The title of the message is,
Our Rock, Christ Jesus. And I took that title from the
concluding remarks that the Lord made here in the Sermon on the
Mount when he talks about ones who build their house on the
rock, and that rock is Christ Jesus, and those who build their
house on the sand. And that's any other way of salvation,
especially the way of works-oriented conditional salvation. And so,
but I want us to go back up to verse 21. After the Lord spoke
of false preachers, beware of false prophets, those who come
to you in sheep's clothing. After he'd spoken of the good
tree and the evil tree, the good tree and the corrupt tree, the
good tree is Christ. And as Christ is presented in
the gospel, According to the word of God the true Christ in
the glory of his person as God manifest in the flesh and in
the power of his finished work, which means that by his obedience
unto death as our surety our substitute our Redeemer He has
saved his people from their sins not one will perish because of
the blood of Christ the righteousness that he worked out the righteousness
of God and enables God to be just and justifier. And that's
the good tree. And it will not produce evil
fruit. In other words, the gospel, Christ,
who is the savior, who has all the power, he doesn't produce
evil fruit. Now that's what people talk about,
you'll know them by their fruits, and then they talk about a preacher's
character and conduct. Well, as I said last week, all
true preachers should be diligent and proactive to manifest good
character and conduct. But that's not the fruits by
which you'll know them. If that's the fruits by which
you'll know them, you're gonna have to measure righteousness and
holiness on a sliding scale. And we're not allowed to do that.
We measure righteousness and holiness by Christ. And none
of us fit that bill in ourselves. But we do legally by God imputing
his righteousness to us. and we stand justified, forgiven
of all of our sins. But the good tree is Christ,
as he's presented in the gospel, and there'll be no corrupt, evil
fruit produced out of him. But now the corrupt tree is a
false Christ, presented in a false gospel, and he can produce no
good fruit. The only thing that can come
from hearing a false gospel is evil fruit. That means an unregenerate,
unbelieving person. So mark that down. God doesn't
save us in the sense of the new birth and regeneration by sitting
under a false message. The Holy Spirit is the sovereign
agent in the new birth and he is the spirit of truth. And the
gospel is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that
believe it. Well, now he shows us an example of the evil fruit.
Look at verse 21. He says, not everyone that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, all
this is simply saying is this, lip service alone won't get it.
A false profession, no matter what you call it. And I told
you last week, I have never seen a preacher, any preacher, false,
true, or otherwise, who stood in a pulpit and said, I believe
salvation by works. They all say grace. False preachers,
this is the wolves in sheep's clothing. They preach salvation
conditioned on themselves. And they measure righteousness
on that sliding scale. And they call it grace. But it's
grace, their version of grace is salvation conditioned on sinners
in some way, to some degree, at some stage. There are those
who say, well, you start out, you're saved by grace, but then
you keep it by works, or you'll lose it. That's a corrupt tree. That's one who says, Lord, Lord,
but it's only in lip service. And these are saying, Lord, Lord.
Now, I've heard preachers go to this, and look here, he says,
not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the
kingdom of heaven, So he's talking about lost, false preachers. But he that doeth the will of
my Father which is in heaven. Now what is it to do the will
of the Father which is in heaven? Well, it's to believe on the
Son whom he sent. Not just with lip service now,
but as the Holy Spirit brings us to faith in Christ, the true
Christ of this Bible, And He brings us to believe in Him and
rest in Him and to trust Him and to follow Him, proclaiming
the glory of God in Christ that all of my salvation, every benefit
of it, every blessing of it is wrapped up in this one person
and it's not on me. That's what it is to do the will
of the Father. Eternal life is in the Son. You believe that? And eternal life means everything
that salvation is. Though any blessing, I need to
emphasize this, any blessing or benefit of salvation that
I have, I cannot say that I earned that or I worked for it or deserved
it. All spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ reward My reward is Christ. When I get to heaven,
God's not going to give me a bigger mansion because I stood up here
and preached and give you a smaller house because you sat there and
listened. That's a corrupt tree. That's a denial of Christ. He
that spared not his own son, how shall he not with him freely,
unconditionally give us all things? You understand that? So, that's
what it is to do the will of the Father. Now what he's talking
about, he's not talking about God's sovereign will here that
cannot be broken. He's talking about God's revealed
will by way of commandment, which is to believe the gospel, believe
in Christ, which sinners break all the time. If you walk, listen,
if you walk out of here in unbelief of the gospel, then you're breaking
the will of God by way of commandment. But we know that all of that's
covered by the sovereign will of God, the purpose of God, that
can never be broken. So we need to make that distinction.
The gospel is a command. It's not a suggestion. It's a
command. It's not even an invitation.
Even though Christ says, come unto me, all ye that labor and
are heavy laden. That's a command. And don't disregard
his command. Now again, make that distinction
between the revealed will of God by way of commandment and
the sovereign will of God. And the will of God here by way
of commandment is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Rest
in Him. Find your hope and your salvation. Find your righteousness in Him
and nowhere else. And don't look within for it.
