Wise Man - Foolish Man Part 2

Reiterating the Parable's Main Point: Hearers and Doers

0:03 Filled with invitation, exhortation, and with sober warning, the final message of our Lord Jesus Christ within the greater context of the entire sermon is couched in the form of a parable which we studied last Lord's Day morning and will consider again this morning. Verses 24 through to verse 27.

0:42 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 rain 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 every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the same rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

1:27 Last week we sought to expound the parable and its significance just as we find it before us with very little application and expansion of its truth. And I would remind you of the three or four great truths that we mined out of the passage last week. First of all, we must keep before us the main point of this parable. It is not a parable to teach the Bible doctrine that we are justified by faith in Christ who is called again and again in the Scripture the rock of our salvation.

2:03 That is not the purpose of this concluding parable of our Lord. The main issue is the difference between these hearers. Notice verse 24. Whosoever heareth and doeth, I will liken to a wise man.

2:20 Verse 26. Everyone that heareth and doeth them not shall be likened to a foolish man. The main point of this parable is to show the difference between a wise hearer of the words of Christ and a foolish hearer of the word of Christ. Then we looked at the similarities of the two men.

2:42 Both of them heard the word of Christ. Both of them built a house, and we saw that that house is the profession of Christianity. Both of them professed faith and adherence to Jesus Christ the Lord. And both of them had their house attested.

3:00 The winds, the rain, the storm, the flood beat equally upon the two houses. There their similarities end. They both heard the word of Christ. They both constructed a profession of Christianity.

3:14 Both of them experienced a testing of that house of Christian profession. Their differences? Very basic. And the basic difference is this.

3:26 One house stood the test of the flood and the storm, and the other house did not stand the test. And the reason was this. One had a foundation, the other did not. Now what is the abiding message of the parable?

3:40 Simply this. Profoundly this. The only person whose house of Christian profession will stand the test of time and of judgment is the man whose Christian profession is built upon a bedrock experience of practical and sincere obedience to Jesus Christ the Lord. That's the teaching of this parable.

Obedience as the Foundation, Not a Contradiction to Justification by Faith

4:08 And I say to every professor of Christianity in this building, as much as I will say or will say to every professor of Christianity in this building, as much as I will say or will say by the grace of God to the four or five hundred this afternoon at that tent, if your profession is not built firmly and squarely upon a relationship to Christ that produces in you serious, practical, determined obedience to Christ, you're building on sand. And the test of time and of judgment will ultimately reveal that you played the fool. Now, is that clear? Now, as we seek to expand the truth this morning and apply it in a bit more detail, I'm conscious that it's no easy thing to expound the Word of God in its proper balance. What we have here is no contradiction of Romans 4 and Ephesians 2. Romans 4, we read, to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Ephesians 2.

5:13 By grace are you saved through faith. By grace are you saved through faith. By grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works.

5:19 Now, that's a precious and wonderful truth, that God accepts guilty sinners as guilty sinners and accounts them righteous solely for the merits of Christ when they truly believe on him with a penitent faith. And the truth here does not contradict that. It supplements it. And the truth of Romans 4 and Ephesians 2, that we're not saved by doing, but by doing, but by trusting, does not contradict and cancel what our Lord says here.

5:53 And it's only the man or woman whose eyes have been opened by the Holy Spirit who can see both truth and walk in the light of them in his experience as well as in his understanding, who rejoices in his acceptance by faith alone, based upon the merits of Christ, and gladly confesses on Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. And whoever wants to be with Jesus, he has the authority to do so. And who at the same time can face a parable like this and say, Lord, by your grace, I not only hear your sayings, but I sincerely, diligently, and practically carry them out in my day-by-day experience.

6:35 Are you doing these things that Christ has mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount? You profess Christ? Are you doing what he said here? If so, you're building upon rock.

Reviewing the Beatitudes: The Inner Life of a True Christian

6:46 And if you profess Christ and are not doing these things, you're building upon sand. Now, what are those things? What I'm going to do this morning is we're going to go back through a very quick review of the whole Sermon on the Mount because many of you I know will not leave this building and go home and get on your knees and open up your Bible and starting with Matthew 5 and verse 3, read from there to the end of the sermon and say, Lord, am I doing what's put here? There are many of you that won't do it.

