Matthew chapter 5. Here in verse 1 begins what is
commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount. It begins here
in chapter 5 of Matthew verse 1. We read, And seeing the multitudes,
that is the Lord Jesus Christ, seeing the multitudes, he went
up into a mountain. And when he was set, his disciples
came unto him. what is seen, multitudes. The preacher is the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. Mr. Spurgeon has been referred
to and known for years and years as the Prince of Preachers. Well,
he would be the first to tell you Jesus Christ is the Prince
of Preachers. He's the prophet of his church.
He's that one that all the prophets talked about. He that should
come. He of whom they spoke is the
preacher here. The voice we hear in these verses
is the voice of the Word made flesh. The very expression, the
very mind of God. It is the voice of of whom even
his enemies had to confess, nobody, nobody ever spoke like this man. He's different. There's something
about him. Christ is the speaker and the
place, we're told, was a mountain in Galilee. It wasn't Mount Calvary,
of course. It wasn't Mount Olivet. It wasn't Mount Sinai. It was
just a mount in Galilee. But look at verse two. And when
he opened his mouth and taught them saying, oh my, whatever
this place was, whatever insignificance it had before, it became precious
now, didn't it? This is where Jesus Christ opened
his mouth and preached to the people. That makes it anything
but common, doesn't it? Makes it anything but common.
The congregation, we're told, were his disciples. The sermon
was addressed to those who professed to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
Others were present and heard the message, but the message
was particularly, as we read, addressed to men and women who
had professed faith in Jesus Christ, just like us this morning.
What a blessed scene before us. The law, you remember, was given
to Moses from a mount, Mount Sinai. You remember God said,
don't let anybody come through. Don't break through. He set boundaries. Threatening. If anyone come through,
they'd be thrust through with a sword. But when our great Savior
came preaching the gospel, he didn't set any boundaries, did
he? He didn't put up any fences. He never said, don't come any
closer. No, on the contrary, over and over again and again,
until he breathed out his last on Mount Calvary, he would say,
come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I will give
you rest. The Pharisees can't, the scribes
can't, the Sadducees can't, your religion can't, but I can. Do you want rest? You can only
find it in me. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me." This is what he said in Isaiah
48. This is him speaking. Come ye
near unto me, hear ye this. I have not spoken in secret from
the beginning. From the time that it was, there
am I. And now the Lord God and His
Spirit have sent me. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer.
The Holy One of Israel. That's Jesus Christ. Yeah, that's
Him. I am the Lord, thy God, which teaches thee to profit,
which leadeth thee by the way that thou should go. What gracious
words proceeded out of His mouth. He speaks through His gospel,
His Word, my soul. We'd better listen. We'd better
give it our undivided attention. This is rare in our religious
day, isn't it? The entire thrust of the Sermon
on the Mount, chapters 5, 6, and 7, our Lord's intent was
to do this, to draw a clear, unmistakable distinction between
true and false religion. That's what he does. between
outward ceremony and inward godliness, between hypocrisy and true faith. That's what he does. Those are
the things he deals with in this chapter. In chapter 5, our Lord
showed us the character of his people, what his people are,
what they're like, the necessity of holiness in his people. These
things that he mentions in chapter 5 are not what made them his
people, them doing these things, but because they were his people,
by his grace they had this characteristic about them. In other words, as
Paul asks, who maketh thee to differ? Grace. God's grace. The true grace of
God is in Christ Jesus. makes people the dipper that
experience it. There's just no question about
that. 100%. Not 99 out of 100, but 100%. Everyone that experiences God's
grace is made the dipper. They can all say with old John
Newton, they can borrow his testimony and say, I'm not what I want
to be. I'm not what I ought to be. I'm not what I'm going to
be. But thank God, I'm not what I used to be. Grace has made
him to differ. And then in chapter 6, the Lord
showed us the character of true worship and the necessity of
faith. And then in chapter 7, that's
what I want to look at, the last few verses of chapter 7. But
in chapter 7, the Lord brings his sermon home. He makes application,
brings it home to all that we're listening by making some pointed
exhortations and warnings that all people need to hear and to
be aware of continually. I do. I do. And so do you. And I'm sure most of his hearers
were shocked They were just shocked, many of them, probably the majority
of them, the way he ended his message. Look at verse 21. He says, not everyone, not everyone,
oh my, is spoken about heaven. He's spoken about glory. He's
spoken about God's true people. He's spoken about true prophets
and false prophets. He had spoken about a wide gate
that leads to destruction and a narrow gate that leads to glory. And then he concludes by saying,
not everyone, not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Well,
I thought that's all it took. I thought that's all it took.
