Latest / HBCWestminster / 3.1.23 Matt 5:1 & 7:24-29 Pastor Danny Gardner

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3.1.23 Matt 5:1 & 7:24-29 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, allow me to read, and I'm going to read kind of some sections from Matthew 5 to 7. And so I would ask you to stand in honor of God's Word as I read Matthew 5, verse 1. And then we're going to skip ahead to chapter 7, verses 24 to 29, the bookends of the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5, verse 1, seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain. And when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
• 0:25
  Chapter 7 and verse 24. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall of it.
• 0:52
  And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes. And Lord God of heaven, may your word be our foundation. May we not only hear it, but also put it into practice. Let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. Amen. Thank you, church.
• 1:24
  Have you ever had to listen to something that you didn't want to hear? Be a crying baby in a movie theater. Maybe it was a crying baby in your own home. Maybe someone else's music tastes on a long road trip. Has that ever happened? Many years ago when I was on staff at another church, I and the other pastors were attending a pastor's conference which was about a four and a half hour drive away. We caravaned up there, you know, kind of putting together a string of cars and everybody piling into different cars. I drove.
• 1:56
  The guy, as we were coming back, as I was driving, the guy sitting shotgun said, well, if I'm sitting next to you, I'll just take care of the music. And I said, all right, that's fine. I didn't really know him well yet. He was one of the younger guys and new on staff, and so I just said, okay, whatever. It turns out he was a huge Bryan Adams fan. You guys know, like, the Summer of 69 guy? You guys, I didn't know that Bryan Adams had even recorded four and a half hours of music. I didn't know.
• 2:24
  Like, I knew that song, and I knew the Robin Hood one. You know, everything I do, I do for you. And beyond that, I'm like, I'm out. I tap on Bryan Adams. Like, I'm just not a huge fan. It's fine. You know, we go through, and this is Bryan Adams' anthology. Like, I didn't even know, you know. I got kind of sick of it after five, six, seven songs. An hour goes by, a couple of hours goes by. You know, do you want me to change the music? Yeah, let's spice it up a little bit.
• 2:50
  Okay, so he switches to Rod Stewart. Now listen, there's a couple of songs where I'm like, all right, you know, Rod Stewart, a couple of songs. I mean, beyond that, he didn't have four good songs. You know what I mean? Like, there were three. He's like, you want me to switch it up? Yeah, maybe. He switches to Sting. And you guys listen, and I don't know, I'm going to say some, there's sensitivity here, and everybody's like, whoa. You know, I was okay with Rod Stewart, but I don't mean police. I don't mean the police. Sting. I mean Sting, you know, and again.
• 3:18
  A couple of songs, but mostly they're kind of creeper songs. Like, I'm watching you all the time and that kind of thing. Like, I don't really get it. Like, for four and a half hours, you have to listen to this music. And like, I didn't care for it. I remember my high school chemistry class, my senior year of high school, you know, and I wasn't there because I enjoyed chemistry. I didn't like chemistry. And I'm sorry to Jim Barnes on our elder board who is a chemist by trade.
• 3:45
  But I just didn't like it. And maybe it was because of the teacher. He just had one of those monotone voices, no energy whatsoever. And I'm like, you know, number one, you're not a great teacher. And number two, we're studying invisible things. Like if we're studying things that are invisible, you've got to spice it up. Like you've got to bring the life, you know? And he just didn't. And I can remember the only day that I really paid attention.
• 4:11
  You know, he got up in front of the class on the last day, kind of as a finals study prep, got up on one of the last days of class. And again, I'm a senior, you know, and I just didn't want to be there at that point. And he said, you know, we're going to do some studying for the final. I'm going to give you guys some clues on what to study. And he literally read the questions with the answers, the multiple choice answers. He just read them, number one, and, you know, asked the question and then said the answer is C.
• 4:39
  I'm like, all right, you know, like I'll pay attention. And you guys, I wrote them down. I just wrote down C, B, A. I wrote them down in order. And I was always pretty good at memorizing lists. I could always do that pretty quick. Memorize the list. You just went through, done. You know, I handed my Scantron, remember those? Handed my Scantron, like, you know, ace the thing. It was the only day I paid attention. I didn't know anything else about chemistry. I still don't. He was the most boring man alive. And honestly, it made him hard to hear.
