But Matthew chapter number 7, and we'll start in verse number 12. The Bible says, Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. For this is the law and the prophets. Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction. And many there be which go in thereat, because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth to life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Those lone wolves we talked about this morning. You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bringeth forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils. And in thy name done many wonderful works. And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you. These saddest words anybody will ever hear. I never knew you. I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man. which built his house upon the sand. And the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell. And great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine. They were astonished at what Jesus had to say. Because he came in and he's practically, not necessarily rewritten history, but he's literally, I mean, after he's done teaching, he's brought them to this place where they've never been before. And he's dealt with so many things that we've covered in the past few weeks, but really he's began to deal with the heart of man. And it's the heart, you know, the heart's the issue of every matter of life, and he's brought them to this place and they're astonished at him. Can I say the Bible will astonish you sometimes? You believe one thing your whole life just for God to flip it upside down because of the Word of God. And I like that. And I'm grateful for that. I'm thankful that I do not believe the same way I believed when I was a younger person. When I was in the Roman Catholic Church, I'm thankful for the biblical truth that completely... I had to relearn some things. And I'm thankful for that this evening. But let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, And we thank you, Lord, for the word of God. We thank you for the truth of it. Lord, help us, Lord, just to find ourselves at the feet of Jesus again tonight. Listen to as he taught the disciples and these people here at the Mount of Olives. Lord, what some men have, and we could really say, probably one of the greatest sermons ever preached. And I pray, Father, Lord, it would not fall on deaf ears, nor would it just simply be stored in our life with no application. Lord, I pray, Father, that we would not just hear, but we would do. Lord, what we've learned from You the past few weeks and what we'll learn from You this evening, I pray, Lord, You'd hide me behind the cross of Calvary. I pray, Lord, You'd use me for Your glory, empty me out of myself, Lord, and fill me with Your Spirit this evening. I pray, Lord, You continue to work in our church. I pray, Lord, You continue to move in the hearts and lives of people. Lord, what a blessing it is to see the evident growth. Lord, the evident, Lord, just rekindling of a fire. Lord, what a blessing it is to see. And I pray, Father, Lord, You just continue to pour it out and pour it on. I pray, Lord, that you'd send revival, Lord, and continue to do a work in this place and with these people. Lord, we'll give you the glory and we'll give you the praise. Lord, we continue to pray for Mrs. Marshall. We pray, Lord, that you do a great and mighty work. And we'll give you the glory and the praise, God, for what you do. Lord, we love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. I'm the opposite of the Lord in this part. When I'm preparing a message, when I'm preparing a sermon, my mind says, I've got to have a good introduction. I've got to draw people in. I've got to say something that grabs their attention. That's probably from my days in school and probably a little bit of Bible college, and I realized tonight it's not me. And when I get to thinking those ways, I've got to stop and say, Lord, no, no, no. Lord, I don't want to do this my way. Lord, I want to do this your way. And we see here the Lord in this, it's almost as if he saved the best for last. He begins to do this great conclusion. If we think about this in life, really it is the conclusion of things that we get excited about. How many of you have ever been to 4th of July fireworks? And they start off and they shoot off a few rockets here and there. But when they get to the end of it, they get to that grand finale. It's like they just pull the plug and let everything go. I don't know where that person is, but he needs to get out of the way because there's fireworks going everywhere. But everybody claps, everybody oohs, and they, oh, think about a football game. Unless it's not close, like the Nebraska game was yesterday, we are on the edge of our seat in the fourth quarter. I mean, Nebraska played great in the first quarter. We were up 7 to 0 on a top 10 ranked team. But that didn't matter in the fourth quarter when you're down 52 to 17. But when the game is close, we're more excited about the end of the game than we are the beginning. And I'm just one of those people, I watch those videos, those hype videos for Nebraska football, you know, they'll have somebody on there with that deep voice, the moment you've been waiting for all pandemic long. Football is back in Nebraska and I'm all excited and Georgia