Turn with me, if you would now,
to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7. We are going to look at the final
words of our Lord's Sermon on the Mount. And what a privilege
it has been to look at our Lord's message. What a privilege. How wonderful it is that the
Spirit of God recorded a message from the Lord Jesus Christ. Chapters
5, 6, and 7. We've been looking at it for
quite a while. And these are the final words of His Sermon
on the Mount. Let's begin reading in verse
24. Matthew 7, verse 24. He said, Whosoever heareth these sayings
of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which
built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and
it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that
heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened
unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand. And
the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and
beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall
of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus
had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at His
doctrine, for He taught them as one having authority, and
not as the scribes." When our Lord preached this message,
the people that heard Him were astonished at His doctrine. They were astonished At his doctrine,
the word doctrine means people talk about doctrine. Well, let's
talk doctrine. The word doctrine means teaching. That's all that it means. It just means what a person teaches. This person could teach this
and that person could teach that. And if they teach two different
things, they have two different doctrines. That's all that it
means. It's just teaching words, whatever
a person's words are. A man could teach his own words saying, well, this is what I
think a man could teach another man's words. This is what he
thinks. or a man could teach God's words. This is what God says. Any of
those would be his doctrine. All right, it's just whatever
a man teaches. Now, if a man is going to teach
God's word, then that man is going to teach with authority. If a man teaches God's words,
Then that man is going to teach with authority. Our Lord Jesus
Christ is God almighty. The eternal, infinite God. The God from eternity past. God. The one that people envision
as the highest being, just God. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
almighty, eternal God. Therefore, every word that came
out of his mouth was the word of God. Every word. And when the people heard the
word of God, they were astonished at that word because it was with
authority. It was with authority. It was
with power. It was with strength. It was
with enforcement, authority, enforcement. Anytime that the
Word of God is preached, and this is so true, and I thank
God for this. Anytime the Word of God is preached,
Truly preached. It is preached with power. It
is preached with strength. And it is preached with enforcement. Anytime it's preached in truth.
And this is what I wanna acknowledge about that. None of that has
anything to do with the man preaching it. We just heard our brother
say this very thing. I wanna repeat what he just said.
This is so, None of that power, strength, or enforcement has
anything to do with the man preaching it. All of that has everything
to do with the Word itself. I'm not doing anything in this. I'm standing up here preaching.
Why are we doing this? We're doing this to worship God.
We're doing this to witness the gospel. We're praying that God
might save souls through the preaching of the gospel, but
I'm not doing anything. This is God, his spirit and his
word. It's his doing. It's his doing
totally. The word itself is the authority. Preaching with authority has
nothing to do with the tone of our voice or our volume. It has nothing to do with the
sternness of our delivery. Nothing, nothing. It has nothing
to do with that. Our authority is not our authority. It's God's authority. It's God's
authority. Now, I want to point out that
in Isaiah 40, the Lord said to the preacher, lift up thy voice
with strength. Lift it up. Be not afraid. Cry
to the cities of Judah. Behold your God. That's authority. He said, say it loud, say it
strong. 1 Peter 4 verse 11 says, if any
man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. You know what
the word oracles means? The very word or utterance of
God. Now that's all said in the scripture,
but turn with me if you would. We're in Matthew. Go back two
books. Just go into the Old Testament
to Zechariah. You have Malachi and then Zechariah
chapter 4. Zechariah chapter 4. And in my Bible above verse six,
the heading at the top of my page says, the success of Zerubbabel's
foundation in the rebuilding of the temple and what was going
on here, his success in it. All right, now, Zechariah four,
verse six, then he answered and spake unto me saying, this is
the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel. This is what God has to say to
him concerning his success in this foundation. He said, it's
not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord
of hosts. He said, your success is not
gonna come by your own might or your own power, It's going
to come by my spirit. It is going to be my doing. And that's how it is in the preaching
of the word of God. I am so thankful for that because
I feel like so many times I fall so flat on my face. I feel like
I'm so weak in, in doing my job. And I'm so thankful that it has
nothing to do with me and it has everything to do with him. The success of the message, the
liberty of the message, the authority of the message, it has nothing
to do with the might of the man preaching it. It has nothing to do with his
power or his own personal ability. The success of the message is
in the Word itself. The liberty, the authority, it's
in the Word itself. And to truly receive ears to
hear the actual word itself, that is an astonishing thing.
If a man or a woman ever really, people hear it, but if God moves,
this is of God, and if God's spirit takes God's word and really
hits a heart with it, If a man or a woman ever really receives
ears to hear God's actual word, it is an astonishing thing. It
is an astonishing thing because God's word is powerful. It is living. It comes alive. It is dogmatic. God's word is
dogmatic. It is direct. You know that God's
Word is direct. It doesn't pull any punches.
It doesn't beat around the bush. It is matter of fact. The truth of God's Word declares
the authority of God, the authority of God alone. And when we repeat
God's Word to people, And declare God's word to people. We are
declaring the authority of God alone. That's what we're doing.
