Good morning, good to see everyone.
If you would be turning in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7,
Matthew 7. If the Lord's willing, this will
be the concluding message to the series that I've been bringing
on the Sermon on the Mount. Excuse me, that sermon that our
Lord delivered and is recorded here in Matthew chapters 5, 6
and 7. So our text for today will be
the final verses, verses 24 through 29. And the title of my message is
Christ the solid rock, and I think it'll be self-evident why I chose
that title as we look at the scripture here. So follow with
me beginning in verse 24 where Christ continues and says, therefore,
in light of things said previously, whosoever heareth these things,
these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him into 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
hears these things 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 things, the people were astonished at his doctrine,
for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. Our passage today begins with
an all important word in verse 24, therefore, Christ is saying in light of
what I've said and he sets up really a summary here in these
final verses of all that he has said before he's saying this
is an important thing that we're considering now. In light of
all that I've told you and he he distinguishes between the
one whose house shall stand and this is a picture of the judgment
and the one whose house shall not stand and he makes that distinction
by referring to what they not only hear But that they do these
things these things that he said previously. So first let's we
need to consider we cannot consider those verses apart from considering
what he has said. First of all in the entire sermon
on the Mount beginning back in Chapter 5 continuing all the
way up to here in Chapter 7. And this is what our Lord has
been saying. He said. He said, think not that
I come to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn't come to
destroy, but to fulfill, as we heard this morning in the 10
o'clock hour. That refers to the very righteousness of God
in Christ. He's referring, Christ said,
he said, that's what I came to do. He said, you'll recall that
except your righteousness, if you imagine that salvation is
conditioned on something that you do, something that proceeds
from you. If you imagine that you can gain
in heaven's glory itself enter into heaven based upon anything
that you produce. He says here's how far it must
go. It must exceed that of the very best of the best. The scribes
and the Pharisees. He said except it exceed that
you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. And he
proceeded to tell him the extent of the law. You'll recall he
went on and he said you've heard it said by them of old to love
your neighbor but hate your enemies he said but I say unto you love
your enemies do good to them that hate you and persecute you
and spitefully use you. You see he told him he set forth
the total impossibility of any gaining entrance into heaven
itself of communing with a holy God based upon anything other
than this perfect righteousness concluding chapter five with
this. If you want to know how far it must exceed the righteousness
of the Scribes and Pharisees, he said, Be ye therefore perfect. Even as your father, which is
in heaven, is perfect. You see, the theme, as we've
taught in all of the preceding messages of the entire Sermon
on the Mount, is the gospel of the kingdom, the good news of
how God saves sinners conditioned solely upon the Lord Jesus Christ. His person and work that which
he alone came to fulfill. It's the gospel of the kingdom,
this kingdom, and it does speak of Christ throughout sets forth
this dichotomy. He talks of two ways. You'll
recall he talked of a broad way and he said many be that go in
there at two ways that men approach who desire to enter heaven's
glory and then a straight gate and a narrow way. And he speaks
of two ends, that broad way that leads to destruction. and the
narrow way that leads to eternal life. That's what our Lord has
set forth. And here in these concluding
verses, he's saying now this is serious business because I'm
telling you better heed what I say, because one of them is
a sure foundation and any other way is not. It shall not stand.
