Two Builders and One Storm
The Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted
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· 6 viewsThe wise man and the fool look very similar, but the wise man recognizes the authority of Jesus and obeys him.
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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. 25 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. 26 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. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
Haystack rock
Haystack rock
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. 25 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. 26 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. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
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. 25 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. 26 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.
Matt 7:
1) The fool and the wise man have a lot of similarities.
1) The fool and the wise man have a lot of similarities.
Listen to the three similarities that the wise and the foolish have in common
1 They are both building homes
1 They are both building homes
every one of us is living a life for something
for pleasure
for career
living for today
living for tomorrow
for pleasure
food
movies
sports
entertainment
for success
school
job
career
for family
family that you have today
or the idea of a family in the future
for safety
Food
clothing
shelter
health
for comfort
Best part of the day is when the day ends
living for the weekend
or looking forward to the day where you don’t have to work at all
for adventure
Always looking for the next best thing
experiencing something new
always discontent with what is right in front of you today
Or as we have seen already:
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Ma
But… all the same, everyone is building a home on something
the difference is some of these things that we are building our home (or our life on) will last… or they will perish
In fact these homes from the outside even look similar
2 They both hear the words of Jesus
2 They both hear the words of Jesus
v 24 and 26 says it clearly… they both hear Jesus teaching
So the fool may have grown up in the Church… hearing the word read and preach from every single week
The fool might even read the Bible every day
It’s possible that the fool goes to Bible college to study the Bible
The fool likely went to Sunday school
and even go to youth group
The fool might even be the teacher opening up the Scriptures who hears studies it carefully… but is unable to practice what he preaches
Such were the scribes and the Pharisees
And while they were hearers of the words, they were not obedient to the word
It would seem for both the wise man and the fool their houses looked similar …
and hasn’t that been the theme so much of the sermon on the mount?
The similarities between true and false righteousness…
All the way through 5, 6, and 7
Whether it was the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees that was not enough…
sure they don’t murder and commit adultery
These are attributes for those who are righteous
but deep in their heart there is something wrong
they have feelings of hatred towards their enemies
They have thoughts of lust for those who they are not married to
Or even on the outside they do a lot of right things just as we saw in ch 6
they give
they pray
they fast
But the motive behind all these things is not to honor or give glory to God
Rather it’s done so they might receive the honor and glory from man
and the last three weeks we have seen the subtle differences between those who are on the wide path of the narrow path
the teachers (that is the scribes) who look like sheep when they are actually wolves
or the followers (that is the Pharisees) who think they are saved when they actually aren’t
Sure they look similar on the outside… when deep down they are broken and marked by sin.
So the fool and the wise man are similar in that:
1 they are both building homes
2 they both hear the words of Jesus
3 They are both hit by the storm
3 They are both hit by the storm
First of all what does the storm represent?
it might be trials or temptations
Take the parable of the sower for example
20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
We know that Christians and non-christians alike face many similar trials
Take Noah as an example of this… did the flood not affect him
and the same temptations
But will they endure… that is the question
Or maybe the storm represents final judgment…
Like in
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
In light of the context of the Sermon on the Mount… I’m inclined to believe its the latter of the two…
but either way this much is clear:
Christians and unbelievers alike will be tempted, tried, and judged… and it is the Christian who’s life is built on the rock that will endure
The one built on the rock will endure:
trials
temptations
and God’s judgment
Take Noah as an example of this… didn’t the flood hit his home just like it did the rest of the world
Or take the Israelites when the angel of death when through all of Egypt… did it just pass over the Israelites without there being something required of them?
2) There is a difference between the crowds near Jesus and his disciples.
2) There is a difference between the crowds near Jesus and his disciples.
There is a clear distinction even in the sermon on the mount between the crowds and the disciples:
go back to the very beginning of the sermon on the mount
1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
And now at the end
28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
and notice: they all are hearing Jesus words
The clear difference between the crowds and the disciples are these
they obey or disobey
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.