• 5:11
  Many of the people who heard Christ's teaching found his sayings hard. He got that response a lot. These sayings are hard to hear. Who can listen to this guy? And they may have found them hard for a variety of reasons. I mean, some of Christ's sayings were hard to understand. He'll say something like, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, right, than for a rich man to go to heaven. You're like, well, I don't really, I don't get it. What are you talking about?
• 5:38
  And that made them hard because they were hard to understand. Some were actually easy to understand, but people just didn't want to do them. Teacher, how do I get to heaven? Sell everything you have. Give it to the poor and then come follow me. You remember the man's response? He went away sad because he owned a lot of stuff. And Jesus punched him right in the heart and just said, I know exactly what you should do. Sell your idol and then come and follow me. And he's like, he went away sad.
• 6:07
  Listen, if he had repented, if he had fallen on his knees and repented, he'd have gone away rejoicing. But he didn't go away rejoicing. He didn't want to do, it wasn't hard to understand. He understood perfectly what Jesus was asking. And he said, nah, I don't want to do that. Sometimes they were both. John chapter 6, Jesus gathers this massive crowd, right? Tens of thousands. He's been teaching them.
• 6:32
  out in the countryside. And if you guys are going to Israel with us in just a couple of weeks, we'll be at this countryside. I'm going to preach John chapter six in that same kind of hill country area. Gathers these tens of thousands of people, starts handing out food and miraculous feedings, right? The people begin following him in droves because who doesn't like a free buffet? You know, Vegas figured that out many years ago and it just gets people to come. And so all of these people are there. The food runs out at one point. They approach Jesus and they say, hey, the food is out.
• 7:00
  And Jesus in John chapter 6 says, well, if you actually want to live, eat from me and you'll live. I'm the bread of life. And it really freaked him out. Like, are you talking about cannibalism? Like, we're supposed to eat you? Number one, you're not that big and there's a lot of us. Like, you're not going to feed us all. But number two, what are you talking about? You're talking about eating us. In John chapter 6 and verse 60, it says,
• 7:29
  when many of his disciples heard it, they said, this is a hard saying, who can listen to it? This is a hard, what are you talking about? I think I understand, if I understand what you're saying, that's hard. And if I don't understand what you're saying, that's hard. And honestly, church, some things never change. And many who hear the words of Christ today find his sayings hard to listen to.
• 7:54
  One reason that people then and now, today, felt like Jesus' sayings were hard is that they made people think. And people aren't always fond of thinking. For some people, F.F. Bruce has said, for some people, thinking is a difficult and uncomfortable exercise. Any utterance which invites them to engage in thinking is a hard saying. Jesus' teachings suggested that it would be good to reconsider things that every reasonable person
• 8:24
  accepted oh man how applicable and relevant is that today the world has just generally accepted certain things and yet some of the things that jesus spoke directly against cut against that grain and so people are like wait a minute you're not even being reasonable it's not even a reasonable thing to follow this guy we are in about six weeks going to celebrate our savior being raised from the dead
• 8:55
  We are going to sing to a God that we think became a man, died, was buried, and rose from the dead. Your neighbors are probably looking at that, thinking about that, going, you are crazy. That's not even a reasonable thing to do. F.F. Bruce would say, well, that's why people have rejected it. It doesn't make any sense to them, and they don't like to think. Another reason that Christ's teachings are at times hard is that he doesn't always tell us what we want to hear.
• 9:25
  That doesn't mean that we shouldn't listen. Raise your hand. We're going to do a little exercise. And listen, for the next five minutes, I'm going to make fun of dentists a little bit, all right? So if you're a dentist, I apologize up front. But raise your hand if you enjoy going to the dentist. Is anybody like, you make that appointment, and you're like, I can't wait. I can't wait. I can't wait for the chair. And maybe Trevor, right? He's a little odd. Trevor's like that. Like, do you enjoy it? You make the appointment. You're like, I can't wait to sit in the chair.
• 9:54
  Can't wait for him to grab that metal hook thing, you know, the little miniature Captain Hook, and just grind away. I can't wait. I can't wait for the drill. I can't wait for the Novocaine. I can't wait for two hours later when I'm still drooling on myself. I can't wait for the dentist. None of us like the dentist, and yet we continue to go. What's wrong with us? Why? Why do we do that? Honestly, why?
