A Tale of Two Hearers

If you will, turn in your Bibles
to the 6th chapter of Luke, and let me read another account of
the words which our Lord spoke in Matthew 7, Luke 6, verse 46. And why call ye me, Lord, Lord,
and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth
my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like.
He is like a man which built a house, and digged deep, and
laid the foundation on a And when the flood arose, the stream
beat vehemently upon that house, could not shake it, for it was
founded upon a rock. But he that heareth and doeth
not is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon
the earth, against which the stream did beat vehemently, and
immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.
Now you'll note that these words do not say anything about people
who are not hearers. Did you notice that? Our Lord
said in verse 47, Whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings.
And verse 49, he said, He that heareth and doeth not. He that
heareth and doeth my word, he that heareth and doeth not. So
these verses don't say anything about people who are not hearers.
We're talking about people who hear the Word. We're talking
about those who hear the Word with these ears, who are tenders
to the Word, who are hearers of the Word. Now, our Lord came
into the world and he spake as no other man ever spoke, yet
men would not hear him. He said, I'm come in my Father's
name and you receive me not, you hear me not. Let another
come in his own name and him you will hear, him you will receive.
Christ is preached. He's preached today, not always
effectively, not always truthfully, not always as he ought to be
preached, but Christ is preached. The Word of God is preached so
that men are without excuse. He is preached today. Someone
said, If a man perish from hunger when bread is before him, will
any man pity him? If a man die of a disease when
infallible medicine is within his reach, whose fault is it?
If the life-giving word comes to you and you refuse to hear
it, to even listen to it, to even consider it, to even entertain
it, can you be excused? Our Lord says nothing here about
those who just don't hear, they refuse to hear. There are many
of them. Paul wrote in Hebrews, "...see that ye refuse not him
who speaketh from heaven." But the message here, while it is
not to those who refuse to hear, who have no interest in the Word,
and there are plenty out there, they have no interest in this
Word at all, they have no concern, this is written to you who hear,
who attend to the Word, who study it, some to a greater degree,
some to a lesser degree. But you are hearing the gospel,
you are hearing the Word of God, and you are somewhat affected
by it. And all who hear, now watch this,
this is not written to those who do not hear, it's written
to those who do hear. To those who are somewhat affected
by this word, it's written to them. Nothing is said to the
person who is not a hearer. We're not talking here about
the man out yonder who has no interest in the word, who has
no concern for the word, who will not hear the word, who makes
no effort to build a spiritual house that just eats and drinks
and lives a righteous, merry life and dies without any profession
of God. We're talking about people who
hear the Word, who have a concern for the Word and interest in
the Word, and who are building some sort of spiritual house.
Those are the people to whom we're speaking. They build a
house. Now, I want you to look at four
things. This will help us to to get something from these words,
if we look at four things, let's divide it into four parts. First
of all, let's look at the builders, the two builders. Then secondly,
let's ask the Holy Spirit to let us get a good look at the
two houses which they built. And then thirdly, let's see if
we can see the difference. And then fourthly, what happened? Now, first of all, the two builders,
both of these, remember these are heroes. These are religious
people. These are people with a concern.
These are people with an interest. These are people with a profession.
These are hearers of the Word. They come and they sit and they
hear. Now, first of all, both of these hearers, one is a hearer
which does and one is a hearer which does not. But both of them
felt the need of a house. Both of them felt the need for
a refuge. Both of them felt the need to
do something about eternity. Now, men and women who take the
time to hear the Word of God preached, whether they listen
to their favorite radio preacher or television preacher, or whether
they go to church on Sunday or study their quarterlies or read
their daily Bible readings or read the Word of God each night
before they go to bed, they do so because they feel a need. You can't deny that. They feel
a need. They feel a need for some kind of refuge. They feel
a need for some kind of spiritual house. They feel a need for some
kind of deliverance from the wrath to come. That young man,
the rich young ruler who came to Christ, he felt a need. He
had a concern. He had an interest. He said,
Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? He was interested. He took the
time to come to the Lord. He took the time to inquire.
He took the time to investigate. He took the time to ask the Master
how he could participate in eternal life. What good thing shall I
do to inherit eternal life? And these people here, both of
them, they are hearers of the word of God. They are hearers
of the gospel, and both of them feel a real concern. They feel
a real need for refuge, for spiritual hope, for some help, for deliverance
from the wrath to come. These two builders both felt
a need. Alright, what's the second thing? Both of them actually
resolved to build a house. They resolved to build a house.
