I love that hymn, and one line
that particularly hit me is, When I see thee as thou art,
and I thought, I'm going to see him as he is. And that sight
of him will cause me to be conformed perfectly to his image. Even
so, come Lord Jesus. I've entitled this message, Hearing,
Doing, and not doing. Most people are familiar with
the story of the man who built his house on the sand and the
man who built his house on the rock. Our children sing that
song, the wise man built his house upon the rock and the foolish
man built his house upon the sand. One wise man, one foolish man. This is who Christ calls a wise
man and who Christ calls a foolish man. Now the Lord uses these
two men to illustrate those who hear his sayings and notice the
word doeth. Not he did or he will do, but
he doeth. It's in the present active. It's
something he's doing right now. He talks about those who hear
his sayings and do them, and those who hear his sayings and
doeth them not. You remember that James warns
us of those who are hearers only and not doers of the word. Two men, both of these men wanted
a house to live in, and they both built a house in the same
locale. Both houses were subject to the
same tests of weather. Perhaps these houses were side
by side. Both of these men wanted a house
and the advantages and securities of a house. And we can all understand
that. They both wanted to feel peace. They both wanted the forgiveness
of sins. They both wanted some kind of
divine guidance. They wanted the Lord to direct
them. And they both wanted to enter into heaven. But the two
men were quite different. The foolish man was in a hurry. He wanted his house up quickly,
and he was willing to take shortcuts in order to achieve quick results. care about looking into building
a house the proper way. That was not important to him. He could have read the instruction
manual and found out that the foundation was important and
that you can't have a house without a foundation. He could have asked
people who would have known, but he considered all that unnecessary. He couldn't be bothered with
all these details. All he cared about was what could
be seen, so up went his house quickly. He had no thoughts for
future problems like rains, wind, or floods, and he had a house
built on the sand. Now that's a sobering thing to
think about, that someone's house would be built upon the sand.
Now the other man was not like this man. He didn't have any
confidence in himself at all with regard to this thing of
building a house. So he looked into the instruction manual and
he asked people to do. And he found out that it was
absolutely critical to have a foundation. He knew he needed a foundation. And as Luke's account says, he
dug deep until his edifice was built upon a rock. Now it took
a lot longer for this house to go up. Much more work involved
in foundation work. But up it went. And perhaps these
houses look very much alike. As a matter of fact, I imagine
they did. I imagine they were side by side and look very much
alike. But the difference in the houses
was in something that could not be seen. The foundation. Now it's time for the testing
of the houses. The rain descended. They experienced everything people
experience. Sickness, old age, disappointment,
loss, failure, trials and tribulations. broken relationships, they experience
some difficult things that everybody is going to experience. And the
floods came up, the rains came down, and we're all going to
have the rain come down upon us. The floods came up. This has something to do with
the temptations that arise from the world. Our Lord uses three
different things to illustrate what takes place. Every one of
us are going to be tried with the world, worldliness, the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Pleasure, popularity, and power. Those are the three things men
are tempted with. The floods arose. and the winds
blew, satanic attacks. And you can be sure that we will
be attacked by Satan. Now, both of these houses had
to deal with the rains, the floods, and the wind, and you and I will
as well. Now look in verse 24 once again,
Matthew chapter seven. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine and doeth them, Now in the context, he's
talking about the Sermon on the Mount. That's what he's talking
about. This great Sermon on the Mount. And he had a lot to say in this
sermon. Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, the Sermon on
the Mount, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which
built his house upon a rock. You know, the Lord knows who's
wise, doesn't he? He knows who's foolish, and he knows who's wise.
And he says, regarding this man who built his house upon a rock,
that the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and
beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on the rock. And then we read in verse 26,
everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, the sermon on the mount,
And doeth him not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built
his house upon the sand. Now you think about how incredibly
foolish that is. To build a house without a foundation. And he experienced the same thing
the other man did. The rain descended, the floods
came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell. And great. Right was the fall
of it. Now what was the difference between
these two houses? You all know the answer, the
foundation. Something to which really could not be seen. The
foundation. Christ himself is the foundation. First Corinthians 3.11 says other
foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is
Jesus Christ. Christ is the foundation. I bet
about everybody in here knows the answer to that, but what
does it mean? What does it mean to have Christ as your foundation? How can I know if Christ is my
foundation? I want to put myself to the test.