We are declaring, this is how God said it's going to be. Therefore,
this is how it's going to be. The authority is in his word. And this is what his word has
to say to us this morning. All right. Go with me. If you
would back to Matthew seven. Matthew 7 verse 24. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a
wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that
house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a
foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. And the
rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat
upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it. He set forth two men with two
different houses on two different foundations. And he said, one
is going to stand and one is going to fall. And he said it has everything
to do with this right here, the rock. It's all based on the rock. When the rain and the flood and
the howling winds of God's judgment come beating down on a man and
his house, everything that he has and everything that he is
before God, when that judgment comes down, the house that is
built on the rock will stand And the man and his house that
is built on anything else other than the rock is going to fall,
and great will be the fall of it. It will be a fall unto eternal
condemnation, eternal destruction. Now, that's a declaration with
authority. That is. That is a declaration
with enforcement. He said, this is how it's going
to be. It's a declaration with certainty. There is only one way to survive
the flood of God's judgment. You must be standing on the rock. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
that rock. Now let me, I have all these
notes here and I'm trying to declare them. Let me just break
for one minute and tell you that what I have to say is so important. And I'm going to explain to you
why, but this is so important. May the Lord really help us to
get ahold of this. May he really help us to get
ahold of this. What our Lord has declared to them and to us
here is you only have one hope. On Christ the solid rock, you
must stand. All other ground is sinking sand. Now this is why I broke for a
minute. That makes sense, doesn't it? That just makes sense. He is speaking of spiritual matters. All right, he's talking about
spiritual things, but that makes good sense even for physical
matters. If you build a house on the sand,
directly on the sand, it's not gonna stay there. It's just not gonna stay there. There's a beach that our family
enjoys going to very much. And we like to take walks down
the beach. And a good ways down from where
we stay, There is a section of beach that is washing away. And we have seen it now a few
years in a row. We go back each year and it is
washing away. And all the houses right there
are in danger. Especially the one on the very
end. Row two is about to become row
one. The ocean is now coming up under
this one specifically house. They have these massive, I mean,
massive sandbags piled up all around these houses. But the
water is coming up and under the house. They have them up
on piers, but it's washing out. It's just a matter of time. It
is literally just a matter of time. I don't know what the owners
of that house paid for the house, but I guarantee you it wasn't
cheap. I guarantee you it wasn't. They're
about to end up with nothing. Nothing. They're about to have
nothing. All the money they put into it,
all the work they put into it, they can't even sell it because
it's about to be gone. It's not even going to be real
estate anymore. Nobody wants it. Nobody wants
it. You can invest in a fixer-upper, but it's about to be gone. It is a condemned place. It is of no value. It turned
out to be emptiness. It's about to be totally gone. Don't you know that those owners
wish that they had built that house on a rock? Don't you know
that? When it was first built, They
wanted the sand. I get it. When it was first built,
they were so happy it was built on the sand. But now here in the end, all
their hopes, all their dreams, all their investment, all their
reward, it's all coming down and great will be the fall of
it. Now, their physical case is going
to be the spiritual case for many, many people. And I hope the Lord will open
this up to us. I believe no one wants to end up in that position.
I believe, no one wants to end up in that position. I believe
there is not hardly anyone, I mean not hardly anybody who would
disagree with the fact that our spiritual house, spiritual, we're
talking about spiritual things, I don't believe you would find
anybody who would disagree with the fact that our spiritual house
needs to be built on the rock. I don't believe you'd find anybody.
I believe in hearing this, most everybody is going to say, those
are my two options? Yes, I want my house to be built
on the rock. I believe you can go into any
church in town, anywhere, and put that forth to them and everybody
would say, I want my house to be built on the rock. I believe. Most everybody knows,
and I mean everybody. Those who are God's people, those
who are not God's people, but still claim Christianity. Those who worship God in truth
and those who are lost in false religion. I believe most everybody
knows that Jesus Christ is the rock. Those who are God's people,
those who are not God's people, those who worship Him in truth,
those who are lost in false religion, I believe almost everybody knows
that Jesus is a rock in a weary land. And I believe most everybody
would say that they want their house to be built on Jesus Christ
the rock. Everybody. I believe that's common
knowledge. I believe that's a common opinion.
And I don't believe you'd struggle to convince anybody of that from
this scripture. But even so, many, many houses are still gonna
fall. Many, many houses are still going
to fall. Our question this morning for
this message right now, What I want us to know and get to
the answer to right now is, why is that? If people know that Jesus Christ
is the rock, and if people want their house
to be built on the rock, why would their house still fall?