I accept Jesus. Yeah, the Lord, I've made a decision.
Everything's just fine. It couldn't be any better. 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,
are y'all reading along with me? I want you to. Many will
say to me in that day, not just one or few crazy moonies, but
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? And then,
I tell you what, this may be the
scripture that bears more on my mind than just about any other. Our Lord teaches plainly here
that there will be people, not one or two, but many, that will
come right up to the judgment seat of God, right up to the
great white throne of God, thinking they'll hear enter into the joy,
and instead they'll hear depart from me. Man, that's scary. That's serious, isn't it? These
people were sure. They were sure of heaven, they
would say on earth, as if they were already there. And not until
they hear from the lips of Jesus Christ himself are they convinced. Can you imagine? And even as
I ask you that, we can imagine. The horror that grips their heart
When Christ says, I don't know you. They said they knew him,
but he said, no, I don't know you. Verse 23, and then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you. I never knew you. These weren't
people that were saved. They lost or no such thing. Christ
never knew them. Depart from me ye that work iniquity. And then in the next verses,
he tells us how such a thing could happen. How this could
happen. Verse 24. Therefore, therefore,
whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will
liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon an ark.
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew,
and beat upon that house. Oh, but listen to this. It fell
not. It fell not. Why? Because it was founded upon a
rock. It had a sure foundation. 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. And the
storms came to him too. The rain descended, the floods
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it
fell. It fell. It had no foundation. And great
was the fall of him. And here's the reaction of the
multitudes that heard him bring this message, especially this
conclusion. 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. Not everyone, in verse 21. That's the message. Not everyone. In verse 22, our Lord speaks,
in that day. In that day. What day is that? What time is he speaking of?
That time when he'll separate the wheat from the tares. They're
growing together now. Matter of fact, our Lord said,
don't you try to separate them. You don't know what you're doing.
That's not your job. I'll take care of that. That's the day.
In that day when he separates his sheep, His chosen, His redeemed
from the goats that day. And that day, think of this,
that day has been fixed by the immutable decree of Almighty
God. That makes it absolutely certain. It's coming. It's coming. This
day, that Paul spoke about on Mars Hill, when all the philosophers
said, let's get together and see what this babbler's got to
say. He's teaching a new thing. We've never heard this before.
And Paul told them in concluding his message in Acts 17, because
he, that is God, had appointed a day. Appointed a day. in which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, that's
Jesus Christ, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men,
and that he hath raised him from the dead." This day, this day,
that we read of in Revelation 20, this time that God's appointed,
that's certain, that's without doubt. And I saw a great white
throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and
the heaven fled away. And there was found no place
for them. God was done with them. And I
saw the dead, small and great, the somebodies, the nobodies,
the rich, the famous, the celebrities. I saw the dead, small and great,
stand before God. Ooh, they don't look so high
and mighty now, do they? And the books were opened. And
another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the
dead were judged out of those things which were written in
the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the
dead which were in it, no hiding place. In chapter 6 of Revelations,
when they see the Lord coming in power and great glory, they
cry to the mountains, fall on us. Hide us from the face of
him that setteth on the throne. For the day of his wrath has
come. It's arrived. Who will be able
to stand it? But there was no hiding place.
All men are ushered before the holy, pure, white throne of God
Almighty. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them, and they were judged every man according to their
works. In absolute fairness, justice.
