The Parable Of The Two Builders

So with those things said, if you want to go ahead and open up your Bible to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7, we're gonna read initially just verses 24. Through 27, and we're gonna read some additional portions of Matthew 7 as well, but just starting with 24 1st. Matthew 7:24.

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came and and the winds blew and beat on against that house, and it fell and great was the fall of it.

What if we pray?

And God, I'm thankful for this passage of scripture. I'm thankful for the work that you've done in, in my own heart through this. Sermon on the Mount and through this parable in particular. God, would you please continue the work in me that you've already begun.

let this, let this passage continue to work in my own heart and in my own life. And God, I ask that you would do that same thing for all of us here. that everyone hearing this passage today, would be that you would speak to them through your word. God, that You would give clarity as we discuss the passage, as we work through these scriptures, give clarity of mind, God.

And Use your Holy Spirit to work in our hearts. God convict us of sin, show us where we are wrong. And then help us by your son. to repent and to come to you.

God, we trust you for that. I trust you for that this morning. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

So I bring this, this particular passage, this morning because it's been a really meaningful passage to me that there was, there was a time where I spent a lot of, a lot of time in the parables of Jesus. he, he taught a lot in parables during his ministry and this is one of those parables. And this one in particular, I remember when I first started studying it, it, it deeply affected me and since then, This passage has been extraordinarily meaningful to me. it's not a, it's not a comfortable one.

not many of Jesus' parables are so comfortable, but it's, it's an important one for us to consider. when we look at this passage, and the parable of the two builders, it's really, really important for us to gain the proper context. If we just looked at the parable isolated on its own, it might be a little bit difficult to really understand what's going on. So it's important for us to gain the context of the parable.

In that context is that Jesus is concluding, Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount. Right before this parable, Jesus gave the most comprehensive, extensive sermon of his ministry, at least for what we have recorded in scripture. The most comprehensive, the longest sermon that he gives is right before this parable. that, that sermon on the Mount is, delivered really as Jesus' ministry is, is really starting to, to grow and develop and expand.

He called some of his disciples. He started healing sick people, casting out demons, healing paralytics, and more and more people were starting to follow him. Matthew, the, the writer of the Gospel, Matthew recorded right before the Sermon on the Mount, this, Jesus went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria and they brought him all the sick and the paralytics and he healed them.

And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis and from Jerusalem and Judea and beyond the Jordan, people from everywhere. It's in Matthew 4:23 and 2525. So, this is as Jesus was developing in his, in his ministry. and the Sermon on the Mount, that expansive teaching that he gave, really demonstrated a lot of what Jesus was trying to do.

When he arrived with his ministry, he was not trying to set aside the work that God had done with Israel. He was not trying to, abandon the law or the prophets. In fact, he was coming to fulfill the work that he started back in Genesis as we've been studying with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was coming to fulfill that.

And that teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is really important for us to understand. This is him saying, I am stepping right into that same pathway, the relationship that God has developed with Israel over all of these years. I'm stepping right into that same place to fulfill that. In Matthew 5:17-18, he explicitly says it.

Jesus stated, do not think that I have come to abolish the law of the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but I have come to fulfill them. Truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished. In effect, Jesus takes the law and the prophets and the law of Moses and in a brief fashion in the Sermon on the Mount, touches on the important themes and teachings of the law throughout that Sermon on the Mount.

He goes through just a series of things that you can see reflective of the teaching that's all throughout the law and all throughout the interaction that God has had with his people in the Old Testament. So just to give a little bit of a, a context for that. And to help us hear that teaching, I've compiled just a, a relatively short list of some of the things he taught. This is not a comprehensive list of the Sermon on the Mount, but just a few things.

I'm gonna read those to you, and I encourage you just, just to listen to some of these things and let, let it soak in some of the things that God taught, that Jesus taught on the Sermon on the Mount. So here they are. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, they shall be comforted.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.

Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Be salt and be light in the world to give glory to God. Do not harbor anger in your heart. Do not lust after women.

Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Be sincere and don't require an oath to keep your word. Love your enemies. Do good to those who persecute you.

