that I did choose. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niver. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I want to speak on this subject
with or without the foundation. I'm going to read a very familiar
passage of scripture from Matthew chapter 7. It's the conclusion
of what is known as the Sermon on the Mount. Our Lord says in
verse 24, therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine
and doeth them, and note the word doeth, not he did or he
will do, but he presently, actively is doing these things. 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 every one 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. Now, most people are familiar
with the story of the man who built his house upon the rock.
and the man who built his house upon the sand. You know that
if you build your house upon the sand, when the rains descend,
when the floods rise, and when the wind blows, that house will
fall because it's not on a foundation. And the Lord uses these two men
to illustrate those who hear his sayings, speaking of the
Sermon on the Mount in the context, and do them. and those who hear
his sayings and do them not." Now, we have two men. Both men
wanted a house to live in, and everyone can identify with that.
We all want the security and the safety and the comfort of
a home. And they both built a house in
the same locale. Both of these houses were subjected
to the same tests of weather, rain and wind and floods. And
perhaps these houses were side by side. As a matter of fact,
I believe they probably were. You could look at them both.
Both of these men wanted a house and the advantages and securities
of a house. They both wanted to feel peace.
They both wanted to have their sins forgiven. They both wanted
some kind of divine guidance. They wanted God to direct them
to certain things they wanted. And they both wanted to finally
enter heaven. Neither one of these men wanted
to go to hell. They both built a house. But these two men were
quite different. Let me tell you how. The foolish
man was in a hurry. He wanted his house up quickly,
And he was willing to take shortcuts in order to gain his end and
achieve those quick results. He didn't care to look into the
proper way of building. If he would have consulted in
any construction manual or if he would have asked anyone who
knew anything about building, he would have known that the
most important part of a building is the foundation. But he didn't
care about that. He was in a hurry. He thought
things of that nature are unnecessary, and he couldn't be bothered with
all these details. He just wanted his house up.
So up his house went very, very quickly. Perhaps it was a beautiful
house. And if you looked at it, you would have thought, what
a edifice. That looks fantastic. His house
went up very quickly. He took no thoughts for future
problems like rain and floods and wind. But the other man who
built his house on a rock with a foundation was very much unlike
this other man. This man had no confidence in
himself or his ability to do anything. So he consulted in
the instruction manual. I could say the Bible if I wanted
to, but he looked to see what the Bible had to say about house
building. He talked to people who knew
something about house building and who had built houses, and
he found out the need of a foundation. And Luke's account says he dug
deep. He dug deep. And there was a
lot more work involved in building his house. It took quite a bit
longer to raise it up because of the foundation work and all
the work that was involved in that. Now the houses are both
up. Perhaps they look just alike.
Maybe the house without a foundation could have even been a better
looking house or a bigger house than the one without a foundation.
He had more money to spend on things because he didn't bother
with the foundation. Now is the time for the testing of the houses. We have these two houses, this
one that was founded on a rock. The rain descended, the floods
rose up, and the winds blew. Now, all three of these things
that our Lord mentions mean something specific. He's not just using
words. The rains that descend have to
do with the trials that everyone faces. The rain is going to descend
on you. You're going to become sick.
You're going to become old and infirm. You're going to have
trials and troubles. You're going to have problems
in relationships. You're going to have disappointment,
loss, and failure. All these things that happens
to everybody. The rains descend upon the house. And then the floods come up.