They went about to erect the house. The determination was
not in word only. Now, sometimes we miss this.
Sometimes we say, well, that person who's a false professor,
who does not really know the Lord, who's not really converted,
he's not really involved. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. He's not real interested. He
doesn't do anything. Oh, yes, he does. This man that
built on a false foundation, he built a house. His interest
was not in word only, it was in deed. He built a house. All
religious professors and hypocrites and false believers are not insincere. They are not all hypocrites.
There are many of them who sincerely give themselves to a religion,
to a profession, to a building of a hope for eternity. It may
be a false hope, it may be an empty hope, the bed may be too
short, the cover may be too narrow, but they are sincere. Don't you
believe Paul was sincere when he was acting against Christ? Let's see what he says. Turn
to Acts chapter 22. Now Paul was not a converted
man. So Saul of Tarsus, he didn't
know the Lord. He was a religious man, he was
a sincere man, he was a concerned man, he was an interested man.
He was building a hope for eternity. He was not insincere. Now listen
to him in Acts 22, verses 3 and 4. He's speaking himself, and
he says, I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city
in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel,
and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers,
and I was zealous toward God." As you all are this day, I was
zealous toward God. And I persecuted this way, the
way of Christ, the way of substitution, the way of grace, the way of
redemption. I persecuted it unto the death, binding and delivering
into prison both men and women. I was zealous toward God, sincere. Let's read Acts 26, here he is
speaking again. Acts 26, verses 9 and 10. Now
listen, I verily thought within myself, I verily, sincerely thought
within myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the
name of Jesus Christ, which things I also did in Jerusalem. And many of the Saints did I
shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priest,
and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them,
sincere." Now, brethren, we can destroy some false notions here.
These two heroes, both of them felt a need. They heard the Word,
they heard about God, about sin, about Salvation, about heaven,
about hell, about judgment, about death, about all these things.
And they felt moved. And they felt an interest and
a concern. They felt a need. I don't want
to go to hell. And I don't know anybody that
does. And these people in churches, that false churches and true
churches and compromising churches and modern churches and liberal
churches and conservative churches and fundamental churches and
wherever they are, these are people who feel a need. And these
are people who are not, they're not carrying on a religious profession
and worried over it. They're doing something. Doing
something. I heard a man on radio the other
day who has orphanages all over the world. Who is, through the
radio ministry, caring for hungry children. And yet when he preached,
he didn't know beans about the gospel. He didn't know a thing
about substitution. He didn't know one thing about
the grace of God. He was building his hope for
eternity, and the people who would listen to him, trying to
get them to build their hope on the works of the flesh. If
you do good, he said, if you'll help me, if you'll send me some
money, if you'll help these children, God will reward you for it. He's
dead sincere. I believe he is. I know Saul
was. And let me show you something
else. The third thing about these heroes, they both finished their
houses. They certainly did. It says here
that they built houses. They both finished their houses.
It's true now, this is true, that many false refugees are
exposed early. Some men make a profession of
faith and drop along the wayside, some join the Church and never
come back, some are baptized and and they stay around for
a few weeks or months and get mad at somebody and quit church
and all that, you know, that happens sometimes. But not all
the time. Not all the time. No, sir. Many
sham religionists fall by the wayside, but not all. Not all. Now, let me show you something.
Turn back to Matthew 7. Here are some men who, many of
them, Christ said, who held on to a false profession. to a false
hope who stayed well concealed in a false refuge all the way
through life, all the way through death, all the way to the judgment,
and even came before the awesome throne of the Holy God and began
to argue about their righteousness and their deeds. Listen to him
in Matthew 7, 21. Not every one that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that
doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to
me in that day. They said it to men, and men
believed them. I preach. I'm a Christian. You
know I'm a Christian because I preach. I've done many wonderful
works. I've tithed all my life. I've
taken care of the poor. I've lived an honest life. I've
paid my bills. I'm a good man, I'm not an adulterer,
I'm not a murderer, I'm not a thief, I'm not even like this publican.
Do I impress you? Well, sure you do. We think you're
great. And they'll even tell the Lord
that, even at the judgment. They'll say to me, in that day,
why Lord, we preached in your name. We cast out devils. We got a lot of folks to quit
drinking, young people to quit taking dope. We cast out the
demons of drugs and the demons of alcohol and the demons of
lust and the demons of this, that and the other. We laid hands
on the sick and they were healed. We did these things. We did them.
