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In the power of Christ, we stand
and we praise you, O Lord of the ages. Father, bring your
ageless truth into our hearts this morning anew. We pray in
Jesus' name. Amen. And you may be seated. And you can open your Bibles
this morning, again, to Matthew chapter 7, if you can find it. It's the first book of the New
Testament. It's chapter 7. And we're near
the end of chapter seven in the reading this morning. And I'm
gonna read verses 21 through 27 this morning. And so Matthew writes these words
of Jesus, and Jesus said, not everyone who says to me, Lord,
shall enter the kingdom of heaven. but he who does the will of my
Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons
in your name, done many wonders in your name? And then I'll declare
to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice
lawlessness. Therefore, whoever hears these
sayings of mine and does them, I'll liken him to a wise man
who built his house on the rock, and the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on the house, and it
did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who
hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like
a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rains descended,
the floods came, the winds blew and beat on that house and it
fell, and great was its fall. Oh Father, add your presence
and your instruction to this, your holy word, we pray in Jesus'
name this morning. And so the Lord Jesus says, not
everyone who says to me, Saying things is overrated, and who
knew the Lord actually has requirements for people. There's actually
stuff that has to be done. And we're the hands of the Lord.
We're the body of Christ. Not everyone that says, Lord,
Lord, shall enter, but he who does the will. So once again,
friends, the gospel gives us a passage that you'll not see
on the local church marquee. We're in a time when inclusion
is so much more in style than exclusion, isn't it? Exclusion
used to be in style. You know, people would brag about
the clubs they belong to, or the party they belong to, or
the church they belong to. But today it's all about inclusion,
isn't it? So inclusion is so much more
acceptable to the popular mind today than exclusion. Do you
agree with that? And here we find that our salvation through
Christ is exclusive. Only some are getting in. Not everyone who claims it has
it. Not everyone who's been sold it really received it. Pastor Ken once said to the Lord,
Jesus is not afraid to be parochial. And that's true. He comes right
out and says, not everyone who calls me Lord is getting in.
In other words, there are what he calls hypocrites. Right? We don't want to be among the
hypocrites. Political parties love to claim
that they're a big tent. You've heard that verbiage, right?
We're a big tent. What they mean is that they're
widely inclusive of all people. They want all people to come
in. They even want different ideas to come in. Right? Different ideas. The man on the
street today would much rather claim to be open-minded than
close-minded, agreed? People don't say, well, I'm really
close-minded. I can be a little narrow-minded, can't I? The man
on the street would rather claim to be open-minded. We find that
Jesus even speaks about being narrow-minded. It's the narrow
gate. Narrow is the way. Difficult
is the way, right? In fact, it's so narrow, it's
about the size of a man. Because Jesus said, I am the
way. That's a narrow way. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No one comes to the Father but
through this narrow gate. I am the resurrection and the
life. He who believes in me, though
he may die, he shall live, and he who lives and believes in
me shall never die. He who believes in him is not
condemned. But he who does not believe is
condemned already because he's not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God. Friends, these verses exclude
masses of people. Right? They're exclusive verses. And we're often challenged with
that idea. How often has it been that you
shared the gospel of Christ and your ideas were thought to be
uncharitable? Or arrogant? Or of all sins, impolite? to
suggest that there's only one way into the eternal presence
of a great God. God is great, he's massive, more
massive and magnanimous and monumental than the whole of the universe
and yet there's this narrow door to meeting him. And so people think it's uncharitable
or arrogant or impolite to suggest that there's one way into the
eternal presence of God and that we know it and you don't. People
don't like that. But just to be fair, friends,
every religious system does the exact same thing. I want you
to know that. We all claim exclusivity with
regard to truth and the reality and purpose and identity of an
Almighty God. We all claim exclusivity, right? I don't see too many Muslims
compromising on their faith and the attributes of Allah. The Jewish faith still holds
tightly to the belief that Messiah has yet to come. They're not
giving in, well, maybe Jesus was the Messiah. They're not
going to go there with you. They still believe that the Mosaic
Law is the common law for all men and the standard by which
you come into the presence of God. They're not compromising
on that, right? I was on a California beach recently,
as you know, and I ran into a couple of very nice ladies, Jehovah's
Witnesses. They're not as trained in scripture as I recall them
to be. They're not as sharp as they used to be. I was actually
amazed at how poorly they knew the scriptures, and I seem to
remember that that wasn't the case when I've had people knock
on my door in times past, but they don't give up on what they
believe, on their theology. And so we talked about the deity
of Christ. You see, the Jehovah's Witness
faith has actually changed the wording of the Bible to suit
an idea that they have about Christ. That he's merely human
and not divine. He's merely human and not divine. When I turned them to the scripture,
it almost like caught them by surprise. They were almost amazed
that I not only knew the scriptures about this, but I knew the history
about this. And she said to me, but it says
in Philippians that Jesus made himself lower than God. And I
said, but first it said he did not consider it robbery to be
equal with God. which is a clear statement that
was the exact opposite of what she remembered, but still she
wasn't going to be deterred by her mistakes and her misunderstandings. In other words, friends, we're
really very narrow-minded when you come right down to it. So
back to our verse, not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, But before I elaborate on the
passage, I'd like to point out that though confessing with our
mouths is a necessary part of conversion, personal testimonies
are overrated. People could say anything, right?