• 10:19
  Because it's good for us. We know that it's good for us. He doesn't necessarily tell us what we want to hear. I went to the dentist the day before yesterday. I sat in the chair and the very nice girl who always talks to me while she's got her fingers in my mouth, right?
• 10:31
  but she's having these full conversations with me while she's grinding away and cutting my gums and doing all of this stuff. And she's asking me all of these questions. She's always upside down with a mask, with the mask and all of this stuff. So if I run into her in the mall, I have no idea who she is, but she's the same girl every time. Then the dentist comes in, he looks at my x-rays and he says, now listen, Danny. He said, I need you to come back in six weeks because I got to redo one of your fillings from the time that you were a kid. It's like cracked or something. I got to redo it.
• 11:00
  Listen, church, none of me wants to go back. None of me does. I do not like the dentist. I don't like it. I've told him it's nothing personal. I just, I don't like your choice of profession, you know. And yet, in six weeks, what am I going to do? I'm going to go back. I'm going to go back. I'm going to get my tooth filled because I know that it's good for me. He doesn't tell me what I want to hear, but I know it's what I need to hear.
• 11:25
  As C.S. Lewis said it this way, he said, when I was a child, I often had toothaches. I knew that if I went to my mother, she would give me something which would deaden the pain for that night and let me get to sleep. But I didn't go to my mother, at least not until the pain became very bad. And the reason I didn't go was this. I did not doubt that she would give me the aspirin. I like that that's where the slide ends, right? Because it leaves you hanging. You know what he's doing, right? I didn't doubt. If I go to my mom and say, mom, I've got a toothache, is she going to give you the aspirin?
• 11:56
  Yes, but what else is she going to do? She's going to call the dentist the next morning, right? But I knew she would also do something else. I knew she would take me to the dentist the next morning. I couldn't get what I wanted out of her without getting something more, which I didn't want. I wanted immediate relief from pain, but I could not get it without having my teeth set permanently right. You want to know why Jesus is
• 12:20
  is so widely rejected even today why do people reject this message why now because they know they want the immediate relief from the pain but they don't want what else jesus has to offer he is going to set their teeth right he gives more than aspirin
• 12:38
  He's going to fill all the cavities, right? He's going to give you the crown. He's going to do all of the hard stuff if that's what you need to do. That people's response to the Sermon on the Mount. Now consider where the Sermon on the Mount is. Even if you don't know anything about the Gospels, if this is your very first time ever setting foot in a church, if it is, then man, come and talk to me. I would love to talk to you. But even if you know nothing about the Gospel of Matthew, if you've never read it and never studied it, you'll notice that the Sermon on the Mount takes place in chapter five.
• 13:07
  Right? How many chapters is Matthew? If you skip ahead, you notice Matthew is how many chapters? 28 chapters. Which means the Sermon on the Mount coming in chapter 5 means that this sermon took place at what point in Jesus' ministry? It's still very early. The people at this point are still looking for the aspirin. Right? And when he gives them this sermon, it's interesting how they respond at the end.
• 13:39
  Skip ahead now to the end. Look at the very end. Look at how they respond. In Matthew 7, right at the end, in verse 28, it says, And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished, like blown away. We've never heard anything like this before. Who is this guy? He teaches with such authority.
• 14:07
  Not as our scribes who guess and then re-guess and then they'll write and then rewrite. And this scribe says this and that Pharisee says this and they all contradict each other. And which one of these teachers am I supposed to follow? He doesn't teach like any of them. He never guesses. He teaches as one who has authority. And so at the beginning of his ministry and what we're going to see throughout the sermon on the mount, our study for the next several months, like I said, is that the people are listening with enthusiasm.
• 14:36
  They're leaning forward in their seats. They're excited to receive it. And why? Because they had never heard teaching like this before. And imagine for a moment, friends, that you were there. You, a poor fisherman or farmer, which likely many of them were, many of these original hearers were, you were there as this young Galilean peasant walked up on a hill, gathered up his robe, and sat down to address this poorly assembled crowd. Nobody knew him.