And whosoever was not found written in the Lamb's book of life was
cast into the lake of fire." The same thing our Lord spoke
about in that day. In that day. Multitudes will learn too late
this wasn't a fable. This wasn't a fairy tale. This
wasn't some religious myth that some fanatic made up. This is
God Almighty saying, this is how it will be. Someone very wisely said, value
everything, value everything, as it will look in that day. What will it be worth then? Are you listening? What will my possessions be worth
then when I stand before God Almighty? And our Lord says not
everyone is going to enter in. Many, many wonder how many of
this multitude that was true of. Value everything as it will
look in that day. What will it be worth then? And
of course, the answer is nothing. Nothing. They don't hold it with
such a tight hand now. I've never heard anyone within
the last few months. We've had dear friends die. I
spoke to a few of them just days before they died. And I've never
heard them say, I've never heard anybody say, any dying man or
woman say, I wish I had a bigger house. Have you? Oh, I wish I had more money in
the bank. No, no, never heard that. They're going out to stand
before God Almighty. That day, the Lord, you notice,
speaks very emphatically. He says exactly what he meant
to say. He didn't do as Brother Henry used to say concerning
these ambulance-chasing preachers. He didn't try to sneak up on
their blind side. No, no. The Lord spoke plainly,
clearly. Count the cost, he said. Count
the cost. He wasn't trying to win a popularity
contest, was he? And he sure didn't, did he? The
first year of his ministry, because it was a new thing, a novel thing,
there were crowds. But it didn't take long for them
to say, ah, he's nobody. We know his brothers and sisters.
He's deluded. He's insane. Don't pay him no
mind. He said exactly what he meant
and meant exactly what he said. And that's why there was the
reaction of the people in verses 28 and 29. And aren't you thankful that
he did, John? Aren't you thankful that the Lord didn't speak ambiguously? That it didn't speak in riddles?
That he spoke plainly? Because I need that. I need that,
don't you? One of the things I so much appreciated
about my pastor, Don, was that he would tell me what I needed
to hear, Bobby. And I didn't always like it. He would tell Larry Chris what
he needed to hear, even if it hurt. Even if it hurt. He was a good friend. He was
faithful. Faithful man of God. The Lord
knew better than they did what was at stake, didn't he? He looked
out on those multitudes. And remember, it began with disciples.
True ones, yes, but many that just in word only. He knew their hearts. He knew that each of those men
and women possessed an immortal soul. He knew there was a judgment
coming. He knew. He knew. There is a place such as heaven. He knew that. He came from there.
He knows there's such a place as hell. He made it. And He knew
men would spend eternity in either one or the other. He knew that. In John chapter 2 we're told
that the Lord didn't need anybody to testify to Him about man.
He knew exactly what was in man. In every man. Imagine that. Jesus
knew their thoughts. Every one of them. He does the
smart. He knew their motives. He knew
why they were following him. He knew not just what they did,
but he knew the reason behind it, why they did it. He knew
each of those that he spoke to here. He knows those who were
his true followers, and those who really believed, and he knew
those who only pretended to. He knew, and he still does. Christ
looked at this multitude and knew who would be among the many
that would hear him say, depart from me. He knew who they were. The only way to God. And they
would hear him say, depart from me. You can't enter in now. You can't come to me now. You
wouldn't come when you had opportunity. You can't come now. Depart from
me you see why I say this is I just can't imagine What these people must have thought
Depart from me my soul What dreadful words? The only way to God the
only door to salvation the only entrance into heaven and it shut
Depart from me Once the master of the house has risen up and
shut the door and you begin to knock without and say, let us
in, it's too late. It's too late. And they, the
many, find out too late. And Christ knew all this, didn't
he? As he spoke these words, he knew all this. He knows all
men, all hearts, all minds. He knows all those that are His
and all those who aren't. He saw them with Him in glory
and He saw them without Him in hell. Christ saw all this at
once. The mighty God. All this at once. Is it any wonder He said, with
this being the case, any wonder that he said, what is a man profited
if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What shall
a man give in exchange for his soul? Any wonder he spoke those
words. Any wonder that we read this,
in this Gospel of Matthew chapter 23, our Lord speaking again is,
oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem. I heard a fella Take this text
and twist it and turn it and try to make it say what it doesn't
Try to prove that well the Lord, you know, he knows who's gonna
be saved. So that really he wasn't released No, no our Lord speaks
with compassion Sincerity And says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent
unto thee, how often, how often would I have gathered thee? I
dare not say he didn't mean that or he didn't mean something else.
Of course he did. How often would I have gathered
thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens
under her wings? But you would not. The fault was theirs. You would
not. Brothers and sisters in Christ,
we're responsible. Men are responsible for their
reaction to the gospel. They're responsible for their
souls. If anyone goes to hell, they'll have nobody to blame
but themselves. They can't blame election. They
can't blame sovereignty. The Lord said, search the scriptures.