hollering like they can hear me. But reality is it's those end times, it's that conclusion that oftentimes is the most important part of anything. And here Christ, He begins His conclusion, and I titled the lesson tonight, A Great Conclusion. Because He gives us a great rule, He gives us a great divide, and He gives us a great foundation. And this conclusion, He's wrapping it up, He's about to go back down from the Mount of Olives, He's continuing on in His earthly ministry. And I've just enjoyed sitting at His feet this past few weeks and listening to Him teach. And listen to him tell us these great truths in dealing with our heart. Because if anything's ever going to change about us, it's going to change from the heart. We can change everything about the outside of us, but if we don't change our heart, what difference does it make? and must start with the heart. And so notice number one tonight, we see he gives us this great rule or what we would normally call it. I can still go back to Miss Portis's fourth grade class at Terrace Manor Elementary on Tate Road in Augusta, Georgia, and I can still see it over her teacher's desk right there. It said the golden rule. Sam, do you know the golden rule? Nope. Do you know it, Jordan? Treat others how you want to be treated or do unto others as you want them to do unto you. In verse number 12, and for my life, I knew that was the golden rule, but it was years later when I found it, it came out from the Bible. Not just from the Bible, but the Lord himself taught the golden rule, which is verse number 12. Here's the amazing thing. Every time Jesus brought up the law, he always brought up both halves of it, so to speak. He dealt with it completely. Matter of fact, in Matthew 22, later on in this gospel, when the Pharisees come to him, they come to him with what they think is a trick question. They're going to trap him. What do they ask him? Master, what is the greatest commandment? See, there was two schools of thought. Was it the first four that dealt with man's relationship with God? I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not commit idolatry. And all of those things, that those first four commandments were man standing with God, but the five through ten was man standing with each other. Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not lie, thou shalt not steal. Those kind of things. And really there was two schools about who thought, or which one of those were the most important. Was it the first four? Or was it five through ten? And the interesting thing is, when they ask him, Jesus, what is the greatest commandment? What does Jesus say? The first is that thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, and mind. And I guarantee you one of those Pharisees said, I knew it. I knew it. That was the greatest one. And then he goes, followed by, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And see, you would say that in that, Jesus condensed the law, the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, that moral law, that he condensed it down to two laws, but really he covered the whole thing. Because the laws 1 through 4 deal with us loving the Lord thy God with all our heart, soul, and mind. And then 5 through 10 deal with me and you loving each other. So Jesus always captured the law in its entirety. And really, this golden law is followed by, in the previous part of Matthew chapter number six, he said, seek ye first the kingdom of God. And now he's saying, do unto others as you want them to do unto you. And notice the way Jesus phrased it. It isn't that they are to do unto us first, and then we do unto them. No, Jesus tells us if we're How we want to be treated by people, that's how we ought to treat people. And really, that makes common sense, it makes logical sense, but sometimes that's hard to practice. Especially when you're trying your best to treat somebody well, and you get negativity in return. Why is that, preacher? Why don't we live in a fallen world? And when we're dealing with a lost world, they don't have that mentality, it is all about me. How many of you have ever been in the business world? Here's the phrase, it's a dog-eat-dog world. Or it's a big shark eating little fish kind of world. Whatever I got to do to get on top, whether I hurt somebody, whether I leave my family behind, whatever it is, I neglect my family, all those kind of things, it doesn't matter as long as I get what I want to do. Jesus said, no, that's not how it works. That's not how it ought to work. Me and you ought to be expressing to those and loving on those the way that we want to be. We all want to be treated with respect. We all want to be treated with respect. I guarantee you, as much as you love me, you do not want me to show up at your house and cuss you out. So please don't show up at my house. But notice that it goes deeper than that. And so many times, we, especially when you move up into a position of power or leadership, it is, I can treat you however I want to, but because of my title or my tag, you have to respect me. It ought not to be that way. Christ did not teach that, because Christ could have simply came to earth and just destroyed everybody and been right about it. But He came as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and we find Him washing the feet of His