We built churches and schools and colleges and camps and all
these things, many wonderful works. He didn't deny that they
did those things. He just said, I never knew you.
And he said, your works are works of iniquity. My friends, all
of our righteousness without Christ are works of iniquity. They are selfish, they are filled
with selfish purposes and motivated by selfish purposes. Many people
continue in a false hope even to the judgment. Now, watch this.
People who really know Christ will persevere. They will continue
to the end. Our Lord said, I'll not leave
them and they'll not leave me. He that hath begun a good work
in you will perform it, he will finish it, he will perfect it.
All that my Father giveth me shall come to me. Our Lord, if
he hath begun a work, he will finish that work. They will persevere,
he will keep them, and they will continue to walk with him if
they are his own. But that is not to say that men
who do not know Christ and who do not know the Savior will not
continue in their false refuge. They may. Now, do not think for
a moment that just because a man has a false profession that eventually
it will be revealed. It may not be revealed to the
judgment. Just because a man is hiding in a false refuge that
he'll be routed out, he'll be disturbed, he'll finally give
it up, he'll finally drop along the way. Not necessarily. He
may continue in that false refuge even to the judgment. So these
builders, first of all, they were heroes of the work. They
were not non-hearers, they were hearers. They had an interest. They felt a need. They built
a house. They did it enthusiastically. They did it dramatically. They
did it sincerely. And they held on to it all the
way through life. Let's look at the houses. These
are things that I know from this scripture. I'm not speculating
now, these are things Christ said. First of all, one of them
was built a lot more quickly than the other one. It went up
fast. Now, I've built with you men
who have helped me, we've built some houses. And I'll tell you
this, you can build a house, I've never tried it, but I'm
sure you could build a house a lot quicker if you don't take
the time to get that pick and shovel. and go out there and
dig and dig and dig and dig until you have dug a real good foundation
and found the rock. The man who built on the sand
had his house almost finished while the other fellow was still
digging deep and hunting the rock. Now, I'm not saying, I'm
not discounting sudden conversion. I wouldn't do that at all. The
Apostle Paul was converted suddenly. Although he was a student of
the scriptures, although he was a student of the ceremonies,
and although God spoke to him personally and in a voice from
heaven, and he actually saw the Lord, I'm still not discounting
sudden conversion to Philippian Jailer, the Ethiopian eunuch.
Lydia, I could give you many more. Sudden, quick conversion,
instantaneous conversion. And that's what real conversion
is, being a born of the Spirit. But I'm saying this, I'm saying
that I would exhort you. to be careful of an easy, quick
believism. A man comes in church and sits
down and listens to the gospel, he's converted that night, he
becomes a teacher the next Sunday, he becomes perfect the third
Sunday. I'm real concerned about that kind of sudden growth. I'm
concerned about that kind of house building, where the house
is just erected so quickly, so suddenly, it's just there. Suddenly
one night it wasn't there, and the next night it is there, and
there it is! Already finished! Already ready
for God's inspection, already ready to be lifted up and taken
to glory and set right down there on the streets of gold and live
then throughout eternity. I'm real concerned about that.
People come here and listen to me preach, and I try not to put
any personal pressure. I want the Holy Spirit to persuade
men and influence men and draw sinners, but I tell wait on the
Lord, search the scriptures, study the word of God, pray before
the Lord Jesus Christ, and seek the Holy Spirit's revelation
of the word of God. Don't move hastily. This man
built this house quickly. And I'll tell you something else
about this man's house. He not only built it much more
quickly than the other man, but he built it with a whole lot
less effort. Now, brethren, searching the
scriptures is difficult work. It's so easy to come and sit
down there and listen to a preacher and just swallow it and accept
it and go out and say, well, that's what I believe. Rather
than listening to the minister and then going home and taking
out God's Word and searching the scripture and searching the
heart. This is that digging, digging.
It says this man in verse 48, like a man that built a house
and digged deep. He digged deep. Turn to Acts
17. I love this scripture right here,
talking about the Bereans. In Acts 17, verse 11, they heard
Paul, and it says in verse 11 of Acts 17, These were more noble
than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with
all readiness of mind. I would have you do that and
search the scriptures daily whether these things be so. Are they
so? Reveal to me my sin. Lord, tear
down my tradition. Oh, how hard it is to give up
our traditions. You can't build a house for the
glory of God on your traditions, on your religious customs, on
your religious rituals and ceremonies. They've got to be, they've got
to be, the rubbish has got to be cleared away before the wall
can be built. And this thing of digging, this thing of asking
the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the living God, reveal my sins
to me. Reveal my need to me. Lord, reveal
Christ to me. I don't want a false profession.
I don't want an easy believism. I want a real, life-giving, personal,
intimate, vital, living union with Christ. Do the work, a permanent
work, an effectual work, a saving work, in my heart. Dig down deep. And I'll tell you something else
about these houses. One of them was built overnight. It went up so fast. Of course,
it didn't have a foundation. It just went up overnight. It
just was completed in no time. While this other fellow, you
know, I see folks sometimes, It's just so easy. Well, I believe
this, believe that, believe the other, I'm saved, hallelujah,
praise the Lord, everything's all right, everything's beautiful.
Here's a fellow over here that's going through a time of soul-searching and mourning and
grieving over sin and struggling with the scripture and coming
to the pastor and asking questions and asking questions of other
people. Is this the way you feel? Has God dealt with you in this
way? As God revealed this to you,
is this the way it is? They spend that time searching,
and this fellow here can't understand, what's he doing? Why is he doing
all that digging? Why is he doing all that? Well,
that's work! Why is he doing all that searching?
Why is he doing all that difficult work down there on the ground?
It's no trouble, you just believe Christ died on the cross, and
that's all there is to it. Haven't you seen folks like that?
I don't understand why that fellow is disturbed and troubled and
concerned, and he was built so quickly. But these houses are
not alike. Now, you watch this. Here is
a man over here who built his house quickly, very little effort.
He just swallowed what they threw at him, you know, and there wasn't
any effort at all went into it, he just built the house. This
man over here, he dug deep and he found a rock, a good, solid,
stable, permanent, sure foundation, and he started building his house.
It took a while, and it took some time, but he labored, and
he built that house. Now, here they are. Somebody
said one time, Well, there's no difference in them. Don't
you fool yourself. There's a lot of difference.
Now, you men who have built houses know this, that a house without
a foundation is not like a house with a foundation. You might
stand way off somewhere and take a picture of them. They may look,
both of them look good, but you get up close, and the first thing
you'll notice about this house without a foundation, it's out
of plume. It's not balanced. No, sir, it's
not balanced. It can be balanced without a
foundation. Something's going to settle. Something's going
to give. And this house is out of balance, and that's the way
that most false professors, now you listen to them. They'll be
big on one point and little on another. For example, there will
be big on sanctification, holy living, and there will be little
on substitution and grace. That's right. They'll be big
on prophecy! Oh, they study who the Antichrist
is, and who the Little Horn and the Big Horn, and the Hare's
and the Horse's Tale in the Book of Revelation, and the Woman,
you know, and all of these things. All these questions they search
out, they hunt the answer, where did King get his wife, all of
these things. They're interested in all of
these unanswered questions. They're little on grace, little
on grace. They're big on healing. God is
able to heal. God is able to restore sight
and hearing and make the lame to walk. They're big on healing.
They're little on justification. They don't have much to say about
the healing of the soul, the redemption of the heart. They're
big on this and big on that, you know. And they don't have
much to say about the glory of Christ, how God can be just and
justify the ungodly. how God can be righteous and
receive sinners like you and me. It's out of balance. You
examine the house closely, and it's out of balance, it's out
of plumb. This house over here is built
on Christ the Rock. You see, you don't arrive at
Christ through doctrine, you arrive at doctrine through Christ.
Christ is the foundation of our doctrine. And when we are on
Christ, we are balanced We have to be balanced. It has to be
plumb, because Christ is the foundation, and the foundation
always determines the shape of the building. If the foundation
is square, the building is square. If the foundation is round, the
building is round. If the foundation is rectangular, the building
is rectangular. The foundation determines the shape of the building.
But when you've got no foundation, you've got no shape. The building
is out of balance, it's out of plumb. And that's the way men
are who have no foundation in Christ. They have a confusion
of doctrine. And this point stands up high
and this point's low. They're out of balance. They
have some hobby to ride. They have some point to prove.
