking about as much as humanly possible. They're in line and they miscarry while Pagans go and have babies without a problem. There are people who do these things, believe these things. They're walking with Jesus Christ and their bodies are racked with pain. I'm looking around here right now, right now, people in this very room who are struggling with sickness, with financial upheaval problems, and homes with families and marriages and children, love Jesus Christ with every fiber of their being, but are going through difficult times right now. Do you think the only people in this world who go through chemotherapy are people who don't trust Christ? Do you think that the only people in this world who die of cancer at a young age are people who don't trust Christ. Don't buy that simplistic, man centered view of this passage. Please. When Jesus is talking about the house that stands in the house that falls, he is not talking about your best life now. But again, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Thirdly, the teaching of Jesus offers hardship to a world of ease. I want you to notice something. There's a phrase that's repeated that there are these two. There's the man who here's my words and doesn't do them. They're the man who here's my words and doesn't There's the house that stands and there's the house that falls. But in the midst of it, there's a phrase that's the same in both instances. He says, and the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. That's repeated both times. The rain comes, whether you believe Jesus or not. The floods rise, whether you believe Jesus or not. The wind beats on your house, whether you believe Jesus or not. This is far from a guarantee of ease for those who follow Christ. That is not the point of this passage. That is not the point of this text. So the authority of Jesus is not here in Jesus saying you follow me, man, and I'll give you the good life that so worries me with the way that we present Christianity to people. And again we'll get there. But listen to this and a couple of passages of scripture. I want you to see something how this is so far from what Jesus is teaching. Go to Mark Mark, chapter eight, Mark eight, beginning of thirty four. This is right after Peter's famous confession you are the Christ, the son of the Living God. Jesus tells him about his own suffering. Peter rebukesen. Listen to this in verse thirty four, and calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels, will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him, will the son of man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the Holy angels. Jesus says, you want to follow me, pick up your cross. And again he does not mean a nice gold necklace that you wear around your neck. It's an emblem of death, of execution. When Jesus calls a man, it has been said he bids him come and die. Any picture of Christianity that says that it's all about and again to this is what is communicated. God did not make you to be average. God made you to be extraordinary. Newsflash, that's exactly opposite of what the Bible teaches. Listen the first you're in chapter one verses twenty sixty thirty one. For consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful, not many of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God shows what is weak in the world, to shame the strong. God shows what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing, things that are that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of Him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and regemption. So that, as it is written, let the one who boast boast in the Lord. Paul says the exact opposite of what those teens says. Paul says, look at yourselves. You're not much, and that makes God glorious. Look at yourselves, He says too, you're not average. But his argument is you're below average, and God be praised. You know what we say. Here's what we say. Oh if God would just say tiger woods, Oh if God would just say whatever you know, big named athlete, big named actor, big name Did you know that so and so was a Christian who cares? Who cares? Here's why we care, because we don't get this principle. God is glorified in that he saves men in in spite of their unworthiness. But here's what we want to be able to communicate to the world. Look at all these worthy people who think like we do. We're call we got it together. Did you know that this famous person was a Christian? And that famous person was a Christian? We must not be all bad. Instead, it's look at these lowly people, not all the high and mighty. Can God save the high and mighty? Yes he can, Yes he does, he does. But Christianity is not marked by somehow these exceptional, overwhelmingly attractive and wealthy and whatever else, a bunch of people who, because they've got it together, have been smiled on by God. Now the Kingdom of God is filled with the least of these. The Kingdom of God is filled with very ordinary people whose lives the angels look at and revere. Why. Because we've been bought with a price, the precious blood of Christ. That's why. Not because we're excellent and magnificent and wealthy and beautiful and powerful and noll but because for the most part. We're We're absolutely not, and God be praised. Most people live very ordinary, very mundane lives. Can't just tell you a couple of things that bothered me. Here's one. You go to an event, you know, you go to big conference, and I mean the big stuff. You know, you go to the big stuff. You go to a pastor's conference. And at the pastor's conferences, who are the pastors who are usually up there up front talking to people. Well, they're the guy who took their church from fifty people to fifty thousand in six months, you know, some ridiculous stuff. And that's how they're introduced. When he went to so and so, they had mirror a mirror one hundred and twenty five people. Now they're meeting in nine locations. They built