Romans 9.10 tells us, if you confess with your mouth the Lord
Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from
the dead, you will be saved. So there is a part of it that
is spoken, right? So I in no way will try to diminish
the spoken part of our faith. However, what people say about
themselves is often a far cry from what scripture points out
as the mark of a true believer. How a person chooses to represent
himself is often far from the truth of who they really are.
And if anything, the verse we have before us is one of the
many doctrinal checks, if you will, over the truthfulness of
the things that we say. People say a lot of things, friends.
People say a lot of things. And not everything comes from
the heart, and even less comes from the heart of God. And that's
what Jesus is reminding them. Try to remember, it took us months
to get to this point in the Sermon on the Mount, and we're only
in, we're in the third of the three chapters, all right? But
let's not forget all the teaching that he gave already. And he
talks about those being these sayings of mine, he says. And
so he comes to this place when he says, not everyone who says
to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter. Luke's version says it like this.
Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which
I say? You know, the simple answer I have always given to that question
is, I didn't know what you said. I didn't come out on Sunday. I
didn't go to a Bible study. I didn't open the scriptures. So why did you not do the things
that I said? I didn't know the things that you said. I called
on some amorphous being that I hope was there and would listen
to me. When there was so much instruction, the concourses,
it says in the Proverbs, right? Cry out wisdom. Wisdom's in the
open square. There's plenty of places to find
wisdom and the truth of the gospel. So the answer may just be as
simple as I didn't know the things that you said. So how could I
follow them? But I'd like to point out, it's
incumbent upon us to know. We don't just get a pass because
we were too lazy to find out. Verse 7-12 is the first use of
the term Lord. Did you notice that? Did you
pick up on that as you're reading through this? In Matthew's gospel,
Jesus didn't talk about himself as Lord until this moment. And
he says, Lord. The word is kurios. It's used
throughout the scriptures. And it does, it It doesn't have
any special status as a word. It's used in other places merely
to recognize a superior social status, or a slave owner is called
Lord, or an employer in some of the parables is called Lord.
Right? Kurios. Same thing. We like to capitalize
it, but the Greek doesn't do that. Right? We make it special. However, when Jesus uses it here
in connection with entrance into the kingdom of God, it takes
on a whole new emphasis. Jesus is clearly associating
himself with the Almighty of the Old Testament. If you call
me Lord, and I'm the way into the kingdom. He's solely responsible for permitting
entry into the kingdom. Not Saint Peter standing at the
door, as we often hear. Right? But Jesus is the door. He introduces a new concept with
regard to association of his title with the performance of
miracles. In other words, it's an implication of his deity that
people would come and say, we've done wonders in your name, Lord.
Right? We've cast out demons in your
name, Lord. And so the connection is made
more clearly than in previous passages where he declared himself
sole authority as lawgiver. Remember the lawgiver passages?
He says, you have heard it said, and then he takes the authority
to explain what it means and add to the common understanding
of it. And he says, but I say, you've heard it said, thou shalt
not kill, but I say, if a man hateth his brother in his heart,
he's already murdered him. He adds to it. That's real authority. It seems to me that this passage
dispels what we call easy believism in our day. Just say these words
and we believe you done got born again. You hear that kind of
thing all the time, right? Just pray this prayer with me
and it's all over and you go about your business, right? And yes, I'm being sarcastic.
You didn't pick up on that, the sarcasm? The passage boiled down to its
roots as simply this, doing is more demonstrative than merely
saying, right? Doing says more than saying.
