Let me give you just a moment
now to open your Bibles to the book of Matthew. I would like
for you to use the scripture as I speak to you on the subject,
a sure foundation, a sure foundation. And our text will be taken from
Matthew chapter 7. I'm going to read several verses
of scripture. But here's the text. In Matthew
7, 24 and 25, Therefore, 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 wind blew, and beat upon that
house, and it fell not, it did not fall, for it was founded
upon a rock. It was founded upon a sure foundation,
upon a rock. Now, these are the closing words
of our Lord's Sermon on the Mount. found in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. And in these closing words of
the Sermon on the Mount, the Master issues four definite,
distinct warnings. Four warnings in these closing
words of the Sermon on the Mount. First of all, he warns all of
us about following the religious crowd down what he calls a broad
road A broad, popular road. He says in verse 13, do you have
it there? Do you have your Bible open to
Matthew 7, 13? He says, enter ye in at the straight
gate, for wide is the gate, very wide and broad, very broad is
the way that leads to destruction. And many, there's a multitude,
many. It's a popular road, it's a broad
road, it's a wide road. And many there be which go in
thereat, because straight is the gate, and narrower is the
way that leads to life, and few there be that find it. Now, the
broad road. You get the picture there as
our Lord was speaking. He said, enter ye in at the straight
gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, a broad highway. And this broad way, this wide
gate, is the religious road devised by men, which allows any and
all doctrine any and all practices, any and all gods and saviors,
it doesn't matter whom we believe, or what we believe, just so we're
sincere. It's an umbrella that can cover
anything and everything. It's just a broad road and a
wide gate, and everybody just comes in, no matter who they
are, or what they believe, or how they're walking, or with
whom they're walking, or what they stand for, or what they
have. Doesn't matter, just welcome. If you want to walk, come walk
with us. And our Lord warns us about that. He says, rather enter
ye in the straight gate, the straight gate and the narrower
way. And that straight gate and narrow
way has to be the Lord Jesus Christ and his gospel of free
grace, because the scripture says there's one door, one door. And that door is Christ. He said,
I am the door, by me if any man enter in, enter ye in at the
straight gate. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved and go in and out and find pasture." It is
one Lord, Paul said, one faith and one baptism. See, that's
narrower. There's nothing more narrow than
truth. You see, like in mathematics, when you say three and three
are six, there's nothing more narrow than that. It can't be
broadened. It can't be widened. It's just that, and that's all
there is to it. And Paul said there's one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father, one gospel. If any
man preach any other gospel, then that one gospel, let him
be accursed. If any man love not our Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. That's straight. That's narrow. There's one sheepfold, there's
one salvation, and only one Redeemer. And our Lord warns us, he says,
enter at the straight single gate, the single gate, the narrow
way. For broad is the way and wide
is the gate that leads to destruction. There's a way that seemeth right
unto men and the end thereof is death and destruction. But
God's way is the narrow way. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. All right, here's the second
warning that he issues now in these closing words of the Sermon
on the Mount. In verse 15 and 16, he warns
us about listening, listening and following false prophets.
Listen to the scripture, verse 15 and 16. Beware of false preachers
who come to you, now listen to this, who come to you disguised,
disguised, camouflaged. imitators. They come to you disguised
as sheep, but who are in reality greedy wolves. Greedy wolves. That's a shame, isn't it? But
that's the way it is, always has been that way. Beware of
false preachers who come to you disguised as sheep, but inwardly
they are greedy wolves. You shall know them by their
fruits." Now, my friends, let's be totally, completely honest.
False preachers were plentiful in Israel. One time when Elijah
went to the top of Mount Carmel for that contest with the false
prophets, There were 450 prophets of Baal, one prophet of God. False prophets made their presence
felt in the early church. And there are multitudes of them
today. In fact, John warns us, he said, try the preachers, try
the spirits. And when he says try the spirits,
he means the spirits that speak through preachers. They do not
identify themselves as false preachers. No man is going to
come saying, I'm a false prophet. No man's going to come saying,
I'm a glory seeker. I'm a glory seeker. I'm not in
this for the glory of God. I'm in it for the glory of myself.
