be in Hebrews chapter 3 if you'd
like to turn there. We're going to look at the first
six verses this hour. Here again the writer of Hebrews
gives us a similitude of the Lord Jesus Christ and Moses,
the law. And then he gives a very stark
contrast between the two. Let's read the first six verses
here in Hebrews 3. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of
our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that
appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, Now
he's going to give us the reason why. Inasmuch as he who hath
builded the house hath more honor than the house. For every man
is builded by every house is builded by some man, but he that
built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful
in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things
which were to be spoken after. But Christ as a son over his
own house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end? I title this message, Whose House
Are You Living In? Whose House Are You Living In?
Here we have two different types of houses mentioned. We have
Moses who is just the servant of the house. And we have Christ
being the son who hath builded the house. Moses being the law,
Christ being the one that brought salvation by grace. Now the writer
of Hebrews is writing to, and I would remind us, the Hebrews
who were prone to run back to the law, prone to go back to
the old covenant, the covenant of works. Problem with going to the law
for justification, for redemption, for righteousness, is that it's
not possible that the law would bring that to be. Scripture's
very clear on this. No man is justified by the deeds
of the law. And yet so often men, even in
today's time, run to the law and try to do it by moral living,
by how they treat others, by how they attend church, by different
ways they try to live the law in hope of having good standing
before God. And what the writer of Hebrews
is declaring unto them is Christ is worthy of so much more honor
than the law was. Yes, the law is holy. Yes, the
law is good. But no redemption could come
through and by the law, the law was given. to reveal sin, to
reveal your sin and to reveal my sin, not to redeem us from
our sin, but to reveal it. Does a mirror make you beautiful?
There's a mirror. You go and look into a mirror,
does that mirror make you beautiful? Would be a magic mirror then,
wouldn't it? Mirror doesn't make me pretty. I've looked in many
mirrors and I've never gotten prettier. You know it's true. Mirror reveals what is there,
doesn't it? And so it is with the law of
God. It reveals what is there. That's all that it does. It shows
us our depraved state. It reveals God's holiness, that
he's just, that his judgments are good, and that everything
that he does is right. Everything that we are is sinful
and wrong. And every time we go to the law,
For righteousness, it doesn't make us beautiful. No, it reveals
the ugly that we are. We need a substitute. We need
a savior. And that is what the writer is
saying. Christ is worthy of more honor because he built the house. The law is just a servant, just
to reveal to you what you are, just to be used as a tool of
the Lord. But Jesus Christ is the one that
built the house. He built the house. Given for
a testimony was the law. It's the purpose of it. Testimony
to testify unto us. God's unapproachable by man.
That's what the law testifies. The law says don't come any closer.
Don't come to Mount Sinai, you'll die. You remember when Moses
went up on the mountain in order to receive the commandments of
the Lord, he told the children of Israel, he said, when I go
upon the mountain and the Lord descends, he said, don't let
anything come near it, for if an animal touches it, it'll surely
die. If anyone touches it, it'll surely
die. Why? The holiness of God was present. Sinai was not given
for us to approach God, it was revealed that we cannot approach
God in and of ourself. We can't do anything to approach
God in order to have righteousness in and of ourself. But the Lord
Jesus Christ can. He can approach Mount Sinai and
not die. He can approach Mount Sinai and
the Lord be pleased with him. Now, the law was given As a servant
for the purpose of God, the law reveals sin. The law does not
bring rest. The law says do. And yet, no
matter what you do, you can't fulfill the law, the demands
of the law. The law's demanding is do and live. But our doing
is our very undoing. The mankind's doing before the
throne of grace is their very undoing. Because it's all of
grace if we are to obtain grace. It's not what we do. The writer here doesn't say in
verse one, consider the law, does it? Doesn't say that. What
does it say? Consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. Consider him. Consider,
don't look at the law and think that you can keep it. Don't consider
the law and how you measure up to the law. Look to Christ and
live. The law is saying you're going
to die if you approach. There's nothing but judgment.