• 15:05
  nobody had ever heard of him until recently i mean when he delivered it nobody had ever heard of the sermon on the mount they didn't know that's what he was about to give they'd never heard of the beatitudes right they'd never heard of these things they were brand new words he wasn't wearing any kind of crown he didn't have one of those halos that many of the
• 15:33
  teachers the people in authority had nothing graced his head that the first words out of his mouth sounded as if he dared to amend the law of Moses you've heard that it was said and then he'll quote the law of Moses but I tell you and the law of Moses was the very fabric of Hebrew society and it sounded as if it was being challenged his castigation of the Pharisees and as you go through the book of Matthew you realize man he is literally
• 16:02
  table-flipping mad at points, making whips and beating up the guys that everybody else was following. You know, who is this guy? And he never apologized for it. He was audacious, to say the least. His teaching was different. We saw that in Matthew 7. He never guessed. One man worded it really well by saying this, has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God?
• 16:33
  Has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to him? He's never learned. He's never struck upon something. He's never had an epiphany. He's never had an idea. Isn't that crazy? Because he's always known. Jesus, as he began to speak and preach and the people were coming to him and even demons coming to him and asking him questions, he began to speak of heaven and hell and the Father and Abraham and angels.
• 17:07
  and the future as if he had seen them. And the kind of non-offensive Jesus construct that so many today imagine, kind of the hippie Jesus with a surfboard, was not the Jesus you would have experienced 2,000 years ago. He offended people every time he opened his mouth. He spoke of God in such intimate terms that they considered it blasphemous multiple times. John 5, John 8, John 10.
• 17:39
  He began speaking of his heavenly father as if he knew him, as if he had talked to him, as if he was him and equal to him. And they understood exactly what he was claiming because they start picking up rocks. You can't be making those claims. Man, he spoke of the kingdom of God as if he was the king. And so his teaching left these people astonished.
• 18:03
  They'd never heard anything like it, and it's well known that Jesus taught constantly. In fact, John's gospel at the very end says that if every word Christ spoke were recorded, it would fill all the libraries of the world. The libraries in all of the world couldn't contain all of the words that he spoke. Can you imagine? We look at this book sometimes, and man, we think it's huge.
• 18:27
  1,200 pages long, you know, and if I read four pages every day, it still takes me a year. Can you imagine how big it could have been? All of the books in all of the world. I mean, we should be thankful that it fits in our hands, that it fits in a backpack. One book, right? Imagine the teachings of Jesus just prolific. Three times, however, in the Gospels, three sermons are recorded.
• 18:58
  Specific sermons. There's one in Matthew 24 and 25. We call it the Olivet Discourse because it was delivered on the Mount of Olives. And again, if you're going to Israel in a week and a half, then we're going to stand on the Mount of Olives. We will stand within 100 feet of where Jesus delivered that sermon. We're going to look across the Kidron Valley. There at the Temple Mount, we will see the Dome of the Rock. We will read the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24 and 25, from the Mount of Olives. I can't wait for it. And listen, I just reserved...
• 19:27
  More dates for Israel, if you'd like to write them down. It's June 2024. So we're going to go again next year. We've reserved them. They're booked. They're confirmed. I've paid the deposit. It is done. We have 45 spots. Next June 2024, start saving your shekels, all right? The Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24 and 25, one of the sermons. Another one, John 14 to 17. It's called the Upper Room Discourse. Jesus in John chapter 13.
• 19:54
  washes the disciples' feet. He brings them into the upper room, washes their feet. Judas eventually leaves to go betray him. He institutes that last supper. They all take communion together. Jesus begins to teach. I'm leaving, but another will come. He talks about not being dismayed. The Holy Spirit will come. The upper room discourse.
• 20:15
  And then here, Matthew 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount, and what is arguably, and I don't even think there is an argument to be made other than that this is the greatest sermon ever preached in all time. And over the next several months, it will be our goal to study the words of Christ in this very first public discourse, to draw applications from it to our lives. And some of the things we're going to notice that Jesus said were hard indeed. They may challenge the way that we think, and you better believe they will certainly challenge the way the mob thinks.
• 20:44
  And so we pick up in chapter 5 in verse 1 for some of the sermon's context. We'll pick up in verse 2 next Wednesday. But in verse 1, some context. Notice first the place where it was delivered. This is the sermon on the mount. And verse 1, you notice, says, up on the mountain. He went up on the mountain. And not only had our Lord no place to lay his head, he had no place to preach. Jesus had no pulpit.