servants. And we find him feeding and spending time with sinners and dealing with people that nobody else wanted to deal with. Because he was teaching us, listen, no matter how high up in the chain of command you get, you ought to never lose that, that if I want people to treat me right, I need to treat them right as well. And so he gives us this great rule, and he begins this conclusion, one, in verse number 12, Therefore all things whatsoever you do that you would that men should do to you, do even so to them, for this is the law in the prophets. So it gives us this great rule to govern our life. And really, if you're going to follow that you cannot live in the flesh, so to speak. You cannot live with a carnal mind. You have to stop and think, how would I want to be treated in this situation? How would I want to be dealt with in this situation? And sometimes even when we do everything right, Brother Kim, it's not received well. But that doesn't negate the fact that I still need to do what is how I wanted to be treated. One of the things that I try my best not to do is just to jump down somebody's throat and yell at them, because I don't respond well to that. I don't know if it was my upbringing. I don't know if it was the environment that I grew up in, a military home. I don't know if it was ROTC in high school. But the moment you get in my face and start yelling, I'm tuning you out. I am. You're going to need to calm down and come back to me. and talk about this, but listen, it's not just, I don't want to, but I don't want to treat anybody that way. I don't want to be ugly towards anybody to get my way. I want people to be, I want people to receive exactly the same thing that I'm giving out or that I want in my life. And we have to be Christ led to do that. Because if we're doing it for ourselves, we're going to do it however we want to, without any thought of repercussions. So he gives us this great rule, treat others like you want to be treated, the golden rule. So we see a great rule, but notice number two, we see a great divide. We see a great divide, and Jesus brings up these, it's either this or it's that. It's one or the other. It's left or it's right. It's right or it's wrong. It's truth, Joe Biden would say, or fact. But notice there's this great divide in verse number 13. He says, Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Now I've heard these verses preached this way. Yeah, most people don't want to become Christians because they don't want to live up to standards. And they don't want to put a dress on, or they don't want to get rid of this, or they don't want to stop doing this. That's why it's too narrow for them. I think really Jesus was saying, it's either my way or it's not. Because listen, you ever felt this way as a Christian, like it's us against everybody else? Not that we're physically trying to fight, but in the sense that it's like, man, there's so many people going so many different directions, and so many people doing all these different, believing all these different things. And when we look at somebody who claims to be a Christian, who tells me, it's OK, we can all get to God our own way. You don't have to worry about that. I believe that, not I, but Joel Osteen said himself, I believe that Muslims, Christians, and Jehovah's Witness, they all get to God their own way. It don't work that way. Jesus right here, as He's teaching, He said, listen, and I don't think He was being ugly with it, He was just being to the point. It's narrow. It's only one way. There was that shirt I had growing up, and I don't know who came up with it, but it had that one-way sign, and then it had Jesus sprayed paint up underneath it, but that's a true statement. Jesus is the only way to heaven. And I think as he was teaching his disciples, he was trying to get them to realize, because they were going to run into some Judaizers. They were going to run into those of the circumcision, and those who were going to say, hey, listen, it's grace plus works. It's Jesus plus your abilities. And that's not the case. Jesus said it's narrow. It's straight. Aren't you glad that it's straight? I mean, that is a blessing if you really think about it. Now sometimes we feel like we wind and we go in all these different ways in our Christian life, but in reality, the moment you get saved, you are put on a straight path that will eventually lead to heaven. And Jesus was saying, but he makes it real clear. And he would think, and so many times, I don't know what it is about when you say Jesus is the only way people get mad at you. And I think what it is that deals with their religion, that deals with their pride, it makes them realize all these good things that I've done, so to speak, aren't good enough. But it's the truth of the matter. But enter in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. It leads to destruction. And more than just a destruction in this lifetime, eternal damnation in a place called hell. I don't care how bad someone's been to you. I don't care how bad somebody's done in their life. I don't want anybody to go to hell. Even though you could say, well, they deserve it, preacher. Well, we all do. We have to keep ourselves and keep things in a proper perspective. Had it not been for the grace of God, where would we be tonight? Where would we be? And so