It's not Christ. I'll tell you another thing about
this house. It'll have cracks in it. Yes,
siree, it'll have cracks in it. And it will be a most uncomfortable
house in the time of storm. Don't tell me it won't. No false
profession can give real comfort. No false profession can give
real peace and rest. This house over here without
a foundation has got cracks in it, and when that wind blows,
most of it may go around, but some of it comes in and makes
it very uncomfortable. It's not a place of rest. It's
not a place of real comfort. It's not a place where you can
live without fear. Over here on Christ, the solid
rock, there's comfort. Christ said, I'll give you rest,
I'll give you peace, I'll give you comfort. But this house is
not comfortable. There's something else about
this house that's built without a foundation. It always needs
somebody to come fix it. It always needs somebody to fix
it. It's always in need of constant
repair. Somebody has to come around every
six months and revive it. Somebody has to come along and
rededicate it. Somebody has to come along and
rebuild it. Somebody has to come along and
encourage it. It doesn't rest in Christ. You
see, this house can't be left alone. This one over here on
Christ the Foundation, it can be left alone. It can be taken
to a prison, and it can stay there like John Bunyan 12 years.
and come out as confident and strong as when it went in. This
house over here can go through all of the suffering and agony
of those Believers who went to the stake or went to the rack,
who went to the flames, and it can stand. But not this one.
It has to have a meeting every once in a while to keep it pumped
up, keep it revived, keep it repaired, keep it rededicated,
keep it rebuilt, keep it encouraged. Always got to work on it. And
I'll tell you this. This is the sad thing, though.
You say, well, why don't those folks move out? Don't they see
what's wrong with their house? Don't they see that it's not
like these other houses? Now, wait a minute. These people
who live in these drafty, out-of-proportion, unbalanced, uncomfortable professions
of religion, they are not disturbed for three reasons. The first
reason is this. There's so many houses on the
block just like it. You know, my house don't look
too bad if I live on skid row. I don't have to cut my grass
if everybody around me doesn't cut theirs, but now wait a minute.
If everybody in the neighborhood kept his lawn trimmed an inch
and a half and flowers blooming and his house painted and the
paper picked up in his yard and I didn't, I'd notice a difference.
But folks that live in the slums don't see any difference. There's
so many houses just like it, just like it. And I'll tell you
another reason why he doesn't move out. He's constantly assured
by other property owners that he's all right. Peace, peace,
they say. Peace, when there is no peace,
but peace. They're encouraged, they're assured. Let me tell you something. The
most upsetting thing in the world, in a household, a religious household. The most upsetting thing in a
religious household is for somebody in that household to find out
that he's lost. That would tear a household all
to pieces, a religious household. You've got a mother and father
and young people and aunts and uncles and mothers-in-laws and
fathers-in-laws and they're all good religious people. They all
go to church. They all got a house built. They
all got a hope for eternity. They all got faith in God. They
all believe the Bible. They all believe Jesus died on
a cross, was resurrected, he's in heaven, all that. And one
of them comes along and says, you know, I found out I don't
know the Lord. I found out that I live in the
slums. I found out that I got a house without a foundation.
I found out that there's something better than this, and that'll
tear that whole thing all to pieces. But you know they won't
rejoice. They'll turn on you like a pack
of dogs. They'll rend you and tear you and become your worst
enemy. Now you can go out and get drunk
and they'll sympathize with you, but don't get saved. They don't
understand that. Don't come to know the Lord.
They don't understand that. Don't move out of that slum.
They don't understand that. This house is good enough for
grand poets. Good enough for you, boy. This is what your daddy
believed, and it ought to be good enough for you. What my
daddy believed ain't good enough for me. I want to believe what
Christ preached, don't you? Now, son, don't get carried away.
Now, you all right? Well, you're the best one in
the family. And that's usually the one the Lord convicts, the
best one in the family, you know. That's usually the one the Lord
saves, the one that they thought was the best, and he found out
he's the chief of sinners. Well, they don't move out because
everybody assures them, you all right? And then watch this. Here's
the third reason why they don't move out. They never lived in
a good house, so they don't know the difference. I really feel a great deal of
sympathy for people in a house without a foundation. If a man's
never lived in a secure, substantial home, he doesn't know the difference. Now, we go down to Mexico, and
those people out there in the Pueblos, they live like their
relatives did a thousand years ago. They live with a dirt floor,
they sleep on a hinnokin, and those things can be sticky and
uncomfortable. And they eat this old corn mush.