How can I know if I am founded on the rock that cannot be moved? Would you turn with me for a
moment to Hebrews chapter six? This is such an important passage
of scripture regarding the foundation. We would do well to consider
quite often this passage of scripture. Hebrews 6, verse 1. Therefore, leaving the principles,
the ABCs, the basic building blocks of the doctrine of Christ,
let us go on unto perfection, maturity, not laying again the
foundation. Now, what's going to happen if
you always have to be laying a foundation over and over and
over again? That's trouble, isn't it? He
said, we ought not have to be laying over and over and over
again this foundation. And he gives us six things in
this passage of scripture where we can understand if we are on
the foundation. I want to be on the foundation,
don't you? I want to be this wise man who digs deep and builds
his house upon a rock. And notice the first thing he
says, we ought not have to be laying again the foundation of
repentance from dead works. That's the first thing he says.
Now, am I on the foundation? I'm going to learn something
about this thing of repentance, a change of mind regarding dead
works. Now, dead work is anything that
my flesh does. No matter what it is, good, bad,
whatever I think about it, if my flesh is involved in it, it's
a dead work done by one who is dead in sins. If any dead work
that I have, if I think that contributes in any way or helps
me in my salvation, you know, even believing in free will is
believing in dead works. All you got to do is believe
in free will. And you believe that some work that you have,
some power you have has something to do with salvation. Now, here's
where we begin a change of mind, repentance regarding dead works. You now see that all your works,
everything you do is nothing more than filthy rags in God's
sight. And you're completely and utterly
dependent upon Jesus Christ, the Lord. Now that is foundational. That's foundational. repentance
from dead works. And if I don't repent of dead
works, I am not on the foundation. The next thing he says is faith
toward God. Now, when I have faith in Jesus
Christ, I have faith in God. because
Jesus Christ is God and it's only as I trust him as a God
that I believe his ability to save me. I love what Abraham
said, he was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully
persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. We believe Jesus Christ is God
and incapable of failure. Yes, we believe he's man. He's
the God-man. And we don't just look at him
as a man. We look at him as the God-man.
Faith toward God. And it says, believing he's God,
that we believe he's able to do everything we need for him
to save us. And next he speaks of the doctrine
of baptism. This is foundational. The doctrine
of baptism. We just had a baptism this morning.
There are several baptisms mentioned in the scripture. There's baptism
by immersion, what we did this morning. That's the only kind
of baptism there is as far as being baptized. You can't sprinkle
or anything like that. It's baptism by immersion. There's
the baptism of the Holy Spirit, being immersed in the Spirit.
There's the baptism of fire that our Lord talked about when the
fire of God's wrath immersed him and he was baptized in the
wrath of God. The doctrine of baptisms is simply
this. Union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The foundation of all our salvation. Now this is foundational. Union
with the Lord. You know, you can't really understand
any doctrine of the scripture apart from union with Christ.
Now, I don't understand union with Christ. I mean, I'm mystified
by it. That I've always been in Christ?
that I never began to be, that I've always been in the beloved,
that I've always been in the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, that the Lord's always known me. Before, he said,
I poured me in the belly. I knew you. Now, he can't know
someone that's non-existent. I've always been in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's what baptism signifies.
When we're baptized, we're saying when he lived, I lived. When he died, when he went to
the tree, I went to the tree with him. When he was raised
from the dead, I was raised from the dead with him. That's the
doctrine of baptism, union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this
is foundational and this is our hope. My hope, all my hope is
found in union with Jesus Christ. Fourth, he mentions the doctrine
of laying on of hands. Laying on of hands. Now that's
not talking about, you know, when you see those guys on TV or if
you've been in church services where they lay on hands and they're
popped and they start speaking in tongues. That's ridiculous.