And there are parables which explain this. I'm going to turn
you to Matthew 21, 28 really quickly here, because it's just
a few chapters over. It's called the parable of the
two sons. And Jesus said, but what do you think? And now he's
saying this to a group of people that are opposing him. He says,
a man had two sons and he came to the first and said, son, go
work today in my vineyard. And he answered and said, I will
not. But afterwards he regretted it and went. And then he came
to the second and said, likewise. And he answered and said, I go,
sir. But he did not go. So one said he would go and didn't
go. And the other said, I won't go.
And he went. He obeyed his father, even though
he said he wouldn't. And so Jesus asks, which seems
almost a rhetorical question, doesn't it? Which of the two
did the will of the father? And people got the answer right.
It's obvious, right? Doing says more about your intentions
and your commitment and your love and obedience to God than
just saying things. And that's really, friends, that's
really the whole point of the passage. So I've always told you that
conversion is more about being. Your whole being has changed,
right? It's more about being than simply
doing. It's more about being than simply saying. However,
doing is still the only visible part of our being. Doing is the outworking of a
genuine kinetic faith. You know what I mean by that?
Kinetic is a faith in action, right? Faith does things. And it not only does things,
but it does the things it says it does. It's truthful. The Greek word for faith recognizes
no other kind of faith. From the lexicon we read this.
The verb form to believe is this. Pistuo. You ever hear the word
pistuo? The first definition says a firm
conviction. The second definition says a
personal surrender to Christ. So the first is a firm conviction,
the second is a personal surrender to Christ, and the third is conduct
inspired by such surrender. Friends, faith has to do with
conduct. It has to do with things. That's
the Greek understanding of this when Jesus said it. Faith is
not static, it's dynamic. It does work. It not only says,
it not only does, but it does what it says. It accomplishes
what it claims to accomplish. And so as we progress in our
own theological understanding, we should come to recognize that
the new being that we have become in Christ will produce a different
product than the old being that we left behind. It should produce something different.
You know, we had a brother this morning talk about his old man
passing away. And about the new man, well the
new man's gotta have new works, new fruit, renewed, different
things. You gotta say things differently,
act differently. So faith isn't static, friends,
it's dynamic. It not only says, but it does.
And so as we progress in our theological understanding, we
should come to recognize that the new being that we've become
in Christ will produce new things. So Paul writes, therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have passed
away. Behold, all things have become
new. I've always said you're saved out of something, this
present evil world, but you're saved into something too. And
the secret of that is you're saved into the church. We like
to leave the church out of the equation, but the church is the
body of Christ. He's the head. He's not a disembodied
head. He has a body. And we are it. And we are the hands and the
feet and the voice and the words of Christ. We are all those things. Now you may recall Jesus' comparison
from other places in the Gospel accounts. From chapter 9 of this
Gospel he said, and this is a great illustration, no one puts a piece
of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. for the patch pulls away from
the garment and the tear is made worse. Funny he knows all these
sort of domestic things, you know. He says, nor do they put
new wine into old wineskins. You see, wineskins are made of
some kind of animal skin and the fermentation of the grapes
in there cause the thing to expand. It's expandable. But if you were
to take an old wineskin that's already expanded and filled it
with new wine, it would burst. And so his illustration is well
taken here. No one puts new wine into old
wineskins, or else the wineskins break and the wine is spilled
and the wineskins are ruined, but they put new wine into new
wineskins and both are preserved. So with regard to how the way
of salvation is presented in many Christian circles today,
it seems to me that the whole experience is based on saying,
and does not proceed to any concept of doing, which is sad. It seems
that way to me. In fact, it's so stressed. I've
seen it stressed all my Christian life. Just say these words, right? Just pray this prayer. And you
ask somebody, is so-and-so saved? Well, he prayed a prayer. 10
years ago, maybe 20, but he's all set. We're so afraid of incorporating
works into the equation. I call it hypercorrection. I
remember one time many years ago teaching an adult Bible study
on James. The epistle of James is very
practical. It's like the Proverbs of the
New Testament. James is the cornerstone of faith
being without works is dead, right? His famous statement.
You gotta do stuff, right? Not to gain your salvation, but
to express it. the new creature expresses himself
in good works. That's the outworking of Christ
in us. If it doesn't happen, it's not
there. And so as I was teaching the
Bible study, I promoted all these things. And one of my friends,
he was a very good man of God. And he came up to me and he said,
you got to stop with the works. You put works and there's not
one thing we can do to get saved. And I said, I know, but we have
the book of James. And they say, well, it seems
to go against Romans, because Romans says there's no works.
