May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Gospel of Luke, chapter six, and we'll read from verse 46
to the end. That's 46 to 49. The Gospel of
Luke, chapter six, from verse 46 to the end. And why call ye
me, Lord, Lord? and do not the things which I
say. Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth
my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like.
He is like a man which built an house and digged deep, and
laid the foundation on a rock. And when the flood arose, the
stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it
for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth and doeth
not is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon
the earth, against which the stream did beat vehemently and
immediately it fell and the ruin of that house was great. This sixth chapter of the Gospel
of Luke speaks very powerfully to us and it directs us to the
need to be continually conscious that we are doing the will of
God. And what that means is we're
not then following the advice of Satan, who would always turn
us away from the great truth of God and always try and influence
us to what might appear an easier way to the flesh. And it might
be an easier way to the flesh, but the end will be destruction. And so how necessary it is that
you and I are favoured to hear the word of the Lord. And as
the Lord comes towards the end of this wonderful sermon, and
it is a wonderful sermon, he comes and addresses us like this,
and he says, and why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the
things which I say? Now in the face of that, that
may not seem to be very harsh or difficult, but if you and
I just stop for a moment and just think of that, because as
we pray, as we pray, how do we pray? Do we not come and say,
Lord? Do we not come perhaps and say,
Lord, Lord, and do this for me and accept my thanks for this
and that, and yet you see, Do we come in a right way? He says here, and why? Why do we call the Lord Lord
and do not the things which I say? What it means is that we are
being hypocritical in our view. Because if we do really acknowledge
the Lord Jesus as our Lord, then the result will be that we will
desire to do His bidding. We will desire to be obedient
to His commands. We will be concerned to do that
which He sets before us in the Word of God. So as we read such
a word as this and we think, well, I understand that, But
when the Holy Spirit comes and applies such a statement to our
souls, we will realize how very relevant it is, how very personal
it is, and how very guilty every one of us is under such a word. Because if God gives us grace,
and I hope he does, Perhaps we don't want it, but it's good,
you know, when the Lord does give us grace, to seek, to search
our hearts. And to search our hearts very
carefully. To search our hearts, as it were,
with a searchlight. To see what there is, hidden
away, in perhaps the dark places of our heart, which we don't
want to be brought to the surface. We don't want to acknowledge
that such thoughts or lack of desires hide away in our hearts. But to be able to come in all
honesty before God, and we do want to come, don't we, before
our God with an honest heart. I hope we all do. We hope we
don't want to just be found hiding things. Because reality is, we
can't hide things from God. God looks upon us all here tonight
and He knows everything about us. He knows our every thought,
our every desire. Nothing is hidden. And so as
we come here tonight and we hear a word like this, does it affect
us? Does it condemn us? Well, I'm
sure it does. I'm sure it does. It condemns
me, and I'm sure it condemns you. But the reality is, are
we happy to be condemned? And are we happy to continue
in a place that we are condemned? Or are we concerned to be found
right with our God? The truth is, the Lord has granted
us His word and it's an amazing privilege. It's an amazing blessing
to have His word. But it's not a word that you
and I are to pick up and choose what we like to look at and consider
and to disregard things which we think come a little bit close
and things which we think we can avoid. You and I cannot make
excuses to God. We may make excuses to ourselves. We may make excuses to other
people, but we can't make excuses to God. And it is a great blessing
when you and I, by the grace of God, have the answer of a
good conscience. You see, the Word of God speaks
to our heart. It speaks to our conscience. And may we realize
how powerful that Word is. And therefore, as we may come
in prayer and say, Lord, Lord, may we stop, stop and see whether
we are amongst those who do not the things which the Lord says. Now, I could go through a long
list of things that the Lord speaks of, but we have an adequate
number of things in the verses that we read together to test
the reality of our religion and the true desire and the true
concerns that we have. And of course to walk the Christian
life always has been a difficult position and it hasn't changed
because it works contrary to our nature. But it's a good thing
if we are able to realise what the Lord tells us when he comes
and says, at the beginning of this sermon, he said, very similar
of course to the 5th of Matthew, when he said, Blessed are ye,
blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed
are ye that hunger now, for ye shall be filled. And I believe
that really speaks to us of our spiritual hunger. Hunger for
spiritual blessings. Well, we can all perhaps hunger
naturally, but that'll pass. And that won't remain forever.
