The Words, The Choice, and the Storm

Matthew 7:24–27 ESV

“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.”

Recap

Last week we asked the question, “Where is your heart.”

And we spoke about Jesus words in Matthew 6 in talking about our treasure, our focus, and our loyalty.

and that where our treasure, focus, and loyalty are, our heart, or the entirty of who we are will be as well.

Jesus concludes that section of the sermon on the mount with a singular focus and directive..

That if we seek first the kingdom of god and all its rightouesness, that all of the things we need will be taken care of.

because our heavenly father sees and knows our needs.

Today

Today, were going to go to the end of the sermon on the mount…

and look at the final statement Jesus makes in this Message

The Sumation of everything he has said if you will.

Context

Before we get to our passage in Mattew 7 though, lets take a look at whats happening at this point in scripture.

Jesus is giving what we know in bible scholarship as the sermon on the mount.

this is the first recorded public discourse Jesus will give..

Its also the longest recorded discourse he will give

and we know there are thousands of people who are listening

Feeding

Directly after this sermon Jesus will feed the 5,000 men.. plus women and children..

Some scholars calculate that there could have been over 25,000 people at this event..

listening to the words of christ..

And then seeing the miraclse of the fish and the loave, thus confirming the words of christ.

Content

and this message jesus gives is one of the pivital messages he speaks..

Because in this message Jesus gives his followers and outline as to how to live a life that is honoring the way he has instructed them..

It is instruction for kingdom life for disicples of christ.

Through it we are given the beatitudes..

we are instructed to be salt and light in a dark and flavorless world..

Jesus tells us that he has come to fulfill the law..

He speaks of the signifigance of anger, divorce, oaths, retaliations..

he tells us to love those around us and to love our enemies..

To give generously to those in need..

to seek the kingdom first.

and that God will care for the needs we have..

he teaches us how to pray..

How to fast,

how to be free from anxiety..

he tells us not to judge others..

and to do to others as we would have them do to us..

and then he warns us that we must have a relationship with him..

that we cant simply calls our selves a christian..

JESUS TEACHS ALL OF THIS..

AND THEN HE sumizes the entire sermon in VERSE 7:24

Matthew 7:24–27 ESV

“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.”

I want to talk to you for a few minutes today about the words, the choice, and the strom.

Formula

Jesus gives us a formula to follow in this statement

look at what he says..

1. Every then who hears these words..

2. and Does what they say..

3. then they will be like

If we hear the words..

And act on the words and follow them..

then we will be like a house on a strong foundation..

AND WHEN..

Not if..

The storms of life come..

we will not fall.

because we are founded on the rock.

So what are the words..

The Words

“Everyone who hears these words..”

Jesus starts with hearing his words.

What words are Jesus talking about?

He is speaking of His instruction..

The ones he has just given through the semon on the mount

the way he has just told the poeple he is speaking too to live..

Bigger picture

And though Jesus is specifically talking about the instruction that he gave in this sermon..

we can surmize that this statement extents to all of Jesus instruction for our life..

Jesus will tell us in john 14:15

John 14:15 ESV

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

The words Jesus is talking about is the instruction he has given for our life..

and thats what the word of god is as a whole..

It is instruction for our life.

Paul

Paul will take this logic futher and apply it to all scripture in 2 timothy 3

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

The word of god has been given as instructions for humanity..

so that those who will hear it and do it.. will be grounded on the rock.

Jesus

Jesus says if you hear my instruction..

and you do what it says..

you will be established on the rock.

and the storms of life will not be able to blow you away..

The Word of God

The Anchor

You see

The word of god is like an anchor..

An achor holds the boat in the same spot when the wind blows..

It keep the boat from drifting away in currents and stormed..

Hurricane straps

Houses even have anchors..

they are called hurricane staps..

they tie the house to the foundation..

so when strong winds come..

the house is not blown away.

and the word of god is like that anchor..

when the winds blow and the storms come..

it holds us firmly in place..

Two Ends

But I want you to notice that an anchor has two ends.

One attached to the boat, and one attached to the bottom of the sea.

Jesus is the rock at the end of our anchor..

but We must hold onto the anchor if its going to hold us in position..

We do that by keeping his instruction and living the way we told us to live..

by putting out faith and our hopes in him..

by living in trust and peace in him..

by acting upon his word..

NOTICE THOUGH.. ITS NOT ENOUGH TO KNOW THE WORDS..

BUT JESUS SAYS..

The Choice

“And does them...”

We have a choice to follow and live out the words of christ in our lives..

that is the only way they will be of any good and benifiet.

James says it this way in

James 1:22 ESV

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

If we only hear and do not doo.. then the words has not efffect on our life..

Salvation

to know that Jesus is savior..

but not call on him..

means we wont be saved…

We must act on the words..

Two ways to act

Jesus tells us there are two ways to live our lives..

we have two choices..

and both ways have different outcomes..

Firm Foundation

we can either act on his words and do them..

and by doing so we will tie ourselves to the rock…

We will be like a man who built his house on the rock.

and will be grounded through life..

anchored to him..

and stand

Shifting sands

or we can choose not to do them..

and we will be like a man who builds his house on the sands

and when the rain comes and the winds blow

house house will crumble..

Sand

have you ever been to the beach?