Well, Romans is talking about salvation, and James is talking
about assurance. It's a different subject. So we're so afraid of incorporating
works into the saving formula that we deny the appropriate
place of works in the life of the new saint. You know, years
ago, Franklin Graham, who I love, I love the Grahams and what they've
done and their boldness. He just boldly comes on, buys
commercial time now and presents the gospel. You're going to love
Franklin. And he has the Samaritan's Purse, which we've given money
to and probably should again because of the Texas thing. Years
ago, he came and 10 of the churches, I was one of the churches who
wasn't here. It was before we were even a church. And we all
supported that. But because there were 10 churches
involved who all had different theology, hopefully slightly
different, right? When people gave themselves to
Christ at the great gathering, and it was the Zyterian Theater.
Was anyone there? Does anyone remember this? Brenda
was there. down in New Bedford, when people came to Christ, some
of us were counselors and we would receive them and talk to
them about their faith. We were not allowed to invite them to
church. Do you believe that? I thought
it was terrible then and I think it's terrible now. Because the
other church might get jealous that we talked to more people
than they did and got more people to come to our building than
they did. I mean this is all it was about. We were not allowed
to invite them to church. I just thought, We left them out there hanging. Now, just so we're clear, the common evangelistic idea
is that we're saved by works, and that is, of course, bedrock
gospel truth. But the favorite statement of
that is also attended by the proper place of works in the
relationship. And so I read to you something
that many of you probably have committed to memory, Ephesians
2, 8, and 9, but I add verse 10 to make the point. For by
grace you have been saved through faith, and that is not of yourself. It is the gift of God, not of
works that anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus for good works. Why were you created? Why were
you created anew? For good works. And Jesus just
gave us two and a half chapters of what those good works should
look like. Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk
in them. You don't have to search around for them. God prepared
them and put them in your path. And even though he did all the
work, he's given you the credit for doing the work. Boy, that
is grace. Now, just so we're clear, the
common evangelicalistic plea to ask Jesus into your heart
is not found in the Bible. We do know that, right? I just
want you to know, I'm not saying you could never use that phrase
or anything, but when things become a cliché, and you know
how I am about clichés, I get a rash when I hear a cliché. You know, I take pills now for
it and I only get the rash if I repeat the cliche. So you'll
never hear me say, ask Jesus into your heart, I'm sorry I
don't say it. Okay? I don't care if you say it or
if that's the way you were taught to say it. But once it becomes
a cliche, it tends to lose its meaning, friends. All right? And so use the phrase if you
must, but please resist the temptation to let the phrase become the
emblem of the finished work. All right? It's not. How many
of us have been disappointed by people that said the phrase,
and are nowhere to be found? Right? Like the prodigal son,
found out there in the pigsty of life, eating what the pigs
ate. Right? We hear it often enough,
just say these words, and you'll be saved. If you prayed that
prayer with me, we believe you got born again. In fact, this inane process is
so ingrained in the evangelical mind today, we sometimes go so
far as to believe that apart from saying it, no one can be
saved. You have to say those words. It's a mantra. You know
what a mantra is? It's a Hindu prayer. You know
what an incantation is? You have to say these words.
It's priestcraft. An incantation is like a witchcraft
spell. If you didn't say the words,
you didn't get saved. Right? And we sometimes think without
that we can't be saved. Now I got an illustration of
this. I had a good friend and she was a wise Christian woman.
And she talked about this very sad story of a revival meeting
where a nominal, sort of liberal, unbelieving preacher went and
he took his son with him, his adult son, right? And so they
went there and the preacher did what revival meetings do and
they called people to raise their hand. Raise your hand if you're
gonna trust Christ with your life. And the boy went to raise
his hand and the father put his hand down and everyone went,
oh. And I said, honey, why is everybody sad? The kid got saved. He didn't raise his hand. You
don't get saved by raising your hand. You don't get saved by
raising your voice. You don't get saved during COVID
if you turn your lights on in the parking lot. That doesn't
get you saved. That's not how it's done. Receive
with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your soul,
James said, 121. Right? It's the Word that gets you saved.
You know? Your father could jump all over
you and dress you to the ground and try to hold back the faith
that God put in you. It was the gift of God, not of
works that anyone should boast. And that father's boasting he
can keep it out. He can't. The kid got saved. There's no sorrow here. Just a father who didn't catch
on the way the kid did. So now let's talk about election.
No, not today. So I reminded them that we're
not saved because we follow a certain set of evangelical directions.
