Well Built
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Introduction
Introduction
[INTRODUCTION TO THE PASSAGE—PROP]
[prop] Our profession of faith in Jesus must be confirmed by our obedience to Jesus.
[illus] I took two preaching classes in seminary called “Proclaiming the Bible” and “Preaching Practicum.”
In both classes we learned the various aspects of sermon writing and delivery. And in both classes we learned about the importance of the conclusion.
This can be one of the trickier parts of the sermon for the preacher, and some have even compared it to landing an airplane.
Of course, no flight is a good flight that doesn’t end with a safe landing, and many good sermons have been diminished by crash landings!
Some preachers can even sense the crash landing coming so they will approach the runway in order to land—i.e., they will approach the conclusion of the sermon in order to bring it to a close—but then they will throttle-up and circle the runway a few times more.
But this usually only delays the inevitable.
The preacher circling the runway might as well bring it on in.
It’s going to be rough, and there’s nothing to do but get it over with.
I know. I’ve experienced it firsthand!
Jesus, the greatest preacher, however, never experienced any of this in his preaching.
As we look at the conclusion of his sermon in , we see that Jesus brings this sermon to a close with poignancy for his disciples.
He doesn’t circle the runway.
And this great sermon is not ruined by a crash landing at the end.
He brings the truth to land in the hearts of his hearers just as he intended.
But, he does make all the truth of this sermon crash into the hearts of his disciples.
That’s what any great conclusion does.
[EXPLANATION OF JESUS’ SERMON IN HIS TIME—CONTEXT & CIT]
At the conclusion of his sermon, Jesus in effect said to the large group of disciples gathered around him, “What now? You’ve come to me. You’ve heard me. Now, will you obey me?”
The answer to that question would determine their eternal destiny.
Jesus said that they must obey him or else find themselves ruined when the flood comes.
bearing good spiritual fruit as his disciple required obeying what he said.
This was the exclamation point on everything Jesus said in this sermon— a sermon that began in .
[context] Jesus had just called out his 12 Apostles from the larger group of his disciples.
As Jesus came down with his newly appointed Apostles, there was a great multitude of people from all over who had come to Jesus to hear him and to be healed of their diseases (). So, Jesus healed them and then began to preach ().
He began with blessings and curses.
Those things that made his disciples desperate for God were blessings even if they were unpleasant or painful.
Things like poverty, hunger, sorrow, and rejection.
On the other hand, those things that made them numb to their need for God were curses even if they were pleasant or fun.
Things like being rich, well-fed, jovial, and praised.
Then he spoke to them about loving their enemies and blessing them and praying for them.
Jesus said they must do to their enemies as they would want their enemies to do to them.
They must be merciful to their enemies just as God the Father had been merciful to them.
Next Jesus spoke to them about judging others.
Jesus didn’t tell them they were not allowed to make moral judgments, but he did forbid them to judge someone as unworthy of God’s grace.
No, Jesus actually called them to make moral judgments in this very sermon, but he did forbid them to judge someone as unworthy of God’s grace.
Jesus does forbid, however, judging someone as unworthy of God’s grace.
If his disciples truly understood the grace they had experienced, they would examine themselves first and never count someone as unworthy of the Gospel.
All of this was the good spiritual fruit that Jesus called for in —the passage we looked at last Sunday morning.
That good spiritual fruit would, however, only be produced by his disciples if they had hearts that treasured Jesus above all.
And one part of that fruit that revealed the condition of their hearts was the words that come out of their mouths.
The answer is fruit.
And last week we saw that one part of the fruit that reveals the condition of our hearts is the words that come out of our mouths.
As Jesus said in Luke 6:45, “…for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
However, another part of that fruit that revealed their heart’s condition is found in our passage this morning.
If was about spiritual fruit in terms of what’s said, is about spiritual fruit in terms of what’s done.
If talks about spiritual fruit in terms of what’s said, talks about spiritual fruit in terms of what’s done.
[cit] Professing Jesus had to be confirmed by obeying Jesus.
The question this morning comes down to, “Are we obeying Jesus or someone/something else?”
If we are praising Jesus and obeying Jesus, we are bearing good spiritual fruit!
If we are only praising Jesus but not obeying Jesus, we are headed for eternal ruin.
[CON]
[CIT]
The same is true for us.
