Latest / HBCWestminster / 5.24.20 Luke 6:39-49 Pastor Danny Gardner

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5.24.20 Luke 6:39-49 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, our text this morning is Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6 verses 39 to 49. We pick up right where we left off last week. And if you would be willing to stand in honor of God's word, I would ask you to do that now. I'm going to read our text and then we'll begin. Luke chapter 6 beginning in verse 39. It says, he also told them a parable. Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.
• 0:32
  Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, Brother, let me take the speck that is in your eye, when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye. For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit.
• 0:58
  For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you?
• 1:16
  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. Would you pray with me?
• 1:46
  Lord, your word in Psalm 30 says, Sing praise to the Lord, O you his saints. Give thanks to his holy name, for his anger is but for a moment and his favor for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for a moment, but joy comes in the morning. And Lord God, your word says that you lift us up, that you hear our cries for help and heal us, that you rescue us from the depths and restore our lives.
• 2:12
  And Lord, we rejoice that your anger is but for a moment and your favor for a lifetime. Lord, be glorified this morning in the preaching of your word. May its truths resound in our minds and in our hearts and in our lives. And it's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, church. You can be seated. Well, last Sunday we talked about the danger inherent in under-defining Christianity. We said that our faith cannot and should not be boiled down to mere friendliness.
• 2:43
  What had been understood to that point as a list of do's and don'ts was altered drastically to become a life-transforming, mind-changing lifestyle that we said last week honestly is not for everyone. It involves loving those who hate you, giving to those who will never pay you back, and extending grace when grace will never be reciprocated. We said that the Christian life could be summarized simply by saying, read the Bible and do what it says.
• 3:12
  This morning, we conclude what we have called the most catastrophic sermon ever preached, the sermon that turned the world upside down. I, like everyone else, am struggling through the web of garbage information that comes our way every day.
• 3:29
  After months of sifting and sorting, the conclusion I've drawn is that the world's problems are not what they think they are, and the solutions that the world is proposing to those problems will never work. Our son, our oldest son, Pearson, graduated from high school yesterday. We celebrated his graduation this week. What a privilege watching him grow. Here's a picture.
• 3:56
  That you guys can see, here's our kind of graduation ceremony held in our front yard because graduations across the country have been canceled. What a joy it has been being his dad. Honestly, I count it a privilege. His graduation and looking through pictures of his boyhood and adolescence has caused me to think back to when he was little. And Pearson, when he was just a tiny, tiny little squirt, maybe two years old or so.
• 4:21
  was in the middle of transitioning out of diapers. Hallie said, I'm not allowed to use the word potty training during a sermon, and so I won't. See, one day, he was about two and a half or so years old. He was transitioning out of diapers, and he had an accident, and it wasn't a big deal or whatever, but he had this little accident, and he came to us and explained what had happened, and he had diagnosed the problem. The problem was, he said,
• 4:49
  that my pants ran out of batteries. And so he walked over to the drawer in the kitchen. He knew we kept the batteries. He opened up that drawer and reached up inside and grabbed a couple of new AA batteries and then walked over and then pushed them down, squeezed them down into his front pocket and said, there, the problem is fixed. And we just laughed. We thought that that was pretty cute. And doesn't that seem about like what's going on in our world today?
• 5:18
  You know what we need? We need an accurate diagnosis of the problem. And without one, without identifying the actual problem, it is rare that the actual problem will ever be addressed. And so the question then becomes, what is the actual problem? What is mankind's problem? What is the problem with the world today? And it is stated simply in our sermon this morning. The world's problem is not COVID.
• 5:45
  It's not social distancing and masks. It's not whether schools will open or not in the fall. Our problem is not housing. It's not food supply chains. It's not drug and alcohol abuse. Our problem is not essential or non-essential businesses. It's not politics. And although every one of these is important, they are each merely symptoms of the actual problem. The actual problem, the proper diagnosis is this. Mankind.