The floods come up from the world. And I believe this signifies
the world. All that's of the world, the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,
the temptations of the world. The lust of the flesh is pleasure,
the desire for pleasure. The lust of the eyes is popularity,
being concerned about what other people see and what other people
think about you. Being more concerned about what
men think than what God thinks. The wind, I believe, is satanic
attacks that come from every different direction. And the
Lord tells us that all three of these things beat upon this
house. And you and I are going to take
a beating. You can just write that down. It's part of being
human. All these things came, but look
what it says in verse 25. 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. The same thing happens to the
other house that's on the sand. The rains descend, the wind blows,
the floods rise up. But we read in verse 27, 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. Now you can imagine what would
happen to a house built on the sand. when the rains descend,
when the floods rise and the winds blow. The fall of it was
great. Now, what was the difference
in the two houses? The foundation. something you
could not see, the foundation. One was founded on the rock and
Christ Jesus is the foundation. The other had no foundation. Now 1 Corinthians 3, 11 says
other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which
is Christ Jesus. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Christ Jesus is
the foundation. Now, I suppose that many people,
if you ask them what is the foundation of salvation, perhaps they would
say Christ Jesus. But what does that mean? How
do I know if I'm on the foundation? I don't want to be like this
man who built his house in the sand and had this great fall
because if I'm not built on Christ, I will fall as well. How can
I know if I'm on Christ, the great foundation? There's a passage
of scripture in Hebrews chapter 6 that is so very important that
tells us exactly what the foundation is. Now Christ Jesus is the foundation,
but listen to this passage of scripture in Hebrews chapter
6. Therefore, the writer of the Hebrews says, leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ. Now that means the ABCs. If you
never learn the ABCs, you'll never learn to read, will you?
You better get the ABCs down. I better get the ABCs down or
I cannot read." He said, we shouldn't have to be learning the alphabet
all over again. Therefore, leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, maturity. Not laying again the foundation. Now what happens if you always
have to lay again the foundation? Well, the building never comes
up. And if you've got a faulty foundation, you have a faulty
building. He said we shouldn't have to always be laying again
this foundation, these building blocks, the ABCs of the gospel. And he gives us six things. not
laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and
faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on
of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment."
Now there he gives the six building blocks of the foundation. And
I can know if I'm laying on the foundation, Christ himself, if
he's my foundation, by having some understanding of what's
being said in these two verses I just read. Now, the first thing
he says we shouldn't have to lay again is the foundation of
repentance from dead works. Now, what does that mean? Repentance
from dead works. Now, repentance means change
your mind. You change your mind about dead
works. What are dead works? Anything
done before you've been born of God. Anything you do before
God has saved you. Right down to what people call
free will. If you believe, if I believe
that I've got a free will and it's up to me to decide whether
or not I'll be saved, and if I decide to be saved and accept
Jesus as my personal Savior, then I'll be saved, that's believing
the flesh did something. That is a dead work. And when
God does something for you, you repent of all dead works. You see you're totally dependent
upon the grace of God. You see, you're totally dependent
upon God to do something for you, and you really believe that.
You have a change of mind about your dead works. You see them
for what they are, dead, and your need of the grace of God.
Now, the second thing he mentions is faith toward God. Now, yes, I believe in God. Yes, I
believe in Christ. I have faith toward God in Christ. I have faith that Jesus Christ
is God. He is the Creator of the universe. He is God, and because He's God,
He has the ability to save me. If he's not God, he can't do
anything for me. I'm on my own. But if he's God, he has the ability
to save me. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed, the God-man. I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've
committed to him against that day. Faith toward God. And the third thing he mentions
is the doctrine of baptisms. the doctrine of baptisms. Now, there are several baptisms
mentioned in the scripture. There's baptism by immersion,
and understand that's the only kind of baptism there is. There's
no such thing as sprinkling. It's baptism by immersion, going
under the water and coming back up. There's no excuse for somebody
to not see that. That's what the word means. It
means to dip under. baptism by immersion, and the
reason this is so important is because of what it represents.
Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, and my identification with him
in his life, death, burial, and resurrection. And then there's
the baptism of the Holy Spirit, being baptized or immersed in
the Holy Spirit, and the Lord talking about the baptism of
fire that he experienced when he was completely submerged under
the wrath of God as the sinner's substitute. But what is the meaning
of all these things, the doctrine of baptisms? Well, let's just
take baptism by immersion. The doctrine taught is union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's my hope. Here is my hope
of being in heaven and having my sins forgiven and me being
accepted by a thrice holy God. Here's my hope that when Jesus
Christ lived, I was in Him, and when He kept the law, I did too,
because I'm united to Him. You see, I was in Him before
time began. According as He hath chosen us, the Scripture says,
in Him before the foundation of the world. This is talking
about all of God's elect. They were in the Lord Jesus Christ. When He lived, I lived. That's
my life. His righteousness is my righteousness
before God. His perfect law-keeping and obedience.