Be perfect as God is perfect. Give to people who are in need. When you pray, do it for your relationship with God and not for the attention you could get from men. When you fast, do it for God and not for the attention from others.

Store up treasures in heaven rather than material treasures on earth. Don't worry about tomorrow. God will provide. Be warned The measurement that you use to judge others, God will judge you by that measurement.

Ask God for righteousness, and he will give it. Enter through the narrow gate, and that's just a, a short compilation, a brief reference of some of the things that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. So you can hear themes that would be familiar to a Jewish listener from the Old Testament, these themes running throughout that passage. Now, when we do that, if you're like me, you hear those teachings, a couple in particular, you'll hear the teaching and immediately My heart will say, well, I can pretty much all of those I need a lot of work on.

so if you're like me, that can quickly come to mind when you read all of these rules that Jesus is stating. But before we let our hearts go there, stop your heart. Don't let it go, your mind or your heart go down that road. Instead, let me pose a question to you.

Would you like to live in a society described by this? We, we can pretty, we can pretty quickly say that doesn't necessarily describe our society today, right? But would we like to live in a society like that? Yes, absolutely.

I would love to live in a society like that. And that's exactly what God is doing in the law, in the Old Testament as he's saying to his people, this is how I want you to live. This is how I, I have designed you to live in community with each other. This is what will bring peace and life and a beautiful relationship between people and between people and God.

This is what I want for you. There's just, man, when you think about that and you think about everything that's said in the Sermon on the Mount, what a beautiful picture that is. Can you imagine if that was true of our interactions with people, people living without anger, if there was no lust, if there was not pride, if, if we were setting things aside to say we want to follow God more than we want to pursue our own ends. We're gonna store up treasure in heaven rather than storing up treasure and material wealth here on earth.

All of these things. Imagine what a society that would be and that's what God is saying he wants for us. That's beautiful. Some of you Have, recently heard Pastor Mike pre teaching on the Sermon on the Mount in particular, right?

That was in, in one of the, some of the Sunday school classes recently. He discussed that and the purpose of the law. Now I'm saying it does describe this, this society and the interaction between people and between God, but there's a particular purpose for the law in our lives, right? That's, that's talked about in the New Testament as well.

There's a, there's a purpose for that law. And in Romans 7, it lists 77, it had not, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said you shall not covet. So the law is in effect saying this is pointing out the guidelines for society and it's also pointing out in our hearts, this is wrong and this is right.

Right? And if, and if we don't have a law, if we don't have any indicators like that, we're not gonna know explicitly this is right, this is wrong. That is what the law is intended to do is point that out. And then Paul also in Galatians says, therefore the law has become our tutor.

if you wanted to request a tutor, I work at a school, if you wanted to request a tutor, the law is your request for a tutor to bring you to Christ. It points out inside of us the things that are wrong to identify that this is wrong, this is right, and then to point us to Christ to say that's, that's why we need Christ and His work in our lives to help us change and become righteous. In Pastor Mike's, Sunday school classes, he outlines that outlined that a little, a little bit in the previous weeks and particularly identified the law and the Sermon on the Mount and reflecting the law.

It's pointing out our spiritual poverty.

It points out our need. That's important. To note that so that we can deal with the fact and the interaction with the law, to say the law is telling us what is right and what is wrong and telling us our need and the standard. So that we can then respond to that and ask for God's help.

If it leaves us in a place of just saying, woe is me, I'm hopeless, we're not completing the cycle. I've done that many times in my life and we're gonna talk about that a little bit more in a, in a, in a while here but it's important to note that the intent is for it to be a tutor to lead us to Christ. So that context of the Sermon on the Mount is really important for us to understand then what's happening in this parable of the two builders. We get to the parable and it begins, Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them.

And it's important to note right off the bat that the first thing Jesus says is everyone. This, this is, this is a small point, but it's an important point, to not miss the fact that he says everyone. It just said earlier in the past when we read that you heard from all of these areas, Decapolis, all, all over the area, people are coming to listen to Christ and to his teaching. And he says, everyone.