7:18 I urged upon you to do it last week, and I'm sure it would be embarrassing and disappointing to me, embarrassing to you and disappointing to me, if I were to ask how many of you went home and did what I asked you to do, actually got down on your knees and read through the Sermon on the Mount saying, Oh, God, am I doing what Christ has said? And so I love your soul enough to help you to do what perhaps you won't do by your sin.

7:45 How does the sermon begin? With, Turn back to Matthew chapter 5. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who recognize that they are nothing, have nothing, and can do nothing apart from the grace of God. Those have experienced Holy Spirit conviction, stripping them of all hope that they are anything but sin and pollution and corruption and depravity.

8:17 Blessed are they that mourn, holy sorrow for sin. Blessed are the meek, the absence of ill will to man and self-will in the direction of God. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. These are the descriptions of a true Christian.

8:35 How do you do the Beatitudes? By experiencing that work of grace which implants the principles of the Beatitudes within your heart and then works them out in your life. Are you poor? Blessed are the poor in spirit if you build a Christian profession upon an experience that leaves a hard core of human pride untouched and uncrucified you're building upon sand.

9:04 Blessed are they that hear and do, who do not rest until God shows them that when Jesus said, without me ye can do nothing, he wasn't just talking, it's the truth. I am nothing. I have nothing. Can do nothing.

9:19 And I stand in need of all things. Blessed are they who mourn. Blessed are they who mourn. Are you mourning over sin?

9:25 Is confession of sin a daily, integral part of your experience? I'm not asking you, do you believe in confession? But are you actually confessing sin? How many sins have you confessed this past week, with a holy mourning?

9:39 Have you cried out to God to cleanse you and forgive you for your coldness of heart? For your indifference to the souls of men? For your pride? For your stubbornness?

9:51 For your hasty words? For your angry spirit? For your sarcastic words? Have there been any specific sins about which you've mourned in the presence of God this past week?

10:02 If not, you're not doing His sayings. You're building on sand. You're building on sand, beloved. I care not who you are.

10:09 You're building on sand for whosoever hears and does not. He said, I'll liken to a man that's building up on the sand.

10:18 Are you hungering and thirsting after righteousness? Have you cried to God this week for a greater measure of holiness? For a greater enablement of the Spirit to live a life acceptable in His sight? This is what it means to practice the Beatitudes.

10:34 Are you practicing them? If not, listen to me. Listen, listen. Hear the word of Christ.

10:39 You're building upon sand and your profession is not.

Reviewing Salt and Light: The Christian's Effect on the World

10:44 Whosoever heareth and doeth not, I will liken to the foolish man who builds upon the sand. Are you practicing the Beatitudes? The second great section of the sermon, you remember, as we studied through, beginning with verse 13. It's the relationship and effect of the Christian upon the world about him.

11:03 Jesus said, ye are the salt of the earth. Verse 14, ye are the light of the world. He said, those who are my children, my people, they will act as salt does. It checks putrefaction and decay.

11:17 Light exposes and illuminates. Are you practicing this? Is your life a check upon evil in your neighborhood? What about where you work?

11:27 In the fellows' telederm? Do they see you walk into the midst? Do they suddenly stop it because they know your commitment to Jesus Christ?

11:37 Do they? Or can they go right on telling that story in your presence?

11:43 When that person starts to gossip and you come into the group, does the gossip stop? Is your life salt? Checking that process of decay and putrefaction that is natural to fallen humanity? Jesus said, not you ought to be.

12:03 But if you're one of my people, you are. Are you functioning as salt in the world?

12:09 He said, my people are light. Light exposes. Light radiates. He said, if you're one of my children, your life will expose sin.

12:19 It will expose the sham of empty religion. Does anybody ever get uncomfortable around you?

12:25 Does anybody ever see Christ in you? Has anyone ever come and said, I see something different about you. It's real and vital and warm. And I don't even know what it is.

12:41 If you're building a house of Christian profession, and you are not light and you are not salt, Jesus said, you're building upon sand. For whosoever heareth and doeth not shall be light unto the foolish man who builds upon the sand. In the next great section of the sermon, our Lord says, He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill. And then he climaxes it in verse 20.

Reviewing Righteousness: Exceeding the Scribes and Pharisees

13:06 I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes, and Pharisees, you'll in no case enter the kingdom of heaven. And I ask you, as the word of God has been preached, as the Spirit of God has put pressure upon the truth and applied it to our hearts, have we come into the possession of a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees? If we haven't, Christ says we'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. For the Christian is not only described by the Beatitudes, not only described as light and salt in his relationship to the world, but the Christian is here described as one who has a righteousness that goes beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees.