The only time that we're commanded to look within is to make sure
that we're resting in Christ. That's what I want to know. That's
what it means to examine yourself, whether you be in the faith.
It's not for me to examine myself to see if I've had a good week
or if I've come up to snuff today. It's to examine myself. Am I
really trusting Christ for salvation? That's what I want to know. And
the Christ I'm trusting, is he the true Christ of the Bible?
That's what I want to know. Well, read the Bible. I heard I was walking somewhere.
I can't even remember where I was walking. I wasn't at the gym,
because there's people around talking. I think it was in a
store, probably Publix. I go there about three times
a day. But I was walking in Publix, and I heard some ladies talking
about a Bible study. And one of them said, I just
want to study the word of God. Now, I didn't do this, but I
thought in my mind, I said, I wanted to turn around and say, well,
study Romans 8, 9, 10, and 11. Study that part, because most
people don't, because that doesn't fit with their model of doctrine,
you see. And I remember Randy, I don't
know if you were there at that time, Mark, talking about over
at First Baptist when the preacher was going through the book, and
Robert, you were there, going through the book of Romans. And
when he came to Romans chapter eight or nine or somewhere there,
he stopped. He said, well now we're not gonna
go any further here because I just don't understand this part. The
problem is not that he doesn't understand it. The problem is
he don't want it. He doesn't believe it. So that
part of the word of God, we're not gonna study that. And yet
it's some of the most beautiful passages of scripture that gives
God's people assurance and comfort and peace, knowing that our God
is in control. Isn't that something? Well, that's
what it is to do the will of the Father in heaven, to believe
on the Son. This is the work of the Father,
that you believe on the Son. Life is in His Son. When I look
at verse 22, now, he says, many will say to me in that day, and
that day is the judgment day now. That's what he's talking
about. Now, understand what is the measure,
the standard, the yardstick, as it were, at the judgment. How are we going to be measured?
And you know, I'm pretty sure I've got it, yeah, I've got it
down here cited in your lesson. That Acts 1731. And you know
what it says there right before that in Acts 1730, it says, God
has commanded all men everywhere to repent. Now think about in
your mind, which is the only place you can do anything in
actually. But think about it. When you think about yourself
standing before God at the judgment, and God is going to measure you
by a standard, what is that standard in your mind? Okay? Now, the
standard is Christ. You know that. But if it's anything
other than Christ, what does God say in Acts 1730? He's commanded
all men everywhere to repent. You need to repent of that. If
you think it's anything other than Christ, okay? And he says in verse 31, he says
that God hath appointed a day, because God hath appointed a
day, the judgment day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained, he hath appointed, in that he
hath given assurance unto all men. in that he hath raised him
from the dead. There's the standard. The righteousness
of Christ is the standard. Now, look at what these fellows
who said, Lord, Lord, what they plead at the judgment. And ask
yourself, now does this measure up to the standard of the perfection
of righteousness that can only be found in Christ? And look
what it says. They say, have we not prophesied
in thy name? Haven't we preached in your name? I'm preaching in his name right
now, aren't I? If I'm preaching the gospel,
preaching the word of God. But I have to ask myself, does
what I'm doing now, preaching, does it measure up to the perfection
of righteousness that can only be found in Christ? And the answer's
no. Nothing I do. can attain to that
standard. That's why the doctrine of imputation
is so glorious, the heart of the gospel. I'm justified. I'm forgiven. I am righteous
in God's sight, but not because I preach. It's because Christ
died for my sins. He accomplished, he finished
it. He made an end of sin, finished the transgression, brought in
everlasting righteousness, and how's that applied to me? God
looked upon me. Well, okay, quote scripture.
Romans 8, what is it, 33 or four? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ. God imputed it to
me. My sins were imputed to Christ,
his righteousness to me. Now I have life from the dead,
he gives me life within. That's the new birth. But that draws me out to Christ,
to look to him and plead his righteousness. Well, they say,
and in thy name cast out devils. He says, they say, and in thy
name done many wonderful works. Now there's nothing sinful. in
these things. Nothing sinful about preaching
in his name. If you have the power to cast
out demons, nothing sinful about that. Do many wonderful work,
nothing sinful about that. But when you plead them as your
ground and measure of salvation, then they are relegated to what
the Bible calls evil deeds. Dead works, fruit unto death. because they do not measure up
to the perfection of righteousness that can only be found in Christ.
And that's their problem here. I've heard preachers go to this
pastor and say, well, these guys, they weren't sincere. Oh, okay. All right. Am I sincere? I hope I am. I'm trying to be as sincere as
I can be. But let me ask you this question. How sincere do
you have to be to pass the test of judgment? How sincere do you have to be?
