Law & Grace - Matthew 7:24-29 Floody meets Rocky & Sandy
Matthew 7:24-29 · Vern Peterman · Oct 2, 2011
Law & Grace, No. 38
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926249166761

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. I'm glad you didn't all go splat. Alright. We're back into the book of Matthew. We took a six-week break to cover some topics in law and grace and understanding the difference between the kingdom gospel, the gospel of the kingdom, and the gospel of substitution. One of the things you may have noticed as you read through the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5 and through Matthew 7, and we'll be finishing it here with today's passage, is that while these are almost entirely, except for the introduction and the last couple of verses, the words of Jesus, there is not the message of the cross in this passage. Why? It's because it's not about the gospel of substitution, that Christ died for our sins, but it is instead a message regarding the kingdom, and so a distinction there.

This is the well-known passage that we've both heard read and sung about as well, about building her life upon the rock as the wise person rather than on the sand in order to remain standing after the flood versus having the house go floating away and breaking apart. Without a doubt, the flood will come. One of the things that we notice in this passage here, it doesn't say if the flood come, or a flood might come, or something of that sort. It will come. And that's inevitable.

And we'll talk more about what that means. Jesus is summarizing the approach to this entire message on the Sermon on the Mount. So that's one of the things to remember, is he is talking about the entire Sermon on the Mount that they ought to listen to, that is Matthew chapters 5 through 7. And he's saying, with this final appeal, he says, I want you to consider the whole thing, all of what I've told you, and what we call Matthew chapter 5, chapter 6, and chapter 7, and take that and live by it, he's saying. to the Jews who are there listening, including the speck that's in the brother's eye and the beam that's in your own, as we have in the illustration.

Take that seriously, he says. He had earlier challenged, he says, Seek the narrow gate. Seek that out and pursue going through that one. Don't go through the wide gate that everybody else is going. So those were a part of the message that he's saying, live these out, pursue these. He's telling the Israelites who are gathered before him. Live these out and the wise person will listen to them and live them out, to carry them out. That's his message there.

In contrast, the foolish person is the one who hears what Jesus says, so in one sense, they're just the same, but doesn't do anything with it. So the person who hears what Jesus says and does nothing is perhaps slightly worse off than the person who plugs his ears. I heard none of it, because the effect is the same. You don't do anything with it, even if you hear it. That's not the point. To get the point across here in terms of should people listen to this and say, hey, that was interesting, and just walk away? Or should they take it to heart and take it to life?

To get the point across, Jesus uses this potent illustration of two men, two houses, two foundations, and yes, two different outcomes. So the wise man, he says, builds his house upon the rock. The pivotal issue is where the house is built. You're going to build a house. So the pivotal issue is not, are you going to build one? It's where will you build it?

I think there's something to think about here. As we gather together here this morning as the body of Christ, as the church, this is a gathering of believers. Oh, it's possible that there are unbelievers among us, but it is intended to be a gathering of believers. As Jesus is speaking to all these Israelites that are gathered in front of him, they're not necessarily believers. And he wants them to know what's the difference between someone who believes what I have told them and someone who does not.

The house built upon the rock is built on a solid foundation, one that will endure, one that will last through what is most assuredly the coming flood. Now, as a background, God has called the rock several times in the Old Testament. An example we give is Deuteronomy 32, five times God has called the rock. We give other instances more than once in the book of Isaiah. God is called the Rock. And Christ is called the Rock in several books of the New Testament. First Corinthians 10 is one of them. Matthew 16 would be another one. So this picture of the Rock fits. It's not an illustration that's out of line with the rest of Scripture. It is in fact one that fits with the rest of Scripture.

Contrasting the wise and the foolish person is also a pattern in both the Old Testament and the New. We give references here, a number of them, in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, even in Romans chapter 1, 1st Corinthians, a number of references there, and even one in 2nd Corinthians, and there are some others too. This is simply a sampling. It is a common theme in both the Old and New Testaments to contrast Who is wise and who is foolish? What is wisdom and what is foolishness?