It's the Greek word pos, all, every, any, and he didn't say just the Jews. just those of you who have been righteous for your entire life. He didn't say just those of you who are in the elite class of society. He didn't say just to those of you who have a high IQ.

He said everyone. Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them. So he offers, he extends the offer to all and what's, what's neat is he's about to describe a wise man. So he says, do you want to be wise?

Anyone, everyone. Whoever hears this, do you want to be wise, you can be wise. And he extends that to all. He extends it to us Do you want to be wise?

He says, everyone, anybody who hears this today, who hears Jesus' words, he says, if you would like to be this wise man, So Jesus extends the offer. To everyone The parable though is interesting because it's framed. In terms of future judgment. This, this is an important point in how Jesus describes the parable.

He says whoever hears these words of mine, the words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock. The term that Jesus is using is homo homoothesai, the Greek word, will be likened to. It's interesting because, for those of you, English buffs, it's a future passive indicative third person singular verb of being. There you, there you go.

Yeah, amen. But it's important because it's a, it's not a common thing for Jesus to do. He, he tells a lot of parables. We're familiar with, with parables, right?

So, he, he, a few examples of other parables and how he phrases things would be, the parable of the sower. A sower went out to sow and he sowed. Some seeds fell along the path and it, it tends to be past tense. He sowed and he cast and, you phrase it that way.

The parable of the laborers in the vineyard, Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house. He compares it but it's not with time. Does that make sense? He says it's, it's like this, but he doesn't apply a time reference to the parable.

Another one, the parable of the unforgiving servant, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts. Again, it's relatively timeless, but any element of time is past action. So the fact that Jesus particularly uses a future tense here is a rare thing. There's only one at a time, one of the parable that he frames in the same way, and that's the parable of the 10 Virgins.

Again, reflective in that passage of an end judgment. And so that's an important thing to note in this one. Now, you might think, OK, this is straining out like a, a little bit of a, a, a pretty small point in what Jesus is saying, but I think it's important for two particular reasons to at least note this fact. one is it demonstrates Jesus thought towards future judgment.

And that's, and that's a recurrent theme in his teaching, not just in parables, but in his teaching. It's a recurrent theme that he talks about judgment. and it's important for us to, acknowledge that he talks about that and that he, he, he speaks on that topic. And then the second one is the fact that that type of future indicator is really common in the Old Testament.

So the prophets in the Old Testament very commonly spoke in this future leaning terminology, talking about the future judgment of God, and Jesus reflects that in this parable by speaking with future terminology that reflects future and coming judgment. And in that sense, Jesus picks up the, the communication and the role of the prophets of the Old Testament and carries that forward to us. In this parable, Jesus is acting as a prophet, speaking to us. One of the, studiers of parables, Klein's Snodgrass, he's done some, extensive work on parables, talks about this particularly and says Matthew's future tense, he will be likened points clearly to a scatological judgment because it's only used in certain areas of, of Jesus' parables and particularly referencing future judgment.

We'll get a little bit more detail into judgment in a bit, but I just wanted to make sure that, and at least point out the fact that Jesus is talking about. That future day, and in that future day he points out two kinds of people, a wise and a foolish man. The wise man listens and takes action. If you look in that passage, the, the verse says, everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Now that Jesus' sermon on the Mount is concluded, He says, listen. Don't harden your hearts. Don't stop your ears. Don't get distracted.

Hear these words of mine and do them. The primary verb of action is poeto, the Greek word meaning do or cause, bring about, accomplish. Action is required. Struggle and efforts are assumed.

The same parable in, the book of Luke. It's, also told in the book of Luke in chapter 6. There's one additional descriptor that he lists saying the wise man is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. He had to dig down into bedrock, do the effort, the hard work of digging and settling that foundation deep.

Jesus in his teaching, never offered a passive faith. If you read through all of Jesus' teaching in the New Testament, there's never a time that he offers a passive faith. In fact, it's pretty common for Jesus to say, pretty indicative things like in this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.

Or Matthew 16:24, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. One example that I think is, is a really valuable one is the, the The story of Zacchaeus, the, the story. Zacchaeus was a wee little man, wee little man was he, right? if you look in Luke, go ahead and turn to Luke 19:9, if you would.