Why would verses 21 to 23 happen to anybody? Verse 21 says, not
everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name
have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful
works? In thy name, in thy name. And then while I profess unto
them, I never knew you depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
That's a fallen house. Lord, Jesus Christ. That's a fallen house. Verse 24, therefore. Whosoever heareth these sayings
of mine, and doeth them, I liken him to a wise man, which built
his house on a rock, and the rain descended, the floods came,
the winds blew, beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it
was founded on a rock. And everyone that heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a
foolish man, which built his house on the sand, and the rain
descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat upon that
house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. Now don't
turn, but in Mark 16, the Lord said to his disciples, these signs shall follow them
that believe in my name. They shall cast out devils. They
shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents.
And if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.
They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. Many
will say to him in that day, Lord, we did that. Why has our house still fallen? Here's the reason why. All right,
here's the reason why. I pray God will reveal this to
all of us, me included. Here's the reason why. It is
one thing to know who the rock is and to know that a house must
be built on the rock. but it is another thing altogether
to actually build that house on the rock. It's one thing to
know who the rock is and to know that my house must be built on
that rock, but it's another thing altogether to actually build
the house on the rock. Some are gonna come before the
judgment throne of God knowing that their house should have
been built on the rock. Some are gonna come before the
judgment throne of God with a house that has been built on the rock. What makes the difference is who built the house. It's all gonna come down to who
built the house. Turn with me if you would to
Psalm 127. I want us to see this and believe
this on the authority of God's own Word. Psalm 127 verse 1 says, Except the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city,
the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up
early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so
he giveth his beloved sleep. Now here's what it's all gonna
come down to. Who builds the house, man or God? Is it built by man's works or God's
grace? That's what we've been looking
at in the whole of chapter seven. The answer to that is this, except
the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
If the house is built with I did this, I did this, and I did this,
that house is not gonna stand. But if the house is built with
Christ did this, Christ did this, and Christ did this, Christ did
it all. Christ started the house. Christ
finished the house. Christ did it all. If the Lord
builds the house, it'll stand forever. It will stand forever. Look at Psalm 122, verse one. It says, I was glad when they
said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Let's
go into the house that the Lord built. Do you know the Lord builds
this house? The Lord adds to the church daily
such as should be saved. These lively stones that our
brother just read about, built on Christ. Let's go to the house
the Lord built. Where men and women go wrong
is they see the demands of God in His Word of authority and
they think, I have to do this. I want my house to be built on
the rock. If I'm going to be accepted into
that eternal home, then I'm going to have to do this. In the process,
men and women deny and reject the one who is not just the chief
cornerstone, but the builder and maker, the builder and the
maker. How fitting is it that for all
of our Lord's adult life, He walked this earth as a carpenter,
of all the vocations. He's the builder. He's the builder. You talk about a wise master
builder and man is going to reject him in order to build his own
house. That's what men and women do. They see that and they think,
buddy, I better go to work because I want my house to be built on
a rock. When men and women do that, they're building on the
sand. They're putting their trust in their works. They're putting
their trust in what they do and they're building on the sand,
not even knowing it. I'm going to be very brief here,
but go with me to Romans 10. Romans 10 verse 1 says, Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. who is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse four says, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. That means Christ is the doer
and the fulfiller of everything that God requires of his people. There is no need in us trying
to do for ourselves what he has already done for us. Isaiah 64 says, all of our righteousnesses
are filthy rags. What that means is everything
we try to do, every goodness that we try to build up on our
own will be built on the sand. If we do it, it'll be built on
the sand. That's all that man can do, be in dust and ashes
himself. All he can do is build sandcastles
on the sand. That's all he can do. But if
Christ does it, if he's not only the foundation of the house,
but also the builder of the house, and the house itself. If we live and move and have
our being in Him, if He is our house, we're not going anywhere. The foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His." To all of those people, all of
God's people, He's left us this word right here of eternal comfort. All right? If we belong to Him,
and if He's our house, if He's the builder, the maker, the foundation,
the house itself, then He's left us this word of comfort. Go with
me, if you would, to John 14. We'll close with this. John 14, verse 1, he said, Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. He said, I'm going to build a
house for you. What kind of house is he talking
about? I don't know. I don't know, but if he said
he was going to build a house, then he went to build a house.
Spiritual, physical, I don't know. But he said, I'm gonna go do
it. And if he said, I'm gonna go do it, that's what he did.
I'm going to prepare a place for you. Verse three, he said,
and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be
also. Every soul that says that's my
house. He is my house. He's the builder
of my house. He's the foundation of my house.
He's the comfort of my house. He's the beauty of my house. It's all Him. Any soul who cries,
it's all Him. That soul is not going anywhere because the house of that soul
is built on the rock by the rock. and that house will stand forever.
Lord, prepare a place for us. Isn't that our cry? Please, please,
while on others thou art preparing a place for, while for others
thou art building a house for, please build a house for me in
you. You're my house. We are your
lively stones. Build us up on Christ the chief
cornerstone as you see fit. Lord, you build the house. It'll
be built. Amen. All right, Brother Eddie,
you come.