• 21:10
  Although the scribes and the Pharisees had seats of honor in the synagogues, and then from those seats corrupted the law, Jesus just found the nearest location, and he does this over and over, just finds the nearest location that was suitable, and then became intent on setting the law straight. And so let me ask you, church friends, what is your mountain? What is your place to preach? Jesus went up on a mountain to preach. Why? Because the mountain was there.
• 21:38
  In Luke 6, verse 17, it says he preached this same sermon on a level plane. Why did he go out on a level plane? Because the level plane was there. Jesus preached wherever he was at. He preached wherever people would listen. And can I encourage us to do the same? To follow his example? To preach wherever you're at. Preach wherever people will listen. Don't think that you have to wait for some opportune time because the opportune time may never come.
• 22:07
  The place he went up on the mountain, but notice second the posture that Christ assumed while delivering that sermon It says and when he sat down when he sat down It seems to have been Jesus's normal manner to preach while sitting and it was the normal custom for the rabbi to sit and The students to stand today. We've reversed that I'm the only one standing everybody else sits
• 22:30
  But in this instance, the noting of Christ's posture, I think, is even more significant. He was about to give his kingdom manifesto, the Christian's Magna Carta, the laws upon which his kingdom would be governed. And so he takes the posture of a king on his throne, taking the posture of a judge sitting on his bench. He sits down and the people come to listen. And notice third, the people who were in attendance right at the beginning, verse one, seeing the crowds.
• 23:00
  That is, the mixed multitude. These were just followers, not yet committed believers. These were just people who were curious, and there were lots of them seeing the crowds. Then at the end of verse 1 it says, His disciples came to Him. We see clearly here that Christ addressed His message to both the multitudes and the chosen. To the hearers, to the scoffers, to anyone who desired to listen. Jesus set forth in the Sermon on the Mount.
• 23:30
  what believers must do in order to live a God-glorifying life. Honesty, purity, integrity. But he even included some things for the unbeliever. What is the nature of God's kingdom? And how can I join it? With that in mind, the context in mind, let's skip to the end. Turn a couple of pages. Matthew 7, verse 24. Our study now jumps ahead.
• 23:57
  to the conclusion of the sermon on the mount jesus knew that his astonished hearers ran the risk of leaving in awe but unchanged they thought this guy's teaching is incredible they were astonished and the warning that he gives here at the end of the sermon is don't just listen and have your jaw drop listen and have your heart changed don't just listen and be in awe listen and change your life
• 24:27
  The same danger exists today. The same warning must be heard. But before we look at the parable itself, let's give some first definitions. Definitions. Okay. Number one, you guys just look in your own Bibles there, verses 24 to 27, and tell me, what is the house? I'm going to talk about these two guys building their house. What is the house? The house is our life, faith, your beliefs, your soul.
• 25:03
  What is your house? It's where you live, right? Your house here is a metaphor for everything about you. It is your life. It's everything. It's every decision you've ever made. It's every job you've ever taken. It's every class, relationship, and date you've been on. Every ministry you've been a part of. Every church you've attended. Every word you've spoken. Every dollar you've spent. Everything.
• 25:35
  Your entire life's work, that is your house. All right? Second, what is the rock? Jesus. And don't just say Jesus. Jesus Christ. I'll throw his last name in. That's not what he says. Okay, his words. Whoever hears these words of mine and does them is like the man who built his house upon the rock. Okay, so the rock is Jesus. Yes.
• 26:11
  But more specifically, it is his words. If you follow my advice, is what he says, then your house is built upon the rock. Notice next, what is the sand? The world, worldly wisdom, distractions. The sand is everything else. It's anything else. The rock is Christ and his words. The sand is anything else you decide to build your life upon. And man.
• 26:48
  How many options are there? Limitless. It's everything. It's everything else. Notice finally, what is the storm? Judgment. I think it's before judgment. The judgment is the collapse of the house. That's the judgment. What is the storm? Trials. Trials, tribulations, sufferings that are inevitable. Inevitable suffering, inevitable strain, inevitable...
