Build Wisely Matthew 7:24-29
Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted
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Intro:
Intro:
Byard Baby Dedication
Harold”s last day
Mother’s Day recognition
Homestead Rescue
One of my favorite TV shows is Homestead Rescue
A guy and his two adult children travel the country helping people who have moved off grid
They are veteran Homesteaders and have the construction skills to help people right the ship
Most of these homesteaders are on the brink of failure
They moved off grid with great aspirations and a dream of growing their own food and living off the land
The problem is that they didn’t build wisely
Most start their homesteads without a reliable source of water and thus have to spend a great deal of time getting water
Most haven’t built their homes or animal pens right and are enduring harsh conditions
Building wisely means laying the right foundation on sturdy land
Jesus uses that metaphor to instruct His disciples on living for him
Read Matthew 7:24-28
Read Matthew 7:24-28
Transition:
Jesus is wrapping up his message to his disciples by talking about building wisely
Evidence that the many who are in the broad way will not enter the kingdom is that their lives are not built on the foundation of Christ and His Word.
Here we see contrasts between obedient and disobedient hearers.
Both groups hear God’s true Word, but some hear and obey, and some hear and disobey; some turn their trust to God’s righteousness, and some continue trusting in their own, though that does not become visible until the judgment.
Think about your Christian life as a house
If an expert builder would evaluate your spiritual home what grade would he give you?
What would the structure look like?
Are you in a tent with no utilities or are you living comfortably in a house that protects you from the elements?
Jesus shows us three keys to building wisely
Don’t Just Hear, Do vs. 24-25
Don’t Just Hear, Do vs. 24-25
The first step in building wisely is to be a doer of the Word
The scribes and Pharisees had a complex and involved set of religious traditions which they regarded as having great value before God.
But all those traditions were external, superficial, and unstable.
They had no spiritual or moral substance or stability.
They were shifting sand, composed entirely of the opinions, speculations, and standards of men.
Jesus contradicts that by saying the wise builder is one who obeys his word
vs. 24 Everyone who hears these words and does them is like a wise builder
Notice the choice again?
He doesn’t command your obedience
He just tells you that if you hear the word of God and then go and do it you are building your life on a strong foundation
Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:
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.
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.”
When I was growing up there was a housing boom
They were building houses like crazy
One of the most luxurious was a tract called Legends
They were going to be the best houses yet built, except one problem
They cut corners on foundation and before houses were complete the foundation starts sinking in the desert sands
The houses were ruined and the developer went bankrupt
They did find a creative way to destroy the houses.
They filmed the final scene of Lethal Weapon 3 there.
You don’t want to be this glorious looking house on the outside but have your foundation slowly slipping because of disobedience
vs. 25 the wise builder is able to withstand the storms
Withstand The the Storms vs. 26-27
Withstand The the Storms vs. 26-27
The second step in building wisely is to withstand the storms
First of all, both builders have heard the gospel.
Everyone who hears these words of Mine applies both to the wise man (v. 24) and to the foolish man (v. 26).
They both know the way of salvation.
Second, they both proceed to build a house after they have heard the way of salvation.
The wise man builds his house, which represents his life, on these words of Mine.
The implication is that the foolish man, although he does not act upon Christ’s words, thinks that his house is secure simply because he has heard and acknowledged the words.
He does not intentionally build a house he thinks is going to fall.
Both builders have confidence their houses will stand; but one man’s confidence is in the Lord and the other man’s is in himself.
Both builders build their houses in the same general location, evidenced by their apparently being hit by the same storm. In other words, the outward circumstances of their lives were essentially the same.
One had no advantage over the other.
They lived in the same town and possibly attended the same church, heard the same preaching, went to the same Bible study, and fellowshipped with the same friends.
The differences between the two builders and the two houses they built were not noticeable from the outside
The key is to understand that one does act upon God’s Word (obedience) and the other does not act upon His Word (disobedience).
One builds using the divine specifications, the other uses his own.
By far the greatest difference between the specifications of these builders and the way they build is in the foundations they laid.
The mark of true discipleship is not simply hearing and believing, but believing and doing.
To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
Spoken with Authority vs. 28-29
Spoken with Authority vs. 28-29
The final step in building wisely is understanding that there is authority behind these words
Jesus spoke like no one the Jews had ever heard
Most rabbis and scribes taught what previous rabbis had
There was no authority because there was no relationship with God
This is what made Nicodemus son popular
He was a great teacher because He sought to understand the heart of God
I think the Chosen series has done a great job of showing this
His encounter with the demon that possessed Mary Magdalene and then with Mary after Jesus had cast it out shows a teacher searching for the truth
And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.
You can not only trust the Word of God as being true but it is both powerful and reliable
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
That is why the call the Bible the Living Word
It’s not just words on paper
When you obey these scriptures that change your life
How is it powerful?
One simple term: Grace
You can burn yourself out and become extremely legalistic by trying to keep all of the commands in this sermon
When you miss the mark God doesn’t punish you, He extends grace
The posture should be to strive to obey God’s Word and when you fall short to ask for Grace