There's nothing but damnation. There's nothing but condemnation
if you approach by your works of the law. Come to Christ and
live. Come to Christ and live. Not only can the law never bring
forth righteousness, it's contrary to us. We can't keep it. We break
one, we broke them all. You ever, I'll use this weak
analogy, have you ever stolen something? Go back to being a
child and maybe there was a piece of bubble gum there on the table
or something and you took it and you ate it. You ever done
that before? Somebody said, I've never done
that before. Yes, you have. Done something like it. We all
have, haven't we? We're guilty of the whole law. That's God's
standard, death. Death. Somebody said, that's
not fair. No, actually, it's very fair because of who he is
and what we are. It's grace that we're breathing
right now. It's grace that we've been allowed
to wake up this morning. It's grace that we're able to
breathe his air and live on his planet. Our idea of God is totally
wrong when it comes to the flesh. He's God and we're not. We deserve
to die. Because everything we do is contrary
to him. We do the opposite. He says,
don't do that. We do it. He says, do this. We can't. We
need grace, don't we? We need mercy. We need a substitute,
one that never, never stole. The thing of stealing is not
even stealing something physical. It's stealing God's glory, isn't
it? It's wanting some glory in ourself for salvation. That's
what men do. They rob from God. No, God's law reveals that he's
holy and we cannot approach. Now, either we're living in the
house built by our works, the house built by our hands, the
house built by our doing, or we're living in the house built
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what do I mean the house
built? Well, everything we do to try to attain to salvation,
every work that we do, to try to get salvation on our own merits,
on our own choices, on our own desires, however it may be, we're
building a house. We're literally building a house.
Now, in doing so, we are saying that the house that the Lord
Jesus Christ has built, the house of salvation, is not good enough. I have to do my part, and as
soon as we add one thing to the house of God's grace, it's no
longer the house of grace, it's the house of works that we've
built. It's that simple. One thing, that's all it takes.
One thing, one blemish on the lamb, the sacrifice was tainted
and was not accepted in the Old Testament. Couldn't have one
blemish on it. One little spot of leprosy on a man made him
a complete leper. Complete leper. Understand, if
we do one thing to salvation, we add one thing to the finished
work of Christ, just one little, tiny, to us it may be insignificant,
we do one thing, it is no longer of grace, it is no longer salvation,
and it is our house that we have built with our own hands. It's
not a true house. That doesn't have a true foundation.
It's based upon us completely. Now the house, on the other hand,
by His finished work is just that. He's seated as the successful
Redeemer in His house. Isn't it glorious whenever you
find yourself in His house and the Lord says, build your house
upon the rock and then shows you the house that's already
built that He's done with His own hands and all there's left
to do is rest. There's no work in rest, is there? That's what
we're called to do as the Lord's people, rest in His house, rest
on His person, rest in the chief cornerstone, the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what the Lord's people are called to do. Either we're resting in Him,
in His house, or we're resting in the house we built with our
hands, one or the other. There is no gray area, there is no
in between, there is no kind of, sort of, it's either one
or the other. Either we're believing and trusting in Him alone, or
we are believing and trusting in ourself alone. There's not
it can't be mixed, can it? All through scripture so clear. Scripture says, be not deceived,
God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
reap. If we sow to the flesh, we shall
of the flesh reap corruption. If we sow to the spirit, we shall
of the spirit reap life everlasting. How do we sow to the flesh? By
looking to self. By looking to our own works,
by looking at what a good job we are doing. When it comes to
salvation, that's what men do by nature. They look to themselves.
And in doing so, they're sowing to the flesh. What does it mean
to sow to the spirit? Look to Christ alone. Don't look to yourself. Don't look to your works. Don't
look to your lifestyle. Don't look to the words you say
or don't say. Look to Christ. Confess he is all from the heart.