So, the story, Jesus is a tax collector, And he sought out Jesus. He went to find Jesus and went and invited Jesus to come over to his house because he wanted to hear Jesus' teaching. He wanted, he wanted to know Jesus. And at dinner at his house, Zakia stands up, And verse 8 there, Luke 19:8, and Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor.

If I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold. And Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house. Now We read that and it's, and we know based on the comprehensiveness of the New Testament and scripture, we know that it's not just Jesus saying, OK, if you give half of your possessions to the poor, you're saved. That's, that's not what Jesus is saying as a, as a rule here.

But he, it seems like for Zacchaeus that probably was one area of life that was particularly an area that needed redemption, right? He's talking about him being a wealthy tax collector who had defrauded people. So clearly, money was an issue to Zacchaeus. In that area of of life and I think for each one of us at different parts of our life, there are different areas where God needs to do a work, right?

For this, in particular with Zacchaeus, it sounds like the work that God needed to do, the point of salvation where he had to decide between doing his own thing or following God. It was his money. And he had To deal with that area of life, to say, am I going to follow Jesus or am I gonna keep doing my thing and serving money? I think sometimes when we come to this question, we start to deal with this, this balance between faith and works.

I know that I can quickly jump to the idea to say, Salvation by works is not right. And that's true. We don't get salvation through the works that we do on our own. That's absolutely true.

We cannot earn our salvation by works. So let's make sure that we're clear on that point. We cannot earn salvation by our works. And that's clearly not what Jesus is saying in the parable of the two builders either.

He is not saying you will earn it through your works. I think John 1, the first John 1:9, is a, is a verse that has given me parti me special help in this area and this question in my own life. First John 1:9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We confess, he forgives, and he cleanses us, and he cleanses us and he continues to cleanse us.

The, the way that First John 1:9 is, is written, it's a continuous process. It's not a, he cleanses us and it's done and we're perfect. It's a We confess our sins. He's faithful to forgive us, and he will continue to cleanse us from unrighteousness.

It's an ongoing, that one in particular is a. present progressive part of SIP. It's a, it's a continuing action. It's not a one time and completed it, it continues, that God will continue to cleanse us.

I think sometimes, it's also complicated in our thinking on this balance between faith and works because sometimes there are battles in our life with sin that can last years. Can, can you identify with that idea? There, there might be something in your life. there are, I know there have been areas in my life that have been battles with sin that have gone on for years, on and on and on.

I, and I see victory, I see failure, I see victory, I see failure, and, and at points you can get discouraged and say, is it even, is it even, is there even hope for me in this area? To ever be rid of sin. So I think sometimes when we see that, it can become complicated to say then I, am I really saved if I see this continuing sin and when we're dealing with that. But I think it's important to do, just look back at Jesus' words and take them as he says them in the parable of the two builders.

He says specifically, Whoever hears these words of mine and does them. Maybe we aren't perfect in following him, but are we doing what he says? Are we at least pursuing what he says? I think 11 good phraseology for how to capture that is, are we actively pursuing obedience?

In the areas of sin that God has pointed out to us. Can we say that we are actively pursuing obedience in what God has called us to address? Hopefully that helps lend a little bit of clarity. And Jesus says, that's the wise man.

That's the wise man. He's actively pursuing obedience. He hears and does what I say. The foolish man in the story doesn't take action.

It's pretty easy to boil down the difference between the wise and the foolish builder in the parable, right? If you just look at the words that are listed there, the one who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man. The one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man. What's the difference?

Doing them. The foolish man does not do what Jesus says. I think it's, it's interesting. Jesus gives some nuanced insight into How we can be foolish, earlier in the passage.

So if you, if you look at that, chapter 7, And just back up to verse 15, He particularly talks about one. One type of foolishness. So I'm gonna give you two types of foolishness that I've seen in my own heart, at times and that I think we can see, In life The first type of foolishness is the foolishness of being all talk and no action. That's in verse 15 to 20.