That's not how it's done. We're saved by faith in God,
which is an inward thing that's done by God. Raising a hand or
a voice or not raising has no effect on the divine calling
of the human heart to the side of Christ. Saying a thing is
vastly overrated, friends. The proof is always in the doing.
The saying is necessary, but the proof is in the doing. Right?
And James said it this way, faith by itself, if it does not have
works, is dead. And he goes on to illustrate
it this way. Someone will say to you, you have faith and I
have works. Show me your faith without your
works and I'll show you my faith by my works. And then he says this, and this
is really the crux of the matter. You believe there's one God,
you do well. Even the demons believe. Even demons have that much faith,
but they tremble before God. But do you want to know, oh foolish
man, that faith without works is dead, he says. So it seems
to me that the faith of demons is the precise point the Savior
makes in the passage. Demons don't merely believe there's
a God. They know there's a God. It may
be said of them that they also know who He is and they know
who Christ is. The saying is not in the knowing
per se. That's part of it. All these
things are part of it. Right? Jesus isn't telling us not to
say, Lord, Lord. He's telling us to accompany
it with the works of the Lord. It's not in the saying, and if
I had my way, I would reinvent the word believe. And I think
I've told you this before. Believe has fallen on hard times. It doesn't mean what it used
to mean. It doesn't mean pisteuo anymore. Because clearly it's
not in the believing either. For even the demons believe that
much. They have what I call a naked
belief. It's not attended by anything.
It's undressed. Right? A naked belief. When they
confront God, they know who he is. Recall the demon possessed
man from Mark chapter 1. Who Jesus said as he approached
the man, the demon said to him, let us alone. What have we to
do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? This is the only guy in the synagogue
who knew who Jesus was. Except the apostles that went
in with him. But he's the only guy in there. He knew him. He
wasn't introduced. But he could see him. And he called him Jesus
of Nazareth. He said, did you come to destroy
us? In other words, you're God. Because who can destroy a demon
but God? Right? And then he said, I know
who you are, the Holy One of God. Demons have a lot of knowledge
about God. A simple recognition of Jesus,
though, is not the same as saving faith, then, is it? Now to be
fair friends, demons are not the object of God's love as we
are. He didn't come to save demons. Their faith won't get them saved.
But a faith unattended by works of love and worship and charity
and forgiveness is no faith at all. That's what the whole sermon
is about. It's all in the surrendering
to Christ that is the true work of salvation upon a human soul.
Belief must be attended by a genuine recognition of the Savior. Of
his essence. That means his nature. His purpose. His divinity comes through. And because grace is irresistible,
Salvation is more a product of the sincere love of God than
just the naked belief that He exists. How many of your friends
talk about God? Or say, Lord willing, who know
nothing of the Savior? And just so we have our doctrine
straight, friends, let me just remind you of one thing. You
could not ask Jesus into your heart if He wasn't already there.
Right? Thank you, I needed an amen.
I didn't ask for it like Danny does. I need an amen. Can somebody
give me an amen? Jesus said, no one can come to
me unless the Father who sent me draws him. In other words,
I'm already in there. God put me in there. Now you
can come to me. You couldn't do it before the Father drew
you to my side, right? And he says, I'll raise him up
at the last day. In other words, the work is done as soon as the
Father brings in The knowledge, right? The fact of the matter
is that regeneration precedes faith. Only saved people make
a profession of faith. Every other profession is a false
profession, and that's the one Jesus is trying to drive home
here. He's describing it. In other words, friends, real
saving faith is not initiated by us. It is the gift of God,
sometimes to the unsuspecting sinner. And we have the examples
of Paul and Jonah. Friends, Paul wasn't going out
to honor God. He thought he was. But Jesus
knocked him down off his horse. We know he wasn't on a horse,
even though all the pictures, the painting, the great painting
showed him knocked off the horse. But he blinded him, and only
then could he truly see. Right? Paul wasn't out to find
Jesus. Jesus said, I'm Jesus who you're
persecuting. See what I mean, though? He identified
himself with the church. He was persecuting the church,
the followers of Jesus. And Jesus takes it personally,
just like I do. You see what I'm saying? And so we love him because he
first loved us, John writes. Paul wasn't seeking Jesus. He wasn't in a search for him.