He's speaking of the gospel of the kingdom, if you recall. So
he is talking about entrance into heaven's glory, the kingdom
of heaven itself. But he's also talking about the
economy of grace. In other words, the reign, the
rule, the dominion of this kingdom. He's saying, you see, this is
God's way of salvation. And he speaks of this as Romans
521. We've covered again and again.
If you look at the front of your bullet in that verse there, just
as sin reigns unto death, sin demands death in God's judicial
by God's judicial decree because of who God is holy. He says,
but as sin reigned unto death, even so, grace reigns How through
righteousness unto what eternal life whose whose righteousness
by Jesus Christ our Lord. And that's what Christ has been
saying. That's what I came to do. You
see, don't dare approach this this throne of judgment with
the idea that you can produce that something that's done by
you in you or through you plays any part whatsoever. Now, This
is the message of the Sermon on the Mount. It took me about
20 messages to get through this sermon, but that's kind of it
in a nutshell. I figured I better not do much
more of a summary or we could be here till tonight or next
week. But in any event, that's what's
being said. He says, therefore, in light
of that, and then if you'll consider it in the immediate context and
look back at the verses in the preceding message, verses 21
through 23, We see specifically that Christ is dealing with the
final judgment. And he says there in verse 21,
he says, Not everyone that sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my
father, which is in heaven. And he says, Many will say to
me in that day, Lord, Lord. Now, you see, there's a there's
a there's a hope, a heightened awareness now, because What he's
told us and he's actually started telling us that even earlier
in the sermon when he said beware of false prophets that come to
you in sheep's clothing. But now he's talking about those
who call themselves Christian and he's saying many just as
he said that many go down the Broadway but few enter in at
the straight gate. So that should alert our senses. It should tell us that things
are not as they seem. OK, and we better figure out
because he's about to talk about the judgment. And there's a heaven
and there's a hell and there's an eternity to spend. And we're
all going to spend millions of years either banished from the
presence of God in misery or in eternal bliss in the very
presence of our Lord. And that's what he said before
he says they say many will say, Lord, Lord, that means they they
are what we call today. They call themselves Christians.
They're saying Jesus, Jesus. They're preaching here in the
name of Christ. Look what he says. Have we not prophesied
in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name
done many wonderful works. These men are going to the judgment
and they're pleading things that only God could have enabled them
to do. They were performing miracles. He had given them the power to
cast out demons. And verse 23, Christ says, I'll
profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that
work iniquity. He called what they were pleading,
the very things he had enabled them to do, he called it sin.
Why? They dared to approach the judgment,
see here, and here's what their foundation was. This is what
their house was built upon, see. They came to the judgment and
they said, Lord, look at all the things you've enabled me
to do. You see, that ought to put us
on guard. What our Lord is taught here in the Sermon on the Mount
is that most most that come in the name of Christ in churches
all over this town, all over this state, all over this so-called
Christian nation today, they're using the name of Christ. Remember
when we were studying where it said beware of false prophets,
how we look back in the Old Testament and we saw the characterization
there of the false prophets of old and the Lord speaking through
God, speaking through The prophet said that his anger was kindled,
he said, because they steal my words. They use this book, this
same book. They use these same scriptures
and they set forth sincerely the very name of Jesus. So what
is what what does that tell us? Well, as using the analogy of
the houses that we're going to look at here in a moment, we
better dig on down to the foundation. You see, we better find out if
our hope is a good one. Because many who believe they're
trusting in Jesus say. He's got he says of them that
many of them he's going to say depart from me what you were
trusting in was really seeing you that work iniquity. So we
have a very serious problem here. What we have set forth if you
think about it in the analogy of the house we see really distinctions
made in two ways. First of all he describes all
of us is being in one of two categories. We're as verse 24
says, we're among those who hear these things of mine of mine
and do with them. Or we're like the one he said
in verse 26, we hear these things of his and do with them not.
OK, so he's likening these two categories of people. To one
who builds a house. And as such, I believe that what
he's portraying here is is something having to do with that foundation,
because that's really the only thing that's made mention of
here isn't about that house is that foundation. In other words,
we're building a house. We all have a hope. We're all
trusting in something. OK, if you'll think about it,
men who believe that there is a heaven and a hell, they believe
this were to be true, as most who call themselves Christian
do. How do they lay their head on the pillow at night if, in
fact, they imagined that this God would banish them from his
presence forever and ever and ever? Millions of years, millions
and millions of years on end in eternal misery. Now, could you lay your head
down at night if you really thought about that? For that reason,
I believe that even indifferent men Men who show very little
interest in religion, I believe they've kind of made their peace
with God. They must rationalize that in
the end, surely I'm not going to perish. You say that now they
may choose not to think about it a whole lot because they're
not quite sure about all that, but they can sleep at night.