he has this great divide. And first of all, he said, there's a wrong path and there's a right path. I think I remember being in Bible college, and I think Brother Robbie might have said this, he said, how do you know you're on the right path? He said, look around and see how many people are around you. He said, the whole world seemingly has this, you can do it however you want to. As long as you find peace and happiness, God will understand. Jesus said it real clear. There's the right gate, you have to start in the right place, and there's the right path that leads to Christ, and it's narrow. There's only one of two choices. Either you've accepted Christ, or you have not. So we see this great divide. There's a right path. But then he goes on and he said, there's a right production. Look at verse number 15. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. They look good on the outside, But on the inside, they are ready to tear you apart. They're ready to destroy you and literally just use you for their own selfish gain. You think about this, and now, I don't know if you've ever seen a wolf attack anything or anything like that. You ever stopped and asked a wolf, why are you doing that? See, wolves, they won't even eat the whole sheep sometimes. They'll literally just kill it, take a bite out of it, and leave it there. And it's crazy to think about. But Jesus is saying right here, not only is there a right path that you and I must choose to go on, but there's a right certain amount of people that we ought to follow behind. And here comes what we were talking about this morning. So, preacher, how do I know a teacher's right? How do I know that person is accurate on their doctrine? How do I know... Look at the fruit. Look at the fruit of their teaching. See, oftentimes we've taken this verse and we've misconstrued it that saying, as a teacher, it's my responsibility to look at somebody and judge the fruit on their tree. My arms crossed. Did they really get saved? Did they really get it? And Jesus is saying, no, when it comes to me and you, allowing somebody to instruct us in our life, we must be diligent in observing what they're teaching. what they're teaching, because really, they might look good, they might sound good. Listen, there's people out there, and when it comes to speaking, can do it probably a million times better than I can tonight. They're in it for the wrong reasons. And normally, you'll find them on television. And normally, you won't get into their services for about 30 seconds, something will come across the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to be a part of our ministry, sow a seed of $1,999. I've always wondered about how do they come up with those numbers? You know, how do they come up with $1,999.99? And that's like the time that I was at the McDonald's and somebody tapped my window and said, hey, man, you got $0.37. I said, that's a real odd number to ask for that. But here he's saying, how do I know? Or who should I let influence my life? He said, look at their fruit. Look at their fruit in their life. and what they've taught. You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. And so many times we think somebody is a good influence simply because they preach good. Or because they are entertaining and they capture our imagination when they preach. That's great, that's wonderful, but what about in their personal life? What about in the decisions they make, not just as they're preaching good, but are they bearing good fruit in their life? Let me ask you, would you want me to influence your children just because I preach good, but I had a problem in my marriage, I was disrespectful to my kids, and I had a bunch of other bad fruit in my life? Say, no, preacher, I wouldn't want my kids around that. Just because somebody is good at performance doesn't mean that they need to be an influence in your life. See, they gotta have the right production. He goes on to say, a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. Neither can a corrupt tree bringeth forth good fruit. So let me ask you tonight. How can me and you who are born in sin bringeth forth good fruit? I mean, we're bad to start with. We are literally bad to the roots. What did God do? He cut us out and He grafted us in. He grafted us into a good tree. We are the branches. He is divine. And I thank God, because in and of myself, I can't produce good fruit. But the one that lives inside of me produces good fruit. And this is a story my brother Joe mentioned in Sunday school. He said, what is the purpose of a tree that bears fruit? It does not bear fruit for itself. It bears fruit for those around it. I mean, how many times have you seen an apple tree pick an apple? If you do, run. That ain't an apple tree. I don't know what it is. But no, that tree produces fruit for those around it. And just listen to those people, and if you spend time with them, just watch them. Are they producing fruit for those around them, or are they producing fruit to draw people in so they can get their fruit? Or for a selfish means, so to speak. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth forth not good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. And one day all those false teachers will be dealt with. Man, could you imagine that? Those who have corrupted the gospel will stand before God and have to give an account and will have to, you know, and I guarantee some of them are going to try what they did down here to try to talk their way out of it. And when we see that, as a matter of fact, in the next few verses, but ultimately, those are going to be dealt with. Somebody who corrupted the best thing there is, the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ, corrupted it. Now I wish I could say that was a problem 200 years ago, but really that's a modern day problem if we ever had one. The gospel's been sold out for prosperity and health and wealth. So we see this great divide, there's a right path, there's a right production. Wherefore, look at verse number 20, wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. In verse number 21, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. You go out door knocking, you go out soul winning, you go out sharing the gospel. One of the things you'll hear often over and over and over again is, oh, it's okay, I believe in God. I believe in God. You know, the Bible says the devils believe in God, but they tremble. They tremble. Most people back home say, I believe in God, I ain't got nothing to worry about. If you really believed in God, and you had not accepted Christ, that ought to, I don't want to say scare you, but that ought to bring you to a place of reverential fear. Because without Christ, me and you have no hope. There is no positive end to the story without Christ. That's why, I honestly, that's why the demons tremble, because they know where they're headed. They know the promise that was given back in the book of Genesis. that one day they're going to have their due. We see this right production, but we also see this right profession and see all of this. Notice what he says in verse number 21. Do with the will of my Father, which is heaven. Do with the will of my Father, which is heaven. Then he goes on to say, Many will say unto me, Lord, have we not prophesied another action? And thy name cast out devils, another action, and thy name done many wonderful works. Isn't it amazing that the greatest competition or the greatest Battle, so to speak, is between salvation by grace and salvation by works. We see right here, those that did the works without the right profession, or I guess you could say without the right possession, didn't matter. Didn't matter. Think about the Mormons who have, I mean, with great zeal and great anticipation, with great effort. Brother Hoffman, I've never rode my bike around a neighborhood. to spread my literature. I've never gone to these great mission trips that they go on and all those kind of, all these great expenses that they go to, to share a false gospel. And they're going to stand before God and say, but Lord, I did all these things. I did all these works. See, had works produced any kind of hope, you'd had to change the wording here. You're just going to say, well, it's grace, or if you do enough good works, it'll be OK then. Let me ask you this, how do you know when enough is enough? See, we like to think, well, I've done enough. Let me ask you, how many times have you purposely forgot the bad things you've done and said, oh, I'm not that bad. I'm not as bad as anybody else. How do you keep score on those kind of things? But notice this, there's this right path, there's this right production, there's this right profession. And the sad part is they've done all these things, and they missed out on that relationship. I never knew you. I never knew you. And that's not them saying that to God, that's God saying that to them. Wrap your mind around this. He knows everything. But I never knew you. I never knew you. And here I am, 30 years old, nothing to offer, nothing to bring to the table. And I'll never hear that. God's never going to look at me and say, I never knew you. He could say to me, you know you didn't deserve it, though you didn't earn it. I know you. So I always think that the greatest thing is that I know who God is. And I know that God is my Savior, and I'm grateful for that. But I think the greatest thing is that God knows me and you. He gives me and you the time of day. And he doesn't approach it like. Sometimes my kids will tell me stories and they get long and drawn out. There's a 25 minute story that could easily fit into two minutes. I sit there and I listen and I listen and I try my best and I'm trying to get back to doing whatever I was doing and I'm thinking, just get to the point, please. Sometimes I have to calm myself down and say, you know what? I'll be thankful that my kids want to come to me. They want to talk to me. Aren't you glad God don't treat you that way? Listen, you've prayed for that same thing 10 times now. What point is it to pray anymore? And we come here and sometimes we come to God with the same problems and the same issues day after day, week after week. And he's never once said, yeah, I don't have time for you. I don't have time for you. And I've mentioned that song where he says he treats me like I'm his only child. My physical life, I don't know what that is. I was a middle child. I know what it's like to be forgotten about. I know what it's like to be... My brother got a Christmas present that had two video games, or had a video game that had two discs in it. My sister was the princess, and