Jesus says, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, so every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. If we have If we belong to Christ and are Christians, Jesus says, we have fruits that demonstrate That We cannot claim to follow God and then go out and do whatever we want. Choosing Christ, choosing to follow Christ and make him Lord of our lives means I give him the right to determine what is right and what is wrong.

And then I do what he says to do. If, if anyone thinks That they can claim Christ, but then purposefully, consistently and willfully live a life that is opposed to Jesus' teaching. That person is deceived. That's not just the parable saying that, that's throughout scripture.

James 1:22 says, be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Then James in James 2 says we deceive ourselves if we try to separate that faith from action. In other words, we can create our own deluded. self-inflated view of reality by thinking that if we say the right words, we can do whatever we want.

That's deception and it is not true. James says, in, in chapter 2, James chapter 2, someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from works and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one, you do well.

Even the demons believe and shudder. For each one of us in the room, like I referenced earlier, there's probably one particular area of our life right now at this stage in life, whatever stage you're in, there's probably one particular area that God would want to address. and do a work in your life to redeem you, to save you, to rescue you from sin and the damage that sin causes to you. Each one of us is, is different, right?

And, and so, so for you it might be one particular area. It might be how you handle money like Zacchaeus. It might be that you have a lot of pride. Maybe it's relationships.

Maybe there's lust. Maybe it's an an issue with anger. Jesus addresses a whole host of those things in the Sermon on the Mount. But it does seem like there's usually an identifiable area of our life that God is pointing to and is saying, this area.

We need to address So the question for each of us is, we read the, the Sermon on the Mount, we hear the parable. The question is, are, are we willing to let God do that in our lives? Will we hear Him, listen to him and say, yes, God, come in, help me, forgive, forgive my sin and help me turn to righteousness. So, To reiterate, one type of foolishness is all talk and no action.

Jesus gives a second type of foolishness. And that is a person who has a Christian facade, but doesn't actually follow God in their heart. If you look back at Matthew 7 again, verse 21, Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day, and again he's referencing future judgment, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many, many mighty works in your name?

And then I will declare to them. I never knew you Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. That particular verse, those, those, those verses right there, probably some of those terrifying verses in the Bible to me. And, Coming to preach a sermon that includes them is not so pleasant a thing.

But they're there And Jesus says those words. My instinctual response when I hear those words is to say, where's the, where's a really comforting passage of scripture? Let me turn there. Or to just close the Bible and, do something to distract me.

But I think to give us a little bit more clarity on what he's saying there, so that we don't get the wrong fear in our hearts and we don't lend ourselves to a, to a, an incorrect fear, we have to point back in the Sermon on the Mount. He says stuff about this all throughout. So this is not like a shocker line. In, in, in chapter 6, verse 1, he says, beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Chapter 6 verse 5. When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites. They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly I say to you they have received the reward.

He says it again in Matthew 23 and throughout his teaching even, but in Matthew 23, he says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You clean the outside of the cup and the plate. But inside are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, your whitewashed tombs. Outwardly you appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. In The Sermon on the Mount in the parable of the two builders, and then, and all of these other teachings throughout Jesus' ministry.

He is picking up and echoing. The same thing that God sent the prophets to say for generations. It's not a new teaching. Over and over and over and over and over, God sent prophets to his people to say, follow God.

He says it, then Joel, Joel chapter 2, verses 12 and 13, the prophet Joel says, yet even now declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart. With fasting, with weeping, with mourning, and rend your hearts, not your garments. Don't just tear your clothes and put on an act. Of following God.

Truly follow God in your heart. In Amos chapter 5, it says God also spoke to the Israelites saying, I hate, I despise your feasts. I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them.

Peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs to the melody of your harps, I will not listen. Because their heart was far from God. God does not want external obedience.

With internal rebellion. He calls all of us to follow Him in action and in our heart. Martin Lloyd Jones was a, a preacher some time ago. And he, I think he expresses well, some thoughts on this.

He said, clearly, The words in the parable are addressed to those who are professing Christians. They are not addressed to people who have no interest whatsoever in the kingdom. They are addressed to people who have been listening and who like listening to teaching concerning it. These words are obviously addressed to members of churches, to those who make the claim of being a Christian, who profess discipleship and who are seeking the benefits and blessings of salvation.