13:47 It rests upon a different foundation, and it's constructed of different principles. The foundation of the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was what they did and what they were. You remember that Pharisee prayed in Luke 18, I thank thee I am not as other men. And then he began to tell God everything he did.

14:07 Listen. If you're hoping to be accepted before God, on the basis of what you are and what you do, you're building upon sand. For your righteousness goes no further than that of the scribes and the Pharisees.

14:23 And I would be a fool to think that even in a group of this size, there are not some who still feel, I must be saved because of what I've done. I've made a decision. Or I haven't done this. And because of what I am.

14:40 No, no. Until you, from the heart, can plead Christ and Christ alone as your righteousness. And say like that young man that I quoted last week, if I'm not found in Christ, I've had it. Until you can say that as a burning conviction of soul, you're building upon sand.

15:01 For you've heard the saying of Christ, but you haven't done it. He said, you've got to have a righteousness that goes beyond that of the scribes and the Pharisees, in its foundation. And then in its superstructure, their practical righteousness was built on an over-concern with the externals and no concern about the internals. As long as they were dressed right and were found at the temple at the right time, doing the right thing, putting the right amount of money on the plate, everything was well.

15:29 Jesus said they were like whitewashed sepulchers, beautiful on the outside, but within, full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness, has this sermon as we've preached it week by week, and for these, three years has the Holy Ghost used it and brought you to the place where you know that practical holiness is primarily an issue of the heart giving expression in the life, but not simply a list of do's and don'ts. You're not hungering for heart purity, purity of thought, of motive, of desire. You're building upon sand. For your righteousness goes no further than that of the scribes and Pharisees.

16:13 They were more concerned, with the external than the inner.

Reviewing the Law: Heart-Level Obedience to God's Spiritual Law

16:19 Then the next great section, beginning with verse 21, shows the Christian in his relationship to the law of God. These six great sections where Christ says, you've heard that it was said, but I say unto you, and he takes all the veneer, and all the garbage, that the Pharisees and scribes had thrown over God's holy law, so that the pure intent of the law was not understood. They looked on the law of Moses, as a, as a simple code, touching just the gross forms of external conduct. And Christ takes all that garbage of tradition and pulls it off, and all to the veneer of externalism.

16:58 And he holds up God's holy law in its purity and in its true intent. It's a law that is spiritual. It touches not only my deeds, but my thoughts. Not only what I do, but why I do it.

17:11 And he says that the essence of murder is not simply putting a knife in a man's back, but having hatred, and contempt in your heart. For he said, If thou say to a man, Thou fool, you'll be in danger of the fire of hell. He said, Whoso looks to lust is an adulterer. He that hates is a murderer.

17:32 Are you doing that section of the Sermon on the Mount? That section should do two things to a true Christian. It should bring him to absolute despair when he sees the standard and says, Oh God, it's too high. I cannot attain to it.

17:47 It should make you despair. Despair of walking in the light of God's holy law in all of its breadth and spiritual content. Make you despair so that you throw yourself upon Christ. And then it should act not only as an instrument of despair, but an instrument of directive.

18:05 Having despaired of keeping it in your own power and having fled to Christ. Now you come from the presence of Christ determined that by the power of Christ, you'll keep the law of Christ unto the glory of Christ, as an expression of your love for Christ. Are you keeping that section of the Sermon on the Mount? You men.

18:28 Are you wrestling and fighting and warring against lustful thoughts, as well as lustful deeds, if not you're building on sand. You ladies, are you seeking to get over your hypersensitivity? Which would make you retaliate? Jesus said when someone strikes you on one cheek, turn the other cheek.

18:49 It's the whole principle that as a Christian, there's no room in my life, for self-vindication, no room for retaliation.

18:59 Are you doing this?

19:03 Are you doing it? Not perfectly, but pressing after it. If you're not, you're building on sand. For Jesus said, whoever hears these sayings, that's part of the sayings, and doeth them not, shall be likened to a foolish man that builds upon the sand.

19:19 So you have that great section that takes us through the end of chapter 5, showing the Christian in his relationship to the law who makes conscience of his thoughts as well as his deeds, his motives, as well as his actions, his attitudes, as well as what he performs.