But the great need is for us to be hungering spiritually. And by that I mean this. to have
Christ revealed to us as the one who has died for us upon
the cross at Calvary, to take away our sins. Nothing less than
this will satisfy the hungry soul. Are we hungry? Are we hungry
for the blessing of the Lord? Or do we pretend to be hungry? It's a great difference, you
know. What a blessing if we are truly hungry for the blessing
of the Lord. And then he said, blessed are
ye that weep now. Well, do we weep over our sins? Do we mourn over our sins? Do sins weigh heavy upon us? Do they have an effect upon us?
When you sin, when your conscience smites you, how do you respond? Do you cry out, oh God, be merciful
to me a sinner? The reality of weeping over our
sins. Do we do that? Do we come and
say, Lord, Lord, and yet there's no weeping? There's no sorrow
for sin. We carry on in a hard way, unconcerned
way really, pursuing our own agenda, only concerned to do
that which we want to do and not concerned to really hear
the blessed word of the Lord and do the things which he says. And you see the Lord then tells
us those who are blessed Blessed are ye when men shall hate you,
and when they shall separate you from their company. Now,
perhaps we find that there's no separation. Perhaps we find
the world doesn't hate us. And why is that? Well, it's because
there's no evidence of the life of God in our souls. The reality
is we are ashamed. of Jesus, that dear friend on
whom our hopes of heaven depend. And yet, you see, the Lord says
we are blessed. If we find that men hate us and
separate us from their company, they don't want to mix with us.
Perhaps we don't therefore show forth his praise. And they shall reproach us and
cast us out for the Son of Man's sake. That's the great line,
isn't it? For Jesus' sake. Oh, do we honour
the blessed Saviour. Let us never dishonour Him, on
whom our hopes of heaven depend. Let us not turn our back on the
Saviour. Oh, my friends, think of what
He's done to redeem our souls. Think of that great debt that's
been paid so that we have a hope of eternal life. Or dare we turn
away from the Saviour? Now, what does the Lord say?
If that is true, if men hate us, separate us, cast us out,
what are we to do? Sorry for ourselves? No. The
Word tells us, Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy. Why? It's the evidence that we're
a child of God. Rejoice and leap for joy. There's not much rejoicing today,
is there? There's not much leaping for
joy because there's not much separation. No, there's Plenty
of union with the world, plenty of going along with the world,
and trying to have a foot in both camps. But here we have
the wonderful effect of the grace of God in our hearts, that we
rejoice and leap for joy. For behold, your reward is great
in heaven, for in the light manner did their fathers answer the
prophets. Well, now we have a wonderful
view, isn't it? A wonderful encouragement to
us, and to do the things which the Lord says. We can believe
what the result will be. It won't be good to our flesh,
but it would be to our souls, and we're rejoicing the evidence
that we're amongst those for whom Christ has died. And then
he goes on to condemn those who are rich in themselves, satisfied
with what they do, and then have their consolation. And he says,
Woe unto you that are full, for ye shall hunger spiritually. Woe unto you that laugh now,
for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you when all men shall
speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the prophets.
And that must be perhaps a testing word to think, well, most people
do speak well of me. Perhaps that's because we're
not following the way of the Lord. Perhaps that's because
we're not taking up our cross. Perhaps that is because we are
not doing the things the Lord has told us to do. And so then
the Lord comes and says, but I say unto you which here love
your enemies, do good to them which hate you. Now that's very
hard. It's very hard. We read it, don't
we? It's the word of the Lord. And
I'm sure if you and I receive grace to do that, and pray for
grace to do it, that which is difficult, the Lord gives more
grace. He does here. And so may we do
what the Lord says. Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and
do not the things which I say? And this is what the Lord tells
us to do. He tells us to do, to love our enemies, and do good
to them which hate you, and bless them that curse you, and pray
for them which despitefully use you. Surely this is some of the
things that we so fail to do in a day and age in which we
live. It's very condemning, isn't it? Very condemning, and perhaps
we wonder why we don't receive the blessing. Why are we not
more healthy in our souls? It's because we don't follow
the Word of God. It's because we read it, we don't
take it to heart, we pass it by. And unto him that smiteth
thee on one cheek, offer also the other. And him that taketh
away thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every
man that asketh of thee. and of him that taketh away thy
goods, ask them not again." It's a very clear word, isn't it?
You know, we don't like that, do we? And people will knock
on the door and ask for money. You know, perhaps it's not something
we like to do, and we don't want to do it. And I may have told
you this sort of story before, I'll just tell you again. Somebody
I know, when he was a little boy, I think he was about seven
years old, and he was staying with his aunt, There was a knock
at the door and the aunt opened the door and there was a tramp. And the lady said, get away you
nasty little man, get away, don't want to see you. And she shut
the door and the little boy said, What was that? Who was that?