• 27:20
  tension the tension of human life those things which every man and woman must endure at some point at some point your life will be hard if your life hasn't never been hard then just keep on living because at some point you will have to deal with something that you don't know how to deal with at some point in your life the lord is going to push you into the deep end of the pool and you are going to feel like you're drowning and you will drown unless what
• 27:51
  You reach out and grab him, ask him for help, right? Unless you reach out for the lifeguard. I mean, at some point, your life is going to be hard. Those are the storms. You're going to notice there are some similarities between the two guys, right? What are some of the similarities? They both have a house. They both hear the same message. They both had a choice what they could build upon. They both, okay. Their houses have got to be in the...
• 28:24
  relatively same location, same region, right? Because the same storm hits them both. Both men had confidence that their house would stand. Both of them built, accordingly, supposedly, the same type of house. The external differences in the houses were negligible. The houses look the same. This is not the story of the three little pigs. One guy built his house of straw, the other guy of bricks. And you're like, well, of course the guy with the bricks, of course it's going to stand.
• 29:00
  right that's not that's not the parable here the houses are the same the only difference the foundation that they were built upon when i was in junior high there was an intersection in my town the intersection is still there these houses are not there was an intersection there 50 something acres were purchased on this major intersection the direction that the city was growing where a house builder was going to build this massive house complex i mean
• 29:30
  all of this whole housing complex, tract housing and whatever, you know, little parks and walkways and all of this thing. He had this grandiose idea. They began building. They poured the foundations of these houses. They put them up in framing and all of, you know, sort of setting windows and doing all of this. And then all of a sudden it was discovered that the foundations were poured wrong. And so all of this work had already been done. Hundreds of them had been built. And then the builder just walked away. He went bankrupt.
• 29:58
  He didn't even have the money to tear them all down. He couldn't even go back and restart. And so for years, these houses sat there, framed houses, skeletons of houses sat there. They were exposed to the weather. They were exposed to indigents who just came in and started doing whatever they do inside of these houses. And it just got worse and worse and worse and worse over the course of these years. By the time I was in high school, five, six years later, they were completely ruined. Everything that was...
• 30:23
  in them the the roofing material that was sitting there you know the concrete the wiring all of the frame it was all done you couldn't even salvage it everything had to be knocked down along came and we we lived about an hour north of hollywood along came a movie producer and he said listen i'm making a movie and at the end of the movie i would like to set an entire neighborhood on fire do you think i could do this he comes to the city of lancaster where i'm from
• 30:54
  He says, would you let me set this entire neighborhood on fire? And they said, sure, for three million bucks, you can set a neighborhood on fire. We'll give you an entire neighborhood. And if you've ever seen Lethal Weapon 3 with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, at the end of that movie,
• 31:11
  They're going through, and Mel Gibson is there shooting people and doing whatever, running through these framed houses. That is Lancaster, California. It is our one claim to fame. I've got high school buddies who were in line at a Taco Bell who claimed the guy behind them became Braveheart. He ate at the Taco Bell in Lancaster on Ellen 30th West, not far from my house. It didn't matter, right, what you build on top of it.
• 31:38
  The structure on top doesn't matter. If the foundation is bad, you have to scrap the entire thing. And this evening, we commit our time to the study of these two foundations and the men who built their lives upon them. And so notice first in verses 24 and 25, we're going to call this guy the hearer and the doer. The hearer and the doer. Verse 24, everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
• 32:07
  The man who hears Christian teaching and does is the man whose faith will stand in times of trial. He's the man who builds his house, his life on a sure foundation. He's not content simply to hear about repentance from sin, hear about belief in Christ, hear about holy living. He actually repents. He actually believes. He actually makes changes to his life. John chapter 1.
• 32:36
  warns about this, but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves. A.C. Gabalin says, hearing first and doing is the way. Being in him, we are safe and secure in time and in eternity. All which is not Christ is sinking sand. And what is the result? His faith doesn't fail him when it's most needed. Verse 25, when the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house.
• 33:04
  It did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. It may have been gotten with tremendous toil and strain. It may have taken hours and hours of reading and studying and praying and meditation. But when the storms of life prevailed on others, they did not prevail on him. His labor in times of peace were not thrown away. Make sure you hear that. I'm going to say it again. His labor, this building on the rock, on the foundation, his labor in times of peace.
