Put your Life in Jesus Hands.
Gospel of Matthew • Sermon • Submitted
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Put Your Life in Jesus Hands...
Put Your Life in Jesus Hands...
Good morning my friends, I hope you are doing well today.
I am blessed to see you all today, it is a joy to have the joy of worshipping together as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Last week I asked you to be praying for the men in our church and I hope you spent some time doing just that, praying for us men. We need prayer and honestly we welcome it.
Today, I want to encourage you to pray for those around you, your neighbors. You may or may not know them personally, but you can pray for them, their families and such.
Honestly, how can we say we love our neighbor if we will not even pray for them.
Today we return to the Gospel of Matthew and we will look at the final section of chapter 7.
Today there are three things Jesus is teaching that comes to a single advancing theme for the sermon on the mount.
The Theme is putting your life in Jesus. Fully, freely following Jesus so that you are becoming the very best disciple you can be...
With that in mind, let me share three thoughts with you...
A Disciple is Known,
A Disciple Bears Fruit
A Disciple Builds their House on Jesus alone.
We will be looking at Matthew 7:15-23
Now I am going to look at these passages a little differently by looking at the second section first.
Look with me at verses 21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
There is a pretty straight forward passage, and it is a little harsh but don’t worry about that… Sometimes we need a wake up call if you are going to follow Jesus.
So lets being with this first thought today..
1. A Disciple is Known....
I think it is important for us to be reminded that an intellectual knowledge of Jesus isn’t enough to say a person is His disciple.
Jesus says plainly here not everyone who claims to know God, who says Lord Lord, is one of His children.
Why?
There was a disconnect among the people. There was an idea that who you are makes a determination as to your faith. And that isn’t so...
For instance, for those who were Jewish, the inhabitants of Israel themselves they held the belief that they were God’s people because they were the physical descendants of their father Abraham.
Jesus will teach all throughout the gospels that there is no ‘new birth” by association only. Having a knowledge or physical connection isn’t enough.
Instead, listen to what Jesus says here...
Matthew 7:21 says
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Not everyone… but those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven.
So there must be confession and obedience to the will and work of God.
So consider the Pharisees, they felt special, they felt privileged if you. The were the descendants of Abraham, Issac and Jacob… those patriarchs of the faith.
But do you remember what Jesus said in Matthew 3:9?
9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.
There had to be more than knowledge, their had to be heart, obedience and action.
These must go hand in hand. works alone have no meaning and words alone have no meaning...
There must be both… Salvation begins with confession..
10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
And then their life is characterized by service…
The apostle Paul reminds the church at Ephesus in Ephesians 2, that salvation is by faith, not of works so that no man can boast. Eph 2:8-9… meaning that Salvation is the work of God, we can do nothing to be saved. But Eph 2:10 agrees with James that because we are saved, we do work , we want to serve our Lord,
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
So faith and action goes hand in hand my friends. They are the ones who have received Jesus into their heart and have followed Him.
Let me stop right here and ask you my friends, have each of you asked Jesus into your heart to save you?
If you have, if you are know to Him. Have you given you life over to Him by faith so that He can use your life for His glory.
Now lets move over to the second thought today...
2. A Disciple Bears Fruit....
Now as you have already heard we have been talking about the necessity of works being the by product of our faith.
We are not saved by works, but because we are saved, we are known to the Lord as His child and disciple, we want to serve.
Think about our trees and other plants. The green leaves of plants carry out both photosynthesis (in light) and respiration (all the time). Photosynthesis uses carbon dioxide to make sugar and produces oxygen as a byproduct. Because of these actions, the outcome is something good.
Our own respiration uses oxygen to release energy from stored sugar and produces carbon dioxide as a byproduct.
Look how wonderful God has made this world… the same is true for us as a child of God. The saving work of God in our lives produces a changed life and the serve, the works of our life is the by-product of that salvation.
Lets go back to our text...
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Jesus says that every good and healthy tree bears good fruit. A diseased tree cannot bear healthy fruit.
The same is true in our lives… If we are his, If we are known by Him we will produce good works, good fruit that honors the Lord our God.
When Jesus says not every one who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of Heaven, it tells us that not everyone who professes Christ follow Him. Not everyone produces fruit… why they are unhealthy.
A great question is this; are you healthy or unhealthy spiritually?