That is the mark of a disciple:
they hear, and they do what they hear
26 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.
That is the clear mark of the crowd:
they hear, and then they do not do what they hear
We just talked about Noah… what was the difference between him and all the others who died in the flood
Matt
And Israel and the rest of the land of Egypt… what was the difference?
1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is none who does good.
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Prov 1:
15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
but a wise man listens to advice.
Prov 1
The first difference we see is that they are doers of the word
2 . they build their house on either rock or sand
Of the wise man it says:
25 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 of the fool it says
16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
26 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.
What is the difference between a foundation of stone and a foundation of sand?
.... Haystack rock
The final distinction between the wise man and the fool is this:
3. their home either survives the storm or is destroyed by the storm
We have seen three examples of destruction already
the wide path
the trees that do not bear fruit
and the workers of lawlessness who Jesus does not know
and now we see again it is those who hear and do not do what Jesus says…
Notice in most of these examples that those who are destroyed has to do with disobedience
14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
10 Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash, 11 say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall! There will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out. 12 And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the coating with which you smeared it?’ 13 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 in wrath to make a full end. 14 And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
3) Jesus has the authority of God, and how we respond to him makes us either wise or foolish.
3) Jesus has the authority of God, and how we respond to him makes us either wise or foolish.
28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
notice this, the crowds (who are not the disciples) recognize that Jesus teaching had an authority that no human teacher was able to employ
If Jesus is only a good teacher, but not one who’s words are authoritative… then we are fools
They recognize that he has greater authority than the Scribes who teach from the Scripture
men do not have ultimate authority -
Men cannot define what what is right and what is wrong
to
This is why Paul writes to Tim
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
2 Tim 3:16-
What I preach is limited only to what Scripture says
and this same goes for any man…
But Jesus is not a mere man… he is the fullness God robed in flesh
God incarnate
and as such he is not bound by the word
For he is the Word become flesh
Even when he quotes Scripture back in ch 5… do you notice how he is able to give further insight to what the Scriptures mean because he is the one who authored the Scripture
But even as he does this, he isn’t even changing the Scripture, remember he is fulfilling it
Listen to what he says in v 24
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 in v 26
This is why Paul writes to Tim
26 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.
Matt
Notice how Jesus isn’t leaving any room for them to speculate who he is
compare this last weeks text
21 “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.
Notice here the similar word “DOES the will of my Father” and “hears these words of mine and DOES them”
Jesus is making in clear what authority he has…
And unlike the scribes and teachers of Jesus’ day, he is not bound to teaching Scripture, for he is the author of Scripture.. for he is God
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
Jn
So, if we only recognize Jesus as a good teacher… then we are fools
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C.S. Lewis
And if we accept Jesus is fully God and we ignore him… then we are even greater fools for we recognize rightly who he is and we recognize rightly the authority of what he says only to reject the truth that he reveals by disobeying.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
hears the word… without doing anything:
man who looks in the mirror and forgets what he was like:
66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
Jesus and all of Scripture reveals who we are:
the word is like a mirror
And it reveals our natural face is marked by sin
And if we hear the word, and recognize that we are marked by sin
and then do nothing about it
Is like looking at yourself in the mirror in the morning and not fixing your hair…
Although far more urgent
Looking at the mirror to realize you have a fatal injury only to forget about it when you walk away…
So here we go… let’s go full circle
And what has Jesus told us about from the very beginning…
we are poor in Spirit
And the way towards life (that is the blessed life)
and the blessed one is not the one who is merely righteous on the outside, but one who has been made righteous even on the inside.
Jesus’ call to hear and do his word is not a call to some further degree of legalism
some sort of Pharisee 2.0
What Jesus words are is this:
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
And this is what Jesus does for those sinners who go come to him:
If Jesus is God and here he is making this abundantly clear
he credits us with his righteousness by dying in our place
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
This is not legalism, rather… it is regeneration… it is the miracle of second birth… it is receiving life from the one who has the authority to breath life into dry bones.