Matthew 7 - where to build your house

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Build your spiritual house on the Rock of Jesus' Words! Mike continues his series from Matthew 7.

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No Compromise Radio Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author
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Dr. Mike Ebendroff. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing
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Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.
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Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the Scriptures verse by verse with no compromise.
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True or false? It is dangerous to listen to sermons every single week, but never do that.
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One of the most dangerous things you can ever do in your life is not pick up some kind of poisonous adder by the tail, not somehow run around saying, well, out of all the mushrooms in the world, only 10 % of the edible mushrooms are, excuse me, only 10 % of the mushrooms around are edible.
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I think I'll try some of every mushroom I can, just seeing if I can get the good ones.
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That's dangerous too. One of the most dangerous things you can do in your life is listen to sermons every single week and then do nothing about them.
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It's eternally dangerous for those who aren't Christians. It's only in time sketchy and dangerous for Christians.
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It certainly doesn't honor the Lord. The context here is it's dangerous to hear Jesus preach and then say, I'm not going to believe in the risen
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Savior. It's dangerous. And you know, what does the world say? I'll just go to church today.
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I'll go Christmas and Easter only. I'm a CEO Christian, and I just kind of go, and I'll throw a bone to God.
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I'll throw a bone to my wife. I'll throw a bone to my kid, and I kind of go, and off I'll go. And you think you're pleasing somebody on earth, and Jesus says, if you're not going to obey him, it's dangerous.
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It's better off if you don't hear. If you're never going to obey the gospel, never going to believe that Jesus is the only Savior, then run from church because it's only going to be worse for you.
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Now, shouldn't this kind of talk in Matthew 7 obliterate once and for all this insane notion that you can have
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Jesus as your Savior but not as Lord? This asinine kind of theology that says, do you know what?
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We'll have him as a hell insurance, but we never have to obey him. This non -lordship, anti -lordship kind of theology just would be stench in the nostrils of Jesus in a sermon like this.
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You don't make Jesus Lord. Jesus is Lord. It's ludicrous and laughable to somehow think,
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I'll listen to Jesus. He's going to take me to heaven, but when it comes to obeying him, I've got something for you,
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Jesus. And it's not an open hand of praise and worship. It's a hand like this that says, I'm going to stiff -arm you,
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Jesus, in the face. And Jesus comes along in kindness and goodness but sternly saying, this is not obey the gospel to get saved.
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This is obey the words of Jesus that says, it's only God's grace. It's only what God could do.
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A .W. Pink's words, in my opinion, will echo through the halls of eternity. We do not ask, is
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Christ your Savior? But is he really and truly your Lord? If he is not your
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Lord, then most certainly he is not your Savior. Those who have not received
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Jesus Christ as their Lord and yet suppose him to be their Savior are deluded.
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And their hope rests on a foundation of sand. And Jesus would know, wouldn't he?
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This omnipotent, omniscient, never -learning
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God that has x -ray vision into our lives and our souls and the thoughts and the intentions of our hearts, he knows.
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And he says, it's just not lip service. It's not halfway. It's all or nothing.
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That's the end of Matthew 7. It's all or nothing. Choose. This is the wake -up call.
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I don't know about you, but when I have an alarm set, I don't kind of like nice, smooth music. I don't usually put some kind of, you know,
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I don't even know who these people are. Kenny G. Does he play saxophone? Kind of New Age, kind of, you know.
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I don't put Kenny G on and say, you know what? I've got to take Kim to the airport. I'm going to get no sleep.
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I've got to come back and I better make sure I wake up in time to go preach at church. Let's put some Kenny G on.
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You know what I do? I set up the alarm for the highest kind of music that I don't like, kind of with a shrill, super loud, and I have to put it across the room, so I have to actually get up out of bed.
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And, you know, once out of every 400 mornings, you have your legs asleep, and then, you know, down you go.
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Great was his fall. But you go, I'm waking up. This is not some kind of lullaby that you need to wake up.
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You need action. Call the arms. When it's time to call people into the war, the buglers, you know, don't inhale.
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They don't blast, you know, kumbaya.
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Back to the notes. We love it when our professors get off the notes, but I'm not so sure
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I need to do that today. You say, I want the loving Jesus.
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This is the most loving Jesus that you'll ever know, and he's the only Jesus that exists.
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And it's a Jesus that says, of course, the children, that the disciples say, when they get away from Jesus, he opens his arms, and he's kind, and he's loving, and he's compassionate.
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But your friends tell you the truth, and so does the almighty God of the universe, and if the requirements are truly perfection, then
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Jesus says, you've got to believe in the work of another to grant you that perfection. There is a storm coming, and it's not a real storm.