You say they're building a house. They're able to function. They're
going on about. And certainly religious men and
women, they build a house, too. They have a hope. They think
they're OK, and so they can rest at night as well. But our Lord
says here that the distinction between the two folks he's likening
to the wise and the foolish man, the one who shall stand at the
judgment and the one whose house shall not stand, who shall shall
be banished from his very presence. The distinction is here. The
one they both hear these things, right? And we know that hearing
is absolutely necessary. That's the only ones the Lord's
addressing here. He said in verse 24, he said, those who hear these
things of mine. And then when he spoke of the
foolish man, he started out the same way. Verse 26. And we know
hearing is necessary. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. But here the distinction is what
is what? Doing these things. Now, I'm
not going to spend a whole lot of time because In the preceding
message, I spent a lot of time on this issue of doing the will
of the father, as it's put in verse twenty one. And as it's
put another way in our text today, that is doing these things of
mine. But I'll refer you to John chapter
six, verse twenty nine. You may want to write that verse
in the in the margin of your Bible by there, because I think
it's a great commentary that explains this there. I tell you
what, just turn with me real quick to John six, twenty nine.
We will look at it. In verse 28, it says, then said
they unto him, that is, they said it unto Christ, what shall
we do that we might work the works of God? Now, that's the
question that's natural to all of us when we first get any interest
in religion. What do I have to do? And they
say, what do we have to do to do the works of God? And Christ
answered them in verse 29 and said unto them, this is the work
of God. This isn't this isn't your work.
This is the work of God. But it is manifest seeing you.
And it goes like this, that you believe on him whom he hath sent. Now, it's not we know that he
can't mean they're just believe on Christ, on Jesus, as he's
absolutely considered, because we just got through reading in
Matthew 7, verses 21 through 23, that those people believed
in Jesus. While they went out, they were busy preaching in his
name, casting out devils in his name. No, it's Jesus, as he says,
on him whom God the Father hath sent, as he was sent to do, what
he was sent to do. And that's what he's been telling
us on the Sermon on the Mount, isn't it? He's been saying, I
was sent, this is what I came to do. Even the least of these
commandments, he said there. He told him to pray after that
manner. You remember in chapter six, he said, pray this way.
Thy kingdom come, usher the kingdom in. This reign of grace, grace
reigning through righteousness. Go and establish this righteousness. Thy will be done in the earth.
That's what it was talking about. And so that's what it is to do
the will of the Father. That's what it is to do these
things. That's what it means there in
in the in the last verses of Matthew 7 when he says. Jesus, when he had ended the
sayings, these things he had been talking about that they
were astonished at what is doctrine, the body of faith. You see, it's
to believe the very gospel that Christ has set forth. So that's
that's the distinction between the two builders. That's the
evidence of one whose house shall stand. And the one who doeth
not, who doesn't heed Christ's words here, who doesn't believe
that this righteousness is the only way of salvation, he says
they doeth not these things. He says their house shall fall.
That's the only distinction we see in the ones he's likening
to the analogy. And then in the house, what do
we see? We have two houses here. Do you notice anything about
the house? What do you notice that one of
the houses is a whole lot cleaner than the other, or it's much
better furnished than the other one? There's no mention made
of the houses. One's not better maintained than
the other one. You see, when it comes to this
issue of where are you going to spend an eternity, heaven
or hell, there's only one thing that matters, and that is what
you hope based on. Dig down now. Let's find out
this morning. Ask yourself, you know, when
it gets right down to it, what am I trusting? What is going
to be my plea when I when I get to to that judgment seat? You
see, many of you were like me and most of so-called Christianity
believes, as I did once that Jesus Christ came and died for
all men without exception. In other words, he did the same
thing for those who end up in heaven as he did for those who
end up in hell. And if some wise man had approached
me at that time, he might say, well, Randy, then that's not
your foundation. That's not the rock that you're
not basing it on Christ, this solid rock. They have to say,
I'd say, oh, yeah, no, no, no, no. I believe in Jesus. And they say, well, what makes
the difference? And I would have said, well,
my faith, you got to believe. And they say, well, but doesn't
That means that you're believing that salvation is about something
that comes from you, from your works. And I would have said,
oh, oh, no, no, no. See, I'd memorized Ephesians
2, 8, 9, and I would have said, faith is the gift of God, as
we heard back during the 10 o'clock hour this morning. That would
have been, I'd say, oh, no, it's a gift. Think back with me. Now,
what did the preachers here say in Matthew 7? That's the same
thing they were doing. They were saying, it was something
God enabled me to do. I'm here at the judgment. And
listen here, I imagined that God had given me faith because
true, genuine, God-given faith looks to Christ. It doesn't look
to itself. OK, but those men, they didn't imagine that they
could cast out demons, that they had been given these miraculous
