Okay, we come to the conclusion
of the Lord's Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 7, verse 21
down to verse 29. I'm using for a title for the
message words that are found in verse 24. Therefore, whosoever
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken
Him unto a wise man who built his house upon a rock. And we
know that rock is Christ. A wise man built his total hope
of salvation upon the Lord Jesus Christ only, alone. And then
the contrast to that is found in verse 26. Everyone that heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened to
a foolish man which built his house upon the sand." Now, what
a contrast. The wise man and the foolish
man. The foolish man built his hope
of salvation upon the sand of human works. Creature merit. And when the storm of God's wrath
came, the house fell. Now, every one of us, every one
of us here and every one in this world falls into one of these
two groups. One of these two groups. There
are just two kinds of people in this world. Did you know that? Saved and lost. Sheep and goats. Those justified in Christ by
his grace and those who seek to justify themselves by their
deeds and by their good works. All people are going one of two
ways. The way of works or the way of grace. the way of self-justification
or the way of being justified freely by His grace through the
redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are those who have
Christ as their only refuge and those who are hiding in what
Isaiah writes about a refuge of lies. There are those made
wise unto salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ and those who are
willfully foolish as to think they can accomplish their salvation
by their own works and deeds before God. Now that's a foolish
man who thinks he can satisfy God's holy law by the deeds of
his own hand. You remember the condemning words
the Lord spoke to those Pharisees? It's given to us in Luke 16.
He said, You are they which justify yourselves before men, but God
knows your heart. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Now religious
deeds and good deeds and morality is highly esteemed among religious
men, but God plainly says it's nothing but, He calls it here
in verse 23, He says, Depart from me you that work iniquity,
iniquity. That which is highly esteemed
among men is the only abomination in the sight of God. Now these
are the concluding words of our Lord Jesus Christ on what is
known as the Sermon on the Mount, chapter 5, chapter 6, and chapter
7. What a powerful, all-encompassing
sermon it is, and we should read it often. Meditate upon it always
and write it upon the walls of our heart. Go back and read it
again and again and again. I think it reaches the pinnacle
of the most important aspect of our lives. Do we know the
Lord in saving mercy or are we just religious without knowing
the true Christ of God, the true and living God? Are we just religious? And in religion without Christ?
Or do we know the true and living God as He revealed in the Lord
Jesus Christ? Our Lord prayed this in John
17. This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only
true God, Jesus Christ, whom God has sent. This is eternal
life, to know the Lord Jesus Christ as everything in salvation. For it's God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God that shines
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember Peter's confession
in Acts chapter 4, neither is there salvation in any other,
nor the name of the heaven, given among men, whereby we must be
saved. Make sure you understand this, there's just one foundation.
That foundation is Christ. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is already laid. That is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Don't look for another. Don't look for another way. Christ
said, I am the way, the truth, the life. And then he said, no
man comes to the father but by and through me. He is the door.
He is the door of eternal life. Now, let's go back to verse 21,
22, and 23. Not everyone that says to the
Lord Jesus Christ, and this is Masses of people standing before
the Lord in that last great judgment of the Lord, the great white
throne judgment we read about in Revelation 20. They will say
in that day, Lord, Lord. Many will say to me, Lord, Lord.
shall not enter into the kingdom of God, 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 unto 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 have done many wonderful works, powerful
works." Boy, it sounds impressive, doesn't it? It would impress
a lot of people. what they said they had done. And then the Lord, who knows
all things, he knows the hearts of all men, he'll profess unto
them, I don't know you. And that word, I never knew you,
it means I never loved you. I never entered into covenant
relationship with you. And then he says, depart from
me. Depart from me. Depart from me, you that work
iniquity. And again, the Lord uses a sharp,
contrast to describe true believers and then false professors, true
faith and false faith. There will be many in that last
day of judgment who hold on to their flimsy profession and dare
to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and brag on what
they have done in the name of God, only to hear the Lord Jesus
Christ pronounce eternal judgment upon them, depart from me, I
do not know you. You remember verse 13, that many
will say to me in that day, verse 13 of Matthew 7, enter ye in
at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the
way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in
there at the gate. Many will say unto me in that
day, have we not done this and have we not done other things?
Only those, look at verse 21, not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will, you see that right there? He that doeth
the will of my father, which is in heaven. Now, make sure
you get this, our salvation, is totally based upon the sovereign
will of God, not the will of man. So it's not of him that
runneth, nor of him that chaseth, or anything else, it is God that
showeth mercy. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but it's God that shows mercy unto
his people. Therefore he said, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and whom I will, I will harden.