Now, the foolish man builds his house on the sand. Now, as you probably have discovered, building houses on sand or even of sand is actually pretty easy to do and kind of fun. and there are people who have contests. Matter of fact, I have to say that people have done some impressive things, just building the whole structure out of sand.

You got one here that somebody seems to be resting upon. Here would be another example, just tremendous creations. Here's one here that's rather spectacular, kind of amazing to even think of all the little pieces of sand that they have as a part of the structure. Or here's one here, kind of humorous, interesting one. You can do lots of fun things and make, I would say, temporary sculptures out of sand. But Jesus hasn't made this point for nothing and he's certainly not doing it for entertainment.

Houses on sand, however impressive for a time, will fail and fail catastrophically. It's only a question of when. This is a picture along the, this is actually along the ocean, along the coast, and the ocean waves moved in and the house washed away. And it doesn't matter how grand the house is. It doesn't matter how impressive it is, and you maybe even had some good times in the house. It will fail.

Jesus' illustration is about entrance into the kingdom. which has a point of Jewish decision and God's testing. What do I mean by that? Jesus had presented decisions before the Jews to whom he was speaking. He said, pick the narrow gate, not the wide one. You need to pick this one, not that one. Why? They were not, in fact, all believers. But he's emphasizing the point. You need to decide. You need to make a choice here.

There's also the point of God's testing. That's ultimately what the flood is, isn't it? The flood is really God brings about a testing and a judgment of these Jewish people, whether they are going to believe or not. There will come a time when God will judge. Jesus' illustration is about the entrance into the kingdom, which is a point of Jewish testing. excuse me, Jewish decision and God's testing. Now there are some larger principles to be drawn from this passage. Even though Jesus was speaking to Israelites in the land of Israel, they were all under the law of Moses.

We are not. We can draw some critical principles from these words that he spoke. And so let's do that. When we use the word principles here, what do we mean by it? Principles can either refer to a fundamental truth or a perspective or the way things work.

And I think in this particular passage it's both. It's what is the perspective that you need to have and how do things work? How do things operate in the way God has set things up? Both of those are true in this illustration that Jesus has with the house on the rock and the house on the sand. You see, the first principle is not everything in life and eternity is grayscale or inconsequential. See, there are those who like to go about and say, well, you know, a lot of these things, who knows? And there's kind of grayscale and it's wherever you fit on it. And so there are those who will tell you, well, you know, who knows what's true?

And that's true for you, but not for me. Things like that. You know, when you're in a house, and it's washing away. That true for you and not for me stuff doesn't work. So Jesus gives an absolute illustration here. You're either on the rock and the house will stand or you're on the sand and it will not. It's a black and white and not a grayscale situation. You can build something that holds up for a time only to find later that no, that doesn't work.

Years ago, I worked at a consulting engineering office. And while I was just working away at my desk, I got a phone call from a fellow who's, well, let's just say his voice was starting to turn falsetto. I've got a problem. You know, that kind of thing. I said, well, tell me about your problem.

He says, the beam that runs through our kitchen and over the main living room in our house keeps making snapping sounds every 30 seconds. I said, get out of the house. Get out right now. I'll be there as fast as I can." So I got there and looked, and yeah, it was snapping. It was real snappy. And so I did an investigation.

I said, well, you've got a column here, and underneath it, the foundation is giving way. Your foundation is actually broken. And so that middle support post that you've got there, it's doing nothing. And so, you know, I told him you need to get temporary support here and here and get those in place and whatnot. But that's the kind of thing, when they moved into the house, there was no snapping going on. Everything seemed fine.

The consequences of what was wrong didn't show up until later. And that's frequently the case in spiritual matters. People oftentimes don't recognize that the problem with what they're doing may not show up until later, even if the consequence of what they're doing is very bad. It may not show up until later.

God's Word reveals to us what is of little consequence and what is not of little consequence. You know, if you think about it, If you've ever gotten a new car and you open it up and here's this manual, you see those manuals? I don't know if anybody reads through all those things. But the one thing that the manuals don't really do is they don't really say, this is important.