powers. They were actually playing things God had actually done
in them. Can you imagine that? And he
says, no, that won't stand either. The only thing that's going to
stand is if he hopes built on this one rock. Well, we see that
he says a wise, he likens him to a wise man, the one who builds
his house on the rock, and he likened the other to a foolish
man. You know, the scripture says, tells us that he makes
the wise foolish and the foolish wise. This is speaking of the
wisdom of God. This isn't our intellectual capacity
here. It has nothing to do with our
IQ. This is God making one wise unto salvation. And he says,
then he tells them, he says, but there's a storm coming. Now,
be turning with me to Isaiah 28 and while you're out, I want
to continue talking here. I'll give you time to turn there,
but I want you to listen to the description that Christ gave
in Matthew seven of this storm. He says in the rain descended
and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house. This was the house that the wise
man built, and he said, and it fell not. OK, now I want you
to look at the description of the storm that the foolish man
faced. It reads in verse 27 of Matthew
7, and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds
blew and beat upon that house. I don't know about you, but there's
not one word of difference in those two descriptions. You see,
God is going to judge all by the same standards. And the issue
will be is your house built on that rock. It's going to be what
are you trusting in when you peel all the layers back? You
know, there are some there are some who, unlike me, they were
smarter than me. They they read this Bible and
they saw they saw the silliness of imagining that Christ died
for all men without exception. It's clear in his word. If you
go back to John six there, And if we had had time and gone on
down to verses 38 and 39 there, Christ said, you know, this is
the will of the father that all they gave to me. He said, I'll
lose nothing and I'll raise him up at the last day. It's scripture
is clear. It doesn't even take God given
spiritual life to understand that Christ didn't die for everybody.
So so there's all sorts of variations that we can come up with. There
are men who are right on particular redemption, you see. But what
what do they do? Well, some imagine this. They
imagine that God looked down through time and he saw that
you would be more compliant, a little less obstinate, that
when their idea of the gospel message came your way, he knew
you would be receptive. And so therefore, he sent Christ
to die for you based on something he saw in you. You see, that's
that's no different than what these preachers here were doing.
You see, now, Christ has said from that he spent much of his
sermon on the Mount telling us the impossibility of imagining
that anything that comes from this center could possibly satisfy
an infinitely holy God. Well, we see we see here that
there's a storm coming. Now, many will take those words
there, Matthew seven, and and have suggested that That's referring
to trials and tribulations and so forth in this life. And that
one whose hope is built on a sure foundation, that nothing, nothing
will cause it to waver. In other words, they will not
be tossed by every wind of doctrine that comes along. That's true.
But I believe that in the context, especially in light of the verses
immediately preceding our text today and the usage of this phraseology,
of likening the judgment to a storm that's coming. I believe it shows
us, and you'll see this here in Isaiah as we look at this
passage, that he's talking about the final judgment here. And
it's a serious, serious thing. Look, look how the prophet Isaiah
put it in chapter 28, beginning in verse 14. Wherefore, hear
the word of the Lord, ye scornful men that rule this people, which
is in Jerusalem. Because you have said, he said,
this is what your testimony is, that we have made a covenant
with death. Today, men might say it this
way. We've made our peace with God. How many funerals have you
been to where someone commented at least he made his peace with
God? Well, he says they've made a
covenant with death and with hell they are at agreement. They
would put it this way. Don't worry about me. I've settled
all this long ago. See, I know I'm going to heaven. I'm not going to hell. And when
the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come
unto us because we have a refuge. The prophet put it this way,
he said, for we have made lies our refuge. Now, think of it,
a refuge is a place of safety and security. No one knowingly
relies in an unsafe place, a lie for safety and security, something
that's unsafe and unsecure. But he says that's exactly what
these he's speaking of have done. And he said, and under falsehood,
have we hid ourselves? In other words, they they've
imagined that they've removed the very wrath of God and been
able to hide from that, so to speak, based upon something other
than the only thing that will stand up. That is, they need
this perfect righteousness. They actually have to have their
sins put away, paid for. But like Adam and Eve, when they
when they sewed up their fig leaf aprons, Men go about imagining
that something that comes from them, proceeds from them, will
actually appease the wrath of God. They imagine, I will not
surely die. And he says, therefore, and he
says it's a falsehood, they're mistaken. In verse 16, he says,
therefore, though, here's the gospel, this is the good news
in light of the fact that that's what we all are by nature. And
that's the road we all start out on, the broad road that leads
to destruction. Now, he says, therefore, thus
saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion. That is his universal
church. Those whom the father, based
on his own sovereign good pleasure, chose before the world began,
based on nothing he saw in them, just his sovereign good pleasure.