[ TRANSITION TO JESUS SERMON IN OUR TIME—INTER & PROP]
[PROP] Professing Jesus had to be confirmed by obeying Jesus. And the same is true for us!
[illus] Jack wanted to a hero, so he made up a story about being a marine who was taken prisoner during a bloody battle during the Korean War.
[Illus] transition leading from introduction to major ideas
At 71-years-old, Jack’s war stories grew until his uniform was decorated with a Bronze Star, Silver Star, and two Purple Hearts.
He marched in parades and gave talks to school children.
By forging discharge papers, he even got a special license plate for his car—a license plate reserved for wounded veterans.
But a veteran’s league became interested in Jack’s story and noticed Jack didn’t have any military records.
They also spotted numerous holes in Jack’s own testimony regarding his military service.
The veteran’s league began to investigate further, but Jack denied that he was an impostor for two years.
Finally, however, he confessed during an interview with a local newspaper.
He said, “You can’t imagine what I’m going through. I really didn’t know how to shake this demon. But I went to bed with it every night, and I looked at it in the mirror every morning. I don’t want to meet my Maker with this on my heart.”
Here was a man who professed to be something he was not.
Here was a man who professed to be something he was not. He made claims but he didn’t have deeds. He didn’t want to meet his Maker with that on his conscious, so he came clean. Perhaps some of us need to come clean this morning. Maybe we’ve been professing Jesus but not obeying Jesus. Maybe we’ve been calling Jesus “Lord, Lord,” but not doing what he has told us. Jesus tells us in this passage that we don’t want to meet God on the day of judgement with that on our heart.
Jack wanted to a hero. / Here was a man who professed to be something he was not. He made claims but he didn’t have deeds. He didn’t want to meet his Maker with that on his conscious, so he came clean. Perhaps some of us need to come clean this morning. Maybe we’ve been professing Jesus but not obeying Jesus. Maybe we’ve been calling Jesus “Lord, Lord,” but not doing what he has told us. Jesus tells us in this passage that we don’t want to meet God on the day of judgement with that on our heart.
He made claims but he didn’t have the deeds to back up those claims.
And he didn’t want to meet his Maker with that on his heart, so he came clean.
Perhaps some of us need to come clean this morning.
Maybe we’ve been professing Jesus but not obeying Jesus.
Maybe we’ve been calling Jesus “Lord, Lord,” but not doing what he has told us.
Jesus tells us in this passage that we don’t want to meet God on the day of judgement with that on our heart.
[inter] So what do we do?
So what do we do?
Well, we must not only come to Jesus and hear from Jesus, we must obey Jesus.
[prop] Our profession of faith in him must be confirmed by our obedience to him.
Well, we must go one step further. We must not only come to Jesus and hear from Jesus, we must take one more step - we must obey Jesus.
Or else we’re just like Jack.
This is the only way to know our spiritual foundation is laid on the rock, Jesus, and have the assurance that we are a well built
[ts] Jesus makes this point with ONE QUESTION, TWO BUILDERS, and ONE FLOOD.
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
[Application of Jesus’ sermon in our time]
#1: ONE QUESTION—Why do you call me “Lord, Lord,” and not do what I tell you? (v. 46).
#1: ONE QUESTION—Why do you call me “Lord, Lord,” and not do what I tell you? (v. 46).
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
[exp] Jesus knew that everyone standing around listening to him was not willing to obey him.
They said the right things.
They called him “Lord,” a term of allegiance and submission.
They even said to him, “Lord, Lord,” which verbally emphasized their allegiance and submission.
But, alas, as Jesus knew, for many of them it was only a verbal allegiance and spoken submission.
Although they said to him, “Lord, Lord,” they did not do what he said.
That’s a contradiction that revealed that some of them weren’t really his disciples.
[app] It’s easy to stand in a pulpit and say, “Jesus is my Lord!” It’s easy to say that in Sunday School or sing about in the words of a hymn. It’s easy to write it an a letter or post it online.
It’s easy to stand in a pulpit and say, “Jesus is my Lord!” It’s easy to say that in Sunday School or sing about in the words of some hymn. It’s easy to write it an a letter or post it online somewhere.
But when I’m alone, is Jesus my Lord?
Do I obey him then?
When I’m tired, sick, hungry, or anxious, is Jesus my Lord?
Do I obey him then?