So, I mean, really think about it, things like pressing on the brake and adjusting the fan speed on the heater or the air conditioner. Those are not the same importance. You really need to know how to put the brake on. The fan speed, well, that can come later. But the manual doesn't always say what's important.

What the Bible does, however, is to tell us this is important. And that's a part of what Jesus is trying to do. Saying, I've told you a whole bunch of words. The difference is those who will listen and put it into action and those who won't. And by the way, this is important. Because either the house will stand or it won't. Nothing grayscale here. He didn't say, if you built your house on the sand, the paint will peel sooner. No. He makes a big consequence. A catastrophic failure. The Bible tells us what is important why. Because God loves us.

Years ago when I was on the farm, I had a lot of fun playing different games with the animals, and even other little creatures that were there on the farm. I'd just kind of see how the cats would behave when I would squirt a stream from the cow, and I noticed that the cats liked that. Then I noticed if I squirted the stream up a little higher, the cats would stand up. And then I noticed that if I waved the stream back and forth, the cats would dance. And it was lots of fun. It was really a lot of fun. But I was just playing games.

I mean, I wouldn't want to be cruel, but I didn't love the cats or anything like that. The Lord isn't playing games with us here. He isn't just saying, well, boy, it'd sure be fun to see what these people do. Instead, Instead, God reveals these things because He loves us. He wants us to know what's important and what isn't. He wants us to know, oh, this has this consequence and that has that consequence. He wants us to know these things. All wisdom is from Him.

Another point is there is only one true and valid approach to life, and that approach is spiritual. It is the one that God intends. The world system is increasingly pushing to enforce a non-spiritual approach to life that is secular and non-theistic. The inclination of governments, whether at a grand scale or a local scale, The inclination of governments is to go in that direction. Secular and non-theistic. It isn't the same as atheistic, but the assumption is basically the same. The effect is the same.

It says that whatever you believe about God, if you do, is irrelevant. Now, I have something to confess to you. like to hang around atheist websites. I enjoy conversing with them and reading what they have and teasing them, sort of. You know, things like, well you guys believe, let's see, nothing created everything. Does that sound good? Nothing created everything. You guys believe, oh let's see, you guys are morally incensed that Christians would do this or do that, and where do you get the moral sense from? There's no basis for it, right?

The world system is increasingly pushing in that direction, but what Jesus is saying is that the only basis for life that makes any sense is spiritual. What is often presented to us as a spiritual approach to life is increasingly devoid of truth as singular and specific. Oh, all paths lead to God. Yeah, there's lots of different ways to be spiritual. Oh, I believe in spirituality, just not the same kind as you do. And that's fine. The word of God and the words of Jesus are singular, specific, absolute truth deliberately revealed for us.

Here's Jesus talking to the disciples, I am, which by the way was said in a way that he said I am deity, I being in fact deity, And the singular way, the singular truth, and the singular life, no one comes to the Father but by me. Not Buddha. Not the Dalai Lama. There is no way to get to the Father except by him. Specifically him and no one else.

That is why the singular and specific and absolute truth is deliberately revealed by God for us. What you have in the Bible here, we actually have a modern copy of an ancient book. Why? Because God deliberately revealed it for us. Another principle is God's specific, deliberately revealed, absolute truth is intended to be lived out. Notice that what Jesus said here is, oh yeah, a lot of you are listening, but it's the one who listens and takes action on it, the one who believes what I say to the point of living it out, that's the one who is like the wise man who builds his house on the rock. God never intended that these truths just sit on some dusty shelf and blow the dust off it. It's not even good enough to have it on a hard drive or a flash drive. It is intended to be lived out. It is life intended, not just spiritual data.

He intended that the words He specifically and deliberately revealed be lived out in this life so that we would share his life in the ages to come. God is not unclear about what happens next when we're done here on this planet. He's very specific about what happens next. There is an afterlife and it isn't coming back here unless you're Lazarus. There is a life for ages to come and it does matter and God is very specific about what it will be. The other thing that the Bible is very clear about is we are intended to fellowship with Him. In fact, we were talking in the elective right before this.