so she got like everything. And my mom said, well, your brother's game had two discs in it. I thought it was two games, so I didn't get you nothing. Mom, it's the same game. It's just on two discs. But all the joys of being a middle child. And if you've ever been there, you know what it's like. And so I grew up with a chip on my shoulder this evening. But notice this. But now though, I'm middle child, I'm the favorite child. And it's not even because it's me. It's the fact that my parents have grandkids now. Hey, what are the kids doing? Oh, you don't want to talk to me? No, we had a good FaceTime with my mom and my sister last night, and I praise the Lord for technology. And we were 1,200 miles away, and they were able to be part of TR's Power Rangers birthday party, and I praise the Lord for that. But notice this, there's this riot professor. I never knew you. Depart from me. Depart from me. I was telling you that last week how those two men said that when we all get to heaven, God's gonna sort all that out and it'll all be sorted out before we get there. I never knew you. Just stop tonight. We could probably just shout for the fact that we'd never have to hear those words. I never knew you. Now we get the, I knew you before you were formed in your mother's womb. and I had these desires to prosper you and to bring you to an expected end. God knows me better than He knows, than I know myself this evening. Oh, I'm glad I never had to hear, I'll never, I never knew you, never knew you. I guess you could preach it too on, I hardly knew you. You hardly spend any time with me. You hardly spend any time in my Word. One of the most convicting statements I ever heard in Bible college was, as a Christian, we believe the Bible's true. We believe it's God's Word. And I can't remember who was teaching that night. He said, what about when you stand before God and you give an account for what you did with what He gave you? And he asked you this question. Did you read everything I wrote to you? Did you read everything I wrote to you? I mean, we love the Bible, we stand on the Bible, but could we honestly say, I've read everything that He's wrote to me? The right path, the right production, the right profession. See, it's not a works-based. The worker's already done on the cross of Calvary. You see, if I never preach another sermon, If I never go and help another person in the hospital, if I never go and pray with another family, if I never go do anything else, it's okay because none of that brought my salvation. It's the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary. So it gives them this great rule. Do unto others as you want them to do unto you. It gives this great divide. There is a right path, there is a wrong path. There is a right production, there is a wrong production. There is a right profession and there is a wrong profession. Simply to the cross I cling, or however that song goes, nothing do I bring, simply to the cross I cling this evening. That's my profession. He did it all, and he's still doing it all this evening. There's a great rule, there's a great divide. Then he finishes all of this off. He's concluding, and he brings up that great foundation in verse number 24. But I love my Bible, and I love how it reads. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, here it is, and doeth them. See, so many times, I think, Brother Ken, we get so fixated on memorizing Bible Scripture, which is nothing wrong with that, but there's no application of it. What good is it to know what time I am afraid I will trust in thee, and then when we become afraid, we don't trust in Him. And some having compassion, making a difference, How to have compassion, but we don't ever show it. What good is it just to know? And he's saying, it's not just to hear the sayings and to remember the sayings, but to do them. to put that application, to practice what you know, and to practice and to put in the effort, so to speak, of what's been taught to you. And I know you guys heard this in Bible college, you have yet to preach until you apply. Application, application, application. That's why my desire whenever I teach, whenever I preach, is not just to inform you of something, but to literally give you something that you can go home and say, all right, I can do this for Christ. I can apply this in my everyday life. Jesus taught that long before I ever learned that in Bible college. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon the house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. Then we know the other story that says, and everyone that heareth these things of mine, and doesn't put the application in, doesn't apply them, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon the house, and it fell. And great was the fall of it. And so many times, I've read this, and we used to have a scripture memorization DVD that had these verses on it. I remember memorizing this with Raylan, and every time I read that, and great was the fall of it, I still do the, that the lady did on the video, to remember that part of it. And great was the fall of it, or whatever the lady did, I can still see it in my mind. But so many times, I've thought to myself, as long as my foundation's right, I can rebuild even when the house falls. But notice this, he said, when the foundation's right, the