I couldn't eat it. You couldn't eat it. And yet
those children are so happy. And they've never known any different. But now this little fella that
had his foot fixed that we told you about, he moved in with Betty
and Walter for two weeks. Two weeks sleeping on a bed.
Two weeks living in a comfortable home. Two weeks sitting at a
table eating chicken and steak and mashed potatoes and green
beans and cornbread and fresh tomatoes and fried chicken and
drinking iced tea and good old cold milk, eating ice cream and
apple pie. He didn't want to go home. No
sir, when they told him it's time to go home, he didn't want
to go home. I don't blame him. You say, why don't they move
out? They don't know any difference. These people building on a false
foundation, this is what they've been taught. This is what they've
heard preached. This is what their families believe.
This is what they're taught to believe. They've never known
any difference. They don't know what rest is. They've never rested.
They don't know what faith is. They've never believed. They
don't know what real sin is. They've never been convicted.
They don't know what repentance is, they've never repented. They
don't know what Christ and what comfort he can bring to a soul.
They've never trusted him. The natural man will see that
not the things of God, they're foolishness to him. Neither can
he know them, they're spiritually understood. Eye hath not seen,
ear hath not heard, neither hath entered the heart of man the
things God's prepared for them that love him. That's the reason
they stay. They stay in these faults. foundations
and refuges because there are so many around them that are
just like them, because they are encouraged by those around
them. They are discouraged from seeking the Lord, seeking the
Lord. My friend, let me tell you something.
The only man that will try to convince a lost man that he's
saved is another lost man. If your wife or husband or son
or daughter or relative or friend or anybody tells you someday,
pray for me. I don't believe I really know
the Lord. Don't try to convince him he does. Do what he asks
you to do. Pray for him. And consider him
a lost person. And try to point him to Christ.
And if God Almighty ever brings you to that point, don't you
reach back and try to hide in that old experience and that
old profession and that old doctrine and that old theology and that
old tradition. Just cry, Lord, if I've never
loved you before, let me start loving you now. Well, let's see
the real difference. Where was the difference? The
difference, the real difference, the difference was, now this
is important. It was the foundation. The real
difference was underground. It was out of sight. Now, I've
heard people say, well, I can tell you who's a Christian by
talking to him. You cannot. Well, the Bible says, by their
fruits you shall know them. Does not. That's not said of believers. That's talking about false preachers.
Now, you read that. Our Lord said, beware of false
prophets. They'll come to you. As in sheep's
clothing, they'll come to you professing to be preachers of
the gospel. But inwardly, they're in sheep's
clothing, but on the inside, they're devouring wolves. By
their fruits you shall know them." Huh? That's what he said. He
didn't say you can look out over your congregation and judge whether
or not people are saved by how they act and how they live and
how they talk. He did not say that. Because I'll tell you this,
if you'd run up on Peter when he's sitting by that fire. I
read that last night and sat there and cried. Bless his heart. He told the Lord, he said, I'll
never deny you. These other fellas might quit,
but I'll never will. And then he sat down by that
fire and those people came and they said, well, you're a Galilean.
No, I'm not. Well, you want to hear the disciples. No, I'm not.
Well, I saw you with him. And he began to curse and to
swear. And he said, I don't know that
man. About that time the cop crowed. He remembered the words
of his Lord. And the Scripture says he wept
bitterly. If you'd been sitting there,
one of these once for all, I know it all, I know who's saved and
who's not saved, you'd have written him up as lost, wouldn't you?
Sure you would have. If you'd been sitting there in
that council when David called in the general and said, I've
got a problem. I've had an affair with this
man's wife, and she's speckin' a baby, and I can't do anything
about it. The only thing I know to do is
just kill him, and that way I'll be free to marry her. And he
said to the general, he said, now when he goes out there to
fight, you fellas just put him out there in front of the enemy,
and back off, and leave him alone, and let him die. Boy, I tell you, I know you'd
have written him down as not knowing God, wouldn't you? Sure
you would have. If you had been with Abraham, suppose you had
been hiding behind one of those oases and Abraham was riding
through the desert, you know, and they were coming through
this enemy territory and there was a powerful king there who
loved beautiful women. And they were coming through
and Abraham called Sarah aside and he said, now Sarah, he said,
we trusted God, we left home and trusted God all this way,
but boy, this may be bigger than God here, you know. I tell you,
Sarah, now that fellow, he's going to kill me if he, you're
so beautiful. She was very beautiful. He said, you're so pretty. He
said, tell you what, let's do. Let's tell him you're my sister.