Why do you think God cares about sin? Why do you think God cares about sin? I mean, is He obsessed with it? That's all He can think of. No. The reason God cares about sin is because Christ dealt with sin on the cross, but the reason He cares about it now in your life It's not because he's obsessed with sin, but he wants fellowship with you and he wants the sin just to get out of the way. That's why God cares about sin.

Not that he's obsessed about fellowship. He isn't waiting to catch you on something. Aha! Boy, Vern blew it and I'm just going to burn him like toast. Right? That's not the way God works. What God is eager to do is not to scorch us for when we blow it and when we stumble. He's eager to get that out of the way so that he can have fellowship with us. And that fellowship with him can take place now as we're seated with him. in the heavenly places in Christ. That's the perspective from which we can fellowship, and God intends that we fellowship. Testing and judgment are inevitable.

Jesus spends zero time debating and discussing whether or not the flood will come. You notice that? If the flood comes, it might come. No, it will come. It's certain. Jesus doesn't spend any time on the discussion of how to put the flood on your schedule. You get the calendar out. You know, it's a great thing. We've got all these electronic devices that can keep our schedule and put the flood on there. No. That's not the way it works.

It is inevitable, but you can't put it on your schedule. As a broad and true generalization, For all of humanity, times of testing and assessment and judgment will come for everyone. It's only a question of what's the nature of it. What's the nature of it? We'll talk about that in a minute.

For us in the church, the body of Christ, a solid foundation has already been laid. The passage that we just read from Jesus talks about, you know, build here instead of there. If you have believed in Christ, the choice as to where you're going to build has already been made. If you believed in Christ, the choice where you're going to build has already been made. Why? Because the foundation has already been laid.

1 Corinthians 3.11, For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. It's a done deal.

Ephesians 2.20, we having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

2 Timothy 2.19, Paul's last letter that we have any possession of, perhaps his last one altogether. Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands now. It's already done. We have a few other passages in Colossians and 1 Peter. The first Peter passage is quoted in the top of the front inside of your bulletin there.

For us in the church now, the body of Christ, the issue is not where we're going to build. If you believed in Christ, that's already been decided. It's a question of what you're going to build with. What you're going to build with. From there, we are a work in progress. God has a process ongoing in you as a believer. And we have a part, as we are of the body of Christ, in building up the body of Christ. Each of you has a place in that. 1 Corinthians 3, 10-15 and Ephesians 1-22. Both of those passages say that God will accomplish his building of the body of Christ, but for what can each one be rewarded?

You see, the question for you, I'm not going to stand before you, if you're a believer here today, I'm not going to stand before you and say, boy, God's going to judge you. And change the way I say it, God is going to judge you, right? So I'm not going to put it that way. Why?

If you are a believer, it's not a question where you're going to spend eternity. You're going to spend it with the Lord. That's not ever in question. If you have been a believer, that's a fixed outcome. You are going to spend eternity with the Lord. So the only question that the Lord has when we stand before Him is, how can I reward you? And do you know he's motivated to give us a full reward?

Here's the way it works, 1 Corinthians 3, 10-15. According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder, I, Paul writing here, laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire. The fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. Notice that it doesn't mean that you yourself are going to go through the fire.

You see that? The work will be tested. Is this work that was done for my glory? And hey, look at how great I did, right? Or is this work that is done in dependence upon Jesus Christ, walking in fellowship with Him? Are these the works that He has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them? That's the quality of each person's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. God wants to reward you to the full.

It's not a question of standing up there. As a matter of fact, some Christians will say, well, boy, when I stand before the Lord, you know, I'm going to be afraid because I've got all sorts of things that I didn't do right. And you know, that's not the question that the Lord's looking for. What the Lord's looking for is how can I reward you? And the rest of the stuff, you know where we blew it? You know what the Lord's going to do with that?

It'll be burned away and blown away. Because his question is, how can I reward you forever? If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet it's through fire. The way I jokingly put this is, some people are going to enter heaven naked and smoking. They won't have much to say for it, but they will be saved, right? And in fact, that may be the case. So what's at issue here? If you're a believer, what's at issue is not, boy, are you going to be in heaven or be in hell? That's not the question.