He chose a people and he says, I lay in Zion. And he chose them
and gave them to Christ. That's his church. And he said,
what I put for them is a foundation, a stone. You see, this is that
rock. He says it's a tried stone Christ. See, Christ had to come in in
subordination to the father in the covenant of grace as a mediator. He humiliated himself, condescended
to come here and live on this earth. He was made under the
law to redeem them which are under the law, the scripture
says. He had to be made like unto us. Take on a humanity. In union with this deity. And
then he was tried. And it says that he offered himself
without spot. He never sinned. And he was obedient
even unto the death of the cross when the father laid the sins
of all those people, Zion. When he put them upon Christ,
Christ bore those sins and died a death. And God said righteousness
satisfied and raised him from the dead because righteousness
demands life. He says, I lay in a tried stone. It's a precious cornerstone,
you know, the cornerstones, the the main fundamental starting
block of a house for any of you builders know that, and he says,
A sure foundation. In other words, you better make
sure that whatever your hopes based on that is sure and certain
that this one will not fail. Those of you whom God has has
given eyes to see the glory of God in the face of Christ and
see salvation condition on him and him alone. Are you like me
and don't you marvel that why would we approach approach a
holy God Determine this dogged in our persistence to believe
that something I do or something done in me will procure eternal
glory for me when I can have a sure foundation, me a sinner. Now, what an oxymoron that me
a sinner. Could somehow find a way to please
find favor with God and remove his wrath. But I could have a
sure foundation, the impeccable, spotless, Lamb of God, Jesus
Christ himself. And he says he that believeth,
verse 16 again, shall not make haste. It will not be in vain. And look, verse 17 speaks of
this same storm we've been looking at here now in Matthew 7, verse
17. He says of both of these now,
those who have made lies their refuge and those for whom father
sent the son as a sure foundation, both of them, he says, judgment.
Will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet? In other words,
it's like that carpenters plumb bob, the string on a nail hanging
down with a weight on the bottom so that you've got a perfect
vertical line, a standard by which to measure. And he says,
this is my standard. I'll lay righteousness to the
plummet. You must possess a perfect righteousness
and he's saying anything else. He says the hell shall sweep
away the refuge of lies, if that's not your refuge, if your refuge,
if you possess anything less than a perfect righteousness,
he's saying it's going to be swept away in the waters. They'll
overflow the hiding place. That's the way water is, isn't
it? It just goes in every nook and cranny. There's nowhere to
hide. And he said your covenant with death shall be disannulled.
It's going to be declared invalid. And your agreement with hell
shall not stand, and when the overflowing scourge shall pass
through, then you shall be trodden down by it. Well, I believe that's
what Christ was saying when he spoke of the storm that would
come and take away the house in Matthew 7. Well, look with
me real quickly at the final two verses here of Matthew 7. Here we see the reaction of the
audience as recorded by Matthew, verse 28. It says, And it came
to pass when Jesus had ended these things, the people were
astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having
authority and not as the scribes. Think of the authority with which
Christ does look back at Matthew 5. And we'll just glance at these
verses. But you'll recall, he said this
again and again. There was a pattern that we saw
there. Verse 21, he begins, You have heard that it was said by
them of old time. Now, that was the that was the
tenor of the scribes and Pharisees teachings, you know, they're
portrayed in scripture as those who handed down the traditions
of their fathers. You know, Christ said of them,
But your fathers persecuted the prophets. He told them they were
their father, the devil, actually. And but yet that was the way
their preaching was. And if you'll think about it
today, most of so-called Christianity even and religion in general. We we basically are products
of our culture. Why did I spend the first 30
or so years of my life as a Southern Baptist? Because my mom and dad
were. That's why I was born into it. That's where they took me
to church. And listen. My mom and dad would
never intentionally mislead me, and neither would any of you.