You're like me, you hear those words and it's just, it's just disturbing. It's just disturbing. And I, I Start to evaluate my heart to say where is my heart? Is it truly given to God?

I remember a period of life where I, I, this was a really, really deep struggle for me, and, I question how do I evaluate that to know where my heart stands. Does that, does that make sense? Do you, do you resonate with that like, OK, so if I, if I'm supposed to follow God with my heart and with my actions, how do I evaluate my heart? How do I know what's inside of there?

I think, I think I want to follow God. In all of this All of the examples where Jesus spoke harshly against hypocrisy, and in this parable, it seems like The person's heart was more focused on earning the favor of men. than the favor of God. And I think that's a good, that's a good test for us to just look in our own hearts and say, am I more concerned with, with what other people are gonna think about me?

Or am I more concerned with what God is going to think about me? I think that, I think that's a, that's a, a helpful and revealing tool in looking at our hearts. And so then to be able to say we might not reach perfection in a, in a given area, but if we're actively pursuing that obedience with God, and if our heart is turned to God more than it is turned to what do people think about me, Then that seems to be a good test and an indicator for what's actually going on. Jesus continues in the In the parable.

Talks about the storm. The storm will come and it will be deadly. To soften the blow at this point would be a disservice to all of us. And so I'm not gonna try to soften the blow in the sense of what Jesus just explicitly says here.

He's telling us a storm is coming, and it will be deadly. Verse 27 says, the rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. He's talking about the foolish man. And the house that he built.

In the book of Luke, some of the descriptors go even more vivid saying the storm broke against the house. Again, in telling this story, Jesus is putting himself right into the lineage of the prophets in the Old Testament, saying the same things that God has spoken for generations. It's incredible actually if, if you want to turn to Ezekiel or I have the words for you right here, Ezekiel 13. I'm just gonna read this and you listen to what similarities you hear between Jesus' words and Ezekiel's words.

So this is Ezekiel speaking, and he says, speaking. he says, therefore, thus says the Lord God, I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger and great hailstones and wrath to make a full end. And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash and bring it to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it and shall know I am the Lord.

That's the similarities and imagery are just incredible, and Jesus is stepping right into this line, prophet, priest, and king. We know he is a prophet, priest, and king. This, this is Jesus stepping into the line of prophets and saying, I am speaking to you as a prophet of the coming judgment of God. Now, what, I picked the, I picked this passage before, The onslaught of all of the disasters that we've seen in just even in recent days, and I lamented a little bit, you don't want to be insensitive to what's going on and the, the, true suffering that people are experiencing right now with the fires and, Hurricane Michael and all these things.

and so I lament in some sense, us seeing this and hearing this and, and the real suffering that people are experiencing as a result of those storms. And at the same time, it's, it's almost in a sense of a valuable thing that we've got really clear imagery in our minds right now to understand what Jesus is saying, right? He, he chose to, to compare it to a storm. He, he felt like that was a good image to, to help us understand.

Hey, I'll, I'll tell you in the future judgment, let me give you a picture of what that might be compared to. We're gonna talk about a storm, a fierce, intense storm that cannot be escaped. Beyond that, one of the, one of the problems is, as, with Hurricane Michael was the, the warning time, right? It was considered, it was thought to be a, a, a smaller storm while it was still out at sea and then as it got close, it very quickly moved and stepped into a category 4 hurricane.

And part of the problem was that there was not much warning to know how to prepare and to make sure that people were, to safety. But thankfully, Jesus is, is giving us warning. That's the whole point here. Jesus is saying, I'm warning you of the coming storm.

There will be a storm. It will be fierce, it will be intense. You will not be able to escape the storm. So be the wise man and prepare and be prepared by listening and doing the words that I am speaking to you.

There are, there are two time horizons that Jesus often deals with, when he, he says these things, the, the current, the present, the here and now and the future, the future coming judgment. He's primarily talking about coming judgment, but there's also an echo too of, the reality that we know if, if we are built on Christ in this life, he will even give us that peace and security in the sense of following Him, we know that we can be at peace. He will, be with us at all times, right?

