11/10/24 - Two Hearers and Builders

Happy Veteran’s Day Weekend

Today we have the opportunity to celebrate

and honor those that fought for our country

and are still fighting for our country

and the right to worship this morning

Thank you for your service

I am grateful for the sacrifices that you made

to march under our flag and to defend the rights and freedoms

that we can enjoy this morning.

I was in the doctors office the other day

and was surrounded in the waiting room by three veterans of the Vietnam war

they didn’t know each other

but when one man walked in with his Vietnam Vet hat

they all began to talk and share literal war stories about where they were

what they did

some of the battle fights

some of the friends they lost

I sat and listened

At one point they asked me about if I ever served

I shared that my father served in Korea

He was a machine gunnery seargent at Heartbreak Ridge

One time he sat down and told Shannon and I the story about his arrival

as he got there it was the day after the major battle

He as driving a deuce and a half up the hill

and there were truckloads of bodies being transported back down

He talked about the grease gun that he carried and the M1 Garrand that he trained with

they all liked the story

I told them now I march under a cross not under a flag

they all thanked me for my service

and we began to talk about the Lord

it was a blessing to be among those men

as it is a blessing to be among you today to talk about the Lord

As we are coming to the close of the Sermon onf the Mount

Jesus is going to wrap up His sermon this week

I know that because He begins the verse this week with a Threrefore

Therefore

Matthew 7:24 (CSB)

24 “Therefore,

I’ve said before we have to find out what the therefore is there for

In this case, Jesus is going to sum up the section He has been speaking about on choices

Two Roads / Two Gates

The narrow gate is the gate that Luke described last week

as the gate that is in the shape of a cross

and covered with thorns

but on the other side of the gate is paradise

The wide gate is big enough to let large populations of people in

and on the other side is the cliff

The choice is we have two ways to examine the cost of our profession

have we paid a price to profess faith in Jesus Christ?

have we stayed on the narrow path headed toward that narrow gate?

Will you enter the gate to life in the kingdom of heaven

and be a life that is following me?

Or will you reject me for the popular road that leads to destruction

Two Trees / Two Fruits

Beware of the false prophets

The ones that want to lead down the wide road to the wide gate

and we have the choice of bearing good fruit or bad

fruit comes fro mthe heart and the heart is fed by the roots

Our roots are fed by whatever we feed them

so we have the choice to feed our roots the Word of God

or we can feed them the evilness from the world

The choice we have here

tells us to investigate whether our lives have really changed

IS there godly fruit from from our lives?

Will you find in JEsus the inner source of transformation that produces good fruit?

Or will you follow the prophetic voices of the world

that hype a promise of life but will only take you to the fires of hell

Two Confessions

Luke spoke about this last week

One group will confess that Jesus is Lord

They may do a lot of things that are Christianlike

but were never authentic in their actions

and Jesus will tell them in the end

Matthew 7:23 (CSB)

23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’

The choice here is are we practicing a genuine and authentic Christian walk according to God’s Word?

There are people that have all the right doctrine

and look like they are doing all the right things

but aren’t really saved

Pastor Luke said it well

saved people hurt when they sin

that’s a good indication that you have the Holy Spirit in you

Here’s the choice

will we obey the Father’s will and come to Jesus as the only Lord?

Or will we chase after false manifestations of spirituality

that result in eternal banishment?

Two Hearers and Builders

The final choice is the end of the sermon on the mount

it’s an illustration and also a warning

and it’s the culmination of everything that Jesus has said

It’s the litmus test to see if we are truly a follower of Jesus or not

The bottom line is

will our faith weather the storms of life

and in the final judgement based on where we built our lives?

Matthew 7:24–27 (CSB)

24 “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

25 The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.

26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

27 The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.”

So let’s break this down into the elements and see what Jesus meant by this illustration

The Sand Versus the Rock

Jesus is going to use an example of sand and rock

If there’s one thing in Israel

there’s a lot of sand and rocks

I remember going to the beach as a kid

and playing in the sand

I would always play in the sand close to the water

probably because I was too lazy to get up and get water if I needed it

and when I got hot, the water was right there

I would build a sand castle

and inevitably some wave would come along and knock the castle over

or I would dig too deep and the water and sand would begin to create a sink hole

and the whole structure would fail

Here’s Jesus on the side of the hill

overlooking the Sea of Galilee

On the Sea of Galilee the sand would get hard over the summer months

but a wise builder wouldn’t build right on top of the sand

they would dig down sometimes ten feet to get to bedrock

and then start the foundation of the house

When the winter rain came

and the Jordan River poured into the Sea of Galilee

and the sea ran over it’s banks

those that build a home on the hard sand

would soon discover that the sand was unreliable to hold a foundation

I thought about the houses that were built on the beach

the 8x8 pilings that the houses are built on

are drove up to 16 feet into the ground to make sure they don’t move

and are surrounded by concrete to keep them in place

I’ve seen some of the houses that were built after Florence happened

those houses were raise

Some of them you couldn’t p[ay me to live in because they are so high off the ground

and I wonder how deep the pilings go

I’ve seen the makeshift homes that look like they are literally stacked on pallets to get them that high

Not a chance you would put me even for a night in one of those rickity shacks

Jesus is comparing His sermon on the mount

amd His commands to the solid rock for a foundation

notice that Jesus doesn’t say that He is the rock

but that His teaching is the Rock

It’s an important thing to note

too many people focus on the saving part of Jesus

and forget what He commands

There are two choices for the foundation of the builder

Either take the low bid and build on the sand

or take the time to carve out rock and drive in the pilings

to build in the hard foundation of His word

The answer seems easy

who on earth would want to build their house on shifting sand?