When He did it, I did it. He said to John the Baptist,
thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Me and you. When He fulfilled all righteousness,
I did too. When He died, and suffered under
the wrath of God, suffering all of hell, I did too. You see, it was my sin that had
been given to him and he suffered, I suffered. When he died, I died
because I was in him. Whatever he did, I did. When
he died, I died. But when he was raised from the
dead, I was raised from the dead, too, because I am in Him. That's what baptism signifies,
union with the Lord Jesus Christ. What He did, I did. Now that's
the foundation of a believer's hope. There's my foundation,
being united to Christ, the doctrine of baptisms. And next he talks
about the doctrine of the laying on of hands. Now when he's talking
about the doctrine of the laying on of hands, he's not talking
about that stuff that religious people do, where they put their
hands on somebody and all of a sudden they start speaking
in tongues or something of that nature. That's not what he's
talking about. He's talking about the high priest. laying his hands
on the head of the sacrifice. What that represents is sin being
transferred. The guilt and sin of the children
of Israel being represented by the high priest when he put his
hands on that sacrifice, that signified the sin removing from
one place and going to another. And this is the very foundation
of our salvation. my sin being put on Christ and
His righteousness being put on me. Now, how God does that, I
do not know, but I know He does, and that's enough for me. I don't
understand how my sin can be lifted off of me and placed upon
Christ so that it becomes His sin and He becomes guilty of
it, and how His perfect righteousness can be given to me to where it's
mine, but God can do that. You see, with God, nothing is
impossible, and the very foundation of my salvation is found in the
doctrine of the laying on of hands. And the next thing he
mentions is the resurrection of the dead. Now, Christ died,
and He was raised from the dead. Now, why did He die? Well, he
died because of sin. The wages of sin is death. The
only reason anybody ever dies is because of sin. He died because
of sin. The sins of God's elect became
his sins and he died. He was delivered for our offenses
and the scripture says he was raised again for our justification. You see, When Christ died, he
completely satisfied the demands of God's law, the justice of
God, and everybody he died for is now justified. without guilt
before God. And there's another resurrection
of the dead. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses
and sins. Now every man by nature, choice,
and practice is dead in sins. If you're dead, you can't do
anything to save yourself. But you hath he quickened, hath
he given life to, hath he raised from the dead. When someone is
born again or born from above, it's a spiritual resurrection.
They've been raised from the dead. New life in Christ Jesus. They're given a new heart they
didn't have before. They now believe. They now repent. They
now love. Resurrection from the dead. And
then there's that final resurrection that we so much look forward
to where all the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible. Now there's a resurrection of
the just and the unjust. The resurrection of the just,
they'll be raised incorruptible, made just like Christ. And the
Lord warns us also of the resurrection of damnation. Oh, I don't want
to have any part of that. My foundation, the foundation
of my salvation is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and
Him raising me from the dead and giving me life. And then
He speaks of eternal judgment. This is a foundation, eternal
judgment. Now Christ Jesus the Lord, what
He did was a judgment. Sin was judged. Satan was judged. God's people were judged. It's
all about judgment. And I'm justified in God's judgment
because of what Christ did for me. It's all judgment. But notice
He called it eternal judgment. You see, anything God does is
eternal. He's not bound in time the way
you and I are. Christ is called the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. Before there was ever a sinner,
there was a Savior. And everything God does is eternal. Listen to this scripture. 2 Timothy
1, verse 9 says, He saved us and He called us with a holy
calling. not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. Now that's what the Bible
says. Anything any believer has was
given them before the world began. Now that is the very foundation
of salvation. That's what it is to lay on the
rock. You repent, of dead works. You see that they're nothing
more than dead works. You have faith toward God in
Christ. You believe his ability to save
you. You understand your only hope is union with the Lord Jesus
Christ, that what he did, he did for you, and you were in
him. You understand this thing of the laying on of hands. You
might not understand how God does it, but you know he does
do it. The sins of God's people became Christ's. He was made
sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. We understand the resurrection
of the dead. When Christ was raised from the
dead, we were justified. That's all of our salvation.