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It's a spiritual end -days, last -time squall. Now, I remember my grandparents, and my grandparents, my grandmother especially, she was a real worrier, and she had one of those electric kind of transistor deals with a 9 -volt battery, and it had one button, and that button would go down like that, and it would have the weather channel.
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That was all they had, not the real weather channel today, but just some kind of guy in some weather booth announcing.
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And I believe to this day that she had that thing for one reason, so she could worry more about the impending storm coming.
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Sometimes those storms never came. I mean, it's like New England weather. Say it's going to rain every day for the next 14 weeks here for summer.
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Welcome. And then you go, oh, wow, I actually got a nice day on Saturday. They didn't intend that to happen. They didn't suspect it to happen.
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They didn't analyze it, but it came. Jesus says there's a storm coming that's going to blow your house down if your house is not built on Christ and His words.
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Turn with me, if you would, to Ezekiel chapter 13. Ezekiel chapter 13.
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I want you to begin to try to think like an Old Testament or New Testament Jew.
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Jesus gives this imagery of a storm that every hearer there, especially the
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Pharisees and scribes, would go, oh, that's like Ezekiel. That's like Isaiah, where there's a storm used of the judgment of God.
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And they'd go, oh, it makes sense. There's a judgment storm coming, an eschatological storm, an end -day storm coming.
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And just to give you one example, as we try to think like they did back in those days,
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Ezekiel 13 verse 10. It is definitely because they have misled my people by saying peace when there's no peace.
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And when anyone builds a wall, behold, they plaster it over with whitewash. Ezekiel 13 .11.
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So tell those who plaster it over with whitewash that it will fall.
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A flooding rain will come, and you, O hailstones, will fall, and a violent wind will break out.
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Doesn't that sound just so similar to Jesus' words? Verse 12. Behold, when the wall has fallen, will you not be asked, where is the plaster with which you plastered it?
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Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, I will make a violent wind break out in my wrath.
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That's the language of Jesus. There will also be in my anger a flooding rain and hailstones to consume it in wrath.
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So I will tear down the wall which you plastered over with whitewash and bring it down to the ground so that its foundation is laid bare, and when it falls, it will be consumed in its midst.
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And you will know that I am the Lord. Verse 15. Then I will spend my wrath on the wall and on those who have plastered it over with whitewash, and I will say to you, the wall is gone and its plasters are gone, along with the prophets of Israel who prophesied in Jerusalem, who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace, declares the
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Lord. So because the storm's coming, get out the two -by -fours and batten down the hatches.
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The windows are going to be broken. You see what happens in Florida, and some of you have been there in Florida during these hurricanes. The glass is going to go, so put the plywood up on the windows.
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And here the way we put the plywood up on the proverbial window is to repent, to believe, to trust
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Jesus Christ and His Word, to believe in the risen Savior who bore our sins and was raised from the dead.
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Isaiah 28 says, The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the secret place.
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The house that's being built is your life. You know, you're building a house day by day, brick by brick.
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Foundation is built and then up you go. As I notice, let's go back to Matthew 7.
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These two houses look the same on the outside. I think they use the same material besides maybe some minor deviation.
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Who knows? Same wood, same nails, same joists. Everything looks the same except they didn't build it upon the right foundation.
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You can't see the differences. And a good spiritual analogy would be when I look at someone, two people can look like churchgoers, act like churchgoers, talk like churchgoers, but when the foundation, when their internal righteousness is examined, one can be found lacking.
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And Jesus says, I came to save people, not to damn them, so run under the cross to be saved.
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Now, sometimes when I have to get something done at the house, I can't believe I have to go through all these building code things, codes.
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And what usually motivates me to do the building code deals and get the inspection is I think, if my house burns down because of some kind of electrical problem,
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I wonder if my insurance agent will pay if I don't have the right codes. Very self -seeking, self -serving.
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I don't understand all the building codes. There's one building code for this spiritual analogy.
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Build on the words of Christ or else. That's it. Very simple. Back in those days, the thieves could dig through the walls, the roofs had sod on them, and you could have people come down through the roofs and couldn't get any better than that.
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But you could decide back in those days, do we make the foundation on rock bed, dig deep enough to do it, or do we just put it up on sand?
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That'll do. This judgment that's coming is at the end of time, and after there's been the great slamming squall, there's no time for redos.
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There's no purgatory. There's no kind of, well, I'll just do it over again. This is at the end time. Spurgeon says, the fall was so great because he could never build again.