And she says, oh some dirty horrible man wanting money. So he got
his little purse and he went out and he said to the man, hey
you! And the man said, yes, what do
you want? And the boy said, hold out your
hand. He held out his hand and he got his purse and he emptied
all the money. into that man's hand. The man turned and said, wow,
God bless you, my boy. And he said, and God has blessed
me. Well, there's a good example
to do that which Naturally, of course, we don't do, do we? We
don't do. But here we have this word, and
do not the things which I say. And so we have this word before
us here. Every man that asketh of thee
and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again. And as ye would that men should
do to you, Do ye also to them likewise? And that's a test,
isn't it? For us in our lives. A good test, isn't it? If we
want people to do things for us, do we do things for other
people? This is, let's not forget, these
are the blessed words of the Saviour. And not the words of
just an ordinary person trying to produce a list of things that
we should do. They're the words of God. And
may that have a very gracious effect. You see, how can we expect
the blessing of God when we do not the things that he says? And then the Lord goes on. And he says, for if you love
them which love you, what thank have ye? For sinners also love
those that love them. And if you do good to them which
do good to you, What thank have ye? For sinners also do even
the same. And if ye lend to them whom ye
hope to receive, what thank have ye? For sinners also lend to
sinners to receive as much again. But, again he reiterates, love
your enemies, and do good, and lend hoping for nothing again. We don't walk that way, do we?
If we lend something, we want to have a nice bit of paper written
with everything else, the person who promised to repay us, and
we may put conditions down. That's not the way set before
us here, is it? And then he says, what's the
result? And ye shall be the children of the highest. For he is kind
unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be you therefore merciful. as your father also is merciful. What a line that is, isn't it?
How merciful has God been to you and me? How merciful has
he been? Just ponder, just think. Has
he been merciful? Has he touched your heart? Has
he shown your condition? Has he given you a hope in his
mercy? Oh, what a great God we have. What a merciful God. And now, We are refusing to obey
his word. Well, he says, then judge not,
and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not
be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven
again. Let's not just pass over that. It's so easy to judge. It's so
easy to condemn. And what does the Lord say? Don't
do it. Don't do it. And forgive, and ye shall be
forgiven. Well, I'm sure you and I want
to be forgiven, don't we? And the admonition is, therefore,
that you and I are to forgive. And let us not forget what the
Lord said when he was asked the question, how many times should
I forgive? And the man said, seven times. No doubt he felt he was being
very generous in suggesting it was seven times. The Lord said,
no, 70 times 7. Well, of course, that's 490.
But if you think of it, the reality was he meant a continual forgiving,
a continual forgiving. You may say, why should I do
that? Well, I'll tell you why. Has the Savior forgiven you again
and again, every day? Perhaps many times a day. What
a mercy, what a blessing. Should we not then desire to
emulate the blessed example of our Saviour? Why call you me, Lord, Lord,
and do not the things which I say? Let us not be found hypocrites
then. Let us be really concerned to hear the gracious The words
of God speaking to us. Give and it shall be given unto
you. Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running
over shall men give into your bosom. You see, the Lord holds
everything in his hands and the Lord can give far more than you
and I can ever expect. The Lord loveth a generous giver
The Lord loves those who give freely, and that doesn't just
mean in a monetary way, it means in our time, it means in our
prayers that we concern to do good and to pray for those who
are not in the same situation as we are. And so we are then,
he goes on and tells us, why behold is thou the mote that
is in thy brother's eye, but perceive is not the bean that
is in thine own eye, What does that mean? We ought to examine
ourselves to see whether what we're condemning other people
with, we possess the same. We might try to think, well I'm
pretty good. Ask the Holy Spirit to discern the wretchedness and
the sinfulness of our own hearts and it will put a different complexion
on things and we won't turn then and react as our nature would. You see, the grace of God makes
a difference. And the grace of God makes such
a difference, which is evident in our lives. And I believe that
evidence shines forth so that we show forth the praise of God. in those things which we desire
to do. And he tells us, either how canst
thou say to thy brother, brother let me pull down, pull out the
mote that is in thine own eye, when thou thyself behold is not
the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out
first the beam that is in thine own eye, and then shalt thou
see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.