And yet there are millions and millions of people

that wager their life and their lifetime on just that

There are generations of people right now

that believe they don’t need a foundation

that absolute truth doesn’t exist

When I can walk down the halls of any school

and there are students that won’t acknowledge the truth of the Bible

and then see them on a Sunday morning at church

they are playing on the sand

Or when I see an another generation

that comes dressed to worship on Sunday,

but lives their life different from the Jesus of the Bible for the rest of the week

by their actions and attitude

I question the foundation they are building on as well

What are you building your life and legacy on?

are you wagering your life and legacy on what you think is comfortable?

Do you sing on Sunday On Christ the Solid Rock I stand

and then on Monday it’s If you got the money, I got the time

and the sad part is, for those that know the song

you’re singing it in your head right now!

What else does Jesus talk about

The Storms

Storms are coming

Matthew 7:25 (CSB)

25 The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.

Only hurricanes are slow enough to track

and we aren’t advanced enough to know where they are going to effect

the last hurricane of the season changed positions so many times

we didn’t know if it was going back into the mountains

or if it was going into Mexico

how many in this room knew that a hurricane would wipe out mountain towns?

Wind has the potential to damage houses

combine that with rain and flooding and there’s disaster

place the houses with wind and rain next to a river, or creek

Hurricane Helene is estimated to have dropped 40 Trilliion gallons of water over the Southeast

That would fill all of Lake Tahoe

or 60 million Olympic sized swimming pools

or the Dallas Cowboy stadium 51,000 times

which at this point in the season can only help them

and that was just the water that fell

when that rain fell and filled the rivers and streams of the mountains

water had no where to go but out and down and fast

it became fast a furious as it carved out towns and roads

Imagine what 40 days of rain from the Genesis flood would have caused

I had family in the mountains when the storm hit

they said they’ve never seen rain like that before

and they live in Florida for part of the year

they watched as in an instant the river at the bottom of the hill

began to rapidly grow and flood

and then became violent

as it carried trees, houses, trailers

The team that went to Western NC

they have pictures of the damage

of containers that were lodged into the top of bridges

There was little warning

and who knew that a hurricane would hit the mountain area?

These are the storms that Jesus is talking about

although He was on the side of the hill

staring into the Sea of Galilee

they understood the storms that could just pop up and do damage

Life has a tendency to just brew up a storm when we don’t need one

I mentioned the other night talking about Job

the storm of his life that began with the words “One day”

when the “one day” of your storm hits

are you anchored to the rock and truth of Jesus’ Word?

or are you still trying to pursue self-righteousness

and when those storms hit your very foundation is washed away

and leaves you hopeless and desperate

angry at God

Just remember, He warned you.

Matthew 7:26–27 (CSB)

26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

27 The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.”

Do or Do Not, There is No Try

Here’s the famous quote by the theologian Yoda

And really what this statement by Jesus says is

you have a choice between me or the religious establishment

in simpler terms

you’re either with me or against me

Are we just hearers of the Word, or doers?

Morals versus Ethics

Morals are your standards of behavior based on what you think is acceptable

Ethics are the standards for a culture or society

Morals are what is

Ethics are what should be

Ethics are concerned with what is right

morals are concerned with what is accepted

Here’s why this is important to today’s topic

Today, there are many people that follow what is called statistical morality

Here’s how this works

We find out what is normal we take a survey or a poll

To find out what people are actually doing

For example we find out that the majority of teenagers are using marijuana

We come to the conclusion at this point in history

that it is normal for a teenager to use marijuana

and because it is normal we deem it to be good and right

Here’s where Jesus comes in to play with all this

Christian ethics are usually in a collision course with statistical morality

Let me give you another example

Statistics would say that every man at one time or another have lied

That would mean that statistically 100% of all men have indulged in dishonesty

that doesn’t mean that all men lie all the time

unless the question is asked does this dress make me look fat

If we look at that statistically, we would say that one hundred percent of people indulge in dishonesty,

and since it’s one hundred percent universal,

we should come to the conclusion that it’s perfectly normal for human beings to tell lies.

Not only normal, but perfectly human.

If we want to be fully human, we should encourage ourselves in the direction of lying.