He told the religious folks, for in them you think you have
eternal life. He wasn't telling them, go search
the scriptures. He was telling them, I know you
do that. You already do that. The scriptures testify of me,
he said, and you won't come to me. You won't come to me that
you might have life. No one goes to hell who doesn't
deserve to go there. God's just. He's just when He
shows mercy on a sinner. Yes, it's gracious. Yes, it's
merciful. But it's done in justice. It's
justice for God to forgive those for whom Christ died. He's faithful
and just to forgive the sins that Jesus Christ bore away for
His people. And when he judges and says,
depart from me into everlasting darkness, he'll be just in doing
so. Today in this wicked, crazy,
upside-down society, world that we're living in, from the White
House to the church house, politicians and preachers together tell us
constantly that God's really to blame for sin. Oh, they don't put it exactly
like that. But instead of repenting and seeking mercy, they go on
in their rebellion and claim they just can't help it. It's
God's fault. The gays, the transgenders, the
gender neutral, my soul, they've invented a whole new vocabulary
to describe this perversion, words I never heard of. And they boldly affirm, as they
have their gay pride, I think they have a month out of the
year now for it, don't they? Affirm that God made me this
way, I can't help it. Well, if that's true, then God's
not gonna judge me. If God made them that way, they
can't help it, and God won't judge them. Well, people in Sodom
found that different, didn't they? Remember when the Pharisees
accused Christ of casting out devils by the prince of the devils?
Wasn't that horrible? Our Lord did miracle after miracle,
and those Pharisees were watching him, following him, watching
him like hawks, so they could try to accuse him of something.
They couldn't deny what he did. They said, well, yeah, he's doing
it, but he's doing it by the power of the devil. What a horrible
accusation. But the same thing's done today. The only explanation for this
ungodly insanity that is pushed in our face every hour of every
day is the judgment of God. You know what's happened and
is happening? Exactly what Paul said in Romans 1, God gave them
up. God gave them up. And when God
gives up a people, a nation, it's just no telling how far
they'll go. As Paul told Timothy, in the
last days perilous times shall come, Timothy. And he spoke about
those things. Brethren, I said all that to
say this. Let us pray for grace to swim
against the tide. We can't take sides with this
ungodly generation. To take up our cross and follow
Christ outside the camp and count it an honor to do so. Look here
in chapter 5 again of Matthew's gospel. Look what our Lord said
concerning this thing. Matthew 5 verse 10. Look what
he said. Blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness sake. for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Well, that'll be worth it. Blessed are you, blessed
are you, when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall
say all manner of evil against you falsely. For my sake, rejoice,
rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven.
For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. You're
in good company. You remember when the apostles
were arrested? and threatened not to preach
the gospel, and beaten, and threatened to have it again if they didn't
stop, rather, preaching in the name of Christ. You remember
what we read? When they turned them loose,
they went down the road rejoicing, rejoicing that they were counted
worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ. They considered
it an honor. What a blessing, what a blessing. It's time, brothers and sisters,
for God's people to be more concerned with God's glory and honor than
getting along with people who despise Him. Why should we worry
about pleasing or appeasing this world? Why? Why should we compromise
God's truth to get along in this world? The world hasn't changed. God hasn't changed. God forbid
that we should change in order to get along. Don't be afraid
to be identified with Jesus Christ. Remember what our Lord said?
You're not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I've
chosen you out of the world. And he speaks in Revelation and
says, come out of her, my people. Don't be partakers of her sins
that ye receive not of her plagues. You have here a warning. Also,
don't you, a presumption. Grace, as these folks found out,
that doesn't make a person obedient to God is not the grace of the
gospel. That's just a fact. That's just
true. Faith that doesn't make a man
faithful is not the faith of God's elect. Salvation that doesn't
transform sinners into the image of the Savior, like the Word
of God teaches, is not true salvation. It's not. It's religion, it's
a profession, but it's not salvation. Salvation is more than a religious
profession, that's what our Lord was teaching here, or a religious
performance, because they had that and they boasted about it.
But they didn't have faith in Christ. That's the one thing
they found. They talked about what they had
done for Christ, but not what Christ had done for them. And that's all that matters,
is it not? He, Billy, that has the son. And he might be ignorant about
a lot of other things. Oh, but if he's got the son,
he's got life. He's got life. Eternal life. never ceasing life, everlasting
life. He that had the Son, praise God,
he has life. And nobody can take that away
from him. Nobody can stop it. It'll never come to an end. We
will live as long as Jesus Christ lives. The same life that's in
our glorious head is the same life that flows through every
member of his body, the church, and it's eternal. It's everlasting. These poor, deceived people,
in verse 22, they had spoken. And then Christ speaks. We heard
what they had to say. Now hear what Christ has to say.