Is he my Lord at home? At work? At school? Online? Offline?
Do I obey him there?
If Jesus really is my Lord, then he is my Lord all the time and in every place.
If Jesus really is my Lord, then I strive to obey him all the time and in every place.
If there’s a time or a place that I’m pridefully unwilling to obey Jesus, then I’m not truly his disciple.
[illus] A friend of mine right after college was on a diet. It was a restrictive diet as most diets are. (Except the one I’m on of course!)
I don’t remember all the details, but I’m sure he could only take in so many calories, could only eat from a certain list of foods, and could absolutely not eat from a list of forbidden foods.
But on the day he was telling me this, we had been to eat together, and what was coming out of his mouth as he described this diet didn’t match what was going into his mouth as he at his supper.
So I asked, “If you’re on this diet, why are you eating like you are today?
He said, “Oh, today’s my cheat day.”
[app] We can laugh about a ‘cheat day’, when it comes to diet, but I’m afraid that’s how most us view obedience to Jesus.
We think, “Oh, I’ll obey Jesus at these times and in these places, but I’ll also have my cheat times and my cheat places.”
If there’s a time or a place that I’m pridefully unwilling to obey Jesus, then I’m not truly his disciple, and the same is true for you!
We can call him, “Lord, Lord,” all we like.
not thinking about this in terms of the world, which is so in love with a imaginary version of Jesus, which conveniently allows them to dodge having to obey the Jesus of the Bible
If we don’t obey him, we don’t belong to him.
If we don’t belong to him, we will be swept away.
[ts] Jesus illustrates this truth with the story of the two builders.
#2: TWO BUILDERS—One with a solid foundation and one without a foundation (v. 47-49a).
#2: TWO BUILDERS—One with a solid foundation and one without a foundation (v. 47-49a).
Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
[exp] Remember that the crowd around Jesus in this moment had come to him to be healed by him but also to hear him. Everyone in the crowd had that in common; they had come to Jesus, and they had heard his words.
But Jesus divided the crowd into two groups—those who came and heard only and those who came, heard, and obeyed.
Jesus said those who came, heard, and obeyed were like a man building a house.
This particular man didn’t mind hard work and believed in the principle of a job well done.
So he dug deep and laid the foundation for his house on the rock.
In the Promised Land bedrock served as the preferred foundation for houses, but in order to reach it, a man had to work.
He had to dig.
He had to make foundation trenches in the bedrock in order to level the foundation of his house by filling those trenches with gravel or small stones, which would allow the foundation to settle.
In our day, the foundation is often the only thing that remains of an ancient structure from this period.
[app] What is the foundation of your eternal hope? What is the foundation of your assurance that you are saved; that you’re a Christian who will spend eternity with Jesus in Heaven?
Consider the things we might say...
“Oh, I’ve come to Jesus, so I know I’m saved!”
The folks in had come to Jesus too, but Jesus was plainly telling them that they weren’t all saved.
“Oh, I’ve heard from Jesus, so I know I’m saved!”
We only hear from Jesus through his Word, but even these people in heard from Jesus and yet Jesus is plainly telling them that they aren’t all saved.
“Oh, I’ve had an experience with Jesus. He’s touched me, so I know I’m going to Heaven!”
These people in had an experience with Jesus as well, a miraculous experience for many of them, but Jesus was plainly telling them that they weren’t all saved!
“Oh, I’ve had ‘the chill bumps’, so I know I know Jesus!”
[illus] I watched this documentary once on the self-help guru, Tony Robbins.
The documentary showed what it was like to be an attendee at Tony’s most extreme and most expensive yearly conference.
The hours-long sessions would start with frenetic videos, loud music, and Tony getting everyone to clap, dance, and jump around.
Then he would go around the conference room and get people to share publically their most painful or most embarrassing story.
He would hug the person, confront the person, get them to shout something self-affirming, and then lead everyone in cheering for them.
By the third or fourth day of this insanity, everyone was physically and emotionally exhausted—and that’s when they had their breakthrough, their epiphany, their life changing realization.
But it was all manipulation.
Through sensory overload and physical and emotional manipulation, those people had been fooled into thinking that they really had a foundation shaking experience.
Some Christian churches, Christian conferences, and Christian camps use those same tactics.
Folks, you can be fooled into thinking that you’ve come to Jesus when you haven’t.