Of course, that’s what we call a reductio ad absurdum argument,

where we take something to its logical conclusion and show the folly of it.

But that’s not what usually occurs in our culture.

Such obvious problems in developing a statistical morality are often overlooked.

The Bible says that we lean toward lying because of sin,

and yet we are called to a higher standard.

As Christians, the character of God supplies our ultimate ethos or ethic,

the ultimate framework by which we discern what is right, good, and pleasing to Him.

So regardless of what society says is right or wrong

we do not take our ethic by what society says

we take our ethic by what God says

The issue is that it’s so much easier to do what everyone else is doing

and then justify what we do by statistical ethics

Everyone dresses this way

Everyone talks this way

Everyone gossips this way

Everyone lies

Everyone listens to this news channel

everyone votes a certain way

So because everyone does it it makes it acceptable

and because it’s acceptable, it becomes normal

and because it is normal, it becomes good

and when it becomes good, without examining against the Word of God

then good sometimes isn’t

What Jesus is saying here is when the storms come

and they will

and your foundational morals get swept away

If you get caught in a lie

if you get caught sharing gossip

if you get caught of judging people because they voted differently than you

or get caught gloating over and election

without ever sharing the gospel of Jesus

and suddenly consequences come because of that

Your morals have led you astray

or even your statistical ethics have led you astray

and suddenly you come to a crisis of belief

What if everything that you told was acceptable you come to find out isn’t true

Would you really want to know?

I had the opportunity to go to Salt Lake City a number of years ago

I was actually there with a seminary class studying Mormon beliefs

for an interfaith witness class

Those are some of the nicest people on the planet

and completely misguided

I’ve been to Ghana and walked among the Muslim’s

that when they call from the mosque goes out 5 times a day

everyone of them stop and faces East

lays out their prayer carpet and prays to Allah

and to the prophet Muhammed

One of the leading questions I ask most of those people is this

If everything you’ve always known as your core belief system were false

would you really want to know?

For us, giving up a statistical ethic may have consequences of

being socially made fun of,

or losing a friend or two for standing on the ethic of what we believe aboput God’s standards

We may get made fun of for not having sex outside of marriage

or considered a prude for choosing to still love someone even though we don’t agree with them

But these folks from different religious backgrounds

stand to lose everything material, economical, all of it

Jesus says in Matthew 16:26

Matthew 16:26 (CSB)

26 For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life?

In other words

we have a better chance of our house standing on the foundation of God’s Word

than we do building our house, our life, on the shifting sands of statistical ethics

Jesus is summarizing His entire sermon into one statement

Don’t just hear what I have to say

Do what I’m telling you to do.

This past week, I had the opportunity to go to the NC Baptist Annual Meeting

While there I learned that NC Baptists are the number one in the nation for twenty years straight in giving to the Lottie Moon offering giving 14.06 million dollars last year

#1 among all state conventions for giving to the Annie Armstrong at 7.1 million dollars last year

Cooperative Program giving was at 13.08 million last year which was a record for NC support

These are things to be proud of

I heard four different messages while I was there

One from Danny Akin, President of Southeastern Seminary

One from Allen Murray, now your president of NC Baptists

and Todd Unzinger, Executive Director/Treasurer of NC Baptists

I also heard from Richard Brunson, Executive Director for Baptist on Mission

All four of these said essentially the same thing

I want to bring a quote from Allen Murray, President of NC Baptists

“Too often, Christians sub contract out their evangelism efforts.”

In other words, too many times we pay someone else

to do what Jesus commanded all Christians to do

and that’s make disciples of all nations

It’s easy to send a check or money to someone

and I’m not saying we shouldn’t support missions financially

but that does not absolve us from doing what we are commanded to do ourselves

A screen shot of the World Missions Clock from SEBTS

Danny Akin was preaching on the importance to be both biblically sound and sent

He showed this picture of the world missions clock

The number in the top right hand corner shows our world population at around 8.146 billion people

The bottom left corner shows the number of people with no adequate opportunity to hear the gospel at around 4.278 billion people.

roughly 54 percent of the population of the world

does not have access to or opportunity to hear the gospel

The sad part is that percentage hasn’t changed since 1900

The difference in population and the number of people that have not heard has not changed in over 124 years

I understand when people tell me that we need to reach our community for Christ

But when people in our community have a church on every corner

and people have statistically 3-4 Bibles in each household

as opposed to those who have no access to the gospel

and we have the ability and availability to go

we are commanded to go

There are places in the world that if you could parachute in

and land in the middle of the field

you could walk for days, weeks and months

and never find a person that has access to the gospel

We are compelled, commanded, and are called to go

Jesus in this passage is saying

you have a choice

you can hear and do all that I’ve commanded you to do

and you will build your life on the solid foundation of His Word

and do all that I have commanded you to do

Jesus asks

Will you build your life on me as the solid rock?

Or will the pleasant ease of life cause you to be unprepared

for the storms that will come in this life

and that will ultimately wash you away into the desolation of the afterlife?