Matthew 7:21-29 Building Plans for Life 3/12/17

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1 Matthew 7:21-29 Building Plans for Life 3/12/17 Quite possibly the largest mausoleum in the world is the Taj Mahal - It was under construction from 1632 to 1643, with other work continuing for 10 years - It required over 20,000 men in the process of construction Solomon s temple required 7-1/2 years to be built - Ten thousand men were used in the process of cutting timber from Lebanon - Another 70,000 men were used for carrying the wood and constructing the temple, and another 20,900 men were used as overseers or supervisors As diverse as these two buildings are, the Taj Mahal and the Temple of Solomon, they do have one thing in common - They were built for durability - They were built to stay, and their durability was secured by being built on solid rock Jesus, in the conclusion of His Sermon on the Mount, stated that a life of faith, if it is to be durable, must be built on a rock - He made a definite connection, a distinct correlation, between the ground on which we build and the durability of what we build 1 This passage today begins with Matthew 7: Jesus said, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles? 2 On their own, these two verses might lead you to believe that the only way into the kingdom of heaven is by doing the will of the Father - That unless we do everything we have heard about in the Sermon on the Mount, that we will never see the kingdom of heaven 1 Building for Durability, Timothy Wilkins, Sermons.com 2 Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quoted has been taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc., (Published by Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI) Page 1

2 But then, Jesus makes it clear in the very next verse - He said, Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers! 3 - The key is not that we can follow every command that God s Word contains, or even every command in the Sermon on the Mount The key to our seeing the kingdom of heaven is that we know Jesus - All of the good things we do are not going to earn us entry into heaven - Only knowing the Lord Jesus will open the gates of heaven for us It is not enough to look like a good person, or even be a good person - Not enough to be part of a family who have always been Christian - Not enough to work hard at Church Unless we have a sincere relationship with Jesus - We run the risk, like those in today s reading of having our Lord say, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers! 4 Today s Gospel reading comes to us from the Sermon on the Mount, which has been the focus of my Sunday morning messages since January 29th - Jesus entire sermon takes up three chapters in Matthew: 5, 6, and 7 It is a wonderful collection of teachings where Jesus sets forth the standards for the Kingdom of God - It contains blessings for Godly behavior - And great wisdom for resolving anger, for proper marital relations, and for giving your word or swearing The Sermon on the Mount teaches us about loving others, loving our neighbors, and loving our enemies - In the sermon, Jesus shares Godly standards about being generous, praying, forgiving, and showing mercy In spite of this being my sixth sermon in this series, I have not touched on our Lord s teachings about not being judgmental, the Golden Rule, the parable of the Wide and Narrow Gates, and a few other topics 3 Matthew 7:23 4 from Matthew 7:23 Page 2

3 And this sermon series concludes today with our Lord s teaching on being a true disciple and the parable of the wise and foolish builders Today s reading comes from the concluding verses of chapter 7 - And if not for this reading, you might think the Sermon on the Mount was all about doing, doing, and more doing - But Jesus closes His message with a strong warning about the importance of sincere Faith For centuries, the Church has struggled with Faith versus Good Works - James 2:26 reminds us that As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. When we love the Lord we will always want to do good deeds - But God s Word teaches us that we are not to put our faith in the good things we do - We all need forgiveness - We all need a Savior In Matthew 7:22 we hear of some good deeds: prophecy, casting out demons, and doing miracles - This is some pretty impressive stuff - In addition, doing it all in Jesus name makes it sound pretty religious Nevertheless, what does Jesus say? - I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers! 5 - It does not matter how great the deed - It does not matter how religious we look - It does not even matter if we are doing it for Jesus If we do not know Jesus - If we have not repented of our sins - If we have not asked for forgiveness - We are still guilty, unforgiven, unredeemed evildoers - And it will not matter how many good things we have done Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. 5 From Matthew 7:23 Page 3

4 It does not get any clearer than that - Believing is what saves us - We accept the free gift of salvation through faith in Jesus - And not by any other means If you look one verse further in Ephesians, you discover that doing good things is important too - Ephesians 2:10 For we are God s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. We are created in Christ Jesus to do good things - But not unless we first trust Him to be our Savior - Once we know the Lord, we discover that God has good works for us to do - Not the other way around Have you heard, It doesn t matter what you believe, as long as you believe in something? - Or there are many different paths that lead to God? - These both are absolutely not true - God s Word says otherwise In John 14:6 Jesus is recorded saying, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And Acts 4:11-12 say, Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. It does matter what we believe - Our faith must be solidly placed on Jesus - In the words of the hymn My Hope is Built On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand 6 When I was a child, my family would rent a beach house - Usually it was the same 5-bedroom, beach block house in Manasquan every summer - It was $400 a month, which is a pretty incredible price, because today $400 might get you 1 or 2 nights in a small motel room at the shore 6 My Hope is Built, by Edward Mote, 1834, public domain Page 4

5 We usually spent July and August there - And some summers we were there as early as June - Family would come from all over the country - And we spent all day, everyday on the beach, except when it rained As a child, I can remember building many sand castles - It was a challenge to try to build them to withstand the ocean - Or at least the first few waves However, the ocean always won the battle - I was, of course, building with sand - Which was not much of a match for the ocean In Bangladesh, for centuries fishermen have built huts on sand - During the dry periods there the rivers will recede and create huge sandy plains - The fishermen s dwellings are often quite elaborate - Yet they realize the temporary nature of their huts When the first monsoon arrives each year, it will dump enormous amounts of rain in the mountains - That water all rushes downhill and with one flood, those fishing huts are gone - What one day was a village of huts - The next is back to being an empty plain of sand Jesus concluded the Sermon on the Mount with the Parable of the two houses - One built on Sand and the other on Rock Those houses may be compared to our Faith - Some may place their faith in their abilities, on being a good person, on being nice, on the wonderful things they have in the world, on being popular and well liked - All of these things are like building on sand - Not very secure at all The only thing secure enough to place our faith and trust on is the solid rock of our Savior Jesus - That is where we are to build our lives because our Lord will never fail us - Unlike the shifting sand of this world, Jesus has become the cornerstone Do not build your faith, like my sand castles or some fishing huts in Bangladesh on a weak foundation - Make sure your faith is built on the Solid Rock of Christ Jesus our Lord Page 5