That's sowing to the spirit. That's what faith does is just
look to Christ. Either we're living in the house
built by our power or living in the house built by His power. Turn with me to Romans chapter
three. Verse 19. We'll take this one
verse at a time, verse 19. Now we know that whatsoever the
law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God. We know that whatsoever the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth
may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. This is the purpose of the law. This was the purpose of the law
and still is, that every mouth may be stopped and found guilty
before God. This is God's mirror where he
reveals what we are. We're guilty. We're guilty. The law is given to expose sin,
not given as a remedy for the sin, The law is given to show
us what we are by nature, not the remedy for what we are by
nature. It's not to enable us to have a righteousness in and
of ourself, but to see that we cannot attain to God's righteousness.
We can't attain to God's holiness. We can't do one thing that would
please God in and of ourself. We can't keep God's law. The law was given, the same reason
Job saw the Lord in the whirlwind, the same reason Uzziah saw the
Lord high and lifted up, it's all given, we see his holiness
and we become guilty. And you know what that does?
That just makes us shut up, doesn't it? There is no more buts. Believer don't say, but Lord,
I've done this, but I've done, there's no buts in the believer's
life when it comes to that, no. It is truth, Lord, I am the sinner. I see that. Truth, Lord, I am
guilty before your law. Truth, Lord, I deserve to die.
Have mercy on me, the sinner. That's our only hope, is mercy
and grace. Look at verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. That's pretty simple, isn't it?
No flesh will be justified in his sight, because by the law
is the knowledge of sin. That's the purpose of it. The
reason you know what sin is, is because of the law. Keeping
the law does not justify you before God. To the contrary,
no flesh shall be justified in his sight by keeping the law.
By nature, men will hear this and say, well, I can fix it.
I can build a house. I can do this. I can do that. Look what we've been doing for
Jesus. That's what men say. And all
the time in doing that, it's called iniquity, the very doing
to try to add to salvation or to try to become saved. That's
a term that we don't use because either we are or we're not. I
love the absolutes of the gospel. Either we're saved or we're not.
That's simple. I like simple. But to say, I'm
going to become saved by doing something, that's called iniquity.
And God hates iniquity. Everything we do by nature, when
we hear that we're broken, is to say, well, I'm going to fix
it. We can't fix it. Be not deceived. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. If you sow
to the flesh by trying to fix it, you shall of the flesh reap
corruption. But look to Christ. Look to Christ who did fix it. The brokenness that we are, the
undone-ness that we are. Everything that, all the sin
that we are, He took it upon Himself, nailed it to His cross
and put it away. Don't be deceived this morning
in thinking that when you stand before the Lord, you will be
able to declare unto Him what you have done and what you have
not done, and that He will be pleased with you. Don't think
that. It's not true. The only declaration
and the only hope that we have is that God has given us faith
to believe Christ so that when we stand before him, we don't
speak. We have an advocate with the
Father that speaks on our behalf. If it's up to you and I to confess
before, what would you say? If you were to stand before the
Lord at this present moment, and it was you and him, what
would you say to him? Why should he let you into his
heaven? Why should he not send you to hell? What would you say? Lord, I find in myself no reason
why you shouldn't. No reason. But there's one nigh
unto you, one that put away my sin. That's my hope. One that
you purpose to redeem your people. And if I am in him. I have hope. And if I'm not in him, you're
right and just in sending me to hell. That's the truth, isn't
it? That's the truth. Telling him what good deeds we've
done is not going to do any good. Telling him what we haven't done
is not going to do any good. What the Lord Jesus Christ has
done, there's good news in that. There's good news in that. He's
the hiding place for his people. Now, when I stand before him,
he's not going to honor my efforts. That's the lie. There's none
that doeth good. There's none that seeketh after God. But look
what he says. Give us this insight in verse
21. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there
is no difference. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Here's our hope in verse 25,
being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare
His righteousness for the remission of sin that are passed through
the forbearance of God. to declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, not mine, his, that he might be just and
the justifier of him which believeth on Jesus. There's our hope. That's called the house that
the Lord built all by His grace. The justification of His people,
the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary. That's
what the Lord accomplished on the cross. The first hour we
said, what did His faithfulness accomplish? His faithfulness
accomplished this finished work. This built house for His people,
Zion. The place, He said, I go to prepare
a place for you. Where do you think that place
is? It's in him. He is the place. If we're not
in him, we have no hope. He's the only hiding place for
the people of God, the only remedy for sin. Is the blood of Christ,
the finished, the finished work of redemption wrought by him
alone for his glory, all by his power. Don't you love what it says there
being justified freely by his grace? Something's free. You can't pay for it. It's already
been purchased. Somebody had to pay for it. Something
that's free, it doesn't cost anything. The Lord's not looking
to the merits that you've done, the house that you've built,
the works that you've done. He's looking to the merits that Christ
has done, the work that Christ has done, the blood of Christ
alone, the house that he built. And because of that, we are justified
freely by his grace. Made to dwell in the house, not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Look what he says in
verse 27. Where is boasting then? Don't
you love that? Where is boasting then? It's
excluded. By what law? The law of works? No. But by the law of faith. Where's boasting? If it's all
of grace, where's the boasting? Look at the life I'm living for
the Lord. That's boasting. Look at the
choice that I've made for God. That's boasting. Look at what
I have done. Lord, I've cast out all these
wonderful works in your name. I've cast out demons in you.
Look at me. Where's boasting then? It's excluded. There is no boasting because
it's all of grace being justified freely by grace. That's the house
that He built. We boast not in and of ourselves
anymore. We boast in our Savior, what He has done. Now you know
it's true. You and I look to ourself every
chance we get. Look what I've done. Look what
I've built. Look at this. Look at that. We do, don't we?
We do. If I was to buy a If I was to
buy a new boat, first thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna be like,
look at my new boat I bought. Is it not true? We draw attention
to ourself, and it's excitement, and there's nothing wrong with
buying nice things. I picked on myself specifically because
I don't wanna offend anybody. But it's a good example, isn't
it? When it comes to salvation, there is no boasting. Look what
I have done. Look at the choice that I have made. Look what these
hands have wrought. It's what Nebuchadnezzar said,
wasn't it? The Lord said, the kingdom's
rent from you. You're gonna, for seven years,
you're gonna eat grass. We heard that last Sunday. And
what was his confession at the end? There's no God like this
God. He is God. He's higher than the heavens,
can do whatsoever he will with the inhabitants of the earth
and in heaven. And who can stay his hand and say, what doest
thou? He's God. Good news of the gospel is being
justified freely by his grace. That's the house the Lord built.
That's the house the Lord built. If salvation is dependent upon
one thing we do, we would have self-righteousness in doing it,
wouldn't we? The Lord said, all you have to do is take the first
step. Well, I'd brag about that first step, wouldn't I? I took
that first step. I let God take the rest. But
it's not true. Salvation was dependent upon
us to believe. Our believing is evidence of
life. It's not the cause of it. The
dead man can't believe. The Lord says, live, we believe
because of it. If it was up to us to believe,
we would never believe. But if it was up to us to believe,
we would brag about believing. Well, I remember June the 13th,
2002, whenever I finally surrendered my heart to Jesus, I finally
let him be Lord of my life. I've heard that garbage so many
times. It's not true. It's not true. No, the ones that believe on
the Lord don't brag about their believing. They don't brag about
what they're doing. Where is boasting then? It's excluded. No, we're justified by the faith
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're justified by the shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He just lets us know about it when he says live. Where's boasting then? Look at
verse 28. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the
God of the Jews only? Is he not also the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it as one God that shall justify
the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith.