I'm in it for what I can get out of it. I'm in it to pad my
own bank account. I'm in it to see how much popularity
I can gain. Nobody's going to say that. I'm
a covetous man. I'm a hookster. I'm preying upon
poor widows and orphans, but they disguise themselves. That's
what Paul said, they disguised themselves as ministers of righteousness. But I'll give you a key. You
know whose righteousness they're talking about? Theirs and yours,
and not God's righteousness in Christ. They never come preaching
God's grace in Christ, God's free grace. They come preaching
their own righteousness, self-righteousness. Even Satan, Paul said, comes
as an angel of light. It's no marvel that his ministers
come as ministers of righteousness. But he says you can recognize
them. And our Lord gives us a way. You shall know them by their
fruits. You shall know them by their fruits. I hear this scripture
used all the time in reference to judging whether or not a man's
saved. That's not what the Lord's saying
here. Now read it again, verse 15, 16. He warns us to beware
of false prophets. That's what he's dealing with.
He said, they come to you Disguised as sheep, but they're really
inwardly greedy wolves. You'll know them by their fruits
Now what's the fruits of a man's ministry? Well, what's the fruits
of an apple tree? Apples. What's the fruits of
a peach tree? Peaches. What's the fruits of
a fig tree? Figs. So whatever kind of tree
it is, that's the kind of fruit it'll have That's true all the
time. What if it's an orange tree?
It's gonna have oranges And that's what these false prophets are.
You'll know them by their fruits. What's a preacher's fruits? His
converts. His followers. You'll know them
by their followers. Their converts are just like
them. Just like them. It came to our Lord one time.
They said, what are you preaching? He said, ask them that heard
me. So you don't need to go to a preacher and ask him what he's
preaching. Ask the people who sit in the pew. They'll tell
you better than him what he's preaching. Because their lives
are going to be conformed by his preaching. If he's preaching
flesh, that's the way they'll be. If he's preaching self-righteousness,
that's how they'll be. If he's preaching Christ, they'll
be following Christ. They won't be following him.
They'll be following Christ. But we have so many preacher
followers because the preachers aren't preaching Christ. Our
converts are just like them. All right, then the third thing
he warns us about is this, in verse 22 and 23. Our Lord warns
us about a hope for eternal life on the basis of our own works.
Look at verse 22 and 23. Now listen to this. Many, many,
many shall say to me in that day, in that day of judgment,
in that day of eternal judgment, Lord, Have we not preached in
thy name, and in thy name cast out devils? And in thy name have
we not done many wonderful works? And then will I say unto them,
depart from me, ye that work iniquity. You know, I wonder,
why do men and women persist, persist in seeking acceptance
with God, and salvation and eternal life on the basis of their religious
works, or their religious professions, or the deeds of the law, or their
so-called good lives, when the Scriptures are so plain in denying
these things? Listen to Titus 3, 5. Not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy he hath saved us. How can you get around that?
Listen to Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For by grace, by grace, you
know what grace is? Free grace, unmerited favor. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, not of works, lest any man should boast. How can words
mean anything else than what they say? Romans 3.28, Paul,
at the conclusion of these powerful chapters 1, 2, and 3 of Romans
on man's ruin, Jew and Gentile alike, depravity, corruption,
evil, none good, no not one, none righteous, no not one. Therefore,
he said, we conclude that a man is justified by faith, not by
the deeds of the law. Not. No, not. Galatians 2.21,
Paul wrote, if righteousness comes by the law, Christ died
in vain. Christ died in vain? And you
would still contend that you will be accepted of God by what
you've done? Well, I've lived a good life.
Then Christ died in vain? Well, I believe God weighs our
good deeds and bad deeds, and we come out, we find the outcome
of that, and we go to heaven or hell. Then Christ died in
vain? Is that what you're saying? Galatians 4, 4, and 5, in the
fullness of time, God sent forth his son made of a woman, made
under the law to redeem them that were made under the law,
that were under the law that we might receive the adoption
of sons. How can words be any plainer?
We're not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold,
but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish
or spot. Our Lord warns us about building
any hope for eternal happiness on any profession, or experience,
or feelings, or works, or sectarianism, or denominationalism, or ritual,
or legalism, or law, or tithe, or Sabbath keeping, or dress,
or whatever. But I don't do that. I don't
drink. I don't smoke. I don't cuss. I don't shoot pool.
I don't play cards. I don't dance. You don't know
God either. So just add that too. Salvation's in Christ. In Christ. I thank you, God,
I'm not like other men. I do this, that, and the other.
And you also sin against the Holy God. Salvation's in Christ. I wish I could make that claim.
But there's still gonna be folks lined up at the judgment. Lined
up, waiting to speak their peace. Lord, I preached. I taught Sunday
school. I was a deacon. I sang in the
choir. I played the piano. I gave my time. I did this, that,
and the other. Depart from me. I never knew
you. I never knew you, you workers of iniquity. I wish somebody
would stand. Lord, I've sinned. My sins ever
before me, I need mercy. Receive me for Christ's sake.