That's what matters. What they said didn't make it
so. What Christ says does. For example, when we read in
Genesis 1 and 1, let there be light, light was. When we hear Christ say at the
tomb of Lazarus, Lazarus come forth, the next thing we read
was, and Lazarus came forth. Nobody else's voice can produce
that. No Pharisee or priest, only he
who is the resurrection and the life can raise dead sinners to
life. In verses 24 through 27, you have the comparison our Lord
gives between profession and possession. The difference in
a profession of faith and true possession of faith. And he begins
with this word as we mentioned in the reading, therefore, therefore,
I'm going to tell you, Christ says, I'm going to tell you plainly
why what I just said about the many, many being deceived, many
hearing depart from me, I'm going to tell you how that happened.
Be aware, be careful, don't be among that group. Beware. They heard and did what Christ
commands in verse 24, the wise builders. Everything they boasted
of in verse 22, the professors, Christ didn't tell them to do
that. No. Look again at verse 24. Therefore,
whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, he'll
be like this man, this builder, building upon a rock a sure foundation. In other words, it's not the
labors of my hands. Going about to establish my own
righteousness just proves I'm ignorant of what God Almighty
commands, demands. Christ is the only righteousness
God has given for sinners. There's no other. Therefore,
it's the only righteousness that God will accept. Because the
righteousness of Jesus Christ is perfect. Perfect, child of
God. Just lay your weary head down
on that for a while. Perfect. With His holy garments
on, I'm as holy as God's Son. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings, for example, this, God's command is this, this is
my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him. You remember that multitude had
been fed, and they got hungry again, and they followed Christ
across the sea, and when they found Him, They said, what should
we do that we might work the works of God? We're ready. We're feeling religious. We've
got our sleeves rolled up, got our tools in our hands. We're
ready to go to work. We're ready to earn our way to
heaven. You remember what our Lord said? This is the work of
God that you believe on him whom God has sent. Salvation is doing
the will of God. And the will of God is for sinners
to trust in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Sink or swim will
go to Him. Faith is the building of a house
of refuge on Christ the solid rock. Not trusting my own works
as these did, but trusting Christ's work for me. And that faith,
as Christ taught here about the storm, the wind, the rain. That's faith that's built upon
Christ. That's faith that rests upon
the only foundation for the church. John, it can't be destroyed. It cannot be destroyed. Child
of God, you can't stop believing. If God takes back the gift, the
precious gift of faith that He's given you, yes, but that'll never
happen. That'll never happen because
the gifts and calling of God, we read, are without repentance. That means that God won't repent. Once He gives you the precious
gifts of His grace, of faith, mercy, His Son, He'll never take
them back. Never take them back. I am His
and He is mine forever. Forever. False faith builds on
the sand, as they did here, as many did here. And the outcome
can only be the part for me I never knew. Sooner or later, true faith, professed faith,
will be tested. As both these houses by these
two builders were tested. By earthly trials, by spiritual
trials, by rains of trouble, by stormy seas, by floods of
sorrow, by winds of adversity, they'll be tried, they'll be
tested. Their trials don't put us on the rock, but they prove
that we're on the rock, don't they? They prove that we're on
the rock. Like Peter confessed, Lord, we've
got nowhere else to go. A lot of them did. They turned,
many from that time forward turned and walked no more with him.
But Peter said, Lord, the Lord asked them, you want to join
the crowd? You want to join that religious bunch? You know, they're
in the majority. They must be right, we hear. You want to follow them? And
most people did. But not everybody. Not everybody. who have by faith built their
hope upon Jesus Christ, the church's surest foundation, they say,
Lord, we've got nowhere else to go. If we leave you, we leave
every hope we've got. You've got the words of eternal
life. You're the Messiah. If we leave you, we've got nothing. Thank God, that's what faith
does. If your house, your faith is
built on Christ the rock, it will endure the trials. I'm not
saying you won't hurt. I'm not saying you won't feel
my soul. We're not made of stone. No, we have a heart. Or we fear,
we hurt, we cry, we mourn. We doubt, we pout. But thank
God we don't quit believing in the Son of God. He'll see to
it that we won't. The old writers, old preachers
used to say when they would hear of someone or be told by another
that someone had made a confession of faith, professed to be converted,
they would say, well, time and the devil will tell. We'll just
wait and see. Time and the devil will tell. We'll see whether they just made
a profession or if they live by faith. Most people think salvation is
no more than whatever time it takes to come from there to here
and make a decision to go your way, and that's the end of it.