But he's primarily looking to that future time period.

We come to the end of that story, what Jesus is telling, and these are the words, these are the words that it says right after the parable. says when Jesus finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at his teaching. For he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes. The crowd was amazed at the authority of Jesus' teaching.

It just so happened, that this, this parable, became very real life to me this last week, on Friday when I was at work. A situation occurred with a coworker, And internally I was pretty quickly angry and, so it happened in that situation that I, I was in a position where, I had some sense of power. To control the situation. And, and as quickly as that came up in my heart, and I saw it, I thought, this is exactly it.

This is the parable. This is the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says, if you, particularly, when he's dealing with anger, I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. And the tutor pointed into my heart and said, that anger, Jonathan is wrong.

That is not good for you. It will do damage to you. That is wrong, and you can choose right now in this moment. Are you going to give in to the anger and let the anger control you and run this day and run this interaction with your co-worker?

Or are you gonna come to Christ and say, God help me cause I, I'm not strong enough to deal with the anger. In that moment, I found so much peace just in learning from the tutor of the law and the Sermon on the Mount to say that yes, this is wrong. Yes, God has identified it in my heart. He's pointed it out and now God helped me to trust you in it.

And in that, I see the authority of Jesus. He's speaking with clarity, the law of Moses, bringing up as a prophet, all of the teaching that God has given in the past and pointing it out again and giving it to us again and saying, hear these words of mine and do them. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus, towards the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus also says, if you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good gifts to you?

He is eager.

He is waiting to give us the goodness of what he wants for us. Jesus After the crowds were amazed at his authority here, Jesus. Went on in his life. We recently heard Pastor Mike teaching on John 17.

And Jesus said, I promise I will give you the comforter. I will give you the helper, the Holy Spirit to come and help us. Follow him. Then Jesus went.

With that authority, he went to the cross, died on the cross, experienced the storm of God's wrath. And then At the end of Matthew, in Matthew 28, He finishes that work. And he says to us, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing in the name of the Father and Son, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always. To the end of the age. All authority has been given to him, and he says, now go and teach. And he will be the one to do that work, and he is eager to give us all of those good gifts.

I encourage you to take time in care group, particularly working through some of those questions this afternoon to ask God, and read through the Sermon on the Mount and say, God, what area of life is it right now that you're pointing to in me? And then ask God to do that work in you. If you, after this sermon, feel like you Your heart is inclined to go down the road of condemnation and judgment and to sit in that condemnation and judgment, please come talk to me. I've, I've been down that road myself and that's not a healthy road, to just sit in that condemnation and judgment.

Yes, God wants to convict us of sin, absolutely. But if you, we just sit in condemnation and judgment, that's, that's not a healthy thing. I've been there. so if, if that's your inclination, please don't hesitate to come and talk to me, right, right up here or one of the other, pastors here or anything.

God's, God's desire for us is to give us good in, in life as we follow Him. and sitting in, in condemnation that doesn't do any good is not, is not a healthy thing. So I, I just offer that word of encouragement at the end here. And then, ask, would you, pray with me, and ask God to do this work in our hearts.

God I'm thankful for this passage of scripture and for the work that you've done inside of my heart as a result of it. God, it has been a good work that you've done. In my heart And in my life, in my actions. and, and God, I feel like even just getting ready for today and the sermon, you, you've done so much in me as a result and, God, would you please continue that work in me.

And God do that work in everybody here. God, would you, would you point for each of us, just give us clarity on, on maybe one particular area that you are pointing out in each one of our lives. And identify what it is that you want us to, to do in following you. Point out the area where sin has a hold on us and that, and where sin is keeping us captive.

And then help us, God, as we confess our sins, we know that you've promised. If we confess our sins, you are faithful and just. You will forgive us, and you will cleanse us. So God, do that work in us.

And we trust you to do that work in us. And I'm thankful for these words of truth spoken to my heart and our hearts today. In Jesus' name, Amen.