Wash me in the blood. Purge me and I shall be whiter
than the snow. Cleanse me and I'll be cleansed.
Accept me in the beloved. And then our Lord warns, fourthly,
our Lord warns us against the fatal mistake, the fatal mistake
of building our hope for life on a false foundation. Look at
verse 24 through 27. Therefore, therefore, Whosoever will hear these sayings,
what did he just say? He warned us about that broad
road. He warned us about those false
preachers. He warned us about trying to get favor with God
on the basis of our religious deeds. Therefore, if any man
hears these sayings of mine and does them, I liken him to a wise
man. A wise man who built his house
on a rock. And many trials came, rain from
heaven, floods from earth, winds were blowing, beat upon that
house, beat upon that house with a heavy beating, but it stood,
it stood, it fell not, because it was founded on a rock, a sure
foundation. And he said, everyone who hears
these sayings of mine and ignores them, who does them not, I liken
him to a foolish man. A foolish man. A foolish man
can't take instructions. A foolish man won't hear God
speak. A foolish man says, well, I'll
go my way, and builds his house on the sand, the shifting, uneasy
sand. And the trials came, and the
wind blew, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the
house fell. And great was the fall of it,
because you didn't have but one. You didn't have one, it's your
house, and it fell, and it's great to you, because there's
no other opportunity, no second chance in hell. Now the story
here our Lord is giving us, there are two men, and they both felt
a need for a refuge, for a hiding place, for a place to live, for
a place to deliver them from the coming storm. the storm of
death, and the storms of life, and the storms of judgment, and
the storms of God's wrath. And both of these men set out
to build. They both had religious enterprises
and enthusiasm and zeal. They set out to build a hope,
a house of hope, a religious refuge. And both of them finished
their houses. They completed their houses.
They moved into them and felt rather safe. Both of them did.
And then the storms came, then the storms and trials came, and
they always will come. In this world you shall have
tribulation. They'll come. And that rain,
the rain descended, that indicates, I believe, trials from heaven,
trials from the providence of God, spiritual battles and conflicts,
and yea, trials from principalities and powers and rulers of Satan. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood alone. but against principalities and
powers and rulers of the darkness. And those storms come. Those
storms, those testings, those trials from heaven. And then
the floods came. That's floods. That's trials
from the earth. That indicates the trials of
life and family and jobs and friends and flesh and all these
trials that are upon us every day throughout our lives. And
then the wind. and the winds blew. And the winds
are mysterious, indicate mysterious trials, mental, emotional, inward
conflicts, which are so mysterious. Well, what's wrong with you?
Well, I don't know what's wrong with me. Well, something's wrong where
you can't put my finger on it. It's a mysterious trial. And
these trials of depression and emotions and fears and doubts,
all these trials come. Well, the house that was built
on the sand, Couldn't endure the trials. Couldn't endure when
the sun and its burning heat came out. Couldn't take it. Couldn't
take it. Couldn't take it when the rain
fell. Couldn't take it when the floods moved up gradually. Couldn't
take it when the mysterious winds blew because it was built on
the sand, the shifting sands of feeling, feeling and experience
and works. Well, I know I'm saved because
I was there when it happened. Well, I know I'm saved because
I feel saved. I know I'm saved because I'm
doing good. Law, the deeds of religion and
self-righteousness, it couldn't stand. It was built on the sand.
The sand shifts. The sand moves with the wind.
The sand moves with the rain and the flood just takes it right
off the foundation. I'll tell you another problem
with this man's house. It was built quickly. You see, the man
that built on the rock, the Scripture said, He dug deep, deep, and
put his house on the rock. The man that built this house
on the sand, he just built it in no time at all. It was so,
no trouble at all. He just, he just built a house.
It was built quickly, without concern, without care, without
study, like all the instant religion of our day. Everybody gets instant
religion. They don't know God, don't know
the way of salvation, and don't know anything about grace or
heaven or hell or justification or righteousness or anything
else. They go to hear a fast-talking evangelist with a whoop-de-doo
band, and at the end he tells a story, and everybody raise
their hand, go down the aisle, they go make a profession of
faith and teach Sunday school the next Sunday. That's instant
religion like instant oatmeal. Boy, it's a whole lot less trouble
to eat a wafer than to seek the living bread. It's a whole lot
faster, too. It's a whole lot less trouble
to receive water on the brow than to seek the living fountain
of Christ Jesus, that well of water from within that never
runs dry. Drink of this water, never thirst
again. A whole lot less trouble to walk down an aisle than to
seek the living God, isn't it? A whole lot easier to seek an
experience than to seek the living God. A whole lot easier to seek
a profession than to seek the living God. It's a whole lot
less trouble to shake a preacher's hand than to seek the hand of
the living God. No man's able to pluck him, he
said, out of my hand. There's been plenty of them plucked
out of my hand, but none of them ever plucked out of his hand.