Well, there we have in this chapter many words of encouragement and
direction and instruction to us. And as we ponder these things,
my friends, let us not just forget them. Let us not ignore them. Let us not consider what our
flesh wants to do. Our flesh walks opposite, you
see, to the way of God. Our flesh is proud. Our flesh
is selfish. Our flesh is self-centered, but
all may we know the blessed grace of God, and that grace of God
is really centered in the love of God. Because when the love
of God touches our heart, when we realize how utterly unworthy
we are of it, to receive it, wretched, hell-deserving, undone
sinners, the Lord hasn't dealt with us as we deserve, because
of His love and mercy. Should it not have a gracious
and wonderful effect upon us? Well, it should. And why call
ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? And then
he comes and tells us, Whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings
and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like. And we have
here the two descriptions. in these last verses. Those who
do the will of God, those who do his bidding, those who do
his commandments. Let us not think that we come
under that category unless the Lord gives us that grace to humble
ourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt us
in due time casting all our care upon Him, believing He cares
for us. Now, if God does indeed care
for us, may we not come casting all our care upon Him? May we
not come to Him seeking for that grace and strength to be found
doing His will? And under, therefore, this reference,
whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings, Well, we've heard,
have we not, some of the sayings of the Lord and there are many
more sayings. And don't go home tonight and say, well, the pastor
never mentioned that, he never said that. Your conscience will
tell you. Your conscience will tell you
whether you are doing the sayings of God or not. And my friends,
may you be condemned before God if you're not. And may you be
encouraged by God to do them. Because there is much blessing
and much comfort to the soul in being obedient. And there's much hardship in
being disobedient. But you see, if we have an answer
with good conscience, oh, it's a great value. And so he says,
I will show you of whom he is like. And then he gives this
very simple but very telling example. He is like a man which
built a house. We understand what that is, don't
we? We know what a house is like. And he digged deep. That means
he didn't come along and just think, well, I'll build on the
ground there. No, he realised he needed to get beyond the topsoil
and get down to something which was solid. And we're told here
that he digged deep. Now, let's understand that to
dig deep is not easy. No, he may have come across obstacles
and difficulties in digging and it wasn't easy. But nonetheless,
he dug down and he dug down and laid the foundation on a rock.
He came down, he got right down through all the soil above it
and got down to a rock. Now then, you might say, well
what's the relevance? The relevance is very important
and very clear. because our religion needs to
be founded not on the surface, but on the rock, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that may need some searching,
that may need some digging, that may need perhaps a lot of prayer
to seek that we may have the evidence that we are, we have
found the rock, we have found the good foundation, and we haven't
stopped until we found it. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. My friends, don't build on anything
other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is a sure foundation. He is a foundation which will
not move when the storms of life come, which they will, which
they will. And he tells us here, and laid
the foundation on a rock. And then when the flood arose,
the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake
it, for it was founded upon a rock. Now we don't want a religion
which is shaken. We don't want a religion which
vanishes away under the test of the devil's assaults and if
you see we are not founded upon the rock we might say if we have
not followed the words of God and that we have not done the
things which he says then surely we are not founded on a rock
because he says he'll tell us he give us the examples and here
we have this tremendous statement then that we are to dig deep
and come down to that good foundation, the rock and the rock Christ
Jesus. And then you see, we can believe
that when we are called to face these difficulties, when people
speak against us, when we have opposition, yes, the Lord will
then strengthen us out of Zion because we're founded upon that
rock. And we will be able then to follow the word of God and
do his will and do his bidding. And therefore when the flood
arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not
shake it, for it was founded upon a rock. And then we have
the other side, and the other side, and how many people there
are today are on the other side. But he that heareth and doeth
not. Have we heard, and have we not
done, my friends? Oh may God give us grace in all
of our lives. There's many things that we fail. But may we seek for grace, wherever
that may be, to hear His gracious words. You know these words are
written in love to our souls. They're written because the Lord
would have us to be followers of Him. He would have us do that
which brings honour and glory to His great and holy name. You
know there's a great lack, isn't there, of spirituality today. A lot of lukewarmness. There's a lot of outward action
which pleases our flesh. But the reality is, very simply,
to be found hearing His gracious words and do that. who is a cometh to me and heareth
my sayings and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like. Now I hope, I hope all of us
really desire to be amongst these people. But the Lord solemnly
gives us the other case. But he that heareth and doeth
not is like a man without a foundation, built in house upon the earth. I'm sure perhaps we've sometimes
seen houses which are just built upon the earth. People haven't
taken the bother to dig down to a good bottom for a good foundation
and they've stopped short and they've taken the easy path and
they've just found it on the earth. Now the true Christian
will not be allowed to stop just found upon the earth. The devil
will say well you needn't do that, you needn't obey the Lord
there, there's no real problem, you can just do what you want
to. Well are we hearing the word of the Lord? What a blessing
if the Lord's given us hearing ears. Be reminded of the words
which the Apostle John heard when he was on the Isle of Patmos,
when the Lord gave him those letters to write to the seven
churches. In every case, these words were included. He that
hath an ear to hear, let him hear. Oh, friends, let us hear
the word of the Lord. Let us not have deaf ears. Let
us not stop our ears so that we don't want to hear the blessed
words of God. Is it better to be found serving
God or serving the devil? Which is best? I'm sure you don't
need great skill to answer that. So here has the word, but he
that heareth and doeth not is like a man that built a house
upon the earth, against which the stream did beat vehemently
and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was
great. Oh, my friends, we don't want
to be there, do we? We don't want to find that when
the time of death comes, when there is that great stream which
beats vehemently, the stream of death, that our religion breaks
up. Our religion was just founded
shallowly upon the earth. There was no founding upon Christ.