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid we
establish the law. We establish the law. What does
he mean establish the law? In looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ, in believing on him by faith, by faith, then you have
kept every single law perfectly. I'm gonna say that again. By looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ alone, by the faith that he gives, you have kept the law
of God perfectly in him. That's what he's talking about
here. Where's boasting in that? He did it all. This is his house.
He built it. He chose the drapes. He chose
the floors. He chose everything. We just get to live in it. It's
called the house of grace. I didn't contribute anything.
I came in. Everything's furnished. Everything needed. The table's
set. The food's there. I contribute nothing. He says,
come, rest, dine. We're going to take the Lord's
table here in just a minute. This is my body broken for you. This
is my blood shed for the remission of sin for many. That's what
he said. This is the house that he built. This is how he built
it. And who did he build it for? His people. Built it for his
elect people. How do we establish the law?
Looking unto Jesus Christ by bestowed faith. What made, he
says here, back in our text, he says that Moses was faithful.
You remember reading that? Moses was faithful. What made
Moses faithful? God gave him faith. There's a song in our hymn book
that says, dare to be a Daniel. Dare to be, and it talks about
Daniel in the lion's den, how that he did this and he did that. Same thing with Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. Brethren, think about this. Why
did they need the strongest men from Nebuchadnezzar's army to
bind the three Hebrew men to throw them in the furnace? Because
just like you and me, they probably were kicking and screaming. Think
about it. Think about it. Why else would
they need the strong men to bind them? It's the Lord that kept
them. It wasn't their great decisions
and their, look out, we got this, man, we're just gonna dive into
this fire. No, they were scared to death. Peter's a good example
of that. Walking on the water, he sank.
He saw Christ literally walked on the water and he sank. Daniel
was thrown in the lion's den, but it was God that shut the
mouth of the lions that it wouldn't harm him. You know he was afraid. Moses was faithful because the
faith of Jesus Christ was given him and it's that's the same
with us. It's the same with us. Moses was built, Moses was in
the house God had built as a servant. As a servant, who put him there?
Did Moses put himself there? No, it's the same God that put
him in the cleft of the rock. Who is that cleft of the rock?
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. This is this is the full circle. It's Moses. He was found to be
the righteousness of God in Christ, just like all the Lord's people,
Old Testament and new. Everyone, without exception,
everyone. Everyone are living in a house,
either the house they have built unto death or the house built
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Whose house are you living in?
That's the question this morning. Whose house are you living in?
I go back to our text in Hebrews chapter three. Let's read our
text again. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider the law and keep it. That is
not what that says, is it? That is not what that says. Consider
the apostle and the high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus,
who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses
was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy
of more glory than Moses in as much as he who hath built the
house hath more honor than the house. For every man, I'm sorry,
for every house that is built by some man, but he that built
all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful
in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things
which were to be spoken after. But Christ as a son over his
own house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. It does not
say consider your moral living. It does not say consider your
faithful attendance. Now, should we faithfully attend
the services where the gospel is being preached? Absolutely,
and I don't have to tell you that. The Lord gives us the desire. We're gonna be here, aren't we?
He gives the desire. We're here. I don't know how
to explain that. It's just how it works. But doesn't say consider that,
though. It doesn't say consider your devotion. Don't consider
the law. Righteousness is only found in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Righteousness is only found in
the Lord Jesus Christ in the house that he has built for his
people. Built by the word of his power. Scripture says this, except the
Lord build a house. Except the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord build the
house, they labor in vain that build it. I thought of that whenever
I was moving up here. And I thought, Lord, are you
building this house? This church, this congregation, are you building
it? Because if you're not, none of us want any part of it, do
we? If the Lord's not in it, we don't want it. I mean, that's
just the truth. That's really the truth the Lord
gives our heart. Lord, if you're in this, you're gonna have to
build it, and you're gonna get all the glory in doing it. Unless
the Lord builds a house, they that labor, labor in vain that
build it. The glorious news of salvation. is that it is finished. All the
work is done. Everything. Every brick has been
laid. Now I understand that we gather
together and the gospel goes forth and sheep are still being
called. Those sheep were saved from the foundation of the world.