And that way he'll leave me alone and let me go. I don't know what
will happen to you, but I'm concerned about me. I don't know what will
happen to you. I don't know how you'll wind
up, Sarah, but we won't take care of old Abraham. You know,
I'm pretty important. I'm the one the Lord said he's going
to send the seed to, you know. Isn't that something? If you'd
been sitting over there behind that bush, you'd say, that's
one that missed the Lord. Huh? Now come on! That's one that
sure missed the Lord. But brethren, man looketh on
the outward countenance, God looks on the heart. And Peter
could sit down by another fire on another day and say, Lord,
I've messed up, but you know I love you. Huh? It's underground,
it's out of sight. You say, well, who are those
fruits, those false prophets? They're converts. The fruit of
any man's ministry is his converts, people that follow him, people
that have converted on his ministry. That's who that is. You can tell
a false prophet, God's not going to save people under a false
prophet. I don't care what you say. You say the truth is the
truth, they don't preach the truth. God's not going to save
anybody under a false prophet. It's the truth that sets men
free. It's the gospel that's the power of God and the salvation,
not just preaching. Not just stand up, holler, and
believe. God may use an instrument that you don't think he will
use, and he will do that. He'll pick the foolish to confound
the wise, and he'll pick the things that are not to bring
to naught the things that are, and the base things and uneducated
and uninfluential, and he'll take them and whittle you down.
That's the way God does things. That's the way he gets all the
glory. He takes a boy with a rock and kills a giant with a sword.
All polished, you know, polished. his shield shines and all the
armor, and he takes him a little old shepherd boy with a few rocks
in his hand, a leather sling, and puts him out of business.
That's the way God moves. That's the way God gets all the
glory. And I'll tell you this, we'd better learn that, we preachers
and soul winners and Sunday school teachers and churches, we'd better
learn that. God will not use any carnal weapon
to accomplish a spiritual purpose. He won't do it. This is hard
work, underground, this foundation was underground, out of sight,
a real sense of seeing, a real knowledge of inability, a real
faith in Christ Jesus. It's a work done by the Holy
Spirit, and the digging is done with the sword of God's Word. That foundation turned to Isaiah
28, and let me show you that foundation, Isaiah 28. He says
here, these folks in Isaiah 28, Verse 15, these are folks that
made a covenant with death, they're not afraid to die. They've made
everything all right. You've heard people say, well,
I think he was ready to die. Most people aren't. Most religious
people aren't. They made a covenant with death,
verse 15, with hell or they had agreement, they're not afraid
of hell. When the overflowing spirit shall pass through, it
won't come unto us. We've made lies our refuge, tradition,
custom, religion. Under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
But God said, listen to me now, verse 16. Thus saith the Lord,
Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation. Here's your foundation. It's
a stone that will not move. It's the eternal rock of ages.
It's Christ Jesus, that rock. That's the foundation. God laid
it. It wasn't laid by the Baptists or Methodists or Presbyterians.
God laid it. It wasn't laid by the old Puritans. God laid it. It wasn't laid by
the Apostles or the Prophets. God laid this foundation. God
put Him there to build upon. God anointed Him. God ordained
Him. God sent Him. God established Him. He's God's
Savior. God put Him there. He said, I
laid this foundation. That's what you'd better hunt,
and what I'd better hunt. We'd better hunt God's foundation.
We'd better seek the Lord. The Lord whom God the Father
sent, the Lord who is commissioned to save, the Lord of whom the
angel says, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, he shall save his
people from their sin. He is God's foundation. God laid
that stone, and watch this, he said he's a tried stone. Tried
by the law. Oh, how the law tried him. Could
find nothing in him. Tried by men. Find nothing in
him. Tried by Satan. You be the Son
of God, cast yourself down. You be the Son of God, turn these
stones into bread. You be the Son of God, tried
by Satan, tried by death, tried by the wrath of God, tried at
all points, yet without sin. Boy, I tell you, that's where
to build, isn't it? Build on that foundation God
said, I laid. and build on that foundation
that's already been tried. There's nothing, nothing, there's
no trial from heaven that he's not already born. You know, when
you're going to build a house, say you're going to buy a piece
of property around here, and you go out and a man's got a
beautiful piece of property, and you say, now what's the high
water mark? I want to know if this place I want to know if this place
floods, I want to know if this place, I want to know something
about it, I want to know where the road goes through, all these
things. And that's what I want to know about my foundation that
I build my hope for eternity on. Will it stand? When the flood
of God's judgment comes, when the fire of God's wrath comes,
when the testing of Satan comes, when the testing from within
comes, will it stand? He said it's already stood everything
heaven, earth, or hell could throw at it. everything, tried
in all points. Watch it now, a precious cornerstone. I'll tell you this, he's precious
to whom? This is my beloved son. And then
God the Father is going to watch over this foundation. This is
God's This is God's land, this is God's son, this is my son,
you listen to him, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased.