You can be fooled into thinking that you’ve heard from Jesus when you haven’t.
You can be fooled into thinking you’ve had an experience with Jesus when you haven’t.
Your chill bumps might not be God, they might just be a cold coming on!
A much more reliable foundation for your assurance of salvation is your obedience.
The only reliable foundation for your assurance of salvation is your obedience to Jesus.
If you obey Jesus because you love him, because you desire to be holy as he is holy, because you want to bring him glory by living the way he taught us to live in this sermon, then you have assurance that you’ve really come to Jesus and taken his teaching to heart.
If you obey Jesus because you love him, because you desire to be holy as he is holy, because you want to bring him glory by living the way he taught us to live, then you have assurance that you’ve really come to Jesus and taken his teaching to heart.
If you don’t obey Jesus like that, then you’re like the other builder in this passage—the one that had no foundation.
[exp] Look again at v. 49...
But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
This man’s in the construction business too.
He’s a builder, but he’s not a fan of hard work and he doesn’t believe in the value of a job done right.
He builds the house on the ground without a foundation.
This is what Jesus said the person is like who comes to him, hears him, but doesn’t obey him.
They have no foundation.
[ts] And that’s fine so longer as the weather’s fair, but when the storm clouds roll in and the rain pours down without end and the river swells— well, that’s when a foundation makes all the difference...
Notice the flood.
#3: ONE FLOOD and its effect on two different houses (vv. 48-49).
#3: ONE FLOOD and its effect on two different houses (vv. 48-49).
he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
[exp] The flood waters came for the wise builder and the foolish builder alike. But only one survived.
[exp] The flood waters came for the wise builder and the foolish builder alike. But only one survived.
The wise man, with the foundation of his house laid on the rock, was not even shaken by the flood.
It came and went, and he (and his house) still stood.
The foolish man, with no foundation for his house, was ruined by the flood.
Notice that when the flood came, his house (i.e., he) was ruined quickly.
Verse 49b says, “…immediately it fell...”
And notice that when the flood came, his house (i.e., he) was ruined completely.
Verse 49c says, “…and the ruin of that house was great.”
[illus] Perhaps you’ve seen video of tsunamis coming into shore. There’s very little warning and most people, cars, and buildings are simply swept away in a matter of minutes.
But the flood that Jesus mentions here is of a different type.
[Illus]
I think it’s a flood like the one in Noah’s day—the one that came with verbal and visual warnings.
When Noah proclaimed the coming of a great flood of God’s wrath, did the people listen?
When Noah constructed the ark before their very eyes, did the people listen then?
No, they kept right on eating, drinking, marrying, and being give in marriage. Jesus said in ...
They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
He then makes the same point with a different illustration...
Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
Luke 17:28
In both cases, the judgment wasn’t sudden, but only seemed sudden because people in Noah’s day and in Lot’s day didn’t heed the warnings.
[app] Folks, Jesus is warning us! Don’t go on like it’s just another day if you’re not obeying Jesus!
We had better bear spiritual fruit if we claim to be Spirit-filled!
We had better bear fruit in keeping with repentance!
We had better love, not in word or talk only, but in deed and in truth!
We had better be doers of the Word and not hearers only!
We had better prove our confession of Jesus as Savior by obeying him as Lord!
If we don’t, one day soon the flood of his judgment will be upon and our ruin will be immediate and great.
[ts] {on to conclusion}
Conclusion
Conclusion
[CALL FOR RESPONSE]
Your foundation is in one of three conditions this morning...
Some of you have no foundation.
You have never professed faith in Jesus (even if you prayed a prayer once), and you know that outside the walls of this church building, you care nothing about obeying Jesus.
Well, the place you must start is not with obedience but belief.
Jesus said in , “Believe in God; believe also in me.”
You must believe that Jesus is who he claims to be—the anointed, sinless Son of God who died on the cross to atone for our sins, who was raised so that his righteousness could become our righteousness.
Do you believe Jesus?
Have you given your life to him?
If you have, then you will not only call him, “Lord,” you’ll do what he says.
Some of you though have a crack in your foundation.
[illus] I read a story recently where a man only discovered a crack in the foundation of his house because he saw the tail of a snake slither back into it.
That ancient serpent, Satan, loves to slither in and out of the cracks in the foundation of our obedience to Christ.