There was a pretense, but there was a lack. There was no hearing
the word of the Lord. There was no doing the things
which the Lord said. And it's a very solemn thought
and a very solemn consideration to be found like that. We should
remember that these things, of course, are not just related
to the New Testament. They're also spoken of in the
Old Testament, the prophets of old. And there's a very searching
few verses in Ezekiel. When the Lord came and spoke
these words, and I'll read the last four verses from verse 30
in the 33rd chapter of Ezekiel. also thou son of man the children
of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and
in the doors of the houses and speak one to another everyone
to his brother saying come I pray you hear what is the word that
cometh forth from the Lord and this is what they say and they
come unto thee as the people cometh And they sit before thee
as my people, and they hear the words, but they will not do them. For with their mouth they show
much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And
lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song, a one that hath
a pleasant voice. and can play well on an instrument,
for they hear thy words, but they do them not. And when this
cometh to pass, lo, it will come, then shall they know that a prophet
hath been among them. Well, that's a very solemn and
very direct word, wasn't it, by Ezekiel. Because he lived
in difficult days. My friends, we live in difficult
days today. But oh, how important it is that as you and I tonight
are wonderfully privileged to have the Word of God, to be able
to read the Word of God. And therefore, we will never
be able to come and say, well, of course, I never knew. Of course,
it was never explained to me. Well, the Word of God is true,
and the Word of God is explained to us, and we should be thankful
for it. And very similarly, the Apostle James tells us in his
little epistle, and in the first chapter, he speaks like this,
the 22nd verse, but be doers of the Word and not hearers only,
deceiving your own selves. He describes it. For if any be
a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man,
beholding his natural face in the glass. For he beholdeth himself,
and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man
he was. How many times perhaps have we
heard the word of God? How many times have we read the
word of God? And then we've gone away and
forgotten what was said, forgotten what we've read, because perhaps
we weren't willing to submit ourselves under the mighty hand
of God. You know, it's a wonderful favour
and a wonderful blessing to have the evidence of the work of God
in our hearts, to know really what it is, is this. It's the
love of God in our heart. You see, the love of God constrains
us. It constrains us to do his will. It won't be the stick. It won't
be the whip. It'll be the love of God that
constrains us. And what a mercy it is. The goodness of God leadeth us
to repentance. It's you and I blessed to consider
the goodness of God to our souls. May it lead us to true repentance,
to be truly sorry for our sins, to be truly sorry for the way
we've turned our back upon such a gracious God. My friends, we're
still on praying ground, aren't we? God hasn't cut us off. He hasn't cast us away. And when
we think of that great debt we owe, debt that naturally you
and I would never be able to repay when we think of what the
Saviour did to redeem our souls. He gave his life, he suffered
so greatly and where are we today? Are we doers or are we not? And so may we take to heart these
gracious words of the Saviour. They're written for our instruction
We're written for our benefit. They're not written here to condemn
us. They're written to encourage
us, to strengthen us. And don't forget what we meditated
on on Tuesday when the Apostle Paul said how true it is. And you and I will prove it. I can do all things through Christ
that strengthens me. Don't look to yourself. Look
to Christ. Oh, it's a safe place. It's a
place of comfort. It's a place of blessing. My
friends, the Lord will not fail. He has promised to be with us.
Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings and doeth them, I
will show you to whom he is like. He is like a man which built
a house and dig deep, and laid the foundation on a rock. And
when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house
and could not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock. But
he that heareth and doeth not is like a man that without a
foundation built an house upon the earth, against which the
stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell. And the
ruin of that house was great. Amen.