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Now, Jesus isn't tilting this towards the positive, but if I can just for a moment talk about the house that didn't fall because it was founded on the rock.
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Can you imagine for the Christian? No matter what struggle, what trial, the gates of hell can be opened up, and you could stand at the maw of the gates of hell, and you could say, you know,
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I am secure. No one can snatch me from the Father's hand. Only thing
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I could think of would summarize by a hymn by Charles Gabriel. How great is it that by the grace of God, many here today have built their life on the words of Christ and have the right foundation.
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And Charles Gabriel wrote a song called, I Stand Amazed in the Presence. Do you know the song?
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I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene, and wonder how he could love me, a sinner condemned unclean.
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Oh, how marvelous, oh, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be. Oh, how marvelous, oh, how wonderful is my
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Savior's love for me. There's a house that slams, there's a house that stands firm.
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Proclamation number two. We must move on. Proclamation number two. The first in a series of proclamations was your obedience or belief that obeys has eternal ramifications.
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Secondly, not only your obedience to Jesus, the belief that obeys excludes obedience to any other spiritual leader.
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That is to say, Jesus' words, not someone else's words. Jesus' words, not plus someone else's, whether it's the
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Pharisees, Buddha, Muhammad, Joseph Smith, Oprah, I don't care who. Pick a false teacher.
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It's Jesus' words. Take a look at the passage, Matthew 7, 24 -26. Verse 24, these words of mine, therefore everyone who hears these words of mine.
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Verse 26, everyone who hears what? These words of mine. Now the context is his sermon, but by implication, all
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Jesus' words. By further implication, all Jesus' apostles' word. By implication, all of the
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Bible's word. These words of mine. Again, in original context, the sermon.
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By the way, you can't tell this in Greek, but when he talks about these words of mine, let me tell you in English, but with the
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Greek order what they are. My, these words. With the focus up front.
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If we don't have bold, yellow, highlighting, increased font back in Greek scribe's days, what do you do to make an emphasis?
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Well, lots of things. But one of the things you do is you take a word out of order and put it up at the front. My, these words.
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And not oh my, but my possessive, these words of mine. Now kind of the nice thing about it is,
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I know there's a downside to having Jesus' words in red in some of the Bibles, but it makes it pretty easy to find
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Jesus' words, doesn't it? No one in their right mind, even as an unregenerate person, can't walk around going,
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I wonder where Jesus' words are found. I don't think they can do that. My question to you, though, is a little bit different.
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And it's for Christians as well. If eternal destiny is staked upon, of course, the grace of God, but he uses the instrument of faith and belief, shouldn't we do everything we can to know the words of Jesus?
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Are you an expert in knowing Jesus' words? If you're an immature Christian because you're a brand new
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Christian, not talking to you. But if you've been a Christian for any length of time, you ought to be an expert in the words of Jesus.
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These are the words of life. These are life to you, as Moses would say. Some people in this room know computer languages better than they do
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Jesus' words. Some people in this room know cookbooks better than they know
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Jesus' words. Some people in this room know batting averages better than they do
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Jesus' words. Some people here, I have a variety of other different ones, rotisserie leagues, golf handicaps, the latest fashion, lawnmower engines.
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I had to throw that in for the mechanic in the audience. We're experts in these things.
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Of course we have to work. Of course we make our living doing other things. But at the top of everything is the words of Christ.
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If you've been a Christian 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, ought you not, by the grace of God given to you through the ministry of the
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Spirit of God, shouldn't you know the words of Jesus? And I thank God that this is a church where the answer is
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I don't have to scold you. I say, congregation, you do know. You don't need to come to me to find out what a
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Bible verse means because most of you know it. How can we believe in something and do something if we don't know it?
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Frankly, I'm with a particular old writer who says this. It's one thing to say we're at a
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Bible -believing church. If I ask for a raise of hands, how many people would think we're at a
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Bible -raising hand church? Not many. They don't raise hands there. We would say we're
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Bible -believing, but I ask the question, are we Bible -doers? Are we
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Bible -believing enough that we believe something and then we do it? I don't know about you, but I get mad at myself so often.
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I just think, I can't believe I just wasted all that time on the Internet doing a bunch of stuff about news, this and that, sports, and I go, it's just a waste of time
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I've exchanged insignificant for significant. I think it's just a good healthy wake -up call that if these are the words of eternal life, then we ought to ask
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God, help us to dig deeply into Scripture again. Remember when you first got saved?
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I thought I was crazy because I could not care less about any other book in the universe. I wanted to know what was in this book.