And that's a whole lot less trouble to make a journey down an aisle
and shake hands with a preacher and say, it's okay, it's okay.
It's not okay either. There's no nail points in that
preacher's hand. It's a whole lot less trouble
to tell the priest that you've sinned than to seek the mercy
of the living God, isn't it? A whole lot easier. Go down to a whisper in a man's
ear who's just as sinful as you are and tell him all about it
and he says, my son, you're forgiven. Only God can forgive sin. It's
a whole lot less trouble to be identified with a church than
to be identified with a crucified, buried, risen, interceding Christ. It's a whole lot less trouble
to give my tithe than to give my heart. Wouldn't you say? It's a whole lot easier. You
know, it's difficult to say how long this foolish man lived in
that doomed house. But the whole problem was with
the foundation. That's where his problem was.
That's his whole problem. The foundation. Now then, the
house that stood every trial took a while to build it. It
wasn't built overnight. It took a while to build it.
Isaiah identified it was built on a rock. And Isaiah identified
that rock. He said in Isaiah 28, 16, Behold,
thus saith the Lord, I lay in Zion for a foundation, for a
foundation, a stone. Now Christ is that rock. You
know the Old Testament talked about the rock that Moses smote
and out of it came the water? Well that rock was Christ. And
that man who built his house, he felt a need for refuge, he
felt a need for a hiding place, he felt a need for a cleft in
which to hide, he felt a need and so he He didn't build on
the sand. He was wise enough to seek the
Lord in the Scriptures, to dig down and find that foundation,
that rock, Christ Jesus. And he says it's a tried stone,
tried by the law, tried by God, tried by Satan, tried by men.
And he stood every trial. He was tempted as we are in all
points, yet without sin. He says he's a precious cornerstone
and he's a sure foundation. Do you hear that? This house
that stood was built on a rock, and that rock was Christ. And
that was a stone, and a tried stone, and a precious cornerstone,
and a sure foundation. Why is it so sure? Because of
who He is, the eternal everlasting God. Rock of ages cleft for me. Sure because of what He did.
perfectly redeemed all for whom he died sure because of why he
did it to justify God to reconcile God and sure because of where
he is now wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given
him a name above every name seated him at his right hand the majesty
on high and our Lord hadn't entered the holy place made with hands
but heaven itself He that believeth shall not be ashamed. Now this
is a sure foundation. Let me give you three or four
things here. Because God established it, this foundation, and because
this foundation was laid in the wisdom and purpose of God, it
met every specification. Now we got building inspectors
in our cities, and foundations have to meet specifications or
the house won't be built. And God Almighty has some specifications. His holy law, His holy justice,
His holy righteousness, and Christ met them all. And it's a sure
foundation because this foundation meets every requirement, not
only of God, but of the sinner. There's no trial that he hasn't
already felt and conquered. All the rain that'll ever fall
on you fell on him. All the floods that'll ever rise
in your life rose in his. And all the mysterious winds
that ever beat upon your craft in your house, he's already withstood,
already. And because Christ is not only
willing but able to save. Now, let me close with this comment. You say, Preacher, it sounds
a whole lot to me like you're discouraging men and women from
a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, rather than encouraging
them. No, sir, that's not true. What I'm doing is this. I am
discouraging men from a hasty, careless, half-hearted, hand-raising,
walk-in-an-isle, empty religious profession before a man somewhere,
accepting his propositions, following his recipes, and it'll give you
no peace. and no rest and no hope even
after that man's left town. That's what I'm discouraging.
I'm discouraging men from instant religion, religion without conviction
of sin, religion without real repentance toward God, genuine
repentance. religion without sincere faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm encouraging men and women
to search the scriptures. They are they which testify of
Christ. I'm encouraging men and women to count the cost. I'm
encouraging men and women to seek the living God. I'm encouraging
men and women to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm encouraging
men and women, instead of playing the game of religion, to come
to bow to and submit to the royal claims of King Jesus because
he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Meet Christ, bow to
Christ, love Christ, do business with Christ and not with a man.
I leave you to the Word of God.