(Text Only)
Title: Matthew 7:21-23
Well, today, after almost six months, we conclude the Sermon on the Mount. My hope and prayer is that you have learned and enjoyed as much as I have and today, as we look at Jesus’ final lesson to his audience from this sermon, my hope is to help you connect his final thoughts with all that we have weaned so far.
Read/Pray
- “These sayings of Mine” vs. “Not as the Scribes”
I’d like to start us of this morning by observing something very interesting that bookends today’s passage. Jesus begins his final words of the sermon by saying “…whoever hears these sayings of mine…” and later, Matthew, records in verse 29, that the crowd was astonished because Jesus “taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”
What’s the connection? Well the scribes, and later the rabbis taught by referring to what previous teachers had said. The authority of the Jewish teachers came from tradition, whereas Jesus was teaching directly from scripture by his own authority.
Let me say it another way, when Jesus concludes a large teaching, it isn’t the teaching that astonished the crowds as much as his words way back in the beginning of the sermon on the Mount from 5:17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” And then also reminder verses like 7:12 “for this is the Law and Prophets”
The reason Jesus was such a shocking teacher was his claim that his authority came from himself. He was not qualified by who his rabbi was, he was not qualified by who his earthly father was, he was not qualified by the schooling or diploma he received. He was self-qualified.
He arrived and said, “On MY authority, This is the word of the Lord, this is how you ought to understand the Law and the Prophets.”
And the people, understandably so, were speechless. Most didn’t know what to think,
And consider this for a moment. When presented with such an argument, what is Jesus really asking his audience to do? He’s telling them, “I have the authority to explain and fulfill the Law. Do you believe in me?”
And that, my friends, is the Gospel message. Here is what Jesus Christ said. Put all the other stuff to the side and ask yourself one simple question: “Do I believe in Jesus Christ?” Not just the historical man Jesus, but the testament to his life. Do you believe he is the son of God.
That is the Gospel message. It makes a person make a decision. Either you believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, or you do not. Literally, everything else is just details. Now, some of those details are very important, but they never trump this one foundational, original question: Who is Jesus Christ?
Every single day, whether you are saved or not, you need to wake up and, before you do anything, you need to say to yourself: Who is Jesus Christ. If you answer by confessing, “He is my Lord and savior.” Then live like it.
If you answer by saying anything else, including the very popular, “I’m not sure, but I’m working on it.” Then my advice is to follow Phillipians 2:12 and “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure.”
- Which Foundation?
And this question, “Who is Jesus Christ?” Is, as Jesus will explain, your foundation. Jesus says that whoever takes his words and teaching to heart, that is the man that Jesus will compare to the smart builder, the wise man, who set his house upon an unshakable foundation. And when the storms came, the foundation held the house in place.
On the other hand, the foolish man build his house on the sand. Maybe because it’s closer. Maybe because it’s much easier to build a house, to dig a foundation from soft soil then from rock. Maybe the rock is to far away, or too high, or difficult to get to. For whatever reason this foolish man builds only for today. His construction is close, it is safe, and most likely its familiar.
Now, here’s what I think it interesting about Jesus’ teaching here: Notice Jesus does not say that the man who build his house upon the rock never saw a storm, never experienced and earthquake, never had any problems or issues. No, he says something very different indeed. He claims that no matter what the foundation is, trouble is coming.
Rock House and Sand House will BOTH experience:
- Rain/Floods
- Winds
- Beating upon the house
Boy…to Jesus’ audience, I bet something clicked right here for many of them. Remember, they’ve been listening to this entire sermon in one sitting. I’d guess at least an hour. And Jesus says something, maybe about 20 minutes before this, that I think connects pretty well with this idea of the foundation.
Let’s take a look at Matthew 5:45 “…for He makes the sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.”
Woah.
This teaching just got thick.
Consider: Jesus tells us to chose our foundation wisely, precisely because the the rain is coming. It’s an inevitability. There is not plot of land where the rain, and the floods, and the wind, and the pounding to not find us. That is life. It is ordained by God. He sends calamity unto us, and is perfectly just and righteous in doing so.
He tells us the storm is coming, but, like Noah, loves us enough to tell us how to build a structure to survive the flood. What if Noah had appreciated the advice from the LORD, but did not believe him? The bible would only be about 6 chapters, for one thing. Noah had to believe, have faith, that the words revealed to him were God’s words, and then he had to follow through on them.
Again, that is exactly what Jesus is saying here:
- The storm is coming
- How secure is your house?
In other words:
- The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. (Judgement)
- How will you avoid the wrath of a Holy and Just God? (Do you have any atonement for your sin?)
Close:
I’d like to close by attempting to not overlook the last thing that Jesus says in this sermon. I doubt that Jesus agonizes over a sermon like I do each week. I doubt that Jesus writes and rewrites over and over the sermon’s final words, for the sake of hopefully having a maximum impact. But I do think the last sentence that Jesus speaks in the longest recorded sermon spoken by the Son of God in scripture, may be worth a second look.
“And great was its fall.”
This fall is final. There are no second chances after death. There is no appeal process, no amendment, no seven years on death row while lawyers and courts run their process in hopes, however small, of an annulment. There is no phone call from the governor to overturn the courts decision in the 11th hour.
Friends, I don’t say this for dramatic effect, I say it because the words of Christ compel me to be honest with you. This is the 11th hour. There is much I’d love to experience before going to meet my maker. I’d like to give teach my son to play basketball and to love the Browns. I’d love to scare by daughter’s suitors off my porch with a shotgun, and then, year later, begrudgingly, give her away to be married. I’d love to grow old and crazy with my equally crazy wife and spoil my grandkids.
But there is no such guarantee. The truth as Jesus puts it is plain: I currently live in a house. And so do all of you. The foundation of that house will either stand or crumble, based on what it’s made of. And there is no warning, and there are no second chances.
Examine and decide. Today. For tomorrow is not promised