And we understand that whatever God does is eternal, eternal
judgment. That is the foundation. That
is Christ Jesus, the foundation. Now, when the Lord is speaking
of this, he says, therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings
of mine, he's talking about the sermon on the mount. whosoever
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them." Now here's the
difference between the man who is on the foundation and the
man who didn't have a foundation. The house sitting on a rock and
the house sitting on the sand, it's seen in one doing the sayings
of Christ. and the other not doing the sayings
of Christ. You remember how James warned
us of that person who says, let us not be here in word only,
deceiving our own selves, but we're to be a doer of the word.
Now, every believer does what the Lord says in the Sermon on
the Mount. I don't have time to go over the whole Sermon on
the Mount, but I mean, you begin with the attitudes. This man
is poor in spirit. He has nowhere to look but to
Christ because he doesn't have anything. This man does mourn
over his sin. This man is meek before God. This man really does hunger and
thirst after righteousness. This man really is pure in heart. He's been given a new heart.
It's the pure heart that makes him see all these things, that
mourns over sin, that he really is pure in heart. He's a peacemaker. He's not a contentious man. He's
a peacemaker. He's merciful. Having experienced
the mercy of God, he's a merciful man. And he is someone who's
persecuted for righteousness sake. He makes such an issue
of the righteousness of Christ being the only righteousness
there is, folks get mad at him for it because he said human
righteousness counts for nothing and he is persecuted for righteousness
sake. This man is someone who, if you
look in chapter 7 where he says, judge not that you be not judged,
he sees the hypocrisy of him judging anybody. He sees that
he's got beams in his own eyes and is unable to pull the moat
out of his brother's eye. When He hears, ask and it shall
be given you, He asks. He asks the Lord for mercy. He
seeks. He knocks on the door of mercy.
He's doing all these things. When he reads, Therefore all
things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do ye even
also to them? For this is the law and the prophets. Oh, that's
the man I want to be. I want to treat people the way
I want to be treated. I want to do to people the way
I want them to do to me. I'm not so much to be concerned
about how they treat me, but how I treat them. When he hears,
Enter ye in at the straight gate, The Lord Jesus Christ, for wide
is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction,
and many go that direction. Oh, he enters in at the straight
gate. When he hears the Lord say, beware of false prophets,
he bewares of false prophets. He's scared to death of a message
that is contrary to the word of God. When he hears where the
Lord says, not everyone that sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter 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, they say the right thing. Have we not prophesied
in your name? In your name have we not cast
out devils? And in your name done many wonderful works. And
then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. This is what
the Lord's gonna say to those people. I never knew you. Depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. When he hears that, oh, he doesn't
wanna be one of those people. Now, the man who built his house
on the sand, there's no point talking about the attitudes because
he doesn't know anything about the first one, about being poor
in spirit. Therefore, he's a stranger to all of them. He judges, he's
hypercritical, self-righteous, looks down his nose at other
people. He doesn't ask because he already has. He doesn't seek
because he's already found. He doesn't knock because he thinks
he's already there. When he hears about entering in the straight
gate, he just doesn't really pay attention to it. When he
hears beware of false prophets, he doesn't beware of false prophets.
He thinks that's paranoid. He thinks he's good enough. When
he hears, he's one of these people where our Lord will say, Many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not preached in
your name? In your name have we not cast out devils? In your
name have done many wonderful works. Then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. This man never does what the Lord says. Now, a believer. has two natures, a holy nature
and his human nature, a sinful nature. And that holy nature
keeps the Sermon on the Mount. It does the Sermon on the Mount. It really loves God. It really
loves his brother. He does the things Christ says. And the man who built his foundation
on the sand, he didn't build his foundation on Christ Jesus.
He looked to his own works and his own efforts He did not do
the things that the Lord said. He saw no importance in it. And
oh, how his house fell, and great was the fall of it. Beloved,
which person are you? Have you built your house upon
the rock, Christ Jesus, and you're looking only to him, nowhere
else? Or are you someone who's built
your house upon the sand of human merit, human works, your own
religious experience? Oh, let me warn you, that house
will fall. May God give you grace to build
your house on the rock. We have this message on DVD and
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