Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Perhaps you have heard the story of the three blind men trying to describe an elephant.
One felt the elephant's leg and said, “This is a tree.”
One felt the elephant's trunk and said, “It is a vine.”
And the third felt the body and said, “No, it is endless, like a mountain.”
All three were convinced they had the right answer and all three were dead wrong.
Often we convince ourselves that we are right even when we are wrong.
And, oh, how we hate to admit that we were wrong.
And, oh, how we love being right.
Perhaps you have heard the story of the three blind men trying to describe an elephant.
One felt the elephant's leg and said, “This is a tree.”
One felt the elephant's trunk and said, “It is a vine.”
And the third felt the body and said, “No, it is endless, like a mountain.”
All three were convinced they had the right answer and all three were dead wrong.
Often we convince ourselves that we are right even when we are wrong.
And, oh, how we hate to admit that we were wrong.
And, oh, how we like being right.
In our passage this morning, Jesus describes three men of faith each believing they are the only ones that are right.
Now let me explain what I mean by men of faith this morning.
A man of faith is not necessarily a Christian.
A man dangling from a high tower by a rope has faith in that rope.
A man who believes that there is not such thing as life after death has faith that this is true.
Obviously, a man who believes in Jesus Christ as God's only Son came to earth, lived a perfect life, died a criminal's death, and rose again on the third day has faith as well.
So I just want to make sure that we understand that a man of faith is not necessarily a Christian.
With that groundwork laid, let me remind you where we are.
This is the conclusion to the sermon on the mount.
It is probably one of the most preached on texts in the entire Bible.
Jesus has challenged us with His teachings in this sermon.
Last week we looked at two perspectives of false prophets.
We saw the perspective of those who know the truth and should be throwing out the false teaching.
And we have seen the perspective of Truth in Jesus who will be throwing the false prophets out.
Today, let's look at three men of faith.
In we will see three men of faith.
The first man of faith is the wise man.
Verses 24-25, Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and {yet} it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.
Jesus gives us a great picture of doing things right.
Even today, when you want to build a long-lasting building, you drill down to the bedrock and pour footings on the rock foundation.
Good foundations are critical to good buildings.
Have you seen the pictures of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina?
Even after the cleanup is complete, good foundations are still there.
The structure may have been washed away, but the foundation remains.
Well constructed buildings on good foundations can handle the wind and the rain and the floods.
Jesus' picture here is so we can live our lives in wisdom.
He is telling us to listen to what He has just taught.
Shall we review?
Jesus began this sermon with the beatitudes.
He went on to talk about how we need to be the light of the world, helping people come out of the darkness of their own sin.
Then Jesus talked about the heart instead of the head in regard to sin.
He told us to think about why the commandments were written and not how close we could get to violating them.
He taught on giving to the poor and prayer.
He taught us to fast and to store up treasure in heaven and not worship money.
He told us to quit worrying about our needs and give them to God.
Then He told us to expect to be judged by the same standard we judge others.
And, finally, He told us to ask for things from our Father in heaven.
If we heed all of those things, we will be wise like someone who goes through the efforts to build a house correctly.
Drilling down to the bedrock and anchoring the foundation firmly to the unmovable rock.
It is only in this way that we can weather the storms life throws at us.
If we are truly anchored to the rock of Jesus Christ.
Wise men of faith are so because they believe and live Jesus' words.
The second man of faith is the foolish man.
Verses 26-27, Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell--and great was its fall."
Not only did it fall, but the fall was great.
It didn't just come down, it came crashing down.
It made noise and caused quite the scene when this foolish man's house came down under life's storms.
Why did his house fall?
He didn't listen to the teachings of Jesus.
He didn't place other's needs before His own.
He didn't attempt to be a light to a lost world.
He didn't even try to pray or care for the needy.
Fasting was never even in his mind.
The point is, Jesus is telling us to avoid a great fall by heeding the teaching He is giving.
Listen to Jesus and you'll never go wrong.
Ignore Him and you will fall, and the fall will be great.
I've done a little demolition in homes I've owned.
And we were always looking to take out that one thing that would make the rest kind of fall apart.
For instance, when you are ripping out lath and plaster walls, you are looking for the easiest way to get to the lath.
Because once you break those loose from the studs, the whole wall comes away much easier.
Destruction is like that.
So, if the foundation is on sand and the storms come and the sands shift as sands will do, then the house begins to move.
And then a crack appears and then another.
And then in once giant crash, the whole structure turns into a pile of rubble.
And the fall was great.
When we don't heed the teachings of Jesus, we begin to crumble when the storms of life come our way.
Can we all agree that life is hard?
And when the storms come, we want to be anchored to rock, not sand.
We want to be wise, not foolish.
The foolish builder falls and that fall is great.
There are lots of people who are foolish people of faith.
They believe in something, but not in Jesus and they certainly have no intention of ever following Him.
Why do I say they are foolish?
Picture it this way.
If you were drowning and someone offered you a life preserver, would it not be foolish to refuse the life preserver?
The Bible says we are dead in our trespasses and sins.
And Jesus offers us forgiveness and eternal life.
Can we not agree that anyone who refuses such a thing can be called foolish?
The sermon on the Mount is Jesus telling us how to live a life of faith.
To deny Jesus is to deny the life of faith He preached about.
I think it is foolish.
The first man of faith is the wise man.
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