19:37 There is no perfect attainment, but there is serious pursuit. Is that true of you? If not, dear one, you're building on sand if you profess to be a Christian.

Reviewing Religious Life: Giving, Prayer, and Fasting for God's Glory

19:49 You're building on sand. The next great section, beginning with chapter 6, moving down through verse 19, shows the Christian in his religious life who...

20:00 pictures him as the man who gives to the work of God, the man who prays and the man who fasts or disciplines his physical appetites to spiritual ends. And Jesus said, all those who are truly his followers, they will give. He didn't say, if you give, he said, when you give, when you do alms, verse 2. He didn't say, if you pray, but he says in verse 5, when thou prayest.

20:24 He didn't say, if you discipline your physical appetites to spiritual ends, but he says in verse 16, when ye fast. And so he pictures his followers as those who give, pray, and discipline their bodies and appetites, and they do so for the glory of God.

20:45 Are you doing that section of the Sermon on the Mount? Are you giving systematically out of love to Christ and out of a sense of obligation to his holy law? Are you giving? Are you praying?

21:01 I'm not asking if you believe in prayer, but are you actually praying? And is your praying being governed by the pattern of prayer that Christ gave when he said, after this manner, pray ye, in which he commands us to make the interest of his kingdom in the honor of his name and the doing of his will the primary goal of our prayer? Oh, lots of people pray. If prayer is simply whimpering to God to supply the selfish desires of an unregenerate heart, multitudes pray.

21:33 But if prayer is the regenerate heart pouring itself, out pleading with God to get honor to his name, to carry out the interest of his kingdom and to accomplish his will, then few people pray. Jesus said, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, what saying? The saying when he said, after this manner, pray ye. Are you seeking to pattern your prayer after the pattern of the Lord's prayer?

21:59 Are you doing what he said?

Reviewing Practical Life: Seeking First the Kingdom

22:02 He that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth it not shall be likened to a foolish man that built his house upon the sand. Then beginning with verse 19, to the end of chapter 6, we have the Christian in relationship to his practical life, food, clothing, raiment, physical necessities. And Jesus said, the thing that will mark my people is, verse 33, they'll seek first the kingdom of God. Their lives will not be primarily geared to the provision of bread, but to the interest of my kingdom and all else will be added unto them.

22:36 Are you seeking first the kingdom? Three times he says, be not anxious, be not anxious, be not anxious. Are you crying to God? Are you warring against sinful anxiety?

22:47 Seeking to have his kingdom and his interest, the primary goal in your life. If you're not doing it, he said, you're building on sand.

Reviewing Relationships: Judging Others and Pleading for Grace

22:56 You're not doing it, you're building on sand. Then in chapter 7, he brings us to the Christian in relationship to his evaluation and reaction to others. He said, judge not that you be not judged. And then he said, don't cast your pearls before swine.

23:11 Verse 6, and so he says, my people will be those who on the one hand will seek to be delivered from a hypercritical spirit and on the other hand will seek to be delivered from a gullible, undiscerning spirit. Are you seeking to be that kind of a person?

23:28 Have you sought by the grace of God to slay that hypercritical spirit that jumps to conclusions before you get all the facts, that reads in motives?

23:39 Or you say, well, that's the way I'm built and that's the way I'll be and you'll just have to go. You'll just have to learn to live with me. Beloved, I thank God I won't live with you forever because you're building on sand if that's your attitude.

23:51 Are you seeking to be delivered from the hypercritical spirit? Judge not that you be not judged. Are you continuing to go on looking for specks of imperfection in others when big beams of lovelessness and criticism are hanging out of your own eyes?

24:12 Jesus said, he that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not should be likened to a fool. He said, a foolish man who built his house upon the sand. Then the Christian is pictured in verses 7, chapter 7, verses 7 through 12, 11, as the man who pleads for grace. Ask and it shall be given you.

24:34 Seek and ye shall find. That's a command. He said, if you're my child, I command you to ask of me grace to be all that I've instructed you to be in this sermon.

24:46 Are you pleading with God for grace to live the sermon? Sermon on the Mount? Or are you just content to come and listen to me give you the fruit of my study and prayer?

24:57 Content to shake my hand at the door and say, thank you, Pastor? Is what you have been hearing for these three years driving you back to your closet saying, Lord, it's beyond me. I can't be that of myself. Oh, Lord, give me grace.