• 33:35
  were not thrown away sorrow sickness poverty disappointment deaths may beat upon him but all in vain jc ryle has said it this way his soul stands unmoved his soul stands unmoved like i said i and a group of others met yesterday morning early just as the sun was coming up to begin our study of concise theology we got through the preface the first couple of pages in the preface he said this and i thought it interesting if you were there you'll remember this
• 34:05
  He says, as an activity, theology. Theology, he describes as an activity. That's an interesting way to word that, right? It's an action that we take, theologizing. Theology is a cat's cradle of interrelated, though distinct disciplines. Elucidating texts, synthesizing what they say on the things they deal with.
• 34:27
  Seeing how the faith was stated in the past, formulating it for today, finding its implications for conduct, commending and defending it as truth and wisdom, defining the Christian task in the world, stockpiling resources for life in Christ, corporate worship, exploring ministry. All of those are theology. And listen to what he says. The activity, as an activity, theology becomes a cat's cradle. We stopped there. We discussed that for a minute. What is a cat's cradle?
• 34:58
  You guys have heard that term before, right? What is it? String, right? You see the little girls all there with their string and they do these things and they do this with their fingers and it's like this whatever and then one of them reaches in and they grab the things and they twist them around and then they do this and there's string, you know, and one of them reaches in and flip it around and do whatever you're supposed to do and you do this and then there's this string again. That cat's cradle.
• 35:25
  is like string interwoven between the two hands. It creates like a basket of yarn in between the two hands. It's called a cat's cradle, right? The game they're playing is cat's cradle. He says theology does that. Theology, with all of its different disciplines and all of its different aspects, as you do theology as an activity, what you're doing is tying strings under your life.
• 35:49
  You're attaching one there, you're pulling it across and attaching them there. And then as you continue to study and understand, you attach something there and attach it there. And you're going across and across and across and across so that the more you do over the course of time, you end up with what? A massive safety net. That when the time comes and now you're thrown off of a building, your life is suddenly thrown into the storm. You have something at the bottom to catch you.
• 36:21
  You see what he says? What this man had done in times of peace was to begin building his house upon the rock in times of peace before the storm ever came. This guy was creating that web, that interlocking cat's cradle, so that when the time came that the storm began to beat against his house, his soul would stand unmoved. And let me ask you, church, how are you using your times of peace?
• 36:51
  You don't strengthen your defenses during times of war. At that point, what you've done during your times of peace are being put to the test. The war is already upon you. There's no time to strengthen your defenses. What are you doing with your peace? And if a sudden war was declared upon your soul, how would your house fare? Everybody knows Billy Graham. Everybody does. The most famous modern evangelist that's ever lived, right? Billy Graham, tens of thousands. I mean, we assume.
• 37:25
  were saved at his crusades and other places fewer people have heard of a guy named charles templeton charles templeton was one of his early friends in fact he traveled he was another evangelist a traveling evangelist with billy graham early on in billy graham's ministry as he was traveling around from town to town and camp to camp and doing whatever this guy charles templeton was with him was also preaching was also sharing the gospel charles templeton later experienced tremendous doubt ended up shipwrecking his faith
• 37:55
  Due to bouts with memory loss, he began losing his memory. Ultimately, he suffered from brain degeneration. In 1995, right at the end of his life, just before he died, he wrote a book, his autobiography, which he entitled Farewell to God. Farewell to God. And friends, the problem was that he hadn't been building that cat's cradle to catch him in his times of peace.
• 38:27
  So that when the war came, his soul wasn't ready. There was no security net there to catch him. Let's learn from the man who built his house upon the rock. So that when the storms of life come, and they will inevitably come, our autobiography will not be called farewell to God. Notice the second guy, and with him we'll be done. The second guy, I'm going to call the hearer and the didn't doer. The hearer and the didn't doer. Notice verse 26.
• 38:56
  Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The man who hears Christian teaching and does not do is like a man who built his life on sand. He is satisfied with mere listening. He may approve of the messages being preached, even become moved at times, but with no lasting effect, he never actually applies what he knows. And what is the result?
• 39:21
  The erosion of life undercuts the man's foundation. Eventually his house falls, verse 27, and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was its fall. All of this man's life was like polishing the brass on the Titanic. No matter how pretty you make it look, it's always going to end up at the bottom of the sea. John Piper has worded it this way and I liked it. He said, you will sink.