Solomon tried to build a casstle on the beach this summer

and it looked good..

and then the tide came..

and as soon as the tide came in..

the house fell..

why?

because the sands shift..

World

you see the sands represent the ways of the world..

and they are ever shifting..

have you noticed that about culture.

it turns and changes quick..

and when you try to build you house on it..

it will fail you

and move..

We have to make make the choice every day..

in all we do..

to build our house on the rock..

and attach ourself to the rock..

or we will be swept away..

and we do that by listening to and doing what the word of god tells us..

The Storm

I want you to notice something thought..

in both situations..

following or not following Jesus..

“And the rains fell, and the flood came, and the winds blew...”

you see we have the tendancy to think the rains will never fall if we serve god..

hard and difficult things will never happen..

we will never get sick..

if were honest..

we tend to think the things of heaven will be present in our lives in the earth..

like no more suffering, pain, and sorrow..

but that cant be further from the truth..

in fact the new testament teachs that following christ is a life of suffering for his name..

Jesus said in JOhn

John 16:33 ESV

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

and he tells us earlier in the sermon..

Matthew 5:45 ESV

so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

THE STORM OF LIFE WILL COME..

You and I will face things in our life that we would not wish on anyone…

and its not because god is not faithful or because we have sinned.,.

its because we live in a fallen world that is full of sin, sickness, brokenness and depravity..

JESUS DID NOT PROMISE THE STORMS WOULD NOT COME.

HE PROMISED THE STORMS WOULD COME..

BUT IF WE WOULD ANCHOR OURSELVES TO HIM THROUGH FOLLOWING AND HANGING ON TO HIS INSTRUCTION..

WE WOULD NOT FALL AND BE SWEPT AWAY..

WE HAVE TO HOLD ONTO THE ANCHOR!

Types of storms..

when need arises we have to hold on to the anchor..

when sickness comes.. we have to hold on to the anchor..

when chaos insues.. we have to hold on to the anchor..

when death rears its head..

we have to hold on to the anchor..

when suffering arrises.. we have to hold on to the anchor..

in everything we face in this life..

when the storms of life blow..

we have to hold on the unfailing hand of god.

the anchor in christ Jesus our rock

and our chief corner stone..

WE HAVE TO HOLD ON!

Ivys

This week on monday, we laid to rest a Ivy lopez.

and amazing woman of god..

Ivy for the last 7 months had battled cancer..

the doctors had a difficult time treating the cancer

and in the end it took her life..

Promise

Early on though..

before all of this happened

Ivy had a dream.

And in the dream she dreamed that she was a palm tree..

and in the dream a horrific storm came and blew through..

and it blew so hard it bent the tree over

but Ivy said, the tree did not break.

Storm

Not too long latter she was diagnosed with cancer..

and through the last 7 months her and rodney walked through one of the worst storms of their life..

And you might say..

but pastor..

she weathered the storm in the dream..

what happened?

but when I heard that story

that was the question that the person who shared it said..

what happened?

She didnt break.

But I can tell you..

that ivy didnt break..

she may have gone home to be with the lord..

but she didnt break..

because you see the promise was never about the trunk..

it was about the roots..

it was about her anchor..

and even though the storm of cancer blew through her life..

and even took her mortal life..

it did not kill her spirit..

until her last breath..

that worman praised god, and prayed hard, and believed in faith..

and when she finally went to be with god..

she whisper to one of the boys..

that she saw Jesus..

Planted

You see her roots were planted in faith and obiedience to gods words..

and when the storm of life hit..

she made it through to the others side..

her faith never broke.

and today..

shes in the presence of god..

Funeral

At the funeral..

many of her own sons stood in this pulpit and preached the gospel..

Her freinds stood in this pulpet and preached the gospel

They shared memories and storied of her and how she preached the gospel..

multiple people gave their lives to christ.. during the funeral..

and when it was all over..

whent he dinner was done..

the family gathered in this room and sang and worshiped for over an hour..

why?

BECAUSE A MOTHER.. A WIFE.. A SISTER.. A FRIEND.. HAD PLANTED HER LIFE ON THE ROCK..

AND HAD MADE SURE THAT THOSE AROUND HER WERE PLANTED ON THE ROCK AS WELL..

Ive come to tell you this morning..

you have to make sure your life is planted on the rock..

that your roots go deep with christ..

that you are anchored in him..

Because the storms of life are going to blow through..

and they may even take your mortal life....

but if you are planted on christ..

YOUR ARE GOING TO MAKE IT

HE IS GOING TO SEE YOU THROUGH..

HE IS THE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT..

The Outcome

you see the way we choose to live.. will dertermine the foundation we have

and the foundation we have determines what will happen when the storms of life come..

If you are standing on the rock, then you can trust that in the end its going to be ok..

because God has you..

But if your are on a sandy foundation.. you might be blown away..

Purpose

I want to make a final point..

Gods ultimate goal..

is to get you into heaven with him..

we must keep that in mind..

we get so caught up in the things of this world..

and we think this world is the point..

but this world is not our home..

and the entire purpose of our life it making it heaven and taking as many as possible with us..

when we weather storms..

we need to be reminded it might have nothing to do with the current situation in our lives..

but God wants to get you to heaven..

and the roots we have will determine if we make it..

What are you standing on today?

What’s your foundation?