It's a precious cornerstone. And then what's this? A sure
foundation. Brethren, that's what I invite
you to. I invite you to that stone that
God laid. I don't invite you to, I love
the old London confession of 1620, the Philadelphia, 1689,
the different one. I don't invite you to a confession
of faith, or to a denomination, or to a way I prescribe. I invite you to Christ. If you
can come to Him. If you can go out there, take
this book, somewhere, one old man said one time, somewhere
in this the salvation to be had. And I'm going to find it. By
the grace of God, I'm going to find it. There's a gospel somewhere. A gospel that's not after men. A gospel that's not designed
to attract converts and proselytes to a man or his church or denomination. But somewhere there's a gospel
being preached that's honoring and glorifying God Almighty.
I'm going to find it. I'm going to find it. Somewhere
there's a place to put my feet. It will not be shaken, and by
God's grace I'm going to find it. And I'm not going to start
professing and claiming and owning and building until I find that
foundation. And when I find him, I'm going
to lay all my hope on him. I'm going to lay all my hope
on him. For he said in Matthew 7, and I've got to close, I'm
preaching too long. He said in Matthew 7, there's
a trial coming, and he divides it into three parts. He says,
the rain fell, the wind blew, and the flood arose. Now, first
of all, the rain, that comes from where? It comes from heaven. And God's going to send some
trials, the overflowing scourge of God. God sent the rain. God sent the flood. And God's
going to send trials and afflictions. But let me tell you something.
The house will not fall because the true believer is built on
Christ. And troubles and trials and afflictions
may come from the hand of God, but they cannot sweep him away.
They cannot, because he's built on Christ. And secondly, he talks
about the floods. That's trials from the earth.
You're going to have problems. If you come to know Christ, profess
Christ, seek Christ, love Christ, preach Christ, own Christ, you're
going to get a lot of problems. You're going to get problems
from the least expected source on this earth. I've known homes
to be divided over this gospel. I've known parents to disown
children. I've known children to disown parents. I've known
people in business to split up. You've seen it. Some of you have
experienced it. These are trials from the earth.
But I shall not be moved. Christ is my Lord. Huh? You can't
move him. He'll give up mother, father,
brother, sister, husband, wife. He'll give up his life. Shoot
me! But I'm not going to disown my Lord. And then the wins. The wins are are sometimes hard to account
for. You can't tell where they come
from or where they're going. You can just feel the effects
of them. And that's trial from in here. You just really don't
know, I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know what's
troubling me. I wish I knew. I can deal with
these things that come down and these things that arise, but
these things that come from within Doubts, huh? You have them? Fear?
Depression? Christ can deal with them. Yes,
sir, he can deal with them. If I'm resting in him, I'm not
going to succumb to the trials from heaven or the trials from
earth or the trials from within. He's my hope. And my foundation. Sink or swim, I'm going to cling
to him. Spurgeon said one time, if I
go to hell, I'm going to hell resting on Christ. That's my
plea. That's my plea. Less than the
least of all the saints, but he died for me. That's my hope. Our Father, we're grateful for
this word, how we love our word because it gives us hope. We
love and appreciate these examples that you've left for us because
it gives us confidence. Christ is our foundation. O Lord,
Christ is that rock upon which we build our hope for eternity. Make him precious to everybody
here. Make him the foundation of every person building a spiritual
house. Lord, deliver us from haste.
We that believe shall not make haste. Deliver us from trying
to impress other people. O Lord, You look on our hearts. We want to know thee, to love
thee, to be accepted in the Beloved. Do a mighty work of grace of
which we shall never be ashamed and never be put to shame. For
Christ's sake we pray. Amen.

A Tale of Two Hearers

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A Tale of Two Hearers

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