He didn't make a profession of him. Jesus knocked him down,
blinded him, and said, this is me. And from now on, you'll serve
me. And then he went to Ananias and
said, receive him, because I showed him how many things he must suffer
for my sake. That's commitment. He told him
about the difficult way, and Paul still followed. Verse 22, many will say to me
in that day. Now I read last week that narrow
is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and
you won't see that on the church marquees of the town. And there
are few who find it. And I told you I do not know
how few is a few, and I still don't. Today we read about many
have a false faith, and I'll tell you again, I don't know
how many are many. So I don't know how few are few, and I don't
know how many are many. And I don't believe people who
think they know how many are many. But I'm fearful of that
implication, aren't you? Many will have a false profession.
I don't like that. Only few will find me. I don't
like that. I like it better that I have
some assurances I'm one of the few, though. So I hope we're
all part of the few and only a few are part of the many. That's
how I feel about it. And so many will say to me means
many will come with a false confession of faith. It's my belief that
that's true because so many heard false preaching. Right? Like I presented already. They've
been given a false way, a false security, and a false lifestyle.
Just go about your business. Doesn't matter what you do. You
said the words and you're done. It's like a salesman, a preacher,
who pitched a simple course, or simpler than the one Christ
is preaching. He made you an offer you can't
refuse. Just say these words, and your eternal cares are over,
and you can go about your business. All things are not what they
seem, friends, and all things are not what some preacher or
prophet said they were. Verse 23, and then I will declare
to them I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice
lawlessness. Remember the Lord's warning.
Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly, they're ravenous wolves. You'll know them by their
fruits, he said, right? They're out there. And what are fruits, friends?
Fruits are works. Fruits of the saints are compared
to fruits of trees, and fruit tells the tale. A particular
tree will produce commensurate fruit. Same is true of the saint. You ought to be producing something
different than what you produced before you came into contact
with the Savior. You got to produce something
different. And note the types of works Jesus refers to. They're
all religious works. Did you notice that? The works that he that they speak
about doing many wonders in your name, casting out demons in your
name, right? All these things are religious
works. It's strange. It's not strange to me that those
are the ones he points out because those are the religious people
who just think they've done something that God has no respect for. So the works that he speaks about
have to do with prophecy, with exorcisms, with miracles. And one must wonder just how
verifiable each of those things is. You know, I always found
it interesting, the whole Pentecostal movement, and please, when I
say this, I don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. These
are our fellow Christians and believers, and their doctrine
is very close to ours, and they're Baptistic even. But this whole
thing about everyone preaching in tongues is simply unscriptural. And when they take it to the
place where if you haven't spoken in a tongue, you don't have the
Holy Spirit. Well, in my recollection of Acts chapter 2 is the Holy
Spirit came with tongues and with fire. And I've never seen
anyone display the fire. When you display the fire, you
have a right to that doctrine. But if you can't, It's a demonstration
and not a prescription. You follow me? It's a description,
not a prescription. It happened once for all in a
time. There are so many more claims
of the miraculous than there are demonstrations of the miraculous.
I can tell you that the very same things that were counterfeits
in that day are the same counterfeits in our day. Miracle workers,
right? Verse 24, therefore whoever hears
these sayings of mine and does them, I'll liken him to a wise
man who built his house on the rock. I mean, that doesn't even
need explanation, but this is not the only place where Christ
is referred to as the rock, friends. Right? That firm foundation upon
which a person must erect an impregnable building or build
an enduring life. I know a little about foundations,
laid a lot of them. And you dig down until the dirt's
hard. And if you disturb the dirt further down than you have
to to put your footing in, you have to compact that dirt again.
You can't just build on soft stuff. And that's what he's talking
about. Peter brings it home to the building
referred to as the Christian life. Peter explains the building. We know he's not really talking
about a building, right? He's talking about building your
life. And so Peter says you also as living stones are being built
up a spiritual house. You're the building Christ is
building. And he says you're a holy priesthood to offer up
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Paul writes of it also, he says,
no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid,
which is Jesus Christ. Do you not know that you are
the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
Friends, you are a spiritual building that God has built on
the firm foundation of the truth of Scripture and a recognition
of who the Savior is. Do you not know that you're the
temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? For they
all drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that
rock was Christ, and so let the rain descend, let the flood come,
let the wind blow and beat on that house, and it will not fall,
for it's founded on the rock, which is Christ himself. Amen. Father, we praise you for this
simple, mindful illustrations, oh Lord, of the Christian life. Let us walk after you, knowing
the promises, trusting in the bedrock principles of the word
of God. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Depart from Me P17
Series Sermon on the Mt: Beatitudes
| Sermon ID | 71325167404513 |
| Duration | 42:09 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Matthew 7:21-27 |
| Language | English |
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