So, salvation is totally by the will of God. Of his own will
begat he us with the word of truth. Our salvation is based
upon his eternal purpose, his eternal will. So, when it says
there, not everyone that saith unto me shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father.
Let's see if we can find out exactly what that means for us. We know salvation is by his will.
And we know that the Lord makes us willing in the day of His
power. Turn to John chapter 6. He that doeth the will of my
Father which is in heaven. Look at John chapter 6 verse
37. John chapter 6 verse 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. That's the eternal covenant of
grace God's elect. And him that cometh to me, I
will and no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me." There's
the will of God. "...the will of him that sent
me," verse 39, "...and this is the Father's will, which hath
sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will
of him that sent me, that everyone would see it the Son, How do
we see him? In his word, by faith. And believeth
on him may have everlasting life and I'll raise him up at the
last day. So what is it to do the will
of the Father? Believe the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's the work of God. Turn
back one page. Or just across the page rather,
in John chapter 6 verse 28, they said unto him, what shall we
do that we might work the works of God? You see that in verse
28, John chapter 6. What is it that we might? What
shall we do that we might work the works of God? And the Lord
answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that
ye believe on him whom he hath sent. So, believing the gospel
is according to his will. If his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. Let's go back to another scripture,
turn to John chapter 5. John chapter 5. Look at verse 21, "...for as
the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so
the Son quickeneth whom He will. For the Father judgeth no man,
and committeth all judgment unto the Son." All men should honor
the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not
the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Thy people shall
be willing in the day of God's power." Turn back another couple
pages, John chapter 3. John chapter 3. Look at verse
36. These are the words of God's
last Old Testament prophet, John the Baptist. Verse 36 of John
3. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Now I want
you to turn back to John chapter 1. He that doeth the will of God
shall enter into eternal life. What is the will of God? Well,
to believe the gospel. John chapter 1, look at verse
11. He came unto his own, his own nation, his own people, and
his own received him not. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power, right, or privilege, as the marginal
reference had, to become sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name, which were born, we have the reason why sinners
believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, that is fleshly
inheritance, or fleshly lineage, nor of the will of man, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. We only believe the gospel by
the will of God. Our salvation is totally based
upon His sovereign will, His sovereign doing. Let me show
a good example of that. We're going to see this next
week. Look at Matthew chapter 8 verse 1. Here when our Lord finishes His
great sermon, Matthew 8 verse 1, when he was come down from
the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And behold, there
came a leopard and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean. And the Lord put forth his hand
and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately
his leprosy was gone. He was cleansed by the will of
God. We only believe the gospel because
he made us willing in the day of his power. As many as were
ordained to eternal life believe the gospel. Believers are completely
relying on the will of the Lord Jesus Christ to accomplish our
salvation. He said upon Calvary's tree,
it is finished. It's done. It's complete. When
He by Himself purged our sin, He sat down on the right hand
of God. We read about our great High
Priest in Hebrews 9 verse 12, who obtained eternal redemption
for us with His own blood. Again in Hebrews 9 verse 26,
He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Now find Hebrews
chapter 10, and let's see something about His will. We only believe
the Gospel. Because he gives us faith as
a gift of God. Faith comes by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God. In Hebrews 10 verse 9, Hebrews
10 verse 9, Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first. That
is, the first covenant revealed, which was the law, that he may
establish a second, that second there is the eternal covenant
of grace, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest standeth
daily, ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sin. This man, after he offered one
sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of God,
from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool,
for by one offering hath he perfected forever them that are sanctified. By the witch will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what saving faith looks unto Christ who finished all our salvation
for us. Now back to Matthew 7. It says in verse 23, many will
say to the Lord Jesus Christ in that
final day of judgment, 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 that word wonderful
can be rendered powerful, powerful works, powerful works. Many will
brag and boast on themselves what they've done for God instead
of what Christ has done for sinners. What a big difference that is.
Remember in Revelation chapter 1, they're redeemed of the Lord
when they're glorified with Christ. Remember what they said? Unto Him who loved us and washed
us from our sin in His own blood. It's unto Him. They didn't say,
Lord, look what we have done. No, it's unto Him who loved us
and washed us from our sin in His own blood, to whom be glory
both now and forever. Amen. Many will say in that day,
We preached in thy name." What did they preach? Well, the Pharisees
and Sadducees, they preached salvation by the works of the
law. We know by the deeds of the law, no flesh shall be justified. We must have an exceeding righteousness. You remember that lesson back
in chapter 5? Look at Matthew 5, verse 24.