Where are those cracks for you, Christian?
You’ve professed faith in Christ, and you’re striving to obey him in general, but are there specific times or places or relationships in which you’ve decided that a little disobedience is OK.
If so, that little disobedience is a crack that may widen into full-fledged unbelief.
Seal up those cracks. Repair your foundation by obeying Christ in every area of life at all times.
But, finally, perhaps your foundation is firm.
You’ve not only professed Jesus as Savior and Lord, and you’re proving that profession by striving to obey him in all things.
You’re not perfect, of course, but you’re doing the hard work obeying Christ.
You’re digging deep and laying the foundation on the rock.
If that’s you, be encouraged Christian.
The deep-down hard heart-work of obedience to Christ is worth it.
If we don’t believe it now, we will when the flood comes.
But your foundation is not being built on him if we are doing what he says.
The answer to that question determines your eternal destiny.
Bearing fruit as a disciple of Jesus requires obeying what Jesus has said.
This is the exclamation point on Jesus’ sermon in — a sermon that began in v. 20.
Jesus had just called out his 12 Apostles from the larger group of his disciples. As Jesus came down with his new appointed Apostles, there was a great multitude of people from all over who had come to Jesus to hear him and to be healed of their diseases (). Jesus healed them and then began to preach to his disciples ().
He began with began with blessings and curses.
Those things that makes us desperate for God are blessings even if they are unpleasant or painful.
Those things that make us numb to our need for God are curses even if they are pleasant or fun.
Then he spoke about loving our enemies and blessing them and praying for them.
We must do to our enemies as we wish they would do to us.
We must be merciful to them just as God the Father has been merciful with us.
Jesus then spoke about judging others.
In an often misunderstood and misapplied passage, Jesus doesn’t say that we aren’t allowed to make moral judgments.
No, in this sermon in fact, Jesus calls us to make moral judgments.
Jesus does forbid, however, judging someone as unworthy of God’s grace.
If we understand how unworthy we were are and still are of God’s grace, we will never count someone else as unworthy of it.
All of this is the good spiritual fruit that Jesus calls for in .
This fruit, however, is fruit that will only be produced by hearts that treasure Jesus above all.
How do I know if I have a heart that treasures Jesus above all things?
The answer is fruit.
And last week we saw that one part of the fruit that reveals the condition of our hearts is the words that come out of our mouths.
As Jesus said in v. 45, “…for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
However, another part of that fruit that reveals the condition of our hearts is found in our passage this morning.
If talks about spiritual fruit in terms of what we say, talks about spiritual fruit in terms of what we do.
The question in the passage before came down to, “Are we praising Jesus or someone/something else?”
The question this morning comes down to, “Are we obeying Jesus or someone/something else?”
If we are praising Jesus and obeying Jesus, we are bearing good spiritual fruit!
If we are only praising Jesus but not obeying Jesus, we are headed for eternal ruin.
Jesus puts his teaching in this passage in terms of construction and destruction.
The one who obeys him is like a man building a house. He dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.
We should consider how our spiritual house is built.
Is it’s foundation laid on the rock?
Only with the proper foundation can a spiritual house be well built.
Let’s notice three CHARACTERISTICS of the spiritual foundation laid on the rock...
----------
The strength of this foundation is faith in Christ.
firmness
stability
substance
density
The determination of this foundation is obedience to Christ.
action
step
duty
deed
The result of this foundation is endurance with Christ.
result
end
conclusion
determination
purpose
-----------------
If the foundation is right, everything else can be right. If the foundation is wrong, nothing else can be right.
Well, I’ve circled the runway long enough. Let’s pray.
[Illus] Crack in the foundation; snake finding its way into a guy’s house
-------------
The Contradiction
v. 46, Jesus knew that everyone standing around listening to him was not obeying him. They said the right things. They called him “Lord,” a term of allegiance and submission. They even said to him, “Lord, Lord,” which emphasized their verbal allegiance and submission.
But, alas, as Jesus knew, for many of them it was only a verbal allegiance and submission. Although said to him, “Lord, Lord,” they did not do what he said.
[Illus]
It’s easy to stand in a pulpit and say, “Jesus is my Savior and Lord!” It’s easy to say that in Sunday School or sing about in the words of some hymn. It’s easy to write it an a letter or post it online somewhere.