• 39:50
  If you only listen to the voices of the circumstances of your problems because they are so many and because they are so loud. This guy's life sank. The problem wasn't the house that he built. The problem was where he built it.
• 40:05
  He wasn't renewing his mind. He wasn't committing his way to the scriptures. He wasn't continuing to press himself into more and more and more and more understanding. He was not, as Romans chapter 12 and verse 2 talks about, being transformed by the renewing of your mind. I was a youth pastor many years ago. I had a young man in my youth group named Evan Kelly. Evan Kelly, as a junior in high school, he was 16 years old. As a 16-year-old kid,
• 40:34
  had become a professional dirt bike racer. The kid was making just monstrous amounts of money, endorsements and other things, doing motocross and tricks on dirt bikes. He would travel all over the country. He was homeschooled because he had to be. His parents had to take him out of school because he was traveling so often, so frequently, gone for various competitions and meets and wherever, going to Las Vegas all the time where he's doing these just...
• 41:04
  crazy things. I'd see videos of this kid who's in my youth group. I mean, it's just weird. Evan Kelly was sponsored by Honda as a racing team. You know, their dirt bikes and everything. He got all of his stuff for free. They just send him brand new dirt bikes all the time.
• 41:20
  And so he and I began meeting. You know, he was at home. He's missing youth group. He's missing church all the time. He said, Pastor Danny, I'm always in town on Mondays. We come back on Mondays. Can I meet with you? Can I just meet with you? I can't come to church. Can I meet with you? Sure, Evan, read your Bible, write your questions. We'll get together and talk. And so we just began doing this. And over the course of a couple of years until he graduated and moved on, we began meeting. And at one point, as we're sitting there talking, he's asking me all these questions. I read this this week. I read this. And what about this? What about this? At one point, he said, Pastor Danny.
• 41:51
  why? Why is it that when I read the Bible, it doesn't make sense to me like it does to you when you read it? Why when you read it, does it just make sense to you? And I said, Evan, why is it that when you take apart a dirt bike motor, it makes sense to you? You can put it all back together. I said, can you take apart a motor and put it all back together? He says, yeah, I can totally do that. I can't. Why does it make sense to you? He says, because I literally do it every day.
• 42:24
  Let's close in prayer. Right? That's it. Yeah. What you have seen and heard in me, practice these things. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4 and 9, practice. Practice these things. Don't just think about them and say, oh, that was a nice sermon and then go home. Put them into practice. Take apart the dirt bike motor and then put it back together and then take it back apart and put it back together over and over and over. This is what it means to renew our minds.
• 42:53
  My son Chase, who will turn 13 years old next week, when he was little, our family would do occasional morning Bible studies, singing, reading, praying, singing some more. He knew a few grown-up worship songs, but for the most part, we would sing the little kids' songs. You know, Jesus Loves Me, B-I-B-L-E. Read your Bible, pray every day, you'll grow, grow, grow, right? Great songs. One of his favorites was always The Wise Man Who Built His House Upon the Rock. It came from these verses.
• 43:22
  You remember that song, right? The wise man built his house upon the rock. The wise man built his house upon the rock. The rains came down. The floods came up. But the house on the rock stood firm. You remember the other guy. The foolish man built his house upon the sand. You begin to sing that. The rains came down. The floods came up.
• 43:39
  The rains came down and the floods came up, right? And you can imagine little three-year-old Chase, you know, getting all excited because he knows what's coming. The rains came down and the floods came up and the house on the sand went and every time he's jumping off the couch, whatever, he just splat, you know? Yes, the house on the sand went splat. And friends, it's not about how many people we can get to come and listen. That's not what Jesus was saying. It's not about listening. It's about how many will commit their lives to live the way that he commanded. When the next three months are finished,
• 44:11
  be careful not to leave astonished but unbelieving and build your houses on the rock i'm going to pray and close and then carla is actually going to come and sing a couple of more songs and i ended early intentionally so that we could sing two more songs which have this exact idea we're going to sing how firm a foundation and christ the solid rock two songs which declare this truth and lord thank you for this reminder this warning
• 44:40
  That we should build our houses, our lives, our marriages, our parenting, our work, our education, every decision we make, every dollar we spend on the rock. On your son, Jesus Christ, and his teaching. So that when the rains come down and the floods come up, our houses will not go splat. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.