25:13 And you're asking. You're seeking. You're knocking.

25:17 If you're not doing that, you're building upon the sand. For he that hears my sayings and does them not shall be likened to a foolish man that built his house upon the sand. That's one of his sayings, that his people will be suppliants of grace.

Reviewing the Narrow Gate: True Conversion and Discernment

25:33 Then the Christian is pictured beginning with verse 13 as one who presses into the kingdom by the narrow gate of true conversion, who bewares of false prophets, who seeks to be discerning in what he receives as instruction concerning the matters of his soul. Have you pressed into the narrow gate?

25:55 Are you seeking to cultivate a spirit of discernment to beware of false prophets?

26:02 Are you doing what he's told you to do? Now in those 15 minutes we've gone through a review of the entire Sermon on the Mount.

Defining 'Doing': Purposeful, Conscious, and Life-Drifting Obedience

26:11 And the question I press upon your conscience this morning is this. Are you doing what Jesus Christ has told us to do? Well, you say, what do you mean by doing, Pastor? Do you mean doing it perfectly?

26:24 No. But I do mean, and Jesus meant doing it, purposefully. Now there's a difference between doing something perfectly and purposefully.

26:36 I see my son sit down sometimes to draw a picture. Every ounce of his being's intent. He's going to draw him an airplane. He is purposing to get that picture to look just like an airplane.

26:50 And it's a very purposeful activity. But you look at his airplane and it's far from perfect.

26:58 But the reason it's not perfect is not because he sat there saying, oh, well, I'll draw a wing here and then I'll turn around and do this. No, no, no, no. Every ounce of his intelligence and coordination to the level of his present development is given over to airplane drawing. That's purposeful drawing.

27:17 Not perfect, but it's purposeful. Now that's what I'm asking you this morning, dear ones. I'm not asking you, are you a perfect stereotype reflection of the Sermon on the Mount? If that's what it meant to do, then the jaws of hell better open.

27:32 Open up and sink me down because there's no hope for me.

27:37 But I am asking you, are you purposely seeking to conform your life to that standard? It's not a matter of convenience. I'll do it when it's convenient. But this is the all-absorbing passion.

27:52 I must be that kind of a man, a woman. And all the faculties and powers of mind and soul are geared to that. Now the product is far from perfect, but it's purposeful. Is that true of you?

28:07 Not only is it a matter of purposeful obedience, it's not complete obedience. You don't do this completely, but you do it consciously. Are you consciously trying to conform to Matthew 5, 6, and 7?

28:22 Are you conscious when somebody wrongs you that Jesus said something about that? You may not remember, but you turn to that section where it says, if somebody strikes you on one cheek, turn the other. And he that would compel you to go one mile, go two. Are you conscious when you get in a situation of human relationship, husband, wife, friend, neighbor, church member to another church member, where somebody has wronged you, are you consciously seeking to act and react according to the pattern of the Word?

28:50 That's my question.

28:53 Or do you just do what you've done for the past 10, 15, 20 years? Then you're not doing the sayings of Christ. You're not doing it. You're not doing it.

29:04 When the Lord Jesus said,

29:09 as He does in that searching section in Matthew 5, whoso looks, to lust, hath committed adultery, are you consciously endeavoring to have a mind that's free of the terrible pressures of lust and impurity that come like the mighty tidal waves of an ocean? I dread the coming of summer every year. Not because of the heat, because of the naked flesh that parades itself in our sex-soaked society.

29:44 The man and woman of God will stand in the midst of it and say, Oh God, with all my heart, to have a mind that's as free of adultery as I have a body that's free of adultery. Now is that your passion and longing? Your purposeful, though not perfect, obedience? Your conscious, though not complete, obedience?

30:06 To do it means not only these two things, but a third thing. Not in every detail, but the drift and bent of your life. As I was trying to think of an illustration of this, I thought of the difference between a photograph and a silhouette.

30:24 Anyone who sees a photograph of George Washington recognizes him, and generally, if you see a silhouette of a side view of George Washington, you'll recognize him. There is the basic outline of that man's physiognomy, his face, his facial characteristics, the braid that hangs down like you see him on one of our coins. What is it? Quarter, yeah.

30:46 And you recognize that. And that's what your life ought to be of the Sermon on the Mount. Not a perfect picture where every detail and eye-to-eye last shows and every wart and mold and the holes in the nostrils and all the rest. Our Lord Jesus Christ was the only perfect picture of the Sermon on the Mount.