It's not something that I'm doing or something that you're doing.
Do we contribute unto the church? Yeah, of course. We gather together.
Why? Because the Lord commands us to, because we love to do
it. We love to fellowship with each other and worship Him. He's
put that in our heart. But we're not doing it to add
a brick to the house that the Lord's built, are we? Did we?
No. No, the house is finished already. We believe that. Everything's
done. Lord, if you're depending upon me to put the last brick
on the wall, it's going to fall apart. I can't do it. He said,
it is finished. I've built it all. I'm the chief
cornerstone, I'm all four walls, I'm the ceiling, I'm the floor,
I'm everything. He built the house by his own sweat, by his
own hands, by his own blood, he built the house. And you and
I being his people in the sheep of his pasture are welcomed into
this house, welcomed into the house of salvation by grace,
all because he purposed to do so. You remember in the Old Testament,
they decided they were going to build a tower under the Lord
called the Tower of Babel. Everybody said, we can build
a tower to heaven. We can build a tower to the very
throne of God. We can do this. Everybody started
making bricks and they got their slime together. They were in
a desert place, which is interesting because all that slime is going
to do is melt when it gets hot. And somebody didn't think that
through very well, but I guess that's neither here nor there.
But they're building this tower and they make it higher and they
make it higher. We're getting closer. We're getting closer.
We're getting closer. What'd the Lord do? The Lord
confused their language. Made them not talk the same language
anymore. What happened? Well, he made some of them Baptists,
and some of them Presbyterian, some of them Catholic. They confused
their language. Everybody thought they were going
the same direction. He confused them. I'm just telling you, that's
exactly what happened. It's all types of religion, isn't
it? They couldn't agree on anything anymore. They were trying to build a house
by their own hands, and all they had was slime that melts when
it gets hot. The bricks wouldn't hold together, and they never
reached God. That's all religion everywhere. The house that the
Lord built, he built by his own blood. That word pitch, that
word slime is the same that's on the ark. It means atonement. It means it's our covering. It's
our covering. We can't use any other covering
and approach God. It's got to be the blood of Christ.
He's the one that must put it there. He didn't say, whenever
I see your good works and how much effort you've put in on
building your house, he didn't say how much dedication you have
to the church or your prayer life or your study life. He says,
when I see the blood of Christ, I'll pass over you. That is our
only hope. And any other house that we are
living in will fall. It will fall when judgment comes.
In closing, I want to turn. I want to turn to Matthew 7, 24.
If you are living in a house that
you have built and understand the deception. That's so easily
believed, brethren, it's not that you're looking at your life
and you're able to really see easily. OK, I know that I've
been building this house. I'm asking if there's one thing
that you're looking to one simple little thing. I've done this
and you and you've marked it down. Salvation's mine because
I have done something that is building the house by works. It's so subtle. It's so simple.
And it's the lie. If you're living in a house built
by your own hands, by your own works, you're living in a house
of bondage. Calling evil good and good evil. But we're bound
by a will that we cannot change, bound to a devil we can't conquer,
bound to sin that we can't put away. Understand the Lord has
to do all that. We're bound to a nature that
hates God. We're bound to a death sentence that we cannot avoid
if we're living in our own house, what we've made. If we're in bond, if we are living
in a house that we built, the do or do not house, the house
of taste, not touch, not handle, not we're living under the law.
and we're indebted to pay the penalty. What is the penalty
of the law? What did the law show us? It
showed us sin. What is the penalty of that sin?
The wages of sin is death. That's the only thing that can
come by us building the house. To return to that old covenant
of works, of doing, is to prove we're in the wrong house. But
if we consider Jesus, as he mentions in our text, consider him by
faith, believe on him, we'll be living in the right house.