house don't fall when the storm comes. Ever thought about that? The house stands when the foundation's good. Now, where we live at, my foundation is some cylinder blocks. Is that what they're called? Cylinder? Cinder blocks. There we go. Cinder blocks. Vouch. Vouch. Origins. I'll get these words right one day. And so when a hurricane comes, we had those tornadoes not too long ago. And I was thinking to myself, I don't know what to do. I didn't know if I needed to come to the church, because the church has got a foundation. I hit it not too many weeks ago trying to put that wall in a nursery. I said, I need a hammer drill, because my drill ain't going to handle this. Cement, it's got a great foundation. My house, not so much. Really, if you're living in a trailer, tornadoes come. You can hide in the bathroom if you want to. Probably not much is going to help. Only thing that's going to work out is the tornado don't come. But in reality is so many times we think, well, as long as my foundation's right, the storm is going to tear me down. But the foundation keeps the house intact when the storm comes. That's what the Bible said. I understand we could see pictures of the roof being tore off a building. But I'm talking about spiritually in your life. You don't always have to be ripped down to the foundation. You can weather a storm and come through on the other side intact and everything's still together as long as your foundation is on the rock of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now yes, the wind's gonna howl and the rain's gonna come, but just like a boat, did you know a boat is not built just to stay in harbor all the time? It's built to withstand the storms of the sea. And the same is true in our Christian life. To think that God saved us, that way we'd never have to go through a storm, is wrong. The Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust. Storms are a part of life. Either you're in one, you just came out of one, or you're about to go into one. That's why your foundation's important. Because if your foundation isn't right, if it's sand... At our house, There's the driveway that we drive on to get to our house, and it goes up back behind our house to another house, our neighbor's house. And every time it rains, it washes out. I can't tell you how many times my father-in-law has had to pick up my front yard out of his front yard. because it just washes out down through the driveway, because there's no foundation there. It's just sand. It's just dirt. And every time it rains, it washes away. But where that foundation is, even when the rain's done, it's still standing. It's still there this evening. And so really, how do I know I had the right foundation? What happens when the storm comes? It's built upon the sand. It washes away every time. I don't care how many times you go back and shovel that sand. As soon as it rains, it's washing back down. And Jesus was trying to tell his disciples, listen, all this stuff is great, all this stuff is wonderful, but if you do not apply what I've taught to you, you're building on sand. You're building on something that's not going to last. You must build upon the rock. You must apply these... How do I build? How do I grow in my Christian life? We'll understand that you're planted both feet on the rock of Jesus Christ, but then you apply these truths that he's taught us and he's given us, and you'll begin to build a house that can withstand a storm, because the foundation's right. So notice even as Jesus was wrapping all of this up this evening, he brought this great conclusion, and my favorite part about all this is verse number 28, and the people were astonished at his doctrine. Isn't it amazing how we can still preach this today and people are still astonished? How dare you say Jesus is the only way? I'm not the one that said it, Jesus did. How dare you say that's wrong? How dare you say what they're teaching is false? Jesus said it himself. All I am is doing, all I'm really doing is repeating what Jesus has already said. And I found out when you just repeat what Jesus says, it does a lot better than trying to come up with something on your own. And so he gives us this great clue. Treat others as you want to be treated. Choose the right path. Choose the right production. Choose the right profession. And he says, make sure you build upon the right foundation because storms are going to come. And if you're not built upon the right foundation, everything you've built will crash down. That's why we must build upon the proper foundation. I want to encourage you not just as we've gone through the hill of teaching, and I don't know what hill we're going to be on next, but I might just find myself at the hill of Calvary. It's a great hill to hang around. I always thought about that. It's the hill of Calvary, but everybody says the ground is level at Calvary. It's the only hill that everybody can climb and come to. But notice there's this great conclusion Jesus teaches us. He said, hey, it's the heart. It's the heart. Get the heart right and everything else will follow. The heart is the key to the Christian life. So in conclusion, I want to give you the same conclusion that Jesus said. Hey, just trust me and do what I've taught you. And I guarantee you when the storms come, you'll still be standing.