31:07 But every true child of God is at least a silhouette of the Sermon on the Mount. Are you a silhouette of this? At least the general drift and outlines of this sermon reflected in your life? Poverty of spirit, mourning for sin, hungering and thirsting, seeking first the kingdom, not hypercritical, yet not undiscerning, supplicating for grace, pressing into the kingdom are those main outlines of truth and outline of your life.

31:44 When Jesus said, He that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, He was talking about people who purposefully, though not perfectly, do them, who consciously, though not completely, fulfill them, who in the drift and bent of their lives are a silhouette, though not a perfect picture of that Sermon.

The Danger of the False Professor: Resentment and Self-Deception

32:05 The false professor, the one who's building his house upon the sand, and dear ones, I wouldn't preach this way if I were not convinced some of them are here.

32:15 My wife will bear me witness that I live under the shadow of every Sunday morning.

32:22 As soon as the ministry of the pulpit is done on this Sunday,

32:27 I begin to live under the shadow and the haunting realization I've got to face you next Sunday.

32:35 My conscience bears me witness of this,

32:39 and I am convinced, beloved, that in this congregation there are men and women and fellows and girls who love me but are building on the sand.

32:49 I have not seen the silhouette of this sermon for years now.

33:02 Take away the fact you've come here to church. Take away all the notions you've got in your head. Take away all the activity involved in the church, and there's nothing left but a typical, normal, nice American. That's all that's left.

33:15 You're sweet. You're kind. You don't curse. Beat your wife or chase around.

33:22 No mourning for sin. No hungering for righteousness. No passion to seek first the kingdom.

33:33 That's why I'm preaching this way. I'm not your judge, but I am your pastor. I have got to give an account of your soul.

33:43 There's some of you who are like the false professor. He embraces.

33:52 He says, I believe. Do you know in his heart what he does? He begs. He basically resents that high standard.

34:00 The person who's building upon sand, when he hears the Sermon on the Mount, he hears it, but he doesn't do it, and basically he resents it. He says the standard's too high. The demands are too great. Cutting out, plucking out right eyes and cutting off right hands.

34:17 Well, that's drastic. You mean a sin that's as dear to me as that? I've got to deal with it mercilessly and brutally. That's exactly what Christ said.

34:25 It's either that or burn. And he resents this high standard. He says, if that's Christianity, I don't want it.

34:35 I was reading one of God's honored servants who made some very helpful insights to this passage of the Word of God, and he said, he heard of a man, I think he was talking about someone under his own ministry, who came to this evangelical church for years and loved the ministry. Then when someone began to expound the Sermon on the Mount and began to deal with sin, not so much as act, but as attitude, not so much as overt deed, but, but inward desire, he resented it. He said, I'm going elsewhere. I can't stand that preacher.

35:04 All he's doing is exposing sin, sin, sin. I can't stand it.

35:10 What's your reaction to this sermon? Has sin been exposed and laid out from week to week? Has it been one of secret resentment? That's the false professor.

35:22 He resents. Then he does his best to forget what's there. He wants to throw it out of his mind, and he fails to practice what is said here.

35:32 The true child of God embraces the truth, seeks to remember, and by the power of God does. Jesus said, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he and only he it is that loveth me.

35:46 My great fear is as we draw this section of the sermon to a close, that many of you, some of you may fall under the category that James talks about of the man who hears the word, and he's like a man who looks at his face in the mirror and he goes away and forgets what he has seen. He says, Be not hearers of the word, deceiving your own self. For because you've heard this word week by week and do not do it, you're in the realm of possible self-deception. You'll mistake your notions about the Sermon on the Mount for an actual performance of the duties enjoined in this sermon.

36:23 You'll mistake the new life that's come to your mind for life that ought to have come to your heart. You'll mistake the shell of truth for the kernel of true experience.

36:35 Will you go on as constructed of the boards of religious notions and the nails of religious facts and the shingles of religious activities, but with no foundation of heart obedience to Jesus Christ? If you do, beloved, you're a fool. And I plead with you in the name of the Lord Jesus as your pastor who wants more than anything else the salvation of your soul. And that day when I stand before my God, I want every one of you to stand there with me.