I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no
case enter into the kingdom of heaven. We must have a perfect,
justifying righteousness before God. Where is that found? Only in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, they preached. And they said, we preached in
the name of the Lord. But what was their message? Their
message was salvation by works. And then secondly, they said,
we cast out demons in thy name. That is what the Pharisees also
claimed that they did in the name of God. And God cast them
out. One old preacher of the past
said, an awful consideration it is that men who claim to be
able to cast out devils or demons at last shall be cast to the
devil into the lake of fire with the beast and the false prophet.
Awful consideration. Boy, they'll be confused in that
day, won't they? They'll be confounded in that day. You remember in
Revelation 19, "...and the beast was taken with the false prophet
that wrought miracles before him, which deceived them that
had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped
his image. These were both cast alive into
the lake of fire, burning with brimstone. They thought, Lord,
look what we have done. And the Lord said, it's nothing
but iniquity. And then they say, thirdly, we've
done many powerful works in the name of the Lord, wonderful works. Problem is, they didn't have
the wonderful Savior, did they? They had big programs. They had
big plans. They had big church buildings.
They had ornate temples, only to see them perish as dung. Iniquity, the Lord calls, in
verse 23. The Lord heard their profession. Now we hear the Lord's righteous
judgment against them. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? I never knew you. You see that?
In verse 23. Now as God, He knows all things,
right? He knew these people. All things
are naked and open. There's no creature that's not
manifesting in sight, but all things are naked and open unto
the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. He knew about them,
as God He knows all things, but the sense is here that the Lord
Jesus Christ never entered into a covenant of love with them,
never entered in with a covenant of mercy with them. He never
blessed them in Christ, never established righteousness for
them. He never prayed or interceded
for them. They had no mediator. They had
no great high priest. They had no sacrifice for their
sin. Remember our Lord said in John 17, I pray for them that
the Father had given to me. I pray not for everyone in this
world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. He's able to save them to the
uttermost that come to God by him. And look at this terrible
judgment. He says, I never loved you. Depart
from Me, you that work iniquity. Heaven's
glory is to be with Him. What's the opposite of eternal
condemnation? to depart forever from any mercy
and grace that's found only in Christ. Depart from me. The Lord
calls their deeds what they truly are, nothing but sins, iniquity,
transgression before God. You see, it must be holy to be
accepted, right? He must be holy, he must be as
good as God. We're only accepted in the Beloved.
All our righteousnesses, our best day, our best morality,
our best thought, God said is nothing but filthy rags in his
sight. That's what Isaiah writes about
in Isaiah 28. He calls it a refuge of lies.
A refuge of lies. And he says there, "...and your
covenant with death shall be disannulled, judgment will I
lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, and the hail
shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the water shall overflow
the hiding place." And your covenant with death shall be disannulled,
and your agreement with the grave shall not stand. When the overflowing
scourge shall pass through, you shall be trodden down by it."
Oh, I don't want to stand on that sinking sand of my works,
but rather on the solid rock, the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Christ alone. God has appointed
a day in which he will judge all men in this world in and
by the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. God appointed a day in
which He would judge the world in righteousness by that man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, whom He hath ordained, wherefore He hath
given assurance unto all men, Now it is all believers in that
He raised Him up from the dead, delivered for our offenses, raised
again for our justification. Now let me show you another Scripture
that's similar to this, and we'll see the same end result. Turn to Matthew 25. Matthew 25,
verse 31. When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all his holy angels with
him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before
him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one
from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats, and
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, who are the sheep,
his elect, his chosen, those who believe, but the goats on
the left hand, then shall the king say unto them on his right
hand, come ye blessed in my father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Now look at verse
41, Matthew 25, 41, then shall he say also to them on the left
hand, depart from me you cursed in the everlasting fire prepared
for the devil and His angels. Same chapter, last verse, verse
46. These shall go away into everlasting
punishment, but the righteous unto eternal life. Upon which
ground do you stand, my friend? On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. I never knew you. I never loved
you. Now, that leads us to verse 24,
25, 26, and 27. Therefore, and that looks back
to what has just been said, Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings
of mine, and doeth them, that is, believe them, I'll liken
him unto a wise man who buildeth his house upon a rock. The Lord
said, I'll build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. And the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the winds blew, and it beat upon the house, and
it did not fall. because it was founded upon the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Rock of Ages, the Rock