There's no truth to that. What that's talking about is
the Old Testament priests laying their hands on the head of the
sacrifice. You know what happened in that?
What it signified was the transference of sin. Sin leaving one place
and going another. Now remember sin can't be two
places at once. Sin leaving the priest who is
representing the people and going on the head of the sacrifice
and the innocence of the sacrifice, the righteousness of the sacrifice
being transferred to us. Now here's this foundational
element. The very foundation of our salvation is the transference
of sin. Now how does God do that? I don't
know how he does it, but he does it. And that's enough for me.
My sin was lifted off of me and placed upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
And his righteousness actually becomes my personal righteousness. Now that's foundational, isn't
it? That's laying on the foundation. The transference of sin, the
transference of righteousness was exactly what happened when
the high priest went in and put his hands on the sacrifice. That's
the laying on of hands. And the next thing he mentioned
is in verse two of Hebrews chapter six is the resurrection of the
dead. Now this is foundational, the
resurrection of the dead. The Lord Jesus Christ was raised
from the dead. You believe that? You believe
in your heart that Christ was raised from the dead. And I don't
simply mean the historical event, although it is a historical event,
but what does it mean? When he was raised from the dead,
that means God was satisfied with what he did. And he was
satisfied with everybody he did it for. He was delivered for
our offenses and raised again for our justification. When he
was raised from the dead, I was justified. Somebody says, don't
you have to believe? Of course you do, you gotta believe that.
You gotta believe that. I was justified. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, the resurrection of the dead.
And then we read, a spiritual resurrection. And you hath He
quickened, hath He raised from the dead spiritually, who were
dead in trespasses and sins. There's a spiritual resurrection.
That's what happens in the new birth. That's what happens in
regeneration. Life from the dead. And then that physical resurrection
where after worms destroy these bodies, We're going to be raised
incorruptible, perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. Now that's
foundational. And then the last thing he mentions
is eternal judgment. Eternal judgment is very important.
First, judgment. You know what the Lord, God is
just. And everything he does is a judgment,
isn't it? It's a judgment of justice. If he damns, it's just. If he saves, it's just. It's
judgment. For judgment am I come into this
world, the Lord said. He accomplished judgment. And
notice this word eternal. I like that, don't you? You know,
everything the Lord does is eternal, isn't it? I mean, he's God. He
doesn't operate in time the way you and I are. Known unto God
are all of His works from the beginning, and everything He
does is eternal. Scripture 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 were given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began eternal judgment. Once again, this is not something
you understand, you just believe it. Everything he does is eternal
because he is the eternal God. Now, this is the foundation of
Christ being the foundation. If I'm laying on him as the foundation,
that means by the grace of God, I repent of dead works. And I
see his work is everything in salvation. I have faith in Him
as God Almighty. Whatever He does must be successful. He cannot possibly fail in anything
He does. I believe in the doctrine of
baptism, the union with the Lord Jesus Christ, and the laying
on of hands. Here's my hope, that my sin was
made His sin, and His righteousness is made my righteousness. And
oh, I believe in the resurrection of the dead, that Christ was
raised from the dead. God accepted what He did. And
I believe in eternal judgment. I'm laying on the foundation.
I'm laying on the foundation. Now, this is important. Somebody
says I'm laying on the foundation. Well, I hope you are. I hope
I am. I hope it's real. But you know who it is that lays
on the foundation? Those who hear and do his sayings. Not those who say I'm laying
on the foundation. That's a good thing to say. You
ought to say I'm laying on the foundation if you are. But the
one who is on the foundation is that one who hears and doeth
his sayings. And the one who's not on a foundation
is the one who hears these sayings and doeth them not. Now those are the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now in the context, when our
Lord says, back to Matthew chapter 7 if you would. In the context when he says,
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them,
I liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon the rock.
Now the sayings he's talking about is the sayings of the Sermon
on the Mount. Now the Sermon on the Mount is
a definition of what a believer is. Every believer doeth these
sayings. Every believer without exception. You begin with the Beatitudes. That man who's on the rock is
poor in spirit. I love the way this begins with
poor in spirit. The Lord begins by telling us
what we don't have rather than what we do. We're poor in spirit.
If you're poor, you don't have anything. You don't have the
ability to come up with anything. You're poor. And he mourns. He mourns over his sins. He's
meek before God. He hungers and thirsts after
righteousness. He's merciful. He's pure in heart. He's been given a new heart.
He's a peacemaker. He's not contemptuous. He's a
peacemaker. And he is persecuted for righteousness
sake. He believes the gospel, preaches
the gospel, believes the righteousness of Christ is the only righteousness,
and he's persecuted because of that. Look in verse 16 of chapter
5. He says, Let your light so shine
before men that they may see your good works and glorify your
Father which is in heaven. A believer, he lets his light
shine in this sense that they're going to glorify God, not him.
Now the natural man, he's looking for his own glory. But the believer
seeks to glorify his Father which is in heaven. Look in verse 23 of chapter 5. Or verse 21, he agrees with what
the Lord says about the law. You've heard that it was said
by them of old time, thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall
kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that
whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger
of the judgment. He sees, he agrees with Christ
on what the law really is. He sees what murder really is.
It's not just the physical act, it's much more. Look in verse
23, Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and you remember
that your brother has something against you, leave your gift
before the altar, and go thy way, and first be reconciled
to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. That's important
to you. If you're a believer, you're
going to first be reconciled with your brother. Look in verse
25. Agree with thine adversary quickly. Agree with him. That's
the lawyer who says something against you. That's the Lord.
Agree with whatever he says. Agree with thine adversary quickly
while you're in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary
deliver thee to the judge and the judge deliver thee to the
officer, and thou be cast into prison. He said in verse 27,
you've heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt
not commit adultery. But I say in you that whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after it committed adultery with her
already in his heart, he sees that sin is not limited to outward
actions. Look in verse 37. Let your communication
be yea, yea, nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than these cometh of
evil. He's a man who does not have a religion of personal resolve,
of making promises. I promise to do this and I promise
to do that. He knows that's no good. He's someone who his yes
is yes and his no is no. Look in verse 38. I'm basically
preaching the whole sermon on the mount real quick. You've
heard that it's been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for
a tooth, but I say unto you that you resist not evil. But whosoever
shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other
also. If any man will sue thee at the law and take a white eye
coat, let him have your cloak also. And whosoever shall compel
thee to go a mile, go with him too. Give to him that asks thee,
and from him that would borrow thee, turn not away." Do that.
Hear this saying and do it. You've heard verse 43 that's
been said of Them of old, that thou shalt love thy neighbor
and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them, which despitefully use you, that you
may be the children of your father, which is in heaven. For he maketh
his son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain
on the just and the unjust. You're somebody who loves your
enemies if you're built on the rock. In chapter six, verse one,
he said, take heed that you do not your alms, your religious
works before men. And he's talking about almsgiving
or giving. He's talking about prayer and
fasting. He says, take heed that you do
not your alms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise you have
no reward of your father, which is in heaven. He does not do
what he's doing to be seen of men. Verse 19. Lay not up for
yourselves treasures upon earth, where moss and rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven. His treasures in heaven, this
man who is founded on the rock. Verse 33. But seek ye first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
added to you. This is what every believer does. Somebody that's
built on the rock, they seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
What's more important to you than anything else is having
His righteousness. Chapter 7, Judge not that you
be not judged. He has been taught the wickedness
and hypocrisy of him judging anybody. And he sees he has so
many beams in his own eyes that he's utterly unqualified to judge
anybody else. Ask. He's somebody that does
this. Verse 7. Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall
find. Knock and it shall be opened. He asks because he doesn't think
he has. He seeks because he wants to
find. He knocks because he wants the door opened to him. Enter
in, verse 13, at the straight gate. He does that, Christ Jesus,
the Lord. Enter ye in at the straight gate,
for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction.
And many there be that go therein thereat, but straight is the
gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there
be that find it. And when the Lord says, beware
of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly that are ravening wolves, he's scared to death of false
prophets. And he asked the Lord to deliver him from that. And
this is something that scares him to death. Verse 21, 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.
He wants to be somebody who doesn't just say, Lord, Lord, but he
actually does the will of his father, which is in heaven. He
does not want to be one of those people who say, Lord, Lord, have
we not done all these things? Now this person hears the sayings
of the Lord and he doesn't, he doesn't. That is what demonstrates
whether he is really on the foundation. Not because he says Christ is
by foundation. He ought to say that, he better
say that. But what demonstrates that he really is on the foundation
and believes those foundational truths we just talked about in
Hebrews chapter six, is he does the sayings of the Lord. The
Sermon on the Mount is what a believer is. Now, a believer also, I would
be remiss in saying that a believer is also a sinful man, and he
sees how miserably he disobeys everything there in his flesh.
He realizes that. But he's someone who does the
sayings of the Lord. Now that man who hears and does
not, that man who hears and does not,
There's not much use talking about the Beatitudes with this
man because he doesn't have the first Beatitude. He's not born
in spirit. He thinks he's got something. And therefore he doesn't
have any of the other descriptions of what a believer is. He knows
nothing of so shining for God's glory because he's seeking his
own glory. He pays no attention to what
Christ said about the law. He's foolish enough to think
that he can keep it. And everything he does, he does to be seen of
men. Everything. And he may say, I'm
not doing this to be seen of men, but somehow you find out
everything he does. Earth is the place of his treasure.
and he knows nothing of a single eye looking to Christ. The main
emphasis he has is this life, and he doesn't even know what
it means to seek God's righteousness. In hypocrisy, he's quick to judge
and criticize everybody, and he knows no difference between
dogs and swine. He never really asks because
he thinks he already has. He doesn't seek, he doesn't knock
because he thinks he's already there. That thing of doing unto
others as you would have them do unto you, all he thinks about
is how others do unto him. He never even thinks of the other. thinks that it's paranoia to
worry so much about false prophets. And he never enters in at the
straight gate. He's one of those people that
are described by our Lord in verse 22. Many will say to me
in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name
and in your name? Have we not cast out devils?
And in your name, have we not done many wonderful works? And
then I'll profess to them, I never knew you depart from me, ye that
work iniquity. The foundation, Christ Jesus
the Lord. The only foundation I have, the
only thing I can lay on that would make me think God would
have anything to do with me is if I'm founded on the rock and
God saves me wholly for Christ's sake. Now what proves whether I really
believe that It's one thing to say that because we all know
the right things to say. What proves whether I really believe
that is if I do the sayings of the Lord. If I really do enter
in at the straight gate, if I really do beware of false prophets,
if I really do love my enemies, if I really do seek reconciliation
with my brother, if I really do believe what he said regarding
the law. If I really do not want my works
to be seen of men and I want the right hand to not even know
what the left hand is doing. Now that, that's someone who's
founded on the rock. And the one who has his house
without a foundation is the one who hears these same things and
he does not do them. Now that man had a house like
the other fellow And when the wind and the rain and the floods
beat on it, it fell and great was the fall of it. Now this
is exactly what James meant when he said, faith without works
is dead, being alone. I want that to you. I don't want
that. I want to be someone who hears
the sayings and do with them. And let me warn you though, because
I know somebody is going to do this. Somebody is trying to look
at their life to see how well they measure up in the doing
of his sayings. Please don't do that because
I can already tell you, you don't do, I can already tell you, you
flunked. I can tell you that for sure.
You look to Christ as the foundation. And looking to Christ as the
foundation, you'll do the sayings. If you start looking to see how
well you're doing at the sayings, all of a sudden, you're not looking
to Christ. You're looking to yourself. So
please don't do that. That's what we all have a tendency
to do. So don't do that. It's easy to
say, don't do that, because I know how much I do it. But thank God
for the foundation, Christ Jesus the Lord. May all of us lay flat
on the rock. Let's pray.