The Bible says the just shall live by faith. It's not a one-time,
isolated, forgotten act. The just live by faith. Now the
just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul
shall have no pleasure in him. Paul wrote in Hebrews 10. But
we are not of them who draw back into perdition, but of them that
believe to the saving of the soul. Them that believe to the
saving of the soul. That's another sweet pillow.
To the saving of the soul. The eternal, everlasting, complete
salvation. Whom, Peter wrote, concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love, in whom though
now you see him not yet believing, you rejoice, you rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith,
the outcome of your faith, the consummation of your faith. Oh,
just keep running, keep running, keep running the race, keep your
eyes on Christ, because at the end of the race, when you cross
the finish line, you'll see your great God and Savior, the salvation
of your souls. If your house is built on the
sand, anything other than Christ, sooner or later, the rains and
the floods and the winds will bring it down around you. The
storm of God's wrath, that's coming. Listen to this, we'll
wrap this up. Paul in Hebrews 12, he said this,
verses 25 through 29. seeing then that ye refuse not
him that spoke. For if they escape not who refused
him that spake on earth, much more shall we not escape if we
turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice then
shook the earth. But now he hath promised, saying,
once more, once more, once will be enough. Once more I'll shake
not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, once more,
signifying the removing of those things that are shaken as of
things that are made. Things that are made will be
shaken. Like a man-made conversion. Like man-made faith. Like a profession
only. Shaken. Shaken. I remember once,
you've heard me speak about the holler we lived up, for some
reason when The day my sisters wasn't around and my mother told
me, Larry, get these rugs, take these rugs out and shake them
over the banister. Had a high back porch. And I
looked at them, I said, Mom, them rugs don't need shaking.
They look just fine. She said, you take them out and
shake them. Man, I took them rugs out and
held them over that rail. And in the sunlight, man, all
kinds of stuff fell out. Couldn't see it in the dark.
Oh, but in the sunlight, man, there was dirt and dust there.
That's what God's going to do with this world, this religious
world. He's going to shake it. And everything that's not built
on Christ is going to fall out, fall out into everlasting darkness.
But look, the writer went on to say that those things which
cannot be shaken might remain. That faith that rests on Christ
the solid rock can't be shaken. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. So child of God, just stay put. Just stay put. Don't be moved
from the only foundation God has for a sinner. To rest your
weary soul on and be safe. Jesus Christ himself. The psalmist
prayed this. Hear my cry, oh God, and attend
to my prayer. For from the end of the earth
I will cry unto thee, when my heart is overweight. We've all had that, haven't we?
Your heart might be overwhelmed right now, but do what David
did. When my heart is overwhelmed,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou has been a shelter
for me and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy
tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covert of
thy wings, Selah." Oh, well, my heart's overwhelmed. God, bring me to yourself. Help me just to snuggle up, snuggle
up to Jesus Christ, and I'm safe. I'm safe. Keep me safe. Robin
and I were listening to Dave sing that as we drove to church
this morning. Lord, keep me safe. to the storm
passes by." I found this when I was preparing
this message. It's on page 282 of our handbook,
Hiding in Thee. I've never heard her sing it
or attempt to. I don't know that we know it, but listen, it says,
Oh, safe to the rock that is higher than I, my soul in its
conflicts and sorrows would fly. So sinful, so weary, thine, thine
would I be, thou blessed rock of ages, I'm hiding in thee. In the calm of the noontide,
in sorrow's lone hour, in times when temptation cast o'er me
its power, in the tempest of life on its wide heaving sea,
thou blessed rock of ages, I'm hiding in thee. How often
the conflict, when pressed by the foe, I fled to my refuge
and breathed out my woe. How often, when trials like sea
billows roll, have I hidden in thee, O thou rock of my soul. God help us to do that. Hiding
in thee, hiding in thee, thou blessed rock of ages, I'm hiding
in thee. Amen. Amen. God bless you.