But when I’m alone, is Jesus my Lord? Do I obey him then?
When I’m tired, sick, hungry, or anxious, is Jesus my Lord? Do I obey him then?
Is he my Lord at work? At school? Online? Offline?
If Jesus really is our Lord, then he is our Lord all the time and in every area of our lives.
If Jesus really is our Lord, we obey him all the time and in every area of our lives.
Perhaps though we intend to obey him but it just doesn’t work out. We can convince ourselves that the intention to obey is the same as obeying. It isn’t.
The intent to obey without actually obeying is called disobedience.
Just as words are no substitute for obedience, neither is intent.
The Test / The Flood
v. 47
The Test / The Flood
vv. 47-48, Digging deep, laying a foundation, and building well is hard, time consuming, strenuous work, so some don’t do it. The man who does is rewarded with a house that can withstand floods.
There is a torrent of judgment that will one day flood the earth. Not a literal flood as in Noah’s day but an engulfing holy wrath that will swallow up every unbelieving, disobedient soul—every soul’s who foundation is not laid upon Jesus, the rock.
On that day, will you be swept away? If your foundation is anything other than faith in and obedience to Jesus, you will be.
The Digging, The Laying, and The Building
Dig deep = recognize the root of your problem is your heart
lay the foundation = trust Christ to change your heart and determine to obey Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit
build well = keep going; endure; increasing trust in and obedience to Jesus are how a spiritual life is well built
The Hearing and The Doing
v. 47, “Everyone who comes to me and hears my words...” Recall the setting of this sermon. Jesus has called and come down with his Apostles, and people have come to him from everywhere to hear him and be healed by him.
As steps to take in growing with Jesus, those two steps in the first part of v. 47 don’t sound bad...
Step #1: Come to Jesus - We all need to come to Jesus!
Step #2: Hear his words - We all need to listen to Jesus!
But without this third step, steps 1 and 2 are actually two steps toward destruction.
Step #3: Do what he says - We all need to obey Jesus!
[Illus] When Jesus turned water into wine, his mother, Mary, said to the attendants, “Do whatever he says.”
That’s life-saving advice.
James talks about the danger of being a hearer only of God’s word.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Also Ezekiel...
And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain.
The Two Men - The Hearer-Doer and The Hearer-Only
vv. 47-48 - The Hearer-Doer
vv. 49 - The Hearer-Only
The Flood
v. 48 - the final test for the wise man
v. 49 - the final test for the fool
[Outline]
The Question, v. 46
The Wiseman, v. 47-48
The Fool, v. 49
[Illus] Willis family. It’s one thing to say, “The Lord gives and takes away, blessed me the Name of the Lord.” It’s another to live it.
Preaching the Word: Luke, Vol. 1—That You May Know the Truth Chapter 30: Doing His Word
Pastor Scott Willis and his wife Janet had no inkling of what awaited them when they and the youngest six of their nine children piled into their minivan, buckled up, and left their home on Chicago’s south side for Wisconsin. It would turn out to be a day of excruciating pain and horror. While driving north on Interstate 94 in Milwaukee, the van ran over a large piece of metal metal that punctured the gas tank, turning the van into a raging furnace. By the time the van stopped and the parents fell out, their children were hopelessly trapped as their mother screamed, “No! No! No!”
One could suppose that for the Willises God had never been so far away. Yet, at a news conference the burned, bandaged couple, still in physical pain, gave witness to God’s grace. Janet said that when she looked back toward the van and began screaming, Scott touched her shoulder. “He said, ‘Janet, this is what we’ve been prepared for.’ And he was right. He said, ‘Janet, it was quick and they’re with the Lord,’ and he was right.” In their shared hospital room they comforted themselves by watching videos of their children, reading passages from God’s Word, and talking openly about what had happened.
The Willises’ living testimony amidst the tears and heartache is inspiring. “I know God has purposes and God has reasons,” says Scott. “God has demonstrated His love to us and our family. There’s no question in our mind that God is good, and we praise Him in all things.” “It’s His right,” agrees Janet. “We belong to Him. My children belong to Him. He’s the giver and taker of life and He sustains us.”
Storms have fallen on the Willises’ home, floods of sorrow have roared at its foundations, the thunderclouds still bring pain, but their house stands and will stand! The supreme reason for all the world to see is, they are God’s children, and they have built their lives upon his holy Word.