• 6:14
  Every single one of us, without exception, will naturally build our lives on a faulty foundation. That's the problem with the world. Houses in Denver, we know, never sit still. They are always moving. And where in other parts of the country houses are built on a simple concrete slab, our houses are often built on pillars that extend down to bedrock, 20, 30, 40 feet.
• 6:45
  And even with those pillars, those anchors, our foundations still often sink, crack, or split over time. Sometimes construction of our houses is done so poorly that they become uninhabitable, unable to be occupied. And that is exactly the warning that Christ issues at the conclusion of the Sermon on the Level. Diagnose the problem accurately. Build your life upon a sure foundation, he says.
• 7:14
  If you don't, you run the risk of living a life that is unable to be occupied. This sermon will not be a ground shaker. It is not a barn burner. I'm not going to say anything profound or something that you haven't heard before. Christ's conclusion, in fact, is so simple to understand, it needs merely be read. So simple that this little conclusion to his sermon on the level was turned into a children's Sunday school song generations ago.
• 7:44
  The wise man built his house upon the rock, and the foolish man's house went splat. So let's go through the text together. We'll go through it quickly. I'll just offer some simple challenges along the way. Notice first that Christ begins by saying that we should live with the lights on, that we should be illuminated Christians. And look at verse 39. It says he also told them a parable. Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?
• 8:14
  Christians should have the lights turned on. Well, what does a life with the lights turned on look like? First, an illuminated Christian is careful about their sources of information. They're careful about who they follow, right? You don't want to accidentally follow somebody who's blind. And regardless of your opinion about the handling of our current crisis in pandemic, regardless of your opinion about reopening or remaining in quarantine, I will bet that you are tired of trying to discern what is actually true.
• 8:44
  So many conflicting reports. Do you remember how many times the experts told us that masks were ineffective in combating the disease? Do you remember that? And now those same experts are requiring us to wear masks. Like, which one is it? Do you remember how many times the experts said that COVID-19 can live for hours and even days on flat surfaces? And now the CDC is saying, just kidding, the disease can't live.
• 9:12
  On surfaces. The whole thing is making me question which headlines should be believed. Or it's making me question this. What are the experts actually experts in? You know what occurred to me? I never actually asked. These men and women were paraded in front of us being declared experts. I guess we should have asked, what are you experts in? Maybe they were experts in interior design or coffee roasting and not viruses. I don't know. I guess we should have asked.
• 9:40
  What's funny is in times of a crisis, we who know nothing, and church, I don't claim to know anything about viruses. I am not an epidemiologist. I have no clue about any of that stuff. And we who know nothing search for those who know something. And we will often in times of crisis defer wisely, I think, to their judgment.
• 10:06
  The same thing is true spiritually speaking. Why do we look for answers to spiritual questions among those who don't know anything? Ask around. I mean, wearing your mask and standing at least six feet away, of course, but ask around. Ask people what they know spiritually and then ask them how they know it.
• 10:29
  It still amazes me, the spiritual truths that some people reject, and it amazes me the things that people will believe. I heard of this religion this week. It's called Pastafarianism. Pastafarianism. And I'm not kidding. They call themselves the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
• 10:50
  Okay, that's a real religion. It was started in the state of Kansas just within the last couple of decades. Listen, church, they have thousands of followers. The flying spaghetti monster is who they worship. What in the world? Here's another one. Jediism, and I did not say Judaism, okay? Jediism, believers of the force. There are hundreds and thousands.
• 11:18
  of actual followers in our country who believe themselves to be Jedis based on George Lucas' Star Wars. Now listen, I like Star Wars. I've seen all of them. If he makes nine more, if they make nine more, I'll watch all nine. I think they're fun to watch. We enjoy them. Our family enjoys them. Our boys enjoy them. But listen.
• 11:38
  You don't get to just walk around with a cape and a lightsaber. I mean, they're actually beginning to demand Jedi rights that they can bring these plastic lightsabers into restaurants and other places, right? And they're not allowed to be told. They have to leave them in the car. Crazy. Here's another one. Iglesia Maradoniana, okay, is how they say it. I don't know. But this is the worship of a soccer player.