The Horrible Fall of the Foolish Builder in Judgment

37:06 But the day of judgment is going to act like those storms, like that wind, like that rain, and it's going to sweep away the fair house of Christian profession if that house was not built upon diligent, determined, resolute obedience to Jesus Christ, which is the one great proof that we've been born to serve.

37:36 He that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken unto you a foolish man that built his house upon the rock. The rains descended and the floods came, the storms beat upon that house and it fell.

37:51 Time is going to show that some of you have built upon the rock. And blessed be God, the judgment will show that some of you have built upon the rock. Jesus said, He that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not, I will liken unto a foolish man that built his house upon the sand and the rains came and the floods and the storms and the storms fell and great was the fall. It's going to be a horrible thing, dear one, when we stand in the day of judgment.

38:21 We need to watch some of you sink into hell.

38:33 That's going to be an awful thing.

38:41 What did God not respect for your sake?

38:49 And why were you sinking to hell? Not because you rose up and cursed God and damned the Bible and damned Christ. No. Because you came to this church week after week and you heard the words of Christ.

39:02 And yet you'll go on claiming to be a Christian.

39:13 God says you've played the fool.

39:18 That's pretty serious, isn't it? Hmm? That's pretty serious, isn't it?

39:25 And God grants that His word may pierce some part today and send you out to seek Him. And even as I was so encouraged to hear this morning that after the message at the tent last night, a young lady walked out and started to go home and the holy foes ripped her heart and she broke down and gave me a sob and said, God, show me Christ. Oh, that such news would come to life.

39:56 Love is the thing for which we've labored and prayed for and the Lord for your good and for His good.

40:09 If you stand in that day as one who's built upon the sand, you may be able to say, well, I didn't have this or I didn't have that. But one thing you can't say is that your pastor talked in such vague terms you couldn't understand. Or he talked in such a droning, unconcerned, monotonous way that he might as well have been talking about bananas. He won't be able to say that, beloved.

40:37 I have never consciously in these four years spared strength, mental or physical, in seeking to communicate the word of God to you, not as a professional preacher but as a shepherd of your souls.

40:51 May God grant that this ministry shall prove effective to bring you on the foundation. That's right.

A Final Call to Self-Examination: Are You Doing Them?

41:09 We're going to wait just a moment in the presence of God quietly.

41:16 And I want you to answer in the counsels of your own heart.

41:22 One more message and we'll be done with the Sermon on the Mount. We're going to consider the little epilogue, the little phrase about Christ, speaking with authority and the people being amazed. And we're going to move on to a new area of study.

41:38 Oh, before we do, listen.

41:41 Answer in your own heart this very simple question. You have all heard the sayings of Christ. In the Sermon on the Mount.

41:51 Are you doing them?

41:57 Purposely, though not perfectly,

42:02 are you doing them?

42:06 Not do you intend to someday, but right now, are you doing them? Yes or no? Answer in your own heart. Are you doing them?

42:17 Purposely.

42:26 If not,

42:29 you're building some sand.

42:31 And don't rest until God by His Spirit so meets you and changes your basic inner disposition. But there is a longing and a determination to hear and to do the will of God by the power of Jesus Christ. Our Father, seal these sobering words of our Lord Jesus Christ to the fleshly tables of our hearts. May they cause a holy disturbance for many who have been hearing but are not doing.

43:03 And may they cause great rejoicing to those who've been able to sit here this morning and say, Yes, Lord, I've not only heard, but by Your grace I'm seeking to do. O Lord, we thank You that we believe there are some here that are building upon a solid foundation who are not content to merely name Your name and come to church and subscribe to some teaching and to nod their heads to some preaching, but who've dug deep and whose hearts have been savingly joined to Christ. Lord, bless such and O grant that increasingly their lives may be less and less a mere silhouette and more and more a detailed and beautiful picture of the kind of Christian described in the Sermon on the Mount. O Lord, give us reality, we pray. Take away the sham and the sin and the carelessness and make us men and women so radiating Jesus Christ and the righteous standards of His Holy Word that our lives will act as salt and as light in the face of the world. In the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.

44:13 So Lord, bless this word to the encouragement of Your own and to the conviction of those who are not joined to Yourself. May the day of judgment reveal that this hour was not in vain, but that You were pleased to use it as an effectual instrument in the drawing of men and women to Yourself. Hear us in our hearts, Christ, as we please You. We plead with You through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

44:44 Amen.