Power in the Pulpit | Matthew 7:21–29

Intro: Well, this is it. This is the last night we are looking at The Sermon on The Mount. I went back and looked, and we started this on November 5th. If I am counting right, that is the 16th sermon we have done in the Sermon On The Mount. And, I’ve enjoyed it. As we talked about last week, Jesus turned his focus towards eternal things as he prepared to land the plane. Last week he warned that there were many that would chose the road other than the one to life. We were forced to grapple with the fact that there are a lot of people that do not know Jesus. And when we hear that, we think of the people we know will never believe and have never believed. It’s easy to see that. But what we don’t think about, or don’t want to think about, are how many people think they are going to heaven but have no real relationship with Jesus. What we see when we read tonight’s text is that only real relationship with Jesus will lead to salvation.

Verses 21-23

Verse 21

Jesus is addressing the religious

Verse 22

The works that they thought were from God

John 6.

Verse 23

True belief. True surrender

Transition:So Jesus gives this hard truth that it is not just many outside the church that will not actually see heaven, but many of thought they knew Jesus will find out that they never did. Jesus then shifts his focus to explaining the difference between those who know Christ and don’t.

Verses 24-27

The Palestinian geography

Building one’s life on the rock

The suddenness of life

Transition:And just like that, the sermon ends. You know how when you watch a movie, and one of characters gives a big speech, and then it shows the people’s reaction. We kind of get a bit of that with these last two verses.

Verses 28-29

Do we live like Jesus has authority

Conclusion: When we talked earlier about the work of God, we talked about how one must first believe in Jesus. If one believes in Jesus the way he or she views everything else changes as well. Once one believes in Jesus, it makes more sense to us as to why we should build our house on the rock and why we treat Jesus as if His Words have the authority they should. So let me ask you tonight, are you ready to do the will of the Father, are you ready to commit your life to him. Maybe you have been living in a way that is building your house on the rock, are you ready to put that behind you tonight. If so, come speak to me.