• 12:08
  From the 80s and 90s, Diego Maradona. It was a legendary soccer player. They recognize and celebrate his birth date every year. They actually have declared him to be their deity. And listen, church, they have a million followers. A million across 60 different countries worldwide. A million people worship a soccer player?
• 12:39
  Listen to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. The Apostle Paul says, even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, that is people who don't understand the gospel, they're wearing this veil, those who are unbelievers. In their case, he says, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
• 13:08
  So the God of this world, the enemy of our souls, has actually blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot understand the gospel truth. That's what's going on. You want to know why people reject spiritual truth and then substitute it for some random truth of their own? The reason is they're blind. They're blind. And Jesus says the blind cannot lead the blind. People go to all kinds of...
• 13:36
  gurus and spiritual experts and life coaches and whatever for spiritual advice. And listen church, not all of those things are bad, but why not go to the actual expert? Why not? After Jesus finished preaching the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew's account includes one small detail that Luke's gospel leaves out, and that is the crowd's response. Listen to Matthew chapter 7 and verse 28.
• 14:03
  When Jesus finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes. Sermons are good and podcasts are great and study Bibles and commentaries are helpful, certainly. But nothing can replace you reading Jesus' words for yourself. Nothing will replace that. Pick up the Bible and read God's word for yourself. And if you're not sure what it says, start.
• 14:32
  By asking him. Ask him. Go to the source. Go to the authority. Verse 39. Can a blind man lead a blind man? Now pick up in verse 40. He says a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher. In other words, if you go to the ignorant for your spiritual truth, you cannot hope but to become exactly like them. If you go to ignorant people,
• 15:00
  To find answers to questions, you're going to become like them. You will be ignorant. In other words, an illuminated Christian will never rise above his or her own teacher. But notice also that an illuminated Christian will never rise above his or her own teaching. Look at verse 41. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye?
• 15:25
  But do not notice the log that is in your own eye. How can you say to your brother, brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye, when you yourself don't see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite. First, take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye. In other words, fix your own problems before you start going around trying to fix other people's problems. Your teaching also applies to you.
• 15:52
  A teaching, a congregation, the word of God is the greatest person. In my opinion, it is the greatest privilege a person can receive. Teaching a church is the highest calling for mankind. But God's word says that if a man aspires to leadership in the church, he aspires to a noble calling. I've told some of you before, but Eric Little, who is kind of one of my heroes,
• 16:18
  was an Olympic long-distance runner. He was the inspiration for the movie Chariots of Fire. He said that he believed that God had made him for a purpose. He was the one that said, and in running, I feel the pleasure of God. I've told you, I have no pleasure in running. I don't enjoy it at all, but that is exactly how I feel when I preach. I believe the Lord made me for this, but that doesn't mean that it's easy.
• 16:45
  I believe that preaching is a privilege, but it is also, honestly, church, it's a challenge to stand up every week with God's word open, teaching its truths to other people, all the while knowing how often I fail at many of those same things. In fact, often the greatest hurdle for young teachers, as I'm mentoring, discipling young men in ministry, often the greatest hurdle for those young teachers is to stand in front of others,
• 17:15
  And to teach something that they themselves have failed in. They'll say, well, who am I? Who am I? I can't teach on this. I haven't mastered this. But consider this, church. Can you imagine if only faultless, faultless men and women were allowed to teach? No one would ever teach. I believe that it would be a misuse of these two verses.
• 17:42
  To only allow the faultless among us to teach. Rather, those teachers who admit their faults must teach only using the authority of the word of God and not their own authority. You shouldn't listen to anything I say because I say it.
• 17:57
  is what I'm saying. You should listen to what I say because God says it. If you don't see this book, if you don't see it open, if you don't see us reading it, if you can't sit with the same book on your lap and check to make sure that the things that our teachers are saying are true, then you shouldn't follow them because none of us, none of us will ever surpass God's word. None of us ever will graduate past the need, the necessity for God's word.