You live in one of the two houses described in this passage.
You either live in the house founded upon Jesus, the rock.
Or you live in the other one.
And we all know what happens to it.
R. Kent Hughes has written, “Faithful disciples are those who keep coming, hearing, and doing Jesus’ words...”
And I would add that unfaithful ones are those who stop one step short.
We must not just be a comer or hearer.
We must also be doers if we are going to bear spiritual fruit.
[Illus] Listening to God’s Word like listening to the flight attendant’s safety instructions.
Today many church attenders listen to God’s Word the way they listen to a flight attendant explain an aircraft’s safety features—totally “tuned out.” That little talk has to be one of the worst jobs on any flight. The moment the flight attendant begins, he/she endures a ritual of frequent-flyer rejection. The shades go down in the passengers’ eyes, the newspapers go up, the headphones go on. One flight attendant, exasperated by the inattention, altered the wording to, “When the mask drops down, place it over your navel and continue to breathe normally”—and no one noticed!
Listening is work. How to do it better...
Pray — for the preacher and for yourself.
Deacons praying during the service, “Lord, be with our pastor as he brings us God’s Word this morning.” There nice guys, but I know what they mean, “Lord, he struggles mentally and sometimes it don’t make sense, so please help to at least wrap it up on time.”
And it’s true! I need all the help I can get, so please pray for me!
But pray for you too!
[Illus] Man criticizing a preacher in “Revival vs. Revivalism” / “If that’s your opinion of him, then you haven’t heard him!”
Take Notes - jot down the outline; questions you have about the passage; particular insights you have throughout the sermon; there your notes so note whatever you like!
[Illus] Great Awakening in America, interest in shorthand; people carrying quills and inkwells as they hurried along to hear sermons in the fields; same thing happened in Scotland during a revival
R. Kent Hughes has written, “Revived hearts lead to scribbling hands.”
Write it down so you can actually remember it.
Reflect and Apply - Think about the passage, it’s meaning, and how God would have you apply it in your life.
DOING - the apex of discipleship
A young Korean man traveled a great distance to the home of the missionary who had led him to Christ, then announced his reason for the visit: “I have been memorizing some verses of the Bible, and I want to quote them to you.”
The missionary listened as the young man recited without error the entire Sermon on the Mount. He commended the young man for the remarkable feat of memory. Then, being a good missionary, he cautioned the young man to not only “say” the Scriptures but to practice them. The man responded, “Oh, that is the way I learned them. I tried to memorize them, but they wouldn’t stick, so I made a plan. First, I would learn a verse. Then I would do it to a neighbor. After that, I found that I could remember it.”
That young Korean was an authentic disciple whether he knew it or not. He had come to Christ, he had heard Christ’s words, and he had done them. It is in the doing that authentic discipleship is fully achieved.
Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
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Luke: Crossway Classic Commentaries The Two Builders and the Two Foundations (6:46–49)
Let us note, second, in these verses what a striking picture our Lord draws of the person who not only hears Christ’s sayings but does Christ’s will. He compares him to “a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock” (verse 48).
Such a person’s religion may cost him much. Like the house built on a rock, it may involve him in great effort, labor, and self-denial. To put to one side pride and self-righteousness, to crucify the rebellious flesh, to put on the mind of Christ, to take up the cross daily, to count everything as loss for Christ’s sake—all this may be hard work. But like the house built on the rock, such religion will stand. The streams of affliction may beat violently on it, and the floods of persecution hit strongly against it, but it will not give way. The Christianity which combines good profession and good practice is a building that will not fall.
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Luke: Crossway Classic Commentaries The Two Builders and the Two Foundations (6:46–49)
49. “But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice …” The clear words of John Bunyan when he describes Talkative in The Pilgrim’s Progress are an admirable commentary on this verse:
The soul of religion is the practical part. “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). This Talkative is not aware of. He thinks that hearing and saying will make a good Christian, and thus he deceives his own soul. Hearing is but the sowing of the seed. Talking is not sufficient to prove that fruit is indeed in the heart and life. “Let us assure ourselves, that at the day of doom men shall be judged according to their fruits. It will not then be said, Did you believe? but, Were you a doer, or talker only? And accordingly they shall be judged. The end of the world is compared to our harvest; and you know men at harvest regard nothing but fruit.”