buildings in excess of thirty million dollars twenty nine million in which they still owe. And he put you know, ninety thousand people meeting on eighty two different campuses. I give you what is that? It bothers me, bothers me. He's worthy to be listened to because he's successful, and Christianity is all about success. The most the greatest listen and perhaps you too can get there, and then you have a big event, these big stadium events, and if we're going to do the big revival or the big crusade or whatever, what do we do. We go get a guy from the NFL or the NBA or Major League Baseball for him to stand up and give his testimony, so that basically he can say this, Listen, I trust Jesus, and I can throw a baseball one hundred miles an hour and get paid five million dollars a year to do it. God is awesome. Don't you want to trust Jesus too? Five million year? Yeah. As a result of that, here's what I've heard from the mouths of some Christians. You know, I really don't have much of a testimony. Have you heard this. I've heard this. I've heard this from many a Christian. I really don't have much of a testimony. You know what that means, You believe a testimony is about making much of you, and not about making much of Christ, the king of the universe who spoke the world into existence, reached into your raggedy, wretched life and saved you. And you don't have much of a testimony. The teaching of Jesus is astonishing because it is about the hard road and not the easy one. Those people who those people who who don't live have a drab, mundane, very difficult existence. They're the exception, not the rule. The Christian life is hard. It always has been. It's hard. Finally, the teaching of Jesus offers a warning to a world of optimism. That's why it's astonishing. We live in a world of optimism, and the teaching of Jesus offers a warning. Remember I said earlier, this is not about you take these principles and it'll make your business more successful. That's not what this is about. Listen to it. Let me read it one more time. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, floods, king, the winds blew and beat on the house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. Everyone everyone, Okay, So that means everyone who builds a house on what Jesus says you build a house on will never experience the fall of their house. Will. Do Christians experience hardship? Yes? Do Christians die? Yes? Do Christians go broke? Yes? So He can't mean that everyone who builds on these words won't have hardship, won't die, and won't go broke. That can't be what he's talking about. That's not what the parable is about. Look at the other one. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who builds his house on sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it is Everyone who doesn't build on Christ going to be broke. No, some of them are going to be filthy rich. In fact, most of the richest people in the world are Christians. What about health, Yeah, they're gonna get sick too. What about death, Yeah, they're gonna die too. So what Jesus is saying here is not you believe and obey what I've taught, and you'll have a good, easy, wealthy, healthy lot. That's not what he's teaching. What's this a warning about, folks? This is a warning about hell. Everyone who hears my words and obeys them will experience life everlasting. By the way, the two gates, the two roads, the two crowds or two destinations. One is life, the other death in what sense? The ultimate sense? That's about heaven and hell? The true prophet the false prophet. One bears good fruit, the other bears back fruit. What happens to the tree that bears good fruit? It's cut down and thrown into the fire. What's that about? That's about hell? Not everyone who says to me, Lord Lord will enter what the kingdom of heaven. But if you did not do the will of my father, what's going to be said to you? Depart from me? I never knew you, you worker of iniquity. Where you're going to hell? So finally, the two builders, what is he talking about? Heaven and hell? Jesus says, there's the one true religion. Those who hear my words and do what I teach practice the one true religion, come to faith in Jesus Christ. They live and have eternal life and go to heaven. Everyone else, no matter how close they get, they die and they go to hell. This is not about business principles, folks. This is about heaven or hell. This is about ultimate reality and an ultimate destination. Unless you think that somehow this is maybe a reach. Number One We've seen the immediate context here of what we've taught, but also look at chapter five, verses twenty nine and thirty. What's gonna look here? In Mark, I'm Matthew. Read Matthew. Chapter five, verses twenty nine and thirty. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away, for it is better for you to lose one of your members than your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away, for it is better for you to lose one of your members than that your whole body go into where hell Chapter ten, verse twenty eight. Remember the next time is right here. Several times he talks about heaven and Hell. Now we go over to chapter ten, verse twenty eight. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both body and soul in altogether. Now Hell, go with me if you will to chapter ten a Chapter eighteen, Rather beginning at verse seven. Woe to the world for temptations to sin, for it is necessary that temptations come. But woe to the one by whom the temptation comes, and if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to interer life crippled in lame, than with two hands and two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away, it is better for you to interer life with one then with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. And finally chapter twenty three, and again this is just in Matthew. And if you do a quantitative analysis, just for those of you who are interested in these types of things, Jesus taught more about hell than he did about heaven. If you do quantitative analysis of the teaching of Jesus and the Gospels, he taught more about hell than he did about heaven. Chapter twenty three, beginning of verse twenty nine, woe to use scribes and pharisees hypocrites, for you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the mountains of the righteous, saying, if we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets. Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up then the measure of your fathers, You serpents, you brute of vipers? How are you to escape being sentenced to hell? The reason that the teaching of Jesus is astonishing is because we are an optimistic lot, and we believe that most people are good, and that most people go to heaven when they die. And I think, frankly, if you talk to most people who are church going Americans who say they believe in God, and you ask them who goes to hell? Hell for them? Maybe half a dozen people. You know, people like Hitler and Poulpot, and you know people like that Pilla the hun Maybe people like that. But the lady down the street who's really nice, whoever once in a while, brings you bread or cakes or pies, who smiles at your kids when they walk by, waves at them. You know that really nice lady, not her or that relative of yours, who's just as kind as they can be, always there for you, will give you the shirt off their back if you needed it. No, Hell's not for them. Hell's just for really, really really bad people. Folks, that's not what Jesus teaches. Here's what's astonishing about the teaching of Jesus. Jesus says, that old lady down the street who's nice to you, who brings you cakes and pies and bits you fresh bread, you know she's not a Christian, and whether you like it or not, unless she comes to repentance and faith, when she dies, she will go to hell. That member of your family who's so kind that he give you the shirt off his back, you know he's not a Christian. He practices a religion of his own invention, and when he dies, kind though you may think he is, he will die and go to Hell. And kind as you think you are, sir, kind as you think you are, ma'am, kind as you think you are, young man, young woman. Unless you hear the words of Jesus and obey the words of Jesus and come to repentance and faith, your house will fall. Its fall will be great, and you will find yourself in the fire of Hell apart from Jesus Christ forever because of your sin and the egregiousness of your affront to the holiness and righteousness of the One True and Living God. There is but one way, and his name is Jesus. This, my friends, is why the teaching of Jesus is astonishing. Not because of the incredible success that he offers to those who will apply his principles mind from the text, No, but regardless of that those who obey him. How do we apply this? What would we do? Let me just give you this a couple of things. One to the unbeliever. If you're here today and you have not come to faith in Christ. If you're here today and you have not come to repentance and faith, turned from your sin, forsaken your sin, recognize the wretchedness of your life and your soul, and turned pleading toward Christ, believing in the Christ of the scriptures, and trusting in Him and Him alone for your salvation. If you're here today and that's you, then here's how you apply this truth and the whole truth of the Sermon on the Mount. Repent believe, place your faith in Jesus Christ and Him alone. If you've been trusting in your own righteousness, if you've been trusting and somehow doing good, if you've been trusting in somehow being better than most people, forsake that and forsake it forever. Trust in Christ and Christ alone. Do not lean on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him, repent, believe. I beseech you in the name of Christ. That's how you apply the sermon on the Mountain. That's how you apply this message today. You come to Jesus and you trust in Him, not your goodness relative to other men, but in Christ alone. What about the believer? Two things. First, please preach the gospel accurately. Please please preach the gospel accurately. The gospel is not about manipulating men into praying the sinner's prayer that you will never find in scripture. This is not what the gospel is about. The gospel is astonishing. The gospel is not about somehow manipulating men or appeasing men. And please hear me, Mom and dad. This is not about you twisting your five or six year old into noughts. Do you agree with this? Do you agree with this? Don't you want to go to heaven when you die? Don't you want to ask Jesus into your heart? That is not the gospel. They need to know who Jesus is. They need to know what sin is. They need to be broken over their sin, not just parroting the words of mom and Dad. I've seen the most egregious things in my day, and in some instances, taking part in these egregious things. Watching the little kids, babies walk into the waters of a baptistery that would overcome and overwhelm them. Where they left in those waters alone, having to hold their head up, and at four or five years old, being asked what their profession of faith is Jesus is Lord. Do they know that? Do they believe that? Do they understand? That? Could be in most instances, I doubt it. But what has happened. They've been pressed for a decision, and what's being baptized in that pool is nothing more than parental anxiety. I want to see my kid get dunked so that I can sleep well at night. Preach the gospel accurately. It's astonishing because of the authority of Christ. It's astonishing because of its absolute nature. It's astonishing because it is a message of suffering and even shitting. It's astonishing because it's a warning. It's a warning. Preach the gospel accurately, and secondly, please live the gospel, faithfully, live the Gospel. Faithfully in the way that you obey Christ and also in the way that