Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro* –Joanna Kirchmeier, of London, arrived home one evening to find her husband, Helmut, standing in front of a mirror staring at himself, completely non-responsive.

Helmut, a newly trained hypnotist, had accidentally hypnotized himself and had been standing in front of the mirror for 5 hours completely oblivious!

Imagine?

I suppose some of you wives are thinking, “Well, that explains a lot!”

It reminded me of spiritually hypnotized people – oblivious to their danger, thinking they are okay because they once prayed a certain prayer or went through a certain ritual.

Jesus hits this life-and-death issue head-on at the conclusion of His Sermon on the Plain as He pleads in plain, blunt language for careful self-examination by His listeners.

There is no more important subject in the world than this.

What must I do to be saved?

Did you think of Rom 10:9, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

To be saved?

Confess that Jesus is Lord, right?

BUT turn to Matt 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.”

So what gives?

One verse says confess Him as Lord and be saved.

The other says that many will call Him Lord and will not be saved.

What gives?

And the answer is, there is a vast, in fact, eternal difference between calling Him Lord and confessing Him as Lord.

Most of us here profess faith in Christ.

We call Him Lord.

But have we confessed Him as Lord?

You can call Him Lord and go on living just like before.

But to confess Him as Lord demands change!

Commentator Robt Mounce says, “Those who come to Christ by faith are acknowledging that they have placed themselves entirely and without reserve under his authority to carry out without hesitation whatever he may choose for them to do.

There is no such thing as salvation apart from lordship. . . .

Those who say that they intend to have a good time on earth and take a back seat in heaven do not realize that there are no “back seats” for those who approach salvation with this attitude.”

So do we merely call Jesus, Lord – or have we confessed Him as Lord?

Jesus’ parable is intended to sort out the difference.

Two men built identical houses -- meaning both claimed Christ.

This isn’t contrasting a scoundrel with a believer as usually taught.

Both claim Christ.

But there was a fundamental difference.

One was merely calling Jesus Lord.

The other was confessing Jesus as Lord.

Which are we?

It’s check-up time.

Vv. 46-48: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.

And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.

When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Israelis typically build in summer.

Rains come in the winter and occasionally snow.

Building is easier in summer.

But there is a downside.

During summer, the high clay content soil is “like bronze” in the words of Lev 26:19.

A novice builder might decide the hard clay is sufficient for a one-story building.

It is backbreaking work to dig to the bedrock which is a few inches to 10 feet below the surface.

In summer, the clay feels solid.

But it is illusion.

The Oct 4, 1991 issue of the In Jerusalem weekly reported that a third of an apartment complex had collapsed, forcing evacuation of 28 families.

A sewer line had leaked water under the collapsed 1/3 of the building which was built on the clay rather than “on the bedrock as is accepted practice.”

Interior walls buckled.

A 4th floor bathtub fell to the 3rd floor.

The paper reported, “The destruction is massive and resembles that of a major earthquake.”

Modern illustration of Jesus’ parable.

Parable Elements – Let’s look at the parable elements.

The house?

It stands for the life of a person.

All of us is building a life, analogous to building a house.

Paul similarly illustrates in I Cor 3:12, “12 Now if anyone builds [a life] on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw.”

The deeds of our lives are building materials.

Some are lasting; some temporary; some good; some bad, but in total, they represent our life.

What about the foundation?

This is where the houses differ.

The right foundation is Christ.

Paul agrees in I Cor 3:11, “11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

When living for Christ by His words, we build on a solid foundation.

But to build without Him is to build on the clay soil of men’s philosophy, religion, naturalism or any ism that ignores Jesus.

It may look good, but sooner or later it will be washed away.

In this regard I always think of the final words of the great 20th century philosopher, Bertrand Russell who said at age 94, after a lifetime dedicated to the philosophy of atheism and naturalism: “Philosophy has been a total washout for me.”

The flood hit, and his house could not stand.

That leaves on element – the flood.

What is the flood?

Many commentators have missed the point here.

They identify this flood as the trials of life.

And those do have secondary relevance.

But this parable talks about one flood – a single event.

You don’t have to go far in the Bible to see what floods represent.

The great flood of Gen 6-8 was God’s judgment on a world that had rejected Him.

The flood showed that tho He is slow to wrath and not willing that any should perish, judgment eventually falls – and so it will be in every life.

Daily trials are just a reminder that a final judgment is coming when every person will give account.

The point of the parable is clear.

Every person is building a life.

Ultimately each life will be judged, and the only life that will stand is that life which has Jesus as its foundation.

The fate of life without Him is found in v. 49, “When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Eternal consequences attach to making sure we have the right foundation – the foundation of Jesus Christ.

Jesus here is contrasting two people, each building a life that they believe will stand in the final judgment.

Each claims a relationship with God.

These aren’t atheists.

But only one is real!

One is calling Him Lord – the other is confessing Him as Lord.

So, what’s the difference?

Which are we this morning, and how do we know?

Back up to v. 46-47, ““Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them.”

Calling Him Lord is not enough.

One must confess Him, own Him as Lord!

How?

The heart of the passage -- V. 47, “ Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them.”

How? Come, hear, obey!

*I.

Come to Jesus*