• 18:25
  in our own lives i love this short section of scripture consider what these last few verses said make sure the source is jesus make sure the source is god's word and then apply it to your life in other words it's exactly what we said last week read the bible do what it says that's first an illuminated christian but notice second the lord continues by saying that our fruit will determine our tree
• 18:51
  Our fruit will determine our tree and not the other way around. Notice in verse 43. For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit. For each tree, here's the key, each tree is known by its fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorn bushes. Grapes aren't picked from a bramble bush. The good person, out of the good treasure of his heart, produces good.
• 19:17
  The evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Our fruit will determine our tree. You ever bought a young fruit tree from a nursery? It's got a little tag that says it's a peach tree and you've heard that Colorado peaches are among the best in the world. And so you take it home and you dig your hole, you plant it, you water it, you fertilize it. Over the course of several years, you look forward to it producing.
• 19:48
  Colorado peaches. But imagine that three years goes by. It flowers and you find to your dismay that it actually begins producing cherries. May I ask, who messed up? Was it the tree? Was it the tree that made the mistake? Or was it the nursery label? Would you go to the tree and try convincing the tree that it was wrong? Like you don't understand. You're not supposed to be producing cherries. You're supposed to be producing peach trees because you're a peach tree.
• 20:19
  I bought you. I saw the label. It said peach tree. You're a peach tree. You're producing the wrong thing. Or should you call the nursery and tell them that their labeling system is off and that you want a different tree? Listen, church, consider the tree does not determine the fruit. The fruit determines the tree. And so here comes what is, I think, going to be a stinging question. Don't think of yourself as a Christian just because that's what your label says.
• 20:51
  labels are often wrong. You should instead ask yourself, what type of fruit am I producing? And let me be careful to clarify here that I am not saying that if you simply act like a Christian, you are a Christian. Rather, that if you are genuinely a Christian, then you will act upon that faith so assuredly so that outsiders should be able to determine your faith simply by your actions. And if this is a little bit confusing,
• 21:22
  It's pretty much what the whole book of James in the New Testament is about. It's pretty much the whole book, right? I will show you my faith by what I do. Look at my fruit and that will determine the type of tree that I am. So Jesus says, second, that our fruit will determine our tree and not the other way.
• 21:44
  Now here is the danger. That is just one potential problem that we would actually be producing the wrong kind of fruit. But another problem that actually exists throughout the New Testament is that you can have a genuinely Christian tree. You can be a genuine believer and not be producing any fruit at all. I love gardening, not just because of my last name. I know that there's an irony there. I come from a family of farmers. My dad broke that cycle by becoming an aerospace engineer.
• 22:13
  But before him, our family, my dad's family tree and family line actually owned a farm in Iowa. That's where I trace my family roots. I love the dirt. I love the smell of digging. I love that feeling of cool soil overturned on a hot day. I love sowing seeds. I love watching them grow. I love the satisfaction even of eating vegetables and fruit that I myself have grown. But I tried growing potatoes once.
• 22:41
  The plants themselves got huge. I was imagining what it would be like the day that I dug them up and our family ate them, was looking forward to those potatoes. But to my surprise, the potatoes were small. They were rock hard and they were covered in these disgusting little bugs. It was nasty, nasty. And throughout the New Testament, but even implied here as well, I think it says that you can actually be a Christian, a genuine follower, a believer in Jesus Christ.
• 23:10
  and still not be producing fruit, just like those potatoes. So that's second. The fruit of the tree is important. But notice last, he concludes his sermon on the level with a knockout punch. It becomes a story about the foundation of a Christian life. And let me read the story. It's one that we're familiar with in verse 46. He says, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you?
• 23:38
  everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like. He's 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. So let's do some definitions quickly as we explain the story. First, what is the house? It says that this man goes out and builds a house. Well, what is the house? The house is the hearer's life.