Do you live your life for self or for God?
Remember what Jesus says in verse 16 - “You will recognize them by their fruits...”
Are you bearing fruit....
God has given each of you a gift, a calling in your life. God blesses you to serve, to give, to help and bless..
And don’t forget each of us are called to be a witness.
If we are putting our life in His hands we are symbolically asking Jesus to take this life, and uses it, use it for His glory that others would see the Lord high and lifted up by our testimony and by our deeds...
If you are not bearing fruit today, search your life and see what is unhealthy and ask him to remove it, clean you up and make you healthy.
Now just one last thought for today...
3. A Disciple Builds their House on Jesus alone....
If we are going to be His disciple, our life must be built on Jesus and nothing else.
To understand this idea better, let go and look at the last portion of our text for today… Verses 24-27
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 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. 26 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. 27 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.”
So lets consider that Jesus is saying here.
A true disciple of the Lord Jesus is one that not only hears the His words, But does them.
And how are we to do them… We are to do them in such as way, that it is not a temporary thing in our lives… it is permanent. Likened unto building their house upon the rock. solidly standing...
Jesus says that every person who hears these words of His and does them are compared to a wise man, who built their house on a firm foundation, literally a rock.
We want our homes to have a solid foundation… why.. it helps the house remain steady and strong.
Nothing will harm it...
Jesus says verse 25… the rain fell , the floods came in and the winds beat upon the house… and it stood. It did not move,
Remember the big bad wolf and the three little pigs.... He came to the house that was build of Brick and He huffed and puffed and could not blow the house down.
When your home is built upon the rock of Jesus, when Jesus is your foundation the storms of life will not prevail, you will stand because of Jesus.
David said Psalm 23:4
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You see his protective hand, His strength and might will keep a person no matter what they go through.
Jesus is the only one whom we can place our life , living and obey His commands and He will hold us safe a and secure.
Please understand, it doesn’t mean we will not go through the storms, it means we will stand with Him in the storms. This person, Jesus calls a wise person.
And when judgment comes, those spiritual structures, those eternal treasures that have been stored up will stand… because they were built on the rock, and that rock is Jesus.
But on the other hand....
The person who hears and fails to do what the Lord has commanded is compared to a foolish person. They are literally an unwise person…
Listen to fail to do the word of God isn’t that they neglected, or it was a lapse in judgment. No it is direct disobedience. We knew to do right and we did not...
Now lets go back to our text
Verses 26-27
26 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. 27 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.”
What a picture… consider a storm coming and it being so big, so powerful that it uproots your house, it destroys it… Literally all that you held as precious was gone, no hope of salvage or saving.
Utterly destroyed.
You would be heartbroken.
Then answer my question… How can we believe our home, our lives will be fine when we fail to heed or obey the words of the Lord? It cannot...
What will happen when judgement comes…
Judgement day will come like a flood to all those spiritual structures we have erected in this life. Will it stand or will it fall.
Those who built their lives on the sand, those temporal things of life, on career, on position or popularity … on those things where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in to steal… there will be a great fall coming in life and one whereby a person cannot recovery....
But there is hope.
Jesus is our hope… the blessing is obedience can begin today....
You can change your life and begin to follow the Lord today. The Scriptures says 2 Corinthians 6:2 that today is the day of salvation.
Today is the day to change what you are doing, to change living for yourself and you can be His disciple and follow the Lord fully.
How do you want your life to end? Well I can say surely we want our life to end well
In the final scene of Saving Private Ryan, the rescue the saving of this last son was to spare his mother the loss of all her sons, but also so that he could live His life, so he could have life.
In that final scene, Ryan, the older man asks his wife, “ tell me I have had a good life..” and of course he had… He wondered if he had lived it in a way that was worthy of their sacrifice of their life.
Worthy of the sacrifice to save his...
Let me ask you, have you lived your life in a worthy manner of His sacrifice, are you living daily in a way that is worthy of that sacrifice,.
Jesus gave His life, so that we could have an abundant and free life. A life that grows the more and more we surrender self, and take his life upon our us.
If not, ask forgiveness today and change......
Do you know, are you sure that Jesus is your Lord and Savior?
Do you need prayer for something in your life...
Jesus stands ready to help you today if you would but follow Him!
Follow Jesus and Be His disciple.