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I thought, you know, I've got to know this book. I want to know the God. I want to know the God who saved me. I want to know His mind.
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I want to know what He thinks. Almost with the same intensity, I think, of when
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I first met Kim and we got married. I want to know this girl, and I want to understand her, and what makes her tick, and I need to spend time with her.
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You can't do what Jesus says if you don't know what He says. The great news is it's never too late. Today's the day to start.
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Jesus said in Matthew 5 and 6, You have heard it said, but I say to you, focus on my words.
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Don't focus on the Pharisees' words, the scribes' words, the rabbis' words, Herod's words. Focus on my words.
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Hebrews 1 .1. God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son and, of course,
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His apostolic messengers. True or false?
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Jesus was a pluralist. There could be not just the way of salvation. There could be lots of ways, and Jesus' way was only a way.
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Friends, we live in a pluralistic culture, don't we? Here comes Jesus smack down to the middle saying,
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There's no pluralism. There's only one God. Jesus not only talked about the narrow gate, but He was the most narrow -minded person that ever arrived on the scene.
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His way was right, the only way that was right, and He was no kind of Kierkegaardian existentialist saying,
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I think I'll create my own reality. He was no kind of mystic who says, you know, I really don't feel like those kind of verses apply, and I feel like God is more this or that.
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If you don't take Jesus at His word as a singular Savior, then you have to deviate.
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You deviate into mysticism. Oh, that's your truth. That's my truth.
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Deviate into kind of your own personal Jesus. Sorry to the band that wrote a song called that.
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I think Jesus is more like this. These words of mine. There's two ways of salvation.
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These words of mine. Everybody goes to the same place at the end of their life.
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These words of mine. And pluralism is at the highest levels.
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Somebody that knows better said this. We may safely say if a good pagan reached the point of throwing himself on the maker's mercy for pardon, we know it was by grace that brought him to that point.
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God will surely save anyone He brings thus far. Anyone thus saved would learn in the next world that he was saved through Jesus.
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Wow, I'm a pagan and I turn my back on a couple sins. That must have been the grace of God. He's going to be in heaven.
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Could J .I. Packer be any more wrong? That is building people's hopes in Venice, Italy.
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How many people have been to Venice, Italy? You've been there a year and a half ago. And you stand there and you go, this town is sinking.
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That's an understatement, isn't it? And there's all these platforms and, you know, the tourists still want to go do things and so you've got to walk elevated above because that thing is underground.
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When you first get to Venice, you go, oh, I'm riding down the street in a canal taxi and there goes the
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UPS boat. Wow, there goes the FedEx boat. This is kind of an amazing thing. And then you get off of the taxi cab out of the boat and you stand there and you go,
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I'm in five inches of water. This town is sinking. Sooner or later, that town is going to be underwater.
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Sooner or later, you're going to die and stand before God and then what? I had some heart pains a while ago and I went to the doctor.
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He said, okay, everything's fine. And I said to myself, I'll live to die another day. It's coming.
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Well, number three, we must hurry. Oh, you know what?
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I'm not going to do number three. We'll have to maybe do it next week. What's your house look like?
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Your house can look good. You can have all kinds of manners. You can be proper. You can be polite.
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You can obey the authorities. You can obey the elders. You can obey your parents. But the real issue is, do you have a desire to obey
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God? We're not looking at perfection. The only perfect one we have is God himself. We can't say, you know, if I perfectly have a desire for the word,
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I'm saved. If I perfectly obey the words of Jesus, I'm saved. We wouldn't say that because it's not true.
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But when God saves someone, there's a response that says, I have a desire to obey now.
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I have a goal to obey now. I want to do that. And I realize I could never perfectly obey, yet I'm trusting in the perfect one.
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So for the Christians, while some people's assurance may be shaken, that's what
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Jesus intended. But really, for the unbeliever who hears this message, what do you do with the words of Jesus?
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I just have one simple test, and that test is this. Would you read the words of Jesus?
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I challenge you, read the words of Jesus and find out if your teacher, your pastor, your priest, your reverend, is telling you the truth.
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Because it doesn't matter what he says. It doesn't matter what I say. These words of mine.
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Just read the Bible. That would be a good thing for all Christians in this room to do. How about this as a challenge? Let's read the Gospels this summer,
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Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and just take a look at the words of Christ. That's what we ought to do. And then we ought to say,
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God, by your grace, I just don't want to believe these things. I want to live them. Let's make our church, by the grace of God, a
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Bible -living church. That should be our prayer to God. God, make us a Bible -living church. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
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I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid rock I stand.
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All other ground is sinking sand. Or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.
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