You couldn't mislead your children. They love me. So why wouldn't
why wouldn't I believe that? Why do most people in India end
up being Buddhist or Hindu or most Arabs are Muslims? It's
because it's where they were born. But here, Christ comes
along and the scribes and Pharisees being no different, they had
taught these men their traditions. They were the most zealous, perhaps,
that ever lived. And they said, and they would
tell them these things. And Christ put it this way. You've
heard that it was said by them of old time. And then verse 22
starts out how? But I say unto you, look, look
on down. Verse 27, you have heard that
it was said by them of old time. Verse 28, but I say unto you.
And it continues like this, verse 33 and 34. Verse, you probably
find more than I'm catching here at a glance, but verse 43 and
44, it just continues. Think of the authority with which
he spoke. No wonder they were astonished
at his doctrine. He came along and he says, you
think you can keep the law and I'm going to show you how you
can't. You got to love your enemies. My goodness. You know, and James,
of course, told us to have failed at any point, any time. That's
what is to be in violation of the whole law. We need he tells
us we need mercy. He started the sermon on the
Mount that way, didn't he? And when he started with those
Beatitudes and he described those who were eternally blessed of
God and he said, blessed are they blessed are the poor in
spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He's saying that you
see the ones who are eternally blessed of God, they've been
brought in spiritually bankrupt. They need mercy and the mercy
they need is by way of satisfaction. This righteousness, this way
of righteousness, the gospel of the kingdom that Christ has
been speaking about. Well, here's what I take away
from that. And when I've studied those verses,
you see, it's not just Christ's words which may appear in your
Bible as read, OK, but it's the words of God. And that is our
authority. It's this book. And granted,
as those prophets of old, it was said of them, they steal
my words, God said. And granted, it takes spiritual
eyes. It takes a new birth. God has
to give us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts and minds
to understand. But Fran, pray that. Pray that God will give
you that, that he'll grant you that. And until you find that
what I'm telling you today is according to this word, don't
buy it. What I or any other man tells
you, this is our authority. Well, in closing, turn with me
to Luke chapter six. Luke six, this is a parallel
passage to the account of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew.
And look with me at verse forty six. And Christ there says, And
why call ye me, Lord, Lord? And do not the things which I
say. Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my things, and doeth
them, I will show you to whom he is like. He is like a man
which built a house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation
whereon it wrought. And when the flood rose, the
stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it. Now, if I can shake your foundation
this morning, then be glad I won't mind shaking if it can be shaken.
I don't know about you. So let's all let's all ask ourselves,
what what are we trusting in? You see, that's that's our foundation,
but this foundation here, it cannot be shaken, for it was
founded upon a rock. But he that heareth and doeth
not is like a man that look how he puts it here. He says that
without a foundation, built a house upon the earth. You know, most
myself and those that I used to hang with before God showed
me differently. You know, that's the way we built
our houses. We just we'd go out there and somebody say, well,
what do you trust me? And I'd say, Jesus. And he'd
say, why is Jesus trustworthy? Well, the Bible says he is. Well,
what about him is trustworthy? Well, I mean, you know, Bible
says he's the Savior. I'm going to believe that. And
so I'm going to be I'm out here getting busy. I'm going to build
my house. And I just started right there
on the dirt, right on the earth. That's what it is to build your
house on the sand. It has no foundation whatsoever. And he said he built it without
a foundation built, he built a house upon the earth against
which the stream did beat vehemently. And immediately it fell in the
ruin of that house was great. Well, the message that I want
to live with, leave with you is to dig deep. But as I said
in the bulletin, you know, digging deep, still not the distinction.
There are men in all religions who are zealous. There are men
who spend years studying this book. And yet God's not pleased
to reveal himself to them. You see, it's not just the digging.
If you ask me to dig deep, how far do I have to dig deep? How
far do I have to dig? Well, some might say, oh, just
a foot or two. Real zealous folks might say,
oh, you got to dig 10 feet deep. It's not how far you dig, you
just got to dig until you hit rock. You see, it's the rock
that makes the difference. Yet our Lord, you remember when
we studied entering in at the straight gate, he said, Many
will strive to enter in, speaking of heaven, and not be able. But
he gives a command immediately after that. This is the command.
He says, but you strive to enter in the straight gate. You dig
deep. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness. He says, seek and you'll find.