you honor Christ. Let me share this with you, and this may be delicate, but I really think it's something that we need to understand. Your family goes through a difficult time, and your family goes through that difficult time or whatever it is, and you have a baby who's born, and they say your baby's going to be born with this difficulty or that difficulty, and your baby's not born with this difficulty or that difficulty. And your response to that is, of course, to give praise to God. But we got to be careful even how we do that. We heard about it, we shut out the notice, we had people praying for us, and because all those people were praying for us, that baby was born and that baby didn't have one thing wrong with them. Here's what you just said, without even meaning it. All those of you Christians out there who had babies born with defects, you didn't have enough people praying for you. We did. Therefore we got what we were after you didn't. Did you mean that? No, But essentially that's what you said. Why was that baby whole? Because the providence of God smiled on you and that child. God be praised. We went into the doctor and they said I had this. They said I had that. We went in and everything was clear. Praise God. We prayed and it was clear because we believed. We claim this verse. We claim that verse. Here's what you just said. All of those of you out there who went to the doctor and they said something looked suspicious, and then you went back and it was more than suspicious, and now you have cancer. You didn't pray as hard as I did. No, God smiled on you and his providence. God be praised. When we stand up and we share our testimony and we say things like, you know, I was an alcoholic and all of a sudden I prayed to receive Jesus Christ, and that very moment I lost the taste for alcohol. Never desired it again, because that's what God will do when he saves you for real. You didn't mean it, but here's what you just said. All you people out there who know Jesus and struggle every time you get a whiff of alcohol, you didn't get what I got. You're not as saved as I am. You're not as much of a Christian as I am, because you still have a struggle in your life. You still have a fight in your life. You still have a battle in your life. And if you were a real Christian, that just wouldn't be the case. Yeah, we started this business, and we prayed over this business, and we did this and that and the other, and we applied this principle and that principle. Because we did that, we made this many millions of dollars. You didn't mean it. What you just said is all you people out there struggling in your businesses, failing in your businesses. You didn't put your coin in the right slot. He didn't pushed the right button. Because ultimately, I am who I am. I have what I have, I've received what I received, notice in every sense, in every one of those instances, because I had enough people praying, because I claimed the right verse, because I cried the right amount of tears, because I applied the right principles, because I listen. Our testimony ought to be about God and his glory, not about us and ours. The difference between me and the man who goes in and hears you know what, it's worse than we thought, has nothing to do with me, and it has everything to do with the providence of God, the difference between my hardships and another man's hardships have nothing to do with my worth. There's not a man alive who deserves worse than I do. Of course, the flip side of that is, there's not a man alive who deserves better than I do either. We all deserve death and hell. The severity of your hardships is all about what God determined and decreed for your life to maximize the glory that He gets. That's it. This baby lived why because, in the providence of God, the life of that child maximizes the glory that God gains from this particular life because of what He's going to do with the life of that child. The child did not live, why because, in the providence of God, the suffering that this family is now enduring is maximizing the glory that God will receive from this particular family in this set of circumstances, not because one was more worthy than the other, but in spite of the fact that neither of them was worthy. As we live our lives before one another, and as we live our lives before a lost and hurting and dying world, Please please, my brothers and my sisters. Do not communicate a picture of Christianity that says, come over to our side because we get better gifts. Because the fact is, the rainfalls, the floods rise, and the winds beat against our house just like they do the other. And what I got coming, Neither you nor I will get to see this side of glory. Another day of health and strength. That's not my reward. Another dollar to spend, that's not my reward. Those things pale in comparison to the reward one receives for following Christ. My reward is eternal in the heavenly is. I'm just a pilgrim passing through this barren land. Preach the gospel accurately, live the gospel faithfully, and when you go through your difficult days, use it to bring much glory and honor to God. When you go through your mountaintop experiences, use them to bring much glory and much honor to God. And don't fall into the trap that makes God some sort of cosmic bellhop. And the Christian life a matter of just trying to figure out the right formula of prayers and scriptures to claim, and promises to claim, and these other sorts of things that ultimately end up in maximum profit potential. That's not the gospel. It's not the gospel says in wealth, I bring praise and glory to God. In want I bring praise and glory to God. In sickness I bring praise and glory to God. In health, I bring praise and glory to God. Because this is not the be all to end all. I'm living for a city. Who's built or maker is God. That's why the gospel is astonishing. That's why the teaching of Jesus is astonishing then and now.