Well, it has to equal the perfection that can only be found in Christ.
I'm honest with you. I'm trying to be as sincere as
I can be, but my sincerity doesn't equal the perfection of righteousness.
I'm not going to plead my sincerity. I'm going to sincerely plead
Christ. How about that? You see what
I'm saying? That's the issue here, how do
you know that? Well look at what he said before it and look at
what he says after it. But let's go on, verse 23. He says, and
then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Now you know,
the Lord God is omniscient. He knows everything, he knows
everybody. He knew them, he knew who these
guys were. He knew their names. He knew
their hearts. But the knowledge that he's speaking
of here is the knowledge that he has with his people in an
intimate, saving, gracious, loving relationship. It's the same as
God saying, Christ saying, I didn't choose you. It's the same as his saying,
I didn't love you. It's the same as his saying,
I didn't intend to save you. I never knew you. The Bible says
he knows his children. He knows them with an everlasting
love, with an electing love. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. And somebody says, well how can
I know if God loves me? Well I ask them the question,
are you interested in finding out from this book who God is? Who you are, who I am? who Christ
is, God's way of salvation, are you really interested in that?
Search it out, seek the Lord. And if you're really interested,
and you really seek him, I guarantee you, you'll find him. Because
he's already found you. Now you won't seek him otherwise.
You'll settle for something less. You'll be like that preacher,
we're gonna stop here, I can't understand what's on the rest
of this. You stop short, see. But here's what I want to know.
I want to know who God is. Because they're coming today,
sooner than it used to be, that I'm coming to stand before him. I'm going to stand before him. I want to know who he is. I want
to know who Christ is. Don't you? I don't want to settle
for anything less. I don't want to lay on my deathbed
in agony, not knowing where I'm going and what it's going to
be like. And he said, I never knew you. Could you imagine any
words that are more horrible than that? A person going to God, thinking
in his mind or her mind that I'm going to enter glory, only
to hear the Savior say, depart from me. I never knew you, depart
from me. And look out, what else he says,
you that work iniquity. You know, there are many words
in the scripture for sin. Because sin is such a universal
problem and a multi-faceted problem. The word iniquity, really, it
sort of means inequity. Now a lot of guys, they say,
well, they say it's lawbreakers. Well, it is. If you're seeking
salvation by your works, you're breaking the law. If you seek it in Christ, you
keep the law, not because your works, but because Christ kept
it for us. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believe it. But he calls
them iniquity, it's inequity. It doesn't measure up, it doesn't
equal out. It's like old Belshazzar back
in the book of Daniel. You're weighed in the balance
and found lacking. But if we stand before God, washed
in the blood of Christ, clothed in his righteousness, then it
equals out. You see that? Well now here he
goes into verse 24. He says, 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. We're
all building a house. Now building the house is not
salvation by works. Let me read this first before
I go on. He says, verse 25, the rain descended, the floods came,
the winds blew, beat upon that house and it fell not for it
was founded upon a rock. And then verse 26, 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. The rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew,
and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall
of it. We're all building a house. Building the house doesn't mean
we're trying to be saved by our works, by our own strength. And
we know that if we're building the house upon the rock Christ
Jesus. Because we know that without
building upon the rock Christ Jesus, whatever house we're trying
to build, it's gonna fall. But if it's built on that rock,
build it on the rock. That's why my favorite hymn is
The Solid Rock. One preacher said this, he said,
the Christian life is like walking a tightrope. And you're holding
that pole to balance you. And he said, on one end of the
pole is the imputed righteousness of Christ. On the other end of
the pole is our works, our righteousness. My friend, that is, that's evil.
That's wicked. The Christian life is not walking
a tightrope. The Christian life is standing
on the rock. Christ Jesus. He's my foundation. He's my chief cornerstone. Everything
I do and think is measured by him. And that's why I know that
I'm only a sinner saved by grace. That's my story. But those who
build their house on the sand are those who are building a
house of works, salvation. And they're foolish. And here's
the thing, the only reason that we who build on the rock are
wise is because God has made us wise unto salvation. He's
given that to us. And so we know it. Those who
build on the rock cannot be lost. Well, he concludes it, it's verse
28. It came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings, the
people were astonished at his doctrine. Notice that. They weren't
astonished at his appearance. They weren't astonished at his
delivery. His doctrine, his preaching,
his truth. And it says, verse 29, for he
taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. The scribes
and the Pharisees, They were known for raising questions about
the law that people could debate. That's what they did. Your opinion,
my opinion. You ever sat in a Sunday school
class in a false church and they said, well, what do you think
about that verse? Or what do you think about it? Well, who
cares what you think about it? What does the verse say? See, he didn't preach that way.
His preaching was the clear preaching of the truth. And it had the
authority behind it of God Almighty, because He is God, manifest in
the flesh. The rock Christ Jesus, He is
our hope. Okay.