God is saying, what can I reward you for? And he is motivated to reward you to the full. We have here a slide on biblical crowns and rewards. I won't go into them in detail, other than to say the New Testament identifies five specific kinds of crowns. It's possible, the Lord knows, there may be more, but these are some that are identified in one or more passages. And these crowns, by the way, are not diadem, royalty crowns. These crowns are victor's crowns in athletic competition. That's the specific word that's used. So there are these five crowns that are possible for the believer.

There are also three different kinds of rewards for the believer that are also identified. So we're going to stand before the Lord for a time of judgment. That's our flood, if you will. We're going to stand before the Lord for a time of judgment, and the question before Him and with us is, what can I reward you for? That's how God's motivated. He is not waiting to just turn you into burnt toast. That's not how He's motivated. He wants to reward you forever. Here's Matthew 7, 28 and 29.

After, at the very end of what's called the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching. For His teaching was not as one having authority, and not as their scribes. One of the things that is a pattern in Matthew is four more times it will say, it's spread throughout the book, when Jesus had finished and then whatever it was that he has done. So this is the first of five times it will say when Jesus had finished and then what proceeds next. So this is the pattern. The point we want to make though is the last part of that.

Jesus taught with decisiveness And as an authority, he didn't just go around quoting others. It was common for the Jewish rabbis and scribes to present their listeners with some sort of an ongoing dichotomy or a quandary. One of the ways that I've heard this put, and I've stated this before, so forgive me if this is a repetition for you, but the story goes like this.

There were two different groups of Jewish people. And one of them was saying, no, this is the tradition. And the other group was saying, no, this is the tradition. And they argued and argued and argued between each other about what exactly was the proper Jewish tradition.

And finally, a rabbi walked into the room, and they said, ah, rabbi, you can resolve our question. This is great. And so one of them presents their view. Rabbi, is not this our tradition? And the rabbi said, no, that's not the tradition. And the other group said, Rabbi, is not this our tradition? And they presented their view as to what the tradition was. And he said, no, that's not the tradition either. So the two groups went into a great new time of arguing and contention and fighting with one another and squabbling. And he said, that's the tradition. And this was the typical Jewish way of doing things.

I give the example Hillel and Shammai. About a half century before the birth of Christ, Hillel and Shammai were two well-known rabbis who had different views of what qualified for divorce according to the Law of Moses. And rather than finally resolve that and say, well, it's this one instead of that, what the Jews did is they actually had two different court systems and you could pick which one you wanted to use. So they maintained the tension even to the point where they eventually asked Jesus, which court should we use? And so this was the standard Jewish way of doing things, is leave the tension, leave the quandary, leave the puzzle in place, and keep arguing about it.

But unlike Jesus, who would speak with authority and finality, this is the truth. I tell you, you've heard that it was said, but I tell you. The scribes would often just quote somebody else. This authority says this. This rabbi says this. This other scribe has written this. And they would quote others and never really resolve anything and never speak as a final authority. Jesus instead spoke as the Father had directed him to say.

Now, how do we take this? We look at this passage here. I'm going to leave you with Colossians 2, 6 and 7. Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. Having been firmly rooted, and that is written in such a way that it means you're already firmly rooted, and now being built up, and it's written in such a way that that's already complete, and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, overflowing with gratitude.

Why gratitude? The gratitude is for grace. You see, we don't owe the Lord something. We don't get the gift of salvation and all that the Lord has done. And the Lord says, here's your gift. Now here's the invoice. The Lord doesn't do that to us. He does not say, now that you're saved, here's what you owe me. It is purely and simply and entirely by grace. All by grace. And we don't owe Him a thing. It is not our obligation to pay Him back. We can't. And it's never expected.

We have been firmly established on the rock, and God did it when we believed. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You as we look at This passage, and as we look at what you have written through the apostles and the other authors of scripture in the latter part of the New Testament, we thank you that by faith in you, we have been firmly established in Christ. And we pray, Lord, for wisdom and understanding and insight in that walk with you. In fact, you desire fellowship with us. And it's the only reason that you want sin out of the way is you would desire that fellowship with us every day, today included. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.