• 24:06
  It's everything about him. Your house is your life. It's your decisions that you make. It's the jobs that you perform, the classes that you register for, the relationships and friendships that you have. It's the dates that you go on. It's every ministry. It's every spoken word. It's everything about you. That is your house. He says that this man built his house upon the rock. Well, what is the rock? The rock is Christ and his words.
• 24:32
  What is the ground then without the foundation? The second man. What Matthew's account calls the sand. Built his house upon the sand. The sand would be everything else. It would be anything else. So the rock is Christ and his word. The faulty foundation is anything else. If you build your life upon anything else, that's what he's comparing. What is the flooded stream? The flooded stream are the inevitable trials.
• 25:01
  the sufferings, the strains of human life, those things which every person endures at some point. We notice in the story that there are some similarities between these two men. Both men, we know, hear the message. Both men respond by building a house. Both men build in the same basic location since the same flooded stream hits both of their houses.
• 25:27
  Neither of them had any advantage in terms of the flood. The flood itself was the same. Both men have confidence that their houses will stand. Both men even build the same type of house. The external differences in the houses were negligible. Well, what then becomes the difference? And there is only one. There is only one difference, and that is the house's foundations. If you look first at the man,
• 25:53
  who founded his life on the words of Christ. It says in verse 38 that he dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And we said the rock was Christ and his word. The flood arose, the stream broke against the house, but couldn't shake it because it had been well built. The man who hears Christian teaching and does them is the man whose faith will stand in times of trial. He's like a man who builds his life on a sure foundation.
• 26:21
  He's not content simply to hear about repentance from sin or to hear about belief in Christ or to hear about holy living. He's not content simply to come to church and listen to the sermon and then leave. This man actually repents. He actually believes to the point that becomes a saving faith and he makes changes to his life. And what is the result? The result is that his faith doesn't fail him when his faith is most needed.
• 26:48
  It may have been gotten with tremendous toil and strain. His faith and the development of that faith, the building of his house, may have even taken hours and hours of reading and studying and praying and meditation. But when the storms of life prevailed upon others, they did not prevail upon him. This man's labor in times of peace were not thrown away.
• 27:12
  And church, that is the time that we've got to build our faith. It's not during the times of war. That's when our faith is tested. But in times of peace, how are you doing at strengthening your faith, at strengthening your resolve, at strengthening your love and passion and worship of Christ during times of peace? During times of peace, this man strengthened his foundation. When sorrow and sickness and poverty and disappointment and deaths beat upon him, they did not prevail.
• 27:41
  J.C. Ryle has said this, this man's soul stood unmoved. Well, now let's contrast that with the man who heard the words of Christ, but then ignored them. Look at verse 49. But the one who hears and does not do them, that is the words of Christ, 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.
• 28:12
  The man who hears Christian teaching and does not do them is like a man who built his house on a faulty foundation upon the sand. This man was satisfied with mere listening. He may have even approved of the messages being preached. He even became moved at times. Maybe his heart was stirring within him, but with no lasting effect. He never actually applied what he knew. And what's the result? The eventual erosion of life undercut his foundation and eventually his house.
• 28:42
  All of this man's life was a facade. His faith was fake. It was a veneer. It consisted of only external adornment. And John Piper has said, you will sink. You will sink if you only listen to the voices of the circumstances of your problems because they are so many and they are so loud.
• 29:12
  Well, church, in order to address our issues, we must first accurately diagnose our problem. Our problem is not what most people think and say it is. The real problem is that a vast majority of people are building their lives on a faulty foundation. And the only sure foundation for your life and mine is obedience to Christ. Everything else, church.
• 29:42
  Everything else is shifting sand. And Lord, I pray that we would take these words to heart. I pray that we would be like the wise man who built his house upon the rock. I pray that our lives would be founded upon the truths of your word, the truths of Jesus Christ, and the forgiveness that he offers through his blood shed on the cross. God, I pray that we would be wary of spiritual truth from anywhere else.
• 30:09
  God, you alone contain the words of eternal life, and we commit ourselves to you again this morning. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.