Faith is the evidence. Faith is the evidence of life
given, not the cause of it. Faith is the evidence. Now let's
read this, Matthew 7, 24. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a
wise man, which build his house upon a rock. And the rains descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon the
house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. 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 rain descended, and the floods came, and the
winds blew, and beat upon the house, and it fell. And great
was the fall of it. There's only one rock. There's
only one chief cornerstone. There's only one hiding place.
There's only one city of refuge. There's only one rock, the Lord
Jesus Christ. To build upon him, now hear this,
don't miss this. To build upon the Lord Jesus
Christ is to do nothing. It's to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. But believing is something he enables us to do. To believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ is something he causes. So to build upon him
means you're not doing anything to contribute to the house that
he built. Not in salvation. Literally do
nothing. To build upon the house is to
look to Christ. He's the one that enables you to look. He's
the one that causes you to look. Look to Christ alone. The question remains, whose house
are you living in? Is it the house built on sand?
We lived in Florida for some time and I was frustrated because
concrete likes to crack whenever you put it on sand pretty easily.
Everything shifts underneath and there's cracked, up here
it's tree roots, isn't it? It causes cracks in the concrete.
Down there it's sand. Everything's shifting all the
time. Winds and rains and whatever else. Neighbor's yard got three
feet taller the last hurricane. I'm not even exaggerating. sand
shifts, sand changes. And so do we, whenever we think
we can win God's favor, we change, we shift. And we do more this
way or we do more that way. Well, that's not working. I'm
going to do more this way and I'm going to do more that way. And
at the end of it all, the house is going to fall. It's going
to end up nothing. It's going to end up, it's going
to burn with a fervent heat. It's wood, hay and stubble. But
the house that is built by the Lord Jesus Christ, the rock of
ages, Pontius House, it will stand whenever the wrath of God
falls and we are in that house, when we are in our ark, the Lord
Jesus Christ, when we are in that cliff of the rock, we will
be found to stay well and good because we're in Him. We won't
die. We won't die. And that's what happened on the
cross of Calvary. Lord Jesus Christ took our wrath so that
we don't have to face it alone. Matter of fact, we don't have
to face it at all. He put it away, didn't he? Whose house are you living
in? The house built by dead works
unto death or the everlasting house of grace? Well, how do
I know? How do I know? Well, consider
the Lord Jesus Christ and consider the law. Which one are you looking
to? The law or the Lord Jesus Christ?
If you're looking to do anything, to be in the house that you're
in means that you're in the wrong house. But if you, and when you do,
look at every detail of the house of grace, when you are able to
examine the Lord's salvation and you see that it's all of
grace, every detail, every single detail, minute detail
of it, if it's all of grace, that's the right house. That's
the house God built. You see that it's all by God's
choice to elect, to redeem, to call and keep, that's the right
house. That's the right house. The scripture says, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. Look to him, look to
him alone. And if you're looking to him
alone, if you're looking to him alone by faith, you're living
in the right house. Let's pray. Lord, thank you that you reveal
unto us your truth. We can't please you. Left to
ourself, we would have thought we could have, and we would have
tried, and we would have died, But Lord, because you revealed
your truth, you've given us life and life more abundant in the
Lord Jesus Christ and what he's done in building this house for
you and for your people. Lord, as we partake in these
elements that you have given to us as an ordinance to remember
you, we ask that you would bless it to our heart and cause us
to remember that it's your blood alone and that it's your body
broken alone. That is our salvation, that it's
not by works of righteousness that we have done. It's not our
bodies that are broken or our blood that could be shed. But
you chose to save your people from their sin with your body
and blood. And you accomplished it by your finished work, thank
you. Calls us often to rejoice and remember to thank you for
salvation. Would we ask that you would?
Bless this time in your name. Amen. Last Mac and Greg to come
and disperse the elements.