of Ages. The wise man is described here
as one who's built the whole hope of his salvation only upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. Here is a sinner who has been
blessed to hear the word of God and given grace in his heart
to believe the word of God, to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ,
to love him, to receive him as all of his salvation. And when
the trials came and beat upon the believer, he did not fall
because he was fastened in union to the Lord Jesus Christ. To
move the believer, you've got to move the rock. You see, that
believer is fastened to the rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. To move
the believer, you've got to move the rock. You remember Psalm
62? He is only my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be moved. I'm fastened to the rock. We read a moment ago in Isaiah
28, Behold, I lay in Zion a tried stone. a sure foundation, a tridestone, a precious cornerstone. He that believeth on Him shall
not make haste. Now that's quoted twice in the
New Testament from Isaiah 28. In Romans 10 it's quoted, So
whoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed. And then Peter
quotes it, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be confounded
or confused. Behold, I lay in Zion for a chief
cornerstone, elect and precious. He that believeth on him shall
not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe,
he is precious. Precious to us. Now here's the
flip side in closing. Verse 26. The foolish man or the foolish
person is described as those who build upon the sand of his
works, whether it be ceremony, religious tradition of man, or
feelings of the flesh. You remember Martin Luther said,
feelings come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. My
warrant is the Word of God, nothing else is worth believing. They
built their house upon the sand of their doing. Those who hear
the Word of God and despise it, and disbelieve it, and disregard
it, doeth them not, is that what it says there? Everyone that heareth these sayings
of mine and doeth them not, does not believe the gospel, shall
be likened to a foolish man." You remember Psalm 53 verse 1,
the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. The word preached
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith and them that
heard it. When the trials of life began
to beat upon the foolish man with his Sandy Foundation of
Work Salvation, it fell. And great was the fall. No recovery
from this fall. It fell and great was the fall
of it. Don't build your hope of salvation
on anything you have ever done. Forget it. It's dumb. And it came to pass, verse 28,
When the Lord had ended these sayings, the people were astonished
at His doctrine. They'd never heard anything like
that before. Salvation by His grace. For He
taught them as one having authority, not as the scribes. You remember
when they went out to arrest the Lord one time? The Pharisees
sent out their dispatch to arrest him and bring him back, and when
they came back empty-handed, they said, where is that man? Remember what they said? Never
a man spake like that man. His word was with power. The
people were astonished, and that word means amazed. They were
amazed at his word, at his doctrine, at his teaching. I hope that
we're also amazed. at the word of the Lord. They
were astonished, stunned that Christ would love us. Believers
are stunned and astonished that Christ would love us and die
for us. Believers are astonished, astounded
that Christ would call us by His grace, save us, and give
us faith to believe on Him and make us new creatures in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God.
That doesn't amaze you. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. Believers are astonished,
astounded, overwhelmed that He's not ashamed to call us brethren
and that He would take us to glory forever to be with Him
and give us grace now and glory forever. Aren't you amazed? When He ended these sayings,
the people were astonished. The last thing he says, the last
thing we read here, he taught them as one having authority,
not as the scribes. Because as Almighty God, That
is who the Lord Jesus Christ is. He has all sovereign power
and might to do His will and His purpose. He said, I've spoken
it, I'll bring it to pass, I've purposed it, I will do it. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. Serve of the Lord, please, that
did He in heaven and earth see, in all deep places. But even
as the God-man mediator, He was given all power and authority
to accomplish all our salvation in His medial office as our prophet,
priest, and king. He has all power to accomplish
our salvation as the God-man mediator. The Word may bless
and dwell among us. He has all power to redeem, doesn't
He? We are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ that
puts away all our sin. He has all power to redeem us.
He is our blessed Redeemer in whom we have redemption from
our sin. According to the riches of His
grace, He has all power as God to save us, as God our Savior. The Father has given Him power
over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many
as the Father has given to Him. He has all power, not only to
redeem, all power to save, all power to keep us, doesn't He? He keeps us by His power, kept
by the power of God. Turn to Matthew 28. In the last
chapter, the last thing that's recorded in Matthew 28, the last
chapter, his last word before he ascended to glory, in verse
18 he said, Matthew 28, 18, All power is given unto me in heaven
and earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son and
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the
end of the world. Amen. He has all power. He has
all power to save. To some, Christ crucified is
a stumbling stone, a rock of offense, but to the believer,
He's more precious than mountains of gold and silver. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and in Christ we stand complete. Complete
in Him. We're going to use for our closing
hymn number 272, where it says, On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand.